True Control

[Ji_Yung_Lee]

((This is my first time writing for my character outside of the chats. Any constructive criticism of my writing is welcome))

Her uplink to the award ceremony fluttered in front of her eyes before the tear hit the floor. Her face now turned a deep red and more tears began to fall as she continued to stare at her screen, now blank. She felt raw, unwell, and desperate for… something. She had seen the people at the ceremony fighting and arguing with the standard insults that she had expected from the Empires of New Eden. Afterwards however she saw something she did not expect that evening. She saw lovers embrace, words of affection, the giving of gifts, the passing of laughter and praise. She was not prepared for that. Her thoughts turned to herself and how she had longed for those feelings for her entire life. A thought struck her hard. She would never feel that for herself. She would never feel love the way they did, she would never hold the hand of a lover and embrace him the way she witnessed the crowd doing so.

Her stomach churned, she felt herself beginning to vomit as her thoughts toiled into darkness, yet she continued starring at the screen. She screamed aloud, a harsh banshee like scream that echoed through her personal room in the True Power station. Her trembling hands reached to her hair, still neatly done for her appearance on the holoprojector. Her fingernails clawed at her scalp cutting deeply into the flesh and drawing blood from herself. She dropped to her knees continuing to scream with fierce intensity. She wanted to speak, she wanted to speak to someone… anyone. She wanted her thoughts to be known and for someone to hear her pleas for help, yet she knew that nobody would ever hear her true voice. She cried and screamed and curled into a ball of her own terror, clawing at her head, attempting to reach her mind where the pain was unrelenting.

“Why!” She finally managed to force out of her mouth. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Suddenly, she felt a presence surround her. It was an utterly dominating presence that completely overtook her senses.

“What troubles you, my child?” The voice was calm and powerful inside of her mind. “why do you hurt this body?”

Ji Yung struggled to speak, she knew the words that she wanted to say, she knew how to form them with her lips, yet what came out was an abomination of her thoughts. Mumbling between weeps, attempting to communicate with the voice. After a moment passed she started to feel a calming sensation flow over her skin, as if she had been wrapped in a blanket made from the purest love one can feel.

“I am sorry” She said to the voice in her mind, starting to catch her breath after an intense weeping.

“You are not alone.” He said to her “You remember why you are here.” The words were not a question, yet there was a deep fear in her mind of not answering it as such.

“Yes” She began to regain her composure. Coming to her knees and raising her head. Blood now dripped from her scalp down her expressionless face. leaving trails of red fluid on her cheeks where the tears had been.

“Good” She heard him say. The words echoing like the inside of the deep cavern of her thoughts. Then suddenly, the presence was gone.

The warm blanket was removed from her, the wholesome feelings removed and replaced with the cold air of her room. She stood slowly from her place on the floor and walked to her sink to begin cleaning herself. She still had work to do at the Summit.

[Ji_Yung_Lee]

Ji Yung’s First

((Authors note: WARNING This story contains some elements that may be difficult to read for some of you. I certainly know it was emotionally difficult to write. This story is meant to make the reader feel uncomfortable on a moral level. Though no truly bad deeds are described, it may be implied. Nobody is forcing you to read ahead. I spend a lot of my energy progressing the story of Ji Yung Lee and I make a point to add parts of myself into her character. Some of her feelings have been my own. I encourage anyone who is struggling with mental health or trauma to seek help and not allow the sickness to fester. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions about this story and/or my future writings.))

• Matar, year unknown

  Her room was dark, lightly illuminated by ambient light passing through the half missing curtain of her window from the street lights a few stories below. The original color of the curtains was white, though several years of them in the tiny, low income apartment had seen them stained from cigarette smoke. The room had enough space to pack her single mattress into the far corner and her few belongings in piles near her bed. She had no dresser or other storage place for her things and so they naturally ended up on the floor nearby.

  In bed with her was her bear. She had named him “Quiet” much to her mothers distaste for anything abnormal. Ji Yung liked the name, and to her, he was a quiet bear. He was brown in color and he wore a beret with a Minmatar insignia adorned on the front. The insignia had been picked at for several years and was missing a few sections from it. She was at the point in her short life where she was trying to decide internally if she was getting too old to be playing with a bear anyways. Though whenever she tried to push Quiet away, she always ended up feeling guilty about it and would bring him back into her life.

  Ji Yung’s bed was one that clearly needed attention, or replacement at the very least. Her pillow was used by many before her and however it ended up in her possession, it was very flat and had to be folded in half to be anywhere near comfortable for the young girl’s head. The walls of her room were thin and the building was noisy. From what must have been a few doors down she could hear the thump thump thump of music being played far too loud for this time of night. She counted herself less fortunate with this room because the neighbors on her side were very loud people. Ji disliked loud people. Presently they were having an argument with each other. The sounds were muffled through the walls but she could understand the tone of it, along with a crash of something breaking against the floor, it was a dead giveaway of a domestic dispute.

