Two for one

Sola’s orbit around the asteroid was an erratic one; the temporary medical facility was only partially in control of it’s own flight path and weaved in and out amongst the other stations in the belt, sometimes moving through gaps that made it impractical to have a ship of Sola’s size alongside. Normally they’d have hung further out, but the mining work going on in the area had filled the belt with dust that played havoc with the ship’s communications. A shuttle landing had been considered, but as the facility only had two pads and those were in near constant use Dustin ruled it out on the grounds that he didn’t want to interfere with the station’s mission.

That left them floating in and out of the belt, Sola occasionally sending smaller rocks to oblivion with her point defence when necessary. The reason they were here was the final name on Bleu’s list - a junior virologist from a species called the Uinn that had jumped down the path of cybernetics early in their development. His name was a string of binary code delivered at high speed that only Sola could fully scan; however when Dustin had called him up he’d requested to just be called Rocky before getting called away to tend to a patient.

It was three hours before Rocky returned, waving cheerfully with an arm that was more metal than flesh before blushing and apologizing for not turning back on his synthetic layer. Dustin watched in fascination as the metal on the arm seemed to warp as it shifted to take on the same hue as it’s owners skin until the only visible indication that it was cybernetic was the thin connecting lines etched in gold. “Most offworlders seem to dislike seeing raw prosthetics” Rocky had explained, scratching the back of his head. “Anyway, you said you wanted to make me an offer to complete my studies on your ship, is that right?”

Dustin nodded, adding “a transfer in theory has been approved by both the Queri and your governments, if you’re interested in the offer.” The alien on the other end of the call glanced around for a moment before sighing. “I’d like to, and the situation here is pretty stable now. If you’d asked me a week ago I’d have said yes with no hesitation. It’s just…” Dustin wasn’t sure if the moving parts on the back of Rocky’s head were hair, tentacles or mechanical microlimbs, but regardless they seemed to be sagging in a mixture of sadness and annoyance at something.

“What’s the issue, Rocky?” He asked, glancing around at his crew as he did so. Their previous attempt to get one of the last two individuals had ended in a rapid failure, but it sounded like they might be able to get this one if they could just solve some form of situation. “It’s my partner.” Rocky said, shifting his hands uneasily. “My parents and his are insisting we formalize our relationship, but that’d require us to live together for five years afterward. I was already looking at ways to move somewhere closer to home so that we could be together before my training finishes - sitting on a starship would be an amazing opportunity, but doesn’t really work with that plan.”

Dustin scratched his chin before he replied. “What’s his career, this partner of yours? We’ve got a pretty big ship after all, and I don’t think one more mouth would be a huge issue for us.” Rocky’s hair-tendrils rose in surprise before he shook his head. “You’re an ambassador class ship, and he’s training to be a gunnery officer. Ships like yours don’t need combat crew.” At that point, Yril’k stuck her head squarely in front of Dustin’s. “Gunnery officer’k? Point defense or long range?’k”

Rocky jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of the insect woman before reaching up to scratch at his tendrils. “I’m not entirely sure. He tells me about what he’s learning all the time, but it mostly goes over my head. I’m concerned with zapping viruses not space pirates.” Dustin gently moved the Vex’ess woman who was practically vibrating to one side. “Would you mind sending over his contact details? My security chief here has been looking to expand our weapons staff - and I will say now that humans are a bit on the odd side when it comes to a lot of things. Sola’s got more firepower than your average ambassadorial craft.”

The Uinn medic nodded, and a moment later Emely gave a thumbs up to indicate she’d gotten the details for Rocky’s partner. “So if we can get approval for him to fly with us too, you’d be willing to join?” Dustin said, just to clarify before they departed on what seemed to be a micro version of the quest Bleu had them on. “Yes - if you can get approval and convince him to travel with you then I’d jump at the chance, Ambassador. Umm…” Rocky’s tendrils twitched a moment in a way that reminded Dustin of Meli’s ears when she was unsure of something before he concluded “we’d need to both head to the homeworld for about half a day for the ceremony; it’s pretty utilitarian compared to other species I’m aware but I would really like to…”

