A/N- I know… three years...wow, I've been away for much too long, I'm almost afraid to post because I don't know if this story still holds anyone's interest, but it holds mine, so….
Three years… I hope to find you healthy and well wherever you are; I hope life is kind to you. It has been kind to me- in the last three years I was fortunate enough to meet my guy, get married and start a family, who would have even known.
I'll try not to let years pass before my next update.
Here we go, please don't kill me, and as always- enjoy.
Warning- Heavy on the plot and [whispering]- Heterosexual sex.
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Silver and cold
"…Outer space is where we get together
And this place we're meant to be
Stars are dancing and the time is fading
Dead forever,
You and me…"
T.A.T.U- Cosmos (Outer Space)
.
A time and a place
"Velocity stabilized, hands off bars, and five hours to go, people. Use it well and try to get some shut eye, wave leader out."
Zack finished and disconnected the public communication, he smiled as Kanou hunched over him and gazed at his control panel.
"Are the shock absorbers online?"
"Yes sir, they are."
"And the scanner's reading is clear?"
"It is, we'll get a ten minutes warning if there's any obstacle in our way."
"Good, you've checked the breaks performance at the airlock, right?"
"Yes I did, and they are fully functioning. I got this, ok? I know what to do, so why won't you chill, huh? Back off already? You're choking me, man!"
"I can help."
"Fuck you, Kanou! What did you promise?"
"But this is your first time and…"
"What did you promise?"
"I promised you'd be the wave leader." Kanou admitted pouting and removed himself from Zack's personal space.
"Damn right you did! Now shut up and let me do my thing."
"Fine, whatever." Kanou mumbled and leaned back into his huge kitbag.
"That's more like it, and get some rest, that's a wave leader's order." Zack smirked, basking in his small victory.
"Asshole…" Kanou mumbled but made himself comfortable, using his bag as a pillow and closed his eyes.
He was itching for a cigarette, itching bad, and knowing he won't be able to have one for the next two months only made that bitch worse. A distraction, he needed a distraction ... Ayase , beautiful, sweet, lovely Ayase, oh…all the things he wanted to do to him… fuck… bad idea, unless he wants to have an erection and come in his pants like a twelve years old.
But Ayase, he wanted him ever since he laid eyes on him even as a child, how sick was that? But then again, considering…When was it? Has it already been eight years?
.
Eight years ago…
He woke up.
As impossible as it was, and yet he woke up and was warm and breathing, a bit weak and dizzy but as unlikely as it was, still owning a heartbeat.
He remembered some of it, bits and pieces, the alien vessel, the battle, the victory, the damage, his ship slowly disintegrating into scrap, the evacuation, the blasts, the explosions, his brother.
Kanou turned to look at his bandaged arm, where the stab wound has already began healing, then he looked at his surrounding, and realized he in a sort of infirmary, on a hospital cot, a cast on his left leg, an iv in his right arm, a bandage on his other, and by the look of his dressed chest, it seemed like he had undergo an operation.
A medical robot came to life as it detected his movement. "Hello, sir, welcome back." It said in an artificial cheerful way. "Try not to move."
"Where am I?" Kanou demanded, ignoring his dizziness and getting up.
"You are on board the spaceship Eos, sir, please return to your bed."
"Take me to the commander of this ship!"
"Sir, please don't remove the sensors off your body."
"Fuck you, bended bolt!"
"Please mind the cast and the iv, sir."
"Take me to the commander, now!" Kanou roared.
"Follow me." The robot obliged, his hydraulic hiss sounded like sighing.
It seemed like a long journey through the ship's halls and corridors, while leaning on his iv pole, and trying not to put too much weight on his broken leg, fighting nausea and dizziness, if he was in his right mind he would have already recognize the ship's type.
The robot finally led him into a large luxurious hall, decorated with silver and gold engravings, large velvet, wine-colored drapes hung from the ceiling all the way down to the polished marble floor.
No one seemed to be in that royal chamber, but then again, as Kanou scanned his surrounding he noticed that there was actually a man there, standing in front of a wide window, where a hauntingly beautiful view of a blue planet, swirling slowly in space, was displayed.
