Chadan
© 2021 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  thetiedtigress


Varan barely glanced up as a tiny tremor ran through the bed beneath her and the fabric of the transport itself. She knew exactly what the subtle vibration signified, and she continued reading as a three-note chime sounded and the Support ship’s Duty Officer said, "Your attention, please. We have outphased, and ports may now be opened. Thank you," and with another series of chimes the announcement was over.

The AGB 915 wasn’t a liner, but it still adhered to the military’s dictum of providing a comfortable environment for the personnel it carried. The cabin was roomy and had the same amenities she’d had aboard the Kith, while the rest of the ship contained a full gymnasium and a rehabilitation facility for medical cases.

Looking out at hyperspace was looking at nothing, really, and many shlani found it unsettling. It was standard procedure to close the shutters over the windows because of this.

A very small inset appeared on her padd, informing her of what system the ship was now in. Varan set aside her padd and slowly stood up, her tail looping and swishing a bit. She walked to the ports and a touch sufficed to turn the window transparent.

Chadan, fourth planet of the Nēvāās-K System, lay before her as the transport settled into a high orbit on its way to the planet’s main station. The planet was mottled with green, brown and blue, swirled with white clouds, and Varan took a deep breath.

She was home.

The vir smiled and stretched toward the ceiling, her five-knuckled fingers reaching as far and as high as she could while her tail began to work out its kinks. She would have to pack and –

Her padd chimed.

“G’Raf here,” she said, relaxing out of her stretch.

“Captain? Aka,” and one of the ship’s senior ratings smiled as she came into view. “We will be docking with the station in one cycle.”

“Thank you, Sergeant-at-Arms.” The small video screen disappeared, leaving the text she had been reading on the padd. She was almost done with the novel, and thought that (after a lot of backtracking and rereading parts of it) she had finally managed to figure out who the murderer actually was.

She blanked the padd and folded it up before heading for the shower. The vir had spent a few cycles after lunch idling in bed with the book, and she wanted to be presentable when she disembarked.

Not that she had been bored during the flight, or lazy. There was always correspondence to be read and replied to – mainly updates on the repairs done to her ship, and reviewing transfer requests or orders for various members of the crew (with such transfers coming into force after the crew had finished their leave). She had exercised, taken part in wēarām matches, and spent a notable several days with two kami who had expressed an interest.

The most notable part of them was that they were twins, which was rare among shlani.

Varan smiled at the memory as she paused, studied herself critically in the mirror and judged that she didn’t need a fur trim just yet. Picking up a dildo modeled to resemble a kam’s k’sfan, she stepped into the shower.


***


She had been the only shlan to board one of the planetbound shuttles; others from the AGB 915 were taking advantage of the stop to purchase items or to use the station’s entertainment facilities. While those aboard the shuttle and the craft’s crew chatted or attended to business, Varan looked down on the world of her birth.

Chadan was an agricultural world, with huge family-owned farms whose products were shipped all over the Empire. Most meat was grown in tanks, but there was some herding and aquaculture, with industries that could damage the biosphere placed in orbit.

The shuttle landed at the nearest city’s spaceport, and she rented a small jumpcar, listening courteously as the company’s representative explained how the artigrav-driven vehicle worked. Varan thanked her and after entering the proper coordinates, sat back as the craft rose and flew to the southeast.

The closer she got, the lighter she felt, as if weights were being removed from her back and shoulders with every step she took.

Varan grinned as the jumpcar neared its destination, a large house that sprawled at the center of carefully-tended rows of zh’rekk and groves of gchert. She took manual control of the craft and angled it in for a landing as someone emerged from the house.

Of course; the property had sensors around the perimeter to let the occupants know if anyone was coming. The craft settled down and Varan shut it off before getting out.

The shlan facing her was an older vir, dressed in a sleeveless shirt that hung to her knees, with a deep slit up the back to let her tail swing clear. The weather was warm, and Nēvāās-K was getting close to the western horizon, but suddenly Varan felt stiflingly hot in her uniform; she couldn’t wait to get out of it.

Vorun g’Raf smiled as her daughter walked up to her, and she held out her arms to embrace her. “Greetings, v’chat.”

“Mother,” and Varan stepped into the embrace.