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(1)
Humans were a new addition to the Intergalactic Primary Species Alliance (or IPSA), having only joined what would equate to forty yearly Earth cycles. Alchak found them interesting, an endlessly creative mind among many, perseverance and stubbornness that challenges that of a Dom'ik on his home planet. They were known for their wild ideas and pushing the boundaries and limits to the very edge, even their own!
They always seemed to have the most scars out of any species currently in the alliance, but one thing Alchak learned quickly after joining ship and team 81 in fleet 4 of the Reltic sector, was to never ask about the scars. The Dur'jin had learned his lesson, among many of the other recruits for the newly made team, that it was extremely rude.
Alchak was sitting at lunch with his acquaintances - Menwa the Dom-ik, a species that appeared to be a more evolved version of Earth’s spiders, specifically the jumping spider, Gr'ik and Flo'we the Gardium, a species that was frog like in appearance (except for the added height of typically around six to seven feet, and a counterpart on the same planet called the Gardis, which were similar, except resembled toads, were between five to six feet, and were more wide) and action, but one of the most skilled and talented when being introduced to new concepts, and Mhegn, the notoriously small species, similar to Earth's chinchillas, the Jin-tra - when the ship had landed at the IPSA port to recruit there new members and collect more supplies.
Everyone on the ship shuffled off in groups, the basic staff - which was often replaced once docking, it included interns, assistants, chefs, and students - departing with all of their belongings, and a new group being guided to the ship by a director. Alchak waved one of his webbed hands with a smile in his eyes at the seemingly nervous young group of fellow Dirlm. Once they caught his eye he gestured with his thumb to the ship the were boarding, then himself, and gave a thumbs up, to which they seemed to relax at the edges, saying a quick thank you with their hands (The Dirlm weren’t vocal species, due to lack of mouth, in the ways Humans, Dom-ik, Gardium, and several others in the alliance were, using something commonly referred to by humans as sign language).
Alchak caught up to his group of friends, catching the tail end of Mhegn signing something about new recruits. Clapping his hands together softly, he then asked what she meant.
“I heard Captain Yulei talking to First Lieutenant Roli about recruiting a new pilot and engineer; they said it was because Pilot Chris is retiring and the ship's repairs are starting to cost too much to continue going to a shop.”
The group nodded and added their agreements, before gathering to sit at a table which some more of their comrades from a different fleet whom some knew from before the IPSA.
The group was in friendly conversation when one of the Gardis at the table noticed someone in the distance behind Alchak.
“Excuse me, Gr’ik? You are one of the doctors, correct?” He asked, gesturing to the Dom’ik. “Yes I am, along with Dr. Sirel, why?”
“Well, what is your knowledge on human anatomy? And- now, correct me if I am wrong, but aren’t they known for having two eyes?” The group shared confused looks before peering in the direction of the Gardis.
Standing a few meters away, was a woman, choppy short deep blue, practically black, hair, a IPSA black leather jacket (one out of the many style provided by the organization, Alchak quite enjoyed his letterman one) adorned with her name on a dark red patch, Cassandra Schmidt, in white text, the large IPSA symbol - a bold, white lemniscate with four nodes on a Cobalt Blue background - along with other patches, such as a handful flags (if Alchak remembered correctly, Pilot Chris said one of them was the American flag, another one was the Pride flag, the other had a horizontal white, blue, and red stripe,) one that said in small text The United States Marine Corps, and others of a few little things that Alchak recognized as pieces of media. She wore Cobalt blue cargo pants with white trimming, though it was a bit dirty, and dark brown combat boots. The girl next to her wore something similar, but the jacket being a burnt orange oversized bomber, the american flag along with a vertical green, white, and red flag and one seemingly the same but there being a bird in the middle, her black breast patch saying Frannie Williams , and she had her brunette hair braided tightly in two braids from the front of her hairline to the very end.
At first glance, nothing seemed much out of the ordinary between the two, they were leaning on a bar talking to each other animatedly. That was, until Alchak saw that the Cassandra human only had one eye . He heard the soft gasps from the group once they noticed as well.
