> As preparations continue across the hemisphere for thousands of sakoola blossom festivals, royal and prefectural officials are bracing for an influx of visitors, predicted to surpass the previous record of thirteen point four million world-wide. Persistent rumors of pre-manufactured sakoola blossoms drew sharp denials from the Royal Arboreal Service, with spokespersons decrying the spreading of 'malicious conspiracies'.
>
> Meanwhile, the Royal Revenue Service is busy processing an unprecedented number of applications for off-world vendors. Local business leaders and artisan guilds complained that foreign vendors 'undercut prices and flood our festivals with cheap merchandise unworthy of Inusagi'. Asked to comment, royal officials called the complaints 'regrettable', but noted there are no plans to deny vendor permits.
-Inusagi Central News Service
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41:03:24 GrS
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Lyra called Pratikaya Spaceport to get flight clearance for the Skipjack Chimera, but Raga suggested that they take the Syffid courier instead. A big grin split her face when she saw that Ajakeet-2 had been prepped and was sitting on a clear patch of permacrete. She and Taz walked toward the diminutive craft, and she couldn't repress her excitement as they drew closer.
Despite that, she took care to perform a pre-flight inspection, something she'd never done when Uncle Shin was teaching Allegra and her to fly. "I can't believe I get to fly Ajakeet-Two!" she beamed while she examined the forward landing skid's actuator arm.
Taz looked surprised. "You mean you've never flown her?"
"She was... a work in progress when I was learning." Lyra ran her hand over the starboard wing's leading edge, checking for damage, but also just to feel the precise fit of the armored hull plates. "I wonder how she'll handle?" It took her a few minutes to finish, having to repeatedly force herself to stay on task instead of admiring Raga's craftsmanship and falling into memories of his flying lessons. "Ready?"
Taz pressed the release and the cockpit's transparisteel canopy popped up, then hinged open like a clamshell. Lyra hopped over the lip of the hull and slipped into the pilot's seat before it had even finished opening. She grasped the joystick and throttle. "These aren't Syffid controls, they're from a starfighter!"
Lyra inhaled a deep breath. The steel instrument panel and armrests had been replaced with smooth, polished navawood that blended blonde sapwood and reddish heartwood, and filled the cockpit with a wonderful fragrance that made Lyra grin madly. The organic curves reminded her of something her father would have fashioned. "Varashi leather trim on the seats... leave it to Uncle Shin to make her a luxury fighter!"
Taz peered at the controls. "Some of our A-wings had wooden instrument panels, I heard."
"Really?" Lyra looked incredulous.
Taz lifted his shoulders. "We were rebels on the run, so we had to build them on the sly with whatever we could get our hands on." He flipped a leg over the ledge and climbed in the opposite side, shimmying into the narrow seat. Taz examined the side-by-side layout. Every system was mirrored on his side of the cockpit right down to the stick, throttle, and foot pedals, though they were all retracted and locked out.
"That side's supposed to be for a passenger," explained Lyra as she sealed the cockpit, strapped in, and donned her headset.
"Then why the duplicate controls?"
"Rei probably knows better but I'd guess it's because the manufacturer was thinking ahead to other uses."
She called for launch clearance, waited for the acknowledgment, then increased power to the repulsors. The dragon moth rose smoothly from the hangar pad into the morning air. When they were a few hundred meters up, she eased the throttle forward, feeling the rumble of the engines behind them. The sensation of the ship's mass being pushed by the four powerful, compact fusial thrusters made her smile even more.
She waited until they'd cleared Pratakaya's airspace and checked the sensors to be sure there were no nearby hazards, then she angled the ship's nose higher into the sky and shoved the throttle levers as far as they'd go. The ship jumped, pinning them against the seats. Lyra's eyes went wide and she loosed a joyful cry that turned almost giddy. The thrill she felt as a girl returned and for a moment she was back there with Uncle Shin and Allegra all crammed into the courier's cockpit.
Taz mirrored her electric smile. "Is it like you remember?"
"It's even better!" She corkscrewed through the air and slewed the ship around to get a feel for its agility, then threw in a drop-kick Koiogran turn for good measure. Try as she might, she couldn't shake her excitement. Every impulse cried out to take the ship higher, to leave Inusagi's clear sky behind for the dark of space so she could put Ajakeet-2 through some real maneuvers.
But they weren't on a joyride. Later, Lyra, she promised herself. There's plenty of time for fun. She eased back on the throttles and banked the ship westward, heading for the coast.
