Mickey Raeffello clutched his daughters’ jar to his interbrachial membrane, glancing expectantly at the departure board and whistling a faint tune to try to quell his nerves.
Today was the day he was to start his new job as a member of an Alliance Relief Team which operated out of an orbital base, transitioning from his current position at one of the Alliance’s travelling medical facilities - on call for any emergencies they might need to attend to - into something less hands-on. From what he understood, he’d be responsible for arranging medical care for any relevant cases their team worked with; still important, but much less intense.
The decision to leave his job and take up a new one had not been made lightly. He loved his coworkers and the work they did together, traveling all over the galaxy and attending to urgent medical situations, but his daughters had to be his main priority and they were reaching their next larval stage. His new role at Alliance Base 17 would give him more stability and flexibility so that he could tend to them in this tricky period. He was determined to be attentive to them in a way his mother had not been for him, and this was the best way to prioritise them.
Nonetheless, he would miss all that he left behind. He’d already had his final shift, and his coworkers had kindly thrown him a farewell party. Deborah even made her famous devil’s blat and didn’t get as exceptionally drunk as usual. It had been one of the most wonderful days of his life, he’d shed many tears. They had planned to see him off at the shuttle station in the center of the huge spaceship, but had been detained by an influx of a new virus on a tourist starliner. He didn’t mind having to wait alone, though he would do anything for more time with his friends. He would simply have to carve out time in his calendar to catch up with them.
The airlock hissed and Mickey glanced over expectantly as a small shuttlecraft bearing Alliance insignia slid into the passage. It stopped in front of him and a hatch slowly opened to reveal rows of empty seats and a Thriftite pilot plugged into the controls.
Mickey waited a moment before boarding in case any other passengers wanted to get on, but no one else moved.
“Looks like it’s just you pal.” The pilot said brightly. “Hop on in.”
Mickey nodded hurriedly and moved his luggage onto the ship, before placing his daughters onto the seat diagonally behind the pilot and settling down next to them.
“Alright, let’s get the day rolling!” The pilot said and the shuttle hummed as he maneuvered it through the passage into open space. Mickey watched as his old place of work and home shrunk to nothing behind them.
“You’re called Mickey right?” the pilot said once they were comfortably on the way. “You’re joining Robyn’s new team, eh?”
“Yes, I’m Mickey.” He smiled at the Thriftite. “And you?”
“The name's Steve.”
“Nice to meet you. Are you and Robyn close?”
“In a way. Before I was a pilot I worked in the RAS gardens, but I always wanted to build my own ship to fly. I met Robyn when she had a project working with the RAS gardeners, she was looking into potentially getting her own ship for future things. My supervisor, hell of a guy, told her about my hunk of junk I had been slowly pulling together, and she decided to sponsor it, with the hook being that she’d own my ship at the end of it. Which wasn’t what I had in mind but what the hey. Once we were mostly done I was able to get a part time gig as a pilot. And here we are today. So I owe Robyn for that. Ship’s not done yet, but when she is she’ll be a beauty. I call her the Knife Edge.”
“That’s really cool Steve! I’d love to see it sometime. Do you think that Robyn wants to use your ship for our team? You could be our pilot full time!”
“That would be the dream, Mick. It’s alright if I call you Mick right, Mick?” Mickey nodded as Steve went on. “But I don’t know if Robyn would take me on, I don’t have all that much experience. Mostly pickups from spaceports like this.”
“Don’t be silly Steve, it’s your ship! I’ll support you in asking Robyn when the ship’s done.”
“Wow, Mick, you’re a great guy. Feel free to hit me up when you get a day off, there’s some great bars I could take you to.”
“I’d like that.” Mickey smiled. Steve was a really friendly person, and had an interesting way of speaking. For the rest of the trip, he chatted happily to Steve, talking about family and hobbies. He made sure he procured Steve’s fishbank details before departing the hangar bay at Alliance Base 17, his new home and workplace, and waved goodbye to the good-natured slug.
As a cart collected most of his luggage to take to his new room, Mickey took in his surroundings, soaking in the beauty of a new environment. He might have grown up on the marshy isles of Ranigrous, but since leaving as a young Ranigronian to volunteer as a camp counsellor, he’d been to many places in the galaxy - rural homesteads on Yavis 3, bustling space ports, a satellite hospital in the Platos system - and he was always in awe of everywhere he went. The nuances and uniqueness of culture, architecture, food, art, and the way they mixed all together in places like this, an Alliance base with representatives from all over, both workplace and home to many. He was excited to learn exactly what this place was like, what history and traditions were held by the people here.
Through the mostly translucent floor he could make out the planet Staphas, which the base orbited. He’d learnt interesting things about the planet, when his team had helped patch up the crew of a Staphan scout ship - as a people they were relatively new to interstellar travel and had only recently developed their own spacecraft. One of the Staphans, a chitinous being a fifth Mickey’s size, told him through the ship’s translator system about her people’s mound homes, their plant based delicacies and especially their feasts on events such as Union Day, their biggest holiday, after he complimented the colourful paint on her shell. He’d said to her that he’d love to visit her planet some day, and he meant to follow through now that he would live so close.
For now, he had to get to the main headquarters of the base, to meet his new team and get orientated. They wouldn’t start work until the next day cycle, though, and he should get plenty of time to settle into his new living quarters once introductions had been made.
