Protostar - Error in Transmission

Chapter 3 - On Our Way

After a quick return trip through the hallway, and skirting by the separate quarters for the captain and first officer, Kane approached the sliding doorway to the bridge. Without having to slow his pace, it slid open, and he entered the command center, Axelle right on his six. Taking a step or two to the left, he paused to watch his new crew member take in the sight.

"Wow, this looks slick," breathed Axelle, taking in the surroundings.

The compact bridge had a somewhat oval floorplan, measuring about seven or eight meters at its widest point, and just over three meters tall. A large high-resolution floor to ceiling panoramic display took up most of the view, presenting numerous details about the ship's current status, navigational maps, messages from J. Morris, and a few live views looking outward from the craft.

Spread out near the middle of the room and arcing slightly toward the center of the bridge, basically following the curvature of the back wall, were four sizable consoles next to each other. The left-most one would be occupied by the engineer, who was on his way to the bridge, with the next being the captain's station. To the right of that was the first officer's position, with Mina busily gesturing at the holo-projection floating before her, and the last one on the right was dedicated to weapons systems, which would be Axelle's place. If needed, anyone could switch places and the system would auto-configure the layout to match the operator.

After a few seconds, Mina finished her task, swiveled around in her seat, and stood up, focusing her attention on the new crew member.

Axelle hopped to attention and gave a salute. "Officer Yamuna reporting for duty, Commander."

Mina's lips twisted momentary. "Please tell me we're not doing this again." She peered over to Kane.

Kane sucked in a long breath, then answered, "No, we don't have to."

"Good, because you know how annoying I find it." Mina returned her gaze to Axelle and approached her. "At ease. I much prefer the Unallam system of referring to one another by name. I believe you are familiar with this based on your experience on the T'raeykon?"

Axelle recalled her time on the Battleship T'raeykon, a formidable heavyweight in the Unallam fleet. Interactions with Unallam officers would always be on a first name basis, the usual sir or ma'am for humans, and a bit of a mix for other species.

"Yes, I am. How may I address you?" asked Axelle, looking up at the athletic, six foot tall Unallam first officer standing before her with excellent posture, her eyes a radiant yellow. The species was completely hermaphroditic, having both male and female internal and external sexual organs. However, an individual could lean toward being more male or more female in appearance, using nothing more than their will, and about eight to ten months of time to physically adjust.

At sixty-seven years of age, Mina was still quite young for her species, like a human in their mid-thirties. She had obviously chosen to be more female in appearance, sporting an attractive, if somewhat long face, thin lips, and platinum-white short to medium length pixie styled hair, a few studs sparkling from her ear lobes and around the helices. Her light-peach skin was accented with indigo markings a few centimeters across that ran from the top-sides of her head and back of her neck, down along her arms, body, and feet, and to the small of her back, respectively. Her fairly ample breasts gave a little stretch to the skin-tight light-gray and gold jumpsuit she wore. A subtle bulge could be discerned at her crotch, and her long legs led into a pair of functional dark gray, ankle high shoes.

"Mina. I take it Axelle is acceptable for you?"

"Yes, Mina. But feel free to use Axe. Pretty much everyone on the T'raeykon did."