Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 22nd April 2022

"You have got to be kidding me," Krel said, looking out over Arcadia Oaks. He ignored all the human thoughts popping up in the nighttime city, as well as the one that was obviously Stuart, and the few he now recognized as trolls, most likely scavenging for interesting bits of trash and detritus to bring back to Trollmarket.

"What is it?" Varvatos asked from behind him.

"They are hiding out at the drive-in again," Krel reported.

"Seriously?" demanded his sister.

"See for yourself." He handed the mind reading glasses over, watching as Aja put them on her face and peered out at the town. They were, once again, at the planetarium, which was closed for the night, so they had it to themselves. It had felt like a relief, somehow, to dial down their transductions and return to their native forms. Not something they could do in town yet, at least not without making a scene of panic.

"You are right, little brother." There was wonder in Aja's voice. And a bit of scorn. "How can they be stupid enough to hide in the same place twice?"

"They have not hidden there twice," Varvatos reminded her. "For them, this is the first time they have been here. There cannot be that many locations capable of hiding a ship of their size."

"True," Aja acknowledged, even as Krel fished his cellphone out and began typing into the group chat. It was somewhat larger, encompassing more people, than it had the first time around. "What are you doing, Krel?"

"I am asking if anyone would like to help us beat up the Zerons," he replied, feeling this was obvious. "Since it is not a school night, and all."

Varvatos huffed. "We do not need assistance to take on those miscreants!"

"Yes, but backup never hurts," Aja said. "Here, would you like a look?" She took off the mind reader glasses and offered them to Varvatos.

"Varvatos admits that he is curious how the King-in-Waiting's gadget works," the warrior said, accepting the glasses. He tried to put them on his face, which was broader than theirs, to no good effect. "Though it seems he might have difficulty with the delicacy of this technology."

"Give them here." Krel pocketed his phone and reached for the glasses. A few quick adjustments and the glasses expanded, now able to fit Varvatos' face.

"Most ingenious," Varvatos complimented him, accepting the device. His expression stormed into a frown as he glared at the hiding place of their enemies. "Varvatos suggests going to the Zerons now and crushing them into dust." His one hand pounded into the other.

"It seems unsporting, somehow," said Aja with a frown.

"Varvatos will kindly remind you of the fate of his family, and of countless other beings the Zerons have crushed in the pursuit of their bounties."

"I know, I know." She waved off his criticism. "It just seems such a... waste." She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. "They are such good fighters. If only there was a way to turn them to a constructive goal."

"I do not think they will accept a counter-bounty on Morando," Krel said, frowning and scrolling through messages. "It looks like almost everyone else is in bed already. But Nomura and Draal are available and willing to 'skewer uppity aliens' with us."

"Well, then." Varvatos removed the glasses and folded the earpieces flat, handing the device back to Krel, "let us go onward, to carnage and glory."


"This should be entertaining," Draal murmured, surveying the dimly lit drive-in theater. It was in an advanced state of disrepair, with parts of the screen missing, and others tarred with graffiti. Most of the vehicles parked there were similarly dilapidated, clearly abandoned. Trash and refuse littered the ground.

"You take me to the nicest places," Nomura, in her troll form, muttered. But when he looked at her, there was a smile hovering at the corners of her mouth. So he wasn't concerned.

A rustle behind them might have been no more than a cat misjudging a jump, but both of them spun around all the same, to find the trio of blue -aliens-... no, Akiridions, they and the Trollhunters had been quite adamant about that... approaching.

"Make that sound so we didn't stab you?" Nomura demanded, tucking her blades back away.

"A wise warrior sneaks up only on his enemies, not his allies," Varvatos informed them.

"True," Draal agreed, nodding his head. He had briefly sparred with Aja in the Hero's Forge; she was good, and had told him that Varvatos was better. Draal looked forward to the chance to learn from such worthy adversaries.

"So what are we up against?" Nomura asked.

Krel took out a small device and activated it. Above his hand a small image of (presumably) one of their opponents appeared. "Zeron Alpha," he said.

"Looks like a jackal," murmured Nomura.

"I do not know what a jak-ul is," Varvatos said, "but you would be wise not to underestimate Zeron Alpha. He is fast, agile, and brutal. He will not hesitate to rip out your spine and flagellate you with it."

