Catati stories
short stories: fewer than 7,500 words
When Earth’s new spacefaring allies let Humans into their school, Tammy leapt at the chance. Maybe one of these days, she’ll even pass—preferably before her alien friend gets a girlfriend.
Tammy’s spent nearly a year working as a base-level tech—read: electrician—on a Catati vessel, and her shipmates still give her special treatment, because she’s the only Human. But not all “special treatment” is a bad thing.
Theoretically, Tammy should be able to handle all the tech issues for a small freighter, but that would require her to pay attention. She’s screwed up big time, and meeting her best friend’s family for the first time might not make things any better.
Tammy’s husband, Yakí, is supposed to be in the mountains of his homeworld, but somehow he’s ended up captive of enemies even Tammy hadn’t known the Catati had. Tammy’s no diplomat, but she’s the only Human available to try to buy time for an extraction team to get Yakí out. But can she pull it off without screwing up?
After the events of “Noveez Error”, Tammy knows her husband’s hiding something from her. He wouldn’t do that unless whatever he was hiding would upset her, so what doesn’t he want her to know? And what are they going to do about it?