Work Text:
Reconnaissance Mission #24591, Ship B
Planet 3 of System X-9-Y
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Air, Climate, and Terrain
-Food and Drink
-Language
-Adults
-Offspring
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B
Entry 27:
The camera turns on. It’s angled at the ceiling of a small Galra spacecraft. Someone offscreen moans. A clawed, purple hand briefly covers the screen. When it pulls away, the camera is focused on a Galra soldier. She is covered in light scales, and her ears are little more than holes in the side of her head. While the woman wears the unmistakable breastplate of the Galra military, the matching helmet is nowhere to be seen.
Behind the soldier, the cockpit is in shambles. Several panels have been removed from the side of the small room, and the door to the living quarters sits propped open by a few boxes. Anything that isn’t bolted to the ship is on the floor. Another soldier, who is still wearing his helmet, can be seen rummaging around in the back of the room. He crosses the room behind the soldier at the camera, muttering to himself.
The Galra in front of the camera clears her throat and begins to speak.
“Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 35. This is Lieutenant Marron archiving information we just relayed to the Reconnaissance Mission #24591 series control ship. Due to a ship engine malfunction and co-pilot error--”
Lieutenant Marron pauses long enough for a weary “Sorry,” to float to the front of the ship from behind a pile of haphazard equipment. She sighs, then continues.
“--our scouting vessel has crashed on the third planet from the star of system X-9-Y. Our repair equipment was accidentally swapped with an excess of provisions, so we cannot get back into space on our own.”
Some metal equipment falls from a compartment just inside the living quarters. A high pitched voice yells, and a wrench flies through the door at the Galra attempting to do repairs. As Lieutenant turns to see what happened, the wrench bounces off the wall and barely misses her head. Slowly, the Lieutenant turns back to the camera and sighs, putting her head in her hands.
“The atmosphere on this planet is breathable, and there is considerable vegetation, so until the fleet determines they need to pick us up, our crew is to treat our stay here as colonization preview. We are to stay here until we exhaust our provisions and are picked up, or as long as we can survive on this planet's food, up to the usual preview time of 45 moto. If possible, contact with the local dominant population is to be avoided.”
The woman reclines in her pilot’s chair a little, her arms hanging off to the sides. “Today we are repairing the ship as much as we can, and tomorrow scientific cataloguing of the rest will begin.” She pauses, and smirks. She looks over her shoulder and yells, “And Thace is going outside first tomorrow since he’s the one who crashed us.”
In the background, one voice can be heard taking offense while another, higher pitched, can be heard cackling. Marron reaches for a button on the console, and as she hits it, the screen goes black.
Entry 28:
A different Galra is sitting in front of the camera. This one is shorter, fuzzier, and finds something absolutely hilarious. A hood falls over her eyes, covering most of her face as she doubles over in laughter. Before she manages to get in a few deep breaths to stop, she pounds her hand on the edge of the console.
When she finally composes herself, nearly 60 ticks after the video starts, she tilts her head back slightly so the camera can see most of her face as she looks down her button nose. A wide smile still dominates her face as she addresses the camera.
“Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 36. Druid Tranka reporting. It has been less than one day-night cycle on this planet since our mission was changed from general reconnaissance to colonization preview, and Thace has already managed to get himself forbidden from entering the ship until further notice.”
The Galra slouches a little, placing both elbows on the edges of the console and cradling her head in her hands. “Upon connecting our computers to the civilian information network available on this planet, we have determined that Thace had an encounter with what the locals call a ‘skunk,’ a small mammal that secrets terrible smelling liquid at threats for protection. From its butt.” The Galra loses herself in another fit of giggles. Between laughs she manages to squeeze out her next sentence. “Thace has been on this planet for less than a day and has already been farted on by the most foul smelling animal on the planet.”
The Galra takes a few deep breaths of air and clears her throat, clearly trying to seem professional while recording the log. When she starts talking again, she sounds like a news broadcaster.
“The planet’s records indicated that ‘Tomato Juice’ would be the best remedy to fix Thace’s smell, but we do not have any.”
