Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Natalia wasn’t in the spaceship to train this time, at least not at the moment. Instead, she and Florrie were assisting Gartho and Tharen with maintenance on her weapons and vehicles, which was especially necessary considering how much action they saw over the weekend - it wasn’t a glamorous part of warfare, but keeping weapons and vehicles properly maintained was the difference between being able to fight at full capacity and being essentially handicapped on the field of battle.

The maintenance area had the feel of an auto repair shop, with a variety of tools and parts immaculately organised. This was very much Gartho’s domain, and he obviously took considerable pride in his work. Tharen was mostly just handling maintenance for the guns. And both Natalia and Florrie were mostly just assisting, as, despite their intelligence, they were not experienced or qualified enough to be properly handling maintenance on their own yet - this was unfamiliar technology, and they needed to become accustomed to how it worked, amongst other things.

While the hoverbike could be easily flipped and laid on its side, the LUV had to be raised, using a complex anti-gravity device that held the main structure in place in the air and allowed for the vehicle itself to be rotated in the air for better accessibility to hard to reach areas. Natalia initially had marvelled at seeing this in action, but the need to actually get to work had quickly made her move on from this brief distraction.

Instead, she was watching with amazement at the dexterity Gartho demonstrated with four hands. “Having four hands must be really, uh… Handy. Ugh, sorry, hard to avoid the pun.”

Gartho just chuckled, as he did maintenance checks on the underside of the LUV. “Yes, I suppose it is. The hands, not the pun, I mean. But this would be much faster if I was still working within my old hive.”

“Oh, right, you said you were from a specific hive, right? I forgot the name.”

“The Bethaxin Hive. We Zevurn are born as part of a larger collective, and while we’re not ‘drones’, per se, those who stay in the hive generally value the collective over the individual. That’s not to say individuals are not valued, we look after our own. A healthy and happy worker is a productive worker, that is what the hives learned long ago.”

“Not a lot of room for individualism, though, I imagine.”

“For most Zevurn, working in the collective to achieve grand goals is enough. It is why the hives are powerhouses of manufacturing, engineering and construction. We built the galaxy’s very first ‘Dyson Sphere’, as you humans call it, and we engineer starships faster and with better quality than anyone else,” Gartho said, gesturing for a specific tool that Natalia handed to him. “But there are some Zevurn who find themselves longing to stand out and distinguish themselves, and those individuals are sent out into the wider galaxy by their queen to represent the hive and to work with other species.”

Florrie looked over from the table where she and Tharen were working on weapons. “Cool, guess it goes without saying you’re one of those people?”

“Correct. Though in my case, I suppose it was more my choice than usual,” Gartho said. “I always did want to see the wider galaxy on my own terms, and never felt right just being another worker. So I ended up joining the GDF as a combat engineer. Not exactly breaking out of the stereotype, but I don’t particularly mind that, either.”

Florrie turned back to Tharen. “What about you? I don’t think we’ve heard how you became a captain.”

“I did mention I used to be in the Threesian military - special forces, you know,” Tharen said, as he started putting the gun in front of him back together with expert ease. “Before that, I did Shadow Climber training, all that fancy stealthy stuff. Never became a full-fledged Shadow Climber, but I learned enough from it.”

“And a Shadow Climber is…?”

“Think your planet’s concept of ‘ninjas’, and apply that to Piancar, basically.”

As Natalia expected, Sonia’s imagination seemed to have run wild, as she grinned from ear to ear. “You guys have ninjas?! And you trained as one?! I’m so jealous!”

“Kid me would’ve been jealous too, but it’s not as fancy as shows and movies make it seem. And you don’t get any fancy special techniques out of it, either, you mostly just learn how to use a bunch of tools, some martial arts and how to sneak around really well. Which frankly can get you really far - I’ve worked with proper Shadow Climbers, and those guys can scale smooth walls and ceilings and show up without a friggin’ sound. It’s uncanny how good they are,” Tharen said, as he finished assembling the gun and inspecting his handiwork.

“Aw, no hand signs or trick logs or fancy spells? Phooey,” Florrie pouted.

