• • Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way
• January 4, 2025

Sunset: Heroes of the Milky Way (Chapter 13)

Clayton Knight  

A New Alliance

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There are some good things and some bad things to the whole, sun form. That’s what I call it anyway. It fuels me with what feels like infinite power, and infinite confidence. I’ll do things and act in a way I most certainly wouldn’t if my brain was solid and not plasma. For instance, I would not have kissed Alloya if I was not… in my sun form, and I definitely would not have said something cheesy like, ‘I’ll thank you properly.’ 

I’ve embarrassed myself to say the least now that we’re flying back to the Noland, powered down. Now here’s the kicker about all this, guess what happens to my clothes because I’m made out of solar energy? It didn’t happen to Alloya’s clothes because cosmic energy doesn’t burn stuff, usually. 

Yep, I now have to fly from one side of the solar system to the other, with the woman I just made out with, completely nude. This would have to be number one on the list of most embarrassing days of my life.

Alloya is trying to keep herself from laughing, which I guess is better than being angry over how I stole a kiss from her. It did take some time to power down from our higher states. It’s much faster to just use up the extra firepower by literally sending blasts into space or by healing ourselves after a fight, but neither would be safe in this solar system. 

After the long… whatever it was we are finally on our way back to the Noland.

When we get back to Apoderus, Alloya senses the trail she had left behind from before, so we follow that back to the Noland installation. When we get there we fly towards the hangar bay where the Rango is. 

Before we go in we look over the escape pods and see that some of them are gone which means some of those shitstains escaped. 

Before go in through the hangar, Alloya grabs me and pulls me up above the door. I get confused and hold my arms in front to signal my confusion. With the gases our forms give off there’s nothing to carry sound. 

So instead of talking, she just smiles again and points down, reminding me of my lack of clothes. I scowl, not at her but at the world, which sparks her silent laughter. She holds up her hand as if telling me to wait so I nod in response. 

Alloya then promptly flies through the hangar door without me. The door is energy sealed so ships can fly in and out without breathable gases being lost.

I wait for her to come back with clothes from the Rango’s Proto-analyzer. It’s like a 3D printer, but can also be used to make utensils, clothes, and if we have ink, to recreate books. I don’t read, but I think starting now and then. 

I then lower myself on top of the hangar entrance and swing my legs as I look out into the darkness. Most people would think this view was amazing, or at least humans would. Maybe even terrifying. 

For me, at this point, I honestly find it boring to look into the dark since I know what’s mainly out here just expanding empty space. You have to find a nebula or an asteroid belt if you want to find a real locale to look at. 

Plus, I don’t need to fear it, if I really needed to see I can be my own light so its not even scary either.

Then she’s back just before I think myself to death. 

Alloya has a copy of my usual and consistent attire of underwear, jeans, shirt, and jacket, nothing special. To the other it may look weird, but it’s pretty generic human wear. It feels nice. 

As I’m putting it on I look over my shoulder to see her watching. This moment reminds of a couple months ago when our roles were reversed. Hopefully, she means it to be as flattering as I meant it to.

When I finish, she’s still smiling and turns back to enter the hangar. I follow her.

When I go through the energy wall it feels like hitting water, but none of the energy sticks to me so I don’t feel wet. It’s… weird.

Yeah, it just weird and I don’t like it.  

Then Alloya lands gracefully to the ground near the Rango and when I land beside her I don’t know what to say. She doesn’t seem mad that I kissed her, even though I probably shouldn’t have. To say any ideas or feelings I had about our relationship, if it could be called that, have left me, well that would be a lie. 

Three months is not long enough for me to get over her, only long enough for me to realize that I feel more than I had thought before. But for Alloya, it was 20 years, and she had a kid. That meant she got over me, if she needed to, and found someone else. Her feelings must have changed, which means even if she isn’t mad I should apologize anyway.

“Captain, listen,” I say awkwardly, trying to not grab and hold the back of my head, it’s this awkward reflex..

“Hmm?” Alloya mumbles as she turns to face me, her face now more relaxed and interested. “What’s wrong? We do have somewhere to be.”

