A/N: Sorry if you were expecting the next actual chapter, but this was something I had on the brain and I needed to write
something about. Consider it a month-late April Fool's joke or something.
This is an "alternate universe" one-shot chapter, focusing on crossing over Splatoon with a
different universe entirely - in this case, Warframe. For familiarity, I'm gonna reuse a bunch of existing characters from Inky Future, mostly because I don't plan on doing a full fic of this idea anytime soon, if ever, unfortunately, for various reasons.
Still, enjoy. Next chapter should be out hopefully within the next few days.
Alternate Universe 1 - The Zariman Ten-Zero
Orion stared out the window towards the stars, immersed in the beauty of the cosmos. Light bounced off the rings of Saturn. He wanted to enjoy this sight as much as possible - after all, he might not ever get another chance to see it again once the ship performed its next void jump, which would probably be sooner than scheduled.
He tried to tune out the noise of kids - humans, Inklings and Octolings alike - laughing and playing behind him, either playing Lunaro or Turf War. The Zariman Ten-Zero had a dedicated area for kids recreation which they called the 'Playground', monitored by a Cephalon and a few adults. The fact that the ship had more than enough space to accommodate all the children on board (with multiple playgrounds and arenas) spoke to the sheer enormity of the vessel itself. The Orokin Empire did not build
small. In fact, some would say they built many things
comically large just because they could.
"Hey, little bro!" His sister's words broke him out of his focus. Artemis was his twin sister, only older than him by fifteen minutes, both of them Inklings, though one could easily mistake them as sisters rather than brother and sister due to Orion's feminine, intersex body. "You're not gonna play with us? You just… Stopped."
Orion shook his head. "Class is gonna be on pretty soon. And I'm betting they've moved up the jump schedule, so we'll be making the jump soon. I just want to admire Saturn for a while before that happens."
"We're gonna build a solar rail when we get to Tau, it's not like we'll be stuck there forever," said Artemis as she sat down by him. "We'll see Sol again."
"I dunno… I get this weird feeling something's gonna go wrong. Some of the adults are up in arms about the long jump."
Artemis smiled, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You worry too much, little bro. And besides, if something does go wrong, it's better you spend your time with friends, right?"
"Well-"
"
Children, it's time for class," spoke the voice of Cephalon Jayri across the entire 'playground',
"make some time to put an end to whatever games you're playing and start heading to the classrooms, please, you don't want to be late."
"Aw, dang," Artemis sighed, as she stood up, "come on, Ori, let's go."
Orion nodded, and they jogged to catch up with the rest of their class - twenty people of mixed species. The other Inklings were Ethan and Ayane (two of the more senior kids), as well as Karlene, Liam, Hinata and Koji. The Octolings included Artemis' girlfriend Iris, and Orion's boyfriend, Axl. All of them wore similar jumpsuits, though thankfully they were customisation to some degree, including colours, so they weren't all identical.
Still, as they walked down the metal corridors and through the gardens towards the classrooms, Orion couldn't help but notice the golden statues specifically depicting humans. Even if Inklings and Octolings were part of this expedition and treated as equals by many humans on the ship, they were still considered second-class citizens at best by the Orokin, having been the result of genetic engineering experiments.
"We've got Phasics, right?" asked one of the human girls, Zulvela. She had red hair with a ponytail, and brown eyes.
"If the jump schedule moved up again, then maybe not," said another human girl, Jenva. "Nothing about this trip is predictable, considering what the Zariman has outfitted."
The Zariman Ten-Zero was an Orokin colony ship outfitted with an experimental Reliquary drive for Void-Jumps. The plan was for the ship to actually reach the Tau System within an actually reasonable amount of travel time without the need for placing the crew and passengers in stasis.
"Some of the adults are way too eager to jump, some of them aren't," Liam said. "I haven't seen some of them lately."
"This is a massive colony ship, you can sometimes not see someone for days at a time or even a week," Karlene noted.
"I'm worried, though. This trip has been fraught with problems from day one," Iris said, frowning. "The Orokin still went ahead with authorising it even when the agricultural biomes were sabotaged."
"That first week
sucked, there was barely any food to go around," groaned one of the human boys, Mathon.
"I think something's gonna go wrong," Orion said. "This is way too experimental."
