Chapter 104: Natural Born Actor
"Tyris!" came Midnight’s jovial voice through the comms. I sat back in my chair, more than willing to watch the show that was about to come on the screen.
"Midnight Along The Fast Fields," said the Dryadalis with a regal nod of his head. "I reached out to see where you were," he continued.
Unlike the first time I had seen him, this time, I was able to truly study the Elf.
His white hair hung down well past his waist in different layers. Some were held together in a gold band, while others were simply braided and hung down his well-defined chest. His ears had multiple silver earrings hanging from them, almost hidden under his hair. He was well dressed in a black, high-necked robe that covered everything from his neck to his wrists and his toes. The edges and buttons were highlighted in a matted silver.
All in all, he looked very much like an affluent individual and might even be considered to be attractive if it weren’t for his bright red eyes.
"Where I am? I am almost at the coordinates we sent Merciless," smiled Midnight just before a look of concern passed over his face. "But between you and I? There was a Sisalik ship that just bolted out of here. My men could only get the identification number, but it was definitely Sisalik."
The male was a natural-born actor. I mean, I would have believed him myself if I didn’t know that I was the one to blow up the ships. He was just that good.
"Sisalik, you say?" asked the Elf as he cocked his head to the side. "I have lost a few ships lately; I am wondering if they might be involved in it."
"I wouldn’t know one way or another," said Midnight with a shrug as he leaned back in his chair and started tapping the armrest in much the same way I had done just a few minutes prior. "When was the last time you lost a ship? And by no means am I accusing the Sisalik of destroying your ships. After all, they are high-ranking members of the Alliance. Someone like me who doesn’t belong wouldn’t dare throw mud on an Alliance member."
Yup, the man—male was a fantastic actor, and if he couldn’t make a profession in that, politics was definitely a good runner-up for him. He was completely manipulating the other male.
"I just lost fifteen ships today, not overly far from where you are now," admitted Tyris as he ran his index finger over his lips in thought. "I wanted them around to take possession of the different zmaj for research purposes."
"Well, if you were thinking of dabbling in research, maybe the Sisalik felt threatened?" asked Midnight as he mused over the situation. "But I don’t understand what their motives would be, do you?"
Tyris also seemed to be considering different factors, the tips of his ears turning pink. I wasn’t sure if that was from rage or frustration, but it was definitely something interesting to note.
"I have some information if you are interested," said the Elf, completely changing the subject. I cocked my head to be able to listen better while Midnight sat forward in his chair.
"I am always interested in information, especially information that is interesting." Midnight smiled a very toothy grin as he looked at the other male. "And, of course, there will be compensation for particularly titillating information."
I would have to admit that it took my brain more than a few minutes to process what he was trying to say. When he wanted, he could definitely confuse those that weren’t paying attention.
"I have heard that the Saalistaja have discovered that some of their weapons and technology have been stolen," said Tyris, a devious smile on his face. This was the first time that I saw four canine teeth poking out of his lips.
Midnight sat back and scoffed over that. "There is not a single race that is willing to piss off those ones by stealing their technology. It is a death sentence. And I, for one, can think of much better ways to die," replied Midnight, a sly, suggestive smile on his face.
"Apparently, they are looking into the L-Series ships," continued Tyris, not raising to Midnight’s bait.
"And you think that the Sisalik have something to do with it? They are the only ones with the L-Series, and we all know how much it killed them to have to hand them over to the Alliance," mused Midnight.
"All I am saying is that if the Sisalik feel comfortable about blowing up my ships, there is nothing holding them back from stealing from the Saalistaja."
"Except brutal, excruciating death, not being burned with a full corpse and having their heads put on display in a kill room. Besides all that, right?" sneered Midnight, and I shared a look with Jun Li. Huh, maybe his fear of being discovered was not without reason.
"We are muted," assured Jun Li as I opened my mouth to talk to him before changing my mind.
"There is an idea on Earth in which, using a projector, you can change the outside of something to look like something else completely. There are also other things to make a ship completely invisible. Now, I don’t know how the technology actually works. It is one of those science fiction theories more than anything else. But then again, so are transporters, and you have those," I said, putting forth the second part of my grand plan.
Suppose we can’t confuse the Saalistaja into believing that it was the Sisalik that had their technology. In that case, we manipulate our outside appearance to become literally anything that we want to.
"Can you think of a way to make that happen? I am pretty sure that it would be easier to turn invisible more than anything else, but the idea of projecting a completely different appearance would be useful if we have to go into any high-density areas.
Jun Li was silent for a moment, his body frozen as he thought about what I was suggesting.
