Chapter 100: Understanding
“It appears you have been rather busy, no?” Sahari commented from below, spotting the male still about his task. Jax paused his patrol, peering down at the ex-Grand Huntress from the walkway on the wall. The rising moon shone through the edges of his fur, the rest of him blending in with the otherwise dark sky. The male chuckled, holding up a claw to request a moment before speaking with one of the other security members assigned on the route. After exchanging a few short words, he made his way to a ladder and climbed down, joining her on the ground.
“Sahari!” he called cheerfully, the wear from a long sun of activity peering through his voice. His axe was placed upright against the ground as he got close, the bow slung over his shoulder clacking quietly against the bandoleer of arrows. He leaned an arm on the head of his weapon, allowing his legs to relax. “What might bring you to seek me?”
“Need I a reason?” she challenged playfully, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one leg. Jax scratched at his jaw.
“I suppose not, but one would have to be forgiven for thinking that you have finally fallen for my charms.”
She ignored the cheeky grin. “The Hunt Mother plays a cruel game if she were to orchestrate such.”
“Blaming her for my overwhelming allure?” he quipped, smirking broadly. The two stared at each other.
It only lasted for a moment before the pair broke out into muffled laughter, careful not to disturb the resting pack too much. Sahari regained her composure first, wiping a tear with her paw.
“Nalah has left for an early rest and I noticed you still patrolling. You have been doing many long shifts, have you not?”
Jax took an extra moment to finish off what remained of his chortling, nodding his head towards a bench added to the pathways recently. “I have. Come, I would like to sit for a while.”
She obliged, finding the idea attractive after spending much of the sun walking without a break.
The benches were a gift from the Atmo, as unexpected as it was. According to Violet, many had noticed that the pack would sit upon the ground during their breaks—and when given the opportunity, the insects themselves. Quite a few would remark how nice it was to have such a comfort, so they took it upon themselves to use some of the spare lumber that was unsuited to the larger constructions and fashioned it into seating. With only minor consultation with Mama and Nalah—the two most involved in construction between both species—the new additions were interspersed throughout the developing settlement based on where people preferred to relax.
It had naturally formed some areas of respite around the lesser developed sections, and revealed that some plots wouldn’t be constructed upon at all—instead slated to be converted into recreational relaxation zones. Joseph had apparently impressed the importance of such existing for a more welcoming feeling, instead of just den and workplace in all directions. Sahari found the inclusion rather pleasant, truth be told. Seeing Atmo lowered to the ground between seating and absorbing the ambient conversation with their selected friend groups always drew a smile to her face. More so, once it became apparent that some were being educated in Lilhun script and given their own wax tablets to write upon.
The black-furred pair seated themselves in one such area, the meanderings of those still awake not discouraging their conversation. A torch sat atop a pole, the freshly supplied light illuminating the resting place with a flickering orange glow.
“So, what might the Head of pack organization need of a lowly one such as myself,” Jax grunted out as he dropped his weight on the bench, the sturdy material barely noticing his presence. She placed herself down more gently, if only because her amusement at the joke could cause her to miss. She didn’t want to give the male reason to tease her more than he already did.
“Need of you? Nothing,” she replied playfully, resting her elbows against her knees. “Is it so wrong of me to converse with a friend?”
Jax made a show of looking horrified, covering his muzzle with one paw while the other crossed his chest to protect himself, his massive melee implement resting against his leg. “She says such things openly?”
Sahari punched him in the arm between chuckles.
“I suppose such is not forbidden,” he allowed. “Is there anything you would wish to discuss in particular?”
She inhaled deeply. “Perhaps I merely find myself missing our Grand Hunter and seek company.”
The male nodded, his expression shifting to a more serious one as the main topic at paw was introduced. “Is your bond pulling you so much?”
“In a way,” she acknowledged, shifting to make herself more comfortable. “I am somewhat empty without him near, but Nalah has allowed me to not feel so alone.”
“Are you two still distressed over your lacking?”
She pulled her lips thin. Her and her mate have had conversations regarding the failure to bond since it was revealed that they should be compatible. What once was a mere curiosity—and a blessing unquestioned—was now a lingering regret over both of them.
She sorted her thoughts before replying. “Not so much now. We have both agreed that our situation is one dictated by the Hunt Mother. Were it not for my bond with Joseph, and hers with me, then we may never have been given the chance to prosper here.”
