untitled space adventure story w/ monsters

"Captain Chaney, we appear to be running low on resources." The computer beeped.

Chaney sighed. "Alright, UNI." He looked down at the control panel, at an orb embedded in it that quickly rotated around, revealing a lens that made it resemble an eyeball. "Give me a run down on what we need." He ordered.

The eyeball flickered on, creating a panel of light that itself seemed to flicker, like the camera projecting it was faulty. "We have 50% fuel, and are currently running low on food and drink." A graph appeared on the panel as the computer spoke. Its voice quavered every few words, while still retaining a monotone. "The nearest planet is Planet ID XC59-C, a desert planet, but is a noted trade area in this section of the galaxy."

The captain rubbed his temples. "How exactly did we run out of food and water so quickly?" Before UNI could answer, Chaney started up again. "No, don't tell me, I already know."

The captain pushed his seat back, rolling its wheels across the rugged carpeting. He slowly got up and headed back to the back of the ship.

-

This is the cargo ship Nachtangst, a low grade starship in the Earth Galactic Expanse, one of the few governing bodies in the galaxy. The year is 5020, and while you, the reader's, current concept of Earth no longer exists, the planet still does. Earth is now a base of a melting pot of different species from across the galaxy. Earth now exists as the EGE, spreading its... unique brand of governing across its own section of the galaxy. It was originally created to expand Earth's culture across the stars, but has developed into something much different, though new worlds are constantly discovered and explored.

The Nachtangst's captain, Luga Chaney, isn't a human, but rather a species of wolf-like aliens, the Lonpes. He had their signature grayish-blue fur, with tanned secondary fur on his underbelly. The Lonpes looked exactly like if Earth wolves could walk on their hind legs and were as tall as humans. He was born on Earth, and trained for many years to become a captain.

Needless to say, being the captain of a cargo ship wasn't what he wanted to do, and even among cargo ships, the Nachtangst is the one he wanted to captain the least. It was a disaster of a ship, the ship had bad fuel consumption issues, an ugly interior designed several decades before Chaney was born, and an on-board computer that had been out of date for a while, and was in need of serious repairs. At the least, the junker had a few weapons and a decent shield system, so it wasn't a death trap in that sense.

Chaney knew why he was put on this ship. Lonpes have a notorious aversion to the light created by a full moon, and when travelling to alien planets, that becomes a much larger problem. This light transforms the Lonpe into deadly monsters, which ravage everything in sight. There were multiple cases of expeditions going wrong because of Lonpe crew members, most of which had to be "put down", as it will.

Having a Lonpe as a captain was a liability, but Chaney had been a model student throughout academy training, so he was stuck with the lowest status a captain could have. And of course, there was his crew. The ship could only fit a few, and Chaney had been "gifted" with  four of the most eccentric crew members you could find.

-

Chaney headed into the crew quarters in the back of the ship, where he found his four other crew members. All four of the five members, Chaney included, wore rather tacky looking orange-and-black, tailor made for each member - whether they wanted one or not. The crew quarters had a few tables, all of which were worn, but not dirty, a device on the wall that contained all their food and drink (compressed down to be more portable), and in the corner was a small entertainment center with a screen and a game console. In front of the console was a ratty looking couch, seated on which were two of the crew members.

On the left was a vaguely human-like character, female, but distinguished from a human by her pale white face and incredibly large, blood red claws in the place where hands would. Her messy hair was a mix of red and black and was back-length. Her legs also ended in claws, or rather talons, this time black in color. Black fur could be seen in the small point where her legs weren't covered by the uniform, and the red of her claw hands blended with pale skin, barely visible beneath her sleeves. Unlike the rest of the crew, she had a black collar with a blinking light around her neck. She had a massive mouth, rows of sharp teeth sliding between her thin lips. It was usually curled into a smile, but right now it was in a frown. Her face was roundish, with a flat, pointed nose in the middle, with pointed ears on the sides. Her eyes were both full and sunken at the same time, with harsh red pupils that were, at that moment, glaring right at Chaney.

Before Chaney could talk, she let out a low pitch growl that only he managed to pick up. Chaney glanced at her. "Valessa." He said, trying to put on a commanding tone.