Once he’d received confirmation on the team he’d be joining, Mickey had done some research into his future teammates, wanting to know as much about them as possible so that he could ensure they’d all work well together. It was to be him, in the role of medical case worker, a human named Sophia Lestari on technical support, and the team led by Humform Robyn Midge. He quickly realised that they were both quite well known both in and out of Alliance circles; Robyn had worked with the Alliance for almost fourteen years in a number of positions, and had served on many boards and councils, and been recognised for her work and other talents with awards and accolades. She spoke many languages and was a highly skilled case manager. Sophia was even more interesting. Though this would be her first position within the Alliance, she had worked with them before - she used to work as a travelling researcher for a human science organisation, and had crossed paths with the Alliance on a number of occasions, most notably assisting with a negotiation with human terrorists on Matraxa, and liaising in the rescue of a colony of refugees that she had found on her travels. Mickey was in awe of both of them, and hoped he could measure up to them. Mostly he was excited to meet and work with them.
He followed the main hallway from the hangar to large blast doors, pressed a buzzer on the side and stood there while he was scanned. With an affirming voice from the intercom, the doors loudly disengaged and opened. Mickey stepped through and was greeted by a wide office space dotted with people and a mishmash of furniture.
“Well, son, what can I help you with?” Mickey struggled for a minute to locate the source of the voice, before glancing at the ceiling to find a pulsating being with tendrils sitting at an upside down desk and looking expectantly at him. She had a prominent name tag that read “Jo-Hatties”.
“Hi!” he said brightly. “My name’s Mickey and today’s my first day. I’m part of Agent Midge’s team… I think?”
“Let’s have a look then.” Jo-Hatties quickly searched on her comms system, clicking one of her tongues as she went. “Ah, Mickey, you’re joining Agent Midge’s team! Did you bring your orientation file?”
“I did.” he dug through one of his satchels, accidentally dropped a few of his bottles, apologised to Jo-Hatties, waved off her offers to help pick them back up, packed them back in tighter than before, and then finally found the file in a completely different bag. “Sorry!! Here we are.”
Jo-Hatties went over his file with him. Everyone was so nice here! He chatted with her for a bit and organised to meet up with her for some reverse-gravitational coffee, and then she led him to the open plan offices. He trailed after her, careful not to trip over things on the floor.
“That’ll be your workspace there, my dear. Robyn should meet your team here in a minute, her office is just over yonder.” She gestured toward a closed door with frosted glass, behind which Mickey could see a robotic figure with multiple arms waving and bent over as if they were in a heated conversation over comms.
He thanked Jo-Hatties for showing him around and then waited idly beside what would become his desk space, smiling absentmindedly around the room and trying to suppress his nerves. No matter how old he got, it was hard not to be anxious in a new place. He thought about his girls, left in their pod with his other belongings at the hangar. A part of him was itching to check on them, though he knew it was irrational and they would be fine. Still, it would be a comfort when the orientation was done and he could settle into his new room with them. The next few years held big changes for them, and he almost teared up every time he thought about a future caring for his daughters. This was all for them. He could put up with any new stresses thrown his way with this job for the chance to raise them in a more stable environment.
He looked over as Jo-Hatties returned to the room, this time with a small human. He straightened up with interest - this must be Sophia!
She seemed younger than a lot of the humans he’d worked with, and full of energy, doing a lot of talking and pointing as she was shown the room. As Jo-Hatties led her over to him, she grinned widely, exposing the white external bones humans had in their mouths (what were they called again?).
“Hi, I’m Sophie!” she said with a wave, and Mickey filed away her shortened name for herself for future use. “You must be, uh…. ummmmm… hmmmmmm…” Mickey smiled goodnaturedly as she frowned at his name on her digifile. He hadn’t met many non-Ranigronians who could pronounce names from his planet.
“Just call me Mickey.” he said, hoping to convey a tone that told her that he wasn’t just being polite, he honestly was happy to be called Mickey. “Everyone does.”
“Oh, okay.” she scrunched up her face and then declared, “I will learn how to pronounce your name though.”
“I will let Agent Midge know that her team has arrived.” Jo-Hatties slid off towards the closed office.
Mickey beheld the small human, as Sophie poked curiously around the various items in the small space. She jiggled open a drawer and fished out a vial of eylisium particles from the back, most likely left there by a previous Alliance member. She rattled it next to her ear, and then poked the bottom of the sniffcom with her foot, where the controls were. It slowly hummed to life.
“Is this for you?” Sophie asked as she fiddled with the display.
“I think so.” Mickey replied, watching her amusedly. “Can you use a sniffcomm?”
“Nope!” she said. “It looks cool though. Kinda want to take it apart.”
“Oh, right, you’re the technical specialist.” Mickey remembered. “Did you have to do much training for that?”
“Not exactly. My mum taught me a bit when I was a kid. Then I had to kind of teach myself while I travelled. Mostly I just enjoy fiddling with machines, and apparently that makes me a specialist now huh. I’m happy to be here but I don’t really know what they expect me to be able to do. I hope it doesn’t turn out that I’m actually useless here.”
“That won’t happen.” Mickey tried to reassure her. Sophie nodded and there grew a semi awkward silence between the two of them. He decided to try to break the tension somewhat. “So tell me about yourself. How much of this base do you think you could dismantle without anyone noticing?”
Sophie chortled. “That would be a fun experiment. If you distracted people for me I reckon I could do this whole room easy.”
Mickey laughed with her until they were interrupted by a presence behind them.
“Ahem,” they turned around to find a figure in a solidsuit, most likely Robyn Midge, with two sets of limbs crossed over their torso.
“Agents Rafaello and Lestari, I presume.” The figure said. “My name is Agent Midge, and I will be your team leader.”
There was a professional silence as she stared between them.
“I would like to take this opportunity to conduct introductory interviews with you both, starting with Ms Lestari.” Robyn extended an arm towards her office.
