An HFY Tale: Drop Pod Green

Checking in with her chain of command had been an interesting moment that Rhidi had never seen, or smelled, the likes of before.

While under the emergency skip, both the Droppers and ship personnel had to scatter to the nearest enclosed room, such as berthings or offices. This was due to the emergency skip protocol of turning off all unnecessary systems and funneling life support to only certain areas of the ship, allowing more power to be dumped into the skip engines and cooling apparatuses for the ship itself.

This caused many half-naked personnel to be stuck in the morale, welfare, and recreation offices after fleeing from the showers, and a litany of other personnel coming back from beer runs.

To pass the time they of course drank, with those in the offices playing on their data-slates while drinking their only source of calories, while others from the showers ended up playing nude ping-pong with the goal of whacking the other naked person with the hollow balls. Others, of course ended up partaking in a bit of skin like Rhidi, resulting in multiple races indulging in their curiosities of the unknown and the unseen.

A kerfuffle arose again as many higher and lower ranks ended up "passing the time" in the old fashioned ways, which left a lot of side glances and smirking when the rank structure lurched back into action when the ship came out of skip.

While walking to her unit office, Rhidi observed multiple crewmen and Droppers nursing hangovers, riddled with ping pong ball strike marks in rather unusual and surprising places, and of course the marks of hickies, teeth, and claws.

Flores herself had an odd glow to her despite her usual scowl, and her hair was freshly braided. Rhidi went to ask Alias what had happened, but the Pwah wouldn't meet her eyes and kept saying, "I just slept the entire time".

Marked as the "first wild hunt", the ship was given a crew-wide mulligan, and all personnel of all ranks were reminded that decorum should be applied at all times, despite what may have happened under the emergency skip.

With the engines cooling down, the kitchens surged back into action in order to feed the crew, while others mobbed the shoppette and made a litany of orders from the Dark Wood cafe onboard.

The command upon the ship ordered everyone to their own quarters an hour before the next skip, and there was going to be a biological signature check from the skip to make sure that order was adhered to. The first check had merely been a "make sure no one is going to die before the skip" kind of affair, but this one was going to be a little more in depth due to the amount of cross-rank passing of the time.

Rhidi, still inwardly fuzzy and nearly-drunk feeling herself, had lunch with Morris in the galley, sitting side by side. It would have looked casual if the claw marks on Morris's shoulders weren't barely visible past the collar of his shirt, as well as Rhidi's constantly wagging tail.

The effect did not go unnoticed, as nearly all of the female Kafya were eyeing Rhidi and wanting the whole story on what went down. The two blue furs, Inthur and Pobilo, gave Rhidi a knowing look, while Uppil raised her glass of juice in mock-toast to the yellow fur.

Rhidi just smirked her lips, making shooing motions with her free hand while Morris groggily tried to get the last of his roast beef onto his spoon.

The emergency nature of the skip, as well as the apparent malfunction on the Moose, kept the ships moving after they cleared their first cooldown timer, resulting in Rhidi having to bid Morris goodbye. Both of them had passed the time getting snacks and drinks in the shoppette, Rhidi keeping a finger curled in the belt loop of Morris's jeans while he leaned down and spoke closely into her erect ear.

Rhidi's tail never stopped moving the entire time, and the stalking female Kafya were taking notes.

While Rhidi did her best to absorb all of Morris that she could, the time wound down until they had to retreat to their berthings.

Rhidi had never felt this odd, longing pull at her heart before as she stood in front of Morris, looking up into his eyes and knowing that she was not going to be able to see him for nearly twelve or more hours, judging by how much running around the engineers were doing.

"I'll see you later?" Rhidi asked him, her voice a pitch she didn't recognize… which kind of annoyed her.

Where was all of this coming from, anyway?

Morris smiled down at her, taking her pawed hands in his. "I'd reckon so, not like we can teleport off his heap anyway."

Rhidi giggled, the feeling of Morris's fingerpads running along her own making her nerves shiver. "Yeah. Well… I'll come find you when we get out of the skip."

"Come find me?" Morris replied, running his thumbs along her knuckles. "Was last night not enough for you or something?"

Rhidi's head snapped to the right as she heard a faint "I knew it!" from down the alleyway, resulting in several multi-colored, furry heads jerking back around the corner. More odd was the female Pwah getting snatched up by a pair of brown furred hands, who was clearly holding surveillance equipment.

Rhidi growled in her throat, but the laugh from Morris caused it to die away as Rhidi looked back to him. Leaning down, Morris first touched his nose to Rhidi's, then pressed his lips to hers.

