chapter 1

Vance Connel is not a smart man.

In theory, he probably is. Being able to teach yourself basic coding off of youtube tutorials and make a living off of it (provided making video game mods counts for Patreon counts as ‘a living’), that requires a certain level of intelligence, right? Surely that makes him at least decently smart.

In practice, Vance is an idiot who’s bad decisions only drag him further and further into a hole of misery. 15 years of terrible, terrible choices, 10 of which were spent in a crime organization. A fucking gang? Sure he was one of the lowest in the system, but he could’ve died and he was lucky, so goddamn lucky to get out alive. And Dawn? Oh god, Dawn. He totally screwed her over. Dated her for almost three years then got dumped when she found out he had lied about his past. Turns out he’d gotten her pregnant, but at least he agreed to raise their child. Gets a few bonus points for not being a total deadbeat.

All that together formed the conclusion that Vance Connel, in fact, was a fucking idiot.

He contemplated this while floating aimlessly in a zero-gravity chamber of some sort of alien spacecraft.

“How the hell did I end up here…” Vance muttered to himself. The cell was dark, but not pitch black. It was cold, but maybe that was just because he was only wearing shorts and a tank top. The entire cell was empty, save for Vance himself.

At one point, Claude, Vance’s three-year-old son, had been in the cell with him. Vance found those times to be better, as he knew exactly where Claude was. But at some point, the aliens had taken Claude away from Vance to do god knows what with him, causing infinite grief and worry on Vance’s part. Vance would’ve asked the aliens, but he’s pretty sure they don’t speak English.

The aliens themselves- if they are in fact, aliens. They could be angels or vampires or any other paranormal being that preys upon unemployed single fathers- were strange, to say the least. To say the most, they were humanoid in the most not-human way possible. Vance had seen them two times so far, once when they were first abducted, and twice when they took Claude. They were lanky, tall beings, even taller (and lankier) then Vance. And they were all pretty pale. Almost pure white, from what Vance remembered. They all seemed to glow somewhat? And they had these weird metal things on their foreheads. What Vance remembered the most was their piercing, silver eyes. Eyes that saw straight into your soul, which is an ability that these aliens might actually possess.

Time doesn’t seem to pass in space, at least not for Vance. His phone died before Claude was taken away; when he last checked it was 3 am, mountain standard time. He had no idea how long it had been since then. Time and reality seemed to drift away. The aliens had been routinely giving him food- a box of mush that tasted like cardboard but the hours (?) between them drifted from boredom to utter nothingness. So Vance kept himself sane by dwelling on all his past mistakes.

Eventually, the terrifying blandness of being in an alien prison combined with the fact that he probably hadn’t slept in at least 48 hours, Vance drifted off into a dreamless sleep. This state was somewhat blissful, for a moment he could forget he was in this whole alien-abduction endeavor. For a moment, he even thought he had died (the minute he was abducted he was very sure he was going to die on it somehow). He had not.

Vance was woken up by a harsh, cold light to his eyes. Still somewhat unconscious, he couldn’t seem to see anything else.

“It’s another organic,” said a nearby voice. It sounded strangely... human? They were talking in English, but with an accent Vance had never heard.

“Human male by the looks of ‘em.” spoke the person again. “Adult, definitely. I’d say… late twenties, early thirties. Should we load him up with the rest?

“Yeah,” said another voice, from somewhere further away from Vance. “We’ll check his medical state on the ship, the important thing now is to get them all away from this wreck.”

The light shut off, and Vance felt someone touching his shoulder, then his cheek. “Hey. Wake up.” the closer person said.

Vance opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, he couldn’t quite make out the person’s appearance.

“I know you’ve been through a lot.” the person said. “But I need you to trust me and not panic. We’re here to help you, ok?”

“Yeah…” Vance said weakly. Oh god, his voice was shakier than he expected it to be.

“Good.” The person replied. “Now, can you tell me your name?”

chapter 2

Vance was certain he was supposed to be dead.

He wasn’t, but that's besides the point.

He was captured by aliens and stuffed into a cube of darkness, anyone in his poor health would’ve died.

But he wasn’t dead. He had just been captured by other aliens. At least that’s what he thought had happened. He had only a few memories of his rescuers, and they were vague and blurry.

“Hey, I think he’s awake.” Vance heard someone say, jolting him out of semi-consciousness. They were speaking in English, but Vance could tell it wasn’t their native language.

“Really? That’s great.” Replied a voice Vance recognized as the person who rescued him. Their voice was dry and monotone, with a slight accent. Somewhat of a distinct voice, plus it was the only voice Vance had heard in god knows how long.

