“Thomas!”

  My head throbbed incessantly, and my whole body ached. The body ache wasn’t surprising, not when my bed was so full that there wasn’t an empty bit of mattress to be had. I was lying there in a tangle of arms and legs; Tratsa was curled tight against my left side with one of her ears tickling my armpit. She twitched slightly in her sleep, and her right arm reached out until her hand could grip my trapezius and pull herself even closer to me.

  “Thomas!”

  I could see Boudya’s immaculately pedicured toes peeking out from under my pillow telling me she was lying with her head towards the foot of the bed, and the divot in the mattress at that end made me think Tindron was down there laying crossways, likely with Boudya’s head pillowed on his chest.

  “Thomas!”

  A slight shift of my head showed me a vast expanse of pale, muscled flesh and a head topped with short blonde hair, one incredible long leg draped across my own. I blinked in confusion, wondering how she ended up in the mix, but considering the pounding in my head, I figured it must have been one hell of a party the night before.

  “I swear to Lawkapt, Thomas, don’t make me dump a vat of coolant on your head!”

  I shook my head to clear it a bit and looked down to meet the shining violet eyes glaring at me from directly over my chest. The surprise had me scrunch my eyes up to try and clear the haze from them, but when I opened them again, she was still there, her eyes looking even more cross. “Uh…” I said quietly, my voice sounding hoarse to my ears and making me wince at the sound, “good morning commander, don’t take this wrong but what are you doing in my bed?”

  The scowling eyes turned shocked, “What in Giobh’s name are you talking about?”

  “Ssh. not so loud.” I mumbled, and reached up to pull her in for a hug, her head tucking up under my chin after Tratsa’s arm was pushed away, “‘M pretty sure I drank some kind of reactor coolant last night, and my head’s throbbing like an Eridani drum. An’ you might wake the others. C’n we just go back t’ sleep?”

  Uh, Tommy-cakes. I heard Stacy say in a combination of suppressed mirth and outright concern, You might want to wake up, and let go of your commanding officer’s asscheeks. Before she decides to toss you out an airlock!

  I stopped and shook my head again, violently this time - which was probably one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever made. Once I was sure I wasn’t about to void anything that was in my stomach, I opened my eyes again and looked down.

  Jophixa was on top of my chest alright, but she was in full uniform - though it was torn and tattered, her face was smeared with engineering lubricant, hair in tangles, and her expression was caught between a glare, and an expression of pure shocked embarrassment.

  I was in engineering, not my quarters - but sure enough, my hands had a firm grip on Jophixa’s well rounded buttocks.

  I let go as if I’d just realized I was holding onto a chunk of pure, unshielded antimatter, and tried to crabwalk myself back away from her. The only thing the effort earned me, however, was a fresh wave of nausea, and a strong green hand pushing me back down onto the floor.

  “Lay still Thomas,” Jo barked at me, still glaring, “we’ll discuss any inappropriateness later. Right now, Tratsa says you likely have a concussion. She wants you awake when she’s done checking on Boudya.”

  “Commander, I’m so…”

  “Can it!” was her terse reply, but there was something odd about the set of her ears, “the less said around the rest of the crew, the better. We will discuss it later, however.”

  “Uh, yes ma’am.” I replied, trying to bury my embarrassment and worry. I was not looking forward to that conversation at all. What the hell was my subconscious even thinking with a dream like that, seriously. I really needed to find some way to apologize.

  Doing everything I could not to look her in the eyes, I finally found myself glancing over at where Tratsa was hovering over Boudya and my memory caught up with me. “Wait, Boudya…” I tried to roll over and crawl to her, but once again I was stopped by the surprisingly strong Jophixa, who grabbed me by the ear and twisted hard, using the leverage to force me back onto my back.

  “Tratsa is looking after your anchak and assures me she’ll be fine.” Her tone warned that I would not be fine if I kept trying to move. “Benastian skulls seem to be just as hard as terran ones, though they seem to be a bit more permeable to sense. There’s enough going on right now Thomas, I need you and Boudya to not be stubborn and listen to the good Tsaki.

