Kozantei, Fourth Quadrant, Andromeda Galaxy.

Zogan cursed as he sat around the table with his council. It was early morning, the suns having just risen over the horizon and Azazel, Ravanna, Mara and Nezerra were all as stressed as he was, the damn Ajal were a serious pain in his ass. They'd been able to block all his attempts to infiltrate their quadrant, the Kozan had no insiders to spy and report back on the exact plans their enemy had in the grand scheme of things. The Ajal were always ahead of them, and that was something Zogan couldn't afford. Too many lives had been lost and many more traumatized by the strategic attacks they'd been carrying out on the Kozan allies.

"There are too many variants in this." Azazel said, looking around at him, "We need to find out where they get their information from."

Mara nodded and Zogan rubbed at his horn, "Nezerra has there been any more information you've been able to acquire?"

She was his emissary and negotiations officer, if there was anyone to learn new information it would be her. He'd only let her join his council last anum, finally seeing her for the strong female she'd grown into and not the little sister he had to relentlessly protect. Although he still counted that among his many duties.

She shook her head slowly, "We're still working on planting someone near the Zon headquarters, it's been sealed off tight, they're planning something big...they have to be."

"Besides helping the Ajal enslave our quadrant you mean?" Mara asked, her eyes were pinched with frustration.

"What is the point of attacking our allies? Why not come straight to us?" Nezerra asked, ignoring Mara's sarcastic question.

Zogan answered quickly before Mara could, "It would seem they aim to weaken us, or it could be a distraction."

Ravanna leaned forward pressing his forearms to the rounded table, "Distract us from what? The attack on Elder's Sanctuary was poorly executed, they should've known their numbers were too little." He hissed, "They are playing a game, and we've been the losers so far, we're only able to show up and do damage control."

Azazel nodded his agreement, but added, "They got the Tyrhung though," his face twisted into a grimace.

Their bonded Kyeet that were seated around the room growled in agitation sensing the stress of their owners. Zogan reached down and ran his hand over the spiny forehead of his, calming them both with the gesture.

"Who could have enough power to free them from their quadrant in the first place?" Azazel asked.

The Ajal had been locked into their first quadrant by the elders and someone, somewhere had gained the key and let them out. Zogan felt his horn pulse in pain, he was growing tired of the guessing and the games. He wanted them all dead, it was a just punishment for the continuous harm they'd done to the fourth quadrant.

"I do not know, but we cannot wait to find out, they grow bolder every rotation, the attacks are becoming more frequent, I'd rather we end them all than focus on this betrayer."

It made no sense running after false trails, of course if they found the informer it would make things easier, but all leads had ended coldly, frustrating them even more amidst the attacks. His patience was wearing thin.

Mara looked up at him, "I agree, the games have grown tiresome, we should take the war to them and banish them from Andromeda."

Azazel huffed in agreement; a savage smile grew on his face. They were both eager for bloodshed, always ready for battle, it was in their nature – probably why they'd found each other and mated.

Zogan looked around the room at his family, the people he trusted most, and the ones who would follow him into war unafraid, always protecting him and their people fiercely. He could not afford to lose any of them, but war had been brought to them all and it was his duty to fight, to protect those who were unable to do so for themselves. He let out a long hiss and allowed everyone a moment to reign in their emotions. Then they began to strategize, they would need a specialized weapon, one that would wipe the Ajal away as if they'd never existed, the Tyrhung. Upon his return to Kozantei he'd been informed that the weapon had been stolen from the sanctuary in the assassination attempt and he knew exactly where he should begin his search for it. They would have to go to the Zon hive-quarters.

