Marget 'Onyx' Noreen stepped through the golden corridor with a triumphant smile and the relic wrapped greedily around her fingertips. She kicked the dust of the remaining petrified relic's guardians off her feet as she walked past tapestries of archaic flowers that was long extinct from centuries past. Her smile widened as she saw more statues, this time of the temple's guardians, petrified from her earlier ritual. The witch adorned with black made a slow ascend up the dais to a gigantic golden orb with a carved-in shape of a flower in the middle floating savoring this moment.
"Marget! I still believe that you want a prosperous era for all of Zreth, but please not like this!"
That's QUEEN Onyx to you, Marget replied telepathically, Do you question my judgement, captain?
No my queen, but...but...
Marget forcefully closed the telepathic connection and flicked a part of her red hair off of her shoulder. She swept the rest of the dust off of her robe while keeping hold on the golden relic flower in her left hand. Again, the black witch held on to it with both of her slender fingers after stopping right in front of the golden orb. Just standing before it made the witch giddy with joy at the prospect of becoming a living, immortal god not only of Zreth but of this world.
The witch remembered the legend of the Flower Key by heart. With the promise of god-like power, eternal youth, and immortality to the one who could find and return the Flower Key to the fallen temple of power, it was exactly what Marget wanted to solidify her rule in Zreth and to ensure that she can begin her conquest for the rest of Loracre. She had both Zreth's conscripted army and her own loyal elite army at her backing, but it never hurt to have an ace on a sleeve.
She raised the flower up before the golden orb, and the flower floated up to the carved-in shape. After it fitted itself in, Marget looked up proudly and declared, "I, Queen Marget Noreen of Zreth, came for my reward of power, immortality, and eternal youth to expand my hand and magic beyond my kingdom onto the rest of Loracre!"
The golden orb gave a bright glow that filled the room and blinded Marget for a second. When the golden flash was gone, the witch saw that the now whole orb became clear like glass.
"I gave the piece back!" Marget screamed, "Now hand me my rightful reward!"
A deep hum resonated throughout a small compact room as a lone cyrotube holding a man wearing a dark blue power suit opened up. His body remained still even if the freezing tempature of the room grasped on to his exposed face as it turned the spilled water on the metallic floor into ice in seconds.
"Welcome back to Observational Post Sigma Three, Commander Dawson."
Commander Jayden Dawson didn't waste any more time standing still when he pushed himself out of the tube and lowered his suit's protective helmet with a mental command to the suit. He took a brief moment to try to remember why he and his units was stationed here.That memory remained inclusive, but others came into mind like why he was put into cyrosleep.
To see that he was still in the observational station made him fume with anger. What excuse did the xenobiologists could have came up with to extend the time observing some backwater planet was the first thing he thought and asked himself. The commander made his way out from the door with the door unlocking and opening itself when it's mounted scanner regonizing his power suit's electrical signature. It sounded a bit too quiet here, but it could be that the working shift was over. The commander marched over to the station's bridge wanting answers of the extended time; however when he reached to the main hallway, he knew then why the station was silent.
Statues of station personnel littered there with a few crumbling pieces on the floor. Jayden slowly walked up to some of the statues with dust from broken pieces of a few gathered to his feet. One statue in particular made him freeze with shock, recognizing it to be his vice commander. The life-like statue of his vice commander was rough looking with small cracks on her face. Jayden stared at it with shock as he heard his suit's scanning report.
No other life signs detected in this area, the suit mentally said to him.
The glass orb remain still in one place, floating. Marget's face turned red the longer she stared at it. She begin to feel other telepathic links coming in, all from her worried captains. The black witch didn't think that most of them will speak out during this critical moment; she didn't think that she had to remind them who was in charge either. Once she stomp her foot on the ground, sending a small mental shock wave to the captains trying to contact her. That should shut them up, she thought.
Marget cleared her throat and clenched both of her fists. "I, Queen Marget Noreen of Zreth, came for my reward for returning what was lost!"
Her voice echoed throughout the statue garden of the former vigilant guardians, now nothing more as obstacles she got rid of. She kept her head high at the orb as she stood her ground, demanding a response. When she didn't get it right away, she added, "I proved my worth by raising an army to restore Zreth and to put everything under my banner! While doing that, I managed to seek and find the key! What more do you want from the Onyx Witch!"
