Captain's Share (Trader's Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper)

by Nathan Lowell

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

  They all looked at me expectantly. I scanned from one face to another. “Is there something else?”

  Mr. Hill nodded at the remaining weapons on the desk. “What would you like us to do with these, Captain?”

  “Oh, of course. Sorry.” I turned to Ms. Arellone. “Thank you, Ms. Arellone? If you’d collect your gear and get into a shipsuit? We’ll get your orientation underway. We have freight to haul and I want to get underway this afternoon.”

  Mr. Hill started to object. “But, Captain–”

  I looked at him. “Yes, Mr. Hill?”

  To her credit, Ms. Arellone didn’t grab for the weaponry although I thought I saw her hands twitch.

  “You’re going to let her carry weapons aboard?”

  I shrugged. “They’re her weapons, Mr. Hill. They came in under her mass allotment. What is your point?”

  He seemed non-plussed. “We don’t carry weapons aboard, sar! It just isn’t done.”

  I shrugged. “If you’ll notice, Mr. Hill, Ms. Arellone is currently unarmed. So she claims and so I believe. Those are hers. I see no reason to prevent her from having them. I don’t question what you have in your duffel bag, do I?”

  “No, Captain, but I don’t have knives in my bag!”

  I shrugged again. “Probably just as well, Mr. Hill. Knives are a specialist tool. All weapons are. Like tools, they can do great harm to the wielder if not used properly. If you ask nicely, I suspect Ms. Arellone will help you learn.” I turned to her. “I’m particularly interested in that pen-device, myself. Perhaps you’d give me a demonstration when we’re underway, Ms. Arellone?”

  She stared at me in disbelief but her mouth worked on auto-pilot. “Of course, Captain.”

  I stood back out of the way while she collected the bundle of weapons from the desk and I turned to Ms. Thomas. “If you’d show Ms. Arellone to crew berthing and help her get settled, Ms. Thomas?”

  “I’ve served on tractors before, Captain.”

  I smiled at her. “Of course, you were on the Paris and the Hector as well, weren’t you?” I nodded at Ms. Thomas. “She was on the Hector too.”

  Ms. Thomas took the opening and led her into the ship and around the corner to crew berthing, leaving Mr. Hill and me alone at the lock.

  He was staring at me incredulously.

  I snagged the spare duffel from the deck and looped the strap over my shoulder. “Yes, Mr. Hill?”

  “Skipper? I can’t believe you let her carry weapons onto the ship.”

  “Why, Mr. Hill? Do you feel threatened by them? Do you think she’ll attack you in your sleep?”

  “She might, sar!”

  “To what end, Mr. Hill? Where will she run to? How would she escape?”

  “She’s not rational, Captain.” He was losing steam in the face of my unwillingness to panic.

  I looked down the passageway toward the ship. “On the contrary, Mr. Hill. She’s perhaps the most rational member of the crew, barring Chief Gerheart.”

  His eyes almost bugged out of his head. “How can you say that, Captain?”

  I looked back at him. “Well, I’ve spent the last eight months in very close proximity to you all and I have to say, I think the chief may be the most rational. Just personal judgment and I’m not an expert on rationality. The fact that I don’t include myself on the roster of rationality should tell you something, Mr. Hill.” I grinned at him.

  “But you don’t know her!” He pointed in the direction of crew berthing.

  I sighed. “That’s true, Mr. Hill. I don’t know her, but she’s one of us now. We take care of our own here, in case you’ve missed that.”

  He looked abashed at that, but not quite done. “We know that, Skipper, but does she?”

  I gave a half nod to cede the point. “Granted, Mr. Hill, but we don’t convince her by just telling her. We have to show her.” I let that sink in for a heart beat. “Show her some respect and give her a chance to show some back, eh?”

  “What if she doesn’t, Captain?”

  I took a deep breath and let it out before speaking. “It’s a long walk home, Mr. Hill.”

