For a while, the cool lighting from inside the terrarium facing him kept Alex conscious for an uncomfortable amount of time long before sleep finally pulled him in. Its presence crept through his eyelids stimulating his brain into a sustained state of awareness of his surroundings ranging from the gentle hum of the gravity plating beneath him or the muffled sounds of fluid rushing through the pipes hidden behind the walls and ceiling. It was only after he had rotated his entire body towards the mattress and buried his head underneath the pillows that Alex was able to block out the light and finally get some rest.
He remembered very little of the dreams he had when he woke up. Sequences of flashes of memory and kaleidoscopic colours dazzled what little he could remember. However, there was one thing that stood out more than the memories to him. Behind the blurriness of his attempts to recall the memory back, he saw a dark room surrounded by a warm orange glow, darkened shapes that looked familiar slowly became recognisable to him as they bathed in the warm, comforting light of raging fires all around him. But there was something else, he thought. Something else was there that seemed out of place. And yet no matter how much effort he threw into creating a better understanding of it he was mildly frustrated it yielded no results.
Bah, it was just a weird dream, nothing more he dismissed it.
For a moment the fog of confusion hung over him as he wondered why he was in his undergarments and where his spacesuit was before it eventually lifted and he saw it lying in a pile on the floor next to the bed; Alex carefully pinched the shoulders of the suit and partially raised it off the ground with the lower body and legs still folded over each other only for him to put his feet inside the suit filling the once empty sleeves before pulling it up and covering his upper body and shifting around to ease himself into it.
By the time his helmet ring was clasped and clipped below his chin, Alex was greeted by a new source of light behind him. He turned around and nearly jumped out of his suit in surprise when he saw Armadra glowing in his room. It took Alex a heartbeat to realise it wasn’t Armadra, not really. His body was not crammed inside the guest room that clearly seemed too confined for a Dragon’s preference. It was his mind that was in the room with him.
The Arcane duplicate smiled quite saccharinely at Alex as his body partially faded enough for Alex to see the wall and terrarium behind his draconic host. It glimmered brightly with an outline that twinkled like stars viewed from afar. No matter the angle it was viewed from, it was like a holographic depiction that provided an almost angelic appearance to its depiction of Ship Master Armadra. Even still, Alex looked around along the upper architraves of his room scanning for any holographic emitters as if to believe this was indeed a holographic projection and not Armadra projecting himself in the room
“Good morning, Captain Rowan.” Armadra said smoothly. “I trust you rested well?”
“What’s this, no holo image to message me?” Alex said ignoring the dragon’s question.
Instead, however, Armadra chuckled warmly in response to Alex. His angelic appearance giving off a sense of euthymia. Perhaps it was one of the Dragon Ship Masters charms. “No holo. Not here and not anywhere on this ship.”
“You don’t have any holograms on this ship?”
“Why rely on fault-prone light emitters and beam splitters when we can use our naturally superb Magia skills to project our minds across vast distances to communicate?” Armadra rebutted.
Alex chuckled, perhaps the dragon had a fair point to his argument about not utilising readily available technology to reliably communicate messages. To some extent, it made sense from a technical perspective with Dragons’ claws not nimble enough to work well with small and delicate electronics. While it was not common knowledge, Alex had observed other Terran species serving technical roles aboard the Galaxius Mons such as electricians and welders, often closely followed by a Draconic escort for what Alex presumably justified as a ‘security precaution’ by Imperial Draconic High Command. And yet it was doubtful that their escorts would follow them into the claustrophobic and poorly ventilated conduits filled with cables, fuses, and relays, and pipe junctions that only a smaller and more agile species could service.
Perhaps out of bias or perhaps out of sheer astronomical coincidence Alex noticed that the majority of contractors hired to service the Galaxius were all Reptilian species of Terran. Primarily Nagas were the dominant species that served aboard the Draconic warship asides from the Dragons themselves. With such a closeness and similar physiology and trade between the Dragons, the Nagas, the Basilisks, and the Hydra’s it was almost no competition to see which would most likely benefit in the job market. With the Naga’s own serpentine flexibility, they could gracefully move about the inside infrastructure of the vessel and enact repairs. And to some extent perhaps the bias rested in the Terran Reptilian Agreement that granted such a closeness between the species in trade and reptilian alcohol being distributed across all reptilian worlds.
