"Beedlejo." He snorted. "Last name, not first."
"O … kay … what'll it take to set up a system that broadcasts drac screams to every approaching ship that doesn't give the appropriate countersign? It needs to override all their dampers on ship-wide communication."
"Umm …"
"Already on it," Jasper said through her station. "Leave my kids alone and let them get to work."
"Speaking of kids." M'kar reached for the controls for the communication link to keep the channel open. "Keep Tress and all her co-conspirators out of the rec deck for the time being."
"Why?"
"Get that system in place so nobody can get through the Chute from this end. Then I'll tell you. Just pray Enlo I'm wrong. So wrong." She closed the link. Then she sent the same warning to all the parents on board the Defender, to keep their children away from the rec deck, after the all-clear had gone through the ship.
~~~~~~
The Hiver ship had entirely disintegrated, the equivalent of "hitting the walls" at ninety thousand kilometers per second. No noteworthy damage had hit the Defender during the transition through the Chute. By the time that was confirmed, Jasper's team of geniuses had set up a net of satellites around the Chute entrance. They took turns sweeping the quadrant for more than five hundred kilometers out, warning ships to stay away while sending the data on incoming ships to the nearest station, to be transmitted to every ship patrolling this quadrant. Just to be nasty, the only way to defuse the countdown to transmit drac screams throughout any ships that didn't stand down and keep a safe distance was for precisely two-thirds of the entire crew to sing the lyrics to the Alliance anthem. All three verses.
"There are only two verses," Genys said, once Jasper, with that frightening gleam of mischief in his eyes, made his report.
"And the system is set up to stop the countdown if someone does protest that there are only two verses," Beedlejo said. "Or the equivalent. But just searching for the lyrics and melody and determining how many in the crew can sing, while determining what precisely two-thirds of the crew is … that's going to take up a lot of time. With the dracs screaming at them the whole time. It'll distract them a lot. Especially if they aren't Alliance members."
"Should I be grateful you're on my side?" she murmured.
It really didn't matter what the captain thought of all the hoops and hurdles to jump through and over, the net had been set up and they didn't have time to fuss with it. There was a report to make and dracs to check on and rescue. Jasper and his team swaggered just a little as they left the bridge. Genys settled in her command chair and contemplated the seemingly serene, empty vista of space that the forward viewscreen gave her.
"I really don't relish the idea of going back through that Chute any time soon," she said, to no one in particular.
"You're not planning on going back to drac world, are you?" M'kar said. Before Genys could answer, a call came in from Command. "Thank you, Enlo."
Genys frowned at M'kar, then frowned a little deeper when she noticed Barroo was sitting on her shoulder. Tahl was down in medical, probably with Ha'ess on her shoulder, so why was Battleaxe staying away? She braced herself to send a mental call to her little black drac, but there was that communication from Command. Sighing, she slapped herself for being distracted. Of course, having been on duty for three solid shifts had nothing to do with it. No, not at all. She pressed the toggle to open the channel.
"Captain Genys Arroyan of the Defender."
"Captain, this is Commodore Roop of Medical Station Anwesta." The voice was a confusing mixture of sweet, cookie-baking grandmother, overlaid on a solid core of impervious alloy.
This was it. The other shoe. Of course, with all her crew had gone through, it was more like the seventh or eighth shoe, but really, who was counting?
"How can I help you, Commodore?"
"I've only gotten the briefest summary of your experiences with the creatures named dracs, and what the recovering crew of the survey ship Corona has reported."
M'kar stumbled down the steps to the command chair and gripped the righthand armrest to lock gazes with Genys.
"Recovering, did you say, Commodore?"
A low, warm chuckle made Genys relax and catch her breath at the same time.
"Well, for now, just the two men who were so badly injured. I'm sending you a report on what's been happening here, while you were on the other side of that Chute. We have a small guardian patrol heading out that direction. They'll take over duties from you. We need you to go back through the Chute and persuade as many dracs as you can to come back with you. In the face of this medical emergency, all standard procedures for dealing with new species are being suspended."