Axl put his arm around Orion's waist. The feeling of Axl by his side was definitely was comforting. "It'll be okay. We'll get through it somehow. This ship's been reinforced to hell and back."
That's when a few notable figures passed them by on the way to class. Orion recognised Callie and Marie, the up and coming Inkling 'idol' duo known as the 'Squid Sisters', along with the Inkling and Octoling duo Pearl and Marina, also known as 'Off The Hook'.
"Oh, hey, it's the Squid Sisters and Off the Hook," Artemis grinned, "man, I still can't believe they're part of this, nevermind being students like us."
"Yeah, we've got the coolest crewmates ever!" Hinata giggled.
Koji frowned, "they're rising stars, though, why would they be assigned to the Zariman?"
"Maybe the Orokin think they might find inspiration for new music when we reach Tau?" Ethan said, scratching his head.
"Nope, it's more simple and callous than that. Inklings and Octolings are considered 'expendable', which is why we've got a mixed bunch," Ayane said, shaking her head. "The only reason there's humans at all on board is because we can't be trusted to run the ship properly."
"Now that's just screwed up and racist," said one of the human boys, Naden. He had slicked back black hair and green eyes. "I'd say it could be worse and you could be slaves like the Grineer, but that's not a great consolation prize."
"The reality is, Inklings and Octolings are second-class citizens. We're just lucky enough to be considered citizens at all and not
slaves."
"Man, screw that. You guys can do some really cool stuff that we can't," Zulvela said, "we can't even play Turf War with you guys without special equipment!"
"Maybe one day humans, Inklings and Octolings will be equals. But not as long as the Orokin are in charge," Artemis sighed. "And what are the chances of that changing?"
It was a bittersweet sentiment everyone there shared as they continued on towards class.
❖
Not long after class had settled down had Cephalon Melica on the main screen, represented as a digital 3D sphere with a notable vertical hole through her top, spoke up. "Quiet down, please. Stand for pledges~!"
Everyone slowly began to stand up. Orion wondered why they had to do this before every single class. But then again, the Orokin were not subtle about their demands for subservience. Everyone raised their hands, as a recorded voice began to speak the pledge specifically meant for the Zariman colonists.
"By the glory and wisdom of the Seven I give my life-"
Berryn and Axl just chuckled, obviously finding the whole process a joke. Jenva hissed at them discreetly, "you wanna get detention
again?"
The pair grumbled, but began to speak the words, albeit with very little enthusiasm. Everyone was speaking in unison at this point, albeit with varying levels of synchronisation.
"
-to carry the sacred light of our dominion into the deepest dark. In this, we are one."
As everyone sat back down, Cephalon Melica spoke again, in her usual cheery voice that made people wonder if she was all there in the head. "Save all that chitter-chatter for Tau! Our jump schedule has changed again so we're moving exams up with it! Everyone has studied their Temporal Axioms unit I assume?"
Cue groans across the classroom - Orion and multiple of his classmates had anticipated this possibility. Mathon immediately complained, "T.A.? But we were meant to have Phasisiiiiiccsss!"
Of course, as usual, Melica completely failed to read the room. "By my precepts, I've never had such an enthusiastic group of students! Now. Eyes of the main screen, and pay close attention!"
On screen was a presentation narrated by the scientist Euleria Entrati, an older woman who spoke in a no-nonsense but posh accent.
"Temporal Axioms - Unit 6. The Prison of Linear Time. Presentism, the obsolete theory of linear time, posits that now is all that is real. In this frame, the Present Absolute, the now, moves constantly toward the future."
"When are we ever gonna use this stuff?" Jenva asked dryly.
"Seriously, we're colonists, not time travellers," Zulvela complained. Orion couldn't really blame them for complaining, but it was part of the curriculum.
The narrator continued her lecture regardless, contrasting the obsolete theory of 'Presentism' with the newer theory of 'Eternalism' exposed by studying the Void, which was just a fancy way of describing multiverse theory, as far as Orion was concerned. Eternalism posited that the results of any set of outcomes were actually real, not just the reality they lived in now, and were potentially accessible. And with access to the Void, the Orokin believed that accessing those timelines was theoretically possible.
When the lecture was over, everyone was directed to the tablet screens on their desks, where everyone would individually be quizzed on their understanding of the lecture.
Orion, of course, easily aced the quiz. Though considering the nearby groans, he had a feeling some of his classmates weren't having as good a time.
