It was a shaky launch, but within moments the hazy, violet sky of Urdal IV was behind them, replaced by space’s dark embrace.
Vern watched from the viewport in awe, pointing out the local star he had seen on arrival.
“I remember you,” he mouthed silently with a grin.
“It’s been too long,” Dez sighed with relief, falling back into an oddly shaped chair beside the central pilot seat. “Not too comfortable in here,” she groaned.
It seemed insectoid aliens didn’t build their vessels for humanoid guests after all.
“So, where to? No big detours or nothing, mind you. But if you have somewhere nearby in mind, I’m all ears.” Rugsby said, scanning a holographic map that had been generated in the middle of the cockpit.
“I’m not sure we know,” Vern said, scratching his head.
“We’re not from here, not from anywhere near here. Not if I’m looking at this map correctly.” Dez said, eyeing the hologram.
There must have been a hundred or so stars marked on the map, each with dozens of planets within their systems; all named, and some accompanied by descriptions.
Rugsby turned away from the control panel and pointed at a planet on the map. “This is where I’m headed. Hiveworld Gamma, the closets of the hiveworlds, and home to the local matriarch and hive mother, Judithia.” Rugsby shivered.
“You don’t sound all that excited to go back,” Vern said.
“No, well, it’s complicated. Mother always has been… difficult.” Rugsby replied, staring off into the stars. “Let's just say she hasn’t always been the most, amicable.”
Crackling through static, a beeping crept through the vessel’s interstellar radio comms.
“Distress beacons, annoying,” Rugsby whined as he slapped down on a button to switch it off.
“Rescue quest discovered: Lost in space; Find the origins of the distress beacon. Find those responsible for sounding the distress beacon. Bonus reward for saving them.”
Rewards:
FTL drive module
5 silvers
Bonus experience
“Turn it on!” Vern urged as he hastily read through the quest prompt.
“What do mean?” Rugsby droned.
“The distress beacon,” Dez interjected, a hint of her usual insistence returning.
“What are you two talking about?”
“We got a quest, it's hard to explain but we’ll get special rewards for completing it.”
“A quest?”
“Yes,” Vern sighed. Trying to slow himself down enough to explain what little he knew about the system, whilst trying to avoid sounding crazy.
“An FTL drive module,” Rugsby hummed. He looked down at the control panel where the voyage navigator mapped their path to Hiveworld Gamma, and read; approaching destination in 47.6 years.
Vern and Dez eagerly nodded.
They had no idea where they were in the universe and had made enough enemies already. Neither could pass up a chance at getting stronger and earning new rewards.
Rugsby cleared his throat. “Say we do complete this quest, what of the FTL drive?”
“It’s yours,” Dez hastily said, and for once Vern was nodding along; since he didn’t really know what he would do with it anyway.
“Fine, we’ll take this little detour of yours.” Rugsby waved away and engaged the distress beacon.
A slowly flashing red dot appeared on the holographic map and Rugsby turned the vessel in its direction.
With the new destination locked onto, the navigator recalculated; approaching destination in 8 hours.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“So, I guess we’re calling this place home for now.” Vern mused as he looked around the alien ship. It wasn’t particularly large, with smooth, curved edges and miscellaneous buttons and cables just about everywhere. Only three chairs were on the bridge, which was more like a glorified cockpit. There were a half dozen rooms besides the engineering bay, including a questionable-looking kitchen, in which Vern couldn’t determine the purpose of a single one of the egg-like utensils and various tubes that connected them throughout the room. There were bedrooms of sorts, but instead of beds, they held circular mattresses that looked more like carpets. And a medical bay, but Vern doubted it would be of much use for him or any non-insectoid for that matter.
“Not quite up to Del’azza Ka’darn standards,” Dez said as she appeared behind Vern, in what could be considered the ship’s living room – a centrally placed room with several chairs and a control panel that could be patched into the cockpit. It also held the ability to display what was seen in the cockpit, including the holographic map.
Vern turned to Dez, grimacing. They hadn’t had much in the way of friendly conversations, but now that the insect was separated from them - still sitting in the cockpit, he wanted to get some answers.
He couldn’t think of a nice way of putting it, so he just started speaking. “What’s up with you? The way you’ve been behaving since we met that Skard thing, it’s a bit odd.”
“What do you mean, humaloid?”
“Well, you’re not normally very agreeable. To say the least.”
Dez huffed and snorted. “Damn, that little bug. We bonded back there. I’m not entirely certain what happened, or how, but it formed something between us. Now, I can’t seem to disagree with it. Whenever I’m in the room with that little thing, I can’t shake this feeling of wanting to please it. It is beyond infuriating.”
