Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"Status report, Fleet Intelligence."

"The Taiidan have been made aware of our movements after we fought off the strike force that attacked the Bentusi. A hunting fleet from them continues to chase after the Mothership, even after multiple hyperspace jumps. Our hyperspace speed is currently unable to keep up with their pace; we've been working on this, but finding the means to outmanoeuvre the Taiidan likely will take too long. We expect contact within three jumps at most."

"We don't have the weapon capabilities to face the Taiidan hunting fleet head-on. We are still recovering from our encounter with the Taiidan raiders who attacked the Bentusi and our own surprise sortie against the imperial research station."

"We may be able to muster a splinter squadron of frigates and fighters to engage the hunting fleet and buy us time, but... our options are still limited. The cost of such a decision would only result in a delay of the inevitable confrontation, a cost that may not be worth the advantages."

"There is another option. The Bentusi have told us about other areas of the galaxy that the Taiidan armies steer out of, like the Great Nebula. Our sensors indicate that we are at two-hyperspace-jumps away from one such region."

"That is correct, however... we cannot exclude that the reason why this region of the galaxy is avoided a source of danger, like the Kadeshi were for the Great Nebula. Another battle with a such an enemy would be dangerous in the current state of the Mothership fleet."

"This does not appear to be a region comparable to the Nebula. The Bentusi mentioned that the systems in this region are mostly uninhabited—unlike the Nebula, explorers have come back, though few and far between and... altered, 'wounded in the mind', according to the Bentusi. The Empire defines it as 'dead space', with too poor planets and dangerous enough to not be worth of conquest or attention."

"We cannot confirm or deny the information from the Bentusi with the data we have available. Nonetheless... it may be our only viable option to regroup in relative safety and perhaps find a location where we can gather resources. Once we're sure the hunting fleet is no longer chasing us and we are ready to depart, we may devise a plan of action to prepare for a future counter-attack and resume our travel towards the galactic core."

"Then, the decision is taken. We will follow through with this and plan our next moves ahead of what we find in the new sector. Switching to fleet channels.

"This is Fleet Command. Hyperspace module has finished charge-up phase. We have a new plan of action, and will move into another region of the galaxy shortly. Prepare for hyperspace."

Luz observed with wonder the town below.

Albeit yet to be finished, the rebuilding of Bonesborough had turned out to be a surprisingly fast process. Every time she came back to visit the Boiling Isles, she saw the place getting closer and closer to its former shape—when not striving to an even better form, now that it was no longer under the crippling influence of the Emperor's Coven.

It almost felt like her own contributions to the reconstruction were no longer needed. It had been several months since the Boiling Isles had been saved from oblivion.

Of course, even if true, that thought was not going to stop her.

"Okay, we've enjoyed the sight for long enough. Let's move!" she exclaimed, pulling herself up from the ground.

The hand that was wrapped around hers stopped her from walking away. Luz looked down to meet Amity's eyes.

"We've been sitting here for, like, three minutes, Luz," she deadpanned.

Luz simply smiled apologetically. "More or less. That's not the point, though, Amity... it just doesn't feel right, to stay here and do nothing. You are still all busy with reconstruction and restoring the islands back to where they were before... before everything, and whenever I come here... it just feels unfair, to see you all still busy trying to fix the damage without me lending a hand."

"Luz... we've already talked about your role in what happened back then, if you still feel you have any kind of obligation after—" Amity stood up to join her, adjusting her hair behind her pointed ears.

"No, no, I don't mean that!" Luz quickly interjected to correct her. "It's different, Amity. It's been months and most of the witches who live in the Isles don't have a proper place they can call home yet. You even don't have a proper home either!"

Amity raised an eyebrow. "Uuh... I don't understand how my family life is related to this."

Luz, realizing she may have derailed the conversation, rushed into damage control mode. "F-Forget about that, bad timing."

Rather than keeping her glare up, Amity's expression softened up. She reached up and put her arms above Luz's shoulders, and pulled with just enough strength to invite her to come closer.

"Don't worry about it. I just want you to be aware that, even if there are still issues we are working out and it may feel as if we're slowing down, we're getting closer and closer to fixing everything. Besides... with most magic not being as strong as it used to be, it's a given that we need a bit longer than planned. Not even the Collector has managed to recover his own powers to their fullest, yet—and they're an immortal being!"

"I... I guess that makes sense."

Her tone was a clear giveaway that Luz didn't believe in what she said. Amity slightly tilted her head.

"I can tell when you're not convinced, Luz."

"...am I that easily readable?"

"I dunno about you in general, but at least for me, that comes with a relationship that lasted several months."

Luz chuckled at the remark. "Yeah, that makes sense." She then stared into Amity's eyes dreamily for a moment.

However, Amity kept looking sternly at her, with quickly made Luz realize that her girlfriend still didn't forget about the subject of their conversation.

"...in any case, I'm just worried," Luz said. "But... but I don't want you to feel worried about me, either."

Amity sighed. "I'm not worried, but I'd just like you to feel at ease, Luz. You really shouldn't feel you have a duty towards any one in the Boiling Isles—not at this point in time, at least."

Luz nodded. "I... I don't think duty is the right word. It was, but now..."

She smiled. "I just think it makes me happy to be there and help out whenever I can."

Amity didn't seem to expect that reply. It took her a few seconds before she hummed. "Well, if you put it that way, then I trust that it's not a burden for you to feel this way."

She gave a look to the town below the hill. "I do think that the others won't mind if we show up a bit earlier."

"Now you're speaking my language!" Luz said, content with Amity's resolution. The two separated from each other, then took a look around. The two girls were not carrying much with them—Amity had fetched Luz from the Owl House and the two had spent an hour together wandering around the wilderness of the isles on their own before moving to check out the town from the hills—so they didn't need to bring much with them.

A familiar hiss and meow came up as their animal palismen, Ghost and Stringbean, showed up shortly after the two girls started looking for them. Luz smiled as Stringbean hissed as if to mirror her own excitement, before she morphed into a perfect witch staff. Grabbing it, she nodded to Amity, who had her own witch staff with a cat figure at the top ready as well.

A moment later, they were in the air and moving fast down the hill.

Bonesborough was not very close, but via flight It took them little time to arrive in town. As soon as they started to quietly fly over the main roads, multiple people waved or called out to Luz.

"The Titan Girl is back! Welcome!"

"Noceda! This may sound repetitive, but thanks again for your help!"

"Hey, mom, look! It's Luz the Human!"

Luz had met and had befriended many people in the Boiling Isles, but she had yet to get used to her new 'celebrity' status. Unlike her first months spent here, she now was a well-known name even among people whose existence she was barely aware of. She always waved back and replied warmly, though sometimes she wondered who the heck she was talking to.

Other than the rare awkward moments, though, she didn't mind. As long as everyone was happy and recovering, she was happy herself—friend or stranger.

"We should probably go check on Willow first," Amity began, adjusting her position on the staff to look at her while they kept flying. "She probably is already working to help with the rebuilding in the outskirts to the south, probably with one of those groups of veteran Construction Coven specialists."

"Hmm-mmh! Sounds good to me!"

An afternoon spent helping the Witches along with her friends was an afternoon well-spent. To Luz, there was no better way to spend her days in the Boiling Isles, whenever she had the chance to visit. Seeing everyone—not just Amity, who was anyway the person she saw the most since they regularly visited each other—but Willow, Gus, Hunter. And Eda and King, who still were kind enough to give her a place to crash in!

And everyone else.

Every time it was a breath of fresh air from her life on Earth, a feeling far different from how it felt when she first came to the Isles, when they were not yet a place free of the oppressive rule of the Emperor's Coven and its old master.

Here, Luz could let the best version of herself live fully—as long as she avoided the dangers innate to the Isles, that is. But that was part of the charm!

What was not part of the charm, though, was the giant shadow that suddenly hid the sun.

Luz and Amity halted in mid-flight, startled. Below them, lines of witches and demons stopped their activities to look up in the sky. The two girls followed their gazes.

At first, Luz felt a jolt run through her body, and an almost primal fear envelop her being.

Was the Titan's hand moving? Again?!

The Titan's body that made up the bulk of the Boiling Isles still had one of its arms reaching up high in the sky—high enough to cross the atmosphere. It was another result of the events that eventually led to the liberation of the Isles, and since then the limb had stuck to its place, acting as one of the last proofs of what Belos had tried to do.

Luz's thoughts made the connection because the Titan's hand was the only thing large enough to create such a shadow. But at this hour of the day, it would've worked only if it had moved all of a sudden to cover the sun. What could possibly do that?

Was... was he back, somehow?

She didn't have Titan powers. Her glyphs were still non-functional. She didn't have anything—

No, it couldn't be him. It did not make sense!

"Look!" a shrill voice from below shouted. "There's something beside the hand!"

Luz gasped for air. She didn't even realize she'd stopped breathing.

It wasn't the hand. Belos did not return. That... that was a great relief.

Not fully, though, considering that something had indeed appeared beside the Titan's hand.

It was very, very far, and yet, whatever it was, Luz could still recognize the shape as something akin to a compressed crescent moon.

But if it was that clear, and it was right beside the Titan's claws, then... that thing had to be enormous. She'd have to use miles to measure that thing!

"L-Luz?"

Luz looked away from the dark shape afar to check on Amity. The girl was looking at her with wide eyes.

"Do you... do you have any idea...?" even Amity herself was shocked by the sight, and her voice clearly betrayed her initial fear.

She didn't blame her. Luz was frightened herself as well, by now.

She shook her head. "No, I don't know... but..." she looked at the thing again. Large enough to cover the star that lit up the day in the Boiling Isles, appearing out of nowhere and floating up there, almost in space.

Then, it clicked.

"I-I can only guess, but... I think that thing isn't from this world."

"Yes, I mean it! Dozens of planets with millions of people in them, most of 'em sporting entire fleets of giant ships that can soar the stars and beyond!"

'Hunter and Gus would probably enjoy this... as would Mama,' Luz thought to herself as she listened to the Collector's rambling.

She was sitting among a crowd of witches and some demons, who sat or stood in a circle in the main hall of the Archives. Beside her were Eda and King, who were currently also listening what the Collector had to say. Other than them, the only people Luz recognized among those present were Raine and Lilith. Lilith, Eda's sister, was barely visible, hidden behind a group of tall and bulky demons a few steps away from them, while the former Bard Coven head sat opposite of them in the chamber and in front of everyone else, as they had taken the role of speech directors of sorts.

The Collector hovered in the air at the centre of the chamber. He gestured excitedly towards a constructed image that floated above him, one that essentially acted as a space map of sorts. In it, hundreds of dots identified stars and their own star systems. Suddenly, the entire map moved suddenly, and Luz saw hundreds of those dots move quickly and being replaced by others. The Collector moved a hand as the image moved, as if scrolling through the map—not unlike a finger scrolling down a touchscreen.

"Not all planets are full of people, of course," the Collector mused, but then he shrugged. "But there are enough out there to fill more than a mortal's life to explore them all, for sure."

"That's preposterous! Are you telling me that there are entire nations out there that we had no idea of up until now?" A person cried out from the crowd. Narrowing her eyes to focus a little, Luz recognized him as the last head of the old Abomination Coven, Darius—she hadn't realized he was present at first. He looked quite in disbelief.

"Well, you can thank my siblings for that," the Collector grew stern all of a sudden, the comment distracting him from his own dreams. "The Archivists were always interested in more items to catch and study, so imagine how willing they were to fetch some of these strangers whenever they showed up around here! No wonder they stopped coming after a while..."

The Collector snapped their fingers, and the galactic map construct disappeared while normal lighting was restored in the Archive main hall.

Raine stood up, taking the initiative before the befuddled Darius could reply to the Collector's words. "Well, if that's the case, then I guess we were lucky that none of them showed up while there was nothing stopping them from doing so."

"Actually, Raine..." the Collector corrected him. "In the last few months, I kinda tried to, uh, make people not show up here?" They then opened their hands in defence. "No kidnapping, of course! I'm not my siblings. I just used the usual, you know... some spectacles, messing with their mind a little, filling their mind with nightmares and—"

"Collector!" Luz found herself shouting throughout the crowd as she snapped. "I thought we were over the whole 'make people do what I want no matter what they feel about it' phase!"

She shrunk back upon noticing that her outburst had gained the attention of the entire crowd, rows of witches and demon staring at her. She still hadn't gotten used to the fact they all knew her by now.

The raised eyebrows certainly showed that they didn't expect their heroine to act like a mother lecturing a child.

The Collector did not appear to be as worried as her by the collective reaction, though. He beat everyone else on a reply. "Hey, they deserved it! These people are not necessarily good guys, and are not good play mates either. There's this Empire out there and all it does is conquer planets and destroy whoever tries to stop them."

A familiar chill ran down her spine.

"So I thought that making sure they kept out of this part of space was a good way to help you guys," the Collector finished. "Now, these guys, the ones who are flying up there by the hand... they, uh, they managed to slip through, somehow. By the time I realized they were around, they already showed up here... which is why I came here myself. I guess things changed in the last few centuries... I don't think I recognize them from what I remember of the other space people, either!"

Darius pinched his nose. "So, after all this story you kindly told us, it turns out that you don't know that much more than us about that giant, uh... spaceship?" he glanced towards Luz for a moment, who made a thumbs-up. Considering her friends, including the sci-fi enthusiasts, had been excluded from this meeting, she had been tasked with filling up the vocabulary where required before the meeting itself. "You don't know the intentions of whoever is manning that thing?"

The Collector made a pompous and yet very honest shrug. "Beats me. But at least you know where they are from now! Sort of... I don't know which planet they're from, either. They don't feel like they're from that Empire, at least... but other than that, I have no clue."

Murmurs ran through the crowd as Darius muttered something under his breath. Luz could understand their feelings—it wasn't like she had a better understanding than them on the matter.

In fact, she barely could wrap her mind about the fact that the Boiling Isles were apparently placed into an area of space (a star cluster? A galaxy? A universe?) that was inhabited by space-faring civilizations. The world of the Witches had gotten even more complex all of a sudden, as if the history of the Isles wasn't already an engaging collection of events to begin with—even before her arrival here.

Luz didn't know exactly how to take it. Should she be relieved or concerned?

"Well, I gotta say, I don't really know whether this is good or bad news," Eda commented.

She wasn't the only one with such thoughts, indeed.

"It's incredible, though," King said. The little demon looked more curious than worried, compared to the two women. "There are thousands of people out there that we could meet... and there's no portal separating us from them, like it works with Earth. They're just... very far."

"Hey, don't tell me you're already having thoughts about restoring your old reign or something like that, Titan-guy." Eda gave him a small smirk.

King simply let out a snort. "You know I'm over that, Eda, but still, think about it. New worlds, hundreds of them according to the Collector! You were the one who liked to visit Earth because it was different from the usual fare here, right?"

"Eh, more like it was a good scrapyard to scavenge stuff to sell at home," Eda shrugged.

"Hey, you know I'm still here, right? That scrapyard is my home!" Luz protested, interjecting into their conversation.

"Indeed, and it looks like some of the scraps here can be pretty good items," Eda replied without skipping a beat. Right afterwards, she proceeded to grab Luz and give her a noodgie.

"Haha, hey! Time-out, that was uncalled for!" Luz said while chuckling at Eda's antics.

She let her go. "There was a time where you used to fight back, actually."

"Well, I still can—" Luz smiled, but then her expression grew serious again. "Seriously though, about this thing with the aliens... maybe we should pay attention to the conversation until we're sure everything is all right."

"That's new," Eda said. Her tone was playful, but her eyes focused back on the centre of the meeting anyway.

"Are you worried, Luz?" King questioned her.

"Kinda? I don't know, it's just that I thought you guys wouldn't have to get involved in something like this again. I thought that as soon as he was gone, things would be okay. But now... I'm not so sure."

