"Do you have any questions for us?" asks Dire.
"Why doesn't this ship have a name?" It's something that's been bothering me.
"We never thought we needed one," says Mag.
"But how can the mighty tremble at the sound of your name if you don't have a name?" I ask.
"The mighty trembling at our name was not one of our goals," Dire says. "But it's not something we're trying to avoid, either."
"Do you have a name in mind?" asks Des.
"How about the Haunting? I mean, as far as the Empire can tell, this is a ghost ship. Its reputation is based on stealth and an uncanny knowledge of Imperial actvities. It's even captained by a dead defective soldier. Besides," I say more slowly, "none of us could go back to life in the Empire any more now than we could if we really were dead."
"Is that your decision, then?" Dire asks, looking at me critically.
I take a deep breath. "It is," I reply. "I have nowhere else to go, and this is just as good as any place I've been. All I ask is that you not require me to mop floors."
"Consider it done," says Dire. He turns to the rest of the Centrals. "Now, who likes the name Per suggested for our ship?" Almost all of the Centrals raise their hands. "Good," Dire says. "We've named our vessel. What about our newest crewmate?" He turns back to me. "Do you still wish to be called Per, or would you like a new name?"
A new name. One that has never been yelled by short little idiots like Fipe, never been used to submit an EET request, never called me back out of my own world to the reality of mop and bucket. One that doesn't tie me to the miserable world of cleaning drones.
"I'm done with the name I have. Give me a new one," I say, looking out at the Centrals.
Silence falls. They're scanning my mind, thinking, considering names.
A female wearing an armored vest breaks the silence. "Lore," she says. "I believe her name should be Lore."
"Explain," says Dire.
"It means a collection of knowledge, stories, meanings, ways of doing things. She is a teller of stories, a creator of images, and one who sees things in a way most of us do not," the female says.
Dire turns to me, his expression questioning.
"It fits," I say.
He places a hand on my shoulder. "Welcome to the Haunting, Lore." The Centrals start clapping, and I can feel myself blush.
"Anyone want to show Lore around the ship?" Dire asks as the applause quiets down.
"I will," says the same female who gave me the name.
"Excellent," Dire says. "I believe that's all our business for the moment."
That's apparently the signal for the end of the meeting, because everyone starts to get up and leave. Someone asks Dire a question, and he gets sucked into conversation. I notice Mag and Des do something very odd, almost like biting each other's mouths, when they think no one's watching. I'm really starting to wonder about those two.
"Lore?" I turn, and the female who offered to show me around is standing there. "I'm Blaze," she says. Now that I get to see her more closely, I notice a large, faint, jagged scar that runs down her forehead, along the inside of her left eye, and ends not far above her mouth. Her left antenna droops, and there's a small, odd-shaped patch of purple in the black of her eye where the scar touches it. The vest-like armor she wears appears to be bolted onto her body, and there are several clear panels that reveal wires and tubes full of what looks like blood beneath its surface. I look back up to Blaze's face and realize she's been watching me stare.
"Sorry," I say quietly.
"I don't mind," she says.
"Can I ask how you . . . got this way?"
"A serious accident and some help from Des," she says. "She's a good friend."
"Mind if I ask about her and Mag?" I say.
Blaze rolls her eyes. "They're in love," she says.
"Love?"
"That's right," she says. "You're new to this whole thing. Des and Mag are sexualized. They became life-mates a few months ago, and they found out a few days ago that there is now a smeet developing in Mag's egg sac. It's made them rather giddy."
"So they. . . do things together to make smeets?"
"That's not the whole reason, but yes," Blaze says. "Just don't ask Des about it unless you have a lot of free time. She loves to tell anyone who will listen all about Mag and the cute things he does."
"Thanks for the warning," I say with a bit of a smile.
"Well, let's get going," Blaze says, leading the way toward the same doorway I came in by. "We have a lot of ship to see. By the way," she adds, glancing back at me, "you didn't believe all Dire's crap about how he started this whole thing, did you?"
"He didn't?" I ask.
"He believes he did," says Blaze as we walk out into the hallway. She points left, and we start walking that way down the hall. "He's a bit delusional. Mag is the one who really runs things, but Dire has the charm to get people to follow him. Mag just tells Dire what needs to get done."
"So how much of what he said is true?" I ask.
"Ever heard of Daur?" asks Blaze.
"The one who had everyone convinced he was an Elite Master until they went back and checked his records?"
"And who is now known as Dire," Blaze says. "He really does have leadership skills, but he somehow gets the idea that he's at least partially responsible for anything good that happens around him. If you can deal with him thinking things like, say, that he told you about how ghostly the ship is and that the name should be related to that, you'll almost forget that he's messed up. He's really nice."
"So our captain isn't really sane, our first mate is about to become a father, and we're wanted all over the Empire for attacking Devastis. Anything else important?" I ask.
"Well, we just picked up a huge load of weaponry from a secret storage depot under the surface of Conventia. It was important enough that we had to attack Devastis to get them to drop their guard on it, and now it's all ours. You're the only one left alive who knows we were even there at all."
"I see. So the empire is horribly confused right now," I say with a wry smile. There's an image forming in my mind . . . the Tallest looming over a hologram of Devastis, staring intently at it, while a shadowy black Irken sneaks off behind them with a giant load of weapons. I need to start carrying something with me so I can remember these ideas until I have a chance to draw them.