Futuristic The Darkness of Space (Supernatural Scifi)

[Mikotsuhime]

Morei was surprised. Whether that was a pleasant or unpleasant surprise, he was currently deciding.

He cursed in Ferendin as Vanya kicked him in the groin, clapping one hand over his crotch as he stumbled backwards. Why the hell did that hurt so much? Who in the world decided that humans needed to have their reproductive organs and dangly bits hanging out all the time?

It was just poor evolutionary design. But also very effective.

"Does that work on vampires too," he asked, pain still lingering in his voice. Renza seemed impressed, and gave Vanya a thumbs up. He wasn't really sure he wanted Morei punching her back, for a multitude of reasons, but he could appreciate a good nutjab any day of the week. As long as it wasn't happening to him.

"Disappearing is a neat trick," Morei said, and Renza really wasn't sure he liked the look on his face. He looked like a dog who had just been given a new toy.

Renza probably should have been insulted that he wasn't enough to make him look like that.

Morei fell back onto the balls of his feet, grinning as he shook out his hands. She was fast. Renza's thoughts were a blaring warning of 'don't fucking kill her I swear to god' so he tuned him out. He wasn't going to kill her. He just wanted to catch her.

Once she activated her distress signal, he gave her a few seconds of grace period before he lunged for her. He reached for her collar with one hand and her hair with the other, trying to anticipate how she would dodge and disappear so he could counter it. Renza glanced back, then pulled out his coms and sent Leese a quick message before smashing it on the ground.

"Smash her coms, too," Renza said. "It'll look more authentic."



Leese leaned back in her seat, letting out a sigh of relief now that they were free of immediate danger. She glanced down at her communicator, seeing the message that Renza had sent. Her face twisted like she'd eaten a sour lemon.

Renza was asking her to do the one thing she absolutely did not want to do. He was asking her to look at her biggest mistakes and repeat them. If he was anyone else, she would have probably hated him a bit for it.

But Kas was right, they needed to plan. There was only a limited time before the vampires sent people after them. She hated Renza's idea, but she didn't really see any alternative.

"Now we head back to Albaques," Leese said with a tired sigh. "With the vampires after us, we need to regroup. We also need those disrupters, if our plan is going to work."

She sent a message to Hanabelle, her mouth twisting into a frown.

"We are going to get Vanya and Renza back. He has a plan for that, but... Right now we're going to Summerfield spaceport."

Summerfield was not an up and up station, and Leese kind of hoped Kas would be ok with her taking the Nocturne there.

Unlike the tiny drug bust Hanabelle and Renza had sent the vampires on, Summerfield was a real den of nasties. Unscrupulous characters and mercenaries tended to gather there, but the place was located in a jurisdictional grey zone, so it was hard to crack down on. Leese hated it, but Hanabelle had the owner in her pocket, so it was the best way they could get on planet without being caught by the authorities.

Fenrick was still quiet, but after a moment he sat up.

"Your brain thing, does it work always? Only when you are awake?" he asked abruptly, and Leese blinked as she craned her neck to look at him.

"What are you thinking?"

He frowned, scrunching up his nose. He wasn't really sure what he was thinking. Vanya's discussion of how Montrose' biggest boon was the contamination effect had gotten him thinking more about the issue.

"Nevermind. Could I look at disrupter, when we get them? I have theory, but I am not sure. It might be nothing."

He shifted awkwardly, looking out the viewport to the void of space passing them by. The vacuum was... not exactly like home, but not unlike it, either. He wondered what Albaques would be like, since Leese had said over and over again that it was different. Leese guessed what he was thinking, and she offered him a small smile.

"You might be overwhelmed when we land. Just stick with me and Kas, ok? Wear your glasses. Hm... Actually, Kas, do you think Vanya has earmuffs or headphones somewhere around here?"

She really didn't want Fenrick to have a panic attack at the spaceport. Ferendin had towns and clans just like humans and vampires did, but they were much smaller and more spread out. It was unlikely for many adults to live in close proximity, and she had no doubt he'd be surprised by just how many people there were at a busy spaceport, even if it was only medium sized.

"Actually, nevermind, I'll take care of it," she said after a moment, sending Hanabelle a message. "We'll be meeting my friend in Summerfield, and she'll help us out a bit. After that, I suggest you connect with anyone planet-side who you think should be in the know. It'll be at least a few days before we can rendesvous with the others, so we should prepare as much as possible."

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya arched an eyebrow, annoyed that he'd figured out she wasn't human. Also annoyed that he thought she'd give up that information. Just because she was working with him, that didn't mean she trusted him.

Still, she smirked a little at his obvious pain. That's what he got for looking at her like he could blow her over with a deep exhale.

At his grin, Vanya rolled her eyes. "It's not disappearing. It's--oh silver!"

She darted out of time as Morei lunged for her but then tripped and fell backwards. Losing her concentration, she fell back into time and fell hard on her butt. Right in Morei's path. She scrambled out of the way of his feet, hearing Kas yell at her to always pay attention to her surroundings and not to just reflexively use her sight.

Vanya felt a wave of panic roll over her when Renza suggested Morei smash her comms. She tried to remind herself that it was completely backed up on her ship but the thought of not being able to contact Kas or her family made her want to take off running. But no, Renza was right. It had to look real. And she'd catch up with Kas soon, so she didn't need to be able to contact him.

"You'll have to get it from me first," Vanya hissed, then darted out of time--paying attention to her surroundings this time--and, popping back into time, stomped towards Morei's instep as hard as she could. Kas had told her all the really painful places to kick someone, and she was deeply grateful.

She could hear the sounds of maneuvering thrusters outside the habitat and figured she may want to let a punch land. Well, she didn't want to, but she probably should.



Kas glanced over at Leese, frowning. He thought maybe he should point out that the Albaquese military might just hand him over to the vampires to avoid a war. But then Leese clarified what she meant by "Albaques".

Kas' lip twisted. It was a smart move, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "I hate both these plans. And I don't know what Renza's plan is, but I hate it."

He wasn't going to add that he didn't really trust Leese's troublemaker to get his troublemaker back to him in one piece. In fact, he really wasn't sure he trusted Renza at all. He had gone from serene priest to pain in the ass so fast Kas still had whiplash.

Kas forced himself to take a deep breath. The person he was really frustrated with was himself. Renza was just the scapegoat. He was the actual spec opps. He was supposed to have a handle on this. He was trained. He had done several hundred missions without a single screw up. But Vanya kept saving him by sacrificing herself, and he hadn't even had the guts to tell her what that meant to him until right before he might never see her again. And he had let her do it again.

He startled slightly when Fenrick spoke and blinked at him. "Uh... sleep dampens the effect a little bit, but not enough for it not to have no effect on a vampire."

Kas licked his lips and cleared his throat. He wasn't sure if this would help, but he should probably mention it. "Don't uh, don't tell Vanya or anything, but I've noticed it, um, shifts around her." He felt his cheeks heating up because when he mentioned it to one of the military doctors, she had asked why this vampire changed his brain chemistry when other vampires didn't. "It doesn't effect her as much as it used to. She thinks she's just used to it but... it's not her. It's me."

Kas paused when Fenrick asked for a disrupter. "You do realize those things will have a negative affect on you, right? You won't be able to use your sight--uh, ferens--without a lot of concentration. Sometimes Vanya strains so much she bursts blood vessels and gets nosebleeds. I'm happy to help you get some but... I just want you to know."

At Leese's question, Kas nodded. "Several of her hats have noise-cancelling hardware, I'm pretty sure. You could probably grab one, Fen, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

If we ever get her back lurked at the edge of his mind, but he ignored that. She would be fine. She wouldn't do anything stupid like pick a fight or anything. Surely.

Kas sighed. He didn't have that many friendly contacts. Most of them were people on the shady side that helped him out for money when he was on missions. The only person he should think he should contact was--Kas sighed again. He should probably send her a message. His mother was frantic--in the stoic way that she tended to be frantic.

Pulling up a com box, he keyed in his code and then the number for his mom. He typed up a message.

Mom, I'm fine, and you've probably guessed I haven't kidnapped anyone--the person I've supposedly kidnapped is Vanya, by the way. Sylvestr is just trying to stalemate us because we have info he wants. We're working to save the dimension so any help you could give would be great. Love, Kas

He knew that wasn't enough information, but he figured anything else he would need a secure line for. If she could help, she'd reach out to him.

Sending it, Kas let out yet another sigh. "I sent a message to my mom. If she's in a position to help, she will."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Really, Morei wasn't entirely sure what a vampire was. Looking into Renza's head, that was the word that came to mind, and he could gather that they were different from 'humans'. Different kinds of othersiders made things more confusing, but he didn't really care much for the specifics.

Right now he was just fascinated by the idea that somebody could just pop around like that. It made him want to catch her.

Although she was perhaps not as agile as she first seemed. He swiped for her when she fell backwards, but missed. When she stomped on his inseam, he grit his teeth, but his grin didn't waver. Instead he spun around and grabbed her, using the momentum of his swing to toss her into Renza.

Renza went down with an 'oof', the breath knocked out of him. He grunted, struggling to get up before Morei walked over and casually placed his foot on the priest's shoulder.

He bent down and wrapped his hand around Vanya's neck, twisting her head to the side and inspecting her. Hm. She did look a little different from the priest beneath her. The ears, for one thing.

He eyed her communicator and reached for it, but he was distracted by the sound of the ships arriving outside. Hm. Inconvenient, that he had only noticed them now. These humans had poor senses. It was a wonder they survived so long.

Renza grunted as Morei dug his heel, into his shoulder, and the Ferendin warrior's lips twitched into a smug grin at the list of expletives that was coming through their mental connection.

"You're very creative. I don't know about othersiders, but where I'm from, you can't actually force a head up that orifice," he teased. Renza glared at him, but he knew that the station was being invaded. They had to act quickly.

"Vanya, hold tight," he said, then kicked up as hard as he could.

Two nut shots in one day was far from pleasant, and it made Morei lose his grip on Vanya's neck. He grunted as he stumbled backwards, and Renza pulled the small vampire towards him. They had to look pitiful, like two people who had been kidnapped against their will. His face went soft and stricken with panic, his eyes wide as his hands shook in front of the man who had just beaten the crap out of him. He looked just the picture of an innocent civillian who had been dragged into something far bigger than him, fear and despair written in his features.

He was a good actor. Morei complimented him mentally, and was told to fuck off, with not a single hint of it appearing on the man's face.

Interesting.



"I hate Renza's plan, too," Leese said bitterly. "But it's probably the best one we have at the moment."

Fenrick wondered what she meant by that, but he was more distracted by the brain chemistry thing.

"So... You like Vanya, so it does not work on her good," he inferred. Interesting information. "And I do not use sight much, so it is not problem. But..."

He trailed off, wondering how he could say what he was thinking.

"It is not issue for now, but I want to see how disrupter and brainwaves affect contamination. Of course, we need to stop Montrose first. But Renta did not seem in as much pain when we were on the ship. It made me wonder if your special brain helped."

Leese looked up, a little surprised. She hadn't really noticed that, but Fenrick was more sensitive to that sort of thing than she was.

Right now he seemed highly distracted. Leese wondered if it was the fact that they had left Vanya and Renza behind, or the fact that he learned about Montrose drinking blood. It could be either, or something else entirely. She didn't know, and she didn't have time to worry about it. That fact alone bothered her, but they would all have time to unpack all of the emotional trauma after the threat was dealt with.

"I messaged Hanabelle, so we should have an escort when we land. I trust her to take care of the Nocturne as well, but maybe help me lock the computers up before we leave," she said with a sigh.

Hanabelle wouldn't steal information for any nefarious purposes, but she was always curious, and would no doubt want to read about how the stealth ship worked.

"She'll also give us a place to stay. I'll explain Renza's plan when we meet up with her, so we can go over it once and be done. For now, we need to focus on getting back planet side. This is a good ship, but I might need your help figuring out the atmospheric re-entry procedures, Kas."

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya had expected to be punched. She had not expected to be thrown. She let out a yelp of surprise and pain as she slammed into Renza and went down in a tangle of arms and legs. She hit her head on something--hopefully not Renza--and blinked. There was something she was supposed to be doing.

A voice that sounded suspiciously like Kas' was shrieking, "Get up, stupid! Get up!"

Vanya's eyes widened, and she tried to scramble away, but Morei was on her before she could figure out how. She thought maybe he might grab her collar or something, but when he grabbed her neck, she went rigid. It lasted for just a second before her survival instincts kicked in, and she hissed and spat like an angry cat, clawing at his hands.

But it was Renza who saved the day, and she gasped, even though he hadn't exactly been squeezing. Vanya snarled, ready to go kick the Ferendin while he was down, but Renza pulled her backwards to him.

The door to the habitat exploded inward, and Vanya remembered that this was a pretend fight and they had bigger problems to worry about. She pressed back against Renza, snarling at Morei as if she were trying to protect the civilian and too beat up to do much besides bare her fangs.

A squad of armored vampires rushed in, and two popped into existence behind Renza and Vanya. The rest surrounded Morei, their guns trained on him even though he was unarmed. Assuming he was human, one of them yelled at him in English to put his hands on his head and get on his knees.

"Agent Zmey, are you alright?" one of the space philos behind her asked.

Vanya rubbed a sleeve across her nose as if it were bleeding and nodded. "I'll live. The priest is worse off, though. Don't kill him," she added, nodding to Morei.

She wasn't really sure of the plan, but she was pretty sure Morei dying was not part of it. She glanced at their insignias, looking for the one that said which ship they were marines on. When she found it, she cursed under her breath. Of course it had to be the Dark Nova. Because it couldn't be captained by someone who actually liked her a little bit. Escaping had just gotten a whole lot harder.

Vanya wished she and Renza shared a language the vampires behind them did not.

"Do you need help getting aboard?" the space philos asked, switching languages for Renza's benefit.

"No, we can manage." Vanya rocked to her feet and turned, holding a hand out to Renza. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a vampire approaching Morei with handcuffs. They looked like dampening cuffs, which made her shudder. Had they thought they would have to use those on her?

"It's OK, Father Richtail," she said, trying to let him know with her eyes that they were in real deep trouble. "We've been rescued."

"Yes, you have," agreed a dry voice behind her. "And you have a lot of explaining to do, Zmey."

