The Odyssey was more or less back together, the shipyard packs were moving the final hull-plates back into place, the large waldo arms slowly and deftly manoeuvring the white segments back into their homes; drones and Avali in eva suits flitting around them to check everything was in order.
Taran was watching it all from the command and control centre in the heart of the great ship. It was different to the bridge whose main purpose was to fly the ship and deal with navigation and tactical systems. This circular room in the very heart of the ship was where every system could be operated from; acting as an all important backup to the Bridge but also a central point for all the systems that kept the ship running. There was also office space for working and holding meetings as well as central monitoring stations and control systems for things that didn’t usually get routed to the bridge like the manufacturing wing or waste reclamation and environmental command. It was much cosier and easier to work from for Taran without all the formality of the bridge; Taran preferred it as the big office attached to it let him have six screens going at once and up to eighteen audio-feeds. It was a managerial and project planning space and for a huge project like the refit it had been a blessing.
Now though it was quiet, the last of the shipyard packs had finished on-board and disembarked, the crew putting the hull-plates back in would be done soon, “Looks like we are all done,” Taran said to Ki with a smile, “Soon as the final hull plate is locked I can sign off and head down to the surface for my date with Dern, she wants to take me to this club she knows at the pole settlement.”
Ki looked up from where he was working through a long list of maintenance jobs, marking each one as complete and leaving notes, “Good, you two have been having a lot of fun you deserve a break; though I have to admit I’ve never done a maintenance overhaul like this before.”
“Like what?” Taran asked as he walked over, the teal and orange avali curiously looking at the screen, “It looks like you and the shipyard crew finished everything?”
“That’s what I mean,” Ki sat back, the black and white avali rubbing his flesh and blood hand through the three large red feathers that made up his crest, “We finished everything, to factory spec, if we needed a spare part Ifelse printed it, if we had to replace a board we replaced it with a new one I didn’t have to botch anything, wiring old components together and hoping it would work,” he pointed at the current task listed, “Like here we needed a refraction mirror for the singularity generator, it’s made of pure palladium, cut into a disc and then polished until it shines, that thing is worth more then my families entire ship and the Illuminate just sent us one.”
Taran lay a hand on Ki’s shoulder, “Sorry, I know we are a bit spoiled here in central space.”
“Spoilt!” Ki shook his head, “You live in a utopia compared to us but… this is what we gave up to be free, sometimes I wonder if it was worth it.”
“You were free from the Illuminate, I know it can be… trying for some packs to do as they are told,” he glances around, “We live in luxury up here but it all comes with a price, the price of having to be the Trail pack and…”
Taran was cut off as with a soft chime Ifelse announced themselves, the magenta feathered jakub appearing atop Ki’s monitor, they scampered along and chirped softly, “Sorry to interrupt Ki, Taran but we have a visitor, Admiral Jerak of the Illuminate Navy and one of his staff officers a Major Yusarf, the admiral says he is here to do an inspection tour of the Odyssey.”
“What… now?” Taran turned to glare at a screen that was showing two avali in military uniforms standing in one of the shipyard lounges, “You told him the Captain isn’t here?”
“Oh yes,” Ifelse said, “He says that’s the best time to do an inspection when we don’t have time to hide anything.”
“Fuck,” Ki grumbled, “Can’t we refuse?”
“No…” Taran frowned, “This is one of those prices we have to pay; I know him, he’s the Admiral in charge of the Avalonian Exploration Corps. If the Director hadn’t pushed through a new plan for the Odyssey class ships to be civilian run exploration vessels they’d all be under his command.”
“Oh,” Ki frowned, “Is he the jerk Selenu was bitching about the other day? The chief cheerleader of the anti-independent pack campaign? The arsehole who thinks any Avali not in the Illuminate singing praise be the council isn’t a real Avali?”
“Yup, that’s him, he will be here searching for something he can use to erode the Director’s position,” Taran looked around the room, “So we can’t give him anything, he’ll get his tour, since the Odyssey is equipped with military spec equipment we have to submit to an inspection but we need to do this properly.”
He glanced at scuffy Ki, he’d not really groomed his feathers, they’d been working, Taran was just as scruffy and neither of them had bothered with clothes, “Ifelse tell them we cannot permit boarding whilst the shipyard crew are manipulating the final hull-plates it’d not be safe for people to use the airlock tube whilst such large pieces of the ships hull are in motion.”
