A Quick Smoke

Lulu was no fan of the cold, never was, and never will be. Yet for some reason the ship room she was laying in was chilling.

Goosebumps spread across her skin. Her only arm of flesh hanging off the side of her bag while she sighed in annoyance. She lazily lifted her head in Tavella's direction.

"It's cold," she whined.

Tavella raised a brow, "So?"

"Fix it."

She placed a finger on her chin, pursing her lips as she turned her body in Lulu's direction. "No."

With her face contorted, Lulu groaned as she let her head fall back. She was not feeling the urge to move. She had exasperated all her energy speaking with members of the council.

Lady Viell had led her around, introducing her to members of the council all to form herself a web of connections, so she said.

It was tiring. Lulu felt that her conversational energy was sucked out of her and her social battery completely emptied. She never wanted to do such a thing again.

Though, she would admit; she was introduced to some probably decent people, and they were all quite kind to her.

Like Admiral Zo, the Fleet Admiral of the Alverians - an expansive group of freelancers that offer their services in the form of a hired army. Though he had told her that they don't partake in wars, he did say their usual jobs were dealing with the infamous pirate groups that cause trouble throughout the galaxy.

He had told her that while he is referred to as an Admiral, he isn't an actual Admiral. The title was merely honorary. Given to him by Emperor Falcion as a reward for his efforts.

The man was tall and large, she couldn't tell his build since he was dressed head to toe in armor, and his voice came somewhat muffled through his helmet; but he was lax and introduced himself to her in a simple manner, shaking her hand and giving him his contact info.

After meeting him, Lady Viell took her to Count Fenix. The man was practically a gold mine in a white suit.

The man was green with pointy ears, differing from hers due to them being quite a bit wider.

Other than that he was pudgy and short, even shorter than her. He wore two wrings on all his fingers, a shining chain, while in his mouth were golden grills that shone under the light with his wide smile.

The man himself wasn't exactly the most kind of those she met, rather blunt actually, even telling her to stop stuttering if she didn't want to be a failure; which was... quite rude honestly, but she shrugged it off.

He introduced himself as the head of an energy company that provides energy to the many corners of the galaxy. She didn't need to hear anything more from him, the way he dressed and presented himself made her utterly aware of how successful his business was.

The man also gave her his contact information, along with a line of advice: "One of the most important aspects in business, kid, is presentation. Hiding and being nervous will only make this more difficult for you." He told her.

She took his words and noted them with a silent chuckle. It seemed she was getting advice all the time recently. She wouldn't say they weren't needed though. She appreciated it all.

Lady Viell had promptly introduced her to others in the Council tower after those two, ranging from politicians, military personnel, business owners, manufacturing organizations, etc. She had been introduced and talked to a variety of people.

It honestly made her sick.

Her stomach was in a flurry of moths, making her nauseous and wishing to spill her guts. She calmed herself after a long while of rest, though she was still slightly shaking the nervousness.

Groaning once more, she rolled around in the chair a few times before trying her best to compact herself into the bag chair. She would have to deal with it.

As she was doing this she heard ringing from across the room. Her grandmother was receiving a call on her communication device.

Tapping on her wrist device and then placing a piece in her ear, Nizael looked in Lulu's direction. "Yes?"

"Right, she's right here. One moment." Pressing the button on the earpiece, she beckoned Lulu over.

Rolling out of her bag, Lulu stopped her head from hitting the ground with her prosthetic arm.

Standing next to Nizael, she leaned over the arm of the chair. "You wanted me?" She asked.

"Your mother called me, she wishes to speak with you." She sighed. Patting Lulu's hand, she took her device off her wrist and the piece out her ear, "Take it. Talk to her out in the halls."

Nodding, confused at her sigh, Lulu took them, quickly leaving for the hall. Putting the wrist device on, she looked around the ship's hall. Seeing nobody around, she put the piece in her ear.

"Hello?" She cautiously greeted.

"Lulu? How are you, dear?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Lulu smiled. "I'm doing ok, Ma. How have you been?"

"Oh, just busy. I've been experimenting in the lab. We were able to, finally, gleam an inch of the secret behind these weapons they used. The weapons could disrupt Flauna. Quite a few soldiers died during the attack back then due to them. They seemed to attack the Flauna in the air, the Flauna being used to bring the power to life, attacking them and pulling them apart with Flauna that seemed to attract them away from each other like magnets, In the lab, we were trying to–"

"You're going on a tangent, Ma."

"Right, sorry."

"You wanted to speak with me about something?"

"I wanted to check up on you, but yes, there was something that your grandmother had told me, and we ended up arguing over it, but tell me how the council went - nothing happened, right?"

"Ah, um, I didn't speak during the council, so, thankfully, nothing could have happened." She said. "Some talks about a universal threat, um; I also met a few council members after, who invited me to visit their planets, to take part in things like training; some even went as far as to offer their services." Lulu hummed.

"Other than that, I can't say anything else- oh!" She exclaimed, "So there was this Clobhar." Her mother laughed at her words, "He was inebriated and caused some trouble when everyone was leaving."

Chuckling, Lalia sighed, "It's great that nothing bad happened - I was worried something could have." Hearing that, Lulu smiled.

"What was it that you and grandmother were arguing over?"

The piece in her ear went silent, Lalia not speaking as if deliberating whether or not to tell her - With a yawn, Lulu leaned her back against a wall, waiting for an answer.

"Your grandmother wants you to enter the military."

....

"...Oh."

— — —

— —

—

Within the spaceport of the capital city, within a transit room being looked over by soldiers, beams of light appeared before the forms of two figures became clearer and clearer until they were both fully on separate spots of the transit pad.

