“Yes, but not well enough to fool anyone. I need to tell them what to say. This isn’t a helpless situation, I promise. They only have to have the right words.”
“How would you know?” Lazil asked. His question wasn’t mean, but it was frustrated.
“The same way I knew which drink to give Miran or how to hide in the desert,” she shot back. “I know all about a lot of species.”
“I’m opening comms to them now,” Miran said as he tapped on his console.
There was a pause, then the display on the wall lit up to show a mangled control room with a human, Hissa, and droid all staring back at her.
She was a little spooked by the droid. A strange sense of intelligence was emanating from it.
Shaking off the odd feeling, Nova focused on the human and Hissa while Miran, Lazil, and Nerin all got up to stand around her.
“If we have to go into battle, we’ll put ourselves between you and the Diniki ships,” Lazil said before she could address anyone.
It took a lot to keep from cursing at Lazil. She was not interested in dying today.
“I need to talk to them! This can all be worked out,” Nova said, trying to talk loud enough for Lazil to hear through his thick skull. It didn’t work, no one looked at her.
“We should put Nova in a biosuit and lock her in an escape pod in case the worst happens,” Miran said, probably resigned to the thought of fighting because of Lazil.
“Then we need to hurry,” Lazil said. “We need to strike them before they expect it.”
Not on her watch. It looked like she was going to need to save this situation before these warriors did something irrevocably stupid.
“It’s the only way to ensure victory!” Lazil finished saying, only to have the Hissa warrior on the other ship shut them all up.
“Quiet!” he roared. To Nova’s relief, it worked, and Lazil stopped talking and all three Hissa standing close to her stiffened. It seemed that this Hissa had some authority. The stranger focused on her. “I’m Warik, and this is Nisha.”
Nisha raised a hand to give a little wave. “Hi! Sorry the situation is so ugly.”
Nova was relieved to be dealing with apparently rational people! She gave them a warm smile.
“I’m Nova,” she said, then introduced the guys. “That’s Nerin.” She tried a bit of humor to help diffuse the tensions. “The violent one is Lazil. Don’t hold it against him, he’s had a rough couple of days.”
He gave her a sour look and grumbled under his breath. “Any troubles we’ve faced were created by you.”
That was new. He was acknowledging that she didn’t get lucky but was able to orchestrate her escapes. That would make future plans more difficult, but at least he didn’t see her as stupid and helpless anymore.
Of course, first they had to survive the current situation.
“Which one of you was speaking Diniki?” she asked. “It was really good!”
Nisha looked pleased and quickly explained that it was a program she created that spoke Diniki without an accent or hesitation. Nova was even more impressed. There were plenty of translation programs out there, but you could always tell. This one was flawless!
It took some back and forth on whether they’d trust her to help until Miran simply said with absolute confidence, “I trust her,” that Warik agreed to let her help.
She quickly told them what to say to calm down the Diniki tempers and open up an exchange where they could eventually bribe someone into leaving them alone.
Nova thought all the trouble was over when they talked the Diniki into going away after a large sum of wealth was distributed to them in a way that they wouldn't have to declare it to their government.
She was about to collapse into a chair when Nisha’s expression turned upset.
“This isn’t great timing,” Warik said.
“What?” Miran asked before she could.
“There are twenty-five grow vats on this ship, and they all need to be decanted right now. You guys need to figure out how to get onboard. We’re going to be very busy.”