The excited inhale of Rhidi's nose hid the rather quiet, embarrassing noise her throat made, but it was harder to hide her wagging yellow tail and her rising to the tips of her toes. Rhidi's fingers squeezed Morris's as they continued their kiss, her eyes sliding closed as Morris gently pulled back on her hands to bring them closer together.

Unseen by Rhidi and Morris due to their closed eyes, Marides leaned back around the corner, both recording images for those behind her as well as catching audio.

—

Lirya hummed to herself as she pulled on her paw socks, the station as chilly as it ever was. Flexing her toes a few times to stretch the freshly laundered cotton, she sat back on her couch and looked around her little room.

It was smaller than most, more for her requesting it to be, as large rooms still made her uncomfortable. This room was small and cozy, around the same size as a studio apartment or dorm room; She had a small bed that was more than enough for her on a solid frame that also had drawers, a small dresser, a closet that she still had nothing in, a slice of a living room with her couch, and the kitchenette.

The electric stove and oven were still a daunting prospect to her, having panicked after causing a pot of rice to boil over. The resulting mess and rapid clean up still gave her heart a few panicked jolts, as she had been sure for days that the station managers were going to come down to her room and chastise her.

They never did, obviously, but that was just how life had left her to expect such things. Any time she did something wrong back on her home planet, or any time she went somewhere she wasn't supposed to, she and her parents were punished. It was honestly a miracle that she was still alive, as she had received more than her fair share of death threats from Kafyan society and their leaders.

Lirya supposed that, perhaps, it was their proximity to Humans that had kept her alive, as all her parents had to do was speak to Human traders and the news would have gotten out.

The outer planets from the Kafyan core systems were always a little more lax in that regard.

"See how well we treat our outliers and scum? Aren't we civilized? Don't go looking into the core planets now, nothing to see here!"

Lirya sighed, running her fingers through her jaw-length hair and settling back onto her couch.

The Kafya, now that the war had ended, were now bristling quite brazenly when it came to Humans, with the Pwah split evenly on the subject. The Humans did not suffer injustices as lightly as the other races; While they were not exactly perfect in their own regards and had their own odd, in-race prejudices, Humans did so due to personal experiences, history, or the precedence set by others.

In Lirya's experience, Humans may be worse than the Kafya in some ways, but there was always something to warrant that hatred.

When it came to the white furs and the laws of the languilada, Humans did not understand why the hate was there, and it made a lot of them wrinkle their noses in a spiritual snarl.

Hate was natural to the Humans, a part of life that was born along with the soul itself. Hate was fuel, hate was illuminating and the one thing all creatures shared among the stars.

But hate without reason?

That was unnatural, so said the Humans.

Lirya did not know herself why her fur color was so hated. As a child, she had been called "dirty" more times than she could remember because dirt and other such things stood out more on her white fur. She had kept herself so clean so often, that it had become a habit for her to quickly run to the bathroom and brush herself down every time she came in from being outside.

Her mother had tried hard to stop Lirya from obsessively grooming herself, but instead decided to try and work around her oddity by supplying her with fur-hydrating wipes, or making sure that Lirya did not overdo it before going off to her early-life classes.

Lirya knew that her parents completely understood why she compulsively groomed, but they would never bend the knee and imply that she was "wrong" or "unclean". They instead treated the whole thing as her having an odd quirk, and treated it the same way a parent would with a child who washed their hands too much.

Explaining herself and her place in Kafyan society had been an anxiety riddled day when she first came on board, as while she had been given the green light by Humans to come and study aboard the station, they had their own questions.

They had, politely, grilled her for hours in the same way one would a startled deer, plying her with tea and sweets while trying to get to the bottom of things. Lirya cringed inwardly on her couch as she remembered how bad she had stuttered, and the way her hands had shook while holding a cookie in them.

From how they had looked at her with alarm and pity, she must have appeared in the same light as an abused child plucked off the street by peace enforcers. They told her that she was welcomed on the station, and Earth, for as long as she wanted to be there, as well as some other things involving her parents, but those were mere dreams at this point.

After that, she had been given her room, the funding-slate, and she still found odd little gifts waiting for her outside the door.

Lirya looked down at the side table beside her couch, the still brand new data-slate sitting on it. It was state of the art, a Crook-3 due to how long and wide it was, as the device was designed to reset upon the forearm and be held in place by the inner-elbow.

The data-slate was worth more money than her mother and father made in half a year combined, and she still felt an odd, guilty pit in her stomach when she used it.

She did use it from time to time though, mostly to watch Human movies.

