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“I will, but I’ll be spending most of my time training new pilots. Easier to be here all the time. Maximizes the amount of time I have with them and for myself,” she explained.

“You anticipate being very busy. But that will only be the case if Jace does not bring in Thaf’ell pilots,” Khoth remarked.

Thammah froze in the middle of what she was doing and stared at him for a long time before saying, “Jack saved both of us the other day with a jerry-rigged aircraft that is primitive at best.”

“His actions were useful, but if we had other Thaf’ell pilots perhaps we could have saved your ship,” he said.

Her stare got harder, which almost had him shifting from foot to foot. “If you want honesty about who I would rather fly with, I would rather have Jack than the Thaf’ell’s best pilots as my wingman.”

“That is illogical. Please explain why,” Khoth requested as he stood before her, arms crossed at the wrists at his lower back.

She gave him a jaundiced gaze. “You going to hawk over me, Commander? Or will you sit down and stay awhile?”

She waved her hand over a second sensor and a chair emerged. Khoth hesitated a minute before he sat down. This had potentially become a discussion between Commander and Flight-Commander rather than Khoth and Thammah.

“Will you answer my question? I am concerned that you would make such an illogical choice regarding who to take into battle,” he said with a frown.

She let out another sharp laugh. “Oh, boy, this is going to be a really fun time with you and a crew of non-Thaf’ell. And don’t you arch your eyebrow at me, Khoth!”

He was arching an eyebrow, but he let it drop back into place. “From your tone and words, I am to infer you think I will not perform optimally with our crew?”

She rubbed her face with both hands and let out a breath as if to steady her Xi and Xa. “Every species comes to us with pluses and minuses, right? You would agree to that, yes?”

“Yes.”

“In certain situations, a species’ pluses will outweigh another species’ pluses, could they not?” she asked as she brought down her hands and gazed at him almost beseechingly.

He was following her. “I see that as logical generally, but not in your choice regarding wishing to have a human--”

“Jack. I said Jack. I didn’t say a human. Him in particular. Him for certain. Though other humans might do just as well if not better, but I think those who did better would be rare,” she clarified.

“He is the father of the Pilot, but other than that I am not seeing his individual qualifications as being all that much greater than a normal human’s,” Khoth admitted.

Thammah was looking at him rather sadly. “Jack has great instincts.”

“Instincts are not truly quantifiable or to be counted upon--”

“He’s got massive empathy. He won’t leave another soldier in danger if he can help,” she continued as if he had not spoken. “He’s brave by default. He’ll take extraordinary risks to save others.”

Khoth was comparing these traits to Jace. They were very similar. But Jace was the Pilot with all the power and abilities that entailed. Jack was just a human. He decided to give that voice.

“I concede that there are admirable qualities in a warrior. Jace shares many, if not all of them, with his father. But Jace is also the Pilot,” Khoth said.

Now it was Thammah’s turn to lift an eyebrow. She smiled in a challenging way as she asked him, “Do you think what makes Jace special is the Osiris or Gehenna?”

Khoth opened his mouth to say “yes” but then closed it. Because there was a tug inside of him that said “no”.

“Do you think Jace’s body makes him special?” she pressed.

Again, he knew that Jace’s specialness did not stem from any one singular quality. It was almost undefinable. Jace was the Pilot. He inhabited that role so fully and without any doubt that it was hard to explain what singular thing about him was greater than any other. But all of these traits together were part of what made Jace special.

Khoth began, “Logically, Jace--”

“No, no, no.” Thammah waved her hands as if waving off his logic as if it was a physical thing. “What does your Xi tell you about Jace?”

“But isn’t what my Xa assesses of Jace’s abilities more important?” he asked.

“Your Xa will list things like the AIs and the information they provide him or the improvement to his body,” she said. “But those things--while important--are not what truly sets Jace apart. Your Xi knows this.” She touched the center of his chest. “Just like my Xi knows that I can trust Jack down to my bones. I will go into battle with him at my side without any doubts or fears that he will let me down. I know I can do what needs to be done and Jack will back me up.”