"What do we know about the colony?" Zach asked.

"Not a lot. They set out to found a religious colony based on the words of a man they considered to be a prophet - Ted Corren. He also led the initial expedition . . . the colony is named New Begonia, on the large moon of a world they've named Hope's Dawn."

"There's not a lot of religious sentiment left in human space, so I guess I can understand them wanting to be somewhere else. What do we know about their beliefs? Anything concerning?"

Brooks's eyes went over some more text. "They're strict on their members regarding things like dancing and alcohol, but have no precepts that are particularly egregious. It's one of the Late Revival Monotheistic religions, sharing many traits with the Abrahamic faiths, but being related only in an inherited cultural sense."

Urle took that in before asking his next question. "It's unchartered, but it trades with us, right? And it's pretty civil, as I recall."

"Yes, despite being so far on the frontier, it's very tame - at least as far as we can tell. I suppose they could have a lot to hide, but I just don't know." Brooks went silent, staring at his pad.

Something about that look bothered Urle. He'd known his current Captain for ten years now - ever since Brooks had been Executive Commander on the cruiser Kilimanjaro and Urle had been under him as Chief of Engineering. They'd developed a good rapport then, and Urle liked to think he knew more how Brooks's mind worked than most.

"Captain, it's your prerogative, but perhaps we don't go looking for trouble here," Urle said.

Brooks laughed. "I don't look for trouble," he said, lacking conviction.

"Do you think they'll have a problem with us taking this CR?" Urle asked.

"I doubt it. We should be honest and forthright about our goals, but we'll want them to be sure that we're not just trying to poach their whole population, either," Brooks replied. "This is a member of their colony, and most of these fringe societies don't like losing people. I'm authorized to give some reasonable concessions if that will help."

"We don't even know that the CR will want to come with us," Urle noted. "They might be happy there."

Brooks nodded. "It's possible. From what I know about people with these abilities, however, they tend to be somewhat outcast. They say there's something about their presence that . . . makes others uncomfortable."

Urle chewed on that thought. "Reminds me of someone else we have along with us," he noted.

Brooks didn't miss the hint. "My thoughts exactly. I admit, I'm curious about Kell meeting them. I don't want the Ambassador along for our first meeting - no reason to potentially scare them off."

Urle glanced towards the door, feeling a sudden concern that Kell might be there, somehow having slipped in silently. But the room was empty other than the two of them.

"How will we keep the Ambassador busy? No offense, but he seems to like butting himself into places we don't want him."

"We shouldn't look at it that way," Brooks said. "He's a very different species."

"Captain, I know he's an ambassador and I should respect that, but he seems to go out of his way to be difficult."

"He does," Brooks said. "He's testing us, I think. He wants to understand our limits. We won't let him walk all over us, but we're going to pick our hill to die on with care. But to answer your question, Cenz has volunteered to keep Kell company. He's quite curious about him, anyway."

"It seemed that way," Urle said. "I've rarely seen his polyps buzzing with so much EM energy."

"He is the Chief Science Officer," Brooks replied with a shrug. "Curiosity is a big part of that, and the Shoggoths aren't sharing much with us. Cenz sees it as an opportunity."

"I don't think he even had much of a reaction to Kell, did he?"

"No," Brooks agreed. "And it's not just you thinking that - while non-human species do seem to usually have a reaction to Shoggoths, it's been notably worse for humans."

Urle looked troubled by that. It was hard for most to read him, what with so much of his face covered. But Brooks had known him long enough to catch the tightening of lines on his face.

"Has . . . there been anyone who hasn't had a reaction to them? Upon first meeting," Urle asked.

"I'm not sure, to be honest," Brooks replied, frowning. "I'd be curious to find out."

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Urle said no more on the topic, but looked troubled.

"Something wrong?" Brooks asked.

"No," Urle answered. "You know, normally, I'd not think it wise to have a being who hadn't met aliens before go off with them alone, but . . ."

Brooks finished the train of thought. "But he's already so alien from us."

"And since Corals are aquatic, they at least have that in common," Urle added. "We did send the diplomatic packet explaining about them to New Begonia, right?"

