Fandom TᗩᒪEᔕ Oᖴ ᗪᑌᑎE - ᖴᗩTEᗷOᑌᑎᗪ

[Kaya]

The Plot

Kepler 22b, or how its people call it - Imber - is an exoplanet almost 600 light years from the original earth. It was populated as a plan to save humanity from its doom on its original planet, in the year 2045.
When the spaceship with the remaining people crash landed on the planet, not many survived.

Ever since, humanity had struggled to keep itself from extinction.
What was supposed to be a safe place, a new beginning, turned into one of their biggest challenges.

The few survivors built small outposts and started to examine the world around them, slowly beginning to enhance their technology. Slightly bigger than Earth, the vegetation and fauna differed vastly.

The radiation the people were exposed to during their long journey and on the planet itself started to slowly take its toll on some humans; while some died from the long-term effects, others adapted and changed.

The ones changing started to gain the ability to see magnetic fields and gained the name 'Pathfinders'.
Those people turned out to be invaluable, as they made navigation on the planet a lot easier. They were trained to use their ability to perfection, and the people slowly started to expand their little colonies, soon exploring the vast planet they now called their home, all thanks to the pathfinders, who could trace and map every inch of their surroundings and always found their way back home.

But the hard training wasn't for everyone;
and one of them left their planet, their home, everything they knew behind, for something she never had; freedom.

On her travel, something went wrong, and so she was forced to put herself in cryostasis to survive, hoping that one day, someone would find her.





A little over 8000 years later, the only heir to House Khumali, Perses, is plagued by constant visions of darkness and freezing cold, a sensation of impending doom nagging at his heart while something seems to pull him away from his safe, sheltered home on the planet Khumali.

When it gets impossible to bear for even just another day, he sets out to follow the mysterious sensation calling for him.
Haunted by dreams of a girl he doesn't know, he follows the voiceless calling across space, until his ship is hit by an asteroid when he suffers another vision that leaves him unable to dodge.

But maybe it was fate...
Barely visible in the fog of a gas giant, he spots another, very old ship.
Hoping to find some spare parts to fix his ship, he docs on to the mysterious ship, just to notice it's running on the power of one last generator working.
Curious, he more or less crash lands both ships on one of the nearby moons of Wallach IX and investigates further;

Just to find one single cryo pod occupied and running, the girl frozen inside awfully familiar...

Hadn't he met her in his dreams countless times?

 

[Kaya]

Artemis

Pathfinder

Artemis

"Among the stars there is a place to where my heart always returns"


Name. - Artemis
Nicknames. - /
Age. - 21 years
Birthday. - Unknown
Zodiac. - Unknown
Gender. - female
Orientation. - bisexual
PoB. - Kepler 22b (Imber)
Residence. - Lost in space
Species. - human

Height. - 5'7 ft
Hair Color. - Red with auburn undertones
Eye Color. - Steelish grey
Skin Tone. - Porcelain
Marks. - None
Scars. - One from her nape to her rump, along the spine.
Tattoos. - A combination of numbers and greek alphabet behind her right ear
Piercings. - Several earrings
Clothing Style. - Exo-Suit, laid-back & casual

Languages. - common, Latin
Financial Status. - Well
Class. - established reputation of troublemaker
Education. - Aeronautic & Pathfinder
Occupation. - Traveler
Crimes. - EXILED

coded by reveriee.

 

[Kaya]

Perses

House Khumali

Perses

"You don't feel a thing. There's just something missing. And once it gets hold of you, something more is missing every day. Soon there won't be anything left of us."


Name. - Perses of Khumali
Nicknames. - Pery
Age. - 25 years
Birthday. - September 25th
Zodiac. - Libra
Gender. - male
Orientation. - bisexual
PoB. - Hyperion
Residence. - Khumali Manor
Species. - human

Height. - 6'2 ft
Hair Color. - dark brown with a honey hue under sunlight
Eye Color. - chocolate brown with golden specks
Skin Tone. - olive
Marks. - a birthmark on his left thumb
Scars. - a long scar across his left palm
Tattoos. - a pair of wings tattooed across his back, shoulders and upper arms
Piercings. - /
Clothing Style. - leather jacket, cargo pants, block boots

Languages. - common, Latin
Financial Status. - wealthy
Class. - heir to the throne of House Khumali
Education. - the best education one could ask for
Occupation. - crown prince of House Khumali
Crimes. - /

coded by reveriee.

 

[SunxKiller]

Lore & Glossary

Old Earth: Another name for earth, commonly known in the vast universe. For a long time it was the most important hub in the known universe. Serves no expetional purpose nowadays - runs under the Imperial rule.

Known Universe: The part of the Universe that humans have settled on. It's a cluster close to Old Earth. It consists of at least 3 solar-systems and 26 habitable planets. Yet it's borders are not set in stone.

Government system: The system of the Known Universe is a Feudal one. There are bigger houses and lesser houses, ruling over planets or just put to use over smaller territories on a planet. All houses are subject to the Imperial Ruler. There is a coalition between the bigger houses, forming the Landsraad. They can intervene into the rulers path if enough votes are collected.

Pathfinders: Humans changed by long exposure to radiation. They are able to see magnetic fields in their normal vision and navigate by them. Doctors are able to see whether a person will be born a pathfinder or not in it's unborn state. Once this is confirmed, they gert abducted directly after birth and get trained like machines. Usually, Pathfinders are expetional pilots and very good in combat.

Imber: It's original name is Kepler 22b, situated in the galaxy Cygnus A. The system is roughly 500-600 light-years away and it's the only planet orbiting it's sun. The planet and the galaxy are in the Unknown Universe, off the beaten track. Humans have tried to flourish there. Survival is hard and the little civilization on the planet is not even a third of it's original planet. There are small outposts, the biggest one housing and sheltering 200 people. There is no real government.