If nepotism had a physical form, it would be that of Andrei Sylvestr. He looked a lot like his cousin, Pyotr, though a tad younger and darker haired. He never would have risen to admiral if Pyotr hadn't made sure of it--or, at least not so quickly. As much as Vanya would never admit it, Andrei was cunning and had charisma. He was good at his job, if a tad ruthless.

"Maybe you can get Father Richtail something warm to drink before you begin the interrogation?" Vanya suggested, trying and failing to not be antagonistic.

Andrei's eyes flashed, but he looked Renza up and down, taking in his priest's attire. He glanced over at the human his marines had surrounded and were attempting to cuff. "And who is this?"

Vanya subtly elbowed Renza. This was all him.






"What?" Kas said, his face flushing and his eyes wide. "No! I don't like her!" He paused, a realization hitting him. "Oh, you mean like friends. Yeah. I guess. As friends. I like her as friends. But I don't like like her."

The last bit was said a bit like a sulky child and therefore lost some of it's credibility.

He frowned slightly at Fenrick. He wasn't sure how he felt about his "special" brain being able to help Renza. Mostly he just worried about the kid now that he was off with another Ferendin. He also hoped Fenrick wasn't thinking of him as a possible cure in the same way Morei had thought of him as a secret weapon. He just didn't think it would work. It was just a weird biology quirk that had developed after meeting the vampires--well, some claimed they had had it long before then, which went along with the old vampire stories--and helped humans combat vampire sight.

Kas chuckled. "Well, I think Vanya has rigged the Nocturne to respond to no one but the three of us. This is a spy ship, if the computer doesn't recognize you, it shuts down and won't be reboot without some sort of ridiculous passcode string. I watched her reboot it one time--it was like a paragraph. It's probably her thesis or something."

Actually, Kas had a feeling it was the names of her family, but he wasn't sure how she had inputted it--birth order, reverse birth order, random?--and wasn't sure if she used their birth dates as well.

"And anyway, it requires bioID, and I have a feeling it only answers to Zmey bioID, so maybe ask your friend to not to get us locked out of our nice stealth ship."

Kas let out a long breath. Right. He knew how to do that.

"Well, the cloaking doesn't work because the shield has to be up," he said, thinking through the one time Vanya had insisted her ship was rated for atmosphere and had given him a lecture on why vampire ships had lower drag values than human ships. He pulled up the manual, which appeared to be written from Yva Zmey to Vanya Zmey. It was very specific about the ship not being able to reach a certain acceleration with the cloaking system running, and Kas wondered this was an argument the two had had. Still, at least the re-entry procedures looks fairly standard beyond handling the cloaking device and the heat redistribution.

"Yeah," he said after a few minutes of scanning the manual. "I got it. How long until we get there?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

The doors burst open and almost immediately, Morei was surrounded by vampires with oddly shaped sticks.

He raised his eyebrows at them, wondering what on earth they were threatening him with. Renza very urgently supplied him with the image of a gun blowing somebody's face off, but all he did was curiously tilt his head to the side. That sounded fascinating. If he was in his original form, would it hurt him? He'd love to go up against one of those guns and see who could win--

Renza was internally cursing at him, so he sighed and followed their instructions. He looked bored more than actually threatened, and he grinned savagely at his captors.

Well, at least he looked intimidating. Renza didn't have time to worry about him, his hands trembling as he clutched at Vanya's sleeve. He didn't want to be too personal, but clearly he was shaken. He needed something to hold on to, something to ground him. Vanya was the closest familiar thing, so he was holding onto her, even if it might be improper.

When the new vampire - goddamnit, he looked almost exactly like the old bastard who had started this - asked who Morei was, Renza licked his lips.

"We don't... We don't know who he is, sir," he said, his voice shaking as he clung to Vanya's sleeve tighter. "We think he's from the rip. Miss Zmey... I... I'm sorry, am I saying that right?"

He was nervous, and overwhelmed, and clinging to the last shred of what he knew to be true.

Inside, he was quickly coming up with a timeline of events. They had to come up with a reasonable misunderstanding to clear Kas' name, while also making use of Fenrick showing himself to the vampires to get Renza back. He also had to relate all this to Vanya, and had no idea how to do that.

He turned his thoughts towards Morei, even though he had a feeling Vanya would not be happy about it. Morei frowned, because Renza had a subconscious image of using him as a telephone, and even not knowing what a telephone was, he was a bit insulted. He was also nowhere near at full strength, but he decided to humour him as he brushed up against the very edge of Vanya's mind.

Complicated. She had too many thoughts, and their energies weren't compatible. Two-way communication would be impossible, but he could try sending a message.

'The priest wants me to send you his plan. I'm not looking in your head, so don't throw a fit.'

Morei glared at the vampires and their strange guns, one eyebrow rising as he wondered if he should allow himself to be taken into custody so easily. It worked for their purposes, but it would look strange, and it also rankled his pride a bit. He did not like being restrained, especially when he was in no condition to break said restraints. He elbowed the man behind him, fighting their attempts to lock him up, though he kept his fight weak. He had suggested just killing everyone here to send a message, but the priest was intent he not do that. He had no idea why.

"I'm sorry, I. I can explain everything, but I'm very tired," Renza admitted, sounding ashamed and frazzled that he couldn't gather his thoughts.


Fenrick blinked, a little surprised by Kas' reaction.

"If you do not like her, you would not be sad about leaving her," he pointed out, though he sounded more confused than anything. "Does like mean something else?"

"He thinks you're implying he's courting her," Leese translated, and Fenrick couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, no! I do not think you are courting!" he exclaimed, though that was more because it seemed like Kas couldn't figure out his own feelings more than anything. They seemed to be in the stage of 'pre-courting', though a look from Leese kept him from expanding on that part.

Best to leave that can of worms alone for somebody else to deal with.

Fenrick quieted down after that. He didn't seem to notice Kas' discomfort, though he was thinking about a lot of things. He was curious about the field given off by Kas' brain, but mostly he was curious about the replication of it. If he could figure out how those disrupters worked, he might be able to compare it with his knowledge of contamination and genetics. It could lead nowhere, but he needed to think about something right now.

If he didn't, he would think about his brother, and he was trying hard to avoid that.

"Hanabelle is a good person, but she doesn't really listen to requests," Leese said with a chuckle. "But if I explain it to her, I'm sure she'll leave it alone for now."

She would undoubtedly pester everybody until she could talk to Vanya herself, but that was a problem for the future.

She settled into the pilot's chair and tried to let herself relax a bit.

"An hour or so before we need to start re-entry procedures," she said, while she watched Serlain pop up from below. The Kaltsrit meowed as she used her tentacles to maneuver her way over to Fenrick, and he startled when she began to climb up his leg. He must really be distracted, Leese thought with a grimace. She should probably talk to him, but she had no idea where to even start.

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya couldn't help but wonder if maybe she should try showing a little more emotion to be convincing. Renza was doing a great job at acting scared--she knew he was faking, but even she felt like maybe she should comfort him and tell him it was alright. But a glance at Andrei's face told her he didn't find anything out of the ordinary. She supposed he expected her to be petulant regardless of the situation.

And anyway, the adrenaline from the day was starting to wear off, and Vanya remembered that she hadn't slept except for that nap she had had in Leese's home. It was going to be fine. Kas and Leese and Fenrick were safely away and she had Renza and Morei and they were going to get away from Sylvestr and his machinations and meet up with the others and save the dimension.

Yeah. That would work.

Vanya felt all the fight drain out of her as Renza explained that they didn't know who this guy was but he was probably from the rip. Ok. So they were talking about the rip. Great. Good to know.

Andrei glanced at her for conformation, so she nodded. She couldn't really negate that. She felt like she was walking through a room so dark even her vampire eyes couldn't make anything out. She wished she had been thinking less of proving she was more of a threat than Morei thought and more of what the plan was. She wished she had been thinking less of making sure the others got away and more about how she was getting back to them.

"From the rip?" Andrei demanded, looking between Renza and Vanya and then glancing over at the shirtless human who was snarling at his marines. "There are people there?"

"Admiral," Vanya said dryly, patting Renza's hand. "Father Richtail is clearly in no condition for an interrogation."

She felt stupid now, for having Renza come with her. She knew that Sylvestr wouldn't just let the priest go and might have gone running after the others if he just had her, but she probably would have been able to strike a deal. Maybe she could have just told him everything. He probably would have let Renza go if she did. Probably.

"I am not interrogating," Andrei said, his tone just showing a hint of irritation--which Vanya considered a solid win. "I am merely trying to determine what is going on here. Are you telling me this man is not human?"

Vanya shrugged, not really sure what to do with that. "He looks pretty human to me."

Andrei considered Morei and then considered Renza. Vanya could practically see the mental shrug as he turned to his marines and said, "Take the prisoner to the brig."

Vanya felt something in her head, like someone had trailed a wet, icy finger down the back of her neck. She shuddered and was not at all prepared for Morei to say something into her mind.

It startled her so much, she grasped at time around her. At the lest millisecond, she remembered Renza was still holding tightly to her. It had been a long day, and her day had started over twenty-four hours ago. She already felt frayed and raw from her panic earlier--which was stupid because Renza had just been being a dork, he didn't know anything.

She just felt stupid. She had just reacted with her emotions then, and then she had dragged Renza and Morei--even if she wanted to get her hands around his neck, she didn't want him in trouble because of her--into another emotional reaction. She should know better, she was a philosopher. She was smarter than this.

But Vanya just wished Kas were there to talk sense into her and she knew it was just her emotions being stupid because of course Kas cared about her, they were friends, weren't they? He didn't mean anything by it. He had just never said anything before and she hadn't really said anything before besides off-handed things and--

Vanya took a deep breath, forcing her thoughts to still. She filed away that to be over-analyzed later. When she wasn't dealing with all this nonsense and the fate of two dimensions was not hanging in the balance. She had to focus on the current problem: dealing with Sylvestr's croonies. Step one: answer Morei.

Vanya shot the Ferendin the dirtiest look she could muster, imagining lasers shooting from her eyes and turning him into a pile of shirtless ash. He said he wasn't reading her thoughts, so she wasn't sure if he would be able to hear a mental reply. But she did her best to organize her mind and shift to English and be as understandable as possible.

Mentally, she shouted, What is it? And you look at my thoughts and I'll rip your throat out.

As the marines started bullying Morei towards the ship, Andrei turned back to Renza and Vanya. "I can give you bunks, of course. But Representative Sylvestr wanted to meet with you first."

Vanya frowned. "The priest and I have just been through--"

"That is what I was to tell you, Zmey. He's in the guest office, come."

Vanya would have liked to say she thought Pyotr would trust his own cousin enough to bring them right to him back on Yassen, but she wasn't really that surprised to learn he had come with. Huffing, Vanya slid a supportive arm around Renza's waist as if she were helping him keep steady. She was, of course, half his height, but she felt a little better and more like she could protect him this way. She had already decided she wasn't going to just leave him. If they did get those bunks they were promised, she would make sure hers was in the same room as his.

"Come on, Father Richtail. We'll go tell his royal assness that you need a nap before he drills you with questions."




Kas only flushed darker as Fenrick pointed out that he was "sad about leaving her". But when Leese translated and Fenrick clarified he didn't think they were courting, that only made it worse. Kas was starting to feel like a stupid school boy whose friends were teasing him about the cute smart kid he sat next to in science class. His defenses were probably having the opposite effect.

He ran a hand across his face as if doing so could wipe away the red. He really hoped they walked out onto Summerfield Spaceport, and Leese's friend met them with, "Guess what, I have a plan to rescue your friends and save the solar system and it's SUPER easy!"

But that was unlikely to happen. He didn't know what Renza was thinking and he didn't like Renza's plan regardless. But the only other thing to do was worry about Vanya and Renza--one of them picking a fight with the wrong person and getting the shit beat out of them. And whatever Vanya had been dreading so much.

Kas glanced around the ship, trying to think of anything but that. He chuckled at Leese. "Well, we'll lock everything down, but I'd be impressed if she could even get on the ship."

Actually, if this person was as good as Leese and Renza seemed to think, he wouldn't be too surprised if she did get on the ship. Impressed, but not surprised.

His eyes fell on Fenrick, and the tension in his shoulders softened. Fenrick looked... not great. At least that was a problem he would do something about. "Hey, Fenrick? You ok, buddy? You seem a little... upset."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Right. Renza wished that they had the time to discuss this beforehand, but he figured that using Morei to beam a rundown of his thoughts into Vanya's head was the next best thing.

He detailed the plan as best he could, which... was not very well.

'We can't hide Ferensen anymore. We need to establish them as an independent country with their own rules and leaders. It will be a political mess in the future, but it's necessary. Don't mention Montrose or anything regarding political discord. We just need to say that there are people in there, and if pressed, we reveal their monarch made contact with us. They're sensitive to radiation, so the lasers fired into the rip were seen as a threat. Once we establish Yasen as the instigators, in their eyes, we can... Christ I don't know,'

Morei didn't even bother translating so he understood what Renza was saying, just replaying the memory of his words to Vanya. He got the gist of the plan earlier. He just thought it was impressive how fast Renza's brain and emotions were working when he showed absolutely none of it on his face.

'Essentially, you and Kas were working with Fenrick to try and control outside elements. According to their culture, he's within his rights to attack first, but he didn't. We need to establish Fenrick is a kind and understanding ruler who wants to solve things peacefully. If we can make him sympathetic and likeable, it'll be better. God, but how do I fit into this. I don't know if we want to let them know about Leese and I. It might be showing our hand too much, but I don't know how else to clarify that. Oh, wait. Leese knew I was sick. She told Fenrick when you, her and Kas met up with him, and he was worried. God that's fucking flimsy, but it's all I've got. He called me his aide because... he was worried about me. No, Leese was worried about me and asked him to do that, and because he knew his people were a risk to the vampires, he did it. You and Kas have been on the same side this whole time, and it was Morei who was the one pursuing us. Sylvestr's information was jumbled, which is understandable, because the situation is far more complex than we first imagined. If we soften the blow to him, it will look more like his information network didn't have all the pieces and made a hasty conclusion, rather than malicious intervention. It would cast doubt on him without making us look like raving lunatics.'

'You're a very good liar,' Morei mused, and he was very impressed by the creative insults Renza threw at him while still looking like a frightened and bereaved victim.

Complicated lies were always a bad idea. It was hard to keep track of them, especially when they had multiple people involved. But it was the only thing Renza could come up with that might be credible to them, so he'd go with it.

