SSV Rōnin

Balukan

John was looking at the communicator, he could talk with a selected few people around the galaxy with it. Kylie was with him, she wanted to try it out right away. She was holding her pad at his side while looking at him.
"You got a lot of traffic, commander."
"Use my name, Kylie..." John just realized that he was just like the admirals. "I ended up just like Admiral Roberts..."
"What do you mean?"
"I used to be a more... rigid." John said while scratching his head. "Now, between Asha and the girls I'm just..."
"Ah, I didn't know much about you until recently, John... I mean, I know a lot about you, but it was mostly gossip from the nets." Kylie said at loud. "This is just like an old phone call. People needs to be in the receivers to talk across the galaxy. We can move this side of the communication..."
"That would be the exciting part?" John said at loud.
"Yes, these devices are usually in one place and can connect with other devices in the same conditions. Stability is fine. Who would you like to call? Admiral Roberts?"
"Asha." John said while touching her name in the pad.
The hologram was a bit noisy, but it was her. She was walking and was wearing a hat.
"Lover? Is that you? I got a drone like yours so you can see me when we talk." She quickly said.
"Hey, Asha. That's the... ships tag, I guess."
"Ah, they are relaying her feed remotely..." Kylie whispered to him. "That's new too... That's why the image looks so noisy, it's probably compressed like hell."
"Ah, is that fantastic communicator real? It sounds like fantasy to me..."
"I miss you!" They both said at the same time.
"Sorry." John quickly said. "How are you? I sent you the ambassador's tag."
"Don't be, love. You're better than my manager. We'll already talk a bit. I'm going to make an underwater show just for them!" She was excited.
"I called you from Laptra, but..."
"Sorry I was in a rehearsal. We're recording a few scenes of the movie here... Can I send you a picture?"
"Yes." Kylie shyly said.
"Kylie is her with me, Asha. We're testing this strange machine."
"Is not that strange..."
"I know you can't send information through quantum entanglement. They teach that on school."
"Well, it's a bit complicated, then... Hi, milady. You look fantastic."
"Thank you, Kylie. I'm walking to the next location. Don't worry, lover. Kurg is just behind me."
John shared the picture with Kylie. It was her with a valkirian.
"Jaxton sends his regards; He asked me a lot about you."
Kylie was surprised.
"OK. I..."
"He's an actor, love. A good one, especially because he is a valkirian." She quickly said. "I'm on an action movie now, the producer though that I would only do romances for some reason."
"That's good..."
"Yes! I'm a secret agent of the GHC. It's lovely. He's the rookie that falls in love with the protagonist."
"He's fantastic!" Kyrie said at loud.
"He is. Also, he's not a creep. That's a nice surprise. How are you, lover? I read your texts about the mission. Don't let my man drown, Kylie."
"I tell Xania to keep an eye out for him." Kylie quickly said.
"I'm fine, Vashi gave me a jetpack. It's fantastic, it's like flying on water." John said with a smile.
"You look a bit tired, lover. Are you sleeping well?"
"It's a lot easier with you around, Asha... I'm worried about the people we have to rescue, though. I'm hoping that we are on time."
"You can't fight against time, love. You just need to be you and do the best you can."
"I know... Thanks for picking up."
"What are you thank me for? I'm your woman, mister. I wish you were here, though, I met a few cute animals, I'll send you pictures."
"Please do... We have to go, Asha. Have fun."
"Keep me updated, John. I love you!"
"I love you too, Asha."
Kyrie was blushing.
"Are you OK?"
"Yes, I just feel a bit out of place..."
"Don't worry about it."
"You can talk with her from your implant directly, if you are on the ship."
"Understood. How do you know that I have a lot of traffic?"
"First, I'm one of your followers. Second, I can see the traffic per user on the logs, don't worry I can't see the data..."
"Ah, why do you follow me?"
"You took the cutest pictures of our lady, John. She's always herself with you. Smiling, holding your hand... You don't edit the pictures too much, either."
"I see..." John was following her through the corridor. "Not weird at all..."
"I like your pictures too, especially the ones you're doing yoga with her o Xania."
"Ah, she asked me to... you know."
"Heh, you are really shy, don't you?"
"Yeah... She's the extrovert."
John was looking at the galaxy map when Kylie sat in her station. Nick was chatting with Collin in the cockpit about the mission.
"I don't see how this benefits the EAN, just that."
"Having friends is never a bad thing, Collin."
"Yeah, I don't see how those fishes can help in..."
John just looked at him.
"Sorry, sir."
"Are you xenophobic?" John seriously asked. "They're people, just like you."
"I'm not, just... Well, politics is all about..."
"We're the good guys, Collin. We help whoever need us. Even if they can't live the same way we do." John seriously said. "The admiral put you with me to fix this, you know."