Mission Janus: In the year 2045 on Old Earth, scientiest and several governments decided to start a mission to save humanity. Resources were slowly running out and life got harder. So they send a team of 150 scientiests and trained soldiers into space. Their goal was to settle onto another planet and start life there. After being put into cryo-sleep, the spaceship vanished from the radar. It had passed a wormhole, being spat out far away from Old-Earth. After the crashing, half of the crew was dead, the other suffering from the high radiation. But the plan was still to settle - so they started breeding the gene material they had carried with them - allowing the mission to be continued on Kepler 22b.
The two planets never stood in contact. ​

 

[SunxKiller]

Sirens echoed through the halls of the hangar. It was so loud, it deafened the woman's ears and thoughts. The heavy footsteps caused by her boots were perished by it and unconsciously allowed her to run a little more hastily and uncontrolled. So far Artemis had managed to think with a clear and rational mind. Well, as rational as one could be who tried to flee their home planet. But it was an urge she couldn't resist anymore. A longing, lying so deep as if it was carved into her very inner-self, trying to claw its way out.

Lately, it had gotten worse. Artemis' mind had started to work against her. At least, that's what her trainers said. Her mind was more and more going into these day-dreaming phases. Seeing and sensing images and feelings so real, Artemis swore they were only a touch away.
A defect. As if she was a machine that had a broken part, slowly but surely malfunctioning. Was she though? Why? Why did no one acknowledge whatever was going on with her mind? Was she the only one with those dreams and visions?
Questions were left unanswered and sooner or later, Artemis was fed up. She yearned for freedom, she yearned for answers. She yearned for these feelings, to be relieved.

This wasn't her first attempt. Just a few days before, Artemis had already tried to get past the security gate. If she would have used the boost correctly, without the machine overheating...
She would have made it. Her ship wouldn't have crashed, she wouldn't have needed to be stitched together. They had done that out of pity. Or maybe because they hoped this would have taught her a lesson.
It made her only more determined.

The black Exo-Suit was a tad too big for her thin frame. Black material, swallowing every bit of light that shone upon it, light as a feather and still hard enough to protect her. Stolen, just hours before her escape.

Hastily, she ran towards the first explorer-ship she could find. Those were the newest. Only three have been produced all over Imber at that point. Material and resources for this masterpiece were sparse and rare. Those who enjoyed the fullest respect and trust of the world's civilization were allowed to fly them - which definitely excluded Artemis.
She didn't lack confidence though.

Those ships were made for her. For people like her. This was her only purpose, so she could just take what was her right. Her grey orbs flew through the ship just for a second, deeming it good enough for her try. The heavy door at her side got shut down. Artemis pressed her frame into the big seat and pushed the belts over her suit.
Within a few seconds, the engines started to load.

Suddenly, a wave of heat crept up from her spine. Not now, not here, her mind thought in a panic. Even if her conscious mind didn't want it, her eyes rolled back and her inner eye overtook. A vision played before it.

The frame of a person, close to her. He looked so awfully familiar, yet Artemis swore she had never seen that man before. When her head moved around, slowly as if it was floating through water, her eyes picked up the scenery. The landscape was made up of rutted valleys and high mountains with green grass growing on its surface. Aside from that, it was barren. The air was crisp and fresh, much like Imbers. In the far distance, a high tower made of black metal rose. Like her exo-suit, the material was so dark it swallowed and absorbed every bit of light. Her head swung around in an almost hectic manner when a bevy of shapeless birds flew across their heads.

"...-rn the ship around and land. This is your last warning!", the voice from the communication system suddenly ripped her from her daydreaming. Her steely orbs rolled back and Artemis found herself already past the gate. Fuck, how have I even started!?, the mere fact that she couldn't even remember how she had started the ship and flew out here was scary.
[Boost is ready].

"Fututus et mori in igni", the red-haired woman blared into the speaker and switched the control for the boost - Fuck off and die in a fire. The spaceship's back now was roaring with the energy. "Get her down now! She's been acting up on us for long enough!", they must have forgotten to mute themselves. The male voice on the other end was beyond fuming and angry.
Artemis knew it was now or never. Now they'd hunt her with one of their deadly projectiles, not caring for her or the valuable spaceship.

[Warning. Artillery detected.]

Artemis' hand wrapped around the controls, slowly but surely pushing them forward. The roaring got louder, overtaking the deafening silence in the ship. Her heart rate picked up, her eyes moving from one control panel to another. With a few deep but controlled breaths, she managed to focus on what was important.

[Nearing the Horizon]

Her hands were sweaty. If she missed the right point, the boost would blow up the entire engine and force her back to the ground.
9000 feet... 9450... 9680... 10000...
Another deep breath, the panel showed her 13000 feet.

Her hands ripped the controls back, the ship suddenly jumping forward. It vibrated, shaking through her skull and spine. Artemis' heart was uncontrollably fast, her breath hitched. She felt how her cheeks were pulled back by the sheer power of the thrust and then suddenly...

[Left the planetal orbit. Entering exosphere...
Welcome on board, Captain]

Artemis wasn't pushed into the seat anymore. The ship floated. Wide eyes looked through the windshield. Pure darkness was greeting her, the planet's sun in her back. In front of her was... Nothing. It was the first disillusionment the female faced.

During her training, Artemis had learned that Imber was far away from all the other planets and star clusters. It was the reason why a night sky full of stars was only a thing she read about in books of the old world. But actually seeing that?
Artemis undid her belts and put the ship onto autopilot, going straight forward at a steady speed. Even if this wasn't what she had hoped to see, and in fact it was a crushing feeling, she still thought to have done the right thing. Something inside her told her she was on the right path. But whatever that path was was still a mystery to her.
It was a feeling, deep in her guts. The reason why she had these visions woke her relentlessly and kept her up.

Now was the first time that Artemis went through the ship. The explorers were smaller, build for only one or two people. They were meant to fly long distances at a time, not to carry a lot. A bitter realization. There was barely any food or water on the ship.
"No no no...", Artemis cursed when she went through the small bag that had been on the ship. A medical kit, two bottles of water, one meal. Not enough to last her and bring her to another planet.

In front of her eyes opened the many paths she could take to other planets. Most of them were at least one or two lightyears away. The next big cluster was 400 lightyears away. Exploring and venturing out was utopistic - impossible even.

Artemis sunk onto the cryo-capsule and eyed the technical wonder up. As much as it hurt, this was her only chance of survival. Going back to Imber would be her guaranteed death, staying up for two days as well. The female clenched her jaw, suppressing a scream of anger. For so long she had this plan and wish. The moment it was close and in her reach, she fucked it up by not checking the supplies... What a stupid mistake.

