“Songs and Superstitions” by Shana Scott

“Black Spire Isles” by Barend Nieuwstraten III

“Field Notes from the Unknown Planet” by Brittni Brinn

“The Colour of Roses” by Kelly D. Holmes

“The Prime Crusade” by Buddy Young

 

“Fatestorm” by Justine Alley Dowsett and Murandy Damodred

Read an Excerpt:

Songs and Superstitions by Shana Scott

Krem dropped the mangled gun onto his bunk. Torqu-style weapons were difficult to come by, as were the weapons of all insectoid species outside their territories. The rifle was the latest casualty to Commodore McFlufferton’s teething.

Krem hated Commodore McFlufferton. The semi-sentient raok had been an annoyance when Krem could snap it in one claw and return it to Max, his human crewmate, whenever it tried to chew his leg. Krem never understood how humans saw these monsters as “adorable”. Nearly a year old by the Torqu calendar, the full-grown vermin’s furry red head reached waist-high when sitting back on its haunches, and it measured as one of the tallest creatures on the ship when standing on the backmost two of its six plate-sized paws. How such a huge species could travel without making a sound baffled him. Maybe all that fur insulated it. Add in the two rows of steel-sharp teeth in its massive maw, and Commodore McFlufferton was capable of ripping an individual of any species apart with unnerving ease—or, as in this case, tearing Krem’s favorite rifle in two.

Krem grabbed the plasma shotgun—one of the few remaining survivors—and headed for the cargo bay to meet Del and Max. Maybe he could get replacement weapons after the mission, though he doubted any Torqu would sell to him. This might have once been his colony, but he hadn’t left in the appropriate way, and Torqu didn’t forgive easily.

“Ready to see home again?” Max called in greeting as they met in the scarlet halls that led to the exterior cargo bay. Commodore McFlufferton padded its six pillar-like legs serenely at Max’s side, matching her pace precisely. While loose on the ship, the creature managed to sneak its substantial body unnoticed to torment Krem, yet when they left the ship it waited on Max’s every command. Krem knew the vermin did so simply to prove that it targeted him on purpose.

“The colony isn’t my home anymore,” he said. “Each Torqu has a duty to the colony they must perform. A small percentage of Torqu don’t agree with their placement in the colony. I’ve heard in a few colonies it’s acceptable to request reassignment, but my colony doesn’t function that way. You either fulfill your role or you leave. I left. Now, I’m an outsider, like you.”

Max allowed sufficient time to pass in silence, and he was grateful. Krem and Max didn’t always understand one another, being from vastly different species, but she comprehended his need to have things in their place, drilled into him from a lifetime as Torqu. That he’d chosen to leave the colony didn’t mean his culture left him, and Krem sensed her respect for the difficulty of that decision.

Then, because she was Max, a wry grin played on her lips as she cocked a single brow his direction. “What was your job in the colony?”

Normally he’d have answered her honestly, as Torqu standards demanded and in order to avoid any misunderstandings deception caused between species, but he’d lived with this crew for nearly four years, and they’d rubbed off on him. In a serious tone and with no obvious malice, Krem replied, “Killing raok in the tunnels. I was very good at it.”

Commodore McFlufferton growled, while Max laughed and hugged the beast around the neck. She, it seemed, had caught the joke.

***