Day: -2

Year of event: 22+ 10^( 10.1395)

Notes: this entry contains themes of racism and xenophobia.

The second docking bay of Cosmos 6 bathed in dim neon light. Had someone bothered to clean the ceiling lights which ran the whole length of the half-a-kilometre long hangar, then it might have seemed more welcoming. But the second docking bay hadn't been used for anything there than smuggling and the occasional illegal fighting ring for over four decades, and a handful of people worked hard to keep it that way.

Behind one particular large cluster of containers, a group of thugs was killing time by frying dock-roaches over a small open fire. Dock roaches differed from their regular, land, counterparts by the fact that bored thugs were just about the only predators they had, leading to the insects evolving to gain a thicker carapace, and growing as big as a puppy if they were lucky enough to reach adulthood.

"Yo Dan, I've been thinking about us." Said a Human woman. She had uneven shoulder-length hair and a snake tattoo running down her cheek.

"Yeah, what about us?" A humanoid male replied.

Dan, the person who’d just spoken, was half Human and half Vimlen. His heritage was particularly visible in places where his bones came close to the surface of the skin. There, just like it would for a pure-blood Vimlen, cartilage pierced the skin in small lumps.

"You know, I'm just worried that Lozzo might find out..." The Human woman replied as she fiddled with a strand of hair.

"Well who do you think will tell him?" Dan scoffed. "You won't, you love me. I won't, I love you. Kix, will you tell?" The man turned towards a third thug.

Kix, a large Vimlen scoffed and took a bite out of a grilled roach. Had Zaz, the Human woman, been a biological female, Kix might have disapproved of the relationship. But thankfully there was no chance of more of Dan's kin running around, so Kix simply disapproved of Dan's existence.

"I won't tell." He clarified as he finished chewing on the roach. He put the now naked skewer back in the fire, and picked up another fried insect.

"Well if you won't tell, and I won't tell, and Kix won't tell, then that only leaves ..."

Three pairs of eyes turned towards a figure standing a few meters away from them. The figure was leaning onto the container wall and was facing away from the group. Three out of its four arms were crossed over its torso, and its dual tails were slowly wrapping and unwrapping themselves around one another.

"One-Three we're talking about you in case you didn't notice." The Human said in an annoyed tone.

One-Three, who referred to herself by her birth name "Re'A" ignored the group once more. They were an annoying and mean bunch, but she held some consolation in the fact that they would all soon be replaced. The longest anyone had ever lived under Lozzo was six months, and Re'A was getting close to beating that record.

"Do you think it didn't hear us?" Dan asked in a concerned tone.

With him, chances were fairly high that he was legitimately confused and thought that his teammate might have lost her sense of hearing.

"Nah, it's just angry at us cuz we're eating its brothers." Zaz said with a grin.

With a swift movement, she impaled a passing by roach onto a red-hot skewer before throwing the still-twitching bug into the fire.

Re'A's tails stopped twirling as her alertness to the group behind her increased. Thankfully this time the harassment didn't go beyond verbal insults. Re'A was a Faklar, a race that was often compared to Earth's mantises. She had seen pictures of those insects and thought that they looked nothing like her. For starters, she had no antennas and two pairs of eyes. And her tails were, as well as her legs, were signs of a regional mutation. But she seldom had the opportunity to plea her case in this human-dominated region.

"Why does Lozzo need one of those anyway? With his money he could buy any slave, I mean illim1, this side of the ... of the Space, but he got one of them crawlers." Dan asked his girlfriend.

"It fights well, or so I've heard." Zaz replied. As much as she loved harassing the Faklar, she also lost interest in it very fast when she didn’t get a reaction.

"Unlike other people." Kix scoffed as he gobbled down another roach.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dan interjected. "Are you saying my girlfriend can't fight?"

"I'm just saying we aren't that much better. The boss could have bought a proper well-bread soldier, but he got us." Kix put his skewer back into the fire. "And by us I mean you." He added with a grin, and nodded in Dan's direction.

