CHAPTER 4 - REPAIRS

It would be a few hours until the ships would have approached enough for the confiscation of the radiators to be possible, considering the ship would need to turn around and decelerate. Enough time for everyone to get at least some well-needed rest… and other things.

"I think I need a shower," Rachel said.

"Don't we all?" Jamaad replied.

"Application of large amounts of water would be deleterious to my systems," Patch intoned.

"...with one exception then."

At the far end of the habitat corridor was a fork behind a door. One door led to the entertainment room, and the other to what was officially called 'sanitation'... but everyone from ensign to captain called it a bathroom. The showers for officers were private stalls, so there wasn't any awkwardness involved. The lower ranks had to make do with a big communal shower.

Rachel thought to herself as she rubbed herself down with some kind of nano-disinfectant that was considered more efficient than soap, not turning on the water yet. "I can't wait to cross into the 'Koumanlan'. I swear, the relmai do a better job of ruling over humans than humans do. Or so I heard from my friends there. Not many pirates."

***

Elektra and Artur walked through a corridor, their skin and fur wet.

"Well don't get me wrong, Artur, I understand the reasoning, but it is just not a good thing to talk to anyone that way. We are better than them, and we must be diplomatic instead of acting like petty bandits, and not let our emotions get the best of us," Elektra said.

The wolf-man shook his head. "I'ma admit to something, I wouldn't have actually boarded their ship and bashed them to paste if they refused. I would have just kept shooting. And we would have wasted prop, we would have wasted parts, we would have wasted time and risked further damage," there was a glimmer in his eye. "There is value in knowing when to scare people shitless, you know."

"You don't understand. If we act by raw practicality, are we really any better than the Hegemony? Ilsh-Bewruw won't fall within a few extra days. Which is what it would have taken to go back and get the repairs done."

He waved his hand dismissively. "It's a fuckin' pirate. You're ragging on me, because I did my job well, in defense of some pissant pirate," Artur said as they walked into the officers' quarters. The lights were already dark, and the rest of the crew was already trying to get some sleep.

"So what? He is still a sapient being. You don't talk to sapient beings like that. And you certainly don't mug them blind under threats of torture."

Artur spat on the floor. "Whatever."

Kuw sat up somewhere in the dark. "What's happening?"

"Nothing," Artur said as he sat down on his bunk.

***

12 Apr 2231

They slept soundly. So soundly, in fact, that when they woke up, they were floating in zero-gravity without having been woken up by the change. The little screen on the wall provided a view of the enemy barge, with little figures crawling on its radiators like ants on blades of grass. The alarm rang as it woke the officers up at 6:30 shipboard time, automatically turning on the lights.

"I still feel… tired," Rachel said.

"Don't worry," Jamaad said as the door to his quarters finished opening. "You'll likely rest again earlier."

"Huh?"

"Shifts."

"Oh, right."

"I have to figure out who to appoint to be in charge of each of the three shifts," Jamaad then righted himself in the air, "I did not appoint a formal command structure from the start as I wanted to see everyone's performance. Anyways…" he took out a box that contained two badges with a matching design to the golden rocket-shaped one on his chest. Silver and bronze, with the numbers '1' and '2' respectively, as compared to an embossed star.

The captain looked around to confirm that everyone was awake, and looked them in the eyes for a few moments. It certainly looked like he had already made up his mind, for the most part. "This ship doesn't have any kind of dedicated meeting area, so the ceremony will commence in the mess hall."

Going down the ladder, rather uncomfortable in a non-microgravity environment, was now a breeze. Though, down was a rather relative term here…

After an announcement was made that called the crew to this makeshift meeting hall, Jamaad and the other four floated above a table in the middle of the room. Patch was missing.

"I have gathered all of you here to proclaim that Chief Medical Officer Elektra Jacinth," he took out the silver badge and pinned it above the stout genemod's name tag, "is now appointed First Officer, in addition to her usual duties. Meanwhile, Communications Officer," he glanced back and forth from his datapad as he took out the bronze medal, "Kuw… koube… Luk… welbeah-bu? I'm so sorry, is now appointed Second Officer, in addition to her usual duties."

"Thank you, sir," Elektra said, and saluted, the gesture sending her into a slight rotation.

Kuw lost her composure at the captain's failure at exophonetics, then said "Thank youuuu sir! And at least you tried!"

Jamaad continued, nonchalantly. "I am still in charge when I am available, but when I am not, the First Officer will take over command of the ship, and in her absence the Second Officer will, and all three of us will rotate this control in three shifts. These shifts are not rigid, and the First and Second Officers have the right to override them if necessary for the smooth operation of the vessel."

