Birds of Prey - Hetero Edition

Jaeger sighed, the alien hadn't understood. It was pointing at an empty region between the two planets, there was nothing there. It was like conversing with a chatbot, the alien appeared to understand what it was saying, but it was only repeating what it heard. It seemed to notice that he was disappointed, cocking its head at him. Its feathers flared, catching his eye as they puffed up, a wave of red and orange passing through them.

"Earth, my home," it chirped as it pointed to the empty region again. What did that flurry of color mean, was it frustrated with him?

"That's empty space," he said, "there's nothing there."

"You're making a lot of assumptions," the creature snapped, mimicking Evans' voice.

He was shocked. It had heard Evans say that during her conversation with Campbell, it had remembered the phrase, and it had used it in the correct context. No, surely not. It had to be a coincidence.

"Alright, let's try this." He opened the file in an image editor, passing his phone to the alien and showing it how to draw shapes on the touch screen with its finger. It hunched over the device and drew for a few moments, then handed the phone back to him. "Well I'll be..."

It had drawn a third ring around the star, a planet orbiting between the two gas giants.

"So you are from this system," he mused, "I wonder why your planet didn't show up on the scans? Campbell did say that the...what was it called...the method that they use to detect planets might have missed something. I'd better go fetch him."

He stood and made his way over to the alien dropship, the helmetless creature trailing behind him. He rounded the vessel and poked his head inside the troop bay, knocking on the hull.

"Chief Engineer Campbell? I have something that you'll want to see."

The ship was powered down, and it was dark inside, but he could still make out some of the details. It wasn't unlike their own dropships, there was a troop bay with odd seats lining the walls, about enough to house a couple of dozen aliens. They were like director's chairs with no backrest, and there were padded panels on the walls behind them with straps that looked like they would go around the chests of the occupants. Perhaps a backrest would have gotten in the way of their thick tails? It was surprisingly cramped for such a large ship, with lots of exposed machinery and piping, and there was a door at the far end that led to the cockpit.

Campbell was milling about near the door, and he shined a flashlight in Jaeger's face as he turned around.

"Ah, Lieutenant, is there something you need?"

***

"A third planet in the system? Do you think the information is reliable?" Fielding asked, directing his question towards Jaeger as he examined the edited picture on the phone and scratched his chin.

"The alien seems to know what it's saying," he replied with a shrug, "I believe it."

"So they are native to HD-217107," Campbell said, "we should send out a scout. Do we have any ships in the fleet that can make a short jump? A Warden perhaps?"

"No," Fielding said, "but we can send out an unmanned probe. It should only take a few days to reach the inner system and report back. The signal will take a few hours to reach us at light speed, but I think it's a better solution than warping the entire fleet in there. We have no idea what kind of hazards we might encounter, and the aliens can't tell us yet."

"That gives me a few days to teach them more of our language," Evans added, "they're learning so quickly that they may well be able to tell us about the composition of the inner system themselves. It's probably not necessary to waste a probe."

"I'd rather get confirmation using our own instruments," the Captain said. "Is there any way that you can accelerate the process so we can get them talking sooner?"

"Well," she began hesitantly, "studies have shown that immersion is the most effective way to learn a new language."

"What does that mean?"

"It means immersing them in an environment where people naturally speak that language, rather than teaching them in a more traditional and structured manner. Judging by the way that they mimic the words and phrases that they hear, I think it would be very effective in this case, but I have to say that I think keeping them in a controlled environment is the wisest course of action right now. We need to be able to monitor them, letting them loose in the ship to mingle with the crew is potentially dangerous."

"I agree with Doctor Evans," Campbell said, "the risk of harm coming to the aliens outweighs any potential benefits. We can't let them interact with the crew at large. Imagine the political ramifications if something were to happen to one of them."

"But what could possibly happen to them?" Jaeger asked. Evans was an academic, she didn't mingle with the crew outside of their visits to the sickbay. Campbell spent all of his time with his head buried in machinery, he didn't socialize with the general population. Jaeger felt like the entire crew was being tarred with the same brush.

