First Impressions

Solid blast doors slid aside with the same satisfying ‘woosh’ sound as the med bay had. The room was noticeably more functional than the halls had been, rows of computer monitors and sat in two rows facing the front window that over looked the deck of the Astaroth. Behind those stations was a raised command chair where the captain could sit and command their ship.

Off to Alwen’s right stood a tall figure dressed strangely in what looked like deep maroon plate armor that reminded her of old paintings she had seen from the Era of the Three Plagues, when territorial wars and strife were commonplace. The armored figure had silky black hair, the kind that was rare among the Torweni. Pale white hair like Alwen’s was considered average back home, black on the other hand was the rarest sort of hair color on her home world. She hadn’t really considered Karega’s black locks to be anything unusual since it fit with his dark skin color. But this person with long silky black hair matched with pale cream colored skin temporarily stole the breath from Alwen’s chest.

As if hearing the breath catch in Alwen’s throat the tall armored figure turned towards them. Alwen scanned the human’s face and felt a little confused, their eyes were slightly narrower than the lieutenant’s, and their face looked more rounded and delicate then Karega’s. Their eyes were dark black chasms that seemed to rake over Alwen, watching every movement Alwen made.

“Captain” Karega said firmly, placing a straight hand to his forehead and the other behind his back in a fist. Obviously the standard salute, Alwen copied it as best as she could.

The captain smiled, and Alwen realized in embarrassment that the reason she thought the person looked vaguely effeminate was actually a female. Karega calling her ‘captain’ had caused something in her head to click, and all of the sudden Alwen’s perception of the person changed from a delicate male to a mannish female.

“At ease lieutenant,” the Captain said with a nod to Karega, her voice was crisp and authoritative, but distinctly still soft and approachable. The captain focused her dark eyes back and Alwen and smiled “And I take it you are our new alien doctor.”

Alwen was transfixed by the captains piercing black stare that seemed to pierce through all her defenses, and couldn’t speak. “Yes ‘mam” she managed eventually.

Mirth entered the captain eyes “I can understand the confusion, but in the future you will address me as Sir. Its tradition, no matter what gender I am. Captain Astarte Maidens-daughter, how are you liking my ship so far?”

“It, uh I mean she, is fine ship. And the med bay looks very advanced, but I’m a little confused about something.” Alwen said uncertainly.

“Is it about my gender?” Captain Astarte asked with what looked to Alwen like a mischievous grin.

“I, uh, yes but no” Alwen squeaked out.

Astarte raised an eyebrow “Yes but no?” she asked patiently.

Alwen opened her mouth to stutter out an answer, but stopped herself before she made a bigger fool of herself. She took a second to collect her thoughts and compose herself “Yes I am curious about your gender, but I wasn’t going to ask about that. What I wanted to know is what’s with this room, it looks like we’re above deck, but Karega led me down some stairs so we should be deeper into the ship?”

Captain Astarte rested a hand on a sword handle, the big one, uchi-something, damn she needed to keep all these names straight. “An exterior bridge is the most vulnerable part of a ship, one well placed round would take out navigation, warp calculators, defense systems, and the senior crew. Better to bury it deep behind all the ship’s armor.

“And the windows.”

She frowned “Easy answer is that its nice to look out and see where we’re heading. Hard answer is that there is something deeply inherent in Terran psychology that makes us uncomfortable not knowing what’s out there. We get a better view from the sensors and monitors than simple sight provides, but without the visuals something just doesn’t feel right. First bridge the Martians made for us was a fancy windowless room that put us constantly on edge. I had it torn out and rebuilt with external cameras and window sized screens so that we could see what was happening. Same reason the doors make a whoosh sound, and the controls are all mechanical, we need haptic feedback or else something in our minds don’t really register what we’re doing.”

Alwen looked around the room and realized that every computer terminal had a physical keyboard rather than just a touch screen display. Most computers back home were fully touch screen with no need for analogue keyboards, and Alwen had to admit that sometimes it became a little frustrating to work with.

