Birds of Prey - Bisexual Edition

"Her name is Tacka'hauh'qui," Maza volunteered.

"That's quite a mouthful," Scratcher said, taking another sip of his drink.

"Tacka, then," Baker continued. "Tacka, your callsign will be...Ghost."

The fourth alien cocked her head at them, perhaps not really understanding what was happening, but wanting to be included all the same. It was Xico, the one with the dark scales.

"Xico'hte'otl," she said as she pointed to her chest.

"Xico," Scratcher said, resting his injured arm on the counter as he held his drink in the other. "For you, Camouflage. That shade of green makes me think of woodland camo."

"Not bad, not bad," Baker said. "Let Bullseye do one next."

Jaeger looked down at Maza, scratching his chin as he wracked his mind for a good nickname.

"Laserbird," he said.

***

Jaeger bade farewell to his friends, setting off back towards the hangar. The aliens trailed after him, bobbing along behind him as they followed him through the twisting bowels of the carrier. The bar was located far at one end of the vessel, towards the aft, and it was somewhat of a trek to get back to the hangar from there.

After what must have been half a mile of walking through branching corridors and up and down vertical staircases, Maza signaled that she and her friends needed a breather. The aliens stood in place, seeming to rest, and yet they were standing upright.

"Don't you want to sit down?" he asked. "I figured you might have trouble keeping up on those little legs."

"Sit? Why?" she asked.

"You don't have to stand up, you know. Aren't you uncomfortable?"

She seemed as confused as he was, cocking her head at him.

"Earth'nay must sit to rest?"

Something was up, and he circled her as he examined her legs. They looked like those of a dinosaur, or some kind of bird. The Valbarans stood on their two toes, and they had a slightly forward-leaning posture that made them look as if they might fall over without their balancing tails. Her digitigrade limbs were very thick and strong around the thighs, and they tapered into thinner, more bony shins. It was hard to tell if the bulk around their legs was biological, or a result of their suits. Perhaps they had some kind of padding or electronics housed there. The same was true for the way that their wide hips tapered into such a thin waist, it just didn't look natural to him.

He noticed that they weren't shifting their weight from foot to foot as a human would have done while standing in one place for a long time, they were perfectly level, their legs immobile. All five of the aliens were standing in the exact same posture.

"Have you...locked your leg joints?" he asked.

"This is unusual for Earth'nay?"

Amazing, so that was how they were able to crouch and perch on crates for such long periods of time. When they tired, they just locked their legs, and their skeletons would take the load off their muscles.

"We can't do that," he replied, "we have to sit down. Can you sleep standing up too?"

"Earth'nay cannot?"

Well, now he had something of interest to relay to Evans, at least.

"Earth'nay have stamina," she continued, "walk for long time. Strong." She looked him up and down with those unblinking eyes, and for a moment he felt a little self-conscious. She met his gaze unflinchingly, and when he blinked, it seemed to please her. "I wonder how well you fight, will have to find out some time soon."

He remembered how easily one of the aliens had lifted that massive dumbbell in the gym. Despite their size, they seemed to be extraordinarily strong, so why was she praising his stamina just for walking around the ship?

"You speech is getting much clearer," he said, making small talk as he waited for the aliens to recover. "When Doctor Evans told me that you'd probably be speaking fluently in less than a week, I didn't really believe her. You learn quickly, at least more quickly than what we're used to. I feel like I could have a real conversation with you now."

"You asked me of my world," she said, "I was distracted by your animals."

"Yeah, I remember, I think I'd be distracted too if you showed me pictures of Valbaran animals."

"We have many, they will impress. Soon I hope to show you."

"Show me? Pictures?"

"No," she said, struggling to find the words. "Soon we will visit Val'ba'ra, my flock and I believe it to be so. There I will show you my world, as you have shown me your Rorke."

"I hope you're right, I'll look forward to that. I could do with some shore leave after spending so many months cooped up on the carrier."

