Chapter Text
The Void Mother
Introduction
Location: Sector 4 Imperial Sub-Command Underground Briefing Room 09.
The air smelled of ozone and stale coffee. A single tactical display projected a satellite grid of Oakhaven onto the steel table.
Severa Magia stood at the head of the table, her Imperial uniform immaculate, hands clasped behind her back. Her gaze flicked over the three operatives she had personally selected for the vanguard. "Oakhaven went dark forty-eight hours ago," Severa said, her voice dropping the room's temperature. "No comms. No distress signals. Automated infrastructure is functioning, but external thermal scans show zero human signatures. The Bureau wants a clean assessment, containment, and recovery of any localized biological data."
Tohka slammed her breaching shield against the floor, leaning heavily on the handle. "Zero signatures? A whole village doesn't just vanish into thin air. If someone took them, they'll have to answer to my blade." She tapped the hilt of the heavy combat machete strapped to her vest.
"Quiet, Tohka," Fern murmured, not looking up from the table. She was meticulously cleaning the bolt-action assembly of her sniper rifle, her movements robotic and precise. "You're vibrating. It's distracting." She clicked the bolt back into place, her pale eyes finally lifting to Severa. "Is this a standard quarantine enforcement, Commander, or are we expecting armed resistance?"
"Assume everyone left alive is hostile," Severa replied coldly. "And prioritize asset retrieval over civilian extraction."
Shizue sat back, her gloved hand resting quietly on the pommel of her tactical katana. She stared at the satellite layout, her scarred face tight with an old, familiar dread. "A village that size doesn't go silent without a struggle. If there are no bodies on the streets and no thermal signatures, they aren't dead. They're somewhere else." She looked directly into Severa's eyes. "What aren't you telling us, Magia?"
Severa didn't flinch. She leaned forward, pressing a button to lock the files. "You have your loadouts. Guns and cold steel only. No comms outside the local encrypted net once you cross the perimeter." Severa looked at each of them. "Pack heavy. If Oakhaven is compromised, you are the only wall between whatever is in that valley and the rest of the Empire. We move at dawn."
"Did Emperor Uriel Septim at least gave orders for backup in case things go wrong?" Tohka asked, munching on bread.
Severa didn't look up from her datapad. "The Emperor does not plan for failure, Tohka. If things go wrong, we are expected to die containing it."
Fern loaded a round into her magazine with a sharp click. "Eat your bread, Tohka. We are the backup."
Shizue watched Severa closely, noting the slight pause in the commander's fingers. "Uriel Septim didn't authorize this deployment for a simple rescue," Shizue said, her hand tightening on her katana's hilt. "If we fall, the next order won't be a rescue team. It will be an airstrike."
"Severa? You seem familiar. You're not an assassin are you?" Tohka asked.
Severa's hand froze entirely over the datapad. For a second, the only sound in the bunker was Tohka's aggressive chewing.
Fern paused her cleaning, her sharp, quiet eyes darting between the commander and the heavy trooper. Shizue's hand shifted subtly, her thumb resting right against the guard of her katana, ready to draw in a fraction of a second.
Severa slowly raised her head. Her expression was an unreadable mask of military discipline, but there was a dangerous, icy stillness in her eyes.
"I am an officer of the Imperial Internal Affairs division, Trooper Yatogami," Severa said, her voice dropping to a smooth, lethal purr. "My job is to eliminate threats to the Empire. Whether those threats are external cells, failed experiments, or... loose lips within my own ranks." She leaned over the table, placing her hands flat on the steel surface, her gaze locking onto Tohka. "If I were an assassin, you wouldn't be sitting there eating bread. You would have choked on it ten minutes ago. Focus on the mission, not my resume."
Tohka swallowed her bread with a loud gulp, blinking, entirely unfazed by the threat but suddenly much more alert.
"She's deflecting," Fern observed softly, sliding a fresh magazine into her rifle with a metallic *clack*. "Which means she either was one, or still is."
"It doesn't matter," Shizue cut in, her voice grounding the tension in the room. She stood up, checking the straps on her tactical vest. "Assassin or commander, she's the one with the map, and we're the ones going into the dark. Let's just make sure we all come back in one piece to ask questions later."
Late at night:
The harsh fluorescent lights of the barracks were dimmed, casting long, stark shadows across the concrete walls. Tohka lay on her narrow military cot, still wearing her tactical pants and undershirt. The room was silent save for the soft, steady breathing of Fern across the room, who was sleeping with her rifle propped within arm's reach.
