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“Rui.”
In an instant Yue had everyone’s attention from where he sat in one of their comfortable chairs in the ship’s lounge. Sicheng, the captain of the ship, knew that tone meant trouble. The last time he remembered Yue sounding like that, Yue had nearly killed a medic who hadn’t read Ming’s file and almost injected something into him that would have killed Ming within minutes.
“Why,” Yue continued, looking up from his pad, “do I have the medical standards and information for a human woman?”
“You have what?” Ming demanded, jerking up.
“A human?” Mao questioned, eyes wide.
“Really?” Pang asked.
K growled.
“Enough.” Sicheng’s voice cut through the sound and they all settled down, waiting for Rui’s response.
Rui sighed and put down his ever present pad. “I don’t think any of you understand just how much we need a scientist aboard.”
Everyone stiffened.
“Explain.” Sicheng didn’t need to say anything else.
“We have been hired by the SSS not just to patrol the outer reaches, but to actively research what we find there. We haven’t been.” Rui’s eyes never left Sicheng’s. “Two months ago I brought this to the entire crew's attention and everyone agreed that we wanted to keep our contract which means we have to have a scientist. We also agreed that picking one up could not interfere with our schedule, which left us with very few options.
“Uruta is the only planet that has any sort of space academy in the sector, even then it wasn’t until I submitted the bare minimum of information possible that we had anyone willing to accept the role. The fact that she’s human does not subtract from the fact that she is a very intelligent scientist whose specialties include a wide range of areas.”
“I don’t know about this.” Mao shifted slightly, shoulders nearly to his ears. “Human women usually go spouse hunting when they’re in space.”
“That,” Rui stated, “is the best part about Tong Yao. She already has a spouse.”
“Is her…spouse,” Yue drew the word out, “named Da Bing?”
Rui nodded. “He is.”
“Rui,” Yue was barely holding back laughter. “Da Bing isn’t her spouse.”
“He’s not?” Rui tilted his head and frowned.
Yue shook his head. “Da Bing as an animal.”
“An animal?” Mao perked up. “What kind of animal?”
Yue hummed as he studied his pad. “Do you remember those really big predators on Rumia Four?” Everyone nodded. “It’s like one of those, but smaller.”
“Do you think it will like me?” Mao asked. “I hope it will like me.”
“Well,” Ming stated as his pad beeped. “We’re about to find out. That was the proximity alert. It’s time to land.”
Tong Yao was excited, ecstatic even.
She had been assigned to a ship!
It had taken her nearly two years to be qualified to be on a space going vessel and now she had gotten her first ship assignment. A part of her wondered if she would regret agreeing to the first ship that came along, then she remembered why she had agreed and promptly shoved that thought to the back of her mind.
There were more important things to think of, like the fact that her ship would be arriving at any moment. She bounced slightly on her feet, excitement bubbling up within her as she scanned the sky.
“Be there on time,” the male who had helped her find the ship had instructed. “They are only stopping to pick you up and refuel. If you’re not there when they’re ready to leave, they’ll leave you behind.”
So, Yao had shown up early and was waiting for the ship to land, Da Bing, her faithful cat waiting patiently in his carrying case next to her. It had surprised her that the crew of her new ship, the ZGDX, had agreed to allow her to bring him with her, but wasn’t willing to question it on the off chance they would change their mind.
In an attempt to distract herself, she pulled up the information she had been given of the ship when she signed up. It was, as it had been the twenty or so times she’d already looked at it, very sparse. Only the type of ship it was, a small fighter with cargo area, the fact that it was a privately owned vessel contracted to the Sentinel Space Services, a part of the United Planets Association, assigned to exploration in the outer quadrants and that they were a crew of seven.
There were no names, no pictures, or even a species list associated with the information provided, something her best friend, Chen Jinyang, had used to point out how sketchy the assignment was. Yao had simply reminded her why Yao needed to do this and Jinyang and reluctantly agreed.
“You’re to message me at least once a day,” Jinyang had instructed when they had said goodbye the day before. “At least until we know it’s safe, and don’t even think about automating the messages, I will know.”
As Yao had been planning just that she had merely nodded and promised to send the messages herself. The sounds of an engine drew Yao’s attention skyward to see a ship matching the one listed coming into port. When her com rang she was delighted, having something to do while they completed the necessary procedures and started in with refueling was a blessing. The name that popped up on her screen, less so.
She took a deep breath and slowly let it out before answering. “What did he do? Don’t,” she interrupted, “try any of your fast talking with me. The only reason you would call me is if he did something and you needed my help. Which is absolutely ridiculous considering we haven’t been an item in two years. So, what did he do?”
