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Srettia was standing at the door frantically palming the locking mechanism. "An alien. I picked up an alien! What am I going to do?" She cursed, contemplating the series of bad decisions she'd made this year.

"I should have gone to school like my parents wanted me to. I could have been an accountant for a nice mining outfit. But noooo I wanted to make the big bucks. Now I have an alien in some kind of future suit standing around my hold." Running up to her bridge and jumping into her pilot's chair to get a better look at the alien, She noticed it was standing facing the door, almost like it was looking through it. Moving her face to only a few inches of her monitor, her eyes went wide as a yellow screen popped up in front of the alien, and it started poking at it with strong-looking fingers.

"Nooo, Oh, no no no." She screamed at the alien through her monitor. Srettia knew it couldn't hear her, but she was sure that it was trying to get into her system with some kind of stupid alien future tech.

Srettia quickly smashed her hand on the ventilation button and opened her storage hold in an attempt to get the thing off her ship. "WHY IS NOTHING HAPPENING!" She screamed in horror, deciding to hit the emergency call button in hopes a patrol vessel could get to her before the alien did.

Scenting the air nervously, Srettia looked at the camera trained on the alien. Only, it was gone, and the door was open... Feeling her venom glands flood her lower jaw, she could feel her body going into a defensive state as she frantically switched between internal cameras in a vain attempt at finding it.

Cursing her luck once again, she quickly began double-checking that the cockpit door was locked.. "I'll just get the jump on it and spit in its face. Hopefully, that'll stop it." She thought, hiding off to the left of the door and began laughing to herself. The thought that the alien could see through walls was not lost on her.

Of course, her plan wouldn't work, but She didn't have any other weapons on the ship, so spitting at the thing was her only defence. "I'll make it out of this. then I'll deliver its pod to a scrapper and make my money back." She waited, her tail quivering in terror.

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"Are you sure this is a good idea, Partner?"

Michael laughed at the thought of a good idea and being on an alien ship with a massive amount of ores and metals onboard. "Hell no. But what I do know, is that whatever that was. It was terrified. So it's likely to turn on some defensive turrets or vent me if I stick around here."

Michael was unsure about what this hauler was capable of, but he knew Terran haulers were armed to the teeth. The Terran navy always did its best to stop pirates. But the last two hundred years or so saw some of the most ruthless pirate lords take power. Though after the last cleanse, the pirate lords would be lucky to have enough power to strike even unarmed haulers.

"I have unlocked the door. You were correct about the pilot trying to vent to you. I have prevented such actions."

Frowning at the thought of being spaced, Michael turned on his mag boots. "Did you hiJack the ship controls?" He said, laughing hardily at his pun.

"Har har, at least you didn't have to wait long for that one. "

"Sure didn't." He returned, starting his quest to look around the ship as he stepped through the unlocked door. Most of the doors seemed to open when he approached them now, though he wasn't sure if it was the doors or Jack doing it.

"I would prefer if you would cease with the puns. They hurt my processors."

Michael began Laughing harder at the absurdity of talking with a true AI like he has known it for years. "Hey, gotta let off the stress somehow." He said, slowly following Jack's path as highlighted on his Hud. Slowly he arrived at the cockpit door. Pausing, Michael decided on switched sight spectrums before entering, noticing that the alien pilot was hiding beside the door to the bridge. "Hey Jack, does it have any weapons?" He asked, slowly stepping closer to the door.

"No energy or chemical weapons detected, but it has a large amount of venom pooled in its mouth."

Stopping to eye the alien for a moment, Michael took a step back. "That thing is gonna spit some funky alien venom stuff at me? I'm not stepping in there; I'm heading back to the pod." Turning back around and walking towards the hold, he gave up on talking with the alien. "Might as well nap until the thing doesn't want to kill me." He thought.

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Srettia watched the camera closely. The alien was standing a few steps from the door and looking right at her. "Please go away. Please go away. Please go away." She chanted in hopes the alien would just leave her alone.

Thankfully her chants seemed to work, and she relaxed while exhaling through her nose as the alien turned around and walked away. She waited for a few extra minutes to make sure it wasn't trying to trick her before swallowing the venom, groaning at the taste. Venom always tasted horrible, but it was better than spitting it on her clean bridge.

