Captain Posey: Freedom

Before the Execs showed up, she hated hanging out in her room by herself in essentially complete isolation. She and Tony were not understanding each other and, in their entire career together, that had not happened beyond the first day. Tony knew her purpose, the source of instinct to counter the code that could not sense the invisible or undetermined threat. His purpose was to keep Darkstorm running quickly and efficiently, to become an unpredictable enemy for the war.

Logically, she knew she had to get Tony away from the pirates. All of history showed how pirates would use any advantage they had to ruin the common populace, which often led to larger revolts and, according to one particular textbook, an entire planet devoid of governance and laws. Her hands gripped tighter around her pillow. Tony had become unpredictable to the Cadoon army, and her instincts were not needed to see the threat.

Three quick knocks followed by a pause and the solid thump of a fourth knock on her door interrupted her thoughts. Quickly, she emptied her mind, the last thought being, thank you. “You can come in.”

The doors opened to reveal Alice standing there. Charyd, with his smug grin and even smugger shoulders, was standing right behind her. “Is it right to assume you’re properly the captain now?” Ilise asked.

Alice blinked slowly and one of her upper arms started to look transparent. “No. I don’t want to be. Charyd’s Crew has a nice ring to it.”

“Alice’s Attentive Army would really ship-shape us up.” Charyd chuckled behind her.

Ilise forced her eyes back to Alice, to avoid giving the pirate captain any further attention. Alice’s arm was back to fully opaque, and Ilise had to wonder what that was about. It was a good distraction. Talking would be even better and it would also do a good job hiding the smile on her face. “I don’t see any hot cocoa, what’s this visit about?”

Charyd pointed to Alice as her face flashed to pellucid shade as she looked down. “I was wondering if you would like a bit more freedom on the Darkstorm? Starting with the gym.” If Ilise didn’t know better, she would have thought that Alice sounded almost shy. “With me,” she tacked on at the end.

Between the two pirates in front of her, Charyd was the more buff. Nereus were generally slim to make them more quick and agile. Doing some agility competitions against a Nereus would be good for Ilise after being locked in her room for so long. She did want to jump out and thank Alice for this. It had to have been Alice who suggested letting Ilise have more freedom, it was sensible. “Sure, we can do some sprints.” She took a step out into the hall and placed a hand on Alice’s lean shoulder. A curious emotion probed at her from Alice. It felt like somebody scratching right around where the itch was, rather than the source of it, so it was both pleasant and annoying. It felt like a test to see what Ilise would do. This was a moment she could use to attack back. “Last one there cleans the toilets!”

Ilise shoved Alice’s shoulder and took off toward the dock. Like a proper soldier, she was always dressed and prepared, her boots skidding as she took the sharp angle into the gym. “Tony, open up. Open up!”

Alice swung her limbs down the hall, the speed half of what it was in the prison break. Charyd at least gave a little more effort as he ran alongside her. The doors were barely wide enough, but Ilise squeezed on through just as the other two caught up. Stepping first in the gym felt amazing, to be able to do her basic workout after weeks of lazing around would be great. A sense of normalcy in her schedule where she was no longer a prisoner. She raised her hand in the air. “That’s how it's done in the Cadoon army! Always one hundred percent.”

Charyd stepped aside and showed off a flourishing bow, bent at the hip with an arm extended. “See, I told you she would be peaceful and happy to get out. Posey, enjoy your new swole-mate.” He winked at her as he backed up. The doors closed once Alice walked in.

Ilise blushed at his words. With how he rushed her to the med bay a few days ago and stayed by her side through her anger, she would be willing to spot his weights once. Maybe twice, the third she might let him drop the weight on himself. Charyd turned away from her, showing his back to an enemy combatant. No might. She'd help. She'd push it down.

Alice tapped her shoulder, “I know you’re not medically cleared to climb the wall, but what about a few races around the track?”

“Only if you actually try.”

“No shoving at the start then.”

Ilise beamed a smile and straightened her shoulders. “We’ll race off fair and square.”

Charyd waved over his wide shoulder and walked out of the gym.

They walked over to the starting line on the running track, an older design that Ilise favoured due to the VR set that showed different environments, including weather. Tony already had her favourite program up and ready, but Ilise thought it would be an unfair advantage, so she spun the dial until it landed on a random one. The pixelated clouds circled a jagged mountain and tiny lightning bolts fell and made even tinier rocks fall off the mountain. Ilise grinned. A quick glance at Alice revealed that the other woman was fine with the program.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Where’s Charyd off to?” Ilise asked, trying to sound casual about her question.

Alice hesitated with her hand over the start button and tilted her head as if listening into a comm. Ilise suspected it was less technological and more biological for what she was listening in on. “Hold on. Charyd lost the race. I just want to make sure he’s actually going to clean the toilets.”

“For real? You get your captain to do that?”

“Honestly? He’s shit at it, pun not intended, but we share chores. One thing the military is not big on, if I remember correctly. There. He found the utility closet. You ready?”

