060: Trust In Skill – Two
The ornate, arched bridge of the Pelekys, Queen Kaizoku sat on her throne, jaw clenched tight as she stared ahead. Leaning against the side of it, more heavily than she normally would, was Chancellor Bathory, her colour closer to normal after both her undercover operation and near fatal injury. Like Kaizoku, the expression she wore was one of apprehension.
Taking a steadying breath before she turned, Kaizoku asked, "And you can confirm the veracity of this information?"
Of to the side Madame Augury swayed slightly before she nodded. "Yes, my Queen… our next Storlayacas… is there."
She pointed at the main view screen of the bridge, which was dominated by a stellar map showing a star system with a very extensive asteroid field, as well as a few decimated rocky planets that had clearly fallen victim to the debris that was choking the system. The map then pulled back to show where it was located on the greater galactic scale of things.
Right in the middle of the Bernetigan Collective's territory.
Seated at the gunner station to the right of where General Grim was sat at the helm, the Queen's Red Left Hand said, "Going undercover here would be an easier, but more permanent arrangement than any of us want."
"Be that as it may, go here we must," Kaizoku said as she straightened in her throne, "We are close to retrieving our last Storlayacas unit, we cannot stop now."
Typing something up against her console, Grim pulled back the galaxy map further, showing their position near the territory of the Meleten Empire.
"The Bernetigan are able to detect when gaps from subspace are opened within their territory, and would have us overwhelmed well before we could complete our goals. Travelling at speed through normal space, in conjunction with the Pelekys' stealth systems, are how we can remain undetected."
Another tap against the console and a flight path was charted, with them dipping into the maelstrom of the galactic core before exiting out in a straight shot to their destination.
Kaizoku let out a hum of approval as she said, "Use the gravity well of the core to hurl us out at a greater speed than we could achieve with our own engines alone. Clever. That would certainly cut down on the time we would have to remain in that territory."
"Getting out, thankfully, will be easier than getting in." Grim swivelled her seat to face the others, "They won't be able to track us once we enter subspace. So as long as we can make a break for it without them following us through the tear we make when we jump, we'll be fine."
"How long will that journey take?" Bathory asked her.
"Barring any encounters with anything that could slow our trajectory, nearly eight Galactic Standard Days, so almost a week." Grim said.
"Then we had best prepare for the journey," Kaizoku said as she rose from her throne, "We'll be on our own once we exit the core."
Getting the diffuser installed into their engines ended up being a less involved procedure than Malakh had feared, especially with the teams of experts they had available on the Quanvengier to do the bulk of the heavy lifting. As such, it allowed her time enough to get the mech training sim chambers they'd talked about installed in their cargo hold, with plenty of time left over to do the thing that had been occupying her thoughts with more urgency than even the threat of the Bernetigan.
She found Rhea in the hydroponics bay, the fresh smell of growing things a balm to the metallic heat of the installations she's been overseeing for half the day. Rhea turned when she heard the door open, her eyes - blessedly fully back to brown - crinkling with the force of the smile spreading across her face.
"Hey. Didn't think I'd be seeing you until closer to dinner." Rhea said, mister in hand as she watered the assortment of plants before her.
"It's amazing how much time a team of professionals can save you," Malakh said, heart in her throat, so overwhelmed by her own feelings that she nodded to the plants distractedly as she asked, "How are those coming along?"
"Really well," Rhea told her, turning back around to finish what she'd been in the middle of, "Some of them are going to be big enough that we can start harvesting them for fresh herbs, and I am very looking forward to that! These ones over here…"
Any other day, Malakh would have been happy to listen to Rhea go off about the plants for as long as she wanted to talk, but with the weight of the box in her hands, she could barely focus. Instead, she pried it open as quietly as she could and waited for Rhea to turn around.
"…And it's long been used as a recreational drug on my world, but to be honest? It stinks, and I do not want that funk getting all over my basil!" Rhea said as she turned around, right hand placed just so over her heart, while her left was held forward holding something out to Malakh.
Or rather, where Malakh had been, because now she was down on one knee, holding up an open ring box up to Rhea.
Malakh found herself stunned into silence, because after her hasty researching into what a human proposal entailed, she never expected Rhea to hit her with a deorviran one.
"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Rhea laughed, her smile growing even wider as her eyes filled with tears, "I go through all the effort to learn how to do it your way while you were learning how to do it mine?!"
"Seems that way." Malakh laughed, her own eyes tear bright as she stood, catching sight of the golden vedja pendant in Rhea's open palm.
A very familiar style vedja pendant.
Careful not to drop the ring, Malakh pulled a different jewellery box out of her jacket, sliding it open to reveal the coppery orange vedja necklace she'd had commissioned herself. Aside from the colour of the metal and stones, the two necklaces were identical.