The man was tall, almost as tall as him, impressively built, dressed in all white, and with a long, golden blonde hair that reached passed his midsection. As he detected the intrusion, he turned and gazed at Kanou with his bright blue eyes.
"I'm sorry master, but the man insisted." The robot said.
"Not at all." Said master answered in his deep voice, smiling. "You may return to your station."
Everything about that man screamed gold, and Kanou knew he should bow down, but he wouldn't manage without toppling over and making a fool of himself.
The robot rattled away and left Kanou alone with the gold, astounded and speechless.
"Welcome on board the Eos, silver. I have picked you up on my way here, and as soon as I finish my business on this planet, in two week's time, I'll drop you off at the nearest silver post. So, until then, you are my honorable guest, use this time to heal and recuperate, feel free to remain onboard or join me when we land, whatever suits you best."
Kanou gasped, wordless still.
The gold's amusement showed on his handsome face. "My name is Iason Mirai, but you may call me Iason."
Kanou almost gaped, this was unheard of, one would never call a gold by his name.
"Your name, silver?"
"Kanou Somuku, sir."
"Iason will do, you see, I might be gold, but I do not belong to the Union, not anymore, not for a long while now…so please, Kanou-san, all those formalities are unnecessary. Can I offer you a drink? I was just helping myself to some wine."
Kanou did not know what to do, it was not his place to share a drink with a gold, yet refusing was not an option either.
The gold walked towards the little table set by the window and returned with two glasses filled with the crimson liquor, handing one to Kanou and raising the other.
"To you, Kanou Somuku, one lucky bastard."
Kanou had to smile now, so he raised his toast and tasted that delicious wine.
"You'd be pleased to know that all the life pods you evacuated from your ship had reached the jump point safely. My AI analyzed the comms and it seems like you managed to save 60% of the crew. We detected only three life signs, but only you survived upon our arrival. Were you the commander of that vessel?"
"The second in command, sir, my brother was the captain." Kanou said, glancing at his bandaged arm unknowingly.
The gold seemed to read into his sorrow. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thank you."
Iason drank the wine quietly, and Kanou took to the exceptional view outside.
"Ain't that a sight?" The gold followed Kanou's gaze. "Consider yourself lucky, all models show that in millennia or so this sun would swell up into a red giant and incinerate it."
"Where are we?"
"What do they teach you at the Union, Kanou-san? Have you never saw a picture of it in your school books? This is Earth, the cradle of the humankind."
The impact of that statement was the last straw, Kanou felt his head pounding, his legs became like water and the edge of his sight had darkened. The glass left his hand and shuttered into pieces on the floor.
A white leather couch detected his motion and propelled itself further to catch him, preventing him from falling flat. From a hidden nook of the room, came two tiny drones to gather the shattered glass and remove the spilled liquid, before returning to their hole.
Iason frowned upon the commotion and placed his own glass back on the small table. "My apologies; offering you alcohol may not have been such a great idea. Food however…" he said and pressed a button on his white sleeve. "Please send in two lunch trays." He commanded and then turned to look at Kanou again "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I am fine." Kanou settled into the comfortable furniture. "So this is the one and only Earth?"
"Yes indeed." Iason smiled and gazed out the window again. "A little bit older and hotter, with less dry land and more pollution, deserted and forgotten although the poles are still inhabitable. Can you imagine that at its peak it supported 20 billion people?"
"A bit crowded, I must say."
"20 billion people." Iason repeated with awe. "The filthy rich and the hopelessly poor, the brilliant and the ignorant, the anonymous and the celebrated, all cramped up together on this medium sized rock, unbelievable, yes? If someone had farted the rest of them would smell."
Kanou smirked at the use of the coarse vocabulary, never had he imagined a gold using such words, and still, he liked it about Iason, it was sort of refreshing.
A young man entered the room, pushing a cart of food, his demeanor and build suggested a simple copper origin. He bowed slightly towards Iason and then turned to the corner of the hall where a dining area was set, to prepare it for lunch.
"Thank you, Daryl." Iason smiled as the boy finished and left the room again. "Come on, Kanou, you must taste this, my food generator is one of a kind, nothing like what you have on standard silver vessels."
The gold gestured with his hand towards the dining area, and the delicious scent of the food gave its own invitation, so Kanou eventually overcame his deliberations and took his place at the table.
