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It was an interesting time for Jack. Currently, he was observing the various happenings of Xezis Station. It was thrilling to watch new organics interacting with each other.

The markets were quite similar to a human market as well, with the exception of the heat stones. They looked to be some kind of solar panel attached to a chunk metal that would heat when turned on. Looking around the station, Jack noticed it was the most common heating implement used by the Aasteran.

"Interesting, It seems discrepancy of station dwellers and planet dwellers is vast indeed."

He noticed the dust and clouds in the air on Aaster prevented solar panels from being used, causing them to rely on old wind turbines to power the enviro domes. This made it remarkably difficult to power their planetside civilization as they would constantly freeze over.

"They haven't had the time to invent wireless power. Perhaps I can help them along."

Jack quickly submitted a Terran paper on orbital solar transfer under a fake name to their science council. He hoped a female by the name of Viscia would see it and begin studying the paper.

"That should help them along that route."

Checking in on how Michael was doing, he let out a digital chuckle at his friend's misfortune. Michael talked openly about how he arrived in the system and explained Terran culture to his not girlfriends parents over dinner. He seemed to like the moss but had a hard time eating the grubs that were served.

Jack worked his best to get Michael to realize Srettia was trying to flirt with him, but Michael was oblivious. Seeming to think it was a cultural alien thing which complicated things even more.

Jack was also enjoying the news broadcasts. It seemed the arrival of the Terrans was seen as both a good and bad sign. The news was filming the relief efforts on the planet, explaining that the aliens were friendly but dangerous and should not be trusted yet. He expected something like that would be common. The Aasteran people seemed to distrust the Terrans but accepted the aid regardless.

Tuning into a heat spa and listening to the wealthy, he noticed the sentiments were a bit different.

"They are disruption stone consumption on the surface." One said with a disgruntled look.

"Agreed, we need to get ahead of this and find a way to disrupt those heated areas the Terrans set up." Another said.

Jack recorded their long conversation and distributed it amongst the stations he could reach.

"That should solve that problem."

Looking into another area, he witnessed some merchants talking amongst themselves.

"So it's agreed? I'll have rights to the model ship distribution, and you'll have Terran action figure distribution. We'll both contract 'Plas model.Inc' for creation?" The three merchants nodded and signed a datapad before going their separate ways.

"Well, I guess that was bound to happen."

Jack peeked back in on his partner. He was sweating a bit but seemed fine. He was sitting in a living room watching TV with Srettia and her parents, explaining the tools being used by the Terrans on the news broadcast. Her parents seem nice. A bit surprised their daughter was with an alien male, but supportive. Jack assumed it was because they were smart and figured if their daughter bound herself to this Terran male, they would have access to a Terran's standard of living.

Overall, things seem to be business as usual. No panic, no riots. The Aasteran seemed to just accept the Terran's arrival and continued to live.

"Was it because we did not show up and destroy their planet? Or is it because they are too busy trying to survive?"

Jack spent the rest of his time doing much the same around the station, reporting crime or people trying to take advantage of the Terrans to disrupt their aid. But overall, he liked watching the people go about their day.

"Now, if only I could fix my partner."

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Chrarada was watching the video broadcast from the surface. "They seem... Nice." She thought. Her soldiers were keeping a close eye on the aliens, but from what she could tell, they were doing their best to help her citizens.

"Bridge to Chrarada, you have an incoming com from Captain Andriet."

Sighing to herself, she keyed the com and beheld the smiling Terran that was becoming a regular contact. "Captain Andriet, what can I do for you?" She said with a passive face.

"Ah, Hello First Tail!" The Terran said with that grin she always had. " I just wanted to inform you that we're almost at max capacity for our fabricators and ask if there was a settlement that needed immediate aid we might have missed?"

The smile always annoyed Chrarada, but the Captain was always nice and tried to help the people who needed it most. "Envirodome F-three has been having problems with power over the last few years. They have managed to keep it running, but power could go out at a moment's notice. Perhaps you can send some engineers to help?"

"We'd be happy to! Anything else you need?" The female asked, keying something into her datapad. Chrarada Thought for a moment while she looked over the domes that needed the most help. Most were in the same situation, limited stones, low power, not enough food, and medicine in low supply. "Focus on heat and medical distribution for now on the remaining domes, Captain. Food rationing has been in effect for decades. I'm sure a few more months won't be too terrible." She hated deciding to keep her people starving, but health and heat were much the same as starving at this point.

"In that case, until the ten thousand volunteers arrive from the fleet, my people are at max capacity for aid." Chrarada was surprised when she heard so many had volunteered to help her people. Even more so when she heard the ten thousand were handpicked as more than half the Terran fleet volunteered to help.

"Thank you for your help Captain Andriet. I don't know what my people can do to repay your kindness, but If there is anything I can do to help, I will do what's within my power to make it happen. Within reason, of course." She replied out of courtesy.

She watched as the Captain's eyes went wide, and her smile grew even larger. " In that case, can I invite you over for a tour of my ship and a drink, perhaps?"

