“What the hell are they?” Allan asked looking at the creatures walking by. There were nineteen in all. The one leading stood upright, seeming to tower above everyone around them at what Allan estimated to be almost eleven feet in height, and held a banner in its hands. behind it came three sets of two warriors, not standing to their full height as they marched they still seemed to be almost eight feet tall.
Next in line came a group of five, the one in the middle also stood to full height around ten feet and was the only one who seemed to be walking at a leisurely pace. The four around this central figure seemed to be constantly on the watch, each one keeping pace about three steps from the corner of an imaginary square around the centermost being. Behind came six more hulking soldiers, in ranks two-by-three, and a final being standing tall, holding another banner.
They all marched in lockstep their webbed feet crashing to the floor creating the heavy thump, the discipline that they held was impressive. As they marched they sang out in their native tongue, and from the looks of confusion that Allan could see on those wearing translators, their language did not translate. Allan was impressed, save for the one in the middle who strolled along as if nothing in the world could interest them less.
“The Chiln.” Aly said, her tone shocked. “They are reclusive and rarely leave their homeworld. This must be the new princess that there have been rumors of. She must acquire a bank account just as if she is to fill the role that her mother held, that of the chief diplomat to the core worlds.”
“The Chiln have the most beautiful architecture, at least that is what I heard.” Jalla said looking at the grey creatures. “And it is said that when they submerge in the waters of their homeworld they shed that grey color you see now, apparently to see the streets of the Chiln capital is the same as if you looked upon a…” She struggled for a word in English, “Rainbow.” She finished with confidence.
As they and everyone else who the Chiln passed by watched, they faded into the distance towards the same Bank that Allan had just come from. “It is also worth noting that they are some of the finest warriors and military minds that the galaxy knows.” Tillia said as the four of them made their way back to the table they had left to go and look.
“So big scary crab monsters that are great at building things, fighting stuff, and planning battles.” Allan said a smile on his face. “Oh, I have to go meet them.”
The three women sitting with him laughed. “Good luck, they only grudgingly talk to other races because they are required to have a diplomat. So if you can get an audience with her, then sure.” Aly said, smiling at Allan, and taking a sip of the water glass that now looked normal. “But they are the other race that came to mind when I said that there were few that still held to a code of honor.”
“Hmm.” Allan said, letting the thoughts in his mind settle for a moment, and then he looked up at Jalla and Tillia. “I believe that I owe you an answer.” He said, his mind racing about the Chiln and about how he desperately wanted to avoid Aly’s question of what god he had talked to.
The sisters nodded, in unison, and looked at him anxiously. “I don’t fully understand everything that goes on around me out here in the galaxy.” Allan said, hoping that they understood that they would not be getting a simple yes or no. “And the both of you and Aly would probably be equally as confused if we made a trip to my homeworld. So I want to clarify something. As your Alpha, does that make me your husband?”
“No,” Jalla said, “An Alpha in my people can be the Alpha of many smaller families.”
“So then why is it the duty of the Alpha to provide you with children?” Allan asked, genuinely curious.
“The Alpha is only required to provide children to the women of his Pack.” Tillia said, grimacing at the word, “Pack is not the right word, it is close but not right, just as Clan is close but not right. That is beside the point. The Alpha must only provide children for the women of the ‘pack’” she made air quotes around the word, making Allan smile, “who are of age, unmarried, and desire children.”
“We,” Jalla said, gesturing from Tillia to herself, “Both want children, and are of legal age and unmarried.”
“Ah, okay that makes a lot more sense.” Allan said, “you know that Aly asked me for something similar, though with far less racial motive than you two.” He glanced at Aly who was blushing that shade of pink that offset her color pattern so nicely, “She asked me to father her children. Aly will you please tell them what I told you?” He asked in his sincerest voice.
“Allan told me that while he was not opposed to the idea, he was hesitant because he did not know me well, as he does not know you well.” Aly said looking from one sister to the other. “You see on Allan’s world, a human can sometimes spend a majority of their youth and adulthood looking for the right partner, apparently some are pickier than others.”
Aly nudged Allan at the jab, and Allan grabbed his chest. “You wound me, fair maiden.” His tone was mocking, but she knew it for the joke it was.
