Звездопад / Starfall: Глава 2

Chapter 2

Camrad_RIP 05.05.23 в 17:16

* * *

Camrad_RIP 05.05.23 в 17:16

Taer lay on her back, her heavy breathing settling in a white mist on the glass of her visor. The automatics of the helmet whirred quietly, trying to clear the fogged glass, but they failed. It was hard to breathe - the weight of the armor plates pressed against her chest, pressing it to the floor. The world outside the fogged glass seemed distant and unreal, leaving only the deafening thud of my own pulse in her ears and the sensation of sweat slowly dripping down her face.

Camrad_RIP 05.05.23 в 17:19

//This must be how they die. Taer thought aloof, staring up at the ceiling and trying to pull herself together.

Camrad_RIP 05.05.23 в 19:26

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" Her friend's voice came from far away, and soon, instead of the ceiling, Taer could see Rima's face bent over her:

Camrad_RIP 05.05.23 в 19:27

"Would you stop?" She offered sympathetically, and her dark brown eyes were full of worry and concern.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:34

Not wanting to shout through her visor, Taer shook her head in response, making it clear that she wouldn't give up so easily.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:35

"Fanatic." With a sigh of regret, Rima summed up, stood up, stepped aside, and disappeared from sight.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:35

At the same moment, the helmet was filled with the piercing beep of a timer, and Taer tore the soft ball of escape cord with her teeth. There was the familiar clang of the opening pyro locks and the entire mass of chest armor, no longer restrained by the support of the exoskeleton, piled on top of her, letting out an involuntary wheeze.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:37

"Depressurization. Warning. Depressurize. Attention..." A droning sound echoed in her helmet headphones as Taer hissed with frustration as she tried to lift the armor plate that was pressing down on her with her shoulder and pull her arm out of the armor sleeve.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:37

The plate lifted, but not enough. Then Taer lunged with all her might, and then some, as if she were trying not to lift the plate but to dislodge it. With the third blow, she managed to free one arm, and with a triumphant howl, she tossed aside the chest plate and broke free of the energy-depleted armor.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:38

"Satisfactory minus." The training droid reported, and Taer's shriek of victory turned into a groan of disappointment.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:39

"You're just tired." Rima hurried to reassure her; she was admiring the view out the window and didn't turn around right away, and when she did, her face was filled with horror:

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:52

"Great Shadows, look at you!" She exclaimed angrily. Her face showed an urge to add a few less favorable words, but Rima restrained herself. "I'll get the first aid kit." She threw it out as she ran out of the room.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:53

Taer looked at her friend with a surprised look and examined herself. She ripped the soft "thermo-skin" out of her training armor, and she scraped her arm. Slightly. She didn't even feel it, but the scratches were bleeding badly. Thin, bright scarlet streaks of blood merged on her right arm in a bizarre pattern, as if trying to replicate the patterns of the Scarlet Branch of Cassards on her uniform. And in that scarlet weave, there was so much enchanting beauty and surprising tranquility...

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:55

//Right.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:55

Rima's hurried footsteps could be heard from the corridor, and it brought Taer out of her stupor, and she shook herself up, looking around again:

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:57

//"How long have I been standing like this, looking at the bloodstains?" thought Taer with fright, reflexively hiding her hand and hastily assuming the most relaxed posture possible. - "A minute? Half?" - There were quite a few drops of her blood left on the snow-white fluffy carpet. She mentally retraced Rima's route; it came out to about a minute. - "Great Shadows, I stood for a minute staring at my own blood.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 06:59

"So give me your hand," Rima declared, busily settling on the round sofa in the center of the room and opening a small medicine kit.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:01

Taer approached, trying to act natural, and at the same time looking at her friend:// "Did she notice? Not noticed?"

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:01

If she noticed, she didn't show it:

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:02

"If you get blood on my dress, I'll be your mortal enemy," Rima murmured in a mellifluous voice. "Blood, even..." she giggled as she began to spray it on Taer's arm.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:04

The dress on Rima was like a cloud - white and airy, with just the right amount of shoulders and neck peeking out from the top and chiseled, swarthy legs underneath. A thin coal-black belt emphasized her thin waist and, in comparison, made it clear that the mistress was not so dark. The darkness of skin was one of Rima's few complexes. And Taer certainly did not check but was ready to bet on a year's wages - that this dress was the latest capital fashion, approved by the most influential magazines and society ladies, the most appropriate for a noblewoman of her age and position. At the same time, the dress looked very innocent and pretty, as did Rima in general.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:08

Her friend could literally radiate waves of amusement that stung old and young alike. One look of laughing dark eyes with long lashes and a dazzling smile with charming dimples on her cheeks and anything could be forgiven. What Rima actively used during their joint service - literally twisted the ropes from most of the senior command staff and was an object of adoration - junior and line staff. As the team's favorite mascot, everyone just loved to spoil her.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:09

