S.O.S. [Daglobster] [M]

[DragonSong]

It was as Elaros's remaining restrain vanished that Maya caught her crest and arched into him with a strangled, mewling little cry that in a more vocal species probably would have been a scream fierce enough to wreck her throat. Joined as they were, she could feel his surrender to instinct urging her to do the same, and she just didn't have it in her to resist.

Whimpering and gasping as she felt his muzzle and teeth against her neck, she covered his hand on the floor with her own and gripped tightly; unable to wind down from what had been a truly shattering peak, she hovered on the edge yet again, her whole body shaking until she half thought she was going to break apart from the tension.

Then he was against her back, the rumble of his purr echoing through her own ribs, and she followed him over the edge yet again, her lips parted in a silent cry. The Joining was too much--she couldn't maintain the connection and had to let it fade as she collapsed beneath him, just panting desperately.

She couldn't form words, but her consciousness still brushed against his, conveying passion and relief and deep, wild affection, a delight in this new side of him, bright as the slowly dying sparks that still occasionally skittered over her form. And though she couldn't speak, a soft, crooning hum had started in her chest, rising and falling almost like whale song as she craned her neck to press her face into his shoulder, then turned her head to sink her teeth lightly into his neck with a quiet purr of her own--a subharmonic of the soft humming.

Finally, she managed to form an auditory word in her mind: Stay.

She still didn't quite have her full grasp of language back, but the intent and emotion behind the word would translate clearly enough. There was something instinctive in her, almost primal, that wanted him close, wanted to stay connected to him even after the act, wanted to continue to feel his body covering hers as the water continued to stream over them.

Stay...

[Daglobster]

“Yes...” was his immediate, hazy reply. As his hands sought comfortable places to rest on her, his tail looped once and then twice around one of her legs like an affectionate snake. He let out a couple of huffs, both to try and dispel some of his desperate purring and to purge himself of excess heat.

For the moment, there were no other words. What could he have said, really, that wasn’t already known to the both of them?

Water ran down the channels between his scales, cooling him off and allowing him to regain a semblance of stillness. He had never felt an oblivion like this before, amplified the wake of the faded Joining.

He let his snout rest on the nape of her neck, and sighed.

“I will... if it’s a dream, then I’ll just never wake up,” he murmured.

[DragonSong]

Maya hummed softly, content and sleepy in the aftermath. She smiled and then laughed silently when his tail curled around her leg, allowing herself to rest more heavily into one side of his body as they both started to cool down. Her smile widened when she felt his muzzle against her nape and she purred quietly before twisting her head to kiss his jaw lightly.

I’ve never had a dream this good, she projected with a combination of amusement and satisfaction. Nuzzling into his neck, she added, I could show you, you know. I promised you a trade of memory, but I could do it with dreams as well...

Not now though. Now she just wanted to stay here with him, to let the water clean and cool them both with his body wrapped over and around hers as she curled back into the solidity of him with another quiet, deeply contented purr.

[Daglobster]

Ah yes, the memory trade they'd talked about. The time between then and now seemed like a different lifetime ago, but that may have just been a side effect of the literally mind-bending sex.

He smiled against the jaw kisses, picturing the logistics of sharing dreams with her and finding himself bemused by the fantastical nature of it. Then again, she'd proven her capabilities and then some, so he welcomed another chance to get his mind blown.

But not now. Now, he was drained in every possible way and drunk on her purrs and kisses. He almost felt like he could just... slip away again. He wouldn't even have minded if the morning shift found them like that. He closed his eyes, fully intent on letting go as her lips moved against his neck...

But then something odd happened. The entire ship seemed to stutter, all at once, and the two intertwined lovers were jolted sharply. A rattle seemed to vibrate from all around them, and Elaros instantly raised his head. He had a genuine fear in his eyes, confused and shocked.

The ship was NOT supposed to be making that sound!

Another jolt, this one sharp enough to send the pair sliding across the shower floor. Fortunately for Maya, Elaros was the one to hit the wall with a sharp hiss, although he himself wasn't much softer. The second jolt was accompanied by a loud, spinning-down noise that seemed to emanate from the back of the ship, as well as a persistent shaking that had the emergency lighting come on.

