Chapter Text
Aut the 12th, 5694 CE; 2800 hrs
Grand Prince Vyrik Ceraphym of Cresthold boarded his ship, The Star Bride, with his first general, Ormyn Wie, and a crew of 35. They were to set out for the human ship Avalon ZC, to meet the human colony that had traveled so far to evade their extinction. They had attempted to contact the vessel several times over the length of their journey, only receiving feedback from them within the past six lunar cycles. It had been more than twelve planetary rotations since they'd heard anything at all, and had assumed the worst.
He had been informed that the human ships' crew had also been in stasis up until this point. The colony members wouldn't be awoken for at least three more lunar cycles, and the colony leaders would be awoken a cycle prior to that. He already wasn't fond of the way humans did things. He had informed the crew that he and his general would be boarding in three days' time and that it would be best to wake the leaders so that they might discuss things in person. That had been three days ago; now they were en route.
The Star Bride quickly closed the distance between Alphaterra 4 and the Avalon ZC. General Wie docked the ships and sent a message to the humans that they had arrived, requesting permission to board. With permission received, Vyrik stepped onto the transport pad and pressed a button on his wrist, propelling his body through space in an instant. He found himself quickly on the bridge of the Avalon ZC, face-to-face with what he could only assume was a human female.
The alien stepped cautiously closer to him holding out her hand, an aggressive grin on her face. He took a step back, eyeing her closely. The human looked down at her hand, aggressive expression faltering. They said something in their mother tongue, dubiously expecting him to understand. Vyrik shook his head and gestured at Wie to fix the problem. The man stepped forward, quickly pressing his palm to the human's forehead. His hand glowed for a moment before he took it away.
"General Ormyn has given you the gift of language, human." Vyrik said to her, she nodded.
"I'm Vah Nessa, leader of the Avalon ZC skeleton crew."
"Vah Nessa?" he repeated.
She nodded. "Yes, but only one word, not two."
"Are your leaders being awoken, as requested?" General Wei spoke up.
The female nodded, gesturing to a door on the right. "Would you like to greet them as they wake?"
"Would that not be disorienting? Given the time dilation?" Vyrik cocked his head curiously.
"I don't think so, but you don't have to come if you don't want to." She shrugged.
Vyrik shrugged and nodded, "lead the way."
With no further banter, she led them to the lower levels of the ship via a lift. Upon entry to the massive room filled with low-tech cryo chambers, the pathway dramatically decreased in size, from a three-person-wide hallway, to nearly single file. A technician of some sort preceded Vah Nessa, followed by himself and general Wie. They approached the topmost level of chambers, which appeared slightly larger than those that lined the walls below. A second technician worked on the first two chambers where a pale man of thin but fit build, and a woman of similar physique, though darker complexion, were already in the process of waking. They looked to Vyrik with awe in their faces.
Before either of them could speak, General Wie stepped forward and gave them the Gift. They need not go through with that again.
"What the hell was that?" the male stammered, slack jawed at Wie.
"General Wie has given you the gift of language, human." Vyrik responded. As if the man expected it, he simply nodded. The woman responded similarly.
"Are you going to do that to all of us?" She asked them.
Wie nodded, apparently choosing not to speak. He wasn't much of a conversationalist, any who.
Going down the line, he watched as Vah Nessa and her accompanying technicians woke the next two leaders, another man, whose coloring was neither pale nor deep and a woman with similar build and coloring to the pale one. Judging the pattern, he assumed that the final leader would also be male, but was-quite pleasantly-surprised. Unlike the others, her features were a touch more vibrant. Her eyes were large and Green, rimmed by orange lashes, and her hair cascaded over her shoulders, equally as bright. Dots of random pigmentation were flecked across her face. Her lips were full and set in a forever-pout. Her hair and eye color weren't common on Alphaterra 4, but the flecks were not anything he'd ever encountered. He wondered, at first, if she might be infected with something, but she appeared just as fit and healthy as the other four.
"Is there something wrong with my face?" She asked after having been given the gift, her voice strong and unfaltering.
Vyrik seemed to have trouble finding his voice- not at all something he was used to- "I- you- the dots...on your face...I am unfamiliar with them...I apologize for staring- ah..." he trailed off, not wanting to simply address her as 'human.'
"Lyda. I'm Lydaleigh." She said, stepping out of her chamber and holding her hand out, palm facing towards him in the gesture of new-meetings. He pressed his hand against hers and nodded curtly. "They're called freckles, by the way...." She said.
The word sounded strange and unfamiliar to him. It didn't seem his people had a word for them. "Freckles...." he said, nodding again. He realized their hands were still touching- a bit longer than any regular greeting, bridging on informal- he hoped she wouldn't notice. He let his hand fall and watched as she did the same.
From there, they made their way from the cryo chambers, back up to a more spacious floor, down a long hall and into a spacious conference room. Vah Nessa stated that she had other things to attend to and left them alone in the room with the five colony leaders. They each took seats around the table, letting Lydaleigh sit at the far end like an unspoken leader. Vyrik decided to take the other end, Wie sitting to his left.
"I assume there were no complications to your journey?" He asked, his eyes flitting to every face, lingering once more on Lydaleigh's, though this time not because of her appearance. She held an air in the room. The others seemed to look to her for guidance. She sat up straight, shoulders back with her jaw set just so. It wasn't as though she demanded the attention, it felt as if she had earned it.
She smiled, confidence evident in her eyes, "No, not as far as I am aware."
"Good," he nodded.
"Shall we introduce ourselves?" Lydaleigh asked, glancing around the room, making eye contact with everyone at least once. The group nodded. "Well, everyone knows I'm Lydaleigh, leader of the third group, engineering and practical sciences. I figure we can go on from the left." She motioned to the fit, ebon skinned woman next to her.
"I'm Ymarah, leader of the fourth group- intelligence and interspecies relations."
The pale man spoke next. "I'm Lane, leader of the second group, Agriculture and mechanical engineering."
All eyes fell on him- something he'd grown used to over the period of his life, "I am Vyrik Ceraphym of Cresthold, grand prince of the T'sari people of Alphaterra 4."
It seemed then that his introduction had taken the air from the room.
"I'm sorry," Lydaleigh spoke up, "But did I understand you correctly? Grand prince?"
He nodded.
"Yes... Is it not customary in humanity for the leader to greet a new people?" he cocked his head at her.
"Well...We never had anything to do with off-planet communications, so no, not really...Our world leaders have always had a tendency to stand behind a wall of armed guards."
Vyrik inwardly scoffed. "That is cowardly. I am no coward."
"Fair enough- It would be a lie to say that our world leaders weren't cowardly. We don't intend to be that way, I assure you." she nodded.
"Shall we continue, then?" He asked, with the group's response being a continuation of the introductions. They all turned to look at General Wie. He nodded, "General Ormyn Wie, second only to the Grand Prince Vyrik Ceraphym of Cresthold, leader of the T'sari people '' he spoke quickly, his voice a touch on the edge of harshness. He was on high alert today.
"Right...I'm Darmah, Group one, colony education" The pale woman next to Wie spoke up, crossing her arms over her chest.
Lastly, the man to Lydaleigh's right spoke, "Eryk, group five, health and defense."
"Good. That's everyone." Vyrik said. "Shall we discuss landing-day plans, then?"
Lydaleigh nodded, "Absolutely, but I don't think I'm alone in the idea that perhaps we-" she motioned to her people, "Go and wash up first, if that's fine?" She said, almost as if she were asking a question. It was then that he noticed that the five of them were a bit... underdressed.