Lost

Under Pressure

Things will start getting somewhat tense from this point on, but I made quite a surprise reference up ahead that will give you a hint as to who the Sobrekt are partly inspired on.

X0X

The Massive. Somewhere in Deep Space...

Ilk was bored.

VERY bored.

One may think it must be very entertaining to travel around space with the Irken Armada conquering planets, but that's a half-truth. It's only fun when you actually have a role and do something.

Ilk had neither. She was the daughter of Almighty Tallest Red and she had many of his quirks, that's right, but by Irken standards, she was still ripe and lacked the proper training to actually take part in battle... and daddy dearest wouldn't allow her to take part in battle even if she were.

Besides she never really got to visit the conquered planets, and whenever she did she was always accompanied by a dozen Elites who attacked whoever came 8 inches from her or looked at her funny. What a good impression.

She knew dad and uncle Pur had enemies, but this was ridiculous! She couldn't even go use the restroom alone when escorted.

It wasn't always like this. When she was younger things were slightly different. Her father would take her to Vacatio, Foodcourtia and other interesting places, only the two of them(okay, uncle Pur sometimes tagged along) having fun and spending time with each other.

At some point when she was five, however, something happened that changed everything.

She didn't know what, though. She couldn't remember anything bad occurring at that time, and nobody would tell her anything. Sometimes she even had the feeling the others knew what had transpired and kept it a secret from her, but she tried to dismiss it.

The point is everything changed afterward.

Dad sat down with her to have a talk, told her about all the enemies the Empire had and would probably try to hurt her to get to him. He said that for her own safety she would always be escorted and they wouldn't be able to go out of the Massive as often as before.

She understood at first, but as time went on she was allowed to go out less and less until eventually, she found herself confined. She was still trained to fight and taught how to defend herself, but in her opinion what was the point if she wouldn't get to actually use those skills?

Plus at times her father had rushed into her room in the middle of the night and awakened her, looking scared out of his wits only to sigh in relief when he saw her in bed, but wouldn't give her a straight answer as to what he was doing there.

Ilk yelped in pain when she cut her finger with her book's page. But instead of putting something on the cut to stop the bleeding, she merely stared it, knowing what would happen next.

Five seconds later the tiny wound closed by itself, stopping the bleeding through the rivulet of pink was still there.

It was weird. This wasn't supposed to happen until she got her PAK. Then again, given she wasn't like everybody else in that manner perhaps she had her own quirks.

Her stomach growled. Oh, right, she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, and believe it or not being mad at dad could be tiring.

Ilk left her room and went to the cafeteria, where many crewmembers were having their lunch break. Most waved amiably at her, and she returned the greeting silently but with a smile of her own.