by DC Bastien
"Yes. It is." She was giving nothing away now, as they made their lazy circuit around this old treasure-room. "But it did happen, and pretending that it did not... well. That's just as bad as the fact it happened to begin with."
Vadim peered up at end of the hallway where two mannequins had been posed into a fighting tableau. They wore old, partially decayed and damaged leather armour and were wielding what he assumed were the period-specific tools: one held a net and two-pronged trident, and the other had both hands on the eight-foot tall bladed staff. One of them was winning the fight, and around his shoulders was the same ruffled, black and white mane that Kre's family all bore.
"That is my predecessor," she said, calmly. "He asked for this display to be created, upon his death. So that all his ancestors could look up at his strength - even in death - and be inspired."
He looked an awful lot like Kre. It was unsettling.
"...that's... awful kind of him." He was sure some of his discomfort showed through in his tone, but he tried to keep it to a bare minimum.
"Come on. Your ship-mates will probably think I have eaten you, if I do not take you back soon."
"...bear in mind that those steps?"
"I have my methods, Captain Vadim."
"...right."
***
Chapter Three - Mission: Collection
"Welcome back, Captain," Saidhe said.
"Thanks. Ugh. Next time? Someone else can do the nicey-nicey. I nearly passed out from all the pleasantries on the thin air."
"I'm still surprised you've spoken to the Sianar leader twice and somehow not started an interstellar war," the Hleen pilot mused, rocking her chair backwards.
"Hey! I can be civil when I want to."
"Really?"
Vadim wasn't rising to the bait for once. "Is Mes ready to go?"
"She is indeed. The Sianar were gracious enough to give her a little TLC. I believe my sister is currently bouncing around the engine room over new coolants and oils." Saidhe waved dismissively. "I suppose when you visit somewhere as high-rent as this, they look after you."
In his seat, Loap made a rough, bemused noise. "If only my mother could see me now."
"Well, if you want to be the official diplomat next time, you can ask Kre. I'm sure she'd love the chance to push all the togetherness cr-- er. Stuff."
"Did the Za give you any leads on the Judge, Cap'n?" Loap asked, deftly changing the subject.
"Sadly no, but he's going to keep his ear to the ground. Said Avery'd already asked him, but he would let us both know. However..."
"Why am I worried by that?" Saidhe asked, out of the corner of her mouth.
Loap's reply was simply an arched brow.
"However..." the Captain repeated, evidently trying to be aloof to her assertions, "...he did offer us a job acting as overflow for his logistics fleet. Not contractually bound, but occasional work. Had a word with Kre, she said because it's not signing up to fly his flag, she's okay with the cash coming in more steady. Also will lend a bit of credibility to us, without a Judge aboard."
"Well. That's surprisingly good news," she was forced to admit.
"I know, right? We'll have to be careful how many jobs we do for them compared to others, prevent it looking like nepotism or unfair trading practices. You know what the Ur are like about petty bureaucracy."
"And by 'the Ur' you mean 'Avery'. And by 'careful' you mean 'flout the rules so your boyfriend comes to flirt with you'?"
"It's talk like that, that gets pilots refused shore leave, you know."
"It's shore leave being cancelled that leads to the best pilots and engineers mutinying."
"Ouch."
"So, where to, Captain?" Loap asked. He sounded keen to leave.
***
[Sianor: I still love that Saidhe will call him out on stuff, even if I don't want to see them get it on.]
[Ashroe: Hehe, yes. And she would. Mind you, I think they all would. Vadim wouldn't travel with a weak-willed person.]
[Sianor: They'd be swamped between all the loud personalities. Kre's probably the tamest of them, and that's because she's doing the whole I Am Not A Warrior thing.]
[Ashroe: I think she learned early on how strong she was, and she tried to hold it back. Physically and emotionally.]
[Sianor: You can see Kip tries to drag people out of their shells, too. Like he rewards them for being honest and forthright. Even if their honest opinion clashes with his own.]
[Ashroe: I think one of the reasons he had to leave the Ur was he's a better leader than a follower. He likes to work with his equals and he likes to bring everyone up out of themselves, but he doesn't respond well to people trying to control him.]
[Sianor: Except the Judge.]
[Ashroe: Yes, but the Judge rarely pulls rank on him. It's more... subtle. The Judge doesn't demand your respect and obedience, he earns it.]
[Sianor: I also kind of want to know what the deal with their history is. It's hinted that they met back when he was in the Ur.]
[Ashroe: Or earlier. I mean, I loved your theory that the Judges would have to at least shadow through the Enforcer ranks on a fast track, or be promoted from that pool. That way they'd know what justice was like from beginning to end. What if Peters met non-conscripted Vadim when Peters was an Enforcer himself?]
[Sianor: And that's why he signed up? Ooo. That's an interesting theory.]
[Ashroe: The age difference is about right, too.]
[Sianor: Maybe he also stayed as a mentor when he signed up. Like, Kip joined and then came across him and Peters offered to give him advice and support.]