Alex looked at the angelic projection of Armadra filling the room with light and said.
“I can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t.”
“Now that that is out of the way,” Armadra spoke. “ I would like to show you around the ship some more. I understand you have yet to see our Oxygen plant, care to join me?”
Alex looked thoughtful for a moment and was then interrupted by his stomach loudly growling. He blushed in embarrassment, secretly hoping his host didn’t hear that. But his fear was realised when Armadra spoke.
“Perhaps have something to eat in the communal dining hall before joining me.” Armadra interjected. “I will transmit the location to your wrist device momentarily.”
Armadra closed his eyes before his projection swiftly faded out of existence and took with it the cool blue light that illuminated the room further than the terrarium alcove could provide. A small alert chimed from his wristpad and true to his word, Armadra had sent the location to the nearest dining hall along with a huge file upload that took a few seconds to be fully installed into the wristpad’s memory. Afterward, he checked it out and to his surprise he found the downloaded file to be the deck-by-deck layout of the Galaxius Mons.
Nearly eight kilometres from Bow to Stern, Alex studied the map intensely and rarely looked up from his device as he left his quarters and walked down the narrow corridor that housed non-draconic guests and into the larger corridor that tunnelled through the body of the vessel.
After he had consumed breakfast in the cafeteria located in the mid compartment of the Galaxius Mons, Alex dispensed his plate and utensils in the wall slot that led to the kitchen hands for sterilisation and cleaning as he left the cafeteria immodestly. The door panels slid apart in preparation for Alex’s arrival, inside the walls he heard the distinctive sharp hiss of air being let out by the hydraulics, he entered a wide room with stone convex lounges like the ones he sat on yesterday after boarding the Draconic ship. To his right, Alex had caught a glimpse of Ship Master Armadra lying heavily on one of the concrete lounges with his limbs hanging limply from the sides of the resting rock. His head cocked up from the edge it was resting on and looked over to Alex and sported a grin.
“Ah, welcome, Captain Rowan.” The dragon said with a warm smile.
Armadra then slithered backwards down the stone furnishing and stood on all fours then gave his wings a brief stretch. Behind him a set of glass doors radiated with light that filled the room and Armadra turned around towards them, he gestured for Alex to follow him and he was quick to catch up to the dragon. As Alex drew near, it was then that he noticed the lack of guards following the captain and wondered what had happened to them. Did they not follow him or did he dismiss them for the day? Perhaps he didn’t want them seeing the meditation process again for fear of intervening at an inconvenient time. Was that what this was, did the dragon really want to go back to the meditative practices so soon?
The glass doors slid apart with a muffled hiss as they retracted into the walls, light blinded Alex forcing him to shield his eyes with his gloved hand. As the doors parted to give way to a gentle breeze that swept over Alex and Armadra with a soft gentle chilled touch.
Since the manufacturing of starships became more commonplace in the early twenty-second century, legislation and standards had been set all across the board, with very few exceptions in the case of specialised ships such as refineries and cargo vessels, to abide by set standards. As Alex recalled and looked back on his memories during his theoretical and historical studies in the Naval academy, the standards included the average temperature range for pressurised and habitable compartments of a space-worthy vessel. However, the Galaxius had always felt like it was just above the temperature range. It felt warmer than his yacht or the Phoenix ever did.
