Chapter 500: First To Greet

"Why did we stop?"

"Because any further is themarian territory. They… don't take kindly to unsolicited visitors."

The bridge of the Bloodcruiser was probably the heaviest room in the giant warship. Not only because it was probably the most protected and sealed room, but because of the weight of vigilance currently filling its space.

Hera, Riley, as well as Xra's 7 main crew, were currently just standing on the bridge, looking at the large window that has shown the same view over and over again since the start. The expanse of space looked the same no matter what, but even for Hera and Riley, whose eyes were untrained to navigate through the empty darkness, there was an obvious change in atmosphere.

And for Hera, this was quite literal—because she was no longer seeing an empty darkness, but a mist of red. Her body was visually warning her that the empty space in front of her was dangerous, and to step inside it was a very stupid thing to do. Still, as long as she was not in imminent danger, her body wouldn't take over and she would still have full control.

But never once, never once has her body warned her like this—even with Darkday and Xra.

"What are we waiting for, vice-captain?"

"The Captain."

Alindor, Xra's second-in-command, crossed her arms as she stared at the empty view in front of them. Her golden face, slightly shining due to the beads of sweat that has been wanting to trail on her smooth cheeks.

"Let's just proceed, they're just themarians."

"Do you want to be floated?" Alindor snarled as she looked at Lechamp; and without a nose, her entire set of teeth showed themselves,

"We will enjoy watching the themarians tear off 4 of your arms and painting the darkness with your blood."

"Stop imitating the way the captain talks," Lechamp waved 2 of his left hands, before turning to look at the amphibian humanoid beside him, "Are themarians really as strong as they say?"

"Have you been living under a rock, sister?" Girgo scoffed; his mouth that was as wide as his face, lightly clicking as he looked at Girgo, "The themarians are abnormally strong."

"...They can't be stronger than you?" Lechamp blinked a couple of times as all his--her arms fell in disbelief.

"You—the themarians are physically the strongest creatures in the entire Known Universe, you stupid 4-armed bitch."

"W—"

"...Sister?" Riley, who had also just been staring at the empty expanse of space, finally moved his eyes away as he looked at the 4-armed humanoid, "You are female, Miss Lechamp?"

"What—" Lechamp was about to scowl at the question…until she realized who said it, "I… I am, sir Riley."

"Forgive me, I thought that you were male."

"All… all of us are women," Lechamp could really only let out a nervous chuckle; her wide shoulders not knowing whether to shiver or bounce.

"...All?" Hera also could not help but whisper to herself as she subtly turned her head toward Girgo. Of course, she didn't let anyone notice her surprise—humans are easy to offend, it wouldn't be a surprise to her that other races are too.

"I apologize again, I thought Miss Girgo was male." Riley, on the other hand, did not even try to hide his shock as his eyebrows very slightly raised as he looked at Girgo, "I am still not used to judging appearances outside my species' biological appearance."

"It… it's very understandable," Girgo croaked while clearing her throat, "Even those that are in the Known Universe make the mistake, we… can't expect someone from the Unknown to abide by our societal construct."

"Thank you for your understanding, Miss Girgo. But I do wonder if you lay eggs?"

"Riley!?" Hera, this time not so subtly, grabbed Riley's arm and tried to pull him away. She would, however, be lying if she said she wasn't curious about it.

"I…" Girgo looked at her comrades, only to see all of them avoiding her large round eyes and leaving her on her own to answer Riley's almost childlike curiosity, "...I do lay eggs."

"Do you also lay hundreds and hundreds of eggs, Miss Girgo?"

"...No."

"Hm… Thank you for answering," Riley then nodded, before turning his head toward the rest of the crew… which once again tried their best not to make eye contact,

"Aella."

"...Ye—"

"You are from the same planet as Captain Nana?"

"...Yes?"

"But you have a tail."

"Our… people did not evolve the same way."

"Much like my skin is white, and Hera's normal skin is of light brown—I understand, Miss Aella," Riley then turned his head to the next crew,

"Moira, the one with the blue skin."

