When in doubt, tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your friends.
- Mark Twain (1835 – 1910), real name: Samuel Langhorne Clemens [former] US writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer.
***************************************************
Location:
Outpost Hotel-Omega 129
Zhusanjiao system
Hegemony of Orientals
Time:
15:37 – Terran Standard time
31 December 2200
Captain Lee Xijang was musing his own glass of heavy alcohol in his office, which was technically against regulation. Speaking from a traditional and cultural view point, what he was doing was a major taboo, disregarding the strict military code of conduct. However, considering the magnitude of the (political and potentially military) "breakdown" (or shit storm) in the last week, he deserved some nice privileges as long as they did not hinder him from completing his mission. During the last ten days, the job's requirement was just "stop a Human - Quarian War", or a "First Contact War" in (future) history book. It was unknown if human could survive the war, let alone winning it.
Xijang just grumbled in his throat then drowned the whole class in a single shot. The burning sensation of the drink kept him staying on the awake and alert side of the emotion spectrum, which had been proven to be quite… crucially while dealing with the Quarians. The only reason he had not have them thrown out of airlock was that killing them may trigger the First Contact War, of which he and his crew would be the first casualties. Thinking about the line on his tombstone "Death because of hot-head and stupidity" was more than enough to keep himself from going renegade.
However, it did not mean that he was happy with the situation, no, far from it. Those aliens simply refused the idea of Artificial Intelligence being able to co-exist peacefully with organic beings. Their only "proof" was the Geth Rebellion (as they called it) centuries ago, most of which had already became "myth" or "legend" already. None of the Quarian had actual record of that period of history, or remembered it in depth. They were just told by their parents and their parents' parents about the Geth's atrocities and destruction, forming a deep hatred for AI since a very young age.
Well, that would be humanity if they let the fear taking control of their own brilliant mind. There had been… countless media works exploiting the angles of AI Rebellion, ranging from a terrible migraine to outright Apocalypse in the severity. In the same time, AIs were also considered as trusted companions or even heroes and saviors was not a small number either. Considering that a consideration portion of such work in the current time was made by the AIs themselves, the situation would be funny if it was not so surreal. Of course, the Quarians were not informed about that, they had been freaked out enough by the sheer presence of AI already.
At least they were not shooting or blowing his Outpost up, for which he was grateful for, even if it came close to a hot stand-off soon enough. The delegation was not someone incompetent, they had their own insurance program in place. As soon as the news about the AI was transmitted to their ship, the Quarian "frigate" quickly disconnected, aligned itself and prepared for an attack. Only the radar locking of multiple missile pods and the appearance of a few X-wing Squadrons made them hesitate to launch an attack.
Well, that, and their Captain was on the station, assumingly under the barrels of guns. It took a lot of persuasion to diffuse the powder keg, carrot-and-big-gun style, but by the end of the day, no one died. Both sides returned to their respective housing with their ego wounded and their mind spooked. Considering that it was a First Contact situation, it was the best Xijang could ask for.
The second-best was the reinforcement sent by High Command. Faster-than-light communication, dubbed QEC by the majority of humanity even if they had no idea what it stood for, informed him that a full fleet detachment would be sent to bolster the strength of the system, just in case. And it was not just "any fleet", it was the Fifth Fleet, considered as the most mobile and the heaviest punch of the Federation. While having the smallest number of carriers (just two of them, and Light Carrier classification in addition), they boasted a respectable number of strike crafts thanks to implementing dedicated hangar bays on the capital ships. As history had already proven it, the ones with better air superiority would win the battle.
However, the reinforcement would take a few days more to arrive in the system, or rather, at the edge of the system and laid in ambush. Admiral Shivam Sodhi had already been informed about the deteriorating situation, sending a full mighty force into the system would do little to… calm down their nerve. It would be more… beneficial for the Quarian to calm down with the help (or the insistence) from the ones they knew.
In the meantime, Captain Lee Xijang had no other option than to try and being friendly and respectful with the Quarians. At least those aliens respect (grudgingly) his honesty. It would save the mankind the potential fall down later if he had not been frank with Captain Zare Rozu on the account of the AI. After one or two days discussing with his crew, albeit when his ship was under careful watch from the Terran Navy ships (four Destroyers and their strike crafts squadrons), the Quarians decided to give the humans the benefits of doubts. At least the AIs had not try to kill them yet – the important words were "try" and "yet".
