Adults were always an enigma to Sasha. Androids in disguise or not, the way they slinked around the buildings made her more than a bit curious as child. Where did they go? Where did they sleep? Why were they always watching them? She'd hoped she'd get answers to those questions after graduating, but then everything with the White Legion happened. And now here she was, face to face with even more alien lifeforms. Her only saving grace was that the ones speaking to her seemed friendly. And boring.

“And that’s essentially everything you need to know,” Mr. Erin was saying. “Did you get all that?”

She looked to the large spotted creature who lay sprawled across a sofa, snoring up a storm. His enormous belly was rising and falling, a more childish part of Sasha wondering if she'd fit on it. Mr. Erin tapping the wall with his wand brought her back to the lecture, his tangent moving as more of the projected images appeared.

“Ms. Panther,” he said. “Pay attention, please. You need to be familiar with the wider galaxy to be a good graduate. My associate and I can only do so much if you can’t learn the basics.”

Her ears twitched. Maybe it was too much to hope things would change when she left Olive Branch. She might have been in another world, but she was nothing but a kid to her new alien squirrel professor. The panther rested a chin in her palm. I just want to go home. Mr. Erin’s lecture continued into galactic economics.

"Now let's talk about chets," he said.

Sasha let her mind wander away.

It had been a day since she’d been simultaneously assaulted by the legionaires and rescued by the two fur-colored aliens in the room with her. One minute, she’d been getting her backside handed to her on a silver platter, the next, they were exploding into mist with a giant smiling back at her. Mr. Erin was quick to usher her away after that, not that she minded. Any complaints she had fell away when her rescuers delivered her back to the city in one of their magic flying machines. If only she hadn’t blacked out from her injuries.

She'd came to in a safe room Mr. Erin had purchased. A den of sorts, though they referred to it as a hotel. According to them, they'd be staying there for a couple days so as to get her better acclimated to intergalactic society. She was a new graduate after all, something which Mr. Erin was keen to emphasize.

“And they're run by the AIC,” Mr. Erin said. “Oh. If you need to take notes, you should pull out a pen and paper, Ms. Panther.”

Sasha slouched against the desk.

“Do I really need to know all this, Mr. Erin? It’s boring.”

The squirrel scoffed. “Boring? This is the history of the universe! The very fabric upon which every morsel of our existence relies upon! It’s the wisdom of the ancestors incarnate!”

Sasha let out a low yawn. As grateful as she was to her rescuers, she had a thousand better things to do than attend Academy 2.

The wall in front of her was filled with all sorts of planets and galaxies. Mr. Erin had started with hers. It was a subtropical planet somewhere in the Sahara cluster called Shiny. According to the squirrel, she hailed from the 3rd District on the South Island nation. But that was as far as he’d gone with useful information. As he went on and on about sacred treaties, trade federations, and royal families, she quickly lost interest. She tuned in every now and again only to be more confused. At present, he was going on another lineage tangent.

“Emperor Rudden was the 17th ruler, but he’s been indisposed. Currently, Prince Tikon rules the Wukon cluster. You shouldn’t have much trouble with him. He loves cats. Now, Princess Olive-”

Sasha threw up a hand. “Mr. Erin. Sir.”

The squirrel stopped his lecture, his wand tapping against his wrist.

“Can we stop all this already?” Sasha asked. “I need to get back to trying to find my friends. They might still be fighting off those weird monsters.”

Mr. Erin frowned.

“Young lady. Those ‘weird monsters’ are the proud members of the White Legion. Legionnaires, if you will. Which you would have learned if you’d been paying attention.”

Sasha resisted the urge to growl. “I…don’t care.”

The squirrel backed up, mouth agape as if she’d spoken the most vulgar words in the universe. Would his ears fall off if she tried a real swear? The thought was tempting, but Sasha kept her focus on the task at hand.

“Those things attacked me,” she said. “They wrecked my island. And I know if I got out, Iris and Cici got out, too. They had to. I don’t care about all this galactic history junk. I need to find them.”

The squirrel’s jaw clenched, brown fur flashing red.

“What you need to do is-”

“Take it easy, Professor Naps.”

