Mo’Emori sat within the center of the command deck of her stealth craft as the crew around her maintained their scheduled duties while they traveled towards the Marmuro’k home world.

  In an attempt to head Morrigan off at the pass, Mo’Emori demanded they stop at every ally outpost or hail every passing civilian ship they came across, even scouring a trading station run by pirates asking if they came across the detailed description of Morrigan without success.

  To keep her anxiety in check, Mo’Emori balanced the tip of one of the twin blades strapped to her back, it’s mono-molecular tip dancing just a few microns above the palm of her hand as her manipulation of kinetic energy kept the blade straight and aloft, the atoms around the blade forcibly pushed against it to maintain its current position.

  Such control over her powers was one of the things that set her apart from the rest of the Sybrydian, and took a monumental amount of concentration. With her focus directed at the blade of her sword, she couldn’t give her erratic emotions any amount of her attention, a technique Torvil had suggested decades ago when her emotional control came into question.

  However, the moment the ship’s engines whined down and the galaxy snapped back into its proper place, Mo’Emori’s anxiety broke through and caused her to over compensate her power.

  The pommel of the sword shot up into the ceiling before the blade fell, piercing three inches into the floor between her legs as she scooted away from the falling weapon with a yelp.

  “What’s going on?” She asked before standing up and prying the sword from the floor.

  Her eyes gazed upon the gigantic world before them, wide areas of green spread across even larger areas of dusty brown and shades of grey as the world of Tik’Taq’To encompassed the window of her ship. Looking over, she could see three titanic warships listing lazily in the outer atmosphere on patrol, ships she have heard stories of yet for the first-time laid her yellow eyes on.

  It had been nearly a century since the Eskarii and Marmuro’k fought one another, their brutal conflict coming to an understanding of both sides that neither would attack the other of everyone was left alone. Yet, she was about to break that long standing ceasefire by attempting to contact the Marmuro’k people.

  She eyed the massive warships, though few in number, were ships capable of ultimate devastation through the use of super heated plasma that cut through a ships armor plating and melting a ship apart.

  What she did not notice was that her ship came out of FTL travel directly underneath a fourth Marmuro’k warship until the ship she stood in shuddered violently.

  “Princess, they locked a tractor beam on our ship! We can’t move!” one of the crew called out.

  Mo’Emori hissed through her teeth as she caught the looming shadow that moved over her ship. She looked to the Eskarii in charge of communications, “Open a channel! I'll be damned if we came this far to die!” she ordered.

  The Eskarii panicked as he struggled to open up an open-air channel that could be received but once he managed to do so, he gave her a nervous nod.

  The ship shuddered again and rocked hard enough to throw several of the crew off their feet before Mo’Emori managed to call out, “Please! I need to speak to someone who can speak my language! Anyone, or anyone who knows Terran-I know Terran too!”

  “Dirêjear, h?n dixêré binêkirin li yên malên!” came the raspy voice of a Kêzi’kan that appeared on the monitor above Mo’Emori. Despite being looked at through a monitor, she could easily recognize the creature as the race both Xol and H?’tet shared albeit smaller than either Kêzi’kan she had met.

  She stood up straight and looked up at the monitor knowing she could be seen. “I know we’re not supposed to be here but I’m looking for Mori! Morrigan Clarke! I need to find her, we’re not here for anything else but to speak to her,” Mo’Emori stated, switching to fluent Terran in hope that anyone who heard would understand her. After all, she knew that Xol and the other Marmuro’k around Morrigan understood Terran.

  The Kêzi’kan on the other end hiss at her, “?i dikarê h?n zan?n l? Ke?ir Clarke?” the muscular lizard humanoid’s defensiveness quite apparent to her.

  However, she could not understand what was said to her except for Morrigan’s last name, which told her that it at least understood her for the most part which was better than nothing.

  “Yes! Clarke, Mori Clarke, I have to speak to her!” Mo’Emori pleaded as she nodded vigorously.