"Oh well if we're doing that." Rhea said as she pulled out a ring box of her own, a band to match the necklace, "And let me guess, you went to Aefre's too?"
"We really are bonded, aren't we?" Malakh asked with a laugh, rhetorical given the proof they held in their hands.
"That's embarrassing." Rhea agreed, sounding thrilled.
Smiling up at her, eyes bright, Malakh said, "The vedja bond is something no one can deny us, but unless someone's got the senses and sense to pick it up, it's invisible. And after I almost lost you because of the Briddbragnan… I know it's just symbolic, but I wanted something visible to prove I'm yours."
"I was so tempted to get a tattoo relating to you - I honestly still might - but yeah, I wanted physical proof of our bond too." Rhea admitted.
She opened her mouth to say more, but she shut it immediately, biting her lip to hold back a smile.
"What?" Malakh asked, not bothering to hide a smile of her own.
"So I know we're technically already married, that the paperwork Pryseia pushed through has been recognized by the Kith and that they've disseminated that to the other governments and whatever out there so that no one can legally deny our marital status, but I also kinda still wanna have a proper wedding ceremony with you." Rhea admitted.
"Of course," Malakh agreed without hesitation, "Do you want a human one? Deorviran?"
"What about both?" When Malakh gave her a confused look, Rhea continued, "I was looking into it, and the Quanvengier is a real multicultural hub. They have officiants from all over the galaxy, so we'd be able to find the people we'd need to get this done."
Malakh couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her as she said, "I would honestly be happy to marry you a million different times, by a million different people."
"Careful," Rhea said, hooking a finger under Malakh's chin to tilt her head up enough to kiss her, "I might just take you up on that offer."
Once Rhea and Malakh explained their plan to the rest of the crew, it took very little time for the six of them (Viatrix accompanying them in one of her drones) to find the officiants they needed.
The human ceremony was not what Malakh had expected. In an ornate church that reminded her strikingly of the design choice they'd gone with for their Kith personas, the priestess had recited prayers to bless their rings before the marriage, calling on Pryseia as the captain of their vessel to exchange their rings thrice before placing them on Malakh and Rhea's fingers herself. They were then given candles to hold and crowns to wear, symbolic of their commitment to one another, while their hands were joined and more blessings bestowed. The sharing of wine from the same cup followed by the pair of them being taken on a brief turn around the altar the ceremony was held before, followed by more prayers and a symbolic gesture to imply that nothing short of divine intervention could separate their bond. Malakh had followed along flawlessly, but she would be hard pressed to recall everything that was said, as every fibre of her being had been intently focused on Rhea.
The deorviran ceremony ended up being far more theatrical than Rhea had expected. Within an amphitheatre inside the marble bright temple, she and Malakh knelt facing each other in the very centre of the stage, while the abbess called out to the assembled crowd in the seats, challenging them to come up with reasons why the pair on display couldn't be joined. Dozens of people, and not just deorvirans, were all but getting into fistfights as they shouted arguments against the pair of them, each more hyperbolic and absurd than the last, and every argument was countered by the abbess pointing out the vedja bond between Malakh and Rhea, and then proceeded to insult the intelligence of those arguing against them in increasingly aggressive ways. After reaching a threshold when it came to the arguments she was hearing, the abbess called upon the spirits of the ancestors of those detractors gathered to beseech their aid in getting the crowd to either come to their senses or shut them up, as the vedja bond was a thing that could not be denied by anyone, living or dead. With the crowd tamed, Rhea and Malakh were bid to stand, and then they sealed their necklaces on one another. Symbolic of the actual vedja bond, these necklaces were clasp-less, cinched together with a special tool so that they'd be loose enough to not hinder in any way, but not so loose as they could be removed. Rhea had recited every passage and prayer she was prompted to, but her focus was so intent on Malakh that none of what she said she was able to memorize.
Both ceremonies took an instant, an eternity, and even though she'd had only a single sip of wine, Malakh felt like she'd downed an entire bottle as they stood there in the golden light of one of the Quanvengier's thoroughfares while they waited for a public transportation shuttle to take them to the Pelekys.
"We're really, really married now!" She laughed, turning so she could hold Rhea's right hand in her own, their wedding rings chiming together.
"We really, really are." Rhea said as she squeezed Malakh's hand, eyes as bright as her smile, "And not to spoil the mood, but I'm also really, really hungry."
"Blessedly our chariot has arrived, and a reservation awaits us." Pryseia announced as a sleek, private shuttle pulled up in front of them, the door swinging open once it came to a stop.
"What are you talking about?" Malakh asked as Nevara ushered the newlyweds inside ahead of her.
"With the both of you secretly getting wedding jewellery for one another, we wanted to do something to add to the occasion." Elytra said with a shy smile as the shuttle door closed behind her.
