Meri Vale
Character
The ruins of Balmorra bore little resemblance to the ancient, hushed temples Meri usually frequented. There was no sense of quiet reverence buried beneath the collapse here, nor were there any carefully carved stones softened by centuries of weathering. Instead, the wreckage felt harsher and somehow younger, despite the layers of destruction. Metal and ferrocrete sprawled across the landscape in fractured scars, the remnants of wars too massive for the planet to ever fully survive. Half-collapsed bunkers sank into the earth beside the rusting skeletons of factories, while old artillery emplacements stared blankly over desolate fields where nothing healthy seemed eager to grow.
Yet, even in this industrial graveyard, there were patterns, and that was exactly why she had come.
Meri crouched beside a partially exposed blast door built into the side of a broken structure, her datapad balanced carefully against one knee as its pale blue light flickered across the weathered surface. Although most of the exterior markings had been burned away or stripped for salvage, faint fragments of technical notation still survived beneath the corrosion. Her stylus moved steadily across the screen, copying sections of the damaged script into a reconstruction program.
"Repeated directional notation," she murmured quietly into her recorder. "Likely evacuation routing or restricted personnel guidance. The structural reinforcement around the lower hinges suggests this level remained important even after the surface sustained heavy damage."
The fact that the deeper sections of the complex had not fully collapsed was enough to hold her interest. While most scavengers focused their efforts on weapon caches or salvageable machinery, Meri's attention lingered on the architecture itself. This blast door was too thick for ordinary storage and too deliberately hidden beneath the surrounding debris to be accidental; someone had clearly intended for whatever lay below to survive a bombardment, which usually meant one thing: information.
The wind shifted through the shattered remains of the structure, carrying dust and the distant, metallic groan of stressed beams from somewhere deeper in the ruins. Meri barely noticed the sound, her focus remaining fixed on the damaged symbols near the access panel as she worked through possible translations piece by piece.
Then, she paused.
It wasn't the ruins that caught her attention this time, but a subtle, measured movement. Different enough from the natural settling of the complex to be immediately distinct. Meri straightened slightly from her crouched position, one hand instinctively closing around the edge of her datapad while her gray eyes lifted toward the source of the noise. Though her posture tightened with caution, she did not retreat; people came to Balmorra for many reasons, and while not all of them were safe, her curiosity held her firmly in place.
"…someone else is here," she said softly, the words meant more for herself than any listener.
The structure fell quiet once more as the wind slipped through the fractured metal beams overhead. Meri remained kneeling near the blast door, waiting to see who else had chosen to wander through the buried remains beneath Balmorra's scarred surface.
Novac Lyrikal
Yet, even in this industrial graveyard, there were patterns, and that was exactly why she had come.
Meri crouched beside a partially exposed blast door built into the side of a broken structure, her datapad balanced carefully against one knee as its pale blue light flickered across the weathered surface. Although most of the exterior markings had been burned away or stripped for salvage, faint fragments of technical notation still survived beneath the corrosion. Her stylus moved steadily across the screen, copying sections of the damaged script into a reconstruction program.
"Repeated directional notation," she murmured quietly into her recorder. "Likely evacuation routing or restricted personnel guidance. The structural reinforcement around the lower hinges suggests this level remained important even after the surface sustained heavy damage."
The fact that the deeper sections of the complex had not fully collapsed was enough to hold her interest. While most scavengers focused their efforts on weapon caches or salvageable machinery, Meri's attention lingered on the architecture itself. This blast door was too thick for ordinary storage and too deliberately hidden beneath the surrounding debris to be accidental; someone had clearly intended for whatever lay below to survive a bombardment, which usually meant one thing: information.
The wind shifted through the shattered remains of the structure, carrying dust and the distant, metallic groan of stressed beams from somewhere deeper in the ruins. Meri barely noticed the sound, her focus remaining fixed on the damaged symbols near the access panel as she worked through possible translations piece by piece.
Then, she paused.
It wasn't the ruins that caught her attention this time, but a subtle, measured movement. Different enough from the natural settling of the complex to be immediately distinct. Meri straightened slightly from her crouched position, one hand instinctively closing around the edge of her datapad while her gray eyes lifted toward the source of the noise. Though her posture tightened with caution, she did not retreat; people came to Balmorra for many reasons, and while not all of them were safe, her curiosity held her firmly in place.
"…someone else is here," she said softly, the words meant more for herself than any listener.
The structure fell quiet once more as the wind slipped through the fractured metal beams overhead. Meri remained kneeling near the blast door, waiting to see who else had chosen to wander through the buried remains beneath Balmorra's scarred surface.
Novac Lyrikal