  The responding Kêzi’kan responded by baring its array of long sharp teeth only to get interrupted by another transmission, one Mo’Emori couldn’t hear nor understand as the Marmuro’k she watched responded in a disbelieving manner. However, a moment later the same Kêzi’kan snorted at her once it looked back at the screen before leaning forward to touch something, letting the monitor switch to a different screen of a new slenderer and regal looking Kêzi’kan glad in red and gold finery appeared on the screen.

  “I am Xitzocl-Arak’tarul of Clan Arak’tarul,” a bizarrely feminine and clear voice projected from the speakers around Mo’Emori which threw her off as the apparent female Kêzi’kan spoke to her in fluid Terran.

  “If I heard you correctly, you search for Chieftain Clarke, yes?” Xitzocl asked.

  “Oh, Goddesses, yes! Please, I need to speak with her! My name is Mo’Emori, and she’s a very dear friend to me and… wait, chieftain?” Mo’Emori explained ecstatically only to register what was said which caused her mind to come to a screeching halt.

  Xitzocl, the regal Kêzi’kan looked down her snout at her in curious contempt as she considered her words, “Yes, but you must understand that we do not trust outsiders, even Mori who had won her right to stand on Marmuro’k land and call herself one of our own, and you boldly come to our world demanding to talk to one of our chieftains.”

  The idea of failing after coming so far began to upset Mo’Emori, the anxiety, worry and sadness within her began stirring as tears welled in her eyes, “Please… She’s my friend and I need to find her,” she repeated before sniffling and wiping her nose with her wrist as tears slid down her cheeks, “I barely got to see her before I was called away, before she came here… I’ve come so far, searching everywhere I could…” Everyone aboard her ship looked at the legendary Sybrydian that struck fear into all that knew of her and watched her break down into tears over a Terran woman they had never met, the person they were forced to risk their lives for by going to the doorstep of their ancient enemy, not forgetting they had delved into the midst of a Federation armada as well.

  Confusion and frustration began to win the crew over as one of the crew members stood up and stepped towards Mo’Emori with an air of authority, “This is enough, we need to leave and forget this hunt before the princess’s obsession over a lowly human girl gets us all killed!”

  To everyone’s surprise, even Xitzocl who watched silently, as one of Mo’Emori’s swords cut clear across the Eskarii’s torso with no resistance, cutting the dissenter clean in half from elbow to elbow. Mo’Emori screeched in a child-like, irate tantrum, “Don’t you dare talk about Mori like that!” before bringing her combat boot down upon the stunned face of the Eskarii with enough kinetic force to shake the entire floor of the ship and shatter their skull in an eruption of bone, brain and gore that coated a large portion of the bridge.

  All stood stunned at the power Mo’Emori unleashed as their princess stomped down once again into the chest cavity of the foolish Eskarii man who spoke ill of the one she seemed, covering herself in gore and viscera as the dismembered torso exploded in every direction, leaving Mo’Emori to breath heavily in barely contained anger as orange pastel blood dripped down her chin.

  Xitzocl hummed thoughtfully as she cocked her head to the side in curiosity, “An excellent show of authority, something Chieftain Clarke would have done herself and which I have seen her do,” she stated in amusement as she considered the young gore splattered Eskarii woman, seeing a striking echo of Morrigan within her.

  To her crew’s dismay, a dark, obsessive smile spread across her face, “Yeah,” she said in a short giggle to herself before she turned back to the monitor, “She almost did that to one of our ambassadors. It was really funny,” she said in childish adoration, completely forgetting the mess she had created.

  Xitzocl nodded in approval, “I am sending you a flight trail. Make sure your flyer knows not to stray from it otherwise anti-orbital cannons will destroy your kê?ti. We shall share words and I will judge your relations to our newest chieftain,” she stated before transmitting a very specific flight path to Mo’Emori’s ship, a separate monitor pulling the three-dimensional data up automatically for the navigator and pilot to look at.