For Alex, the breeze that brushed past him felt like a welcome reprieve from the above-average temperature of the ship and he suddenly found himself standing on what appeared to be a large stone veranda with glass railings and upward-facing light fixtures embedded in the floor. But what had caught Alex’s gaze and slackened his jaw was the enormous artificial cavern that stretched out for seemingly a couple of hundred metres from where he stood to the opposing end. He estimated the walls on both sides of him were no more than a hundred metres away on either side and the ceiling had to have been even further away than that. The ceiling was crisscrossed with support beams that arched from the middle of the oxygen factory and stretched out across the dizzyingly high sky and back down again on the other side. Alex, jaw still slackened, gazed upwards and not watching where he stepped as he took it all in. He could see the massive light fixtures that dotted the ceiling in between the large support struts. From the middle of the oval shaped artificial cavern to the bottom, curving all the way to the other end to give the oval shaped tube he was in a more rounded out look.
“Welcome,” Armadra said more energetically and with a hint of pride in his voice. “to the oxygen factory!”
Armadra led Alex to the chest high wall of glass that surrounded the large open spaced veranda and leaned gently on the brass railing on top to support him as he looked down beneath him to see manicured grass pathways snaking through the thick forest of luscious green ferns and an assortment of tropical looking plants from Terra. Several dragons could be spotted flying freely around in the large open area performing aerial acrobatics and two pairs of dragons seemed to be in dog chases mid-air. It was then that Alex took notice of a rumbling sound echoing through the factory that resembled an enclosed, artificial tropical resort built somewhere far away from the actual tropics. He looked around for the source and he spotted, on the far end of the room, two massive pipes spewing out torrents of water beneath giant clawscript letters written in white paint. The water that was pumped out fell to the middle of the bottom half and snaked its way to a small lake near the centre of the massive cylindrical ellipse. Alex had also spotted three towering wide platforms between him and the pipes of water and in the back of his mind, his own gears began turning and he formed a suspicion that had prompted him to look behind and see that the veranda he and Armadra occupied was, in fact, a landing pad for the flying dragons, as were the other three in the distance. Muffled beats of wings quickly escalated but it had not registered to Alex as he was slowly processing the magnitude of the architecture that he was in. It was too large, it was beautiful and yet it almost seemed beyond comprehension that something like this could have been built into such confined, pressurised vessels. As Alex leaned once more on the railing his heart rate spiked when two dragons flew dangerously close that he felt the brief lag in air response between seeing the dragon and the wind catching up with it. Armadra laughed and Alex looked back at his host with unconcealed irritation from the quick scare. The dragon looked up at the ceiling, still smiling serenely as he raised his left foreleg and brought inches away from his snout and proceeded to speak into it with a raspy hiss and a throaty growl. He lowered it and then turned to face Alex and said.
“Wait till you see this.” Armada said in english.
And his gaze returned to a particular spot near the centre of the ceiling. A thud echoed throughout the oxygen plant and even from a distance Alex could make out the sound of massive servos somewhere awakening to perform their sole duty. Then a loud clunk echoed and Alex could see massive locks surrounding a rectangular panel in the ceiling retract before the panel itself slowly shifted itself along a set of rails he hadn’t noticed before. The panel split apart and he saw the darkness of space slowly crawl out from the gap before he was blinded by the unfiltered glare of a nearby star.
“Impressive, is it not? We let some sunlight in whenever we get the chance to help keep the plants healthy. Nutrient supplements and a green claw can only go so far.” Armadra said.
And as the human looked up at the slight orange star ferociously beaming its intense rays of light into the oxygen plant. The tone of light and its intensity from the nearby sun gave an early morning look into the garden paradise below him.
He heard footsteps receding from him and Alex turned around to see Armadra heading to the far corner of the platform. “Are you coming or not?” Was all he said and Alex likewise proceeded to follow him until he realised he was on an elevator. Armadra tapped his right foreclaw on a panel that was only a few inches raised off the ground and the elevator they were on proceeded downwards.