She pauses and looks to her left. Thace and Lieutenant Marron’s can be heard, muffled by the door of the ship. After a moment, the sound gets quieter, and the Galra turns back to the camera, wearing a puzzled expression. She continues. “Getting access to some human food would require--”
The door to the ship opens and bright light shines on the Galra as she turns toward the door, shielding her eyes. As soon as her eyes focus, her jaw drops.
“Oh my gosh this is so cool aliens exist and there’s a ship right here!” an alien exclaims as he walks straight into the view of the camera. He grabs the two glass lenses that balance on his nose. As he spins around the cockpit, a shadow is cast over the doorway.
“Sam! Don’t just go in!”
As the alien on the screen turns to the door, Tranka’s expression goes from surprised to enraged. Her body uncoils from where she had jumped on her chair and tenses, ready to move. Oblivious, the alien addresses the figure in the doorway. “Iz, when am I ever going to have a chance to see the inside of an alien spacecraft again!?!”
Tranka kicks the human in its rear, pushing him out of the door. As she muscles him out of the ship, she slaps her hand on the console, and the recording stops.
Entry 29:
Another Galra soldier sits in front of the screen. His hands rest stiffly on the edge of the console, and his gaze leads to below the camera. He looks like he tried to dye his fur red and washed the color out too early. Behind him, Tranka carefully peels the skin off a long, curved fruit. She tentatively takes a bite.
The soldier sighs and begins the log. “Um hi, this is Thace--”
“Log number and rank first,” Tranka mutters through the mouthful of fruit.
Thace jerks up, and his face flushes. He starts again, slightly louder, “Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 39. Private Thace reporting.”
He pauses, and when Tranka doesn’t correct him, he continues. “After I exacerbated a mechanical issue, our ship crashed onto the third planet in system X-9-Y. Since then, I have been sprayed by a ‘skunk,’ washed off the smell with ‘tomato juice,’ and caused the breach of ‘Do not contact locals,’ protocol. As Tranka has put it, I’m great at this.”
Tranka snorts, “A real natural.”
Thace smiles a little, and finally lifts his gaze so he’s looking into the camera. “The smell from the skunk’s spray caught the attention of some local aliens, and they came to investigate. Three of them came across our ship, and while the two female aliens stayed near the edge of the clearing when we told them too, the male immediately made his way onto the ship.”
Thace lifts his hand and closes his eyes, tilting his head up. “Since then, the three aliens have gifted us with food, promised to not reveal us to the alien authorities, and proven very cooperative when we question them about their world. They have been incredibly informative. And helpful. My getting sprayed has helped us tremendously.”
“Them bringing us an absurd amount of tomato juice helped tremendously,” Tranka teases, finishing the fruit. “That, and the other food they brought. I really like this tangy one.”
Thace looks like he’s about to reply, and then stops. His face shifts from mildly confident to confused.
“They tasted tangy to you?”
“Yeah, it was delicious. Why?”
“They didn’t taste tangy to me.”
Now Tranka looks confused. She pauses, and then turns to the door. “A second opinion,” she mutters as she leaves.
As the door closes behind her, Thace shrugs and smiles. “The humans--that’s what they call themselves--are really nice. The male, Sam, was just really excited to see our ship, and both he and the female who looked more like him, Izabel, apologized a lot for him. The other female, she said her name was Min-gyu, was really concerned about me and how I smelled.” His nose crinkles, and he laughs. “I guess that was not a very good first impression. But she was concerned about how I was doing, while I smelled. She was concerned for me.”
He pauses for a moment, and then he sighs. “She’s very nice.”
Thace doesn’t say anything for a moment. Then he frantically blinks and starts stammering a conclusion to his report, like he had forgotten that he was recording.
“AND, and, that’s it. More logs to follow. Um, yeah…”
He slams his hand down on the button and the video ends.
**********
Text comment on Entry 29:
It is possible for even humans to have adverse reactions to foods available on their planet. These reactions are called allergies. Some reactions to foods are more common than others. Tranka appears to be allergic to bananas, which is the fruit that she eats in this log. She is not allowed to eat them anymore.
