Chapter 3: Yome
Yome Kyun was a Mornan who always gave her 100% in any task she undertook. She was someone who did not seem to understand the concept of moderation, and always wanted to surpass her peers. Which is why she was one of the very few Red Mornans in history to earn a shard before even becoming a Vanguard.
As a Red Mornan, being underestimated was practically inevitable. This was simply how life worked for them, being the weakest members of the most prominent race in the universe.
For civilian Reds, this treatment wasn't entirely negative. They were usually handled more gently than stronger Mornans and other species. But for those like Yome who joined the Renegades, it was a constant obstacle. Only about half of Red recruits ever advanced beyond Sentry rank, with the remainder never progressing past Commander.
Yome had made a promise that she had to keep no matter what, so she did not have any intention of stopping so low in the rankings.
Which is why she always performed the best in every mission when she finally reached the rank of a knight. After about 2 years of distinguished service, she was recommended for the Shard process early by her Vanguard leader. It took weeks of deliberation, but her recommendation was eventually accepted.
Like always, the process of fusing a shard to a Renegade's spinal cord was almost unbearable. The Renegade's willpower and mental strength would determine if the fusion would work, as well as their attunement to the shard, at least in the earlier stages.
Thankfully and to her surprise, her attunement had simply been on another level. She was in the 1% of Renegades that got their ability immediately after the shard fusion was completed. The pain that would have crippled others merely fueled her determination. She went on to complete increasingly dangerous missions with her new abilities before she was finally promoted to the rank of Vanguard, fulfilling the first step of her promise.
She had selected her team from her old friend group of fellow Red Mornans that she bonded with while she was still a sentry, promoting them all to knights.
Everything seemed to be going well for her and her team at the start. That was until she realized that her team was getting sent on more dangerous missions than any she had experienced as a knight.
It was like they were being used as cannon fodder by the jurisdiction she was under, and this infuriated her greatly. The pattern was too consistent to be a coincidence. Red Mornans were expendable renegades in the eyes of command, Sentry or not. This forced her to give more than a hundred percent to make sure her team stayed alive. She was always the first to dive into danger if needed, taking on the deadliest threats herself rather than risking her comrades. Each mission felt harder and more deadlier than the last, which slowly made her despise the renegade higher ups.
Their last mission was particularly vile. They were ordered to eliminate a cult of Reincarnator worshipers who had somehow gotten their hands on renegade technology. Caster, the team's designated pilot and navigator, had almost died in that fight. The pulse blast had caught him off guard, burning through his suit and leaving him with wounds that would take weeks to heal.
The worst part of the mission though, was when she was forced to kill teens that were also members of the cult. The teens didn't have any intention of surrendering, and instead rushed at them with the same fanatical hatred as their elders, weapons raised to kill. Each time she was forced to kill one of them, she felt the guilt eating her up. She finally understood what it meant to be a Renegade, and how much suffering they had to go through to protect the universe.
She had thought that it would be the last dangerous mission that her team would be sent on for a while. She had even filed a formal request for recovery time. Unfortunately for her, she was wrong.
The notification for their next mission arrived before Caster had even left the medical bay.
Today's mission was the worst one yet. Her team had been ordered to head to Terytl-b, a planet that was supposedly wiped out by a Reincarnator, and not just any Reincarnator, but one that could even escape from Sentinels with ease.
According to the documents she had been given, which she made sure to read over a dozen times, their mission was to bring back the lone survivor of the massacre, a Tarokian, at least partly. The documents also said that this person was half HUMAN, which meant that they were related to a Reincarnator. That connection alone was enough to fill Yome with unease.
She had already had her doubts about the reports filled by this Renegade. After all, he was a sentry claiming to have killed a Reincarnator. That was simply impossible, at least to her knowledge. No sentry had ever taken down even the weakest of Reincarnators in recorded history.
Now she also had to worry about the fact that this had a high chance of being a trap that this half-human concocted with the Reincarnator. Despite her abilities, despite her shard, despite everything... her team may very well die today.
She had come up with multiple possible theories for the situation, but her most prominent one was that this Sentry had convinced Ronan to spare him since they were both human, and then proceeded to lie to the Renegades so they would drop their guards and send in a battalion of Vanguard teams to get massacred.
The Renegades were indeed playing it smart by only sending one team in case it was bait. She just wished her team wasn't the one taking that bait. Every instinct she had developed over years of missions screamed that they were walking into a dangerous situation.
