“Explain it to me again Tony.” Charyd’s fingers tapped on the entrance door for the Pod 1 which still had not docked yet.

The light blue hologram of Tony appeared, back in his standard military uniform, standing behind a mini theater display. “Words just aren’t cutting it. I’ll give you a visual aid.”

The hologram’s hands stuck through the theater and were suddenly in the shape of socks with a sharpie design of a helmet on both. A large floating tin can was nearby as a set piece. “You gossip with pirates too much.” AI’s mouth moved, but Saar’s voice came through instead. He wiggled a sock about. “I’m going to other pirates with my valuable information.”

“Pew, pew, pew,” His voice switched back to Tony. Yellow yarn popped out of the other sock puppet. “The Exec’s shot Captain Posey on her left extremity. Pod 1 takes damage. Scooball grabs the Captain and they are returning here.” He wiggled his hands in opposite directions. “Do you understand now?”

“Why is the shuttle damaged by their basic guns? Thought this ship was high military tech.”

The hologram AI opened his mouth and rolled his eyes, a very exasperated, silent sigh. “I make Darkstorm highly advanced. Those shuttles are basic ones for helping this scouting style ship survive.” Tony’s sock puppet display vanished, and he stood up straight, tapping his heels together. “The Lighting Strike is charging, only at eighty-five percent.”

“About that comment,” Squilla skittered down, waving her tablet. “Would you say the Darkstorm is simply a scouting ship with a tranquilizer needle if your program wasn’t here?”

“Pod 1 is docking,” The AI hologram stated before vanishing.

Squilla’s antenna crossed, and she hugged the tablet. “Captain, there is something wrong with the AI.”

Charyd straightened. “Is this an urgent matter? Did it get past your firewall?”

“No, but if you could look at this.”

He glanced at the tablet, horrified at the four screens and tiny font on the display. It might as well be a new language for him to morph into and learn.

“Not right now. Later, when we’re safe. I need you preparing to get the DME up and running to get us out of here. Ah, medical, I should have gotten that ready. Can you send a message to Mishipeshu to prepare?”

“They never look at their comms. What’s the point in them having one?” Squilla tapped out on their tablet. “But I’ll try.”

Squilla walked off with further tapping and mumbling. There was going to be a message in his comm an hour before sleep time saying “Hey mind if I ask a question?”.

He wished Squilla would gain the confidence to just send the original question or message right away instead of waiting an hour for Charyd to reply, “Sure.”

The Pod 1 came into view, with way too many dents, scratches, and possibly a hole in the hull. The Execs must have sensed or had a random window somewhere pointing out of the hull to see their approach. They should have never just sent the Cadoon brainwashed. Alice should have gone out there to stop Saar, same with Scooball. She was the better shot and mobility in space.

The universe was filled with a lot of woulda, shoulda, coulda, but did-nots. It was time to address what actually happened. First thing, he set up an automatic response of “Yes.” on his comms for Squilla. That will save time and he can look at that important information later right away. Now he could fully focus on his crew. The moment they were far away from the Execs, the pod needed immediate repair.

“Darkstorm, are you sure no one was hurt?” With the shuttle in the state it was, that seemed impossible.

His comms dinged with hundreds of messages coming in from the AI. They were individual reports of his crews’ heads, arms, fingers, hips, and down to even the toes of each person. The only injury belonged to Posey on her left side. He marked everything in his box for deletion as the shuttle locked into place and equalized in pressure and gravity to Darkstorm. This process was still too slow. His fist banged on the door, waiting for it to open.

Captain, we’re all fine.

Waves of calm bounced off him like bubbles from Alice, bursting out tiny emotions to help him latch on to the situation. I got the reports. How bad is it for Posey?

The door finally slid open, the last of the air equalized and flooded his scents with bits of oxidation caused by the hits to the hull. There was a temporary patch repair done in one area with instant insulation. There were even wire twisted together to keep parts of the ship going. This shuttle was nothing more than a tin foil folded into ship shape!

“She’s not complaining.” Alice pointed to the only other person in a space suit. Scooball had taken off his suit already, but Posey was stuck in her’s because of the emergency repair. The man played with his earring in his hand, showing it to Captain Posey.

Posey’s space suit had the yellow filament of the instant insulation sticking out in odd areas. Flecks of brown from her injury stained the insulation. The hole in her suit was as large as Charyd’s fist. He stomped over, boots echoing on the board, and scooped her up, rushing her to medical. The small freckles across her cheeks were standing out from her skin being lighter and illuminating by the purple. She must be losing a lot of blood from the shot on her arm.

