"It's a rare privilege to fly this model, you know, a Riven packs a mean punch for its speed."
Lila scratched her head. She wasn't sure how to feel about a position within the Consortium outside of her identity as a Psion. In fact, even her powers had been forced upon her.
"Don't I have to like, rank up for that? Pretty sure I'm a slave right now," the Earthling bit her lip.
"Assuming you graduate, nothing short of a field commander can tug you around. And that's only the beginning." Even as Serix spoke, he could see the doubt on Lila's face. "But I understand why you'd be less than enthusiastic about joining the Consortium. As we said, Yrix makes for quite the first impression."
She was certainly impressed by the design of the alien craft, its arrow-tip structure reflecting the world around her like a spotless mirror. But no matter how excited she became at the sight of its mounted cannons and underbelly missile pods, Lila couldn't help but feel like it belonged to the enemy. It could never be hers.
"No offense," Lila mustered the strength to frown. "But my only experience with the Consortium has been fighting for my life. It's not just Yrix. Everything here wants to kill me. How do you expect me to just...sign up for that?"
Serix crossed his arms and nodded. "A fair question, and one I hope to answer once we breach the clouds," he gestured towards the open cockpit, its cushioned seat unveiled by a dome of sliding glass-like material. "Hop in."
Lila found it hard to say no. Her instructor was impressively tame compared to what she had seen since she left Earth. With all the speed of an exhausted young girl, she hobbled her way closer to the vessel.
"Um," Lila stared up at the cockpit.
Several feet too tall.
Serix climbed in easily enough, using his lanky, flexible limbs to clamber in. But Lila had no such luck. With a muted chuckle, he extended her a hand.
"It has two seats?"
"Custom model."
"Neat."
"You haven't seen anything yet, kid."
Lila's eyes lit up with a crackle of magenta, amazement filling her shallow breath as she entered the cockpit. It closed shut the instant she took a seat, surrounding the Earthling with a series of warm, flickering lights. Serix was glowing too, his armor responding to the systems of the ship.
The ship was accommodating enough for humans, with controls and switches fit for a creature with hands. Just a few things were missing.
"There a seat belt in here?" Lila smiled nervously.
"Micro grav-generators, but you can turn them off," Serix glanced over his shoulder, adjusting his seat to match Lila's perspective.
"What for?"
"Hah...let's get going."
Lila was expecting a system check of sorts, or the deafening hum of an engine. But that was a human assumption. The Consortium's finest needed no warmup and sprang to life with a quick skyward jolt.
"H-oh mah gash," Lila nearly jumped out of her seat. "There's G-dampeners, right?"
"What do you think?" Serix replied.
The ship slipped through the leaves of the foliage above the hangar, ascending higher and higher as the Aerie became a small blip from below.
"It's kind of appealing from here," Lila muttered to herself. "Can't believe this is my life now."
"Believe this," Serix punched forward on the throttle.
Lila became silent as a mouse, her head forced into the back of her seat as the ship screamed through the sky at impossible speeds. At first, she thought she'd be sick. But by the time the stars came into view, Lila was unusually relaxed.
"It...is fast," she smiled. "real fast."
A slight beep sounded on the ship's HUD, its cockpit providing both a visual feed of space alongside a series of informational prompts and alternate viewpoints.
"Debris from our bug friends," Serix explained. "Simple enough."
The pilot's opaque visor lit up with crimson light, his sharp claws squeezing on the control stick as the ship's weapon systems sprang to life. Instead of a volley, or even a trailing projectile of sorts, the vessel produced a flowing stream of energy that cut apart the debris like water through sand.
Riven indeed.
"You always opt for that kind of approach?" Lila squinted, trying to find her way through the flashing red light of the Riven's plasma stream.
Serix had clearly tinted the cockpit upon engaging the weapon systems, given how the distant stars seemed to fade away.
"I tend to shoot first, ask questions later," Serix joked. "They don't send in pilots like me for delicate work. Whether that be in the air, or on the land."
