Queries

Dustin was not particularly happy with the Queri government right now. Stomping around the ready room table, he gestured at the tablet in his hand while his assembled crew looked at him with a mixture of concern and mutual frustration at the situation. “Shortlist they said, right? Some bloody shortlist. Three names, two of which have already contacted us to say that they don’t want to come on board as they’re wanting to pursue planet-based medicine long term.” Setting the tablet down with a snap, he flopped into his seat, kicking his boots up onto the table the way Rye usually did and sighed. “What do we want to do, people?” he concluded, glancing at the women around him.

Meli went first, standing and stepping behind him with her hands rubbing at the tension in his shoulders as she spoke. “I propose we make the best of it and contact the one remaining candidate. The Queri are all skilled medics so even if we are **** into a choice it will still be for our benefit. And it is not as if we are required to make them part of our relationship, so that is not a consideration.” Emely nodded and piped in with “Yril’k’s proved that we can all work and play well even with people that are just friends not pridemates, sir” before giving the insect woman a thumbs up.

For her part, Yril’k merely half-raised one bladed arm. “A medic’k is vital. The longer we delay getting one’k, the riskier our journey becomes. Going into conflict’k without suitable support staff is foolhardy’k at best, self-destructive at worst’k.” The remaining two women nodded their agreement to the security officer’s words. With another sigh, Dustin leaned forward and rested his face in his hands. “I know, I know. And it’s not like having people thrust on me for crew hasn’t been amazing so far - you’re a brilliant officer Yril’k, and Trea’k… relationship aside, lovebug, everything I see about you tells me that when things get tough I’m going to have the best counsellor possible aboard. But really, I had thought we’d at least be able to interview a few people to pick someone perfect.”

The crew nodded at that, before Rye slid Dustin’s tablet back over to him. “Well, Dusty, since we’ve not got any choice, d’ya want to get in touch with…” and here the bunny girl paused, spun the tablet around and skimmed it quickly before continuing “…Bleu? And see what they say about signing up?” Picking up the offered device Dustin nodded. “Yea, I guess so. May as well do the whole interview process anyhow, let them know what they’re signing up for. I guess if all three of their candidates refuse us we’ll have a good reason to go complain to the Queri government about this mess, right?”

Ten minutes later, Dustin was sat in his chair on the bridge waiting for the call to go through to their potential new recruit. He’d opted to not dress pompously; the little information the Queri had provided about personalities seemed to indicate that Bleu was not big on formality. As Emely navigated the Queri communications network, he mused on the lack of information he had been given - while the details of the potential recruits’ medical capabilities had been covered in excessive depth, their individual characteristics were noticeably skimmed over.

Just as he felt he was about to reach some kind of realization regarding the workings of the Queri government however, the main screen flickered away from a view of the stars outside and onto a view of a small wood panelled room. A handful of ornaments lined a shelf on one wall while the other was covered in drawings - mostly of biochemical formulas from what Dustin could make out. His reflection on the room only lasted a few moments however, because shortly after the call had been answered movement caught his eye. In the middle of the floor, a large blue-green blob of slime sat; as he watched it unfurled three long tendrils which rose before turning around to face him.

Talking to two eyeballs and a mouth on stalks was disconcerting, but he did his best. “Greetings, Dr Bleu. I am…” he began, before one of the eye-stalks waved to the side in a gesture of dismissal. “The human ambassador, yes, I know, the idiots upstairs sent me your file for consideration. You want a ships medic, correct?” The voice was raspy and deeper than he’d expected, putting Dustin in mind of friends of his grandparents who had smoked far too much in their youth. “We will need to talk in person.” The Queri said then, dragging him out of his momentary reverie. “I don’t like discussing matters over comm links. How soon can you send a shuttle?”

Dustin shrugged at the briskness of the request. “Depends how quickly we can get clearance to land. About three minutes after that I’d guess?” Bleu’s eyestalks dipped in a nod. “I have relayed the nearest landing pad to your communications officer. I will meet your shuttle there shortly.” With that, the line went dead. Dustin blinked, before glancing at the others. “Well, weren’t they charming?” Rye commented dryly, before turning to head out the door. “I’ll go get shuttle one up and running and go pick up our interviewee. See ya in a bit, Dusty.”

