Chapter 390: Inspection Check, Rewind!

Two months before the crew landed on Wor.

"Goddamnit, Rea." Raya sighed while scratching her forehead in frustration. "Will you get it over with already?"

"Yeah," Kris nodded, lips pursed to the side. "Why won’t you tell us why you gathered us here?"

Rea’s voice had resonated minutes earlier throughout the spaceship, calling all crewmates to the command room.

"Will you chill out?" Rea made her chair spin. "Not everyone is gathered here anyway, and we still have a minute or two."

"A minute or two for what?" Roka asked, tilting her head.

Rea didn’t want to explain just yet.

Thankfully, two of the four latecomers arrived, saving her the effort of deflecting.

"Uwoo! Uwoo!" The voice resonated before the command room’s doors even opened, announcing their arrival.

"Special delivery." Liz chuckled awkwardly as she stepped through the doors.

"Uwo!" Lith repeated while bumping her fist in the air.

"I don’t know how you deal with her antics..." Raya muttered. "Did you carry her the entire way?"

"Yeah," Liz shrugged. "She hopped on my back when I went to find her and... Here we are."

Even when Liz stopped walking, Lith obstinately remained on her back.

"Only two left," Rea noted, looking around the command room. She pressed a button on the control panel. "Rea to Cero, Rea to Cero." The numerous speakers scattered throughout the ship echoed her words. "Did you secure the package?"

"Aye, aye, captain," Cero answered as the doors to the command room opened in front of him.

"That’s gotta be embarrassing..." Al said in a low voice while hiding his mouth with a hand.

"Ugh..." Bak was visibly cringing.

"Hahaha..." Kris scratched his head as he laughed.

The last of the male Worka to arrive was blushing, teary-eyed, and looked like a rabbit that had accepted its fate, its neck caught by a wolf’s serrated maw.

"Let..." He was struggling to even get a full sentence out. "Let me down..." Jay’s body was struggling to coordinate talking with breathing. His heart was beating out of his chest. "Let me down!"

Cero was holding the Worka by the back of his collar, easily keeping his entire body a couple of feet off the ground.

For reasons no one had quite grasped yet, Jay had refused to meet with everyone. Cero had no choice but to come find him and force him to join them, despite the fact that he didn’t particularly enjoy his presence. Or his personality. Or... Anything about him really.

Cero took his time bringing the Worka back to the ground. He had been flailing around with his arms and legs for a while, but he was now stiffly keeping his limbs close as if trying to roll himself into a ball.

’Looks just like a Pogy,’ Roka noted internally, placing a hand in front of her mouth to hide her chuckle. Pogy is a Species originating from Wor that is, visually, a very close match to Earth’s rabbits.

Cero raised an eyebrow as he slowly lowered Jay. He was now close enough to touch the ground if he reached for it with his feet, but he remained tucked.

’What’s this about?’ Cero asked himself as he lowered Jay until the latter was crouching on the ground, knees together against his chest, arms wrapped around them. ’Oh, well...’ Cero shrugged it off. He wasn’t interested enough in Jay to actually be curious or worried.

Meanwhile, Jay’s embarrassed blushing had only grown stronger.

He had been having a very strange couple of weeks. Unbeknownst to all, Roka wasn’t the only one to stumble on Cero’s... Nightly activities with the female members of the crew.

Jay was particularly stealthy and sneaky, so he was never caught. The problem is that it started to make him... Feel weird. Seeing the Paru take the women in such a powerful, dominating and... ultimately in a supremely feminine manner was terribly confusing.

It even got to the point where Jay was trying to avoid the Paru at all times, exerting even more effort in doing so than he already used to.

However, having Cero come into his room, refuse to take no for an answer, and carry him like he weighed nothing...

Jay remained crouched, embarrassed, and fearful that anyone might notice that his tiny, tiny pecker was as hard as a pecker.

Getting manhandled by Cero on top of it all made him terribly confused... And more.

"Aaaaaand..." Rea started, eyes glued to her monitor. "We’re here!"

She turned away from the monitor and towards the different crewmembers, sparkling eyes darting from crewmate to crewmate.

"We’re..." Liz tilted her head to the side. Lith, still on her back, mimicked her movement. "Where?"

"Ugh," Rea wiped her face. This was not the reaction she wanted. "We’re out of the uncharted territories. The wilderness. The boonies! The uncivilized area leading to Serolia!"

"Oh." Liz nodded, hand on chin. So did Lith. "Oh!"

"Finally!" Kris shouted. "Oh, my god! Finally!"

"I know, right?" Rea immediately turned towards Kris, the only one showing enthusiasm for the news. "No more... What are you all looking at?!"

Roka, Cero, Al, Raya, Liz, and Lith pointed while Bak talked.

"We’re getting pulled over." Bak’s voice was shaky. Rea roughly made her chair spin to face the monitor. "That logo... They’re agents from the Intergalactic Union, aren’t they?"

"Huh..." Rea stared in surprise at the message. "Right as we enter? Isn’t this too soon? The map doesn’t indicate a post here."

"Do you think the map might be outdated?" Cero asked as he stepped to join her side. "It has been a while for you all."

"I guess that’s possible..." Rea scratched her chin and glanced at Raya. The latter shrugged, but her expression proved she was not optimistic about this.

"What’s the standard procedure here?" Cero stared at the Intergalactic Union’s crest as well as the message that had appeared on the monitor.

"Just like the message says," Rea explained. "We’re supposed to land on the planet where they’re stationed. The coordinates for the landing zone have been sent."

"Alright," He clicked his tongue. "Let’s see what they want."

Rea nodded.

’Uh...’ Roka thought to herself with a sigh. ’I’m still the commander here, you know? Why isn’t she even checking with me-’

"How does that sound, Roka?" Rea asked without turning away from the monitor, prepared to alter the ship’s course.

"Y-Yes," Roka coughed. "Let’s see what they want. We aren’t outlaws after all." She nodded repeatedly. "We have nothing to fear."