EG 3 Ch 20 (Patreon)

Stations and ships had scrubbers and sensors on the air cycles. Historically a helivore would spread a virus through aerosolizing it and spraying it into the air. However, common touch points would make a far greater way to spread a virus with those controls in place.

Which was why Lily was doing her best to touch common surfaces.

"Well, it does beg the question of what comes next," I said, walking with her.

"If your plan works as I think it will, Captain," she beamed at me, the little suck-up, “Then, once we have the infection successfully spreading on the station, we'll register as going off on our next scouting run. That way we can reuse this ship if necessary. While we are out all of the Kikai in the station will fall ill and into a deep slumber."

"Shame to completely waste a ship." I sighed. By the end of this we would most likely scuttle the little scout.

"The Griffin is better," Lily said. "Not to mention it has a JACK drive, but its size is a better fit for our crew. So I am in agreement. Even if we brought on a handful more helpers, they could fit nicely in the Griffin and we could make good use of them."

Quite frankly, I wouldn't know what to do with anything bigger. For that matter, a fleet of ships. Still, it felt silly to waste a ship. Who knows, maybe we could sell it on Sage Shores. But that was a question for another day.

"Once we get registered as having left, we'll swing back around with the Griffin and clean this place out," Lily offered.

Though we would have the station to ourselves, I wasn't quite so certain we would have all the time in the world. So while we were here, I did want to identify areas we might want to hit if we got stuck with limited time.

We walked to the mess hall and I kept my ear to the ground. There was not an insubstantial amount of gossip happening around me. I wasn't sure if this was a military installation or an old woman's knitting club as I listened in. Honestly all the politicking was exhausting. But I did perk up on what I assumed was a conversation about Violet.

"The Kikai is likely long gone by now. I mean, seriously, if we haven't found her yet, then she's likely out of the system." One male kikai stated.

"Yeah, and how would she get out of the system when the whole place is on lockdown?"

"The same way anyone else does," he said, as if there were an obvious known way.

His lunch partner frowned. "And how's that?"

"Smuggler's, duh. And besides, what'd she even do to have the whole fucking system up in a riot about her?"

"She kidnapped a senator's kid," someone else from nearby leaned in to explain.

"No way," the original group denied immediately.

"Why else would they put so much effort in? It's gotta be someone high up with something to lose."

"Nude pics," another blurted out.

"Yeah, I somehow think it's more critical than naked photos," one from the first group said with an exhausted sigh, as if they'd heard the previous speaker one too many times.

"Well, if you know what it is, I'm all ears." They puffed up, and all of the gossipers went quiet to hear his response.

"There are also rumors that she's genetically modified. What if she's some sort of super soldier?" the man whispered conspiratorially, only for all of them to begin laughing.

"Fucking super soldier. You think this is some holovid movie? Hold on, let me use the force!" He groaned and stared at his cup that decided not to break any laws of physics today and the object at rest stayed at rest.

They all had a laugh at the one speaker's expense.

I lingered, while Lily paused for a moment and then ultimately decided to leave me as she wandered off toward the line with food. Knowing she was going to be contaminating food made me less hungry.

The group gossiping did a double take as Lily left me, and one of them hissed, "Hey! You with that captain?"

"I am," I said after a moment of hesitation.

"You hitting it?" another so bluntly asked.

"Uh, maybe," I hedged, and they all looked around the table at each other.

"If you are, you can say so. She's got a rep, but we won't judge you." They offered. I realized I had just been honorarily adopted into the men's group. I noticed all of the gossipers were Kikai men huddled around each other.

"She's been decent enough to me. I'll not complain." I puffed myself up, they didn’t know the half of things Lily could do and standing up for her came easily enough that I figured it helped the cover.

"For now," one of the others snickered. “Got anything interesting?”

"I like to think I'm not much of a talker," I said, sitting down with them and smiling. For a group of gossips, nothing could be better than a quiet ear for them to gossip around.

"I respect that," one of the others said. "Too many just blabber incessantly."

I smiled, trying not to let on that in my opinion they were exactly the kind to blabber incessantly.