Sweat dripped into Mya's eyes as she climbed the wall before her. There were weights strapped to her back and the trainees were all tasked with reaching to the top, grabbing the glowing fabric and carrying it safely to their team's safe space. Her team cheered her on from below, and she pushed herself seeking out the grooves dutifully before hefting herself up, her opponent was below her but gaining quickly. She'd been granted a combat suit, a mesh bodysuit that powered up her strength, apparently it was given to weaker species so that the playing field would be a little more level. According to the Kozan, humans fitted the bill perfectly. She gritted her teeth willing her arms to move, it was a good thing she wasn't afraid of heights, there was about two more meters to go, and she'd climbed six so far, she felt like a spider monkey, and so powerful. The sun blazed at her back and she blew a stray strand of hair out of her face, her hair had been plaited into a high ponytail, suggested by Nezerra before she'd entered the arena. She'd been training tirelessly every day, even when there weren't scheduled sessions. Mya wanted to be the best, she had to be one of the best to even be considered for a pilot. This was the last week of training, specifically sparring and combat, it had been a long twelve weeks. After she'd made it through the first week of basic training, the days had become longer and more brutal – every night she'd collapsed into bed bone tired. Those that had done well enough and expressed interest in different fields would move on to simulations very soon. Mya hoped to be allowed to join the flight sim training. She'd done well enough in her group with the help of her suit, and her remembrance of her earlier martial art training and newer more complex arts that had been taught. She'd grown powerful and even Mara had glowered at her less briefly after her name was called out among the top ranking.

She was near the top now, the glimmering fabric just a long stretch away, she looked down at her opponent who bared his teeth at her, her lips tilted up at the corner. Looking for a placement she spotted a small depression in the wall, perfect for her tiny foot, not for her opponent who was having a harder time. She loved the Kozan for that, they recognized all strengths that came from varying species and sizes in battle and made sure everyone would have a fighting chance to succeed, if they were smart enough to figure out their own advantages. Mya had, she'd asked Nezerra who was smaller than most Kozan to help her train after hours, it was savage but had been amazingly effective, and she'd used copious amounts of the salve Zogan had left her.

She reached up and hooked her hand over the wall, sinking her short, black tinted nails into the underside of the ledge on the other side and stretched for the fabric, her arm was too short. Dammit! Hooking two arms over the ledge she hauled herself up arms trembling from the effort and heard her team holler for her to look out, her opponent was right behind her. She kneeled on the ledge and made a split-second decision that crawling would be better than walking – she really didn't want to fall down those nine meters, it would not kill her because of the suit but she figured it'd be a pretty painful few months of recovery; not particularly something she wanted to go through. She got onto all fours and began to move forward, the suit lending added agility, she skittered forward like a cat eyes fixed on her prize. 'Just a few more,' she chanted inwardly, 'just a little more to go!' Her hand brushed the cloth and she held onto it tightly, holding it above her head as a burst of cheers went up from below. Mara, a tiny form on the ground just pointed to the timer.

'Shit!' She had to get down now. Her opponent could still try to get the cloth from her, so she had to be careful, she fastened it to the harness around her waist and legs and looked around thinking about the fastest way to get to her safe space. Her opponent, a bigger Kozan male smiled a Cheshire's smile as he scanned her movements. She had nowhere to go but forward, back the way she came but he was squarely in her path.

She feigned as if she were going to climb down but sprinted forward the moment he positioned himself to go after her, he looked down at her in surprise as she slammed into him with all her strength pushing him off the ledge, he stumbled and went over, grabbing on with one hand, already beginning to pull himself up. Cursing the Kozan strength she tapped a button on her wrist repowering her suit, to the max. After that hit it had been depleted, it mimicked the strength of its wearer only able to amplify it, and Mya was getting tired – so the suit would be too. It still gave her just enough strength though and she planned to use it.

Glancing back at the male who was now charging towards her, she rubbed her hands together, exhaled sharply and then jumped off the ledge, his eyes widened in alarm.

The breeze whipped at her face, her braid streamed up straight behind her and she saw the trees, some strange looking red flying creatures soaring through the skies and the stunned faces of her fellow trainees and the warriors who'd stopped by to watch the newbies. Zogan was in the crowd and his elite team. She fell straight as an arrow toward the vegetative ground below. Mya waited for a low hum and stretched out her arms leaning forward into her freefall, as if she were skydiving. Her breath left her in a loud whoosh as she slammed into the previously invisible netted force field that stretched taut beneath her weight to keep her from hitting the ground.

