Dana and Rachel both looked delighted when they strolled into the hangar with Associate Bhaken, and they waved jubilantly at John, Alyssa, and Irillith who were waiting by the Raptor gunship with Jade. The two girls spoke earnestly with their Trankaran guide for a moment, thanking him for being such an excellent host as they waved him goodbye, before jogging over to rejoin their friends.
Alyssa sighed with relief as John dropped his mind-shield, and when she was able to listen to his inner voice, he seemed more like himself once again. His behaviour seemed to be increasingly erratic of late, acting distant and out of character, and she was getting more than a little worried. Jade had been the first of the other girls to notice anything, and it had been a big relief to be able to share her concerns, having kept it to herself to avoid troubling them. Dana and Rachel rushed over with eager smiles on their faces, and she turned to listen to the redhead as she began to speak.
"That was awesome!" Dana exclaimed, bouncing up and down with excitement.
John smiled at her, and asked, "Things went well with the Forgemaster, I take it?"
To his surprise, it was Rachel who answered first, and she beamed as she replied, "These Trankarans are so friendly and helpful! The Forgemaster had a male and female assistant, who both let me take some genetic samples. They agreed to let me scan them too!"
Dana nodded animatedly, and said, "And I've just spent the last hour having a fascinating chat with Forgemaster Gilgrem about metallurgy. Associate Bhaken wasn't exaggerating about the Trankarans having a gift with metals, they really know their shit! They're also mining several metals I've never even heard of before!" She looked a bit evasive, but grinned at him endearingly as she added, "I bought a ton of each, just in case they might be useful. I hope that's okay?"
John chuckled and replied, "Yeah, as long as you got a good deal."
She winked at him slyly, and whispered, "These Trankarans might be friendly and helpful, but they aren't the sharpest traders. Considering how rare those metals are, I picked them up for a tenth of the price I was prepared to pay."
John clapped her on the back as he said, "Sounds like you did some quality haggling! Will the ore be here soon?"
She giggled before replying happily, "Forgemaster Gilgrem said he'd have them delivered straight away, so hopefully they should be here in a few minutes." She then looked at him with a quizzical expression and asked, "How did the meeting with the Chancellor go?"
He grinned at her and replied, "Very well actually, but we can go over the details with everyone back on the ship. Basically, I agreed to help them with their rebel problem, and in return, they're going to outfit the Invictus with the best engine tech they can make. I requested their engine specifications, so you'll know what you're going to be working with, and you can start thinking about how to seriously upgrade our Inertial Dampeners."
Alyssa smiled at her old friend and said wryly, "The Trankarans had some concerns for our safety if they gave us their state-of-the-art tech. Something about our frail Terran bodies not being able to cope with the strain. I think you'll have to come up with something pretty special, to stop us from getting squished like a bug the first time we crank our engines up to max."
Dana's sky-blue eyes sparkled with excitement, and she said, "I've actually had a few ideas already, but with the materials bonding research I've been working on, I haven't had the time to come up with anything concrete." She then looked torn with indecision, and asked John, "With all the new metals, and the notes that Forgemaster Gilgrem said he'd send me, I could make some real headway with my materials research. Do you really want me to stop working on that?"
John nodded and said apologetically, "I'm hoping our mission for the Trankarans will just take a few days, in which case we'll be able to get the Invictus outfitted with new engines very quickly. I want you to drop everything and work on the Inertial Dampeners first, alright?"
The redhead pouted, but nodded in agreement.
Alyssa laughed and said, "Cheer up, Sparks! Remember, you'll be getting your hands on some top-of-the-line alien tech. There won't be a single Terran ship with engines this fast!"
That turned Dana's frown upside down, and she looked ecstatically happy once again. Movement by the doors into the hangar drew their attention, and a male and female Trankaran appeared, steering robust, tracked trolleys that were loaded with sturdy ore containers. Dana skipped over to join them, and they smiled at her when she gave them a cheeky wave.
Rachel smiled at the others standing with her, and said, "You should come and meet the assistants, they're very friendly."
