THE NEW FACE
Jutoi quietly walked through the halls of the strange vessel. It seemed like this ship had been occupied but not recently. The crew, if they were still alive must have left nearly three years ago. In the control room, Jutoi began pushing buttons, and after examining the console for only a few moments closed her eyes connecting the mental link she had with her people.
"The ship seems empty. Also, it's a language I do not understand. However, I can at least find some system analysis windows but I can do nothing with them until I understand the language."
"Good work Jutoi, we'll keep the shield expanded around the ship. Continue to explore, see if you can find anything worth salvaging."
"Yes sir," was her response and she turned from the control room. It took hours to conduct a proper examination of the portside of the ship with the damage to the hull but the hours were nothing to her; this ship was like a sweet Antolian Tritess and she was not going to let it go without a full examination.
Nearly three hours into the examination Jutoi passed a hallway that was locked, but something curious passed her senses. Minds… nearly a hundred of them! She began to work at the door's panel. After fifteen minutes of tampering the doors cracked open. Using her pressure tool she opened it enough for her lythe body to enter. Once inside awe hit her. Pods! Large amounts of stasis pods were filled with strange alien life forms! The crew had not left, or died… the crew had gone to sleep!
A short examination of the pod room's control panel told Jutoi that all pods were full, she was unable to decipher much else. But… she thought, this ship must belong to these aliens and though in stasis their minds are still active! Choosing a boy on the far end Jutoi searched his mind for the key thought of "open". Once found, it was only a matter of repeating the mental process she saw there in real life.
DESTINY
Eli Wallace felt a strange rush of air brush his face. How long is this stasis going to last? I can't believe I fixed the pod in time! He thought. But, just as the thought left his mind, his eyes opened to a sight he would never forget.
Roughly humanoid in shape the alien before him was frightening. The first thing he noticed was its skin, black, and fuzzy. Its head looked like a mixture of fox, cat, and raccoon. With the menacing red eyes of a killer and the completely uncovered body of an Amazoness were-wolf, the sight made the terrified scream of horror catch in Eli's throat. Frozen in time, Eli had only secondary thoughts of where's the crew?
Before Eli could fully react to the strange alien she slipped out of view, her prehensile tail twitching as she went. Eli took a moment to recover and lunged out, ready to fight. Almost immediately Eli saw the others slowly emerge from their long sleep. A few others had seen the strange black alien pass by and were beginning to ask questions. She wasn't in sight but Eli was sure she was nearby, a momentary lack of reason swept through him and he gave chase.
"Eli? Where are you going?" Rush called out, but once around the corner Eli wasn't going to stop. He heard of few surprised gasps escaping the pod corridors and turned. There the alien stood among 8 of the once asleep crew. Her tail twitched and the gray patterns in her skin/fur rustled. All stood in undecided horror and confusion. What was going on?
At that moment Col. Young, Lt. Scot, Sgt, Greer and Rush came bursting around the corner. The amazoness alien looked at them only for a moment before reaching the door. Greer's immediate reaction was to grab for his gun, but it wasn't there, so in a swift moment of decision he rushed forward and tackled the alien against the pod room's cracked door.
THE NEW FACE
Jutoi screeched in pain as her should hit metal. The alien had attacked her! In response her tail lashed around releasing a hidden spike and stabbing his side. He let out a grunt of pain and she stood pulling a weapon from her pouch, aiming it at him. The room grew stiff with tension. Jutoi sensed all their minds preparing for a battle. She was outnumbered and unprepared. Though she could call for help and easily win the battle, she decided that was not the best decision. This alien race had been rudely awoken on their ship and they were acting out in a reasonable manner.
Slowly Jutoi eased her body into a defensive position gently placing the weapon on the ground and crouching down to eye level with them. Her tail relaxed and swayed peacefully back and forth. The tension eased as an older alien called harshly to the fallen warrior. Gingerly he stepped away from Jutoi and closer to the obvious leader.
Jutoi help out her hands to the aliens watching her, and more were beginning to join now. Slowly she turned, keeping one hand up in defense and pulled her bag of tools through the crack in the door. It seemed that, though tense, they were ok with this act. Quickly she began searching for her research tablet. She pulled it out and immediately began searching for any information on these strange bipedal aliens though she believed she already knew the answer.
