Penelope walked out of the bar. She’d wanted to keep a low profile, stay out of trouble, but you just don’t hit the one who serves the drinks. Common sense. That said, it was time to move on. Hopefully one of the passenger ships would be happy to take her. Some were even willing to waive the ticket fee in exchange for safety, which was good considering she was flat out broke this far from Terran space.

She sighed.

Is it too much to ask for a nice quiet place? Move some heavy shit for someone, get paid, and be left alone. Gods that sounds perfect. Oh, and some trees too or at least a good sunset. Somewhere with a gorgeous sunset... Is that a dog?

Her reverie was interrupted by a stout three-ish foot tall creature covered in brown fur. It had a short snout and paws for hands. She presumed feet as well though it wore shoes. No claws or nails to speak of, however, and its teeth were flat. She’d only noticed the teeth after it started speaking.

“-Of course we’d pay well and we have quarters that could fit you comfortably.”

“Captain…” a second creature caught up to the talking dog, apparently their captain.

This one was truly alien to Penelope. The captain she at least had a shaky frame of reference for; it was human-like, two arms and two legs and so on. The other, however, was pink and blue. Navy blue skin covered by a pinkish chitinous shell. Limbs like a prawn that came forward from the torso instead of from shoulders. It also had an intricate set of pearly frills on its head that it preened periodically.

“What do you want?” she asked as she looked them over.

“The captain seems to think that with a human as our security officer pirates would be dissuaded from attempting to claim the contents of our cargo bay. To which I tried to inform him that humans don’t like to be bothered. Apologies, we’ll be on our way.” The hiss of a metallic covering on his face punctuated his statement as he attempted to usher his captain away.

“Look I don’t know about being a security officer-“

“Exactly, see capt-“

“But…”

Shit

“… I could use some money… where are you headed?”

The captains’ eyes lit up, “We are headed to Raxia. A new colony is starting up and we’ve got a good deal to deliver energy cells since they haven’t finished constructing their power grid. Hence our predicament. First pirates that scan the ship are going to see the cells and…”

“Come running.” The human finished.

“Precisely. Buuut, if we make it known that the ship boasts a human for security? You get a good bit of money for basically just existing, and we get to make it to Raxia without incident making our own tidy profit too. Then we can start taking more and more profitable jobs, which means more money for all parties involved. I mentioned your own quarters as well…” Captain Deag held out his paws.

Penelope couldn’t deny it. She didn’t want to get attached to some freight crew but it wasn’t a bad deal. Raxia sounded perfect though, new colony meant low population and plenty of simple labor.

“…Raxia have plant life?”

“Absolutely, a rare find honestly, natural forest and grassland.”

“… Breathable oxygen?”

“Not sure. You’re not wearing a breather here so… perhaps?”

… I could deal with that…

“Okay how’s this. I will accompany you to Raxia as *acting* security officer. I’ll take my cut and we call things even there.” Penelope offered.

Not what Deag wanted but also not a total loss. And with the money from the energy cells they’d at least have plenty to hold them until they could find a permanent fill for the position. He looked to Gareth who seemed far more accepting of this situation than having a human aboard permanently.

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“Well I’d love to have you on beyond that but I’ll take that deal over no deal at all.” He held out his paw. He didn’t know much at all about humans, but Gareth had mentioned this custom in passing once.

Apparently, he was doing it correctly as the human extended her own paw and took his making a vertical shaking motion. Humans truly were fascinating. Her paw boasted no fur and comprised five articulated limbs making them capable of handling a wide variety of objects. Her grip strength was incredible too.

Letting go of the paw Penelope motioned towards the quarters section of the station, “I’ve gotta collect a few things from my bunk so I’ll meet you in…?”

“Docking bay nine, fourth ship from the entrance and I'm Deag.”

“Penelope, see ya there.” She made some kind of motion with her right hand, two fingers tapping her brow and then flicking outward. Then she turned and walked off.

“Well, you’ve done it captain. For good or ill we’ve a human riding with us to Raxia. I’m just glad it seems as though that’s where well part ways.” Gareth said once he thought the human was out of earshot.

“You really don’t like them, do you? I thought it was just nerves at first but… why?” Deag asked genuinely taken aback.

