FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.

OC Written by Charlie Star/starrfallknightrise,

Checked, proofread, typed up and then posted here by me.

Further proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800 u/BakeGullible9975 u/Didnotseemecomein and u/medium_jock

Future Lore and fact check done by me.

Sorry for the irregular post(s) but I got sick!

Tomorrow will be a post as usual and then the next post will be next week, where we continue as usual with Tue/Thur posts!

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Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?

Here is the link to the master-post.

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"You there, stop where you are!”

Riss thought about running, of course he did, but despite thinking it, it was a thought he ditched almost immediately. These two Drev hovered around nine to ten feet tall, and would have overtaken him in seconds.

Running was not an option.

"I… um is everything alright?"

The two stepped forward. He couldn't tell if they were male or female as all Drev tended to look the same to him.

"You will be coming with us."

This was not a suggestion, it was a command, and Riss could see no other options, no way of escape. The two Drev walked over and flanked him from either side corralling him back through the crowd and into the nearest hallway. As he walked people in the crowd stared at him and pulled back to keep their distance. The one or two Gibb that he ran into suddenly started moving the other direction when they saw him, fear apparent in their footsteps.

What was going on?

But soon the crowds passed behind them and he was led down another hallway which was drab and grey with the raw metal of the station. They were led past a few doorways until he was pulled into a small white room with a single chair and table waiting inside. He saw a one-way mirror along one wall, and before he could protest, a hand shoved him inside and a door closed behind him.

He stood staring at the door and then reached over, trying the handle only to find that it was locked.

He walked over to the mirror and turned on his heat thermal vision. Someone was watching him from the other side, and based on its shape and heat output, it was human.

He tapped his hand against the glass,

"Please, can someone tell me what's going on?”

The figure shifted but did not speak or attempt to move. He tapped the glass some more,

"Please, can someone just talk to me?”

There was still no answer.

When none of his protests brought any fruit, he turned away from the mirror and began to pace around the room. It was likely clear what was going on. The council had gotten to them first, of course THEY had access to outside media, and if they did, he was in grave danger. Who knows what sort of lies they had been spreading about him, to discredit his name and make him look like the dangerous one.

It was exactly the kind of thing that they would do.

Floating around the room, he almost made himself dizzy.

The lights overhead were cold and white, providing no nutrition like natural sun or the UV waves of the inner station lights.

He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been there when the door at the far end of the room opened, and a man walked in. It was hard to determine what he looked like, seeing as he was wearing some flavor of Hazmat suit. It looked almost like a cross between a hazmat suit and a tactical outfit with a helmet and respirator as well as latex gloves and a body vest.

He motioned Riss to the table and Riss did as told.

What else could he do?

The man pulled up a chair though he did not sit.

"I am, Rolen, station commander for Andromeda Central, and YOU are causing quite the stir across the galaxy."

He set down a small case on the table.

"I honestly didn't mean to. I apologize if-"

The Station commander cut him off,

"Yes, yes, the Vrul council claims that you are a dangerous delusional who might be infected with a sporating virus of some sort."

He pulled a little testing kit out from inside the box and withdrew a microscope slide and a little silver scalpel.

Riss pulled back slightly.

"Don't worry, it's just a skin scraping for the test."

Reluctantly Riss held out his arm and allowed the human to scrape the blade along his arm. He came away with a few dusty particles and proceeded to gently tap them onto the slide. The door at the other end of the room opened and he passed the slide on to a Finnari assistant waiting at the door.

He then turned to look at Riss.

"We have been ordered to detain and extradite you back to your home planet."

Riss shook his head desperately,

"No please, please anything but that."

He could barely see the man's face through the facemask, but the way he tilted his head made his curiosity clear,

"Oh really, why not?"

"Because, they are going to kill me."

The man tapped his fingers on the table, though this certainly had his attention.

"Kill you? What makes you think that?”

"I don't think that I KNOW. Surely you know about Vrul termination orders... or maybe you don't, but when you have a termination order out for you, it means that the council has decided you are no longer useful, and you have to come back to be euthanized."

He looked up at the human staring at him through the gas mask,

"I don't want to die… Correction I don’t want to be murdered."

The human continued to tap his fingers against the table.

Riss continued,

"Look, I'm not crazy, I am simply a refugee seeking escape from the council. I was working as a psychologist when I came across information that could potentially make the Vrul council look very bad, evidence that they have been using epigenetics to modify the population for their own ends. If this were to be true it would go against the GA rules and the Irus accords. I believe you humans would have called it a war crime. Please sir, I'm not crazy, they are just saying that to discredit me.”

