I set the mug on the console in front of me as I let the warm, soothing taste of the coffee course through my body. Glancing over the various indicators, I noticed that an hour had passed since we woke up from our stasis sleep. Chakat Silktail, our captain, was staring at the viewscreen, which was currently showing the space in front of us. Alexander Dawson, our Communications/Security/Supplies Officer, was currently checking the hold, I could see his communicator signal blipping on a second panel.
I took another sip and set the mug down, letting my mind pore over the events that lead to our current situation.
* * *
The engine had never run so good. I installed the new parts we bought after our last delivery-run, and she softly hummed as I turned her on again.
“We’re ready to leave captain”, I said into the mike on my head-set. “She’s all fixed and ready for action.”
“Good,” was hir answer. “If you could join us on the bridge now, we have clearance to leave and, if we’re lucky, we can be back on Chakona before the festivities start.”
As I came on to the bridge, the captain was already manually piloting our vessel out of Voxxa Spaceport. Shi liked doing that hirself, and I could only admire hir steady paws. I like to think I’m good at what I do, but shi’s the best pilot I ever saw.
Alex was steadily relaying our positions to ground-control and providing the space-customs with the proper clearance-codes.
There were indeed just the three of us, the minimal skeleton crew on what was, originally, a ten-member vessel. But, seeing as all three of us were willing to work hard and were adequate at performing our tasks, we got by just fine.
* * *
I hurried to my station, anxious to get going. The sooner we finished this last run, the sooner we got back to Chakona.
The Freedom Celebrations were starting next week, on January the 15th, and I was looking forward to seeing my family again. Not to mention indulging in the festivities! It was the only ‘real’ Skunktaur festivity we had. We celebrate our freedom from slavery and honour and thank the Chakat for setting us free. I invited captain Silktail and Alexander to join me at my parents’ home. Both had often heard about it, but never actually celebrated this day on the Skunktaur Archipelago itself, and they were at least as anxious to get away from Voxxa as I was.
If I remember it well, the captain had given the order to go to Warp Four, and we were leisurely travelling along when Alex got up and left the bridge. He mumbled something about “checking the cargo and the supplies” and we left him to do his job. My console registered him going into Supplies, then into the cargo bay. There’s a tracking device built into our headsets, used to keep track of crew on ships and planet surfaces and stuff. It’s a personal code, and my bridge-station shows who’s where.
I got myself some coffee. He took an hour to finish his job, and it seemed like he did more than that, because he entered the bridge eating a rather large sandwich. He sat down at his station and we all enjoyed the silence of space for a while.
Suddenly, my console flared up, and Code Red emergency was immediately issued throughout the ship. I checked the messages, and checked them again, because I couldn’t believe what was happening.
“What’s wrong, Z?”, asked Alex.
“Zwokkie”, I said automatically. But that didn’t matter, Alex has been calling me ‘Z’ from the first day we met, and I keep on correcting him. It’s one of these oddities we have. But this time, having to correct him, temporarily removed the creeping feel of panic from my mind. I could already feel the rush of adrenalin coursing through me as I explained what happened.
“Warp coil overload!”, I yelled, “Captain, We gotta get down to Engineering and try to fix it before we explode!”
I’m always amazed at the speed of a Chakat. Shi beat me to the bridge doors, even though I was only four feet away. We got to Engineering and shi started working on the computer there, while I began looking for any physical fault. I checked all the usual dials, skimming them, relying on my keen sight and strong memory to notice any faults when I saw it. The distribution lines to the engine were smoking, they shorted and the feedback was overloading the coil.
“Shut the engines down!”, I shouted needlessly. I already knew that the empathic bond my species can form (two-way for other Skunktaurs; One-way for Chakat) had already relayed the information I had seen.
“I can’t! They’re stuck!”, was hir reply before I even stopped talking.
I gave up on the subtle approach and started yanking at the cords, Silktail joined in and so did Alex when he finally arrived. The lines couldn’t withstand our combined force and they snapped, finally shutting down the engines and stopping the feedback.
“We’re not safe yet”, said Silktail. I knew what shi was going to say, but I was too busy with trying to figure out what had caused this malfunction, that I didn’t finish hir words. “The coil has to discharge its overload somewhere. Since the engines are no longer an option, it will release into the atmosphere. The entire ship will be flooded in radiation within”, shi glanced at a dial, “TEN minutes!”
“Won’t we be safe in the stasis pods?”, asked Alex.
“Yes”, I said, “But we’re adrift and we can’t stop our motion. Besides, we have to program the computer to let us out of stasis when it’s safe or it might take years before we get out.”
