{LOG} one step forward, two steps back

[undecim]

CHARACTERS: Quark, Heitor, the Noxes, Arzei, Xi, Eri... will add as they come.
WHEN: Main timeline. SD 790. After this.
WHERE: Teeny scenes on Earth and Moonbase. But mostly Kirlsa.
SUMMARY: Quark puts their plan to rescue Khrista in motion. Meanwhile, the Exercitus starts coming together. Sort of.
WARNINGS: Plotting and such

Comments

[insecure_ity]

Somewhere in the depths of the prison facility, a red light blinked. Twice it blinked, three times, four. Then a viewscreen on a communication terminal flickered to life. At first all there was was static, then words flashed across the screen - Broadcasting from PFS Aquaelie II.

On another terminal, far away, fingers tapped impatiently as the sender of the message awaited a response.

The words were replaced by a series of coordinates, marking a location in orbit around Klaus IV. These were in turn replaced by the identification number of an officer of the Federation. Finally, just beneath the ID, a name appeared: LCDR R. Trezza.

[anomalisticly]

A hand reached out to activate the terminal from the facility's end, and a voice said, coolly, "Ah. Hello, Reaume." The man, however, very nearly made a face as soon as those words left him - what a silly name, Reaume, for a soldier of his caliber. But at least it isn't as ridiculous as Bleezerb. What kind of a name is that, anyway?

He was Rael Priabis, and a fine soldier he was, commanding one of the many fleets under the Federation's control. His most notable achievement was the successful installation of Remote Federation Station #13 on Elicoor II - but that was only the beginning of his grand military career. He had plans, plenty of them, and glorious they were, involving not only the soldiers under his command, but other key figures in the Federation as well. He even got his treacherous fingers wrapped around the scientists' sect, and that was part of the reason why he was on Earth and no longer hanging around in backwater planets in the Alpha Sector.

[insecure_ity]

"Hello, Rael," the owner of the impatient hand replied, his face flickering onto the screen. He noted disapprovingly that the reception was a bit spotty - an awful security risk, considering the nature of the prisoners in the facility. He'd have to let whoever was in charge of communications on the facility's end know about it, maybe see if he could get some money thrown toward improving it

[anomalisticly]

Rael raised an eyebrow. "Rumors." Oh, he'd heard rumors, all right, but he wasn't sure which ones Reaume was referring to. Nor was he concerned - the most outrageous one involved breaking out Khrista Traydor, but the facility had been constructed to make escape impossible.

[rex_vocis]

Meanwhile, in the hallway, someone else had risen early. Arzei had only been sleeping lightly, and he'd been awakened by Nausy's departure. He hadn't bothered trying to get back to sleep, and was currently wondering if the inn was serving breakfast yet. It was looking like being a long day, and Arzei knew enough about war to know that going without breakfast would be unavoidable far too often - so he had no intention of doing so when it wasn't necessary. By the same token, though, he wasn't about to deny the others sleep if they could manage it.

He glanced at the door to the room Marcus and Fia was staying in. He knew Marcus probably hadn't slept much better than he had, but even if he was awake Arzei doubted he'd leave his room before Fia did - he was sure Marcus didn't want to wake his little sister. So he resumed wandering downstairs to the kitchen, hoping the others would eventually follow.

[sanctusmatris]

But Fia was already in the kitchen - the older one from the future, at least. She'd gotten up early mostly for the same reason as her Nevelle did, but instead of moping that morning she'd considered to do something more productive with her time. And so she decided to cook breakfast, enough for the entire family and whoever else was staying over. Although she seemed to be more of the noblewoman type than her sister, with the way she walked and talked and carried herself, she was also the more domesticated one.

That morning, she managed to brew enough hot chocolate (a family favorite), and was in the process of making... something out of the dozen eggs she'd set aside. Probably something to go with the fresh bread she'd acquired somewhere. She didn't notice Arzei coming into the kitchen, a little preoccupied with her makeshift recipe, frowning a little as she concentrated.

[rex_vocis]

Arzei leaned in the door, smirking a little. "You know, to be honest I don't know how you ever managed to fool Marcus into thinking you weren't Fiammetta," he remarked. "Then again, perhaps he never saw you like this."

He stepped into the kitchen, looking around. "That smells good. I knew Nausy liked hot chocolate, but I hadn't realized everyone else did as well."

[sanctusmatris]

"Y-Your Highness," Eri managed to say, looking sheepish. She still wasn't used to seeing Arzei up and about - mostly because he'd been long dead in the time she was from. "Well... I guess he's been distracted. With Khrista, first and foremost, and Nevelle acting like the jerk he usually isn't," she answered good-naturedly, smiling.

She didn't wait for him to ask; she set down a cup of hot chocolate on the table for him. "It runs in the family."