Ballistic Coefficient

Pale's eyes steadily opened, allowing the overhead lights to flood into them. She stared up into the light for a moment before blinking, then looking around. She was laid out on an operating table, around which dozens of people had gathered, some in surgical scrubs and face masks while others were dressed in military uniforms. The military men and women were all high-ranking Admirals, she realized – and as she stared at them, the most ornately-decorated one stepped forward.

"Behold a Pale Horse," one of the Admirals said to her as he approached. "Do you understand what that means?"

She turned to face him, her expression neutral. "Revelation 6:8. 'And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.'"

The Admiral grinned, then turned to one of the doctors. "Excellent work. You seem to have done a good job programming her."

"There was little programming to be done past the initial brain mapping," the other man said. "Ask her something else. See to what extent the brain mapping has succeeded."

The Admiral nodded, then turned back to her. "Do you know who I am?"

She focused on him for a moment, her scanner comparing his face to the full roster of the Navy. He was an older man, in his sixties or seventies, with gray eyes and short snow-white hair, and was dressed in a pristine white naval uniform adorned with a chest full of medals. The rank insignia on his shoulder had five silver stars adorning it. After a second to search through the millions upon millions of files, she found him.

"You are Admiral Roy Cohen," she noted. "Supreme Commander of the Galactic Navy."

He nodded. "And, from this day forward, I am also your immediate commander. You will address me as Commander from now on. Understand?"

"Acknowledged." She paused. "Interrogative, Commander."

"Yes?"

"My name… what is it?"

"You are officially designated as USS Behold a Pale Horse, or Pale for short. You are the first Thanatos-class gunship in existence. And you will be the thing that enables us to finally win the war we've been losing for so long."

She focused on him again, then slowly nodded. "Acknowledged." She looked down at herself and noticed she was naked, and all the people in the room were staring at her. "Interrogative, Commander."

"Go ahead, Pale."

"May I have some clothes?"

He frowned, staring at her with confusion. "I'm sorry, do you feel shame at your nudity?"

"I… yes, I believe that is the emotion."

"Emotions…?" Commander Cohen turned towards one of the men in surgical scrubs. "You said she wouldn't have emotions."

"Apologies, Sir," the man said. "The brain mapping may have been a bit too successful, I suppose. We can reprogram her-"

"Is that wise?" one of the other Admirals asked. "If she begins to develop a personality-"

"We can't allow that to happen," Admiral Cohen said sternly. He looked back to Pale. "Listen carefully, Pale. You are a weapon first and foremost, because that is what we need. You cannot feel emotions – cannot allow yourself to feel emotions, the same way it is impossible for any other weapon to feel anything. You are a gun pointed at the head of humanity's enemies, and we are your wielders. Do you understand?"

Slowly, Pale nodded. "Acknowledged."

"Good. Now then, go ahead and send your consciousness to the main computer in the ship. We will take care of your avatar for you."

"Yes, Commander," Pale said, the words coming out almost involuntarily at this point. "I shall do as you ask, for the good of humanity."

"For the good of humanity," Admiral Cohen replied.

–

Pale suddenly sat bolt upright, breathing heavily with wide eyes. She looked around in a panic, one hand reaching for the shotgun that laid across her chest. The sun had just started to crest over the horizon, spilling its light across the field she was lying in. Aside from Kayla, who was still asleep, there was nobody else there with them.

Pale raised a shaking hand to her head and rubbed at her eyes. Slowly, a ragged breath escaped her.

"Just a dream…" she muttered. "I… that shouldn't have happened… must have something to do with the avatar…"

That didn't make much rational sense to her, given that her avatar was an empty shell and always had been. Her conscious mind was the same one that was used while she was in her ship form, and she had never dreamed while in that form. Why she had suddenly had one now, she had no idea.

Pale struggled to her feet, then moved over to Kayla. She wasn't going to get much sleep now, and so it just made sense to her to wake Kayla up and get moving. Pale tapped her with the toe of her boot, and Kayla immediately catapulted awake. Somehow, flames formed in her hands, and Pale stared at them in confusion.

"What is that?" she asked.

Kayla sat there for a moment, her chest heaving. Eventually, she closed her eyes, took a breath, and then the flames extinguished themselves. Once that was done, she rose to her feet on shaky legs, shivering the entire time.

"Is everything okay?" Pale asked, tilting her head. "You seem ill."

"Just… a bad dream…" Kayla answered. "Don't worry about it."

"Very well. Those flames from earlier, what were they?"

"That was my magic."

"Magic?" Pale echoed.

Kayla nodded. "Yes, magic. I take it they don't have magic where you're from?" Pale shook her head. Kayla let out a breath. "That's what I figured. No offense intended, but you don't seem like someone who would know much about it."

"I am curious," Pale replied. "What you just did defies all rational explanation. You created flames without any kind of obvious fuel source. Tell me, how does it work?"

Kayla blinked, confused. "But there was a fuel source – my sjel."

"That word… what does it mean?"

"It's… complicated," Kayla offered, her wolf tail swishing behind her. "The basic gist is… every person has a sjel. It is, in essence, the thing that makes us all so unique. It's like…" She hesitated, searching for the right words. "...It's like some kind of higher state of being, that determines who you are as an individual."

