Caraval gave a sharp wave to Pirra. Bullets were about to fly, and he didn’t want her anywhere near this.
Instead, she floated towards them.
“I understand your pain,” she said.
One of the Hev snarled at her. “Quiet! We know you received favoritism, getting to return! No others who went in came back – so why you?”
Their eyes went to Caraval, and he hoped to hell Pirra knew what she was doing.
“Your Captain didn’t want to let me back in,” Pirra said. “He tried to lock me out. But it would have been a diplomatic incident. But I am lucky – I did not get a secondary infection.” She patted her undersuit. “This protected me – and so did my main suit, which was infected and I had to abandon at the last minute.” She hesitated a small moment, then continued.
“I saw the others in there. They were not so lucky. I’m so very sorry.”
Caraval feared that their anger would burn even brighter. But he saw some of the fire in their eyes fade.
“They are our friends and family,” the leader of the mutineers said. “We just want to see them again. Or . . . at least give them proper farewells.”
“I know,” Pirra said softly. “But it can’t be. I saw them, and . . . they’re not suffering anymore. They decided to take control of their fates. It was not easy, and it was not fair. But I’m sure they did it not only to spare themselves worse fates – but because they care about you, their friends and family. They knew you would feel like you must help them, but they took that choice away, to make it easier to say goodbye.”
The leader of the mutinous Hev bowed his head. “My mate was like that,” he agreed. “She . . . she was always selfless.”
Others hung their heads, and while Hev did not shed tears as humans did, Caraval could tell their sorrow was deep and sincere.
“I’m very sorry for your losses,” Caraval told them, interjecting himself into the conversation. “Right now, we need to focus on saving the rest of your people. I’m afraid there’s only one way we can do that – by detaching that section of the ship. I don’t know of any other way.”
Captain K’Raaiia stepped forward. “It is with great reluctance I agree to this,” he said. His voice was blustery, but Caraval thought there was at least some sincerity in it. “We shall detach the section, and upon our return from this trip we will raise a monument to the bravery of the Thousands Who Sacrificed.”
“You will . . . with your own money?” the head of the mutineers asked.
Caraval caught the pointed question and tried not to smile. K’Raaiia’s face went through a myriad of emotions, anger not the least among them. But he knew his position was not one of strength.
“With my own funds,” he agreed.
Caraval cautiously moved forward. “Captain, how do we detach that section?”
The Hev considered a moment. “It was an addition but we never intended to remove it. However . . . we never properly finished its connection. There are no deep ties to our vessel. If we break a dozen connectors, it should simply drift free.”
Caraval noted that such a weak connection was incredibly illegal in Sapient Union space, but didn’t bring it up.
“We have a few charges that might help, but I’m not sure if they’ll be enough. I can have teams go to each site-“
“No,” the head of the mutinous group said. “They are our people – we will do it.”
Caraval bowed his head to them. “I understand. We cannot get the ship moving or communications back up until we get it off, so time is of the essence. The Craton may be in trouble, and we can’t be sure the Leviathan won’t come back this way.”
“We will waste no time,” the Captain said. He began barking orders to his crew. Caraval saw some hostility to him remaining, but his crew did follow his commands.
Caraval moved back towards Pirra, who seemed lost in thought.
“You all right?” he asked.
She was startled out of her reverie. “Yes, Commander.”
“Good work there,” he said. “Even if you ignored orders.”
“I won’t make a habit of it,” she said with an attempt at a smile. It wasn’t normal for her kind, and looked wan as well as forced.
“Glad to hear it. Now . . . this time go back to our ship for real and wait there.”
“Aye, sir.”
He caught her arm as she turned. “Have it prepped and ready. If something goes wrong with this blast, then we’re going to have to get out of her fast.”
Other Terrestrial 