“It’s reverse engineered from some bat ships we took generations ago,” Shank said. “I doubt the bats even use it for what we do.”
“What do they use it for?” Ben immediately asked, and Allie could almost see him calculating threat assessments and military protocols. He may have given up the Nicve marines after his unit betrayed him, but he still had that same Nicve core of service and honor above all. No wonder Caj felt more threatened by Ben than the rest of them put together.
“Who knows,” Caj offered. “The bats are... Well, they’re bats. We keep them informed about which ships belong to what families, and they treat us pirates as if we’re a separate species from the rest of humanity.”
“They understand the difference between family ships and nonfamily ships,” Shank said, “and as near as we can tell, ‘nonfamily’ to them translates something like ‘fucking crazy, so keep your distance.’”
Caj nodded. “Pretty much. They’ll trade with us, we’ll raid one another’s ships and exchange hostages, but we’ve never had honest violence break out between us.”
“Right, no violence.” Allie snorted and then promptly went on a sneezing binge that completely ruined the air of cool disbelief she’d hoped to project. She had never considered bats capable of peaceful trade.
“It would have been nice if Command had understood a fraction of this,” Ben said with a hint of patriotic condemnation in his voice.
Caj looked him up and down. “Really? It seems like most of us who have family ships got driven out of Command space years ago. Some of us ran from poverty or bogus criminal charges or a government that tried to destroy our culture, but whatever the cause, we haven’t been welcome in human space for a long time.”
“Caj,” Shank said. He let go of Allie’s waist and reached out to the older man.
“No, they need to know.” Caj brushed Shank’s hand aside. “Family ships aren’t full of people looking to get rich. We’re families who couldn’t live inside the system. Shank’s ancestors were accused of eugenics.”
Allie felt her stomach drop. Eugenics, attempting to control the breeding of humans like they were farm animals by selecting which humans could reproduce. If there was one word in the entire human language that was more disgusting thandyssexual,eugenicswould be it.
“They wanted to save our people,” Shank said. “But saving the Sioux meant that we tried to have children with other Sioux. We had genetics banks so we could track the lineage and make sure we had enough genetic diversity without bringing in too muchwasichu.”
“Christ. That’s not eugenics,” Ben said.
“Really?” Shank looked over at him. “Almost three hundred of my people were charged and tried in absentia when Command proved they had either contributed to or taken genetic material from those banks.”
Allie turned and walked to the bed. She sat before her knees could go out from under her. Copta appeared beside her, reaching out for her hand. Allie clung to it.
“My ancestors were more mundane,” Caj said. “During terraforming, a certain amount of food and medicine gets diverted to the wealthy, who can pay a little more. My ancestors liberated a few of those supplies, and they were accused of grand theft and threatened with twenty- and thirty-year sentences. They weren’t doing more than selling the food to hungry people at fair prices, which was more ethical than what the wealthy were doing. But you can’t walk into this world and expect the rules to be the same. Yes, you hate Command. Good for you. But don’t pretend you understand the depth of our hate.” Caj pointed a finger at Shank. “And don’t assume your mother won’t do what she needs to in order to protect her people.”
Ben found his voice first. “We aren’t a threat to you people. Yeah, I do think about the lives that could have been saved if Command had that technology. However, I also know the bats would have found a way to counter it.”
Allie figured he was changing his tune, but that was fine. She was feeling a little like singing a different song herself. Command had tried people for eugenics because they wanted to save their culture. That was evil to a level she had trouble understanding. She was the first to admit she’d had a sheltered childhood. Command were the people who did flyovers on Freedom Day and who put up brightly colored posters looking for volunteers and who sent hordes of uniformed men and women to help vaccinate children when the occasional disease broke out. They weren’t monsters.
Only they were.
“We just want families of our own,” Allie said. “We don’t want to get pushed around by Command. We really don’t want to be part of some war machine that ends up turning against its own people as the refugees we saved become the security threat we have to control.”
“Masha Allah,” Copta said softly. “My people have never had much respect for Command, but we have no stories like that.”
Caj shrugged. “I have no idea how those people think. However, I don’t want you walking into this blind.”
Ben was the first to ask the obvious question. “What can we do to make it clear that we aren’t likely to side with Command on basically anything?”
Caj looked at them. “When I first met you, I wouldn’t have even suggested the slip. At the first sign of trouble, I would have pulled Shank out of here, cuffed him, and shoved the rest of you out an air lock.”
“Charming,” Allie said drily.
Caj flashed her a smile. “I am charming, but I have to protect the family.”
“But now you’ve seen that we are family,” Shank said. “If we are pairing up, that means we’re stable and sane and more likely to think about kinfolk than profit or Command.”
“It’d work better if one of you were pregnant.” Caj studied them hopefully.
“Oh God no,” Allie quickly blurted out. She couldn’t even deal with the idea of motherhood right now. Besides, even if the thought had crossed her mind, she and Shank had both gotten caught in the shock wave of a nuclear explosion. They shouldn’t even consider having children until they’d both been cleared by a geneticist. Shank, Jacqs, and Ben likely all had significant damage since they’d been outside the ship.
Becca’s eyes were large, but oddly Copta seemed to be thinking. “I would not mind a pregnancy, but I am asexual, so that would require a doctor’s assistance. And I do not think this is the right time.”