“It also has to do with Allan’s father.” Aly said and this got the attention of Jalla and Tillia, as they had heard Allan speak of his mother, but never his father. “Allan said that if he has any children he wants to be able to ensure that he is a better father than he had. If he wishes to tell you of his father, then he may do so, but that is his story to tell.” Aly added when she saw the questions forming on the sister’s lips.
Allan smiled at Aly for that, he didn’t particularly feel up to that kind of masochism today. “So there you have it.” Allan said, trying to figure out what kind of parent he would be with any of the three women as his wife, then shook his head focusing on the task at hand. “My answer is Yes if you still want me as your Alpha that is, but I have a few rules. First, you will be under a similar agreement as Aly, no pregnancy until I agree with you. Second, if you find another person who you want to be your Alpha or someone you want to be your mate, you must not hesitate to act on that. And lastly, I am still unsure about the whole harem thing. Don’t get me wrong I had a blast last night, and I see the appeal to it, but I don’t want you to think that is going to be an every night thing. You are of course welcome to sleep in the sleeping pit with Aly and I, or if you should desire it we can find you your own space probably.”
Allan looked at Aly who nodded and smiled at me. “If it is okay with Aly, and the two of you, and it is something that all four of us can agree on we will figure out something as far as sex.” He couldn’t help but smile at the three hungry lust-filled looks he got. “So if you can agree to those things I will be your Alpha.”
The sisters looked at each other and held a very short conversation in their native language, then turned to Allan. “We agree, and we thank you for making it clear where you stand.”
They surprised Allan then leaning forward from across the table to plant gentle kisses, or at least their racial variant, which included a lot more tongue, on his lips. “Well, that’s one hell of an acceptance gift.” He laughed after his mouth finally figured out that his tongue was alone again.
Again Allan noticed dirty glares from others around him. “I am getting sick of that, shit.” He muttered under his breath as he ordered something else from the menu that looked good.
“Of what?” Aly asked looking around confused. Jalla and Tillia had a similar look on their face.
“Every time I do anything even remotely familiar to the three of you, we get dirty looks, and when Jalla and Tillia just kissed me, that table in particular,” Allan pointed to a table with six pale blue humanoids with open hostility, “gave us looks that could have killed us if looks could do such a thing.”
Allan was spinning the knife used to cut his meat around his hand in a way that denoted some level of skill to anyone that saw and told Aly, he was incredibly frustrated. “Allan, don’t do anything. I already told you of the racial problem that most have with relations like ours.”
Allan looked at his hand holding the knife and set it down. “Sorry I tend to fidget with whatever is nearby when I’m frustrated.” Allan explained just as his new plate of food arrived, and he tore into it, devouring the strange greenish plant meat in a startlingly short amount of time when he saw that they had not ordered more. “Okay let’s get out here, we need to go see Doc, then go to do whatever it was that the Station Medical AI wanted.”
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The stop with Doc was short and sweet, as the Bastion of Law was set to go and patrol another sector. He used Allan’s new Banker issued ID to set him up with the funds that he had promised earlier and assured him that as new earnings for anything developed using his medical info became available, Allan would get his share. Allan told Doc about what had happened with the Ent-like creatures, and Yilvar had assured him that there was nothing to worry about, simply an old rival of his trying to nose in where they didn’t belong.
The next stop was the medical ward, and they did indeed run into the same four beings that had come to the ship, and they attempted to deny them access to the medical ward, but when Aly pulled one of them to the side and talked with them in Galcom for a minute, they both came back, Aly looking refreshed, and the Ent looking as if it was ready to die.
“What did you say to that poor creature.” Allan asked, looking at Aly as they left the Ents behind.
“I took a note out of your book, from when you dealt with the two elders on my homeworld.” Aly said, slipping an arm through his as they walked, acting oblivious to the stares it got, and Allan played along. “I simply did it in a more acceptable way, and let them know that if they interfered with you or your ‘research’ again I would use every credit of my considerable fortune to ensure that none of them worked in the medical field ever again.” She smiled at him.
“I find that incredibly sexy.” Allan said, and they finally entered the area where people could interface directly with the Medical AI.
What happened next, was Allan spent an hour answering questions for the AI. Jalla tapped him on the shoulder. “Allan how much longer do you think this will take?”
