For a moment, I feared Aalyxh's eyes would pop out of their sockets. Then she closed them and squealed. Ben slapped his palms over his ears. "Stop it, Lyxh, you're worse than a love-struck teenager at a concert of her favourite boy band."

"But this is Kali's crush!" The pilot's eyes flew open to study the face on the screen.

The severill was handsome, and heat rushed into my gills while I stood up. "Aalyxh, please open a channel." I resisted the itch to straighten my clothes. "Kalina ap Theron at your disposal, Verano se Kajll. What's important enough to exchange pleasantries?"

"Please, call me Veran. It seems an eternity since I've seen your innocent face, ap Theron, and I'm glad my favourite rogue hasn't changed." His thin lips revealed two rows of pointy teeth in a grin.

"Um." The fact this severill was the ultimate reason his whole race chased me across the galaxy tightened my throat. He still looked exotic enough to cause my neck spikes to tingle.

Aalyxh nudged my arm. "Say something, Kali." Her voice was toned down to a whisper. "And don't rely on your slingshot this time, you'd break our main screen."

The yuuol knew I hadn't used a sling for ages, but the comment broke my stupor. "Oh, I changed, and I learned a few tricks, too. But I'm sure you're not here to chat about the golden past."

The grin broadened, and I wondered about his true intentions. "I'd love to. But we should start with the problem at hand."

"Sure, and what would that be?" A fierce, whispered conversation between Hrrovr and Hijac caught my attention. I frowned, trying to concentrate on my exchange with the severill. Aalyxh sent me a sweet smile and brought the Topsy into a geostationary orbit above the city.

"The problem of finding a way back into the sector we came from?"

Yes, that was one of the urgent issues. There were several more, and a severill ship in close vicinity was one of them. "Oh, this. We're working on it."

"With success?" If I'd needed a proof severills preferred coming straight to the point, this was it.

"Partial, I'd say. What's your assessment?" While Veran conversed with someone off-screen, Aalyxh turned her screen in my direction. It showed our position relative to the planet and the severill ship. Veran had placed the Vanquisher to our left in a stable orbit—too close for my mental well-being, but not actively menacing.

"Let me be open with you, ap Theron. We know where we have to go but lack the means to do it."

A whiff of metallic surprise interrupted the exchange of Hrrovr and Hijac. The karjkan's full attention was now on the main screen. I couldn't blame them. "I appreciate the honesty, Verano se Kajll." My brains worked overtime. How far could I trust this man? "What do you want from me?"

"Veran, please, amongst old friends." He looked at me with the same toothy smile he wore so many years ago, and I was tempted to do something silly again just to keep him smiling.

"Fine, Veran. My friends call me Kali." I stressed the word friends and was gifted with another brilliant smile. Temptation got too big to withstand. "But then, my friends usually don't shoot me at sight."

The smile faltered. "Forgive, Kali. I never shot at you and have no intention to. That was my uncle's favourite sport." He winked, and I saw another smile tugging at his lips. "You shouldn't have taken his eye, you know. Although, I'm sure the grumpy, old tyrant deserved it."

Our encounter was full of surprises. "So, you don't intend to follow his orders?" My frantic search for a way to ensure this wasn't a trick pulled only blanks.

Veran seemed to perceive my mistrust. His eyes narrowed, a strange view, as the lids moved from the outer corner towards the ridged nose. "He can't give orders. He left us during the passage of the storm. All his grudges died with him."

He had now the attention of my whole crew. If the severills called off the headhunt, our lives might become as smooth as a tyrinan slime track. I just had to make sure we didn't slip on the mandatory goo. "So, you no longer intend to blow us out of the sky?"

"Not as long as you don't threaten me with that slingshot." The grin was back.

I felt my hatred for all things severill melt into a puddle of syrupy infatuation. Ben's cough pulled me out of it. "Cap, ask him to share the course, so we can fly home."

The severill's laughter was deep and bubbly. "Your tree-dweller has got the right attitude, Kali." He wiped a few laughing tears out of the corner of his eyes. "What about working together to get there? We offer the coordinates, and you the secret of the portal device you discovered."

"Don't call Ben a tree-dweller, or he might find something more lethal than my sling. Let me check this with my team." I tried to make nonverbal contact with the crew, still not convinced of Veran's trustworthiness. Hijac engulfed me in a cloud of musky encouragement, and the rattling of Hrrovr's head scales told me he had my back, whatever my decision. I smiled at both, glad for their support. Ben and Aalyxh exchanged glances, aware I was waiting for their consent but reluctant to give it.

In the end, it was Ajs who tipped the scale. "Cap Kali, perhaps your green friend's big ship can help us stabilise the portal."

I turned to the engineer. "Guess your apprentice has a point, Ben."

"Yes, Cap, but better warn your swamp-dwelling lover boy I own an atlatl and a boomerang. They're at least as effective as a sling."

