Planatae

Interlude: FERRUS (ONE MONTH AGO)

Erin carefully extricated herself from her tiny seat. It had been a cramped, uncomfortable ride, but she had kept herself occupied by reading reports on her feed.

Thanks to the sprawling mess of a war the Rete had engaged in, most of her resources were devoted towards military research and development. Once, she would have spent her time reading case studies that explored the cultural evolution of a planet pre and post-Awakening, or the psychological profile of Planatae that choose to actively participate in human affairs.

But now, all her time was spent on Factor research - enhancing it, amplifying it, controlling it. Edin shook her head at the thought. Those in power always sought power in its grandest form, and the current incarnation of the Senate was no different.

They believed that the key to winning was some yet-unknown, hugely destructive Faactor. A super-soldier with the capability to rival even that strange Avatar that the Saiseki seemed to revere. But any one of her scholars would have said the same thing as her: wouldn't it be easier - cheaper - to simply improve the ships, and the guns? Build bigger weapons that would have more than enough of that destructive potential? But no, those weren't symbols. Not in the way a person could be.

Edin waited patiently for the passengers who had sat in front of her to get up and leave before making her way down the aisle. The people that surrounded her were day-workers, clothed in simple, study clothing. Every day, shuttles from a half-dozen surrounding stations would touch down on Ferrus and disgorge its flood of laborers.

Agriculturalists, welders, mechanics, custodians - these were people that kept the settlements of Ferrus functioning. In her military uniform, Erin stuck out like a sore thumb, but she was largely ignored by the others.

As Erin threaded her way through the crowd, she wondered about them. These millions upon millions of people just living their lives - did they have a passion for the war? Did it matter to them? This standoff between the Rete and Saiseki was a battle of resources, or so they claimed. But Erin saw the conflict as a challenge of wills, of ideologies.

The strict laws and coding of the Rete, pitched against the passion and aristocracy of the Saiseki, a nation railing against that idea. It would make sense then, that the importance of a figurehead - a bearer for such ideas - would be paramount.

After one final push, Erin managed to emerge from the shuttle. She stepped out onto the station platform, that was just as flooded with people. Erin could have taken a private transport down for her meeting, but she preferred taking a public route. It lent her a refreshing sense of anonymity, being part of the crowd.

She began to chart a path through the people, ignoring the blaring shouts from the street vendors, the bright, tantalizing visuals from adscreens.

She stepped through the turnstile check and made her way down a cavernous hallway. Scores of people moved in the same direction, and so it felt as though she were being dragged along by some massive, living tide.

The hall opened up to the Hub's central chamber, where offworld passengers could find surface transport, or vice versa. Spaceports like this dotted Ferrus, but the Hub, which served the planet's capital, was larger and grander than the rest.

As she always did when approaching, Erin paused for a moment to admire the chamber's hgh, domed ceiling. Unlike other spaces in the port, this place was bereft of hawkers and aggressive technology. It was built of solid, light-colored stone, blocks and blocks of it layered atop each other to form the room's looming ceilings. The dome itself was a mosaic of metal and glass, the latter casting a dizzying array of colors. Light streamed through these colorful panels, throwing patterns across the space.