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Balta found incorporeality to be. . . interesting.
Moving had no sensation, and touch had only the thinnest amount. Krika seemed not to be as affected as she was, maybe because he could already become intangible and spent most of his time floating slightly above the ground regardless.
Speaking of Krika, he was busying himself with investigating the interior of a large cnidarian, humming absently to himself while eying its tendrils. Balta, on the other hand, was half-phased into the creature’s prey– an enormous horned fish with armored plates across its body– examining it closely.
Each of its armored plates was composed of two separate bone plates stacked on top of each other with a small gap in between, reducing their weight while still providing adequate protection. A strong attack would pierce the first plate, but would likely lose too much power to do more than scratch the second. It was also pretty clear that they regrew if damaged, given the small number of discolored spots that indicated themselves as being younger than the surrounding material. If the sapient inhabitants of this planet were intelligent enough to create similar armor, then faster and more precise attacks would be far more effective than just “hit hard” (which happened to be General Azahi’s favored tactic).
Sound seemed to be louder and travel farther than it did on land, meaning stealth was twice as difficult, but sound-based attacks were twice as effective. A shriek that could paralyze above the water could kill under it. Even creatures accustomed to loud noises likely wouldn't enjoy a sound that could vibrate every organ in their bodies.
Balta momentarily considered the use of sound as a weapon before dismissing it. While it would be effective, their goal was not to genocide the intelligent life of the planet– that was merely a bonus. No, their goal was to be entertaining. Excluding certain circumstances, a one-sided fight was not that. Sound-based attacks would have their use, yes, but not widespread. Last resort and special circumstances only.
Light-based attacks would also be affected. the water would diffuse the light, reducing effective range, but the disorientating effects they could bring would be greatly increased. Remembering which way was up while blind and floating several dozen meters above the sea floor was much more difficult than remembering the same when laying on the hard ground.
Krika hummed again and moved his attention to an enormous crab passing below them. A midnight blue shell tipped with jagged rainbow coral spines marked it as an adult likely moving toward shallower waters in preparation for the upcoming mating season that they had read about when choosing the planet.
Shallow waters, where they knew intelligent life lived.
It took only a shared glance for Krika and Balta to follow the monster.
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Hanqui’ll was in the reef again. The second moon was still high in the sky, and mating season wasn’t due until it dipped below the horizon, which wouldn’t happen for at least a dozen more nights. The water was cooler than usual, but otherwise, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
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She was on her way to an outpost on a cliff face at the edge of the shallows, overlooking deeper waters. Several seasons ago they had begun to dig a tunnel to the outpost, but it would not be completed for another few seasons. Thus, traveling through the reef was still the safest way to reach the outpost. It wasn’t completely safe of course, all the dangers of the shallows still applied, but the only other option was swimming around the shallows, which was essentially offering oneself as a predator’s next meal.
As Hanqui’ll crested a sand dune, the outpost came into sight. Dug into a crevice in a rocky spire was a small opening just large enough for a guneikhthus to squeeze through, leading to a cavern hidden below the reef floor. There was enough food there to last for several full seasons straight if the outpost was ever rendered inaccessible from the outside, and enough decoration and activity to keep the lookouts from going mad in isolation.
Hanqui’ll was there to deliver a message from the main dwelling, likely orders that would remain standing in the event that no new ones could be delivered once mating season began.
It was a dangerous task. With mating season so close the reef was moving at high speed, every creature gathering as much food and finding the safest hole that they could before the moon set and deep water predators flooded the shallows in search of food and mates. Juvenile karkinokhora searched the shallows for caves that could fit them, as more mature members of their species might perceive them as either prey or competition. Although karkinokhora were solitary by nature, mating season always seemed to make juveniles cooperate, perusing the reef in packs that could make even the most hardened of guards shiver.
It would be a dark day if adult karkinokhora ever learned to work together.
Hanqui’ll kept a distance from the cliff’s edge, where the distant shapes she knew to be selakhoapetra drifted slowly in the darkness, waiting for prey to get too close. Truthfully Hanqui’ll was glad they were there, as they would pick off some of the karkinokhora as they passed through the selakhoapetra’s territory. Without them, the shallows might be reduced to a wasteland of rubble because of the mating season rush.
Selakhoapetra were not friendly of course, hardly anything in the deeper waters was, but the majority of them seemed to consider guneikhthus as not being worth the effort of eating. In fact, some guneikhthus would go out of their way to help selakhoapetra, either by picking off barnacles and other parasites or by feeding some of the fish they caught to them.
At night, however, it was different. Selakhoapetra were attracted to the lights cast by phaosphuton, and if they noticed the cavern that the guneikhthus called home? Well. . . The effort put into hunting a single guneikhthus in open water wasn’t worth the resulting meal. The effort put into hunting over two dozen in an enclosed cavern was. Guardians of the shallows though they were, selakhoapetra were still predators.
Hanqui’ll shook herself back to attention. She had gotten distracted. The outpost was close enough now that they could likely see her without much trouble. She stopped a few strokes from the entrance. From inside, a wary guneikhthus slowly poked their head into the light, eyeing her suspiciously. Their face wore stress like fish wore skin, and paranoia dripped from them like blood.
“How was the trip?” they said. The first half of this communication’s code phrase. With the danger of prosoponpsude, secret methods of confirming identities had become semi-common. Appearance wasn’t everything, and relying on it was a quick death.
“Rocky. The water’s been calm though.” She responded. Alongside whatever the intended message was, the letter would also include the code phrase for the next communication to prevent any imposters from gaining undue trust using old codes. It was a complicated system, but it worked well enough.
The other gave a tiny nod and took the letter from her, glancing it over before taking it back inside. In the main dwelling, such behavior could have been considered rude, but for an outpost it was almost polite. Hanqui’ll glanced quickly around her at the barest shiver that momentarily ran down her body, but upon seeing nothing, she smiled warmly and turned back toward home, her guard up the entire time.
The feeling of being ignored followed her there.
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