soon,” Riona added. “Repairs are almost finished.”
“We’re going to need more than that,” Paul said with a
shake of his head. “Even if we can fight through both the Nestafar and Skarron
fleets, it’s going to take a long time to evacuate their people…not to mention
we’re going to have to configure cargo ships to carry aquatic passengers. That
alone will take a few months, minimum.”
“Yeah, about that,” Aaron said deviously. “Sounds like we could use a little help .”
“So it does,” Paul agreed after a second’s delay.
“Then take them to Atlantica?”
“Not sure about that one or what kind of resources
they need, but that’s a definite possibility.”
“How many people need to be transported?”
Aaron cringed. “The Hycre couldn’t give us a specific
number.”
“Wonderful,” Paul said, frowning. “Did they say where
this messenger was?”
“At a Hycre world in the old
Calavari zone.”
“Well I need more information if we’re going to make
this happen,” he said, turning to Riona.
“Go,” she said, dismissively waving her hand at him.
“I can take it from here.”
Paul frowned. “What, and leave my new best friend
behind. Uh uh , you’re coming with.”
A smirk worked its way onto her face. “Best friend
huh?”
“You know someone else with bioshield?”
“So you only like me for my abilities?”
“Pretty much,” Paul said, turning back to Aaron. “I’ll
take care of this, but I may need your help down the road.”
“You know where to find me.”
Paul fist tapped Aaron’s chest and jogged towards the
open door. “You mind keeping her company for a while? She gets lonely real
easy.”
Riona scoffed at his back as he ran out of view, then
saw Aaron smirking.
“Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything. You up for
some sparring?”
“Actually…yeah,” she admitted.
“Come on, we’ll grab a different chamber. What were
you working on?”
“Shield deflections,” she said, walking out with him.
Two months
later…
Paul and Riona crossed through the shield barrier on
the rear of the Sparrow -class
dropship and into the watery environment of the Elarioni hangar bay. Each
Archon wore a wet suit with breath mask and swam away from the dropship to
where one of the mermaid-like aliens were waiting.
Their muscular tri-finned tails trailed below them in the blue-lit water as
their neon-colored hair floated loose around their heads. All the Elarioni were
‘female’ in appearance, reproducing trisexually, so they all tended to look
alike…almost identical save for a minor tweak here and there.
Whereas Ariel had green hair these two had orange, and
one of them raised a three fingered hand up to wave them forward. Paul and
Riona followed, swimming crudely by Elarioni standards through the tube-like
passageways with Paul doing a weird looking flip kick for propulsion that kept
him ahead of Riona and her struggling to keep up most of the time.
Their guides slowed to match their pace, but were
clearly riding the brake the entire way to a large chamber that had a squashed
spherical design with multiple protrusions that doubled as ‘chairs’ in that
there were Elarioni latched onto them operating various control consoles,
though in truth they were merely floating in place, tail down for the most
part.
Both of them were led over to a pair of spindly
tentacle-like arms coming up from the floor that put them nearly in the center
of the room with something to hold onto, after which a blue-haired Elarioni
swam down to them, her skin darker than her hair save for the patches that
glowed with bioluminescence.
“Thank you for coming,” she said, translated through
the programming in the Archons’ breath masks, which likewise transferred their
words into the Elarioni language…with a bit of imperfection, but reliable
enough for most conversations.
“If we’re going to make this happen I need
information,” Paul said without preamble. “How
“We’re going to need more than that,” Paul said with a
shake of his head. “Even if we can fight through both the Nestafar and Skarron
fleets, it’s going to take a long time to evacuate their people…not to mention
we’re going to have to configure cargo ships to carry aquatic passengers. That
alone will take a few months, minimum.”
“Yeah, about that,” Aaron said deviously. “Sounds like we could use a little help .”
“So it does,” Paul agreed after a second’s delay.
“Then take them to Atlantica?”
“Not sure about that one or what kind of resources
they need, but that’s a definite possibility.”
“How many people need to be transported?”
Aaron cringed. “The Hycre couldn’t give us a specific
number.”
“Wonderful,” Paul said, frowning. “Did they say where
this messenger was?”
“At a Hycre world in the old
Calavari zone.”
“Well I need more information if we’re going to make
this happen,” he said, turning to Riona.
“Go,” she said, dismissively waving her hand at him.
“I can take it from here.”
Paul frowned. “What, and leave my new best friend
behind. Uh uh , you’re coming with.”
A smirk worked its way onto her face. “Best friend
huh?”
“You know someone else with bioshield?”
“So you only like me for my abilities?”
“Pretty much,” Paul said, turning back to Aaron. “I’ll
take care of this, but I may need your help down the road.”
“You know where to find me.”
Paul fist tapped Aaron’s chest and jogged towards the
open door. “You mind keeping her company for a while? She gets lonely real
easy.”
Riona scoffed at his back as he ran out of view, then
saw Aaron smirking.
“Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything. You up for
some sparring?”
“Actually…yeah,” she admitted.
“Come on, we’ll grab a different chamber. What were
you working on?”
“Shield deflections,” she said, walking out with him.
Two months
later…
Paul and Riona crossed through the shield barrier on
the rear of the Sparrow -class
dropship and into the watery environment of the Elarioni hangar bay. Each
Archon wore a wet suit with breath mask and swam away from the dropship to
where one of the mermaid-like aliens were waiting.
Their muscular tri-finned tails trailed below them in the blue-lit water as
their neon-colored hair floated loose around their heads. All the Elarioni were
‘female’ in appearance, reproducing trisexually, so they all tended to look
alike…almost identical save for a minor tweak here and there.
Whereas Ariel had green hair these two had orange, and
one of them raised a three fingered hand up to wave them forward. Paul and
Riona followed, swimming crudely by Elarioni standards through the tube-like
passageways with Paul doing a weird looking flip kick for propulsion that kept
him ahead of Riona and her struggling to keep up most of the time.
Their guides slowed to match their pace, but were
clearly riding the brake the entire way to a large chamber that had a squashed
spherical design with multiple protrusions that doubled as ‘chairs’ in that
there were Elarioni latched onto them operating various control consoles,
though in truth they were merely floating in place, tail down for the most
part.
Both of them were led over to a pair of spindly
tentacle-like arms coming up from the floor that put them nearly in the center
of the room with something to hold onto, after which a blue-haired Elarioni
swam down to them, her skin darker than her hair save for the patches that
glowed with bioluminescence.
“Thank you for coming,” she said, translated through
the programming in the Archons’ breath masks, which likewise transferred their
words into the Elarioni language…with a bit of imperfection, but reliable
enough for most conversations.
“If we’re going to make this happen I need
information,” Paul said without preamble. “How
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