Chapter Fourteen
After Regi left medical, the crew considered him suspiciously. Even the captain, who ordered him to the bridge, had a certain tremor in his voice that was not natural to the man. Captain Cota was normally fearless, able to handle Ter’s frustrated rantings or some young officer’s incompetence with equal aplomb. However, given his voice over the radio, he was not comfortable with Regi’s sudden bout of immunity to radiation. Maybe that explained why he had requested Regi and Dante remain in medical for hours while Ter and Bevti completed their tests and the crew repaired the radiation seals on the damaged door. Despite the stares, Regi kept his head up as he walked the ship corridors toward the lift.
Dante followed, and despite the captain’s earlier permission, Regi expected someone to stop him before they reached the bridge. No one did. The crew seemed as wary of Dante as of Regi. Only Vk walked at their side during the short trek to the bridge, unbothered by the pirate’s death or the lack of radiation poisoning.
Dante looked around the bridge once the lift doors opened. “Where should I...?”
“This way,” Vk suggested, gesturing toward an observation station.
Dante pulled his lips back to expose white teeth before following her instructions.
Captain Cota stood, watching with a wary gaze. Once Dante appeared settled in a chair, the captain said, “Regi, follow me.” He then headed towards the private communications room, leaving the door open behind him.
No one on the bridge made eye contact with him. Not Ter who watched his engineering boards with unflagging focus or Wayi, who stared at the screen where a Kowri ship appeared as little more than a bright spot in the distance. Of course, the ship didn't need to come closer to destroy them.
But then Regi turned toward the back where Dante sat on the observation bench and watched. The inside corners of his over-eye hair pulled down slightly in the center. Regi liked to think that that was an expression of concern, but he didn't know huumans well enough to judge that. Abandoning his security post, he followed the captain.
The desk and a wall screen dominated the small communication room. Captain Cota stood beside the desk chair. “We need to contact the Kowri from here.”
“Why?” As far as Regi knew, the communication equipment on the bridge worked fine.
Cota folded his hands together. His species had a high number of fingers, and he twisted all of them into a complex weave that resembled a knot. “I agreed to this plan because it is our only hope of survival, but let us be honest with each other. It is far more likely that in choosing this, we are simply choosing a quicker and less painful form of death.”
“You assume my people are going to fire.”
“I do.” Cota continued before Regi could protest. “But the blame is not yours. You have been an exemplary officer all these years. As much as I was concerned about having a Kowri on the ship, especially given Ter’s work, I never regretted accepting your posting. However, if the Kowri are going to open fire, I don't want the others to suffer longer than required. It's better that they are not privy to the threats of violence so that when the Kowri open fire, there is no time for panic.”
Regi took a breath and ordered his thoughts. “You are incredibly sure that I will fail.”
“The Empire has made it clear that any Coalition ship that trespasses will be destroyed.”
Regi was fully aware of the threats, and of the reasons for such threats. The Empire had not always been as quick to attack, but the Coalition had an unpleasant fondness for spying. That, combined with their jealousy surrounding Empire technology, meant that the two neighbors had engaged in any number of nasty squabbles before the Empire had started summarily ending any disagreements by destroying ships that crossed the border.
But for a Kowri to kill another Kowri was no easy feat. The captain would be follower of Gavd, and Gavd was a powerful cold season god. However, even an exalted of Gavd would hesitate to kill one touched by Poque. She too was a cold season god and perfectly capable of enacting revenge. She might not be as powerful and feared as those like Gavd or Divashi who were famous for their involvement in the lives of their favorites, but she had led the Kowri into space. She had shoved them off-course to help them find new planets. She had molded their species, and even a follower of Gavd would not be quick to displease her.
Regi just needed to convince the Kowri on the approaching ship that she was watching, and they would not dare fire. Naturally, the flaw in that plan was that he would have to convince the Kowri captain that one of the most accepted tenets of his belief was wrong. Regi still remembered his mother telling him that if he left, the gods would never again look on him. They would not even see him because the gods did not turn their eyes outside the Empire. Regi needed to convince them that that was wrong.
But Regi was not the only one the god had directly intervened in favor of. “I need Dante here.”
“The slave? Why?”
