Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:00:42 -0800
From: Amethyst Rose <thepleiadescall@gmail.com>
Subject: Starlight 7 Part 4

This story is obviously fiction. This story will also involve sexual and
intimate relationships between two (or more) males, and if this offends you
or it is illegal for you to be reading, then please leave. If you are under
the age of consent for your community, please leave. And if it does offend
you, I honestly don't know why you're even here in the first place. To the
story... away!


				STARLIGHT 7


"In the eyes of outsiders, the background behind the ancient Solan practice
of Requiem may seem illogical, or even counterproductive. After all, the
dead have no ears, they have no mind to appreciate melody, nor voice to
even emulate it. So why do we continue to write songs, songs that will
never be heard, for the dead? They might as well be tuneless, yes? But
music does not live in the ears, or mind, or voice. Music lives in memory
-and that has been proven scientifically- so to write Requiem for the dead
is to forever embed something into their greater memory."

~Maestra Michaela Noti;

	Deathnotes


A voice in the residential wing. "Zack?" It's a voice that is soft, with an
unmistakable metallic ring to it. "Zack."

"Yes, Aurora?"

"The scan of the Astra 7 is complete."

Zack got up from his chair, gazed out the small window, round like a dime
in the wall. He saw stars, he saw the Blizzard floating like a brown metal
kite. "How many?"

"Seven."

"Names, please."

"Jolee Adagi, Technician Grade I, DR Mechana. David Andant, TSA Private
Second Class." The names grew fainter and fainter, the outlines of the
stars seeming more blurry and bright.

"Jane Cante, Technician Grade I, Cantata Station. Christoph Forten,
Technician Grade I, DR Mechana." At this point he himself had gone faint,
his hands began to tremble. At this rate he would never be able to pick up
the pen, much less hum to himself. "Hugo Legata, TSA Corporal. Jen Trillia,
Technician Grade II, Cantata Station. Wilson Via, TSA Private Second
Class."

Zack remembered how annoying Jo was when he talked, he remembered Christoph
taking him out to that junky bar back on Aria to celebrate their first
computer interface in the Esmeralda 2, back when being tired was being fun,
when research and building had some sort of meaning.

"Aurora?" Zack nearly whispered, his voice cracking.

"What is it, Zack?"

"Please get Ahn 1,000,000,001 on the line."

"Calling."

A ringing noise before the intercom crackled to life. "Hi, Zack."

"Did you find them all?"

Pause. "Yes. Pahn and I brought them to the medical bay. Dr. Bolero is
confirming and cataloguing their identities. They should be ready for
nanitization soon."

"Good to hear."

Yet another pause,though this time Zack could tell that Ahn was thinking of
what to say on the other end. "Are you alright?"

Zack bit his lip as he slowly paced in circles, talking to the
ceiling. "Yeah. I mean, are you?"

"Reyn don't worry themselves with death. I will be fine."

"How's the rest of the team doing?"

"Pahn and I are making do. Flower is upset. Shora is still in coma, but
Dr. Bolero says she is recovering. And as for Private Tremel, he is taking
stock of our armory." When Zack gave no response, Ahn continued. "You
haven't been out of your room in a while, Zack."

"What do you mean, I just saw you-"

"-at meal, yes, but that's all you bother to attend. The Blizzard's crew
haven't even seen you since our jump two days ago."

Zack felt his patience thinning. "Look, I've been busy, alright?!"

"...You still haven't slept, have you?"

"I'll see you, Ahn. End communications."

The ending tone beeped. Zack rubbed his face and went to the bathroom;
slumped over he stared at himself in the mirror, the deep bags under his
eyes, his face pale and harried. His hair was an oily mess. Flicking the
lights off behind him and heading back to his desk, he picked up a pen and
continued to stare at the blank musical sheets in front of him.

*******

"So, I don't get it," Dea-Lin said, standing behind Pete. "The Senna
system's under Flavin control. If they check your ship and find a buncha
dead bodies in TSA uniforms we'll both be in trouble."

"I wish it were that simple," Ahn replied, attempting to be reasonable.

"Oh, but it is that simple. Grab your nanites and nanitize away."

Pahn cut in from behind Ahn. "You have no idea how much we'd like to. At
this point it's a cultural more that's impeding progress."

