*X5-087

     “  just  like  old  times,  huh ?  ”    nate grinned, the lethal kind, the sharp as wolf’s teeth kind, a reminder of what always lurked beneath the surface kind. nate had never been the best that manticore had to offer, but he had always been a good soldier. good and consistent and even now, with manticore long since burned to the ground, whenever he held a gun, whenever he did a job, that same efficiency that he had applied to manticore, peeked out and bared it’s sharpened teeth to the world.

conflict was where nate thrived. he enjoyed the luxuries, enjoyed the peace and the quiet and the leisure that came with a life outside of manticore but it was always only a visit. inevitably, nate found his way back to conflict. whether it was knocking heads for the neighborhood gangs, or being hired as a bodyguard for some local bigwig, nate was rarely far from trouble. it was however, rare that he find himself side-by-side with selene, neck deep in that trouble but it was familiar, and nate would have been lying if he had said that he didn’t miss it.

Saksa was a Trikru elder who resided in Polis, she was a renown warrior and an expert commander of her forces who saw more victories than any other leading general in their clans history. She became such a fearsome force on the battlefield that several clans came together to plot against her and Saksa was ambushed while sleeping within her own home. Despite being outnumbered and weaponless, Saksa killed all of her assailants save for one, whom she captured in order to gain information and names of their co-conspirators. However, her victory came at a cost as Saksa was grievously wounded, impaled by an enemies battleaxe and was forced into early retirement.

Saksa’s spine had been shattered but with aid from several fisa she was able to stand and walk again, though it caused her immense and near blinding pain to do so. Due to Saksa’s experience and clear strategic ability in battle, she was given a place at the side of the Commander as a war chief and adviser. Saksa served beside six Commanders since her removal from the front lines, she struggles in her early years of her role as she hated not being able to fight alongside the men and women that she was sending out onto the battlefield but garnered the respect and admiration of many generations of warriors. Especially when she answered dueling challenges and bested her opponents irregardless of her crippling and still existing injuries.

Saksa retired from her role shortly after Titus became the new Fleimkepa and watched the ascension of three more Commanders from the sidelines before Leksa won her Conclave. Saksa would spend the next six years in her retirement working with children and passing on the histories of their clan, training new generations of strategic war minds and retained the respect of her battle hardened comrades still.

Saksa was sixty seven when she entered the Second Dawn Bunker, chosen as Trikru’s historian and chronicle so as to remember all that Trikru had survived, suffered and memorialized so as to pass her knowledge on to the other survivors of their people. Nate would encounter Saksa for the first time in person while residing within the Second Dawn Bunker, having only ever heard about her. As an elder, many of Trikru’s survivors looked to her for guidance, Nate included, during the Dark year, Saksa took the place of an unruly but inexperienced young man in the arena after he had picked a fight with another clansmember.

Saksa, having defeated her enemy while in the ring spared their life and instead, severed her own arm. She raised her own amputated limb up and said, “If it is meat you need, take mine. It’s tough and bitter but will last longer than this mewling wimp.”. Those still surviving Trikru rallied and with them, many of the other clansmen did too. Saksa’s injuries were tended to by Dr. Griffin and she became a passive leader and guide among the people of the bunker. Her act of sacrificing her own limbs to feed the hungry compelled several of the elder survivors to do the same. Some of the young also showed immense desire to do the same but most were convinced not to, as they were young and they would be needed when they would eventually leave the Bunker.

Nate spent a lot of his time with Saksa after that. He became her primary caregiver, working with her, helping the other amputees and working as their frontmen when conflicts or hostilities arose. Nate would take a more direct leadership role, becoming a spokesman and voice of the people as it was to Blodreina and her advisers. Nate earned the support and loyalty of many clansmen within the Bunker, most of them Trikru but there were some from other clans as well, even some Skaikru, due to his willingness to help them with their needs, whatever they were, and in his ability to care for their elders.