Olde Phoenix Inn

USS Yang Waping 1


It was another day in the village. Feanolla worked on grinding seeds into flour. It was hard work. Every day for the last eight years had been, and it looked like every day going forward was going to be.

The village was arranged around the wreckage of the ship that brought the Sathos survivors here, a small transport. Feanolla tried not to think about it. It was doable when you focused on doing the next thing or occasionally on the natural beauty of the world they were stranded on.

She tried not to think of civilized places and the comforts they offered.

Although technically free, they were never free of the work of keeping themselves and their little band of survivors alive.

Feanolla focused on the milling to get the flour right.

Lexal, her son, appeared. He flopped down next to her. He was as big as she was, but still a child.

“Mom,” He said carefully.

“Go ahead,” She said gently.

“Why are we different?”

“Why are who different?”

“You and I?”

“You’re adopted.”

Lexal looked at her to make sure she wasn’t teasing him. She wasn’t.

“What?” He asked.

“Your parents were on the ship. They died in the crash. We found you and your siblings. You were so cute, I couldn’t resist adopting you as my own.”

“You think I’m cute?”

“Always. Even when you’re a pain in my rear end.”

Am I… Am I a Thasite?”

Feanolla stopped and looked at him “Yes. Where did you hear that?”

“Sometimes, the other adults talk when they think I can’t hear them.”

Feanolla considered this. The Sathos people had a form of communication based on very subtle body language and micro-expressions. It was tailored to allow them to communicate in the presence of their slave masters without being caught or punished.

They didn’t use it always because words were easier and could carry more content.

If someone had been speaking openly about Thasties, they either didn’t know Lexal was there, or they knew it very well and wanted him to hear it.

Feanolla couldn’t decide which. Lexal and his two siblings were devilishly good at sneaking and getting places she would rather they hadn’t.

“We haven’t told you much about the Thasites,” Feanolla said.

“Nope,” Lexal said.

“We wanted to see who you were without all that.”

“What do you think?”

“Lexal, you have a good heart. I love you.”

“Can you tell me more about the Thasites?”

“It’s not a fun story. It’s a very sad story.”

“I don’t ever want to make you sad.”

Feanolla hugged her Thasite son.

-*-

9 years later

The Grizzly Bear walked into the camp like he had all the time in the world, casting his nose about and snuffling.


The older Sathos people faded back without a word. The children and young adults were less smooth or subtle about this. They didn’t have the cultural training.

Gorol, Lexal’s brother, stared at the beast. They’d fought bears before. Mostly they used team tactics and one of the very few blasters from the old ship. But all the bears were spotted before they came into camp. They were all either shooed away or killed deliberately far away from the camp.

Worse, the bears they fought before were much smaller. This was a wall of big and brown as heavy as half the village put together, it seemed.

The three large siblings stood frozen for a moment.

Gorol felt the fear transmute. He was angry. How dare this beast just walk in like he owned the place!

He stood to his full height and bellowed at the bear, “NO! THIS PLACE IS OURS!!”

The bear looked at him measuringly.

“YOU HEAD BACK THE WAY YOU CAME!” Gorol pointed and took a step at the bear.

The bear decided and stood up. He was big. Something grabbed Gorol’s mind. He should have been scared, but the fear became anger.

“NO!!” He snarled. The snarl hurt his throat. He felt tight all over. Gorol didn’t see, but his fur was puffed-up all over his body, something no one in the village had seen him do before.

The bear roared at Gorol. The bear felt like he could take Gorol and eat all the tasty people and their food-stuffs.

From previous bears, Gorol knew that the fur and fat were too much. He could never dig through that much and actually hurt this bear enough to finish this fight.

Lexal appeared and tossed Gorol a hunting spear.

Gorol flourished it with his upper arms while his claws flexed out of the hands-on his lower arms. It wasn’t really enough of an advantage. Lexal with his own spear, teeth, and claws was definitely an advantage, but Gorol knew, it wouldn’t be enough.

The bear was going to maul him and kill him. That knowledge seeped into his soul and it made Gorol even angrier.

“I WILL KILL YOU!!” Gorol snarled and shuffled forward.


The bear lunged forward. It was much faster than Gorol expected. Gorol’s spear slid along the bear’s right shoulder, opening up a gash.

The bear caught Gorol and body-slammed him. Gorol clawed and bit and screamed.

Lexal’s spear went into the bear laterally through its ribcage, the bear screamed and then kept mauling Gorol. First things first.

Lexal was also somewhere past fear. He prepared to leap on the bear. It might hurt enough to distract him if he could claw the bear’s eyes.

“Clear, clear, clear!” Yrisa, the female Thasite bellowed.

Lexal had no idea what was about to happen, but he ducked anyway. They’d been hunting and playing long enough that Lexal knew Yrisa had something good at hand.

Two green beams sliced into the bear’s head. The bear screamed and reared back, trying to evade the pain

The beams stayed focused on the bear’s head, chewing it up and cooking it with bright green energy. The bear flopped backward, rolled several times, and then fled, leaving a trail of blood and howls of anguish.

Yrisa and Feanolla raised the blasters they’d recovered.

“This one is empty,” Feanolla said. It would never fire again.

-*-

Gorol was wrapped in bandages. They’d fixed him up as well as their meager supplies allowed. He’d have scarring. His right upper arm might not work right again. Somehow, he hadn’t lost an eye.

Feanolla came into the tent with food. Gorol could smell it coming and his mouth watered “Thank you, Mom,”

She helped him get the right grip to eat a leg of deer.

He ate like a predator, ripping huge bites and chomping them down.

Feanolla’s emotions warred within her. He was scary. He was very Thasite. But he was also her boy.

He ate about half as much as he usually did in half the time. He set the deer haunch aside and leaned back, looking … sad. Shocked.

“Tell me,” Feanolla said.

“I was scared. I was so scared. But in my heart, the fear turned to rage. I thought I could bluff the bear but I was …. So angry. I lost all sense.”

“Tell me more,”

“I thought of the village. I thought of all of you. I thought how physically overmatched you’d be by the bear, which made me mad. I thought I could bluff the bear. Usually with the smaller ones, that works. The more scared I became, the less I was bluffing and the more…. Angry I was,” Gorol looked at his adopted mother with tears in his eyes “I’m sorry, Mom. I turned into a monster. When things were bad, I turned into a Thasite.”

Feanolla hugged her son’s head, gently avoiding the damage and scratching his mobile pointed tiger ears. “You did not. Thasites point that anger at us. They’re angry at the people close to them. You aimed the anger out, towards the threat. You did the opposite of what a Thasite does.”

Gorol snuffled, crying, “I never want to do that again. All the fear came back once the threat was gone. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop being afraid.”

“I’m here. Lexal is here. Yrisa is here. We won’t let anything like that happen again.”

-*-

Later, Feanolla talked with Yrisa and Lexal. Lexal had bound ribs and was swollen in places from his own end of the fight.

“Fights are great in stories. Very exciting. The stories don’t make you feel the pain. Gorol is going to be hurting for some time. Once the stories end, the pain they play with ends too. This is real life. The pain goes on here.”

Yrisa quietly asked, “Mom,”

“Yes?”

“What was Gorol thinking? I’ve never seen him like that.”

“He felt himself to be between all of us and the bear. He felt he was defending us. His fear became a rage. We’ve learned something tonight.”

“I hope so!” Yrisa said, “That was very brave and very stupid.”

“Please tell me what you were feeling,” Feanolla asked them.