“I have to apologize for before. It was wrong for me to just, you know,” I say with a pause. I wait to see if she was going to make me say it, but when she arches her brow I know I have to . “Kissing you. I shouldn’t have, and even though everything was all… a lot, I’m not going to use that as an excuse.”

Now Alloya smiles more caringly and less… well, she’s not laughing at me with her eyes this time. “Clay it’s fine, you don’t need apologize. I liked it.”

Well, that changes things. I’ll admit though, I’m pretty confused. As we walk, her leading the way, I ask her, “You’re okay with me kissing you? What about Aleti’s father?” 

I had thought I would be getting in between another relationship of hers.

“What about him?” she asks back, as if it were a stupid question. “It was a political thing, and even if it wasn’t, he’s been dead for a long time. As a father, he did a good job, but in every other way… let’s say I didn’t care for him much anyway.” 

Well, sounds like I assumed many of the wrong things, and I can’t be more happy to be wrong.

“Really? I thought I would be getting in between something, which would be last thing I would want to do. If it’s not too… you know, can I ask what happened between you two?” 

Here’s hoping I’m not pushing my luck.

“Well, you wouldn’t be getting in between any romantic relationship even if he were alive, I’ll tell you that,” she says, almost nervously, like there was more to that answer. “To say it’s too personal would be giving it more credit than that situation deserved, and about appropriateness, well, we’ve told each other much worse things. Honestly, I never liked Aleti’s father personally.”

Huh? 

“Then why have a kid with him?”

With an equally confused look, she asks me, “What does liking someone have to do with kids? Reproduction is about continuing the bloodline and improving it with someone’s genes or political power. He had political power, I had the good genes, his were… fine I guess. That’s all there is to it. Is not how Humans do it?” When she asks this we get to the door and are now walking down the hall. I think it leads to Starden’s office. 

I sort of knew something was different about Regarmorphs and their families, but I thought was just something the elite do, not Alloya. Then again, being the Guardian I guess she is an elite. 

Huh, actually she has a military family background too. Why did not think she was like that? But is it even just the rich and elite or is it everyone whose like that?

“I guess some Humans are like that, but eu… eugen… I think it’s called…

“Eugenics?”

“Yeah that, eugenics, that’s something most Humans frown upon. Barring accidents and mistakes, we try to have children with the ones We love and care about, which I guess doesn’t usually improve the family genes.”

Maybe I say that with a sullen voice, because Alloya tries to backtrack. “I don’t mean to say that there’s anything wrong with having children with whom you love, Regamorphs do that sometimes too. Just, why have a kid that could be unhealthier than you are? Don’t you want them to be stronger? Faster? Smarter? It’s how every other animal does, it’s just that since we’re sentient we need an emotional match and a physical match. They’re rarely the same person.”

“I think I can understand that, though I wouldn’t tell any Human. It… it would probably lead to a lot of types of people being bred out of existence.”

“Huh, asides from differences between homworlders and colony planets, I don’t know if Regamorphs have the differences that you’re implying.”

“Yeah… so you liked it when I kissed you?”

Alloya smirks at me, then stops and takes me by the chin in her hand. 

She towers over me as she quickly lifts me to my toes. “Yes, I did,” she says, right before leaning forward to kiss me again. “We can talk about what we were and what we are later though, we still have a job to do. Can you focus on that, Clay?”

I’m to busy smiling to really nod with any sincerity but that works for her. 

I don’t really consider what she means. Before, we were just physical, our parts were compatible, we were a lot closer in age, and there wasn’t really anyone else. I wonder… 

No, that’s for later. We can talk about that later.

Then we start walking again. When we get to what should be Starden’s office this time — as if I know where we’re going — Alloya makes a turn. 

Then as we are walking she asks me nonchalantly, “Now, if you can, could you tell me how you got hurt so bad in the first place?”

Thank god she says that, she reminds me of Chronos, and Aleti. How Aleti stole Sera’s power. Serious in tone, I tell her, “Yeah, actually it’s very important you know. This armored soldier, his suit could-”

“I know of the suits, had to fight some myself. Get to how he hurt you,” she says, trying to move me past common knowledge.

