Chapter Text
He was found by two officers.
They crashed into one of the Empire’s war camps and killed twenty-six of its workers in the explosion. The Commanders of the base deemed the ship a threat and called upon two of the most experienced officers to investigate. The last thing they expected was to see the limp corpse of one of their best soldiers and two babies in the backseat.
Krolia has been trained for thirty-seven decophoebs and could take anyone in a fight. She was one of their most fluid and quick pilots and loyal soldiers. She was born into the Empire and stayed true to her position. It didn’t take her long to become the lieutenant of one of the most top-secret cruisers in the area. Commander Ranvig might’ve had his ups-and-downs about her at first, but came to respect her. But after serving the Empire for so long and the niceties of all the new things started to dwindle, Krolia got bored.
It didn’t affect her schedule; It didn’t affect her piloting, ideas, and sharpshooting. But it affected her confident mood around the cruisers. She wanted to do something new. Something that will get her completely noticed. But the flaw in that plan was that she couldn’t do it alone.
They weren’t friends - well, not anymore - but Khevv was a good programmer and tracker and Krolia needed the best she can get. It was hard to convince him. She knew it would be; he was quite stubborn but when he heard the plan on its own - he was all in. With Khevv working on the ‘energy signature’ they needed and Krolia’s unlimited access to ships, they were pretty much set. When the time finally came to put their plan into action, Krolia was buzzing with excitement. After vargas and phoebs of waiting, she finally got the excitement and confidence she needed. Her commander and all the officers asked her what she was so elated about but she merely shrugged them off and said, ‘It’s a surprise.’
Late the next night, Krolia waited for Khevv in the pod bay. He was able to convince her on letting him come along, stating that he knew the exact location of their… gift. Krolia was ecstatic to hear the praise from her leaders. To see all the attention drawn to her for bringing forth one of the Empire’s most wanted items. Cause in the Empire, if you don’t have a purpose, you are thrown aside and forgotten. And Krolia did not want to be forgotten.
She played with one of her most prized possessions. It was a luxite blade. The Ancients know luxite blades weren't made anymore! She found it on one of her missions, gleaming in the rock of a creature's shell. She had fought for it and discovered many interesting things about it. It could turn into a long glowing sword and could cut through many objects, no matter the density. She has grown to be rather fond of this blade.
Khevv finally stumbled into the bay with a strange-looking device in his left hand. Krolia glowered at Khevv, sheathed her blade and hopped into the ship she’s been leaning against.
“Took you long enough,” she hissed in annoyance. Khevv jumped into the ship nearest himself and grumbled some half-excuse. They hovered into the air and Krolia opened the doors. As soon as space was visible, they shot out into the stars. They flew until they couldn’t see the ship anymore and came to an abrupt stop on an old moon. “Khevv. Where to?”
An incessant beeping replied over the comms along with a curious hum from her partner. “Er - well, I got the energy signature. It is highly compatible with the Red Lion's. But I am… I am not quite sure where the coordinates are of the planet in question.”
Krolia’s head fell into her hand, “Are you saying that you flew us in blind?”
"No! No, I know the name of the planet," Khevv said hurriedly. "I'm just... not quite sure where it is. I believe, that if we get to a newer section of the Universe, we might be able to track the coordinates from there. The planet is quite new. It is approximately 4,569 billion decophoebs old. Or... maybe younger."
Krolia was surprised at the age. That was quite young for a planet. But if they had to fly around for decophoebs looking for a newer section to the Universe, who knows how long that would take. Krolia decided to go for one of her crazy old theories from when she was a kit. "I have an idea where this planet could be..."
"Really? Where?" Khevv asked in childlike excitement.
It was an old story from decophoebs ago, one that was told in classes of the Universe. One that Krolia had pondered about for night and day. "You know the Virgo Firing Tragedy...?"
Khevv groaned, all childlike excitement gone. "Krolia. It is called the Virgo Firing Tragedy for a reason! It was a failed galaxy. A huge explosion and boom ! The entire thing went to comic rubble. It wiped out a few lightyears of civilization around it."
"Think about it!" Krolia hurried to say. "The galaxy is about... 13,77 billion decophoebs. If it were really cosmic rubble for a few decophoebs, wouldn't planets form out of chondrite passing by? Maybe the Virgo Firing Tragedy wasn't as tragic as we thought it was!"
"So, what? It was the Virgo Firing Fortune ," Khevv snorted in amusement.
Krolia groaned. This is exactly why she wanted to do this alone! Cause once she gets a lead, someone has to interject. "All I'm saying is, maybe that's where Earth is. It's the only lead we have to a new section in the Universe. We have to take it!" She left before Khevv could complain any longer.