“No!” The word resounded through the area drawing everyone’s attention to the woman waiting beside some luggage. Sicheng had seen her the moment he had disembarked to discuss the refueling and supplies, but hadn’t paid her much attention as he worked.
But that single word, spoken more forcefully than her small body indicated it could have, drew the attention of everyone there. Sicheng started for her, positive she was the scientist they had hired, and equally curious about what was going on.
“You listen to me, you sorry excuse for a male.” She had started to pace. “Just because you feel the need to compensate for the size of your cock does not make anything you’ve just done in anyway acceptable. Shut up! I’m talking and you’re listening.” Every movement was crisp and sharp, the skirt-like thing on her waist splitting to reveal toned legs with each step. “You are an irresponsible sentient bag of shit and you should be spaced with the rest of the trash, and you will either do as you’re told or I will make sure the reports for this incident are sent to the Scientific Board of Discovery, do you understand?”
Sicheng’s eyebrows rose at the description she had used and he knew Ming, who had moved to walk next to him, was equally intrigued with the insults.
They were still too far away to hear whatever the male said, but the female’s words were clear. “You will isolate the specimens you’ve collected using proper procedures, then you will notify all of the relative boards about what you have found.”
“I was planning on-”
“I know what you were planning on,” she snapped. “And I’m telling you not to. You took a living creature from its home environment, exposing it to all manner of bacteria and germs. You can not simply put it back where you got it! Even attempting to do so could cause an environmental collapse, which is why we study them in their natural environment, and I promise you that if anything happens to that baby because of your incompetence, I will personally hunt you down and castrate you with the dullest tools I can find while you’re awake. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Dr. Tong,” the man muttered.
The woman, now confirmed to be Tong Yao, sighed. “Good. Tell Jian Yang I’ll call him in a few days to check on everything.”
“Yes, Dr. Tong.”
The com clicked off and Yao covered her face in her hands and, as far as Sicheng could tell, soundlessly screamed into them.
“Tong Yao?” Ming called out and her head snapped up, and dark brown eyes locked onto Sicheng’s own eyes.
He’s beautiful.
It was the first thought Yao had the moment she laid her eyes on the male coming toward her. She briefly registered the fact that he was tall, his hair dark, and that his skin was darker than hers and covered in small intricate patterns that shone with a metallic light. After that, she lost track of everything but his eyes.
Warm caramel was her first thought then the light hit them a different way and they turned amber, as he got closer they reminded her of the aged whiskey her grandfather used to drink, a color that had entranced her every time she had seen it. He came to a stop less than a foot away from her. His nostrils flared slightly as if he was taking in her scent, as he looked down at her.
“Fiery little human.” His words and the slight curl of his lips jerked her back to reality. “Are you going to question my manhood as well?”
“Are you going to give me a reason to?” Yao shot back, then valiantly attempted to keep the blush from spreading across her face.
His eyes danced. “I shall have to do my best not to.” His head tilted slightly to one side. “I am Sicheng, captain of ZGDX, you are Dr. Tong Yao.”
“I am.” It wasn’t a question, but she decided to confirm it anyway. She brought her arm up to offer him her hand.
He glanced down at it and studied her hand for a moment. Just before she took it back he grasped it with his own and leaned down to place a lingering kiss on the back of it.
“We are pleased to have you aboard.”
“I’m pleased to be aboard.”
“Are you going to introduce me to the pretty female?” a male voice broke the spell over them and Yao jerked back to look, wide eyed, at the male not far from them. He was Sicheng’s height with the same tanned skin and metallic patterns, though his eyes were dark, almost black, like pools of night, and hidden within their depths was a sliver of hope.
“I’m Tong Yao,” Yao told the male smiling at him and instinctively offering her hand once more.
“Ming.” Like Sicheng, Ming took her hand and bowed over it slightly, unlike Sicheng, he didn’t kiss it. “Do your people introduce using their first or last names first?”
“Last names first.”
“What should we address you by?” Yao wasn’t used to sensible questions like the ones Ming was asking.
“Yao is fine,” Yao told him, ignoring the billions of years of culture that said otherwise. It would be awkward, to say the least, if everyone addressed her by her last name when they might not have one. Some societies didn’t after all.
“What is it?” A voice caused all three of them to look over at where Yao’s luggage and pet carrier were. Crouched down in front of the carrier in a way that suggested he would have to be careful of most door frames was a male with short hair of a shade of red that Yao didn’t know how to describe, made worse by the way it seemed to change colors every time he moved his head, though it did compliment his tanned skin and darker metallic patterns well.
