By the time they were near their destination, A'turaca had taken the wheel again. Her feathers were somewhat messy and her head crest stuck out to all directions, but she was wide awake and concentrated on getting the ship safely to the settlement. Because all Derii locations were neutral zones, ships from all over the galaxy would come; last time they were at Derii-Va, they encountered the sleek Sagittau ships, the Xetarian ships with their atomic sails, bulky, rusty Dolovan ships, practical but pretty blocky Derii ships, and many, many others. The Freefeather didn't hold a candle to many of them, both in size and firepower, but they made it up with their maneuverability and wit; and even though it was a neutral zone, there was no guarantee there wouldn't be skirmishes. The Derii-Nict settlement was smaller, but it likely would attract more attention as it was still in the process of terraforming, to create more land.

 A'turaca narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Strange. These are the coordinates they gave me." She had piloted the ship into a low orbit around the small planet. It was only truly habitable in a few spots, where the Derii had terraformed the landscape to suit their needs; for the rest, there was only desert and an ocean of liquid nitrogen. The atmosphere was rich with water and oxygen, however, and once they had established an atmosphere around the settlement, it had started to condense almost instantly, giving them plenty of materials to work with.

 The surface below them, however, was only sand and rock, as far as the eye could see. Even the ship's sensors didn't detect anything. A'turaca grumbled some more. "Damn merchants, giving me false coordinates... all the way out here for nothing... wasted fuel..."

 Aphelia frowned. "Weird. Maybe the coordinates were wrong, or - the sensors are off?"

 "No, I don't think so. There really is nothing there." A'turaca moved the ship to break orbit and started to fly around the small planet. There were supposed to be multiple settlements on the planet, but the telemetry showed there was nothing there. No vegetation, no form of life, nothing. She frowned, slightly panicking. "This is insane! A settlement can't just vanish overnight."

 Aphelia and Elisa were starting to get uneasy as well.

 "Let's - we should probably go back..." Elisa offered, eyeing the dead planet nervously. "Whatever caused them to run, might still be around."

 "Hmmm..." A'turaca took another look at the data they received from the sensors. "The coordinates of the main settlement shows natural rock. There's no indication the settlement was ever there."

 They kept watching the barren surface. "Wait, what's that?" Elisa pointed to the sensors. "I'm picking up a ship, it's still active but it's landed on the ground."

 "Anybody on board?"

 "I'm reading one life-form... but incredibly faint, barely alive."

 "Hmm. Maybe they can tell us what happened here. I'm taking her in." A'turaca took over controls and piloted the ship to the surface. Once they got closer, they could see the ship clearly. It was a Deriivian ship, stuck in the sand. They landed right next to them. By the time they had landed, the sun had started to set.

 "They're still inside. Think we can climb in?" Aphelia asked, gathering some tools.

 Elisa adjusted a few sensors. "Yea, I'm reading an atmosphere and since the sun is setting, it's not that hot anymore." 

"Alright. Aphelia, you're with me." A'turaca said. "Elisa, stay and guard the ship." 

"Yes ma'am," Elisa replied.

They decided to don their environmental suits just in case. They were skintight and made of a very light but sturdy material. They were originally E'Sagittau in design, but Elisa managed to sew them over to human shape, so they could fit Elisa and Aphelia as well.

"Gravity on the planet is slightly lighter than we're used to." Elisa warned them right before they stepped out.

Aphelia immediately tripped and landed slowly in the sand. "Ah, gotcha," she said as she got up. 

The trip to the other ship was slow, but they made it. The ship was so damaged, Aphelia only had to whack a wrench against the plating and it fell off. 

"Hello?" A'turaca called out, taking the lead. She held her phaser in front of her, cautious of people jumping out.

A Deriivian laid on the floor. His skin was pale and there was a lot of blood around his head. Aphelia squirmed, jumping back, but A'turaca held her own and scanned him with a mobile sensor. "Hm. We're too late."

"Ah." Aphelia said, looking away. 

A'turaca saw how uncomfortable she was and decided to give her something to do. "Think you can download the sensor readings of this ship? They might tell us something." 

"Right, right," she said, and started to work. The downloading point was away from the body, and she was grateful for that. After a bit, she had all the data she needed downloaded in her data-unit. "Let's go." 

"Yeah." When Aphelia had been turned away, A'turaca had carried the body and laid it in the sand, face-down, as was usual in Deriivian burial rituals. "Sorry, bud." she muttered and scooped a bit of sand over his back. 

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They quickly left the ship. Once they got back on the Freefeather, Aphelia plugged the data into a terminal and started looking through it. 

"Wow - it looks like this had only happened yesterday," Aphelia said. "The sensors show a huge spike of energy and then it was just - gone." 

"Wow," Elisa said, looking over Aphelia's shoulder. Despite still being a bit shaky, Aphelia blushed, being so close to Elisa. "It doesn't really say who or what did it, though. It didn't detect any anomalous ships." 

"Strange." A'turaca said, mulling over the information. She looked out over the desert, deep in thought. "Well, whatever did this, it might still be around, or come back." She turned to the rest. Either way, we should go back to base. We have no more business here."

"Right." Elisa sat in the co-pilot's seat and started to lay in the correct heading for the Derii-Va outpost. They had to stop there to refuel on their way to their current hideout, a little place on the Derii-Nos settlement.

"Maybe we could ask around Derii-Va? I'm sure some of the freighters would know what happened to Derii-Nict." Aphelia said, "I mean, all those people..."