She lay still for a moment breathing out a sigh of relief. She'd sensed it while she was climbing, feeling the familiar static electricity that indicated a lifeless energy was nearby, and for once she was grateful for her telepathic abilities. Mya had been practicing, learning exactly how different each energy form felt when one was close by and had even been trying her hand at her controlling abilities. She'd never actively done that before except for stopping Gabe in his tracks in that alleyway, it seemed like such a long time ago – years even. Controlling living energies was turning out to not be in her repertoire. Her gift was only able to work in that way when she was in danger or fearful – and even then, it was brief and took a lot of energy out of her. It was in the finding and identifying of energies that she'd succeeded. She was still practicing but Mya had grown adept at the latter and also the reading of emotive energies from unshielded sentient beings, it had suited her well in combative training.

She bounced toward the edge and slipped onto the ground landing in a crouch, all eyes were on her, she spared the timer a glance and sprinted across the rocky path that had been laid out as the way to her safe space. Her opponent was still trying to scramble down the wall, his face twisted in wrath. She climbed over the larger rocks that she couldn't get around and spotted the marked artfully arranged nest up ahead. Pushing herself, she smoothly moved forward. Her breathing ragged, she sank to her knees right as she pushed the pulsing button that indicated she'd won, her team had won. They surrounded her, their cheers near deafening as she was hefted onto their shoulders. She threw her hands up and screamed right along with them. Looking across the field she spotted Zogan who grinned at her, his warriors joining in on the loud celebratory chants. Mara had a thoughtful look on her face, but Mya blocked out the anxiety that tried to bubble up inside her, she was trying to celebrate with her team, and had no time to think about what trouble she might be in for using her gift. For now.

....

It was only after sunset did Mara approach her. She and Yavik were eating a generous dinner, sharing it between the two of them. There were different types of sliced meats, ribbon like baked breads, peas, vegetables, and sauces, they each chose whatever they liked and wrapped it up with a large triangular leaf, it was delicious, and Mya couldn't help the muffled groans of approval she made with every bite. They were almost finished when Yavik stiffened causing Mya to turn, roll her eyes and immediately go back to her wrap.

"Good work today Amaryah." Mara said sitting next to her, without asking or looking for approval, it was almost enough for Mya to not hear the compliment she'd been paid by the lieutenant, almost.

Yavik blinked stupidly, "What did you just say?" he asked, sounding a little awed.

Mya was in awe too but recovered better, she cleared her throat, "Thank you, I've been working extra hard."

Mara nodded, "I know, I'd like to talk to you, whenever you are alone." She flicked a glance at Yavik whose fimbriae stiffened, he was annoyed. Mya shook her head slightly at him.

If Mara wanted to talk to her it had to be very important and bitchy or no, she wanted to find out what the hell was happening. There'd been no new information on war plans that she'd been able to learn, and Mya had regularly perused the daily news chimes on her comm, it had given her nothing, only causing her curiosity to grow.

Mya looked at Yavik apologetically, "Can I comm you later?" she lifted her eyebrows at him, so that he could realize she would tell him all about it later.

Yavik looked at her blankly before his face lit up with realization, "Oh yessss, of courseee, I'll leave you to it!"

He gathered up his containers and hers and disposed of them before leaving the room and winking, very obviously, at her. Mya sighed; she should have never shown him that gesture. She looked expectantly at Mara who picked her pointed nails.

"How did you know that there was a shield?"

Mya stiffened, her abilities were not well known, only Zogan and Nezerra knew of it and that was because she trusted them. She wasn't sure if Azazel knew exactly what she was capable of even though she'd caused him to lower his gun during their first encounter.

"I just assumed you wouldn't want to kill your new recruits, Lieutenant."

Mara gave her an amused once over, "Let's not play games, I haven't the time," she leaned forward, "How...did you... know?" she punctuated her words with a pause.

Mya didn't know if she should share her gift with Mara, what if it made them kick her out of training, or disqualify her from her upcoming trials? They were only three weeks away. She should have asked Nezerra if it were illegal, but surely either her or her brother would have told her... right?

Mya huffed out a breath, "I can sense things... like energies."

Mara straightened, her silver slitted eyes pulsed with color, "What kind of energies?"

Mya shrugged her right shoulder, "All I think, I can differentiate between living ones and machinery and more I suppose, if I tried."

Mara nodded as if her suspicions had been confirmed. "I need you to come with me to our council meeting."