Chapter 5

"Good morning." I greeted everyone as the hatch closed silently behind me.

The whole Marsubaran crew wasn't in attendance. There was quite a bit of work to do, seeing as the Theissss hadn't seemed too interested in taking good care of the ship. Crewmen and AI directed drones alike were all busy working around the ship, catching up on cleanup and maintenance, besides their regular shipboard duties. They would later be informed of what was discussed and have the opportunity to weigh in. They apparently ran everything like that – by committee. It would have been a terribly slow and awkward form of government for humans, but Marsubarans seemed to get along with each other much better than us hairless apes.

Those who were here, the nominal leaders on board, greeted me warmly as they rose from their seats.

First, there was Feng and his mate Merin, of course. She was looking much healthier compared to when I had first seen her, unconscious, burned and beaten. They both were, in fact. Their wounds were all but gone, though she still had several bald patches in her fur. It didn't seem to bother her though – she was the confidant, take charge type of woman.

Or ... female, that is.

Then there was Tung, the ship's engineer and, apparently, a retired military officer. He was an older Marsubaran, his light tan fur covered with black spots and liberally highlighted with aging grey. I hadn't yet had the chance to pick his brains about his training and experiences in space age warfare, but I was certainly planning on it sometime very soon.

Finally there was Benqa, head of scientific studies, apparently a genius amongst even the advanced Marsubarans and a specialist in a dozen types of physics. She was small compared to the others, with a unique off white fur, streaked with barely visible light blue. I didn't know if it was natural, or if she dyed it, and I wasn't about to ask. She was also very quiet and more than a bit standoffish towards me. I put it down to several reasons – not only was she more of an academic person, lacking somewhat in interpersonal skills, she had also clearly not taken the abuse from the Theissss well. I believed that she might have been suffering from some sort of PTSD.

Thankfully, when I informed Merin of my worries, she told me that she had already suspected as much, and was keeping a close eye on her.

The ship's conference room looked ... well, it looked like an ordinary conference room. Apart from the unusual and sterile Ja'Rai'Sonne design, of course, it wouldn't have been that out of place in an office building on Earth.

There was a long oval table in the center of the room, with over a dozen seats arrayed evenly around it. Along one wall was the large screen of a holographic display system. Imagine one of those high definition 3D TVs, but with much better image quality and without the need to wear those annoying glasses. The images literally popped right out of the screen. The sound system was impressive as well.

On the opposite wall, was a piece of art – a large, actual paint-on-canvas, wooden frame, piece of art. I couldn't read the caption under it, but the first time I had been in the conference room, Merin had explained that it was a representation of the city of Kalacea, on the Marsubaran homeworld, in its early days. It was apparently the city where the Marsubarans first started seriously studying the concept of space exploration, and would eventually become the center of their nascent space program. She affirmed, quite proudly, that it had been in her family for dozens of generations and she had fortunately been able to hide it from the Theissss.

Though not a big art fan, I had to admit that it was quite beautiful. With blue skies, giant trees and green foliage, it could almost have been of someplace on Earth. But for the life of me, I couldn't see much of a city. In my honest opinion, it looked somewhat like a landscape painting of the Ewok treehouse village from Return of the Jedi, at the beginning of its own industrial revolution, done by a nineteenth century impressionist.

I walked towards the table, put down my coffee and started to unload the fresh bread and jam. While the rest sat back down, eyeing the food hungrily, just barely keeping from licking their lips, Merin approached to actually lend a hand.

Though all of the Marsubarans liked me (to varying degrees) and were terribly grateful, with Merin it was somewhat different.

She had actually regained consciousness a short time after I had, seeing as besides her obvious burns and contusions, she had also suffered from a pretty severe intracranial hematoma – bleeding within the skull, placing pressure on the brain.

I had watched, lying on my bed, as she slowly opened her eyes and took stock of where she was. I saw her smile lovingly as she locked eyes with Feng, who had been anxiously pacing the room just seconds before. And just like that, he sighed in relief and visibly relaxed. Their faces came close together, and they began speaking softly in Marsubaran, their lips occasionally grazing each other's noses.

