Something doesn't feel right.

Things are changing. The feel of the colony is changing. Whether it's this new push for independence that first cropped up with Shadow's secession, and now being felt on other Rim worlds, or something else, I don't know.

Maybe it's the increase in Reaver activity we've seen recently, when we thought cracking their nest out in Beetle's Baily would at least cut down the attacks. I knew that much of their increased aggression and madness was the result of Mindo's experiments, even if I hadn't made it general knowledge. That was a mystery probably left unexplored by the people who were just trying to live day to day in peace. The Reavers had their own agenda, even if they didn't realize they had an agenda outside of finding someone to eat.

The raids were really no worse than usual, and even the Loyalists and warbots had been quiet of late. The only thing I could look at and see change in was the population. We had the usual comings and goings to the colony as we always have, as well as the influx of refugees from Blackburne, and it was changing the dynamic of the colony.

It wasn't bad, it was just different. I could sit in my office and look out over the town and still see the same buildings and mostly the same people that were here when I first arrived. But sometimes it felt like I was looking out over a completely different place. Like my office had been dropped into another reality where things weren't quite how they were supposed to be.

I couldn't place my finger on it and that frustrated me. If I knew anything it was myself, and this vague feeling of 'not right' was very disconcerting. I thought of all the people I'd come to know here. Even the ones who were no longer with us. The ones I liked. Didn't like. Ignored. Loved. Respected. Cherished. All of them.

From the office, I could see it all and was glad my optics were dark.

To control one's self
Is to find internal peace
Dragons never cry