They both turned at the third voice. The spotted creature letting out a loud yawn as one hand was rubbing his eye. Mr. Xan, as Sasha remembered, didn't seem the most enthusiastic about answering her questions, but he had been the one to patch her up shortly before he’d collapsed on the couch. She eyed the weapon near his feet, a large white warhammer. Cici would have loved to have something that big. Sasha fought back the urge to cry.

“Nobody asked you, mush head,” Mr. Erin said. “I’m trying to instill some facts on this rookie.”

“You’re putting her to sleep,” Mr. Xan said as he rose. He towered over just about everything in the room, but Sasha didn't sense any hostility as he came to lean against her desk. “Panther, right? Did you get any of the crap he just spewed at you?”

She smiled. “I know that this thing is important.”

She extended a hand, her God Tool appearing in a flash of light. It seemed to come and go whenever she needed it, but she hadn't a clue how. Just like she hadn't a clue why having it made her so special. She'd seen how fast her so-called liaisons cleared a path for her. According to Mr. Erin's lecture, they were among a special class of officers specifically tailored towards assisting graduates. Something about maintaining galactic order. Her brain felt scrambled just trying to recollect it all. Mr. Xan gave her a playful slug in the arm.

“Well it's not like you need to know much, anyway.”

Mr. Erin fumed from his podium.

“Xan.”

“Save the teaching for the students, Erin,” the giant said. “We’re liaisons. As long as we help her out, she’ll be fine. Plus, I’m pretty sure she can pick up whatever nitty gritty in the field. Experience is the best teacher, I say.”

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

He gave her a wink, of which Sasha giggled at. At least he seemed normal enough. Mr. Erin looked ready to pop a gasket.

“AUUGH!”

He shut down the whole projection, the image shrinking into the rectangular device attached to the wall. A commpad, as they called it. Whatever it was, Sasha wanted one. But Mr. Erin seemed too busy sulking away to hear her request. As he left to another room, Mr. Xan took over, pulling out a pad of his own and sliding a finger against it.

An image floated through the air, the pulsating disk somewhat familiar to her given how many times she'd seen it. Even if just a projection, she felt a little wary to see the purple voids legionaires liked to crawl out of.

“Alright, Ms. Panther,” Mr. Xan said. “You know what these things are?”

She shook her head.

“They're called portals. The White Legion - those little buggers you fought - use them to get around. Touch 'em at your own risk as they tend to act like warp points. Unless you're a legionnaire, it’s a toss-up where in the universe you’ll end up.”

“Really?” Her chest tightened.

“Of course, that means anyone that touches them ends up somewhere. Not exactly a death sentence, per se.”

Her ears rose. “Oh. R-right. That’s right.”

Mr. Xan smiled. For such a large alien, she much preferred his company to the squirrel's. When Mr. Xan spoke, it felt like she was talking to one of her denmates. Or Cici. His soft tone and fuzzy appearance made it easy for her to trust his words. The giant swiped a finger across the commpad, the image switching over to a shimmering blue planet.

“What’s that?” Sasha asked.

“Liosha. It’s where I’m from.”

Her head tilted at the image. The place looked similar to Shiny in that it was mostly water, though instead of the four green nations, she saw one stretch of land that had a grungy brown color. Mr. Xan chuckled.

“Not the prettiest place in the universe, is it?”

Sasha flinched. “Huh? No, it’s fine!”

“No need to lie, Panther. I know it’s crap. We trashed the place long before the legionnaires arrived.”

“The-” She shrunk. “Oh.”

Mr. Xan gave a nod, his smile waning if only slightly.

He flung a finger, planets appearing in a line that stretched clear across the room. Some she recognized from Mr. Erin’s lecture. One she noticed was her own. Mr. Xan tapped his screen, and purple markers appeared over each planet in the congregation.

“Every world you see here is currently under threat from the White Legion,” Mr. Xan said. “Liosha wasn’t the first. Shiny wasn’t the last. And they’ll keep coming until every world in the cosmos gets swallowed up.”

He pointed straight at Sasha.

“That’s where you come in.”

“Me?” She looked at her God Tool. “Oh. You mean this?”

“Right. That thing might not look like much, but it’s a lot more powerful than my warhammer or Erin’s useless stick. Probably more powerful than a star. Might take some time for you to draw it out, but that's what we’re here for. Us liaisons make sure you’re good and trained up so you can take on whatever jackhole’s threatening the cosmos. And right now, it’s the legionnaires.”

Sasha nodded, her tail rising if ever slightly.

