Kika

### Role

Bat'leth's mechanic, life coach and relationship consultant; known for aggressive consulting

## Physical description

### Particularities

Has bat-like echolocation, sees mostly through her ears but has limited vision through her eyes.

## Quotes

### Quote #2

Can we get some people who are good at emotions on this ship? (Ep 19)

### Quote #3

75% of an engine is still a passing grade

## Background

Kika (played by Claudia, aka JakiDash) is a Treeko, she looks like a one-meter-tall bat, and relies on echolocation rather than vision. Her species being technologically primitive, Kika is one of just a few spacefaring Treeko.

Kika is close both to the captain of the Bat'leth, Xe'anna, and the Bat'leth's sassy computer, Oxana. She is also, to Xe'anna's dismay, partner in aesthetic crime with Theea.

Her synesthetic sense of vision means that the following dialogue with Hexie in Ep 1 definitely does make sense:

> Hexie: *If it stops purring and starts growling, turn if off.*
>
>

> Kika: *There we go, THAT makes sense.*
>
>

Kika has 3 children. One of them, the son named Tylo, is a spirate who was recently seen on Duranga with the crew on an Iratos going by the name of Kevos Dratin.

The relationship between Kika and the kids’s Father (Tarko?) was just physical.

## Show history

Kika fixes inverted polarities as needed, or, more often it seems, repaints the Bat'leth. She also fixes tense relationships among the crew by being friendly to all, to the point of being intrusive when it comes to reversing Kenny's choice of not bonding with Tsarin.

Kika was under the threat of Xe'anna's anger after she and Theea painted racing stripes on the Bat’leth's belly (which Xe’anna had soon seen) and repainted the cargo hold like a kindergarten classroom (where, as of Ep 7, Xe'anna had not returned to exercise for fear of her own reaction. She ended up seeing the redecorated cargo all when Hexie opened it above her to lift the thread engine parts on Usvedi), including handprints. This, and the fear of being leashed again, kept Kika away from her captain until she managed to explain that the prints were her way to show she intended to stay on the Bat'leth for the long term and not, as she wrongly believed was Xe'anna's intent, on a temporary basis.

Kika has been a fairly effective fighter with her bow, finishing off a crawler Hollow on Gennus Landing.

## Trivia

Kika’s room is not really where she lives but it is where she keeps extra stuff, like her party suit: an Elizabethan collar with a ruff, no sleeves because of her wings, trailing ribbons or jewelry, a vest-style thing and very fancy pants. Kika has a small nest under a console on the bridge.

Kika made a bold forecast when she predicted she would be able to extract the pieces she needed to fix Tsarin's thread drive in one hour. This turned out to be pretty accurate.

She also stated, with no obvious reason, that they had one hour sharp to reverse the infection that would ultimately turn Conrad into a Hollow. This also turned out to be a reasonable guesstimate.

Kika doesn’t near to wear a watch:

> *Kika can just hear time.*
>
>

Treeko teeth regenerate.

## The KikaShot 5000

Kika works in the Engine Room. It is at the opposite end of the Bat'leth's hallway from the Bridge. The Bridge is where she has her nest. That's why, after saving slaves from spirates, Kika starts working on the *KikaShot 5000*, basically an air cannon that will fly her from one end of the hallway to the other. She describes it as a *Kika delivery service*.

Xe'anna dispproves. Oxana was in on it before her, didn't discourage Kika. Theea defends this contraption as a way to improve bonding within the crew and would like to use it herself.

Kika has to suspend her work, if not dismantle her work in progress, when Xe'anna orders her to put back all the parts she took from the broken engine and fix that engine. Fixing the engine requires removing Kika's and Theea's stash from it first, but that's a different story.

## Appearance

   Kika is the shortest crew member at only a meter tall. She looks like an oversized flying fox, with brown fur and long dark spiky hair.

To allow her wings to unfurl she wears overalls, and because things are much too bright for her all the time she wears goggles.

She has the standard five fingers and a thumb that most humans are used to but two of her fingers are occupied being support for her wings so she only has three for manipulating things. Her wings allow Kika to glide but not to fly.

Kika carries and uses a bow in combat. She also has a mono blade.

Kika has a long nose and a lot of back teeth, she can slurp her tongue in her nose if needed. The appearance of the Treeko depends on where they live. In the North, where there are pine trees, they have more of a woodpecker nose.

## Notes

1. ↑ *NftE*: This was established before Ep 22 but I only caught it during Ep 22. I'm not at all sure I've got everything right about Kika's family.
2. ↑ See Ep 18.
3. ↑ See Ep 10.
4. ↑ See Ep 7.
5. ↑ See Ep 29. There were several references to this nest in earlier episodes. Also, as pointed out by @Lysander\_Gustav in chat, *She also has a napping spot in the engine room, and the gunnery closet, and in the ventillation ducts...*
6. ↑ See Ep 7 and Ep 8.
7. ↑ See Ep 10 and Ep 11.
8. ↑ See Ep 11.
9. ↑ See Ep 27.
10. ↑ See Ep 27 to Ep 29. And more?
11. ↑ The source for this paragraph is Ep 28.