"This is outrageous!" Nesh yelled on her behalf. At least, that's the feeling Jupiter got out of the shout. She didn't actually speak elephant, but Nesh's ears were pinned forward like an angry cat's, he was waving his blaster about, and his expression, bearing human eyes, positively screamed righteous fury, so... yeah. 'Outrageous' seemed like a decent translation.

Jupiter thought the whole thing was a bit dramatic. It was just a bracelet.

She turned the bit of jewelry round and round on her wrist. It was thin, brittle looking, but definitely made out of solid metal. With the black coloring Jupiter couldn't figure out where the clasp was and it was too small to slip off her hand. Still, she gave it another, experimental tug.

"Stop touching it," T'sing snapped, but it was Caine's hands that gently pulled hers away. He squeezed reassuringly. Which was weird, because Jupiter still wasn't sure what the problem was.

She was the only one still sitting down, in the captain's chair that T'sing had guided her into moments before. Everyone else flanked Jupiter in a protective semi-circle: Caine on her right and Stinger on her left, T'sing and Nesh beside them, Kiza tacked onto the end and scowling fiercely. All of them radiated a tension that set Jupiter's teeth on edge.

Then of course there were the others. The three directly across from Jupiter, completing the circle. The Entitled.

That had come as a bit of a shock, admittedly. She'd always assumed that the name had simply come from the fact that...well...the galaxy's higher ups were entitled. To resources, Regene-X, cruelty - anything they damn well pleased. Jupiter had never even considered the possibility that someone took the name from a species.

Jupiter subtly crooked her finger until Stinger bent, leaning in close to hear her. She almost pressed her lips to his ear and whispered,

"They look like Nagi."

There was a pause. "I don't know what that means, Your Majesty," he whispered back.

"World of Warcraft, Dad," Kiza said, her keen ears picking up on their conversation. She cast the Entitled an appraising look, far bolder than any of the others, and her mouth twisted into a disgusted scowl. "And you're right, Majesty. Just as ugly."

Harsh. Jupiter wouldn't call them ugly. Just... intimidating. Thus far she'd only seen species modified with human DNA - splices and the like. This was the first race she'd encountered that was well and truly alien.

Large, snake-like bodies colored an almost translucent blue. Green scales covering patches on their sides and down along their tails. They balanced on those tales, upright, but slithered halfway on their chests whenever they needed to move. Up their back and surrounding their faces were manes of wicked spikes, so sharp that Jupiter was sure they must be used as weapons somehow. Their eyes were all too intelligent.

They hadn't boarded the ship. Not up the ramp and not through a transporter beam either. One moment Jupiter and the others were just hanging in the cockpit, the next there were three Entitled standing before them, wreaking havoc all around. Apparently they were a pretty big deal.

"It's where the title comes from," T'sing had whispered, shaking slightly as her eyes stayed locked on their guests. "The oldest race. Some say the first race. Certainly the most intelligent. They have technology our descendants will only dream about." Her gaze had skittered across the hull, like she'd miraculously see how they'd managed to board the Aegis while they were just hitting light speed. "Only a few have ever met them in person and those stories are apocryphal at best. Why they're here..."

She'd trailed off, all of them falling into an ecstasy of humbleness that reminded Jupiter too much of Balem - servants scurrying and begging to please him. This had continued as T'sing cleared the cockpit of everyone but their group, as the Entitled spoke to them in a language the computers couldn't translate, as they approached Jupiter, singling her out.

She hadn't been afraid, exactly. More curious. Jupiter had executed a little bow - a nice, safe gesture when you didn't know the customs - and waited patiently as the Entitled apprised her. Jupiter hadn't flinched before their fearsome personas, not even when the one in the middle plucked up her hand and snapped a black bracelet around her wrist.

Which was about when everything went straight to hell.

"What did you put on her?" Caine growled now, not for the first time. Wasn't that Psych 101? People (and splices) fear what they don't understand? Amazing how quickly they'd gone from reverent to hostile.

"Maybe it's a gift?" Jupiter said. Not that she had any idea why the likes of them would want to give her a present. "Maybe—"

"Yes."

The voice made her jump: cold and clear and coming from directly beside her—on both sides. Jupiter whirled to the right randomly and found Caine turning towards her, his own expression equally shocked. Not him then. Not Stinger. On instinct Jupiter turned back to face the Entitled and found the middle one nodding his head.

"You...?" she stared.

"Our apologies. It took us a moment to identify your language. There are so many."

Jupiter nodded, even as she felt the skin along her back starting to crawl. The sound was definitely coming from either side of her, like there were Entitled whispering in both her ears, but obviously that wasn't the case and when Jupiter looked again, none of their mouths had moved. She felt as if all three were speaking to her simultaneously... though of course, none of them had.

