Fire by the Sea

[Makai Dashiell]

"No, of course we can't."


Makai departed from [member="Tegaea Alcori"] and entered his own shuttle. Taking off this time there was more a reason to keep the speed low and the altitude less than what he normally would. He hadn't seen Arkas before visiting today and wanted to take it in. Miss Alcori was right, land seemed at a premium, beautiful islands dotted his journey to the resort.


It took a moment but the half-Galan soon emerged from his vessel in bright pink shorts with yellow ducks on them, just one of the many odd and quirky swim trunks in his collection. Makai frowned as he looked at the skin between the patches of scales - looking quite pale. No sunlight tended to do that.


Eyes squinted as he watched the resort construction crew as he soaked up the sun, waiting on Miss Alcori to emerge.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
When Tegaea emerged she was dressed much less…colourfully than Makai. She wore a plain black wetsuit, with air tank, mask and flippers in hand. It was much easier for aquatic species for sure….

Still, she walked over, nodding. “Nice, isn’t it? Completion is set to be in 6 months provided we get the foundation stuff like we discussed sorted. Shall we?”

They walked along the beach to an area where a temporary pier had been built out over the water in order to better move people and tools to the right location.

“Here’s where the main building will be. You can see they’re already starting to build it out over the water. Any thoughts?”

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]


Makai started to wonder if Miss Alcori was a near-human species judging by her wetsuit and various accessories. Could she not get wet? Allergic to salted water? The teenage half-Galan was used to seeing [member="Myra Elspeth"] parade around him in a bikini. Not that he ever minded in the slightest. Wetsuits were typically used for cold water - was the water going to be freezing? Didn't look like it to him.


His musings were interrupted by her speaking, drawing him into the present.


"Very beautiful, you've chosen an excellent spot."


Makai shook his head.


"No real thoughts until I get to check out everything below the water. Its going to be an amazing building though judging from the current set up."


Toes inched toward the water.


"You can stay on dry land if you want..."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
Tegaea immediately picked up on his curious look.
“I like to be prepared. Plenty of time to swim later, may as well be ready for this, and when we go to deeper water.”

She laughed at his suggestion pleasantly. “After I’ve got into all this stuff I’m not going to let you have all the fun. I’m hardly an expert, but I’m capable enough to swim around a bit.”

She set herself and then was into the water, Makai beside her. It was sort of unfair that she had to have an oxygen tank whilst he didn’t need to wear a bowl of water on his head on land. Either way.

Their journey took them to the sandy bottom where the pylons were being assembled.

It was of course impossible to talk under water with any sense of accuracy, but she pointed out the key locations with her hand.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]


Transitioning from air to water used to be a seamless process for him. Dive under, start sucking in water, gills did the rest. Having been stuck above the ice for months on end the transition was a bit odd now, a bit of panic rising in him on the decent down. Water had less oxygen than air and so he was working overtime to compensate. It took a moment, finding something else to focus on to make his time in the water feel like it used to.


Last time I ever go this long without swimming.


Curious he gave a few swift kicks, journeying down to the bottom of the pylons to get a better look. Makai wasn't completely sure what to look for but his Dad had pointed out shoddy construction work in the past so he at least at a rough idea.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
Gills were an amazing thing, but sadly it was something Tegaea did not have. Still, she was able to focus on breathing and not panicking from the water all around her.

Tegaea had received reports about the work, but had not actually been down to see it herself. She could see immediately that it was worse than she’d been told.

The concrete pylons had been poorly sunk, and some of the bolts were already starting to discolour. Someone was going to get a thrashing for this. Verbally first, then quite possibly literally!

Still, she pointed out the locations to Makai, then produced a waterproof datapad and typed a few words on the screen.

Enough pylons? More needed?

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]



Makai wasn't exactly the construction guy, that was his father. He had however seen a good deal of the bare basics, helped out on a few projections. Despite not having an in-depth knowledge base, Makai could easily see the pylons were poorly constructions and there were few too many.


He had seen the destructive power of the sea. Miss Alcori probably didn't want her resort floating away. Makai reached out and took the datapad to type his own message out.


Too little. Poor construction, I would redo them. How is the base?


Other hand pointed down to the seabed.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
Tegaea swum down until she was at the bottom. With one hand she brushed away the sand and coral to reveal there was solid rock underneath it all.
She took the datapad back.

Solid base.

A brief tour around would reveal some other flaws. In truth she hadn’t really needed Makai to show her this, but having him here was a reassuring presence and gave her views authority when she confronted the incompetent shrimp of an architect.

She headed up towards the surface. They could tour the retaining wall next.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]



Makai nodded, glancing down at what was a solid rock base. At least Miss Alcori had one thing going for her. While Miss Alcori went for the surface he kicked down deeper in a different direction. Makai had just wanted to take in the coral that lay off around the pylons. He had thoughts of talking to Miss Alcori and the new construction crew about possibly 'seeding' the area for coral. Turn the area into one giant reef and bring in more tourists willing to stick around and dive.


Having seen enough, he headed back to the surface, breaking through. The transition back to air was odd and he shook his head, droplets of water flying everywhere like a shaggy dog. Makai relaxed, bobbing in the warm waters, looking towards Miss Alcori.


"Where to next?"

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
Seeing Makai emerge from the water was a rather amusing sight. He shook his head furiously like her pet Jester when it’d been given a bath. Grrbyrr hated baths.

She’d unzipped her wetsuit whilst she waited, but now stood and pointed to the area where the waves crested and the water colour changed.

