Darren leapt from the bathing and self-grooming facilities his new home offered to the second level of the habitation platform where his bed and personal area was. He didn’t bother wrapping a towel around his naked midsection, but had done a decent enough job drying himself off, and had done his bunk mates the favor of slipping on his boxers before he had made the ceremonious leap down.

“Dang buffoon’s think we’re a buncha lemurs ‘er spider monkeys with how much jumping and climbing they think we should do.” Darren mumbled. He didn’t mind so much as the planet’s lowered gravity meant such things were a fair bit easier and faster than climbing a length’s of stairs.

“I hope you’re not calling me a buffoon my grumpy little Sarge!” Eyrn’s voice rang through the carpeted walls of the enclosed habitat, Darren nearly jumped from the shock alone, she was far too perky and awaky for so early in the morning, or was it still afternoon? It may have been evening still? Darren was not fond of the odd time keeping Titan’s followed.

“Twat if yer spy’en on my naked ass’ll make you kiss it!” Darren grumbled, half sarcastic but mostly just the same old Darren he always was.

“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?” Eyrn chuckled, she could be heard but not seen.

“Don’t know how you heard me from where ever the hell yer hiding!” Darren mumbled as he scratched his back and ran his hands down his face; he eyed himself in the mirror and looked over his stubbly face and the hair atop his head. He had far too much hair now, more than he was used to back home.

“She heard you because you’re loud and obnoxious and you talk to yourself!” Darren turned on a dime as Tapp could be heard, and seen at the doorway to his room. She was naked as he was, and when he took notice he quickly turned away. His face lit up cheery red from embarrassment.

“I…d’ga…er…woman why don’t you got nothing covering yer woman’ness!” Darren fumbled to speak and looked around his bed side table for something, anything to distract him from the sight before him.

“I was about to clean myself if you must know, after all how can anyone around here sleep with that wrenched noise that comes out of your mouth while YOU clean yourself!” Tapp huffed and crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

Her breasts were perky, her skin was tight and elastic and she had creamy white skin from top to toe. Her platinum blond hair cascaded down over her back and around her shoulders, and her arms, legs and groin were nearly hair free, she was a smooth shapely picturesque image of feminine perfection.

“Elvis is not noise woman that’s music!” Darren defended. Tapp and Degu were hardly ever concerned about modesty, even the prissy entitled Princess Koranatappestrina Anghell Rozlan Debborruh didn’t seem to mind showing off her shameless nudity, not that she had anything to be ashamed of mind you.

Darren was normally alright walking around in his boxers, after all if the natives were comfortable with it then why not? But when Tapp, and even more so Bedra herself shuffled about nude it made him as bashful as a school boy. Bedra tended to move about in her bra and undergarments, Tapp had none so she generally went naked when she was around the habitat.

The gentle but loud rhythm of Eyrn’s giggling could be heard from the other side of the carpeted habitat walls, as well as the low hushed whispering of her speaking with Bedra. They were trying to whisper, but Titan whispering was hardly quiet at all.

“Never would have taken him for the conservative sort.” Bedra whispered and then laughed.

“He’s not, he’s just Darren…really no other words can adequately describe it.” Eyrn was next, but was not making nearly as much an effort to talk quietly.

“I dun see you show’en yer lady parts off Twat!” Darren shouted through the walls as he grabbed a black strappy holster on his bed side table. There was a leather knife holster attached to the straps that held a Ka-Bar US Army fighting and utility knife. It had 7inch straight edge with a brown leather grip. Darren bent over and strapped the holster to the side of his lower leg, and reached for his cameo cargo pants, slipping them on as Tapp moved away from his doorway and up the walk way to the hygiene level.

“Hey don’t look at me, I think ya’ll are way too comfortable prancing around in your birthday suites personally.” Eyrn responded quickly and with a bit of a grumble to her voice.

