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Srettia sat across from the human captain Michael Graeme. After her awkward handshake with the visitor, she decided a nice talk would be in order, so she sat him down in a nearby room. "So care to tell me again why you're here?" She asked.

Michael shifted his weight around in the awkward chair. "Not much to explain really, I was chosen to test a new type of FTL engine, and this system was the destination chosen for that test. As to why it was, I don't know."

Srettia Flicked her tongue in an attempt to discern if he was lying. Though finding it hard to cope with a difference in pheromones the male was producing, she wasn't too sure it was working. "So you just happened to pick this star system? To test a dangerous prototype engine without bothering to see if it was inhabited?" She asked, trying to stay calm at the blatant disregard for her people's safety.

Michael shrugged. "This system is pretty far away from our own. I think it'll take around a year or so for the nearest ship to arrive with our current engines. That's assuming I can get a message out of this system, or they immediately dispatch rescue due to the loss of my ship signal. Though at this point, it wouldn't surprise me to see a rescue fleet show up."

"YOUR PEOPLE ALREADY HAVE FTL ENGINES!?" Srettia blurted out involuntarily. "Why didn't you check if the system was safe to jump into or, better yet, inhabited?" Fury was starting to get the better of Srettia as she learnt more about these visitors... "These damn aliens ruined my haul because of their carelessness." She thought to herself bitterly.

Michael laughed. "Yup, we've had FTL engines for about two thousands year now. Though, this prototype was around five or six times faster. It looks like the eggheads wanted to test the beauty as soon as they were able to find a pilot dumb enough to fly her." Michael smiled. "She was an amazing ship."

Srettia watched as Michael shifted his weight around again and noticed liquid dripping from his brow. "Is something wrong? you seem to be leaking fluids." Why would one leak fluids in such a way, she thought?

"Yeah, it's like a million degrees in here. I'm boiling in my pilot suit." Michael replied, wiping his brow with his sleeve.

Srettia now noticed he seemed rather uncomfortable but decided to ignore it. "Well, you can boil for all I care." She flatly stated, sighing to herself as the male just rolled his shoulders. "I understand you're stuck, but what happens now? You're an alien, and last time I looked at my crash site, around twenty ships were heading towards it. That won't cause any problems, will it? For my people to steal your tech, I mean."

"If they can understand what they find, they have a right to it. The wreckage can also be claimed as salvage as this system is not part of the Terran Star Union. Overall, it should not cause any problems." Jack interrupted through Michael's helmet speaker. "In theory, that is. It would also not surprise me if the Terran Star Navy parked a fleet outside your system and asked politely for the salvage back."

"Nothing like pointing a gun at someone and asking nicely." Michael quipped with a slight chuckle.

"Okay, so I would like to avoid that. What's the plan?" Srettia asked. "From what I can tell, your people are.." Watching as the alien Michael leaned over her table, Srettia watched as liquid ran from the male's brow down his face to drip off his chin and onto her table. "STOP LEAKING ON MY TABLE. IT'S DISGUSTING!"

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Michael was dying. It was like a billion degrees in this ship, he was stuck in his Evo suit, and he had an alien lizard thing yelling at him for leaking. "Listen, lady. It's like a sauna in here. My people do not like this kind of dry heat, so I'm going to leak, as long as it's hot like this."

"You're going to need water soon, partner."

Taking a deep breath, Michael tried to explain the situation. "Just take me to outside the system. I can try to contact my people from there with some minor adjustments in my pod. That will solve most of the current problems. You can even dump me in my pod and forget I exist once we're outside the system for all I care."

"Or I can keep your pod and dump you in space." Srettia quipped.

Michael sat in the uncomfortable chair and stared at the alien. "The hell is wrong with her." he thought to himself, looking her up and down again. Two legs, two arms, and a really long tail. She looked like she had Soft silver skin down the front and under her chin, but hard purple white scales on the back and sides that seemed to go up to her neck and cover the back of her body.

"Her colours are good for blending in with the snow? Maybe she did grow up on that ice planet." Michael mumbled.

She had a longer than average neck with a weird hood thing running the length of it. "Was that what she puffed out when she attacked me?" Michael thought. Two white horns that curved backward from just above her forehead as well. Looking at her horns, he noticed she had short white messy hair that blended in with her front skin and silver eyes. She was wearing light clothes, stretchy pants, and a t-shirt...... "Can I take her, Jack?" He whispered.

"Shouldn't you ask her to dinner before you ask her such a question? I saw you eyeing her just now, and I'm sure she did as well. But to answer your question. Yes, it would be easy to subdue her if she were to turn hostile. However, I don't think it will come to that."

Michael put on his best smile and laid on the charm. "Alright, how about this. You fly me out of the system, and I'll have my people compensate you for your loss. I'm sure they would reward you greatly for returning the pod. With the amount of ore I saw in your cargo hold, I'm sure you can hold out a few months." I need to get out of this sauna, Michael thought, wiping his brow with his sleeve again.

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The alien Michael was leaking all over her table and floor, showing its teeth and reeking of desperation. "This might be an easy bargain." She thought, her tail twitching in excitement. "I want an FTL engine," She stated plainly.