Jax nodded knowingly. “I feel such a way myself. How is Nalah reacting to his absence?”
“She is worn, though that is just because she has grown rather fond of his company, much like myself.” The black-furred female waved in greeting to a passing hunter, their sun ending as they headed for their den. She gave Jax a subtle side-eye. “What of Harrow?”
He returned the glance, his smile faltering. “I take it that this is part of what you wished to discuss?”
A slow blink and refocusing to the settlement answered for her. He cycled a breath.
“She has been occupied,” he admitted, gripping his axe in both paws and lightly digging it into the ground between his feet. Satisfied that it would remain, he placed his paws to either side of him and stretched his legs.
“And her outburst when he left?”
“She has much in the way of shadows lingering over her, Sahari. Forgive me for not discussing them without her permission.”
Sahari exhaled, examining his posture before closing her eyes. “He had mentioned the possibility of a third bond. Would that be her?”
Jax loosed an insincere laugh. “No, though such has been mused by more than yourself.”
“It could be the long-formation variant mentioned in the Union’s documents.”
“I know,” Jax whispered longingly. “It is not.”
She patted his thigh. “You feel guilty that you can not share her bond?”
His snort of amusement was half-hearted. “There are moons where she rests in my arms and I think of such, yes.”
“And you would rather her bond form with him as well? Do you feel it would compensate for your lacking?”
Jax stared at her before turning his regard to his axe. “Of course I would. If Nalah were to have as much, would you not be overjoyed? The one you care for most, connected to the one whom you trust your everything, even at the cost of your own?”
She smiled. “I would, but I am under the impression your opinion extends beyond mere respect or friendship.”
“He is kin,” the male replied in certainty. “Were one to ask if I would choose my siblings over him, I fear my answer would be silence, for I wish not to decide. My mate, my bonded one, my den, and my pack are all because of him. He has given me his forgiveness and kindness in no small amount.”
He closed his eyes, smiling. “I have said as much before, Sahari, but I would gladly give this life to ensure his own. Even if the path Harrow would travel after proved to be torturous, he would aid her along the journey to find another.” The male peered through half-lidded gaze to watch the clouds roll by the moon. “There exists no title for how much faith I place in him.”
Sahari remained silent for a long while, taken aback by the resolve in his voice. She knew that she was one of historically few to remain after losing her bond. To find another in which to patch the hole left behind was unheard of. Jax effectively proclaimed his unwavering trust that Harrow would be given what Sahari herself had received, purely because Joseph would make it so.
He did not merely believe that his mate would persist past his end, but thrive despite it under the guidance of one whom he revered. It was ironclad. Unshakable. An immutable truth.
Sahari smiled to herself as she pieced part of the puzzle together. Even if the Human despised it, he really was their Guardian.
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Pan awoke to a wall of blue carapace and stripes of scales before her. Violet was nowhere to be seen, but Scarlet would have woken her if there was anything to be worried about, so she merely stretched in the bed while attempting not to disturb Mama.
As much as she would rather wake in her mate’s arms, he would not be back quite yet, so she had taken to sleeping with her kit and the Hatcher as she did whenever he was away. It meant that she couldn’t listen to his heartbeat, nor embrace Tel when the female inevitably curled in for the contact during her rest, but the two Atmo were accepting of her presence. Although it would never quite beat the odd moon where Violet found herself amongst them, having just her kit nearby was still comforting. It gave her a sense of purpose.
She set about her duties for the sun, stopping by the hunter’s lodge to partake in the communal meal before everyone started working. A proper cafeteria or mess hall was on the list of constructions, but recent additions to the settlement brought with it the need for dens to free up the barracks. Along with more Lilhun in need of shelter, they had an influx of Atmo to attend to—something she saw Violet attending to in the distance.
The ‘shipment’ arrived late in the moon, though they were thankfully treated far better than the previous insects that had been purchased. Pan’s expression soured as she considered the phrasing of the arrangement, but for all intents and purposes, that’s what it was. The Atmo were a commodity to be sold for some settlements, and they had just ended up using the situation to give them a better life than as mobile deforestation tools.
