Chapter Text
LILU, THEN:
The whir of the chopper blades was relentless. *whup whup whup whup whup* came the dull thump that she felt more in her chest than even heard. Lilu shouldn't have even taken this mission, she had a bad feeling all along. That she couldn't go with her regular unit gave her the first sense of misgiving. That it was raining like a mother just added to the foreboding. But... she had to get out of the house for a while.
Her and Adam had been doing nothing but fighting lately. Fighting because of reasons that were too many to count. She should never have gotten into a relationship with him in the first place. She was too traumatized, and he was a little too young for her: so easily impressed, a young cop in a small town dating an enigmatic Army sniper, the first female sniper ever to make it all the way to run with Delta Force, and rumored to maybe be a CIA spook on the side. Oh sorry, a member of "Clandestine Services", that's the term these days that made her father, Robert McLovin, now long retired as a CIA field operative himself to return to a Deputy Director role in analysis, scoff with disdain at the diminution of their reputation. "Sounds like you're some sort of concierge for the real spies", he'd grunt with derision. But she grew up around spooks, her dad had her helping him with detonators and C4 when she was a kid, learning how to shoot and defend herself in case a bad guy got into their Manhattan apartment. It seemed inevitable that her life would be spent with a gun in her hand.
And so it came to be. She went to school, then off to the Army against her father’s wishes, where her elite weapon skills, honed since childhood, were quickly recognized. That she would be the "first woman" in many areas may have been a surprise to those who didn't recognize her surname, it certainly wasn't to those who knew of her father. When Lilu McLovin made the U.S. Army Rangers as a Sergeant, it was one thing, but her promotion to Sergeant First Class and her first deployment to a Delta Force detachment made all the military publications and a few smaller feminist/female-leadership focused bylines. The types that enjoyed demonstrating that "women can do anything." It kind of amused her even though she was proud. "See, America, even your daughters can now be cold-blooded, sneaky assassins in the name of patriotism!" But just in case that was some little girl's dream, she had helped pave the way.
Bigger opportunities came along, and she found herself running with a regular unit she felt to be just like family. The whole "Band of Brothers" thing now included a "sister", and they laughed, cried, cursed, and bled together. And as the military feared could occasionally happen with men and women serving together, somewhere along the line she fell in love with someone in her Delta squad, definitely not in the rule book. And also, as the military feared, that star-crossed affair.... well, she wouldn't have ended up with Adam had things not gone horribly wrong.
Speaking of horribly wrong, the turbulence from the storm was really rocking the chopper. Something didn't feel right. It was 1:00am and there blue, white, and yellow sparkling lights swirling in the clouds... was that some sort of lighting? Lilu had never seen anything like it before, like elliptical loops that formed and dissipated to reform again. They were heading into the massive weather event, whatever it was, it was too big to go around and right in their path. The chopper slammed as if it had hit something solid. Lilu gasped with fear and grabbed the “oh shit” handle near her seat, and suddenly...
LILU, NOW:
Lilu woke up with a start. The dream again. This time it was just the helicopter dream and not how she actually got here. Nothing else. Not even the mysterious man, the one with the mesmerizing eyes, a man she didn't know who sometimes appeared in her dreams ever since the terrible events that had befallen her in the Army, her brain conjuring him at times to seemingly comfort her, even though she couldn't make out how she knew him… or even IF she knew him at all. This time, the dream was just about the helicopter and the storm and the light, and the fading away of who she was. And it gave way to the abrupt awakening to who she was here and now. A miner for Argos Extractors. The third day of her new life.
She had been found wandering near some of her chopper's wreckage in a swampy environment that she had thought was somewhere not terribly far from home in Washington state. She didn't realize that she had landed, stupefyingly, on another planet. This planet, Jemison, was routinely patrolled and she was enormously relieved when the security force who rolled up on her in this swamp had uniforms on that said UC. She saw the U and part of the "C", but in her fatigued, famished, and injured state, misread it for US. They spoke English and their accents sounded similar to Americans. The clothing looked right. They patched her up and got her to her feet. But as they assisted her out of the swamp, hobbled on one good leg, she stopped cold. They had what could only be described as some sort of airborne shuttle. Later, she would come to understand that this wasn't some elaborate psyop, this was a small spaceship.