After that decision, the relationship between two sides improved slightly, it was still a guarded one, but not hostile or paranoid-induced like on the first day. Granted, the humans were (probably) better at hiding their fear and uncertainty, and their methods of protecting themselves could be considered as… a bit on the extreme side. Xijang just hoped that he would not have to use them – rather having and not needing, than needing and not having. It was possible that the Quarians knew about that, or they had certain hunch feeling about it. He knew they knew, and they knew he knew they knew. Such was a game of politics, it was dirty, but if it was necessary for the survival of mankind, then let it be.
On the brighter side, the Chief Engineer on their ship was slowly and gradually becoming the drinking buddy with the engineer civilian specialists and his own military engineers on board. It seemed like the Quarian one had interest in the Mech-suit built by humans due to the absence of its analogue in the Citadel space. It appeared that most of the known alien species had been copying the result of the Prothean (a vast, star-spanning empire millenniums ago) without inventing their own tech-tree.
It was a… boring work in overall, but it was an idea that worked well enough for them, practically giving them the right to this universe. Hence, seeing a "strange" technology piece like the FAP would be an interesting idea, not to mention that it was a real engineering piece of art. In addition, as much as Xijang was informed, there was no mention of any "Mech-like" unit in the Prothean Archive on Mars, making the suit a purely human-made development. And even if the ancient aliens did have any, the FAPs and their family of Mech would still be a human artwork.
Thinking about it gave Xijang a strange sense of pride. The humans had always been thinking that they were just ants in the Galaxy. No matter how strong their ships were, how many ships and men they had, they were still small and weak comparing to other alien races. Yet, their First Contact showed that in certain scenarios, they could stand toe-to-toe with long-established alien powers in the Galaxy, or at least, one of them. The Quarians were still lip-sealed about the Citadel races and their associates.
Captain Lee Xijang just sighed. May be those Quarians were afraid of the humans, not just because the presence of AI, but also because of the use of "Element Alpha", or rather the lack of it. Difference in technology, especially in the First Contact scenario, was a valid reason for paranoia. That would be a good reason for withholding information, Xijang was not putting blame on his counter-part though, he would do the same in the other's shoe.
The datapad, which was an universal tool just like the smartphones of the early 21st century, suddenly rang up, notifying a caller. Xijang glanced at the screen and got surprised when he saw the ID of the other side. It was no one other than Captain Zare Rozu. Why he would call was anyone's guess, but Xijang hoped it was good news. He accepted the call. The synthesized voice of the Quarian (after the translation) quickly sprang up from the speaker:
"Greeting, Captain Lee'Xijang."
"Greeting, Captain."
"If you don't mind, I would like to… notify you a new development on our end."
A sinking feeling slowly formed in his stomach, something had gone terribly wrong. A series of what-if scenarios flashed through his mind, none of them looked promising or even safe for mankind. It was as if the Quarian Captain was bidding farewell and saying goodbye to him before the break of war.
"Yes, what may it be?"
Trying to keep his nerve, Lee Xijang asked in a calm manner, as much mental strength as he could gather. Whether the other side could spot it or not was another question that he did not really want to know the answer.
"My superior officer is coming and he would like to… discuss the terms with your people on the account of opening a relationship."
The Quarian may not even know that he had just lifted a major weight out of the shoulder of the human counterpart. Xijang just breathed out in relief silence, praying thanks to whatever deities he knew in his mind. It looked like war would be averted for another day.
"Would you mind telling me when he arrives then? My commander would be here in a few days, three or four to be precise, and I think it is better for them to schedule a meeting."
"According to your time system, that would be about… three days and twenty hours. Give or take three though."
"Understood, thank you for your help… Do you have any problem?"
"Other than you using AIs?"
"Well… yes, other than that."
"Not much, though my Chief Engineer is showing interest in your Mech-suits, asking for a test-run, and some of his men would love to see your strike crafts, with your permission and… moderation, of course."
"Understood. I will see what I can do about that. The Mechs are still being used to upgrade our Outpost, so I have to check with the schedule of my men. On the matter of the strike crafts… I'm afraid that the most I could do is letting you guys seeing them docked, no electronic surveillance or recording program is allowed, I'm afraid."
"Those terms are acceptable for me. Security reasons, I suppose?"
"Correct."
"Thank you for your help then. Is there any problem on your end regarding us then?"
