After I had dropped the Scourge Queen's corpse with the alien researchers who would study and most likely dissect it, I allowed Sergeant Jul-ves to escort me to the quarters that had been prepared for me to reside in while I was on this ship. On the way there, many of the alien races that had been following me while I carried the Queen attempted to reach out and touch me, as if they wanted to make sure I was real. Once Jul-ves saw that he ordered his squad to maintain a distance that would leave me seperated from the aliens lining the halls and corridors we walked down. Cai made use of this time to inform me about what was expected of me as a Warden Commander; even if I wasn't going to be a typical commander.
"...be certain to never allow them to provoke you. Krrcktn are always willing to face any other race in combat and more than one Commander has lost their life by rising to the challenges they level toward them. Krrcktn were thought to be the ones to claim the Queen's Bounty as it was called before you claimed it."
"That's great Cai," I whispered, trying not to draw anymore attention to myself and how much I didn't know. "I just don't see how that's a part of my duties as Commander."
"Krrcktn are the most willing of all Warden races to fight, but their lack of agility without trees or other means of raising themselves above the ground to fight with their feet and tail make them a liabilty. Balancing their skill with that of other races is a challenge that must always be addressed because they will always volunteer for fighting; even if choosing them would see more of them killed than the Scourge."
That was not the answer I expected but I think I saw what he meant with what he was telling me.
"So that means they're always trying to butt in on whatever mission is going on and trying to send themselves to fight then?" I confirmed my theory with Cai.
"Correct," he confirmed as I rounded a corner and my escort began to pull back, leaving me to be escorted the rest of the way by the Sergeant and the poor guy still carrying my helmet.
"Great," I said. Just what I needed to balance.
"Commander," Jul-ves said, pulling my attention to him. "Your quarters, sir."
"Right," I said reaching for my helmet from the other Tar-en-fil; still didn't know his name. "Thanks for the escort Sergeant. Thanks for carrying my helmet other guy."
"Anytime, Commander," Jul-ves said while the other one saluted.
I stepped up to the door and noted a keypad at chest height to the side. Weird.
"Cai, how do I open this?" I asked my invisible passenger.
"There is a code that must be input," was his answer. No shit.
"What's the code then?" I asked massging my forehead.
"There isn't one," he said.
"You've got to kidding me," I muttered. "What button do I press?"
"I do not know," was not the answer to inspire confidence.
"Commander?" Jul-ves asked, grabbing my attention. "As I understand it, the door is coded to accept the first code you input into it and accept it as the code to enter it until you are no longer the one who uses these quarters."
"Ah, I see," I sighed before reaching out and punching in the most secure code ever; 0000. With a slight whoosh the door slid open and I stepped into my new quarters for the first time.
As I entered the first thing I noticed was the size of the room I had stepped into; it was tiny, more of a closet than a room, I had higher hopes for the door in front of me. I opened it with a button press and walked into a much more spacious area. If I had to name it, then this was the dining/living room with a small table and some chairs and a few recessed shelves that lay empty in the walls and a larger couch with a screen that showed a view of the planet rotating below the starship. Two more doors led away from the room and the first one opened into a full bathroom with a toilet and standing shower. That was confusing since, from what I knew, no other race used a similar setup for bathing and toilet breaks. Deciding to ignore that for a moment, I looked into the other doorway and saw the bedroom that had been set up for me. A full bed rested against the far wall with small nightstands to either side and lamps that lit with a warm glow midway up the walls. Against the wall that the bathroom adjoined to was another door that opened into an empty closet.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"This is more than I was expecting for me," I told Cai stepping up to the bed to examine the new suit that had been set out for me. Like my current one it was green but it had no armored plating and had two black stripes coming down either shoulder and over my chest and back.
"This is the minimum that can be afforded to a visiting Galaxy-Jumper Captain," Cai told me. "Your new suit marks you as Captain of one twice over. This is likely to mean that you are Captain of not one but two such vessels; it is likely to change after the other Commanders agree to allow you to claim a third such vessel for your efforts upon BS-HP-003."
"Great I'm going to take a shower and then I'm going to get some real food," I said turning and starting to strip out of my dirty and disgusting suit I had worn for the last month and a half. I wouldn't be surprised if they burned that suit once I sent it for cleaning downt he chute Cai indicated.
The shower I took was pure bliss. I had never gone more than a day or two without showering and now that I had gone over a month without it, I was going to do everything I could to make the scientists the Wardens had laying around work on miniaturizing one so I could have one on hand if I ever spent so long out in the field. When I stepped out after nearly an hour spent letting the water flow over me, I dressed quickly and had Cai direct me to the closest source of food. When he told me to go to a specific wall cabinet and input what I wanted I was confused.
"What's this going to do?" I asked him while punching in spaghetti and meatballs with meat sauce. What? My mother had always made it that way cause my father hated meatballs and she loved them, so he could get meat sauce and no meatballs and mom could have her meatballs. Either way, it was what I'd been craving for the last month and I was going to have it. After a moment of waiting, during which Cai explained to me that the cabinet I was at was the personal food synthesizer each Commander was allowed in their quarters, I had a steaming plate of freshly cooked spaghetti with perfectly spiced meatballs and red meat sauce with diced tomatoes, mushrooms, and bellpeppers in it. I think I cried a little when I bit into it and tasted home again.
I'd spent the last month and a half trying not to think about home and my parents, but with everything going on I knew that my plans needed to account for Earth and the people that hadn't been taken. If I didn't, then they were going to come up behind me and bite me in the ass when I least expected it, and if that happened then everything might collapse like the worst built house of cards ever. Trying to plan for Earth and what little I knew about its politics and how the Wardens of Life and their knowledge would affect everything always left me thinking about home and all the things I wanted to do to let my parents know I loved them and had been trying to make them proud. Whenever that happened, I know I cried and was no good until after I had reset and taken a nap.
"Cai, what's the general practice for this sort of thing?" I asked him after I had finished eating my spaghetti.
"What do you mean, Rickshaw?" he asked.
"Will the other Commanders leave me here for a few days while they plan what to do and say or will they reach out to me sooner and get it all over with? Have other races been introduced to the Wardens like humans have been or are we a first? For that matter, are AI buddies like you common or something reserved for certain groups?"
"I will answer your questions in the easiest order," he told me. "Cybernetic Artificial Intellects, such as myself, are very common so that all races may communicate with each other without some sort of medium that overlaps between them. This allows each race to preserve their language and culture without leaving their children totally unprepared for contact with other races. I have several protocols and routines that allow me to make decisions and inferences without your clarification so as to make your integration with the Wardens of Life easier."
Well that was good to hear and kind of troubling. Would Cai need me to clarify certain phrases or would the other AIs just repeat it all verbatim and screw me over?
"Other races are typically found in the midst of being culled by the Scourge and those few who aren't are typically left uncontacted until the Scourge appear on their planet. That Humans were taken and sent to another world in the hopes that they would be able to accomplish the goals the Commanders in charge needed done is highly unusual. I do not believe it will ever happen again."
Great, we really were special.
"The other Commanders will likely have allocated the rest of the current day cycle to allow you a chance to rest and recover somewhat from your time on BS-HP-003. I believe more information will be sent to you after you have woken for tomorrow. Shall I set an alarm for you?"