Vance opened his eyes to two figures looking over him. As his vision focused, he could make out some of the features of each of them. One of them looked like an elf and the other was an emerald green cyclops. Yep, definitely aliens.

“Hi.” The elf said.

“You’re an elf!” Vance shouted, sitting up. He immediately regretted it, his body was apparently still very weak.

“Apithian.” The elf responded. Vance didn’t know what that meant. “And my name is Jita. We found you adrift in a starship.”

Vance glanced around, panicking. He could feel his heart beating faster and faster. “Where the hell am I?”

The cyclops responded. “You’re aboard the Starship Peony, currently stationed in sector J-25. I’m the ship’s captain, Arwin. My team and I found you aboard an abandoned starcraft.”

Vance recognized Arwin’s voice as that of his rescuer. He nodded, still uncomfortable. “I was abducted by aliens….”

“We’re not sure who exactly kidnapped you, or for what purpose, but we can get you back home as soon as you’re in a healthy condition.”

Vance nodded, looking down at his hands. They were pale as ever, probably paler, regarding his circumstances.

The elf (her name was Jita, wasn’t it?) put a hand on Vance’s. “Is there something bothering you?”

Vance nodded. “My son. Is he safe?”

Arwin glanced at Jita, who shrugged.

Jita turned back to Vance. “A…. son?”

Vance nodded, heart rate increasing. “Yes. My son. He was abducted with me, but at one point we were separated from each other. Is he safe?”

Arwin glanced at Jita, then at the floor, then turned to Vance. “I’m sorry,” she said, monotonously, “but there were no other human lifeforms aboard the ship we found. Your son was probably taken with the crew when they abandon-“

“YOU MEAN MY CHILD WAS TAKEN BY ALIENS?!” Vance shouted. His voice faltered in the middle of the sentence, from a lack of speech or nerves, most likely both.

Arwin placed a hand on his shoulder. She felt cold, and seemed strong enough she could break Vance’s arm with her bare hands. “Unfortunately, yes.” She responded. “We’ll do everything we can to get him back. You should rest now.”

As Arwin stepped away from Vance, Jita turned to her.

“What the hell?” Jita whispered, failing at hiding the conversation from Vance. “We can’t just drop everything to help some random dude from earth.”

“It’s a lead, Jita,” Arwin responded through gritted teeth. “This guy wasn’t captured by nothing, whoever wanted him could be a threat.”

Jita nodded. “Suppose you’re right. You should go back to the hangar and examine the ship's remains. Might be something worthwhile there.”

Arwin nodded and walked out of the room. Vance watched her as she left through an automatic door, he noted its location in case he needed to make a quick escape.

“You should rest up,” Jita said, turning to Vance. “I promise, we will find your son”

Vance collapsed back onto the bed, looking up into the fluorescent lights above him.

He did not rest easy.

chapter 3

After a week of recovery, Jita finally cleared Vance ‘healthy enough to not stay in the medbay 24/7’.

Those were not her exact words (Vance is pretty sure there isn’t a 24-hour day cycle in space), yet that was the general gist of it.

Meaning she shoved him out into the hallway and told him, “I don’t need you in the medbay anymore so go explore.”

Vance, donning a brand new t-shirt and sweatpants, found himself in a stark white hallway, much like the medbay itself. On one side of the hall were doors, so sleek they almost blended into the wall itself, labeled with tiny silver plaques with writing in English and two alien scripts, one of which Vance recognized to be ‘standard’. (Jita had been teaching him the basics of the alien world, such as standard, the standard language among the common galactic populous). On the other wall were long windows looking out onto the vastness of space.

Vance caught himself looking out the window, into the void. He could see his reflection in the glass (he needed to shave, but other than that nothing was new), but looked straight through it. Vance focused on the abyss right behind the glass- dead space. It was pitch black, save for a few specks of starlight. Vance put his hand on the glass. It was cold. Huh. So it really was all real.

Or if it was a dream, it was one hell of a hyper-realistic dream.

Every hallway on the starship looked the same, Vance discovered as he wandered. Or rather, the one continuous hallway was so similar it seemed like Vance hadn’t left the area around the infirmary. It seemed most of the doors led to living quarters, as the plaques next to them were inscribed with what Vance thought must be names. Words like ‘Zyxos Julien’ and ‘Sugilite’. Occasionally, Vance would pass a room and hear a conversation from inside it. Some conversations were in English, others in alien languages. Either way, Vance didn’t stop to listen, he did have moral standards, after all, and eavesdropping on aliens went against them. Other than that, the halls were pretty empty.