"She's not a Na'vi as we originally thought, Boss," Little Riley was the one to respond as he stood on Moira's shoulder, "She's a Perona from the planet Peperoni."

"P…Peperona," Moira meekly corrected as she glanced at Riley.

"Hm," Riley nodded before turning to look at Xra's second-in-command, "I have seen many of your kind, Miss Alindor. Golden skin and lacking in facial orifices than most other species. Could it be that you do not have a sense of smell?"

"My kind… smell through our skin," Alindor quickly lowered her arms as Riley addressed her, "And the reason you are seeing a lot of us is that we are the most populous race in the entire Known Universe—and we like to travel."

"Hm," Riley once again nodded as he looked at the next member, the bald humanoid,

"Miss Cyndee, are you not just a big-breasted human suffering from alopecia?"

"I… don't know what that is."

"A rare condition much like mine, except instead of a lack of melanin, it is a lack of hair due to the hair follicles being treated as a sort of illness by the immune system."

"Then… no," Cyndee giggled, causing her large bosoms to slightly jiggle, 

"My kind is just completely without hair. But as for my breasts…" She then grabbed both her breasts and lightly squished them together, "...It's an individual trait of mine. Do you like it?"

"I have seen bigger in my home planet, Miss Cyndee," Riley nodded again before turning his attention to the last member, who has not spoken even once the entire time Hera and he have been on the ship,

"Miss…"

"Lunox. Her name is Lunox," Aella was the one to respond as she stood beside Lenox, a… slightly translucent female humanoid that wasn't wearing any clothes, "Her kind can't talk."

"How does she communicate, then?" Riley tilted his head to the side as he looked at Lenox, "I have watched an anime once with the main character being an evolving slime, but he talks."

"She—"

And before Aella could say anything, Lunox stretched her hand toward Riley. And with a small wiggle of her fingers, they started to extend like tentacles as they moved toward Riley's face.

Riley did not move, however, and even stepped forward to give permission to Lunox to do whatever it is she was doing. And as soon as her fingers touched Riley's temples, Riley suddenly found himself surrounded by nothing but trees with barks seemingly made of quartz.

"T—" And before Riley could say anything, Lunox quickly pulled her fingers away before kneeling to the ground and clasping her head tight.

"L…Lunox!?" Aella quickly held Lunox, only for her to let out a small scream and do the same, 

"This… what is this…" Aella then slightly gagged as she tried her best not to vomit.

"Lunox can read… intent in a way," Cyndee approached Riley while letting out a forced chuckle, "She could also share her intent—that's how she communicates."

"...Oh," Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked at Lunox and Aella, "I apologize, you two. I did not mean for you to get a glimpse of how my mind works."

"The same thing happened the first time she met the captain," Alindor approached Lunox and Aella, but she did not touch them and only asked them if they were alright,

"But I do find it odd," Alindor then muttered, "Her reaction was not this intense when she met the captain."

"Because between Pirate Queen Xra and me, I am the more evil of us two, Miss Alindor."

"..." Alindor slightly squinted her eyes, "Speaking of the captain, I should call—"

"S…stop him!"

And before Alindor could finish her words, Aella stood up; her saliva slightly trickling down her chin as she tried her best to speak.

"...What?" Alindor and the others, and even Hera all looked at each other as they heard the desperation in Aella's voice as she… had her hand stretched toward Riley.

And then, with a nervous gulp, Cyndee very slowly moved away from Riley as she turned her focus at Aella, "Stop him… from doing what?"

"This."

And as if to answer all of their questions, Riley started to stretch his hands to the side.

"...Riley?" Hera also backed away from Riley as his feet slowly left the floor, "What… are you doing?"

Riley did not immediately answer Hera's question, and only continued to float into the air. After a few more nervous breaths circling around the bridge, however, they finally realized what was happening. How could they not when the entire ship started to tremble…

…and move forward?

"W… wait, sir Riley!" Alindor turned to look at Hera, as if asking her what they should do, "We… we need to wait for them to contact us! We also need to wait for the captain since they know her!"

"There is no need for that, Miss Alindor. Since we are the visitors…

…we should be the first to greet them."