Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy by Martha Wells
Perihelion and its crew try to carry out their mission at a station in the throes of a hostile takeover.
Rapport is a woefully short, but delightful tale that explores more of the relationships between crew and machine intelligences, and is very sweet. I hope we get more of this in future Murderbot books.
Spoiler warning, no SecUnits appear in this short story. Before reading it, I’d have pooh-poohed the idea of Murderbot story without my beloved protagonist. I want MOAR Murderbot! However, now not only do I love Murderbot with all my heart, but Perihelion too. ★★★★☆