As Alwen’s mind drifted off the captain continued speaking “As for the gender thing, try not to feel too embarrassed. You’ll find that most human women have a sort of ‘mannish’ quality by your peoples standards, I’m just an extreme case of that.” She said with a wink.

Karega cleared his throat “To be fair, most Terrans tend to find your men to look a little ‘girly’.”

Alwen raised her eyebrows “Really?”

“Oh yes” the captain said, drawing Alwen’s attention back to her. “They’re shorter, thinner, and have long straight hair that they like to braid, with soft facial features. Just goes to show that beauty is in the eye of the beholder” Astarte looked down at the file folder in Alwen’s hand “Have you signed any of those yet?” she asked completely changing the subject away from the uncomfortable subject of interspecies gender dimorphism and beauty standards.

Alwen looked down at the papers and frowned “Uh, no, we just looked over then when you called Karega up.”

A twitch of some complicated emotion crossed the Captain’s face “Good timing, lets hold off on signing those until we make port again, alright.”

Karega’s eyebrows scrunched up in apparent confusion “Are you sure about that Captain, no one else gets to leave port without signing on first”

A wild untamed grin split the Captains face, and her whole body seemed to give off a sense of mischief “yes I’m quite sure, Doc Brown would mind showing Doctor Djani around the Astaroth. I have some important matters to discuss with Karega” the captain said turning back to the fake window, an obvious dismissal.

“Right away Cap’n,” Doctor Bachir responded, he had followed them into the bridge room but had remained silent until now “Come I’ll show you the mess deck. Today’s meal is salmon” He said with an open-mouthed grin.