  “The Cutlass suffered extensive damage in the blast, and will need repairs to get its tunnel drive operational again, not to mention its life support. And the Kintzels aren’t able to maneuver it into the docking bay because the blast doors were damaged and won’t retract.

  “We managed to maneuver close enough to them that they could EVA over to us and board through an airlock, but they insist they will not leave the Cutlass behind, and I’m inclined to agree with them, since they still have a trio of those terrifying missiles over there.

  “Our own conspace drive is down, as well as our shields. We had to use reaction mass thrusters to get us close enough to the Cutlass for their EVA. I can not have my vin’toosog prolonging his convalescence because he was being a stubborn idiot. Do you understand me?”

  “Tratsa said she’ll be ok?”

  “Yes, damnit. Now stop trying to get up before I have to rip your ear off and risk her poisoning me in my sleep.” She growled, but I thought I saw a hint of a sparkle in her eyes.

  “Sepaq, Commander.” I said quietly, and laid my head back on the hard floor of engineering and closed my eyes.

  “No sleeping! If only so you don’t wake up and try playing grabass again!” she snapped at me. “Stacy, now that he’s awake, can you use your damned implant to keep him that way til Tratsa is done with Boudya and can double check him?”

  “Sure thing bosslady!” Stacy’s voice sounded choppy and full of static through the intercom. “I discovered this ancient terran song that should do the trick.”

  “Oh hollow stars, please don’t tell me…”

  But Stacy simply started singing at me through the implant, in a very off key and squeaky tone. This is the song that never ends…

  “Make her stop!!!”

  Thankfully, for the sake of my sanity, it didn’t take long for Tratsa to stabilize Boudya and come over to reassess my condition. Stacy only got through about a dozen verses of that damned song that just would not die, so while I was still set on plotting my revenge upon her circuits, I didn’t have to plan the destruction of the whole universe. Seriously, of all the damned annoying songs in the galaxy…

  The sensation of Tratsa’s cool fingers gently moving over my scalp after she’d checked me over with her medical scanner was surprisingly soothing. “That’s one hell of a bump growing on your head, Thomas.” she said finally, bending down to gently kiss my forehead. “But there are no fractures and your neck is intact. You just got your brains rattled around. We’ll have Stacy keep a close eye on your neurological activity for the next day or so just to be sure that the mild concussion you have didn’t leave any long term damage.”

  “Sounds good Doc,” I replied, giving her a strained smile as my head started throbbing slightly. “Just as long as she doesn’t start singing homicidal thought-inducing songs again. By the way, any chance of something for the headache?”

  Chuckling, she reached into her labcoat and pulled out a slap patch and gently applied it to the back of my neck. “That should help. And Stacy, no more causing murderous impulses through song, okay? He needs to get a couple hours rest at least, before he can get started on cleaning up this mess.”

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  I could hear Jophixa’s jaw crack from her clenching it so hard. Tratsa looked over at her and she leveled the kind of glare I hadn’t seen her use before. “Commander, neither he nor Boudya will be of any use in taking care of the repairs in this condition. Yes, I could get them upright and working with stimulants and analgesics, but their effectiveness and judgement would be impaired. Do you really want them mucking about with plasma conduits and antimatter containment bottles when they might as well be coming down off of a three day bender?”

  The sound of knuckles popping filled the deck, then a long sigh. “You have a point.” She glared glared down at me, ears still held in that way that I hadn’t observed on any of them before. “Mr. Aacen has already shown an incredible lack of good judgement today. Four hours, Vin’toosog, and then I expect you to be getting to work patching us up.”

  As she turned to walk away, Stacy chimed in, “Uh, Commander,” she said, “Not to pile more shit onto the dungheap, but Admiral LeBeau is attempting to reach out to you via the ansible. Ms. Aacen is stalling her aide at the moment, but things are starting to sound a bit tense. I would have taken the call myself, but Ambassador Ai’fix is not supposed to be on the ship.”