Entry 31:
“Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 45. Druid Tranka reporting.”
Tranka is hunched over her seat, her eyes on the door. Muffled sounds can be heard through the door. Tranka drags her hand down her face, pulling her hood further down.
“Thace thought it would be a good idea to let the aliens on the ship, as thanks for giving us food.” She threw her hands in the air. “We aren’t even short on food! We can’t even eat all their food! And now we’ve figured out ‘The Internet’ so we can figure out what’s edible from around the ship! But no. We have to play nice. Keep the peace with them. Cause no harm.”
The door opens and Sam enthusiastically scrambles into the cockpit. Tranka slides to the side, away from him and a woman who hovers by the doorway.
“This is so cool, holy crow,” Sam whispers, spinning around to get a look at all the equipment he hadn’t been able to see during his brief previous visit.
“Sam,” says the woman in the doorway as she cautiously approaches the center of the cabin, glancing at Tranka. She has darker hair, but overall looks fairly similar to him. “You shouldn’t just run around in here. We’re their guests.”
“But this is so cool--”
“Sam!” Another woman dances on the edge of the camera’s range. Her hair is black, and her skin paler than the other two aliens. “We know it’s cool. We also think it’s cool. But just because someone's house contains a neat computer doesn’t mean you can go dancing in, bouncing your baby along.”
Tranka balks and looks directly at Sam. A mini alien is strapped to his chest, with the torso secure but the limbs limply flailing around. It gurgles a laugh.
“Why,” Tranka mumbles, pulling herself into a corner of the dashboard. “Why do we have to let them on board?”
She reaches towards the center of the dashboard and turns off the recording.
Entry 33:
Tranka just stares at the camera, the humans talking to Thace and the Lieutenant behind her.
“They keep coming back.”
The camera cuts out.
Entry 36:
The baby is sitting on Tranka’s lap, ghosting its tiny hands over the controls. Tranka looks directly at the camera, expression void of emotion. Her hand is still over where she started the recording.
“I became a druid to avoid this nonsense.”
The video cuts out.
Entry 45:
“Am I in the frame? I can’t tell if I’m in the frame.”
Sam hovers on the edges of the cameras range, leaning on Thace’s shoulder slightly. Thace is sitting at the console and both Min-gyu and Iz are behind him. Their bodies face the camera, but their eyes wander all over the ship. Min-gyu’s gaze focuses on Sam, who is still bouncing on his heels.
“Sam, will you please chill?”
“Please,” Tranka says from inside the living quarters.
Iz looks back towards Tranka as Min-gyu continues. “You’ve been in here at least 30 times in the past week. It’s exciting but you should be used to it.”
“Yes but this is the first time they’ve let us do anything in here. Just think, our recordings are going to be the first ones the Galra see of humans,” Sam says as his eyes stay trained at the camera. A smile is plastered on his face.
The corner of Thace’s mouth turns up and he tilts his head towards Sam. “You do realize we have access to the internet?”
A slight scowl temporarily flits over Sam’s face, and his eyes dart to Thace. “Fine, the first video addressed to the Galra then. It’s a first. It’s important.” He looks back at the camera and waves. “Hi, nice to meet you!”
Min-gyu pinches the bridge of her nose with her fingers, head down and disappointed. Iz giggles and starts waving with Sam. The baby, who’s strapped to her this time, tries to wave with his parents.
Thace smiles and addresses the camera. “These three humans are the ones who have been showing us gracious hospitality while we are visitors on their planet. They have brought us food, clean water, and have given us more information about our immediate surroundings. In addition, they agreed to not inform the planet’s authorities of our presence, as, according to them, that would probably not end well for anyone.”
“Yeah, no.”
“Definitely not.”
Min-gyu laughs and places her hand on Thace’s shoulder. She looks into the camera and says, “Until these guys get picked up, we want to help them as much as we can. Because we want to be friends with them, and friends with you.”