"Some people don't know when to be quiet. If we didn't let them stick around, then why would the rest of us look so good?" They laughed. "You gonna go get some food?"

"I ate before I got off," I said, waving a hand.

"Shame. Station food's definitely better than the printers on the ships." The whole group seemed to be in agreement on that fact.

"Honestly, I wasn't sure I'd get the chance to eat, if you know what I mean." I winked at the group to rile them up a little more, and they laughed. "But speaking of everything, I don't suppose any of you would tell me a little more about the station." I leaned forward and steepled my hands. "It's my first time here."

"Ohhhh." They all seemed to glance at each other with knowing smiles.

"Well, don't let anyone say we don't show the newbies a good time." One of them lifted his drink and downed it quickly. "If you'd like, I'll give you a quick rundown of the station. That way, when the captain needs a chance to sneak away, you know all the best spots." He then winked an egregious number of times at me, and I chuckled with a slightly sheepish look on my face.

"Is she that bad?" I asked.

The group all looked at each other. "If half the stories we've heard are true, she's worse," one of the Kikai leaned forward conspiratorially.

I did my best to look a little frightened at that, and they all began laughing.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they're just rumors." Another clapped me on the shoulder. "Besides, she's a captain. Which means if you can take her back home, you'll be set."

I paled at his insinuation. "That's not why I'm here at all."

"Oh, give it up, we're all guys here." They laughed together. "We're all here doing a great service for our people." He winked exaggeratedly several times, and I could only shake my head and sigh, wondering what Lily was contaminating next.

***

I got back on the Griffin with a strange sense of relief.

"Everything okay, Captain?" Violet asked, and I shook off the strange funk.

"Yeah, just weird being with a bunch of Kikai guys. I'm already pretty tired of the gossip." That and they were all about to konk out from Lily’s virus.

Tiri overheard my comment from where she was receiving a big hug from Brick for returning. "They are such vapid creatures," Tiri agreed quickly. "I'm glad that there aren't as many of them as there are women. Otherwise I shudder to think of what would become of our people."

"I think it would be a different dynamic," I offered, defending the males of her race at least a little. I had just spent a significant amount of time with them and had enjoyed their company, even if it was like sitting with a bunch of gossiping old women the whole time.

Tiri grinned. "Don't tell me they grew on you."

"I will never admit it," I said with a solemn cross over my heart.

"Good. I think Lily would probably rip you apart if you nagged nearly as much as Kikai men."

I grunted, thinking I would probably bash my head against the wall if I nagged that much.

"So then, what's the next step?" Tiri asked.

"Wait about two days," I said, glancing at Lily for confirmation on the time frame. "Either way, we're going to be monitoring any and all communication coming out of the station. If they start calling for a bunch of medical support, we want to be able to go in and clean up before someone realizes a helivore is active."

There was a click of heels on the deck as Melgara joined us. "I read through their manual, and I think Lily's virus will fall in a bit of a regulatory blind spot." The blindfolded doctor grinned. "Excessive drowsiness, while problematic, won't trigger any serious action until it's likely too late. Not to mention, you went and contaminated the med bay," she looked over towards Lily.

"I went in for my checkup," she reported, "and spread it as you designed. Though to contaminate the bottom lip of the sanitizer dispenser seems, even to me, unethical."

I stared at the two and shook my head. "I do not know how to feel about purposefully spreading a disease. It's just a weapon by a different name."

"I designed it," Melgara said, which didn't help stop my skin from crawling.

But I understood her logic. And we had talked through the plan extensively, agreeing on our best course of options. We needed to take out an entire station, and do it in a way that did not raise any obvious alarms. For us to be successful in the future, we needed to have the others not immediately on alert. By the time they saw a trend, I hoped we would have more ammunition than just trying to find isolated stations to rob of resources.

"Either way, we have two days of rest," I said, looking back at the group. "Assuming no distress communication goes out. So do rest and recover. We'll all need to be at our best for what comes next," I reminded everyone, then got up and headed back for my quarters.

Violet jogged with me for a quick moment. "Captain, I was wondering if you'd like to do any training these two days?"