“I- I uh- I don’t believe humans are meant to have one eye, no.” Gr’ik shook his head. Cassandra had pulled out a communicator and was typing something, stopping the conversation. Frannie looked around, spotting the group gawking and gave them a sharp, albeit confused look. Everyone quickly looked away, either back at the table or whipping around and staring at the wall. Alchak quickly looked up to see Frannie roll her eyes before seemingly making a joke to Cassandra, who barked out a quick laugh.
The rest of the rest period the crew returned to the ship, hauling supplies and deliveries into the cargo bay.
The Captain came out from the head along with the Lieutenant Roli, and walked up to two Humans. Familiar humans. Humans Cassandra Schmidt and Frannie Williams. The group exchanged nervous glances before Alchak quickly said, “We apologize, first thing.” to which the members agreed.
The Captain was talking with the Humans, before gesturing for the crew to come over and then she introduced everyone to the Humans. Frannie’s eyes narrowed and brows furrowed ever so slightly, but her smile never faded. Everyone shook hands and the Lieutenant was quick to wisk Cassandra away to start work on some small repairs to the navigation system that they had been meaning to get fixed. Captain shook Frannie’s hand once again before leaving her with the crew to finish loading the shipments.
Menwa cleared her throat before bowing slightly towards Frannie. “We would just like to deeply apologize for our rudeness earlier, it is well known among the Alliance that gawking is inappropriate and it was wrong for us to do.”
Frannie raised her eyebrows slightly, before waving her hand, “It’s fine, really, she didn’t notice, but if I were you I wouldn’t ask her about it, you would be in for quite the ride.”
And they left it at that, the crew finished loading cargo, returned to the head to show Frannie the new cargo ship she would be navigating, and soon after, everyone returned to their seats and they were back to their next destination.
(2)
It was about two months since they gained their new recruits a few assignments and shipments later and everything had fallen into a well operating machine. The crew had listened to Frannie’s warning about the story and nothing was out of the ordinary.
But Humans never kept it that way, did they?
They were cruising through a galaxy to drop a large shipment of food to a small planet, everyone comfortably lounging around.
“What are you working on?” Menwa asked, as she was standing above Cassandra from where she was seated fiddling with a machine.
“Oh, just my hand, my thumb hasn’t been bending all the way so I’m trying to see if I can slick it up to fix the bolt or if next time we land I’m gonna have to replace the digit.
Menwa nodded with an “oh, ok”, giving a small wave with one arm, another pair crossed over her stomach and the third wringing together nervously, before walking over to where most of the crew was playing cards, totally not listening to the conversation whatsoever.
Menwa looked at them with confused wide eyes and gestured to Cassandra, the rest of the crew equally confused. Upon closer examination, Cassandra’s right hand was completely missing the thumb and first digit of her right hand, from the top, to the palm, and all the way to her wrist. The group shared concerned wide eyes, before Alchak calmly reminded everyone that Frannie had warned them not to ask , and this was most likely an extension of that.
(3)
They were in the barracks, everyone settling in for the night, some quietly joking with each other, such as Frannie and Cassandra, others reading, some cleaning their mouths or just finishing their nightly routine.
Everything was peaceful, before Frannie knelt down in front of Cassandra, rolled her pant leg up as far as it would go, revealing a metal prosthetic leg, which she then proceeded to take off by a process of removing a very tight sleeve, slipping the leg off, and then removing the cloth to reveal a stump where her thigh should presumably be.
The entire time Frannie is met with complaining from Cassandra, trying to bat her away saying “I’m not a fucking kid Fran, I can do it myself,” yet never truely trying to push her off. “If you could do it yourself I wouldn’t catch you sleeping with it on so much,” Williams rolled her eyes, bunching the piece of cloth that was covering the stump and throwing it into the basket at the end of Cassandra’s bed, then leaning the leg against it and giving Schmidt a quick fistbump before climbing up into the bunk above her.