What a wonderful dish was set before him, with food he had seen and tasted only a few times in his life, on special occasions only, a premium piece of juicy steak, small and crispy roasted potatoes with a buttery sauce poured upon them, a bundle of blanched asparagus shoots with a slice of lemon on top and a fresh side salad.
"Enjoy." Iason invited him with a smile.
There was no point at ogling and drooling, and he was indeed very hungry, so Kanou picked up his cutlery and began to eat.
At first they ate in silence, and Kanou was relieved to know that his table manners were not half as bad, although Iason handled himself with much more grace.
"Tell me about yourself." Iason said after a while. "I wish to know my honored guest a little bit better."
This was odd, a gold taking interest in a silver? But a lot of things seemed strange about Iason, so Kanou pushed his confusion to the back of his mind and obliged.
"Alright." he cleared his throat. "My name is Kanou Somuku, I am twenty six standard years old. I am a combat pilot; specialized at one on one, but I also flew a few deep space missions. Up to date I took down about seventy alien crafts and three rebels' ones."
"Impressive, for someone so young." Iason hummed. "Well, you are compared to me." He added as Kanou frowned "I am about three hundred years old. How many brothers do you have?"
"I was told that we were a batch of fifty, but I only served with one, and met only a few others over the years. I don't know how many are still alive."
"A batch of fifty, you say? Must be a successful design. As for myself I had only two brothers, but as you know- gold are not judged by numbers, we are more of… custom made."
"Your brothers are dead?"
"As I was told, I have never met them. Please tell me about your hobbies, if you don't mind. What do you do when you're not fighting off aliens or defending the Union?"
Kanou swallowed a half chewed morsel, and moved with unease; never did he imagine talking to a gold about such trivialities.
"Well, I enjoy practicing martial arts, Taijutsu is my favorite."
"Really? Kendo is mine." Iason responded with delight. "If you were not injured I would have offered a spar."
"Some other time?" Kanou could not believe he was actually looking forward to it, although the chances were that they will never meet again.
"I also enjoy studding history." Iason added. "Do you have any hobbies that don't involve violence?"
Kanou would have said sex, but it was probably inappropriate, so he shook his head instead and picked up a potato with his fork instead.
"One can learn so much from history." Iason continued "Especially how it insists on repeating itself." His voice drifted away into contemplative thoughts.
He let Kanou eat in peace after that, his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"The food was wonderful." Kanou said when finished, he almost cleared everything off his plate before pushing it away. "Thank you for the meal."
"You're welcomed, but you should thank Daryl actually, he is the one to operate the food generator like an artist." Iason did not finish his own portion, but he seemed to be done eating as well.
Something had bothered the gold, he got up and started pacing back and forth until he reached the window, then he pressed on his sleeve bottom again. "No sign of them yet?" he asked.
A female voice answered "No sir, I'll inform you as soon I pick them up on my scanner."
"Thank you, Mimea, please send Daryl in to clean up."
"Will do." The female pilot answered.
"How many crew members do you have?" Kanou asked, joining Iason at the window again.
"Just us three, five robots, ten drones and an AI."
"I never flew with less than a hundred." Kanou noted, but he never flew in a none-combat vessel either. "Don't you get lonely?"
"We manage." Iason said and turned to him with a mischievous smile. "But whenever we get bored we pick up half dead silvers from destroyed battleships to spice things up."
Daryl came back in with an empty cart and started clearing up the table, and Mimea got on line again.
"Sir, they are approaching and will be here in three standard hours."
"All of them?"
"Yes sir, all are accounted for."
Iason's handsome face lit up with joy and relief. "Wonderful news, thank you very much." He nearly clapped his hands with excitement, and then he turned to the silver. "I need your answer, Kanou-san; will you be joining the landing or stay on-board?"
"Who in his right mind would give up an opportunity to walk on the Earth's soil?" Kanou answered back with a question.
"We should get ready, then."
oOOo
They gave him some clothes that belonged to Iason, and although a bit small, they were better than the pale-green medical scrubs, other equipment they provided him was basic hygiene utilities and his medication, he needed nothing else and they were very kind.