The commander felt a part of his left cheek becoming cold feeling a tear running through it. He stared at the statue as he let his hands feel the statue's texture. His vice-commander was long dead if telling by the crumbling debris of stone body parts that fell from a few statues. How long I was asleep, Jayden asked his suit mentally. Both of his hands shook as he got not only that answer, but when this disaster happened and today's date.
Today's date was March 6, 7713. The disaster have happened six hundred and ninety-seven years ago during his seven hundred years in cyrosleep. How the disaster happened explained why nobody investigated or a rescue crew came by being this far out; it happened quick and without warning. His immediate family are long dead, but that didn't scare him the most. Jayden made way to the barracks, and the commander nearly fell dead from grief. He had lost men and women in battle before, but this was different. Before him was rows of solders and crew sleeping in their beds, all stone. Going through each row, he saw a couple wearing the insignia of his unit.
Quickly, Jayden left the barracks and headed back to the cyrochamber he awoke in. He raised and lowered a hand, letting the room pick up his motion command to open two more active cyrotubes. Both suited up men with their helmet already lowered left their tube just as quickly as he did earlier. At the same time, they both saluted to the commander. Jayden raised a hand before they spoke.
"Today's date is March 6, 7713, seven hundred years after we went asleep to let the station run without military oversight," Jayden said, fearing the worst on how the two will take the news, "The rest of the station's crew have been killed by some anomaly that turned them into stone statues in 7016. Take a moment to grief, because we're going to get to work on finding who or what on that planet did it and avenge their deaths." Usually Commander Dawson isn't a man of many words, but he didn't want to waste time asking more questions.
The man with a metallic scabbard across his waist said, "Let's start by examining the data on the bridge."
The other who is unarmed said, "Or ask one of the scientists who is trying to communicate with this station over a communication hub that has been activated not to long ago on that planet."
In silence, Jayden walked out of the cyrochamber with the other two following close behind him. The two men didn't take the time to examine the centuries old statues of the crew in the main hallway and Jayden didn't want to do that again; seeing their comrades who had been crumbling into dust slowly with a glance were enough for a view that made the three silent and let their minds dwell into rage and grief.
Marget's face went from impatient to furious as the orb remained silent. She raised both of fists up in the air screaming. The witch felt her vocial cords becoming a bit strained as her amplified screaming tore through the golden corridor. Most statues crumbled under her voice, but a few remained. Dust littered the floor as the pieces hit the floor, but they didn't crumble completely. She shook both of her fists when she saw that her screaming didn't do anything.
Grimacing, Marget paced her self in front of the orb. She stopped at the realization that she could be using the wrong method of communication. The black witch looked back at the floating glass orb and tried to establish a telepathic link. In seconds she felt the link being active, but felt a nothingness as if she was the only one in another room.
I, Queen Marget 'Onix' Noreen of Zreth, came for my reward of power, immortality, and eternal youth to unite Loracre under my banner of my armies and strength! I stand before you with proof that I have fought nail and brim to be here to return what was lost!
A smile crawled into the witch's lips, expecting a response out of that.
As the three approached the observation station’s bridge, the three stopped in near perfect unison. The station’s announcement system then told them what they already knew: the station’s communication hub received a message. Jayden mentally sent the command to dismiss it seconds after they heard it. The airlocks leading to the bridge opened by themselves as the three came closer.
The observational station’s bridge was a compact triangular room with a golden triangular shaped table. Above that table was a floating clear orb giving out a faint glow. The commander sat at the base of the table with the other two men sitting on each side of the triangle. Jayden kept silent as one of his men speak. “How did this native get access to the hub?” The man with the scabbard asked, “And what she’s talking about returning something?”
“I am about to find out,” Jayden said. For a moment, the commander looked up at the orb and projected his senses to it. The sensory projection lead itself to the active communication hub down on the planet; for a second, the commander’s body went limp in shock in what he saw. Surrounding a woman with long red hair dressed in all black were crumbled statues within a golden corridor adorned with various of variations of their empire flag, a golden flower within a red triangle, within banners hanging on each side. Jayden took extra care of remembering her face to the finest detail and her voice he heard earlier from the message.
Putting his rage aside, the commander focused all of his mental presence into the communication hub on the planet. He already could feel the native’s proud and smug composure that made him more the angrier.
“Girl,” Jayden said reining in his accusatory temper, “are you responsible for the crumbled dust in the room you are standing in now?”