Vance soon fell into a rhythm, enjoying his solitude as he wandered the empty hallways. This was interrupted when one of the automatic doors opened and another person walked out. She was lanky and tall, a bit taller than Vance, and has a mop of fluffy orange hair on her head. Her skin was a slight blue off white, and she was wearing a black cami and jean shorts. Vance had to take this all in after she collided with him.

“Oh shit sorry.” the person said, helping Vance up. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” She laughed a bit, somewhat awkwardly. “Do I know you?”

Vance smiled awkwardly. “Uh. No. I’m new?” He shrugged, hoping to look a bit less like a human disaster.

The person smiled. “Sweet. I’m Glass”. She extended her hand for Vance to shake.

Vance shook Glass' hand. “Vance.”

Glass smiled again. Vance noticed two of her teeth were sharpened, like fangs (Vance wondered if she were a vampire). “So, where ya from, Vance?” Glass asked.

“Arizona.” He responded, putting his hands in his pockets. “It’s a place on earth.” He hoped Glass knew what earth was.

“Ooo, an earthen.” Glass said, lightly punching Vance on the arm. “We don’t get much of your kind ‘round here. So tell me, what’s it like being human?”

“It’s… eh.” Vance shrugged for the second time in this conversation. “What’s it like being…” He glanced over Glass’ body, realizing he didn’t know what type of alien she was.

Glass laughed and put a hand on Vance’s shoulder. “I’m an aeribisque, dumbass.” Vance didn’t know what that meant. “And for your information, it sucks. Big time.”

“Uh.” Vance said, brushing off Glass’ hand.

“We’re the galaxy’s chosen ‘slave race’, so…. Yeah. I’d go into details but you already seem out of your element as-is.”

Vance didn’t know he looked so awkward.

“Anyways, Vance.” Glass continued. “What brings you to the starship peony?”

“My son and I were abducted by aliens,” Vance explained. “We were separated before I was found by you people.”

Glass seemed a bit startled, she took a step back. “Damn dude. Sorry.” She said. “The good news is, if I know the people in this ship they’re already working on a plan to get your son back.”

Vance smiled. “Thanks- Glass, was it?

Glass nodded. “Yup. Say, whatcha doin’ out here just wandering about?”

“Jita kicked me out of the medbay,” Vance admitted. “Told me to find my way around myself.”

Glass seemed shocked for a moment, then sighed. “Typical Jita. I can give you a proper tour if ya want.”

“That would be much appreciated,” Vance responded

“Sweet!” Glass replied. “Let’s start with where we are now, this is the residential hallway. If you stay here long enough, which you probably will, you’ll get a room. We have a lot of guest spaces specifically designed for newcomers like you.”

Vance nodded as Glass continued. She talked a lot, more than any of the other aliens Vance had met so far. (Jita talked but mostly about things like vitals and medical supplies and her little brother who worked in tech. Arwin didn’t seem to talk much at all.)

“The rooms are pretty small and boring looking but they serve their purpose.” Glass explained as she and Vance walked down the hall. Glass seemed like she could walk faster if she wanted too, but was slowing herself down to match pace with Vance’s leisurely stride.

Glass continued with her tour, explaining to Vance the ins and outs of life on the base. She showcased the living quarters, public space, kitchen (Glass made a point to tell Vance she couldn’t eat and this room was functionally useless to her), atrium (it wasn’t a true atrium, it was like a greenhouse in the middle of space. Glass told Vance that Arwin had it installed after too many people complained off missing actual dirt. It was the only place aboard the starship that seemed almost earthlike, despite having a wide variety of space plants), storage areas (Glass hinted that she had a few stories about the storage room, most likely having little to do with storage and a lot to do with somebody by the name of Astrid), and the hangar bay (it was big, and full of both ships and people. It looked almost out of Star Wars.)

Eventually, Glass and Vance reached what Glass dubbed ‘the most important part of the starship peony’, or the tactical room. Like every other room in the base, it was guarded by a sleek, automatic door.

The tactical room was dark, the only illumination coming from computer screens (which were all around the room) and holographic projections. Unlike most of the other rooms, this one had a few small windows, looking out into space. There was a fairly large crowd gathered around a few tables, all seemed to be nonhuman. Vance was about to make a comment on the lighting when he was interrupted.

“Vance, Glass, thanks for making it.” Arwin’s voice cut through the middle of Vance’s thought. He spun around, and there she was.

Arwin seemed displeased. She continued, her voice stern as ever. “We’ve been waiting for you two.”

chapter 4

The tactical room was abuzz with energy.

