by Ashley West
She snorted and shook her head with a sigh. "Looking for some peace and quiet, actually," she said. "Everyone's all riled up now that you and the rest are here. People keep asking me questions about it, and I don't know how to answer them, so I came up here." Kirstie appeared to hesitate for a moment, and then she sighed again. "I'm sorry about Keith."
Kratos shrugged again. "No harm done. I can understand how he feels."
"You have a little sister who doesn't think before she acts?"
"No," he replied with a grin. "But he's not being unreasonable, really. You did a pretty reckless thing."
Kirstie scowled at him and looked away. "I wish people would just stop talking about it. I did what I had to do, and it's done now. Maybe it was brave or maybe it was reckless, but either way, it's done."
"Fair enough. I won't bring it up again." He inclined his head and made to leave her alone when her voice stopped him.
"What you said to him..."
"I said a lot of things to him," Kratos pointed out.
"About me. About how if he thought that one of you put the idea in my head then he didn't know me very well."
"What about it?"
She swallowed hard and glanced at him for a moment. "You're right. None of them know me very well. My family, I mean. They never have. It's just...weird, that you seem to already know what kind of person I am."
Kratos looked at her for a moment, wondering how he seemed to know, as well. "Maybe it's one of those things, you know," he said. "A mystery of the universe. I guess we'll find out."
Chapter Nine: Putting in Work
“Will you tell me about your planet?” The words were out of Kirsten's mouth before she had even really registered the desire to say them. They were in the rec room of the apartment building, and Kratos was teaching her how to throw a proper punch.
She’d complained at first because obviously she wasn’t going to go up to a member of The Grey and punch them in the face, but Kratos had insisted that it was the first thing she needed to learn, so she’d shrugged and allowed him to show her what to do.
His method had been to ask her to throw what she thought was a good punch, and he’d laughed and patted his stomach, goading her to hit him.
When she’d said she didn’t want to hurt him, he had just laughed more, which of course led to her hitting him for real. His stomach had been...very firm to say the least, more muscle than anything else, and her hand probably hurt more than anything on him as a result.
Kratos had declared that she was doing it wrong and then bid her to hold her hand up palm out, so he could teach her the proper motions for doing it. He’d gone slow at first, and she was surprised because she hadn’t expected him to be so gentle. His hand was warm and slightly callused from using a weapon, and she found herself watching him curl his fingers into fists, first with the left hand and then with the right, the muscles in his arms standing out as he did.
Now her arms were slightly sore, and her breathing was hard and ready for a break. Instead of drinking her water or redoing the messy bun she’d wound her hair up into (because curly tendrils of hair were falling into her face as she’d practiced), she’d asked that question.
Kratos blinked, and it was clear he hadn’t been expecting that.
“Which one?” he asked finally.
“The...one you were born on?” Kirstie replied, confused. It was a simple question, or so she’d thought.
Kratos shook his head. “I don’t have a planet. Not like you’re thinking anyway. I was born on Kalravga, but I left there when I was about five, I guess? My mom didn’t like it, and we moved to Forsucan. Didn’t stay there long either.” Kirstie’s face must have reflected her astonishment at hearing that because Kratos laughed. “It’s not like here where you live on the same planet for your whole life. Not unless you’re dedicated to the service of it like one of the Randoran warriors or something,” he explained. “Most people hop around until they find somewhere that suits them.”
“Is that what you did?”
He shrugged. “Not really. I mean, technically, the ship is my home. We’re always on the move, trying to find new work and all that. Sometimes we stop in certain places to visit people, Milara and Sanaal both have family out there, but we keep moving most of the time.”
“Isn’t that...I don’t know. Weird?”
“Why would it be?”
Kirstie didn’t know how to articulate how she felt or what she was thinking, and Kratos didn’t rush her as she gathered her thoughts. Something she appreciated. “It’s just...it seems like it would be hard to not have a place to call home. Somewhere to go when things get hard, you know? When you just need a break.”
Kratos looked like that hadn’t occurred to him, and she supposed he’d led a very different life than she had. Even though her family wasn’t the most nurturing and usually ended up making her head hurt, knowing they were there and that she could go to them when things got hard was a huge blessing to her.
“I dunno,” Kratos said finally. “I’ve never really thought about it like that. I’m at home everywhere, really. Wherever we go, I can find somewhere to be comfortable.”
“I envy you,” Kirstie murmured, looking at the floor. “I’m still trying to find a place to be comfortable.”
He tipped his head to the side, eyes on her. “Really? You seem comfortable here. In charge.”
She shrugged. “I guess. I never really wanted that, though. It wasn’t something I tried to make happen, if that makes sense. It was just circumstance.”
“How did you start a resistance?” Kratos asked. “I’ll admit to being very curious.”
“It was an accident, really. One day Anise, one of my roommates, came home and she said that the highway had been basically destroyed while she was still on it. It was a mess,” Kirstie said, voice soft and eyes still trained on the floor. She could feel Kratos’ gaze on her, though, unwavering. “People died, people got trapped, just. Chaos. Our other roommate Cara worked on the other side of the highway, and she didn’t come home that night. Or any other night. We still don’t know what happened to her.”
