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  The fighters were so responsive that it seemed like she simply ‘thought’ what she wanted it to do, and then a split second later, it happened. Sasha was sure these sloops were even more high-tech. They also looked like they were coated with some sort of new technology. She didn’t know if it was armor or a cloaking capability. Either way, it was cool!

  She ‘borrowed’ three of the tiny cameras from the security deck, where she spent most of her time, and placed one at the door to the bay where the sloops were kept, one on the wall near the ramp into the sloop, and the other on a bulkhead in the cockpit of the sloop nearest the bay doors. She’d angled the first two cameras to get a good look at the security pads that accessed the bay and sloop doors, and the other down onto the flight controls so that if anyone started it up, she’d get footage on the sequence. She supposed the bay door didn’t matter, as she accessed the bay through a maintenance tunnel. But having a second option in was always smart.

  Just for chuckles, she had added a fourth camera a few days later aimed into the one bay she couldn’t seem to break into. She was going now to review the footage. The ship was quiet as it was the middle of what was known as the dog watch, which on this expedition, was the short shift from midnight until 0400. Most everyone was asleep accept for the navigator on the bridge covering the shift.

  Slipping into her quarters and setting a mode on her tablet that caused static to fill any systems in her quarters that the ship monitored, Sasha began playing the camera recording. The tiny mechanism was so advanced that it simply skipped to any movement recorded and then skipped ahead to the next. It was so much more efficient than the ones she’d seen in a museum at the Intergalactic Museum. Those old recording systems you had to scan through every second to find what you wanted. How tedious, she thought to herself, grateful that this went right to what she wanted.

  When the segment first started playing, Sasha wasn’t sure what she was seeing. Obviously, the first part was the door opening. It used a biometric eye and palm scan coupled with a code. But, for the few seconds that the door opened, and the camera could see into the bay, Sasha was stunned by what she saw.

  It was a lab of some type. It looked like a medical lab, but the only humans were the lab assistant working there and Ryo Donji, the person who activated the door. What looked like a person was suspended in a fluid filled med-bath. The only problem Sasha could see was that the person was missing an arm and a leg. Well, and the blue skin was pretty weird as well. An android, Sasha could tell just by looking briefly.

  They’d been coached in advanced training on Uzi about some of the latest break-throughs in android design, and the blue skin had been pervasive. What Sasha couldn’t understand is what a droid lab was doing on their ship, where all space was vital for carrying supplies. What made this android so special that it had been brought along for this long-term mission? Why hadn’t they just loaded the android with the normal equipment? There were several onboard that worked moving heavy cargo, or cleaning.

  The only need for secrecy would be if there was some sort of testing going on that wouldn’t have met the approval of the Intergalactic Guard. And the only testing that would not meet their approval would have been androids with upgrades such as ‘self-learning’ or ‘combat-readiness’. Those two types of androids had been outlawed.

  Putting the few seconds of feed onto a microscopic piece of data-stream filament she slipped the tiny crystal Governor Reinegaard had given her into the outlet next to her bunk and pressed the filament onto it. Sasha never knew if they were receiving the information or not. She was ambiguous about sending it. On the other hand, it was morally gray ground.

  She didn’t sleep well after that. Visions of the strange blue creature in the tank played through her sleep. It seemed to chase her, though it ran hopping and flailing, with its one arm and one leg in a strange parody of a real person. Sasha woke the next morning exhausted and haggard.

  Chapter Six

  Alien Encounter

  Several days later they dropped out of warp space into the area just above the atmosphere of the planet they were to explore. It looked very nice from above. The land mass areas were a sort of peachy-pink color with oceans showing a deeper orange. Sasha thought it was beautiful.

  As they loaded the jump ship for the expedition to the surface, a ship-wide alert came over the comms. “Red alert! Alien vessel approaching! Red alert! Alien vessel approaching!”

  Holy crap! Sasha thought, then careened towards the bridge. The door opened as it sensed her biometry nearing and allowed her to see the vessel through the fore-screen on the bridge. Entering the bridge and flopping as quickly as she could into the security seat along the bulkhead, she gazed out at the new ship. It was an elegant vessel that looked a bit like Earth’s ocean jellyfish. It had a soft, almost translucent hull and long tentacle like arms waved gently below the off-white body.

