random_nanorimo_stuff | Other Trails Chapter 15

She woke to find herself curled on a large, soft mattress that shifted under her with a soft sighing sound. The fuzzy pillow was held tightly in her arms, and she lifted her head puzzledly and turned it to find that the warm pillow she'd been laying on was Joel's chest. The furry man was sleeping deeply, signs of exhaustion and concern showing on his usually unmarked face.

Shade frowned, but then dropped the fuzzy pillow and scrambled off the mattress as she hurried over to touch the softly rumbling Starfighter.

"Hey..." He turned his head and blinked at her slowly, then offered her a crooked and shaky grin. "You alright?"

"Never mind me. What about you?" She scowled at him as she trotted over to look into the eye that was closer to her level.

"Gonna be alright. Life force's stabilized." The big eye, the soft blue of a summer sky, closed wearily as he snorted with tired amusement. "If I hadn't had that stinkin' fuel this'd've killed me."

"Well now you know why you needed it." She leaned against him protectively. "Where's Mist?"

"Sleepin' on me." There was a soft chuckle in the quiet response. "With both hands on my chest."

"She's reassuring you." Shade sighed as her chin trembled.

"Yeah... I know." The crooked smile returned. "Sorry... can't make your cabin right now."

"Don't worry about it. We don't need it right now." She smoothed his cheek, even though the sleek silver plating held no fur to stand up. "Joel's worried about you."

"Heh. Walking rug. Better watch who he's... callin' a kid." No animosity flavored the words.

"You are a kid. And so are we, out here." Shade sighed and snuggled close. "I was stupid to bring Mist out here and think I could save anybody."

Starfighter gave off a soft game buzzer noise. "Like rust. You've saved lots of people."

She looked at him doubtfully. "Joel's only one person."

"Joel, Meme, Karc..." More quietly. "Me."

"...I didn't save you or those others. Nothing was attacking you."

"Uselessness." He snorted softly with amusement. "King slacker. No point to life and nobody to care, or to care about. You and Mist gave me a reason to be."

"Karc and Meme?" She blinked and smoothed her cheeks.

"Karc's free now, 'n that doll's got Meme reachin' out and trying." Starfighter peeked at her, then closed his eyes again and grinned that crooked grin. "You're not stupid. Bit of a bully, but not stupid."

"Bully?" Her eyes went wide. But then she realized that he was teasing her. "Ffff!"

He chuckled, then sighed.

"You should... right, you don't sleep." She frowned and touched his cheek again with concern.

"No. But when I'm this low I shut down to let the energy concentrate to the right systems," he said without opening his eyes.

"Do that, alright?" She pat patted him. "We've got your back trail."

"Yeah." The grin was stronger and straighter as he faded offline.

* * *

"They call themselves the Earth Defense Force," said Captain Johnson from where he was sitting on the couch in the stateroom, his hands echoing his words. "And that force field was put up to keep convertors away from Earth. They said they were protecting the planet from extraterrestrial invasion or interference."

Joel scowled and drew a leg up, then glanced at the face of the crewmate he was sitting on. "What gives them the right?"

Shade perked at the hard edge of anger in the human's voice, but stilled as Starfighter got a hand up and gently covered herself and Mist with it. "Do they know what's happening on Earth?"

"No." The Captain shook his head. "They told us that the Earth was uninhabited and uninhabitable."

"What?" Joel's scowl darkened.

"They were very surprised by the life sign maps we showed them." Captain Johnson grinned. "Don't worry. Earth still has a lot of humans left on it. And your own Nation outnumbers the Earth Defense Force, so your request for help outweighs their demand that we leave."

"How did they make that force field?" asked Shade.

[Didn't know there are more people than human and convertor?] asked Mist at the same time from where she couched beside her sister on Starfighter's chest.

"No, they didn't know," said the Captain. "And we're not sure about the construction of the field yet, but we do know that it was being transmitted from a net of satellites that encircle the planet, including the Earth Defense Force's own home station."

"Home station?" asked Starfighter, frowning. "They don't even live on Earth?"

"No. They've been on this station since before the Big Rescue." Captain Johnson gave the young convertor man a concerned look.

"Dog in the manger," growled Joel.

"Maybe," said the Captain in his mild JD way, unwilling to accuse anyone of anything until it was proven. "Remember, they thought the planet couldn't support human life."

Joel scowled and folded his arms, but then elbowed the Starfighter finger that came over to poke him.

Shade perked as she saw how his expression lightened as he did so, then turned back to the Captain. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, we've spoken to the Earth Defense Force queen, and she's sending her son for a discussion here on the ship," said the JD man, smiling as he watched Joel and Starfighter's interaction. "You'll get a chance to talk to him, Joel, as a representative of your people."

"Wait." He paused with Starfighter's finger under his arm and frowned down at the Captain. "You're saying I'm suddenly the rad baby Ambassador?"

"For now, at least," said Captain Johnson gently. "You're all we have available."

Joel thought about this, then elbowed the other finger that came to poke him in the back. "Guess I don't have a choice."

"You can ask your National leader to appoint someone else as your spokesman once you get home."

"No I can't." Joel leaned back against the fingers and frowned, looking slightly pensive. "I'm not going back to Earth. And I already appointed someone else as spokesman before I got on that spaceship."