King hummed, though Eda beat him on replying to Luz. "Right now we don't know whether this is a big problem or not, but you don't have to think that much about it, kid. We'll find out, don't get me wrong, but until then we can't just dwell on it while expecting the worst. Especially not you, since you don't even live here."

Luz nodded absently, her worries not really being quelled by Eda's attempt at reassurance.

"Now let's keep quiet, I see Raine is taking the stage again. Let's hear what they have to say."

Indeed, Raine had moved to the centre of the room, taking the place that was occupied by the Collector. The moon kid was still nearby, though he now hovered in the air above the crowd while waiting for the witches to sort things out. His pout showed that, albeit somewhat aware of the gravity of the situation, his patience was still one of a young kid.

"All right, people, may I have your attention?" Raine called out.

As everyone else turned to regard them, Luz could immediately tell that Raine did not fully move on from their awkwardness when the attention was put on them. They had made a lot of progress on that front, though, and they were able to carry on after a few seconds to recompose themselves.

"Now, uhh... we all heard what the Collector has told us about these 'visitors'. The next step is to make a choice regarding what to do with them, since, well... I don't think we can't ignore the matter."

"Well, what do you suggest?" a witch stood up among the crowd, to the left of Luz, Eda and King.

"As far as I can understand, we have two options. We can try to make contact with them, and hear directly from them what their business is in the Boiling Isles. That way, we can avoid to create an enemy that we certainly don't need right now and at the same time learn more about these unknown civilizations that inhabit the worlds beyond ours."

"What's the other option?"

Raine sighed. "That's the one I like the least but... if they are up to no good, it... it may be best to strike first. They don't know the Boiling Isles or us, so we have the element of surprise, one we cannot let go to waste as if it wasn't of any value. We could force them to retreat, and afterwards the Collector could try to keep acting as a deterrent towards any future visits, but... I don't think that's going to work forever. I'd rather not do that."

"And why do you think that's not gonna hold, exactly?" A witch walked towards Raine. While most witches by now didn't wear colour-coded clothes, and the coven system essentially was no longer enforced, some were still staying faithful to old traditions. This witch was such an example, since their brown-coded attire showed him as part of the Construction coven.

It was pretty much a given, since this was not just any witch, but Mason, the former head of that coven itself.

"These 'visitors' may not be part of the civilization that the Collector spoke of, the one that conquered planets, but they may very well involved with them. Do you want to risk them leading this 'Empire' to us? That word alone should make some alarm bells ring in all of you!"

There were more mumbles as Mason continued to speak. "I understand your grievances, Raine, but we can't just exclude the option outright. Not when we risk undoing all of our progress because another Empire seeks to replace the old one!"

"I'd rather make a friendship than to create an enemy," Raine replied sternly. "And I would not make the mistake of underestimating them. We witches have magic, sure, but these people apparently have a flying vessel that dwarf Bonesborough itself."

"If I could add something to that," Darius had moved into the centre as well by now, "we have no reason to think they have hostile intentions. From what we can see from down here, they're just... there. Floating near the Titan's hand. That's better than just coming down to rain a firestorm on us, so maybe we should consider—"

There was a loud 'slam!' as a door hit a wall. Darius stopped his speech as he and the entirety of those present turned hastily to look at the source of the disturbance.

A woman rushed into the chamber, one that everyone immediately recognized.

"...Snapdragon?" Darius let out, once again surprised.

"What are you doing here, Terra?" Raine questioned, frowning immediately at the sight of the former Plant Coven head. "I don't recall you being invited to this meeting."

"Well, it's nice to see you as well, Raine," Terra waved Raine's unwelcoming greeting off. "Let's skip the formalities. I have come to warn you. These... strangers up there in the sky. There's not just that single thing up there—"

"Spaceship."

"...yes, that 'ship' hovering in the sky, however you want to call it. They don't have just that: they have dozens of ships that are coming in and out of it as we speak. And they are... they are consuming the Titan's hand!"

The news had the effect of turning the murmurs into a chaotic mess of heated clamour and exclamations of shock.

"They are consuming it? What do you mean?"

"Wait, are they—destroying it? Taking it up for themselves, while ignoring us?"

"They are thieves!"

"Wait, though. it's not like... the Titan is of concern to us, after what happened."

"But it's still part of the Boiling Isles, of our home! This is clearly a sign they are after our world!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves—!"

"We should attack them, now that we have the chance!"

"No, wait, that could be unwise. She said they have an entire fleet of smaller ships, those could be armed!"

"What are we waiting for? We have to move now and—!"

"RAAAWWR!"

Silence befell into the room. Eberwolf retired his canine teeth and sat down beside, now that the crowd had been silenced. The former Beast Keeping Coven head still had enough authority to make people listen, at least.

"Thank you, Eber," Darius told him, before he turned to address Terra again. "Explain yourself cleary. They are 'consuming' it?"

"That's the best word that describes what's going on," Terra replied. She brought a hand to her face. "I don't... don't know what is going on, but I can tell what I saw: some of those flying ships are making routes back and forth to the Titan's hand. They are using some kind of technology, or even magic, to do that. And, I swear to you, I saw rock vanishing under it, as if being sucked away."

Murmurs went throughout the crowd as Darius nodded. "That's better. Now... your words may be grave, Snapdragon, but why should we believe you?"

"I climbed up there to check them out myself," Terra explained, frowning at the lack of respect. "You may not trust me, but I know what my eyes have seen, what my spines and leaves have felt through the earth and bone that make up the Titan's limbs. The aliens are consuming the hand, and likely are taking chunks of it into their ships with those strange magical beams. In my opinion, they are taking the matter that makes up the Titan for themselves!"

"So we should believe what you saw up there, on your own? Ignoring the instructions to not go and risk an incident before this meeting happened that we gave in Bonesborough hours ago?"

That seemed to hit a nerve. "You think I should subject myself to some commoner announcement? I was the head of the Plant Coven, I am not—!"

"You were the head of a Coven, yes, but you no longer are that, just like the rest of us," Darius interrupted. "And considering your past actions, you'll need something a bit better than that to support your words, Snapdragon, whether you like it or not."

"I can vouch for her."

A person had slowly followed Terra as the confrontation between her and Raine and Darius occurred, so much silent that Luz had completely failed to notice her.

But as soon as she saw the palisman staff with a feline shape at the top and the familiar head of dyed purple hair, she recognized her immediately.

"Amity?!" Luz abandoned her post beside Eda and King before she knew it, accidentally hitting some disgruntled witches in the process. "Sorry, sorry, coming through!"

"Amity Blight? Were you...?" it was now Raine's turn to look confused.

"No, I'm not... helping her," Amity made a face that was very close to a gag. Terra huffed beside her, but made no attempt to deny her words.

"However, I did find out what she was up to, and when I realized what she was planning, I decided to follow her just to make sure she didn't pull anything reckless. Terra has been... surprisingly cooperative, once we saw what the aliens were doing to the Hand."

"You may not like me, but I respect the place I call home as much as you all do," Terra added. "And this is a case where that home is in danger."

"So... you confirm what Terra said? That the aliens are 'consuming' the hand?" Raine asked.

Amity nodded. "Yes... I do. I saw the ships going back and forth, and using that... 'extraction magic' of sorts. It was as if the fingers of the Titan were being... turned to dust, then collected by those ships."

There was a moment of silence after her confirmaiton.

"...this complicates things," Darius resumed. "That means they are insterested in our planet. And if they are smart enough to do that, then... they got to know this planet is inhabited. Which means that they ignored us. Ugh..."

Raine nodded. Both him and Darius gestured for Terra to join them, though it most likely was to keep an eye on her. Then, they looked away from Amity to focus on the crowd, which had fallen into another session of discussion, though this time there was less shouting at least.

Amity didn't mind being done. Her attention was diverted away as soon as she saw Luz emerge from the crowd, stumbling and almost risking losing her equilibrium as she did so.

"H-Hey!"

Amity waved at her, slightly amused by Luz's hurry.

Luz waved back, then rushed to meet her. "O-Okay, I'm here... first off, why? I thought you and the others said you didn't mind not taking part in this meeting!"

"That was mostly valid for me, to be honest," Amity confessed. "I met up with Willow, Hunter and Gus not long after you left with Eda and King. They wanted in much more than I did, but before we could agree on a compromise, Willow saw Terra using her plant magic to climb towards the hand and the alien ship."

Luz couldn't help smiling. "So the others are on it too, after all." She glanced towards the crowd once again, wondering about whether their friends had managed to find a way to listen to the discussion without being discovered.

"To an extent. I did go escort Terra on my own, but I joined back with them after we came back and we decided I'd go on my own with Terra. As I already said, Terra actually has not caused any problem. She was willing to follow me ever since we both saw what the visitors were doing, so there was no need for more witches to escort her. Besides, four unwanted guests crashing here probably would not be welcome when one could do the job just fine."

"...I guess that makes sense, but you didn't need to! I'm sure Raine wouldn't mind you and the others joining, after all you did back then."

"Well... there's a reason for being cautious, Luz." Amity said. She rubbed at the back of her neck. "Better not to press Raine's kindness already when we plan to convince them to let us tag along."

...did she hear that right?

"...what?"

Amity simply let out a small chuckle at her reaction. "We didn't know what was going on, but we assumed that you would want to join them into whatever will happen afterwards. And, well, Luz... there's no way me or any of the others are letting you face this on your own."

After a few seconds, Luz's mouth turned into a big smile. She wrapped her arms around Amity, hugging her tightly. "...thank you. Take it as if I'm hugging Willow, Gus and Hunter, too."

"I'm sure they're spying from a window or something right now... but sure, I will," Amity returned her embrace, nuzzling her nose into her hair.

They spent just a couple of seconds hugging, though, as the voices around them raised in pitch, taking their attention away.

"We can't let them do as we please. How about a showcase of power?" Terra proposed.

"That's madness, Terra!" another voice replied. This was not one of the old coven heads. In fact, the speaker was Lilith, who had walked into the centre of the stage while Amity and Luz were busy reuniting with each other. "The Collector has mentioned that these people have technology that rivals our magic, you said the way they're damaging the Hand looks like magic. You think they'll be impressed by a swarm of a hundred witches when they have a giant mechanical war machine per every one of us?"

"What about the Collector? Yes, you, kid," another witch piped up. "I heard you moved the entire moon with your powers."

"I could, but that'd be boooring!"

"...you realize this is serious?"

"I'm just messing witih ya'," the Collector grinned, though he became despondent right after. "Actually... I can't do it yet. I'm still recovering my powers... they're enough to open a portal to Earth for a short while and to go explore the stars not that far from the Boiling Isles, but I'm not strong enough yet to just blink that thing out of the sky."

"...we should still consider sending some envoy of sorts before taking things the hard way."

Mason shook his head. "This isn't worth the risk, Raine. You said it yourself, we have a chance to take the initiative and strike first when they expect it the least. I won't let that chance go to waste, not when they're doing something to our home!"

Terra clapped her hands. "That's how I'd approach it myself. These people think they can do whatever they like? We should make them realize how big of a mistake that is!"

"...your input is not helpful, Terra," Darius growled. However, he then frowned. "However, Mason does make a good point, Raine. Besides what he said, we'd be taking a risk either via the pre-emptive attack or the diplomatic approach. And we can't choose both."

"Well, let's put it to debate then. Who thinks attacking first is our best bet?" Mason spoke up.

Multiple voices came to reply, either in agreement or open opposition. As she listened to the discussion, Luz immediately knew that things were spiralling out of control.

Everyone was on edge, and she could distinctively feel how many of the witches deeply feared the visitors.

The memory of what had happened under Belos' rule was still strong, strong enough to drive their decisions via fear and make them turn to the fastest solution.

No, she could not let this happen. The Isles were moving on, and she wouldn't let the leftover influence of his actions hurt people again!

"Hey, hey, hey, guys! Friends!" Luz, stepping away from Amity, shouted into the crowd. She was not as commanding as Darius, nor was her voice strong enough to rival Eberwolf or Mason, but nonetheless the shouting slowed down as multiple faces turned to face her.

Why was it so hard to speak all of a sudden?

"Luz?" Lilith's voice made her snap out of it.

"Uh, yeah, yeah! Sorry. Soo... I listened to most of what everyone said today," she started. Luz tried to scan the lines of people around her to show she was talking to everyone, but eventually she decided to put her focus on Raine, Darius, Lilith and Eberwolf, as they were essentially acting as representatives. She made sure to ignore the glares coming from Terra and Mason.

"I know your feelings may be... strong, after what happened months ago. However, I still believe you should double-think it over before deciding to pick the hostile path."

"That's respectable, human, but this is our home that is on the line," Mason glowered at Luz, forcing her to face him. "You're asking us to welcome someone who's shown already to care not about our opinion."

Luz bore the witch's glare, though she couldn't help flinching a little at the tone. It wasn't very common to meet witches who for some reason or another did not like her, and she had yet to get used to that.

"I'm not asking you to just wait and let them do whatever they want. But please, think about this... if they are really seeking conflict, then they wouldn't have waited for so long up there. And all they're taking is... well, they picking parts of the Titan, and that's a bit uncalled for, but they may not even know that what they're taking is important to you. They likely don't know us as much as we don't know them."

"So that means they consider us savages?" Terra hissed.

"...that's now what I said—hey, don't change the subject!" Luz retorted, irked a little by the uncalled observation. "What I'm trying to tell you here is that it's worth trying to have a talk with these strangers before we decide to do anything reckless. It's risky, but it's risky to just go there guns—uh, staffs ablaze, too!"

She paused, taking a moment to regain her breath. "It's hard, I know. I... I'm worried, too. This entire situation, and what the Collector said... it feels way too much familiar. However, I also believe that we should not let our past influence our decision this much. Just... think about that."

With her speech ended, Luz waited for the crowd to take her words.

Some hushed comments came through the witches and the few demos spread throughout, but no one tried to speak up. Even Mason stayed silent, deep in thought after hearing Luz's replies, while Terra was conveniently surrounded by a few witches whose presence made her less willing to speak up again without request.

"...you make a good point, as usual, Luz." It was Raine who finally broke the ice. "I would also add that other than personally agreeing with your view, we may not have this choice in the future either, going by what Collector said. These visitors may very well be our first view into the worlds beyond, and I'd like to start with something other than a battle with those who may become our neighbours, at some point in the future."

Darius and Eberwolf both nodded. "I figure we should at least give them the benefit of the doubt," Darius said.

"There's... something else," Lilith spoke up, taking Luz by surprise. "It's possible that these people have... sinister intentions, but do not plan to share those with us immediately. They may be here to study our world first, as explorers. I thought they could be adventures seeking fortune, but the space ship is too big for something like that... no, they could be the scouting party that precedes the arrival of the invading force."

This elicited a few gasps, but Lilith continued to speak. Her voice was laced with regret. "I say that based on my... my own experience in the Emperor's Coven. It was among the directives of some of my subjects—to infiltrate the common witchfolk and learn about their ways of life in order to understand how to control them better. It was basics, and... something like that may be the strategy applied by these visitors."

"If that's the case, how do you suggest we handle this, Clawthorne?" Darius asked.

"Doing it the Clawthorne way. Specifically, my way."

Eda was the last person to join the increasingly larger group of people in the centre of the hall. Luz could not help brightening up at her appearance. "I've lived as a wanted wild witch for years, and I learned to recognize the signs when someone planned to dupe me or just wanted to extract information behind my back for something else. These alien people may be proud of their technology, but we got the smarts." She winked. "Well, I do at least."

Luz and Amity couldn't help letting out a giggle at the remark, but the rest of the adults didn't laugh.

"I'm happy to see you this confident, Eda, but this is not the time for jokes. We have to make a decision carefully, here," Raine said.

"That's what I'm offering you, an option. Take me with whatever group you're sending up there to have a chat with the space-heads. If there's anything weird going on with them and their intentions, I'll catch that."