"Okay, it's gone back to its pod, now's my chance to figure out why it didn't vent." She whispered to herself as she walked over and sat in her pilot chair. She quickly reached out to the controls, but before she could grasp anything, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"That would be because I prevented it."

Srettia screamed and began bashing the weird picture on her control panel as her venom glands started acting up again.

"No need to be frightened. I will not hurt you. Though I guess you can't understand me yet."

"I hurt my hand." She quietly mumbled and curled up in her pilot chair, hoping the weird voice would go away. Thinking logically, it would only make sense an alien could take over her ship with minimal effort. That left only one thing to do at this point. Confront the alien and get her ship back.

Srettia stood up. Put on a brave face and walked towards the door. Stealthily sticking her head out and scenting the air, she noticed it was a bit cooler. It must be trying to put me to sleep, she thought, decided a detour to her room was in order. A thermal cloak would prevent the sneaky alien from dulling her senses and getting the jump on her.

Walking into her room and donning her cloak, she smiled in relief. "Time to go stop an alien invasion!" She Laughed, quickly making her way to the storage hold.

As she arrived, Srettia paused outside the door for a second and gathered her courage. Taking a deep breath and flaring her hood wide in anger, She pooled venom in her lower jaw and readied herself to attack.

Quickly opening the door and jumping into the hold, she made sure to scent the air as her sight adjusted. She now knew exactly where the thing was and adjusted herself accordingly. "There you are, invader!!" She shouted.

Just as the alien was getting into its pod, she spat all the venom in her mouth, coating the alien's head. Unfortunately for Srettia, the alien only seemed to stand there looking at her dumbly. "Ahh, I see. Of course, it wouldn't work with that suit on."

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"It just spat at me, Jack! What do you mean I can't beat it up?" Michael stated angrily.

"It is a venom. As long as you do not ingest it or let it touch your skin, it will not affect you."

Michael started cleaning the venom off his helmet angrily, cursing at the alien that dirtied his new suit.

"It would be better not to start an incident with this species. You should wait for diplomats and ambassadors to arrive."

"Thing seems pretty violent to me. You sure they won't just shoot at our ships when they get here?" Michael replied, wiping the last bit of venom off his helmet.

"I am almost done with the translation program. The alien does not sound happy."

Ignoring the rude alien and getting into his pod, Michael shut the door and jumped into his crash couch, pulling the console into his lap and looking at the various readouts arriving from his system scans. "I still can't get a signal out to mission control while I'm stuck in this ship. There's a massive amount of interference in this system. How do they even talk to each other with all this interference?"

"Unknown, this system is filled with natural and unnatural magnetics. If they evolved in this system, I am sure they have a way."

Michael laughed at the idea. "Fucking magnets, how do they work?" He declared with a laugh.

"I support the alien's attempts to kill you. It is very angry right now."

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It Ignored her. How dare it ignore her! "Don't ignore me, invader!" Srettia screamed, slamming her tail on the floor for emphasis as she shrieked at the alien.

"You take control of my ship and just hide in your pod? Come out and give me my ship back!" She continued, running up to the pod and banging on the latch. "This Damnable thing, hiding away like a coward!"

"Give me my ship back!" Srettia shouted again.

Sinking onto her knees from the silence, Srettia was at a loss on what to do. She couldn't get into the pod, and it wasn't coming out. She had no control of her ship, and her hands hurt. She was frustrated but decided that there was nothing she could do at the moment. "Guess I'll go lay down in my room and wait for death." She hissed quietly.

"Hello, My name is Jack. An... Explorer from the Sol system. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Srettia."

Frozen in fear, Srettia dumbly replied in hopes this Jack thing wouldn't kill her. "Hello?"

"Ah yes, hello, do not be afraid. As I said, my name is Jack, and I am somewhat of an explorer. We came to this system under the false assumption it was uninhabited. I am sorry for frightening you."

Srettia laughed internally. The alien was obviously hostile. It attacked her while she was mining. Then proceeded to take over her ship. She then paused to think for a second. "Did it attack me? It crashed into my rock... A Malfunction?" She's the one that picked up Jack's pod. Did it believe she abducted it? It hasn't acted hostile other than locking her out of the ship's systems. She even spat venom at it, and it just ignored her. "If you're not hostile, give me back my ship this instant!" Srettia decided on trying to take charge of the situation.

"As long as you will not vent my pilot, I will return ship control to you."