“I don’t blame Florrie’s imagination for running wild, though,” Natalia chuckled.

“Of course you can’t, we know actual wizards for Christ’s sake! Can you blame me for thinking alien ninjas had something fancy up their sleeves?”

Tharen chuckled, putting the gun aside as he reached for the next one. “Would be nice, but I ain’t that proficient with magic. I just know enough to get by. If you really want some fancy alien magic, you’d have to ask the Librarians.”

Natalia frowned, “except they’re in orbit helping keep the bad aliens from invading the planet, so it’s not like we can do that… We also don’t know much about them, either.”

“Allow me to elucidate you, then,” Gartho said as he continued to inspect and tinker. “Miama, as we’ve stated, are from the living planet, ‘Akasha’. That’s not its original name, that’s what you humans like to call it, as it is the closest thing to the ‘Akashic Records’ spoken of in eastern cultures that is known to exist. It is billions of years old, and has decided that its purpose is to be a repository of all information in the universe within its reach. The Miama are not native to it - they had their own planet and star system, but said planet fell out of its star’s orbit, and started drifting towards it, moving towards conditions that would’ve made it utterly uninhabitable. The Miama, not a spacefaring species at the time, were helpless until Akasha took pity upon them, rescuing the planet’s life forms. The Miama, grateful to their saviour, agreed to be the planet’s emissaries and gatherers of information. To that end, the vast majority of Miama are directly linked to Akasha, and have immortality through reincarnation.”

Natalia blinked. “So Miama are reborn on Akasha every time they die?”

“With most of their memories and their original personality intact, yes. There are some Miama that are truly ancient,” Gartho said.

“That’s… All kinds of mind-blowing.”

“Indeed. Many of them also revere Akasha, some like a deity, though officially the planet isn’t keen on being considered as such, but it doesn’t really discourage the practice, either, as long as its ‘worshippers’ continue to serve it productively. Akasha, to put it lightly, it a glorious sight to behold. You should see it someday.”

NIA spoke up, “we’re receiving a communication request from the Miama starship Solar Wave.”

Gartho held up a finger to his temple. It seems he got the message as well. He set up a holographic projector a couple of meters away from them. “That would be the Librarians. Seems they’ve got a bit of time to spare to communicate with us. Very well, open the channel.”

Appearing as holograms were indeed Vol’Dathar and Sal’Arzia, and it seemed they were very much communicating live this time. Vol spoke first. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s good to see you alive and very much well. Thank you, Agent, Captain, your daily reports have been satisfactory.”

“Thank you, sir,” Tharen saluted. “We’ve been doing our best down here.”

“And you’ve got Miss Kendrick and Miss Ashworth with you as well. Marvellous,” Sal giggled. “It’s so good to meet you two, even if it’s not in person.”

“Uh… Likewise!” Natalia said, if a little bit nervously. These were such important people, after all.

“Yeah, we’ve only seen you in that holographic recording! Being able to communicate like this is absolutely incredible!” Florrie grinned.

“Yes, ain’t it just?” Sal said. “You’ve been doing quite well for yourself, even without formal training, Natalia. Well done so far. I knew we made the right choice to arm you with the tools you needed to keep the evil threatening your town at bay.”

“How’s the defence going? Since the Salvron haven’t busted through the shield, I’m guessing things are going decently enough,” Tharen said.

“Oh yes!” Sal said, “Thanks to early assistance from the local garrisons, we’ve been able to hold off the Salvron offensive has largely stalled. They clearly weren’t expecting us.”

“Of course, now that the pressure from the Salvron attack is waning due to further GDF reinforcements, we have a bit of breathing room to send you more aid, along with further supplies,” said Vo. “Unfortunately we can’t supply you with another suit like we made for Natalia, but what we do send will hopefully allow for Miss Ashworth to provide support if necessary.”

“Not for a lack of trying, mind you, but with the invasion underway, supplies for manufacturing custom items are limited,” Sal sighed.

“Honestly I’ll take what I can get at this point,” said Florrie.

“Once the supplies are ready we’ll also be sending down someone to provide additional manpower for the time being,” Vol said. “Phi’Scia?”

