Eve of a new era

Dewarde Kiwelnos was bored, he wanted to do something, anything actually useful. He simply could not take it anymore, sitting back doing nothing, watching as countless kavalins went and sacrificed their lives to win this war. He supposed he could join the army, but what was it all for, he'd probably just be a meaningless death in this endless bloodshed. Well maybe it wasn't endless, he didn't think they could last much longer. What would happen if they lost? What were they even fighting for? These were the questions he often asked himself, but still he never did anything about it, he just lay there while the galaxy crumbled around him. He often tried to distract himself from reality, and often it worked, but why did he do that? He couldn't just wait for it all to catch up to him.

He knew who would have the answers, who always had the answers, Ranchel Quinette. It wasn't long before he was at her door ringing her doorbell, even as adults they still lived right across the hall from each other. After a moment of waiting he rang it again and not long after that a very disgruntled woman opened it.
"Hello Ranch!" He said grinning broadly.
"Wh- It's 3 am Dewarde." She was interrupted by a yawn.
He checked, and she was right, oops. "Well what does time matter anyways, this is a space station not a planet!" He tried to reason but she just stared at him. He felt awkward, he felt like he had made a mistake, she looked like she wanted to stab him and so he thought it best to let her return to her rest. "Ahaha, I'm sorry. Go back to sleep, it can wait until tomorrow." He slowly backed away.
She groaned and pressed a button, shutting the door where he had just been standing- ugh women.
Well that hadn't gone well, maybe he could use this as an excuse to allow himself to forget about the problems of the galaxy and return to his life of nothingness.
It was late, but he lay in bed staring at the cold metal ceiling, his ears flicking impatiently as he listened to the creaking and groaning of the station. He was certain his father would be very happy if he joined the army, "Finally doing something with your life." he could hear him say. His father was one of the richest kavalins left, everyone else had lost everything in the war while his father only grew more powerful. Which meant he didn't need a job, he didn't need a purpose in life. He didn't need to worry about anything, but when they inevitably lost to the twithid army, who knows what would happen to him.
He didn't know how long he lay there but at some point he drifted off into sleep

It was "daylight" now, as much as it could be when all the light was artificial. And he was still in his clothes from yesterday. His hair and teeth unbrushed he was once again standing at Ranchel's door. Now that it was an hour of the living, other people were walking past, they gave him strange looks as he waited for Ranchel, not ringing the doorbell for fear of disturbing her again.
At one point a stranger threatened to call security on him but when she recognized him she quickly apologized rushing off. He chuckled, it was kind of funny, in some sick way.
After about an hour of waiting by the door, Ranchel emerged, she was a lot more put together than last night, she jumped when she saw him standing right there. He heard the whirr of a weapon charging up, but luckily she realized who he was before actually firing on him.
"Hello!" He was unfazed by the fact that they were causing a scene.
She quickly pulled him inside, she had a reputation to uphold and did not like everyone gawking "Uhm, hi." She looked him over and her lip curled up "Have you been waiting out there since last night?" She pushed his hair out of his face with a sigh.
"What? No!" Did he really look that bad?
"Well I have to get to work, what is so important that you need to see me for?"
He brightened up a bit "Yes! What exactly is your job?"  
"Oh!" She looked surprised, and pleased that he might actually be taking an interest in her work "Well I'm on the war committee." He didn't really know what that was and she must have picked up on that because she sighed "Don't you know anything? It's like the twithid council, but it's a lot newer and-"
He interrupted her "Less powerful and important, more useless?"
"Ugh. No- well yes but don't put it like that. What we do matters, you know I'm trying to stop this war."
"Well good job, it's clearly working so well."
She scowled so fiercely he instantly regretted his words. "At least we're trying, what are you doing? Eating potato chips and watching tv?" She snapped.
He didn't meet her eyes “Actually, I was wondering if..." The words stuck in his throat "I could maybe come with you today?" He looked at her and saw her squinting at him, cautiously hopeful.
"What? If this is a joke it's not very funny."
He felt bad, because he was the type of person that would make a joke like this, thinking about it now it wasn't funny at all. But he knew himself, and he knew he'd done stuff like that in the past. "No, no it's not I promise!"
She let a small smile slide onto her face "alright then! You'll need to get cleaned up, I can't bring you in like this. You go get ready and I'll let them know why I'm running late." She looked down at the time on her watch, and started typing the message on that same wrist device.
He nodded and headed to his own room to prepare himself. He really wanted to make a good impression on these people, it was a strange feeling, normally he didn't care about that sort of stuff at all, what was with him today.