-*-

Two years later

A streak of fire lit up the sky. A meteor. But it didn’t act like a meteor. It stayed bright and fell behind the hills to the west, several kilometers away from the village.

The younger people looked at it with wonder and curiosity.

The older Sathos castaways looked at it with concern.

-*-

Engineering Specialist Greznoth sat in the shade of a tree and considered his life.

The planet smelled nice. He’d have to remember childhood hunting skills. Certainly, some of the animals around him would be tasty enough once he decided to get them.

The spherical escape pod was cooked from re-entry, but surprisingly, there were still streaks of blood stains around the hatch.

Greznoth considered the one-use space-ship carefully. He’d killed several crewmates and slaves to get to it. And then, at the last minute, on some un-nameable impulse, he’d killed everyone else trying to get into the escape capsule until it sealed and launched.

He’d drifted for two weeks, gnawing on the arm of some Sathos who died howling as the escape capsule blasted free of the Thasite raider Steel-Fang-Thirty-Seven.

There would be questions.

The family of the captain of Steel-Fang-Thirty-Seven might bribe him to keep his mouth shut. Or they might shut his mouth permanently. The aftermath would be fraught with politics, blame, and investigations into what went wrong.

Greznoth had no idea what went wrong. There was a red alert. He saw some scans of a Kaa raider. A new one. Weapons fire was exchanged. Things exploded. The ship sounded the core breach alarm and Greznoth realized how much he didn’t like his co-workers.

If politically influential people could hang the failure on him, they would.

Greznoth idly considered disabling the beacon on his escape pod. Then he remembered there was no booze or women on this planet.

After a very long time, he shucked the survival suit off. It stank horribly. Lacking nearby water, Greznoth rolled in the dirt. It felt good to get dirt into his fur coat.

Then, he reached into the escape pod and pulled out a bottle of water and some survival rations.

It might be worth getting convicted and executed to save some influential dolt’s reputation if he could get a real meal out of it, first.

Greznoth then pulled out the survival manual and read it slowly.

-*-

Greznoth was thinking about fire, staring into a campfire. Some day, he’d run out of the little self-igniting fire pellets. And then what? A low-power shot from his blaster. But he wanted to keep it charged. He didn’t know what sort of monsters would be lurking in the odd alien woods of this planet.

“Hello,” she said.

Greznoth jumped, flailed, and scrambled for his blaster. As he fumbled for it, he realized what he was looking at.

A Thasite woman. Naked. Young. Fresh.

Greznoth blinked and tilted his head “What in the hell?”

“I’ve never met another Thasite before. What’s your name?” She coo’ed.

“Uhhh, Greznoth,” He said. He was vaguely aware that he should be more suspicious, but she was awfully pretty.

“I’m Yrisa,” she said “Come talk to me.”

She beckoned to him.

“This is too good to be true,” Greznoth said to himself, but he followed.

It turned out to be too good to be true indeed, when following Yrisa into the trees and through an opening, Lexal, and Gorol stuck blasters in his face.

“Keep your hands where we can see them,” Lexal said.

“If you twitch wrong, I’ll burn you right down,” Gorol said.

Yrisa crossed the clearing and picked up a spear. She shrugged “You said so yourself.”

Greznoth held his hands open and away from his body “Yeah… That’s about right.”

-*-

The community meeting was tense and subdued.

The Sathos people stood around and discussed in quiet tones.

[“We must kill him immediately”] Sallaran, the eldest Sathos said, in the hidden speech.

[“We must withdraw,”] Feanolla said.

“Why are you letting your slaves blather like this? Why are you letting them treat me like this?” Greznoth was puzzled “If you don’t maintain discipline, they’ll rise up and slit your throats in your sleep.”

“If we thought like you, we’d deserve it,” Gorol said.

Greznoth looked around, seeing the community with new eyes

“They raised you!” he said “You don’t know!”

“Know what, smelly man?” Yrisa said

Greznoth started laughing. Everyone stopped and looked at him. That made him laugh harder.

“You don’t know!” he wheezed, “You don’t know!”

Greznoth regained his composure “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have let you take me. You’re children, raised by animals. You don’t really know how to fight. So I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. The first slave who lets me loose gets to live. I’m going to kill about half the rest of you.”

Gorol said, “You think so?”

“Kid, I am not just going to kill you. I’m going to murder you. And the other one. You’re soft. You’re weak. I’m going to rape the female about half to death. And I’ll keep just enough slaves alive to cover my bills once we’re rescued. You’re about to find out what being Thasite is all about.”

“No thank you,” Lexal said. He took a knife and buried it into Greznoth’s upper left shoulder joint. Then he twisted the knife enough to mangle the joint. Greznoth screamed in pain and rage.

Then Lexal did the other one. And then the lower two.

The rest of the Village watched. The young Sathos were horrified at the violence. The older Sathos had better poker faces.

After Greznoth finished screaming and writhing he sobbed “Idiot. When the rescue ship gets here, they’re going to kill us all. The slaves for rising up, you for being weak, and me for letting you do this to me. We’re all dead now.”

“Keep talking and I’ll cut your hip joints up,” Lexal said.

Greznoth leaned back, pain almost obscuring how woozy he was.

Feanolla came to Greznoth’s side with the medical kit from the escape capsule “You may want to reconsider your opinion of my children. I never taught them that.”

“Heal me, and I’ll let you live,” Greznoth mushed.

Yrisa tilted her head “Is it some sort of brain damage?”

Feanolla replied while she worked. “Sort of. They’re taught to be mean and brutal. If brutality doesn’t work, you’re not using enough of it.”

Greznoth chuckled a little and then groaned.

“That sounds… stupid.” Yrisa said.

“It is, until they arrive in numbers and with leverage on their side,” Feanolla explained “Then it becomes horrifying.”

“That’s the thing,” Greznoth said “There will always be more Thasites with bigger guns, and behind those, even more. There’s no real escape from it.”

Gorol, Lexal and Yrisa looked at Feanolla. She nodded “He is accurate. Our time here, most of your lives has been a happy accident. It was only a matter of time until they showed up and either killed us or put us back under their boots.”

Gorol, Lexal, and Yrisa looked at their mother in horror. Then at the rest of their community. The older Sathos sadly agreed.

-*-

USS Wang Yaping NCC-93461
Pathfinder Class
Fulcrum Region

Yang Huan woke up and began her morning routine. It was her ritual, a comfort.

After her morning shower, she took a small breakfast and did readings of her Rujia books. Hard copy books replicated from scans of the originals. Rujia was described as “Reformed Confucianism”, by some western wit at the end of the 21st century.

With her mindset properly reinforced, she put on her jacket and took up her duty.


She walked around deck six of the Wang Yaping. The ship was named for the second Chinese woman in space, and the first to complete a space walk. It still smelled new. It was somewhat larger than her previous command, at 461 meters.

The new members of the crew were almost all Arzanans, humans from the planet Arzana, the Federation’s main member world in the region. There were a scattering of other Fulcrum region people.

Besides patrolling and defending against the Thasites, the Wang Yaping’s job was to train the next generation of Arzanan Starfleet officers how to do the job.

Huan nodded serenely at her crew, greeting them with subdued joy and professionalism. Of course, they were doing their jobs properly, they were in Starfleet.

“Captain to the Bridge,” the call came over the intercom.

Huan touched her commbadge “Yang here. Report.”

Evelyn Savea, her XO said “Captain, we’re reading escape pod beacons in the system just ahead. Thasite ones.”

“Are there any Thasite ships in the area?”

