The flying one went to speak, but the red one zoomed over and cut her off.

"I'm Red Shift, flying one is Scion and the last one is Tinker."

"Nice," said Dave.  "So:  I might be able to land this ship once it's secure.  Call that a plan?"

"If you would, please," Scion said.

Dave went to the control room.  Were the readouts in English?  It didn't matter to him, but he was curious.

They were not in English, but southern Octonian.

Interesting.  But Captain Squid had been speaking English... must have done his research.

He set the ship to set down gently by the city.

As you set the ship down, you can hear many sirens indicating local authorities must have been waiting.

That was fine.  He waited for them.  Besides, he really ought to set his own ship down somewhere, and talking to the local authorities about that would be polite.

You begin to speak with one of the cops when Red Shift bursts in.

"Hey! Our headquarters has a landing pad you can use!"

"Awesome!" said Dave.  "...Uh, I assume the authorities will want this ship.  I don't know what the legalities are, but I don't think the Octonian government is going to file a protest if they grab it.  Why don't I turn this over to them and then take my ship to your place?"

"Sure, sounds fine. Do you like donuts and those iced cappuccinos?" Red Shift asked.

Dave took a moment.

"It has been," he said, "literally years since I had coffee.  Or good pastries.  Well, the syrup-fried grub ones were actually pretty good, but please.  Yes.  Absolutely."

"Okay, see you there," Red Shift said as she ran off.

"Okay, so," he said to the police.  "Captured alien spacecraft, used by the Octonians that you'll find unconscious on board, who were attacking the city.  Don't go messing around with the controls casually.  The Men in Black will probably show up halfway through.  And if you're done, I'm going to go land my ship somewhere safe, by invitation, on private property.  Safety issue.  Uh, I'll be in touch.  Later!"

He then flew off in the approved manner of superheroes.

The Scion flew over to you as she carried Tinker.

"Mind if we come with you?"

"Hey, I'd love to have the company," said Dave.  "Welcome to my home away from home for the past few years-- El Liberador!"

He showed them into his ship.

"I take it you mean Earth," Scion said.

"Well, yeah," said Dave.  "I literally just got back here yesterday.  Had to check the calendar.  I've been away for three years now, but it feels like it's been much, much longer."

"Wow, that sounds like quite a story," Tinker said.

"And what was that about grubs?" Scion asked.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:30, Wed 22 Feb 2023.

Dave laughed, awkwardly.

"Well, the thing is, while I was out there, one of our best allies against the Reaching Claw were the Hso!chli.  Hso!chli are, uh, basically spiders.  Really big spiders.  Like, bodies are maybe ten feet long and legs about fifteen feet each.  They spin webs, too.  They're very isolationist, hard to get them to talk.  But... uh, we set up a meeting.  Me and, uh, the other leaders of the rebellion.  And it was a huge room full of webs, and I was kind of awkwardly climbing through them...

"...and they, uh, decided somehow that I looked like a cute baby Hso!chli fumbling my way through their webs.  And they, uh... declared that I was the cutest thing ever.  So, on the power of my overwhelming cuteness to gigantic terror-spiders, they gave us help.  And they, uh, gave me presents.  Like, things they give to their kids.  Including these surprisingly tasty treats that were, uh, six-inch grubs fried in some kind of sweet syrup that were surprisingly good.  Possibly the best thing that I tasted out there."

"Ew," Tinker said. "I don't think I could do that."

"...I ate worse out there," he said.  "Food is one reason I'm glad to be back.  In the places I was, humanoids were... pretty rare.  And the food was, uh... not really good.  Mostly.  But the fried grubs were okay."

"Speaking of, Shift's supposed to have some celebratory snacks back at base," Scion said.

"Totally down for that," said Dave.  "If you want some nutrient paste to tide you over until then, just say the word."

He couldn't tell them to help themselves.  It wasn't like the controls were labeled in English.

"Is that the base?" he added.  His ship was, after all, quite fast.

"What?" Scion asked.