The descending of the shuttle took about half an hour, and the female pilot, Mimea, did quite a decent job landing them smoothly. During the flight, Kanou couldn't help himself so he checked her out. A female pilot was such a rarity, and she seemed to be a copper just like Daryl, a female and a civilian, where did she learn to fly?
She was a very sexy pilot too, with her blue-green eyes and her short lavender hair, her pale skin and her busty, curvy body.
She noticed his glaring at the flight, and as they unbuckled she gave him a playful smile. "First time on Earth, soldier?"
"Yes." He said, staring at her and licking his lips. "What of it?"
She giggled and shrugged "Enjoy your stay."
The flirting did not go unnoticed on Iason's part either, he pulled the woman towards him and whispered something in her ear, she giggled again and then both she and the gold looked at Kanou.
"We should get going." Iason said and freed his pilot from his hold.
As the shuttle door opened, Kanou closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling Earth's air into his lunges for the first time, and it was warm, humid and a bit salty.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in front of a sea of dark green grass, endless and ever moving with the soft warm breeze. The skies were black and decorated only with the glittering silver sleeves of the Milky Way and Andromeda, but the rims were dyed with brilliant shades of sunset- pink and purple and gold, but the way those colors danced about made Kanou gasp, realizing he was actually staring at the polar light.
"Where are we?" he asked, and found that only Daryl was close enough to answer since Iason and Mimea did not linger like he did and opened a gap between them.
"Greenland." the boy answer "Once it was a land of ice but now it suits its name better."
"Greenland…" Kanou mumbled after him.
"Are you coming, sir?" the boy asked, annoyed a bit; he could not have known that Kanou found it hard to take his first step on the Earth.
"Yes, sure." Kanou held his breath, adjusted his crutch, and left the shuttle. He took his first step slowly, letting his body respond to the pull of Earth's gravity, few strides after, he had gained confidant and hurried to catch up with the rest.
They were walking in the field of green for a few more minutes, the stars and the polar light were their only illumination, yet it was strong enough, in a sort of an eerie and bewitching way.
Kanou could not detect signs of civilization, not until they have reached a compound of few houses, which seemed intact and well maintained but also uninhabited. There were shadows hovering near the compound, and as they came near, those shadows took the form in a group of men and women, and there were a few children too.
At that point Iason turned to look at Kanou. "This is a family reunion." He explained "We try to do this once a year. I'll introduce you, but please understand- some of our talks will be personal and you won't be allowed in partaking them."
Kanou said nothing; he was too baffled to do so, since when did a gold have a family? And those people, they did not even look gold. Most of them looked copper, and some even seemed to be iron.
Yet there was one boy who looked like gold, he had recognized Iason approaching and ran into his arms. "Daddy!" the boy screamed with delight but once he noticed the others he stopped himself and blushed.
"Who is here? My sweet little boy! Look at how you've grown! " Iason picked the boy up as if he was weightless, laughing and kissing his rosy cheek. The boy buried his face in the gold's torso so he would not peek at the others.
"Did you miss me?" Iason asked, petting the boy's hair gently.
The boy nodded, face still buried in his father's broad shoulder.
"Have you been good? Been nice to your aunt and uncle? Studied hard?"
Another silent nod to each question and Iason chuckled.
"Well, I am very proud of you, Ayase-kun, and very happy to see you, too. Now, now, I am going to put you down, and you are going to greet my friends politely, yes?"
The boy nodded again, and Iason put him down.
"Hello Mimea and Daryl." The boy looked up while blushing and greeted his father's crew.
Kanou could not remember ever laying his eyes upon such a beautiful child, his supple pale skin, his soft blonde hair, his huge blue eyes. It was like encountering an angel, and in a disturbing, dark way, unexplained desire seemed to ignite in his loins, he frowned upon it and fought to chase it away.
"Now this is my new friend Kanou."
"Hello, my name is Yukiya Ayase, nice to meet you." The child whispered.
Iason took pity on him. "Alright, good boy, now go back to your aunty, I'll be joining you really soon, I promise"
"Ok." The boy agreed and turned to run back to the group of which he came from.
Iason watched him fondly, and his tenderness lingered as he turned back to Kanou. "I wish to join my family now." He said apologetically "I hope it is alright with you if I introduce you later on. In the mean while, you can find your room at the compound. Mimea, dear, please take care of him and see that he settles in."