"You disagree, Lieutenant?" Fielding asked, prompting him to speak freely.

"With all due respect, Sir, do you trust your crew? I know these people, I put my life in their hands every time I wake up in the morning. I trust the navigators not to drop the Rorke out of superlight inside a star. I trust the engineers to maintain my Beewolf and to make sure that the reactors don't melt down. I eat my meals and shower with the men and women who live on this ship. Pick any random sailor on the Rorke out of a lineup, and I'd trust them with my life. I think it's perfectly safe to let the aliens loose on the carrier, everyone here understands their responsibilities."

"That was a heartfelt speech," Fielding said, a wry smile curling his lips. "If you're so sure that your colleagues can be trusted to keep the aliens out of harm's way, then you won't mind if I make their safety your personal responsibility?"

"I...uh..."

"Then it's decided. Lieutenant Jaeger will be responsible for the safety of the aliens during their time on the Rorke." Both Evans and Jaeger began to protest, but the Captain's mind was made up, and he silenced them with a wave of his hand. "Keep me informed as to any progress that you make. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must see to the launching of a probe."

Fielding turned and set off across the hangar, both Campbell and Evans giving Jaeger a look that said don't fuck this up. He glanced over his shoulder, the brood of little aliens looking up at him expectantly. Surely they couldn't have followed the conversation?

"Alright, I can do this," he mumbled. He was trying to reassure himself as much as Campbell and Evans. "Come on aliens, let's go for a walk."

He patted his thigh like he was calling a dog over, and they seemed to get the picture. The lead alien took up position behind him, and then the other four fell into line like a row of ducklings.

"Now, where does one find immersion?" he mused. What was the most social area of the vessel? Probably either the mess hall or the ship's gym, maybe one of the more frequented ready rooms. Perhaps he'd give them the tour. The gym was closest, he would stop there first and see what the aliens made of it.

Jaeger set off, the line of aliens bobbing along behind him in their strange gait. The hallways of the carrier were narrow and cramped, although they must have seemed larger to the little creatures, their heads turning this way and that on their flexible necks as he led them towards the gym. They mounted several staircases that led to the higher decks, so steep that they might better have been described as vertical ladders. The aliens scaled them easily, their bodies light and agile, leaping two or three steps at a time. The people who passed by them in the corridors paused to stare curiously. Those who had not seen them in person yet had no doubt heard about their alien guests by now.

After a minute, they arrived at the automatic door to the gym, the aliens filing in after Jaeger as it closed behind them with a whoosh. Before them was an expansive space, at least as far as the carrier was concerned. The walls were lined with racks for dumbbells, and the floor was dotted with gym mats and various exercise machines. There were bench presses, leg curl machines, peck decks, and a few exercise balls.

Most of the equipment was occupied by humans, but there were a few Borealans too, the mad cats never traveled alone. The felines came from a planet with markedly higher gravity than Earth, and thus when operating in Earth-standard gravity, they were constantly in danger of muscle atrophy. They spent most of their free time working out, and Jaeger got the impression that they'd probably do the same even under conditions that were more suited to them. Describing them as muscular would be an understatement.

A few of the humans stopped using their machines, one man in shorts and a tank top dropping his dumbbells with a thud and walking over towards Jaeger.

"So these are the aliens everyone has been talking about?" he asked, crouching down to look at them and wiping his brow. "Little fellas, aren't they?"

"I'm showing them around," Jaeger clarified, "feel free to talk to them. They're supposed to be learning English."

"Hello there," the man said, still breathing heavily from his workout.

"Hello there," one of the aliens replied in its high pitched voice, mimicking him perfectly. He looked confused for a moment, and then he began to laugh.

"So they're like parrots? They repeat what people say?"

"Amongst other things," Jaeger replied, "watch this."

He whistled the tune that Baker had played for them on his phone, and then several of the aliens broke into song, mimicking both the instruments and the vocals as they recited a random excerpt from the piece by memory. It was remarkable how they were able to memorize such a complex series of sounds and words after only hearing it once. It was tinny and incomplete in places, clearly learned phonetically, but the popular song was immediately recognizable.

