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"You see," Pelus explains placidly, "she is a Docker Eeable Not her fault She is a product of her greasy environ forward quickly

She punches Pelus in the face He wails, falling backward like he’s never been hit before Likely because he hasn’t Why would a Blue hit another Blue? They’re test takers, hters

"I like the rude one," Sevro observes

"Wait, dominus! I desire the ship!" Another Blue slides forward, staring at Pelus on the ground "I … I deserve it? Orion is no ard! Her mastery of astrophysics leavesof extraplanetary mass kinetics She didn’t even attend the Observatory"

Another Blue pushes forward

"Forget Arnus! He’s a dodderhead at astrophysics and his assumptions in theoretical calculus are imprudent at best! I was second in command of this vessel for six months under the Ash Lord I served upon it while it was in its dry berth Logic supports the maneuver to place me as your captain, dominus"

The armada’s ships continue to hail us over the coms Men-of-war slide closer Inside their bellies, bravesuits of armor; they’ll board leechCraft and shoot into space to land onthat they will make it home to have a meal made by their mother, their spouse All that whileinsults at one another’s rity

"Don’t listen to either of them, dominus!" shouts a woman in that slow accent She falls to her knees "My naa xe Aquarius I have studied the physics of astral drift in the Midnight School--far superior to the Observatory I hold, aravitational lensing Let uide your vessel, dominus To decide in favor of another would be specious and worse: illogical!"

These Blues should have used their logic and seen that I look only at the woman who does not kneel like the rest of them Orion, the first to speak, still stands, shoulders square, body squat, pale eyes glea Her dialect is lowborn, sharper and o of these acade Docks near the Acadeo to the Observatory or the Midnight School, I wonder about the story of how she cae in the first place

"What about all that noise?" I ask Orion, gesturing to the Blues

"They’re full of batshit," she grunts, and jams a thick thumb into her chest "I am not full of batshit" She smiles and nods to the displays where the other torchShips creep closer "And you’re running out of tinal the secretive launch of two leechCraft fron’s nearby men-of-war and cruisers "I know I can do this, otherwise I would not have spoken out Give me a chance"

I nod to Sevro and he tosses her the captain’s winged star

"Get us to our fleet"