The Fall of Soruvis

Discovery

<- Day 0 | Sect 0 | Year 0 ->

Captain Pilzi Eisnur slowly rose from his seat and grabbed his empty plate. He stared at it as he made his way over to the plate washer. His hand quivered as he slid the plate into the slit in the wall. His claws had made tiny scratches in the material. He cast a quick glance behind him. Nobody was in the mess room, though the brown fur across his body still stood on end. His furry tail swayed about like it had a mind of its own. It wasn't every day that an exoplanet with flourishing life was discovered for the first time.

The door slid open for him as he exited the mess room. He lowered himself to all fours, letting out a small burp as he did so. His belly bowed under the weight of his recent meal, almost grazing the floor. Eating too much bark never bode well for his stomach, but it was all he could do to keep himself calm.

This wasn't his first mission. Not by a longshot. He'd captained dozens of missions in search of potentially habitable planets, though none had shown promise so far. This was the first one in which the data had shown a substantial amount of promise. And it was relatively close to Asturn too, at just over 700 lightyears.

He prowled slowly down the hallway, trying to focus on the subtle hum of the Zenith's single warp ring. It was futile, though. He couldn't keep himself from wondering about the implications of such a discovery, not only for him, but for Asturnians as a whole. After hundreds of years of searching across the galaxy, dozens of brave crews who never returned from their missions, and visiting countless unlivable worlds, he would be the first captain to lay eyes on the first real Asturnian colony. He would go down in history for sure.

He had originally intended to go to the bridge, but he took a detour. He just needed to be sure.

The label on Gron's door flickered on as Pilzi approached. He stood and patted the wrinkles out of his uniform sleeves. He was already starting to feel bad for the flight engineer, so the least he could do was to show respect with his own appearance.

The eye scan completed and the door whispered open, revealing the dark abyss inside. Chilling air wafted from inside Gron's quarters, forcing Pilzi to blink his eyes and twitch his nose. Cold air did not play well with wet noses.

"Gron?" Pilzi chirped into the darkness, hugging the edge of the entrance. His tail writhed behind him. "I know this is off-schedule, but can you—"

"Do a checkup on the warp systems?" grumbled a voice from the dark. A single yellow eye opened sleepily, locking on him. "Again? I just gave you a report an hour ago."

"I know, I know, but we need to keep diligent watch over everything." He let his hand twirl his whiskers idly. "Neglect shall not be the reason we perish."

There was rustling, and Pilzi could almost feel the great mass of his crewmate moving as he forced himself out of his ironcloth bed. Pilzi thanked Thannin for not making him a big scaly Reckrin. They always had to have things specially made for their species. Fortunately, Grephens, Pilzi's species, and Niiblan, the third species of the Triumvirate, had a far bigger overlap in the things that they could consume. It wasn't rare for a Grephen and Niibla to share a home.

"If it eases your mind, Captain," Gron said as he trudged into the light pouring through the doorway. His black uniform bulged from his barrel-like chest underneath. The dark scales on his head and short neck glinted in the light, indicating a recent polish job. A scowl cut across his short muzzle as he squinted and raised a clawed hand in front of his face. "But I will return to sleep when I am finished."

Pilzi nodded as he stepped aside for the Reckrin. "Of course, but how can you sleep during a time like this? We are on the brink of a new era! Does this not excite you?"