More of the gymgoers began to abandon their weights and machines, crowding around the visitors, fascinated by the odd singing and their strange appearance.

"Where do they come from?" one woman who was wearing a sports bra asked, her hair tied back in a tight ponytail.

"This system, we believe," Jaeger replied. "But we don't have confirmation yet."

"What are they called?" another man asked.

"No idea, we're still trying to teach them to speak."

"Can they copy any sound?"

"So far, yeah."

The man drew a phone from his pocket and tapped at the screen a few times, then another song began to play. This one was fast paced, a rap single, the aliens cocking their heads and chittering as they listened to the beat. He pressed stop, and then the aliens began to repeat it. It was only an approximation, many of the lyrics were slurred, but the rhythm and the melody were downright uncanny. When the humans laughed, that too was mimicked, eliciting more laughter.

"Go on," Jaeger said as he gestured to the lead alien, the creature fluttering its feathers at him. There was an impressed murmur from the small crowd, the woman in the sports bra cooing as she admired the colorful plumes. "Go mingle, learn some new words."

The aliens looked at one another, chirping and clicking, and then they were off. The little creatures spread out around the gym, scattering to examine the different machines and equipment. One of them approached the Borealans, Jaeger's heart skipping a beat. Oh shit, it probably wasn't a good idea to let the two species interact without supervision. The natural surliness of the Borealans, when combined with the inquisitiveness and boldness of the little reptiles, was a decapitation waiting to happen.

He pushed through the crowd, nearly stumbling over an errant exercise ball, and came to a stop beside the alien. It was the lead one, without its helmet, its plumage erect and flashing in shades of orange as it peered up at the feline.

The Borealan was massive, she probably weighed five or six hundred pounds at least, and she was currently benching an enormous barbell. She was wearing a sweat-stained sports bra and a pair of shorts, her pale skin glistening with sudor, the light from the halogen lamps that lined the ceiling accentuating her impressive musculature and making her shine. This variety had fur, but only on the forelimbs, making her look like she was wearing tiger-striped knee socks and elbow gloves. She heaved, baring her sharp teeth, dropping the weight back into its rack with a tremendous crash. The rest of her pack was nearby, the one that had been spotting for her staring at the strange little reptile as it fluttered and chirped.

She sat up, rolling her massive shoulders and watching the alien out of the corner of her eye.

"What is that?" she asked disdainfully, pointing to it with a clawed finger.

"Don't know yet," Jaeger replied with a shrug.

"What's it doing here?"

"I was ordered to give them the run of the ship, to help them learn English. You can talk to them, just...remember your three Ds..."

The Borealan stared at the reptile, it seemed fascinated by her. Before Jaeger could intervene, it reached up to touch her furry forearm. The feline bared her teeth at it, her brow furrowing in a threat display. She didn't strike it, however. She allowed the alien to run its gloved hand through her striped fur. The same gesture might have netted an overly curious human a dislocated arm, he was shocked that the giant creature didn't react more violently. As a general rule when dealing with Borealans, it was unwise to maintain eye contact for too long, to get in their personal space, or to touch them without solicitation. Perhaps the diminutive stature of the little alien meant that the Borealan didn't see it as a potential threat?

It drew its arm back and beeped at her cheerfully, the Borealan's round ears twitching.

"Impudent little thing," she huffed. "Brave for one so small."

"They were out there fighting the Bugs with us in the asteroid field," Jaeger explained, "I've never seen formation flying like that before."

"You kill Bugs, little one?" the Borealan asked. "Then you and I have something in common."

She lay back down, gripping her barbell again and hoisting it out of the rack, her muscles bulging from beneath her skin. Jaeger heard a commotion, turning to see that one of the aliens had clambered up a dumbbell rack and was perched atop it like a hawk, surveying the room. It was about six feet off the ground, and the humans beneath it were pointing and chuckling. They certainly had a good sense of balance, something to do with their tails maybe.

