Memory Transcription Subject: Ensign Sifal, Arxur Dominion Fleet

  Date [standardized human time]: August 21, 2136

  Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was excitement, maybe I just wanted to make the best first impression I could. I barely understood how other Arxur thought and felt most of the time, but now I was going to be rooming with an alien? A real-life space alien! A whole new species of intelligent hunters that could fight alongside us, and help us bring a final end to the hateful violence of the Federation. But even more than that, it was an opportunity to learn, to find new viewpoints and ways to think about the world. And… okay, yes, fine, I maybe wanted my new exchange partner to like me. She seemed cute! But in a powerful and savage sort of way. I licked my lips a little, just remembering the personnel photograph of her. She’d been peculiarly warm and kind during our initial conversations--very unlike an Arxur, I had to say!--so I wanted to make sure everything was perfect when we first met in person.

  Thus, ultimately, I picked the top bunk. I think I was taller, so it just made sense. I could reach the top more easily, and pull my own lanky frame up behind me.

  I was perched up top, standing guard in a sense, when the door opened. The two-meter tall brown-furred Orso woman ducked her head as she entered in a sort of greeting. She grinned happily. “Oh, Sifal, it’s so good to finally see you!” said Grawr.

  “Likewise,” I said back, mimicking her smile. “I wasn’t sure which bunk you preferred, so…”

  “Oh, bottom, of course,” Grawr said pleasantly. Her voice had a similar register to my own, but her growling tones were softer, more warm. It sounded cozy. “We Orso have a strong denkeeping instinct. It’s nice having a safe spot to curl up inside.”

  I nodded. That made sense. “Opposite here,” I said. “I love a nice perch. Good to have all sightlines accounted for.”

  “Not too much of that down in the engine bay, I can’t imagine,” Grawr said, chuckling. “I hope I won’t be too much trouble for you. I know my own peoples’ spacecraft quite well, but the Dominion’s gotten such a technological head start on us. I hope I’ll be able to keep up!”

  “I’ll do my best to teach you whatever I know,” I said. Grawr’s warmth was infectious. I already felt like I wanted to play with her fur…

  “Oh, I heard your people like gifts of food,” said Grawr. “I brought snacks, but I’m not entirely sure what’s to your palate.” She opened her bag, revealing dozens of little pouches of dried things to munch on. My head practically slithered over the edge of the bed of its own accord to get a closer look. “Oh dear, I got so excited when I packed, I forgot you Arxur don’t really have a taste for berries like we do. Ah, but try this one: it’s a spiced sausage from my hometown. Bit of a specialty.”

  I licked my lips hungrily as I stared at the curious little thing. Meat cured with… plants? How peculiar. But the scent was so intoxicating…

  “Just try it,” said Grawr, smiling. “I’m sure the taste will change your life.”

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  Memory Transcription Subject: First Officer Sifal, ARS Bleeding Heart

  Date [standardized human time]: March 25, 2137

  My head was ringing with echoes from the blast. There was blood everywhere. It was dripping down my scalp in dark red rivulets, blocking my vision. Still, the hull breach had been sealed and reinforced. Captain Vriss would start shouting commands again the moment his eardrums stabilized from the catastrophic loss in pressure.

  I wiped the blood from my eyes, turned to him, and screamed. He was slumped over in his command chair, a chunk of his chest cracked open, oozing blood, slowly. A sense of sickening dread rose in my gullet, and horror froze me in place.

  Then the adrenaline began to flow. I was shocked back to the present. I rapidly buried my feelings with the discipline of a lifetime of practice. I was First Officer, and I had a duty to assume command. Focus. When my ears stopped ringing, the warning klaxon took its place, and the roaring sound of every other officer on the bridge barking reports in a panic began flooding in.

  “Shit, he’s not breathing!” hissed Kitzz, desperately putting pressure on Vriss’s wound. “I can’t let go of the bandage. Somebody get me the adrenaline injector, stat!”

  “Controls are barely responding,” whimpered Zillis, tugging desperately at the helm. “Shields at half, sublight engines at a third…”

  Laza shook her head hollowly, a look of grim finality fading onto her face. “FTL’s offline. Weapons are offline. Life support is at two-thirds and dropping…”

  “Shit, they’re coming around for another pass!” barked Kloviss. “We can’t survive another--”

  “Eyes up, all stations!” I roared, as everyone but the alarms went silent. I looked to the love of my life, bleeding out, and from there, I turned to the viewport. The Battle of Aafa. Countless lifetimes of war, and the war’s end, finally, in our sights… Endless legions of ships burned bright against the darkness, fighting at the gates of the Kolshian homeworld itself, and beyond those gates lay a chance at lasting peace. I could see it. I could almost taste it! With humanity’s coalition at our sides, predator and prey were fighting as one at long last, and victory was in our grasp… But that was the nature of war. Good soldiers died. Not all of us would live to see those blessed days of peace to come.