Not long later they were on the elevator up to wherever Ranchel worked. He felt kind of silly, like it was bring your kid to work day, but he was the same age as Ranchel and her cousin. Bring your adult cousin to work day, now that didn't have a good ring to it at all. He shuffled his feet nervously, he was beginning to have second thoughts. She seemed really excited that he was taking an interest in her work, he couldn't just chicken out now.
The elevator stopped, floor 302.
He was nervous, the doors opened and on the other side was... an empty hallway.
He swallowed and followed her as she strode purposefully down the hall. Well at least one of them knew what was happening. He ran his fingers through his hair nervously, before shoving his hands in the pockets of his long robes.
She stopped suddenly, well maybe not that suddenly but he was too preoccupied with anxiety to react fast enough and he walked straight into her. She must have rung the doorbell because as they both stumbled, a tall imposing man appeared and saw it.
He laughed nervously as the man gave a "hhrpmh" of disapproval.
Dewarde followed them into a large room, it had a table in the center and a tired woman with a large cup of coffee was the only one sitting there. The man never introduced himself, he just went back to whatever he had been doing before opening the door for them. He wondered why Ranchel didn't have a key.
She brought him into a small room, it had a desk with a computer on it. He sat down in the corner next to a dying plant while she began to work. Couldn't she have this computer in her own room, that made more sense to him. The only thing he could think of was it being reminiscent of the olden days when paperwork was done with actual paper.
He couldn't help himself "Why don't you just have the computer at home?" He was there to learn about her job after all, what better way to do that than ask questions.
She looked at him like he was stupid, which he supposed maybe he was. "Dewarde, oh sweet foolish cousin of mine." She clucked her tongue, this made him mad, couldn't she just give him a straight answer, it wasn't his fault he didn't know anything about actual work- well it was, but ugh his thoughts were getting away from him. "Computers are expensive dear, they won't just install them willy-nilly for some committee woman." She rolled her eyes and went back to her work.
What was she talking about "We're one of the two most advanced races in the galaxy." They were on a space station, they got there in a spaceship, she was talking nonsense.
"That's all very good and well but there's a shortage of... well everything." He'd of course known that, but the reality of it was more than he'd realized. Maybe he should go back to his life of ignoring everything. "People don't just have computers in their rooms anymore. I'm lucky that I can afford this." She held up her bracelets, complete with a hologram emitter, a mini screen, blasters and a shield projector.
"Well I have a computer." Was all he could think to say.
It was the wrong thing to say as she scoffed "Of course you do Mr. Kiwelnos, high and mighty." She put her wrists closer to his face, "Kiwelnos" was printed on them. He looked at the computer which also has his name on it.
"Hey! That's not my fault!" He protested. "If you want I can buy you a computer." He offered.
It did not improve her mood. "Unlike SOME PEOPLE I like to actually earn what I get." She snapped before going back to her work. It was a foreign concept to him, he didn't even know what it would feel like to earn something. Then again he hardly knew what it felt like to feel anything at all.

