Night Come Down

Chapter 0 "Pilot"

Allow me to paint you a picture with words: This story takes place not on Earth, not even in the Solar system, but in the far and away Lorinthia system. Here, the very first species in the Milky Way to develop space travel can be found; the Lorinthians. Currently, they're split among a tripartite of factions: Those that wish to stay on Lorinthia and make life on it more sustainable, those that wish to use their newly acquired space-faring status to trade with other species, and those that wish to conquer any life that is not Lorinthian. Our focus comes down on a member of none of these. She can be found in her workshop, developing weaponry and armaments.

Her workshop is a bit of a ways from a city in the distance, the noise of her lathe echoes across the distance. When she turns it off, she's surprised to hear an engine running, and coming closer to her. She turns towards the window of her shop, her goggles still on as she sees a speeder coming fast towards her, completely black due to the sunset behind it and the city. She lifts her goggles briefly to reveal piercing purple eyes, as she recognizes the speeder. She steps out of the workshop and waves down the speeder as it comes closer and to an eventual stop, bumping the face of the workshop slightly.

Female; "What was that all about? You've never driven like that before-"

She cuts herself off when the rider removes himself from the speeder and removes his helmet. It's a young Lorinthian, maybe slightly younger than her, with a couple scars on his face and hands.

Male; "Heh... Sorry, I just got my license a few days ago-"

He's cut off when the female grabs him by the neck and slams his back against the speeder.

Female; "Where's Thel?!"

Male; *choked* "H-He went on vacation! I just got hired a few days ago!"

The female glares at him a moment before throwing him to the side and sighing.

Female; "What have you got for me, then?"

The male coughs a little and gets up, slightly shaken and holding his neck.

Male; "Ahem... Usual stuff, I think."

He opens the front of the speeder to reveal a crate with a yellow symbol on it.

Female; "... That's not Lor'inth Quasba."

Male; "Erm... No..."

Female; "You're Sto'kov'lore, why bring your stuff to me?"

Male; "I'm not on speaking terms with them anymore, really..."

He cringes slightly and rubs the back of his neck.

Male; "I might've 'borrowed' it."

Female; "You stole it? Are you out of your mind?"

Male; "Uh, no, but someone else was for leaving the door open."

She groans and rubs her face with both her hands, looking at the male disappointed.

Female; "You realize they're gonna come after you, right?"

Male; "Yeah... I can take 'em. I can handle myself."

Female; "You don't sound so sure of yourself."

Male; "T-that's just my usual tone."

She sighs and leans over his shoulder. The sun was so close to setting on the city, and the lights began to go off as she placed a hand on her hip.

Female; "You can hide out here, but I'm not helping if they find you."

The male sighs relieved and smiles, putting out his elbow to be bumped.

Male; "Quav Vadam."

The female glances momentarily between his elbow and his face before bumping his elbow with hers.

Female; "Kal'ia Nosolee. You can just call me Kal."

Quav nods and proceeds to the door of Kals' workshop, going to push the door open but slamming his face against it with a metallic crash. He backs up a little, rubbing his face as Kal'ia rolls her eyes and pulls the door open, gesturing for him to enter. He chuckles innocently as he entered the workshop, looking in awe at all the weapons on display on the walls and hanging from the ceiling; some were old, ballistic and crude, while others were high-tech, directed-energy technology. A few even had some strange symbols on them that seemed to glow and shift.

Quav; "Y-you make all these?"

Kal; "Yeah. All the junk I get sent from Lor'inth Quasba gets made into weapons anyone can buy. Whatever keeps the lights on and food on the table."

He approaches the lathe and examines the component closely, a twinge of curiosity in his voice.

Quav; "And uh... It's just you living here?"

Kal; "Always has been, ever since my parents decided to up and go join Cysko'dro'ranin."

Quav looked over at Kal sympathetically before moving to a nearby couch and laying on it.

Quav; "I'm sorry... My parents went with Sto'kov'lore because... Well, I guess it's a loyalty thing. Been part of that clan for many generations. Took 8 before one of 'em, me, realized it's not worth it."

Kal grunts quietly, walking over to the lathe and powering it up again as she machined the piece of metal. After a few moments of silence from either of them, Quav looked at Kal and adjusted his position.

Quav; "You should sleep soon. It's getting dark."

Kal glanced at Quav before looking back at the lathe.

Kal; "If you don't like the noise, you can sleep out back."

Quav; "Tha-... That's not what I said."

She turns to look at Quav, the occasional spark from the lathe lighting up her face.

Kal; "I'm not about to stop my work because someone says I should. Either lay there and be quite or come over here and give me a hand."

He swallows hard and nods, getting up and coming over to Kal. She subsequently turns off the lathe and hands him the frame to a revolver from within.

Kal; "Hold that."

He holds the frame tightly as Kal proceeds to grab a cylinder and slotting in a pin so it stays in the frame, then riveting in the hammer and screwing in the trigger guard, putting plastic grips on the frame lastly.

Kal; "Ah, that's beautiful."

She takes the revolver from him and holds it up to the light of a lamp with a smile on her face.

Quav; "Heh, do I get partial credit on that one?"

Kals' smile turns to an unimpressed expression as she looks back at Quav, a cheeky grin on his face, before her smile returns.

Kal; "Of course!"

Quav; "Really?!"

Kal; "No."

Her smile left again as quickly as it came and Quav pouts slightly, looking at the gun with a disappointed face.

-------
Pictured is what I imagine the Lorinthians to look like, heavily inspired by the Sangheili from Halo