"I know. It's my first time serving with aliens."
"Oh, suddenly I'm a bit less weird now." Nick said at loud. "We're about to get there, cap. We're going out in stealth."
"Understood. Collin, just try to focus on our similarities instead of our differences. Farran may not be able to eat the same food as us, but he can put a bullet in your head from four or five Ks away like any other sniper."
Collin was nervous.
"Understood, sir."
"Xania, are you two ready?"
"Yes, we're calibrating the shuttle. Well, Kasuba is doing it, I'm just supervising. He knows a lot about them."
"I like to fumble with my ships."
"We should get him a fighter, cap. You should see him in the simulator."
"We can hang it like the Grasshopper!" Xania quickly added. "Just for emergencies."
"I would like that." Farran added through the comms. "John, thank you for getting these jetpacks, I feel a bit safer with this thing on my back."
"You worry too much, Farran." Xania said at loud. "You can't be that bad..."
"You'll see then..."
Nick activated the stealth system just in time. He could see the moon just behind the planet. Balukan was just like Laptra. It was a bit greener if his eyes weren't deceiving him. There were not ships on the sensors.
"No one around here in orbit, cap." Nick was looking at a display.
"I'm on my way, Xania."
John walked through the ship with a steady pace. He took his helmet on from the workshop and sat in the shuttle. The tank was occupying a quarter of the hangar, but he was worried if they would be comfortable in there. Nick descended into the planet to hover over the vast ocean. The view was just water. The waves were enormous. The hangar opened for them, and they were flying silently over the sea. Xania had a map of the starport in her drone, the three of them were studying it. John could only see one silent entrance.
"You know that I want to use these jetpacks, but... underwater is the only way to go undetected."
"Yep." Xania said with a broad smile. "You always take me to the best places, John."
"Garur..." Farran said at loud. "You're right, though. If I fall to the bottom, I'm expecting you two to rescue me..."
"Garur?" Xania said at loud.
"It's like your god, the... particular one."
"Ah, I see. You can fly underwater with that, it's quite easy to use, too." Xania quickly said. "You drive with your head. This aquarians are fantastic engineers."
"We'll see, I never did an underwater operation before."
"We did a few..." Xania said at loud. "Remember that time we had to rescue Unami from those thieves?"
"Yeah, she got trapped in an underwater cave with a dozen pricks over her..."
"He and Kuri landed in the middle of the place and punched everyone. I almost stood there watching with kappa in my hands."
"Kappa?" Farran asked with curiosity.
"It's a kind of fruit, they like to eat them when doing something else, like a watching movie or reading a book." John carelessly said.
"Ah, I see. Like your popcorn?"
"Something like that. Where are we Kasuba?"
"3 Ks away, commander. ETA: three minutes. I tried that fruit on Tyson, it's stupidly sweet."
"Yeah, we should get some if we hit an ignician market."
"I want some of that tasty snack you bought me in Centra, John. Those... fries."
"We'll get some in Centra, I can make them myself."
"Eh, the commander can cook. I know what Lady Soraya sees in you, John." Kasuba jokingly said.
"She's a takeout girl..." John carelessly said. "She told me that I was the first to cook in her kitchen... our kitchen."
"Sooo... do you live together?" Xania asked with malice.
"Yeah, you visited my apartment. It's... little, I can't fit her clothes in my place..." John was looking through the window.
"Heh, I wanted you to blush, John."
"Why?"
"I don't know, you barely started to date each other and you already live together."
"Yeah, I told her that we were going too fast, but... She needed to invite me to her place. I put her on the regular's list on the ship..."
Farran was judging him with his gaze.
"Talk, Lt."
"Nothing, I was thinking about the possibilities that my boss girlfriend is Lady Soraya..." Farran said at loud. "Almost impossible, but... here you are."
"It's worse for me, Farran. When I met him, he was a boot without experience..."
"He's a good soldier, though. Good instincts, especially for a human." Farran said at loud. "The weirdest part is when he punches our enemies."
"I heard about that, R&D told me about your lack of preferred weapon."
"I tunned up his holoblade for thar." Xania added.
"Don't use that nova, John..." Kasuba quickly said.
"He can use it, you'll see. It's all about timing." Xania said with proud in her voice. "Next, I'm teaching you about that holotool a bit more. You can do a few cool things with it, just need a bit of practice."
"We're here. Are you moving under water?" Kasuba was looking at them from the front of the shuttle.
"Yeah, keep a look out. Open comms, people." John said at loud. "I jump first, Farran. Xania will go behind you."
"Understood." Farran was a bit more nervous than he expected.
"I have your back, Farran." Xania was more excited than him.
John jumped into the water ready to rescue the aquarians.