Without an elastic, she pushed her long hair back and put it into a knot. The whole time she prepared herself for her long slumber was accompanied by cursing and cussing.
One last time she moved to sit on the pilots' seat, typing in commands into the computer. Artemis fed it with the most crucial commands - fly for as long as you have to. Only wake me when there's a planet with enough vital signs for survival.
[Are you sure?] - it was as if the ship was making fun of her.

After pressing [Yes], Amalia moved over to the capsule. Cryo-sleep was something very wonderous. The temperature exceeded far below -60°C. But the combination of the low temperature and the special liquid kept the body and mind unharmed and mummified - for as long as needed. At least, so far no one has reached the maximum of it.

The Exo-suit was left outside, Amalia was only wearing a black tank top and matching briefs. From the inside, she let the capsule close and it slowly filled up with the liquid. One last deep breath and...
Gone.
A deep slumber overcame her.


A slumber that was disrupted here and there. In front of her sleeping eyes - the same visions over and over again. A face, sometimes clear, sometimes not. "Come, I need to show you something Artemis", the voice was familiar, sending a pleasant shiver down her spine. The touch on her hand put her raging heart into a calm state.

"Careful Artemis! Down, they fire!", another time, the same hand. Even between the bullet-hail, the hand on the back of her head was comforting.

"They are using you, can't you see that!? They are liars, they have an agenda! Don't go where I can't follow you", her heart ached. Not in physical pain, but in emotional pain. A feeling she hadn't sensed often - actually only in those dreams and visions. Being caught in a fight with this person. As much as it hurt, it felt right.

Why was she feeling so attached to someone she hasn't even met? Would never meet? Were these visions of her future?


The ship drifted through space. Pushed by solar winds and pulled by gravitation at this point. The last generator, running on solar power, kept Artemis alive.


Iciness suddenly clutched at her body. She felt how two injections slammed into each of her wrists. Liquid cocaine with a high dose rushed through her veins and brought her heart back to life - her mind followed soon after. Only the rest of her organs needed a little longer. An expected and well-known side-effect of cryosleep.
Unfortunately, it happened to her.

Even if her lids fluttered open, she could barely see. Schemes and shadows, blurred outlines.
Her ears were deafened and clocked up. This time for real. Suddenly, her breathing kicked in. Artemis yelped and gasped for air, hands pressing against the glass of the capsule that soon opened. Remainings of the liquids leaked out. Gripping something around her, Artemis rolled over and fell from the capsule, spitting out some liquid that had collected in her lungs.

Focus. Focus Artemis. Focus. Deep breath, focus.
Audentis Fortuna Iuvat, the mantra in her mind started to speak. Slowly her consciousness overtook. Artemis had started to speak these words out loud before she spoke the translated version of it loudly - "Fortune favors the brave".

Her sight slowly returned, too slow for her liking. Looking around, she could suddenly see a frame - inside her own ship.
"Qui es!?", she blurted out, followed by coughing. Who are you, translated. The main language of Imber was Latin.

Little did Artemis know that she was 600 light-years away from home. The farthest someone from her string of people had ever come since leaving old earth - her ship had looped into various wormholes.

Panic took over, as well as the coldness around her, caused by the liquid she had laid in so comfortably for so long. Her body shivered, her teeth even chattering and pushing herself against the cold walls. Her grey orbs shot around the room, searching for something - her exo-suit and a weapon.
"Alias? Quid nomen tuum est?", her voice was far from its usual melodic pattern when she asked for the persons' name. The years of sleep had made it hoarse.

 

[Kaya]

Shuddering, Pery stirred in his sleep. The weather was far from cold, actually it was summer and the nights were warm enough to wander the sprawling fields of Hyperion in a T-shirt and shorts. A soft breeze was playing with the golden leaves of the planet's Hoath Trees, a beautiful form of local vegetation that Hyperion was well-known for. Their trunks, black as ebony, were streaked with fine silver lines as they wound into the sky in tight triple helixes, just to spread apart into elegantly winding branches bearing sleek, golden leaves and and silver blooms. In the night, they sparkled like stars.
But even this warm, gentle breeze felt ice cold to Khumali's crown prince.
He'd had this problem as long as he could remember; the second he fell asleep, he started to freeze like he was standing naked on planet Neptune, no matter under how many blankets he buried himself.
His parents had consulted countless doctors on the matter, but none could find anything to be wrong with him. And so the reason for his problem remained unknown for over two decades.
Only rather recently, shortly after his twentieth birthday, had he stated to have the same dream, every night. Or, well, it wasn't the same, but it always was about the same person.

Red hair, grey eyes, fair skin... He had no idea who she was, but the feeling he was left with every time he woke up left no doubt; she was so very important. And in danger.
There was nothing directly threatening her, nothing chasing her but him, but still something told him that she needed him.
Every time he saw her in his dreams, they were surrounded by a freezing cold nothingness she couldn't leave. It was a prison, but a prison she couldn't survive without, it seemed.

There she was again, emerging from the sparkling, frozen mist like she came to him from a whole different world. He just reached out to take her hand when a sharp knock at the door woke him up.


And as soon as he opened his eyes, the pain kicked in.

It was no physical pain, it rather felt like a black hole opening inside him, a longing, like feeling homesick, but for what he didn't know. All he knew was that something was calling him, had been calling him for years, but the feeling got stronger and stronger with every passing year.
By now, it almost felt like a second gravity, pulling him away from his home on Hyperion.
And as always, he shook it off.
Those were only dreams, but the people of this planet, relying on him and his family, they were real, and they deserved all the attention he could give them; though part of it seemed to always go back to the unknown woman from his dreams.

"Master Perses, are you up yet?", he heard the voice of one of the butlers through the brass doors of his vast suite in the master's wing of Khumali Manor.
"Ah, uh, yes, I'm up, I'm up ", he called back as he scrambled out of the pile of blankets on his queen-sized bed and jumped into a white, formal attire. Not his style, but the situation called for it.
He was still brushing his hair when he pushed the doors open and gave the butler a warm smile. Only the dark rings under his eyes suggested that he hadn't had a very refreshing night.
"Your schedule for today includes a meeting with the council in half an hour, afterwards the tailor will come to take some measures for your new suit for the gala next month, and then there's a launching ceremony for the new flagship. Ah, and your father told me to remind you that the doctor will come today, too. How are you feeling today? Headaches, palpitations, insomnia, unexplainable freezing?"