Sophie nodded in understanding, and looked at Mickey. Mickey glanced back curiously. Robyn tapped a foot impatiently.
After a long awkward moment, Sophie’s eyes widened. “Oh, you mean me? Okay.” She lumbered forward into the office ahead of Robyn’s outstretched arm. Mickey thought he saw Robyn sigh and suppress an eye roll.
Mickey waited idly while Sophie’s interview was ongoing, admiring the view of Staphas space out of the windows that wrapped around the office space. He made some small talk with some of the people occupying the neighbouring desks and before long Sophie emerged again, with Robyn following after her looking very tired and stressed.
“Agent Rafaello.” She gestured to him and he followed her into her office, bristling nervously.
His old coworker Deborah had gone on a rant once about a run in with an infuriating Alliance agent who’d wasted her time with bureaucratic nonsense. And when Mickey had learnt his new team leader was Robyn Midge, Deborah had reignited that rant, stating that she was that very same agent.
Robyn was indeed an imposing authority figure, but Mickey always tried to look for the best in everyone, and connect with them in whatever way he could. He took in her cosy office, the desk (he didn’t quite recognise the material but it seemed familiar), the gleaming shelves decorated with trophies and awards, all of different expertises. She clearly took great pride in her work and variety of skills.
“Wow these are some really impressive achievements, Agent Midge. You’re really talented!” The expression on her visor softened immediately, and she glanced at the awards nearest her with a mix of annoyance and fondness.
“Call me Robyn.” she said firmly. “Now, I’d like to just welcome you, first of all, to Alliance Base 17 and to our team. I see from your file that you have three infant daughters, and that your move here from a more mobile position on the Alliance Medical Frigate is for their benefit. I would like to inform you that we here are fully supportive and that you can let me know of any need for flexibility you might need in a given week.”
“Oh, thank you, Robyn, that’s very kind.” Mickey said, smiling gratefully.
“However, I’d further like to inform you that we obviously still expect your full professionalism and application of your extensive medical knowledge and skill, and I will be conducting an ongoing review of your progress. The Alliance has very high standards for the services we provide and our upholding of the Gigaanum Millennium Goals in aid of the galactic public.” Mickey tried not to look too bewildered by the intensity of this speech. Meanwhile Robyn aggressively tapped at her digifile, and Mickey heard the buzzing of his comms as he received multiple notifications. “I have sent both you and Sophia a variety of files, including past response team data, guidelines for Alliance Base 17, and knowledge tests for you regarding your roles here. I expect all to be reviewed before we begin work tomorrow.”
“Oka-”
“Well, it’s been wonderful speaking to you Mickey.” Robyn swiftly stood up from her desk and straightened her ties, before extending an arm towards the door. “Now I’ll show you and Sophia to your assigned living quarters.”
Mickey joined Sophie, who was consulting her own digifile with a frown, and then Robyn led them out the other side of the offices and down hallways towards the base’s bedrooms.
She stopped in a common room furnished with simple couches and tables, and pointed out their bedroom doors, as well as her own. One of the tables held a box, and Robyn crossed to it and pulled out two large packages and passed them to Mickey and Sophie.
“These are your welcome packages from the Alliance. It includes some useful items and information, as well as the Alliance jacket that serves as an informal uniform.”
“We have a uniform? Cool!” Sophie ripped open the package and immediately put on the jacket, a mostly black shiny fabric with orange geometric patches on it and spread her arms out, grinning at Mickey. He gently opened his own and struggled to wrap it around his shoulders. Sophie quickly reached up and helped him adjust it and he slipped his graspers through the arms.
“Okay okay, back to back!” She said excitedly, then crossed her arms and posed in Robyn’s direction. Mickey quickly followed suit, laughing.
Robyn made an unimpressed noise, surveying them passively. “Alright, moving on. I expect you two to meet me in the hangar bay at second call tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do. I’m sure you’ve seen the list of projects we have been assigned, and I intend for us to visit all of them in the coming week, time allowing. It is of the upmost importance that we put the Alliance’s best foot forward to the communities we are serving.” With that said, Robyn turned and disappeared in the direction of her room.
“See you then!” Sophie called after her brightly. She turned to Mickey and said, “I’m excited to check this out, I haven’t had a room since I was a kid!” She opened the door opposite Mickey’s. He glimpsed a single backpack on the floor alongside her simple furniture, and felt this wave of… something, for the young human. “This is so crazy.” she said. “So much room for just me. I could store so much in here!”
“I can help you find stuff to decorate if you like.” Mickey offered. “We could head down to Staphas maybe and find a market.”
Sophie looked at him almost curiously. “That would be great Mickey, thanks.” Her bright persona flickered a little bit as she stood in the doorway. Then she regained her grin and gave him a little wave. “Goodnight then Mickey! See you in the morning!”
She disappeared into the room and Mickey turned to his own, sliding the door open and squeezing himself in.
Mickey’s room was double the size of a standard carbonoforms (such as humans like Sophie), because of his size and also because it was fitted with a cell-refluxination pod, which was programmed to mimic conditions on his home planet Ranigrous. Apart from that there were a table, shelf and cabinet and his luggage waiting for him. He quickly dug through the largest bag and retrieved the jar which housed his daughters. He held them up and pressed his forehead against the glass, overwhelmed with love as he beheld their small mossy forms.
