The Technician's Fight, Draft 1, CH05

The cell block had to be uncomfortable for Kelsirians, Jeremy decided. While nowhere small, by his standard, the corridor leading to the

The cell block had to be uncomfortable for Kelsirians, Jeremy decided. While nowhere small, by his standard, the corridor leading to the cells was smaller than even the ‘crawlspace’ between the walls. The cells were divided into groups of seven, one to a cell, arranged in a circle so that the occupants would see each other. There was a strategy to who would be in the same group, Leiha had told him, but it wasn’t something she was involved in, so couldn’t give him details when he asked.

The hunter escorted him to a group of cells with only one prisoner and left him there. The cells themselves were something else Jeremy expected would be uncomfortable to Kelsirians. On the small side, with a straight bench that doubled as a bed. The only concession to privacy for the toilet was a curtain, and he wondered how long a Kelsirian would hold it before degrading themselves to going behind one of them. The lack of shower might be because cells weren’t expected to be occupied for long enough to need them, or they had a system in place where prisoners were taken out to wash.

The person he was here to see stretched on the bench, eyes closed. If she was asleep, this would be annoying. He doubted she’d take well to him waking her up.

He wished he had a chair. A human design so he could flip it and rest his arms on the back. Give himself what he thought would be some air of casualness. He softly cleared his throat, and she opened an eye, looked at him and closed it, annoyed.

“Here to gloat?”

“Why do you think I’d do that?”

“Why else would you stand there, all full of yourself? Looking down on me?”

“No chair to sit in, and you’re lying down. Short of sitting on the floor, this is the only position I can take.”

She sighed. “What do you want?”

“For you not to end up in an incarceration center.”

She laughed. “Why the fuck do you care?”

“Honestly? I’d like to think I’m a decent person enough that when someone’s heading for a death sentence, I’d try to talk them into taking the out they have, no matter how unpleasant that’s going to be.”

“It’s prison.” She motioned around them. “It’s not that bad. It’s also not my first time.”

“This is a cell. The incarceration centers are more like hard labor. The way it’s been explained to me is that they drop you on a planet in the process of being terraformed, and you’re left to survive while doing the work that machines can’t do.”

She sat and searched his face. “That doesn’t sound legal.”

“This isn’t human space. And I know the Psychologist told you Kelsirian’s aren’t nice people. Incarceration centers are a representation of that.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like I’m heading there, anyway. There’s a bunch of species I can petition for citizenship.” She tapped the tablet. “Just have to read up on which one I want to take me in.”

“And you think one of them will?”

She smiled. “I can be very charming when I want to be.”

Except that Leiha had picked up on how strong her anti-establishment mindset was.

“Did anything you read tell you about mentalists?”

She frowned.

“Mind readers, of a sort. Well, actual mind readers, if they are strong enough. There’s going to be one when you go in front of the species representative you want to petition. It’s not going to matter how charming you are. At the very least, the mentalist will pick up on your dishonesty. If they’re strong enough, they’re going to know how you plan on screwing them over and run off to form your own group of criminals.”

“That’s bullshit. There’s no way some haughty people like this federation would allow that level of invasion of privacy.”

“You’d be surprise the length they’re willing to go to keep themselves and the places they control safe. As far as I know, they don’t roam the halls, listening to everything we think. But anyone can ask for one of them to be involved in any business transactions. Which is what your petition is.”

She stood, and was slightly taller than he was. “You know, for someone who started this claiming not to want me to end up in one of those labor camps, you’re sounding a lot like that’s my only choice.”

“It isn’t. Reach out to your family. There’s got to be at least one person who cares enough about you to intervene. Trust me, whatever you think will happen to you there, can’t be worse than what’s waiting for you at an incarceration center. I’ve seen someone who survived it. A Kelsirian who survived it. There was barely anything of a person left. She had no idea how to function around other people.”

Her glower told him what she thought of his argument, so he tried the only other thing he could think of.