Pery nodded along as the elderly man rattled through everything that needed to be taken care of today, and lastly just ended up chuckling softly as he placed one hand on his shoulder.
"Mr.Keelo. I'm alright, and I'll get it managed, don't you worry. Take a deep breath, we don't want you to have a heart attack, do we? Go, grab some breakfast, I'll be good. Pinkie promise."

He pushed past the man to go and meet the council, but only seconds after he had taken his seat at the large, round table, lights flashed across his vision and within seconds, he found himself back in the mysterious woman's cold, white world.
"Pery. Help me!", she called throw howling gusts of wind as she reached out to him. The second his fingers touched hers, he was knocked back into reality, just to notice that he was lying flat on his back, on the ground, with the whole council and his father watching him sorrowfully.
This wasn't the first time he'd had a vision like this, one of them had caused him to fall right into a glass display, cutting his left palm open on the shards in the process, but it never got less disconcerting.
"Perses? Are you alright?", his father questioned, but the vision left him speechless, the pull into the unknown now almost physically painful. Groaning, he clutched at his chest as he slowly sat up.

"Father... We need to talk. "

And so, only a couple of hours later, he left Hyperion.
Dressed in a simple linen shirt, leather jacket, olive green cargo pants and black boots, and carrying a bag of supplies over his shoulder, he felt ready to finally find what was calling him. In all these years, the doctors had been unable to help him, so he took matters in his own hands now.
The Falcon, one of House Khumali's fastest and most advanced space cruisers, had been loaded with more than enough stocks of food and everything elder he might need.
He was ready.
Finally, he'd find her. No, it. Whatever it was that was calling him.

As the boost catapulted the ship out of the stratosphere, he barely felt how he was pressed into his seat.
I'm coming. Hold on just a little longer.


During the following weeks the visions only got stronger, longer and often left him drained and shivering in a cold only he could feel.
It was after the most vivid vision he'd had to this day that fate seemed to play a horrible trick on him;
a deafening bang, followed by the wailing of sirens, tore him from his vision, just to realize that his ship had been hit by a meteor. It was a wonder it was only severely damaged and not utterly destroyed, but there was no way he could keep going while it was in a condition as bad as this.
"Dammit...", he hissed. Just when he was about to try and contact the next space harbor, he noticed... It.

It, in this case, seemed to be an age-old spaceship hanging motionlessly in the stratosphere of a nearby gas giant.
With a bit of luck he could find some spare parts in there, to repair his ship and continue his journey ASAP.

No sooner said than done.

Docking on to the old ship proved to be quite the challenge, the compatibility of its docking station and the one of his own ship was wonky to say the least, but with some improvising, he at least managed to connect the ships tightly enough to land them both on the next thing with a breathable atmosphere and hospitable climate, in this case one of Wallach IX's three moons; this one covered in otherworldly vegetation.
It was a rather rough landing... Okay, a crash landing, but at least he want stranded in the middle of nowhere, but on a moon on which he could survive until he'd finish fixing of the Falcon.

A quick security scan of the area that didn't reveal anything disconcerting, but he still exchanged his leather jacket witha long coat made of a bulletproof fabric, jut in case. Then he finally entered the old space ship.
And how old it looked! Close to ancient, honestly. It was a miracle this thing had survived for this long, and guessing by the flickering lights, even the generators, or at least some of them, were still writing.
Just incredible!

That's when he noticed the pod.
Glowing blue and frozen over, it was a relic, and it was running.
Keeping someone alive in there. He couldn't possibly just leave them in there, what with the state their ship was in, right?
Cautiously, he pressed the release button, and the thing actually spat out a living, human being.

His initial shock was replaced by another, way bigger shock upon realizing that he knew her face. He knew her face so damn well.
Reality seemed to warp around itself as he watched her wide-eyed, disbelief battling happiness inside him while his mind went blank.
And then finally, finally, a wave of relief washed over him, too intense to be put into words.
She was safe.
There were a million and one questions swirling in his head, but they could wait; she was safe.
He'd learned Latin as a teenager, so, while he didn't speak the language even remotely fluently, it was enough to understand her. With his mind this preoccupied, though, he automatically answered in the common tongue.
"Oh my-...", he breathed, completely overwhelmed.
"Hey, it's okay, I'm Perses. Or just Pery, if you prefer", he said, keeping his voice low to avoid scaring her even more. And even if it wasn't for that; the warmth written in his eyes left no doubt that he meant no danger whatsoever.
"Here", he said as he took off his coat to offer it to her; watching her freeze like that felt absolutely awful. "Sit down, take a deep breath. Everything's okay. I found your ship floating around damaged and almost out of power, so I docked and emergency landed here. It looks like you've been in there for quite some time..."

 

[SunxKiller]

He understood her. And he answered in a language she understood too. It was the common language. On Imber, everyone spoke it - from simple mechanics to scientists and pathfinders. Though, only a few spoke Latin. Even if it was to honor their ancestors on old earth, it was still reserved for the higher ones on the planet.
The second thing she noticed was his voice. Artemis was sure that she had heard it before. It had such a familiar tune, the little nuances of accentuation in the way he introduced himself and spoke his name. Artemis was caught in her thoughts.

When the fabric of the coat was offered to her and touched her leg, she twitched. Slowly but surely, her sight finally came back to her. Now the female wouldn't need to squint her eyes anymore to see his outlines clear and his features unblurred. A third wave of shock and realization crept through her body. It was him.
So clearly, right in front of her. For a moment Artemis was sure this was yet another vision that disturbed her deep slumber. Her heart rate was uncontrolled, partially because of the cocaine that had brought her back, partially because of the sight of him.
Perses.
Steely hues lay on the other person a little longer, seemingly analyzing and scanning him. If it wouldn't have been for the sudden cold breeze, she would have stayed unmoved. Yet, the wind that flew through the opening forced her to grab the coat. Wrapping it tightly around herself to preserve the remaining bit of body heat, she nodded, taking in his words. At first, without a second thought. Her brain was still somewhat rebooting and thinking - after all, it had been asleep for so long.

"It looks like you've been in there for quite some time..."

Yeah, she was. But for how long actually? Time was almost irrelevant in space travel. A year on Imber was slightly shorter than on old earth - at least the books said that. The closer a planet was to a sun, or a black hole, the shorter a full rotation around it was. With this in mind and a spaceship floating through the vast nothingness, what was time even? A construct by humans, or something real?

