Sam sat at a table in the Mess Hall, rubbing at his temples lightly, while Feo sat opposite him, “That’s pretty much everything, I guess,” she said, grabbing a mug from the kitchen, filling it with water, then passing it to the poor Terran. Around them, a few of the ship’s crew were peeking at the newcomer every so often, but attempting not to be overt about it. A soft bleeping caught Feo’s attention while Sam took a grateful gulp of water. Sen popped back into her field of view, “Feo! We’ve got a response to our subspace beacon! Do you want me to put it through to you here, or in your quarters?”.

Feo shrugged a little, “Here is as good a place as any,” she replied to her AI, before turning her back to Sam and activating her holographic displays. However, instead of lines of code scrolling down endlessly this time, the torso of another Aeteri materialised in thin air. Feo immediately snapped to attention, her right paw clenched and held across her breast, “Fannonyo, Admiral Alish! It’s good to see you!”

The other Aeteri returned the salute, “Captain Asilion, I’m glad to see you’re alright. What’s the situation?” he asked, looking both concerned and relieved.

Feo sighed as she dropped her paw back to her side, “Not good, sir. We’re stranded on a planet in the Sol system. The one with a pre-FTL species on it. We had to dump our core after being ambushed by Sabre and we’ve suffered minor casualties, namely FO Thalon. We’ve still got our defensive grid active, so we should be safe from a ground assault, but we’ve already been ambushed a number of times, so there’s likely still a ship in the system that’s tracked us. We sustained heavy damage in the crash, and I’m not hopeful that the Gladius will fly on its own power without a dedicated repair team and proper materials…”

Alish nodded, “When we got your signal, we assumed it wasn’t good. Has the local population noticed you?”

Feo shook her head in response, “Well, no, not exactly…” she said evasively, glancing over her shoulder at Sam, who was watching her in between sips. She turned back to face the projection, “We’re monitoring their local data nets and supressing anything related to us, but we crashed in a fairly isolated part of one of the continents, so we’re fairly certain we’re in the clear.”

Alish nodded again, “Good work. Under the circumstances, that really is the best outcome. We have the URI Haali charging up her wormhole generator, but she’s a carrier, and given the distance, it’s going to take at least two cycles to get the drive to capacity. We started her charging about a cycle ago, though, while we were trying to get in contact with you after your initial distress signal. If you’re certain that there is still a ship in the area, we’ll send an escort with her too. Do you think you’ll be able to survive that long?”

“I think so, sir,” Feo replied, “They won’t risk attacking us from orbit and alerting the population, which leaves a ground assault. Our shields are down, but our point defence is still operational, and we’ve got an armoury stocked with weapons and armour. We’ll be ready for them.”

“Alright. Try to make what repairs you can, we’re coming for you. Stay safe. Fleet Command out.”

The hologram fizzled back into the ether as Feo let out a relieved sigh. She then turned around to Sam, “I assume you heard all that?”

At Sam’s affirmative, she gestured for him to follow her again, “Come on, we need to get you outfitted. If you’re gunna be on this ship, you’re gunna have to know how to fight using our gear.

As they strode into the armoury, Sam was stunned; he had never seen so many weapons in one place before! And gosh, how amazing and futuristic they looked! Feo brushed past him and immediately dug into one of the lockers in the centre of the room, rummaging around what appeared to be sets of vests similar to what she had been wearing when he first saw her. After a moment, with a triumphant ‘ah ha!’, she pulled out one vest in particular and passed it to Sam, “Here, try this on. It should fit.”

Sam nodded and undid the latches across the chest, allowing it to fall open. He wriggled his arms through the holes, while Feo walked around him, helping to adjust it in several hard-to-reach places. Sam marvelled at how light it felt once the latches around his chest were done up again, and how unrestricted his movement felt.

