Chapter Thirty- Two
Aphrodite stepped off the vessel behind Xexis, hugging Buddy to her chest as they walked through a silent hangar.
Despite the ships landing around them and the crowd of people returning to Dnom station, it was a hollow sound.
There was a white flag hung from a pole near the entrance.
Its fabric flicked and danced as pearly flames engulfed it.
People stopped at the flag and bowed to it before passing into the station.
Xexis also honored it with a bow before he strode through the entryway.
People paused in their movements to part a path through the sea of people to the main elevator.
Reevar stepped up beside Aphrodite, frozen by the pole.
Quagmor bowed as well before following Xexis, starting a hushed conversation with the Kannatch.
Aphrodite glanced at Reevar, finding the aching pain reflected on his face. He spared her a wounded smile. “It is in honor of your station.”
“Why?” She shuddered, looking up at the chrome pole to the flag that slapped back and forth. The flames did nothing to warm the chill of the hangar. Artificial wind was pumped behind the flag to keep it moving. She could feel the breeze as it trickled down the pole and brushed across the pair.
“We honor all those who are lost.” He put a palm to her shoulder and squeezed. “It does not happen often, but when we lose beings to travesty, they raise the flag. On the home world, they burn a pyre in your people’s honor.”
She tried not to let the wash of angry pain take over again.
Instead, she took ahold of his hand and squeezed it back.
With another rattled breath, she pivoted toward the elevator.
Reevar walked at her side as they headed through the parted sea of people.
Xexis and Quagmor spoke near the door, the conversation so low that it couldn’t even float down the silent hall.
“When did you hear?” She avoided the watchful eyes, directing her attention at the hunter.
“Xexis told me when you broke the news to Vivian. Before you two arrived, I was in the medical bay, trying to convince Vivian that I did not need bandages for my healed flesh.” His pincers curled inward as he hung his head. “I should have held her while she sobbed. It was…painful.”
“To not hold her?” Aphrodite teased weakly.
“To be unable to console her.” Reevar wrapped his arms around his stomach.
Aphrodite placed a tender hand to his bicep.
“Her siblings were on that station, she spoke of them last night. I kept asking her questions to keep her by my side to the point she was forced to eat dinner at my side. When Xexis told me the station crashed into Orvian, I knew which one it was.”
Aphrodite fell quiet. Right, Vivian was never close with them, but almost everyone had someone on that station.
Reevar spoke again, “Was your family on that station?”
“No,” she croaked. “My parents are retired technician, they’re on the research station, Dauntless3.
I honestly…haven’t even thought of them since before I left on the scout mission.
We’re not really close. They’re too independent and after I was old enough to maintain myself, they just started doing their own thing. ”
I should call them, tell them I’m alright…but there was so much to say. Hey mom and dad, by the way, I’m mated to a prince of the Vroz, and like, I may have started some sort of cataclysmic event with the humans?
She stopped at the elevator, ignoring those around her as the doors slid open.
If my crew hadn’t died, would the pests have even found their way back to the station?
Aphrodite winced, reminding herself to stop trying to hurt her own feelings.
There was nothing she could do about the past. She needed to focus on the future.
Find the pests, destroy their access to humans, and ensure no one else gets hurt.
“Reevar,” she crossed her arms, “do the Vroz ever wipe out an entire species?”
“We’ve had to do so once in the past. If the beings are beyond reason and beyond restraint, then yes.
But that does not happen often. Most beings realize their boundaries and stick to them.
Most hunts are about an individual creature that is either lost, or diseased, or hungry and unable to be stopped. ” He eyed her.
“I fear, this may be one of those times.”
The four stepped inside, leaving the sea of observers behind.
As the door shut, she realized the ominous cloud hung over them.
Fuck, change the subject. The thin string that their hope was dangling from was growing thinner.
With a nervous laugh, she poked Reevar. “But, uh, you know, let’s talk about your soon to be mate, huh? ”
“Oh yes!” Quagmor cheered, pumping his fists.
“Have you told her yet?” Aphrodite raised a brow.
“Not yet…” Reevar flushed a deep forest green.
“But you will tell her, correct?” Aphrodite narrowed her eyes on him.
