“I said hands where I can see them, Outworlder!” Weston shouted.

Mr. Erin didn’t respond. In fact, Sasha could see his wand firmly grasped in his left hand, a golden light glowing from the tip.

“You’re in our way,” Mr. Erin said.

Weston cocked his gun.

“I won’t ask again.”

Sasha tensed. She looked from her liaison to the line of blasters ready to turn them both into shredded cheese. Mr. Erin kept his wand low and to his side. Weston didn’t back down either. The silence between them lasted only seconds.

“Fire at-”

“WAIT!” Sasha screamed.

Commander Weston stopped. As did the others, some of which seemed a little too eager to pull the trigger. But Sasha’s attention immediately went from them to her so-called liaison, her voice a mix between a growl and a whisper.

“What the heck are you doing?” she asked.

“My job,” Mr. Erin said.

“Getting shot?”

He glared at her, the look making her tense up again, but she forced herself not to relent.

“W-we didn’t come here to pick fights,” she said. “I thought we were supposed to be killing legionnaires.”

“We are. These men are in the way.”

“That’s- I don’t know what kind of place you come from, Mr. Erin, but down in Shiny we tend to avoid sticking our noses in trouble. Most of us. And I think it’s pretty clear we’re not welcome here. That’s a good assumption right, Commander?”

The rockman didn’t respond, his gun trained at the ready. Appealing to the hierarchy was clearly out of the question. Then again, that ship sailed the minute they’d spoken to the Elders. There was only one of two ways Sasha could see their predicament ending. Both equally bloody. The way Mr. Erin spoke made it clear as day he wasn’t about to let anyone stand in their way. And she’d seen what those guns could do in action.

She knew neither side would back down. Not willingly. But she also knew she didn’t want her first mission to end in a massacre.

“W-we are surrendering,” Sasha said.

Mr. Erin’s eyes flashed.

“What?”

She forced herself to meet his gaze, pushing down her fear.

“We’re here to kill monsters. Not people. If this planet doesn’t want us, then we can find another that does. There’s a whole universe out there that’s under attack. And…if you’re really my liaison, you’d help me save the rest of it.”

Mr. Erin narrowed at her. She stared him down, all too aware of the tremor in her voice. Of the fact, she had to hold onto the seams of her pants to keep herself steady. The words weren’t lies. Shiny, Tuptree, Liosha. Plenty of worlds had fallen that could have used the help of a graduate. If Argos wanted them gone, they could find another planet. Another cluster. Another galaxy. Anything beat trying to bulldoze their way through the planet’s biggest line of defense. She didn’t know how far the liaison-graduate connection went, but she got the sense Mr. Erin was a man almost suicidally dedicated to his job. To save the cosmos. To assist her.

And as the light retracted in his wand, she was relieved to see Mr. Erin hadn’t forgotten that particular caveat of their relationship. He raised his hands above his head without a word. Commander Weston lowered his weapon.

“Arrest them.”

The rocks all slowly approached with metallic cuffs, the tight shackles clinking against Sasha’s wrists.

But her focus was locked on Mr. Erin. The anger began to melt away, replaced instead by a numb stare.

***

A holding cell was something Sasha had only seen in her magazines before. Whenever a troublemaker was caught in Shiny, they’d just disappear overnight. The boys were the only ones brave, or stupid, enough to continue their antics despite the threat of getting into trouble. They always managed to sneak their way past getting taken away. She’d avoided the threat altogether by keeping her head down and in the comics.

As she stared down at her shackles, a bitter smile crossed her lips. Iris is probably gonna flip when she hears about this. She glanced up at the suited rockman continuing to drone on in front of her.

“Your acceptance into Argos is hereby forfeit,” he said. “You will not step foot again in Argos. You touch down near this planet. Near this cluster. We will know about it. And we will blow your ship clear across the desert skies.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Sasha shifted. A friendly warning for a friendly people. Mr. Erin remained silent, his thoughts impossible to read.

The rockman gave Commander Weston a salute before exiting the cell, though the larger soldier lingered. His eyes seemed to shine with intent, though nowhere near as hostile as the gaze she’d gotten from the Elders. Sasha finally broke the silence.

“What’s gonna happen to us?” she asked.

“Your lives have been spared,” the commander said. “But for disobeying the Elders, I’d imagine you’ve placed a target on your backs. Yours and every other Outworlder who would come to this planet.”

She shrunk in her chair. That bad, huh?

Had she known they’d do that much damage by trying to help, she would have told Mr. Xan to fly right over this heap of a planet. Still. Condemning them was one thing, but outright banning others seemed too extreme. She’d never questioned the whims of adults before. Not to their faces. But since she was already in trouble, she decided to speak her mind this time.

