Yvian gazed out the viewports as the Encounter descended. New Pixa lay spread out before her in blues and greens and browns. A whole planet, teeming with life and water and fresh air. It took her breath away sometimes. Even now, she felt a swell of pride that she'd won such a place for her people.

As beautiful as the landscape was, City 43 was even more majestic. Nestled between forests and plains, the city formed a many pointed star over two hundred kilometers across. Buildings and streets and wide open spaces, all made of brilliant crystal, a city of glass reflecting the light of the Homestar. Buildings rose in geometric pattern. Prisms, then pyramids, then multifaceted spheres, then an open space, and the pattern would repeat. The buildings grew in size as they approached the center of the city, reaching over five hundred meters in height before the wide expanse that contained the central Spire.

The Spire dwarfed the rest of the city, a three kilometer prism piercing the sky. The top of it was often obscured by cloud cover, but the day was clear, and Yvian could see it in all it's glory. A glance told her Lissa was also staring at the sight. Yvian hoped her sister felt the same stirrings of wonder and pride.

Mims didn't so much as glance out the viewport.

A single crystal ship was parked near the Spire. The Skygem. Yvian had rescued it from a mostly derelict Crystal Mother. The Lucendian ship was made of the same crystal as City 43. It took the shape of a long pyramid laying on its side, with a shorter pyramid attached to it's base. At one hundred meters in length, it was roughly the same size as the Random Encounter.

Yvian had been gifted an implant that let her communicate with the crystal ship. Skygem didn't think like a person, but she was very much a living being. Yvian's implant allowed her to feel what the ship felt, and Skygem had been lonely on the shipyard. That's why Yvian had brought her to City 43. The city was lonely, too, and Yvian hoped the two of them would be able to comfort each other.

"Alright Yvian," the Captain deftly landed the Encounter next to the crystal ship. "Grab the Skygem and let's head back."

Yvain stood. "I need to talk to Shard first." Shard was the being that lived in City 43. She'd been a Lucendian once, a person like Yvian, but her mind had been trapped in the crystal of the city. As far as Yvian knew, she was the last sane Lucendian member of her kind. "Let her know what's going on."

Mims hesitated, then gave a nod. "Make it quick. And ask her not to use a Pulse unless she absolutely has to."

The Pulse was the Lucendian's greatest weapon. The crystal that made up the city could release some kind of energy. Despite numerous tests, Lissa hadn't found a way to classify or even detect it directly. Whatever it was, the Pulse disrupted technology. Lucendian cities and ships could broadcast a low yield version in a wide radius, disrupting computers and sensitive equipment.

The crystals could also flare out a full Pulse. A full power blast would cause a violent reaction in all tech, damaging and destroying anything that was turned on along with every power supply in it's range. If Shard fired a Pulse, she'd disable every Peacekeeper on the planet and cripple every piece of equipment within ten thousand kilometers of New Pixa. She would also die, unless she was immediately given more energy to feed on.

"I will," Yvian promised. "Twenty minutes." She jogged down to the airlock and let herself out.

Once she was off the ship, Yvian didn't waste time with walking. She activated her jetpack and shot straight through the Spire's entrance. The light of the Homestar shimmered through the crystal walls, illuminating a vast space. There were doorways leading to stairs scattered on the edges of the main hall, but Yvian only had eyes for the dais in the center.

Thirty wide steps formed a circle, leading to a raised platform. On the platform, equally spaced, were nine pedestals. The pedestals were rectangular, two meters in height, and topped by perfectly smooth two meter crystal spheres. Four crystals protruded from each side of the pedestals. Communion nodes.

Yvian was so focused on reaching the nodes that she almost didn't notice the hulking mass looming next to one of the pedestals. It turned to look at her as she was landing on the platform, and the sight of it caused her to cut her jetpack early. She stumbled, then fell backwards in panic as the thing took a step towards her. She tripped and fell down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, she kept scrambling backwards, blood and adrenaline pounding through her ears. The thing stood at the top of the stairs, reaching out with claws that would shred tungsten like tissue. A Crystal Guardian.

The Guardian was roughly pixenoid, if a pixen was three meters high and weighed literal tons. It's curved head was devoid of facial features, and it's body was a jagged mass of shiny semitransparent rock. The last time Yvian had tangled with one, it had nearly killed the Captain. She'd only managed to kill it thanks to an anti-ship weapon she no longer had access to.

The Guardian thumped it's massive foot down onto the top step, claws still outstretched. Yvian jumped to her feet, one hand dropping to the blaster on her hip. Not that it would do her any good. She felt the slight vibration as the thing continued down the steps. Yvian switched modes, and prepared to activate her jetpack.