“He,” a second male, this one shorter than Sicheng and Ming, with the same dark hair and tanned skin with metallic patterns, stood behind and slightly to the right of the crouching male, arms crossed over his chest as he eyed the carrier. “According to the information I got, is a felis catus, of the maine coon bread.”
“He’s so pretty,” the crouching male whispered in awe as he reached a hand out, fingers headed for the gaps in the door.
“I wouldn’t-” Yao was cut off by a yelp as the male fell backward, eyes wide as he stared at his bloody finger. She rushed over, already reaching for the small medical kit she always carried with her. “Here, let me see.”
She carefully took his hand, pulling it down slightly so she could examine the damage to his fingers. “Well,” she decided as she let go of his hand to pull out a disinfecting swab, “he got you pretty good. I’m sorry, I should have warned you not to do that. Da Bing doesn’t like it when strangers try to pet him.” Flustered that this would be their first interaction with her beloved pet, Yao grabbed a band aide without looking and wrapped it around the wounded finger. “There, all done.” The male blinked at her, looked at his finger and stared. “Are you ok?” Yao finally asked after several moments of silence.
“What are they?” His question confused her, and apparently, the others as they moved closer to look at the band aid.
Yao felt her cheeks heat as she realized which band aid she had used. She cleared her throat. “Their dogs.”
Every eye turned to her.
Flustered and unsure she grabbed her pad and pulled up one of her often watched videos and turned it around to show them. “Like this one.”
“They don’t look like the ones on the bandage.” She wasn’t sure who said it, but she felt her face grow hotter.
“The ones on the band aid are stylized. Designed to appeal to children so that they’ll leave the band aid on and to help them feel better after getting hurt.”
A smile slowly bloomed across the wounded male’s face and for a moment Yao thought of sunflowers. “I got a younglings band aid?” In one motion he went from sitting to standing startling a yelp out of Yao and sending her tumbling back onto her butt. “K!” He yelled, sprinting away. “I got a bandage meant for a youngling! K!”
Yao could only stare after the clearly excited male.
“Are you hurt?” Sicheng asked, hovering over her.
Yao closed her eyes and held up a hand. When she once more felt settled she opened her eyes again and addressed the group. “I can honestly say I’ve never seen an adult so happy to have a kids band aid before.” She placed a hand on Sicheng's and had to steady herself not having expected him to so easily pull her to her feet. “Not that I mind,” she added, bending down to pick up her medical kit. “At this point, I’m just glad he wasn’t upset about Da Bing swatting at him.”
“Swatted?” She turned her attention to the, as yet, unnamed male, whose eyes went from wide to narrowed as he pointed at Da Bing. “He swatted Mao? It wasn’t an attack just a warning?”
Yao frowned, if she didn’t know better she would think he sounded incredulous. “Da Bing wouldn’t go around attacking people for no reason. He’s a good kitty.”
“Unbelievable!” the male threw his hands up before pointing a finger at Sicheng. “Do you hear this? That is a fully grown predator! A menace designed to be appealing to the eye!”
Yao straightened to her full height, which made her a few inches shorter than the male, and glared. “There is nothing wrong with my cat! Just because some beings don’t have the common decency to ask before entering another’s personal space, doesn’t mean my cat is a menace!”
“Ha! So you admit it! He’s a predator!”
Scowling, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Of course he’s a predator, he’s a cat. Cat’s are predators.”
“Which means you need to have a special license to bring it aboard a ship!” He looked so infuriatingly smug.
She smirked, delighting in the fact that she was about to crush him. “A predator license only applies to any species above twenty seven kilograms, Da Bing is less than twelve kilograms. Furthermore, in cases where the animal in question is registered as a certified companion or service animal, by an accredited medical facility, and backed by a qualified and accredited trainer, all laws associated with the lawful placement of the animal on board a space bound vessel, are not applicable with the exception of safety standards.”
He gaped at her.
“Yue,” Ming’s voice was gentle, chiding. “It was a scratch. Mao’s gotten worse after a night out with K. Besides, Da Bing was defending his territory from an intruder. Are you really upset about an animal defending their own territory?”
Yue closed his mouth and frowned, eyes downcast as he shifted from foot to foot. “No.”
Yao had to work to keep her stern look as her lips threatened to twitch into a smile.
He was pouting.
“Come on.” Ming tugged on Yue’s arm. “We need to go make sure all the supplies you ordered came in.”
“If they don’t give me the amount of pain medications I ordered, I’m not going to be held responsible for my actions.” Yue grouched as he allowed Ming to lead him away.
