Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

~00:17 AM (CET), Aug 1st, 2555

I awoke. The faint blare of my alarm eased me out of sleep as gently as it could on a warship, but it was still tough to leave even my shitty little berth. Groggily, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and fought against the sleep and desire to rid myself of another night’s stubble to throw on my uniform and tied back my greasy hair. Careful to hide my MP3 player behind the panel at my head, I checked the time on the wall-mounted digital clock. 00:20. Just enough time to grab something from the mess hall. I stretched, then set off. The mess was pretty close to the bunks, so it wasn’t a long walk. The smell of synthcubes and syncoffee drifting from its doorway was unpleasant, albeit familiar, and I walked up to the counter. “Morning, Tone,” I called into the ship’s shoebox kitchen. “Izzat what time it is?” the ship’s chef called back. Tony Mujika and I had met through some mutual friends back on Nebra, the colony on Kepler 22b, but we hadn’t met in person until we both joined up. Since being assigned to the Suri, we had only gotten closer, and he was one of the only people I truly confided in on board the ship. “Allegedly,” I replied. He disappeared behind the counter for a second, and reappeared with a bowl of rehydrated oatmeal with a handful of craisins and a mug of syncoffee. “Thanks,” I said placidly. Sensing my apprehension, he shrugged. “Been a while since we’ve had a resupply.” I sighed, but took the bowl from him nonetheless. Plain though it was, it was still better than another plate of synthcubes. “Thanks again. Hopefully I’ll see ya around.” I said to him, taking my bowl and finding a seat. I spotted another friend, Ambrosius, sitting alone, and decided to join him. Ambrosius was one of the mutual friends through whom I met Tony, and a stalwart one at that. He was among the first people I was out to, and when Tony and I told him we were joining up, Ambrosius was quick to join the TCN with us, saying that he wanted to “keep protecting us.” “Amby,” I nodded to him as I took a seat. “Good morning, my beautiful wildflower,” he replied with a sickly-sweet voice. I smiled and stifled a giggle. His smile suddenly abated. “You didn’t shave,” he observed. “It was shaving or eating,” I answered, sighing. “I can shave when I’m done for the day.” Ambrosius huffed. “I know how bad it makes you feel. You should-” he was interrupted, the ship’s loudspeakers crackling online. “All division officers to the bridge. Repeat, all division officers to the bridge.” “Shit,” we muttered in near unison. I wolfed down a couple more bites of oatmeal and downed the rest of my syncoffee, before I got up to make for the bridge. I turned to leave, but Ambrosius stopped me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “Hey. I know it's nearly impossible here, but remember to take care of yourself,” he reminded me, his soft blue eyes locked with mine. “Can’t have you in anything except top form in case we run into the weeds.” His half-joke was enough to bring a small smile to my face, at least. “Thanks, Amby.” I hugged him, which he returned with a force that nearly knocked the wind out of me, and then I was off running for the bridge.

 I hoped and pleaded and rationalized that this was just a surprise drill, or some sort of regular check-in. We had done those before, to make sure we were ready for any scenario. Besides, we had managed to evade the Affini for a year, there’s no way this could be related. I rushed towards the bridge. The Śuri was one of the newer ships in the fleet, or it had been before the Terran Accord signed the domestication treaty. She was a fast battleship, with a crew complement of about two hundred, and she was armed to the teeth, or as heavily armed as a fast battleship could be; her armament including a dozen missile batteries, seven point-defence cannons, and a massive 600mm railgun on the “deck.” The Śuri could punch holes in entire moons with the railgun alone, so surely even if this wasn’t a drill, we’d still whack any weeds that came our way, right? I pushed the thought from my head as I rushed to the bridge. 

When I finally arrived, I was out of breath despite the low gravity of the Śuri. Breathing deeply, I took in the bridge. The alarms sounded here too, though significantly fainter so that the crew could hear commands and communicate, and the flashing lights were dimmer. I briefly caught the eye of my friend Nadya, a weapons operator, but before we could do anything but catch each other’s eye, our Captain, Girard Fiario, walked up to us from the radar operator’s chair he had been leaning over, and every officer stood at attention. “Good morning sir,” we half shouted as we saluted. Captain Fiario nodded. Eight or so other division commanders stood around the Captain in a semicircle, most of whom I recognized. I was particularly displeased to see security officer Sheridan there, a faint grimace on his round face. He was effectively the opposite to Ambrosius’ kind and accepting personality. Before my anger could truly manifest, Captain Fiario spoke up. “Our radar caught an incoming Affini ship at 0006 hours, 12 thousand kilometers out. We have moved the Śuri behind this system’s asteroid belt, but it is too late for us to hide. The ship has continued to advance towards our position. We have 45 minutes before their ship is in contact range.” I felt the pit of my stomach drop. We had held out for so long, for three fucking years! This couldnt be happening. ‘No,’ I thought. ‘Don’t think that. You’ve spent a half decade training for this.’ As I assured myself, the captain had been issuing his orders to the division officers, though I only caught the end of the commands. “Matthias, ensure all of our weapons systems are ready and our ammunition is clean and ready to feed. Zhou, set the ship to condition 1 and make sure every division has their boarding procedures in check. Ribak, get to the engines and get us running as hot as you can. Understood?” “Sir, yes sir!” We all barked. I glanced over at Nadya, but they were already plugged into the ship’s weapon system, winding up the armaments and running diagnostics. I sighed, turned from the bridge and started running to engineering. As I did, the ship’s alarm rang, and the lighting gained a purple tint. Running through the ship’s corridors, I heard the comms officer’s voice over the tinny speakers: “All hands to battle stations. Repeat, all hands to battle stations.” 

Careful to use the railings to slow my descent towards the engineering deck, my boots clanged loudly against the floor. Beelining for the small breakroom, my mind was racing, thinking hard about what we had to do to bring the ship up to full power. As I entered the room, thank fuck, my crew was waiting anxiously. Sub-Lieutenant Hughes sat hunched over the small steel table, nursing a cup of syn-coffee, ensign Heighsinger sat across from him, bouncing his knee and staring off into space, and ensign Wyngate stood leaning on a nearby wall, rubbing their temples, while the six others still milled about, muttering quietly to one another. Heighsinger was the first to notice me, and offered a weak salute, after which the others followed. “What’s the word?” Lt. Hughes asked between sips from his mug. “Our rada-” I started, before the tinny projection of the Captain’s voice rang from the intercom speaker on the wall. “This is Captain Fiario. Our radars have detected an Affini ship closing at 10000 kilometers, and we have gained visual confirmation. This is not a drill. We have survived over two years since the Terran Accord fell to these weeds, and stars willing, we will not join them in that surrender today. We have practiced for this event diligently. Let us show these garden pests what the Śuri is made of.” My crew looked at each other uneasily, and then at me. “You heard the cap. Let’s kick the Śuri into gear,” I said as encouragingly as I could. With surprising energy, they shouted “Yes, Ma’am” in unison, and stood at the ready.

Being one of the newest ships in the Terran Navy, and now the Free Navy, the Śuri’s engineering and maintenance decks were nothing to shake a stick at. She was powered by four Kamal-class inertial confinement fusion reactors producing over 1760 megawatts per hour, supplying power to the Śuri and giving her impulse engines enough oomph to propel her faster than any other ship of her size. Exiting the breakroom, we entered the control center. Out of combat or high speed and acceleration manoeuvres, the Suri’s drive controls could be handled by two people and was mostly managed by the ship’s computers. In combat, however, as close to a full complement as possible was needed, as the reactors required constant surveillance, careful fuelling, intensified cooling, and direct routing to the ship’s critical systems. Life support was not considered one of those systems if the ship was breached or damaged, so my crew donned vacsuits and kept their helmets at the ready. As everyone was getting in their stations, I grabbed my suit from the meager supply locker, and I noticed the small handful of pistols and PDW’s hanging from a rack at the back of it. I shuddered, not wanting to even think about using them, as I returned to the centre console. Hughes shouted across the room “reactors 1 and 2 are warm and running. Waiting for confirmation for 3 and 4.” “Confirmed,” I shouted back. “Bring them online as fast as you can safely.” I almost tripped over my words, as sweat started beading on my palms. The room hummed and shuddered slightly, as the yellowish glow from the observation window intensified as all of the reactors and their attendant systems came online. “Nicely done, Hughes. Heighsinger, Send as much power as you can to engines, shields, and weapons. Ensign Man, I want you keeping laser focused on the cooling systems, we can’t afford an overheat shutdown at a time like this.” I took a deep breath, the recycled air smelling like dust, oil, sweat and steel. The hair on my arms prickled in the vacsuit, from the adrenaline and heat from the reactors. “Nicely done, everyone.” We held our breath in silence. All the indicators were in the green, cooling systems operating smoothly, reactors outputting as much power as they could, enough to light up a city. With nothing left to do but monitor our stations, we waited, for what felt like hours, time pushing onward slowly and viscously.

Suddenly, the ship shuddered, and we were pushed back into our seats quickly as the Śuri rapidly accelerated free of the asteroid belt. We were shaken around slightly as the Śuri adjusted to face the oncoming Affini ship, but we had strapped into the seats at our stations by this point, and Captain Fiario’s insistence on training meant we weren’t jarred. I cursed my decision to leave my MP3 hidden in my berth. Some music would go a long way to soothe my nerves. I could feel my hands shaking. The ship’s comms crackled as the Captain made another announcement. “Affini ship has entered weapons range. All hands, brace.” Through the ship’s hull, I could hear the Śuri’s long-range weapons being used first. The familiar fwp-fwp sounds of torpedoes being launched from their tubes coming first. The metallic pulse of the deck gun caused me to flinch, but my seat’s buckles held me firm in it. I could see one of the digital gauges dip as the deck gun charged to fire again, and the lights dimmed overhead, both recovering to normal as the spent energy was replaced by the reactors. Suddenly, an alarm blared from my console. “Fuck! Cooling pipe for number 3 is jammed!” Ensign Wyngate shouted. Quickly, I  unbuckled myself from my seat. “Tèa, wait, one of us should go,” Hughes shouted at me. “Not a chance,” I called back, going to the supply locker to grab a maintenance kit. “I need you at my station to make sure the drive doesn’t overheat and blow up. Man, get ready to divert extra cooling to reactor 3. Radio me if anything else goes wrong.” I fastened my helmet, secured the toolkit to my suit, and made for the decontamination chamber on the other side of the room.

The Śuri’s engine control room was connected to the reactor bay by a few narrow corridors and catwalks, but it was carefully designed to make sure that each one could easily be accessed. That didn’t make four fusion reactors on a warship any more safe, but it meant that I was able to make it to reactor 3 pretty quickly. Even with the reactor bay depressurized, so as to prevent catastrophic accidental damage, I could feel a faint heat emitted by nuclear fusion through the catwalk. I activated my comms. “Hughes, I’m at the tube. You’ve disabled the feed, right?” “Yes, Ma’am.” He called back. “You’re good to go. Should be to the left of the fourth joint.” I pulled a wrench free from the toolkit, and heaved on it to loosen the bolts keeping the adapter holding the vacuum-sealed segments together. As it finally gave, I fell backwards, the ship’s microgravity sending me farther than I had expected. I groaned as my back hit the railing of the catwalk. Pulling myself back to my feet, I set up a small vacuum beneath the segment’s adapter, and then pulled it back. A glob of the liquid-ceramic coolant fell slowly in the ship’s microgravity, quickly sucked up as it fell onto the vacuum. Switching on my helmet’s flashlights, I saw a chunk of solidified coolant in the left side, heavily restricting the flow. “Found the problem. Should be good to go in a sec,” I called over my comms. I felt the ship shudder, presumably as the deck gun fired again. Starsdamnit, I had to be faster. I grabbed a plasma torch from the kit and set it as hot as I could, focusing the plasma at the occlusion. I watched as it melted, painfully slowly, the surface globbing and sloughing until it was finally liquefied. The vacuum caught it, as well as the slow dribble of restricted coolant behind it, but two shining orbs of the stuff managed to elude the nozzle, falling onto my shin and forearm. “Agh, fuck!” I shouted, as the roiling-hot liquid burned me through my suit. I vacuumed up that last drop and, gritting my teeth and clenching every muscle to get through the pain. With the last of the coolant contained, I worked on securing the tubes and adapter once again, making sure to listen for the familiar hiss of a properly-formed seal. “Coolant tubes are clear, bring drive 3 back up to full power.” I shakily directed. “On it,” Hughes replied. Thank the stars. I gathered up all of the tools, and ran back to the engine room as fast as I could, the burns chafing painfully against my clothes.

When I got back to the room, I waited anxiously in the decontamination chamber to be cleared, before jogging back to my seat, the burn giving me a slight limp. “You ok, Galatèa? Your leg-” Heighsinger started, but I stopped him: “My leg’s fine. I can get it treated when we’re out of this mess,” I grumbled as I strapped myself in again. Suddenly, the ship’s comms crackled on again. “This is Captain Fiario! We have been boarded, repeat, we have been boarded! The weeds are using chemical weapons! All hands, arm yourselves, lock your doors, put your masks on, and do not give these damnable weeds an inch of ground!” I could hear the distant crackle of weapons firing in the background. I looked at my crew. They, like me, had pale looks of terror on their faces. I swallowed hard. “You heard him,” I said, trying to keep a fearful waver out of my voice. “Arm up.” We unbuckled our seats, and I headed over to the locker. I distributed the pistols to everyone, and selected Wygate, Heighsinger, and myself to use the PDW’s. We stood around in silence for a sec, checking our mags, making sure our safeties were on, racking the bolts to make sure we were locked and loaded, and then we waited once again. The comms buzzed online once again, causing us to flinch. I heard the dead click of someone instinctually squeezing their trigger. Thank the stars their safety was on. “Fiario to engineering! The plants have breached the bridge. Set the ship to condition zero, repeat, condition zero!” A cacophony of gunfire made it almost impossible to make out what he was saying, but we still managed to hear. The cap wanted us to scuttle the ship and set her reactors to blow.

“Oh, fuck.” Someone behind me muttered weakly. I couldn’t blame them. The comms weren’t turned off, and we could vaguely hear the ongoing battle on the bridge. I pressed the comms button on the wall. “Sir, yes sir.” As I did, a small previously sealed drawer on the center console hissed open. A pair of arming keys sat within. I swallowed, barely able to breathe. “Everyone, helmets on, and make sure their filters are working. Wyngate, grab the blowtorch and seal the door. Heighsinger, Hughes, I need you to help me set the reactors to blow. Everyone else, go to the decontam room. Bring the toolkit with you and dismantle the frame on the vent. That’ll be our route to the escape pods.” I commanded my crew with as much confidence as I could muster, my throat growing sore from the speaking and lack of water. “Yes, ma’am!” They shouted, and we got to work. Heighsinger and I grabbed the keys, and the three of us set off, priming the ship’s safety systems to be disabled, preparing to shut down cooling, and setting the fueling system to manual control so we could send all of our fuel pellets into the reactors at once. With everyone set to our tasks, we almost didn’t hear that the gunfire over the comms had stopped, replaced by a faint hissing sound. Before any of us could figure it out, a voice came over the speakers, but it wasn’t the captain’s. “Hello? Is this still on? Ahem, this is Peres Acan, They/them, Fifth bloom.” “Oh, stars,” ensign Man muttered. “I am the head of this boarding party, and, as cute as some of you have been in trying to ‘protect’ your crewmates, we’re worried that you’re going to hurt each other by accident. What’s the term?” Peres asked someone further from the mic. “Friendly fire. Please, put down your weapons. We don’t want anyone to get hurt.” “Fuck, kinda rich coming from a boarding party.” Wyngate cursed. A few of my crew forced laughs at his remark. I felt sick to my stomach, but also conflicted. A member of the species that we had been told were space demons, hellbent on keeping Terrans as livestock, had just asked us to be careful because they didn’t want us hurt? Maybe it was just mind games. Just some sick ploy to get us to lower our defenses so they could devour us or steal us away into the inky black of the void. 

A loud clang broke my trance. Someone or something was on the other side of the door that ensign Wyngate had just welded shut. Wisps of a pinkish gas leaked through the gaps in Wyngate’s rushed work, but not enough to be a serious problem. Yet. Whatever was on the other side of the door knocked, but it was strong enough that it sounded almost like a Terran slamming into the door: “Helloooooo? Terrans? We know you’re in there. We don’t want to hurt you, promise.” We glanced around at each other. Those who were standing closest to the door backed away as slowly and quietly as they could. I turned to my crew, and pointed to the decontamination room. “I can hear you moving in there, sweet petals.” The voice called as we all shuffled into the room. “I know you’re all probably scared, and by the looks of many of your shipmates you’re probably malnourished and suffering. We can give you everything you need, and a loving, comforting owner or warden, but that would be easier if you helped us open the door.” I shuddered. Stars, I didn’t want to be owned but, and no offense to Mujika, the cooking onboard was inhibited by our meager rations. ‘Whatever,’ I thought, ‘I can eat better when we’re all free.’ With everyone in the decontam room, I told them the plan as quietly as I could. “If you enter this vent,  it’ll take you to the air processing station on the other side of engineering. From there, dismantle the starboard wall and you’ll find yourself in the engineering corridors. You can follow the signs to the escape pods. Go carefully and go as quietly as you can. Stars protect you.” Wyngate spoke up, in a hushed tone. “Protect us ? What about you? Gonna let yourself get captured by a plant?” “I still have to set off the reactors. With any luck, I’ll ca-” my thoughts were cut off by another ringing knock. Before the Affini could speak again, I finished what I was saying, but my words were shaky. “I’ll catch up. Get off the Śuri while you can.” I stood and walked back to the console.

 “You know,” the Affini spoke up. I could see a small vine writhe through the door, passing through a vulnerability in the weld. “It’s rude not to respond, petals.” Trying to mask the sounds of my crew making for the escape pods, I replied. “Sorry,” I said, half instinctually as I grabbed the arming keys and slotted them into the console. “But the door’s sealed shut, and I’m under strict orders from my Captain.” My voice was quavering as I tried to put on a facade of confidence. “Besides, you haven’t introduced yourself. I don’t know who I’m talking to.” The Affini replied, “Heh. Orders from the same captain who went against his own when your government signed the Human Domestication Treaty?” I pursed my lips. They were kind of right. I pushed the notion from my head. “I can tell by your silence that you know I’m right, little one.” “Maybe. Or maybe I think my government was forced to sign that, and I rebelled because I want to protect my friends.” I attempted to act boldly, but my heart was racing. “By blowing up the ship? Petal, how could you know that all of your friends were off the ship by the time your reactors exploded?” I almost gagged at the thought of Ambrosius or Tony or Nadya getting vaporized, especially at my hands. “And what if… what if I’m protecting them from being plant food?” “Oh, sweet little Terran, we don’t eat our florets. What in the everbloom have you been told about us?” Despite my lame attempt at a jab, the Affini sounded genuinely concerned and sad at my remark. I removed my PDW as quietly as I could, unclipping the strap and attaching it to one of the keys. I stood at the console, ready to set the ship to explode in a grand fireball, one last rebellious act. I took a deep breath, steeling myself. But I couldn’t turn them. I heaved my chest in dry sobs, trying to muster the courage to complete my final order. I listened intently, and I could hear distant shouts and gunfire coming from the exposed section of the decontamination chamber. Fighting back tears, I slumped against the console, releasing my grip on the keys. 