Tohka rolled onto her side, holding her phone up. The screen glowed, illuminating her face as the call connected. "Shido!" Tohka whispered urgently, her face instantly brightening up despite the heavy bags under her eyes. She kept her voice low to avoid waking the others.
On the screen, a familiar, warm room appeared. Shido Itsuka looked tired but relieved, rubbing his eyes as he smiled back at her. *"Tohka! You called. I was waiting up. How are things at the staging base?"*
"It's... cold," Tohka admitted, her usual boisterous energy muted by the reality of the mission. She hugged her pillow tightly to her chest. "The food is terrible, Shido. It tastes like cardboard. Not like your cooking at all. I miss your kinako bread so much."
Shido chuckled softly on the other end, his expression turning gentle. "I'll make you a giant batch the second you get home, I promise. But you look worried. Is everything okay with the squad?"
Tohka's smile faded a bit. She glanced over her shoulder toward the door, thinking of Severa Magia. "The girls are good. Shizue is looking out for us, and Fern is... well, Fern is very quiet," Tohka whispered, turning back to the screen. "But our commander, Severa... Shido, my gut feels twisted. She looks at us like we are just bullets to be spent. I asked her if she was an assassin today, and she didn't even deny it. She just threatened me."
Shido's expression tightened with concern. "An assassin? Tohka, listen to me. If you think your commander is dangerous, you stay close to Shizue and Fern. Watch each other's backs. Don't take unnecessary risks just to prove something to her."
"I know," Tohka sighed, her thumb tracing Shido's face on the glass screen. "I just want to get this over with. We go into a place called Oakhaven tomorrow. It's supposed to be empty, but... it feels wrong. I wish you were here."
"I wish I was there too,"nShido said softly, offering her the most reassuring smile he could muster. "But you're the strongest person I know, Tohka. Even without any special powers, you have a good heart and a sharp blade. Just focus on coming back to me. Okay?"
Tohka felt a warmth bloom in her chest, washing away a layer of the dread that had been settling in all day. She nodded vigorously, a small, determined smile returning to her face.
"Un! I promise, Shido. I will cut down whatever is in that village, and I'll come home to you."
"That's my girl. Get some sleep, Tohka. I love you." Shido smiles.
"I love you too, Shido." Tohka reluctantly ended the call. The room plunged back into darkness, but as she clutched the phone to her chest and closed her eyes, the cold weight of the Empire's orders felt just a little bit lighter.
That morning, Tohka, Fern and Shizue get breakfast. The mess hall at morning hours was a bleak expanse of brushed steel and flickering fluorescent tubes. The air smelled strongly of burnt coffee and industrial floor cleaner.
Tohka sat at the end of a long metal table, staring unhappily at her tray. In place of Shido's cooking, she had a mound of lukewarm, pale scrambled eggs, two strips of rubbery bacon, and a dense, dry biscuit that looked like it could double as ballistic armor.
"This is an insult to breakfast," Tohka groaned, poking the biscuit with her fork. It made a dull thud. "How does the Empire expect us to fight if they are trying to defeat our stomachs first?"
Across from her, Fern was eating with agonizing precision. She sliced her eggs into perfect, uniform squares, chewing slowly and methodically. Her sniper rifle was cased and leaning against the bench right next to her knee.
"It has the necessary caloric intake for a forty-eight-hour deployment," Fern said flatly, swallowing before speaking again. "Food is fuel, Tohka. Emotional attachment to flavor is inefficient."
"You're a monster, Fern," Tohka whimpered, though she still shoved half the biscuit into her mouth anyway, chewing with a look of pure betrayal.
Shizue sat beside Fern, sipping a cup of black coffee. She hadn't touched her food. Her gloved fingers traced the rim of her mug, her eyes scanning the mostly empty mess hall. Every few seconds, her gaze flicked back toward the heavy steel doors, half-expecting Severa to walk through them with a fresh set of terrible orders.
"You should eat something, Shizue," Fern noted, not looking up from her plate. "Your blood sugar will drop by the time we hit the drop zone."
"I'll eat a ration pack on the transport," Shizue replied quietly, her voice carrying the weariness of a soldier who had spent too many mornings just like this. She looked over at Tohka, her expression softening slightly. "Did you get ahold of Shido last night?"
