[Just A Little Further] Edit and Repost (this time complete)

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The alarm was so startling, I fell out of bed. I sat up and swung my head around wildly looking for the danger. “Melody! I’ve been trying for ten minutes to wake you, I was about to call the infirmary. You slept through your alarm and your backup.” It was starbase, trying to get my attention. Starbase was a k'laxi built AI, and like most of them, had chosen their name. I thought it seemed rather generic, but who am I to judge someone else’s name?

"I know, I know, I'm sorry!" I panted as I threw on my clothes. Fortunately, Vinaren wouldn't leave until I was completely packed last night; she knew that if she didn’t make sure I was finished I wouldn’t be. Running a comb through my hair - luckily it was a fresh, cute, close cropped cut so it wasn't too bad, though it was colder than I expected - I grabbed my uniform jacket and headed towards the door. As I looked over the checklist that Vin had taped to my door - I really should have thanked her - I looked at my kitchenette wistfully.

"There isn't time to make coffee," Starbase said firmly.

I sighed. "I know. It's just…no, I have to." Decision made, I ran over to the kitchenette, grabbed my hand grinder, brewer, measuring cups, scale, and the airtight container of coffee and swept it into a bag. "I don't know what kind of coffee Far Reach has, and I don't want to be a grump because they have bad coffee."

Starbase sighed dramatically. "Really Melody? Fine. But you have to leave now unless you want me to get the fire brigade to bring you.

They were threatening to give me a ride from the only folks who have vehicles on board. The fire brigade uses small electric vehicles to carry hoses and equipment to a fire and sometimes bring injured people to the infirmary. If they brought me to the docking ring because I was late I would die of embarrassment.

"Thanks again for the wake-up, I’m going." I ran out the door, no breakfast and no coffee.

I'm the brand new information warfare officer on the exploration Starjumper Far Reach. It simply would not do to miss my first real posting. A corporate benefactor sponsored our mission to traverse the warp gates and go as far as we can. On the one hand, I didn’t like being beholden to a corporation; I wasn’t even sure which one sponsored us, maybe Houndstooth? On the other hand, their sponsorship was the only reason I got to go at all. I would have thought for sure that the Xenni or the K’laxi would have already mapped the whole Gate system before, but here we are. 

Yes, humans have their wormhole generators and usually just link between points in space. It’s quick and easy with…minimal side effects. But the k’laxi and xenni didn’t use them. They complained that they didn’t use our wormhole drives because the AIs refused to sell them, but they had centuries of using the Gates before, and I’m sure the AIs had a good reason.

When both the k’laxi and xenni made it to space for the first time they found a whole series of Gates that linked together star systems all over the galaxy. It took them quite a while to figure out how to use them, but once they did it was much easier than developing their own FTL. Each ship needed to have an addressing module; that tells the Gate where they want to go, and inside the module is a list of addresses to known locations. 

This specific mission is unique and exciting because it will be crewed by humans and k’laxi. Their government put up about half the money for the mission, and they’re an important part of the crew. Technically, the first sapient species we ever met, they're from a world that's smaller and lighter than ours, plus their planet is straight up and down, no tilt and their orbit is almost perfectly circular. Can you believe they have no seasons at all? It's always a fall (for us) day there.  I went once for vacation with my moms, it was kind of weird. We were there for a month and the weather was identical the whole time. Vin told me that they didn't even know what a meteorologist was until we explained the concept.

They're so cute looking too.  They're shorter than us, furry, with big expressive ears on the top of their head, and a long fluffy tail that they can grab things with. Someone said they kind of look like a cat or squirrel or fox person from comics and I guess I can see it, but they are definitely their own thing. They’re friendly and we get along well. I’ve been friends with Vinaren for years, and I’ve heard that k’laxi/human couples have been successful as long as we’ve known each other.

Our ship Far Reach is - like all starjumpers - an AI, and has been alive for more than fifteen hundred years. It’s not unique that our ships have AIs or that they’re so old, but it surprised me when I first heard it. Humans and AI have been working together (mostly) harmoniously for two millennia. When an AI takes on a new ship, they name it and that becomes their name too.  I learned - the hard way - it's incredibly rude to call them by an old name. Wow, that was awkward, but I apologized and she said it was okay and that I didn't know, but I was beet red for like three hours.

