My apologies for the long delay. The story isn't over just yet, I promise.

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Chapter Sixteen

Lauren stares in awe at the sight before her: trees, grass, streams, and somehow even a sky. Everything is so beautiful, so natural, so real. Lauren tries her best, but can't grasp any way that such a thing could be possible, yet here it is before her, standing undeniable and untouched by the years that it's spent underground.

Slowly she regains some awareness of the fact that she's still standing in the nondescript entry room, and with some effort, pushes past her state of awestruck wonder long enough to regain sufficient control of her motor skills to walk through the door, which closes behind her the moment she enters the main area of the ship.

Hearing the door shut behind her with a soft hissing sound, Lauren turns to look at it, but to her dismay she sees nothing but more trees, streams, and fields dotted by the occasional small house. This looks more like a settlement than a ship. Lauren notes as she begins walking toward a stream in the distance. How can they replicate all of these things so perfectly?

"Perhaps a better question would be" Lauren answers her own thoughts aloud "why would they replicate these things?"

As she reaches the stream, she spies a rock on it's bank and decides to rest a while and take in the beauty before her — there'll be plenty of time to inquire of the how and why of it all later. Sitting on the large gray stone, she stares down at the reflection of the sun — or it's incredibly accurate imitation — on the flowing waters.

Before long she catches a glimpse of something moving in the water, and rises up to get a closer look. "Fish?" Lauren exclaims in surprise as she watches the group of small creatures swim away, frightened by the ripples that her toes caused as she stepped a little too close and ended up wetting her foot in the stream.

Unable to wait until later for an explanation, Lauren turns and heads in the direction that she'd seen Aaron and Sanya going when they first got on board the ship, hoping she can actually manage to find them in this place.

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Sanya sits staring out of the window of the little house that Aaron left her in. She couldn't bring herself to say it because of her pride, but this ship exceeded even her expectations. She'd heard of these before, having been so close to Oankagei, if one could really call that relationship close, or even a relationship for that matter. Regardless, he'd often spoken with her of the Milariman culture, transportation, military, royalty, and even the typical lifestyle and diet of his people. She supposes she knows as much about Milarim as it's own locals, and in fact, she probably knows more about Milarim than the average citizen there. Clearly though, Aaron is far from an average citizen of Milarim. What exactly he is however, she isn't sure.

Her thoughts are interrupted when she sees Lauren passing by, wearing an expression that shows she's looking for something, or more likely, someone. As she nears the house, Lauren's searching eyes fall on Sanya, and with a smile, she hurries up to the door, her joyful bounds looking as much like small hops as they do steps. It's as though her legs don't know if they want to walk, run, or skip, and they try to do all three simultaneously.

Sanya can't help but laugh under her breath at the sight of Lauren and her poorly contained excitement. Whether it's for the sheer beauty and peace, or because it beckons to something inside of her, Sanya can't say, but Lauren is clearly enjoying this experience. What must it be like to see her first true glimpses of her heritage? Like being home for the first time, perhaps?


Without so much as a knock, Lauren bursts through the front door, still beaming. "Have you seen this place?"

"Thing." Sanya corrects, fighting the smile that struggles to escape from her heart to her face at Lauren's obvious delight. And with great effort, she manages to keep an expression that falls somewhere between aloof and condescending, but only just.

"Well yes, I suppose you're right."

"Suppose? I am."

"uh...Yes." Lauren says, taken aback by Sanya's sudden coolness. She feels more like the old Sanya than the Sanya she's come to view as something of an older sister. "Have you seen this thing?"

Sanya has to turn her gaze away from Lauren at her reaction to her sudden attitude change. After a moment of awkward silence she answers "Not really. Just the path from the front to this house."

"It's amazing." Lauren's upbeat attitude returns in full force "I don't understand though... Why would they make something like this?"

"Dunno." Sanya lies.

"How is it even possible?"

"Beats me."

"Are the living creatures real? So far I've only seen fish, but I wonder...are there any other creatures here?"

"I'm not a Milariman, how should I know?" she snaps, sounding more annoyed than she is.

"Oh..." Lauren says, letting the word hang in the silent air for a few moments before continuing "Right. Well I'll go look for Aaron and see what he can tell me about it."

Lauren turns to leave, and Sanya's glad to see it — she couldn't stand treating her like that for much longer. Stepping outside she turns her head to cast a look over her shoulder at Sanya, but says nothing. Instead she simply walks away silently, leaving Sanya sitting in the house, alone once more.