“What’s wrong with nudity? What do you have to be ashamed of? Do they shame nudity on earth?” Bedra asked, there was amusement to her voice followed by the familiar thud’s and rumbles of one of the Titan’s moving about.

“I didn’t say that…I just don’t like to walk around naked is all. I grew up on a military base, trust me you don’t walk around naked on a military base.

“Well that ain’t entirely true.” Darren rang in from inside his habitat; he was rummaging through his shirts for something to throw on.

“Well ok, you don’t walk around naked on an army base when you’re a lady, and 114ft tall!” Eyrn rephrased her statement. There were more rumbles and shakes felt and hear inside the habitat as the Titan’s continued to move about.

“I don’t see how that has anything to do with it. You’re not attracted to humans like that so what harm could it do?” Bedra sounded nonchalant and passé.

“Just because I’m not attracted to –THEM- doesn’t mean they are not attracted to me.” Eyrn responded mildly annoyed, Darren could hear hurried movements after she spoke. “Hey go away!”

“But you’re cute, why hide it!” Bedra giggled; there was also fast moving followed by giggling and a few loud crashes.

“Stop it…don’t touch…Berda!” Eyrn didn’t sound angry; she was partially amused by whatever was going on outside the human habitat.

“Come on! Take your shirt off! Don’t be a prude…show us your beubs!” Bedra laughed, by the hurried movements Darren figured one was chasing after the other.

“Go away! Not fair you’re ginormous!” Eyrn’s voice was a bit panicky but still amused as the softer and lighter of the thuds and rumbles picked up as she obviously attempted to flee her assaulter.

“Gorram you’re fast…you’re like a slippery little water Purb!” Bedra laughed.

“Get’er!” Darren laughed from inside his room as he slipped on a shirt that matched the pants he had on and made his way up the ramp back to the hygiene platform.

Darren could hear the soft rumble of the shower like hygiene pod that Tapp was standing in. It resembled a rectangular shower he was used to on earth, but it had water jets all over and cleaned much faster. Darren was also told that a softer less concentrated dose of whatever the hell he had been washed in when he woke up on the Gyfjon was mixed in with the water. Darren was not bothered by this, as the stuff made him feel younger, fitter and more vibrant than he ever had back on earth. The ‘magic juice’ as he called it was alright with him.

As Tapp washed herself in silence, Darren reached for his knife under his pant leg and pulled it form the holster, he wet it with water from the sink like basin and tapped it against the side of the plastic tub, eyeing himself in the mirror as he ran the sharp knife up the side of his face, against the grain of his hair. Shaving with warm water and no cream was nothing he wasn’t used to, but it was not his favorite thing to do.

“Must you do that now?” Tapp grumbled from the shower unit, Darren made a sour face at her that she couldn’t see as she was obscured by the walls of the hygiene pod and moved his mouth to mock and mimic her words as he continued to shave.

“You’re both loud…don’t be so loud. Always yelling…talk without yelling.” Degu grumbled, he was standing in front of a box like object leaning with one hand against the wall.

Darren grumbled as he gave his head a shake and turned back to the task at hand. “Danget Bedra you get’er good! If Ah gotta share a piss’n room with these monkeys you get’t see the twat’s boobs! Fare’s fare!” Darren mumbled as he tapped his knife against the sink and wet it once more.

“Hey! I didn’t buy the ultra-deluxe human do-dad she did!” Eyrn whined, there was strain in her voice as he she was struggling.

“It was built for a family of 5 humans; the three of them should feel like they are living in a castle…my gods you’re squiggly!” Bedra giggled.

“This is harassment you know!” Eyrn half laughed half whined.

“Castles got more’n one bathroom ‘Smiles”! Darren shot back, mildly amused by what he imagined was going on outside his habitat.

“Well remember that next time you buy a habit…oh wait that’s right you didn’t did you!” Bedra teased.

“Don’t be a smart ass Smiles….” Darren gave his head a shake and ran his hands under the running water and splashed it over his face a few times.