“I see,” Vern thoughtfully nodded. “Do you think he’s aware of it?”
“I’m not sure. I do not possess my usual control over my abilities when he is around. With little effort, I can sense your intent, but not his. All I feel is the desire to serve.”
“Well, at least you’re aware of it,” Vern said, reaching out to pat Dez’s shoulder.
“Do not patronize me, humaloid.” Dez said, pulling away.
“I was just trying to comfort you, that’s kind of what we do on Earth.”
“Well, keep it on Earth, then.”
Vern flashed a curt smile and nodded stiffly.
Dez took to one of the rooms without a word, and Vern was inclined to let her go and retreated to another room by himself.
It wasn’t quite cozy, but the carpet-like bed was better than laying in a cage or the jungle, and it came with a view of the stars. Vern was pretty certain that it wasn’t a window though, as he hadn’t seen any outside of the vessel before boarding. It must have been some kind of screen that provided a feed from space outside.
Stretching, Vern lay back. Now was as good a time as any to get some shut-eye.
Gargled, alien screeching awoke Vern over the intercom, sending him flying to his feet. In his dazed, waking state it took Vern a moment to realize what was happening. And calmed when he remembered that he could only understand everybody because of Dez.
Making his way to the bridge, he caught Dez along the way.
“Sleep well?” He grinned.
“No. I have too much to meditate on to waste time on rest. Unlike you, my class and its skills seem rather unwieldy. I must strain to understand and control them.”
Vern nodded, though he didn’t really think they sounded all that different. He might not meditate, but that didn’t really mean understanding how to use his class abilities and skills was particularly easy.
“Gather around,” Rugsby said, pointing to the map as they entered the bridge. “Looks like this is our target.”
A vessel, several times larger than their own drifted through space – red flashing lights dotted across it. Sparks flashed across a dozen engines at its rear, and debris floated away from a tear that ran through the middle of its metallic frame, splitting it in two.
“So, what’s your plan?” Rugsby said, spinning on his chair to face the duo.
“Plan?” Vern repeated.
“Do you have spacesuits?” Dez interjected with a sigh.
“Of course, though the likelihood of them fitting either of you isn’t great.”
“Can we scan it? Figure out if there’s anywhere safe for us to board without suits?” Dez questioned.
“Hmm, let me see,” Rugsby spun back around to his controls. “It appears that the breach was contained. I’m getting oxygen readings on the lower half of the vessel. The scanner is also picking up signs of life, several of them.”
“I guess we should go down there then.” Said Vern.
“We don’t know if they’re hostile or not,” Dez said, her eyes plastered to the scanner readings. “I’d rather not get shot. Some of us can’t just drain blood to survive mortal wounds.”
“Well, I could go?” Vern sheepishly suggested, immediately regretting it.
Dez was already nodding. “Fine with me.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Rugsby added.
Groaning internally, Vern felt his chance to retract his offer slip away.
If it was a distress signal, in the state that they were in, they should probably be peaceful anyway, right... Vern told himself.
----------------------------------------
“Pick up any signals?” Kuul asked into the intercom.
“No FTL radiational signals. Either they have some kind of stealth module, or they are not using FTL travel. Unfortunately, we don’t have the equipment to track low-speed travel onboard.”
Kuul sighed heavily into the intercom. “I can’t believe you let them get away.”
“You’re blaming this on me? What about the phaser? And besides, it was your idea not to bother investigating the rest of the hive."
"It's not like I said you weren’t allowed to. Instead of sitting back and watching your Caesidian trash, you could’ve done a once over.”
“Here we go again. What’s your problem with Caesidians? Not like half the Galaxy tunes into their programming or anything.”
“That’s the problem. Everything is Caesidianised these days. Where’s the culture? They eat cheap, processed foods and export their generic trash across the galaxy, and worse of all, the kids are speaking like them now.” Kuul groaned.
“I get it, I get it. Can we stay focused on the mission?”
“I get it, I get it,” Kuul repeated mockingly.
“Come in rangers, Vector squander coming in on approach. Squad leader Rucus, out.”
“Reading you loud and clear, Squad leader Rucus. Ranger Kuul, out.”
"Do you have visuals on the anomalies, Ranger Kuul?"
"Unfortunately, we do not, squad leader."
"Fine, you're coming under my control then. We'll conduct a search of the region, immediately. We haven't picked up any FTL signatures, so they can't have gone too far."
"Affirmative, squad leader. Ranger Kuul, out."
"Hear that," Kuul said, switching to their local channel. "There goes our autonomy."
"You say that like it's my fault," Odis replied.