Changes in Fortune (Sci-fi, small group)

[IrishWolf]

So I've had this idea kicking around my skull for a while now and I figured I'd share it with the good people here and see if anyone thinks it's interesting.

Its the year 2345 AD, Human Standard Calender and the fast freighter, the Stellar Raven , the interstellar version of a tramp steamer, is in a predicament. Like the steamships of old, she sailed the stars without a schedule, going wherever required to deliver its cargo. However, after making a delivery into a large mining system, they found that everything going out is controlled by the local corporation , there are no independent contracts to be found and without a contract, there is no money for fuel, the Stellar Raven is stuck. The small crew, just a captain, an engineer, a systems tech and a deckhand, is in trouble. The last of their funds dwindle away, the winds of fortune change.  Theres an job, an easy job, with a lot of pay and only a fool would turn it down. Almost too good to be true, they jump at the opportunity and see just how far these winds will blow them.

Whats the job and the pay you might ask? The transportation of a small number of passengers, who they do have room on board, in cabins. The pay? A full load of fuel to begin with, refueling when they get to their destination, ten thousands credits worth of platinum per crewmen and the offer of government contracts.   

So who do they have to take? A small and all female ambassadorial team from Ujazian Federation, who need to get home for undeclared reasons and their own government has failed to retrieve them.

Of course there is a small catch, unknown to the crew of the Stellar Raven , which has to do with Ujazian biology. Back in the early days of their species, when a female went into heat, everything but mating became secondary, including eating and sleeping. One female going into heat would send any other female they encountered, save for those with young, into heat as well. It also drove males into a kind of rut, where they are driven to mate with the females, more then normal and often fight if the male to female ratios is less then 1 to 3. They were a source of prey for a number of major predators in the food chain, at the time and needed such intensive breeding to keep surviving. As their evolution progressed and their predators died out or were in turn hunted down, this trait was lessened to a slight degree but never removed and remains to this day.

Primitive Ujazians found that the leaves of some plants would reduce the intensity of heat and rut cycle and as their cultures progressed and their understanding of science grew, they were able to refine the plants into highly effective medications to suppress the urges and maintain normal brain functions. However, should on go off the drug, the cycle comes back stronger then ever before and painful to deny, a pain which grows with every day.

As the Ujazians discovered space travel and began ton interact with other races, they sent single sex teams to negotiate with them, in order to diminish the chances of embarrassment, well supplying theses teams with the drug to keep them under control. The delegation had used up their supply of the drug, in fact, they had rationed it out to just barely get to the point where they board the ship. The courier they had been waiting for, was supposed to have brought them a new shipment, so they could continue trying to hammer out a trade deal. However, that ship had been waylaid by pirates, a fact they no one would find out for years to come.

This coming loss of control had also influence the ship they chose to hire, as they were looking for both a fast ship, with a small crew.



Oh, what do Ujazians look like?

Ujazians are a tall humanoid race (which is to say they stand up right on two legs, have two arms, although they have five fingers and a thumb on each hand), the shortest adult generally making at least six feet and the tallest  over seven, as humans measured. The skin of this alien species, could be described as a prussian blue in color, with the common hair colors being white, dark green and purple. Their eyes tend to be large for their faces, as humans would see it and be completely black, with the hint of other colors within. They lack a nose, having only slits were the nostrils are in the human face. They also have tails, which tend to be about three feet long and completely prehensile.  In the manner of genitals, they match humans, save for the fact that females have a second, smaller pair of breasts, set just under the larger, primary pair.





So, anyone interested. I would need human spacers (who don't need to be male characters) to take engineer, tech and deckhand. I would also need between three and eight Ujazians, all female characters, to take the ambassador, her assistant(s) and a security personal or two.