“Hello my darlings,” he said, and then held the jar at grasper’s length to show off the room. “This is our new home. We are going to have so many happy memories here.” He immediately started tearing up, envisioning the joy ahead of them, and he placed them down on his desk and set to work surrounding them with bright coloured soft toys for visual stimulation, little trinkets and pictures of Ranigrous to make their part of his room more like home. He set up their heat lamp and angled the atmospheric alternator so that his girls would have the optimal conditions to thrive in. He dug through another bag and found their special snacks. He unscrewed the jar and tipped in a generous serving. His daughters deserved it, especially on a day like today, with so much disruption to their schedule. One of his girls rippled and floated in the direction of a snack as he watched them.
He smiled adoringly at them and then, content that they were adequately set up, he continued with his unpacking; placing his clothes in the cabinet, finding spots to hold all of his glass bottles from all the places he’d visited, hung up his photographs of Deborah, Janntho and the rest of his old team, and placed their farewell gift to him - a new hawaiian shirt signed by all his coworkers - draped on his desk chair, so that he could wear it the next day. With his luggage dealt with, he entered his refluxanation pod and quickly fell into sleep.
The next morning he donned the shirt and his Alliance jacket, kissed his girl’s jar good morning, and then headed towards the team’s office, stopping briefly on the way to get a quick breakfast, and ending up running a little late after he got drawn into small talk with other Alliance members in the break room. He finally arrived to find his team waiting in their little section of headquarters.
Mickey smiled fondly when he saw that Robyn was wearing two Alliance jackets, one on each torso, rather than something more official to make her stand out as a team leader. Despite the professional airs she put on, Mickey could tell that Robyn was quite insecure and wanted to feel like a part of the team. She’d acted as if she was above their glee when they tried on the uniforms, but had joined them in wearing them soon after, so as not to appear eager.
Seeing her stand awkwardly and officially next to Sophie was interesting however. The two couldn’t be more different. Robyn was pointedly ignoring the antics of Sophie, who appeared to have procured a pyranometer from the team on their neighbouring desk and was gleefully testing out the settings. Robyn was watching her warily and with barely withheld disdain. When she noticed Mickey approaching she straightened up.
“Alright, Sophie, please return that device to the ART Union Effervescence; we need to proceed to the hangar for departure.”
Robyn didn’t seem too happy that the team had to take one of the Alliance’s shuttle buses to Suptutia, their stop for the day, as they didn’t have an assigned ship. Nonetheless she claimed them a space in the vehicle, glared at any other passengers that came near, and used the time to brief them on their duties as a Relief Team. The Alliance operated primarily as an intergalactic aid organisation run by the united government’s of major planetary powers, with the goal of upholding sentient rights guided by the Gigaanum development goals and treaties with individual species. As part of this the Alliance Bases were allocated to different regions of space and oversaw a variety of projects individual to the planets they worked with and the needs of the communities therein. There were a variety of roles within the Alliance, and teams made up of those roles, such as the Medical Transport Team Mickey had previously worked for, the Reclamation teams that mostly worked in war zones and natural disasters, and the Relief teams that mostly focussed on helping in communities post disasters, and on providing resources to build a better future. Most planets who had treaties with the Alliance had an Alliance Centre with minimal staff there who dealt with mostly admin and legal work that served the specific people there, while the Bases functioned more for situations that involved overlap of different planets and treaties. Robyn, Mickey and Sophie’s team had four main projects they were in charge of keeping an eye on, but could also be called on for additional duties as extra hands in disasters and in crisis response centres.
Their main project involved a refugee camp on Suptutia, and Robyn explained that this job would require the most hours out of them. They were in charge of ensuring the proper food and resources were being sent to the population there, and that their varying nutritional needs were accounted for (this was Mickey’s focus as well as overseeing the camp’s medical facilities needs and adequacy). They would have to collect data from the people regarding their needs, and do part of the work back at the Base to analyse that data. Robyn was mostly tasked with ensuring the legal needs of the people were being met, and would likely have plenty of resettlement paperwork to complete, liaising with the Suptutian authorities on opportunities for placements. In addition, they had a budget for community infrastructure investment, and Sophie was in charge of finding out what development would best suit the people there, and helping them build it. (Sophie looked a little glassy eyed as Robyn said this, and though Mickey knew she was up to the task, he could tell she was a little daunted). Their other projects included the auditing of safety and fair trading standards in production centres, one of which was an asteroid mine in the Sto region and the other a hydroponics farm on a flooded planet. Finally, the Alliance had recently had a geothermal energy plant on Tiberius offer to partner with them to provide free and subsidised energy cells to their projects, and their team would facilitate that partnership.
Mickey already knew most of this but was happy to listen to Robyn explain it again. He was nervous about their trip to Suptutia, they had a big responsibility to the people there, and he hoped they’d be able to help make conditions in the camp better and contribute to the safe and swift resettling of people.
Before long they’d landed, in a makeshift spaceport on the edge of the refugee camp nestled in an ashen valley on the planet Suptutia. They stepped out of the ship onto volcanic soil, and were guided by Suptutian workers towards the heart of the camp. Mickey surveyed the site with interest. It appeared to have a wide range of facilities. Besides the range of constructed houses, from hastily built tents to more sturdy demountables, there were communal and individual bathroom amenities, a medical facility with a few main rooms and some smaller ones, two cafeterias, areas for farming and agriculture, and some underground structures as well. It wasn’t as developed as it could be, but Mickey was relieved to see that the state of things was very livable, for more than just the one species as well. He recognised some of the species he could see around, a large majority of them silicon beings. From what he could remember about Suptutia, it was a borderworld in a close vicinity to a major galactic battle at the turn of the century, and had therefore borne the brunt of countless fleeing and displaced beings in the aftermath.
The Suptutian workers nodded their two heads at the team as they showed them to the administration centre and headed off to return to their duties. They were greeted by Throx’en, the Centre Director and longstanding refugee from Tuxus-Veik, with sharp eyes and crystalline shards sprouting from her joints. Robyn did her customary introductions and Throx’en began showing them around the camp, introducing them to various workers and families.