  “We’re being hailed, Captain Donji,” stated the comms officer quietly, a suppressed tension in his voice. “I’m trying to translate,” he continued.

  Several seconds went by, then a voice spoke over the comm system, “Welcome, welcome, welcome,” came the electronic sounding voice. “Welcome at Gateca. We are Gatekins. This is our home. Welcome.”

  The next few hours were a whirlwind of activity. First contact with a new species was so exciting. As security officer Sasha was to go with Captain Donji, his mother Sophie Roux, and Major Fairchild to meet with the Gatekins on a designated spot on their planet. The Valiant had been sweeping the area for traps, assailants, or other toxins for over two hours. Finally, it was approved as a safe location and agreement sent to the Gatekins.

  They were on their way planetside this very minute in a stout little jump ship. Sasha was tasked as the pilot since the rest of them didn’t have pilot skills. There was quite a bit of tension in the air, but Sasha was just excited. She couldn’t help grinning at all of them when she boarded the ship, only to be met with stony countenances. Only Sophie Roux seemed to share her excitement and smiled back at her. The two men were stone. She’d slid into the pilot’s seat, strapped in, and had them on their way in just a few minutes. The jump ship handled easily and took the atmosphere to the planet with no problems.

  Approaching the meet location, Sasha could see that the Gatekins had selected an isolated island location far from any civilization. A good idea, she thought. You could never trust a new species. Cynic! She thought to herself. There was no obvious Gatekin ship on the island, but the sensors showed that they were already there. Interesting!

  Landing gently the ships gear didn’t even set up a puff of dust. The surface felt slightly spongy to her as the ship settled to the ground. “Sirs, the land seems lightly boggy. I’ll check it out before you disembark,” Sasha said firmly.

  The Captain looked at her and said, “That won’t be necessary Lieutenant,” then looked away dismissively.

  “It is necessary, sir. And I must insist. It is regulation that the Security Officer check the perimeter and secure the location before the Captain disembarks. I can site the exact code number if needed,” Sasha stated, holding the eyes of Captain Donji with her own. She hadn’t even flickered when he’d whirled to pin her with his gaze. There was an uneasy silence. Sasha didn’t back down.

  “Very well, if you insist,” Captain Donji said with a glare that would have melted metal. Good thing I’m not, Sasha thought.

  “I do, sir,” she returned evenly. Then proceeded to arm herself and strap on monitoring equipment and a baton. They’d said no weapons, she hoped the telescoping baton wouldn’t be noticed. Sasha saw Sophie give her a slight wink as she passed. Well, at least she had one ally!

  Closing the pressure lock behind her, Sasha proceeded with the environmental entry procedures. Fifteen minutes later, she’d cleared the area and allowed the Captain to exit the ship. He’d stomped down the ramp glaring at her, then deliberately turned his back on her. She followed him silently. Don’t be such a chump, sir, she thought to herself
.

  They approached the meeting location on foot and found the Gatekins already there. They looked like their ship, in a weird sort of way. They were small, slender people and extremely pale, with almost translucent skin that looked very much like the jellyfish she’d originally likened the ship to. They had bulbous heads that were slightly flattened on top. Their long arms dangled down at their sides very much like the jellyfish tentacles dangled from their ship, except there was only one on each side. Thank Heaven, Sasha thought. The Arachnians, a violent spider-like species that had eight arms, creeped her out.

  The leader of the small group of Gatekins approached and warbled out a string of sounds. The translator that Sophie Roux carried, spit out a sentence a moment later. “Welcome species. Welcome at Gateca. I am Meduzo.”

  Captain Donji bowed to the small creature and said, “We are grateful for the kind welcome. We are Humans from the planet Earth. We come to explore only. I am Captain Donji.”

  The translator took a few minutes, learning as it went, then spit out a sentence in Gatekin. The small creature bowed slightly in return, mimicking the Captain’s act. “Please, tell us about your world!” Garbled out Meduzo. The Captain ushered the small group of Gatekins towards the open ramp of the jump ship.