And Vance was not ok with it.

Arwin had pulled him and Glass over to a table, where seemingly everyone else was standing, looking at a giant map of space (or maybe something else? It was hard to tell)

And oh, god. Why was Vance panicking over this. It was stupid. But he didn’t know why they were there or what was happening and oh god he’s really in space and-

“Hey, you good?” Glass shoved Vance a bit, most likely to get his attention. “You seem a bit off.”

Vance nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He bluffed.

Glass nodded. She probably saw through Vance’s lies. “Well, any second now Arwin’s gonna start up this meaning, things’ll probably make more sense then.”

As if on cue, Arwin clapped a few times, gaining the room’s attention. “Attention, attention,” She called out, her voice loud, clear and stern. She seemed to radiate a sense of authority over the rest of the people in the room.

Suddenly, the entire room seemed to turn to Vance. He smiled and waved awkwardly. “Hey.”

“He’s from earth,” Arwin continued, “But we found him drifting through space on an abandoned starcraft.”

A strong, tall looking woman standing on the other side of the room made a small gesture with her hand. (She had a neon orange body and long, wavy blonde hair. Vance made note that she could absolutely pummel him if they ever got in a fight.)

“Yes, Astrid?” Arwin made eye contact with the woman, who was apparently called Astrid.

“Could it be the castvernon?” Astrid asked, her voice rough and deep. “I mean, we know they have a habit of random kidnappings.”

Arwin shook her head. “I’m afraid not. There weren’t any recognizable symbols on the craft, especially not any castvernon ones.”

As Arwin continued to explain, Vance turned to Glass. “Hey, what’s a castvernon?” He whispered.

“Rock people.” Glass whispered back, not bothering to make eye contact with Vance. “Lotta people here are castvernon. Arwin, Astrid, Chard.” Glass gestured to the two former people she had mentioned, then two a tall, lean blue person, most likely the latter. “They used to be a giant galactic empire til we killed their leader a few months ago.”

“Ah.” Vance nodded, barely understanding any of that. “So they’re… rocks?”

Glass nodded. “Yeah. Astrid over there’s solid fire opal, Arwin’s emerald, Rachard’s moonstone, etc. They all live pretty long too. ‘S weird.”

Vance nodded, watching Arwin and Astrid talk. The more he watched them, the more he noticed how crystalline they looked- the way the harsh white light bounced off their skin and hair, like a miniature light-show. It really made them seem even more nonhuman than before.

“Were there any symbols at all on the ship?” Another voice (one distinctly male and distinctly metallic) piped in. Vance redirected his attention to its source- a short-ish man with long hair in a ponytail and a body seemingly made of silvery metal.

“And who’s that?” Vance asked Glass again.

“Zy.” Glass responded. “Robot, my best friend, good at stealth shit.”

“Good question,” Arwin responded. She punched a few buttons into a control panel, and the holographic star chart everyone had been staring at was replaced with an image of a simplistic, geometric logo (it consisted of a floating triangle wedged into a different triangle shape). Vance recognized it as the only thing he had to stare it while drifting alone through space.

“Make anything of this?” Arwin asked Zy.

The robot put a hand to his chin, studying the hologram. After a few moments, he shrugged. “Not anything in my database. Though it is remarkably similar to the castvernon logo.”

Astrid nodded, turning from Zy to Arwin. “Could be a subsect of the Empire. We’ve already seen the fallen courts, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more like that out there.”

Arwin shook her head. “No, the structure of the ship wasn’t castvernon at all. Too sleek, too lightweight. I know castvernon ships, and that wasn’t a castvernon ship.”

“If we can’t identify them by their ship, maybe by the people themselves?” Zy turned to Vance and looked him dead in the eyes. “Hey Vance, did you manage to actually see any of your captors? Can you describe them to us?”

Vance pressed a hand to his temple, trying to draw back all the memories he could. “They were….. Tall. And kinda glowed?” He shrugged. “Sorry.”

Zy seemed slightly disappointed. “That doesn’t solve much. Unfortunately for us tall and glowing happen to be some of the most common traits in the galaxy.” He laughed and looked at a few certain people around the room, including Astrid and the person Vance assumed to be ‘Rachard’.

“Which are notable traits of the castvernon.” Astrid hit the table, most likely lightly (she looked like she could flip the entire thing over without a second thought). “We might’ve killed Ikari but there’s still a lot out there.”

“Calm down, Astrid.” Cautioned a voice from the other side of the room. Vance turned and found that it belonged to the blue person he assumed was Rachard. “If Arwin says it’s not a castvernon ship, it’s not a castvernon ship.”