"I like you, Jaeger," she said as she looked him in the eyes again. Her irises were so strikingly violet, reflective and shiny under the harsh halogen lighting of the ship, the slits of her reptilian pupils expanding into large circles as she watched him. She fluttered her feathery headdress, shades of pink and red flashing, her companions sharing glances between one another. He felt like he was being left out of the loop, their subtle feather displays completely outside of his understanding. "You are not like other males, you are...competent."

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment," he chuckled.

CHAPTER 7: HD-217107

"The findings of the probe confirm the claims of the aliens," Campbell said, pacing in front of the table in the briefing room as a hologram of the system flickered above it. Jaeger was once again in attendance, along with Doctor Evans, some of the more senior personnel, and the Valbarans. The Captain was standing beside the engineer, his hands clasped behind his back as he examined the ghostly display. "There is a third planet in the HD-217107 system, between the orbits of the two gas giants. Its distance from the star is calculated to be one point two AU, with an orbital period of one point three Earth-standard years. Due to the luminosity of the star, approximately ten percent brighter than Sol and ninety-eight percent of its mass, it puts Valbara well within the habitable zone. Valbara appears to have a slightly lower mass than Earth, but not enough to have any serious impact on any potential ground operations."

"What kind of activity did the probe pick up?" Fielding asked.

"Lots of radio chatter, lots of interplanetary and orbital traffic. It appears that the Valbarans have established outposts on several moons of the outer gas giant, which is likely where they mine the helium-3 that they use in their reactors. Interestingly, the inner gas giant orbits at point zero zero seven AU from the star, and its year lasts only point zero two standard, that's a little over a week. It's incredibly hot and fast, I've never seen anything like it."

"Defenses?" Fielding asked.

"A series of orbital defense platforms using high-powered laser batteries, and several more carriers like the one we encountered. Their reactors are kicking out immense heat. Not the most practical orbital defense system, but I wouldn't want to be in the aperture of those mirrors all the same. Personally, I don't think they'd be able to burn through the hull of a hive ship at any significant range, even if they concentrated their beams. I don't know how effective they'd be at holding off a Bug invasion. There's radioactivity too, likely nuclear weapons. Those might be more effective, but their use is obviously limited. Their strategy might have been to bombard the Bug fleet at range with their nuclear warheads, and then finish off the stragglers with laser fire."

"Did we miss anything?" Fielding asked, directing his question to Maza.

"No, Captain," she replied. "I must admit, I am a little...perturbed by your ability to spy on us."

Her language skills were now so good that she was very nearly fluent, she might have been mistaken for a human if it wasn't for the pitch of her voice and the way that she seemed to hesitate before making a statement. It was remarkable to hear her speak so clearly after days of her parroting everything that she heard like...well, a parrot.

"It's strictly for our own security, I assure you," he replied.

"So your evaluation is that our defenses would have been inadequate?" Coza asked, glancing at Campbell. "Ever since our defeat at Ker'gue'la, we have known that the Bugs would come for Val'ba'ra, and that it was only a matter of time. We have been preparing to face them for twenty rotations."

"There are a lot of holes in your defenses," Fielding replied. It wasn't a criticism, but a simple statement of fact. "Your defense stations lack the ability to take out small vessels, which would allow the Bugs to board and disable them. They would also slip between the stations and make landfall, effectively bypassing the majority of your firepower."

"We would use the fighters housed on our carriers to counter that threat," Coza protested, her feathers fluttering with what might have been frustration or embarrassment. "Our commandos would hold the defense platforms against boarding parties."

"Have you ever seen what a Betelgeusian warrior can do in close quarters?" Fielding asked.

"N-no," she admitted, her feathers drooping.

"They can turn even a Krell into strips of meat. We've seen the Bugs launch large dropships, small landers, even individual drones contained within drop pods during a planetary invasion. Your fighters would not be able to track and destroy them all. I don't know what your people encountered at Kerguela, but there's no guarantee that this fleet will have anything in common with that hive. The Bugs mutate and genetically engineer themselves to suit whatever situation they find themselves in."

"With all due respect, Captain, it is...difficult to accept that all of our preparations have been for nothing," Maza said as Coza glared at the flickering hologram. She more than any of the other aliens seemed to be shaken by the revelation.