"Will do." The woman answered.
Iason bowed and walked away towards the crowd that awaited him, Daryl at his side.
When they were left alone, a predatory smile rose upon Mimea's lush lips.
"So… soldier…" She approached him with a sensual sway and latched herself onto his body. "You've heard the Capitan …" she hung one hand on his nape and her other traveled down between his legs to stroke his hardening member through the fabric of his pants."Would you let me take care of you?"
Kanou smiled back at her. "Yes, please?"
She giggled, pressing her soft breasts to his torso, and then she let him go and turned, walking away. "Follow me."
oOOo
Family reunion, my ass; Kanou thought as he was nursing his beer bottle and viewing the ongoing party that celebrated the conclusion of that event. The people here had no blood ties to one another, they didn't even look like they had shared the same planet, and those ridicules code names… he even caught two of them in a conversation where they had mistaken one code name for another.
After two weeks in the play, he had figured out what they were- a crime syndicate, an organized group of smugglers, traffickers and drug dealers, choosing Earth as a hideout for their annual gathering, where they discussed politics, future endeavors and the splitting of the loot.
He had already decided not to report them to the Union, syndicates like this were a dime a dozen, and with his luck, they will appoint him to take them down, how tedious, he was more interested in fighting aliens, thank you very much.
And what's with a gold having a kid? Kanou was not naïve enough to buy that lie; even a silver like himself had known that the Gold and the Silver were produced sterile, so their precious, carefully engineered genes would not leak into the general population. Of course there were the labs, but they were under excessive supervision, what were the odds of a silver or a gold using one undetected? Maybe there were labs on the off worlds? Even so… why would a gold crave a child? They were practically immortals.
Perhaps this wasn't Iason's child. What if that boy was his pet? His sex slave? This was not unheard of, a gold, a head of a crime syndicate, a man that answer to none, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted, even do a child.
Iason did not show up for the party, was it because a three hundred year old found no interest in it? Or was he too busy fucking his boy toy? Whatever, this was none of his business; he decided to take this experience as an unexpected vacation, he had good food, chilled alcohol and a fine pussy, what more could he ask for?
"Come dance with me!" Mimea showed up before him, glittering with sweat and excitement. She had been dancing for the past two hours and now demanded his participation. "Come on, we must celebrate the removal of your cast!"
"By breaking my leg again?" he resisted her efforts of pulling him up off the couch, and at the end, she fell on top of him, giggling.
"You're no fun." She pouted.
"I hate dancing and this horrible music…"
"Electro-house, so very, very, very retro."
"The fuck I care."
She straightened up and ogled him. "What did you say? Something about a fuck?"
"Interested?' he smirked at the girl, she was insatiable, but so was he.
"This party sucks, let's get out of here." She concluded, picking up herself and pulling him up again, this time he did not resist.
In a matter of minutes, they were back in her room, to think of it, he never spent much time in his designated room in his entire stay.
As soon as they stepped in and closed the door, she got down on her knees and unzipped him. His hard member practically bounced out of its confinement.
"No underwear?" she hummed her adoration and took him into her mouth.
"Why bother?" he asked, placing his hand on her hair, stroking it lightly, as she sucked him.
That wicked woman, the things she could do with her tongue, and her fingers, and her… teeth? He managed not to thrust into her mouth, and let her dictate the pace, but just barely so. He leaned against the wall, moaning with pleasure, feeling her lips sucking him into her hot, wet mouth, deep down her throat.
And then, as he almost came, she stopped.
"What? Why?" he protested.
"Got bored…" she got up and took him by the hand "Bed now."
He followed, and they both discarded their clothes on the way, and she beat him to it, getting up on the soft mattress and waiting there for him with open legs. The sight of her open, pink cunt, nearly made him trip over his tossed shoes, and she giggled.
"Eyes on target, soldier."
He got on top the bed, and on top of her, smirking and eager.
"Give it to me." Mimea whispered, a taunt glittered in her eyes.
"Be careful what you wish for." He answered and started thrusting into her, hissing as her fingernails dug into his ass.