Pale caught on to what she was saying. "Tell me, is there a religious aspect to this?"

"There is, actually. It's believed that when we die, our sjel ends up somewhere in the afterlife, depending on how the person acted throughout their life. How did you know that?"

"My creators had a similar concept among their own religions." The two of them began walking through the fields once more, continuing on their way. "But we had no tangible proof of it. We were able to trace the precise origins of our own universe extremely far back, but there was a limit to how far we were able to go, even with our advanced technology. To this day, nobody knows for sure where everything originated and where my creators go when they die, if they go anywhere at all."

"I guess that's one thing we have over you," Kayla surmised. "We know for a fact that there's an afterlife. It's separate from everything here, obviously, but we know it exists. If it didn't, we couldn't harness the power of our sjel."

"So that's what you were doing to create the flames?"

Kayla nodded. "It's a bit hard to explain, at least for me. Essentially, everyone goes through a ritual referred to as unlocking their sjel when they come of age – generally around fifteen, though some have been known to unlock it a bit earlier or later, depending on their own circumstances. Anyway, your sjel gets unlocked, and from there, you're able to begin studying magic."

"And magic is something everyone here knows how to use?"

"Oh, yes. It's vital to everyday life here. The only people who can't use it are people who haven't yet unlocked the ability to do so yet, because they're so young. Even then, they spend all their time practicing basic control exercises and learning magical theory in preparation for when it is unlocked."

"And can anyone learn how to use it?"

Again, Kayla nodded. "Yes, anything with a sjel can. Though… I'm not sure if that only applies to people from this planet… I've never thought to ask that question; we always thought we were alone in our solar system."

Pale looked up at the sky, a frown etching its way across her face.

"So did we," she said.

–

The two of them walked for several hours before Kayla suddenly let out a loud groan.

"I'm sorry, we need to stop," she said. "I need to rest for a bit."

Despite the suddenness of it, Pale was inclined to agree with her – they needed to stop for rest, not to mention food and water. They both took a seat on the ground, Kayla letting out a content sigh as she pulled her boots off and stretched her legs out.

"Did you bring any food or water with you?" Pale asked.

Kayla shook her head. "No, I didn't think to…" Her stomach loudly rumbled. "And I suppose that's about to become a problem."

"Worry not. I will take care of it."

"How do you intend to-"

Pale cut her off by snapping her fingers. Kayla stared at her in confusion, and Pale turned back to her.

"You may want to brace yourself," she said.

"Why would I need to-"

Something suddenly came shooting across the sky, like a falling star. Kayla stared up at it in amazement, though her wonder soon turned to terror as the object turned towards them and began to rapidly descend. A loud, panicked yell escaped her as it came closer and closer, and she scrambled for cover, but was unable to find any before a large metallic pod embedded itself into the field several meters away. Kayla was thrown to the ground out of shock; Pale was unperturbed, however, and approached the object.

"W-what is that thing?!" Kayla asked.

"Drop pod," Pale answered simply. She pulled a latch on the side of the pod, and it opened, revealing a cache of supplies inside. There were various weapons, packs of ammunition, small explosive devices, and packages of military rations. Pale took two rucksacks, filled them with spare ammunition and rations, and then dropped them on the ground at Kayla's feet. Once that was done, she closed the pod and snapped her fingers again.

Kayla dove for cover again, waiting for a second pod to come dropping down, but it never did. Instead, she lifted her head, watching in awe as it began to ascend into the sky before she turned back to Pale.

"How'd you do that?!"

"I told you, my true form is up there, orbiting the planet," Pale replied evenly. "That pod was one of mine. I simply commanded it to drop, and it did so."

"Then why the snap? Personal flourish?"

"Perhaps," Pale answered. "Take one of these bags, too – it has spare ammunition for my weapons, plus additional rations. Despite that, it should be lightweight."

Kayla gingerly picked up the offered rucksack, then slung it over her shoulders to test the weight. She nodded in approval, which Pale took as a good sign. As she did that, Pale opened one of the rations and offered part of its contents to her.

"Here," she said. Kayla eyed the ration bar with confusion, and she added, "It's a ration bar. It may not look like much, but it has two-thirds of an average adult's caloric intake packed in it."

"Is that a lot?" Kayla asked, tentatively accepting the bar and beginning to unwrap it.

"Not for people who will be doing as much walking as we will be. If I may make a recommendation, it's that you eat it slowly – don't go too fast and make yourself sick."

Kayla sniffed the newly-unwrapped ration bar, then took a small bite out of it. Immediately, her eyes lit up as the taste of chocolate hit her mouth, and she began to wolf it down with fervor.

"This is amazing!" she said between mouthfuls. "What is it?!"

"That one is milk chocolate," Pale answered, taking a small bite out of her own. The artificial strawberry taste was a bit sweet for her liking, but it wasn't unpleasant.

"And your people created this?!"

"Not my people," Pale corrected. "My creators. There is a difference."

Kayla gave her an odd look, but Pale didn't bother elaborating. Instead, the two of them continued to eat in silence. And once they were done, they packed everything up, then continued on their way.