Chapter Text
I slept. Voices echoed in the dark of my dream.
“It is out of the question.” A deep voice said.
“It’s only until we can get them back home. They have nowhere else to go.” A woman’s voice answered.
“Azlan should have considered that before pursing a mission without supervision. He was reckless and now is reaping the consequences of his actions. Perhaps this will teach him to think things through in the future.”
“She saved my son’s life!”
“Your son acted rashly, with disregard to the safety of everyone here. I never thought that you would have been so foolish as to allow it. We know nothing of their motivation, nothing of their character.”
“Then let them prove it.”
“. . . .For your sake, and the sake of his father, I will allow the boy to take the Trials. We will be able to judge his character then. And perhaps if he proves worthy, I will allow her to stay while she recovers. But she will be your responsibility.”
——-
I woke up abed in an unfamiliar place. I sat up slowly. I felt a little groggy, but sitting up didn’t make the room spin, and I didn’t feel feverish anymore. The blanket covering me fell away at my motion, and I looked down at my arm. The angry marks were gone, but the claws had left a set of scars. I assumed I’d have a matched set across my ribs but the garment I’d been dressed in didn’t let me see there.
A new purple alien sat at what served as a desk nearby. She glanced over as I sat up. This one looked more human than catlike, and appeared to be female. Despite the differences in fur, there was a strong resemblance between her and Azlan. I wasn’t familiar with their species so it was difficult for me to judge the exact relationship, but I would hazard a guess they were family.
“Good to see you awake at last,” she said. I recognized her voice from my dream. Had that not been a dream after all?
“Where am I?” I asked.
“My quarters. I can’t tell you more than that, I’m afraid. Be content to know that you’re safe for now.” That sounded a lot like the attitude the man in my dream held. It would seem that was a real conversation I’d overheard. Which meant that these people didn’t trust us.
I flexed my arm. Honestly, l couldn’t blame them, from what little I knew of their enemies.
She walked over and examined my arm with an experienced eye. “This has healed well. How are you feeling?”
“Still a little fuzzy, but otherwise better.”
“That’s to be expected. We kept you sedated while we treated you. You’ve been asleep a few Earth days.”
“Thank you. I am in your debt.” Embarrassment welled up. Ryo and I had made First Contact, and all I’d managed to be was a burden. Not only had I managed to get hurt, but I’d destroyed the device that would have allowed us to go home.
She walked over to the desk and poured out a portion of green liquid into a cup. Then she pulled out a packet from a drawer and mixed a measure of its contents in. “From what I hear, you saved young Azlan’s life. The debt was ours.”
“He helped me. I wasn’t just going to leave him to die at that weird creature’s hands,” I said.
She handed me the cup. “From what I also hear, he burgled your home before the fight started. Yet you still chose to treat him honorably.”
I looked down into the cup without trying to be obvious about it. I didn’t want to be rude to the people who had saved me, but I wasn’t exactly keen on drinking strange liquids, either.
“It was the right thing to do.”
I downed the cup’s contents and made an involuntary face. Void, that stuff was awful. She chuckled at me.
“Regardless, I thank you for looking after him. Azlan means well, but he is still young, and his dedication to the cause sometimes causes him to act, when patience or cooperation would be more prudent.”
I thought of Juni. Would I ever see her again? “I can understand that. Speaking of Azlan. Where is the man he brought here with me?”
“Training,” she said.
“Right then.” I pulled off the blanket and swung my legs out of the bed, determined to join them. If I was going to be stuck with a bunch of rebels in another reality, I had best find a way to get up to speed.
“And where do you think you’re going?” She demanded. I half expected to hear a young lady at the end of the sentence.
“To do some training, myself.” I gestured to my arm. “I clearly could use it.”
I surged to my feet and the edges of my vision started going black. I caught the edge of the bed and managed not to add insult to injury by passing out in front of my benefactor. I stood there, taking deep breaths until my vision cleared. My feet tingled pins and needles.
“I do not think you are ready to train just yet.” There was no sarcasm in her voice, but it still hurt. If there was one thing I hated, it was being useless. I bit my lip to fight back tears of frustration-or at least give them an excuse to exist.
She set her hand on my shoulder in a kind gesture. “I will fetch them.”
I made my way around the room while she was gone, trying to assess how much strength I had lost. Whatever that green drink had been, it was helping me feel better by the minute. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long until I would be back to my normal strength. Unfortunately, if the enemies we had faced in the desert were typical soldiers, I couldn’t afford to be anything but my best to stand a chance.
