"I mean, maybe? I don't know, I've been having trouble getting a read on their friendship or whatever that is over the last day or two." Ronnie responded quietly.
(Your call, are they together?)
……………
Romulus shrugged. "I did, but… it's just the stars." He glanced at her, noting how she'd lit up. "Though I haven't been in a while. Maybe it'll look different with someone else enjoying it." He stood, collecting their dishes in his tray. "Shall we?"
(( Hmm, sure. Why not xD ))
“Friendship.” Arriss smiled faintly at the term. “Oh, I think we both know their relationship is more than a—“
The door swung open, and Conner was standing on the other side. At first, it wasn’t clear if he had listened in on their conversation, but from his neutral expression, Arriss determined that he likely hadn’t heard much of it.
“Look who finally decided to stop by.” Conner grinned at them. “Get me any food from the commons area?”
She nodded, standing up along with him. He didn’t seem to like the planetarium much, but he still seemed to want to go with her. It made her feel a way she couldn’t explain, but she tried to ignore the feeling as they threw away their food and headed up to the planetarium.
The room, like usual, was completely empty. It looked like no one had been there for ages. But, once Mercy located the level to turn the room on, it immediately came to life. Detailed holographic images of planets floated throughout the room, and images of stars and galaxies were on the ceiling and floor.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Ronnie had started to shrug, when Connor opened the door. "No, no food for you. You'll have to get your own, you dork." He shook his head at the incorrigible joker.
Valiel was sitting in the middle of the floor, and waved at them. "Come on in! Connor was just telling me about the meeting earlier."
Ronnie gave Connor a questioning look. Have you told her yet? He was worried about how she would react to being left behind.
……..
Romulus followed her, and had to smile at her expression once they reached the room and had it running.
"Yes, but… we live in space. Doesn't this ever get old to you?"
It had to him, but… Romulus was jaded, and that was the difference.
Conner noticed Ronnie’s expression and frowned, shaking his head ever so slightly. He knew that they needed to tell her as a team, and he was still worried about leaving her behind on a spacecraft full of people he barely trusted.
Arriss noticed the silent conversation going on between the two of them, and she let out a sigh as she turned towards Valiel. “Yeah, it was… quite the interesting meeting.” She looked over at her boyfriend. “I think we have something to tell you.”
“Pssh, of course not. We’ve only seen so much of the galaxy, Romulus. There’s still so much we have to explore.” She sat down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t think it’ll ever get old. At least for me.”
(whoa. how has it been a week since I answered you? I'm sorry about that)
Valiel smiled brightly at them. "Yeah, Connor was telling me about the trip to Earth, and then forming a crew. I figured they wanted to see if you all could work together."
Ronnie nodded at her. "Right. The Commander wants to form a human crew, for various reasons. An exclusively human team, Valiel."
The Skin-changer's face fell slowly, as she realized what he meant. "…..Oh."
…………..
Romulus watched Mercy enjoying the view, and smiled to himself. "I guess my first experiences seeing the stars from space were in war, and… well, that tends to color your view on these things."
(( Haha, you’re all good! ))
Conner and Arriss exchanged looks, not looking happy about the commander’s decision. Plus, it made no sense to them. They had been working with Valiel all this time. They were a team. Why did the commander want to separate Valiel from the rest of their group but place the rest of them together?
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not too keen on this idea,” Conner said after a long moment of silence. “We may have joined the crew, but I still don’t trust them. I don’t want to leave Valiel alone on this ship.”
Arriss sighed. “I’m as ticked about it as you are, but the captain probably wants to pair humans with humans and aliens with aliens.” She sent Valiel a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure it’ll all turn out okay in the end.”
Mercy smile faltered for a moment as she herself remembered her time in the army. She hadn’t exactly wanted to be there, but she had been drafted in the war to fight alongside her brother. While she never had to deal with anything as extreme as Romulus’s time in the war, her memories of the battles were ones she did not look fondly upon.
Eventually, she regained her smile, and she looked back at him before patting the spot beside her on the floor. “Come on, Rom. Sit down. I don’t bite, I swear.”
Ronnie kept his gaze locked on Valiel. He knew some things about Skin-changers in alien culture, and he had to wonder what she was feeling.
"Valiel? You think he's singling you out?"
Valiel swallowed hard, before looking up at Connor and Arriss. "I think he might be."
Ronnie was quiet as he explained. "A lot of alien cultures have taboos on shape-shifting. Makes them all a little suspicious of the Charad-ti. We would call their treatment racism on Earth."
………..
Romulus plopped down next to her heavily, his expression sympathetic. "Sorry. Didn't mean to trigger you, just… explaining why I think that way."
“But what if it’s not just racism?” Conner suggested. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have a hard time trusting these aliens around Valiel. Yeah, they’ve treated us nice so far, but…”
“I agree, but what else are we supposed to do? We’re going to end up being paired together, whether we like it or not, and Valiel won’t be apart of the group.” Arriss frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but…”
“What if we snuck her on the ship?”