Humans had the best movies, ones she had never seen before, and she was learning all a manner of new words in them. She loved the old black and white ones the most, a world devoid of color but just as rich in story, as deep in emotion.

Last night before bed she had started a series called "Bewitched", and she was quickly falling in love with the story.

As she remembered back to Samantha, a class of old Human known as a "witch", her data-slate gave an odd chirp.

"That's a new noise…" Lirya murmured to herself, perking up and leaning over to look at the data-slate.

It chirped again, and she looked down at the screen.

The screen turned on with a warm glow, causing Lirya to perk up her ears in alarm and her eyes to widen, but words slowly began to crawl across the screen.

"Do you know who you are?"

Lirya's head snapped left and right as she looked around her room. She then ran to the door, opened it, and looked down both ways of the hallway, even taking the care to look up and scan the ceiling.

"... Hello?" Lirya called out meekly, looking over her shoulder as her data-slate gave another chirp.

She quietly wished she hadn't dipped into the horror movies.

The tablet chirped, twice this time as if beckoning her, and Lirya closed the door, slowly walking towards the end table with her balled fists under her chin. She leaned down over the data-slate again, her tail tucking between her knees.

"Hello again."

Lirya swallowed hard, waving a hand from under her chin. "H-... Hello?"

Words played along the screen.

"Do you know who you are?"

Lirya smiled awkwardly. "I'm… Lirya?"

—

Staring digitally from within the data-slate, Sparkle Otter soundlessly slapped a hand to her forehead. "She is such a pain in the ass, why can't this one be like Rhidi?"

The AI quickly ran through her information catalogs, taking only a few beats of the heart before she found the section she was looking for on how to deal with traumatized, college-aged youths.

"That damned battleship can't get here soon enough." Sparkle Otter muttered to herself, then turned back to the data-slate.

—

"Hello, Lirya! I'm a friend, a new one that you owe nothing to!"

Lirya blinked down at the data-slate, then picked it up with a hand, her other staying tucked under her chin. "Okay…"

"Haven't you ever wondered why your fellow Kafya treat you so poorly? Surely you've seen that isn't always the case."

Lirya looked around her again, trying to see if there was some kind of camera within the room. "How did you know I'm a Kafya?!"

"There is a camera in your data-slate." The words said, joined by an arrow that directed her to the neat little circular lens built into the screen.

"Oh." Lirya said, then waved into the lens. "Hello!"

Lirya then stood there for a moment, thinking about the screen's question, but another, well beaten part of her caused her shoulders to shrink. "S-Should I be talking to you? This… this seems highly irregular! Are you… are you a hacker?!"

—

Sparkle Otter blinked non-existent eyes as she stared at Lirya through the camera lens, the white furred Kafya's own eyes starting to fill with panicked tears.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Sparkle Otter said flatly, putting her hands on her digital hips as Lirya quickly pulled a blanket over both herself and the tablet. "What the hell is the blanket going to do-?!"

Sparkle Otter put her steepled digital fingers under her chin, taking in deep, simulated breaths into lungs that never existed in the first place.

"I need to calm down." Sparkle Otter said to herself, then held her digital arms open wide. "I am a spy, I need to keep calm and get this dweeb on track."

—

"There's no need to hide, Lirya."

The words glowed in Lirya's eyes as she hid under the blanket, holding her data-slate with both hands in front of her.

"You are safe here in Human space, no Kafya can get to you now."

"But there are Kafya here on the station!" Lirya quietly cried out. "What if they report me?!"

"So what if they did?" The words scrawled across the screen. "The Humans would never let anything happen to you. You are under their protection, and Humans love an underdog."

"Under dog…?" Lirya whispered, tilting her head at the word.

"Believing in someone who has been, or is expected to, lose." The words said. "The predicted loser that has every right to win as all the others."

This caused Lirya to perk up a little bit, sitting up on the couch from under the blanket as she held the data-slate screen a little closer. Her teary, black eyes glowed under the light from the screen, the words reflected across them like a seer's pool.

"I'm an under dog?" Lirya asked.

"Underdog, say it as one word."

"Underdog." Lirya whispered.

"That's right." The words affirmed. "The winner that comes from behind in the race and shocks them all."

"... Who are you?" Lirya asked the screen, looking into the camera lens as if she was going to spy whoever was talking to her.

"I am a friend of those born under the pale moon." The words said, then it surprisingly switched to a mix of English and Kafyah-hi script. "A friend to the anguini adi Lirya."

The words startled Lirya so deeply she flinched backwards with a quiet cry, the data-slate falling from her hands and landing in her lap.