"Sister, you may trust your judgement, but maybe—"

Eda waved off Lilith's reply with a hand, adding a snort for added effect. "That's why I know I can do this—I trust myself enough to not trust strangers."

This time, Raine smiled as well, whereas Eberwolf shook his head and Darius passed a hand over his forehead.

"No chance we can convince Clawthorne to just stay out of this, I assume?"

"Yup... she's put her mind on it, I'm afraid," Raine noted. Darius groaned.

"I suppose that settles it, then," he looked away from the group and regarded the crowd again. "If there are no other suggestions, then I propose we immediately begin setting an envoy group with an escort that will travel up to the Titan's hand to intercept the visitors and put an end to this, if they don't leave before we finish. Any one against that?"

There was no attempt to strike down the new decision. The Construction Coven witch who protested earlier had long since abandoned the centre of the stage.

"I'll take that as a no. Let's get this over with."

Darius started to converse with Eberwolf and Lilith while Mason came to join them. Terra was accompanied out of the archives not long after, while the crowd dispersed around the room and multiple witches came up to the group leaders to volunteer.

Raine and Eda let them focus to the task, instead moving over to join Luz and Amity.

"Pretty well-spoken, Luz." Raine added a small clap to their words. "It's refreshing to see someone able to put my own thoughts into words better than I could."

"Aw, shucks, don't say it like that... I was just honest about what I thought!"

"Well, I think that's why I and many people liked what you said," Raine replied. "Everyone felt that you spoke from your heart."

"True that. To be honest, kid, I thought you'd intervene sooner," Eda said. "Oh, and by the way, Raine, she's coming up there with us of course."

Luz jolted. Did she hear that right or—?

Raine shared her feelings, apparently, as he stared at Eda for a moment with raised eyebrows. "W-Wait a second, what do you mean she's coming? Eda, I don't think—ugh..."

They rubbed their forehead. "I know what you're doing, but let me remind you we never agreed to involve her or any of the younger kids from the isles in this matter. Luz has already given a lot to this world, and I think one life-threatening adventure is enough for her."

Eda shook her head. "You don't know her as well as I do yet, Raine. Here, take this."

She bowed a little, putting her head face-to-face with Luz's. "Wanna go meet the space-faring civilization, Luz?"

She didn't have the time to think straight, so she just let out the first thing that came to her.

"K-Kinda?"

"Uh-huh. So, do you want to go just out of curiosity and for the feeling of adventure, or because you want to help out with the matter at hand?"

"...a little bit of both?"

Standing upright again, Eda threw a knowing glance at Raine.

"She doesn't look very convinced to me."

"That's because we are technically interrogating her right now, so she's a bit under pressure," Eda conceded. "However, trust me, letting her join is our best bet. You try push her out, and as soon as you take off she'll find a way to stow away in an airship or something like that. We may as well give her a proper role in it."

"Uh... Eda, you know I'm still here, right?"

"Right you are, kiddo."

Raine shook his head, though he did so while hiding a smile. "Let's leave aside Eda's antics. Luz, tell me, and be honest. What do you really want?"

This time, Luz did have the time to think over her answer. She was surprised by how quickly she came to a conclusion anyway, though.

"I want to go. I... I think I can give another point of view, as a human. I was a stranger to your world, too, at some point, after all."

Eda snorted. "Knew it. Also, Raine, I'd take for granted her girlfriend and friends are coming, too."

"W-What?!" Raine, Luz and Amity cried out together. Raine at this point just kept looking at Eda with resignation.

"I guess that something similar applies to them, too?"

"It'll help you more than you think. Now if you excuse, I have to get back to King. I asked him to stay back and the poor thing probably is exploding with anticipation. Toodles!"

As she departed, Luz and Amity were left alone with Raine, who looked somewhat miffed about Eda's behaviour.

"Ugh... she really is an endless source of surprises, isn't she?" They mumbled under their breath, though their tone became softer right after. "Heh... I guess that's what makes her charming."

They then looked at Amity. "What I asked Luz goes for you too, Amity. But I imagine you want to come, too... do you not?"

"I... I do." Amity nodded. "If I could help out in any way, then I will, if only to support Luz. I'm sure the others would think the same, too."

"Clear enough... I really don't like the idea of bringing you kids when we don't even know what the intentions of the visitors are, but... I guess that Eda's right. You'd find a way in anyway."

They turned around to check on the group. "I'll have to convince Darius and Eberwolf and make sure no one else is opposed, but for now you can assume it's okay for me. Go back to fetch your friends, then come back as soon as you can—I doubt we'll need much time to set everything up and prepare the envoy group. That clear to you?"

Amity and Luz nodded as if they were soldiers standing at the ready.

"Good. See you soon."

The two girls remained immobile as Raine left. After a few seconds, Amity spoke up.

"That... was something. Is that how it feels to see things happen beyond your control?"

"You kinda get used to it when you live around Eda for long enough," Luz observed.

"I'll take your word on that. Let's go meet the others, okay?"

Luz nodded and followed Amity towards the exit to the chamber.

Despite her vicinity, Luz's thoughts ran amok. There were a lot of things she'd both learned and achieved here with the witches, but in truth, when it came to the people in the space-ships, things didn't change very much.

Honestly, despite all of the worries she was also a bit excited, not unlike how she was the first time she came to the Boiling Isles. But a lingering fear was still present in her.

She could only wonder how the spaceships would feel from up close.

Chapter Text

The space ship was huge.

That was the thought that came to Luz's mind as they passed through the clouds near the Titan's elbow and the image of the visitor's hovering mechanical behemoth came into full view.

At this point, everyone expected it to dwarf Bonesborough in size, but seeing it from this close made it a whole different experience. In fact, Luz thought that multiple Bonesborough-sized towns would've been needed to cover the entire shape of the crescent-moon-shaped ship, from top to bottom. And that while leaving the length and depth of the ship out of the equation.

From her current position, Luz could even take a look at the two enormous engine reactors on the ship's back, both an undisclosed amount of hundreds of metres long and lit with bright white light. Harder to catch but still visible was the edge of a blue-coloured hangar hatch on the side of the thing. The details on the surface of the ship were too far to be caught, but she could still tell that it was covered with smaller lights of varying colours, some fixed while others flickered.

The amount of technology at display was incredible, to be sure. But more importantly, as Luz moved closer along with the group of witches, she started to recognize some smaller objects around the larger space ship. She didn't need confirmation to realize they were the smaller spacecraft that Terra Snapdragon had reported.

However, she wasn't prepared to see dozens of them.

They moved around the larger, moon-shaped ship. Some were moving back and forth between it and the Titan's hand, followed by escorts of even smaller ships, acting more or less like fighter planes.

The sight of so many spaceships combined with the appearance of the main vessel of the mysterious fleet was overwhelming to say the least.

However, a distraction came very soon to shake Luz off her stupor, in the form of a cough from nearby.

Which was following by herself coughing, too.

Right... breathing was becoming very hard, at this altitude.

"Collector!" she heard Raine's voice call out from the front of the witch envoy party.

"On it!"

A purple field suddenly appeared above Luz, quickly increasing in size and area covered. It eventually took the form of a compressed sphere, or pill, large enough to envelop the entire group of witches. The group itself, albeit technically sent as an envoy, really was a two-hundred strong strike force where people either flew on their palisman staffs or via one of the airships they'd taken with them—a courtesy of the Blights and in particular Amity's dad, who had spent some time working on the machines that survived the fall of the Emperor's Coven.

As soon as the pill-shaped field was complete, Luz gasped as fresh oxygen replaced the poor high altitude air around her. She needed a few seconds of coughed out breaths to recover, though.

"You alright, kid?"

"Y-Yeah, I just... didn't anticipate the air to get so heavy that fast. You... you don't seem to be affected that much, Eda."

Eda hummed. "I guess that's one of the disadvantages of not having a bile sack that does a bit of heavy duty when needed. Still, we still need to breathe and there isn't much of it this high from the ground, so we have the moon kid to thank for the free air just as you do."

While the witch envoy group was composed of almost entirely witches, save for a handful of demons, Luz could only be glad that the Collector was accompanying them. Sitting on one of the picturesque glistening stars he sometimes used when flying around, they flew above most of the envoy group. They had their arms stretched out and their brows were furrowed. Purple streaks ran from his arms and into the bubble that enveloped the witches.

As some witches had already learned, this was merely an air-generating bubble that didn't actually stop anything that wasn't air from passing through. The witches at the edges of the group made sure to stay close and not divert too much from the path, lest they found themselves into what was closer and closer to being empty space.

As Eda turned her attention back to the flight, something occurred to Luz.

"Hey Eda, I was thinking... why did you help me out, earlier? When you thought I wanted to join? You really went out of your way to convince Raine to let in..."

Eda didn't immediately turn to face her again, though she still replied to her. "Simple, kid, what I told Raine is the truth. Might as well let you tag along but on our terms, ya' know?"

"But... I thought..." Luz started, but Eda turned her head to glance at her.

"I know what you're thinking. You want me to be honest? I don't like idea of you or the other kids being here with us that much more than Raine themselves. However, I've learned to trust you as well. You and your judgement... well, mostly, that is."

"Eda!"

The witch merely snorted. "Really though, don't think too much about it. All in all, you made a good point with them, and perhaps you are exactly the person we need right now."

Luz felt her cheeks flaring up a little at the implied compliment. "Uhh... okay. T-Thank you."

"Just speaking my mind out, Luz," Eda turned her attention back to the flight.

It certainly was something else. Some of the grievances between Luz and Eda in the past were born out of the worry of the latter for the safety of the former. But here she was, telling her outright that she trusted her enough to let her come, no questions asked.

It also helped to see her agree with her view on the matter. While the witch group was prepared for a hard fight if need be, Luz still firmly believed that a peaceful solution could be achieved.

The visitors were not Belos.

At least... she hoped they were not like him.

The only way to be sure was to check.

"Halt!" Darius' shout came without notice.

The flying witches came to a halt as the staffs rose up upright. The airships needed a little more time to slow down, but eventually the entire squadron stopped to move, hovering in stationary flight.

"What's going on?" Luz questioned.

"I don't know. Huh... go join your friends, Luz, see if they're all right. I'll go check out the front. King's probably regretting joining Raine and the others out of boredom anyway, so I need to fetch him as well." Eda did not wait for an answer. Instead, she led her staff above, flying over the heads of the witches around them while beelining for the side of the squadron facing the visitor's flagship.

"H-Hey, wait a second, Eda, I want to go with—!"

"Luz?"

That was Willow's voice. As she whirled around, she found the girl right behind her. Hunter sat alongside her on the same staff, while Gus and Amity flanked her with their own staffs.

They had evidently beat her on time and moved away from the rear to join her.

"I was just able to catch Eda's words," Willow continued. "I guess that means we have to wait for her to find out why we stopped moving?"

"...yeah, that's about it."

"Maybe... maybe we're taking a moment to see if they'll react with a hostile response?" Gus wondered. Unsurprisingly, the boy was beaming, and Luz was sure he saw literal sparkles in his eyes. "Titan, I still can't believe we're gonna meet an actual space alien civilization!"

"Wonder how close the real stuff will be to Cosmic Frontier..." Hunter wondered out loud.

"That's half the reason why we're here!" Gus exclaimed. Upon realizing Amity and Willow were both giving him an unamused look, he immediately added, "of course that comes second to supporting Luz and help make sure no one gets hurt, yeah, that was implied!"

"Ri-iiight..." Willow's eye-roll showed them how much she took that correction for granted. "Getting back on the topic... anything we can do beyond waiting?"

"I... I don't think so. That giant ship is not that far from us, so it's better to let them come if they wish to do so. Besides, I don't want Eda to think I'm seeking out trouble."

"That's... very cautious of you," Amity noted. "I thought you were considering to go try to meet them on our own."

Luz smiled a little. "I may have considered that once, but no, Amity... there's a difference between doing something dangerous because you want to do the right thing, and being reckless. This is one of those cases."

As she looked back to the form of the alien ship, she thought about the overall situation.

Amity knew her well. Despite the possible danger that this situation represented, and the logic she herself had stated, a little bit of curiosity was left in her, enough to wonder about these people and how it would be to meet and talk with them. Her curiosity wasn't comparable to the nerd-ish enthusiasm of Gus and Hunter, born out of their relatively recent passion for sci-fi media, but it was there.

And she still caught herself imagining how this new civilization actually was like. Who were they, and where did they come from? Why were they taking parts of the Titan's hand anyway? Many questions that would be left unanswered as long as they were just looking at it from a distance.

It wasn't like the giant ship had given any sign of seeing them. As for the smaller ships...

Wait. Did her eyes betray her or were some of the smaller spacecraft coming towards them?

"T-They're coming!" Luz let out in alarm.

Multiple witches around her reiterated her exclamation in some form or another. Most of them raised an alarm, lifting their arm and drawing a circle with a finger to charge up their magic. Even the airships swayed, turning to expose the sides that were filled with magical weaponry or other witches and demons ready to rain magic spells on the approaching flying vehicles.

"Hold it! Keep your nerves down!"

Darius' message did little to quell the on-going panic. The witches were really preparing for the worst.

And Luz could not blame them.

What looked like a far away swarm of small ships turned into a collection of full-blown spaceships that surrounded the witch squadron. What were ant-sized from a distance turned out to be large fighter ships that were either as big or bigger than the witch airships, and there were other somewhat bigger craft moving into formation as well that looked as sturdy as they looked menacing.

What mattered was that both tiers of spacecraft were filled with weapons. Lasers, turrets, other contraptions Luz couldn't recognize, but very much looking like proper vehicle weaponry, and all aimed to fire at the witch group.

No one liked that among the people who hovered around her.

"They... they are everywhere!"

"How are we even supposed to beat them? Even the smallest one is bigger than ours!"

"You don't have to, just don't let them believe you want to fight in the first place!"

The voices died down eventually as the ships of the visitors' stopped. Not unlike the witches, they hovered in space without attacking, but there were enough to block any way of escape as well.

In the distance, Luz caught the silhouette of even larger ships coming close, at a slower pace. However, also held their fire.

"...they are not shooting. That's... that's good news, right?" Gus's voice had lost his earlier excitement all of a sudden.

"Yes, it is, but... let's remain vigilant," Amity replied.

Luz nodded. Her curiosity winning over her worry, she decided to fly a couple of metres upwards, to check out what was going on right in front of the group.

She recognized Eda and Lilith speaking with each other, well out of hearing range. The Clawthorne sisters hovered on their own staffs dozens of metres away from what she thought was Raine's and Darius' command airship. She couldn't see King on it from the distance, but she knew he had to be there as well.

Her curiosity was rising by the second. She really wanted to know what the others were planning to do... maybe she and the others could go meet Eda?

The thought remained unsolved as there was another shout. The voice of the witch who spoke cracked as she shouted.

"T-There's one of those ships that's coming closer!"

"Wait, wait, wait... are they trying to get into the bubble?"

"Somebody tell them to slow down, to stop! Do something!"

"What are we supposed to do?!"

There was a loud cry. Luz immediately realized that this was not a roar from Eberwolf, but rather the raspy shout of a harpy.

Eda hovered in above most of the witches. She no longer had her staff with her, and large wings spread out from her back. She had fully turned into her harpy form. "Hold your warrior spirits, folks. We ain't fighting if we can help it!"

"We'll give them the chance to make their way through!" Darius voice boomed through the bubble. The magic the witches were using to enhance the reach of their voice was doing wonders. "Move out of formation; we need that ship to have the manoeuvre space it needs to enter the Collector's bubble if they wish to do so. After that, stay ready for anything, but otherwise stay put! Clawthorne, you help direct the witch around!"

Eda nodded and moved her left arm, pointing at areas to direct the witches out of formation. Lilith, flying on her own staff and now carrying Eda's—by now turned back into her palisman, Owlbert—joined her soon after.