“Here in this cafeteria we have a greenhouse attached where we grow the basics for our protein cakes. Could do with some maintenance actually, if you could organise something.” She said at one point, and Sophie dutifully took notes. Mickey could see her eyes roving the infrastructure as if making calculations in her head.
He hoped he would be as on the ball as she was when it came to his area of expertise, the medical facilities. It didn’t help that Throx’en had talked him up in front of the staff and volunteers there when they’d reached the structure. He’d gotten a brief look at their supplies and asked a few questions about the general health of the population, and she’d launched into a speech.
“We’re so thankful that we have you here to assist us, Mr Rafaello. We do our best here but unfortunately we still have quite a prevalence of disease, and a wide range at that. I really hope you’ll be able to provide some insight, what with your intergalactic experience and help train us to deliver the best care we can. There’s a lot of unique cases here and we often get stretched beyond our limits.”
Trying to ignore the stress quivering he could feel in his trembles, Mickey assured her he’d do his best to help and gave the front desk of the facility his contact details so that they could call him with their concerns at any time.
All in all, it was a long day of touring, talking and meeting people, and it didn’t stop upon their return to Base 17, where the team had the ever important and unending task of completing all the necessary paperwork. Mickey actually didn’t mind the paperwork, he found it somewhat therapeutic. But by the time everything was finished he was exhausted, and knew that the next couple of days would be the same, at least until the team got into the rhythm of things.
Mickey dragged himself out of his refluxination pod the next morning, and prepared himself for another day of travel, assuring his girls that despite the big changes, he would still have plenty of time for them.
Exiting his room, he found Sophie lounged in the common area, typing aggressively on her comms. She looked up and grinned at him, surprisingly chipper for so early in the day.
“Good morning Mickey!” she said brightly.
“Good morning Sophie,” he replied, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn. “Have you been up for long?”
“Oh yeah,” she said. “I always wake up early, did a bit of exploring today. This space station is huge, and has lots of cool stuff.”
“Sounds like a nice way to start the day. I’ve barely seen any of this place so far.”
“I could show you around if you want.” Sophie offered, and Mickey smiled.
“Maybe we’ll have some free time tonight!” he said.
“Hopefully. I need to get a hang of all the forms first. We should probably get going, yeah?” Sophie leapt to her feet and pocketed her communicator.
“Yeah.” Mickey said and followed her up the corridor. He really liked his new teammate, there was just something about her, the way she saw the world, she was very genuine and friendly in a way most people weren’t. He hoped they would be good friends.
After meeting Robyn in the hangar, they boarded another shuttlebus, to Robyn’s chagrin.
Mickey was surprised to see that a lot of the people on Tiberius were of the same species as Sophie; he’d thought humans were newish to interstellar travel and had never seen many of them before. With Robyn marching ahead on a mission to not miss their appointment, Sophie strolled leisurely beside him and explained that a particular voyage of humans had managed to make it this far after the wars, the furthest any human had travelled at the time, and thought they’d discovered this wonderful untapped planet to settle on and tap the geothermal energy. Then they realised there was already an underground network established by Shalronites, who had terraformed the uninhabitable planet. In an unprecedented move for humans (at least according to Sophie) the human settlers made a deal with the Shalronites there so that they could cohabit the planet, and in return they contributed part of the technology that they then used to build the geothermal energy plant together.
“How do you know so much about this place?” Mickey asked. “Did you do research here?”
“Something like that.” Sophie said, and only smiled wanly when Mickey gave her a quizzical look.
They passed flashing signs and holograms, and were directed through the energy plant with minimal badge waving by Robyn to a conference room where they found two Shalronites and a few humans, presumably management.
Robyn stepped forward, gripping her clipboard tightly, and cleared her throat professionally. Before she could launch into her official introduction however, one of the human scientists looked right past her and her eyes widened as she very obviously recognised Sophie, who smiled vaguely, eyes wide.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Sophie Lestari!”
Sophie responded politely. “Hi! Dr… Graeg, right?”
Robyn turned her head almost comically between the two, clearly flustered. She clutched her two free hands together, and the metallic grinding that resulted made Mickey worry that they might snap.
“You’ve… met Agent Lester?” she said finally, voice strained.
Dr Graeg appeared unfazed by how clearly tense Robyn was, continuing to regard Sophie with admiration. “I have met her indeed. Sophie only saved this entire facility from meltdown back in the day.”
“Is that right?” Robyn said, and Mickey swore he could see the eyes on her visor twitching.
“It was just over two years ago actually. We had a problem we couldn’t find the source of, and the Science Institution on Earth said they’d send one of their researchers to assess it, and in walked a teenage girl with a cross-spatial particle transmitter! I have to admit I was quite skeptical at the time but she knew her stuff and fixed the damage to the facility here before it went critical.” The scientist turned to Sophie once more. “So you’re not working for the Science Institution anymore?”
Sophie shook her head. “I’m still in contact with people there, but I finished the project I was with them for.”
“That’s a shame, I was keeping up with your work there.” Dr Graeg turned to Robyn. “Your organisation is very lucky, she’s one of the best researchers out there. I’d wager any Science Institution data you find online, there’s a 70% chance Sophie’s the one who gathered it. I know her report on this place ended up without her name attached. What was that planetary system you discovered Sophie? Staarus or something?”
Sophie grinned, as if recalling a happy memory. “I didn’t discover it, I just wrote the first report on it. I was technically following another ship which discovered the system first.”