"Artemis", the female suddenly said when her body had finally calmed a little and breathing was done in a rather regular pattern. He meant no harm, right? He could have killed her if he really wanted to. He could have chosen not to wake her. So he had to be friendly.
"Just, Artemis. No short version, no longer one", she echoed her own name, surprised by the sound of it.

Could he really be the one of her visions and dreams? Her mind couldn't play those kinds of tricks on her. The pattern of her thinking was too structured for that, too organized and too rational. Hell, there was little to no imagination left in her from the year-long training.
Focussing on her feelings, something that wasn't easy for Artemis, she knew she was right.
The aching, the yearning.
It had come to rest and wasn't oh-so present in her body and mind at this point. That ominous magnetic field she had seen - which had interrupted her navigational skills for so long because it wasn't really there - lead to him. It hovered around him, wrapping his presence together in a comforting feeling of having arrived.
Yet, she couldn't simply ask. Chances were still too high for him to be somewhat dangerous. In the end, Artemis had no clue where she was. Times could be tough around here.

"Where... Where am I?", the accent in her common tongue was heavy, giving away that she spoke in Latin most of the time. There was still so much to process left and right.
Her brain only picked up on his formerly spoken sentence now.
The ship was almost out of power, the last generator aching in the background. No doubt the ship had been floating ever since the two main engines went out. Something about the way he said emergency landing didn't sit right with her.

An emergency landing was never good. Only in very few and rare cases did it leave one of the ships involved in a good shape. But this was something for later. For a little longer she sat there, back against the wall of the ship, her side leaning against the standing of the capsule. "Which system is this?", after having swallowed a few times, her voice slowly returned to his usual melodic pattern.

The cold feeling slowly receded. As if it was natural and as if she had done it a thousand times by now, Artemis slowly lifted herself. Her knees felt still weak, but she pushed through. Carefully handing him the coat back over to him, the female passed by him to the place her Exo-Suit was still laying. Her thin frame vanished, replaced by the black material that'd protect her and warm her.

The survival instinct slowly kicked in. If he wasn't having any supplies, they would have to find something soon.

 

[Kaya]

It was the heavy accent in her way of speaking that made Perses quirk an eyebrow in slight confusion. It was clear that her first language was Latin, unlike, well, every civilization he had ever encountered, and it only brought up more questions;
Where, and when did she come from?
How long had she been in there?
And why in all heaven's name did he know her?!
Artemis; the name sounded right, like a part of him had always known it, however that was possible. Let alone that he had seen her a thousand times before, and now, the pipe dream proved to be true. Had probably been true all along.

"That explains the cold...", he muttered under his breath as his brown and golden gaze wandered across the cryopod. Another ancient relic... House Khumali had long dumped them and settled for an alternative model, Somno Chambers that sent the consciousness into a pleasant dream while preserving the body by blocking PDK1 molecules and reversing cell senescence to induce quiescence; stopping the metabolism altogether to prevent aging. Waking up from a nap in one of those things was a quick and easy process, with no side effects like weakness, nausea or, well, being drenched in a weird fluid.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Artemis questioning their whereabouts. That was... A very understandable question, though he did doubt that she'd like the answer;
He knew they were on one of Wallach IX's three moons.
The smallest was basically a giant ball of ice and water, melting and freezing day by day again as it approached and moved away from the sun with no fluid core. It really was more of a meteor than a moon.
The second and third had been mostly covered in odd trees forming forests that didn't need any form of light as they drew their energy from the heat of the moon's molten hot core that made the ground feel warm to the touch and the few seas steam even when the planet they were orbiting around was blocking Laoujin, the system's blue sun. That is, until the second moon had been hit by a huge meteor a couple of centuries ago, resulting in the destruction of every form of life that had existed there. These days, Wallach IX's second moon was just a barren wasteland with an enormous crater splitting its surface open. But the third, Thraxia, had remained, albeit a strange and otherworldly place, hospitable enough to survive on it, although the close to tropical heat surely wasn't for everyone. It was showing even now, in the way small droplets of condensed water were collecting outside on the windows, just to run down in lazy trails a couple of seconds later.
Perses didn't mind it; he was more of a warm person anyway, and really didn't like the cold.

"We're on Thraxia, third moon of Wallach IX in the Laoujin system", he answered her question while still keeping an eye on her. She had managed to stand up on her own, but such a long time, several millennia if he had to guess, just had to get to you somehow, right?
"Ah, and I'm from Hyperion. Delta Pavonis System."
He absentmindedly took the coat as she handed it back to him and was just about to put it on when he decided otherwise; it had soaked up some of the cryo fluid, and it really didn't smell like anything he wanted to walk around in.

Opening the entrance hatch for some fresh air, and to have a look outside, he internally planned ahead;
the meteor that had struck the Falcon had ripped a hole into the hull where the storage was- thank the engineers for security doors that sealed themselves shut in case of a hull breach- so most of his stocks were now floating in space as once tasty blocks of ice.
He still had a single bag of food and water in the cockpit, plus some basic tools (you could never know when you might need a laser cutter, after all) and the hopefully undamaged board computer.
Not much to survive on, but it was better than nothing, Perses figured.
"Alright", he concluded his thought process after a moment. "My ship has suffered some severe hull damage from a meteor hitting it- don't ask- and yours is nearly out of power and, most likely, a little outdated. But on the bright side-"
With his hands on his hips, he shrugged, before offering a smile, "We have a working board computer and one and a half ships. I think it'd be our best option to turn this into a base for the time being, stock up on edibles and water and then run some numbers on how we'll get back h-"
At this point he hesitated. Where even was her home? For all he knew she could've come from the other side of space, with how long she had been in there.
"-... Where... is your home, actually?"

 

[SunxKiller]

Now that her body picked up where she had left it, her mind was slowly but surely racing. A thousand questions were running through her head, trying to answer by themself. With the ship having run out of power, it was also unclear if the black box had written down the way it had taken. This would enable her to get a grasp of where she was.
Little could Artemis know:
The galaxy she came from was on the direct opposite side of where she was now. Her ship had passed by Old Earth even, going further into the opposite direction. A place commonly called "Known Universe". While Earth was already roughly 600 light-years away - this part was another 200 light-years from earth.