But her words died in her throat when Mr. Erin spoke up first.

“Why?” he asked.

Both she and Commander Weston turned his way.

“Tell me why,” Mr. Erin said. “Why are you so against Outworlders? There are monsters on your doorstep trying to kill your people. The only ones who can stop it are standing right in front of you. And you turn us away. Why? I need to know why.”

The rockman stared back at him. There was still no hostility in his gaze. As intimidating as his size was, she didn’t sense any anger or contempt. He adjusted his hat, rocky joints creaking as he moved.

“It is our way, Outworlder,” he plainly said. “There’s nothing more to it than that.”

Mr. Erin’s numb expression turned grim.

“Your way? You’d risk the safety of your people. Your children…On that?”

Commander Weston looked Mr. Erin straight in the eye and nodded. The squirrel didn’t say another word, all his fight dying on the spot. Sasha put herself between the two, putting a hand over Mr. Erin’s cuffs. The way his eyes fell to the ground. It reminded her of all the times she’d seen Iris lamenting a failed project. She offered a smile.

“Mr. Erin,” she said. “There are still other planets out there. We still have a universe we can save.”

Mr. Erin looked at her. His eyes scanned over hers for a few moments. He opened his mouth to say something but ultimately seemed to decide against it, his gaze averting as he gave a nod of acknowledgment.

***

The retinue of soldiers marching them down the encampment was expected.

She wouldn’t have been surprised if they had pulled out an armored tank just to see them off. But a hundred or so soldiers ready to gun them down was probably more than enough in the eyes of the gracious Elders. Sasha couldn’t quite decide whether that was a compliment or an insult. The march of soldiers stopped once they’d reached their ship’s bridge. Robots were waiting at the top to accept the transfer. Commander Weston stepped forward, a few rockmen trailing behind.

“I will tell you again,” he said. “Do not return. Spread the word to the rest of your people in the AIC. No outsiders are to step foot in Argos.”

Neither of the prisoners responded, both raising their arms out to have their cuffs freed. The rockmen offered no final goodbyes. They only watched intently as the two ascended the bridge. Even after the doors were closed, Sasha could see their guns raised at the ship itself. Stubborn rocks, aren’t they?

“Yo,” Mr. Xan’s voice came through the intercom. “I just woke up and there’s a bunch of rock people. What happened?”

Sasha looked to Mr. Erin, who was silently removing his helmet, standing by as the robots sprayed him down with some kind of decontamination gas. They did the same to her, chemicals blowing across her fur. She sneezed as it got in her nose.

“Hello?” Mr. Xan asked. “Ah, whatever. Just gimme a heads up next time. Oh, and Captain Mercury called. We got pirates in the Tridion Cluster. Gonna try to avoid getting raided. Xan out.”

The robots stepped away, returning to their work of cleaning and maintaining the ship. Mr. Erin silently made his way toward his room. Sasha considered stopping him, but her own exhaustion hit her in waves. She dragged herself to her room, plopping down on the bed. From the window, she could see Mr. Xan pulling the ship back into orbit.

Guns drifted away, replaced by the vast deserts of Argos and then the giant planet itself. Her first mission. She’d got arrested, exiled, and made it so all Outworlders were banned from visiting the world. As far as bad first days went, she imagined she had the cosmic record beat by a landslide. Her God Tool chimed.

“As long as the Root portal is open, the legionnaires won’t leave the planet alone. The invasion will continue.”

She frowned. “Yeah. Thanks for that.”

The planet fell away, the vastness of the cluster replaced instead by the void of warp space, their ship traveling onto the next destination on their radar.

“If it’s any consolation,” the staff voice said, “I believe you performed admirably on the battlefield, Ms. Sasha. That’s a victory in its own right.”

She sighed. “Yeah. Thanks, GT.”

“I aim to please.”

The staff disappeared, Sasha left to stare out her window at the expanse of darkness overlaid with rare light particles. An empty void she’d have to get used to seeing if she was to continue fighting monsters and searching out her friends.

She felt her chest tighten. The duty of a graduate, huh? Guess this is what we’ve all been dreaming about. She laid back in bed, staring up at the ceiling of her room. Her home. The only place she’d have for as long as she remained a graduate with Mr. Xan and Mr. Erin. It wasn’t perfect, but she knew she’d have to get used to returning to it regularly. Somewhere out there she’d find her friends. But until then she’d be adrift killing monsters and dealing with alien locals. Some of which she knew would be worse than the people of Argos.

Her eyes shut, the panther trying to let the quiet of the ship help her forget the entirety of her first mission.

It didn’t work.