Though I couldn't understand the language, I certainly got the gist of it – terms of endearment and declarations of love. For a while there, I felt a little awkward, butting into such an intimate and emotional moment.

She noticed me after a while, laying there, watching and froze in shock. She whispered something to Feng, who looked back at me for a second, a smile on his face and unshed tears in his eyes, before whispering back an answer. To my intense surprised, she burst out crying as Feng held her tight. Real gut-wrenching sobs.

Eventually she calmed down some, caught her breath and wiped her tears away. Then staring me right in my eyes she smiled and said, "Thank you."

All right, I admit it, my eyes got pretty close to misting with that.

Even before she was fit to walk on her own two feet, she was reviewing my operation and the treatments I had gone through, making sure that I was recovering well and was in perfect health. Once she was mobile enough, she started right in on mothering me, making sure that I wasn't overly bothered by the other crewmembers' visits, that I ate right, and was healthy and well rested.

I understood the attitude, even if it chaffed slightly – it had been Merin's idea to try and ask me for help in freeing them from the Theissss. The others hadn't been convinced, but she had gone ahead with it anyway. And she had paid the price for it, getting severely beaten for her attempt of hiding my weapons. She could have simply chosen to keep her head down and not make any waves. If she had, I most likely would have ended up dead and the Marsubarans would still be slaves. Earth and humanity might not have been that far behind.

One hell of a woman.

The others made themselves useful, pulling out some flatware and utensils from hidden drawers along the walls. A large tea set - which looked amazingly Japanese, to my admittedly uncultured point-of-view - had been already prepared and they all served themselves a small, steaming cup. They had offered me one, but I politely declined, preferring to stick with my coffee.

I wasn't much of a tea person, and the Marsubaran version smelled a bit like minty wet moss.

"Here. Take a seat and let me take a good look at you." Merin said in a voice that brokered no discussion. I did the smart thing and obeyed her, taking a seat and lifting my shirt.

Luckily, there was a human chair nearby, no doubt recently fabricated in the ship's machine shop. Though there were, of course, numerous seats on board, they were all designed for Marsubarans. Seeing as they were naturally slightly bowlegged they sat with one leg on each side of a much narrower chair, which looked almost like a flattened saddle. Also, since they tended to always lean forward, there were no backs to them.

A human could use them of course, but it wasn't exactly comfortable.

She pulled out a small device from a pocket and pressed it against my bare chest for a few moments. She proceeded to murmur slightly as she intently studied the small screen of what I took to be a portable medical sensor device, or scanner of some kind – an actual, functional tricorder.

Even though I'm not a trekkie, it was still pretty damn cool.

She eventually nodded, satisfied at whatever results she had seen, and put the device away. Next she methodically examined and probed my scars with her bare hands.

"Have you felt any adverse reactions? Pain, fever, dizziness, shortness of breath, skin rash or any other allergic reactions..." I shook my head no. "Good. I was slightly worried about compatibility issues with the artificial blood and dermal gel. It shouldn't happen, but still...

"As to the genetic cleansing and physical reparation treatments on the other hand, we'll have to wait until your appointment later this afternoon."

"You got it doc."

"Yes, you've healed up quite nicely." She stated happily, patting me on my chest. "Well done my dear," she then told Feng as she passed by him on her way towards her seat.

He sat up straight and smiled, terribly proud of himself. Of course, it only lasted until he noticed me glaring daggers at him. He had the common sense to look suitably embarrassed. I didn't actually glare at him that angrily, or for that long, eventually softening my expression and nodding friendlily to him.

You see, shortly after regaining my mobility, Feng had somewhat embarrassedly admitted that he was extremely glad that I had made it through his first solo surgery ever.

Though I had initially assumed that he was some sort of medical doctor, he was in fact something called a "cultural sophontologist" – a scientist dedicated to the study of sentient societies.

Once he noticed my rapidly growing anger, he hurried to explain that he was also something akin to a physician's assistant. The Marsubarans, aided by their longer active life spans, tended to branch out into other areas, avoiding intellectual and professional specialization. Couples especially sought out to familiarize themselves with their mates' fields of study, guaranteeing common points of interest and the possibility of working together.