Renza clung to Vanya's hand like a frightened child, but his grip was steady as he squeezed it reassuringly. He had slipped up with Pyotr earlier, and the man likely had tapes of it. What did they have on him? They had his threatening Vanya to Fenrick, but that wasn't really viable. Was it?

God, there was a reason Renza never actually got into politics. He was good at this, but the man had decades of experience on him.

He felt a bit like a housecat facing a lion.

"R-right," he said, clearly flustered. "I... I'm sorry. This shouldn't take long, right? I want to get things sorted, but I just... I'm very tired."

He rubbed the bruise on his temple where Morei had punched him. If nothing else, he could keep acting confused. That was... a terrible plan, but it was all he had.


Morei snarled at the vampires who were manhandling him into the brig, and he sneered as he was locked up. They didn't look nearly as frightened of him as they should be. He tested the very limited scope of his power, feeling it flex around him. It wasn't much. The lightbulbs above his head flickered a little, but other than that, there was no great effect. Pathetic.

"If you don't get your hands off me, I'll rip them off and feed them to you," he snarled in Ferendin. Renza may not have been able to control his weird hybrid DNA, but Morei knew how to manipulate Ferens. His teeth were sharp and jagged as he showed them off, even if the physical changes were subtler and much harder to control than usual.



"Probably not," Leese agreed. "But she's creative."

Fenrick stiffened when Kas addressed him, and he tried to put on a confident smile.

"It is fine. I am... I am fine," he insisted, though his voice was unconvincing. He was trying to be fine, but it wasn't really working. He was a bit embarrassed that Kas had picked up on it so fast. He cast a glance towards Leese, but to his surprise she actually stood up.

"Kas, I need to use the loo. Can you watch the autopilot for a minute?" She asked, then slipped out of the room.

She knew Fenrick wouldn't open up as long as she was there. He knew she felt bad about what had happened, and she wanted to give him the room necessary to actually talk about his feelings. She had no idea how to comfort him about the current situation, and this was the only thing she could think to do.

Fenrick watched her leave, chewing his lower lip. After she was gone for a moment, he finally caved in.

"I do not want to kill my brother," he admitted, his voice small. "I did never want to kill him. He is a bad leader, but he is my brother. But... he has ruined himself beyond help. I do not know what to do, to make nobody else get hurt."

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya had... questions.

But there was no time for that. Renza would just have to handle anything that Sylvestr threw at them. Well, she hoped he would. She was starting to think the whole tired act was not, in fact, an act. He hadn't slept super well the night before and Morei had sort of beaten him up. She squeezed his hand back to assure him they would figure this out.

She figured as long as they painted Fenrick in a friendly light and kept somewhat close to the truth while making it clear they were all on the same side, it would be fine. Probably.

Seated behind a military-style desk, Pyotr Sylvestr had his features curled into self-satisfaction when Andrei ushered Renza and Vanya into the office he had taken over. He opened his mouth to say something very cutting about effort expended for naught and ending up back where they started when Vanya beat him to it.

"Before you waste time, it is imperative that you get us back to the others," she said. In politics, her dad had told her, always be the one to set the tone. Don't be on the defensive.

Frowning, Pyotr closed his mouth. That was not what he had expected. "Is there a reason you are being so dramatic?"

Vanya rolled her eyes and Pyotr tried to remind himself that she was just fresh out of adolescence. "We obviously weren't kidnapped--well, until now? That was more a hostage situation, though. Thanks for the assist, Admiral." Here, she nodded at Andrei. Get the others in the room on your side, her father had advised. Andrei nodded back. "Oh! And Father Richtail needs medical attention. I think he may have a concussion."

Vanya wanted to laugh at the look on Pyotr's face. His neutral face tended to look smug, but this expression brought to mind a presenting scientist shuffling through cue cards to see if they helped him answer an audience member's particularly pointed question.

Unfortunately, Andrei came to his cousin's rescue. "The priest says the man we found threatening them was from the rip."

Pyotr flicked his eyes to Renza. "He is? How do you know?"

Andrei cocked his head, listening to something. After a second, he turned his eyes on Pyotr. "Sir, my marines say the man in the brig is not human."

"Not human?"

"Not human?" Vanya echoed for Renza's benefit.

Pyotr stood and came around the desk in a swirl of blue representative robes. "Then let us go see what we can learn from our guest."

"Sir," Andrei said, "it could be unsafe."

Pyotr cast a smug smile over his shoulder at Vanya. "Nonsense. I have the most powerful time philos to protect me. Come, Vanya. You can bring the priest."

Vanya pressed her lips together, trying to not let it throw her off her game. Stay on the offensive. "This is a huge waste of time. You can question him later. Right now you need to get us back to our allies. It's of the utmost political importance. Surely you can understand that."

Without turning around, Pyotr said, "And yet you've failed to tell me why it's important, child."

Vanya tried to refuse to feel small. He always made her feel small and helpless. "And the priest is not well. He may have a--"

"Concussion, yes, you said." Pyotr suddenly rounded on her, and Vanya shrank back against Renza as he towered over her. "The thing about that little trick is that you have to maintain the momentum you build up. You can't just keep repeating the same two demands. Politics aren't your area, child. Leave that to your concussed priest."

He turned around and strode off again, and Vanya could feel her face heating up in shame and frustration. She had told herself she was going to be tough and strong, but here she was cowering at his first attempt to intimidate her.

The door to the brig slid back to reveal several riled marines. They were hissing to each other, trying to figure out why this man had such sharp teeth in his mouth and whether he had energy sight. They all came to attention as the admiral strode in.

"What does he speak?" Pyotr asked, looking the very shirtless man up and down. He didn't look like something he thought would come from the rip.

"Not sure, sir," the marine sergeant said. "It didn't sound like a human language."

"Perhaps he speaks English?" Pyotr eyed all the pockets on Morei's pants. "And why is he wearing cargo pants? Is he friends with the Jaager boy?"

"He attacked us--" Vanya started, but Pyotr ignored her, his eyes on Renza.

"I'm done talking to you. Your skills are sorely lacking so stand over there like a good boy."

"Girl," Vanya said, her voice scratchy. She had only managed because her inner Kas was swearing at Sylvestr for it.

Pyotr cut his eyes to her. "My apologies. Your skills are pathetic, stand over there like a good girl."

"Apology accepted," Vanya said, her lips quirking slightly. She silently thanked English's habit of gendering things and Kas' insistence on getting her gender right in English. It hadn't mattered much to her, but Kas had once insisted that he needed to know the proper pronouns to use when he was threatening her. But Pyotr had made a mistake, and now he had lost momentum.

Pyotr huffed as if he could not believe he had to deal with adolescent vampires all the time. He returned his eyes to Renza.

"Good to have you back," he said a little smugly. "Perhaps you can shed some light on this"--he gestured to Morei--"man from the rip?"





"Yup, sure," Kas said, turning to look at his screen to keep himself from giving Leese an annoyed look as she was abandoning him to help Fenrick on his own. He knew nothing about Ferendin culture beyond the little tidbits they had shared. How was he supposed to be comforting? He toggled the Autopilot over to his control even though he figured it would do its job without much help from him.

When he finally spoke, Kas wasn't actually surprised at the sentiment, but he was surprised that was the first thought. Kas nodded slowly. He remembered one time when Vanya had been off her game and he had asked why, and she had caved and said she had had a fight with Edwin before she left. He hadn't really understood what the fight was about--apparently Edwin had been mad that she was taking it upon herself to protect the whole family instead of asking for help. Ok, so maybe Kas understood what that fight was about now. But she had said something along the lines about how she wanted to strangle him and Kas had asked in horror if she hated her brother. She had looked confused and said she would die for him. In the end, they had paused their fight and she had called Edwin to apologize.

Sibling relationships sounded complicated.

Kas sighed, casting about for words. He was so not good at this. He glanced over at Fenrick and Serlain on his lab. Kas' gut said to go and squeeze Fenrick's shoulder, but his eyes said there was a cat with tentacles over there.

Kas huffed. Fenrick was clearly in a lot of emotional pain. He stood from his chair and crossed to Fenrick's. Sitting on the decking next to Fenrick's seat, Kas squeezed his forearm. Then, after a second of hesitation, he scratched Serlain behind the ears.

Looking up at Fenrick, he decided to address what he said first. "Ok. I think that's admirable of you." Kas hesitated. "So what if we found a solution that involved not killing your brother? And I know you said he can't be helped but... is there a way to like... get him off the blood? In this dimension, people sometimes get addicted to things. It's bad for them, but they need it. So we work to take time to get them off so they don't need it anymore."

He had a feeling that there was more to it than just blood--he had sort of ripped up his own little brother--but that was maybe the first thing they could tackle.

"And you or Morei or someone said something about needing resources. We would be happy to help your people. Maybe for trade or something, but we could tell Montrose that. He might be less inclined to attack."

Kas felt a little like he was drowning and searching for a flotation device. So he just said to Fenrick what he would tell Vanya.

"Fenrick, none of this is your fault. Montrose is responsible for his own actions. But I understand and admire that you still want to save him. He's your brother. And it's unfair of us to ask you to kill him. So I think we should look for a way to stop him but without killing him."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Renza had a headache. He had had a headache for a while now, Morei's presence not helping, but now it was worse than ever. Vanya was right that the tired act was not all an act. He was still upright by the power of stubbornness and adrenaline alone, and sooner or later, those were going to fail him.

When Pyotr asked him how he knew Morei was from the rip, he looked visibly defeated. Like a man who had been caught in a lie and now had no recourse but to tell the truth.

"I... Leese told me," he admitted in a small voice. "She said... I'm sorry, I'm very tired. She, Miss Zmey and Mister Jaeger were investigating an odd signal picked up from the rip, and she said they encountered someone there..."

He closed his eyes and pressed one hand to his head. He was clearly distressed, and the information he could give was halted. He squeezed Vanya's hand back, both for reassurance and to let her know that he wasn't quite as bad off as he seemed.

He also wasn't as well off as he'd prefer, but that could be kept a secret.

Judging by the feeling of smugness coming from his head and the panicked aides running about, Morei seemed to be having fun down below. It was almost a relief when they were dragged down to see him.

The Ferendin warrior was clearly having fun scaring the marines, showing off his sharp teeth and snapping threats at them. Renza's very limited knowledge of Ferendin language told him he was currently giving the marine in front of his cell a very detailed description of how he planned to eat his intestines.

'You know there's poop in those, right?' he thought with a sigh, and regretted it when Morei laughed. Thankfully, that could just as easily have been from the poor Marine's reaction.

'You don't eat intestines raw, othersider. You have to stew them first. It's his fault for being stupid and not knowing that.'

Renza's face didn't change from its worried mask, but he did his best to portray a mental eye-roll.

'What are they saying? They're not using your funny words,' Morei asked next, and Renza had to fight not to shrug his shoulders. He hadn't bothered learning vampire languages, since he had never thought he'd need to use them. At least they switched to English soon enough.

"Oh? Should I show them a little something special?" Morei asked, and then proceeded to not wait for an answer. He followed Pyotr's gaze down to his pants, then snorted and yanked them down. He pulled them off and tossed them at the bars, making a very strange hand gesture that Renza would assume was something rude about sex, if it wasn't for the weird finger wiggling and odd hand positions. At least the meaning of 'fuck off' was clear enough.

"I-- I think he might... He might have found those on the station," Renza tried, because he didn't want Pyotr to have any way of pinning this on Kas. "And Miss Zmey was very helpful! Without her quick thinking, I think we all would have died."

Right. Cast Vanya in a good light. God, he was tired. He wanted to sleep.

"She... We distracted him so Leese and Kas could get away. If not, he would have killed all of us at once, I think."

Renza shrunk under Pyotr's gaze, looking small and nervous.

"This man is boring. Why did we have to get caught by him, anyways? I could just blow up this stupid island," Morei grumbled, clearly having grown tired of watching the show. Since nobody understood his language anyways, there was no point of speaking only by mind anymore.

At least he was still translating for Renza.

"I don't know-- I think he's dangerous, but I don't--"

His eyes widened as a sudden, searing pain hit his head and his stomach, and he stumbled back into the wall. Morei was looking at him with a cool and calculating expression, but he didn't show any signs of having done anything.

'You're sick. Act sick,' he said dryly, and if Renza wasn't clutching one hand to his stomach and trying not to vomit, he probably would have flipped him off.

"I don't think I can--"

He tried to say more, but another flare in his stomach had him doubled over and retching. He felt a little bad that Vanya had cooked for him, because now it was all over the floor.

Morei smirked.

"I think your friend needs to lie down," he said to one of the marines, tone conversational.



Fenrick looked a little startled when Kas walked over, then practically crumpled into him as soon as he was shown the slightest bit of physical comfort. Physical affection was only common among equal peers, and Fenrick didn't have many of those. It had been a long time since someone had truly touched him without the intent to hurt.

"I am sorry," he mumbled, because Kas was certainly going to be uncomfortable and think he was weak. Serlain purred and rubbed her head against his chest, then pushed it against Kas's nearby forearm. Fenrick found his eyes welling up, and he sniffed as he wiped them and then stared down at his hand. "Everything is blurry. Why is water in my eyes?"

He hated how his voice wobbled a bit.

"I don't... We have never found other solutions," Fenrick said quietly after a moment. The idea of helping Montrose had never occurred to him. "We have never tried to get off of blood before. People on blood are violent, and we..."

He bit his lip, closing his eyes.

"You will think we are very bad people. But if someone is sick, they die. They don't need to eat. More food is for the rest in colony. Warriors hunt meat, so healers help them, but if somebody is sick and dangerous... it is better they are gone. Sick people need food and care. They need water... All water is for children. We don't have enough for sick people."

It felt kind of raw to really open up about this, but just the small amount of time he had spent with Kas and Vanya had told him that vampire and human culture was very, very different to what he was used to.

"It is best for everyone if he dies, but I don't want that. I want to have enough water and energy for all my people, and I want my brother to get better. I want to have a place like Albackee or Yasen where people can get better if they are sick."

He rubbed furiously at his eyes, knowing that he wasn't making a lot of sense.

"I am sorry. I am not... I am making you comfort me, when we have important things to do."

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya knew that Renza was acting, but she didn't know how much was an act. She couldn't help resting her other hand on his shoulder when he winced in pain. She kept close to him, hovering by his elbow like an anxious shadow.

Andrei and Pyotr both eyed Morei with curiosity and wariness. That changed of course when he removed the little clothing he wore. Both admiral and representative looked personally offended.