Alwen took one more look at the bridge, she felt very curious about the Captain of this strange ship and wanted to know more. But she was going to be aboard this ship for half a standard year, that was plenty of time to get to know the strange woman.

~~~*~~~

“If you have something to say then spit it out Kar.” Aster said without looking back.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The meeting with the Torweni doctor had gone well. She had seen images of her people before; they were all over Union news. Analysts had dissected their culture and analyzed it through every lens possible. Aster was a little impressed by the centuries long medical tradition developed in service to one of their goddess’s. The rest of the Union were more concerned with their martial traditions and soldier monks. They were all speculating on whether this new species might develop into new deathworld terrors or if they might escape the cursed decline of all deathworlders. Any optimists opinion was shot down by critics by pointing towards Earth. Supposedly many had high hopes for her people, now they were the festering wound that couldn’t be healed.

The girl had fine elven features that seemed too similar to humans, and pale blonde or white hair so fine it was like silk. Her manners seemed meek, but her mind at least appeared as sharp as those cheek bones. Her skin was just a shade above lilac or lavender, and while Astarte knew that Torweni skin colors ranged from deep red to light blue something in her mind would always associate that lavender shade with the whole species. She was almost painfully thin in the arms and legs and seemed like she might break in half if she ever tried to lift a dumbbell. Though, the horny part of her mind pointed out that the alien girl wasn’t thin everywhere, and had plenty volume where it mattered.

If she weren’t Aster’s subordinate she might have made an honest pass, this dry spell was really killing her. But that would violate one of her few steadfast rules, it was item number eight. -No rolling random crewmates for fun. She didn’t have many rules that she held to which made the few she had feel all the more potent. She had gone seven years as a pirate captain without violating one, and she wouldn’t break one for a cute impressionable alien.

Karega stepped forward and joined her at the window, his presence drew her back into the here and now. “Star, its dangerous to bring on new crew who aren’t signed and marked.” He said using that ridiculous nickname.

“I told you not to use that name, Star makes me sound like a hippy, or one of the Kiss saints.”

“And being named after a Babylonian goddess of love, war, and sex is less ‘hippy’ to you.” He challenged.

Astarte scowled, this old argument “Astarte was Phoenician, from the Levant not Babylon.” Most aliens didn’t have the cultural familiarity to know that Astarte’s name was strange by Terran standards, and most Terrans just excepted that she had a strange name without. Only Karega and the few others who had known her before she changed her name to Astarte needled her about her strange name. But when the Astaroth was under construction the old ‘her’ with a mile long rap sheet needed to disappear, so she had invented the Astarte identity after researching the historical origins of the Devil Astaroth.

“Astarte’s name came from the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, who’s name somehow became used for one of the Archdukes of hell Astaroth. I’m aware, and as a student of history I am a little offended by your rampant and chaotic cultural appropriation.” Karega surmised, summing up the evolution and change of the ancient deity in a single offhanded remark.

“Earth has no culture beyond the streets, you Martians may claim otherwise. But in New-Mombasa all of history is fair game. Besides you’re a Martian-American who claimed Kenyan heritage without ever even stepping foot on Earth, wearing a stylized kimono” She replied, just like always.

“The Kimonos were your idea, I’d much prefer a nice button down.” He quipped.

They stood in silence for a moment before they both began to chuckle. They had been partners for years, ever since Aster and her mom had kidnapped him on Ceres. She never would have guessed that the once skinny Martian scholar would become her best friend; they had just wanted the ransom. But while they were waiting for his sister to respond with the ransom she began to feel bad for him, so out of pity she had struck up a conversation with him. And after a night spent in deep conversation about their hopes and dreams. At some point she cracked out some cheap booze and they had gotten drunk just talking about anything, eventually she told him how she wanted to use his ransom money to buy her dream ship. After she had woken up with a killer headache she let him go without the ransom, and told him to never show his face around Ceres again.

She had never imagined that he would willingly track her down saying that he had gotten together enough money for dream ship, nor had she expected him to offer himself up as her second hand man. It was the fateful encounter that changed both their lives, and had led to the construction of the Astaroth and the beginning of her pirate empire.

“I understand what you mean,” Aster said softly “but all the rest of the crew knew what they signed up for. We spent a lot of time scouting our people out. If she signs on and learns the truth the hard way then she might grow bitter and distrustful, and we can’t have that.”

“Then I’ll bring her back and we can tell her.” He said pointing a thumb towards the door.

Aster shook her head “Won’t work, she might get cold feet just hearing about it, I want her to get to know us first before we show her the truth. I have a job lined up, a quick smash and grab with some corporate sabotage, she’ll see what we’re all about first hand. By the way, what impression did you get from her?”

“Naive, sheltered, unprepared for the greater galaxy.” He said quickly before stopping himself, “but smart and pleasant to be around. She doesn’t miss much, and she’s very diplomatic, likely something she picked from her father. Personally I like her, she seems nice. Professionally I’m afraid she won’t last” He explained eventually.

