The Princess and the Human

"My uncle would always complain that admiral's quarters on bigger ships were too lavish for his tastes," Silgvani mused as she entered the decorated room, still getting supported by the doctor. Once inside, the soldier who had led them here bowed and left them alone.

"I'm fine again, Doctor," she insisted as she walked towards the couch, but noticed that the doctor was instead trying to guide her to the bed.

"One symptom respiting is not the same as "being fine". You were under a lot of stress on the way here. All of us were, but we aren't recovering from calcium poisoning! Your Highness, please don't ruin your good rate of recovery by getting reckless now."

Silgvani was about to point out that she had just moved a bit too fast and that she was feeling well again when suddenly, an awkward movement made a jolt of pain shoot through her two broken arms and she drew a sharp breath. This didn't go unnoticed by the doctor who sighed in response.

"I know you don't want to hear it, Your Highness, but it would be notably less unpleasant for you if you stopped refusing to take the stronger painkillers."

"You said the stronger ones will make me tired. I must stay able to-"

"To do what exactly? Don't get me wrong, Your Highness, I fully understand where you're coming from. The current situation is something no one could have foreseen. But this is no diplomatic travel. Command lies with the Lord Admiral."

Silgvani clenched the fists of her healthy arms.

"I gave Nadine a promise! None of the messages I've sent out to the other alliance members have been answered so far, this is the closest we have eveeeerr been to finding a clue to her people! And yet, you expect me to sleeeeep like nothing is going on, just because I got a bit dizzzyyyy?"

The doctor quietly let a few moments pass before she answered.

"As I may be about to overstep my boundaries, I'd like to apologize in advance. Our small guest has quite grown on you, hasn't she?"

The princess blinked in silence, not knowing how to respond to that. But why? It was such a simple question, why did it leave her so stumped?

In the first place, she was the heir to Hohmiy's throne, a direct descendant of Kiyron the Unifier. To someone like her, breaking a promise was unthinkable. It also simply was common sense to help Nadine after all she had done for them, including but not limited to saving the princess's life twice and stopping what could've ended up being the greatest political disaster in generations. And all of that was before one even considered the great benefits it would have for the Vanaery to find the human colony.

And yet... if she was honest with herself, then that was not an answer she could give in good consciousness. Maybe she could have, had she been asked the question when they had found the human girl. Back then, Nadine had simply been someone who needed help and represented the chances they would have if they managed to contact her people. Then, she single-handedly fended off a Kiroscha attack, saving both the princess and most of the crew. At the time, extending a hand to her had been a product of pragmatism, gratitude, and a bit of general altruism. And sure, Nadine had always been a nice person, so Silgvani came to like her rather quickly. But to the princess, for whom friendships had only ever been rather business-like, that was it.

But the more time she had spent at the palace, the more things Silgvani had witnessed about her - how her brain plagued her with those "nightmares", how she had been able to connect with Kiyrtin in a way no one before had managed to, how she had been so eager to help whenever she could, how she memorized the names of every single servant in the palace, how she was still a child by her people's standards - slowly but surely, it had become impossible for Silgvani to view her in an objective light. And then, the same night Silgvani had almost succumbed to her poisoning, Nadine had stated that the princess had become like a big sister to her. And these words had not just been a mere phrase, right after, she had backed them up quite impressively.

Sister...

As far as she knew, siblinghood strictly was a matter of blood, and the only sibling she had first-hand experience with was Kiyrtin. He was an absolute menace - or he least used to be. And yet, she still loved him dearly. And when it came to Nadine... she could not think of any aspect in which she loved her less than him. From that perspective, she'd have to lie in order to not agree with her. If one ignored the blood, the small alien truly had become like a little sister to her. Even if said little sister was more than twice her own age.

"What makes you say that?" the princess finally responded, seeing no point in refuting her question.

"Your voice, did you not notice?"

She hadn't. Her bad habit of subconsciously using this vestigial function that caused her voice to distort usually only came out when she got angry. Had she really gotten that worked up about this?

I guess there really is no denying it.

"Please don't misunderstand, I care for her a lot as well," the doctor continued.

Right, due to her lower rank, the wall between her and Nadine had been much thinner from the get-go, and during her first days on Hohmiy, she spent a lot more time with Nadine than I did.

"And I, as well, really hope that all of this will allow us to finally give her some good news. So I understand why resting is difficult for you right now. But, Your Highness, please remember: you are not the only person on this ship. And, if you allow my directness, I'm not sure you can contribute much right now. But once we return, all of this will mean a mountain of work for you. THAT will be when we will need you at full capacity."

The princess pondered over this for a while but finally relented with a sigh.