“I’m sorry,” Kratos said softly. “That’s terrible.”
“Yeah, kinda. It was. Really hard. And we realized that there’s a bunch of other people who’re probably in the same boat. And so many people started leaving the building, including the landlord, so we just did what seemed right. Keith came in to keep things running, that’s his specialty, and people started to hear about what we were doing. Everyone pooled their skills together, and now we’ve got this little community. It’s not much, but…” She shrugged.
Kratos reached out and Kirstie jumped when his fingers found her face, tipping her chin up so she was looking at him. “It’s more than you think,” he said. “The Grey have been a problem for a long time, and most people don’t get the chance to resist them. They just die. So you’re doing really well for yourself.”
Kirstie couldn’t help the pleased smile that spread over her face at his words. Praise was always so strange to her, after spending so much time in the shadow of her siblings. When she did well, it was because she was expected to do well, and no one felt the need to congratulate her overly much for it. But here was Kratos, someone who seemed like he wasn’t easily impressed, telling her that she’d done a good job. It was hard not to let that wrap around her and warm her from the inside out.
“It’s not just me,” she demurred because she didn’t want to seem boastful. “A lot of people make this possible.”
Kratos grinned at her. “Modest. But fine. You’re all doing a good job. Impressive for humans, really. No one ever expects much of your lot.”
“Why is that? Why do aliens hate us so much?”
He shrugged and then folded his arms. “Hard to say. Still not sure what crawled up the Alva’s collective butts and got them so mad at humans, but they just like destruction. Probably saw you as easy prey. The Grey being here is stranger, though. They usually don’t do th
ings without a motive, and if they wanted to conquer Earth, I feel like they would have done it already. Combo’s looking into it.”
Kirstie nodded at that. She hadn’t spent much time at all with the strangest member of The Kilan, but she got the feeling that he was the mastermind of them all, responsible for intel and all of that. If he was on the case then they’d probably find something out. “He’s...odd,” she said, going for tact.
The space filled with Kratos’ booming laugh again. Kirstie was coming to really like the sound of it. “Odd’s one way to put it. He’s...Combo. You get used to him. Or he gets used to you, I guess. What’s really funny is that he likes you.”
“Me?”
He nodded. “Yep. He thinks you’re brave and smart, and it’s hard to get on Combo’s good side, let me tell you. Half the time, I’m still convinced he doesn’t like me at all. And we’ve been working together for years now.”
There was that smile again. The one she couldn’t keep off of her face, apparently whenever Kratos felt the need to say nice things about her. The last thing she had expected to come of this was to have a bunch of members of a mercenary group start liking her.
“Well,” she said, flushing lightly. “That’s good to know.”
“Definitely a compliment. Even Milara likes you, I’m pretty sure. Not that she’d ever admit it.”
“Milara seems…”
“Yes. Whatever you were going to end that sentence with, the answer is yes. She’s intense, but also really loyal. You won’t find someone better to watch your back in a fight. Of course, if she thinks you’re stupid, she’ll let you know in no uncertain terms.”
“...I’ll keep that in mind. And Sanaal?”
Kratos sighed. “Sanaal’s less difficult than he seems, I swear. He’s just not happy to be here.”
“On Earth?”
“Yeah, I guess. Chasing The Grey in general, really.”
“Can’t say I blame him for that, but I’m glad he came. I’m glad you all came.”
“Aww,” Kratos teased. “You like us.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “I like being alive. The idea is that you’ll keep us alive, right?”
“That is the idea.” He nodded and then unfolded his arms, stretching them over head. Kirstie tried very hard not to watch the way his muscles shifted. She failed pretty badly. “Again,” Kratos was saying. “Once you get this down, maybe I’ll let you fire a gun.”
“Joy of joys,” Kirstie deadpanned. Fighting had never been something she was interested in.
“Behave,” Kratos said, and something in his voice made her shiver. “Tell me what you’ve learned.”
She fought hard to control her blush and inhaled deeply, ready to regurgitate the information she’d absorbed over the last hour or so.
After a hot shower and a cup of tea in her apartment, she headed for the basement to find her brother. As usual, he was bent over a workbench, tinkering with something. Kirsten did feel a little bad for what she’d said to him about how he thought he was going to solve their problems with some invention. Knowing her brother as she did that was probably exactly what he’d thought, and it was usually better to just let him get on with thinking that. She knew that tinkering with things was what kept him in good spirits despite everything, and raining on that parade for him had been cruel.
She was never able to hold grudges for long, not even when he’d gone after Kratos, accusing him of manipulation or whatever, so she was going to apologize.
“What are you working on?” she asked as she came down the last few steps and saw him.
“Better solar panels,” he mumbled, not looking up. “For the roof. We’ve got more people pulling on the energy, so.”
Kirstie nodded even though he couldn’t see it. “Smart. You always know what to do.”
Keith paused in his work and then sighed, putting down his screwdriver. He raked a hand through his hair and then looked at her finally. She noticed how tired he looked. “No, I don’t. I feel like I should, but I don’t. Sometimes I have no clue what to do, and then you step in and do something reckless.”