Once on solid ground, or at least what could qualify as that in an artificial space arboretum, the two captains walked through the grass walkways that snaked through dense pockets of trees and large succulents. It became clearer and clearer to Alex that it started to resemble some of the more luxurious botanical gardens that were held planetside, not that he had personally attended many himself but from what he had seen in the Galaxius Mons started to fit with the preconception he had already held in regards to Dragons and their supposed closeness to natural environments. The dense vegetation that they had walked around was guarded by two levels of dark grey stone blocks piled on each other and circled around each pocket. Some even possessed bollards with embedded light fixtures, no doubt an aesthetic choice that had been added for when the ship had entered ‘night mode’ and the crew were still in the gardens.
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Infrequently, Armadra had made audible noises of him taking great big lungful’s of fresh air near some of the raised gardens that surrounded them. Alex on the other hand had been breathing in through his mouth and hadn’t really noticed the crisp clean air that permeated their surroundings, following the dragon’s lead he started breathing in through his nose and found his olfactory senses come alive with the fresh moist smells of some of the plants near him; one such plant that had massive leaves growing outwards and bright red flowers in the centre stood out with a calming refreshing smell. As they walked, Alex recognised many of the plants surrounding them as being from Terra while others were foreign and completely alien to him. One such plant looked like a purple cylinder with needle-looking teeth at the top of its opening and another one had a short stubby wooden base which had then seemingly been split into dozens of small green vines with a fuzzy texture growing on them as each vine grew upwards and outwards. Armadra approached the spindly-looking plant and explained how it was called a ‘Manipulative Vine plant’ for its flexible vines which he then demonstrated by grabbing one and gently bending it so it was facing downwards instead. All the while, Alex couldn’t help but be impressed with the plant’s articulation as Armadra continued manipulating each vine and twining a few of them around each other for his own amusement.
“After a while, the plant will untangle itself and the vines will be pointing upward again.” The dragon spoke softly and continued on his trek. Armadra had let his tail gracefully sway further outward than normal, brushing against the soft dark green leaves of the plants that surrounded them. Alex started wondering if it felt good to his Draconic companion, if he relished the sensation of the soft vegetation brushing against his scales. After coming to a supposed dead end, Armadra sharply turned to his left and proceeded through a narrow gap between two white capped fern bushes, swiftly tucking his wings close to his body as he brushed past them and then relaxed his wings after coming through on the other side. Alex had followed and noticed that Armadra had taken a shortcut through the garden, but he had to assume it wasn’t the first time judging by the dirt path that tracked from one end of the brick barrier to the other.
Perhaps he felt it safe to do so or was it that he felt like it was not breaking any rules since his companion had done it, Alex tentatively stepped over the barrier and onto the bark mulch that made up the floor of the garden and shuffled past the bushes and emerged into an open courtyard of a pavilion made of concrete panels. The pavilion was crescent shaped, surrounding a small pond with a fountain in the centre of it. Armadra led Alex underneath the shade of the pavilion and sat down and leaned against a stone pillar for rest. A lone bench rested in the centre of the long shaded area and Alex chose to sit down on it and face the dragon.
“It’s a lovely little botanical garden you got here, Ship Master. Must say it’s quite impractical for it being a Warship and all.” Alex said as he gestured to the pavilion and the garden around them with his glare.
Armadra shook his head, disappointed like he expected Alex to have understood the purpose of its existence easily.
“That is where you are wrong,” Armadra rebutted. “It isn’t impractical for us to be in touch with nature and it's not impractical on a ship our size. After all, this is where our fresh, clean breathable air comes from.”
Alex raised an eyebrow as he took another glance around him. Armadra looked at him with slight amusement as though he was being granted the honour of being humoured. After a quick glance at their surroundings, Alex returned his gaze to Armadra and said. “Why, why do you have a botanical garden on board to purify your air? Filters and a decent ventilation system are all you need.”
“And deny my crew their ability to stretch their wings during those long tours away from home? I think I will stick with the bit of paradise we have brought with us.”
“Eh, suit yourself.” Alex shrugged.
Despite his argument, which he was starting to lose faith in more and more, he did have to concede that it was quite peaceful there. Occasionally he spotted a dragon’s shadow flash past his eyes followed by the whoosh lagging behind it. After a moment’s silence, Armadra spoke up, nearly making Alex jump in surprise at the unexpected sound.
