Upon Vestia: Chapter Three

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"I can only begin to imagine how difficult that must be for you," the android sympathized. He wondered if petting the disconsolate cat would be comforting, or a major overstep of personal boundaries.

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Ellie raised her hand. "My com says 5:42pm."

"I doubt it." Starr said then smiled a little "I am glad we still have some secrets, even if it isn't really one"

"Then we have the beginning of an idea. And you've reminded me of a way we can distribute information without being traced."

"Oh, and how is that?" Starr asked curiously

"There are millions of First-Law compliant machines in the galaxy. If someone can hide their identity and give a few of them the relevant information, they'll have little choice but to help. They won't know who the source of the information is, and will be able to distribute it without it coming back to us." He smiled a bit, "And if it reaches a supercomputer like Celia, then the effects will be massive. Those machines control an incredible amount of the universe's data."

"Alright, how do we do that without it coming back to us?" Starr asked, interested in the proposal.

"The easiest way I can think of is having you take some new human form, find a few androids, and give them the information on a data stick." Asher sighed, "I'd gladly volunteer to do it myself, but I'm far too easy to trace back to you."

"Can you make those for me?" Starr asked curiously "Making a new form for a race I know is not hard" She said then smiled

"Yes, I think I could compile the data sticks for you," he said. "It seems that getting the footage will be the part of this plan that holds us back the most."

Starr nodded and sighed "Yes, it will" She said quietly then closed her eyes to try to get a feel for any other star dragons around. She hadn't actively tried to do this before so she wasn't sure it would work.

The android watched her curiously. He didn't understand Starr's abilities, but he knew they'd be needed if anything was to finally change.

Starr frowned and blinked, standing and going to Shane's door to knock on it.

Shane came to the knock and looked at her "Hey, what's going on?"

Asher followed uncertainly, wondering what Starr was doing.

Starr glanced to Asher then looked back to Shane "I was looking for others of my kind and I saw you. Can we come in and talk?"

Shane frowned a little then shrugged and moved back "I don't know what you mean, but sure, come on in" He said and moved to let them in.

The android followed Starr in, processing her words. He didn't want to jump to any premature conclusions, but she had certainly just said something very interesting.

"What do you know of your past and parents?" Starr asked as she and Shane took their seats.

Shane shrugged and told what little he knew. He told her how his past was like a fog before he was found and taken in by Lucian and raised there with the family to be a servant to them. After a pause he told her about his and Ellie's escape, his first use of magic. "Ellie said you might be able to tell me more."

"That certainly explains why everyone was so interested by you," Asher commented, smiling slightly.

Shane looked to Asher "What do you mean?" He asked curiously "Do you guys know something about me that I don't?"

Asher shrugged. "I know nothing. My species doesn't sense magic, and I'm not nearly old enough to have learned much on the subject, so all I can do is notice how the magical beings on this ship react." He looked at the Star Dragon, "Starr? Do you have any theories about him?"

Starr nodded with a frown "I have a theory, but I'm uncertain on how to test it" She said then sighed and moved closer to Shane "Then again, most of my learning was theoretical at first anyway." She muttered as she looked over the boy. She reached over to touch his temple then closed her eyes to focus. A moment later, she shifted to her natural form so she could feel the arcana better. She gasped when a pulse of magic was released and did her best to nullify it so it wouldn't leave the ship to be scanned.

Shane frowned and sat up straighter. He didn't know what was going on. Her dragon called to his, but he didn't know how to respond. He opened his eyes, not even realizing when he had shut them to berate her or ask her questions only to realize that the world looked different.He blinked rapidly, looking around and trying to figure out what had changed. When he realized that he was in a dragon form, he froze, staring at the juvenile star dragon patterns that covered his scales. Twenty human years and his mixed heritage made his star dragon look like it was an older kid, though he was much smaller than Starr still. To her he still looked like a hatchling more than a juvenile.

For a few moments, the android just looked at the two dragons in amazement. He had seen Starr in dragon form before, but seeing another one of them, free, was much harder to comprehend. He knelt down to look at the younger Star Dragon more closely. "Well, I suppose this raises as many questions as it answers," he commented to Shane. "How do you feel?"

Shane tried to get up but ended up falling since he was not used to four legs, or wings, or a tail. He was freaked out and tried to tell Starr to change him back but he hadn't figured out how to speak in this form yet either, so it came out as sounds Asher wouldn't recognize as a language.

Starr crooned to him, going over to circle around him to keep him still until he settled down before she looked to Asher again "He's very scared and doesn't understand what happened. He must have had one star dragon parent and a human one. I didn't know that was possible" She said softly

"I suppose if your species can perfectly imitate another species' design down to the DNA level, it would be possible," Asher said thoughtfully, lowering his voice slightly in a way that patients had often found to be calming. "I wouldn't have expected him to be able to change shape though. Will he be able to change back? I imagine he'll want to talk about this, plus that his own form will feel much safer."

Starr looked back to Shane then moved her wings in a shrug "I do not know if he could shift on his own yet. It takes practice and the human genes could interfere in unknown ways." She said to Asher then lowered her head to Shane's "Calm down and focus on your human form Shane. I will he;p you shift back" She said though it took another minute before the male could return to his human form.
When he did, Shane was shaking and moved back from both of them. "H-how?"

The android steadied Shane gently, watching him with concern. "Are you feeling all right?" he asked quietly. Answering the question he added, "Starr, and apparently you as well, are part of a very rare species called Star Dragons. They have a lot of history which Starr knows more about than I do, and are shapeshifters and magic users. You probably shouldn't tell anyone about this if you don't completely trust them, if you hadn't already guessed that."

Shane nodded and glanced over to Starr then back to Asher again. "I just lost the closest thing to family I had and now I find out I'm not even human, no, I am not telling anyone this" He said shakily

"You are half human" Starr interrupted gently "You are not fully a dragon, and you are very young."

Asher nodded sympathetically. "This is going to be a challenging adjustment for you, but you can handle it. Starr will teach you to use your powers, and I'll help you in any way I can."
He wondered how Shane was going to take the revelation that he was one of the only free star dragons left in existence. It seemed like a detail that he didn't need to know just yet.

Starr nodded, agreeing with Asher on that. It was her duty to help him learn to control his powers, but now she would really need to get those necklaces made to hide them from being seen by enemies.

Shane bowed his head and ran a hand through his hair "I don't know what to think of all of this" He said quietly. It was a bit overwhelming. He frowned and looked to Starr again, wondering how she had found out and why she had waited until now to do anything about it.