  She sighed heavily as she realized that sleep would not come to her. Grabbing Quiet, she held him above her and began spinning him back and forth as if she was spinning a steering wheel, before allowing the bear to drop onto her chest and wrapping her arms around him. She tried again, closing her eyes as she held her bear. She could hear the holo on in the living room. Her mother must have been working tonight. She always told Ji not to bother her at night with her ‘crazy girl nonsense’. Then she heard a foreign sound that she was not expecting.

  A man’s voice coming from inside the apartment. She fell completely silent, slowing her breathing so that she could strain to hear. She heard it again, confirming that her mother had a man over tonight. This was not uncommon for her to hear, but most of the time she had warning from her mother to shut her door and not make a goddamn sound. She heard her mothers voice, softly reply to the man, though still muffled beyond her capability of understanding the words, she could always tell the context. They were negotiating something.

  Very carefully, Ji Yung slowly moved herself to the edge of her bed, place Quiet to the side then twisted her body into an upright position to sit on the edge of her mattress. She was proud of herself for perfecting the art of stealth within her room. She could move around without making a single sound. “Quiet probably wouldn’t even hear me” She thought to herself, smiling at the idea of her fluffy bear friend looking at her and calling her on her obvious BS with just a look. Instead she turned to look at his face, only a slight smile on his mouth. She nodded to him. “Okay buddy” she whispered so quietly that she could barely hear herself, giving him a childish Minmatar salute to show him that she was ready.

  Slowly and carefully standing, she moved like a hunting cat, crossing to the part of the floor near the wall with her feet. She knew that the floor boards would make less noise there even with her underweight and malnourished body because they were supported by the walls. She heard laughing in the living room now, the man’s laugh first then her mother’s. She crossed the floor quickly to her door and slowly wrapped her fingers around the knob, turning it to the point where it would start catching on the bolt and slowly worked her magic in pulling the door open then releasing the door handle.

  “…baby…” She heard her mother say through the now cracked door. She couldn’t understand the context but understood the word. She was quite curious to see this man that her mother had just addressed as ‘baby’. Perhaps he had been here before, maybe it was one of the more friendly men that she had met through her mother.

  Ji heard her mother moan softly and caught a whiff of the air through the cracked door. Mom was doing her drugs, she knew the smell and had associated it with seeing her mother fall fast asleep. It was almost a daily routine now for her mother. Ji decided that before anything else, she would move quietly to the bathroom across the hall from her bedroom. If she was seen, she could always claim to need to use the toilet. If she was quick enough though she probably would not be seen and could catch a glance at the man.

  She pursed her lips and took a step out of her room. She turned her head to be prepared to catch a glance at the man on her short trip across the hall, and bravely stepped out into the open. The man was looking directly at her when she crossed. Ji quickly snapped her head back to her front in an attempt to avoid awkward eye contact with him. She entered the bathroom and closed the door. “Crudd!” she whispered to herself, balling her small fists. She knew two things from what just happened. Firstly, the man was new. she had seen his face illuminated by the light of the holo and it was not a familiar one. Secondly, she must not have been as quiet as she thought she was. She made a mental note to practice more on her stealth.

  Not actually having to use the bathroom, yet now in a position where she needed to appear to have had the need to, she sat down on the toilet, still in her pajamas. She looked at the wall in front of her. The tiles were dirty, covered in flecks of water spots and the space between each of the tiles had turned dark brown, almost black from never having been cleaned. There was a towel at her feet that was used to soak the water when stepping from the bathtub, which had also not been cleaned or replaced in Ji Yung’s recent memory. There was a small sink next to her that had been littered with bits of dried toothpaste. The Faucet had rust around the edges. To an outsider this bathroom would seem very unsanitary, but Ji did not know better.

  A few minutes passed as Ji waited for what she believed to be a reasonable amount of time for someone who actually needed to use the toilet to finish. What Ji heard next made her heart stop. Footsteps. Heavy and moving towards the bathroom. The man was humming to himself a tune that she had never heard before. the sound of the humming drew nearer to the bathroom door. She glanced at the door handle and felt a shot of adrenaline as she realized that she had forgotten to lock the door on her way in. Too late now, the footsteps and humming were at the door. Red in the face, Ji sat up straight, placing her hands on her knees in an attempt to look as innocent as possible should someone barge in and notice her not actually using the toilet. Right on queue, the door handle turned and the man walked through the threshold taking one step inside and gazing at Ji.

