Glimmering Spectacle

Barrier Mists ERVANA SEA, 2420 AA, After the Great Ascension.   Among the female soldiers in the great Hub of Bethesda, Calla Barrageway was one of the few that were most decorated. She was the only female sergeant, though this was not a position that Calla prided herself for. However, it was still an achievement that not many women in this age could boast of and she was well aware of all that. Like most women of her age she too would have preferred to have a simpler life. One that was not wrought with danger, blood or gore, and yet, that was not what she had ended up choosing.  She had tried to convince others in order to keep her dignity, but she could not lie to herself and though she managed to hide it, deep inside her heart, she desired the comfort of a married life that was far away from all the hustle and bustle and all the heartache that was the genesis of this decision. How far could a girl run after one man? Yet, the heart wanted what the heart wanted. Maybe tending a vegetable garden would be nice or raising a family in a cosy little cottage at the edge town. But of course, what made it all worthwhile was sharing it with a husband. The man whom she loved. This was the life that she had always dreamed of and yet, her wishes were not horses that she could ride on. At least, not this beggar of love which was the person that she had now turned out to be. Therefore,it was clear why it was not a position that she prided herself for. Nor was she happy to occupy. But she did live by a code and in this code, all was fair in love and war. It just happened that for her, both these two things were one and the same thing. All in all, Calla was a soldier that was also fighting her own battles. Battles that really had nothing to do with the terrors that they encountered every day. For her, rejection was her nemesis. One that she had to daily contend with over and over many years. How many times had she tried to get through to him? How many times had her hopes been dashed only to be resuscitated again? She had convinced herself that all she had to do was keep on fighting. Maybe, that last time the timing had been off, or maybe, he had been in a foul mood. Eventually, he would come to see her as a woman worthy of his love. She just had to hold out for a while longer for there was no other way that he could finally swing. That had been his mother's and her own mother's advice. To stay close and wait, and yet, how many years had it now been? What had it turned her into? His personal bodyguard to ward of all that unwanted female attention? It was tiring to say the least, but that was all she could afford do now. She had come this far and would not let her efforts go to waste. She just had to hold on, to stay put and when the time came that he was ready, he would find her waiting there with both aars wide open. Still, nothing happening left Calla feeling both hopeful and flabbergasted. Every time he rejected a girl's advance or even when he pretended not to know, when she was sure he was very much aware of what she was doing in the background. It gave her hope and destroyed her as well. Still, her heart yearned for him, for that certain young man who went by the name of Killion Lithewood. Killion yes. The Captain of her team. The man who she had grown to love from a very tender age. The one who had left her for his first love. To follow his dreams as a military man and she, crazy as it sounded, had followed him. Shown him her support and yet, he had continued to remain adamant. The military being the only thing that he truly cared for outside his immediate family. It must have been that zeal, his one sided way of looking at things that saw him blossom into the role that he had chosen for himself. Even as Calla's own disposition grew ever darker as she forced herself into the role that she had convinced herself that she had little choice in. This was the same darkness that had translated into hardiness, while her jealousy and unwillingness to relate with others was seen as ferociousness. In fact, she had her own reputation as well. She was hailed as a most ferocious soldier with a temper that was rivalled only by that of a mother bear  robbed off of her precious cubs and so it was, for even now she was feeling slighted. Robbed off of the man that she truly loved by a military career that would only lead to his destruction. For how long had she known that man? And had he ever gazed upon her with a set of adoring eyes? The answer was no and she was okay with that as long as there was no other woman trying take up his attention. Many had tried, she remembered and outside of threatening them, she was sure that he had felt close to nothing for any of them. Now, matters seemed to have changed drastically and even then, as she gazed at the said man, her captain and team leader, her heart flattered with dread as she recognized the pattern that she was seeing there. What are they doing here? They had spent a whole week at sea and looking for what exactly? A mysterious woman? He had said that she had saved his life, but wasn't she the one, Calla, who had searched for him and found him floating by a buoy? "Saved his life?" She scoffed. There had been no injuries to his body and sure, a part of his suit had been scratched up a lot, but that was to be expected with a wyverns claws. Right? Luckily, his suit had come in handy and Killion had seemed completely unscathed if not a little bit too hungry. So, what was he on going on about? She huffed even as she paced the bridge with a set of wild looking eyes. "What am I going to do?" She groaned as she grabbed a fistful of her hair in frustration. Just then a boyish voice suddenly shrieked out and she stopped to look around in confusion. "What was that?" she turned to her nearest mate, but he just shook his head in denial. Still, the soldier in her was convinced that she had heard something and so, she continued to look around to find out if anyone