Morrigan and Nora stepped into
the large space granted to Nora so she could build her training arena for her classes
to find Solomon standing in front of a row of veteran shock troopers as well as
surrounded by administrators, one of them being Emily.

“Miss Flannigan, it appears you
are late for your own class,” Solomon pointed out casually, his tone devoid of
any irritation.

She gave him a bright smile and
shrugged, “What can I say? I was busy last night becoming a puddle in a
beautiful woman’s arms. You know, priorities,” she stated blatantly casting a
mischievous glance at Morrigan.

Morrigan blushed fiercely, “That’s…
that’s not exactly what happened…” she responded shyly, losing all momentum
half way through her comment as she eyed the Lord Inquisitor.

Solomon smiled and chuckled
quietly before composing himself, looking down at Nora as she stood her ground
in front of him. They way she stood screamed defiance, yet the look on her face
told everyone she was just itching to mess with someone.

“Well, we do expect punctuality,
especially from the trainers. So, I do hope you plan your… evening events, more
thoroughly next time,” he stated awkwardly, avoiding the subject of Nora’s
excuse as best as possible.

She only grinned and gave him a
mocking salute, “Aye, aye boss man. Besides, these cannon fodder are going to
be thankful for the reprieve I gave them by the time I’m through with them!”
she said loud enough for all to hear before sauntering around towards the other
side of the shock troopers.

Morrigan quietly stepped up next
to Solomon as she watched Nora find a headset within the single supply crate
sitting out in the open.

“The same goes for you Miss
Clarke, shouldn’t you be in class yourself?” Solomon said when he noticed her
approach.

Morrigan shrugged sheepishly, “Nothing
is going to keep me from watching Nora’s first test run of her class.
Instructor Dezinaria will just have to get over it.”

Oh, such a rebel hahaha Apollyon said sarcastically.

She smiled, “Oh be quiet, you.”
Though her smile vanished when she realized Solomon didn’t comment. Now she
worried if she would get in trouble until she forced her focus back to Nora.

Nora adjusted the headset and
fumbled with the side buttons before it came alive over a hidden intercom
system.

“Damn that’s loud, heh, anyways,
so ladies, you want to be saboteurs, eh? Well, anyone can blow something up or
break something if they put their mind to it,” she paused and started laughing
to herself, “If I can shut down a gravity generator on a CoU ship with nothing
but an old-world coin, a boot and screw driver, which was a lot of fun
by the way, then anyone can break something,” she finished eyeing her trainees
with good humor in her eyes and a small sadistic smile.

Morrigan’s spine chilled as her
core heated, which was a very confusing feeling to experience.

Nora straightened cheerily with
no sense of professionalism, “So, what makes a saboteur you ask? Someone who
can safely navigate a starship without raising suspicion, duh. Now, I’ve spent
the past few weeks explaining to you and teaching you all the of various traps,
pathways and obstacles one has when moving throughout an enemy ship that does
not include the enemy themselves; all the while the engineers and builders
created my beautiful labyrinth!” she turned and flourish towards the large,
plain looking one-and-a-half story building she had built.

“Now, the true test of a saboteur
is the unholy design of a pirate ship. We’re not known for our cleanliness or
our… safety procedures,” she mused turning back to her trainees, “Anyone
who can survive making their way through a pirate’s starship, much less come
out the other end unscathed, would have my deepest respect as well as the title
of a master saboteur.”

Solomon crossed his arms and
stroked his beard with his hand in intense study.

“I have yet to see the layout of
my own creation, basically I explained to them the general idea of what I
wanted based off what I remember of the last ship I worked on and let them have
at it, traps, layout and all so I’ll be going through first,” she stated as she
paced back and forth. “Anyone who can beat my time, gets my entire year’s
salary as well as free drinks on me for the night at Dora’s!” she faced them
with an evil grin.

The troopers all looked to one
another, considering the prize and becoming excited by such an incentive. Emily
scurried over to Morrigan and leaned in, “I read the reports from the builders,
I’m told it’s a real mad house in there…”

Morrigan smirked and glanced
over, “Have you met my girlfriend?” she remarked, trying the term out for size
even if it made her blush.