Mickey glanced at Sophie, feeling a little awestruck. He’d known she’d done some impressive stuff but she was almost like a celebrity! And yet she stood there looking very unassuming, and didn’t at all act egotistical or as if she knew better than other people. She was really cool.
Robyn evidently wasn’t as impressed, and she quickly tried to change the subject back to their appointment. Their visit passed in an uneasy couple of hours. Dr Graeg happily gave them a tour, chatting to Sophie as she did so, explaining their work and mostly addressing Sophie, much to Robyn’s growing lividity. They discussed the shipments of energy cells they were expecting to be able to provide, and projects it might be relevant to, such as the refugee camp on Suptutia. They pored over the contracts already drawn up and discussed potential changes. One of the reptillian Shalronite CEOs gave them a presentation on scholarships and job opportunities offered on Tiberius and handed out various flyers which Robyn made a point of taking all herself. Mickey briefly talked to the staff about health concerns. Then Robyn ushered them all out to the station, and sat fuming in silence until the next shuttle bus arrived. Once they boarded, she muttered to Mickey that she would be sitting up the front, alone, and then sat perfectly rigid, staring straight ahead, and obviously sulking. Mickey worried about their team leader. She didn’t seem particularly stable. He wondered how he could make things easier for her.
“What is up with Robyn?” Sophie asked him quietly. “Did I do something wrong?”
He glanced from Robyn’s tense form back at Sophie curled up in her chair beside him. She looked so small in that moment. He pondered what to say for a second. “This is the first time Robyn’s ever been in charge of her own team. She’s got a lot of experience and she wants everything to go perfectly. I think she’s just stressed. Everything’s new right now. We just need some time to figure out how we work best together.”
Sophie drew her knees up to her chest. “Everything is really new to me too. For the past few years I’ve been travelling around, barely staying in one place. I’m not used to being around people for more than a couple of days at a time. I’m probably not very good at it. The only person who I’ve been around for extended periods is my friend Abigail, and she’s one of the most patient and understanding people in the world. I’m worried I’ll be annoying, especially being around you and Robyn all the time.”
“Hey,” Mickey said quietly but firmly. He moved over and flopped down next to Sophie and placed a tendril on her shoulder in a way he hoped was comforting. “You don’t need to worry about that. I can’t vouch for Robyn, but I know that I won’t get annoyed with you. You’re really cool, and kind, and brave, and I hope we can be good friends. I can help you get used to everything.”
Sophie smiled. “I’d like that. Thank you, Mickey.” she leaned her head on his side. “You’re really cool too, you know.”
Their next project visits passed by uneventfully, thank Rani, but regardless they were exhaustedby the end of them and were then set to tackle the last day of the work week, a long slog of paperwork; drafting survey questions for various groups, drawing up plans and calendars, checking emails and project boards for any additional tasks being asked of them, and filling out the appropriate forms to document the work they’d done already.
Then, with their work week finally done, Mickey took Sophie up on her offer to explore the base together. So far he’d been confined to the curved line between the hangar and his bedroom, encompassing the lunchroom and offices, but Sophie led him in the opposite direction. They passed deeper into the space station, glimpsing offices and service rooms more essential to the maintenance of the base itself, its artificial gravities, orbital scanning equipment, all those things Mickey didn’t understand but Sophie seemed to. On multiple occasions, Sophie lamented the fact that they couldn’t use the base’s ventilation system to explore, and Mickey questioned the safety of such a venture, and how much of the base they’d get to see travelling like that anyway.
On the other side of the base, from what Mickey could tell the direct opposite of headquarters, they found a viewing platform connected to some of the maintenance ducts. Similar to headquarters, it had a floor to ceiling window that wrapped around the room, but unlike headquarters - which was usually bustling and Mickey had not yet seen it without at least one person burning the midnight oil - it was empty. Mickey found it quite spooky, but also comforting in a way. It was funny, Sophie didn't seem that interested in the view itself, mostly stopping to examine the inner workings of the station. He guessed she'd seen space enough times. He couldn't help but be continuously in awe of it himself. He loved beautiful things, landscapes, the breathtaking expanse of stars, and he would never be able to pass by a view like this without stopping to soak in the wonder of it all.
They moved on, and Sophie showed him the storage units, emergency facilities, the repair bay, and the RAS gardens. A few of the gardeners were working even now, tending to the RAS flowers that the Alliance (and many other groups) used to power anti gravity systems. What an incredibly moving phenomena those flowers were, defying-laws of physics and gravity in yearning for a star that was lightyears away. The gardens were nearer the heart of the station, and within that Sophie led him to a vast area that he'd heard bits and pieces about but not yet gotten to see - the Atmospheric Services forest in the middle of Alliance Base 17. This was a unique feature of this Alliance base, as the forest was made up of the sentient trees and other plant life of Staphas, with whom the Staphan drones had a telepathic bond as well as a fraught history. Upon the joining of Staphas to the Alliance, the forests had been offered a job opportunity providing an atmosphere for their planet's Alliance base, and one of the many Staphan forests happily took it up, calling it easy money, or so Mickey had heard. Sophie whispered to Mickey about the ingenius design, the blending of technology and organics in implanting a forest system within a space station. She said she was really interested in biotechnology, and hoped she'd get a chance to work on some soon. Mickey didn't know anything about technology, really, but he felt pretty sure Sophie should get the chance - from what he'd seen so far, Alliance Base 17 had a lot more organic technology than a lot of places he'd worked, which was fascinating. Not that he would ever understand it, but he could see in the gleam in Sophie's eyes that she, at least, fully intended to.