She was right. Of course, she was! She's Krolia, she's always right. They floated among planets and constellations, all of them new. All of them very much alive. They slowed to a stop in front of a large planet with brown, green and white dotting around the globe. It looked a lot like Arus, but Krolia felt like the blue wasn't land. She grinned over at Khevv as she heard his startled yelp.
"I-it's Earth!" Khevv said in disbelief. "I can't believe it! It's actually Earth." Krolia heard his breathless chuckle over the comms. "Guess you were right Krolia. It didn't blow into cosmic dust."
"And the Blue Lion?" Krolia questioned immediately. They were so close! All Khevv had to do was give her the call. A few beeping noises and a quick scan over - presumably - Earth, Khevv replied.
She could practically hear the grin in his voice, "Blue Lion is on this planet." A string of exact coordinates appeared onto her screen. "Not too far from where we're facing." Good. Then it was time to relieve Khevv of his duty, she thought as she turned on the blasters and steered them toward the other ship. Unfortunately, Khevv was smart and observant and was able to swerve out the way in time.
The fighter jet came to a stop and froze for a moment. "Krolia! What are you doing ?" Khevv demanded as a second blast grazed his wing. Krolia didn't answer. She fired another shot, barely hitting the belly of his jet. Khevv, ever so infuriatingly, dodged every shot. She had to give him credit. He was a good pilot. The news finally seemed to click with him as he ducked another shot. His angry hiss filling her ears, "Trying to get all the glory for yourself, aren't you?"
Krolia grinned at the accusation. As she said, Khevv was smart and observant. He wasn't wrong. "What was your first clue?" She shot another blast his way, effectively getting his ring wing. Not hard enough to grant him unstable, but hard enough to spin him out of control for the next few ticks.
"Heh," Khevv's voice crackled over the comms. "Two can play at that game." He realigned his ship and set a blast for her jet. She swerved out the way and shot at Khevv's weapon system. Khevv dodged, sending two shots for her engine. She turned the jet vertical and sped past the two blasts. Khevv and Krolia were evenly matched, has been ever since the cub army. They were close friends, which meant they taught each other their methods and used them against the others.
They were both sharpshooters, hard workers, and excellent pilots. The only thing Khevv excelled at more was tracking and programming. What drove them apart was her position in the Empire. Although she was reckless and reacted mostly on her impulses, Krolia was able to get on a higher rank quite early in life. Khevv got jealous and they started to distance themselves from each other. At least, that's how Krolia saw it.
They were both evenly matched and knew each other's tactics. That's how they jumped and flew from each other's shots before even knowing their next move. How they could barely catch each other off guard. It was exactly how they both hit target in the end. Both their shots landing effectively on each other's engines, tearing away the metal and blowing off the left-wing.
The pedals' mechanisms tore and shot the ship downward. Speeding toward the marble planet they have had their battle in front of. Hot flames curled over their ships and overheated the cockpit as they broke atmosphere and Krolia could hear the distant crackle of Khevv's screams.
The fire slowly curled away and Krolia tried pulling up the pedals. She felt like a kit again, sitting in her first flight lesson. Desperately pulling at the pedals as it spun toward a nearby planet. Screaming for help that wouldn't come. She felt overheated from the atmosphere crash and her brain was aching from the static in her comms. Her armor had torn a bit from the blast to her engine and she was slowly losing consciousness. She peered through her half-lidded eyes to see the quick approaching sand of land. Tinny lifeforms scattered away from her approaching shadows and hid inside the dunes.
Then the ship jerked. Crashing into the surface and bouncing across the horizon. She felt her ship clash against Khevv's as it rolled through the land. Her body lurched forward and her head hit the cracking windshield. She thanked the ancients that she wore her helmet.
Her fighter jet bounced for a few more ticks before it burrowed into the sand and her right-wing's controls blew up. She felt lightheaded and a little nauseous. Her body was shaking from the sheer force of the crash. Her head lolled as she tried to get up, exhaustion took her over like a hurricane. She tried to steady herself but she stumbled and crashed to the floor of her jet. As soon as her helmet connected with the floor, black fogged at the edges of her vision.
Her attempts at getting up again were futile as she merely fell back down and couldn't see anything.
When the apples in his hand didn't transform into dynamite, Texas knew something was wrong.
Every single grocery store trip was never normal. It always had a catch. When he was seven, his uncle walked into the road and got hit by a truck. When he moved out and needed supplies for his new home, his local supermarket got hit by a plane. When he was buying food for his family, his sister climbed a tree and got the flu. So when Texas ran out of apples for his smoothie and went out to get some, he prepared for the worse.
But here's the weird part.
When he picked up the apples... nothing happened. He put them into his basket, grabbed some other supplies and paid for it. And guess what? He had money! He walked out of the store and waited for someone to approach him and yell strange profanities at him. But he made it onto his hoverbike, started the engine and sped off in one peace.