apart from her had heard it. "That was... That was awesome!" she heard the voice again and this time she was convinced that it was there and that it was coming out from the sky? She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Did you hear that?" she heard someone say and when she turned to look, she found him, the object of her affections, with his eyes trained to the sky. "What?" the senior lieutenant, the captain's second in charge questioned and the man pointed upwards. "That!" he said as the voice screamed out again from within the mists that had for some time now, been shrouding them in thick whiteness. All eyes atop the deck of the huge HANNA MALIA frigate ship turned to the fog and stared out. Tension building as they tried to search to no avail for the source of the voice and whatever it was that was hiding out there. Just in case Calla readied her weapons and so did a number of the other crew. No one wanted to be caught unawares, but what was the bridge doing? She wondered and even turned to the captain who had just finished speaking to an errand boy. "Men!" a second voice, this one decidedly female, rung out from within the mists. Her tone was much softer but was now muttering polite expletives at the weird tendencies of the males of a certain species. "Wait! A Certain species?" She shook her head at the thought convinced that she was hearing things. What other species was there other than the human race? One that was capable of speech that is. Well, maybe, it was the outlandishness of the man's actions that had caused her to speak that way. Calla finally surmised. How many times had she felt the same way in connection to the captain and the crowd of men that were always lingering around her? She did not have to wonder much longer or to ponder things that is, trying to figure out the two voices that seemed to be emanating from the sky and not from the ocean that was right there beside them. No, for in that moment, out of the mists that were right above them, a glimmering spectacle suddenly appeared. Calla cocked her weapon ready to fire, but a stern edict was issued by the captain. One that prevented her and all others around her from firing at it. "Stand down." the captain ordered even as he watched the glimmering bottom of the boat that was still approaching. "A boat?" Her eyes bulged out of their sockets. What business did a boat have appearing in the mists above the ship? Surely, there was not a crane out there or something. Was there? Even as she wondered at it, Calla realised that it was a familiar looking vessel and she could already guess what the message from the bridge had informed the captain. Still, she was very apprehensive and wondered why they had not been able to sense it at all? Their suits were all well equipped with infrared sensors and the mini radar on the armor as well was well suited of this kind of thing. Or was it because of the strange thing that was covering it? The thin film that glowed all around it. Stretching up from the bottom, all the way to the white sails that were fully unfurled above it. Glowing with such an ethereal light that it made it hard to look at it and also to look away from it. Calla looked closer and she noticed that the membrane seemed to be pulsing. A closer inspection through her helmet's visor revealed that it was made up of thin tendrils of silver threads. Threads that moved all the way up from the bottom of the boat to the top mast and at the point where the threads converged, a pebble sized piece of glass, no, crystal, shone brightly. Brighter than any other part of the boat. A small star? She shook her head as she rubbed her eyes convinced that she was seeing things. "Please tell me that you are seeing this too?" she turned to the nearest person , but they remained dumb albeit with their mouth wide open. As it was, this person appeared to be even more surprised than she was. "No..." he shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Then looked up again to stare at the glimmering spectacle. "Am I going crazy or is that a boat... flying?" "If that's the case then, I am afraid that the whole crew has caught it." the captain laughed as he turned around to observe the rest of the crew. "What is the Captain doing?" "Why did he order us to stand down?" Calla could hear the voices as they whispered. Fingers latched on to triggers, ready to fire at a moment's notice and yet, the captain was laughing? It did not make sense. Sure, the boat did look familiar, but it was also possible that the fog was playing tricks on their eyes. Or maybe, it was the terrors! She turned to go and speak to the captain, but was interrupted in the process by the first voice speaking again. "How do we get out of this thing?" it asked. The female voice responded with a tsk and the smile that was still spread over the captain's face stretched out even wider. "Havillah..." Calla had him whisper even as a dark haired girl with a light caramel skin gripped the rails of the boat as she looked down. Her eyes were silver, Calla noted. With specks of pale blue and they were gleaming? The eyes alone were so startling that for a moment, Calla found herself feeling quite inadequate. "Bring her down." She heard the woman say and the first voice protested angrily. For some reason, that agitated voice also sounded familiar. "How on earth am I supposed to do that?" It snapped back and her eyebrows shot up into her hairline even as recognition set in. "Is that Connors?" she gasped. "It would seem so." the captain laughed again and just then, the face of Gabriel Conners peeked down from the boat's railing. It was his sailboat after all, just as the team from the bridge must have informed the Captain. Calla finally surmised. The whole company of sailors however remained slack-jawed, unable to process how one of their own had ended up there and with the beauty that was supposed to be their Captain's saviour? Had she also saved him? Was she now becoming their resident guardian angel? Suddenly, the boat locked sideways as if falling out of control. Calla took a step backwards even as her fellow soldiers that had once gathered to watch the scene scattered away in terror. For some reason though, their Captain was not frazzled. In fact, he had not moved from his place at all. Instead, he remained face upwards, grinning as the drama continued to unfold. What does he know that he is not telling us? She watched him from the side lines even as his brows furrowed. Probably, also confused by the words that the woman was now mumbling.  