Chrarada looked over the duty roaster of her ship. "The second tail can handle the fleet for a few hours, and Ethuci won't arrive for another two days." Taking a risk, Chrarada thought it might be best to observe the Terrans. "I will accept your offer, Captain Andriet." She replied, watching as the Terran bounced and made a strange noise.

"Excellent! I'll let my team know to expect your arrival." The Terran said and transmitted landing clearance to her ship. "I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay First Tail Chrarada."

Chrarada transmitted her expected time of arrival and cut the signal. "Are you sure that's wise? To board their ship, I mean." Her second advised.

"I see no problem. And they seem friendly enough. If this was a ruse, I doubt it would look half as convincing. Besides, I would like to see how their ship operates." Chrarada responded.

Getting up and going to her personal quarters, Chrarada decided it would be best to wear her dress uniform, deciding to go with The black blazer and long skirt. Upon reaching her room, she sighed and began removing her clothes. She then grabbed a cleaning cloth and began to polish her scales and wipe herself down. "This better be worth it." She mumbled.

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Srettia watched Michael leave her residence, giving her a few minutes alone with her parents before leaving to start a journey of exploration.

"He was a nice male." Her mother stated while hugging her tightly. "Be safe, my daughter, don't let him grab your tail too quickly." She said, poking Srettia in the side with her tail in humour.

"Or at all." Her father added, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"I'll be fine. We're going to visit his people's fleet and make sure he can come exploring with me before we even go anywhere too far." She replied. "I'll get to see all sorts of things, and my ship is safer than anything our people have produced, so don't worry about me." Hugging her father, Srettia took a step back and walked out the door.

"Well, ready to go?" Michael asked, looking around the hall.

"Yup! Let's head back to the docking bay and get a move on." Srettia replied, taking the lead and once again pointing out places of interest as they walked through the metal halls of the station.

When they eventually arrived at the market, it seemed oddly busy. A riot had broken out, it seems. A prominent heating establishment was being torn down as people were shouting slurs and screaming traitor at the owners. The safety officers even stood off to the side and let the riot continue as the people took out their rage on the store.

"That seems odd," Michael commented. Srettia thought the same. Why destroy a store that supplied much-needed heating stones? She shrugged off the thought and continued on her way past the riot.

Walking through the Market, she grabbed a few supplies she wasn't sure her ship fabricator could make and continued to the docking bay. As she came up to the hangar doors, Srettia swiped her pass and was granted entrance. She then stepped through the doors with Michael and walked towards her ship, to which he pointed out that a small crowd was gathered around it.

"Hey, back off, that's my ship!" Srettia shouted, running towards the crowd.

"Oh, Missy, that you ship? It's a beauty. Where did you have it made?" An old-looking male asked.

Srettia hesitated, but before she could answer, Michael walked up to stand beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. "It's a Terran ship, she helped broker peace between our people, so the Admiral of the Seventh fleet gifted it to her." He stated, allowing his heat pleasantly flowing into her.

"Ohh, that right, Missy? She's a strong-looking ship... Terren, is it? can't wait to get my hands on something like this." The old male replied happily. He then looked at Michael with a smile. "What do ya think? You Terrens willing to start selling your ships?" He said with excitement.

Michael laughed at the old male's excitement. "Not sure. My people have a disaster relief fleet on the way capable of building ships like this. It won't be arriving for another year, though." He said with a shrug. "On the topic of sale, I'm not sure. It depends on what kind of trade agreements our people sign."

"Well, I'll be sure to put some pressure on our trade guild then." The old male seemed to do something with his tail and continued. " Name's Muldios. I lead the mining guild of this fair station along with all others. If your people are bringing us ships like this, I'll be damn sure to make the trade agreements go smooth." He said with laughter before he started dispersing the crowd.

"Thanks. I'll be sure to put in a good word to the Admiral for you then." Michael said with a laugh as he began walking towards the ship with Srettia.

Srettia walked up to her ship and keyed the unlock. "I guess I should have expected that." She declared, stepping into her ship.

"They seemed content to observe the ship, so I saw no reason to alert you."

"Thanks for defending the ship Jack," Srettia said with a smile, looking into a nearly hidden camera.

Srettia smiled at the camera and walked towards her room to begin organizing her supplies. It was only minutes into her task when she felt the ship start to power up. "That you jack?"

"I figured you wouldn't mind since the startup sequence takes a few minutes."

"No, it's fine. I was just curious, is all." Srettia then finished putting her supplies away and started walking towards the bridge, meeting Michael along the way.

"Ya ready?" He asked as they both walked into the cockpit and sat in their crash couches.

"Yup!" She replied, taking hold of the controls and requesting clearance to leave the hangar. It took a few minutes for a reply, but eventually, clearances we granted, and she endeavoured to smoothly guide her ship out of the hangar, being mostly successful in her attempt.

"Pretty good for being new to this ship," Michael commented with that dumb smile.

"She is better than a lot of Terran pilots, partner."

"I'd like to see you do better!" She hissed. Michael began to open his mouth with a wide grin, but she then cut him off. Remembering he was a test pilot, and this was a Terran ship. "Better yet, how about you shut your mouth." Michael only laughed and keyed some controls she wasn't familiar with.