The young Queen had apparently been notified as soon as the sun rose, because Scarlet was dutifully following her around and responding to the notes presented on Violet’s tablet. The subservient nature of the Wraith was having a positive influence on the new insects. It was a slow process, but already they could be seen actually interacting with the dark red-furred female in an amicable way. Each time they did, Violet bounced in place, unable to contain her excitement, and encouraging further friendliness. It was only a matter of time until they were teasing the pack and joining gatherings purely because they wished to.
Pan pushed open the doors to the hunter’s lodge, smiling despite herself when none scowled or changed their seating away from her. The general reception of the defective Paw was neutral for most, her presence simply being another of the pack seeking nourishment, but some waved or verbally greeted her. It was perhaps the first time in her life where she felt like she belonged somewhere.
Thankfully, the line was short, herself arriving near the tail-end of the provided service. Kelth had prepared minced meat and stuffed it into a fairly competent sausage-analogue, served alongside strips of the ‘potato’ that Joseph liked, fried in the surplus fat.
“Huntress Pan, I have saved your serving. One moment,” the dirty blond-furred male informed her, his voice warm, rather than scathing. Again, her wakefulness increased with her mood at the treatment. Having a special portion set aside was just a bonus.
The male returned with a tray, an extra sausage provided with some more of the ‘fries’ that her mate introduced everyone to. The Grand Hunter had grumbled endlessly about it not being suitable for a first meal, but everyone agreed that it seemed trivial to limit when they ate specific foods, and they liked it, so it was included in the rotation as well.
Tray in paw, and an elevated joy in her heart, she surveyed the available seating. Many were freed up as those who were finished left for their tasks, but one table remained almost absent of occupants. Almost.
Mi’low sleepily picked at her food, her sagging ears and limp tail matching her half-lidded eyes. A large yawn poured out of her muzzle, stifled with a paw before she tossed a fry into her mouth. Pan considered the High Huntress—and more notably, how few wished to sit with her. Weighing her own pleasant beginning to the sun versus what looked to be a rather difficult one, she opted to at least provide some company to one whom her mate was on reasonable terms with. The recent interactions between the two had been rare, but he thought of her well enough—once they had reached some sort of understanding, anyway.
“I pray the moon treated you well, Mi’low,” Pan offered in greeting, placing her tray atop the table and tucking her tail around her waist to avoid sitting on it. The crimson-furred actress blinked, registering who had spoken before taking a breath and exhaling it with closed eyes.
“Unfortunately not, Huntress Pan,” she returned, slipping more food into herself and stretching. “My rest was unfruitful.”
Pan frowned in sympathy. Her own attempts had been fairly sporadic without her other or mate near, but Violet and Mama had ensured that she at least slept at all.
“Is there anything I could do to help?” she asked, tilting her head. Mi’low smirked.
“Unless you wish to bed another to replace the yearning for your mate while he is away.”
The white-furred female blinked, her mouth closing from a failed attempt to speak. The High Huntress laughed, the unexpected bellowing from such a small frame surprising her. She wiped a tear from her eye, the tiredness remaining, but life having been injected.
“I was preoccupied, Huntress Pan.” Her chuckling renewed at the frozen look of clarity on the Paw’s face.
“I am...glad?” she hedged, unsure of the female’s stance on such matters. Some wished to only bed their mates or those of ‘worth,’ while others were fairly casual about such physical activities. Either because of Joseph’s influence, or perhaps her own minute possessiveness regarding him, she really only considered such with him. Not that she had much of a chance to accept an offer before. She could ruminate on it some other time, but the candid remark still had her mentally stone-walled for the moment.
The actress wore a warm smile, her usual masks absent. It seemed that it required her to be more awake to maintain the omnipresent facade. As she was, Mi’low seemed relaxed and amused, albeit fatigued.
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“You need not worry about my love life, Huntress Pan,” she assured through another yawn, filling the gaping muzzle with a sausage as she finished. “Though you will be pleased to know that I have set to rest any inclination to bed the Grand Hunter—even if just to relieve the stress.”
“That’s...good?” To say she was perplexed would be underselling it, but she was at least following this part of the odd conversation well enough. Joseph certainly disliked the idea.
Kelth walked up to the table, snatching the last sausage from Mi’low’s tray and promptly depositing it into his own mouth, earning a scowl from the annoyed female.
A kiss melted the irritation.
“You should bathe to wake yourself up,” he murmured, rising to grin at Pan’s shocked expression. The female batted him with her tail before pushing herself up languidly, steadying her footing as she stepped over the bench to stretch again.