A male voice echoed over the loudspeaker, getting everyone's attention.
"Pardon the interruption. This is 'Zariman actual'. All decks, all stations, stand by for Reliquary field drill."
"Geez, they're performing the jump in the middle of class?!" Liam winced.
On the other hand, Melica sounded delighted. As usual. "Students, please direct your attention to the windows, you may find this instructive!"
Orion looked out the window to the left, seeing Saturn once more. Orion initially was more than happy for another chance for once last look at Saturn, but then as the Void-Jump commenced, something began pounding at his head, causing him to clutch it. He noticed his classmates were having the same reaction, as the announcer counted down to the jump…
❖
Orion wasn't sure how long it had been since the jump. Specifically, the
failed jump.
The entire classroom was in disarray. The windows were cracked, and the reinforced shutters were misaligned. Cephalon Melica's window had fallen down and cracked, and Melica herself had gone hayware, stuck at the moment right before the jump as far as her perception was concerned. Outside of the windows was not space, but the Void itself and its ethereal energies.
Most of the tables and chairs had been used to barricade the door. Why? The screams of pain, fear and feral rage coming from outside was a good enough explanation as any. Most of the adults had gone inexplicably berserk, and the ones who weren't, well, they were being torn apart.
Maybe if they had ink weapons they could fight back against the Inkling and Octoling adults, but that still left the humans as a problem. They were just kids, what could they possibly do?
Orion was huddled up with Axl, who was comforting him. He had been imagining a potential worst-case scenario. None of them were nearly as bad as this.
"Cephalon, kill lights, and switch off," Ayane hissed to the still-active screen. She was one of the few students who still mostly had their wits about them, including Ethan, Zulvela and Naden. Even Artemis was panicking, even if she was trying to figure out how she could help.
"Void Jump commencing! How ex---cit---ing…!" Thankfully, Melica acted as ordered, switching off and turning off the ceiling lights. That would hopefully buy some time.
"Everyone, stay quiet, keep your voices down," Naden hissed, trying to get everyone to clam down. Considering the situation, however, that was easier said than done. Artemis went to comfort Iris. Orion could hear Berryn muttering in his panic about how he was
sure his mom would come and get him, completely in denial about their situation. Hinata was rocking back and forth, Karlene comforting her as well. Everyone else was in varying states of panic and despair.
As the four level-headed kids went around trying to comfort the rest, Orion tried to busy himself by doing a quick head-count. It was the only thing that he could think of to try and keep his mind busy and distracted from the chaos outside.
Twenty-one.
Wait. No, that can't be right. It should be just twenty.
He did another head-count, and the last person he landed on was the Inkling kid in the corner, sitting on a table, tapping his finger against the wall. While he was facing away from everyone else, he could tell that this person wasn't anyone he recognised. Orion stood up, and followed by a confused Axl, approached the student, "hey, you okay?"
Zulvela seemed to notice as well, coming over with her flashlight, "you lose your light? You can take mine if you want."
The Inkling boy stopped rapping on the wall, and slowly began to turn around.
Orion's breath caught as he found himself staring into the eyes of an identical copy of himself - except for unnatural pure dark purple eyes. Also, the absolutely unnerving grin. "Thanks kiddo. I think I will."
"Uh, why do you look like me?" Axl asked, staring in shock.
"Huh? No, she looks like
me," Zulvela said, also very surprised.
The commotion was drawing attention from everyone else, and judging from the collective reactions, it was as Orion suspected - this being was appearing to everyone as a copy of themselves. "This person is appearing to us as ourselves. The better question is… Who are you?"
"I could answer that question, buuuuuttttt… We don't exactly have all day, do we?" The creepy copy of Orion grinned. "Let's just say I'm a resident of this place, which you call the 'Void'. And I have a proposition for you all."
"That being?" Iris asked warily.
"I can save all you - and all of you fellow kids. Every single one of them," said the mysterious Void-being. "But you have to
want it."
"I'm not sure we can trust this guy," Artemis said. "I've heard stories of some weird person in the Void based on Alberich Entrati's experiments. Spooked the absolute hell out of him. The Orokin officialy deny he exists, but…"
"We might not have a choice, Artemis," said Karlene, though her voice still wavered. "But what's the price we have to pay?"
