Fia growled, baring her razor-sharp teeth, as she stared down Captain Augus, her commanding officer.

  “I won’t let Aster be part of the military!” Fia said. Her sharp claws dug into the wooden, polished desk before her as she glared at him behind the desk, various documents and writing instruments scattered on it.

  August returned a firm expression to her, his amber eyes unswayed. “That isn’t up for discussion,” he replied

  “You know how the General Headquarters is! And you know that they know more than they are letting on,” Fia said.

  “So what? Complain to your older siblings about it. It was the only suitable compromise that Serenadelys and Nacht could achieve at General Headquarters along with your mother and father,” August said.

  Fia took off her peaked cap and threw it onto the table as she gritted her teeth. “Captain August!”

  August was unswayed. “It isn’t up to me or you.” He stared at her back calmly. “This isn’t like before. Not this time.”

  “There has to be something you can do…” said Fia as she gripped the table tightly. It creaked under the strength of her grip. “I refuse to accept this!”

  “You will accept it Lieutenant!” August retorted. “This is a direct order from up in General Headquarters. If you want to protest, you’ll have to do it with them.”

  Black veins began to show visibly on Fia’s skin from where her black and dark red uniform’s collar ended. They reached the top of her face as the milky white sclera of her green-yellow eyes turned dark. Fia's grip on the table tightened.

  August continued, unbothered by the display, “What? Do you not trust your siblings?”

  “I know they care for Aster in their way…” Fia began. “But even so, when it comes to Despar, I can’t be sure what their intentions are sometimes. When mother and father found Aster as a baby, they understood that Aster was special in some way, even if they didn’t know why. They could have had him sent to any number of orphanages that sprang up after the Astral Nova. But they decided to raise him with the rest of us.”—Dark energy began to radiate from Fia—“Regardless of what Aster may be, he’s still my little brother!”

  The dark energy began to take over her body, lifting and moving her hair in a nonexistent breeze. Her features seemed to sharpen. The weight of her grip grew stronger.

  “I won’t let him be another one of Despar’s weapons!” Fia roared.

  Then, the desk gave way and collapsed under the pressure of her grip. It broke apart into multiple pieces and scattered on the floor.

  “A-AH!” gasped Fia, her previous anger subsiding. The dark energy and black veins on her disappeared.

  August sighed as he stared at the broken table. The documents and writing instruments that had been on it were scattered among the pieces. “I quite liked that table,” he said.

  “S-sorry,” replied Fia.

  “Things are different now, as much as I care for the boy too,” August said.

  August rose from his chair. He bent down and picked up Fia’s peaked cap off the floor. He stood up, dusted it off, and then handed it back to Fia.

  “Our personal relations with those in General Headquarters are one thing, but this is a matter that affects all of Despar,” August said as his look darkened. “And for your sake, do I need to remind you how far those within Despar are willing to go? Or Selenar for that matter?”

  Fia grimaced as Augus continued, “That being said, is this such a bad outcome? Aster will be assigned under SETI, where you can watch over him and that princess.”

  August placed a hand on her shoulder as his gaze softened. “And don’t forget, I’ll be there too.”

  Fia stared into Augus’s amber eyes for a moment, then sighed in resignation as she put her peaked cap back on her head.

  “I’m not so sure that’s necessarily a good thing,” said Fia.

  “Hey! What is that supposed to mean?” replied August as he laughed.

  Aster felt comfortable at SETI headquarters. It was a familiar place to him growing up. The SETI unit was a part of his life growing up. And that only grew stronger after his sister Fia had graduated from Despar’s academies and joined the military.

  He looked around at the insides of the building that comprised SETI headquarters. It was wide and cavernous. A dark metal structure with marble floors, it was both smooth and sleek. There were multiple levels with stairways, with a mixture of office space and rest areas.

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  At this time of night, there were few still present within the building, though some were working late into the night. The open cubicles where they worked were bright lights in the darkly lit building. They didn’t bother them as they went about their work, even though Selenia’s faint silver glow was visible from afar.

  Aster saw that Selenia was agog at the sight outside the nearby window. Ever since she had left his home, she had stars in her eyes at every little thing she saw. The SETI headquarters had one of the best views of the underground city. The cityscape out the window was alight in a plethora of lights of all different sizes, shapes, and colors. It was backstopped by the artificial night sky of the massive dome that covered the cavern’s ceiling.

  The night sky was an excellent simulation of the real thing. It captured the actual positions of the stars and the Triplet Moons that hung in the night sky, and the glow that radiated from the moons.

  And another glow was hard to ignore…

  “You really can’t turn that off?” Aster said.

  “Turn what off?” Selenia replied as she was taken out of her city, gazing.