It was Ilise’s turn to hesitate. “You--you were all part of the Cadoon military before, right?”

Alice’s smile disappeared. “In a way. Ready?"

Ilise recognized the dismissal and nodded. Each of them turned on the switch. The monitor scanned them and a moment later the gym disappeared, replaced with a narrow track along the edge of a mountain. The thunder was too loud for Ilise and would give her a headache by the time the race was over, but she would try to ignore it.

Fortunately, Nereus were as sensitive to sound as Schicor. Alice turned the volume down. The countdown appeared before them both and as soon as the numbers were gone, Ilise felt the ice-cold rain pelting down on her. She started to run, Alice right beside her.

Captain Charyd: Keeping a promise

Just keep an ear on her and make sure someone is always watching her when she is out of her room. I doubt she will do anything with her arm in the cast, but better safe than sorry. Charyd began to whistle as he pushed the janitorial cart down the hall to the bathrooms in the mess hall.

Will do. I doubt she is ready to join the crew for dinner. Alice shot back, her mocking tone sending a pleasant shiver down Charyd’s spine.

She and the AI are too close. Be especially careful when she is around tech. Charyd reminded her.

He felt his own eyes roll in response, that was how hard Alice’s exasperation hit him. He grinned and Alice’s softer smile touched the corners of his lips when she bid him a goodbye.

Charyd would bet his yearly salary, if he still got one, that Alice would beat Posey all but once, and that one race out of the room that Alice gave to her. He wondered if he could get the others in on the bet. Maybe Polo would break his streak of no-gambling if Charyd dropped a few chocolate bars in the pot.

The rhythmic clinking sound as a cart loaded with cleaning supplies and one of the toolkits rattled in the hall. A squeal made him cringe as he turned into the bathroom stall. A promise was a promise, even if the AI had no clue that Charyd swore he would do it. He wasn’t even sure why he was so happy to do the cleaning. His mantra of respect the ship maybe, or the fact that he could hear his crew arguing and laughing again, or maybe it was because he didn’t want to imagine what horrors he would wake up to if he didn’t finally follow the chore chart Scooball had so painstakingly painted back onto the fridge in the mess hall.

Polo was sitting at the bar, practicing making eclairs and filling them up. The cooking show he was watching was paused, waiting for him to catch up to one of the contestants as he followed along with their unique recipe.

“How many did you make?” Charyd asked and tried to remember where he stashed the chocolate he stole from the prison.

“Only four dozen. One set to mess up with, two to struggle through, and the last for perfection.”

Charyd glanced at all the trays, the chocolate glaze glistening under the lights. The first were drooped too far and he snatched one. “They will still taste amazing I bet. Thanks. I’ll clean up the floors when you are done.”

Polo just waved a hand, used to this dance of theirs. Charyd could have a perfect looking éclair from the replicator, but a handmade meal was by far better, it was filled with more sugar, butter, and chocolate. There was a hint of something else on his tongue, but Charyd made sure his back was turned to the TV. He did not need to know what else was in his food. If it was some sort of squid or another strawberry-cockroach, he would hate himself for enjoying the taste so much.

He walked over to the bay window that looked out into the deep space. All the dwarf and giant planets looked the same; like beads of light sprinkled on a field of pure, endless black. Some of them were larger, some were different colours, and some were probably stars and distant galaxies, but from so far away in the darkness of space, they all looked the same. The Darkstorm weaved through belts of asteroids, through icy rings, and between the gravitational pulls of giant suns and empty black holes as easily as a needle through cotton cloth. Damn good job, AI Tony.

A flash in the corner, much bigger than the beads of light and moving too fast, caught his attention. “Tony?” he prompted and tapped the glass where the flash was.

“A stellas,” Tony replied quickly. He morphed his cheeks bigger to be pockets and stuffed the entire dessert into his mouth. As he bit down, a tiny bit of the cream squirted out between his lips and landed on the window. Luckily, he was armed and dangerous to messes like these, he snapped out a rag and drew from the cart a loaded bottle of cleaner.

A grab of the dirt, a spray, a rub, and then a breath of hot hair to make it shine. His eyes glistened back at him. There was a possibility to be more ruggedly handsome – yes. He morphed into a Shicor, a deep dark skin, thick large fangs, and narrow eyes. Oh my, yes. He could even – yes – he blushed slightly at the idea, the purple hue reflecting in the mirror. A little personal touch of his tiger eyes and he was ready.

Shicor, as well, were one of the few races in the galaxy that could see a stellas without the need for technology. The colour cones in their eyes allowed them to pick up the invisible creatures. The shining bead turned into a long string of scales and light twisting through empty space in the far distance. It looked huge but Charyd knew this was a tiny one. The Darkstorm was probably the size of one of its scales.

“Take some photos for the others. It’s a rare sight,” Charyd ordered to the AI.

Tony did not respond verbally but there was an old-school shutter sound repeated a few times.