  Blinking away tears, I made the call. “We’re done here. We’ve done our duty. The rest is up to them. Helmsman, set a course for home.”

  “Where’s… home?” Zillis asked, meekly.

  “Seaglass,” I said, and there was no other answer.

  “There’s no--” Laza shouted. “I told you, Commander, FTL is offline! We’re dead in the water!”

  “Just set the fucking course!” I roared, wiping another alarming amount of blood out of my eyes. My vision was blurring, but I had a job to do. “Kitzz, either get the captain stable or join him! Laza, you have the bridge. You have your orders!”

  “Where… where the fuck are you going!?” Laza sputtered.

  I turned to leave. “Back to the engine room,” I growled. Back to the start. Back to where it all began. “I’ll get our drive back online, if I have to hold it together with my bare fucking hands!”

  I stumbled intermittently as I made my way down to the engine room, dizzy, trailing blood down my face, and leaving a trail of red footprints on the deck behind me. My vision kept getting blurrier, and it took everything I had just to keep my eyes open…

  “One more step towards our happy ending together…” I mumbled to myself. Tears mixed with blood as I blinked them away. I felt so heavy. Why did it feel so cold in here? “One more… step…”

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  Memory Transcription Subject: Sifal, 5th Countess de Grey, British Empire

  Date [standardized human time]: May 23, 1903

  “Fie on thee, Mother!” I shouted, primly, gesticulating with my laced fan. “I shall not marry him!”

  “You shall do as your Lord Father commands, Sifal,” my mother replied, her eyes narrowing. “You shall do your duty for the strength of this family!”

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  “But I do not love him!” I said, turning away from Mother in a huff. Father was seated by the fire in his evening jacket, sipping at brandy. “My heart is held by another, an officer who has served this Empire with distinction! I remember when that was honor enough for this family. Have you forgotten?”

  Father grimaced, and continued sipping his brandy as he stared, miserably, into the flames. “You will watch your tone with your Lord Father, girl.”

  “I shall watch my tone with my Lord Father,” I repeated, mockingly, “but I shan’t with this wretch seated before me who has forgotten honor! A wretch who commands me to wed some… spindly little foreign merchant! An American?! A lord of nothing? A Viscount of coins, a Baron of servants, an Earl whose manors are restaurants and hotels? What shall I tell my hatchlings, when the day comes to teach them what this family is meant to stand for!?”

  Father rose from his chair in a fury, and threw his glass into the fireplace, where it shattered, and the flames roared at the insult of having to finish his drink. “This family is broke, you stupid girl!” he shouted. “Our noble house, in disrepair! Our ancient bloodline, held in esteem back to the founding of this empire, back to Laznel the Conquerer’s victory at Hastings, reduced to beggars!”

  I hid my sneer behind my lacey fan. “Does it fall, then, upon my shoulders to remedy the loose purse strings of the indulgent wastrel who stands before me?”

  “It does so fall!” my father roared. “You will do as I command. You will wed this David Brenner fellow, inherit his wealth, and leave this childish tryst with Colonel Vriss behind you!”

  “I shan’t, Father! Fie on thee as well!” I fled the room, weeping. Back into the entry hall, into the waiting arms of my love, Colonel Vriss.

  “Forgive me, Sifal,” he said warmly. “Would that I were as rich in gold as I have been in valor. Our union might find itself in meager circumstances, but with you at my side, we could endure all manner of want. Together.”

  “Well…” said another voice. A slightly older man with the thick drawl of an American businessman stared at my family manor’s decor with the casually-impressed look on his face of a half-cultured boor. “Ain’t these some mighty fine digs y’all have got here.”

  “You may have come seeking my hand,” I spat, venomously, as I clung to Vriss, “but as you see before you, my heart belongs to another!”

  “Nah, s’all good,” David drawled. “My heart’s American, but you’ll find my blood flows in a more… krauterly direction. Y’see, there’s this lovely German lass who’s caught my eye…”

  “Sup,” said Chiri.

  “A Rhenish margravine?” I said, eyeing her up curiously. “How positively droll.”

  “Yeah, I dunno how I fit into this fuckin’ dress either,” said Chiri. “You’d think the quills would’ve shredded it, but…”

  “Her family’s vintages will find a lovely home, by bottle and glass, at each and every table in my restaurant empire,” said David, smugly. “To speak plainly, I didn’t come here today to speak of nuptials, but to talk about something near and dear to my American heart: business. Perhaps you and your militarily-minded paramour might join us for supper this evenin’?”

  “Hey, can I get a steak, actually?” said Chiri. “I don’t think I’m allergic in this timeline.”

  We retired to the banquet hall in short order, and I attempted to make polite conversation with this peculiar Rhinelander woman, as Vriss and David spoke as men did.