She was a grade A fuck, and she was one of the few that could keep up with him. He came three times in her pussy, once between her breasts and once up her ass. And as a testimony to his skills and efforts, she came a more than a few times as well, moaning so loudly he thought that by now everyone on the planet knew that they were doing each other, Iason included.
When they finished for the last time, she softly kissed him on his cheek.
"Thank you for a lovely time." She whispered in his ear. "I'd miss it." She pouted, throwing a sad glance over his spent cock.
"Really? It?" he chuckled "Is that all you got to say?"
She shrugged "I'm a romantic soul. Now let's hit the shower, I stink."
oOOo
It was the dawn of his last day on Earth. Kanou left Mimea's bedside to take a walk in the open air. As he walked, he gazed at the brightening sky, that held a perfect shade of blue, not to be seen on any other planet, but it was still dark enough not to chase away most of the stars. The days here lasted only few standard hours, because now was winter at the North Pole, or so did Mimea told him, such a hot winter made him wonder what summer was all about.
He lit himself a cigarette, and his hands shook as he handled the lighter, that shit again? It happened a few times in the last couple of days along with sweating and the acceleration of his heart rate as if it was trying to burst his chest.
"It's the withdrawal;" Came a deep voice from somewhere, a bench in front of a house nearby. "You've been off for two weeks now and it's beginning to show."
Kanou frowned, he thought he had managed to keep that weakness well hidden, Mimea surly haven't notice and he had spent the majority of his time in her bed. Then again, Iason was gold and not many things went under their perfectly shaped noses.
"You know that they issue you drugs, yes?"
"I know." Kanou approached the bench and set by the gold. "Before any major battle, or deep space flight they give us pilots Cold."
The blonde smirked. "They give you all sorts of drugs all the time. That's the only way to keep peace in a battleship crowded with silvers that are light years away from the nearest female."
Well, it made sense but Kanou didn't want to know more about it, however there was a question that has been bugging him for years, and he never though one day he'd find a gold willing to answer it.
"If we are sterile as they say, why didn't they remove our sexual desire? Would have simplified things."
The beautiful gold tried to hide his appreciation, not many silvers were intelligent enough to even notice. "I'd answer for a price." He declared.
"What price?" Kanou frowned at him.
"A cigarette, I'm all out."
"Oh…" Kanou handed him the pack and lighter.
"What did you think I'd ask for?' Iason raised a brow while lighting up his smoke. "As for your question- they have tried, but soon they found out that the same hormone system that is responsible for a sex drive was also responsible for all sort of useful attributes such as creative thinking, and that's not something you'd want to lose."
Kanou took a minute to let it sink in, and again, it made sense.
"I'd answer your next question for free." Iason continued "Ayase is not my sex slave."
Kanou nearly choked on his cigarette.
"You'd be surprised to know how many have speculated the same thing, and I saw that question on your face."
"Where?"
"The bloated vein between your brows."
"I was never going to ask that question."
"But you were wondering."
"Why would a gold like you give a shit about what an asshole of a stranger was wondering?"
"My love for Ayase is pure, and to know that others taint it in their mind is hurtful, gold have feelings too, you know." Iason's voice sounded sad and honest.
"I've only met one or two golds before." Kanou recalled "Pretentious, irritating buggers."
Iason moved uncomfortably on his seat but said nothing.
"Is Ayase gold?" Kanou asked, drawn again to that beautiful kid against his will.
"I don't know what Ayase is" Iason admitted, much to Kanou's dismay "his DNA profile was very confusing. Some of the experts I consulted through the years have even suggested he was some sort of an alien hybrid."
"Huh?"
"We found ten of them in a Union carrier, boys and girls, no more than two years old, and he was the only one still out of the cryogenic cell when we boarded the ship. I took him in my arms back to Eos, but another Union ship jumped in before we could upload the rest. We were unable to confront that heavy battleship, so we were force to leave the others behind."
"A battleship?" seems like there was some expensive loot on that carrier.
"The records suggested that they were heading to a gold class planet, were those children would be placed in a Gold only brothel."
So that boy was destined to become a sex slave after all.
"Why did you keep him? Could have made a lot of profit, his DNA alone could have…"
"Is that what you think I am? A black-market trafficker?" Iason interrupted with raised voice, he seemed infuriated and offended.