The left arm was stiff and Charyd made sure it was right next to him, mostly so he could stop looking at the bloodstain. It left her very mobile right arm available to punch him.

“Let go of me!” She snarled.

She even lunged forward to bite him! Shacors were natural apex predators with those very pointy teeth. He morphed his arms to become long and more nimble like Alice and took off down the hall, holding the equivalent of a chihuahua nipping at his wrists. Holding her heavy muscular self at a distance was going to kill his joints.

Tony chimed in. “My, that is some chivalry there. You don’t see much of that these days, Captain.”

“Shut it Tony. Gas him, stun him, make him stop!”

“It’d be detrimental to your health. And you really should stop wiggling so much, it could worsen your injury.”

The power of AI actually froze the captain into obedience. Charyd ran the short distance with the ease of Posey being closer to him. The medical room was near the shuttle entrance and the doors were already wide open. “Thank you, Tony.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Always respect the AI.

Once everyone was through, the doors closed. Charyd had not entered the medical room, he made Mishipeshu come to his room. The medical bay had a collection of blood. There was synthetic blood sitting in the fridge nearby, with a glass door. There could have been better insulation if they went with a solid metal one instead of glass. Then he would not have to see the bags of dark blood. Mishipeshu already had a stash made of all the species types on board in case anything happened. A bag of it labeled “Posey, Ilise” hung from the IV bag stand near a bed. That strange metallic smell that came with using antiseptic disinfection hung heavily in the air, as much as a grassy stink.

A furry humanoid came running around the corner, their paw holding down on the disinfectant spray that had a hint of cilantro. Their typical large golden eyes were almost completely black as they locked eyes with Charyd. Their striped tail curled around their body, ears pulled back. “I thought I was going to have more time.” Their voice gently meowed out.

Charyd walked over to the bed with the paper pulled across it and rested Posey on it. She mumbled something, but he could not hear it. His attention was more on the medic in front of him. “Why are you eating that now? I can see my own reflection in your eyes.”

“Want a bite?”

Charyd did. This day was too stressful, and he really needed a shower. The sticky whipped cream disaster of earlier was making him smell sour. “Later. Can you operate right now?”

Squilla came from the medical selection area holding up a small hand held fan, then paused when seeing Charyd. “They were already a few bites in by the time I got here.”

Mishipeshu’s tail swung out, bumping into the bed Posey rested on. “They always say take the exam the way you studied. I’ll be fine.”

Posey was getting squirmy, trying to sit up with just using her right arm. Charyd pinned her. “You’re staying. That arm needs to be taken care of now. Mishipeshu has done a fantastic job of fixing me up.”

“Why aren’t you calling them a doctor?”

She really picked up on the wrong details. “Regulations don’t apply to pirates.”

Her weight pushed against him again at that horrible answer. She swung with her right at his face, but it was clunky in the space suit and he easily stopped it. “I can do this myself.” She pleaded.

Tony’s beeps chimed in. “DME energizing. Captain, in your state, I recommend you buckle in. Countdown starting. Ten. Nine.”

“Thank you Tony.” Charyd gratefully said as Posey laid down, biting her upper lip. Her short red hair stuck up around her head in a way he wished to tousle it.

“Three, and to the one. And GO!” cheered the AI.

The ship jolted forward and Charyd collapsed across Posey’s suit, crunching it down. “Tony!” She shouted.

Charyd grabbed the patient straps and clasp them around her. She only noticed once he grabbed the one on her right arm and locked it in place with a click. She kicked, but it was futile as he locked her left arm as well. Then he backed up, relieved to not have to deal with her stubbornness anymore.

Tiny little arms and legs gripped at the wall. Squilla’s tablet had slid across the floor with DME flight. “Captain Posey, it seems like the AI was never set up for a proper countdown, but knows how to make a timer. Why is that?”

The military officer snapped her head around and glared at the tech. This conversation would be an excellent distraction from the procedure. “Yes,” Charyd chided, “answer Squilla’s question. She could fix the AI.”

“Keep your digits away from Tony.” She could have said it a little more politely. Squilla was a shy soul who had a hard time talking verbally out loud, because people would snap at her like Posey just did. Give her comm, she could type away all night long.