A flash of an idea ran through Xijang's mind. It was a bit… bizarre. Well, not as bizarre and dangerous as telling an AI-hating alien species that he had a few AIs on board, but it was still on the abnormal side of the spectrum:
"Actually, do you mind celebrating the New Year's Eve with us on board?"
"New Year's Eve? You mean celebrating the end of the Old year and the beginning of the New one? Is that a human tradition?"
"Yes on both questions, consider it as a friendship and professional courtesy."
"I will think about it, but the…"
"As long as there is a Quarian in the party, no AI will be allowed to enter. I will have them disconnected from the room's system in the mean time."
"Understood, thanks for your understanding."
"You're welcomed."
The screen of the datapad quickly dimmed down, returning to the "sleep" mode. It was only at that moment that Xijang dared to breathe out loudly, releasing the stress accumulating in his heart. At least the Quarian bored no evident hatred to him or mankind in general, though it would be harder to say about his commander.
Well, one challenge at a time then. Besides, if the worst came to reality, it would still be in expectation, namely, a First Contact War. Even though Xijang had already ordered Serina not to intruding in the alien ship electronics system, he knew that there was likelihood that his second-in-command would order the AI to do so, or at least have the ship's structure being scanned and recorded.
Then, a new message arrived. The tone and the rhythm told him that it was a report being sent from his subordinates. Grunting, he put down his glass and opened up the file, it was a collection of reports actually, compiled by Lieutenant Commander Cho Minhu, or Mina in short, along with electronic surveillance from Serina. While the encryption on the message was not broken, mostly for the lack of trying, but it was deduced that the ship had been sending continuous reports through the Relay, assuming to the commanding officer.
The next few reports were not so important. His crews reported on how to differentiate one Quarian from another, mostly with their suits and helmets. The Mess Hall informed him of a sharp decline in consumption of grain in edible form… and a steady increase in its liquid form (or alcohol, for short)… And the civilian specialists noted down something on the Quarian ship, the same idea was proposed by Mina.
The ship was too old to be a credible space-worthy vessel. Granted, the ship could fly, and it boasted a good maneuverability, far surpass what Terran Navy had for the same size or tonnage. However, despite the good performance, its appearance left much for desire. First, the bow section had more than two shades of white, some looked ivory-white while some were more of a grey-ish color. In addition, the starboard of the ship has a few parts being taken away, cannibalized would be a good word. These showed that the ship had been in use for a long time and had not received and major maintenance.
That idea put some alarms down. Why the Quarians fail to do a proper maintenance would be a good start. No, it could be worse. The Codex they sent had already mentioned the Citadel Council, but details were sparse and the Captain was uncomfortable with telling him. A good question would be why the Quarians were still using the old ship? Something told him that it concerned both the absence of "Citadel Council" in their talk as well as their hatred for Artificial Intelligence.
Turning on a new app on the datapad, he began writing a report. Even if that was just a hunch, the High Command should still be informed about it. After all, the situation sounded disturbingly alike to the franchise Wanderers, and Xijang had been taught to never rely on chances and probability.
***************************************************
Location:
Hangar Four
Outpost Hotel-Omega 129
Zhusanjiao system
Hegemony of Orientals
Time:
14:09 – Terran Standard time
15 January 2201
"Yes, Dad, I'm still fine and dandy."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes Dad, I'm sure. I'm 25 already, I know when I'm fine and when I'm not."
"But those aliens…"
"Are practically humans living on another world, spiritually at least. They are good guys, so far, there is not much for you to be afraid of."
"Be careful son, they are aliens, and we know nothing about them. So you should be polite to them."
"Yes, Dad."
"You should not point fingers at them or whisper behind their backs too."
"Yes, Dad."
"And remember what your commander ordered you."
"Yes, Dad."
"Do not slack off, son, for that is not what we do. We are hard-workers, we complete our assignments first, then we kick back and relax."
"Yes, Dad."
The scene unfolding before Yaenna'Naalas vas Iktomi was quite… surreal. The young, talented and practically fearless human engineer, "Tran Kien Vuong", was answering the phone call with a very dull voice. The attitude of this engineer was… disrespectful, more so when the one on the other end was his father. Was any human the same like him?
When Yaenna was still puzzled, two other humans had already approached her from behind, looking over her shoulder. Wearing the same black hardsuits (which seemed to be mass-produced originally), they were hard to be distinguished from each other in the beginning, and her lack of familiarity with the human did little help in telling them apart, even if those humans were wearing helmets with transparent visors. She had no idea who they were until she looked at the name tags on the left chests: "Yuri Malashenko" and "Jack Daniels". They were also "Mech-pilot" like the man he was watching.