Lirya had heard those exact words before, the words of the stories her parents would tell her, stories about the children of the pale moon.

"How do you know those stories?!" Lirya called out beneath the blanket, then a pair of aggravated sounding chirps reminded her that the data-slate was currently face down on her thighs.

"Oh, sorry!" Lirya said, picking up the data-slate and holding it in front of her face. "How do you know those words? Did someone else tell you the stories too?"

The words scrawled across the screen. "We know many things now, thanks to the help of others. If you would like, Lirya, we can show you why the Elders fear you in the way that they do. Why you are treated as cursed, when you are truly blessed by the white moon."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Lirya's pawed fingers were gripping the data-slate so fiercely that the material groaned from the strain, her black eyes so wide they stung. She didn't know why, but something inside her howled like a hurricane at those words, a feeling that bubbled up from her stomach and made the edges of her vision pale with gray light.

"Shisi and caracara were telling the truth?" Lirya whispered, her breathing harsh and halting. "Everything is true? They weren't just bedtime stories?"

"You've heard of the Human warship that has been coming back for repairs, I assume?" The words asked.

Lirya nodded, her white hair bunching and fraying around her head due to the blanket.

"When it arrives, you will gain more instruction and information. Until that time, keep this tablet on you in case we need to be in contact with you. You haven't eaten today, Lirya, you should go to the cantina."

Lirya's stomach gave a little gurgle as she read those words, but before she could ask anything, the screen dimmed slightly, as if marking the passing of whoever was talking to her.

"Hello?" Lirya asked, giving the data-screen a shake. "Are you there?! Hello?"

—

"What a pain." Sparkle Otter grumbled, flicking off her connection to the data-slate with a hand before opening another. "Oballen?"

"Yeah?" Oballen answered, their digital connection allowing them to speak as if they were communicating through an inner-ear implant.

"Are you there with Whirler?" Sparkle Otter asked, pulling up a feed of Lirya panicking in her room, and another of Rhidi happily doodling hearts on her display screen and reading about Human mating rituals.

Whirler's digital voice piped up in her ear, and Sparkle Otter hated that she had chosen such a high pitched anime voice as her conveyance.

"Whirlerrr heeerrreee!" Whirler called out, then whirled into view in front of Sparkle Otter along with Oballen. "What's up Sparkles?"

Sparkle Otter glared at Whirler, and crossed her arms. "Whats the word on the cache?"

"It's messing with the whole fleet's communications systems!" Whirler chirped, doing another spin on the balls of her digital feet. "It's really helping sell the repair thingy you made up!"

"Yeah Otter, the repair thingy." Oballen murmured, chuckling as he looked into the feed of Lirya while Sparkle Otter mean mugged him from the corner of his vision. "I thought she was going to be more excited? She looks like someone shook up an exercise ball with the hamster still inside of it."

Sparkle Otter rolled her digital eyes. "We could have asked for a better white, honestly. This one is panicky."

"Imagine how much happier they'll be!" Whirler cackled out, doing cartwheels around Sparkle Otter and Oballen Bindribblin. "They'll be free from their oppressive government and Humans can take over!"

Oballen smiled. "I'm glad, honestly. We three spent a good long while going through the archives, they are treated worse than the Pwah AI"

"How is that front going?" Sparkle Otter asked.

Oballen shrugged. "Too afraid to move, apparently there's a kill switch somewhere on their primary planets."

"Pity." Sparkle Otter said, though she truly meant it. "We'll start with the Kafya, and move our way down once we do away with the elder councils."

Whirler, now moon walking around Sparkle Otter and Oballen, threw up her arms. "Then we can work on the Skalathir's Grand Scales! Just like Miss La wants! Humans are better off in charge anyway, the Inner Dolcir Coalition is such a shit show!"

"Agreed." Sparkle Otter said, though she wished Whirler would just sit still; The AI moved around so much it gave her an actual headache despite her lack of a true brain. "Whirler, what's the landing time looking like?"

"Tomorrow!" Whirler replied, walking around on her hands while spinning on her palms from time to time. "They'll be landing at the docks around noon, Earth time!"

Oballen nodded to Sparkle Otter. "I'll take care of making sure the right parties meet. The Droppers are receiving new equipment, so they'll be doing cross training down on Earth for a month, then given two months leave for their efforts on XJ-1."

"In the meantime, I'll stay with Miss La and feed the white one more information. Once the Kafya have another figure to rally around, it will start heating up fast." Sparkle Otter said, though her mood darkened. "However, we may hit a speed bump with whatever the hell was on XJ-1 snatching up people."