Allan asked the AI how many more questions it had, and it replied that it had seven thousand six hundred and ninety-three more questions. “Okay bud, so here wi what we are going to do. You write them all up and send them to the ship where you sent the message for me to come here. I will answer them all, and as I answer them I will send you answers. Deal?”
“Your suggestion is acceptable, to facilitate your answering speed I will provide four options to each question, three of the most biologically probable answers, and a space for an answer that is not one of those three.” The AI was brisk but cheerful. “Have a great day human Allan.”
They left and headed back to the ship, the four of them tired from what had been to each, for different reasons, a long day. When they got back, there was a little grabass as they all get ready for bed, but in the end, they all fell asleep rather quickly, Allan on his back, Aly on his right, her head resting on his chest, and Tillia snuggled up to Aly. Jalla had laid down next to him on his left, her head resting on his arm. It was a good way to fall asleep Allan decided, before drifting off to sleep of his own.
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The next day was the beginning of what Allan would call happy days. For one he had never had so much money in his life, he didn’t worry if he could afford things he just bought them, he bought gifts and meals for Aly, Jalla, and Tillia. Even taking Aly on a date and doing his best to show her a good time, despite the fact that she was the one who knew where everything fun was. And after Jalla and Tillia heard of this they demanded that they be taken on dates as well, and with Aly leading the urging that he do so, Allan took them each on their own date as well.
This went on for two weeks, with Allan, Aly, Jalla, and Tillia buying supplies and things that they wanted, and just generally having a grand time enjoying life on the station. Unfortunately, it came to an end as all good things must, they had done everything that they needed to and purchased all the supplies that they could arguably use, and even a lot of things that were purely for creature comfort. Allan had also made a special trip and worked with a technician to produce something special, that he had kept hidden from Aly and the others.
When they left it was somewhat sad, especially for Jalla and Tillia who had called the station home for the last several years of their life, and then they began to travel, the ship following the pre-entered sequence that Aly had entered weeks before. For the first three days, Allan seemed somewhat secretive, moving containers from the cargo hold to a vacant storage room, and then he spent hours in there.
When he finally finished whatever he was doing, Allan was excited. He had noticed a surprising lack of entertainment onboard the ship. He assumed that when the Jushintorg clan had filled the ship, they had spent a majority of their time involved with their work as they traveled. Allan had also discovered that Aly had downloaded a shocking amount of media when she first hacked her way through the internet’s protections.
“Come on.” Allan said, leading Aly, Jalla, and Tillia to the storeroom. When they got to the door, they found the old designator on it had been plastered over with a sticker from the assembler that said, in English, “Recreation.”
“Allan, what is this?” Aly asked, and then Allan opened the door. Inside the three women looked around. He had taken the empty space and filled it with all kinds of things to do, the most prominent though was a black box suspended on the ceiling facing a freshly painted white wall. And a long couch beneath the box. “What is all this?” Aly asked as Allan stepped in front of them a goofy grin plastered on his face.
“Well you know how you have all those movies and music and stuff like that saved on the ship’s databanks?” Allan asked, looking at Aly who nodded. “Well I tried to play one a while back and because it was not a holographic recording the quality was terrible and it just didn’t look right. So I had an engineer on the station help me create a projector that will let them play as they were intended.” He moved over to a datapad that was affixed to the wall and began tapping. “I also had him help me make a sound system so that I can do this.” Allan tapped one last time on the datapad and then turned a knob letting music fill the room.
“What…” Aly smiled, recognizing this as one of the songs that Allan had shown her on his music player on their date. “What is this?”
“This,” Allan said taking her hands and beginning to swing her around the open space behind the couch. “Is a rec-room. It is a place for fun and relaxing activities.” Aly laughed as he dipped her, his hand on the small of her back.
“This is amazing.” Jalla said, her eyes closed as she and her sister both focused on listening to the music.
“One day I will take you all to a nightclub on Earth, and we can dance all night.” Allan said, letting Aly up from the dip. The rest of the day was spent watching some of Allan’s favorite movies, as the ship traveled across space. An alert sounded out from the communications system. Aly and Allan walked to the bridge, leaving the sisters to listen to finish the movie that had been playing.
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“So what is it?” Allan said, Aly had leaned over the panel that displayed alerts, and Allan snuggled up to her, pressing against her body, and using his hands to massage her shoulders.