“Kinda like a young student who was dumb enough to flash a gold card on Ceres” she said teasingly.

“Yeah, girl might just have a spine of steel, or she might crumble after the first job. Its hard to tell.”

“Have you lied to her about who we are?”

“Not once, I told her straight up front what we were about, what kind of work to expect. She even asked about all the weapons, though I don’t think she’s put it together yet. Um…I haven’t exactly said the P-word though” he said, a devilish grin returning to his face.

“That’s terrible Kar.” She said with a laugh before turning back to the windows. Before Alwen and Karega came in, Astarte had been staring at a strange ship that she had noticed at every port the Astaroth went to. “How long has the Coiled Strike been following us?” she asked as stepped up to join her.

Kar looked at the odd ship and shudder shuddered, not a snake on Mars besides zoos and menageries and a person could still have ophidiophobia, some things were just instinctual. She didn’t mind the thought of snakes though; she thought snakes were really cute. But the crew of the Coiled strike, Egh’ahds, were some of the vilest creatures the galaxy had to offer. They had a quadrupedal body with two retractable manipulator appendages and a long neck ending in a distinctly triangular head that were too close to a snake’s head for comfort. Apparently they had a poisonous bite, but her one fight with an Egh’ahd had left its own mouth horribly infected after single bite, apparently Terran blood was too poisonous for their delicate immune system. The high iron content from hemoglobin sent their nervous into shock as well, which had given Astarte the time to kick the Egh’ahd off her.

The captain of the Coiled Strike had a bit of notoriety in the core sectors, and many merchants feared the twin boarding ramps he called ‘fangs’. Astarte had read up on some of his exploits and was thoroughly disappointed. The Egh’ahds were just a typical band of barbarians, raiding anything they could get their hands on. In her eyes they only had two qualities that gave her pause about quietly wiping them out. One was their utter willingness to throw heaps of bodies against a superior foe, and the throngs of bodies that there captain had at his mercy. The second was their master, a vile pirate who truly made the galaxy quiver in fear, these Egh’ahds belonged to that pirates faction and destroying them would bring her into conflict with him.

“About one month, it follows us at a distance, we’ve only noticed it when they made a mistake and got too close. Astaroth’s sensors are really due for an upgrade”

Aster scowled “They’re already top class, at this point we need some real military grade hardware.” She said turning away from the window, Karega followed. She stepped onto the captains platform, her one ridiculous concession to old sci-fi tropes, and opened the door behind the chair to a set of spiral stairs. On the floor above the command deck she and Karega kept private quarters off an adjoined hallway that exited to the central deck were most of the crew slept. She punched in her code and led him into the front room/office that led to her own private quarters. She didn’t really need an excessive space like this, but she did most of her business out of the Astaroth, so she had to have a suitable room for entertaining powerful guests.

Kar was familiar with her quarters and reached into her secured liquor cabinet for a fine spiced rum without any hesitation. She sat in her favorite chair and accepted the cold glass he passed to her as he sat in the adjoining chair.

“I got news from the Lucifer” she began.

“And what does Lucile have to say?” he asked. When Astarte had crafted her new identity based off the name of her ship, her mother had taken notes and invented a new persona as well. Lucile’s ship had been laid down just after the Astaroth, and it was meant to be the heavy hitting powerhouse to balance out the Astaroth’s more balanced abilities. But the two sister ships only ever worked together twice in their early days before they began rapidly growing their forces. Now Lucifer led the first fleet far away in the on the other side of the super massive black hole that made the core of the Milky Way.

“Not much, she’s not one for writing. But what little I got says a lot” she said taking a sip. Most of her mothers messages boiled down to ‘shits fine’, sometimes literally just that. “Said the Bedonan succession war has devolved into a six-way civil war with active genocides and an invasion of the neutral worlds. I think there also might be bioweapons in use, though she was vague.” Astarte summed up, it irked Aster that her explanation was longer than the actual message had been. A message that cost half a million credits to ship out to the Orion sector!

“Sounds bad”

“Worse, she’s pulling out soon.”

“Shit!” he exclaimed.

“Exactly we were counting on blockade running to be the gold mine that we needed, we sent most of the Hellworld fleet out there for that reason. She may have made some headway, but they’ve only been there a few months, not long enough to earn the kind cash we wanted.” She explained.

“This is going to push back our timeline by a lot”

“Which is unacceptable, so we need to find a substitute”

“If it were that easy then we wouldn’t have had to go all the way to Bedona, God they’re probably purging the Ketens.”

“Likely” I grunted. The people of Bedona had experienced a syncretic evolution, two species one planet. Recently though they were split in rivaled politics. The Boti had dominated the planet and other worlds with the Ket as a sort of second class Bedonan.

“I will keep an eye out for something new, but we might need to take greater risks”

“Which would also set us back if Astaroth needs time in dry dock from damage.”

He downed his drink “alright, if that the case then we don’t have time to sit around sipping rum, did the contact send over the details?”

She checked her PA “should be about time”

“I’ll go and hammer out the details then, I’ll call when I have something”