"No, it's none of our business," A'turaca said, harshly. "If we butt heads in this, we won't be getting out. Whatever did that could wipe our ships before we could say featherbrain." 

"But -"

"No buts. It may not be war anymore, but we still can't take any chances. If we encounter the wrong people, we're done for." 

"Right." Aphelia sighed. "Fine."

After a few hours, they arrived at the Derii-Va outpost. It was a floating orb, with the upper half having atmosphere and a clear dome, with buildings and parks, and the lower half were the docking stations, where ships in all shapes and sizes could dock. They were quickly assigned to the upper docks, for the smaller ships.

"Alright. I'm going to see if I can haggle for some supplies. Aphelia, make sure the ship is in working order."

"Aye-aye." Aphelia nodded and took out her tools.

"Elisa, you can choose, do you want to come with me or stay with Aphelia?"

Aphelia blushed slightly and tried to hide behind her small toolbox.

Elisa smiled. "I'll go with you, A'turaca, I want to look around a bit."

Aphelia sighed.

"Alright then! Maybe, if we're lucky, we could get ourselves a proper place to sleep for once." A'turaca smiled. "Let's go, 'Lis."

Elisa quickly left with her, leaving Aphelia alone with the ship. "Looks like it's just you and me, Freefeather." She put down her tools, pried open a maintenance latch and started her work. Somewhere nearby, a radio was blaring a popular local song that she couldn't understand the language of, but she did like the tune. After a while, the news jingle sounded. "Welcome one and all to Derii-Va Docking Station, here for your song and dance. That song was called 'Catly' by the famous E'sagitau A'cona, which no doubt, you've all heard of at least once on your many travels, and if you haven't, you have now."

"And now, the news. It's the three year anniversary of the E'sagittau Alliance winning the war against the Xetarian Empire. Many people from many races perished, but together we stood victorious, and tomorrow we will take a moment to honor the fallen. The E'sagittau leader, E'dovo, will give a speech which will be broadcasted live to Derii-Va and other outposts throughout Alliance space. Come if you want, there will be free food. To honor the fallen, of course."

"Alarming word comes from several outposts where entire settlements over multiple planets have mysteriously vanished."

Aphelia froze, her wrench still in the air. The outpost, Derii-Nict - that wasn't the only one? She lowered her wrench, properly worried now.

"It's as if the cities had never existed. The flagship of the E'Sagittau fleet, the Endeavor, is on its way to investigate the disappearance. We all mourn for the people we have lost, but until we know more, we can entertain a small glimmer of hope that they're not dead, and that they've just been transported to a weird dimension and that they, somehow, can be brought back again."

"Let's end this on a happier note. The E'sagittau heiress, A'dova, has recently said the happy words and will be bonded with her mate-to-be, E'conno, in the traditional bonding ceremony. The ceremony will be held in a few cycles, but, according to sources, an exact date has not been picked yet. 

"This concluding the news. After a short ad break, we'll continue with a human classic, Fly Me To The Moon, by a guy called Frank Sinatra. See you then."

Aphelia sighed and ran her hand through her hair. It came back black. She sighed again and sat down for a short break, trying to figure out what needed to be done next. The commercials were so loud, she didn't hear Elisa walk up behind her and jumped when she put her hand on her shoulder.

"Oh! sorry, heh," Elisa said, withdrawing her hand.

"N-no, no, it's fine." Aphelia smiled and patted the concrete floor next to her. "Have a seat." 

Elisa sat down and leaned towards Aphelia. "You're doing great work. Freefeather is looking a whole lot better." 

Aphelia smiled. "Thanks. I'm doing the best I can." She played with the wrench she was holding. "So, how's the haggling going?" 

"It's fine, we got the stuff we needed. 'Tur asked me to deliver these to you." She held out a bag with two canisters and some canned food. 

"Oh! Parts for the condenser! And fuel, too," Aphelia smiled, excitedly. "Thank you." 

Elisa blushed softly and smiled back. "I knew they'd make you happy. You're welcome." 

They both blushed and sat in silence. Right then, the commercial break ended and Frank Sinatra started playing. 

"Man, it's been a while since I've heard this song." Elisa said, looking around for the source of the music. 

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing how many human things have seeped through since the treaty." Aphelia said. "It's been, what. Three years?" 

"Yeah, I think so. Feels a lot longer, though." 

Aphelia nodded in agreement. "We've been making progress on getting home, though. I mean - we're at the Derii outposts! That's so close to Minich Five! I mean, the tech that got us here in the first place came from there- I'm sure that they can make it reversible, bring us back." 

"Yeah, but how are we going to convince them? They're not just going to open the portal because we asked. Plus, what about the implants?"

 Elisa brushed her hair behind her ear, feeling the small, metal plate in her skull, right behind it. It allowed her brain to retain vital information easier and translate most languages into English. It had been sorely needed, especially in the beginning. However, it had some drawbacks; they had to disable the tracker function so that they couldn't be followed. 

"What about the implants? They knew they wouldn't get them back when they installed them on us." 

Elisa sighed. "Yeah, but we'd probably be 'stealing' the implants from them, at least in their eyes."

"Maybe..." Aphelia scratched her head, also feeling her implant. "I don't know. We'll see when we get there."

They were silent for a while, listening to the song. They slightly leaned against eachother, trying to find some comfort when the distance between them and home seemed so big.

Fill my heart with song,

Let me sing for ever more

You are all I long for, all I worship and adore,

In other words, please be true

In other words,

In other words,

I love you