“Perhaps now would be a good time to practise once again?”
Alex looked over and saw his companion’s awaiting eyes. Nocturnal slits dilated to almost mimic a round pupil just like his and a thinking being behind them patiently waiting for an answer and a hint of hope in them. But deep down, Alex didn’t think it was a good idea to continue after the bad experience he had last night and the drugging.
“Don’t fret,” Armadra said. “I won’t try to drug you this time. If you are uncertain, then perhaps we should take it slow?”
Alex gave a huff in retort and his mind then pondered on the words the dragon said. Memories of the sadness and guilt he felt lingered at the back of his mind like a horrible aftertaste. The man looked around the prefabricated concrete pavilion in an attempt to avert his gaze from Armadra, perhaps hoping that the insightful reptile could see into his soul and figure out what he was thinking. And yet for a moment in the inky blackness of his own mindset, and the memory of his own landscape looking desolate and barren as a reflection of his own buried troubles came to light and it was then that Alex remembered that Armadra had offered him a way out. A beacon of hope to let go of the baggage he has held firmly on to for the last twenty-three years. A small glimmer of hope that would absolve him and help him forward finally. Just as Alex had opened his mouth to draw breath he then felt his own baggage pull on him further away from the chance to escape. If he hadn’t held firmly to his suffering at the hands of his cruel father then perhaps, he wouldn’t have made it through the Naval Academy, he wouldn’t have made it as far into his naval career as he had if he didn’t retain his past. If he didn’t blame himself for his own brother’s suicide then he might not have had the push to finally leave his family and sign up for the Academy. Worse yet, it was correct in its line of logic.
“S-sure.” He said with a quiet tone and uncertainty, his eyes still avoiding Armadra’s slitted, nocturnal pupils. Even as the dragon tilted and adjusted his face to try and get himself into Alex’s ever-avoidant perspective. I
“What was that,” Armadra brought his left foreleg up to the back of his head and pressed against his finned ear. Each of the three spines that grew out from the side of the Dragon’s head erected itself and flared outward, stretching the thin transparent membrane taut. “I didn’t quite catch that.”
“Yes, okay! We’ll take it slow, alright? Just… Just don’t rush me alright.”
Armadra stood on all four of his limbs and gave a slight nod to Alex as he walked out of the shade and into the grass yard in front. He didn’t say anything but even Alex could see it was in his eyes that perhaps his short-tempered response was unjustified and perhaps unnecessary to a dragon that seemed to want to help. Guilt washed over him as he slowly dragged his feet over to where Armadra had sat down, his eyes were squeezed shut when Alex approached him and they opened when Alex groaned as he sat down. Armadra chuckled while looking up at the exposed ceiling letting the orange light beam ferociously inside the garden. When Alex looked up to match what Armadra was doing, he could see the star slowly fading out to the corner of the exposed roof.
But surprisingly, when observing directly against the black canvas of space, even polluted by the calming aura of the nearby star, Alex could make out faint clouds high above him and slowly inching across the window to the stars.
A series of quiet beeps sounded nearby and he looked down to see Armadra speaking into his wristpad.
“Läiita Kor u nya mosalle, vozh innuk yol’tar nostrayayadё stelkartroi vozh.”
Shortly after he lowered his wrist, Armadra looked up to the ceiling and Alex felt a gentle shift in his stomach before settling immediately. But hearing the Draconic language spoken sounded so oddly exotic to him. It was not that he had been ignorant of the presence and influence of the Dragons for their presence could be felt in nearly every aspect from large construction projects, media production and political power.
Despite their vast presence and influence, they always spoke clear and concise English, even amongst each other. Were they doing it as a favour to outward non-draconic observers or was it laziness? Seeing his host speak it felt like he was observing the dragon in his natural habitat, undisturbed. For the first time it seemed like Armadra was in a calm relaxed mindset before he then turned to face Alex and switched back to English.
