Qualin
The tension broke surprisingly fast. As soon as Draco and the others entered the courtyard, Minor and his siblings relaxed completely. Stardust and Shooter jumped on their dad, Major waved cheerfully and plopped down in the grass. Rayken gave a respectful bow, and Shree trilled and approached Draco with her head lowered.
"Hey, sis." He gave her a pat before she returned to her partner's side. "Glad to see you all settled things. Now to the matter at hand."
"Yes, why did you call us to meet you?" Galaxy asked in a serious tone.
King Romnoe was the one to answer. "We've been interrogating the intruders and believe we have some reliable intel."
Draco rubbed his head, looking a bit annoyed. "But apparently there have been some terrorist attacks on Gashiana and some of the factions are threatening to tear the world apart again, so I need to go and help sort things out. Gah!" He growled, rubbing his head harder with a snarl.
"Do you need help with that?" Galaxy asked calmly. Was this a normal occurrence?
Draco waved his hand dismissively. "Some of your older sibling are already there. But so many are screaming for me, it's freaking annoying. I swear, most world leaders are like spoiled children. And then there's the people and beasts that are legitimately afraid and apparently convinced I'm the only one who can settle tensions again. OK, I'LL BE THERE IN A MINUTE!"
I pulled back reflexively as he shouted into the air. The air literally shook as his power reverberated through all the threads of energy in the area. He really was terrifying.
"Ugh. Alright, you kids handle this situation, alright?"
"Sure, Daddy, don't worry about it. We love you!" Stardust chirped as she kissed his cheek and hopped down from his shoulders.
Shooter did the same and they all chorused, "We love you!"
"I love you kids too." He smiled and for a moment seemed to beam with pride. Then he vanished with a small whoosh of air.
"Ok, so what's our mission?" Galaxy turned back to Romnoe and Callie, who also seemed as if this was entirely normal.
"Yeah, were you able to remove that weird tech that blocks telepathy?" Minor's question brought me back to the real reason we were here.
"Not yet. We have a specialist coming in. However, the woman agreed to tell us everything she knew. She never had any intention of dying for this job."
"I don't doubt that." I scoffed. That bitch had no loyalty. Murkoross would be willing to die out of sheer stubbornness. Orash prided himself in keeping his own honor code. Suriah, on the other hand, looked out for herself first. She talked a big game about loyalty, but it was all bullshit. "But that doesn't mean you can trust anything she says. She lies as easily as breathing."
"Oh, we know." Queen Callie replied coolly. "She tried a couple times, but I don't need telepathy to see through deceit or evil intent."
I remembered our conversation in the holding cell and wondered if she was referring to her supposed gift to see and hear demons. That seemed a bit much...but still... maybe it was true. A quick glanced proved that no one here doubted what she had said. And, furthermore, a strange feeling stirred in my mind, like there were things I knew but couldn't remember clearly. Things from Minor's memory. Maybe I had access to all the things he'd shown me. It had all flashed by so quickly, but maybe it was all still in my head.
"So we're pretty confident that she didn't actually know much. But she did give us a name, the middle man who gave the group the job. Abujarh."
"Oh, on Katakia station. We used to go through there occasionally. Did a few jobs and moved merch through him a few times."
"I thought you didn't know anything about this?" Another guard I hadn't noticed spoke up from behind the King and Queen.
"He knows who that person is, but didn't know he was connected. He let Dad check his mind thoroughly. He hasn't hidden anything." Minor defended me.
"Yeah, relax, Tekeshi." Callie waved him off. "And the information Draco got from Qualin was very helpful. It's how we knew to focus on the woman, and what questions to ask. Draco was also aware that you're familiar with the individual and know how to find him, correct?"
"Yeah, I know where he usually has a shop open, and how to contact him if he's gone under."
"Perfect. That's why we asked you kids here. Draco said this...Abujarh...must also have mine blocking tech because he couldn't locate him psychically even with the information from Qualin, which means he needs to be found the old fashion way. Draco is too busy to do the foot work, and we can't send warriors into that system without breaking our current treaty." King Romnoe smiled.
"No problem." Galaxy nodded and turned to me. "You know where to go?"
"Yeah. I should be able to track him down."
"Perfect! Alright, let's go." At Galaxy's words, Minor's siblings moved to surround us as Minor took my hands.
"Dad said he couldn't find this person directly, so instead of focusing on him, focus on the place you think he will be, or at least a good place to start looking.
"Alright..." I focused on Katakia station. Realizing we were probably about to appear wherever I pictured, I focused on a storage area that would likely be empty.
The ground beneath my feet suddenly dropped and I resisted the urge to catch myself from the feeling of falling and closed my eyes to the change in lighting and temperature. When I felt cold metal under my feet instead of grass, I opened my eyes to the dark, mostly empty storage unit. As my eyes focused, at least the shapes around us were just creates.
***
Minor
Normally Galaxy would have lead the teleportation to a new place, but since my partner was providing the location, I stepped up first. Thankful, my brother didn't seem to mind.