“I still don’t understand what that means…OW!!!” Bedra screamed, genuine. “You bit me!” She was clearly in pain but mildly amused still.

“It got you off didn’t it?” Eyrn spoke followed by hurried movements.

“Wiley little thing you are….” Bedra sounded more annoyed than amused but didn’t give chance as evident by her slower and more purposeful movements.

“Oh don’t sulk I hardly broke the skin!” Eyrn laughed.

“I’m not sulking, I’m getting ammunition.” Bedra spoke with confidence.

“Crap…” Eyrn whimpered followed by loud hurried steps and a lot of crashing and slamming around.

“Glad’m in here…” Darren chuckled, trying to ignore the fact that he was shaving in the same room Degu was pissing while Tapp had a shower. “This’s like sum kinda fucked up Brady Bunch ah swear’t’god!”

***

“Pup, I don’t think I’ve seen you this excited about going someplace in years.” Lezah laughed as she looked out the domestic transit shuttle window. The trip itself was so fast they hardly had time to get comfortable in their seats before they were preparing for un-boarding procedure.

The marvels of the space age made domestic travel simple and fast. It was not unheard of to live on a totally different continent than you worked. If you were fortunate enough to own your own personal shuttle you could circumnavigate the globe as quickly as domestic global speed laws permitted. But given traffic and population density, most Archavian’s relied on public transportation. It was fast enough and convenient enough that personal shuttles were hardly needed.

Commuting from one area of a city to the next relied on people movers, simple shuttle like modules that were incapable of space flight, they hovered above a specified track, they were fast and frequent and were located in every major populated area of the globe.

“Aisell’s in a good mood let her enjoy it.” Aehzay spoke lazily as she thumbed through her data pad.

Aisell herself was relatively quiet now, she eyed her sisters for a moment before looking back over Lezah’s shoulder out the shuttle window.

Aisell didn’t make friends easily, or often. She had her sisters, she had Bedra…and for the most part that was all she really needed. She had befriended Luke, but that had been a total act of fate, a fluke. Eyrn however was different; she made Aisell feel nervous and anxious. The prospect of spending more time with her, getting to know her even more, excited Aisell, and that was not something that was very easy to do.

“Really, you’re one to talk Lez? When was the last time you left the farm? Truthfully now? I’ll know if you’re lieing!” Aisell smirked as she nudged her older sister.

“Hey now that’s not fair I…well just the other day you see…well before you came home I had to…well it’s not important ok!” Lezah huffed and shoved back.

Aehzay chuckled softly as she made a circular motion with her thumb and then jabbed at her screen, sliding the tablet to Lezah. “I think we should go here.” Aezhay spoke with placid sanctuary.

Lezah reached over Aisell and plucked the pad from her sister’s hand and looked it over. “Oh…that looks…um…busy?” Lezah half smiled and shyly passed the pad to Aisell.

“Eh, I’ve been there a few times. It’s in Rutger’s entertainment district. They have a big tank where the Dunnermac take off their breathing apparatus and swim around naked.” Aisell grinned and passed the pad back to Aehzay.

“You know what else?” Aehzay spoke, she grinned just a little.

“What’s that?” Lezah peeked over, curious now.

“They are human friendly.” Aehzay spoke with a chime and a ring in her voice, as if using this as a tastey bit of bait to lure her sister’s in.

“Eyrn will like that.” Aisell spoke quickly, eyes wide and eager.

“I bet she will.” Lezah gave her head a shake and sat back. “I’ll go where ever you kiddies drag me alright. Just be warned I don’t dance and I’m not getting swimming in a Dunnermac orgy pool!” Lezah chuckled.

“It’s not an orgy pool Lez, it’s how they relax. We like to dance and drink and smoke, and they swim around in dark salty water naked…it’s a cultural thing.” Aehzay laughed.

