12/31/19

Hey ya'll! It's the end of the decade as we know it and I feel fine!

What better way to close out 2019 and the 2010s than with a fanfic update? :D

Believe it or note chapter 9 is still a wip. No we didn't catch up, I've written farther ahead. The thing is the flashback chapters were not a part of the original plan so I've been writing and inserting them in the past along with writing ahead. The next chapter is a MONSTER. It's long. So there is that. We'll be kicking off 2020 with a very long read, hope ya'll are interested in that.

Also hey, Edwin Benton. Remember him? He ain't the last familiar face returning to this story from the other XenoX fics I wrote. I've got 2 female OCs and 1 male OC coming in next chapter also from my old XenoX fics. You'll know who they are.

A big thank you to everyone who reads all my stories and all the support I've gotten this decade with my fics. This story is fully formed in my brain and I promise you, it will be complete. I'm not leaving anyone hanging. Stay tuned. 2020!

(Noun) A relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else.

Chapter Eight

Connections

"Fowler."

"Ms. Hills."

In the White Whale's mess hall, the Strategist came face to face with the Professor. Her eyes narrowed, searching, as always. Kriss took her plate and moved to a table, Eren following behind. Once they sat across from each other, the Professor smiled.

"My. This is a change of pace. To what do I owe the pleasure, Ms. Hills?"

"I'm close to figuring you out. I know it."

Kriss leaned back in her seat and nodded.

"Oh, are you? Did you finally ask Jaynix? Or Elma?"

Eren seemed confused at that.

"Ask Jaynix? She knows as much about you as I do…"

Kriss could see some doubt in Eren's eyes as she looked away from her. The professor allowed the silence to hang for a bit before shaking her head.

"It's a long story, my dear. I must say, when the Corporal makes a promise. She keeps it."

Eren looked back up at Kriss.

"And Elma?"

"Isn't it obvious? The Colonel and I are friends."

Eren laughed at that.

"Friends? I thought you didn't do friendship."

Kriss shrugged.

"I don't. But I can make an exception, can't I? Besides the friendship I have with Elma is incredibly beneficial to me."

"Right."

Kriss took a few bites before asking.

"So. Are you close to figuring me out?"

"...yes."

Kriss laughed, but it wasn't the mocking laugh that Eren expected. Kriss actually sounded...amused.

"I doubt that, Ms. Hills. See, if you wish to know my story you can't operate within the pretty little boxes provided to you by your superiors. Coloring inside the lines is not how it works with me. So I ask again-"

"You don't have to. I think you told me just enough."

Eren stood up, ready to leave when Kriss held out a hand to stop her.

"This challenge was given in jest but I must admit I'm a little impressed at your dedication to it. As fruitless as the endeavor is. I admire your stubborn foolishness."

Eren, once again, seemed confused.

"Is that a compliment? A threat?"

Kriss licked her lips.

"Whatever you want it to be."

Eren felt herself swallow as Kriss winked at her and returned to her meal. Turning, she resumed leaving the mess hall. Bringing her hands to her cheeks, she forced the feelings and emotions away.

Truth be told, she had nothing of value on Kriss. All the standard information was the same stuff she went over with Elma and Jaynix back on Earth in 2052. Kriss was a highly decorated researched employed by the Coalition and ECP within the experimental group, LAST. There was an agreement between the parties and that was it.

Crossing her arms, she continued walking through the White Whale, aimless as her brain looked for answers.

"She's right...I can't just stay in this box…"

She eventually came to a stop and looked up to see one of the limited access rooms on the White Whale, an idea came to her immediately.

Opening her door, Elma was surprised to see Jaynix standing there, letting herself in Jaynix locked the door.

"Elma."

The woman couldn't help but chuckle.

"I think you described this exact scenario once before. With far more details than I care to recount."

Jaynix tilted her head before remembering that talk.

"I'm not here for that...unless-"

"Jaynix."

"I'm kidding, happily married. Gosh you take the fun out of it…"

Elma rolled her eyes as Jaynix walked past her and sat down on her bed.

"I don't know how to say this Elma so I'm gonna say it."