“Out there. We’ve got the survey works for the retaining wall beginning. We can walk or swim from here, depending on your preference.”

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]



He caught amused look Miss Alcori gave him and there was a boyish grin thrown in her direction. Eyes followed the direction of her pointing where the water turned from beautiful turquoise to a deeper blue. Hand came up to brush the longer strands of hair out of his eyes, thrown there when he was 'shaking off'.


"Walking is fine." Falling in step next to Miss Alcori, gaze fell on her once more. "So how did you decide on this place? On Arkas I should say."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
“Arkas is a place we came to help as it had been overrun by pirates – they were using it as a base and so we came to break up their ring. After all of that was done we found that this planet had a lot of potential. The remoteness, the climate and the natural settings made it worth settling. And after…well after Kaeshana we needed somewhere else to live. I noticed this place though after we’d helped found Freetown and so when we looked to do tourism it was only natural.”

She spoke pretty freely, but it was all true and there was nothing not public knowledge in her words.

They soon reached the end of the boardwalk to where some pontoons and barges sat. Tegaea nodded to the crews. Her aide had already teleported into place to watch over her.
“Right, in we go, gentlemen first,” she said with a smile and a gesture.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]


"Very worthwhile in settling. From what I've seen so far is nice, reminds me a bit of growing up on Ceto. Just not as troubled of a recent history."


Ceto had seen most of their war-torn days through the Gulag Plague and shortly after before the current ruling families had put a stop to the wars and invasions surrounding the planet. It was a relatively safe and peaceful planet but he and his father had left when his mother had 'died'. Dac had been equally kind to him as well, at least no Jedi had sunk any of the major cities lately.


Makai easily hopped into the pontoon, 'sea legs' kicking in as the boat gently rocked on the waves. The teenager turned and scooted closer to the edge of the pontoon,offering a scale speckled hand to Miss Alcori.


"The one time I won't argue with gentlemen first."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
Tegaea took his hand with a smile and nod. She sat beside him, attaching her gear. Once he had gone in she plopped in backwards to the water and swum down.

With effort she headed deeper than previously, down to where the reef appeared. The ridge of coral and stone formed a base to work from, but properly utilising it required skill. One did not want to kill everything in the water, but also wanted it to be strong.

Tegaea pointed to where some survey markers had been driven into the sea bed. She handed the data pad to Makai so he could write his comments.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]


Diving back in the water, Makai noticed they were going deeper than before. A few kicks at he was hot on Miss Alcori's heels, watching as she pointed to survey markers lay. Eyes took in the rock bed. A few more kicks and he was down touching the rock bed. Solid, seemed to be what was going to be needed.


Hand took the datapad and typed before showing it to her.


Seems sturdy, coral life is the issue. Pylons to minimize impact? Durasteel beams?

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
She nodded and took the pad back.

Framework to protect coral. Lattice wall to distribute impacts. Retaining wall outside reef to dissipate waves.

Going down and seeing it now made things clearer, as did Makai.

With little else to add she took a little tour more and pointed up to the surface questioningly. Was there anything else Makai needed to do?

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]


Makai took the datapad back to write a quick note. Naturally, it was an incredibly lame joke. What else could one expect from the boy? Amusement was written all over his face as he typed it out before handing it back to Miss Alcori.


Dissipating waves is crucial , dont want anyone sleeping with the fishes!


Having handed back the datapad that was now defiled with an incredibly lame joke, Makai gave a thumbs up about heading back to the surface. He had seen enough to advise Miss Alcori on. Besides, Makai assumed he would stick around on planet for a few days just in case. There was always time to dive back down later is Miss Alcori needed holoimages, mapping or measuring done.


With a few kicks he started back up the the surface and sunshine.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
Tegaea soon broke the surface, pulling herself up onto the jetty with the help of her aide. She reached down to give Makai a hand out too.
“That felt good! I should do that more often!” she said. There was a brief sideways glance from her aide. “It can be our little secret, Simoon, you don’t need to tell Lady Kerrigan.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Tegaea grinned and put an arm around Makai’s shoulders. “As for you, I insist you stay at least a night, anything I can get you at the villa is yours. All you need is ask.”
Seeing as it was Tegaea she’d probably offer Makai very good food, wine and women. She saw nothing odd in offering courtesans to her semi-adoptive daughter’s step brother. Did that make Makai her step-step-mother? Families were weird.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]


Makai stood dripping on the jetty, helped up by one of the aides. It was odd having aides everywhere one turned. Seemed it would foster a lack of privacy. Knowing Miss Alcori and Miss Kerrigan however privacy probably didn't matter as much as it did to him. There was no need to intrude on Miss Alcori and the Villa but it seemed like she was insisting.


He briefly wondered if Elpsis had a room at the villa. Not that he would do anything horrible but if there was a chance to troll his big adopted sister he was taking it. Besides, Elpy probably had good girly mags stashed underneath the mattress. She was blind and in his opinion, had no more use for them.


"I was just going to sleep on my ship but if you insist Miss Alcori I can stay over. I don't want to step on any toes."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Makai Dashiell"]
“It’s no problem, I assure you!” Tegaea said with a smile. “Though of course I won’t force you to stay. We have several guest rooms and my girls are very accommodating.”
Just what that accommodation meant would be down to Makai to decide.

Tegaea removed the wetsuit and handed it to Simoon, walking back with Makai.
“We have a shower here if you want to use it before we fly.”

Busywork continued around them. Knowledge that the boss was present seemed to make everyone noticeably and pointedly work faster to gain favour.