Ch.1 Vanadia

Vanadia walked along the hall, almost numb. She’d only just started working here, and it felt like it was about to all come crashing down. Shortly after being hired, Vanadia had been paired with a more experienced tech to help her learn the ropes. It just so happened that said tech was in the midst of helping set up the systems for a big new client at the time. Holly was one of the most experienced people on the company’s IT team, and had quickly worked her way up to very nearly the top in the little department Vanadia understood. So she had been rather excited to get a chance to work with the experienced human. 

She didn’t really get much of a chance to talk with Holly the next couple of weeks after their first meeting, though, to her disappointment. Instead, she’d spent her time setting up workstation after workstation and configuring networks. It had been a big project, and honestly Vanadia was tired just thinking about it.

It had been only a month since they’d wrapped up that job, and just a couple days ago she’d learned that the corporation they’d done all the setup for had suffered a massive data loss because of a power surge. Normally something like that should have been nearly impossible with the systems the union she’d started working for installed.

Now, being called to meet with the department head, Vanadia couldn’t help but feel like it was her fault; she’d obviously made a mistake somewhere like she always did. She’d be the new girl that had ruined everything again. Vanadia had only just found this new life, and already felt it slipping away. She just wanted to cry.

Vanadia had only just immigrated into the recently formed Collective Union of Worlds, as much fleeing from her past as in search of a new future. The vast anarchic swath of rimworlds on the edges of the larger polities had formed into a unified workers collective when certain imperialist forces had conspired to bring the volume under their control. The drawn-out brutality of the fighting had shocked the galactic community, unused to seeing a species pitted against itself in that way.

Somehow at the end of it all, the underdog collective secured their independence. After a period of consolidation, the Union announced that all were welcome in their space. Anyone seeking a new home could find it there. And after a decade of running, it had been Vanadia’s last option.

It had been strange stumbling into the Artemis Orbital’s spaceport with nothing except the clothes on her back only to be accepted with open arms. Vandia had never seen anything quite like the massive ring installation. The way the world curved away at the horizon, rising into a glimmering ribbon above, made her head spin.

It had all been such a whirl; they had set Vanadia up with temporary housing, and most shocking of all for her was being told that food was free! Apparently in the Union they considered things like housing, healthcare, and food a universal right, regardless of your ability to work. Which seemed almost too good to be true to Vanadia after what she’d left behind.

Still, even if they were seemingly happy to house and feed her, Vanadia had never been one content to sit idly by. She’d found her way to the employment office the next day and had quickly gotten a job with the local tech union. Apparently they did work for the corporate rim from time to time, and since Vanadia had grown up there, her experience dealing with that sort of system was invaluable.

Vanadia’s ears were pressed back against her head as they approached the door to the department head’s office, and she couldn’t keep her luminous spots from shifting to an anxious green. Holly glanced over to her. The human seemed to be completely at ease, which only made Vanadia more nervous. She wouldn’t normally read into a human’s expression like that, but her mind was already working on overdrive. It was a little frustrating in some ways working with a human. As talented as Holly was, she did little to break from the expressionless monotone stereotype humans had garnered. 

Holly was even harder to read than other humans Vanadia had met. Vanadia had honestly started to think Holly must hate her with how the woman kept even the subtle expressions humans had tamped down around her. Vanadia had asked Holly out for drinks after work a few times, but Holly always shot her down, so Vanadia had taken the hint.

Most species had some obvious way to understand how they were feeling. Vanadia was one of the Vel, so she had long pointed ears that would move around, showing how she felt openly. Never mind the way her people’s skin was dusted with bioluminescent dots that shifted in color with their mood. Some humans had similar dots they called freckles, but their dots didn’t seem to have the decency to change their color. Without tails to wag, feathers to fluff, or colors to shift, the humans were very hard to read by the rest of the galactic community, though everyone seemed to agree they were rather cute.

“Hey, you alright?” Holly asked, pulling Vanadia from her wandering thoughts. Her ears flushed from embarrassment, and perhaps just a little from how close she was standing next to Holly. Ever since first meeting her mentor, Vanadia had grown a bit of a crush on the woman. Holly was taller than Vanadia, which was rare for a human, and the way she kept her dyed hair shaved on one side made her sharp jawline look incredible.