"The cold?", she echoed his words when her body slipped into the Exo-Suit. The black outer shell was made from a black material that was so dark, it didn't reflect any light. Even though it was sturdy and harder than common steel or diamonds, it was still surprisingly lightweight.
Artemis was left wondering. What did he mean by that? It explained the cold? Should she talk about it, ask him? Ask if he had seen the same visions?

While she knew she should be cautious around this stranger, the female couldn't bring herself to it. There was no urge to push her body into a high-alert mode, it rather urged her to feel serene and calm around the other. An instinct her will just couldn't push aside.
Perses.
A name she had heard a million times, knowing that it was his name. Yet, she was far from able to understand why she knew him. Why she had seen him a million times. There was a sense of knowing him, deeply and fully understanding his whole being, however, she didn't know him at all.

Now with the suit on, the female felt rather protected and secure again. Even if one of her limbs would give in from the unexpected and sudden pressure or simply from living, the suit would catch and support her body. Grey orbs scanned the area again, stopping at Perses. It was the first moment she was actually able to comprehend and see who he was and how he looked.

Dark hair that framed warm-toned skin, eyes that could very well be molten gold, warm in gaze and soft in their expression. It seemed as if he was the polar opposite of her.

While the information about her whereabouts hailed in on her, Artemis was busy picking up what she had left. From underneath the capsule, her delicate fingers pulled two hilts that she secured at her belt.
The blades attached to the hilts were clear and see-through. They once were teeth of a predator from Imber - the first kill she had done in her life, during her training, and the teeth as blades being her trophy.
With another grab, she pulled something that could very well be a gun. For her, a finely made thing with the highest technical standards. The bundled neutron beam was a rather powerful weapon - but usually used on Imbers inhabitants who weren't already affected or modified by the radiation.

Finally moving over to the cockpit and trying to get the system to work, the sudden hit of air made her take a deep breath. Fresh, but warm. Words still hailed down onto her, Artemis leaned her hands on the valve and processed all of it.

Another deep breath, very audible this time.
Outdated. A 'huh' commented his words at first and was followed by a gaze over her shoulder and raised eyebrows. How could that be? The explorer was the finest...
"I have no home", the female started but fell silent.
Finally, one of the remaining monitors had some power and lit up. Tons of information ran over the screen within seconds, Artemis eyes scanning them in high alert.

Suddenly, a realization hit her.
The impact of it was so hard, it forced Artemis to sit down on the damaged chair. "I come... My planet is called Imber... Or Kepler 22b. In Cygnus A. If nothing has disrupted the recording, I am roughly 700 light-years away from there", her voice seemed breathless. Not because her body was actually out of breath, but because this fact was so astonishing. Aside from that, it was rather obvious that she felt no connection nor strong bond to her origins.

700 light-years. Even if the ship had taken wormholes and shortened the route itself, there had still been a massive amount of time that had passed. No one she knew could possibly be still alive - only if they had ended in cryo-sleep as well.

Think clearly., her mind advised. Closing her eyes, the female slowly got back up and fought the upcoming feel of nausea back, while turning to face him. "Right, water. That's rather important", the words were mainly spoken to herself. For a moment, the red-haired expected to slip back into one of the visions - but that wasn't happening.
The very reason for her visions and vivid daydreams was standing right in front of her. It left her with only being able to stare at Perses. It couldn't be sheer luck and fate, that would be impossible. Or?

"I know you", her voice was low, almost just whispering that was dangerously close to being carried away by an upcoming wind. "I have seen you while sleeping and before." - and you are the mere reason why I am here, why I left Imber in the first place. The thoughts were left unsaid though. Artemis could only imagine that this was weird enough.

 

[Kaya]

I have no home.

Perses' eyebrows knitted together just a fraction at Artemis' matter-of-fact statement. In an endless universe, or even just the known universe, with so many planets and moons, so many worlds, each one unique in its own way, it was hard to imagine that someone who clearly had the means to go and see all these places hadn't found one to call home.
Sure, there were explorers, who never settled anywhere for a longer period of time, but from what they'd told him, their home was wherever they wanted to be in that very moment.
Maybe he was thinking like a spoiled little prince, but having no home... It sounded so lonely.
On the other hand, maybe he understood; at least better than he would be initially thought.
This pull into the unknown he'd always felt had sometimes even drowned out the love he held for his home, Hyperion.
Still, though, he didn't feel like it was his place to say much about the matter. In the end, he was the heir to the throne of House Khumali, and he clearly had a home, while she was lost in space, several hundred light years away from where she had come from.
Imber... Kepler 22b... he'd never heard of that Planet, and if it was this far away from their current location, it had to be outside the known universe. How had humans even ended up there?

He was still trying to reconstruct what must have happened a few thousand years ago when Artemis dropped a bomb on him;

I know you. I have seen you while sleeping and before.

His expression went blank as every single neuron in his brain seemed to hotwire, trying to process that information. Was she telling the truth?
Was something like that even possible? Stupid question; his own visions were a clear proof that it was.
How was it possible? Why? And, most importantly, what in the living hell did all this mean?!
I know you, too, he wanted to say, I'm only here because I've been trying to find you. But all that spilled from his lips was a silent "I, uh-..." The feeling of impending danger, it had been justified all along; if the last generator had failed, it would've only been a matter of hours, maybe days, till she would've perished.
And now that she was safe, the feeling was gone, and the black hole inside him had closed.
But this was plain crazy!

He knew at least part of mankind had evolved, like his own family was known to harness the power of the voice, but this- he'd never heard of anything like this.

Seconds ticked by with his golden eyes just scanning her face like he could find the answers to his questions there, but all he found was that, somehow, she was the answer, just as much as he was, and that that, at least for now, maybe was enough.
Finally, the corners of his mouth lifted into a small, half happy, half confused smile.
"Yeah I-..." an unbelieving chuckle escaped him as he ran one hand through his hair, shaking his head. "- You know, next time you establish some mysterious mental connection with me, maybe don't go sleeping in a giant ice box. I've been freezing in my sleep my whole damn life." Contradictory to his critical words, his eyes were showing that he was happy.
"Hi. Nice to finally meet you in person, Artemis."
Not gonna lie, his first instinct had been to call her Ari, but as she had stated pretty clearly that there was no shorter version to her name, and, well, he didn't want to offend her.