“You should not advertise it.”
“There are none but yourself and Huntress Pan,” he refuted, gesturing to the empty lodge. True enough, their slow conversation had given the others time to set out. “I believe such hardly counts.”
The red-furred female stared at him, glancing at the Paw before sighing. Mi’low patted her shoulder as she left, smacking the male again with her tail for good measure.
“This never happened, Huntress Pan.”
Pan blinked, looking down at her cooling meal as she was left alone in the lodge. She reached out and grabbed a fry, pausing as it hovered in front of her muzzle.
“I’m glad,” she decided, smiling as she started eating.
This sun was shaping up to be rather pleasant, after all. If only she could share it with Joseph and Tel.
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Daisy was absolutely enamoured with the Wraith; the young Queen followed Tel around on the smaller ship wherever she went, not that there was much room to do so. The grey-furred female was doing an admirable job of tolerating the yellow-coloured weight attached to her hip. From weapons maintenance to harassing him, Daisy watched or mimicked whatever she could—down to subtly tensing whenever Leader or Tech would stop by to either deliver something, or just to kill time during the trip.
The dark green-furred male had relaxed even further around them, his visits leaning heavily into the mundane. Where before there might have been a hidden agenda for some of the questions, these all came across as conversational, though a little one-sided in Joseph’s favour. When someone was limited to using their position as their name, he supposed that mentioning family and personal history was off the table. It was pleasant enough, he supposed.
Tech was considerably more reserved; her interactions terse, for the most part. She always seemed to eye Tel warily, like the Wraith would do something outrageous at the drop of a hat. When asked, the grey-furred female just shrugged and chalked it up to her explosive personality. It got a laugh out of Sunny, as rare as that event is, so he let sleeping dogs lie as opposed to sating his curiosity.
Sunundra had taken to quietly reading in the corner, absorbing a year’s worth of UM reports that her apparent authority allowed. He had asked about it, but she gave a quick—though polite—refusal. He was a civilian first and foremost, and thus not privy to the machinations of a foreign military. It was a circumstance that he was getting used to with her. Leader and Tech avoided the questions, but Sunny was nice enough to at least inform him that he was walking the edge of what she was allowed to speak about.
It was after a similar exchange where they found themselves occupying their time alone, Tel having caved into Daisy’s request to explore the minimal space in the ship that they were allowed to freely occupy. The Grand Huntress paused while reading over something, lifting her head to address him while keeping her eyes on the text displayed.
“Joseph?”
“Hmm?”
“How large is your settlement?”
He glanced up from his bracers, having taken them apart for cleaning and general inspection from the comfort of the bed. Sunundra was giving him a tired, curious look, her claws hovering over the tablet provided by the Leader at her request, an elbow propped on the arm of the chair. He ran his fingers through his hair as he jettisoned air through his lips, eyes rolled up in thought.
“Hard to say, honestly. Over a hundred by now—not including Atmo.”
She quirked a brow.
“Pan manages a lot of that paperwork now. Whenever the need for new clothing is low—or she’s waiting on textiles and leather to finish processing. Idee covers for her a lot of the time too, so she helps then as well”
“You do not know the size of your reign?”
He shrugged. “Sahari took over micro-managing them, so I just deal with complaints and projects. New den? Ask Nalah, and she’ll work with me to finalize where it’ll go. Need new tools? Ask Harrow, and she’ll consult me for possible prototypes until Heralt can start manufacturing them. Security training? Jax will set up CQC training that I oversee every now and then.”
“So you are occupied with everything by proxy,” she surmised.
“Not everything. Tel deals with food—inventory, cooking, et cetera.”
The Grand Huntress held her confusion on her face. “What is your expertise?”
“He doesn’t particularly have one,” Tel provided, the door opening with a fabricated hiss. Daisy clicked in greeting, giving the pale-furred female a brief hug before returning to see what the Wraith was doing next. “Besides being the main authority for unarmed conflict, he has dabbled in every function of the pack to one extent or another.”
He bobbed his head to the side when Sunny turned to him for confirmation. “Minus cooking and clothing, yeah.”
She frowned for a moment, dismissing it with a quirk of her brow. “I would have thought you had gained your position through some means of proficiency.”
“Like I said, I never asked to be in charge either.”
Tel sauntered up to him, tapping his nose with a claw and giving him a predatory look. “Yet you do such with authority.”
