Chapter 143: See That You Do
"Why would the ship think that there was Saalistaja around here?" asked Ye’tab, confused.
"I guess Jun Li spotted a ship on the other side of the planet," shrugged Midnight, not really caring about the other species or ships. All he cared about was huddled under a pile of furs.
"How is her temperature?" asked Au’dtair. "Should we activate her armor in order to optimize her internal readings?"
Ye’tab ran his scanner over his mate again, and his mandibles clicked in approval. "All sensors indicate normal readings. She should be fine in a little bit."
"Just because I am fine doesn’t mean that I am not frozen," came a female, her teeth chattering so hard. Au’dtair was worried that they might break. "And if one of you tells me that at least it is a dry cold, I might kill you."
Midnight chuckled and pulled the white fur down to expose the top of Mei Xing’s head. She looked up and glared at him before burrowing back under the furs like a little chomik.
"I have no idea what you mean by a dry cold," he assured her, tucking the covers back up over top of her head. "But I can assure you that I will not be telling you it is such a thing."
Ye’tab heard a small grunt before there was once again silence.
"Why are we here anyways?" asked Au’dtair once he was assured that his pet had fallen back asleep. "Maybe we can get it for her."
"She needs ice flowers," replied Midnight. Going up to the captain’s chair, he sat down and started pulling up the information on the herb. Standing up, he let the other two men come forward to see what it was that they were looking for.
"Altissima?" asked Ye’tab, looking at the flat-topped white flowers. The plants themselves were relatively tall, reaching almost 5 feet when fully grown. However, because of how deep the ice and snow were on the planet, their flowers were easily hidden within the sea of whiteness, making them next to impossible to find. "Aren’t they highly poisonous?"
"Yeah," grunted Midnight with a shrug of his massive shoulders. They had no scent and no taste, especially once their essence was extracted. It was the number one choice for most assassins, including The Hive.
But poisonous or not, his mate needed them.
"Does it at least say where to find it?" asked Au’dtair, not bothering to glance at the screen.
"Anywhere on the planet, hidden under the snow," said Ye’tab.
"That is not very helpful," grumbled Au’dtair. He wasn’t interested in taking too long looking for the herb when he could be spending his time with his pet instead.
"However, since it is a plant, and all plants generate heat of some kind or other, we should be able to use infrared to be able to determine its exact location. How much is needed?" asked Ye’tab, looking at Midnight.
"No idea," shrugged the male. "I think that the ship was just trying to find a planet she could go to to decompress."
"Maybe next time he can find a planet that is warmer so that she doesn’t freeze to death," snorted Ye’tab, not at all impressed that he almost lost his mate before she really got to know him.
"He did that once, and she still ended up almost dying," huffed Au’dtair. "I am thinking maybe one of the warm hunting planets we take the cubs to when they first learn to hunt."
"That should work," nodded Ye’tab, already planning on when and where to take her. "But let’s focus on this hunt first so that we can get her out of here faster."
"Let’s just get all the flowers that two of us can carry and call it a day," said Au’dtair, pulling out three dozen bags from one of the overhead bins.
"Who is going to stay with our mate?" asked Ye’tab, looking between the other two males. "There is no way that I am going to be willing to leave her alone. Especially when she is not feeling well, and there is the chance of hunters coming across the ship."
"He’ll stay," grumbled Au’dtair as he nodded to Midnight, his mandibles clicking in thought. "He can offer warmth, and we can disappear."
"Fine," nodded Midnight, more than okay with that arrangement. "Just hurry up and get back."
Walking over to the control panel for the ramp, he opened the hatch, letting a cold gust of air into the ship.
Ye’tab and Au’dtair nodded their heads to him and quickly activated the camouflage mode on their armor. Disappearing with the bags on their backs, Midnight waited until he could see the indentations of their feet in the snow before closing the hatch behind them.
"Is there any room for me in there?" he asked with a chuckle. Removing his boots, he unwound his mate from the furs and crawled in, pulling her into his arms. "And what was that particular formation called?"
"Cocoon," she grumbled as she threw one leg over his waist and got comfortable. "I will have lots of questions when my brain is functioning again, you know that, right?"
"I would expect nothing less," assured Midnight. "But you are also going to have to cut us some slack. Apparently, stalking you is going to be a normal occurrence for your mates."
"Still, a little heads up would have been nice."
Midnight laughed and shook his head before nuzzling her hair. "We’ll see what we can do," he assured her. "But maybe you could come with a warning sign, too," he continued.
"What? Genetic freak, stay away if you like your freedom and don’t want to share?" she asked, resting her chin on Midnight and looking up like him.
"More like mind-blowing fantastic; you will never want her out of your sight," he replied, giving her a light boop on her nose with the knuckle of his finger. "I think I already warned you that I don’t like it when you talk about yourself like that. You are not a genetic freak. You are perfection."
She stuck her tongue out at him, and he was a bit disappointed when she didn’t lick him this time.
"I’ll try to remember that," she huffed before resting her cheek on his chest and closing her eyes.
"See that you do."