"Yes," Brooks replied, smiling easily. "We've done all we can to prepare them, and now we just have to hope it doesn't cause an issue. I wish Kell hadn't insisted on coming, but these kinds of meetings are going to have to happen."

"I just hope my girls don't go annoying Kell," Urle said.

"I heard they encountered him. You said they didn't seem that bothered?"

"Oh, they were bothered," Urle replied. "But it just made them itch with curiosity. They want to meet every alien species. And if it's cute, bring it home."

"I'll make clear there's a prohibition against bringing any lifeforms off any world in the Begonia system," Brooks said, with some amusement.

"I appreciate that, Captain. It was very hard getting them off Clennus without a Jumping Flower. Oh, and before I forget, upload me the roster, would you? I didn't have a chance to review the personnel list. Just want to know who else is with us."

Brooks sent him the list, and he scanned over it. Only twenty, and while his memory systems knew the entire ship's roster, he only knew a few personally. Brooks, Cenz, Kell, and Pirra - still off-duty for two more days, just in time to be available when they got to Begonia. Her husband Alexander had come as well. Urle had only met him in passing, but he knew the man was a close friend to Iago Caraval, the Response field commander.

A final name caught his attention: Dr. Arn Logus.

It actually made sense; it would be good for him to interview the CR, he could certainly offer some insight into their personality.

Brooks must have been waiting for his reaction to that.

"I didn't ask him to come," Brooks noted. "But due to the nature of our mission, he had every right to."

Urle didn't reply, but he caught the change in Brooks's tone as he spoke again.

"Why do you think he requested the transfer onto the Craton?" the Captain asked him.

"Dr. Logus?" Urle asked, even though he knew.

"Yes."

Urle considered how to answer that. "To keep an eye on you, Captain," he finally said.

*******

"Why did you want to come on this trip, Pirra?" Alexander asked her.

She looked up absently from the pad she'd been reading in her sleeping bag.

"Hm?" she asked.

It was probably work-related, he thought, at what she'd been reading. She was always so into her career.

Repeating his question, Alexander studied his wife.

As with all Dessei, her eyes were larger than a human's, and seemed all the more expressive for it. Despite having a head nearly the same size as a human, her body was more gracile. It gave her a strange, almost stick-figure look, but lacking that sickly look an overly-thin human had. A feature inherited from her bird-like ancestors.

It was hard to imagine that she threw herself into danger without a second thought. She looked delicate, but evolution had given her species bones and muscles that were stronger than they looked, at least comparable with a human.

"It seemed a chance to get off the ship, to have that vacation you wanted," she chirped in answer.

Even though the translators could seamlessly cancel most sounds of a being's language and translate it, he had learned her language years before. At least the parts within the human audio range; some Dessei sounds were too high in pitch for his ears to even register. Just through sheer experience he could sometimes pick up nuances in her words that even the translators could miss.

And right now he could tell that she was making was an excuse.

"I wanted to go to that resort on Axas," he said. "Just a day there and back - we'd have two days of just relaxation and fun. Do you know how great the museums are there?"

She offered her attempt at a human smile. It wasn't actually her mouth, he knew. What adorned her face was more akin to a large nostril (though thankfully not snotty like a human's). She sang through it, whistled her lovely language, and below that, under her chin was the rather-terrifying mouth that had evolved to swallow whole the fish-like prey her ancestors subsisted on.

Smiling didn't come naturally to them, with their . . . singer, as they called it. But she tried, because he'd told her once he loved it when she did that for him.

"I . . . didn't really want to go to the resort," she admitted.

"Why?" he asked. He didn't want to be upset, but they hadn't gone on a proper vacation since their honeymoon four years earlier.

"I don't know," she said. Her tone sounding more like admitting to a mistake than evading the question. "Maybe a resort was just too sedate after what I've been through. I like museums - I really do - but I didn't want to go to one now."

Alexander smiled wryly. "So going to some weird frontier colony is better?"

She considered. "Yeah. It does seem better. It'll still be interesting, though, I'm sure."

"I'm sure it will," he said, smiling at her. "And at least we'll be together."

She leaned out of her sleeping bag to reach for him. Her fingers were as white as paper, and appeared so much more delicate than his own. As their strength closed on his hand, he felt a happy warmth in his chest.

She said nothing, but smiled again for him and held his hand.