Luz, Amity, Willow, Hunter and Gus followed their instructions as well. They were pushed a bit backwards, but they managed to find an opening at the very edge of the group to check out what was going on a bit better.

The ship was almost on them. On a first look, it looked similar to the other small spacecraft, but unlike them it lacked the slicker design of the fighters or the visible weaponry of the corvettes. It was much closer to a generic transport ship of some sort and limited size.

Limited size was relative to the rest of the alien fleet, of course. That thing was still big enough to rival a seaship from the Boiling Isles.

Luz could now see Raine in the distance, leaning over the command airship. They gestured towards the Collector and shouted something she didn't catch, though whatever it was it didn't make the moon kid stop to hold to the streaks that connected him with the bubble itself.

The ship was now close enough that she could listen to the noise of its engines, even if muffled by the almost complete lack of air outside the bubble.

Even if she was expecting it, Luz couldn't help gulping as the ship finally touched the edge of the bubble. It kept moving, and stopped only when the ship was halfway through.

Then, there was a loud, strong transmission. A voice, crackling and slightly disturbed, but clear enough to catch the words, spoke to the witches. Unfortunately, the language was not English. In fact, it didn't sound like any language Luz recalled from her own planet.

"Y-You hear them talking too, don't you?" Gus said.

"Yes, but that language... I can't understand anything," Willow replied. "Oh... I didn't think about the language barrier, but that's... somewhat obvious."

"I c-can do something about that!" Luz heard the voice of the Collector from afar. The young kid was still busy holding on the streaks, but they simply gathered them into a hand and opened the other. Some shiny particles came out of their fingers and shot in all directions.

Whatever they did, it worked quickly, as the words coming from the ship suddenly became understandable.

"—communication with the native population does not appear to be possible. We have yet to receive a reply. Aborting and leaving."

"Hey, hey!" Eda took the initiative. Still in her harpy form, she flew up to the ship's front, placing herself right in the middle of the view of the ship's bridge. She also ignored Lilith, Raine and Darius trying to call her name and telling her to stop. Somewhere from another airship, Luz heard a voice that sounded like Mason's shouting an expletive.

Eda ignored them and simply continued to focus on whoever was inside the ship. "We can understand you now! Don't flee before we even exchanged a word!" she shouted.

Whoever was talking clearly took its time to reply. The witches remained in pregnant, tense silence for a few seconds.

"...youdo speak the common language?" the voice came out slightly hesitant.

"...no, not really... whatever that is. Kid's up there had conjured up some sort of spell, that's why we can talk," Eda jerked a thumb towards the Collector in the distance. "Anyway that's beside the point. We can understand you now, so would you please tell us who are you and what is your business in the Boiling Isles?"

The person regained their composure relatively quickly. "That... that is clear enough. Uh, communications has been established with the natives, Fleet Command. Ambassador proceeding with the introductory speech."

A pause. "This is the crew of the Ambassador vessel for the Kushan fleet. We come from several hyperspace jumps away from this part of the galaxy, and are currently performing a resourcing operation. We mean you no harm."

There was a collective sigh of relief that run through every single person in the witch squadron. Even Luz herself couldn't help letting out a gasp that she didn't know she'd been holding for more than an hour.

'They mean no harm. They are not him.'

"Concerning our business, we are only searching and extracting the resources required to restore the strength of our fleet. We do not intend to spend more time here than required, and will depart in the next few hours once we have obtained enough reserves from your planet's rock formation."

"...did they just call the Titan a rock formation?" Gus was as impressed as he was flabbergasted.

"Well, it kinda looks rocky," Willow admitted. "From a distance."

"They probably have no idea of how important it is, at least in terms of how significant it still is for some of us," Amity noted.

"It also means they didn't do it because they didn't care, but because they didn't know about it being important," Luz added. "At least... I hope that was the case."

Eda did not speak up again. She flew back as the command airship that carried the ex-Coven Heads moved up to the front of the Ambassador.

"We understand you," Luz heard Raine speaking loudly. "However, you need to know that you're not just gathering random resources. You're picking apart parts of our home, of something that is very important for a lot of people to this day. For that reason, we would like to speak with you to clear things out, but... face-to-face, if possible."

Another pause came, this time of several seconds. "That can be arranged. We have sent a carrier ship away to approach your... air sphere. We'll let you in and converse further once safely inside and answer any questions you may have left. As a sign of goodwill, we will immediately stop harvesting operations."

The Ambassador immediately started to slowly hover away. The witches didn't follow after it.

"...okay, t-that went better than I expected," Hunter commented. "But... ah, I was ready to f-freak out there!"

"I was kinda scared too, but Hunter, we're gonna actually enter one of those ships, you heard that?" Gus gushed. "Oh my, oh my!"

"Keep your excitement under check, boys. We're still not out of it, and..." Willow glanced at the ambassador ship as it flew away. "They haven't explained exactly what's going on yet, either."

Luz agreed with her sentiment. For now, they could only hope that these alien, the Kushan, did not have any ill intentions.

They were off to a good start at least. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

Luz did her best to keep her nerves in check. Yet, she couldn't help feeling a little bit worried.

How could she not, when she was being stared at from every direction?

There were hundreds—if not thousands—of people lined up around walkways, platforms and at the ground level all around the hangar of the Kushan carrier. They were all observing the witch envoy group, as if the were a parade float, but with little to no voices or comments coming from them that Luz could hear.

Once the large carrier ship had arrived, the witch squadron had followed the ambassador into the carrier's hangar. They had offered assistance, but due to the Collector's air bubble and the skill of the witches in flying, they had managed to easily come in and land on their own, passing through the area where the air bubble was no longer needed.

Their willingness to help should've been a good omen, but Luz did not fail to realize the ominous weaponry that a lot of the Kushan carried, some of which were drew out.

She was not familiar with their technology, but guns were guns. Those things didn't help her quelling her worries for sure.

"Kids, you probably don't need to be reminded this, but stay wary," Eda said. She had decided to join back with Luz and her friends later on. King was there too, as he'd decided to leave the airship to stay closer to Luz and Eda. She was also still in her harpy form.

"I'm not sure yet about these chums, but they sure don't look as welcoming as they sound. Keep your eyes peeled."

Luz guessed that the Owl Lady, due to her escapades on Earth in the past, at least knew about earth firearms and therefore could put two and two together just like Luz did.

"Good for me. I'm not... an expert, but I don't like those guardmen, either," Amity said. Her eyes looked left and right, taking note of the position of the Kushan who were armed.

"By the way... they look pretty human to me. Normal ears and the such... Luz, are you sure they're not related to your planet?" Gus asked.

"I'm positive no one has achieved anything comparable to the spaceships we've seen, Gus. There people come from somewhere else... and as such, I can't tell anything about what they want, either." Luz bit her lip. "That irks me a little, actually."

"Well, they are still 'aliens', technically, so that does not surprise me... personally, I still can't help thinking about how these people are organized. This ship... even if we're a bit on the edge, it's still amazing that we're inside it!"

"I thought it'd be way less terrifying that it actually is," Hunter mumbled out.

"We'll be fine. Let's just keep out of trouble as long as we can," Willow said. The friends nodded to each other in agreement.

They only walked for a few more seconds before the group started to slow down and stop.

Luz and her friends were to the left of the front of the crowd. Therefore, she only needed to lean over to actually check out what was going to the right, at the centre of the witch formation.

Eda did the same. "Looks like Raine, Lily and the others are walking out of the group to meet some of these 'alien humans'. It got to be the key meeting."

"I... I don't think we can hear them from here," King noted.

"Let's get closer," Eda noted. She turned around, "Goes for you kids, too, if you wanna hear what's going on."

"Are you sure that's a good idea... I mean, I would like to know more, but these guys seem a bit on the edge, and you, uh..." Hunter vaguely gestured towards Eda.

"Oh." Eda retreated her wings and in a couple of seconds she shifted back into her normal form. Luz could swear she heard some gasps coming from far away, from the Kushan. "Better?"

"Y-Yeah. No offense."

"Actually, looking terrifying is a compliment to me," Eda gave the poor kid a grin of encouragement. "Let's move."

She led King and the four teenagers closer to the centre, passing in front of many of the witches who waited on the first line. Some showed disgruntled faces at the sight of the group of kids making their way towards Raine, but no one protested, as not just Luz but Eda and King were very well known by now by most of them.

Authority was still a bit of a dynamic entity in the Boiling Isles at this time, but they were at least respected enough to be left alone.

As they got closer, the scene became clearer. Darius, Eberwolf, Raine and Lilith were talking with a tall Kushan man, wearing a formal attire and—weirdly enough—something that looked like an oxygen mask. The Collector floated nearby too, close enough to listen to the conversation themselves. The translation spell they had used earlier was still in effect.

Soon, Luz began to catch on the discussion going on.

"—we don't have a name for our, uh... planet," Raine said. "The thought never occurred to us, to be honest, but our home is called the Boiling Isles. Hopefully that is enough for you."

"It is fine," the person in front of him said. The voice was only slightly distorted by the mask he was wearing. As the person in the Ambassador ship that spoke with them earlier, the tone was very formal, almost professional. "We only wished to know how to best refer to you and your home, witches and demons of the Boiling Isles."

"Very well then... we did our introductions. I think it's fair you do yours next," Darius said. Eberwolf stood beside him in silence, though he nodded at Darius's words. "We know you are the Kushan, but who exactly are you? Where exactly do you come from and why are you here?"

The man took his time to reply. He also raised his hand to his ear—clearly looking like he was waiting for some message. He was likely wearing some sort of earbud.

"I will go through everything, one step at a time. First off, my name is Jiriel Soban, and I'm the captain in charge of the capital ship you currently stand within. For this conversation, I speak on behalf of the entire fleet."

He paused before resuming. "Our people come from a desert planet, Kharak, many light-years away from your world. Since we departed, we have been travelling through many systems in our journey, and we intend to continue on as soon as possible. Our presence here is only temporary, as was already told you by the ambassador."

"Why have you been travelling around this... galaxy, then?" Lilith pressed. Eda's sister—save for the new haircut—sounded like she was back to her old, Emperor's Coven self in coldness. "Do not try to circumvent the subject, Captain. We would like to know what we're dealing with here."

This time, Jiriel did not wait for instructions from whoever could contact him. "We will be honest with you. Starting a short overview of our story form the beginning should help clear our motivations out for you."

"Years ago, on Kharak, we discovered the means that would let our people leave the planet—hyperspace technology. We built a fleet to take on the journey, spearheaded by the Mothership—the largest ship you surely have noticed in this fleet."

"That's the one that looks like a half-moon?" Darius asked.

"Precisely. After finishing the preparations, we tested the Mothership's hyperspace capabilities, and all things looked well. We were ready to launch an expedition into the far reaches of spaces, to look for a new home. Kharak... was dying, as the deserts had been taking away liveable space from our cities and settlements for centuries, and they were close to enveloping the entire planet. We had no choice but to look to the stars, and most Kiithid on Kharak were, sooner or later, wise enough to understand that. We all worked towards the common goal."

Jiriel stopped. He seemed to be disturbed, as he took a breath and didn't continue for several seconds. Raine was about to open their mouth when the Kushan captain resumed the story.

"This proved to have consequences no one could've predicted. While we knew that we were not alone and there were likely people beyond our planet, we didn't know whether these were enemies or not, not unlike you. At first, the Mothership was attacked during the test run, but we fend off the raiders who tried to strike at us. When we turned back to Kharak, though... the planet was no more. Kharak was burning."

Silence befell on them. The few witches who were close enough to hear also stopped murmuring with each other.

"D-Do you mean... that your entire home planet was...?" Raine said, fighting through their own shock.

Jiriel simply nodded. "By the time we were back, no one was left alive. We were able to repel the remains of the enemy fleet—which we later understood was a strike force from the Taiidan Empire—before they could also take away the Cryo Trays, which contained those from Kharak who had accepted to take on the expedition. We were still living... but we were the last of our kind.

He let his words sink in for a few more seconds. "Now we are at war, chased by the same Taiidani who sought to destroy us... to finish the 'job', if you will. We seek not just to fight back and stop the Empire... we also look for a new place to settle. A planet safe from our enemies, a planet that belongs to us. Our homeworld."

It almost felt like the speech was being recited from memory. That may have been it, but Luz could clearly see that some emotion was visible in Captain Soban's eyes and in the way his brows furrowed at certain points of the brief retelling. And how could he not? Luz herself could barely believe what she heard.

The sheer scale of the idea that, even if it had already happened and far, far away, was hardly fathomable. An entire planet had been destroyed, and the millions of people on it were gone along with it?

It was too much to fully understand.

And most notably, it felt exceptionally familiar. This was what the Boiling Isles had risked.

However, Luz had managed to save them.

The inhabitants of Kharak were not as lucky.

"I... I didn't know," Lilith spoke up. "I... I have to apologize for my rude behaviour. I felt we needed to make sure, but I had no idea about the gravity of your situation."

"Carefulness has been a key part of our journey, too, and we expect nothing less from those we meet. We take no offense," Jiriel replied.

"That's good to hear," Darius agreed. "Now, would you kindly let us know if these enemies are chasing you right now?"

"Darius!"

Luz would've echoed Raine's voice if she were taking part in the conversation herself.

"Don't give me that look! I'm sorry for what happened to these people, too, but what do you think would happen if their enemies saw us conversing with them in a friendly manner?"

"...Darius is right," Lilith agreed. Raine shifted their glare over to her, but Lilith didn't falter. "As much as I understand why you feel that way, Raine, this is not something we can just gloss over. We barely understand the visitors, and I'd rather know now rather tha later if more, possibly less unfriendly, visitors are coming afterwards."

She moved her gaze to the Kushan captain. "So, Captain Soban... what about it?"

"We believe a Taiidan striking fleet is currently hunting us down," he replied. "This means that yes, we are on the run from our enemy, but we have reason to believe that the Taiidan Empire will not seek us out in this sector. This area is widely considered to be dead space, and due to many incidents in the past, most travellers do not dare to cross into the region."

"But you did," Lilith countered.

"The circumstances did not leave us with many options."

"Uh-huh," Raine noted. "I think I understand. Everything you said is certainly coherent with the Collector's account."

"There is one last topic you haven't touched on yet. You are at war with this Empire, we understand that. So, what is your business here?" Darius said. He made a broad gesture towards the people... and the ships that were parked in the hangar. "Or rather, what have you been doing here?"

"Our last encounter with our enemies was a dire one. We saved some of the few who resonated with our cause, and we paid a price for it. We knew the Taiidan would counter attack soon, and we needed resources to restore our combat fleet to full power before meeting them. We hoped to find sources of Resource Units for the task in this region, but were unlucky until we found your planet and the rich deposits it stores. We started from this hand-shaped rock formation, as we initially believed it to be the least likely to cause you further shock."

"...I don't follow?" Raine furrowed his brows. "Why not just... coming down to meet us first?"

Jiriel hesitated. He once again brought a finger to his ear and listened.

"Please, do not take offence in this, but... we knew that this planet was inhabited from the beginning. Our sensors picked up your presence long before we started our harvesting operation. However... there is no good way to report this, so I'll be blunt. We worked on the assumption that you were primitive in nature. Our main goal was to take the bare minimum we needed to rebuild, and then leave again to resume our attack on our enemies and the journey to the homeworld without involving you."

"...well, so you came to fetch pieces of our planet away and just assumed we'd be okay with it because you thought you were some sort of superior race?" Darius prodded. His expression clearly showed he did not like what he heard. Even Raine and Lilith looked somewhat riled.

Jiriel shook his head. He replied neutrally, with no visible reaction to Darius' hostility. "We chose to try and avoid contact. We now understand this was not the best of decisions."

"Well..." Raine spoke cautiously, his narrowed eyes having grown more suspicious after Jiriel's latest words. "At least you realize that was a bit disrespectful. I'm glad about that."