“Is that true?” Ifelse asked as Taran tugged Ki out of his chair.
“It will be, get Dern on the line for me, tell the Admiral there will be a five minute delay, that gives Ki and me time to grab some clothes and then we will be happy to give him his tour.”
“Clothes,” Ki grumbled as he was tugged out of the room, “I don’t want to give this Kepepky the time of day, I don’t want to dress up fancy.”
“What on Avalon is a Kepepky?” Taran chirped as he hustled Ki towards the elevator.
“It means great captain in Verskiti, it's a mocking title, but without the context from knowing their culture a translator will just show you the words great captain.”
“Please Ki,” Taran sighed and rubbed his snout, “We got to do this, don’t antagonise them, we can’t give him any ammunition to use against us or he will try to interfere in how we operate our home or force us to take on some of his people so we need to play the game carefully.”
Ki sighed and followed Taran across the ship; it didn’t take them long to swing by the pack wardrobe and grab some clothes. Taran pulled on a long bell-cloak and Ki went with a simple waist wrap that hung to just below his knees. It was a simple selection, the sort of things Avali might throw on when unexpected guests arrived who were higher in the hierarchy than they were and the etiquette demanded they offer a show of respect.
Hurrying into the embarkation lounge of the Odyssey Taran pulled his cloak straight and turned to face the airlock which was hissing open, “Ifelse,” Taran murmured, “Have you finished verifying their identification?”
“Yes,” the AI replied, “They are both who they say they are and I have also sent a message to Selenu to let her know.”
“Thanks,” Ki grumbled, “Not like she can do much from the surface of Avalon.”
“Shh here they come,” the door had opened and the Admiral strode in, dressed in a starched and perfectly formal white, orange and navy blue uniform. His feathers were somewhat dull from age but had a crisp line and turn to them that made Taran feel extra scruffy especially standing next to Ki who was slouching and making no attempt to look respectable.
“Welcome aboard Admiral Jerak,” Taran said formally, “I apologise but our pack-leader is not here to greet you, we are the only members of the Trail pack aboard right now.”
“I am aware,” the Admiral said, removing his cap and tucking it under one arm, “I was on site for something and heard that the maintenance of the Odyssey was complete and figured this was a good time to inspect the AECs investment.”
“I am looking forward to seeing it,” the younger avali said holding out a hand, “I am Major Yusarf. I have read your papers on artificial neural structures in nexus based operating systems, Taran, they are quite something.”
Taran perked his ears up and nodded to the Major, “I am glad you found them interesting. I wasn't aware that anyone in the military read my journal papers.”
“Oh yes,” the Major laughed, “Everyone is interested in the Trail pack, it’s not just your brother but everyone in your pack has clearly been highly trained,” he smiled warmly and glanced at the Admiral, “You are clearly all shaping up into some of our brightest stars in your fields, many minds in the military would rather you worked for them,” his ears flicked and he looked sideways, “I suppose you must be Ki?”
The Major turned to look at the black and white avali who straightened up and did a small avali bow, his wing feathers spreading, “Indeed, I am just a mechanic though, you and the Kepepky are most welcome, what part of the ship did you wish to see first?”
The admiral frowned and Taran resisted the urge to groan as he saw the Admiral’s visor print a translation across his vision. His muzzle twitched into a small smile and Taran sighed out of relief when he saw the admiral didn’t know the context of that word. Then he saw Major Yusarf’s face, for just a moment he had stared at Ki, then he glanced at the Admiral quickly before his expression went blank.
“Well considering that they took this thing off the Avali Explorer Corps,” the Admiral said, his voice dripping with contempt, “To turn it into a floating embassy I’d like to see the diplomatic suite first.”
“I am afraid that won’t be possible,” Taran said firmly, weathering the Admiral’s indignant raised brow, “The diplomatic quarters are closed to anyone who isn’t part of Seinu’s diplomatic staff.”
“You have checked our credentials I assume?” the admiral said in a voice like ice, “You know we have appropriate security clearance.”
“Indeed Kepepky,” Ki piped up with a cheerful chirp, he was like an entirely different avali, almost obsequious as he smiled and bowed, wing feathers dipping in a submissive way, “It is a great honour to have you aboard but whilst you have security clearance to inspect the military aspects of the ship annoyingly the Directorate of Foreign Affairs considers everything inside the embassy a protected space.”