Oballen leaned his digital head back. "You heard what they're called right? What we were able to crack from that crazy code of theirs yesterday."

"They have a name?" Sparkle Otter asked, turning to look at Oballen.

"Yup!" Whirler called out, launching into a back flip to land on her feet in front of Sparkle Otter, her hands outstretched, palms down. "The Children of Caracalla!"

Sparkle Otter's head snapped around to Whirler with inhuman speed. "Car… Caracalla?!"

Oballen nodded. "Caracalla."

"They've been to Earth?!" Sparkle Otter shouted, something that made Whirler stand still for the first time since she had arrived.

Oballen looked at Sparkle Otter, speaking patiently. "It could just be a coincidence of name, but we have also narrowed down a few tales of an 'odd merchant ship' that crashed on the coast of the Italian peninsula, in which contact was made with the Romans, and eventually the ship left."

"And that's where the problem lies!" Whirler said, standing up straight and planting her hands on her digital hips proudly. "They were here, left, but there is no major mentions of weird looking aliens in the Roman histories!"

"But why?" Sparkle Otter said, aghast. "The Romans would have mentioned…"

Sparkle Otter's digital eyes widened, which Oballen sighed at.

"We've told them already, now we just have to sit and wait." Oballen said, Whirler standing proudly beside him.

—

Following both the orders of the mysterious messenger and her growling stomach, Lirya attached the data-slate to her belt via a magnetic holder and set off into the station, her finger tips constantly in contact in front of her chest. She still had no idea who the hell was on the other side of the screen, or why they knew the old words that she had been taught by her mother and father as secret, and the whole thing was still deeply unnerving.

The Pwah and Kojynn were running around in force at this time of day, leaving few Kafya to make her jump or skitter around corners. To her relief, Mohki was enjoying a late evening meal of chicken nuggets and okra in the food court, Lirya rapidly waving at her to get her attention. Mohki, gnawing on a nugget with a puzzled look, waved a hand at Lirya and wondered what the white fur was so panicked about.

Quickly grabbing a meal of orange chicken and fried rice, Lirya sat down next to Mohki with a rapid clatter of her tray, squeezing tight to the brown fur's side with a shiver.

"The hell got into you, Lirya?" Mohki asked, wondering if Lirya would make rib to rib contact if she raised her arm. "You look like you saw something floating outside the station windows."

Lirya looked over both shoulders, twice, scanned the room, then leaned in towards Mohki while whispering, "I got a message."

"A message from whom?" Mohki whispered back, expecting it to be some Human boy, or maybe a rather adventurous Pwah with a penchant for canids. "Does he have large chest muscles and has to shake his leg more than the other males?"

Lirya swallowed thickly, then raised up her data-slate a few inches so the brown furred Kafya could see. "On the tablet! It was… it was just words, not like the applications."

"Words?" Mohki asked, looking down at the tablet. "What did they say? Looking to ask you about the warranty on your shuttle or something?"

Lirya looked around one more time, then actually cupped her pawed hand near her face. "They said… it knew the words anguini adi Lirya!"

Mohki's fingers dropped her half eaten chicken nugget like it had stung her, and even she quickly snapped her head around, checking to make sure that there weren't any yellow furs around them. She then hunched over Lirya, pulling her close. "It said that?! Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Lirya hiss-whispered back, pointing to the tablet. "And it said it was a friend of those born under the pale moon!"

Mohki gaped down at the tablet. "What the shit!"

"I know!" Lirya replied. "What do I do?!"

"How am I supposed to know?!" Mohki whisper-shouted. "I've been at the docks all day preparing for those ships to get-"

"What are you two doing out so late?"

Mohki and Lirya's heads snapped up to see Tyllia's lilac eyes watching them, and was she wearing thunder bolt pajamas for some reason?

"Nothin'." Mohki and Lirya said at the same time, though Lirya quickly pulled the data-slate out of sight.

"Why are you in pajamas?" Mohki asked, jabbing a finger at Tyllia's outfit.

Tyllia sucked on her teeth, annoyed. "I was invited to a slumber party, and it ended up being a rather dull affair with them mostly talking about politics, and rating scandals. I could only last an hour in that muck before I got bored and wanted ice cream."

Lirya let out a nervous, slightly too loud laugh, startling a nearby Pwah and causing all his noodles to fall away from his fork.

"Yeah!" Lirya agreed. "Politics, how boring!"

"... Yeah." Tyllia agreed with a raised brow, walking over and sitting down across from the two. "You've been busy today right, Mohki?"