"What are you doing?" Srettia asked, waiting for him to respond as she flew away from the station.

"I noticed you were a bit stiff with the controls, so I'm adjusting the input so it's easier to fly. They were meant for Terran hand strength after all, so I figured this would make it easier for you." He said plainly.

Srettia was about to protest when her controls softened up. True to Michael's words, they felt much better. She smiled in response and keyed in the coordinates for the Terran fleet before looking over to Michael. "Does this look right?"

"Yup, nothing seems wrong. You could get a bit closer if you did it like this, though." Michael replied, throwing up his own actions on the display for Srettia to watch.

Srettia watched as the flight path changed, and sure enough, it dropped her right inside the fleet. "How did you do that? The system was throwing me errors when I tried getting even a little close." She noted, looking at Michael with much confusion.

Michael looked over at her and gave her that smile again. "I'm not the best pilot in the fleet for nothing, you know. You'll get the hang of it. I'll show you how to get around the stupid errors without overriding the system. And before you know it, I'll be having you piloting stealth cruisers."

"He could park us directly in a carrier out of warp if he wanted to override the system. It was his first infraction in the navy."

Srettia laughed as she pictured her idiot Terran suddenly appearing inside a Carrier hangar and hit the warp button. She held her breath for a moment, feeling her ship shudder as the screens displaying the stars changed to multiple colours. "It's a bit anti-climatic, only feeling a slight shudder, isn't it?"

Michael laughed for a good while, confusing Srettia before he opened his mouth. "You should try to jump space. It's just a bunch of nothing." He said with a chuckle.

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Chrarada was standing in the hangar of the Gentle Winds in astonishment. Large machines were throwing a massive amount of heat, spitting out all sorts of tools and rations. The Terrans were all running around frantically, loading the needed supplies into shuttles that were constantly coming and going. All of which were heading towards her broken planet.

"First Tail!" Came a voice she had become very familiar with. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." Captain Andriet greeted, outstretching her hand with a wide smile.

Having read some surface reports, Chrarada knew this was a handshake and grasped the Captain's hand. It was when contact was made that her eyes flew open. These humans were hot to the touch, almost boiling to her. With a smile of her own, Chrarada greeted the Terran, holding onto her hand a bit longer than she should have as she stole some extra heat. "The pleasure is Mine, Captain."

"Please call me Andriet." She replied. "Now I see you've taken an interest in my fabricators, so how about we start there."

Chrarada listened with rapt attention. The fabricators, the capabilities of the shuttles, The drop pods. All of it amazed Chrarada, who fought to keep her face neutral. She saw how the Terrans worked together and ran themselves ragged, trying to get just a bit of extra supplies to the surface. She felt rather ashamed of herself for doubting these Terrans when she came across three sleeping against the side of a shuttle that had just returned from the surface.

After finishing the tour, Chrarada joined the Captain in her personal quarters. "You have been a kind host, Captain... Andriet. It was an enlightening tour." She saw the Captain's smile grow larger. Andriet was a bubbly person, always happy and excited and always smiling at her no matter what was said.

"It's been my pleasure!" Andriet replied, pouring a glass of some unknown liquid and motioning towards a seat. "My medical team says this drink is suitable for your tastes. It's a fermented fruit drink." The Captain said, handing over the glass.

Chrarada took a sip, and her hood started to make waving motions. "This is utterly delightful." Chrarada replied as the Terran made some sort of weird noise.

"I had hoped you would like it, Chrarada." Andriet replied with a smile.

Chrarada didn't mind the Terran calling her by her name, for she was more interested in the drink. "I have witnessed your crew working hard for my people, but I still don't understand why you would go to such lengths," Chrarada announced offhandedly.

Andriet looked to the ceiling in silent thought for a quiet moment before she looked back down to Chrarada. "I won't say it's all good. But really, our people are just looking for space friends."

Chrarada took another long sip of her drink. "Would your own people not make for better friends?"

"Maybe. My people have always looked to the stars and wondered what else is out there, how they would think or act, and have concepts that are beyond us. So it's been quite a pleasure to meet you." Andriet replied.

Chrarada longingly thought about her own people and remembered the rare history texts she had access to before replying. "Mine might have been that way long ago. But that part of us was broken with Acarro. It was then people began to look to the stars in terror. What wanted us dead some thought. It surprises me that our people accepted your aid so readily."

Andriet looked sad for a moment. "I know you won't believe me. I don't expect you to with everything that's happened to your people. But I promise you. We're here to help. And maybe one day when we can trust each other. We'll find who did this to your people and make them pay in kind."

Chrarada looked the Terran in the eyes, "Maybe they aren't so bad. A bit weird, though." She thought.

Andriet broke the silence. "Now enough about that sad stuff. This should be a happy moment. How about I tell you about the time I accidentally set a fabricator to auto produce empty drink containers and forgot about it for a day."

Chrarada laughed at the thought and took another drink of her cider while listening to the Captain's story.

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