SH Drabbles: Teddy Bear Picnic by Courses
A set of linked drabbles!
Silver, the Pilot
Silver throws the first snowball, accurate enough, but Derek dodges. She dumps the snow down Warren's suit-back. She grins her wicked angel's grin at Captain Parvari and bounces a rough sphere of snow up and down in her silver-gloved hand.
You wouldn't, he tries to indicate.
I'm Quicksilver, her smirk says. I do whatever I want.
Her snowball catches him in the shoulder easily as he ducks to get his own ammunition.
It's a free-for-all, in the end, with the air cold and cutting in her throat. Her laughter glitters in clouds.
She nearly fancies she remembers times like these.
Kelly, the Swiss Army Psi
Snow. Kelly's not really impressed with it, despite the frozen-water fight.
Far more interesting are the aliens here. She's seen holos of the common ones, and T'kik's a hive beetle --but the ursine, armored warriors who approach are impressively large, furry, and alien in a way that the giant bug engineer just isn't.
The warrior-king is hiding something about the xeno-anthropologist who was supposed to be here. They may be aliens, but Kelly can still read their emotions, and uneasy thoughts.
Perhaps she shouldn't have shown off, lighting her own fire. The little servant-bears are afraid of her now.
Warren, the Negotiator
"Captain?"
Warren knocks, annoyed that his dark "fur" marks him as a servant caste, and forces him to advise their unreliable, insufferable pilot as she negotiates the "exchange of gifts" the bear-king expects. Annoyed they didn't sleep on the ship, stuck as "guests" with ill-cured bed-furs.
He's very annoyed when he finds Parvari is missing, and Kelly's psionic senses tell her that he was kidnapped by small, furry hands.
Still, at least they leave someone sensible (him) behind to negotiate. And he always knew that white-blond hair couldn't be natural --why else would Quicksilver keep hair-bleach in her beltpouch?
Jim, the Passenger
James Occident, Private Investigator, is not sure what his fellow sleuth is doing on the ship. And impersonating a flirtatious, insane hotshot like Quicksilver? What could Sheri be thinking? Sure, the last place that the Organization'd look would be some tramp freighter with a sleazy (but cute) smuggler at the helm...
But his job is to find a stolen computer, and hopefully how the gene-lock sensors of the Snow Queen's could be bypassed. He's got the equipment to do so, and he's got the equipment to get where the thing leads...
And when did Sheri pick up such a flashy trunk?
T'kik, the Engineer Hive Beetle
T'kik watches what happens in its hive. Someone might be planning coup. It needs to plan coup on others.
Their passenger wants coup on Kelly-human or Silver-human.
Not allowed. This is T'kik's hive, by location and owning ship-shares. Not allowed to lock it out of cabins. It gathers drones, armed and equipped, and winches the door open.
No, it won't wear frilly human clothing. No, it doesn't believe Silver's a wanted criminal-- or the passenger is an Intelligence Agent. Yes, it will shoot the passenger if he doesn't return to the guest room.
Yes, T'kik will weld his door shut.
Derek, Security
Derek's easy-going, but he's irked someone kidnapped the Captain out from under him. The mines look like a good place to start looking, if the little bears took Parvari.
Once they get in, T'kik raises the Captain's comm, and that's good news. He's locked in a small room, so that's place to start, even if the first store-room has only a dwarf bear in it.
One with a stunner, and good aim. It doesn't knock him out...
Quite.
Dirk growls and rubs his head. That hurts, dammit! Snarling, he flings himself into the tunnels after Quicksilver, chasing down damn dwarfs.
Parvari, the Captain
Parvari's luck is always bad. He's used to it by now. Someone gets kidnapped by teddybears? Him. Naturally.
At least his crew isn't leaving him there.
Pressed against the rough wooden door, he can hear voices. Little bearish ones. Someone with a lighter, higher voice... And then that one, understandable. "Ship crew," he says, coming through Parvari's comm, too. "Leave your weapons and powercells. Leave the tunnels. Your captain will be released then."
Silver's voice whines in the comm: "But I'm looooost!"
"You'll be led out by one of the Small Folk."
Warren starts arguing about revolution logistics. Parvari groans.
Simon Henry, the Missing Xanthropologist
"--has to work," Simon Henry protests. "The Small Folk are exploited, enslaved by--"
"RAAAAAAGH!" An unfamiliar man lunges from the tunnels. Simon yelps and barely escapes the grasping hands.
"Don't kill him, Dirk." Simon looks beyond his attacker and sees a blonde, smirking woman in liquid armor. She coos, "I'm the good guy. I'm going to keep him from killing you."
The captive thumps on his prison's door. "That you, Dirk?"
"Captain?" asks the scowling man.
"Yeah! No kill, Dirk, no kill! Just hurt him some!"
It's not fair. Simon was just trying to do the right thing.
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archangelbeth) wrote,