Emily looked at her touching her
arm, “Really? You guys are official?” she asked with a huge smile.

Morrigan smiled as she stared at
Nora getting ready, “Yeah… last night.”

Nora strut up to the large
security door on the front of the building, “Hello beautiful,” she commented
aloud, forgetting she was on speaker before pressing the button to open the
door and start the clock.

She disappeared into the darkness
of the doorway and the silence became nerve wracking for Morrigan.

“Awe man, they put that upside
down… oh well, I guess it works,” everyone suddenly heard over the
intercom.

Some of the troopers sniggered at
that while Morrigan watched Solomon's face grow more intrigued by the odd
display of education.

“Oooooh, sneaky, sneaky.
Almost got me there haha! Gotta hand it to them, they got creative, I’m almost
proud,”

“Oh, oh no, the urge to touch
that is real! Why would they put this here!? Ugh! Resist Nora… oh yay, they put
in the cameras I asked for in here. Good boys.”

Everyone listened to Nora talk to
herself until she reappeared on the roof of the building and slapped her hand
on a button stopping the clock at 5 minutes and 43 seconds. She looked down at
her six trainees with a satisfied grin as she looked over the controls of the
console in front of her upon the roof.

“You guys are in for a real
treat. Oh! By the way, the interior is supposedly set to reconfigure each time
a trap is triggered but seeing as I didn't set anything off well… good luck!
Whose first?!” she bellowed excitedly.

Morrigan turned to Solomon as she
watched the troopers lose their nerve over Nora’s excitement.

“Do you have any idea what
they're walking into?” She asked.

He shook his head, “No. The only
thing in aware of besides her “classroom” portion of the course is that she
requested a large quantity of live explosives… which of course I denied
however, given her philosophy of instincts being taught through pain, we
settled on non-lethal stun munitions… though what she did with them I am
uncertain,” he said with a mix of intrigue and worry at the possible mistake he
made in giving her anything remotely explosive.

One man stepped forward which
made Nora laugh, “Awww, you’re a bunch of pussies. Well? Assholes and elbows my
dude, clock starts when you open the door and remember what I taught you,” she
sang.

The man opened the door and
within 12 seconds there was an explosion resonating from the interior of the
building followed by the sound of loud grinding and thumping of thick steel
mixed with Nora’s hysterical laughter.

Morrigan’s eyes went wide, as did
everyone else’s.

No one interfered though as
continuous explosions resonated through the area as each trooper went through
her labyrinth of horrors.

“Oh, please touch it, I so wanted
to…” Nora was cut off by the sound of something electric, “Oh gods! I’m glad I
didn’t touch that… just… owie,” Nora chimed as she watched the monitors while
those who ran her gauntlet lay around the roof in pain, looking worse for wear.

The last woman who went through
surprisingly did not set off any horrible traps as she made it to the roof and
slapped the completion button.

Nora cheered with raised arms
before giving the woman a hug,  “Looks
like we have a real saboteur out of this bunch… though your time could’ve been
better,” she scrutinized as she turned her attention to Solomon and the rest of
the administrators.

The time the woman made it through
with was ten minutes and four seconds.

“See big boss, even these morons
can be taught, and we have one who didn't even hurt herself! You should really
give her a promotion for that!” Nora complimented.

Solomon clapped, “Well done Miss
Flannigan. I see there is potential in your training regiment. Though, I will
need a full report as to how your class was conducted as well as the… training
course you built. Including full schematics and materials. Crude, yet, I think
your philosophy has merit to it.”

One of the men sputtered, “The
woman is bloody mad sir!”

Nora giggled, “Awww, kitty cat go
meow! Grrr!” Mimicking cat claws at the complaining man.

Morrigan couldn’t help but
chuckle as did Solomon.

“It’s a fresh perspective lad,
and one from someone as experienced as your teacher is of significant value.
There is no sense at being a sore loser,” Solomon mused with wisdom.