Not far into the forest they found a clearing to sit down in, and spoke in hushed voices so as not to disturb anybody (most of the trees were sleeping). It was a very pleasant place to be, very calm and with a slight breeze as the foliage around them passively emitted oxygen as per their contract.
And so they ventured into more deep and meaningful conversation than the light small talk they’d been engaging in thus far.It was just the perfect atmosphere, that necessitated the outpouring of your soul to someone, to a friend. Mickey told Sophie about his childhood, growing up on Ranigrous with a mother who expected so much of him but never gave him the time of day. He talked about his love of travelling and how taking jobs offworld had been the best thing he’d ever done, yet he still missed his home. He told her about his daughters, his love for them, his fear for them, how he wanted more than anything to give them a better start in life than he’d been given. He showed her some of his favourite pictures of the girls, and Sophie cooed appreciatively at the photos.
Sophie clearly found it a little harder to open up about her life than Mickey did, and he assured her that he didn’t expect her to! He was just happy to be spending time with her.
She stared silently for a while at the last picture Mickey had open on his comms, and eventually said, “It’s so nice how important your family is to you. I’m not very close to my family, and I wish I was more. I haven’t seen my parents since I was a kid, and I lost contact with my brother and sister around the same time. A few years ago I met them again, and I don’t even know what it means to be a good sister to them? I feel like I owe them something, like I should’ve taken care of them, done things for them like you do for your daughters. But it’s too late now I guess.”
“Don’t say that, Sophie…” Mickey tried his best to be reassuring. “Relationships aren’t easy, and I’m sure they understand that you care about them. I didn’t have a great relationship with my family, and that made me a bit scared about whether I’d be able to do good for my daughters, but what matters most is that you love them.”
Sophie put her hand on his grasper, tears in her eyes. She quickly blinked them away, and looked away. Mickey gave her hand a squeeze and she gave a quick squeeze back and then laughed.
“Do you think the other Alliance bases are laid out like this?” she said, successfully changing the subject.
They talked into the night, and both very tired, fell asleep in the depths of the forest, leaning on each other. And that’s how Mickey finished his first week in his new job at Alliance Base 17.
* * * * * * *
A few weeks later, after spending most of the morning in the cafeteria sharing various warm stimulants with people he’d met on his first day and promised to get acquainted with, Mickey saw some exciting news appear on the noticeboard displayed there.
He found Sophie in the hallway and filled her in excitedly. She mirrored his excitement and they ran together to find Robyn. She was where she often could be found on days off, in her office. She seemed to view it as a fortress, and Mickey could feel palpable tension upon entering, as if she was mounting a defense against intruders. In the spirit of team morale, he intended to breach those defenses today, with what he saw to be the perfect bonding opportunity.
“A party?” Robyn said incredulously, surprisingly not sounding impressed.
“Yes!” Mickey enthused. “Well, a festival, a parade! On Staphas! Sophie and I are new to the area so I feel it is vital we learn about the local cultures, to assist us in our professional engagements with our Staphan colleagues and improve team morale.” Mickey thought he was sounding quite smart and convincing.
Sophie nodded along intelligently. “Yes, and I agree with Mickey, quite rightly, that your presence on a trip to Staphas for the festival will contribute to the morale and allow us insight into your years of knowledge as a senior Alliance agent.”
Robyn sighed at this and looked between them defeatedly. She leaned back in her chair and her visor slid shut for a moment as she drew in a long breath.
“Fine.” she said finally, and Sophie and Mickey high fived.
Soon they exited a crammed shuttlebus onto the surface of Staphas, and from First Union Mound took an equally crammed light rail full of gleeful Staphan drones resplendent with colourful hats and banners. Robyn straightened up her tired look and Sophie looked on with interest as Mickey struck up conversation with the Staphans nearest to them, and learnt that Staphas had regular festivals, sometimes weekly, celebrating the various unions and cultures around Staphas. This current one was an artist’s union festival, and involved lots of dancing and bright coloured fireworks, paint and powder in the air. They were heading towards the front end of the parade, where they’d get to see the floats designed by artist drones from all over, and a few smaller ones by the trees and shrubs, though the drones Mickey was talking to found that to be a bit pandering, really.
Once they reached the parade, the team’s senses were assaulted by an outburst of colour all around them, the flicker of a few fires set by some enthusiastic Staphans, and spotlights on frenzied dancing which had already begun. Unlike parades Mickey had been to before, this one was not very noisy, as the Staphan drones were telepathic and appeared to be broadcasting music and cheering and singing to each other enthusiastically, with only the occasional speaker to translate the internal noise to the non-Staphan members of the crowds. The main noise came from the chatter of tourists such as themselves and the occasional Staphan tree or shrub commenting on the festivities.
They entered the throng. Robyn pointed out some important Staphan landmarks to them, including the Alliance Ambassadorial Centre in the distance. They watched the parade move and the various dancers. Robyn politely declined a vendor while Sophie and Mickey sampled some bright purple street meat. It was fine. They got their faces painted at one stall, and Robyn even allowed a small design to be painted on the side of her face. It was fun and crazy and the exact sort of event to make you exhaustedly happy.
“Well, Mickey, this was quite an adequate suggestion for a morale boosting activity.” Robyn said eloquently at one point.
“I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it.” he replied goodnaturedly.
“It’s very important for us to understand the culture of the Staphans, given their kindness of allowing the Alliance to run a base in orbit of their planet.” Robyn said with her professional aloofness, but Mickey could tell she had been having fun.
“Hey, Mickey! Is that you?” Mickey heard a voice calling in his direction and spent a few frantic moments looking around before his eyes fell on a small Thriftite on a hoverpad, next to the parade’s barrier wall. He rushed over.