“It...Mmmmm that’s good…” She was having a hard time focusing, and Allan felt her push back against him moving her hips. She shook her head as Allan slid his hands down her back, massaging the whole way. “It’s a travel time warning. It seems the computer has selected a path, and the next six jumps will take a total of one month, with around six days on average between gates.” She gasped as Allan reached the spot at the base of her spine that Allan had noted was a sweet spot of hers.
She Turned around and kissed him. Allan undid his pants and she immediately took hold of his hardening cock. Stroking as she talked. “We can cancel the sequence if you want.”
Allan moaned, and decided to fight back, one hand snaking down to slip two fingers into her already wet sex. His other hand reached around to work his fingers on the spot that she loved so much. “No, let’s do it, a month alone with you and the sisters, is just what I need right now, that and hopefully, it will throw anyone off who is thinking of following us.”
“Oh fuck,” Aly said, moaning as his fingers seemed to work magic both inside her and on her back. “Okay.” She said, turning around and bending to press the confirmation button on the panel. As she pressed it she felt Allan slip inside her.
“Fuck me hard.” She seemed to growl out, grabbing the top of the panel as if to brace herself. Allan smiled and leaned down kissing her back, “Why, what if I want to go slow?” Allan asked.
“Allan,” She said in a tone that sounded angry, sad, and sexy all at the same time. “I am mad at myself, I am mad at everything that has gone on, and I am mad that my whole life up to this point seems to have been run by a shadow organization.” She looked back over her shoulder, and Allan saw a look of determination on her face. “I have kept it all pent up inside me the whole time that we were on the station, and I had a great time. But I am making a decision here and now that no one will control my life again, I am going to do what I want and nothing else, unless it’s for Daddy.” She smiled at me and moved her hips in a way that made his mind melt. “My first decision is that you, Allan Mac’Millen, are going to fuck the anger out of me, and out of yourself. Get rid of the anger you have about what happened with the sisters and their brothers.”
Allan was stunned. He had thought that he had hidden his anger, and other emotions quite well. “How did you…” She cut him off moving her hips in that way he loved once more.
“Allan shut up and fuck me.” Aly said, looking back forward, and arching her back as Allan grabbed her hips. Allan let go of his emotions, and Aly did as well, the two of them used each other, a carnal release of pain, sadness, everything that they could put into a physical activity was put into this one release.
The two of them climaxed, Aly forcing herself back taking in every inch of Allan as she felt his hips buck, trying to force even deeper, and loving the sensation of the orgasms that racked both their bodies causing Allan’s cock to throb with every drop of cum that he spent in her pulsating sex.
Aly collapsed then and tried to rise, but her legs were still shaking. Allan scooped her up and carried her back to the sleeping pit. As he walked he smiled down at her, as her body seemed to still shiver in his hands. “If that wasn’t hard fucking I don’t know what is.” Then he saw that she was crying. “What’s wrong?” Allan asked, finally getting her to the pit and laying her down, removing what little of his clothing wasn’t laying on the floor of the bridge, and laying down beside her.
“I’m happy and I don’t know if I deserve it.” Aly said looking at him with a smile. “I’m so happy, I can’t even describe it, I’m still frustrated but I can see a path.” She stopped as he kissed her. He moved to enter her again, and she welcomed him expecting another hard and aggressive session, she was surprised when he was gentle, delicate even, doing everything he could to bring her pleasure. “Allan what…”
“Shhh,” Allan said, placing a finger on her lips. “I hard fucked you as you asked, now I will make love to you.” And he did just that. They both finished together, and Allan, after letting her relax, snuggled up to her, kissing her gently before moving his head next to her ear. “I love you, Aly.” He said, and they both drifted off to sleep.
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The remainder of the trip seemed to fly by, with minimal major events happening. Aly and Allan getting closer to one another every day, and Jalla and Tillia seeming to fall into place within the daily activities of the ship.
When they finally arrived at the world that the AI had selected as their destination, Allan thought that it looked just like a blue marble, A scattering of islands ringed the equator, and according to the computer, the gravity was roughly .75 times Earth gravity, and the islands on the equator were consistently a warm and sunny seventy-five degrees, with minimal wind.
“A tropical paradise planet that is not the home to any race, and has not been colonized, why is that?” Allan asked.