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Diurnia System:

  2372-September-13

  Lunch was an all hands affair. The lock was secured for departure at 1000 and we gathered for what was turning into a traditional pre-departure meeting over the lunch mess. I was interested to see where Ms. Arellone would pick to sit. We were mostly all present when Mr. Wyatt opened the lunch mess and I led the parade through the serving line. Ms. Arellone had emerged from crew berthing in a clean shipsuit with her hair still slicked back from the showers. She hadn’t been aboard a ship in a long time and the chestnut hair was growing out in an artless cap. She looked more like a spacer and less like a dockrat, even so.

  I took my seat and was followed rapidly by Ms. Thomas, Mr. Pall, and the chief. Mr. Hill and Mr. Schubert took seats on my side of the table leaving Ms. Arellone standing with a tray full of food and measuring the situation with her eyes. I paid close attention to stirring my coffee and waited to see where she’d go. She surprised me by sitting halfway between the chief and the end of the table. I wasn’t sure how to read that one. I would have bet on her taking the end of the bench opposite Mr. Hill.

  With serving done, Mr. Wyatt took up tray and joined us and I took the ceremonial first bite and when the initial round of savory was completed, started the pre-flight discussion by raising my coffee mug in salute to Ms. Arellone. “I’d like to formally welcome our newest crew member, Ms. Stacie Arellone.”

  The others at the table raised a glass or cup or mug, as appropriate, and echoed various words of welcome. They had no more idea than I did what to say. We were making it up as we went.

  She looked a little flustered and colored a bit at all the attention but managed to smile slightly and nod back to the room at large.

  I let her off the hook by proceeding to more mundane matters pertaining to our departure. “How’re the girls doing, Chief?”

  “They’re warmed up and ready to go, Skipper.” Her sapphire smile flashed from across the table.

  “Any issues?”

  “No, Skipper. Tanks are full and spares are loaded. Scrubber two has been refitted and scrubber one should be able to hold us almost to jump.”

  “Mr. Wyatt? Stores are adequate?”

  “Yes, Skipper. Full up and read to go. I’ve got some new recipes to try this run.”

  “The cans are locked down?”

  “Since yesterday afternoon, Skipper.”

  “Mr. Pall? What news from astrogation? Any pirates?”

  Mr. Pall surprised me then. I hadn’t seen him much since getting underway from Dree. “Course is laid in, Captain. We’ve a good planetary alignment for the exit. Three weeks to jump, more or less.”

  I looked at him. He seemed subdued. He felt me looking at him and turned his head slightly to see. He shrugged into himself a bit and I didn’t press.

  Ms. Thomas noticed the exchange and cocked her head slightly when I turned to her. “Any concerns about the ship, Ms. Thomas?”

  “None, Captain. We’re ready to sail as soon as they can pull us out. Tug should be on station at 1430.”

  “Thank you, all, and I think we’re ready to go.”

  Lunch devolved into quiet conversations and general horseplay. Mr. Schubert and Mr. Hill had their heads together over co-op business and soon drew Ms. Arellone into the conversation by explaining the co-op to her. The chief and Ms. Thomas did some talking around Mr. Wyatt and I ate quietly watching the lot of them. Mr. Pall did not join in the general joviality. In fact the longer we sat there, the more withdrawn he seemed.

  After dessert he excused himself. “I’d like to check on the plot again. See you on the bridge.”

  All three of the officers across the table looked at me expectantly.

  “We’ll need box lunches for dinner, Mr. Wyatt. Do you have enough help?”

  He looked around
the table and nodded. “Yes, I think we can handle it, Skipper.”

  I grinned, stood, and bussed my tray. “In that case, I need to see a man about an eye patch. Ms. Thomas would you plan to call navigation stations at 1400?”

  “Stations at 1400, aye, Skipper.”

  I followed in Mr. Pall’s wake and got to the bridge as he was settling into his seat at the astrogation station. “All updates in place, Mr. Pall?”

  “Yes, Skipper. Been up to date for a couple of days now. Nothing new has been posted since then.”

  I took a seat at the duty deck officer station and fired up the display. I spoke to him without peeking around the console. “So, how are you doing, Mr. Pall?”

  “Fine, Captain.”

  I did lean out to look around the console at him then. “Really, Mr. Pall?”

  He turned his head to look at me looking at him. He sighed. “No, Captain.”