She didn't quite understand it all, but this was it, wasn't it? This was why she’d had to suffer through all those years of school books and combat training. This was why she’d been given her staff by that strange furless creature. No. This was why they all got God Tools. Somewhere out there she knew Iris and Cici were finding out the truth as well. Maybe they already did. This was Iris, after all. Knowing that wolf, she was probably halfway across the universe hunting monsters and looking for her. Sasha stood up, planting her staff into the ground.

“If you need monsters killed, then I’m your girl. I need to find my friends, but I’ll hunt down legionnaires on the way.”

The giant smirked.

“Don’t exactly need you to kill ‘em all, but love the enthusiasm. As long as you do your part, we should be free to look around for your pals. Isn’t that right, Mr. Weasel?”

There was a grumble from the other room, which Sasha couldn’t help but giggle at. Maybe working with adults wouldn’t be so bad. Mr. Xan shut down the projections, everything shrinking into his commpad.

"For now, though," he said, "let's get you situated. Gonna be a long journey ahead."

***

Sasha's final moments in Tuptree were spent gathering up supplies for the trip. Spare clothes, comics, food she could actually consume.

Mr. Erin showed her how purchasing worked in AIC territory. So long as she had chets, she'd be able to buy most things in the cosmos. And thanks to her new commpad, she'd gained access to a fund sourced by her new employers. So long as she kept killing legionaires, there'd be a steady stream coming into her account. Not anything too exciting, but enough to keep her alive.

Still, everything was so new and inviting. Her small allowance kept her from buying up the whole marketplace, but she still splurged on as many comics and as much food as she could.

“We really need to work on your impulse control, Ms. Panther.”

“I got everything I needed,” she said. “Plus, I get an advance for killing so many, right?”

“Yes, but- Oh, do what you want. I’m tired of lecturing.”

Passing over a telepad, Sasha found herself stepping into an industrial chamber full of giant machines and sparking robots. She took a moment to stare as a creature with six metallic legs walked by. Maybe in time she'd get used to seeing aliens. Eventually. Her pace quickened, the duo moving for the far end of the chamber. A flying machine stood coated with white stripes, the twin wings on its back reminding her of the planes she’d see every now and again in her comics. But they didn’t tend to have cannons mounted over their frames. Or robots poking at them.

"Do the legionnaires have flying machines, too?" Sasha asked.

"They're called ships, Ms. Panther. And no, they do not."

"Then what are the cannons for?"

"Non-legion threats."

She waited for the squirrel to elaborate, but he was already climbing aboard.

The doors of the ship seemed to operate on their own will. Sasha's fur stood on end every time she walked under one even if she'd yet to be crushed. All it took was one malfunction and she'd be turned into mashed panther. No machines had revolted yet, though.

“We’ll be taking off shortly,” Mr. Erin said. “If you need either of us, my room is down the hall to the right. Xan’s is the opposite.”

“Uh-huh. Thanks.”

Mr. Erin lingered for a moment.

“For what it’s worth, I think looking out for your friends is a good cause.”

Her ears twitched. “Oh. Uh. Thanks.”

Silence lingered, only broken by Mr. Erin stepping back and letting her enter her new room. The door shut itself closed, saving her from the exchange. Geez. She moved to set her things down. The room was barren, only a bed, a table, and a window, but it was the largest den she’d ever had to herself.

Is this all for me?

Putting her supplies down, she took a moment to stare out the window. The rumble of an engine had started, followed closely by the industrial chamber opening up. Robots stepped aside, the ship taking flight and soaring out into a clear blue sky. As fluffy clouds vanished in favor of a nexus of darkness, Sasha marveled at floating asteroids and a bright red hunk of gas in the distance. An actual star. She stared at the expanse of space, Sasha feeling a small lump in her throat.

Wish they were seeing this too. Iris is probably loosing her head right now. And I bet Cici... She squeezed her God Tool, wiping her eyes with one hand. Now wasn't the time to be crying. Her gaze locked on the expanse stretched out before her.

“I’ll find you,” she said. “Wherever you two are, I’ll find you. No matter what.”

As she spoke the words, her heart lifted if only slightly. It was like Mr. Xan had said. She and her friends had weapons of immense power at their disposal. They’d find each other. Even if they had to tear through every galaxy in the cosmos to do it.