Captain Elluge
“You wanted to see me Ma’am?” Alex asked.
I looked at the featureless face of the mech for a moment before giving a deep sigh. “I want to have a conversation with you, but I would prefer if it were face to face, if you would be ok with that.”
He nodded his head and with a hiss, the front hatch of the robotic head opened up to reveal the tiny Terran strapped into a chair that was correctly proportioned for him, with controls all around. “What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?” he asked.
I didn’t answer for a bit of time as I just stared at him. I considered lying to him and giving him a task on the ship that would keep him out of trouble, but from what he told me, that wouldn’t work at all. “To be honest with you, I don’t know what to do with you.”
“P-pardon me?” he asked.
“I don’t know what to do with you.” I picked up the data pad that I had the orders from my superiors on and handed it to him. “These are the orders that I was given as soon the report came in about the Indomitable Crusade. Simply put, I can’t have you on the security team because people more important than both of us combined are terrified of what will happen if you die on the Galactic Community’s watch. Even if you repaired that mech of yours to better than when you got it, I couldn’t keep you on the security team. United Terra has already threatened to shut down all trade with those that didn’t condemn the Yalayans once, what’s to say that they won’t do that again? They have the power to get their demands met without the extra incentive of keeping you alive.”
He looked from me to the data pad and back to me. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I need the money for this job. And if I can’t get it, then a court martial isn’t going to be the only thing that I need to worry about when I get back to Terran space!”
I gave him a look. “What do you mean by that? How badly do you need that money?”
His eyes widened as he digested my words quickly, and he suddenly slapped his face with one of his hands. “I completely forgot that you xenos don’t know anything about Terrans and Terra apart from what I told you before. Ok, I’ll explain. So, you know how a good portion of the galaxy lives as close to a post scarcity society as you can get, right?” I gave a flick of my tentacle to signal him to continue. After all, my species had figured out all that centuries ago. “Well, humanity hasn’t exactly figured that out just yet. Necessities are taken care of by the government and things like that, but corporations still run rampant. Unfortunately for me, the mech business, or at least the ones made for civilians, is run by these corporations.” He then turned the mech so that I could see underneath its arm. I looked closer and could make out a tiny inscription written in what I assumed was a Terran language. “This one was made by a company called Stardust Solutions. After I got my mech license, I bought this on loan about the same time that I signed on with your ship, and if I don’t make my payments, then the debt collectors will make my court martial look like a picknick.” He looked at me earnestly. “So, when I say I need the money from this job, I need it.”
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
I was floored. I had just assumed that the Terrans had figured out how to shape a post scarcity society since they were both spacefaring, and a fleet-based species. “How have you not gotten to that point yet?” I asked, shock evident in my voice.
He threw up his hands in frustration. “We only figured out that aliens were real ten years ago! Give us a break if greedy pricks still exist and are a menace to society!”
I nodded as I tried to process the information that I was being given. “Well, I can’t have you on the security team anymore, and I can’t let my best security officer be taken down by debt collectors, so what can you do with your given capabilities that I can pay you for? Can you repair machinery?” I asked in desperation.
“Not any machinery that you all use.”
“Can you cook?”
“I was always a terrible cook.”
“Do you know how to maintain aquaponics?”
“I’ll be honest, I don’t even know what that means.” That warranted a face slap.
“Then what CAN you do?” I almost shouted.
He gave a shrug. “Well, apart from giving Terran history lessons, or teaching people how to shoot their guns more accurately, there’s not much that I can do. I kind of just skipped over everything that wasn’t fast tracking me to a job as a security officer. My dad was quite insistent about that.”
“There HAS to be something that you can do!”
He got a look in his eye, one that in any other species would signal insanity, but I felt like that was just the look that they got when they had a terrible idea. “Do you have anyone watching the security feeds on the ship?” he finally asked.
“No, we don’t. We have a low level VI that takes care of the security feeds, but we do look at them every so often. Why?”
“Because it’s customary on Terran ships that someone looks at the security feeds to see if there is the potential for stowaways and general wrongdoing. It’s been a time-honored tradition for there to be at least one person to stare at screens until their eyes bled just in case something was to happen. Think about it: this way you get me out of patrolling and potentially performing anti-piracy actions, I get to keep getting income, and I still get to do what I am good at doing, which is defending this ship. In this case, everyone is happy. I keep a well-paying job, you get to follow your orders, and I won’t have to deal with the risk of taking a faulty mech into combat!”
I thought about it for a moment. These Terrans and their crazy plans that might just work. “If we were to do that, then I would have to find another person to cover when you’re sleeping, and I’ll have to talk to the head of security to find out if this is possible. As for your pay, we’ll just keep it at the same level that you are at right now, with room to grow if you help crack down on the discipline issue that we seem to be having these days.”
Alex looked ecstatic. “Alright, I look forward to finding out how this whole arrangement will work out. If you need any more specifics about how it works on Terran ships, then I would be more than happy to tell you if we get to that point.” He suddenly looked down at his tiny communication device. “Oh, shoot! I’ve got to go, but I hope that this conversation has alleviated your concerns about having me on the crew.”
I gave a dismissive wave. “Of course, I’ll be in contact with you as the situation develops. Until then, I hope that you stay safe.”
He nodded. “And you as well.” With those final words spoken, he sealed up the mech again and wheeled his way out of the room and onto the bridge.
I massaged my head. These Terrans are shaking up the galaxy just by existing. I wonder how the galaxy will adapt?