“That’s Rachard.” Glass whispered, confirming Vance’s suspicions. “She’s the oldest person here, like around nine thousand I think, and definitely the coolest.”

“Huh.” Vance responded. For someone supposedly nine thousand, she looked pretty young- around her late thirties, he would say, if she was human.

Rachard continued, not seeming to notice Vance watching her. “Arwin, is there anything else notable about the ship?”

Arwin nodded. “It was a fairly large ship, with many holding cells similar to the one we found Vance in, though all the rest were empty. It was also unarmed, I’d classify it as a mere cargo freighter if the cargo it was holding wasn’t people.”

“Any ships’ logs or other information?”

“Unfortunately, no. The pilot and crew must’ve taken them when they abandoned ship.”

“Where was the ship found?”

Arwin pressed a few more buttons on her control panel, and the hologram of the logo disappeared, the image returning to the star chart. The image zoomed in on a few clusters of dots. Arwin pointed at one of them, “Here. The Lyral system.”

Rachard nodded. “And who controls that system?”

“The State of Lisoire.” Arwin explained. She turned to Zy.

“They’re a neutral power.” Zy stated, accentuating his words with hand gestures. “Not part of the baron but not exactly against them either. Pretty secretive people, too. They don’t even partake in the convention of the planets.”

Rachard paused to think. “Are they secretive enough that they wouldn’t want a mysterious ship flying through their sector,”

“No, they allegedly have blockades all around it.” Zy paused. “Are you saying this might be a Lisoire ship?”

Rachard shrugged. “Could be.”

“Do we have any records of the lisoire being ‘tall and glowing’?” Astrid chimed in.

“No, but we don’t have any physical records of the lisoire anyways so..” Zy shrugged.

“It’s worth a shot.” Arwin stated, gazing at the starchart. “We can arrange a diplomatic meeting with the lisoire and discuss what happened to Vance. After all, most of us are what remains of a galactic power. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

Most of the group nodded uncertainly, Vance included.

“Very well. We’ll discuss the mission itself soon.” Arwin clasped her hands together. “Meeting adjourned.”

chapter 5

Almost a week passed since the tactical meeting, and within that time Vance had almost gotten accustomed to life in space. Jita had assigned him a bedroom somewhat near Glass’s, and he had been spending his days learning the basic structures of the alien world. (His favorite thing he had learned was that Aeribisques were bioluminescent. Glass was very happy to demonstrate this).

Arwin had requested that Vance meet with the rest of the mission crew in the hangar bay for their briefing and takeoff. After wandering around the base, he eventually found it. The hanger was huge- the largest room in the base from what Vance had seen. It was full of starships of every shape, design, and size. It honestly looked straight out of the movies. Vance spotted a small crowd gathered in front of one of the ships- and within that crowd, he spotted Arwin.

Before Vance could reach Arwin to talk to her, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, and then looked up. It was Rachard.

“Hey.” She greeted. She was somewhat intimidating, seeming to loom over Vance and everyone else in the crowd, but her voice remained pleasant and calm. “Vance, right?”

Vance nodded. “Yup. That’s me.”

Rachard nodded. “Great! I mean. Well, it would’ve been kinda awkward if you weren’t- nevermind.” The way she stumbled over her words was jarring- she seemed so dignified, so self-confident at the meeting. “I hope I didn’t scare you. I’ve heard I can be a bit intimidating.”

“No, not at all.” Vance lied. It was obvious, too. God, he’s supposed to be a better liar than this.”

Rachard frowned in response, but only for a moment. Her cheerful demeanor quickly resumed. “So. I’m assuming this is your first time in space?”

“Uh. Yeah.” Vance stated.

“Ah, that’s so exciting! Rachard smiled. “You’re lucky to have Arwin as a pilot too, she’s the best around.”

“Attention, attention,” Arwin’s voice cut through their conversation. Vance turned to face her,

Arwin was wearing a trenchcoat over her normal uniform and an earpiece comlink in her ear. She was also standing on top of a metal crate, making her seem even more dignified and intimidating.

“Everyone seems to be here, so we can start on the briefing.” Arwin’s voice was clear and monotonous, almost harsh. “We are on a diplomatic mission to planet Lyral, which means no violence unless strictly necessary.” Arwin shot a glance at Glass, who Vance just realized was in the crowd with them.

“Hey, hey, I can control myself.” Glass gave Arwin an unconvincing smile. Arwin continued.

“We are going to Lyral to talk with the people of Lisoire about a ship found in their sector. We’re going to have to be as careful as we can, we don’t know what all we’re dealing with. Am I clear?”