“Unless, we’re found,” said Silktail. “I’ll set an S.O.S. and the timer. You go ahead into the pods.
I wanted to object that shi might not make it in time, but again the empathic bond betrayed my thoughts before I could utter them.
“THAT was an order!” shi barked. We complied, reluctantly.
* * *
What happened then was an easy guess. The radiation reached safe levels within a month and we were released the next day. I was glad that the Captain made it, and shi smiled as shi sensed my relief. Ship’s log showed we got caught in the pull of a large asteroid. It had pulled us along for a month and jammed our emergency signals.
Stellar charts showed us well outside known space, and well outside reach of the nearest communications system. But worst of all was that we missed the Festival. We could get back given time, but the Festival wouldn’t be back for another year! And we had been so looking forward to it…
We fixed the distribution lines; I make a point of keeping enough spare parts around at all times and we were soon finished.
* * *
I took another sip of coffee and looked at our captain. Hir long chocolate-colored tail swaying lightly while she’s gazing at the stars outside the ship. I wondered what shi was thinking about.
* * *
“What a mess.”, thought Silktail, “How am I going to get my crew back home in one piece?” Shi glanced at Zwokkie drinking hys coffee and smiled. “At least hy looks like hy’s confident me. But Alex.. Any minute now he could be coming back telling me something I allready know.”
Shi sighed and hir tail twitched lightly as shi fixed hir gaze at some far away constellations on the screen. “I wonder if that’s going to be all he’s going to tell me.”
A light thud drew hir attention back to Zwokkie, hy had set hys mug down and appeared to be deep in thought. Shi chuckled a little inside, “hys muzzle always wrinkles slightly when hy does that”, she continuead hir thoughts, “I really have to ask hym to do that while I’m making hys portrait.” Hir thoughts trailed back to the job interview.
* * *
“Yes, thank you for coming, I’ll let you know when I’ve made my decision, Mr..” “Please, call me Jaxxon.” “Mr Jaxxon, Good bye then.”
Silktail shook the man’s hand and he was off. “Good grief, what a slick, horrible person,” Shi said as soon as Jaxxon cleared the room. Silktail shuddered a little at the thought of having him on her crew. Oh, sure, he was the best person suited for the job of Chief Engineer who sollicited so far, but the person himself…
“I’ve been trying to enlist people for my new ship for three days now,” Shi thought, “And all I got is a Security Officer with good intentions but a shady past.”
Shi paced up and down the small office shi rented for the job interviews, when suddenly hir thoughts were interrupted by a strange timid emotion settling in the back of hir mind. Shi raised hir head and hir ears focused at the door as a small, polite koff was issued by the person standing there.
“Yes, What can I…” Shi stopped dead in hir words when shi saw who was standing there in the doorway. Hir eyes rested on a male skunkmorph, no a male Skunktaur shi realized when shi looked a little closer.
“A Skunktaur?” Shi thought. “Chakat-kin too?” Shi added when shi spotted a little blue fur coloration resembling a pawprint on hys chest. Now the strange emotion made sense, shi was feeling the effects of the Empathic Bond skunktaurs establish with eachother and hir kind. Shi could sense hys end of the link, but hy couldn’t receive hirs, because Chakat can’t form that bond themselves that way. “Am, er, I too late for the job interviews?” Hy carefully asked. Silktail looked at a clock and saw that it was almost Six ‘o Clock, the time shi had posted as the end of the interviews.
Shi looked hym over for a few moments. Hy was about as tall as hir, some 5’2″. Hy was well built, though a little lithe for the average Skunktaur shi had seen in the past. Hys markings were traditional for the two-striped skunk, save ‘gloves’ on all hys limbs and a white tip to hys long arched tail. A lock of hys long, white hair hung across hys face and two braids ran along hys cheecks. Hy shuffled a hind leg a little shyly under the stare and shi felt hym getting a bit more anxious.
“No, please, come in, there is still some time left. Make yourself comfortable.” Shi said as shi hurriedly paced to hir side of the desk. “If hy is going to ask me about the job I think hy’s going to, hy’s hired.” Shi thought as hy padded across the room and squatted down in front of hir.
The rest of the interview went smoothly. Hy had just finished the last part of hys Engineering education, being a two-year internship spread out over at least five different types of vessels, and was ready to start as soon as shi wanted hym to. Shi gave hym a week or two to go home to hys family first, and shi could use the time to try and get some more crew.
As hy padded away, shi was wondering if that warm feeling when they were talking was just hirs or hys as well.
