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The Seventh Star is Eden (Skeith Takahata II & MessedUpRp)

When the ship finally began approaching the resistance headquarters, Ceres had returned to the pilot's seat. "Rebellion HQ, this is Ceres Karn, returning as requested. Please notify the commanders of my arrival." She waited for confirmation before bringing the ship into dock. As it landed she breathed out a heavy sigh. "Got to report to the commanders. My aunt wanted to speak with me."

She stood up, brushing herself off before approaching the ramp and lowering it. "You ought to come along, Rena. I'm sure my aunt would be relieved to see you." She looked down at her guantlet, checking on Ariel. "Ariel, are you still feeling alright?" She would probably never stop fessing over her until she had successfully recovered her damaged memory.
 
Ariel responded, "oh yes I'm fine. Don't sorry about me Ceres. There are more important things right now." She was indeed still worried about that virus, she hadn't a clue about how it had happened or what it makes cause further down the road.

The ship slowly landed on the landing pad, the bay doors opening slowly. Rena looked very happy as the sunlight poured into the ship, she had been staying on a frozen wasteland after all.
 
"Don't sell yourself short, Ariel. You're plenty important to me." Ceres smiled as she saw Rena's expression. "Welcome to your new home. We'll see about getting you situated after we report to the commanders." She started walking towards where the commanders normally gathered. "Speaking of which, Ariel. Did my aunt say what was so urgent when they called us back?"
 
Ariel shook her virtual head, "she left no real reason for this. She only claimed that we needed to return and didn't reply sibce since then."

Rena had walked out of the ship. Her fingers skimming the hull of another ship. "This is wonderful Ceres. Very fascinating." She smirked and waited for Ceres to arrive. Running her hands over the various ships in the yard. "Amazing technology." She mumbled, a wry smirk on her face.
 
Ceres grew concerned with Ariel's reply. Her aunt gave no reason and hadn't stayed in contact? "Let's hurry then. Something might have happened." Was it her aunt? Her grandfather? Perhaps some emergency had occurred.

"I'm glad you like it here. We need to hurry to the commanders though. I promise a proper tour as soon as we learn what's going on." She immediately started briskly walking to the commanders chamber. Anxiously awaiting an explanation.
 
Rena waved a hand dismissively, "don't worry about me... I want to explore, they probably don't want to talk to me anyway. They called you, I'll see them later." She walked around, running her fingers over the different ships and looking amazed.

The conference room where the generals met was loud as a raucous argument was going on when Ceres entered. The room quieted when they entered and Ceres' aunt stood up. "Ceres... We heard that you've found the last void sage... That is very good but... While you were gone, there was a discussion and while some were against it." She scowled at the others. "A vote was cast and you have been asked to remain here untill further notice."
 
Ceres was shocked to say the least at what her aunt had to say. She looked around at the other commanders, as if awaiting an explanation. "So, I'm grounded then?" She asked, looking at each of them individually. "But why? I'm of no use to you here." Her fists clenched tightly, her eyes going black as her skin paled to gray again. Dark energy cackling as a visual representation of her anger. "My father might still be alive out there somewhere! Every minute I spend here is another that I risk losing him again!"
 
One of the other commanders spoke again, "yes, but you're no goof to him or to us dead, Ceres." It was the one she had thought ws her betrayer, they robot. "While your desire to reduce your father is noble, you are the second to last void sage we have found and you are untrained... You carry immense power that cannot yet be controlles safely due to your lack of experience."

"Furthermore, we cannot have such a valuable soldier travelling the galaxy and leaving us with no idea as to where you are or what you're doing. For the time being, your missions are too dsngeroud and too risky for us to risk one of our last links to the Void Sages." Ariel was angry with her friend, but her computational logic agreed that he was right.
 
Ceres looked to the commander who spoke. Guilt still knotted in her stomach for having assumed he was the traitor among the commanders. Even if his explanation made sense, she was simply too angry to accept it. "And what good have any of you been to him?" She looked around at the commanders, her body still covered in writhing darkness. She glared bitterly. "What good have any of you been to my family?" She clenched her hands into tight fists, her eyes closing as she turned away. "Fine." her body slowly returned to normal as she tried to calm her temper. "You are the ones in charge, after all. I'll be in my quarters." She stormed out of the chamber, making a bee-line for her room, grumbling under her breath and staring daggers into anyone who got in her way.
 
