CHAPTER ONE.
the art of being caught red handed.

     THIS WILL BE A STORY TOLD FOR CENTURIES, that's what Mars Argo's father had said around twenty years ago, gathered by all of the members of the Life Alliance. Soldiers, diplomats, medics, engineers, people from all walks of life and every race known to the Andromeda Galaxy had listened to his pre-battle speech where he assured them that people were going to die on either side, as they had done the previous battles before, but that their sacrifices would not be forgotten. And, he wasn't wrong, as the names of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to end the Damning War were printed in books that were owned by almost everyone in the galaxy.

     His name, however, was plastered on the concrete statues that decorated the pavilion in Central, and portraits that hung on the walls of every Council building among the planets. And, even along the wall in Ceren's School of Science and Technology that happened to be directly across the classroom she and the rest of her class were currently standing in. It wasn't really much of a traditional classroom, but rather a big room rid of any desks or chairs to leave enough space for the large anti-gravity chamber in the middle. The wall with the door was made out of glass, leaving the expansive corridor visible to anyone inside, as well as the Damning War memorial on it. Mars usually tried to avoid it at all costs, not only because of the emotions it would trigger, but she also hated being spotted near it and seeing the realization fall upon her fellow classmates' faces when they put two and two together. Being the daughter of a fallen war hero was not what it was chalked up to be.

     Today, though, was different, as it always was once a year. The voices of her classmates whispering about their current lesson and their teacher nitpicking at them were tuned out, almost sounding muffled in the girl's ears as she stared at the memorial. It was pretty, no argument there, with it's neat calligraphy that read The Damning War at the top, and the shiny, golden frames around the pictures of important figures that had a strong influence on the war and the Alliance. Among the portraits was Elder Elayne Juno, a few people in uniform (she assumed they were high ranking military officials), and the five members of the Silver Wolf, which included her father, the proclaimed leader of said group. However, the one difference in the photos was the date written beneath them, or, the lack of a date under any of them but her father's.

     2055 - 2092

     This will be a story told for centuries, he had said, or, that's what the books said he said. Everytime Mars would look at that plaque, those numbers, she would get so frustrated she usually opted to skip her classes. Her father was not dead, he was missing, but apparently only to her. The thought of no one else believing he might still be alive, even just an inkling of the idea, infuriated her. It must've been noticeable then, because she was only jerked out of her deep thoughts by a gentle hand suddenly gripping her wrist.

     " Ceren to Mars, " She turned her head sharply, finding the face of KP staring right back at her, a concerned look creased on his face as he raised an eyebrow to silently question her.

     She blinked at him, and inched back as she pulled her wrist from his hand. She shook her head dismissively in response, knowing all too well that wasn't a good enough reply for her friend, but it was all he was going to get. He didn't really need an explanation, though, he had been present everytime she zoned out like that. His eyes followed her previous stare at the memorial and he visibly frowned before straightening back to his full, towering height and looking back to the lesson.

     Mars readjusted, crossing her arms across her chest as she glanced over at the paper he clutched tightly in his fist, a C written in thick red pen at the top of it. She didn't comment on it, knowing full well that KP had been struggling recently in school, this class particularly. It was odd, ever since Mars had known him he had never gotten anything lower than an A and he was known to be a bit of a know-it-all. The sudden poor performance in Virtual Flight Mechanics seemed to come out of nowhere for the boy who had always been at the top of the class. Mars would be lying if she said she wasn't worried for him; it was KP's dream to become a pilot, it always has been since they were little, and she knew how much that dream meant to him.

     Precisely why Mars had preplanned a way to fix his grades and keep him from freaking out about possibly failing the class and therefore spiraling into a bottomless pit of despair and heartbreak.

" Argo. " A stern voice called in an almost bored tone, causing Mars to blink her thoughts away as she realized she was staring right at Captain Licht, the class instructor, who was staring right back at her with a thick, propped eyebrow.

     Mars found her voice stuck in her throat when she blinked again and quickly looked across the room to see everyone staring at her. KP not-so-subtly elbowed her, aiming for her side but his height caused him to hit her shoulder, and Mars loudly cleared her throat as she subconsciously straightened.

" Uh, yes, Captain Licht? " She hated calling him that. Licht was one of those old, retired veterans from the Damning War who apparently still wanted to relive his "glory days" by making a bunch of students 20 years younger than him refer to him as his old title. It just wouldn't have been as enjoyable for the old man to just go by Professor Licht.