The crowd responded with cheering and salutes. Immediately after, the officers went back to the hab module to finish their morning routines.

"Where's Patch?" Elektra said, after finishing her bi-daily dental health treatment. "I haven't seen it around."

"It's in eva," Jamaad said, looking up from the zero-gravity sink, which kept whining like a vacuum cleaner, the powerful air flow guiding a stream of water. "Has been for hours."

They glanced at the monitor above. A chunk of one of the barge's radiators had been detached by a team of four engineers, and was currently being very carefully carried towards the ship.

Elektra squinted. "I think one of them is Patch, yeah. You know, somehow it still feels a bit less real than a window would have."

"What do you think we are, a cruise ship with a cupola?"

"No. And I know the screen is literally indistinguishable. It still feels 'fake' for lack of a better word."

"Really there's not much to look at most of the time, windows or actually a larger screen would be such a waste of, well, everything. You saw the stars a million times by now, didn't you? That's all you'd ever see from a window on a warship. And you can't Whipple-shield windows, so a freak microasteroid could kill you and everyone else in the room at any moment."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Elektra sighed. "I suppose you're right, sir."

Very soon after, everyone was having breakfast, which was the exact same food as yesterday. Fish, algae noodles, miuswak. The overall atmosphere was lively despite the rather dismal quality of the meals, with plenty of chatter occurring even between tables.

One ensign, a black-furred male relmai, dressed in a way that wasn't really distinguishable from Kuw's uniform to Terran eyes, floated up to her and said a few brief words in a melodious, alien language. Kuw shook her head and replied. The ensign's tail lowered, and he hastily pushed away from the table.

"What was that?" Rachel said.

"He asked if there waaaas nsekiwbou available. I said no because the CELSS is too small."

"What's that dish?"

Kuw looked upwards, scrunching her muzzle as she remembered. "It's a sort of… what you humies would call a fruit salad, made of a few kinds of explody-melty fruit from Tama. But it's not Liamuju cuisine, it's Ksaukuju cuisine. A different people froooom mine."

"That's interesting. Sorry if this is insensitive, but I often forget other species aren't a monolith."

Kuw laughed. "No it's fine! To me all you Terrans and especially humans look the same, dress the same, and act the same!"

"Even me and Rachel? And Artur?" Elektra said, looking up from her noodles.

"Well well not the former then! The latter twooo still apply! Especially the second. Human clothes might as well be gray to us!"

Artur glanced upwards. "And yours look like the aftermath of a unicorn's hangover."

***

Patch clambered across a lacy network of pipes, as fractal as its body. The only sounds its sensors registered were resonance from their manipulators clanging against the pipes, and the chatter of its fellow engineers. The robot's many 'hands' gripped a multitude of power tools, connected to the ultra-capacity batteries in its body by cables. Hacksaws, impact wrenches, drills, plasma cutters; what looked like the contents of two entire toolboxes danced in its metallic leaves.

Three organics, clad in hardsuits that resembled plate armor more than spacesuits, followed it. Reflective silver plating with many segments per limb, and gold-colored visors for faces. Their suits were clearly modular: one possessed four arms, another a lengthy tail, and the third even had two snouted heads. All of these unusual extremities were as well-covered as baseline human parts. Everyone was attached to the surfaces via special sliding cords, mounted using magnets.

The radiator fins were subdivided into many sections, roughly rectangular. Faded red markings indicated the boundaries between them.

"Cut off flow to starboard section 8," Patch ordered through its integrated radio. A clunk resonated through the entire fin. Then, the tools in its manipulators came to life as the top edge of the section was sawn off, while Patch's subordinates did the same for the other three edges. Once the entire section of pipework was separated and pried from its mounting points, the team carried it towards the scout, using jetpacks mounted to their suits or, in patch's case, their body.

"Antoneas keeps threatening to have his friends blow up our ship," one of the other engineers said over encrypted radio.

"Simply block that frequency. The pirate can do nothing."

Another voice suddenly came from 'below', originating from where a team of two was taking off a smaller section near the base of the fin. "Weird object discovered, attached to one of the larger pip– BOOM! AIIIEEEE!"

The scream cut off. Patch's cameras refocused to see an expanding cloud of debris surrounding a new hole in the radiator. One engineer was seemingly stunned, yet still in good condition and still attached to the barge. While the other, Temo Sabauri, certainly did not look good, and was floating away, propelled by the explosion.

"Emergency! Emergency! Ensign Sabauri injured and spaced because of an IED detonation! I will be commencing a rescue, but I request assistance from the nearest unharmed individual: Ensign Grant," Patch said in a monotone.

Lots of panicked chatter filled the comms. Radd Grant's voice was louder to Patch, however. "What the fuck? Acknowledged!"