Slowly but surely, the sailing boat began to descend and the rest of the soldiers that had remained close by scuttled away in fear. Right before the boat hit the deck of the larger ship however, it seemed to slow down in its descent before hovering some several inches above the floor, close enough for its two occupants to disembark safely with the help of a ladder. "Havillah, I thought I would never see you again!" Calla watched in disgust as the man stepped forward to greet the woman in question. She was definitely a woman, Calla remarked as she took in her mature figure and the black robes that seemed to do little in the way of concealing her curves.  "I thought so too, but life has a way of disappointing us." the silver eyed beauty replied and Calla's disgust bubbled into rage. "Who the hell is she? Who dies she think she is to speak to our captain in such a familiar manner?" she seethed in silence. "I wouldn't call this disappointing per se," Killion told her and Calla's jealousy scaled up another level. "It's just surprising considering how we parted ways, but I must admit though, it is really good to see you again." as he said this, he took the girl's hand in his own and pulled her into a tight hug. Calla was now coughing up blood. 'Smooth…" She could hear the men's lewd joking. "What is so interesting about this?" She maintained despite her earlier observations. A total stranger appears and manages to steal him from right underneath her nose? Calla seethed. Behind them and for the second time that day, Killion could feel the eyes that were burning through his skull with a fresh promise of retribution. "Go ahead. Hug the woman and forget all about me." he could almost hear her thoughts and somehow he felt guilty for the pain that she was now suffering . "What wait!" He stepped away only to find that it was Connors who was standing there acting the disgruntled soldier. Was he the one who had just said that? Killion laughed at his confused thoughts and turned back to address him. After all, he had brought her to him and it was hardly fair to ignore him after the long night that he had just experienced. "Connors how nice to see looking so well and alive?" "And yet you make it sound like a tragedy!" " Sorry about that." Killion laughed. The little runt was getting emboldened. "How is everything in Bethesda? How was the ride? As I am sure everyone here, including myself is curious about that. And especially how you ended up in the sky screeching like that." The spectating crew laughed openly, forgetting that they too had just come from scuttling underground, screaming in a much similar manner as they fled for dear life. Either way he could not fault them. They were just gearing up for a good story. One that would lighten up things a bit after a dull six days away from the pleasures of being at shore. Gabriel Connors looked to Havillah and she smiled back at him. Was that her way of mocking him? He found himself thinking. Well it did not matter. He thought again as shook his head to rid himself of those same thoughts. He had more pressing issues to deal with, he thought as turned back to the captain. "Captain, if it is okay, may I be dismissed. I have to attend... to...other matters!" He finally said as he looked down at his suit even as the captain nodded in understanding. While the suit was quite comfortable, at the end of one's shift it had a knack for becoming quite cumbersome especially due of that ablutions module. "Very well then. I expect a full briefing afterwards." "Yes sir." "Well then, go and get freshened up. I will send for you later." He nodded and saluted, before walking down the stairs to the decks below. "Well then, let's leave him to that, as I am sure he had a long night and the rest of you have work to do as well. " Killion added as he turned back to Havillah. "But captain..." the soldiers all grumbled in unison. "Come on Captain, at least tell us who she is?" his second in command aboard the ship joined in and he breathed out a heavy sigh in frustration. "Really guys?" "We know that you are close and all from all that..." the senior lieutenant said as the rest of the men laughed at his imitation of a hug, "but please clarify and at least give us a name that we can go with." As this went on, Calla looked on with angry eyes. Her jealousy almost tipping past the boiling point. "Long hair, is that what you like Killion?" She thought as she took in the woman's long hair. Black curtains of hair that flowed down her back to below her hips. "Long hair and caramel skin? Or is it the silver eyes?" She questioned herself as she compared her much duller brown eyes to the gleaming orbs that were now looking around the ship with unfeigned interest. Apparently the men's conversation did not interest her one bit or had she never been aboard a ship before? For all her inattentiveness, the men seemed to like her and that did not bode well with Calla. How did she do it? To be able to possess such an other worldly glint in those silver eyes? And her robes, they seemed to emphasize her figure with every move that she made. Especially those hips that swayed with the flow of her hair. No wonder the men were going crazy because of her, she thought as she continued to look down upon her own appearance. Her short brown hair, her lean form and even, her much fairer skin tone that she now disliked in the face of this new beauty.