“I… We’ve been told that you’re demons who eat Terrans or keep them as livestock. Like something out of an old folk tale from Terra.” I did my best to answer the Affini honestly, not seeing any point in lying anymore. As I sat, tears ran down my face. I couldn’t do the one thing that might save my friends, the people I love, from that fate. “Oh, you poor thing. We love our pets. How could we not? You’re so cute, feisty, and creative. We just want you to be happy.” I held back a sob. I wanted so, so badly for that to be true. So badly to be held and warm and sated and loved. I looked over at the door. The weld had broken along the bottom, and more of the pink gas seeped in. “In a struggle to be happy and free…” I muttered to myself. “Did you say something, petal?” The Affini asked. “Just a piece of a song,” I said forlornly. I sniffled, and mustered the courage to pose a question of my own. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I caught your name. I’m Galatèa.” “Aucari Sapo, She/they, 7th bloom. What are your pronouns, cutie?” “She/they. Could you please ease off the pet names, though?” I asked. “You aren’t exactly in a bargaining position, Galatèa, but very well. Would you like to let me in? I’d like to hear the rest of the song you were singing.” Aucari asked in turn. I sat and listened for a few seconds. I couldn’t hear the distant sounds of my crew struggling. In fact, I think even the ship’s alarms had been turned off. All I could hear was the much fainter alarm of the control console, primed for my destruction, and the faint hiss of that pink gas seeping into the room It hung heavy in the air, and much thicker than it had before. And I felt more alone than I ever had. I was shut into this room, with no one nearby but a plant alien who I was convinced had wanted to eat me or torture me until all of a few minutes ago.

I took a deep breath, my helmet’s filters thankfully staving off the gas, and I stood. The burn on my leg hurt even more now that the adrenaline was gone from my system. I pulled the keys out of the console, shutting up the alarms, and pocketed one. “Aucari?” I called out. “Yes, Galatèa?” “Promise me something, please. Promise me that my friends and my crew are gonna be ok. That when I wake up tomorrow they’ll be safe.” “Of course they will be, peta-Galatèa. I promise it.” I heaved a shuddering sigh of relief, the last of my tears falling across my cheeks. I shambled over to the door, where the plasma torch still lay where Wyngate had dropped it. “I’ll cut through the weld.” I said, the adrenaline crash making my limbs heavy. “No need,” Aucari replied. “Stand away from the door, ok?” she asked politely. I took a few steps back. “Clear.” I called to Aucari. A second later, I saw the heavy door that had been welded shut fly off its hinges with alarming speed, clashing into the wall opposite it. The pink gas flowed in freely, quickly filling the room with a translucent haze. My breath caught in my throat as I saw Aucari through it. 

She was incredibly tall, with thick, olive-green vines accentuated by patches of large, waxy lanceolate leaves, and dotted flowers of myriad colors. Sections of greyish-brown scaled bark covered her torso, forearms, and shins, giving her Terran-esque body. A tumbling mass of cylinders of triangular leaves gave her the impression of hair, framing her face. Her eyes stood out starkly, resembling hammered metal polished to a sheen, with colors fluctuating from black to a sandy gold as she entered the room. “Thank you, Galatèa. Now, would you like to take off that stuffy helmet and come with me?” She asked, an earnest look in her eyes. I nodded in response. “Wait,” I stopped her as she reached for my helmet. “There’s an item in my berth I’d like with me.” “We can arrange to grab it. What does it look like, cutie?” “It’s a polymer rectangle with a square screen. In berth C28, behind the panel where the pillow is,” I told her. She smiled happily. “C28. Got it. Now, it’s time to take off your helmet.” I reached to remove it, but Aucari shook her head. “ Allow me,” she reached down and swept me off my feet, cradling me gently in her vines. I would’ve flinched or resisted, but somehow being held by Aucari was incredibly calming. With another of her vines, she released the seal of my helmet and pulled it off, careful to hold my hair out of the way so it didn’t get pulled or caught in it. I took a deep, shuddering breath, drawing in quite a bit of the pink gas that had filled the room. It smelled mildly sweet and floral, like a honeyed bouquet with peonies and butterfly bush. “There we go, deep breaths. Rest well, Galatèa.” Aucari’s words felt genuinely well-meaning, and they made me feel calmer than I had in a year. I could feel my eyelids getting heavy, and before I could even consider what was happening, I was out.

Chapter Text

I was back on the Śuri again. I had just finished bringing the engines to full capacity as we were in combat. The planet Esarhaddon had sparked out in rebellion, which the Śuri had been tasked with putting down. Just after we had engaged in combat however, one of the PDC cannons had overheated and jammed really badly, so I had been called up to fix it. I had been told that the jam was preventing the PDC from being recalled into the hull, so I had to do a spacewalk. I donned a vacsuit and helmet and hopped into an airlock, waiting for the go ahead from Ensign Heighsinger, who was my spotter. Performing a spacewalk was terrifying on the best of days, but it was even worse during active combat. Despite my fear, I marched along the hull fine. I didn’t see a single rebel projectile. Or ship, for that matter. Maybe I didn’t notice any. I was too intensely focused on making it to the jammed PDC. I made it relatively quickly, radioing in to Heighsinger that I had made it. It looked like one of the rounds hadn’t gone off, and got stuck in the ejection port, while the round behind it had, the bullet backfiring through the feed belt into the swivel mechanism. Not the most simple fix, but I could patch it up for the rest of the operation. I grabbed a sheet of repair polymer and sealed it around the wound that the backfired round had caused, before pulling a pair of pliers out of my tool pouch to yank the backfired round and the unfired round out of their respective jams. The swivel mechanism had been scratched, but it wasn’t bad enough for it to malfunction again. I’d have to polish it up and fill in the scratches afterward, but we had to get out of combat first. With all my tools back in their pouch, I turned back towards the airlock. But I froze. We weren’t firing on a military base, or a captured warship, or a swarm of missiles and torpedoes. No, the Śuri’s port guns were pointed right at the small colony on the moon, a mostly commercial centre and a civilian spaceport. I could see the flex-glass of its observation dome shattered, fragments slowly drifting through space, along with debris from within, sent flying under rapid depressurization. A pulse from the deck gun jolted me out of my horrified trance, and I trudged back to the airlock as fast as I could.

After that, life went on as if everything was normal. I returned to the PDC after the operation to fix it up properly, I got a clap on the back from Captain Fiario, and the mess hall was awash in celebration and alcohol at a mission accomplished. I tried my best to fit in with everyone, enjoying the celebratory barbecue and beers the same as everyone else, but I couldn’t stop seeing the shards of glass and concrete drifting off into space. To make it worse, Ambrosius was on duty and Tony was stuck in the kitchen, cranking out food for the party. As I sat, nursing my beer, someone sat next to me. “Hey, you the engineer that cleared the starboard PDC?” It took me a second to come back to the present. “Hm? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was me.” I turned to look at them. They were slightly taller than me, with their black hair tied back into a wolf tail, and bangs held out of their eyes by hairpins. Their hazel eyes sparkled like lakewater in the bright LEDs of the mess. “Thanks for that. I was worried that I was gonna sit the battle out.” They had a hint of an accent, but I couldn’t tell what colony or planet it was from. “No worries, just doing my job.” I told them, sipping my drink. “Well, thanks anyway. What’s your name?” They asked. “Galatèa. Galatèa Ribak,” I answered, extending my hand. They shook it firmly. “Nadya Lamoty.” “Nice to meet you, Nadya.” I smiled, albeit weakly. As much as I love Ambrosius and Tony, it was nice to make new friends. “Come over and say hi if you see me around the ship,” Nadya told me. “It’ll be nice to have a friend who’s not another cannon jockey.” I chuckled at their description of their crewmates. “Sure thing, see ya around.” I waved to them as they got up to leave. My smile faded as they left. I was happy that someone so naturally cool wanted to be my friend, but they had been operating the weapons that had fired on a civilian spaceport. And I helped them do it. Surely there was just something I was missing, right? Captain Fiario knew what he was doing, that’s why he was placed in command of one of the newest ships in the fleet. Maybe the terrorists had gotten a weapon onto the spaceport. Maybe the port had been taken over completely by a terrorist cell and they had killed or evicted all of the civilians. At least, that’s what I told myself as I tried to fall asleep, later in the evening, as I replayed that moment over and over in my head.

“You said she was preparing to detonate the ship’s reactors? Why?” I heard unfamiliar, but unmistakably Affini voices nearby as I slowly clawed my way back to consciousness. “Her captain ordered it. Something to do with the “ship being lost” due to our boarding.” “And she tried to get her crewmates to escape pods. That same crew nearly hit each other with gunfire as they shot at Orari. Macira had to help him out.” “She was doing what she thought was best for her friends. Did you know that they’ve been told that we eat them and raise them as livestock?” I groaned slightly as I started to move again, my limbs finally responding to my brain. “Hello?” I managed to ask, yawning heavily. I noticed soft restraints on my ankles and wrists as I tried to move. “Good morning, Galatèa. Did you sleep well?” I recognized Aucari’s voice. “Sort of. Had a bad dream, though.” I pried my eyes open. A bright, pale white light shone in my eyes overhead. To my right, Aucari leaned over, her “hair” cascading over her shoulders. To my left, a somewhat serious looking Affini stood, a datapad in their hands. “Where, um. Where am I?” I turned, asking Aucari. “You’re in the vet’s office on my ship, sweetie.” She said, smiling happily. “You mean a doctor’s, right?” I looked quizzically up at my Affini captor. “Nope!” she answered with a giggle. “Doctors are for Affini. Sophonts like you go to the vet, because they specialize in your cute little bodies.” I shuddered. “I guess that makes sense?” I said. “So you must be my vet?” I asked the Affini on the other side of my bed. 

“That I am,” he said, his face warming. “Tama Liyas, eighth bloom, He/they.” Tama’s wood sections were a medium yellow-tan color, and his body was shaped into a lean, androgynous figure. Broad, fuzzy leaves accented his vines, and soft-looking clusters of needles were styled like hair into a fuzzy cap. His eyes shone a strong yellow with patches of pale pink. “Galatèa Ribak, She/they.” I responded. “So, Galatèa,” Tama started, striding towards my bed. “Apart from those nasty burns on your arm and leg, our medical tendrils haven’t detected any physical maladies. Are there any other medical or psychological needs we should know about?” Medical tendrils? I looked around and saw a small cluster of vines, connected to the skin on my chest like electrodes, and leading into some biotech near the foot of my bed. Larger fronds covered the burns on my arm and leg, like plant bandages. “Yeah, uh Yes.” I stuttered, drawing my eyes away from the tendrils and back to Tama “I would really, really badly like to get back on HRT?” I told him. “HRT?” Aucari asked quizzically. Tama sighed sympathetically as he looked at Aucari. “Hormone replacement therapy. An archaic Terran version of class-g’s.” Tama turned back to me after answering Aucari. “I’d be delighted to help you out, cutie. We can get quite specific with how you’d like your body to change, but for the time being we can put you on general feminizing class-g’s right away,” he said, a blue-green flower with a long, thin pistol extending from his arm. “Yes please.” I said, more needy sounding than I would have liked. “There will be a slight pinch, petal.” Tama smiled, plucking the flower from his arm. I squirmed. “I’m not really great with needles. Unless it’s more effective than other methods. In which case I can deal with it.” I stumbled over my words slightly, eager to finally get on HRT again. “Good to keep in mind for your specifically formulated class-g’s, but for the time being this is more effective.” Tama explained sympathetically, gently placing his hand on my arm. “Alright,” I relented, “go for it.” True to his word, I felt a gentle pinch as Tama injected me, but it was quickly over. “There we go, sweet thing.” He said, placing a hand on my back as I sat up. I felt slightly dizzy. Maybe it was just that I hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning, or maybe there was something else in the injection that Tama had given me. “Now, we’ve got a little time before I’ve got to treat some other patients of mine, and before a vote on your status is held, so is there anything else I can help you with?” 

Tama’s smile was like a beam of sunshine as he asked me. Honestly, it reminded me a bit of Ambrosius. “I really need to shave, if you can get me a razor. I also haven't eaten anything since…” I couldn’t remember. Stars, I couldn’t even remember how much time had passed between eating breakfast and getting captured by Aucari. “Unfortunately, both will have to wait until after your status vote, but I can get the depiliating honey ready. One moment, please,” Tama said, walking over to a wall covered in shelves. They seemed to be growing right out of the wall, the flat wooden platforms adorned with the same soft-looking needles that were on Tama’s head. I turned back to my original captor. “Hey, Aucari?” “Yes, Galatèa?” She had a pleasantly bemused look on her face. “What’s this status vote thing that Tama kept mentioning?” “Well, Galatèa, every time we capture a feralist, such as yourself, a group of Affini including your veterinarian, rescuer, another member of the boarding party, and whoever else may be pertinent to your case, decide what to do with you. If you retain too much of your feralist ideologies, then you’ll be given to a loving Affini owner and florted. If you’ve demonstrated that you don’t adhere to feralism, then we can arrange a wardship to monitor you and make sure you’re getting everything you need and have given up your feralist ideology, and eventually you’ll be a free and independent sophont again.” She smiled happily as she explained this. “I… what are sophonts? What does florting mean?” Aucari was about to answer, but as she opened her mouth, another Affini entered the room. 

They were tall, their vines corded around their pseudo-limbs to give them a strikingly muscular appearance. Their wooden sections were a gorgeous deep reddish-brown, with pale bluish-green leaves on their head, eyes of mottled orange-brown, and a pair of fluffy white antennae protruding from their forehead. They had a tired look on their face as they introduced themselves. “Sarix Aedis, They/them, eighth bloom. You are Galatèa Ribak, She/they, yes?” “I am,” I answered, taken slightly aback by their directness and bluntness. “Good. Aucari Sapo, Tama Liyas, do you state your knowledge of the sophont and agree to vote fairly and in good conscience for their best needs?” Sarix asked the two others Affini. “I do,” the two answered, in near unison. “Excellent,” Sarix said, somewhat monotonally. “So, Galatèa, you were a technical officer on board your ship?” “I was.” I answered. They tapped something on a handheld tablet. “And you surrendered willingly to Aucari Sapo during the boarding?” “I did.” They tapped something on their tablet, before looking back at me. My head was still buzzing. I had definitely been drugged. “Did Aucari promise you anything in exchange for your surrender?” They asked pointedly. I responded with an accuracy and honesty that surprised me. “I asked Aucari if they could make sure that my crew in engineering would be ok. I was really scared for them and I could hear gunfire from the direction they were coming from. I also asked them if they could get a couple of items from my berth, but I had already surrendered to them when I asked.” Sarix’s face brightened slightly. “And how do you feel about being rescued by the Affini?” Sarix stared at me intently, while Tama gave me a sympathetic look. “To be honest, I'm kind of scared. I’ve been told some terrifying things about the Affini by the Terran government and some of my crewmates. But after more than a year of being on a rebel ship… A year of missing gender affirming care, of sleights against me, of barely surviving on synthetic rations… I think I’m done with, I think you called it feralism? Also I don’t think Aucari wants anything but to actually help me. I’ve met both genuinely kind people and people who have a veneer of kindness and niceness in order to gain trust, only to backstab me when it’s convenient, and Aucari seems genuine. I trust her not to eat me.” The words stumbled out of me, the dizziness turning into a haze, not dissimilar to the first time I smoked a joint with my friends on Nebra. “If I may, why am I um, dizzy?” I asked the assembled Affini. Tama looked guiltily at me and answered: “Sorry petal, it’s standard for feralists to be administered class D’s, which ‘remove your filter’ to quote the ‘so you’re domesticating a Terran’ handbook. I also gave you a very mild dose of class A’s to help with the pain, but you seem to have a low tolerance for them.” “Ahem, back to the questioning. We’re almost done anyway.” Sarix said, making a noise similar to a Terran clearing their throat. “Right, apologies.” Tama said, turning his attention back to Sarix. “Does Galatèa require any immediate medical or psychological care, and does she have any pinnates?” “No on the medical or psychological care, at the moment.” Tama answered dutifully. “She was alone and hadn’t mentioned anything when I rescued her.” Aucari shrugged. “Excellent,” Sarix said, pressing one final input on their tablet, before turning it off and hanging it on an inconspicuous vine on their hip. “I’ve seen all I need to. My vote is for a period of wardship, with the decision for independence or being put up for adoption coming at the end of the wardship period. All in favour?” 

The three Affini all raised their hands. I also tried to raise my hand. That sounded like a pretty good deal. Through the haze of the xenodrugs, I was also retroactively glad I hadn’t fought back against Aucari; I wouldn’t want to dive headlong into being owned by an Affini without any knowledge of what that would entail. Aucari giggled slightly as she saw my hand raised, though my arm was still held in place by the restraints “Oh, sweet thing, you don’t have a vote in this. But your desire to be a part of the decision is adorable.” I frowned slightly, but I put my hand down. “Sorry little flower, I know you weren’t to know,” Aucari sympathized. “Tell you what, why don’t I become your warden? I haven’t done this sort of thing before, but I’d be delighted to show a Terran as cute as you how life in the compact works.” I saw Sarix crack a small smile for the first time they had entered the room. “That saves me a little work, trying to find them a warden.” “Excellent!” Aucari beamed. “Do you want this, Galatèa? Choosing a ward is something we do take your voice into account for.” I nodded. “Yes please. Aucari is nice and cool and pretty.” I blushed as I finished my sentence. “Oh?” Aucari queried, turning to me with a smile. “Glad you think so, Galatèa. I think we’ll get along well.” “If that’s all, I’ll be off to the next rescued Terran. If there are any updates to Galatèa’s case, let me know.” Sarix announced, before walking to my left. The wall, much to my surprise, furled up like a fern frond, creating a gap for the Affini to walk through, which unfurled as they passed through. Uniquely botano-mechanical, like the medical equipment. “Whoa,” I murmured as I watched it happen. Tama laughed a bit, though out of adoration rather than to be mean. “You aren’t the only patient in my clinic, you know. We just tend to keep our recently rescued feralists separated in vet’s offices because many are in fragile states of mind after a rescue, and sometimes seeing their crew or friends can cause strong anti-Affini and/or feralist ideas to spring forth.” “Wait, is anyone from engineering here?” I blurted out. “It’s quite possible,” Tama said, turning back to the depiliating stuff he was getting earlier before bringing it over to me. 

“But let’s get you settled before we reintroduce you to your friends. Now, chin up little one.” I obliged, and Tama, with gloved hands, grabbed a handful of the viscous material, before spreading it carefully on my neck, jaw, chin, upper lip, and cheeks. The solution burned slightly, before turning into a warm and fuzzy feeling. I squirmed slightly in my restraints, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Tama noticed, and reassuringly patted my head with his free hand. “Its ok, little one. Just let the honey work.” “H-honey?” I asked. “Honey,” Tama replied plainly. “From a Beeple. This particular honey was made with nectar from plants with relaxant and mild psychoactive agents, so as to make the process a bit more pleasant.” Embarrassingly, I giggled slightly. The xenodrugs from the injection earlier had worn off, but the ones in this… ‘Beeple’ honey were stronger, and they made the moss of my vet bed feel like a heated wool blanket. “Looks like you’re all done,” Tama smiled. “Let’s get the honey off of your cute little face and then you can go home with Aucari.” The vet reached his hand towards my face, with more of the fuzzy-looking leaves rapidly sprouting from his vines. As they made contact with my face, Tama used his other hand to pour a little water onto them, as he wiped away the used honey. His leaves felt really good with all of the xenodrugs in my system, and I had to stifle a gasp. “All done, Galatèa. I’m sure I’ll see you and Aucari around when you’re done picking out what you want from your class g’s.” I felt the restraints open, the vines retracting back into the bed. Slowly, I sat up, touching my face. It felt smoother and softer than it ever had. I tried turning so I could throw my legs over the side of the bed and stand, but Aucari stopped me. “Easy, petal. I’ll carry you back.” I was going to resist, but I felt how high I was. It was probably better to be carried, even at the expense of my pride. “Ok. Thanks.” I muttered. “Any time, cutie.” The towering Affini leaned down and picked me up, holding me in a princess carry. I blushed hard, and tried to turn my face away from Aucari so she wouldn’t see. An “awww” from my new warden meant that the blush (and attempt to hide it) were noticed, and appreciated. “Now petal, what do we say to your vet?” I blushed again. In my drugged-out state, I had forgotten to thank Tama. Even if waking up strapped to a medical bed wasn’t ideal, Tama had been really nice, and had given me more gender affirming care in the span of one visit to his clinic than any Terran doctor had in the last two years. “Thank you very much Tama!” I called to the vet. “Any time, petal. Take care!” 

