--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kendra Brown. A highly decorated Commander of the Terran Moon Base Leda, was happily munching on her morning bagel while calmly reading her morning reports. Placing the bagel in her custom holder, she grabbed her morning juice with a happy sigh. "Nothing out of the ordinary so far."

Sending off a few mission confirmations and altering the command roaster slightly, she leaned back and continued to comfortably sit in her command chair as she resumed her morning routine. "Seems our engineering lads have everything under control. They've already flipped the Vusis and a few other ships with the help of that Aasteran science councillor."

"Ma'am, you have an incoming coms request from diplomat Bria."

Perking up a from the request, she straightened her back and keyed the screen. "Bria! What can I do for you this morning?"

"Commander Brown, it's a pleasure. I just wanted to check in with you this morning. The Aasteran military seems to be enjoying their shore leave on the station, but we've run into some... Minor issues." Bria stated, looking over the notes she brought upon her datapad.

Kendra raised an eye at the diplomat, attempting to discern what this minor problem was that required her attention, not that she objected. "What kind of minor issues are we talking about?"

Bria sighed and began to inform the Commander of the social disparities between the two species. " So... Uh, a few of the Aasteran Captains were sitting in on a training session of our anti-boarding forces. They were showing off shield wall tactics and non-lethal pacification techniques. It went well. In fact, everything was fine. Then uhh, well, you see, one of the female captains staked her claim on seventh's fleet, Commander Soto after he took down an entire boarding team single-handedly in close quarters combat. Another female challenged her for the right to the claim. Then the fighting started. They're sitting in the brig right now waiting for you or Chrarada to sort things out. But from what I gather, it's normal for them to fight over men."

Kendra silently stared at the screen for a moment before attempting to gather her wits. "What does staking a claim mean exactly?"

Bria looked down at her notes and snickered. "About what it sounds like, it seems the females chose their partners in this society. The males just have to gather heat, be big, and be good at their job, or something along those lines."

Kendra exploded into laughter, holding onto her sides as she attempted to control herself. Slowly gasping for air, her C.I.C. fought the urge to join her as she collected herself before responding. "Sounds like a good deal if you ask me. Let the Captains go. If it's their thing, who are we to stop them. Just don't let them kill each other and send them to medical if they get any cuts or whatever."

Bira exhaled in relief and saluted. "Thank you, Commander. I'll try not to bother you with little things like this from now on."

Kendra waved her off with a smile. "Don't worry too much about it. It's my job to keep the peace and stay informed, so feel free to contact me whenever you need to."

"I'll be sure to do that. I'm sure the admiral will appreciate having a bit of leeway with their customs-"

"Commander, incoming S.O.S. from A.C.S. Blazing Sun. They're under attack from the unknown enemy and are requesting reinforcements at marked coordinates."

Cutting Bria off, Commander Brown brought up the fleet list and com'd Captian Becude, the Commander on duty of the rapid response task force. Without missing a beat, a well-built man with brown eyes, thick grey hair and a trim beard was brought up on the screen, seemingly already in the middle of giving orders. "Captian, I'm sending you your coordinates. You are to take your task force there immediately. Expect enemy ships of unknown design. You are authorized to use any force necessary to keep any allies in the region safe. I will be sending backup once I muster a force. Leave immediately."

Captain Becude saluted and cut the com, his task force leaving only moments later. Kendra then proceeded to send muster orders to the first assault task force along with similar orders. Finally, she sent a message to both Chrarada and Admiral Miles.

Not having to wait long for a response, Commander Brown was now staring across her room at both Admiral Miles and Chrarada on her screen, quickly breaking the news to the curious duo. "First Tail, Admiral. I have just received an S.O.S. from the Blazing sun, our two explorers. It seems they've run into the enemy in the system they were investigating. I've deployed both the rapid response task force as well as the first assault fleet, which is currently mustering as we speak."

"I will go with the assault force!" Chrarada added hotly, cutting the com.

Admiral Miles studied Commander Brown and spoke evenly about his thoughts. "Her ship is warp capable now, isn't it? I doubt we could keep her here if we tried, so let her go with the few ships she has. As for what happens next, we should prepare the system defence."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What about this panel?" Hezexhel asked, poking a curious-looking triangular button with a clawed finger.

"Check your scanners, no power flowing to it." Finley replied, fumbling with a rather advanced-looking electrical panel.

Hezexhel let out a snort as he punched the wall next to the control panel. "So now what. Far as I can tell, we're stuck down here."

