<em>This ship is way too small,</em>Andalia thought irritably. The tiny cargo ship was basically a shuttle with a big trunk. There were only two compartments: The cockpit, which also housed the refresher and the cots, and the cargo area, which was full to the brim with whatever they were shipping. Andalia didn't think about it often - she was the mechanic/engineer/muscle of the group. The other two handled missions and cargo amongst themselves, and Andalia was so aloof that she wasn't even sure which one of them did what. Usually Andalia just sat in her chair, staring at readouts, staring out the cockpit window, staring at her crotch. She was a starer.<br/><br/>The fact was that these three had never worked together for this long of a trip before - it had normally been only a couple days at a time, but they were now approaching the week point of this trip. The path required for this shipment was long and tedious, taking backroads hyperlanes, avoiding all the main lanes, considering that one of the tenets of this mission was to not have to go through any government checkpoints.  There could easily be another three weeks of travel for this shipment, but Andalia had been assured that the pay would be worth it.<br/><br/>Andalia was a Leknei, a race of diplomats and Companions. They were renowned throughout the realm as a kind, patient people with a knack for communication. Their skin ranged from light green to purple-black, including all the blues inbetween. Andalia herself was a very rare shade of bright, almost flourescent teal that could still be seen even in very dark places. There were two main strains of her species - those with reverse-knee, hooved legs and those with human legs. The hooves were her species' natural state, and most that lived on the homeworld of Lekna retained this trait. However, there was a very strong business on Lekna for designing embryos for sending out into the realm - and this included making their brain chemistry more docile and personable, shortening their tails, and giving them humanoid legs. Andalia had been designed as one of the humanoid-legged sect, but her brain chemistry altering didn't take, as happened in 5% of cases. As a teenager she had gotten her tail extended back to its full length, which terminated at her knees.<br/><br/>Leknei were not only indicated by their coloring, tails, and legs, however. On their heads, most Leknei sported two horns that curved to the sides. Andalia was no exception, although hers were relatively smallish and were not long enough to start curving out. Leknei also grew head-tails: long, tentacle-like prehensile appendages that began at the back of the head, and at shortest stopped at the neck, but at longest could stretch down to the Leknei's waist. They tended to lengthen with age. The lekku, as they were named, were either four narrow tentacles, two to a side, or two thicker tentacles, one to a side. Unknown to most of the realm, lekku were actually a primary erogenous zone for Leknei. Andalia's two lekku were quite thick and lay enticingly on her generous breasts, and did not extend beyond.<br/><br/>Clear purple Leknei eyes gazed to her comrades, who were both quite beautiful themselves. Andalia began to wonder...