Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 9: Dhalia

A pair of guard accompanied Lis and Idra in front of Dhalia office. One of them was particularly distressed by Idra’s presence, but they were both trained professional soldier so they were trying their best to show no discomfort. Then one spook up to announce their entrance.

The rectangular, way too big, office was a corner office. 2 sides with windows and two without. The natural light was filtered by the immaculate massive darkish windows. A big wooden table in the middle and after that, at the edge of the office, a big desk made of some dark alloy. On the side, a more comfortable location, like a small living room in office. A pair of couches, an armchair and a coffee table. It was a beautiful office well organized with no useless luxurious things to show but the object inside where all of prime quality and probably handmade.

Dhalia Hakavor, Heir of the Hakavor corporation was sitting on the armchair. She was wearing a white rigid dress with black and blue decorations. It wasn’t a revealing dress nor an excessive one. Perfect to not irritate an esterian. As expected her skin was red but she had purple eyes, a rarity among the leans that are usually all red. Her voice was calm and firm, like a leader.

“guards, you are dismissed. Commander Lis will eventually be my bodyguard for the time being”

the 2 guard obeyed their lady and left the room.

“it’s a pleasure to see you back Lis, and I can see that you brought back some unexpected company” Lis couldn’t answer fast enough that Idra was already being a dickhead.

“cut you crap. I’m not here for you games. We have a contract to make”

Lis instinctively jumped and tried to cover Idra’s mouth that obviously wasn’t possible.

“I'm sorry boss, she tend to speak without filters”

“I speak my mind, I don’t hide behind words and useless junk put on display in an office. I don’t need to show how big my dick is, mine is always the bigger one”

for a moment Lis forgot why she was there, she was so used to her strange and teasing conversation with Idra that she just had gone with the flow.

“I thought you were a woman. Oh boy those days humans are really built different”

“fuck off lizard under steroids, your kind couldn’t decide if they wanted a man or a woman and made you.”

“at least I have a real dick not a metaphorical one like you. What is the next step? An imaginary spouse and an invisible kid?”

Dhalia was there looking at them, then she cleared her throat to attract attention and said.

“girl!, can I have you attention back. I think we are going off road with this conversation. May we restart it?”

Lis was the first to reply as a good worker

“sorry chief, I just got carried away by her sharp tongue”

Please, Idra stop it. We have to be serious now.

However Idra’s plan was different. She had no interest in Dhalia, all she wanted was her contract.

“sure why not, Scilla you may sit on that couch, I will sit soon.” as she said so Idra started to walk around the office looking at everything that was on display.

“So Miss Idra 511 Weeping Sky, I was informed…”

“Idra. Call me Idra.”

“sure, Miss Idra, I was saying”

“drop the miss”

“Idra, please let her speak” said Lis.

“thanks, I was informed that you and my subordinate decided to start working together but considering you nature as esterian Lis didn’t felt like writing a definitive contract, I’m I right?”

“stop asking what you already know.”

Lis looked at Idra with furious eyes.

“so, well I have a couple of questions. First, who are you? If a search you up in the database of the authorized esterian people to wander around provided by you kind there is this”

As Dhalia said so, she was writing Idra’s full name on a data-pad and then she showed the result. A technical sheet completely classified, not even a picture in armour like all others authorized people. There was only the name.

“so, who are you? Why are there no informations about you? What even is the point of giving us such empty sheet?”

“can’t you guess it? Well I can’t tell you neither so you are free to conjecture about it and tell me what you think”

Lis was confuse because she apparently know a lot more then what even her boss knew

Wait a second, I know her age, come planet, why she is called idra and all that shit. The fact that she is a scavenger. Why hiding it if it’s your job?

“what I thinks is that you have some sort of high rank, like an Ittiro for us so yours informations are all classified but you are free to do what you want”

“if you say so, I won’t correct you anyway”

“so can we trust you Idra?”

“boss I can guarantee for that. She helped us capture a pair of traitor on the ship. I will tell you all the details later but she had no reason to help us. She however require a couple of rewards from me. A blanket, a pillow and at least one match against each other at space-chess. I suppose she helped without others intentions”

“was she also one of your gut feeling?”

“yes chief”

“so the first problem is resolved. Now on the next one. What exactly do you want? Esterian technology is way better then ours, my squad has nothing to offer to a capable machine like creature such as yourself”

“you got I wrong, I’m not after something, but someone. I want your squad. I’m way ahead of your civilization but I’m alone. I want your squad to have a bigger but slower ship and a crew at my command.”

“Idra, the crew is mine. You are just…”

“I’m your friend Scilla. I know that it’s your crew but if we help each other then our objective and commands will be the same so it will be as if the crew is working for me”

“fair enough”

“so all you want is manpower?”

“yes”

“can’t you use robot for that?”

“can you stop speaking with you ass because I’m hearing only shitty questions from you”

“IDRA!”

“what!?, it’s true. She is just asking question that even a brain-dead mosquito wouldn’t ask. If I could use machine I would. As I said I’m alone and I don’t have resources to built 300 humanoid machine. Specially thinking machines.”

that was a total lie.

I have no need for you, nor you species. I just want Scilla. But I can’t abduct her. I’m doing all this shit just to casually bring her to my home planet and then she will be mine forever.

Dhalia was trying her best to stay polite and calm, however due to her innate perception she started to wonder why Idra’s behaviour change so much when speaking to Lis. Maybe she could use Lis to pacify her guest.

“understandable. So all you need is a crew. We can make one from scratch just to accommodate your needs”

Fuck, did she understand that I’m not after manpower itself?

