Chapter 22: 22. Leaving Earth

Wheeler Ridge, CA, Sun 9th Jan '22 22:45

I stirred slightly in my sleep as Wrex pulled me in for a tighter cuddle from behind, causing an unintentional satisfied moan to escape me. We had retreated to the bedroom after our 'rematch' in the boxing ring to chill out a bit more. I had to say, I felt so relaxed and content with him spooning me, one arm wrapped under my neck and the other over my chest armour, meeting in middle and my arms folded over and holding onto his. His head resting atop of mine, and I could hear he was still asleep, judging by his slow and deep breathing. Even in this desert, it was still cold here underground, and Wrex was proving to be a nice radiator. Not that I needed the warmth, but was just comforting having someone there.

I was totally at peace with myself, I had no regrets, no doubts anymore about what I was doing, as if my old male self had given up now completely, because with Wrex, it just felt... right. The only thing that did worry me, was I on the good old fashioned rebound?... hours ago I had declared to myself that I was single, after years of being in love with my school crush Kayley, who I thought was the love of my life and within maybe an hour I was leaping on Wrex's cock? No, this felt right, it's meant to be, I'm sure of it... If I was stuck in this form then I might as well stick with my gut feeling as to what was right. My contentment was short lived though as a beeping emitted from the front room and he quickly got up, pulling himself out from under me and shot in there. I pulled myself up and followed him to see him looking at the tv with remote in hand.

Me: "What was that?"

Wrex: "Motion sensors have been triggered, but it's just Sora."

Me: "She's back?" Wrex pointed to the tv and the compiled views of multiple CCTV cameras displayed. Sure enough I just caught Sora's image as she walked into the hanger, then on the next camera walking towards the office inside.

Me: "That's how you were ready for us yesterday, isn't it?" Wrex smiled and nodded while shrugging his shoulders.

Wrex: "Yep... when you're hiding from the world, you want to know when it's on your door step."

The sound of the steps creaking slightly could be heard coming down the steps and both turned and waited. Sora rounded the corner at the bottom and stopped on the spot upon realising we were both watching and waiting for her.

Sora: "Did I miss something?..." Then I noticed her nostrils flair end contract as she subtly sniffed the air before fixating a look on me, quickly glancing to Wrex before locking back on me. "...Can I have a word with you? Please?" she gestured to me.

Me: "Erm, ok?" I glanced at Wrex, he gave a slight shrug as he looked back at me before I proceeded forwards and following Sora back up the stairs, out of the office and out of the hangar, she stopped us in the middle of the runway.

Sora: "What are you doing?"

Me: "Err... What do you mean?"

Sora: "I said, 'You don't have to talk to him' and you go all the way and mate with him?!"

Me: "I... Wait, how do you know?!"

Sora: "We have enhanced smell over Humans, I don't know if you've noticed, and that living space stinks of the sex of you two."

Me: "Ohhh... oops. Sorry about that." Embarrassment now filling me.

Sora: "Don't be sorry, just... just go careful ok? Don't get tangled up in things you might regret yeah?"

Me: "Is there something I should know about him that you haven't told me?"

Sora: "Probably quite a bit... Alex, he's a deserter, he left everything he had and went to hide in a hole... *Sigh*... What I'm trying to say is that what's to say that he wont desert you?"

Me: "I get it... but I think there's more to him than you know, In those few hours you left me to talk to him... I don't know, he seems hurt, hiding more pain and regret inside than he let's on." Sora held her hands up to me as if I was pointing a gun at her.

Sora: "All I'm saying, is just go careful, I don't want to have to say 'I told you so'."

Me: "Ok, I will... Anyway, what did your little supposedly 'two to three hour' trip gift you? Where have you been all day?"

Sora: "Sorry, getting proceedings going at home, are slow at best. Took me a fair while to actually get some people rounded up for a meeting."

Me: "And? What did they say?"

Sora: "They want to meet you."

Me: "What?! We don't have time for any more meetings, we need to get on!"

Sora: "I know, that's what I told them, but they won't have it, they insisted thst it was important that they meet you before they grant us any help."

Me: "For fuck sake... This is it then Sora, If I have this meeting and if they don't help, I'm gone, I'll do it on my own if I have to, got that?"

Sora: "That's fine by me, but you know I'll be there beside you, no matter what is said." I gave her a respectful nod.

Me: "We need to update Wrex, and I need to get the rest of my armour back on." Sora nodded and we headed back down the stairs, Wrex was sat on the Sofa, just flicked the tv off when we entered the room and he slowly turned round to us.