Okay, Licht wasn't that old, he was probably a little bit older than her father, late 40s to early 50s if she had to guess. He didn't even have much gray hair, most of it was still shiny and icy blond, but what really aged him was the scars and wrinkles he liked to call "remnants of war". And, if anything, he was still just as eager to make those under him feel miserable as he had been in the Ceren military.

He crossed his arms over his chest now, appearing bigger than he had before as he continued to stare harshly at her, as if she was supposed to read his mind. He was most likely just doing it to embarrass her, since that is one of his favorite ways of making his students rethink their enrollment, but she figured she could at least get a pass today of all days. Surely a man so obsessed with the Damning War would remember today was the day Louis Argo had vanished, at least, it seemed everyone else did.

" Are you going to participate in the lesson today, or are you going to keep daydreaming and fail today's class? " He questioned sharply, and Mars felt her eye twitch in annoyance but she didn't let her grimace show.

She looked over at the small table that he stood near, where two sets of VR glasses sat. She hadn't even been paying attention to the lesson, she couldn't even remember walking into the room forty minutes ago, let alone what they were there to do, but she wasn't about to voice that aloud because it was sure to get her in more trouble and more embarrassment than she was already experiencing. She liked to think she was pretty good at improvisation and winging things, so she'd just have to risk it.

" Well, if I failed then who would you have to pick on every day? " She responded with false confidence, putting a cheesy grin on her face as Licht simply snorted and glanced down at the clipboard he held in his scarred hand.

" Alright then, Argo and Zho, let's see it. " He called, waving his hand around impatiently as Mars and another girl made their way up to the table.

Mars honestly didn't pay that much attention to her classmates, she attempted to learn their names and their skills, but that was about it. It's not that she didn't want to know them, but making friends and keeping them had gotten increasingly difficult after her father went missing. People didn't want to deal with the baggage, that's what she had initially assumed, but, after overhearing a group of kids from her class talk about how stuck up Mars must be since her dad was praised as a war hero, she gave up hope that anyone would ever view her as just her. Mars Argo, not Louis Argo's daughter, not the infamous war hero's daughter, not the poor girl who's dad is missing, just her.

So, when Mars made it to the table and looked over at her partner, she could barely recall anything about the girl. Sydney Zho, one of her parents was a baker, she only remembered that because one time her own parents had gotten a cake from them for Mars' birthday a while ago. Sydney was significantly smaller than Mars, standing only at her shoulder, and she had sleek black hair that was pulled into a tight bun at the base of her neck. When Mars realized she was staring a little too long at the girl, she noticed she was almost avoiding all eye contact with her.

Jesus, why does it seem like everyone else takes this day harder than I do? She questioned internally as Licht told them to put the glasses on to start the drill. He mentioned that they should work as a team to safely fly the spaceship back into it's dock, and that was really the only information Mars was going to get going into this exercise, so she took it and ran with it. The two girls put the glasses on, and instantly the view of her classmates and Licht in front of her disappeared, replaced by the vision of a pilot sitting at the controls of a standard Trivlio spaceship, one used for cargo.

She turned her head and saw Sydney sitting next to her, but the girl still wouldn't look at her, not even in VR. Mars made a scoffing noise in response but turned forward and looked down at the panel of controls in front of her. It was fairly simple, only about a dozen buttons or levers on either of their panels, but she realized they both had steering wheels and was confused almost instantly. Of course, the exercise would start as soon as she tried to figure out what to do. The ship started moving, or, in better terms, falling due to the lack of direction. She felt her stomach lurch as she instantly grabbed the steering wheel, pushing forward and up in an attempt to get them higher up to prevent them from crashing and failing as a result. Meanwhile, Sydney was moving slowly as she pressed a few of the buttons but was basically ignoring the steering wheel. Mars couldn't tell what the buttons were doing, but upon realizing that they weren't moving up but rather she was just slowing down the fall, she whipped her head around to Sydney.

" I think we both need to use the steering wheel. Pull up and push forward and I think we'll be able to- Are you listening to me? " She cut herself off when she realized Sydney was still going at it with the buttons; she couldn't even bother looking over at Mars. The taller girl's eyebrows knitted together as she adjusted her grip on the wheel, nearly standing up to pull it up as far as she could as she raised her voice, " Hey! Are you listening? Those buttons aren't doing anything, just grab the wheel and do what I'm doing so we can land- "

     Sydney was still blatantly ignoring Mars, and she wasn't sure if it was the obvious disregard for what she was saying or the fact that Sydney acted as if she couldn't even hear or see Mars beside her, but she was getting increasingly frustrated. However, she couldn't imagine they were going to keep falling for more than three minutes or so, or else this exercise would take forever to either fail or complete, so Mars took it upon herself to move to hold her own steering wheel with one hand, straining her fingers to hold it up and forward as she moved to stand in between the two wheels. She reached her now free hand over to Sydney's wheel, grabbing it tightly like she held hers and pulled upwards as hard as she could.

     " Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing? " Sydney exclaimed as she finally looked at Mars, eyes widened and a scowl on her face as she saw her standing between the steering wheels.

     " I'm passing the exercise. " Mars insisted through gritted teeth as she tried to avoid shooting a glare at Sydney; she felt the ship finally rising and almost let out an immediate breath of relief, but it was short lived as Sydney suddenly gripped her wrist, trying to wretch it off of her wheel. It was Mars' turn to shoot her an irritated look, " What the hell are you doing? "

     " This is supposed to be a team lesson, Argo- " She started, still attempting to pry Mars' strained hold on the wheel, but Mars scoffed, almost in hilarity as she cut her off.

     " Oh, coming from the girl who can't even look at me? We were going to crash and fail, I wasn't just going to let that happen because you're deciding to be an ass! " Mars declared, resisting the urge to let go of her own wheel in favor of pulling Sydney's thin hands from her arm when suddenly she could hear a distant yelling, and the ship around them started glitching.

     " Argo, Zho, let's go, ladies! Lesson's over! " Yup, that was Licht's shouts if she'd ever heard them. The entire simulation began to disappear and Mars reached up to take the glasses off her face, letting her eyes readjust and immediately looking over to find Sydney staring at her; man, if looks could kill.

Mars looked to Licht questionably, wondering if he had actually pulled them because they were arguing. That would be pretty uncharacteristic of him, usually he would let the students duke it out until they eventually either crashed or came to an agreement. She didn't even have time to ask him aloud because she was answered by a loud buzzing noise coming through the intercom speakers.

" Attention, all faculty and staff are being asked to meet in the main gymnasium. Teachers with classes currently, bring your students with you. The Council of Elders are conducting an emergency announcement and are asking for any Ceren that is available to listen. " A voice announced, and Mars was too invested in what they were saying to even pay attention to whose voice it was. They repeated themselves one last time, then the intercom was off.

" Alright, you heard Principal Navan, everyone single file line. " Licht declared, turning on his heel to head towards the door as the class quickly followed his direction. Mars waited until most of the others had already lined up and were walking out the door before she hopped in line. Fortunately, Sydney had basically sprinted to the line to get away from Mars, and KP had strayed to the back of it to wait for her.

He was looking ahead at the line as Licht led the class of approximately thirty out the door, like he was afraid the Captain would notice him lagging and call him out for it, which was not entirely impossible; KP was 6'0 and built like he competed in gladiator fights for a living, you could spot him from the other side of a bridge if you had to.. Mars walked up beside him, the two of them trailing behind the line far enough to be alone in conversation but close enough to not get left behind or scolded.

" Well, I thought my exercise was bad but they called an assembly just to interrupt yours. " He commented humorously, making Mars roll her eyes albeit being unable to bite back her grin.

     " Yeah, well maybe if my partner didn't act like I'd killed her dog, I would've actually gotten to finish. '' She replied with the slightest hint of annoyance, and KP let out a small snicker, to which Mars looked up at him with a raised brow, " What? That's the saying, isn't it? "

     " I mean, I guess, it's just weird to hear you say something like that when there's not even dogs on Ceren anymore. " He explained as the group turned a corner into the main hallway. At the end of the hall was the entrance to the gymnasium, and about half a dozen doors were on the opposite side, the doors to all of the "important people's" offices.

     Mars shrugged and quietly said, " There's dogs somewhere. "

     It was at that moment that a few other classes had also gotten to the gymnasium, causing a little bit of a back up in the hallway, and their class had stopped moving forward in order to not crowd any more than they already were. There were so many mutters and conversations happening in the hall that Mars felt like her head was going to explode. No one could stop theorizing what the Elders' big announcement was and why it was so sudden, when, frankly, Mars couldn't care less what they said.

     Which is precisely why, when she glanced over and saw the door to Principal Navan's office right beside her, she decided to use this assembly to her advantage and to kill two birds with one stone. She grabbed KP's shoulder, using him to balance on her toes to see over the crowd of heads ahead of them. She was pretty tall herself, but she would be lying if she said she didn't use KP's extra inches as a stool sometimes. When she confirmed that she would most likely be able to slip away without detection, and possibly even completely be forgot about during the assembly, she inched over towards the door, placing her hand on the handle and pulling it down gently to test if it was unlocked; if there was one thing Mars had learned from this school, it's that apparently no one here locks their door.