The feline medic pushed a scanning device over the left arm of the space suit, purring as a claw extended out. The display overlaid Posey’s arm, but her squirming was making it extremely difficult for a clear image. “I need the patient to stay still.”

“I don’t want a high person with a blade near me!”

“Excuse me, this is a very hygienic claw, not a blade. I sharpened it yesterday and cleaned it only moments ago.”

The lightning in the room changed as the blue hologram of military Tony appeared next to Charyd. His eyes turned bright red. “Captain, you’ll stay here or I will let them all know when your birthday is - to the year.”

The dark brown and orange tail flickered with a small chirp coming from Mishipeshu mouth. Tony’s red eyes moved up, widening in surprise. “Here pus pus.” He mocked.

A hiss followed as Mishipeshu leaped over the patient and dived into Tony’s eyes. With a powerful swipe, the hologram and one eyeball vanished. The other dropped to the ground, zigzagging, going over another patient bed and back. Mishipeshu chased after it, paws swatting until he pounced on it as it landed on one of the beds.

The two upbeat chimes rang out and the red light vanished. “Captain, this person is fully capable of responding quickly. You are in good paws.”

Posey sighed so deeply her own space suit crinkled from the breath. “Fine. But make sure they clean their claws before starting.”

Mishipeshu licked their paws, then went over to the sink to wash them. The medical room had remained fairly clean with the sudden running around. They knocked not one thing over. Of course, there was nothing on the counters to cause temptation. Posey had a tiny bead of sweat coming down her forehead. Charyd slipped his hand into hers, gently gripping it. “Squeeze as hard as you like.”

She took up the offer as Mishipeshu began to cut through the suit. Squilla had retrieved her tablet and bumped Charyd out of the way so she could show it to Posey. “Can you explain this code?”

Posey's eyes darted to her left arm. The insulation foam was being removed at the careful guidance of the scanning device. “Yes, Tony gave you what you wanted. A timed deployment.”

“If the AI knows how to make a clock, why won’t it do a proper countdown?”

“It picked up the inappropriate behavior from you.”

Charyd watched as Mishipeshu exposed the injury and put a stained gauge into a tray. Charyd looked up at the ceiling. Huh, so that’s how the hologram was being made, all those tiny little lights. It would be interesting to see if they were located everywhere.

Posey’s comm pinged through her suit multiple times. Then Tony showed up, pointing both index fingers at Squilla. “Your comm is useless right now. Those are about the message I sent you earlier.”

Her purple eyes narrowed and she spat at the tablet. Charyd tightened his grip on her hand, but she countered back twice as hard. “I suggest you all stop poking into Tony for your own safety. Let him out of that firewall and we’ll drop you off at any planet you want.”

They could all go back to their home planet and see their families and friends again. “Would we still be criminals?”

“Of course. I’d just be giving you a head start.”

“Then we pass.”

She jerked again, but Mishipeshu’s tail swatted at her. “Stay still. I’m already sealing up the wound.”

Squilla was cleaning the tablet, but further pressed on. “Captain, this was what I wanted to talk about. This AI has different rules programmed in, like a buffer of actions in a sense. Its making it flexible, but also slower compared to others. If I could-”

“Last warning shrimp. Stop looking into Tony.”

The bones in Charyd’s hand felt like they were going to snap with the anger she squeezed into his hand. “Squilla, why don’t you leave and look over the repairs needed on the Pod 1.”

Squilla’s antenna dropped, and she nodded her head as she left. Charyd made a mental note to check in on her later. He hated how Posey was treating his crew. He wanted to snap at her, but she was their ticket out of all this crap. She only needed more time.

Mishipeshu meowed and tilted their head to brush the mosaic fur pattern on their face. “My work is done. One week with the synthetic skin and we can then look into physical therapy. Until then, you are in a cast while the muscles rebuild.”

Posey’s grip finally loosened on Charyd’s hand and she exhaled deeply. “Thank you.”

“Now get out of here. I’ve done enough socializing for the day and wish to clean.”

Charyd untied Posey, the space suit sleeve missing completely, and her arm bandaged at a slight angle. He braced himself to be lunged at by her as her feet landed on the ground. Instead, she looked up at him, brows crossed, teeth grinding, then looked away with a purple hue on her cheeks. He waited a breath more before pointing to the door. “I’ll escort you to your room.”

The doors to the hallway slid and Alice stood outside, holding a mug that was more whipped cream than a beverage. “For Ilise.”