Nope.

Zaa!nu moved the glowing ghost to the right, and peered at it again.

Too far.

She made the spectral reticle crawl slowly to the left, then stopped it gently.

There.

For a moment, she sat and focused on keeping her breathing even. On the light board in front of her, the targeting star exactly sat on top of the image of a hillside. It was Nick's private space, given to the Goldaskians over her objections. She had it targeted with a 'rails gun', and leaned back in the gunnery chair with a smile.

Just a few taps in the right places, right now, and you would get what you deserve, monsters.

It was a heady feeling, this colossal power at her fingertips. Oh, she knew that Petra would probably stop her if she tried to actually fire the weapon. But the golem was apparently very literal-minded, and she could fantasize about confusing it long enough to get a shot off. Allegedly, there was even a way to take the gun away from Petra's control and fire it manually.

Nothing wrong with practicing, she told herself, starting again from the beginning.

Zaa!nu had been invited to join the council, but declined because of the presence of the ship's Doctor. She was not willing to sit down with a Goldaskian—not yet, anyway. Bad enough that they had let ten of the invaders stay on board, which she thought was madness.

She understood the rationale. They certainly had useful knowledge. And she could empathize with the plight of Goldaskian females, those who were not officers like the Doctor, anyway. I know I would not want to be blamed for the actions of the War Party or the Western Valley Cult.

Still, these are not random civilians. They all chose to be aboard a warship, knowing it would be doing things like slaughtering my people. There were seven Goldaskian females, including the Doctor, and three males: the two engine runners and the pilot. She wondered how many of them actively helped in the attack.

Well...no, she reluctantly conceded, trying to be honest with herself. We killed all the ones who attacked us directly, and I got to execute the leaders who gave the orders. And Nick killed the second group of invaders, too. The others might have been willing to help, though.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

She worked the targeting controls again, dialing in, floating the ghostly crosshairs into the exact position over the Goldaskian camp. It got easier every time.

* *

She shared a room with Geh!aoa. There was plenty of space aboard the ship at the moment; she could have had her own room. The place was just too alien, though, and Zaa!nu didn't want to feel alone.

She wandered into the commissary, and found her roommate finishing off a bowl of that awful red gloop. She sat down across from her and just watched for a moment. Finally, she spoke. "I guess if you get hungry enough, you really can eat almost anything."

Geh!aoa carefully gathered the last bits of alleged food and ate them, then sighed. "It's not that bad once you get used to it. It fills you up."

"And empties you back out again."

"Only the first couple of times. It's decent food."

"Yeah, now say that with your ears back," Zaa!nu challenged.

"No, really! I asked Doctor Vik!ah and she gave me something to help me digest the Goldaskian food. Gave me an awful stomachache for a night, but now I can eat this just fine."

"Doesn't help with the taste, though, does it?"

"No, it doesn't," Geh!aoa conceded. "Nik!eh actually likes this stuff. He says it tastes like 'pasta frosting', whatever that is. Something from Earth."

"Ugh, you mean if we go to Earth, we'll have to eat more of this gunk?"

"To hear Nik!eh tell it, Earth cuisine comes in hundreds of styles. I'm sure at least one of them will be palatable. When I mentioned not liking this, he promised that he would get me a 'white pii za'."

Zaa!nu bent one ear. "Is the pink one making fun of my coloration?"

"No, I think it's just the name of the food. Or 'za' might be another flavoring. Not sure."

"So, disgusting gloop in a different color?"

"Probably. Still, it's food, and I won't turn it down."

"I'll see if there's anything else on offer today, I don't want to empty my guts again."

"Go see Doctor Vik!ah," Geh!aoa urged.

"No, thanks."

Her roommate flicked her ears. "They're your guts."

* *

The lessons in ship handling were stressful. The Goldaskian woman teaching them barely seemed to know what she was doing herself. She did know a lot of more basic information, though, and warned them off of doing things she said would be fatal. Zaa!nu guessed that an example equivalent to some of those was, "don't stick a knife into a lightning plug." She had to wonder whether there was some hazing going on, though. The Goldaskian could tell them something like, "all the red buttons make the ship explode," and they would have to take the alien's word for it until someone had mercy on them and ended the joke.

Zaa!nu did want to see this ship move, though, so she tried to pay attention and learn enough that she would be called proficient, and they would get closer to their quota of competence before leaving Ooafa. She wasn't alone in that; the ship was rapidly filling up with fuak!a eager to see a new world or two.

She wasn't sure how she felt about contacting even more aliens, but Nik!eh seemed a mostly decent sort, if a bit tyrannical sometimes. So half of the alien species they'd encountered were tolerable. Maybe she should give other aliens a chance.

It would be nice to talk to someone else green, at least.

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