They sat there in stiff silence for a while longer, her fingers running silently across the screen, he didn't know what she was doing it all just looked like a lot of numbers to him, but he thought it best not to ask anymore questions. The air was thick with tension and he was uncomfortable, he wished he could become a potted plant like was right next to him.
It was no surprise he had no real friends, he didn't even know why his cousin ever talked to him at all, he always said and did stupid things.
He was half asleep - I guess staying up all night makes you tired - when suddenly Ranchel got up, jolting him awake.
"What's happening?" He dared to ask.
She looked surprised, as if she had forgotten he was sitting there. "I’m needed in a meeting."
He eagerly got up, he got a bad cramp in his leg but ignored it "Can I come?"
"Oh." She paused, "I don't think you'd like it, politics, war..." She trailed off, but she could see that he really did want to come. "I don't think they'll let you, people can't just randomly join important discussions." she explained. "But we can ask anyways!" She added in response to the downcast expression on his face.
He followed her out of the tiny room, blinking at the brighter lighting.
No one stopped him as he sat down at the table but Ranchel just had to go and talk to someone, her boss maybe. Who came over looking upset, ready to tell him off. But that didn't last, as soon as he realized who the mysterious cousin was he stopped fuming and straightened his tie.
"Ah, how good to see you Mr. Kiwelnos." He said, clearing his throat before turning to Ranchel, his voice quiet and cold "Of course our boss can sit at the meeting with us." He noticed that the man had a name tag with the name Natasbo written on it.
Dewarde felt himself blushing as Ranchel stared at him. He was her boss, she'd never forgive him for such a crime that he had literally no say in whatsoever. She sat down next to him, looking very tense and glaring at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey I didn't even know I was your boss." He whispered through his teeth.
It appeared as if that did not diffuse the situation "That makes it even worse." She hissed back, confirming his fears.
They went silent as it appeared the room had filled as much as it was going to, there were still a lot of empty seats and they were all very spread out around the giant table, it seemed as if he and Ranchel were the only two people sitting next to each other.
He was just wondering how they'd be able to hear each other when his question was answered. A very loud voice came from a speaker in the middle of the table, causing him to jump. "Today we have a very special guest with us. Dewarde Kiwelnos! His father owns this business and we should all be on our best behavior." It was Natasbo. And with that, the room got very quiet. Everyone turned to look at him and he felt very embarrassed, he hadn't even known where Ranchel worked this morning, and he still didn't even know what the so called war committee was.
The silence went on for just long enough to be rather uncomfortable.
Someone cleared her throat, and it echoed through the microphone "uh, we're losing ground in area 26, quadrant three." She began "We're losing soldiers fast and need to pull back while there's still anyone left."
Another voice chimed in "We can't pull back! That's one of the only places we've taken in months. Send more troops down there!"
"We can't, we don't have the numbers. We can't risk it all on just one area." A new person. There was more stuff like that, Dewarde didn't really know that much about the war as he should, but even to him it was very clear things were looking grim.
He wasn't sure what had happened but it had somehow descended into more of a fight than a discussion, there was a lot of yelling and it only stopped when Natasbo shouted over it all something about staying civil in front of their boss. He wondered if it was just like that the whole time when he wasn't there. Ranchel didn't even seem to react, she just stared across the table with lifeless eyes like she was sick and tired of them always fighting.
The discussions after that were fairly heated but there was less screaming and threats of throwing things, when finally for the first time Ranchel spoke, he perked up wanting to know what she had to say.
"Just listen to reason, we're losing more and more every day, and they want peace, there's no way for us to win this thing why don't we just-" He noticed a microphone on her jacket and her voice rang clear through the room until she was interrupted.
"Oh and what do you know about war?"  somebody sneered.
She sighed "I've seen the numbers I-" but he interrupted again.
"Yes you have, because that's your job. Finances, just stick to your counting and let the professionals talk." He could be seen smirking all the way on the other end of the table. Dewarde's chair screeched on the floor as he jumped up in anger.
Ranchel grabbed his sleeve urging him to sit back down, insisting it was fine. But it wasn't fine, it wasn't fine at all. She was the smartest person he knew, no one could talk to her like that. "What did you just say to my cousin!?" He didn't need a microphone, he shouted it so loud everyone could hear it. Spit was flying past his long fangs as he growled, his ears pinned low to his head.
The man mumbled something unintelligible "If you have something to say! Come say it to my fists!!" He was about to jump onto the table when Ranchel pulled him down into the chair.
"That's enough Dewie, I think he gets the point." She said quietly, her hand on his shoulder. He could see the other hand was projecting a shield and her eyes were wide and flicking around in fear. He took a deep breath and settled into the chair.
"I'm sorry." He muttered, he just couldn't stand to see anyone talk to her like that.
The room was now completely silent, save for a few people sitting back down and the sound of a gun powering off. Everyone was staring at him, and once again he wished he was a plant. The man who appeared to be in charge, Natasbo was now speaking. "Ahem. And I think this concludes the meeting." He said, a few people left, but most of them stayed, not wanting to miss out on any drama that might unfold. Didn't they have anything better to do?
Natasbo came over to him. He looked at the ground getting ready for whatever horrible things he was going to say. He'd messed up, he knew that, he just hoped it didn't get Ranchel fired, he'd feel even more awful than he already did.
"I am so sorry." But the words weren't coming from Dewarde, it was the other man speaking. "I offer you my most sincere apologies sir." Dewarde's head jerked up in surprise, what was happening. "I'll be sure to talk to that man, he was very out of line. I can fire him if you'd like, he's a valuable asset but I'll go fire him right now if you wish sir."
"No, that's alright." He knew it was wrong but he had to contain himself from laughing, an important businessman acting like Dewarde was powerful. He was just a man same as any other, sure his father was rich but he just bought his son shiny objects, never gave him any real power.

Ranchel returned to her office and he once again sat on the floor. But his mind was buzzing, he was thinking about what she had said, peace. She'd said that's what the Twithids wanted, an idea was forming in his mind, a way he could help, a way to end the violence.