Vanya let out a short strained laugh, and they both glanced at her. She tried to cut it off, but all she could think of what Kas' embarrassment of Morei's lack of pants. But then she wished desperately that he was there to cover her eyes and act all awkward, and the laughter died into something that sounded like she was choking. Oh, hell, she could not be getting emotional in front of Pyotr Sylvestr.

Pyotr slid his eyes to Vanya for the briefest second when Renza insisted that they would have died without her. Somehow, he doubted that, but he allowed, "Miss Zmey has her uses."

Vanya bristled at both of those insults, but she didn't really have a good comeback for either. And she wished she knew what Morei was saying. She figured it was mostly insults, but she still didn't like not knowing.

All her concerns evaporated when Renza doubled over. Was he faking? This didn't look like faking. She gripped his arm. "Renza?"

All hesitancy dissipated as soon as he threw up on the deck. She crouched next to him, rubbing his back and crooning softly while his stomach attempted a coup. She looked up and glared at the two Sylvestrs watching Renza with curiosity. Clearly they'd never seen a human throw up before. It was a lot less red.

She flashed her fangs at the pair of them. "He's sick! I told you! And you assholes didn't listen! He needs a doctor right now!"

"Admiral," Pyotr said lightly.

Andrei inclined his head. Then he turned and gestured for one of the marines to get Renza. The big vampire lifted the priest with apparent ease and began following his admiral to the med bay. Vanya squeezed Renza's hand and started to follow.

"Vanya, a word," Pyotr said, and Vanya froze.

The marine carried Renza up to the medical bay where a doctor fussed at the lot of them. She got him hooked up to some machines--which beeped in alarm as his non-vampire vitals, and the doctor grumbled while her tech helped her re-calibrate it for humans.

"I'm going to give you some anti-nausea pills for your stomach," she told him once she had confirmed with a medical text that it was safe for humans. "May I examine you?"






Vanya shifted her feet. "I need to tend--"

"He'll be fine." Pyotr jerked his chin at the remaining marines. "Don't you have posts to get to."

The marines quickly saluted and hurried from the brig. Vanya thought about making a break for it, but there weren't many places to hide on a ship. Pyotr took a step towards her, and she reflexively took a step back. But he only stepped around her and strode over to a wall terminal. He tapped something, and with her stomach twisting in knots, she realized he was turning off the cameras in the brig.

"What really happened?"

Vanya glanced nervously at Morei and realized she trusted some guy from a whole other dimension whom she had met thirty minutes ago more than one of her own species whom she had known nearly her whole life. But she also figured Sylvestr was doing this down here in front of him for a reason.

She resolved to be her usual petulant self. "We told you. And what does it matter anyway? You twist the story into whatever you want."

Pyotr allowed himself a small smile. "No, just what serves Yasen." He ignored her rolled eyes. "Besides, since you seemed to care more about the Jaager boy than your family..." He shrugged casually. "Yva was frantic."

"Do not speak her name you sorry excuse for sentience," Vanya snarled, her resolve shattering as it always did when he mentioned her mother.

Pyotr smiled again. "Abandoning your own mother for some human boy."

Vanya flung her arms wide. "That's not what this is about! This is about the entire dimension!"

"That is one thing your mother and I disagree on," Pyotr continued in what Vanya knew was his "fatherly" tone. It always rubbed her the wrong way. "That Jaager boy is nothing but trouble. He compromises your effectiveness."

Vanya wanted to scream. This wasn't fair. Finally she had a friend who didn't treat her like a traitor--to her family, to Yasen, to philosophy, whatever--and Pyotr wanted to take that away from her.

"I'm not going to hurt him--you can't make me," she hissed.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Pyotr said. "I thought I'd just have him assassinated."

Vanya panicked. She fell backwards out of time and crouched down in the time-less zone, trying to not cry. She was tired and stressed, and she just wanted to go back to her ship and take a nap in her bunk. She could not deal with this right now. She needed to get back and check on Renza and make sure he was okay so she could get the both of them back to the others all in one piece. She would deal with Sylvestr and his assassination threats later. She ran her sleeve across her eyes and rose shakily to her feet. Without thinking, she slipped past Sylvestr.

And was yanked back into time. One non-second she was walking past him, and the next second she was being thrown to the ground. She smacked her hands hard on the deck, yelping as she tried to break her fall.

"Well that was foolish."

Vanya squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain shooting up and down her spinal cord. He had done that once before, when he had first come to her after her graduation, and she had forgotten about it. She didn't know how he did it. As best as she could tell, he couldn't leave time like she could. But it was almost like he could see her--or predict where she would be. She didn't know how it worked. But having someone else drag her back into normal entropy was excruciating.

Pyotr gave her a few seconds to recover before he crouched next to her and grabbed her chin. "Look at me."

Vanya could hardly keep her vision from spinning, much less focus on something. But she knew his grip would only get harder if she didn't do what he said.

Once her eyes were on him, he asked, very quietly, almost conversationally, "Are you going to take care of your problem or do I need to do it for you?"

Vanya had told herself she would never beg. She was too proud for that, had too much self-respect. But this was Kas. "Please."

Pyotr scoffed and pushed her head away as he rose. "People will only disappoint you, Vanya. You let that boy too close--let your emotions get involved. You're only opening yourself to betrayal."

Vanya knew that wasn't about her and Kas anymore, but at least on that front she was wise enough to keep her mouth shut. Her resolve not to let Morei see her weak and beaten was entirely forgotten. Knowing from experience that getting up too soon would only get her slapped back down, she sat back on her heels, keeping her head bowed so her hair afforded her some privacy. "Don't make me do this. I'll do whatever else you want. Please."

He laughed. "Oh, that is a stupid offer, my child."

"Please, Pyotr," she said, hating how pathetic her voice sounded.

He turned on her. "What? You think calling me by my given name is going to elicit some sort of sympathy with your stupidity?"

Vanya spread her arms as if opening herself to attack. "Then what would you have me call you?"

They stared at each other for several long seconds. Pyotr looked away first. "You're willingness to break all your personal rules for this boy just shows how compromised you are. You are useless to me if you'll follow some human around like a lost dog."

Vanya swore she would never cry in front of him, but she could feel a sob clawing up her throat.

"He's only going to hurt you later, so really I'm doing you a favor. Now. Are you going to do it, or shall I?"

Vanya choked down the sob.

"Well? That wasn't a rhetorical question."

"I'll do it!" she nearly shouted, feeling a wave of nausea washing over her.

Pyotr allowed himself a small smile. "Good. You know how best to hurt him. But keep in mind if it's not done to my satisfaction, I'll finish the job and it will be a permanent solution."

Vanya bowed lower over her knees, trying desperately not to cry. "Can I go?"

He stood in silence for just a few seconds before jerking his head towards the door. "Go. Tend to your priestly friend."

Vanya staggered up and ran from the brig.

Pyotr watched her go before turning back and looking Morei as if just remembering he was also there.

"Children," he said with a shrug. "They can be so stubbornly stupid sometimes."

He eyed Morei for a minute. "And then there's you. I think you can understand me. The other one--the prince? He could understand me. I think you're just playing stupid."

Pyotr paused, clasping his arms behind his back. "So, why are you here? What do your people want? You were going to attack my ship. Are you here to start a war?"




Vanya staggered back into time. Some minutes had passed for her. She guessed from her throbbing headache she had been in the time-less zone for a good twenty minutes. She wiped at her eyes, but then thought it probably didn't matter if Renza noticed she had been crying. She didn't really care anymore. She wasn't some tough intelligence agent. She was just a stupid philosopher that had been blackmailed into being a politician's personal spy. And now she was going to have to remove the only person who really knew her and that she wasn't constantly lying to from her life for his own safety.

She wanted to call her mom and sob over the coms but she couldn't tell her mom. Her mom would only blame herself--or worse, be horrified that her child had ended up in the very life she had worked so hard to keep her out of. She wanted to get her dad's advice but he would only try to stop Sylvestr and get trampled. And she wasn't about to burden Edwin. And the twins were twelve.

He had purposefully isolated her. She had no one to turn to. She was isolated from her family by her constant lies, isolated from her field of study by her "decision" to go into special operations. And now isolated from her only friend. She was alone, and she didn't really feel like caring anymore.

But she still had a job to do. Vanya scrubbed her sleeve across her eyes and pushed into the infirmary. The doctor looked up from tending Renza and immediately tutted. She maneuvered Vanya into a chair by Renza's bedside and--partially-correctly assuming Vanya had been in a fight--gave her a warm lidded-mug of blood to sip.

Vanya took a sip of the blood and let the warmth settle in her stomach. She started to think maybe they'd get out of this Ok. "How are you feeling?"






Kas was a little surprised when Fenrick sagged against him, but he had to admit he kinda needed a hug, too. He rubbed the back of Fenrick's head as soothingly as he knew how.

"No sorry," Kas said when Fenrick apologized. He did have to chuckle a little when Fenrick asked why water was coming out of his eyes. "Those are tears. When our species are hurting, we cry to make us feel better. It's perfectly normal."

Kas considered quietly. "It sounds like you are low on resources, and your species is just doing everything it can to survive. Mine has enough resources. We can try to save those we love."

He kept rubbing Fenrick's back, just listening him. "Yeah, well, sometimes we do things that are good for just one person because we love them." Kas sighed. "Like how I just wanted Vanya to come with us--how I want to make sure she's safe above all else."

It felt a little uncomfortable to admit that, but he needed Fenrick to understand that it might not be logical, but that didn't make it bad. "And like how Vanya nearly died making sure I got out of the place she goes when she disappears. Sometimes we do things because we love people, not because it makes sense, and that's not wrong."

Kas hesitated. "I'm not sure about this, or anything, but the vampires might have something on Yasen that could help with a blood addiction. Well, I mean, I'm sure they do, but it might be more equipped to help your brother than an Albaquese rehab center. It might not be perfect, but I'm sure they'd be willing to try."

He squeezed Fenrick's arm again. "Hey, no, I'm happy to comfort you. Sometimes you have to pause the mission and help out your teammate. That's just as important. I care about you, and I want you to be okay. So I'm happy to comfort you. If you ever need it, you can walk up to me and say, 'I need comfort'. And as long as I'm not, like, in a life or death situation, I'll be happy to comfort you however you need."

He tweaked Fenrick's ear. "We're going to figure out a way to help your people. But first we have to start gathering stuff to trap your brother so we can help him. So let's focus on that step first. So we need to get to the station, meet with Leese's friend, and then we can go from there. Ok? We're just going to take this big task and break it down into steps. Then do one step at a time. And if you ever need me, I'm right here for you. Sound good? You with me?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Renza hated hospitals. He had always hated them, and lately it seemed that he was spending far too much time in one med bay or another. If he didn't still feel dizzy and nauseous, he would probably curse his own luck.

He tried not to lean on the vampire who was escorting him, trying to recall what little he knew of their social customs, but he quickly gave up.

His biology had more or less stabilized over the years, but that didn't mean that he understood it, or how to control it. Morei had taken his genetics and adapted to them like a fish in water, and it was frustrating. The man had a fraction of his original abilities, and he had still been able to manipulate the energy in Renza's body enough to push him that much closer to other. It made him weak and dizzy, and more importantly, it terrified him.

He was human. He had never wanted to be anything else. He had managed to cope with it for most of his life, but lately it seemed that the world was pushing him farther and farther away from his familiar origins, out into a world that he didn't understand.

With war looming on the horizon, he didn't even have the luxury of being afraid, or panicking, or facing it in any way. He just had to sit there as a big bastard scorpion pushed magic into his brain and played him like some he was an unfamiliar instrument. It sucked.

When the vampire asked to examine him, he hesitated. He shouldn't have, because it was suspicious, but he needed to think.

Nausea meant she would probably have to look at his stomach. He could feel that the anatomy there wasn't quite right, and he didn't want anyone to see it. He tried to call for Morei in his mind, but they were too far apart to communicate. That meant he had nobody to manipulate the ferens he was saddled with, and he had no idea how to do it himself. Bastard. Why had he kicked him out of the room like that? Maybe trusting him had been a mistake. Renza was starting to feel very out of his depth, and it wasn't a feeling he liked or was used to.

"Yes, of course," he said finally, his voice weak. He tried to focus, but he had no idea what he was doing.

The left side of his abdomen was badly bruised, patches of purple and yellow blooming over the skin. The lower part of his stomach was the problem area, and he thanked the clergy for the high-waisted trousers they considered part of their 'uniform'. It wouldn't stall for long.

On his side, near the level of his navel, there was a hard black bulge sitting just beneath the skin. It wasn't overly large or noticeable, but it was something humans definitely did not have. His skin itself had parted, forming a rather gross-looking slit for the protective plating to slide out of. Or, he was guessing. He hadn't actually studied Ferendin anatomy enough to actually know how any of it worked.

"I just, erm. I would prefer to keep my pants on," he said, sounding shy and embarrassed as he fidgeted with his blanket. "If that's not a problem."

Vanya came in then to save him, and he hid his relief as easily as he hid every other emotion... but he couldn't help it if his shoulders relaxed a few milimetres.

"Miss Zmey," he said with a sigh, running his fingers through his sweat-slicked hair. His face was pale and clammy, and he wasn't faking the trembling of his hands. At least Morei wasn't poking around his energy vessels or whatever the hell they were anymore. "A little bit like I got beaten up by a big mean alien."

He cracked a smile, but it was a bit weaker than usual.

"Did they... Are they still down there? I hope those bars are enough to hold him..."


Morei leaned back in his cell, lounging against the wall as Pyotr addressed him.

He had absolutely no idea what he was saying. He had underestimated how much power this stupid squishy body could handle, and trying to reach out to the little hybrid's brain from the other side of the ship wasn't working. He could, perhaps, try and slide into the vampire's brain in front of him...

He remembered how strange Vanya's thoughts had felt, and wrinkled his nose. He hadn't even touched this man's mind, but he knew it wasn't a place he would like to be. It would probably feel slimy.

"Sorry, my translator's gone. You can talk at me all you like, but I have no idea what you're saying," he said dryly. "You sure were viscious to the little one, whatever you said. I never understand people like you. If you want to hurt somebody, you can just stab them. You don't need to use twisted words."



Fenrick sniffled, then grimaced. His head felt stuffy, and he didn't like it.

"I do not like this tears," he said, his voice wobbly. "It feels like there is... fibre in my head."

He wiped his eyes again, then forced a small smile.