“One at long range, but they're moving at warp three, not on a heading for this system. The beacons may be too weak for the Thasites to pick up at this range.”

“Best speed toward those pods, we’ll rescue the ones we can and then alert the Thasites.”

-*-

It was a messy recovery. The Thasite ship was an expanding cloud of debris and vapor. Most of the escape pods had miserable people inside. A few had too many miserable people inside and they needed medical attention.

Other people had been injured in the battle, and needed competent medical care.

A few people died in their escape spheres.

All of the people were Thasites or Thasite slaves, The Thasites were especially unhappy to be rescued by a Federation ship.

-*-

Yang Huan didn’t even question the rescuees before contacting the close-by Thasite ship. “Attention Thasite ship. We have recovered escape pods from your ship Steel-Fang-Thirty-Seven. Please come get them.”

About 30 minutes later the reply came back. A Thasite growled “I have no money or resources for ransom. But if you stand by, We’ll round up some heavy warships and come take your captives back by force.”

Yang Huan replied “The Federation doesn’t ransom people. We rescued distressed travelers. They’re your people. Come get them. We don’t charge for rescues or medical assistance.”

Another ten minutes passed. “Liberal idiots. Weaklings. Weirdos. We’re on our way. Any tricks and I will feast on your charred corpse.”

Yang Huan thought that if she never dealt with another Thasite again, that would be fine. “Acknowledged,” she sent back.

Waylon Kwan, her science officer said “Captain, We have one more escape pod beacon.” He called up a class M planet on the scanners with an angry red dot on it “There.”

“Take us into orbit around that planet. We can do the rescue and then do some charting and scanning of that world,” Yang Huan said.

“Aye, Sir.” Evelyn Savea said.

Huan thought Savea was much more like a Starship Captain than she was. Evelyn was taller, louder, more charismatic. Much closer to depictions of Archer or Hernandez than Huan. “Soon,” Huan thought “She’ll be ready to take over and I can retire.”

The thought gave Huan joy.

-*-

The aliens appeared in a sparkling light show. Lexal found himself leaping to his feet and staring. They were ugly things. People shaped, but with too few arms. Weird, flat faces. Their fur was on top of their heads and they wore clothing all over. One was blue and had no fur at all.

“What in the hell are you?” Lexal asked, his ears half back in dismay.

“We’re from the United Federation of Planets. We’re here following a beacon on an escape pod.” The leader’s voice came out of the air near its badge. It spoke some incomprehensible babble and then the voice repeated it in a very normal tone and accent. Lexal guessed it was a female, maybe, but it was so weird and hideous, he didn’t want to make any assumptions.

Lexal squinted “You’re the ones they sent to take us back to the Thasites?” That was very weird. Why send such weird aliens?

The Aliens peered at him with unreadable faces. Their horrible round ears never moved. “We won’t take anyone anyplace they don’t want to be.”

Well, that sounded better than he was expecting.

Feanolla placed herself between Lexal and the Aliens, her blaster casually not pointing at anything in particular. “Identify yourselves, aliens.”

The Aliens were about the same size as Feanolla and the Sathos people. But that’s all Lexal could attest to.

“As I was telling your Thasite… friend, We’re from the United Federation of Planets. We came here in response to a beacon from an escape pod.”

“What is the relationship of this United Federation of Planets to The Thasite Empire?”

“Ummm, it’s been… contentious on occasion,” the alien said.

Lexal asked, “Are you from a spaceship?”

An alien replied, “Yes, we’re from the USS Wang Yaping, in orbit above.”

“Can you carry people away from the Thasites?” Lexal asked.

Everyone looked at him.

Feranolla turned to face Lexal “What are you doing?”

“If they can carry you away from here, away from the Thasites, then the Thasites can’t hurt you again, Mom. It’s worth asking.”

Feanolla crossed her lower set of arms, and massaged the bridge of her nose with her upper left hand.

“Mom?” one of the Aliens asked. Its mouth a rictus, showing herbivorous teeth.

“Yes, if someone wants to ask for asylum from the Thasites, our answer is yes by default,” Another alien said.

“How many can you take?” Lexal asked.

“All of you, if you want,” the Alien said.

“Usually, with aliens,” Feanolla said, with a grating tone, “You don’t trust them immediately until you verify their claims.”

Lexal tilted his head “I don’t understand what I’ve done wrong, here, Mom.”

The Alien Leader said “You wouldn’t be the first group of Sathos to leave the Empire and become residents of the Federation. We’re prepared to show you anything you’d like to verify our claims. All else being equal, we’d just explore your lovely planet here until you’d seen what you needed to. However, there’s a Thasite ship on its way here. It’ll be here in five days.”

Feanolla turned to the aliens “You’re very… open.”

“Thank you. Our culture values friendship and building bonds of trust. I understand your own is…. Different.”

“It wasn’t a compliment. I am suspicious.”

“Understandable,” The Alien said “What may we do to prove ourselves non-hostile and friendly?”

“You spoke to a very naive and trusting Thasite the moment you arrived,” Feanolla said.

“We’re surprised, sure. But we try not to stereotype people.”

“You’ve met Thasites?” Lexal asked.

“Yes.”

“How many of them were assholes?”

“Very nearly all of them. You’re the nicest Thasite person I’ve met so far.”

“Hmmm,” Lexal scratched his chin with his lower left hand while his upper pair of arms were akimbo. “Interesting,”

Feanolla shook her head “So you aliens are naive and trusting too?”

The Alien made some body language movements that seemed ambiguous, or uncertain. Lexal didn’t like what he didn’t know about alien body language.

“We find, when talking to people from cultures outside of our own, speaking as plainly as possible and being as open as possible reduces misunderstandings.”

“Since Lexal has given away all the information about what we’d like, please come with me and meet my people. We need to discuss how to proceed,” Feanolla said

“Thank you. Lexal’s reasoning is sound. You gain nothing by delaying an asylum request. If we’d denied it, you’d have that much more time to prepare.”

“That rests on the assumption that you are telling us the truth. That has yet to be verified.”

“Then let us proceed.”

-*-

USS Wang Yaping 2
Unnamed Sathos Planet in space between the Thasite Empire and the Federation



“Well, that’s not good,” Biqala Tiehn, the Chief Medical Officer, said. She was a blue woman from Bolia. She took out her medical tricorder and approached Greznoth “Whoof! Escape pod, right?”

Greznoth groaned and then focused, “Oh, hell. Where did you dig up Starfleet from?”

“Severe lacerations of all four shoulder joints. I need to get him to sickbay to fix this.” Biqala said.

“Do we even have room?” Evelyn asked.

“I can make it work,” Biqala said.

“Do you mind if we beam your captive out of here?” Evelyn asked.

[No. If they leave, the situation will be out of our control.] Said Zorgora, another Sathos Elder in the silent speech. “We must discuss,” she said openly.

[The situation is already out of control,] Feanolla replied in silent speech “They have medical facilities. They might help us.”

[We must flee now,] another elder said “Interesting,” he said out loud.

[Yes, go now.] Feanolla replied, “We must discuss how to verify their claims.”

“Mother,” Lexal said.

“I think you’ve said enough,” She said

“Send me. I’ll look around their spaceship. If they are as they claim, I can come back and report.”

“Patient. Bloody.” Biqala said.

Gorol and Yrisa joined the circle at the center of the village.

Feanolla said, “Take him,”

Biqala put her commbadge on the bloody Thasite: “Two to beam directly to sickbay.”

Biqala and Greznoth sparkled away.

“Honestly, that looks really handy,” Lexal said.

Evelyn asked, “What happened to that Thasite?”

