The New Species 28 (Patreon)

Chapter 28

Subject: Nav-Officer Kraan

Species: Urakari

Description: Reptilian humanoid, no tail. 5'3" (1.6 m) avg height. 135 lbs (61 kg) avg weight. 105 year life expectancy.

Ship: RSV Onesanil {Teeth Exposed}

Location: Rigara

I had been very fortunate. First my recovery had taken less time than expected. I worked hard on my rehabilitation, but I suspect the human medical intervention deserves the majority of the credit. I had missed the chance to ship out with my sister, and command seemed to be dragging their heels on my back to action paperwork, but then fortune smiled on me again and I ran into Ambassador Ulooni. I had no idea that the ship-head's sister was an ambassador.

She was able to get me a ride to Sol to rejoin the Lowelana. I was supposed to be a guest aboard this ship, but then fortune gave me yet another grin. The primary nav-officer fell ill, and Ship-Head Unas decided to give me the role instead of making the secondary nav-officer work double shifts.

So now I get to be aboard the bridge of the RSV Onesanil as the Republic fleet jumps to Sol, and even get to make the jump happen. What luck, to be a part of one of the biggest moments in the Republic's history!

"Alright, crew. Get ready, we're going to be getting the order to jump any minute now. I don't want to be the reason the fleet's held up, do you?" Unas asked while crossing all four of his arms.

"No, sir!" we all shouted back.

Ship-Head Unas was stricter than Uleena, but I guess that's to be expected from an isolan. I'd never served under an isolan before, but I'd heard a lot of stories about them. I hadn't put too much stock in these stories, because scuttlebutt is usually about one-upmanship and you can't trust it. Even so, the stories had made me nervous when I saw my orders. I didn't want to end up doing pushups the whole time I was aboard.

"Nav-Officer Kraan, how are we doing?" the ship-head asked.

I turned to look at him and responded, "We have the coordinates locked and ready to go once the order's given. We've also got the FTLD already charging up. At this rate we might be the first ones to jump, sir."

"That's what I wanna hear. Good work," he said.

The tension aboard the bridge was palpable. We were part of the biggest fleet that anyone's seen. Sure, there had been battles where we had more than two million ships in the fray before, but those were separate fleets. This is one super large fleet.

I wished I was able to see the alien's reactions. I remembered how shell-shocked Uleena had been about pretty much everything to do with the United Systems and smiled to myself. I guess it's their turn to be a little shell shocked.

I watched as the FTLD indicator filled up. Conditions were prime for this jump, we were all set and ready to go. I looked around the bridge at the other officers. The Onesanil is a mixed species vessel, which was a novel experience to me. So many different types of people working together in harmony. If it weren't aboard a machine of war it would be downright hearts warming.

There was significant data that indicated that multispecies vessels performed better than single species vessels, but they're still not a common occurrence. That was probably because of the Republic's "home system first" policies. Each species is expected to invest in the defense of their home system before they begin contributing to the Republic fleets, which results in naval officers that are trained to work with other officers of their own species.

I had only ever served aboard Urakari vessels, same as my sister. Well, actually that might not be true any longer. She might be working with the humans now. I hope she's okay. Nah, of course she is. Working with tech like the human's would keep her entertained until we were reunited, for sure. I wonder if she misses me as much as I miss her.

"Alrighty boys, girls, and everything in between. We've got word that we're good to jump. On my mark," said Unas. "Three, two, one, mark!"

I initiated the jump to warp and checked our readings.

I looked back at the ship-head with a grin and said, "We were the first to jump, ship-head."

He grinned back, "Excellent. Then we'll be the first to arrive."

The bridge fell into silence. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, nervous about what we'd see when we arrived. The only sound was the occasional soft burp from the mdkpnz in the crew. The jump seemed to drag on and on when suddenly we arrived. I confirmed our location, outside of the Sol system, and scanned as much as I could within the system. But our sensors were built for combat so I didn't get much data.

"What do we see, Kraan?" asked the ship-head.

"We've got the system layout, and there's ships in it. Can't tell if there's weapons fire or not. I also can't tell how many ships there are, but there's multiple groupings."

"Hmmph," the ship-head grunted. "They had us jump pretty far out. Did they do that on purpose to avoid our sensors? How do they know the range?"

Our intel-head, a juntor named Krintunias, spoke up in the monotone voice indicative of his species, "Probably not, ship-head. They likely had us jump this far out to make certain we would not be effected by the reported warp disruptor technology. However, it is almost assured that they know our maximum sensor range."

