A Tale of Two Fjiggs

"And here are the crew quarters," Jeth said.

"It must be difficult spending your entire life in such a tiny space," Hella remarked.

"It's a lot easier with you here," Jeth breathed out, staring straight into his elfish friend's eyes. Hella quickly walked over and squeezed Jeth's hand before dropping it just as fast.

"They shouldn't see us together," she said, like always. Admiral Jeth was a tough man. He had to be; he was a commander in the space navy, after all. But everything about Jeth's behavior changed when he was with Hella. His lithoid heart seemed to melt when he saw her and froze back in a matter of seconds as he went back to his usual routine of shouting at his crew.

"You're right," he murmured, his eyes drooping down. He led the way out and up a few stairs, making sure to keep a few claws apart.

"And finally, this is the command de-" he was interrupted by a blaring alarm. Jeth's eyes widened immediately.

"It-It's the Emperor," he stammered as he ran towards the control panel and pressed a button with his shaky rock claws.

"My Lord," he said as he bowed, barely containing the excitement out of his voice. Excited admirals were a very rare sight, let alone bowing admirals. A hologram popped out of the holo-table in the middle of the room, and the admiral saw a look he had never seen on the Emperor's face before: nervousness. It was then that he knew terrible things were about to happen, and they were about to happen while Hella, a civilian with absolutely no combat or exploration experience, was on board. More importantly, they were about to happen while a woman he could not afford to lose, a woman he imagined no future without, a woman he saw no purpose in life without, was on board.

Hella must have made some similar guesses since she also had terror in her eyes. His hearth slightly fading at the center of his body, Jeth turned back to the hologram, knowing very well that the Emperor had most likely already sensed the forbidden affection he had for Hella. Cross-species breeding was commonly frowned upon, and although Jeth's species lived mostly in the Empire and went by the name Fjiggs just like Hella's, they had different origins and the social rules for them were the same as any other.

The Emperor finally spoke, "Admiral Jeth, we have received intel that alert us to a possible attack on Shining Meadow. I want you to defend the area from any attacks until the new cruisers are built. Set route for the system right away."

"Y...Yes my Lord," Jeth forced out.

"Good, good," the Emperor sighed. "And Admiral?

"Yes, my Lord?"

"May Yyrihi be with you, Admiral." The channel closed and the hologram shrunk until it couldn't be seen anymore. What could be seen was Jeth's helplessness. He finally mustered up enough courage and turned back to Hella.

"We will be fine, don't worry," he said. It was clear from his voice that there was a big chance that they would not be. Hella being too afraid to talk, the Admiral walked over to the comms side of the control panel and announced their new objective to the crew.

On the other side of the Empire, one of the Emperor's servants hurried over to his side. "Should we terminate the female, your Highness?" he asked with a frail voice. "No," the Emperor replied.

"I want them to enjoy their last moments if this turns out as bad as we predict it to be."

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This operation was very different from most others he ordered. The Dekron made sure to never to begin an assault with just one fleet, but their allies' sensors showed no other fleets in any system close to the one they were attacking from. Could the sensors have somehow missed a second fleet preparing to escort the main one? Could the allies be turning against the Empire? Hundreds of possibilities rushed into Emperor Thonii's head and almost all of them saw the Empire on the losing side. For perhaps the first time since his coronation, he felt guilt for his actions. He had thought of calling off the defense but Shining Meadow was a very important chokepoint and losing it would leave multiple systems exposed and defenseless. Being a Spiritualist like most of the Empire, he walked over to the shrine of Yyrihi across the room and knelt. He muttered, "Please, great Yyrihi, allow them to return unharmed."

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As the fleet drew closer to Shining Meadow, Hella grew more and more silent, until she eventually seldom left the captain's room she shared with Jeth. She had thought of no better way to die than in battle with Jeth at her side, but she wasn't ready to die in the first place. She had dreamt of settling down in Rlennd with Jeth after he retired and living a peaceful life. Now, it all seemed so far and impossible. He had asked her to go back to Rlennd in one of the ships' escape pods, but her mind was set to perish with Jeth than live without him. She had forced out all thoughts and plans of what she would do if he suddenly disappeared from her world. As she was swimming in her own thoughts, the speakers built into the ceilings reported the dreaded announcement; "We are about to enter Shining Meadow." Hella decided that she would spend what could perhaps be her last hours, with Jeth. She tucked her orange hair behind her pointy ears and ran out of the captain's residence and towards the command deck.

Admiral Jeth was busy adjusting the ship's thruster strength to prepare for the warp to Shining Meadow when a pair of very familiar hands wrapped around him from behind. He didn't have to turn around to recognize Hella. The executive officers were slowly entering the room upon hearing the announcement but it did not seem like neither Hella nor Jeth cared that they were seen together or planned to pull apart to carry out the warp sequence. "Screw the social rules," they both thought silently. Admiral Jeth finally pushed away gently and warned everyone to sit down. He then directed all power from the residential grids to the thrusters and began a countdown during which he walked over to sit down beside Hella.

"5." Hella reached out to hold Jeth's claw, nervous as everyone else in the room. She bent her head down to rest it on it, preparing for the nausea she had heard him talk about so many times back on Rlennd.

"4." Memories of her life as a clerk flooded into her mind as she remembered her home on Rlennd. Her eyes watered as she worried about her little brother who had only recently learned how to fully take care of himself. She worried about her little brother who she might never see again. She worried about her little brother who she would never be able to sneak food out of stores anymore with. She worried about her little brother who was probably wondering why her little tour of Jeth's ship took so long. She worried about her little brother who her parents had entrusted her.

"3." They had perished in an accident while testing a prototype of the rumored "Jump Drive." It was said that chokepoint systems could be bypassed using this new ship upgrade. The gadget had been sparking uncontrollably and Hella's father realized what was about to happen. The risks calculated before the Jump Drive was even built showed that they weren't close to being able to get out of the explosion radius, so her mother had quickly contacted her. "Take care of your brother," she had said. "Stay strong for us." Hella was forced to listen to the explosion of a device that murdered her parents and would assist with the murder of many more innocent families, if the experiments succeeded.

"2." Having to work more since her parents no longer brought money in was how she had met Jeth. Her co-worker was forced to resettle the day before and she was struggling to run the entire store by herself. Admirals were given one week off their ships per year, and Jeth was on his vacation for that year when he came across Hella and offered to help her. He was a tough man but he was not an inconsiderate one. Hella could recount that day to the second. Jeth had spent an entire day of his one-week-long vacation that he only got once a year, helping Hella run the store.

"1." He had acted like a father to both Hella and her brother Vurro ever since that day. He would run from duty just to cheer them up when he felt they weren't doing good. He would help them with whatever he had when their business in Rlennd was not doing well. He would jump in front of a Colossus' laser so they wouldn't get hurt. Overwhelmed, Hella quickly shut her eyes as if to push away her thoughts.

"Warp initiated."