Lyroo sat at her desk, which was normally organized meticulously to the point of obsession, wondering if a tornado had in fact been through her office. Things were a mess! Everywhere, the state of her HOS office was just a remarkable convenient bit of irony, icing on the cake.

Her short blond hair was frazzled, her button up blouse was half untucked, a half-eaten sandwich was lying on a wrapper from what had supposed to of been her ‘lunch break’. That particular block of time had been spent on the vid screen conferencing with yet another ‘concerned denizen’ who felt the need to ‘inform her’ of what was only the biggest news story of their time, regarding not only her career, but also the welfare of human beings now and in the future.

“Shaka, if I have to deal with another bone headed dupe telling me what happened I just might…” Lyroo was cut off as a fresh faced young man barged into her office carrying a stack of books and documents, the silver haired young man crouched to deposit the stack on her desk before standing upright again.

“By-laws, both local and district wide, with all the recent Animal Control cases we have on record ma’am.” The young man looked about as embattled as his employer, only with shorter hair of much less hair to frizz.

“Did you remember to get me the information on legal proceeding related to Class 2 Sentients?” Lyroo asked attempting to recompose herself.

“Didn’t forget, just couldn’t carry it all, I will be back with the rest.” The young man smiled, and then frowned. “Have you slept today Mrs. Prenn?”

“I’m fine Boolen.” Lyroo half smiled a weary smile and began to sift through the new stack on her desk.

“Oh, someone from Tanhouser on Line 2 ma’am….” Boolen grinned.

“I swear by the rings of Saturn, if you tell them I am here there, will be another homicide in the news today!” Lyroo snapped, eyes going as wide as dinner plates, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“It’s Loona Armac….” Boolen said on edge.

Lyroo’s fists clenched, destroying a few innocent scraps of paper, her brow narrowed and she glared daggers through her assistant. “Give me 5 to clean up and put her through.” Lyroo grumbled and seethed when she spoke. “THIS I can make time for!”

Lyroo adjusted the collar on her blouse and straightened a frizzy tassel of hair before checking one last time to make sure her work area was clean enough to look organized and together, at least the small portion that would be visible through the vid screen.

“Never let them see you sweat.” Lyroo repeated like a mantra and cleared her throat before swiping the ‘accept call’ button.

The dark haired pale face of Loona Armac greeted her, with a very forced and practiced smile. “Lyroo….”Loona nodded ever so slightly, barely noticeable.

“This is all your fault, you know that?” Lyroo spoke with reserved anger.

“A pleasure to see you too….” Loona scowled.

“Didn’t I tell you this would happen? Didn’t I specifically say something like this was going to happen if we allowed human beings to integrate unprotected with mainstream Archavian culture?” Lyroo took a deep controlled breath and sat back in her chair.

“Lyroo I didn’t call you to discuss….” Loona began, but was cut off.

“If we allow this human to be an exception to the rule, it could be detrimental to their whole species!” Lyroo hissed. “That’s what I said…remember? Do you remember?” Lyroo’s tried to keep her composure, but was losing it steadily as she recalled the events of the Freeman Trial at Tanhouser Gate University.

“Now wait just a moment I hardly think anyone here in Tanhouser had anything to do with what happened in Rutger!” Loona began to lose her composure as well, falling victim to the unproductive shouting match.

“Oh, didn’t you though?” Lyroo beamed with condescension and leaned forward towards the vid screen. “I told you, I told all of you that it didn’t matter if humans were intelligent enough to build holoprjectors, correct sloppy journalist’s spelling mistakes or whatever, that as long as humans still needed protection they could not assimilate into our culture without endangering their lives. But you all insisted that this little charade was perfectly acceptable, well here you go Loona, I guess I wasn’t so crazy after all eh?” Lyroo narrowed her eyes. “My silly archaic little idea’s make sense after all, don’t they?”

“Do you feel better now that you got that off your chest?” Loona bit her tongue, holding back her comment.

“Humans need to be protected; they need us specifically to protect them, when we become irresponsible THIS happens!” Lyroo sat back and crossed her hands neatly over one another. “All of this, is our fault…and the ones who have to pay the price Loona, are the humans!”