“What? Conner, no. That’s incredibly risky.”
“Yeah, and so is leaving her on this ship alone.”
“No, no. Don’t apologize.” She sent him a warm smile before lying back onto the floor. “It’s just… some of my memories of war aren’t great, but I’m recovering.”
She laid there for a long time in silence, staring at the ceiling full of stars. Occasionally she would steal a few glances over at Romulus.
Finally, she spoke up. “I’m so nervous about meeting my family again,” she said softly. “It’s been years, Rom. Years.”
Valiel gave Connor a funny look. "What does 'just racism' mean to you?" She sounded confused.
Ronnie spoke up. "They're racist like some of them have tried to genocide the Charad-ti. I don't know if Muwellorians are that bad, but… the Commander definitely has expressed some dislike for Skin-changers. By the way, if you ever hear 'Skin-thief' used instead, that's a slur. So is 'Hide-hider', or 'Pelt-shifter'. Interesting how they translate to English, but… yeah."
He frowned at Connor. "You don't think they'll know she's there? How do you propose to do that?"
Valiel just looked sad, even the suggestion making her nervous.
………..
"None of your memories of war should be good…" he said quietly. War wasn't something to be remembered fondly. "But I'm glad you're healing."
He glanced over at her, his expression sympathetic. "Yeah? Think they won't like who you've become?" He could understand that worry.
“Look, I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead.” He sat down next to Valiel, slipping his arm around her. “But we can’t just leave her here alone.”
“We have to, Conner,” Arriss told him. “It’s our only option.”
“Then I’ll stay too. She needs someone to keep her company.”
“We need you on the ship.”
“Well, she needs me here,” Conner replied. “I’m sure we could find some way to convince the commander to let me stay on the ship. You never know. They might need a few extra hands controlling the spacecraft.”
“Oh, they’ve always hated the person I’ve become. I know they do.” She sighed and closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to drown out the memories. “I was smart, but a failure in school. I was too busy trying to take care of my four siblings to study. I got drafted out into the war and practically betrayed my country by joining this group.”
Ronnie stayed quiet, thinking. He wasn't sure the Commander would react favorably to Connor trying to put conditions on his service. Even if their contracts had been lax… they were still contracts.
Valiel piped up though. "No, Connor, you can't do that… if you ally with me, they'll see it as a form of insubordination. I'll be fine, the Muwellorians aren't the kind to commit genocide anymore. They were once upon a time, but… with the fall of the Monarchy, things have changed. I'll be ok…"
…….
Romulus nodded slowly. Callisto wasn't totally given to war, and his family hadn't felt the same about his service as it seem Mercy's had.
Earth was just…. the worst, it seemed.
"I'm sure they'll just be glad to know you're alive…"
“Valiel, we don’t know that. Not for certain, anyways,” he replied. “I mean, sure, maybe their species as a whole doesn’t commit genocide anymore, but we don’t know much about this ship or the captain. Besides, they obviously have some sort of prejudice against your kind. That’s bad enough. Who knows what they’ll do while we’re gone?”
While Arriss was against the idea of letting Conner stay, she could help but nod in agreement. “I find it strange that they let Valiel join their ship when they have such a prejudice against her kind. But maybe they’re trying to mend relationships between the species. We don’t know,” Arriss replied. “Conner, I know you’re worried about leaving Valiel, but she’ll be fine. She can handle herself.”
“I know she can, but there’s one of her and hundreds of them. We would be better if we stuck together.”
Arriss let out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, but don’t you understand? That isn’t a possibility. It won’t happen.”
“I hope so…” She broke the tension with a soft laugh as she wiped her teary eyes. “I’m sorry. I should be bringing down the mood so much. I should be happy to have the chance to go home and see my family.”
Valeil gave Connor a long, sad look, almost like she wanted to say something, but couldn't. It wasn't until Arriss spoke, though, that something clicked for Ronnie.
"Why would they let her join… unless they knew they could control her." He looked at Valiel, watching her expression closely. "Did they threaten you, somehow?"
Valiel looked at him, then glanced quickly at Connor again, her eyes beginning to water. "I wasn't supposed to say anything… the Commander said he'd hurt you all if I didn't sign on…"
….
"It's ok not to be excited about it." Romulus said quietly. "I've got mixed feelings myself. But it'll be ok. I'll help you work through anything that comes up." The words were out of his mouth before he'd quite thought them through.
“He’d hurt us?” Conner leaned forward in his seat, his eyes wide. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but this commander is sounding less and less trustworthy. He’s going to do something bad to Valiel once we leave. I just know it.”
Arriss frowned, glancing over at Ronnie. She didn’t say it out loud, but she knew that most of this was her fault. At the time, she was her ship’s leader; she was supposed to make the best decisions for their crew. But yet, she felt like she was failing at her job. She was so eager to get away from this never ending war that she didn’t think about the consequences her choice would have for the rest of the crew.
