▬▬ STATIC▬▬
i. ALL THE THINGS SHE SAID. 

▬▬▬★▬▬▬

IT WAS A COLD APRIL NIGHT, the wind nipping at the edges of Laury's skirt. It was 2 in the morning, and she could smell the overwhelming scent of the ocean, the salt rubbing uncomfortably against her already red nose.

Her mums all had plans for the spring break, so they called her friend Alondra's dad, and asked if Laury could stay with him for the two week break, which Alondra's dad was happy to do. It was nice to visit Alondra's hometown, but she desperately missed her parents.

Laury had known Alondra for only three years, meeting her at the Garrison, but she still considered her to be her closest friend. Alondra's family was as big as ever, with an older brother, a little sister, about 10,00 cousins, and 3 aunts. Erica was Alondra's little sister. She was skinny and lean, and quiet as a mouse for most of the time Laury ever hung around her.

It was the dead of night when Lance, one of Alondra's cousins, had snuck into the room they were sleeping in and told them he was going to go hang out on his uncle Ross's roof, and they could join him if they wanted.

Erica had despised the idea, and told them they would get in massive loads of trouble with their dad if he caught them. But Laury complied easily, because she wouldn't ever say it, but she really wanted Lance to think she was cool. (She would would never, EVER let him know though).

Lance, trailed not far behind them. Despite the boy being three years older then her, she considered him a close friend. Well, she did only have two other friends besides him, so it wasn't that hard for him to be considered a friend.

She had seen a few times at flight school. She thinks he's a cargo pilot, but then again, she doesn't really the best memory, so she's not sure. Laury herself is a terrible pilot, and everyone who's ever known her knows this very well.

Laury wouldn't like to say she's always known she wanted to be a astroacoustician, someone who studies space sound waves, but she would be lying. She at first tried to be a pilot, but when she failed brilliantly at that, she trailed into the acoustics of space, and it went off from there.

Alondra was a pilot, rising into fighter class. She loves the rush of adrenaline every time she gripped the wheel. She was known for being nice and sweet, but all that kindness melted away as soon as she sat in the deck of any plane.

After sneaking out of the house, the four kids tip toed as lightly as they could to Alondra and Erica's dad's shed, a small building with a scrappy piece of metal as the roof. The light of the half moon lit up the trash bins littered around it, reflecting onto the roof.

"Come on, Erica!" Alondra called down to her little sister, who was struggling to climb the trash cans to get to the roof.

"What if dad finds us?" She asks Alondra, her eyes wide and frantic, "We'll get in trouble!"

Laury's about to speak when a loud laugh from Alondra interrupts her thoughts.

"Come on, don't be a scardey cat! Dad sleeps like the dead!" Alondra says, but it's still a whisper. She holds out her hand to Erica, who reluctantly grabs onto it.

"Fine," she huffs, allowing the older girl to pull her up, "but if we get in trouble—"

"We won't, lil' cuz." Lance tells her, smiling assuringly at her. "I promise, alright?"

"...Alright." Erica sighs quietly. Below, Laury tries to climb the overstocked cans as best she can. She slips, falling onto her wrist.

"Shit." The raven haired girl whispers to herself, shaking her wrist as if trying to shake the pain off.

"Be more careful, klutz." Lance tells the girl, smiling smugly.

"You're not helping, Serrano." She replies, dusting off her clothes, which are now covered in cement dust from her impact with the ground. She shakes her left hand, which is lightly throbbing.

"On a last name basis, are we?" Lance winks, and Alondra makes gagging noises behind them. The untrained eye would see this as clear flirting, but to the two, it was playful teasing. Especially since Laury made it very vocal she would rather stick a hot poker in her eyes then date Lance.

"Shut it, kid." She growls at him, scrambling onto the roof, her legs flailing below her.

"Need help?" Erica asks softly, reaching out her hand to the pale girl.

"I'm fine." Laury brushes it off, struggling to get on the roof, but finally managing to get on.

"Why did you want to bring us up here, Lance?" Laury asked, sitting down with her legs crossed. Erica was standing upright on the tin roof, her dress catching in the wind as she stood unwavering.

"To look at the stars, duh." Lance tells the three girls, pointing at the flickering sky, "It's great this time of night."