"Does it matter? It's either that or everyone dies~!" The Void-being grinned, and extended a hand, "why don't we shake on it?"
Orion looked at his copy's hand, glowing with ethereal Void energy. He heard a noise from the door - there was a red glow from outside, and something was trying to bash its way in.
"Time's up, kiddos, it's now or never."
Orion took a deep breath… And clasped the hand before him firmly, ignoring the objections of half the class.
In that moment, he and his peers became more than just humans, Inklings and Octolings. He felt like the entire Void was surging through his very being all at once. It was almost too much for him to take.
But he had to be strong. For his sister. For Axl. For his friends. He maintained the handshake firmly.
"You're an interesting one, kiddo. I'm gonna be keeping my eye on this little group of yours. You upheld your end of our bargain, so I'll hold up mine. I'm nothing if not a 'man' of my word, after all. Ta-ta."
Orion blinked. The mysterious figure was gone, as if he had never been there to begin with. He closed his hand around air. But there was still an ethereal glow around his hand.
"Uh… We all saw that, right? Just making sure I'm not going crazy," Koji gulped.
"Yeah, we all saw it, I think," Ethan said. "More importantly, did you guys
feel that when Ori shook that… Thing's hand?"
"Yeah, that's an easy one," Liam said, holding up his hand, flowing with Void energy.
Before any one of them could figure out what had happened, the barricade began falling apart. Hands came through the door, viciously shoving away parts of the barricade to allow some way in. Orion could see glimpses of heads poking in, faces tainted with feral madness.
"They're breaking in," Zuvela said, "we gotta figure out what that guy did, or else…"
Orion recalled the Void being's words -
"Time's up, kiddos. It's now or never."
When the first adult successfully managed to break into the room, he thrust his hand towards him, focusing his energy. A blue beam of Void energy about as thick as his arm lanced forward, piercing right through the torso, knocking the man right into the wall, causing him to slump over, apparently dead.
Seeing the man's corpse made him violently ill. It was almost a good thing he hadn't eaten in the last two hours, otherwise he would've thrown up immediately. But he couldn't look away from what he had done.
Gasps of shock echoed through the room. Artemis turned to her brother. "Ori… You…"
"There's no time. It's either us or them," Ayane said, as another adult broke through, and she thrust her hand forward as well, tearing through her with a lance of energy. Orion could tell that even she didn't feel comfortable with it, either, however. "We need to stick together, and evacuate the rest of the kids to the Dormizones, along with any of the adults who haven't gone mad and might still be alive. We don't know how much of this Void energy we can use."
"There's no other way, is there? We're gonna have to kill all the grown-ups, including our parents," Hinata sobbed.
"There might be a chance that some of them haven't lost their minds… But then again, the chances of them surviving the wrath of the others isn't great," Naden said. "But we don't have time to debate. If we don't act
now, the other kids might die. We can debate what to do with the remaining adults when everyone is in the clear."
"Right. Let's do this. Everyone stay close!" Artemis called out, as the group blasted away the remainder of the barricade with their new powers, and started blasting any frenzied adults in sight.
Orion wanted to double over and cry. But there was a time and a place for that, and it wasn't now.
❖
Once all the kids were successfully evacuated to the Dormizones, the remaining efforts were directed towards removing the remaining threats. They had no choice - even like this, the adults could operate the doors and elevators. Unfortunately, no sane adults had been found, as far as anyone knew, but a couple of groups suspected they might have accidentally killed one or two of them due to panic, paranoia and a lack of understanding of their powers.
In hopes of perhaps giving them time to recover or figuring out some kind of cure, efforts were made to ambush the hunting parties and individual adults, disarm them and force them into a makeshift prison. Thankfully, the ship had a brig, and they were able to snatch access keys from the bodies of some of the higher-ups who had died in the chaos.
It was a miracle that, apparently, none of the kids had actually died - some injuries, but nothing too serious. Even the few babies and toddlers amongst the children were untouched. When the Void being had promised that they'd save all of them, they had been quite honest.
Still, once things seemed to be calm, Orion finally threw up what remained of his stomach's contents into one of the Playground bins while Axl had his hands on his shoulders. He still couldn't believe what they had done, even in the name of survival. And then there was the matter of the
bodies. Those needed to be moved or cremated, a task nobody was eager to perform. And some of the results of the chaos had been grisly - some people were torn apart, and one man had even blown himself up and took a bunch of the feral adults with him.