Elma immediately thought of the directive that the Reapers were given what felt like so long ago. If things continue as they have been then it would never have to be put into effect but-

"There is a Xenoform on the White Whale."

Elma's eyes widened. Taken completely off guard she double checked the lock on the door before facing Jaynix.

"Did you tell anyone? Jaynix, please tell me you didn't tell anyone."

"I know better, Elma. I didn't even tell my wife, I came right to you."

Elma nodded, the shock still evident.

"How do you...know?"

Jaynix recounted her Skell trip and her decision to scan all available audio channels were she caught a brief transmission from an alien language.

"The only thing I could tell is that the voice sounded feminine. Beyond that, it's a wild guess as to what they were saying."

"And you're sure they're here? On the White Whale?"

"I wouldn't believe it but my scanners detected absolutely nothing out in space. Just us. And the signal was too clear to be coming from anywhere far out. It came from here. On the ship. It's gotta be Ganglion right?"

Elma opened her mouth to speak before deciding against it. She looked at Jaynix, she saw concern in her face, but also determination. She was here to find the best way to protect everyone.

Elma felt that she should tell her. Let her know but…

"Jaynix. There are a lot of us on this ship and we do have all sorts of communication-"

"You don't believe me?"

"It's not that. It's just. Tracking down this one person amongst all of us may not be easy. Or even possible. We've been here for over a year and I'm sure there are countless rooms and people on the White Whale you haven't been to or seen right?"

Jaynix fell back on Elma's bed and sighed.

"I know but this would give me something to do beyond sitting around and waiting for...whatever it is we're waiting for. I can only fill the hours of the day with so much training before even I get exhausted."

"I can't imagine you ever getting tired of punching things…"

Elma stated, a small smile on her face as a chuckle escaped Jaynix. Returning to her thoughts, Elma knew that she had to find something to say. Anything. But she also knew that there was no getting Jaynix off this path.

"Alright. So if you want to do it, how would you start?"

Jaynix sat up.

"Really? You're okay with this?"

"...I trust you, Jaynix and...we're friends."

At Elma's smile, Jaynix wore a large proud grin.

"Best friends!"

Following her chat with Eren, Kriss returned to her room and makeshift lab. There she continued to plug away at various theoretical schematics as she always did.

After what happened a few years back between her, the ECP and several...alleged...assassination attempts, they were kind enough to lend her a few things as a form of recompense.

However, it didn't satiate her. Nothing ever could, at least not entirely. So before the Earth was destroyed she pulled one last job and scoured the ECP's internal databases, taking as much of their classified intel as she could. She justified the theft as being what she was truly owed after the aforementioned attempts on her life.

As she expected, the majority of the ECP data she stole was protected by several layers of heavy encryption. If all of LAST was together, this would be far easier, barely a pebble on her road to understanding. As fate would have it, of course, she was on her own. Or at least, that's how it was at first.

Her eyes eventually found the latest instrument she created for Elma. The woman had requested Kriss build her a device capable of sending messages and signals across the void of space. Kriss assumed it was to try and reach out to another Ark ship, whether that was it or not, she didn't ask. That was how she did business.

Regardless, the classified notes Elma allowed Kriss to see gave her all she needed to construct the device and enact one of LAST's final plans.

She knew she was in a special situation given that the other members of LAST, wherever they were, didn't have access to someone of Elma's clearance level. Especially not through a personal connection and relationship.

Yet even then she knew they could craft something similar. She knew they would and that's all the assurance she needed.

Checking the time she nodded and shut off all the lights in her room before locking the door just as Elma had warned. Pulling out a recorder, she switched it on and set it aside before activating the device and waiting while it scanned the farthest reaches of space it was capable of.

After a long silence, the voices began. One after the other. In various languages. It was LAST. Due to the unknown distances between their Ark ships this was the plan the remaining members of the group hatched during their last face to face before leaving Earth.

Wherever the remains of LAST ended up, they'd develop a method to send messages into the vastness of space and then create linguistic nets of sorts to catch them. It wasn't perfect as evident by the many transmissions Kriss received in pieces and the unintelligible ones but it was better than nothing.