Krel blinked, looking at Draal and Nomura. "Though saying that assumes that trolls have spines. Please forgive Varvatos' figure of speech if it is inaccurate."

"Zeron Alpha," his sister took up the thread, "is known to wield pistols, as well as chakrams - weapons which, like our serrators, are capable of assuming many forms and functions."

Krel thumbed at his device; the image shifted to that of a catlike brute. "Zeron Beta."

"He uses his claws and brute strength to power his way through battles." Varvatos crossed his arms as he glowered at the image. "Beta will not speak, or perhaps cannot. But regardless, his strength is the equal of even Varvatos Vex's. He will be a difficult adversary to defeat in combat."

Krel switched the image one last time. "Zeron Omega." A blue-skinned being with a tail.

"Zeron Omega possesses the ability to throw spikes from her tail," Aja said with a frown, her top set of arms crossed. "She is fast and able to scale vertical walls like your Earth... lisards, I think they are called?"

"Lizards," Nomura corrected.

"Yes, those." Aja nodded her thanks. "She is agile and carries a blaster."

"They are all extremely dangerous." Krel shut off the projector and tucked it away. He leaned around the ticketing office and pulled out a pair of what looked like glasses, settling them on his face. "All three of them are inside the ship," he reported.

"What is the plan?" Draal asked.

"The four of us," Aja said, gesturing to herself, Varvatos, Draal, and Nomura, "will draw the Zerons out of their ship and engage them in battle."

"Ideally," Varvatos put in, "rending them each limb from limb. But Varvatos will settle for killing one or two of the bounty hunter scum, if we cannot achieve all three."

"I, meanwhile, will be sneaking onboard the Zerons' ship, stealing their subspace manifold, and letting loose some viruses in their systems." Krel patted at his hip, where he presumably had something secreted to that purpose. "Humans have come up with such wonderful low-tech ways to attack cybernetic systems. I have found a few that are likely to sneak under the Zerons' walls."


"Zeron Brotherhood!" Varvatos bellowed from the middle of the drive-in's parking lot. "Come out of your cravenly hiding and show yourselves in battle like the pathetic weenies you are!"

Nomura blinked. "He doesn't mince words, does he?"

The alien princess shook her head, her smile a sharp slash across her face. "Varvatos prefers the direct approach."

"Most commendable," Draal murmured from by Nomura's side, flexing his hands as if getting ready to punch someone. Which he probably was.

There was silence for a moment, until a voice spoke up from behind their group. "So, you bring the princess here." Nomura whirled; the jackal-faced alien stood there. Judging by his stance, he was amused. "How convenient."

"Convenient only for your death, Zeron Alpha," Aja said, igniting her serrator. It took the form of a sword comprised of blue light. Amused, thinking vague thoughts about lightsabers and elegant weapons belonging to a more civilized age, Nomura drew her own blades.

Any age which had relied on armed individuals had, to her mind, at best a paper-thin claim to "civilized."

She had herself never claimed to be a peacekeeper.

A guttural rumbling, like that of a great cat, drew her attention to the right, where Zeron Beta waited.

"How charming," another voice said from the left. Zeron Omega. "A play date with the great Varvatos Vex."

The four of them stood back-to-back, a square. The Zerons ringed them, a triangle. Good. All three had come out to play, which meant their scheme had worked, and the young prince should have no problems sneaking aboard the half-concealed spaceship.

"Four to three," Zeron Alpha observed. "Hardly a fair fight, Commander Vex."

"Was the bombing of the Commerce Guild a fair fight?" Varvatos demanded.

"You call yourself bounty hunters," Aja said, "but what you really are is terrorists. And your reign of terror tends today."

"Big words from a little princess," Alpha observed. "Well, then. Shall we?"

Nomura snarled and lunged, taking the advantage while she had it.

The fight was on.