The old man has a point, so does
your girl. Pain is great experience,
Apollyon interjected.

Morrigan nodded, “That it is
for sure…”

“Hey Nora? I have to get to my
class; I’ll see you tonight?” Morrigan called out.

“Hope you enjoyed the show babe!
Show that old hag who’s boss!” Nora exclaimed for all to hear which caused
Morrigan to nervously glance at the administrators’ direction. Most of them
chuckled in good humor, including Emily who giggled next to her.

Solomon chuckled at Morrigan’s
nervousness, “Come Miss Clarke, I’ll escort you to your class,” he stated with
levity.

Morrigan sputtered at that as she
shook her head, “What-no, no that’s not necessary. I can get there myself…”

Solomon chuckled and gestured for
her to start walking, “Oh I insist, dear. If anything, my presence will tame
Dezinaria's anger for you being so late. Besides, I’m curious to see how far
your training has come, sure I get reports however, seeing it with my own eyes
would be significantly more enjoyable.”

Morrigan’s shoulders shrank at
the thought. Having Solomon there to watch made her nervous for some reason,
and having to deal with her instructor’s complaints would only make matters
more irritating.

A question dawned on her, “She
says she is the one who trained you how to use your powers?”

Solomon smiled as they walked
with casual stride, “Yes, she did indeed. She was one of the first mages to
live a symbiotic life with the Eskarii and they trained her on the fundamentals
of magic. Our magic is different than theirs more often than not, so it was
quite the learning curve for them as well.”

Surprise came to Morrigan’s face
as she listened. Part of her wanted to respect the older woman more than she
already had, yet the rest of her refused to accept and tolerate the woman’s
ornery nature. How Dezinaria could be so grumpy after living life with Eskarii,
which was a young dream of Morrigan’s, was beyond her.

Maybe she has a couple of those
hybrid creatures runnin around that she seems so well aware of. You humans get
all sorts of ornery when you’re away from family, Apollyon suggested curiously and
distastefully.

That brought a whole new array of
questions to the fore, she knew mix breed of human-Eskarii children were
possible now, yet she hasn’t seen any around.

“Sir?” she chirped to gain his
attention, “Dezinaria mentioned that Terrans and Eskarii are able to have
children, but I don’t think I've seen one before.”

Solomon nodded, “There are many
aboard the Void Star. Though they are harder to spot than you would
think. It turns out the Eskarii genome is rather dominant and our women have a
higher reproductive cycle than theirs. So, it is often a Terran woman bears a
mixed child though it has been known to happen that an Eskarii woman to become
pregnant by a Terran male. To truly identify the mixed offspring is to look at
their physique.”

Morrigan furrowed her brows, “Their
physique?”

He nodded with a smile, “Yes. As you
may have noticed, all Eskarii are lithe in frame regardless of how physically
strong they are. Skinny and lanky as it were, where as a mixed child will grow
into a body that looks like Eskarii, nearly undiscernible, however, they will
develop a more… think of a highly athletic human frame,” he said with an
uncertainty of his explanation.

She nodded though, “I get it. Now
that you mention it, there’s someone in my class that has a physique such as
you described.”

Solomon hummed in affirmation as
they approached Dezinaria’s training area. Morrigan jumped at the vast amount
of power being unleashed all at once as she witnessed one of the trainees block
the blast with a green, vibrant shield.

Dezinaria saw who approached and
switched gears in a heart beat, “Miss Clarke! I am aware I gave you a week off
to recover but that is no excuse for tardiness!” she snapped.

Morrigan ground her teeth, “My
apologies, I had a prior engagement that took place before…”

The old woman cut her off, “I
care little for excuses Miss Clarke. You may be an Initiate Inquisitor but that
does not give you free reign to do as you please.”

The woman’s tirade did nothing
but raise Morrigan’s aggravation. Solomon was the next to speak though.

“Vanessa, I implore you to show
some leniency, I had the fledgling Inquisitor occupied prior to coming here,”
he said bending the truth dramatically.

