Black Velvet

Speaking of which, the alien was nowhere to be seen yet. Jules adjusted the straps on his armor uncomfortably as he searched the gloom for any sign of her.

"What's the holdup, Sarge?" Velez asked.

"We're waiting for Zuki," he replied, "she'll be coming with us."

"Uh, is that a good idea, Sarge? These people have never seen a spaceship before. Riding a dropship up to orbit is probably going to scare the soul out of her."

"Not my call, Mister Lambert thinks she'll be useful."

"She's adventurous," Jules added, "I think she'll do just fine."

The sound of snapping twigs and crunching leaves announced Zuki's approach, the party turning to see her stumble out from between the nearby trees with what looked like the entire contents of the armory strapped to her body. Every pouch on her vest and every pocket on her shorts was full to bursting with supplies and gadgets, the poor creature weighed down by a rucksack that could have fit three people inside it. She had a large, sword-like blade hanging from her hip in a holster, and one of the crossbows was draped across her chest on a sling along with a bandoleer of iron bolts. She also had one of the camouflaged cloaks draped across her shoulders, she looked about ready to circumnavigate the globe.

"Wait for me," she huffed, struggling over to them. "Don't leave without me...I'm ready!"

"What's all this?" Jules asked, looking her up and down as she stopped beside him and doubled over to catch her breath.

"You said that we would be traveling far from the village," she panted, "I brought everything that I might need. I have weapons, food, medicine, and tools."

"You won't be needing any of that," Yuta said, a little more disdainfully than Jules would have liked. "We will only be traversing the jungle for a short while, and then we will be boarding a ship."

"Oh," she muttered diffidently, "then what should I leave behind?"

"You won't have any need of weapons, and you will be provided with all of the food that you require. What else do you have?" Yuta asked, Zuki beginning to look herself over as though she didn't exactly know. The Ranger sighed and walked over to her, beginning to rummage through her pockets. "What is this?"

"A bundle of kindling," Zuki replied.

"Unnecessary," Yuta said as she dropped it to the ground. She pulled out more objects and tools from Zuki's vest and discarded them in a pile. It was like watching some kind of comedy act, they just kept coming and coming in quantities that didn't seem possible. All that was lacking was a classic snake in a can gag. When the Ranger was done, Zuki's load had been significantly lightened, and there was a large pile of junk beside her on the ground. Jules could see knives, fishing wire, candles, bundles of fabric. It was as though someone had emptied the bug-out bag of a prepper.

"I won't need my sewing kit?" Zuki asked, "or my looking glass?"

"No," Yuta replied, reaching into one of the pouches on Zuki's belt and pulling out a bundle of what looked like cotton bandages. Zuki stopped her before she dropped it on the pile, plucking it from her hand and replacing it in its leather pouch.

"I need those..."

"The humans have better medicine than anything that you can bring with you," Yuta insisted, but Zuki wouldn't budge. Eventually, the Ranger just shrugged and continued her pat-down. "Take your crossbow off, you won't be needing to shoot anyone where you're going. The ammo belt too."

Zuki struggled with the weapon, trying to pull it over her head, but the sling got caught on her rucksack. It then became tangled in the straps of her pack, hanging from her back where she couldn't reach it. After a few moments of fruitless spinning, Yuta became frustrated and ordered her to turn around, removing her heavy rucksack and the crossbow along with it. She separated the two, and then returned Zuki's pack to her, placing the weapon on the forest floor.

"Can I keep my cloak?" Zuki asked.

"I don't see why not," Yuta replied with another shrug, "but you won't be using it to hide on a spaceship."

"We should pick up the pace," Velez called out as he tapped at the display on his wrist. "The shuttle pilot has found a place to put down that's only a couple of hours South-East of the village, shouldn't take us long to get there."

"Alright, let's move out," Simmons said. "Are you good to go, Zuki?"

"I think so," she said, glancing excitedly at Jules.

"Yuta, take point. Velez and Edwards, I want you watching the civvies."

"That's us," Jules whispered to Zuki with a grin. "Just do as Sergeant Simmons says, he's our Alpha, so to speak."

As they set off towards the nearest vine curtain in a rough column formation, Zuki tripped on the discarded crossbow and almost toppled over, Yuta catching her and righting her.