"Ma'am?"
"I don't know how the little pests did it, but they pulled Dr. Dulit from a healing trance, augmented his healing, then woke Flinders. All the comatose dracs are awake, to one degree or another, and we're getting brain activity from inside the cocoons of the survey crew. You bring those dracs and someone who can talk to them and control them. Dr. Dulit is doing an admirable job, but he's still recovering, and his range is limited. That's an order."
"Yes, Ma'am."
M'kar held very still, waiting until the channel had closed, and Genys copied Tahl on the report. She was sure the ship's doctor would understand what exactly was going on with the cocooned people -- brain wave activity? For the first time in decades? -- and could explain it to her in simple words. Very slowly. After she had taken a bath in caf.
"Hold on a second, Captain," M'kar said, when Genys opened her mouth to give the order to the helm, to head back through the Chute.
"Uh oh." Genys tried to smile. When M'kar addressed her as "captain," she was about to drop a heavy load of you-ain't-gonna-like-this on her.
"Granny was really, really busy the other night. She didn't wear herself out just bringing you Battleaxe's egg and guiding you through the bonding."
"She didn't." Somehow, she couldn't make that into a question. Genys had the awful feeling she knew where this was headed. "So what Axe showed me …"
"You better come with me."
Barroo trilled a sweet little sound that Genys swore came close to, "I'm really sorry, but I didn't have anything to do with it."
"Where is Battleaxe, by the way?"
"I sent out a general order for all dracs to …" M'kar sighed as they reached the door to the lift. "Well, stay out of our hair."
"All dracs?" She raised one eyebrow and nodded at Barroo.
"You know how it is. Everybody's kids listen but yours."
"Uh huh." Genys smiled, but it didn't prevent the headache starting to throb in her temples and tighten the bands in her jaw. "We're not going to need to go back through the Chute, are we?" The lift door hissed open.
M’kar glanced over her shoulder at the bridge as they stepped into the lift. Sighed. Shook her head. "Just come, and we can figure out what …" A shrug.
"Are we going to wish the Hivers caught us?" she murmured, once the lift door had hissed shut behind them.
"Brain wave activity? From inside cocoons?" M'kar leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. "I have this image of every ship in the Fleet outfitted with dracs, or maybe every medical team. Prevention and cure? That's too good to be true."
"Where are they? More important, how many are they?"
"We are in trouble," Treinna announced, appearing in front of them the moment the lift door slid open three decks below.
"Please tell me none of the children went in there? After I told all their parents to keep them out?" M'kar nudged Barroo off her shoulder. The little drac squawked, then popped out as she ran down the corridor.
"The children?" Genys followed as fast as she could, but no one could outrun M'kar when she was either afraid or furious. "Please don't tell me they broke the rules and bonded with children."
"Not yet." Treinna didn't try to keep up with them. She just pitched her voice to carry down the corridor and around the bend.
>
M'kar had to pause at the door to the rec deck for the simple reason that there was a security lock on it. Genys found that comforting for only about two seconds. The children of the Defender were unusually clever. They were being raised among the brightest and best scientific and military minds in the Alliance, after all -- even if "misfit" went before "brightest and best." She wouldn't put it past any of those children to decide this was just another test their adopted aunts and uncles threw at them, to prepare them for entering the Academy. Get several young minds together, coupled with the attitude that nothing on board the Defender would ever hurt them, and that was a sure recipe for trouble.
The lights on the door flashed, indicating the security lockdown had lifted. The door hissed open and M'kar hurried through. Treinna huffed as she came around the bend in the corridor. Genys looked back at her and stepped through the door. Battleaxe trilled, sounding just like a little girl tattling on a big brother, and hit Genys' shoulder with enough force to make her take two steps back.