Thace looks up at her, smiling a little brighter. Then he turns his attention to the camera. Gesturing to the humans in turn, he introduces them to the camera. “Min-gyu, Sam, and Iz. So anyone reading our logs will know who we’re talking about when we mention them.”
The door to the ship opens.
“What are the humans doing in the cockpit?!”
“Lieutenant Marron!” Thace’s face pales as he scrambles for the right buttons on the console. Min-gyu pulls around Thace so he’s between her and the door, while Sam and Iz try to slip around the Lieutenant.
“Thace--”
The screen goes dark.
Entry 73:
“Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 85. This is Lieutenant Marron.”
The Lieutenant is leaning off to the left, a plate piled with a variety of food occupying most of the console. She holds Something that looks like a cooked bird leg gingerly a bit above the plate. Green and orange plant matter takes the rest of the plate.
“Today we are continuing the cataloguing of Earth food, which I began in the comments of log 29 and went into depth with in logs 30 and 37. Today is a holiday that some segments of Earth’s population call “Thanksgiving,” which apparently commemorates the beginning of a slow but steady invasion of half the planet’s landmass from the opposite half.” The Lieutenant paused, seeming confused.
“It also is a day of giving thanks for things you have. Or something. It was a very long and confusing story. But the portion of the planet that celebrates the holiday typically celebrate by roasting a bird called a Turkey and eating a lot of food. None of the humans who we have come into contact with typically celebrate this holiday, but they felt the need to share a part of the culture and history of their world with us.”
The Lieutenant lifts the leg in her hand a bit higher and moves it toward the camera. “Now first, this--”
The door of the ship whisks open and Tranka storms in carrying her own plate of food. She takes an aggressive bite out of what must be another part of the Turkey.
“I swear, if we have to deal with The Offspring Protocol I am going to kill Thace,” she says through a mouthful of food.
Lieutenant Marron turns to face Tranka, holding the food over the plate so dripping grease doesn’t make a mess of the console. “What?”
“Thace cannot stop talking to Min-gyu when she’s here, and when she’s not here she’s all he talks about. If they produce another ‘bundle of joy’ I’m going to kill all three of them.” Tranka almost yells, taking another bite.
“You can’t kill them if you don’t have a reason to believe they will compromise the integrity of the mission after we leave.”
“Leaving a half-Galra on a planet that has already manage spaceflight would be enough cause for concern.”
“You still couldn’t kill Thace.”
“I could make him wish he were dead.”
“Tranka…” Lieutenant Marron rests her forehead on her free hand. “I am recording the food to ensure future visitors know what’s edible. Why are you in the shuttle?”
“Because,” Tranka drawled through a mouthful of food, “I do not like the people out there, and they do not like me. There is no reason for me to be out there. It’s no fun for anyone.”
“From the description Min-gyu gave of the holiday, that’s a surprisingly accurate feeling for this holiday. As is our unsettling discussion.” Lieutenant Marron turns around to face Tranka. “They already can’t come onto the ship because of your complaints. Deal with them for another 3000 ticks and then you can hide in here for the rest of the night.”
“Is that an order?”
“Yes.”
Without another word, Tranka leaves with her plate. After the door has closed, Lieutenant Marron turns back to the camera.
“Now, this is a drumstick. It’s the leg of a cooked Turkey. I am not sure why it is called a drumstick, considering earth drums are beat with a variety of different looking sticks, but that’s what they’re called.”
The Lieutenant continues discussing the food on her plate for another 1000 ticks or so. When she finishes, she stands up to head outside and turns off the camera.
Entry 120:
“Oops.”
Min-gyu is the only one in the cockpit. She pulls herself up from where she had slipped. Her hair is a bit wet, and some water droplets fall onto the console’s screen. The door is still open, and the light from outside flickers. A few seconds later thunder crashes.
Thace comes out from the living quarters carrying two very large towels. He stops in the doorway and looks at Min-gyu, who turns to him.
“What happened?”
Min-gyu’s hand reaches up behind her head and she shifts her weight to one of her hips. “I slipped and fell into the console. I knocked the… um… the box over.”