“Oh you are so close minded and stubborn!” Loona scowled, forgetting the reason she had called in the first place. “None of this has anything to do with what happened here in Tanhouser, this was an atrocity caused by vicious mean spirited sick individuals that had nothing to do with human liberation Lyroo!”

“It has everything to do with human liberation, and it is a direct result of what happened in Tanhouser.” Lyroo began, digging through some of the pads on her desk. “Do you know how many injuries to humans have been reported since your little charade Loona?” Lyroo’s eyes narrowed to hateful slits.

“I don’t need to know the numbers Lyroo….”

“Almost four times as many monthly as before, and would you care to know how most of these were caused?” Lyroo was breathing heavily now, her nostrals were flaring as she fought to control herself.

“Lyroo I didn’t call to talk about….”

Lyroo took one pad and read form it, “Gorfen Hektor, his human was kicked across the room once he allowed it to wander freely on the floor. After the Freeman trial he decided his human didn’t deserve to be contained for safe keeping anymore! So he liberated his human, but as soon as they both got comfortable and dropped their guard who pays the price? The human!” Lyroo tossed the pad aside and took up another one. “Heazzer Green, her human broke a leg falling from a wardrobe, when she was interviewed by HOS staff she said, and I quote, ‘I didn’t think it was right to tell her what to do anymore, human are people too.’ The list goes on Loona.” Lyroo tossed one pad after another down. “Lost due to failure to transport in an approved carrier, burnt from getting to close to the heating element when cooking, trapped behind furniture and dehydrated for three days, kidnapped for her ability to sing….” Lyroo threw the rest of the pads down and slammed her hands on the table. “When we relax the rules, humans suffer!”

“Injuries are bound to happen as people learn to adjust to a shift in dynamic; this doesn’t mean we can keep them all locked up in caged because they might make a few mistakes if we let them make their own choices Lyroo.” Loona said, defending her choice to allow Nonah to make her own choices, as well as her new outlook on humanity in general.

“Something like this could happen so easily to Niall, to your Nonah…to Scroof even! If we allow ourselves to lose sight of what is important we fail them!” Lyroo went on the offensive, leaning forward. “Untrained humans, wild humans, pet’s left to their own devices free of rules and boundaries that keep them safe. All of them with no concept of the dangers that are out there to greet them, built up with false promises of equality and freedom? Told they can do whatever they like, given free run to do as they please, and look what happened? Only this time there was no happy ending, no sympathetic peacekeeper to look the other way, no young human prodigy to whip up a holoprojector and save the day, just a big mess, a hundred and twenty dead humans, and one poor little ignorant victim about to make number one hundred and twenty one!” Lyroo deflated; there was true sadness in her voice. “This new paradigm of yours is killing them Loona, but you’re puppet got his job, that’s all that matters right?”

“Your heart is in the right place, but as always you are just too stubborn to see past your own ignorance.” Loona sighed dejectedly and gave her head a shake. “I don’t know why I thought I could come to you for help….”

Lyroo scoffed and folded her arms over her chest. “Now you want my help eh? After exactly what I told you would happen, HAPPENS, you come to me for help? Well where are your clever words now? Where are your smart snappy come backs? Hmmm? Tell me Loona, got any cantrips up your sleeve? Or did you call me just to regurgitate to me what is plastered over every news feed, forum and being talked about over every dinner table across the core and beyond? Hmmm?”

“I called to see if in fact you were going to do anything about this…because for some reason the fates have decided that you of all people are this poor man’s last hope, and frankly Lyroo I called to….” Loona attempted to regain her composure, straightening herself, but her face was beat red and she was shaking.

Lyroo stiffed a laugh. “You think I can stop this? Really? You think I can sweep this under the rug Armac?” Lyroo chuckled cynically and leaned forward for emphasis. “You’re savvy on the law Loona, think about this for a moment. Do you really understand the problem this has caused? Do you even realize just what is happening, what sort of stakes rest on the future of this one little human? Did you even stop to think, while you were spewing off terg-shit in that hearing, what something like this would MEAN had it come to pass?”

“I know what’s at stake Lyroo….” Loona said dryly.

