Once the door closed behind Rebecca, Captain Starforged took his feet off the dash, and pulled out the drawer that had the holo-projector they used for long range communications on the ship. The only other person left in the cockpit was ANDI who was in the middle of a system diagnostic. Captain Starforged was essentially alone, since ANDI wouldn''t be able to hear anything until it was done.


    After syncing the holo-projector to his wristwatch, Captain Starforged pulled up a hologram of a picture of a woman with short curly hair smiling with her hand running through her hair. This was a pretty common nighttime ritual for him. Even though he knew she couldn’t hear him, it somehow still gave him comfort.


    "Hey Charlotte, I had a pretty busy day today. We took down a pirate crew, and helped AGI arrest a mole who was backstabbing people by placing trackers on them so those pirates could ambush them in deep space."


    Captain Starforged teared up a little and sat there for a few moments before wiping them away.


    "I took on a new crew member, too. She a crazy kid that''ll probably lead me to my death one of these days, but she''s a lot like you. Overly confident, rash, intelligent, and probably a real spitfire. I was reluctant to let her join at first, but she proved herself today. We''d have been dead if not for her, so I''ll give her a chance."


    He continued to sit there for a while looking at the hologram without saying anything.


    "I really shouldn''t be doing this. I know I say this every night, but if I keep talking to you like this I''ll never get over it. Who knows, maybe looking out for this kid will be good for me? Oh well. Good night Charlotte, and rest easy."


    ***


    Even though she had said she was going to bed, Rebecca was curious to see if her eccentric captain did anything weird when nobody was looking. Given his strange dancing, she figured it would be something hilarious, but she was surprised to find him talking to someone named Charlotte. From what she could tell by the sound of his tears and the conversation, Charlotte was someone he had lost.


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    Rebecca felt sorry for the captain, and a little bit guilty for eavesdropping on his private conversation. Charlotte obviously was someone precious to him, but Rebecca wasn''t sure why. Given the captain’s age, Charlotte could have been his wife, or even a daughter, but Rebecca wasn''t sure.


    After hearing him finish up his conversation, Rebecca walked down to her cot in the nook underneath the stairs and just fell right into it. She had never felt more exhausted before. All she could think about was everything she had seen that day. Pirates keeping slaves, corporations hiring outsiders to take them down, shopkeepers setting up people to get raided. All of these were things Rebecca knew happened, but she had never experienced them before in person.


    Rebecca felt both scared and excited, but she quickly drifted off into sleep after a few seconds of lying there. The rest of the Appalachia was almost dead silent for the rest of the night. With the exception of one android who took everything he heard literally.


    ANDI apparently had woken up towards the end of the captain’s conversation, but couldn''t hear what he had said. "Captain were you speaking to me?"


    Captain Starforged almost jumped out of his seat, but he quickly calmed down. "No, ANDI. I was just talking to myself. You can just ignore me ANDI."


    "Very well captain. As you command.”


    After a brief moment, Captain Starforged just realized what he had said to ANDI. "Oh crap!"


    Captain Starforged quickly ran over to ANDI and opened up a panel in the back of its head. He plugged in his wristwatch, and rebooted ANDI while erasing its memory of the last words he had said to it. If Captain Starforged didn''t due this, then he would have to wait until someone of higher authority told ANDI it could listen to him again.


    “That was close.” Captain Starforged went back to the panel that hid the shelf that held all of his records, and grabbed one. He pulled out the record player in the center console, and removed the cord that linked it to the ship’s intercom system so it could only be heard in the cockpit. Captain Starforged placed the record on the record player, and it started playing Blue Moon by Frank Sinatra while the captain sang along.


    Captain Starforged sang along until the song was over. Eventually his exhaustion would catch up to him, and the Appalachia would remain silent for the rest of the night.