"Not for nothing," Campbell added, "we can make use of them to supplement the fleet's firepower."

"Then...you will not seek help from your homeworld?" Maza asked, surprised.

"We can't," Fielding explained, "it would take about a year to return to Coalition space and then make it back here with reinforcements. The Bugs are already probing the system for weaknesses."

"My apologies, it's just that your technology is so impressive to us. We assumed that you could communicate over great distances instantly, or perhaps travel faster than we can."

"Don't worry," Jaeger said, trying to reassure her. "The Rorke and its fleet were sent out here with the aim of tracking down and killing Bugs. We're equipped for this."

Campbell grumbled under his breath, leaning across the table and staring at the hologram.

"Still, this fleet wasn't assembled to defend an inhabited planet," the surly engineer said. "We have only one carrier, we don't have any battleships or cruisers, and our support fleet is fairly limited. We'll be stretched thin if we try to maintain control of Valbara's gravity well."

"Then we rely on the Valbarans for support," the Captain said, glancing in the flock's direction. "They have a dozen carriers, numerous defense platforms, and an entire civilization's worth of resources and manpower. With the right strategy, I'm confident that we can repel an invasion."

Campbell didn't look as convinced as the Captain, shooting Jaeger a sideways glance.

"Quartermaster, the first thing that I want is an inventory of everything we have onboard," the Captain ordered. "I want to know about every surplus XMR and every extra missile that we can spare, we're going to give the Valbarans the best chance that we can. I want information sharing to begin immediately, treaties and trade deals be damned. Transfer blueprints, plans, manufacturing techniques if necessary. I want them converting their current armaments and building new ones ASAP, and I want advisors on the ground to help them along."

"Captain!" Doctor Evans exclaimed, "do you have any idea what kind of impact that might have on their society?"

"It might be a bit of a shock to their economy, but they can deal with the fallout if we survive this."

"You're just...giving us all of your technology?" Xico asked in disbelief, her feathers flashing in shades of excited yellow.

"You would risk your lives for ours?" Coza added.

"I'm under orders from the Admiralty to scour this sector for Bugs and to prevent them from establishing a foothold on the borders of Coalition space from which they could launch further incursions," Fielding replied without faltering. "I'm just carrying out my duties, Ma'am."

The aliens closed ranks and began to chitter to one another in their native language. Apparently, they hadn't expected this kind of support. Campbell sighed loudly, running his fingers through his hair.

"Alright...well the defense platforms have reactors, and if they can power lasers, then they can power a railgun. That's going to help with range and penetration. Assuming that the Valbarans have the lifting capability to get them into orbit, we can build some twenty-millimeter turrets and hook them up to the power grid. Ammo is easy enough, it's just a matter of getting enough of it to where it will be most needed. We can equip the commandos stationed on the orbital platforms with surplus XMRs, and we can transmit the blueprints to build more. If they don't have the battery technology required to power them, then we can teach them to manufacture those too. If they can mine lithium, and they can make graphene, then they can manufacture batteries."

"We can plug some of the holes in their defenses with our CWIS frigates," Fielding said, pacing around the table as he scrutinized the hologram. "Have them protect the defense platforms and prevent the Bugs from slipping through the cracks as best they can. What about their carriers?"

"I don't think we can retrofit them," Campbell said, bringing up a three-dimensional image of one of the Valbaran ships. The aliens again seemed disturbed by the ease at which the UNN was able to scan their technology and expose their military secrets. "One possibility would be to slave the targeting systems on those ships to the Rorke's flight computer. I think they would be more effective filling in for the CWIS frigates than as ships of the line. If we can direct those laser batteries, then we can use them to shoot down incoming torpedoes and fighters. The same goes for the lasers on the defense platforms."

"Can the Rorke's computers handle that kind of load?" Fielding asked.

"Bandwidth might be an issue, but if we boost the capacity of the main comms array, then I think we'll have enough throughput. We'll need to write some new software to interface with the Valbaran computers, of course. We're going to be kicking out a stupid amount of radio chatter, which is going to light us up like a beacon. The Bugs will know what we're doing."