“It is owned by the Chiln, and they have no desire to build on it, they apparently let any who wish to land do so, and only rarely are there any Chiln on it.” Aly said reading what information there was available.
“Let’s go!” Allan said, and Jalla and Tillia smiled at his excitement. Aly conceded any kind of well-thought-out plan and agreed. They loaded a few week’s worth of supplies into the only shuttle that the Solstice had and the four of them descended to one of the medium-sized islands.
The first day was everything that the four of them wanted, a relaxing, fun-filled day, where the girls even talked Allan into a second round of some harem action. The second day was different. Allan awoke to a large insectoid being standing over himself, Aly, Jalla, and Tillia. Allan recognized it as a Chiln and saw what looked to be a weapon.
Allan moved, the gravity being higher than the galactic norm slowed him somewhat but he had a hand on the weapon pushing it up and then thinking the insectoid would be heavy, Allan threw every muscle he could into pulling the Chiln over his shoulder. Allan was surprised at how easily the Child lifted into the air and landed on its back. The weapon now in Allan’s hand was leveled in what Allan hoped was the right way because as far as Allan could tell the weapon had no trigger to speak of.
“Allan.” Aly said, “You should put that down.”
Allan looked around and saw that there were at least seven more around him. All with weapons trained on one of the women, another four had weapons trained on him. “What the fuck do they want.” Allan said, not taking the gun off the fallen Chiln.
Aly talked to one of them in Galcom, and then her eyes widened. “Allan, they are the royal guard to the princess we saw on the station, she left the day after we did apparently, and came here to rest and relax before going to the Core Worlds. When they detected us the guard came down to investigate.” She looked at Allan. “They have no issue with us, they just wanted to know who was here.”
Allan lowered the weapon, and reached down, grabbing the Chiln under its arms and helping it to its feet. “Sorry about that,” He muttered handing the weapon back to the Chiln.
Aly told the Chiln that they only planned to be there for a few more days, and they thanked her for translating to me and headed into the water. “Well, I guess that cuts our little vacation here short.”
“Yeah.” Jalla and Tillia said, sounding equally upset and disappointed.
“Hey, so we only get a few more days,” Allan said, “so let’s make the best of them.” And they did for two days they lounged on the beach, ate good food, and Allan even managed to scrounge up enough flammable plant life for a good old-fashioned bonfire.
On the last day, they were packing up the shuttle intending to head out at sunset, when a small Chiln emerged from the water.
Allan grabbed the translator from where he had left it in the shuttle when they first landed. “Hey there, sorry we will leave now.” Allan said, a little frustrated that they wouldn’t be able to see the beautiful sunset again.
“Oh, you are leaving.” the Small Chiln said, only about five feet tall. Its voice made Allan think it was young. “I just wanted to come and talk to you.” It turned to head back into the water.
“Oh, we thought you were coming to tell us to leave.” Jalla said, looking at the young Chiln.
“Do your parents know you are up here young one?” Tillia asked looking with concerned eyes at the water as if she expected an angry group of Chiln to show up.
“Nope.” The Chiln said, walking forward and looking at Allan inquisitively. “My mom and my siblings don’t usually care where I am. By the way, my name is Chalxra, and I am a boy.” The Chiln walked around Allan. “I have seen a Quillinar before, as well as a Sidhesh What are you?” Chalxra asked.
“Well that’s an interesting first question,” Allan said as he set the collapsible seat he had picked up when he saw Chalxra. “and I don’t rightly know how to answer it. Am I a human? Yes, I am. But I am also a seeker of adventure, as well as a man of curiosity, integrity, and honor.” Allan sat down and looked at the Chiln who sat on the sand in front of him, putting the two of them at ye level. “So that is what I am. The question then becomes, what are you Chalxra?”
The Chiln thought for a moment. “I guess that would make me curious.” The Chiln smiled, the many tiny mandibles that made up its mouth moving with the motion. “I think you are wrong though, you are not what you said,” Chalxra said looking serious now, “you are weird.”
Allan laughed, and stood up, going about the things that he, Aly, Jalla, and Tillia had planned, the young Chiln seemed content to follow them around and ask questions. Allan had caught the head of an adult Chiln poking out of the waves, several times. As sunset approached Allan pulled Chalxra aside. “So what did you really want to ask us?” He asked wading through the small waves that seemed to be all there was on this world.
