“What the frell do you mean ‘inconclusive’?” Jass rolled the chewed-up wad of cellulose he had been munching on and spat it into the nearby recycling bucket. The four-armed tub of barely sentient jelly that called itself a scientist shook its many chins in a way that probably indicated exasperation in whatever passed for language […]

They were new. We didn’t know much about them. They came from an unexplored arm of the galaxy. They came in ships that were so primitive, we couldn’t help but laugh. Thin aluminum hulls, no energy shields, radio-based detection, and communication gear. Their sublight drives were mostly chemical rockets. They relied on so much ancient […]

Humans were a new species. Perhaps not new; but new to us. Their application to join the United Systems had been received shortly after first contact and had been duly approved shortly thereafter. Humans had appeared, first in small groups, then in a flood as they strove to consume knowledge of the wider galaxy as […]

The Mercy of Humans: Part One I had heard about humans. Everyone in the Galactic Confederation knew about humans. Descended from predators, they were often violent, even to each other. They were contrary, illogical, confrontational and worse, easily angered. In the three hundred narns since the humans discovered FTL, they had dozens of armed confrontations […]

I expected dying to hurt… I watched my crumpled body mournfully, the gash in my neck still leaking blood that stained my white fur pink. The Traxian responsible frozen halfway through a running step. It only hurt when the knife got to my throat… Then it was like falling into a deep sleep. I started […]

Thank you for your haste in coming to this meeting, cardinal. Now sit down and listen closely. And before you ask, no, you cannot leave. The doors are locked and the guards are under strict instructions to kill anyone who leaves without my approval. No, you are not being demoted, killed, or banished. You are […]

A lot of things can be said of humans. In fact, a lot has already been said of them, in the nearly two millennia since they made contact with the rest of the galaxy. Heck, a lot of them are even true… But nothing beats the time they pulled the wool over the entire galaxy’s […]