"Are you not?"
"No! Not for a long time now, anyway. I was only trying to do some good"
Kanou had to laugh at that statement. "Why did you desert the Union, then? As a gold, you were in the perfect position to do some good."
"You sure are an inquisitive one, Kanou-san." Iason finished his smoke and squished the butt under his boot.
Iason's remark made Kanou remember his place and scold himself for discarding it. "I'm sorry, I should get going…"
Iason's hand on his thigh prevented him from getting off the bench, though.
"Do you know how the Gold-Silver-Copper system came to be?" the gold asked, letting go of Kanou only after he return to his seat.
Kanou shrugged. "They teach the silvers warfare, sir, not ancient history."
"Please indulge an old man." Iason said as Kanou stretched on the bench. "Mimea and Daryl never take interest in my stories."
"I have a short attention span." Kanou lighted a new cigarette with the butt of the other before tossing it into a patch of greenery by their seat.
"I thought you were a curious one, and what I am about to tell you isn't common knowledge, not even among the gold."
"Is that so?"
Iason smiled as he detected a spark of interest in Kanou's flat voice.
"Remember what I've told you about Earth sustaining 20 billion people? Sustaining might not describe it accurately; it wasn't pretty- half the world was struggling with the fall of the capitalist economy and the democratic system, the other half battled with religion fanatics. Add global warming to the mix and get the picture, the future of humanity seemed bleak. That's why when they found the first jump point at the outskirts of the solar system; it was like a blessing from the gods."
"Did aliens create the jump point network?"
"We believe that some of the points are natural space-time folds, but some seems artificial, so yes. We know now that every jump point is nexus, but back then they could use it to reach the default exit alone, and that historical JP led them to an Earth type planet, that was not only habitable but also contained relics of a dead advanced civilization."
"That's a hole in one."
"Indeed. Imagine the dilemma now- what to do with this astounding discovery? What was the best way to use this new planet? Should they go on public? Should they start an immigration operation?"
"Yeah, naturally. No?"
"The governments that made the discovery looked upon the Earth to find drug addicts, shallow celebrities, greedy tycoons, terrorist, genetically enhanced monsters and all sort of scum and asked themselves, do we really want that Zoo? Do we need another useless Earth?"
"Not really, I guess."
"The answer was no. They decided to use this opportunity to learn from past mistakes. They came out to the press and informed the public about everything, save the fact that the planet was hospitable, and gathered a group of the brightest scientists, artists, philosophers, athletics, and elite soldiers to send them to the new planet as a research team. Once past the jump point, they declared losing contact with the ship, and announced its crew dead. The jump point was rendered unsafe and the whole thing was eventually forgotten."
"Clever."
"I believe so too. In the mean time, the settlers arrived safely and called their new home "Elpis", which means hope, and that was the first gold class planet ever to be founded. They took inspiration from Plato as they established their ideal state, and up until today; it is the home world of the Philosopher king and his Council of Reason."
"The higher-ups, I've heard about them. Have you ever met the king?"
Iason shook his head. "I've never been high level enough, though I once shook hands with a member of the council."
"Impressive." Kanou snorted.
"Mock me if you must, but it was a privilege, or so I thought at the time." Iason's handsome face winched with sudden pain. "They teach us the glory of the Gold regime and its wise king, but… I've seen enough to question it. The more I study, the more I discover about the blooded path of this 'perfect system'. Letting the majority of Earth's population perish in a dreadful way was only the start of it… and as a gold, I myself had witnessed atrocities done for the sake of its defense… Would this answers your question? As to why I left the Union?"
"I'm sorry for even asking, it wasn't my place."
"Yes it was, we are not Gold and Silver, Kanou-san, we are human beings, or at least what that has become of them."
Kanou said nothing and focused on finishing his second cigarette.
"Excuse me, I'd like to bid farewell to Ayase before his shuttle leaves." Iason said with sorrow, and got up, leaving Kanou to his thoughts.
oOOo
On their way back to civilization, Iason withdrew from Kanou's presence, leaving him in the company of Mimea and Daryl alone, but even Mimea has gotten colder and official with him, as if she regarded the time they had spent on Earth as a vacation's fling as well, and Daryl was never much of a company.