"Ay ay ay," Krel muttered as he picked his way through the Zerons' ship, careful not to disturb anything. He had no doubt they had some nasty boobytraps set for anyone who dared invade - but the ones he had set off the first time around seemed laughably easy to dodge now. "Ah, here we go, a command room." Which had a view of the battle outside, but he forced himself to focus on the task at hand, using his serrator to open a panel and slip his little hardlight wafer inside. It not only had a few of the more harmless (to human systems, anyway) viruses in it, but also a program which would slowly overwrite the Zerons' databases with some information the Mothership had sourced from the human internet.

She had informed him it was called "A/B/O fic," and from the slightly smug tone of her voice, Krel had deduced that she was achieving full sentience beyond her programmed sapience, more quickly this time around.

It was a good feeling. He had missed her sarcasm and warmth.

Carefully closing the panel, he sealed it shut so that there was no sign of his tampering.

Then, and only then, did he let himself glance out the window.

It was a three-to-two dance, with Varvatos, Nomura, and Draal tag-teaming Zerons Alpha and Beta. He winced as Beta got Draal in his grasp and clearly tried to crush him, only to grin as Draal said something (probably informing the gloober that he was made of stone and thus invulnerable to crushing) and slammed his head backward into Beta's face. Beta dropped him and staggered backwards before recovering.

Krel did not see his sister and Omega, though. Where had they gone?

A second later he got his answer as his sister leapt off the obscuring length of the screen the Zerons' ship was hidden behind, followed by the whip-tailed Omega. Krel watched for a few seconds longer, to be assured Aja was handling herself, before he scurried off to fulfill the main part of his mission... stealing a subspace manifold.


Aja felt alive! If she was human, she was sure their phrase "blood singing in her veins" would apply. But as she had neither blood nor veins, all she felt was pure elation as she successfully engaged Zeron Omega in battle.

"You're good, for a princess," the Zeron admitted.

"You are good, for scum," Aja replied, easily switching her sword to a shield and deflecting Omega's tail spikes. "You could do so much good with your skills. It is a waste."

"What's a waste is your breath."

A slash to her midsection left Aja laughing as she dodged away. "Silly Zeron. Akiridions do not breathe."

"Who trained you?" Omega demanded.

Aja's eyes narrowed. "Commander Vex. I was forged in a crucible of the end of the world. You cannot defeat me, little bounty hunter." Behind Omega the revealed ship lay. She hoped Krel was getting done what he needed. She just needed to goad Omega a little more, to make her attack.

"You can die like any other Akiridion, Princess." the Zeron snarled.

Aja grinned and made a beckoning gesture with her free hand. The positioning of her fingers contained a blatant Akiridion insult, one her parents would be surprised that Aja knew. By the widening and narrowing of her slit eyes, Omega recognized it for what it was. "Come for me, kitty."

Snarling, the Zeron leapt.

Aja ducked and spun, her sword slicing clean through Omega's tail as the Zeron soared over her head.


A nearly hypersonic shriek split the air. Varvatos punched Zeron Alpha in the face and turned as the Zeron reeled back, to see Zeron Omega crash to the ground, her tail neatly cleaved from her body and flopping around nearby.

Aja, face flecked in dark purple blood, stood. "That is what you get for thinking you can kill me and my brother, and deliver our parents to the traitor Morando."

Varvatos was so proud he nearly combusted on the spot.

For their parts, Alpha and Beta seemed shocked that someone had managed to maim their third. Varvatos could almost see them calculating whether they should continue the fight, or perform a tactical retreat.

Nomura took the decision out of their hands, leaping in a high arc and swinging down with both her curved blades. Alpha caught them on his crossed arms, grunting as they cut into his flesh. But Nomura was only the distraction for Draal, who, behind Alpha, punched him mightily in the spine. Varvatos felt like cheering at such a blatant victory as Alpha gave a shocked croak and crumpled.

Varvatos turned to Beta. "And then there was one," he said, pounding fist into hand as he stalked forward. Beyond Beta, he could see Omega trying weakly to crawl away from Aja.

Beta looked at him. Looked beyond Varvatos at Alpha. Swung his head to look at Omega.

Behind Varvatos, there was a sickening sound, followed by the noise of a body collapsing to the ground.

Making his decision, Beta turned and ran, scooping up the wounded form of Omega and running for the Zeron ship. Leaving Alpha's corpse behind.