“Really? Because I don’t think you do.” Lyroo composed herself, pulling out a pad among the many on her desk. “If this human is euthanized, than a new standard will be set. A whole new can of glow-worms is opened off. It will stand as a basis for any occurrence involving an untrained, unruly human in the future! Untrained human bites his owner, scratches a baby in the eye? Euthanized! It will act as precedent, a ground plan for any future case!” Lyroo sat back, tossing the pad she was holding aside, before Loona could respond she went on. “People will use this case as the ground work for future occurances. Because just how many humans in the history of their existence can you recall have ever seriously harmed a titan? Just how many humans Loona have even shown the ability to comprehend how to use a weapon? How many humans have even assaulted a class 1 sentient being, let alone killed one, in self-defense or otherwise?” Lyroo’s voice was robbed of its thunder, and now sounded more concerned and downcast.

“Not very many.” Loona sighed.

“But, if this human is acquitted, if special dispensation is given because he acted in SELF DEFENCE, than the very groundwork that the legislation for the protection of Class 2 Sentient beings is BASED off will have to be change. When that happens, when we are forced to change the legislation, it will likely be stripped of a lot of the privilege human beings enjoy under said law. Do you understand? If we establish they CAN defend themselves…we establish they can THEN pose a danger to ourselves and others…” Lyroo’s eyes went soft, her voice dripped into a whisper and she looked down, almost frightened. “Do you know how preposterous that sounds? Do you know how moronic and asinine that is! Human beings? A danger to us? A being the size of our finger, dangerous? But that will be the case, because you and I both know truth hardly wins out in these situations!”

“I know what it means Lyroo.” Loona shared Lyroo’s concerned expression.

“If a human is ABLE to defend itself, if we establish that they possess the ability to do so…then by the very same right we will be allowed to defend OURSELVES against them.” Lyroo sighed. “No more lengthy visits to Rura Penthe for killing a class 2 sentient creature…not so long as you have a flakey half-baked self-defense plea. No more scoffing at the very notion that a helpless innocent loving creature could ever pose so much as a shred of harm to a titan…all the protection human beings enjoy will go right down the drain Loona. So there we go, this poor human lives, and the rest suffer…he dies, and the reigns are tightened so much they may as well spend their whole lives in a cage…”

“Do you think what he did was a crime?” Loona asked, earnestly.

Lyroo was silent for a moment; she looked away from the screen. “I think the sac of terg-shit that tried to eat him got no less than she deserved. Only a third of the monsters at that massacre were caught, that is far too many still out there, rather than sitting on a shuttle to Rura Penthe.” Lyroo looked back to the screen, her eyes misty but her resolve solid.

Both women were silent for a while, the stalemate seemed to go on endlessly until Loona broke the silence with a long sigh; she gripped the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger and looked down at her desk for a moment. “Look, Lyroo we could argue for a good long while over this, but that’s not why I called you alright?” Loona looked back up; the disdain in her eyes had been replaced with an earnest and diplomatic expression. “I called because I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help.”

***

Eyrn sat in the holding cell looking off into the distance. She had pondered a dozen different ways to escape, but couldn’t find the will or the strength to move.

She had been stranded on this strange hellish place for over two of their months. She made a few friends, she assimilated into their culture, even started to learn the language. Somehow through it all she managed to lose sight of the most atrocious and sickening aspect of life here, the enslavement of the very species she identified most with.

Marcy and Zebulon had raised her like their own; they taught her to be kind, friendly and to respect her elders. They never made her feel out of place, even though she very much was. But something never settled right, if they had only raised her from the age of 3 onward and she came from this horrific culture of backwards thinking giants, how had any of them managed to survive her at all? By all rights, if she had been raised thinking humans were to be dismissed as pets, then how come she had apparently been so easy to rear?

Eyrn thought over that for most of her time in the quiet empty holding cell. She had worn her voice out from screaming and demanding information, all she really had to work with now was her thoughts.

“Miss Fitzgerald.” A familiar gruff voice shook her from her trance, her dark brown eyes slowly shifted from the wall to the guard standing outside her cell. He was a stout man, with a bear like face and thick pudgy limbs. She had imagined many ways to take him down as she allowed him to escort her unchained into the cell. He was slow, lethargic and lazy…and rather stupid. The only reason she did cooperate was because of the promise she made to Aisell when she was being carted off into the shuttle.

‘Please, don’t do anything stupid…please. We won’t let this happen…just stay calm ok? I won’t leave you like this.’

Aisell was kind, and thinking of her made Eyrn smile a little. If more titans were like her, this would almost be a tolerable place to be stuck.