“Not like there’s anything to see…there Dunnermac…all their stuff is hidden.” Aisell shrugged. “Isn’t it?” She peaked over to Aehzay.

“I don’t know! I’m not familiar with Dunnermac anatomy you know….” Aehzay spoke defensively and sulked into her chair a bit.

“Fine, this place works…what’s it called?” Aisell laughed and sat back into her seat.

“Diaskedasi!” Aehzay smiled a bit now, taking her pad and looking it over before closing the screen. “It’s trendy!” Aehzay grinned as she ran her finger gently over the screen.

“A few days away from the farm will do us all good…Tegan offered to watch over the place while we’re gone and look after the crops so we have nothing to do but relax.” Lezah smiled, genuine for once, and that didn’t happen often.

“You’ll really like Eyrn, she’s really nice. She has a lot of really neat stories about growing up, and she’s really polite and friendly.” Aisell spoke with reservation, but at the same time eagerness and conviction.

“Sounds like it, from all the up-talking you do about her.” Aehzay grinned as she busied herself with her pad.

“The infamous wild girl…I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you somehow found her and made friends eh?” Lezah grinned playfully and squeezed her sister’s shoulder.

“She is anything but wild; in fact she has more tact and class than most people I’ve met yet.” Aisell spoke up, defending Eyrn almost instantly.

“I believe you…I believe you…no need to go on the defensive pup.” Lezah gave her head a shake and looked back out the window. “But I am surprised you didn’t show up at the door with her begging to keep her!” Lezah joked and let her head rest on the window. “You know, seeing as how you always seem to come home with the most unique surprises.” Lezah paused. “But I suppose she’d be far too big for that!”

“Well…actually.” Aisell smiled a little and gave her head a quick shake and elbowed Lezah roughly. “That isn’t funny!”

“Oww!” Lezah grumbled and re adjusted herself.

“Actually it kind of was.” Aehzay spoke without looking up from her pad.

“Don’t you get on about it either, I’m perfectly capable of taking you both on!” Aisell spoke up with confidence and sat up straight and proud.

Both older and younger sister were quiet as they sent each other keen looks form their respective sides of Aisell, who was seated in the middle. Before Aisell could catch on to what was happening, she found herself under assult, as both sisters jabbed and tickled her sides vicously.

“Oh is that so pup!” Lezah laughed.

“I don’t think so shorty!” Aehzay grinned.

“Gah! No fair! I didn’t mean at the same time! Ahh! Get off me!” Aisell squirmed and wiggled and thrashed as she was held down by her sisters and tickled mercilessly.

***

“I was able to squeeze a little bit more information out of that old man while you were scampering to the door you know.” Keeran spoke as she busied herself at the mirror of their hotel bathroom. She was applying makeup around her eyes and puckering her lips together after having applied cover to them.

“I wasn’t scampering…I was leaving…while trying to make sure my personal funds card remained in my possession!” Hedyn spoke up as he shoved his clothes from the night before into his travel case. His back was stiff from his uncomfortable night’s sleep on the floor.

“Whatever…would you care to know what I was able to bleed out of him?” Keeran was in a much better mood this morning, she was almost her normal perky self, laced with an almost iron clad confidence that she felt she had well earned over the last few days.

“I…I guess sure.” Hedyn sighed, he could not have been more conflicted about what they were doing, and was mulling over an effective strategy to keep his friend safe, without earning the blunt end of her ire.

“Every district has an overseer…they are the like the go to guy for Hive activity in every area. Every drone, scout and gatherer in the district follows the direct orders of their overseer…and the overseer in turn from Hive Prime itself…like one big connected brain, sending signals to smaller receptacles. The overseer is not only there to interact with us…but to oversee Hive activity and progress. If a drone isn’t pulling its weight, is damaged or stray’s form its function it is terminated. The overseer see’s that everything runs smooth, clean, and efficient.” Keeran set her makeup stick down and pulled a brush from her bag, as she spoke she combed her long raven black hair.