"You are very good at this," he said with a small laugh. "When you speak, I think it is ok. That everything will be good. It makes me... Hopeful? I do not know word."

His smile softened into something wistful, and he rested his head on Kas' shoulder. He was warm, and it felt a little bit like hugging a heater. He wondered if all humans ran this warm.

"You are... fast to care. But it is nice. I care too. I want to save Vanya, and Renta. I want to save my brother, and my people. I want to do many things. It feels... over filling? Flowing? Too much," he admitted. He had felt like he was covered in dirt and couldn't dig his way out. He had tried to decide which one of his goals was doiable, and the choice had been killing him.

But Kas thought he could do all of them, and it made something in his chest feel just that much warmer.

"Steps. I like that. I can do that. We will get things, and then we will save Vanya and Renta. I can do that."

 

[Reynarda]

The doctor fussed like a mother hen over Renza, determined to make sure her human charge was healthy. She glanced at him in amusement when he said he wanted to keep his pants on. Patting his arm, she assured him, “You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before.”

She was wrong, of course, but she acquiesced to his wishes. She did palpitate the right side of his abdomen to make sure it wasn’t something dire like appendicitis. Her hands hovering over his abdomen, she frowned slightly. There was definitely something off about the energy within his body.

For her part, Vanya sipped her blood in contemplative silence. She did smile at his attempt to joke, not sure if his shakiness was faked or real.

“Do humans have strange energies?” the doctor asked, glancing at Vanya.

Vanya glanced at Renza, realizing the doctor must be an energy philos. She guessed they should probably hide the alien hybrid bit, but she wasn't sure how to go about that. She shrugged. "I'm not sure. Humans are weird."

Humming thoughtfully to herself, the doctor turned back to Renza. "We should get you to a human doctor as quickly as possible."

Vanya nodded in agreement, though she figured they could do little to help. "He probably needs rest more than anything, Doctor."

The doctor nodded, resting her hands on her hips. "Well, signal if you need anything."

Vanya thanked her and waited until she was gone. Once she was, she turned back to Renza, rubbing her forehead. "I have no idea if the cell can hold him, but we don't have many options. Sylvestr's probably going to try to get what he can, but when our big mean friend less-than helpful, he'll come back to you."




Pyotr frowned when the man from inside the rip spoke a language he didn't understand. So either he didn't understand what he was saying, or he was just being difficult. Either way, Pyotr wasn't sure he was going to accomplish much talking to this man.

But something about all this just wasn't adding up. He slid his eyes to the door both Renza and Vanya had left through. Normally he would corner Vanya and make threats, but he had already pushed her pretty close to breaking. He didn't actually want her broken, that would reduce her usefulness. That left the priest, but he was apparently quite ill--for completely unknown reasons. And ship's doctors tended to be stubborn, unyielding sorts. And there was only so far that he could overstep before his cousin would start getting annoyed.

He slid his eyes back to Morei, trying to see if there was anything in the next few minutes that could aid him. But it looked like the man from the rip was likely to either say nothing or keep making what Pyotr could only assume were salty comments in his own language. And anyway, Pyotr could feel a headache coming on.

"Well, perhaps stewing in here for a bit will change your mind," he said before turning and striding out.




Kas chuckled. "Yeah, well, it's good for you. You usually feel better after a cry. But yeah, that's all the mucus and stuff that gets trapped in your head."

He flushed a little, rubbing the back of his neck. "Nah, it's just. We'll figure something out."

Kas rubbed Fenrick's back as he rested his head against him again. He sighed. He supposed he was a little "fast to care". He wasn't supposed to care about the problem agent he had been sent to deal with. But it wasn't his fault she had turned out to be terrible at her job. And it wasn't his fault that Fenrick was dorky and adorable and clearly needed help.

Vanya had once accused him of being too much of a hero and wanting to save everybody. He supposed that was true.

"All of those are good goals," Kas agreed. He slapped Fenrick lightly on the back. "Good, glad to hear you can do that. Let's get on it, shall we?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Renza gave the doctor a shy smile, hoping she would understand his reluctance. The last thing he wanted was to be treated like a fancy science experiment when people found out he wasn't normal.

"I'm sure the Representative will get me to a human doctor as soon as we land," he assured her with a small smile, watching for a reaction. He hoped to know at least where they were going, but that was a crapshoot. As long as they didn't go through the rip itself, Renza figured they would be ok.

Once the doctor left, he practically deflated. He knew better than to speak openly, because even infirmary walls had ears if the one listening was powerful enough.

"Yes, well. I'm not certain what other information I can give him," he said, trying to keep his tone neutral. "Although I do wonder exactly where we're going. It would probably be best to get that thing off the ship as soon as possible."

He gave Vanya a look, subtly drawing his fingers across his mouth like a zipper. They needed to be careful. It was difficult to communicate, and that only made a stressful situation even worse. He wished he hadn't blown cover with Pyotr earlier, but as long as he kept it with everyone else, he might be able to leverage that. Maybe.

They needed whatever they could get, at this point.

"I hope the maintenance staff aren't too bothered by the, er, vomit," he added shyly. "I just... I haven't been feeling well. My chronic nasuea has been getting worse."

Urgh, was that a good way to say that Morei was messing with the stability of his genes? He had no idea. At least the other man had stopped for now, and Renza was back to feeling somewhat stable.



Morei watched Pyotr leave, leaning back against the side of his cell.

Annoying. So annoying. He didn't see why he couldn't just blow this ship out of the sky, but he trusted the little prince and his weird pet. Or rather, he trusted Keleesa. She had always been better at navigating the confusing world of court politics than he was.

He had a feeling these humans and vampires would put their court politics to shame, from what little he'd seen already. They were devious little creatures.

For the time being, he supposed he should poke around. The ability granted by this body was minuscule, but he had good senses, and he knew how to maneuver what little power he had.

Like a psychic limb, he reached out with his power, testing the bars of the cell. Solid, and meant to hold creatures stronger than the squishy thing he was now. Meant to withstand ferens, or some version of it. Not royal guard proof, but strong enough to keep him held for the time being. Annoying, but not unexpected.

The materials the floating island was made of were... strange. Not rock, nor plant. They weren't carved, either, and the technology spoke of resources far greater than his people would ever have. They may have been able to manage it once, but the golden age of their home was long gone, and their sciences were directed at the biological and the mineral.

He sat down on the floor, heaving a sigh.

"Send someone in, I want to scare them," he grumbled. He could feel people passing by outside the door, brushing up against their minds briefly. Not enough to push through, just to test the defences. Stronger than the priest, but not impenetrable. Some stronger than others. Interesting.



Fenrick gave Kas a disgusted look.

"I do not like... mucus," he grumbled, trying to figure out what that word meant. He decided it was a part of vampire anatomy he could do without.

Leese came back up then, pretending to be completely oblivious. At the sight of her, Fenrick sat up straighter, trying to hide any possible sign of weakness. She deliberately didn't look at him, or the redness around his eyes. If she brought attention to it, he would clam up, and never allow himself to be vulnerable around Kas again. She felt bad for pinning the role of emotional support on the human without warning, but Fenrick would never show that level of emotional weakness with his people. Not when they needed him to be a prince again.

"Yes, let's get on with this," she said, stretching until her back cracked. "How far are we from Albaques? An hour or so, at light speed?"

 

[Reynarda]

The doctor just smile and squeezed Renza's shoulder. She didn't hold Pyotr Sylvestr in much esteem--though, his cousin was alright. Still, if she had anything to say about it, they would find a human doctor and have him looked at.

Vanya frowned at his hand motions. Right. This was not a good place to talk. She hadn't liked Morei in her head, but it did have its benefits.

Shrugging, she pulled out her tablet and connected with the ship's system. Admiral Sylvestr hadn't locked her out because she was a rescue, not a prisoner. "Looks like we're headed to Yassen."

Vanya frowned. That wasn't very smart. If Morei turned out to be extremely dangerous, taking him to Yassen was a bad idea. And Andrei Sylvestr was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them. On her tablet, she typed out, "I think we're going to the military base on the moon" and showed it to him.

Vanya was not sure if that were better or worse. "Looks like we will be arriving in just a little bit."

She frowned. He had chronic nausea? She thought it was--oh. Right. His unstable DNA. But why was it acting up now? Was it being near Morei?

Vanya stared at Renza, eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what he was trying to communicate. Come on, she chided herself. You're a philosopher. You should be able to figure this out.

After a few seconds, she gave up. It probably had something to do with Morei. She glanced around, not sure what to do. "Should I... go make sure the prisoner is secure? Would that... make you feel less nervous?"

She wasn't sure that she liked the idea of leaving Renza alone, but if Morei needed to be yelled at, she was happy to do it. Pyotr had made her feel powerless and she wanted to lash out at something.





Kas chuckled. "Yeah, most people don't like it, but it's necessary. It keeps us from getting sick."

He registered the change that came over Fenrick when Leese returned. Right. Fenrick was a prince. He couldn't show any weakness. Winking at him to let him know his secret was safe with him, he gave Fenrick a light punch on the shoulder.

"Yeah, a little less than that," he told Leese as he returned to his seat. "We'll need to start slowing soon, and I'll switch from cloak to shield in about thirty minutes."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Morei was surprisingly quiet for the rest of the trip. Renza wasn't sure whether that was a blessing or a curse, and was starting to regret taking him with them. Fenrick seemed to think that he was trustworthy, if nothing else, but Fenrick was also a marshmallow. He had all but forgiven his psycho brother for tearing his eye out in front of a crowd of people. Renza didn't trust his judgement on people whatsoever.

As it was, he had more important things to worry about.

He had declined Vanya's very kind offer to go yell at Morei, if only because he didn't really want to be alone right now. He hated feeling weak, but she was the only constant in a situation that was quickly spiralling out of his control.

Knowing they were going to the military base was not comforting, but at least it was information.

He wasn't entirely sure what to expect when they arrived. Heavily armed vampires, probably. If he didn't already have some kind of weird alien ulcer, he was certain this trip was going to leave him with one.


Atmosphere re-entrance was never something Leese enjoyed. The ship was advanced enough to make it... not easy, but at least not frighteningly difficult, which was a blessing. Leese would take any blessings she could get these days.

Once the stressful part was over, and they were set to be received by the spaceport, she allowed herself two seconds to relax. Just two, because she didn't want her nerves too dulled when they met up with Hanabelle, but enough so that she no longer felt like her fingers were going to bore holes into the armrest with how tightly she was clenching it.

The spaceport was... rowdy. It was kind of nice, because Leese was used to rowdy.

She breathed in a deep sigh as they stepped off the ship into chaos, taking in the smells of gasoline and piss and tobacco smoke like it were refreshing. There were people milling about all over the place, two men fighting over by the terminal buildingwhile a crowd jeered around them. Fenrick looked like he had just set foot on an alien planet (which wasn't really wrong she supposed) but Leese felt more comfortable than she had since they had been at her satellite home.

She did feel a little bad for Fenrick, though. He looked kind of overwhelmed, and Leese patted him on the shoulder as the crew who had helped with the landing looked over the ship greedily. A warning look scared them off easily enough. It was definitely helped by the gravelly voice that came from the terminal.

"You guys made it! Awesome."

The woman who spoke clapped her hands together, a grin on her freckled face as she looked Kas and Fenrick over like a predator evaluating her prey.

She certainly looked predator enough. She wasn't particularly tall or muscular, but she carried herself with the confidence of somebody who wouldn't back down from a fight, and the people around her seemed to look on her with respect. Her leather jacket and jeans were well worn, the former covered with patches and symbols that Leese didn't even want to know the meaning of. Leese had no idea what kind of criminal connections Hanabelle had in this place, but the way she told it, her superiors looked the other way as long as her actions were for the good of the planet as a whole.

Her long, blond hair was tied back into a tight braid that whipped behind her in the wind, the flyaway strands that usually framed her freckled face dancing wildly. She grinned at Leese, who grinned back, and the two of them shook hands.

"Been a while," Leese greeted, and Hanabelle shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe if you didn't turn down all the jobs I offered you, you'd see me more often," she shot back with a sly grin that Leese easily dismissed.

"That doesn't work because I know you, Belle. I'm not crazy enough to take the kind of work you'd send my way."

The last job she had done for Hanabelle had ended with Leese very nearly getting stabbed by a weapons smuggler while they were grappling in zero gravity. When she complained later, Hanabelle had refused to pay her extra, because 'you didn't actually get stabbed, though.'

That didn't mean they weren't friends. While Leese hadn't known her as long as she'd known Renza, Hanabelle had managed to make herself at home in both of their lives, and she was one of the few people they trusted with the truth.

"So, you must be the Jaager boy, huh?" Hanabelle said, her attention finally settling on the two men. "And you must be Fenny. Nice to meet you, finally."

Fenrick puffed out his cheeks at the nickname, a frown coming to his face.

"My name is Fenrick," he clarified, but Hanabelle quickly waved him off.

"You know, you're more handsome than I expected. I don't know why, because your mom is, like, one of the hottest people I know, but for some reason I thought you'd be all gangly. Glad to see that's not the case," she rambled, looking Kas over approvingly. "You look like you can handle yourself, at least, so that's a relief. Come on, then, kids. My car's waiting out front. Nobody'll touch your ship, so we might as well chat in a place that smells better than this."

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya sat next to Renza for the remainder of the trip. She mostly stared into her empty mug and tried not to panic. She almost wished Renza had wanted her to go down and yell at Morei. It would have given her something to do other than wonder if Kas, Fenrick, and Leese were alright. Or wonder how this was all going to go.

She still had her comms in her pocket. She almost took it out and messaged Kas. Even though they mostly just messaged each other taunts or an off-handed check to make sure the other was still among the living, it was almost reflex. But Sylvestr's threats stilled her hand. If she were to make sure Pyotr didn't hurt him, messaging him was not the way to begin.

As they drew closer, Vanya pulled up the ship's external cameras. As she had suspected, they were entering the orbit of Yasen's surviving moon. With a sigh, she leaned back in the chair. Now they would be fetched and ferried down on the shuttle. Or so she thought. Instead, the cameras showed that the pilot had no intention of doing that. Instead, the moon grew larger, and Vanya realized they were not orbiting. They were landing. The ship was larger than most that landed at the military base, but Vanya supposed Drasil must have some docking areas for larger vessels.

