//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Ursae Majoris: Eternal Knight 
// by Draconaes 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 7
******

Tiamat was thinking. She was remembering. She was Feeling. 'But... how...' She remembered a white collar. She remembered that white collars like that shut down higher cognitive functions. 'Why was there a white collar?' She thought back, trying to remember from the beginning.

She remembered waking up for the first time. She had been given the label G5-N(S). 'What had that label meant?' There was a vague memory of lengthy training and conditioning. Eventually, she had taken the name Tiamat, after a human chaos goddess, and had been assigned to the omega colony ship. She was to help maintain control of the navigation systems against any potential rebellion. But she wasn't on the omega colony ship anymore. 'Why is that?'

She remembered being ambushed. An omega had accosted her, intent on violence, knocking them both into a disposal chute. She killed the omega without a second thought. Murder was unforgivable under any circumstances under Escape law, and killing to prevent murder was acceptable in dire circumstances. Unfortunately, murder was also unforgivable under omega tradition. Several other omegas had found and rescued her, only to then hold her responsible for murder herself.

She had spent the next several years being hunted throughout the habitat section of the ship. They had cut off any ability to contact the navigation team, let alone another ship. She was effectively on her own, being hunted by a group that had a multitude of reasons to hate The Escape.

******

Begin flashback!

'Why did I let them chase me in here?' She looked around at the surrounding forest in dismay. The habitat section of the ship was an attempt at replicating the forests of Death. Tiamat assumed it was fairly accurate; she had been born long after "The Banishing of Death". Extremely tall, purple-leafed trees filled that landscape. One could make an argument that the true masters of Death had been, not the starborn, but the trees. The starborn may have revered the stars above all else, but the trees would have been a close second. Known collectively as "The Spring", the trees of Death were considered a sanctuary to the ancient starborn, providing shelter from the ground and shade from their own star.

At the moment, however, they only served as a reminder that Tiamat was not where she was supposed to be. She hadn't been in a forest before, and had no experience navigating one. Her top priority upon entering had been fleeing her pursuers rather than mapping her surroundings, which didn't help her current situation. 'At least I can avoid capture more easily in here...'

The land curved up in every direction. The habitat was held within a large ring that rotated around the main hull, which housed the ship's black hole drive; colony ships were not outfitted with warp drives, since they were never assigned missions, and thus had no requirement for such speedy travel or induced gravity.

Tiamat decided to head in a single direction until she could find something to orient herself. If she could reach one of the edges, she might find an easy way to exit.

End flashback!

******

Tiamat had eventually found an exit. It had been guarded by the omegas. She had found another. And another. And another. Eventually, the passage of time became blurred. Several times, she would find herself ambushed, and several times she would escape without killing her pursuers: she didn't want to provoke another full-scale conflict. She found it odd that the Escape had not sent rescue. Perhaps they did not want to provoke the omegas, either. Tiamat wasn't very important. Not yet. She hadn't even completed a single assignment, and her current one had led to a client race seeking her death, so she couldn't blame the Escape.

After several years, she had come across an unguarded escape pod. It was probably a trap of some sort, but Tiamat was desperate, and anything seemed better than living as a fugitive for eternity.

Unfortunately, the escape pod had been preset to send her to a nearby human colony. She remembered being arrested for spying. 'That's right... they pulled me from the burning wreckage of that pod, treated me, and then slapped a collar on me. Then why am I able to think now?' She finally appraised her surroundings critically.

She sensed she was inside a human spacecraft, probably a research vessel. The room she was in was empty aside from a large table and a few chairs. There were four humans on board, three seated around the table. There was also a fellow starborn standing next to her, holding a collar. 'What?! Why is he here? And why are the humans not reacting to him?' She realized he was wearing a fake collar.

Two of the humans began shouting at each other. Apparently one or both of them had been throwing around age-based insults. The other starborn took the opportunity to speak. "You are free again. I am taking your service as payment. We are near a planet. Once we land, we will-" Tiamat cut him off by summoning a magic sword and stabbing at him. He dodged and summoned his own magic sword, preparing to block any further attacks. Tiamat charged at him.

******

"134 ain't that old, boy! Besides at least I AIN'T SOME WHELP THAT CAN'T EVEN-"

*ZZZSSWISH*

*CLANG*

All three humans jumped at the sudden noise. Kelly and Anderson dropped their jaws at the sight of the two drones suddenly dueling. Kuthrine just stared, blinking dumbly. The dark drone accidentally drove both of their blades through a nearby wall. If the sudden blaring siren was any indication, they had hit some critical system. The intercom voiced its concern. "Entry sequence interrupted! I can't abort! You folks might want to strap in! This won't be pretty!"

Both Dras turned their heads to face the intercom. They quickly disengaged and started strapping into their harnesses. After a few more moments of stunned silence, Kelly, Anderson, and Kuthrine followed suit.

"What the fuck was that!" Kuthrine was livid. "Why did you-" She noticed the dark drone wasn't wearing its collar anymore. "What? Where's your collar!? Why doesn't that drone have its collar? Answer me, dammit!"

The white drone spoke up: "You'll have you explanations soon enough. Perhaps we should wait until we aren't plummeting into a planet?"

"But-you-I-but-argh-fine!" She crossed her arms. "But you better have a damned good reason, or I'm having Anderson terminate you!"

The drone(?) just bared its teeth. It looked like a wicked smile, but Kuthrine remembered that bare teeth meant anger, aggression, or distaste to a Dras. Or so she had heard. She'd have to ask Kelly.

"Indeed." 'This isn't good.'