At some point, I must have fallen asleep. I woke up to a knock at my door, I had slept with my head on the desk and had the worst cramp in my neck. I was pushing my white hair out of my face when the person on the other side of the door spoke:

“Ozis? You awake?”

I went and opened the door a touch. This was a much younger human than Sergeant Gerrick, or at least it looked that way.

“Sergeant Gerrick requests you make your way to the brig. I can escort you.”

“Yes, of course. Let me change back into my uniform.”

I closed the door. It’ll be good to get the baggy human clothes off of me. I’m going to have to re-do my hair though. At some point during sleep, it had become undone and now my hair was covering my face. It wasn’t a difficult process though, I just had to get it all in between my ears so it rested down my neck and back. Then I put a clip to hold it in place. I didn’t know what to do with the human clothes so I just laid them out on the bed, I may have to sleep here again.

I had read much before I slept. Human nuclear weapons were destructive to be sure, but what was more concerning was the quantity. The United States alone had over 14,000 nuclear warheads, all now ship to ship capable. Not only that, but the second-largest human nation, Eurasia controlled over 28,000, though much less were shipboard than the Americans'. Based on what I read, this cruiser I’m on alone could have enough nuclear “missiles” on it to wipe out the population of a sizable planet. Fast too, over 50,000 miles per hour at top speed. Luckily, humans seem to never want to use them. Researching nukes had led me through a lot of Earth history, in which nuclear weapons were used only three times, and two of them were in the same war, much longer ago than the third instance. The third usage saw the Americans using a hydrogen nuclear missile on what was then called Russia. Most species that discover these weapons before space travel become extinct, yet these humans had them for over one hundred years before they discovered faster than light travel.

Now back in my familiar brown uniform, I went back to open the door. Before I did, I hesitated and glanced back toward the desk, where I knew I had hidden the human sidearm I took from the armory earlier. I decided to leave it and open the door.

The human was now standing up straight next to my door. I got another confirmation that they were young, as they curiously looked me up and down before realizing they should probably do their job.

“The brig is this way. We just need to get to the elevator, and then it’s a short walk to the viewing chamber.”

“Very well, you lead the way.”

We began moving toward the elevator, the same one I had taken up to my room. The doors closed on it automatically

once we were inside. The brig must be much lower in the ship, as we were moving for quite a while. I took the opportunity to ask something I was curious about.

“So why do you humans seem to have two names each? I noticed yours and Sergeant Gerrick's nametag have two different names.”

The human had relaxed a bit since he first spoke to me. “It's a first and last name. Serves to better differentiate ourselves from each other and signify what family we are from. We use our last name generally for formal purposes.”

“Interesting, why would you need two names to differentiate yourselves?”

“In case someone else has the same first name.”

“Why would you and someone else have the same name?”

“Because ther-"

The door opening cut off whatever other ridiculous question he was going to ask. On the way to observation, we had to stop twice for the human to stop, stand up straight, and his right arm and hand up to his face while someone walked past. Human military customs are quite strange, or possibly just American customs.

We eventually made it to the door that the human opened by inputting a code. He then held it open and motioned me inside, then closed it again. Inside were a table and more small chairs, Sergeant Gerrick and two others, and a window looking into a room with a desk and two chairs around it.

“Glad you could make it Ozis, I know this isn’t your usual job but you’re the only one from your species here.”

Gerrick was back in his combat gear. I’m guessing he was going to serve as the muscle needed if any of the Floriacian prisoners decided to get physical. That and the other human guards surely located in the brig.

A large, heavy-looking door opened in the room I could see through the window. A smaller Floriacian walked through and sat down before the door closed automatically behind them. This was the first time I had gotten a good look at one.

They weren’t all black like I had thought. They had large armor plates on their body that were black, but the visible skin in between them was more grey, similar to myself. I had thought these creatures were wearing combat armor, but it looked like it was actually natural. Additionally, at least this individual had white streaks of skin going up its arms. It did look very thin from what I could tell, though not like me. I am thin compared to humans because my home gravity is less than that of Earth, I’m not malnourished. This individual looked unhealthy and moved in a fashion to suggest sickness. It had some sort of device on one of its wrists, probably something to track its movement.

An older looking human in white formal wear opened a different door and walked in. They were in formal dress, but they still had a holstered weapon on their hip. They sat down on the other side of the table from the Floriacian. The human spoke in a bit of a different way from the others, enunciating different parts of words for some reason. “Good morning friend, is the translator we gave you working?”

The Floriacian spoke, or at least the translator did, in a monotone voice. “True.”

“Very well, I am going to ask you some basic questions about your species, is that okay?”

“That isn’t my decision.”

“You can’t answer questions?”

“I’m not permitted.”

“Not permitted by whom?”

“Leader UNKNOWN.” The translator must have not had a word for whatever the Floriacian said.

“This leader, were they on the ship with you?”

“True.”

“Then they are dead.”

“They’re dead?”

“Most definitely.”

The Floriacian looked down for a moment. Then glanced at the device placed on his wrist. It seemed to be pondering something. Finally, it turned back to the human interrogator.

“What do you want to know?”