"Wha's that mean?" Zahn asked. Both Ahn and Pahn gave Zahn a funny look
through the viewscreen. It made him shrink.

"It's a Solan tradition, apparently, to write songs for the deceased," Ahn
explained. "We're delaying disposing of the bodies until songs are
written."

Darrin, sharing his seat with Snow at the communication station, crossed
his arms. "You don't have any Solans on your ship, though."

"Yes. We do."

A long silence. Suddenly, Darrin clapped and nearly jumped out of his
chair, highly disturbing Snow. "Oh! That one kid! Wait, we're waiting up
for him?!"

"Is that a problem?"

"It will be if that kid gets us all arrested."

"If I may interject-" Flower of Dawn piped up sweetly from her chair at the
Astra's weapons station. "-we don't have much crew and what little morale
we have left has to be kept intact. In this case, tradition of any sort is
extremely important. I'm sure you'd agree with me," Flower added, nodding
to Snow, who seemed rather confused if anything.

"But you can't sacrifice both of our crews just for the -what- three Solans
on your ship. Think about what you're doing; we'll meet again prearrival."

Snow reached behind Darrin and pushed a button, ending the
transmission. Martine, arms crossed by the ladder, spoke up, addressing
mostly Dea-Lin. "I think you should go easier on them."

"Sure, sure...Still, it's in our own self-interest to save our skins, you
do realize that."

*******

The lights low, Dr. Bolero putzed to and fro the medical bay with a pen in
hand, marking sticky labels and placing them just about everywhere. A brief
flash of brightness heralded the opening of the door, then disappeared as
Zack entered and let it shut behind him.

Dr. Bolero turned to see his shadow. "Ahh... Zackary."

Zack went to Shora's bed; she was resting much more peacefully than before,
her breathing steady and her eyes closed. "How is she?" he asked.

"Stabilizing. Another day in here and she'll be fine." Zack nodded, staying
silent, while Dr. Bolero looked at him expectantly. "You're very
welcome. Is there something you needed?" she inquired while turning back to
her labels.

His throat dry, Zack hesitated a little before saying, "I wanted to ask you
something."

Dr. Bolero stuck a label on a bottle of pills, then replaced it into the
cabinet. "You know, it's remarkable how small they write the labels on
these things... when most doctors are my age, I don't know how they expect
us to get our meds right at all!" she chuckled to herself as she continued
to write.

"Your eyes can't be that bad if you can tell medicines apart in the dark."

With a pregnant pause Dr. Bolero put her pen and labels down. "...And what
did you want to ask me, Zackary?"

"Have you... have you ever done Requiem before?"

"Hm. I have," she said with a soft laugh. "Maybe not enough than I should
have in my life, but I have."

"W-well, do you have any tips?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Tips! Hm! You do know that divine impulse is the
meant to govern your notes, there's no trick to it. But, I still don't know
why you're doing it in the first place... Death in the family?"

"No!"

Dr. Bolero grimaced. "No need to be rude. I suppose you're referring to the
fellows that died in the attack, yes?"

"If I don't, then..." He choked down something before continuing
again. "...I mean, unless you could-"

"No, no, it's not my prerogative. Personally I think that sort of thing is
best relegated to the families, even if the Requiem isn't done with the
bodies." She widened her eyes. "Oh! Speaking of, do you want to see the
bodies?" While Dr. Bolero spoke she motioned to a vault-like door in the
far corner of the bay. "They're in the morgue right now. Their identities
have all been sorted out and they're ready for nanitization. Don't you
think it would make sense, by the way, to write the song before we arrive
in Senna?" Zack nodded. "Then I suppose you better get to writing."

*******

Darrin, down the ladder, walking towards the direction of the mess hall,
waited up for Snow after hearing his voice exhort him to stop. "What is
it?" Darrin asked.

"Nothing in particular," Snow responded after catching up to him. Darrin
liked the way Snow's hair shimmered, putting a cat-like smile on his
face. "But I just thought I should, you know, beg you to be nicer to the
Solan kid?"

"Why?" It was a good question, and Snow just shrugged. Darrin
continued. "The twerp could get us all arrested with that stupid Requiem."

"Is that what they call it?" Snow asked with a raised eyebrow. Darrin shut
his mouth and started walking again. Snow stayed by his side. "You
obviously know more about this than me, so you should know how important it
is to him."