* * *
Alexander Dawson grumbled to himself as he inspected the cargo. “Damn radiation spoiled almost all the food we had with us.” He said. Then he looked a little startled. “I hope my special cargo survived,” He thouht a little panicky.
After moving a few large, empty crates, he gazed at a little device that was steadily humming. First he seemed relieved, but soon his mood darkened further as he swore at the thing.
“Dammit! It’s all your fault that we’re in this!” He roared. Alex prepared to kick at the thing, but slumped and sighed. “No, this is my fault. If I hadn’t been so stupid, this would’ve NEVER happened.
* * *
Alex glanced at his buddies across his cards. There were a Wolfmorph with one blind eye, A lady Anthro Falcon and two more humans. He’d known these people for years now, he had even served in the marines with the wolf. All five of them, and a few more, had been involved in numerous not-quite-legal operations. Always finding the loops in the law.
But after an accident that caused the wolf lose use of an eye, and some of their buddies get free lodging in the local prison, Alex decided he’d quit. He hadn’t seen them for over a month, since he started working on the SCV Starhopper. The job gave him the satisfaction he lost since he was discharged from the marines for insubordination.
Well, that wasn’t really his fault. He deliberately disobeyed orders to save his buddies life. Both he and the Wolf were dishonorably discharged for the incident.
Alex turned to look at his cards, A Royal Flush, he was sure to win now. The whole evening was going up and down for him, but now he had a sure win. He looked at the cards a little closer than was necesary, making sure if he could detect any kind of markings. He knew the others just a little too well. But unless they found a new way, the cards were clean.
“I’ll see your $500,- and raise you another…$300,-”, he said piling his last chips in the center of the table.
“But that’s only $50,- you got there”, one of the humans said with a reedy voice, “Where are you going to find the other seven-fifty?”
“Come on Paul, you know me, I always make my promises good.” Alex said to him.
“Well, I fold,” Said Paul. The other human and the lady falcon followed suit. Alex shifted uncomfortably and looked his wolven buddy in the one good eye.”
He grinned one of his long fangs bare. “I call your bet,” He said, and neatly deposited three grey chips on the pile. “Now show me your hand.”
Alex smiled as he laid down his cards one at a time, a Royal Flush, the only hand that can beat this was a Poker Ace…
Alex felt the blood rush from his face when he saw the card his buddy put down, four aces and a wildcard, equalling five Aces.
“Guess you lose,” he said calmly. “Guess you owe us a lot of money there, Alex.” Alex felt the ‘but’ coming as if he were precognizant. He was hustled, his own friends set him up. For a moment he couldn’t believe it, but then he could. After all, these were the same people he saw double-cross Five employees in a row.
It was decided that he was to transport a ‘grey’ package from Voxxa to Earth, he could drop it off during the stop they would make there while unloading their last cargo before heading off to Chakona.
One little problem they didn’t calculate with was that Silktail and Zwokkie had bought some new parts and they would be delayed for a while. The package, whatever was in it, was powered by some radioactive element and lasted just long enough for the trip. Not the voyage AND the delay. Alex needed to find something to power it with so it’d keep.
That was when, in a desperate mood, he decided to steal an amount of the radioactive element from the ARDRS. As long as he closed it back up the way he found it, noone would notice. Unfortunately he had to remove some wiring from a panel to stop a security beep from alerting the personnel that the device had been acessed.
He went to the galley to make him a sandwich before picking up his comlink from the cargo-bay. He left it there so that everyone would assume he was there, and not in the engineroom. He felt miserable, but at least his old friends weren’t going to ask ‘other compensation’ from his new friends.
* * *
Alexander completed his rounds and added up the results, barely two weeks worth, for one human. Barely enough for a ‘Taur, who would need more because of a bigger body. Well, there was always the hell of stasis again.
Alex shuddered, Stasis…
Physically, it is as time stops. You’re immersed in a field that slightly alters your molecular resonance. You won’t need food or water for the duration and the longest time anything spent in a stasis field and came out unaged was a hundred years.
Of course, the technology has been refined, even in that period, but there was one thing they still couldn’t alter; Your mental state.
For the entire time you spend in stasis, you remain fully conscious.
He knew the three of them were trained for stasis, being able to slip into a hibernation sleep, but he remembered being awake inbetween dreams, not being able to tell the passage of time, and worse. Not being able to move or even feel your body. Not even a madman would enter stasis voluntarily if there was still a slight chance at normal survival.
Alex left the Hold and went back to the bridge.
* * *
I finished my coffee, the sound of two ‘Taurs breathing and mechanical blips the only others on the bridge. After I put away my mug and slipped into thought again, Siltail turned to me. “What are you thinking about?”