"I assume you took the stronger painkillers with you, just in case?"

"Yes, although I would need to send someone to get them from our ship. But considering the vessel we are on right now, I highly doubt they don't have it here as well."

"How long will the side effects last?"

"Long enough to ensure a good night's sleep for you. Which I highly advise you to take."

"Admiral? The Captain of the Prince Kiyru wishes to speak to you."

"Put her through," Mirtan ordered. "Captain, you may speak," he added as a few seconds later the channel was opened.

"Yes, Admiral. Nothing happened during our patrol flight, but one of our telescopes found this on one of Eroas's moons."

An image appeared on the screen. The quality wasn't great, but the ship that crashed on the surface was still recognizable.

"My engineer estimates it to be a small cruiser, but we couldn't examine it further without breaking our schedule. Shall I send a team to investigate the wreck?"

"Did the team dispatched for the supposed destroyer already report back?" he asked the operators.

"Not yet, Admiral."

"Well, we have way too many ships here anyway. Captain, you may investigate the wreck. For anything else, you may proceed according to your own judgment."

"Yes, Admiral!"

The channel closed. Mirtan evaluated the Information he had gotten so far. Two ships did not explain what happened to the rest of the Tystrie fleet, but it was at least a clue. In case they found both ships to have been shot down, was there a way for both to happen in the same battle? The best explanation would be for the cruiser to be hit while in the moon's gravitational pull, then the destroyer tried to retreat but suffered a fatal hit shortly before reaching the planet.

"Operator, give order to the Gatriy, the Countess Jarkion, and the Duke Vasskiyna. They are to search the area between that moon, the planet, and a bit beyond that, both from the moon's and planet's current position, the one they had forty days ago, and anything in between. Tell them to look for any sign of battle, wrecks, debris, whatever they can find."

"At once, Admiral!"

With the orders given, everyone went back to their tasks, while Mirtan bridged the time he spent waiting for the next report by coming up with possible scenarios. The Human ship he couldn't pronounce was a massive variable. Most information regarding humanity was still highly classified, and he - having met the small alien before - was one of the few who knew the full truth. If all humans within reach were the ones belonging to that one colony, no one else... what could have happened?

While he was still thinking, said alien returned to the bridge. To his surprise, she had actually managed to make the criminal talk, revealing the most promising locations for them to search. He immediately relayed the information to all teams tasked with searching the planet.

"How high would you estimate the chances that this is another ruse?" he asked her.

"I mean... I guess it could be one, but I doubt it. If nothing else, her fear for her family is real, and she knows we are her best shot."

After a few tiggs of quietness, she added: "Sir, is there really no way for us to extend our stay? Can't you send one ship back to ask for supplies?"

"No, for two simple reasons: one, by the time the supplies would reach us, we'd already past the point where we'd have to go back. And two, that would no longer fall under my leeway in our current task. We would need further orders to do it, orders the princess is not authorized to give me."

"Ah. Makes sense, I guess. Sorry for asking."

The two went quiet for a couple of moments before Nadine spoke again.

"By the way, why is there so much weaponry mounted inside the ship? I can't remember seeing a corridor without one."

"That's what you have to do if you expect to fight Kiroscha," Mirtan answered, ignoring that the alien woman flinched when he mentioned the name. "In fights between ships, the playing field is even. Their great advantage lies in person-to-person combat because they are stronger and our handheld energy weapons can't get through their shell in one shot. They know that, that's why their primary tactic is to try and board our ships with their small and fast raiders. And if they achieve that, the stationary kinetic guns are the only reliable way to deal with them, even if that increases the cost of each ship."

Considering that, it was hard to believe that this frail-looking lifeform killed five of them with her bare hands. He would've really liked to see that. Once he was done explaining, he noticed Nadine staring blankly ahead, her small eyes wide open and her hands clutching her head.

"Is everything alright?"

"I... sorry, I need some time alone."

Not sure what that was about, Mirtan shrugged as she left the bridge. In the corner of his eye, he could see Silgvani's private doctor returning, which probably meant his niece was alright. The doctor then seemed to talk to Nadine about something, but he didn't pay much attention since one of the operators called for him.

"Admiral! We got the report from the Cariyca! Their ground team finished examining the crash site!"

"Put them through."

The screen then showed the wreckage. There really wasn't much left, the ship had literally gotten blasted apart.

"As you can see, Admiral, the ship already took severe damage before the crash, likely before it entered the atmosphere. Our engineers estimate that it could've been a reactor explosion, but they aren't sure. They also said that judging from what little tech was still recognizable, the ship technologically lined up with the last status we had before they started their isolation, so it would've been severely outdated."

Outdated? Was it just an object for target practice then?

