Alex

It’s funny that when humans make a plan, that that plan eventually goes to crap and you have to improvise. That was the training that I received at the military academy that I went to, but I didn’t really have any experience with that piece of information until I had met my first alien.

I had only been on this ship as a security guard for a month, but those titanic xenos asked more questions than the academy could ever prepare me for. I usually managed to avoid the big-ticket items, like why I always wore my suit, and where our home planet was. Unfortunately for me, however, I was stuck in a conversation with another member of the security team Aeva, a giant raptor looking thing, a Cosholay I think. They had feathers sticking out of the light armor that they wore. They fired question after question at me, hitting on all of the things that I was explicitly told not to talk about. Despite the best efforts of the cooling system in this mech, I still felt like there was a river of sweat running down my back the entire time.

“And why’s that? You don’t want anyone to see you without the suit on?” they asked.

Finally, a question that I can answer without being a complete liar. I’m still walking on eggshells, though. “Yeah, there’s that. I’m a very shy and private person to begin with, but that’s only part of it.” I manipulated the mech’s hands in a very human gesture before speaking. “There was one time that I was doing a spacewalk with a basic suit, one without any armor, and I got hit with some space debris.” I paused again, for dramatic effect. “It, uh, it ruptured the suit, and I almost died that day.” I manipulated the mech’s head so that I was looking directly at them. The faceplate of this thing really doesn’t relay any emotion. I realized, for perhaps the fifth time in the last month. “After that, I always wear the armored versions, especially when in environments that could easily kill me if I have another suit rupture.” Not technically a lie.

Aeva looked at me with understanding as they nodded their head. “That makes sense. I’m sorry that I pried so much, I didn’t know that there was some history with that.”

I was about to respond when the entire ship shook violently, and I had to catch Aeva from falling. They thanked me right before the emergency lights flashed on and bathed us in green light instead of the standard red of humanity.

“Attention all crew, we have been ripped out of hyperspace, and are currently being boarded by pirates. All noncombat personnel report to your evacuation areas, and all combat personnel report to your stations. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill.” Said the captain. I pulled out my rifle, and nodded to Aeva, who pulled out their own weapon as we both rushed to our assigned part of the ship.

The engagement was substandard by human metrics, especially when considering that the pirates barely knew how to fight. Add to that the fact that the alien weapons just didn’t have the penetrating power to do much damage to things like bulkheads and the things that we were taking cover behind. My anti-material rifle, on the other hand, had none of these issues. These poor xenos have the unfortunate condition of being made of material. I thought maliciously as my aim was corrected slightly by the onboard computer.

We were successful in pushing back the pirates towards the airlocks of the ship. The policy of our alien allies was that as soon as the boarders are repelled, that those that are able are to do a counter boarding operation to make sure that none of the pirates are taking slaves and things like that. That was one of the few policies that the galactic community had that I actually agreed with. Seeing that I was the most heavily armored person here, I naturally took the job of being the first into the airlock.

As I stepped in, I looked down at the floor, only to see a rather large explosive device that was just waiting to be activated. I didn’t even have any time to react before I felt the force of the explosion lift the mech off the ground and sailing through the air. It was a really good thing that I was strapped in, otherwise I probably would have been paste on the inside of the cockpit.

I looked around at the diagnostic equipment in the cockpit of the mech but found that most of the systems were knocked out. “Alert,” said the voice of the mech’s AI, “the explosion has damaged the primary battery. Attempting to reroute power to motor and ocular systems.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Well, that’s just great!” I said to no one in particular. The river of sweat that I had running down my back came back with a vengeance as I went through the many contingency plans I had.

“Update: ocular systems have been restored.” And with that I got a face full of Aeva looking at the damaged mech. They were clearly panicking. I had to do something fast.

“Hey, hey, look at me.” I said, keeping my voice as even as I could keep it.

“I don’t even know what I’m looking at to begin with! Where’s your body?”

“Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine. Nothing critical except for the battery was hit. I’m going to be fine.”