  He looked very strange to Ji, so out of place from everything surrounding her that she momentarily forgot about her embarrassment of being caught in the way she was. She had never seen someone like him before. His skin was the palest that she had ever seen compared to her own tan color. His golden shoulder length hair was worn down, clearly well maintained. His eyes were the type of bright blue eyes that are difficult to look away from. He wore a black shirt adorned with golden embroidery across the shoulders. He looked so clean to her.

  The man smiled at Ji. “I didn’t see you there, little one. uh… could I use the bathroom please?” His accent was a foreign one that she had never heard before. His voice was calm and non-threatening, but she felt uncomfortable now. He had just lied about not knowing she was in here. She was certain of that.

  Ji realized that she had been staring at him and quickly looked down at the floor. She leapt up from the toilet and crossed the small bathroom in only a few steps and was out of the doorway and headed back to her room. As she passed him, she caught a smell of his cologne, she would never forget that smell for the rest of her life. She entered her room and closed the door. Almost leaping back into her bed and covering herself with her single blanket. Her heart was racing. She looked over at Quiet, then turned away from the bear. How childish she suddenly felt with a bear in her bed.

  She heard the toilet flush and the sink begin to run in the bathroom. The man began humming again the strange song while he washed his hands. All the while Ji was thinking about the hell she would catch from her mother in the morning if this man relayed the story to her. Sneaking about, being a nuisance, acting strange, all punishable crimes under her mother’s roof. Ji Yung felt like a felon awaiting trial. She heard the sink turn off and the bathroom door close. She slowed her breathing again and listened to his footsteps leading back into the living room. She felt her thumb absentmindedly running over the Minmatar insignia on Quiet’s beret.

  As she calmed herself down she turned onto her back and folded her pillow to be comfortable. Telling herself that she was going to have to sleep tonight as her mother was going to be useless in the morning.

  Ji suddenly heard two slaps in rapid succession come from the living room. She didn’t know exactly what had happened but they were the unmistakable cracks of a hand slapping skin. Did the man just slap her mother? Ji knew enough about her mothers drug use to know that once she fell asleep, there was no waking her up. Perhaps this man did not know that, he was probably trying to wake her. Then she heard the volume of the holo turn up several levels. “what is he doing!?” thought Ji. She groaned internally as she realized she wouldn’t be able to sleep at all now with the noise.

  The volume of the holo hid the noises in the apartment. several moments passed where she was blinded by the sound. She saw, before she heard, the handle of her bedroom door begin to turn. She quickly grabbed a hold of Quiet…

---

• K717-8 Planet III, YC 123

Ji Yung Lee stood under a corrugated roof, listening to the rain strike the metal. Around her were several men in black and green combat suits fitted with armor, brandishing firearms. She looked out at the jungle in the distance captivated by the peaceful sounds of the rain and the cool air in flowing into her lungs. A flight of Shadow fighters passed close overhead. The sounds of their afterburners splitting the peaceful quiet.

She stepped out from under the cover. The two soldiers behind her on either side followed, watching her every movement. The rain came down on her and she welcomed the cold. Her own green and black uniform repelling the water. Her hair however, which was wrapped tightly in a very combat oriented braid began to soak.

She looked at the ground in front of her. There lay several people, locals of the planet she was on. They lay in the mud in strange positions. Some face down others contorted into seemingly impossible positions.

“Show me where” she said calmly to the soldier on her left. The soldier took the lead, walking down the row of living people who laid in the mud.

The soldier stopped at a lone body, separated from the rest. He pointed down at the body. Ji Yung squatted on her haunches to get closer to the immobile man’s face. He had grey-blonde hair and pale skin. He seemed to be frozen, with an arm outstretched, no doubt used to attempt to brace himself as he had fallen.

Ji removed her black leather gloves, holding them in one hand as she sat beside him, studying his features. Her thumb was absentmindedly rubbing the Sansha insignia on them. Ji smiled at him as his eyes moved up towards her. She could see the horror in his eyes, his bright blue eyes. She watched in fascination the effects that the nanites had on the man. Ji reached up towards the soldier standing nearest to her with her palm up. The soldier did not have to hear the order that she gave him out loud. it was already spoken to him in another way. The soldier placed a serrated knife into Ji’s hand as the man in the mud watched.

“You are going to be my first.” She said to the man plainly. Her face one of perfect neutrality and indifference.

She began humming a tune that she remembered from her childhood.

[Ji_Yung_Lee]

• The Pleasure Hub, YC 115

“She has a talent, she either actually enjoys her work or else she is able to convincingly act. The clients we send her to have nothing but great reviews of her, she’s responsible for 2% of our repeat customers.”

