“How is she?” Micah asked.
Tal squinted into the lights of the medical transport, watching as another treatment bed was brought out. “Let’s just say the leg is the least of her concerns.”
“Her commander told her about the fatality, then.”
“Yes. I’m not sure if I should block their emotions or not. It feels as if I’m invading their privacy.”
Leave it to Tal to worry about questions of ethics when aliens had dropped out of their skies, Micah thought. Usually he saw her father in her, but sometimes her mother’s heart shone through.
“Tal, they just crashed a giant ship into a producer’s field. They don’t have any privacy.”
She met his eyes. “And that’s just the first of the legal issues we’re going to run into, isn’t it?”
“You mean besides deciding who has jurisdiction over this ship and the technology inside it? You know the Council is going to argue itself into a blue cloud over that one.”
“It can try,” she said. “But I’ve been giving that some thought, and it seems to me that existing Alsean law might actually cover this.”
“Then you’re ahead of me, because I’d say this fits the legal definition of unprecedented.”
“Not if you consider it under marine salvage law. The captain of that ship is right over there. We can’t just take it away from her.”
“Doesn’t that depend on whether or not we recognize the government she represents?”
“We’re not pirates!”
“I agree. But I’ll bet you a moon’s salary that not everyone in the Council will.” In truth, he’d be surprised if some of the councillors didn’t leave skid marks on the chamber floor in their efforts to be the first to profit from the situation. The only question was whether the warriors, the scholars, the merchants, or the builders would be first out the door. The only castes who wouldn’t join the stampede would be the producers and crafters.
“What a headache,” she said. “It might have been better if this had been an invasion. Then I could focus on a nice, uncomplicated battle rather than the biggest snarl of competing interests the Council has seen in…ever.”
He looked back at the massive ship. “Speak for yourself. I’m happy not to be fighting that.”
“That’s because you don’t have to fight the Council.”
“And I’m happy about that, too.” He chuckled at her expression.
“You’re always a ray of light in my life.” She sighed. “We need the legal scholars on this before the posturing starts, which means I have to call Aldirk again. I’m telling him it’s your fault.”
Both of their wristcoms vibrated even as she was reaching for her earcuff.
“Aldirk?” he guessed before looking.
“No, the Mariners. They’re five ticks out.”
“You bother Aldirk. I’ll go meet the Mariners. Unless you want to trade?” He maintained an innocent look in the face of her glare.
“Be careful, Micah. One of these days I’m going to say yes, and then you really will be stuck.”
The Mariners had brought two rescue transports, which looked tiny in comparison to the medical transport. Micah clasped forearms with the pilots and updated their teams on the situation, while all eight of them stared at the alien ship.
“Not a problem,” one of the pilots said. “This will actually be an easy extraction. The ship’s not moving on a rough sea, there’s no storm trying to blow us out of the sky, and we’re not trying to pull unconscious dead weights out of the water.”
The other pilot nodded. “Agreed. But damn, I’d like a look inside that thing.”
“You and me both,” Micah said. “And probably everyone here, including the Lancer.”
At the mention of her title the Mariners began peering around, trying to look as if they weren’t looking. Micah thought that he shouldn’t be adding one more task to her already towering pile. But hadn’t she often told him that a leader was responsible to the people beneath her, and not the other way around?
Excusing himself for a moment, he called her and found her grateful for the interruption. Two ticks later, as he discussed rescue techniques with the pilots, he knew by the looks on their faces that Tal was walking up behind him. All eight Mariners drew themselves up into full parade pose, smacking both fists to their chests with a perfectly synchronized thump.
“Settle,” she said. They relaxed, and she offered her forearm to the first pilot. “Well met. I’m glad to see you here this morning. We have great need of your specialized skills.”
“Thank you, Lancer.” The pilot swelled to a point where Micah was afraid she might pop a button. “We’re proud to serve.”
Tal worked her way through the group, and by the time she’d clasped forearms with the second winch operator, the call they’d been waiting for came in on the open radio channel. One of the rescue teams was approaching the nearest exit hatch with two of the most critical cases.
As the Mariners raced back to their transports, Tal asked the team if the aliens would need immediate airlift to Blacksun or if the medical transport should wait for additional cases.
“Immediate airlift,” said one of the healers. “They need surgery, and our healers will need time to determine what will and won’t be effective with their physiology.”
“Understood. Best guess, Healer: will they survive?”
“I really don’t like to guess. But if they’re as much like us as we’ve been told, their injuries are not beyond our capacity.”
“Good. How far behind is the next team?”
“Right behind us, but they have two stable cases and the fatality, all of which can wait. We’re still looking for two more aliens in the engineering sections, and the third team is only now reaching the weapons rooms.”
While Tal signed off, Micah scanned the ship, waiting for a hatch to pop open somewhere. When it finally did, it was several decks below and to the east of the first one. He stared in surprise as a ladder rippled into existence where none had been before, reaching from the hatch to the flat part of the ship.
“Where did that come from?” Tal asked.
“I don’t know, but I’d certainly like to.” He could think of ten applications for such technology without even trying.
“And the ladder went down,” she said. “How does it know which direction is down? There is no down in space.”
“Add that to your list of questions to ask the captain,” he suggested as they watched the first of the rescue transports lift off.
“It’s getting longer by the tick,” she agreed. “But not being able to understand a word she says certainly puts a wet branch on the fire.”
“Are you going to send her out with the critical cases?”
“That’s the first question I’ll ask her. Want to bet she says no?”
“No bet. She’s a warrior with injured troops. She’s not going anywhere.”
“Someday you’re going to take one of my bets,” Tal grumbled as she walked away.