The crowd murmured in agreement. Arwin nodded. “Very well. Let’s board the ship and get on with this mission.”

As the crowd slowly moved into the ship, Glass ran up to Vance. “Excited?” She smiled.

“Uh. Kinda?” Vance confessed, “I mean, Arwin was talking about how we don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

“Aw, c’mon.” Glass teased. “We almost never know what we’re dealing with.C’mon, let’s get on the ship already.” She said before dragging Vance to the ship.

The ship was cool, colder than the main base, and the hallways were smaller. There weren’t any windows; the walls were sheets of grey metal. Vance and Glass were the last ones on board, as the doors closed soon after they boarded,

“C’mon, you’ve got to meet the rest of the squad!” Glass said, dragging Vance through the ship’s hallways.

Vance was led to an open room that almost resembled a living room. There were windows (currently closed and blocked by metal curtains), a table, and seats. On those seats were two of the people Vance recognized from the meeting, Astrid and Zy.

As soon as she entered the room, Glass sat down next to Astrid. She beckoned for Vance to follow.

Vance walked into the room, slowly and awkwardly, and sat next to Zy.

“Don’t think we ever formally met.” Zy greeted. “Zyxos Julien, a pleasure to meet you.”

Vance shook Zy’s hand (It was cold and hard, it felt unnatural. “I’m Vance Connel.”

“Nice.” Zy responded with a smile. “That over there’s Astrid, and you already know Glass.”

“Sup.” Astrid greeted. Glass smiled and waved.

“Yeah.” Vance nodded.

Before anyone could continue the conversation, Arwin’s voice came over the intercom. “We’re taking off in thirty seconds.”

“You better hold on” Zy advised.

Vance couldn’t respond before the entire ship lurched forward, causing Vance to fall back into his seat. It only lasted a few moments, though, and soon everything returned to normal, leaving Vance in a state of surprise.

“First takeoff, eh?” Zy asked, playfully teasing Vance.

“Yup.” Vance answered awkwardly. “First trip to space and all.”

“You’re from earth right?” Astrid chimed in. “What’s it like?”

“It’s...alright. Part of it I’m from was pretty dry. Got real hot in the summertime.”

Astrid nodded. “Nice, nice. I’m from Virakusso. Lots of mountains, lots of trees. These other two are from city planets.”

Glass laughed. “Seijano is not my home.”

“So.” Vance answered. “You guys been friends long?”

“Ehhh…” Glass shrugged. “It’s different for all of us. Like, Astrid and I only met when we both joined up here. Zy tried to arrest me a while ago.”

Zy nodded. “That I did.”

“And he and Rachard go way, way back. No one here’s got too many ties to Arwin, though. She and Chard get along pretty well, being both castvernon and all.”

Vance nodded. “Speaking of Rachard, where is she?”

“Up in the cockpit with Arwin. She’s the copilot.” Zy explained. “We all kinda have our roles, I’m the mechanic-slash- tech guy, Astrid’s the muscle, Chard’s the tank, Arwin’s the brains and the pilot, Glass is the stupid stealthy one-”

“Hey! I’m not that dumb!” Glass cut in.

“Anyways, you get my point. All our skills kinda fit together well, one of the reasons we’re the mission team.”

Vance nodded. “Sounds like quite the team.”

The conversation lasted a few hours as the team traveled through space. Vance learned that Astrid was born organic but was turned castvernon in a science experiment she had no say in, that Zy was a manufactured stealth drone built to fight for the Baron (the castvernon’s greatest enemy- a confederation of organic species and allegedly as bad as the castvernon), and that Glass was a slave to a politician she later murdered in cold blood.

Eventually, the ship slowed to a stop. Arwin’s voice came over the intercom again. “Everyone, we’ve arrived in the Lyral system.”

chapter 6

Planet Lyral was blue, wet, and freezing cold. Vance was confronted with all three of these facts as he stepped out of the ship onto what Arwin had called a landing bay. He was instantly hit in a face with a gust of bracing cold wind. The air was dense with water, but it didn’t feel humid, more like a fog, or the moments before it starts to rain.

“You ok?” Glass stepped up from behind Vance, having left the ship shortly after he did.

Vance nodded. “Yeah.” His gaze wandered as he took in his surroundings. They seemed to be in a giant hole in the ground, with walls made of water and glass, like a fancy fountain Vance had seen at an airport one time (he was pretty sure they were called water walls?). Above them was crystal clear, almost white sky, and on the horizon, the peaks of unearthly skyscrapers.

