A bright sun from the skies shone on Chia. The sky was clear, no cloud present in the scene.

The group just got out of their temporary house.

Disedinel caught up with Zene's new tempo, as the others began increasing theirs too.

Now, side by side, Disedinel looked at Zene.

"Just what do you know?" And he looked back at the street they were on.

Disedinel counted in his head all the unusualities when it came to Zene.

"Just follow me. At some point later, I'll explain." And they went on...

...

And they stopped in front of the same tall building from before.

"You guys keep some distance." Zene approached the door.

And it opened. From the other side.

"Hey, you!" A stranger. The features worth mentioning are perhaps his brown hat and coat.

"We're looking for somebody. Mind if you help us?" Zene next approached the stranger.

"Get down!" He took a few steps back.

"At least I tried." Zene knocked out the stranger and took his coat and hat.

He turned around to look back at the others, staring, confused.

"Follow my plan. I'll turn you in." Zene took a few handcuffs out of the coat.

Kaika seemed reluctant, but he gave in.

Thankfully, nobody was on the street. Zene left the stranger outside, lying down.

After that, he walked further inside the building. When you enter, there's a small corridor leading to another corridor.

Zene walked further, looking left and right. Somebody saw him. They hurried to Zene.

"Those behind you are the outsiders, right? Good job. What happened to your partner?" Zene scratched the back of his head, trying to play along.

"He remained back. See, I have just three of them, while they must be four. It appears the other one escaped. We haven't seen them at all." The stranger counted.

"Oh, you're right. Come, we'll have them in their prepared rooms." And they walked further until...

Zene heard shouting from one room specifically.

"What is going on here?" He looked at the wooden door. Room 15.

"That's actually the guy with these guys you captured. There's a suspicion that he has done some things on duty." Zene looked at the stranger.

"Is that Slantse?" The stranger looked at Zene, surprised.

"Oh, you know his name? Yeah."

Zene looked behind the stranger, further inside the corridor. He gave a confused look.

His confused look made the temporary colleague look back.

Zene took the opportunity to grab his head.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He shouted.

Suddenly, he turned into an ice statue. Zene went as far as closing the corridor with an ice wall.

He turned around and released everybody's handcuffs.

"This is it." He knocked on the door of "Room 15".

A "Yeah?" was heard from the other side.

Zene opened the door.

It was two guys. Slantse and another member of the authority. Slantse was sitting on a chair in front of a table that had papers on it. Meanwhile, the other one was standing.

"Huh? Who are you?" Zene let go of his coat and threw the hat away. Slantse's eyes widened.

Zene approached him. Then he slapped the guy.

He fell to the ground. Zene asked himself if he really slapped him that hard.

Zene looked at Slantse. "Zene, you're here." Slantse smiled, trying to hold back tears.

He stood up. "Let's hurry. I'll show you where your ship is."

Disedinel showed his head, as if he wanted to say something.

"Yeah." It felt like that wasn't what he wanted to say.

They hurried outside. There was a small crowd surrounding the man Zene knocked out earlier. Slantse looked at Zene. Zene shook his head. "I have something to admit. I'll tell you later. This way, it'll be faster if we go on foot." So they began running.

"So, where is the ship?" Kaika sounded like he was out of breath already.

"It's in a garage nearby." Moments after Slantse finished, his pace increased.

"Don't tell me you're tired already, Kaika? There's a lot more ahead to cross our path." Everybody gave Zene a few glances, unsure what to make of what he said.

"Huh?" Disedinel's audible reaction was quite enough to go unnoticed.

It wasn't only Zene who got weird looks. It was everybody. The small street crowd would stare at them, worried.

"Right around this corner." Slantse stopped in front of a grey house. It was somewhat big.

He knocked on the door. "It's me!" He continued to knock, causing somebody to open the door.

The one who opened the door was an elderly man. He wore a blue shirt and a pair of blue shorts.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on." His voice made it clear that he was annoyed.