[DragonSong]

Just as exhausted and content as her companion, Maya was more than happy to allow her body to grow slow and heavy as she continued trailing light kisses over his jaw and throat while they just lay there together.

But then the ship shuddered around them and she gave a near-silent yelp, eyes blown wide as she raised her head at the same time Elaros did and looked around. His fear bled into the air around them and she pressed closer to him with a tiny, involuntary whimper.

The ship jolted again, sending them skidding across the floor, and her mouth formed around a soundless cry as she was jolted sharply against his chest. The collision might have been hard enough to bruise, but she hardly had the time or inclination to worry about it in the moment. She tried to push herself up, hand sliding on the wet floor and sending her collapsed back against his chest with a sharp huff.

What’s going on? The question was as much emotion and sensation as it was words: surprise, fear, the tiniest hint of curiosity, and a sudden pang of worry for him as she looked down and winced. She reached up to cup his cheek in her palm, sitting up again with marginally more success. Are you alright? What do we do?

[Daglobster]

"We're slowing down. Wait! no, we're--"

Another shake, and this time a Drakkon voice came on over the loudspeakers. Low barks and harsh, rasping growls echoed through the locker room and this time, Elaros' eyes seem to dawn with realization. From their sitting up position, he rose using one of the shower's handle bars and held his hand down for Maya to help her up, eyes still glued upwards.

"The engines are failing," he said. His voice, normally perfumed with a seductive purr or an intoxicating smile, had none of its usual cushioning. He shut off the shower and the walls lowered. He made an uncertain noise, glancing between her and their pile of clothes, and then abandoned both to approach a panel on the wall and start typing in his access codes.

The panel blipped to life and immediately Elaros opened up a channel to the bridge.

"Ferdix, tell me what's happening," he said into the terminal's microphone, and Captain Ferdix's voice came through, albeit slightly unclearly.

"We're being pulled out of shock-speeds, Master."

"Pulled out!?" Elaros immediately gasped, his eyes searched for nothing in particular before Ferdix's voice came through once again.

"Yes, Master. A sustained energy pulse in the system we just entered is interfering with the navigation computer. We'll have to spin the shock-drives back-"

Another voice suddenly cut in, more distant, like one of the crew was speaking up from their station loudly enough to pause Ferdix.

"Engine signatures, closing on our exit-point!"

The silence was thicker than oatmeal for a split second, just enough time for Elaros to process that and widen his eyes, and then Ferdix's voice came back.

"Stay where you are, Master. We're sending security to take you to your chambers," came Ferdix's voice, and the terminal shut off.

Elaros looked back to Maya, finally ready to tell her what was wrong.

"Pirates."

[DragonSong]

Whatever was going on, Maka had a feeling she was going to want to be wearing pants for it.

She listened closely, fight-or-flight setting into her body even as she gathered up her clothes and dressed quickly, head tipped in Elaros's direction all the while. She could pick up the ambient emotions--distress, confusion, shock, even a flicker fear--but without a proper connection they were all maddeningly without context.

She was snatching up his clothes off the floor when he looked back to her and the word "Pirates" registered in her mind. Her eyes widened, her own fear thundering in her head like a second pulse.

Maya tried to force it back, gritting her teeth and darting forward to touch two fingers to his wrists as she shoved his clothes into his arms. What do you need me to do?

[Daglobster]

Indeed, now that danger was apparent, Elaros’ hormones swelled, if not for a different reason. Usually, there was always a hint of comfort and gentle attraction in Elaros’s thoughts. But as Maya touched his arm to make a proper connection, she’d find him drenched in animalistic hormones. He was far from helpless, and so there was surprisingly little fear in him. Just a potent tension, like the kind one could read off of an animal defending its territory.

He blinked down at his clothes, and quickly threw on his airy robe and drew the waist closed. He tried not to think too deeply on Maya’s own nervousness, which compounded with his own to make him feel uniquely disturbed.

“The few times we’ve had run-ins with unsavory types like this, we’ve always outran them. Without the drives…”

It’s going to be a fight. A dry, tense warmth settled into Elaros’ shoulders, then he spoke once again.

“Come with me and stay close,” he finally said, and he slipped his arm up against her touch to capture her hand with his, to maintain the connection easier while they were on the move. For the moment, he was intent on leading her out of the gardens.