“He said he was going to kill about half the village,” Yrisa said “We just made it more difficult for him.”

Evelyn smiled grimly “Cool. Great.”

“How shall we verify the claims of these aliens?” Feanolla asked “They say a Thasite ship will be here in five days.”

A chill swept the village.

“Like I said, send me to poke around. If they do anything, then you know they’re not trustworthy.”

“And then what, young Lexal? Shall we attack them with our hunting spears?” Zorgota asked.

“That’s happened more than you might expect,” Evelyn said “If we were of a mind to conquer you or capture you, you lack the tools to do much about it. We’re not here for that. The fact that we’re here talking about it should tell you a lot.”

“It tells me you’re here, and you’re talking, alien. Nothing more.”

“These guys have the sales resistance of a Ferengi,” Waylon said.

“I’ll go,” Feanolla said. [Time is short, action must be taken immediately.]

“You have spent too much time with your children, Feanolla.” [Your proposal is reckless and dangerous.]

“You might be right,” Feanolla replied [Action must be taken now. I am the distraction]

“I’ll go, too,” Yrisa said

“And me,” Gorol said.

“Nice scars,” Evelyn said to Gorol.

“Ummm? Thank you?” Gorol was confused. He thought they were hideous.

“Alright, go. Tell us what you learn.” [Your sacrifice is noted.]

-*-

Feanolla stared at the replicator. It looked alien. But it was a replicator.

Evelyn said, “We have some Sathos dishes from our refugees in there.”

Feanolla looked at Evelyn “May I?”

“Absolutely. Please do.”

Feanolla approached the machine and said, “Ereriztsa, please. And a louruza.”

“Please specify the type of ereriztsa,” The machine said back in the Sathos language. The screen above the materialization table showed three types of the Sathos delicacy.

“The Southern kind, please.”

The machine hummed, and there was the first ereriztsa Feanolla had seen in more than 20 years.

“What is that?” Yrisa asked

“A replicator. It uses advanced technology to rearrange atoms and molecules into food or supplies.”

“Why?”

“Because if we had to carry food with us, we’d fill the ship full, we still couldn’t go as far, and we wouldn’t have as much variety.”

“So you pack the ship with atoms and molecules instead?”

“Sort of.”

“If you can’t go outside, how do you go to the bathroom?” Yrisa asked

As Evelyn began to explain starship plumbing, Feanolla took her seat and took a bite of the ereriztsa. It hit her like a ton of bricks. The taste was almost overwhelming. It was a sweet punch in the face. She could feel the spices fighting with her tongue eager to get to her stomach and go on a rampage.

She couldn’t even tell if it was good ereriztsa or not. It was excessive.

“Mom?” Lexal asked, looking at her carefully “Are you okay?”

She swallowed the mouthful of food with some difficulty “I’m not used to civilized food anymore.”

“Did they poison you?”

“Only to the degree I asked for,” Feanolla said.

Lexal and Gorol looked ready to leap over the table and wreak havoc.

“No, not like that!” Feanolla said quickly “I’ve been living on primitive food for your whole lives. My guts have grown used to nuts and berries. I’m not used to civilized food anymore.”

“What do you have for Thasite food?” Gorol asked

“Not too much, sadly. The Thasites we capture as prisoners seem to like the Qzin menus. Try some color-beast.”

“Ummm, no,” Yrisa said, having just learned where the atoms and molecules for the replicator came from.

Gorol said, “Mister Replicator machine, may I have some color beast?”

“Please choose presentation,” The replicator replied in the Sathos language. It showed plates of meat in various cuts.

Gorol approached the machine and chose a plate with large, thick-cut slices of color beasts. The beasts' hides were colorful, striped in numerous colors, which helped them hide in the riotous jungles of the Qzin homeworld.

Gorol brought the plate back to the table. Gorol and Lexal each took a slice and sniffed it “Hmmm,” Gorol said

Lexal took a test lick. “Not too bad. Tangy.”

They each ate a little. “Tastes good,” Lexal said “Now, let’s wait and see if they need to teach us how to clean up vomit.”


-*-

Feanolla walked into the common room. Six new Sathos people were in various poses. Four sat on couches, one sat at a desk, and the other was on the floor stretching.

“Greetings,” a male Sathos said. He looked to be the oldest of the group. [We await our doom.]

Feanolla approached one of the Sathos people on the couch “Why are you blue?” [Plans are in motion]

“It’s regeneration gel. It mimics my flesh and encourages new growth.” the Sathos woman said .

“I am Falloran of Gyzokal III,” the older male said .

“I am Feanolla of the wreck of the transport Alonar. How have these Federation people been treating you?”

“We have no complaints about our treatment so far. We expect the Thasites to come destroy this ship and its alien crew presently.” Falloran said [Our position is extremely uncertain].

“What do you know of this Federation?”

“Not much. They recently became the new focus of the Thasites. There have been setbacks.” [This Federation is careless and courts doom]

“And yet they seem confident.” [Are they mad?]

“They are.” [They are ignorant of the Thasites.]

“We face a choice between the Thasites and the Federation.” Feanolla examined another injured Sathos. She was examined in turn.

“The Thasites will kill us all for witnessing weakness.” [We are doomed.]

The injured Sathos woman reached up and felt Feanolla’s fur. “I’ve never felt anyone’s fur be this rough. What is the cause?”

“I’ve been shipwrecked for over 20 years,” Feranolla said. She would have been self-conscious about her appearance if she could have worked up the bother for something that trivial. There would be time to worry about that later.

“The Federation has Sathos people in it. Their replicators have a good selection of civilized fur care products.” The injured woman said [might as well, we’re dead anyway].

“Why does the Federation have programs for Sathos food and Sathos care items?” Feanolla asked.

“I’m sure their own Sathos advisors appreciate the comforts,” Falloran said [It’s some sort of trap.]

“Do you know where these Sathos live?”

“Apparently, an Orion world named Llalarossa. But there are several clusters.” [Hearsay, i am doubtful.]

Feanolla said “I guess we’ll find out about Llarossa together,” [It’s the only option.]

“As you say.” [We greet our death quietly to protect the others.]

This was a common phrase among the Sathos. It called on Sathos people to stay undercover to the death to protect Sathos not yet subject to Thasite attention.

“Thank you for meeting me. I will see you again.” [Agreed]

As Feanolla left the Sathos quarters, she found herself disquieted. She wasn’t really used to the way Sathos thought anymore. It sounded sad and defeatist. She had to work to stay in the right frame of mind.

After she left, Falloran said, “She seems nice.” [She’s dangerously unreliable. Share nothing with her.]

The other Sathos agreed.

-*-

[Editors note, Curses have been approximated]

Yrisa and Lexal entered the holding area several decks below.

“Who in the hell are YOU?” A Thasite snarled at them. Half his face was blue.

“I am Yrisa,” She said

“I am Lexal,” He said

“I don’t give a good goddamn what your brain-damaged mother drooled as she shit you out in an alley! WHY are you out there with the damned Federations, and why aren’t you killing and eating them?”

Yrisa made a disgusted snarl “What?” She looked at Brittany Fletcher, the chief of Security of the Wang Yaping. Another flat-faced primate with too few arms and weird head fur. “They don’t look good to eat at all. No offense.”

“None taken,” Brittany said dryly.

“That’s NOT THE FUCKING POINT!” The Thasite bellowed “Why are you being weak towards our enemy?”

“They may be your enemy. I’m not sure if they’re mine yet.” Lexal said, “And given that you’re in the glowing box, I don’t think that’s working out so well for you.”

