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Aboard the Severance: in Transit to Yarrow 2
Once the lynx was out of view, he remained as he was for a beat before turning around to steal a glance at her sexy round behind. Juniper was strong-willed, accomplished, intelligent, and what would be wrongly defined as a “lesser species” by his kin, packaged in a come-hither, curvy lynx. She had admitted that she was certainly not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but the stallion had had a little taste and found her eccentricity refreshing, at least for the time being.
Not long after Juniper’s exit, the stallion returned to his quarters. “Navir, those lights are not supposed to change for another hour…” Aries chastised aloud to the ship AI, whom he knew was always listening.
“You are too eager, my lord! Let the tension grow and the lynx simmer in her thoughts of the evening. You need to watch more rom-coms!” Navir stated as excitedly as a ship AI could.
“I continue to be conflicted about whether I think it is a good thing or not that I have so far been unable to restrain your whimsical personality,” the stallion quipped with a light chuckle before turning in for the evening.
The beginning of their first Wake Cycle as a crew aboard the Severance was mostly uneventful from the stallion’s perspective. Aries was the last asleep, first awake, and had showered and dressed before any of his passengers seemed to slink from their bunks.
He ate a quick protein meal bar for breakfast and headed to the ship’s helm to see how much longer was left until they broke hyperspeed. He’d arrived more or less just in time and decided to leave hyperspeed a touch early. As the ship exited hyperspeed, the silent flood of lights and colors vanished. The hum of the main engine filled the ship, now coasting in open space. As soon as he received relay signal, the captain checked his email. What awaited him in his inbox immediately made his brow furrow.
—Encrypted Message #8E1XWM2104—
Aries,
I’ve been digging into your request for info on Y2. Two things have stood out as interesting to me.
- The amount of public information on this planet is surprisingly slim for something being sold to a huge corp. What information is available, appears suspiciously like the provider wanted to dissuade people from being interested.
– Little to No Value Unique Species or Plants
– Large Unruly Destructive Carnivores in All Biomes
– No mention of mineral or metal compositions (Although based on the buyer, I’m guessing there is something valuable under the surface)
- A former researcher of the seller, who seemed to be involved in the review of Y2, recently took a job with your current client. You don’t need to be a genius to know that the researcher just took a massive pay cut. Seems suspicious that shortly after that happened, they are paying you for an off-the-books job involving Y2.
You didn’t pay me that much, so that is all you get.
XOXO Esslie
P.S. It’s been WAY TOO LONG since you last visited. I’m going to stop taking your commissions if you don’t come see me soon, you dumb horse.
—End Encrypted Message #8E1XWM2104—
*Very interesting indeed. Without the university job piece, I’d assume they were selling the planet to recoup the acquisition cost. However, the university is not doing this very quiet and expensive research tour for nothing. There is something valuable on Y2 that they want, and Ambient Robotics wants to hide it… Let’s hope it is a plant.* His lips curled into a smirk of their own volition.
As if someone had sensed his good mood, the mechanical swish of the bridge door caused the upward curve of his lips to flatline.