by M. D. Cooper
Why I haven’t thought of wearing transparent clothing before is beyond me.
The woman’s smile grew even larger as she looked Jessica over “Oh absolutely. Body modders shop here a lot. I have a whole raft of things for people with your proportions.”
“What about this white one?” Jessica asked, glad to not have to alter clothing after she bought it.
“Uhuh!” The shop owner nodded emphatically. “If catsuits are your thing, I have hundreds. Would you like to see them?”
Jessica flashed a winning smile. “Do chickens have beaks?”
* * * * *
Turning around in the third outfit, Jessica mentally declared it a winner. It was black and sleeveless with white accents and clear panels down the outside of the legs and in a deep V down her chest. An added bonus were the pockets on the thighs.
Slipping on the clear jacket, she stepped out to see Cheeky wearing a matched legging and halter top set in a psychedelic red and pink.
“Stars, Cheeky, I can barely see any of your skin! Are you going to survive with that much clothing on you?”
Cheeky stuck her tongue out. “Funny, Jess. I—”
The list of people who would know Sabrina had been captained by both Sera and Cargo was vanishingly small. Jessica had a mental list of names, but there was one at the top.
Cheeky, however, beat her to the proclamation.
Jessica fixed her with an unwavering stare.
* * * * *
Neither Jessica or Cheeky changed their clothes, quickly paying the excited shop owner for their outfits and then rushing back to the ship and going straight to the bridge.
“Just us aboard?” Jessica asked as the two women climbed the ladders to the bridge deck.
“Retail therapy is a legitimate thing,” Cheeky said as they entered the bridge and she sat at the comm console. “Trust me, I feel at least twice as much like myself, having gone shopping.”
“As I’ll ever be.” Jessica flopped into the captain’s chair, her long jacket squeaking against the seatback. “OK…that won’t work.”
She rose and took off the coat, hanging it over Amavia’s chair. “Have you listened to it yet, Sabs?”
“Sound reasoning,” Cheeky said, then drew in a deep breath. “Is it audio only, or full video? Please say audio only.”
Jessica shook her head. “No, if we’re going to be exposed to him then we might as well get the full dose and be done with it.”
“That half sounds like he’s radiation and half like he’s going to be naked,” Cheeky said with a shudder.
The holotank shimmered to life and Thompson appeared, looking a little older, and a little more haggard than when he’d left them at Ikoden.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the original rabble rousers, returning to the roost,” Thompson muttered his greeting.
Jessica paused the playback. “Do you think he meant to make that an alliteration?”
Cheeky barked a laugh, then covered her mouth, reddening slightly. “Uh…that was louder than I meant it to be. And no, I don’t think Thompson even knows what an alliteration means. In fact, I recall Sera trying to explain it to him once, and he thought she was calling him illiterate. He got really pissed.”
Jessica snorted. “You’re making that up.”
“I was going for the slow bandage removal. Should we just rip it off?” Jessica asked.
“Let’s give it a little yank and see what happens,” Cheeky suggested.
“I saw Jessica yammering on a feed,” Thompson continued with a look of disgust on his face. “Looked like she was interrupting the president’s speech—kinda surprised she’s still with you. Figured she’d run back to her people on the Intrepid once you found Finaeus.”
“Funny how things turn out,” Jessica said in a quiet voice.
“Anyway, since you’re here, maybe you can do some good for once and clean up the mess you made.”
This time Cheeky paused the playback. “OK, I distinctly remember Thompson pushing for shooting the whole station up when we formulated the plan to rescue you, Jessica. Dude has some seriously selective memory.”
“The people of Chittering Hawk are in a pretty bad way. They fought back hard against the Heegs and took a beating for it. I’m running a refugee camp down where Jessica fought Trevor. Anyway, I got some new visitors today.”
The view on the holotank panned to show a nervous-looking man and a battered old loader frame.
“They don’t look like much, but that’s Trip and Jinx. Jinx is a navcomp AI from an AST destroyer. She was freed by some folks who run around stirring up shit and dumping it into other people’s back yards. In this case, those shit-stirrers were on a ship named the Garrulous Brooke that showed up here a couple days ago. The Heegs found a few hundred AIs aboard—all ‘liberated’ from the AST. Needless to say, the local garrison was delighted by the seizure, though they’d very much like to get Jinx in their grasp. I think they’ll probably ship most of the AIs back to wherever they came from and re-shackle them. I’d—”
The playback froze again, and this time Jessica was certain it was Sabrina who’d done it.
Sabrina didn’t need to say anything further. Jessica knew the AI felt a mix of pride and guilt for how things had turned out in Virginis. Leaving over a hundred AIs to be re-shackled by the AST wasn’t something she’d sit by and let happen.
“Can we just finish this already?” Cheeky asked.
“Yeah, sorry,” Jessica replied, shifting in her seat. “Was just letting the others know that they need to get back to the ship.”
“I’d really appreciate it if you could help. Also, I have four hundred human refugees, so you know, i
f you care about humans too, rescuing them would be nice. When you show up, you can tell me all about how you’re bringing a nice big fleet to push the AST back out of Virginis for good.”
Thompson paused, and for a moment he looked a bit less like a cocky bastard and more like a guy trying to do right by people who’d put their trust in him.
