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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Solid-Childhood-4876 on 2025-12-28 17:30:21+00:00.
Kaylee wiped the tears from her eyes as she stood between Lucky and her dad, both wearing their respective military uniforms. She flinched as the shots from the seven ancient M14s rang out three times, and the casket was lowered into the ground. This was supposed to be a happy day. Her graduation day. Not the day they buried a friend.
"It's not fair. Smokey pulled Tompkins from that wreck. Saved his life. Then he gets clipped by debris? It was the first race of the season!"
Her father put a hand on her shoulder as they walked back to the old truck. "Kaylee, life isn't fair. We are born, then we live until we die. We just have to make the struggle in between matter. Tompkins will recover. He will get the chance to see his kids grow up because Smokey ran onto that track to pull him out of the fire. That matters." He pulled out an unsealed envelope from inside his jacket and handed it to her. "So does this."
Trying to read through tears, Kaylee gave a dismissive laugh. "MIT? Community college won't get me to space, Dad."
"Wipe your eyes and look again."
Doing as she was told, Kaylee looked at the envelope again. In deep red ink were the letters MTI. Martin Technical Institute. The premiere school in the system for all things space. After pulling out the papers inside her eyes went wide.
"Off-world tuition...paid in full?!"
"You are something special, Kaylee. I see it. Smokey saw it. He felt you should have the best education possible. When I told him I couldn't afford to send you, the old man went and paid for your courses himself. In the time between his birth and death, Smokey tried to make everything count. Like pulling Tompkins from the fire. Like dragging Lucky back from that ambush with your grandpa. This is one of those things Smokey did that matters. Now it's your turn."
/////////
Dark clouds outside the hospital room that the small group was squeezed into put a damper on the occupant's moods. A blue green Jalavon woman sat in one of the two bays of the room while a black-haired human woman and a smaller, brown furred Sajvin sat on the unoccupied bed. A few scattered rain drops slapped against the window as severe storm sirens began to sound outside. The humming of machines provided steady background noise as the conversation continued. Ena'raa refused to look at the visitors, her attention elsewhere.
"Making our food last wasn't a worry. I had 30 days of MREs stashed, and we only used a few of them. I used the fresh items first. Exodus stew fed our crew for nine days." Ena'raa still made no effort to make eye contact with her two interviewers. "The oven drew too much power, so I used Kaylee's exhaust manifold oven to make la'ri'na flat bread."
"Inventive," Juarez said from where she sat. "What was the state of the crew during this time?"
"Tired."
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"...the prettiest lass you ever could meet, fly my mateys..."
"Kaylee, what are you doing?" Ena'raa asked, confused why the engineer was bent over and singing into the vent.
"Something has been beeping for days, and I am going to find it," frustration clear in Kaylee's voice.
Ena'raa watched as Kaylee worked her way along the wall. Loose locks of hair were annoyedly brushed behind her ears. The woman's eyes were dark and sunken.
Concerned, Ena'raa approached the human. "You look like a spirit of death. When did you sleep last?"
"Yesterday. I'm fine," Kaylee said dismissively.
Unconvinced, Ena'raa decided to ask about the real reason she had sought out the engineer. "Kaylee...that thing I talked to you about..."
The human paused for a moment, bent over in front of another ventilation duct then stood bolt upright. "Oh my god, I completely forgot. How soon do you need it?"
"Soon."
"Soon?"
"Very."
Kaylee stretched with a big yawn. "Ok. Um...do you have any black tea? My Mountain Dew went missing and I could use the caffeine."
"I do. I still find it surprising you don't drink coffee like every other human."
The human's face scrunched up in disgust. "Vile bitter bean juice? Gross. Bring it to engineering please?"
-------
CRASH The sound brought Ena'raa up short outside the door to engineering.
"That fucking stupid, feather brained, sexist, racist, money-grubbing reptile!"
She had never heard Kaylee swear before, or even insult someone.
"Kaylee? Is it safe for me to enter?" Ena'raa held the large thermos of tea so it would be visible from inside the compartment.