  The next two hours were a cram course on Gateca for the humans and Earth for the Gatekins. They were basically a peaceful, highly advanced, species of sea dwellers. Hence, the likeness to jellyfish, Sasha supposed. They had highly evolved technical capabilities and she could practically see Captain Donji and Major Fairchild salivating. Sophie Roux appeared more interested in the Gatekins themselves.

  After two hours the Gatekins explained that they needed to return to the water to refresh themselves. If the Captain and his group would like to join them they would be delighted. Sophie thought that sounded fun and walked with them to the edge of the sea. Stripping off her uniform to reveal a set of black La Perla silk lingerie, she heard a gasped protest from behind her. It was Major Fairchild, his face stormy, “Are you actually undressing, Lieutenant?” He said, grinding his teeth.

  “Well, yes! Yes, I am, sir! I prefer to not get my equipment wet. Do you care to join us? It would be diplomatically correct.” Sasha said, gesturing to the already frolicking Gatekins. Captain Donji looked on grimly, while his mother tried to cover her laughter with one hand. She reached over and patted Ryo’s arm, causing him to look at her then relax a bit. He grinned in return.

  “Carry on, Lieutenant,” the Captain snapped. Causing Major Fairchild to retreat sulkily to the confines of the jump ship, though not before sneaking a peek at Sasha’s naked form as she shimmied out of her lingerie. Perv, she thought to herself.

  Sasha spent forty minutes frolicking with the Gatekins. They were interested in her form and swirled about her in effortless cartwheels and pirouettes. It was lovely. They also felt soft and velvety to the touch and Sasha enjoyed their slightly satiny outer skin and the ease with which they swam. They seemed to turn a slightly greener or bluer shade depending on whether they were calm or having fun. Green was calm. Blue was fun.

  Rising dripping from the water surrounded by Gatekins, she beamed at Sophie and the Captain. “They’re wonderful in the water, sirs. They seem to change color a little bit when they’re having fun. They’re incredibly graceful! Did you see them?” She asked smiling hugely. “They’re absolutely delightful!” She exclaimed joyfully, her face alight with happiness.

  “We did Lieutenant,” the Captain assured her. “We’re also seeing quite a bit of you,” he added sternly.

  Sasha shrugged, “Just doing my job, sir.” She caught Sophie Roux’s twinkling eyes and grinned at her. Sophie grinned back. Ryo Donji looked between the women and sighed. “Thank you for interacting with the Gatekins, Lieutenant. It was very helpful.” With that he turned and trailed the garbling Gatekins back to the jump ship.

  Sasha finished pulling on her underclothes and uniform. When Sophie handed her the footwear, Sasha looked up and said, “Thanks for your support. I appreciate it.”

  “You’re a wonderful influence on my son. Hopefully, you’ll lighten him up a bit. He’s always been very serious. As is his father, Haruto. Cut him some slack, please. He’s a good person underneath the sour,” Sophie said softly, a pleading look in her eyes.

  “Oh, don’t worry, ma’am,” Sasha said. “He’s all good with me.” Then grinned, slung an arm around the older woman’s shoulders, and walked with her towards the group.

  They were airborne in another hour, with an appointment for a few weeks later to meet again and exchange technology ideas. The Captain seemed very happy and Major Fairchild was swaggering more than usual. The two women just smiled at each other as Sasha strapped in to make the return to the Valiant, tapped her wristlet to play Adele’s ‘Hello’ and leaned back to enjoy the ride.

  Chapter Seven

  The Dreasing

  They spent the next two weeks exploring and mapping the area around the Gatekin home world. Sasha continued to review the film from the secret med-bay. It was an android and certainly, an illegal one. From the few glimpses she got every time the door opened. It was all in one piece now and out of the tank much of the time.

  They appeared to be testing its physical capabilities now, and Sasha had seen that it was getting more and more graceful and coordinated. Which meant that it was a self-learning model. And illegal. She sent that information to the Governor and wondered what she’d done. If and when the expedition returned to Uzi, the Captain had been experimenting on illegal technology.

