From beyond the murky darkness, Kaizer could hear his name being beckoned again. At first, it came as a whisper, a slight echo reverberating against a backdrop of obscure nothingness.

"Hiraeth..." came the voice again as it increased in intensity.

How strange, thought Kaizer. He didn't recall Desylia calling him Hiraeth before.  The voice didn't belong to her. It sounded so far away, yet so close at the same time.

"Hiraeth... Stay with us..."

Us? Who's us? Suddenly, a brilliant flash of blinding white light engulfed his vision and a myriad of strange sounds filled his ears.

"Hiraeth! Don't you dare give up on me! I didn't come all the from Efinqore-Seven to see you die! You still owe me fourteen credits from three years ago, and you better not bail on me now!"

For a second, Kaizer couldn't recall who was talking to him. He blinked a few more times and tried to take in his surroundings. He peered through the blinding operating lights and tried to isolate the source of the voice from the beeping of the machinery around him.

"Xeleon?" Kaizer rasped as he began to remember who spoke to him.

"Don't talk, Hiraeth. You were found unconscious on the flight deck earlier and went into cardiac arrest. Thank goodness you are alright," sighed Xeleon as he leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes in relief.

Square-jawed and very well built, Xeleon stood almost at six foot five inches and was an intimidating figure to behold.  He was only two inches taller than Kaizer. Xeleon had always teased him for his "inadequately short stature" despite the fact that Kaizer was once taller than him.  Xeleon was also a Cardinal Ancillia Pilot and he was dressed in their all black NeuroArmour with blue nanoline channels running down his arms.  Its only purpose, according to Kaizer, was to enhance Xeleon's already mammoth muscles. Kaizer glanced at him again and received his signature lopsided grin in return.

Kaizer rolled his eyes and choked back a laugh as he remembered the reason why he owed Xeleon fourteen credits.  Xeleon was his best friend from their old Academis days and when they graduated as Pilots, they were both assigned to serve aboard the Stella Primus Navy's Dreadnaught carrier.

Each starship, including the Dreadnaught, was equipped with Crucible simulators designed to maintain and improve a Pilots' skill and was something of a favorite pass time among the Navy's numerous Pilots.  Kaizer had invited Xeleon to a one on one battle once and had bet fourteen credits to see who would beat the other first. He was so confident in his piloting skills that it reached the point of overconfidence and he lost the match three to four against Xeleon. The part that made Kaizer laugh, however, was not the loss, but the aftermath of their match where they had practically destroyed the entire Crucible arena and part of the ship. The hilarious punishment and earful they received afterward were definitely one for the Republic Archives.  Kaizer longed to be reassigned with Xeleon again.

"Xeleon, when did you arrive? You aren't supposed to be due in base until tomorrow."

"I got released a day early. Sort of just went along the lines of don't ask don't tell, you know," shrugged Xeleon, "I was planning to come and surprise you, but looks like you gave it to me instead with your black out. What happened to you anyways?"

Kaizer sighed and tried to stretch while the medical personnel buzzed about around his hovering gurney. He winced as a nurse stabbed a data syncer into the nuerolink port behind his head.

He wondered what the ancient humans of Hearth looked like as he felt the sync establish.  Somehow, Kaizer doubted that the ancient humans of Hearth would have looked very much like him. He had nanomachines coursing through his veins, a nuerolink spliced into his spinal cord, and an analytical processor embedded into his left retina.  Not to mention, they all had pointy ears.  

Why the hell do we even have pointy ears for? wondered Kaizer.  

Their pointy ears didn't seem to really serve any function. 

Maybe they're antennas or something.

In fact, sometimes he questioned whether he was even human anymore or just a machine, but the Republic said that they were the epitome of humanity and he decided to leave it at that. Suddenly, Kaizer felt a feeling of cold liquid sensation flowing through his mind and everything felt much better.

"Resuscitation successful. Memories downloaded and refresh confirmed. System reboot completed. All biosystems check." said the primary physician as he removed the data syncer from Kaizer's head and placed it into a biohazard compartment that disappeared as fast as it appeared into the pearly white wall. "Warrant Officer Hiraeth, you have been given clearance to leave the medical bay.  Your medical report has been updated and saved in the Solis Republic Medical Authority data archives. A copy has also been forwarded to your Ancillia. Farewell, and may peace and glory be upon the Solis Republic." The physician ushered the nurses out of the room and walked to the door.

Kaizer continued laying on the gurney and he craned his head towards the doctor. He regurgitated the line back to awaiting doctor as a notification of the report from Artimus popped up in his embedded heads up display. He blinked it away so that he could review it later. "May peace and glory be upon the Solis Republic."

The physician turned on his heel and the door slid shut behind him once he exited. Kaizer rubbed the nape of his neck and sighed again as he turned his head back to Xeleon.

"I have no idea what happened, to be honest. I had just finished listening to the Commander reprimand me about sparing some Akarian girl, and I went onto the flight deck when I thought about what happened onboard that Akari ship again. Then I heard a voice, and... and...  Damn, I can't remember what after that."

"And what? A voice you say?" Xeleon leaned in closer to Kaizer and suddenly seemed very interested in what he was saying. "Did you recognize who it belonged to?"

"I'm trying, but that's basically as much as I can remember. I heard a voice, everything went black, and I woke up to your ugly face next mine. Speaking of which, back up a bit will you?" laughed Kaizer as he shoved Xeleon's face away from him.

Xeleon's face softened a bit and his lopsided grin resurfaced again as he helped Kaizer off the ever wobbling gurney.

"You're getting weak, old man.  Maybe it's finally time for you to enter the Crucible once more."

Kaizer punched Xeleon in the shoulder as he rolled his eyes and walked towards the door.  It slid open without so much as a squeak. "Planning to pay me fourteen credits instead, Xel?  Because that's what's about to happen once I get this dinner in me.  Better prepare to get your ass handed to you."

"I forgot how funny you can be, Hiraeth.  I look forward to getting paid my twenty-eight credits soon," Xeleon replied as he followed Kaizer out of the medical bay and towards the mess hall across the base.

As Kaizer and Xeleon walked down the hall, Kaizer couldn't help but notice how Xeleon seemed to come to attention at the mention of the voice he had heard earlier.  

Does he know something that I don't?  Why can't I remember who that voice belonged to, or how it even sounded like for that matter? 

Kaizer glanced back at the giant behind him and he wondered if he was just overthinking the situation.  Xeleon gave him that stupid grin of his again, and Kaizer shook his head ever so slightly.   He knew from the bottom of his heart that there had to be more going on than he's being told.  

There has to be something more to this, Kaizer thought, I can feel it.