SimplyAMoth @simplyamoth - Tumblr Blog

Feb 5

Chapter 5 - The Hand That Feeds

Micah scrolled his phone idly under the table, desperate for some kind of entertainment.

Today Topaz had called Micah to be her bodyguard for a meeting with Old Oti of Penacony. Evidently they had some new event coming up, and wanted IPC involvement in one way or another.

Personally, Micah felt the thought was a bit ridiculous. It had hardly been three months since the disaster that was the Charmony festival, so holding a brand new event so quickly felt like a disingenuous attempt at saving face.

Topaz and Oti had been speaking for what felt like hours before Micah’s phone vibrated in his hand from a notification.

Someone kicked Micah’s shin under the table, and he looked up to find Topaz giving him a side eye. His face flushed red, and he hastily shoved the phone back in his pocket, making sure it was on silent before he did so.

The meeting continued for another three and a half hours before Topaz finally managed to get whatever it was she wanted out of Old Oti.

When they made it out into the hallway, Topaz elbowed Micah gently. “So…” she said, putting on a smile, “who were you talking to in there that got you all smiley? Did you meet a girl on one of your missions?”

Micah gave her a strange look. “It’s a boy. But honestly, my personal business has nothing to do with you.”

Topaz gaped at him for a moment. “Oh, wow, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were…” She cleared her throat, looking a bit awkward. “Y’know.”

Micah blinked at her, confused. After a moment, her implication dawned on him, and he felt his face go bright red again. “What?! No—not—not like that! He’s just my friend! It’s not—“

He cut himself off, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, completely unsure of how to finish that sentence without it sounding even more incriminating.

“No, no, you misunderstand,” Topaz said, giving Micah an awkward smile. “I am too. My girlfriend works on the Herta Space Station.”

Micah forced his face to remain as neutral as possible. “I promise, we’re just friends,” he assured her, speeding up his gait in an attempt to leave Topaz in the dust.

“What? Wait, Micah, slow down,” Topaz called, jogging slightly to keep up. “I’m sorry, I swear I didn’t mean anything by that. If you don’t like him, that's totally fine, I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

Micah’s mind once again supplied the image of Lucian fixing his stitches, and he felt his face heat up. Topaz didn’t say anything, but he saw her eyeing him with an amused look out of the corner of his eye.

“I’m done talking about this,” he announced, plastering a neutral expression onto his face. “Let’s just…get back to the outpost.”

Out of fear of more pestering from Topaz, Micah didn’t retrieve his phone from his pocket until he had safely made it back to his room.

He sighed in relief, sinking down onto his mattress and checking his messages.

Sure enough, he had a few unread messages from Lucian, though all of them seemed to have been from a couple hours earlier.

Micah sighed, typing out a hasty reply. Hopefully Lucian was still online…

Micah paused. Technically, Lucian was correct. Until the last couple of weeks, he couldn’t remember having been to business meetings in several months.

Even typing it out himself, it felt like a lie. In what situation would she realistically need a high ranking officer to be her body guard to a meeting with old Oti? His efforts were clearly better spent elsewhere.

In their frequent discussions, Lucian’s disdain for the IPC was frequently made known to Micah, often completely intentionally. A couple of years ago, Micah would have shoved it away as pointless criticism, but lately…he’d be lying if said it wasn’t starting to take root.

Micah didn’t know how to respond to that, so he didn’t. He put his phone down on his bedside table, and rolled over to stare at his ceiling.

He knew that a lot of people weren’t overly fond of the IPC. Sometimes when they went to start new settlements there’d be protests, but they usually would fizzle out within a couple of days. He had largely assumed they were just resistant to change. Could things really have been worse than he thought?

He bit at his finger idly until his phone buzzed again.

Lucian didn’t respond for a while. Just as Micah was beginning to worry he had crossed a line, finally the typing bubble reappeared.

Micah stared at his phone for a long moment. He couldn’t place his finger on it, but something about the way Lucian was talking felt…wrong. Micah had only known him a few weeks, but he knew that Lucian was notoriously cagey about his past.

If that was all there was to it, why was he always ducking out of conversations about it?

Micah swallowed down any of his doubts, and allowed himself to drift into a fitful sleep.

—

The next morning, Micah awoke with a newfound determination. If Lucian wouldn’t tell him anything of importance about Melustanin, then he’d figure things out himself.

He made his way to Topaz’s office the moment he was dressed. He opened the door just slightly to find that Topaz seemed to be on the phone.

“It’s been so hectic lately,” she whined, dragging a hand along her face. “Ever since the incident with Micah, Diamond’s been pressuring me to keep him out of the field for a while. At this rate, I’m worried the kid is going to start getting restless and stumble into something he shouldn’t.”

Micah froze. Evidently too late for that, he thought bitterly. Lucian, as usual, had been right—they were intentionally keeping him out of the field.

After a pause—likely the person on the other line talking—Topaz finally spoke up again. “I know…I just…I worry about him sometimes,” she said. “I was glad that he seemed to be coming out of his shell a bit, but when I talked to him yesterday, he was still deflecting just about every question I threw at him.”

