Planet: Eteran

First Insurgency War

AVA

Snowflakes melted, and new life bloomed in the forest around Eastpoint. Starcross season started in earnest — which meant it drove their team into a competitive spirit. Ava observed James and Rayan practice on the field, with her own plans to make for the spring activity with the other student coordinators. Bleachers cleaned off of old slush, they sparkled in the sunlight, and she rifled through her school datapad.

"Coach Jora will be hosting the camp out this quad," Katie reported. "Sign-up sheets went onto the board yesterday."

"Does Coach Jora have anything in mind for activities?" Ava flicked through the students who signed up.

"Left some outlines for us." Yvonne waved her datapad in front of her face.

Ava jumped when Jon whistled from the center of the pitch, standing between his frontliners and backliners.

"What are they doing?" Ava questioned.

"He's been wanting to try a bait rebound," Katie replied.

Ava, not knowing every single play in Starcross, nodded in attentiveness. Katie smiled and pointed at Rayan when he settled himself on the vanguard line, tipping his netbat towards the ground, where the starball hummed in the protective casing. The other two frontliners flanked James on both sides, their movements telegraphed. Waves of painful familiarity swept over her, but none of them raced to take her brother off the field.

"You see, the vanguard frontliner preps the pass, and if all goes well, the backliner is the one who shoots," she said as James mirrored Rayan's subtle movements until they flowed in sync. Rayan steeled his back foot, then launched the ball out of his netbat. It cracked against her brother's netbat, where the purple pulse rebounded and it whizzed back to Rayan, who caught it within an inch of its flight. "Since Rayan's the vanguard frontliner, he's the one who has to set up all the complicated plays Jon has in mind — and he has to be in perfect sync with the anchor backliner — James — to put them in motion in quick succession. Like a pop. This play is a bait."

"What do you mean?" Ava asked as Rayan went back into his previous stance with a check on the dewy ground and his cleats.

Katie nodded when Rayan rebounded the shot right back at James, who planted himself as it picked up speed. Another crack sounded throughout the field, and it flew past the flanked frontliners, who stepped out of the way of the shot as it whizzed through the goal.

"Most people expect the vanguard to make a shot from a close distance," Katie explained while Jon did a celebratory Starcross dance and James lifted his hand to his brow with a wide grin. "Of course, James wouldn't be allowed to move during this — that does leave him vulnerable to a counter play."

Yvonne rubbed her temple. "Planning a camp out is more fun than whatever is going on down there."

Katie tsked with a waggle of her finger. "The thing about this play is you need to have your vanguard and anchor on the same page — the same wavelength. On the pitch, they need to be of one mind. If either of them slip, the play can fall flat." Katie leaned her elbows on her knees with a sigh. "Wonder how many times Jon will make them practice this."

"Rayan and James are best friends, Jon shouldn't be worried," Ava murmured.

"That's true, but I don't think that's what Jon is worried about." Katie poked Yvonne's shoulder. "You want to take a walk after this?"

"Sure?" Yvonne folded her legs. "I remember what happened last varsity, though. James got walloped pretty hard because the vanguard frontliner left him out to dry." In demonstration, she knocked her fist against her head.

"It didn't help that they wanted to just charge through our backline, and James... is a bit more stubborn than he needs to be. Everyone except Jon left him out to dry," Katie pointed out. "He should've had back up from the other backliners, not the goalie who was forced to leave the goal because Jon cares about his team and didn't want to leave James to deal with three huge frontliners by himself."

Ava winced at the vivid memory. Last quarter of the championship match — James caught the ball seconds before the end of the bell and the opposing team had one chance for a final finish. And to do that... they had to get through my stubborn bull of a brother... Jon made a valiant dash for him, but he was long trampled in a sea of limbs and both coaches and Jon had to pull him out of the pile of bodies.

"They won't pull something like that at this varsity," Katie assured. "I've seen Rayan in action. It'll be the opposing frontliners that'll be running the direction if they try that with James."

Another hard whack drew her attention to the field. James sent another ball flying into the goal, and Jon leaped in joy.

"We have it nailed this quad!" His voice boomed with energy and competitive pride. "If we can perfect our other plays, we're taking the varsity championship!"

Ava smiled when Katie and Yvonne left her on the bleachers. Rayan and James joined her instead.

"How does it look?" Rayan asked with a point on the field.

"You guys are going to win."

James scoffed. "Rayan suggested using our school speed diallers, but Jon said there's too much of a risk of missing the shot completely."

"It is risky," Rayan admitted. "It's used in the professional scene all the time though. You're one of the few people who could make that shot, it'd be worth it."

James' energised expression died in an instant, and he turned away from Rayan with his nose in the air. Ava choked on the bubble of tension in her throat, and she popped it. "Come on, you two," she said. "I need to help Meryn with his footwork. He said he'd meet us at your place, Ray."

Rayan nodded, and the three made their way off the bleachers. James waved at Jon, who hollered back with a wide, cheerful smile. Out of the school grounds, Ava took in the sweet spring air, carrying flowers across the breeze. Ava stopped when James faltered behind, gaze dropped to the flowing grass.

"Actually, I just remembered I have to... finish something for my photography classes," James said. "I'll see you home, Ava."

Her goodbye barely left her lips before James absconded without another word. Distress furrowed Rayan's brow as he grimaced and shook his head.

Hm... something's going on.

"Did something happen between you two over winter?" Ava asked. "You two have been... arguing more than usual. I don't want you two to fight."

Rayan released a shaky breath. "James... has something he still needs to talk about with you," he admitted and avoided eye-contact. "I'm sorry, but it's not my thing to talk about."

Ava accepted the answer, but her need for satisfaction dogged through her mind. If it is James' issue, I'd rather hear it from him. "Let's go then," she said. "I'll ask when he gets home."