"Is this telepathy?" she squeaked. Jupiter cleared her throat.

The two Entitled on the end titled their heads as one. The Entitled in the middle seemed to... smirk.

"It is communication," they said. Thought. Echoed inside Jupiter's mind. "It is not important. You are right, Little One. It is a gift."

"Little One?" Caine growled, shaking his head like a dog trying to get water out of his ears. He scratched furiously.

"Everyone is little compared to them," T'sing pointed out.

"Everyone is Young," the Entitled corrected and their group stilled, eyes wide, too aware that the voices in their heads had doubled in volume. The head Entitled slithered forward, heading straight for Jupiter.

"You can't—" Stinger said weakly, but within a second he too had backed away. The Entitled inched even closer.

"We are Old, Little One. Ancient. We were here long before your first microorganism and we will be here long after you've turned to dust."

"Contratz." Jupiter gulped.

"Your species took our Name for their own. We do not care. Their theft is inconsequential. They are Tiny. Their actions are Tiny... but there are many of them and with Small actions comes Big change."

Jupiter knew exactly what they were saying. Her mind immediately filled with the image of an ant mound, thousands of them swarming, a few tugging on the carcass of a wasp, then more, even more, until they were able to move it, the corpse flying across the sand in a parody of life. She didn't know if the image had come from her own thoughts or the Entitled, but whoever's it was, it made Jupiter shake.

There was something to be said for banding together. Obviously. Jupiter knew that from personal experience. But there was a sense about the image that made her think of subjugation, not cooperation. The ants were an invasive swarm, not a union. They were Entitled. Not the Entitled that stood before her now, but the ones that had caused such torment throughout the universe. They were pests.

The Entitled nodded, wicked spikes bending towards Jupiter. For the first time she thought she saw something resembling approval pass its features... though that may have been a trick of the light. Or simple arrogance: a human girl projecting empathy.

"We do not approve of their methods," the Entitled said. "Their values. Their means. But they are Small and Young, and we are Large and Old, so we let them be. We do not help, but we do not hinder. You, Little One, are the first we've approached."

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Back up a second." Jupiter tried to clear the voices from her head and when she did the others seem to break from their spell too. They closed in, no longer hostile, but simply eager to keep close. Jupiter felt Caine slip his hand into hers, though she didn't dare look his way.

"Me?" she questioned. "Why me? And why... now?"

Why not when I first became Entitled? Why not when I was in danger? Why nothelp?

If any of them heard the accusation in her voice, they chose to ignore it.

"You are Young," the leader repeated. "Malleable. Born on a Kinder planet. The others are Entitled in name only. You may be Entitled in spirit. The first - since us."

"Oh."

Jupiter hadn't said it. It was Stinger, sharing a knowing, fearful look with Caine, running a hand anxiously through his hair, only looking again at Jupiter when he absolutely had to. He gave a somewhat sheepish shrug. "For all the scary spikes, the Entitled of myth are known for promoting peace. Or," he gestured, "Not myth, as it turns out. And no, the irony of all this hasn't escaped me."

"So we trained weapons on the one peace-loving species? Well done."

"In our defense," Kiza said, hefting her weapon, "they are huge, scary looking, and they did slap something on your wrist which, by the way,we still don't know what it is."

Jupiter nodded. "Point. Response?"

"It's Opportunity," The Entitled said, ignoring Jupiter's attempts at humor. "A Test."

"Your Majesty…"

It was Caine, releasing the words low and fearfully. Jupiter wished she could have looked to him, but the Entitled was looming over her now, in a rather menacing manner, and the Aegis suddenly felt far too small. Cramped and inescapable. Jupiter was frozen, stiff, she knew she couldn't turn her head, even if she wanted to… and something about the Entitles' gaze—deep and oh so ancient—ensured the Jupiter didn'twant to. Not at all.

Her friends, no more than a foot from her on either side, but they might as well have been miles away. Jupiter swallowed hard around whatever had lodged itself in her throat.

"Not really a fan of tests," she said, voice wobbling.

"Your Majesty!"

Caine's voice had become a shout and Jupiter realized why when the Entitled's face filled her vision, blocking out everyone else. She understood that it was touching her a split second before Jupiter felt the bracelet pulling at her wrist—one long talon, tugging insistently. The Entitled leaned parallel to Jupiter's head, fangs and oddly minty breath caressing her cheek. Contrasting the painful tug at her left wrist something warm clamping down on her right, the direct opposite of the Entitled and its bracelet and whatever the hell was happening to her. Jupiter clutched at that warmth desperately.

"It's not a test you can fail, Little One," it said and Jupiter felt a violent pull backward.

She dropped. She drowned. She toppled completely, opening her mouth to scream even though she knew nothing could possible come out.

Jupiter fell away from them all.