Micah, unable to take anymore gossip about himself, knocked again on the door, louder this time. “Ms. Topaz?”

Topaz turned around, startled. “Sorry, something work just came up,” she said to the person over her phone. “Love you, talk later.” She slipped the phone back into her pocket, and then smiled at Micah.

“Hey Micah! Also…please drop the Ms. It makes me feel old,” she sweatdropped. “Do you need something? It’s not usual for you to come to me directly.”

Micah darted his eyes around the room, until they eventually landed on an ID sitting on Topaz’s desk. Resolution steeled, he stepped the rest of the way into the room. “I was wondering if I’d be able to take the week off,” he asked, forcing himself to hold eye contact with Topaz.

Much to his surprise, Topaz seemed to light up. “Oh, of course! That shouldn’t be a problem at all. You haven’t used up any of your PTO since you entered the field with Jade, so including the rollover you should have at least 30 days. Let me just get the paperwork really quick.”

Topaz disappeared under her desk, digging in one of the drawers of paperwork. Micah eyed the ID on her desk, but didn’t dare move to grab it.

“You know, that mystery boy you’ve been talking to must really be something,” Topaz said as she shuffled through her files.

Micah froze. He swallowed, anxiety building in his gut. “How do you mean?”

“Well, ever since you’ve started talking to him it seems like you’ve been much more…” She paused, sitting up a bit so Micah could see her, and gestured one hand around in the air. “I don’t know. Happy’s not quite the right word…maybe peaceful?”

Micah exhaled in relief. So she hadn’t caught on to his plans for the day—she was just, as usual, reading too far into he and Lucian’s relationship. “Maybe you just feel that way because I’ve been more local in the past few weeks,” he said, trying to withhold the venom from his voice. “You’ve been seeing more of me, so it certainly stands to reason you’d get a better taste of my personality.”

Topaz sighed. “Maybe,” she acquiesced, before she suddenly stood up quickly. “I can’t find the papers here, let me go print new ones. I’ll just be in the room over. One sec.”

Micah held his breath as Topaz slipped into the other room. In one fluid motion, he swiped the spare I.D. off of her desk and shoved it unceremoniously into his pant pocket.

Topaz returned a few moments later, stack of papers in her hand. “You’ll just have to sign at the bottom of the last page, and then you’ll be free for the week,” she said cheerfully, handing Micah the papers and a pen.

She continued chatter at him about the “mystery boy” as he scanned through the paperwork. He largely tuned her out, for no reason other than his own embarrassment. With a quick scribble of the pen, he handed everything back to Topaz.

With a slight bow, he interrupted her ramblings to say, “Thank you for the approval.”

Topaz waved her hand dismissively. “Please, don’t even worry about that. It’s literally my job. Have a good week off, okay?”

Micah gave a curt nod, and then slipped into the hallway. He began power-walking down the hall with a carefully maintained level expression, feeling the sweat drip down his back. If he was caught here, it could get him sent back to Jade—or worse, expelled from his position all together. He steeled himself as he made his way past the entrance to the dormitory without giving it a second glance.

He glanced both ways down the halls when he came to the entrance of the higher security data room, and after he was certain nobody was coming, he scanned Topaz’s badge and quietly slipped in.

The lights came on automatically, revealing several long rows of file cabinets on his right. On the far wall, a large computer screen with several dozen control panels underneath it was set up.

He tentatively made his way toward it, and searched around on the control panel for a power button. To his relief he found that it functioned similarly to the previous model of his mech—he supposed that made sense, given that they were likely made at the same time.

The screen flicked on, and an expansive search bar filled the screen. He felt his head spinning simply at the number of filtering options.

The only thing he had to go on was the planet name, Melustanin. Even if the IPC hadn’t taken over the planet, they would likely have some record of it—especially if something truly had happened to it as Micah expected. He typed it into the search bar warily, and hesitated only a moment before hitting enter.

Immediately, at least a dozen files containing the word Melustanin showed up. The first few seemed to only contain some very basic information—the planet name, its wealth ranking…things he had gathered from his conversation with Lucian. He continued scrolling the results until, finally, he found something interesting.

Melustanin Stellaron Crisis, Catastrophe, and Rehabilitation [Amber Era 2157]

That was the date of the previous Amber Era—the switchover only occurred a few months ago. Micah warily clicked into the file. When it opened, the first image on the page seemed to be of a war ground.

Micah could feel himself going pale. He scrolled down slightly to reveal the written portion of the report.

After the arrival of two Lord Ravagers during a pivotal battle against the Void Rangers, roughly 60% of the population of Melustanin has gone missing or been presumed dead.

Remaining citizens refused the rehabilitation program, citing the project as not being worth the risk in their current state of renewal. The planet has been labeled “High Risk,” but will not be removed from consideration due to lack of potential subjects.

[Access Level: P44+]

By the end of the report Micah had stopped breathing. The report was dated only 3 calendar years ago. Just as he had feared, this was far worse than Lucian had made it seem.

Was his original mentor even alive?

Micah clicked out of the file feeling a bit sick to his stomach. It seemed the folder that the Melustanin file was located in was dedicated to the planet rehabilitation projects. Micah was, of course, familiar with them—Topaz’s planet was saved by them, and on occasion he’d escort her to check in the progress of the numerous colonies the IPC was keeping at any point in time.