  “You heard her, do not stray from that path otherwise you will die before they can shoot us down!” Mo’Emori stated with supreme, unhinged authority as if she had not even considered her situation.

  Before Xitzocl ended the transmission, she said, “I will warn you; your kê?ti, your kin and yourself will be under guard, I trust you will think of that.”

  Regardless, Mo’Emori grinned brightly as the screen went blank, she was satisfied with finally making progress on her search even if the Marmuro’k refused to give her specific details of Morrigan’s whereabouts. The fact that the apparently important female Kêzi’kan seemed to know Morrigan personally meant that Mo’Emori would manage gain some usable information, and possibly close the gap between the Eskarii and Marmuro’k in the process which would be a feat all its own.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Mo’Emori watched closely as her pilot followed the flight path down to a single degree, far too nervous to even attempt to stray from it under the promise of a swift yet excruciating death whether by their princess, or by anti-air fire. Mo’Emori on the other hand, could barely contain her rising enthusiasm as the ship cut through the atmosphere with ease to reveal the beautiful landscape below of lush jungles, vast deserts and spines of mountains that spread across the surface.

  “Oh wow, this is pretty,” Mo’Emori commented aloud, completely oblivious by the now fear filled stares from her crew as she looked over the pilot’s chair to take in as much detail as possible. “Look at that!” she exclaimed in childish wonderment as she spotted a large flying creature skimming to top of the jungle canopies, moving slow and methodically as it devoured its meal.

  “It almost reminds me of home, but without trees,” she said to herself before she turned to her crew with an excited giggle, “Are you seeing this?” only to receive blank and wary stares.

  “What?” she asked curiously, having forgotten that she was stained in the blood of one of their own in what could only be described as a psychotic rampage that fit the rumors that surrounded her.

  However, the pilot grabbed her attention, “Princess, we’re approaching the coordinates…”

  Mo’Emori snapped to attention as she looked out the window to see a long canyon that descended into the mountains, towards the end she could see high walls and a massive gate that served as the main and possibly only entrance into the civilization she had been directed to.

  “Should, should we land? We didn’t get any instructions…” the pilot asked tentatively.

  Mo’Emori snorted indignantly, “Of course, how else will I talk to her?”

  Mo’Emori stepped towards the back of the bridge before turning back to her crew, “Oh, and leave your weapons,” she said cheerily before skipping off the bridge and moving towards the hatch as she waited to feel the ship land.

  It took a moment but as soon ship touched down, Mo’Emori dropped the hatch and jumped out only to be greeted by a vast array of strange firearms, glowing energy shields and melee weapons not only from the high walls that surrounded her as well as a full line of different species of Marmuro’k that moved to encircle the ship.

  She smirked as she looked over everyone that surrounded her ship, unconcerned about the situation not because she was confident in her abilities though she was sure she could likely survive the assault if it came to it, but because she understood the level of precaution the female Kêzi’kan was taking while extending a proverbial olive branch; it was similar in the respect that the Eskarii did not allow those who lived off world or non-Eskarii to know of their home world’s existence or location, until very recently.

  She took a step forward as she heard her crew slowly begin shuffling out of the ship behind her as she watched the line of Marmuro’k split to reveal the same Marmuro’k she had spoken to over transmission, a lean female Kêzi’kan clad in fine red robes with golden embroidery and trim to signify her off her status.

  “Hi!” Mo’Emori announced with enthusiasm as she waved. Enticing a curious look from Xitzocl as she too stepped forward.

  Xitzocl remain dignified as she stepped forward and ignored the odd shift in personality she witnessed as she inspected the crew behind Mo’Emori, “Its been a long time since our races have walked on the same ground,” Xitzocl stated aloud as she cast a gaze across the guards she had ordered.

  With a wave of her hand, the Marmuro’k eased off their weaponry, standing at attention and ever-ready to resume hostilities if the need arose. “Come, let us talk,” she said pointedly at Mo’Emori before turning around and entering the settlement. Mo’Emori skipped behind her with a modicum of respect as the Marmuro’k watched her closely with their hands on their weapons though still lacking severe discipline.