“using Scilla crew will be enough”

Lis was in the middle of all of this, unable to understand what was happening and waiting for and end.

“then I can move Lis on another ship and left you with Morea. She will be a good enough vice commander.”

“no. if you take her out there is no guarantee that the crew will cooperate.”

“they will still follow Morea’s order so I don’t see the problem”

“Scilla is needed. It’s her crew and her ship. She now best how to use all of that”

Try me fucking lizard, try taking what is mine and I will be sure to keep you alive while all your world burns and despair.

“fair enough. Lis are you sure you want to work with her?”

Dhalia was not stupid, it was clear that Idra wanted to work only with Scilla and nobody else. But it was fine. Looking at them she could tell that they had become friends. Idra objective was related to Lis but she didn’t want to force her. Esterian are not known for their patience and for not using force to take what they want. If Idra wanted something from Lis it was nothing that could be taken by force. The first thing that came in her mind was a friend indeed. That explain why she behave differently with her, why she tease her and what she asked as a reward for helping.

“yes chief, I was the one that took her in in the first place. Not working with her would be a stupid move.”

“working with your new powerful friend, I get it even if I feel a bit left out. I will allow it also because it will be beneficial to our company and our species. If you bring back more artefact and ancient tech I can even put in more founds”

Lis was a totally unaware of Idra real intention, at least Dhalia understood why she behave differently and that she wanted to be with Lis.

“thanks chief. I will bring everything I will find”

“so now we just have to finalize the contract and all the small details”

It took 4 hours to reach a good point with ideas, rules and so on for the contract. Dhalia was trying to get as much as she could while Idra was extremely stubborn and almost physically aggressive. In the end the contract was not really different from the temporary one, the biggest add where a needed meeting with the liin due to Idra’s political and military influence, and the possibility to ask her for help non related to scavenging.

“now that the base is written, how about we go eat together” asked Dhalia. Even if she was Hakavor’s heir she still was a good friend of Lis and the eating with subordinate generate a better impression.

“sure, we can also discuss about Idra’s place for the time being. It will take around 1 week for the liin to reach us and I can’t let her sleep in the ship”

“sure, one of our building will be perfect I think…”

Idra interrupted the two.

“I will stay at Scilla’s place”

“what!?!” they both said together but with different tones.

“Where you distracted?, I said that I’m staying at your place”

“I heard you, I’m saying what the fuck. Who told you that?”

“I thought it was implicit, you live in Hakavor’s territory anyway, so what’s the problem”

“the problem is my family.”

“that’s their problem, not mine nor yours Scilla”

“it’s my problem. You can’t auto-invite…”

“how about a challenge. If I win I stay at your place. I’m sure you will have extra room for my small body. If a lose I will follow Dhalia’s instructions and go to where she says”

“your suit will help you too much”

“how about a shooting competition where I use lean’s weapons. Also if we sleep at separate places how can we investigate the two books?”

“what books?”

Dhalia didn’t know about the books and Lis had no intention on telling her, at least not for now.

“nothing in particular, she is just obsessed with some lean’s book and she wants to see the physical copy that I possess. I guess let’s do the shooting competition.”

Something is telling me that she will end up at my house.

At the HQ outdoor shooting range there was quite a commotion. An esterian was going to use their weapons and show her capabilities. An occasion that can’t be missed and must be recorded.

Dhalia decided to explain the rules herself.

“so you will use the same sniper rifle. The target will register all the hits. 1 point for each target, 2 if you hit a vital spot marked in red. After the first of you goes the other and then we will compare the scores. You will have 18 bullet. One per target. The farthest target is at 500m. All clear?”

“just one” said Idra

“can you show me how this rifle work? I never used a chemical operated rifle.”

“sure”

Then Dhalia took a rifle and shot the closest target. It was a good hit but not a vital shoot. The loud bang of the rifle startled Idra that was looking closely trying to understand how a bolt action rifle work.

“so all you have to do is pull back the bolt after shooting?”

“yeah, and this is the magazine release and…”

After Dhalia finished her explanation it was time for the duel. Scilla was worried but not to much. It was Idra’s first time with a non electromagnetic weapon and Lis herself was a good shooter. She decided to go first, she lie down on the ground ready to shoot. Then one after the other she shot the targets, starting by the closest and then moving on to the farthest. In the end she scored 32/36 point. She missed the vital point on the last 4. An outstanding score, considering all the time that she didn’t practise at the shooting range she was still the best non sniper at using a sniper rifle.

Now it was time for Idra. She didn’t lie down. She sit with her knees up creating a V with her body. The left arm covered with her cloak was positioned on top of the knee creating a surface to rest the rifle. Her armour reassessed itself, probably for recoil compensation. A really strange technique, then a series of really close shoot one after the other. Every shoot made the suit expel a bit of gas from the shoulder. She stopped only to reload. At the end 36/36, all head shot, all in the right eye. It was astonishing and depressing at the same time if you are a trained sniper and see someone who never used a gun being better than you.

FUCK!

“I guess I won”

“you cheated, you AI helped you”

“you have an AI too in your suit and Natrix didn’t help, I shoot better than him.”

Well I tried. No way out I have to bring her home.

Scilla was a bit dense when it comes to people. She was able to understand if someone was tricking her but was mostly unable to detect the other party interest in her. She didn’t see herself as special even if she was so in her mind there was no way someone could want something from her. So she had no idea that Idra was trying all she could to get closer to her, maybe not only as a friend.