I paused at her suggestion and gave her a quick nod. "I'm going to catch some sleep for now. I think I'll be up for something, though, tomorrow morning or so." I waffled a hand. Time sometimes got strange on stations and ships. We certainly hadn't been synced with the station so my sleep was going to be off.

"Of course. I'll meet you in the holodeck, then," Violet said with a significant bounce in her step before she scattered away.

I turned to find the Stellari doctor grinning at me. "Now, Captain, you wouldn't be thinking of going off to rest before your medical checkup, now would you?"

"Pip pip." The little leviton nodded along with Melgara, and I scowled at him.

"Traitor. I introduced you to the glory of bacon," I said to Pip.

Who gave me a small, sad “Pip.” And I simply couldn't stay mad at the leviton any longer.

"Okay, well, if you insist," I said quickly, as if he had forced me to go care for my health and not Melgara. "Let's go, Doc, and get this over with so I can be cleared to sleep." I grinned at pointing out the slight disconnect, but it didn't seem to faze her. Her lips still split in a giant smile.

"I'm glad to see you understand. Well then, right this way, Captain." Melgara spun, her heels clicking on the decking as her hips swished back and forth in a way that was at least moderately distracting. But I kept my eyes up. A hot doctor was not worth upsetting my hot girlfriend.

Clearly, Lily was coming around to the idea of Violet, and after some amnesia-riddled realizations, I was too. But that didn't mean I was suddenly being given a free pass to include the entire ship in some form of expanding relationship. I also felt strangely like, if I asked, Lily wouldn't say no. I doubted she'd say no to much that I would ask of her.

"What's got you distracted, Captain?" Melgara asked, pausing at the doorway to the med bay, leaning against it with a knowing smirk.

"Just thinking about my relationships. Lily does seem to be coming around to the idea of Violet. I mean, Violet certainly has made `her intentions known." I offered.

"Yes," Melgara nodded, but I was not sure exactly what part of my statement it was directed towards. The doctor was very difficult to read, and even now I felt she was being extra difficult, and there wasn't a hope in the world of me figuring it out on my own.

"Well, do come in. I won't bite. Much. Well, not more than Lily," she told me with a smirk.

I completely deadpanned, my face becoming an unreadable mask. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, I was hoping to use that as a way to ease into the topic. But given Lily is the first helivore to my knowledge to engage in coitus with a human, I would be remiss if I didn't ask if you were capable of satisfying her." Melgara waited for an answer.

To that question I could only give a giant grin that I immediately tried, and was fairly certain failed, to suppress. "I'm not the kind to kiss and tell, Doctor. And besides, I think if you're asking about satisfaction, Lily might have more to say than I do."

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes. And yes," Lily said from above. "I can confirm the captain is very capable of satisfying a helivore."

"Such resounding praise." Melgara smirked and noted something down on her tablet.

"The captain is completely deserving of all praise," Lily continued, and I could feel my cheeks heat.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence," I said, maintaining my dignity.

"Well then, I will assume things are continuing to go well?" Melgara asked, not looking up from the tablet.

"Very. The captain has been very receptive to my needs, and I believe I have also managed his needs effectively. However, due to the captain's shyness, perhaps you should cease this line of questioning." Lily said the words without a touch of heat, yet I could almost feel a razor's edge, a tickle at the hairs on the back of my neck.

Melgara must have felt the same, as she paused. "Is that so, Lily?"

"I would be remiss if your line of questioning in turn discouraged the captain and reduces the frequency." Lily answered.

"I see, Lily. And that is the primary reason you wish for me to cease?" Melgara shot me a glance as she spoke.

"Precisely." Lily sounded like she was putting her foot down.

"Well then, perhaps I can move on to other questions I prepared. After all, we do need to ensure that our captain is of sound mind, now that he's returned to us."

"Understandable," Lily answered slowly.

Melgara sat up straighter. "In that case, Captain, please sit on the bed. We'll go through a simple examination."