[DragonSong]

Maya nodded quickly—what else could she really do?—and wove her fingers more tightly through his. Her bio-electric defenses were threatening to crackle to the surface, and she had to force her mind into something close to a meditative state in order to shove them back.

Elaros’s responses, both cognitive and instinctive, were something else to contend with. It had been a long time since she’d been in such a heightened emotional state while connected to someone else, and she was so focused on trying to regulate her own emotional responses so that she could properly communicate that it actually helped to push some of the fear and panic tp the back of her mind.

She stuck close to his side as he led them back out through the gardens, her eyes flickering about warily as though she expected an assailant to be hidden behind one of the groups of leafy fronds.

[Daglobster]

Elaros strode with confidence through his ship-board gardens. Partly because he knew these spaces like the pattern of his scales, but also because his senses were now fully attuned. The slightest rustle of the bushes or waft of unfamiliar scent could set him off now, but he maintained his composure and swallowed down the roaring choler welling up inside of him.

Now that he wasn't slowly touring her through, he'd taken the most direct path and they were at the garden's airlock. Once the second pair of doors opened up to the rest of the ship, the sound of alarms and scrambling Drakkons was much more apparent. Low Drakkons surged by, either trying to return to their quarters or reach their battle stations.

Elaros stared as a small squad of Low Drakkons with info-visors and red jumpsuits jogged along, escorted by two guards in light, space-worthy armor and armed with plasma rifles.

The gunners... Ferdix ordered the cannons online? No, no this can't be happening... A surge of apprehension washed through him like a sudden realization, although Maya would be able to feel his apprehension much easier than see it. The last time the cannons had been ordered online... Elaros had nearly died that day.

Another team of armored security Drakkons approached them, and barked something at Elaros. It snapped him out, and he replied with a pair of short hisses and they started hustling along to the bridge. With a growl, Elaros sourced a communications bead from one of them and he got Ferdix on the comms, leaving the speaker on so Maya could also hear as they walked.

"Ferdix, I just saw the gunnery crews. What in the Mother's name is happening?"

 Ferdix's voice was quick to come on, although by the sound of it he'd been talking to someone else as he answered.

"Get the bays sealed up! Retract all the communications antennas! Ahem... Master, I see the security teams have found you. Please, get up here as quickly as possible so we can lock down the command bridge." His voice was collected, although the notes of concealed stress hid just how much he was speaking for Elaros' comfort.

Elaros growled, a genuine one brought on by stress and exasperation, and Ferdix relented.

"They're going to be upon us any second now. Nothing that matches our weight class but they've got us outnumbered."

As Ferdix spoke, they all got into an elevator and Elaros' clawprint overrode the security and sent them straight to the command deck. Above them, a sharp electric crackle sounded off and the ship shook as if shaken by a thunderstorm.

"One less of them now. Reading catastrophic decompression," came a voice from the bridge, as Elaros had never terminated the connection.

Elaros, who should've been comforted by that, instead widened his eyes at the mention of 'decompression' and shrunk a little towards Maya, seeking her comfort. It seemed the sound and feeling of just the cannons firing was enough to dredge up some trauma.

[DragonSong]

When Elaros curved toward her, Maya quickly laced her fingers tightly through his and sent a pulse of comfort and assurance through the connection. It was an automatic reaction on her part, instinctively wanting to soothe, but there was a hint of her own tension lingering at the edges of her consciousness and in the lines of her body.

You're okay. We're okay. She didn't project the words, but the sense of them would skip from her mind to his through the contact of their joined hands.

She pressed a little closer to his side as they walked and drew her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment, thinking. Then:

...Can you ask if my ship is flyable? She glanced up at him, eyes wide but her mouth set in a determined line. The Mirage is small and fast. Maybe we can lead some of them off.

It was difficult to keep the fear that idea inspired hidden when she spoke mind-to-mind, especially with someone she had been so recently and powerfully intimate with, but she did her best to cloak the trepidation with another pulse of reassurance as she squeezed his hand.

[Daglobster]

As Maya had already experienced, physical memories were the ones most powerful to Elaros' species. Hearing about decompression caused a remembered chill to wash over him, colder than even the coldest days on Drakkona. How his muscles screamed as he held on for dear life as the void tried to swallow him. The smell of cold space and charred metal.

One of the pirates had brought a makeshift explosive. The hull had held, but the windows...