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Sitting at the command center of his ship, Rylan props his elbows on the table before him, and places his head in his hands. What will he tell Gaelia's goons? They'll be calling him anytime now, and in fact, he's more than a little surprised that they haven't done so already. His gear had sent an alert to the Leocyn Department of Defense along with his exact coordinates the minute he accessed his warrant files to show Aondlir. It's a safety mechanism meant to ensure that the acting bounty hunter had indeed been the one to access the gear, and that he or she hadn't been coerced into accessing the files, leaking sensitive information. And any Bounty Hunter knows better than to show their contracts off to anyone below an official level.

Leaning back in his seat he looks up at the ceiling; He could always tell them the truth, and, as a bonus, if they believed him — and they wouldn't — he would be freed from this case, at least temporarily. They'd have to call a high council meeting to override Aondlir's order to cease from his mission, and that much would at least buy Rylan a month or two since these meetings were never easy to schedule and then there's the inevitable arguing and less than subtle accusations they would toss around at one another. A month or two isn't a very long break, but at this point any break is a welcome break. And if this meeting did happen, it would be the first time diplomacy brought about a good thing, at least by his estimation.


Rylan's thoughts are interrupted as his incoming transmission alert begins beeping. "You couldn't let just one go, could you?" he asks with a sigh as he sits straight in his chair before accepting the call.

"Mr. Crogwyl" the same man that he spoke to before barks "we received notification that"

"That my permit had been displayed." Rylan interrupts the man, who scowls at his irreverent tone.

"That's correct. Now, seeing as how you're not dead, that means we can stop worrying about whether or not you were forced to reveal the information, and start worrying about why you thought disclosing top secret information with an Earthling was a good idea. Or even visiting Earth to begin with, for that matter."

"Aw you were worried about me? How very thoughtful of you, sir."

"Hardly, Crogwyl." the man answers with a look of disgust "Frankly I couldn't care less if you live or die, I just didn't want to go through all of the hassle of finding a new bounty hunter and drafting fresh orders."

"You're too kind, really."

"I don't care for your disdain toward your superior, Crogwyl."

"And I don't care for some squirt behind a desk thinking he's my superior." Rylan says with a smile.

"Do you know what I can do to you for speaking to me like that?"

"Yes, I do. But," Rylan leans forward, placing his face up close to the camera "do you know what I can do to you if you ever threaten me like that again, little man?"

After a brief silence, and a little squirming, which Rylan finds fairly amusing, the man speaks again. "Yes, well why did you show off your permit, Mr. Crogwyl?"

Rylan can't quite stop the corners of his mouth from turning slightly upward when he hears the words Mr. Crogwyl suddenly come back into style with the man after their exchange. "About that," he takes a deep breath before proceeding "I was on Earth because that's where I found Sanya." He cringes as soon as her name leaves his mouth. Sanya? That sounded entirely too familiar, and it certainly wasn't going to help his credibility any.

"You found her? On Earth?" The man asks, his expression one of shock "Are you certain?"

"Couldn't be more certain. I saw her face to face, spoke with her, and even did battle with her."

The man's hand comes up to his face as he rubs the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Mr. Crogwyl, you know engaging in battle in that sector is prohibited."

"It isn't when it's in self defense." he replies, feeling a twinge of guilt for the way he played her to save his own hide.

"She attacked you first? Very well then. Still, could you not be more careful so as to avoid confronting a loose cannon such as that woman the next time you're in a restricted zone?"

Loose cannon? Rylan's anger fights to get the better of him. If anyone is a loose cannon here, it's Gaelia. "Well she certainly didn't seem to have any intentions of leaving the planet and entering a sector where she could be apprehended by normal means. She seems to have settled down there. Starting a new life, if you will."

"Well that by no means absolves her of the crimes she committed in her old one."

"I know that. Do you think I'd have tried to apprehend her in such a drastic and dangerous manner if I thought otherwise for even a moment?"

"Back to the matter at hand: where is she?" he inquires, and Rylan's insides knot up again. "Did you take her alive after the struggle, or was lethal force employed?"

"Yeah, well it's not quite as easy as that." he begins explaining, and hopes they buy his answer, because otherwise he could stand before Gaelia on charges of treason for revealing confidential orders on a matter pertaining to Leocyn's security, as well as a few other charges. "You'll never believe who I ran into while I was confronting her."

"I've better things to do with my time than play guessing games, Mr. Crogwyl."

"Prince Aondlir."

The man's eyes go wide for a moment before he manages to regain his composure and answer "You're right: I don't believe it."

"Yeah well I didn't expect you would. But he's the one I showed my orders to."

"And you're sure this isn't some tall tale you're using to spare yourself the Lady's wrath?"

"I'm positive." Rylan answers, his anger apparent, but kept in check enough that he doesn't act on it. "I was just about to kill Irzorwyn when some filthy half-breed Milariman shielded her. When I tried to execute justice on her protecter, prince Aondlir stopped me, ordered me to leave her and Irzorwyn be, and to depart altogether."

