Broken Boundaries Ch. 00-02

Asitha gripped the edge of the window with her claws. 'That makes no sense! The ships should have no ammunition! It should've all been taken away during the rescue of the crews!'

'We have to call for help!'

'Wait!' said Asitha when all turrets returned to their parking positions and the weapon bay doors closed again. The lights from inside the ship turned off one by one and the whole thing went dead again. She looked back at Tiness. 'I think they were running a test.'

'Test?' she said and looked out the window again.

'If they really planned on attacking us they would've done it earlier.' Asitha said and turned away from the window. 'There would be no benefit to it anyway since it would just trigger another conflict. It also explains why they were connecting their pod to the ship.'

Tiness nodded and relaxed a little. 'They were just testing everything.'

Asitha went to her seat and sat down to get her weight off of her trembling legs. 'Those pludging shimacks scared the shaz out of us with their stunt.'

Tiness sat down in her seat. 'Yeah.' she said and sighed. 'Couldn't we do the same?'

Asitha shook her head. 'Unless you know a way, all I could do is connect cables to what might be the right ports, but that's all. I don't have the knowledge on the network core.'

Tiness looked over her shoulder towards the Walkurea. 'They're a big step ahead of us now.'

Alain looked over the filtered list of faulty equipment and wrote up lists of where to prioritise retrieval of components, physically check power sources, and the contents of mess hall storages. He also made a list of the greenery locations to see if it was possible to revive them and enjoy probably the most fresh air any human could breath without the need to set foot on foreign territory.

He looked out of the window next to him towards the Silth pod, wondering if Silth enjoyed being outside in nature more than humans.

***

Tiness pulled a warped panel from a wall at another impacted compartment. She couldn't stop thinking how creepy the scene around her was and feared something might give way and trap her for the few hours she could survive in her suit. Flashes of light startled her and she would have jumped up at the ceiling if her magnetized boots hadn't gripped the floor. "The human!" she thought while her fur pricked up at once.

Alain put up his hand in greeting again. 'Hey, how's it going?' he said. 'The coffee any good here?' With no reaction as expected, he went on with his own work.

Tiness watched him move over to the side and busy himself with removing debris in one corner. 'The human's here.' she said.

'Did he do anything?' asked Asitha over the radio.

'No. Just greeted me like he did you, I think.'

'Then we probably don't have to worry about them coming after us. They kept quiet these last days.'

Tiness took a deep breath. 'It must've been a test then.'

'I won't exclude other options but it seems most likely. Just keep an eye on him while he's there.'

Tiness looked at the human digging into the debris and scattering bits and pieces of broken and twisted metal, and brace himself to pull on something. 'I will.'

'Shit!' Alain said as he jerked on his crowbar to rip a panel from its hinges. 'Come off already!' He took a better stance against the wall and pulled with all the strength he could muster. He could have written off the item behind the panel from the list but for some reason he felt like taking on the challenge of retrieving it. He exhaled, took a deep breath, and gave the crowbar another fierce jerk.

The hinges broke apart and he shot back realising he hadn't activated his boots to clamp to the wall. His back hit his open toolbox and the contents burst out all over the place.

'Fuck!' he said and scrambled to catch the tools floating away towards the impact breaches.

Tiness flinched at the sudden violent changes in light from where the human was. For a moment she though he had a seizure or his suit had ripped, but then she saw him swimming frantically like a kitten for the first time in water after tools drifting from his toolbox. She watched as he tried to grab a screwdriver and only hit it into turning on it's axis, or grab spanners and pliers and try to sent them back towards the spinning and spilling toolbox. The way he desperately flung his arms around to steer his way around and try to collect his tools made her laugh.

'What's going on!?' asked Asitha, who stopped mid-work at hearing the sudden outburst of laughter over the radio.

Tiness giggled. 'The human somehow spilled all his tools all over the place and is trashing like a fighting kitten to collect them.'

Alain watched in frustration when several tools drifted through the breaches into the Silth side. He reached out for them but he only tapped one of them away. 'Shit.' he sighed.