The trip back to Aucari’s place was pretty quiet. Try as I might to observe much of the ship, I only caught a few glances. Part of it was, at first, the shame of being carried naked in a public setting, but Aucari's vines formed a sort of pouch or hammock around me, holding me up and shielding me somewhat from any potentially watching eyes. How thoughtful. If only I’d been given some clothes, or a gown or something. The Affini were clearly freer than I had been in more ways than one. By the time we got to Aucari’s quarters, I was beginning to feel the xenodrugs from the depiliating honey wear off. Unfortunately, I could feel the hunger of not eating a proper meal in stars-know how long setting in. Aucari sat me in a large, comfortable chair at a gorgeous wooden table, made of a large plank of wood with live edges. The wood itself was a bright, pale yellow-brown, with smooth bark and a slight minty scent. “Hungry, Galatèa? What would you like?” I was almost shocked; it was the first time in over a year since I’d had a choice in what to eat. I uttered the first thing that popped into my head. “Chicken stir fry. My… I ate it a lot growing up. Please. If it’s possible.” “Sure,” Aucari said, moving over to a device fixed to her wall. In shock, I watched as a series of prep bowls filled with ingredients materialized within it. Aucari gathered up the containers and carried them over to a stovetop. “I’m glad you picked something I knew how to make,” the Affini said, placing a wok on the stove. “I wouldn’t want my ward to have to have a meal straight from the compiler on their first night.” “Compiler?” I asked, as Aucari dropped something into the now-hot and oiled wok, filling the room with the delicious smell of frying aromatics. “Its like a, oh what’s the Terran equivalent… 3D printer! So long as it knows the thing that you tell it to print, it can and will, from things as simple as a pouch of water to complex dishes. Most Affini prefer to cook for themselves, though.” The wok sizzled again as she dropped more ingredients in. “I’ll have to get you set up with the compiler’s intelligence later. For now, if you need something, just ask me.” Aucari quickly finished cooking the dish, and doled it out into a bowl that she then set in front of me, along with a pair of chopsticks. It smelled divine, with prevailing notes of garlic, ginger, and sesame oil. I stared at it in disbelief for a second. Yesterday, I was lucky to get some sparse real food from Tony’s private stash, otherwise I was stuck to synthcubes. Now, I had a sizeable bowl of the tastiest looking stir fry I had ever seen right in front of me. I grabbed the chopsticks and tried to eat with at least some restraint and manners. The rice had perfectly absorbed the seasonings and sauces, slices of water chestnut gave a satisfying crunch, and the topping of cilantro added a freshness to compliment the richness of the dish. Aucari saw how ravenously I was going at my meal, and gently patted my back “Easy, flower. We wouldn’t want to choke on our dinner, would we? Here, drink.” I Felt her vines on my face as she turned my head to face her. She held a tube in the other hand, which she brought to my lips. Understanding, I grasped the tube between my lips and drew the water from it. It was the perfect temperature, and clear and crisp, opposed to the ship’s meager rations of metallic-tasting chemically hard water. I withdrew, refreshed, and looked up into Aucari’s eyes. Her hand was still gently holding my face, and the remaining xenodrugs in my system almost made me shudder at her touch. “Feeling better, Galatèa?” I nodded. “Thank you so much, Aucari. I- I don’t know how I could ever repay you, you’ve been so, so, so kind to me.” “Repay? Sweetie, you’re a part of the compact now. We don’t need to pay or repay anyone. More to the point, I did this because it’s what any Affini would do for an adorable surrendered feralist such as yourself.” Stars, she was so incredibly pretty. “Now, let’s finish our dinner and we can get you bathed and in bed.”

Chapter Text

20:31 CET, Aug 2nd, 2555

I rapidly devoured the rest of Aucari’s stir fry, taking a break whenever Aucari tapped my face again so I could drink some water. I was done quickly, the hunger of the last two days quickly sated by Aucari’s delicious cooking. “There we go, petal. Feel better?” I nodded. “That was the best stir fry I’ve ever had. Thank you so much!” “Any time, cutie. Care for some dessert?” I had turned my chair to face my warden. Aucari stood across from me, holding out a plate of egg custard tarts. “Yes please,” I exclaimed. “Those look incredible!” My eyes lit up at just the sight of the tarts. The sweetest thing I had tasted onboard the Śuri were the very occasional freeze-dried shelf-stable fruits from Tony’s private stash that he had set aside for Ambrosius and I. I nearly pinched myself, to see whether I was dreaming or not. Not long ago, I would have figured if I were onboard an Affini ship, I would be tortured for information or eaten, and yet here I was, in an Affini’s hab, treated like a princess. Aucari held the plate towards me, and I grabbed one, cupping one hand underneath so as to catch any crumbs that might drop from the tart’s crumbly pastry shell. The crust was perfectly buttery and flaky, and the custard had set well, spiced gently with cinnamon, nutmeg, and small flakes of what tasted like chocolate. “These are delicious,” I told Aucari. “I haven’t had anything this good in- in years, I think.” Aucari stepped closer to me, placing the plate behind me on the table, and then ruffled my hair. “Oh dear, you poor thing. I’m so glad you’re not on that feralist ship any more. Now, how would you like to get cleaned up and more comfortable?” “Yes please,” I said, getting ready to slip off of the chair. Noticing my movement, Aucari reached out her arms. “I know it’s a bit to get used to, but you’re my guest, and this is how we Affini are supposed to treat those in our care. Allow me to carry you to the bath?” I shrugged. “Why not? Thanks to my stint in the vet’s, you’ve already seen me naked. And I don’t wanna be a bother.” 

Aucari smiled and proceeded to scoop me up in her vines, before moving towards a semicircular doorway on the other side of the main room. “Thank you for being so understanding,” she said as she carried me across her hab. “I’ve seen a few rescued feralists who have… clung a little closer to their old beliefs, and they’ve had to be placated with xenodrugs just to get them to cooperate, even though it’s for their benefit.” I had a mix of thoughts at the idea. “I mean, you’ve more than lived up to your word,” I recalled, thinking about when Aucari had found me, sealed away in the engine control room. “Then again, some of the xenodrugs I’ve been on have been pretty nice. I didn’t mind being on, what were the ones in the depiliating honey that Tama gave me? They’d be fun every now and again.” Aucari chuckled. “Good to know. Maybe we can discuss that tomorrow when we’re filling out a class-g customization form.” As we chatted, the door folded open like a screen, revealing a spacious bathroom, complete with an enormous tub set into the floor at the center. Aucari reached out to a screen on the tub’s edge, which flashed online as she touched it. She input a handful of buttons in what I could only assume was an Affini script, and in seconds, the tub was filling with gently steaming water, topped by a layer of floral-smelling bubbles. “In we go,” Aucari cooed as she stepped in and lowered me into the water. I sighed in pleasure as the hot water hit my skin. Like real food, bathing was a luxury on the Śuri, and it was never in a bath, much less one with scented bubbles. On the opposite side of the pool, Aucari was picking up a blue and white bottle from a spot on the tub’s edge, which she squeezed onto a vine. When she caught me looking quizzically at her, Aucari smiled and approached me. “It’s just some body wash, scented like Nyrinan summer-rain flowers.” The vine they had poured the body wash on had changed its appearance, looking not unlike the natural loofah sponges my mum had grown in our garden. 

Trying hard not to blush or feel like prey as the Affini loomed over me, I let Aucari use the sponge on me. The texture was perfect, soft like Tama’s leaves but scratchy enough to exfoliate my skin. The body wash was likewise incredible, smelling like a summer rainfall combined with hydrangea and tulip. “Turn,” Aucari said, tapping my left side. I relented, and she repeated the process on my back. “Legs.” Aucari commanded, and I did my best to raise both out of the water. I cringed slightly as I looked back at them. I hadn’t had a chance to shave my body in at least a month, much to my chagrin. That feeling didn’t last though; clearly the body wash had some xenodrugs in it because before long, I felt far better, and the gentle strokes of Aucari’s sponge were on the verge of causing me to squirm. Aucari giggled. “After you told me about not minding some xenodrugs, I added some class-A’s to your soap. How do you feel?” “Really nice,” I sighed, on the verge of mewling. I hadn’t ever felt like this before, and my brain and body didn’t really know how to properly react. “Glad to hear, cutie. Want me to wash your hair as well?” Aucari asked, caressing my arm. I nodded. “Here, sit in my lap,” they said, pulling me towards them. I could swear I could hear Aucari’s heartbeat, or whatever the Affini equivalent was. However faint it was, it was incredibly relaxing. Aucari reached behind her, plucking a purple and red marbled bottle from the edge of the tub, which she squeezed into my hair, before using her hands to properly distribute the sheep’s milk and lavender scented soap across my scalp. I couldn’t help but gasp slightly as she worked her vines across my head. I could feel the grime and oil flowing out of my hair. Embarrassingly, the class-A’s were making me feel so good I could feel myself getting stiff in Aucari’s lap. 

My breath hitched in my throat slightly. “Oh? Are the class-A’s making you feel that good, sweetie?” Aucari asked in a goading tone. I blushed profusely and tried to hide my face, but I nodded nonetheless. “Would you like me to take care of that for you?” The Affini asked, completely earnestly. Looking up at my warden, she had a sympathetic, but still domineering smile on her face. “Yes please,” I mumbled. “Sorry cutie, I didn’t quite catch that.” Aucari lifted me up and towards her slightly further, cocking her head in a dramatic flourish to make me answer clearly. “Yes please Miss Aucari!” I exclaimed, louder than I had intended as she caressed my ear. “My my, how nicely mannered. Let’s get your hair washed and then I can take care of that for you,” she said, giving my girlcock a gentle tap on the head. Aucari carefully, perhaps deliberately slowly, washed my hair, teasing out the knots built up by weeks of neglect. After my hair was properly clean, she lifted a third bottle from the edge of the tub, a tall tube-like one colored orange, that smelled of honeydew and chamomile. “And now for the conditioner,” Aucari said, squeezing the bottle’s contents onto my hair before working it from tips to roots, after which she gently rinsed it out of my hair. I couldn’t remember the last time my hair had been so well cared for, partly because being a rebel on the Śuri had not been kind to it, and partly because the class-A’s were making it a bit hard to think. “All done, Galatèa,” Aucari cooed at me as she slowly lifted the two of us out of the bath. 

I stared back up at Aucari as she carried me to another room. Her eyes were glinting shades of pale pink and gold as she lowered me onto a bed, and I writhed needily against the soft sheets. “Oh stars, you’re adorable,” the Affini gasped as she looked down at me. Her vines quickly found their way around every sensitive part of me, gently teasing my chest, rubbing against my inner thighs, slowly coiling around my girlcock. Aucari made good use of her hands as well, one dedicated to caressing my face and holding my head, and the other being used to knead and massage my ass. I had started gasping and bucking up into Aucari’s vines as they worked my body, my head a hazy cloud of pleasure. “See, petal? All we want for you Terrans, especially poor misguided feralists like yourself, is your comfort and happiness. Aren’t you happier and more comfortable now?” My ward asked me, knowing full well that I could barely respond, even if I wanted to disagree. All I could do was nod and mewl. “Hmm, good girl,” Aucari grinned, tightening her grip on me. “I’m only sorry we didn’t get to you sooner. Look at the state your rebellion, however adorably futile, left you in. Injured, touch-starved, malnourished, and without life-saving medication,” the Affini lamented, speeding up the movement of her vines across my body. My breath caught in my throat, it was getting so hard to think. “Apologies petal, I got caught up in my own thoughts. If you need to cum, go ahead and cum.” It felt so good to hear her say that. With another gasping moan, I exploded in Aucari’s vines. I couldn’t remember the last time I had the privacy to cum, and the gaps in taking HRT hadn’t done me many favours, so I came hard, with large, thick spurts splattering on my torso and legs, which had started shaking. Aucari let out a delighted gasp as I came, clearly enjoying the show. “Oh frost, Galatèa. Good girl! Does it feel better to have let all that out?” I took a few deep, slow breaths to collect my thoughts, and I nodded. “I’m glad. I think we’ll get along very well,” she smirked. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up so you can get a good night’s sleep.”

Dutifully, Aucari carried me back to the bathroom, gently wiping my mess up with some soft leaves reminiscent of Tama’s and rinsing my chest with water, before offering me a tube of water again. I quickly grabbed it and guided it to my mouth, enjoying the refreshment. As I drank, Aucari spoke up. “Sorry if I went too far, Galatèa. I know I’m supposed to be your warden and make sure you’re safe and cared for, and I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.” I finished drinking before responding. “I appreciate the apology, but it’s unnecessary. That felt fantastic. I- Its been years since I’ve felt like that. Thank you.” Aucari’s eyes glittered happily. “Of course, cutie. Now, you must be exhausted. Let’s get you to bed.” I stood up, but Aucari just chuckled. “Let me,” she said, easily lifting me in her vines. She carried me quickly back to my guest room, before gently placing me on my bed and pulling up the sheets and covers. As I settled into the bed, Aucari caressed my face with her hand. “Sleep well, little cutie. I can’t wait to see you again tomorrow.” I closed my eyes. I could feel Aucari sitting on the edge of the bed for a while as I drifted off. Her presence was comforting; awaking in an alien ship, stripped bare and surrounded by medical machinery and alarmingly large plant aliens, even if they seemed to not want to hurt you, was still stressful. A somewhat familiar face who just cooked you dinner and gave you a spare bed, among other things, was comforting, and before long, I drifted off.

I dreamt again that night, but most of them were hazy, nonsensical scenes, nothing like the memories boiling to the surface of my xenodrug-induced recollection of my early service on the Śuri the previous night. I do remember talking to Tony about something. I don’t remember what, but confiding in him and asking for his help was reassuring, even in the middle of a dream. By the time I finally pried my eyes open, all I remembered was that feeling of friendship. Stars, I needed to see them. I yawned and stretched, letting the drowsiness slowly fade away. I looked around my room, finally able to see its contents now that it wasn’t dark and I wasn’t high. I was disappointed to not see a clock; I had wondered whether or not my body was still waking up on my old navy schedule. Regardless, my room was gorgeous, if a little bare; my bed was round, with bright green sheets embroidered with brown branches and white flowers, with the mattress contained by a frame of woven branches.  To my left, I saw a simple desk made of the same woven branches, with a flattened top, next to a floor-length mirror. Above the desk was a porthole style window, giving me a view of the same system the Śuri had been boarded in, a large yellow-y planet with patches of black stormclouds front and center, with the faint edge of the asteroid belt the Śuri had tried to hide in just barely visible. To my right stood a set of folding doors, probably a walk-in closet. Directly across the room from the bed was the doorway to the rest of Aucari’s hab. I slipped out of bed, curious about a few of the furnishings. I wandered over to the closet first, only to be disappointed when it was, perhaps unsurprisingly, empty. The desk had a small pile of items atop it, along with what looked like a handwritten note from Aucari. I picked it up to read, wondering when the Affini had put it on my desk, much less written it. “Good morning, Galatèa,” it began. “ I hope you slept well. I would assume so, after such an exciting day yesterday. I’ll be in the kitchen with breakfast whenever you’re ready, petal.” I wished she wouldn’t call me pet names, but breakfast sounded really good. Beneath the note, I found my old uniform, washed and folded neatly, along with my MP3! Aucari had been true to her word. Before I tossed on my uniform and joined Aucari for breakfast though, I wanted to see myself. Stepping in front of the mirror, I got the first good look at myself in a while. At least four days, given my decision to forgo shaving on the Śuri the morning we got boarded. It was still trippy, seeing my face smooth and without any stubble. It felt fucking great though. The rest of me was a bit of a mix though. Having missed months of HRT, I was expecting my chest to be smaller than it was, and yet my tits were bigger. Not by much, still small, but noticeably bigger, as were my hips and thighs. What felt off were the remnants of the physical toll of my rebellion, scattered across me; the ribs just visible beneath my skin, the limbs thin and wiry, and my skin pale from lack of sunlight. The leaf-like bandages that Tama had applied to my burns remained as well. Giving my burnt arm an exploratory poke, I winced slightly. Whatever treatment the vet had given me was working, but it evidently hadn’t finished yet. Gazing at myself a few minutes longer, I felt better. Like I was approaching someone I wanted to be, but it might still be a while until I felt truly like myself, physically at least.

Done looking at myself, I dressed myself and was ready to get breakfast. I took a deep breath and headed for the door, which opened as I stood in front of it. As it did, I was hit by a myriad of smells and the sound of cooking. I stepped out of my room and toward the kitchen, keen to see what Aucari was making. “Good morning, sleepyhead!” Aucari beamed at me as she heard my approaching footsteps. I blushed slightly, still not used to this kind of treatment. “Morning, Aucari,” I said in turn. “What are you cooking? It smells incredible.” Still smiling, my Warden turned her attention back to the stovetop. “Congee with fried eggs, crispy onions, and chili oil. It’s almost ready as well. Would you like something to drink in the meantime?” “Yes please,” I replied. “We’ll have to use the compiler, until we can get some proper equipment,” Aucari instructed, turning her attention from the congee. “And very nice manners!” She smiled, walking over to the compiler in the corner of the kitchen. I racked my mind for breakfast drinks; the past two years had almost exclusively just been water or, on a lucky day, syncoffee. “Ooh! A cup of café Cubano with cream, please,” I asked, remembering one of the drinks that Tony had been talking up since we joined the Free Navy. Aucari repeated the order to the compiler, and much to my surprise, the device answered: “Coming right up!” taken somewhat aback, I nonetheless stared intently as a perfect cup of coffee materialized right before my eyes. As it appeared, the compiler spoke again. “Enjoy!” “Thanks,” I replied, still a bit weirded out. I shrugged, and grabbed the cup from Aucari’s hand, taking a tentative sip. It was delicious, the sweetness and bright citrus flavours balanced well by the cream. “Holy fuck, this is really good!” I exclaimed, delighted. “I’m glad, Galatèa,” Aucari said,  slightly louder so she could be heard over the sizzle of the eggs frying, as she had returned to the stove. “But now that you’re in my care, please refrain from swearing too much in public. I might find Terran expletives absolutely adorable, but other Terrans, especially those recently rescued, might have adverse reactions to language like that.”

