Hoplite stared hard at Lithia, internally berating himself for even daring to try using magic. He couldn't have Ahkoolian DNA, surely. That was what he kept telling himself anyhow, but until he proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Soldier and the Child would continue to pester him. If this could be done in as short a time as Nolvi claimed, then he would do it, just to put this to rest.
"I want to prove that I am who I am." Hoplite said, "I'll show you that I'm telling the truth."
"Very well, Dragonling." Lithia replied, her tone amused, "Feeling the Flame is easy, and once you do, then your truth will be revealed, one way or another…"
Nolvi awkwardly moved up beside the throne-bound body, looking nervous. Lithia then took a deep breath, sounding like a crinkling bag of paper as she did so.
"You must shut your eyes first." Lithia instructed.
Hoplite did so.
"Now imagine the Golden Flame in your mind's eye, form it in a scape of blackness."
Hoplite again, did so. Using his imagination this way was strange… he wasn't used to it. Despite that, he conjured up the fire in his mind, just a wisp in a plane of darkness.
"Once you see the Flame, you must give it light, let it illuminate its surroundings… whatever you see will influence how this goes." Lithia explained, taking another raspy breath.
He squinted, allowing the flame to brighten, revealing the interior of a cryopod, just the same as the one in the Sparrow. The glass was almost completely frosted over, but a spot of warmth from the Flame created a clear spot of moisture in its surface.
"Make the Flame burn hot." Lithia commanded.
Hoplite did so, the frost on the glass quickly vanishing from the warmth, turning to water before gliding down the glass. Beyond stood a man, no, not just a man… a Hoplite.
Hoplite Twenty-Five, having allowed his white beard to grow over his tanned face. Golden eyes that matched his own stared at him through the wet glass. Hoplite's hands tightened into fists, despite knowing that this was his imagination, he found it hard not to try and pounce on the traitor who had tricked him.
"Whatever it is you see, engulf it in the fire."
With pleasure. Hoplite willed the Flame to phase through the wet glass, immolating the unflinching Twenty-Five, who still bore that insufferable smile on his face.
"And now, engulf yourself." Lithia spoke softly.
He did so, and- A warmth spread through his body then, not just in his mind, but his real form. It felt… it felt amazing, he felt powerful, as if he could do anything he willed. He did not need to sleep, eat, or rest any longer now, he could be the ultimate soldier!
"Open your eyes, little Dragon." Lithia commanded, sounding pleased with herself.
His imagined reality faded away as soon as he did so, and his golden eyes widened as he saw before him… to his terror, an equally Golden mote of fire, sitting in the air before him, waiting to be shaped. His jaw fell open, trembling as his skin froze over.
"I only wanted you to feel it!" Lithia gave a raspy laugh, "But look at what you've done! Quite impressive, you have a knack for this."
"No." Hoplite insisted, moreso to himself, "That can't- That isn't-"
He bit his lip to stop it from trembling, there was no way this was possible. The Soldier writhed in agony upon seeing this, the Child for his part, just went limp… Hoplite himself fell to his knees, the Golden Flame of Foundation still floating before him. Twenty-Five's words returned to him then, in all their power, unburied and painful… taking him back to that place and time where his world had been shattered.
"Listen." Hoplite Twenty-Five sighed, sitting down in a chair across from Thirty-Seven. "I'm telling you the truth here, not only that, I can prove it to you."
Hoplite had been captured by the rebel forces mere hours ago, and had been restrained with Twenty-Five's help. He sat in a solid tungsteel chair, apparently of Twenty-Five's own making. The bindings themselves were built in as well, keeping his head, neck, and limbs all clamped down to prevent him from moving. The room they were in was made up of a drab, yet heavily reinforced concrete. A single light source illuminated the chamber from above, reflecting off the heavy steel door behind Twenty-Five. If Thirty-Seven could get out of these bindings, he'd be able to power through that door easily enough.
"There's nothing to prove Twenty-Five, surrender now and we can proceed with your reindoctrination." He attempted to reason. "You can still come back."
Twenty-Five shook his head, "I'm not going to do that, I can honestly say I'd rather be dead."
"Twenty-Five, you've been manipulated by insurgent forces, you aren't in any rational state of mind." Thirty-Seven pointed out. "Come with me and we can rendezvous with-"
"Cut the soldier-talk Jason, I'm not one any more." Twenty-Five cut him off, "And I'll never be one again."
"Don't call me that." Hoplite warned, eyes going wide as a mote of anger welled up within him.
"Tools shouldn't get mad over things like that… right?" Twenty-Five asked, raising white eyebrows. "That right there proves that we're more than weapons, wouldn't you agree?"
Hoplite's jaw clenched, but he did not reply.
"Anyway Jason, I'll say it again, Jyn is not a human being. He's an extraterrestrial-"
"Negative." Hoplite replied quickly, "He is a gifted man that can do things outside what is natural, that is all."
"Come on man." Twenty-Five said, a tinge of frustration in his tone, "Human beings cannot do the things Jyn does, otherwise there'd be more people like him around."