Alyssa and Rachel walked briskly to catch up with Dana, and John watched the enticing sway of their hips as they departed. The two girls greeted the Trankarans in a friendly fashion, and the Forgemaster's assistants gave them a broad smile, as Dana introduced everybody to each other. The group then began to make their way towards the rear of the gunship, following the redhead's animated directions.
"I'll go and open the rear loading ramp!" Jade called out to Dana, who turned and waved at her with a happy smile.
As the Nymph headed back into the Raptor, John began to walk over to join the girls, but a soft hand gently brushing his arm made him pause. He turned around and was surprised to see that it was Irillith who had reached out to touch him. John glanced down at her slender blue hand, looking at where it rested against his forearm, and enjoyed the feeling of her warm fingers as they lingered on his skin. When he turned to the Maliri woman, her face was flushed, and she snatched her hand away quickly.
"Is everything alright?" he asked her curiously.
Irillith gazed at him for a moment, before looking away, and saying in a quiet voice, "I just wondered why you brought me along to that meeting."
Alyssa turned around sharply as she was abruptly blocked from John's mind once again, and she narrowed her eyes as she saw him talking to Irillith. Something about the Maliri was making him act very strangely, and if anything, seemed to trigger him blocking her from his mind. She looked suspiciously at the Maliri woman, but Irillith's body language and posture seemed unthreatening.
A sly grin spread across John's face as he replied, "Didn't you see how shocked their Chancellor was when I revealed you were a Maliri? She was reeling for that entire meeting because of it."
Irillith was surprised at his cynical manipulation of the Trankaran Chancellor, but she hadn't forgotten the consequences of his little stunt. "If this ever gets back to the Maliri, I'm dead!" she said to him urgently in a hushed voice. "You might have just signed my death warrant!"
John had a calculating smile on his face as he said, "I wouldn't worry about that. I'm quite certain you'll be fine."
Irillith didn't feel particularly reassured, but she managed to suppress her anger, and nodded obediently instead, reluctant to break her cover. She smiled at him as she replied, "If you say so; then I feel better already."
He nodded smugly, and then they walked over to join the rest of the group. Alyssa watched them approach, and being denied her mental connection with John, the rest of her senses were all on high alert. The fact that they all warned her of danger only deepened her suspicions about Irillith.
***
After loading up the Raptor with ore, they said goodbye to the Trankaran assistants, and Jade shuttled the crew back to the Invictus. Once they had landed, John and Alyssa unloaded the gunship, with John carrying his share of the ore crates, while Alyssa levitated hers via telekinesis. They stacked the ore containers on the far side of the Cargo Bay, next to the storage containers of Etherite crystals and Onyxium ore.
After securing the crates to the deck via mag-locks, they walked back across the Cargo Bay to rejoin the others, who had watched them hauling the heavy containers around with interest. John found Dana staring thoughtfully at the dozens of containers full of Maliri electronics, and he asked her, "What are you thinking about?"
Dana turned to look at him, and grinned proudly as she said, "I think I might have a buyer for the electronics, but I was just thinking that we should hold out on selling, until we sort out the problems with the Trankarans. If we stop these rebels from fucking up trade, then there'll be a rush of merchants after Trankaran ore. Our cargo should increase in value considerably!"
He laughed and gave her a hug as he said, "I think you missed your vocation as a merchant!" When he eventually let her go, he glanced over at Irillith, and said, "I better secure our guest back on Deck Four."
Alyssa stepped forward and smiled, but there was a steely determination in her eyes. John had dropped his mind-shield again on the flight back from the Trankaran flagship, and she didn't want him anywhere near the Maliri woman if she could help it.
"Why don't you go up to the Bridge and update Calara? I'll escort Irillith back to her quarters," she said firmly.
John shrugged, and nodded as he smiled at her amiably, then walked over to the grav-tube arm-in-arm with Dana and Rachel. Jade watched them leave, and glanced in Alyssa's direction. *Want me to come along too?* she asked the blonde girl.
*I'll be fine,* Alyssa replied. *You go ahead and catch up on the details of our assassination mission...*
Jade frowned, and her thoughts sounded puzzled as she asked, *Assassination mission? That doesn't really sound like our usual line of business.*