When Vance lowered his gaze, he spotted a small group of people approaching them. As they got closer, Vance soon realized how nonhuman these people were. Instead of being made of organic flesh or even solid rock like the castvernon, the people approaching them seemed to be entirely made of water. It was like they were just vaguely human-shaped blobs of liquid, but blobs of liquid that could move. They glided over the polished floor, and as they got closer, Vance realized their eyes were completely blank, just glowing and blue.

Zy leaned into Vance and spoke in a hushed tone. “Hey, these your guys?”

Vance shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

As soon as the group of the water people arrived in front of the ship the leader (or at least the one in front) spoke. “You must be Castvernon Shuttle A14-C. Welcome to planet Lyral.”

Arwin spoke up, her voice stern. “Thank you for having us. I’m Captain Arwin Emer, and this is my crew.” She gestured to Vance and the rest of the group.

The leader scanned the group. Vance tensed when he met the alien’s cold, blank gaze.

“It’s a pleasure to have you.” The leader turned back to Arwin, their voice calm and emotionless. “While I’m sure you’d like to skip the formalities and get straight to business, The Triumvirate is busy at the moment. We can set you up in one of our guest suites and notify you of when they’ll be able to speak to you.”

Arwin nodded. “That is quite alright. We wouldn’t want to bother them.”

The leader nodded. “Very well, follow me and we’ll get you situated in the guest suite.” With that, the leader and the rest of the water people turned around, beckoning the group to follow.

As the group walked through the hangar bay back to where the water people came from, Arwin struck up a conversation with the leader of the group. Vance absentmindedly listened to them as they walked.

“Excuse me, I never got your name.” Arwin asked.

“You can call me Kairon.” The leader responded.

The group reached a circle hovering about a foot off the ground. As soon as the entire party was on it, the circle floated upwards in a straight line. It was an elevator. A space elevator. There were space elevators back at the base, but they were all like normal elevators. This one was somehow more alien, Vance thought.

As the lift reached the top of the hangar bay, more of the city became visible. It was both majestic and haunting. The buildings were a soft greyish-blue on the white canvas of the sky. As Vance looked around, he realized the city was in fact, built on top of a vast ocean. Returning his gaze to the city, Vance noticed that in the center of the city was a striking, tall spire that pierced through the heavens. Every other building seemed to point towards that one, with the progression of the shortest to tallest buildings leading to it. It was almost like the city was designed to look like a false mountain, with the spire in the center being its peak.

Once the group reached the top of the hangar bay and stepped off the elevator, Kairon turned to face the group. “Welcome to Lyral City, the home and capital of The Republic of The Lisoire.” They gestured to the city behind them. “Now, if you’ll follow me to the skiff, we can get you to the guest suites.”

Kairon gestured to a vehicle on their left. It was shaped like a boat, but hovered a few feet above the ground. It was large, definitely large enough to seat everyone in the group.

As Vance approached and boarded the skiff he discovered that the inside of the boat was completely filled with water. Instead of the normal seats a transportation vehicle would have, the skiff had small benches a few inches under the water line. Vance grimaced and climbed inside.

Zy entered the skiff and sat down next to Vance, he gathered his jacket around him. “Pretty weird, huh? Like a reverse boat.” Zy laughed, and Vance nodded, wishing he had a coat like Zy did. Lyral was a very cold place, and sitting in a pool of water didn’t help.

Kairon boarded the skiff after the group did, the water of their body merging with that of the skiff. The rest of his party stood at each corner of the skiff, like guards watching over the group of passengers. Vance looked around the group. Everyone seemed to be tense except Kairon, who seemed oblivious of the others' discomfort.

A few moments later, the skiff started to move forward, speeding through the city about as fast as a car back on earth. Vance found himself holding on to the bench for life. Strangely, the water around him didn’t seem to move.

As the skiff moved through the city, Kairon spoke, sounding almost like a tour guide. “Here in Lyral City, we pride ourselves in our leaders, the Great Triumvirate. Their wisdom guides our every move, our every choice. You’re quite lucky to be able to meet them.”

“Hmph.” Zy commented quietly. “They can’t be that great. All world leaders are the same- either greedy and selfish, too immature to lead, or completely disillusioned with power.”

Vance nodded in response, watching Arwin and Kairon talk.

“So Lisoire is the species name?” Arwin asked.

Kairon nodded. “It is. You’re a castvernon, correct?”

Arwin tensed but nodded. “I am. Why?”

Kairon clasped their hands together. “Splendid! It’s been a while since we’ve heard from the castvernon, we used to be allies a while ago.”

“Strange. I was pretty high ranking, and I never heard about anything like that. Rachard, do you know anything about this?”