The rest of the fleet arrived alongside us as the ship-head asked, "What do you mean?"

"The intel packet we got said that the United Systems scanned the Lowelana to be able to translate between the Urakari aboard and the US. Even we are able to determine a ship's sensor range with a good scan. I'd be surprised if they weren't able to."

Unas tapped his chiseled jaw in thought as an alert sounded from his console. He leaned over and opened a message, probably from the squadron leader. He scanned the message with a neutral expression until he hit a certain part which made his eyes widen and his jaw drop. His look of surprise lasted only a moment before he shook it off and turned to me.

"Sending coordinates to our next jump. There's no fighting in the system, so we're to be positioned where we'll do the most good," he said.

"Understood, ship-head. Entering coordinates and charging the FTLD," I responded.

Then, almost casually, he said, "I should probably let you all know before you see it on the sensors, but the United Systems apparently has five million ships in the system."

Silence once again took over the bridge. I continued to do my task only because it was muscle memory. Five million? How many fleets is that? How large is the upcoming battle expected to be? We jumped once more and I confirmed on our scanners what the ship-head had told us. Five million vessels of war. And they'd mustered before we could muster our fleet of two million. The United Systems seems to be very efficient, in a terrifying way.

We took our position and awaited further orders. There was muttering among the bridge crew, primarily about the aliens and the battle to come. The ship-head was engrossed in his comm terminal, so he didn't tell all of us to shut up.

"Hey Kraan, you've met the aliens, haven't you?" asked our lead engineer, a kinran named Tothi.

"Yes, but I was in the medbay the entire time after a significant head wound. It's pretty foggy," I responded, taking care not to stare directly at her. Looking directly at a kinran during conversation always turns me into a stuttering mess, no matter how many "mind over matter" classes I take.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I just um... I wanted to ask what they look like," Tothi nervously continued.

"They're bipedal with two arms. The ones I saw had different skin tones, with very little hair except on their crown. Their hair colors varied as well. They've got two eyes, one nose, one mouth, a mostly flat face, five fingers on each hand, and a mixture of flat and pointy teeth. I remember one of the nurses smiling at me with her teeth, and it had a soothing effect to see the flat teeth," I said, "Oh, but that's just humans. I didn't get to meet any of the other ones."

"The humans sound pretty interesting. I'm wondering about the gont though. The intel packet says they have four legs and two arms, kind of like the opposite of an isolan. Oh yeah, you're going to be leaving to rejoin the... the um... the Lowelana, right?" she asked.

"Yes," I responded.

"So you might be able to meet more aliens! So hey, um... I was thinking that maybe... you could um... maybe take some pictures and send them to me when you got the chance? I'm super nervous about meeting the aliens and I figure that it'll happen eventually so I want to be as prepared as possible so I don't freeze up and make a fool of myself and the Republic and..." she paused, catching herself ranting. "Well anyways, if I give you my contact ID will you consider it?"

I couldn't help but smile. The first time in my life that a non-relative female had given me her personal contact ID and it was one I couldn't even look directly at. Not to mention the biological incompatibility. The universe has a twisted sense of humor.

"If they're fine with it and I get a chance, I'd be happy to," I responded.

I heard a chitter of happiness from her as she began to bombard me with thanks and follow-up questions. After a few minutes, the ship-head finally called for everyone to quiet down and we all got back to our respective responsibilities. He informed me that I'd remain the nav-lead until the previous one recovered, which would be a couple of days at most.

Things were business as usual from then on. I spent my off time unsuccessfully trying to get in contact with my sister. I kept getting error codes that I didn't recognize. I wrote it off as the Thanatos' shielding effecting personal comm units and tried not to worry. Three days later I was finally aboard a shuttle on my way to the aforementioned behemoth to reunite with my sister and my crew.

The shuttle in question was of US design, apparently for transporting diplomats. It was really nice, but I felt massively out of place. Like going to a fancy restaurant in a cheap tunic. There were comfortable seats, tables, and even a convenience fridge that was stocked with human snacks and drinks. The thing that stood out to me the most was that this shuttle had windows.

Big viewing windows that allowed you to see just about everything. It was breathtaking. I knew we were moving, but the stars and planets didn't seem to be at all. It just hammered home how big it all is. It made me feel small.

This feeling intensified as the USSS Thanatos came into view. At first it looked like any other ship. But then it kept getting bigger and bigger. Soon it took up the majority of my view. Then all of my view as we docked. Once the shuttle stopped moving I had a look around the docking bay we were in and spotted a human frigate. I didn't realize what it was at first because of how large it was. But here it was, parked as if it were just another transport. By the sun, how did they MAKE all this?

