“If we had known about the AG, you wouldn’t be here at all,” he whispered.
“But we didn’t, so here we are, arguing while waiting for our crickets.”
Nobody was excited about the food. Except it was served hot, and that morning the crickets were dusted in a savory, citrusy powder. She munched happily on a cricket. “We need to find out how they make these crickets.”
“They are good,” Simone agreed. “If you’ve got to live off crickets, this is the way to do it.”
Jimenez grinned. “You’re our Operations person. Sweet-talk them into giving us some gloves and recipes.”
Lachesis ate her last cricket and pushed her remaining soggy toast and algae porridge at Rainer. He grabbed her hand. His own skin felt warmer than hers, and she shivered at the contrast.
“I’m fine,” she said, pulling her hand away.
His eyes narrowed. “Perhaps we can find a poker game and win some gloves.”
“Don’t go looking for trouble.”
“Of course not. We’ll send Xav to find trouble.”
“Me?” Xav asked curiously.
“Someone’s getting a look at the prize box,” Simone said in a sing-song voice.
She, Jess, Jimenez, and Juan did the little bob-back-and-forth dance.
Rainer, expression still colder than the air, told Xav, “See if this ship has a gambling den or black market. You’re young, presumably dumb, justify it as you’re chasing tail. If you get caught, that’s what I’ll say. If you don’t get caught and you find us a source for gloves, prize box.”
Xav cheered and everyone else rattled off a drumline on the table.
Lachesis asked, “At the risk of sounding stupid…. what is the prize box?”
Rainer tore into a piece of soggy toast, but his attention was really on the table next to them. “A small cache of rewards for people who end up having to do very unpleasant things in the name of Engineering.”
“Like what?” she asked, intrigued.
“Extra shower time for a year,” Simone said. “Twelve minutes in the shower every morning was totally worth crawling into that brown line.”
Crawling into brown lines was a standard (if unpleasant) thing many in Crew and Engineering did. “How far did you have to crawl you got a special reward for it?”
“Far enough it took three hundred and sixty-four days to wash the stink off. I regret nothing.”
“Yikes,” Lachesis said with a grimace.
“Hey, a year of twelve minute showers for three hours in a brown line?” Simone grinned. “You’d have done it.”
Lachesis touched her wet hair, did the math on how much she’d been paying for ten minute showers back on Ark, and said, “I’d have locked you in a closet and said you’d chickened out, but I was the wolf for the job.”
“I’d have split your lip,” Simone joked.
“Guess I’d just have to soak all my bruises in that hot shower.” Lachesis ran her hands along her arms and smiling to herself like she was in an imaginary hot shower.
Snickers.
“Hey, hey, settle down,” Juan waved his fork at her. “Some of us don’t have vivid imaginations.”
Jess cuffed Juan on the back of the head. “No, you do have a vivid imagination. That long hair’s spoken for.”
“I meant a hot shower instead of this lukewarm fish water we’re bathing in.” Juan shoved Jess back. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”
Rainer pushed the spoonfuls of algae mush into his mouth while glaring at the people at the table across from them, who were glaring at them. Juan tapped the butt of his spoon on the table and said, “There a problem?”
One of the guys just pushed his food around, the spoon rapping the plate with a deafening clang. “Checking out what NightPiercers look like.”
“Well, you’ve seen us, so just turn around and eat your slop.” Juan scooped up a spoonful of food and let it drop glob by glob to his plate.
A third guy pointed his spoon at Lachesis. “How does she look with that hair down?”
“That one,” Rainer said coldly, “is a senior officer. If you weren’t taught how to behave properly, I’m going to teach you a very painful lesson.”
“Rainer,” Lachesis said under her breath. “You’re already in a shit mood. Leave it.”
“Senior officer, my ass,” a second one said. “We know she was on Ark less than a year ago. Looks like her own ship didn’t have a use for her.”
Jess stood up. “You don’t know shit, shut it.”