Loretta stood before Gregory, the pleasure hub’s owner, with her data pad in hand. Going over the financial report for the last month and reviewing the men and women of their “employ”. It was an activity that Gregory hated doing. It was boring to him and he would much rather be mingling with the girls in the floors below.

Gregory tossed an orange into the air, playing a game of catch with himself as Loretta spoke to him. “How long has she been with us?” He asked.

“4 months” Loretta replied

“Where did we pick her up?”

“Matar, Sir”

Gregory thought on this information for a moment. “We could sell her to the Amarr for a decent price. Some of those royal boys there would pay top price for a Vherokior girl that is eager to please.”

“She has already made us more ISK than we could get from selling her to the Amarr.” Loretta said matter-of-factly. “I would recommend that we reserve her to the high rolling clients.”

Gregory grumbled unconvinced “Here’s the thing, some of those Minmatar girls can get…” he searched for the right word. “Spicy… with Amarrian clients. What’s to say that she isn’t going to start slitting throats?”

“She has already been servicing some Amarrian men. Her records show that one of her most frequented clients is the son of an Amarrian diplomat. I think that…”

“Bring her to me” Gregory said, cutting her off. “I want to speak to her. If she is as good as you say, I have a friend from Motsu that would be interested in her.”

“Right away sir” Loretta said. Then motioned to a female servant who was standing by the office door “Go to 318 and collect Ji Yung.”

---

Ji Yung was laying face down on her mattress, nude except for her lace panties. Her eyes did not blink or move. To someone watching her, the steady rise and fall of her torso would be the only indication of life. The dull light from the ceiling fan gave the room a feel of being a dirty place, though she kept her side of the room as clean as she could. Her head rested on her pillow, her eyes fixed on the wall opposite her bed. She had been in this position for hours, forcing her mind into a trance-like state.

Her mind was completely blank, she forced out all awareness of the physical world around her and simply existed there in a void of her own making. It was how she spent the majority of her free time now, quietly waiting for her time inside of nothingness to expire.

Ji Yung’s subconscious awareness registered a sound. Groaning quietly, her mind began to automatically begin functioning, bringing her back into conscious thought. Colors began to appear back into her focus. She hated this part, coming back into existence. When she was in a trance, it was as if she didn’t exist at all. She preferred not existing to the reality of her life.

The sound came again, this time louder. She recognized it as a knock on her door. She blinked once, wishing to herself that the sound was not real so that she could return to her trance. She cleared her throat, blinking again to wet her eyes from being open for so long.

“One moment please” She croaked. The voice still did not feel like her own, her mind was coming to terms with reality now.

Ji Yung flexed her fingers before pushing herself from her bed, sitting on the edge of the mattress, she twirled her neck slowly to allow the blood flow to return to her brain. She stood and walked to the door. She didn’t bother covering herself, her body had been on display for so many people over the last several years of her life that the exposure didn’t matter to her anymore.

She opened the door and saw the servant girl standing there. Ji Yung noticed right away who’s personal servant this was. She was a pretty girl, though Ji Yung couldn’t recall the girls name, she knew that she was a personal favorite of Gregory and therefore stayed with him throughout his days and nights.

“Master Gregory requires your presence in his office” The girl said.

“Are there any other details?” Ji Yung asked. Usually if she was required somewhere, there were detailed instructions sent to her beforehand.

“None” said the girl

Ji Yung raised a curious eyebrow at the girl. “I need 5 minutes” she said, then closed the door.

Stepping to her closet she analyzed her situation quickly. Gregory wanted to see her, this was not foreign to her, she had serviced Gregory before. He liked to personally try out every new girl to arrive at his pleasure hub. Usually when he picked a girl to entertain him, he requested something specific. This was not to be an entertainment call, which she gathered meant that he was considering a change to her life of some sort. “I need to look casually elegant and susceptible” She said to herself.

She reached up and pulled a white sun dress from its hanger, then slid out a pair of white flats to wear with the dress. This would compliment her tanned skin tone. She didn’t have a lot of time to look like she didn’t just come back from the dead, so she quickly applied some lip plumping gloss and light rose blush before returning to the door. As she walked with the girl, Ji Yung wrapped her hair tightly into a high bun. Gregory did not like hair getting in his way, she remembered.

---

Ji Yung stood before Gregory’s desk in the center of the room. She made a point to make herself look as if she was attempting to hide fear of what might be said. The look of concern on her face she knew would be noticed by him, and his response would tell her whether this was a pleasure call or if he intended to use her as a bargaining chip. She aimed to appear at a disadvantage, which she had learned worked wonders on men in power.