Jiriel nodded. "We never meant to harm you in any way. We only plan to stay for the time strictly necessary to prepare for the upcoming battles."

That was good news! Luz was starting to get worried, but Captain Soban sounded cooperative and willing to understand the witch's point of view, at least for now.

"Wait, where's Eda?"

Amity's voice took Luz out of her thoughts. Her eyes shifted to her left—and indeed, Eda was nowhere to be seen. She looked down to find King in her place, with the demon simply pointing towards Jiriel Soban and the other witch representatives.

"She's right there!"

Luz saw her just in time to hear her voice.

"Forgive me, Jiriel, but it sounds like you haven't stated anything about you stopping your 'harvesting' thing. Is that the case?"

"Eda, wait—" Lilith begun.

Captain Soban replied without hesitation. "Correct. We have stopped to show you we have no ill intentions, but will resume as soon as you have flown back to the Boiling Isles."

"...I don't think you understand. We would like you to stop, altogether," Darius said.

"That is... not an option, unfortunately," Captain Soban replied. "This planet is the only source of viable RUs we found."

"Do you think using some classy sci-fi acronyms will take attention away from the issue?"

"Eda, slow down! There's no use in being aggressive, we already know they misunderstood us to begin with!" Raine interjected.

"Yeah, right, the fact they misunderstood us for savages?" Eda did not look away from the Kushan man. "I know it felt like you were hiding something. I do not blame you for what happened to your kin, Jiriel, but there are boundaries that you should know should not be crossed. We did not give you permission to take pieces of our home away yet."

Jiriel did not look intimidated by Eda at all, which was saying something given he had to know Eda could turn into a harpy with sharp claws at a moment's notice. "The issue is that time is too much important of a factor. Our enemies may not be following us, but every minute spent here is a minute left to the Taiidani to reinforce the rim of their empire and the defences we'll have to face to reach the Galactic Core. We do not do this because we lack solidarity towards you and your planet. We do so because our survival is on the line."

"So what, if we were to just say 'no', you'd just continue? Make us leave?"

Jiriel Soban bore the Owl Lady's gaze.

"...if need be."

The message got across fast among the witch envoy group. Some of those present let out exclamations of shock, and a lot gripped on their staffs. A few witches also drew magic circles again.

Eda, Lilith, Raine, Darius and Eberwolf shared that apprehension for sure. Luz noticed that Eda in particular had diverted her eyes away from Jiriel to look at the Kushan who were waiting around the hangar.

She followed her gaze.

Wait, did the amount of people carrying weapons increase?

As fast as it had come down, the tension was back to sky-high. But before something worse could happen, Luz saw Raine place a hand on Eda's shoulder. Eberwolf also pulled on Darius' cape, taking his attention away.

"We thank you for your honesty, Captain Soban. Would you mind to give us a moment to discuss on our own? I know time is important, but since you stopped your mining operations already, I guess that a few more minutes will not make that much of a difference."

Jiriel nodded. "Feel free to discuss this matter. We will wait."

The five didn't waste more time and walked away from him, far enough from King, Luz and her friends that she could no longer hear them.

Luz thought over how things had turned out. They had managed to avert a conflict for now... but for how long?

"I don't like this..." Willow confessed. "It does not look like we're as welcome as we thought we were."

"I agree," Amity said. "These Kushan... they talk clearly and sound friendly and willing to see our side, but..."

"They are fighting to escape total annihilation."

"Gus, why does it sound like you're on their side?" Amity deadpanned.

Gus raised his hands in defence. "Hey, hey, that's not what I meant! I'm just trying to see their point of view. We were in danger ourselves, not that long ago."

"It doesn't matter." They all looked at Hunter. The boy had completely changed demeanour, face scrunched up into a nervous scowl as his eyes looked left and right. The initial excitement that he shared with Gus over the idea of meeting the strangers from the stars was gone, too. "These people are not our friends. I can feel it just looking at how they speak, how they refer to us. It all feels... familiar, very familiar."

"Are you telling me that the Kushan are like the Emperor's Coven?" Willow's voice had come down to the whisper. "That's... bad. I-I thought that they would be more like us. They talked about an Empire as their enemy, right?"

Hunter nodded. "I'm not saying that they are comparable to what the Emperor's Coven was, or even... what he was," he specified. "I... I'm talking about their determination. How willing they are to pursue the goal, no matter what, no matter the consequences."

"That's... worrying. I... I hope you're not entirely right, Hunter," Amity said. "For now, I think we should just follow Eda's advice and stay wary until the situation changes for the better."

She then turned to Luz. "Luz, you okay? You haven't said a word."

"U-Uh? Yeah, I'm okay, I'm okay... I was just... thinking..." Luz replied without conviction.

"...you are not thinking of doing something about this, are you?"

"...maybe?"

"Luz... I like and trust you, but maybe we should leave this one to Eda and the others?" King intervened. "I'm not saying we can't help, but... it all feels a bit out of our control, right now!"

"I agree. W-We really should think over anything we decided to do here," Hunter added. Luz realized that one of his hands had been trembling. It took him a moment to grab his own wrist to stop it from getting worse.

"I don't want things to get out of control, either..." Gus added.

"No, no, wait a second, guys. I don't want to cause some inter-galactic diplomatic incident here as well. I-I know that things aren't looking good right now, and I do not intend to make a scene—not like earlier at the meeting in the hall of the Collector's archives. That was different—it was a meeting among the people I've learned to know. I won't do something like that again here. It's just that... uh..."

She looked at Jiriel Soban. Two additional people had appeared beside him that were not there while he was discussing with the leaders of the witch envoy group. They were close enough that Luz could tell the details on the rifles they had in their hands.

No, she couldn't let things happen without at least trying to fix it herself.

"I... I need to go there and try and talk with him."

"Luz..." Amity started.

"Listen to me. I'm not just going to waltz in there and say something like 'hi, Captain, I'm Luz the Human! Could you, like, pack it and leave while leaving the Titan alone, pretty please?'. I know that's stupid! I-I have something in mind that should get them to reason with us. I gotta try!"

King, Willow, Hunter and Gus all looked at her with doubt, but it was Amity who voiced their thoughts. "Are you sure?"

Luz nodded, and this time she made sure to show she believed in her own plan fully. "I promise I'm not doing something reckless. I can make this work."

"...well, you always managed to do things most witches would've deemed impossible," Amity shrugged. "I'm in."

"...you're in?" Luz said in surprised.

"She's in?!" Hunter and Gus squeaked together.

"We're in!?" King let out.

Willow simply looked with surprise at Amity.

She nodded. "I think we all have known Luz for long enough to understand when she means business and when she doesn't. To me she sounds like she knows pretty well what's at stake right now. If she thinks she has a way to get these strangers to reason with us while avoiding a fight, then I see no reason to not agree with her."

Luz was of course overjoyed to hear that Amity was on board immediately, but hearing her say those words—of almost complete honesty and belief that Luz was indeed trying to do the right thing—struck her beyond mere satisfaction.

She immediately dived to her and wrapped her arms around Amity. "Thank you, thank you!"

"Y-Yeah, I like you too, but let's leave this for after we're sure we won't be blasted to smithereens, okay?"

"U-Uh, uh-huh, right," Luz immediately separated herself from her, a hint of red colouring her cheeks.

"I... I concur," Gus added. "I... I imagine I can't change your mind, but I do agree that it sounds like a good idea all things considered."

"I... I guess it makes sense for me, too," Hunter said, though his tone sounded far less convinced.

Willow seemed to notice, as she came beside him and grabbed his hand. "I agree too, Luz. I still would like to tell you to be careful... very careful. These people, these... Kushan, they have gone through a lot, but we don't know that much about them yet. They are not the Emperor's Coven, but after what Hunter said... I still worry about what they may decide to do if we were to deny them their request. Just... keep that in mind, okay?"

Luz found all of their doubts logical. She also worried about what the people from Kharak would be willing to do, especially given the grave situation they were in.

But she knew that the witches from the Boiling Isles had also gone through their own plight. She didn't want them to be forced into letting go of one of the few things that had survived Belos' actions.

She'd find a way to make it work.

"I will."

"Uuh... hello? Captain Soban?"

Jiriel Soban took a second to register the fact he'd been addressed, as he faced in another direction. However, Luz still got an immediate reaction from the two Kushan soldiers he was talking with. Both glared at her, with one of them making a few steps to put himself in-between the carrier captain and her.

He also was aiming the muzzle of the sci-fi-looking rifle at her head. Which wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.

But she was pretty stubborn, so she didn't back away.

"E-Excuse me for interrupting... may I share a word with your Captain, right behind you?"

"Keep your distance!" the Kushan soldier replied drily, ignoring her question.

Luz didn't let that get to her. "Hey, I'm just asking for a quick chat, not a full blown discussion. I think that's reasonable, don't you think?"

There was a click. She couldn't know how that gun worked, but still, it was clear enough what the soldier had done.

"Keep. Your. Distance," the soldier threatened. "This is your last warning."

Luz gulped. At this point, she could very well go back and call it a day, and no one would've been able to criticize her for not trying.

Yet, she couldn't bring herself to just leave it be. She needed to talk with Jiriel, to one of them who could pay attention to her words and perhaps make a difference.

It was her best bet to make them understand.

"I... please, I don't mean any harm, I just want to—"

She let the sentence unfinished as Jiriel put a hand on the soldier's shoulder. "Stand down."

The guard did not protest, simply lowering his weapon and making space. There was no trace of annoyance in his face, his features undecipherable.

Jiriel reached out to his invisible earpiece once again. "Yes, she is not a witch. Fleet Intelligence's data appears to be coherent with her description."

He then finally addressed her. "May I know your name, lady?"

"U-uh, right, my name is Luz," Luz introduced herself. "Luz Noceda."

The man nodded. "Forgive me for starting this conversation by questioning you, but we would like to have a confirmation regarding you. I guess you are not a witch... the lack of pointy hears give it away pretty clearly. But are you from the Boiling Isles, or... somewhere else?"

"Well, that's... kinda the main reason why I wanted to talk with you," Luz answered, her confidence increasing. "I'm from Earth, which is... well, it is a planet from far, far away. I'm not sure if it's from the same galaxy as the Boling Isles, but I don't think they're the same. Space-travel isn't really a thing back where I live."

"Uh-huh. If that's the case, how are you even on this world?" Jiriel asked. He sounded genuinely curious.

"Portals," Luz replied. "Specifically, magical portals. It's... it's a long story, I'm not sure if you want to know more about them."

"I think we can leave that to another time." Not unlike his peers, there was little emotion on Jiriel's face, but Luz could tell from his tone that there were a lot of questions floating in his mind that he decided not to voice. How many were his and how many were from whoever was in contact with him via the earpiece was up to anyone's guess.

That was unlike Luz, who widened her eyes at Jiriel's next words.

"Well, if that's it, then I think we're done here."

"...wait. Wait!" Luz protested immediately, making a step towards him as Captain Soban turned around. "You didn't even—please, wait! There's something I need to tell you!"

Jiriel whirled slightly around just to shook his head. "I'm sorry, Luz Noceda. Our interest in you arise from the possibility of you knowing something about our enemies, the Taiidan, than we did not. It certainly is... remarkable, to learn about the existence of worlds even beyond this galaxy and easily reachable for you, but I imagine that flying an entire space-faring fleet through one of those portals is not feasible. Is it?"

"It... it isn't, but—"

"And then, it would just delay the inevitable. The Taiidan would follow us here, and may bring the same anguish to you that befell us while also chasing us to your own galaxy. Besides, our goal is in this galaxy, not elsewhere. " Jiriel frowned. "Even beside those points, this is something me and many of my compatriots, within and outside my Kiith, would avoid at all costs. I'm sure you can agree with that."

The thought of Earth enduring something comparable to what happened to the Boiling Isles, but on a planet-wide scale and with no way to stop it, shot through her mind.

"Y-Yes, I do..."

Jiriel nodded. "We'll just wait for news from your leaders. For now, this is enough, Luz Noceda."

...no.

"No. Please, let me talk!" Luz continued. "It may sound like I cannot give you any help, but I want to help!"

Jiriel's demeanour shifted. "How?"

Even if he'd spoken in the usual tone, Luz could tell that the captain was not willing to hear her for long.

She had to make her words count.

"I-I want you guys to understand who these people are, and why they do not want to just let you do as you please," Luz started. "I... I understand the feeling of meeting people who are very different from you. I was a stranger in the Boiling Isles in the past, too, and I did not necessarily get a warm welcome by everyone from the get go. The witches and demons who live on this planet have gone through some hardships in the past too, and it's... hard for them to accept further sacrifices. And the rock-formation you're consuming is still significant for many of them, too."

Jiriel narrowed his eyes. "I'm afraid that is not a strong enough argument. We have our own reasons, Luz Noceda, and while we never aimed at causing conflict, you are essentially asking us to take an additional risk—on top of what we had to go through already. Do you realize that?"

Luz bore the hit. "I know... I, I'm sorry, about what happened. And I would never ask you to go through that again. What I'm saying though is that there is another way. You don't have to take risks... you just have to actually talk with us, to exchange ideas until we come up with a compromise or another way to help you out without destroying part of the Boiling Isles themselves."

"And how would that be possible? Most of the planets in this region are gas giants and the rest of the celestial bodies are poor in resources. We could search for more, but that would require time. You know already why we will avoid that."

Jiriel took in a breath. "I'm afraid this conversation will not lead anywhere, Luz Noceda. You will hear along with the rest of your companions our resolution once we talk with your leaders again."

"B-But...!"

Luz found herself at loss of words. What could she add? They were basically ignoring her input—if they weren't willing to listen, then there was nothing left to do.

And she couldn't even blame them. Their entire race had risked total annihilation.

But no. No! She couldn't let this discourage her. There was another option, a way to resolve this issue without causing more fighting, without risking more death.

She couldn't stop trying. Not yet.

"Y-You don't understand! We have actual ways to help you. The witches in this world can use magic. T-They may be still in recovering, but I'm sure they can do things even the best of your technology cannot imitate. We can come up with something!"

Jiriel glared at her. Now the scorn was only thinly veiled behind his eyes.

Luz persisted. "It's not just about that. I don't want things to get out of control, and I believe with all of my heart that you can achieve what you want without resorting to threats. All I ask is for you to just give us a proper chance. I-If... if it helps I can act as a representative, or ambassador, or whatever you want for these people, as someone with less stake in this than those who live here, if that matters to you!"

That was very close to a lie, and Luz knew that. She was attached to the Boiling Isles, but that mattered only to an extent. In reality, what she was really attached to was the people in it. Her friends. Her found family. Her girlfriend.

They all deserved better than being pulled into a war and potentially being involved in a galaxy-wide conflict afterwards.

"I can do anything you want, as long as you don't—"

Luz couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence.

She didn't want them to hurt the people she loved her. That was clear.

But the Kushan had suffered too. They had lost their loved ones. They had lost thousands of loved ones. For all she knew, Jiriel Soban may have been the only living member left of his close family.

What could she really offer to the Exile Fleet?

"Luz?!"

Her time was up. Eda had materialized beside her, rushing like a hawk. She'd asked Amity and the others to keep her distracted in case she decided to look for Luz, but she knew it'd only last for so long.

Unlike the Kushan, Eda made no mystery to hide her hostility. "What is going on here?"

"I-It's fine, Eda!" Luz tugged at her until Eda's glare shifted away from Jiriel and his bodyguards and back to her. "This was all my own idea!"

"...maybe, but I don't like the way they were looking at you, either," Eda growled, throwing another glare at the Kushan. The soldiers didn't budge.

Jiriel, though, looked distracted. He gazed away, focused on something else.

Luz couldn't dwell on that, as Eda turned to say something else. "Let's leave them aside for a moment... what the heck, Luz?! You got to know this was borderline foolish, and that's coming from me!"