Arwin (and Vance) turned to face Rachard, who was sitting somewhat awkwardly on the other side of the skiff. These seats were clearly not made for someone of her height.

“Uhhh… I don’t think so.” Rachrd paused, looking like she was trying to remember events from a long time ago. “Course I was pretty low rank. I can’t really remember us having any allies back before the war.”

“Oh! I’d doubt you’d know about it,” Kairon piped in, “Our nations’ alliance was broken long before the little… errr… conflict you castvernon were involved in.”

The skiff fell into an awkward silence, the only sound that of the wind passing by. Vance had heard Arwin and Rachard casually bring up The Castvernon War, when he asked Glass about it she had informed him it was, “A big war that happened between the castvernon and some other galactic power they were mad at,” and that, “Arwin and Chard both fought in it and it left them pretty scarred because the castvernon are utter shit at taking care of their soldiers’ mental health, Arwin won’t tell us about any of her experiences but Rachard’s war stories are always a blast if you’re bored.”

After spending a few moments trying to determine how close they were to the center of the city, Vance’s thoughts were interrupted by Kairon’s cheerful, calm voice and the skiff suddenly coming to an abrupt halt.

“Ah, we’re finally here!” Kairon exclaimed as Vance turned to look at the building they had stopped at. (It was pretty tall, meaning they were close to the center of the city, but virtually indistinguishable from every other structure in the city). “Welcome to the guest suites!”

chapter 7

After a rather long and rigorous check-in process and a just as long elevator ride, Vance and the rest of the group were escorted to the guest suites.

The suite itself was very, very large. According to the lisoire that escorted them their, it consisted of a large central sitting room and six individual bedrooms that connected to it. The sitting room itself was circular, just as every other room they had been in so far, and bigger than Vance’s entire apartment. In the center of the room was a small fountain, around it was an array of couches and seats, none of which looked comfortable to sit on. Behind them were doors, presumably leading to the aforementioned bedrooms, if you could even call them doors. They were actually just gaping holes in the walls covered by thin, sheetlike waterfalls.

Upon entering the room, Glass and Zy immediately sat down on the seats. Vance followed, cold and shivering, and soon after the entire group was seated around the fountain save for Rachard, who sat on the floor next to the seat Arwin was on.

“I don’t like it here.” Zy stated, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Way too wet. Plus the people rub me the wrong way.”

“I know right?” Glass piped in. “All that ‘great leaders’ spiel? Was like they were brainwashed.”

“Their eyes freaked me.” Vance added. “Scratch that- all of them freaks me out. Straight nightmare fuel right there.”

Arwin nodded. “They are quite unsettling. I wonder how they function as beings of pure liquid…”

“You think they might be like us castvernon?” Rachard asked. “They had these floating jewel things in their bodies. Could be cores.”

“If there was another type of castvernon, wouldn’t we know about it?” Astrid asked.

Rachard shrugged in response.

“Let’s keep in mind that castvernon authority does have a reputation for lying.” Arwin commented, a tone of bitterness to her voice.

“Uh, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Vance said, “But what do you mean by ‘cores’?”

“A castvernon core is the center of their being and what houses their soul,” Arwin explained. “Mine is my eye, Rachar’s is on her chest, Astrid’s over her stomach. It’s what provides us enough energy to remain functional life forms despite being made of stone.”

“Huh.” Vance replied. “Then wouldn’t it make sense for there to be something like that but for water?”

“It’s a possibility.” Rachard stated. “But all things considered I don’t think their functionality is what we should be concerned with. Zy, Glass? You guys are all modern politics savvy. Know anything about this place or it’s leaders?”

Glass shook her head. “Never even heard of these guys, but I already hate them. Never seen them at any conferences or anything, and they’ve never had a conflict with seijano. Don’t think they’re a part of the baron.”

“They aren’t.” Zy nodded in agreement. “So it’s particularly hard to find any intel on their leaders. They never show up to galactic wide conferences or anything, they don’t even have any imports. Or exports.”

“That’s weird.” Astrid said. “From what I could tell the whole planet is an ocean. Ya think they can really be self sufficient off of sea life?”

“That’s the weird part.” Zy responded. “Based on a bio-scan from a while ago, there’s no organic life anywhere on the planet, just water, rocks and sand. It was, and I quote, ‘a surprise to the research teams to find a fully functioning society of non-organic lifeforms thriving on a barren planet.”

Arwin put her hand to her chin. “Non-organic… well that’s pretty obvious seeing as they’re made of water. Explains why they wouldn’t need any imports too.”