Another female stood. “Folks on this ship know her, NightPiercer. Name like hers doesn’t blend in. Gets around. Like maybe she should.”
“Time to go introduce her to some exotic nuts,” the first guy said, thrusting his hips in absurd fashion from the bench while the rest of the tables laughed.
Lachesis froze, not sure what to do as the scent in the messhall shifted to something she didn’t like, and Xav sent her a terrified look. Simone and Jess were shouting at the first guy while Jimenez and Juan half-heartedly tried to hold them back.
Rainer put his utensils down. “Excuse me a moment.”
“Don’t kill him,” Lachesis said warily, catching her husband’s scent.
“Kill him? I need him alive to remember his lesson.” Rainer stepped over the bench. He folded his sleeves up over his wrists as he strode across the cafeteria.
“What are you going to do, sir?” the guy grinned and some of his tablemates grinned back. “Can’t take all of us. Gonna call our Captain and tell him we were mean to your—”
Rainer slammed the guy’s head onto the table. Cups spilled. Tableware rattled. The whole mess went silent.
“Ohhhh shit,” Juan intoned.
Rainer pressed down with all his weight. “What are you going to do, crewman?”
The man flailed and bucked.
Rainer kept leaning. “Do you see your friends? The ones who were so big-voiced a few minutes ago? I don’t hear a word coming out of their mouths.”
“Fuck off,” the guy slobbered.
“Do you know why they aren’t helping you?” Rainer asked pleasantly, but there was a wild cruelty to him. “Because they’re bottom-feeding cowards, and because they see this tattoo on my neck and really would rather not take their chances on how long they’d live. Or did you not realize you just threatened to gang-rape and abuse not only one of my crew, a superior officer, a fellow member of civilization, but my wife?”
He flailed. “Fuck off!”
The woman who had spoken up hesitantly started to stand, and a few other people slowly followed her lead.
“NightPiercer!” Rainer shouted.
The NightPiercer crew instantly split into two parties, half of them circling Lachesis while she remained seated, the others coming towards their Commander.
Rainer hissed to the woman who was now almost fully standing, “They will die for me, because they know I will die for them. They will die for her, because they know she would die for them. They are all willing to be trapped on this rusting, fungus-riddled bucket with you for the very brief time you have to remain alive to try to save you. Threaten one of us, come for all of us.”
Rainer grabbed the man by the hair and smashed him flat into the table again. Then he backed up a single step. Slowly, the crewman raised his head.
Rainer smacked his head back onto the table. “If this was NightPiercer you’d be dead, and you wouldn’t be the first piece of garbage I’ve put my claws through.”
Rainer pushed his finger into the crewman’s neck. Silvery hair started to appear over the back of his hand. “We can be gone from this place in ten minutes and leave this ship to its fate. You have become the master of this ship’s destiny. I wonder how your shipmates feel about that. Let’s ask them.”
Rainer shoved his boot between the man and another, wedging himself so he could stand on the bench, and shouted to the room. “Will you all die for this man? Will you let him lead you to death?”
Silence.
“I cannot hear you!” Rainer shouted.
Silence.
Rainer turned to the NightPiercer crew. “NightPiercer, are you ready to die on this ship with me?”
Everyone but her was standing, and they saluted, and as one shouted Yes, sir!
He smiled, feral and wild. “What say you, consort? Am I worthy enough you will die at my side, or should we leave them to their fate?”
She stood, trying to resist the urge to strangle Rainer for his production that reeked of Alpha. Ersu was going to lose his mind. “I think you should kill him or come finish your breakfast.”
Juan and Simone guffawed laughter.
Rainer grinned, his teeth glinting large and bright and very sharp. He bounced down off the bench. The guy cringed and ducked, expecting a blow, except Rainer didn’t touch him again, and in fact, sat down to finish his breakfast, mood greatly improved.