  The Valiant returned to Gateca and a month long stay there enamored Sasha of the Gatekins. She was busy making sure all the delegates were safe in their meetings, but it still gave her time to swim with swarms of the jellyfish like species and enjoy their grace and beauty. She got a whole lot better at swimming too. It had never been one of her strong suits, so the time improving her skills was a good experience.

  Strangely, the Gatekins were very fond of her and when she was in the water she almost felt as though she could see their thoughts and understand what they were going to do next. It was a very spiritual and uplifting sensation. Many times, she’d channeled energy to them and had felt them respond in kind with a surge of warmth. She kept that detail of her interactions with them to herself. It would have sounded too weird to put into words in her reports.

  The Captain and his mother did quietly have a conversation about the fact that the Gatekins often swarmed around Sasha in the water. Clearly, they liked her. More than they liked other humans that swam with them. Maybe it was her lack of swimsuit, Ryo postulated. Sophie doubted it.

  They left Gateca after twenty-eight glorious days on the peach planet. Sasha felt very sad to be leaving them. The excitement for new adventures didn’t kick in for a few days after leaving. And her energy level was low over the first week out. Sophie Roux noticed and asked her if she was ok one day in the gym. The older woman worked out rigorously twice a week. Sasha respected that. The woman was in seriously good shape, but didn’t kill herself to get that way. Sasha’s kind of woman!

  Sophie seemed to understand that Sasha was simply sad about leaving such a beautiful species. Both of them overheard Major Fairchild telling an ‘all-ears’ Toby Cook that he didn’t see what the big deal was. The Gatekins were just a bunch of soft-headed jellyfish. So, they were smart, big deal. Toby had lifted one eyebrow at Sasha when the Major turned his back. Sasha rolled her eyes in return. Then turned to see Sophie glancing between them. Sophie had just shaken her head at Major Fairchild’s idiocy and said, “Clearly not a connoisseur of the finer sentiments in life.”

  Several weeks out from Gateca, they were approaching another planet that had viable readings for life, when a ship-wide alert blared over the comms. “Red alert. Alien vessel approaching. Red alert. Alien vessel approaching.” Sasha headed to the bridge. Initially she’d been excited, now a knot of dread grew in her stomach. She was getting a ‘grandma Dolores’ moment from this. Slinging herse
lf into the security seat on the bridge, she met Captain Donji’s eyes.

  “Why the scowl, Lieutenant? You’re usually all excited about meeting new species,” the Captain said, looking her over as though she’d grown a second head.

  “Bad feeling about this one, Captain,” she replied quietly.

  Captain Donji raised his eyebrows, exchanged a glance with his mother, and then returned to viewing the approaching vessel. “Full shields and battle stations,” he ordered. “Do not translate that to the external systems of the ship,” he ordered the Lieutenant seated at the control panel.

  A few seconds later, the image on the fore-screen caused gasps all around. The vessel was ugly. Horribly ugly. It looked like a scaled beetle carapace with curved hooks protruding from its sides. The fore-screen flickered with an incoming transmission. “Hailing unknown vessel approaching the Intergalactic vessel, Valiant. We are peaceful explorers. Do not fire.” Played out the broadcast Captain Donji had ordered.

  The strange looking vessel floated slowly towards them, every curved hook swiveled in their direction. Clearly, the hooked horns were the arrays for weapons, comms, and sensors. If the species they were about to meet were as ugly as their ship, we’d better brace ourselves, Sasha thought. A few guffaws greeted her thought, and she realized she’d vocalized her reservations. “Sorry, just thinking out loud,” Sasha said.

  A few seconds later the fore-screen flickered with an incoming image. It was just as bad as she’d thought. Damn these guys were ugly. No one moved. “Enemy vessel, we are the Dreasing. You have entered our space. You must leave or be fired upon,” came the gravelly voice of a large hulking humanoid. The Dreasing were taller than humans. Probably a good seven or eight feet if the monitor readings were correct. It was hard to tell from the vid feed as there was no scale for comparison when broadcasting from their bridge.