Wrex: "Do I want to know?"

Sora: "They want to speak to Alex."

Wrex: " 'They'? You went home and told them? You can't take Alex there they'll slaughter her!"

Me: "Whoa!, what?!"

Wrex: "Sorry... I mean that metaphorically..." He reassured me, but turned back to Sora after "...But they still won't go easy on her!"

Me: "Who's 'they'?"

Wrex: "The throne of Draconia, or rather, who ever currently occupies it, and their council."

Sora: "...The current occupier being Queen Arisu."

Wrex: "Oh that bitch is still around? Nothing will get done I can promise you that." He finished turning to me.

Me: "Well, why don't you come with me, you can be my back up." His eyes widened.

Wrex: "Oh no no no no, bad idea."

Me: "Why is it?"

Sora: "As I said, he's a deserter..." Wrex shot her a spiteful look upon hearing that word, but she carried on regardless "... There is a warrant out for his arrest."

Me: "Surely you're not meant to tell us that part if you were intending to bring him with us?"

Sora: "To be brutally honest, I don't want him being any part of this. Providing he doesn't cause trouble, then we are also to leave him be."

Wrex: "Where exactly do you fit into all this Sora? What are you? An Executioner?"

Sora: "We'll stick with that answer shall we." She replied bluntly.

Me: "Are we talking lethal injection or the beheading kind?"

Wrex: "Erm, the Executioner role has a slightly different meaning in our culture. Strike Teams go in hard to complete their objectives, with the odd stealth or recon missions thrown in but subtly is not usually required. Executioners are selected because, like the royal family, they have the ability to wield the Heart's powers. They hide in the shadows, they do the council's dirty work, usually operate on their own, usually involving missions where no one can be held accountable, like assassinations, as they are not technically part of the Vanguard. So as such, they have earned themselves a bad reputation because they don't necessarily follow the rules. But do you know what..." He stepped up close to Sora, inches from her face, "...I'm not stupid... No, I don't think you are an executioner for two reasons. Firstly, if you were sent here for me you would have already tried to kill me or at least capture me. Secondly, Executioners are the least trusting of anyone in the Vanguard and never go anywhere without their armour... So where's yours?" They stared each other down after that, Sora remaining silent.

I stepped between them and pushed them apart to break them up.

Me: "Ok, come on, we all want the same thing here, let's chill and break it up. Wrex, you must have known this before, why bring it up now?"

Wrex: "Because I thought she was rogue like me, I didn't realise she used the power of the Heart to Jump home to drop us in trouble."

Sora: "See he's slow Alex, but he gets there eventually." Wrex growled slightly.

Me: "How about this, I gear up, me and Sora, we'll get going and I'll come back to you, Wrex, and let you know what's going on?"

Wrex: "Sounds good to me." Sora stayed quiet but slowly made her way over the other side of the room while keeping an eye on Wrex. I made my way round the sofa and started donning my armour back on.

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20:45

Awkward silence had filled the room in the time of me putting my armour back on. Once done Sora headed for the bottom of the stairs with me in tow, giving a quick glance and smile back to Wrex.

Wrex: "Alex?..." We both stopped and turned to him, "...Can I have a moment please, alone?"

Me: "Of course." I turned to see Sora roll her eyes and head off up the stairs. Only once she was out of earshot did Wrex start speaking.

Wrex: "Alex, please go careful around her, I don't trust her, she's hiding something."

Me: "You two really don't get along or trust each other eh?..."

Wrex: "I am who I am, I have nothing to hide. Promise me you'll go careful ok? And promise me you'll come back after yeah?"

Me: "Wreexxx?! Am I detecting a little bit of attachment?" I mocked with a smile.

Wrex: "Keep your voice down... But yes... I... Actually really like you."

Me: "Not just because I'm your first shag in a millennia?"

Wrex: "Noo, it's not that, I mean, I know we've not long met, but it's great that we actually get along quite well already. Well, ok, to start with we bounced off each other a bit, but now I feel we bounce off each other, don't you think?... And I mean that in a good way!, sorry, I used 'bounce' in both good and bad ways, probably confusing. I just think, erm..." I stepped closer to him and pulled him in for a short kiss.

Me: "Stop talking gibberish, because I'm finding it cute that I'm having that much of an affect on you... But yes, I promise I'll be back, because 'I want another round' ." I smiled with a wink as I stepped back, making him smile as well.