"And you obviously know more about me and yourself to make assumptions, so
you should know that sometimes you gotta give up what's important to you
when it gets in the way." Snow's mouth hardened to a thin line as Darrin
made his point. "I mean, come on, Snow! You of all people should know what
I mean, you're a fucking atheist! You're like, the only Tintalan atheist in
the entire galaxy! But you ditched the church because it was getting in
your face."

"It wasn't that simple," Snow cut in. "Look... I'm an atheist, yeah, but
I'm a faithful atheist. And because I'm faithful, I can afford to fudge up
a little more in my displays of faith, because I'm comfortable in
myself. Now envision that Solan kid. He's a computer engineer, Darrin. He's
probably never had to even think of religion in his life. So when he's
confronted with something this big, he feels obligated to do something."

"Doesn't mean he has to act on it."

"Well, what would you do? This is really important to a lot of
Solans. Didn't your mom-"

"My mom never got Requiem!" Darrin growled. "...Arjidin can't sing worth
crap, and neither could my dad. Mom's family already disowned her, so all
that was left was me." Snow looked up at Darrin, his golden eyes now lost
in a fiery thought. "And I didn't know a damn thing about songwriting,
so... she was just a body without a song. And that was it."

Snow made a sympathetic face. "Oh, Darrin."

"Oh, Darrin, what? I don't care," Darrin replied, snapping back into
reality, although Snow didn't believe for a second that he was really that
blase. "Don't look at me like that. I'm still mad at the little know-it-all
brat."

"Martine agrees with me. You gotta convince Dea-Lin to give the kid some
more time." Darrin suddenly took a sharp turn into the hall, heading for
his room instead of the mess hall. "Hey! So will you-"

"I'll think about it," was all Darrin said, and he shut the door in Snow's
face.

Leaning against the door and hearing with his sharp ears Snow walk away,
Darrin rolled his eys into the back of his head, sighed, and then rubbed
his face. He jumped onto his bed and lay down on his back; the starchart on
the ceiling sparkled and shook with the direction of the ship, and Darrin
watched it for a while, wondering if maybe someday, he could learn to sing
like his mother could.

*******

The armory was surprisingly large for what was meant to be an overglorified
cargo ship. But Daw-Radiance asked for its specifications, so Daw-Radiance
got its specifications. There was room for at least six rows of rifles,
handguns, ammunition, auric rounds and grenades, crystal-weave armor, and
other means of protection, which cumulative could last a small platoon a
fairly long time.

Private Tremel was himself used to this sort of work so he moved quickly,
tallying the weapons on a datapad with his finger. He barely noticed Zack
when he walked in, closed the door behind him, and stepped over boxes of
ammo and guns.

Private Tremel had taken off most of his body armor except for his combat
pants; that left a close fitting black t-shirt which revealed his
musculature quite thoroughly, his dog tags just barely hanging around his
strong neck, in the crevice between his pecs. That also left him without a
helmet; Zack was looking at a young man with a blondeish flat top, still
revealing those amazing deer-in-the-headlights eyes that he always had.

"Are you busy?" Zack asked after some silence.

The sound of his voice made Private Tremel jump. "Oh! Sorry, um,
Mr. Alton."

"Zack. You can say Zack."

"Oh." An expectant silence. Private Tremel blinked in confusion. "Oh! Oh,
and you can call me Matt. It's, um, short for Mathias."

"That so."

"Or, well, you know. I don't like my full name but you can call me that if
you want. I think it's Solan for 'Fire' or something..."

"'Fire' is Mathiase. Mathias is the same spelling but your pronunciation
means compassion."

Matt shrugged. "Cool."

"Just cos I've gotten used to speaking Basic doesn't mean I've forgotten
the old language." Biting his lip, Zack began to tap the side of his thigh
in nervousness. "So, um, speaking of which."

"What did you need again?"

"You wouldn't have... I mean, do you think that..."

"What?"

"No, it's just, I really needed..." In a culmination of thoughts, of
emotions and lack of sleep, Zack sat down on a crate and buried his face in
his hands, feeling tears in his eyes, uncontrollably whimpering and
shaking. He whispered, "Oh, Gods..." and he wished he could fall into a
pit, or better yet, into outer space.