“Do you want to see your room?” Sicheng’s question drew Yao’s attention to him, and the fact that they were now alone.
Despite the butterflies that erupted in her stomach, Yao gave him a large smile. “Yes please.” She paused, her smile fading slightly. “If you have time, that is. I don’t want to take you away from something else you might need to do.”
Sicheng shook his head. “They know what needs to be done. I can take you to your room and let you get settled while we finish up.”
Her smile much smaller, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and nodded. “I’d really like that.” She turned to her luggage but before she could pick it up, Sicheng acted. The next thing she knew he was carrying both Da Bing’s carrier and her duffel bag.
“The rest are your tools and equipment, yes?” He tilted his head slightly and she had to force herself to pay attention.
“Yes. Everything else is my scientific equipment.”
“Do you want to oversee its loading?”
She shook her head. “No. I made sure to pack it well, and if anything does break it isn’t that big of a deal. Besides, you trust your crew to get everything on board and who am I to doubt that trust?” He studied her, looked at her, in a way no one ever had before and it left her feeling flustered and unsure. “Your information says that there are seven in the crew?”
Sicheng nodded and started walking, taking care to match her steps as they headed for the ship. “You’ve met Ming, he’s the second and our pilot. Rui is the one who hired you, he’s in charge of logistics and is our navigator. Mao is our engineer and Yue our medic. K is in charge of security and is our gunner, and Pang is our cook and the one who tends to the ship's biosphere.”
“You have a biosphere!” Yao’s next steps held an extra bounce. “Really?! I had hoped that you might, but there wasn’t a lot of information in the packet I was sent. Do you grow any fruits or vegetables?”
The corners of his lips went up and Yao almost missed a step. “He’s trying to. Unfortunately, Pang hasn’t had much luck in finding instructions on growing things.”
“I can help with that! I used to have a small garden patch where I would grow food.” She clasped her hands behind her back, eyes focused forward to keep herself from falling flat on her face. “I’m not an expert or anything, but I did ok, and I know where to go to look up useful information.”
“I have no doubt he would welcome the help. What did you grow?”
With a hope that if she could prove her knowledge, Sicheng would back her so she could keep growing things, she launched into an explanation of everything she had grown and why.
As Sicheng listened to Yao speak about everything she had grown in her garden, he filed each new tid bit away, not quite sure why he was doing so, only that for the first time in his long life he found himself wanting to serve, to fight for someone and not just beside them.
He found himself amazed that anyone, let alone a female, would be so comfortable with one of his kind, to be so open with him. Only practice kept the frown from his face as he wondered if Yao even knew what they were. It was not a secret what the metallic patterns on their skin meant, and no way to hide them even if they wanted to.
“We’re Drimos.” The words were out before he could even think about them, let alone stop them. It also had the added effect of stopping them in the middle of the corridor. Sicheng watched her intently as she tilted her head at him, her brows drawn together, her mouth pursed.
“Ok.”
“We were genetically designed to fight, to be soldiers, and our very DNA was built with the express purpose of making us killers.”
She frowned, her brows drawing further together. “But is that what you want to do?”
He froze, his entire body locking down.
“I mean,” she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the same one she had been pushing back since they had first met, as she continued speaking, “I know what those asshats created you to do, but I think what matters more is what you want to do. It’s not that different from being born to some types of parents to be honest. The parents have a child and dream of them growing up to do certain things, to be a certain way, and as they grow the child has to decide if they want what their parents want and then they have to choose to do what their parents want them, maybe even birthed them, to do, or what they, themselves, want to do.”
She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “So, the question stands, what do you want to do?”
Sicheng gave a slow nod, his mind whirling as he thought through what she had just said. He caught sight of K leaning against the wall of an intersecting corridor and made a note to talk to him later as he resumed walking, Yao falling into step next to him. His mind whirled with the possibilities, with the unlikely words that had just come from a female’s mouth. Another female, beautiful face turned ugly by the sneer it held as she stared down at him, flashed through his mind before he shoved it back.
He did wonder if all human females were like Yao.
If they were, he could see how so many males of different species had fallen for them. A brief longing to be allowed to court by one such female, by Yao, flashed through his mind. He hesitated, not pushing the thought away like he usually would. If he could prove to her that he was a male worth courting, then maybe, just maybe, she would let him. He allowed his lips to turn upward into a small smile.
It seemed he had found what he wanted, even if it was a someone and not a something. Plans began to form in his head as he showed Yao her room and set the biometric lock to her readings, leaving her to get settled a few minutes later. It seemed he would need to add something to their order. He would need a few things if he was going to pull this off.