What caught Micah’s attention however, was a file labeled “Johon Rehabilitation [Amber Era 2157].”

That was the name of his home planet.

Johon was part of the rehab projects? Micah frowned. Why did Topaz never mention it to me?

Micah clicked into the file, but once again, his heart dropped into his stomach. Much like the previous file, there were photos attached at the top. However, unlike Melustanin, these photos were clearly taken from somewhere off-planet. The photo at the very top painted a very horrifying picture.

Johon had been completely destroyed.

Micah felt a wave of nausea pass over him, and covered his mouth one hand, the other gripping the desk in front of him so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. The report was initially filed 16 years ago—the same time the IPC took him in.

Johon, struck by extreme poverty and lack of available natural resources due to a Stellaron disaster, sent an inquiry to Diamond about participating in the rehabilitation program. Diamond fast tracked the application, along with taking in several orphans and sending them to various divisions. Only one is intended to remain in the SID long term.

1 Month Status - On Target

Fields are beginning to return to a usable state. Not much change has been observed in air quality, but that is typical in more extreme cases.

6 Month Status - Behind Target

Air still seems unpurified. Many more reports of lung diseases have been reported in the poorer districts. Previous progress in the fields has been undone by another wave of drought. If conditions don’t improve soon, Diamond plans to call for withdrawal of IPC employees.

8 Month Status - Employee Withdrawal

Due to a continuous downward trend, Diamond has recalled any employees still on planet. Communication will be continued with the local population in order to properly gauge progress for log keeping.

12 Month Status - Planet Unresponsive

Contact with civilians has been lost. Any remaining survivors have been presumed dead. It’s expected that within the next month, the planet will begin to decay. Neighboring planets have been warned, and are prepped if the need for evacuation arrives.

14 Month Status - Planet Unresponsive

After half of the planet decayed and broke off into pieces—which now orbit the planet as a ring—it has finally grown stable and the process of decay seems to have come to an end. The IPC will continue monitoring for the next 4 months, and in the event there are no changes, we will withdraw all resources.

[Access Level P44+]

Micah stared at the TV and allowed the silence to engulf him. His heart pounded in his ears, and his vision began swirling.

He reached up to touch his cheek, and found that it was because he was crying.

When was the last time he had cried?

After taking a moment to regain his composure, careful to shove his feelings out of the forefront of his mind, he took out his phone. He didn’t have time to go through all of these files right now, so he’d do the next best thing. Plugging his phone into the console, he began to duplicate the entire folder of rehab projects to his personal drive. Once they were finished, he also downloaded a few additional articles on Melustanin before silently slipping into the hallway.

When he finally arrived at the dormitory building, he was certain he was about as pale as a ghost. He reached into his pocket where Topaz’s I.D. sat, and gripped it tightly in his hand.

Topaz’s apartment was at the front of the dormitory hallway, so when Micah passed by on the way to his own apartment, he did his best to subtly slide the I.D. into her mail box.

He continued down the hallway, and eventually arrived at his own room. The moment the door slid shut behind him, a newfound wave of nausea struck. He rushed to the bathroom, barely managing to make it to the toilet and pull his hair out of his face before he threw up.

Once he was confident he was no longer going to actively be sick, he let his hair fall over his shoulders, and forced himself to stand up. The toilet flushed automatically, and he stumbled over to the nearby sink.

As he quickly rinsed his face and hands, his mind drifted back to the files he had actually gone looking for—the ones about Melustanin. Guilt shot through him again, and he shoved it down, swiftly moving to grab his toothbrush.

He couldn’t tell Lucian about what he’d done. In fact, he couldn’t tell anyone. His phone was issued by the IPC anyways—in all likelihood they had ways of peering into his conversations. The last thing he needed was to be caught red handed.

He managed to wrangle himself into casual clothes before collapsing into his bed, too tired to bother with a shower. He pulled out his phone, and stared warily at Lucian’s contact. After a moment of hesitation, he finally caved and clicked on it.

Micah smiled despite himself, curling further into a ball in his bed.

For a while, neither of them said anything. Micah couldn’t conjure up a response that didn’t make him nauseous, and at first it seemed Lucian had nothing left to say.

A few minutes later, his phone finally chimed again.

As much as he hated to admit it…that offer was wildly tempting. Micah swallowed, and forced himself to put the thought out of his mind. If he left now, it would only make his activities today more suspicious.

Micah laughed slightly. He could tell that even with such a brief conversation, his bad mood was already dissipating. He thought back to Topaz’s original assumption the day before. Had her words actually carried some truth? He turned his head upwards to stare at his ceiling, a flood of conflicting emotions running through him. His guilt began rising to his chest again, now combined with some form of panic laced with the fondness towards his friend.

The chime of his phone drew him out of his thoughts, and he held it up to his face.

As Micah slowly drifted to sleep that night, a gentle smile settled itself on his face. Maybe everything would turn out fine after all.

#mechanical illusions #hsr #honkai star rail oc #lucian🌻🌟#micah 🛡️🔥

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