I shrugged. I guess it made sense, but I liked swearing for emphasis. “Ok, thanks for letting me know, I guess.” Aucari strode over, carrying a large ceramic bowl in one hand and some cutlery in the other. “Of course. Now, eat up, and I’ll tell you how our day will go while you do.” I nodded, taking a deep breath as Aucari placed the bowl in front of me. It smelled divine, a mix of chicken broth, garlic, and white pepper coming through the strongest. “Sounds good. Thank you so much for cooking again, this looks incredible!” I dug into my breakfast, with fervor as Aucari started explaining her plans for the day. “First, as adorable as you are in your old uniform, we should get you some new clothes. You can keep wearing it for now, but we should go out to find a tailor later today to find some more clothes for you. We should also get you set up in my compiler’s system, so you can request other things to be made, if you absolutely need them.” I was already halfway through my congee, the yolks of one of the half-eaten eggs spilling out into the rice and giving it even more flavour. I met Aucari’s gaze and nodded. “Then, we should get your class-G regimen started. We can pick out the specifics here, but we’ll have to go back to the vet to pick them up. I can also arrange a meeting with one of your former crewmates, and then we’ll have some free time in the evening. If there’s anything else you need to be happy and comfortable, we could probably find a workshop onboard the ship that makes it.” I finished my last spoonful of congee quickly, and looked at my warden. “That sounds really good,” I said, wiping the corner of my mouth. “Glad to hear, cutie. Now, which of your friends would you like to have lunch with today?” I gave her question some serious thought. I felt like I should probably request one of my friends who’d need to know both that I was ok, and that they’d be ok too, the most. “I think Ambrosius would probably benefit the most, let’s get lunch with him.” “Done, I’ll message his warden while we go out. For now, let’s get started with the compiler.” “Wait,” I said, poised to slide off of my chair. “What about the dishes from breakfast? I can clean them, you cooked for me after all.”

“My my, how thoughtful! No, I can handle them later, but thank you for offering, Galatèa.” Aucari chuckled a bit, before walking over to the compiler in her wall. Truth be told, I still didn’t really know what it was, nor how it worked. Like the rest of the Affini’s tech, it was nebulous and scarily more advanced than Terran tech. The machine was sleek looking, almost like painted ceramic steel, with an open interior, almost like a decorative niche. I couldn’t see any nozzles or anything that my coffee could have come from. “This is a standard Compact compiler,” Aucari said, breaking me from my thoughts. “As I explained yesterday, a compiler is similar to a Terran 3D printer. Except an atomic compiler can create nearly anything, perfect to an atomic level, so long as it’s catalogued in its system.” I listened with rapt attention as my warden explained how a compiler worked, now that I wasn’t out of my mind on xenodrugs. “It also has an onboard intelligence, which can also make decisions on what can and cannot be printed by certain users, based on information know about said users.” I nodded in understanding. Aucari turned to the compiler. “I’d like to register a new user, please. Standard ward settings.” she stated. “Certainly, Miss Aucari! Please have the new user state their name and pronouns.” The system replied. “Your turn, petal,” Aucari smiled, gesturing to the compiler. I approached and did as instructed. “Thank you, Galatèa. Aucari Sapo, please authorize,” the system asked my warden. “Authorized,” the Affini said authoritatively. “Done,” the machine responded. “I look forward to interacting with you, Galatèa.” 

“Sweet,” I said, contented. “Thanks, Aucari.” “Of course,” she said, patting me on the head. “Now, before we get your class-g’s all set up and customized, let’s brush your teeth. I wouldn’t want my ward to get any more health complications, would I?” I had barely even given my dental health a second thought since rebelling. One of my relatives had given me a stash of chewing sticks a few years back, but I had neglected them until the decision came to join the Free Terran rebellion. I took them with me, not knowing how much water or, for that matter, toothpaste, I’d be rationed. None, as it turned out, so it had been a good idea to bring them, even if they only lasted a year. “Probably a good idea,” I concurred. “Glad you think so too,” Aucari grinned. I followed her to the bathroom, unsure of where it was myself thanks to her carrying me there while I was still out of it last night. I looked around the room, particularly at the sink on the right wall for a toothbrush, but I saw nothing. “Uhm, Aucari? I don’t see a toothbrush anywhere. Or toothpaste, for that matter.” Aucari looked at me with a confused expression for a split second, before realization dawned on her. “Oh, you thought you were going to brush your own teeth? No, Galatèa, that’s part of my responsibilities as your warden.” I groaned a bit at that. “Really? Can’t even take care of my own hygiene?” Aucari shook her head. “I’m afraid not, unless I’m gone for an extended period of time, in which case you of course can, because I won’t be there.” I scrunched my face up a little. “Mmmmmmmmmok. Fine, sure. When we go out though, I really need to start learning more about what living with the Affini entails, please.” Aucari nodded. “I think that’s fair. Now, are we ready?” “Yep, let’s get this over with,” I said, a hint of reluctance creeping into my voice. As she picked me up off of my feet and into her arms, Aucari noticed that slight tone and ruffled my hair. “Careful now, cutie, or I might have to slip some xenodrugs into your toothpaste to make this more enjoyable for you.”

I shuddered at the thought, though whether out of fear or excitement, I couldn’t tell. I tried to keep the thought out of my mind, as I saw Aucari modify a vine to have a soft, bristly appearance, not unlike the horsetail plants I had read about in books and text documents about ancient Terra, both at the naval academy and at home. Grabbing a bottle from the mirrored cabinet above the sink, Aucari squeezed its contents onto her modified vine. “Open wide, Galatèa,” she cooed. I gave one final huff of dissatisfaction, before relenting and doing as she instructed. “There we go,” Aucari said, beginning the process. It felt a little odd at first, but I tried my best to just relax. The toothpaste Aucari was using tasted like wintergreen, pleasant and fresh compared to the pungent, chemical-y flavour of the TCN-issue stuff. After a few minutes, Aucari held me over the sink and tapped my jaw with her vine. “Spit, please.” I did so, though I wondered what the purpose of the tapping was. “Ready to set up your class-g regimen?” Aucari asked, setting me down. “Fuck yes! Oh shit, sorry, limited swearing.” I exclaimed. Aucari gave a laugh. “Thank you for catching yourself, but I must admit that was adorable. You’re too cute for your own good, Galatèa.”

Chapter Text

Aucari and I walked from the bathroom into her living room, done with my dental hygiene and ready to start the first activity of the day: setting up my class-g prescription. “So, how does this work?” I asked Aucari as she produced her data pad. “Well, first we open up this program,” Aucari said, tapping an icon I couldn’t recognize on her pad. “And then we can set up exactly the effects you want your class-g’s to have on you. For example, How large would you like your breasts to get?” My face flushed as she talked about my body, but I was able to squeak out an answer: “I don’t know… I think maybe c’s? That seems big enough to be noticeable and feminine and all that, but not so big that it starts hurting my back or anything.” Aucari nodded, and tapped something on the screen, before responding. “Whatever suits you best, Galatèa. Do keep in mind though, we can change this at any time.” That reassured me slightly, at least, though I hadn’t noticed myself shaking in anticipation and anxiety. Aucari had though, and the Affini snaked her arm behind my back and around my shoulder and pulled me close beside her. “Awww, are you excited to finally be able to get the treatment you need? The treatment you deserve?” I nodded. “Mhm, I’m so happy to hear that. Isn’t this better than your silly feralist rebellion?” She was right, this was leagues better, but her framing of the question bugged me a bit: “Hey to my credit, I was regretting that choice like ten months in.” Aucari chuckled. “So you stuck on for another year?” “I did,” I answered, “but not for my sake. For my friends, who either joined out of their own volition, or cause I did.” 

Aucari looked at me with sympathy, stroking the side of my face with her hand. It felt as soft as suede. “You have a strong desire to help the people you love, and that manifested itself in your rebellion. I can understand that, even as I recognize how futile it was.” “Thanks,” I said with a sigh. “Anyway, we were talking about my tits?” Aucari laughed again, this time with what I said instead of at it, and I joined her in laughter. “We were, but I think we’re set on c cups for now?” Aucari asked, calming herself, though she still beamed. “Next up, how about your lower half?” I gave it some thought before giving my answer. “To be honest, I’ve always wanted a big ass. I don’t know how that’s measured but uh. Yeah, something plush.” Aucari giggled at my poor attempt at being coy. “Sure, we can give you some… oh what did Tama say was the Terran expression? Cakes?” My face went a bright shade of red, and I had to bury it in my hands. “Yeah we ah, hm. Sometimes call it that. AndIdokindofwantthat. Ahem.” “Done,” Aucari said, barely stifling her laughter at my embarrassment. “I’ll set it to 100 centimetres at their fullest point for now. How about your hips?” I looked at her, a bit shocked. “That’s like… my bones, though. How do you change that?” Aucari smiled and squeezed me against her side. “Oh dear, you have no idea just how far advanced our medicine is. Just wait until you see haustoric implants.” I was puzzled by the word, but more focused on the matter at hand.

 “I think just a little bit wider for now? Nothing too crazy. Wait, does this mean you can also feminize my face with just class-g’s?!?!” I exclaimed, the realization dawning on me. “Sure does,” Aucari grinned. I pondered the possibility for a minute. “Maybe a little more simple for this one? I don’t wanna go too far and look unrecognizable, even to myself. Maybe just a slightly narrower chin and a less prominent brow?” “Done,” Aucari repeated, punching in the corresponding commands into her pad. “If that’s all, we can go to the vet’s to get you all set, unless there are any other physical changes you desire?” I wracked my brain for anything else. “I think so,” I said trepidatiously. “Is there any way the class-g’s can allow me to build muscle faster as well? I don’t wanna build it too fast, or just have it appear on me, but I uh. Hmm. I wanna be… what is sometimes called in some Terran circles, a, ahh. Hm. Muscle mommy. ” Aucari looked at me with keen intent, grinning ear to ear. “Oho? Who knew my ward would be such a specific woman? Hehe, I think we can manage that. In fact, it’s not that uncommon; a lot of sophonts we rescue need some help rebuilding their bodies that have atrophied in the conditions of your poorly designed spacecraft. I’m looking very forward to watching my little ward get stronger.” My face was still bright pink in embarrassment, but that still sounded incredible. Plus, I’d finally be able to keep up with Tony at the gym. “If that’s everything, we can get going to the vet.” My head still hidden in my lap in embarrassment, I gave a thumbs up. 

Now that I wasn’t high and being carried by Aucari, I could get a much better look at the interior of the Affini ship. The walls of the corridor were smooth and pale green, not unlike the interior of a seed pod. The floor was similarly smooth, though mottled gray and more textured, like a smooth tree bark. The corridor was brightly lit somewhere above us, a warm, yellow-white glow emanating from what looked like hanging flowers. On the wall that I figured was closer to the exterior of the ship, doors were lined up and spaced evenly apart, seemingly other habs. On the doors were two sets of characters; one I guessed was Affini, and was thus yet indecipherable to me, but the other was standard Terran, reading the number of the hab and the name of the Affini living there. On either side of the door were decorative planters, giving each hab a unique appearance, even from outside. I couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed, trying to catch every detail I could. Aucari smiled and slowed her pace so I could take everything in. I knew the Affini were advanced, but every subsequent demonstration of that advancement kept leaving me floored.

It took us a little more than five minutes to get to the Vet’s. The exterior doors were doubled, and slightly larger than those of the habs, probably in case of high traffic and emergencies. Above them, a sign in both Affini and standard Terran read: “Veterinarian’s Clinic.” As we entered, we stood in what I guessed was a waiting room; seats, most of which seemed more Affini-sized, lined one wall, a large display playing an unfamiliar show quietly sat on the opposite one. To my left and much to my surprise, a Terran sat behind a desk, tapping something away on a large table-mounted datapad. Notably, they also had a pale blue collar around their neck, complete with an attached metal tag.  They smiled and waved when they saw us approach; “Good morning, Miss Sapo! How can I help you?” Clearly, the two had met. “Good morning, Yasmina. I’d like to see Dr. Xuali about class-g’s for my ward,” she explained, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Certainly,” Yasmina replied. “He’s still with a patient at the moment, but he’ll be done soon. Please, take a seat.” Aucari and I did as offered, waiting patiently for the vet to be free. After humming to myself for a couple seconds, my curiosity got the better of me, and I asked Aucari a couple of burning questions. “Hey, Aucari? Two things: First, why aren’t we waiting for Tama? I thought his last name was Liyas. Second, and I don’t mean to be rude, why does Yasmina have a collar on?”

Aucari turned in her seat to better face me before explaining. “Well, to address question one, it’s a matter of specialization. All Affini vets learn broad medical care for a variety of sophont species, but will specialize in a certain field as well. Tama’s specialization is in cybernetics and body augmentation, while Lazan Xuali specializes in class-g and class-j xenodrugs for florets.” “Ah,” I said, intrigued. “As for your second question, Yasmina is wearing a collar because she’s Lazan’s floret.” I looked at Aucari, confused. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned that word, that I can remember anyway. What does it mean?” I was starting to put the pieces together, but I wanted to be sure before I speculated further. “What, floret?” Aucari responded. “It means she’s Lazan’s pet. She enjoys clerical work, so she helps her owner out here at the clinic.” My heart beat a little faster, though what emotion was causing it, I didn’t know. “Oh. I guess I could’ve figured out as much. What, um- what does being a floret… entail?” I asked, trying to find the words to not give away any emotion other than curiosity. Before Aucari could answer, another Affini appeared from the hallway connecting the waiting room to the patient rooms. 

Lazan Xuali was slightly taller than Aucari, with vibrant yellow-green vines. A pair of drooping antennae hung from their forehead, tipped with what looked like ginkgo leaves. Their eyes currently shone a bright sky blue. “You must be my newest patient,” they said, smiling. “I am, I think,” I answered. “Galatèa, she/they.” “Lazan Xuali, she/he, fourth bloom. Now, Yasmina already sent me your custom class-g form, so all I’ve got to do is go through your consent form and get your collar.” My breath hitched again. “Collar? But I’m not a floret yet!” Shit. Bad slip there. “No, no, not a floret’s collar, just a simple band that administers your class-g’s,” Lazan calmly explained. “It can also administer any other necessary xenodrugs, and it monitors your vitals. it could also be an armband, but the collar is the most effective.” I breathed a sigh of what should have been relief. “Alright,” I said, after pondering the decision. “So, ahem, you mentioned consent forms?” Lazan smiled kindly, before handing her data pad over to me. “Give this a read and ask Aucari or Yasmina if you have any questions. I’ll go get your administration collar ready.” I did as instructed and started reading:

The form was surprisingly similar to the one that the medical officer at the academy on Nebra had given me, albeit with slightly less clinical language. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, though. “All right, looks good. I consent,” I said, signing the line labeled “patient signature and biorhythm” at the bottom of the page. Noticing the line next to mine that read “Owner/Warden’s signature and biorhythm,” I handed the datapad over to Aucari. It felt a little odd having to have someone else involved in the form, but then again I supposed it made sense; being a caretaker, an Affini would probably have to declare that they’re making sure those under their care are getting the appropriate treatment and care. As Aucari co-signed the form, Lazan reappeared, holding a black band in his hand. “All ready to go?” He asked, holding out his other hand for the tablet. “Yep,” I answered as Aucari handed the datapad over. “Wonderful,” Lazan said, unsettlingly stowing the datapad in his own body, which opened slightly to create a cavity. Affini biology is fascinating, but frightening. “You’ll feel a slight pinch,” Lazan said, holding the opened collar towards me. I grabbed my hair and held it out of the way, and tried to calm my breathing. “And then you’ll be done,” he said, reaching behind my neck. Indeed, I felt a mild pinch, but then I was fine. As I moved my head around to test my flexibility and see if I could feel the pinch again, I couldn’t feel anything. In fact, it barely felt like I was wearing a collar at all.

“How does it feel?” Lazan asked, retrieving her datapad to check my vitals. “Fine,” I replied. “Barely feels like I’m wearing anything at all.” “Good, that means it’s a good fit,” she said. “If anything, I feel great. I’m on HRT and I don’t have to worry about running out or forgetting to take doses. Thank you!” I said excitedly. “You’re very welcome, Galatèa. Now, unless there’s anything else I can help you with, I have more patients to attend to, and I believe you and Aucari have some plans.” I shook my head. “I think I’m good. Please say hello to Tama for me though!” “Excellent, I will. Enjoy your first day onboard!” Lazan waved, stowing her datapad once again. “How do you feel, Galatèa?” Aucari asked, standing. “Fantastic! I said, giving a twirl. I know the class-g’s will take some time to work, but to have customized feminizing drugs? It feels unreal.” “I’m so happy that you feel that way,” Aucari replied, patting my head. “You’re taking to life outside of your feralist rebellion quite well. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had already broken through the silly propaganda the old Accord was spreading.” 

I grimaced slightly at that remark. She wasn’t entirely wrong, but the answer was still more nuanced than that. “We can talk about that later. I believe you said there was clothes shopping to be done?” I said, trying to change the subject. “That I did,” Aucari answered. “Shall we?” I nodded. “Thanks,” I called to Yasmina as Aucari and I made our exit. “Any time!” The receptionist called back. “Have a good day you two!” As Aucari and I walked along the ship’s hallway, my mind was abuzz. “So, to resume our previous conversation, what does being a floret mean?” I asked Aucari, trying to not let us fall into an awkward silence. Aucari smiled as she explained: “Well, as I was explaining, a floret is a pet owned by an Affini. Being a pet means that your Affini provides anything and everything you need to lead a fulfilling, exciting life, and you’re guaranteed safety and wellbeing. As a pet, you do lose certain rights, such as political representation and rights.” “So, I trade my freedom and ability to what, vote? In exchange, I get guaranteed physical and, I’m assuming mental wellbeing, as well as support in pursuing what fulfills me?” I asked Aucari, a clash of emotions making my tone of voice weird. Being literally owned and stripped of my rights didn’t sound great, but to be able to actually chase my dreams, ambitions that I’d had since high school? Aucari’s answer broke my thoughts. “In effect, yes. You’d also get a loving owner, though,” she added, winking. “Huh, I guess I would,” I muttered, turning my head away from Aucari so she couldn’t see me blush. 

“Now, it’s my turn to ask some questions,” Aucari said authoritatively. “I want to know more about you. What colony are you from? What’s your favourite food? What are your interests?” To my mild amusement, Aucari’s voice, while its tone was still difficult to read, had the energy of someone eager to get to know their new friends. “I’m from Nebra, a colony in the Kepler system, as are Ambrosius and Tony, my two closest friends. My favourite food is… agh, it’s so hard to decide. There was a Thai restaurant really close to where I grew up, so maybe pad Thai? As for my interests, well , I really like music, especially pre-accord progressive music, and before I joined the TCN I played bass. Come to think, the past kind of is my major interest. Part of the reason I joined up in the first place was because I wanted to fund an education in archaeology. But, with Terra uninhabitable, there wasn’t a whole lot of work in that field. Sorry, I’m rambling a bit,” I apologized. “Don’t be,” Aucari reassured me. “I asked you to share, and I’m happy you’re comfortable enough with me to do so.” Our eyes met as she said that, shifting to a light lavender tone. They were almost hypnotic. As we continued our walk, I saw the hallway open up into what could only be described as a street; at least ten meters across, and lined with storefronts and restaurants. There were also significantly more people here; the Affini were the easiest to spot, but plenty of other species milled about as well. Mostly Terrans, though there were a handful of other species that I couldn’t recognize. “Now, what kind of clothes would my adorable little ward like?”