Tohka swallowed hard, nodding quickly. "Yes! He said he's going to make a giant batch of kinako bread when I get back." Her bright expression dimmed just a fraction as she leaned across the table, lowering her voice. "He told me to stay close to you two. He thinks my gut is right about Severa."
Fern paused, her fork hovering an inch above her tray. "Commander Magia is a professional. But professionals are loyal to the contract, not the crew. Shido's advice is logical."
"We stick together," Shizue said, her tone leaving no room for argument. She set her coffee down with a deliberate click. "In the village, we move in a tight formation. Fern has overwatch, Tohka takes point with the shield, and I clear the flanks. No matter what Severa tells us to do out there, we don't separate. Understand?"
Tohka nodded fiercely, her grip tightening on her fork. "Understood."
Fern finished her last bite of egg, wiped her mouth with a paper napkin, and stood up, slinging her rifle case onto her shoulder. "The transport leaves in fifteen minutes. Let's go see what the Empire is trying so hard to hide."
"Did you have a talk with Stark, Fern?" Tohka asked.
Fern paused, her hand tightening on her rifle case. "He left a voicemail before we went under radio silence. He told me not to be reckless."
"Did you call him back?" Tohka asked, leaning forward.
"There was no time," Fern replied flatly, though her eyes dropped to the floor for a fraction of a second. "Besides, Stark idles when he's anxious. If I spoke to him, he would have spent an hour whining about the danger instead of sharpening his combat axe."
Shizue smiled faintly into her coffee. "Sounds like he cares."
"He's a coward who worries too much," Fern muttered, turning toward the exit. "Move out. The transport won't wait."
"Shizue? You talked with Rimuru?" Tohka smiled.
Shizue paused, a soft, wistful smile breaking through her usual stoic expression. "I did, yes," Shizue said quietly, looking down at her reflection in the dark coffee. "Rimuru sent a text. He told me to come back safe, and promised that if the Empire's food is too terrible, he'll host a massive feast for us at Tempest when we return." Her smile faded into a look of quiet resolve as she drained the rest of her mug and stood up. "He's always worrying about everyone else. I don't intend to break my promise to him."
"A feast?" Tohka's eyes practically turned into dinner plates. "Now we definitely can't die out there!"
"Priorities, Tohka," Fern sighed, though the corner of her mouth twitched upward as she pushed open the heavy mess hall doors, leading them out into the cold hangar bay.
Shizue and Tohka follow Fern through the halls. "Hey? You think Severa has a lover back home?" Tohka ponders.
"Unlikely," Fern said, her pace never slowing as her combat boots clicked rhythmically against the concrete hallway. "A heart requires a pulse. Commander Magia appears to run entirely on Imperial regulations and cold spite."
Tohka jogged a step to keep up, her heavy gear clanking. "Everyone needs someone, Fern! Even scary commanders. Maybe there's a brooding dark elf or a strict high official waiting for her to come back from a mission."
Shizue let out a dry, quiet chuckle from the rear, her eyes scanning the intersecting corridors. "If Severa does have someone, Tohka, I pity them. Imagine coming home late to a woman who interrogates her own strike team before breakfast."
"She'd probably search their pockets for contraband before saying hello," Fern added, her voice deadpan.
"Ugh, you're right," Tohka shivered, clutching her machete hilt. "That sounds terrifying. Shido is definitely better."
As they rounded the final corner, the heavy steel blast doors of the hangar bay hissed open, cutting their chatter short. The freezing morning air rushed in, carrying the scent of jet fuel and the low, heavy thrum of the armored transport helicopter waiting to take them into the fog. "Let's get a move on, ladies! We'll arrive at sunset." Severa calls out. Severa stood by the transport's open bay door, her silhouette framed by the flashing hangar lights.
Tohka, Fern, and Shizue climbed into the steel interior, strapping themselves into the rugged nylon seats. The heavy blast doors sealed shut, plunging the cabin into a tactical red glow as the rotor engines roared to life, shaking the chassis.
Severa took her seat across from them, racking the slide of her suppressed pistol before securing it in her holster. She looked at the three operatives, her eyes cold. "Check your weapons one last time," Severa said over the comms headset. "Once we cross into the valley, we are entirely on our own."
30 minutes into the flight…. "Commander? You got a lover back home?" Tohka blurs out.
The heavy vibration of the rotor blades filled the red-lit cabin. Severa's eyes slowly drifted up from her datapad, locking onto Tohka with a chilling, vacant stare. Fern stopped adjusting her scope. Shizue braced her hand against the structural frame, waiting for the impact.
