Fiction Update

Anthology Part 3: “Seven Strands”

The Citadel
Selen
Consular Offices, 34 ABY

Atyiru Caesura Entar stood alone in the briefing room, having dismissed her aides to take the call personally. On the viewscreen, the face of Marick Tyris hovered before her eyeless countenance. Though the holo was but an empty echo to her divine-granted sight, the Force murmured to her, whispered songs of familiarity even across the stretch of all the stars. She listened to those hymns, and knew it to be him.

What seemed like ages beyond ages ago, when Marick had served as Shadow Lord, he had ordered the particular communications array at her fingertips installed with the latest technology for optimal clarity of feature. No one was around to appreciate the irony. Perhaps for the better. She might not have been able to feign her typical levity.

On the holoscreen, the Hapan’s eyes fixed unerringly on the Miraluka, their holo-washed gaze flat. "Augur Atyiru," his accented voice said, and she straightened at the word, listening intently, "you know that Pravus has eyes everywhere."

"Yes," Atyiru replied firmly. She lifted her chin, rolling her shoulders back. "The First Clan will not sit idle while innocent lives are threatened. Adept Tyris," she stressed, "are you alone..." there was but a microscopic pause, "in thinking that we will simply buckle under threats from the Throne? That we would sooner be lapdogs than face suffering or uncertainty?"

"No," Marick replied plainly without pause. "I am not."

The woman pursed her lips thoughtfully, silver brows furrowed.

"What is it that you want, then?" Atyiru asked, her voice steady despite the maelstrom of emotions storming inside her — anxiousness, loss, betrayal, worry, fear, hope. "We received the body. The Lord Marshal was kind enough to deliver it in person, and explained that the head remained with you. Why did you do such a thing, Marick? What did you—"

"I," the Hapan's interrupted flatly, the words a near mirror of what he’d told she and Ujis days prior, "eradicated a traitor from your midst. I had considered it a final favor for Arcona, but I see that it was a futile attempt. Perhaps I should have targeted the rest of the Agrona—"

"Try," snapped the Consul. "and see how well such an attempt becomes you. Stop throwing about threats like some child in tantrum. I know for certain you would not turn. You’re not this man—"

"No. I am the Voice of the Brotherhood, Consul, and I serve just as you are supposed to serve, as you are bound to," Marick answered coldly, his features an impassive mask even over the holoprojection. The words were heavy, and she felt for a moment as if she laid on the ocean floor, crushed under them. The Miraluka inhaled sharply.

"Bound? By what? Oaths? Meaningless the moment he spilled blood. Honor? I’ve known honorable people. Pravus is no such man. Should fear keep us steady? That’s no life. No, what I hold to is faith, and our Council and their master are not gods, Adept. When men rise together, any one man can be beaten. Any one man may be saved."

"In that you are mistaken. Pravus sees all, Augur Atyiru. Are your forces prepared for the consequences?"

A handful of heartbeats stretched in silence between them before the Miraluka folded her arms behind her back, her stance unbending. "Yes," she, responded, chill like a mountain top, "they are. Farewell, Voice of the Brotherhood." She waved a hand dismissively and, with a brush of Force energy to the proper buttons, the transmission ended.

In that moment, her shoulders screamed to slump, her back moaned its ache, and her empty eye sockets throbbed from exhaustion. She would have liked to yank on her braid, to pace the room, to collapse in a heap — but no. Leaders did not slump. A leader was in control. Especially when they least felt it.

She replayed the conversation in her mind, pivoting and striding out of the room, head held high, to meet with her advisors. The code they used was simplistic at best, a little thing construed on some mission or another when she had served as his Aedile. Whatever else they said, it was the phrase after the signal that mattered. Are you alone? she’d asked. No, his reply. We will fight, she’d hinted. Be prepared for an attack, he’d warned. So little detail, so much frustration. But at least she knew, now. Whatever he was doing, however terrible, he was still offering them this much, still alerting them. She trusted that.

Captain Bly fell into step at her left as she advanced, her right side absent its usual companion now languishing many klicks below the stone on which she walked. It had been a long, tiring month, and it was not going to get any easier. Not by half. The worst was yet to come. But they would face it. They had to. The Force was with them, she believed.

The Force was with them.

Click here to read the full fiction update.

Fiction Breakdown

Sarin’s original proposition to the Clans of the Brotherhood was to give everyone the option to feel included in the Brotherhood Plot Updates. When I came into office, I worked this into my Anthology plan, and started to coordinate and communicate with each Unit’s respective leaders. This brainstorming lead to me having the idea of creating one unified fiction with seven chapters with each excerpt branching off to cover more about what was going on with each individual unit.

The primary narrative should give anyone reading it a quick and clean view of each Clan’s status without overwhelming you with references to places and people you have never heard about before. Everyone featured is a prominent member of their respective unit, and I worked closely with the Consuls to ensure that everyone was represented fairly and accurately. At the end of each excerpt, there is a hyperlink to take you to the full fiction of that respective unit that I strongly encourage everyone to read as it will give you insight into your fellow DBers and help you reach outside the bubble of your home Clan.

There is no real rhyme or reason to the order of the chapters. I mixed and matched and edited everything together like a movie or film, as that’s how I tend to visualize scenes taking place in fiction. I started with Arcona because it allowed me to follow up on the first two Anthology articles that covered Marick killing Zakath Agrona and the fall-out of the Lotus strike on Pravus' shipyard.

That said, I hope you guys enjoy “Seven Strands”. It was a lot of work, and make sure you thank your Clan Leaders for being on top of this and helping me pull this off. I did not write these updates, merely guided, organized and offered my advice where needed.

You can view each of the seven unit fictions on Google Drive.

• Plageuis
• Arcona
• Odan Urr
• Scholae Palatinae
• Taldryan
• Tarentum
• Naga Sadow

Each of these fictions was written, finalized and approved by each respective unit's Proconsul and Consul. If you have questions, I’m happy to answer what I can, but your best bet will be to follow up with your Summit.

Consuls, I will be following up with Cluster of Ice rewards for your efforts shortly. Thanks everyone.

So, what’s next?

Update wise, the next progression in the Brotherhood storyline is covered under the Rogue One Run-On competition. I created a scrolling text version of the “story so far” which includes elements of Seven Strands already in it. You can view it in plain text form below as well.

As I read the Run-On storylines, I will start crafting the next fiction update that I will be writing.

Future Plot Updates

With the Anthology series completed, I have begun work on the final Plot Update for 2016. The working title is “Fiction 3.0”, but will focus on the consequences of the acts carried out in the Anthology series as Pravus responds to the growing threat of the Lotus and dissention within the Brotherhood.

In Closing

Possessions is now live. I will talk more about what that means from a Voice Staff perspective in my next report, but for now, I encourage everyone to try it out, have fun, and genuinely take a second to realize that this has been a pipe dream of DB members for over a decade. It’s real, it’s here, and so be sure to congratulate the members and leaders that worked on this project. Check out Sarin’s newspost for more information on that.

Right now, make sure to stay on top of your Rogue One Run-On teams. Mav and I are also both looking forward to reading yourFictions as well!

Look for more updates in the following weeks to come. Questions? Concerns? Hit me up at [Log in to view e-mail addresses]. My door is always open.

Thank you.