“I’m Vangravian,” I called to the man, hoping he gave me time to explain before trying to kill me again. “I’m the registereddimari of Commander Aiden Hill. I can prove it, if you give me the chance.”
Finally, the laser fire died out, and I hoped the man was at least willing to consider what I’d said. I heard quiet muttering amongst the team who’d arrived. A chance to prove who I was could also mean giving me a chance to kill them, if I was lying, so I didn’t begrudge them their caution. “I can show you that I can change colour,” I called, growing impatient for a reply. I didn’t want them sneaking around the console and shooting me by surprise. “None of the pirate species can do that.” Without waiting for a reply, I tugged the glove off my left hand and lifted it to where they could see it – specifically the left one, since it was my non-dominant hand, and if they did end up shooting a hole through it, I would be slightly less disabled by it than if they injured my right hand. That sort of brutal mathematics had been drilled into us during training; very often, we would be presented with two bad options, and it was up to us to figure out which one was slightly less terrible. Once they had a clear view of my hand, I changed the black scales to purple, then to green, and finally to my natural blue. I left my hand where they could see it, this time giving them all the time they needed to make a decision.
“Stand upslowly,” the man ordered me. I hastily re-activated my mag boots, setting them carefully on the floor, then stood up, placing my gun slowly and deliberately onto the desk in front of me. “I can send you my Alliance credentials,” I offered.
“Do that,” the man said, so I did, sending the little information packet to every Alliance comm in the room, since I had no way of knowing which electronic signature was his.
The leader of the group kept his eyes and his gun trained on me, while the woman to his right checked the message that had appeared on her comm. “It’s legit,” she reported. “You can put your gun down.”
The man breathed a sigh of relief, holstering his weapon and activating his mag boots at the same time. He landed on the floor with a soft thud. “Well, in that case, thank you,” he said to me, eyeing the other dead bodies floating around the room. “I didn’t think we were going to come out of that one alive.”
“The rest of my team should be arriving soon,” I told the group, as I checked the map on my comm. The first few members of the group were only about thirty metres from the bridge, while the larger portion were still working on surrounding the last group of pirates, a way back from them. “So don’t panic if they come bursting through the door.”
The man nodded, then herded his teammates further into the room. “Line up against the wall,” he said. “We don’t want to give them any surprises when they arrive.” The little group clomped over to the wall and lined up neatly, and sure enough, about a minute later, the door burst open, four guns quickly pointed at us all as the soldiers sized up the room from the safety of the door frame.
Once they saw it was clear, the first one swung himself into the room, and I wasn’t surprised to see that it was my master. He activated his mag boots as he touched down on the floor, and they clamped down onto the metal surface with a thud.
Carver was next, and then two other lieutenants who had been with the other teams. I was intrigued to notice that Tolvorez wasn’t with them.
My master looked around the room, taking stock of the dead pirates floating about the place, and the line of Alliance personnel against the wall. “Looks like you did quite the thorough job,” he said, looking between me and the group, likely wanting some sort of explanation.
“It was very much a joint effort,” I said, because it was true, and I wasn’t above admitting it. “I’ll give you a full report later. How’s the rest of the ship?”
“Under control,” he said, checking the map on his comm. I checked my own and watched as the last of the green dots faded out. “Are any of you capable of flying this thing?” my master asked next. “I’m no pilot, and I’d very much like to know where we are at the moment.”
“I can’t fly the ship, but I know how the navigation works,” one of the crew members volunteered, and she came forward, checking the console at the front of the room and muttering to herself for a couple of minutes. “Well, all things considered, it’s relatively good news. We’re heading in a slow drift in the general direction of Rendol 5. That means it’ll take us a bit longer to get back into Rendol 4 space, once we get the engines running again, but on the bright side, we’re not about to crash into anything.”
“As far as details go, I’ll call that a win,” my master said. Then he tapped his comm. “Hill to Preswood. The bridge is in Alliance hands and all clear. Over.”
“Good to hear,” Bryce’s voice came back over the line. “The ship is secure. We’re on our way to the bridge. Over.”
“Yes, sir. Hill out.”
After that, the mission was once more an exercise in slow patience, at least for base level soldiers like me. Bryce let the crew in the storage section know it was clear to leave and he and Tolvorez – being relatively cooperative now – arranged a team to go and get the engines restarted. The medics on our team checked everyone over and treated any injuries, while my master opened a communication channel back to Rendol 4, to inform the military of the situation and to get some cargo vessels lined up to begin unloading the ship. Freighters of this size were constructed in space, and weren’t designed to ever land on a planet. They were typically parked in a high orbit around whatever planet they were visiting, and then either loaded or unloaded by smaller cargo transporters which docked next to the storage vaults.
About half an hour after we’d declared the mission a success, a rattling vibration shook the ship, and then we heard the low drone of the massive engines beginning to speed up. The noise continued increasing in pitch for several minutes until it reached a steady hum, and then everyone in the room was jolted as the artificial gravity rotors rumbled to life. We’d taken the time to secure the bodies to the floor and clear the larger pieces of debris out into the hallway, to avoid being hit with stray junk as the simulated gravity kicked in.
I wasn’t surprised when my master sidled up to me, not long after that. He tugged me over into a quiet corner of the room, and I felt a stupid little thrill at seeing him concerned about me.
“How are you?” he asked me, his voice stern and serious, and I fought back a smile, knowing he’d misunderstand it.
“Only a few scratches, sir,” I assured him. “Nothing serious.”
“What about psychologically?” he pressed. “You just went on a solo mission when the rest of the team wouldn’t have been able to back you up. How are you feeling about that?”
This time, I couldn’t stop the smile, so I ducked my head instead, not wanting him to think I was laughing at him. “I’m fine, sir,” I said, then realised that that answer was going to be completely inadequate. “I mean that sincerely, sir. I never liked the idea of being tossed into battle and forgotten about. But that’s not at all like what happened here. I made it to the bridge by myself, but the missing crew were right behind me, and they killed the last two pirates. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was a joint effort.” I’d tell him about the way they’d almost shot me in my report, but there was no point in causing him too much stress now. “And aside from that…” The words caught in my throat, not because I didn’t want to say them, but because I wasn’t sure how to properly express what I wanted to say.
“My biggest fear has always been that my master wouldn’t care about me. That he’d send me off on a mission withoutcaring whether or not I came back. But you…” I bit my lip, my emotions running wild and my body trembling stupidly. “You sent me a map,” I managed to say, my voice coming out a little choked.
My master looked confused. “Well, yeah, but that was just something one of the sergeants threw together. I figured it would be a hell of a lot easier for you to know where the pirates were.”
I nodded, knowing I was failing at expressing myself properly. “But you… you sent me a map. Because you wanted to help me. On a mission where I was supposed to be alone.”
My master’s expression changed, wry confusion giving way to sudden understanding. “Ah, I see,” he said, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “I told you before; solo missions aren’t really a thing in the Alliance.” He put a hand on my arm. “We’re far more of a ‘stick with the team’ sort of crowd.”
I bashfully covered his hand with my own, glad when he didn’t pull away. “I think I like this team,” I admitted. “Far more than I thought I would.”
A commotion by the door caught our attention, and we watched as Bryce came stomping into the room, a scowl on his face. “Fuck me, this entire ship is going to need a decontamination team scrubbing it for a week! There’s blood and bodies up and down every single hallway! It’s disgusting!”