Feo smiled, “Good, now, this is just a standard scout set of armour. It’s designed for mobility and stealth, and sadly, it’s all we have. It’ll protect against a glancing blow from a plasma bolt, but a direct hit… Well, you saw what kind of damage it did to me,” she added dryly. She tossed him a thigh holster, which he had to adjust for a moment to get it to fit, before she handed him a pistol, “This is a Mk 5 Serric pistol. Fires a standard plasma bolt, and is accurate to about 23 of your meters. It draws its power from a cell located in the grip, and can fire approximately 250 times before depleted.”

She turned back around as Sam examined the pistol. It was made of a silvery kind of material and was quite angular in design. It had a long barrel that ended in a flare, and the back held a glowing blue orb that swirled in a mesmerising pattern. As he turned the gun over, he noticed what he assumed was the safety switch, as well as what appeared to be a plug of some kind. He gave it a light tug and was surprised to see it come away easily, spooling a cable hidden somewhere inside the gun. He turned to Feo, confused, and was about to ask about it, before he noticed what she was holding. It was a rifle identical to the one he had used back at his house to shoot those other soldiers, and was emitting a soft hum. When she spotted what had Sam confused, she returned the rifle to its rack and took the pistol.

“It’s a data connector,” she said, smiling a little, “In most people wearing combat armour, it will connect to your suit’s computer and feed live information to your helmet’s HUD. But for people like me, well…”

At that, she turned slightly and brushed aside the hair covering the back of her neck, revealing a trio of small ports concealed among her brown fur. She slid the cable into one of them with a soft click, “I can connect directly to the pistol, giving me greater accuracy and control over my shots.”

She unplugged the pistol from her neck and let her hair fall down across her back again, before handing the pistol back to Sam and picking up the rifle. “Back to what I was about to say, this is a Mk 2 Plasma Caster. Medium-to-long range, up to ten times optical zoom, and fully adjustable. It has enough charge to fire a good two thousand times before depleting, and can be fired in either fully auto or semi-automatic bursts. It’s got great penetration, and can punch through up to half a meter of solid Alinite. Wait, that’s not a good comparison, hang on…”

Feo paused for a moment as Sam holstered the pistol, before suddenly exclaiming, “Got it! Okay, so this guy can penetrate, hang on, let me see if I’ve got this right… About 10 meters of steel? Does that make sense?”

Sam blinked in surprise, “Wow, okay, that’s got a kick to it! Are you sure that’s right? Steel’s got a lot of tensile strength…”

Feo chuckled softly and passed him the rifle, “It’s the heat of the plasma, combined with the force of impact. It doesn’t technically punch through an object, more melt its way through. I was lucky when that guy shot me, my armour took the brunt of the shot and it barely got through. But if it hits an unarmoured target… Well, they’re gunna have a nice cauterised hole to deal with…”

Sam examined the rifle; it had a similar, angular design to it, and while it certainly felt heavy, it wasn’t something that would get in the way. The scope was the same silvery grey as the rest of the gun, and had a slider with marks along the side, what he assumed changed the zoom settings. He noticed another plug underneath the stock of the rifle, before handing it back to her, “Do you think we’ll make it?” he asked her quietly.

She flashed him a smile, “Yeah, we should be fine,” she replied, but no matter how confident she looked, she couldn’t hide the slight tremor in her voice; this was going to be a rough slog, and everyone knew it.

Mar, the red AI, popped into Feo’s view, catching her by surprise, “Feo, you should probably head back to your quarters to recharge, your capacitors are starting to run low. If we get into a firefight, it would be a good idea to be at full power, don’t you think?”

Feo nodded, before patting Sam on the shoulder, “I need to head back to my quarters,” she explained as she walked towards the door, “Come with me, I want to show you something. Oh, and keep that vest and holster on, just to be on the safe side, okay?”

By the time they reached Feo’s quarters, word had obviously spread about their impending rescue. The whole ship was abuzz with activity and many were emulating Sam by donning protective armour so they could respond at a moment’s notice. But all the activity and commotion were silenced the moment they crossed the threshold and the door closed behind them. The lights above glowed a dim, warm yellow as Feo shucked off her jacket and let it fall to the floor in a pile.