“Look…the VDF didn’t give a shit about Chittering Hawk when they fled the outer system…. We could really use some help, that’s all. I’m attaching a return data-route through the relays and how to reach me on the station if you do come.”
The holotank flickered off and Jessica met Cheeky’s gaze. “OK…you coming back from the dead is something I would have expected before seeing Thompson again. Next thing you know, my sister is going to show up on comms asking if I want to go to the lake.”
Cheeky nodded mutely for a moment before grinning. “Dibs on kicking him in the nards first.”
“Oh!” Jessica exclaimed thinking through prioritization order of who owed Thompson a kick in the balls most. “Huh…yeah. I guess with Nance still in New Canaan, you’re first in line.”
QUESTIONED
STELLAR DATE: 05.01.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Sabrina, Cerka Station
REGION: Mullens, Virginis System, LoS Space
Hard to be allies if I ignore the leader of their armed forces.
Hera left the words hanging, obviously waiting for Jessica to fill in the details.
Jessica really didn’t want to get into the details with the admiral. She’d harbored the hope that they could slip away before anyone in authority caught wind of it, though she knew it had been foolish to expect a totally surreptitious departure.
Taking a steadying breath, Jessica wondered if emboldening overzealous local military leaders was one of those consequences.
A long-suffering sigh came over the Link and Jessica attenuated the sound, hating it when people passive-aggressively projected their emotions in mental conversations.
It’s so…inelegant.
There was a moment of stunned silence—at least Jessica interpreted it as the admiral being stunned.
So much for wrapping this up. Jessica was tempted to send a long sigh back at the admiral.
It amazed Jessica that the admiral couldn’t see the distinction, but she supposed it was further evidence that treating AIs as true equals was still new to the Virginisians.
Admiral Hera didn’t respond for several seconds, and Jessica wondered if the woman—who seemed to run rather hot and cold—would just sever the connection.
The connection ended, and Jessica leaned forward, elbows on the armrests of her seat on the bridge.
“Stars,” she muttered.
“Admiral Hera did,” Jessica replied. “I think she would have ordered me to stay if she thought it would work. She’s worried we’re going to trigger the AST to move the rest of the way into Virginis.”
“What did the Hegemony ever do to you?” Iris asked from her seat at the scan and weapons console.
“General? Permission to enter the bridge?” a voice said from behind them. Jessica turned to find Edgar waiting at the room’s threshold.
“Of course, Edgar. We don’t stand on ceremony like that here on Sabrina. Come in, take an empty console.”
“Thanks.” Edgar crossed the bridge to the station on Jessica’s right. “Thank you for inviting me to come along. I was elsewhere in Virginis when the VDF pulled back from Chureen and Chittering Hawk. It…it still rankles.”
“Well, no promises on outcomes, Edgar,” Jessica replied. “But we’ll do our best to make it rankle a bit less.”
“Plus ball kicking,” Cheeky said darkly from the pilot’s seat.
“Ball kicking?” Edgar asked.
Jessica chuckled. “I suppose you should know…our old crewmember who reached out to us for help…. Well, let’s just say that we didn’t really part on good terms.”
“Are things going to be acrimonious?” Edgar asked, a curious lilt in his voice.
“Lots of acrid, plenty of moanius,” Cheeky muttered as the ship detached from the station and pushed off on its grav drive.
Edgar gave Jessica a worried look. “Is it going to jeopardize the mission?”
Jessica shrugged. “Depends on how well Thompson takes Cheeky kicking him in the balls.”
“Repeatedly,” Cheeky added. “I have to give him some kicks for Nance, too.”
REPAIRS
STELLAR DATE: 05.01.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Lower Warrens, Chittering Hawk Station
REGION: Virginis System, AST Space
“Have they sent a reply?” Jinx asked as Thompson walked out to the arena seats where she and Trip waited.
The large man shook his head as he stopped before them. “Nope, but I don’t expect them to. Not through the same channels we used to send the message out, at least. I hinted to them that it wasn’t safe to do so—hopefully they got it. We’ll hear from them when they get closer.”
“How close?” Jinx asked.
“I don’t know.” Thompson shrugged. “We might not know they’re here till they stroll into the arena.”
Trip frowned up at the bearded refugee leader. “How’s that possible? When they dock on this station we’re going to know about it—everyone says there’s no way a ship can come from Inner Virginis and dock here without the Heegs paying them a very personal visit.”
Thompson shrugged. “It should be fun, eh? But I’ll be surprised if the Heegs see Sabrina coming. She’ll be snuggled right up to Chittering Hawk’s belly in a few days’ time, don’t you worry. In the meantime, we have to get the two of you fixed up.”
“Fixed up?” Trip gave Jinx a nervous glance. “That doesn’t exactly sound like something fun.”
“Your Link.” Thompson tapped his head. “You said your friend Kally was using it to track you once she turned traitor. I’m going to have my guy Skeez take a look at it and we’ll see what we can do about it.”
“Uhhh, sure,” Trip muttered as he rose. “So looking forward to a guy named Skeez rummaging around in my head.”
Jinx let Trip walk past before she got up and followed the two men. She’d never put much stock in human names before and wondered what ‘Skeez’ would imply. Since her Link hardware was mounted in the mobile frame, she was less worried about someone—regardless of their name—checking it over. They wouldn’t be getting close to her core, which meant there was little risk.