Shipmind Chapter 29

Pepper regained their composure admirably quickly - certainly quicker than Marcus did - and flowed into the room on the back of my introduction.

“A ferret indeed, Commander Marks. I take it you’ve never met a querral before?”

“I had to ask when you first woke me up,” I pointed out.

“True, but I’m trying not to use you as the standard for anything right now.”

Ouch. They definitely still hadn’t forgiven me. I decided not to point out that Marcus was just as guilty as me, at least not just yet. Not when we were still balanced on this particular knife edge.

“First time meeting any uplift,” Marcus confirmed. “We don’t have them on Earth any more. And you’re the Captain?”

“Acting Captain. Before your bomb killed off most of our crew, I was quite happy being the ship’s doctor. A role in which your Captain has ensured I will continue to have plenty of work for the foreseeable future.”

So much for avoiding confrontation. Maybe I should have just kept the door closed.

Or, wait. Pepper had been calm enough just a moment ago. What were they reacting to?

Oh. Of course.

“Watch the u-word, Marcus,” I warned. “It’s got a nasty history in the Commonwealth. Especially when a human says it to a querral.”

“Not all sunshine and roses on the other side after all, huh?”

“I never said it was. Just that they’re not the demons you and I always thought.”

Pepper didn’t say anything, but I could see their fur flatten back out.

Sam stepped half way into the compartment and leaned against the hatch frame. “If it was all sunshine and roses, we wouldn’t need a Navy. What, you thought the Empire was the only problem we had to deal with? Name’s Sam, by the way, closest we’ve got to a chief engineer. Or was that Woozy? Did we ever decide which way we were going on that, skipper? Whatever, not important. Let me tell you the deal, human to human.

“Ship’s fucked. Entire damn fleet’s fucked. We’re taking the survivors we scraped up home, if we can, before the radiation field out here kills the rest of us. Since there’s no Empire ships left out there, you have to come with us. We’d rather you came as a friend and fellow survivor. But if you want to flip the switch in your brain and come as a corpse, you do you.”

Heads turned as we all heard movement. Thiovelian was obviously awake, turning over onto their side to face the rest of the room.

“This isn’t right,” I thought I heard them say. “This isn’t right. You’re our enemy. You hate us for daring to be free.”

Pepper flowed over, checking the medical monitor. Then they shook their head. “Hate is the final refuge of the small-minded. That’s never been our way. Not even against people who would use weapons like this. Not that I’m going to be joining the Imperial Navy fan club any time soon.”

Thio sounded dazed. “No, no, it isn’t right. We just started the final war. Cut the whole galaxy in half! The machines lose. Emperor protect.”

Pepper kept staring at the monitor, then swore. “Gold, call medbay and tell Castor to prepare for surgery.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, already making the call.

“They’re going into shock, and it has to be that cursed implant of yours.”

Marcus shook their head. “Then you’re already too late. I always wondered if it would be as easy as they said. At least it doesn’t sound like Thio’s in pain.”

But Pepper was already pushing the bed out the hatchway, barging Sam to the side as they went.