#but having some highly visual markers that she could keep track of helped! on top of how much of merfolk emoting is verbal!

[rxttenfish]

...... word-of-god saying that miranda sees freckles as very attractive. she's deeply into freckles. partially it might be because she's an abyssal and they look a little like her bioluminescence, partly because merfolk find striking patterns on the extremities and other particular parts of the body attractive, but mostly this is just part of her personal taste and something shes into.

its one of the things she likes very much about aaravi, and likes keeping track of where all the little freckles and dots are on her body.

[aristarshower]

Star Catcher

Masterpost

Adventure Six-Star Dust

“Alright losers! Time for class!” Everyone groaned at once. Dex looked up from his station in surprise. They had been travelling for a couple of days, jumping wormholes using different identities and taking a circuitous route to their target star.

“We are close enough for commence. You guys know the rules.”

“Yes we do. So why do we need this meeting again?” V whined.

“Funny if you know the rules so well all of our missions should go without a single issue. Do they, V? Do they!?” V sulked while Nisha dragged out an old fashioned board and a marker.

“Wow those are …”

“I know! I feel so much better explaining with these than the usual display units. Oi! Pay attention!” Nisha yelled and everyone sat upright. Even Amani put down her needles.

“Dex is new here so we’ll start from the basics. First what is star dust?”

“Ooh ooh me pick me!” V put his hand up in mock enthusiasm. Nisha rolled her eyes. “My wife will answer this.” Alina blushed.

“Star dust is a fuel source obtained from the stars.”

“Uhhh Nisha I know all this.” Dex said timidly.

We all do. Dig fake whispered from his side. In honor of the new mission, their voice was now super squeaky.

“Silence you two! Okay so star dust is fuel but it is so much more! It is what runs our civilizations, provides enough energy to hold and travel through wormholes but most importantly it’s what we smuggle. Now what kind of a star do we have this time?”

“Category three.”

“What’s a category three?” Everyone started at Dex.

“See I told you we need this class!” Nisha crowed and pulled out some charts.

“Where did you get those from?”

“I have been waiting for this day.” She whispered. The first chart was a pie chart. “You know we need suppressors and harvesters to obtain star dust from any star. These materials have grades based on how expensive and rare they are. The stars with highest grade suppressors are  category ones. They also have a shitton of patrol bots and security ships around them. But we don’t need to worry for three. They have a few bots and at most one security ship.” Nisha switched between charts and diagrams showing different types and makes of stars and harvesters.

“Okay? Why can’t we just steal the suppressors then?” Another stunned silence followed Dex’s question. Amani cackled.

“I told you he’d make a fine thief. I am so proud of you kiddo.” She patted Dex’s hand.

“Uhhh thanks?”

“We can’t steal them cause they are big and difficult to hide and stupid easy to track.”

“My father’s men stole one a long time ago but they got caught so fast. Turns out the dust protocol enforcers have the machinery highly rigged with small trackers…”

Which are made by my people.  Harpie hissed angrily. They haven’t said a word since they entered the galaxy. Dig told Dex that silence was Harpie’s way of preparing for a job.

“Harpies are used for the tech manufacture by the DPE and are paid very little for their efforts.” Alina added. Dex felt a spark of anger. He understood the feeling of being used all too well.

I’m so sorry Harpie. Dex speaking in Varbunglam was a shock to the rest of the crew the first time but by then they were all used to it.

Harpie just nodded and went back to contemplating nothing. Nisha cleared her throat loudly.

“So, we go in, put up some primary interference field to confuse the bots a little, find a little window and get our dust. Pretty straight forward job really.”

“You could’ve finished the entire meeting in one sentence and you made us sit for a whole hour. I really hate you Nisha.” V grumbled.

“Love you too, V” Nisha patted the top of V’s head.

***

The actual prep was even weirder. Dex had never seen an actual harvest plant before so he was out from the beginning. Dig requested off because they were still recovering from the near death experience. The rest of them picked straws to decide who was going in. V got the short straw. He whooped and punched a wall.

“It’s been so long!” V was off to get suited up to go out.

“Alright, Dex I need you to look out for the ship. We already calculated the regular route so it should not be an issue but watch it all the same.” The captain ordered and Dex had an urge to salute. Alina was all business once the meeting was done.

“Harpie, I need you monitoring the interference and the bots. Inform me of any issues immediately.” Harpie nodded and went off to their cabin.

“Dig, stay in the sick bay. Also make us some light dinner for later.” Dig waved a few tentacles and left.

“Amani, on weapons, just in case.”

“Suited and ready to go on your say captain!” V called through the comms.

“Ship out of range, captain.” Dex informed Alina.

“Alright, V, go!” And V was off.

*** V felt like doing a few loops. Star Catcher was home and the ship’s gravity did keep him and the crew alive but V always craved the almost weightless feel of home. And there was nothing in the universe that felt more like home than the weightless void of space. He drifted a little and arranged his hold on the collection canisters. All he had to do was attach them to the canisters and they did the rest of the work. In the earlier days of SC, they had to manually hack into the harvesters and collect the dust. Having Harpie on the team had truly improved the speed of their operations.

“Alright, looks clear. I am going in.” The harvester was a fairly old one. The star was one of the simpler types. The suit kept most of the light and heat away from V. The field around the dust harvest station kept him safe once he got closer to the star. It was a tiny star with no planets, just some debris and gases floating around it. There were a few bots scattered around the station but they held still trying to figure out the interference. As long as they kept the visit short, the interference would be written off as a flare or background radiation.

“Canisters attached.”

Filling. Harpie’s voice came over from the ship.

“That’s half the work done, V.”

