“Vernal?” Ter asked with alarm.
“No. They hold two planets, but they are a very young species with a limited reach. Given that the pirates parked their ship on the edge of a black hole, I assume it was cheaper to steal workers from an isolated civilization than pay someone stupid enough to live out here.”
Ter looked around the room. “What was going on this ship that they chose to turn to slavery?”
That might be the very answer Poque wanted Regi to find. Hopefully she would provide a hint in a less bone-damaging way than her earlier clues.
Ter huffed. “If he's working the ship, he has to know something about the mechanics and the codes. Get him in here and I'll let him work on the controls under supervision.” He paused. “My supervision.” His expression turned fierce on that last point.
“He knows we’re trying to get control of the ship, and he hasn't said anything about possessing knowledge that would help us. I think we’re on our own.”
“Surely what you meant to say was that you questioned him directly and he denied any knowledge of ship function.”
“I will not question him directly.” Regi said fiercely.
“Are you religiously interested in dying?” Ter asked. “I sent Wayi to explain our situation, but perhaps you missed the relevant information I hoped to convey. There is no way to repair our ship. We either get control of this ship, or we continue to dangle at the edge of a black hole until the other pirates return and kill us all. So either speak to this victim of yours or I will speak to him with far less subtlety.”
Regi's hair bristled along his spine. “You will not speak to him. He is medically fragile and frightened, and from a species so young that it only has two planets. He did not even know other sapient species existed until he was taken as a slave.” Regi wasn't entirely sure of that, but it was likely true, and it improved his argument. “For his species, ships are the purview of governments and corporations, and he couldn't find the bathing facilities. I suspect that he doesn't know enough about technology to start a child's shuttle, so he would be of absolutely no use here, but learning our precarious situation could traumatize him.”
Regi braced for a verbal battle, one he could not lose. Regi would never allow the pirates to touch Dante or anyone on the ship, but Dante had no reason to believe that. If he knew they would be helpless when the pirates returned, he might stop breathing to escape into death.
Instead, Ter’s tail drooped and he sat back as if considering Regi’s. “If he can’t help, we may be stuck here for a long time.”
That was doubly true, since Poque had arranged their misfortunes. “I know. And I will prepare defenses for when the pirates appear. But I cannot allow you to abuse a man who has already been abused.”
Ter’s tail twitched. “I would've been kinder to him than I have been to Captain Cota in the recent past.”
Regi grinned. “People have been traumatized by a fraction of the misery you have heaped on the captain.” Ter looked suitably complimented. “I will have Dante work with Ean to see if she can sociologically intuit the codes. He might have known the pirates well enough to be helpful.”
“Once someone applies the word ‘intuit’ to technology, the argument is already lost.”
“I know Ean's chances are very low unless she finds the codes written somewhere, but she is the only one with experience handling psychological trauma. If anyone can convince Dante to provide all of the help within his purview, she will.”
Ter pursed his lips, which was almost an expression of approval. The universe was definitely tilting on its axis if the gods noticed a species not the Kowri and then Ter approved of anyone else’s performance. These were two such improbable events that Regi wondered if he had fallen into an alternate reality.
“There is another issue for which I require assistance and I need to speak to you before I talk to the captain.”
Ter’s expression turned far less approving. “I cannot handle more problems, and if you are bringing me one, I will make you as miserable as I am right now.”
Regi held out his hands palm up. “I need to return home immediately. I don't have time to turn the opposite way into Coalition space. I had been planning to take the pirate ship when the rest of you continued your patrol of the border, but now as I understand it, that is impossible.”
“It is. Our ship will not fly until I get replacement crystals for the control rods, preferably three sets of them.” His tail slapped the leg of his stool. “I no longer consider one backup sufficient.”
Regi nodded. “A wise conclusion given recent events.” In truth, unless the gods planned to torture the crew after Regi parted ways with them, the third set was likely unnecessary, but Regi was not interested in debating Ter. “However, I must return home.”
Ter studied him, his long fingers finally leaving the controls and folding together. “Your people do not let anyone in. As I understand it, they remotely recalled the shuttle that dropped you off at a station hub.”
“They did.”
“And they have threatened every Coalition ship that comes too near their territory,” Ter continued.
“I have no doubt of that.” Regi’s people were not interested in tolerating outsiders.
Ter leaned closer. “I was on one of those ships that got threatened and I saw the Kowri ships. They would crush us like a likfet’taka.”
Regi didn’t recognize the name, but from the way Ter pressed his upper thumb into the palm of his opposite hand, the creature was easily crushed. “My people do not treat life so dismissively.”
Ter huffed his disbelief, and Regi understood the sentiment. He altered his argument. “They are not unethical enough to extirpate people for bringing home a wandering son.”
