Jasmine turned the taps on the hot water in her ensuite.

Her clothes stank of gunpowder it was a good excuse to give her the time she needed to decompress. The ‘argument’ she had with Ryo was replaying over and over in her mind, he had left an impression on her for better or for worse.

Alien-freq was hard enough to get used to on its own, every single one of them had a unique feeling, a signature to their presence, simple and easy to pinpoint. The feeling of fresh paper, the burn after exercise, or the impact of metal crashing against each other, it was never more complicated than that. The Dogs, Nako and Xant were a little more complex, Sieglinde felt like a warm blanket and running through grass in spring, Nako was like a wall of ice, sheer and imposing but only when he wanted to be, Xant…

When they first met, he was like trickling water, but he had since grown to a river, fresh, relaxing, and full of life, it was his presence that had cooled the anger that consumed her.

She didn't like being that angry, it didn't feel like her at all…

She didn't even realise she had become that angry, that she had given in to someone else's emotions.

Jasmine watched the tub fill with rose, vanilla scented bubbles and checked the door was locked one last time before dipping herself in. The warm water was amazing on her skin, she sank in til the water rose just below her nostrils, one of the few joys aboard the luxury yacht was a bath big enough for an adult to actually submerge themselves in.

She savoured the alone time, not that she was ever truly alone now, if she closed her eyes and really concentrated, she could pinpoint certain people’s location by freq alone. It was both cool and terrifying at the same time, to what extent she could use these ‘new’ powers was still unknown since she had been trying hard to suppress them.

Xant often spoke to her about ‘Freq aggression’, Freq-bombs and Volatile Extreme Freq Syndrome, how the sudden changing of emotions was painful for citizen aliens to process, so much so that Citizens and Military aliens were separated by necessity. The power and ferocity of basic human emotions were considered deadly, they could unconsciously force their own emotions onto others, turning them to their will maliciously or benevolently.

It was what she could do to others.

And what Ryo had done to her.

He wanted her to be angry, then he destroyed something of hers, the car window… triggering her own rage and it blew up from there.

She sighed.

Was there any point in fixing the back window? It's not like it was a proper mode of transportation… she shook her head. What's done is done, she could probably get the engineers to fix it for her later, it wasn't even that important in the grand scheme of things, it just hurt.

He was unstable, that much was certain, he didn't trust her at all and it seemed like he actively hated being in the same room as her. He lashed out at her after she laughed at him, a major retaliation, over done for sure, spite, a perceived slight to his worth.

Ryo wanted her to hurt.

She remembered the burn of anger, the sudden sickness of regret for his actions, and pain he thought he deserved. So many brash, powerful emotions conflicting inside of him, Jasmine could only imagine the kind of life that could cause such turbulence.

The strongest memories resonated with the freq you projected, she was so used to being the bright welcoming presence, having it thrown off so easily by another was harrowing.

Was there a way to avoid it in the future? Perhaps she needed to pull herself inward?

Control her freq like Xant kept telling her to do.

Jasmine dunked her head under the water and lingered submerged in the soothing depths.

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She had been so happy to see another human being, to embrace another person, to see someone eye to eye. But… Ryo was repelled by her, and Beau despite being warm and friendly outwardly, it was like he was invisible without a presence. She didnt know what his true intentions or impressions of her were at all...

She rose up for air, scrubbing her face with her hands and hiding behind her fingers.

Was she really going to be able to convince them she had only the best of intentions?

Did they trust her at all?

Jasmine pushed her hands over her head and through the still growing stubble of brown hair.

Despite whether they trusted her or not, she was still the de facto ambassador for the human race and she would keep her best foot forward.

The small moment of resolve eased her confidence, allowing her to enjoy the rest of her bath.

Jasmine emerged from the bathroom with a fluffy robe and a towel on her head, smothered in scented moisturizer of her namesake and other luscious potions that the yacht’s previous owner saw fit to fill the vanity with.

Xant sat on the end of her bed, snout buried in a dataslate.

