Page 16 of Nyanine's Divide

She hangs up, putting the comm in the pocket of her dress as Willa slides her arms around my waist, startling me slightly, Cruzig stepping up behind us, his eyes on the sky. Every one of us is weary, concerned, and on the lookout now that we know we’re no longer safe.

“The Nobodies are headed this way to help us with the shield and the computer, let everyone know we’re expecting some guests,” Kari barks out before turning and marching for the chief’s cabin. I nod and pull Willa with me to find Terax and the others.

A large ship looms overhead, slowly lowering toward the ocean, and I call out to Kari as we all take off for the path. Halfway down the path, Kari’s comm rings, and she stops to answer, waving me on and telling me to meet them. I see Tavionna’s face on the holo-image before I turn and walk on with Willa, Cruzig, and Vahru. Kosiiba stays with Kari.

Melodia comes scuttling out of the water and up to me, her eyes wide. “Don’t worry, they’re friends here to help. Tonya is with Criido and knows what’s going on, we’ll meet with her after.” She nods and stays by my side, but I know she’ll go to Kari as soon as she joins us. I’m guessing these people speak English, but if not, I’m grateful for that translator dissolved into my head.

The ship lands gently in the clearing before the ocean, and we wait patiently for the door to open. A ramp descends to the ground and an Ngozii woman begins walking down, shocking me completely, followed by one Nyan man and 3 men of varying races I’ve never seen before. I step forward, and she stops before me, nodding politely. What is she doing off planet? I thought there were no Ngozii outside of Gemyasiri….

“I’m Ayira, leader of the Nobodies, and I was called here by Captain Kari.”

“I’m her Lieutenant, Jeff Mooney. This is her mate, Vahru, my mate, Willa, and our guard, Cruzig. This little thing here is Melodia, the Sautiition leader. Her people live here with us in the great lake. We’ll take you to meet the chief as well soon. We appreciate you coming to our aid.”

“Of course. This is my second-in-command, Rygen, my bodyguard, Alex the Blob, my doctor, Tohtor, and my tech guru, Tutkijaa. They’re also my mates.” Ayira points with each of her four pink arms to each of the men, Rygen being the Nyan man with teal mating marks along his arms, short-cropped black hair, and blue eyes to match Vahru’s. Alex is a huge black wall of muscle with an alligator’s tail, scaly skin, yellow eyes, and four arms. He’s intimidating like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Tohtor has orange skin that looks soft and velvety to the touch with a round face, chubby cheeks, and long brown hair that matches his eyes. His gaze is gentle and assessing, leaving me to assume he’s probably a good doctor, at least based on my past experience with doctors like him. Tutkijaa is as tall as Ayira and rail thin with a bulbous head and large purple eyes like a fly. His skin is dark blue, he has four arms, and antennae on his head.

I look around as I hear footsteps, my gaze snagging on Vahru’s puzzled expression, before I whirl around and spot Kari and Kosiiba rushing to join us. “I’m here, sorry! Hi, I’m Kari Hanley. Ayira, it’s good to meet you in person, gosh, you’re gorgeous.”Kari’s panting and out of breath, her wide eyes swinging to me in shock. I raise my brows, my lips pinching as I nod, also having noted the similarities to Tavionna in her face. I wonder what that means.

Ayira introduces her men once more to Kari, and she jumps right in, not phased at all by them and their differences. “Kij, oh, it’s so nice to meet you. Charlie’s had nothing but great things to say about you. I’m really glad you’re here to help us out.”

He nods politely. “Thank you, I’m glad to be of service to someone with such a pure mission. I hope to help exponentially.” His voice is deeper than I expected it to be for someone with such a tiny mouth, but he’s as soft-spoken and polite as I thought he would be.

“Let’s take you into the village to meet the chief and get you guys started.” Kari turns, Melodia clinging to her hand with a tentacle, and we begin our march into the village. “Oh, Jeff, Tavi will be coming to visit soon, she’ll be staying in the cabin near ours that’s empty. You might let the others know so no one is surprised by a portal.”

“Gotcha.” I grab my comm and shoot a quick message to the group chat so all my hunters are aware to keep an eye out for our new arrivals.

“Could I take a look at the shield before we have any meetings? If it’s not functioning properly, I’d like to get that fixed right away,” Tutkijaa asks from behind us, and Kari nods.

“Of course, it’s in the village center, on our way.” She leads us up through the path and into the village, stopping alongside the shield in the center. Tutkijaa drops to a knee and begins typing on the holo-keyboard that pops up for him after a few button pushes.

He grunts, shaking his head, before he looks up at Kari. “Charlie and Layanna are good, but someone better than them has hacked into the system. Lucky for you, I’m here. No one isbetter than me. I’ll get this re-coded and lock them out, however, it’ll take a few hours.”

“Oh, great, yeah, go ahead and take care of that, we’ve got hunters all around the village on patrol, so you’ll be safe. We can go ahead and meet with the chief for the other concerns while you work, if that’s all right?”

“Yeah, go ahead, I’ll get briefed from the others later.” His head drops as he gets to work, and the big guy moves over to stand behind him.

He grunts and nods at Ayira before nodding once more to Rygen. “Blob will stay with Kij to watch over him. The rest of us will go meet with your chief, Kari,” Ayira says through a smile.

“This way.” Vahru leads us all toward the chief’s cabin while he asks them not to speak over each other and be polite, letting the chief lead the conversation.

This could either be a great thing or something way out of left field, but I’m not sure which. My gut tells me these people aren’t entirely to be trusted, but I’m not sure why. Something is amiss, maybe it’s the quiet and guarded reactions from some of their crew or the way Vahru eyes Rygen, I’m not sure, but something is odd here.

Chapter 12

Vahru

“Father, we have guests.” I call out as we enter the cabin. I slow my pace, keeping the others in the entryway so he can come to us. Not surprisingly, Tonya exits the other room with my father and stays by his side. He’s wearing fewer bones and jewels today, mostly clad in plain leather pants and a shirt. His hair is loose, a few small braids keeping it out of his face. Staff in hand, he stands at attention in the center of the large room, eyeing us.

“Son, what matters have you brought me today?” He smiles at me, pride showing in his eyes, and I step closer, turning to introduce everyone.

“These are the Nobodies, the crew Kari has called in to help us with the shield and research to fix our world.” I nod to Ayira, allowing her to introduce herself and her men.

She bows her head politely, her men following suit. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chief. I’m Ayira, leader of the crew, and these are Tohtor and Rygen, two of my mates. Alex and Tutkijaa are fixing the shield as we speak.”

“Rygen? Is that really you, son?” My gaze bounces between Rygen and my father, all eyes widening and turning to Rygen as he stares blankly at my father. His expression is a stone mask, but his eyes seem to swirl with emotions he tries to control. He swallows hard but doesn’t speak. I suspected he might be my long lost cousin, but I dared not admit that without confirmation. That name could be common enough that he could be anyone. However, the similarities are uncanny.

Rygen has been missing since we were mere boys, there’s a chance that if this is him, he may not even remember us. If this is him, our family can be reunited, it can continue to grow, and we can be happy again. I’ve missed him so much, he was my best friend growing up.

Father steps forward, looking him over, as Ayira and Tohtor step aside, letting him get close. Rygen’s fists clench at his sides, his breath loud as he takes deep inhales to stay calm. Father reaches out, cupping his face, before letting his hands trail down to trace the visible parts of the mate marks on his arms. How he has them all down his arms, I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of anyone having more than one, either.

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