  “Wanna talk about it?”

  He glanced at the ladder and then back at me.

  “We can go to the cabin if you’d prefer?”

  He considered it. That worried me. He finally shook his head and shrugged. “It’s okay.”

  I stood up from the watch stander’s chair and crossed to sit across from him at the spare terminal there. “What’s up, William?”

  He closed his eyes and turned his head away from me a bit. “I can’t stop thinking about the attack, sar.”

  I shrugged. “I’m not surprised, Mr. Pall. It was horrendous.”

  He sighed. “No, Captain. You don’t understand. I don’t remember a thing.”

  I let him see me thinking about that for a couple of heartbeats before I answered. “Is that a bad thing, William?’”

  “I have no idea what they did to me, Captain.” He looked small and weak and scared.

  “Well, we know they beat you up, smashed your tablet, rolled you down a ladder. Isn’t that enough?” I said it gently.

  He laughed a sad little laugh. “Oh, what we know is bad enough.” He turned away and put his hands on his keyboard, facing his console as if he were looking at it. “What else did they do?”

  “What are you afraid they did, William?”

  He didn’t answer for a long time. “Rape, Captain.” He said it very softly.

  “You’re afraid they raped you, William?”

  He shrugged without looking at me. “I don’t know, Captain. I think I’d feel better knowing.” He took a quavery breath and let it out. “Not knowing if I’ve been violated or not. I –”

  “William?” I interrupted him and he turned to me. “William, whether you were raped or not, you were violated. Rape’s never about sex. It’s always about power. Somebody didn’t like you for some reason. I doubt that we’ll ever know why. They took your power and violated your will. You know that, already.”

  He looked like I’d hit him and I tried to smile encouragingly at him.

  “Your body has mostly healed, but it’ll be a while for the rest of it. Somehow, you’ve got to find a way to deal with it. It’s not right. It’s not fair. It’s just what is.”

  He turned away to look at his computer and I stood and walked carefully off the bridge without looking back at him.

  At the top of the ladder I stopped, but I didn’t turn back. “You’ve got people who care about you here, Mr. Pall. Any time you need to talk, you can talk to any of us.”

  I headed down over the ladder and heard a muffled, “Thank you, Captain.”

  I found Chief Gerheart waiting outside the cabin. She pointed upwards with her chin. “Everything okay, Skipper?” The concern was evident in her face.

  I sighed. “Pirates aren’t so funny after you’ve been raped and pillaged, Chief.”

  She hung her head forward on her neck and uttered a most unladylike single word. She stood there for a moment and blew out her breath before looking up again. “Anything we can do?”

  I shrugged. “You probably know better than I do.”

  She shot me a look.

  “I think time and support are all we can offer. The rest has to come from him,” I said.

  Her look turned inward and a bit dark. After a couple of heartbeats she looked back at me. “Yeah.” She sighed and headed down the ladder while I went to the cabin to make sure all the paperwork was filed for departure.

  Ms. Thomas called the crew to navigation stations promptly at 1400 and for once I did the proper thing and let the crew assemble on the bridge before I joined them. The tug tied on promptly at 1430 and we cleared the orbital without mishap.

  I admit I had a bad moment only after we pulled out, thinking of the several cubic meters of hot water sloshing in the workout room. It was all I could do to not rush down and see what damage had been caused. I mustered my self-control, reasoning that it was already too late and the pull out had been so gentle it hadn’t disturbed the coffee in my mug.

  We began the long push out to the safety limit by 1500 and Mr. Wyatt brought up water and coffee around 1600.

  “How’re things below, Mr. Wyatt?”

  “Just fine, Captain. We’re getting along swimmingly.”

  I looked at him sharply, remembering my earlier worries about the hot tub.

  He seemed confused by the sudden attention. “No, really. It’s going well, Skipper.”

  I smiled. “Sorry, Mr. Wyatt. I was hoping we hadn’t spilled the hot tub.”

  He laughed. “Not to worry, Captain. We locked the lid down right before lunch mess. The chief showed me how and we double checked each other to make sure it was locked.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Wyatt. I’m reassured.”