“I’m not going to say you’re wrong, but we have no choice. We’ve already signed on.” Arriss sighed, rubbing her temples. “What else are we supposed to do?”
Conner shrugged. “Leaving is always an option.”
“They won’t let us leave so easily. There’s hundreds of them and only a few of us. We’ll be killed.”
“Thanks, Ronnie.” She reached over and squeezed her hand, but she quickly realized what she was doing and pulled it away. “You know, you haven’t told me much about your family. What are they like?”
Ronnie thought for a long moment, listening to them talk, before looking directly at Valiel.
"What did he say, exactly?"
Valiel swallowed, and closed her eyes, thinking. "He said if I didn't join, you would all suffer. Specifically 'if you leave, your friends will suffer without you.'" She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Sounds like a threat to me."
Ronnie's eyebrows shot up. "Umm… maybe, but… did he say why we would suffer? As in, did he threaten to be the reason?"
Valiel shook her head slowly. "Not specifically, no…but he didn't have to. I know Muwellorians."
Ronnie glanced at Arriss. "See, to me that just sounds like he was saying we'd miss you if you didn't stay… we'd suffer without you here." He looked at Connor. "Which, to be fair, is true."
……….
Romulus shrugged, smiling slightly as she pulled her hand back. "Oh, just an average Callistoan family. Big. Lots of strong emotions. Haven't seen them in years. Shouldn't be a problem."
Arriss moved closer to Ronnie, slipping her hand into his. It was clear that she was getting more and more anxious about the situation they’d gotten themselves into. Sure, the Muwellorians had been kind to them so far, but Arriss knew that there could be more to their motivations than she thought. Besides, why would the captain let Valiel join, only to separate her from the rest of the team? It just didn’t make sense.
Arriss took in a shaky breath, trying to calm herself. “Ronnie’s probably right. The captain may have just been saying that we would be upset if you left.” Arriss forced a small smile. “I’m sure everything will be fine. We’ll keep in contact with you, and we’ll come back if anything happens.”
Conner frowned, looking away. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea. It’s our only choice.”
Conner turned to her, narrowing his gaze. “A good choice would have been to not join in the first place. We all joined because we were told you had joined, Arriss,” he retorted. “Why would you do that if you didn’t think it was safe?”
Arriss stiffened. “You all could make your own choices. It wasn’t up to me.”
“Yeah, but you were our captain.”
“Big? Huh?” She gave him a nervous smile. “Well, I hope they all like me.”
"Whoa, whoa. Easy there, buddy." Ronnie spoke up as soon as Conner started blaming Arriss. "You and I both made a choice. So did Valiel, even if hers was a little less free. But nobody had to stay. Arriss didn't force anybody, don't blame her." He squeezed Arriss's hand, and pulled her into his shoulder. "Look, we're in this mess together, because we chose to stay that way. Not because anybody made a bad choice. I'm sure if any of us had been given the choice, we wouldn't have chosen to be boarded by vampires, but here we are."
Valiel stepped up next to Conner. "We can only work with the results. Blaming isn't going to fix anything, and besides, if Arriss had said no, who knows what might have happened? They patched up Ronnie and left me alone… it could have been much worse."
…….
Romulus chuckled. "I doubt you'll meet all of them. They're spread out all over the planet, so unless they were all to come to see me in those 2 days, you'll likely just meet my parents and a couple of my younger siblings. And I'm sure they'll like you."
Arriss gave Ronnie a strained smile as he pulled her into him. She moved one of her hands to his knee and gave it a gentle squeeze. Through this whole conversation, she had been trying to convince herself that what Ronnie had said was true; she wasn’t at fault for this, and everyone had been in charge of making their own decisions. While that was true, she still could help but feel a little bit responsible. She was their captain, their leader. They would follow her anywhere, and there was a possibility that she had just gotten them all killed through her decision.
“Besides, I didn’t know they were alien vampires,” Arriss insisted. “If I knew what they were up to, I would have joined them so quickly.”
Conner stiffened for a moment, looking like he was about to start arguing with Arriss again, but he relaxed as Valiel stepped up beside him.
“Yeah, you have a point.” He let out a sigh, shaking his head. “I don’t know what this mission will be, but I have a feeling it won’t be good.”
She smiled and leaned into him slightly, trying her best to relax. “I hope so,” she said softly. “But, even if they don’t, we won’t be on earth for long. Has the commander told you anything about the mission?”
(hey friend, I know I've disappeared. Would you be terribly offended if I officially put this one on hiatus for now? I might come back to it later when I have some better ideas, if you'd still be down for that. No pressure tho)
( That’s totally fine!! I don’t have too many good ideas for it either as I don’t work with sci-fi stories often xD But I’m willing to come back whenever you want to)
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