I could tell they were on the verge of tears. “W-what are you even talking about? You’ve got a massive suit breach, and you’re saying that you’re fine?”

I sighed. “Listen, I know that you have a lot of questions right now and I can’t answer them, but I will soon. I promise.” I grunted in frustration as I looked over my options. The motion systems were completely offline. I’ll have to talk to the guys over in R&D that their multi-trillion-dollar mech can’t even survive an explosion like that. “I can’t move, so I’m going to try a few things, alright? Just promise me that you won’t freak out.” And with that, I started to go through the process of opening the hatch.

Aeva choked out a sob. “Ok, just hang on, help is on the way.”

They really do make these things extremely hard to open. I realized as I continued to go through the process of opening the hatch. I must have pressed the confirm button five or six times before it opened. The hydraulic hiss was all I heard until I saw the green light of the hallways, and finally Aeva themselves. They looked shocked beyond comprehension. I saw another figure, this one looking like an oversized turkey, come into view holding a canister of what I assumed was methane. They too froze and stared in confusion. It’s the first time meeting them outside of the mech, so I guess I’ll put my best foot forward! The optimistic side of my brain said.

So, I smiled. “I suppose you have a lot of questions. Considering the circumstances, that’s understandable.”

Aeva opened and closed their mouth a couple of times before finally speaking. “Wha- what’s going on? I-is that you Alex?”

I flashed another smile. “In the flesh!” I cleared my throat before continuing. “You clearly have questions, so ask away!”

“Wha-what are you? How are you so small? And what is this?” they said gesturing to the mech.

I opened my mouth to respond but was cut off by Aeva’s communicator going off. “Aeva, I’ve gotten word that Alex’s suit was breeched. What’s his status? We can’t have the only Terran on the crew being killed, they’ll never let us have another!” came the urgent voice of the captain. I remembered that Terrans had a reputation of being rare and extremely useful.

They turned their communicator on. “He’s,” they flashed a look at me. I gave a thumbs up. “He’s fine but I think that there’s something that you should know.”

“And what’s that?” the urgency got more intense.

“Well… He’s.” and without another word Aeva turned on the camera function of the communicator and pointed it at me. I smiled again and gave a wave.

The captain sat in silence for a few moments. “Aeva, what am I looking at right now?”

“Th-that’s Alex, ma’am” they stuttered out.

More silence. “What do you mean that’s Alex?”

I decided to speak up. “What Aeva means ma’am, is that I’m Alex. Simple as that.”

More silence. “Both of you report to the bridge immediately and get ready to do some explaining!”

“Yes Ma’am,” we both said. And with that, the conversation was over.

We looked at each other for a moment before I finally spoke up. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!”

The look of confusion got deeper. “How are you going to get there? You can’t exactly walk.”

I pondered this for a moment before speaking. “Yeah, it would probably take me way too long to get there, so how about you carry me?”

“What? Carry you?” I nodded. They started to reach for me with one of their clawed hands with the clear intent to grab me.

“WAIT! STOP!” I shouted, causing Aeva to jerk their hand back from me. “If you were to pick me up like that, then you’d easily kill me just from the pressure alone!”

A look of fear flashed across their face. “Well how am I supposed to get you to the captain then?”

“Either you can carry the mech around, or you could hold out your hand like this,” I said as I demonstrated the motion, creating a gentle slope with my arm. Aeva cautiously held out their arm, and I only hesitated for a moment before finally clambering up the arm, using feathers and armor alike to get a foothold until I was sitting comfortably on their shoulder.

Aeva had to suppress a shudder many times until I finally settled. “How are you so good at climbing?” they asked, sharp teeth flashing only a few feet away from me.

I gave a little chuckle. “We evolved from animals that were really good at climbing, and we never really lost it. It comes in handy when you live on an alien ship seven or eight times bigger than what you’re used to, I will admit!”

Aeva didn’t have a response to that, so they stood up and began walking to the elevators. I glanced back at the now ruined mech suit sitting in the hallway and suppressed a shudder of my own. Good or bad, everything’s different now. It’s up to us to adapt to the change.