Rayan echoed her smile. "Speaking of not telling other people things," Rayan said and gestured between them. "Have you mentioned to your dad that we're..."

Ava frowned. "I haven't. Is your mom going to mention it?"

"She won't."

Ava sighed, then hugged herself, but she lifted her head when Rayan beamed at her. "It's okay, I wanted to know if over the summer you wanted to come to Kestra, you know, to see what it's like." He laughed shyly. "Uh, I invited James, but he just... well, it depends on his own plans."

Hint number one received. "I'd love to go, Ray!"

"Good! Come on! I can't let Meryn beat me to my own house again."

Ava laughed and broke into a run with Rayan through Eastpoint, until they reached the gravel path to the gates. There was no Meryn Matthey in sight. Ava snickered behind her hand while Rayan peeked around. Maybe I should've mentioned he was staying back to work on some last minute assignments for his language classes.

Rayan skidded to a sudden halt, and Ava hesitated behind him while Elites crowded around the land. He bolted for the closest one. "What happened?" he snapped to the featureless mask. "Where's my mother?"

They turned to him and held their hands out in placation. "Settle down, Mr. Falae," a tuned woman's voice said behind the mask. "Your mother is inside. We're here because—"

Rayan's expression shifted into disbelief. Venom laced through the honey-browns.

His dad is home again.

Elites opened the gates for them.

"Do you..." Ava hesitated. "Do you want me to wait outside for Meryn, Ray?"

Pain dripped through the venom as he hissed under his breath. He clutched her hand with a hint of hesitation, as if he tried to grab her hand many times before but failed each one. "It's okay." His hollow smile returned. "I think it's about time you met my dad."

Two Elites sat on the front porch, and they opened the front door for them. In the main foyer, the manor remained empty of warmth and a large family. Two shapes stood underneath one of the archways in a deep discussion, with Mrs. Falae donned in her Sanctum uniform, and they fell silent when the door slammed shut behind them. Ava gazed at the red star on Mrs. Falae's breast pocket, glittering in the light from the crystal chandelier.

"Hey, Mom." Rayan eyed the man beside her. "Dad."

Matthias Vann had none of Dad's oppressive energy. Both him and Rayan shared eyes of dripping molten gold and thick, almost fluffy black hair, though the family resemblance ended there.

"You must be Ava Ranier." He smiled down at her. "It's good to finally meet you."

Ava held out her hand and put on her best Class Rep smile. "It's nice to meet you to, Mr. Vann!"

Rayan glared between them. "What's going on?"

Instead of responding, Matthias eyed Mrs. Falae. Rayan looked between them, but the door opened — Meryn stood on the threshold, panting. "I did not think Mr. Yokon would let me leave!" he complained and joined them in the foyer.

"This must be Dr. Matthey's youngest son," Matthias observed. "Meryn Matthey, right? It's nice to meet you."

Mrs. Falae stepped forward while Meryn gaped at the older gentleman. "The gym is all set up for you three," she interjected.

"I'll... just go down there." Meryn shuffled past the adults and down the corridor to the gymnasium. Rayan hadn't broken the staredown with his father.

"What's going on?" he asked in a stronger tone, reflecting authority.

Matthias sighed through his nose. "Once the current Sanctum Senator steps down, they've selected me to come to term. I'll be taking his place in the coming quadrums."

Rayan's expression flattened into despair. "Is that it?" he whispered. "It can't be that simple."

Guilt filled Mrs. Falae's icy blue eyes. Rayan gave his mother all of his attention. Mrs. Falae never flinched from the confrontation, and met Rayan head on.

"You're too perceptive for your own good, Rayan Falae," she whispered. "We'll need to have a talk. For now, go join Meryn downstairs. I need to talk about some more things with Matthias." Mrs. Falae and Mr. Vann walked to the second landing, leaving them behind.

Ava tugged Rayan to where Meryn disappeared, where he sat on the training mats.

"Hello," he drawled, but stopped. "Who died?"

"No one." Rayan headed for the Modi panel. "Show me what you got, Meryn. I'm putting them in an unpredictable setting." Rayan sat down on the weight bench. "Get ready."

"What does that mean—?" One Modi materialised and cut off his sentence with its charge. Meryn ducked in one smooth motion, then hopped to the side when another Modi joined the charge. They burst into holographic pixels when they collided.

Ava cheered when Meryn delivered his own punch at the aggressive Modi. "Keep yourself balanced!"

"It's kind of hard to focus on ten things at—" Meryn kicked another Modi when it swung for his shins. "Once!"

"Nice kick."

Meryn grumbled and returned to a defensive stance.

He's only going to get better at this when time goes on. I can't wait to spar with him when we're out there, discovering and learning new things.

Ava clapped when the last Modi fell to Meryn's jabs.

"Next time—" Meryn gasped. "Warn me, Ray!"

"I did. I said I set them to unpredictable." Rayan laughed and his tension washed out of his face. "It's as close as you're going to get to the real thing."

"I didn't say I was ready." Meryn stomped and prodded Rayan hard in the chest.

"You won't be ready if you ever get into an actual fight, Meryn," Rayan said with a chuckle. "That's the point — they sort of... just happen."

"Ho! I can't believe the city boy who got suspended is schooling me about fighting." Meryn leaned down on his level. "Mr. Troublemaker."

Rayan stretched his fingers and cracked them. "Fine. Let's spar, Meryn."

Meryn bounded to the other side of the mat as Rayan kicked up two split staffs into his hands. Ava leaned back to watch them spar. Meryn held his own against Rayan, and she folded her arms with a grin.

Guess all that hard work and drive is starting to pay off. Good.