“Hi Steve!” he said. “Are you enjoying the festival?”
“Just got here!” Steve yelled, which was completely unnecessary as they were surrounded almost entirely by silently raving Staphans. “Was hoping I might run into someone I knew. How are ya going Mick?”
Mickey caught Steve up briefly on how he’d been adjusting to Base 17, and Robyn and Sophie soon came over to join them. Robyn and Steve exchanged tense pleasantries, and Mickey introduced Sophie and Steve, who’d never met.
“Do you guys mind if Steve joins us?” he asked them and they agreed and continued their journey through the festival. The four of them chatted about hobbies and sports events, and Sophie interrogated Steve about the manufacturing of his hoverpad, which Steve answered once he felt sure Sophie wasn’t going to pull him off it and take it apart.
At the midpoint of the parade, they came upon an open dancing area, with live music being translated from the Staphan performers by the Psionic Telespeakers situated around the arena. While Steve bobbed up and down self-consciously and Robyn tapped her foot rhythmically, Sophie grabbed Mickey’s graspers and they entered into the middle and danced. It was very silly and goofy and Mickey couldn’t help laughing uproariously.
He looked at Sophie fondly, unbearably grateful for their new friendship. Mickey tended to feel like he was good at reading people, and generally knew what to do and say to keep people happy. He found joy in some of the simplest things in life, and put effort into the tiniest of interactions, and most people seemed to appreciate that about him.
But that didn’t mean he was necessarily close to many people. While he understood others, he’d never really felt like he had a friend who understood him.
People looked at him and saw a dad. Or a medic. Or just a super nice guy. He didn’t exactly feel the need to live up to others' ideas of him, but he didn’t have to, they formed so naturally. He felt people liked him but from a distance; he was pleasant and convenient to have around, but not for anything too deep.
Sophie was different. Despite the contrasts in their lives, she had looked right at him and seen a kindred spirit. They saw the world in a similar, optimistic way. She didn’t have the same social skills and experiences as him, but she had the wonder. And she brought out a side of him he rarely got to be, a silly side. He didn’t even feel embarrassed about it. Sophie’s glee was infectious.
So the festivities went on. Robyn retired early, taking one of the many shuttles back to the base. Mickey and Sophie enjoyed the end part of the parade and pyrotechnics with Steve, and followed him on a bar hopping journey that ended pretty quickly when Steve and Sophie got absolutely wasted on cocktails at the first bar Steve led them to. Mickey, being a lot bigger and a much more cautious drinker, was essentially sober, but still joined in when they wanted to dance in the corner of the club to a mindless electronic beat, with a few lines about arson thrown in here and there.
“This is so fun!” Sophie yelled at one point, wrapping an arm around each of them. Steve drunkenly wriggled in the crook of her elbow. “I’ve never done anything like this before!”
Mickey stared lovingly at his two friends, realised that Sophie had possibly never even had alcohol before, and decided it was about time to sober the two up. He gave them both water bottles from his backpack, and some of his snacks. Eventually Steve regained enough sapience to guide the three of them to where his ship, the Assistance Impressing, was parked. Mickey regarded it with interest. It was a rectangular mass, made from scrap pieces just as Steve had described to him, with some piping and the top of its thrusters exposed.
“This is the ship you told me about right Steve?” He asked, keeping a firm hold on Sophie, who was still a little woozy, as they moved towards the entry hatch. Steve looked up blearily from Mickey’s other grasper.
“Yeah that’s her. The Knife Edge!”
“So you’ve finished building her? Congratulations!”
“Yeah just about.” Steve said, and then fumbled with his words at the look of concern on Mickey’s face. “I mean she’s perfectly flight worthy! Of course. But there’s a few things I gotta do to bring it up to Alliance code, get the right paint and some of the software inserted. You get it.”
“Ah right,” Mickey nodded. “You know Steve, Robyn’s been pretty unhappy with all the Alliance shuttles we’ve had to take so far. She’ll definitely take you up on a pilot job if that means our team gets its own ship.”
Steve immediately perked up. “Gawd, Mick, ya think? That would be just… just beautiful. I’ll have to shoot her a message, let her know it’s done.”
“That’s a good idea Steve.” Mickey glanced at Sophie, who was now fiddling absentmindedly with some exposed wiring. “Alright, you’d better show me how to activate this autopilot.”
A short and surprisingly shaky trip later, the three were back at Alliance Base 17. Mickey helped Steve get the ship into its assigned parking spot (one of the worst in the hangar, according to Steve, who spent a good ten minutes grumbling about injustices in the world, of which this was one of the worst), and then he insisted on escorting the Thriftite back to his sleeping quarters. It wasn’t too far from where his and Sophie’s were, and he complimented Steve on his incredibly tiny but very stylish room. Steve thanked Mickey more profusely and eloquently than he’d ever been thanked before, and promptly passed out on his bed.
Mickey smiled as he led Sophie back to her room. He was surprised to see the amount of scrap metal and devices she had already accumulated.
“You’re so great Mickey,” Sophie said as he helped her onto her bed, and she reached out and wrapped her arms around him. “I love you!”
“I love you too,” Mickey replied, tears in his eyes as he reciprocated the hug and squeezed her tightly. His heart was so full.
Once Sophie was good and tucked in, Mickey returned to his room, where his girls were giving off a faint bioluminescence, as they occasionally did at this age. Overwhelmed with fondness of everything, his job, his coworkers, his friends he’d left behind, the new ones he was making here, and of course his daughters, he cradled their jar in his graspers and addressed them adoringly.
“What did I tell you girls? Everything is going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.”
And so it was.