H’Mara pulls hard on our chain, dragging us forward, but instead of boarding the giant spaceship in front of us, she leads us behind one of the dunes in order to reveal a much smaller and older-looking vessel. She proudly gestures towards it:

“Welcome aboard the Pariah!”

Although the ship is a bit rusty, you can tell it’s designed for racing judging from the giant engine in the back and the streamlined look it gives off. The ship’s a bit bigger than my house if you would turn it upright, and there’s a shark-teeth decoy around the nose of the vessel.

H’Mara, seemingly pissed that we’re not impressed enough, yanks on the chain:

“Oi! Say something! You’re next to this beauty’s pilot you know!”

She’s the pilot of this ship? She seemed more like a fighter to me… *GULP* Luckily I didn’t try to escape, I wouldn’t want to exchange blows with this pirate crew’s actual combat-force if their pilots are this skilled already… Anyways, I better answer before she yanks the chain again.

“W-Wow, I’ve never seen such a fast looking spaceship before, the pilot must be really skilled!”

*SIGH* Well, there goes my spine…

H’Mara looks proud:

“Hmf! Of course she is! But stop kissing my ass would you? Compliments will get you nowhere!”

This bitch… Or should I say feline?

After leading us inside the ship, she hands us over to a Crakkuin wearing a chef’s hat. The green frog-man looks a bit fatter than the ones I’ve seen before though. He actually looks a bit goofy, which is a nice change from the feisty H’Mara and intimidating Bruce.

“Here are the new slaves Peli, show them around would you? They’ll sleep on the lower deck, togheter with that other new slave. Send em’ back to the command center when you’re done.”

The Frog-man, who I now know is called Peli, salutes H’Mara with an:

“Aye, Aye Boss!”

After Ares and I introduced ourselves, Peli started showing us around the ship.

We first enter a cafeteria-looking room.

“This here is my kingdom! Here, I cook the meals for everyone onboard the Pariah!”

I hesitantly try and ask Peli a question:

“Euuh, sir Peli?”

“Drop the formalities kid, sir Peli is my dad’s name Croakakaka!”

He has a rather weird laugh, but he seems nice at least.

“Okay then, Peli, will you also cook for us slaves? And why doesn’t the ship just use 3D printers?”

“Of course I’ll cook for you guys! Didn’t I just say I cook the meals of everybody onboard the Pariah? As long as you guys are on this ship, filling your stomachs is my responsibility! As for those 3D printers, we don’t use em’ because they’re not very reliable, especially in deep-space. Plus, Bruce said that his crew would work harder after a good meal, Croakakaka!”

If Peli can cook even half as good as my dad, I would be more than satisfied already… Dad… I miss him…

Not giving me enough time to reminisce, Peli shows us to the next room:

“This here is our crafting and repair-station, that big guy over there is Hooke.”

Me and Ares are shocked to find a massive Raalid peacefully sitting behind a desk on a chair that is just a bit too small for his large frame, he has big curly horns and is built like closet! His skin is stony and red.

Hooke turned around after he heard Peli introduce him, but after looking at me and Ares for a few seconds, he just scoffs and goes back to tinkering on some machine parts I’ve never seen before.

“D-Don’t worry about him, he just doesn’t say much, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you. Ain’t that right Hooke?”

The Raalid scoffs again, this time grunting:

“Next time, don’t waste my time by introducing some cannon-fodder to me Peli.”

His voice sounded more gentle than you would expect from his intimidating stature.

Peli turns to us:

“Croakakaka! Don’t let his words get to you, he’s just a bit cranky after losing a spar to his younger brother this morning. Oh ya, this guy is also our strongest crew member, although he barely has any fighting instincts or technique… But you still better not piss him off.”

“I-I’ll do my best…”

Ares looked interested in the thingamajig Hooke was working on, but before he could ask questions, Peli already opened the door to the next room:

“Ah! This is the number one beauty of our ship: Venti, the Chidi.”

Peli suddenly leans in closer and whispers:

“But don’t tell H’Mara I said that…”

The girl that Peli just introduced is indeed quite beautiful, her big blue eyes paired with her silver hair and ample bosom gave off the aura of a genuine goddess. As a girl from the Chidi race, she also has four intricate wings on her back and two thin, cute and long antennas on her head. But weren’t the Chidi part of the Luciel empire? What’s she doing in the territory of the GTC? She’s also a bit bigger than the pictures of Chidi the professor showed us…

I curiously ask Peli:

“So why is she here? What’s her role on the ship.”

“Well, other than being our mascot, she also this ship’s doctor… She’s still in training though, so try and not get injured Croakakaka!”

Now that I look around the room some more, I can indeed see all kinds of medical equipment and pill-bottles. Even some… Bugs in jars?

Venti herself is currently looking down at her hands and blushing, I think she’s a bit embarrassed after Peli’s introduction, how cute…

Apparently Peli caught me staring, he whispered something in my ear before continuing his tour:

“Hey kid, you better not get any ideas. Many man have tried before you, but they were all sliced up by H’Mara’s claws… She acts like an overprotective father when it comes to Venti… A scary father kind of father, like one that’s the head of a large crime syndicate…”

*GULP* I can totally see that… Well, I still need to sort out my feelings for Alexie anyways… Maybe in the future…

Next, Peli shows us the armory, where another Raalid is busy polishing a weapon, an energy-greatsword to be precise. This Raalid isn’t as big as Hooke, he’s more lean than muscular and his horns are also straight and pointed, but he does have the same reddish, stony skin.

Niku20

Chidi: One of the two races that make up the Luciel empire, they are known for their medicine skills and healing capabilities. The chidi race is a matriarchy, their multiple colonies are all ruled by queens.  The queen rules over a clan with between one thousand to five billion female Chidi's who are smaller than her. Males are rare, solitary and intellectually disabled, usually only interacting with the queen when it is time to mate. A chidi queen can live for up to a thousand years, while her female servants have the life span of a regular Lunarian (250-300). The males only live for a couple of years and die once they succesfully inseminate the queen, who can birth up to one hundred eggs with only one batch of sperm.