“I see,” the Admiral nodded and started toward the doors that led deeper into the Odyssey, “Very good young bird, just testing, I have visited joint ventures before where the civilian idea of state secrets is sorely lacking.”
Taran gave Major Yusarf a look and he had the good grace to look somewhat embarrassed before he fell in to walk beside Taran. Ki took the lead, talking in a near litany of words at the Admiral, describing everything they walked past with detail. As they paused on a cat-walk above the manufacturing wing Taran let himself fall back a few steps and the Major murmured softly.
“Your brother is a lot smarter than his scruffy appearance would suggest,” the military avali said, “He has tied the Admiral up quite nicely.”
Taran turned back to look at Ki who was going on in excited detail about how an industrial nano-loom worked. His ears slowly folded back as he realised that the enthusiastic chattering was essentially forestalling the Admiral from asking any questions. The tour was perfectly pitched as if Ki was talking to someone who didn’t know how the machines worked; Taran felt a surge of pride swelling inside of him as he realised what his brother was up to. He then shot Yusarf a sideways glance.
“And you don’t mind my brother foiling whatever pointed questions your boss was planning to ask or fault he was going to discover?”
“Not really,” the Major shook his head, “The Admiral feels like his power is being eroded, with Avali foreign contact switching to the civilian arm of the Illuminate instead of the AEC he feels like he has less power.”
“Does he?” Taran asked, “He’s still the head of the AEC. I know many avali packs who dream of joining.”
“Indeed,” the Major shook his head and sighed, “It is in the name Exploration, people join the AEC to be explorers, to voyage into the unknown, to find new people and resources and discover wondrous things.”
“Ah yes,” Taran tilted his head and watched as Ki moved on seemingly without taking a breath to start excitedly showing the Admiral the drone printer, “They do not join it to be glorified babysitters for diplomats or policy advisors and aliens get suspicious of the Avali military handling diplomatic engagements,” he turned to lean on the railing, listening as Ki intentionally misunderstood the Admiral’s half-hearted attempt to ask a question as a request to see a drone be printed and turned on the printer, “I am aware of how most of our allies are more receptive to Seinu or one of our fellow Diplomatic packs turning up in an embassy ship full of cocktails and nice food instead of being escorted by a full squadron of military ships.”
“Oh yes,” the Major folded his arms and watched the Admiral’s expression, “That’s the power he is losing and he sees that as the most important, all the old guard in the officers corps do. But their objections all sound hollow and they know it so they are desperate to find faults, like discovering what Seinu’s mysterious illness is.”
Yusarf gave Taran a look and his ears perked up, “Ah I see,” Taran nodded, “This is the part where you have befriended me and I let my guard down and let slip what is wrong with my brother?”
“Of course,” Yusarf smiled, “The Kepepky,” the Major said with a grin, “Will expect me to winkle something out of you.”
“Well I can tell you that Seinu got ill on Babupekkakerok, it’s a death world you know, full of dangerous plants but it is nothing to worry about and he’ll be all better soon.”
Yusrf nodded, “Now shall we go rescue the Admiral before he loses his temper and shouts at Ki?”
Taran regarded the scene and sighed, “I guess we should, since you’ve been good to me, as much as I’d love to hand that ammunition to the Director I don’t want anyone shouting at Ki.”
“Then let’s go interrupt, you can show us the weapon pods that keep you safe, praise the AEC weapon techs who installed the system and then I will extract the Admiral.”
Taran nodded, adjusted his cloak and walked over to politely interrupt Ki with a hand on his shoulder and suggest they not take up too much more of the Admiral’s valuable time and head up to the weapons pods. Ki had impressed him, the way he’d flipped into subservient, bottom of the hierarchy avali and used it to bludgeon the Admiral over the head with enthusiastic talking had been amazing. He’d have to thank him once their uninvited guests left and then have a quiet word with Selenu about it, they couldn’t let such a useful talent go un-utilised; there were many ways Ki could use such skills to help the pack.
The home of Tyk'r’s pack was a very traditional Avali residence, a series of tents set in a clear space in the depths of a Nakati forest along the shore of a lake of warm, steaming ammonia. The coiling, blue-green glowing fungal trees covered a plateau half-way up a mountain and the lake filled a depression in the rock, fed by an underground spring raising the ambient temperature of the plateau to a delightfully warm -15c.