"You fucker!" Dan yelled as he tried to throw a punch towards the Vimlen.

He was stopped by the firm hand of his girlfriend grabbing his shoulder.

Kix slowly got up from his spot by the fire, and walked the short distance that separated him from the other man.

"What are you going to do about it?" He asked, with a sadistic glimmer in his eyes.

Although Dan was a good head taller than his opponent, Kix had a broader and more muscular stature. And the cartilage protruding and forming small spikes all over his body, only made him look more intimidating.

Zaz let go of her boyfriend and took a few steps back. She had a wide smile on her face; the smile of someone whose guilty pleasure was watching other people fight.

At the other side of the artificial clearing, Re'A turned around to face the group with an alarmed expression. She wasn't sure if she would get into more trouble by intervening now, or let them sort their differences. Both options would lead to her being punished, since she was supposed to supervise the lot.

Click. Clack.

The sound of metal-coated claws rhythmically hitting the ground broke both the tense silence and the fight.

"Shit." Dan spat in the fire and rolled down his sleeves, in an attempt to look casual.

Kix silently sat back down, as if nothing had just happened.

The clicking sound drew closer and closer, until a tall and slender figure appeared from being the wall of containers.

The new arrival had a distinct elegance woven all throughout his being. His features were angular and bird-like. Although he didn't have a single feather on his body, his legs did end in four claw-like fingers which he hid under masterfully crafted metal socks. His dark-purple vest and black silk shirt had both been tailored towards human anatomy, but fit him perfectly. His hands, as claw-like as his toes, were covered with four-finger gloves. He wore a single earring, which also served as a short-distance transmitter. The apogee of his obsession to present as human were the sunglasses he carried in the front pocket of his vest. He would brag how they were an authentic vintage 2073 Claire’s model, but he would never be seen wearing them because they came nowhere close to the actual position of his three pairs of eyes.

"One-one, one-two, one-three, two-one," the new arrival said in a soft tone. "How wonderful to see you all loitering around like the incompetent imbeciles that you are."

"Sir, we're guarding the ..." Dan tried to justify himself by gesturing towards one of the containers behind him.

"Tss, tss." The other man waved a sharp finger in disappointment.

Dan instantly dropped to the floor, onto his knees.

"I'm sorry sir." He bowed down.

"As you should be. But I'll let this one slide." The visitor said in a neutral tone. Five of his eyes turned towards the Faklar. "One-Three, the boss wants a report on the merchandise. Bay 1, landing pad 4."

Re'A bowed before promptly turning around and hastily walking away from the group. She wasn't sure if she should run or walk, since her supervisor didn't specify how urgent this was, so she ended up awkwardly switching between the two.

"Oh, and try not to lose any wars on your way there." The visitor jokingly yelled in Re'A's direction.

Notes:

1. “Illim” is believed to be a term introduced by Humans during the early years of Onshore space exploration. It is assumed to be a contraction of two or more words from the North American English dialect. Unfortunately we do not know which words were used. Synonyms include : “slave”, “denizen, and “nety-bymag2”.

2. “Nety-bymag” is also a term originating from Human dialects, although it has now been adopted by several alien communities. Its original meaning [Redacted].

Although the C in ETHC does not stand for Culture, I believe that culture should be cultivated within our ranks (pun intended). Hence, I highly suggest you read the following piece of creative writing:

Planetary Orbital Weapon

It explores a very interesting hypothetical of “what to do if a fully-equipped military station was transported in a different dimension with only a single resident aboard.”

For official ETCH protocol on what to do in that exact situation, please refer to Document 14 “Health and Safety Hazards related to Hyperspace and Null-space travel” Section 5, §1.1-6.2. If it is any reassurance to out deep-space explorers, you are less likely to be transported into a different dimension than to be attacked by an unknown eldritch entity.

Current year: 22+e^(23.347)

Redactor signature: E.E. Shwartz