Atra looked on with awe. Six months ago, this base was a wasteland, barely even a backwater with just a few drunk thugs. Now it was swarm of life, with over six hundred residents and more coming every day. New ships, new trade, and a new pep in her peoples step signifying something even greater -hope. Melios had done this, with her help among many others of course, his dream had become all of theirs.  A dream where the Aelios people were not forced to grovel to the 9 for the right to exist, where they were no longer regulated to the smallest, least profitable asteroids in the galaxy. A dream where they had a world of their own. 

A man carrying some kind of metal shaft bumped her side, shifting Atra from the daydream. He half grunted an apology. She carried on to her home, barely more than a wooden shack. As one of the first homes on Calimbra, it was now at the heart of the city. “Bados, I’m back. Get your pants on.” She called out preemptively. Bados - her brother - was huddled over on one of their low chairs fiddling with some sort of device. He held up a finger to wait, his pants were shockingly intact. 

“Entro hundred candle waxer!” He let out a series of curses  before placing the object down. He seemed like he wanted to smash it. “Ahhh, I’m suprised you came back sister. The gossip is painting you as the shadow savior of the revolution, thoughts you’d be off stealing Melios’s chair.”

“It was just a shield slip, no big deal.”

“I’m sure.” He eyed her sideways. “Anyways, I’m glad one of us could have such success.” 

“The minerals?”

“Andos men tricked us, the Chorn trader was actually a hostage. They tailed us halfway back to the system and we had to drop the mineral bag.” Bados sighed, but stood and gave her a hug. “It is good to see you though.”

“It is good to see you too. Maybe you should join us on our next run, the profits are -”

“We talked about this before, I’m no fighter.” The room felt tense, Bados avoided her gaze. 

“What’s that?” She pointed to the device he’d been struggling with. 

“Its uh I don’t really know” He picked it up, showing off a blue casing with what appeared to be a gelatin substance inside. “Argie said he found it by the backwaters on some mining expo and was gonna sell it for five senles. I gave em four and feel like a sucker, I can’t even get the orpha-damned thing open.”

“Let me see.” She pull it into the light, at close glance she could see a myriad of odd shapes in the light blue gelatin. It wasn’t clear if the color was just because the case or not. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

“I heard theres a spotter coming in on the next freighter. I’ll ask around for you.” She handed back the weird device. 

“Only if you want, besides have you eaten? I got some cassa cubes I’m planning to fry up.”

“Actually, Melios had a ‘feast’” she inflexed the term feast because by most being standards it was only a decent meal but for an Aelios…. “after we took the dropship.” The shared a knowing look before Atra heading into her room. They were on different paths now, and while Bados supported her dream he wasn’t able to take those steps towards violence to get their. He tried to hide it, but she knew her actions tested his morals. Moreso, being the brother of one being seen as more and more a leader of war made him uncomfortable everyday. It was odd to her because that night she slept sounder than ever before.

Bados was already gone when she woke up, the strange object with him. She snuk ten senles into his drawer before hoofing to the ‘grand citadel’. That structure did not yet live up to its name. The grand citadel, which was the command center for what Melios termed operation divine landing, was just a medium sized stone house surrounded by some shabby wooden walls and four guard stands. If a slight breeze wanted to attack them, it could destroy everything. Luckily, asteroid colonies didn’t have breezes. 
As she came up to the structure, the lone guard atop the post eagerly waved her in. The other three “towers” were all empty and this specific guard – who Atra did not know – appeared quite young and untested. As she walked in she found Melios in the center of the home, spread out consciously among a dozen papers, star charts, and a giant endo-reciever on the side. No doubt it was running through all the data Melios could receive from the inner worlds.

“Hail the chief” Atra shouted, and Melios looked back startled. He was not what one expected from a leader of a pirate gang or a revolution. He was very short and exceptionally thin, his wide eyes initially put one at ease if you didn’t notice their devious shifting which took in every detail. His beard was long but still patchy, and his medium length hair fell into a scrunched up mess into his eyes as he straightened up.