Wrex: "Ooh... good, because 'I'm not done yet'." He stated with a wink back, making me blush slightly and my pussy ache, to the point I had to turn and walk away to avoid stripping back off and pouncing on him.

'Wow... What a turn around... 24 hours ago I probably never would have considered willingly mounting a guy, now look at me, I can't resist him!'. I was sure though to continuing making glances at him until he was out of sight once I started heading up the stairs. Once outside Sora was stood waiting.

Sora: "Are you ready?" I gave her a nod and she opened a Jump behind her and stepped through the coloured fog once more, I closed my faceplates and did the same. After two paces into the red and purple fog that clouded my vision, I became weightless this time, my feet left any sort of solid surface and I was yanked forwards. 

Me: "Whoa!" I shouted uncertainly, having never experienced any form of zero g, I flailed wildly in the air.

Sora: "Just relax! Go with the flow, let the Jump guide you!..." I looked ahead of me to see that the fog had cleared, dispersed to the sides, almost to form a tunnel around me and up ahead, Sora floating somewhat casually, slowly pulling away from me. I tried to relax as she said, closing my eyes and breathing deeply. "...that's it! Now you're getting it!"

I slowly opened my eyes again, seeing Sora grabbing at the fog wall that surrounded us with one hand, which seemed to be slowing her down to get back closer to me. I went to do the same,

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Sora: "No no! Keep your hands in, if you get ripped out you'll end up floating in space. I've done this enough times to know how much I can get away with." I kept my appendages pretty close to me after that.

Me: "Why are we floating this time?"

Sora: "In longer Jumps you do, that one this morning was so short we didn't have time to."

Me: "How much longer does it take to get to your home then?"

Sora: "It takes about an hour, but if we used our ships it would take nearly a week at full light speed."

Me: "You have light speed capable ships?"

Sora: "Yep, we've been a space faring species for about the last 400,000, years, but only found Earth about 130,000 years ago, about the same time humans started evolving closer to what they are now. As time went on, ships were becoming used less and less once one of my ancestors discovered the ability to use the Jump. We've banned all travel to Earth in the last 1000 years or so though."

Me: "But you're here?"

Sora: "Well I did say I wasn't meant to be there..."

Me: "Is that because you're an Executioner? You can get away with it."

Sora: "I'm not an Executioner, I just said that to keep Wrex quiet."

Me: "Oh, so won't you get into trouble for breaking the rules?"

Sora: "Probably, but I'll also get away with it probably."

Me: "How?"

Sora: "I shouldn't say." I rolled my eyes, another person choosing not to tell me things. So far the only one that seems to have been completely honest with me is Wrex.

We flew through this light emitting purple and red cloud tunnel for nearly an hour, silently, not a word was spoken since. There was a fair amount of nerves running through me, I mean, I was going to an alien planet! But then again, everything I have experienced in the past month has been so alien to me anyway, it will just be another thing to add to the list. But still, I had no idea what to expect, how they were going to treat me, how different their society was to Humans. I suspected Sora's silence was down to similar reasons, nervous about how they would treat me, she didn't look at me at all on the rest of the trip. Was Wrex right? Was she not to be trusted and this was a plot to capture me? I carried on regardless, mentally preparing myself for a potential fight, until the section of natural light blocked our progress and we slowed right down before it. Sora floated in front of it and I behind Sora. I realised looking over her shoulder that it wasn't just a light source, it was the hazy vision of a stone hallway, I could see some blurry dragons standing around, and not much else.

Sora: "Here will go, brace yourself... I wouldn't expect a warm welcome." She batted the image away from her down the tunnel, again enlarging as it went and we continued to float forwards again.

Me: "Don't worry... Not had many over of those recently. What was that anyway?" I asked as we approached the foggy red and purple ending tunnel.

Sora: "A 'Whisper', think of it as like a sneak peak of where we're going to arrive, making sure we don't land on anyone or in the middle of danger, gives me last chance move our landing point."

Me: "Ahh..." We hit the other end of the Jump, my feet being pulled back to the invisible floor as we decelerated and we both stepped out through the red and purple fog.

