The Starlight Lancer

Chapter Ninety-Eight: First Contact

"The first thing you will learn about the Marked upon spending time with them is that they act close enough to ourselves as to be unnerving at first; despite their lack of need for food, they still enjoy eating it; despite their lack of need for sleep, they still partake. Most of the time I spend with them is so alike time spent among the non-Marked as to be indistinguishable. I went hoping for accounts of dark rituals and demonic sacrifices, but instead found harvests turn to feasts and the throes of the ordinary."

—Castre Follin, famed explorer, in his book, The Great Enclaves: Six Adventures from Castre Follin

Zaina sat in the pilot seat of the tiny, cramped ship the Strato had arranged for her short journey. The ship itself was orb-shaped with stabilized thrusters, but being that it was barely fifteen feet tall, the interior was lacking. The ship's closed door was directly behind the only other interior space onboard, a small storage closet.

Everything except her lancer beacon and vis-screen was placed in a makeshift compartment beneath the closet. The surface was then covered with trash—if Sivanya felt inclined to search the ship, it would look like someone had been living there for a few days.

Smells like it, too.

It was time to get this over with. Her eyes fell to the plain white sleeves covering her arms, then glanced toward her armor under a pile of garbage—she felt exposed, further fueling her uncertainty. The sooner she met Sivanya, the sooner she'd have a clearer sense of where this mission was headed. "You about ready, Gizmo?"

Gir's glyph, connected to the ship's two-panel console via three wires housed in its central hub, hummed and replied, "Yes, Master Zaina."

"Please don't call me that," she said, wishing she had the old Gizmo back. Sure, he had his quirks, but he was much less cold.

"Affirmative. Preparing for launch sequence."

Zaina sighed, wondering what he'd been doing that entire time. Her curiosity got the better of her. "So, what took so long?"

"Stealth on the way out of the Deonago Navport is imperative on this mission, Master Zaina," Gizmo replied. "The target could potentially track this ship on its way out and back in. I was creating a set of false credentials for use on our way out of the atmosphere. Then, once we are comfortably out of range of any planetary sensor equipment, we de-cloak and enter with our real credentials."

"Smart," she said, "but also, please stop calling me that."

"What would you like to be called?"

"Zaina works fine."

"It is customary for glyphs to show respect and defer to their assigned lancers in all matters," Gizmo replied in its cold, monotone voice. "Are you sure you would not like an honorific attached to your name when I address you?"

"No need—Zaina works perfectly. I'm not your assigned lancer, I'm your partner."

Gizmo whirred for a second, then said, "There is no distinction."

"The distinction is that a partner is on equal footing. Equal say, equal respect. So I'll call you Gizmo, and you can call me Zaina. Okay?"

"Very well," Gizmo said. "Zaina, the launch sequence has been prepared. On your command, the ship will ascend beyond the upper atmosphere of Vyzria."

"Well?" she asked. "What are you waiting for? Punch it."

"Punching," Gizmo chirped. The ship's thrusters hummed to life, and Zaina jerked in her seat as they rocketed into the sky. A moment later the ship's ascent stabilized.