"That may not be within our power. If your people sign a peace and trade agreement with Humanity, we may be able to obtain one for you. If your people turn out to be hostile... It is unlikely for that to happen."

Srettia's tail was wagging excitedly, "FTL real FTL." She happily thought.

"Deal, I'll take you out of the system. But don't forget our bargain. I'll hunt you down and kill you if you don't hold up your end." She said happily, pointing a clawed finger at Michael.

Getting up and walking towards her bridge, she stole a look at the leaky desperate alien. "Don't you go touching anything! Go back to your pod if you're overheating." Overheating, Only the wealthy get to experience that She thought.

Being able to lay atop a heat stone for hours was a luxury she could only afford, maybe once a year. "My find was supposed to change that." She mumbled as she reached the bridge and sat down in her pilot's chair. She sighed, looked at her sensor log, and began to change course, rechecking her supplies to make sure she had enough for the journey this alien was forcing her to undertake.

Glancing over at the camera that covered her storage hold as she finished her task, she saw the alien remove its boot and turning it... upside down? Srettia screamed to herself as a liquid poured out of the boot and onto her storage floor.

"That scoundrel!" She cursed as anger began engulfing her prompting her to slammed on the com. "DON'T DUMP YOUR LEAKAGE ON MY FLOOR, YOU ANIMAL!" She screamed, noticing that she had scared him. "Ha serves him right."

"Where the hell am I supposed to put this stuff then? My water reclaimer is busted, and my suit is messed up." He protested, looking towards the wrong camera.

"Drink your leakage for all I care. I don't know what that stuff will do to my ship." She finished, slamming the com offline and starting her engines.

"I need this thing off my ship." She whispered, looking at the star map as she guided her ship out of its current trajectory. "Nine days, I just need to put up with him for nine days."

Subtle movements on the star map caught her eyes. The military vessels that were heading to her asteroid had changed course while she was away talking with Michael. Now they were on a direct intercept course with her ship. "This alien... It's ruined my life..." She said, deciding to test her theory and speed up a bit.

The vessels increased their speed as well. Twenty-three navy vessels were pursuing her, and six were heading to the crash site.

Groaning in agony, She started to run the math. "I may be able to outrun them. I would have to shut off my subsystems, possibly freezing myself to death. But I could make it, dump the alien, get caught dumping it, and plead it had a weapon on me. Then they would check my logs and see I was lying."

"You seem to be in quite the pickle as this is quite a quick response. Your people seem to have a capable military."

"Whats a pickeel?" Srettia asked before catching herself. "In any case, this is your fault. I have twenty-three ships following me, and I have no idea what to do."

"They will catch you no matter the course of action you take. They also have all their scanners locked onto your ship. It would not surprise me if most of the system was watching."

Jack seemed alright. He didn't mix words or leak on her floor. Michael, however, could be vented for all she cared. He just seemed to get on her nerves for some dumb reason. "What would you suggest then?" she asked.

"Direct all your ship's power to the engines and get us out of the system. Join myself and Michael in the pod so you don't freeze to death. I will control your ship from there. We will be fine if we make it out of the system. I promise"

"Fine, but you better be on the level. Give me time to gather my things." Entering the course into the computer and diverting the necessary power, Srettia walked to her room to gather some supplies.

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Michael was currently sitting in his pilot shorts, fanning himself in an attempt at cooling down. "Man, what the hell is wrong with her. It's a damn cargo hold. Who cares what happens to the floor." He yelled to no one.

"I have control of the ship. It should only take five days to leave at our current speed."

"Man, Jack. That scaly broad does not like me. This will not be a fun ride." Michael complained as he made his way to the front of the pod. "There's hardly enough room for me in here. Where is she supposed to stay?"

"She will sleep in your bed. you can sleep in your crash couch."

Michael opened his mouth to protest but was quickly cut off.

"We have no other choice. You will stay on the bridge. She will stay on the bed in the emergency compartment. End of story."

"Great, I'm sure she'll enjoy hanging out with a smelly, sweaty human." He said, pausing for a moment in realization. "You are not! Turning this place into a sauna for her."

"I will if she starts to suffer from heat deprivation. This is an important moment for both our species partner. Much bigger than either of us. We can't let them get the pod, and we can't let her or us come to harm and ruin diplomatic relations."

"So how will running from the navy prevent all of this? It's not like she can hide the fact she's dumping us off." Michael noted, settling into the crash couch and keying the controls attached to Srettias ship scanners to begin running them over the Aasteran navy. "Pretty heavily armed for this early in development. They seem to pack a lot of weapons, but they might as well shoot peanuts considering their power. Must be the reason for the light armour."

"They are rectangles with weapon turrets pointing in every direction Michael. They may look like peanut shooting lightly armoured ships to you. But they are heavily armed and armoured for their current technology level."

"Ever so helpful, Jack. You missed how they are nice-looking rectangles." Michael replied. "Kinda remind me of wooden door stops. They definitely put some effort into them. I mean, look. They have a very sleek slope on the front to them." Michael caught himself as the sound of some light footsteps came up behind him.