It wasn't that Taer was jealous... It was just that sometimes she wished she could have just a little bit of that charm and cuteness.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:09

//It's hard to be a pretty little cutie when you're two heads taller and more senior in ranks," Taer sighed in her head. Rima was rather short. Taer was taller than most men. Rima was dark, and she was blonde. Dark eyes, light eyes. Cutie and... Taer. Not that Taer complained about her looks, but let's face it:

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:22

//There's no way to call me cute. And now I've got a title, too. - When people saw Taer's regalia, most of them either looked away or began to flatter. The first was understandable the second was terribly annoying. That's probably why she only actively maintained relationships with people she'd met before her career ascent.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:35

"Why, tell me, the Great House Fyron First Blade of Cassard, wear herself out with this pointless training, even to the point of injury?" Rima's voice interrupted Taer's self-questioning, and the touch of the cold spray on her scratches made her involuntarily wince. That stuff stung pretty badly. And Rima, with sadistic pleasure, was in no hurry to finish the procedure; instead, she continued the "interrogation," and with each question, her voice oozed more and more sarcastic sarcasm:

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:40

"Who are you trying to impress, Sword? Why do you torment yourself? Why this senseless suffering?"

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:44

"Actually, the ability to wear armor is for every nobleman." Taer snapped. "And one squire, too, would do well to practice so as not to dishonor his knight's choice."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:46

Rima broke away from the procedure and, with defiantly pressed lips and raised eyebrow, threw at her friend a look full of genuine doubt about her intellectual capabilities:

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:46

"As if you took me for the ability to wear armor as a squire. By the way, my knight, you still haven't answered my question. Why torture yourself so? Especially in such a strange way."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:47

"I want to improve my skills." Taer sighed softly, staring thoughtfully into the distance.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:48

"What do you mean?" Rima was sincerely surprised. "You were born in that armor, and you were slipping out of it like water before you exhausted yourself. Excellent plus, plus. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a grade."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:50

"It wasn't me," Taer answered even more quietly, avoiding meeting her friend's gaze. "I got the maximum: Satisfactory minus."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:53

"That's silly," Rima murmured melodiously, surveying her own work with satisfaction. If you didn't look closely, it was hard to even notice the existence of the scratch. "That's exactly why you were put on the guider, to close the gaps in your own training. It's impossible to know everything."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:55

"Yes, impossible." Taer sighed sadly. But it was hard for her to shake off the idea that the donor of her guider, whoever it was, was quite good at it. She'd never yet encountered a situation in which a 'guider' was incompetent... //Though I guess it just wouldn't activate in that case, would it?

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 07:56

"I don't want to rely on it all the time," Taer muttered aloud. "I have to wear armor a lot lately."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:00

"By the way, don't you find that strange?" Rima asked an obviously rhetorical question after she put the medicine cabinet aside and leaned back on the couch. Her friend's inarticulate mutterings were completely ignored with true aristocratic candor:

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:02

"Two young noblewomen, without much commitment, in the capital for the first time... Finding themselves here." She glanced defiantly around the room where Taer was practicing.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:03

Mirrored dark blue floors with islands of snow-white carpets, slender columns of dark bronze like twisted legs of glasses, intricate patterns on the pale blue ceiling, and antique furniture of lacquered aryat, not counting some old-fashioned decorations in the luxury room could compete with the imperial palace, if not surpass it. Plus, the magnificent view from the huge stained-glass window of the imperial palace itself.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:04

"Well, you know what I mean." Rima frowned grudgingly, sensing that her run was getting off to a weak start.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:05

At that moment, as if wanting to support her argument, the room was flooded with the unmistakable sound of an ultrasonic cutter that was working nearby. A wild, indescribable screeching sound seemed to penetrate directly into the brain and gave off an unpleasant vibration in the teeth.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:07

"There." Rima declared, wrinkling painfully, at the temporary end of this sonic attack. "This is some kind of construction site. This is no place for two noble ladies!"

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:07

"The tower must be rebuilt in time for Lord Cassard's arrival." Taer exhaled wearily. She already knew where this conversation was going. Rima had begun it several times before. "Time is short, and this is a critical element of his security in the capital. I have to control everything."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:09

"Well, check it out when it's done!" Rima splashed her hands. "You're not just a "personal security specialist" anymore. You're the "First Blade of the Domain," and you can't even control the construction site."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:10

"Controlling upon completion is pointless." Tair habitually objected. "Critical vulnerability can be created at the moment of construction. They'll embed something in the wall, for example."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:11

"It's a huge construction site. You can't keep track of them all. Besides, you spend hours on that armor." Rima kicked the training armor that lay on the floor in front of them.

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:12

"I brought with me two dozen spy droids. I personally programmed them. I personally review all their records: I can keep track of them all."

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:13

"The ability to delegate is..." Rima was obviously going to continue her objection but froze at the beginning of the sentence, her face became serious, she was obviously mentally calculating something and frowning:

Camrad_RIP 06.05.23 в 08:14