Guest Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Taken from excerpts of holodiaries of Vira De Santos. > LOGIN ARK.ANGEL > UmVtZW1iZXJNZUFsd2F5cw== // PROCESSING LOGIN INFO... // DONE. // GREETINGS, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER H. SINGH // INPUT COMMAND > ACCESS_HOLOJOURNAL_RECORDING V. DE SANTOS #012 // ACCESSING... // NOTE: THIS FILE WILL UNDERGO DECLASSIFICATION ROUTINES. OK? > AUTHORIZE_DECLASSIFICATION // PROCESSING... AUTHORIZING... // DONE. DECRYPTING FILE... // PUBLISHING ON COMMON DATABASES... // REESTABLISHING PUBLISHER VPN... // NOTE: THIS HOLOFILE IS READ-ONLY. CONTINUE? > YES, CONTINUE YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT // SYNTAX INPUT ERROR > CONFIRM_READ_ONLY // READYING READ-ONLY HOLOFILE #012. // DONE. There is a slight buzz of static, and then a display of a young, dark-haired girl with braces smiling into the camera. The camera zooms out a bit, and captures two other faces, one of a boy almost her age, and another girl with crazy-fun psychedelic highlights for hair. "Okay, okay! We're live!" squealed the girl with dark hair and bright green eyes. She gestured for her peers to come closer to capture the three of them in a photo, unanimously uttering, "Cheese!" A small snap is heard, and the girl holding the device flips the camera downward to the ground, looking at the picture. She displays the picture on the feed, the three of them making goofy faces, sticking up bunny ears behind each other's heads and sticking their tongues out. The display changes again to a static image of the three friends smiling plainly and seriously. The display changes again to display several humans mounting ostrich-like aviant creatures, with the saddles and restraints covered with reflective neon lights. The sky in the background would show the sky lit beautifully with jaw-dropping spectrums of fireworks and lasers, making all sorts of fun and elaborate shapes in the clouds. The feed returns live, and the girl carrying the camera sticks the device in one of her shirt pockets, the camera carefully capturing every frame and distributing information with haste. "Alright, cool. Now we gotta go meet your dad, right? You said he'd pick us up?" chuckled the boy, his brown hair being assaulted with every combination of light possible. "Aw, we gotta go now? Can't we go see the Eridani Whales?" whined the other girl with highlights. The trio all looked at each other, and shrugged. The boy darted off towards the mega-aquarium where thousands of people lined out. The two girls darted after her, the camera struggling to keep its perfect framerate with the sudden jerking motion. The three friends managed to be the first ones in line before the horde of tourists moved to swarm the entry line. They "oohed" and "wowed" as the aquatic animals themselves glittered in the preservation tank, perhaps several thousand cubic feet in area. A seal-like animal swam by the window, and then turned its thick head towards the three teens. It rolled its body with such speed and glamour that the trail of water following it glittered from the skylight above. As the seal departed, a large WOOSHING sound reached their ears, and they felt a tremor shake the entire aquarium. They struggled to maintain balance, and then saw a massive whale dive downward into the aquarium. Upon the tremor settling, the whale uttered out a forever-echoing moan that ricocheted off the secure reinforced glass over and over again. The camera turned a bit to face the two friends, and their mouths were opened wide, and their eyes reflecting the rays of incandescent light that hailed down from the skylight and refracting through the glass. The camera turned suddenly again, the carrier being jerked around forcibly. A tall, burly, dark-haired man with greying temples and beard held his hand on the carrier's left shoulder, and raised a bushy eyebrow. "S-sorry, dad. We wanted to see the whales," said the girl. The old man cracked a smile and shook his head, and unfolded his arms. He got down onto his knees, and presented a small, silver box to the girl with the camera. The box was engraved in ancient Hebrew lettering, and below it, "To Vira" in Sol Common. The boy piped up, asking what the letters spelled out. The old man chuckled, and recited, "'And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.' It's from the Bible." "What's a 'Bible'?" the girl with the psychedelic highlights asked. "It's an ancient text from an age long gone. I would say that fewer people remember the heritage of old Earth... but, perhaps it died along with it, long ago," the old man hesitated to add to this, and waved the thought away. He returned his gaze to his daughter, and his eyes gestured for her to take the box. The daughter took the box into her hands slowly, running her small fingers over the engraved lettering. She took a few moments to admire the craftsmanship. She opened the box slowly, and found a small pocket watch inside. The pocket watch was engraved with a beautiful avian creature rising upward into the sky, the sun behind it exposing the eagle's back with rays of light. She opened the pocket watch, and the casing displayed a carbonized depiction of a smiling woman with long, shoulder-length hair. The daughter looked up from the pocket watch, and stared into her father's eyes for a few moments, speechless. She then rushed to hug her father. The lens appears to be focusing only on her father's webbing vest. The recording picks up muffled crying, and whispering. // INPUT COMMAND > MARK_ARTICLE_OF_INTEREST // ARCHIVING FOR FUTURE INVESTIGATION... // DONE. >ACCESS_LOGOUT // LOGGING OUT... Quote Link to comment