“RAAAAAGGHHH!” The Thasite screamed and hurled himself into the force field covering the brig.

“Looky here,” another Thasite said. Someone thinks it's a good idea to collaborate with the short arms.”

“Traitors,” an injured Thasite said “Traitors make good eatin’.”

“Do you eat everyone you meet?” Yrisa asked.

“Yes. We eat the weak.” A Thasite said, “There’s us, and there’s all the weaklings. You’re weak, too. That means you die.”

“I’m not sure what I was expecting,” Lexal told Yrisa.

“Being on the outside of a cage has poisoned the conversation,” Yrisa said.

“Oh. Oh, you want conversation? Let me out of here, and we’ll have a conversation.”

“Are all Thasites this stupid?” Yrisa asked the Thasite.

“You’re weak. Your weakness disgusts us. Your spineless surrender to alien scum enrages us. That’s all I have to say to you.”

“What’s going to happen to you when the Thasite ship gets here?” Lexal asked.

“It’ll blow the shit out of this cramped alien shit box, and we will feast on the dead and dying.”

Lexal looked at Fletcher. She shook her head. “It’s a smaller ship coming. They couldn’t take us on their best day. They’ll yell and call us names like these guys are doing, we’ll beam these guys over to that ship, they’ll tell us how we’re doomed and weak, and then they’ll head back into Thasite space.”

“This IS Thasite space!”

“And yet, here we are,” Brittany said.


Yrisa saw something “Are you scared?”

“FUCK YOU!”

“Are the Thasites on the ship coming here going to hurt you, too?”


“FUCK YOU!!”

Yrisa looked at Brittany, horrified “These people will get punished?”

Brittany sighed “The Thasite Empire punishes weakness. They lost a battle. It happens when you’re in a war. But the Thasites hate to be reminded that they can lose a battle. I don’t know the details, but these guys aren’t going to have the easiest time returning to their former lives.”

“Some of us will use this as motivation to seek revenge.” The lead Thasite said

“We all will!” Several said.

“And you, Traitors. You will be high on my list.” The lead Thasite snarled

“Well, okay, then,” Yrisa said, “It’s been nice talking to you!” She ducked out of the brig.

“Bye,” Lexal went after her.

Fletcher looked carefully at each cell before backing out and re-activating the security door to the section.

-*-

Brittany found Lexal and Yrisa in the corridor, leaning on each other.

She peered intently and realized what she was seeing. The Thasite kids were laughing. Hard.

Brittany watched this carefully. She’d never seen Thasites laughing before. It looked almost like barking. After a few moments, they calmed down.

“I’m sorry,” Yrisa said, “I lost my composure.”

“When they’re in cages or tied down, their insistence on being scary bad guys looks silly. It’s different when they’re in a ship shooting at you.”

“When we get to Llalarossa, can we have new blasters? We’re going to need them if those idiots show up there.”

“I’m sure we can discuss that,” Brittany said.

-*-

Dr. Biqala finished her scan of Gorol “Good news. We can fix all of this. Question: do you want to leave the scars cosmetically?”

“What?” Gorol asked “I don’t understand,”

“Kid,” Greznoth said, “Our scars prove our battles. We leave them to show everyone where and how we fought. You have a good set.”

Gorol looked at the Thasite splayed off a medical bed. His arms and shoulders had to be held still while the regenerated tissue set. They had to improvise supports for the Thasites four arms. “Are you keeping the ones on your shoulders?”

Greznoth looked angry for a moment and then chuckled “I might. But I’ll lie about how I got ‘em. How’d you get yours?”

“I fought a bear.”

“A bear?” Biqala asked.

“Yeah,” Gorol said.

“Computer, show an image of a bear,” Biqala said

The computer showed a black bear.

“We have those, but we run them off. The one I lost the fight with was much bigger and brown.”

“How much bigger?”

“Much bigger.”

“Computer show a grizzly bear.”

The computer showed a grizzly bear, with a human for scale.

“Yeah, he was like that.”

Greznoth said, “Kid, that thing is bigger than we are.”

Gorol sighed sadly “Yeah. My sister and my mom saved me with our last blasters.”

“Why’d you fight him?”

“I panicked about him attacking my mom.”

Biqala said, “You went hand to hand with a grizzly bear to defend your Mom?”

“It was dumb. My emotions overcame me, and I acted very stupidly.”

“Pay attention. That’s a real man,” Biqala told Greznoth.

“No argument from me,” Greznoth said.

“It was dumb! I didn’t have a plan; I didn’t think it through. I got hurt, I could have been killed. My Mom had to use irreplaceable resources on me. My brother and sister had to hunt for me for weeks. If I have to drive off another bear, I’m going to have a plan, and we’re going to work as a team, and no one will get hurt.”

“Exactly. Fight smarter, not harder,” Biqala said. “So, scars?”

“No. Get rid of them. Fix my arm. Fix my face, please.”

“Okay. Like fighting a bear, this is going to need a plan. I’ll let you know when we have everything lined up to do it right,” Biqala said.

“Thank you, Doctor Biqala.”

Greznoth listened to this: “Why are you helping him? Why are you helping me?”

“I’m a doctor. It’s what I do.” Biqala said.

“Where I’m from, everyone’s an asshole. You bluster and threaten. You get your way by strengt,h and you let everyone know it.”

Biqala nodded “So I’ve heard.”

“That’s the simple way to say it. What you said sounds simple the same way.”

Biqala said, “We’re part of a network of uncounted people. Millions and billions of people working together put me here, put this ship here. They put the tools and resources I use here. We’ve discovered that our networks and communities are stronger when more of us are in them. Making friends makes us stronger. Also, settling things through talk and negotiation allows more of our people and resources to survive for the next problem. It’s also fun to meet new people.”

“Huh,” Greznoth said

“We have Thasites in the Federation.”

“I find that hard to believe,”

“Apparently, some folks get tired of fighting and being angry all the time.”

Greznoth looked at the tiny alien creature.

Biqala said, “You have until we’re beaming you back to the Thasite ship to decide.”

Greznoth was tired. Very tired. “You don’t want me.”

“I know some people who can help if you’re in mental distress.”

Greznoth sighed “I can’t go back to that shit. I just can’t.”

Biqala said, “Okay. Stay here. Focus on getting well.”

Greznoth leaned back and closed his eyes. His mind gibbered at him. What had he gotten himself into?

USS Wang Yaping 3
Pathfinder class
The Fulcrum Region
The Thasite Frontier

“Return all Subjects of the Thasite Empire, or be destroyed!” The Thasite Captain snarled.

“You have everyone who wanted to return. All the others are leaving with us.” Yang Huan said.

“Unacceptable!”

Yang Huan was tired of the Thasites—always bluster and threats. They were always angry and on the edge of violence, except when they thought they had the upper hand and then it was just violence.

An idea percolated through her head.

“Your firepower has intimidated me,” Huan said, “We will withdraw.”

“What?” The Thasite Captain was taken aback “What?”

“Mute audio,” Huan said. When the call was muted, Huan said, “Commander, are we ready to leave?”

Evelyn checked her board “Yes, Captain, we’re clear to maneuver.”

“Unmute,” Huan said “We’re fleeing. Running away. Goodbye. End communication.”

The surprised Thasite captain was replaced by a view of his small patrol ship.

“Set course for Lallalrosa and engage, warp five,” Huan said.

“Fleeing in cowardly terror, aye.” Evelyn grinned.

Huan chuckled despite herself “I’m glad Thasites aren’t good with our expressions.”