"You got land-legs too?" Lila's curiosity was growing, clutching onto the sides of her chair as Serix performed a few barrel rolls around the remaining debris. "What, like one of those EVA mech guys?"
"Sure, whatever that means. I mentioned jumping out for a reason. Had my fair share of excursions with the Infestare up close. Don't like to leave my baby behind, but sometimes we got to work together," the pilot pointed to the center console. "Your ship doesn't have an A.I., however, not till you get your license."
That familiar look of disapproval formed across Lila's freckled face again. Even with the absurdity of the situation taken into full account, she held firm to her beliefs. Earth was still her home.
"Listen," Lila fidgeted with the edges of her skirt.
She felt a bit absurd wearing a schoolgirl uniform in space.
"I'm not sure I'm who you think I am," she continued.
"I don't know you," Serix shrugged in response, leisurely flying his ship around the fleet. "And you don't know me. You're probably wondering why a guy like me is even in the Empire gig anyway."
Lila glared at the hulking ships on both sides of her view, recalling her experience in the Crimson Forest and on Earth. She knew what they were capable of in a real fight. And she understood why they were above the Aerie.
Not just for outsiders.
"Well," Serix explained slowly, making sure to peer back at Lila now and again. "You have to understand the big picture. The Consortium can be a real jerk when it's the only alien you know. I heard about your home. They found my people once upon a time as well. But through it all, they actually have a plan."
"A plan?" Lila shrugged. "Generic space bad guys have a plan? Something something peace and security?"
"Sounds like a fib in a galaxy of freedom and diversity. But here's the thing, kid. More often than not, the Infestare way of handling things is all you'll find out there. There's no galactic community outside the Consortium. They are the only faction in the known empire to form some kind of alliance. Otherwise, it's all genocide and isolation out there."
"So what am I supposed to do, just take what I can get? Maybe...we shouldn't be talking about this," Lila sighed.
"We're pilots. We jump into our problems, not delay them," Serix reminded her with a gentle voice. "I saw a vid of you jumping after that white-haired girl, all half-cocked and dense as rocks. You can handle this."
"Yeah cause I...love her," the Earthling averted her gaze towards the distant stars. "...fine..."
"You don't gotta take what you can get, make what you can of it. You pursue your career as a Psion, you can make a space for yourself. Do what you want. Set your own standard. Don't want to be a flayer? You can do that with the right leverage."
"I'm...we aren't the first in this position, are we. As humans."
"Indeed, you are not. There are a lot of ways this can end, Lila. Just remember that not all endings that involve the Consortium have to be ill-fated. Who knows, you might just put in a good word for humanity."
Lila sat on those words. She didn't like the way they sounded when she thought back to her mother and Earth. But she knew her family needed a way out of the Aerie, regardless of the sacrifice.
"So how do I fly again?" Lila perked up from her seat.
"Didn't Yrix teach you how to accelerate your learning through mind observation? A Psion can make a decade-long career into a crash course." Serix inquired with a bit of taunt in his voice. "No?"
"She taught me how to fight for my life, that's about it. Oh, and handle pain, I guess. Her last friend kind of mind-flayed me."
"Ah," the pilot chuckled. "Well then, we can learn together. I was never good with that Psionic crap."
"Speaking of which," Lila grinned smugly. "You two didn't have a thing, did you?"
"Oh," Serix sighed. "So you can observe."
"More of a guess, really, your names are so similar."
"That's because we came from similar training clans. She has a real name."
"And you totally found that out by dating her...hehe."
"That's all in the past now."
"Yeah, yeah, you're still a freak."
Lila could feel the hypocrisy slide down her tongue. She was in love with a machine mimicking a dead girl. Yet oddly enough, she took pride in that. It made her feel special.
"So what's her real name?" Lila prodded. "Something pretty, I hope."
"I tell you, she kills me," Serix replied.
"You're funny."
"No, she actually will kill a partner, let alone an ex."
"Oh. shit."