Confused or just flustered, Matt accidentally dropped his data pad while
trying to replace it on a shelf, then kneeled down next to Zack. "Wh-whoa,
whoa! What's wrong?"

Zack shook his head, sniffed once, then twice, then rubbed his eyes
clean. In a split second he had regained his composure, and but for red
scleras it was although he had never cried to begin with. "Nothing. N-never
mind, I'll just go and tell Ahn to-"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Met with Matt's wide eyes Zack blinked and opened his mouth, after much
deliberation finally asking, "Have you ever done Requiem before?" Now Matt
blinked in confusion, and Zack followed up with one long sentence: "I asked
Dr. Bolero, but she couldn't help me and you're the only other Solan on the
ship so I didn't know who else to ask, and, and... and yeah. So do you have
any tips?"

At this revelation, Matt's face, once bright and wide, became shrouded. He
frowned and sat down on a crate across from Zack, folding his hands between
his knees. "This is for the guys that died on the Astra, isn't it?" he
inquired. Zack nodded. "And your friends too, right?" Zack nodded
again. Matt stared at the floor. "I thought... actually, I thought I could
do it too, you know. I never got to know them, or really fight with them
even, but we spent enough time together that I figured it'd be cool if I
could help them in some way."

"So have you ever done it before?"

Matt shook his head. "Never had to. I guess we're both new at it."

"...Can I tell you a secret?"

A nod.

"I have done Requiem before. Once."

"Who for?"

Zack stared not at Matt, but at the space behind him, or perhaps beyond
him. "When I was twelve I had a pet rabbit."

"What was his name?"

"Her. It was Maina." He chuckled to himself. "It's, um, it was Solan for
Marshmallow." And then Matt laughed, and he smiled; Zack saw it in his eye
and he knew he was soft to the core. "Well... Some years later she
died. Had a stroke and we put her to sleep. Gods, I was so sad; that was
the first time I ever had anything die on me. So I did Requiem just for
her." Zack found himself sniffling again, and although he managed to subdue
tears he couldn't stop his voice from cracking anymore. "Now, now this is
just so much bigger, and I'm scared. I'm not writing a song for a rabbit
anymore, I'm writing a song for people, for my friends and your friends,
for people who actually have families somewhere. And if I mess up... if I
send them up with some stupid half-baked ditty from the mind of a Computer
Engineer whose best friend used to be a rabbit, I couldn't forgive myself."

This time, a deliberate silence, although Zack patiently waited for Matt to
say or do something. Matt pursed his lips, and then moved his crate over;
with several noisy scoots he moved in next to him, so that they were side
to side. "...Your rabbit was your best friend?" Now Zack
nodded. "Well... that's good enough experience for me. You're gonna help me
write this, right?" Another nod. "Cool. I'll, um, try and help you too. But
I'm not really good at it, so-"

Zack chuckled, shaking his head; Matt really had missed the whole point of
his tirade. Or maybe, just maybe, that part about his best friend really
was the whole point. He just didn't realize it until Matt pointed it
out. "Yeah," Zack said. "We'll get through this. Right now, we'll do it."

"Yeah?"

"...Yeah! Yeah." Zack exchanged a candid smile with Matt, seeking out his
lucid eyes. "Just us newbies."

*******

"Some of the crew and I have been talking..." Dea-Lin said, exchanging a
glance with a smiling Snow, a satisfied Martine, and a reluctant
Darrin. "...and we've agreed to give you guys more time. We can just park
out here in dead space for right now, and wait until your Solans have done
their thing before entering Senna."

"I see. Well-"

"But don't think we're doing this lightly! We had to do a lot of hard
thinking, and I was personally against it, and I still think it's awfully
stupid."

"Sure. But-"

"Not to mention you're putting all of us out, not just us, but
yourselves. We're sitting ducks, in the middle of the worst quadrant in the
galaxy, with one of the most valuable ships in the galaxy. But no
pressure."

"They're done."

The entire Blizzard's bridge went silent. "What?"

"Rather, they are finishing," Ahn clarified for Pahn. "Zackary and Private
Tremel have composed their Requiem and are currently dedicating it as we
speak."

"Sounds nice," Snow said, slowly and rather disappointed at the
anti-climax. "When do we get to hear it?" he asked.

