#chakonaspace — Public Fediverse posts

"...and with that ten percent gain in warp field efficiency, we should be able to shave ten hours off our travel time to the Theta Ionus system."

"That's excellent news! Great work as always, Nexus."

Once again, Nexus felt that familiar urge to smile, but also at the same time to remain stoic, and just nodded to hir Caitian captain. "Thanks," the black-furred stellar foxtaur replied, glad that no one could see the way hir tail was twitching behind hir.

As the meeting turned to other topics, Nexus returned hir gaze to hir PADD, but looked past it as shi retreated once more into hir thoughts. Shi hated how often compliments on hir work felt good, but at the same time made hir want to run and hide somewhere. What shi did wasn't that special, as far as shi was concerned; shi was just doing hir job.

Which reminded hir, shi needed to have a talking with that ensign on Gamma shift tonight before shi went to bed. His shift reports had been haphazard lately, leaving details and other important things out. Other people not doing their jobs properly was always one of the things guaranteed to ruffle hir fur, though thankfully that was a rarity among Star Fleet. Perhaps he was just absent-minded-

"Nexus?"

The question quickly pulled hir back to the world around hir, and shi felt a moment of panic as shi quickly tried to piece together what shi had missed. Hir vulpine ears ticked backwards a moment, but shi'd long ago learned how to keep a neutral expression even when hir inner turmoil threatened to overflow, and that practice was coming in handy once more.

The display in the center of the table showed their antimatter pod status and, reaching out, shi quickly paged backward and forward, noting the other queries made, hir mind racing to put it together.

"Just wanted to double- check," shi said as a cover, "but yeah, we should be fine for another few weeks, then we'll need to pause to rebuild our stocks."

Captain M'Rel nodded, then rose, the golden-furred female felinoid resting her hands behind the small of her back. "Then I'll not keep the rest of you any longer, as we all have things to get back to. Dismissed."

Feeling a sense of relief, Nexus stood alongside the other senior staff, and padded out into the hallway, where shi was quickly joined by jir Companion, Swiftwind, who also happened to be the ship's primary helmsman.

"Nice save," shi whispered softly, "I don't think the Cap noticed you zoning out."

"Was it that obvious?" Nexus replied, hir ears actually half- folding this time.

"Only to one who knows you well," shi replied with a reassuring smile, and a lick to the cheek. "Oh, and a touch of empathic talent doesn't hurt either."

As Nexus felt relief flood hir once more, hir snow leopard chakat Companion gave hir a bigger grin and a clap on the back, hir blue eyes almost seeming to twinkle with mischief. "Gotta run, Ensign Vasquez needs shuttle training, and I don't want to disappoint. I'll catch you tonight, love."

Nexus narrowed hir eyes as Swift turned to go, beginning to get a sinking feeling in both hir stomachs, though at least this time it wasn't about hirself. "You'll be sticking to the actual approved training program this time, right?"

Swiftwind just smirked, flicking hir tail and tossing a wave over hir shoulder as shi padded away towards the turbolifts.

"Right!?"

#microfiction #smallstories #writing #chakatverse #chakonaspace #foxtaur #chakat #sliceoflife

"Nnnnggrrraaaaaa..."

The black-furred stellar foxtaur let out a satisfied sigh as shi rose back up fully from her stretch. It had been a long shift, and while shi didn't have to climb into the maintenance tubes hirself, shi still found it hard to completely let go of the day-to-day work, even a year later after hir promotion.

Shucking hir uniform tunic, shi grabbed one of hir casual tees laying on the back of the couch in hir quarters and slipped it on. Some other officers preferred their uniforms in their off-hours, in case they got called in for an emergency, but to Nexus, that was just for appearances; something shi never felt beholden to.

Briefly shi glanced at the nearby floor-length mirror, to find a familiar golden-eyed feminine foxtaur looking back, vulpine ears inlaid with golden-fur perked between short, touseled black hair. Hir lanky feral-like lower body and humanoid upper body was the end result of centuries of genetic engineering that had first led to the chakats, then to hir kind. There was still plenty of genetic variance though, and though some might think it unfortunate shi was not as... gifted, in the chest, as others of hir breed, it still suited hir fine. Shi'd always preferred a more gender-neutral look anyways, fitting hir dual-gendered nature.
Hir Companion, on the other paw, preferred outfits that put hir own feminine attributes on display...

Feeling a slight stirring at the thoughts of hir lovely chakat Swiftwind, Nexus firmly pushed those images out of hir mind. It was a few hours yet until Swift would be off-duty, so THAT would have to wait.

Looking around hir quarters, hir eyes settled on the pink-and-white bass guitar that shi had gotten for hir birthday a few years ago. Handmade, not replicated, and a part of hir still wondered how many credits Swiftie had spent on it. More importantly though, shi had acquired a new set of sheet music last week that shi had yet to try, but things had been too busy since then.

"Computer, holodeck status?" Nexus requested as shi padded over, tail waving slowly in anticipation of the answer. While shi was looking forward to that private time with hir Companion, a good piece of classical metal always got hir blood pumping.

"Holodecks 1 and 3 are occupied. Holodeck 2 is open until 19:30 hours," the pleasantly female voice replied with a slight purr. Most ships shi had served on had tweaked their shipboard computer's voice in various ways, and hir current captain had opted for a Caitian overlay. You could always override it for personal use, but Nexus preferred to stick to the defaults others used. How else would an engineer pre-emptively spot problems with it after all?

"Computer, reserve Holodeck 2 until 18:00, and preload program Stellar Karaoke." As it chimed in acknowledgement, shi grabbed hir guitar and turned hirself to go. That would give hir some time to try out this new composition, get a quick meal, then spend some nice long quality time with Swift.

Then tomorrow it would be back to the grind, but that's just the life of a Star Fleet engineer!

#microfiction #smallstories #writing #scifi #sliceoflife #chakonaspace #chakatverse

Another Nexus piece for #Taursday! This one is by @kirena_kaya

In Nexus's era, Metal music is one of many classical genres, and the one shi enjoys the most. Hir chakat Companion, Swiftwind, even gifted her with a guitar built for hir natural left-handedness! Unfortunately, shi also has some anxiety about playing in front of others, so when shi wants to really lay into it, shi tends to seek out the holodeck or a station's holosuite, where shi can be alone with hir music. Shi admittedly did try a concert venue setting once or twice to see if that felt any better, but even knowing the audience was all holograms, shi found hirself still freezing up.

#art #furryart #taur #foxtaur #stellarfoxtaur #starwalker #vulpine #fox #nonbinary #gynomorph #dualgendered #chakonaspace #chakatverse #metal #guitar #scifi

For #Taursday, another image of Nexus, this time from SadNicole(https://www.furaffinity.net/user/sadnicole/ )! Chief engineers seem to always end up in the Jeffries tubes at some point, despite having to run the entire engineering department, and Nexus is no exception. In hir case however, shi does like to purposefully engage in some hands-on work whenever time allows, so shi might end up in these a bit more often than one would think. Of course it helps that hir kind were designed to be able to work in exactly these kinds of spaces...

#stellarfoxtaur #foxtaur #taur #starwalker #scifi #startrek #vulpine #fox #art #furryart #nonbinary #gynomorph #dualgendered #chakonaspace #chakatverse