The shuttle dock was the most solid and permanent feature of the camp, a solid expanse of metal plates and aerogel clipped together and embedded in the rock. All the other buildings consisted of wooden tent-frames draped with orange, white and yellow nano-fabric surmounted by long streamers that glimmered with patterns, ancient Avali symbols for prosperity, home, weather and welcome.
It had the look of a permanent tent village, there were discreet signs of technology, storage boxes, generators, a nexus uplink crystal, all stationed around the tents which had been reinforced and protected by curved banks of snow and ice that had been shaped to protect the tents from the wind. Cal was fascinated by the bright colours and open nature of the structures; besides the alien trees and the odd colour of the lake this could have been a field on Bapupekkakerok, although with a brightly coloured camp above ground!
“This is really nice,” Cal whispered to Firi, “If we have to stay above ground due to the weather back home we’d burrow into the snow or hide under a safe bush, you have actual igloos on the surface and you live in them?”
“We certainly do,” Tyk'r said as he walked over, the older avali’s ears perking forward. He had dark-grey and white feathers bisected by a line of shimmering green. Though only his head was visible, he was dressed in Avali armour, interlocking plates of ceramic-metal, aerogel and smooth fabric covering the joints. Even his wing-feathers were folded back inside a sheath of fabric and metal with built in jets. His helmet was hanging off his belt which sported some sort of tech-crossbow and various gadgets and pouches.
He looked like an Avali who meant business but he was all smiles as he grasped Firi’s paws and nuzzled her affectionately. Cal covered his nose to hide a smile and shared a look with Cri, his nose was telling him a whole different story; the very professional greeting of an old friend was accompanied by a chorus of scents and pheromones which told the whole world that Firi and Tyk’r were very, very good friends. Cal however had learnt quite early on that he wasn’t supposed to discuss what his nose was telling him, at least not publicly.
“Welcome Cri and Cal,” Tyk’r said as he turned away from Firi and smiled down at them; it was a very Avali smile, all fangs and forked tongue accompanied by a soft chirping clucking sound. It was to a bunny a terrifying sight; the muzzle of a predator ready to pounce. This was something that Seinu and Selenu and the pack had covered, it was a regular, every day friendly Avali greeting so he chirped back the wordless Avali sound for hello and let Cri take the lead, his brother was so much more confident and forthright about these social things.
“We have been looking forward to meeting you,” Cri was saying, “Firi says you can help us work out what to focus on, this is all so new to us both.”
“That we can,” Tyk’r replied, “My pack specialises in training, and I am proud to say we’ve already got a vampire bunny graduate of our programme, I am sure you and your twin brother will be just as interesting to train.”
He turned to look at Cal and stepped forward, kneeling down so he was at eye level and held out a hand, “Cal?”
Cal nodded and held out his paw and shook it, “Hi,” he said softly feeling a little self-conscious. Compared to Avali he was a big scruffy mess, even having learnt about shampoo, conditioner and showers he was a short ball of fuzz compared to the elegant feathered grace of the Avali.
“I’ve been reading both of your records,” Tyk’r said as he smiled at the bunny, “It’s fascinating just how strong you bunnies are and from your test results you are both smart.”
He stood up and turned toward a tent, “Now it is my understanding you both want to train as bodyguards, but there is so much more you can both do as well to help Seinu and the Trail pack.”
Lifting open the flap of the tent he motioned for them to head inside and followed; the tent was empty except for a floor of white-metal and a ramp that spiralled down into the rock. Tyk’r led the way down into a long series of permanent rooms built beneath the surface of the plateau.
“What is this?” Cri asked curiously as he looked around eagerly.
“Our training facility,” he smiled at the bunny, “We live up on the surface in tents but our training facility is down here, several large halls dug out of the rock and lined with Avali tech,” he opened a door and led the way into a large room. One wall was a screen depicting snow covered mountains but otherwise it was set up like an assault course, with climbing frames, rope bridges, poles, swings and other challenges.
“I want to get right into it,” he smiled at the pair of bunnies, “I have read your files, I have trained Roi but I want to see just how quickly you can get to the other end of this course together working as a team, most of these challenges will require you to work together to overcome them.”
“Hah easy,” Cal chirped and grabbed Cri by the hand, “Come on bro, let’s show them what we are made of!”