     " Mar, " KP whispered rather loudly, gripping her wrist as she turned to face his deep brown eyes that were full of concern and nerves, " what in the world are you doing? "

     The girl glanced over at the crowd for reassurance before looking back at KP and releasing the handle to place her hand over his holding on her wrist. She plastered a smile on her face as she patted his hand gently, insisting, " I don't need to hear this announcement or whatever, it's probably not a big deal, and, even if it is, I've got you to relay the info to me, right? "

     " That did not answer my question, Mars. " He replied sharply, raising a dark brow at her as she scrambled to think of some excuse to tell him that was believable enough to get him to let her do what she needed to.

     " Listen, I just.. " Well, this was already off to a lackluster start. KP continued to stare at her questionably, waiting for an explanation, and Mars inwardly sighed. She dropped both her hands to her sides, placing them firmly on her hips as she looked down at her boots. " Okay, I'm gonna change my grade in the system. "

     " What? " He seemed taken back in a way that was more of a surprised 'why' than actually questioning how she could do something like that. The dark skinned boy shook his head and looked even more confused and concerned than before, " Why? You have nearly perfect grades, I mean Licht probably won't even count today's lesson since you technically didn't finish- "

     " Yeah, well, I get nearly perfect grades when I actually show up, and you know how my track record with that has been recently. " She pointed out, lifting her head to meet his eyes again. He looked as if he was conflicted on what to do, so she wasn't going to give him a choice at all. She punched his shoulder lightly and insisted, " Look, KP, you know I can't be talked out of anything, so just go to the assembly for both of us and just cross your fingers that I can figure it out, yeah? "

     KP made a disgruntled noise but didn't make a move to stop her any further. He looked up at the digital clock displayed at the top of the gymnasium doors, squinting to read it before he looked back down at Mars.

     " The assembly will probably run over until the end of the day, I'll meet you at your house later? " He suggested, and Mars managed to hide her grin this time, giving him a short nod.

     " You bet. " And with that, Mars didn't give him the time to change his mind; the crowd began moving forward as their class was finally able to enter the gymnasium, giving her the perfect chance to head into the office, the chattering and steps of dozens of students covering the sound of the door opening as she walked in.

     She moved slowly, watching the door as she inched towards the desk. When she slipped behind it, Mars dropped smoothly into the chair and almost instantly noticed the gold plaque that read Principal Rene Navan sitting on the front. She hesitated a moment, letting her fingers anxiously dance atop the desk while biting her lip in indecision.

     Should she really do this? If she was caught, she couldn't imagine a scenario with a good ending for her, at least, not if Navan and the rest of the administration remembered anything about her incident a few months ago. This would probably be the final straw, missing-or-dead father or not. That should have been enough for her to forgo this reckless plan, but the reason she was even sitting there in the first place kept her seated, despite the likely consequences. Sure, there was always the underlying idea of her doing things like this as a way to "act out" in response to her life, well, basically falling apart within the past few years, but she had been convinced that was just what people around her said to feel better about when they gossiped about her amongst themselves. No, the real reason she was sitting in Navan's chair, risking possibly an extreme punishment (expulsion, maybe? Being arrested?), was KP.

     KP and Mars had been friends ever since she could remember walking. Their parents had all been in the same graduating class at the Ceren School of Science and Technology, so the two had known each other since birth. They were almost always together while their parents were working, up until KP's parents had his little sister, Erin, causing Naleah Barnes to become a stay-at-home mother to not just her two kids, but also Mars, who always tagged along behind KP when they came home from preliminary school. This being said, KP and Mars knew a lot more about each other than they probably knew about themselves, and, if there was one thing Mars knew about her friend, it was that his biggest dream has always been to become a spaceship pilot. He never specified what kind of pilot, just that he would take any job that would allow him to fly across the galaxy endlessly, whether that be a military cruiser, a cargo ship, or even just a passenger ship.

