When he reached the interior, he slapped his hand against the access panel and the exterior exit slid shut with a heavythunk. The metal might not offer more than the illusion of safety, but Dante felt as though he could breathe.
Cota gave him an odd look before opening the door. Ter peeked around the frame. “Are they gone? Are we safe? I didn’t do anything. Hrole is the one who handed me a substandard part. I’m not going to start accepting shoddy work because Regi’s people are logic-impaired theologians who value superstition over quality control checks.”
Regi’s movements were full of deadly grace and fury. “Why would your engineers have deleted the files?” he demanded.
Vk took a step back and her nose scrunched up.
Ter, however, didn’t show any fear; he thrust his elbows out. “Because that is standard operating procedure. If the ship is boarded then all research is wiped.”
Captain Cota turned an alarming shade of purple and swiped his hand in Ter’s direction, but Ter sidestepped to avoid contact.
Regi squared off against the captain. “I know all Coalition regulations, and there is no such security protocol in place.”
“In regular ships, no, but on my—”
“Chief Engineer Ter, that is quite enough,” snapped Captain Cota in an unusual show of temper.
Regi looked from Ter to Cota, his hair still on end. “Coalition regulations mandate crew behavior. The chief engineer cannot create procedures in contradiction to general orders.” He sounded so calm, but still, something in his voice made cold shivers run down Dante’s spine. As nice as Regi was, this dangerous edge lurked under the surface.
Ter stood taller and poked his thumbs in Regi’s direction. “Oh yes, I shall take your advice to care about Coalition regulations when I am likely hours away from being executed by xenophobic Kowri who want nothing more than a good excuse to kill people.”
The skin between Cota’s eyes wrinkled. “I'm sure we can speak with the Kowri. Chief Security Officer Regi has been successful in soothing concerns about our presence in the past. I am sure he can smooth this over as well.”
“I likely cannot,” said Regi. “The Kowris’ worst fear is having our gods-gifted technology stolen, and by deleting the files, the engineering staff has made it appear as though this crew is guilty of that crime. Bekdi a’Gavd will demand punishment.”
“Police officers are not fans of obstruction of justice,” Dante muttered. He’d learned that when he’d decided that if his father was going to make people miserable by passing crappy laws, then he would make law enforcement miserable by getting in their way while they were enforcing those crappy laws. He’d spent quite a few nights in jail before his father had threatened to start putting down horses until Dante stopped rebelling. The problem with loving something was that it gave people the power to take it away.
“Barricading justice?” Regi asked. “How would one build a barricade around justice?” He tilted his head to the side and studied Dante.
Dante sometimes wondered whether the programmers who had designed the translators had worked while drunk.Or hungover. Heaven knew Dante didn’t feel particularly competent with his head pounding and his mouth still fuzzy from last night’s bender. Maybe that explained today’s string of silly translator errors.
“My people have a legal charge called obstruction of justice,” Dante explained. “If you are trying to stop the police from finding out that you did something illegal, you might destroy evidence. But the police can then charge you with obstruction of justice for destroying the evidence even if they cannot convict you of whatever crime they were investigating in the first place.”
Regi gave a single, sharp nod to show he understood. “My people do not have such a concept. If you obstruct the investigation of a crime, it is assumed you are involved in such crime, and it is automatically taken as evidence of guilt.” He gave Ter a look full of displeasure.
“I'm not guilty of anything except protecting my research.” Ter’s elbows stuck out aggressively and Captain Cota made a shushing gesture at him.
“Why was it so necessary for you to prevent the Kowri from seeing your research?” Regi demanded. Vk took another step back, her nose growing shorter by the second.
Ter glanced at Cota.
“Absolutely not,” Cota said.
“I have no interest in being executed by xenophobic bigots who do not appreciate my unwillingness to accept substandard work from an assistant who should have been drowned at birth to prevent his many errors from infecting the world.”
Cota said, “You have no authority to involve others in your assigned tasks.” His pupils were narrow slits.
Ter snorted inelegantly. “I value my life more than my commission, especially when the Coalition cannot provide me with either a mechanically sound ship or backup supplies which would allow me to repair the ship. The Coalition’s negligencehas nearly cost me my life once, and I will not allow their policy to keep me silent on issues that Regi might use in my defense, assuming he is at least marginally effective in explaining simple matters using small enough words to convince Kowri. I’d ask Ean to defend me, only the Kowri are too stupid to respect her expertise.”
“I forbid—” Captain Cota began.
Ter detoured around the captain, poking him with an elbow with enough force the captain grunted. “Your people need to understand that this was standard procedure,” he told Regi. “I conduct sensitive research on the ship, and as my notes represent the leading edge of Coalition technology, we cannot allow them to fall into anyone's hands. Any incursion into the ship requires all computer memory crystals to be both wiped and damaged beyond repair. We were not trying to steal Kowri secrets. We were trying to protect our own.”
Regi blinked and the silence grew uncomfortable.
“I thought you were a patrol ship,” Dante said.
“Huumans lack logic,” Ter snapped. “Do you believe I would have such harsh words for my engineers if they were doing nothing more than maintaining engines during a patrol? I endure engineers who believe that truth can be found in inadequate textbooks written by those with tiny and inefficient brains. I must keep these fools alive when we are experimenting with technology that would contradict known theory and require all texts to be rewritten. Would a simple patrol require so many engineers?” Ter thrust his chin toward Dante. “Would the Coalition waste my time on routine maintenance?” He fell silent.