“That…is actually kind of interesting.” Hedyn looked up, he was sitting on the end of the bed buttoning up his shirt.

“People with something to offer, wishing favors in return seek out the overseer. The Hive collects far more resources than it could ever use, and barters these surplus useless wares in exchange for things they DO want…or need.” The tone in Keeran’s voice grew more and more excited as she ran through what she had learned.

“That’s clever…trade what you don’t want but have plenty of for what you do want…but have few of.” Hedyn half laughed.

“Yup, and they have a lot…and what is useless to THEM…like credits, arms, maggots, contraband, is very useful to citizens of the empire.” Keeran set her comb down and looked herself over in the mirror, straightening her blouse and adjusting her skirt. Her black painted nails matched her hair, and her makeup accented her eyes.

“But what do they want in return?” Hedyn asked, simply.

“Food…not just to survive…for pleasure.” Keeran smacked her lips together for effect and stepped out of the bathroom, showing herself off purposely as she strutted across the room. “Insectoid’s ‘love’ few things…not as we would understand it. What feel’s good is good…they don’t even fuck for pleasure…but food? They love it…the taste…the texture…and the more exotic the better. They build up the Hive, they gather their resources…they expand…and they die” Keeran shrugged. “Boring right? But eating…that’s one carnal desire even they can’t shrug off with their simple little insect brains!” Keeran threw herself onto the bed and allowed herself to sprawl back, she wiggled a bit in excitement and laughed.

“Simple enough…so we bring them some royal berries and a good Eft’ steak?” Hedyn narrowed his eyes curiously.

“”Every once in a while the Overseer hosts a gathering…a sort of call…we see it as a dinner but only because they are following out dance steps. Whatever makes us come right? Titan’s like to dine in neat little tables with nice wine and fancy conversation. They don’t understand why but who are they to argue…they learn the dance and they follow the steps.” Keeran ran her finger along Hedyn’s thigh slowly and smiled. “People go to these…meetings with something the overseer wants…and they leave with something the overseer has that THEY want.” Keeran pulled her hand back quickly and slapped it against the bed. “In my case, information!”

“So…we’re going to a diner?” Hedyn laughed.

“We are, but only if we bring something valuable enough to get us through the door!” Keeran sat up quickly and reached into Hedyn’s pocket quickly, pulling out his data pad.

“Hey….”

“That, tubby, is what we have to figure out!” Keeran’s eyes went narrow as she scanned over the screen on her friends pad. “What does a buggie find soooo irresistible, sooo tempting that they’d let us in?” Keeran was silent for a while as she casually wrote with her finger on the screen, and then swiped through a few screens.

“Royal Berries?” Hedyn shrugged.

“Hardly…” Keeran rolled her eyes.

A moment of silence passed between them, Keeran’s eyes went wide and she quickly handed the pad to her friend, she tapped it for good measure and stood quickly. “This…this is what we’ll bring the overseer!” Keeran smiled and stood arms crossed before Hedyn.

Hedyn looked down at the pad, his eyes displaying a silent look of horror and disgust. Slowly he looked up to his friend, shaking his head slowly. “Ok Kee…we can’t…we just can’t….”

***

Darren shifted uncomfortably as he tried to make himself comfortable on Eyrn’s shoulder. The Twat was particularly perky and had a persistent skip in her step that made travel with her near sickening.

Degu was perched in the pocket of Bedra’s light spring jacket, she had it undone to reveal her soft red sun dress that cut off dangerously high and revealing.

Tapp sat atop her owners shoulder and was leaning forward watching the goings on around her eagerly like a watchful bird of prey.

Eyrn wore a simple pair of slacks that were made of a material she had never worn before; they were stretchy but form fitting and left little to the imagination. She had a long blue shirt on that was more of a dress, stopping almost at her knees. It looked like it was designed to be that way, and not like she was wearing a shirt that was too big for her. It had a V neckline and almost no sleeves, and irritated her to the point of itching. Archavian fabric felt awkward. This particular outfit had been purchased rather than fabricated and so its natural coarseness was something her skin was not accustom to.