Most of the crew hadn’t even noticed what had happened, Gr’ik looked around the room to see if anyone else witnessed the incident, and only saw Flo’we in a similar state of shock next to him. He tapped her shoulder and gestured to the limb and Cassandra, who was now laying flat on her bed with a hat on her face to block the dim but present lights. Flo’we shrugged her shoulders before looking at the limb in thought, quickly whispering to him “It might have something to do with her eye and hand,” to which he agreed, that meant they probably shouldn’t ask.
(4)
It was about eight months since they recruited the two Humans.
Cassandra was repairing a large nick on the ship where they had been rammed into by a few pirates - luckily Frannie’s piloting skills avoiding a head on collision and they were able to avoid being raided - it was deep enough to cause problems, so at their next rest they sent her out to fix it.
Everyone was in the cargo bay, talking or enjoying the lovely day that was outside on Fa’jil, as the ramp was open and down.
“Hey, can I get a hand lifting some of the uh- the shit out here?” Cassandra peeked her head in and gestured to Captain Yulei, a Rulik, a species known for similar “deathworld” conditions as earth, being a large and above averagely strong for universal standards. Yulei gave a warm smile and jogged over, along with Zen’it, another Rulik. They followed her outside and held the replacement piece of metal over where the original piece was, and had been removed, as Schmidt welded it to the hull.
Frannie scoffed and rolled her eyes but continued to play the card game a small part of the crew was playing - a game Frannie taught them called Crazy Rummy - to which she did gain a few questioning looks.
“Why’d you scoff?” Alchak asked, watching as Flo’we set down the round’s first set. Frannie looked at him and gave a small sheepish smile and shrugged. “It’s nothing, really,” waving her hand they returned to the game without a word.
(5)
They were once again at their yearly stop at the IPSA port, saying soft goodbyes to the departing crew members, and welcoming the new ones, this time with three Human interns among them.
Cassandra had left early on, saying she needed to go stop by the medical office for a checkup, Frannie hit her back in a friendly manner with a small laugh and waved her off.
The crew members were finishing loading the new shipments into the cargo when Cassandra returned with a thumbs up.
“Doc says I’m good for another year, but he wants me to watch my lung,”
Frannie nodded and they exchanged fistbumps before falling into smooth conversation.
Gr’ik had a furrowed brow, and when asked, he said, “Humans have two lungs, so she should’ve said ‘my lungs,’ not my lung, singular .”
Yet another mystery to add to the collection.
(+1)
It was a few months with the new crew, the new humans proved to be quite the trio of trouble, often playing harmless pranks, sometimes asking blunt questions, but they are quickly told off by the older humans.
Everyone was in the head, having pleasant conversations with each other. The Captain was there, the Lieutenant, the medical crew, interns and assistants, even the few members of the kitchen crew had joined them. It was quite the exciting sight they were waiting to see. One of the largest planets that are a member of the Alliance, it was known for the extremely diverse biomes, similar to earth, but without all the industrialization.
The Trouble Trio (as they had been dubbed) made up of Riley, Evad, and Derek, were whispering amongst themselves, making Alchak quite nervous to be honest, and the small hole in his stomach grew to a gaping chasm once they spoke up.
“Hey, Schmidt!” Derek shouted across the room, Cassandra rolled her head along her shoulders to look at him from her place next to Frannie at the pilot’s seat. “What?”
“We were wondering, how did you lose all your- uh- you know,” He gestured in circles with his hands.
Cassandra’s eyebrow raised, “Do I thought?” To which Frannie elbowed her.
“Are you sure you want to hear that story? It’s a rough one,”
“Yes! It’s probably so cool, like those serial killer survival stories!” Riley jumped up, fist clenched in excitement.
“Serial Killers? What the fuck is that.” Mhegn asked Alchak, to which he shrugged with a confused, worried look in his eyes.
Cassandra seemed to consider it for a moment, “Why the fuck do you want to know?”