“Watch this.” Was all the Dragon mumbled in his deep gravelly tone as he turned to look upward at the skylight high above them. A sudden, mildly discomforting shift in his stomach drew Alex’s attention quickly when he felt the contents adjust itself shortly before it had settled back down to the bottom once more and he looked up to see the orange sun slowly shift back into the centre of the skylight and filling the lush green garden with its bright rays creating a dawn like atmosphere in the garden.
“Shall we begin?”
Similarly to the night before, their meditation began with a series of breathing exercises that felt like it had occupied an entire hour, after which, Armadra removed his wristpad off his foreleg while tapping and swiping on its foggy surface before gently setting it down on the ground between the two commanding officers as it began to produce a melody of gentle taps followed by the soothing high-pitched tune of a flute that flowed with the same rhythm the taps did as a background of a steady stream of water could be heard. Lyrus Armadra closed his eyes and instructed Alex to do the same as they focused on the sounds they heard and tried to extend their presence.
Alex focused without using his eyes and yet even in the darkness he extended his hearing and pushed further hearing the quiet rumbled breathing of Armadra and the soft chirps of birds and selective insects keeping the biome inside alive and well, the central lake with its gentle waves lapping against the edges as it filled with a soft stream channelling through the garden and feeding the plants their daily dose of moisture. Echoing just beyond that were the massive pipes roaring with the fury of an angered dragon spewing out gallons upon gallons of clean recycled water to complete the Edenic illusion of the garden around them. And just as Alex felt something in the corner of his perception, a small glimmer of sensing beyond what his ears should be capable of detecting, was cut off by the sudden shock he felt when Armadra’s guttural voice pierced through the silence like adamantine spears striking the vibration sensitive membrane inside his ears.
“Let us end it here, as much as I enjoyed your company, Captain. But likewise, I have duties to tend to and matters that require my attention.”
Alex looked at Armadra with squinted eyes blinded by the brightness around him. He first tried to speak but cleared his throat then attempted to resume.
“And here I thought you had taken the day off for me.” He said feigning hurt much to the humour and dry chuckle of Armadra.
“You may stay here if you wish,” Armadra stood on all four of his legs and stretched out his wings before bringing them close to his body and tucking them. He looked at Alex and his expression steeled itself to a deadpan expression that almost made the dragon look entirely different than the creature who had worn a small sincere smile only moments ago.
“If there is anything you need,” Armadra continued. “The marines above in the waiting room will be your escort. Make use of them however you see fit.”
Then the Dragon commander left. Leaving Alex alone in the grassy patch to contemplate his own thoughts. He looked up to the domed ceiling and crossed metal support structure high above him through the faded clouds when a pair of dogfighting dragons flew above him and watched for a moment, tracing their movements as they circled and chased each other. The duo, after circling around each other in an ascending spiral, stopped just inches from each other and hovered while staring each other down.
A couple in the thrill of courtship, perhaps? Or a couple of angry colleagues settling things the ‘traditional way’? Maybe even a type of game played among adult Draconics.
Then he took a deep breath in and stood up.
Just as Alex had turned a corner to head back to his room he realised that his crew should make use of the Oxygen factory, down beyond where his door was, he found the common room filled with his crew sitting down on one of the few lounges that circled each other with a low glass coffee table in the centre of the furniture, many of the crew wore down, deadpan expressions that had almost made them seem dead and vestigial on the inside as their eyes remained fixated to one side of the room while an ethereal blue light shone on their faces. Some of the bipedal species sat on the stools at the kitchen bench that sat opposite to the screen, even from where Alex was, the kitchen looked basic in comparison to the one built aboard the comet.
As soon as he had entered, he knew something was wrong; only a handful ever bothered to turn their heads when they heard the door hiss and slide open. The rest merely kept their focus on the screen that occupied a majority of the wall space. Before he even opened his mouth to speak to the crew Alex was already met with an overwhelming force on his sense of smell that reeked of the acrid scent of body odour. The humans in the group, still in their suits, had patches of yellow stains underneath their armpits and moist patches dotting the surface. Among the survivors, Silas’s elongated form stretched out from one end of the couch and spread until his tail tip had wrapped around the base of the coffee table with his upper body sitting upright against the lumbar support.
