Once more, Vreta could not help but to laugh. It seemed his confusion would not end up being resolved in this conversation, but he did still accept the drink. “That does mean I shall continue to not fully understand you, but…I suppose that has worked for me so far. I will just say that, all my teasing aside Agent, I did enjoy our evening together. I would invite you to join me any time, should you want to repeat the experience.”

Vreta moved on from the topic as well and was the first to finish his meal. For a few minutes, they stared to return to other small talk as they shared Kalax’s champagne, but it was hard not to notice the sudden change in Freyr’s expression. Even Vreta could see that something was wrong, and he was the first to address is. “Is everything alright, Freyr?”

[hr]

It had taken just a day for the detailed sensor sweep of the Humans’ provided coordinates to yield results, though it took a few days longer before the expedition was in a position to bring their scientists on-site. After they had confirmed a positive result on the sensor scans, they had to plan and requisition the proper equipment to reach the object. At the very least, what they had found did provide an immediate explanation as to why it had never been discovered throughout the Rothians’ explorations of their own planet. It was small at only about ten meters in width, the rock around it partially hid its signature on sensors, and above all, it was located extremely deep within Rothia’s crust. Not only was it under an ocean, but it was in a subduction zone near the edge of a tectonic plate. It had been pushed so deeply into the crust that it was nearing the planet’s mantle. Its location did present problems that would require specialized equipment to solve, but to the Rothians, it was nothing their technology could not overcome. 

For the purposes of the excavation, a forward research outpost was being built from modular components at the bottom of the ocean. Scans had identified a suitable location close to directly above the object, at which specialized, prefabricated structures were being brought down from the surface to be assembled. Once completed, their research base would be able to hold all of their needed equipment, with plenty of space left over for to comfortably hold every member of the science team and maintenance crew. Until then, they were making use of a Rothian exploration vessel. It was a corvette-sized ship intended to scout newly-discovered planets and other celestial objects. As it was meant to be able to explore even hazardous environments, such as the atmospheres of gas giants, the vessel could easily survive the intense pressure at the ocean floor, and it had all of the sensors and instruments needed for the team to at least begin their research ahead of the completion of their base. Though, between the ship’s crew and the science team, the vessel did feel a bit crowded, and they had to make due with military-style barracks for their accommodations. 

Nevertheless, neither the Rothian nor Human science teams intended to waste any time, so the vessel was already parked at the ocean floor directly above the object, performing a deep sensor scan in an attempt to non-invasively determine its material composition. The ship’s lab was crowded with all manner of equipment and people, both Rothian and Human like. Depending on their specializations, not all had much to do at the moment, but they were all preparing just the same. Their lab did afford them the opportunity for a wonderful view, as there was a large observation window that took up the majority of one of the walls of the room. There was, of course, no natural light that penetrated so deep into the ocean, but artificial lights had been placed all along the area, in addition to the powerful floodlights that could be found all across the exterior of their ship’s hull. Deep sea creatures that were not repelled by the lights could frequently be seen swimming or scurrying around outside. 

Marae’Ano stood just next to the observation window, watching the laser drills being moved into place to start the first steps of the excavation. “How soon until we can send in probes for a closer look?” Marae asked aloud. Soon after, a full-sized hologram of a Rothian man appeared next to her. Compared to many of the more creative scale patterns of some of the other scientists, and Marae herself, his scales had a much more natural pattern with dark green scales and brown stripes. 

“Rareth’Jharn has ordered a containment shield to be placed around the object before we do anything to the object directly. The object is deep, but luckily not too big, so it shouldn’t delay us by any more than six hours.” He answered. 

Marae shrugged. “Yes, well, I suppose there’s no harm in being safe. Have the latest scans at least been completed, Nirann?”

“They have. One moment, I’ll bring them up.” He answered, motioning his hand through the air as he brought up another hologram between them, showing a distinctly octahedral object among deep, hardened rock.