"Trooper Yatogami," Severa said, her voice dropping below the engine roar. "The only entity I am intimate with is the Imperial penal code. And if you ask another personal question during a tactical deployment, I will introduce you to the section regarding insubordination at ten thousand feet."
Tohka swallowed hard, shrinking back into her nylon seat and clutching her machete. "Understood, Ma'am."
Severa returned to her screen without another word. Fern leaned over slightly to Tohka, her voice a sharp whisper: "I told you so."
A few hours later…. The red tactical light bathed the cabin in blood-like shadows. The steady drone of the rotors had lulled Fern, Shizue, and Severa into a light sleep. Tohka remained awake, staring restlessly out the small, scratched window at the gathering darkness. A sudden patch of turbulence jolted the chopper.
As the craft tilted, something slipped from the deep inner pocket of Severa's trench coat and hit the grated floor with a dull, heavy thud. Tohka leaned forward, keeping her eyes on the sleeping commander, and carefully picked it up.
It was a jagged, matte-black dagger. The metal was unnaturally cold, absorbing the cabin's red light rather than reflecting it. Etched deeply into the base of the blade was a strange, eerie logo: a stylized, weeping eye bleeding into a crescent moon. It wasn't an Imperial military insignia. It looked ancient, secretive, and entirely wrong.
Severa's eyelids flicked open. Her head snapped straight up, her predatory gaze immediately homing in on Tohka.
In a fraction of a second, Tohka slipped the freezing black blade up her tactical sleeve, pressing it flat against her forearm. She forced her face into a stiff, wide grin, though a bead of sweat rolled down her temple.
Severa's eyes narrowed into slits. She didn't look at her coat; she looked directly into Tohka's eyes, sensing the sudden spike of adrenaline in the cabin. Her hand drifted naturally, almost sub-consciously, toward her inner jacket pocket.
"Is there a problem, Trooper?" Severa asked, her voice dangerously quiet over the thrum of the engine.
Across the cabin, Shizue's eyes opened instantly, alerted by the sudden shift in the air. Fern stirred a moment later, her hand gripping her rifle case before her eyes were even fully open.
"N-No problem, Commander!" Tohka stammered, keeping her arm perfectly rigid so the hidden dagger wouldn't slide out. "Just... more turbulence. It woke you up!"
Severa kept her hand over her jacket for three agonizing seconds. Finally, she withdrew it, leaning back into her seat, though her gaze never left Tohka's face. "Keep your eyes on the window, Yatogami. We're crossing into the valley now."
Shizue looked between Tohka and Severa, her sharp eyes noticing the awkward way Tohka was holding her forearm. Shizue caught Tohka's eye and gave a barely perceptible nod: Wait until we land.
They arrive. The transport helicopter tilted sharply forward, its engines straining as it decelerated. Outside the small, scratched windows, the sky had completely died, replaced by a suffocating, ink-black fog.
The helicopter touched down with a violent, metallic shudder.
The heavy blast doors hissed open, and the freezing, damp air of the mountain valley rushed into the cabin. It carried a sickening, sweet scent, like rotting pine and stagnant water. "Move! Form up on the perimeter!" Severa barked, snapping her headset off and drawing her suppressed tactical pistol in one fluid motion. She vaulted out of the chopper first, disappearing instantly into the swirling gray mist.
Tohka went next, her heavy combat boots hitting the damp mud. She kept her right arm tucked tight against her ribs, the stolen, freezing black dagger still hidden securely up her sleeve. She hoisted her massive breaching shield, her eyes darting frantically into the dark.
Fern and Shizue flanked her instantly. Fern racked the bolt of her sniper rifle, her pale eyes tracking the tree line, while Shizue's hand rested heavily on the hilt of her katana, her posture low and lethal.
Above them, the helicopter's spotlights struggled to pierce the fog, casting eerie, shifting halos over the entrance of Oakhaven. The village gate loomed just fifty yards away, a modern, wrought-iron archway swallowed by vines.
With a deafening roar, the transport lifted off, its sound rapidly fading into the upper atmosphere until there was nothing left but an absolute, terrifying silence.
Severa stood near the archway, her flashlight cutting a tight beam through the mist. She turned back to the three girls, her face illuminated by the harsh white beam. "Welcome to Oakhaven," Severa whispered, her voice chillingly calm. "Keep your weapons ready. From this point on, we don't exist."