Oaths in Vacuum

Script

INT. ORBITAL MUSTER HALL - “DAWN” (ARTIFICIAL)

A cathedral of steel ribs and hanging banners—HOUSE SIGILS stitched beside LEGION BLANKS. Recruits in mismatched armor stand in uneasy blocks, eyes cutting across old enemies.

At the far end: the IRON PSALTER CORE, a black obelisk veined with dim light. Servo-arms hold a spiked stylus above a strip of metal ribbon.

LEGATE SERA KEST (30s, hard-edged) steps onto a raised dais. Her voice carries without strain.

SERA KEST  
You are not here as House Vale, House Brenn, or gutter-born debt levy. You are here because the corridor opened—and the Empire decided bodies are cheaper than time.

A few recruits bristle. A VALE NOBLE RECRUIT lifts his chin.

VALE NOBLE RECRUIT  
My oath is to my House.

Kest walks to the edge of the dais. Close enough to be personal.

SERA KEST  
Then keep it. Quietly.  
(beat)  
But your orders will come from me.

She turns—gestures to the obelisk.

SERA KEST (CONT’D)  
This is the Iron Psalter. It does not care who raised you. It records what you do.

A HUM builds. The stylus taps—tiny, precise—like a heartbeat.

DR. IVO RELLAN (40s, skeptical, in a plain flight coat) watches from the side, uneasy. TRIBUNE JANNIK COR (30s, sharp-eyed) stands near a portable muster console, scanning faces and numbers.

Kest signals. Two ARMORED TECHS bring forward the first recruit.

INT. ORBITAL MUSTER HALL - CONTINUOUS

The recruit places a bare hand on a cold contact plate at the Psalter’s base. The obelisk reads—light crawls up its veins.

PSALTER (V.O.)  
RECRUIT ID CONFIRMED.  
OATH CHANNEL: ACTIVE.

Kest produces a narrow iron ring—unfinished, utilitarian. She snaps it around the recruit’s wrist with a click.

SERA KEST  
Speak.

RECRUIT  
I obey the Legion’s chain. I keep station. I hold—until relieved or dead.

The stylus bites the metal ribbon. A line engraves with a metallic SHRIEK.

PSALTER (V.O.)  
OATH RECORDED.  
CASUALTY LEDGER: PRIMED.

A ripple moves through the ranks—fear disguised as pride.

K