“Or tone of voice,” Waylon Kwan said.

The Yang Waping turned, flew for a bit on impulse, and then went to warp.

“I’m going to start counting how many times we get that close to a Thasite ship and don’t exchange fire,” Huan said.

“Well, at sublight, within ten thousand kilometers, that’s one,” Evelyn said “So far.”

“They get worked up. We have to work on finding ways to let them out of the interaction with their face intact,” Huan said “I’m calling that one a win.”

-*-

“Captain, we have a problem,” Evelyn said.

“What’s that?”

“The Thasite people on the planet…”

“What?”

“They tortured the guy who came down in the escape pod.”

Huan leaned back “Are you kidding me?”

“They did. Greznoth saw that they weren’t culturally Thasite, threatened them, and they figured the best way to keep him from carrying out his threats was to disable him.”

Huan scrubbed her face “They were on their own planet. Arguably a Sathos settlement. Or a Thasite settlement. “

“I want to talk to them. Let them know why this is a problem.”

Huan nodded “I’m going to submit this to legal.”

-*-

Evelyn Savea talked to Greznoth “Do you want them punished for what they did?”

Greznoth sighed “No. We’re trained to seek vengeance to rescue and improve our reputations. I have no reputation to defend. The kids did what they thought they had to do to protect their folks from me. As if I was a bear.”

“What?”

Greznoth explained the story of Gorol and the bear.

“Wow. So your threat to their village was genuine?”

“You gotta get on top. You gotta prove you’re the boss. The big guy. If you don’t you’re setting yourself up to be the loser, the victim. At the time, I thought they were weak and I could easily kill and injure enough of them to make sure I was the boss around there.”

“And now?”

“Now, I’ve retired from the fight. I don’t have to be the boss of anything.”

“Do you think the young Thasites from planet feel the same way?”

“You’ll have to ask them.”

-*-

“Do you see why we have a problem with that?” Evelyn asked Lexal, Yrisa, and Gorol.

Lexal tilted his head “Not really,”

“Violence is a bad way to run things. It’s a bad way to solve problems. We have social systems to govern the use of violence. By our standards, your stabbing of Greznoth was unauthorized violence. That’s very bad.”

“He said he was going to kill us and rape Yrisa. He said he was going to kill about half our village and sell the rest as slaves.” Gorol said.

“I understand. And I understand how credible that threat was coming from a Thasite. But we have rules about how we handle these sorts of things.”

“Okay. What are your rules?” Lexal asked.

Evelyn blinked That was not the question she’d expected and she should have. She took a breath and organized her thoughts. “If someone is going to hurt you, run away and call for help.”

“Even if I don’t need help?”

“We only use the minimum amount of force necessary to protect ourselves and others.”

“I think disabling him was less than killing him.”

“That’s true, but you already had him restrained.”

“Ohhh, so by restraining him, at that moment he couldn’t hurt us, and so no force was allowed.”

“Yes.”

“My concern there was that he knew how to get loose easily and once free, might be more difficult to defeat.”

“Understandable. Ethically, you’d put watches in place, and if he tried to escape, use the minimum force necessary to prevent him.”

“For how long?”

Evelyn rubbed her face.

-*-

After a couple of hours, they’d covered the rule of law and how humanoids used this idea to moderate interpersonal violence.

Yrisa asked, “Why do you have so many rules about violence?”

Evelyn said, “We needed them.”

Yrisa tilted her head.

Evelyn said, “It’s a very long story.”

“How long?”

“We have these people called historians. It’s their job to research and understand what happened before. No one person can know all of history. So we have teams of people, each of them learns different pieces of history.”

“But you have the technology to write it all down. To show you video.”

“There’s more history than any one person could ever know. But the shortened, simplified version is that humanoids can be really violent. We’ve made a conscious choice not to be violent towards each other and our friends. We’ve made a conscious choice to try and live in a different way.”

“Hmmm,” Yrisa said

-*-

Evelyn met with Feanollla, Sallaran, Zorgora, Lemullera, and Krendella, the elders of the Castaway village.

“This is Ollyalan, one of our crew members from a planet named Oz.”

**Please to meet you.** Ollyalan said.

Feanolla tilted her head “How did you sound like that?”

**I’m telepathic. You’re hearing my mind talk to your mind. It sounds like a voice making sounds because that’s how you’re used to being talked to.** Ollyalan said.

“A telepath?” Feanolla’s blood ran cold.

**Consent is important to us. I will do no more than communicate unless you ask for more.**

“How much of my thoughts can you see?”

**I am not looking at your thoughts. You deserve privacy.**

“What is the purpose of asking us to meet with you?” Zorgora asked.

“Alright, I know this much. There’s a hidden Sathos culture. You guys use a form of silent communication to maintain your hidden culture, away from the Thasites, to protect you from Thasite discovery and retribution.”

The Sathos stared at Evelyn. It was very uncomfortable.

“How much do you know about the world you were stranded on?” Evelyn asked.

“We could tell you great detail about the area where we were stranded and about 200 kilometers around the area. We didn’t have the transportation technology to see much else.”

“Do you know if the Thasite Empire claimed the planet?”

“The Thasite Empire claims all planets.”

“Did the Thasites know you were there?”


“No. If they had, they’d have come and reclaimed us.”

“So it was just you folks there?”

“Yes.”

“Did you folks consider yourself under the Thasite Legal system? Your own legal system?”

“The Thasite legal is that the biggest Thasite wins. That the biggest team of Thasites win. Our own is more… informal.” Feanolla said

Sallaran glared at Evelyn and Ollyalan, “Since these people know of the quiet speech and have a telepath, I will speak plainly. Tell them little. We still don’t know if we can trust them.”

Evelyn leaned back and sighed “Okay, what I’m talking about here is when Lexal stabbed Greznoth in his shoulders.”

The Sathos looked at her blankly.

“In the Federation, that would have been a crime. We view torturing captives badly in our culture.”

“Do you mean to deny Lexal, Yrisa, and Gorol asylum?” Feanolla asked.

“No. Not at all. It’s a problem. I’m trying to define what sort of problem it is and how we resolve it.”

“Have you spoken to Lexal about this?”

“I have. He sees it as heading off a threat to you and his siblings.”

“He did a Thasite thing for non-Thasite reasons,” Zorgora said.

“How so?”

“Real Thasites use the knives on us, not to defend us.”

“Greznoth may challenge Lexal when he recovers from his injuries,” Lemullera sid

Feanolla kept a straight face but this idea concerned her.

Ollyalan said **Commander, did you speak with Greznoth about this?**

Evelyn nodded “He seems ready to let bygones be bygones.”

The Sathos elders looked at each other, “That should settle it then.”

Evelyn asked, “If one Sathos stabbed another Sathos member of your group, how would you handle that?”

“Ahhhh,” Sallaran said “You were asking if we had laws and courts for crimes committed on our world.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“We, the Elders, would be our community's court,” Sallaran said.

“Okay, so a crime happened. How do we address this and set it right?” Evelyn said

“At the very least, we’d explain to Lexal what he’d done wrong, ask him to apologize earnestly, and then help nurse Greznoth get back to health. He’d have to do some work hunting and preparing food to feed Greznoth. Our goal would be not just to redress the wrong but make sure everyone knew that discussing problems with us was preferable to settling this with violence.”

“Did that ever happen?”

“Yes, a few times. It never got out of hand, but our community was small. And Sathos settle things differently than Thasites do.”

“Since you’re the community's elders, do you think a crime happened?”