"It makes me feel so small." Alondra says, her voice soft and whispy. The twinkling stars shine off her bright blue eyes, which are wide in amazement.

"Because you are small, half pint." Lance laughs, rubbing her hair. She smiles at him, pushing him playfully.

"Real funny, tall ass." Alondra snickers.

"One day, I promise you guys I'm going to go to space and become a real astronaut." Lance thinks out loud. His voice is distant and far off, "Like the ones you see on TV."

"Won't it be lonely in space?"  Laury asks, looking up at the sky. Her black hair is sprawled across the metal roof and she's holding her hands on top of her chest. Space has always been a scary concept for her. Floating abandoned throughout a meteor field, oxygen levels running low is the first thing she thinks of when she thinks of the universe. She itches uncomfortably.

"Nah," the oldest of them says nonchalantly, "I would call you guys everyday."

"Every day?" Erica turns to face her cousin, "You promise?"

"Of course I do." Lance almost looks like he's going to scoff at how horrible such an accusation is, but his face is soft and happy, "How could I manage without my favourite cousins and friend?"

"Aww Lance," Laury says in a babyish voice, puffing out her bottom lip, "I'm your favourite friend?"

Lance laughs, and jokingly elbows her in the stomach. "Don't get a big head, Laur."

▬▬▬★▬▬▬

It's 5 months later when things start to tumble downhill. Laury had gotten a emergency notice from one of her fellow cadets that Commander Brownsen, a surly young man with dusty dark blonde hair, needed to see her in his office.

"Where's Lance?" Lance's mother was saying, her eyes watery and big as saucers. Her children were trying to hold her back, but she kept pushing pas them and zeroing in on the Commander, "Where's my baby?"

"Mrs. Serrano, I'm going to have to ask you to sit down." Brownsen said, unflinching. Laury was shocked at how he didn't even have a fleck of emotion on his face when almost 13 meme era of the Serrano clan were about to bite his head off.

"Where's my son?!" The woman sounds frantic, her auburn hair bouncing with her many movements, "What did you do with my son?!"

Rachel Serrano, a tall girl with frizzy black hair, places a hand on her mother's shoulder, "Mum, sit down."

"We regret to inform you Cadets Lance Serrano, Pidge Gunderson, who we have figured out was an alias for Katie Holt, Tsuyoshi Garret, known as Hunk, and ex-cadet Keith Kogane have disappeared." Commander Brownsen says, his face as serious as ever. Laury feels her heart skip a beat.

Colleen Holt looks like she's going to throw up.

"He's-He's gone?" A young teenage boy with a yellow bandana wrapped around his left wrist almost chokes out.

"What do you mean missing?" Veronica Serrano says, her voice trailing off. "He can't be... be.... m-m..."

The families all stay quiet, either crying or too shocked to even say anything.

"Why am I here?"

"We were getting to that, Officer Adam. Takashi Shirogane was found last night. We don't know his current whereabouts, but the fact is that he is alive."

The man named Adam's serious face drops in an instant. He grips his face in his hands, his eyes shattering.

"He's—Hes alive?"

"Maybe."

Laury is expecting Adam to punch Brownsen in the jaw from the feral look on his face, but he just nods ditzy and sits on a nearby chair, staring at a wall. Laury doesn't know the significance Adam has to Takashi, but she's guessing it must be important, since the brown skinned boy looks like he's going to break out into tears any second.

"What about my husband?" Colleen Holt says, shaking. She looks so small in the room, her soft pink cardigan making her look even more innocent, "And my son? Are they alive? Have you found them?"

"I'm sorry Mrs. Holt, we have not." Brownsen days, but he doesn't look sorry in the slightest. To him, this is just another check on the to do list, "But we're doing everything in our power to find them."

"Please find my son." Said a tall man with warm brown skin. He was rubbing the shoulders of a shorter woman who was looking at the ground. Laury guessed that was his wife.

"We will, Mr. Garret." Commander Brownsen gives a small bow to the families, who all look too shocked to say anything. A girl Laury doesn't recognize with long caramel hair and light brown skin pats the only Holt family member on the back reassuringly.

