Shadows and Stardust: A Tale of Ambition & Quest for Recognition

The only place where everyone is equal is the cemetery – Evan Esar

Operation Giga Pudding (D-75 hours)

Sloshing through the soft dirt and stepping on top of the gravestones, Icepick plodded across the muddied cemetery. Occasionally she paused and scanned the area with her golden-brown eyes.

Icepick passed by a knotted tree with brittle dry limbs. She stopped and checked in and around the gravestones. Satisfied the area was clear she moved to the next row.

The air around her popped and fizzled. Behind her, a twig snapped. Icepick spun around.

Estelle greeted her with a hello from the wave of her fingers. In her other hand, she twiddled a coin between her fingertips.

"At last, I have the privilege of meeting the true strategist behind the Queen Pins," Estelle said with a knowing smile, as she flipped the coin from finger to finger. "Although, I must admit, I anticipated someone more imposing."

Icepick narrowed her eyes and moved her hand behind a granite gravestone. Her shadow began to twist its way towards Estelle.

Estelle held the coin up to the sun, catching the light and reflecting it into Icepick’s eyes, distracting her.

“Save the mind worm spell for those of weaker will, Icepick,” Estelle said and waved her hand dismissively in front of her. “Or should I refer to you as Itireae Lyeecia of clan Brightwood?”

Icepick, taken by surprise by hearing Estelle’s words, took a cautious step back. Estelle stuck her nose up and sniffed the air.

"Don’t be alarmed. You and your ilk are easily identified by the scent of either the leather shoes crafted by you craft or the aroma of delicious cookies on your breath," Estelle said, glancing at her coin. "I implore you to spare me the necessity of embarrassing you and the Queen Pins. Convince your leader to surrender the Boardwalk."

Icepick turned to square off against Estelle, her jaw tightened.

“If you think I could possibly be intimidated by the neutered White Witch of the Tower you are sadly mistaken,” Icepick said. “A queen mustn’t concern herself with the taunts of the peasant class.”

Estelle moved further away from the tree and snatched the coin with her other hand. She refused to look back at Icepick, who refused to break eye contact. Estelle cocked her head to the side as she moved the coin faster across her fingertips.

“Brightwoods are renowned for their bluster and little action, well unless there’s twenty of their kin nearby.”

Estelle sniffed the air again.

“No additional extras? I guess it’s you and me here, sapling,” Estelle said and broke off a withered branch.

Icepick gritted her teeth and flicked her wrists.

A long rectangle box, the size of a trombone case, with a chainsaw grip on the front section, appeared in Icepick’s hand. She adjusted her finger on the rear handle.

As she thumbed a switch in the back the mechanisms within whirled by motors. A steel blade extended from the front of the case. The edge of the blade glowed with a sliver of white light.

Estelle flicked the coin toward Icepick which exploded in a shower of silver chaff shaped like butterflies. The flutter of their wings sent light cascading in all directions.

“I wouldn’t advise using the L-Switch Blade's ability,” Estelle said icily. “Its Event Horizon Lock ability won’t be as effective as you think.”

“Shows what you know, lowborn pleb,” Icepick said curling her lip.

Icepick channeled energy from her core to her hands. Along the length of the two-foot blade, a black line appeared sandwiched between bands of white light. A vortex formed around the blade's edge, and a shimmering boundary emerged around the distorted vortex. The air around the blade hissed like steam from a locomotive returning to the station.

Red waves were pulled from the light and stretched into the black line as Icepick pointed the blade toward Estelle. At that moment, the pull from the vortex began to draw Estelle closer. With a subtle flick of her wrist, a single silvery butterfly flew past the event horizon created by the weapon and was sucked into the sliver of a black hole. The sliver closed, and the black line vanished.

Estelle crouched down and smirked. Without a sound, she disappeared.

Icepick searched around, checking behind her. When Estelle reappeared, she had Lost Battalion in her hand and squatted below Icepick.

Seeing her chin exposed, Estelle stood up and slashed the left side of Icepick’s face. The blade struck her cheek and sliced part of her forehead. Shifting her feet for a more stable position, Icepick swung the massive blade, cleaving a nearby gravestone in half. As she brought the blade down for a second swing, Estelle disappeared.

Estelle reappeared behind Icepick and kicked her in the back, sending her falling into the mud.

“As expected from a Brightwood, useless,” Estelle said examining her fingernails. “Were you even a planned birth?”

Icepick clutched her face, pinching the wound closed as blood ran down her hand. She squeezed her skin together, but the bleeding refused to stop. Icepick yanked a yellow topaz necklace from around her neck and tapped on the gem rapidly.

“Just wait till I get my fuckin’ hands around your neck, peasant witch,” Icepick said.

“As much as I assume you enjoy wallowing in the mud, my presence is required elsewhere,” Estelle said as she rifled through the pocket of her trench coat.

Icepick wobbled to her knees.

“You can try to run, but my friends will be here shortly, they're already here and have this place surrounded,” Icepick said while she tapped on the topaz faster. “I will skin that smirk of your filthy…”

Icepick’s voice drowned out as Estelle pulled out the spyglass and aimed it at a black dot in the sky. She saw a blurry zeppelin in the distance. Closing one eye she peered through and fine-tuned the adjustment knob till the Mary Somerville was focused clearly.

“You might think you’re so smart, just wait and see. I’m going to…”

“I bid thee good day,” Estelle said and flicked the black filter down. "See you in hell or on the ground."

After a pop, Estelle disappeared leaving Icepick alone and bleeding in the graveyard.

***

The space on the observation deck sizzled and Estelle materialized back on the zeppelin, Mary Sommerville.

“Welcome back Captain,” Whisper said giving a half salute. “Glad you made it back safely.”

Estelle checked the condition of the spyglass. Apart from surface-level scratches on the wooden handle, the device appeared to be in working order.

“As long as there’s no interference from Upper Management, spyglass jumps are relatively safe.”

“Still, I hope you at least got your point across,” Whisper said.

"The tip and approximately a quarter of the blade," Estelle explained, as she flipped the jump lens back to its safety position and carefully placed rubber caps over it. "Please take us back home. T.C. still has several modifications that must be completed to the Mary before Operation Giga Pudding can commence."

“Aye, aye El’ Capitana,” Whisper said and snapped to attention.

She executed an about-face and walked into the cabin. Whisper plotted a course back toward the airfield and giggled.

"I watched the whole thing, Boss Kitty. I guess T.C.’s X-crush didn’t realize when her weapon tried to lock on to your life signature, the chaff butterfly had a small fraction of your lifeforce too," Whisper said over the roar of the engines. “It’s a hell of an oversight.”

Whisper waited for a response, when none came, she raised her voice and said, “You sure know how to piss people off!”

Estelle, being in no mood to answer, crossed her arms and gazed at the clouds from the observation deck. She began trying to form pictures from the clouds, hoping to distract herself from all the work that still needed to be done before the Boardwalk could be reclaimed.

***