  “That glow that you have,” Aster clarified.

  “Ah. You mean my radiance,” Selenia said as she looked at herself with a pleased smile. “Well, I can’t. It was something I was born with.”

  Mechu stared flatly at Selenia. “You look like a glowstick,” she stated bluntly.

  Aster laughed as he, Selenia, and Mechu stood outside August’s office.

  Selenia flushed in embarrassment. “H-Hey!” Selenia said as she pointed at Mechu. “How dare you call me a glowstick!? Y-You, you slime!”

  “How did you know Mechu was a slime?” Aster said, chuckling.

  “Huh?” Selenia said. “What do you mean?”

  Mechu sighed as she stabbed herself in her eye with a finger.

  “W-what are you doing!?” Selenia said. To her shock, she saw Mechu's eye and her surrounding face distort into a blue-colored goo.

  “My kind are generally called slimes. Were liquid like creatures who originated from labyrinths like this one, from mother and father,” Mechu said as she withdrew her finger, then readjusted the peaked cap of her black and dark red uniform. Her features quickly restored themselves. “We can mimic the superficial features of humans well enough.”

  Selenia closed the distance between herself and Mechu as she tried to discern if she could tell Mechu’s blue hair and eyes apart from the real thing.

  Mechu pushed her back with a hand.

  “S-Sorry,” Selenia said in embarrassment as she realized what she was doing.

  The door abruptly opened. He recognized the familiar face of Captain August and Fia, who glowered behind him as they walked out of the office.

  “Hey gramps,” Aster said as Fia and August reached them. “So did my sister rip your desk apart again or not?”

  “She did,” August said with a chuckle. “And how many times do I have to say to stop calling me gramps? I’m not that old.”

  Selenia looked quietly between August and Mechu. “Are you a slime too?” Selenia interjected.

  “Are you calling me a slime?” August said sternly as he turned his head to Selenia. His face rose with anger.

  “N-No! I meant to ask if you’re a slime, not a slime,” Selenia said as she waved her hands in panic, recoiling as she did so.

  August stared furiously at her for several seconds, then laughed. “I’m kidding!”—August leaned towards her, a sly smile on his lips—”I’m one hundred percent human for your information.”

  Fia sighed tiredly as she glanced between them.

  “August does that joke any time he gets a chance to,” Fia said as she walked up to Mechu to take several documents from her.

  “It’s the only reason I keep Mechu around,” August added.

  Mechu gave Augus a death glare.

  “I-I’m kidding! I’m kidding!” August said as he held his hands up in apology.

  Aster watched the scene with a smile. Both August and Mechu had been figures in his life growing up. The SETI unit had been as a whole.

  August coughed for attention. They looked at him.

  “In any case, we must clarify some matters,” August began, a serious expression taking over his face. “Firstly, Aster, you’ll be joining SETI as an ensign effective immediately, and you’ll be reporting directly to Lieutenant Fia as your immediate superior officer. Beyond her will be me, and I’ll be the most senior officer you’ll be reporting to. If anyone ever gives you trouble, you and our guest princess here, you’ll first go to Lieutenant Fia, then to me.”

  Aster nodded silently.

  August crossed his arms as he looked at Selenia as he continued, “I suppose an explanation is for our little glowstick here”—Selenia scowled at August wordlessly in protest as August chuckled at her—”SETI is an independent unit that reports directly to General Headquarters outside of the command structure of Despar’s regular military forces. We’re an elite unit that answers only to General Headquarters.”

  “He means we get a lot of the troublemakers in Despar,” Mechu clarified with an unamused expression.

  “Agreed,” Fia added.

  August coughed again at Fia and Mechu’s glare.

  “Anyways, it means that I’m responsible for you two,” August said as he gave both Aster and Selenia a small smile. “Secondly, as for you, our resident runaway princess, your status is a bit more complicated. For now, you’ll be considered a foreign dignitary of Selenar, and until we can clarify your status with Selenar, whenever that may happen, you’ll be treated as such. Though unofficially, you’ll be treated more as a civilian guest, a kind of diplomatic attache from Selenar attached to SETI during your time here.”

  August sighed. “Best be warned. There aren’t many who have any good feelings towards Selenar. Officially, you should be afforded some measure of diplomatic immunity, but if an accident were to happen, there wouldn’t be many who would care.”

  Selenia shrank in her seat as Aster gave her a reassuring smile. She smiled back at him.

  “So best stick by Aster and Fia here,” August ended.

  Selenia raised her hand in question. “Uh. So what exactly will I be doing here then?” Selenia asked.

  August smirked at her as he put a hand to his chin. “Well, how much do you like farming?” he replied.

  Selenia tilted her head in confusion. “Pardon?”