An aroma Genys could only describe as "green and wilting jungle" hung moist and warm in the air. She followed her nose around the first few walls that divided the rec deck into different zones. Far in the back, where the biology class had been having such fun digging in the biggest sandbox in the galaxy, planting and watering and trimming, a soft, flickering, shimmering sort of glow reached around and over and through the barriers.
Battleaxe's chirps slowed and the little black drac wrapped her tail around Genys' neck, then tucked her nose into the collar of her uniform. Genys sighed and stroked her and followed M'kar.
"We are so dead," Treinna said, only a step behind Genys.
In the depression in the meter-deep layer of soil, a pile of drac eggs shimmered and glowed. Piles of vegetation surrounded the eggs, making it hard to determine just by eyeballing the pile how many were there. Genys made out several different shades of green, interspersed with streaks of crimson and amber and lavender. She remembered the report on what had been found in the hold of the Corona, what had been expelled, what they had deciphered from the decrypted files of the survey ship. Someone -- Granny and her obedient tribe came to mind -- had hauled a massive amount of drac food up from the planet.
"Where are they?" M'kar said, fists jammed into her hips.
Genys flinched, catching what she could only describe as the backwash from a mental call. Well, it looked like there were some downsides to being bonded with Battleaxe. Hopefully some lessons in mental discipline would take care of that little problem. She had always wondered what it was like inside M'kar's mind, dealing with the fears and furies and basic biology of animals. Now maybe she had an idea, and she appreciated in a new dimension what her Chief of Talents had to do to protect the crew on alien worlds.
Granny popped into view, hovering in the air over M'kar's head. Just out of arm's reach, Genys noted. A heartbeat later, a few adult dracs popped in, hovering behind their leader.
"Where are the others?" Treinna mimed wiping sweat off her forehead. "I've been getting glimpses of dracs popping in and out, and I was scared that some other people had been divebombed into instant motherhood. I have no idea if this is worse or better." She gestured at the pile of eggs.
"From what I can tell …" M'kar sighed. "Most of the surviving drac population is here, and on the medical station. The Hivers killed off most of the nests, most of the adult population. There are a few spots on the planet where Hivers didn't land, so some drac tribes remain there, but if the species is going to survive, it's in our hands."
"Oh, joy." Genys took a few steps forward, studying the pile of wilting plantlife. "What do we do when that stuff runs out? I don't look forward to a ship full of hungry dracs. And what do we do when those eggs start hatching?"
"Why don't we let the Commodore figure that part out?" M'kar said. "As for food, I already put samples of everything in the synthesizer and borrowed a couple medical scanners from Tahl. We got off easy during that trip back through the Chute, so she's been studying what came out of the synthesizers. What we have for replicating foodstuffs is about ten grades better than what the Corona had. We don't have to worry about nutrition."
"Thank Enlo for small favors."
"How soon will the next eggs hatch?" Treinna said. "While I wouldn't mind having one of my own, I keep tripping over that section of the report where the dracs kept the babies away from children, because of the mind-sucking tendency. Thanks very much for the turn of phrase, by the way."
"You're more than welcome," M'kar said under her breath. "Well, Granny? You heard her. When is the next batch due to pop?"
"Any chance of getting to Anwesta, reporting, and getting them all home before that happens?" Genys said.
Granny didn't like that idea. Maybe she picked up what Genys was thinking through the link with Battleaxe. Treinna's mouth dropped open while the little silver drac flew back and forth in front of them, chittering and squealing and bobbing up and down, with her tail lashing.
"Umm, you know, I don't speak drac. Yet." Treinna wrinkled up her nose at them. "But heck if she doesn't sound like both my grandmothers, squared, after spending the whole day cleaning and then a mudball team comes trooping through."
"There is the fact that she wore herself out, and all the other adults, hauling the eggs up here in the first place," M'kar offered. "What's to stop a repeat performance, if we haul everything down to the planet again?"
Granny let out a furious shriek and popped in and out, all over the rec deck. The other adult dracs cowered down around the eggs. A few burrowed under the piles of vegetation.