“Yes, cap.”

“Stay hidden.”

V set out to explore the station. Alina and Amani always picked the target star. Their clients usually specified only the category of the dust needed. The quality of dust improved with the quality of the harvester so category three dust wasn’t the best. It would bring them some income but they had to go for a big job soon. The wedding did put a little dent in their funds.

All thoughts of finances flew out of V’s mind when he saw the spinning bot.

“Uhhh Harpie? There’s a bot going nuts over here.”

“Where are you? Why did you even go there?” Alina replied angrily.

“I specifically called for Harpie.”

Looking into it. There isn’t any bot around you, V.

“That’s not possible. I am looking at it.” There was silence on the other end. The bot stopped its bouncing and turned towards V slowly.

*** “And now it’s looking at me.” Dex’s heart stopped when he heard V’s words. This is was supposed to be a small scale mission. They weren’t supposed to get caught. He checked the ship again. It was still safely on the other side of the star, probably checking on the second harvester.

“You know the drill, V. Can you incapacitate it?”

“I…..am….tryi….” And the channel went dead.

“Fuck. Harpie! What happened?”

Something. Came the helpful reply. They all heard the tapping of Harpie working on their side.

“Dex, can you do anything?” Dex was already at his station trying to establish any sort of contact.

“His vitals are still recording, captain.” V’s suit was still transmitting even if the comms went down.

“Good.” Alina relaxed. “Nisha take us closer.” Nisha didn’t argue even though Dex knew it could jeopardise the entire crew to go any closer. Dex checked the ship. Still in its old position.

Can’t tell what’s wrong, captain. The comm should be working.

“The suit is moving.” Dex saw the change immediately.

The canisters are done and are moving too. Harpie informed sounding as confused as Dex felt.

They all watched the little dots moving erratically all over the field and stop right at the edge.

“Get us closer Nisha.”

“They might detect us if we get closer.”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“One of us could go out and check.” Nisha offered, getting out of her chair.

“Wait!” The dots on the edge of the field jerked violently.

“We don’t have time! We have to get closer.” Alina was out of her chair too.

“We can go close enough for a visual, at least?” Dex suggested. Alina nodded after a second. Nisha grudgingly approved.

SC moved but Dex felt like they weren’t moving at all. It was too slow. They would be too late. The dots were still moving zigzag all over the place but never crossed the edge of the field. Nisha guided them closer to the harvester field.

It’s a pattern, captain. He is writing something. Harpie announced suddenly.

“What does it say?” Dex was almost shouting.

L-I-F-T Harpie read off slowly.

Now that Dex was observing he could see the letters forming on the screen. They were a little messy but the message was clear. Nisha let SC shoot forward. Soon they had a visual on V who was zooming away holding onto both the canisters and something that looked like an overexcited dog on a leash. He was spinning it around to make it spell the letters.

“What the fuck?” Alina mirrored Dex’s thoughts.

The small spinning ensemble zoomed towards SC and a few moments later they heard a huge crash from the loading bay below.

“Go go go!” V shouted through the comms. Nisha and Dex didn’t need anymore directions. They sped SC to the maximum and were out of danger soon.

Disengaging interference. Harpie said.

“Patrol ship is not following us.”

Dig was the closest to the loading bay and got there first.

V is fine, captain but we have a problem.

“Dig, can you bring V up?”

Yes and I guess we have to bring his guest too.

“It’s not my guest.” V protested from behind and there were a few more crashes.

Finally, to Dex’s relief V and Dig emerged through the doors, holding something tight between them. Harpie followed them.

It’s the bot. Harpie laid a hand on the bot which shook them off violently.

“And it’s malfunctioning.”

“Disable it then.”

“What do you think I was trying to do?” V countered. “This thing won’t stay still. It knocked my helmet right off my head. Pretty sure it was trying to decapitate me.”

The bot hissed and spat.

“Is it alive?” Dex asked and Harpie snorted.

It’s just trying to raise an alarm but I don’t think it works.

“What do we do now? AMANI!” Without any of them noticing Amani had gone to her room and retrieved an axe.

“What? It’s gotta go. Now stand back!” V and Dig hurried to get out of the way without letting go of the bot. There was a loud thunk as the axe hit the bot. And then it began to screech.

Uhhh I think you fixed it, Amani. It was a really serious situation but Dex could hear the amusement in Harpie’s voice.

Among the screeching, there was a hauntingly familiar noise like a kettle just started boiling.

“Oh no…” Dex’s whisper was lost among the noise as Amani tried to hit the bot again. The whistling finally grew loud enough to drown out the bot. V and Dig let the bot fly in surprise. The bot was free for one second and then there was a crunch.

Jaws flexing, tail rippling, eyes blazing, Mel stood in front of them in all her glory. Dex wanted to bash his head into the wall. When she didn’t show up and no one commented on her absence Dex thought they finally got rid of her but apparently Mel was always there, lurking.

“Oh hey girl!” Nisha cooed and scratched Mel under her third jaw.

“Alright. That problem’s solved! Get us out of here, Dex.”

*** They dropped off the dust after saving some for themselves even though Harpie did not like the idea of using grade three dust for their new and improved engine. Alina and Amani were on the prowl looking for new clients. The rest relaxed. Dex was still stunned after receiving his share of the pay. He was never actually paid before. Cyborgs were not paid on earth and he was working to pay off his debt to Alina’s father but Alina didn’t care. She wanted every member to have their fair share. Dex hugged her to everyone’s surprise. He was still trying to wrap his head around owning something for the first time in his life when the long distance comms lighted up with a message.

It was from Alina’s father.

Come home. New job. Was all it read.

“Alina!”

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