...he was almost back there, too, but someone had taken his hand, and told him he was okay. In the memories, it was a pair of security guards, but somehow, Maya had managed to insert herself. She literally pulled him out of the short nightmare with what seemed like the strength of a thousand men, and the world came back.

He exhaled, and glanced around the elevator's cabin. She'd asked him another question, and he latched onto the blessed distraction, only to open his mouth in protest. She wanted to go out there?!

"The bays will be sealed to stop any boarders, but... but if you're confident you can make it back here to me," his voice trailed off as he ​squeezed her hand more securely "I'll allow it."

He didn't have to use the pad, because then the elevator was opening up and they were back on the bridge. Elaros let Maya's hand go and brushed past the guards, immediately making for some smooth metal lockers set into the wall. Ignoring the chaos that was an active bridge, Elaros leaned close to one and it scanned his reptilian eye.

The locker said something in computerized Drakkonan and it opened up, revealing that it contained the usual things one needed in case of boarders. A pair of sleek energy pistols with accompanying charge packs as well as a pair of belts with metal-topped segments and a button in the middle. Elaros immediately slipped on one of the belts. Pressing the button caused a faint, greenish oval to shimmer into existence around him and then disappear just as quickly.

Ferdix approached, and spoke to Elaros even as the larger Drakkonan was busy gathering the rest of the emergency supplies in a bundle, passing the spare pistol to Maya.

"Master, you should be in your quarters," came his voice, and Elaros shook his head. "To hell with that. What are we dealing with?" he said, and Ferdix's snout tightened at that.

"Several small vessels are intercepting us, they'll be upon us any moment," Ferdix said. Almost to punctuate his sentense, a ramshackle, vaguely cone-shaped craft went streaking by on the bridge's windows, firing a spray of lasers in their vague direction. The Anastasia's shields shimmered and reflected the small beams. The Anastasia shook as her dorsal cannons fired again, and Elaros could only stare in rapt horror as the small vessel caught the capital-class railgun round through the middle and split like a soda can being run over by a tank.

The moment was broken just as quickly by a squadron of even more of the things streaking by overhead.

"They're trying to swarm us," Ferdix continued calmly. "The bridge is going to be their first target.  Master, I abide your decision to come up here and arm yourself, but you need to be somewhere else," the aged red Drakkonan said. Even though he was of the Lower breed, Ferdix seemed to stand taller just then, tail straight and confident as he essentially stood up to his Alpha to try and calm him.

[DragonSong]

It took not an inconsiderable effort of will for Maya to keep herself from being swept up into Elaros's memories when she reached out to him like that. Thankfully, her touch seemed to offer some sort of anchor, and he came out of it himself quickly enough. She wasn't sure she could have held on too much longer.

She'd expected his reluctance to humor her idea, but when he squeezed her hand she smiled and reached up to cup his jaw in her palm for a moment.

I'll be fine, she projected, focusing on a feeling of calm confidence that may not have been entirely real, but he didn't need to know that. This isn't my first time dealing with hostile spacers. I'll be fine. She smiled again and stroked her thumb briefly over his cheek. We'll be fine.

She followed him out onto the bridge, taking the pistol he passed her on reflex more than anything else as she listened to Ferdix and her eyes flickered over the windows.

When the first ship was destroyed, a tiny shudder passed through her body. She gritted her teeth and looked from the ship's captain to its owner. She knew Ferdix was right, but she was well enough attuned to Elaros's emotional state that she also knew he wasn't going to be particularly logical just then.

Elaros. She took his arm with a pulse of calm that she hoped might at least help him find some balance. Listen to him. You know he's right--you need to get somewhere safe.

Keeping one hand on his arm, she reached out to Ferdix with her other hand until she touched his shoulder lightly. She felt a little guilty--it seemed rude to suddenly start projecting to someone she'd never spoken to before, but she hardly had many options.

I need to get to my ship, she told the smaller drakkon, though her maintained contact with Elaros meant he would be able to hear her too. The Mirage may not seem like much, but she's fast. And she's eye-catching. If I peel out of here quickly enough, I may be able to get the swarm to follow me. It'll at least buy you some time.

The only real reason a small, quick ship would have for fleeing an attack like this would be if it had particularly valuable cargo it was trying to keep safe on the chance the larger ship was taken. She was hoping that possibility would be enough bait.