Krel had barely hauled it clear of the Zeron ship and loaded the subspace manifold into a convenient truck bed when the Class A Dreadnaught's engines rumbled to life and the ship took off for the sky, buffeting the trees and drive-in in its wake. Another section of the screen fell free, crashing to the ground below.

"Krel!" he could hear his sister shout, though he could not see her through the clouds of dust the ship's takeoff had raised.

"Here!" he yelled back, waving a hand. The dust made him cough. "Over here!" he called again.

As the dust settled and the air cleared, four figures walked forward out of the night. Three of them seemed little the worse for wear; Aja had blood sprayed across her face. "Aja!" he said, hurrying forward. "What did I miss?"

"The Queen-in-Waiting has maimed one of our foes," Varvatos said proudly.

"She sliced off Omega's tail," Draal reported.

"You did what?" Krel couldn't decide whether to be impressed, sickened, or amused.

"Also, Draal and I killed Alpha," Nomura said. She inspected the edge of one of her blades before sheathing it. She looked behind her, where the body presumably rested in the distance.

Except...

"Ugh," Krel said, seeing the body already most of the way up to the Zeron ship. "I forgot they had a retrieval ray."

"No, let them deal with their dead," Aja said, eyes on the ship. "It is their right."

The ship turned; Krel got the distinct impression that whichever surviving Zeron was piloting the behemoth was looking right at them. He wondered what they made of their group.

Then the dreadnaught turned, and fled.

"Did you get the parts you needed?" Draal asked.

Krel nodded and gestured at the bed of the truck. "One subspace manifold, ready to be incorporated in the Mothership. Many thanks for your help tonight."

"Oh, believe me." Draal grinned. "It was our pleasure."

Nomura jerked her head in the direction of the lot. "What do you want done with the tail?"

"Uhhh." Aja exchanged a look with Krel and Varvatos. "We have no purpose for it," she said.

"A true warrior does not take trophies," Varvatos agreed.

Draal rubbed the fingers of one hand together, as if thinking. "I wonder if Vendel might want it. To use for alchemical ingredients."

Krel thought about it, then shrugged. "Eh, someone might as well get use out of it. The Zerons will be back at some point. Without this-" he patted the manifold "-they are unable to leave this solar system."

"Varvatos speculates that they will go to the bounty hunter base on this planet's moon and lick their wounds there."

Nomura blanched. "Are you saying there's an alien base on the moon?"

"Eh... yes?" Krel was not sure why that was apparently shocking information.

To his surprise, Nomura looked up at that celestial body, wide-eyed for a moment... then bent nearly in half, cackling with laughter. "Oh, and the humans are so proud of having sent twelve people to Earth's moon."

Aja shrugged. "It is a good deal easier to get around there when you do not require a particular atmosphere." She cocked her head to the side. "Actually, I do not know this. Humans require Earth's atmosphere to breathe; fortunately the composition of Akiridion-5's is sufficiently similar. But do trolls need to breathe air?"

"Uhh..." Draal looked somewhat befuddled at the question.

But Nomura smirked. "Sadly, yes."

Draal looked sideways at her. "Should I ask how you know that?"

"We can drown, you fool," she snapped. "What is drowning, but a lack of air to breathe?" She returned her attention to the Akiridions. "We are made of stone, yes, but it's living stone. And all life requires certain supporting conditions to sustain it."

"And ours are matched to the Earth," Draal said. "Food, some amount of water, the air we breathe, and magic." He ticked his points off on his fingers.

"Why does sunlight kill trolls?" Krel wondered. "Is it simply the wavelengths that emanate from your star? Or is there a-" he waggled his fingers "magical reason rather than a scientific one? It makes no sense that the thing which sustains all other life on your planet is the same thing which would kill you."

Draal and Nomura exchanged a look. It was a guilty look that spoke of secrets.

"Is this something you do not tell to outsiders...?" Krel asked cautiously.

"No." Draal shook his head. "It is simply... a source of shame, for us."

"Trolls came originally from the Darklands," Nomura said bluntly.

"The... But I thought those were another dimension!" Aja blurted.

"Smart girl. They are."

