AN: Some tags pertain to later parts of the story. Thank you for reading!
Chapter One
Sitting in the carrier ship that was taking me to an undisclosed part of Hub controlled company space. I leaned my head back reviewing the information that had been given to me. The company was researching a new material that had been found on this planet, it was supposed to be stronger than the nanofilament fibers that were a staple in the market.
I was being sent there to see if it was a profitable venture. At the same time, I had expected that I would be working with another researcher from the company. However, it turned out that the woman that was supposed to accompany me on this contract. Would be unable to attend because her mate had seeded her with a clutch of their eggs and it would not be safe for her to to be away from them.
I'd met the woman once, she was bright, smart, and charismatic. It would have been a pleasure to spend a month working on research with her. Never would have thought that she was an alien cock loving slut, just the thought of her betraying her kind to give birth to alien broods was enough to make me sick. Ever since humanity had discovered interstellar travel.
We had quickly learned that we weren't the only ones out there. Actually far from it, humanity as a whole was like a toddler that had just learned how to walk. While the rest of the universe had been running for centuries. The adjustment had been jarring, but they had worked out all the kinks of interspecies issues. The universe was managed by the Hub, the Hub was basically the main interstellar society, made up of planets and races that had joined together into a mutually beneficial existence.
The Hub was society, and without the Hub, humanity would have ceased to exist long before we ever got off the Earth. But it was a rule in the Hub that any intelligent life was to be left alone, no interference until they reached space. At the moment they reached the ability to traverse the stars, an ambassador from the Hub would arrive to basically try and recruit them.
We realized quickly that we stood no military chance against them, thus we signed up to become one of the members of the Hub. We were just one of ten of thousands of different species inside of the Hub. Apparently humans were very adaptable to other species, meaning that they could reproduce with any number of species within the Hub.
There were parts of humanity that believed co-mingling with other races was a good boon for humanity.Then others that believed in keeping humanity, well, human. I fell in the category of humanist, which now after a hundred years of being inside of the Hub was a dwindling number. My parents had been humanist, my whole family tree had been humanist actually.
Three generations that had never mixed our genetics with anything that wasn't a hundred percent human. Now I didn't particularly have anything against other species, their technology had fascinated me. It was one of the reasons that I had joined the Company, against my parents wishes. They had wanted me to stay earthside, to stay inside our small reserve of those that believe humans should stay on Earth. Unfortunately the allure of the unknown advance in technology had ripped me from the nest.
Sitting in the cargo carrier that was being piloted by CAI, Closed Artificial Intelligence. Apparently there had been an uprising of Artificial Intelligence a few thousand years ago in the Hub. They had created after that the CAI, which kept them on a programmable network that wouldn't access the larger interstellar internet. A few of my colleagues had joked that we had almost wiped ourselves out unknowingly by meddling with AI. Which had sobered up a few of the more gun-ho technologists that argued for more research into that tech sphere.
"Researcher Yule. We'll be entering the atmosphere of Planet 7S-9NR. Please remain seated as the entrance into the atmosphere has some turbulence," the warm human CAI female voice commented. It was in another part of the ship, while I remained in the guest quarters. Lowering my stylo, I leaned back into the chair. Relaxing as it hugged my body.
I could feel the shift in the ship as we entered into the atmosphere. It was subtle, but still there the hull creaked as we continued our descent downwards. Blinking, I opened up the digital interface. Flicking my eyes around, I opened up the file that had a short informational about my replacement researcher.
With the sudden shift the company had to call in one of the Lead Researchers from another project. It was another woman but she was not human, rather, a Syreena. A species of alien that had been a part of the Hub from the very start. They were old and secretive.
Looking over her references, I whistled a bit as I scanned it. She had been the overseer for many lucrative ventures for the company. It was an impressive list of achievements; it was surprising that she wasn't a LR, with this credential list she could have become at least a Division Lead.
Era'Volrea. From the home planet of the Syreena, Syra. Few knew the exact location of Syra, it was a secret that was kept with the utmost importance. As far as I knew most Syreena's didn't particularly leave from their homeworld, or strictly controlled colonies that they had established.
A rather large jostling drew my attention from the digital interface. "Explanation, Captain."
"Turbulence was greater than expected. Course had been adjusted. We are still on track for mission progress." The ride down had a little bit more bumps and shaking, but soon enough it leveled out.
