No One Tells Me What I Can Do--Especially You

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 "You're not serious." Reesa pushed up from the projection table. "Hostilespace for the duration of the vector?"


Six turns later and Vortrand was his usual grouchy self again. He'd summoned everyone to the navigation chamber. The crew plus one item of human cargo, assembled around the projection table. A voxic map wavered in front of them with their current vector and destination delineated in yellow.


"The border of hostilespace," Vortrand said. "Riklim is in a contested zone in the Outani belt. According to the intel packet agent Barawa forwarded to my sigID, the planetoid is situated just along the inside edge of Utori claimedspace."


Reesa made a face at the mention of agent Barawa. Folding her arms, she shook her head.


This meeting was the first time Lily had been with Vortrand since their bizarre encounter in the kitchen. He'd avoided her for nearly a space week and she wished she could have done the same with his sister. While the lieutenant-technician had granted Lily a stay of execution she'd been frosty since the Myskuul debacle, collecting Lily's phozone level readings without comment and with barely a glance.


Lily hid out in her quarters or hung around doctor Puu mostly. She and the doctor shared meals together in the dining room while he tutored her in written dense and catani using language tutorials on her Archivist as instruction aids. He also hooked her into USIT.


USIT stood for the Universal System of Intelligence. Through USIT Lily had her own signature, or sigID, through which she sent and received messages and browsed public feeds and made her own posts. Under doctor Puu's instruction she sent her first message to ZaZee. A cheerful melody alerted Lily of the Pashmi woman's prompt response.


Sy's account information is on file at Shanti Plava. He requested I inform you that should you have any need of new pieces you have only to contact me. We have your body form and can courier the fabricated items either to your manta or the nearest dock point.


P.S. Sy mentioned you've never played Prestige. Ask him to teach you and we can play in the public arena!


Doctor Puu had chuckled as he'd read over Lily's shoulder. He'd had his hand fully repaired and he'd also installed Lily's new TR-buds. No one sounded like they spoke over an old radio anymore. During his spare time, he taught her the social strategy game invented by the Tainted Pashmi.


Prestige began as a card game. Doctor Puu owned a massive deck with which he demonstrated their first bout.


Players started with an avatar card with first tier clothes, equipment and skills. Avatars came in five different species: Pashmi, Arkin, Verakian, Cafitid, and Titian. In her first bout Lily started with a barge city Titian. The avatar card dealt to her displayed an animated Titian woman. Selections at the bottom of the card listed the avatar's starting skills and options for her initial occupation. Lily selected "Artist" and the bout began.


The object of Prestige was to finish the bout with the most wealth, status and privilege. After career selection, hands were dealt. Event, progression, or item cards were played on either avatars. By the end of the first bout—she got a permanent death card played on her—Lily went through three careers and ended up a D-list pop star with a condo on Glass Station and a wardrobe of high point items.


Doctor Puu reprimanded her disregard for social and career strategies to instead collect different outfits and body styles for her avatar. Layering outfit and accessory cards over her avatar was her favorite part of the game. She'd quickly become a Prestige addict and logged into USIT to play arena bouts with ZaZee and other randos.


While Vortrand argued with his sister over whatever problems his planned vector caused her, Lily arranged her avatar's inventory and her current hand on her Archivist's dedicated display. The current bout consisted of four players and Oranca5 just played a scandal card on Lily's Cafitid Escapade actress. The card graphic showed a Utori in an interesting position with a Verakian man while a Pashmi snapped captures from a nearby window. The scandal card knocked her status down a level and brought the Kitchen Situation to the forefront of her mind. She glared at Vortrand over the top of her Archivist. He hadn't looked at her once. Red eyes skimmed over the space she occupied before fixing on a point to her left or right. Chewing the inside of her cheek, she forfeited the current bout and entered a new one, tap-tap-tapping her finger on the dedicated display.


Not compatible, hmph.


If anything was wrong with their compatibility it was wrong with him.


"Exactly how far along the inside edge of hostilespace is this planetoid?" Reesa asked.


Vortrand's bottom lip stuck out when he shrugged. "Four sprints?"


"Four!"


A great boom rattled the projection table when the captain slammed his fists on its surface. Lily and doctor Puu jumped.


"If there was another way I'd take it. Luthe and Li's intel places an Atarsen within a mercenary camp on Riklim."


Reesa pushed her tongue to the inside of her upper lip, plumping it. "I'm surprised Luthe didn't requisition our Bralian blooded guest when you reported her."