All of the kids were gathered in the Playground - a meeting so they could try to figure out what to do next. Orion hadn't been listening in until now. The older kids (including the Squid Sisters and Off The Hook) had seniority over the discussion. Despite the amount of time that had passed, some of the children were still crying and distraught. And Orion couldn't blame any of them. All of them had seen more violence and death than anyone should have at their ages.
"Good news is, the biomes have been repaired enough that they should support our current numbers," said Marie. "So we're not going to starve, even if we need to support the prisoners. But right now, we're still stranded out in the Void. The oldest of us are gonna try and figure out how to bring the Zariman back into normal space, and hopefully, somewhere
within the solar system rather than in the middle of nowhere space."
"The most technically-minded of us are gonna put our heads together and figure out how to do that… Somehow," said Marina, standing next to Pearl.
"What if the grown-ups that are left don't turn back to normal?" Sniffed one of the younger Octoling boys. "What's gonna happen to our families?"
Zulvela got down to the boy's level, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be your family now. All of us, together."
"What even are we, anymore?" Mathon asked, looking down at his hands.
"We're all equals without a doubt, now - humans, Inklings, Octolings all. That's all that matters, really," Liam said.
"We probably should have a name for ourselves, though…" Artemis tapped her chin. "The 'Zarimanians'? Nah, that just sounds stupid."
"'Void Kids' is also a bit lacking," said Karlene.
Ayane just gave a flat look. "Are you seriously debating a
group name?"
"Lay off it, Ayane, we need some kind of way to pick up the mood after what happened," said Ethan.
Orion cleaned his mouth with a hand towel Axl handed to him. A name came to mind. "Tenno."
"Huh?" Axl blinked. "What was that, Ori?"
"Ten-Zero. Tenno. It's short simple, and I think it's neat, I guess?" Orion said with a sheepish grin and a shrug.
Surprisingly, the name seemed to resonate with the rest of the kids. Zulvela called out, "anyone got any problems with that name?" When nobody objected, she nodded, "sweet, 'Tenno' it is."
Callie called out, "alright, everyone cheer up! I think things can only go up from here!" Orion could tell even she was struggling to maintain her chipper attitude, however. Marie put a hand on her shoulder in solidarity.
Pearl called out with a strained grin,"y-yeah! We'll get through this, as long as we keep on truckin', ya'll!" Both idol duos were just as much of a mess as the rest of the Tenno. Marina looked like she was on the verge of tears, herself.
As the collective conversation moved to other things, Orion noticed someone sitting in a corner, quietly humming to himself and watching a spinning toy on the floor - a human boy around his age, whose hair was covered by a hood device which helped regulate audio stimuli, leaving his only main identifying features being his red eyes. Orion knew this kid - his name was Rell. Rell was autistic, and as far as some other kids were concerned, he was 'too weird'. Someone even tried to stop him from evacuating via the elevators, but Ethan punched that jerk in the face and let Rell in. Surprisingly, Rell had been shockingly calm throughout all of this, unperturbed by the chaos.
Orion went over to him, and sat down near him, but not too close. Rell didn't like being touched - something about it someone else touching him being 'too noisy'. "Hey, Rell. You okay?"
"Mmm… Yeah," Rell nodded, focusing on his toy. "Everyone's… Safe."
Orion had something of an affinity with him, especially since Rell didn't find Orion's gender to be odd at all. Which was why Orion found that he had a responsibility to look out for him, especially now that his mother wasn't around anymore.
Axl thankfully read the room, and sat down next to Orion. "Hey, Rell… I'm sorry about your mom." It was best not mentioned that apparently Rell killed her himself.
"Mmm. Wasn't Mama. Not Mama anymore. Mmm… Something else."
That immediately alarmed Orion. "Rell.. Are you saying none of the grown-ups were… Themselves?"
Rell nodded. "Hmm. Nobody was nobody. Haven't figured it out yet."
"Then the adults were already… Gone," Axl said, with a frown. "Replaced by monsters."
"Not sure many people will believe that, and it's still a cold comfort," said Orion.
"Hmm… I also have… Someone else to figure out. Can hear the tapping on the wall," Rell said.
Orion recalled the Void-being's rapping on the wall back in the classroom. He looked down at the floor. "Maybe… It's that entity I made a deal with… Did… Did I right decision? I don't even know if I or we even paid a price for our salvation."