Draal took up the thread. "Ages ago, beyond the reach of living memory, the Darklands were a paradise for our kind. Then something changed. I've never been told what. Perhaps we no longer know. The Darklands became... poisoned, full of horrors. A savage wasteland. Our greatest sages sought for a way for our people to escape. Eventually, they found Earth."

"This world is close enough to what the Darklands used to be that we could survive and thrive here... if we took certain precautions," Nomura said, with a glance at the sky. "From what records the Janus Order has stolen and pieced together, the survivors fled here and locked the door behind them, hundreds of thousands of years ago. Until a certain wizard," she spat, "opened the door again and used it as a prison, sending Gunmar and the Gumm-Gumms back to our ancestral lands."

"Ah, Merlin." Krel nodded.

"Yes, him." Nomura glowered. "So. We are the descendants of beggars and refugees. Merlin, in his 'all-seeing wisdom'," her tone mocking, "did not realize his spell had left openings in the crack between worlds, that could be used to steal children. That his doing, and Morgana's, allowed the tainted magic of our homeland to warp some of us into half-breeds, neither human nor troll, yet despised by both kinds."

"You hold no love for wizards," Varvatos observed.

"I hold no love for anyone who has made my life, and the lives of all my kind, nothing but pain," Nomura snarled.

"Is Hisirdoux acceptable?" Draal inquired.

Nomura snorted. "A wizard with a heart bigger than his brain. He's a novelty."

"Please do not stab Douxie," Krel said.

"I won't stab him as long as he keeps whatever little angel's code it is he seems to abide by," Nomura allowed.

"That is all we ask," Krel said.

"Well, then, shall we be off?" Draal offered his arm to Nomura.

She glared at him and stalked away.

With a good-natured nod, the troll followed after her, pausing only to collect Zeron Omega's severed tail on the way out.

"It is good to have allies," Aja said, watching the pair depart into the night. "But sometimes they are so strange."


The Class A Dreadnaught settled into a Low Earth Orbit with something less than its usual ease.

There was something wrong with the inertial dampeners, Beta thought, keeping an ear on the low whimpers emitting from the regen chamber. It was even odds whether or not Omega's tail could be regrown; even if it could, the process was going to be intensely painful for her.

He stalked across the bridge to the diagnostic controls, resolutely ignoring the thought of Alpha's body cooling in the cargo bay. He would deal with that later; once Omega was well enough to leave the chamber, they would give their brother a proper send-off.

Beta scanned the row of lights; there was nothing obviously amiss, which meant he would need to do a more thorough diagnostic to find the problem with the dampeners. His eyes narrowed; this wasn't his area of expertise. Omega had always taken care of the ship's systems, referring to them as her babies. But she'd grudgingly allowed that they needed redundancy in case of... well, situations like this one.

Growling on a subaudial level, he flicked on the diagnostics screen.

"I'm never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down~" a Terran voice caterwauled across all the ship's speakers.

The mewling cries from the regen chamber grew louder, distressed.

Beta slammed a fist down on the panel, cutting off the screen.

To no great effect; the song continued: "Never gonna run around and desert you~"

Infuriated, he brought up the instructions file Omega had so painstakingly created, seeking the section on how to override the speakers.

His eyes widened as he realized the text had been replaced. Something about inflation... and knots? With Omega's name, and Alpha's...?

His fist crashed through the control panel. He ripped it apart, pulling out circuits and wires and hardlight crystals until finally, blessedly, the forsaken music stopped.

He felt momentarily triumphant.

Then the lights flickered and went out, casting the dreadnaught into darkness.

Beta whimpered.


Author's Notes: Yes, Krel rickrolled the Zeron Brotherhood, adding insult to injury. I blame the A/B/O fic thing entirely on my Wonderful Husband. On hearing the Zerons' names, it was his suggestion. Nomura's line about lightsabers and weapons from a more civilized age references Star Wars: A New Hope. Her comment to Draal about "You take me to the nicest places" was inspired by an outtake (I think?) from Cobra Kai. And, finally, in the episode Collision Course, did anyone else notice "Claire" among the graffiti on the Granada Drive-In's screen? I couldn't work it in here, but my thoughts are that it was either Grit-Shaka Jim (which... did not happen in this reset) or Steve, being dumb alpha (heh) males and trying to symbolically mark their territory.