The Tanikki laughed heartily, the spines on his back shaking precariously. And they knew that it had been a bad idea to boast that they would work 'harder than a human'. Some of the other bar patrons seemed to take notice and the three huddled together in embarrassment. At least the Tanikki pilot had calmed down quick enough.

"You have no idea what you are talking about. No one can keep up with the humans, never mind outpace them. I will tell you a few things about them, but first things first."

He lifted his thick arms to get the attention of the auto-server and ordered himself something that the three had never heard of - probably a species-specific drink. But then he also pointed at them and ordered other things they had never heard of.

The three gave each other a quick glance, sharing the thought that this undertaking had probably not been the best of ideas. Back before the unification ceremony they had made the plan of leaving their home world to live through a real adventure. To go somewhere outside the core worlds and experience things they could talk about for decades to come.

It was the foundation of any pack, was it not? These types of things would weld the three together like nothing else. Curiosity - and frankly, naiveté - had driven them to the fringe worlds, where new colonies were founded in the outer sectors. Where there was always work to do. And where life was hard and rewarding.

They had spent their savings to travel to this trading hub, where they planned to look for work. But nobody so far had been interested in hiring a young pack of Atun'gekai that didn't offer any experience. They would need to replenish their funds to return back home though.

Already they had seen and learned things that would make great stories. The Tanikki, for example, were a really interesting species. They had those spines running from the top of their head down to the middle of their backs. These were some leftover traits of a distant ancestor species, and would be shed in the early life of a Tanikki, actually dropping quite easily.

But if they remained attached, they would continue growing. So they intricately weaved in colorful yarn, binding the spines together so any single one would be held by its neighbours. They had to be careful and renew the weave ever so often, but long spines would tell of age and wisdom, as well as a high status - so much even, that enemies would pluck them from the backs of the defeated to humble them. The three could not imagine these burly beings with their strong arms and thick fingers working the fine yarn into the tight spaces of those spines.

So they were overjoyed when they found this Tanikki pilot - well actually captain - and he had been nice so far. Well, until they, in a bout of eagerness, had let slip the thing about working harder than a human. Now there was a pause of very uncomfortable silence, where the captain just looked at them with his wide apart eyes, drumming on the table with the four-fingered hands. And - was that a mischievous smile?

The drinks arrived and the auto-server put down a heavy cup that looked like solid metal for the Tanikki drink and three glasses for them. Pouring into the first was a nearly black, steaming liquid. For their glasses, the auto-server poured three different lightly coloured drinks. The captain was quick to lift his cup and take the first taste of its contents that were seemingly very enjoyable.

When he sat it back down, he began:

“You may have heard about the colonisation of virgin planets, but you have obviously never lived through it. It's hard setting down on a surface that offers nothing. There might be a good atmosphere, or flora and fauna, but that's it. No energy grid, no safe water, no satellite network, not one of the amenities of civilization.

“That's why setting the foundation for a new settlement doesn't happen often and colonisation efforts are slow and dragged out. You need very adventurous people to do that. People that accept hardships and that can tackle emergencies without hesitation. People that can withstand heat, cold, searing winds, droughts and whatever nastiness a planet's biological evolution can throw at them.

“And you know where there is a whole species of exactly that kind of people? Yeah, those are the humans. You would think that after getting off their deathworld of a planet they would enjoy the peace and quiet of civilization. But no! They fling themselves willingly into the deepest and darkest corners of these sectors.

“You will find them not here on this cozy station, but down on all of these untamed lands - resisting weather, technological mishaps and whatever else nature may throw at them to then stand victorious on top of a self-sustaining and safe colony.

“Though it’s them that say ‘fighting’ and call it 'being victorious'. I don't understand how one can see these things as some nebulous entity that seeks your defeat and opposing them as actually fighting something.

“Anyway, all of that is not what sets them apart. We always had ongoing colonisation efforts and always found people amongst the citadel species. No, what sets them apart is how much drive they can put behind solving any problem. They tend to be good workers in any situation, but they show their true strength in emergencies.

“It's why they say that the only thing working harder than a human with passion is a human with agency. And I can tell you that setting the groundwork for a fresh planetary settlement is one ongoing emergency situation.

“Those people setting down in the first ships have a mountain of things to do and unique problems to solve, you will find them to be often working to exhaustion. Humans can put in an insane amount of time with only short breaks, utilising even their food intake time to do mental work.