Looking up from his screen, the operator stood, saluting the General. "Welcome back to Lexgran, General!" The remaining soldiers and operators in the room followed suit.

"At ease. I won't be here long. Have someone prep my Stinger."

With a nod, one of the soldiers quickly exited the room after another salute. Watching him leave, Nizael looked down at Lulu, who had taken place at her side, slightly trembling.

Putting a hand on the girl's hood, she rubbed her head attempting to soothe her. "You feeling alright? Some people have a harder time going through transit than others. Your body should stabilize soon."

Waiting for a response, she sighed once the bluehead gave her an unsure nod. Patting her shoulder, they left the room, heading to hangars where Nizael's ship was being held.

Once they entered the large room, Lulu's eyes brightened at the large space vessel.

Nizael's Stinger had a sleek chassis, the front of its head a defined pointer, its wings were short and sharp, while its thrusters were booming in power, the blue light coming from it like stars in the sky.

Quickly running to the ship, Lulu put her ear on its chassis frame. Closing her eyes, she tuned into the almost silent hum of its powerful engine.

"Grandma! What class ship is this!?"

"It's a Grade A, Piercer Class STK-05."

Nodding at her grandmother's words, Lulu patted the ship's chassis, sliding her hands across its weapons and utilities strapped to its sides or installed on the wings.

"Right. So this ship was designed to break straight through blockades, as well as to use needle tactics. Makes sense. I'd have to look at the engine more, but its design is centered around quick movements. It lacks combat capability, its weapons only being Grade C or B, but those weapons should be enough to get the ship wherever it needs to go.

Though it would probably be better if they instead put a circulator within its engine - If they did so, it would allow the ship to keep its speedy properties while also allowing higher grade weapons to be operatable."

Watching her mutter to herself, Nizael smiled at how the girl had quickly forgotten about her surroundings, completely focused on the ship while she started to examine.

Dropping her hands on Lulu's shoulders, she brought her out of her thought process. "You know what, Lulu? If you think that might work, you'll have to start working on ships of your own, won't you?"

"Really!?"

Nizael nodded while climbing the ship, "As long it's what you want, now let's go. We have places to be."

"Ok."

Hopping into the cockpit, the two secured themselves to their seat. Nizael clicked a button that brought the cockpit cover back over them.

With continued clicking, the ship came to life, its engine howling at the action, and the once fully black cover became see-through, showing their surroundings. The screens in front of Nizael lit up, pressing several panels. She held a button above her.

"Open the doors for hangar 09. Report on any abnormal activity in the sky."

The two waited a few moments before a beep rang out. A voice was emitted from the box above them, "Affirmative, opening hangar 09 doors... Reporting on irregular activity. There are readings of a medium-sized vessel hovering about the skies of the Northern region, dangerously close to the Rift Zone. Information of a team heading to confront. Out."

"Understood. Keep observing the vessel. If any moves are made, inform me right away.

"Affirmative. Safe travels, General."

With the soldier's final words, Nizael removed her finger from the button, clicking another, causing the ship to initiate hovering. Following another being clicked, Lulu felt the vessel shake from the landing gear lifting.

Hovering out of the hanger, Nizael pushed the steering wheel, causing it to lurch forward before she stepped on the thrusters, causing them to zoom through the skies, their surroundings going by like a blur.

Looking out at the sky above and around her, Lulu merely stared in amazement, smiling at the clouds dispersing as soon as they came into contact with the ship.

"Hey, grandma." She called out, still looking at the clouds, "What is the Rift Zone?" She asked.

"It's a term for the large open area surrounding Asora's Rift." She answered.

At the mention of Asora's Rift, Lulu pulled an object out of her left leg pack. Jingling the keys she had received from Lord Tyvetta, she began fiddling with the circular pad connected to it.

"That's where we're going now, right? To find the Ring buried there?" The girl muttered under her breath. She knew the time for her to do something was supposed to happen, but she didn't expect the time to come so soon.

Glancing at her granddaughter from the corner of her eye, Nizael sighed at the tension building on her face. Popping open a compartment, she pulled out a small metal box and tossed it behind her into the girl's lap. "You know what I do when I'm stressed, Lulu?"

Flinching at the sudden box thrown her way, Lulu put her key away, lifting the lid. In the box were a couple of dozen white sticks.

Nizael tapped on the back of her seat, "I smoke some of these." She informed.

With that information, Lulu stared at the pack of smokes in bewilderment. The girl could not believe her calm, level-headed grandmother, the great General, was a smoker.

"...Aren't these those human cigarettes?" Her question came out with a bit more surprise than she intended. But she didn't mind it and stared at the back of the seat with a raised brow.

She laughed, "Oh, Yuletti's gown, no! I would never put my hands on those filthy contraptions. These are soothing. The smoke inhaled helps calm the nerves because of the herb used to make these. There should be a lighter in the back, one should do the trick."

Humming at her words, she took a stick from the box, found the lighter, and lit it.

After a moment of hesitation, she shrugged and put it to her lips, attempting to do what she had seen many smokers do.

Falling into a coughing fit, she took a bit to calm down, attempting to take another puff of the medicinal smoke stick - much better this time; It didn't take long for her to start feeling its effect.

She felt a breeze go throughout her body, causing her to go involuntarily limp, her eyes glazing over and her mind foggy; Now she had the biggest urge to sleep.

Lulu's eyes slowly blinked close, "This... is quite... nice." She slurred out, quickly falling into slumber.

The flame on the stick went out as Nizael turned on light and relaxing music, "Get some rest, dear." She smiled before frowning, "We'll be there when you wake, with some company, unfortunately."

The bluehead could hardly hear the latter half of her sentence, but a wide grin spread across her face regardless, leaving her thoughtlessly muttering into sleep.