“O-Oh!” Coming into the holographic view, was another Miaman - nearly two meters tall, blue eyes, purple scales, orange head-fathers, and had a notably voluptuous and shapely figure, though she looked less outright mature than Sal. “Uh, nice to meet you! Magister Phi’Scia Nalulini, reporting for duty!”

Natalia had no knowledge of Miaman physiology, but this female looked and sounded no older than her. And yet she was apparently a ‘Magister’, and keeping in mind that Miamans reincarnated, she was probably much older than she looked. Also, she was very cute and rather sexy… Which was not something Natalia ever thought she’d be thinking about regarding an actual reptilian person in real life.

“She seems a bit on the young side, but that can be deceptive, Archmage,” said Gartho.

“She isn’t as old as you’d think, she’s a ‘newborn’, but she is still sixty-two years old,” Vol said.

The stated age blindsided Natalia. She was sixty-two years old without having reincarnated and yet she still looked so young?! “Um, any help is good, though! It’ll be nice to have you on the team, Magister, especially since we have two more mages around.”

“Yes, I’ve already read the reports and seen the recordings send by your NIAs. Honestly I can’t wait to touch down planetside, Earth is just so interesting!” Phi’Scia said, her nervousness giving way to some giddiness. Natalia could sympathise with the idea of immersing herself on a planet likely very few Miamans had touched down upon.

“Excellent, we look forward to her arrival. Anything else you’d like to let us know, sir and madam?” Gartho said.

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Vol looked to Sal, who nodded back to him. Vol cleared his throat. “Based on our analysis of your encounters with the ‘Tenebris Imperatoris’, we have a couple of notable conclusions. Firstly, we believe the enemy is a supernatural entity colluding with a human host, and that being is capable of creating duplicates of both its host and those captured in cocoons, though I suspect the total number of doppelgangers and the amount that can be produced is limited by the entity’s current level of power and potentially other factors.”

“So the host is probably someone who lives in town… And he seems kinda young, too,” Natalia said. Her eyes widened. “Oh God, he might be a student from the university.”

“Oh, joy, I don’t want be paranoid about who might be the Emperor while I’m walking around campus,” Florrie groaned.

“Unfortunately we simply don’t have enough data to potentially narrow down the identity of your nemesis, the only real fact we have is that he is very likely male,” said Sal. “Yes, I know, not particularly helpful, but we need more information to go on if we want headway into unmasking him. For now, keep a look out, and try to locate his lair if you can. He has to be keeping the cocoons somewhere, after all.”

“Yes, ma’am. We’ll do our best,” said Natalia.

“That should be all for the time being. Farewell for now, and good luck,” Vol said.

Sal waved with a smile. “Good luck, darlings!”

“See you folks soon, hopefully!” Sci nodded.

The line then cut out, and Gartho recovered the projector.

Natalia then had a thought. “Oh, how did the Salvron know about Earth, anyway?”

“Same way the rest of the galaxy found out about Earth - broadcast TV and radio,” Tharen smirked.

“Of course aliens are committing cable TV piracy,” Florrie groaned.

“Thankfully Earth’s coordinates were a secret up until now, but when the Salvron discovered Earth’s signals via their scouting parties, they started searching for it themselves,” Gartho said. “We’ve had to blockade further signals to prevent them from narrowing it down more easily. And when Earth was first located by the GDF, the Voyager probes were also captured and their signals spoofed.”

“Those probes were meant to be found by alien life, just… Probably not so soon,” Florrie said.

“Alright, ladies, back to work,” said Tharen.

As they went back to working on maintenance, Natalia reflected on what she now knew… And what she might not know about the universe at large.

❖

Natalia and Florrie had moved to the living room once the maintenance work was done, since Florrie was going to head on home fairly soon.

“I can’t wait for Phi to arrive! She’s gonna be fun to talk to and we’re gonna get more cool toys to play with!” Florrie grinned, pacing around the living room. “Nevermind the extra help for taking out the bad guys.”

“Florrie, you’re talking like this is some kind of game or show. How are you not nervous about what’s gonna happen next, especially if you decide to get involved?” Natalia asked, sitting on the couch. “I’m worried you’ll get hurt, or worse.”