“You don’t have the Sickness. You at least have that going for you, so you have to know they aren’t—”

“Oh, the Sickness,” she said with derision. “The way you love another man, an alien one that at. And yeah. I know what the Sickness is code for among them. I’ve been out here long enough, listening to that broadcast, to work that out. And if you think having that is the only way you end up abused by the people in power, you are some fucking sort of entitled.”

He swallowed his rebuttal down. He’d been one of the top anti-matter engineer. He had three reactor designs to his name. So yes, he’d been in a comfortable position that meant he couldn’t know what she’d experienced.

He didn’t think it made his argument wrong, though. “I don’t want you to die.”

“Is that what your game is? Rescue poor little me so they can tell more stories about you? Fucking some sort of star of the federation isn’t enough for you? You want to outshine him? I’ve got news for you. I don’t need any rescuer. I can get myself out of whatever trouble people dump on me. Been doing it since the moment my dad decided I wasn’t good enough for him. So you go back to your fuck rug and tell him he can fuck you till the universe burns out, for all I care. I’m not handing myself over to those assholes so they can lock me up with all those criminals. I’m going to die before I give up my freedom.”

He stared at her, mention of Gralgiran being famous again eclipsed by her assertion she’d rather die and give up something she no longer had. She would die. He believed Leiha when she told him that the humans were her only option to avoid an incarceration center.

But what could he do if she didn’t want to listen? It wasn’t like they could dump her on a human ship and tell them to deal with it. Would they even be allowed to? If there were human ships among Federation space?

“Look. We’re a few months away from a station. Use that time to think it over. If you pick one of them, don’t try to screw them. They’re going to know. Go home. That’s your best chance to survive.”

She smirked. “And your best chance is to let that animal use you like the toy you are.”

He left, taking his tablet out and writing the short message.

I tried.

A few seconds later, Leiha’s response came.

Thank you for trying.

*

“Should this feel this comfortable?” he asked the man walking around him, studying what Jeremy wore. The result of his work.

When his trainer had told him he’d be getting combat armor, Jeremy had expected something printed, something more metal plates than fabric. He knew material science made a lot possible, but what Kelsirians wore looked bulky and he’d thought the ease with which they moved in it was due to their higher strength. Not because it was comfortable.

“How do you plan to fight if you can’t move in what’s protecting you?” the hunter replied.

Another surprise was the breaths of job hunters had beyond being hunters. Tech related made sense to him. In the field, hunters needed to know how to fix stuff. But after meeting his tailor, he’d asked Thuruk, and nearly every hunter was either part of the crew or had jobs for when they weren’t on a hunt, getting ready for one, or resting from one. Hunters couldn’t live off the hunt. The gods demanded they actually live.

He stretched, and the fabric moved. The plates were hard, but didn’t seem to have any weight to them.

He hadn’t had to be measured. The ship’s scanners had given the man all the measurements he’d needed. Jeremy had been instructed where to go to try it. Had been told to undress and given an undergarment to put on. That would take the place of the fur that protected hunters from the rough material of the armor.

“How does it feel?” his trainer asked.

“Like I could wear this all the time.”

“You can’t. This is for combat training only. It will stay in your locker at the fight hall. When you exercise it’s on you not to get hurt.”

He chuckled. “My weight machine is safe. There’s barely any moving part. It’s all gravity manipulation.” Her expression said how little she was impressed. “Don’t worry. I’ll leave this at the hall.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow, mid third-shift.”

*

Jeremy placed his food tray on the table, then dropped into the seat next to Thuruk and groaned. “We need to move our group meal to some time not after I’ve just trained. How did you ever survive being pounded into mush to become a hunter?”

He, Jurani, and Atarikna chuckled.

“I have three sisters and brothers,” Thuruk replied. “Fighting is something we started doing quite young.”

“And by that, you don’t mean tussling in the dirt until one of you gives up, do you?”

“How do Earther children learn to fight?” Xenial asked. “We Tal’halans are at each other’s throat as soon as we are out of our mother’s womb. In it, if she happens to carry more than one. It’s why there’s never been Identicals among the Halans.”

“Identicals? You mean twins?”