"INTRUDER! INTRUDER IN THE PALACE!" A powerful voice screamed. I saw running at me two scarily armoured dragons, slits large enough in the helmet for the wearer to see through, revealing to me a pair of angry looking, slitted, reptilian eyes and that was all I could see of each wearer. The back of the helmet, shoulders and even several locations down the back had fairly sizeable, backward and downward facing spikes, kinda reminding me of a porcupine... but with the spikes being thicker and more deadly. Extravagant purple coloured details were etched into the predominantly red armour elsewhere. They each charged at me with a staff with a fairly large curved blade on the end of it. Even in my own armour, I was scared.

I flicked my faceplates open before defending myself,

Me: "Wait! I mean no harm!" I stated while raising my hands. Sora stepped between myself and the armoured attackers, facing them. They ran still until a mere couple of feet from Sora, who stood her ground, unphased by their charge.

Guard 1: "Step aside!" one of the armoured ordered her.

Sora: "I order you to stand down."

Guard 2: "What is the meaning of this? Bringing outsiders to our world unannounced! And a SkyTech at that!" He spat at the end.

Guard 1: "You should know better than this Princess Sora!"

Me: "Princess?!" I asked over her shoulder in shock.

Sora: "Shut up for a minute. They are Honour Guards, the throne's most loyal protectors and they have every right to kill you here and now, no questions asked and I'm the only one right now stopping them from doing so." She growled over her shoulder back at me. I instantly shut my mouth and decided best to keep it that way until told so otherwise, making sure my hands were still raised but mentally preparing to charge up my plasma jets... I think these guys are gonna need that sort of kick if they didn't listen to Sora.

Sora: "My mother has requested this one's presence for questioning." The two Guards relaxed ever so slightly and exchanged a quick glance to each other.

Guard 2: "I believed the orders were for you to reveal her location and a Strike Team were to be sent to arrest and bring her in for interrogation."

Sora: "Wasn't necessary when one could simply ask nicely is it? She's not a prisoner, she is a guest, is that understood?" The guards looked at each other again before Guard 2 gave Guard 1 a nod who then relaxed and stepped away, while the other still eyed me intently. I watched Guard 1 a couple of dozen feet away as he pressed some buttons on his right gauntlet, opened his palm flat and a hologram of a figure appeared about 6 or 7 inches tall. I couldn't hear what was being said, but I was definitely referred to as at one point, I was certainly looked at for a good few moments as he silently spoke to the image. A few minutes passed before he returned with his answer.

Guard 1: "You council is permitted Princess Sora, but your... 'Friend'... is not, she is to remove her armour for security purposes and she will be escorted to a guest quarters where she will remain under armed guard until called upon." Sora shot a look of worry over her shoulder at me, she knew what I was thinking.

Me: "I can't remove the armour, if I do-"

Guard 1: "The orders stand. Your armour creates a security risk." I tried to remain as calm as possible, before trying to explain again.

Me: "I have a disorder, my armour keeps me alive, if I leave it for long periods I will die."

Guard 2: "A pathetic excuse.

Me: "Can I at least keep the torso pieces on? That's all I need to-"

Guard 1: "NO! The Queen wishes to speak to you at the appropriate time, after speaking with Princess Sora, therefore we can not allow you to leave, neither can you wear your armour. You have no option." the other said. Sora turned to me a bit more.

Sora: "Do as they say..." She said solemnly, "...I'll do my best to make sure they don't keep you waiting long." I looked between Sora and the Guards, both my hands and my jaw dropped slightly in shock,

Me: "Seriously? I just told you all I WILL DIE and you're just telling me to strip or you'll kill me anyway?..." Sora looked guiltily at the floor in front of her, clearly unable to over rule the order of her mother and the guards still staring at me intently.

Me: "Fine... Just give me one moment ok. Crystal, how long will I have out of the suit? Like the bare minimum safely?"

Crystal: "It's hard to put a time frame on it, as soon as the regulator or suit is removed, your nervous system immediately starts shutting down... If you were to keep movement and bodily functions to a minimum you could keep functional for approximately 21 hours. You would have up to approximately 27 hours, but with the armour shutting down last night intermittently, your body hasn't fully recovered." She announced aloud, the Guards still eyeing me intently, unphased by her announcement.

Me: "Fucking brilliant..." I unlatched the helmet by thought and pulled from the top of my head and tossed it at one of the Guards who caught it. "... don't lose it, I'll be coming back for it sooner than you think." I said while undoing my gloves and gauntlets.

__________

One of the guards returned with some kind of container that he started loading my pile of armour into, just as I had asked Sora to help me remove my back piece. I closed the interface as she removed it, I saw her glance at it as it clicked closed.

Sora: "What is that on your back?"