The many other unknown factors about transmitting across vast space also resulted in response time being incredibly slow, yet even with all these drawbacks, the system they had in place allowed LAST to continue and collaborate.

It was thanks to these irregular conversations that she was able to not just improve the device she gave to Elma as promised but also her own personal projects.

Kriss found herself lost in her own thoughts again. Elma had indeed given her the technology that allowed her to craft this device but at the same time, she was doing this behind Elma's back.

One any other day, if it was any other person, she wouldn't care. But this was Elma. Kriss was pulled out of her thoughts when she realized the messages had ceased. Turning off the device, she retrieved her recorded and closed her eyes before playing the messages back, this time she focused exclusively on the voices.

German. French. Chinese. One voice had something particularly interesting to her. Another key in her quest to decrypt the logs she took from the ECP.

Clacking away at her keyboard she couldn't help but try to guess what was in this specific file. She wasn't right often and was disappointed more often than not. But such it was with government projects. The things they found fascinating and worth confiscating, Kriss didn't really care about. She knew a few members of LAST would, but not her.

"If this ends up being another call log about how officials in our final government couldn't remain faithful to-"

The file popped open, Kriss immediately stood up, her chair falling over as she stared at the image before her. Tilting her head she examined it more closely. She knew what it was but she couldn't believe it.

Ghost Material File NO. EX01: Dark Matter.

Opening the door into the warehouse, Eren was met by a cacophony of sounds. How anyone could focus with this much racket, she'd never understand. Moving to the closest engineer she could find, she saw the recognizable blue mark along his eye. This was Alpha Wolf, which means Kruse had to be here.

Jaynix had suggested she see Kruse to help her in her quest. Eren had planned to before speaking with Kriss but she wanted to try and get something, anything, out of one more conversation with the Professor.

What she got wasn't what she expected but it made Kruse's help now absolutely necessary.

Receiving the directions she needed she took off to where several engineers were examining a holo screen with a diagram of a Habitat Unit district on it.

Constanine was motioning towards specific sections and pointing at other engineers before him. At his side, as always, was Kruse.

"Hey!"

Upon hearing the loud, demanding voice, the group of engineers broke apart and turned around to see Eren approaching. The ones in her immediate path quickly moved out of the way.

Eren came to a stop and gestured at her clothes.

"If I leave this room and have even one speck of anything on my suit…"

Without even finishing the thought, most of the noise in the room died down.

"Thank you."

Kruse and Constantine stepped forward, the latter speaking.

"Strategist Eren Hills of the Reapers...good evening."

"How can you even tell?"

He then gestured to a digital display of the time in the corner.

"Set it up before we left Earth. Best way to manage our tasks y'know...anyway, what brings you to the Alpha Wolf, Ms. Hills?"

Eren flinched.

"Don't call me that."

Constantine raised an eyebrow but nodded before seeing Eren point to Kruse.

"He is what brings me here."

"Me?"

Kruse looked around, but there was no denying where her finger was pointing.

"You need Kruse?"

Eren nodded.

"If he's half as smart as I've been told, this won't take long Voliff, I promise."

The man crossed his arms. Part of him wanted to argue but he knew better. The Reapers had a reputation, Eren especially. Regardless, what's the worst that could happen?

"Be back when you can, Kruse."

The man sighed.

"You sure you don't absolutely need me for something?"

Constantine chuckled.

"We'll be fine. The sooner you get this done, the sooner you get back. We'll go fishing."

Kruse rolled his eyes.

"The joke still isn't funny, Ahab."

Constantine smiled as Kruse turned to see Eren not too far away, impatiently tapping her foot. Sighing Kruse moved away from his team and followed Eren out of the room.

"Sorry for the abduction Kruse but I need your help."

The pair continued walking, Kruse noted that Eren's pace picked up significantly so he rushed to keep up.

"What do you need?"

Opening a door she stepped into a room Kruse recognized, it housed the computing center for all the processes running through this quarter of the White Whale.

"I didn't know the Reapers had access to this room."

"They don't."

"You...broke in? Eren-"

The woman raised a hand to silence him and pulled out her datapad.