And the Mirage wasn't completely defenseless. She had no false confidence in her ability to actually fight a small fleet of pirates, but she could hold her own for a little while.

[Daglobster]

Indeed, Elaros was in way too heightened an emotional state for this.  Maya's stroking along his jaw and his cheek did wonders to settle him, enough so that his breathing had slowed by the time Ferdix was speaking to the two of them.

"Smaller" was a relative measure, since Ferdix was essentially closer to the size of a human while Elaros embodied the larger, more bestial sub-species. And speaking of bestial, Ferdix's seemingly minor defiance struck a chord in Elaros that would normally have been much looser. Elaros, never the one to even question his own subordinates too much, let alone lord over them, went tense.

Ferdix squared his shoulders, reptilian face betraying little emotion, but it was clear that a deeply nuanced silent communication had begun between the two creatures. A pretender in the wild challenges an Alpha on his own territory, a previously subservient male.

And neither seemed ready to back down, the tension ratcheting higher and higher in the silence-

And then Maya made contact with Ferdix while still connected with Elaros, and both Drakkonans suddenly flinched. The pulse of calm helped sooth Elaros, which would then bleed over to Ferdix through this new circuit that Maya had created.

It'd feel a little bit like suddenly being able to hear a heated shouting match, except it was all happening through minor physical cues and subharmonic noises. Both had been a single twitch of the tail away from spilling over, but suddenly...

..they understood each other. Ferdix just wanted what was best for Elaros, and Elaros was just afraid, unsure about what was happening and lashing out like a scared animal. They were both just scared animals.

And the knowledge helped.

Elaros focused on calming down and lowering his mental state while Ferdix let out a slight breath and looked to Maya gratefully. The relief of her intervention seemed to override the shock of the new form of communication.

In fact, much like Elaros, a warm hand and a smooth mental voice seemed to work wonders. It was genuinely tough for the grizzled Ferdix to not just let his shoulders melt down at the light touch. Receptivity seemed to run in the entire Drakkonan species, not just Elaros.

Ferdix waited for Elaros to distance himself a little. The larger Drakkonan was on the railing, chest heaving as he swallowed his instincts and compulsions, but overall seemed to be making the effort to become reasonable again.

Once he was sure Elaros was distracted, he spoke to Maya. Ferdix's common was serviceable, but carried a much heavier, if not lighter-toned accent than Elaros.

"If they're pirates, they either want the ship, or Master Elaros himself. This ship can fall into a star for all I care, but that Drakkonan is the only one who matters," he said, speaking with a bizarrely loving conviction about someone he referred to as Master. Once again, The Anastasa's cannon fired, and smaller weapons along the vessel's hull made themselves useful now that the enemies had closed range. Outside the quadruple-thick glass on the bridge, a small battle was unfolding.

"I can't just open the bays. The assailants could use it to land boarding parties. As long as we have the shields, we can't risk it."

And just then, another squadron of the smaller vessels, another scattering of lasers and energy blasts. One bright, blue light remained, a metal sphere that had been dumped out of one of the ships. It detonated with an electric crackle which sent the lights and monitors of the bridge to flicker.

The Anastasia's shield crackled away, and finally Elaros' voice pierced the silence.

"What the hell was that!?"

Before anyone could realize that the ship had been hit with an EMP bomb, a pirate vessel with a pointed prow proved the shield was indeed gone by crashing straight into the deck just beneath the bridge. The sounds of clamps and a drill started up beneath them.

"Nevermind, they're boarding us now!" Ferdix snarled, and he looked over to Maya.

"You'll have your chance. Get our Master to his quarters safely, and then the guard detail will escort you to the hangar," he said. As he spoke, several more impacts could be heard ringing around several parts of the Anastasia's hull.

"We have more!" said a voice from one of the bridge crew.

"Boarding vessel impacts on engineering decks Three and Seven! Crew deck Four, also hit!"

Ferdix ignored the panicking voices, and instead focused on addressing Maya calmly.

"Most importantly, we need time to charge our engines back up. If we can jump away, we can leave these pirates in the dust. Whoever they are."

