Moonhawk 2 - The Blackcrow

Chapter 5 - Increasing Paranoia

"Well, it's something for my work." He simply replied.

Cole's wife laid a hand on her stomach and looked directly into his visor before she gave him the gem. "Honey, please be careful at your work."

"I will be, my dear. Don't worry about that." The general said to ease her nerves. She started to worry even more. Especially because...

"That dark gem can get deadly if you don't use it right. For whatever reason you need it for, honey, don't do anything stupid. You have the right to know that I'm -"

"That you are worried- I'm aware. But trust me, I'll be fine. I need that gem for a special mission." He then interrupted her, but she picked up the topic again.

"Cole, I'm pregnant." She confessed.

Cole was extremely shocked to hear that news from her. "Y-you are what?"

"Pregnant, Cole. I'm pregnant." She wasn't afraid to repeat it until Cole understood. That would explain a lot, the grey one realized in silence and rubbed his forehead frustratedly.

Too much was going on around him, to a point where it overwhelmed him. Too much stress, too much to do, and now he got news that his wife was pregnant. The dark gem was in his claws, he clenched it tightly out of tension.

"Are you okay, honey? You look really overwhelmed." Camilla asked sweetly, but her husband didn't know how to answer. He was too buried in his thoughts.

"No, it's alright. Anyhow, I need to go back to work." That's all he could think to say. Before he could step into his shuttle and fly away, the sensitive bean grabbed his shirt to stop him.

"But Cole, don't you wanna stay for a while? I'd really love your company."

"I'm sorry my dear, but I can't. The mission I have to do is really, really important. I could visit you after it's completed." His wife understood with a heavy heart and let Cole return to his work.

During that time, the Blackcrow and the Starfall entered the planet Ulgara's solar system. The first objects Captain Pitch could detect from outside his window were a lot of asteroids around the planet. Sparks were also seen on those asteroids. They seemed to be various colored crystals. They appeared blue or purple, mixed with white and pink depending on the light's reflections.

Saros was still in his room with Moon. Outside the window behind the red bean, Moon could clearly see that they had finally arrived at their destination. She focused on the view after one of the asteroids floated in front of the window and she was astonished by the beautiful crystals that adorned the stone.

"What are you looking at, Moon?" Saros asked her, as he noticed that she was absent-minded. A colorful light from a crystal shone through the window inside the room and Saros turned around to look at it. He understood immediately that they were finally on Ulgara.

"Those crystals look really beautiful don't you think, Saros?" Clearly, Saros knew that the cyan bean would say that once she saw those stones. But Saros wasn't happy to see them again.

"Totally." He meant in a sarcastic tone which Moon could detect in his voice. Suddenly, a familiar sense began to rise up inside of Saros. He got concerned and looked wildly outside the star field. As he did, a silhouette from a spaceship appeared for a very short moment.

"What?" Saros was quietly mumbling to himself whilst he spotted that object out of the corner of his visor. It disappeared right after he saw it. Without knowing what he just saw, the wizard shook his head.

Moon behind him was way too confused about his sudden reaction. As if he saw something outside that she couldn't see.

"Saros? Everything alright?" She asked, very worried, but Saros kept shaking his head.

"Tell me, did you see something suspicious outside?" That left Moon even more confused.

"N-no, Saros. I didn't see anything." She said quietly, looking outside as well in hope to maybe see whatever it was he saw. But she couldn't. Nothing was there except the stars and the asteroids. The cyan mother became more and more worried about Saros's well-being. "But it could possibly be that you are just way too stressed. I'm sure there's nothing."

But the only response Saros uttered was a quiet growl.

Without any further discussion of the previous topic, the wizard teleported himself and Moon back to the bridge to continue their work. It was no use anyway. Whatever Saros saw, it clearly made him uncomfortable.

"I don't remember those asteroids around the planet's orbit." Saros then said, after they arrived on the bridge. He spotted them around the planet, which weren't there like the last time they visited the orbit.

Captain Pitch walked one step forward to the window and studied the stones outside with his half-broken visor. "Hm," He said deeply, "I don't remember them either."

"Wait, there again!" The same outline from the weird spaceship appeared again for a few seconds between the asteroids. Saros saw it in time, but the others didn't. He noticed that the others didn't seem to detect the object.

He made a demand to Zipper without asking Pitch first: "Zipper, do a quick scan around the whole area right now."

Captain Pitch was confused and wondered why Saros ordered that out of the blue. He's been acting weird lately, Hawk thought to himself after he heard that order. After the scan was done, the grey bean reported, "There's nothing out there except the Starfall, Saros."

"How can that be?!" Saros mumbled to himself. He swore that he saw that mysterious spaceship.
"I know I saw it. I'm not insane." With the last line, Saros held his hand up to rub his forehead. He became even more frustrated.

"What exactly did you see, Saros?" Pitch wanted to know. His voice sounded annoyed and irritated for him.

They began to think that the wizard started to get paranoid over something. Something that the others couldn't see or understand. No one was sure on how to react to his current behavior.

"A spaceship, captain. But it disappeared right after I saw it between those asteroids." Saros was hoping that Pitch would listen to his explanation, but he didn't seem to be much interested in his words and ignored him.

"Why don't we go down to the planet first?" It was Moon's suggestion. Not even the cyan bean believed in Saros's paranoia. For that to happen, she had to see the spaceship first. And as a suggestion, she came up with this idea for a topic change. Maybe they'll find more at the surface? After all, they were here for a certain material and not a spaceship.

Captain Pitch nodded and agreed to Moon's suggestion. "Aye, I'll go down with Saros and Hawk. Moon, you know what to do."

"What about the Starfall, Captain?" Zipper was asking out of curiosity behind them.

"The Starfall should investigate around the orbit." He ordered without any hesitation. Zipper went ahead and forwarded the task to Captain Wedly through the communication system. Moon was in charge of taking care of the rest of the crew while they were gone.