[Damage assessment completed. Report now?]

"Mh?"
He leaned to the left to look past Artemis, at the airlock connecting their ships, when he heard the electric female voice of Falcon's AI suggest a damage report.
"Ah... oh dear, here we go", he hummed as he hurried past her to drop down on the pilot's seat, eyeing the screens suspiciously.
The docking airlock was an expandable tunnel that sat hidden in the right side of the ship, while the airlock leading to the storage was located right across the room, on the left. Through the window in the door, a giant tear was visible, splitting the hull open like a Turkey on thanksgiving. He'd been damn lucky the meteor hadn't struck his ship fifteen feet further to the front.
"Okay, Falcon, damage report", he sighed.
[Severe damage to section S port hull, port wing, port main engine 2, landing gear, port vertical thruster and bow screen. Foren object detected, biological class Flora.]
"...I can see the damn tree in my windshield", Perses groaned, rubbing his temples. With the other ship and the damaged wing throwing it off balance, the Falcon had slightly tipped to the left while landing, resulting in, well, this.
"Just peachy."
Sighing, he got up, but mustered a small, lopsided smirk as he pointed over his shoulder, at the tree. "Found us some firewood. Let's just... see if we can find something edible and water around here, shall we?"

 

[SunxKiller]

The drop in his expression was scanned by her eyes. The grey hues noticed every little bit of twitch, the short blankness in his golden orbs. Behind them, his brain had started to process what she had said. Artemis knew - she had hit a nerve. Otherwise, his reaction would have been different, maybe even far different than this one. So he had these dreams too? These visions? Even if it only were small ones, there had been some. While the nausea feeling still lingered around her stomach, the female still stood tall and straight. It was most definitely a side-effect that showed now, or her overall empty stomach, maybe even both. After all, who couldn't be hungry after such a long sleep? Yet, she refrained from voicing that thought. His answer, any further reaction, was far more important. It would explain what she had felt. That tug, that red string attached to her chest, which had pulled her towards the sky and away from Imber. The urge that had made her fight back the relentless training.

... Maybe don't go sleeping in a giant ice box. I've been freezing in my sleep my whole damn life.

Damn. One part of Artemis commented this statement with an almost soft expression. There was a certain glimpse of gentleness in her eyes as if she tried to say sorry like that. Another part of Artemis was just shocked. What was going on here? How could they have formed a bond? One that was so strong, making him fall into lower temperatures because her body had been kept cool for what? A millennia-long? Maybe even two or three? How high were the chances of them being born in completely different strings of time and yet finding each other?
By now, the red-haired could only guess how bad that tug would have been if she would have never left. Maybe it would have left long-lasting physical effects on both of them if they would have waited any longer. But still, the question was - how was that even possible?
This went against all logic, all science. Against everything she had learned, everything that made sense.

"Yeah", she sighed, that almost soft expression back on her face. Artemis had been formed way too long. It prevented her muscles from showing anything too soft or gentle. Back on Imber, Pathfinders weren't granted the same rights as normal humans. Even with their enhanced abilities, they were supposed to work and function like machines. Not humans. Sometimes it showed, and it angered Artemis.

The computer voice had her ears twitch. While still staying where she was, her eyes and soon enough her head followed Perses' steps. Only when he exited her ship through the docking did the other follow. Carefully at first, before her eyes grew wide.
His ship was incredible. Technology that people on Imber dreamed of building into their ships. She knew about some stuff here and there, some things that had been theoretical on Imber still. Other things were completely new and unknown. When Perses spoke about a tree, her eyes wandered to the windshield.
Damn, she thought. Any closer and the tree would have pierced him.
"That seemed... Like a rough landing", Artemis noticed and looked around, before his words came back to her. A meteor hitting.

Meteors were a tricky thing. They had magnets, but not of their own. The magnetic power got imprinted on the stone while it flew through the vastness. But once a certain pattern was imprinted, it'd stay on the stone forever. If it was a rather young meteor, chances were it was empty.

The damage on the ship didn't seem too awful. Artemis recalled the words the voice had said and went through them again. They could repair his ship with parts of hers - but it'd take time and strength. As far as she had seen it, her engines were just out of power - not severely damaged nor broken down. They just weren't made for running this long without any form of energy supporting them.
"So I guess we'll rebuild your... Falcon, the coming days", it was her way of offering her help. A rather subtle one that could go unnoticed. "I can dismantle my Explorer for resources", the female added before running a hand through her long strands. They were still wet from the liquid, leaving to dry in soft waves.
The knot from before had loosened up over the many years asleep. So Artemis reached back, twisted her hair once again, and pushed it into a loose knot.

The moon they were one had a small magnetic field that was slightly disrupted by other things. Maybe other moons, a planet even? "Are you even sure there is something edible here?", the female wondered, checking the weapons at her belt. She hadn't come this far just to die of starvation nor any predatory lifeform. "Can you fight?", she then wondered out loud. Where she was from, it wasn't a given. She had taken training in combat - as well as mechanics. It was deemed necessary for the Pathfinders.
Her kind had been supposed to travel one day. Search and find a path that would lead back to Old Earth and maybe other planets. Planets that would be a little less harsh for human survival.

Carefully and with watchful eyes and ears, the female then exited the ship. Imber was a lush and green planet. Soft valleys, shallow oceans. It looked nice from the outside, but the rain was pure acid, as well as every river, pond, and sea. Sometimes it hailed - Sadus. A material that was sharp and would cut through layers of metal even. "What do you know about this... Third moon of Wallach IX?"

 

[Kaya]

Perses waited for another moment, silently grieving the loss of several bags of food which wouldve made all this a lot easier, when he heard Artemis' question. She was outside by now, but before he followed her, he made sure to retrieve his sword from the single storage unit located in the cockpit. Thank heavens at least that hadn't been sucked into outer space. It was an heirloom from his uncle- bless his soul-, a beautiful, silvery-translucent blade, almost ghostly in its appearance, made of advanced amorphous metal, which made the blade bery lightweight amd close to unbreakable. Plus, the great conductivity allowed for an easier plasma coating of the blade.
The sheath was platinum adorned with the golden lion of House Khumali's crest.