The one on the left, "Yuri", asked her with concern shown clearly in his voice. Even though he was still using his mother tongue (or common language, she was not very sure), his speech was translated with a program installed in her suit and transmitted to her earpiece inside the helmet.
"Yaenna, is everything okay?"
Still, she had… quite a problem fitting in, not in a bad way though. The Galaxy… or at least the Citadel Council only employed the Quarians simply for their cheap labour force and their technical expertise, but mostly the cheap expense though. The price though employers paid her people was borderline to "nothing", which was still luckier than a few unfortunate souls got captured by the four-eyes or falsely charged by the birds. No, the humans here had nothing but respect to here. Granted, they did not use any honorific and skip straight to calling her with her given name (which should be quite a grave social mistake in Quarian community).
However, such was the way engineers work, Quarians and humans could agree on this part. They preferred keeping the social niceties and etiquette to get straight into the main problem. Sure, the human engineers here let loose quite a tirades and swearing whenever they encountered a problem, but the same could be said about her people. Engineers everywhere enjoyed letting loose whenever they encountered a problem, it seemed.
Turning back the whole body to face the two black hard-suits of the human engineers, she shook her head and answered them:
"Yes, everything is alright… though why does that guy…"
"Oh, you mean him? Vuong just has over-bearing parents, that's all. Part of the reason why he took up the assignment with the military once graduated, really."
"Poor bastard."
"Да. Twenty-five and his parents still make him call them every week. And since you Quarians appear, it is more like once every two or three days."
Yaenna suddenly felt a dampening on her spirit. These humans… they would not be xenophobic, would they not? But the humans on board the station, most of them being military, should be the xenophobic one, not the civilian back home. And even those "should-be" were the ones who had been nothing but polite to her. The situation was really strange.
"Don't worry. They are just… well, Asian parents. The parents are very protective of their children. That is nothing to be afraid of, as long as you don't plan to hurt him, that is."
"Asian parents?"
"Right, I forget that you are an alien. No offence. The Asian is a… racial sub-classification of humanity, used in extensive range before we human left our home system. You could say they have the most diverse and the richest culture among all racial sub-groups of mankind."
"And let me guess, the over-protectiveness for the children is iconic for these… Asian parents?"
"You are correct Yaenna. It is troublesome for me, but after all, one can only choose his friends, not his family."
The calm voice of the "Tran Kien Vuong" human appeared behind her, startling the female Quarian engineer. However, the two humans standing in front of her did not even look surprise in the least degree. They just smirked, knowing their friend was approaching her silently behind to prank her.
Yaenna turned around, scowling under her visor. She knew that the humans would be unable to notice that, but she still inject some sourness into her voice:
"Don't you know that startling a lady is undignified?"
"Really? I think girls enjoy surprise?"
A chuckle was hear behind her back, look like Vuong's two friends were sharing an inside joke. She had a pretty good idea what it was, probably concerning the human standing in front of her having no girlfriend or even a prospect romantic partner.
He was… well, dumb in this part. No wonder why he was still single though. Haiz, if he could be at least be more understanding about the… delicacy of women and girls. He was quite a good guy, polite, smart and punctual. She did not know much if he could hold his own ground, but his spirit and patience did not find themselves wanting. Still, a clueless man still had certain charms, as long as he had the skills and competence to back it up. Well, and if that man was a Quarian, really.
Too bad that the time for work was approaching soon enough. The human engineers quickly stood up and splited into groups. The Mech-piloting duty on that day fell to two other guys in the group: an "Indian" and a "South American", the three guys she spoken to earlier were put in observation and supporting role.
The job in this situation was not building any new modules for the human's Outpost, but rather, giving a Quarian ship a new armor hull. That was the result of a long and stretched discussion between the Admirals of two species. The Quarians were spooked because of human using Artificial Intelligence, and the humans were afraid because her people were the first "true" aliens they had met.
It took a lot of patience and leaps of faith to have the two sides reach a temporary agreement. More details would be ironed out later, but at least, for the moment, two people would enjoy a time of peace and friendship. Yaenna was not informed on the precise details of the agreement, most of them were considered as secrets, but that was not her main concern. She was more interested in the engineering prowess of the humans than the political situation.