Tiness saw the human hang on to the wreckage and felt sorry for him. Even though thinking logically, they'd had to have enough spare tools and they weren't a big loss, but she understood what it was like to have to lose even little things. She sighed, put down her own tools, and went over to the other side of the compartment to collect the human's belongings.

Alain feared the Silth was confiscating his tools but watched in surprise when he moved up to him next and held them out to him at the breach. He hesitated for a moment, then took them in his hands. 'Thank you.'

They stared at each other through their dark faceplates, and Tiness pushed back to get back to work, when the human quickly held up his hand again. He touched controls below his helmet and a light turned on inside his helmet, lighting up his face. The human gave her a smile and bowed his head, then mouthed two words. Her heart beat faster at the first time seeing a human's face for real up close. She hadn't expected to see any of them so close even though she knew she'd be working a job where they were near. She was pretty certain he was a male because she could see light hair growth around his chin, and his light coloured eyes and expression projected a friendly nature.

He turned his helmet light off again and it looked like he'd return back to his work, and Tiness put up her hand to stop him before she realised she did so herself. She swallowed and took a deep breath. She'd been taught humans were horrible creatures and they shouldn't be given any advantage, but something deep inside her told her this human wasn't the bad kind.

Alain watched the Silth turned on its interior helmet light and he held his breath at the white feline face looking at him with clear blue eyes. "They really resemble felines." he thought as he noticed the Silth's round pupils contracting to vertical slits from the light. The Silth returned a shy smile and looked away before turning the light off. He wasn't surprised at the urge to pet the Silth since he'd always felt that way at the sight of animals and chuckled. "Would that constitute an interplanetary incident if I did that if we'd ever really met face to face?" he thought. He held up his hand again, and pushed back to begin gathering the rest of his tools.

Tiness returned to her work giggling at the nervous sensation of making contact with a human lingering in her body.

'What's the human doing now?' asked Asitha.

Tiness looked at the other side. 'He's collecting his tools after I returned the ones that drifted over to our side.'

'Wait, you did what?'

Tiness giggled at the sight of the human trying to catch the rest of his tools. 'He looked kind of helpless when he couldn't get to them.'

'You should have left him be. Who cares about them losing a few tools.'

Tiness sighed. 'I know, but I couldn't help it after how he tried to chase them. I've seen kittens more successful at their first hunting game.'

Asitha chortled. 'Right.' she said. 'Finish your job, it's time to exchange air.'

Tiness returned her focus to the control box she had to recover. 'Yeah.'

Alain was glad to see he could easily disassemble the sensor array control circuit after spending all that time on returning the tools back to their correct place in his toolbox. He figured he'd had enough excitement and called it a day, and returned to the pod.

As he exited the service hatch near the front of the ship, he saw the two Silth standing on the hull of the Amaroth. He put up his arm and waved when it looked like they could see him, and was happy to see one of them wave back a little. "Who knows, maybe I just made a friend of an enemy." he thought and pulled himself along the rungs towards his pod.

'And here I thought you didn't dare to make contact with males, and now you're waving back at a human one.' said Asitha.

Tiness giggled. 'I know, it's weird. But maybe it's because there's a safe barrier between us.'

Asitha hummed. 'Maybe. I still don't trust them though, even at a distance.'

'It's not like he can do anything on his own.'

'If he's truly alone, and did you forget he activated the whole ship without a minimal crew available?'

Tiness nodded, there was still that fearsome ability he had shown.

***

Asitha and Tiness found the human working outside the hull at an antenna array near the impact zone while they were on their way to their work as usual. He greeted them with a wave and Tiness waved back. 'What's he up to this time?' said Asitha.

Alain noticed the Silth gazing at him and suspected they were wondering what he was doing. He pulled himself along the hull towards them and hung on to a protruding beam. He gestured at the length of the two ships, drew a large circle and pointed outwards, then made a fist and hit his open hand. 'Impact radar.' he said.

'A shield or something?' asked Tiness.

'No, I think he means to activate the detection of incoming objects.' said Asitha. 'We only have a short range detection system on the pod and can't detect anything from the other side of the ships.' She chuckled. 'Seems the human has an actual useful idea.'