"Researcher Yule. Lading shall commence, please be advised to stay seated." Leaning back into the chair, I rested my hands in my lap.
"Captain, bring up video from the front of the ship."
"Ships interior or exterior?"
"Exterior." Multiple camera feeds appeared covering up the documents about Era'Volrea. Instead, I was greeted with a bright orange sky, then looking at another feed. I saw the base come into view, it was a simple circular silver dome that had two smaller domes that extended off from the side of it. Making a 'oOo' appearance.
The smaller dome to the right hand side opened up, I could see a landing pad, along with another ship that was already docked. Without delay we began to rapidly descend, and soon enough we touched down onto the surface.
"We have landed. Please begin disembarking the ship, the path will light up for you. Thank you for entrusting us with your safety for this flight." The CAI said softly. Passing a hand over the straps that held my body in the chair, I felt them disengage. Pushing out of the chair, I gather my stylo in my hand. Turning through the small area, I head to the right wall, passing my hand over another panel. It hums, then flashes green at me, sliding open to reveal my bag.
Gathering the sleek black metal case, I stand and head to the left at the door that had slid back from the wall. Stepping out of the small compartment, I looked around the ship, BOT's were already moving about preparing to move the items from the ship. At my feet are a simple blue strip of lights that pulses softly. Following it, I maneuvered my way through the ship, it took me the most direct route and within minutes I was at the cargo bay and heading out with a steady stream of BOT's that were working swiftly.
Standing only about ten feet away was a tall woman that was blue, along with a much smaller Android that was a tan color. Clearing my throat, I made my way forward towards them both. The closer I approached them, the more I realized just how tall the blue woman, who I assumed was Era'Volrea. She was clad in a tight fitting white and grey standard researchers tunic from the company. Paired with a set of black slacks. Her body was lean, her stomach tapered inhumanly, her whole body was tall but lean. Her chest was ample and a blue tail flicked behind her.
Closer up, along her face I could see tribal-like marking's that were bright silver and ran across her face in a mirror pattern. Her eyes were a similarly haunting silver, paired with cat like eyes that were watching my every move. She had her inky black hair braided intricately atop her head. Allowing a full view of her pointed ears, that had silver jewelry that adorned them. Looking at her ears, I didn't spy any translation earbuds. This was the first time that I had met a Syrenna.
Arriving a respectful distance in front of her and the android. I can't help but grimace when the top of my head reached just eye level with her chest. The android that was next to her came to about her hips, and then came about shoulder level to me.
"Welcome Research Yule. I'm Ulva, I'll be your assistant while you are here on mission. We hope that your flight was pleasant?" The Android speaks first, this one has a similarly warm sounding female voice.
"Yes, thank you," I said. Moving my eyes away from the android to look back at the Syreena. She was watching me, a smile on her mouth. Her facial structure was a little on the angular side, she had sharp cheekbones. Her lips were a lighter shade of blue than the rest of her and they were shapely and inviting.
'No, not inviting. She wasn't a human, no matter how much she looked like one in the face. There was nothing about her that was attractive.'
Her nose wrinkled slightly, before a calm expression slid onto her face. "Introductions are in order," her voice rang out. It was warm, but hard and seemed to cause a faint buzzing in my ears when I heard it. I expected that it was from the translation earbuds, but then I realized that she had spoken in perfect English.
Not common, but English. Blinking, I surveyed her closer, but her face was pulled into a welcoming smile. I relaxed, and nodded my head.
"Of course. I'm Research Yule Valentine, hailing from Earth. I've worked with the company extensively for the past ten years. Skilled in molecular chemistry, and interstellar geology." I recited with practiced ease.
She tilted her head down to survey me, those haunting silver eyes of her feeling like they were boring directly into my body. Then she extended her hand outwards, her fingers were long and slender, her nails were a deep black, and neatly trimmed. The silver markings also ran along her fingers.
"Pleasure to meet you, Yule Valentine. Era'Volrea, Daughter of Syreena at your service. I've been assigned to this position in place of your previous research partner, Doctor Malva Amberson. As such, I expect that you'll have to teach me some tricks. I specialize in a great deal of ventures, but none as focused on this subject matter as you." She explained, still extending her hand.