  “Well, you see, Colonel,” David said, gesturing uncouthly with a fork. “The dedication of hard-earned military discipline does not find itself unwelcome in the hospitality industry…”

  “You know, it probably shouldn’t, but doesn’t it feel kinda weird that we’ve never met?” Chiri said to me, as she idly cut her ribeye with a knife and fork. “You don’t even know what my voice sounds like, do you?”

  “I can imagine,” said Vriss, “but as advice goes, Mr. Brenner, surely you must be joking. A man of my pedigree would sooner throw himself upon his sword than lower himself to the level of a humble valet.”

  “It’s even weirder that you spent, like, half the workday today stalking me on social media.” Chiri paused to try a bite of her steak. She practically shivered with delight at the flavor, and giggled giddily as she licked her lips clean. “I mean, you’re not even attracted to David. Where’s this jealousy coming from?”

  David shook his head. “Now, now, my good man, I was suggestin’ nothin’ of the sort. Man of your caliber’s led armies. What I really need is a regional manager. Maybe a partner, even, to keep an eye on my more Anglo-Saxon investments, if you catch my meaning, Colonel…”

  “Surely, I know not what you mean, madame,” I said, tersely, to Chiri. “You forget yourself!”

  Chiri snorted. “Look, I think seeing a happy couple living and working together was making you feel self-conscious about what you and Vriss used to have, until recent circumstances pulled you apart. It’s your first time without him since the two of you got together, and between that and the new stress of being in charge? You’re a welded-shut pressure cooker. You’re about to burst.” She took a sip of her wine. “You gotta let off some steam, girl! Find somebody nearby to open up to. Or… fuck, I dunno, maybe you need somebody new to share a bed with. Maybe even a Feddie, if the other Arxur aren’t much for pillow talk.”

  Vriss nodded, considering. “A taste of the local flavor? It strikes me as a bit unorthodox, but… I suppose I’m no stranger to logistics, Mr. Brenner. Armies march on their stomachs, after all. Steel has been less a bane to my soldiers than their appetites.”

  “You speak wildly out of turn, madame!” I said, as I felt myself going red in the face at Chiri’s utterly scandalous suggestion. “I daren’t behave so unchastely! Vriss is my one true love, and I am not some common strumpet to be tempted into unfaithfulness!”

  Chiri shrugged as she continued enjoying her steak. “Look, I’m just saying, Vriss isn’t gonna be around for weeks at a time. Maybe you’re the kind of person who can handle that, or maybe you’re not. I dunno what they teach people outside of the Federation, but you realize that not every species and culture does strict monogamy, right? Maybe you love Vriss, but you also need to keep a little someone or two on the side to tide you over until he comes home.”

  “I shan’t betray my beloved’s trust so shallowly!” I spat in a fury.

  Chiri sighed. “Yeah, well, trust is certainly the operative word. In a healthy relationship, you want to talk these things over in advance, but…”

  My eyes narrowed. “But what?”

  Chiri shook her head. “Gods, you’re really new at all this, aren’t you?”

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  Memory Transcription Subject: Chief Executive Officer Sifal, Seaglass Mineral Concern

  Date [standardized human time]: January 27, 2137

  I woke in pain, dehydrated, wrapped and tangled in a damp, matted bedsheet, like all the water inside of me had gotten outside. My mouth tasted like industrial desiccants with the tiniest hints of pinecones and bile, and the whole bed reeked of musk and… other fluids, of a distinctly feminine nature. I looked around, confused about where I was, and why the bedsheets had tiny hairs on them--little shed tufts of short fur, like I’d eaten a cat or something. I didn’t smell blood, at least, but what in the world did I…?

  “Oh?” said a small, seductive voice from a spot in the bed next to me. “Finally coming back down, dearie?”

  My eyes went wide, as my gaze flicked over to the source of the sound. Vivy, the Letian, was curled up next to me, rubbing against my side, as she daintily twirled a single tiny claw in circles on my chest with a tenderness that sent shivers down my spine. Bile rose in my stomach as it began doing flips in sheer panic.

  “Mmm. Not quite the direction I’d expected to see the evening take us,” said Vivy, nuzzling my chest with her face, “but not an unwelcome one.”

  Eyes wide, trying desperately not to freak out, I buried my face in my hands, and screamed internally so loudly the sound still escaped as a panicked squeak.

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  Memory Transcription Subject: Chiri Garnet, Gojid Bartender

  Date [standardized human time]: January 27, 2137

  I woke with a jolt to the still-dark bedroom I shared with my boyfriend. My head spun blearily.

  “You okay?” David mumbled. “Another nightmare?”

  I nestled myself back into the pillow. “Nah. Just a weird dream. You had a thick Texan accent for some reason, and there was this Arxur in a floofy dress? She had scars on both forearms. Isn't that what you said that one you knew looked like?”

  “Sifal? Nah, she only had scars on her left arm.” David rolled over. “Go back to sleep.”

  I curled back up, face-down on the bed next to him, and started lazily dozing back off. I kinda wanted a floofy dress. How was I gonna get it over the quills, though?