Gregory looked up at her from his data pad and smiled, it was a forced smile Ji Yung noted. He was attempting to put her at ease, though she knew that he likely did not at all care for her comfort. This smile told her that he was going to be attempting to convince her of something, or that this would be an interrogation, and he wanted a willing subject instead of a defensive one. This was not going to be a sexual interaction.

“Take a seat please” Gregory motioned towards the lounge chair next to Ji Yung.

She returned a nervous smile to him and sat in the chair. Sitting with her knees together and folded her hands on her lap. She began running her thumb over her hand. She wanted him to notice and determine this as a subconscious action indicating that she was nervous of his power. She waited for him to speak, allowing him to control the conversation.

Gregory indeed took notice of her fidgeting and smiled inwardly to himself. He enjoyed feeling in power, and knowing that this asset of his felt weak and nervous, boosted his ego. Now was the time for him to throw her off.

“What do you think of the Amarr?” Gregory asked with a smirk.

Ji Yung pursed her lips, this question was meant to take away her balance. Ji Yung recognized. “The men are handsome and most are very articulate and well educated.” She said “They also almost always try to tip me.” She confessed.

“oh?” said Gregory. He looked back at Loretta, who made a note on her data pad. The rules of the pleasure hub were clearly spoken to clients. Tipping was against the rules. Gregory was not expecting her to begin talking about clients. He had intended to gauge her political views, but decided to run with the conversation to see where it led. Thinking that this girl might actually not have and political views of her own.

“What about the Minmatar?” Gregory asked next. Ji Yung understood then that he intended to rapid fire questions at her to gauge her natural responses.

“Minmatar men tend not to be as in touch with their emotions, they are more direct with their desires than other men, but of course there are always exceptions.” She intended to appear neutral to whatever this line of questioning was meant for.

‘He is trying to see if I am a threat to anyone’ She thought to herself. ‘He intends to move me somewhere for wealthier clients’ She concluded.

Gregory sighed, pressing a finger into his cheek as if contemplating something. He looked up toward the ceiling while he thought.

‘This next question will be intense’ Ji Yung thought. Doing her best to appear uneasy and vulnerable.
After a few seconds, Gregory looked behind him at Loretta as a sort of instruction to play along before bringing his gaze back to Ji Yung.

“If I had a client that we needed to… disappear…” He gave a moment for dramatic effect, and to allow Ji to catch his meaning. “Would you be willing to help us with that?”

Ji Yung looked confused, she wanted the man to underestimate her intelligence. Giving a moment of pause. “I don’t understand” she said finally.

Gregory leaned his elbows on his desk, looking intensely at Ji Yung. “I want to know if you will kill an Amarrian client” He said. He was attempting to appear sincere and very serious.

‘This is the real test’ Ji Yung thought. She presented a face of shock at first, then quickly looked at the floor. Staring for a moment to allow a tear to run down her cheek. She forced a tremble in her chin to show that she understood.

“I…” she choked on her words, giving Gregory time to observe her emotional change. “I don’t know what to say sir. I…” She allowed a few more tears to begin sliding down her cheeks.

Gregory’s face changed from serious to sorrowful. He had not been expecting such a strong reaction, but he was certain now that she held no hostility towards the Amarr.

“Hey” Gregory said comfortingly “it’s ok hun, I’m actually glad that this troubles you. Please forget that I asked.”

Gregory motioned to Loretta, who brought Ji Yung a tissue to wipe her tears away.

Her lips trembling and tears freely falling now, she looked up at Gregory meeting his eyes for a moment and then turning them away in an act of submission. She did not want Gregory to feel like he was not in control. “I just can’t do it sir, I’m so sorry, I just can’t hurt someone.” Ji Yung said, lifting her hands and dropping them back in her lap. Her face was now flush, her intention of showing embarrassment at her inability to conduct violence had hit it’s mark.

“It’s quite okay Ji Yung, I shouldn’t have asked, forget the entire thing. Please lets move on to a less serious topic.” Gregory said, attempting to calm the now distraught Ji Yung. He was desperate to end the discomfort he felt at making the poor girl cry.

“How are things going with your living quarters? Are you happy with your room?”

Ji Yung had to fight a laugh, Gregory had obviously never been to the pit where the girls of his pleasure hub lived. She was sure that he had no idea the living conditions he was subjecting his women to. ‘better that I keep him from that information’ She thought.

Ji Yung swallowed hard, regaining control of herself through some remaining sobs. She smiled weakly “I could use a few new dresses.” Ji Yung said. “There are times when I want to set a certain mood for specific clients and it’s difficult from time to time.”