Vortrand fiddled with the display controls. The wide view of their plotted vector zoomed in. Riklim, a dull rock surrounded by a cloudy nebula, filled the space at the table's center.


"That's because I did not report her. Or the Utori. Or Goshan."


Doctor Puu sucked in a breath. Reesa plunked into her chair, mouth hanging open.


"What exactly does Luthe know?" The captain's sister asked.


"That the storage globe remains intact. That its lock is not merely genetic, but requires the proper mental matrix our Pashmi can replicate with the aid of an Atarsen. That Goshan betrayed us. That I recovered the storage globe before he vanished and, as a result of his betrayal, will entrust the data extraction and delivery to no one save myself."


"You lied to Command?" Reesa's eyes went to Lily who paused her Prestige play. "For her?"


A nasty expression puckered Vortrand's features.


"For us," he said. "I bought us time. If Luthe knew the truth he'd take over the mission." His eyes flicked Lily-ward then down to his fists. "I won't have that."


"I see." Reesa's appraisal of Lily went on while she questioned her brother. "Then why not travel further inside Verakian claimedspace until we're within Riklim's zone? We may be on the inside border of hostilespace, but the territory is still under scraper patrol."


"An independent trading vessel should have little trouble with patrolling scrapers, but the skims should be under constant watch. This window of opportunity Luthe granted is not a wide one. We can stretch it if we keep to the hostilespace border for the rest of the mission."


"I don't follow," Reesa said.


"USIT signal buoys are few and far between along the hostilespace border and we'd maintain transmission silence anyway due to the possibility of interception. If Luthe cannot contact us he cannot interfere."


"You don't think Command will be suspicious of this vector?"


"Not when they receive our last transmission that we have a lead on Goshan traveling a similar vector and that I've assigned a Scout to aid with interception."


A crease formed between Reesa's brows. "Luthe will check on that."


"I've already contacted Draeda to corroborate."


"We'll owe her."


"I'm aware."


Reclining in her chair, Reesa said, "You think destroying Goshan's reputation and deceiving Command is worth your," she arched her brow, "cargo?"


"Goshan betrayed us. I see nothing questionable in using him as a scapegoat." Muscles worked in Vortrand's jaw. "However long and deep our bonds they couldn't match whatever duty he meant to fulfill by sabotaging the mission."


"You think he was a Thorn."


"It's possible and largely irrelevant now."


"Not if Command suspects all of us. Thorns never act alone." Reesa's eyes widened. "That's why you've been grilling me. You think—"


"Don't believe you are the only one here under suspicion. Luthe and Li made it clear at our meeting that they aren't averse to launching an investigation on both of us. Do you follow the logic of my commands now? Turning over the Bralian data ourselves would do much to clear our reputations. Unless you prefer the little human there sliced up and the two of us spending the better part of the succession in a cell on Veras awaiting a disciplinary hearing."


Lily gnawed her upper lip. The conversation brother and sister shared went over her head. Calling up a new feed window, she wriggled her fingers over her Archivist's HOptic keys. Dense challenged her despite doctor Puu's drills with the language programs. Picking out the correct symbols for "Thorn" and entering it into the search field took a few peccards.


The search results populated her window. Most were botany related. She narrowed for "Verakian Thorn." Fewer results returned. The same key words came up in over half of the results: Rose Crest and Black Briar. She bookmarked the sigIDs that looked simplest to translate and closed out of USIT when doctor Puu elbowed her.


A number of bright red beacons flared around the termination point of their plotted vector. Vortrand gestured at them.


"These are the Utori outposts closest to Riklim. We won't come within any of their bot nets, but this zone will be under the heaviest scraper patrol. Within the next four ards we will reach the border of hostilespace. At that point the skims cannot go unmanned. Everyone here will take watches in two-ard shifts." When Lily made a face Vortrand shot her a pointed look. "Yes, Abadie, that includes you. Should any craft come within hail range I should be contacted immediately. Sorted?"


Lily bobbed her head and doctor Puu and Reesa vocalized their acknowledgement. Vortrand shut down the projection table.


"Lieutenant-technician, you'll take the first shift. That's all."


Everyone rose and shuffled out of the chamber. When Lily crossed in front of Vortrand, his hand shot out and landed on her shoulder.


"You, report to the recreation lounge." At her blank look he said, "The chamber adjacent to the dining room on the top tier. As you have total control over the solitary sprint capable fledgling you will be accompanying me to Riklim." He did not appear pleased. "We're not traveling hostilespace together with your pitiful grasp of combat and weaponry."

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