Lead Your Dominoes
Lachesis glanced at Rainer as he stepped onto the bridge. Her look offered no clues as to why he’d been summoned, except to beg him to not rip a hole in anything.
Too bad. By the time this was over, he was going to be much more than annoyed.
Sirtis, sitting in the big chair, gestured curtly towards the door to the Captain’s office. “He’s waiting for you.”
Ersu sat at his table, a utilitarian metal affair that was as battered as everything else on the ship.
“Commander,” Ersu said, reeking of anger and annoyance.
“Sir.” Rainer tried not to growl. It was forty percent of civilization. His mate was willing to do anything to save it, including putting up with what had happened earlier in the day.
He was fortunate his mate was so tough-minded she’d rather stay, fight, and settle things than walk away. Meant she thought he was worth her anger and effort, even when she was furious with him. Her crawling away to lick her wounds drove him insane with worry. Her fury aroused him.
Humans wouldn’t understand. Other milder-tempered werewolves wouldn’t understand.
“I would like a status report,” Ersu said.
“I don’t have one yet.”
“Why not?”
This Captain needed to stop pissing on his leg. “If the problem was that easy to figure out, your Engineers would already have done so.”
“I have been assured you are the foremost expert on engines.”
“I am, which is why I’m not confident your issues are purely asymmetrical thrust. Even if they are, your Core is highly degraded, and your engines have already had numerous failures and major repairs. It’s going to take me time to analyze all the previous repairs and how your Core may or may not be contributing.”
“The Core is fine, Commander.”
Rainer eyed the Science badge on Ersu’s chest. “It’s stable and functional, but quite degraded. It may or may not be an issue. We—”
“I heard about the incident in the messhall this morning.”
“I’m certain you did.”
“The man ended up in Medical with a concussion.”
“The man is lucky I did not fracture his skull.”
“You do not send my crew to Medical.”
“Your crew’s behavior was unacceptable.”
“Handle it within the chain of command.”
Rainer shifted his weight. “The Pact Between Ships dictates I am as much Third Officer here as on NightPiercer. He was inciting a riot, and one of my crew was in immediate physical danger. I am not some mechanical wrench-waver that has to run to his commanding officer. I am the commanding officer.”
“And you are not to undermine this ship’s command by threatening to leave us to die.”
“Then I suggest you pass it down your chain of command that we are doing you a favor, and here by invitation, so common curtesy would be appreciated.”
“You are out of line, Commander.” Ersu cut him off. “We both know the only reason the messhall incident resulted in a concussion was your wife was threatened. You went too far.”
“Too far would have been killing that sack of organs. He has a minor brain bruise and damage to his worthless pride.”
Ersu’s face darkened. “Is this how NightPiercer enforces discipline? They send you to break bones?”
“Sometimes,” Rainer said, shifting again.
“Not on this ship. I want an apology, Commander. In writing, so I can pass it on to my crew.”
Like hell. Rainer counted to twenty-eight before he managed to grate out, “Once my crew gets an apology.”
“Not a chance.”
“And now we are an impasse.”
“Take your cull bitch and get off my ship.”
Rainer froze. “What did you call her?”
Ersu leaned back in his chair. “I contacted Tomely on Ark. I was almost angry that NightPiercer refused our simple request for help, and has refused to even exchange mail with us, but you were content to exchange breedable females with Ark. However, Tomely clarified Lake left his ship as a feral cull. He was horrified to find out she’s masquerading as an officer on my ship.”
Masquerading? Lachesis was not masquerading as anything. Rainer couldn’t keep the snarl out of his tone. “She passed Command Aptitude with honors. She passed Operations Entry with six weeks of solo study. My Captain saw value in her, and he was not wrong.”
“Why do you have a wife with no pup, Commander? What games are getting played out there with the other two ships?”
“I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
“I suggest you do so,” Ersu snarled.