“It’s fine.” Thace walked over and drapes one of the towels over his head. He’s also dripping wet. He holds out the other towel to Min-gyu. “Here.”
Thace reaches down below the camera’s vision, assumably putting the items back in the box. Min-gyu holds the towel, but doesn’t use it to dry herself off. As Thace finishes and puts the box back on the console, he starts to actively dry himself until he notices that Min-gyu isn’t using the towel.
“Is something wrong?”
“Who’s towel is this?”
“It’s Trank…” Thace stops. After a second he takes the towel off of his head and places it in Min-gyu’s hand, taking the other towel from her.
“Finish drying yourself off first!”
“I’m going to use this one.”
“Then she’ll be mad at you!”
“That is preferable to her being mad at you.”
Min-gyu takes the towel that Thace had used to start drying himself and slams it onto his arm, trying to dry it. Thace jerks his arm upwards and she reaches upwards to try and get at his arm or his face.
“Use this towel.”
“No, it’s yours now.”
Thace tries to take a step back. He looks unsteady on his feet, and suddenly both he and Min-gyu slip on the wet floor. The box falls back on the floor.
After a moment, both Thace and Min-gyu start giggling. They carefully pick themselves off the floor. Thace picks up two towels, both wet now. He hands the drier one to Min-gyu and sees the camera. He reaches and turns it off.
Entry 161:
“Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 485. Druid Tranka reporting that Lieutenant Marron owes me 20 GAC.”
A small cylinder flies across the room and hits Tranka in the back of the head. Tranka continues talking while reaching down to pick it up.
“Min-gyu is pregnant; Thace is the father.” Tranka fiddles with the cylinder, tapping it to another and typing on a screen that appears. “I’m so, so tired of his actions causing us trouble. First the crash, then the skunk, then the humans who won’t leave us alone.” Tranka chucks one of the cylinder’s back over her shoulder and Lieutenant Marron’s hand reaches out from offscreen to catch it.
“At least the Holts are moving in a few cycles. I don’t think I could stand having two children in the ship at the same time. And their child approaches the age of not being able to keep their mouth shut. I still say that we should lock their memories at least that would provide us with some security.”
“Tranka we are not locking their memories.”
“With all due respect, Lieutenant, there has been a real lack of security while we’ve been on this planet. We should have made them forget as soon as they found--”
“They are scientists. They weren’t going to accept a shared blank space in their memory without further investigation.”
“I could have implanted memories. Or hidden the ship with an illusion, or--”
“Tranka, we both know that you are absolutely terrible at illusions, inside and outside people's’ heads.”
Tranka crosses her arms, her glare boring a hole into the console. Lieutenant Marron walks behind her and lightly pats Tranka’s head through her hood.
“I’m not happy with him either, but being angry about it will not help.”
“Right.”
“While his actions are discouraged, he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“Right.”
Marron pats Tranka’s head one more time and pulled away. Tranka uncrosses her arms and sprawls back in the chair, groaning exaggeratedly. Marron chuckles a bit and heads towards the living quarters. Tranka sits back up and reaches for the camera controls.
“I’m still gonna kill him.”
“No.”
Entry 310:
“Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 857. This is Thace.”
Thace slumps in the chair, arms lying limply on the console. His fur is slightly fluffed, like he just got done cleaning himself. Despite how exhausted he looks, he wears a large smile.
“Min-gyu had her child today. I… I’m a father.” Thace says softly. His smile gets even bigger as he pulls his hands into a cup-like shape by his chest.
“We were worried because she couldn’t go to a earth doctor because Kalneth might have looked more like me than her, but Tranka did some research and was able to help, and he’s so small I swear he doesn’t weight anything and he looks so much like Min-gyu and…”
Thace stops to catch his breath. He turns to look towards the living quarters for a second, but quickly turns back. His words are breathy, tired, relieved.
“Min-gyu’s amazing. Kalneth’s amazing. They’re both so wonderful. And Tranka’s wonderful for helping them, even though I know she didn’t approve of us.”
Thace closes his eyes. He sits up in the chair and straightens his back.