Slantse came in. "Come inside, everybody."

Everybody entered.

"This is a nice house." Disedinel looked at the old man, smiling, as he complimented the house.

"So what?" And it seems like it wasn't received well.

"Well..." Disedinel looked down.

"Anyway! Follow me, everybody. The ship is right behind that door." Slantse walked to it. He looked back.

Zene hurried to Slantse. He opened the door. "Let's go."

Slantse sighed. "Right. Let's go!"

The door led to stairs leading to what should be a basement.

And after several metres worth of going down, Slantse turned on the lights, revealing a big room.

The room had several ships inside. Including the ship of the group.

"Is the old guy collecting these ships?" Kaika chuckled.

"It has probably bothered you guys, but I had the ship repaired. The engines were broken, but they're fine." They stopped right in front of the ship.

The ship's white-red colours shone.

Disedinel wondered if it had been washed.

"So, Zene. I have something to ask." Zene turned towards Slantse.

"May I... come with you guys, too?" Zene raised both his eyebrows.

"Why are you asking Zene?" Kaika whispered to himself.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Yes! Yes, you can!" Disedinel answered instead of Zene.

"I can?" Slantse smiled at Disedinel.

"Of course! Everybody is fine with it!" And there goes Disedinel, saying something he doesn't know.

"Thank you, everybody. I've always wanted to go outside of Chia. Come on, let's go." Disedinel nodded.

"Alright, everybody. Let me just open the roof so we can launch." He went back to the entrance of the room and clicked another button, close to the switch for the lights.

After that, Disedinel showed Slantse the trapdoor.

Everyone was inside.

"Say, Slantse, why did you ask Zene instead of us?" Kaika approached Slantse.

"... Is he not the captain?" Slantse looked at Kaika, actually unsure about who the captain was.

Now we can say that Slantse certainly shares something in common with Zene and Vaneila.

"I am." Kaika shook his head, looking down. As if he were disappointed.

"No, I am." Disedinel moved between Slantse and Kaika, looking at Kaika.

"Apologies, but I'll have to assume the leadership of the group." Zene crossed his arms.

Slantse could only stare, confused.

"You're not even part of us, you just came in, and suddenly we have to accept that?" Kaika turned around, facing the wall.

"We have a new member. And how do we welcome them? By arguing?" Vaneila crossed her arms.

"... I'll start the engine." Disedinel looked down, embarrassed, before leaving the room.

"I've prepared the ship to pass through the barrier. So there's no worries for that. Just saying." Slatnse tried to make it clear to Disedinel in the other room about it.

By increasing the tone, that is.

"Thank you for everything." Zene made a bow. A deep one.

"Oh, no, no." Slantse took a step back.

"Guys, sit down! We'll go in a moment!" Disedinel's voice could've been caught in what could be called the living room of the ship.

"I am excited!" Slantse couldn't hide his wide smile.

They followed Disedinel's instructions.

He appeared out of the cased opening. "I'll be in the control room. I see everybody is ready. We go as soon as I am, too."

...

And so, the ship flew out of Chia.

...

The ship stopped.

And Disedinel came inside the room.

"We're now out of Chia for good." Disedinel sighed.

Kaika stood up.

"Alright, the plan is to make silent manoeuvres, avoiding contact with a certain group."

Slantse stood up, too.

"You mean the men of Factor? Chia has had many problems with them recently." Kaika nodded.

"He has also blockaded Toree, our destination. If he just wasn't present, this would be like a walk in the park." Kaika sighed.

"Toree?" Disedinel smiled at Slantse, realising why he didn't know about Toree.

"It's the planet we're going to." Slantse looked up, visualising the group going there.

"Woah. It'll be my first time there. What are you going there for?" Slantse looked at Kaika.

Then at Disedinel.

Neither could answer the question. Zene sighed and crossed his arms.

"Anyway, who is this Factor guy?" Zene looked at Disedinel.