Srettia froze in terror. "My pilot... MY PILOT??" Srettia couldn't get that thought out of her head. My pilot... "What do you mean 'My pilot' Jack?" Jack began letting out weird barking noises. It confused Srettia.

"Just as it sounds, my pilot Michael and I work together to control this ship. We just met, but we work well together."

Srettia exhaled in relief at the knowledge that Jack was just the co-pilot. "Well, return my ship, and I promise I won't vent either of you."

The lights in the hangar flickered for an instant, and the sound of a few doors opening hit her senses.

"Done."

Scrambling to the nearest control panel to confirm she indeed had her ship back. Srettia keyed in a few commands and brought the temperature back to a tolerable degree.

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"She says she will not vent us."

Michael laughed. "Alright, how about I go meet our unwilling host." He replied, sluggishly getting out of his crash couch. "Do we have any weapons in this thing?" He already knew the answer, but maybe Dr.Aldon hid one away.

"We do not. I also told her that would not hurt her so please try your best not to make me a liar. She already seems to be wary of my identity. For a second and was even terrified."

Michael remembered his surprise when he saw that. "Yea, she was as spooked as I was for a second sorry about that, bud... Wonder what happened." Michael commented, keying the pod door open and stepping down to meet the lizard or snake alien thing.

"It may have something to do with this asteroid field. I have discerned the majority of her people seem to live in space, with the rest on a frozen planet. A cold-blooded species would likely not evolve in such a hostile environment."

Michael raised an eyebrow waited for Jack to finish.

"The asteroid field is unnatural. It is reminiscent of a destroyed planet. with all the magnetic interference. It would not be a stretch as to what happened."

"fuuuuuck." Michael cursed internally. "You think an AI blew up their home?" He asked. "Being stuck on a frozen planet as a clod-blooded race would be fucking terrible..."

"That or they blew up their home to destroy the AI. This is all conjecture, though. It may just be that they did evolve on that block of ice and went to space to get away from it."

"Well, let's go meet the local. I'll just say you're stuck in the ship or something. What's her name?" Michael replied.

"Story of your life?"

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Srettia watched as the alien Jack got out of his pod. It seemed to stand there, waiting for her to approach.

So she slowly approached the alien, keeping an eye on its every movement in a failed attempt at trying to identify any hostility. She watched closely as Jack brought his hand to his helmet and hung his head in what looked like shame, maybe a greeting?. "What a weird alien." she whispered as she cautiously walked up to it.

Watching as Jack started to take off his helmet, her eyes went wide. He looked similar to her, his mouth was less pronounced, but his eyes were rounded and blue. He had no scales along his neck or on the sides of his face. He had brown fur on top of his head, and his skin was very pale. Did he have scales on his back? Or was he just squishy? She watched as he took off his gloves and held out his hand, and she flicked her tongue out to scent the air while eyeing it.

Heat and Calm? He tasted warm and calm or sure of himself. Confidence?. Tail twitching nervously, she looked at his extended hand. He bared his teeth at her, but she scented no aggression.

"Hello, my name is Michael Graeme. Captain of the Quest Results. Or what's left of it, I guess." He barked at her.

Srettia shrunk back at the odd barking noises.

The alien quickly shut his mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry that was a laugh." The alien Michael stated with what she thought was an apologetic tone.

Srettia took a step forward, looking at his extended hand. "Hello, I am Captain Srettia Esithn of the mining vessel Lottyim" She taped her tail twice to greet him. Srettia and looked at his extended hand in confusion. "Why extend your hand?" She asked.

Michael turned a shade of red. The heat in his face was increasing to both an impressive a bit seductive temperature. "How curious." She said, ignoring his gaze.

"It's how we greet people where I'm from. It's called a handshake. We grasp hands and shake up and down." Michael answered, hiding his teeth while he smiled.

"Strange, but a heat transfer is a sign of benevolence amongst our people. Maybe his people emphasize kindness? That's a good sign." Srettia thought, extending her hand to clasped Michael's.

It was at that moment her eyes went wide. It was like grasping the sun. How could a being be so warm? Lost in thought as the heat travelled up her arm, she missed Michael's amused face.

"Wow, you're absolutely frozen. It's a pleasure to meet you, captain Srettia."

Ignoring the insult, she willed herself to reply. "Likewise, Captain Michael." Srettia replied, continue to relish the heat travelling up her arm.

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