[DragonSong]

While ala'ora were not an aggressive or confrontational species by nature, Maya had enough practice reading body language to get some sense of what was going on even before she'd forged the connection between the two Drakkonans. She kept up the contact as long as she could, using herself more as a circuit than a true part of the connection, simply soothing the edges of fear and tension with a projected calm.

When Elaros pulled away to collect himself at the rail, she let him--but the tiniest pulse of worry trickled from her mind to Ferdix's from where her hand still touched his shoulder. Now that Elaros had walked away, it was becoming clearer that she was not nearly so calm as she was trying to be, her heartbeat just a hair too fast and her core temperature rising as her bio-electricity reacted to her fight-or-flight response.

She listened to Ferdix as he spoke, nodding and sending quick affirmations through their contact so he knew she understood what he was telling her. Along with a brief pulse of vaguely surprised compassion as she sensed the care he held for his employer.

I understand, but there's--

Before she could fully communicate her concern--and an idea--the ship lit up as it was hit and she nearly jerked away from Ferdix in her surprise, whirling to face the bay windows. Her eyes widened. A surge of panic threatened to swamp her, and she didn't have the time to pull her hand away from Ferdix and hide it from him.

The Anastasia had found her adrift in space, ship clearly spent from a series of desperate jumps. It was not an unreasonable conclusion to reach that this would not exactly be her first run-in with pirates.

She took a breath, forced herself to at least fashion a veneer of calm, and quickly grabbed Ferdix's wrist again when he ordered her to take Elaros to his quarters.

I will, she responded rapidly, communicating as much--or more--in flashes of emotion and sensation as words. He'll be safe. I promise. Captain--

She didn't have time to explain this in a non-ala'oran way. Hoping that his easy acceptance of her method of communication meant he'd be receptive to what she was about to do, Maya essentially projected an idea, a plan, into the Drakkonan's head. What might have taken her several minutes to explain was conveyed in a breath.

Something had changed in her since she'd been traveling the stars. She wasn't quite sure when, or how, but she seemed to have somehow developed something of a last resort survival reflex. Where most ala'ora could only link telepathically with their own technology, which was semi-conscious itself and specifically designed to do so, very few of them were able to manipulate their bio-electricity and natural empathic abilities to connect to foreign tech. It was more art than science, never a guaranteed success, and typically was only able to be done in short bursts, their will enacted on one machine or system at a time.

Maya could do more.

If the pirates were after Elaros, she could give them exactly that. With enough desperation and a bit of luck, she thought she could trick their sensors into reading that The Mirage carried both herself and the jeweler, even if Elaros himself was left safely in his quarters.

But she'd need to make direct contact with one of their ships first.

I can buy you time, she told Ferdix just as she projected the idea to him, alongside a sense of determination and reassurance that she would do her utmost to keep Elaros safe. Her lips quirked up a bit on one side, though her eyes were afraid. I chose the name Maya for a reason.

As she pulled away from him, turning back to Elaros and offering her hand, she left him with the knowledge that "Maya" meant "illusion".

[Daglobster]

Ferdix stood with his brows knit together as Maya spoke to him.

Reports were coming in from guards now, making their transmissions as skirmishes started in the hallways. Sentences barked out in Drakkonan over the comms systems, interrupted by the pulses of Drakkonan plasma carbines and the stuttering reports of automatic slugthrowers.

It wasn't just care that Ferdix had for Elaros. He, like every other low Drakkon in his service, loved him In every sense of the word. Low and High Drakkons have closely knit relationships that are more akin to cultural and genealogical symbiosis forged by universal bonds of intimacy between all members of society. As these bonds tugged at Ferdix's mind, Maya would be able to glean a lot of information from the stored nuance and cultural memories.

Love was truly free on a Drakkonan vessel, where air filtration systems distributed their naturally produced pheromones to ease the confining existence aboard a star vessel and facilitate a loose, approachable environment on board. Low Drakkons are instinctually programmed to seek   out High Drakkons, whose potent pheromones are addictive both by nature and due to the actual health benefits Low Drakkons can derive from extended contact, while High Drakkons reap the benefits of having creatures that constantly want to be around them and easy access to rutting partners. High Drakkon pheromones are stored separately by Drakkon air filtration systems and deployed as-needed. The familiar scent of a treasured master could do wonders in many situations. As the only High Drakkon aboard, literally every other Low Drakkon had gotten a piece of him at some point. Ferdix included, and that last part was increasingly clear as Ferdix studied his master as he recovered.