“Okay, but the soldier I fought, when I knocked off his helmet, Aleti said he knew you,” I inform her.

“He knew me? What was his name?”

“Chronos.”

She immediately looks away and growls under her breath. “That asshole. Sorry, he was my handler I guess you could say. He’s the one who watched me to make sure I stayed out of trouble. He must have gotten away too because I didn’t find him. The hole in the wall was probably him taking his drill pod. Wait-

“Chronos beat you?”

“Outsmarted me really,” I try to explain. That fight was not my shining moment. “He was actually really good at hand-to-hand combat, and that suit protected him from most attacks. Being in the installation, as I’m sure you realized, we can’t just go all out. Pulse, with Aleti there, I couldn’t risk blowing a hole in the place.” 

When I say that last part Alloya immediately looks confused. 

She puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me from walking. She looks at me and asks, “What do you mean? You scorched half the room.” Now it’s my turn to be confused.

“Uh, no, I didn’t,” I deny. 

Then I realize that whatever Alloya saw, must have been from Aleti. 

“Wait Captain, I think I know what you’re talking about. During the fight, he held off my physical attacks until I got in close, and I just hammered him. I knocked off his helmet, and then Aleti saw who he was. I got real close to him, wrongly thinking I had him beat already, but he used that time to use whatever cosmic energy he had left over in his suit to blast me in the chest. I was pretty close to him so he wasn’t gonna miss and he put a hole in my chest.”

“Then this is my fault,” Alloya mutters, “all of these soldiers, their weapons and armor, are fueled by energy sources I gave to the Regnorian Republic.” She clenches her fists and looks down at the ground as I lay my own hand on her shoulder. Alloya then shakes her head, forcing herself to stop dwelling. “Now I know that those suits were capable of more than just protection. They didn’t try to use any kind of attack on Hideo or me. Maybe they wasted their batteries.” Then she thinks back to my story and asks, “If that’s when you got injured, where did the giant scorch mark come from?”

“Now, don’t call me crazy, because Sera felt it too. When I went down, it looked bad, especially to Aleti. She’s a nice kid, and I bet she’s never been in a fight, let alone seen someone she knows about to die in one, so when I was bleeding out she ran over to me. Anyone would have been able to tell she was upset, but then Sera couldn’t heal me, because she felt her power being drained in massive amounts by… well… 

“By Aleti.”

Alloya stopped, turned, and stared. I have seen someone look both surprised and unsurprised before. “How would that even be possible?” she asks as her eyes turned away, though, I’m not sure if she was asking me. 

“Well, didn’t you teach me that any member of the Guardian bloodline can develop powers? Is there a rule that a power can’t make one stronger than the Guardians themselves?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Alloya counters. “Not only is the power to take away energy from a demon unheard of, why has it only appeared now?”

I ask Alloya, “Has her life or your life ever been close to ending in her presence before?”

“No,” Alloya admits, “a trigger like that would actually resemble how we could summon our own demon’s energy. You think she thought to defend you? Did you even see her do it?”

“No, I… I passed out when I saw her eyes light up, and then the last thing I heard was her saying she was going to kill Chronos. I bet she blew up half the room and ran Chronos off.”

Alloya smirks a little at that. “And here I thought Aleti would need to be protected all the time.”

Alloya looks a little… too happy about her daughter having super dangerous powers.

“I wouldn’t make any assumptions,” I warn her. “We don’t know if she kept Sera’s power afterwards. Sera had to replace it herself, but that doesn’t mean Aleti didn’t let it go.”

“That’s a good point. For now this stays between us, and if Aleti doesn’t remember, don’t tell her,” she orders me. “I’ll figure that out later when we’re not on Noland anymore. No need to worry anyone here, I’m sure they’ve been through enough.”

“Understood,” I agree.

Alloya then adds, “Also, we’re also going back to sparring later.”

“Why?” 

This is because I lost the fight, isn’t it?

“So you don’t get beat second time.” 

I knew it. 

“You should go back to sharpening your skills regularly again.”