“Min-gyu is staying here until she’s recovered a bit more, but Kalneth looks completely human, so he should be able to stay with her. He’ll be able to have his own life here. Even when...”
Thace pauses, and breathes out heavily. He opens his eyes. His smile no longer reaches them.
“Even when we leave.”
Thace stands up and reaches for the camera controls. Before he turns it off, he stops and turns towards the living quarters, like he had heard something the camera couldn’t pick up. His smile deepens for a moment.
“They are both so amazing.”
**********
Attached images on Entry 310:
Two images are attached to this journal entry. One is a picture of a small, apparently human child, presumably Kalneth. He has hair that is far thinner than even the Holts’ child, but it is as dark as Min-gyu’s hair. He’s asleep, laying on his back on a dark purple blanket, with his small hand grasping a fuzzy claw belonging to someone outside of the shot.
The second image is a family candid inside the ship. Thace standing next to Min-gyu, facing her, as she hands Kalneth off for him to hold. Thace looks absolutely terrified, and Min-gyu is smiling brightly, with her eyes squinting like she’s laughing. Kalneth wears an opened-mouth, toothless smile, reaching for Thace. Tranka is in the shadows in the back, and while her face is mostly concealed by her hood and her hand appears to be on her forehead, the light reaches her mouth, which is pulled into a smile.
Entry 630:
“Can I say it?”
“You know the words?”
“You think I wouldn’t know it by this point?”
Thace and Min-gyu appear to be splitting the chair between them in front of the console. Kalneth is rested on Min-gyu’s lap, and Tranka leans against the back wall, eating something. Thace ponder’s Min-gyu’s statement for a moment, then gestures for her to start. Min-gyu smiles and turns to the camera.
“Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 1534. Min-gyu and...Kalneth here.” Min-gyu pauses. She turns to Thace.
“Has Kalneth been in the logs before?”
Thace tilts his head up, thinking. “I don’t think so. I’ve mentioned him a bunch but since we usually record when neither of you are here, I don’t think he’s had the chance.”
Min-gyu smiles and shifts Kalneth so more than just his head is visible to the camera. “It’s your debut, Kalneth!”
Kalneth smiles and laughs while he tries to balance himself on his mom’s lap. He has significantly more teeth than the earlier picture. Thace’s face scrunches ups as he smiles.
“Hey, Kalneth,” Min-gyu coos, reaching around Kalneth to steady him.
Kalneth says, “Aah?” trying to turn around in his mother’s arms.
“Who’s that?” Min-gyu asks, pointing at Thace.
Thace looks a little surprised and leans back a little, his smile slipping. Kalneth turns his head in the direction his mom points. He laughs again, and starts a loud string of gibberish. He points at Thace.
Unsure, Thace slips his hand gently over Kalneth’s. “Hi, the--”
“Daddie!”
Thace freezes, and Kalneth, Min-gyu, and Tranka laugh at him as he processes what Kalneth said. After a moment he slowly and carefully pulls Kalneth from Min-gyu’s lap into his and hugs him. His eyes shine a bit and he looks down at Kalneth.
Tranka walked up behind the control chair. She reached between Min-gyu and Thace to ruffle Kalneth’s hair. “Still so small and already making Thace cry. You might just grow on me.”
Kalneth laughs again, stopping with his mouth open and his face scrunched together. He holds the pose for a tick, and sneezes. In the split second that it takes for him to sneeze, he turns entirely purple.
It takes a moment for the others to notice.
“What--?”
“How--?”
Tranka reaches around Thace and turns off the camera, her face obscured by her hood.
Entry 890:
“Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 1923. This is Thace.”
Thace’s eyes fall just below the camera. His voice comes out steady, but slow. Almost pained.
“Yesterday, we received word from the fleet that they are ready to come get us. Preparations are mostly complete. All of our belongings are in the ship and prepped for recall.”
He stops and the silence settles. The various knick-knacks that the ship had collected over the time the ship had been grounded were gone, either stored with the crew’s belongings or thrown out. The only evidence of earth is a bundle of three banana’s that sit on the console. Thace scrapes at the console’s screen with his claw. A light scraping sound is picked up by the camera’s microphone.