Yes,” Feanolla said. “Lexal must apologize.”

“I disagree,” Sallaran said. “Greznoth’s threats were sincere. Lexal’s actions were excessive but understandable. We were in grave danger, and Lexal stopped that danger.”

“I agree; however, Lexal’s actions were too close to being what a real Thasite would do. I wish to redirect him into a more civilized direction,” Feanolla replied.

“Your experiment with your Thasite children is your own. If you wish to compel Lexal to apologize, that must be your own project. If Greznoth is willing to let it become the past, as Evelyn says, then I think we should follow that path. Let bygones be bygones,” Zorgora said.

“Things are worse than I think you realize,” Feanolla said. “It’s possible that Grezoth may join our community. We’ll be taking a real Thasite and trying to train him to be more like Lexal, Gorol, and Yrisa.”

That got a reaction. The other elders hadn’t thought of that.

“That idea is doomed to fail. Greznoth is a creature of his culture. Violent and tempermental. He will lash out. He will injure and kill us to get his way,” Jontollar said.

“I anticipate difficulties. But we’re all moving into a different situation. This Federation works differently. Perhaps that offers us leverage we didn’t previously have,”

“Your children see us as people because they were raised among us. They were never indoctrinated with the Thasite way. Greznoth has been so conditioned.”

“You believe Greznoth does not see you as people?” Evelyn asked.

“Thasites raised in the Thasite culture believe only Thasites are truly people. Everyone else is a slave. Until we saw Lexal, Gorol, and Yrisa grow up, we felt that the Thasites naturally lacked empathy. Many Sathos feel the Thasites are not capable of empathizing with us. Now we know the Thasites are sickened by a poisonous culture. They are damaged so as to not be able to see us as people.”

Evelyn gripped the bridge of her nose “So we need to find a way for Greznoth to see you as people and for you to see the person in him.”

The Sathos elders didn’t like that. Except for Feanolla. She grinned “You Federations don’t think small.”

-*-

Lexal approached Greznoth in the sickbay. Greznoth flexed and rolled his shoulders, which didn’t feel quite right.

“Greznoth,” Lexal said

“Hey, kid.”

“I wish to apologize to you.”

Greznoth glared at him “What?”

“I was wrong to stab you.”

“Kid, don’t say that. Don’t say shit like that,” Greznoth was visibly disturbed.

Lexal tilted his head “That makes you uncomfortable,”

“You don’t show weakness like that.”

“I was not showing weakness.”

Greznoth glared.

“I am not afraid to admit I was wrong, and with further consideration, I’d do things differently.”

Greznoth winced “You’ve already been hanging around with the Federations too much.”

“It would bother you to admit you were wrong.”

“Kid, you gotta man up here. You have to own your space. You can’t be undermining yourself like that.”

“Hmmm, My Mom expressed some concerns,” Lexal said.

“She’s not your Mom.”

Lexal feigned surprise “You mean…. I’m adopted!?”

Greznoth gave Lexal an “oh come on” reaction. “Kid, the Sathos are different. Their notions are weird. The way their brains work is weird. You can’t trust them.”

“That’s one of my Mom’s concerns. She worries you won’t be able to adjust to our community.”

“I’m going to the Federation.”

“So are we. There’s a Sathos community on Lallarosa”

Greznoth stared at Lexal “You’re thinking I am going to join you there?”

“That’s our thought, yes.”

“They won’t accept you. I don’t know what your Sathos were thinking, but the rest of the Sathos won’t accept you. You wouldn’t harm a hair on their heads, but they won’t know that. All they’ll see is someone like me. They’ll wait until you’re asleep and then slit your throat.”

“You have an awfully bleak view of the Sathos.”

“You can never show them weakness. They’ll kill you.”

“Has that happened to anyone you know?”

“No, but I’ve heard stories.”

Lexal sighed “Maybe things will be different if you give them a chance.”

Greznoth said, “Ideally, I‘m going to live among these weird aliens and never have to worry about it again.”

Lexal nodded “I can’t argue with that logic.”

“If you find your Sathos aren’t what you thought, if you find things turning, come look me up, kid. Bring your cute sister with you.”

“We’re going to have to talk about your hygiene first.”

Greznoth chuckled “Maybe these aliens have some nice perfumes.”

-*-

Lexal, Gorol, and Yrisa entered the common quarters of the Sathos survivors of Steel-Fang-Thirty-Seven. Feanolla followed them.

The six Sathos people stared.

Spotting a relatively open area, Feanolla gestured, “Children, please sit over there.”

The three Thasites obediently sat down against the wall.

“I have been asked to introduce you to my children, Lexal, Gorol, and Yrisa.”

Falloran looked like he was seeing ghosts “Your… Children?” [Madness, reveal nothing]

Feanolla sighed “Their birth parents were killed in the crash that stranded us. I raised them as my own.”

Falloran nodded “I am sure their families will reward you well.”

Lexal frowned. That was something he hadn’t considered.


“I do not know their families,” Feanolla said, “I didn’t undertake this with the thought of reward.”

“Of course not. You’re a loyal Sathos.”

“I wanted to see what they would be like if I raised them with love. I wanted to see how much of what we think of as Thasite was cultural and how much was built in,” Feanolla said.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“We’re experiments?” Gorol’s face was splotchy blue, the result of regeneration gel over his reconstructive surgery.

Feanolla said, “Knowing what I know now, having lived through all this, I wouldn’t change anything, Gorol. I started out curious. Being a parent changes everything.”

One of the survivors looked back and forth between Feanolla and her Thasite children “We don’t use that tone with them.”

Another Sathos piped up, “Lunatic! You’re going to get us all killed!”

“Do you think we’re going to hurt you?” Lexal asked.

“Aren’t you?” The Sathos woman challenged.

“Did you teach them the Silent Speech, too?” Falloran demanded.

“The what?” Yrisa said.

There was a frosty, tense silence. This was very Sathos nightmare come true.

Feanolla plunged ahead. “We Sathos have hidden ways of speaking to each other, so we don’t provoke Thasites into hurting us.”

The Sathos people looked at Feanolla in horror.

Something clicked for Yrisa “Oooohhh! Okay. I’ve been seeing it but never knew what to make of it.”

“You must never tell anyone,” Feanolla said “Generations of my people have gone willingly to their deaths to keep this secret. The Thasites will hurt us all if they learn of this.”

The three Thasites nodded “Okay,” “Yes, Ma’am,” “Don’t know anything about it.”

“You’re insane! They’ll kill us all!” A Sathos shrieked, “Not just us but all Sathos! You’ve killed us all!”

“I thought we were heading for the Federation?” Gorol said, “Who would we tell?”

“The Federation has telepaths. They already know of the silent speech,” Feanolla said.

Falloran got up and leaned against the wall opposite Lexal, Gorol, and Yrisa. “I don’t know what to do.”

Lexal said, “Greznoth said I should never show any weakness to Sathos. He said if I did, you’d slit my throat in my sleep.”

The Sathos woman who screamed got up and got into Lexal’s face. He remained sitting calmly “For weakness? No, the Thasites take care of that just fine. We have to kill you now because you know too much!”

Lexal looked at her earnestly “Do you think you can? Do you have a weapon here?”

The Sathos woman glared at him, knowing he was right. She stepped back to the couch but did not sit back down.

“Wow, Mom. I used to think our community was a little stiff and unpleasant about us sometimes,” Yrisa said “But these folks are a whole different story.”

Feanolla said, “You won them over as a child by being cute.”

Yrisa grinned, and the Sathos glared at Feanolla.