Though I kept my face neutral, I wondered what other strange questions she was going to have about me and Lily. I understood the doctor's curiosity. Lily was one of a kind, providing a very unique opportunity for Melgara to dive into a scientific topic she would otherwise have no access to. Still, I didn't want to feel like I was under a microscope.

"Oh, and I prepared a few questions just to see how your memories are doing." Melgara added.

I nodded along as she projected some images into the air beside her.

"Just say who or what the item in question is. It's easier if you just do it quickly, whatever comes to mind." She waved a hand.

It sounded like some sort of psych profile. I instantly hated this.

The first image came up, and it was Lily, to which I said, ‘Hot girlfriend,’ immediately, causing Melgara to smirk.

The next image was Melgara leaning against a counter somewhat provocatively. The thought ‘hot doctor’ entered my head, and I shoved it out immediately. "Doctor," I said quickly, trying to remember if amnesia me had said ‘hot doctor’ at any point.

She hummed, somewhat dissatisfied with that answer. "And this?" She showed an album cover of an ancient five-man boy band, and I locked my expression down tight before giving her a confused shrug.

"Five guys. Are they famous? I don't recognize them." Then I smiled and turned to her. "Ah that must be it. You're seeing if I will lie when you give me an out-of-context example."

Melgara grinned. "Not quite, but an interesting theory. I'm not here to trick you. Just throwing up some items that may have been related."

I nodded along, and she gave me another image. The exterior of the Griffin.

"My ship, duh," I said quickly.

And then she gave me one I didn't know the name of, so it made me hesitate. It was the mallet that doctors use to whack your knees to check reflexes. However, a second thought occurred to me as I stared at the image in question. She had just dropped an ancient boy band, and now an implement that was likely long outdated.

I smiled. "I don't know. Triangle on a stick?" I asked.

And Melgara's face fell into a frown. "You seem to have some old humanity relics in your past. This was a common one," she explained.

"Oh, what was it used for?" I stared at her curiously.

"It was to check reflexes. An old medical tool of humanity. Obviously that's been outdated for quite some time." She told me.

"Did my family have one?" I asked, knowing exactly what was happening right now. For some reason, my words while I was re-remembering my present situation had caused Melgara to hold some form of suspicion that I wasn't from this time. At least, that was my best guess. She was trying to learn more by showing me old bands and archaic medical tools.

"Well, mostly it's actually a curiosity of mine," Melgara admitted, before grinning. "And perhaps I was waiting to see if you'd come up with an interesting name for it." She hurriedly moved on. "It seems that your memories have come back, and you are even sure enough to dismiss those things that I wouldn't expect you to know, or that might look familiar enough that you think you should know."

"Ah," I said, as if I suddenly understood what was going on. "Tricky, tricky. Well, I'm glad that's over and we can get back to the regular examination. Unless there's more?"

"There's no more," she said, sounding disappointed as the scan completed. "Lily, you can take him away. And Pip," Melgara glanced at the leviton, "seems to be in need of a walk or something. Captain, I figured you'd love to take that on?"

"Absolutely. Come on, Pip. Why don't we go explore the holodeck?" I offered.

"Pip pip!" the little leviton said excitedly.

"Sorry I couldn't bring you to the station. Walking around with a baby leviton is going to cause all sorts of questions."

"Pip pip!" he said, and I could have sworn he was angling to be included in the next one.

 "Well, I suppose they're all going to be unconscious, and those who aren't are going to die anyway. So," I dragged out the word, "why not?" I decided.

He squealed and started swimming figure eights over my head. I smiled. At least one of us was excited. I had a feeling the station, once we rendered everyone unconscious, was going to be a little creepy to move through. At least, that was my expectation going into it.

"Pip pip!" He must have noticed my mood, as he began to rub himself against my cheek.

"You are the best," I encouraged him, scratching at his side, even as that made him wiggle back and forth excitedly. Honestly, just spending time with Pip improved my mood, especially considering I had just been in a combative doctor's appointment where my doctor seemed to think I had knowledge that should vastly predate me. And, she was right. But I had no intention of her knowing she was right.

"What do you say to a nice long nap, Pip?" I asked the leviton.

"Pip pip," he said.