Well, that, and how the humans could prevent the AIs from taking over their lives (or stop them from rebelling, for that matter). However, she still had no idea on how to ask them, fearing that question would be too… confrontational.
Behind the reinforced glass window, the two Mech suits quickly took off, exhausting the carbon dioxide canister to accelerate and change the direction. While she had watched the scene a few times already, it still gave her an exhilarating feeling. It was as if she was watching something liberating and wonderful, something that many Quarians could only dream for. She once asked the team to let her try piloting one, but their answer was simply a refuse. The training and the teaching required for one was too much, each of them took nearly two years to earn the privilege to pilot one, and they understood clearly how hard to control such a suit.
Yaenna pouted behind her mask, she should ask where she could learn to pilot one soon. May be the humans would agree and send her to the best place, after all, they were still trying to appease her people as much as possible. Of course, that was just a pipe dream of her… She sincerely hoped that the humans and Quarians could establish a friendly relationship. That way, she could officially apply to be a Mech-pilot without "going around".
Still, the operation taking place at the moment was more interesting than day dreaming. She approached the bundle group the human engineers and stood on the toe behind them. However, it was still hard to see the screen clearly. She could only see the back of their heads (which were covered with fur, in different colors too) and the glimpse of some simmering drinks in their hands. Their helmets, meanwhile, were put off on a table and a couch nearby. Luckily, they quickly noticed her discomfort and gave her some space to stand in…
And the smell of their drink was really nice. The aroma was… wonderful, somehow just smelling it made her felt a bit more energized. Slightly turning to the side, she kept staring into the dark hot liquid held by the man called "Abdel Nour Hamdani". It was as if the smell was becoming stronger with each second she spent staring into it. The conversation among the human sounded dimmed in her ears.
A sudden finger snapping appeared in front of her eyes, awaking her from the gaze. It was no one other than the owner of the cup she had been staring at.
"Are you alright? You have been staring at my coffee for a minute now."
"That is called… coffee?"
"Yeah, a drink that gives us some extra energy, waking us from sleep in the morning and keeping us awake at night if we want to."
"Can I have some?"
The human engineers just glanced at each other, not knowing what to say. On the one hand, it was common professional and friendship courtesy to share the coffee among engineers, especially the good ones. On the other hand, they were not informed on the difference between human and Quarian biology apart from the fact that the alien used a different type of protein than human. The precise details were still being researched and had yet to be released.
The man next to her hesitated:
"Uhm… are you sure? We do not know if this drink is safe for you or not…"
"Do you know how much we want a drink like that? A drink which can fend off drossiness and sleep, the Migrant Fleet would pay handsomely for it."
"But what if you folks have allergic reaction to the drink?"
Without speaking a word, Yaenna raised her omni-tool and activated it. The humans widened their eyes, staring at the alien tool with amazement filling in them. She was quite surprise, but quickly remembered that these humans had very limited access to Element Zero, and with omni-tool also required it to be manufactured, it was not really surprising that they did not have any functional one in their arsenal.
The yellow light ray from the omni-tool scanned over the simmering liquid in the paper cup. The time was slowly ticking, and she meant it literally, her omni-tool reported its progress with periodical beeping sound. Eventually, the process was completed, resulting in a phrase written in Khelish.
"Don't worry, I just check it, the drink is safe for my consumption. So… can I have one?"
Blinking a few times to take in the situation, "Abdel" wordlessly gave his coffee for "Jack" for safekeeping before stepping off to a nearby table, the one with a transparent pot on it. Yaenna quickly noticed that it was holding a dark liquid, and it must be the same as the one these humans were drinking. The human quickly took out a mug nearby and fill in with the hot drink.
Yaenna noticed that he glanced toward two other containers on the table, one was a hard-looking transparent jar with some kind of white sand inside, and the other was a paper carton. May be those were complemented ingredients to use with the "coffee"?
The human engineer quickly returned with the drink in his hand. Receiving it in her hand, she brought it up to the inlet port on her mask. Even though the air had been filtered by a dozen of layers, she was still able to feel the faint aroma of the drink. If it remained noticeable even after the famous Quarian air filters, what would it smell like once she tried it directly?
Yaenna could not wait to find out. She activated her induction port, or "straw" as common language called it. Under the wide-opening eyes of the human engineers, she sipped the drink, carefully of course, she knew the drink was still pretty hot. If she was not paying caution, her tongue would be burned pretty badly.
