Arseholes Aplenty
Posted on Wed Aug 27th, 2025 @ 4:16am by Ensign Tenzi Sh'reyva & Petty Officer 2nd Class Zal Rixi & Lieutenant Xalanth
Edited on on Sat Sep 6th, 2025 @ 6:23pm
1,417 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Promenade, Barisa Prime Station
Timeline: MD006, 1815 Hours
Xalanth couldn't help but grin as he looked over the station's promenade. When he'd seen the dragonian organid ship docked at the station he'd thought there would be trouble. His people were rarely seen outside of their own space and a whole ship of them (even if it was just a cargo freighter) was likely to cause some trouble. Thankfully other than trying to work how replicators worked, how you don't pay for them and his species habit of hanging around in their everything seemed to be going just fine. Still he and the rest of the current shore patrol were keeping an eye on them. Just in case.
Seeing two of the Astrea's crew the lizard nodded to them. He hadn't had a chance to talk to the two engineers, but his mates had mentioned them. "Ladies, how goes shore leave?" He asked politely.
Tenzi had been staring at a vendor's rack of trinkets--gleaming shells strung on wire, little mechanical birds that whirred when you touched them--when she caught the flicker of scales in her peripheral vision. She blinked, antennae twitching upward, and found herself looking at the dragonian officer.
Rixi, of course, was already grinning. "Well, Lieutenant," she said, cocking her head, "shore leave's a complicated science. We're experimenting. Hydration, light shopping, gossip. The early returns are promising."
Tenzi let out a soft breath that might've been a laugh. "Mostly promising," she amended.
Rixi glanced over at two Dragonian officers that appeared to be observing the rest of the promenade from the opposite corner.
"How's your watch going, sir?" asked Rixi.
"Going well. Mostly I've been having to explain how things work to the dragonians." He said looking over his shoulder at the two officers. Unlike Xalanth instead of spines along the rear of his head there ran in a line along the whole of their head. "They're from the city state of Eppiogar, you can tell from the spines. It's central tower is one of the highest buildings on the homeworld."
Rixi nodded, hooking her thumbs into her belt. "Obviously, they get along with you. But what do they think of us?"
The lizard chuckled. "Not all of them. A few of them still think i'm a member of the living dead. Just be polite, criticus and remember we're rather new to the galaxy."
As Xalanth said that another group pasted. Unlike the others who wore a grey jumpsuit they seemed to be wearing rather impractical armour that looked rather impractical. Judging by their thinner appearance they were females of the species. Instead of spines they seemed to have a fin running along the side and atop of their head. Passing Xalanth the three hissed at him before hurrying away. "Except for them. They're assholes and always will be." Xalanth added.
Rixi barked a laugh that turned a few heads at the trinket stand. "Well," she said, tilting her chin after the retreating trio, "I appreciate the clarity. Helps to know that asshole comes in universal dialect."
Tenzi's antennae curled back, half-amused, half-wary. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, the shells on the vendor's rack chiming faintly at her elbow. "They didn't even try to hide it," she murmured. "Just hissed and walked off."
"That's the efficient way to do it," Rixi said, still smiling. "No small talk, no pretense. You know where you stand." She shot Xalanth a glance, and the grin softened. "Doesn't it bother you?"
"Oh, being considered living dead, escaped property, and the fact they think my gender makes me an abomination against life does ruffle my scales," Xalanth said calmly managing not to lose his temper. "Let me start from the beginning. That charming lot are a bunch of shield-bearers from the city-state of Izille. The biggest assholes on my home world. It's a complete matriarchy, very militaristic, very religious, and they just happen to be located along one of the planets few oceans making them very rich. My people exist as a tribe due to us rebelling against them and escaping out into the desert--something they still haven't gotten over. They were also the last city state to officially outlaw slavery which they did only four years before I hatched as an egg. It's a fairly open secret many in that accursed city still practice it. I'm surprised the organid didn't try and dump them on some uninhabited planet the first chance he got." He finished, referring to the dragonian bioship parked in one of the hangar bays.
Rixi's grin thinned, but it didn't vanish altogether. She reached out without thinking and set her hand against the curve of Xalanth's forearm, feeling his scales through the Starfleet uniform. Her touch was light, a friendly but caring one.
"Rough family history," she said, voice quieter now, "when your own people hiss at you like you're a ghost, or worse." She tilted her head again, her brown hair touching her shoulder on one side. "You wear it better than I would, Xalanth. I'd be breaking furniture."
Tenzi's antennae lifted at that, her mouth pulling into something not quite a smile. She studied Xalanth with a new stillness, as though the words he'd dropped had rearranged the air around them. "Escaped into the desert," she murmured, half to herself. "And survived. That's not something most people would forgive easily. Either side." She paused and glanced over at the original pair from Eppiogar. "Still, I wonder," she added, "How would the Federation fare in an all-out war with your people?"
"They aren't my people," Xalanth said calmly. "My people are the crew of the Astrea and my clan back in the desert that we call home. Besides even they aren't all bad. One of my mothers was a member of that city. She escaped with her baby brother in her arms. My father found her curled up in a ball, feeding him on her own blood to keep him alive."
Turning to Tenzi he paused for a second before replying. "I doubt a war would be possible. The Federation would have to do something very, very bad to get all of the tribes, city states and colonies on board along with the Organids. If it did happen the Federation easily outnumbers us in ships, but my people are fighters. They could beat us, but it would be a very hollow victory. You do not want to hear an organids death wail. Believe me."
Tenzi’s antennae dipped forward, then curled back, as if they couldn’t decide which way to point. "I don’t think I’d want to hear that wail," she said softly. Her voice was steady, but she looked away--toward the whirring toy birds, toward the press of civilians and officers milling under the station’s wide lights. "But I’ve heard echoes of it. Occupations leave ghosts too, Xalanth. They scream in quieter ways."
Her hand hovered over one of the shells on the rack, brushed it, then let it be. She straightened, eyes clear again. "Anyway. You’ve made it this far. The Astrea isn’t a desert, but it’s a clan of sorts."
Rixi grinned, sharp again, and tilted her head toward him. "And if anyone hisses at you here, lizard-man, point them out. I’ve got plenty of furniture-breaking energy to spare."
"Thank you my friends, but i can take a few hissing." Xalanth smiled at his friends. "I'd better get back to shore patrol. I'll see you around."
Rixi gave him a little two-fingered salute, casual as a gambler. "Don't let the assholes multiply while we're shopping!" she called-out while the Dragonian security chief stepped away.
Tenzi gave a small shake of her head, antennae canting toward Rixi. "You really don't mind being the loudest one in the room, do you?" she said.
Rixi's grin widened, unbothered, and almost proud. "Someone's got to fill the silence. Might as well be me."
The two of them let the pause sit, the noise of the promenade wrapping back around them.
Lieutenant Xalanth
Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea
Petty Officer 2nd Class Zal Rixi
Engineering Technician
USS Astrea
Ensign Tenzi Sh'reyva
Engineering Officer
USS Astrea
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