Shoot for Earth: MedSci Missions 3

Every breath was held as Chiron entered Octopoid space. Tensions were too high to appreciate the beauty of the region. As they entered orbit, the planet swirling with pale blues, greys, and white highlights shone like a giant Christmas ornament. Second officer Jack Henson had his finger on the trigger, ready to defend the ship from the only race in the region besides the Tasla that they’d had violent encounters with.

Panther picked up a transmission, which he broadcast to the bridge.

“Hello, above. We’re peaceful Poids. What are your intentions?”

Everyone looked at O’Bien, who was holding her breath. She remembered to take in a deep stream of calming air before she spoke.

“I’m Ambassador O’Bien, representing Earth. What do I call you?

“Above, as I said. Born Above the Water, if you want the complete name for some reason. I’m the Planet Passer.”

There was a pause. “Oh!” O’Bien said. “Hello, Above, nice to meet you. Just to be clear, Planet Passer is a title? What does it mean exactly?”

“You must pass by me to get to the planet, or contact it. Tell me, how did you find us?”

“We have some of your poids on board who told us where to bring them.”

The Poid wiggled a couple of tentacles in alarm. “How did you fall in with the violent revengists you’re harbouring?”

“We’re not harbouring them! We’re holding them because they were being violent. We actually came to deliver them back to your planet because we didn’t want to kill them.” She didn’t mention that Chiron, too, had been violent. The timing of a visit would have to be just right, so the prisoners wouldn’t have time to tell the full story before they left poid territory.

The poid looked unsure. “That’s unusual You were bothered by these marauders while travelling?”

“I’m afraid we were. We try to respect others in the area, but these Poids were aggressive in Fabarian space. We need to get on with our mission, could we please transfer our passengers to a poid ship?”

The poid paused and consulted. “It would be a while before we could get one available to send. Could you bring them in? We can meet you and share some of our food if you can eat it.”

“There’s nothing I’d love more,” O’Bien said, outright lying this time, “but we need to breathe air, and we’re in a bit of a rush to get on with our medical mission. We have a long trip ahead of us.” That was true, but her immediate concern was getting safely away from the Poids after doing a quick humanitarian drop off.