  Xitzocl led Mo’Emori through the settlement the same way she did Morrigan to gauge her reaction. Much like Morrigan, Mo’Emori looked around in astonished wonderment at everything that surrounded her, focusing and absorbing every detail in child-like amazement as they walked. It gave hope to Xitzocl as she watched the Eskarii girl get lost in the new society she witnessed.

  After over a century of vicious and brutal conflict between the Eskarii and Marmuro’k, prejudice and disdain were still prominent in both races, for good reason however, experiencing the unbridled and equal compassion that Morrigan bore for every race, Xitzocl began to wonder if things were beginning to change.

  “She had the same look as you do when she first walked through my home,” Xitzocl said to garner her attention.

  “How could she not? This is so interesting to see! I mean, I lived among humans for several years and they were different than my people but this…” Mo’Emori paused to looked at Xitzocl with a big smile, “Its so different yet some how, it almost feels like how my people live!”

  Xitzocl stopped and cocked her head, “That is hard to believe.” She shook her head and waved her hand to dismiss the notion, realizing that the young Eskarii before her was on a very tight time table unlike Morrigan and had no time to debate philosophical beliefs and societal structure though she hoped to have the opportunity in the future.

  “Never mind that, but you say you have strong relations with our Chieftain Clarke of Clan Clarke? Tell me how it is you know of her,” Xitzocl segwayed.

  The topic of Morrigan pulled all of Mo’Emori’s attention as she focused on her, “Right! Um, honestly… Mori was my first real friend on Earth even though I only got to see her once a week... I mean, I knew humans and some where friendly-most weren’t since I lived in Federation territory, but…” Mo’Emori paused as she recalled every moment. Every interaction between her and Morrigan which made her smile blissfully. “She was, she is, the only one on Earth to first showed me what friendship was like. There was Mr. Yuma but he was more like a coworker than a friend though he was super nice too!”

  Xitzocl shook her head in confusion, “I don’t understand…”

  Mo’Emori blushed fiercely as she looked away, “I’m sorry… I sometimes talk a lot when I’m excited. You’re the first person to offer any sort of help in finding her and… yeah, sorry…” she said with a sigh. “When we were both on Earth, the Federation hunted Morrigan and before Mr. Yuma and I could help her escape, they made their move to capture her, so instead, I had my brother help her escape instead though that didn’t work very well…”

  Xitzocl watched as the strange woman in front of her visibly shift emotions as her long-pointed ears drooped slightly.

  “After the Federation captured her, she uh, disappeared… for several years. Me and her mother-who became a pseudo-mother to me which was wonderful and super helpful, searched for her endlessly… but! When she joined the Inquisition she had them rescue us from Earth! Our time seeing each other was short but so wonderful before she had to come here to bring Qiote home- he was such a sweet and shy boy unlike Yekku, who was always full of energy and fun!”

  Xitzocl raised her hands suggesting she stop while Xitzocl tried to process the girl’s rambling, picking up on the key information she needed to determine the trustworthiness of her tentative enemy. “You know Qiote-Arak’tarul?” she asked.

  Mo’Emori nodded vigorously, realizing she was overwhelming the diplomatic Marmuro’k before taking a long deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. She watched as Xitzocl barked an order to the nearest working Marmuro’k before it ran off to follow her order. Meanwhile, Mo’Emori looked around more, subtlety straying farther from Xitzocl to take closer things at what the natives were doing while Xitzocl stood patiently waiting. Whenever Mo’Emori would stray an uncomfortable distance, she would gently call out her name and to her pleasant surprise, the childish Eskarii would return and quickly apologize before becoming distracted by something else.

  After about 15 minutes, the Marmuro’k that had been sent on their errand returned with Qiote in tow. Mo’Emori squealed in excitement the moment her eyes landed on the familiar S’randin.

  “Qiote! Naestra above, its you!” she cried out, her high pitched tone causing Qiote to jump with wide eyes before recognizing the source of the noise.