Dustin cut the man off with a raised hand. “Don’t worry. We can spare a short trip so you can get married, if I’m understanding you correctly.” Rocky nodded, face creased into a massive grin. “Thanks again Ambassador” he said, before Dustin ended the call and gave the order to depart the system. Flight to the Uinn homeworld was fast; thankfully their jump route didn’t take them back through Queri space and thus Queri traffic control, and Dustin was in an optimistic mood two days later when they dropped out of the weave. If all went according to plan here, they’d pick up Rocky on the way back to collect Bleu and the other recruits - those others they had spoken to having completed their transfers in the meantime - and then it would be a short flight back again to collect the Uinn’s betrothed before they could start to make headway on their mission once more.

Explaining the matter to the Uinn government took remarkably little time. Dustin had been expecting stiff objections to his poaching one of their military trainees, but to his surprise when he got patched through to their naval commander he was met with a bow and an offer of any assistance he might require. “The rest of the government don’t bother to read reports coming from the galactic council, but my staff do. Unlike them, I don’t think a small fish in a big pond should turn off their sensors and pretend the fish with sharp teeth can’t see them” Commander Flint had said in a tone so like Axworth’s it was uncanny. “Read all about the business with that Vex’ess ship being attacked; military vessels firing on a colony ship? Terrible business. Half of the report is council-level only but from what I could make out scanning between the locked segments, your little pleasure yacht took out multiple cruisers.”

Dustin had to nod at that - it wasn’t anything that wouldn’t be public knowledge to anyone of Flint’s rank, if they thought to look for it. Admittedly, up until that point he had been working on the assumption that only humanity was curious enough to look that closely at his reports. “Well, any ambassadorial ship that can do that kind of damage is easily worth my nodes training on. Know you can’t take too many of them, ambassador’s protocols and whatnot, but I’d consider it a personal favor if you could pass on an offer of joint training to whoever you feel my opposite would be in your government.” The Uinn had said, not really letting Dustin get in a word edgewise. And that was that - approval granted, all he needed to do was persuade Rocky’s partner and pen a quick missive to Axworth back on Earth.

The Uinn in question turned out to be taller and slimmer than the medic, with his tendrils styled onto one side of his head rather than the rear. As Dustin explained the situation, Clyff - which was his name - listened politely before nodding. “I understand. An accelerated opportunity for Rocky and I to be formally united, travel and further training in interspecies combat. Permission to come aboard and observe your weapons in action before I give my answer? While it’s a fantastic offer sir, I do have my career and mine and Rocky’s future to consider, I need to be cautious when offers sound a little too good.”

Dustin sent a shuttle down, while getting Emely and Yril’k to find a suitable nearby system for some asteroid target practice. Once they were safely away from inhabited worlds, Yril’k slowly walked their potential recruit through the systems as if they were her babies, displaying one weapon set after another in a frightening show of power. Finally, she ended after pulverising a moderately sized rock with the rail cannon with an offhand comment “and of course’k, this doesn’t include the big gun’k.” Dustin sighed at that, even as Clyff turned to look at him. Running a hand down his face, Dustin glanced at his security chief. “I know you’re excited, Yril’k, but please don’t casually mention the big gun to show off. Since you’ve mentioned it, however… Rye, how are those modifications going?”

The entire crew had gathered on the bridge for the demonstrations at Dustin’s request; his chief engineer sat up straight from where she’d been slouching at her station and tapped a couple of controls. “Ready for a test run, if you’re asking. Should give a significantly faster charge time.” Dustin nodded, then gestured towards the door. “Meli, Yril’k, if you wouldn’t mind escorting our guest down to the observation deck. No non-crew on the bridge during operation, I’m afraid. Clyff saluted and followed the others out, and it wasn’t long before they called in across comms to say they were ready. Dustin didn’t hesitate, giving the voice command to bring the main gun online while Rye sighted on one of the larger rocks as a target. One hole neatly cored through a massive space rock later, Clyff returned to the bridge slightly ashen everywhere that wasn’t one of his prosthetics and saluted once more. “Trainee gunnery sergeant Clyff formally requesting permission to serve on your ship, sir. Also, permission to inform my commander to tell the top brass to never fuck with humans under any circumstances, sir.”