And the sensation hit her. First, it was just the strong bitter taste of the drink. The unfamiliar taste made her scowling under the mask, which the humans were not aware of, of course. She always had her helmet on, after all. Then, the feeling hit her. It was as if she had been washed over and injected with some energy. Freshness and eagerness ran through her body, asking her to do something useful.
The feeling was slowly strengthened with each gulp she took from the drink. The more she drank, the more ready and awake she became. Yaenna could only imagine what these engineers felt when they had their drink. It would be something similar, she supposed. Still, the bitter taste was not easy to enjoy.
"Thanks for the drink… The taste is really strong and enjoyable, it awakes me from the drossiness that I am unaware of."
The engineer with "over-protective" parents suddenly laughed, excitement was evident with his tone:
"See, I told you already. That is real and proper coffee, not the tasteless shit you Western sell in the vending machine."
"Yeah yeah yeah. We got that already man, your country is prideful about the coffee."
"He has a point Arthur, the coffee at your home is crap. No offence."
The human called "Arthur" just grunted, but he did not refute that line, probably because it was a truth. After all, he was enjoying the coffee made in the "proper" method. Saying it was not as tasty as the one from his home (which was a lie) would be highly hypocrite. Chuckling, Abdel asked her:
"Don't mind Vuong. He just really hates the tasteless coffee he had to drink during university to stay awake. He just wants to, well, enjoys the lost time there. Does the taste suit you? Is it too bitter?"
"… Thanks, it is quite bitter actually. Don't get me wrong, it is wonderful, just too bitter for my taste, I prefer something sweet, actually. And is it supposed to be always bitter like this?"
"Oh, that. It depends on the actual drinker. If you want something sweet, you can try adding some sugar or condense milk on the table over there. Take as much as you want, our treat."
"Are you sure?"
"Well, technically, we all chip in to buy them. But the military is paying the bills these days so… feel free to take as much as you want."
"As long as you do not take the sugar to make some bombs. And if you want to do so, call me."
"No one is as crazy as you Quasay. We are not some pyromaniacs who enjoy seeing things burnt down to a crisp."
"Vuong enjoys blowing things up though."
"On video games only. And it was not me who blew up the university lab. It is interesting to know that the culprit has yet to be captured."
A short banter was traded among the group. For a group of friends who had been seeing each other for a long time, some friendly jabs like that were totally expected. However, Yaenna paid them no attention, she was too busy with adding ingredients to her drink. Of course, she still had to scan over the sweeteners first, just in case of an allergy.
It was too bad that she could not try the "condense milk", which contained levo-protein. It would be inedible at best and poisonous at worst. While she wanted her drink to be sweet, she did not want to taste her luck now and decided to take the safe route: sugar.
At least it was still carbon-hydro organic materials, of which she could safely consume. She poured in some extra coffee, mostly hoping for a large trying sample. Then, spoon by spoon, the sugar was added, after each the drink was tried and tasted. Finally, the sweetness had met her level of desire.
Holding the coffee in her hand, Yaenna briskly walked back to the working station, or rather, a row of screens. It appeared that the two Mech-pilots had already reached the Quarian frigate Naraanda. She was one of the… oldest patrol craft in the Migrant Fleet, and she was slated to be a close quarter patrol for the Civilian Fleet. Yaenna knew that it was just a few weeks left before the fate of the ship ended like many others. The ship would be cannibalized, its parts would be used to maintain the lives of others.
It was brutal, but it was a necessary move. Without doing so, the Fleet would suffer set back, not much, but it would be a few ships. While a few ships sounded small compared to an armada of over fifty thousand vessels, she knew that it was better to have one ship ended its life with honor and distinction than to have three disappearing in flame and anguish.
On the bright side, all four ships concerned here would be saved by the First Contact with humans. The Naraanda would be fixed, free of charge, by the human engineers, while materials were donated so that the other three were fixed. Four ships meant little for the giant Migrant Fleet, but she knew that it was the spirit that made the count. After all, the decision was made on the personal behalf of the Captain of the Outpost (under the acceptance of his Admiral).