[Ashroe: Headcanon accepted. We also going with 'Kip and Ithon met at the Academy'?]
[Sianor: Their different accents make it really hard to think they met before. I know accents change over time, but theirs are really starkly different.]
[Ashroe: Yes, and... well. I feel a bit icky shipping a couple who knew one another when they were kids, even if it's perfectly natural.]
[Sianor: Ithon uses their history all the time, when he talks, I think he'd have made an implication by now about pre-Academy days.]
[Ashroe: You picked up on that, too?]
[Sianor: I pay attention :)]
[Ashroe: And my Ithon!Muse hasn't said much about his childhood yet. That might be worth some fiddling about with. I'm sure we'd never get that on the show, so we're never going to get it.]
[Sianor: Ack! I have an appointment! Sorry, I completely forgot. I'll catch you later.]
[Ashroe: Okay, no wor-- oh. Bye.]
***
"Biann has requested your whereabouts," Messenger's voice called out, evenly. "Would you like me to respond?"
"Tell her... tell her I am engaged in meditation, please," Kre asked.
"Very well."
Meditation. She supposed it was accurate, in a way. She had her hands inside a delicate contraption, remotely working the solder and pliers as she continued tweaking her latest invention: a small drone that would fly into a room and assess the acoustic properties of the walls and furniture, to best modify the sound output of audio-visual entertainment. It had very little practical use, but that was not the point.
The smell of molten metal and the cold, hard logic-gates that made up the drone's limited 'intelligence' were reassuring. The quirks and errors as you went along might seem like accidents, but it was only ever coding or variables you hadn't taken into account. Science was... reassuring. Comprehensible. Mostly predictable.
"Your visit to your family did not go as you expected?"
The Sianar jumped at the sudden interruption, dropping the soldering iron and ruining some of the circuit traces in the process. She swore in an old dialect, and then put down tools.
"I apologise. I did not mean to startle you," Messenger said, sounding strangely contrite.
There was no point in trying to hide your reactions from a ship which could read your pulse, pupil dilation, temperature changes. There were no eyes to avoid. "I just was
not expecting you to speak to me."
"I normally address Biann and the Captain on an ad-hoc basis, more frequently than other members of the crew," the ship reasoned aloud. "So your surprise is to be expected. Would you prefer I did not address you unless it's necessary?"
"No... no it's alright. I was in a bad mood... for reasons not to do with you, as you have already surmised."
A pause. Kre wasn't sure if the ship did those to simulate more organic speech, or because she was considering her next statement or query.
"You left the ship in a state of extreme agitation. It was comparable to when you first joined the crew and met Hale Loap, or when Hale Loap was injured."
"Checking up on me?" Kre asked, turning the fuel to the soldering iron off, and starting to pace slowly around her little room.
"I was programmed to monitor all my crew for health issues, and to intervene when needed."
"But I'm not physically ill, Mes. Were you designed to interfere if you think we're about to pull a gun and go - what is it the Humans say? 'Postage'?"
"I believe the term is 'postal', but... no. I was not programmed to understand emotive behaviour, only to sense physical anomalies."
"Well, emotional problems often manifest physically. What then?"
"Then I am supposed to refer the issue to the Captain, or the senior medical crew-member."
"Have you told the Captain that I am being a short-tempered, growly bitch?" Kre was trying so very, very hard not to laugh.
"I have not. Would you like me to?"
"No! He already knows. He... well. He knows how I felt when we left the palace. I suspect me being irate is expected right now. Which makes me wonder why you started to speak to me, now?"
"I wished... to help." Messenger was still speaking in that warm-voiced, but slightly distant way she usually favoured. What was more telling was the hesitation. "To offer my solace to you, and to try to understand your emotional wellbeing."
"I see."
"Biann reacts positively when I 'comfort' her. Saidhe less so, as she does not like to confide in me, but she does express gratitude for my attempt."
"And Loap? The Captain?"
"Loap is even more secretive than Saidhe is. I merely offer unspoken support in providing adequate lighting levels and dampening sounds around him when he is unhappy. The Captain... banters."
"He sasses you?"
"Yes."
"And you think that means...?"
Silence.
"You can tell me, Mes," Kre said. "You know me. You know I do not betray a confidence, I never have."
"I think it means that he is treating me similarly to how he treats the organic members of the crew. He... banters with everyone, but he is much more intense in his insulting behaviour when there is a strong connection with the person. It becomes directed."
"Yes, Mes, he does like you. Everyone does." Kre pressed her sharp canines into her lower lip, until it stung. Her rough tongue flickered over the bite-marks, and then she shrugged. "So. What does your interaction with me tell you?"
"It tells me that you are open to further social interaction, but that you like to deflect the attention from yourself onto others. That possibly you seek to 'help' others as a way of increasing your self-worth. It tells me that you are flattered by the inclusion."
"You're very perceptive, you know."