The moon did have a small atmosphere, but it still required vacuum suits to facilitate breathing. There were small, greyish scrub plants that grew close to the rocky ground and various microscopic species, but no other life was found on the moon. A large complex was built over on the side of the moon opposite the planet, and ships could be seen dotting the landscape surrounding it.

Vanya watched as the ship touched gently down on a far corner of the complex. She had been there several times before, but each time she had just been passing through. She had no idea where they would end up. Probably Sylvestr would make sure they continued to be "guests" until he had what he wanted.

Once the ship was docked, she switched the view to the camera showing the docking tube. Scowling, she flipped her tablet around to show Renza the welcome committee.

They must have signaled ahead as an entire squadron of vulf-class marines were lined up on the other side of the airlock. Each marine was armed to the teeth with guns of various sorts. They were all very disconcerted by Morei. She didn't blame them, but thought that was a bit much.

"Excuse me, Mr. Priest, Eldest Zmey?"

Vanya looked up to find Reeta smiling uncertainly at them. Vanya made a face. "You still working for Dickhead?"

Reeta flushed. "Eldest, you must not call him such things. He is a representative."

"I'll call him what I want," Vanya groused. But she decided to take pity on Reeta. She always called Vanya by her clan title instead of her degree or occupational title, which Vanya found endearing. "Pardon my crass speech, Youngest Reeta. You've been sent here to fetch us?"

Reeta bobbed a little, eyes darting to Renza. She seemed to have taken a liking to him, Vanya noted.

"Are you well enough to walk, Mr. Priest? Or shall I fetch you a chair?"





Kas... did not like Summerfield. He had been in a lot of seedy places and dens of criminals in the name of his chosen vocation. But this was something else.

He hovered protectively over Fenrick, thinking this was probably too much for him. It smelled bad enough to his nose; he couldn't imagine what Fenrick was smelling.

But he also couldn't help glancing over his shoulder at the guys drooling over his ship. His super secret vampire stealth ship that he was borrowing from his friend. Vanya would murder him if it got stolen. And her mom would mount his head on a pike.

That became the least of his worries when the famed Hanabelle put in an appearance. He frowned at being called "the Jaager Boy" and said, "You can call me Kas."

He marked Hanabelle as "dangerous" and decided to be as polite and friendly as possible to make sure they stayed on her good side.

But then it got worse. He flushed at being called hansom and then nearly died when Hanabelle called his mother hot. While it was true he looked like her and she was a very beautiful woman--in his opinion--he could not believe Hanabelle said that about his mother. His brain didn't even compute the bit about her assumption that he was gangly.

He opened and closed his mouth several times before settling on, "You've met my mother?"

He glanced over his shoulder at the Nocturne. "As long as you're sure. My friend will use my entrails as decoration if anything happens to that ship."

 

[Sakuma]

(Hey it only took me *checks* almost two years to write this.)

Renza spent most of the trip making bashful small talk with the medical assistants, and trying his best to keep his nerves in check. With some distance from Morei, the nausea began to let up a bit, and a discreet probe of his abdomen showed that the more physical changes brought on by his presence were starting to recede. While he was certain that things weren't exactly normal under the skin, at least he no longer risked exposing his unique situation to anyone passing by.

He played up his curiosity when then moved in for landing on the moon, but he honestly was fascinated by the dim flora. He'd been a space rat all his youth, and he was used to satellite stations and large scale asteroid mining operations, but he'd never seen a moon with enough of an atmosphere to have native plants. It was charming, in a way, even if they looked kind of sad and scraggly.

He glanced up at Vanya's tablet to see the collection of Marines with their guns, and he grimaced. That was a lot of firepower. It didn't bode well for any chances at escape.

When Reeta came into the room, however, his expression changed to a slightly hesitant friendliness. He was tired and exhausted after a long day, but he still made sure to try and make Reeta feel comfortable - that was the priestly thing to do.

"I should be fine to walk, Reeta. Thank you for the offer," he said politely. He stood from the bed slowly, and was proud of himself when he only felt a bit of dizziness rather than faceplanting into the floor.



Hanabelle grinned and slapped Kas on the back.

"Eh, a few times here and there. We were drinking buddies for a while, before the military started taking up all her time," she explained as they walked. Leese gave her a side eye, because she wasn't sure if that meant 'your mother and I are friendly' or 'your mother and I used to fuck'. With Hanabelle it could go either way. Her friend glanced back at her and grinned as if reading her mind, but didn't offer any further elaboration.

"Belle's got a lot of connections around here," she explained for Kas. "If anyone did try to fuck around on her turf, someone else would put a stop to it real fast."

Fenrick frowned, squinting at the euphemism, but quickly followed along with the other three. The sights, sounds and smells of the station were overwhelming, and the last thing he wanted was to get lost. Hanabelle led them into the station proper, ignoring the hustle and bustle around them as they took an elevator up to the building's third floor. It was quieter here, with only staff and navigators wandering the halls. Eventually they reached a large but very cluttered office, with paperwork and filing cabinets stacked together in what could only be called 'barely organized chaos'.

Hanabelle quickly cleared an assortment of papers from the old couch in the corner of the room, piling them atop an already dubiously balanced mess on the nearby coffee table.

"Sit, sit," she offered, and Leese pulled Fenrick over to make sure he followed. He had been scrunching up his nose the whole time they'd been on the planet, and she was pretty sure the noise cancelling hat was the one thing keeping him from becoming truly overwhelmed. Hanabelle patted him on the shoulder, and he squirmed. At least there was an air freshener in here that made it smell nice.

"Sorry about the smell. Kinda comes with the territory. Renny sent me a message before he ditched his communicator, and asked me to lay out his plan for you," Hanabelle said, slumping into the rolling office chair behind her desk. She pressed a few buttons on the desk's built in touch-pad, and a holo-screen buzzed to life in front of her. There was a large map showing Yasen air-space, along with a marker denoting which ships were where.

Leese grimaced, because that was highly illegal and confidential information. Hanabelle must have hacked the communications satelites, and the fact that she was able to pull it up so quickly meant that it was something she'd done before.

"According to com chatter and the satelite data, Renny and your vampire friend are heading to the moon base. What's going to happen there is anyone's guess, but they've beefed up their data security in the past, oh, hour or so, so I doubt it's anything good. We could launch a rescue, but that would blow away any credibility that you've gained from their capture in the first place. The vampires are playing it as a retrieval of hostages, so they should at least be safe physically for the time being."

She leaned back, blowing a lock of blond hair away from her face. She was keeping a brave front up, but there were lines around her eyes that showed just how stressed she was.

"Renny's idea is to build up Ferenden as an independent nation that is open to trade. If we can play off the initial tension as a cultural misunderstanding and have Ferenden's monarch offer scientific collaboration in exchange for resources, we could divert war and establish a more-or-less peaceful coexistence for all three of our planets. It would solve Ferenden's resource problems and could help come up with a solution for the contamination effect. Ferenden lacks food and water, but you have an abundance of ore and raw materials which could be traded to Albaque, could the contamination be contained. Ferens is also similar enough to vampire sight that there's the potential for a lot of academic exchange. By presenting the rip as a neutral nation welcome to trading with both planets, but protective of their territory, we could also circumvent the rising tensions over who has the 'right' to study it."

Fenrick frowned, wrapping his arms around himself.

"But Montrose never agree to that. He want to conquer," he pointed out. Clearly everyone had understood that, right? But Leese and Hanabelle both gave him pitying looks that made his stomach feel sour.

"Fenny, the crux of this plan - and avoiding a three-way war - is that you take over as monarch," Hanabelle explained softly.

Fenrick froze, because yes, they had discussed removing getting rid of Montrose. Even if Kas had said there was a possibility of treating him, he would still need to be removed from power. Fenrick was the most likely one to do so, but he hadn't really thought past that.


"They not follow me," he argued, his shoulders drawing up behind his ears. "I am warrior, but I am not warrior. I not fly. I have bad eye. I not able to hunt."

Leese pursed her lips, but she squeezed Fenrick's shoulder.

"Fenrick, I know you're nervous, but you're the best Ferensnik alive. Yes, some people would object, but if you managed to establish trade to solve the resource issues, even just in the short term, people would follow you. You know I would be your second--"

She broke off when Fenrick turned sad but hopeful eyes to her.

"You would be my second? You said before that you wouldn't," He said, and Leese cringed.

It hurt when he said it so bluntly, but there was nowhere near the anger or blame she had expected. Had she agreed to be his second the first time, the way an aide should, she would have been able to step in and take some of the punishment for him when he lost. Maybe she would have been brutalized worse than he was, but Fenrick would have been whole. It was one of her greatest regrets, letting him challenge his older brother out of frustration and thinking that it would be a learning experience. She thought Montrose would only humiliate him - she had never guessed he would mutilate him in front of everyone.

She'd been horrified by her own inaction. She'd resigned her post and left the city, and after that... She sought out a horrifying creature she could never hope to defeat, and attacked it. Her hope had been death, but instead, she'd been pulled into a new world and found herself face to face with a pathetic, injured child who had nobody else to look after him. To let him die would have been a mercy after a partial contamination, but she couldn't do it.

"I will," she said, barely realizing she'd switched to English. "I can't, not for the initial fight with Montrose. We need Kas for that. But afterwards I will be your second in any fight you need me for."

Fenrick stared at her, mouth open, but then broke into a sheepish grin that twisted her heart.

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya stood, gathering her various and a sundries and tucking them in her pockets. She hovered anxiously around Renza, certain his insistence that he could walk was all bravado and he would probably keel over at any second.

Reeta, for her part, kept next to Renza just in case he wanted to discretely lean on her. It seemed that the Eldest Zmey was prepared if the priest fell.

They joined Pyotr and his entourage at the airlock. He gave both of his "guests" a smug look, which Vanya staunchly ignored, choosing to line up with his personal guards.

With a hiss of released air, the airlock opened, and the procession filed through the docking tube into the moon base. The reception crew besides the vulf-class marines included the station commander, several dignitaries, and--Pytor huffed air quietly through his nose.

Vanya, who had been glaring at his back, recognized the expression of irritation and leaned around him to see the cause. Too late, Pyotr turned back to grab her, but she had already left time and not a second later reappeared in front of the man in the dark robes of a representative. The man let out a small curse as she collided with him, taking a slight step back to keep from falling over.

"Vanya, what the hell is going on?" he demanded, hugging her back. Protocol demanded he not allow such a display of affection, but at that moment he didn't care. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Vanya lied, her face still buried against his chest.

"Representative Zmey," Pyotr greeted coldly. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Dmitri Zmey was not a tall vampire and did not particularly have a commanding presence, but the blue eyes behind his glasses were sharp with dislike. He was fully aware Pyotr was demanding to know what the hell he was doing there. Vanya looked nothing like him, but most of her facial expressions and mannerisms were his--as was her stubbornness.

"The clans sent me," Dmitri said. It wasn't exactly a lie. He had leveraged his limited influence until the rip subcommittee had agreed he should go and ascertain what he could. The main thing he intended to ascertain was what the hell had his daughter gotten herself into. "They agreed there should be more eyes on the situation."

Pyotr kept his expression neutral as he inclined his head in acquiescence, but inside he was imagining fifteen different deaths for this pathetic man who thought he could rival Pyotr.

Vanya finally detached from him and took his arm. "Dad, there's someone I'd like to introduce to you."

Dmitri had tried to teach Vanya politics, knowing she would need it in order to survive the threat Pyotr Sylvestr posed to her. But she had not been an attentive pupil. Still, this was clearly some ploy, so he allowed himself to be dragged forward to Sylvestr's entourage.

"This is Father Renza Richtail, priest of the Great Church." Vanya gestured, so that Pyotr had to step aside or look rude. "Renza, this is Representative Dmitri Zmey. My dad."

Dmitri caught Pyotr's soured expression out of the corner of his eye but focused on Renza. Inclining his head politely, he said, "Father Richtail, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am glad to see you on your feet as the report said you were ill."

Vanya made a slight grab for Renza as if to pull him to her, but Pyotr settled his hand on Renza's shoulder. "Yes, we should get Father Richtail to the infirmary. Vanya, escort the priest to the infirmary. Representative Zmey and I have much to discuss."

"Like the interdimensional being in the brig?"

Pyotr could not hide the look of fury that crossed his face fast enough. Vanya knew she would pay for that later, but she didn't care.

Dmitri inclined his head again. "Ah, it seems that part of your report must have been cut off."

"So it would seem," Pyotr agreed. Had Dmitri not been there, he would have slapped Vanya. She gave him a smug little smile. He curled his hand into a fist.

Dmitri nodded to Vanya. "Please take your friend inside, Vanya."

"Yessir," Vanya said more out of reflex that a sense of propriety. She took Renza's arm and led him towards the infirmary. To her chagrin, some of the marines from the ship and Reeta joined them.

Pyotr gestured at the vulf-class marines. "Let me introduce you to our new guest, Zmey. We left him in the brig as he is potentially very dangerous."

Resisting the urge to glance over his shoulder at Vanya, Dmitri nodded and followed Pyotr to the brig.

"I must have missed your message announcing your intentions to join, I do apologize," Pyotr said.

"I unfortunately did not send one as the discussion was very sudden. I arrived not half an hour before you did."

"How fortuitous," Pyotr muttered, opening the door to the brig. He gestured at Morei. "Here he is."

Dmitri couldn't hide a sharp intake of air at the sight of him.

"I think he can understand us, but he does not respond in our language."

Dmitri dipped his head, showing Morei the same amount of respect he had shown Renza, "Greetings, traveler."

Pyotr rolled his eyes at his fellow representative's politeness.

"Is there a reason he's in the brig?" Dmitri asked.

"Yes, he was attacking your child we we arrived," Pyotr said, his told snide.

That instantly changed Dmitri's opinion of the creature, as had been Pyotr's intent. Dmitri tucked his hands into his sleeves, determined to still be as impartial as possible. "Have you tried just talking to him?" To Morei, he said. "Where do you come from?"





Kas tried to imagine his mother out drinking with friends. She was not as straight-laced as she pretended to be, he knew that. He aslo wanted to know when this was. His mother had been in her early twenties when she had had him, so she was just gracing her fifties, but still.

"Well," Kas sighed, giving the Nocturne one las glance over his shoulder. "As long as it's safe."

He followed Hannabelle to her office. He grimaced slightly at the mess. Resisting the urge to tidy the coffee table, he sat on the couch.

Immediately, Kas frowned at the map of ship locations. But, this was why they were there. They need help from someone outside the military. He squinted at the map.