"I... I know," Luz convened. She couldn't really argue it was getting results, given the latter half of her exchange with Captain Soban. "But, Eda... I couldn't just watch. I didn't like how things were going, and... I had something. I thought I had something I could say to them, to make them understand and think over their plans again."

"And you wanted to help out no matter the odds... as you always do, huh?"

Luz nodded meekly.

Eda sighed. "Kid, I respect you wanted to help, and I won't lie, I'm actually kinda proud of that a little. But, here... for once, I don't think acting on a whim was going to help. I don't like these people, the way they act, and most importantly, I don't like the fact they have enough weaponry to—" her voice lowered down to a whisper, "—level the entirety of the freaking Isles. You understand?"

Luz bit her lip.

"...I, I do, but—"

There was a sound of a throat being cleared.

Eda and Luz turned away from each other. Captain Soban had approached them.

"Luz?"

"...yes?" she confirmed.

He hesitated for a moment. "It appears that your words have struck a chord. You are now formally invited and summoned to have an audience with Fleet Command."

"...f-fleet what?" Luz sputtered.

"Fleet Command. The very heart of the Mothership, and the highest authority within our fleet. She wants to speak with you."

He gestured to the guards. "Please, come with us. We have some procedures that will take a while before you can be granted entry to her chambers. Time is still of the essence."

"Hey, hey, hey! Who told you we'd let you take the girl away just like that?!" Eda shouted. "Hold your hands off! She ain't going anywhere on her own!"

"Fleet Command has specifically requested her presence, and only her," Jiriel stated. He was about to continue further, when a shout came to interrupt him.

"What's going on?"

That was King's voice. He was soon followed by multiple voices, which Luz soon recognized as her friends first, and the rest of the makeshift leaders of the witch envoy later.

Lilith and Raine immediately went side by side with Eda, starting to animately voice their worries and dislike for what was going on with the Kushan captain and Eda herself. Darius and Eberwolf remained a little behind, eyes open and scanning the surroundings as if ready for everything.

However, Gus, Willow and Hunter joined King and Luz instead. "They are taking you away?" Willow asked.

"N-No, it's not like that. I am going on my own accord."

"They said they summoned you. That sounds like an order."

"You heard how they like to speak, Willow... Still, it is kinda what I want, too. This is my chance, guys! If I can make this person, uh... if I can make Fleet Command reconsider, then the entire fleet will respect her wishes."

"Oh... converting the very leader at the top. Smart move."

"It's all I got, King," Luz said. "But you don't have to worry about what will happen to me there. Something must have got through to them, or else they wouldn't have given me this chance. I have to go all the way in."

"A-Are you sure about this?"

Luz looked at Amity. She'd realized that the girl hadn't come as close as the rest of her friends.

Amity was staring at her with a look that Luz did not expect. She actually looked scared.

"...yes, I am," Luz said, moving over to her. "But, uh, Amity... are you all right?"

Amity bit her lip, averting her eyes. Luz reached out and held her hands into her own. Only after a few seconds of physical contact did Amity look up again.

"I... I'm just worried, like everyone else..." she said.

"...you also sound a bit more worried than the others," Luz countered. She glanced at her friends. "No offence."

Willow and Gus made a thumbs up, while Hunter and King simply smiled awkwardly. She mentally thanked them for understanding without further clarification.

"I... I am," Amity confessed. "I, I don't know. I trust you, and it felt easy to follow you all the way into this ship, and help you when you decided to go talk with that captain character. But... now, I'm here, and we're surrounded by hundreds of people who are not our enemies, but not our friends either, people that we don't know. And... and now I'm hearing you should go have a meeting with their leader... into that ship... on your own?"

"...if you say it like that, it does sound worrying. And..." Luz thought over how she could word her thoughts in a way that couldn't be misunderstood. "Amity, I-I know it sounds a little dangerous. But I know these people will not hurt us if they can't help it. You heard what they said about their past, about what they are doing. They are... maybe they aren't our friends, but they are not evil."

She smiled. "All I am about to do is go have a short talk with the big boss behind the scenes. Worst case scenario, they send me back."

"What if they don't want to listen still?" Amity replied. "What if... what if they take you hostage after that?"

...Amity really was making it harder for even Luz to feel confident about her plan.

"...there are... some risks," she forced herself to say. But she didn't stop smiling. "But for you, I am willing to take my chances."

Amity's lips quivered. Luz decided to come closer, running her arms around hers and eventually embracing her. Amity immediately dived her nose into her hair.

"...I... I trust you," she managed to say, her voice muffled by Luz's shoulder. "But please... stay wary of them. And get back to us."

"I will be back before you know it."

It took them several seconds before one of them had the strength to let go of each other. Surprisingly that was Amity, who gently pushed Luz away. She sniffed, brushing an arm across her face and eyes.

"I'm... I'm okay, now." Amity said. "I-I guess I didn't take it as well as I hoped."

"That's fine for me," Luz said.

"That goes for us, too, Luz," Hunter chimed up. "Try to not get yourself killed."

"Hunter!" Willow protested.

"What? He's got a point," King noted.

"...seriously though, Luz... be careful," Gus added.

"It'll be fine."

She really would've liked to stick with them for a little while longer, but Luz knew that she couldn't spend more time here. People like Captain Soban didn't sound particularly impatient, but they were very disciplined and unwilling to forget about their mission. A mission where every minute counted, according to them.

She may have wanted them to reconsider, but she respected them enough to pay attention to that.

Luz walked over to the older Witches. Eda was currently busy shouting at her own sister, while Raine stood nearby awkwardly.

Jiriel wasn't looking at them. His attention was on her.

"Are you ready?"

That got Eda and Lilith's attention away from their heated debate, and they looked at her just in time to see her say, "Yeah, I'm ready."

"...she's already made up her mind, didn't she?" Lilith said, matter-of-factly.

"Yes," Eda grunted. "Listen, kid... I don't suppose I can make you change ideas on a whim. I just hope you've thought this through."

"I did, Eda. I know this is for the best."

"I... I agree this is a chance we can't drop and let go to waste," Lilith added. Eda sent a glare towards her, which the other Clawthorne sister promptly ignored. "But there are other ways we can do this. We can at least discuss with them and make them accept you taking a companion with you."

"No." Luz's deny came immediately. "It's already great that they're letting me go meet Fleet Command—I can feel that is the case. I don't want to press them further, not when things are already on the edge."

"Luz, your determination is... commendable, but I hope you know that you should not feel you have the duty to take this mantle," Raine said. They observed Luz as if to show that he could read her a bit better than the Clawthorne sisters could.

"I chose to do this, Raine," Luz replied. "I know how you feel about it... but this is something too important to let go. I know I gotta at least try."

The three witches observed her for a few moments, then Eda loudly groaned.

"...you always have a way with people, huh?" she said. "Hopefully that works out even with the alien boss up there."

Lilith nodded, while Raine offered a small smile. "I can certainly respect your determination, Luz," they said. "Okay, that is good for me."

He also gestured towards Darius and Eberwolf, who stopped scanning the surroundings to join them. Luz was ready to try and answer their own questions, but instead Darius simply shook his head slightly.

"Don't bother, kid. I know you got a point, and Raine talked about you enough that I can guess it's worth a shot anyway," he replied. "Get Fleet Command to reason."

Luz saluted. Perhaps that was a bit excessive, but she was starting to be influenced by the atmosphere, after all. Darius and Eberwolf right beside him hummed in approval.

Everyone among the present was now okay with it. There was the matter of Mason, the only other ex-coven head who had joined the envoy group, but he had stayed behind the entire time. That was perhaps for the better, considering he was pushing for a fight.

With nothing was left to stop her, so Luz finally found herself walking up to the Kushan captain.

"I'm ready to go, Captain Soban." Luz let out a small chuckle. "For real, this time."

As expected at this point, Jiriel did not share her mirth. "Very well, Lady Noceda," he replied neutrally. "Follow me and my men. We'll accompany you to a corvette that will carry you to the Mothership. There you'll be guided about what to do before you can meet Fleet Command."

"Got it... though, please just call me Luz... or Luz Noceda, if you prefer."

"As you wish, Luz."

He started to walk, and Luz followed, though she still turned away to wave at her friends. She noticed that Darius, Eberwolf and Raine had already started sharing the news with the rest of the witches, so only Gus, Willow, Hunter, King and Eda were there.

She waved at them, and they waved back.

She then took note of Amity, who didn't answer to her gesture immediately. Luz lied her eyes on her, and decided that she was not a Kushan girl and therefore formalities could go down the drain.

"I'll be okay!" she shouted. "I promise!"

That caught Amity's attention, and Luz made sure that the girl saw her best smile yet.

Yet, soon she was far, too far to catch the details of her face. Luz reluctantly turned back to focus on where she was going.

She'd made her choice by now and there was no turning back.

All that remained, was to follow the Kushan, and meet her.

Chapter Text

"We're here."

As they stopped, Luz took a moment to put her thoughts in order.

It had taken her more than half an hour to get to this point. Captain Soban was not kidding when he said that before she could meet Fleet Command she would have to follow some 'procedures'. As soon as the small transport corvette entered one of the many inner hangars of the Mothership and she set foot outside, Luz had been asked to change her entire clothing repertoire, go through a quarantine chamber twice for examination and, apparently, sterilization (she preferred not to take personally the fact they considered her a biohazard), and, eventually, she had been requested to put on a respirator mask not unlike the one Jiriel himself wore when he came to meet the Witches.

Not for her to breathe, but to contain her exhalations, in the words of one of the many Kushan who guided her through everything ever since she left her friends back on the carrier). Again... she really did her best not to take offence in that.

At the very least it was not a full helmet that covered her entire head, but the sound of her own muffled voice was not something she could get used to quickly, not to mention the constant feeling of lacking a decent air intake.

Despite everything, Luz had decided to bite the bullet and do as she was told. The Kushan at least were kind enough to give her some time and a little space whenever needed. Still, she was given the green light to go only after doing everything.

With an escort composed of an armed Kushan guard, of course.

...she really hoped this would all be worth it.

The door took a few seconds to open up. Unlike previous automatic doors, this one looked like a thick safe door meant to properly protect whatever was behind it, and was substantially wider and larger than any of the previous portals she'd gone through. As it moved, Luz heard multiple mechanical noises as well as air exhausts going off.

"As you've already been told, your meeting will be in private," the Kushan guard began. The woman looked at her with the most stone-faced frown Luz had ever seen. "However, be aware that while Fleet Command will keep your conversation private as long as she wishes to do so, you are not isolated there, and she will be monitoring you the entire way through. I recommend you to be careful with your words, Luz Noceda."

"That does not sound ominous at all," Luz muttered. She quickly corrected herself upon noticing a slight arch in the eyebrow of the guard. "U-Uh, still, thank you for the heads-up."

She tried to offer a smile, but the Kushan woman did not reciprocate the gesture. She simply nodded in acknowledgement, then turned on her heels and walked away and back into the corridor.

Just the few seconds needed to see her disappear behind the corner, and Luz was alone.

She took a breath as she looked through the door and the space before her.

'Welp... here goes nothing.'

She stepped into the chamber.

The room was very dark at first, though Luz didn't have to wait for long for something to correct that. Lights started to turn on around her sequentially, running off the floor and then up the walls, as if charging up. They seemed to follow a path among the metal surfaces, leading right to a specific area right at the centre of it all.

There, a woman stood.

Or rather, hovered.

Luz could not help letting out a small gasp of awe. The woman was not looking at her at first, as she faced away; however, that made her appearance all the more striking.

It was not immediately clear to her whether the woman was wearing any clothes; however, that didn't mean that the woman didn't have some striking features. The surface of her body looked unnatural, and in its colour there was little left of natural human-like light skin; rather, the 'skin' was dominated by shades of metallic grey and a blue hue. There were lines running along her skin as well, as if identifying parts of a machine, which further contributed to the overall eerie, artificial look. While the Kushan people looked very much like humans, the mysterious woman was much closer to what she'd call an actual alien... or cyborg. Luz wasn't sure.

However, what really got her attention was her head: the woman was completely bald, and an uncomfortably high amount of cables and wires came out of her scalp. More cables were attached to her arms and some areas of her back and neck, too. Most of these ran above and up to the ceiling, while others connected her to another object she couldn't yet identify that encircled the woman's body.

The lights coming from it made her think it was some terminal of sorts, but the shape was quite peculiar. Considering there was no bar supporting it, Luz couldn't help being reminded of the shape of a doughnut.

Which led to a chuckle she could barely stifle. 'Hold yourself, girl!'

That may have been a funny thought, but she couldn't assume that the cyborg-woman mummy-looking being right there shared her sense of humour. Not yet, at least...

Luz swallowed, then resumed to move towards the centre of the chamber, and therefore the strange woman. As she came closer, more details of the her body became clearer. She could see the attachments of the cables fixing them into her body, the weird texture of her 'skin', and most importantly, the lack of movement from her body.

In fact, it didn't look like she had noticed Luz at all. So, rather than coming any closer, Luz decided to stop walking and cleared her throat. "Uh... hello?"

That got her attention.

Fleet Command remained in her apparently hovering status as her body slowly whirled around. As soon as her face became visible, Luz suddenly felt like she was under the scrutiny of a powerful entity.

The woman's face was human in shape, for sure, and that remained true despite the lack of hair and the presence of those creepy cables. The skin colour was still very much unlike anything Luz had ever seen, though, and she still gave off the impression of being some sort of unreal image, rather than an actual real thing.

But she was there. And she was looking at her.

Her eyes were locked on Luz, and as soon as they did, she immediately knew that despite everything, this was a live, real person, a woman that had seen things that could rival her own experiences. Perhaps using the word 'human' for the Kushan was incorrect, but for sure, those eyes were by far the most human thing about her.

And they got her good. Luz did not realize she'd been staring until a voice came to shake her off her own daze.

"Luz Noceda. Welcome."

Luz immediately looked away. How long had she been looking without saying a word? That was weird of her. Too weird! She was on a mission, she couldn't—!

"Please, feel free to come closer."

Luz looked back at her. Fleet Command's expression was undecipherable, and matched the formality that at this point she'd begun to expect from the Kushan people. However, she also didn't seem to be annoyed or otherwise affected by Luz's reaction.

"O-Okay..." she managed to produce as a reply. She took a few steps closer, until she was about a few metres away from her.

Perhaps she could've been staying a bit closer than that to have a face-to-face talk, but she really didn't feel comfortable coming any closer.

The woman did not seem to mind. "Make yourself at ease, Luz Noceda. We have much to talk about."

"I-I'm good, thank you," Luz replied. Then, her friendliness finally prevailed. "Y-You... you can just call me Luz."

"That is fine for me."

Now that she was close, Luz had noticed something else about Fleet Command and in particular her voice. Given her appearance, Luz had expected some sort of robotic, auto-generated monotone voice generator to regard her. Yet, the woman's voice felt perfectly normal, enough to even let Luz guess that she may have not been that old (assuming the Kushan aged like humans, that is), and with just a hint of some background noise to it. You'd have to know in advance to actually notice it.

However, there was still something not normal about it. Luz could see the woman's lips open and close as she talked, synced perfectly with her speech. However, her voice... didn't seem to be coming from her. Not just her, that is. Rather, it felt like her voice came from all directions, all around Luz. She couldn't recognize any gadget or wall machinery that looked like a sound system to relay voice messages, but Luz felt that way anyway.

It definitely didn't help in making her feel at ease. But Luz had come here for a reason, and she wasn't going to stop here just because the leader she wanted to meet looked a bit odd.

At the very least, she didn't seem to mind Luz's request for informality. She could work on that.

"Uuh... okay, then. It's, uh... nice to meet you, Fleet Command. You... you are Fleet Command, right?"