“Huh, oh! Yes, I’m… I’m fine,” Vanadia said, the speckles of green across her cheeks tingeing a little pink. Holly bit her lip for just a moment as she looked down at Vanadia, though Vanadia wasn’t sure what it meant.

“You really didn’t have to walk me here, you know, I’m sure I could have found my way,” Vanadia continued.

“You didn’t think I was going to let them just throw you under the bus, did you? Oh, gosh you really thought…?” Holly said, her voice trailing off as the door suddenly opened, interrupting them.

“Oh! Ms. Holly, I wasn’t expecting you. Please, come in,” Reginald said as he moved back to his desk. He seemed to be trying to hide it, but the feathers along his crest were still twitching slightly from what Vanadia knew to be nerves. It felt like her stomach was sinking as she stepped into the cramped office. Her ears hung almost limply back, and her color shifted to a despairing blue, nearly matching the dark indigo of her skin.

Holly laid the binder she’d been carrying with her on Reginald’s desk with a slap that made Vanadia jump and Reginald’s crest flare up before he could bring it back under control. Holly simply flopped herself down in one of the chairs facing Reginald’s desk, pushing back with her feet until it was balanced on only two legs in a way that made Vanadia wince, the toe of Holly’s black boots digging into the carpet.

“So, boss man, before we get into the ‘he said, she said’ nonsense that I know we got called in here for. I thought I’d just let you take a peek at this,” Holly said. Her voice was always a bit husky in a way that made Vanadia feel things, but right now it was almost a growl, and Vanadia couldn’t quite decide between being afraid of it and something else. Vanadia’s tail wrapped itself around the leg of her chair as she sat to the side of Holly, doing her best to keep her glow from getting entirely out of hand while she waited to see what Holly had planned.

“And what might that be?” Reginald reached across the desk, taking the binder before flipping it open in his taloned hands.

“Well, in that there binder should be all the emails, receipts, and waivers showing that the data loss Indomax suffered was in no way our fault. I tried to explain to them personally on several different occasions why the extra costs for surge protectors and redundant data backups were necessary, and they continually refused to pay for them. They decided to ignore our warnings and recommendations and signed off on the job we actually ended up performing,” Holly said, her words sharp. Holly’s face had shifted into a cocky grin wide enough for even Vanadia to pick up on, which threw the Vel woman off balance. Was Holly enjoying this?

“Hmm, I see. This is rather different from what they have been sending me about the situation. That’s very interesting indeed. I suppose I have some calls to make then. Thank you for your time, Ms. Holly, Ms. Vanadia,” Reginald said, clearly excusing them as he continued to flick through the pages of the binder, his beak clicking with amusement.

Practically before she knew it, Vanadia had followed Holly out of the office at the human’s urging. Holly’s dark boots rang loudly against the vinyl flooring in the empty hall, the only sound that kept the two company given Vanadia’s almost perfectly silent gait. It seemed almost like the place was abandoned, given the sudden lack of people.

“Hey, I’m probably going to be busy the rest of the day again, but I thought I’d like to take you up on that offer for a drink? Maybe tonight if you’re still interested?” Holly said suddenly, that particular question from Holly nearly giving Vanadia emotional whiplash. Vanadia tried to read Holly’s expression and tone, but as usual couldn’t get anything out of the particularly inscrutable woman.

“Oh! Um, yes. I’d really like that.” Vanadia practically squirmed in place. Her tail lashed back and forth, her ears stood almost straight out, and she glowed a soft, joyous purple. Holly, though, seemed like almost a blank slate in comparison, and Vanadia felt somewhat embarrassed suddenly with her inability to ever keep anything in.

“Well, I figure I owe you an apology after letting this hang over your head for so long. I didn’t even stop to think that you might have been stressed about all this since I had it all taken care of. And well, I’m sorry for that,” Holly said, her brilliant green eyes peering into Vanadia’s own.