"Did you find corpses?" If yes, then that idea was out of the window.

"We did. Not much of them was left, but all we could find seems to have at one time been part of a Tystrie. Time of death is difficult to estimate because of that. Our doctor assumes about forty days ago, but by his own admission, that's an educated guess at best."

So it really had been used in active battle. But why use such an old ship? Also, if the doctor's guess was right, then the attack would've happened before the former ambassador had reached the hyperlane. No way they wouldn't have tried to contact her. And if those hypothetical attackers had been the ones to take out the relay station, the ambassador would've noticed that as well. So it either happened later, or this wasn't an attack at all and this had simply been an unfortunate reactor failure. Not unfeasible if the ship was so old. Either way, he'd have to wait for the report of the Prince Kiyru regarding the other crash site.

Half a day had passed when Nadine and Silgvani's doctor approached him again.

"Apologies, Lord Admiral," the doctor addressed him with a bow, "but I just wanted to inform you that we will now go back to our ship to retreat for the night."

"There is no need for that, we have free cabins. Just tell me if you need anything from your ship, and I'll send someone."

"Thank you. There actually is something we'd need, specific food items for-"

"Admiral! The ground team at location three has a report!"

Mirtan immediately rushed to his console.

"Sorry Doctor, hold on to that thought. Operator, put them through!"

"Admiral, we have reached the described mining site. It seems to have indeed been repurposed, for what exactly we can not say yet. The entrance was locked, we have just now succeeded in breaking it open. From what we can see so far, there is a massive underground tunnel system, it'll take days to survey that."

"And did you already find anything without going deeper?"

"Yes, admiral. Dead Tystrie. Thirty-six so far, all piled up at the entrance. No visible injuries, at least none severe enough to be a cause of death. That's all I can say though, we don't have an expert on Xenobiology with us."

"I see," Mirtan slowly said as he processed the report. He had hoped they'd find someone alive, but at least they had finally found anyone at all. Maybe the mines had become a death trap?

"Don't enter yet, there might be noxious gasses. I'll send down a shuttle with all the necessary equipment and new supplies."

He then cut the channel and addressed the operators again.

"Prepare shuttles with hazard equipment and supplies for each of the mining sites. Relay the same information to the other teams! And ask if any of our doctors are familiar with xenobiology beyond the minimum standards." The chances for that were unfortunately low since army doctors were primarily trained to treat Vanaery. They knew some general basics, but this didn't seem like a matter where general basics would suffice.

"If I may," the doctor chimed in. "It's not exactly my main specialty, but since I assume most of your ship doctors solely focus on treating Vanaery, I'm probably the closest to an expert on xenobiology you'll find out here. If it is okay with you, Lord Admiral, I would request you to have some of the bodies delivered to the medical bay so I can observe them."

"Wait, hang on a sec," Nadine now called out, "isn't that a huge safety hazard? What about germs?"

"I will, of course, adhere to strict safety protocols," the doctor assured her, "but to be honest, the risk is low. Lifeforms that develop independently on separate planets are usually not very compatible, so Tystrie illnesses normally don't affect us."

"Can't they mutate?"

"Theoretically, yes, but our organisms are so fundamentally different that mutations drastic enough to bridge that are rare. It is a different story if two different alien species happen to evolve in similar ways. But that's not the case here."

"And you are absolutely sure about that?" Nadine asked, not sounding convinced. Then, suddenly, her eyes widened. "What about me?! Shit, I never considered that! The human body is basically a pathogenic dumpster! What if I already infected someone?"

"Nadine, calm down! After the incident in the forest, I've done extensive tests once I learned about the microbes in your sweat. Remember all the samples I asked you for?"

"Did you ever take samples from my mouth? Because that's where the really nasty stuff lives. The human bite is dangerous even to other humans!"

This time, the doctor needed some time before she could answer.

"That's... interesting to know, I'll come back to that. But it's not relevant to the point. I can tell you with certainty that we are too different. If my tests don't convince you, remember that Kiyrtin had excessive exposure down to his bloodstream, yet he suffered no symptoms. Well, to pathogen-related ones. And for members of the alliance, there has been research done long ago. There are species that need to be careful with each other, but I can promise you that both between Vanaery and Humans, and between Vanaery and Tystrie, the risk is almost non-existent. When it comes to bacteria, things are a bit trickier, but that's what the safety protocols are for. As I said, I'll still take all precautions, so you've got nothing to worry about."

Mirtan considered her request for a bit. It wasn't necessary according to protocol but by now, he personally wanted to know what had happened here as well. In the end, he allowed her to take her tests. Shortly after, he received similar reports from the other locations as well.