It took over two hours before the shuttle could depart; Queri air traffic control was exceptionally regimented on their hospital colony and so it was quite some time later that Dustin found himself seated behind a low desk in one of the spare meeting rooms, looking at the ball of slime that had just rolled into the space opposite. After considering who would be best to conduct the interview he’d opted for Meli and Trea’k as his assistants - Emely was busy with ongoing negotiations for a resupply from the local government and Rye and Yril’k were not exactly ideal for the conversations he hoped to have.

Bleu’s form rippled for a moment after the slime had come to a stop and a rough approximation of a hand and mouth appeared, the hand extending out on a tendril from the surface. “Limb grasping is part of your greetings, let’s get on with it.” The slime said, irritation dripping through it’s tone even as Dustin shook the offered hand. The slime was warmer than he had expected, although slightly sticky it seemed as he withdrew from the handshake. A moment later the arm retracted into the body of Bleu and their mouth gave a gentle humming noise before the slime folded in on itself.

With a disconcertingly slick sound, the ball flowed upright and tightened before the now bipedal and vaguely humanoid figure sank into the chair Dustin had left to one side of the desk. “Right, now I’m closer in form to you bipeds - no offense to the Vex’ess - can we get on with this so you can say no, I can call the government a bunch of names and go back to them refusing me permission for basically everything in my life?” they said, mouth grinning just a little too wide before their form solidified and limited it to just an over the top grimace.

Dustin tried hard not to question the fact that he was being bossed around by a giant blue jelly baby figure - while Bleu was indeed bipedal, the form they had taken lacked any real definition and mostly looked like a uncooked gingerbread man, all too-smooth surface and lack of details. Instead, he picked up his tablet and brought up the list of questions they had prepared for their interview. “Why do you want to work on board a starship?” He began, opting for hopefully the easiest of questions. The slime’s answer immediately made him lose faith in this being an easy process. “I don’t. I just want to do my damn job, which is healing people. Don’t care if that’s on a colony, a starship or dropped into a plague-ridden asteroid to be honest.”

Bleu’s answers were short, sarcastic at times and blunt at others. As they worked through the list, Dustin began to understand the Queri opposite him. They were dedicated to their work, but loathed authority structures with a passion. He’d questioned whether that would make working for an ambassador a hard proposition, and the slime had waved it away with a suggestion that they had reviewed the files provided and viewed ships like his as little more than floating anarchist communes with no real government. Meli had chimed in to point out that this was not true and that Dustin was the captain, at which Bleu had queried whether Dustin let them take charge at any point. Given that she had so recently **** the entire mission to pause while she retrieved plant life from a colony, Meli had to concede the argument.

“Besides that fact, Meli’a, I should also note that I sensed four different partners on his skin when we shook hands earlier. And no elevated levels of stress hormones from any of them - the opposite in fact, and all accounts I have seen of happy ambassadorial ships indicate a communal outlook. How large is the crew?” Dustin coughed and admitted that there were only the six of them on board currently. “I see.” Bleu had replied, eyes narrowing slightly before nodding for more questions. The crew reached their final question some time later, and Dustin set the tablet down. The slime hadn’t answered any of their inquiries in a way that especially enthused him - but neither had they done so in a way that would give him a reason to refuse their joining the ship. Glancing side to side, a slight nod from the women next to him let him know that they felt the same.

“Well, then Bleu” he began, at which the slime held up a hand. “If you’re telling me you’re turning me down, that’s fine but don’t sugar coat it please” they said. Dustin shook his head. “Nothing of the sort. We want a Queri doctor, you fit the bill. You’ll do fine.” The slime nodded for a moment before glancing across the three of them. “Nope. Thanks, but I’m not taking on a project like this with a staff of one.” Dustin blinked - had Bleu just… Meli interrupted his thoughts with a polite cough. “We would of course be happy to add additional medical staff if you have recommendations, if you feel that would change your decision.”

Bleu looked at the Velca for a moment before pulling a data crystal literally out of their chest. “Here. Get over half the people on this list and fine, I’ll run your medical team.” Then the Queri turned back to Dustin. “Don’t let my government bully you on this one. They’re all utter bastards, useless bastards, or utterly useless bastards. Good luck with everything, you all seem like nice sapients.” Then their form collapsed, shifting back into a ball albeit one with a mouth. “I’d like to head back to my apartment now. I have things to be doing to get ready just in case you manage to pull this off.”