"They say you're going to a party?" the navigator didn't linger at the door, he went straight to his chair. "How serious is it?"
"A complex question," for a change, the guy decided not to joke and handed Nick the datapad with the message. "It could be Black Sun, or it might not be. We could solve all the planet's problems in one go. Or we could get into trouble. In any case, it will be interesting."
"Jethro is not a force," Nick reminded him, studying the message. "In case of problems... However, you know him better. It doesn't look like a setup. Cheese is usually put in a mousetrap. I don't see any cheese here, and..."
He listened.
"The Force is silent."
"I don't think it's a trap either. The answer came too quickly," the screen displayed calculations for entering the atmosphere with a location reference, "no need to land, you'll throw us out of the cargo hold in the speeder, and then we'll go on our own. Then you'll disappear again. I'll call you via datapad. If we don't show up within 24 hours, fly to Botawui. Maybe we'll meet there."
"Dream on," the navigator grunted. A familiar ice was rapidly growing in his greenish eyes.
"Nick, you don't understand. This is Black Sun. I'm going there because it's an option to solve most of our... my problems. But I won't risk the ship and the crew. I'll have a better chance if I'm sure you'll be safe," the newly appointed captain said. "I don't want to order you. But do as I said. Don't go to war with this syndicate."
Judging by his gaze, Nick didn't care if it was Black Sun, Green Sun, or speckled gray-brown-crimson... But after a few seconds, he silently nodded and turned away, his gaze drifting over the slowly drifting debris.
"I don't expect problems, but I have to be ready for them," Rick said, getting up and heading for the exit, adding: "we all have to be ready."
"I will become a very serious problem," the navigator said quietly when the door closed behind him. "If you don't come back, I definitely will..."
Sher, having returned to Mr. Carvo, found him still asleep. She quietly sat in the chair, brought up the data from the bioanalyzer on the Toydarian's condition on the datapad. The settings remained the same, she didn't even have to approach the patient. The apparatus gave an optimistic verdict: "Stable condition with elements of positive dynamics." Pulse and breathing... well, closer to normal. Everything was fine for now, as much as it could be with such injuries. He was sleeping, which was not surprising after the injection of a whole set of drugs. And it was for the best. But that wasn't the only thing bothering the doc. Not even Shai. Bus was with her, and he would create the notorious "positive dynamics" for the Arconian too. But Jethro's upcoming party with the cap worried her seriously. One was still limping, and less than 24 hours had passed since the other was unconscious...
Sher stood up resolutely. She still needed to see Rick... Glancing at the sleeping patient, she quickly crossed the cabin and silently opened the door. And froze in surprise. Rick was standing outside the door.
"Cap,..." it escaped her, confused, but she immediately corrected herself: "Rick? Are... Are you going to Mr. Carvo?"
"No, I'm coming to you," the counter informed her, "I'd like to be examined too. Otherwise, I might faint from some Sith trick. I wouldn't want to ruin my plans with such absurdities."
"Such a fun party is planned, Rick, that everyone decided to show themselves to the doctor before it? Jethro is also afraid he won't be able to dance..." Sher said quietly, looking at the cap with an appraising gaze. "Let's go to my cabin. I have a reception room there," she chuckled. "I'll be right back."
The girl disappeared into the depths of the Toydarian's room and returned with her medkit. The door closed silently behind her.
"I sent Jethro to you too, Sher," Rick smiled, pulled a small infocrystal from his pocket and began to deftly manipulate it between his left-hand fingers, "I want to be completely sure of those around me."
"I already told him that his leg will be fine, unless, of course, you plan to put him in as a stayer in the Imperial Cup," she glanced at the commander on the fly. "Only as a sprinter, if anything. And... make yourself comfortable, cap," Sher offered, letting the captain into her cabin. "And now, so that I can correctly assess your condition, tell me what is required of you on the upcoming 'walk.'"
Sher stood half-turned to the captain, adjusting the bioanalyzer. There was no usual smile in her eyes, she didn't even hide how much she disliked this venture. But if anything depended on her, she would do everything possible and even more to minimize the risk.
The fingers of her left hand with the crystal continued to live a life of their own.
"Nothing special, Sher, we'll arrive, chat, and leave," he didn't talk about what would happen if the chat didn't go well, "maybe we'll dance, shoot at targets, drive around the planet's tracks. A little bit."
The bioanalyzer, brought very close to Rick's hand by the doc, finished scanning and began to hastily spit out columns of data onto the datapad monitor. For a minute or two, Sher didn't take her eyes off the screen, carefully comparing the results, and mechanically twirling a strand of her braid around her finger. Finally, she turned her watercolor gaze to the cap.