Darren was not overly fond of sitting on her bare shoulder, as it was much harder to get a grip on. Bit had refused bluntly Bedra’s offer to travel in her pocket with Degu. As friendly and relatively chummy as Darren was with Degu, it was nice to get away from both him and Tapp once in a while.

“Will you quit fidgeting?” Eyrn rolled her eyes as she peaked down at Darren.

“Not my fault yer shoulder’s as bony as a cod!” Darren settled, closing to lean against her neck with one knee raised and the other leg sprawled out. Quitting smoking wasn’t something he had done willingly; the abject lack of tobacco was the first problem. It had left him rather ornery over the past few weeks. Not amused and humored as he had been while his supply held out.

So far he wasn’t fond of any of the less carcinogenic weeds they had around Archavia. They all tasted synthetic and bland. They lacked real texture and flavor like the tobacco he was used to. There were times Darren felt he could cut someone if it meant a good smoke.

“So she has sisters?” Eyrn shuffled her feet slowly keeping a few steps behind her friend. They had taken the city commuter network to the very same arrivals gate Eyrn had walked Aisell a week prior. She was excited to see her new friend again, but typically shy and reserved at the prospect of making new acquaintances. Even if they were Aisell’s family.

“I made an appointment with a cataloger at the Global Archives Data base.” Bedra responded to Eyrn’s wiggly anxiety laden query by changing the subject.

Eyrn looked up to meet Bedra’s glance and smiled somwhat. “Oh, thanks.” Eyrn smiled warily.

“What ah don’t get ‘Smiles’ is if yall keep yer names’n such on a global super-internet, how come Eyrn ain’t there? How come she can’t just poke’er finger let some scanner do its comp-utations and find out who she is?” Darren asked, without trying to catch Bedra’s eye.

“Well yea that should be the case. Unless she wasn’t registered properly, or if she was born before the Imperial Data-Base was established.” Bedra shrugged. She could easily hear Darren’s voice in part because of how used to listening for faint human voices she was. But Darren also seemed adept at projecting his voice loud enough to be heard. A trait he had no doubt picked up being around Eyrn.

“What if I was born off world though?” Eyrn asked cautiously.

“If you were born it was at the very least in proper medical facilities. Realistically it’s not very likely your birth mother would have been able to carry you to term on a mu-nu class planet, even if she did poses similar implants as you. More likely you were either born on Archavia, or one of its colonies. At the very least a proper facility, like Titan Station, or Centuri Station.” Bedra took a moment to gauge Eyrn for a reaction.

“Uh….right….” Eyrn looked dizzy and a bit confused, but nodded.

“So when are we gonna go to this big data base…place…thinggie?” Eyrn asked.

“A week from today. If we are lucky, and with a bit of luck we will be able to figure out who you are. I have an idea too, so we’ll see.” Bedra smiled delightfully.

“What’s yer idea?” Darren asked as he wiggled against Eyrn’s warm skin.

“Well, you were stranded on earth…and you mentioned your birth parents were found dead in their cryo pod. Back before the redzone was established you needed a special permit to travel to Terra-prime, that’s what we called earth long before it was called ‘earth'” Bedra stated matter of fact.

“Ok?” Eyrn tried to follow.

“We look through the missing persons data base. Even before the Imperial Identification Database was established we had a missing person’s bank. Anyone who possessed a Terra-Prime access pass and is on that list….well they could be out match!” Bedra smiled, proud of her explanation.

“That’s clever, must have taken you a while to think of that!” Eyrn smiled genuine.

Bedra deflated. “I wish…actually it was Aisell’s idea….she mentioned it to me when I spoke to her this morning.” Bedra sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Look!” Degu spoke up, tugging at Bedra’s coat.