"Shortly before the Exodus, there was a...challenge issued to me. Something that didn't quite make sense…"

Kruse raised an eyebrow.

"About what?"

"2054. The attack on the perimeter wall around Noah's Cradle. Remember that?"

"How could I forget?"

Eren showed Kruse all the reports and information she could dig up about that conflict.

"The Coalition and the ECP told us that the attacks were carried out by an organized alliance of terrorist cells."

Kruse nodded.

"Yeah and that there was some...outside force who supplied them with the arms they used to try and wage war. That benefactor was killed when their headquarters were destroyed by a Skell bombing run. As was the majority of their remaining arms."

Eren looked at her information and nodded.

"Yeah. That's what supposedly happened...but there was something off about it."

Before Kruse could ask what, Eren showed him video footage of a gas attack as well as the molecular composition of the poisonous aerosol used.

"That was the gas that wiped out some cells back in 2052 right? I believe the government coined a name for it, Dark Mirror. What does that have to do with the 2054 attacks?"

Eren looked through her gathered files again.

"No one outside of the clean up crew and us, the Reapers, knew about Dark Mirror's full capabilities. The trial run for the weapon was in 2052 and I got to observe firsthand what it did to people. How it killed them. I got a sample that I studied on my own time. So imagine my surprise when I was looking through data from 2054 and found several victims, both Coalition and terrorists whose autopsy reports detailed the exact same causes of death. Only one thing could've killed those men the way it did."

Eren once again showed Kruse her gathered information. Bringing a hand to his chin the man read through it all along with Eren's own analysis on the gas and its victims from 2052.

"That's impossible…"

"That's what I thought...I'm trying to understand how it got from our hands in 2052 to the enemy's in 2054. Who manufactured it? Where, when, why? Well...we all know the why, we lived it. More important than that...Dark Mirror was a LAST project...did they betray us? Did they arm the enemy? I need to know."

Kruse continued reading the information, she knew that he wanted to be certain it was true even though she could see the answer in his eyes.

"This is all...interesting and it could be very bad but Eren, anyone involved in this is very likely dead. What would it matter knowing the answer now?"

"Like I said. I was challenged and I'm close to the answers. I need you to help me."

"Me? Not your team?"

Eren fell silent, recalling that Kriss had suggested asking Jaynix about this. That didn't make sense, Jaynix doesn't know anything? Does she? Shaking her head and dispelling the thoughts, Eren spoke.

"Unfortunately when it comes to the Reapers, I'm the one with the most knowhow in this category. They have offered their help but...I...it's a matter of pride as flimsy of an excuse as that is."

Kruse watched Eren for a bit longer, seeing the determination in her eyes.

"A gas used in 2052 and 2054. LAST. Terrorists. A possible coverup…"

With a sigh he stepped forward.

"I'll do it. But let it be known we'll get in an absurd amount of trouble if anyone finds out we've been here...I don't…I can't have..."

As he fell silent and shook his head, Eren put a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't want Elma to find out."

"...yeah…"

"I promise Kruse, she won't. If this goes sideways, I'll take the blame for it alright?"

Looking to Eren he watched her eyes. Satisfied he turned back and took a deep breath.

"Alright. Let's get this done."

Entering the bridge, Elma broke away from Jaynix who made a beeline for the communication terminal to check the logs while Elma met with Nagi.

"Is something wrong?"

"...not exactly. I tried to reach out."

Nagi's eyes moved from Elma to Jaynix who sat at a station and spoke with one of the bridge staff.

"Jaynix heard me."

"Does she know?"

"No."

"...I see."

Nagi closed his eyes and thought over what to do next.

"We can trust her, Nagi. I've met countless people since I came to Earth, I know when I can trust someone and..."

Elma waited, Nagi saw the ghost of a smile on her face.

"...she's my best friend."

Nagi continued to watch her, nodding his head.

"I can see that, Elma. But I'm afraid...we can't."

Elma was surprised at this.

"Nagi, what did she-"

Nagi shook his head.