"Mmm… Yes. You… You did the right thing, Ori," said Rell, looking up from his toy, making eye-contact with Orion. "Just have this feeling. Mmm… I don't think
he can be trusted. I think… He's… Mmm… Planning something… What's the phrase…"
"'Playing the long game'?"
"Mmm. Yeah. Not being dishonest. But I think… He has a plan. Mmm… Trying to figure out what."
Orion nodded. Rell must be way more in tune with the Void than the rest of them, if he was so aware of this Void-being. "Just be careful, okay, Rell? Who knows what the Void could do to your head."
"Mmm… I'll be okay. You were strong for us. I need to be strong too."
❖
A few days later… After the remaining bodies had been cleaned up.
The Tenno had been, without classes to contend with, practising with their new Void powers, and it turned out that there were some differences between species. Humans had more efficient Void beams and could not only perform a 'Void Sling' that allowed them to zip through the air quickly in a straight line in any direction, and become intangible through a sort of 'Void Mode', though they couldn't mode very quickly while it was active.
However, Inklings and Octolings had their own Void powers - they could imbue ink weapons with Void energy, which was perhaps not quite as effective but still way more efficient. As well, they could render ink on surfaces invisible, Void Sling right to any inked surface (with a greater distance but still limiting where they could sling), and could also initiate Void Mode by changing into swim form, allowing them to be intangible while swimming in ink, which made them slower outside of ink in Void Form but on the flip-side they could do it for much longer and be able to move faster than humans could in Void Mode.
Ultimately, all three species had similar powers, though with some interesting differences, but the advantages and drawbacks mostly evened out. Of course, there was a lot of friendly competition, including Void Sling races across the ship. The kids had to busy themselves
somehow while they waited for the most technically-inclined to try and figure out how to get the ship to drop out of the Void.
The Squid Sisters and Off The Hook had decided to try and do a concert to help the Tenno get their minds off their harrowing circumstances and relive all the stress. Thankfully, there was a theatre that had plenty of room for everyone (because the Zariman was, again, absolutely massive) and so far, everyone was having a good time.
Orion was leaning against Axl, who had his arm around him, both of them watching the concert. Sitting with them to his left were Artemis and Iris, also leaning against each other. To the right were Ethan, Ayane, Zulvela and Naden. All of them were just vibing and enjoying the performance and the atmosphere.
"We've got cool Void powers and it doesn't seem like there's anything else threatening us for now," Artemis said. "Seeing weird silvery stuff growing all over the place, though. Not a fan."
Orion had noticed too - various areas were forming strange, silvery structures, largely in spiral formations. Some of them looked like featureless representations of
people. "We need to get out of this place as soon as possible, though. We don't know what the Void might eventually throw at us."
"But what's going to happen when we drop out of the Void? How are the
Orokin going to react?" Iris asked.
Zulvela shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. It's not like we can do much else. The best we can do is stick together and stick up for each other. It's how we've survived so far."
"And if our lives are threatened? Well… We won't go down quietly," said Ayane.
Ethan nodded. "Yeah. Let's just enjoy ourselves and stay alive until then."
"And try to ignore the whispers…" Naden said. "Music is pretty good for that."
Even now Orion tried to ignore the whispers from almost out of his periphery, which he knew weren't from anyone physically nearby.
"Why us? And not our parents?" Iris asked. "Why did nearly all the adults go mad? Why did we have to kill most of them?"
Artemis kissed her on the cheek, "maybe we'll never know, Iris. We were only defending ourselves. We did our best."
Axl held Orion closer, speaking softly, "still feeling sick, Ori?"
"No… I'm okay now. I hate what I had to do, but the only other real choice was dying," Orion said. "Maybe I should've waited for everyone to agree, but… We didn't really have time for that."
"I think you made the right call. You acted decisively when everyone else had their doubts, and because of that all the kids got out alive. I'm proud of you, Ori."
Orion smiled. "Thanks, Axl. You're one of the reasons I was so strong in the first place. If it was just me there? I dunno what I would've done."
"Don't worry about hypotheticals. Just enjoy the concert, Ori. You've earned it."
Orion nodded, and just enjoyed the festivities. Things were stable for now, and there was no point thinking about what was going to come next just yet.