Chuckling at the shocked looks on Malakh and Rhea's faces, Viatrix added, "I set up the reservation at the swankiest restaurant on the ship the moment you told us what you had planned."
Rhea's laugh came out half choked with tears. "I love you all so much, I don't say that nearly enough."
"And we love you too." Nevara said, the simple truth of that so powerfully reciprocated by them all that Elytra couldn't hold back her tears of happiness.
Dinner had been absolutely lovely, the restaurant in possession of a menu so expansive that they'd all been able to order meals they hadn't had the opportunity to dine on since they left the worlds on which they were born, and made with actual ingredients on top of that, rather than fabricated food processor ones. The farming ships of the main Kith fleet were well worth the cost of maintaining them. They'd split a bottle of wine between them all and indulged in some dessert before heading back to the ship to turn in for the night, Rhea's recovery still ongoing as it was leaving her quicker to become exhausted and all.
And now, just hours away from beginning their journey into the most dangerous corner of the galaxy, their breakfast was surprisingly jovial.
"Viatrix and I have tested the assorted upgrades to the engines and stealth systems, and it's all running smoothly," Malakh said around a mouthful of egg, "So on that side of things, we're all set to go."
"The supplies we'll need for the extended trip are stowed, so if anyone needs anything specialized before our departure, now is the time to see to that." Pryseia told the crew.
Shaking her head slightly as she played with her wedding band, Rhea said, "We're actually going to be delving into Bernetigan space, and I'm somehow way less stressed about it now than I was a couple days ago."
"I mean, we've been preparing for it, and planning for it," Elytra pointed out, "Plus, the sooner we get started, the sooner we'll have it over and done with."
Rhea hummed in agreement.
"I've downloaded a variety of entertainment programs, so we won't have to worry about having a stable network link in that regard, and we've got a bunch of scripts we can film, plus any live broadcasts to touch base with our audience to let them know we're still alive," Elytra listed off from her data pad, "Plus, with those mech training sims Malakh got installed for us, we've got plenty of things to keep us from going stir crazy."
"And these are of Zymeth make, so they're already set up to take neural inputs, rather than manual ones," Malakh added, "I'll need to get in there and tweak the in-sim mech specs to reflect what the Storlayacas are capable of, but that's another little project I can do to keep myself occupied once we're underway."
Her floral avatar appearing on the comms console nearby, Viatrix said, "I've also taken the opportunity to upgrade my own scanning capabilities, so I'll be able to keep an eye on threats from farther afield than before."
"To which I am already grateful," Pryseia told her, "This is a dangerous undertaking, to be certain, but with all the precautions we have taken, success is within arm's reach. The thought of the journey does have my nerves alight, despite that, but they don't burn quite as brightly as they could be."
"A sentiment I share," Nevara said as she raised her glass to that, "I am very looking forward to the distractions we have to keep our minds off the journey."
"Here fucking here," Rhea said as she raised her own glass, "All the physical therapy I've still gotta do is way less daunting with the threat of the Bernetigan on the horizon!"
Lifting her own glass with them, Pryseia added, "And here's hoping on the horizon they stay."
"Commencing overburn in three… two… one."
The bridge of the Pelekys shuddered, the view screen awash in the cacophonous colours of the galactic core flying past them at faster than light speeds. The crew was sat at their stations, their expressions all reflecting some level of anxiety.
All except for General Grim.
Eyes focused on the readings before her, hands steady on the controls, she looked no more perturbed than if she was trying to find an open berth for their ship.
It wasn't long before the colours of the core faded away to the star streaked black of the rest of the galaxy, and the ship's flight smoothed out to something not so jarring.
"Overburn offline. Exit velocity is holding." Grim said as she glanced across her consoles.
Queen Kaizoku let out a sigh, crossing one leg over the other as she leaned back in her throne and said, "Excellent. Complications at this juncture would have been aggravating. Augury, have you any visions to report?"
"No, my Queen… this close to our goal, my second sight is unable to find purchase." The seer told her.
Chancellor Bathory scoffed at that, the assortment of necklaced adorning her neck tinkling with the movement. "I don't need to possess your gifts to know that we will be successful on our mission."
"Is that so?" The Queen's Red Left Hand challenged with an almost playful smirk.
"After everything we have been through on the course of our quest, I know that it's our skills that will see us through to victory." Was Bathory's confident reply.
The Hand let out a whisper of a laugh at that, her smile far softer than any she'd worn before.
On the comms console, the Program's axe avatar appeared. "My scanners are operating at peek range. I won't allow any surprises to sneak up on us."
"Good, for we've a long journey ahead of us," Grim said as she settled more comfortably in her pilot's seat, "And given whose threshold we are passing through, I would much rather it be a boring one."