Taz's expression matched hers; she could tell that he wanted his turn at the controls too. "How about you fly us back?" she offered.
"Hmm, I'd like that!" he assented. After his excitement faded, he asked, "So, what can you tell me about the Rayeths?"
"I don't know all that much; they keep to themselves, even moreso since the Empire came."
"The native Filvians were mistreated by the Protectorate forces back home," Taz said, sounding glum. "Is that how it was here?"
"They stayed underwater and I don't think the Empire had much interest in them as long as they didn't make any trouble." She brightened her expression. "Anyway, they have their own kind of technology. It's not like ours at all; it's all based around bio-engineered... things. From the little I learned, a lot of their tech is symbiotic."
"I'd like to see some of that." Taz looked eager.
"Good luck. They're secretive about their tech. They don't share it and they definitely don't let us Inusagasa study it."
"What about their biology and culture?"
"They're amphibians. I'm pretty sure when they're born they can't come out of the water or breathe air. We think they live about as long as we do. They're very thin, a little shorter than humans on average, and kind of weak when they're on land... not very impressive, really. In the water though, they're totally different. Something about their physiology lets them move at incredible speed through the water, maybe hundreds of kilometers in an hour."
Taz let out a disbelieving whistle.
"Not only that, they can swim against even the strongest currents. To get to the royal palace at the capital they have to ascend this huge waterfall called the Bar Jalatak. It's over a hundred meters, Taz, and they just fly straight up it! One time, mum brought us to see a show that the Rayeth ambassador hosted. A big group of them came up the Jalatak and flew over the pool at the palace. It really was like they floated, half in and half out of the water, but they moved so fast and with the kind of grace that..." She smiled, recalling the awe she'd felt as a ten-year-old seeing the spectacle. "No Human could ever dance so beautifully." She glanced at him with a sudden humorous look. "They seem to enjoy our festivals, especially the festival of blossoms. That's where most of us see them."
"Do they interact with you? With Humans, I mean."
Lyra issued another shrug. "Some of them know Inusago or Basic, but most don't. A few of our schools teach their language, too. My mother made us learn it, though I'm pretty sure I butchered it when I spoke to the Revered Mother yesterday."
"Tell me about the Revered Mothers."
"There might be as many as twenty thousand Rayeths in a colony, but nearly all of the females are infertile. I read that fewer than one-tenth of one percent can lay eggs. I think the males compete for the right to fertilize the eggs, but I don't really remember much about that from mum's lessons. Anyway, the breeding females are highly prized and guarded, as you'd imagine."
"Of course."
She looked more sober. "They never venture far from the colony except for something serious, I mean really serious, like war or a natural disaster."
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"Do the colonies fight?"
"Hard to say, but it wouldn't surprise me. We think they communicate with ultra low-frequency sound, and the Revered Mother said they hear the songs of other colonies."
"Songs?"
Lyra gave a little shrug. "Their language is a little like music. They don't talk as much as sing. I think the frequencies help the sound carry through the water."
"Not all that unusual, judging from some of the things I've read about other aquatic species."
"Anyway, we weren't taught anything about their government or internal politics."
"If they keep to themselves, how have you learned about them?"
"There've been some scholars, but a lot of what we know comes from the Koluvar— the Tavits that practice seafaring and aquaculture. The inland clans think of the Koluvar as Tavit-wey, but the coastal communities treat them with more respect."
Taz continued his inquiries on and off as the flight continued, though Lyra had no answers for many of his questions. She smiled at his curiosity. He'd always been respectful of her reluctance to talk about her home and upbringing, and other than when she was teaching him to pilot, he usually wasn't too inquisitive. Asking for her insight made her unexpectedly happy.
When the coast of Akushima came into sight, Lyra nudged forward on the stick and backed off the throttle, switching completely to repulsors at fifty meters high. She lowered the little courier onto a patch of rocky beach. Waves broke over a reef a hundred meters out, lapping and surging ashore before receding again.
There was no sign of the Revered Mother or her attendants. "They said they'd be here about the same time I saw them yesterday, so it shouldn't be too long."
Taz looked like that didn't bother him. He'd been to water-rich planets before, but seeing the open expanse of the ocean was always thrilling. As soon as Lyra raised the canopy, he darted for the shoreline.
"Hey, take your shoes off at least!" she cried after him and she shook her head, as much at his child-like enthusiasm as his forgetfulness.