     And, in Mars' eyes, he was more than qualified already. He had flown the practice routes multiple times and aced them consistently, and he was booksmart, too. She wasn't really all that concerned about his grades if she was being honest, but the way he had been complaining about his recent marks and struggling with the classes had made her nervous for him. She couldn't imagine a world where KP was anything but a highly esteemed pilot, and if his grades somehow managed to drop significantly enough to prevent him from graduating, she would hold herself accountable. Maybe this was her overthinking things, but she was almost certain that KP's newfound academic struggles were partially her fault. Not only had he brought her all the work she had missed after getting suspended for two weeks after her last incident, but he was the person she vented to, and boy, did she have a lot to get off her chest. Whether it was about the kids and staff at school eyeing her weirdly or her mother's constant absence, or the strangers along the street who could never look her in the face after realizing she was the one with the famous missing father.

     She couldn't let KP's dream be ruined because of her, no matter how big of an impact she had on the situation. And, because of that fact, she was now staring at the sleek computer screen that sat angled on Navan's desk. Oddly enough, it was already unlocked and on an email browser asking the staff to pre-plan ahead of time for the Reconciliation Day celebration, when the school would be closed. Whatever that announcement the Council was making must have been urgent and out of the blue for him to just up and leave what he was doing with no precautions.

     This conclusion made a small part of her regret not listening to the announcement, her fingers pausing over the keyboard for a moment. She glanced over to the other side of the desk where a small, silver disk sat; a tv projector. With a second long contemplation, Mars reached over and turned it on, watching as it clicked and a cooking show that she vaguely recognized began to play. If she wasn't so on edge about trespassing into Navan's office, she might've taken a minute to actually laugh at how that was the last thing he'd been watching. She swiped her finger across the disk to flip through channels until the Ceren Daily popped up. Sure enough, the face of the Ceren Elder, Delia Kane, was there in place of the normal news anchor.

     Mars let the announcement play in the background quietly as she went back to the computer, clicking out of Navan's emails and eyeing the desktop apps for a moment before easily finding the gradebook. She opened it, fingers moving faster than she thought they could as she typed in KP's name, almost making the mistake of just putting in his nickname. She scrolled through his list of classes, and, of course they were alphabetical so it was at the very end.

     As she began to discreetly add a few points here and there to KP's last few assignments and trials, she started listening a bit more in depth to the announcement. It wasn't unusual for the Elders to make announcements like this, but they were usually over things like celebrations or laws changing. She couldn't imagine what was so important that the entire school needed to be present to listen, or that Navan would up and leave his computer open and not even bother locking his door.

     " The Eol Elder has given us a prophecy. " That was the first thing Mars caught. Her head lifted from the screen ever so slightly, and she turned to look at the virtual depiction of Delia. If she paid close enough attention, she saw flashes appearing on the woman's face. There were other news reporters there, then? She could also see a few other people standing around her, and she assumed they were other Elders; she didn't know all that much about the other planets in Andromeda, let alone what their representative Elders looked like.

     " A second prophecy, if you will believe. One that directly connects to the last one we had, twenty years ago.. Just before the Damning War began. " Mars continued to stare at the projection, locked on to it as if she was trying to decide whether or not she was actually hearing those words come from Delia's lips. She pulled her eyes away from the screen reluctantly, focusing on her task at hand as she added a few more points, scattering them across assignments so it wasn't obvious. Then, she was strategic enough to clear out the search history to keep KP's name out of suspicion. For extra safety, she even pulled the email up again, then stood from the chair, pushing it back in.

     As she came around the desk, her eyes were fixated on the Elder again. Her hand hovered over the projector but she couldn't turn it off. If this prophecy had anything to do with the one her father was a part of, she had to hear it.

     " The exact prophecy details are confidential, but it calls for a Ceren who will become of age before the eve of the Winter Solstice to realign the Life Alliance. "

      Mars almost flinched as Delia finished her sentence, hearing the noise of what could've been hundreds of Cerens hurling questions and shouts at her. It seemed they weren't going to get much more, though, after what she had said about "confidentiality", but she had to say something else, right? She couldn't just leave it at that, she couldn't just say something like that and expect people to not freak out. Why did they even need to realign the Life Alliance? What's so important about the deadline being the Winter Solstice? Questions like this flooded Mars' head as her ears seemed to not listen to anything else that was said as Delia seemed to be escorted back into the Council Building in response to people shouting, but there was one pressing at the back of her thoughts: would this be an opportunity to find her dad?

      As that crossed her mind, she finally turned the projector off, but before she could even take one step towards the door, it opened on its own. Mars froze in her place as she came face to face with Principal Navan. His eyebrows slowly raised to his forehead and she noticed his grip on the door handle flex, and she inwardly sighed.

     " Shit. "

xxx.

note.

hello and thank you for starting to read this story, all comments and feedback are greatly appreciated with love :)