"If Shirogane is alive, that means your husband and Matt are as well." The girl, who looks like she's in her early 20s, yells the other woman in a soft voice, "Matt is my best friend, Mrs. Holt, we are going to find him. And Katie as well."

"Thank you, Ashley." Colleen whispers, rubbing her own shoulders, her brown eyes welling up with tears.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Holt." The girl, Ashley says, her amber eyes looking down at the middle aged woman like she's a sister, "We'll find them."

It pulls at Laury's heartstrings, and she's sure her heart can take more damage then it already is. She was know where near to Lance's best friend, but his disappearance is still buried deep in her, like a fresh wound. The words missing, missing, missing replays in her head.

Across the room, Alondra hugs her sister tight, her eyes shut and mouth pursed. Their father is talking to Lance's mother, who's sobbing into her hands.

"Laury," Alondra says from the other room, her voice shaking, "he's going to be okay, right?"

"Of course he is." Laury quips, but in honesty, she doesn't believe her own words. She rushes to Alondra's side, her shoulder dropping, "Don't worry, Lony."

Alondra doesn't say anything, just looking at the floor, before whispering a small, "Alright."

"Cadet Orii, you're needed with Brownsen for a private briefing."

"Thanks, Teddy."

Teddy nods in acknowledgment, before continuing to walk down the hall. Laury's heart is still stuck in her throat, but she manages to walk to his door without breaking out in tears.

"Cadet Orii," Brownsen says, his blue eyes gazing over her like a hawk would eye a mouse, "we understand you were friends with one of the missing persons, Lance Serrano."

The use of were, for some reason, vexes Laury. Just 10 minutes ago, he was talking about how Lance would most definitely be found, why was he acting like Lance was dead? "I am, yes." She says seriously, crossing her arms.

"We have reason to suspect Serrano was in league with something... not of this earth."

"Aliens?" Laury says, almost too shocked for words. This whole experience feels surreal. The shattered eyes of Adam, the muffled sobs of Lance's mother, the siblings of Tsuyoshi (or was it Hunk? She doesn't remember) hugging each other tight... It feels like a dream.

"I understand you have a interest extraterrestrials, Orii. That's why I want you to be in this project. We don't know if Shirogane, Kogane and the cadets are a threat."

"What do you want me to do?"

"You and Cadet Tamaka are going to be recruited for  project D.R.A.G.O.S.T.E. I will be your superior officer." The smallest tone of arrogance slips into his voice, "This project is top secret, however." His eyes become sharper, more dangerous, "We can't have any of the families or the public know about it."

"I won't disappoint you." Laury says, trying to act as brave as she can, but in reality, she kind of feels like crumpling onto the floor. She can't even imagine how Alondra feel right now.

The second she steps out of his office, all the families in the waiting room turn to face her, like she's going to just break out in song and dance and tell them their relatives aren't dead.

"Laury?" Alondra says, her voice small and wavering. She reaches out a hand and grips her friend's wrist, "Do they know where Lance is? He was—is my best friend, he can't be gone."

"We're going to find him, Lony." Laury tells her friend, and she starts to feel herself welling up with tears, "I promise we will. He's not gone."

The two girls stare at each other for a while, before collapsing on each other in a giant, sobbing mess of a hug.

"How could he leave us?!" Alondra wails, by Laury can still barley hear her over the other mess of crying and talking of the others in the room, "How could he?!"

"It's going to be okay."

▬▬▬★▬▬▬

IT WAS 12'O CLOCK ON A SUNDAY when the alarms started going off in Laury's neighborhood. It's only 2 miles from the Garrison, so it was equipped with high tech. "Enemy ships approaching" kept ringing loudly, but through the blur of bright lights and blending faces.

She checks her house, only to find it empty. Kana, her foster sister, was no where to be found. Neither were any of her mums.

She ran out into the street to see a crowd of people chattering loudly, crying, and running wild.

"Laury!" Says a voice Laury instantly knows. She runs up to her mother, wrapping her arms around her.

"Mum!" Laury screams, embracing the woman in a tight hug, "Where's mama and ママ?!"

"I don't know where mama is, sweetie. ママ went to go find Kana."

"What's happening, mum?" Laury asks, holding onto the worst of the older woman.

