"Yeah I understand that, but the rooms aren't quite big enough for you on the accommodation level," he laughed, "I don't know what to suggest."
"I have no objections to the hold," she replied quickly, "It's being locked in that frustrates me."
"Well that's an easy problem to solve, when we are in orbit you will be free to come and go as you wish, all I ask is that before you leave you log it with the duty officer. Don't feel restricted," he chuckled, "I can't treat you any differently than any other member of the crew, they all have to report before they can disembark, standard procedure."
Salyna considered the offer for a moment, "You really consider me a member of your crew?"
"I do, and much more."
Salyna purred contentedly, "I can report before I leave." she chuckled.
***
"Progress report" Maulik signalled Relik on the bridge as they entered Hold 32.
"On schedule," he replied, "No major problems while you have been away, only a drone malfunction and we lost the transporter banks on Collector 15 for a short while, routine stuff, nothing out of the ordinary."
"Have you captured a breeding herd yet?"
"They are in Hold 33 acclimatising, take a look while you're down there."
Maulik left Salyna compiling her data ready for transmission and strolled to the observation room that overlooked Hold 33, the desk officer saluted smartly as he entered.
"Excuse me Master, but are you alright?" the officer questioned with concern and at that moment Maulik understood he must look a mess dotted with burns and blisters.
"I'm fine, it was an eventful trip," he grinned, "How are the L6's adjusting?"
"It's strange, they seemed completely lost and confused the first day, but since we increased the oxygen they appear to be settling in very well."
Maulik walked to the wide window and stared down at the milling masses, "How many did we get?" the hold looked cramped and full.
"Twenty thousand," replied the duty officer, "I know you specified only ten thousand but the scans revealed that they varied slightly from continent to continent, not a huge variation but significant, we used our judgement Master, it seemed to make sense to preserve samples of every variation."
Maulik smiled, "You did right, good job, how many losses so far?"
"They appear to be very tough, only minimal losses, and that was only because a group attacked the science officers when they entered to take samples."
"And their foodstuff?"
"They are omnivores, they eat everything offered so far, we have stored some of the indigenous L3's and L4's for their consumption on the trip back, and taken on millions of litres of water, they actually drink it." he added with disgust, Maulik rubbed his hands absent mindedly,
"I've seen enough water to last me a lifetime." he whispered.
"They look very similar to the Watu from up here," Maulik joked, "Maybe a little taller, and much less hair, but very similar, they could almost be distant cousins." instantly he regretted the thought, if what Go'an had told him about multiple planets being seeded with the same genetic building blocks the moral consequences could be far reaching.
"This is a different system to ours." he convinced himself, yet the similarity lingered in his mind, "No, were not related." he laughed weakly to himself.
***
"You won't have heard the news," chatted Relik over the day meal, he had been following news events fervently.
"So tell me," replied Maulik as he placed his fingers on the fresh meat and savoured the different but exquisite flavour, quite unlike anything else he had ever tasted before,
"It's very exciting, we've joined a Federation, the news came in this morning, just imagine, an alliance between us, the Watu, the Su'al and some race called the Diurian's, I think that's what they're called, who would have believed it, us and the Watu working together, when Go'an was on-board I never believed we would ever join with them."
"That's what the invasion was all about." replied Maulik dreamily as he continued to savour the meat.
"Yeah, well here is something you don't know, Go'an survived the assassination attempt."
"What attempt?" Maulik lifted his fingers and paid close attention.
"His private transport was hit by missiles, a terrorist attack, Na'ta his brother died instantly and the rumour started that Go'an was dead too, then suddenly there he is, large as life dressed in some kind of exoskeleton."
"That would explain the lack of contact." realised Maulik, his head had been silent for so long he was beginning to forget about Go'an's constant prying, and the exoskeleton could only be from one source, but how had the Diurians arrived on Watuma so quickly?
"It seems the Kressa are not the only secret about to be revealed." he thought.
"Yeah, that's what caused the attempt, so it's rumoured," added Relik, "Since the Kressa wiped out half of the Su'al population everyone is saying the missile was fired in retaliation."
"What do you mean? The Kressa attacked the Su'al?"
"Not just the fighters, they took out the support ships, females and hatchlings, everyone, I know that Kressa of yours is pretty amazing, but you have to be careful Master, they spare nothing."
"Are you listening to this?" he signalled Salyna on a private link.
"I don't believe it," she stated with passion, "You know what I'm like Maulik, when I'm aroused I need to hunt and kill, but not the defenceless, there has to be a mistake."
"Or different programming." added Maulik.
"That's also possible, it has to be something like that, we wouldn't attack prey that couldn't fight back, our safety protocols wouldn't permit such actions."
"It's a mystery" acknowledged Maulik.
"A mystery I need to get to the bottom of." she growled and severed the link.
"When will the harvest be complete?" Maulik returned to safer ground.
"Tomorrow." replied the lieutenant as he slipped a dripping strip of tender flesh into his digestive pouch and sighed.
"The northern half of the continent was more infested than we projected initially, but by this time tomorrow every single one of the L6's will have been cleared, there are just some small isolated pockets left now in the far north."
"And the southern continent?"
"Clear," Relik replied, "It didn't take very long, there wasn't the density."
"Harvesters 12 and 16 arrive in a few weeks, we transmitted the data so they are already re-configuring their collectors, within the next couple of months the planet will be clear of the infestation."
Maulik replaced his fingers on the meat, "This is amazing," he sighed, "Do we know what it's called?"
Relik picked up his small data tablet and tapped the screen,
"Yeah, they had some form of rudimentary archive system, let me just check what they called themselves... here we go." he smiled as the information flashed up.
"They called themselves...
Human."
End of Part 1
And so ends the introduction to the Rise of the Kressa Trilogy.
With the galaxy facing the ultimate threat as the Reapers return, a continued battle of wills takes place between the four reluctant allies and throughout the continuation the double dealing and deceit intensifies as hidden agendas are revealed, but all differences must be put aside to deal with the more urgent Drakan invasion plans revealed by Salyna.
Watch out for part one of The Rise of the Kressa, due out soon.
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