Like I mentioned, Far Reach started out as a starjumper, an old, old ship originally designed to go between human colonies at relativistic speeds before the wormhole generators were developed. Most of them still have their huge old stardrives and can thrust at tens of gees if they ever decide to, though when there are BIs on board they keep the thrust around one gee. BI is their word for us. They call us Biological Intelligences to oppose us calling them Artificial Intelligences, though I’m not sure how artificial they actually are. Far Reach and Starbase said not to worry about it too much, but I still felt a little bad about the designation.

Before it became Far Reach, the starjumper we’re riding on was refitted at the Greylock docks near starbase. It's a brand new facility meant to bring the K'laxi and us closer together. Made up of Human and K'laxi facilities, it will enable us to work even closer together to design ships.

I asked why the Xenni weren’t involved more and my CO told me that they were offered a position but weren’t interested in anything other than a leadership role. The Xenni tend to be like that. They’re nice enough to us and the k’laxi but if they’re not running the show they’re not interested.

As far as I know, Far Reach has more K'laxi parts than any other starjumper. They still have their stardrive and matter printers and exawatt laser batteries (just in case) but a lot of the interior was refitted and reconfigured to be an exploration ship. There's a new information warfare suite (hello!) hibernation cabinets (just in case) and enough cabins for the crew to each have their own room, with room to expand later.

It might seem odd that an exploration ship has an Information Warfare Suite (and your lovely freshly minted Information Warfare Officer). We're not planning on going to war per se, but we don't know who we'll be meeting - if anyone - and how friendly they'll be.  A few years ago back in Sol, Venus decided again that AIs weren’t people anymore, and tried to beam malicious applications to shackle the AI ships. There was a small war that burned through a few systems, but they were soundly defeated wherever they showed up. Since then they seem to have dropped the rhetoric and aren't really making anti-AI noises anymore, but I can’t imagine that’s the end of it. Given that recent history quite a few ships have been upgraded with new Information Warfare suites.

I made it to the docks out of breath and saw Captain Q'ari standing in front of the airlock fielding questions from the press. There were so many different press orgs here, maybe this is a larger event than we thought? When she saw walk up her ear flicked irritatedly, and her tail swished while otherwise maintaining her composure for the cameras floating around her. I just hope she’s not annoyed enough to say anything. I bounded up the ramp and saluted. "Apologies for being late Captain. Permission to come aboard?"

She returned the salute sharply. “Permission Granted, Lieutenant Mullen. Please endeavor to be more punctual from now on." Annoyed enough to say something after all.

"Yes Captain. Thank you." I said as I headed inside. My cabin was right where I expected to be, and I’m late enough that I tossed my belongings inside without even putting them away - I'll do it later - then rushed up to the Command Deck. "Hi Far Reach! I called out brightly as I walked onto the Command Deck.  It was set up human style with the Commander's seat in the rear-center, and everyone sitting around them at their stations.

"Good of you to join us Melody." Far Reach said, amusement clear in their voice. "I was wondering if you were going to show up on the back of a Fire Brigade vehicle." Quiet chuckles from the rest of the bridge crew.

It's really hard to be punctual, okay?

"Very funny Far Reach. I made it, on my own, and I managed to remember my coffee supplies." I said smugly.

"Good thing too" Far Reach said "Because I just happen to know that thirty kilos of Parvati Gold were loaded this morning."

Parvati's mountain ranges were known for producing excellent coffee, with some saying it was even better than some coffee from Earth. Normally too expensive for me, getting real Parvati Gold was a rare treat. "How did you manage that?" I gasped, not even trying to hide the surprise in my voice.

"She didn't have anything to do with it, that was all me." A voice said behind me. I turned and saw the K’laxi ambassador Vivenni standing there, looking effortlessly elegant. Wearing a smartly tailored uniform and standing there with her hands on her hips, she looked like a professor about to give a lecture. "I heard that some people here enjoy good coffee and I happened to know offhand of a shipment coming in, and was able to...ask for a donation to the cause." she said, her eyes laughing.

I didn't think to ask where she learned so much about coffee, it's poisonous to K'laxi. Even decaf will mess them up. They do love tea though, and I'm sure the stores are packed with chamomile tea as well as other flavors.

"Thank you Ambassador!" I said gratefully. "It's so nice of you."

She smiled "I know a bit about coffee thanks to my human friends, and when I saw this go by, I couldn't help myself.  Enjoy!" And she turned back to speaking with another officer.

Maybe this trip would be more fun than I had originally thought.