That wasn’t good. Normally, that seemed like a hostile response, but Frannie punched her shoulder, earning a squawk from Schmidt before she waved her hand with a laugh, “You know what, I don’t care, you want to hear? It has to do with the Isile and it’s pretty nasty,” She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees eagerly. The Trouble Trio excitedly confirmed, while the rest of the crew shared concerned and worried looks. The Islie? One of the most violent, ruthless species? Deathworlders known for colonization and destruction beyond measure?
“Alright, I warned you, it was about- gosh, I think when I was 19? Fresh out of school on my first solo mission…
She slowly came to, brain foggy and aching, feeling like it was on a boat on rough water. She opened her eyes only to be assaulted by bright fluorescent light shining directly above her. She quickly squinted her eyes shut, trying to bring a hand to her face to cover her eyes, but it barely lifted a centimeter before she realized it was secured down to the freezing cold table she was on. Trying to lift her head she got it up a few inches before meeting resistance. Giving up, she laid there, trying to catch her breath, but it was like she couldn’t breathe , she wasn’t getting enough air she needed more . Focusing her vision she realized she wasn’t getting anything from her left eye. There was also a searing, burning pain screaming at her in her torso
Shit. This is bad. Really, really bad.
Quickly racking her brain for the past few hours, she slowly pieced together what had happened. She came to meet up with a client for Grandpa, on that piece of shit rust bucket he called Mona. She came without Fran, she had met the client and sold him the highest grade gas mask they made. She did her job, she did it right, made a pretty penny, so why was she here?
Thinking for what happened next, she remembered. She took a shortcut, someone had been tailing her, but then she ran into someone like a brick wall and they quickly grabbed her and shoved some cloth into her face. Chloroform. Great.
“Subject 003 seems to have gained consciousness,” A cold voice said. She lifted her head and strained her eyes to look over her chest- her naked chest, her naked chest with a giant fucking hole in it reaching all the way down near her crotch. That would explain one thing.
Squinting her eyes- well, eye, from the sudden light change, upon focusing she realized what they were. An Islie. That, that was really fucking bad. The familiar tall, slim frame, broad shoulders and heavy set hands, large ram like horns covered with the same pale grey sickly skin covering the rest of them, curling in near their face, framing large, slit like eyes with piercing black eye whites. She wore a uniform, with a lab coat and she was holding- Holy fucking shit, was that her lung ?!
Straining to see more, on the table from what she could make out, there were multiple jars and some bowls, filled with multiple organs. If the vague things her cousin Dev told her, it looked like her spleen, the entire muscles that made up her left arm, her forefinger and thumb, almost her entire right leg, dissected and taken apart like some sick puzzle, pieces of her liver, her appendix (didn’t need it anyway I guess.) There was also her fucking uterus, ovaries, and just one of her breasts. Fucker, pretty sure that was her good boob. On some towels there were just pieces of her bones, some ribs, the leg bones, finger and thumb bones, the entirety of her foot spread out and alined like it were put together.
“Don’t worry,” The Isile said, cold, monotone voice, “We have been doing our research, you aren’t our first subject, we have made sure you will be able to survive after the procedure.”
Cassandra glared daggers, vision going red. She wasn’t their first? These motherfuckers. Using all the strength she had in her right arm she ripped the leather restraints with a quick jolt, along with the one on her head with a long shout. She grabbed the nearest, biggest knife she could get her hands on and quickly cut herself free, falling off the table due to the quick rushing movements. The Islie quick placed the jar with her lung down and rushed to a phone on the wall, pressing the red alarm.
Alarms starting blaring, she couldn’t think, she could barely see, the lights shut off and were replaced with bright, flashing orange ones.
She grabbed a cane- or something, she really had no idea what the fuck it was she grabbed but hey, it worked, and she limped out of the room, quickly tackled by security personnel.