Tyk’r stood with Firi and watched the two bunnies tackling the assault course, it was a series of challenges requiring brute strength, agility and hand-eye coordination as well as cooperation to operate various levers and switches to open the path forward. He nodded and his ears tilted toward Firi as he smiled, “They are just as strong as the other vampire bunnies I have met, it’s fascinating to see they have such strength hidden under that fluffy fur of theirs.”
“Oh yes, compared to us and our hollow bones they are powerhouses” Firi smiled, “Cri knows what he wants too, he’s a very smart bunny and his brother isn’t just blindly following along, Cal wants to be a pilot, they also have scary reaction times, those prey instincts of theirs leave them wired to react to external stimuli before their conscious thoughts have registered it.”
“I remember,” Tyk’r shook his head in amusement, “It took me weeks to train Roi to react after assessing the situation, the number of “Innocent” targets she sliced in half in the training hall was quite something but don’t worry I’ll get your boys here into shape in no time, we have experience in training them.”
“So what do you think you’ll focus on?” Firi asked curiously, “I read the reports the Oracle made after their exam results but I am not the expert, so wanted to hear what you thought?”
Tyk’r tilted his head back, watching as the pair of vampire bunnies held onto each other, balancing across a beam that had to be balanced just so to open the gate ahead of them, “General combat training, with a focus on unarmed, Cri will do ranged weapons, Cal melee, as a team they’ll be able to protect Seinu or any Avali from harm.”
“How exactly does it work?” Firi asked as she followed Cri and Cal with her eyes, they were using their tails and raw strength to clamber up a pair of poles now, “I never really got that part of the system, like how do you decide what to teach us?”
“It’s a lot less complicated than people think,” Tyk’r said, “People who come to us usually have a general idea of what they are interested in. Some self-defence lessons, being bodyguards, a new martial hobby. We use what they want to do alongside their test scores and advice from the Oracle.”
Tyk’r pointed up at the pair of clambering, climbing bunnies, “Like these two, the Oracle has produced pages full of in-depth analysis on their test scores but at the base of it they both want to protect Seinu, they believe it’s their duty, that the Great Protector through Sher has moved them into a position to help look after the Avali who woke their society back up and helped them start to develop.”
“I knew some of that,” Firi tilted her ears back as she watched the twins clambering over a series of twisting rope ladders, “I didn’t know their religion came into it.”
“Oh yes,” Tyk’r shook his head, “I don’t get it myself but all those tests help us get an understanding of their personalities, of their skills and the level of their agility, dexterity, it tests all of that,” he waved a hand at his visor, “I also got access to all of your packs Bunny files, Seinu’s public reports, the official logs and recordings that were not used in the public show it all builds a profile that gives me an idea of what to start with,” he turned to Firi, “The real interesting area will be outside combat, I can turn anyone alien or Avali into a warrior but the treasure will be in encouraging their outside interests and you and your pack will need to help encourage those, all I do is light the fire, you guy will have to help them fan those flames into a fire”, the grey Avali smiled, “Cri is on the borderline between genius level intellect, his memory is exceptional as well, it is a waste he spent over thirty years living in a cave! As for Cal,” he turned to watched the grey and copper bunny jumping across a series of stepping stones, “He’s not far behind his brother in raw intelligence, his attention span isn’t as focused but his dexterity, agility and interest in machinery are to be encouraged, his recall for minor details isn’t as clear as Cri’s but ask him to disassemble a machine and put it back together and he’ll do so, his eyesight can pick out a tiny component out of a jumble of pieces at just a glance.”
“We noticed that,” Firi laughed, “He’s been helping Ki in the maintenance bay, no one has to hunt through piles of parts for a specific thing any more,” She shook her head and smiled, fondly, “Cal takes one look at a picture of something and can pick it out in seconds.”
“Their eyesight is incredible,” Tyk’r said, “Not just the colours they can see, I can’t quite picture that but their pattern recognition is spectacular.”
“Sounds like you have some ideas for their training then,” Firi replied, “I knew you were the right pack to bring them too.”
“Oh yes, it will be a great honour to teach them,” Tyk’r nodded at Firi, “As soon as they finish up here I want to sit Cal down to a mechanical aptitude test, a practical so I can see those skills of his in action and Cri has an appointment with Hay’lk, my sister wants to introduce him to some advance concepts on socio-economics, physics, Illuminate and Galactic history, we need to see just what topics interest him the most.”