The size of the ship’s shopping street was staggering. The Śuri, by no means a small ship, was still cramped and crowded, the only grand open spaces being the captain’s mess and the reactor room. And the ship that brought the Śuri to surrender had shopping districts larger than both. It was shocking, but very exciting. The last time I could remember making a shopping trip for things I wanted instead of needed was… stars, it was at least six months since the rebellion had begun. “Galatèa? Are you ok, sweet thing?” Aucari’s question brought me back to the present. “Hm? Oh right, what do I want to wear! Hmm…” I mused, trying to think of something in particular. “Tell you what,” Aucari proposed. “Why don’t we just wander through a few and you can see what you like?” “Sounds great!” I answered. I followed Aucari as she navigated through the street. Despite the unfamiliarity of the environment, I felt myself smile. I guess being in controlled environments with limited contact with other Terrans had me down, because it was refreshing to meld into the crowd. Either way, I managed to stay close to Aucari as she made her way to the first stop on our clothes shopping spree.

Chapter Text

12:52 CET, August 3rd, 2555

Just slightly louder than the noise from the street, I could recognize the somewhat familiar sound of nü metal playing over our first stop’s speakers. The store’s interior continued that theme, with various posters of Terran bands from the 1990s. Who I can only assume was the owner skipped up to Aucari and I as we entered. They wore a pair of baggy jean shorts, held up with a black grommet belt, high-top canvas shoes, and a t-shirt that read “Limp Bizkit,” with some artwork beneath the text. Their hair was styled in a wolf cut, and they had some very cool eyeliner wings on. “Hi there! How can I help you today?” I noted that they also had a collar on, theirs thin and black. “We’re looking for some clothes for my ward, and she’s not quite sure what she wants yet,” Aucari answered. “I see,” the store clerk said. “Well, feel free to look around. I’m Dani Querce, They/them, 2nd floret, if you need me!” “Thank you,” I responded, before taking in the contents of the store. It was neatly divided by clothing types, pants and shorts on one rack, skirts on another, tops on another, and so on. 

I set off through the store systematically, starting at the graphic tees to see if there were any bands I recognized. Not that I’d recognize the logos of even some of the bands I was familiar with; much of the music on my heirloom MP3 had been ripped and burned enough times that the artwork associated with a given album had been lost, to me anyway. I grabbed a couple movie poster ones that stuck out, though I was only vaguely aware of their source material. I did squeak in excitement when I found a Pearl Jam shirt. They had been one of the “common ground” bands between myself and my mom, as our tastes differed greatly for the most part. By the time I had (carefully, so as not to undo the very nice folding) rifled through the shirts, I had three I liked; one that had a poster for some movie called “Godzilla vs. Biollante,” one with a poster for a “Jurassic Park,” and the Pearl Jam one. I turned to Aucari. “How d’you like my picks?” The Affini held up each against my torso, to test how they’d look. “Good choices! Have you seen Jurassic Park?” Dani asked. I shook my head. “Only of it, from friends who had bootleg copies. It was banned on Nebra for being “anti-capitalism and anti-science.”” “Hmph,” Aucari exhaled in annoyance. “Terran corporations and their ridiculous rules. We can watch it tonight if you’d like, Galatèa.” “Sounds good,” I replied. I hadn’t seen a movie of any kind in forever, so getting to see one at all was exciting. Moving over to the shorts, a baggy pair of faded khaki cargos called to me the most. An olive green bomber midi skirt on a rack nearby also got added to my haul as I handed it to Aucari. I also sought out a black canvas grommet belt similar to the one Dani was wearing, liking how it looked on them

“You seemed to quite enjoy that first store, little one,” Aucari said, smiling at me. “We may only have time for one more store before our lunch date with Ambrosius, so I’ll take you to a place that Tama recommended for us.” “Alright, sounds good,” I answered, a bit disappointed but very happy that I was finally getting a new wardrobe. I followed Aucari closely, every minute or so having to jog a bit to catch up with her tall strides. Surprisingly, I wasn’t feeling winded at all. I didn’t even feel tired by the time we approached a storefront covered by draping ivy and morning glory. Aucari brushed the vines aside, holding them open so I could enter more easily. “Thank you, Miss Sapo,” I said, bowing for dramatic effect. She giggled at my theatrics, scratching my head as she herself entered. “Good afternoon,” I heard someone speak, greeting Aucari and I as we entered. “Anything I can help you find?” The person asking was about my height, their deep brown hair highlighted with a fading red dye, cut into a charming haircut with sweeping bangs. Their face was round and pleasant, with a thin moustache on his upper lip. He was dressed casually, with a loose mauve linen shirt and beige chino shorts. ”Yes please,” Aucari responded. “Galatèa, what would you prefer, a sundress or something closer to what our friend here is wearing?” “A sundress, I think,” I said after thinking about it for a second. “That said, your outfit is impeccable,” I told the Terran. “Thank you,” he said, grinning happily. “Sundresses are right over here. My owner and I just finished some nice floral patterned ones,” he said, guiding us over to a rack of the most gorgeous sundresses I had ever seen, a myriad of colors and patterns. “My name is Toumai Acan, he/him, 3rd floret, if you need anything else.” “Thank you!” I replied, before shifting my attention to the dresses. 

They were kaleidoscopic in their variance of colors, patterns, cuts, and fabrics, from linen and cotton to silk and even well-worked wool. Some were plain or monochrome fabric, while others had embroidered or printed designs and patterns, with floral and arboreal ones being the most common. I meticulously flipped through each dress, taking stock of its characteristics, before stepping back and considering which ones appealed to me the most. I found my mind drifting back to a vibrant mint-green linen one, which shifted to a bright lime green around the chest. Another dress piqued my interest as well, this one made of thin black wool and embroidered with white and purple-red orchids. “These two,” I said mostly to myself, approaching the rack and lifting the dresses off. “Oh, everbloom, those are gorgeous. I can’t wait to see you in them,” Aucari exclaimed. Hearing the commotion, Toumai came over to see what I had picked. “Excellent choices! That black orchid one is a personal fave of mine,” he explained. “And the mint one was so much fun to dye. Wear them well for me!” I nodded, returning his grin. “I will! Wait, you said you dyed the dress yourself?!”

“Of course, most stores represent a workshop of sophonts and florets. I have a small one with three other florets, and we split tasks between us; today, I’m working the storefront, while Maxine is doing dyes, and Yoshi is on weaving, and Nick is embroidering and other finishing touches.” “Whoa,” I replied, surprised. “That’s so cool! Textiles are so fascinating! I remember reading an early accord paper on ancient textiles from the Andes mountains on Terra, the work that goes into making woven fabrics is amazing!” It was Toumai’s turn to look surprised as I started infodumping about my interest in his field, but he quickly returned the smile. “That sounds fascinating! If you find any other documents about ancient textiles, you can always bring them here. Any one of us would be delighted to learn more!” Toumai excitedly replied. “Deal,” I said, extending my left hand as I transferred the dresses to my right. “It’s the least I can do for such gorgeous clothes.” Toumai took my hand and shook it. “Sounds fantastic..?” It took me a second to realize what he was asking for. “Oh, right, sorry. Galatèa Ribak, she/they.”

“Thanks again,” I called, waving back at Toumai as Aucari and I left the summer clothes store. “Your first full day onboard and you’re already making new friends,” Aucari admired. “It’s so adorable to see you happy and excited to share your knowledge, Galatèa.” “Thanks,” I said, blushing bashfully. “And thanks for taking me out on our first round of clothes shopping! I can’t wait to wear all of these.” “Any time, Galatèa. I can’t wait to see you in them,” Aucari winked. “Now, it’s nearly 14:00, so let’s get going to lunch with your friend.” I smiled and squeaked in happiness. “What kind of restaurant are we going to?” “Ambrosius requested a fried chicken restaurant, from what his warden told me,” Aucari answered. “Heh, he wants us to get heartburn again, just like old times,” I mused. “Heartburn? If fried chicken causes you to have some kind of medical distress, I don’t think you should be eating it, Galatèa,” Aucari said, concerned. I gave a small laugh. “No, heartburn is just a slight discomfort that Terrans get when we eat certain kinds of food. It goes away with antacids. Your concern is very cute though. What, do you care about me or something?” I asked, winking. Aucari sighed in relief. “Ok, but if it gets too bad, I can have your collar administer some medicine to help.” “Thanks, Aucari,” I said as she ruffled my hair for making her feel concern. “What’s Ambrosius’ warden’s name?” “Salvina Vicia, He/him,” Aucari answered. “I think he’s the same Affini who rescued Ambrosius in the first place.” “Hmh, I can’t wait to hear that story. Ambrosius was security detail on the Śuri, and he was pretty good at it,” I recounted. “Now that I know you and your crew just wanted to help us, that would’ve been an interesting rescue to watch.” Aucari gave a giggle. “From what I heard, it was. I think we should ask Ambrosius if he feels ok sharing though, I know some former feralists found the event… initially traumatic.” “Probably a good idea,” I responded.

A short while later, we had reached the place; a large hanging sign with pleasant ombré orange letters reading “Rhea’s,” with a painting of a strange looking bird beneath it. The restaurant’s seating extended into the street, with large rectangular tables surrounded by pale wicker chairs, each topped with some plush looking moss cushioning. And seated in one of them was Ambrosius. His dirty blonde hair was well styled, the front slicked back while the rest had been curled and allowed to cascade freely, and he was wearing a simple red tunic, embroidered with large white bars that created a square over his shoulders and chest. “Amby,” I said, both a whisper and a shout. “Galatèa, hold on-“ Aucari started, but I was already running up to Ambrosius as fast as I could safely run. “Galatèa!” Ambrosius shouted as he stood up, nearly knocking his chair over as he sprinted over to join me. He hugged me like a vice, my breath knocked out of me. “I’m so fucking happy you’re ok. When I tried to fight back against the boarding party… I was so scared for you.” I could hear Ambrosius’ voice crackle like the surface of a frozen lake as he held back tears. “I was worried too. I knew you’d be taking the brunt of the fighting. Are you ok? Injured?” I asked as he relaxed his hug. “A little bit,” he explained. “One of Parker’s shots ricocheted and grazed my shoulder. I’m fine now though.” I grimaced. “Eugh, he was always a bit trigger happy.” We separated from our hug, both finally satisfied and assured. “You look good. Did your warden get you a haircut?” I asked. “He did,” Ambrosius replied. “And he got me on class-g’s.” “Same here,” I said, showing off my collar. “And my Vet also put this honey stuff on my face, and now bam. No more awful facial hair,” I said, framing my face between my hands. 

“Siiiiick,” Ambrosius said, gently touching my face to feel for himself. As he did, Aucari approached behind me. “Dirt, Galatèa, you startled me. Please don’t run off suddenly like that.” I turned partially to face her, seeing her eyes a deep grey-blue, like a stormy sky. “Sorry mi- sorry Aucari. Ahem.” Ambrosius nudged my shoulder a bit. “Almost said something else there, didn't you,” he teased. “Shut up, man,” I said, blushing profusely. “Now that we’re all reunited,” Aucari said, interjecting so as to not make me more embarrassed, “shall we get you two some lunch?” “Yes please,” we both agreed. Turning back to the table Ambrosius was seated at prior, I could also see his warden. Salvina was slender, with decorative serrated teardrop-shaped leaves and complex-looking oblong purple-pink flowers accenting his looks. His face’s wood was pale on the edge, with a rich, coffee-brown middle. “Happy to be reacquainted?” Salvina asked Ambrosius as the three of us sat down. “Yes indeed,” Ambrosius replied. “So, you must be Galatea. I’ve heard a bit about you from your warden.” Salvina had a regal air to him that made him seem nonchalant and still deeply invested in conversation. “Good things, I hope,” I replied smiling. “Quite,” Salvina answered. “Pleasant, well-mannered, and quite cooperative. As adorable as my ward is, he was a bit more stubborn.” Salvina patted Ambrosius on the shoulder as he spoke, to which Ambrosius rolled his eyes sarcastically.

“Well of course I was,” Ambrosius retorted with the same saccharine smile he used with me when he teased me. “I wasn’t going to give up until I knew that my precious wildflower was safe and sound.” I blushed. “You goof. Love ya, Amby.” “Shall we continue the conversation over a meal? I’d hate for you two to go hungry while you reminisce,” Aucari piped up. “Fuck yes! Oh, sorry!” I said, swearing instinctively. Aucari suddenly leant down close to my ear. “Careful, Galatèa. We wouldn’t want to hop you up on class a’s in front of your friend like this, would we?” She whispered, cupping her hand around her mouth so that Ambrosius and Salvina couldn’t hear. I shuddered in response, but I couldn’t form the words. She giggled, before standing up again. You two can lead the way to the counter. Ambrosius grabbed my hand as we walked over to the counter. “What was that about?” “Nothing…” I said, not sounding as inconspicuous as I would have liked. “C’mooooooon, you can tell me. It’s not like I don’t know worse, hehehe.” Before I could tell him, someone appeared behind the counter. “Hello? Would you two like to order?” They were wearing a bright orange apron, their wavy brown hair held back with a yellow scrunchie and contained with a hairnet. “Yes, sorry.” Ambrosius said. ”Could we get two orders of popcorn chicken with a large side of potato wedges?” “Sure thing!” The cook said. “Anything else?” “Galatèa?” Ambrosius forwarded the question to me. I looked up at the menu for a second before giving my answer. “Could we also get a medium coleslaw, and a couple of drinks?” “Absolutely,” the cook said, adding the items to our ticket. “What would you like to drink?” “Cola for me.” Ambrosius answeredz. “Ooh, frozen lemonade, if you have it,” I said. “We do!” The cook said, scratching it onto the slip of paper. “And if you need sauces, we have a fridge with different bottles over there,” they said, pointing to a glass-door fridge to our left. “Thank you so much!” I said in response. “Anytime,” they said. “Always happy to help sophonts out for lunch with their Affini.”

“So, what did Aucari say to you?” Ambrosius pried again as the cook turned to the kitchen to give the ticket to the friers. “Mmmm… fine. She teased me by saying she was gonna administer me class-a xenodrugs if I kept swearing in public. I don’t know, the Affini are weird about swearing.” Ambrosius’ face took on a serious expression. “She’s not doing anything against your will, is she?” He pressed. “Amby, you know me. You’d know how I’m like whenever someone’s making me do something I don’t like. She’s been treating me as well as any of my Terran friends have. Everything I’ve done with her has been consensual.” “Good. I can’t do much against an Affini, but you know I’d still fight tooth and nail for you,” Ambrosius said sternly. “I know you would. Likewise, by the way,” I replied, giving him another hug. “Speaking of fighting an Affini, what happened to you when we got boarded?” “Oh that, heheh,” Ambrosius chuckled. “I was guarding the port on C deck with a couple of squads. It was literally the first place to get breached, so we didn’t really know what we were up against. We opened fire, but we barely got a handful of shots off before the first three Affini just disarmed us all. I tried challenging Salvina to a duel, yknow, medieval knight style. He agreed to it, but I got bodied instantly. Woke up in the vet’s office with a mildly bruised rib, which has healed up nice since then.” 

“Hehe, glad to hear you were perfectly chivalrous.” I giggled. Ambrosius slugged me lightly in the shoulder, a familiar grin on his face. In the background, the sound and smell of frying food drifted into the seating area where Ambrosius and I were waiting. “How have you been finding life since then?” I asked exploratoraly. “Is Salvina treating you well?” Ambrosius sighed and gave it some thought. “I mean… you remember the shit that people said about them, right? I know Saoirse had said to be extremely skeptical about what the Accord media said about them, but it’s pretty hard to get out of your head regardless. About gigantic plant monsters hellbent on enslaving and subjugating us.” His expression was hard to read, and his voice hushed. “And yet, when I woke up after losing my duel with Salvina, he was at my bedside, and he was so worried for me, and so apologetic about hurting me by accident. He volunteered to be my ward, and he treated me to waffles with fresh fruit and whipped cream when I was discharged. Made sure I got on custom class-g’s when I told him about my dysphoria.” I nodded, releasing the tension in my neck and shoulders I hadn’t even realized had built. “Right?” I asked rhetorically. “When I first saw Aucari, I nearly fainted. Since then, she’s fed me some of the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten, helped me get more gender affirming care than the Accord ever did, and took my clothes shopping, for star’s sake. AaaaandHonestlyShe’sKindOfHot. *cough cough.*” “What? I didn’t catch that,” Ambrosius said earnestly. “Oh, ahem, it’s nothing. Forget I said anything.” I replied, trying to change the conversation. “Nuh uh, I heard the word ‘hot’ in there, Tèa. What was that?” I blushed hard and looked over my shoulder at the table. Aucari and Salvina were chatting, before Aucari caught me staring and waved. I smiled and waved back, before returning my attention to Ambrosius. “Fine, you really wanna hear what I said? I think Aucari is kind of hot. As in attractive.” Ambrosius laughed a bit, not meanly though. “What about Nadya?” He asked. I frowned slightly. “C’mon dude, you know I’m poly. That being said, I’m really worried for her, I haven’t heard anything about her. Besides, you know she was deeper in the Accord programming cause she only became our friend since we got posted to the Śuri.” “Hello!” The cook called from behind the counter. “Your order’s ready!” I went to grab it and bring it back to the table. “You should ask Aucari about seeing her. You were the closest to her out of anyone on the ship. If there’s anyone who she needs to see right now, it’s you.” 

“What did should you be asking me about?” Aucari said, overhearing our conversation somewhat. Ambrosius nudged me. “It’s about one of my other… friends, from the Śuri. I know you said we have to take their state into account when talking about visiting them, but I- I was one of her closest friends on the Śuri. I’m worried for her.” “I see. Well, why don’t I reach out to her warden or owner and see if I can arrange something. What’s her name?” Aucari said after giving it some thought. “Nadya Lamoty,” I replied. Aucari pulled a data pad seemingly out of thin air, and typed a few commands into it. “Alright, I’ve sent a message to her warden. The two of you can meet up tomorrow, does that sound alright petal?” “Yes,” I said, not even noticing Aucari use a pet name for me. I breathed deeply in relief. The past few days had been more stressful than I had realized. “Now, shall we eat?” Salvina asked, trying to lighten the mood. “Yessss, stars this smells good,” Ambrosius said, skewering a popcorn chicken ball on his fork. I followed suit, realizing I had gotten pretty hungry. Hungrier than I should have been, to be honest. I guess my class-g’s had increased my metabolism. As anticipated, the food was absolutely delicious, the chicken well seasoned, and the crust perfectly crispy. The potato wedges were similarly outstanding, a scattering of fresh parsley giving it a much needed brightness. The lemonade’s acidity cut well through the richness of the fried food. It was only after a few bites that I realized two of the members of our lunch party didn’t have anything. “Oh shi- stars, I’m so sorry. I forgot to ask if you two wanted anything before Amby and I ordered,” I apologized to the Affini. 

“That’s alright, Galatèa,” Aucari responded. “Affini don’t need to consume food the same way you Terrans do, though I appreciate the apology. If you’d like, you can ask for a couple of nutrient teas for Salvina and I.” “On it,” I said, quickly rising to my feet. I jogged back into the restaurant, towards the counter. “So sorry,” I said to the cook from earlier. “But I forgot something for our wardens. Could I please get a couple of nutrient teas?” “Coming right up!” The cook replied. They walked over to a drinks fridge behind the counter, and poured a pitcher of thallassic blue liquid into a pair of large teacups. “Here you go,” they said, handing the cups over to me. “Thanks. The food is insanely good, by the way,” I said. They beamed back at me. “Thank you! It’s an old family recipe.” I returned their smile, and walked back to the table. “Thank you, Galatèa,” Salvina said, accepting his cup. “Indeed,” Aucari concurred. “You’re such a kind sophont. I smiled, blushing bashfully this time instead of in embarrassment. “I try my best.” “She really does,” Ambrosius said in between bites. “You should have seen her when I tried coming out to my parents. Galatèa was offering to shout back at them for not accepting my identity.” “Luckily, neither of you have to worry too much about that sort of thing anymore,” Salvina said, sympathetically smiling. We sat in relative silence again for a bit, Ambrosius and I taking our time to enjoy the meal. This sort of thing had been a tradition back home; the two of us (and later four, as Tony joined us and Ambrosius invited his partner Saoirse) would get fried food and a tub of ice cream from our local grocery store, and all watch some movies or tv with one another. Especially after Tony and I moved away from our parents, it served a similar role to spending time with family. So did Ambrosius and Saoirse, for that matter. And now, none of us had to worry about our next paycheck or our jobs getting in the way of us spending time together.