There were a few things about this human Renegade in the documents that she did find interesting. Firstly, it was the fact that his father, who was a Reincarnator, was personally imprisoned by the current Emperor himself, the ruler of the universe for the last 10,000 years. Not even the most dangerous criminals in the universe had ever received the Emperor's personal attention before. She wondered what made this Reincarnator so different.
Secondly, it was the fact that according to the file, if what the Sentry reported about Ronan was true... then it wouldn't be his first time killing a Reincarnator.
The implications were staggering. Either the reports were fabricated, or this Sentry was just as dangerous as a Reincarnator.
___________
"Arbus, just Arbus," Arbus replied in a mildly frustrated tone as he stared down the high tech gun the Vanguard Yome had trained on him. If he was a normal sentry, this would have been a perfect time for him to panic. Thankfully he wasn't a normal sentry, even if the Vanguard fired her weapon it wouldn't matter.
After all, he could not die.
"Sentry Arbus of Tarok, identification number uji-23000000, who is responsible for the massacre of Terytl-b?" Yome asked despite already knowing the answer.
When her team had finally reached Terytl-b, she simply could not believe the amount of death they had witnessed in just one sector of the planet. Bodies upon bodies littered every corner of the streets and terrain below. This wasn't even a drop in the bucket compared to the number of lives that had once thrived on this planet.
Ronin had been thorough when massacring this world. He had taken his sweet time before he finally decided to deal with the Renegades stationed here.
The sight of all this had put Yome into a terrible mood. She felt incredibly sad and incredibly angry that innocent lives and her fellow Renegades died like this, by the hands of someone like Ronin—a coward who never fought anyone he could even possibly lose to.
It was extremely easy to remember why she despised Reincarnators. They were heartless creatures that believed other species' lives had no value. They looked at those living in this universe like animals to be slaughtered on a whim.
Which was why she wasn't in the mood to take things easy with an abomination who was either working with Ronin, or not. Either way, it didn't really matter to her.
Arbus at this point was starting to get annoyed again. He had just killed a Reincarnator, something most Renegades never achieve in their lifetime. He knew how much of an achievement it was, and that it was his first true step on his path of vengeance. Despite that, he was being treated as if he was one of the perpetrators, and he did not appreciate it.
He was used to being treated badly by his fellow Renegades who all despised him, but for once, for some reason, he had thought this achievement would make things at least slightly better.
He looked at Yome in annoyance before getting up and replying, "Ronin, the Reincarnator, who I killed."
Yome couldn't care less about his change in attitude, after all she already saw him as a threat. "And where is the corpse of Ronin now?"
Arbus pointed over to a heap of bodies. "Right there."
One of the Knights moved to retrieve the body, but Yome teleported over herself. The body was mangled and bloody, with its skull blown apart, but it was still barely recognizable.
She signaled over to one of her Knights, Bridge, to get some equipment from the ship. They put the body through various tests and scans, while Arbus just went back to sitting in his original position.
After about 30 minutes, everything was confirmed. This was actually the body of Ronin the Reincarnator, and not a fake, unless there was a Reincarnator who could clone people perfectly.
Yome took in the state of the body and wondered how a mere Sentry was able to do something like this to a Reincarnator... twice. Her gaze shifted back to Arbus with less hatred than it had before.
From the state of Ronan's body, it was easy to tell the amount of hatred his killer would have had for him. Her thoughts on Arbus didn't change much, but she decided it wasn't fair to treat him with hostility after confirming everything. If this was a trap, they would have already been killed.
"All clear, the sentry's claims were true. Terytl-b has been wiped out, and Ronan is dead," Yome reported through her secure comm to the Captain overseeing the mission. After inputting a series of confirmation codes, additional Vanguard ships were dispatched, bringing medics and recovery teams to search for any possible survivors and handle the bodies. Considering the amount, it would take quite awhile.
The battalion was stationed near one of the planet's moons, which made it easier for them to reach it quickly.
"We've secured the last surviving Renegade, sir. What are our new orders?" she asked, watching Arbus from the corner of her eye.
"Good work, Vanguard Yome. The other teams can take it from here. As for your squad..." There was a pause on the line. "I'm afraid your mission isn't quite over yet, as much as I'd like to give you the break you asked for. We've received an official message from the Sentinel himself to bring Arbus to him. That's your next mission."
The commander's words stunned Yome. The Sentinel himself? No one below the rank of Commander ever received a direct summons from a Sentinel. Although it only made sense considering the unusual situation this specific Sentry found himself in.
She signaled for her team to usher Arbus into the ship as they prepared for departure.
Yome couldn't tell why yet, but she somehow felt like this event would change things in more ways than one.