“You act as if I care, Lord
Inquisitor. You of all should know I care not who is in my class or what their
responsibilities are. I hold every single student to the same standard just as
I held you to the same standard!” she stated with a glare.

He smiled though, “Well then, I
suggest we should get your testing underway then?” he gestured at the older
woman.

She scowled and shook her head in
irritated disappointment, “If you fail this test I will fail you completely and
have you retake this training from start to finish with my next group of
trainees,” she growled out as she stared down Morrigan.

Morrigan narrowed her eyes as she
took a few steps forward, saying nothing as she bit her tongue.

Ohhh hehehe, I feel your anger,
little goddess. Lets teach this woman a thing or two about respect, shall we?

Morrigan nodded to Apollyon
though it looked as if she nodded to her instructor who let out an indignant
huff.

“Your final test is to properly
block a fully charged attack from me. One of the most dangerous things in the
universe is the full power of a mage. Each attack you may come across in the
universe is roughly about 15% of a mages true ability unless they’re given the
chance to unleash their full potential,” Dezinaria stated as she took her
position.

Dezinaria raised her arms and the
air hummed with electricity as a bright orb of electrical arcs danced rapidly
between the old woman's hands. It only grew larger and more dense as her
instructor drew more and more ambient energy into it with furrowed brows.

Morrigan scrutinized the
technique and amount of focus it required for the woman to draw forth the
impressive amount of energy.

“Child, raise your shield! I am
close to releasing this energy!” Dezinaria called out in warning but gave a
look of worried surprise when Morrigan just stood there motionless.

“Quick child! Before I…”

Dezinaria was cut off by the
sound of a loud bang as Morrigan had drawn her pistol with blinding speed and
grazed her instructor’s leg with a bullet.

Dezinaria collapsed on the
ground, crying out as she grabbed her leg and the immense amount of coalescing
power scattered harmlessly back into the cosmos.

Apollyon cackled like a mad man
inside her head which only caused the smirk on Morrigan’s face to grow deeper
as she holstered her side arm.

“Are you fucking mad woman!? You
shot me!” Dezinaria howled.

Morrigan crossed her arms
defiantly, “First of all, I only grazed you, you’re fine. What I did do though
was break your focus so that you couldn't release such a vast amount of power.
Don't think I didn't notice how much concentration that took…” Morrigan put her
hands on her hips condescendingly, “The best way to block an attack is to never
need to block in the first place, as they say, the perfect defense is an even
better offense, and such,” she said with a casual shrug, feeling significantly
better about the situation now.

“Gregor! Are you going to sit
there and let her get away with such insolence!?” Dezinaria barked through grit
teeth as a small amount of blood seeped through the clothing next to her leg.

Morrigan’s blood went cold as she
momentarily forgot that the Lord Inquisitor had been standing less than ten
feet away from her. She turned and gave the man a cautious sidelong glance to
see him standing stoically as ever.

Solomon held a straight,
contemplative face before a chuckle slipped his lips, followed by a bellowing
laughter. Morrigan’s spine locked at the odd reaction, uncertain whether it was
a good thing or a bad thing that the superior officer of the entire Inquisition
was laughing.

The older man wiped tears of
laughter from his eyes as he settled down. He looked between Morrigan and
Dezinaria with an amused grin, “I can’t say you didn’t have this coming,
Vanessa. I will admit I’m surprised it’s taken this long for one of your
students to take a shot at you,” his voice carried over with thick amusement.

“What is the meaning of this!?
Arrest her Gregor!” Dezinaria exclaimed. While Morrigan looked at him with wide
eyes.

Solomon shook his head as he
heard someone approach from behind, “I bring people aboard to integrate their
individual views and experience, Lady Dezinaria, and what Miss Clarke just did
was not only taking an old world tactic to heart but also using it in a very
real world and unorthodox situation. Frankly, if I would've thought of it so
many years ago I think it's safe to say I would've done something similar. Her
solution to the problem at hand was simple, thought out and executed with
impeccable accuracy,” he said before giving Morrigan a small smile.