"Enough!" Genys cradled Battleaxe under her chin, mutely apologizing for her volume. Her voice rang off the walls and ceiling. "This stops right now. I am the captain of this ship. Do you understand?"
Granny let out a chirp and popped back in about a meter from Genys' nose. She hovered for two seconds, the angry swirling and sparkling kaleidoscope in her eyes finally slowing.
"I don't know how much you understand, and I don't really care. Here's how we're going to do it. Axe, start earning your keep and translate." She slid her drac up onto her shoulder. "You are going to keep your … whatever you want to call that pile of trouble waiting to explode. You're going to keep it under careful watch." Her gaze slid to M'kar and Treinna, automatically including them. "No, and I mean absolutely no egg is going to hatch before we reach Anwesta. Is that clear?"
She waited three seconds for a response. Granny bobbed up and down a few times, but her eyes had settled to iridescent blues and greens and she blinked only once.
"You have a very important part to play in helping us fight the Hivers and free people from cocoons at long last. You have absolutely no idea what I mean, do you? M'kar --"
"On it." M'kar stepped up and closed her eyes and pressed the knuckles of the first two fingers on each hand to her temples.
Genys was convinced it was all for show, and she didn't need to do that to concentrate and broadcast any kind of psionic message.
Granny let out a yelp. A few sparkles of red touched her eyes. She came close enough to peer into Genys' left eye and reach out a forepaw to gently pat her cheek.
"She understands we're fighting the big mean things that hurt their friends on the Corona and put all the babies and their teachers into deep sleep," M'kar said.
"So, do we have a deal?" Genys barely restrained herself from holding out her hand. If Granny responded, grasping her forefinger to shake it, she thought she might just have a meltdown. The only good point in finding the rec deck had been taken over as a nursery was that she didn't have to worry about obeying the first part of Comodore Roop's orders.
She would deliver the dracs, their eggs, and everything M'kar had learned about the beasties to the medical base. Then the Academy and the Alliance Congress could figure out what to do with the situation. The Defender and her crew had done the best they could.
Once Decker had been called to take care of setting up a security barrier around
the nest, so that crew and dracs could share the rec deck, Genys headed up to Medical with M'kar. As the only drac parents currently on the ship, they needed to work out some ground rules. Genys knew her crew too well. She knew the sort of luck the Defender had. No matter how carefully they watched those eggs, even if they put about-to-pop eggs into stasis, they were going to end up with a few more hatchings before they were free of the next generation of dracs.
Then a new thought hit her, just as the lift doors slid open. Genys groaned and her knees started to fold. Battleaxe let out a concerned chirp and M'kar reached out like she thought Genys needed some bracing.
"What?" she asked.
"We really are a nanny ship now, aren't we?" Somehow, Genys found the strength to laugh.
It wasn't a very believable laugh, but at least she wasn't throwing herself down on the deck, kicking and pounding and shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"How long do you think people are going to laugh once word gets out that our babies breathe fire?"
"Good point."
~~~~~~
Six hours later, the guardian task force arrived. They set off the drac alarms before Veylen finished giving the warning. Everyone on the bridge at that time had the satisfaction of seeing the disbelief and skepticism on the other ships' captains faces quickly turn to discomfort. Jasper and his team added another notch in their reputations and their toolkits by the time they handed over control and passwords and some tips for avoiding setting off the alarms again. Genys managed to get nearly an hour's nap before she had to confer by screen with the leader of the task force now charged with guarding the Chute entrance. She decided to cut down on the questions and rumors by keeping Battleaxe out of the pickup zone for the communication screen.
Then the Defender headed for Medical Station Anwesta, Le'anka, and hours of reports.
~~~~~~
Feeling better now?
M'kar nearly dropped her mug of seeoli tea. Fortunately, she was alone in the mess hall. She staggered a little as she aimed for the nearest table. Her eyes ached with the sudden heat and pressure of tears.
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