Me: "That's the interface, how I operate the suite and how it keeps me alive. That device from earlier that I called a regulator? The broken one at the mansion? I could swap it out for this interface, then moments like this wouldn't be a problem..." She frowned as she gently placed the pack piece in the container and the guard sealed the lid. "...20 hours..." I said to her, she turned to look sternly at me, "... You have 20 hours, MAX, before I need it back or I am dead."

Sora: "That won't happen... I promise."

Guard 2: "This way..." He gestured me in front down a long stone hall, "...Princess Sora, you may proceed to your mother, I presume you do not require an escort?"

Sora: "No that won't be necessary, thank you..." She turned to me, "...I promise you, you have my word." I didn't feel that I had the decency to give her any sort of reply so I merely gave her a short look before walking away in my designated direction, down a long hall, escorted by two more Honour Guards that had arrived for the sole purpose.

__________

Arriving at the 'guest quarters', the guards showed me inside. I looked around, it was a well furnished, a two level set up, the second level being more of a mezzanine type area, making the place look more like a maisonette or some kind of lodge. I turned to one of the Guards as he spoke,

"You will remain here until we call for you, you will have guards posted outside until then." The Guard turned and left, closing the door behind him. I sighed after the closed...

Me: "Could be worse... 'Guest quarters' could have meant a jail cell I suppose..." I took some time to explore the quarters, finding that, remarkably, most rooms closely resembled your average human rooms. There were subtle differences of course, chairs and sofas were much more curved than the 80 or 90 degree bolt upright backs of Human chairs, the shower room was HUGE allowing presumably for our large frame to spread out more... The toilets? Well... They were weird... They looked like over sized urinals essentially, so they kind of made sense with our shapes, but males and females use them? Moving on from the bathroom, through the halls, apparently kitchens were not all that different from those of Earth either. They still had pots and pans, though I could see no hob, so that confused me. The fridge was huge as well, actually it was a walk-in setup, the deeper you went in the further into the freezer end you went. The shelves presenting a range of some rather odd looking meats and vegetables.

__________

A couple of hours passed of me being sat on the sofa, I had decided to heed Crystal's advice of basically 'don't do anything physical' but this meant I got bored very quickly indeed. There didn't seem to be any type of entertainment in here unfortunately, I had well and truly explored the rest of this place, it was pretty standard otherwise, nice, but just looked very much like that of a Human dwelling. While being sat on the sofa a crystalline dome started pulsing with a white light and a soft, digital sounding chime, in the center of a piece of furniture that resembled a coffee table,

'do they even have coffee?' I thought to myself, remembering the way Wrex referred to cafes. Curiosity got the better of me and I reached over to try and grab the thing to see what it was. But as soon as I touched it a life size hologram of a dragon burst out of it, seemingly standing on the table.

Me: "Bah!" I jumped back, almost rolling over the back of the sofa. Sora's image looked down at me,

Sora: "Are you ok?"

Me: "Yeah... Phew... You just scared the shit out of me... I'm supposed to be remaining calm and inactive and that won't be helping."

Sora: "Sorry, has no one explained how anything works in there to you?"

Me: "No... Customer service is crap, and where's the phone for room service?" I joked.

Sora: "Erm... This is the 'phone' as you would call it..." She pointed at her feet to where the crystalline piece was. "... and there is no room service."

Me: "Yeah I was being facetious... What's going on? Why am I still waiting?" Sora's image crossed her arms, looking as equally irritated as I felt, but not aimed at me.

Sora: "The problem with our system is that it's slow, and it's late. I have presented my information to my mother. But she won't raise the council members now until the morning, that's when they they will call for you."

Me: "Are they taking the piss?! The clock is ticking, Sora! MY CLOCK!" Sora's image nodded,

Sora: "I know, I know, that's what I told them... But I don't think they're taking your issue seriously."

Me: "This is unfair! Why not send me home and I'll come back when they actually need me?!"

Sora: "They think you'll use the opportunity to drop off the radar, they don't want to release the first SkyTech that wanted to come here and not cause trouble."

Me: "But I'm not SkyTech..."

Sora: "You WERE... and that's good enough for them..." I shook my head in annoyance, "... don't worry, I'm going to keep pushing them come the morning. I'll give you an update as soon as I have something." I gave her a small depressed nod and her image faded out. It wasn't long before I decided to make use of the bed as I was already tired... Hopefully they wouldn't keep me waiting much longer in the morning...

( -Clint Mansell)

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