"That is correct, Luz," she replied. "However, I imagine you feel more comfortable with an actual name. Is that the case?"

"...yes," Luz could do nothing but confirm the observation.

The woman hummed. "My name is Karan S'jet, of Kiith S'jet. If calling me by name helps in easing your worries, you may call me Karan."

"It does," Luz said. "Thank you, Karan."

She then tried to come up with some sort of small-talk to follow up on the introductions, and failed.

What could she say? Was she even supposed to do so? She didn't want to appear rude and uncaring, especially given the circumstances.

But then again, Captain Soban had said multiple times that the Kushan were basically on a timer. And Karan probably was aware of that, too.

"So... I imagine you know about the reason why I... uhm, why I'm here," Luz said.

"Yes," Karan replied. Her eyes moved away for a moment from Luz, and she lifted a hand, her fingers flicking as if she was typing. Luz thought she saw some lights turning on and off on the terminal, as if reacting to her gestures.

"You have been granted an audience with me after requesting to talk with those who are guiding the Kushan fleet. You wish to talk about our actions on this world, and why we should reconsider our plans, despite our own motives, as you believe we are missing something in our evaluation of the situation."

"That's... mostly it, yeah," Luz said. "I... I would not say I-I'm trying to make you change ideas despite your motives. I know about your story, Jiriel Soban told us, told me about it."

"I am aware of what you know, Luz," Karan replied. "However, I do not think reiterating on information we both know and accept as fact is going to help. So, rather than retracing the steps of the discussion you already had with the commander of the carrier you met, I would like to know about your actual reasoning."

"Y-Yeah... I think I can do that. Soo... uhm..."

...her throat felt dry.

Her ideas, so clear as they felt when she was talking with people she found to be equal, despite their weird behaviour, suddenly felt flimsy and weak now that she was in the presence of Karan S'jet.

While she'd been mostly friendly, Karan kept giving off a vibe that kept Luz on edge. She wasn't just Fleet Command, Luz felt like she was talking with a person that was on a higher level, with an understanding of the world (or rather, universe) that the girl hadn't quite grasped yet.

However, this was not the first time it happened, right? Technically speaking, she had managed to talk with the freaking Titan in person!

But the Titan was her ally, spoke warmly with her and was willing to help her and her friends no matter the odds. Fleet Command, on the other hand, was not her ally. She wished to hear about Luz's point of view, which was good... but she couldn't expect pure kindness from her, either. So, what could she say?

Her mind went fast, and soon the memory of her friends waiting for her came back to her. She thought about Eda and King, then Gus, Hunter and Willow. And finally, Amity. And everyone else.

Her nerves calmed down as a new surge of determination came back to her. It wasn't much, but it was something.

"I... I would like you and your people to reconsider your plan, Karan. Uh... concerning picking apart the hand shaped 'rock', and generally speaking... about continuing to do what you want while ignoring what my friends, the witches, want."

Karan's eyes kept scrutinizing Luz, but there was no trace of emotion for the time being on her face. "I understand the context. Please, go on, Luz."

"Well, first off... I guess that you already know that what you're doing is not being received very well from the inhabitants of this world. It's... complicated, but long story short, the thing you are gnawing at for materials is still of significance for many of the witches that live in the Boiling Isles. I... I dunno if I could call it something they worship... again, it's been complicated ever since a few months ago, when this world went through a hardship that still feels like it happened yesterday to some, and some people down there need a little longer to move on than the others.

"Fact is, what you're doing here is a bit like skipping the entire process by destroying what to many is still part of their history... of their homes. You understand how that is making a few people a bit... irked, you know?"

Karan spent a grand total of two seconds before replying. "I understand. However, Luz, as much as we do not desire conflict with witchkind, you should recall that our own situation is a dire one. We would very much prefer to avoid damaging something that is of any significance to the people of this world, but we are also aware of the importance of our own mission."

"...you know," Luz confessed, "this makes sense to me, but... why not at least listening to us? I told Jiriel that too, that there is still space for another option, a compromise."

"That's one of the reasons why you here, actually," Karan stated matter-of-factly. Her fingers moved again, and Luz saw her open her mouth, only to hear no voice addressing her. This time, it took her a few seconds before she spoke again.

"Expose a way we can restore our fleet without crossing back into imperial-held space, Luz."

Okay... judging from her tone, she pretty much got confirmation that betting on Fleet Command's empathy was not going to work.

Luz frowned, trying to come up with an acceptable reply. "What about looking... looking elsewhere? Within this space sector, I mean, away from your enemies."

"Your world was the first one we found in this sector that hosted enough resources to sustain the rebuilding of our fleet. We have travelled through much of this area of space before encountering the Boiling Isles, Luz, and our sensors have not managed to detect anything serviceable throughout it all until we found this world."

"...but you haven't checked everything, didn't you?"

Luz had to contain herself from grinning as Karan replied. "No, we have not."

"So there may be another option out there. You just don't know it."

"And we also don't know how long it will take to find them," Karan countered. "The Taiidan may desire to continue the hunt and chase us in this sector, after all, if we take too long to re-emerge. We have already escaped them once in a similar way, through a nebula that people steered away from. We may not be as lucky here."

"But we could help you find a place where you can find what you need," Suddenly, Luz saw the perfect reply as clear as day. "The Collector! They may be able to help you with that."

Karan did not reply, but she kept looking at Luz expectantly. "They... they're the flying kid you've seen tagging along with the witches. You probably understand that they aren't a witch, but they're no human either. They belong to a race of long-living people who used to be all-knowing and space faring... uh, in this sector, I mean. What's important though is that they know their way around."

Luz made a hand gesture towards the space above her. "They told us, told me plenty about their travels throughout the stars, and they correctly guessed that you were aliens from another world. They also knew about the Taiidan Empire and know they're not to be trusted, so they are aware of your situation! We can just ask them to go with you; I'm sure they'd be thrilled to do so, and with their help, you will find an alternative source of these 'resources' in no time."

She topped her speech with a smile. "This means you and your people can find what you need to get back up to shape, without causing a ruckus with my friends—I mean, my people... well, not exactly, but they may well be. So, how does that sound?"

Karan's eyebrows moved. For the very first time since Luz's arrival in the chamber, she saw something that she could actually read in her expression.

It was neither rejection or satisfaction. Rather, she saw pure and simple worry.

"That does... sound like a substantial offer, Luz. I wouldn't certainly discard this option without evaluating it first. However... this option relies on trusting the experience and knowledge of a young kid."

"Well... the Collector is not exactly a kid. They may not look like it, but they're hundreds of years old. Actually, I'm pretty sure they're immortal."

"They indeed may be," Karan nodded, "but they act like one. Luz, you are not just asking me to trust the experience of the Collector. You are asking me to put the entire fate of our kind, of the thousands of people that make up the crews of this fleet and the tens of thousands who slumber in the cryo trays, into the hands of a person who for all intents and purposes is a child who may not be as concerned with our well-being as you make them out to be."

"Hey!" Luz exclaimed without thinking, raising her voice. "I know the Collector had some... issues, but he's been working on them, and that's the truth! You can't just assume he'd just—"

Karan raised a hand.

Luz's words died in her throat. A chill ran down her spine all of a sudden as Karan kept her gaze on her.

She wasn't frowning. She was just glaring.

But Luz knew that she'd crossed a line, somehow. A faint twinge of annoyance, but enough that she could feel it. Perhaps it was that strange noise that ran across the walls that wasn't there earlier, perhaps it was the hand gesture that for the first time seemed to be entirely a reaction to her behaviour.

In any case, on this matter Fleet Command did not wish to let us Luz go on. That was clear, and Luz couldn't help obeying her command.

She was about to begin an apology when Karan resumed to speak. "I do not mean to insult you or your people,Luz. What I mean is that there's no guarantee following your option will help us without increasing the risks that we face already in our precarious state. You realize that this decision cannot be taken lightly, no matter how well-meaning you are. Do you not?"

Luz took a few seconds to form a reply, lowering her gaze to avoid the stare of Fleet Command.

Karan's reply was logical and made perfect sense, that was a fact.

But Luz was not the type to use simple, cold logic to direct her actions. When she knew what to say back, suddenly Karan S'jet did not feel as mighty and imposing as she did mere seconds earlier.

"I do not ask you to put trust on us out of nowhere. I ask you do that because I trusted them myself! I trusted those who gave me a home, I trusted those who were willing to get to know me and become my friends no matter who I was, I trusted even those who I thought were my enemies and later turned out to be good people that I loved. I trusted them all, because I knew that the problems in this world were not their fault, and because I always thought there was a solution out there, one that kept them all safe."

She looked up: Karan was still observing her with her calculative gaze, but Luz this time returned her glare without flinching. "I'm... sorry. I'm sorry about what happened to your people, Karan. I'm sorry about, uh... Kharak. I will never understand the loss... of so many people, just like that, that you went through. And I won't pretend I can. I... I just want you to understand these people, the witches and the demons of this world. They risked going through something terrible, something that... that could've made them meet a similar fate to what your people went through."

Karan's remained silent, so Luz continued. "There was an empire... on the Boiling Isles. Not one in territory, maybe, but for sure in power held and how enforced that power was. However, its Emperor didn't care about that power. The truth is that... he... he wished to hurt them. To do something terrible to them all."

She breathed. The mere thought still made her slightly sick, but she pushed through the memory. "...they made it out, but I still see it in their eyes, in the fractures on the ground and the broken houses that they are still busy fixing. Many of them have not healed yet, Karan, no matter how fine they look, I know that! And now you come, and desire to take something dear to them, just as they are in the process of recovering from seeing them and each other risk being destroyed?"

Luz shook her head. "I thought you would be more... understanding, at least more than the carrier captain. They have survived, we even saved the isles, but they... they need time. You can't expect them to just let you do as you please. They don't deserve to be treated as low subjects to yet another overlord ready to force their will on them!"

Luz finally stopped to speak. She inhaled, but held her chin high, looking at Fleet Command.

Maybe she'd gone a bit too far again, but if there was something she could offer to make the woman understand, it was honesty. Luz meant every word.

Of course, that didn't mean she could predict her reaction. She expected Karan to criticize her points, one by one and with scientific precision. She didn't even exclude her exploding in anger, or seeing the door behind her suddenly burst open to let in a platoon of guards ready to take her away.

None of that happened. The hovering woman simply kept looking at her for several seconds. No reaction.

Luz bit her lip. What was taking her so long. Was she... thinking? Computing? That depended on how much human—er, Kushan, and how much machine she was, and she didn't know.

She shook her head. That didn't matter by now.

"Karan..." she said. "I... maybe I was a bit too harsh. I... I just wanted to be honest with you. Please... think about what you're doing. I understand you have responsibilities, I understand that your people need to think about themselves, but... you are Fleet Command, right? Your decisions, your actions... they have consequences on those around you, beyond your people. Please, consider my offer—our offer. I want to help, and I... I just wish to avoid more suffering."

Karan shut her eyes.

...for a moment, Luz wondered if she really failed so hard that this freaking woman fell asleep on her heartfelt speech.

But then, she saw her furrow her brows. Her lips barely trembling. More signs of actual emotion.

Karan opened her eyes again.

"When I returned to Kharak after the first hyperspace test, to the planet of my people, I felt... lost. For all the knowledge at my disposal, and my own willingness to carry out the expedition, I did not know how to react to the sight of Kharak... burning. For all the pain that Kharak's dying climate brought to us, it was still the same planet I grew up in, me and hundreds of thousands of others. I saw it destroyed beyond hope, with no sign of life left on the surface... everyone was... gone. It felt almost... natural, if not even needed, to focus on our mission, to chase after the Taiidan fleet that attacked Kharak and seek revenge, and then finding a way to strike back at the heart of the empire that sought to eradicate us. Many of the crew felt the same way.

"However... I have had the time to rethink over my own actions since then, and what it meant to be Fleet Command to those who were as much the survivors of Kharak as they were the last of the Kushan race. I couldn't risk letting my own emotions put the fleet in danger, not when the future of our entire kind was at stake. I had some responsibilities, and I decided that those outweighed everything else."

Karan gave an almost imperceptible nod. "But now here I am, second guessing myself again. Maybe not letting my heart overwhelm me was a sound decision, but I should also not let the numbers guide my decisions entirely."

Luz took the initiative. "...yeah. It's... it's just my opinion, but I think that taking a decision shouldn't be based just on how the situation dictates it. It's how I handled things, when my own friends were in danger. I acted because I cared about them."

She sniffed. "I... I didn't manage to save everyone, too. I... I also know there are people out there that didn't make it, people I never even met. And... one of my friends lost someone who was dear to him, and thus dear to all of us. We lost people."

She passed an arm over her eyes. The mask made the action a bit more difficult, but she didn't care.

"But then, I look at those I saved, at the eyes of my friends. And when I do that... I remember that I did what was right."

Silence, for a few seconds. Then...

"...huh."

That unceremonious 'huh' sounded very weird when coming from Karan, but Luz took that as her personal victory anyway.

After recomposing herself, Luz spoke up again. "Uh, does that mean... that you'll consider pulling off that 'resourcing operation' thing?"

"It is already done."

"...w-what?"

Karan simply moved her gaze away for a moment to look at her hands. She'd been typing at her invisible keyboards for a while, now. The terminal under her limbs were lit up with new lights that weren't there earlier. "I've already sent instructions to the fleet's hierarchy. By now, our resource controllers and collectors are moving back towards the Mothership and away from the Hand of the Titan—as the inhabitants of this world called it."

"T-That's... that's great! That's amazing!" Luz couldn't help letting out. Her happiness made her giddy in a way that she had missed ever since the Mothership had made its first appearance in the sky.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she cried.

Karan did not reply. It occurred to Luz that maybe the alien half-machine woman didn't care about her display of joy.

"Oh, um, sorry," she mumbled. She felt her cheeks heat up, as she awkwardly looked away. The confidence from earlier was effectively gone, though that was because of the good news at least.

Without it, it was hard to return the woman's gaze without feeling like Karan was dissecting her very own soul.

"That is no concern, Luz. In fact, this decision was taken thanks to the words you have shared with me. If one were to look at it from a certain point of view, I would probably have to say my thanks to you, too."

"Uhh, you're... welcome?" Luz replied with slight confusion.

Karan didn't reply to that. "Now, I would like to reciprocate your sincere thoughts with my own honesty, so do keep this in mind: I have not decided yet on what to do. I would like to have your young friend, the Collector, share a talk with some of our people and in particular our Intelligence officers. We will integrate what they know with our own knowledge of the sector and make a decision afterwards based on the resulting information."

Luz noticed Karan's lips were curved up. The mysterious and at times threatening woman whose true nature was still very much not clear to her, was actually smiling. A small smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"...however, I can assure you that I will try my best to find a serviceable solution that suits the interest of everyone. You can tell your witch and demon friends to rest in the mean time."

Luz decided to return Karan's smile with her best grin.

"I promise you will not regret it, Karan. And... thank you, again. For taking the time to listen to me."

Karan nodded. "You may leave anytime you want."

...Luz raised a hand to wave, but then retracted it.

"I... I could stay if you..." she said, unsure of her own words. "If you need more information, or... ur, want to talk, or something."

There was a shadow of mirth going through Karan's face, but unlike the smile from earlier, Luz couldn't be sure about whether that was real or a figment of her imagination.

"You make an interesting interlocutor, Luz Noceda. It is clear to me that you may have a compelling story to tell, one that I would not mind to hear in detail, from start to finish. But that is your life, not mine, and I don't see a reason to involve you and the people of the Boiling Planet further into matters that do not concern you directly, more so when that may put you in danger. Besides... I can imagine you are eager to go back to your friends and your lover to let them know about the good news."

"I... I guess that is the c—wait...?"

Lover? How did she know that she and Amity—

"I've made arrangements such that they may know you are on your way back, but I'll leave the sharing of the news to you," Karan continued. "Hopefully you'll appreciate it as proof of our intentions, while you wait for our final decision."