“I once saw a generator array fail catastrophically on a fresh settlement where I had just delivered to. That colony base had the bare minimum of emergency power for forty-six hours and I would have sworn that this failure foretold its abandonment. Those two-hundred-and-fifty occupants could not be able to fix this and I was already emptying my holds to carry those out that would not fit onto the other ships.

“But up stepped the humans. It was only thirty of them, but they rebuilt that generator array from the ground up with only short breaks in-between and got it up and running right before the backup failed. So thin was that margin, the colony had already been declared dead and it took weeks to change its status back to alive and active. That world now has millions living there.

“Most people are also quite happy with living out their days in the colony they helped found or returning to civilization after that adventure. Not so the humans.

“Among them you will find the only individuals that actually have experience in colonising worlds, because they have not only done the first drop once, but multiple times. Nowadays anyone knows that you have to hire one of them as a supervisor if you want to have the best chance of creating a solid foundation for a colony.

“Before the humans, word was always going about when a colony succeeded on the first try, because that was a rarity. Now the first question anyone asks when you tell them a world has been abandoned - 'Were there no humans there?'.

“There was that one time I got into a close call myself, when a settlement was in severe danger of being flooded in torrential rains. I was grounded in the nastiest storm you can imagine, believe me, I was a panicked mess.

“But through all of the chaos stood that human supervisor like a rock, putting anyone and everyone to work, assigning them to the positions their species would be most productive, allotting time, resources and equipment in the most efficient manner. She directly delegated more than five-hundred, keeping tabs on every single one.

“I saw supply holes being plugged before even becoming noticeable, equipment standing ready before it was anticipated and workload shifting constantly to give breathing room before exhaustion could knock us out. I had never before felt like part of a team so much as in these two days.

“And I swear, that woman did not sleep one minute in that time. When the first rays of sunshine came through those clouds, we knew that we all had just done a dance with death that we only survived because her experience and tenacity had given us the right steps to take.

“That woman is one of my closest friends now. I actually made a number of human friends, because I have made a job out of delivering supplies and equipment to the new colonies. A friendship with them goes a long way, you must know. It's their network and contacts that keep me in business.

“I mean, there is always a new planet to make landfall, always a new challenge those humans throw themselves against. I got to know them in these last cycles, but - by all that is moving around the sun - I do not understand their thirst for danger. What I do understand, at least I think I do, is their compassion.

“You would not find people to respond to a call for aid quicker than the humans. Even I had seen them swoop in before getting anywhere close to an emergency transponder, and I have a ship of their design.

“I know it's because they value safety over everything else. That may sound paradoxical because they do tend to jump headlong into the most dangerous regions. But one thing they can be very sure of - other humans have their back, and they graciously extend it to any other beings out there.

“I had one of those emergency calls in the early cycles of my business, when the humans were new to citadel space, long before they joined the galactic council. A colony ship - you know, those fat ones that are made to land once and turn into a base - saw its engines fail in an unstable orbit close to a planet.

“They were calling for help and I, of course, responded. I took aboard as many as my freighter would take, which was by far not all of them. After I disconnected from the colony ship, I feared I had to watch all those poor souls plummet to their deaths.

“Seeing that situation I had actually decided to already retire from captaining a ship.

“Then came the humans, plopping into space in their crazy iron contraptions that could FTL jump by themselves. There were three tiny ships and they immediately sped after that vessel that was already brushing the upper atmosphere of the planet. They rammed it from behind and literally pushed it.

“I mean, they pushed that ship that out-massed all three together by at least a factor of twenty all the way through that layer of air, glowing from the heat of atmospheric friction on one end and from the heat of the overworked thrusters on the other.

“And, believe me, they did it. They helped with bringing it back into a stable orbit with another push on the pass around. After that they had to stay for a while, mostly because their ships had taken quite some damage. I took back my decision to change professions and made the plan of acquiring one of their iron ships for myself.

“So while I see you bringing maybe some of their qualities and maybe also doing a good job, I cannot see you working harder than a human. I have seen their work.”

The glasses of the three had remained untouched. Not because they were slightly frightened by the uncertainty of their contents, but because they had been listening intently. These stories, these could be the lifeblood of a whole planet's worth of Atun'gekai. With only a fraction of what that captain had lived through, they could spend eons talking.

Then, quietly, they said: "We will try our best to keep up with the humans."

It caused another hearty laugh from the Tanikki captain. He downed the last of his drink and knocked down the cup on the table so hard it made them flinch. He extended his hand to shake each one.

"You three are alright. While I can provide you with experience, I cannot provide you with the ability to work as a team. And that is what I need. So if you are as attached to each other as I have heard the packs of your people are, I welcome you aboard my Iron Beast."