“You’re free to go.” The dullard spoke as he ran a keypass over the cell door.

Eyrn’s eyes fell to the keycard as he swipped it and then let it fall to his side, it was attached to his belt loop by a small spiral cord. The moron even kept it where she could have taken it without much of a struggle. Eyrn sighed quickly to shake her thoughts from the path they were traveling down, and looked with a deadpan glare to the stout robust man before her, she didn’t say a word.

“Section 2 of the refugee assimilation act.” Imperator Deputandum Huvo Gull stepped out from behind the stout guard, he had a much more accommodating expression on his face than when they had nearly clashed at the scene of the occurrence. The Surname Gull was a Hoplite Elite cast that served in local law enforcement in the military branch. They were generally more skilled than the average peacekeeper, and as was generally the case with most hoplite, rose in the ranks quicker.

Eyrn didn’t speak, but narrowed her eyes curiously.

“Citizens of the empire, who are classified as vulnerable or at risk individuals, cannot be held accountable for misdemeanor violations due to their ignorance and unfamiliarity with the laws. They are granted a special diplomatic immunity for their first 6 months. You are in the mentorship program; your assimilation mentor will be fined and given a civilian citation for failure to educate you properly, and a two demerit against her. Three demerits and she loses her mentorship license.” Imperator Huvo spoke, composed and dignified.

Eyrn hardly listened; she was just waiting for two little words to send her on her way.

“You’re free to go, a friend is waiting outside to pick you up and take you home.” Huvo motioned to the doors that lead out of the holding area, Eyrn held her wrists out so he would remove the shackles that very loosely held hands.

The stout guard swiped his card and removed the shackles, then stepped aside for Eyrn to walk past.

Eyrn looked to Huvo, and then the guard, her voice was low and cold. “What will happen to Darren?”

Imperator Huvo composed himself and looked to Eyrn as if confused. “It is being held at the Orion district animal control office until…”

Eyrn brushed past the stout guard roughly, her shoulder bumping against the man’s side. She looked straight ahead at the door as she made a beeline for it. “Well I guess justice has been fucking served.” Eyrn spat with venom as she stormed out the door, hidden in her palm the stout guard’s keycard, for no other reason than because she could, and because he really was a dullard.

As Eyrn crossed the divider that separated the containment center form the waiting room, she clinched her fists in hopes that the person to greet her on the other side would be Bedra. She wanted nothing more than to punch her square in the jaw for all the trouble she had caused. It was irresponsible, it was reckless and because she had not been there when she was supposed to be, Darren was going to pay the price.

Unfortunately it wasn’t Bedra who greeted her, it was Aisell Maris. Her right arm was wrapped in a sling, and she had residual bruising from her encounter with the Ler in the ring, but she looked more rested and in a better state than she had when they last saw one another.

Eyrn’s pace was quick as she approached Aisell, who watched the petite titan approach without so much as a wave or a hello. They both had the same sullen and downcast look on their faces.

“Eyrn, I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner I had to….” Aisell was cut off as Eyrn plowed into her, wrapping her arms around Aisell’s waist and burying her face in the front of Aisell, trying to avoid as best she could the hurt arm.

“I…oh…um…ok….” Aisell hesitated before slowly hugging back with her good arm, wincing slightly at the pressure on her injured shoulder.

“They’re going to kill him…Aisell all he did was defend himself and they’re going to kill him!” Eyrn spoke, her voice low and shaking. “He’s the closest thing I have to family and they’re going to kill him!” Eyrn began to cry, which was something she had never done, as far as memory serves, in her entire adult life.

Aisell hugged Eyrn back, as tightly as her good arm and multiple bruises would allow. “Like hell they will.” Aisell spoke, her voice steady with stone cold resolve. “Like hell they will Eyrn….”

***

“Were you able to find anything out?” Izzy stood at the edge of the center room table, which put her at approximately pelvis height to JCM Gwenn. Izzy stood as if she was ready to leap right off the table at Lauryna.

“Actually quite a bit.” Lauryna sat down and set a pad down on the table, turning it to face Izzy, who would have torn it right out of her roommate’s hand if it wasn’t larger than she was.

“There keeping him in an animal control center? What the hell!” Izzy fumed, smacking the pad screen with her hand.