  This time, the low growl I heard come from the commander was such that I swore I was feeling it through the deck-plating. I saw her shoulders tense up a bit more before she gave a slight nod, “Let Ms Aacen know I will be in my ready room shortly, and she can transfer the call there.”

  “Sepaq Commander.”

  While the Jophixa stalked out of engineering like she was ready to bite through tungsten-carbide, I kept my eyes deliberately averted from the twin hemispheres of her anatomy I’d recently found myself grasping. I was still confused as hell about her being in that dream, or why my subconscious would have reacted to her being there like that. On top of it all, I was going to have to deal with the aftermath of it all, which included Stacy giving me shit for it.

  Oh, don’t you know it! She transmitted to me, damn that looked awkward Sugar-twist. From the look on her face, I wasn’t sure if she was gonna kill you or kiss you. You gotta tell me though! Is it as firm as it looks?

  Empty Void Stacy! I shouted at her internally, feeling my cheeks burn. Tratsa gave me a curious look, then chuckled and walked towards engineering’s main hatch. I am trying very hard not to think about that!

  Well, you’ll have a great distraction shortly.

  What… But when I saw Tratsa turn and point in my direction, and the imposingly muscular figure of one of the Kintzel twins marched through the hatch and straight towards me. Oh, shattered stars, please don’t tell me…

  But all she did was laugh as Gertrude, who I could identify up close by the tiny scar just to the right side of her mouth, knelt down and scooped me up in a princess carry. “I hope you aren’t about to get all awkward and macho about this.” She grinned at me, adjusting her hold of me slightly before turning, “short, green and toothsome over there requested I give you a lift back to your quarters cause she doesn’t trust you to walk after that bump on your noggin.”

  Suddenly, I was distinctly and embarrassingly reminded that Jophixa wasn’t the only unexpected presence in that dream. I coughed, and tried to ignore the situation - not to mention the feel of a certain soft roundness pressed against my side - and before I realized it said “Oh, this? Nah, I’m quite fine with valkyries carrying me off to bed.”

  There was the slight sensation of almost being dropped, and the sound of a choking laugh from across the room.

  Wait, I asked Stacy internally, suddenly wanting to crawl inside the containment bottle to hide, Did I really say that out loud?

  Yup! She replied, her voice echoing with laughter, and I can not wait to tell Tindron and Boudya about it!

  I gave a sigh and muttered “Someone just pitch me out an airlock, please?”

  Thankfully Ms. Kintzel made no mention of my comment when she laid me carefully on my bed, though I did see her eyes twinkle slightly when she inquired if I needed any help getting out of my soot, coolant and blood smeared uniform. I had opened my mouth to ask her if she was gonna tuck me in and kiss me goodnight too, but my good sense finally kicked back in, and I was able to bite the comment back.

  Instead, I told her I was fine with getting ready for bed by myself, and thanked her for the assistance.

  “No problem SpannerMan.” she said with a chuckle, and gave my shoulder a light punch before turning to leave. This prompted me to have to bite my tongue again, as she was still in her skin hugging ship-suit, and her walking away was one hell of a view. “Oh, and don’t stress too much about the comments. People say and do some fucked up shit after a head injury. The doc’ll back you up on that. Just don’t repeat it…unless you want an actual response”

  With that, she winked at me, and left.

  “Stacy, please lock the door before I say something embarrassing to someone else.”

  “You sure? You haven’t flirted with Giselle or your sister yet. Nor Tindron or Toftri. They might feel left out.” The humor in her voice was unmistakable. Stacy really didn’t care to hide her amusement when I was embarrassed. “I can page them to drop by to see you before you get some sleep…”

  “Stacy? Digi-bits?”

  “Yes Sugar-bear?”

  “I mean this with all the love and friendship possible, but shut the hell up and lock the door.”

  “If you say so, Tommy-kins.”

  “I apologize for the wait, Admiral.” The young woman she knew as Jessica Aacen said at the moment her aide transferred the call to her, “There were some urgent matters the Commander had to oversee, but I will transfer you to her now.”

