Between a Galaxy

Chapter One

     Cinder's footsteps echoed off the large ceilings of Artemisia Palace. She marveled at the stillness of this place, this palace, that she called her home. Of course, there was always that lingering sense of unease, that she didn't belong there.

     She would lay in bed for hours at night contemplating why she had done what she did. It wasn't that she didn't like Luna. The people of Artemisia and all of Luna had been very accepting to their new queen, but a part of Cinder wished that she was nothing more than a mechanic in New Beijing, not the "Lost Queen" of the moon.

     Portraits hung precariously on the walls. She examined them, her feet slowing to a leisurely stroll as she looked up at Queen Jannali, her grandmother. Cinder looked away before she could get a glance at her mother's face staring back at her.

     She didn't want to see Levana's face, either.

     Since the revolution, Cinder had been constantly reassured that she was doing great things for Luna. People regularly told her that for a sixteen year old girl, her judgment in politics was great. But all Cinder could ever worry about was trying to make sure that someone like Levana never had control over Luna again.

     She turned down another elegant hallway, staring at her feet as she approached the throne room. Cinder hated being in there. Though the physical evidence of the revolution had been washed from the palace, Cinder's memory (both her cyborg and her human) remembered in vivid detail. She shuddered as the sudden sight of Levana jamming a knife into her heart flashed in her vision. She blinked it away, stepping in front of the throne room guard. Her retina display whirred to life.

Jacin Clay, Royal Guard

ID #128958007

Born 8 July 108 T.E.

FF 2 media hits, reverse c-

     Cinder blinked the text away before it could finish loading. She already knew Jacin. She reached a hand forward to grab the door handle, but a gloved hand beat her to it.

     "Stop it, Jacin. You know I can open a door by myself," she scolded him, a frown on her face. Jacin shrunk back. He was among the many guards still unfamiliar with the concept that the queen did not want to be waited on, and that she insisted she do things herself. With the integration of androids onto Luna, Cinder had to hire some mechanics from Earth to take over as the royal mechanics in Artemisia Palace, but whenever she could, Cinder was doing their job for them. It had taken the servants some getting used to at the small talk Cinder made with them, and the fact that if Cinder wanted something, she would go get it herself.

     For the first few weeks of her rule, the tension on Luna had been high. People were wary of the teenager who, while everyone knew was their rightful queen, had grown up on Earth and was coming to rule their country with no experience in the field.

     It became quickly apparent to the other nation leaders of the Earthen Union that Cinder had some help in the politics department from the Emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth.

     Cinder pushed open the doors to the throne room, and six figures jumped up from their chairs. Cinder scanned each of them with her retina display, even though she had become very familiar with them in the many meetings that had commenced since her coronation. She flushed red at all of the people who stared at her, dropping into an awkward curtsy.

     "You can sit," she squeaked. She headed to the head of the table. To her right was royal advisor of the Eastern Commonwealth, Konn Torin. He gave Cinder a warm smile and she returned it, trying to hide the feeling of disappointment that brewed in her stomach. Kai had told her that he had to stay in the Commonwealth, but he trusted Torin to make decisions in this meeting without him. She couldn't help but wish that he had been kidding, and he was going to be sitting here next to her, smiling brightly. She pushed the thoughts aside and made a mental note to comm Kai later, asking him what was happening in the Commonwealth that he had to stay for.

     Governor-General Williams spoke first. "Thank you for agreeing to host this meeting on Luna. The Earthen Union is quite distressed at the moment, I'm afraid." Cinder nodded, focusing her gaze on his features. "I think we should just jump right in to the problem we're facing." Worried glances were shared among the leaders. "I understand the there are loose Lunar soldiers causing destruction on Earth," Cinder started. "Here on Luna, we have a team of expert computer programmers. This team is led by Crescent Darnel, who helped orchestrate many of the, um,"

     Cinder paused. She knew that bringing up the revolution was not the best thing to do here. While the Earthen leaders were happy that Levana was no longer the leader of Luna, Cinder had created a path of destruction to take Levana off the throne, which wasn't exactly a favorite topic of theirs. "Crescent helped with the security breaches caused here in this palace and in the palace in New Beijing during the revolution." Shoulders straightened around her.

     In her periphery, she saw Torin's eyes narrow, but he quickly recovered. The revolution was a sore subject among all of them, and Cinder always hated to bring it up. She knew that there was always a part of Kai that hated that part of Cinder.

Cinder hated that part of her, too.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, I believe that we agreed that transportation between Luna and Earth would be strictly prohibited for anyone other than the nation's leaders and their team. We settled on the idea that until Linh Garan's bioelectrical blocking device was no longer just in testing and was thoroughly distributed to Earthens, we would not allow Lunars to onto Earth, and vice versa," President Vargas interjected. Although his words contained no malice, his tone and unsettling icy eyes made Cinder shiver, and a warning of an accelerating heartbeat flashed in her retina display. Cinder blinked it away, trying not to return the glare, like Winter had taught her shortly after her coronation.

"Luna has devised a team of 45 of the most skilled mechanics, computer programmers, and hardware designers. Not only has the device been working, but the test subjects who were previously suffering from hallucinations from lack of use of the Lunar gift have shown extraordinary progress since the device's installation. Ambassador Winter has bee-"

A tap on Cinder's shoulder made her jump. Winter stood behind her, her eyes wide with concern, her foot tapping nervously. Winter's unusual behavior made Cinder's nerves peak, and warnings popped up in her display. Cinder cleared them, and took the piece of paper Winter held in her hand. It was a print out from a port screen, the headline of the New Beijing Times. It held only 8 words, but they were enough to make Cinder's heart beat. It launched into her throat, and she swallowed. She stood up from the table, and croaked, "Please excuse me," before dashing out of the throne room.

Winter dropped the paper in Torin's lap, leaving him slack jawed as he read the headline and shared it with the table. She ran out behind Cinder, looking down the hallways before finding her running towards her corridors. Winter broke into a sprint and caught up to Cinder. She grabbed Cinder's arm and pulled her to the wall, where Cinder collapsed against her.

A headache throbbed in Cinder's eyes, and she knew that this was where she would be crying. Cinder trembled, and Winter gripped her tightly. "It's going to be okay, Cinder," Winter whispered in her ear. Cinder didn't listen to her words. She saw Torin run down the hallway opposite from them towards the podship deck. Cinder clenched her eyes shut, willing the throbbing to stop.

Cinder shook with nerves, every piece of her body, metal and skin, on pins and needles. Somewhere in her brain, she called up the net screen and watched the same headlines flash in her eyes. The same 8 words rolled around in her head until they had no meaning anymore. She collapsed on the floor, a pile of metal and flesh as Winter screamed for help.

Emperor Kaito shot at the New Beijing Palace.