Leonard "Lyo" Starnwell

Backstory


 Captains Log

 Leonard Starnwell



      Our mission to retrieve the Fire Fonestone was, in a way successful, and now, I hold in my hand this ancient ring, of origins I still do not know, on each end of the seven spikes, sits a stone of immense power. In completing our search, we have been reunited with an old friend and vowed war with a great enemy, with powers only topped by Seraphim himself. Now, as the Monstrosity finishes destroying Batical, the Demon grows his powers at the core, and my allies contemplate the upcoming battle, my mind can’t help but stray from the designs of Heaven’s Oath. I can’t deny it anymore; I am in love with Trisha Macintosh. Within a matter of minutes, she risked her life to save me, not once, but twice. I hoped to keep these feelings at bay, and even now I fear that making any commitments prior to our upcoming war with Seraphim.

       Seraphim. The God of Gods. The Blue Angel. The Reckoning of the Universe. To think only two months ago, or as Mr. Sinclair has discovered, nearly half a year ago Seraphim existed without any corporeal form. He had already been defeated, and was nothing more than a stray energy signal roaming the universe. If it hadn’t been for me, none of us would be in this position. It was the Helios Cannon that brought Seraphim to life, that fueled him with synthetic Celestial Energy, and allowed his Astra to once again begin the reuptake process.

      As far as I am concerned, I am responsible for the existence of Helios. I designed Heaven’s Judgment, starting with nothing more than the idea that synthetic celestial energy could be channeled and compressed into a powerful and volatile state. Looking back, I could have applied these designs to create a new core for Holder Trow, or better yet a source of energy off planet. Maybe a ring that rotated around the planet, channeling the synthetic energy into a more powerful state, providing a much more reliable source of energy for the planet. But I was part the Tribunal. My work was funded with the premise that what I built would be useful in times of war. Reports had come back that the government on Pangea was uncooperative, and that their powers far outmatched ours. We were led to believe that we were the ones at a disadvantage, not the other way around. It wasn’t until we began field testing Heaven’s Judgment that I discovered the truth.

      Due to Holder Trow being entirely composed of large cities, there was no proper place to test Heaven’s Judgment on planet, and the other four plants of Argatha were for to inhospitable to land on. It was decided that we would use asteroids for testing purposes. However the nearest asteroid field was far beyond the edge of Argatha, but we had a unique opportunity. On the opposite side of the wormhole, in Pangean space, was an entire asteroid belt. The Heaven’s Judgment device was brought aboard an A class research vessel, the Horizon. Several hours later we landed on a large asteroid on the outer edge of the belt, projected to be clear of any collisions with other asteroids. The Heaven’s Judgment device was unloaded and preparations began. I still feel the anticipation pounding in my heart as it powered up. We had locked on to a small asteroid two kilometers away. The weapon began to hum, and after several minutes, we aligned the shot, and fired. The holoscreen on board the ship lit up, as a blast of pure white energy flew out of the device, and moments later, after switching to our view of the asteroid, a bolt of white energy struck down from above, incinerating the asteroid, leaving no trace of any matter prior to impact. As I sat there watching my creation come to life, my awakening to the truth was given birth as well.

      The Tribunal wanted to gain as much as possible out of the mission to the Milky Way, and thus also sent a team to research Ceres, the largest asteroid in the belt. They had already discovered that each asteroid emitted celestial energy, however it was believed there was a pattern to how it was channeled outwards. The team hoped to track the flow of energy out of Ceres by drilling into its core, and injecting track able synthetic celestial energy. Of course no one took into account the fact that we were planning to destroy multiple asteroids, upsetting the balance of belt.

      There were a total of 15 of us sent on the Horizon. My team, including myself, counted for five members, the celestial energies researchers were another six, and then the captain and his first officer who took the helm, along with two security officers. Among the team sent to investigate Ceres was a 28 year old Landon Yeary, fresh out of school, eager to work with celestial energy for the Tribunal. He, like most of the Holder Trow population, was not a champion. In fact, the only champions on the Horizon were me, the first officer, who was of Graviga, and one of the security officers who was of Umbra. None of us were particularly skillful with our powers, however the first officer claimed Graviga allowed him to better sense his surroundings in space, and helped him greatly as a pilot. Little did we suspect Landon would become more powerful than any of us.