“Only what Earther call identical twins,” Leiha said. “Identicals are extremely rare, a blessing of the gods, some believe.”

“They’re lucky enough to be born with their Heart,” Scarif said. “No hunting needed.”

“That’s just stories,” Prertiros replied. “My Kreseric was an Identical. She and her sister weren’t Hearts.”

“And wouldn’t that cause problems if they had been?” Jeremy asked and received curious stares. “You know. The sex?”

“Ah,” Leiha said. “Being Hearts doesn’t mean the relationship will be physical. It is usually a part of it, but one does not force the other.”

The look the others exchanged said this was for his benefit, and he decided not to push. He didn’t need confirmation Kelsirians were fine with siblings having sex. He was starting to wonder if there was anything sexual they considered wrong.

“Tell me, Jeremy,” Alix said. “Since this is an informal setting, how did you find going on a hunt?”

Jeremy was surprised by the question. Alix had thawed over the weeks since the hunt, but since he’d never asked. Jeremy thought his friend didn’t care to know. But as he said, this was informal, as Jeremy enforced when they hung out as a group. The first such gathering since he’d gone on the pirate ship.

“Hectic, had to keep my head down most of the way to their engineering. Got shoved out of the way a few times as a fight dropped on top of us.” He chuckled. “Once literally, as three pirates were hiding in the opened corridor ceiling. Once we made it to engineering, it was just about figuring out how to work around all the crazy modifications they’d done to it so I could make sure it wouldn’t blow up. Managed it with plenty of time to spare, too. Then I got ambushed and knocked out.”

“You did not hesitate,” Alix said, his expression becoming guarded.

“Alix, can we not do this? I explained my reasons already, and we’re hanging out. No rank, no responsibility to others. Just me and a bunch of my friends.”

His friend looked around the table and his ears folded back. “Yes, of course. My apologies. I didn’t mean to disrupt the meal. It’s simple that….” He shook his head. “As you said. This isn’t the place.”

Jurani left the table.

“Scarif, how’s the workouts coming along?”

“I am getting stronger!” his friend announced. “The machine increased the weights by one kilo.”

“That’s good. When did it do it last?”

His friend’s surprised expression was enough of an answer. Scarif had started training on it before Jeremy had been kidnapped, and in all that time had only increased how much he could lift by one kilo. Jeremy kept his thoughts silent, but there might be something to weight lifting not being a method Kelsirian got much out of.

Jurani returned with a piece of pie.

“How did you get a cook to make that?” Xenial demanded, looking disgusted.

“Used the printer.” She used a fork to cut a piece off and eat it. “Are you working on different flavors?” It was the only time she used a utensil, and he understood. Pies were not made for claws.

“That much sweetness can’t be healthy,” Thuruk said.

“Medical cleared me,” she replied between bites.

“How long ago was that?” Leiha asked.

Jurani’s expression darkened slightly. “Are you poking into my head?”

“I don’t have to. You are only hiding your physical discomfort at the thought of your next medical. The thoughts themselves are loud.”

“You should slow down,” Jeremy said. “Even with us, too much sweets isn’t good. Medical complications from it can get expensive to treat.”

“I’ll be fine,” she replied with the forced confidence of someone who knew what she did wasn’t great, but wasn’t willing to stop. It wasn’t like he could force her to stop, since she had the recipe.

“How’s training to be a Beta coming along?” He asked Thuruk, and Atarikna chuckled. “That good?”

Thuruk threw a glare at the hunter builder. “It’s been weeks of looking at recording of fights, in the field and training, and then writing reports of how the fight went, which fighter showed which weakness and how I should go about teaching them to overcome it. It’s been all reading and barely any actual fighting. I’m going to be a Beta of hunters of the line. I should be honing my fighting.”

“Someone didn’t know what he was getting into,” Atarikna said.

“I didn’t ask to be trained to be a Beta. Someone suggested I’d be a good fit for it.” He looked at Jeremy.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

“Your Heart is who told my Beta to teach me.”