Gregory nodded and looked back again to his secretary. “Loretta, please see to it that she gets some dresses of her choice, you can use funds from my personal account.” He said, clearly expecting recognition for such a personal sacrifice.

Ji Yung looked up at him and smiled happily, appearing to be a giddy young girl who was told she was allowed to go on a shopping spree.

“Yes sir” Loretta responded. She walked over to Ji Yung and held out her hand. The interview was over. Ji Yung took Loretta’s hand and stood slowly and was lead out of the office. At the doorway, Ji Yung glanced back at Gregory with a happy smile. “Thank you Sir.”

Gregory nodded to her, glad to be recognized for his kindness to one of his girls. He felt quite heroic.

Loretta did not shift her gaze from her data pad. this seemed to be her permanent stature. Head bent down, organizing data for the hub. “I will come and see you at some point this week to order some dresses for you” She said. “Don’t get any wild ideas” she added “there will be a limit to cost.”

With that, the servant girl appeared again to escort Ji Yung back to her room. Walking behind the girl, Ji Yung wiped away the remaining tear from her cheek. A wicked smile rolling onto her face as she walked. She began taking inventory in her mind of the items she would need to pack.

---

“Gregory. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” Eric Lee said, smiling through the holo-projector.

“I have something for you, that I think you will really enjoy” Gregory said, beaming at Eric

“A singular thing?” Eric asked.

“oh yes, exactly what you like. With potential to multiply your earnings if you allow her to teach other girls how to behave.” Gregory raised his eyebrows to enhance the point.

“hmmm, I take it that this is going to cost me quite a bit to acquire her” Eric mocked.

“I’m going to ask you for five billion, but you will be talking me down to three point five.” Gregory said chuckling.

“I will send a shuttle for her, I want to make an assessment for myself old friend.” Eric said, then asked “How old is she?”

“She will be 17 in a month, and… fair enough, I will send Loretta with her in the event that you want to negotiate her price.”

Both of the men smiled, thinking of the rewards they would receive for this deal.

[Silas_Moliko]

(( Enjoyable story. Looking forward to seeing how Ji Yung progresses and grows through her adversity. ))

[Luwc]

(( Welcome to the community, a pdf or word version would be great ))

[Ji_Yung_Lee]

• 3GD6-8, Catch, YC 123

The recently widowed Ji Yung Lee was more afraid now than she had ever been in her life. She was not afraid of death, but of her own life. She had spent the last five years preparing for this moment, yet she was frozen in fear of the unknown variables of her chosen path. Presently, she heard the voices of doubt creeping into her mind, the voices of her past.

Stupid, insolent little girl…
…You meddle where you shouldn’t…
Stick to whoring…
…and did you really think any of the others would ever truly like someone like you?..
WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST HAVE BEEN BORN… NORMAL!?

Absentmindedly she began chewing on her lower lip. She wanted to cry now. “oh what have I done!?” She thought. She pulled out her data-pad and began reading again the instructions that she had been given. They were the last words from the man she had been coordinating with from Sansh’s Nation for the last few months.

" - Come alone, out of pod, DSS-EZ, once inside the system you will be hailed, release control of your ship when told. No weapons. - Citizen Damaini Jusemet" The message read

She tossed the data-pad aside.

Ji Yung began running her thumb over the Minmatar insignia on her bracelet. The bracelet was the only thing she had ever seen of her father. “He was Republic Navy, and he left you Ji. He hated you and that is all you need to know! now go back to your room before you make me angry.” She heard her mother’s voice play back in her mind.

The bracelet was silver in color, other than the faded brown insignia. She ran her thumb over the insignia again and again, each time pressing her thumb harder against it.

…everyone hates you, your mother, your father, everyone…

Ji Yung swallowed as she felt a lump forming in her throat. Her lip began to tremble as she spoke aloud to the silence of her ship cabin “Where did you go? Why did you hate me so much? What did I do to you? I was only a child! … I am so sorry dad. I didn’t mean to make you hate me!”

Tears rapidly formed in her eyes as she fell down into the spiral of thoughts leading her to this moment. Her brow furrowed from the internal torment that she subjected her own mind to.

She continued, speaking to the image in her mind of her own father. “He promises to be there for me. He has to be a good man, the only good man I have ever known” She said through her silent sobs. “He is the one who stands up to the demons.”

She picked her data-pad up again, pulling up the photo of the man she fell in love with and running her finger over his cheek. “We are a century apart, and you still promise nothing but love for me” She smiled as a tear dropped onto the small screen.

Ji Yung Lee straightened her face and began wiping the tears from her cheeks using her shirt sleeve. Her mascara running from her eyes to her cheeks, she caught her reflection in the windshield of her shuttle. “Haunting” She thought. Then pressed the key on her control panel and felt herself lurch through the gate… For love.