The first thing that caught Sam’s eye were the six holes neatly spaced along the spine of her shirt, but he didn’t mention it as they moved further into the room. It was quite spacious, compared to the rest of the ship. Instead of the hard, straight edges he had become accustomed to, everything in here seemed to curve and flow. A desk and chair sat in a corner, while tucked behind a wall was a small circular bed. Sam stopped and looked at it; now that he really thought about it, it actually reminded him of a medium sized dog bed. The thought of that brought a smirk to his face.

Feo gestured for him to sit on the chair by her desk as she sat cross legged on the bed. With a soft whirring, six cables disengaged from the wall and slithered across the floor thanks to some unseen mechanics. Sam blinked in surprised, but Feo seemed entirely nonplussed by it. They reared up and made their way onto the bed, before, with six soft clicks, they plugged into the ports hidden underneath the holes in her shirt. She leaned back and grabbed a larger, thicker cable that was tucked behind the bed and plugged it into the ports on her neck. She winked at Sam and pointed to the small terminal sitting on the desk, before closing her eyes.

At this point, Sam was extremely confused, but he turned around, which seemed to activate the terminal. Before he could do more than stare at it blankly, a holographic miniature of Feo popped into existence next to the main projection. She looked a little different to how she usually did, though. The most obvious of which was that her clothes had vanished, but while her markings were still broadly the same, her arms and legs from her elbows and knees down faded to a translucent, glowing purple. She giggled in a way he had never expected her to, causing him to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

“While my body is charging, I can reach out into the ship’s data streams and interact with everyone,” she explained, “And it will help me fill you in on all the stuff you’ll need to know!”.

She brought up a display, before glancing back at him, “Unless you’re tired?” she asked, “We don’t have to do this now.”

Sam shook his head, “Nah, I’ll be alright. I wouldn’t mind a change of clothes and a shower though,” he replied, looking down at his dusty and dirty attire.

Feo clapped her virtual paws, and instantly the dim light brightened, “For now, I guess, you can use mine, until we sort out your quarters. But just a heads up, it’s likely far different to anything you’re used to,”

Sam raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean by that?” he asked, standing up, but Feo just replied with a chuckle.

“You’ll see. It’s just over there,” she said, pointing to a corner of the room.

Sam just shook his head, bemused, and made his way over, skirting a little nervously past Feo’s motionless body, before stepping into the small bathroom. There was a small mirror atop a sink and faucet, and what he assumed to be the shower next to it. He stripped off his dirty clothes and slid inside. As the door closed behind him, he looked around himself, before sighing, “Really? What is it with the future and no buttons!”

Feo popped into existence, hovering over the sink, “You just tell it to turn on, silly!” she exclaimed, giggling as she reclined against the edge of the sink, and causing Sam to jump in fright and scramble to cover himself. Feo raised an eyebrow, “Modesty? I guess without fur to cover yourself…” Feo trailed off, before shrugging, “I’ll be at the terminal when you’re done,” she added, before popping out of sight once more.

Sam sighed and leaned against the wall, thinking to himself, “Is it just me, or is Feo acting a little weird…”. He shrugged and looked up at the shower head on the wall, “Err… Shower on, I guess?” he spoke. At his command, the shower turned on, but it wasn’t water that came out. It was hard to explain what it was doing, but it felt like a deep, thumping massage all around him, encompassing and penetrating. He looked down at a smudge of dirt and grime smeared into his arm and brushed at it. It came away like it was water splashing off his skin. He blinked in surprise, before going to work scrubbing himself off, marvelling at how all the dirt, dust and grime seemed to just fall away.

Before long, Sam was clean again and stepped out of the shower. With a soft whine, the shower powered down, leaving Sam standing, stark naked, in the small bathroom. He glanced down at his old clothes, noting with disdain how ripped and torn it was in places, before poking his head out the door, “Hey Feo, I don’t suppose I can clean my clothes the same way, huh?” he asked, trying to hide as much of himself behind the door as possible.

