Unholy Star, Beyond Faith

A new war

Panthera Tigre stood his ground. "What will I need this sword for?" He repeated. His voice was strong and echoed in his chest like it had not for many years. In a thirty-two-year-old body, he felt powerful, like he was in command of his faculties and his environment, rather than his experience in the shell of a near infantile, forgotten, and discarded aged person that he was not a month before.

Reiko's wife, Tabbie, stood and left the room, leaving the Reiko, his lips pursed but silent and facing-off against their guest across the table. Tiger could tell, the giant was conflicted; it was as if the man wanted to answer his question but was prevented by something or, more likely,  someone.

"Look, I know Pachy. Probably better than anyone else in the Galaxy." Tiger guessed that it was his old friend behind Reiko's hesitation. "The old goat is smart, powerful, and self-interested. But, he is also a pragmatist. No matter what he has told you, he knows that you will not be able to hide the truth from me. One way or the other, you will tell me what is going on here."

Reiko nodded, "General, do you remember me? From your life before the aged colony, about fifty years ago on Marshal Ground?"

Tiger sought the memories from the decisive ground battle fought over a territorial dispute against Ophuican forces. His cavalry had fought hard to dislodge the enemy vanguard who had almost surrounded the head of the Church Force offensive. It was a bloody battle, with massive losses from both sides. The god spawn, as the Nephilim are called in the field, were there. But, with their heads within the armoured visors of their mechs, it was not possible to recall an individual. "You were there?"

"Yes, I was there. Black mech, golden plumes."

Tiger remembered instantly. When they hit the enemy's flank, that mech and two others had breached the gap between the allied forces. The carnage had been amongst the worst he had seen (and he had seen some things). But, like every memory of battle, that instant was carried away by the next blow, "I don't know what to say."

"Say nothing. You don't need to. However, I remember you. I remember how you saved that day for us. Such cunning that kept the enemy guessing, that turned a force of seasoned fighters with high ground advantage into a flock of panicked sheep."

"But before that, when we first saw your banner, we knew change was upon us, that the tide would be turned.

"I see that today too, now looking at you across the table. You are the harbinger of change, the one to take us to victory in the greatest war of an age."

"I'm sorry, what war? I've been out of it for so long, I'm afraid I've lost touch."

"Zoro's War." Reiko used Pachy's formal name as Learned.

"That doesn't surprise me. What has the Devil been plotting now? Who's he fighting?"

"It's not who he is fighting, it's 'what' he's fighting, what we're fighting."

As Reiko stood, he grabbed at a pain in his lower back for support. Then, towering over Tiger, he declared. "Zoro's war is a war on getting old."

At that moment, Tabbie re-entered the room, the aged woman's arms were packed with long rolls of paper. She indicated for Tiger to shift the candle from the center of the table, and then she dropped the pile of parchments. "I hope you boys are done with the idle chit-chat. There's no time to waste, we have a battle to plan!"