---

• DSS-EZ, Planet V, Early Winter, YC 123

Ji Yung Lee’s face was now one of resolve. She had reminded herself of why she had made the choice that she had. As her shuttle burned brightly through the atmosphere of the planet, she slowly pulled the silver bracelet off of her thin wrist and cast it aside, hearing the metal strike the floor of her ship. Looking through the blast windows to her right, she watched the fire of super-compressed oxygen around her ship. Beyond that, she could barely see the outline of her Phantasm escort.

As her ship came to a halt on the designated landing pad, she stood slowly from her seat. She watched the snow melting as it hit the hot metal of the shuttle armor. Ji Yung walked to the back of her cabin and pulled the release for the exit hatch. She watched the ladder slide quickly to the landing pad below and felt a blast of freezing winter air against her face. It was the type of cold that pierced through clothing and bit at flesh relentlessly.

Ji Yung began climbing down the ladder, taking in her surroundings as she descended. There was a massive pyramid shaped building connected to the end of the landing pad. The building was black with green accents and towered over the surrounding forest of snow-capped trees. Midway up the path from her ship to the building stood the dark shape of a man. As she stepped onto the concrete, She heard the crunch of of the snow beneath her boots and shivered from being completely under dressed for the weather.

It was too cold for her to stay outside for long and Ji Yung opened her stride to a near jog to reach the man quickly. Her hands began to shake as she crossed her arms in an attempt to warm them. As she closed in on the man, she recognized him as Citizen Jusemet by his features and clothing. He wore a long black robe, adorned with a Sansha insignia on the left breast over the heart. He was an older man, likely in his 60’s if Ji Yung had to guess. His skin was pale, barely different from the snow that whipped across Ji Yung’s vision. She walked to within a few arm lengths of him and stopped, shivering from the cold.

“Welcome Miss Lee.” He said “Shall we?” He motioned his arm towards the pyramid shaped building. Ji Yung nodded and began walking next to him towards her salvation from the cold. “and from my hell” She thought to herself.

At the double door entrance to the building stood two soldiers, clad in green and black armored bodysuits, both men wielding rifles. As she passed, Ji Yung could see the vapor of the men’s breath as they exhaled into the cold winter air. Something struck her then oddly about them. It took her a moment but was able to identify what caused her to feel uneasy with them. The men were breathing in perfect unison!

Her thoughts were quickly brought back to Citizen Jusemet as the doors were closed behind them. The soldiers remaining outside in the winter storm. Ji Yung shivered still from the unexpected temperatures of the planet, but quickly began to feel warmed by the heat of the building’s air.

“I hope that your travels were swift and that you fare well, Ms. Lee.” Jusemet Said.

“Well enough, thank you for accepting me here.” Ji Yung replied, attempting to control the shivering.

Citizen Jusemet smiled at Ji Yung. It was the warm smile that one might see from a relative that they had not seen in a while. A welcoming and loving smile.

“Let us go farther in, I know that you must still be cold. For which I do apologize to you. In hindsight, I should have warned you of the weather here.”

The interior of the building was immense to Ji Yung. She had never seen such an elaborate building. the entryway was clearly meant to awe those who entered, Several hallways were set up in a very neat and orderly fashion around the massive entrance hall. Ji Yung looked up at the ceiling light that shone brightly over the entire hall. It must have been 30 meters in the air above them.

“Will I be able to meet… him” Ji Yung asked suddenly, thinking of the photograph on her data-pad of Sansha Kuvakei. She wondered if he had aged at all in appearance.

“You will my dear!” Jusemet said to her in an excited tone.

Ji Yung smiled shyly, looking down at the floor as they walked in an attempt to hide her girlish affection for a man she had only seen on holo recordings. Citizen Jusemet took notice of her glee and looked down at her with the look of a happy father figure. He lead Ji Yung into a room at the end of the main entrance chamber. Ji yung looked up from the floor after stepping inside. It was a small room with brick walls and tile flooring. Furnishing the room was a tritanium table with a single metal chair. Above the table hung a light which coned down onto the center of the small room, placing the rest of the room in shadow. Sitting on the table was a small rectangular wooden chest.

“Please have a seat Miss Lee.” He said to her still in a welcoming and fatherly tone.

She crossed the room and sat in the chair, crossing her legs, she gently clasped her hands together and placed them on her knees. Her short height brought the table up to her chest. It made her feel quite small and childish.

Citizen Jusemet remained near the door. Ji Yung could not see him due to the light shining down directly in front of her vision, but she heard his breathing in the quiet of the room.