An alien that looked a lot like an oyan greeted me. I was then transported via a much smaller shuttle that they called a "bus" to a large room that kind of looked like a cafeteria and told to wait. They asked if I needed any refreshments, but I didn't know what was good or not and wasn't really feeling hungry or thirsty so I declined. Then they left me alone to my thoughts.

As I waited I wondered what adventures they had been on. It had only been a week, but a lot had been happening very quickly as of late. I also wondered if she had been getting along with my replacement. Uleena had told me that it was a mdkpnz who had been the second on the ship that ambassador Ulooni had arrived on. I didn't envy them, serving aboard a species owned vessel as a different species can be rough.

I liked to think that my crewmembers were good enough people that they wouldn't let that stand in the way of being polite, at least. I looked towards the doors. I knew it would take some time for them to arrive, but the passage of each minute seemed to take hours. I caught myself fidgeting multiple times. First I was tapping my foot on the ground, then pumping my leg, then wringing my hands. Finally I stood and began pacing to keep myself from looking foolish.

It was as I was facing away from the door that I heard the soft sound of it opening. I turned quickly to see who it was.

"Kraan!" Kriin shouted and ran up to me.

"Kriin!" I shouted and ran up to her.

We collided into a hug and fell over laughing. Even though I was laughing I still had to hold back tears of relief. She was okay. Thank the sun she's okay. I wiped my eyes and noticed that she was doing the same.

"Why are YOU crying?" she asked. "You were basically on vacation!"

"Because I was worried about you, dlaca {feces covered fertilized egg}. You went into battle without me!" I responded. "What are YOU crying about?"

"I was worried about you! You had a wound that was so serious that you had to let me go into battle without you! Fucking cloaca! Why the hell would you be worried about me?"

"Because you're just so damned dumb!" I said with a laugh. "How could I not be worried? Without me the odds of you somehow destroying the ship increase drastically."

She hugged me tighter and said, "You're a real piece of shit. How can you say I'm dumb when your brain is broken now because you were too slow to dodge."

We both laughed as I tried to think of a comeback. I was beginning to worry that my brain actually was broken when I noticed Ship-Head Uleena, Liwna, and a mdkpnz had followed my sister into the room. Uleena and Liwna were smiling and the mdkpnz looked concerned. A typical reaction to seeing my sister and I interact.

"Hello, ship-head," I said with an attempted salute. My sister had my arms pinned.

"Hello Kraan. Glad to see you back in action. Sooner than expected, you sure you're cleared for duty?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. Got my clean bill of health and everything. Met your sister aboard the station and she expedited my transport. Came in with the fleet. I got to initiate the first warp here," I said with a grin.

Uleena laughed, "That makes twice that you've initiated a warp to Sol. At least it was on purpose this time."

We all laughed and my sister released our hug with one last tight squeeze. Once we had regained our composure the ship-head gestured to the mdkpnz.

"This is Inola. He's been filling in for you while you recovered. He'll be acting as your second until we are able to return to Republic space and debrief," he said.

"Nice to meet you Inola. Sorry to run you ragged," I said. "So Jular... didn't make it?"

"I'm afraid not," came the reply I was dreading.

I hadn't seen my second aboard the station with the rest of the wounded. I had assumed the worst when she didn't come to visit me with the ship-head and Kriin, but had hoped that she was just busy covering for me. A deep sadness settled in my hearts. She had been a great second, not only was she a skilled navigator, she always cleaned up after her shift and never made any adjustments to our shared settings. We had even fancied each other but neither of us were brave enough to make the first move. I'll miss her deeply.

"I'll do my best to live up to the standard Jular set." Inola said.

It didn't make me feel any better, but it also didn't make me feel worse so I gave him a nod.

"Indeed. Anyways, sorry to do it to you Kraan but your first shift is going to be a double to give Inola the chance to recuperate. He's been pulling doubles ever since coming aboard," Uleena said. "It'll give you a chance to get back in the swing of things."

"That's not nece..." Inola began.

"Yes sir," I interrupted.

I wasn't thrilled to have double duty, but a tired navigator was a time bomb no matter how skilled they are. Even muscle memory can't help you when you've got the tired twitches. I'll gladly take the hit. Uleena smiled and looked at Kriin and I with something akin to pride.

"Well then, that's settled. Let's get back to the ship."