FREESUN'S PAST

SUNRISE ON A GOD PLANET

The Gorren Planetary System.

One of several systems that support life in the Quan Gem Galaxy

Covenant Command Base, in the city of Skytron

Freesun's chamber

A flicker of blue light emanating from his communicator left on the desk near his bed lit the dark interior of his room. A pinging sound followed, which roused him from his sleep. He sat up, rubbed his ocean-blue eyes, and stared at his communicator contemptuously. Begrudgingly, he grabbed the device and checked his messages. He gasped loudly upon reading them. Five alerts informed him that his transport cruiser was readied for departure. He quickly placed his feet into his satin slippers, still shocked that he'd overslept.

He glanced again at the time displayed on his ornate golden communicator – approaching 05:00. Darkness still cast its thick blanket over Skytron outside his window. A vital ceremony awaited Nikolai, but strangely, it didn't occupy the forefront of his thoughts. "I'm late again," Nikolai whispered without a care, not that anyone was listening. With a wave of his hand, soft lights lit the room, showcasing a bed with a base made from ruby gemstone with diamonds embedded.

This was the third warning of this nature he'd received in a week. He concluded he was losing interest in his daily duties. This sudden disinterest didn't happen overnight. His earliest memory he could recount was him taking an extremely long time simply getting dressed, but as decades passed, his will to perform his duties faded to the point he could not get out of bed. That was when alerts began to be issued. 

As a member of the covenant race, he swore to uphold the ritual known as "Sunrise on a God Planet." For half a million years, this daily observance was crucial to nurturing the Quan Gem Galaxy and eventually rendering creation ceremonies obsolete.

For any Freesun being, participating in this event was an immense privilege and a source of joy and pride. However, over time, Nikolai found himself glimpsing fragments of memories that were foreign to him. Deep within his memory cells, an unsettling sensation bubbled up, hinting that something crucial was missing from his life. Driven by this peculiar feeling, he scrutinised his memory banks in search of their origin but emerged empty-handed each time.

Aware of the time and been way behind schedule, Nikolai cast aside the lavish golden bedsheet that had cocooned him throughout the night in a hurry, hoping the decisive motion would dispel his mounting discontent. Running to the bathroom in the nude, he approached the shower, where a calming mist enveloped him upon waving his hand. While admiring his bronzed, seven-foot-tall frame in the mirrored wall, he felt a surge of bashfulness - after all, he was an attractive and captivating young Freesun with features closely resembling humans.

While one might consider Nikolai's age of 190041 undeniably ancient by human standards, he was exceptionally youthful by Covenant measurements. Members of this esteemed race were known to live up to an extraordinary three million years!

He gazed fondly at the fogged glass of the shower, his mind drifting back to his time aboard Starship Eirden as a Covenant Freesun trainee. Elite Officer Aeria had been assigned as his mentor, and their rigorous training days were spent memorising the names of all the Covenant's starships and their respective imperial commanders. Etched into his mind were the stringent protocols he would have to follow, as dictated by their governing council, "The Golden Table."

Adapting to the starship's vast layout had been initially challenging for him. The massive metal-organic megastructure boasted 1,200 decks, a thousand dedicated to recreating environments from Sunterria and Santerria planets. Each simulated world offered glimpses into its unique beauty and grandeur. Flight control occupied deck 600, and the imperial commander's chamber was just above it.