“I’ve never stopped fighting. A clever enemy just took advantage of my lack of information.”

“We don’t have information on most of our enemies when we first meet them, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.” 

Right when I am going to argue, Alloya stops me to ask, “And who were you possibly fighting back on earth? Other Humans don’t have powers. Fighting some weak thugs doesn’t count.”

I challenged her by saying, “As if you can judge. What have you done in your past twenty years?” Alloya holds out her finger, then stops herself from saying anything. When she clenches her fists again I know she had a pretty laid back retirement. “Ah, so nothing. Like you’re gonna tell me that I need to sharpen my skills.”

Alloya gets irked by that, and turns half into my superior Captain and half into my ultra-competitive friend. “Clay, remember who you’re talking to, I’ll still kick your ass.”

“Then I’ll guess we’ll see, won’t we?” I challenge.

“Yeah, we will.” Then Alloya starts walking faster again, and after a few feet her devious smile returned. 

“What’s so funny?”

“You just agreed to sparring,” she points out. 

Ah fuck, it was a trap. 

We continue down the hall and eventually get to the center market. I can tell that the fighting is over as most people are walking around once again, only this time trying to clean the mess of the attack. Most are trying, and not entirely succeeding in cleaning up the bodies of the dead soldiers and their own friends.

I hear crying to my right and I turn to see this group trying to pull the body of this Waverite out of a shop. Then one Regamorph man lifts the rubble that was crushing the Waverite’s body by the head, ND they finally get him out. His right shoulder is burned, and his face half melted away. 

Alloya and I start walking in the opposite direction, past more groups of people trying to salvage what they had lost in the fight. Some are looking for those missing, while others are trying to clear out the bodies. 

There’s so many, and I… I should feel more, shouldn’t I? They’re not… they’re not anyone I know, but they’re also not human. It feels like I’m watching animals look at their dead, and that’s… that’s kind of fucked up. 

I’ve spent the best years of my life around aliens and yet, I don’t feel bad seeing them hurt, at least, not when I punch something.

That said, I can be angry. It’s easy to get angry at the people who came here and did this. I can look at the dead soldiers being stacked every now and then, and think about incinerating them. 

“Pfft!” I hear the noise of someone spitting in front of me as I am looking around. I turn my head back forward to see a pair of men, a Regamorph and a Waverite, who had taken the time to spit on a dead soldier’s face, or helmet really. 

A part of me is disgusted and then the guilt that comes with being a hypocrite hits me like a water. I was just thinking about burning their bodies, isn’t that even more disrespectful? Why do I feel so… inconsistent?

These guys have every reason to disrespect a person who wanted to kill them along with their friends and family. Maybe the scumbag even succeeded. They aren’t fighters obviously, so there isn’t some kind of moral code of honor either. 

Alloya grabs me by the arm and tugs me back before we get too close. I look at her and she shakes her head.

After we are some paces away, still surrounded by the dead, I ask, “Captain, where are we going anyway?” 

“The infirmary,” she answers. Then she takes out a disk small enough to fit in my palm from a pocket in her duster. “Starden gave me a holo-map while we were talking, and if he doesn’t want trouble he should have taken Aleti there.” Then she hands me the holo-map for me to look at. I put it in my hand and a holographic layout of the Noland pops up. I turn it off and offer it back but she waves it away. “Keep it, I got good memory for that stuff.”

I put it back in my pocket. I ask her, “Don’t you think the infirmary will be packed?” 

“Maybe, I don’t know how long we’ve been gone for, but Techanot medics work pretty fast.” Then she looks around and then admits, “And by the looks of it, if someone was hurt, they probably weren’t going to survive long enough to get to the infirmary. One would probably need a medic on the spot if they were hit anywhere besides an arm or a leg.”

“I guess that’s true,” I sigh. 

We keep walking for sometime and no matter where I look, the scene always depresses me. I’m used to death, but walking through civilians and bodies, I’ll admit I’ve rarely ever been there for the clean up. 

“Let’s find someone who’ll need a lift to the infirmary and fly them there. Give us an excuse to get there faster without seeming like jerks.”