      An hour or so had passed since the first test of the Heaven’s Judgment device when we received word from the captain that neither the research team nor the security officer accompanying them had reported in from Ceres. They had been gone for well over four hours, and should already have completed the drilling process. They were scheduled to check in before injecting the synthetic energy, so that my team could begin recording sensor data across the belt. They had taken the only shuttle craft to Ceres, meaning to investigate we would need to pack up our equipment and fly the Horizon to Ceres ourselves. Another hour passed when the captain gave the order to prepare for departure for Ceres. My team began retracting Heaven’s Judgment back into the cargo bay, when suddenly red alerts sounded across the ship.

      A nearby asteroid had shifted, and was beginning to move towards our ship. By what seemed like sheer coincidence, it would impact directly with the ship, demolishing it. We calculated 22 minutes until impact, and moving Heaven’s Judgment would take at least half an hour. Luckily the device was completely cooled off. We locked on to the asteroid and fired another blast from Heaven’s Judgment, obliterating the asteroid completely. Once again we began retracting the device into the cargo bay; meanwhile scans were done to determine what caused the asteroid to shift. Standing in the cargo bay of the ship, I was directly looking at the culprit.

      Landon Yeary was standing several meters away on the surface of the asteroid. His eyes were glowing nearly as brightly as the blasts we had witnessed earlier. On his right hand, the same bright light could be seen through his pressurized suit. I yelled through the coms, alerting my team of his presence, but I was too late. Landon raised both arms, and two of my men, Thomas Gretch and Hugh Johnson, were launched into space, pillars of stone left in their place. I listened as they both screamed briefly before cutting out; the initial impact of the stone had compromised bindings in the legs of their suits, both men suffocated in the vacuum of space.

      Red Alerts sounded across the ship, and the remaining security officer rushed to the cargo bay, armed with a standard plasma rifle. Landon had begun to approach the ship, leaving craters as footsteps. My remaining two men, still in the cargo bay continued to work towards retracting Heaven’s Judgment, skipping all standard safety protocols. By skipping various steps, the device would be rendered unusable on the current ship, and possibly even damaged, however the core parts of the device would remain safe, and back on Holder Trow would easily be refitted. However it would still take several minutes before the Horizon could disembark.

      The security officer open fired from the cargo bay doors, but each shot was met with a thick chunk of stone, thrown from the ground up, without even a hand raise from Landon. Just as the officer went to reload his rifle, Landon stopped moving. He raised an arm out to his side and a thin pillar of stone shot out of the ground into his grip. As the new clip slid into the gun, Landon tightened his grip, and pieces of the stone broke off, forming a sharp spear like object. In the blink of an eye, just as the trigger of the rifle was pulled, Landon lunged the spear through the air directly into the security officer, throwing him back into the wall, and we all listened as the sound of air released from his suit. Now Landon was standing only 2 meters away, when he spoke.

      I recognized the voice as Landon‘s but it had an overtone like nothing I had heard before, and not only that, but the sound was travelling through space, not our communicators, breaking all laws of physics. He accused us of destroying parts of his domain, of attacking his very core, and of planning the destruction of the Milky Way itself. We all quickly realized it was no longer Landon in control, but the god of stone and earth, Terra. He went on to tell of Saturn’s prophecy, that the being from another world would come and destroy the very way of life on Pangea, with advanced technology capable of destroying cities and killing millions without a thought. That these people had killed their own god and now wanted to do the same to Pangea’s. Now sitting on the A7, I see Saturn was correct. Landon finished by accusing us of beginning this prophecy by coming to steal the very energy from his asteroid belt, that we planned to begin our invasion by killing off Terra.

<p class="MsoNormal">      As the Heaven’s Judgment device finished extracting, the asteroid began to shake. Landon had clasped his hands together, and kneeled to the surface. His eyes began to shine even brighter, and the ship began to rumble. We sealed the cargo bay door, and the order was given to disembark. The Horizon lifted from the surface, and the sound of the hum of the engines sounded through the ship. We watched as the asteroid broke into pieces, and Landon’s body drifted away, lifeless. Had our technology not been so unfamiliar to Terra, we probably wouldn’t have escaped so easily.