"Rick, you're in good physical shape, all indicators are normal. Even your pulse wave is rhythmic and not accelerated. I don't see any deviations in you," the strand of hair remained twisted into a frivolous ring, which was in stark contrast to her very serious eyes. "And no preconditions for a recurrence of convulsions and fainting. I'll even give you a smaller dose of the injection," she added thoughtfully. "Just in case."
"This injection," the guy looked carefully at the doctor, "will it cause addiction or any side effects?"
He really didn't want to become dependent, and even less did he want anything to go wrong.
"Because if it can be avoided altogether, that would be wonderful."
"No, not now, Rick," Sher shook her head, "I'll do it when you get back. The drug is excellent, it has a mechanism of action close to natural. You see, it helps both the brain and the entire body maintain its own resources, rather than depleting them... Among nootropics, this is the safest drug, there's no addiction to it. It's unique... But..." Shergi paused briefly and looked at Rick, "at first, due to its action, which activates mental and physical activity, it can cause very slight irritability. Not necessarily. But... what if? When you get back, Rick, I'll give you the shot. And you can be as irritable as you want with us."
A smile appeared on her lips for the first time since their conversation began.
"I got so irritable recently that I started shooting at various droids in the hangar," the counter grinned wryly, remembering an incident from his past life, "the hangar owner even slapped me on the ears as punishment. So it's better for everyone to see me calm and kind. So as not to add to the work."
"Oh, cap, I'll keep in mind that you're so irritable, I won't argue with you anymore," she assured him with a laugh. "But from the crew, sir, you'll never get slapped on the ears. And not just because you're the cap. For a completely different reason."
Sher looked warmly at Rick. Her concern for her friend, and she considered Rick a friend, despite all her efforts to maintain subordination, sometimes broke through in her switching from "you" to "thou," and in the anxiety pulsing deep in her dark pupils. But she didn't show it, conveniently forgetting that the cap was gifted.
"Yeah, and because the team has a well-developed self-preservation instinct," the counter himself often forgot about his giftedness. "Sher, how are Carvo and Shai?"
"Mr. Carvo will be fine, cap. His internal organs are not affected, and there was no bleeding. Everything else is sutured and treated. The proboscis is not affected by necrosis. Overall - it's not as bad as it could have been. Now, we need to rule out complications. And, I think, he'll recover faster," the doc explained the situation clearly, almost militarily, but then paused briefly and added quietly, "especially after the help from Larrius and Nick. But with Shai, we're just at the beginning," she continued with a sigh. "It will take maximum effort. But I'm counting on this method. And on the dactyl too."
"That's wonderful," Rick sighed: he felt the urge for physical contact again, and had to grip the armrest of the chair. But he didn't stop smiling, only his gaze became somewhat distant. "It would be absolutely wonderful if you sent Carvo a bill, coordinated it with Nick, and asked him to pay for the services of the fighters and the doctor. As a joke, of course."
Sher chuckled. It was not difficult to imagine the Toydarian's reaction.
"Of course, cap. The only snag is... can treating gifted individuals be equated to the cost of using a bacta-tank? I think it's orders of magnitude more valuable. I'm afraid, therefore, that after the presented bill, Mr. Carvo will have to be saved from a heart attack. And yet, he refused to bring these people onto our ship..."
But the cap's gaze, which Sher caught, made her somewhat uneasy. She threw her braid over her shoulder, the ring of hair disappeared from view. And her eyes remained attentive and worried.
"Rick, I can't help but ask... Are you sure you're capable of participating in the entertainment? I don't mean your physical condition."
"Where else would I go, Sher," the guy grinned, overcoming the desire to hug her and gradually loosening his grip, "with a beautiful dancer under my arm and dance, dance, dance."
"You don't have to leave the ship for that, cap," the doc smiled, "they can arrange dances for you here too. And I think, no worse..."
"I'm afraid I received an invitation I can't refuse, Sher," the guy paused for a few moments, "especially since I sought it myself. It would be impolite to back out in this situation."
Sher nodded, twirling the bioanalyzer in her hands.
"I understand, cap. Have a good dance... And don't be late, please," she looked up at him with worried eyes. "I still have many questions for you that need to be resolved soon."
"Ah-ha, we'll resolve them when I get back," it wasn't difficult to get up from the chair and walk to the door, but before finally leaving the doctor's sanctuary, he turned around. "Sher, let's switch to 'thou' already."
"Let's, Rick," the doc smiled. "I was too well trained in the Imperial army for that, but I'll try... And be extremely careful with Jet... in dancing," she asked, and didn't lower her gaze until the door completely closed behind the captain.
Sher closed the medkit and slung it over her shoulder, finally noticing that her load had become much lighter compared to the first day of her leave. And this couldn't be attributed to her trained deltoid muscles. The medkit needed replenishment, or better, replacement. And she would talk to Rick about it. When everything was over and the cap returned. She wasn't gifted, she couldn't foresee, she couldn't feel danger until it arose before her. Therefore, all she could do was worry about those dear to her. Worry and believe...