"Nice try, Mr. Crogwyl. I applaud your efforts, truly I do. However, I have no choice but to report your treacherous actions to the queen." he replies and reaches for the controls to terminaate the call.

"And if I'd killed them contrary to the prince's orders," Rylan quickly calls to him would you have been the one to stand up in my defense then?"

"I wouldn't have had to stand up for you, Mr. Crogwyl: prince Aondlir wasn't there, because he's dead. I'm surprised you weren't aware of that; it caused quite the stir. He was killed when the Ichto's raided Milarim. Whoever you saw, if indeed you saw someone, was deceiving you."


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Aaron and Lauren sit at the dinner table alone tonight, as Sanya insisted on remaining in her house. They pass their in dinner relative silence saving for the standard pleasantries, but around the time Lauren finishes her meal, Aaron breaks the silence.

"You seem awfully quiet tonight. I'd have thought you'd be full of questions considering all that's happened today." Aaron says, looking up from his plate and at Lauren. "Are you still upset about everything?"

"Hmm? Mmm!" Lauren grunts her response as she lowers her glass and swallows before speaking. "No, I understand why you both did what you did. Sanya explained everything that I'd let her last night. It took some time, but I understand now. I do however wish that you would be more open with me about things from here on out.

"I think I can manage that." Aaron answers with a relieved smile "So then what is on your mind?"

"Oh it's nothing really. There's just so much to take in is all." truth be told, Sanya and her behavior are on Lauren's mind, but she still has too much to ask before getting into that. Besides, she suspects that Sanya's change has something to do with the things that she's wanting to ask Aaron about.

"Alright, where should we start?"

"Well, how about this ship? It looks like a settlement inside, with simulated plant life and even living creatures. Why?"

"Ah, that." Aaron says as he slumps back in his chair, a contemplative look on his face "Well back during the Tanegiri war, the Deylonians nearly destroyed Milarim. We fought as hard as we could, and we managed to defend our borders against the onslaught for a few weeks, but we were no match for the power of Deylon's forces. They have the most formidable military in the galaxy after all. Now don't get me wrong, our forces are more than capable, we just don't have the natural abilities and mentality for war that the Deylonians do."

"Wait, so how does this all tie in to the ship again?" Lauren asks, sounding slightly agitated at the slowness of Aaron's answer.

A faint smile touches Aaron's lips at Lauren's impatience "You didn't tell me you wanted the condensed version."

Lauren's expression falls at that comment, and the emotional response it invokes in her quickly changes from embarrassment to anger. "I suppose at this point I ought to be thankful for any version of the truth that I can get."

Lauren, shocked at the words that just came out of her mouth, drops her gaze back down to her plate, and wears an expression that's something akin to an child who's been caught breaking the rules and awaits their sentence for the crime. She's never been prone to explosions like that, and this is the third time she's done so in two days now, if she counts her tantrum earlier, which, in retrospect, seems to her more than a little childish.

Aaron on the other hand isn't surprised so much as he is aggravated. She says that she understands and isn't upset, but she could sure fool him if that's the case. He'd hidden the truth from her, yes, but he'd done so because he wanted to protect her from the injustices that she would have to face, and the sense of betrayal by her mother for not telling her for so many years before. He knew her finding out would wreck everything she thought she knew about herself, her world, and even life itself; that it would throw her into a chaotic whirlwind of confusion. And clearly he had been right. So why is he the bad guy?

"I-I'm sorry." Lauren manages to force an apology "I didn't mean that."

"Yes," Aaron answers as he sits up straight again "you did. You're just trying to hide it. And I suspect there's a lot more that you're hiding too."

"Perhaps there's some validity to that statement."

"There is. Tell me: why do you allow for the keeping of secrets from us, yet become so angry when we do the same to you?"

The look on Lauren's face is nothing short of indignant as she stiffens and speaks, sounding as stern as Aaron's ever heard her. "I hide my emotions when I feel it's proper and for the best. I should hardly think that anyone could have so much gall as to attempt to draw any comparisons between that and withholding such information from a person as you did from me."

"So then you're the righteous one again?" Aaron calls after her as she rises from the table and begins to storm off.

Looking back over her shoulder, Lauren answers even more angrily than before "Yes, I am!"

"Doesn't it ever seem strange to you that you're always the one in the right?"

"It would if I were living with someone who had even the most basic comprehension skills. Honestly Aaron, sometimes it feels like I'm the only one around here with any sense!"

"Of course you are."

Turning back to face him, Lauren shouts her question "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, your highness. Nothing at all."

Emitting the same sound that she had earlier, one that Aaron could only describe as part growl and part scream, she turns on her heel and stomps away in such an exaggerated manner that Aaron almost wants to laugh.



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