"If I might interject, Sir," Jaeger began. "How will we know when and where they'll attack from? If we concentrate our defenses on one side of the planet, and they exit superlight on the other, we'll lose time burning to them. Right now, they're sniffing about in the Oort cloud, but they could jump in from any direction. We don't have the numbers to cover the whole planet."

"The defense platforms are spread out around the planet's equator in high orbit," Campbell replied, "we'll have to relay the signal between them if we're going to hijack all of them at once."

"We will station the mainstay of the fleet in orbit above the North pole," Fielding said, "that way we can waste the shortest amount of time burning to their entry point. There's no reason for them to jump in at either of the poles, the Valbaran cities and manufacturing centers are mostly based around the equators, judging by their carbon emissions."

"What do you require of us, Captain?" Maza asked. Perhaps the aliens were feeling left out.

"I need your team to contact your carrier, inform them of everything that you've learned during your time on the Rorke. We'll be sending them some large data packets soon, so make sure that they're ready to receive and store them. I also need you to ask them for jump coordinates, I don't want to land the Rorke in the middle of a shipping lane."

She nodded, another gesture that she had picked up from the humans.

"We must discuss this further, please excuse us."

The aliens filed out of the room one by one, no doubt about to huddle again and come to a decision on what to do.

"You all have your orders," Fielding said, clasping his hands behind his back as he glanced at each of the people sitting around the table in turn. "Let's not waste any time, the Bugs could start their attack tomorrow, or in a month. The faster you work, the more we can prepare, and the better odds we'll have of succeeding."

There was a chorus of yes sir's, and then the personnel in attendance stood, making their way out into the corridor.

"Stay with the Valbarans," Fielding said, stopping Jaeger as he made his way to the door. "It looks like fate has chosen you to be our ambassador, Lieutenant. You know these aliens better than anyone onboard. This is going to be jarring for them, I want to make sure that everything goes smoothly. Let me know if you anticipate any problems."

"Yes, Sir."

"Lord knows that if an advanced species showed up out of nowhere and offered to take control of our entire military, I'd be nervous."

"Maza understands what we're trying to accomplish here," Jaeger said, "I'm sure of that. The rest of her species though, is another matter."

"You've done well so far, I know that none of this is in your job description. Keep it up."

***

The Rorke left superlight just behind the Valbaran carrier, showering it in a cloud of colorful gas and particles, the rest of the support fleet dragged along in its wake. The vessels drifted for a moment as the miniature nebula spread and dissipated, the autopilots taking temporary control to prevent collisions as their crews endured the wracking energies of jump travel.

When they came to, before them was a gleaming jewel hanging in the blackness of space like some kind of beautiful bauble. There were shining oceans, their deep blue surfaces glittering under the light of the sun, swirling clouds cloaking continents of greenery. There was pink and purple too, odd colors for plants, staining the landscape like someone had spilled a giant cup of grape juice across the globe. The white hulls of the carriers and the defense platforms that were stationed in orbit shone brightly like beacons even at range, like motes of dust that ringed the equator. There were poles sheathed in white ice, but not much of it, they were small and reduced in comparison to those of Earth. It must be a warm planet.

The massive engines to the aft of the Rorke flared to life, belching blue flame as they propelled the behemoth towards Valbara. It was the largest thing in the sky, a whale swimming amidst a school of dolphins, the Valbaran carrier leading from the front like a tug guiding a tanker into port. The frigates that accompanied the giant vessel took up parade formation beside it, spread out in an impressive delta shape. The Captain's orders were to awe the aliens, both to inspire hope, and perhaps to dissuade any potential hostilities.

"The Valbaran vessels are communicating, Captain. There's a lot of radio chatter," the comms officer announced. Fielding was standing in front of the large viewport at the front of the bridge, his arms crossed as he watched the planet slowly grow.

"Keep her steady, helmsman. Head for the North pole and park us in orbit. What's the status on the ground team?"

"Ready to launch," the comms officer replied, touching a finger to her ear as she communicated with the hangar crew. "Shall I give them the go-ahead?"