Bedra peeked down and reached into her pocket, she allowed Degu to climb into her hand before lifting him to face level. “Need something sweets?” Bedra rose a brow.

“No, look! There here!” Degu pointed to a shuttle which could be seen in the distance initiating standard landing procedure.

“Oh, maybe your right, this could be their shuttle!” Bedra beamed and set her companion on her shoulder.

Degu dutifully held onto a rope like bunch of Bedra’s hair and stood, leaning a bit as if that would give him a better glance.

Bedra was sure to put him on the opposing shoulder as Tapp, least one of them unceremoniously shove the other off by ‘accident’.

“Well it’s about time! Seems like we’ve been waiting here for ages!” Tapp spoke up, until now she had been mostly not paying attention to the conversation at hand.

Bedra snickered and looked to her right shoulder, her tone highly amused. “We just arrived?”

“I know that! Still feels too long!” Tapp huffed and crossed her arms. She was sitting with her legs hanging off Bedra’s front and was gripping the shoulder fabric of Bedra’s dress for support.

Bedra and Tapp continued to argue while Eyrn approached the edge of the fenced off waiting area. She had never been so close to something so large as it landed. She had seen them take off, she had been in one plenty of times. But there was something spectacular about watching a small speck of a spacecraft grow larger and larger until its shadow blotted out the light and cast a shadow over the landing pad. Something so immense it could carry not only her, but dozens of people like her.

She held onto the links of the chain fence and watched with a look of awe and wonder, looking down to Darren, who was now standing himself and had wiped the solemn and grumpy look off his face, and replaced it with a subtle grin.

“That is amazing!” Eyrn spoke, watching the commuter transit shuttle maneuver using its auxiliary thrusters until it was facing the right direction.

Warning sirens went off as it landed, the entire Machina groaned and rumbled as it came to a landing, after a few tense moments of silence the back bay door opened with a loud fluid ‘sushing’ sound.

“If you like that you need to visit the docking ports for the big ships. Watching them come in still makes me giggle like a school girl.” Bedra spoke and came up behind Eyrn.

“Are there any around here?” Eyrn asked without taking her hands off the fence.

Bedra laughed and gave her head a shake. “Star Cruisers don’t often land. These docking ports are found on space stations and planetary docking rings.” Bedra stated.

“I saw the Gyfjon dock at Titan Station once. When I was visiting Derna during her last shore leave.” Bedra motioned to the lineup of passengers departing the shuttle. “There they are!” Bedra waved as she spotted among the crowd of people leaving the shuttle, Aisell who was ducking out of the hanger bay door first, followed by Lezah, and lastly Aehzay.

Eyrn looked for a moment longer, finally catching Aisell a few seconds after Bedra did. She waved eagerly and stepped back from the fence.

“Always has to be first I bet she pushed and shoved everyone else aside.” Bedra laughed as her and Eyrn neared the arrivals gate door.

“She didn’t strike me as the forceful type when we meet. She’s so nice and quiet and friendly!” Eyrn defended.

“Ha! Just wait, you haven’t known her long enough. Aisell has a reputation of fire and ice! But don’t worry about it, she thinks your adorable!” Bedra tweaked Eyrn’s nose and jogged on ahead.

“Did she just ‘meep’ my nose?” Eyrn looked down to Darren perplexed.

“Looks like it.” Darren shrugged.

“Why did she do that?” Eyrn asked, still walking, but slower.

“Cuz yer likely adorable’n cute’n all that. Like a Lil midget er a dwarf er something.” Darren laughed.

“She thinks I’m a dwarf?” Eyrn asked, surprised.

“Or an elf…or a pixie…maybe a brownie?” Darren once again shrugged. “Point is she think’s yer cute.”

“Oh….” Eyrn looked back up “Hey! Bedra I’m not a dwarf!” Eyrn chased after, forcing Darren to hold on for dear life.