Finley pointed to a metal panel on the floor as he continued to abuse the electrical system. "See the rails around that? That my scaly friend is an anti-gravity lift."

Hezexhel froze and stared at the metal square with railings. "You mean... We had anti-gravity technology?"

"Well, it's pretty unstable, most likely an early prototype from what my scanners tell me. But yeah, it seems you guys just discovered it before all this shit happened."

Hezexhel slumped down and leaned against the wall in frustration. "So what? You plan on somehow getting unstable, two-hundred-year-old prototype anti-gravity technology working?"

Flipping his forearm to face towards himself, Finley began tapping away until his back compartment hissed and began to open. Waiting for it to finish its work. Finley turned around and began to assemble the deployed pieces. " That's not happening. I can, however, replace the broken tech with working Terran technology."

Hezexhel chuckled smugly as he watched Finley work. "And you just happen to have anti-grav panelling on you? Convenient."

"Nope, I don't. That's why I'm making some. Ya grumpy shit."

Hezexhel snorted as he picked up a pile of snow that had drifted down the shaft. "So what's in that back hatch then? A magical tiny fabricator?"

Forcibly pushing a tiny tube into the side of his rectangular contraption, Finley looked over to Hezexhel. "You would be half right. It's a one-time use fabricator, only used for emergencies."

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Playfully throwing the snow at Finley's feet, Hezexhel stood and walked over to get a closer look. "How come we don't have one of these attached to our backs?"

Grunting as he finished up his construction project, Finley stood and took a few steps back and observed his fabricator. " I didn't have time to teach you how to build one. The main reason, though, is that you guys are in military frames. I'm in a Sar frame. The armour you're wearing is supposed to have a heavy weapons platform attached to the back. Mine has different types of survival gear, or as your seeing, emergency fabricators attached to them." Sending a signal to his finished project, Finley waited as it began to spit out pieces to a small anti-grav motor. "See, easy peasy."

"For you're people maybe. This would have been much more difficult if not for your technology." Hezexhel countered as he helped Finley drag the implements over to the platform.

"Our people." Finley countered as he began to attach the materials to the platform while Hezexhel held it in position. "OUR people, equal allies."

Fixing the platform in place, Hezexhel stepped off to the side and threw a glance at Finley. "Why?"

"Why what? Why are we helping? I've answered this question a billion times now. Space sucks without friends. I guarantee you, the whole reason the Fold Drive was invented wasn't to get cargo ships around faster. It was so we could go deeper into space and find out who else was out there. The fact you were the first people we found, well, that was just a happy accident. Though, that doesn't mean we won't use all our power to lure you into space to hang with us." Finishing up his task, Finley dropped the platform and keyed some functions into his command pad. " Let's send our squad a present."

Hezexhel watched as the platform vibrate and began to ascend. "Thank you." He said, pausing to send a helmeted look to Finley. "Many of my kind won't admit it... But, we didn't have much longer."

Adjusting the platform's ascension speed, Finley nodded and leaned against the wall. "You don't have to thank me, but you are very welcome."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shields are down to ninety-seven percent, structural integrity at ninety-ninety percent. All systems fully functional."

Dropping out of warp, Srettia looked at the grouping of lightships in front of her as her ship shudder again. "Why are they shooting at us?"

"Only two of the seventeen ships are firing at us. The others are moving to stop them."

Michael took his hand off the weapons controls, waiting to see if the shooting would stop before returning fire. "They're most likely scared. They were stuck inside those enemy ships for however long."

"They are still communicating with radio. I have tried laser and digital com to no effect."

Srettia's face contorted in anger as another blast bounced off the shields. "Well, they better stop that one ship from shooting at us, or I'm going to blast it."

"That is not very nice of you. The peaceful ones have placed themselves between our ship and the shooty ones. You should no longer be fired upon."

Srettia slumped in her couch and poked Michael with her tail. "What now? Those half-oval enemy ships should be able to chase us here. But I don't see them."

Michael shrugged and pointed at the star map. "Well, Friendly reinforcements should be here in a few hours since we're at the halfway point. I think we should attempt to communicate with the not enemy ships in front of us."

"I have not stopped my attempts to communicate. However, I am no closer to discovering their language than I was earlier."

Michael's eyes shot open as he keyed the open com. "Oh wow! They sound like a soundboard that's stuck between static, nails on a chalkboard, and wind chimes."

"I have discerned the static and screechy sounds is anger."

Srettia held her hands to her ears, attempting to drown out the sound. "You think? Can you get them to stop that and go back to the nice sounds?"