"Lord Jyn is the one exception." Hoplite retorted, "He had a mutation at birth that gave him his abilities."
"We've seen lots of mutants in our time Jason," Twenty-Five sighed, "Mutants strong enough to bend steel or fast enough to dodge bullets, hell, we're a cocktail of mutations- but Jyn is different."
"He is different." Hoplite allowed, "He is the ultimate branch of humankind, what he wants us all to become."
"That's a bunch of horseshit." Twenty-Five growled, narrowing his eyes, "No mere mutants can do what he does."
"He isn't a 'mere mutant.'" Hoplite shot back.
"We can go back and forth about this for days, maybe even months, but I know you Jason, you always overthink everything. I figure the best way to prove to you that he isn't human is to show you. The rebels here got footage of something he did, extracted from a Final Kind blackbox, if you can believe it."
"I don't." Hoplite said with a sneer, "Clearly whatever it is they showed you was fake."
"I went over the footage over and over again to find faults, but I couldn't come up with anything." Twenty-Five said, setting a smooth silvery square on the table.
A green light split the thing down the middle, that light seeming to pulse.
"What do you plan on accomplishing with this treachery?" Hoplite asked, "You know as well as I that Lord Jyn has extra-capable abilities."
Twenty-Five then laughed, shaking his head, "Extra-capable, right. It is supernatural, Jason. I have learned that he holds back, that he can do more than he lets on. He could have ended this war with a wave of his hand if he really wanted to…" He then leaned over, running a thumb down the center of the Final Kind device, "Let me show you."
The green light then pulsed, the device splitting to show a small, holographic projector. He'd seen several of these in his time, the Final Kind liked to record everything that happened with their ships, inside and out. The tech was still not fully understood yet, but there were theories that the aliens used nigh-microscopic cameras to capture footage. Hoplite also knew that there was no way for humans to fake footage and install it onto one of these… Human and alien tech was far to foreign to port such things to one another.
It didn't matter, if it showed Lord Jyn pulling off a feat that appeared supernatural, then that was it. Twenty-Five had merely bought into the rebels' claims, and had over-reacted to it once he was brain-washed. Then the hologram appeared, though aside from the diminutive size of the scene, one could hardly tell. It was almost like a tiny Final Kind command center was right there, floating above the table. He could see dozens of Swaglay, Yugoro, and other such aliens manning the controls, with a particularly large Yugoro sitting in a command throne at the center of the amphitheater. The alien's throne swiveled around periodically as it frantically gave commands to the crew, its gravelly voice sounding desperate… fearful even.
"This was one of the first times we ever encountered a Dragon-Class cruiser, see how scared they all are?" Twenty-Five asked, "Doesn't make sense right? They're basically invincible to whatever we can throw at that craft."
"Did Lord Jyn infiltrate and sabotage the ship by himself?" Hoplite asked, "That is not something out of human limits."
"Just wait, let me shift the camera to what is outside the ship." Twenty-Five said, tapping one side of the square. "And just for your information, that reaction came after what you're about to see."
The scene changed again, this time showing the ships hull and… and… Hoplite's eyes widened.
"That's not-" He gulped, "That's not possible, there was a fault with the recording equipment, clearly."
Floating there, in the vacuum of space, was Lord Jyn, massive armored arms crossed as he glared directly at the ship… seemingly anchored to nothing as his dark, skull-shaped helmet stared at the surface of the Dragon. His armor was ornate, a deep black like the void of space surrounding him. Were it not for the red trim of his power armor, Lord Jyn would have been much harder to pick out against the darkness of space. A long cape floated gently at his back, also black and trimmed with crimson, the symbol of the Octopus on its back. His bracers and sabatons were etched in the shape of tendrils, reaching toward his armored hands and feet. Lord Jyn looked just as imposing as he remembered, and even though the projected version of him was small, there was still an overwhelming presence to it. He wanted to kneel right there, though he knew that was ridiculous… it wasn't as if this were the real man.
"I don't need to tell you why that isn't normal." Twenty-Five said, "How the hell did he get there? Where are his weapons, his ship, anything?"
"This doesn't prove he isn't human." Hoplite pointed out, "He is getting ready to sabotage the ship."
"By himself?" Twenty-Five asked, an irritating chuckle following, "Well, you're right in a sense… This doesn't prove anything by itself, but it's still strange. Pay attention, he's about to do it."
"About to do what-"
Jyn's arms then extended to either side of him, palms open before a… a black light began to shine from beneath the plates of his armor. Hoplite's brow furrowed as he saw this, a strange and gaudy feature for their Lord's armor, but who was Thirty-Seven to judge-
Then, just like that, the form of Lord Jyn, who he had thought was a man, changed into something so massive, so horrible, that his mind struggled to comprehend what he was viewing. Time slowed for him, as it often did when in a stressful situation… allowing to pick out every detail of what was before him. A massive octopus dominated the hologram now, eight moon-thick tendrils reaching toward the Dragon-Class cruiser like whips, battering through the shields with ease and sundering the surface of the craft like it were nothing but cardboard.