"I don't know, sweetie."

Suddenly, a woman with short black hair and brown eyes runs towards them, out of breath.

"Teiko!" Laury's mum almost jumps onto the black haired woman, "Thank God, I-I thought you were—"

"I'm fine, my love." Teiko says, tucking a pice of hair behind her wife's ear, and kissing her on the cheek.

"ママ!" Laury asks, worry written clear as day across her face. "Where's Kana? And mama?"

Teiko stares at her with a bittersweet lovingly look, obviously trying to hide her sadness.

"I can't find them, Mai." Teiko says to her wife, Mai, whispering low enough Laury has to strain her ears to hear.

"It's okay, baby." Mai says to Teiko, holding her hand, "I'll go with you."

"Laury, stay here." Teiko says, her deep brown eyes looking more stern then Laury has ever seen them, "Don't move at all. We'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay." Laury says, but she wants to tell them to come back. She wants to hug her mama, ママ, and mom right now, not be caught in a crowd of crying and screaming strangers. She hugs her sides, u til she sees a familiar face. Alondra, her Garrison jacket wrapped around her waist. She's heaving and coughing, like she's been running for miles. In retrospect, she probably had been.

"Lony!" Laury tackles the girl in a hug, "Have you seen my mama? Or Kana?"

"I haven't, I'm sorry." Alondra says sincerely, blue eyes flashing. She looks around them at the Garrison officials and random people screaming and shuffling about, "Do you know what's going on?"

Laury simply shakes her head, trying to hold back the overwhelming emotions trying desperately to overtake her.

"It's okay," Alondra says, holding the other girl close to her, "I'm here."

"I know." The green eyed girl whispers back.

▬▬▬★▬▬▬

THREE YEARS LATER, AND LIFE is how she would have never expected it. They never found Kana. Luckily, a stranger was able to reunite Laury's three mums together once again. But having her foster sister gone destroyed her. Even if he had only lived with them 2 months, Laury truly considered her family.

The Garrison gave shelter to the families of its cadets, which thankfully, Laury was. Then, at least. Lately, she's been getting complains her antisocial behaviour was making it hard for her commanding officers to teach her anything.

The apocalypse was much more different from she thought it would be.

She had about 3 different file folders in her hands, when she spotted Alondra walking down the hall. "Ally, hey. How are you?"

"I'm alright." Alondra answers back, her Garrison flight pilot uniform swung over her shoulder, "But I can't find Erica. If you see her, tell me."

"I will. Bye, Lony."

"See you around, Laury." Alondra says, smiling. Laury smiles brightly back, waving her friend goodbye. As soon as the other girl turned, Laury's grin immediately drops.

In front of her is two things that should never mix.

A girl with brown skin and light brown hair tied into a ponytail with lighter highlights is talking to Commander Brownsen while picking up a bundle of papers off the floor. She pushes up her glasses and grins. Laury immediately recognizes her. Deana Smith, aka Trouble with a capital T.

Deana Smith, the troublemaker and Brownsen, who probably hadn't smiled since the Stone Age, together? Not a good combo.

"Cadet Smith," Commander Brownsen says, his blue eyes flashing dangerously, "you're five minutes late to lunch, again. Hurry it up."

"I'm almost done," Deana says nonchalantly, picking up the files that had spilled all over the floor, "don't worry about it, Brownie."

"You know I don't like being called that, Smith." Brownsen tells her, tone so sharp it could probably cut through a tree with no problem, "Stay in line."

"And I don't like having giant purple furries infest the Earth," Deana says, her eyebrows arching, "but we don't all get what we want, d—"

"Alright," interjected Laury, stepping in front of Deana in a move of no thought, "that's enough!"

Commander Brownsen looked at the two girls, before scrunching up his nose and turning his heel.

"What the hell, Deana?" Laury sighed, rubbing her temples, "Why are you annoying him again?"

"Don't take it to heart, Laury." Deana scoffed, crossing her arms. "I didn't know you were married to Cupcake over there."

"I'm not." Laury stiffens, looking down at the mischievous girl with cold eyes.