“You’ve put us all in grave danger, Feanolla. This is unacceptable,” Falloran said.

“I’m the one who wanted to come meet you,” Lexal said.

The Sathos looked at him “Why?”

“Greznoth told me things about the Sathos that I knew firsthand were untrue. He seems locked into a story where showing weakness is an invitation to destruction, and distrust is mandatory. Now I hear you say things about me that I know firsthand are untrue. I guess I’m hoping you’ll join us in telling a new, different story. One that doesn’t hurt us as much.”

“An idealistic Thasite,” Falloran said “Now I’ve seen it all.”

-*-

Falloran was meeting with the Elders of the Castaways.

“Feanolla told your Thasite children of the Silent speech,” he said.

That got an angry and puzzled reaction from the Elders.

“I did not. You did. I explained after your outburst,” Feanolla said.

“However this occurred, it is a problem,” Zorgora said. If it gets back to the Thasites, the damage would be incalculable.”

“They have promised not to mention it,” Feanolla said.

That seemed to reduce the tension somewhat.

“Do you trust them?” Falloran asked.

Sallaran said, “They each have their own consistent character. They are not duplicitous in any major way. We know them. We know what is important to them. Feanolla’s approval is something they value highly.”

“I find this difficult to comprehend,” Falloran said.

“I told Yrisa that they won you over by being cute,” Feranolla said.

Salloran nodded “They were, as cubs.”

“I was prepared to kill them,” Zorgora said.

“You didn’t,” Feanolla pointed out.

“I…. “ Zorgora hesitated “I was reluctant to injure you and begin such a conflict.”

“It was a topic of discussion,” Falloran said “But over time, the discussions became less serious and less practical.”

“You want us to trust these Thasites because they were cute as cubs, and now you feel you know them,” Falloran said.

“I will emphasize the danger, they will keep the secret for me,” Feanolla said.

“Yrisa will want to learn the secret speech,” Zorgora said.

Feanolla’s face went still. Zorgora was right. Yrisa had that flavor of curiosity.

“Absolutely not,” Falloran said “That would be insanely dangerous.”

“I will lay out the danger. Yrisa is also sensible about risks,”

“Tell her that we have dropped the Secret Speech because it’s irrelevant to our lives in the Federation,” Falloran said.

“I will tell her what I need to to ensure her cooperation,” Feanolla said.

Falloran sat down heavily and held his head in his upper set of hands “This is terrible. Billions of Sathos depend on this, and we speak in hand waves and uncertainties. I left family members behind in the Thasite Empire. And I have to trust the good sense of Thasites who were raised like children and pets?”

Feanolla restrained the urge to slap Falloran, “The only certainty we can offer is that which time provides.”

“We’ve all made the promise to die in silence if necessary. And we’ve seen our people make that sacrifice. Feanolla, would you sacrifice my family for your Thasite children? Would you sacrifice billions of us?”

Feanolla said, “You’re being dramatic. They’re good kids. They won’t hurt us. They don’t want to be those kinds of people.”

“I question your judgment.”

“That is plain. The only way to see which of us is more correct is to let time take its course.”

“I am uncomfortable with that.”

“Every other option available to you is stupid, impractical, or both.”

Falloran didn’t like that, but it was true.

-*-

It was called a lodge. It was a large building that held multiple quarters and bunks. And kitchens. And replicators. It had stocks of gear.

Yrisa, Gorol, and Lexal happily checked out knives and other gear that would be handy out in the bush on a hunt.

Greznoth pointed out several other devices and tools that would be handy.

Zeletha was an older Thasite woman. The discoloration of new skin from reconstructive surgery on her face was very faint. Almost invisible. She said, “Come see,”

She led them outside. The air was cool and fresh. They were in a steep valley. The walls stretched away roughly east and west. The valley climbed steeply to the east, toward a mountain that loomed in the distance.

Greznoth breathed deeply and smelled a number of interesting smells.

“I’m told the life forms on this world correspond to the Orion pattern,” Zeletha said, “You’ll want to read up as you can. Don’t go far without someone with you at the beginning. The gravity is lighter here than on Homeworld. We can climb and run easily. But that makes it seem deceptively easy. Once you learn, then you can roam these hills and mountains.”

“It’s lovely!” Lexal said

“How many Thasites are here?” Yrisa asked.

“I don’t know. Some just left. We don’t know what happened to them. Some hide in the mountains, rejecting all contact. Some retired back to Marquan City. We’re not big on record keeping or social hierarchies here.”

“Music to my ears,” Greznoth said.

“Can we come and go to Marquan City?” Gorol asked.

“Yes, but be careful. I’m told the economy is weak here, so your allowance of energy credits will only go so far.”

Yrisa, Lexal, and Gorol looked at Zeletha “What are energy credits?” Yrisa asked.
Zeletha looked confused

“They were orphaned and raised under primitive conditions. They’d never seen a replicator until we were rescued,” Greznoth explained.

“Oh, “ Zeletha said “We’ll have to see if the Federation has any explainers about that. I bet they do.”

-*-

Feanolla gently sipped some beverage called “Coffee” and felt the ambiance. Zolbar’s was a cafe that had recently been a general store. Many of the General store fittings and touches were still present.

She was reading up on the Federation. It was very interesting. But she was bored. There was a Sathos community here. They had a mission. Feanolla guessed it was something to do with bringing more Sathos here, spreading them around the Federation, and forming a new power center to interact with the Thasite Empire subtly and quietly in the Sathos way.

Feanolla had been told firmly that she was not welcome to join that effort. Or much of anything. Her relationship with her Thasite children made her dangerously unreliable to any sane Sathos.

Feanolla felt cut off and lonely.

Yrisa, Gorol, and Lexal walked by the store, looking confused.

Without a thought, Feanolla was out of her seat and running towards them. She threw herself on her Thasite children with happy noises.

Feanolla got big hugs from each of them.

“What are you doing here?” Feanolla asked

Gorol said, “Oh, the lodge was alright. Neat. I’d like to go back and visit. But it didn’t have…”

“It didn’t have you,” Lexal finished “It was missing you, and that didn’t work.”

“I like what you’ve done with your fur,” Yrisa said “You smell… different.”

Feanolla brushed at her recently washed and groomed fur, “Civilization does have things to recommend it.”

“So, what’s to do in this place?” Lexal looked around. He’d never seen so much. So many people. So many buildings. To the Southwest, the modern complex of Federation-style buildings climbed into the sky.

“Honestly,” Feanolla said, “I have no idea. We’ll have to make something up.”

Feanolla began leading her children toward the small apartment she’d been allocated. She wondered how they would make this work, but her heart sang. She’d been missing her giant children.

-*-

A message appeared on Yang Huan’s terminal.

A cover note read

“Huan, I’m sorry. We’ve been using you as a stand-in patrol cruiser. But your ship wasn’t made for that, and I don’t think it’s the best use of you or your crew. Since we now have two new patrol cruisers in action, I think you’ll find these orders more appropriate for your ship and your crew.

Jay”

Behind that were orders. After a resupply and a maintenance pass, the Wang Yaping was to go into unknown space. To the minus Z axis, or Galactic south. They were to chart the vague areas there, under the Fulcrum region.

Unstated was the real mission - to seek out new worlds, new life forms, and new civilizations.

Huan blinked at the orders. The unknown. Science. Exploration. Hopefully no more Thasites.

Huan smiled, deleted the resignation letter she was working on, and then posted the orders to the ship’s public network.

The Pathfinder class is an update of the Intrepid class. It's about the same size.