"Never," Ahn replied. "Only the dead and the composers may hear it."

Another silence. "So... that's it?" Dea-Lin asked.

Pahn gave a curt nod. "Our doctor will have the bodies nanitized within the
hour. We'll make the system border in fine condition."

In the background, behind Dea-Lin, Darrin began to have a small bickering
with Snow and Martine. Dea-Lin cracked her neck. "Well then. I suppose we
journey on. Thank you for that panic, sirs. We'll see you at Senna Prime's
Docking station. Blizzard out." Still whispering angrily at Darrin, Snow
slammed a hand on a button, and the communication ended.

Ahn turned to Flower. "Are they done?" he asked.

She nodded. "They just buzzed me while you were talking. They're ready for
nanitization."

"Very well." Ahn gazed into the viewscreen, which was now a window to the
space outside. Far in the distance, a silver speck represented Senna
Prime. And that-- that would be the beginning of the real troubles.

*******

"Is everyone back yet?" Ahn asked Zack, waiting by the threshold of their
cargo bay doors.

Zack, who was just stepping on from the bustling crowds of the Senna
docking station, shook his head. "No. Blizzard crew's still out there, and
Matt's not back yet either."

Flavin space stations were the busiest of their kind, more shopping centers
than hubs. As a result a lot of smuggling did go on at Flavin stations; the
Astra was searched thoroughly, although no traces of bodies were found and,
thankfully, no reports on a multi-billion credit Daw-Radience ship had to
be made. The news, apparently, had not yet reached all government
officials.

Now was the time to stock on food and other essentials, which was exactly
what they were doing. Ahn yelled over the noise to Zack: "I'm going to
message Dea-Lin! I'll be right back!" Zack nodded as Ahn left for the
bridge, and then sat down on a barrel filled with pickles. Now that this
whole debacle was over, just maybe he could get some sleep...

Suddenly, footsteps. Zack opened his eyes and saw Matt stepping up the ramp
into the cargo bay. "What took you so long?" Zack asked.

"Oh, uhm," Matt turned a little red. Zack suddenly noticed that he was
carrying a small box with a handle. It had holes punched in it. "I was, um,
looking around for new ammo or something, and, um, I thought you might like
this." Awkwardly he trudged up to Zack and put the box down next to him,
then quickly walked into the ship's interior.

Zack wrinkled his brow. He picked up the box, placed it in his lap, and
opened up the top. His jaw dropped; inside was a baby rabbit, blueish grey
fur with spots of white, and pretty black eyes. It was half asleep,
breathing fast, its ears and whiskers twitching briefly. Zack smiled, he
laughed and he let a tear stream down his face all at once. He looked
towards the door that Matt had headed towards, but he was gone. Nothing
needed to be said anyway. Still beaming, Zack reached in and pet the rabbit
with the edge of his index finger. He'd get some sleep tonight. After all,
he may have a new best friend.

*******

ÒFunÓ fact for ÒFans!Ó: I really had a bunny named Marshmellow (sic). That
was all a true story. It was really sad, but I still have her memories, so
itÕs okay :). She loved bananas. REALLY loved them!

Hi!

Aww, Zack's a little bit pathetic, if you haven't figured it out
already. But he likes his animal friends, and after he gets some sleep
you'll see he's really much sweeter than he is acting right now. Matt,
however, is a very nice guy--he was never meant to be a soldier, that's for
sure. And Darrin definitely has some soft spots himself; he may be arguing
with Snow in the end, but as a side note, he actually doesn't regret
advocating Zack's choice.

Anyway, some new problems will have to be addressed in the next issue; How
will they disguise the Astra 7? Can the Auric drive be fixed? And will
Shora be up to fixing it? Stay tuned!


As per usual, thanks for reading!


Questions? Comments? Recommendations? Fan Mail? Hate Mail, maybe? Wanna
just chat? Email me at ThePleiadesCall@gmail.com . Love to hear from you!

If you like Starlight 7, maybe there's the very vague possibility you'll
like other stories I've submitted:

Charmed Reborn (celebrity), Final Fantasy Rosa (celebrity), Pokemon:
Amethyst (celebrity), Teth (fantasy), Diana Celes (High School), Hallow
(sci-fi/fantasy), Crystal (Encounters).