He smirked begrudgingly, returning the poke and shooing her away while he still had a half-assembled weapon on his lap. “Because people throw a fit if I don’t.”
His fiancee tilted her head, purposely letting her ear flop to the side in homage to Pan’s habit when she was genuinely confused. “You would abandon your pack?”
Joseph stifled the sigh through a glare, rolling his eyes and returning to making sure the spring in his bracer was holding up well enough. “No, but that’s where we live. It’s not the worst, anyway.”
“If you were to migrate elsewhere?”
He paused at the tone Tel used; she was actually interested in his answer. He spared her a quick glance before continuing. “I guess it depends. Leader said a few were interested in reintegrating with the UM, so they could go as they pleased, obviously. I know Mi’low would like the chance to get back to her own life. Toril is mostly interested in whatever is the newest thing in sight—just so happens that ‘thing’ is me. Bratik and Sorren might like to get back to a proper church at some point.”
He placed the top back onto the armoured weapon, clicking it into place and securing it with pins. Satisfied with its condition, he patted it firmly and placed it with the other bracer he finished earlier.
“Everyone else just wants somewhere stable to live. Doesn’t have to be under me.”
“And the den?”
He leaned back against the wall, smiling at Daisy following the conversation by turning her head to whoever was speaking in show of her interest. It made up for her general inability to contribute.
“Like I said before. The three of us can get a nice place somewhere on Mars. Sahari and Nalah might like a cozy bungalow or something nearby, and Jax and Harrow could find a pretty decent place on their own. Get a great view, lots of woodland. Plenty of developing space on Mars that Rob wouldn’t mind getting us, knowing him. He probably has more to his name than he knows what to do with. He’d get us all suitable work, too, so it doesn’t feel like we’re taking advantage of him.”
Sunundra laid down her tablet, breaking his chain of thought. “You seek to break apart your den?”
He blinked. “What do you mean? It’s not like we’d stop being friends or anything.”
“No, but...” She considered her next words for a few seconds, pointing to the Queen once she had decided. “Would you cast away this kit from her family to be alone? Your own kit?”
“What? No, they’re kits, they need someone to help raise and look after them. Why?”
The Grand Huntress leaned back in her chair, lazily crossing her arms. “Then why would you cast aside those which you reside with?”
He furrowed his brow, his tone growing defensive. “I’m not ‘casting aside’ anyone, Sunny. How is that the same as abandoning kits?”
“Your people live in family units, no?”
“Usually a couple and any kits until they become adults, yes,” he humoured tersely, waiting to see where the line of questioning would go.
“And that is a family. You are aware of how our people reside in dens?”
“Yep.”
She held a paw out, as if the answer was obvious. “Then why must you strip them of their family?”
He opened his mouth to argue, the words caught before they could be voiced. “Well, they just live with people they trust because of population density or something, right? I figured their own building would be a nice change with some benefits. Privacy, for one.”
Tel sat on top of the provided desk, Daisy taking a spot beside her on the ground as Sunundra dropped her arm onto her lap. The defective stared at him for a moment.
“Joe, we reside with those who we feel kin. There is no difference between a family unit like your own people’s and ours. Where your own might conventionally limit such to direct mates and any blood-kits, ours is a forming of people who trust in each other implicitly. A den which we seek out or form to begin our own lives, separate from the resources of others. It is our independence to congregate with those who we desire the security of, and pursue the comfort of companionship. To suggest to them that you wish them separate from your residence is akin to conveying that you wish no more of them. That they are no longer your kin—your family. To abandon them.”
“They would have said something if that was the case,” he refuted, his confidence waning. Tel simply closed her eyes and adopted the reticent silence she choose whenever he was expected to call the shots. He inhaled slowly. “They wouldn’t go against me because I’m in charge.”
“You are their pack leader, yes,” Sunundra agreed, sighing now that he was somewhat on the right track. “Though dens often operate at a more familiar level of intimacy, you are still the highest position of authority—Grand Hunter or not. That you are such merely makes your wishes absolute.”
He deflated as he stared at Tel, the female refusing to speak on the matter. “Which means I would be telling them that I was sick of them, essentially.”
“They would be aware of your meaning,” the Wraith interjected finally. “Though the message is indeed as you surmised. Were it not for the seasons spent in your company, such would be the implied message.”