I looked up at the captain, puzzled. I noticed shi was standing at the other end of the bridge and I measured the distance; just over 10 metres. A large bridge, yes, but keep in mind that six out of the normal ten crew were usually stationed on the bridge. Shi was just out of the ‘active reach’ of my empathic capabilities and shi couldn’t have sensed my emotions or strong thoughts then.
“I was thinking about the accident”, I replied, “I can’t help but think I overlooked something. There has to be something. I know that engine and she shouldn’t have shorted out like that.”
Slowly, she padded over to my spot. “Well, you just have to accept the fact that you might have made a mistake. Nobody’s perfect.” Shi put an arm around me, and looked at me. “I know of something that might make you feel better”, shi said as she began to stroke my fur.
I shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry,” I said, “But I can’t do that. I like you, I really do. But ….” You should know that chakats often engage in sex-play and savour making love with anyone they feel close too. Skunktaurs, despite being closely related, tend to take a lot longer before they open up to someone to make love with them, some exceptions excepted. And although I had strong feelings towards the Captain from the day I met hir, and I knew that shi wanted to make me feel happy and cheer up, I couldn’t accept hir obvious offer.
Shi sighed as the message was wordlessly conveyed.
“The only way those lines could have ever shorted, was if I didn’t properly seal the lid on that radiation dispersion thingy.”
“Active Radiation Distribution Relay System”, shi corrected me.
Okay, so I wasn’t good at calling whatever-it-is by whatever-it-is-called, but I know what it does, how to make one and, most importantly, how to fix one. “And you know I’m doubly careful with radiation. I even installed that counter to warn me if I ever forgot to check the lid.”
Then it struck me: that counter! Every time someone works around the ARDRS, a detection device adds a count to the display near the exit. And if someone leaves while the numbers are mismatched, it gives off warning signal. The numbers can only be matched if I seal the lid with my personal access-code. That means the lid is always supposed to be properly sealed.
I made my way to Engineering, I was so hyped-up, that I even outran the captain. There it was. I had reset the counter after the last service and it should have read 3:3. Instead it read 4:3.
Someone had messed around the device. And someone had shut off the alarm. After I opened the panel, I noticed that the wires were cut. Sabotage!
We were back on the bridge, both drinking some coffee. Silktail normally never drank any, but now shi told me shi’d really like a cup of that stuff. Maybe it was my needing a cup this bad that gave hir an appetite for it too.
“There’s two things I can think of,” shi said. “One is that someone got to the machine when we were off the ship. They opened the device, took half of the radioactive material and left, with the lid not properly closed. And..”
I interjected: “That’s impossible. That would mean that the counter would be incorrect before I changed the parts. It had to happen after I left. And besides, if it was a robbery, why did they only take half? It doesn’t make sense to me. As for that second option, I don’t want to give that serious thougt, yet.”
At that point Alex came back into the room. “Is that coffee?” he asked.
“Yep,” I replied, “Want a cup? I think there’s one left.”
He poured himself a cup, black. I can’t see how anyone can drink coffee black, but he likes it that way. “Better savour what you’ve got in your cup,” he said after his first sip. “I just finished inventory. After getting rid of the supplies that were spoiled due to radiation poisoning, we have about two weeks of supplies left, for a regular human, tops. And we’re out of coffee.”
Not having coffee around isn’t that bad, we can manage without it, but only two weeks of supplies, while it would take us at least a month to get back to charted space… We’d have to find a suitable place to restock soon.
The captain and I, originally engineered to survive, could, if properly rationed, survive for the entire duration of the trip. Shi stored nutrients and liquids in specially modified tissue in hir breasts, as do all Chakats normally. I had a similar supply in the fibrous tissue surrounding the muscles of my tail. My tail is therefore about 50% thicker and quite a bit longer than it would be if it were in ratio with my body. It also stores hormones and enzymes needed for rapid cell production when my body needs to adapt to different surroundings or when I shift my gender.
Alexander, however, isn’t so lucky. Being an average (and unaltered) human, he doesn’t have the capabilities to store nutrients. I suppose Silktail and I could cut down on rations, but even then I guess he would starve before we would even reach Voxxa. Our estimation is that we would get to Voxxan space first when we got back into charted territories.
He told us about having served with a specialty corps in the Earth marines, that he could survive worse odds, but we all knew that this was a bit too big a situation.
All we can do is travel our fastest speed. Only, due to the breach and because we lost half the efficiency of the ARDRS, our fastest speed is now about Warp 3. We better find supplies soon. As none of us was too keen on going back into stasis.
***
by taross