It was a lot of information, but if Maya had wanted to analyze the information coming from Ferdix's end of the bond, but it was there while Ferdix pieced through the plan she had given him.

When the plan dawned in his eyes, he nodded and spoke up again, her confidence in herself spreading to him in the form of a fanged grin.

''It might just work. We will divert our resistance so it pulls the attackers away from the Master. But please--" And Ferdix advanced to lay a cautious hand against her shoulder.

"Do not leave his side. You are not Drakkon and the turrets will read you as such."

She was already moving away, however, and he lowered his hand back down to his side, turning back to the bridge so he could command the battle. Pensively, he watched on feed-screens as one of the boarding craft breached into a hallway. The drill-bit parted into four seperate sections and the craft disgorged numerous diminutive occupants armed with automatic rifles and bulkead saws. Drakkon guards took up positions at the end of the hallway and a fierce battle ensued, the camera being struck by a stray bullet and disabled shortly after.

[DragonSong]

In almost any other circumstance, she would have been more than thrilled to parse through all the cultural and biological information that had just transferred to her from a relatively brief point of contact. It was why she was out here, after all, to meet new people and learn about them.

That would probably have to wait.

Maya reached up to lay her fingertips against Ferdix's hand on her shoulder for the few moments it was there, giving him a smile and another pulse of assurance just before he pulled away. I will.

She hesitated a moment, between him and Elaros, then quickly reached back to brush her fingers over his wrist just long enough to project, Stay safe.

Then she was at Elaros's side, taking his hand in hers and looking up into his face with concern. The captain wants you back in your quarters. I'm coming with you, alright?

She made sure not to relay the rest of the plan just yet. She had a feeling the jeweler would be less than thrilled with the idea, and they didn't have time to argue.

[Daglobster]

"My quarters, yes," Elaros said, nodding his head, and finally he straightened from the railing, taking Maya's hand more securely. He found her eyes easily and he nuzzled his temple against hers as his breathing finally slowed. Silently, Ferdix watched the contact between the two of them for a moment longer before he turned back to the situation at hand.

Elaros broke away from Maya, although he still held onto her hand to guide her back into the elevator. They were joined by two guards, who took up positions in front of Elaros as the elevator doors slid closed. Elaros accessed the floor control panel, eyes skimming over the various indicators. Floors with an ongoing emergency (such as a hull breach caused by a boarding ship) blinked an urgent orange.

Elaros quickly dialed in the third-highest deck, which was blessedly clear of alerts, and they started to rise.

Elaros stood closer to Maya's side, both for his own comfort and to keep her safe within the radius of his personal shield.

"There's no breaches on this floor but that doesn't mean it's clear. Be careful," he said, looking back down to Maya.

[DragonSong]

For just a moment, less than a full breath, Maya was stiff and tense beside him when he moved closer. It was...difficult, in her current heightened emotional state, to keep her mind calm and not just project instinctively to anyone near her. With how surprisingly receptive Elaros was to ala'oran communication, she didn't doubt he'd be able to feel her own anxiety and fear with barely a touch if she wasn't careful.

It was maybe half a second, then she had her "voice" reined firmly back in control and she leaned into his side slightly, glancing up at him and nodding. I understand. And Ferdix warned me the weapons will register I'm not Drakkonan, so I should stick close anyway.

She tried for a wry smile, letting her hand lay gently against his arm for a brief moment with a slight pulse of a manufactured kind of calm. Well. Better than nothing.

[Daglobster]

She was trying to calm him, that much Elaros could gather. A sweet sort of numbness spread from her touch on his arm, settling in his mind like a drug. Elaros' mind was somewhat resistant to the manufactured calm, too wired up on hormones. Like an agitated animal, it served to only dull him somewhat. Yet, he was grateful for the gesture.

He briefly covered her hand with one of his and gave an assuring squeeze.

The elevator doors opened to reveal marbled corridors that looked like they'd been transported straight from a terrestrial palace. Granite sculptures of Drakkons in sensual positions, Low and High alike, filled alcoves that lined the halls, which were bathed red by intermittent emergency lights.

Elaros' guards led the way, moving out towards a junction in the passageways.