The door opened while I was attempting to do a set of push-ups. To my surprise, Azlan bounded into the room first, and pulled me up off the floor in a hug. “You’re awake!”
Ryo came in the door while I was still wrapped in awkward enthusiasm. He was dressed in a uniform like Azlan, now, with the dagger he’d kept hidden most of his life strapped proudly to his side. I had to admit, it suited him. This place suited him.
He smiled and Azlan let me go. Ryo stepped forward and pulled me in close. I held him just as firm, my head pressed into his chest. He held me there until I felt wet on the top of my head. “I thought I was going to lose you,” he rasped out.
“You know I’d never leave you without saying goodbye,” I told him, and he crushed me into him.
After a few moments, I wiggled myself free and held him at arm’s length “And what is this? Going and deciding to be a hero without me?”
It was meant to be lighthearted, but pain flashed across Ryo’s face. And then I realized why he had done what he’d done. He really thought I was dying. These people offered him a place, and he jumped on it because he needed something to fill the void my absence left him. I wasn’t sure how that made me feel.
“It does suit you,” I told him sincerely. He smiled at that: that shy, nervous smile that came right from the soul. Then he hugged me again.
——-
Azlan’s mom put me back to bed soon after that, first making me drink another cup of that void-awful concoction. The following day, Azlan and Ryo showed up to take me along with them to train.
At the doorway, Azlan’s mom – who still hadn’t told me her name – stopped me. She pulled out a long strip of dark cloth. A blindfold?
“We gave you aid because of the help you gave my son. But you are not one of us, and cannot have knowledge of this facility. I hope you can understand.”
“But Ryo can?” I demanded. He was dressed as one of them, and certainly wasn’t wearing a blindfold.
“Ryo bears the Blade that once belonged to his father. While you recovered, he took and passed the Trials. He is one of us, now.”
So while I was recuperating, Ryo had undergone some kind of initiation and been accepted. It stung. He had been accepted as a warrior, while I had been useless. Maybe he was right. Maybe he didn’t need me to watch his back. Maybe I’d made a mistake following them.
No, I was going to prove I was just as capable.
“Great. When can I take these Trials?” I said.
She at least had the grace to look apologetic. “You cannot. You are not Galra-born.”
Fantastic. Space racism.
“But do not worry. We have allies among the non-Galra. You will have plenty of opportunity to prove yourself worth of our trust.”
Fine.
At my consent, she wrapped one around my eyes, and the other so I couldn’t hear. I held my hand out, and felt Ryo take it.
“Guess it’s time for you to lead me now,” I said, even though I couldn’t hear his answer.
——-
I spent the next several days in a lesson in humility. I had done well in my hand-to-hand combat training at the Garrison, but it became apparent early on that these Blades were on an entirely different level. The Galra were naturally larger and stronger than I was, and the Blades were intense.
I returned – blindfolded - to Azlan’s mother’s quarters at the end of each training session, covered in cuts in bruises. She would patch me up and feed me more awful green liquid, then give me a few pointers on what had gone wrong with each of the injuries I had sustained. I tried my best to take the advice with an open mind, but my body wasn’t the only part of me taking a beating.
In the evening, Azlan would sneak in gadgets he had been working on, or parts of the Gate he had been meticulously working on rebuilding. He asked me about the Garrison, and I told him stories about the trouble Ryo, Juni, and I had gotten into.
I didn’t see much of Ryo outside training. The Blades had taken a shine to him and vice versa. Apparently his father – fathers? - had been some kind of legend. I didn’t get the full story. Azlan had only been a kit when he’d died, and Azlan’s mom only got a sad smile when I asked, but wouldn’t talk about it.
My best friend’s father had come from another universe and we didn’t talk about it. That hurt more than anything else. But then I remembered how he had reacted to my injuries and thought maybe it was better for there to be more distance between us.
Time passed. I kept going despite my growing feeling of inadequacy, the insult of the blindfold, and the whispers I overhead about ‘the outsider’. In time, I improved. I began to understand my opponents, and even managed to start winning a few of my bouts.
Still, I was never allowed anywhere except the training hall and the Azlan family’s quarters. No one ever told me their name, and my sparring partners never removed their masks. It became clear that while they might come to tolerate me, these people would never accept me. Not truly.
Was this how Ryo felt the entire time at the Garrison? Was that why he didn’t want to go on the Eos? I felt like an ass now for pushing him.