“Miss Lee you came to us of your own free will, asking us to accept you into our family. Do you still wish to serve with us to help humanity achieve it’s true purpose?” The Citizen spoke as if from a script now. the change in his voice was somewhat disconcerting to Ji Yung.

“Yes, I do.” she replied. “I want to help as many people as I can. Sansha Kuvakei and I share the dream of a united people.”

Citizen Jusemet stirred and was silent for a moment. Considering the tone and inflection of Ji Yung’s voice.

“Miss Lee, in front of you there is a box. Would you please open the box and tell me what you see inside of it.”

Ji Yung looked confused but reached her hand to the box and slid it across the table until it was directly in front of her. She held the box and opened the lid slowly. Peering inside, she felt her heart rate begin to increase from the unknown.

“I see… a sort of black… and silver liquid at the bottom” Ji Yung said. She watched in awe as this blackish silver fluid moved. It was flowing on it’s own and seemed that it was reflecting some of the light from the room into tiny silver waves. She was quite captivated by the movement of the fluid for a moment.

The room remained silent and Ji Yung looked up from the box. Her eyes searching in the dark for Citizen Jusemet. She began to feel her heart beat more intensely now. The beating began to become more noticeable. She stared at the corner of the room. now unable to shift her gaze away as if she was caught in a flashback, but all she could think about was her pounding heart. She felt as if it would break free of her chest at any moment. Pounding and pounding away, she could feel warmth spreading across her body.

Ji Yung then realized that something was wrong with her body. She couldn’t move her eyes from the corner of the room. She felt as if she had lost sensation in her limbs, and started to feel the prickling sensation akin to falling asleep on her arm for too long. Only the feeling was spreading across her entire body as if in a wave across her skin. The feeling starting at her breast and moved outward to cover her entire being. She couldn’t move herself. She tried thinking… blink… blink… just blink, yet her eyelids would not cooperate.

“Miss Lee, please stand up and follow me.” She heard Jusemet say, but his voice seemed very far from her. As if it was whispered from the other side of the planet.

She then noticed that she was standing… and walking. She did not remember doing either of these actions.

Citizen Damaini Jusemet smiled down at Ji Yung lee, the way a loving father would look at his loving daughter. “Now you will meet the one True Messiah”

[Ji_Yung_Lee]

10 / 10 / YC 123
6Y-0TW I / Cliff side refuge

The cold rain was brutal as it slammed against the walls of Ji Yung Lee’s hideaway home. It was isolated in the steep mountains of the planet’s second highest peak. The mountains had patches of forest that housed many creatures. The only light within the house came from a holo-projector that she had recently used for the first time in a long while. Ji Yung Lee sat at the table here, her mind was somewhere completely else. It had been over a month since she stopped feeling the warm blanket of loving embrace. Now she only felt the cold, dark, and terrible truth.

Her hand absentmindedly moved to her lower abdomen. The warmth of her hand there felt comforting to her. Perhaps comforting to him as well She thought. She depressed the key of her holo-projector and watched the light fade, leaving her in darkness. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the dark. She recognized items in her home. Other objects in the house seemed familiar, though she could not place them in her memory.

…Rusty…

The pang of loss struck her chest. She thought of her failed mission, her feelings for another that she knew could never be shared.

Ji Yung stood slowly from her chair. Her motions felt distant, yet still of her own making. She wanted to smile, and it would have been a sad smile had she been able to. She began unbuttoning her uniform jacket, neatly folding it and setting it on the table in front of her. Ji Yung took the remainder of her clothing off and let it fall to the floor in a heap. She stood there for a moment, barely registering the cold feeling against her skin. Her hand once again finding it’s place on her abdomen.

She took a step forward towards the door of her home, slowly and methodically. If there had been an observer to watch her they would have commented on her grace, on how the moonlight shone against her and made her seem almost as a sad painting.

…Rusty…

A tear began to fall from her eye as she walked. Reaching the door her hand reached out and clasped the handle, slowly turning and cracking the door. The wind from the storm nearly ripped the door from her hand. She stopped for a moment to consider this, then smiled again as she released the door. It swung hard, striking the side of her house with such force that her foggy window cracked.

She began walking outside, the wind whipping at her naked body. She noticed leaves being torn from trees in the rain, they whipped off of the nearby cliff and began their long fall to the root of the mountain. As she neared the cliff edge she turned and looked back at her home. She could see the table inside, the neatly folded jacket that lay with the Nation insignia facing her.

Ji Yung Lee closed her eyes. Placing both hands on her abdomen, she leaned back letting herself fall. Ji Yung Lee was now and forever finally free from her torment.