If a Captain was able to save four ships, what would their entire Federation able to do? Yaenna had been wondering for the answer, and she was watching it unfolded. The armor plates on the frigate were being removed carefully with a highly focused beam of plasma from the hands of the Mech. Watching the scene, she was startled by how fast they could work. In just fifteen minutes, two Mech-pilots had done as much as a full engineering team of the Fleet in an hour. To think these guys were just the standard in the Federation…
For some reason, Yaenaa started giggling and bouncing, she could not hold back her excitement. She really looked forward to the day when humans and Quarians become friends. Her people would have the ability to quickly fix and upgrade their ships, the rate of cannibalism would drop significantly, allowing them a better life.
"Er… Yaenna? Are you alright?"
The humans were staring at her, fear and surprise were quite… evident. She ignored those and kept giggling while answering the question:
"Of course I'm fine, better than ever actually. Thanks to your wonderful coffee and sugar."
They glanced at each other, unsure of what had just happened, before one was able to gather his courage and asked:
"So… how much sugar did you take?"
"Uhm…. I don't know. Ten spoons?"
And then, all seven humans present in the room muttered the same line:
"Shit."
***************************************************
Captain Lee Xijang sighed while watching the screen. Standing next to him, Captain Zare Rozu was not much better, it was as if someone had just sapped the energy out of him. Considering what had just happened, he would not be too surprised.
"So, let me repeat. You gave Miss Naalas some coffee."
"Yes sir, grinded and brewed by us."
"And then you allow her to have some sugar to drink with."
"Yes sir."
"She does that on her own, with no supervision from you guys."
"Yes sir."
"Because you believe she is a grown-up, she can take care of her own?"
"Yes sir."
"And then, while you guys are unaware, she takes ten spoons of sugar for one mug of coffee?"
"Yes sir."
"She has the whole mug emptied in a single sip?"
"Yes sir."
"And then she keeps giggling and bouncing around?"
"Yes sir."
"Then she decides to jump around the whole room, damaging the furniture and tools while she was at it?"
"Yes sir."
"And all of you seven decided to jump on her, restrain her to a chair with zip tie?"
"Yes sir."
"Somehow, she was still able to break free, causing you to chase after her and suspend the operation on the Quarian frigate Naraanda?"
"… Yes sir."
"And then, you trace her down to the Mess Hall, where she was drinking more coffee from the major brewer?"
"Yes sir."
"That is the time you guys decide to knock her out with a hit to the back of her head and tie her up?"
"Yes sir."
"So why does you guys tie her up in BDSM-style?"
"Er… Because it works?"
"Is that a question?"
"No sir, I… I mean we tie her up in BDSM-style because it works best in the given circumstances sir."
"… You know what, I haven't taken my afternoon drink, and there was no major fall-out happened, so I'm letting you off the hook this time."
"Thank you sir."
"But next time, you would be in the brig for causing a commotion and being disrespect to superior officer."
"Sir, we are all civilian…"
"Are you questioning MY order, specialists?"
"… No, sir."
"Good. Back to your work. This is Captain Lee Xijang, over and out."
Xijang slumped back down on his chair under, breathing out in tiredness. He had already had the hunch, throwing a bunch of engineers together without specialized supervision would be a disaster waiting to happen. Add in the aliens and First Contact scenario, he was more surprised with the fact that he was still alive than the fact that it had actually happened.
Next to him, Captain Zare Rozu seemed to be in the state of depressed too. The female Quarian engineer was under his command after all. He was responsible for her behavior on board the Outpost Hotel-Omega 29, including the… chaotic activities she had shown earlier today.
"I would like to apologize on behalf of my crew, Captain."
"Apology accepted, but I think I should be the one doing so. I was the one propose the idea to have engineers from each of our people to interact with each other."
"And I should have cautioned you, we Quarians are… quirky in our own ways, and the engineering specialists are even more so."
"The human engineers are not the sanest tool in the box either…"
"Keelah se'lai."
"May the Ancestors watch over us."
The two Captains sat in silence to commemorate the craziness of the engineering crew section. Those men were good, but they had quite a deviation from the norm. The situation happened today was a prime example of that. On the bright side, it gave the crew on both sides a good laugh after a long day at work. Not everything was terrible, after all.
"But Captain, I have a question."
"Shoot."
"You mentioned the phrase BDSM a bit earlier. What does it mean by the way? The translation matrix fails to give me a meaningful word."
Xijang cursed under his breath. He pulled out the half-emptied alcohol bottle from under his desk and watched in with lingering gaze. He would need that to calm down at night. Wordlessly, he opened up his datapad, typed in some command before sliding it to his counter-part.
That night, both Captain did not report to their respective bridge due to their "intoxication".