The Guardian lowered its needlepoint claws. A thought wormed its way through Yvian's panic. She'd seen these things move. They were fast. If the Guardian had wanted to kill her, it would have. If it meant her harm, it wouldn't be approaching with slow clomps. Yvian took a breath, forcing the fear down.

Where had it come from, anyway? City 43 didn't have Guardians. The Xill had destroyed them all, along with every ship on the planet. Shard had been overjoyed when Yvian had told her about the Skygem. The soul in the city had been sure there were no crystal ships left in the verse.

The Skygem. Yvian briefly resisted the urge to slap her forehead. The Guardian was from the Skygem. It had been standing motionless in the back of the ship for so long Yvian had forgotten the thing. She deactivated her jetpack controls and let her arms fall. The crystal hulk reached the bottom of the staircase and rumbled to a stop.

It held out a hand, palm up. Yvian took it. Emotion flooded into her through her implant. Greetings. Concern. Affection. She responded with embarrassment, the emotional equivalent of giving a wave with a sheepish smile. Skygem's Guardian gave the emotional equivalent of a fond smile and a pat on the head. It released her hand and clomped past her. She assumed it was heading back to its ship.

Yvian watched it go, trying to shake off the remnants of her fight or flight response. She shook her head and checked herself over. The fall down the stairs had been significant, but her voidarmor had protected her well. She didn't think she even had a bruise.

Shaking her head again, Yvian climbed back up the stairs. She placed her hand on one of the Nodes on the nearest pedestal, and let her mind sink into the crystal. The entity she had named Shard rose to greet her.

"Blue girl," Shard greeted her. Lucendian's spoke with a series of whistles and clicks. Shard could not pronounce Yvian's name any more than Yvian could pronounce hers. Greetings and amusement flowed through the implant. "You fell."

Yvian gave the emotional equivalent of a shrug. "I get..." What was the word? She wanted to say she startled easily, but Yvian still had a hard time with Shard's language. She settled for the whistle that meant surprise. Then she sent an image of the Guardian and asked, "Why there?"

A wave of feelings crashed into Yvian's brain. Joy. Hope. Reverence. In her excitement, Shard spoke too quickly for Yvian to follow. After asking her to repeat herself a few times, the soul in the city finally calmed down enough to get her message across.

"The Guardian brings seeds. Bury in city. Grow. New Guardians. New sky crystals. All has not lost." Feelings and images accompanied the words, showing the Guardian gifting pieces of itself and Skygem to the city. The pieces would allow City 43 to grow new Guardians, and other ships like the Skygem. The living crystals that made the ships were different than the ones City 43 was made of, and Shard had been mourning their loss for centuries. The knowledge that new ships would be born, that the crystal companions of the Lucendians would live on... it was overwhelming. Literally. Yvian was only catching a portion of what Shard felt, and she was being overwhelmed. "Glad you're here. Share joy. Sing songs of light."

Dimly, Yvian felt her body smiling, and the wetness of tears. She braced herself, pushing down on the well of emotion. "Here because danger," she told Shard. She sent images of the Klaath, quickly replaying the last few hours. "Klaath Incursion. Vore might follow."

Shard seemed only mildly concerned with the Klaath. Yvian suspected she'd never seen them before. The Vore prompted a more visceral response. "Vore!" A fear bordering on hysteria flooded through the implant. "Devourers! Stop/Kill!" Desperation and a hint of despair welled up behind the fear. "No more crystals. If Vore destroy, all gone."

"We won't let destroy," Yvian assured her. "Have plan. Will kill Vore if come." She sent determination and reassurance into the city. "Might need aid. Be ready. Small pulse field if Vore planet on."

"Big Pulse if Vore," the soul in the city countered.

"Small pulse," Yvian repeated. "Big Pulse only if..." Yvian struggled to find the words. "Only if small not.." She gave up and went with "Only if" and an image of the Vore swallowing the planet. "Big Pulse kill maybe pixens. Big Pulse kill maybe city. Not know if blue girl can save."

Yvian found the language barrier frustrating, but Shard seemed to take it in stride. "Agreement. Big Pulse emergency only." Anger and worry and encouragement flowed into Yvian. "Go. Kill Klaath. Kill Vore. Protect gemlifes."

"I will," Yvian promised. "I take Skygem for aid." At the flare of worry, she quickly added. "Will keep safe. Protect gemlifes."

"Acceptance." Shard was still worried, but Yvian could feel her understanding. "Protect self, also. Blue girl important, too. Go careful." A thrum of amusement pressed into Yvian. "Try not fall down this time."