Chapter 128: Valuable Insight
"We are currently surrounded by eight Uugazt ships," said Captain Xyrix of the Dryadalis ship Shaahnex.
"I see," I replied, not knowing what he was talking about at all. I would need Jun Li to fill me in before we got there, as I assumed he would know what the hell a Uugazt was.
"How many ships are in your fleet?" I continued. I would need to know the numbers on both sides if I was going to take everyone out. Were my eyes bigger than my stomach? Probably, however, the only way to know for sure was to just do it.
Once again, there was a moment of silence before the captain replied. "There are ten of us," he replied without hesitation.
The funniest thing about Earth women? We could tell when someone was lying just by how they were breathing, and this little rat was lying through his teeth.
Now, the bigger question was: Did he over-exaggerate his numbers or under?
"Understood. Thank you for your cooperation," I said without the slightest pause. "Do any of you still have weapons left, or will we be taking out the Uugazts by ourselves?"
"I am afraid that we don’t have any weapons left," came the immediate response.
Another lie.
I sat back in my chair and tapped out a rhythm on the armrest, the thoughts swirling through my head.
"Understood. We are still a few chwila out. I’ll let you know when we are closer," I continued before looking at Jun Li to cut off communications.
He tapped a few buttons before spinning around in his chair and looking at me. "We can be there in less than twenty seconds," he said, looking at me confused.
"I know," I said, nodding my head. "But I need to think about a few things first before we show up. This will only be fun if we are the oriole and not the mantis."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean, he lied about his numbers and the fact that he still had working weapons on his ship. Not to mention, we just finished a call with Pippa a couple of days ago. I am not sure if this is an Alliance plan to bring us into the fold or if we are going to show up and get blown out of the sky."
"I would like to point out that we are technically not in the sky; we are, in fact, in space," said Jun Li with a smirk on his face.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious. But I think you know what I mean," I answered, sticking out my tongue. "Can your sensors give us any information?"
Jun Li spun back around to his station and started to type something quickly. "I have confirmed the eight Uugazt ships; however, I am reading fourteen Dryadalis ships, ten with still active weapons."
I had no idea what their end plan was, and that was bothering me. "Could the—" Before I could finish my sentence, another beep indicating incoming communications interrupted me.
"It’s Midnight. Do you want me to answer it?" asked Jun Li, and I grunted a yes.
There was a pause while the link was being established, and I took the time to take off my helmet and rub my head.
"Have I caught you at the wrong time?" asked Midnight. I looked up to see him looking at me, concerned, his face taking on a much more human expression than what I had seen before. I wondered if that was due to a lack of fur on his face.
Was this the transformation that the Ethawainians were known for? And if it was, did he know that I was the reason why it happened to him? Would he try and kill me, too, for taking away his choice?
"What?" I asked tiredly, tilting my head to the side and rubbing my neck and shoulder.
"Is everything okay?" he asked again.
"Yeah, just trying to figure out if I am the mantis or the oriole," I grumbled. I would put the situation between him and me aside and concentrate on the more pressing matter.
"I am afraid that I don’t understand," he said apologetically, and I chuckled in response.
"I didn’t expect you to. There is a saying where I am from that goes, ’The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.’ We received a distress call asking for assistance. We were told that ten Dryadalis merchant ships were under attack by eight Uugazts, whatever those were. However, new information has come to light that there are actually fourteen Dryadalis ships, and ten of them are loaded to the gills with weapons," I said.
"And you don’t know if you can swoop in and take the loot from everyone or if you were the intended target and they are waiting for you to spring the trap," mused Midnight out loud, getting to the heart of the matter within seconds. "And I want you to explain your expression in detail later."
"Will do. So, any suggestions? That is a lot of loot that I don’t really want to let slip through my fingers," I said as I continued to try and work the knot out of my shoulder.
"Give me your coordinates, and we can be there as soon as possible," offered Midnight, causing me to smile despite everything.
"You know I am not good at sharing, right? I am going to want to keep all the goods for myself," I warned him ahead of time.
"It’s fine. Keep everything for yourself. We can discuss some details later. Oh, and I have a few furs for you if you want to take a look at them," said Midnight as Jun Li sent out our coordinates to the other ship. "Be there in a few clicks," he continued, not bothering to wait for my answer.
I grunted a reply, and the link was quickly cut off as he entered hyper speed.
"Do you think he will be able to help?" asked Jun Li as he stared out the visual screen in front of us. He had managed to pull up the ’distressed’ ships and their ’attackers’. The only problem that I could see was that no one was moving.
"I think that he understands more about the finer details of this universe than either one of us. He should have some valuable insight."