Elektra's voice became apparent. "Medical personnel will be waiting at the airlock," she seemed extremely distressed.

Patch set its jetpack to maximum throttle and ordered Grant to do the same. They thrust towards the injured engineer, grabbing hold of his arms and torso with their manipulators and hands.

"Suit damage assessment: emergency seal activated, but most air appears lost. Apparent loss of consciousness. We need to act quickly," Patch said.

They very hastily went back to the Pheidippides and dropped Sabauri off in the corridor as soon as they went through the airlock. Grant took off his own helmet, breathing heavily, while a team of medics led by Elektra removed the injured man's, then extracted him from the hardsuit. The rest of the command crew was floating nearby, too.

Sabauri's tan skin was now tainted with a sickly blue shade, and his short beard and bushy mustache were disheveled. A medic kneeled down and measured his pulse. There was still a faint hint of a heartbeat.

"No need for CPR here!"

The medic unzipped the chest of Temo's yellow engineering jumpsuit and jabbed a pen-like autoinjector into his abdomen. The man immediately came back to life and coughed up blood. The droplets began floating around in microgravity, bouncing off the shiny metal walls like grotesque marbles, sometimes merging or splitting apart upon impact.

"Thank… wheeze… you…"

"You need time to recover," Elektra said. "But we are glad to be of service. Assistant Denisov, you made a mistake. You should have put a cloth over the patient's mouth," she said and sighed as the droplets of blood bounced around, sometimes splattering onto uniforms… not helped by another series of coughs. "Okay, move him to the medbay. Fast!"

Jamaad and Artur were quiet, but then glanced at each other.

"Chief Engineer Patch, I and Weapons Officer Greenpaw must talk to the… enemy," Jamaad said as Sabauri was carried away. Elektra could be seen rolling her eyes.

"Do we have enough of a power budget for a third PA?" Artur said, as they floated down the hall.

"No, it would push our rads beyond the limit. We can't upgrade our rad frame right here either… but we could at the next outpost."

***

"We are changing the deal," Artur said, oddly calmly. "Say goodbye to your missile launcher."

Antoneas just stared, shaking from fear. He looked traumatized from yesterday's events.

Artur leaned into the camera even further than he did in the previous conversation, the microgravity conditions allowing him to essentially press his muzzle, snarling with metallic teeth, into the lens.

"Do you understand what I said, kusok govna? Or did the beams rot your brain away?"

"Do as you please!"

Artur's eyes glimmered. "We all know what you did. Thought you were being smart?"

He then closed the conversation, and had a brief dialogue with Jamaad, who relayed orders to Patch.

"What is quickly and haphazardly attached can be quickly and haphazardly detached," was the robot's response.

***

It did not take long until the radiator sections were put into place, swapped for the damaged ones. But more noticeably, three different items were attached to the central girder stack. A missile launcher tube, long, hollow, and cylindrical; a particle beam cannon of relmai make, a colorful dome with a colorful barrel; and a corrugated container of 'reappropriated' loot the pirates had as their only cargo. As the ship lacked a cargo bay, these objects were strapped to the ship with superalloy cables, in an arrangement that Patch said would be stable and balanced if the acceleration did not jerk too much. And indeed, the ship began accelerating unusually slowly for its mission.

Elektra sat near Temo Sabauri as gravity gently pressed him into the cot. Another medic administered some decompression-recovery medicine as the engineer closed his eyes. Overall, everything was peaceful. The medbay's walls were not the simple, unpainted metallic color, but rather were painted a bright white. Various machinery beeped as screens showed various diagrams, flanking the patient recovery area, which was thankfully only occupied by the unlucky engineer. There was one splash of actual color in the furnishing: the blankets on the cots, which had an insanely tacky, multicolored floral pattern that would make any relmai proud. That cozy touch was important for patient morale, especially compared to the imposing-looking operating table, shaped like a humanoid silhouette, in the same room.

"Miss Jacinth, aren't you supposed to be in the CIC?" Sabauri said.

"It's not my shift, and I am more needed here," she smiled. "After all, I'm not tending to the computers' wounds."

"Will I be okay?"

"A few days at most, and you will be perfectly healthy. Likely less. I recommend that you talk too much, and don't think too hard about this."

A lengthy series of zapping sounds echoed through the hull. Elektra looked at the viewscreen on the far wall, and made a widening gesture with her hand to zoom in. Where there once was the Feather of Gallium was an expanding debris cloud. Elektra frowned and shook her head, while a hint of a smile crept across Sabauri's face.

"They blew me up. I can't say I feel anything for them."

The empath-genemod sighed. "I… understand. I can't blame you."