Guest Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 > LOGIN ARK.ANGEL > UmVtZW1iZXJNZUFsd2F5cw== // PROCESSING LOGIN INFO... // DONE. // GREETINGS, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER H. SINGH // INPUT COMMAND > ACCESS_HOLOJOURNAL_ENTRY V. DE SANTOS #119 // ACCESSING... // DECLASSIFYING... // DECRYPTING... // PUBLISHING... // READYING READ-ONLY HOLOFILE #119... // DONE. My first week at the Apex Federal Navy academy was... eventful. I didn't expect to find friends there, really, I thought I'd be in a living hell. I didn't want to be a soldier. I didn't want to take up the mantle my father had before me. I wasn't really sure what I had in mind for a future career anyway. I had thoughts about being a traveller, honestly. I just wanted to see the stars, see the sights, explore entire planets on foot and take in the beautiful, dangerous scenery of an uncivilized world. I suppose I can't have my cake and expect to eat it. But, there was one thing that made the Academy redeemable. Despite the tense, harsh, high-expectations military atmosphere, I took solace in the one person I found that I could trust. She told me her name was Jahle. She was a Skrellian. Kind of skinny, but she had some air about her. At first, I thought it was arrogance, self-importance. I realized it was just pride. A want to persevere. It was kind of inspiring, I guess. I was willing to talk to her. About family, mostly. She told me her own family never bothered to notice her, considering she was the middle child. She felt frustrated at times, being so close yet so distant with the rest of her relatives. She said she felt her parents were a bigger disappointment than herself, refusing to see the amount of potential Jahle had at her disposal. I found it ironic that I was in the same sad position. The irony wasn't too palpable, though. I asked many questions about her kind. She described the Skrell as at best, advanced sentient beings not unlike that of humanity. She told me of how the Skrellian race was once split into several city-states, but they united once against a common militant enemy. She spoke of the most prominent religion, Altariser, and its core beliefs of constantly striving for betterment of the self in which they could learn the secrets of the universe. She added that it was inherently selfish, and not unlike many in Skrellian history that hungered for knowledge and power, the goal would become an acolyte's downfall. I felt a certain anger and hostility in her words as she described the Altariserites. It was very clear she wasn't a fan of them. I had to ask, "So, what do you believe in, then?" "I believe in war," she replied. I admit I was confused with her answer. Upon seeing my confusion, she began to elaborate. She told of a great general that dared to challenge the complacency and inaction of the Skrellian city states, the Tumpat. She spoke of the Tumpat coalition with contempt, describing them as greedy, self-serving individuals, ever-hungering for power and secrets, willing to sacrifice lives for their selfish goals. I tried to speak up and I asked if she would like to change the subject, but she claimed it would be better off if she vented her anger. I humored her. She continued with her story, reciting that the general, Elois Guf, led his armies against the Tumpat and the Qerrballak Yuer, whose ruler had turned upon Elois and signed a treaty with the Tumpat. She told me that Elois became enraged, led one-man raids and crippling strikes upon the Tumpat and the Yuer, and he roused many troops to follow him to war. He marched upon Yuer, attempting to depose his own king that had trusted him with the armies of the Qerrballak Yuer. She claimed with mixed pride and anger that they were good friends, and that the king who betrayed Elois was a great coward, afraid of doing what must be done to bring glory to the Skrell race. As Elois neared the gates of the Yuer capital, an unexpected strike by the Tumpat cut Elois' campaign short. Another General, Rinoi Laush, attempted to route Elois' efforts to rightfully seize Yuer for his own, she said. Elois killed many soldiers of the Tumpat, but fell in battle to Laush himself. She claimed that Laush challenged Elois to a duel, but that Laush cheated. That Laush committed a great crime, and that the rulers of the Yuer and the Tumpat pardoned it, saying that Elois was no one's equal, and was undeserving of a fair fight. For a few minutes, she continued on of the ramifications of honorable combat and the rules of engagement of a personal challenge to the death, but I was more focused on her passion and inflection in her voice. Those few minutes felt like hours, but I felt as though I could wait. She was very... inspiring. Unique. She had the qualities of a teacher, a leader. A guide. And a friend. Despite all of her anger, I saw... a light. And it gave me strength as well. Soon, several soldiers filed in, dismissing us from our lunch break. They asked us to proceed to the bluespace shuttles to return home. I snuck aboard the same shuttle Jahle boarded. As it turns out, the destination was only a few miles from my home anyway, on EE-IV. Neither of us spoke. We merely awaited the shuttle to dock on the surface of the planet below. The silence could be interpreted by others as awkward, but... I... felt calm. Braver than ever. // DATA END > MARK_ARTICLE_OF_INTEREST // ARCHIVING FOR FUTURE INVESTIGATION... // DONE. > ACCESS_LOGOUT // LOGGING OUT... Quote Link to comment
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