  He grinned and headed back down the ladder.

  Ms. Thomas was looking at me strangely. “Did you really think we’d sloshed the hot tub, Skipper?”

  I had to laugh. “I think I was more concerned that it hadn’t occurred to me until after it was too late, Ms. Thomas.”

  She nodded sympathetically. “That infallibility of captains is a terrible burden, isn’t it, Skipper?”

  “It seems to be, Ms. Thomas. Apparently it’s a condition which I have not yet inherited with my mantle of command.”

  She smirked. “Don’t sell yourself short, Captain.”

  I started to follow up with that when Mr. Pall reported. “The tug needs to drop us a bit early, Skipper. He’s got an emergency call back.”

  “Problems at the orbital, Mr. Pall?”

  “Sister tug has a thruster problem. They need to go help out.” He consulted his screen. “He’s giving us a bit of extra boost before he cuts us loose.”

  “Thank him for me, Mr. Pall.”

  “Done, Captain.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Pall.”

  We watched as the tug finished the boost and cast us off.

  “What will that do to our course timings, Mr. Pall?”

  “Running it now, Skipper. Looks like we’ll be about half a stan later than we planned.” He glanced at the chronometer. “We expected 1915 to the safety border. It’ll be more like 1945.”

  “Ms. Thomas would you announce that to the ship, please?”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  She did and we settled down to doing a serious impersonation of an asteroid in flight.

  At 1800, Mr. Wyatt and Ms. Arellone brought up the boxed lunches and some more coffee. She seemed to be at home on the bridge and was even smiling a little as she refreshed the coffee mugs for us while Mr. Wyatt distributed the boxes.

  She headed down the ladder ahead of Mr. Wyatt and he looked over his shoulder with a look that said, “So far, so good.”

  Ms. Thomas caught the look as well. “Well, our new addition seems to be adjusting.”

  Mr. Schubert gave a small snort.

  “Comment, Mr. Schubert?”

  He looked over at me with a shrug. “It’s going to be interesting in berthing, Skipper.”

  “Why’s that Mr. Schubert.”

  “We’ve been all guys for so long. She’s not the only one who needs to adjust a bi
t, Skipper.” He shrugged apologetically with a glance at Ms. Thomas. “No offense, Ms. Thomas.”

  “None taken, Mr. Schubert.”

  “It’s a good and valid point, Mr. Schubert. Do you have any reservations?”

  “I’m good, Captain. When I came aboard, I was the only rooster in the hen house as it were.” He grimaced. “It wasn’t as fun as you might think.”

  I chuckled sympathetically.

  “I remember what that was like, Skipper.” He looked over at me as if looking for permission to speak. I nodded encouragingly. “I’ve known Stacie for stanyers, off and on. She’s okay. Arrogant piece of work, but she seems to know her stuff and she can handle herself on the dock.”

  “Mr. Hill seems to think she may murder you in your sleep.”

  He snorted. “He doesn’t really, Skipper. He–” he started to say something and then realized where he was and thought better of it. “He’s just adjusting.”

  Ms. Thomas coughed softly and I looked in her direction.

  She shook her head slightly.

  “Thank you for that insight, Mr. Schubert. Please keep me informed as the situation develops.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  We rode along almost in silence, finishing our boxed lunches, and admiring the stars. That was one of the things about getting underway, heading out while still fresh from the dock. The merry-go-round hadn’t started to spin and there were fresh possibilities ahead in the Deep Dark. For the most part we were rested, and mostly healthy, if a little tattered in places. The grind of the mundane hadn’t set in and we still found beauty outside the armor glass.

  Soon enough we crossed the safety border and the chief fired up the sail and keel generators.

  “Ship has way, Captain!” Ms. Thomas gave the report.

  “Thank you, Ms. Thomas. Secure from navigation stations, and set normal watch.” I looked at the chrono on the bulkhead. “First section has the duty.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain. Securing from navigation stations. First section has the watch.”

  It took another tick but Ms. Arellone came up over the ladder and crossed to the helm. She went through the change over protocols and took Mr. Schubert’s seat while Ms. Thomas finished assuming the officer of the deck logs.