"I have little to do but perceive."
"You are... different, you know."
"Different how?"
It was hard to put a paw on it, but Kre tried. She slitted her eyes almost shut, her whiskers trembling in the air as she struggled to put it into words. "Other AIs I have met... they have interacted with people, but it felt very much... like it was geared towards a specific goal."
"Isn't all interaction goal-orientated?"
"Yes, but... it felt like they were speaking purely for the answer, or because it was pre-programmed that a specific cycle of silence-to-speech was optimal."
"I see. But you do not think that I am working from the same cycle?"
"You could be. Perhaps you have refined the cycle, to appear more... organic."
"What would the alternative be?"
"Something I'm not sure I'm ready to engage with, just yet." She stopped her restless tour of the room, then looked to the panel beside the door. "My father... was pleased to see me, but the reason I left is still... valid. We are unfortunately of two different opinions, and neither one of us will bend."
"Did you see him expecting he would?"
"Did I? I'm not sure I-- no. No, I knew. I get my stubborn streak from him, most certainly. It is why I left, because when you cannot agree on something fundamental, you are doomed to forever be at odds, or... to end things."
"And yet you came back?"
"I still care deeply for him, Mes. He is my father, and no disagreement will change that, or remove my... fonder memories. I was a coward when I left, it weighed heavily on me that I did not face him eye-to-eye. Now I have. It... was painful, but it was the correct thing to do."
"Hence you are still upset."
"Yes. I'm never not going to be upset about this. I wish he saw things my way, and he wishes the same of me. He thinks that I might grow 'out of' this behaviour of mine, but I know I will not."
"An irresistible force and an unmovable object," Messenger concluded.
"Yes. I will... I will keep in contact with him, but I do not think I will come back to Raboros again. Not until there is a new Za."
"I hope your father will learn to respect your decisions."
"So do I." Kre shook from her shoulders, down her spine to her tail. "Please tell Biann that if she finds herself at a loose end, that I would greatly value her superior hearing to assist with my current experiment."
Messenger must have relayed the message as it was spoken, because she reported back immediately: "Biann said she would be delighted to, as soon as she has finished her inventory."
Kre winced. Inventory was one of the duties she'd taken on, to help pay her way. And knowing Biann, it wasn't even a subtle jibe at her for shirking her duty, it was a 'don't worry, I've got you covered'. The girl really was too kind.
***
[Sianor: Is it wrong to ship a ship?]
[Ashroe: Hahah. No, but oftentimes it's... er. Logistically tricky.]
[Sianor: Mmm, hot parking brake action!]
[Ashroe: I just winced in sympathy.]
[Sianor: You know you want me. You know you want me long-time.]
[Ashroe: Yeah, but you can do me without a brake...]
[Sianor: Miaow! This is just because Kip is missing Gunner.]
[Ashroe: I know, but... we kind of did go a bit insane in the last one, and I felt guilty.]
[Sianor: Guilty?]
[Ashroe: Yeah. I mean... well. I kind of forced a ship on you a bit.]
[Sianor: Dude you so did not. Kip totally fell for your gorgeous asshole.]
[Ashroe: Awww, he says he does have a nice rear and he is glad you noticed.]
[Sianor: I walked into that one.]
[Ashroe: With both feet.]
[Sianor: That actually sounds painful.]
[Ashroe: Let's... not think about putting feet into people. Deal?]
[Sianor: Deal.]
[Ashroe: It's more that - uh. Okay, don't laugh.]
[Sianor: Have I ever?]
[Ashroe: Point. Fine... I sometimes feel guilty about giving people 'happy' endings.]
[Sianor: Uh. We left the Judge missing, we'd mucked about with Mes' innards and we split up the boys.]
[Ashroe: Yes, or I might have choked to death on the... I guess I'm warped, deep down inside. I like... trauma. Angst.]
[Sianor: You... want us to break up?]
[Ashroe: No! No. Not... break up. Er. Suffer, maybe?]
[Sianor: Whumping I can do XD But... why don't you like happy endings?]
[Ashroe: Maybe I'm bitter and twisted in my old age, too cynical for the Happily Ever After. Life isn't like that, for one,
and... and I feel a bit like it's wish-fulfilment if I fix everything.]
[Sianor: Hate to break this to you, but fanfic is pretty much the prime example of wish-fulfilment.]
[Ashroe: Argh! It's difficult to explain in a way that doesn't make me look like a homicidal maniac with bi-polar disorder!]
[Sianor: Shh! Shh. It's OK. I sort of get it, I think.]
[Ashroe: I guess I want it to be the right thing for the story. Not just write because I'm mentally jerking off, but because it's what should happen. Like... no killing people without a reason, but no keeping them alive if they should be gone, no matter how much you love them.]
[Sianor: Artistic integrity, yep. Just... do what feels right to you. But don't be worried if some of the things that happen are happy. If every story was utterly without hope or progression... who would read it? It has to have the light as well as the dark.]