She blindly bashed the cane into their back before throwing it to the side and shoving the knife straight through their skull, a large crack followed by a squelching sound as it pierced their brain. She saw the gun in their hand and brandished it, shooting it at the rest of the people that came down the hall. She waited tensely for anyone else to come and try to take her back to- whatever the actual fuck they were doing in there, but no one came.
She put the gun in her mouth, biting down and using her usable arm and leg to pull herself to where she threw the cane, slowly standing up. She walked by the room she was in, seeing the “doctor” cowering in fear, green blood like that of a bug splattered on her face. She balanced herself on her one leg and shot her in the head as she rushed away.
She hobbled into the room again, grabbing some cloth, tying it around her waist to hold the giant fucking hole in her stomach closed, and shoving some more into her eye socket. Her body was screaming at her to stop, slow down, take it out, let us die we want to die it hurts so much please please please-
In the back of the room she limped over to a table with her clothes and helmet on it. She grabbed the jacket- it was the first thing that was hers and hers alone, not some stupid fucking handme down, it had her name on it- slipping it on and zipping it closed. At least she got a little modesty, before she grabbed the helmet, struggling to put it on with one arm but managing.
There was no signal, so she must either be underground, or they have signal blockers. The obnoxious lights were dimmed by the helmet and she limped her way through the corridors that made up this stupid fucking maze of a place, before she found stairs. She dragged herself up them, taking way to fucking long, and she pushed the door open.
Outside, it was night, some dingy dirty alley but my god, the breath of fresh air she took brought tears to her eyes. She quickly sent out a distress signal to Fran through their private channel before slumping down. She just had to hold out, Fran was on the same planet for fucks sake, she’s just a few thousand miles away, she would be here any minute.
Willing herself to stay up she thought of everything. She was only 19 dammit, she wouldn’t die now. She just got out of school, she was going to be the best fucking mechanic the Alliance has ever fucking seen. She needed to help Grandpa out of debt still, she needed to repay Fran for every single thing she’s done for her since they met six years ago. She had to live. She had to stay for Fran, Frannie deserved everything Cass could give her and god be damned she was gonna give her ever single thing she deserved.
The high pitched whistling of Frannie’s jet landing on the roof was the best sound she’s ever heard. She heard the rust of a ladder being roughly pulled down and the sound of Fran hitting the dirt floor near Cassandra. She was safe, Fran was here, her everything , she would be okay, Fran always made it okay-
“Jesus fucking christ, Cass! Oh my fucking god Cass, are you okay? Jesus, okay you’re gonna be fine okay?” Frannie was squeezing her shoulder, and it hurt like hell but she was here , she was going to help her. She carefully pulled off her helmet and unzipped her jacket, blood rushing out of her face as it paled when she saw the damage. She could see the tears budding in her eyes and she just wanted to reach out and wipe them away, tell her she would be fine. “Oh shit, shit shit shit Cass, Cass what happened? What did you do,” She rushed out, gathering her in her arms as she pulled her to the jet.
The last thing she remembered before it faded to black was Fran’s quivering voice telling her to stay awake, that she would be alright, as she got the jet moving to the nearest hospital…
And then I woke up, got some new arm muscles, some fancy metal bone replacements and bing bam boom! Got to go home after a full recovery a few months later.” Cassandra finished with a smile, Frannie shaking her head fondly. The crew was dead silent, still, no ounce of movement, before the three younger humans erupted into applause.
“So fucking worth it! That's metal as hell!” Evad shouted with a maniacal laugh, quickly being hit roughly in the head by Riley, “That was really fucking cool Schmidt,” she added.
The whole crew sat in utter horror, wide eyes, gaping jaws, Alchak could see a few members shaking.
The humans just- just- they were complimenting her ?! Sure that was the most amazing feat of survival probably more than anyone in here had heard before but-
“Th-That-” Yulei cleared her throat, gathering herself, “That was truely impressive, Schmidt, and I think I speak fr-for all of us when I say we are grateful you survived and are here to join us today,”
Cassandra shot her a smile of thanks before spinning around in her chair to continue talking to Frannie.