Valessa Ripper, a Drakul, a race of creatures that fed off blood. She was a "former" criminal, notably violent even for the Drakul, and ended up in EGE jail after attempting a murder in one of their heavily populated governed planets. She ended up being to much for the EGE maximum security prison to handle, so they dumped her on Chaney. She's been forced to wear a shock collar, which Chaney has control over but has made very limited use of. Despite this kindness, the two are on very rocky terms.

Chaney quickly broke from Valessa's steely gaze and turned to the crew member next to her. Much less human, he was what looked like a fish-man, perhaps somewhere between a piranha and a frog. He was very svelte, with a thin body and limbs, and just sitting next to Valessa showed how much taller he was than her. His body was covered in thick blue scales, which made his uniform look noticeably puffier on him than it did on anyone else. His hands and feet were webbed, pointed with small claws, and his face superficially resembled a human, but was definitely not at the same time. His eyes were pitch black, but always shined with a bit of innocence, whether it was disingenuous or not. He had several sharp teeth as well, but they were nothing compared to Valessa's gnashers. His neck was lined with several gills, and fin ran down the back of his head and stopped at the neck.

"Oh no, it's the chief." The fishman muttered, quickly trying to look at the TV.

"Gillus." Chaney said, still in the commanding tone. Gillus Finnborne, an Aquis, amphibious creatures that still ran on a monarchist system. Gillus was the son of a wealthy entrepreneur, who also happened to be funding part of the EGE. Through nepotism, Gillus managed to worm his way into this spot on the ship despite being a complete failure in the academy. Chaney wasn't sure WHY Gillus wanted to become a part of the EGE fleet, if he even did. However, Gillus had an intense knowledge of weapons and vehicles, which had come in handy a few times. He was also considerably more laid back than the other crew members, making him the closest Chaney had to a friend on the ship.

He then quickly glanced over to a table in the back. One crew member was sitting at the table, while the other, physically unable to sit at such a small table, stood beside it. The two were discussing something.

The one standing beside the table resembled a large robot, colored a grayish green. It had a large barrel chest, with two stumpy, thick legs holding it up. It's arms were much flatter, and ended in three equally flat fingers, without anything resembling a palm. It's body, arms, and legs were nearly featureless, except for segmenting across it, which allowed the robot to bend and twist in ways even living beings couldn't. The only other feature was the logo for the EGE, applied to its chest and worn with age. Sitting atop the body was a brick-like head with two large goggles in the place of eyes, with two large bumps resembling bolts sitting on the sides of the cranium.

Sitting at the table was a character who's shape you could recognize as human, but definitely wasn't. It's face was a patchwork mishmash of different species skins, with a bit of mechanical pieces thrown around the mouth and right eye. The mouth was a grated vent, while the left eye was a beeping light. His other eye, however, resembled an insect's. His skin was blue, red, green, there was even a little bit of fur on random sections, mostly around the top of the head, which made it resemble a wild mane of mismatching hair textures and colors. This same mishmash applied to his forearms and what was visible of his legs, though both mostly ended in normal-ish appendages. His body was covered in the orange and black uniform, but it cut off just before the elbows and knees, where it instead folded into black metal discs that seemed to cover the limbs. In addition, he wore a sleeveless, white laboratory coat that looked like it could extend down to his ankles.

"Professor Sherry, Doctor Vik." Chaney said, speaking a bit louder so the two could hear him. Professor James Sherry was the large robot, formerly a boy genius who's gift of invention was well known. He transplanted his brain into a robot body ages ago, but still has the brain of a young teenager. He was well known for being hard to work with, which was presumably why he was booted to this crew. Sherry slowly turned to look at the captain.

Doctor Jebediah Aurelius Vicktoffson, despite all appearances, was in fact technically human. A brilliant medical specialist, Viktoffson, Vik for short, practiced his most ambitious experiment on himself, slowly replacing his old body with new pieces in an attempt to become immortal. Surprisingly, this seemed to have worked in some capacity, as the crazy doctor was over two hundred years old. There's nothing left of who he used to be, with the constant patchwork changes, and him having gone noticeably crazy, but his medical expertise is still second to none. Vik's head snapped towards Chaney.

"