"The Reapers have their orders. Kumon has his orders. We must keep personal feelings away from this or it all falls apart...if it was purely up to me I'd let you but it isn't and Kumon made a personal request to me..."

Elma looked over to Jaynix then back to Nagi.

"...what I was told. It wasn't what they were told?"

"No."

"Then what are the Reapers orders? Why can't you trust Jaynix?"

"I can't say."

"Hey Elma!"

The pair turned as Jaynix approached.

"Oh. Nagi, sir. Sorry I didn't see you there, I uh...secret task."

Nagi chuckled.

"I hope I'm not interrupting. Best of luck to you."

As he left, Jaynix looked to Elma.

"You didn't tell him what we're doing did you?"

"No but I figured if someone the bridge heard something peculiar they would've told him. Seems like this is a dead end."

Jaynix looked away and sighed. Elma realized that she was lying to her with such ease and it didn't sit right with her. She tried to open her mouth to say something else, but decided against it. Jaynix looked back at her and smiled.

"Well, it's not like I thought this was going to be easy and we did just get started. Although I just realized we started in the wrong place."

"Did we?"

"Well not completely wrong, this was a good first attempt, but a better one would've been visiting someone a little more in the know of these kinds of things. Like Blue. Or Kriss. The three of us are...friends?"

Elma chuckled.

"I'm not sure Kriss would like hearing you say that, Jaynix. Besides, she was pretty clear. We were to forget all about that."

Jaynix rolled her eyes.

"Right. Of course. Well, regardless, she is super smart. I'm sure she could find something right?"

Elma turned away from Jaynix, bringing a hand to her chin. Jaynix was right of course. But…

"You do know Kriss only looks into things that interest her, right?"

"Yeah, but this is a Xenoform we're talking about. How could that not interest her? We should at least give that a try!"

Elma nodded, her mind went to various things she could say to throw Jaynix off this trail. No lies. Just, other suggestions.

"I suppose so...though I think we should stop by Alpha Wolf on the way there, see if Kruse may have picked up anything, maybe the old wolf will help too."

"Yeah I suppose. It's not that out of the way so why not? Any chance to see Blue again, I'll take it."

With a smile, Jaynix walked off, taking Elma's arm. The other woman let a small smile come to her face. It was strange, she enjoyed the time they were spending together as friends of course but at the same time, Jaynix was too good at her job and the constant stream of lies was beginning to wear on Elma.

She had to figure something out.

In her lab, Kriss was pacing with no end. It didn't make any sense to her. There was no record, no report, no rumors, nothing that ever gave the smallest impression that the Coalition, the ECP or anyone had ever gotten hold of materialized Dark Matter. And not just any Dark Matter, but Matter pulled from a captured Ghost specimen. How did they get that? That should've been impossible.

Kriss returned to her computer and began frantically running as many calculations as she could. Placing herself in the mindset of the military, scientific and oversight committees that made up the Coalition she thought back to the last decade on Earth.

She recalled how far humanity's most advanced and realized sciences and technologies had reached. Despite how many breakthroughs they made, nothing in their repertoires came even remotely close to the complexity of Dark Matter. Nothing.

Crossing her arms, Kriss began to think. There had to be something here. Some thread, some connection she was missing. Her eyes moved over to the Qlurian schematics.

Those theoreticals, the Skells, their assorted weaponry, the White Whale itself.

The jump humanity made to reach these kinds of advancements was far too great. It was as if their technology skipped ahead by decades, generations. There were entire phases of discovery and R&D that just seemed to be missing.

"By all accounts. We could not have done this alone. None of us have the capacity. Not me, not Benton, no one. So if we as a race couldn't do it then...there had to outside influence."

Kriss looked up and recalled the first information they ever received about the war that came back in 2024. An intercepted message.

"Either there was more there than a warning...or a Xenoform is behind all of this…"

"Ah, Corporal, Colonel. What can I do for you today?"

The pair looked around the room as Constantine approached them.

"Where's Blue?"

The older man shook his head.

"Not here, your Strategist came by and took him with her to who knows where. It sounded urgent."

Jaynix crossed her arms.

"Kruse and Eren? That's an odd combination...did Eren say anything at all?"

