Alex
“Thank God my luck is changing,” I said to myself as I wheeled through the hallways and corridors of the ship. “At least the captain sees sense this time around instead of saying that I need to stay in my cabin for three weeks! I mean, how could she even suggest that?!” I gave a deep sigh as I rolled into the elevator and keyed in the bridge. “At least staring at security cameras is better than that.”
My endless spewing of excuses and complaints finally ended when I got to the bridge. As the doors to the elevator opened only the stations closest to the elevator looked over to me, and because of my many trips to and from the bridge in the last 24 hours, not many people paid me much attention at all, which was to my liking anyways. I rolled over to the door of the captain’s ready room and gave it a knock. The door slid open and in the doorway was one of those aliens that looked like Godzilla. Man, I really need to start memorizing what all the aliens call themselves, because this is embarrassing, I thought to myself as we stared each other down on opposite ends of the doorway. In the room itself, I could see the captain staring at me. “Alex, about time you came! Jumac, let him in, we have things to discuss.” The one that I presumed to be Jumac growled a bit and moved away from the door and to the right of the captain.
I rolled myself into the room until I was sitting in front of the desk. “You wanted to see me again Ma’am?” I asked.
She flicked her tentacles in agreement. “Yes, we have some things to discuss before you can start working as a,” her eyes narrowed before continuing, “a camera watcher. I have spoken to my head of security,” she said gesturing to Jumac, whose eyes hadn’t left me at all this entire time. “And we can make room on the bridge at one of the stations for you to perform your work. Do you have any questions for me?”
My mind started to race alongside my heart. “I-I’m going to be working on the bridge?! I thought that Galactic Community ship bridges were designed to be manned by as few people as possible to save space. Is there even space on the bridge for me?”
“While it is true that the bridges of these ships are meant to be space efficient, we still have enough room for you, since you really only need access to a couple of screens,” replied the captain. “Even so, it will be a tight fit. I’m sure that’s something that you can manage.”
I nodded. “That sounds good to me. When do I start?” I asked.
Jumac once again growled. “You will start when I say you do, since you are still a part of the security team on this ship, and you still answer to me, Terran.” There was a venom in his voice that made my hairs stand on end.
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I suddenly realized why I never remembered Jumac before this, despite interviewing with him when I signed onto this ship. He was an asshole of the highest order.
“You will start as soon as you repair your mech to as close to working order as you can,” clarified the captain, cutting off Jumac before he could make another comment that would challenge my honor as a Terran. “I got word from the fabrication bay that you had some things being made?”
I nodded, grateful for the excuse not to talk to Godzilla’s meaner cousin. “Yes, I got a notification this morning that they finished with my projects, and it would take me a day or two to get it all rigged up,” I answered. “I can let you know when I can start more accurately once I get into the actual repairs.” I gave a small chuckle. “If this were a Terran ship, it would probably already be done.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But like I’ve said in the past, beggars can’t be choosers.”
The captain gave me an odd look as I said that. “Your people have the strangest phrases, I’ve come to realize,” she said as Jumac started staring at me as if he wanted to start a fight.
“You have no idea.” I retorted. “There’s a couple about beating a dead horse and stuff like that.”
“What in the name of the Patriarchs is a horse?” Jumac suddenly burst out.
“I’ll explain later, I need to get going if I’m going to get this thing in working order,” I said as I gestured to the mech. “If there’s anything that you need from me, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I will hold you to that, Alex. Now go and make sure you can work without damaging that thing more.”
“Yes Ma’am,” I replied as I rolled my way out of the ready room and onto the bridge. I let a sigh of relief go as I took stock of how much I was sweating after that encounter. Jumac is one crazy son of a bitch. How the hell did he get to be head of security?
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Captain Elluge
Alex rolled himself out of my ready room and shut the door behind him. I waited a few extra seconds before finally turning to Jumac. “What in the twelve hells is your problem?” I asked, irritation clear in my voice.
He gestured over to the door. “I don’t understand why you cave so quickly to the demands of that vermin! He doesn’t belong on a starship, same as anything his size. Mech or no, he needs to go.”
I curled my tentacles in disgust. “Were you not paying attention when I explained why we can’t just lock him in his cabin? I’ve already told you; I’ve been advised not to do anything that could potentially anger United Terra any more than they already are. And he needs the money from this job.” I gestured to him. “And yet here you are, actively antagonizing the only Terran we have on board!” I said as I hit the desk for emphasis. “Do you want your species to be the next Yalayans?” I asked.
He gave an aggressive snort. “Better to die standing to live on your knees,” he retorted.
My tentacles curled a bit more. “Get out of here before I do something we’re both going to regret.” He stared at me for another moment before finally bowing his head and heading for the door. I need to get that sorted before Alex gets on the bridge, otherwise we’ll have something worse than what we had in the mess hall happen right on the bridge. I shuddered at that mental image. Tribunal help us.