Three standard days later, Mimea announced on the comms that they have reached the nearest Silver outpost, and since they were unwilling to get any closer Iason offered one of their drones for the flight.
As Kanou prepared himself for the ride, the gold came into the launching platform, his face solemn and severe. "Are you ready to take off?" he asked, as he observed Kanou making the final preparations.
"Yes sir, I'm five by five."
"Are you sure you can fly this thing?"
"I can fly anything." Kanou cockily smirked. "This drone is military, Silver grade."
"We've confiscated it a while ago, now it will return to its rightful owners."
Kanou was a bit embarrassed by how sad Iason looked; he expected an emotional goodbye from Mimea and was slightly disappointed, but the gold? He turned to Iason, unsure if he should reach out his hand or bow down.
"Thank you for saving my life, I guess." he mumbled instead.
Iason smiled with a tweak of pain. "Don't thank me yet."
"Sorry, I don't follow…?"
"I've been tormented with this the whole flight here, you see, leaving you in your ignorance would be both beneficial to me and safer for you, but it would also go against my values and my belief that everyone deserve equal access to the truth. If I choose to deceive you, then I'm no better than them."
"Sir?" was all Kanou could say.
Iason bit his lips and drew in a long breath. "I am what they call the leader of the rebels."
"What?" Kanou gasped in astonishment.
"The defender of peace and protector of the off worlds."
"I know who it is!" Kanou almost shouted.
He also knew other names for him- the enemy of the union, the degenerate traitor, the aliens' lover. He knew exactly who he was, but never in his wildest dreams did he hope to meet him face to face.
He should try and kill him; he should try it right now!
"What you saw was the annual meeting of the rebel leaders; know that since I had compromised it, we will never use Earth again for a meeting place."
He should try and kill him now, with his bare hands if necessary, even if the ship's AI guns him down while trying. Why is he not moving?
"You took an enemy to your meeting place? What were you thinking? Risking the exposure of your top secrets to a silver?" Kanou rebuked him instead.
"Well… Mimea did most of the exposure." Iason answered and continued "Note that this drone was stripped out of weapons, and that we use nonstandard jump frequencies, so you won't be able to point us out to the Union."
"Are you out of your fucking mind? All this troubles and for what? For one shitty standard silver? You should have let me die, you fucking moron! You should kill me now, because there's no way in hell I'm not going to report all I know to my superiors!"
Iason stayed calm until Kanou finished his outburst and then he answered "If I kill you, I am no better than the Union. Here…"
Iason held out a little object, which Kanou recognized as a data storage device despite his shock.
"What the fuck?"
"You may report this as well, or better yet watch it and learn a thing or two about your precious Union."
"Why the fuck would I take it?" Kanou looked at the little device as if it was poisoned.
"You struck me as a curious one, Kanou, if you seek the truth then watch it, but know that if the Union find out about it you are as good as dead. If you wish to remain loyal to the Union then I suggest you dispose of it without watching."
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"I told you, we all deserve the truth."
"What's on it?"
"A little piece of history a silver like you might find interesting, it is confirmed and backed up with other evidences in my possessions, it is not a fake."
"What are you hoping to achieve?" Kanou asked angered but taking the little data device just the same.
Iason smiled again. "A next meeting, perhaps."
Why couldn't he kill him? Maybe because the man had just saved his life. Well, they were even now, but if they ever meet again, Kanou promised to remember his duty.
"This is so fucked up."
"I know, I'm sorry, I wish things were different as well, but I've made up my mind and it is time for you to make up yours."
Kanou placed the small device in his pocket and put his helmet on.
Iason watched him enter the drone and starting the engine.
"Ready to take off." He said on the comms.
"You are clear for takeoff, soldier, till we meet again." Mimea said, and it was the warmest thing she had said to him in the past three days.
"Moving to the airlock gate."
Iason stepped aside, watching the drone depart.
"Did we make the right call?" asked Mimea on the comms as they watched the drone enter space and flying away.
"Time will tell." Iason answered.
oOOo
If he had made the right call he wouldn't have been on his fucking way downstairs right now.
oOOo
A/N- Guess who's fandom I bumped into