Chapter Text

14:42 CET, August 3rd, 2555

“I have a question for you two,” Aucari said, breaking the silence. I stopped eating and turned my head to her. “Neither you or Ambrosius seem particularly feralist. Reluctant at times, but for a couple of recent rescues from a feralist ship, it seems you’ve both been quite cooperative. Why?” I looked to Ambrosius. “You go first, Tèa.” He replied plainly. “Alright. I suppose a combination of factors is why. First, being on a rebel Terran ship for two years, given meager synthetic rations, barely enough water to survive, and no gender affirming care, effectively trapping you in a stupid boy body for two years made me- left me questioning why I joined the rebellion in the first place.” I explained, trying to keep my voice from cracking. “That, and at two critical points in my life, I had two people deeply invested in me thinking critically, so the Accord’s propaganda didn’t have as strong a grip on me. There’s also the fact that if one of the most powerful ships in the Terran fleet couldn’t do anything to you, what could I be expected to do?” I asked rhetorically. “Finally, I’d have to say you, Aucari. I mean, I haven’t met an Affini who wasn’t caring, but you sat on the other side of the door in engineering while I had my crisis, then literally swept me off my feet and gave my most of what I need to be… well, to be me again. I might not understand everything about the Affini or domestication or all of that, but you’ve given me more than enough reasons to trust you. To trust the Affini.” The table sat in silence for a second, before Ambrosius spoke again. “I mean I agree with the whole ‘we got absolutely bodied by the Affini, what else is there to do’ bit, but if you’re safe and happy Tèa, then so am I.” I smiled at Ambrosius. Once again, he lived up to his status as one of my closest friends. “I will say though,” Ambrosius said after eating another popcorn chicken, “that a lot of our coworkers will probably be a bit… more reluctant than us, I guess.” I laughed a bit. “Imagine Sheridan getting captured. That must’ve been a sight.” Ambrosius joined in my laughter a bit, before Salvina spoke. “Why laugh at one of your crew getting rescued? I know that the two of you are handling life in the compact better, but from how the two of you reacted, I would think you’d be concerned for your friend.” 

Ambrosius’ face fell into a look of slight disappointment. “Sheridan isn’t our friend. He went to the same academy as us, straight up called us slurs a bunch. Our commanding officer didn’t do jack cause he figured it was ‘character building’ and that ‘Terran Navy has to be tough.’” He snorted. “All it made us do was memorize his schedule to avoid him.” Aucari looked saddened at that, while Salvina now mirrored Ambrosius’ look of annoyance. “Well, hopefully he’ll behave better now that he’s in our care,” the Affini sighed. Despite the supposedly positive sentiment offered by Salvina, the mood had fallen. “Speaking of spectacle,” I said, breaking the silence, “how would you feel about hanging out the night after tomorrow? We could watch something silly and eat junk food again.” “I mean you know me,” Ambrosius replied, a playful smirk on his lips. “I’d love to. If that’s alright with our wardens though..?” 

“So, what are you gonna do now that we’re not tied up in rebellion?” I asked Ambrosius, taking a sip of my lemonade. “Finally start art school, I think. There was nothing artistic to work with on the Śuri, and I’ve been aching to draw something again.” “Oh hell yeah! I can’t wait to see your progress! I also get that feeling, doing air guitar instead of actually playing an instrument doesn’t really satisfy that feeling to make art. Or participate in it, I guess.” I said, remembering the drawings that Ambrosius had done before we rebelled. “I mean, if that’s how you feel, I’m pretty sure we passed a music shop on our walk here. I’m not a music nerd like you, so I don’t know if they’ll have exactly what you want, but it’s there.” My eyes went wide, and I coughed, having failed to drink my lemonade properly as I heard Ambrosius say that. Aucari patted me on the back as I coughed again. “Easy, Galatèa, you’re alright.” “Yeah, I *cough,* I’m ok. Well, we have to stop there on our way back, I think.” I said as I recovered, turning to Aucari with the best puppy eyes I could manage. “Of course we can, cutie.” Aucari replied, before releasing her grasp on me. “Why don’t we finish up here then? We can go on our way and you, yours,” Salvina proposed. Ambrosius grinned, looking at me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this excited, Galatèa. It’s nice, I hope I can see you like this more often.” “Me too,” I said, returning his smile. “Same, by the way. Let me know when you get in touch with Saoirse again. I’m sure you two will have some catching up to do just between the two of you, but I miss him as well.” 

“Real. Honestly, we have to just get the group back together again.” I nodded in agreement. “I’ll try to track down Tony, make sure he hasn’t gotten himself into too much trouble.” Ambrosius laughed at that. “Heh, knowing him? Probably. Maybe we can do that the day after tomorrow together. We’re already going to be spending time together.” I looked at Aucari. “I’m sorry to ask for like, the third time, but could you maybe find out where Tony Mujika is and if he’s in a state where Ambrosius and I can visit?” Aucari patted my head. “Of course I can, wildflower, I’d be happy to.” I shivered at her pronounced use of Ambrosius’ nickname for me. I heard Ambrosius give a bit of a giggle, and I shot him a look in response. In turn, he stuck out his tongue at me. We shared another laugh after we both realized how absurd we must have looked, and indeed both Aucari and Salvina were looking at us, confused. “What in the everbloom is going on between you two?” Salvina asked. Ambrose was the first to control his laughter, so he beat me to reply. “Oh nothing, just making fun of Galatèa for being a sub,” he said, an ear-to-ear grin on his face. “He’s mean but not untruthful,” I huffed, looking away to try and prevent Aucari from seeing my bright red face. 

The rest of our lunch passed pleasantly, Ambrosius and I sharing conversation about our past and what we missed, much to the satisfaction of our wardens, both interested in learning more about the two of us. It was a much needed breath of fresh air; despite my relative lack of discomfort with the Affini so far, there was still a ways to go to leave my service life behind me. “Well, that was delightful,” Aucari said, bringing me back to the present. “Ready to head out, Galatèa?” “Hm? Oh, yeah, ahem, yes. I am. Salvina, nice to meet you, Ambrosius, really good to see you again.” Salvina nodded, while Ambrosius responded: “I’m so glad you’re doing well, Tèa. I can’t wait to see what you get from that instrument shop.” I grinned. “I can’t wait to see what you make now that we have the time and freedom!” I gathered the dishes from our lunch and brought them back into the restaurant, were an awaiting dish tub sat. The cook who had taken our order caught my eye as I approached and waved. “I hope you and your friend enjoyed the meal!” “We really did,” I answered. “It’s been way too long since I’ve had food like that. Thank you very much for it!” “You’re very welcome. Come back any time,” they said kindly.

I rejoined Aucari outside the restaurant, stretching as one does after sitting for a while. “That was a nice little lunch date, I think. How do you feel, Tèa?” Aucari asked. It felt a little weird to hear her use my shortened name, but then she and I had gotten pretty close the past few days. “Great. I just ate a mountain of fried chicken and coleslaw, I saw one of my best friends doing well themselves, and I heard there was a musical instrument shop nearby. I’m having a great time. All thanks to you.” I said. “You’re very welcome, Galatèa. Truthfully, it’s been a delight being your warden. I’ll be quite sad when you’re ready to go off on your own.” Aucari told me. “Me too. You’re pretty cool, Aucari.” I replied. “Awww, you cutie,” Aucari complimented. Suddenly, she leaned down, her face centimetres from my ear. “Keep that kind of talk up, and we might have to do something like what we did last night, hehe.” I shivered, remembering what Aucari did after she had finished washing me. “Anyway,” she said, standing up again, “I believe you wanted to make one more stop today. Shall we?” 

“After you, my lady,” I nodded. “Hehe, so theatrical,” Aucari commented as she set off. “Terran music is so fascinating,” she commented while we walked. “To come up with so many clever ways to make the air vibrate at specific frequencies, combine those methods into assemblies, figure out how to record all this in physical media… just incredible.” I allowed myself a little smile. It was nice to have something positive come out of Terra, something other than subjugation and corporatism. “Do the Affini have musical traditions?” I asked, looking up at Aucari. She nodded. “Very much so. A lot of it is vocal, but with the ability to change our shape, as well as how long our lives are, there are many styles. Sometimes started by a single Affini, honing their way of making music over centuries.” “Damn,” I replied. “That’s multiple Terran lifetimes. I- How long do Affini typically live for?” Aucari looked off into the middle distance as she thought. “That depends. Usually, when we get too damaged or worn, we can shed most of our old biomass and “rebloom.” That’s why we introduce ourselves by stating which bloom we’re on. How long a bloom last can depend, but they’re usually about a century, in Terran years.” I counted on my figures, remembering that Aucari said she was a fourth bloom. “I’m sorry, you’re four hundred years old?!?” I exclaimed, bewildered. “Aucari grinned. “Closer to four hundred and twenty six Terran years, but yes,” she winked. “You are… hahhh, what? That… that makes you nearly as old as the Terran Accord. you predate the settling of my home planet.” I said in disbelief. It seems my body could barely comprehend this information as well, and I stumbled as my left leg buckled. I heard Aucari gasp, and I felt her vines grab me and pull me back to my feet before I faceplanted.

“Dirt, pe-Galatèa, you scared me! Are you ok?!” Aucari asked, lifting me off of the ground and into her arms. “Yeah, I’m… I’ll be ok. Sorry, that was just mind-warping.” I felt Aucari’s hand caressing the side of my face, and I could hear that strange rhythmic pulse again. It was odd, but incredibly calming. “Thanks, Miss Aucari,” I said, sighing in her arms. “What was that, Tèa?” She inquired. Shit, that was a really bad slip. I tried my best to play it off. “Hm? Oh, I just said thank you.” Aucari grasped my face and made me turn to face her. “I believe there was an extra word in there,” she said with an intense air of dominance. “It’s ok if you don’t want to repeat it here, little one. Rest assured, I think I’ll be hearing it from you later anyway, heheh. Now, are you able to walk again?” I nodded, unable to form the words. “Good girl,” Aucari whispered, before setting me down. My whole body shivered, but I decided to keep my mouth shut before I dug myself any deeper.

I tried my best to imagine what instruments might await me at the store to avoid dwelling too long on why I had been so subby around Aucari, as well as how ancient the Affini really were. That’s not to say I wasn’t curious about the latter, but I’d rather be sitting in case she gave another absurdly large age. I was lost enough in my thoughts that I had started humming a melody without noticing. “That’s pretty,” Aucari said, hearing me. “Huh? Oh, was I saying something?” I asked, focusing on Aucari again. “No, you were humming. I apologize for interrupting you, it was a very nice song,” Aucari said. I wracked my brain to try and remember which one I it had been. “Thanks,” I replied, remembering which one it was. “It was, um, In Vantablack by a band called Kyros, if memory serves.” Aucari nodded. “You know, that’s at least the second time I’ve heard you singing something that I’ve had to ask about. I think we’ll have to set aside an evening so you can show me your collection, cutie.” “Deal,” I said, grinning. Not that Ambrosius or Tony had disliked my music, far from it, but I hadn’t had the chance to just put it on and listen in quite some time. “Maybe tonight? I’ll already be in a musical mood.” “Sounds like a plan,” Aucari agreed.

I could hear the muffled sound of the shop before I saw its entrance. It was that familiar human chaos of the sounds of instruments being tested, their temporary users trying their best to not sound like beginners as they attempted to play more intermediate songs or jams of their own creation. The sign, when it finally came into view, was gorgeous; a slab of honey-colored wood had been carved into the flowing shape of a stylized piece of sheet music, complete with a scrolled top. The shop’s name, as well as the music notes decorating the sign, seemed to have been carved and then carefully charred, contrasting them brilliantly against the stained wood. The letters, carved in a lovely serif font, read “Mezzoforte.” The interior was similarly a work of craftsmanship; the walls were made of that same honey-colored wood, though with live accents of bunches of leaves and patches of moss. The floor had been charred, and then preserved, making it a rich shade of black with patches of the unburnt wood visible through the cracks. Both could be hard to see in some places though, as hanging instruments lined the walls, and amps and racks of accessories created alleys along the floor. 

“Are you ok, Galatèa?” Aucari asked as I stood in awe. “Yeah, I’m good. I- this place is just… perfect. I could spend all day in here.” I took a deep breath, savouring the smells of the store; from tonewood to guitar cleaner to the fresh leaves and moss. “Hi there!” A voice called to us from inside the shop. Much to my surprise, a creature looking a lot like a maniraptoran from the Mesozoic of Terra stood in front of us. They were slightly shorter than me, with dark brown plumage peppered with spots of white, and accents of a deep bluish-purple. “Kin’ur Ghal, they/he, third floret. Can I help you fine folks find something today?” “We’re looking for a bass guitar,” Aucari replied, saving me from gawking at Kin’ur any longer. “Awesome,” Kin’ur replied. “Any particular style, number of strings, anything like that?” “Galatèa?” Aucari prompted me. I shook my head. “It’s been two years since I’ve played one, maybe something simpler?” I shrugged. “Sure thing,” Kin’ur replied. “Right this way.” 

We were led to the back right of the shop, where a room branched off from the main section. Lining the walls were basses of myriad colors and shapes, hanging from the walls or on stands on the floor, in between amplifiers and speaker cabinets. “I’m not super familiar with the basses themselves, but I do most of the wiring and electronics here, so if you’ve got any questions about the amps, feel free to give me a shout.” They waved, before going back to the main room to talk to one of the other artisans who ran the place. As they did, I started strolling around the room, taking in each and every instrument. Many were somewhat familiar, inspired by models that had still been in production by various corporations in the Accord, like the classic J and P type basses. Others were more clearly the passion projects of skilled luthiers, with exotic materials, intricate woodwork, and kaleidoscopic blends of colors. “Why don’t you find three that look interesting to you,” Aucari suggested. “Just to start, and see which one you like the most?” “That’s probably a good idea,” I agreed. “Besides, bisexuals like me are infamously indecisive.” I chuckled slightly at the self-deprecating joke, but Aucari looked slightly disappointed. “Come now Galatèa, you should know better by now than to put yourself down like that.”

I let out a soft laugh. “I appreciate the concern Aucari, but I’m just being funny. I mean, you can also ask Ambrosius or Tony or Nadia how long it takes me to come to a decision, but it’s just a running joke in the queer community that bi people are indecisive.” I gave my explanation a little more thought, as I reached for a deep green offset bass with two precision style pickups. “Think of it like… like an Affini slang word for stubborn Terrans. It’s meant to be endearing and a show of affection, not derogatory.” Aucari sighed, but lightened her expression. “I just care about your well being. I don’t want you falling into a trap of self doubt.” I shuddered, remembering all of the times I had done that, about my decision to join the Navy, to rebel, about my transition. “Thanks, Aucari,” I said honestly. I plugged the bass into a nearby solid state amplifier, taking a second to find the power switch. Aucari found a stool nearby in the room and dragged it over. “Of course, p- Galatèa. Like I’ve said, it’s the responsibility of an Affini to take care of those in our care, but moreover, I like you.” “I like you too,” I smiled.

After our heart-to-heart, Aucari helped me narrow my choices down to three instruments; the olive-green offset, a gorgeous wine-red double cut semi-hollow with two single coil pickups, and a gnarly looking headless five string, painted a stark lime yellow-green with a black fade around the edges. Each of them sounded and felt fantastic to play, I loved the colors, but I couldn’t pick one that I preferred over the others. “Ugh, I can’t deciiiiiidddeeee,” I said, drawing out my last word for effect. Aucari pondered the dilemma for a moment, before her face lit up in revelation. “How about this, I’ll blindfold you with a vine and hand you one of them at random, with the same settings. Whichever one you like the most is the one we’ll get.” “Ok, sounds good,” I agreed. “Besides,” Aucari said as she extended a leaf-covered vine. “I’m sure any one of the florets here would be happy to make you one to your exact specifications, even more so if you made something for them in kind.” “Hmm,” I murmured, thinking about what I could make for someone else. I had lots of engineering experience, but it was mostly in TCN ships and their systems. I put that thought on the back burner as Aucari handed me an instrument, carefully so I had a firm grasp on it before she let go. I searched my mind for a simple bass line that covered a good range of the neck, and started playing. The pickups sounded good, but the neck was a bit long and wide. “Ok, next,” I told Aucari, gently holding the bass by the base of the neck and the bottom of the body.

Gently but with a firm grasp, Aucari took the bass from my hands and passed me the next one. I did the same routine, trying to avoid the headstock and top of the fretboard so as to not give away whether or not it was the five string. This bass’ pickups sounded brighter, and the neck was more comfortable, but I couldn’t really find a good spot to rest my hand while I plucked. “Ok, last one,” I said to Aucari, proffering the bass to her. “Last one,” she repeated, swapping the instruments. This one immediately felt more comfortable; the body was well contoured, and didn’t hit my chest while I moved it around. The pickups sounded great, like they had just been plucked out of one of the songs on my ancient MP3. The neck felt slimmer than the previous two, and was as smooth as silk. Or I assume it was; barring some of the garments that I saw at Toumai’s clothes shop, I had never felt real silk. Sericulture was time consuming and expensive, and not practiced on Nebra, so the only silk I ever saw adorned the bodies of high ranking government officials and corporates. Not that the two were particularly different. My thumb also rested quite naturally on the edge of the neck pickup, making it by far the easiest of the three to play. “This one for sure,” I told Aucari, continuing to play the scattered bass lines I could still remember. I’d have to put in some serious practice to get back to where I was. “Your playing sounds so pretty…” Aucari said. I could feel a vine caress the back of my neck, and I stopped playing due to the ensuing shiver. “Glad you found your favourite,” Aucari said, as if nothing had happened, as she removed my blindfold. 

The bass I held in my hands, perhaps unsurprisingly, was the wine-red double cut. I smiled, happy with my choice. “This one will go so well with your new sundress, too. Mmmh, maybe we’ll have to have you try both on when we get home~” Aucari said with a suggestive tone. I blushed, my eyes going a bit wide. “But I believe you need an amplifier to play this. Want to go get Kin’ur?” “Yes,” I said with a confusing mixture of emotions affecting my tone. I spotted the wiring engineer holding a data pad in front of a section of pedals, taking inventory. “Oh hi!” They said as they saw me. “I heard you testing out the basses in there. Found one you like?” “Indeed,” I said happily. “And now I need an amp to go along with it. Any that you think would work well with what I picked?” “Let’s see,” they replied, walking over to the bass section. “Depends on how loud you wanna get and what kind of music you wanna play.” “A bit of a mix. Mostly progressive rock,” I answered. “I also don’t need something really big or loud, more so something I can connect a backing track to. I don’t even know any other musicians to jam with.” They gave me a sympathetic look as we entered. “Sorry to hear that. We do have open mic nights at Darrel’s, a bar near here. That might be a decent spot to meet other musicians on the ship.” “I’ll have to check those out, after I get some practice in anyway. Thank you,” I said.

