Homestar Saga

Chapter 37: Recompense

The rest of the two days passed pleasantly. Mims insisted they stay alert. They slept in shifts and kept their weapons close at hand. Despite the Captain's caution, there were no attacks. The posted guards appeared to be sufficient deterrent, or maybe the High Commander had rounded up everyone who was willing to throw away their careers and/or lives for a chance to take revenge. There couldn't be that many of them, could there? Mims hadn't been heard from in three decades. How many humans would carry a grudge for that long?

Most of them, probably.

Yvian and Lissa spent their time immersed in human video entertainment. Yvian had been shocked to learn that Mims had a massive library of the stuff on the Encounter, and it hadn't even occurred to him to share. In the face of her indignation, the human had shrugged. He didn't watch Holovision, much. Yvian guessed it reminded him of home. Not a pleasant thing, for a man of his history.

After weeks of jumping from one crisis to another, Yvian reveled in the sudden lack of urgency. To just sit and be entertained...it was decadent. Sure, they were confined to one room. Sure, vengeful humans could try to kill them at any moment. But for the better part of two days, there were no decisions she needed to make. No actions, no desperate gambles. Just her sister and a friend and a console full of stories. By the Crunch, the humans even brought her beer.

Yvian had come perilously close to hugging Hamilton when she saw the case on her cart. If the High Commander's aide didn't have such an air of severe professionalism, she would have. Would have done more than that, if the woman had seemed open to the idea. Hamilton was the first attractive female Yvian had interacted with since the attack on Krog Prime. Her presence ignited a powerful longing. Or maybe the sight of her just reminded the pixen that the longing was there. Either way, Hamilton set Yvian aflutter. Her sister noticed, but so far had been kind enough not to comment.

At 0300 hours human time, which would have been about 1900 hours in the Confederation, the High Commander came for them. He was dressed in his fancy dress uniform with all the ribbons. He looked a little tired. Yvian was a little disappointed to see Hamilton wasn't with him.

"The Delegation's ready," he told them. "I want you to introduce them to the Xill."

"Understood," said the Captain. He donned his helmet.

"I got two things before you go." The High Commander handed Mims a data cartridge. "First off, this little gizmo will let you switch a Node between the Confed Nexus and our Webspace. Should come in handy if you need to contact us again."

The Captain took the gizmo. "Thanks. I'll get myself a ship with a Node on it as soon as I can."

"Well," General Young's lips quirked in a pleased expression that was not quite a smile. "That's the other thing." He keyed into his wrist console. The Captain's wrist pinged.

Mims opened the file he'd been sent, revealing a holographic projection of a ship. "You gotta be shitting me."

"Its a Ronin class reconnaissance cruiser. Top of the line." The High Commander pressed a few more buttons, transferring control of the vessel to Mims. "Less firepower than our battleships, but she's fast, she can hide from most sensors, and she functions as a light carrier."

"Thats..." Mims stared at the ship's holoprojection. "Thank you." He looked up at the General. "I wasn't expecting anything like this."

"It's the least we could do," The High Commander told him. "I figure we owed you a ship. No weapons, of course. You know we don't allow Terran armaments outside of our space. But she's got everything else. We refueled and stocked the Encounter, as well, My boys are running a last minute check to make sure no one left you any nasty surprises. Should be good to go by the time we get down there."