“Just another thirty seconds… just need another thirty seconds.”

I heard the intercom go off as I did my best not to buckle under the intense strain. I could practically feel my insides turning to soup from the radiation, my muscles were already starting to cave from holding up the part of the ship’s drive so we could remain stable as we executed an emergency warp, and the rain of stunners hitting my body to keep my already strained muscles from moving an inch all added up to an unfortunate cocktail of disaster.

Oh, sorry, you weren’t here when this all started. Let’s go back a ways, get you caught up on how everything got to this disaster-tastrophe. Hold tight, we’ve got a lot to cover, and since I’m fading from consciousness anyway, what better time than now?

My name is Michael Halstrum. Most people just call me Ike. I’m a human, the average kind you could find anywhere on Earth… but I’m not there right now, obviously. I was enrolled in the global space force just before we entered the Planetary Council. That’s the ruling group of lifeforms in our galaxy… right, yeah, pretty generic. But we’re the only group of “predator” species that’s signed in as a representative. It’s a little odd sometimes, seeing all the other species that have predominantly “prey” style features… you know, eyes on the side of the head, herbivorous style teeth, and no real defensive body parts.

Anyway, when life was found on Earth, most member planets assumed we were a fluke since Earth was considered a death planet. Apparently, the natural disasters we live with don’t happen on a lot of other life bearing planets. And we were originally going to be an exile planet… until first contact actually happened. I don’t know much about the guy who was our first contact rep, but man, imagine being approached by a bunch of non-human entities just a year after your species started colonizing space.

So once we got introduced and people got sorted, we found out that our “prey” looking allies were prone to conflict with “predator” races and often took it in the shorts during those skirmishes. They didn’t think like a predator, they didn’t aim for the jugular to finish a fight fast, and they regularly looked for the least harmful collective option but didn’t think of the long-term results. That all changed once humans entered the galactic stage. We turned back enemies, broke mountains of foes who picked on our allies, and bonded with our new allies quickly. Eventually, rumors spread about us. Good and bad.

We were called the “Menace in Black” for our combat suits, “Beaked Breakers” for the sharp helmets we wore outside of our homes and ships, and “Unstoppable Calamities” because just like back on earth… it took more than most could fathom to put us down. We don’t immediately die of shock, we can take punishment the likes of which no other race can even begin to compare, and we have reserves of strength unseen on the interstellar stage to date.

What none of the other species understood was… we’re not invincible. We can be killed, it just doesn’t happen immediately. Which is kind of how I ended up where I am now. Broken warp engine, leaking radiation, if nobody holds the part steady we all fall into a sun and die. The calculus sucks, but I knew I could hold us until we got to a shipyard… but I also knew this would be a one way trip. Even if we get back home, the sheer exposure levels will put me under in a week or two, and it will hurt every second. But my new family, my shipmates, will survive to fight another day. It’s a sacrifice my ancestors will be proud to say I made. My friends will mourn, but they all would have made the same choice. It’s why we pushed to have at least one human per ship compliment.

We know we’re not the be all, end all of evolution. We know that humans die just as easily as any other race. But we also know that our natural ability to pack bond with just about anything means we can save so many more that would be lost otherwise.

Back to the history lesson though.

So this particular mission had our ship going toe-to-toe with an ambusher crew from the Relgind. Mean old cats, like to bully less powerful species, and have never had to go against a human crew. And man, was it a fun day to see them driven back… but that led to the ambushes… like the one we stumbled into.

My assigned ship, the Qua’le’ho, was a mixed species task force designed just for this kind of adventure. Captain Tu’Fel is a Hemyef, kind of similar to those little grey men from Earth legends, but the eyes were smaller, sharper, more spread out. First officer Kyt-dan was a Xikan, avian featured and awe-inspiringly quick witted. I was given the position of Security Chief, because when the chips are down who doesn’t want your local space orc pointed at the enemy, right? The downside is that most of our crew hadn’t encountered a human yet, so I was required by the captain to keep my helmet on at all times. He wanted the ability to make a statement at a key moment, send fear if needed with a little performance.

Anyway, the Relgind had popped out of a small pocket of space, using their d-ford generator. They ad a real name for it, but we just called them a d-fold because it basically folds space around the ship to put them in a pocket dimension they could see out of but nobody else could see into. We had hopped in system some 12 hours prior, responding to a distress call. Yeah, I know, I told the captain it was a trap, but we honored our status as a council military ship and showed up none the less.

And man, was that a bad decision.