Dan didn't have to ask Cheyenne if she'd heard. The second the door to her medibay slid open she said. "I hope you hit them extra hard for me."
Dan blushed.
"Hey, watch this," Cheyenne said with an impish grin. "Dan, hit him again!"
A holo-projection showed Klempke charging Dan, Dan's fist slamming into his jaw. It paused, a few seconds of footage only.
"Dan, hit him again!" Cheyenne said. Those few seconds of footage ran again.
Dan shook his head. Janda rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry I taught her how to do playback," he muttered.
"It's, you've seen the video and everything?" Dan asked.
"Trials are public record," Janda said.
"They blurred out the woman, to protect her dignity and privacy," Cheyenne said. "Janda says he knows anyway."
"She's a good friend," Janda said. His face pinked. "In fact, I would like to give you a hug, if that's okay. For saving her."
Dan smiled and held out his arms. Janda moved in and hugged him tight. "Thank you so much. It means so much that you'd risk yourself like that."
"It was nothing," Dan said.
"It was something," Cheyenne said. She came in behind Janda and she hugged him too. "You're my hero, now, Dan. And a criminal," she joked.
She stepped away and stumbled. Janda caught her and helped her to the bench.
"Sorry," she said. "I'm still not as strong as I'd like."
"You're getting there, day by day," Dan said.
"Not as fast as I'd like," she muttered. Then, casting for a new subject, "so, you've had a busy day. Let's see, you stopped two rapist..."
"Got a couple teeth knocked out," Janda added.
"Were tried and sentenced..." Cheyenne said.
"And I came out to the crew," Dan said, taking a seat beside Cheyenne.
"What?" Cheyenne gasped.
"Came out?" Janda gave them a quizzical look.
"It just sort of happened," Dan said. To Janda he added. "I told my bunkmates that I'm gay. That I'm attracted to men."
"They didn't know?"
He shook his head. "It's not very well accepted in places and, I guess, life is hard enough. I just hid it, for years."
"And?" Cheyenne asked.
"I was so mad at those two men..." Dan grumbled.
"And you thought you'd get back at them by telling our crew you're gay?"
He laughed. "I know, it doesn't sound logical. But you've told me how it is being a woman in the military. How you always have to be the best soldier you can, because if you're not, they'll blame it on your sex, say, see, that's why we shouldn't have woman in uniform."
Cheyenne was nodding. "That's how you feel, isn't it?"
He nodded. "Yeah, when you're gay, its the same way. There was this one out gay kid in my high school. He was on the basketball team. He was always the gay kid on the team, you know. When he had a good game, he was breaking stereotypes. When he had an off day, they'd be right back to those same stereotypes. I didn't want to deal with that, so I kept things hidden."
Janda and Lana were both listening intently, their faces open but blank. They couldn't follow most of the conversation, clearly, having no understanding of the prejudices that existed on Earth or the terms they were using.
"This morning I got so angry," Dan said. "Because I try so hard to be on my best behavior all the time, but these rednecks think they can just do whatever they feel like."
"They can not," Lana said. "They will be punished for this, and it's less than they deserve if you ask me."
"How did they take the news?" Cheyenne asked.
"Fine," Dan said.
"I could have told you that," Cheyenne chided him.
"You did tell me that," Dan replied. "But I wasn't ready."
"And now?"
"I guess I could ask the guys to keep the news to themselves. They would. But I didn't ask..." he shrugged. "I guess when it's the occasional hook up, it's pretty easy to keep that part of your life separate. When there's someone..."
He felt her hand on his shoulder. He turned to find Cheyenne's face almost touching his, the goggles watching him closely. "Dan, is there someone?"
He blushed, smiled, and looked down. This was why he like Cheyenne so much. She was like the sister he never had. He ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know," he said slowly. "There's someone I might be interested in, more than just a hook up."
"You must tell me everything," Cheyenne insisted.
######
Kleppie sunk into the booth at the back of their room. This was his alone time. Usually he relished it, he played the tutorial for Space Certification One or day dreamed about traveling through space, the places he might go someday.
Today he felt terrible. He felt like he'd been socked in the gut over and over. He felt, crazy though it was, guilt tearing him up inside.
He knew who had been raped. They didn't have to say. He'd been in the lounge, he'd seen the men and seen them leave with Kavi. At the time he'd felt jealous even.
If only I had found the courage, the courage just to say something like, "hey Kavi, I really like you." Maybe she would have stayed. Maybe she wouldn't have gone with those awful men. It was his fault. He was such a stupid coward.
"I wish I could talk to her," he muttered.
"Who?" a voice answered.
"Kavi," he replied automatically.
He startled suddenly, looking up to see who had spoken. It was the system's automated voice and it was now saying, "communication request from Kleppie to Kavi..."
He stared, slack jawed, and in shock. He tried to think how to stop the request but before he could think of what to say he heard Kavi's voice. "Request accepted."
She appeared on the viewscreen. She was in her bunk, under the sheets and clutching a pillow. She looked sad and timid.
"I..." Kleppie stuttered. "I'm sorry."
"Why?" she asked.
"I didn't mean to disturb you."
"You are not, I wouldn't have accepted if I was busy."
"I know, it's just. God, I am so sorry, Kavi. About what happened. I am so sorry." He broke off. "You probably don't want to talk to me, or any of us for that matter."
"Why?" she asked again.
"Cuz of what those guys did, tried to do to you."
"You aren't those guys, Kleppie. I know that. Your friend, Dan, he stopped it even. I don't blame all of you for two."
"I know, god I wish I could have done something to stop it. If I had known they were like that, I'd have warned you, not let you go."
"I think you would. I, I talked to a counselor for almost an hour about it this morning. Can we not?"
"Of course. I am sorry," he apologized for what felt like the hundredth time. "I'll let you go. I won't disturb you no more."
"No," she said. "Don't go. I want to talk. Just not about that."
He nodded. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Anything. Just not that. Ask me something. I like your questions sometimes."
He thought. His mind was blank. Finally, almost out of desperation he said. "So, where do you come from? I mean I know, the Consortium. But where did you grow up."
"Shin. I was born there. Still live there."
"You do?"
"Yeah, I mean I work here, but I don't have an apartment on the base ship like some of the crew. I have a regular place back on Shin, though."
"Will you go back to the other galaxy when this is done?"
"No, silly, Shin came through the gate. It's part of the fleet."
They talked for a long time. She told him about growing up in the core, the central part of Shin station. Her entire family and most of the people she grew up with worked in advanced tech fields, which were the primary industry of the station. They did things with data engineering and various electronics.
"I think that's why I thought I wanted to study physics for so long," she said. "It was familiar, family tradition and all. But I really liked healing, so I eventually switched."
After a time he had to go for his class. "I won't be working for a few days," she said. "But you can message me again, to talk, if you want."
"I'd like that," he said. "I, I really like you, Kavi."
She smiled. "Thank you."
He left for his class feeling better. He wondered if the implications of like had passed through the translation. He wasn't sure, but he felt better having said it anyway.