How Unusual

"Miss... na-Ki'tiki?  Is that right?" Captain April asked.

Avi turned at the flight control console, and nodded.  "Yes, that's right, Captain."  Though if, in the future, other Ki'tiki were to serve in Starfleet, Avi supposed they'd need to invent a method of naming to distinguish one from another.  No family names were used among the Ki'tiki, as genetics and gender and family tended toward uniqueness for each individual.

"Detach moorings and reverse one-tenth.  Bring us about zero-one-nine, then..."  Neria chewed her lip, thinking.  "...increase gradually to one-quarter impulse, until we're clear."

"Aye, Captain."  Avi turned back to the console.  She'd already interfaced one of her tiki spheres with the navigation sub-mind of the computer.  Though her hands traveled over the keyboard and controls, she could just as easily have used her thoughts alone to send and receive information through the computer.  But this allowed her to seem less different than the others, more biologically humanoid.

The impulse engines brought the ship to life, and Avi smiled, feeling herself wake to new life also.  She freed the ship from the docking station, slid away, banking as she reversed, then moved the Arcadia out amid the stars and the navigational pathways among the stars, that, to Avi's augmented senses, were more vividly real than the activity on the bridge around her.

~Magnificent ship!  What harmonies she creates~, Avi thought, with a feeling that was a blend of reverence and aesthetic appreciation.

With the part of her mind that kept track of interplay upon the bridge, Avi heard the captain's remark to Kaiel, her warning about over-reliance on technology.  Avi had a certain philosophic interest in the attitudes of other races and people toward technology.  The Ki'tiki had, centuries ago, blended the technologies of nano, biogenetics, and cybernetics so thoroughly into their own beings, that there was no longer any way to differentiate among the various components or between themselves and technology.  It had all become tiki, and the people of the tiki.  She believed the separations inherent in other species' approach were merely the reflection of an incomplete stage of being.  And yet, such incompletions were in themselves interesting, as they brought out oddities of individuality, curiosities – some of which might even prove valuable as ways of viewing the universe.

Surely Clicker, the Arcadia's chief science officer must be one such oddity!  Avi hoped she could become acquainted with that one before too long.

With most of her awareness sinking into the movements of the ship, Avi continued on, until the captain ordered, "Helm, find rendezvous coordinates for the UFS Progress and set a course."

"Aye, Captain."  Avi followed the navigational sub-mind as it routed the information from more general routines, and said, "I have them at oh-three-four mark seven."

Her curiosity was roused, as much from Captain April's manner of speech and gesture, as by what she said, concerning the new executive officer.  The idea of royalty was a vague concept in Avi's mind.  She had yet to meet any being whose society organized itself in that way.  Though she supposed that if breeding kept certain genetic traits into a restricted mating pool, the royal families might retain traits that the general population lacked.  So, a biological form of hierarchy, rather than the Starfleet ranking form.  ~An interesting variation on the theme of incompleteness,~ Avi thought.

And of course she well understood the importance of any first contact.  She was sure she could behave in a manner acceptable to the captain of the Arcadia.  She not only needed to keep her position here in order to do the work she loved, but – physically distanced as she was from her own people – she needed the acceptance, and hopefully the closeness of friendships, with the people of the crew.

As the Epachan came aboard, moving in its remarkable way, Avi's attention was claimed by it.  The Ki'tiki had gengineered numerable species, favoring many with near-sentience.  She wondered now if the Epachan were natural forms, or gengineered.  ~All those eyes!  Surround-vision perhaps, and so the dimensions of direction and distance must be very different for it.  I wonder what other senses it has.~

She was startled to see the captain prostrate herself before the creature.  ~Is that necessary for all of us?  If so, I hope it is only for the one time, and not as a routine.~  Then she was even more startled to see Captain April's reaction at the touch of the Epachan's tongue.  Avi's people often indulged in kissing, and not necessarily as foreplay for mating.  She realized that for many species this sort of touch was only, or mostly engaged in, as part of a mating ritual.  From the captain's physical reactions, Avi thought perhaps that was exactly what the Epachan and she were preparing to do.  ~It doesn't seem as though regulations for first contact should include this!  The captain is obviously female; does this mean the Epachan is male?~

Avi took a few moments to consider if the Epachan had the ability to trigger a sexual change within her own body.  No being had done so in the past, and she was definitely unwilling to give up her own hormonal control.  No matter what example the captain might be setting.