The UC, which stood for United Colonies, kept her under observation for almost 90 days in their capital city, New Atlantis, on Jemison, studying her, taking DNA samples, interrogating her. It took them some time to confirm her story before they finally understood that they had stumbled across the prize of all prizes. A real Earthling who somehow was transported across time and space from 2025 to the year 2330. She lacked several DNA markers that the new "space people" had. And had several that they did not. It was as if they had discovered a new species. They immediately set to inoculating her against some of the more common viruses to which they had already developed immunity, although she did catch something that felt like the worst flu she'd ever had in her life. Once they decided she wasn't truly a danger to their society, they realized that keeping her in their headquarters' basement forever would be less than productive. So, they set about finding a place for her where they could keep tabs on her but let her start integrating into the fabric of what was called "The Settled Systems".
Meanwhile, that 90 days, besides the pseudo-flu from hell, was excruciating. She had been ripped away from everything she knew. Her home. Her friends. Her squad. Her father. Her dogs. Her side hustle riding horses for a local trainer. Even Adam, though they hadn't been getting along that well and she'd been thinking of breaking it off with him. Now she suddenly missed him so badly she thought she would die. It's not like this didn't feel like an enormous adventure. It had taken her maybe 2 months before she was fully convinced that what she was seeing around her was real. That there were spaceships and a spaceport, but it wasn't like in the movies with aliens in a cantina. It was much more human and imperfect. Which made it somehow more plausible. She was pretty skeptical most times, it's what keeps a good spook from getting snared. But there was no doubt this was the real deal, and since the UC was pretty adamant that they had no idea how she punched a hole into their universe to arrive there, she believed them when they were just as adamant that they would not be able to send her back home. They had no idea what happened, so re-creating it was out of the question.
So, they sent her to Argos Extractors, under the care of Supervisor Lin, who herself was a military veteran in this new universe. Lin apparently had served in an intergalactic conflict (Good lord, is that what Lilu was going to look forward to now, not international conflicts but INTERGALACTIC ones?) known as the Colony Wars. The UC had confidence in Lin's ability to handle classified information, and Lilu's origins were most definitely classified. The citizenry of the UC would most likely be on edge if they knew there were wormholes taking people away from "Old Earth" and bringing them to "New Atlantis" because couldn't that mean they could also go the other way? Lilu herself, from what the UC was able to find of her service record in ancient archives, had been given a high level of security clearance by the United States government, so they told her they expected her to maintain that level of trust with the United Colonies as they were not that far separated. Even though she had no sworn duty to them to do so, it was inherent in her nature, her upbringing, and her training to do her duty, nevertheless. Plus, it would buy her freedom from that basement holding cell, even though it was somewhat nicer than her first studio apartment. And so she was a miner now. “Dusty” Lilu.
Mining had been pretty boring the first couple of days. How long would she be able to stand it? Maybe there'd be an opportunity for something else later if she asked? Maybe the UC was just stashing her out of the way until they had time to assess what her value was? They had a military and an intelligence wing. Certainly, they could find a use for her somewhere there. Maybe the Argos gig was just to see if she was tractable and would follow orders. Fine, she’d be a good little soldier girl and do what she was told.
Whatever they were after today on the Argos Extractors work queue was something special, Lin said. For a private collector. Or collectors. Something she said she wanted Lilu especially for the job. So, she got ready to go with Lin and Heller, that wiseacre that Lin also seemed to be looking after, but not for the same reasons as Lilu. Heller seemed to be a mama's boy, and Lin appeared to be fond of him in that matronly way. Lilu felt that was a hopeful sign, like she hadn't been totally thrown to the wolves. Maybe today wouldn't be such a bad day after all? But then, that's what she thought when she got on that chopper.
Lilu was about to find out how one day could change her fortune forever, and open a profound secret for humanity to explore. What happened next was certainly more than she bargained for, that's for sure, but the journey she was embarking upon was one where she wouldn't have changed a thing.
Welcome to the Starfield, Captain.
Chapter 1 Song: Nothing But Thieves - Welcome to the DCC
Welcome to the DCC, Dead Club City
Wake up in the DCC, Dead Club City
All the heaven, all the time
If you dream it, you can have it
If you believe it, it can happen
Welcome to the DCC, Dead Club City
Live your perfect life