“Is that Justarian ship really flagging us down?” Litvir tutted as he leaned back in his seat.
“They are, yeah…” Arkay also tutted. “I’m going to comply though. I don’t want trouble but I do want information.”
“I am surprised they are stopping us though! Do they not know that we are on a Deathven Trio ship thing?” Litvir asked.
“They should,” Retvik grunted. “The ship’s designation is printed underneath the ship’s name, available for them to read. But perhaps that is why they stopped us. We are stopping, yes?”
“We are…” Arkay slowed the ship down gradually. They weren’t going that fast, but Arkay didn’t know if there were speeding laws or anything around here. “Retvik, do you mind staying here, keeping the ship steady? I know you’re the diplomatic one normally but I want to use my supposed youthful playfulness to try and get these guys talking for as long as possible while Litvir does some rummaging.”
“I can do that, no problem, but if they threaten us, I am turning the ship around and we are going home.”
Litvir glanced at Retvik. “You seem rather uncertain.”
“The last time the three of us were stopped on a smaller ship, you were nearly crucified, Galyn nearly had his mind wiped and Arkay was nearly turned into a breeding facility. I was lucky, I was only given a concussion, imprisoned and set up to be sold to be a desperate Life Goddess as a slave.”
“Oh… fair…”
The Deathly Soulflame slowed down enough for the Justar ship to approach it. Arkay found a handy button that scanned the Justar ship and gave him its name and designation: Arc Corner Guardian 14, Decay Lord Vessel Code ΤΟΞΟΓΩΙΟΠΡΟΣΤΑΤΗΣ-0014. Almost immediately, the ship requested permission to enter.
“Should we?” Retvik asked. “Litvir, are you picking up bad intentions?”
“No, just curiosity and uncertainty. Arkay, go speak to them, I shall warn you if they try anything.”
“Alrighty!” Arkay smiled awkwardly as he brought the ship to a complete stop, then initiated a procedure to dock with the Justar ship. He then undid his seat belt and made his way down to the docking area at the back of the ship.
It seemed that whoever was on the other side was having a bit of trouble. Arkay patiently waited for them to sort themselves out. Eventually, the docking procedure completed, Arkay opened up the hatch on his end and found himself somewhat surprised to see a Beh’evok standing in the opening.
“Oh!” Arkay exclaimed. “Hi! I didn’t expect to see a Beh’en! I thought we were in the Justarian Circle!”
The Beh’en grunted. He was clearly very concerned. “You… you are not… uh… um… Excuse me. I am Bronzeblade, serving Arcblade and the Venta-Kinigi-Goldtorn Divide Border Guards. We detected your ship entering the area. Your ship is a Deathven Sector Alpha registered ship yet you are traveling into the Justarian Circle, which has… uh… raised suspicions.”
“What sort of suspicions?” Arkay asked. “Also, form the look on your face, you’re having odd thoughts.”
“You… you are not a Beh’ena, are you?” Bronzeblade asked. He was clearly very, very uneasy.
“I’m not, I’m a cute little Skyavok!” Arkay beamed. “You are pretty cute though. Also, it’s odd seeing a Beh’evok out here. So why is my ship suspicious and what are you doing here in the Justarian Circle?”
Bronzeblade swallowed nervously. “Um… I… I serve Arcblade, who runs a Justarian sub-sect that mostly consists of the children of a Beh’ena who left the Goldtorn Remains a long time ago… Anyway… uh… Deathven Sector-registered ships do not travel into the Justarian on the regular. I was asked to check and see if this ship was stolen.”
Before Arkay could answer, he heard a voice in his head.
“Keep him talking, or at least occupied and on board…” Litvir telepathically whispered. “I am finding some useful data here.”
Arkay nodded, then smiled. “I suppose then, mister Bronzeblade, you want to know who I am and who this ship is registered to and all that?”
“I… yes.”
“Fair. But before I do so, could I get some proof of who you say you are?”
Bronzeblade blinked in confusion, then reached for a pouch on his belt. He awkwardly pulled out a card that was tied to his pouch via a piece of elasticated string and showed it to Arkay.
“Hm. Bronzeblade, your real name is Cyprie? That’s a nice name. You’re high-ranking in your sub-sect but low down on the Justar hierarchy overall? Huh.”
“You… you think my name is nice?” Bronzeblade stuttered.
“I think you’re nice!” Arkay smiled some more, well aware that he was making Bronzeblade very anxious. “All those shades of bronze and copper on you! I’m gonna guess though, you’re more of a copper-orientated person and got called Bronzeblade because whoever named you was stupid.”
“You… could say that…”
“Anyway, you want my name and all that!” Arkay snapped his fingers, producing a copy of the ship’s title deeds, as well as a copy of his Decay Lord certificate. “You wanted to know who I am. I’m Arkay, codename Deathbringer, and I’m the legal owner of this ship, alongside my two partners.”
Bronzeblade very hesitantly inspected everything. He was shaking, he was so nervous. After a few seconds though, he handed the paperwork back to Arkay, stepped back and bowed.
“Uh… thank you for your cooperation. Everything is in order. I am sorry for bothering you, mister Lord Arkay, I promise it won’t happen again.”
As soon as he was finished bowing, Bronzeblade rushed off back to his own ship, disengaged the docking equipment, started the ship’s engines and sped away, into the darkness. Arkay blinked in confusion, then made his way back to the cockpit.
“Was I too much?” Arkay asked.
“No, not really?” Retvik also seemed confused. “I was watching you on the cameras, Litvir was keeping an eye out telepathically, you were not that weird.”
“That poor fellow had just never seen something so close to a Beh’ena before!” Litvir tutted. “And, unfortunately, the data I got ended up not being particularly useful, mostly just that his sub-sect is unaware of what is going on in the Justar in general.”
“Oh well…” Arkay shrugged. “Shall we get going then?”
“Sure thing, dear!” Retvik perked up. “May I fly?”
“Of course, babe. Of course…”