Rainer clenched all over. If he stormed out now, Lachesis would strangle him. Diplomacy between the ships was a very strange thing, although Ersu should remember that he was the one locked into this rusting hunk. “Crèche decided to try the old fashioned approach of having me sire my own offspring. Lachesis was sourced from Ark as the most ideal candidate.”
Ersu’s eyes narrowed further. “People on this ship are frightened. Strangers frighten them even more. Strangers behaving strangely terrifies them. NightPiercer has refused to send so much as mail for a year. Lake was already known to some of them. Who is this she-wolf with long hair and a tattoo who was supposedly a navigator on Ark, but is actually the married Chief Pilot of NightPiercer? Why is she not with her pup? Why did Crèche marry anyone who would send a man to Medical with a concussion and clearly enjoy doing it? Do you see how all this would make a very frightened population even more frightened? What deal with what devils have our command staff made for their survival?”
“Your crew’s xenophobia isn’t my problem.”
“Your conduct is a problem, not my crew,” Ersu shot back. “We maintain formality and ceremony on this ship to reinforce structure. On this ship married pairs never work with each other. I’m told to look the other way, but now I find out the woman on my bridge is a cull? And both of you are tattooed? Are both of you Omega-sired as well?”
“Yes.”
“Is your Crèche literally insane? We haven’t used Omega semen on this ship for a Generation, and NightPiercer is breeding them together?”
“Your loss.” This ungrateful ass could go pound sand and manage his own dying ship.
“Culls are culls for a reason, and I question the value of any males married to them. If your Crèche thought so highly of you, you would have obtained better than a cull. I will not ask my ship to put their faith in a cull, and I do not want to have to answer questions as to why I have.”
“Cut the lectures, Ersu. What do you want?”
“Your wife off this ship. Whatever value she brings—which I haven’t seen—isn’t offset by the trouble she’s causing just being here. That hair alone is a problem. You two being married at all, her hair, your tattoos, your grossly inappropriate bunk situation, the incident this morning, and the rampant rumors this ship is dying—”
“This ship is dying.”
“All the ships are dying. I have a disaster on my hands because now my crew is terrifi
ed things are so bad that I’m willing to not only put up with you two on my ship, but she’s on my fucking bridge! She must go back to NightPiercer.”
Rainer worked his jaw a moment to make sure his teeth were still the flat grinding molars of human form. “You sound like a Captain too frightened to actually lead.”
Ersu got to his feet. “And you sound like a feral about to do something he’ll regret.”
Rainer chuckled. “You have no idea what I actually fear or might regret. I promise you, it’s not going to be this conversation.”
“My job is difficult enough without you parading around your sperm receptacle! Get her off my ship.”
Lachesis would tell him to stay, beg him to stay, plead with him to stay. She’d just have to be furious with him, because this was intolerable. He shifted his shoulders. “As you say then, Captain. Since the smell of a married she-wolf on your rotting bridge is such a challenge to your command, I’ll be happy to leave, and I’ll explain it to your crew. Enjoy watching The End play out on your ship”
Ersu surged to his feet. “You will do nothing of the kind, Commander!”
“Exactly, sir. I will do nothing. Gaia have pity on the thousands of souls about to die for your pride.”
The Fifth Law
Rainer stormed out of the Captain’s office. “Lachesis. Let’s go.”
She spun around in her chair and didn’t move. “What?”
“Now.”
Rainer didn’t say a word as he stalked down the hallway to the lift, keyed in his command override, and stepped inside.
“What happened?” she asked.
Rainer didn’t reply.
“Did I fuck something up?”
“No. And take your damn hair down and wear it like the Luna you are.”
“Holy shit, Rainer, don’t talk like that!”
He glared at the wall. “Calculate our next exit window.”
His anger swarmed around and through her, pulling her jaw shut and silencing her questions until they got to their bunk. There, she grabbed the front of his uniform. “Stop. Talk to me.”
Separated Starlight (NightPiercer Book 2) Page 25