  “Thank you, Ms Aacen.” She replied, and saw the slight widening of the woman’s eyes before the holo-image cut to that of a green skinned woman not at all unlike Ambassador Ai’fix. They both had the same even forest green skintone, large eyes, and the even larger, pointed ears standing straight out from the sides of her head. Unlike the ambassador, however, the commander had piercing violet eyes, and her hair - whether natural or dyed to match - was shaved at the sides, revealing a hint of some sort of markings on her skin. The hair on the top of her head was long, but held close in something like a french braid.

  And also unlike the Ambassador, who always looked calm and collected, even as she was wielding her voice like it was a weapon; The Commander did not look to be in a good mood.

  “Admiral.” She said in a clipped tone, “I appreciate that we are finally able to speak in real time, but you will have to excuse me if I am not very politic right now. We are wrestling with both crew injuries and ship damage to both Elegance and Cutlass after dealing with the infestation on the planet.”

  “Goodness,” Admiral LeBeau replied, her tone genuinely concerned, “Will you need any assistance? I can divert one of my most trusted captains to rendezvous with you to render aid.”

  The giobhioni woman shook her head. “No, I’m pretty sure we can cope. The only fatality was a drone - “ she paused a moment to look upwards with annoyance before looking back, “Pardon me, a droid; one which will take a lot of work to replace, but is not a priority right now.

  “I need to inform you, however, that Eve’s Blessing is no more. We were able to rescue the boy, Miles West, who we still have under quarantine until we can be sure he is clear of the contagion. The rest of the colonists were taken by the contagion, and we were forced to take extreme measures to ensure none of them were able to leave the planet.”

  LeBeau felt her eyes widen a bit, but she didn’t rise to the rank of admiral without learning that tragedies happen in dire times, and even more while at war. But a whole colony? “There was nobody else you could save?”

  The Commander shook her head. “I’m sorry Admiral, but I know the ktonshi and how the contagion works. Young Mr. West only escaped due to…well, some extraordinary luck on his part. Which is a situation we will want to discuss under the utmost of security, and some pre-agreed on conditions. I’m not sure how you have hooked up the communications unit our ambassador directed you to, but I would advise you to ensure that you have it set up for the most top level security possible. Nobody accesses it unless you trust them with your life.”

  “I assure you, Commander,” LeBeau said, reminding herself that the giobhioni commander had already pre-apologized for rude behavior. Even if she felt patronized, she could understand the woman’s need to protect her people. “I’m arranging for the Ansible to be secured in its own armored vault. Access to the hardware itself will require my authorization, and access to the comms themself will go through my personal aide.”

  “Good, then we need to plan to meet. Things are going to go sideways in the Orion Spur quickly. We know there is at least one ktonshi ship at large in the Spur, we need to find a way to eliminate it before it spreads the contagion.”

  “I’m afraid it’s gone beyond one ship, Commander.” the Admiral hesitated for a moment, but her instincts said to trust the green skinned woman. “We are enroute to the last known location of a derelict vessel that dropped out of a hyperspace tunnel at a trade route relay point. A rescue team boarded the ship in search of survivors, but found what could only be described as cocoons. They called a Code 31 - that’s what they call it when they encounter an unknown biological - and bugged out back to their own ship.

  “According to regs, they are supposed to self quarantine on their own vessel, even from their own crew. But from the data Ambassador Ai’fix provided, this contagion is pernicious in getting through barriers if they aren’t constructed using the right materials, so I sent out orders that they were not to be allowed to dock or otherwise physically interact with any other ship or spaceport. If they need to be resupplied, we’ll do it by drone, then blow the damned thing up.

  “The big problem is that I have three more reports for situations of a similar vein. Diverting to pick up this ansible comm unit of yours was calculated to be a fairly minimal delay to arrive at that first ship, but for all I know, Benson Fisch has hidden resources and is on his way to one of them as well.

  “So yes,” She finished off, “Yes, Commander, we need to meet, and we definitely need to figure out what we’re going to do about this threat.”

  The Salvager’s Plague

  https://ko-fi.com/theacornscribe