Twenty-Five continued to press the button on the black box, showing the horrid creature from dozens of different angles as it began crushing the Dragon in its tendrils, not so different from the ancient tale of the Kraken. Twenty-Five kept speeding through the different angles, no doubt knowing that Thirty-Seven's perception of time had come to a crawl… there were thousands of cameras that had viewed this- this horror.
Thousands of aliens were crushed in hallways or sucked out into the vacuum of space, screaming as the darkness claimed them. The Dragon helplessly tried to fire back at the Kraken, but every single plasma blast was absorbed…by… by A Golden Flame. These motes of fire would envelop the blasts well before they could even graze the surface of the beast. What caused these strange flames, he did not know…
But- surely there was no way this was real! The thousands upon thousands of cameras had to have been doctored! Given to the rebels by Final Kind forces to sew distrust among those loyal to Lord Jyn!
"We never destroyed a Dragon-class frigate, this is fake!" Hoplite yelled, shooting Twenty-Five a sharp glare.
"Yes… we never did. Jyn though, he definitely did, as you saw." Twenty-five confirmed, "This was something that happened toward the beginning of the war, and for some reason it never was reported, but I'll tell you something Jason, this footage is real… I've seen the wreckage myself, and I'm willing to take you to it if that is what we need to do."
"Liar!" Hoplite screamed, straining against his binds.
"Alright, let's get you ready then, it's not even that far away from this system. Why do you think the Final Kind doesn't come around this planet?" He asked, not waiting for an answer, "That's right, not even the Final Kind knows that this happened! All they know is that a Dragon-Class cruiser got destroyed here somehow, and they're scared to come back, at least, that's what my friends think."
"It's fake dammit!" Hoplite screamed, "It's fake!"
"You'll see the proof soon enough." Twenty-Five said coldly.
And see the proof he did… Twenty-Five had indeed made the week-long trek just outside the solar system to show Thirty-Seven the remains of the Dragon-class cruiser. Restrained as he was, Hoplite could still see the impossibly large debris floating outside the window… countless alien corpses strewn throughout the frozen rubble, still wearing their gear. Massive sucker-marks could be seen where more whole sections of the ship lay intact… sucker marks that Lord Jyn-
Sucker marks that Jyn had made.
"Tell me it's fake now." Twenty-Five said, "I can play the video again so you can see where the impact zones match up-"
"No." Hoplite replied, defeated and hanging his head, "I don't want to see anything anymore."
"Don't be like that Jason." Twenty-Five said, "Look, Jyn is gone now, he left humanity to its own devices, there's no reason for us to continue this war, not unless the Final Kind wants it, anyhow. We can retire, be something else, hell, be someone for a change." He said with a soft smile, "We can be people, we aren't tools, no matter what Commander told us."
Hoplite merely grunted in reply.
"Should we head back planetside?" Twenty-Five asked.
"You can." Thirty-Seven said, "Vent me into space."
Twenty-Five froze, face becoming serious, "Not a chance, Jason. I know that curious boy I grew up with is still in there somewhere. You always wanted to learn about everything you could, even when it had nothing to do with warfare, now you're free to do so."
"I'm thawing, I'll become dangerous-"
"That's a bunch of crap!" Twenty-Five insisted, "I've been out of cryo for a year, and look at me! I'm fine Jason, and you will be too."
"Why do you want this so badly?" Hoplite asked, "I don't understand."
"Because Jason," Twenty-Five began, approaching him to undo his tungsteel bindings. Hoplite felt too drained to attempt finishing his mission… and merely stood, turning to face Twenty-Five, "You are my brother."
Hoplite clutched the sides of his helmet, falling to his knees before Lithia with a scream.
"As in, brothers in arms… I get it." Thirty-Seven replied flatly.
"No, not just that man. You, me, all the other Hoplites? It's not just a 'brothers in arms' matter." Hector told him.
Jason squinted, "What do you mean?"
Hoplite stood shakily, still clutching the sides of his helmet as he stumbled out of Lithia's chamber and into the cavern, breathing heavily as his eyes bucked in his skull.
"The selection process was more complicated than just picking some genetically gifted humans. This was a long term project for Jyn- us, I mean."
Nolvi tried to follow him, but Hoplite growled at her like an animal, the girl backing into the wall as he strode back up the incline, removing his helmet and letting it roll down to the bottom.
"Just try to stay calm here when I tell you this… but Jyn isn't just the guy in charge, not to you and me."
Hoplite howled, smashing his fist into his own head in an attempt to knock himself unconscious- the blow dazed him, the skin practically exploding off his own cheek and knocking him to the ground. He raised his fist again to strike… but The Child held him back. The Soldier attacked him, wanting to repress the incoming truth… yet the Child was stronger now, stronger than both Hoplite and the Soldier.
"Jyn is-"
"Our father." Hoplite finished, letting his fist fall to the ground, "My father is a monster."