'So, what are we going to do?'

'I don't have the skill to connect and set up the sensors of the Amaroth, so we'll have to rely on the human's goodwill and need to be thankful.'

The Silth bowed a little and Alain was glad to see they understood. He wasn't sure but it might be that they were glad to see him working on it. It wouldn't surprise him if their pod was as limited in its functionality and safety as his. He held up his hand once and returned to the array.

When the Silth passed by again much later he noticed both of them returned his greeting.

02 - Vostch!

The repair and activation of the sensors was successful and Alain looked proudly at the output and directional chart of the last couple of days. Only a few minor objects and they weren't coming anywhere near the ships. He folded the printout and slid it into his suit's external pocket and prepared for another easy day of work.

He guessed the Silth used a similar pattern for removing sensitive equipment, headed to the last location he'd seen them, and went around the area to see if he could pick up any sign of them on his pocket detector.

It displayed a target soon and a detour through a corridor that wasn't squeezed tight later, he saw lights from behind a couple of narrow breaches in another compartment. He waved his light and noticed the Silth turning towards him, then pulled out the printout and held it out through one gash in the twisted wall.

'What's this?' said Asitha when the human stuck his hand through the gap.

'What's what?' asked Tiness over the radio.

'The human wants to give me something.'

'Really?'

Asitha pushed herself gently towards the gap and looked at the folded paper in the human's glove. Carefully, because she still didn't trust him, she took the paper and he pulled back his hand. With a little effort she separated two sides and unfolded the paper. 'It's a map.'

Tiness's curiosity rose. 'A map of what?'

Asitha examined the ellipses on one side and the lines with circles and arrows on the other side. 'This solar system. Our position is marked by a tilted rectangle and,' She examined the objects marked with crosses, an obvious symbol shaped like a feline head, and one shaped like a human head, all with directional arrows and human numbers. 'I think the objects crossing this system and the cargo probes sent by both our sides.' She estimated the distance and time and nodded. 'Yes, I'm pretty sure these are the probes arriving soon.'

Tiness smiled at the extra sense of security. 'Then he succeeded in activating an early warning system for our protection.'

'He did, yes.' Asitha said. 'From now on we're not to underestimate his abilities.'

'You think we can trust him now? Even just a little bit?'

Asitha considered it for a moment. 'I still can't let go of my suspicions, but maybe we can trust him to protect himself and us being lucky if we happen to reap any benefit from it.'

The Silth folded the printout again and held it out to Alain. He took it and this time it was the Silth that lit its helmet light and bowed it's rusty red-brown head. He thought its eyes were green and they were a good match to its fur colour. The Silth turned off its helmet light and Alain lit his to return a friendly smile.

He put up his hand and left the compartment to get on with work, satisfied he'd achieved a friendly exchange with both Silth. On his way he decided to call them Snowhite and Red Riding Hood until he could learn their names. He just hoped he wasn't wrong in guessing they were both female, judging from the generic differences in Silth appearances between the males and females as stated in the information the humans had collected on them. If they were male they'd most likely have a thicker muzzle inherited from their animal ancestors, and longer fur around their chin, like a beard with human males. It did make him wonder why the Silth had sent two females for this project, and speculated they might handle being out here better than the more aggressive males. He'd just have to wait until he got a chance to find that out along with the other things he was curious about.

***

Alain watched the squarish supply probe land on its spindly legs and clamp to the hull with its magnetic feet from inside the crew pod, and headed out to unload the supplies it brought and load it with the containers full of the components he had recovered during the first period. He was glad to be in space for once so he wouldn't have to haul the heavy containers bogged down by gravity.

While he was busy the Silth probe arrived as expected from the early warning status and according to the schedule the Silth and Earth had agreed on for the probe visits. He watched the similar bulky design with retractable feet touch down near their pod and Snowhite and Red getting to work. They even greeted him first when they noticed him and he greeted back while an idea popped up in the back of his head.

They were nearly done loading the probe when Tiness tapped Asitha on her shoulder. 'Asitha! The human!'