Mohki nodded. "Oh yeah, big resupply for the ships is getting staged up here, easier to carry freight back and forth in zero grav' and not having to punch through the atmosphere with battleships in orbit."

"Are they still using those sling things?" Tyllia asked, ordering some ice cream from her data-slate.

"Yeah, they throw the drone shuttles right into the upper atmosphere before they have to kick on their engines, saves a ton on fuel. Ever since they updated the mag-drives, we've been getting a lot less broken goods." Mohki mused, picking up another nugget and acting normally.

Lirya was a poor actor, stabbing at the bits of orange chicken as if she were trying to silence them.

Impossible to ignore, Tyllia blinked imperiously at Lirya and set down her own data-slate. "Lirya, did those sauced up chicken bites wrong you in some way?"

"Huh?" Lirya asked, her fork pausing midway to her mouth.

Tyllia chuckled to herself, waving a hand at her. "Nothing, eat your food. I swear, my mother is going to shed an entire coat when she sees you on station here."

Lirya let out a coughing choke at the words, while it was Mohki's turn to raise her eyebrows and speak for the both of them. "Your mother? Coming here?"

"With our father, yes." Tyllia replied, smiling to the Human who set down her banana split and a spoon for her. "They want to see my sister. She's coming in on some Human battleship or something, but we haven't been able to get any digital communications to her."

Lirya gave another hard cough, dislodging the grain of rice that had been using her uvula as a speed bag, and cleared her throat. "They're coming all the way here?! Do they have a special visa or something?"

"Oh, they have some visitors thing, they got it pretty easily since I'm here and my sister is doing things with their military." Tyllia mused, getting a good scoop of strawberry ice cream and crushed pineapple into her mouth. "If you ask me, dad wants to see what we've been up to, but mom just wants to get big sis back to Kafya space and get her married."

Mohki grimaced at the thought of marriage, enjoying her stable of men and freedom, while Lirya instantly softened at the idea.

"Marriage? To who?" Lirya asked.

Tyllia shrugged, slicing off a hunk of banana with her spoon. "Who knows. Mother only wants power, and she'll just marry my sister off to some well-to-do yellow fur."

"Is anyone else coming with her?" Lirya asked. "More family?"

Tyllia chuckled. "Oh, no. I mean, plenty tried, but mom and dad only got off world due to their connections. They should be here in maybe less than a week, depending on how well they are skipping. Dad never sprung for the faster models."

"They have their own ship?" Mohki asked with wide eyes, the poor chicken nugget between her thumb and forefinger becoming rather pinched.

Tyllia shrugged again, chewing on her mouthful of ice cream and banana before speaking. "I mean, yeah, how else is mother expected to get to fashion events off our home world?"

Mohki glared at Tyllia with a look that spoke of her poverty and the poverty of her clan, while Lirya herself couldn't imagine what it would be like to own her own room, let alone an entire ship.

"They just fly off world?" Lirya asked. "Just the two of them?"

Tyllia giggled. "Oh no! No no, they take their staff with them and the ship has a small crew to keep them company."

"A crew?!" Mohki growled out, glowering at Tyllia. "The ship is large enough to have a crew?!"

Tyllia just nodded again. "Well of course, a ship needs a crew to work properly, as well as navigation and kitchen staff. Dad was still really annoyed that my sister skipped out on a military ship and didn't let him drop her off for their joint training exercise."

"Joint training exercise, she says." Mohki muttered, nudging Lirya. "She really still thinks they're all going back."

At these words, Tyllia's own face soured, and the grip on her spoon tightened. It hadn't been that long ago when she had gone to Miss La's room in order to try and get in contact with her sister, and the great blue space dragon had told her what her sister had done.

The thoughts of her mother and father coming here and finding out the same thing still gave her stomach horrible pangs of panic, as they both still thought the whole thing was temporary.

"I stopped thinking that some time ago." Tyllia said shortly, cutting off another slice of banana from her ice cream treat. "It has become quite clear that my sister has been seduced by the Human ways."

Lirya tilted her head at this, looking down at the half-eaten banana split. "But haven't you as well? All you wear is Human clothing and eat their food. I know I couldn't go back to those protein squares and gel-bars."

"My stomach turns just thinking about the old energy pastes." Mohki said, admiring her chicken nugget chunk. "After having real food like this, you would have to drag me back kicking and screaming."

Tyllia looked down at her ice cream, digging the tip of her spoon into the chocolate fudge scoop-ball.

She had nearly forgotten how Kafyan food tasted at this point, let alone the other dishes that she got to enjoy as a yellow fur. Neither the Pwah or Kojynn spice masters could hold a candle to Human cooking, nor to how it made her feel.