“It might have something to do,” Prertiros said, “with someone dropping everything to take part in rescuing Jeremy not once, but twice.”

“He’s my friend. I wasn’t going to let him be held by the Earthers.”

“Initiative is a trait looked for in Betas,” Leiha said. “Since it tends to lead to hunters who will run off to fight their own battles without the added responsibilities.”

“Are you saying being made a Beta is punishment?” Jeremy asked, trying not to laugh.

“No, it is an honor,” she replied.

“Doesn’t feel line one right now,” Thuruk grumbled.

“Just think of when you have a pack of your own,” Jurani said. “Young hunters filled with lust for battle just clawing for an excuse to throw themselves at our enemies, and you having to explain to the Alpha how that happened.”

Thuruk groaned, and she was pleased.

“Excuse me,” Jeremy said, standing and avoiding looking at the eatery’s entrance. He didn’t want to tip his stalker he’d noticed him. He was getting tired of this. He did his best to keep people between him and the entrance, which meant he only had the occasional view of it, and the gray, white, and brown Kelsirian there, who’d been glaring in his direction.

Then, between sight, he was gone.

When he reached it, there was no sign of Gralgiran’s friend along either side of the hallway. Quietly cursing, he returned to his friends. Tonight he was telling his Heart to do something about that guy.

Outline section 

After training is lunch, and the Tech crew is glad to see them. At this point we have one guy who might be picking up human style sweets, and another whose gotten it in his head cats can lift weights... maybe they’re the same person, but who knows what type of person we’re developing by that point. Jeremy, for his part, is just glad to have food and coffee before he dives back into Ajax’s work schedule.

The mess hall isn’t the same as when Jeremy first came onto the ship. While coffee isn’t popular with most kelsirians, the tea has been catching on, and since the hydroponics produce more food than Jeremy and Gral can eat on their own without making it their whole diet, the kitchen has been experimenting. Tomatoes have caught on due to their application in both savory and sweet dishes, though Jeremy still finds the kelsirian implus of where to include what inverted.

Conversation at the table is casual, as Jeremy's first mission isn’t a big deal with the Techs, and they try to leave work discussion at the door of the mess hall. So things like Thuruk and whoever the weight lifting tech is showboating off each other will be a point of mirth and levity...

...and then Jeremy notices someone in the corner of his eye. He turns to look, and yes, it’s the same kelsirian who has been staring at him during lunch before... but it’s more than that. Thinking of it, Jeremy is fairly certain he saw him on the training deck as well today. So, that means his stalker has expanded where he lurks... that’s just... wonderful...

The kelsirian won’t hide that he was staring at Jeremy, and almost seems to be waiting for Jeremy to make some sort of move. When the human doesn’t, he turns around in a humph and goes back to his meal. Turning to his friends, Jeremy will ask who the kelsirian is, and Jeremy will get the answer of Toom, one of the best pilots on the ship. Some jesting might be had on why Jeremy asked, but Jeremy will deflect it. This is definitely something he needs to talk to Gral about first.

Addition 

Jeremy visits the Earther prisoner. Ultimately his goal is to convince her to swallow her pride and her fear and go home. He already knows something of the incarceration centers from a previous encounter with someone who was sent there. And he asked questions of Leiha when she asked him to speak with Alison.

This ended up shifting a bit, having Jeremy interact with Alison was something I realize should happen when I finished the previous chapter. No one making the decisions on the ship wants her to end up in the incarceration center so they’d do what they can to convince her to pick an alternative and ultimately, Jeremy would be tapped, as the only other human on the ship.

A detail I didn’t quite manage to pull through is that I wanted the exchange to be much more antagonistic. My characters often force arguments to be far more reasonable than I aim for.

The fitting was added as a transition from Jeremy just training to having that being taken seriously.

Then the gathering with friends is to establish they do get together regularly, and the added implication the combat training is taking it’s toll on him. Details I decided to add was touching on Thuruk’s on training to become a Beta as well as establishing Identicals as being something special within Kelsirian culture. Those of who have read the entirety of the Kelsidian stories should get what this is leading to.