Boots held aloft, he trotted into the Nikotama Sea, letting the water lap around his ankles and up his legs, feeling the sand cover his feet with each gentle surge of the waves. He looked over his shoulder, a huge smile lighting his face.
By the moons, he's sexy when he smiles like that. Lyra kicked off her boots and climbed out of the cockpit, joining Taz at the edge of the water. The last sand she'd seen was on Jakku, and she thought her weeks on that desolate rock had cured her of ever wanting to see the stuff again. Now, feeling it squish between her toes and rub against her skin made her remember how much she loved the seashore.
She inhaled the salty, musty smell deep into her lungs. "I'm glad we came here together."
"So am I, Lyra. This is amazing." He watched the waves crest, form white foamy tops and crash over themselves, filling the air with a low roar. His fingers slipped between Lyra's. "So much water. It's really beautiful."
She chuckled. "Until the sand and salt gets on everything, then it's just a pain in the ass. But, yeah, I can't remember a time when I didn't love the ocean."
Taz pulled her into an embrace and kissed her while the surf swirled around them.
She moaned with sudden desire and clutched at his shirt. Sex on the beach! She'd always wondered what it would be like. They were halfway through frantically undressing each other when the sunlight glittered off a disturbance in the water and caught her attention.
"Rutting hell," she grumbled as four Rayeths bobbed to the surface beyond the surf line and her libido slammed into a wall.
Taz followed her gaze. "Dank farrik," he whinged, reaching for his discarded clothes.
"Sorry," Lyra uttered, staring a little regretfully at his very evident arousal.
His scowl matched hers. "Their timing's crap."
"Damn right it is," growled Lyra as she hastily threw her shirt back on.
The Rayeths extended their arms, swim membranes drumhead-taut as they glided centimeters above the oscillating waves, only the tips of their fingers and toes making contact with the water where it crested.
Taz let out a wonderous gasp at their rapid approach, his amorous urges abandoned for the moment. A few meters out they swooped up, arresting their speed with their membranes. They dropped neatly into the surf, instantly wrapping their arms around their bodies. Each of them held a long staff tipped with sharp barbs. Taz cast a questioning glance at Lyra.
She shrugged. She'd never seen Rayeths carry weapons, but under the circumstances she could hardly fault them. Lyra strode into the foamy surf and exchanged modest bows with them. She picked out the leader, a male, she thought, though she couldn't quite remember if the males had darker gill fringes than the females. No matter. She addressed the nearest one with a greeting in their singsong tone.
«Greetings, land-dweller,» answered the Rayeth.
«I'm called Lyra.» Taz splashed up beside her, watching the exchange with intense interest. «What do you call yourself?»
The Rayeth was wary but he answered, «Gan.»
«Did you accompany the Revered Mother yesterday?»
«I did.» Gan unfurled his arms, reached into the pouch at his waist, and removed the vial. «This is the man you spoke of?»
Lyra nodded. Gan turned to Taz and held out the vial.
Taz held the small glass capsule for only a few seconds before grimly pronouncing, "It's just like on Lantillies. I can feel the same darkness and hunger in it." His fingers curled tightly around the bottle, seeming reluctant to offer it back to Gan. Taz had an unfocused look as he regarded the Rayeth.
"Hey, you okay, Oktos?"
"Y-yeah," he stammered, drawing out the word. "These Rayeths are all... resonating. In the Force, I mean."
"I thought you told me everything did."
"Not like this. They're—" He broke off, hard in consideration for a few seconds, like he was grasping at a concept. "I sense some of the same energy from them that's in the granules of that drug."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know. It's... I can't describe it, but there's something about that drug that has the same feel in the Force as the Rayeths do."
"The Revered Mother said their children were abducted. What if they're being used to manufacture that drug, like some kind of slave labor?"
Taz got a sickened look. "What if they are the drug?"
Lyra looked horrified. "Are you saying—"
"I don't know," Taz repeated gruffly. "I don't think we should jump to conclusions."
"Says the man who did just that."
Taz frowned. "I need to know more, especially about their children. If I could examine one of them—"
Lyra cut him off. "They'd never let you do that, Taz."
He let out a sigh. "I got the same feeling from that load of ceraglass. What if some of the drug was hidden in the cargo shipment?"
"Then those goons from the Zephyr Combine probably knew about it."
"And it has Force energy. It's dark, and it feels like these Rayeths, at least a little." He grew grim. "If there's a Force user making drugs for those Zephyr people, who knows what kind of damage they could do?"
