1.

Selena's alarm went off, and she toppled out of bed with a crash.

Her rimless glasses fell from the dresser on her head.

Selena groaned, picked her glasses up, and pushed them onto her nose.

Her room door was thrown open, and her mother was standing there.

" Selena, Honey, is everything alright?"

"Yep." Selena pushed herself to her feet, "I just fell out of the bed. It's nothing too serious."

Her mother let out a sigh of relief, "Ok. We leave in five, hurry."

Selena opened up her closet and pulled out an outfit.

She changed her clothes and was pulling on her shoes when her mother's head popped in again.

"Ready?"

"But it's only been two minutes!" Selena complained, "Let me brush my hair. Gimme two seconds."

" One. Two."

Selena groaned, "Mom!"

"Ok. Ok. I'll be waiting in the living room."

Selena stood in front of her mirror on the back of her door. She brushed her jet-black hair into the neatest ponytail she would manage and ran downstairs.

Her mother was wearing her standard uniform. A dark blue button-down shirt and black dress pants. Her boots were so shiny they reflected the lights from the kitchen.

"Ready."

Selena pulled on her shoes and followed her mother out the door, locking it behind them.

A military jeep was waiting outside for them.

Selena climbed into the back, and her mother climbed into the front.

In the driver's seat was her mother's boyfriend, Kai. Kai wore the same outfit she did. His hair was slicked back out of his face, and his eyes glinted mischievously.

"Hey, gorgeous." he smiled at Selena's mother.

He leaned toward her and they shared a kiss.

Selena rolled her eyes. "UGH! Get a room you two!"

Kai laughed and pulled away, then he turned out of their neighborhood.

Selena watched the scenery outside. It always amazed her at how alike this planet was to earth.

Kai dropped them off at the dock station where Selena's mother worked to inspect trading ships.

Selena jumped from the car and looked around for her friend, Xander. She saw him in the distance waving his hand.

He dropped the crate he was carrying and ran towards her. "Hey! I didn't think you'd be coming!"

Xander had pale skin, white blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. He was lean and muscular from hauling things back and forth to the port.

"Well, here I am. Come on, let's go catch up with my mom, she'll want to see you."

Selena turns and ran to catch up with her mother, who was in the middle of a conversation with another woman.

Her mother turned towards her. "This is my daughter, Selena. Selena, this is my boss, Mrs. William."

Mrs. William was middle-aged with dark skin, brown eyes, and long dark hair. When she smiled the skin around her eyes wrinkled. "Hello there, a pleasure to meet you." she turned back towards her mother. "Well, you better get started. You have lots of ships to inspect. I'm heading to a meeting." she bowed her head and touched the brim of her hat before turning and walking away.

Selena's mother saw Xander and she gasped. "Oh my gosh! How are you!" She squeezed him in a hug. She pulled away. "You've gotten so big. How are your parents?"

Xander frowned slightly. "Oh . . . my dad died this past Friday. My mom's surviving as she would say."

Selena gasped. "Died? Oh, gosh. I'm sorry."

Xander waved her away. "It's alright."

"Good heavens!" Selena's mother gasped. "Tell your mother I'm sorry for her loss!"

"Will do."

Selena's mother turned towards the docking station and Selena ran to catch up. "Hey, mom, do you know how long you'll be here?"

"Probably a couple of hours, why?"

"Well . . . I was hoping to hang out with . . ." Selena trailed off and glanced up at her mother.

"Hm. We'll see. Behave yourself while you're here, and we'll see."

Selena squealed in excitement and squeezed her mom in a hug.

Selena and Xander walked with her mother and her crew as they went to each ship.

Usually, Selena would be excited to get to explore the ships, hoping she might become an intergalactic pilot. But today, Xander was here, and he was very distracting.

While her mother and the crew were distracted, she convinced Xander to sneak off with her, and she leads him towards a different part of the ship that holds storage.

There were boxes everywhere, and Selena and Xander walked around and started exploring.

Xander called her name. "Hey Selena, check this out!"

Selena walked toward him to see what he was looking at and she saw a box. She raised an eyebrow. "Uh. What is it?"

"This is from the planet Ionia. Wonder what it is." he grinned mischievously. "Truth or dare."

"Dare."

Xander grins. "I dare you to open this box."

"What?" Selena gasped. "That's not right! It's not my business to know!"

"It's only far. You asked me to sneak away with you, and I did." Xander grabs a hatchet. "Come on, open it."

After a moment, Selena gave in and opened the box. Inside looked like a little recording box.

Selena picked it up and pressed play.

"This is a message from the planet Ionia. We have agreed with your proposition. Megedagik has agreed to start the search for Mecha."

Xander raises an eyebrow. "Mecha? It sounds like a toy robot."

"Shh!"

"Megedagik is grateful for your services. You will be paid greatly, hopefully, the bomb device we gave you has been of use. Once you've completed your mission report back to me immediately."

The recording cut off and Selena and Xander stood there in shock.

Selena wasn't sure how to interpret this information, should she tell someone?

A couple of voices startled them both. Selena tucked the recording device into her pocket and she and Xander hid behind a stack of crates.

She peeked around the side.

Two men entered the room.

"Hey, Henry, are you sure those inspector people left?"

Henry opened his mouth to respond but he saw the open box. His mouth dropped open. "What the hell? Marcus, the box."

"Dammit. That was from Megedagik, we'll have to contact him and tell him we've been found out."

"What?" Henry squawked. "He'll have our heads!"

Marcus started pacing back and forth. "We have no other choice. Come let's got get another communicating device that can't be tracked."

As they were leaving Henry said, "That was very important information. What do you think will happen to whoever found it?"

"They'll be found eventually. We have spies everywhere, they'll be on the lookout. Hopefully, they don't tell anyone otherwise they're dead meat."

When Selena was sure the men were gone she and Xander left the ship and sat on a bench outside by the docking station.

"What the hell?" Xander muttered. "What the hell just happened?"

Selena shook her head repeatedly. "I-I don't know, Xander."

"What are we going to do? We can't say w word about this to anyone." Xander stood up and started pacing back and forth. "Maybe we could leave. Yeah. Pack up some belongings and leave. Or-"

"Stop it!" Selena hissed. "You're making me nervous!"

"Nervous?! You should be terrified!"

Selena pushed her glasses up on her nose. "I'm not. Since we're the only ones who know, we have to do something."

"Like what?"

"Well, first we'll need to do some research, get to know more about...you know. Then we'll pack up and leave." Selena sighed. "I'm not sure how long it'll take."

Xander was furiously typing on his portable laptop. "Ok. So the thing they were talking about is a myth, fantasy."

"Keep looking, if it were a myth. They wouldn't be looking so hard for it if that were true."

Selena looked around them to make sure no one suspicious was watching them. People were milling about doing different things, hauling crates, and checking ships.

"Found it! Apparently, it consists of five lions?" Xander raises an eyebrow. "They're all in this galaxy, just scattered about on different planets. They were made by an Amourus king. Twenty years ago this king and that Mege dude's father got into a fight over who should have the lions. That's when the king sent the lions away to keep them safe. They haven't been found since."

Selena nods. "Ok. Is there a list of possible places they could be in?"

"Yea. I'll print it out later today."

"We have a galaxy to save."