Seeing as Feng's mate, Merin, the chief medical officer of the ship, was indisposed, he was the only one on board with anything near the knowledge or training to keep me alive.

Also, the advanced Ja'Rai'Sonne medical facilities did a lot of the heavy lifting.

With Merin back at her seat, the Marsubarans all got down to eating, each one having picked up a bun and liberally spread jam on it. I tore into my Poptarts, fully savoring the artificial (and probably unhealthy, but who the hell cares) strawberry flavoring, while sipping my hot coffee.

"So, how are our honored guests holding up?" I asked, after a few moments of chewing filled silence.

"See for yourself," Feng answered, mouth half full, as he pressed a few buttons on his tablet, activating the room's holoscreen.

I thought that I heard a slight growl from Benqa as the split-screen image of the two surviving Theissss appeared. They were now locked in two separate quarters on opposite sides of the ship – the best alternative to a brig that could be set up on such short notice. The rooms were a bit bigger than a standard prison cell, with just a round nest-like bed in the middle of the space and a small attached bathroom (or whatever their alien equivalent is).

Vojiss, the Theissss that I had ambushed in the medical bay, was sitting sullenly in the middle of his nest-bed. There was no sound, but I was pretty sure that he was muttering to himself. He also looked like hell - was heavily bruised, a bit bloody and slightly burned, with a few of his eyes swollen shut. I knew that the damage wasn't all from my run-in with him – I'd taken him out quite quickly after all. And the simple fact that he was still injured indicated that if he had received any medical attention, it was the bare minimum.

'Feng and maybe some of the others must have given him some much deserved payback, while escorting him to his cell.' I mused to myself.

I didn't say anything though. I was fine with it, given the circumstances, as long as they didn't keep on using him as a punching bag.

The other one, on the other hand, looked completely unharmed and in much better spirits. Well, certainly better given the circumstances. Nobody's going to be particularly happy about being taken prisoner, especially considering how he was captured while he was asleep.

"Navess looks surprisingly ... untouched." I remarked, trying to sound neutral.

"He has actually never harmed any of us. In fact, at times he even showed discomfort at our treatment." Benqa spoke up, surprising me. Her offering up information without being specifically asked for it was rare, but not as unusual as hearing her say anything even close to civil about a Theissss. "Navess hid it of course, as I'm sure he would have been berated or maybe even physically punished for showing such weakness." She finished with a shrug and a sour expression on her face, as she refocused her attention on the hot cup of tea in her hand.

"Why is he so different?" I asked myself, not really expecting an answer. I got one from Feng anyway.

"He is young. His lack of tribal tattoos seems to indicate that he is not yet a full partner of the Na'ssent tribe. Instead he is perhaps merely a ... probational member. With little to no status or privileges."

So, he was a newbie, lower than a boot fresh out of basic. Made sense ... and with my admittedly very limited knowledge and experience of the Theissss, I'm willing to bet that he wasn't treated all that well by the other, full members of the tribe.

Frat and military hazing has got nothing on these bastards.

"Are there others like him? Young and mistreated Theissss, not yet members of the tribe?"

Somewhat pensive and curious nods from everyone were my answer. I didn't speak for a few moments. I was busy with an idea quickly taking shape in my mind.

"They've been kept in complete isolation, right."

Merin nodded, "Of course. They are both locked out of all computer systems and drones deliver their meals or anything else they might need."

"I think it's time to change that." I said slowly, as I started to smile. I didn't know if it would work, but there really was nothing to lose by trying.

"Keep Vojiss isolated, but from now on, whenever delivering meals to Navess, talk to him a bit." They were all visibly confused, but at least they were listening and not interrupting to ask questions. They'd even forgotten the last bites of their breakfast. "Ask if the food is to his liking, if he'd like a second helping, how he's holding up, so on and so forth. Try to be pleasant, while still being authoritative. If he asks questions, feel free to answer some of them as honestly as you possibly can.