“And you never said anything?”
She opened her eyes to look at him apologetically. “Such was not in need of addressing. As I have stated, they would make their opinions known when the time arrived for such a decision. The others were preoccupied with their own conversations at the time. Myself and Pan are aware that you care for them, and the source of the misunderstanding.”
“And Leader stopped by before I could notice the issue,” he sighed. “That leaves Harrow, though. She didn’t say anything about it.”
Tel shrugged her shoulders. “Our actions were immediate after the meeting. It is possible she has spoken to the others about your desire, or had understood your intent regardless.”
“But I should probably clear things up when we get back.”
“Yes,” Sunundra agreed dryly. “You should. I am surprised you have spent so much time with them and yet wish for a separate den.”
Joseph rubbed at his neck. “Well, it’s not that I’m smothered by them or anything, but I just figured that everyone would like a place to call their own. It never really occurred to me that they’d each want that place to be the same place as everyone else.”
Sunny shook her head in exasperation. “It is a miracle that you have not made a worse blunder yet.”
Tel snorted, looking away before he could scowl at her. Daisy copied her, chittering her general amusement with the Human in the room being chastised. The Grand Huntress raised a brow at the Wraith and annoyed male.
“I take it he has?”
The grey-furred fiancee tittered. “Many a time. Would you like to hear of them?”
Sunundra checked her tablet, laying it down again after confirming that there was nothing she would rather be reading. The two of them gave Joseph a look that told him it was happening whether or not he wanted it to.
“I would.”
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“Mr. Wright?” the voice behind the speaker requested.
Robert looked up from his coffee and reports, as well as a message he had been lucky enough to receive before they got too close to the warp-spike. Silva lounged across the couch in their quarters while leafing through various pages on her tablet. Her light blue plumage contrasted with the deep brown of the faux leather, but it only made her more beautiful. It brought back old memories, and each made him more and more thankful that she was with him on the ship, despite his initial protests.
The room was a fair size, considering that it was on the more modest end of what the pleasure-craft-turned-war-machine had to offer. The rest was relegated to storage of their supplies and the crew quarters. The biggest cabin was offered to him out of respect for the owner of the ship, but he was happy to have something cozy for him and his fiancee to stay in. It had everything they needed; a perch in the corner satisfied Silva’s need for her feet to grip something every so often, fans were installed to provide a gentle breeze, and the constant water of the provided fountain in the wall allowed her to maintain the cleanliness her species took pride in. All that was missing was a high spot to glide from, but even something as luxurious as The Spirit needed to draw the line somewhere.
He let himself enjoy seeing her so relaxed, stretched out on her stomach as her legs kicked about behind her. It was a sight that he could never grow tired of, even ignoring their relationship. She was happy. They were finally together again and free to enjoy it for as long as they wanted, and barring any urgent business, they would be for as long as possible. Even then, it would only be for a little while at a time as he performed his duties. There was still some worry for what was going to happen next—the Union was causing a lot of trouble that they couldn’t openly address—but they were determined to spend their lives together, no matter what.
At least a part of their worries would be resolved soon. After almost a week of travel, the time that they would see Joseph again was finally about to come.
He was excited, but also nervous. His brother had been through more in his life than most should ever experience—and that was before all of this. Robert found himself concerned for what the world they were approaching had done to the younger of the two brothers. Though there was a mountain of things that had changed Joseph for the better, there was also constant trials that risked life and limb. Anyone going through that much would crack at the seams. He just hoped that his brother was actually holding up as well as the calls suggested.
“Mr. Wright?” the speaker repeated, dragging him away from his reverie.
Rob cleared his throat and pressed the intercom built into his onboard desk. “Sorry, got caught up in my work. Anything I can help you with?”
“We have a problem, sir.”
He put his mug down slowly, ignoring his Trilaxin fiancee’s worried glance. A quick check of the systems and general status of the ship showed that everything was working fine, and there wasn’t any delayed maintenance or supply shortages due to an error in inventory. He furrowed his brow, hedging his voice between suspicious and authoritative. “What kind of problem?”
The crew member sighed, breaking the professional tone he was expecting. “A big one.”
“Warp-spike?”
“Not that,” they clarified. “We’ve been limited by the field, but it’s nothing that engineering and system ops hasn’t been able to deal with. No, there are two ships closing in on the destination.”