"Try to be more careful," the Ranger muttered, Zuki smiling apologetically at her.

When they came to the massive wall of plant matter that was strung between two of the stout trees that made up the perimeter of the village, the guard held it open for them, straining to lift the heavy material. The humans walked beneath his arm, Zuki and Yuta ducking through after them, and then the Araxie let it fall back into place behind him. They emerged into the jungle proper, Jules turning to look back at the vines. His eyes were already telling him that there was nothing there, even though he knew better. The camouflage really was effective. Before them lay the minefield of traps and pitfalls, and while Zuki could probably have led them through herself, Jules was happy to have someone a little more...experienced on hand.

"Trace my steps," the guard said from beneath his ghillie suit. "Walk where I walk."

He led them along a winding path, invisible to all but him. Jules had to wonder how many people and animals had succumbed to these traps. Had any Rask even made it this far, and had they met their fate on sharpened poles, or at the bottoms of pits? Yuta was staying conspicuously close to Zuki, perhaps worried that the clumsy alien would trip over her own feet and fall face-first into a landmine or something to that effect.

When they reached the edge, the guard turned back, and Jules took what might be his last look at the hidden village. There was no time for sentimentality, Simmons ordered them to press on, Yuta using her massive machete to cut away some of the hanging vines and undergrowth that was blocking their path.

"It's been so long since I left the village," Zuki said as they clambered over roots and squeezed between tree trunks. "There are some jobs that take people deeper into the jungle, like hunting or collecting resources, but I haven't done any of those for a while."

"Are you excited?" Jules asked.

"Yes, and a little afraid," she admitted with a nervous giggle.

"I'll tell you a secret," he said as he paused to hop over a root, "I get scared too. I never liked space travel, I don't like fieldwork. But sometimes my job calls for it, and I have no choice."

"You didn't want to come to Araxie?"

"Not at first, but I'm glad that I did. I'm no adventurer, I don't do well in jungles and deserts, I'm far better suited to a climate-controlled office that has a drinks machine within walking distance. I guess coming here broadened my horizons. I can see why the Marines choose to stay, even if it's a little harsh for my sensibilities. This planet really is untamed, there's nothing artificial or synthetic about it, the people included. So much of my job revolves around formality, protocol, bureaucracy. There's none of that here. It's refreshing, in a way."

"Is it so different from where we're going?"

"Oh, yes. Where we're going, even the ground beneath your feet is made of metal, the air that you breathe is treated and recycled. The sky is painted on the roof, and the suns are just giant lamps. It has its upsides, though. The heat and humidity are constant, it never rains, and there's no mud. You can take a shower any time you want, pick up a sandwich, or have your clothes laundered. You can sleep on a real bed."

"Our beds aren't real?" Zuki asked, confused.

"Just wait until you've spent the night on a mattress, you'll never want to go back to a hammock."

"Some of us like the mud and the heat," Edwards interjected as he appeared from the thick brush on their right. He and Velez were flanking the group, watching out for any local wildlife. "Me? I can't sleep on those cushy mattresses, they're too damned soft. It's like trying to sleep on a bed of quicksand."

"Don't you and the others have to return to orbit every few months so that your joints don't give out?" Jules asked. "What do you do then?"

"Yeah, they make us take a few weeks of mandatory leave once every six months or so. I'm pretty sure we could handle it if we had to, but the doctors disagree. You ever seen a medic pull rank? It's scary, they'd give an angry Borealan a run for their money. I hate being out of the high-G," the Marine grumbled as he waded through a waist-high patch of ferns. "Our bodies adapt to it, our motor functions, too. You end up trying to bring a spoon to your mouth and hitting yourself in the face with it, trying to lift objects and flinging them into the air. The human body wasn't designed to switch environments on the fly like that, it fucks you up."

"I can imagine," Jules mused, the conversation reminding him of the strain that was currently being put on his legs. "I feel like every step down here is a workout. I should start a gym in Elysia, I'd make a killing."

"A killing is right," Edwards laughed. "Take it from me, don't actually work out in this environment. If you have to for some reason, then make sure you drop the weight to account for the gravity. I've seen too many Marines injure themselves trying to bench press thirty percent more than they can handle because they eyeballed it. One-point-three Gs doesn't sound so bad, it's only thirty percent more than on Earth, right? That is until you actually get here and take your first step, then it's like someone dropped a sack of rocks on your shoulders."