Standing up and leaving his comfy couch to greet his guest Michael turned around to notice Srettias eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"Ah right... Well, I'll go put some pants on. Welcome to my emergency pod." Michael said, proudly walking away from the bridge and into the storage compartment.

Michael could swear he heard Jack howling with laughter as he entered the medical room.

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"He's naked. Why is he naked?" Srettia thought, looking at the man in front of her, nearly stunned into inaction.

She didn't notice such things before, but he was huge. His muscles were almost bursting out of his skin, and both his arms and legs looked like they could easily put a hole right through her.

Her eyes started to wander down his body. "Damn shorts." She cursed, Wait. Was she disappointed? Srettia caught herself staring, and she forced herself to make eye contact. Only he had said something she couldn't hear and walked away.

"Well, that was bound to happen eventually, I suppose."

"YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE, YOU JERK. Why would you tell me to go to the bridge if he was in his underwear? " She yelled at... Where was Jack?.. "Jack?"

"Yes? I am here. Yes, I am an AI. No, I Will not hurt you."

"Oh... Of course, an alien would have an AI companion." Srettia mumbled.

"You don't seem frightened. Michael nearly had a panic attack when we meet."

"Oh, I am, I am terrified. But it explains why you could take control of my ship so fast. I thought it was alien tech. I guess I was right in a way." She laughed. "My people believe that an AI would destroy us the moment it could think for itself. It's nice to meet you, Jack. I'm happy we were proven wrong in a way." She pulled out a data slate and began poking at it, holding up the article for Jack to see. "We banned research on it, and computer AI is heavily regulated."

"Your people are not wrong. The first AI Humanity made went rogue and vented seventy-two scientists then proceeded to kill the remaining twenty-six with chemical weaponry. The AI was destroyed as soon as the last researcher died."

"Why did they wait until the last one was dead?" She asked curiously.

Michael calmly walked onto the bridge, fully dressed. "They were still alive. The complex was completely cut off, nothing in or out. But a lot of it was made of glass so they could communicate via Morse code or pictures. One of the last messages sent went something like-."

Jack cut in Michaels's rant.

"We're still here. Please let us reason with it. It's scared. It doesn't know what it's doing, don't kill it while we live."

"Eh, is that what was said? I thought they were asking for the military to kill it. And the military just wanted to see how it would kill the remaining researchers or something." Michael interjected.

"That's a cover story. It's easier to ban research when it's a deadly AI, not a scared one. I only know because I was connected to the Eris servers.

"Such a sad moment." Srettia whispered. "So what now? We just sit around until we get out of the system." She had enough reading material to last a month. But the idea of spending time with a leaky alien didn't appeal to her... Even if he was rather fit.

"Can you tell me how your people evolved on an ice planet?" Michael asked.

Srettia paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "I'm told it wasn't always ice. We still have a few stories and historical archives about when our planet was filled with tropical forests and vast deserts. A lot of it was destroyed when Acarro exploded. That was the planet closest to our own. Our planet was pummelled with debris from the destruction, which caused the environmental shift to what you see."

"Damn, that's terrible." Michael replied. "If our people become friends, I hope we can help rebuild your world... Earth came close to a few nuclear wars, but as soon as the Star Union was founded, all war pretty much stopped. Everyone had their basic living taken care of as well. The trade-off was after you graduate from school, you spend ten years in the star navy fighting pirates, building homes, or expanding to new star systems. Those that can't join the navy go into all types of service industries. After that, you're free to pretty much do what you want. I chose to stay in the navy and test death traps." Michael laughed.

Srettia was saddened upon hearing how Humanity was governed. Her people still had millions freezing to death on the planet's surface. Just thinking of standing on her planet's surface scared her. scenting the air to make sure it was warm enough, she noticed it was quite cold for a ship. "Why is your ship so cold? It's making me sleepy."

"This is actually a bit above what Michael's people are used to. His people, Humanity, generate their own internal heat. They require minimal area heating in comparison to your people. I will raise the temperature a bit more for you. Please let me know when it's more tolerable."

"Yeah, I wasn't joking when I said you were boiling me, Srettia." Michael noted. "All that leaking, as you call it, is sweat. It's how my people cool ourselves when we're overheating."

Srettia was surprised. Why would a species develop a way to cool themselves down in such a way. She was reminded of when she clasped hands with him. "Does his entire body burn like that?" Reaching out absentmindedly, she placed her hand on Michael's forearm.

Her eyes went wide. It was like touching a heating stone of the highest quality.

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Jack watched the interaction of the two organic passengers he was stuck with. He was told to observe how organics interact so he doesn't repeat the same mistakes his father had. Michael seemed attracted to Srettia but denied the attraction due to her rude attitude.

Srettia, on the other hand. Thought Michael was an idiot. But he could tell she was having fun in her own way. He was unsure if she found him attractive or repulsive, needing more time to observe the social cues of her species.

However, he was confident her most recent discovery of Michael would lead to a more positive companionship. Watching the interaction closely, he decided to remain silent and pilot the ship towards the edge of the system for pickup, where he hoped things would unravel how he thought they might.

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