"Oooh please!" Kaylee snatched the cup with eagerness and took a couple swallows before something seemed to register. "Did you hear that?"
"Yes. What happened?"
"I, um...I found the source of the beeping when I went to get the..." she waved at the item on her workbench while sipping from the thermos. "Kuautli had a long-range transponder communicator in the guest quarters. It is on the same frequency as the jump buoys, which makes sense since the Quetzal built the network on this side of the quadrant. The beeping was about unread incoming messages. It was password locked but the obsessed turd used Xoe's full name. He was communicating with the pirates, and they are angry at him. Seems we were supposed to be an easy mark for the Empire to capture those containers."
"Have you told Mal'katkik?"
Kaylee dropped the communicator into a drawer below her drafting table and slammed it shut. "No, I haven't. Would you tell him? I need to finish this thing for you, then come up with something for the grav system in bay two, and finish bracing the ship, and..."
--------
"She made this thing?" Katel questioned, indicating the box that was the focus of Ena'raa's attention.
"Repurposed." She stared through the glass door of the mini fridge turned incubator at the two speckled eggs within.
////////
Kaylee closed her eyes and let the sting of disinfectant in the split above her eyebrow burn.
"You know you don't have to fight them, right?"
"Mei'lana, those jerks don't get to pick on you just because you are small for an Altestri. Besides, being a semi-aquatic subspecies isn't something to be ashamed of."
The Jalavon woman narrowed her eyes at her human friend while carefully applying an at-home stitch kit to Kaylee's forehead. Her own crest began to flush red in building frustration and standing out against the light blue green of her skin. "No, it's not. You also don't need to fight my battles."
Kaylee glanced away and mumbled; "You know I don't like bullies." Putting a more confident face forward, she continued. "Besides, all that training I've been doing since we were kids was working. I just didn't anticipate the tail to the face."
"Well, be careful. I don't want you to get kicked out of school. I intend to beat you in the build off next month."
//////////
"...investigations into the crash are still ongoing. In other news, the provisional government is set to receive the first representatives from the Jalavon enclaves and several Quetzal corporations tomorrow..."
The vid screen flashed near the ceiling in the corner of the room. Raging black clouds outside darkened the windows of the waiting area they occupied to nearly black. Sheets of rain battered against the clear sapphire windows as the building creaked in the wind as Mal'katkik stared out into the dark and a flash illuminated the room.
"What I wanted to do was throw him out the airlock. Jay'an wanted to pluck him first, which was tempting. Hoban and Wally discussed some...very creative ideas. It was the doctor that surprised me though. I knew he had been sending reports on us back to corporate since I started with Tsunblu, he wasn't nearly as secretive as he thought. However, when he heard about the ship being sold out to pirates, that old snake turned on Kuautli."
"What did he say?" Maria asked from beside him, also looking out at the storm.
"That Quetzal tradition says the attacked shall behead the attacker. However, we should let Xoe decide when she woke up. If she didn't, well..."
--------
"I brought you some fruity hard candy," Ena'raa said as she set the bag down beside Xoe where she lay on her stomach in the bed. "It was supposed to be for your hatchling day, but the doctor says you need to get your sugar levels up."
Weakly, Xoe snatched a piece of the candy from the bag with her long, forked tongue. "Thank you. We don't lay eggs though."
Ena'raa smiled. "Yea, yea. You are just as weird as the humans."
"How do you feel?" The captain asked from the other side of the bed.
Xoe closed her eyes with a wince. "My head hurts. Everything feels soft and downy."
Wally poked his head in the door and waved. "Hi dudette. Nice to see you awake. Can I ask you a question since the doctor isn't here?"
Xoe groaned as she shifted positions. "One."
"How does something like Mountain Dew effect Quetzal?"
"Umm, all sodas react poorly. Especially mixed with nectars from the home world. The caffeine messes with brain chemistry."
Mal'katkik left Ena'raa with Xoe and guided the ...
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