Shade lifted her head in the startled silence that followed his words and looked at him curiously. "You were the leader of your Nation?"

He nodded. "My dad got the old tribes together and helped them rediscover technology, and my mom gave everything she had to defend our home base. Rad babies aren't likely to want to follow anyone other than one of their kids for awhile. But Joleen knows what she's doing."

"Wait." Starfighter lifted his head to frown at the smaller man. "You were leader, but you just left?"

"I couldn't ask anyone else to get on that Nazi ship." Joel frowned back at him.

Starfighter slowly shook his head. "You're as rusted out as the old President."

"The old President was rusty?" Shade caught the tail end of that as she was signing it for Mist. "Oh wait. You're just cussing again."

"The last Protectorate President was known for never sending a man in where he wouldn't go himself," explained Captain Johnson.

"Yeah. Good thing he had buddies to talk some sense into him." Starfighter closed his eyes, but then lifted his head again as a silvery sound came from the Captain's wristband.

"Ah. I've been waiting for this call." The JD man grinned as he directed the wristband to send the call to the view screen on the wall.

"Why?" asked Shade, then blinked as the image of a stocky black convertor man with orange highlights appeared on the screen.

"This is Captain Liam Johnson, of the IGP Cruiser General Roddy," said the Captain. "Thanks for coming, Protectorate vessel."

The convertor nodded, the clear shield that he wore over his eyes showing a peaceful blue-green. //This is Captain Twohundredproof, o' the good Protectorate Navy vessel Captain's Daughter. Thanks for gettin' 'em to shut that bilge suckin' force field off.//

"Twohundredproof?" muttered Starfighter with disbelief as he stared at the man on the screen.

//Aye, lubber, ye have a problem with me name?// The Protectorate Captain grinned as he said it, his expression saying that he was amused rather than offended, but that he'd quite gladly go a round if Starfighter did happen to have a problem.

"Fff! As if. I can't even sit up right now." Starfighter put his head back down. "Just wondering who tagged that on you."

//I did.// The dark coloured man laughed. //First words that ever came out of me mouth. Ma'd helped clean up a fuel spill jest afore she discovered me, 'n thought it was the juice kickin' 'er rockets. Then I started wrigglin'.// The convertor captain studied the young man on the floor for a moment, his brow plates drawing together in a frown, then glanced toward Captain Johnson. //Ye gonna introduce us?//

"Sure I am. The two young ladies are Shade and Mist, from Alia. The human man is Joel of the Rad Baby Nation. And this young fellow is Starfighter. Er, I don't really know where he's from."

"Shade's Nation," said Starfighter, turning his head with a tired sigh. "She 'n Mist 'n the walking rug are my crew."

Twohundredproof brightened. //Guess I should'a hailed ye too, eh?//

"She's the captain." A silver finger rested on Shade's back.

//Captain Shade.// The convertor captain nodded gravely, though the rakish tilt of his grin kind of spoiled the effect. Then he looked back to Captain Johnson. //Ye should all call me TP, though. Less 'o a jawcracker 'n easier to say under a charge. The white lass's talkin' with her hands?//

[Yes, sir,] responded Mist as Captain TP accompanied his last question with hand speech. [My ears don't work.]

//Ahhh. I've a brother with that, though Mizzen came into it later in life.//

[His ears got hurt?] Mist lifted her head curiously.

//Rusted straight they did. I tol' the daft booster to get outta that fuel cache afore he tossed the match, but he never listened even when he could hear.//

Mist blinked, and then dropped her hands and stared with surprise.

"He blew himself up..." Starfighter took the hand that had covered the girls and used it to cover his eyes as he engaged in a silent sniggerfit.

//Aye.// Captain TP grinned broadly. //Was nearly his ship that was sent here, but we tossed ta see who got this 'n who got ta go kick Armourclad booster over in the Forth sector.//

"You say that like you're not Armourclad," noted Joel, lifting his brows slightly.

//I ain't. Half Archivist, but me mother came from the Lost Colonies.//

"Oh. Rust," said Starfighter softly from under his hand, causing the other convertor to roar with laughter.

"That's a story I want to hear some day," said Shade, looking back and forth between the cybernetic men. "But we don't have time right now."

"Right." Joel nodded and glanced toward Captain Johnson. "So, what's the plan?"

"You, me, and Captain TP are going to have a talk with Prince Adonis and see if we can't meet the needs of your people without ruffling their feathers too much," said the JD man. "Since the doctors think that Starfighter should have one more day before using his avatar, and we'd like your crew to be able to watch from the viewing gallery we're having the meeting tomorrow, though Adonis is coming aboard tonight."

Joel looked a bit surprised. "You want the crew there?"

"Well, yes. Don't you?" Captain Johnson looked surprised and a touch confused. "You seem to be family..."

There was a very faint whistle as Joel sucked air in through his teeth, and then he turned his head to look toward Starfighter's face and the girls. Seeing three pairs of serious eyes looking back at him, he smiled slightly and turned back to the JD captain with a nod. "Yes, sir. We are."

//Aye,// said Captain TP. //Crew's important. Especially if things go south!//

Starfighter snorted. "The place is going to be crawling with security guys and danger sniffing giant bats and hogs. How's it gonna go south?"

//Aw, you never know. Where there's a will, there's a way!//