She couldn’t tell if she was being scolded or praised. Probably both, knowing her brother. “Keith, I…”
He shook his head. “I already know what you’re going to say, but I’m your brother, Kirsten. It’s always been my job to look after you. I remember when you were a little kid and Emily would bully you. I was always the first one there to make sure you were okay.”
“Because no one else cared,” she muttered.
“That’s not fair. They were just...busy.”
“Right.” That was definitely an argument for another time. The last thing she wanted to do was debate how neglected she’d felt as a kid and whether or not that had all been in her head. It would just make her angry, and she’d come down here to make things right, not worse. “Anyway, I just came down here to say I’m sorry.”
Keith arched an eyebrow at her curiously. “For what? I’m pretty sure it’s well established that you did the right thing.”
“You don’t think that. You’re worried. I should have said something to you at least before I went off. So, I’m sorry for making you worry.”
He was quiet for a moment, and then he sighed. “It’s okay. I’m sorry for the way I reacted. I was out of ideas, and you fixed the problem as best you could. It’s just hard sometimes, you know? Realizing that you’re an adult and can make your own decisions. You’re the youngest, and I’m so used to you being the baby.”
His words irritated her, mostly because she didn’t know what she was going to have to do to get him to look at her like an adult, like an equal. Everyone in her family still treated her like she was some kind of child, when they weren’t ignoring her, and it drove her up the wall. He was probably trying to pay her a compliment, too, which didn’t make it any better.
But, like always, Kirsten was going to take the high ground. She didn’t want to fight. She didn’t want to have to keep proving over and over again that she could handle herself. “I’ll be fine, Keith,” she said, not meeting his eyes. “It’ll all work out.”
“I hope so,” he replied. “Mom and Dad will kill me if I let anything happen to you.”
Grinding her teeth together, she forced a smile and turned to leave. She’d done what she came to do, and she didn’t feel like sticking around.
Chapter Ten: Interstellar Chemistry
To be honest, Kirsten had expected working with aliens to be weirder than it was. She'd thought they'd at least be more different than they were, or have hobbies and habits that were strange. What she learned in those first couple of weeks was that they were mostly just like humans, only from another planet.
Some of the food they ate was strange, and Combo was an oddity, of course, but they carried themselves like humans and were easy to get along with.
Well. Kratos was easy to get along with. Combo was, too, in his own way. Sanaal gave her a wide berth for the most part, and Kirsten had no idea how Milara felt about her. Usually she felt like she was annoying the other woman, so she left her alone.
Kratos was always willing to talk to her, though, and they spent more time together than she did with any of the others. He introduced her to the rest of The Kilan, showed the ship off to her, told her stories about their adventures, and continued to work with her until she could throw a good, solid punch. From there, they moved into kicks, and as she progressed, Kratos praised her, which always made her blush.
She was under no illusions that she was going to take down one of The Grey, but it was something to do. Something to keep her from worrying about her friends and family, about their little community, about what might happen in the future, or if there would even be a future to be had.
Kratos was great for distractions, and they got along well, much to Kirsten's surprise. She wouldn't have expected him to want to spend time with her. She didn't have funny stories to tell him or anything to offer, really, but whenever he showed up at the buil
ding, he had a smile for her, and usually ended up standing next to her while Combo talked about what he had found out in his research.
That was something else that weighed on her heavily during those days. Combo was probably the smartest being she had met, ever, and he seemed to be stumped as to why The Grey were even on Earth to begin with. Members of The Kilan had gone out and scoured the places where the attacks had happened, looking for evidence or anything they could find to give them an edge.
And it wasn't that Combo hadn't come up with anything, because he had. Whatever Keith thought about aliens, he had to admit that Combo was amazing. Just three days after they had gone to the site of an attack, Combo figured out what manner of weapons The Grey was using, and where they had come from, and he put people on trying to track down records and information that might be used to figure out more about their mysterious adversaries.
Kirsten was highly impressed. She'd never seen anyone so dedicated to a cause before, not even her brother, who would have dropped out of high school to tinker with machines if their parents hadn't put their foot down about it.
She said as much to Kratos one afternoon when they were on the roof of the building in the warm summer sun. Kratos was supposed to be fortifying the defenses up there, making sure that an aerial attack wouldn't send the whole building crumbling down on top of them, but he had a scanner in one hand and his other arm draped over his face as he laid flat on his back on the warm concrete of the roof.
"Combo's like that," Kratos replied, not moving his arm or any other part of his body. Kirstie watched as his chest rose and fell with each breath, unable to look away. "He doesn't let things go when it's important. Once we take a job, he throws himself into it, not wanting to be beaten." He shrugged a shoulder. "The rest of us are like that with fighting, and he's the only one who can do that with information."
"He's impressive," she murmured.
"And he knows it."
There were a lot of little moments like that for the two of them. It was supposedly because Kratos needed to keep an eye on her, to make sure she didn't go running off somewhere and break the deal, but after a few days, Kirstie was beginning to think that Kratos just liked her company.