The black ridges of the inside of my gun are lined with soft white beams. A faint white light emits from the gun nozzle, which causes my eyes to widen as I look back at Emelia.

Emelia chuckles and steps forward, placing my gun back into my metallic holster.

My eyes dart from my side, then back to her as she lets out another white flare from her mouth from her charged cigar.

“H-How did you…”

“Hm? You mean charge your firearm? The MAL-XMS series of arsenals are quite special, yes. It’s quite interesting that they’d allow you to have one, but you are half Ya’valt after all.”

When they issued me this gun, I thought it differed from everyone else's; But I didn’t mind it. She knew something.

“… You mean, you don’t know?” Emelia queries with raised eyebrows.

I sigh.

“Everyone must think you’re a pleasure to talk to you.”

“Well, naturally.”

“And why do you act as if all of my thoughts are being said out loud; Going on with the conversation as if my thinking is a second language.”

Emelia narrows her eyes, taking a final puff of her neon cigar before the swirling red circle on its tip fades away. She then cracks it through the middle with her finger and smothers it in her hand, it then turned into small blue pieces that disintegrate in her palm.

“Back on my homeworld, that is how we’d communicate. Our minds and bodies were one and we rarely used our mouths to converse. Honestly, I find it quite tiring to move my lips. It would be easier if you could just read my thoughts as well.”

… And now she’s blaming me for my—

I look down at her lips curling into a smile, causing my eyebrow to twitch in irritation.

“How could I ever work for someone as intolerable as you? It’s already bad enough I get shit from my fellow officers and higher-ups. But to also work under someone who can invade my privacy, no thanks. Just kill me right now.”

Emelia sighs with a downwards tilt of her head. “Jeez, if I knew you were going to be this disagreeable I would’ve left you back to calling me, ma’am.”

I put a hand up to the side of my head and wince. “You… You did something to me before. What was that feeling? It felt like I was going to kill myself if I disobeyed an order that was long given...”

Emelia taps the air in front of her with a finger, causing a microscopic blue net to ripple in front of her. A large white holographic screen virtualizes in front of me. Along with some text, multiple images of a blue sky above a sand-covered terrain flash before my eyes.

“… And this is supposed to be?…”

“That, is Planet 4056-E, or what’s mostly left of its surface. After the Ya’valt’s excursion about a century ago, most of the upper layer’s resources were drained.”

My finger continues to scroll through the pictures of the bare dirt ball. Decayed cities with tall skyscrapers toppling on one another; remnants of shuttles and droid parts scattered around a secluded oasis, supposedly once filled to the brim with water.

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

This doesn’t look like any of the pictures they had in our space logs back at the academy.

My finger stops scrolling and I look past the screen to Emelia. “How does any of this answer my question from earlier? I want to know what that weird voice in my head was.”

“So you don’t remember… Any of that? Interesting…” Emelia ponders with a finger up to her chin.

She then flicks all of the holographic visuals to the side. In a small blur, a mugshot of a Ya’valtian male wearing a black business suit with white outlines pops in front of me, alongside a set of pictures of warehouses and dimly lit metal facilities.

“The individual in the picture’s name is Kekdric Giroka, the Head Researcher for the Stellar Analysis division at Stavros. For the most part, Stavros deals with Amor-rated diseases and parasitic lifeforms, testing on them than delivering a cure or combatant to the highest bidder. However, after the Federation’s raid, he was placed in charge of procedural examinations for the remaining species back on 4056-E. This included the incubation of human models with Ya’valtian sub-qualities, amongst other tests and chemical outputs.”

“You mean he tested and facilitated the growth of Yak’sha, like me.”

Emelia nods her head. “Correct. The pictures before were sort of like a test, to see if you’d recall any memories by viewing the surface level of the planet; But it may not be that simple.”

My hand then slashes through the images, making them disappear between us. “I’m guessing this information is classified, even from a Coordinant like yourself. Why you would risk your position and life for something like this?"

Emelia’s eyes shine with a silver glare as her nose scrunches from her developing embitterment. She then closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before unclenching her fists and resting them on her thigh.

“The Galactic Federation was once a peace-posing organization founded by heroes of the stars to provide planets and galaxies without security or in imminent danger, a guardianship. People that were willing to risk their lives so hundreds of thousands could survive. That changed several centuries ago when a man named Avora, a Commander of a group of rebels known as the Ya’valt Globalship overtook the Federation and killed many of the people who fought for justice, replacing them with fiends.”

My eyes search the ground as I scrunch my eyebrows. “But… The books said that Commander Avora saved the humans and that they deceived him—“

Several cracks fill the room, with Emelia’s palms gripping into the side of the glass table now having finger-marks pressed into the surface. She looks down at her hands and sighs, whipping the silica ash from her hands and taking another deep breath.

“That man did not save anyone. He’s made out to be a hero for all of you who graduated back in the academy, but a few know the truth of how deceitful he really is.”

Emelia then taps the table once more, taking a metal-glowing cigar from the opening compartment, and holding it between her fingers. “To be frank, Miya, what they’re doing on 4056-E is wrong. Genetically mutating species and creating innate gene pools was once banned by the Federation. They do something to you, then send you up to terminals like caged livestock. I’d like to know why, how, and what they’re planning so justice can be served.”

I feel my body tremble at her last words as I take a deep breath to calm my nerves.

Emelia’s hand lights the tip of the metal cigar and then blows out a red smog from her nose. “I can tell that this is discerning to you, but I’ll need an answer before—“

“I’ll do it.”

Emelia’s eyes widen as if she’s taken aback. She then rests her pupils and lifts herself from the side of the desk with a smile.

“Why would you accept such a daring offer, might I ask?”

My eyes search the ground as I rub my forearm. “As you said, I’m dead whether I do this or I go back to my post. I’ll just do what I’ve always done and follow orders without asking further questions.”

Emelia takes another puff of smoke and walks to the back of her desk, sitting on her throned chair with crossed legs.

“I’ll get other relevant information for you to complete your mission in due time. For now, please standby as you’ll be preparing for hyper-launch at twenty-seventy-four for an escort to Sector 8. You're to go over all the documents as every piece of information is crucial. Do I make myself clear?”

I give her a salute and click my heels together. “Dostralmite.”

Emelia gives a dismissive wave and leans her cheek on her palm. “Then you're free to go. Oh, congratulations on the promotion—Space Patroller Miya.”

“Yes ma’am. Thank you for the opportunity.”

In a nimble pivot, I turn around and start walking toward the bolic-teleporter. My pupils gave off a crimson light glare, and my mouth curled into a wide devious grin.

“I will not let you down.”