He unlocked his door just fine. He packed away the groceries without problems. He even finished his smoothie without difficulty. Now he was standing in his kitchen, staring at the pack of apples in his hand and waited for the Universe to do its daily routine... But still, nothing happened. He set them aside with a tired sigh.
That day has been a long day indeed. He worked on his hoverbike, went on that... odd supermarket run and was able to clean up the house. He didn't like vacation weeks. He prided in his job. Fighting fires and saving lives. He was the Chief of the fire station for a reason. He was good at what he did. But all he could do now was watch his fan spin in circles and circles until he was lulled to sleep. Not that he slept that long though.
He was woken up by the sound of glass shattering and he shot up off his couch. His forehead connected with something metallic and hot. He yelped in pain and scooted away from the surface, falling onto the floor in the process.
Texas ran a hand over his forehead and looked at what he had knocked his head against. And there was the weird twist to his grocery run. A long and thick hunk of metal pierced through his window. Deep grooves tore into the metal in wavy patterns. Of course, a ship crashes through his window. Maybe one of the Garrison cadets stole a ship again. The flight school wasn't too far from here.
He crawled underneath the wing and went outside. There was a large grey ship in front of him. One that he's never seen before. He had gone on a tour of the Garrison once before. He was sure they didn't look like this.
The ship seemed to have been crashed a couple of times over. Fading purple insignias and dark blotches of burns painted its surface. Its entire right wing was torn off. Texas started to worry. If there was some kind of ship that looked like this, and there was someone in it. Geez, he hoped they were okay. He ran off to his shed and grabbed an axe. He clambered up onto the window and broke through the glass. It was either plastic or very thick glass, cause the axe barely cracked it the first few times.
The windshield shattered and Texas froze, staring at the figure in the pilot's chair. It was a skull with muscle and - was that fur? - stretched across the bone. Blood dripped down onto the figure's armor, the jaw unhinged as if caught mid-scream.
Texas stumbled off the windshield and landed painfully on his back. He scrambled away from the ship with panting breaths. Aliens? Seriously!? That was the twist for today's grocery run? And it wasn't alive either , Texas thought frantically. His eyes drew to something else in the distance. It also seemed to be a ship. The same one but with more blemishes. Part of Texas worried for the other alien but another part of his didn't want to see another corpse.
After a few deep breaths, he grabbed his axe and got off the floor. If the other alien was still alive, maybe he could help them. Find out what they were doing near Earth in the first place.
He walked across the desert sand and clambered onto the ship. He brought back his axe and got the windshield open on the first swing. This one must've been weaker. He hopped into the ship and froze at the sight of a limp body sprawled out on the floor. He didn't see any signs of breathing but he couldn't know unless he tried. Texas made his way over to the body cautiously, leaning next to it and carefully pushing them over.
They were quite heavy, so it took a harder nudge to get them to roll over. He was faced with an obscured helmet, the visor completely covered in soot. They were quite tall and muscular but still a little shorter than him. (About a quarter of an inch shorter.) He noticed the slow rise and fall of the figure's chest. They were still breathing! Before he could question it, he lifted the heavy figure into his arms and climbed out of the ship.
He ran across the desert floor and into his house, nearly gagging at the glimpse of the other alien. He ran up the stairs and laid her down onto the bed. For a brief moment, Texas wondered if they needed oxygen or if it was poisonous from where they came from. He decided to risk it.
He pulled off their helmet and his eyes laid on a very pretty alien. Much prettier than the other one. She - he was assuming she was a woman - had purple skin that seemed more like fur. Her ears were sharp and her hair was an ombre from dark purple to pink. Kind of a weird style too.
There didn't seem to be too much damage to her. She was probably just exhausted from the crash, but who knew. She was an alien which meant her health was completely unknown to him. Texas got a wet cloth from the bathroom and laid it on her forehead, hoping that would help at least a bit. He stared at her unconscious figure for a while not knowing what to do about this until he remembered the ships.
Should he tell the Garrison about her? What would they do? He'll decide later. He went outside and cursed himself for breaking the ship's windshield. The very sight of the guy made him sick. He averted his gaze and tried to push the ship away. That didn't work. He tried knocking it aside with his hoverbike and that was able to give the most force. After approximately three hours of pushing the ships aside and covering up the tracks it left behind, he crouched down at his porch and started working on repairing his house.
While boarding up the windows, he saw Garrison patrols cruise past his house. They were moving slowly and surveying the area. Should he wave them over and tell them about the aliens?
No , a thought occurred to him and his body was forced to turn around and continue fixing the windows. That was odd... it was like he had no control over his movements. The cars passed and disappeared into the distance when he finally got control over his body again. He turned to look at the tracks the Garrison patrols left behind and turned back to boarding the windows.