The Last of Our Kind

The Last Of Our Kind

By Chris A Jones

The ship had been on deep space probe for more than three months. My crew, about 30 men and women officers, and their families, were all very anxious to get home. Most of us had been thru deep space probes, some longer, and some shorter voyages. So this was not considered an abnormal voyage by any means. We were a crew of humans and varied species throughout the universe.
As I mentioned earlier, the officers all had families that were brought along on the voyage. It was considered a humane thing to do, when officers would be away from families for months at a time. It was only done, however, in cases where the mission in question was not a dangerous mission. Ours was a mission of exploration. So by all definitions, exploration is not classified as dangerous.
My wife was all the family I had on board. The two of us, were thought to be the only survivors from a race of beings that we had thought had gone extinct centuries ago. Our race can apparently live for centuries at a time. So the fact that my wife and I were potentially from a race of beings that had gone extinct was not considered all that especially interesting.
My wife and I shared a bond that was stronger than the bond most humans can ever share. We could communicate, even over great distances. We were what one scientist called as psychically connected. It was thought to be the way our race communicated. The link the two of us shared, was more than just psychic, we could feel each other's emotions. When one of us was sad, the other felt the emotion, as if it was our own. When one of us was in pain, the other felt it as significantly. I once told one of my academy classmates, that what happens to one of us, was felt by both of us. His reply, 'That must make it extremely difficult for you to cheat on your wife'.
That was a strange statement to hear for me of course. I was never attracted to other women. As strange as that may sound, it wasn't like I did not have my opportunities. For whatever reason, I could not find any way to be attracted to anyone but my wife. Apparently it was a genetic trait found in my race that made it such that neither my wife nor I could be attracted to anyone other than each other.
When my wife and I were found, we were only teenagers. The orphanage that found the two of us had no idea that we were aliens to the world. They initially mistook us for brother and sister. It was later discovered that we were not only alien, but also not related by birth. We were raised as humans and as brother and sister despite that. When I was old enough, I joined the FSEA, Federated Space Exploration Administration. The goal of that organization was exactly what you would think, to explore space.
The universe was filled with many advanced beings. Some of them were more malevolent than others, of course. When mankind first moved out into the stars, we found ourselves at war, more times than we could count. Almost every race of beings we ran into out there thought we were hostile. I suppose that given our past with our own planetary history, we did not have a good track record. It would take a while for us to find allies and of course forge our future in space exploration.
One such race, had taken to raids and like on unsuspecting ships such as our own. They would raid and take whatever they could scavenge and in some cases, take our women. When they did, we were powerless to do much to stop them. They would disappear as quickly and whatever they took was gone forever. No one knew who they were. No one had any idea on how to find them once they struck. So we were at the mercy of their raiding parties.
On this day, their raiding parties took more than they had bargained for. Taking my wife was a mistake that would cost them dearly.