"Then don't be so serious!" The brunette replies, laughing. She got off the table, dusting off her uniform, "I'll see you later." She have a small salute, "Uhh, hail Iverson or whatever."

Deana then walks away, a skip in her step. Laury sighs and grips the files she has in her hands closer to her chest.

When she finally reached her shared office, her legs are about to give out.

"Hey, Kai."

A boy with pale skin, moppish black hair and amber eyes looks up at her. He has a blistering scar on the left side of his face from a accident a year ago, and his hatred of Galra hasn't lightened up since. Laury understands, though. If anyone gave her a scar that big, she would loathe them too.

"Hey." Kai says, waving at her, "Where were you?"

"Had to stop someone from doing something stupid." She replies, taking off her Garrison jacket to reveal a dark red turtleneck.

"Another day in the life of Superwomam." Kai half heartily smiles at her, leaning back in his chair. She scoffs.

"Alright, I'm going to sort through these files from Officer Acosta while the transmitter powers up." She points to the hunk of metal in front of her, "And could you please, for the love of God, finish those reports Iverson gave you?"

"I don't understand and we're trying to contact aliens." Kai tells her, shaking his head, "Aren't the Galra enough?"

"Not all aliens are bad, Kai. To the Galra, we're the aliens. And are we bad? No. The Galra said they've enslaved other planets." Laury tells her friend, who looks at her like she's a pathological liar, "I doubt every alien on those planets are as bad as the galra."

"I just think we're begging for trouble." Kai replies, shrugging. Laury nods in his direction, before turning around.

"Whatever makes you feel better, Kai."

Laury sorts through the files for what only feels like five minutes, but is more realistically at least twenty, before her pen runs out of ink. She scowls.

"Hey Kai, could you pas me a pen? Mine— Are you serious?" She starts, before noticing Kai was fast asleep on the desk. She's about to wake him up, when she thinks better of it.

I should cut him some slack, it's been a rough week. Laury thinks to herself, breathing in deeply. She places the files on the table the boy is peacefully sleeping on. She grabs a pen that's lying next to him.

She walks over to her sound transmission equipment, which is dark and dirty in the already cramped closet she calls an 'office', about to take notes, when—

"Hello— Hello?" Says a voice so muffled Laury almost mistakes it as static from the transmitter, "This is Allu—we seek an—backup—ha—tron—"

Laury falls out of her seat in shock, making sure she heard right. Three years tuning and fixing the equipment, and it's never, ever, been successful. She was going to have a heart attack.

"Kai! Kai! Look!" Laury screams into her friends ear, shaking his shoulder madly.

"What time is it?" He says groggily in return, rubbing his eyes before yawning and falling back asleep.

"I'm getting feedback!" The green eyed girl shot up like a rocket, and started shaking her friend, "Kai! Kai! Wake up!"

"I'm up, Laury!" He growls at her, shooting up like a bottle rocket. "What is it?"

"Look!" She simply replies, zipping over to her sound wave equipment she's been using for over 3 years. It's much more old and used then she would like to admit.

"Hello?" Laury says loudly into the speaker, gripping her thigh in excitement and fear, "This is Cadet—"

"Cadet is generous." Kai says sleepily, resting his face against his palm.

The raven haired girl gave a silent scowl to her friend, glaring. She cleared her throat and looked back to her equipment. "This is Cadet Laury Orii of the Galaxy Garrison." She pauses for effect before continuing, "Does any intelligent life copy?"

Scratchy static id all she gets in response. Her hope wavers.

"I repeat," Laury says, hoping her voice doesn't sound as scared as she is right now, "does any intelligent life copy?"

A pause, as Laury listened for anything at all. She holds her breath in anticipation. Kai steps closer to the transmitter, which is as silent as ever. Laury has never felt so much yet so little at once.

Static quickly chops through the silence, like an old radio transmission. A voice speaks, crackly and faded, "You can hear me?"

AUTHORS NOTE
ages
laury— 14 (season 1), 17 (currently)
alondra— 13 (season 1), 16 (currently)
kai— 16 (season 1), 19 (currently)
erica— 11 (season 1), 13 (currently)

ugh there's like no poly relationships in media so guess what laury has three (3) mothers 😳🙏🏼

translations
ママ — japanese for mom