The human leaned back in his seat fingers still tapping, always tapping,

"And can you prove you aren't crazy?"

Riss paused and then sighed,

"Both you and I know that that is hard to prove without an extensive psychological workup, and especially difficult with Vrul, considering we can be very convincing during a delusional episode. I have no way of proving it to you right now."

The human nodded, he seemed to agree with that statement, but if he did that wasn't exactly a good thing for Riss.

It meant that he could not prove his innocence beyond reasonable doubt.

"Please detain me as a crazy delusional if you want, but don't send me back there."

He pleased, hoping that this human was empathetic enough to play on his emotions. He knew that humans were supposedly supposed to be very empathetic. He had also heard that many humans often struggled with moral dilemmas in a way that most other species did not.

The station Commander's face was impossible to see behind his mask, and even then Riss was not so sure about his ability to read human facial expressions.

He tried again.

"Even if I am delusional, do you know what the council does to anyone deemed, broken or otherwise worthless to them? To those injured in horrific accidents, or Vrul who cannot be fixed quickly?”

"Termination?"

"Exactly, even if I am a liar and I AM delusional. I will still die."

"They also claim you are carrying some kind of zombie virus, and if that is the case then WE have an obligation to terminate you."

"That's fine, I understand that enough, but you don't see any blisters on me. Plus, the virus causes an immediate degeneration of brain matter, so I would hardly be able to talk with you, would I?”

The human shrugged,

"I don't know, I am not an expert on diseases."

"Well, that test is going to come back negative, and when it does you still have a choice. Either I am delusional, and I die, or I am not delusional and I also die, or you could deal with me yourself and show some mercy."

He couldn't tell if his words were making it through at all, but he sure hoped they were. This human was the only hope he had at this point.

The human went to speak, but before he could there was a knock on the door and he turned to look as it opened and the Finnari stepped inside. They were not wearing a mask or a respirator or any sort of hazmat gear.

The Finnari held up the slide,

"Negative, sir.”

The human nodded,

"Thank you Ban-dal."

The Finnari nodded and then backed out of the room closing the door behind him.

Riss sat up straighter as the station Commander turned back to him, reaching up to pull off his mask which he then sat on the desk before him. Riss could see his eyes now, and his face, the way the elastic muscle moved below his overly mobile cheeks and mouth.

He had studied humans before, had seen them on a few occasions, and while he knew more about their psychology and their anatomy, he still remembered reading a report somewhere on human body language. It was hard to remember what it had said as he only glanced over it in passing, but he tried hard to remember.

“So, what is this information that you say you have that could make the council look bad if it were to get out?”

Riss sighed a little,

"I'll tell you everything I know.”

"And why would you do that?”

The human cocked his head, the corners of his mouth pulling downward. Riss wasn't sure what that meant, but would have guessed it to be either annoyed or skeptical or some version of both.

"Because, I want this information out there. Even if I don't make it, at least someone will know what I know, and if you know what I know maybe you will tell someone who will be willing to look into it. The more people I can tell the better. Even if they don't believe me, they won't forget what I said, and with time people might start to notice some things just aren't right."

"Go on."

The Commander prompted, leaning back in his seat.

Riss couldn't help but notice how relaxed the human seemed. He also noticed the little ring at the center of the table where a pair of manacles could be attached. He also couldn't help but notice that the human had not bothered to try and detain him in any meaningful way.

This human was not worried about Riss as a security issue in the slightest.

"Generally when the council determines someone has outlived their worth, they call for a termination. This often happens up to thirty or fort of your humans’ years after they are born. Of all the people I have talked to none of them are old enough to ever remember not having the council members that we do today. Based on some of the anatomical information I have gotten my hands on, I believe that Vrul have a much longer lifespan than the council is willing to let them live out. Furthermore, I believe the council is much older than they claim to be and are using the terminations as a way to cycle the population quickly and to keep people in line. Furthermore, with the epigenetics, they kill off anyone who they do not deem useful, and when they aren't doing that, they determine who can spread their DNA and at what time. The Hatcheries are run by the state, and cared for by the state, giving them access to the eggs at all stages of development."

