I stood at his side, our softly glowing eyes of starlit sea and darkling ebony peering out into the vastness beyond. This ragged vessel, this frail construct that drifted like a corpse lain upon bloodied waters, was to our eyes a beacon of undying hope.

"Will it be enough?" I whispered, realizing only now that my voice had dwindled and all but fled.

"Not without an army." He turned to me, searching my face earnestly as if he could peer through alloy and wire to the Operator beyond. "And that is where you are needed."

I nodded. "Of late, I have ventured out infrequently. While our skills are slow to diminish, I all the same warn you that I am far less than prolific."


"You do not need to be. Show our acolytes the way, teach them from where Specters can be salvaged, and you will have done all I require."


"You mean rescue missions?" I asked, confused. "The Lotus herself awards us those Specters; more difficult missions equate greater reward, can you not spare the mere moment it would take to inform our acolytes?"


"No." He turned back to the viewport, his arms crossed behind his back. "What I ask seems meaningless, yet rest assured that deeper purpose drives it. I wish you to meet our fellows, and prove to them that you are of like mind." His voice cracked slightly. "And when the time comes, mourn them as only a comrade can."