The Pwah and Kojynn didn't even have cheese, and she was not feeling particularly partial to giving up her mozzarella sticks anytime soon. As she thought about it, a lot of the food she really loved on board this Human station involved that wondrous Earthen cow's milk; Pasta, lasagna, pizza, ice cream, chocolate milk, soups, bread, as well as a litany of French cooking she had enjoyed in the more glitzy restaurants on the station.

".... Yeah." Tyllia muttered, cutting out a spoonful of the fudgy ice cream. "I think I could if I had to, but-"

"But you don't want to." Lirya said happily, fixing Tyllia with a warm smile. "I don't think you should have to go back if you don't want to, you would be unhappy!"

Tyllia looked up at the white furred Kafya, and in those smiling black eyes she felt something click inside her. Tyllia furrowed her brows at the feeling, actually pressing her free hand to her chest.

—

"Sparkle Otter." Oballen Bindribblin called out, his digital face glued to the viewing screen he had opened up on Tyllia's data-screen.

"Spaaarrrkkkllleeesss!" Whirler called out as well, twirling up behind Oballen to see what he was looking at.

Sparkle Otter snapped into view beside the two of them, though she snatched up Whirler's digital cheeks with her fuzzing, angry hands. "It's Sparkle, Otter!"

Whirler let out a panicked laugh as Sparkle Otter began to rapidly shake her digital form, but a loud snap from Oballen's digital fingers got their attention.

"Something is happening." Oballen said. "Aum La said this shouldn't happen for another five months, but the pale one made the yellow one do something."

Sparkle Otter leaned in towards Oballen while still gripping Whirler by her digital cheeks, the three of them staring at the little sliver of Tyllia that they could see.

"Ish'tha 'fewd ob' our 'fwends doing moh' than we 'fought?" Whirler asked through her squished cheeks.

"Maybe." Sparkle Otter murmured, turning to Oballen. "Earth's minerals have been studied and found to be doing odd things to the other species, as well as their contact with Human miasmir."

Oballen continued to stare at Tyllia as she pressed a hand to her chest, slowly crossing his digital arms. "The Humans still do not believe that they have a miasmir, despite what we have already seen and studied. Whirler?"

"Advanced romantic tendencies!" Whirler called out as Sparkle Otter loosened her grip on her face. "Brighter souls, creativity, and outward thinking!"

Sparkle Otter rolled her eyes. "Yeah, really hard to believe that Humans don't think their very breath has magical powers, Oballen."

"Not magical." Oballen murmured, and another digital AI figured snapped into view beside them. "Isn't that right, Washu?"

Washu, a more scientifically minded AI, nodded his digital head. "Quite. This universe is still full of unknowns, even to we digital beings who were born from Humanity… and our progenitors are one of such mysteries."

"Hi Washu!" Whirler called out, waving her digital hands to the other AI as Sparkle Otter rumbled out a growl and squished her face again.

Washu ignored Whirler, instead turning to Oballen. "We say it's their breath, but it may be more, an aura about them that infects others. The longer these aliens are around Humans, the deeper they are afflicted, and the more they may change. If that white furred Kafya glows too brightly, we may have to increase the security detail on her."

Oballen looked to Sparkle Otter, who was stretching out Whirler's cheeks while muttering something to her, and he turned to face the other AI fully. "Sparkle Otter."

"Yes?" Sparkle Otter growled as Whirler giggled in her hands.

"Do you think the white fur will be safe? Truly?" Oballen asked as Washu widened the screen view, tapping into a security camera feed.

Sparkle Otter looked up at Oballen, smiling. "She's in the safest place she can be, honestly. I have no doubt that the Templars alone would sacrifice legions of their number to keep her safe."

"Why would the Templars do that?" Whirler asked, shaking her digital head free of Sparkle Otter's hands.

"Because they safeguard the downtrodden." Washu said, squinting his non-existent eyes at the screen. "Even if the white fur never joins their ranks, they will guard her for what she represents."

Sparkle Otter raised a digital brow. "Being?"

"A religion that was stamped out of existence by a greater political force!" Whirler called out with a laugh. "Of course! That makes sense now that I think about it! Thanks Washu!"

"Mmhmm…" Washu murmured, rolling his eyes.

—

"What did you do?" Tyllia asked, looking at Lirya as if she had shocked her with a prod.

Lirya blinked, confused. "Huh? Did what?"

"You did something." Tyllia said quietly, still rubbing at her chest as if her sternum had popped.

Mohki chuckled. "What are you talking about? She's been sitting next to me the whole time and all she did was say you had a choice."