Another was watching a human who was doing bicep curls with a dumbbell, its eyes tracking the movement of the weight as it went up and down. It reached out its gloved hands as if it wanted to see the item. The dumbbell was at least fifty pounds, there was no way the little creature could possibly hold it. Its arms were only as thick as Jaeger's wrists, and it couldn't have weighed much more than a hundred pounds itself.

The man chuckled, pausing his routine and handing the dumbbell to the little alien. He kept a hold on it, making sure that it didn't fall and crush the creature, letting it rest in the palms of its hands. The reptile hoisted it easily, the man's smile faltering as it lifted the exercise equipment like it weighed nothing at all, turning it over and examining it. They were strong, far stronger than their stature would have suggested. No wonder they could leap so high, there must be a lot of muscle packed into their tiny frames.

It handed the dumbbell back to the man, who watched it with a confused expression on his face as it sauntered off to inspect a water fountain.

The little aliens really were fearless, and he could hear half a dozen conversations happening all at once. At least for now, the plan seemed to be working.

CHAPTER 5: VAL'BA'RA'NAY

It called to her across the gulf of space, she could smell it in the light, the thousands of eyes and sensory organs that were scattered around the great beast's hull feeding her information in every wavelength and frequency. There was carbon in that atmosphere, the blue tint of oxygen and nitrogen, the green of biomass, and the sparkling reflection of oceans. It was a fertile womb, a haven for her children, an oasis.

Her scouts had already encountered resistance, local fauna defending their territory. This was to be expected, it was the course of nature, and she had come ready to fight. Her children bristled with weaponry, plasma and resin ready to stab and burn, claws and mandibles for cutting and biting. The struggle for living space was fierce, be it against aliens or her own kin, it was a purifying gauntlet that ensured that only the strongest and fittest inherited the rich soil and liquid waters.

The journey across barren space had been long and arduous. Resources were dwindling, and her young were ravenous. The Repletes were gaunt, their bellies emptied of their life-sustaining honey. The males were restless, already stretching their wings, eager to fertilize their Queen and begin the process of birthing a new generation of soldiers. She felt something almost akin to hunger, desire, a burning compulsion to claim this planet for herself and to satisfy those instincts.

She flexed her long, chitinous limbs, feeling the living walls of the vessel closing in around her in her chamber. The blend of meat and metal shifted and heaved, glistening with moisture, the thick column of nerves and wires that linked her twelve-foot frame to its nervous system relaying everything that the behemoth hive ship felt. She could feel the asteroids that battered against its thick shell, the clusters of smaller vessels that were docked to its belly, the thrusters along its body that belched super-heated methane to propel it through the debris field. It was like an extension of her body and her mind, it even had its own, simple intellect that was housed somewhere within the titanic lobes of its brain. She had been adrift for so long that she had almost forgotten what it felt like to use her own eyes, to smell pheromones with her own organs, to have a mind free of trajectory calculations and superlight equations.

Finally, her exodus had to come to its conclusion, but the ordeal was far from over. Now she must rally her forces to take this planet, to make it her own and to propagate her species. The coming war would be the ultimate test, there could be no surrender, only survival or extinction.

Chemicals in the gut of the great vessel were mixing, combining to produce an electrical charge that was building up inside the jump drive, ready to propel her and her fleet to the target world. A few more cycles and they would be ready. If their strain was worthy, they would prevail...

***

"Get off the table!" Jaeger complained.

"High up table," the alien whistled.

"I know you like being high up, but we don't walk on the tables in the mess hall. It can't be sanitary."

Baker found it amusing, laughing through a mouthful of shepherd's pie as he watched the creature chirp and fluff up its vibrant feathers. The engineer seated to Jaeger's left found it less humorous, sliding his metal tray further away from the disruptive creature as it babbled. The rest of its brood were hanging around nearby, interacting with other crew members and generally being a nuisance. One of them had taken a liking to the Krell, and Jaeger was concerned that it was learning a useless blend of both languages. It kept climbing up them and sitting on their broad shoulders. Fortunately, the giant reptiles were a tolerant bunch.