about – Mira Solan
Guardians
Rhen Kael: The Boy Who Carried a Sun in His Pocket
Rhen Kael was born in 2,149 on Helion Reach, a hollowed-out asteroid turned maximum-security ark. The Concord called it Rehabilitation Colony 19. The inmates called it the Furnace. Rhen called it Tuesday.
His mother, Sergeant-Major Tira Kael, was the colony’s chief warden. His father, Inmate 447-B, was doing life for “inciting stellar secession” (translation: he’d tried to unionize a mining fleet). Tira kept the man alive out of spite. She kept Rhen alive out of duty. Love was a luxury neither could afford.
At age six, Rhen learned three truths:
1. The sun was a holo-projector bolted to the cavern ceiling.
2. Gravity was a privilege revoked for bad behavior.
3. His father’s smile was the only real light he’d ever own.
The Riot (2,155)
A guard smuggled in a plasma cutter. Inmates took the armory. Tira sealed the lower levels and vented them to space.
– Casualties: 1,200.
– Survivors: 47.
– Rhen’s Age: 6.
He hid in a ventilation shaft with his father’s sun-coin (a polished iridium disk etched with a crude star). When the guards found him, he was burning the coin against his chest to stay warm. The scar is still there: a perfect circle over his heart.
Tira promoted herself to Warden-Commander for “decisive action.” She sent Rhen to the surface academy with a single order: “Be better than both of us.”
Academy Gold (2,156–2,165)
– Callsign: Solburn.
– Specialty: Zero-G infantry tactics; improvised explosives.
– Record: Undefeated in 47 simulated boarding actions.
He kept the sun-coin taped inside his helmet. During live-fire drills, he’d flip it across his knuckles (tick, tick, tick) like a metronome. Instructors hated it. Cadets copied it. The coin became legend.
Age 15 Incident:
A training op went wrong. A cadet panicked, vented the wrong bulkhead. Rhen sealed the breach with his own suit, saving 12 lives. The suit melted to his left arm. The medics grafted synth-skin. He kept the melted visor shard and turned it into a knife.
First Tour (2,166–2,172)
Assigned to Concord Marine Expeditionary Force, 3rd Voidborne.
– Mission: Pacify the Drift Rebellions.
– Kill Count: Classified.
– Regret Count: One.
On Drift-9, he executed a 14-year-old courier carrying surrender terms. The kid’s eyes were the same amber as his father’s. Rhen still sees them when he closes his own.
He requested transfer to the Aetherion and the guardians after reading Elara’s file. Reason: “Need a captain who doesn’t flinch.”
Elara read his. Response: “Need a soldier who still can.”
The Coin’s Secret
The sun-coin isn’t just metal. It’s a micro-beacon. His father embedded a quantum tag before the riot. Every time Rhen flips it, the tag pings a dead frequency. No one’s answered in 19 years. He keeps flipping anyway.
Core Wound
Rhen doesn’t fear dying. He fears being the last light. Every order he follows, every life he takes, is a debt to the 1,200 voices silenced in the Furnace. He’ll burn himself out before he lets anyone else go dark.
Present Day (2,175)
– Age: 26
– Height: 6’2″ in armor
– Eyes: Amber, bloodshot from stims
– Scars:
– Circular burn over heart (sun-coin).
– Synth-skin left arm (Drift-9).
– Knife-slash across throat (training accident he won’t discuss).
– Voice: Gravel and smoke. Laughs like he’s surprised it still works.
He keeps three things in his locker:
1. The sun-coin (now cracked down the middle).
2. The melted visor shard (knife).
3. A holo of Tira in dress blues, saluting a flag that isn’t there. He hacked the file to remove the medals.
Rhen Kael is not a hero. He’s a star dragged through vacuum, still burning because it doesn’t know how to stop.
Popi sends
Links:
Rift Guardians – the first chapter with link to the next and the next and the…