Sheta POV
Our mother noted our presence at her bedside and struggled to sit up in bed. With a small, pained grunt she laid back on the bed that rose to the correct angle auto-adjusting as she moved. Then she spoke to us "My Acari, I love you all. My beautiful Acari I only ask now that you both do your best in this life and work in the memory of our Dukian. Take all of our hearts with you on your mission and find the answer so that no more little Dukians are lost to Amitera." These were her only words to us as she gave the mothers blessing with a stroke of our left horn. My father sits beside the bed waiting on his turn to speak with us and finish their Parental Blessing. "My oldest rise and stand with me as the Strength, Guidance and Honor of our family. Remember to always look to your heart for Kindness and Mercy and look to your soul for the correct path to Latiera." With the last of his words, he passed his fingertips over the length of Brey's Right Horn. At this Moment I rose to stand with my twin and crossed the tip of my tail with Breys and spoke. "Father, as the second of the whole I will be the Reflector and Comfort as well as the Patience and Steadiness needed to complete the circle." My father replies to this with the same soft look in his eyes he has always had for me because I know I am his favorite." For Latier, Dukian and Amitera, Keep It Well! He then brushes his fingertips over my smaller right horn. With their parental blessings complete, and our tails still crossed we reached out with Brey embracing mother and me embracing father. Then we changed places, each taking in the love of the other to hold close before parting for an uncertain amount of time. We realized with heavy hearts that we would always be their only Acari. I heard my mother's soft sobs again as we walked out of her room. It possibly being the last time we would ever be home with them. Walking away with our tails still crossed to show our value of family, because we needed them to know that we would never let go. I waited until we left the medical center before speaking my thoughts to my brother. "B, should we still go on the mission? Isn't our place still with mother and father right now? Maybe we should wait at least one more day?" My twin was silent while considering my questions. Brey was always like that. Giving everything careful consideration before proceeding with sound logic and reason. He could be so annoying. " No, Shey. Mother and father were very formal with us before we left despite their pain for a reason. They were reminding us that our pain and loss were no greater than anyone else's. Because of their love for us and the pain all of us feel right now is the same pain and loss for our whole planet. That our duty on this mission is more important than just us." Brey stated in his factual tone. I knew he was right, so I just nodded my head once while folding my left arm over my chest and hand on my heart in a traditional salute to a superior. After that I watched as Brey got farther and farther lost in his thoughts considering our mission from as many angles as he could I guess on our way to the spaceport to board our ship. What was nagging in his mind? Was it the vagueness of our mission goals? There was usually a much more direct plan of action with clear steps laid out. This was not the plan of our military as Admirox Duketi was released from duty because of the progression in his memory loss. This is the affliction he and many others must live with because of the Quital virus. No, our great planet saving plan was derived from the minds of our remaining tired and worn-down Vaulted Council. Their plan of action was to send out into space a complement of ten exploration ships in sets of two. Each of these sets were given coordinates to follow in a different direction of the other ships moving away from our beloved Amitera. Each of the paired vessels were to be representative of the five regions of Amitera. The ships had a small crew of ten aboard. This consisted of the Captain, Second, two navigators, three engineers, one Doctor and two nurses. Each ship had a set of four manning the ship in rotations of 18 hours so that two rotations would equal one Amiteran Day. It was how we would be able to mark the layperson's distance we travel for all on the home world. All of the personnel were mixed from the five regions of Amitera. Well except for the Doctors. For some reason the majority all seemed to come from the Mailitis Jungle.
Our partner vessel was The Questor. That Captain was the sexiest male I had ever seen in my life. So tall and beautiful black horns that curved back slightly at the base before becoming wavy while pointing skyward. He had muscles everywhere and he knew how to use them. Just the way that male moved was a feast for the eye. Too bad Alerit is my brother's best friend. He is an easy going male who laughs easily, and protects fiercely with unwavering loyalty. However, no matter how attractive I have found him and hinted my want for him he didn't seem to get it even though he is very intelligent, he still seemed oblivious to all my efforts. Alerit was good with following orders of superiors, but not so good at picking up on the clues of life that got stuffed in his face. Which is why Brey, and I were concerned with the vagueness of our mission objectives, but Alerit was not. They both had debated this a bit and Alerit made a good argument that all those left on the Vaulted Council just did not know how to be specific to the mission from not having had to plan maneuvers and the like. Brey felt we had to leave it at that because there was no telling how much time it would take to complete our mission and who, if anyone, we would be able to save if a cure could be found. Our only objectives in this exploration mission were to find a species compatible with our genetics with a higher infant survival ratio. Make allies with those races to create a mutual agreement for exchange of genetic material to study. The last part of our mission objectives was to find a cure for the Quital Virus or a way to end the Donti.
There was no specific planning to this. It was "We rule the planet and keep order. We provide the governance that the five regions need. That is why there are ten of us on the council. All of the Military experienced Amiterans who could make more detailed plans are either incapacitated by their health conditions or dead. This Council has provided to all the vessels every security access for all relevant information and material available on the planet. Every person on this planet is invested in this mission. We all benefit, or we all die out. You know this and yet you expect this council to provide more than what is available even to us? It is an impossible ask. Our whole species is counting on this mission. With Latiers' Grace, we will Keep It Well!" That was the speech given to us by the Keeper of the Vaulted Council. He had access to all records and spoke for the council as a whole. Everything that he said was true. There really was not more to be done that they could do. So here we are with this cobbled together plan praying to Latier for the survival of our species.