"I... I think that is good enough. Thanks, Karan... I... I hope you and all of your people will find your new home world."

Karan once again stayed silent. Taking that as a hint, Luz turned away, then started to move out of Fleet Command's chamber. Karan had guessed right, she really looked forward to join back with everyone else and tell them that she had achieved what she wanted—to an extent, at least.

But if Karan was willing to give her and the witches a bit of trust on this regard, then she was willing to trust her too.

Despite her looks and sometimes unnerving behaviour, by now Luz chose to believe that Karan S'jet was a good woman.

"Luz...?"

She stopped herself in her track—just as she was about to cross the threshold into the corridor. Turning her head, Luz looked at Karan again.

"You... you may have misunderstood a detail concerning our goals from what you heard from Captain Jiriel Soban," she said. "I believe you deserve to know this last detail, before you depart.

"Kharak was our home... but it was not our true origin. We do not simply seek a new home world. We seek our homeworld. The planet where our people lived and prospered, thousands of years ago."

Karan's eyes did not look like they were focused on Luz. It almost looked like she was... daydreaming? Looking towards a horizon that Luz couldn't see within that enclosed space, but that Karan could? She didn't know.

But her longing expression was tell-tale on her feelings. Hers, and likely those of every single person part of the Kushan fleet.

It was something that Luz couldn't fully understand, or even fathom. But she understood enough the significance that this journey had for these people, and the woman who led them.

"I... I'm sure you'll be able to succeed. To stop that evil empire, and find your way back to your homeworld."

Karan looked at her. She was smiling again, but it was not a friendly one. It almost felt melancholy.

"Thank you, Luz Noceda. And Farewell. I cannot predict if we will ever meet again, but if we do, I wish we may do so on better terms. And, perhaps... we will talk again on the surface of our homeworld... Hiigara."

...

"I... I hope we will, Karan."

The Witches looked on as the Kushan fleet completed their preparations.

The witch envoy group was back into the atmosphere, airships and palismen staffs in the air and hovering relatively close to the Titan's hand. The Collector bubble was also back where it was, enveloping the entire group and providing them with breathable air.

Unlike earlier, though, the Collector was not among them. As Luz had guessed, the kid had not hesitated to take the mantle of guiding the Kushan through the sector, and he demonstrated he had more than a few ideas about alternative locations where the exile fleet could retrieve the resources they needed. He was now inside one of the Kushan carriers—the same one commanded by Captain Jiriel Soban in fact—which spearheaded the fleet in its new formation, right in front of the Mothership.

Thus, the Collector had said their goodbyes to everyone, generating a second bubble that would last only for a short while without him—but enough to let the witch go back to land after the departure of the aliens. They would probably be gone for a while, even after the Kushan were done and he'd be free to leave them. Luz knew the kid tended to spend way more time among the stars than they did on the Boiling Isles, so their departure wasn't really something new. After all, still was in the process of moving on since the events from a few months ago, just like everyone else.

They'd be fine. Indeed, the giant ships they were supposed to guide still tended to monopolize the thoughts of the witches on their own.

"Wait, isn't hyperspace travel like something very noisy and very energy-releasing?" Gus said. "I feel like we're a bit too close for comfort. Those engines are huge, we m-might get caught in the blast!"

"Nah, don't worry, I reckon that given the technology we saw them use, they may not travel through hyperspace via simple mass thrusters," Hunter reassured him. Then, he gulped. "Unless they didn't take into account the presence of nearby objects anyway. I do not want to get spaghettified..."

"Come on, you two, I think we already went through the dangerous part of the entire thing," Willow said, giving a half-amused, half-annoyed look at the two boys.

Gus shrugged. Despite the words that betrayed his worry, he looked more curious than scared right now. "Never say never."

As Willow rolled her eyes, Luz didn't add her two cents. She hadn't paid much attention to their conversation to begin with, as her eyes were fixed on the Mothership itself.

Her head was currently nestled into Amity's shoulder. The two of them had essentially latched on each other ever since Luz got back from her meeting with Fleet Command, and neither of them were very willing to let go of each other. They even kept close after leaving the carrier, both sharing Amity's witch staff.

As it turned out, they had grown close enough that both had overestimated how much they'd miss each other—more so in Amity's case, as Luz had essentially jumped into the unknown with her little diplomatic mission to meet an unknown woman while in the embrace of an alien race.

Luz did have the chance to explain to everyone what had occurred in the ship, including telling the Clawthorne sisters and the ex-Coven heads about the new agreement she'd managed to strike with the leader figure of the Kushan. The news were received with many sighs of reliefs and exclamations of surprise, which were to be expected.

They didn't even have to wait for that long after the Collector went to meet Fleet Intelligence. Less than an hour later, Jiriel Soban came to make it known to them that the fleet had taken a decision. The Kushan would depart the Boiling Isles and accept the Collector's help to find a suitable alternative to continue their resource extraction tasks.

Some time later, and here they were back into near space, waiting for the aliens to leave.

That said, she didn't have much to say about the meeting itself, or at least, she didn't feel like it, at first. Merely reporting the conclusions was enough, and no one wanted to interrogate her further, it seemed. Eda and the others adults at least looked content enough to see her back in one piece and left her to spend time with her friends instead.

Deep down though, Luz did look forward to the moment where someone would ask about it. It was a one-of-a-kind experience! She had to tell someone!

And indeed, an occasion to do so came, and from very close.

"So... how was it in there?" Amity said.

Short, but to the point.

"Well, it was... it was not that different from the carrier we all saw, at least first," Luz said. "However, it did feel like more... I don't know, mysterious? There was something different about the Mothership, more... uh, majestic."

"I can definitely imagine it was like that," Amity commented. She was also looking at the huge spaceship in the distance. They could see smaller strike craft making their way into the hangar alight with bright blue light, while the bigger frigates and capital ships hovered into formation alongside the Kushan flagship.

The power the aliens showed was in full display, indeed.

"Other than the ship itself, though, about the meeting with Fleet Command... it's hard for me to explain, but it was not how I expected it."

Luz took a couple of seconds to decide how to tell Amity about the entire thing. "She was a woman, and her name was Karan. She was a strange one... when I first saw her, she almost looked like a robot, or some sort of strange machine-Kushan hybrid. But then when we talked, it was if I could look beyond her looks and understand she was a real person. I... I still have so many questions, about her and her story, but I can tell you, that woman didn't look very old, and yet it felt like she had endured more than most of us combined. I don't know how she managed to go through everything, to endure the burden of becoming the guide of an entire race... perhaps being part robot plays a role in that. Or part space-ship, maybe. I don't know... I mean, if I learned anything from mom's comics, it's that—"

Luz stopped herself after realizing she was already going off-topic. "Uh... sorry, going off a tangent there."

"It's okay. I was just curious... you spent a while away, after all. I expected that whatever you saw up there was... striking."

"Most of it was going through some boring procedures, to be honest. It felt like I was patient zero of some new illness or something!" Luz muttered, somewhat annoyed by the memory. "But yeah. Meeting Karan was very much something I'll remember for a while."

"How did it go, really? How did you make her change idea?"

"Uuh... well, I'm not sure. Karan, she... she and her people went through something... awful, something I could never wish to anyone, maybe not even to my worst enemy. I could feel she was affected, even if she was formal as much as the other people from the fleet. Taking the decision to accept our help couldn't have been easy, that was clear from what she said. I know not everyone is like me, and even if we went through some heavy stuff, they..."

The image of an entire planet in flames flashed in his mind. Luz had no idea of what Kharak looked like—but she knew how a planet looked like from outer space, and the image was clear enough thanks to that.

She shuddered a little. She felt Amity's arm squeezing her side and pulling a little closer, as if she felt her sudden tremble. "...I-I would just like to say 'thanks' to her again, if I could."

There were was a pause of several seconds before Amity replied. "I don't know her full story as well, but perhaps we don't need that. I know she considered getting help from the Collector rather than continuing to damage the Titan, and eventually they all decided to accept that as our compromise. I know that despite the struggles they are facing, she was willing to at least listen, and I think that is enough to say that she is a good woman."

"...yup, that makes sense to me, too," Luz agreed.

They were silent after that. Luz wondered if she could ever tell the full story to Amity or anyone else, concerning the meeting with Karan. The woman had shared something that felt pretty personal all things considered, and she didn't want to cross that boundary even if she wasn't sure how much the S'jet woman minded. And, really, Luz herself had shared some heavy feelings herself, too.

Perhaps, one day she could at least detail a little the exact nature of their conversation to Amity. After all, what Luz said to Karan felt like a continuation of what she'd discussed with Amity and the others earlier that day. Perhaps, that was also why her speech had managed to push through the cold exterior of Fleet Command. Or maybe...?

Luz's thoughts stopped as Eda's shout suddenly came to her ears.

"Look up, people! Something's happening!"

Amity and Luz separated from each other, enough to freely look at the spectacle, but still close enough to hold each other's hands. For now, that was enough, as Luz's eyes were immediately captured by the scene.

The Kushan fleet had finally finished its set up, as no strike craft or corvettes were visible around the larger ship. The 'capitals' were in particular in perfect formation around the Mothership, and there was a clear, loud noise coming from all of them. It was a strange sound, not unlike something she'd hear from a sci-fi movie, and yet different and more awe-inspiring.

Luz thought that she'd see the large engines of the Motherships and the smaller ship go off to propel them into the unknown. But the actual jump into hyperspace was quite different.

The ships didn't move. Instead, enormous screens that looked like they were made of some mixture of light and energy, suddenly appeared out of nothing in front of each of the Kushan vessels. They extended up and down, becoming large ghostly blue windows.

Not even enough time to register the image, that they started moving and... devouring the ships!?

Maybe that was not the right word, but the ships were literally disappearing, one slice at a time, as the windows moved through them. Luz heard multiple witches gasp around her as Jiriel Soban's carrier, the same carrier where the Collector was in, vanished as the hyperspace screen went through it. The other frigates and super-capitals followed soon after.

The Mothership's leaving was the most striking one of them all. As the window moved, Luz saw the profile of the enormous ship as a surface of pure light, while the front disappeared. It was... unbelievable.

And it all lasted less than seven seconds. The windows of blue light retracted and then vanished themselves, leaving no trace behind: the Exile fleet was gone, as if they were never here.

"...wow."

Luz and Amity spoke at the same time. Their comment echoed the thought of their friends, as well as the other witches and demons.

The scene served as a further reminder to Luz that, despite the chance she got to talk with Karan, she still knew very little about her and her people, their civilization and their story

Deep down, though, she was okay with it. The Kushan had their history, but their quest had yet to come to an end.

From her side, she could only hold on to the wish she'd offered to Fleet Command.

'...good luck, Karan. I hope you and your people can all succeed and find your homeworld.'

"Second jump into hyperspace successful. We expect to cross the confines of the Taiidan empire soon."

"For the time being, we have been unable to detect the Taiidan hunting fleet who originally forced us into the sector. However, were a confrontation with them to occur in the future, as of now we should be able to bring our full strength to bear on them. The fleet is back into a combat-ready state, and the resources in excess we found in the asteroid field let us store enough RUs to sustain a prolonged fight should we engage any future Taiidan force."

"The Collector has proved to be of valuable help, as promised by the witches of the Boiling Isles. We will not let their aid go to waste. Now switching to fleet-wide channels...

"This is Fleet Command. We are no longer on the run and, effective now, we will bring the fight to the Taiidan Empire by our own initiative. We will likely face our enemies soon as we resume our journey towards the galactic core.

"Stay vigilant for any upcoming engagements once we exit out of hyperspace."

"Transmission has been sent to the full fleet. Acknowledged, Fleet Command."

...

She took a breath.

It didn't happen that often, for her to breathe. Indeed, breathing as in the biological function was still something that her body required from time to time, but Karan was at this point less and less dependent on what her body physically meant to her. She spoke, and her words were heard throughout the Mothership and the rest of the fleet, and yet she was almost always alone in the chamber. Few people were admitted to step foot here, not because of reverence or fear—but simply because there was no requirement for it. She didn't need to eat at all and not much else, as the inner systems of the Mothership itself provided for her.

And yet, the momentary lack of need for her to govern the Kushan fleet gave Karan a moment to actually inhale some air, as a proper active action from her. Her mind was left at rest, no longer digesting millions of data points flowing into her head from the implants, for just a moment without treating the Mothership as an extension of herself.

For this short window of time, she was no longer Fleet Command.

She was just Karan S'jet.

Just like she was, when she met a teenage girl just a few hours earlier.

Karan could not help letting her thoughts run back to her peculiar encounter. She barely saw Kushan people with her own eyes, but it never felt like she was alone. She could communicate with any person in the Mothership and the rest of the fleet, the sensor data made it so she could practically see them as if they were right in front of her.

But Luz was different, as her arrival was effectively the first time that a stranger, a person not from Kharak, actually got to meet Fleet Command face to face.

And the meeting certainly left its mark, if only because Karan was incredibly impressed.

Luz was, for all intents and purposes, just a child. A teenager, indeed, so not that far from adulthood, not far from Karan's own age when she chose to become Fleet Command. Still very young.

Yet, she looked like she had endured more than her age could show. The scar on her face was another clue towards the trials she likely had gone through in the past as well.

Her behaviour was what caught Karan's interest the most, enough that it contributed to her accepting Luz's request of a meeting. She was a human girl from a planet called Earth, and as such, not from the planet she had chosen for her fleet to use as a source of materials, the planet of the Boiling Isles. Even so, it felt like she was the one most willing to achieve a peaceful agreement between the Kushan and the witches, enough to even risk putting herself into the hands of the 'aliens' in the hopes to have an audience with the commander of the fleet.

When Luz finally came to talk, Karan's interest only increased, and eventually, she found her to be an engaging person to talk with. Luz was definitely scared and hesitant at first, and she could tell that the girl was intimidated by her presence. But she was also determined to help the inhabitants of the planet, and even if taken aback by Karan's questions, she never left her without an answer for long and even went as far as second-guessing Karan's reasons and the entire logic behind the actions of the exiles.

Karan did not know what to think of it at first. How could a young and probably immature girl understand their plight?

Luz had mentioned how the planet of the Boiling Isles was on the verge of total annihilation too. Karan didn't know the full story, but the data they had collected about the planet seemed to confirm Luz's words. If that was the case, then the danger that was present on this planet in the past was a real one. And Karan was certainly glad that they had managed to fight back and save themselves from such a fate.

Her people were not as lucky.

But that was the point, was it? Luz did not pretend to fully understand the pain of the survivors of Kharak. She was aware she was from another planet. And she could see why Karan and, therefore, her people were so adamant about what looked like a simple resource retrieval operation. About why it was so important for them to strike back at their enemies and, eventually, find a new home, their home, enough to consider all means necessary to achieve that goal.

Karan was certainly impressed by Luz's ideals as well, and her willingness to argue with her to a point that no one had ever done before.

Perhaps Luz could not understand the Kushan, but her worlds helped Karan understand the witches better. A race of people who hold dear the state of their planet. Their own homeworld.

She was grateful for the help the earthling girl had provided. And Karan herself was satisfied to see at least this incident solved without putting any other lives at risk.

However, the moment of pause had to come to an end. The Kushan had left the Boiling Isles and the sector of space where their planet's resided behind, and were moving into enemy territory, the inner sections of the Taiidan Empire.

The same ones who were responsible for what happened to Kharak. And those who were now the main obstacle between the fleet and Hiigara.

...

Karan shut her eyes.

She was just about to let the enormous amount of data, signals and feel from the mothership flow into her mind, taking hold of her yet again. She'd take her role as Fleet Command again.

Yet, just before doing so, she dedicated a final parting thought to her most recent acquaintance.

'Thank you, Luz Noceda. May we meet again on Hiigara.'

END