Thace took a deep breath, leveled his eyes at the camera, and continued, “This morning, Min-gyu came with Kalneth. We proceeded with the memory-suppression. Tranka sealed Kalneth’s memory with the phrase, ‘Wild sparax eat chives and banana bread.’ He won’t remember me or anything about me or this ship or the Galra Empire until his mom decides that he is ready to know. And if he ever wants to know.”
Thace laughs a dry laugh. “I mean, I certainly didn’t want to hear about my father after he left me and my mother. At least not until it was too late to hear even if I wanted too.” He leans as far back in the chair as he can, his mouth drawn to a thin line. “I have a duty to the Empire, and I will fulfill it. I will fight for Emperor Zarkon. When the Galra come to this planet, I will be able to take my child and Min-gyu with me, as the Offspring protocol lays out. I know that.”
Another deep sigh. Thace looks at the ceiling above the camera. “I can come get them later. I know that.” A small, tender smile slips over his face as he closes his eyes.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t wish I can’t take them with me now, and show them the worlds beyond their stars.”
Thace stays like that in silence. After a while, he reaches out and turns off the camera.
Entry 892:
Thace sits in front of the camera. He’s sitting in a different room; it’s far more spacious than the scouting ship’s cockpit. A few other soldiers and a few drones talk and pass by in the background. There is a small amount of noise that the microphone picks up. When Thace starts talking, it’s hard to hear him.
His voice is quiet, and it’s cold.
“Ship Log: Reconnaissance Mission #24591B, Cycle 1925. Private Thace reporting.”
He takes a slow, deep breath. His head tilts slightly, and faint traces of water can be seen below his eyes. He’s been crying.
“Our crew was removed from the surface of the third planet in system X-9-Y approximately 20,000 ticks ago. After being inspected in the Med Bay we presented our findings to General Sendak. All about the planet, and it’s people, and how easy they will be to incorporate into the Galra Empire when we reach this sector. Our colonization preview was very premature, but our findings should not change much by the time the Empire gets around to this planet.”
Thace stops and tilts his head back. His eyes squeeze shut as he sighs loudly.
“During the presentation, Tranka revealed that I had produced offspring with one of the planet’s residents. That, despite being able to take him with us, I choose not to. And…”
Thace’s eyes were wet again. His voice caught in his throat. A soldier behind him glances in his direction, but quickly looks away.
“Tranka and Lieutenant Marron followed procedure, and killed both the child and his mother shortly before we left.”
Thace glances around him, and bends down a bit in his seat. His breathing is heavy, and his hand clutches at the fabric of his uniform, though he finds little to grab. His hands shift to his legs, and he continues, even quieter than before.
“I am sending the logs from this mission to appeal to the disciplinary council, to show them that we had taken measures to ensure that earth does not learn of the Empire before we are ready, but I acknowledge that a large part of that rested on Min-gyu not saying anything. On Sam and Iz not saying anything. I understand that it is incredibly unlikely that the council will take my side and punish my crewmates.”
“I just…,” Thace took another deep breath. “I just wish that Tranka and Marron had told me they were going to do that. As long as they had come with us, they would be ok…” A soldier passes behind him and then backtracks, looking at Thace’s back.
“At least the Holts are ok, but they could be too…”
“Thace?” asks the soldier who stopped behind him. Thace blinks and turns his head as the other soldier walks up behind him. The soldier pauses as he looks at Thace’s face, still wet with tears. After a moment of hesitation, he places a hand on Thace’s shoulder. “Are you ok?”
Thace shifts as he considers the question. He turns back to the computer to end the recording as he begins a conversation with the other soldier. Before he drops his hand, he addresses the other soldier, already turning to face him again.
“Prorok.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-History
-Culture
-Government
-Technology
-Military
-Misc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Entry 893:
Tranka looks directly into the camera. In her hand, she’s holding a banana that has a bite out of it. She chews with her mouth open, smiling. After about 20 ticks, the video stops.
------------------------------------------------------------------