He placed his elbows on the table, scowling into his mug. They hadn’t been followed, and beyond the ‘spike was supposed to be empty of traffic for quite a while. Whatever was there would likely be illegal, or Union. “Affiliation?”
“Unknown. No registered make or model in the Union database, and no passive broadcasting frequencies on Union channels.”
That ruled out Union. “Have they noticed us?”
“No, sir.”
Robert leaned back in his chair. With a guard patrol off the table, that left one option. Technically two, but he wasn’t sure which he preferred. “How big?”
The intercom remained silent for a moment, the static buzz the only indication that they had entered the influence of the object that took his brother from him. “We’re thinking they’re pretty massive, sir. It’s a bit too far out to tell from these readings.”
“Can we tell what they are? What they’re capable of?”
More static, though some muffled conversation on the other end told that they were discussing the question. “One is believed to be a colony ship.”
The Earth-born Martian ran his fingers through his hair. “The other?”
“...A military ship, sir. Likely electronic warfare specialization.”
“Too slow, Rob,” he muttered under his breath. He almost would have preferred trapped slavers or pirates; at least those he could shoot without causing massive issues. “Understood. Can we reach the planet without alerting them?”
“Yeah, but it would add a while to the schedule,” they admitted in an annoyed tone. “The Spirit is good, but we’d make a lot of noise keeping our speed. Our options are to either get there soon and alert everyone that we’re here, or hope we have enough snacks for all the movies we’d need to pass the time.”
“How long?”
“A few more days Earth-time. Hard to say right now; the warp-spike plays with our estimates.”
Robert muted the intercom, groaning into his palms before tapping the channel back open. “Do it. We’re no good to him dead in space.”
The response sounded defeated, but accepting. “Understood, sir. We will keep you posted.”
“Thank you,” the man finished, closing out the conversation with a controlled bump of his fist. Sil stared at him, a worried look on her face as she sat upright.
“Don’t worry Rob, we’ll still get to him.”
“It’s not getting there quickly that I’m worried about,” he drolled slowly, making sure to at least smile to show that he wasn’t being snarky with her, though the expression came off strained.
Silva tilted her head, the side of it touching her shoulder. “Then what’s wrong? Those ships would be Lilhun, right? We could just explain why we’re here.”
“We’re in a Union origin ship,” he added, waiting the beat it took for her to catch up with just how bad an idea it would be to be seen.
The Trilaxin blinked as it dawned on her. “Ah.”
He returned a dry laugh. “Yeah. ‘Ah.’ We would be shot by both before we could get close enough to hail them.”
His partner rose from the seat, launching herself a few feet forward in the lowered gravity. Talons clicked on the floor as she walked up next to him, her wings encasing him in a blue cage of feathery softness faster than he could jokingly defend himself.
“Well, I trust your crew to get us there safely.”
He nuzzled into her chest. “It’s not that I’m worried for us, but Joe has made it pretty clear that they don’t react nicely to new aliens.”
“But you’re not new,” she quipped, her unabashed cheerfulness unblemished by his somewhat dour perception. “You’re the brother of the Grand Hunter!”
Robert pulled back to frown at her, her sapphire blue eyes beaming her optimism at the prospect of seeing her brother-in-law soon. He fought the smile that tried to dominate his face. “You make it sound like Joe did something amazing.”
“Didn’t he?” she pressed teasingly, closing the distance to bump the top of her beak against his nose. He leaned into the contact to reciprocate the avian affection.
“Yeah, but don’t let him think that.”
“Why?”
Robert grinned, shaking his head. “The guy has two wives, a daughter, a family that cares for him, a village of people who do what he says purely because he said it, and one of Mars’ richest people making a house-call. Oh, and a few assassins who he’s turned into maids, for some reason. All of this is after surviving a ship crash, subsequent escape pod crash, and an uninhabited hostile planet that has made more attempts on his life than conflicts have on some of the veterans I know.”
She trilled her amusement. “That sounds like he’s done a lot of things we could call amazing, Rob.”
He pointed a finger at her in mock warning. “Again, don’t let him know. We don’t want him getting a big ego.”
Sil watched his strained act warmly, the loving smile never moving one iota. “We’ll get to him.”
He held his smirk as long as he could, nodding as it finally fell. “I hope so.”
“We will, Rob, and we’ll meet the rest of our new family, too.”