Chapter Text

17:08 CET, August 3rd, 2555

“Thanks again for your help,” I said to Kin’ur, the electrical engineer of Mezzoforte. The Vreeüt had just finished helping me find an amplifier, recommending a sleek looking solid state amplifier with a small 4x4 cabinet, as well as grabbing us a case for my new wine-red bass guitar. I felt elated at my acquisitions, like I was in a dream. As they catalogued the items they were giving to me, I felt there was something I should ask them. “Before I forget, is there anything that I can make for you in exchange for all of this? I feel bad not being able to reciprocate your generosity.” “Maybe,” they said in thought. “Do you have a workshop or a craft?” I scratched the back of my neck. “Not quite yet,” I said awkwardly. “She’s a recent rescue,” Aucari added, trying to help me out. “I see. Well, let me know if you end up making something. I’d be happy to be the first to get my hands on something you’ve made,” they grinned. “Deal,” I said, returning their smile. Kin’ur closed the latches on the guitar case, and Aucari hefted the speaker cabinet, the two of us ready to head home. “Oh, are you allergic to anything?” I called back to Kin’ur as I grabbed the case. “Nowk Tree nuts, why?” “I might not have a workshop, but I still know how to make food. I’ll see if I can find my mum’s lemon cake recipe.” Kin’ur beamed at the suggestion. “Sounds good! Enjoy your new instrument for now though!”

As Aucari and I walked back through the street again, I noticed the lights had changed, a little more orange, the same way a Terra-like planet’s sun does as it creeps across the sky towards the horizon. Another touch that made the ship feel less like a finite vessel in the void, but like a real place to live. It made me think of making a life here. I’d already mostly come to terms with living under the Affini compact. “I was just thinking,” I said as Aucari and I walked walked back to our- to her hab. “I’ve told you a lot about me; where I grew up, my interests, passions, I mean by the stars you’ve seen me… undressed. I wanna know more about you. What do you do normally? What fascinates you? Do you have a favourite animal?” Aucari thought about it for a moment, before answering each of the questions. “Recently, I’ve been mapping systems for newly assimilated planets, but in my time away from that I’ve been taking up leather work as a hobby. Since we encountered the first Terrans, the geography and botany of your homeworld and colonies have been interesting to me, as it has been for many Affini. As favourite animals go… ah, it’s so hard to choose. If I had to pick, I’d say Lumian Mantis-Hawks.” “Neat,” I said, unsure of how to actually reflect how interesting those things were in my voice. “The mapping thing sounds really cool. I remember reading something a little while back about this thing called LiDAR being used on Terra to map places covered by sand or foliage.” “Indeed it is,” Aucari said, smiling at my interest. “Affini LiDAR has gotten powerful enough to work through up to a kilometer of water as well, though satellite scans are also useful for that.”

“You’re really cool, yknow that?” I told Aucari. “I do, but it’s nice to hear it from such a cute little seed such as yourself.” I smiled bashfully, though I didn’t recognize the Affini slang. “Thanks.” We walked a little longer in silence before Aucari spoke again. “Back at the music store, you hesitated a bit when Kin’ur asked if you have a craft. I know you were an engineer before we rescued you, but is that not your passion anymore?” “Not really,” I answered. “It was something I had experience in, growing up in a family of engineers, and to be fair figuring out how things work is fun, but it was more a means to an end, yknow?” “Alright,” Aucari said, setting up her next question. “So what would you like to do, now that you’re no longer constrained by your former navy?” I rolled my neck back, my face pointed to the ceiling in thought for a moment. “I think I said that I wanted to go back to school at some point, probably for archaeology. But I also wanna make stuff as well. All day I’ve seen what other florets here have been able to do with their freedom and practice.” Aucari patted my head with a free vine. “Well, you don’t have to worry about ‘means to ends,’ or whatever the phrase you used was. You can take as much time as you need to figure out what you want to do, what you want to be.”

The rest of the walk back to Aucari’s hab was mostly quiet. Neither Aucari nor I were able to keep a conversation going, but we did enjoy just walking in each other’s company. As much fun as our day out had been, it was nice to return to the familiarity of the hab. I checked the stylish wrought iron and wood clock hanging from the kitchen wall. It was already half past five. “I believe it’s approaching time for your evening meal, little one. What would you like?” Aucari asked, walking over to the kitchen. “Maybe something light? We had a pretty big lunch.” “Alright, I’ll see what I can do. Why don’t you take your new things back to your room and try them out?” She suggested, putting the speaker cabinet down. “And then maybe come back out to help me prepare dinner?” I nodded. “Sounds good!” I scampered to my room, putting my clothes and bass down on my bed, before running back to the kitchen and hoisting the speaker cab up and moving it into my room. Making sure the door was closed, I stripped out of my old uniform and grabbed the black dress out of its paper bag. Before I tried it on, I checked myself out in the mirror again.

I looked better than I had that morning. My ribs were more covered by muscle and fat, my torso looked healthy, and my chest and hips were larger. I felt euphoric. So euphoric that I remembered what Ambrosius told me back when I first started transitioning: to take progress photos. I quickly threw on the dress and poked my head out of my door. “Hey Aucari?” I called. I could see her in the kitchen, her hands occupied with a tomato that she was slicing thinly, a few of her other vines tending to other parts of dinner. “Yes, Galatèa?” “I was just wondering if I could have a data pad. Among other things, I wanna take progress photos of the effects the class-g’s are having on my body.” Aucari’s face lit up, her eyes becoming a bright pink, with turquoise flakes. “Absolutely, you cutie. The compiler can make you one with your profile already set up!” “Sweet, thanks!” I said, coming out of my room fully.

Aucari gasped. “Oh frost, that looks incredible on you, Wildflower.” Her use of Ambrosius’ nickname for me made me shiver in joy. “Thank you,” I replied. “I never thought I’d look this good in this simple of an outfit, and without makeup no less.” “Oh sweet thing, I thought you were cute when I rescued you from that engine room. But now that you feel better about yourself… I can hardly put it into words,” Aucari said, sounding as if on the verge of happy tears. “And it’s all thanks to you,” I told her earnestly. “Could you imagine if you had found me a few months earlier though, back when I was still an unquestioning free Terran?” I joked. “Youd’ve had to hop me up on soooo many xenodrugs to even get me to admit that you were actually trying to help me instead of getting me ready to be eaten.” Aucari did something similar to rolling her eyes, though the absence of pupils definitely made it difficult to interpret at first. “You goof. Now go take your progress pictures.” I smirked and did as instructed, walking over to the compiler. “Compiler? One data pad, please.” “Absolutely,” the machine’s voice replied. I watched as a data pad the size of a Terran cell phone materialized in the compiler’s chamber, atom by atom placed with intricate detail. “Thanks! It’s already set up with my profile?” I asked, reaching my hand into the chamber to retrieve my new device. “Sure is! Have fun Galatèa,” the compiler’s intelligence chirped in reply.

I dashed back to my room, stripping again, though fully this time. I grabbed my new data pad and clicked the power button on the side. Despite being Affini tech, its design layout was surprisingly familiar. I quickly found the way to turn on the camera; likely because this pad was set up for use by a Terran, the camera app had the same icon of an old film camera. I snapped a couple of full-body portraits and head shots to get a good overall look at my body, and then tried to strike a pose to take a more interesting photo. I hadn’t been much of a photographer the last time I even had regular access to a camera, and my time as a rebel hadn’t improved upon that. Apart from the generic “leg kicked back while doing the peace sign, I couldn’t really think of anything else. Giggling to myself about how silly I must have looked, I pulled my underwear and sundress back on. As I did, I realized Aucari and I hadn’t gotten any undergarments when we were out. I’d have to ask her to take me to get some tomorrow. With my clothes on, I turned around to go and help Aucari with dinner.

As I did, my eyes lingered on my desk, where my old MP3 sat. Well beyond wanting to listen to its contents again, Aucari had asked to hear the songs I had referenced in our conversations beforehand. I snatched it off of the desk and made for the door. As I exited my room, I could smell fresh herbs being cut, releasing their tantalizing smells into the air. “Ready to help out?” Aucari asked as I appeared. “Nearly,” I answered. “Do you have any speakers in the kitchen?” “I do,” Aucari replied. “Can you connect this to them?” I said, offering my MP3 to my warden. “Ooh, do I finally get to hear some Galatèa music?” Aucari said excitedly. “Yep,” I said, grinning. Aucari placed the brick on the countertop and pulled a cable over from something that looked like a boombox with a wooden case. “I’m not familiar with this particular device, wildflower. Would you like to set it up?” “Mhm,” I replied. I walked up and flicked the deadman’s switch hidden in the MP3’s case, and powered it on. The familiar startup logo of whatever company my family had bought it from years and years ago, before the virtual library of Tenochtitlan of music loaded in. I set the device down and tried to think back to when Aucari and I had first met. Getting hit with aerosolized xenodrugs immediately after made it a bit blurry, but I did my best to recall what lyrics I had referenced to try to make light of my situation.

“Ok, all set,” I told Aucari as I set the device to shuffle my catalogue of music after I pressed play. “How can I help cook dinner?” “Do you see that bowl of green and white paste on the counter? I want you to take one spoon’s worth of it and place it into the middle of those pieces of dough, then fold them into triangles. Once they’re folded, put them on the baking sheet. Do you think you can do that?” “I might need some help, but I think I can!” “Excellent,” Aucari said, crushing a clove of garlic underneath her knife. I pressed play, savouring the familiar bass slide of the intro to Alien Shore. I washed my hands in the kitchen sink, before moving next to Aucari to help make the pastries for dinner, relishing the moment. Less than a week ago, I was miserable, slightly malnourished, and stressed out of my mind. Now, I was cooking next to someone I’d consider a friend, listening to my favourite music, wearing a sundress filled out by my body, finally made my own with a kind of gender affirming care that I could barely comprehend. Thinking of three days ago, though… my mind started to wander to Tony and Nadya, and my crew. Sure, Ambrosius and I had been treated well, but we had been cooperative. Tony was friendly, but he could also be stubborn, at times. What would happen if he started cursing out his rescuers? And Nadya. Nadya was smart, and quick on her feet, but she… she hadn’t had the same questioning of the Terran Accord that Ambrosius and I had, and held a lot of misplaced hate. Would she have accepted her rescue or fought back with tooth, nail, or worse, a firearm?

🎵 In a struggle to be happy and free, swimming in a primitive sea 🎵

“Ohh! That verse! That’s what you said to yourself when I was trying to rescue you back on the Śuri, right?” Aucari’s delight in hearing something she recognized made me snap back to the present. “Wha- oh, ahem, yes, it is.” Looking down, I had accidentally left my hand on the pastry when I folded it over. “As adorably tasty as you look, I’m not going to eat your hand if you put it in a spanakopita,” Aucari joked as she whisked away at her bowl. I went back to folding the pastries but said nothing. “Are you alright, wildflower? You’ve been acting quite spacey today.” “I- it’s nothing,” I responded, trying to avoid thinking about it. I felt Aucari place her hand on mine. “It’s ok, Galatèa, you can tell me. Please.” “It’s just- I’m just- I don’t know. Ambrosius is ok, but I don’t know about my other friends, or my crew from engineering. I’m supposed to look after them, right? Hell, that’s half the reason I rebelled; so I could make sure none of them accidentally hurt themselves! But I’ve just spent the past two days on what might as well be a vacation. I’m scared and I feel guilty that I’m having fun while the people I’m responsible for might be unwell.” Aucari looked at me with concern and sympathy as I rambled, gently squeezing my hand in hers. “Oh, Tèa, you know that no matter what, the people you care about are being well taken care of.” I breathed a shuddering sigh as she told me, trying not to spiral further. “Hey, look at me. Galatèa. Please look at me.” I turned my head to look Aucari in the eyes. “What did I promise you? Back when I rescued you from that engine room, what did we agree on?”

“Y-we agreed that nothing bad would happen to my crew.” I said shakily. “Almost,” she responded. “I didn’t promise your friends would be ok in exchange for your safety. I promised that you would all be safe and cared for. Deep breaths,” Aucari said, still holding my hand. With her other hand, she reached for her data pad, propped up on the counter to display a recipe. “Oh dear, your stress hormone levels are quite high. I’ll just administer some class-a’s and class-e’s to help you relax, ok?” I wrung my hands. “Mhh, I mean… I don’t know,” I mumbled, torn between wanting to feel better and not wanting to build a dependency, not to mention I hadn’t spent enough time captured to have memorized all of the xenodrug classes. I took a deep breath and sighed as I made a decision. “Ok. Thanks, Aucari.” “You’re welcome,” Aucari said, pressing something on the tablet. “It might take a second to kick in. I’m so sorry that this happened. If you need to sit down, I can finish with dinner.” I felt her place her other hand on my shoulder and back. “Thanks for the offer,” I replied. “But I wanna help. You’ve done so much for me, I want to- I don’t want to feel any more useless.” “You aren’t, Galatèa. Your worth isn’t measured by what you can do or who you are. Just remember that, ok?” Aucari asked, massaging my shoulder. I nodded and shivered, the xenodrugs finally kicking in.

I looked back to my workspace and continued making the spanakopitas, as Alien Shore finished and a fusion jazz track started playing. “Those are looking good,” Aucari said as she used her vines to toss the salad and dressing together. “Would you like to take those over to the oven?” “Sure,” I said, moving slowly and carefully due to the xenodrugs. I picked up the baking sheet and walked to the other side of the kitchen. As I did, I saw a gently simmering pot on the stovetop. “What’s in the pot?” I asked, placing the baking sheet on top of the stove so I could open the door. “A tomato soup with herbs, vegetables, and small pieces of pasta called minestrone.” Aucari answered. “Once you’ve put the spanakopita in the oven, if you could give it a gentle stir to make sure it’s not burning on the bottom, that would be appreciated.” “Ok,” I replied. The soup smelled delicious, fresh and bright like the rest of the meal Aucari and I were preparing. After gently placing the tray of pastries in the oven and shutting the door, I did as instructed, using a plain wooden spoon to gently agitate the liquid, taking care to scrape the bottom to ensure nothing would stick and burn. I tried my best to focus on the task at hand as well as the complex intertwining melodies of the current song to keep my mind from slipping back to worry, made easier by the warm, bubbly feeling of the xenodrugs.

It was that partial trance-like state that made me jump when Aucari gently placed her hands on my shoulders. It caused me to make a noise usually reserved for small prey animals, though thankfully the soup remained unharmed. “Are you ok, Galatèa?” Aucari asked with alarm. I took another deep breath. “I’m ok, sorry. I just startle easily.” Aucari breathed a sigh of relief. “That had me worried for a moment there. Maybe we have to increase tonight’s dosage of class-a’s.” I shivered at the thought. “Maybe later? I’d still like to be a little lucid.” I asked. “Alright, wildflower. A little later.” Aucari answered. “Now, all we’ve got to do is let everything cook a bit longer. Why don’t we take a seat and we can chat, hm?” She gestured to the couch in her living room, a large and comfortable looking piece of furniture made of a similar frame of woven branches to my bed, with plush cushions resembling a very soft grass. I relented and walked over to it, sinking into the cushions with a thump. Aucari joined me, sitting down with much more grace. “So, what did you wanna talk about?” I asked, taking a second to gather the right words through the mild haze of the xenodrugs. “Anything you’d like,” Aucari answered. “Why don’t you tell me about your music?”

“Ok,” I shrugged. “Music has always been in my family. My mother is a pretty good violin player, as is my sister, so I was kinda pressured into playing one myself. I played the upright bass in my high school’s band, which led to me playing the electric bass as well. Plus, some great grandparent or another wanted some kind of legacy, a family heirloom. So, they got an MP3 with as much storage as they could get, and gave it to their kids. The thing was upgraded by my grandmother to have more storage, as well as a deadman’s switch, so it could be safely transported through Accord customs when my family settled on Nebra. For me, it became a way to reflect on myself, feel emotions I normally wouldn’t. At least, until I came out as trans, that helped break the emotional dam, so to speak.” “I see,” Aucari said, resting her head on her hand, looking at me with interest. As we chatted, the jazz fusion track ended and the next one loaded in, a shorter track titled Let Me Mend The Past , by the sounds of it. “Sometimes I wonder why it took me so long to break my programming. Half of the songs in that thing are anti-authority, and a good few of them were written by trans people. But then, no one is immune to propaganda, and having your fundamental beliefs shaken is difficult. Except maybe the Affini, I don’t know how… plant… psychology works?” I rambled, hoping to the stars that I hadn’t said anything offensive. “Well, you don’t have to worry about those things any more,” Aucari said with a giggle, thankfully choosing to laugh off my plant psychology sentence.

“You’re absolutely adorable in that dress, you know,” she added, eyeing me up and down as she broke the awkward silence. I blushed hard. The fact that Aucari already knew how to push my buttons was both exhilarating and annoying; it had taken my friends on the Śuri weeks. “Th-thanks,” I stuttered in reply. “I- you’re really pretty yourself.” I whispered, staring at my hands. “I’m sorry Galatèa, but I couldn’t quite catch that. Would you mind repeating yourself?” Aucari pressed, leaning over me. My heart was beating hard again as I met her gaze, the two of us frozen in the moment. I could feel myself getting hard as the xenodrugs made every sensation a catalyst of pleasure. A beep from a timer back in the kitchen shattered the silence, and I sighed, half in relief and half in disappointment. “Oh! Sounds like the cevapi and spanakopita are ready,” Aucari said as she stood, as if nothing had happened. She brushed my face with her vine as she walked by, the xenodrugs in my system making it feel heavenly, and I had to focus hard to not make a sound in response. I heard Aucari open the oven doors, and the room filled with the smell of cooked dough and meat. “I’m just going to give everything a minute to cool, and then we can eat,” she called to me. “Why don’t you come to the kitchen? I could make you something to drink if you’d like.”

I got up carefully. Whatever cocktail of xenodrugs Aucari had given me were making even the fabric of my dress feel good on my skin. “Yes please,” I replied to her question. “What- hmmn. What have you got?” “Another Terran I helped rescue a year or so back taught me a bit of Terran mixology. I could make you a cocktail.” “That sounds divine, thank you. Could I- hhnnh. Mm. You know what, surprise me?” I said, feeling warm as I stood closer to Aucari. “Alright, wildflower. How does a caipirinha sound?” She asked. I shrugged. “Never had one. But I’m excited to try!” I added, trying not to sound ungrateful. “Hehe, cutie,” Aucari responded, turning around to make the drink. I exhaled, not realizing I’d been holding my breath. Aucari was supposed to be my caretaker, maybe a friend. So why did it feel so good when she treated me like that ?

As Aucari made the caipirinha, Let Me Mend The Past ended and the next track started, recognizable by the crunchy, distorted ghost notes as Cold Fire . “Here you are,” Aucari said, finishing the drink with a lime wedge garnish. “Ready to eat?” “Could we finish listening to this song first? I haven’t heard it in ages.” I asked. “Sure,” Aucari agreed. “I’ll get everything set up for us. She went about getting us plates, sauces for the cevapi and spanakopita, bowls for the soup, and so on. I allowed myself to relax a little more, and enjoyed the song.

🎶 She said “sure, I’ll be your partner,

But don’t make too many demands.”