"He's an outlaw. He also has a big navy." Disedinel looked at the floor, unsure what to add.

"Why hasn't he been dealt with?" Zene once again pushes Disedinel to a corner. Well, not literally.

"I can't know for certain. The HQ I've always been at isn't involved with this matter. Anyway, now that we've cleared everything, we should be ready to go." Disedinel looked at Kaika, waiting for his approval.

"I'll drive. Zene, this time, you stay still." Kaika glared at Zene before moving to the control room.

Slantse looked at Zene, curious what Kaika meant.

"Wait, let me take a look at my planet from space!" Slantse walked over to the control room.

...

Later, the ship once again began flying, but this time not so fast.

"Do we even need the seat belts if we're not going fast at all?" Zene prepared to unlock the seat belts.

"It's perfectly safe without them. But please keep them on." Disedinel stopped Zene.

Slantse found it hard to find their meaning in that case.

"So why aren't we going faster? If we get spotted, can't we just outspeed them?" Slantse brought up a good point.

"The problem is that they have fields similar to the one of Chia. If we hide our presence, it won't grab us." Disedinel presented his knowledge.

"You made your research, huh?" Slantse chuckled as he looked down.

"I just heard of it." Disedinel looked away.

"It's only a matter of time until we engage in combat with them." Zene paused.

"Could we please expand on why we can't do that currently?" Disedinel looked at Zene weirdly.

Disedinel gave it some well-deserved thought.

"Let's say we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by them. If we tried to fight them, then somehow stall them, then Chia would likely interfere, capturing us again." Zene took a deep breath, preparing to reply, but Disedinel continued. "That's one of a few more problems."

"I believe Chia won't be a problem." Zene placed his hands on the table, pressing his index fingers against each other.

"Zene?" Disedinel looked at Zene, obviously puzzled.

After a pause, Disedinel continued. "It often feels like you're cutting most of your sentences short."

Zene shifted his gaze from his fingers to Disedinel.

"You don't want the rest. Neither do I." Zene looked back at his fingers, pressing them harder.

"So there isn't anything important you're hiding?" Disedinel leaned back.

"Those are things that are out of the board. For now." Zene looked at Slantse intently.

"Huh?" Slantse looked away from Zene. Then he looked back. "What?"

"Nothing." Zene relaxed his hands on the table. His head, too.

...

And the room remained silent.

And remained silent for so long.

Disedinel sighed.

He took a deep breath.

"Zene, I think that we need to talk more." Zene raised his head, meeting Disedinel's gaze.

"Alright, I'll tell you everything I know... some other time." Zene rested his head again.

"Zene, I don't think we can have you go on like this." Disedinel looked away, trying to think of something.

"And if I continue to stay silent? Throw me out of the ship?" This time, Zene didn't bother looking at Disedinel.

"Well, no. Wouldn't you come back?" Disedinel, feeling uncomfortable looking at Zene's head instead of meeting his eyes, talked, still looking away.

"So you did consider that option?" "No! It's just... when you suddenly came earlier, it really surprised me. So..." "Alright." And silence haunted the room. Again.

"Sorry for shouting."

...

Zene looked up. "It'll be easier if you trust me."

Disedinel couldn't reply.

...

It was clear he wanted to, but knew it came with a risk.

"I will." Vaneila finally had her first say in the conversation.

Disedinel looked at his sister, slightly surprised.

"You will? Why?" "I'll keep it a secret." Disedinel felt like hitting his head against the table. At least multiple times.

"What's with you two teaming up on me?" He looked at Slantse, expecting him to say something.

"Eh? Uh, I think I can trust Zene on this, Disedinel." Slantse shrugged after he finished.

....

Disedinel giggled. "I guess we'll all carry the decision." He also shrugged.

"Thank you. I'd bow down if I wasn't sitting." Zene anyway tried to, anyway.

Disedinel crossed his arms as he purposefully looked away from Zene.