“Sir! She’s. A. Human. They have a reputation for a reason and one that they’ve gained in only a short amount of time. You have a bad habit of letting your curiosity override your sense of self-preservation,” the pearly frills of his head shuddered in exasperation, “Look, sir, I’m with you as always. You’re the captain and the decision ends with you, it’s just a dangerous game were playing now is all.”

“I appreciate the honesty. I’ve got a good feeling about this though. I agree, it is a dangerous game with what people are saying. That’s why I hired her, we need some dangerous on our side.”

Gareth looked back the way the human went, “Well we’ve certainly got that now, sir.”

After a short pause, they made their way back to the ship to break the news to their crew.

***

“YOU WHAT?!” was the general call after captain Deag had pulled the crew together and informed them that the perfect candidate for Security Officer had been found at last. The only ones not to raise a fuss were the cargo loading bot who wasn’t sentient and Ton’et the Ossian xenobiology specialist (and incidentally the designated cook given their knowledge) who seemed more interested in getting their tentacles on a real live human.

“Look I know their reputation as well as you. Gareth and I both witnessed firsthand her… capacity in the cantina. However, let’s not let rumor and wild stories cloud our judgement. And just think, no pirate in their right mind would dare to intercept us when they read a human on board.”

“I heard they're carnivores sir, they eat people!” Thwilll their technician/ mechanic spoke up, all foot and a half of him was shaking, fine grey fur fluffed up.

Ton’et piped up, “Omnivores technically, plant and meat, but the meat doesn’t have to be from sentient creatures… though, strictly speaking… there’s no reason it can’t be”

Ton you are not helping…

“ohhmhmhm, please don’t get me eaten sir.” Thwilll murmured.

“No one is getting eaten,” Gareth spoke up, “The captain has made his decision and, barring a couple newer faces, we’ve all been a crew for a few cycles now. He’s never lead us wrong so far and I think he’s earned some trust, yes?” He looked each crew member over.

There was some grumbling, but the general consensus was one of acquiescence. Ton’et was practically grinning, if Ossians could do such a thing with their beaked mouths.

“Thank you, Gareth. Now, she’ll be arriving shortly to meet everyone. I don’t expect you all to become bonded or anything but let’s be friendly. If it helps, the deal is just this single trip to the Raxia colony. The Human may be intimidating but let’s not be insulting. That includes you Thwilll, I understand the instinct, but I don’t want to find you hiding in a vent again.”

Conversations turned inward as some crew went back up into the cargo bay to continue work while others just relaxed in the interim. Thwilll hopped over to Ton’et.

“Ton I may just die of anxiety before the human ever gets here.”

“You know, you may actually have less to worry about than the rest of us in terms of aggression from the human” Ton’et was writing on their datapad as they spoke.

“…Why is that?”

“Well humans are still being studied given their youth in the galactic community and they are not very cooperative with offering data on their biology and culture etc. But, if my research hasn’t led me wrong, humans often bond with what is known as a pet. These are creatures they find pleasing for any number of reasons. One of those reasons is,” they held up a tentacle for emphasis, “physical attributes. I believe your form fulfills many of the requirements. Fine fur, small size, large ocular organs… besides even if I’m wrong on that you may be in the clear solely from a dietary perspective. Given your size compared to a human you simply wouldn’t be worth making a meal out of. I may be wrong though. I suppose we’ll see.” Their eyes gleamed at the prospect of firsthand data on human biology. This did not calm Thwilll’s nerves.

In only a few minutes, not a single crewmember missed the approach of the human. Their frame stood far higher than any other on the dock and were given a wide berth. The hood of her heavy cloak was still down, and her two eyes scanned back and forth over the docks. Under one arm was a metal box and slung over her shoulder was the large bag she’d carried with her at the bar.

Deag set the manifest down and walked over to her, everything was in order, and he’d added Penelope to the crew compliment. Gareth would transmit all relevant data to their destinations. Any pirates to intercept the transmissions would clearly note the new position on the crew data.

Security Officer Penelope. Human.

Strictly speaking the crew compliment should include more info than just that but he could get it before the jump, after she’d settled in.

“We’ll be underway soon here but let me introduce you to the crew” his paw motioned to the open cargo bay of the freighter and the many eyes all trained on her.