The Minervans are a vastly intellectual race with great advances in technology, from Minerva Prime, a frozen-over planet with a multitude of space stations floating above it. Like the Lithoids, the Uymon'ea and the M'Lak, they come from the sector the 12th Fleet escaped at the start of the story. They joined Atlas during the Vehendrix attacks near the end of the war and have been allied ever since, and the few in the fleet came in as a wandering group that found it and joined up.

Body

They are grey-skinned, with round eyes and the massive, computer-like brains that give them their intellect, so humans who squint might take them for the old Greys of Earth folklore. They like the cold, though they have no special resistance to it. They feed on vibrations rather than food, and have been known to enjoy different flavours of vibration that humans call music, and to develop preferences humans call genres. White noise, by one guess, is about as good as a ration bar. Do not ask a Minervan what your speaking voice tastes like.

Speaking with beeps

Curiously, they can "speak" with computers and VIs. Anything with a wireless connection within about 15 metres is a potential partner in their silent conversation, and closed circuits are harder but not impossible, needing a touch on a good part of the system. A sentient VI or AI has to accept the request first. A Minervan's brain works as a compad for communication, and they often prefer talking digitally to talking aloud; B'Huru Va'zar, a Minervan technician on the Hercules, has to clear his throat before he can speak, it is so rarely done.

Mind

Minervans do not think like humans, and are aware of their natural status as the more intelligent species, which does not always come across well. Humans have described them as harsh, unaccommodating and freaks; the Minervans themselves seem unable to detect such qualities in their own actions by human standards. They do not do sarcasm, so when one promises you will not die, that means they will keep you alive, however much you suffer. Their faces show very little, so a widened eye or a grin is a rare sight.

In the fleet

Simul Machinis was the first Minervan in the fleet, a programmer, engineer and psychic in ELINT who later co-owned the Sulura, and showed off the stubborn superiority complex side of his people with some enthusiasm. B'Huru Va'zar busies himself with odd jobs repairing and maintaining the Hercules and is a regular at the MoonFyre Bar.