"I do not know how to ask that. I have tried sending pictures, with an attempt to gather a vocabulary but, I am having no luck. Their language is too difficult."

More screeching sound grated on Michael's ears causing him to slam on the button to depressurize the cargo bay. "See if they'll send someone over." Placing his helmet on, he looked to Srettia and brushed the hair out of her face. "You're hair is getting long."

"I know what you're doing, you idiot." Srettia looked at Michael definitely, then into the camera. "You put some armour on and blast the shit out of them if they try anything funny."

"I have scanned their weapons. They could not break through personal shields easily."

Leaving the bridge, Michael headed down to armour up before heading over to the cargo bay. "So Uhh, I have no idea what I'm doing. Any suggestions?"

"None, The cargo bay is open, but none of them are approaching."

Michael nervously struck the wall several times as he moved down the hallway after equipping his armour, an attempt to calm himself and ignoring the minor dents he had made along the way. "Well, let's see what happens. This isn't the first time I've done something really stupid recently."

"Stop hitting my ship." Srettia squeakily yelled over the com.

Michael sighed as he reached the cargo bay. "Alright, well, I guess she's nervous too."

"She is holding onto her tail. It is the first time I have seen this behaviour."

Drawing out a chair and sitting in silence. Michael pulled out his pistol and began inspecting its functions. "Record it for me, will ya. Just in case... Ya know."

"I have gathered their attention. Two ships are approaching the open cargo hatch. These ones are not screechy."

"Hey Jack, are you seeing that?" Srettia asked, switching to weapons control.

Michael looked at the screen Jack was projecting on his hud in confusion. "Uhh, is the left diamond one getting smaller or is it just me?"

"It is currently shrinking in size. It will soon be small enough to enter the cargo bay. The other must be an escort."

"Shit." Michael cursed, running off to the side of the hangar and gathering up a personal shield. "Will this be enough to stop it if it tried blasting me? How did we miss this whole shape-changing thing?"

"Yes, and we had no way of knowing that the ships were aliens."

"Think I should get another shield generator? How long do I have?" Michael asked, slumping down in his chair.

"Seconds, the shield you are carrying along with your armour will be enough. They are approaching. You will be seeing them soon."

"Stand up and stand tall. Like a real Terran, you idiot." Srettia hissed over the com.

Groaning, Michael rolled his shoulders and waited for the glowing diamond to enter the cargo bay. "Alright, alright, don't want your partner appearing weak now, do we." Michael chuckled, straightening his back and broadening his shoulders.

"I don't care about what other people think about you. You're already mine. I care about what these laser diamonds think about our people." Srettia hissed over the com.

Laughing as the laser diamond came into view and entered the cargo bay, Michael waved it over and put on his serious face. "So, what now, Jack?"

"I would lift your shield to be in front of you. It is gathering energy."

Quickly putting his shield in front of himself. Michael braced his legs and prepared for the attack. After a tense minute of waiting, Michael relaxed slightly. "Uhh, it's not doing anything, Jack." Peeking over his shield, Michael gawked as it changed shape from a diamond to a rectangular blocky biped that looked similar to a human in armour. "That's not creepy at all." Watching as the biped waved a rectangle at him, Michael continued to peek over his shield in confusion. "Is it mimicking me?"

"At least it's not running away screaming."

"I'm going to stab you next time we're playing a game, Jack." Srettia announced over the com.

"I'm going to stab you next time we're playing a game, Jack" Came over the com from the glowing biped, causing Michael to flinch and return to his stance.

"It is mimicking what it is hearing and seeing."

The Biped took another step forward and waved. "It is mimicking what it is hearing and seeing."

"Well, at least it's smartish?" Michael replied, lowering his shield and walking towards the being as it once again repeated what was said over the coms.

"So can it just hear everything we're saying even though we're on a private com channel?" Srettia asked, looking for any security breaches in her system.

"Possibly. We will find out sooner or later."

Reaching the being, Michael smiled nodded. "Hello." Waiting for the being to repeat him, Michael pointed to himself. "I am Michael." Waiting for a few seconds, he pointed at himself again. "Michael."

Expecting to hear the being repeat his words, the team was shocked when it pointed to itself and chimed a long soothing tune.

Laughing, Michael held out his hand. "No way I can repeat those sounds, friend."

Mimicking Michael, The being held out its block of a hand and tilted its head.

Sucking in a breath, Michael grasped its hand and shook it a few times, pleased that his hand wasn't disintegrated. "Welcome to our ship."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------