KeplerNova

Keiko hesitantly took a seat at the cafeteria table as she put her cell phone back into her bag. Her family’s mixed martial arts studio had been doing well lately, in the wake of all the self-defense PSAs the American Knights had been putting out on television recently, and it seemed like packing up and moving permanently to Tuvia might finally be a feasible option in the next few months. It would be safe there, in Tuvia. Maybe she’d even get to meet some of the Tuvilite Knights in person one day. Of course, that also meant that she’d be moving yet again. Tokyo, Hawaii, California, Colorado, now Pennsylvania, and possibly Tuvia… it was difficult to keep up with old friends, even online, no matter where they lived. But it was worth it to be safe, wasn’t it? “Keiko. Earth to Keiko. Oh my god she’s doing the sad thing again.” A familiar hand waved in front of her face, and Keiko smiled. Ashlyn, one of her high school classmates, was leaning over the table to get Keiko’s attention

“Please tell me it’s fake.” “Saberon is genuine, no fakes.” “Oh my God.” “It honors the spirit of the great garundabeasts. Also… adds character to lounge place.” “It’s a great bloody animal hide is what it is, Clo’vi-Sar.” Well, Keiko thought, watching this argument from one of the many security cameras aboard the highly modified -- and even more highly questionable -- space-yacht known as the Tuvilite, Baxter Meadows still wasn’t getting along with the other crewmates very well. Despite the fact that he had finally agreed to sign up as a fully-fledged crew member instead of just (supposedly) being there against his will, he seemed to always have something new to complain about, whether it was the fear that his makeshift arm-cannon would graft itself onto its arm for some reason (which Keiko knew was highly improbable, she ran the calculations herself) or the fact that their copilot had just hung up the hide of an animal from his homeworld in the middle of the lounge right over

How long had it been, now? How long had it been, Keiko wondered, since she was first sent off on this mission? She had no time to check her phone, not wanting her target to escape her sight yet again, even if no one knew that Keiko was out here besides Keiko herself. She was high enough in rank that she could go out on her own, now. The Tuvilite Knights still cared about their subordinates, in their own twisted way. How long had it been since she had discovered the true relationship between the Tuvilite Knights and the monsters – that they had created the monsters themselves, all as part of a grand scheme to play the hero and control the entire nation? It felt like forever ago, but it couldn’t have been more than a year or two at the most, could it? She couldn’t leave. She had nowhere else to go. Keiko knew that the Knights targeted people’s personal lives and dredged up information to try to get them to stay. That’s why Maurya was still here, after all. But they never needed to