I said “if love has these conditions, I don’t understand those songs you love,”

She said “this is not a love song,

This isn’t fantasy land.” 🎶

From an interpersonal perspective, I had always liked how this song was written. It wasn’t a happy-go-lucky or lustful love song, nor a dramatic and overblown breakup song, but something in between. A reflection of the possibility of disagreement and disappointment, the necessity of enthusiasm and consent, and the willingness to meet your partner’s needs. Plus, it had some great instrumental work. ‘I should learn how to play this,’ I thought as I took another sip of my drink. I recoiled slightly from the alcohol; the last time I had anything alcoholic was in Captain Fiario’s dining room, at a dinner with all of the division commanders. Unlike then, though, I wasn’t in an uncomfortable room with some of my least favourite people in the galaxy, where the alcohol only made me dizzy and anxious. Aucari, meanwhile, had offered to make me a cocktail I had never heard of, made even better by the dose of xenodrugs she had put me on just cause I had gotten too stressed. Everything was finally looking up.

🎶 Love is blind if you are gentle… 🎶

Chapter Text

19:12 CET, August 3rd, 2555

As the song faded out. I pressed pause on the MP3, ready to sit down with Aucari. I think that she had also promised we’d watch a movie earlier in the day. Like most forms of entertainment, public cinemas were strictly monitored and controlled by the same corporations that ruled Nebra, and this issue was compounded by a lack of time and resources when the Śuri and her crew rebelled. “Ready for, oh, what’s the Terran expression? Dinner and a show?” Aucari asked as I stopped leaning on the counter and stood upright. “That is the expression, and very much so!” As I was lost musing on the music, Aucari had got plates and cutlery set up, bowls filled with dipping sauces for our small assortment of finger foods, and even napkins in the event of spillage. “Whoa, that looks really good!” I said in surprise. “You truly are a master of the culinary arts, Aucari.” She performatively bowed while giggling. “Thanks Wildflower, though I am but a humble home cook. Someday I’ll take you out to an Affini-run restaurant; imagine a chef who’s spent an entire bloom mastering their work.” “Fuck- I mean stars, I don’t know if I can,” I replied, stumbling in my attempt to not swear. 

Aucari laughed at my slip up, but apologized after she managed to get it under control. “Ahh, sorry Tèa, that was cute. I’m glad you’re trying to swear less, though to be honest I’m fine with you swearing in the privacy of my hab. It’s just in public where we need to be careful about our words, especially on a ship that’s full of recent rescues.” I nodded. “I’ll do my best!” I said, smiling stupidly. “I know you will,” Aucari responded. Her eyes lingered on my face away another second, her mouth poised as if about to open again to say something else, but it quickly disappeared. “Now, let’s get you fed,” she declared, seeming to finally find the words.

The food was, as always on the… actually I hadn’t asked if this ship had a name. I’d ask Aucari later. The food was immaculate, the spanakopita I had a hand in making were crispy and flaky with a cheese and spinach filling that paired very well with the sweet and sour sauce Aucari had provided. The minestrone was the perfect temperature, with a delicate balance of fresh herbs and rich stock. The cevapi, small cylinders of meat, seasoning, and onions, gave the assortment a well needed umami boost, and were even tastier when dipped in a red pepper sauce. To bring it all together, the salad was light and fresh; lettuce made up the base, which was added on to with watercress, pumpkin seeds, and a lemon-y tasting green that I didn’t recognize, all topped in a delicious vinaigrette. As my warden and I ate, she set a large display mounted across from her couch to play Jurassic Park.

I had heard of the basic synopsis of the film once or twice from friends who had illegally viewed it, but it was a whole other experience to actually see it myself. I was so tense when the T. Rex scene started that when it crashed through the outhouse I squeaked in fear and reached instinctively towards Aucari, grasping her arm. After a moment I had realized what I did and looked up at Aucari, who had looked down in surprise at me. I slowly and carefully pulled myself away and back to how I had been sitting before, Aucari watching me bemused. “Sorry,” I squeaked, trying to turn back to the movie. “That’s quite alright,” Aucari responded, still staring. “There might be more scary parts in the movie. If you’d like…” she gestured to the space at her side. “Well, um, if… if you don’t mind?” I said tentatively. “I wouldn’t mind. Take a seat,” Aucari confirmed. I shuffled back over to her, pulling my legs up and letting them rest on the couch at my side, so I could better lean against Aucari. ‘Just cause she doesn’t mind and it’s a more comfortable way to sit,’ I thought to myself. As I rested against Aucari, I could hear that faint rhythmic pulse again. As I sat and watched, I could subconsciously feel my heart beat slowing down from the excitement of the scare to match the pulse. I don’t know how, but it made me feel calm and safe, like my body could feel how much Aucari wanted to keep me safe. 

As the movie concluded, I could see how it got banned by Nebra’s government; looking to make as much profit as possible, John Hammond and his lawyer ignored safety concerns, underpaid and understaffed both the security and computer operations personnel, and failed to properly prepare for emergencies. All of the faults of corporations pushing science to its boundaries but ignoring the dangers that their research poses. 

With the credits rolling, I stretched, feeling a few of my joints pop as I extended my body to its furthest extents. “That was really fun,” I yawned. “And a really nice way to finish our day,” I smiled up at Aucari. “I’m glad to hear that, Galatèa, but as I recall you haven’t bathed today. I can go draw a bath if you’d like to take our dishes to the counter.” Aucari suggested. Deep in my mind, I wanted to go to bed, just sleep and reflect on the day. Before those thoughts could drift to the surface, I answered her: “Yes please, mi- please Aucari.” As I nearly made another bad Freudian slip, Aucari giggled again, but this time… this time it felt different. It felt like more. Like I needed to hear her whole heartedly laugh, in pleasure, amusement, relaxation. I needed to hear her nigh-crystalline voice and the sound of her joy, exhilaration, and happiness burned forever into my synapses. “I’ll meet you in the bathroom then,” Aucari told me, smiling at me over her shoulder.

Given that Aucari had put me in similar circumstances last night, I had an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu. It felt good though, good and safe. With haste, I brought all of our dishes to the sink basin set into the countertop, and jogged over to the bathroom. “Hey, Galatèa,” Aucari said as she saw me enter. “Bath’s ready. Let’s get you out of that dress, cute though it is on you,” Aucari walked over to me and grasped the hem of my dress with her vines, pulling it up and over my head. “Frost, Galatèa, even after a day you look so much better, so much healthier,” Aucari breathed sultrily. “How do you feel?” “Honestly? If it weren’t for the xenodrugs making it harder to feel sad, on the verge of happy tears,” I answered, smiling euphorically as if I wasn’t half-naked in front of a nine foot tall domineering plant alien. “That makes me so happy to hear,” Aucari said, embracing me. I felt her shudder as she held me in her arms. “Aucari? Are you alright?” I heard her make a noise similar to a human sniffling. “Yes, ahem. Dirt, listen to me getting all emotional like this. You- I’m just so glad you’re in my care. I mean, any Affini care would have been better than you wasting away in both body and soul on your old ship, but I’m so, so glad I was the one who volunteered to search the engineering deck.” She squeezed me closer, nestling me between her pseudo-breasts, as if I was suddenly going to disappear.

“I’m really glad you found me, too.” I found myself sniffling a little bit as well. “Imagine if you had been a few minutes later,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “What a pathetic death I would’ve had, crying in a vacsuit as a nuclear implosion crushed me into nothingness.” “Don’t even joke,” Aucari replied. We stood there for a moment longer, trying to calm ourselves in the other’s presence. “Right,” she said, releasing her grasp. “We still have to get you clean. May I still..?” “Yes please,” I told her. She removed my boxers, and quickly plunked me into the water, still at the perfect warm temperature despite our emotional exchange. Though the sensation of Aucari’s vines on my skin was still pleasurable, it was clear the mood had become more amicable and platonic, rather than the lust and attraction it had been earlier in the evening. With my body clean, she lifted me out of the water, drying me off with her vines. “All better,” she said, though I couldn’t tell which of us she was talking to. “Thanks, Aucari. For everything,” I replied, pulling her close and hugging her. Well, pulling a nine foot tall muscular plant person as far as she let me. 

After our second heartfelt embrace of the evening, Aucari dutifully brushed my teeth and my hair, before walking with me to my room. “Well,” I said, crossing the threshold and turning to face my warden. “Well,” she repeated, her eyes a pale yellow-green. “I’ve had a really good day. I, uhm… thanks again. I really cherish everything you’ve helped me with.” “Of course, wildflower,” Aucari responded, rubbing the back of her neck. I turned around and draped my sundress over my chair. I was ready to crash into my bed, but something nagged at the back of my brain. “Hey, Aucari?” I called to her. “Yes?” I walked up to her again, and beckoned for her to lean down. “You know Affini don’t work like that, right? I can hear you more or less the same standing straight up.” She pointed out. “I know, but it’s important. I wouldn’t want anyone else to hear,” I winked at her. She rolled her eyes, but leant down anyway, a playful grin on her face. “I love you, Aucari. I don’t know what kind of love it is, platonic, familial, physical or romantic, but I needed you to know,” I kissed her on the side of her face, before skipping back to my bed. I waved goodnight to her as I sat cross-legged on the side of my bed. “Sleep well, Aucari. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow’ll bring.” 

As my door slowly unfurled shut, I could see Aucari standing there in awe, her eyes shifting between a hazy pink, a rich reddish-purple, and the same black with gold flecks that they had been when she had found me. When she was fully out of sight, I collapsed back on my bed. My mind was abuzz with thoughts; I was shocked at how easy I had said all of that and not fucked it up, I was nervous to hear her eventual response, I was excited to see her again in the morning but terrified all the same. And what kind of love did I feel for her? What did I want from us? Friends? Friends with benefits? A partner? Did I want to get floreted? I decided to kill some time to let myself get more tired, and to push the thoughts to the back burner with all of the other complicated ones. I grabbed my new data pad from my bedside and opened its search engine. 

First I wanted to know everything I could about the Affini, and my search yielded fruit. I learned that the Affini were effectively biomechanics, incorporating incredibly advanced technology into their biomasses, which they could also change. Their ships, perhaps unsurprisingly, functioned in a similar way, though they were more “nuclear power plant surrounded by a managed forest,” than they were “sentient plant ferrying ants across the universe.” I learned that they had co-evolved with a sentient pollinator species very similar to bees, and had used them to pollinate one another by covering their ”beeple,” as they liked to be called in pollen, and thus the Affini had developed an extremely strong protective streak, which became culturally and biologically engrained over the millennia. It was on the Compact-pedia page for the Beeple that I had seen the text for “floret” hyperlinked. I felt my heart pick up pace again. I tapped on the link. 

Much to Aucari’s credit, what she had said about florets was true; we- they did get reduced legal rights, but also a guarantee of well being, loving ownership, and help in aspirational fulfillment. Florets also were required to get something called a ‘haustoric implant’ implanted into them, made from a cutting from their owner. It allowed them to feel their owner’s ’biorhythm’ at all times, as well as allowed their owner to freely and at a thought release xenodrugs into their body. Some florets even opted to undergo the procedure while awake and conscious. Still, I couldn’t get the thought of ownership out of my head, even if it involved surgery. As much as I hated being put under, I had needed to when I got my wisdom teeth pulled, and when I had broken my left arm in a training exercise on repairing the fighter craft that the largest ships in the Terran fleet could harbor. And if getting floreted was what I wanted, did I really want more surgery?

I moved on from those thoughts as well by searching up some other topics on my data pad. I started with what I knew, or had some nominal interest in, like Terran archaeology and old Terran music. I saw that there was an archival project in place for a lot of pre-accord media; not everything survives the sands of time nor the iron fist of authority, and so any piece of that past is worth preserving. From here, I discovered other open-source archival projects and forums dedicated just to Terran culture, to say nothing of the myriad of other projects dedicated to all of the other cultures the Affini had encountered. There was an entire forum dedicated just to xenoarchaeology, which I promptly bookmarked. In my search across the communities of the Affini compact’s net, I came across one more thing that caught my attention: a community called “Terran Seeds.” I clicked on the link. 

As the site loaded, a helpful explainer appeared beneath the title; “Welcome to Terran Seeds! For the unaware, a seed is a sophont who, despite what they claim, desires to become a floret. This community dedicated to everyone who is questioning, unsure, or simply interested in the process of becoming and experiences living as a floret.” Pinned posts included ones with guides on how to express to an Affini that you wanted to be theirs, or how to get the bureau of sophont affairs to conduct a wellness check on you if you lived in a settled area. Another had discussions and guides on how to, if you were able, negotiate the terms of your domestication with your Affini, while yet another was simply a discussion board for a variety of related topics. And then I saw a link to another subdomain of the site titled “Florn.” I’m not totally hapless, but I was able to put two and two together and make an educated guess about what that word meant. I clicked on the link anyway.

“Stars, that’s a lot of vines,” I thought, my eyes widening. It would seem that this page of the site was solely dedicated to the sexual encounters of Terran florets with their Affini, with each other, or simply by themselves. Terran x Affini was by far the most common though, from the typical “Affini using a plethora of vines to pleasure all of their floret’s sensitive spots at once,” to “Affini using “specialized vines” to absolutely rail their florets,” even a few rare “subffini” posts in which the floret was the giver. After a couple minutes of scrolling I closed my pad, unsure of how I should feel after seeing that page. I couldn’t deny my curiosity, or the more rapid pulse of my heart, but something just made me feel… off. Maybe not bad, just weird. I lay on my back and stared at the darkened ceiling for a while, but found myself unable to sleep. I reached for the data pad again and opened it. I stared at the assorted posts a little while longer, before bookmarking the page. I tossed my data pad to the side and closed my eyes, trying to still my restless mind - now filled with images of potential.

My sleep was restless again. I dreamt of being chased across mountains and deserts by the haunting façades of two of my friends, Nadya and Liam, neither of whom had ever met each other. I dreamt that the pair, smiling husks and hollow voices imitating the companions I had once cherished, taunted me as I tried to lose them through the close streets of a mountain city. I could swear that I had lost them, as I entered a grocery store to buy essentials for surviving as I continued running from them. Just then, Nadya’s body burst through the glass doors of the store, shards of shattered glass and ripped metal flying inward. Time slowed to a standstill, and in the frozen space I saw that through the cloud of shrapnel, behind Nadya’s rage-filled visage, was cold, black space. And at its centre, the lunar colony of Esarhaddon, torn to pieces by the Śuri’s guns. Suddenly, everything was in motion again, and the thing imitating Nadya had her hands around my neck, holding me aloft. With a satisfied huff, she balled her other hand into a fist and spoke once more: “No more running, freak.”

Unrestrained by vines this time, I gasped awake in a cold sweat. I looked around to either side, panting. It was the same room I had fallen asleep in last night, my uniform and black sundress draped lazily over my desk chair, the other clothing still in the plain paper bag they’d been in since yesterday, and my new bass guitar leaning against its accompanying amp. Out of my porthole window, the glitter of distant stars were the only breaks in the all-encompassing dark of interstellar space. I took a few deep breaths to steady myself, telling myself that no matter what, none of my friends would do that to me. I jumped as I heard a knock at my door. “Wildflower, are you ok? Your collar has been detecting increased stress again.” Aucari’s voice carried through the door and into my room clearly. “Yeah, hang on,” I said, stretching. I still didn’t have a robe or anything to quickly cover myself with, and the compiler was outside. I tossed on the black sundress again and decided to go commando until I could get to the compiler, and I made my way over to the door, which opened as I approached. Aucari stood on the other side, a concerned look on her face. “I’m alright,” I told her through a yawn. “Just another nightmare.” “Oh Galatèa, I’m so sorry,” Aucari said, crouching so that she could be at eye level with me. “Would you like to tell me about it?” I shrugged. “Maybe over something to eat?” “Of course. What would you like?” She asked. 

“Could I have some tea? And maybe… I don’t know, something light and protein-filled?” I requested. Aucari nodded, and set to work, placing a kettle on the stovetop and pulling a large teapot decorated with red birds out of a cabinet. While the kettle slowly heated up, she walked over to the compiler and asked for a handful of ingredients. She got what looked like two skin-on mackerel fillets and placed them into a steel pan along with some oil, tomatoes, and herbs. “What kind of tea would you like, Tèa?” She asked as everything was cooking. “Maybe some masala chai?” I replied. I stood up from the seat at the edge of Aucari’s table and walked up to grab the kettle, which had started whistling as the water within reached boiling. Aucari dutifully placed a silk bag of tea within the pot, while I lifted the kettle off of the stove and poured its boiling contents into the pot. Aucari thanked me and returned to the stove, where she had placed another pan with oil and onions within on top of the stove where the kettle had been. “Now that everything is cooking or steeping, would you like to tell me what your nightmare was about?” I gave an involuntary shudder. “Yeah, it, um…” I stuttered, trying to find the words. “I was being chased by two… things that looked like my friends, but weren’t. When one of them broke through a glass door trying to get to me, I saw- it looked like the… it looked like the moon of Esarhaddon, a place that my ship had fired upon years ago. Then, the thing that looked like my friend Nadya caught me and called me a freak.” “Oh, dear, I’m so sorry that you had to see that. That must’ve been terrible,” Aucari said, placing her hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know what was worse, the memory of the potential war crime I helped perpetrate, or the thought that one of my closest friends won’t accept who I am,” I said, fidgeting with my hands. 

Aucari placed her other hand squarely on my shoulder, causing me to stop and look up at her. “If they’re truly a friend of yours, then they’ll accept you no matter what. And even if you don’t, you have your other friends like Ambrosius and Tony. And me.” Aucari smiled hopefully, her eyes framed by her face to look like she was raising her inner eyebrows, were she a Terran. I returned the gesture, resting my head against one of her arms. “Thanks, Aucari. You always know what to say.” “I try my best,” she said, somewhat bashfully. “Now take a seat, breakfast is almost ready.” I did as instructed, only remembering what I had said to Aucari the night before then and there. She hadn’t brought anything up though, so I figured it’d be fine. Moments later, Aucari brought breakfast out. 

The meal was pan fried mackerel fillets, served with some lightly caramelized onions and pan seared tomatoes over thick slices of light, airy bread. A medley of smells, from the oily, savory fish to the herbs like tarragon it had been cooked with were followed by the delicate sweet ones from the onions and tomatoes. These faded into the background when Aucari brought the teapot to the table, as the warm, inviting scent of the chai emanated from the teacup she poured it into. “Stars, this looks incredible Aucari. You really never miss, do you?” I complimented. “Well, taking a Terran cooking course at the beginning of the domestication program certainly helped, hehe,” Aucari winked. “It’s greatly appreciated,” I said after downing a sip of chai. “Now that you’re fed, and going back to our conversation about your nightmare,” Aucari segued, “I got a hold of your friend Nadya’s warden. She… she’s been having a hard time adjusting to our care, and her caretaker feels that a dinner date might help her out.” “Sounds like a plan, then,” I replied, grinning. “It’ll be nice to finally share a meal with her that’s not just synthcubes.” I was in a much better mood, but Aucari seemed trepidatious. I had to know why.

“What’s wrong? You seem… worried, almost.” “It’s just-“ Aucari started. “I… I am one of the more… lenient Affini aboard the ship. I know that you’ve been more than happy to abandon feralism, and I’ve been more than happy to oblige your interests and intellect. Other Affini though, especially when dealing with hardcore feralists, are much less so.” I nodded, resting my head on my entwined hands as Aucari explained. “I simply want you to go into this meeting knowing a little of what to expect.” I took a deep breath. “Understood. Thank you for telling me. I… she’s strong. I don’t know exactly what to expect, but I’m certain I’ll still feel the same about her.” “As am I, wildflower.”