None of the generals spoke as Ceres left. When they were alone, Ariel formed her digital body and gently sat down on the bed, patting it for Ceres to sit down with her. The digital woman gently pat her friend's back, although nothing could be felt since she was a hologram. "Let it out Ceres. Just say it all now."
 
Ceres was pacing her room in anger before seeing Ariel pat the bed. She breathed out a deep sigh before sitting down on the edge of the bed. She leaned forward, rubbing her face as she tried to calm her temper. "It's just... Where do they get off? Telling me that I'm no good to my father out there? What have any of them done for him? They let him get hauled off! They let my mother die! Left me to rot in those camps!" She growled in frustration. "Now they ground me? I finally had a chance! I could make it right again. I could save my father. I could find your body." She closed her eyes before flopping back on to the mattress. "I feel so useless."
 
Ariel rubbed Ceres' shoulder. Ceres wouldn't actually feel anything. Maybe a bit of warmth from the light of the hologram projector. "I understand that you're angry Ceres. I know that you're eager to go out and save everything, but they're only worried about you getting hurt. You're one of the last void sages that we know of." She held up her hands defensively, "now this doesn't mean I agree with what they did... But I think that after the betrayal, they're all on edge."

Ariel leaned in and put a holographic hand on Ceres's shoulder. "Just be patient. After a couple of weeks they'll probably be much more open to listening to your plea and I'm sure they'll let you go. In the meantime, you can work out some new leads on where your father is, or start getting better at your ability with the void."
 
Ceres looked over at Ariel as she tried to explain their reasoning. "I don't know how to be patient. I spent years in a camp waiting for this chance, now I have to wait longer?" She stood up, pacing the room again. "So, instead of being locked up in a camp as a slave, I'm just locked up here as what? An endangered species?" As she ranted, color drained away from her again, her dark aura cackling. She shook her head in irritation. She let out an angry and inhuman shout and all at once it died away.

She panted heavily, closing her eyes. "What leads can I possibly work out from here? Everyone thought he was dead. They wouldn't have bothered tracking his whereabouts." She opened her eyes, looking towards the door. "I should find Rena, see if she's ready to teach me." Her hand came up to grasp her mother's pendant around her neck.
 
Ariel materialized between Ceres and the door. "Ceres. I don't want to argue with you about this. You remember what happened the last time we argued." She motioned to the area of purple that seemed keen to stay no matter how she regenerated her digital body. Ariel stepped forward and put her hand where Ceres's shoulder was, there was no weight on her shoulder since the hand was only a hologram, but the meaning was clear.

"Ceres. I don't like seeing you so angry, you don't deserve to be angry, but getting upset like this is dangerous if you can't control your powers yet and the council will certainly not be willing to let you leave if they see you getting so worked up."

"I don't agredith their verdict" Ariel added, before Ceres could protest, "I don't think they should ground you like this, but I know they won't let you up unless you act responsibly. We just need to keep our heads down and stay calm. Here, just lay down for a little while and relax. We can talk all you want, just wait until you calm down."
 
Ceres startled briefly when Ariel appeared in front of her. Her gaze lowered to the area that Ariel indicated. She remembered how scared she was when the virus had begun to take hold. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She gave a slow nod in agreement. She was still angry. It could be seen in her furrowed brow and tensed shoulders, but she didn't want to risk hurting Ariel again. "Fine." She said simply. She walked back to the bed, sitting down on the edge.

She carefully began to strip free of her clothing, piling it at her feet. Her tired and frustrated eyes not looking up from the ground as she did so. She laid back against the bed once mostly naked. She didn't think she would be able to relax enough to sleep, but she closed her eyes regardless, taking several deep breaths.
 
A sudden, soft warmth next to her said that the projector in the room had formed Ariel right there next to her in bed. "We'll figure this all out Ceres. Because we're a team, you and I." She let that sink in and continued. "Just wait a few days, behave and follow their rules and I'm certain they'll change their minds."
 
Ceres opened as she stared at the ceiling, sighing. "I really hope so." She didn't want to have to steal a ship and disobey the commanders, but if it meant rescuing her father, she would do so. With or without their permission. She looked over at Ariel. The feelings of fear and loss she felt when the virus first took hold still lingered in the back of her mind. "I suppose you could probably use the break too. After that virus." She looked down to the purple coloring before looking back up at her. "How are you feeling? I was afraid I had lost you when that virus hit."
 