  Xitzocl watched closely as she watched Qiote quickly shift from panicked to disbelieving curiosity as he let out an curious barking noise followed by a series of chittering that questioned the accuracy of who he was seeing.

  Mo’Emori stepped closer with her hands held endearingly to her chest as she spoke, “Its me, Mo’Emori. You were so sad when I saw you but you look so much better now! I’m so happy for you!” She spread her arms wide and bent at the knees in the fork of a readied hug that Qiote would recognize.

  With little hesitation, Qiote slid up to her and let himself be embraced as his long tail happily slapped the ground kicking up dust around them which made Mo’Emori giggle.

  “So, it is my understanding that you know this Eskarii, and she knows Mirina Sor,” Xitzocl brought up as her shoulders sagged in relief.

  Qiote pulled away and turned to Xitzocl, bobbing his head far more subtly before chittering a short explanation. Mo’Emori giggled as she watched Xitzocl listen to him with her fingers hiding her smile, “Its so cool that you can understand him,” she interjected innocently.

  However, Xitzocl’s head shot up in surprise and the reptilian look of annoyed disbelief, “Why did you not mention you were a mate of Mori?”

  Mo’Emori’s face turned a bright shade of red as she her brain registered what Xitzocl meant. “What? No! I mean-what?” she stammered in embarrassment as she looked at Qiote. Qiote responded with a short warble before touching the tips of both of his nails together to insinuate she and Morrigan touching, to what she assumed was the kiss she gave Morrigan before departing for Escostia. Mo’Emori whined childishly as she touched her burning cheeks, “Goddesses, how did you even hear about that!?”

  Qiote chirped and warbled before looking at Xitzocl to translate, “He says that Morrigan talked of your courting with her other mate and the rest of her clan soon after leaving.”

  “She told Nora!?” Mo’Emori exclaimed before falling to her knees in a new level of embarrassment she had ever experienced, hiding her face as it only grew a brighter shade of red that expanded to the tips of her ears. “I can’t believe this! Mae am my’nd ? ilad fi aní ?rüe fi mewn un Triss’unbré!” she complained loudly, drawing the attention of several Marmuro’k around her.

  With a single huff though, Mo’Emori looked up from her tantrum, “Its not like that… I mean, I care about her a lot and… we did kiss, but Mori’s partner is Nora…” she stated with a touch of depression over her own words.

  Xitzocl cleared her throat and offered her hand, “As much as I am curious, I understand your time is short,” she stated having the necessary information to make her decision as she helped Mo’Emori stand, “Tell me your needs and I shall assist in any way I can.”

  Mo’Emori huffed and considered what to ask, “Do you know where she is? Or at least where she went?”

  Xitzocl straightened into her stoic, diplomatic demeanor before responding, “She is no longer on Tik’Taq’To, however, she mentioned heading to your home world, she mentioned the need to converse with your queen.”

  Mo’Emori’s eyes widened in shock as her mind ran a thousand miles a minute, her jaw dropping slightly as she processed what it truly meant for her. “Shit,” she exclaimed without thinking before looking directly at Xitzocl, “She’s going to the wrong place but I know where she’s going!” she stated before turning on the verge of sprinting back to her ship.

  “Is everything alright?” Xitzocl asked while catching her by the arm.

  Mo’Emori looked back with look of anxious excitement, “Yes,” she stopped and took Xitzocl’s hand in hers, “Thank you so much though. I’ve been going in circles trying to find her… perhaps sometime in the future we can all meet and have lots of conversations, there’s still so much I want to learn that hasn’t been taught to me but for now, I need to try and catch up with Mori!”

  Xitzocl nodded, deciding to leave the conversation at that letting the energetic Eskarii dart off towards the gate and announcing their Eskarii visitors were allowed to leave through the bracer on her wrist. All the while Mo’Emori shouted into her own communicator, “Get to the ship! We need to make for Gelia, double time!”