Dezinaria scowled and grunted as
she stood up while the medical support rushed over to her, “Fine, have it your
way you brat, but there will be no more firearms allowed in my sessions!”

Solomon tsked her and shook his
head, “You know it is a rule that all military personnel be armed at all times
if the need ever arises. Maybe you should find a lesson in this Vanessa. There
are two or three take-aways I can think of from witnessing this affair.”

Dezinaria let go a stream of
curses as she was taken away by the medics, which Morrigan ignored. Most of the
tirade was directed towards her.

As a very tall woman approached,
she began clapping as she eyed the instructor being taken away, “I’m almost
ashamed that I never thought of that,” she said with a wide jovial smile.

She was the tallest person
Morrigan had ever met, standing at what had to be six foot eight, the long
brunette hair she had cascaded down her surprisingly full figure as she strode
predatorily up next to Solomon who was half a head shorter than her. It took a
moment for it to click on her mind of where she recognized the woman from, it
was Inquisitor Clare Tindal.

“Ah, I'm happy to see that you've
arrived, Inquisitor Tindal, I'm sure you're excited to be here today,” Solomon
said as he turned to her with his signature smile while Morrigan gaped at the
woman. Despite being twice Morrigan’s age, the woman was gorgeous.

“Oh, that little display from my
ward was well worth the trip itself. I definitely stand by my
statement earlier,” she stated with an amused grin to Solomon before turning
her attention to Morrigan.

“I'll give you this, from the
looks of it you gave her a harder time than I did, that's impressive,” Clare
stated with a proud smile.

Morrigan blushed at that as
Solomon chuckled at that, “Yeah, you were a bit unruly, weren't you?” He mused.

She snorted and asked, “So, have
you told her the news?”

The sound of news broke Morrigan
out of her awe inspired trance, “What news?” she asked looking between the two
superior Inquisitors.

Solomon shook his head, “Not yet,
this class was priority at the moment, though I suppose I would consider that a
successful completion of her final test from Dezinaria, I suppose now is as
good of a time as any,” he stated with a casual tone, not hinting at whether it
was good news or bad news.

“Do you want the honors or shall
I?” Solomon asked. Morrigan didn’t enjoy being ignored and the rising curiosity
that had slowly began to form into anxiety at the base of her spine did not
help her feelings about the matter.

Clare grinned, “Well, she is my
ward, even if this is our first time meeting face to face.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect you to be
so… tall…” Morrigan interjected.

Clare laughed with playful
amusement at her comment, “Yeah, that’s a neat trick about video communication,
shaves off a whole foot as well as ten pounds,” she noted playfully.

That managed to break through
Morrigan’s rising anxiety, as well as getting her to snort and smile.

“So, looks like I have some
bad-ish, good news to tell you,” Clare said, bringing back the supposed point
of her being there. The notion of bad news caused Morrigan’s nerves to freeze
though.

“About four days ago one of our Inquisitors
lost their lives while boarding a derelict ship that didn’t happen to be
derelict. It was actually a pirate trap. Inquisitor Toph lost his life, and his
ship took some damage but came back with me today,” her voice sounded pained
yet light, as if this had been the expectation.

Which, if Morrigan thought about
it, the Inquisitors often lived lonely, solitary lives outside the Void
Star, so it was natural for an Inquisitor’s life to be cut short every so
often.

“But, that depressing bit aside,
today officially marks your day of becoming a fully bona-fide Inquisitor,
today's your graduation so, congrats kid!” Clare finished with a bright smile.

Morrigan's eyes went wide with
shock at that revelation.

Hoo’oh! I did not see that
coming! Drinks and blood cleansing tonight on me! Apollyon cheered in her head
enthusiastically.

“Wait… what? How?” Morrigan
exclaimed in confusion.

Both Clare and Solomon chuckled
at her shock, “Well, normally upon graduation we would requisition a ship to be
built for a new Inquisitor and the new Inquisitor would play a support role for
a year or so within the Cathedral until it is finished however,
sometimes events like this align where one Inquisitor passes on their own ship
to a new one, either through retirement or in this instance, death.”