Constantine shrugged.

"Not really, just that she needed him. Could be a personal engineering project, hell maybe she's looking to upgrade her Skell. Kruse is relatively good at that."

Jaynix and Elma exchanged a look, the later pulling out her datapad.

"I guess we can give him a call and check up on his status. Hopefully we aren't interrupting anything important."

Elma walked away, Jaynix remained behind, looking to Constantine as he returned to his work.

"Something on your mind Jaynix?"

She shook her head.

"No...well, yes but…"

"Ah. Classified. Well, I'm always here if you need help. Anything for Kruse's friends."

She smiled at that as Elma's screen lit up with Kruse's image. The man was shocked to see her.

"C-Colonel Elma! Hey. Uh...need something?"

"Jaynix and I actually needed a favor but it seems you're preoccupied somewhere."

Kruse looked off to the side, probably talking to Eren.

"She says it's fine. What do you need?"

Elma was about to start as Jaynix stood next to her and gave her a look. The two exchanged a few expressions before Elma addressed Kruse again.

"I'm afraid it's something we'd need to talk over with you in private. Any idea when you'll be done there?"

"Soon. Hopefully. I'll meet you both in my quarters when I'm done."

Nodding Elma prepared to end the call when Eren cut in.

"Actually! Jaynix!"

"Eren? What's up?"

The Strategist fell silent for a moment.

"Think we can schedule a private chat too?"

Jaynix grinned, Eren saw it and immediately shook her head.

"No. No. NO! It's not about that!"

"It totally is!"

Elma chuckled as Jaynix began laughing. Following a frustrated sigh from Eren, Jaynix calmed down enough to speak.

"Yeah, of course we can have a chat, Eren."

"Thank you."

With that, the call came to an end. Jaynix and Elma looked to one another with the latter speaking.

"I guess we go meet with the Professor now."

Kruse put his data pad down and let out a long sigh. Eren looked at the man's pale face.

"Hey. I said I'd take the blame right?"

"Yeah it's just...that was tense...sorry."

Kruse returned to work as Eren flipped through her own data pad rereading what information she gathered on the terrorist cells and the bits and pieces of Kriss she could gather from the few scientific essays she was a part of.

Most of the people who worked with her noted the same thing, she was brilliant, but also kept to herself and some found her intimidating. Most did actually, she didn't look at other people as people. To her, everything was an experiment, a project.

Eren stopped on a gallery of image files, all of which were Kriss out in the field in her lab coat, pristine as it always was, just like the day she saw her in the Lawless Sectors.

Eren stared at one picture in particular, Kriss had moved the hair out of her face, and both her eyes were clearly visible, two different colors.

Eren continued to stare at her, entranced. She was completely unaware of Kruse calling for her until the man tapped her shoulder. Quickly shutting down her data pad she turned to him.

"What!?"

"I finished. I've got all that there is."

He held out a small drive which she took immediately.

"Thank you, Kruse."

He nodded as she stood up.

"...are you looking to pin this all on Kriss?"

Eren remained silent. Of course Kruse would pick up on her...relationship with the Professor and draw his own connection based on what they know of LAST.

"Do you really think Kriss is a bad person? Be honest with me."

Eren thought it over, she wanted to say yes, but some part of her desperately wanted to say no.

"I'm not sure...but there is something about her mixed up in all of this. Until I'm sure if its good or bad, I'm not gonna let this go."

Kruse nodded to her, the Strategist thanked him again before departing.

As Jaynix and Elma continued through the halls, Elma's worry grew. She looked over to Jaynix who was smiling. No doubt happy to be spending time with her friend as she always was.

Thinking about that, she recalled a time where all of this seemed so far away.

"Jaynix."

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when we first met?"

Jaynix came to a stop, facing Elma, her smile widened.

"How could I forget? You were so decorated and influential, when you came by our camp I could tell that all the stories I heard about you were true."

Elma shook her head.

"I'm still convinced someone embellished the facts that you were told."

"I thought so too, then I saw your Skell. The Ares. I don't know the specifics of it all these years later but I could tell that with you at the helm, you could do a lot with it."