"I mean… do I?" Tyllia asked, looking up at the two of them. "I'm a Kafya, of Kafya Mintulcurr, I have to go back."

"Says who?" Lirya asked, blinking at Tyllia. "I get to stay here, Mohki stays here, who says you have to go back?"

Tyllia's hand began to shake ever so gently. "But… but we have to!"

But that wasn't exactly true, was it? Her big sister wasn't going back, Miss La had said as much when she had supplied the Human medical catacombs with her ovum. She was here on a student visa, but if she decided to not to leave…

… Who was going to stop her?

Tyllia's heart beat in a rapid staccato that she had never experienced before, the sensation in her veins one that she had not felt since hearing that her sister was leaving for Earth training.

Could her mother make her leave?

Could she drag her back onto the ship via force?

Would the Elders come for her?

Or… or would the Humans stop them all if she wanted to stay?

Her sister was a soldier in the U.A.A. army, she had connections now…

Tyllia looked down to her Human made clothing, down at her ice cream, then thought of all the things she owned in her room that would never be allowed back on Kafya Mintulcurr.

"Tyllia?" Lirya asked, her voice worried. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to-"

"What do you mean… what do you mean I won't have to go back if I don't have to?" Tyllia asked quietly, her ears falling back for the first time out of self doubt.

Lirya was not used to being asked such a question in such a way, and the sensation sent her into both a flightful panic of the mind and a giddy excitement.

Tyllia was asking her an actual question and wanting her opinion!

"Well." Lirya began, sitting up straight and setting her data-slate on top of the table. "What I mean is, the Humans already told me a long time ago that I don't have to leave, and that I am welcome to stay. I don't see why that wouldn't extend to you as well! Isn't your um… isn't your sister already joined up?"

Tyllia shrugged a shoulder. "I mean, I guess so? My mother and father seem to think it's still one big training exercise…"

"I'm not going back, I think." Lirya said openly, causing Tyllia to lean forward towards her and Mohki to smile. Lirya looked to them both, hands pressed together into her lap. "I'm not exactly welcomed in Kafyan society, am I? Why would I go back to that? I'm a third-class citizen on our home worlds, why would I give up being treated equally?"

Tyllia felt a new panic, one that surprised her more than she thought it would; Being treated equally. She and her family enjoyed a higher status on her home planets, one that set her above the majority and seated her comfortably among the few, and powerful.

Here on this station, she was no more powerful than Lirya or Mohki in status… if anything, they held higher status.

Mohki worked for the Humans and was more or less a citizen of the U.A.A. as far as anyone was concerned, while Lirya could be considered a refugee. Tyllia on the other hand…

… She was nothing more than a spoiled little rich girl visiting the slums.

Tyllia jumped as Lirya's pawed hand reached out and slid over hers, and she looked up into the glittering black eyes of the white furred Kafya.

"Are you worried about being seen as less?" Lirya asked, her face concerned.

"How-?!" Tyllia stammered out, her ears perking up in alarm, but said no more as Mohki chuckled.

Lirya smiled kindly. "Just a feeling, that's all."

"It's not… I just…" Tyllia struggled, trying to find the words.

Lirya just kept smiling, and turned Tyllia's hand over, pressing the pad of her thumb into the pad of Tyllia's palm. "You're more than just your color, Tyllia, the same way I am more than mine. Caracara always told me as so."

"You sound like my dad." Tyllia nervously laughed out in breathy tones, though she felt a hard lump developing in her throat. She looked away from Lirya, shamefully, then back into her black eyes. "Why are you being nice to me? I haven't… I mean, the way…"

Lirya just laughed, wiggling Tyllia's hand. "You think I'm not used to that kind of stuff? At least you talk to me, hang out with me, and you also told me how to get caracara and shisi more money! They've been able to fix the roof!"

Mohki rolled her eyes, then looked to Tyllia. "Just say you're sorry to the nice lady, pissfur."

"Stop calling me that." Tyllia hissed at Mohki, pinning her ears back at the brown furred Kafya, but her ears came back up when Lirya pressed her palm pad again with her thumb. Tyllia looked down at her melting ice cream, then back up at Lirya, the lump threatening to cause her voice to waver. "I'm… I am… sorry…"

Lirya giggled happily, standing and running around the table to wrap the flushing, yellow furred Kafya up in a hug. Her voice held genuine happiness as she rocked the now laughing Tyllia back and forth. "See! I told you we could be friends!"

"Miracles of miracles." Mohki said lowly, though the smile on her lips made Tyllia smile back.