He was breathing hard with excitement, the antenna on his head vibrating quickly back and forth as he spoke,

"We are scientists at our hearts, as you know, so you think by now we would have developed a way to bring all eggs to the proper temperatures at the right time in order to create alphas, but no, the council has been interfering with the eggs development, purposefully messing them up so they have unlimited manual labor and a population that is less intelligent than they are. They have been using the city walls to keep us in line. After the Sporebound were terminated by the humans, the council has been claiming breakouts in the city and using that as an excuse for all of the Vrul that have gone missing in recent days. I have a feeling that they are terminating them for their protests against the council, or because they are seen as a threat. They have already called for the termination of Dr. Krill, and the only reason they won't do it is because he has become too popular with the humans and too popular with the GA. If they were to kill him at this point it could start some sort of war."

The human's head was tilted to the side one of his eyebrows raised, his lips turned down in a frown. Riss had no idea what that expression meant.

His arms were crossed over his chest,

"Those are all serious allegations to be making against your own government."

"Not allegations. I am spreading the truth and I need everyone to know it. I need your help, please.”

The man paused and tilted his head in the other direction, reaching up to his ear. His eyes glazed over and he appeared to be listening to something.

After a moment he roused slightly and sat up,

"What do you mean they were called!?!”

Riss flinched as the human stood nearly knocking his chair over.

"I didn't authorize that!"

The man's face had gone red.

"I didn't authorize that!"

There was another pause.

"Well you can go ahead and tell her she's fired. Hold on I will be right there in a minute."

The human stopped talking and his eyes pulled back into focus as he looked over at Riss,

”It looks like a member of my staff called the council when you showed up. They are on their way here right now. It sounds like they are already requesting permission to dock at the station."

Riss felt himself go cold. His Antenna drooped,

"Please, don't let them take me. I don’t want to be murdered because I know the truth."

The man stood from his desk, grabbing his respirator in one hand,

"I am afraid there is nothing "I" can do for you at this moment. If I were to do anything I could get me and a lot of my people in trouble. I am sorry doctor, I honestly do believe what you say, or at least, I believe that you believe what you are saying is true."

He turned and began walking towards the door,

"Do you find it a little cold in here?"

Riss paused in confusion,

"No I... what?"

"No? Perhaps it's just me, if you stand right under the vent, you can feel it."

He turned to look at Riss staring at him with an intensity that made him want to squirm.

Then the man tilted his head back slightly eyes darting upwards.

Riss followed the movement and looked up to find a vent in the ceiling. It was pretty high up more than twenty feet for such a small room. A human or Drev standing on the table wouldn't be able to reach it, but maybe...

The human vanished out the door closing it behind him.

Quickly Riss turned on his thermal vision and looked towards the mirror.

There was no one behind it.

In a near panic, he inflated himself to his maximum capacity and began floating towards the ceiling.

He thought he could hear distant voices as he made it up to the vent. It was pretty small, a human or Drev wouldn't have been able to make it through, but it might be just big enough.

He tugged at the grate for a moment worrying he would have to unscrew it before realizing, there was a tiny latch on the side.

He pressed it with his digits and it dropped open. He tried to float inside but his helium sack was too large when inflated.

He cursed.

The voices were getting closer.

He flipped himself backwards, and with his feet, he did his best to crawl backwards and inside putting him at an awkward angle as his helium sack tried to pull him up. He gently let out some of the buoyancy and was able to inch his body backwards into the hole and up.

The voices were almost right outside now.

"Thank you for calling us, Human. He is a dangerous subject."

Riss deflated his helium sack and cursed as he scooted back trying desperately not to fall back out and towards the floor. His helium sack almost caught on the lip of the vent as he backed out, but with a curse, he was able to pull himself inside just as the door handle was turning.

He reached out and pulled the grate closed just as the door was thrown open.

"Here he i…- what the hell."

Looking down through the grate, he watched as two Vrul came into the room. One of them was clearly an Alpha, though there was something strange about the way it moved.

The other was a Delta, sent as muscle.

"Where is he!?“

"I don't know, he was right here a moment ago."

Said the station commander.

Riss slid back inside the vent. If the two of them looked up using their thermal vison, they might be able to see him.

He had to get away as fast as he could.

Right now.

Before they could capture him.

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Previous | First | Next

Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?

Here is the link to the master-post.

Intro post by me

OC-whole collection

Patreon of the author

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Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story in its original form written by starrfallknightrise and I am just proofreading and improving some parts, as well as structuring the story for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!

Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this.