She turned to face her friend and saw her pointing towards the front of the Amaroth. 'What the..' she said when she saw the human crossing the wrecked fronts of the ship towards them. 'Does he want to cause an incident!?'

He came down and planted his feet on the Amaroth, and stood there with something in his hand. 'Is he armed?' asked Tiness and tried to remember where the weapons were stored in the pod.

Asitha squinted at the shiny object while he unfolded a piece of paper. 'I don't think so. Seems he has something else to show us.'

'Should we have a look?'

'I have a screwdriver in my belt, so if he does try something I can pierce his suit and maybe wound him.' she said. 'We'll have a closer look first.'

Alain hoped the risk of entering their territory was worth it while he watched the two Silth moving closer along the hull. They could launch a complaint or even kill him without much consequence, with him breaking the agreement, although he hadn't technically. He'd read the agreement and it stated boarding the vessel, and he hadn't boarded it. He didn't worry about the systems detecting him because they didn't register anything outside the ship, and he was quite sure they hadn't replaced the sensors to detect trespassers in the the wrecked sections of the ship. He hadn't anyway on the Walkurea.

Asitha and Tiness stopped at a little distance from the human and took a stance on the hull. The human waited for a moment before holding up the paper and showing the shiny object more clearly. 'Is that a bottle he's holding?' asked Tiness.

'I think so. But why?'

'Isn't it a tradition to give them away in human culture? Just like we do sometimes?'

'Let's find out.' Asitha said and stepped closer.

The human held out the paper and Asitha took it. Tiness giggled when she read the crude Silth handwriting. 'Good festival for first time probe arrive.'

Asitha chuckled. 'I really don't understand this human. What is he thinking?'

Tiness looked at the bottle. 'I get it now. They use any excuse to drink.'

'If I were human I'd be drinking as much as I could too.' said Asitha. 'To be honest, I would fancy a good drink. If only we could get a supply out here.'

Tiness sighed. 'I know what you mean.' She looked at the human. 'Shall we accept?'

Asitha looked at the patiently waiting human in front of them. There was something about him that made her understand why Tiness helped him with his tools that time. 'We will.' she said and stepped closer to a human than she'd ever imagined she'd do. He held out the bottle, she took it with both hands, and bowed in gratitude. 'We don't have anything in return though.' she said and pondered how to convey it to him.

Alain watched the Silth gesture at the bottle, then the length of the ship, and put her hands together, leaving a little space between them. He knew what she meant because he had looked up any information on drinking in Silth culture he could find. Their military forbade alcohol and the Silth drank only on occasion in their society.

He turned on his helmet light and nodded, then turned it off and gestured at his head, pointed at the bottle, at the Silth in front of him, then repeated the gesture of putting his hands together. He put his hand against his chest, pointed at the bottle again, back at the Amaroth, and spread his hands.

'Does he mean what I think he means?' asked Tiness. 'He knows we don't have any and says he has a lot?'

'I think so.' said Asitha. 'He must know about as much about us as we do about humans. Perhaps even more.' She turned on her helmet light, bowed her head and smiled a little because she began to find this human interesting.

Alain smiled when Red looked thankful and Tennis showed him a smile as well. He gave them a slight bow and put up his hand as he stepped backwards. 'I hope you'll enjoy it.' he said and turned to climb over the tangle of the warship hulls.

He turned around when he reached the Walkurea and saw Snowhite and Red still standing on the other side. They waved once at him and he returned it before they went back towards their crew pod. He returned to his pod, cleared the probe for launch, and poured himself a drink while watching the probe take off. He lifted his glass towards the Silth side. 'Here's to our first accomplishment.'

Tiness unscrewed the cap from the bottle and sniffed it. 'Yipe!' she said as she scrunched her nose. 'This smells really strong.'

'All the better.' said Asitha as she put down two small cups. 'If it's a ploy to take us out I'd like to get knocked out good beforehand.'

Tiness looked at Asitha with big eyes. 'You think it's poisoned!?'

Asitha chuckled. 'No, I'm beginning to think the human's harmless enough and is just being friendly.' She pushed her cup towards Tiness. 'Fill them up. We've deserved a decent break from all the work they're pushing onto us.'