Clemens was sitting on one of the stools, hunched over the kitchen bench, contrary to his fellow crewman was facing away from the holo-screen nursing a large glass of transparent liquid. His face gloom with misery only ever taking gentle sips of his beverage.
Alex turned to see what the cacophony of sound and lights were that had put the survivors into a trancelike state, the speakers that were hoisted and mounted into the top left and right corners loudly blared sounds of a voice along with a steady tune of a percussion instrument.
“- As tensions continue to rise, the Planetary Guard of Tsingshao has been at the centre of accusations by the Alliance Navy with allegations of the Guard attacking and covering up the remains of the Alliance Frigate: Novosibirsk, which was last reported to be in the Holtztotz system. The Novosibirsk makes it the third military vessel to be reported lost with all hands under mysterious circumstances within seven lightyears of the Holtztotz system.”
The news anchor, a Gargoyle with pale red skin and pointed ears continued to speak on the matter. The name of the vessel gave Alex a moment of pause as he tried to summon any memory of the Novosibirsk or anything that he knew of the Holtztotz star system that could provide a clue in regard to the missing ships.
Instead, he chose to sit on one of the available stools and stared at his wrist pad as he pulled up any information about the star system. And to somewhat mild disappointment he was surprised to see the Holtztotz system only had three celestial objects within the star’s heliosphere. Three planets with only one boasting a population of eight million and a small mining colony located in the asteroid belt that was situated in the outermost circumference of the star’s gravitational forces. Even with a small population, it would not have had the resources let alone the motive for wanting to attack a small frigate.
Without even noticing him, Major Fёderov firmly placed his hand on Alex’s shoulder and jolted the captain with surprise and turned to face the Major for the first time since abandoning the Phoenix, taking note of a small scar that ran across his left cheek. Then Fёderov jerked his head sideways and let his hand fall down Alex’s arm and headed for a door that led away from the kitchen. Alex stood up and followed the Major, closed the door behind him and turned around to face Fёderov who had his arms crossed against his broad armoured chest. Wearing his signature scowl on his face.
“Morale is dangerously low, sir.” The armoured giant said letting out a deep breath. “Helmsman Clemens has spread around some story about one of the crew Transmutating in the escape vessel. Has not really done well for everyone else.”
That was when Alex let out a sigh of defeat, he knew this was going to be brought up sooner or later and it was time for it to be dealt with. “Unfortunately, its true, not the prettiest thing we saw. Quite horrific. But that’s no rumour I’m afraid.”
“It is true then… who was it?”
“A young officer called Christopher; caramel skin, short curly hair. Well, used to anyway. He turned into a Naga. Apparently, Silas reckons he was lucky he got physical traits that are highly prized in Nagan society.”
Fёderov merely rolled his eyes with a slight shrug of his gauntleted shoulders. “Sounds like little compensation for life changing damage.”
“I realise that but its better than nothing. Its also better than what we had feared, when we saw the scales being formed we all panicked thinking he was going to transform into a Basilisk or a Gorgon there and then.”
Fёderov chose to say nothing, instead opting for shaking his head sympathetically. “Have you checked in on him? This Christopher?”
“Not yet, but listen, I want you to rally everyone and get them out of that room and out of that trance-like state. It’s eerie to see. I’ll send the location of the onboard arboretum zen garden thing they have here. Maybe it’ll ease their minds.” He tapped rapidly on his wristpad selecting the location of the garden and then transmitted the location to his Master-At-Arm’s device. A small chirp sounded off shortly after he had sent it.
Alex then left without saying a word and passed through the common room without stopping to see what the news was saying or to speak to any of his crew. Just as the doors closed behind him he opted to search for the Infirmary for the Galaxius. Or more specifically the one that had Christopher for monitoring and probably suicide watch.