"What makes you think a Force user's involved?"
"Who else would know about this resonance?"
Gan spoke up. «What does the man say?»
Lyra explained the best she could, but her command of Ka-rayet was only rudimentary, and she wasn't even sure how she'd communicate a concept like the Force in their language. After minutes of struggling and fruitless attempts to answer Gan's questions, she threw up her hands.
"What's wrong?"
"Miscommunication," she snapped out of frustration. She took a breath. "I don't know their language well enough to explain what's going on."
Taz scratched his cheek. "I could try projecting my thoughts to them directly."
"Could that work?"
He could only shrug. "It's worth a try."
"I'll tell them." She turned to Gan and told him what Taz intended.
The Rayeth looked alarmed, then angry. «The abductor forced our thoughts from us so that we would reveal the children! He assaulted our minds!»
Lyra's hands flew up. «Wait, please! My friend isn't like that!» The Rayeth wasn't convinced, and he turned to leave. "Dammit!"
"What's wrong?" asked Taz. When she related what Gan told her, Taz's face drained. "Son of a dunesnake! That means he must be a Force user!"
"We need to convince them that you're not like him."
"Great. How?"
Lyra grasped a a memory. "Remember at the Dai Bendu temple, the way you made me feel when you sensed me in the Force? Could you— I don't know— do the same thing to them, maybe?"
Taz tilted his head. "I'm not sure but I'll try."
Lyra pointed at the vial, «Gan, that poison makes land-dwellers sick and makes them hurt others. If Rayeth children are involved with it, we need to stop the people who are making it, for your sake and ours!»
She took a deep breath; at least the Rayeth was listening instead of flying back into the sea. «We want to help you. My friend wants to show you he means no harm to you or your children. Will you let him?»
Gan looked as skeptical as a Rayeth could with their slight features and smooth faces. «Your man will not take our thoughts by force?»
Lyra gave him her most reassuring smile. «He will only show you his kindness, and receive the thoughts you freely offer.»
Gan stiffened as if steeling himself for something ugly and unpleasant.
Taz abruptly winced from the familiar Force warning a second before the others leveled their long weapons. Apparently, none of them were convinced of his good intentions. He raised his hands in a placating gesture and kept them well away from his weapons. "Easy, everybody."
«Proceed,» Gan instructed.
Lyra gave Taz a nod.
He closed his eyes and for several seconds nothing happened. Then Gan seemed to relax ever so slightly. At the same moment Lyra felt some of the warmth and contentment she'd experienced on Beta Fonidian II. Taz let slip a quiet breath as his eyes opened. His mouth curled into a subtle grin and he bowed his head to the Rayeth. In his most melodious voice, he said, «Thank you, Gan.»
At a gesture from Gan, the others raised their pikes.
Lyra looked shocked. "You learned Ka-rayet?!"
"Just a word or two. He told me the name of his colony, Thrymenoly-Riv. It's... about six hundred meters down and... give me your datapad."
She handed it over. Taz called up the map of Inusagi, scrolled through it, then tapped a spot in the middle of the ocean. "They don't measure distance or direction the way we do, but it's right about here."
She handed the pad to Gan. «My friend Taz says you told him that Thrymenoly-Riv is here.»
«It is.» His tone was a shade or two less distrustful than before. He handed back the pad before conversing with the other three in tones too low for her to overhear. Their back and forth went on for some minutes and sometimes looked tense, but eventually Gan returned.
He nodded a small bow to them both. «We will take you, Lyra and Taz, to Thrymenoly-Riv.» Two dozen meters farther out, another Rayeth emerged from the ocean carrying something amorphous and pale. It swam to the shore with the others and opened the container.
Gan took out two gelatinous lumps roughly the size of a human head. «You know what to do with these, yes?» He looked at Taz, who nodded after a moment.
Lyra put on a frown. "Want to let me into the club, boys?"
"They're like artificial gills. We can use them to breathe underwater."
"Wait, they want us to go now?"
"Yeah. You didn't have something else planned for today, did you?"
She started to protest but he was right. How long's it been since I swam in the ocean? "Okay, but let's button up Ajakeet. I'll call back to the manor house and let them know. Oh, and take off anything that isn't rated for high water pressure."
Taz gave her a crooked glance. "That's just about everything."
They walked back to the ship and stripped off all of their equipment. Lyra sent a message stating their intentions, then sealed up the ship and walked back toward the waiting Rayeths.