“I wanted to know why you threw Lieglish.” Chalxra said, “He is my friend, he gives me treats and shows me things when he is off duty, and while you didn’t hurt him, he is humiliated.”
“Well Chalxra, that isn’t a simple answer.” Allan said, seeing the same head that he had all day poke above the waves. “What do you think of people who like people outside their race?”
“I mean I like you.” Chalxra said, stopping as a confused look came over his face. “But you are also the one who threw Lieglish so…”
“No I mean, if I told you that I really liked Aly. Like enough that one day I may ask her to be my mate?” Allan asked, he was smiling at the simple mind of a child.
Chalrax shrugged, “Doesn’t bother me.”
“Well, that is how I feel.” Allan said, “I view all three of those women as family and waking up to find your friend holding a weapon over the four of us, well it made me worry, and it made me act in a way that I thought best.”
Chalxra nodded, “Lieglish and my mother always say that family is important and that combat is an acceptable method of protection.”
“So you see why I threw your friend?” Allan asked.
“Yes, thank you for telling me.” Chalxra said and then caught sight of two adult Chiln emerging from the water. “Lieglish, mom!” Chalxra shouted happily, sauntering over to the large Chiln adults.
“Chalxra, there you are. We have been looking for you all day.” Lieglish said, he stood and turned to leave with the child.
“Bye Allan!” Chalxra said.
“Bye Chalxra, tell your family next time you are going to be curious.” Allan said, and then laughed at the strange face the young Chiln made at him.
The other adult Chiln, the one he had seen poking their head above the waves all day, walked to Allan. “So, you must be Mom.” Allan said looking up at the female Chiln standing tall. “I am also guessing that you are the princess that everyone saw back on the station. I can’t think that of any reason that a guard or aide would bring their children with them. But for the dignitary of a race, it makes perfect sense.”
“I am Mom, but I would appreciate it if you did not call me that.” The female Chiln said a smile of her own on her face. “You may call me Kilndla. And I am also the princess you speak of.” She turned and looked towards where Chalxra had sunk below the waves. “He is my youngest, and he has an insatiable curiosity about the world. Thank you for allowing him to intrude on your last day here.”
“Not a problem,” Allan said, looking out over the waves. “I like kids, they tend to see things in a simple way that cuts to the truth of a matter. And they tend to be funny.”
“Yes, they do, believe it or not, that is the reason that I like to take him with me when I have to go places and make decisions.” She said, a strange thrumming emanating from her, causing the water around her to ripple in harmony with the tone, “If you ever visit the Core Worlds or the Chiln homeworld, I am sure that you will find my son willing to show you, and the women here today, around.”
Allan looked at her, realizing she had just extended an invitation to visit the Chiln. “Thank you Kilndla.” Allan said looking at the sun beginning to set. “Now if you will excuse me I have three lovely ladies to get back to, and unless my knowledge of parents is flawed, you have a son to scold.”
“That I do.” She said turning to walk into the water.
“Don’t go too hard on him, after all, you were watching him from a distance all day.” Allan said, as she reacher her waist, and then she disappeared under the water.
Aly, Jalla, and Tillia walked up to him. “So that was an experience, we just spent the day with the son of the princess, and she invited us to the Chiln homeworld.” He looked back at them and then was tackled by all three into the water. That last sunset, tangled with the three beautiful women in the waves of water and ecstasy, would stay with Allan for the rest of his days.
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When Allan, Aly, Jalla, and Tillia got back to the ship, a message awaited them. Aly hit the button to make it play, and onscreen stood her Spawn-Father, Yilkie, with a dark look on his face.
“Aly, Allan,” He said, he looked ragged, and Allan could see the bioluminescent ‘bruising’ that the Quillinar had across his body, “I think I need your help.” The image of the man opened his mouth to continue talking and then it cut out.
“What happened?” Allan asked, looking to Aly who was tapping away at the Comms panel.
“I don’t know, the message just ends like that.” Aly said a note of fear and panic in her voice. “Allan, I…” She didn’t know how to ask him to help the spawn-father who she had so many mixed emotions about.
“Well, I guess we are going on a trip.” Allan said, smiling a smile that filled Aly with hope. “Jalla, Tillia, have you ever been to the Quillinar homeworld?