Elma looked down, while that was true, the hidden potential of the Ares could only be unlocked by two pilots operating in tandem.

Jaynix then gave Elma a curious look and asked.

"What brought this on?"

Elma remained silent. Not sure how to answer that.

"I just...I appreciate your company, Jaynix. I always have."

Jaynix smiled as Elma continued.

"To be honest, you surprised me. From the moment we met, I could see that your physical prowess was staggering. The look in your eye was so fierce...you wore your emotions so proudly. I almost knew the kind of person you were...after our spar-"

"You mean after you kicked my ass."

The pair shared a laugh, Elma shaking her head.

"I don't think it was nearly that bad but...I truly did not expect you to look at me the way you did. I'd heard a lot about how proud soldiers are of their skills. Of their training. But you seemed to revel in the fact that you lost. In a lot of ways you threw a wrench into my preconceived notions of people."

Elma looked to see Jaynix stunned into silence.

"I'm hardly...I'm not...uh. I don't know what to say to that."

Jaynix scratched the back of her head.

"Well...at the same time you presented me with a goal. I've been working towards it ever since. Still am.

After some silence, Elma spoke.

"Don't you want to know how far along you've come?"

Jaynix was once again, surprised.

"Are you...asking me to spar with you?"

"I should've asked much earlier but yes. I'm sure it'll be a great way to get everyone back into the training facility. Don't you?"

Jaynix had no words, she just smiled. Elma saw that glint in her eyes.

"I'd love to."

Elma extended her hand, Jaynix taking it and shaking. There was giddiness in her voice.

"I can't wait!"

Elma laughed, before she could speak the pair heard someone stomping down the hall towards them.

Looking, Jaynix spotted the Professor and remembered why it is they were even here.

"Kriss! Hey, we-"

Kriss moved past Jaynix and took Elma by the arm, leading her away.

"H-hey! Kriss!"

"Later. We have something vital to discuss!"

"Yeah, so do we! Kriss!"

Jaynix began to follow but Elma held a hand up. Jaynix trusted her to handle it on her own and let Elma know with a determined nod.

As the pair vanished down the hall, Jaynix decided to follow up with Kruse.

"There you are!"

Looking up from her datapad she turned to see Lyla and Irina.

"H-hey."

"We've been looking for you and the Colonel like crazy! You two have been going all over the ship, impossible to track down!"

Irina stated before noticing.

"Wait, where's the Colonel?"

Jaynix's eyes found Lyla and it was only then that she realized how preoccupied she'd been. The matter was important but-

"She's taking care of something with Kriss. It's not important...I was actually about to call Kruse over to the mess hall, wanna come with? Get a bite to eat together?"

Lyla and Irina looked to one another then back to Jaynix.

"I'll call up Elma and let her know where to find us when she's done, c'mon."

Lyla moved over to Jaynix and took one of her hands into her own.

"Why not?

Irina sighed.

"If you're sure the Colonel will be back...fine. I've worked myself up running all over this place looking for you guys."

"As have I."

Lyla added.

Jaynix laughed as the trio began walking.

"I know all too well how big this place is. Sorry about that to both of you, especially you Lyla. I should've been checking in."

"I'm just glad you're here now."

Jaynix kissed her wife's cheek.

"Me too."

Elma found herself back in her room, Kriss slamming the door shut and locking it. The scene was incredibly familiar. Focusing on the woman before her, Elma spoke.

"Kriss what is it? Why did you drag me all this way? You seem so-"

"I made a connection."

"To what?"

Kriss pulled out her datapad, revealing the file she found on Dark Matter. Elma stepped back, her voice low.

"Kriss. Where did you get that?"

"The same place the ECP most likely did. Elma. I figured it out."

Elma wanted to ask what she figured out, but she already knew.

"There is only one way the ECP could've created all of this."

Kriss gestured around them.

"An answer so obvious I hate myself for not thinking about it sooner...they didn't happen upon alien technology out in space or whatever the myriad of stories they told were. One came to us and the Coalition made a deal with them. They formed an alliance with a Xenoform."

Elma had to fight off the urge to laugh.

What a day it has been.