Friend, I must write not only to you, but in vain hopes of defense of the First Father – oh truly not the first, only the first among our generation of kin. The legends of the Severin family are full to bursting with delights and sorrows and rampant speculation. What the RJ4 passed to me however is not a tale of the First Family in the same manner as was ever passed down through our people’s histories. So much has been lost in the scouring of the Luminaries. They erased our literature, severed our ties with our history. They tried to separate us from the True Flame – though the more they tried the more it seemed to fail.

              With an impending demise in view, with a dispersion immanent what hope can I have to hold to but this, that the True Flame cannot be extinguished? This message, brief though it has been, is proof enough of this. As is my wont, I digress again. Apologies.

I was given a classified portion of the histories, something locked away. I suspect that the Luminaries hope to gain some special knowledge of my people through this, else they would not go to such lengths to grant me access. The report is somewhat sterile and filled with blanks, but I will express it as best I can, in my own manner, as I have before – not merely with the report but a way of dramatization. What good is history if it cannot be flooded with some breath of life – the sense that it not only occurred but is, in some strange manner, still occurring, rippling through time in mysterious wakes and waves.

              Now, we return to Captain Lowan from a pieced together series of recorded logs and statements.

***

“Bring her steady along the edge of the darkness.” My voice sounded grating even to me. G34r barked in an eerie approximation of a dog’s happiness and the gravmag engines whirred as we swung around, the othermind controlling the finetuned maneuvers with perfect precision.

              I stepped toward the K-9 and reached to pet him.

              “You know he can’t feel that, Cap.” Byron’s voice was always just on the edge of a sneer and a half step down from insubordinate even when he agreed with you.

              I nodded then took the K-9’s face in both hands and scratched behind his ears. Byron huffed as he double checked his firearms. Seeing through the faceshield of friendlies was one of the best and worst aspects of the magsuit. Aided communication to catch the eyes and features, but to anyone not attuned, all they would see is the gloss black canvas like a single giant bug eye staring at them. It was worse because the tech was still new, and it was easy to forget to don your regular mask of smiles and deference when the tinted crystal in front of you was a shield but not a mask – at least not to your comrades.

              “Cap! Are those people?”

              I turned quickly, and pressed myself to Kelon’s side who was leaning out over a crystal bottom viewing segment.

              I willed my implant to shift the vision in my faceshield to work its way through the haze of the event.

              “Think fog plus thick smoke and a pane of tinted acrylic glass at once.” Kelon’s voice was calming.

              I heeded his insight and fed the imagery to my implant which used the combination of sense concepts to build a view that could pass through both the particulates and the tinting of the sky, though it was still distorted by small flashes of blinding darkness. I could just make out what looked like three figures, one with a burden over its should next to a smaller one. A third was out toward the edge of the event, nearest us, and looked to be trapped.

              “Gear, switch us over to that far edge, feeding coordinates.” I tapped my helmet as I knocked out the coded sequence into my implant.

              “Still getting used to it, eh, Sir?” Joash had stepped up.

              “He’s an organic, full. Give the sir a break – even engineered take time to adapt.” Telestrius was awake and sitting against the far wall, helmet in his lap staring into the mirrored reflection.

              “Used to be the mouth breathers, now it’s the tappers eh?” Joash clapped me on the shoulder, but the younger man simply shifted his gaze and spoke again to the K-9.

              “Load up two charges. Not sure how they are alive, but they are moving inside. Gotta see if we can break them out.” I moved quickly and continued speaking, “Joash, Kelon, Byron, final suit checks. Be ready to drop if we get a chance.”

              “Don’t think any of this is a good idea, sir.” Byron said shifting back and forth lazily on his feet.

              I clenched my fists and bit down my rising rage, Anger shows weakness. Firm.

              I stepped toward him hard, then took another soft step and said straightly, “Be ready, dropper – I know it’s the only thing you like in this job.”

              I caught a sideways glance from Joash which I ignored then told Kelon to prepare the cannon.

***

The logs end here, so I apologize but a less engaging report begins below. I will continued to gain as much knowledge as I can on your behalf – or perhaps my own. I wonder if I too have the Luminaries’ madness.  Incident Report: Captain Lowan Skomantis

Transmission Breach: Unapproved Linguistic Variables Detected

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