“So..” Jasmine asked, leaning in the doorway “What's next?”

“We have to contact the lieutenant,” Xant replied factually and Jasmine's stomach began buzzing with butterflies.

“Oh right, what are we going to say?” She crossed the room to the wardrobe to pick out some fresh clothes.

“We tell him only what he needs to know,” came the definitive answer, clearly Xant wasn’t as happy with Nako as she was. She paused, flicking through blouses, had she been too hasty with her anger? Did Nako have an explanation for what happened with the pods?

“Tell him that you're working on communication with your honourable counterparts but negotiations will need more time.” Xant continued, flicking through his dataslate with a determined purpose, Jasmine watched his actions and smiled.

“That is perfect corporate bullshit you just sprouted,”

“Having worked for a company nearly a [decade]” he reminded her, “the ‘bullshit’ is almost instinctual now,”

Jasmine laughed as she did the zip up on her shorts.

“Congratulations! You just used your first human curse word!”

“Actually it's my second,” he revealed.

Jasmine poked her head out of the walk in robe in shock.

“What?”

“Yes,” Xant looked up from his dataslate, looking pleased with himself “I’ve said ‘Fuck’ before,”

“No way?! And I wasn't there?!” Jasmine exclaimed.

“Well you were unconscious at the time…”

Jasmine walked out of the walk in and plopped herself next to her friend.

“Well, lay it on me!” she insisted “I want to hear you say fuck!”

Xant placed down his dataslate on his lap, turned to the human beside him and in the most bored expression he could manage uttered the most versatile word of english language.

“Fuck.”

Jasmine giggled and fell back on the bed.

“Be careful, can’t go around blasting that alright? You’ll hurt someone...”

“No need for warnings, I am quite acquainted with its power Jasmine.” he retorted with a smile before returning to his dataslate.

Jasmine sat up and leaned over his shoulder, she had misjudged her movements and was closer to him than she intended. He wasn't as warm as she expected, his coat and suit were as if they had been placed over a chair, devoid of body heat.

“So we're just going to send him a text message right?”

“Aud-files are standard communication, so you wont need to worry about your freq signals getting through,”

Because the last thing they needed was Nako worrying about them.

“That's a relief, so I just need to leave him a voicemail… I can do that.”

Xant set up the dataslate recording and point to the button.

“Just push this when you are ready to record the message,”

Jasmine took hold of the slate, and took a deep breath.

Namegiver Jasmine: Hello Nako! Just Jasmine checking in, the company really did a number on the guys, it might take longer than I thought to get them on side, but nothing I can't handle, good luck with everything on your end! Live long and prosper!

She stopped the recording and gave another sigh of relief, “Ugh i hate making voice calls…”

Xant, however, was staring back at her.

“How… Did you do that?” he asked.

“What the phone call?”

“No… you sounded happy, but I could feel the pulses tensing in pain, your demeanor was completely different from your Freq signal…” he sounded so concerned.

Jasmine blinked,

“Oh right…” she handed the dataslate back, he hadn't seen her lie before, then again, she didnt need to lie to him, “It's just an act, from back on earth, without a freq signal, you can mask your true emotions, pretend to be courageous when you're scared, pretend to be pleasant when you're angry inside… Its hard to get right.” the best way she knew how to explain it without scaring him, she had done enough of that already.

Xant ran a hand over his ears, deep in thought.

“You can mask your outward appearance, but not your internal thoughts,” he nodded to himself, “This is probably why it is so hard for you to control your freq presence, since you’ve been taught by your own people to do the exact opposite all your life.”

Jasmine had never thought of it that way, of course, up until a few months ago Freq wasn't something she thought about at all.

“With this new insight, I might be able to further our meditation sessions.” Xant theorised.

“Hey, do you think we should invite Ryo in on a session?” she asked him “I mean, he needs to control his freq even more than I do…”

Xants ears flattened at the mention of the other human.

“I am willing to teach, do you think he is willing to listen?”

Jasmine rubbed her face.

“... I dont know…”