“Of course, I wish to do it in the human tradition of bending the knee and producing a shiny rock. I have some gramstonia I was considering putting it in a pretty box.” He beamed, chest out and proud.
“Isn’t gramstonia explosive?” Quagmor squinted at Reevar
“But it’s still shiny!” Reevar wagged a finger.
“And unlike my mate, your mate does not play with wires or explosives on the regular, it should be fine.” Xexis nodded, folding his arms over his chest. “Oh! Or you could bring her the heart of her enemy. As she is a healer, she is a lover of anatomy and flesh.”
“OH! Yes! In a crystal jar with her name engraved on it!” Reevar gasped, whipping to face Aphrodite. “Say, Mphronatch, whom does Vivian have a rivalry with? Is there a beast she wishes vanquished?”
Aphrodite stared at all of them baffled. “You’re joking.”
“Hmm, she has a point.” Quagmor straightened his pincers with a hum of disapproval. “The heart or rock might be too aggressive. We should consider something more restrained. You could sneak into her quarters at the Council with a bush of flora from the homeworld and await her.”
“Or you could proclaim yourself to her in the medical bay, maybe you get stabbed again and she must attend to your wounds,” Xexis suggested with a wiggle of his pincers.
Aphrodite’s jaw hung open like a creaking door. “So, the choices are getting stabbed or breaking into her room?”
“What would you suggest?” All three Vroz stared at her.
“Zhat muq brotesqu, maybe just bring her one single flower to the medical bay when she’s not busy and just talk to her first. Start simple, like ask her to get dinner with you or something.
Cheese and crackers, now I see how you came up with a haunted ship to lure me into my hunt. ” She shook her head with disbelief.
“Hmm, my mate has a point—humans appreciate simplicity and upfrontness.” Xexis nodded his head enthusiastically.
“Then, when she’s agreed to the hunt, we get her a jar with the heart of her enemy in it!
” Reevar punched a fist into the opposite palm.
The doors to the elevator hissed open behind them.
Aphrodite, awestruck and a little dumbfounded, left the boys to their plotting.
May the stars have mercy on you, Vivian.
She had a drone to upgrade and answers to find.
Yet, she couldn’t help smiling as she peaked at her data pad.
There was already a message alert on her screen.
Vivian sent her an email, asking if they could hologram call later.
Aphrodite responded immediately, desiring a chance to return to the way they were in college. Vivian responded within seconds.
I just want to talk to another person who doesn’t pity me, all my coworkers keep staring at me like I'm some wounded sheep or something. Plus, I miss you. Seeing you the other day made me realize how isolated I’ve become.
Aphrodite understood that completely. She was halfway to a response when a hand slipped across her lower back. “My mate?”
She found Xexis looming, observing her. His gaze flickered to Buddy then to her again. “You wish to continue upgrades.”
“You’ve got stuff you’ve got to handle. And I really need to get him fully functional if we’re going to help stop this.
I want to give him better functionality, and if possible, a few weapons upgrades, and I could use some armor.
I’m really not a fan of getting punched or stabbed so… ” She trailed off with a sigh.
He nodded with a grimace that summed up how she felt about it, pulling out his data pad. “I agree, I am also not a fan of you getting punched or stabbed.”
A familiar face popped up on the screen over call. Rexna beamed from their side of the call. “Kannatch! An honor!”
“Can you come to the great hall, I need you to help set up the Mphronatch in the technician bay. She has upgrades to do.”
“I would be thrilled! Yes! I shall be there!” The call ended abruptly. Aphrodite chuckled. She liked Rexna, their enthusiasm was infectious. Pushing up on her toes, she pressed a kiss to Xexis’ cheek again and squeezed his bicep affectionately.
“Thank you, Xexis.”
He sighed, “I will be stuck with the hunters, there is much to be done.” Xexis put their data pads together and she watched the connection symbol light up.
A map was downloaded onto her device along with a contact.
“Quagmor will likely be the one to fetch you for the meal. I apologize we will be apart most of the day…but you may contact me or come see me.”
Aphrodite allowed him to walk away, Reevar on his heel.
She watched from her new space on the wall as her Mate disappeared into a newly forming crowd.
The sea of hunters followed him through an archway.
Quagmor settled beside her, hugging his own data pad to his chest. Aphrodite gave him a weak smile but their conversation died on each of their tongues. .
