'The Canary' - by Larissa Thompson

 Aboard the Guinevere, Cass recounts the tale of a doomed freighter.

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Fair winds!

Full Transcript:

[in Cass’s quarters aboard the Guinevere]

CASS: Okay. So, uh… Meds thinks recording journal entries from whatever happens out here will help me, I don’t know, process it all. I don’t believe her, but I had to promise to get her to leave me alone about it and I know she’ll check to make sure I did record something. Not that she’ll actually listen to this, but just in case… I told you I would, didn’t I? 

A few weeks ago, en route to Dalstaff to resupply and refuel, we picked up a distress call from something claiming to be a cargo ship. They said they’d been disabled and their cargo stolen by pirates, they had some badly wounded people, and their propellant tanks were punctured, so they had no way to maneuver.

Meds and Croft thought it might’ve been a lure to lead passing ships into an ambush, but we had an obligation to investigate. Not that we couldn’t have handled ourselves in an ambush anyway, [smiles] no pirate in their right mind would want to go toe to toe with the Guin on her worst day.

After a couple hours burn, we were able to get a read on the ship squawking the distress call - she was who she said she was. The Canary, a Union transport bound for Heji’s Portent with a couple of hundred tons of palladium. If she had been a lure, her name was way too obvious to fall for. 

She had a crew of five, and their ship’s doctor had been severely injured during the attack. She had a couple hours, maybe more, before she would be… out of time. They thought she might be going septic. Their entire cargo, their food, and their medical supplies had been taken. They were completely stranded. 

We boarded, Meds brought along her kit, though we were pretty low on supplies ourselves. I had Croft go down to the engine room and see what he could do about patching the Canary up well enough to limp into port. While they were busy with that, I figured I’d talk to the captain, since he might be able to give me some clues that could help figure out where these pirates were based. If we could hit them hard, as soon as possible, we could stop them before they targeted another transport, not to mention be able to get enough from the auction for another few months. 

At first it all seemed really standard. Meds was working on stabilizing their doctor, Croft was doing whatever Croft does, and the captain was eager to give me as much information as possible. I don’t know what exactly it was that upset him, it came out of nowhere for me, but he seemed to realize just then that I was Centran. Maybe it was my accent, or something else. Either way, he just lost his mind. He was shouting and screaming, “Why can’t you leave us well enough alone!” He ordered me and my crew off his ship, Meds hadn’t even finished stabilizing his doctor. He just kept screaming at us. His daughter had served in the Union Militia, I guess, she died at Validar II. He was… he was shaking, and his face had turned this blotchy purple color… There wasn’t anything I could say, anything I said seemed to make him worse. It was like… like there was this vice, squeezing my lungs, I was outside without an EV suit. 

Croft must’ve been close to the bridge for some reason, because he seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Hearing a Merician accent must have calmed the captain down and Croft was able to diffuse things. I swear, Croft alone could have ended the war and brokered peace, just by himself. 

The captain still refused our help, even with Croft trying to talk sense into him. He figured they had enough time to wait for another ship to come by - they were just off a major shipping route. He wouldn’t even let us tow them to the nearest port. 

Croft and Meds just walked away. Packed up their stuff and walked back to the Guin without a word. As though the thought of leaving these people to their fate had all the weight of walking out of a rail station. I’m not surprised Meds was able to do that, knowing how she feels about Unioners. But Croft… I guess there’s still some things I’m learning about him. 

I hope another ship did come. We hadn’t passed anyone, but maybe someone else was not too far behind us… 

Meds told me that I should just let it go. Whatever happens to them now is all on him, there wasn’t anything more I could do. I don’t know. Maybe if we had left for Dalstaff earlier, we could have caught the pirates before they had done any damage. Maybe their doctor would still be fine. Maybe if I hadn’t said whatever it was that had set off the captain, maybe if I… 

Meds is right, I guess. ...Just feels like an excuse to me.