Alloya turns her head to look at me, like I’m predictably doing something to avoid the problem. If that is what she is thinking, she wouldn’t be wrong. 

“Fine, let’s find someone,” she answers coldly. 

Alloya Ra’non

  We approach the infirmary with children in hand. When Clay mentioned flying to speed up the process I knew he didn’t want to see the injured around us, and while I didn’t blame him for feeling that way, I did judge him for a minute. 

Flying with this kid, a Waverite with his left wing phased off, that was much worse and now I can’t really judge anyone anymore. 

His arm little wing was cauterized by the cosmic blast so he isn’t bleeding, and he passed out from the pain. His mother had handed him to me, trusting me with a child she couldn’t help, while Clay carried another Regamorph shot through the leg. 

I know that a Waverite who can’t fly is a Waverite that doesn’t really get to live, and this is simply a child. Maybe his friends aren’t other Waverites who would flaunt their flight in his face. Hopefully, that’s the case.

The infirmary isn’t like a hospital. It’s more like giant shelves, where one walks in and sees everything. Each floor is long but they don’t reach the other side to allow for patients to be moved in both directions, like a lanes for hovercrafts. 

It’s built like this because the ER is right behind the infirmary, connected to it. The wall behind the beds opens, and the beds will be taken to the ER. It’s an efficient system that tries to make healthcare robotic, clean, orderly, but there’s nothing orderly about people in pain. 

Unlike what I had suspected, there are a lot of people in the infirmary. All the beds are filled. Here I thoughtI the morgue would have more people. Maybe I’m misunderstanding what I’m seeing.

I look for a nurse, and one comes by to lead me and Clay down the rows. Each bed holds someone who is hurt, and this is only the bottom floor of the stacked infirmary. Eventually the nurse brings me to a bed that sits a small Regamorph child who had been skinned across her ribs, which means she had lost several as they had been burned away. The nurse tells me the girl would live and that the Waverite child will fit next to her on the bed. She readied the spot so the two children would fit together and I lay him down.

She starts connecting an IV and anesthesia to keep the kid knocked out for his turn to see the doctor before directing Clay. Before she can go, I stop her to ask a question. “Commander Starden, is he here?” 

“He’s closeby. There was a Guardian who had been critically injured and is in the ER,” she says. Aleti wasn’t hurt that bad, she couldn’t have been. 

“What’s wrong with her?” I ask, not hiding the worry in my voice. Aleti was fine, unconscious, dehydrated maybe, but nothing surgery worthy.

“Her? No him. The Techanot Guardian. He was attacked while defending others in battle,” the nurse explains. “I’m sorry miss but I need to help this man,” she says gesturing to the one Clay is still holding.

Clay tells me, “Alloya, go see Terra’rork, I’ll join you later.” 

I nod and start walking hurriedly in the other direction. 

It is Terra’rork who’s hurt, sweet Terra. He’s not a fighter, but still, who could really hurt him, how hurt would he have to be that he can’t heal on his own? 

I have to go through the front entrance since I’m not a doctor. When I eventually hit the door and push it back open, my mind starts going to dark places. Was he shot point blank? Was he jumped by the armored soldiers? Or maybe he had been unable to get out in time to escape Hideo’s blast? 

That would be my fault, my order that hurt my friend. I made that order to kill the enemy, to risk sacrificing people because I know how to ignore the innocent dead on my hands, and Hideo can too, but one of my oldest friends? 

‘Get a hold of yourself, if he was really that close to dying we would have felt it. Stand by your decisions and accept the necessary consequences.’ Rega’s beration is unpleasant and cold, but she is still right. I can’t let my mind run away. ‘That’s not what I meant. Just don’t let it run away with ideas that annoy me, it makes you seem weak. You can run away all you want, I can take over.’

I turn to enter the ER, and it looks more like something from a true hospital. There is an operation room, with a gazing area that acts as a buffer between the hall and the operation table. This allows people to view the operation without distracting the doctors. I assume the windows are electronic in that they can switch between two-way and one-way, for the doctors and spectators to communicate if need be. I walk around to where people are watching the current operation. 