After she finished her email to Vivian, she felt Rexna’s enthusiasm in the air before hearing their delightful voice bouncing off the walls. Rexna bellowed from an archway across the great hall. “My Mphronatch!”
She grinned, peeling away from the wall. Rexna flounced through the massive room and skidded to a stop before her. Aphrodite offered a hand that Rexna shook vigorously. “Hello Rexna, it’s so good to see you again.”
“And it’s about to be gooder! Off to the lab!” Rexna proclaimed, pumping their hands into the air. Aphrodite followed the bouncing engineer through the halls and deep into the belly of the station.
In the few hours it took to tour the entire science lab, Aphrodite managed to shake the heartache.
For the moment, at least. From biological research to engineering, Rexna showed Aphrodite everything.
She wanted to dive headfirst into upgrades for Buddy, but every time she opened her mouth to ask to end the tour, the words dried up.
The idea of being left alone? With my thoughts?
No thanks. It was easier to let Rexna wind her through crowds of researchers wanting the ear of the Mphronatch than to face reality—her space station was gone.
She might have gotten thousands of people killed.
Ouch, okay, stop that.
Aphrodite finally sat at a lab table, out of the eyes and ears of the other engineers and stared at her data pad.
The box of tools and other items she’d collected were already organized on her desk.
Head propped up in her palms, she stared at the screen like it would tell her the secrets.
Like it would tell me this was all a horrid nightmare.
Emotions washed over her again, mercilessly.
She wanted to ignore them, but they weighed on her like stones dragging her below water.
Drowning in her own mind, Aphrodite didn’t feel Buddy tap her arm.
It wasn’t until his text appeared on the screen that she even realized he’d been trying to get her attention. Aphrodite blinked away the fog of despair. “Sorry, Buddy, I’m trying.”
What upgrades should we start on first?
Aphrodite picked up the pile of pieces across from her. Where to even begin? With a sigh, she pulled up the applications on her data pad and spread them across the screen. “Let’s start with the new software, then we’ll move onto more aggressive upgrades.”
Which meant she sat there, for another few hours, plugging Buddy into her data pad and upgrading his drivers.
While he was updating one application, she worked on another microchip full of other codes.
He sat on the desk, happily tapping his metal tentacles against the surface.
At least the monotonous work of upgrading software kept her mind busy with numbers and commands.
If she was too focused on Buddy’s needs, then she couldn’t remember she’d doomed her entire species.
She ended up yawning hard enough to crack her jaw before Quagmor came for her.
He slid into the space next to her sheepishly.
Aphrodite held up a finger for him to hold on before cleaning up her station.
Buddy finished uploading and disconnected himself.
She strapped her data pad to her arm and followed Quagmor through the halls.
When they entered the mess hall, Xexis wasn’t at the table.
“The Kannatch is with the Korzavic, he will miss this meal.” Quagmor spared her an apologetic look as he dropped her off at the table with Reevar and the pack.
“That’s okay, I figured he’d be busy.” She sank into the seat beside Reevar with a sigh.
Quagmor bowed to her respectfully before leaving on the arm of a purple person with a cute, tiny rhino horn for a nose and scales along their arms. Aphrodite watched them speak softly to each other before sharing a forehead touch.
They sat by themselves, never letting go of the other. Quagmor’s mate.
“Mphronatch?”
She twisted to face Kiefgr. He extended a hand to her. She took it and softly shook his hand. He cupped her palm tenderly. “Our hearts bleed with you.”
“Thanks, Kiefgr,” she whispered, squeezing his touch affectionately before she let go.
“Are you busy, my Mphronatch, with upgrades? Or shall we, after we eat, walk the station?” Reevar suggested.
“Walking angrily helps with sadness,” Grooug contributed with a sharp nod to her. She spared him a sweet look, accepting the hand he offered. They shook hands before he squeezed her palm like he saw her do to Kiefgr.
If I’m not careful, I might actually change the meaning of handshakes for an entire species of people…oh no.
“Walking angrily sounds good.” She exhaled a heavy breath before the group dug into the food on their plates. The fruit was heavy in her hands as she fought to keep her mind in the moment. Don’t drift…because the minute you do…that will be the minute you die inside.