<p class="MsoNormal">      Upon return to Holder Trow, I was debriefed on the encounter dozens of times, each time explaining to someone further and further up the chain of command. I found myself conflicted, Terra had acted as though my people were planning to eradicate Pangea, that we had the clear advantage. It was at my final debriefing I met the man who told me the truth.

<p class="MsoNormal">      If I were any other person, under any other circumstance I would have been honored. I, along with the other survivors of the incident, was brought before the Grand Tribunal. It was a large, tall room, the Tribunal sat above, in staggered seats. Those in the middle, sat higher up than those to the sides, and at the very top, sat the High Chancellor. Down below the Tribunal was a small podium, where I would later stand and tell my point of view. I stood before the Tribunal and told what I saw, answered a few questions, mostly pertaining to the Heaven’s Judgment device and its safety. The Tribunal seemed eager to hear about it, and very curious about how to make it more efficient to move. I was then escorted out of the room, and brought to, yet another debriefing room, where a man out of uniform stood waiting for me.

<p class="MsoNormal">      His name was Anthony Detori, a retired member of the Tribunal, and had led the first official expedition through the wormhole. Apparently he had been monitoring the hearings before the Grand Tribunal, and wanted to speak to me directly. He was the one who informed me what Holder Trow was really up against. He had been on Pangea himself, and knew how unprepared the planet was for any sort of invasion. He showed me plans for us to attack key points in each territory, and expected results. They were horrifying. Even worse, all of these findings were prior to my designing of Heaven’s Judgment. Anthony believed that with my weapon, the people of Pangea would stand no chance against our forces. He thanked me for my help in ensuring the conquest of Pangea, and sent me on my way. To this day, I still don’t know whose side he was on.

<p class="MsoNormal">      But I was convinced we were wrong, and that I would be responsible for the deaths of millions. I tried to delay progress on manufacturing of Heaven’s Judgment, but it was too late, and I found myself under suspicion. While I managed to throw several problems into the production phase, I arrived home one day to find soldiers waiting for me. I was brought in for questioning, and managed to bluff my way out of holding, however many of my security clearances were revoked, and I knew my time working in the Tribunal was over.

<p class="MsoNormal">      But I didn’t let that stop me; I had a few cards up my sleeve. I found myself hacking through the Tribunal security, and before I knew it had planted chimera viruses throughout the system, effectively destroying as much of my research as I could. But before I could infect the manufacturing department, I was locked out completely.

<p class="MsoNormal">      It was only a matter of hours until I would be arrested, but I had already made preparations, without even thinking of what I was doing, I had managed to fabricate an identity and replaced all the information stored in my ID card, I managed to stow away on board a freighter heading through the wormhole, and soon found myself on Pangea, far from the reach of the Tribunal. I knew it wasn’t uncommon for Holder Trow to send ambassadors to Pangea for talks of trade, but I couldn’t help but fear that one day they may also arrive with soldiers determined to retrieve, or even kill me. It wasn’t until sitting in the high chancellor’s office years later I would discover the Tribunal had decided instead to use my disappearance as anti-pangean propaganda, and publicly tie my name to the creation of Heaven’s Judgment and Helios.

<p class="MsoNormal">      To think, Terra and Saturn were right. Aegis is dead, the insurrectionist from Holder Trow laid waste on Cincinnatus, and I, a native to Holder Trow, brought life to Seraphim, dooming Pangea. And so far the Score here on Elderant has been right as well. We arrived in the year 6969, and according to Balto we are only days away from the New Year, when we hope to destroy the mist and the phonons, changing everyday life for every native to this planet. The doctor has just informed me that Trisha’s condition is stable, but that if she keeps channeling Astra, she will destroy herself from the inside out. Is this just another prophecy? Well, from this moment on, I don’t care. Be it from the doctor or the gods, I will not live by a prophecy, I will make my own purpose, and I will fight for what I believe; for my companions, For John and Volia, For Pangea, Elderant, and Holder Trow, and for Trisha.

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<p class="MsoNormal"> End Log.