Tymber Dalton - Spider Bight

“No, it’s not okay.”

“It doesn’t matter. We have to deal with it.” He unmuted the connection.

“No,” Emi said, staring at Aaron. “I have an all-male crew.”

“Interesting. Very well. I will instruct my pilot to deal with him. I apologize for my hesitation. We were not expecting a male crew. We are used to dealing with female crews.”

Emi bit off the response she wanted to give in lieu of saying, “Thank you. I’ll put him on.”

He patted Emi on the shoulder and took over. The Kal’moran pilot sounded arrogant and snotty, but Emi gave Aaron credit for maintaining professional, cool detachment despite her reading his rising anger levels during the conversation. When he finished his exchange with the pilot, he signed them off and closed the com link.

Then he took a deep breath and held it a moment before letting it out again.

“You did good, Cap,” Ford said. “I wanted to smack the crap out of her.”

“And that’s why I’m the ‘pilot,’” Aaron shot back.

The twins both gave him mock salutes. “Aye, aye, Pilot,” they said in unison. Even Emi giggled.

Aaron closed his eyes and swore.

By the time the Tamora Bight reached the d’Acklan , most of the logistics had been worked out. The Kal’moran pilot had given Aaron information he’d requested about their ship’s configuration and construction so he could calculate the best way to lock the tractor beam on and their safe towing speed. It took less time to lock on and get underway again than it did for Aaron to patiently dance around the contemptuous Kal’moran pilot’s jabs at his gender.

Once the operation was complete, Aaron closed the com link between the ships. “I’ll be in the gym.” He stormed off the bridge before Emi could stop him.

The deep anger she’d read burbling in him was something she couldn’t remember feeling in him before.

She looked at Ford and Caph.

Ford waved at her to go after him. “I’ll page you if they want to talk to you.”

“Thanks.” Emi hurried down the corridor after Aaron.

“I don’t need to talk it out, Em,” he said as she fell in step just behind him, barely able to keep up with his long, angry strides. “I need to punch something.”

“I’ll spar with you.”

“I don’t want to punch you , babe.”

“Should I have a talk with the commander and ask her to have the pilot lay off the smack talk?”

He stopped so short she nearly ran into him. He took a deep breath before turning. “No.” He leaned against the corridor wall. “It’s just how they are. Some of the treaty races are more tolerant to cultural differences than others. Don’t start an interstellar incident over my ego.”

“Want me to go over and deck her? I will.”

He smiled. “Like you did Graymard?”

“Fucker deserved it.”

He pushed away from the wall and grabbed her in a hug. “I’ll be okay, I promise. I just need to go cool off.”

“And punch something,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“Yeah. And punch something.” He released her. “Go on back to the bridge and keep the twins out of trouble. I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” He started to walk away. Then he stopped and turned. “I really will be okay, Em. This isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. It’s just…annoying.”

She read it. His anger had already started dissipating. “Okay.”

He gave her a smile before turning and heading to the gym. Emi returned to the bridge, where Ford now sat in the command chair.

“How’d you get so lucky?” she asked.

He stood to make way for her. “Damn Caph threw rock to my scissors,” he grumbled.

“Aw, my poor Ford.”

Ford stuck his tongue out at Caph. “Told him he was first officer, he should take the com.”

“Yeah,” Caph shot back, “and as first I could have ordered you to take it, but I gave you a fair chance.”

“Okay, guys. I’m back. No need to kill each other to stay out of the chair.”

“That Kal’moran pilot’s a real ballbuster,” Caph said. “That’s why Aaron’s the captain. I would have told her to go fuck herself and find another ride back to their planet, she treated me like that.”

“No you wouldn’t have.”

“Yes he would,” Ford said. “So would I. I was about ready to. Man or woman. No reason for someone to be that shitty. They’re not in distress, just stuck in space. They could have cooled their jets for another ship to arrive. They should be glad we’re helping them.”

“What happened to duty and following orders?” she asked them.

“Fuck that shit,” they said in unison before bursting into laughter.

The tow at safe speed took nearly two weeks. Emi went over the Kal’moran files one final time as they neared the space station. Fortunately, the people of Kal’moran, called Morans, weren’t a violent people. They didn’t have vast, heavily armed space-going armadas that would wage an interstellar war if Emi used the wrong fork at dinner.

Although they wouldn’t hesitate to defend themselves if threatened.

They did, however, have an impressive fleet of passenger transports that ferried vacationers across the galaxy and back. They were peaceful business people who’d done quite well enlisting and paying for the help of other treaty races for their planetary and transport defenses. The planet was beloved by many for its recreation business, although it wasn’t well-known on Earth yet. The planet had one large, sprawling city complex. Emi thought that was odd compared to what she knew about other planets, but she didn’t have time to ponder it. She would have to go meet the commander and pilot of the d’Acklan , as well as the head of the orbiting station, as per their protocol.

After tugs had taken control of the d’Acklan , Aaron sat back with a sigh. “The worst is over.” He smiled at Emi. Now you get to go make friendly with the nice ladies, and we’ll keep the bed warm for you.”

“I’m not looking forward to going in there. Especially alone.”

“You’ll be fine. This is part of your job. If I thought there was any danger, no way in hell would I let you go, DSMC orders be damned. You should know that. And who knows, you might not have to go down to the planet at all.”

They docked with the Kal’moran space station. Once their utility umbilicals were secured and the gangway pressurized and cleared, Aaron walked Emi to the hatch. Commander Ren’yawlkin would meet Emi there personally.

He hugged her. “You’ll do great.” Then he punched in the hatch code to open it.

It slid open, revealing a Kal’moran woman in a military uniform standing at the other end of the gangway. They strongly resembled humans in outward appearance, although their interior physiology was somewhat different. Taller than Emi by almost two heads, she had long, flowing black hair pulled back off her face. Emi watched the woman’s amber eyes travel up and down her body before focusing on Aaron behind her. Then the Moran smiled and walked up to the hatch. “Captain Doctor Hypatia?” she asked, warily eying Aaron. “I am Commander Ren’yawlkin.”

“Nice to meet you.” She glanced back at Aaron. “This is Ca—Pilot Aaron Lucio.”

The Commander’s head cocked to the side. “He wears clothes?”

Emi looked back at Aaron, who remained silent although she sensed his stress levels ratcheting up. “Yes.”

“Huh. Interesting. Male crew, and you allow them clothing.”

Emi forced a smile. “That’s how we choose to do things.”

Emi sensed curiosity from the commander, but no disdain. “I do not suppose he is available for sharing or sale, is he?”