Feo called out back to him, “I mean, yeah, you could, but you’ve got a new set out here already! I had someone bring them up while you were showering,”

Sam looked at the projection of Feo looking at him, “Can you at least turn around while I grab them?” he asked, almost at the point of begging.

Feo sighed and rolled her digital eyes, before turning around and sitting, cross legged, on the desk, with her back to him.

With his cheeks burning from embarrassment, Sam took a few tentative steps back into the room. He felt the floor underneath his feet, not metal like he had originally assumed, but more like a dense carpet. He glanced around and spotted the clothes sitting on the chair, along with a pair of boots beside it. He dashed over and grabbed the clothes, before slipping behind the wall separating the entryway and Feo’s bed. He breathed a soft sigh of relief and went to step into the pants, before he felt something poke his exposed buttock. He yelped in surprise and fear, tripping over his feet and falling to the ground with the sound of Feo’s rambunctious laughter in his ears. She was lying on her back on the desk, laughing her holographic lungs out, while her body dropped its arm again.

Sam huffed, his cheeks flushing a deeper crimson than he thought possible. He grumbled and picked himself up from off the ground, grabbing the pants and pulling them on quickly, “That wasn’t funny!” he pouted as he reached for the black undershirt.

Feo giggled a few more times, an arm hanging off the desk as she looked over at Sam, “Heheheh, I beg to differ!” she exclaimed, “Did you see how high you jumped! Gosh, I wish I was recording that!”

Sam grumbled something under his breath as he grabbed the jacket. It was different than Feo’s, with a more masculine cut to it, but still resembled it enough. It also had gold instead of silver trims. By the time he slumped back on the chair and pulled his new boots on, Feo had managed to compose herself enough to sit up. Sam poked at her holographic body, “So, what’s up with this? Why are you so different while plugged in?” he queried, watching her closely.

Feo shrugged a little and swished her tail behind her, “Well, you know I’m the commanding officer of this ship, yeah? I need to maintain a certain attitude while on duty, it’s all part and parcel of being military. When I’m off-duty, I can let my hair down, so to speak, and goof off a little. You’re seeing me as I really am, not what my commission demands I be…”

They were both quiet for a moment, before Feo spoke up again, “Tell me about yourself? I never really learned more than your name before those soldiers turned up.”

Sam leaned back in his chair, his hands running through his hair, “God, where to begin…” he said, thinking back, “Well… I have a sister, close to my age, I guess, now. She’s married, the guy is alright. Parents, well, they weren’t quite the best… One’s an alcoholic, the other is a religious nut, so that’s fun… I’m a low-level engineer in an engineering firm, and I had just used my annual leave to go on a two-week holiday to that little cottage in the snowy woods you woke up in. Then I saw a great big fireball in the sky and decided to chase after it, hoping to impress my colleagues with a picture of a meteor…”

He smirked to himself, and a hint of bitterness crept into his voice, “I guess after this, no-one is gunna see me again, huh?”

Feo shook her head, “If you value your life, no… And if you tried to tell them any of the things you’ve seen, they’ll think you’ve gone crazy… It’s the nature of pre-FTL societies, sadly…” she said quietly, reaching up with a tiny, holographic paw to rub at his arm, “If you wanted… We could slip into the data nets and leave something behind for your family, a letter, maybe, if that would make things easier?”

Sam shook his bowed head, “No… I think that would only make the pain worse, for everyone… Even if my parents were horrific to live with, it’s still gunna hurt my sister. It’s gunna hurt the few friends I had outside work… I just need to reconcile the fact that I’m never gunna see them again…”

They both fell silent again, before Sam looked at Feo, “So, you were gunna give me a history lesson?” he queried, sitting up a little straighter.

Feo clapped and nodded, “Yep! Hang on, let me just get everything together!”