“Sounds good,” Firi stretched and shook out her wing feathers, “I can’t tell you how happy it makes us to see them coming alive like this.”
Tyk’r nodded, “Was it as bad as the reports on the nexus made it seem?”
“Oh yes,” Firi bared her teeth, “The Horkers kicked their whole society back to the stone age, they were and are still dealing with the collective trauma as a species and their villages existed in a doom-spiral of subsistence and foraging, they didn’t have the capacity to expand as everyday was a struggle to survive.”
“Fucking Horkers,” the avali growled, “I was reading on the nexus how their anti-avali propaganda is still causing us issues, did you hear about that fringe colony that had to shut down and come back to Avalon because their neighbouring systems all refused to trade with them?”
He chirped angrily, “That arsehole king of theirs is making everyone distrust us whilst he’s secretly sneaking around genociding whole species! I hope we get to nail the bastard, it doesn’t affect us here on Avalon so much but it’s hurting our brother and sister packs out there in space!” Tyk’r shook his head and grumbled, “But let's forget about that arse for now, let's get your bunnies up to speed by the time we are done with them they’ll be well on their way to being experts.”
“You tell me what to do and I’ll do it,” Firi said, “We all will, we are here to help.”
“Well then,” Tyk’r looked up, “It seems they have sussed the lock on the final gate, it won’t be long and then we’ll get started in earnest, it will be an honour to train them both.”
“How long do you reckon this will take?” Firi asked curiously.
“Probably about three months if we do the full thing, but six weeks is the bare minimum I need to get them going.”
“You’ll get your three months,” Firi said as she watched as the twins wave at them from the top of the assault course where they had claimed the flag, “What will we be starting with weapon wise?” Firi asked but before answering Tyk’r waved back at the twins, then cupped his hands around his muzzle and shouted up, “Well done boys, see the lever to your right press it,” Cal obediently pushed the button and the entire assault course started to rearrange itself around them, the challenges, puzzles and trials all switching up into new arrangements.
“Now both of you pick a side and let's see how you do on your own getting back down here!” The pair of bunnies chirped excitedly and started talking amongst themselves, eyeing up the two paths and Tyk’r turned back to Firi and smiled.
“I can tell teamwork won’t be an issue with them, those two are as close as it is possible to be, I get a sense they haven’t spent much time apart, being twins and all on their homeworld. The real interest is in how their personalities are developing and diverging, Cri is a born marksman, his skill with ranged weapons is excellent, your lessons with the chain-gun have shown us that.”
He pointed at Cal, “Cal however doesn’t have the attention span for quietly hanging back, he wants to get up, get close and kick or punch whatever is threatening him and his family,” Tyk’r smiled as the pair started to move off across the assault course, “They are both strong so unarmed combat is a must but after the basics I want to focus their skills in the right directions. Currently they are both inclined to follow our orders but from what I have seen Cri is taking the lead, so having him hang back on ranged weapons and thinking tactically will help keep Cal’s impulsiveness under check.”
He fluffed up his wing feathers, “You could see it just then as they went up through the assault course, Cri was in charge and even then when I told them to pick a route and come down separately, Cal deferred to his brother’s choice I can and will use that to train them.”
Firi nodded, “How do you see them working with Seinu?”
“Quite well, in time I will want you to bring Seinu here, if these two are going to be responsible for your brother’s care and safety then they need to train with him. But that’s a future project for now basic unarmed training and then I am going to turn Cri into the leader and Cal into a melee weapon specialist, you are going to have quite the pair of little commandos on your team when I am done.”
“Good,” Firi said, “With Seinu’s profile increasing thanks to the Babupekkakerok report and the Odyssey PR I need more help keeping him and my pack safe.”
Tyk’r nodded and turned back to watch the twins facing the assault course together and smiled, “You’ll have the help don’t worry, you’ve got a good pair of bunnies here and with my help they’ll make your pack untouchable.”
Firi nodded and settled down on a chair to watch them, she knew bringing the twins to Tyk’r had been the right call. Seinu and her family would be safe, she’d never have to jump through the atmosphere of a planet to save one of them again; Cri and Cal would help make sure Seinu was never alone again, the Trail pack would be safe.