I can’t see who or what species the patient is with a blanket over him. 

I ask the group watching if, “Do any of you know which floor the Techanot is being operated on?” 

Someone says nine and I thank them.

There’s an elevator behind them and I press the button to summon it. This elevator must connect all the ER operating rooms. I get in and press to go to floor 9. 

The doors open and—

This Techanot isn’t Terra’rork. Damn it. I’m going to check every floor if I have to to find Terra’rork. I start back at 2 and work my way up. 

Time flies by as I go into motion checking each floor for Terra’rork. 

‘You’re not thinking clearly,’ Rega tells me.

I ignore her and continue to search aimlessly.

‘Ask someone again,’ my demon recommends.

People can’t be counted on, I tell her plainly.

‘Sure, when it counts, but it’s not gonna make a difference during surgery whether you’re there or not, so take the time to ask. Can’t take longer than what you’re doing.’

She’s probably right. I’m on the eighth floor of fifthteen. I take some deep breaths and concentrate. Let’s just try asking someone one more time. I open the door and there are these people crying and I look over their heads to see a doctor shaking his head. I can’t ask these people anything and I quickly shut the door.

‘Unlikely I guess.’

I continue what I’m doing. When I get to floor 11, the doors open for me to see the backs of some very familiar heads.

‘He must be unconscious if I can’t feel Titrainan,’ Rega informs me.

Commander Starden stands with his hands on some railing as he watches the operation, and Aleti sits beside him in a wheelchair wearing an enclosed blue hospital gown. 

I don’t tell anyone of my presence as I walk up behind them. Starden turns around in time to see me wrap my arms around my daughter. I start kissing her all over the side of her cheek before burying my face in the crook of her neck.

“Nice to see you too, Mom,” I hear Aleti say. I look up her and she gives me a soft smile.

I kneel down besides her and place my hand on her cheek. “Are you alright?” I ask.

“Pfft, I’m fine.”

I look to Starden and he assures me, “She’s physically healthy. She was unconscious from exhaustion and the wheelchair is to stop any unnecessary exertion for a day or two.”

“Thank you, Commander.”

“Can’t say we can fix her sense of humor though.”

She sticks her tongue out at him.

“I’m guessing Terra is going to be alright if you’re like this.”

“All signs say he’ll live,” Starden tells me, “it’s more a question of will he need more surgeries to live well.”

“Also, I’m on happy pills,” Aleti says with a smile, which explains a lot. 

“Hey Mom?” With the happy pills Aleti is on, she looks both worried, but is also fighting the urge to grin. “How’s Clay? I don’t remember much, but the Commander told me you had to take him to the sun. Was that fun?” 

“He’s fine,” I assure her, “it was very fun throwing him into the sun, now he’s all better. He’s helping out right now.” 

“Oh, that’s nice of him,” she says as she turns back towards the surgery she defintiely isn’t paying attention to. “I want to jump in the sun, sounds like fun.

I finally turn to the operating table, and frighteningly, I see the doctors operating on Terra’rork’s neck, seeing what Starden was talking about. “What happened?”

“Right before Hideo released his soundwave Terra’rork realized that there was no door to protect them from the attack.” That was my fault I realize, I had completely forgotten that I had torn the door off of the hinges. “Terra’rork manipulated his body to block the doorway, which left him physically fine, but exhausted. He was ambushed by an armored soldier, who survived the sound attack. Hideo saved him but not before the soldier did some damage to his throat. The doctors are trying to save his speech without him needing to get the biomass from elsewhere in his body” 

I rest my hands on the metal railing, and immediately squeeze it into scrap metal. “I tore that door off the wall.”

Starden rests a hand on my back and starts rubbing it. “You couldn’t have realized…” he begins saying.

“Eh, you had things to do,” Aleti says.

 I lift my head up and look at her sideways, then back to Starden. 

“You know, those pills must have been pretty strong.”

“We expected her to have a high immunity considering she’s your kid. We were wrong. More importantly, we do have other things to talk about though, Captain. 