As the very commonly used Holtzman Shields blocked everything moving faster than 9 cm per second, guns were close to useless these days, save on wild creatures, people without a shield or if you managed to sneak a shot at someone while their shield was down, the first weapon any member of House Khumali learned to use were blades. They moved way slower than a bullet; once you got a feel for the correct speed at which you wielded your blade, it only was a matter of distracting your enemy with a few, strategically placed, fast swings against the shield to have them stumble and open a window for a swing slow enough to pass through the energy field and incapacitate, or, well, end your enemy.

After he had secured the sheath to his belt, he followed Artemis outside, partly to have a look at that hole the meteor had left and how much of the Falcon's wing it had ripped off, partly because he was curious by nature and had never been on Thraxia; all he knew about it was what little his mother had told him; before becoming the concubine of House Khumali she had apparently been an adventurer.
"Of course I can fight", he stated with a wry chuckle, pulling his sword from its sheath by just a few inches before shoving it back in. "House Khumali is fairly well-liked, but politics' still a dangerous business."

From what he could tell by just a quick look around, there was a whole darn lot of forest.
Now, he had never been the most diligent student, with all those visions on his mind, but something he seemed to have a natural talent for was biology. And he wasn't too bad at chemistry, either.

As he walked past Artemis to assess the weirdly shaped trees of Thraxia, he lightly placed one hand on her shoulder, a warm smile crossing his face.
"I don't know what all of this is-", he motioned one finger forth and back between himself and her to indicate their unusual bond, "-but we'll figure it out."
It didn't take a psychic to imagine that this whole situation was as crazy for her as it was for him, but at least he, unlike her, hadn't awoken from cryosleep after several millenia just to find out that 'home', more or less, as it seemed, was as far away as it could possibly be.
"And thank you", he added. "I'd really appreciate your help."

Moving on, he squatted down in front of the next tree to inspect it; the thing was bulbous in its shape and about as tall as him, with a single, long branch reaching a few meters into the sky, where it curled into a spiral that was growing rows of insanely colorful blooms.
"Hm", he hummed as he reached out to rest one hand against its onion-shaped trunk. It was warm. Friggin hot, actually.
"Hm..."
It seemed to slowly become his new favorite statement.
"Well, I've never been on Thraxia myself, but-"
Straightening up, he crossed his arms and had another look around.

"Thraxia is classified as hospitable, so no dangerously high concentrations of mineral poisons in the ground or harmful gasses in the air. And those things are scorching hot; any form of protein-based poison wouldn't survive that. Plus they're blooming, which means they produce some kind of fruit. So yeah, I'm pretty sure we'll find something edible here."

He fell silent after his quick assessment of their new environment.
What else was there to say about this moon, really? As far as he knew, no one had ever really bothered gathering much information about it, the whole area around the planet it was orbiting was a place most people of a sane mind avoided. But as long as they were here and not down there, it should be fine, he figured.

"I guess there isn't much to know about Thraxia", he concluded his thoughts. "It's the only hospitable moon of the planet and has an unusually hot core. The coldest seas are warm as a bathtub and the ground is warm to the touch. You'll want to stay away from the population of Wallach IX, trust me, they're nuts, and, ah, it's about 219 light years away from Hyperion."

 

[SunxKiller]

Politics' still a dangerous business.
From what she read, it had been on Old Earth. Their ancestors on their original planet had come a long way when it came to politics and their systems. For a long time, the one who was strongest ruled. Later it was the bloodline in a monarchy before turning into a more democratic way, with people voting their new head or representative.
On Imber though, there was no real political system. Yes, there was a code of conduct that everyone simply followed - but it was more stripped down to the basic morals and ethics. There was no time, nor enough source for a political system. Even after a good thousand years on Imber, things were still pretty much rough and life wasn't flourishing as much as people hoped for. Outposts were scattered around the planet, the biggest one not even housing 200 people. The planet was overall populated by just 15000 people - not even close to earths population.

"House Khumali. That sounds like a bloodline system", Artemis noted and watched as his hand moved to lay on her shoulder. With the Exosuit on, she wasn't feeling his touch too much. Softness and body heat got lost, yet the gesture was nice. There had to be a reason for them to be destined to one another - but maybe finding that out would come in a more natural way than really investigating it.
Before her mind could linger more on this subject, she watched as he went towards one of the trees and then traveled up and down to look at its shape. "Back on Imber, even with the flora looking fantastic, there was nothing edible for humans", the thought was a little pessimistic, she admitted that. Not every planet or moon would be as harsh as Imber, but it had been the first thing that had come to her mind.

At least they wouldn't freeze to death at any given point and taking a bath seemed to be fairly possible here. While having stood there now for a good few minutes, there had barely been any other sound than the ones they made, or the planet itself made. No sounds of animals, technology, or other humans. So maybe they were also fairly safe and wouldn't be hunted as prey.
But oh how wrong Artemis was there.

The grass under her feet swished when she moved, giving away that it wasn't dried out and that water sources seemed to come in plenty. Yet, the question was if it was drinkable. Starting to move away from the ship, her muscles and overall body still being on high alert, she looked around and seemed to scan the planet. "The northern pole of the planet is up there, maybe 5 kilometers away. The southern pole is at least 4.000 kilometers away from here.", the female was still so very much used to people knowing in an instant that she was a pathfinder. The grey eyes gave that away to anyone who had lived on the blue dot.
But how was someone supposed to know who hasn't been from there? A thought that hadn't crossed her mind.
"If there is any fauna on this planet, it should be moving with the field", she looked up at the sky. It was empty - no birds flying across it. "But I guess picking fruit will be our best bet", the red-haired concluded to herself, before her feet moved further north.

The repair of the ship would take several days at least. So knowing their surrounding area would come in handy.
Walking further, she felt how slowly the strength returned to her limbs. A slow process, but at least there was some. With the ability to see the magnetic fields, she moved rather naturally towards it. Only the look over her shoulder interrupted the natural lines. Perses possessed a rather strong field, stronger than any she had seen in a human before. The reason for that was up for debate. Maybe it was just normal to his kind? Or maybe it had something to do with the bond. But it was a neat thing if they ever got separated from one another. Artemis would be able to find him.

If we ever get separated?, she questioned her own thought. It wasn't as if they were to stick to one another from now on. Or? For a slight moment, she paused in her movement, looking at the dark-haired. The thought of a them, whatever that would be, came just so naturally to her. Artemis shook her head ever so slightly before starting to move again.