Ariel smiled at her friend. "I'm better. I was worried about myself too, but I'm fine mostly fine now. But I feel... different. I feel like, like there's something else. Something that wasn't with me before. I think it has something to do with this." She motioned to the purple region that has lingered since the virus attack, "but I can't be sure."

Ariel sighed softly. "I've run three diagnostic checks since it happened but there doesn't seem to be anything. Nothing at all, but it still just doesn't feel right.
 
Ceres' eyes fell to the purple floating in Ariel's hologram, sighing faintly. "Do you remember anything about what you were looking into? What might have caused the attack?" She rolled onto her side to face her fully. She brought her hand up to caress her cheek, tracing the outline of her hologram, knowing that neither of them could feel it, but wanting to show that support regardless. "Maybe I can pick up where you left off. A computer virus can't hurt me, after all."
 
Ariel school her head and looked down. "No... I don't want you searching for the source. Ceres... Ceres." She sighed, then switched her microphone off, her words appeared as text on the screen of Ceres's wrist-mounted portable. "I don't want to say this out loud, but I don't think that this was a pre-set trap in a file. I think this was directed attack from a point-source."

"Whatever it was, it didn't want me to see those files, but I don't know what they were, or who the attacker was. But Ceres... I was almost destroyed, if you get involved, they may try to kill you as well. I'll keep running diagnostics and try to find out what the files were, maybe then we'll have a lead on who made the attack."

Ariel turned her speakers back on, "do you need to sleep Ceres? I don't want to keep you awake"
 
Ceres was distraught and frustrated by the powerlessness of her situation. Not only had the commanders grounded her, preventing her from seeking out her father, but now Ariel was refusing to let her help her. Sure, both parties had her best interest at heart, but it was all so frustrating. Reading Ariel's message, Ceres let her head flop back onto the mattress, groaning softly. "I guess I might as well sleep. I'm not really being allowed to do much else." She looked over at Ariel's hologram again, smiling sadly. "Just... Keep me informed of any developments, okay? I don't want you going into this blind or by yourself. I know there's not much I can do for you in cyberspace, but all the same. I want to help where I can."
 
Ceres nodded, her form slowly evaporating as the lights of the quarters dimmed. Ariel didn't like excluding Ceres like this, but she had a theory. It was a very risky theory, and one that involved putting Ceres in danger to begin with, but if Ariel was right, she could be saving Ceres from a greater danger.

She desperately hoped that she was wrong. The curious thing, was finding a way to divulge this information without being potentially detected. Whatever had almost destroyed her left not trace, as though it hadn't bee there at all, but the purple pixels in the hologram made it clear that it had been there. That was fact.

The next morning came easily, Ariel hadn't slept, because she didn't need to, and Ceres was awoken by a knocking at the door.
 
Ceres was still frustrated when she tried to sleep. Being grounded by the council and being told that she couldn't help her best and only friend. As a result, her sleep was difficult. Lots of tossing and turning, and occasionally waking altogether.

Ceres snapped awake at the sound of the knocking. She sat up quickly with a gasp. "Right! I'm up!" She looked around the room hastily before she brought her hands to rub her tired face. "By the seven stars..." She grabbed her clothes, dressing quickly before tiredly carrying herself to the door. "Hang on, I'm coming!" She unlocked the door, allowing the mechanical obstacle to slide out of her way to see just who had come to wake her that morning.
 
Rena stood in the doorway, a tendril of void energy beside her, poised to knock against the metal door again. It dissipated as Rena began to speak, "good morning to you too, Ceres." She walked into the little quarters and looked around, "I caught wind of your temporary confinement here, I am sorry for you, but look on the positives. Now, you can honestly your skills as a Void Sage."

She looked around the room, then up and down the hall, "is there somewhere with space? More space than this, plenty of space to work and teach you properly?"
 
"R-rena?" She was surprised to find that the other woman had sought her out so early. She stepped out of her way as she entered her room. She brought her hand up to rub the back of her neck as she spoke. "So, you heard about that, huh?" She sighed softly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Besides, it'll give me an opportunity to blow off some steam."

"Ariel, you up?" She asked, looking down at her gauntlet. "Is the training hall we used before vacant? I get the feeling we're going to need the space to ourselves."
 
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