Morrigan blinked as the daunting
weight of reality settled upon her shoulders. Though the many weeks they had
her testing and preparing left her feeling confident in her abilities; reality
was now about to throw her to the proverbial wolves. Now she had to prove
whether she was an alpha, or if she would be eaten by the universe.

Ohhh, my little goddess, you are
more than ready. Bask in the opportunity presented before you and take hold!
You said you wanted the power to make a difference then now is your chance
hehehehe, Apollyon
prodded her with a sadistic chuckle.

Apollyon’s words turned some of
her anxiety into resolve as she let out a deep sigh, “I really thought you were
going to say something about my mother… speaking of…”

Solomon smiled, “About that, that
is another situation that has good news and bad news I’m afraid.”

“What?! What do you mean?” she
said as panic started to rise.

Solomon chuckled and tried to
wave away her fears, “Do not worry, I am a man of my word Miss Clarke. I did
happen to get in contact with your mother a few weeks ago. She is well as are
those who have been assisting her. We devised a plan to give them escape from
the Federation before the Federation pushed an attack forward that cut off all
communications with Earth, planet side that is. However, the ship I had ordered
to go and retrieve your mother and her team had reported success in their
objective and your mother is safely aboard the Inquisitorial Destroyer Trickster’s
Sleight and are on their way to the Void Star as we speak.”

Even as all of her worries
shifted to excitement, she furrowed her brows, “What’s the bad news?”

His smile falter slightly though
the level of genuine certainty was still there, “It appears during the
receiving of the ship your mother was on, the Trickster’s Sleight's “Faster
than Light” engine took damage, though they are attempting to repair the
engine, it may take as long as six months for them to return if they are unable
to repair it as they use their warp drive to move as fast as possible.”

Morrigan frowned at that, though
she was ridiculously grateful that her family was now safe, it hurt to have to
wait that much longer to see them again.

“Thank you… for telling me and
for seeing my request through,” she said with a sad mix of appreciation and
sullied happiness.

Clare frowned back at her, “Hey,
none of that being sad shit tonight. It’s your first night as a full-blooded
Inquisitor! We’re going to party like it’s the 1999!” Clare stated animatedly
to cheer her up. In her defense, an Amazonian of a woman dancing childishly is
certainly a way to cheer someone up.

Morrigan giggled at that and gave
her a nod though Solomon spoke up before she could say anything.

“For the moment, we will need to
head back to the Cathedral. We have much to discuss but I promise not to
keep you for too long, Inquisitor Tindal is correct, you should celebrate
tonight. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had such potential in a single
Inquisitor, to say you are beyond our standard is quite the understatement,” he
said proudly.

“You two have fun with that, I
got some stuff I have to do but meet me at Dora’s yeah? Know the place?” Clare
asked.

Morrigan scoffed at that, “As if
anyone can not know Dora’s,” she said incredulously.

“That’s my girl! See you
tonight!” the tall woman said with twin thumbs up and a shit eating grin before
sauntering off on her own.

“Oh, I wish I could have brought
you two together sooner in your training though she has had nothing but
positive things to say from your discussions and her… doctrine training as it
were. Anyways, come and let’s make your promotion official,” Solomon mused
before gesturing her to follow him.

Morrigan’s nerves vibrated in a
mix of nervousness and excitement as the limitless potential began formulating
in her mind now that, albeit surprisingly faster than she expected, she was now
Inquisitor Clarke.

Trust me girl, you may have
become one of these so-called Inquisitors, but you are far more than just that.
You are the embodiment of death, granted the power to destroy and sunder
everything in existence and the will of woman’s wrath. Your potential is only
just beginning, my little reaper, this is what you wanted and I will guide you
towards your dream.

“You think so, that this is
the path we need to take?” her inner voice sounding more childish and
unsure though she knew deep down Apollyon was good for it’s cosmic truths.

Oh yes, the galaxy will rue the
day it earned your ire. Just remember, you are far more than what meets the
eye, Apollyon
said in prophetic praise as its words dripped heavily with the promise of
violence.