"How does it work, gravity?" Zuki asked. "What makes it different where you come from?"

"Gravity is the force you feel that pulls you towards the ground, that makes objects fall," Jules explained. He couldn't very well blame her for her ignorance, it wasn't as if Newtonian theory was something of critical importance to the Araxie in their daily lives as hunters and farmers. "The mass of a planet determines the gravity, so Earth has less mass than Borealis, which means that things fall a little slower and they weigh a little less. When humans travel to Borealis, we weigh more than we should, which makes moving around here harder on us."

"I think I understand," she said, turning sideways to squeeze between two tree trunks. "So if I went to Earth, I would weigh less?"

"That's right, and you'll be able to experience it for yourself soon enough. UNN ships and stations all have their AG fields set to Earth-standard."

"AG fields?"

"Artificial gravity fields. Don't ask me how those work, I might have passed high school physics, but I'm no theoretical physicist."

"Will it...be dangerous for me?" she asked, starting to look a little worried.

"No, you won't be on the station for long enough to incur any ill effects. If you were to stay a lot longer, you would need to take medicine that stops your muscles from atrophying and your bones from losing their density, as well as maintain a pretty strict exercise regimen. Lots of Borealans stay on the station long-term, and they're able to manage the side effects just fine."

"Just take it easy for a few days," Edwards added, "try to stay conscious of the fact that you're in a different environment so that you don't break things and walk into walls."

"I'll try," she replied.

***

They heard the sound of the dropship's engines long before they emerged into the clearing, the ferns and grasses that carpeted the ground whipped to and fro by the backwash of the idle vessel. Zuki seemed alarmed by the sight of the bulky, ocean-grey ship with its stubby wings and its vectored thrusters, but she followed after her companions obediently as they made their way towards it. She reached up and covered her round ears with her hands as they approached the open landing ramp, her fur blown by the wind, pausing at the bottom as everyone else climbed up into the troop bay.

"It's alright," Jules shouted over the din of the engines, extending a hand to her from the top of the ramp. "There's nothing to be scared of!"

She turned and looked back over her shoulder, perhaps longing for the safety of the dense undergrowth and the darkness of the canopy. For a second, Jules was worried that she might refuse to board the craft. After a moment of hesitation, she took a tentative step up the ramp, her claws clicking against the textured metal. Jules waved her forward, encouraging her up into the troop bay, her hands slowly descending from her ears as she realized that the noise wasn't as apparent inside. As she stepped into the ship, she stumbled, her eyes wide with alarm as she gripped one of the handholds on the ceiling to stop herself from toppling over.

"W-what's happening?" she asked.

"Remember, we talked about gravity? This is what it feels like, this is Earth standard."

"I feel...weird," she muttered.

"Take a seat," Yuta advised, pointing to one of the Borealan-sized crash couches that lined the walls. The troop bay was designed to accommodate multiple species with a dozen or so human-sized seats, and half as many larger ones for Borealans. There were also handholds where a couple of Krell could stand in the walkway.

Zuki sat down in one of the padded chairs, slotting her long tail through a hole in the backrest and squirming for a moment to get into position. Yuta then pulled the safety harness tight around her chest, checking that it wasn't uncomfortable before taking a seat opposite her. Jules wondered if the aliens were told to take seating arrangements that would balance out their weight across the spacecraft, because a full pack of six must weigh around four thousand pounds, or two tons. That wasn't trivial by any means.

Jules and the Marines strapped in too, Jules sitting beside Zuki on one of the smaller chairs, reaching over and squeezing her furry hand in an attempt to reassure her.

"We'll be taking off soon," he explained, "things might get bumpy. Don't be afraid, we're perfectly safe in this ship. The straps will keep you in your chair. See those round windows? If you look through them, you'll be able to see Araxie from the sky, a bird's eye view."

She was holding his hand tightly, her fur still damp with humidity. The deck beneath their feet began to tremble, the engines spooling up as the ramp began to close with a pneumatic hiss. It sealed with a mechanical clunk, the ship rising slowly off the ground as the landing gear stowed in its belly. The dropship wobbled and lurched as it began to climb, the chassis threatening to shake apart as the main engines fired, sending it shooting into the sky on a plume of blue-tinted flame.