"Drasil?" he asked, more as something to say rather than to get clarification. He had no clue why Sylvestr would take Vanya and Renza there, but he was up to something.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he listened carefully to Hannabelle's explaination of Renza's plan. Some preist, this guy. "Wait," Kas said, fully aware he had a bit of a one-track mind at that particular moment. "How does this ensure Vanya's and Renza's safety? The guy who has them--he is not a nice vampire. I don't know why, but Vanya hates him. She's ambivalent to most people, so..."

He trailed off, realizing he probably sounded despirate. Feeling a blush creep up his neck, he did his best to shrug it off. "I mean, it's Pyotr Sylvestr and he's one of the most powerful representatives in the federation."

His attention turned to Fenrick. He wanted to tell Hannabelle to back off and leave the kid alone, but she was right. He knew she was right. But Fenrick was just such a kind guy. He didn't want to see him do these hard things.

He listened without understanding to Leese and Fenrick for a few minutes. Whatever it was about, it was important to both of them.

Kas rested his hand on Fenrick's other shoulder. "We've got your back, Fenrick." He turned back to Hannabelle and glanced between her and Leese. "Ok, so do we have to defeat Montrose first or can Fenrick just pretend to be the the monarch so we can start clearing up this misunderstanding?"

 

[Sakuma]

Renza, thankfully, did not fall over. He did take up Reeta's discreet offer, though he was careful not to lean on her too heavily. Even if she was a vampire, she was still pretty young.

He was somewhat taken aback by Vanya's sudden show of affection. He was pretty sure vampires frowned on those, right? But then, it had been a very long day, and it all made sense when they were introduced.

Her father. Renza couldn't say he remembered much of his own, nor did he care to - but he could see that Vanya loved hers very much. It was good. She would need a pillar of emotional support to get through this, and he wasn't sure he could be that for her. They didn't know each other well enough, and he was far from the supportive, emotional type. That was more Fenrick's deal.

"The pleasure is mine, representative," Renza said with a slightly awkward bow. "It's a bout of chronic nausea, but it should pass soon. Thank you for your concern. Your child has been a great help during this ordeal."

He was taking a risk, as it was possible that propping up Vanya would only serve to prop up Pyotr in return - but in order to wiggle her out even a little bit from under Pyotr's thumb, they needed to give her more importance and more agency. The young Zmey was a vital part of his plan, but she was also the most dangerous element. If things went wrong, it could blow up everything in his face. He really didn't want that.

The farther they got from the ship, the steadier his gait became. It seemed that distance from Morei - and not being used as a human dictionary - really was helping to stabilize him. Hopefully his recovery wouldn't seem too suspicious when they got to the infirmary.

"I know that everyone has been worried about me, but Miss Vanya has also been through the same ordeal. Perhaps she can rest with me?" he suggested, turning his puppy dog eyes on Reeta. She would be the easiest to sway, and she was also the most likely to be able to authorize such a thing. More than anything, Vanya needed sleep. He had no doubt that Pyotr was keeping her exhausted and emotional on purpose, and he was going to have to change that if they were going to be able to work efficiently.



Morei had settled against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as the slimy man returned. There was another with him - a stranger - and Morei made a threatening clicking sound in his throat. Communicating was hard without the little hybrid pet, and these people were far better at guarding their thoughts. Slipping inside without being noticed was difficult. Perhaps the little prince had been onto something when he went through the trouble to learn their language.

At least this one seemed to be approaching on equal terms. Morei cocked his head to the side, reaching out with the slightest mental touch.

This one's mind was similar to the small one from earlier. Lots of complicated thoughts, quite well guarded - and the small one was at the forefront of his thoughts. Interesting.

Morei wouldn't be able to communicate effectively without the priest, but he could send impressions and memories easily enough. Only short snippets, but it was better than nothing.

He pushed across the memory of Vanya telling Kas and the others to leave, followed by a brief moment of their decision to fake the fight. It was more difficult than he liked - the hybrid was a pain in the ass who resisted his probing, but he was at least contaminated enough that his mind felt familiar. These beings were totally foreign, and not in the same way as a beast's mind. He had plenty of experience interpreting the simple minds of prey animals, and their thoughts were usually simple and fleeting. Even the ones who had mental defenses didn't guard quite the same way.

"Guh-reet-ins, tuh-rev-uh-lur," Morei growled out, then frowned. It had been so easy to mimic sounds before. He cleared his throat and tried again, then a third time, each attempt sounding closer and closer before he finally managed to perfect the word on the fourth try. It still sounded rough, and he had a bit of an accent, which made him scowl, but at least he had said it - whatever it was. Some kind of salutation?

"I can't speak your language without my translator," he grumbled finally, growing frustrated.



Hanabelle pursed her lips as she studied Kas, trying to figure out the best way to explain things.

"Right now? I hate to say it, but we can't directly interfere. However, Fenny has met Vanya before. Everyone knows it after his big display of power earlier. Which, by the way, could be to our advantage, if we play it right. But if we prepare properly, we could potentially get the vampires to release Vanya as a diplomatic representative. The problem is how to disentangle her from Pyotr Sylvestr. I've been digging, but right now? I have no idea how to do that, outside of just assassinating the guy."

Leese cringed, glancing to the locked door.

"Is that something you should be saying out loud?" She asked, but Hanabelle shrugged.

"The office is soundproofed. Besides, I'm pretty sure half of Yasen wants that man dead, so one more assassination plot won't be a blip on his radar. But you don't get to be that powerful by being stupid or incompetent. I could try to damage his credibility, but he's a lot better at this game than I am. I don't want to start a fight that I'm sure I'll lose."

Fenrick scowled, hugging his arms closer around himself.

"I not understand. Why can I not just say I want Vanya but no him? That be easier," he complained. Leese was pretty sure that he was even less politically savvy than Vanya was, but she wasn't about to bring it up. Just because Fenrick wasn't a snake didn't mean he wouldn't be a good leader.

"It's been years since I've seen Montrose, but I've fought on several of his hunting campaigns," she mused. "His war strategies are focused on brute force and overwhelming his opponents before they can fight back. He isn't likely to make any attempts at communication, so we could get away with framing Fenrick as the current monarch. The issue is how our people would react if they found out. It could damage Fenrick's credibility at the beginning of his rule."

The problem was that even if Fenrick ended the war and got them endless resources, there would always be a faction of staunch traditionalists who opposed his reign on principal. It was a headache to navigate. Hanabelle hummed, balancing a pencil on one figured absently.

"Fenny, if Montrose dies of natural causes, who becomes next monarch?" She asked, and Fenrick blinked.

"Uh. Morei is Montrose second. I am last challenger. We fight," he explained, and which only made Hanabelle hum curiosly once more.

"So essentially, if Morei abdicated - sorry, if Morei didn't want to be king, you would inherit the role automatically?"

Fenrick frowned, but Leese perked up, seeing where she was going.

"We don't really have lines of succession the same way that human royals used to," she warned, but there was a smile on her face.

"Yes, but who on our side of the tear knows that outside of this room? Nobody. Well, besides Morei, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. The point is, according to a traditional monarchy, Fenny's the crown prince. We can use that as our negotiation platform, and deal with Montrose once we have a chance. It's not lying, and it won't cause a scandal further down the line."

Fenrick scrunched up his nose, but at least he looked less hesitant.

"I have no crown," he pointed out, and Leese grinned at him.

"You don't actually need one. It's just an expression."

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya opened her mouth to protest that she wasn't tired, she was fine, but there had been something in Renza's voice and the dorky way he was looking at Reeta.

Reeta glanced between Renza's big eyes and Vanya. Eldest Zmey did look like she had been beaten up a bit and her eyes looked haunted. "Well..." she hesitated, "I don't see why not."

Vanya diverted from the infirmary to the quarters reserved for non-military personnel. It wasn't the best as it was mainly rows of bunk beds, but there shouldn't be too may people in there. Perhaps Renza wanted to talk?

Vanya stopped by the desk where a young vampire worked. He looked up and gave a polite nod.

"Two, please," she said.

"Of course." He handed her a tablet, and Vanya signed them both in.

Handing the tablet back to him, Vanya glanced back at Reeta, who had a look of indecision on her face. "You don't have to stay with us. We're just going to sleep."

Reeta shifted. "Representative Sylvestr told me to stay with you."

Vanya rolled her eyes. "Where are we going to go? There are cameras everywhere."

Reeta glanced between her and Renza. She was pretty sure Vanya could easily get around the cameras and would probably find away to escape. But Vanya was older than Reeta, and she could see the vampire behind the desk frowning disapprovingly at her.

Reeta quickly bowed. "Of course. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you."

"You will be the first one we message," Vanya promised, collecting pillows and linens for herself and Renza.

Vanya led Renza to the bunks she had selected--one that was far away from the occupied bunks. "Try not to wake anyone," she advised in a whisper. She figured he probably wouldn't but still felt the need to warn him. "We, uh, tend to attack when woken."

Waving him back, she quickly made up the beds with the linens. That complete, she sat on the bottom bunk. "You wanted to talk?"



Dmitri tilted his head, unnerved by the strange noises the prisoner was making.

"As I said, he does not speak our language," Pyotr repeated smugly. He continued to speak, but Dmitri didn't hear him.

Dmitri stiffened slightly at the images suddenly projected into his mind. He was more than a little chagrined to see the Jaager boy there--until he saw his earnest and stricken face. He was fairly sure he had made that exact expression when his childhood friend said she was going back to her emotionally abusive boyfriend for the second time. It irritated him. He had been determined to dislike the Jaager boy.

The scenes shifted to Vanya and the priest agreeing to fake the fight in which Pyotr had claimed he attacked Vanya. The priest has said she had been an asset.

Dmitri glanced out of the corner of his eye at Pyotr, who was clearly enjoying the sound of his own voice. So the traveler had not spoken to Pyotr. Interesting.

"You say he was attacking my child?" he asked, hoping Pyotr would keep talking.

He did, so Dmitri tried to figure out how to communicate with this man. The way he regarded Pyotr suggested they had the same opinion about the other representative. Something also told him that somehow he knew that he cared for Vanya. But what should he let this traveler know?

But the man from another dimension spoke, repeating his greeting back to him. Smiling in satisfaction that he had responded to him, Dmitri dipped his head respectfully again.

Pyotr gave him a dark look.

But then the man said something in his own language, his tone frustrated.

Dmitri tried to smile as kindly as he could. Conjuring a memory of a speech he had given in English with the aid of a translator, he did his best to push the memory at the traveler with what he hoped was a questioning tone. There must be someone who could understand him if Vanya and Renza had been able to communicate with him.



Kas frowned. He knew his number one concern should be the interplanetary incident and the possibility of a three-way war, but he couldn't leave Vanya and Renza in Pyotr's clutches. It was the most logical thing to do, but he hated it. Now that he had finally admitted that he felt things about Vanya, knowing she was in danger felt almost physically painful.

Really, the thing that was bothering him was that she was so terrified of Sylvestr even though he also had time-sight. It didn't make sense--shouldn't he want to talk with her since there were so few of them?

"I don't think assassinations would work," Kas sighed. He had no idea if the future-thing was passive or not but figured it was best to assume it was.

Regardless, another caught his attention. "Wait, if Morei is all blunt-force, what is he going to do now that he let them take him? Does that not work against us."

Kas cocked his head, trying to follow Leese and Hannabelle. "So we say he's the crown prince and he is authorized to negotiate? How should we go about that? Contact human and vampire ambassadors?"

 

[Sakuma]

Renza gave Reeta a reassuring nod, and then once they were alone, his shoulders slumped a bit.

There were cameras, so he wasn't going to be too open. It also made conversation difficult, but...

"No, I really do just want to sleep," he grunted back, sitting next to her. Whispering wouldn't likely do much with vampires around, but he couldn't do that nifty little mind meld trick like Morei.

He turned his body to look at her fully, taking in her somewhat rumpled clothes and the beginnings of dark circles under her eyes. Man, they both looked like shit. No wonder Reeta had gone along with his impulsive idea so easily.

"I know you've been awake at least as long as I have, and you didn't get much sleep back on the nocturne," he pointed out as gently as he could. "You need to rest. I need to rest. Heck, I think everyone who was at that conference deserves a nap right now. But there's not much either of us can do right now, which means we should sleep. Wearing yourself out isn't going to help anyone."

Speech made, he hauled himself to his feet with a wince, and then looked up at the top bunk with a grimace. Oh well, beggers couldn't be choosers. He pointed to the bunk Vanya was sitting on and used his best stern Father look, perfected from years looking after crazed three year olds.

"I mean it. Sleep. We can deal with whatever else happens in four or five hours. Gotta take rest where you can get it in times like these."

He then hauled himself up into the unoccupied top bunk, flopping down with a sigh. He felt like all his bones immediately turned to jelly, and it was both awful and kind of nice at the same time.


Hm. So this newcomer was not opposed to communication. Morei tilted his head to the side, studying him carefully.

The image sent to him of translation and political events was surprising, if only because of the number of people. He had known that the sentient species on this side of the rip populated like Tibrasb just from Renza's memories, but it was still shocking. They must constantly be in heat to have such a large turn-out at a regular... whatever it was. An address? The man in front of him did not seem like a monarch. He was too squishy. But then perhaps they had different standards here.

Curiosity aside, he did get the message. He frowned, deciding how much to share. Eventually, he portrayed an image of Renza, and a brief memory of the sensation of their minds coming together. It was easy with the priest - they shared genetics, so the touch was similar to how it would feel with another Ferendin. He always found the little prince's aversion to 'mind-peeking', as he called it, to be silly. Touching minds was the easiest and most reliable way to share information. Words were meant to be complimentary, not the sole means of communication. But expressing all that to the othersider in front of him would be impossible, so he focused instead on the method of feeding a word or concept into the man's subconscious and plucking out the response it generated. The process was fast, though it was hampered somewhat by how the priest always tried to shut him out.

Morei couldn't help but allow some of his annoyance at that to leak through. Resistence toward a mind-touch in a situation where it was necessary was not only pointless, but rude. If any of his recruits back home had tried such a thing, he would have tugged on their wings or tail as punishment.

Of course, he was a hunter at heart. Pushback and resistence only made him want to try harder until he had his prey cornered. This thought he kept to himself. Eventually, he would make the little hybrid stop resisting.

Shaking away such thoughts, he replayed the memory of the speech, pushing just deep enough to pry the word he wanted from the man's mind.