Then one day after a particularly brutal bout partnered with Ryo, an unmasked Galra I hadn’t met before showed up with Azlan’s mom and said, “Kolivan has called for you.”
-----
They brought us to a small room where a holographic map had been set up on some crates. A handful of masked, Blade-bearing ninjas were already there. A couple gave me curious glances. One openly stared at Ryo. An imposing, unmasked Galra I’d not met stood a little apart behind them. He seemed older. His fur seemed faded, despite the vibrant red markings in it. I guessed he was Kolivan.
“Good. Now everyone is here, we can begin,” he said. He walked up to the map, and the others parted for him.
He pressed on the map, and it displayed a small solar system. Markings I couldn’t read identified the planets and satellites. “We have received reports of rift activity near the Imperial work camp on Altizan. The rebel cell in the system reports that prisoners are being taken through a Gate. They have requested assistance to liberate the remainder of the camp.”
He gestured toward me as he said this. He’s passing me off as one of the rebels, I realized. It gave an explanation as to why an outsider was here on the base. I didn’t know whether I was more angry about the lie or impressed by his quick thinking to quiet any protests my presence might have started.
I played along, and gave the group a quick nod. I couldn’t read any reaction from Kolivan, but I thought I caught the ghost of a smile cross the face of Azlan’s mom.
The map’s image changed to show an outpost and what appeared to be a quarry. Markers presumably showing the locations of interest dotted the map in the same alien script as before. One of labeled locations I recognized as a Gate similar to the one we had come through.
“Our operations will be two-fold. One team, led by Krolia, will assist the rebels in the assault and evacuation of the work camp, while another led by Lorak will infiltrate the Gate to determine the nature of the Imperial activity on the other side.”
Azlan’s mom and the other unmasked member gestured acceptance.
“This work will require cooperation with the rebel cell, so we will be sending in some personnel from Krolia’s team early to integrate with them and determine the best course of attack.” He looked straight and Ryo, Azlan and me as he said this.
So not only was he passing me off as one of the rebels, but he was using this as an excuse to get rid of me before anyone started asking questions. That made me angry. Ryo was given the chance to prove himself, but I wasn’t? That was some first-class BS. I met Kolivan’s gaze with a proud stare. I would be glad to be rid of this place with its blindfolds and closed doors.
One of the Blades glanced at me before addressing Kolivan. “How soon are they expecting us to arrive?”
I spoke up, using my best command-voice. “As soon as you can be prepared to leave. There are considerable preparations to do.”
The Blades looked at me, then to Kolivan for confirmation. Kolivan gave me the slightest head tilt. “As she says. The more time we can have our advance team on the ground for this operation, the better. I will contact those selected for the advance team in the morning.”
-----
The other Blades filed out of the room. Kolivan went with them. He didn’t say a word to me, but he did recognize me with another brief head-tilt as he passed. The four of us stayed behind.
No sooner had the door closed, than Azlan whirled on me with his fur standing on end. “WHAT THE QUIZNACK WAS THAT? YOU’RE NOT ONE OF THE REBELS!”
“No, but I’m an outsider, and Kolivan doesn’t want me here. He’s using this operation as an excuse to get rid of me. I just played along to let him save face.” I said, trying my best not to let any bitterness through.
“It was well done,” Krolia said.
“But this isn’t right! They’re our guests. This isn’t their fight!” Azlan said, his tail lashing.
I rubbed at the scars along my ribs. “Isn’t it, though? We’re here, and even if those we fought in the desert were outliers, clearly these Imperial Galra are powerful oppressors. You wouldn’t be so secretive if you didn’t have reason to fear them. It isn’t right to just sit here and do nothing if we can help.”
I still felt guilty about destroying Azlan’s Gate. It wasn’t his fault we were stuck here – it was mine. But I wasn’t going to stay as a prisoner here until someone maybe could get another one running to our home universe. That wasn’t a life I could live.
“Besides, Kolivan said there was a Gate there. You said yourself that rebuilding yours could take phoebs. This might be our best chance to get home.”
Ryo touched Azlan’s shoulder in a big-brother way he’d picked up over the last few weeks. “She’s right. If we can help, we should. And if this can get us home, it’s a chance we should take.”
“Someone should be there to watch your backs,” Azlan insisted.
Krolia smiled thinly. “Well, it’s a good thing that you feel that way, because Kolivan has made it clear that you are in need of working on your team work, and what better way to do that than working with a rebel cell?”
“Mom?”
“I will inform Kolivan that I have my advance team.”