“There’s more.” Lauryna frowned as she scrolled down a few paragraphs, removing her hand quickly least Izzy snapp it off.

“48 hours! Red that’s….” Izzy’s eyes went wide and her voice choked off into nothing.

“Not very long from now, no.” Lauryna spoke, her soft grey eyes dropped as did her expression. After all she had done to Izzy, the guilt of being responsible for standing her far from home, and then causing her to find herself marooned aboard an intergalactic star cruiser, this was perhaps the only time Lauryna Gwenn had seen this particular look of hopelessness in Isabel Ibanez’ eyes.

“Even if we had clearance to travel to the core….” Izzy whispered her voice horse and broken.

Lauryna gently caught Izzy as her knee’s gave way, cradling her in her palm and lifting her to chest height. It made the titan’s heart bleed to see Izzy like this. Izzy always saw things positively; she always had strength, even when she had no right to have any at all. She hated being coddled and was often snappy and brash when others got pessimistic. But right now she was broken, the tiny human’s confidence, pride and resolve had taken the last blow it was capable of, and she was absolutely broken.

“The god damn idiot…I knew he’d be fucked without me.” Izzy whispered, trying to pull herself together, but only finding the energy to keep herself form going limp in the red headed titan’s hand.

“Izzy, there is some good news, it’s not much but….” Lauryna bit her lip nervously.

Izzy looked up slowly; hoping what her friend said next would make some small difference, or bring some ray of hope.

“Well, the court of public opinion is heavily in your friend’s favor.” Lauryna slid the pad around with her free hand and swiped at the screen a few times.

“His name is Darren.” Izzy whispered weakly.

Lauryna nodded respectfully. “Well, Darren has a lot of support. First, an organization called TETH have been staging protests outside the Orion Animal Control office, university students at some of the most prestigious educational institutes around the core have begun picketing. Global com forums have exploded, and on top of that…the president of the HOS herself has taken a personal interest in the case.” Lauryna set her palm down beside the pad.

Izzy pulled herself up and braced herself against Lauryna’s thumb as she looked at the data before her. “Will any of this make a difference?” Izzy whispered.

Lauryna shrugged and sat back, trying to keep her palm steady. “I don’t know…but when people get upset, sometimes that makes things happen. There is real genuine outrage among the population Iz, here listen to this…” Lauryna brought the pad up before her face with her free hand, and bega to read.

“A man from Tanhouser Gate University says, ‘This is an outrage, this human should be commended, not condemned! If my human COMPANION did something like this, you bet your credits I would support him!’, across the globe in Vanhousen City a woman told a reporter, ‘We as a society will be judged on how we treat our most vulnerable members. This human is only guilty of standing up for his basic right to exist, is that a crime? Is this what the great Titan Empire will be remember for?’” Lauryna set the pad down and looked back to Izzy, who didn’t seem very encouraged by anything Lauryna was saying.

“If I could have been there with him…I could have kept him out of trouble…I should have been there helping them both, not here flying through space.” Izzy fell back against Lauryna’s curled up fingers.

“Izzy, that’s my fault…not yours.” Lauryna frowned.

Izzy gave her head a shake and looked up to Lauryna, her expression serious, her eyes dry, but red from bouts of crying throughout the day. “You’ve been amazing Red…you’ve made this whole thing bearable.” Izzy sniffed, running her sleeve under her runny nose. “Don’t even try to pretend you haven’t…if I didn’t have you to boss around, I’d be front page news just like bone head over there.” Izzy tried to smile, managing a half smile at best.

Lauryna gave her head a shake and gently stroked Izzys cheek. “You’re too nice to me Iz….”

“Damn right I am.” Izzy managed a laugh, but only a quick one.

There was a moment of silence, until Lauryna looked back at the data pad. “Heh, this one comes via Pryvani Tarsus, media darling, ’Oh, I heard! I don’t know why you’d eat a human. I mean, they’re so cute!…what should be done with him? Why, he’s going back to his owner, right? He isn’t? Why?’” Lauryna laughed slightly and gave her head a shake. “Celebrities are always so clueless.”

Izzy nestled against her friend’s hand, and for once just listened to her as she spoke, and she didn’t give Lauryna hell for rubbing her back either. For once, corporal Ibanez was just happy to let her friend comfort her.