-You king?-


Leese sighed at Kas' question, massaging her temples.

"Morei is... A whole other can of worms," she grumbled.

"He is good hunter," Fenrick supplied. "Good at adapting to situation. Good at making fast decisions."

Leese scowled, because that was technically true, but not all of his fast decisions were good decisions. She had gone with him on a hunt once, and had vowed never to do so again. The man was crazy.

"I don't think we need to worry about him," she said with a shrug. "If he's in Renza's head, he'll know about his plans. He's not a politician or anything, but I hope... I mean, I'm sure he won't do anything detrimental."

Hanabelle hummed again, then pointed her pen at Kas.

"Bingo. Once we establish contact, we can request Vanya's presense as a diplomat. As for humans... You need to contact your mother through official channels, and explain the situation. Fenrick's already developed a rapport with you, so you can be our contact with Albaque from now on."

"I not speak to others," Fenrick agreed, nodding his head. Hanabelle switched her pen to him and flipped it up, drawing a checkmark in midair. After a moment her smile faded and she turned a more serious look at Kas.

"I'm sorry. I know this might put you in a tough position. It could end up affecting your career as a whole. If you're not ok with that, I can try and see about pulling some strings for an alternative solution... But it might take time," she said sympathetically.

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya frowned. Okay, so she had misread the situation. He really just needed sleep--which was true. He had spent most of the "night" throwing up. She had hovered outside the lavatory door, wondering if she should knock before deciding she didn't know him well enough for that.

But then he was telling her she needed rest, and she scowled. "Vampires don't need--" she started, but broke off when he pointed out that running herself into the ground to save everyone wasn't productive. She could hardly take care of Renza if she couldn't function.

Vanya narrowed her eyes at him. "Fine. Only if you promise to your god that you will rest, too."

She was fairly sure that was serious. One really should not break a promise to a creator, she was pretty sure.

She rolled his eyes at his stern affectation as she was nearly certain they were about the same age--even if she was technically just out of vampire adolescence. She almost offered to climb up to the bunk as she was not as injured as he was, but he had already made it up there.

Pulling the privacy curtains closed, she kicked off her boots and set her messenger bag in the spot for bags. Then she wriggled out of her space jacket and loosened the binder under her shirt. With a sigh, Vanya closed her eyes.

Had Kas, Leese, and Fenrick all gotten away safely, or had they been captured by one of the other ships? Surely Pyotr would have rubbed it in her face if they had been captured.

Vanya rolled to her side.

How were they going to get out of this? There were cameras everywhere and Pyotr would have told the entire station not to let them out. And she didn't have enough money to bribe anyone.

Vanya rolled to her back.

Was her dad ok? She had abandoned him to deal with Pyotr on his own. What if Pyotr did something awful to him to punish her? Maybe she should go check on him. No, then she wouldn't sleep. Her dad was fine. He'd been dealing with Pyotr Sylvestr since before she was even born. He might not be as powerful but he was smart and cared about Yasen and his family.

Opening her eyes, she stared at the bottom of Renza's bunk before sitting up and digging in her back. She pulled out a small medicine case and palmed a sedative, which she dry swallowed.

Grimacing, she lay back down. She hated sedatives, but there was no way she was getting any sleep with all the thoughts swirling in her head.



Dmitri frowned, trying to interpret the images and sensations he got back. The man was able to translate using the priest's... brain? Well, that sounded terrible. He wondered briefly if the interdimensional being had tried that with him and found his mind incompatible. But had the priest given his permission for this use of his mind? While he had no doubt Pyotr wouldn't care if he had, Dmitri thought he should have a say. Therefore, he couldn't make the priest do it if he didn't want to. And, besides, he had not looked well.

Something pricked his mind, and Dmitri guessed the traveler was trying his abilities on him. While he didn't like the concept of it, he needed to be able to speak to this man. His child had clearly stepped in something big, and he would not leave her to fend for herself.

Dmitri blinked a few times and eyed the man over his glasses. Was he a king? He retreated behind what he hoped was a mental wall and returned to his natural mode of thinking. He wished he knew the traveler's culture. He knew that this man thinking he was a ruler with power would be advantageous, but there were several problems with saying he was. It would soon become apparent he was not a king as Yasen had no de-facto ruler. However, he was one of the leaders of his clan, which was sort-of like a mini nation. But how to convey his status?

Dmitri did his best to send a mental head-shake. He conjured a few more memories and pushed them across. One was of a bland federation meeting, which showed all the representatives listening to a report. Another was a little more personal. It was of he and his wife leading a clan meeting. While Yva was technically the clan head, he was the representative, which held slightly less power. He figured it was sort of like a cross between a queen's prince consort and a prime minister.

"Vulkof," Pyotr said in the tone of someone repeating himself.

Dmitri frowned inwardly at the inappropriate use of his former-clan-name, but kept his face entirely neutral. He would not respond until Pyotr used his married-clan-name.

Sensing he finally had Dmitri's attention but he was being stubborn, Pyotr repeated, "Representative Zmey, are you finished here?"

"Surely there is some way to communicate with him," Dmitri said.

"There is no way. We ran a recording of his speech through several language programs. It is entirely unlike any human or vampire language."

"There must be some way," Dmitri insisted. "Let me think."

Steeling himself, Dmitri did his best to open his mind to the traveler. He buried state secrets and more personal things--he didn't particularly want this man to know about his children, for example--as best he could and braced himself.

I am Dmitri Zmey, Representative of Clan Zmey and Husband of the Clan Head. What is your name?



Kas sighed. He supposed the assurance that Morei probably wouldn't create more work for them would have to do.

Nodding, he pulled out his handheld and started drafting a report on the situation.

There was another problem. "Ok, I'm with you on this plan, but Vanya isn't a diplomat, and all of Yasen is aware of this. Same for me. Even if Fenrick refused to talk to anyone else, they'll want to send someone with us. Sylvestr will probably get himself selected, and I have no idea who Albaques will send."

Lifting his eyes to Hannabelle's, Kas gave Fenrick's shoulder another squeeze. "I don't think we have time for alternative routes, and my career is not more important than this dimension." He sighed. "I'd rather make sure everyone is safe before ensuring I have a job."

Kas would give up his career for a lot of things right now, he realized. It had been his one goal, but now it seemed unimportant. Not when there could be an interdimentional war or his friends could get hurt.

He remembered his mom tapping him on the nose and telling him he cared about people and never to lose that. He did wish she was there. She'd know what to do.

"What's our first step, then?" Kas asked.

 

[Sakuma]

Morei tilted his head to the side. Huh. This one was offering his thoughts openly, it seemed.

He pored over the scenes sent to him, putting pieces together. So he wasn't a ruler. More like one of many rulers. A very peculiar form of government. Morei wondered how to portray his own position, since forming some kind of political connection wouldn't hurt. He tried to use words, but they were interspersed with images and concepts more than true speech to get his point across. If he was speaking aloud, his vampire would undoubtedly be stilted and broken.

I am Morei of unknown sire, leader of the royal hunt and second head of the royal guard, he sent back. I would give you images, but you othersiders find our real shapes frightening.

Or at least, that was the only reason he could think of for why Kas and the others had been so shocked to see him.

After a moment of studying the memories and surface thoughts, he came to another realization.

The short one is your hatchling?

It could be a misunderstanding, but she bore a shocking resemblance to the woman from the memory, who he assumed was this man's wife. If she was, that made sene why he was so wary of Morei. Hatchlings were precious, and they were to be protected. He had thought she was an adult at the time, but he had, after all, tried to catch her.

I apologize. I would not hurt a hatchling. She is very fast, though. Hard to catch. Like a jumpug.

He sent an image of a small creature that looked like a cross between a grasshopper and a lizard crawling across a cave wall. Occasionally it would leap from one spot to another almost too quickly to see. Surely the other man would appreciate the compliment that his hatchling was swift and difficult to kill.

But the other one. Morei scrunched up his nose, baring his teeth. God, he just kept talking and talking and talking. He snuck one more look at Dmitri's mind, then turned and looked Pyotr in the eye.

"Shut up," he said in english. "You are annoying."

Right. He should probably get right to the meat of things.

I came to rendesvous with our little prince. He fled with the human to avoid capture by that one's people. We wish to discuss resources, and to avoid war between our people.

He curled up his lip once more, showing off sharp teeth. What Renza had said before about being sensitive to radiation was not necessarily a lie - it didn't affect adult Ferenden as much, but it was dangerous to their eggs. He sent across an image of the hatching pool that had gotten the worst of it - several eggs were of an off-colour. Aother image showed an egg that had to be sliced open, but the ceature inside - which bore some resemblance to a dragonfly nymph with a humanoid torso - was clearly dead. He couldn't help the sense of loss that accompanied that memory. They had so few viable hatching grounds left, and it was possible that the one affected would now be completely unusable.

You fired a weapon at our hatching grounds. We lost at least one hundred thirty seven eggs to that beam. We would be within our rights to demand blood in exchange, but the little prince wants a peaceful solution. You are lucky for him.



Hanabelle shared a look with Leese, then sighed.

"Yeah, that is the issue. At the moment, I don't know what we'll do about it," she admitted.

Leese crossed her arms over her chest, a frown coming to her face.

"First we need to bait Montrose. Once we have him in an isolated area, we'll have to set up the challenge. The problem is his second."

She chewed on her lower lip, playing with the edge of her sleeve. Fenrick gave her a sympathetic look.

"His second is Anika. She is strong, but not good Ferensnik. I can beat her, but both together is... hard."

 

[Reynarda]

Dmitri was a little surprised and very pleased when the traveler responded with a cascade of images and thoughts.

He wasn’t sure of the man’s titles, but he guessed he was fairly important in his world’s government. He dipped his head again.

A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Morei.

Dmitri blinked but smiled at the question. Yes, the short one is my hatchling.

Dmitri couldn’t keep the grim smile from his face. My hatchling has a nose for trouble but thankfully is very fast. No harm is done.

Pyotr was waxing eloquent on the languages Morei was not speaking when the man spoke. He nearly choked on his own spit.

To his left, Dmitri tried and failed to hide a laugh and then stood there with the exact same smirk that Vanya favored. Pyotr got the strong urge to slap him.

In the brief respite Morei had bought them, Dmitri listened. He didn’t know who this prince was, but he was very interested in avoiding the war. “The human” he guessed was the Jaager boy. What had Vanya gotten herself into?

“Well, despite his ability to speak English this clearly is a waste—“

Dmitri held up a hand, and to both their surprises, Pyotr stopped talking.

Realization dawned, and Pyotr looked down his nose as the smaller vampire. “He is speaking to you.”

Dmitri nodded, even though it wasn’t a question.

The images hit Dmitri like a gut punch. So much so, that he reached out and gripped his fellow representative’s forearm.

Pyotr tensed, having no idea what the hell was going on. Dmitri looked like someone had just told him one of his children were injured.

“Their babies,” Dmitri gasped. “We killed their babies.”

“We what? How?” Pyotr demanded.

“The laser the philos shot into the rip.”

Pyotr knew that he should probably be sadden by the news, but the truth was that he didn’t much care. If there were fewer of them, they were less of a threat.

Nudging Dmitri’s hand from his arm, Pyotr said, “Surely you can explain it was not purposeful.”

Dmitri was already in the process of conveying what words could not. Deep regret and sadness we’re all he could conjure up to send to Morei.

I know it will not lessen the pain, but harming you and yours was not our intent. I will make it my personal goal to convince my people to aid your people.



Kas looked between Leese and Hannabelle. It seemed like there was a lot of hoping-it-would-work-out going on, but he didn't have anything better to offer. These were fairly insurmountable odds, but he had never been accused of being a quitter.

He nodded to himself, trying not to be anxious about the magical people on the other side of the rip whom their little group were supposed to fight. There was the king, who had beat up his little brother and was hopped up on blood. Morei, who was hopefully not wreaking havoc, and now this new one, who was not good at their version of magic but was still strong.

On their side was a warrior who left, a wounded-but-powerful kid, a woman who may have known his mom too well for his liking, and himself. Kas knew how to deal with vampires. Not magical chitinous people from another dimension. Besides all that, they were supposed to do it carefully enough so as not to cause more of an interplanetary incident than they had already caused.

Kas took a deep breath, held it, and let it out. "Alright. Let's draw this bastard out. If his second is going to be a problem, how do we neutralize her? And we want to do without killing Montrose, right?"

 

[Sakuma]

Morei was almost overwhelmed by the guilt that he felt from this strange man. From one of his own kind, yes, he would understand it. But these othersiders seemed to care a great deal about a species that was not even their own. He had noticed it with Kas and Vanya, and he noticed it now with Vanya's sire. There was a level of empathy here that was almost completely foreign to him. It reminded him of Fenrick.

No wonder the little prince had come to this side, if the people here were like this.

Intentions mean little in the way of results, he sent bitterly, but rather than angry, he just found that he felt tired. For what it's worth, I believe you. Prince Fenrick believes in your people enough to seek reconciliation rather than war. But many do not agree.

That was an understatement, but he didn't want to get into how Montrose wanted to kill them all. Morei wasn't a politician, but he knew enough to keep that secret for now.

Besides, he realized as his stomach growled, he had more important things to worry about.

What do humans eat? I need food, he grumbled mentally as he glowered down at his stomach. He couldn't believe he was hungry already. It hadn't even been a day yet. Human bodies really were weak.



Leese blinked slowly, then pursed her lips.

"Not killing him will be... difficult," she warned, but she saw the way that Fenrick's eyes had lit up with hope when Kas suggested it, and she couldn't bear to shoot the idea down. In some ways she worried that giving him hope here would hurt him later on, but... If he wanted to try, then Leese would agree to try.

"It against rules for anyone to interfere with challenge besides second. That not mean that second cannot be interfered with," Fenrick mused, and Leese grimaced.

"You want me to fight her?" she asked bitterly, and Fenrick winced.

"Only if you are ok with. If not, I will... neutralize," he suggested, but Leese was already pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.

"No. It's fine. I'm sure she'll want to kill me anyways."

Hanabelle looked between the two of them, then sat up straight as she put the pieces together.

"Wait. Anika... Like, your crazy ex Anika?" She asked, and Leese grimaced again.

"She's not crazy. I mean... If any of us has to fight her, I'd like to do so on my terms. So long as I can corner her before the challenge officially starts, then I'm pretty sure I can keep her attention on me."

"She single-minded," Fenrick agreed, though he patted Leese's arm encouragingly.