They were murmuring among themselves now and with the finish of Jutoi's search, with a negative result, she sorely wished that she could understand their language. A new race of aliens! She would go down in Antolian history! Before she could do anything else, an alarm began to blare. The aliens tensed and looked to the door, they wanted out, and so did she.
Quickly using her tool Jutoi opened the door to its fullest aperture and rushed out, "What is going on sir?" Jutoi asked through her mental connection. She ran down the hall to the control room, the aliens followed close behind.
"It seems the ship is losing life support, it's a wreck Jutoi there are many things that are failing! I suggest you get out of there."
"Sir… the crew is still on board."
Shock rippled through the collective consciousness and Jutoi began pressing buttons on the console trying to find a solution, before she remembered… the alien crew was awake. Jutoi rushed forward grabbing the boy and pulling him towards the console.
DESTINY
Eli nearly screamed again as the alien pulled him towards the console, he almost asked, "why me?" but now was not the time to wonder why the alien chose him. He examined the console.
"Sir, life support is failing!"
Young and Rush stepped forward, Rush at another console and Young looking at the screen. All ignored the large black alien in their presence as they re-routed and re-booted long dormant power cells. Commands were shot around and soon all the crew was active in bringing the Ancient ship Destiny back to life. Before the crisis was over Rush called out to Young, "Colonel you may already know this… but there is an alien ship just off of port." Rush and Young looked to the black alien only for a moment, "It's large and very advanced…" Rush added before continuing the work on Destiny's life-support.
THE NEW FACE
Jutoi watched with fascination, their minds though not connected worked as one. They must have been a crew for a very long time! Judging by the state of their ship, they must have been through quite a lot.
It took only a few moments before Jutoi sensed many things were going very wrong and the aliens began to raise their voices to one another. Jutoi linked again with her collective, "Is there something we can do remotely? Their ship seems to be ready to explode."
There was verbal silence as the collective began to work through possible scenarios. Soon Jutoi's ship began to act. With the alien ship in their field they could move and drag it wherever they went. Jutoi's ship began to move, slowly at first, but picking up speed they rushed to the nearest life-sustaining planet.
DESTINY
"Sir! We've just jumped into FTL…" Eli said with disbelief.
"What? Even with all the damage…? Why are we not dead…?" Rush and Young exchanged a look of curiosity. Rush examined the console and looked back to Young, then to the alien, "We aren't the ones that jumped… the Alien ship jumped and we piggybacked… It seems they have expanded their shield around us."
"How motherly of them…" Volker responded.
"Rush… where are they taking us?" Young asked.
"I'm not sure Colonel, if I knew I'd've told you now wouldn't I? We're not in command of the FTL they can take us anywhere they want, and in the meantime, our life support is still failing!
THE NEW FACE
Not a minute too soon Jutoi's ship slowed and quickly began descending to the planet surface. Protected inside their shield the alien ship suffered no damage on re-entry. The aliens, obviously puzzled, began to murmur amongst themselves. Again Jutoi wished she could know their language, but the only way to do so would be for a member of their crew to let her into their conscious, and it was unlikely they would let her do much, they seemed to fear her.
Jutoi's home ship gently hovered above a field and released their shield. The ship dropped and Jutoi and the crew were thrown roughly to the floor inside. The collective led their vessel a further distance and landed safely.
"I suggest we leave now Jutoi… return to home and let the aliens figure out their ships problems in safety."
"… I don't think so sir… You're going to want to see these aliens… I suggest we become acquainted."
DESTINY
"Why would they drop us on a planet?" Rush asked.
"… Perhaps to save one of their own?" Eli pointed out, looking at the alien.
"Maybe they're just helpful aliens." Volker interjected, and added, "Despite our lack of luck in that department, one can hope there are actually helpful aliens out there," when they looked at him with incredulous eyes.
"In either case, we owe them a debt of gratitude…" Young stepped forward. The alien immediately locked eyes with him. Young shivered underneath her powerful gaze, but continued to step forward. Her tail twitched and after a moment's hesitation she reached out her hand to his.