“Ahh the pirate queen herself, come, come.” He waved her along absently, but with an air of friendliness. “Look look.” He pointed at one of the many wrinkled papers. The were just a bunch of numbers strung along.

“What does all that mean?”

“They are transmitter coordinates from over two hundred trade convoys. Joro was able to get my virus passed their software scans. It’s such a small thing, they didn’t look for it as a threat.”

“So we know where they are, whats the next step.”

“This one!” Melios slammed his finger into the page. “This convoy has taken six trips past the out realms, and into Chorn territory.”

“Chorn? I thought that we were finally striking into inner territory.”

“I was wrong, we cannot pick a target for which help could ever possibly arrive. We must be successful, or our people will stop showing.”

“Our people are showing in waves now, we need to show them that we can fight. That this is more than just a bunch of children trying to blow out a star. This colony has hundreds of people now.” She felt the heat in her chest, he must be pulling her leg. They needed to act now!

“Atra-”

“Don’t Atra me! Do you know how many people have died for this dream of yours, how many have- and for you to just throw it away.” She was almost screaming now.

Melios grabbed her wrist, his grip was weak but it brought her to his gaze. His words came out cold, far too cold and flat. “The minute we stepped into this game, we gave up our rights to live a sensible life so that our people could live sensible lives. No revolution has ever ended well for the revolutionary, but they fight not for lives but for their lively-hoods. I will die. You will die. Likely everyone who ever associated with us will die, and at the moment of our death we will likely feel farther from our goal than ever before.” He let go of her wrist but continued the speech. “There is no way to defeat the 9. Based on numbers, we have six hundred and forty three members in this colony, twenty one ships including transports and approximately seventeen million E (their people) spread over some three hundred asteroids, mines, and space stations. The (), the least populous of the Nine have over one one hundred million souls, and thousands of ships. They live in toxic clouds that would kill any other conscious being in seconds, and when brought out of their home world are neigh on impervious to all damage, temperature, and toxins. They can spend hours, unsuited in deep space without even feeling the cold. This is the power of the Orphelians. Each contains the literal power of a god, diffused among a world and settled into the minds and bodies of the children of those worlds making them essentially demi-gods. Among all nine, there are over five hundred trillion conscious beings. We are outnumbered, outclassed, outsmarted, and most importantly under-designed for this war, Our only privilege is that not one of those five hundred trillion have ever thought of us as a serious threat. We exist to them only as dogs, to bark and fight their proxy wars. With polished teeth from their weapons, we can provide political leverages. Our goal is not, as you might think, to win this war. Our goal is to make them recognize us as conscious beings, as real threats that cause so much of a problem it would be easier to let them just colonize. If we fail to invoke that threat, they will do what many always wanted and annihilate not just our movement but our people as a whole. Do you understand?”

Atra inhaled sharply. His words were somehow able to create a perfect vision in her mind, a literal vision to push forward on.

“What is this power?”

“It is my greatest weakness.” His shame was clear.

“But you could rally thousands at a time. I am certain of it.”

“Do you feel the power, that sense of goodness from it?” He failed to keep eye- contact now.

“Yes, it is wonderful!” Atra could sense it, it was as if she was seeing the world in a new way. There, right around her she could sense the thin veneer of sociability that kept the world from its psychotic core. The house itself retained its physical dimensions but lost some of its realness, but in this loss she felt a great gain with something more. A benevolent creator.

“No! It is horrible, it is a lie and cannot be trusted.”

“But-” He cut her off.

“The gods were captured Atra, there are only demons now.” Their was a tension build, she could feel it coming from the feeling his vision had created and the words that he was saying. Her eyes shifted around the room, locking onto a shower gun on the edge of the table.

“Atra! I had no idea you were here.” The new voice shattered the tension, it was M’s wife Lunacema. She ran up and hugged Atra tightly. “It is so good to see you my dear, the risks you go through...” She shook her head.

“It is good to see you too.” The room suddenly came back into clear existence, almost like coming out of a mediation.

“You look upset, what were you talking about?”

Melios answered. “We were just discussing our next trip.”