Sher turned towards the cockpit.
"Nick..."
What diagnosis would the bioanalyzer give to this strange heart-stopping at the mere thought of him? In any case, it would be an incurable disease...
Sher smiled, brought her palm to her lips, and the air kiss blown by her breath flew to find the gray-haired navigator.
And the doc walked down the corridor in the opposite direction, towards Shai's cabin, shaking her head and chuckling at herself.
In the cabin, she was met by a quiet conversation, which stopped upon her appearance, and two questioning glances. The golden eyes of Bus, for a change, harmonized wonderfully with the alien's eyes.
"Is everything okay?" Shai asked anxiously.
"Everything is fine, everyone is alive," Sher even blushed, feeling ashamed that she had left them in ignorance, not even looking in after the Toydarian had been helped, "Mr. Carvo will also be fine, he will recover," she said somewhat incoherently. "And how are you feeling?" this was already said in Sher's usual caring tone.
"We're better," Shai closed her eyes. "It doesn't hurt as much... When Bus lies down and does this..." she reproduced the purring of the Kushiban surprisingly accurately, "the pain goes away. The ship was shaking. Are we flying?"
She was surprisingly talkative compared to how she had appeared on board.
"We're just maneuvering," Sher replied vaguely, placing the chair by the Arconian's bunk. "Yes, I see, Shai, you're a smart one. You're reacting much more lively. Bus, a special thank you!"
Sher turned her smiling eyes to the first mate:
"Were you talking, and I interrupted?"
"I was just asking how Shai felt the movement," the Kushiban twitched his ears, pricking one up. "The compensation here is good, even I could understand that the ship had moved, only... Thanks to my abilities. And she claims she heard it."
"Heard? But... I didn't notice anything like that," Sher tensed. She hadn't felt it, although she assumed the cap was being dropped off somewhere. But Shai heard it? And Bus could also understand... thanks to his abilities?
"Quiet, quiet," she told herself, trying to remain calm.
"Shai, how did you manage that?" the tension in her voice, despite all her efforts, remained.
"The ship is singing," the alien blinked. "Bus doesn't understand us either. The ship is singing. When it's still, it sings. When it's flying, it sings too, differently. We don't know how to explain it."
"I see," Shergi sighed, completely bewildered. "And do you hear anything else singing?" she continued, grasping at any opportunity to give herself time.
"Of course we hear," Shai was surprised. "Everything sings. But the stone sings best of all. It answers. You can talk to it, and it will tell you what you ask..."
The Arconian's eyes sparkled. Bus twitched his ears in the air, but didn't interfere with the conversation.
"Only inanimate things sing? And living things?" Sher touched her forehead with her hand. She was even afraid to ask Bus about his abilities... Her gaze fell on a pack of dactyl, and she mechanically began to open it. Thoughts crowded her mind intensely. She had seen Shai's blood. There was nothing like what was in Nick's and the cap's blood. So this sensitivity was inherent to her species.
Sher took a breath.
"Will you tell me, Shai, what the stone I might find and bring you someday will answer?"
"A stone?" the Arconian perked up, but then blinked in disappointment. "One small stone can sing little and quietly... Only if something is hidden in it, then we will hear, yes... Mountains sing loudest of all..."
The golden eyes closed.
"She's falling asleep," the Kushiban said quietly.
Sher slowly and carefully put the pack of dactyl back.
"Apparently, yes," she replied in a whisper. "Let her sleep. It's no worse than treatment... I'll come by later," she added quietly with a mixed feeling of relief and disappointment. On the one hand, she could gather her thoughts, on the other hand, she wanted to concentrate fully on her work. And the effect of hardware impulses on brain structures required extreme attention. The girl had almost reached the door, but couldn't resist and looked directly into the greenish-yellow eyes of the Kushiban.
"First mate... You..." she began, but stopped herself. "Although no, nothing..."
There was only one thing understandable in this suddenly unfamiliar world, the world of the gifted, who felt what she couldn't, who heard stone. Ships, the Force... What she herself could feel. Leaving, she couldn't help but check on Mr. Carvo, but there were no changes. So her feet carried her to the cockpit on their own.
In the cockpit, she was met by darkness, broken only by the flickering of indicators. Ahead, the night sectors of Little Coruscant shimmered softly with threads of precious beads.
"I'm here," Nick's voice was heard from the pilot's seat.
"I couldn't sneak up unnoticed," Sher concluded with a smile, appearing from the semi-darkness behind his chair. A stray strand of light hair tickled the navigator's cheek, because Sher lightly touched his gray, cropped head with her lips. And she stepped back so as not to interfere.
"Sit next to me," Nick asked, watching as the "Lucky Chance" slowly floated between the ribs of the hull. "Look how beautiful..."