"Have you heard, Veran? You have a deal." I didn't mention I felt giddy and in need of a strong intoxicating drink. If he was genuine, he probably stuck in the same place. To my surprise, he changed the transmission mode, and suddenly we could see the severill bridge crew laughing, cheering, and applauding.

"You have a new fan-club, Kali. I thank the seven guardians of the universe we stranded with you and not another narrow-minded alien-o-phobic." Now, he had me half-convinced he was honest.

I took a deep, shaking breath. If my crew was happy to work with the severills, I wouldn't stand against it. "Right, and now we've become all good friends and whatnot, where in the name of the mighty lady of ion storms are we?"

"We found out by pure luck. Our navigator matched star patterns and stumbled over a unique pulsar signature." He pointed to a young female with short, unadorned horns. Her face flushed a dark forest green. "The storm opened a wormhole that carried us across the galaxy. Riann insists she can plot a course, but we need to find another portal first."

"And we stumbled over an abandoned portal device, but don't have the energy to operate it." I hesitated to give my crew one last opportunity to interfere. No one did.

It took several clicks to arrange the details. None of us had experience with wormhole travel, but who hadn't dreamed of mastering this legendary mean of crossing space? Aalyxh and Riann were eager to exchange notes and soon chatted about the necessary adjustments to the course plotters and the reliability of sensors.

Hijac stepped up to my chair with a tablet showing their calculations of the energy needed to open the portal. "We will need the combined power of both ships to stabilise the phenomenon."

I studied his proposal. "And how do we ensure we work in sync?"

"We could dock atop the ss'severill cruis'sser. It would allow us'ss to push more energy into the portal and ss'simultanous'ssly  ens'ssure we cross's it together." The purple tinge of my first mate's belly scales showed me he wasn't happy with this option. I could understand his hesitation, he'd spent more time eliminating severills than eating ice cream, as Ben would say. But we had no choice.

I called my enemy-friend. "Veran, we have a suggestion. We'd like to dock the Topsy atop the Vanquisher—it would facilitate the coordination of the power streaming." It would also bring us inside of their defence shield.

After consulting his engineer, he gave us the heads-up. "Fine, bring her in. But I'd appreciate if you wouldn't call our ship by its expired name. Some believe this brings bad luck. New captain, new name—that's the rule of my people."

"Oh." I hadn't known. "And what's the new name?"

"I'm calling her the Roaming Rambler. She earned a special name by taking us across the galaxy without a single command given." He winked, and then we both laughed like maniacs.

Aalyxh cleared her throat. "If the two of you can interrupt your mating dance for a moment, we should set up the procedure. We must bring Ajs closer to the planet to tell her kin to open the portal. Shall we dock before or after that?"

"I suggest we catch the piggy-back ride first," Ben chimed in. "It will save us time, and we don't risk the wormhole collapsing on us."

I left it to Hrrovr, Ben and Veran's engineers to discuss the details and called Ajs over. "Before we try the portal, are you sure you don't want to stay with the youngsters, Ajs? They might need your guidance."

"They won't. Their assimilation is almost finished. Now, they are better adapted to this planet than I could ever become." Her eyestalks drooped as if she were sad.

"What is it, Ajs? Are you lonely? We can bring you back to Tyrin if the portal works, or to Sqia'lon with the rest of the hatchlings."

"I know, and I'm grateful for your concern, Cap Kali. But my heart tells me I'm Ajs an'Hlj, Ajs without a home." Ajs blinked a few times. "Would you allow me to stay? Despite my slime?"

I was taken aback. Did I convey the wish to get rid of her? "Of course you can stay, Ajs, I only feared you'd be lonesome without others of your species, your family."

Her eyestalks perched up. "I won't, not with all of you. My heart calls you my family."

Right before I hugged her,  I remembered her lipid-sensitive skin. Instead, I smiled. "Always listen to your heart, Ajs."

"Kali? We're ready to dock." Aalyxh sent me a warm smile, and I knew she'd overheard our quiet conversation.

I grinned and went back into captain-mode. "Right, let's hop onto the Rambler's back. Ready for your great speech, Ajs?"

Everything went fast. Aalyxh brought the Topsy down on the bulk of the Rambler, and we secured  our docking grapplers. Then, Riann and the severill pilot brought their ship close enough to the spire to allow Ajs to communicate with her relatives. They seemed happy to help, and we were already on our way back to orbit when another solid-fuel rocket took off from the planet.

Amazed, we watched it explode and bloom into a portal on the main screen. "Ready for the trip, Kali?" Veran's voice was cheerful, and I felt exhilaration surge through my veins. We were going to ride a wormhole, take the legendary shortcut through space.

"Aye, Veran, let's fight the beast!"

With a whoop, Ben engaged our bow thruster to feed the Topsy's energy into the portal. The cool blue beam was supported by a greenish one from the Rambler. The opening of the wormhole widened, swirled in a cloud of blue and green sparks, and swallowed both our ships when Veran engaged the cruiser's powerful engines.

(1975 words)