Qualin chose some sort of storage room for our arrival. The feel and smell of metal was all around us. No solid ground. So this was a ship. A very large ship from the feel of it, and in an unfamiliar part of space.
It was good thinking on Qualin's part to choose an unoccupied space. My family didn't always think about that. I swear Shooter liked to pop into crowds intentionally.
"Hey sometimes making a scene is the best way to deal with an issue quickly. Beating around the bush is time wasting and annoying." Shooter commented matter-of-factly.
Qualin starred at him blankly. Right, he wasn't yet part of our family's mental link.
"He read my mind and disagrees with my approval of teleporting in stealthily." I explained.
"This works. We're here to find one person, not take over the whole place. We should attempt to blend in. It'll save the hassel of dealing with unnecessary people." Galaxy declared and turned to Qualin. "Good job. Can you lead us to this, Abujarh, from here? Also, if blending in is our strategy, are we good as we are, or would different forms be better?"
"Unfortunately, we might have to do some digging to find him, but it shouldn't be too hard. blending is good. If we catch the attention of the authorities Abujarh will ghost and be that much harder to find. As for your forms..." He looked us over. Major and I were in beastling form, Shooter was a dragon, the others were LaMihinnian-animal hybrids. "I think regular LaMihinnians would be alright. Not many of that race come out here, but you might see a few from time to time. And there are other similar races so you can blend."
He looked at me and sighed. "You and Major should transform too. As for me... can you make like...a leather collar? Similar enough to be passing for the... other... one?"
The distaste was plain on his face.
"No! You don't need to wear a collar. You are not a slave!"
"Beastlings don't have free status in this system. And since we are classified as a 'savage' race, we aren't allowed in public spaces without a control collar. If I'm caught without one, I'll be apprehended until someone can prove ownership and pay a fine. If ownership can't be proven, I'll be sold at auction as a run away. Not a good situation."
I grabbed the sides of his face and pulled him closer to me. My blood was boiling. "No one is going to take you away or sell you EVER again! I will tear this place apart before letting that happen." I could feel myself shaking and realized my power was reverberating throughout the room. The mere fact that such a place existed, that my partner would be treated in such a way, felt intolerably offensive.
"Calm down." Galaxy rested a hand on my shoulder, pulling me from my increasingly destructive thoughts. "You know we would never let anything like that happen to your partner."
Qualin's hands cupped mine and drew my gaze back to him. "It'll be fine. And while I appreciate the sentiment, trying to take on the entire station's security would be a bit much. so just make me a collar that looks passing. It won't actually be able to electrocute me, so that'll be a plus. Besides," He gave a bit of coy smile, "I don't think I'll mind so much if it's you. I can wear a collar and call you master for a while." He winked and tickled my chin a little.
The rage melted, mostly, and I let my hands slip down to his neck. I was glad he could play around and tease, but the idea of pretending to own him, to play the role of an oppressor to my beloved, was unacceptable.
So when I pulled my hands away from his neck to reveal the leather collar, I lightly touched the one I created around my own throat and smiled warmly at the surprised and confused look on his face. "I'd rather stay right by your side. No way you're going to be the only one wearing one of these." Instead of his previous playful smile, something softer pulled at his lips and he let out a light sigh before gently kissing my lips.
Resisting the urge to lean into his kiss and ditch this mission all together, I pulled away and turned to Galaxy. "I'm used to following your lead anyway so if there's an issue we'll 'belong' to you." I cut my eyes back to Qualin, "But don't call him master." There was an unusual edge to my voice; the thought stirred a strong feeling of possessiveness and aggression toward my brother...
"Ok, ok. Everything will be fine. Qualin, we'll follow your lead. This will be good practice for you to get used to mental communications. Address any directions through your thoughts."
"Whoa." Qualin exclaimed softly as I felt my siblings connect their minds to his. It wasn't as deep a connection as Qualin and I shared, but it would help him communicate.
'Can you hear everyone?' I asked through the link. 'Our link sounds like a soft humming chorus. Faint and in the background, but lets you know everyone is connected and good. You'll be able to hear if someone is distressed or calling out in anyway.'
His mind sounded excited and curious, with only a hint of uncertainty. "Does this mean everyone can hear everything I think?"
"Eh." Shooter shrugged. "If you think or feel something about us specifically, whoever it's about will hear it. Or if you have any particularly strong emotions it'll kinda echo through everyone's mind. But it's not EVERYTHING."
"And the less you think about it, the less we'll hear accidentally." Major added, trying to stifle a giggle. "So yeah, try not to think about IF we can hear your dirty thoughts, and we probably won't. Or just try to keep that to a minimum..."
"I'll try, but no promises." Qualin threw his hands up and shook his head. Everyone laughed.
"Alright, let's get this started. Qualin, lead the way." Galaxy gestured to him and Qualin lead the way to the door as my siblings all transformed to LaMihinnians, with a slight alteration: Qualin's memories showed that the usual light, flowing clothing style of that world would stand out, so everyone now wore layers of dark leathers.
Qualin gave a satisfactory nod and moved to open the storage room door.