Zuki squeezed Jules' hand as she shut her eyes tightly, but despite her crushing grip, he didn't try to pull away. If she had to endure the fear and uncertainty of her first spaceflight, then he could handle a little pain on her behalf.

As the dropship rose into the upper atmosphere, the turbulence gradually abated, the shaking and rumbling finally ceasing as the sky outside faded from an azure blue to a darker shade that bordered on black. Yuta and the Marines began to climb out of their seats, Jules unstrapping himself and then leaning over to help Zuki with her harness.

"It's safe to get up now," he said, "and you can let go of my hand."

"Oh, sorry," she muttered. As the blood returned to Jules' fingers, he took her arm and helped her up, Zuki standing on unsteady feet as she looked about the cramped bay.

"Go over to one of the windows, take a look outside," Jules said as he guided her towards one of the portholes. Beyond the reinforced glass was the blackness of space, bright, unfiltered starlight twinkling as the haze of the atmosphere fell away beneath them. Zuki pressed her black nose up against the window, her breath fogging the glass as she peered through the small opening.

Far below was the curvature of the planet, the bands of green jungle that encircled the lakes standing out like oases in the barren stretches of desert. Her green eyes brightened, her fear forgotten as a new sense of wonder overrode it.

"Is that...my home?" she asked in disbelief.

"You see that ring of greenery down there? That's Araxie."

"It looks so small...I feel like I could hold it in my hand." The dropship banked, Zuki's claws screeching against the metal of the hull as she gripped it in alarm. "What are those?" she asked. She was looking out at a cloud of objects, their grey hulls reflecting the sunlight to make them gleam as they floated along in a lazy formation.

"That's a Coalition planetary defense fleet," Simmons chimed in from across the troop bay. "That big one is a jump carrier, and the smaller ones nearby are the support fleet. CIWS ships, torpedo frigates, destroyers. Looks like there's a cruiser in formation too. I think the Martian fleet is posted at Borealis right now, if the carrier is the UNN Saragarhi, then the cruiser might be the Chennai or the Jaipur. The battleships must be deployed somewhere else."

"Yes, that's right," Jules added. "I flew in from Sol on the Saragarhi. I took a ship from Earth to Mars and then transferred to the carrier. I didn't realize how big they were, it's like a floating city. There's a damned grocery store on the ship."

"Yeah," Simmons chuckled. "Thousands of people live on them for months, sometimes years at a time. Calling it a city might be an exaggeration, but it would certainly qualify as a mobile town."

"What do those words mean?" Zuki whispered to Jules. "Sara...garhi?"

"They're names," he replied, "we name our ships like we name people."

The dropship angled its nose towards the formation of ships, the vessels growing in size alarmingly quickly until they were close enough to make out the windows that lined their hulls. They came in all shapes and sizes. The carrier was like a spaceborne whale, its vaguely bullet-shaped, bulbous hull broken up by the hangar bays on its flanks where a steady stream of smaller fighters and transports flew in and out like bees from a hive. The bays were open to space, save for the shimmering force field that kept in the atmosphere, but let solid objects pass. Along its belly was an array of massive railguns mounted on flexible arms, and there were torpedo tubes visible along the top of the behemoth, along with point defense turrets dotting its length. The enormous main engines at the ship's rear were currently idle as it drifted along its orbit.

The torpedo frigates were angular and blocky, as were many of the smaller ships, their hulls designed to have a low radar cross-section. They bristled with weapons and missile ports, almost appearing to stand still as the planet rotated slowly past beneath them. It seemed like overkill to Jules, the planet looked so serene, space was so quiet and peaceful. Yet an enemy fleet could jump in at any time and lay siege, and if that happened, then this defense fleet would be the first to meet them.

"Borealis is right on the edge of Coalition space, and it's pretty close to Fort Hamilton," Simmons continued. "At least in astronomical terms. It's not too hard to keep a large, impressive fleet stationed here to keep the locals happy."

"Are we going to dock with the carrier?" Jules asked, noticing that the dropship was changing course.