“This surgery is going smoothly, but it isn’t going to be quick. I need to speak with you now that we have some privacy. What do you want with the Shatter Drive?”

I look at him and ask, “You know that the other species are in different time zones where time passes slower?”

“I assumed,” Starden replies. 

“If the last 24 hours have show you and the people of Noland anything,” I begin to say, “it’s that a fight with the Regnorian Republic is inevitable.” While this moment may seem private and simple, this will decide how capable the other species will be in being able to combat my own. 

“The Rivertans and Waverites are severely behind in their passage of time. They can never produce the technology, weaponry, or manpower that the Regnorian government can. Since the Dion’s expansion, Riverteria only progressed two weeks,” this gets a look of visual surprise on Starden’s face, “and Acoustica has only progressed three years, and they need even more help.”

“But what do you expect them to do? Even with the Shatter Drives they’ll never catch up, let alone win a fight.” 

Starden has a point, but that isn’t what I had in mind.

“I am perfectly aware that even with the same passage of time the species won’t be able to catch up for years, but at least this stops the divide increasing. Gives both a chance to bulk up and defend themselves,” I explain. “When the Lupians were at their peak, the Regnorian leadership showed interest in expansion by slowly, culturally, and economically taking over the Techanots. Now there’s no one to stand against them so what’s to keep them from doing the same to the Rivertans and Waverites through force?” 

Commander Starden turns back to the surgery as if it’s a window to space. I can tell he is considering his options. I reason that, “If you help us it won’t make you a target. You’re already one.”

“My people aren’t going to be against hindering the regime that tried to kill them, but we’re not fighters,” he rationalizes. 

“You don’t need to be. Just help me give everyone else a fighting chance, then hide into the ether. You can’t go back to Reganora, you’ll never make it, but with this you’re at least on the run with allies. Give Riverteria and Acoustica Shatter Drives. Work with us.”

“Do they even want to work with you?” Starden questions. “Do you already have Acoustica and Riverteria working together?” 

He sees through me. He isn’t dumb nor naive. He knows well enough that Rivertans don’t worked well with anyone.

“I need the Shatter Drive to make peace,” I tell him, being partially honest.

“Make peace? Between the Rivertans and Waverites? Or between the Rivertans and you?” 

I bite my lip then grit my teeth. “I need to get the Rivertans trust back after an… incident.”

“What do you plan to do afterwards?”

“Put someone we can trust in charge, unite them against a common enemy. The best way to get two people who hate each other to work together is to through them at someone they hate more.”

“Wouldn’t that be doing exactly what the Republic would do? Take the choice from Riverteria so they’re what you want, like what we did to the Techanots?” 

I probably should have seen that comparison coming.

“I want to better the life of everyone there. I want to uplift the Watree, the Regnorian Republic would put down the Riverti. I don’t wants more suffering, just less living in excess and more living above the poverty line.” 

“Hmm, I bet you think there is a difference Alloya, but there is only a difference if everything goes perfectly, and it won’t,” Starden warns me. 

“Did you learn that from experience?” I ask him with a slight sense of spite.

“Yes,” he admits, “you don’t need to make bigger mistakes than I did. Here’s the thing about good people, Alloya, we mean well, but don’t always end up doing well. In fact, I would suggest that we do more damage than anyone else.”

I turn my head to look ahead of me, towards Terra. 

Normally he would be trying to help me decide what to say, think about my position in this conversation. 

“Let’s get back to the reason we’re having this discussion. I’ve listened to your theology and you’ve listened to my plans for the future, but we can’t know who is right until you give me your answer. Will you give me the Shatter Drives?”

Starden looks me in the eye and smiles. “Captain, you were always going to get the Shatter Drives, and we were always going to help you put them down. I just wanted to know if I’m picking the winner or loser. You’re the only bet I can make to be honest.”

“You can only try and make yourself feel better about the position you’re stuck in.”

“More or less,” he admits, “as soon as we can, we will transport the Shatter Drives. Now it’s only a matter of waiting, and hoping.”

“Hoping for what?” I inquire.

Starden replies, “Hoping that everything goes perfectly.”