That caused Florrie to stop in her tracks. Her blank expression was a dead ringer for when she was processing her thoughts. She took a deep breath, and turned towards Natalia, with a wide smile. “Of course I’m fucking terrified!”

“YOU SURE DON’T LOOK LIKE YOU ARE?!”

“Yeah, I know,” Florrie said, coming over to the table. “Maybe I’m an idiot who can push aside my fear, but I guess I’ve never been afraid of taking risks. Well, calculated risks. I’m not that much of an idiot.”

“Well, people can be smart in some ways and dumb in other ways…”

“That’s beside the point,” Florrie said as she leaned against the table, gripping the edge with both hands, “I’m not just gonna jump into a dangerous situation without a plan, Nat, you know that.”

“But you never know what’s going to happen,” Natalia said.

Florrie walked over towards the nearest window, looking towards the horizon. “Well, that’s the thing. I don’t fear the unknown. The unknown to me is exciting. Who knows what might be lurking around unexplored corners? That’s why I’m so excited to get involved in all of this, because, well, maybe after this I’ll have the chance to explore the universe. The knowledge that alien life is real? That there’s definitely way, way more than just balls of burning gas and barren rocks to see? I want to see as much of the universe as I can before I die.”

Natalia smiled. This wasn’t exactly something she expected - Florrie never talked much about the idea of being some kind of space explorer - but it was a pleasant one nonetheless. “Didn’t fancy you for an explorer, Florrie.”

“It’s an old dream of mine from when I was a kid. I wanted to be an astronaut and stuff. Realised I probably didn’t have the constitution and fitness for it, and the chances of me being able to go to, say, Mars was slim at best,” said Florrie. “Don’t get me wrong, I love developing tech, too. But now that the aliens are here and we have access to spaceships capable of faster-than-light travel? I feel like that little girl playing with shuttle toys and astronaut figures again.”

Natalia got up and walked over to the window, looking out to the evening’s sky. “Sounds like you’re willing to fight for that dream.”

“Willing? I’ll fight for it tooth and nail if I have to,” said Florrie. “Even if it means risking my life, I’ll fight for everyone’s chance to be able to see the universe, including my own. Don’t worry about me, Nat. This is my choice, and I’ll take full responsibility for it.”

Natalia’s smile grew wider. She was happy for and proud of her best friend’s resolve. It made her feel stronger, too - she wanted to see Florrie see the stars as well. “Thanks, Florrie. I feel way more at ease, now.”

“Well, someone’s gotta do it, you big worrywart,” Florrie grinned.

Natalia smirked. “’Big’, huh? Must be nice having an optimal view of the night’s sky through the window from your short stature.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Florrie laughed, “better than having limited field of vision thanks to those massive tits.”

“You say that but you were over the moon when Tharen made your boobs bigger with magic before we had sex.”

“Yeah but that was temporary!”

“Also now that I think about it I’ve never had a problem with peripheral vision. In fact now that I’m conscious of it, I can literally see through my boobs, it’s kinda weird,” Natalia said. “In fact, they’ve also always felt really flexible, too…”

Florrie’s eye twitched. “Magic boobs. Of course. I am so, so jealous of you right now.”

“I didn’t choose to have these, you know?!” Natalia said defensively.

“Still jealous!” Florrie groaned. “Makes me want to ask Tharen to make my next expansion permanent.”

“I think that’s a bad idea, Florrie…”

“Yeah, probably is,” said Florrie. “Next time we’re having fun in private I’m gonna really fondle those babies, though.”

Natalia laughed sheepishly. She had a bit of a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship with Florrie, testing out sex toys with her often resulted in more intimate interactions. Natalia really didn’t mind Florrie getting handsy like that, but considering what she had discovered about herself recently, she had some ideas as to perhaps why that was the case. “Maybe some other time.”

“Yeah, fair enough. I gotta get going,” Florrie chuckled, as she started heading out the front door with her bag, “later!”

“Seeya,” said Natalia with a wave, before the door closed. Maybe she should talk to one of the mages about how much magic was really affecting her breasts…

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