Chapter Two
Jack crossed his arms as he stared out the bridge’s windows, watching the cranes lift the last of the cargo crates into his hold. His jaw began to ache, reminding him to relax the pressure on his teeth. He was always grinding his teeth, usually due to some mischief from his younger brother. He heard footsteps on the bridge’s metal plating but refused to turn and acknowledge the newcomer.
It wasn’t Calen, so what was the point?
“Captain,” a voice said from behind his shoulder.
“David,” he replied, easily able to recognize the older man’s voice. “Still no sign of Calen?”
“Nope.”
“What of the others? Dirk, Oden, and Forrest?”
“Also gone. All four left last night and went to the surface. Thought they’d be back before night. Don’t worry, sir. They know when we ship off.”
Jack grunted. He had no doubt Dirk would be back and, therefore, Forrest, his subordinate. But concerning Calen and Oden he wasn’t so sure.
His two pilots. Missing at the same time.
Jack almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. He couldn’t take off even if he wanted to at the appointed time if they didn’t return on time. And that would result in hefty fees from the docking authority.
Sure, Jack could fly a ship like most captains, but he wasn’t as skilled at it as his brother or Oden. He wasn’t a true pilot, and he would rather pay the fees than risk damaging the ship, even if his ego took a hit.
“How comes the loading?” he asked his Executive Officer, changing the subject.
David was a steady man. He was Jack’s second cousin, but that wasn’t why he had the coveted second-in-command position on the family’s freighter. David had been a captain on sea-fairing freighters on Earth for at least a decade. While transporting cargo in space was a far cry from transporting across the seas, David’s experience was invaluable. The minute Jack had inherited his father’s business six years ago, he had contacted his second cousin with the job offer.
After all, the previous XO was unwilling to work under a man as young as Jack. When he had resigned, David had been the obvious choice for the family business. Now, six years later, they had both learned from each other.
“Nearly finished.” David glanced down at his clipboard. “I believe there are just four more to be loaded. Should be done within the hour.”
Jack squeezed his eye shut.
Great. They were ahead of schedule. The port would expect them to take off when the crates had been loaded, whether it was before the appointed time or not, and he had no pilots.
“Damn that boy,” he growled more to himself than his companion.
In truth, Calen was only six years younger than Jack, but he had not been forced into the patriarch’s position at the age of twenty-five, nor had he been groomed for the position since his birth. He had been allowed a normal childhood while Jack had learned the family business. Calen had been allowed to pursue his dreams of becoming a pilot while Jack learned the interstellar politics subsisting between the various factions controlling their solar system.
Jack tried not to resent his brother’s freedom, but, at the current moment, Calen was making it difficult.
Before Jack could say more to his XO, they both heard a ruckus from the level below. Through it, Jack heard his brother’s voice rise above the others. He let out a sigh of relief. At least one of his pilots was back in time.
Jack led David out of the bridge and down the staircase to the lower level. He skidded to a stop as he reached the landing and turned to take in the ship’s entrance. On the level below him, Jack spotted a young girl, huddled against the wall as the entire crew tried to talk over each other.
“What the devil is going on in here?” he demanded, the sound of his voice quickly quieting his men.
From where he stood, he spotted Dirk glaring at the girl. Oden and Forrest stood behind the chief engineer, their faces wreathed in humor. Calen stood near the girl, a sheepish grin on his face as he dragged his eyes up to where his brother stood on the landing. Vance, the chief steward, Nolan, his under-steward, and Jeremiah, the ship’s second engineering assistant, stood in a huddle in the corner, each of them eyeing the girl.
As Jack glared down at his men, his brand new security team peeked out from the stairs leading down to the lower levels of the ship. No doubt they were equally surprised by the sudden appearance of a woman on the freighter.
“Umm…” began Calen in response to his brother’s question before trailing off.
“Your brother’s gone and won himself a woman,” growled Dirk.
Dirk’s hatred of the fairer sex was well known among the crew, but for once his anger seemed well-founded.
Jack forced himself to take a deep breath, only half aware that he had been holding it. He dragged his eyes over to his brother and the woman in question. She was a tiny little thing, with blonde hair hanging in dreadlocks down her back and dirt smudged on her fair skin. Her eyes were cast on the floor, and Jack spotted a quivering of her bottom lip as she tried to disappear into the walls of the ship.
“What do you mean? Calen?”
“I kinda won an indentured in a game of poker,” he said, raising a packet of documents.
“You what?” snapped Jack, completely dumbfounded by what he was hearing; surely his brother knew the issues with having a woman on board a ship that went weeks, even months, between ports.
“Yeah. He said she had a near million left in her debt. Signed the papers over to me right then and there.”
Jack’s eyes flickered to the girl again. How could a girl as young as her get into such debt as to require her to indenture herself to pay it off? Slowly, Jack became aware of his crew. All their eyes were on the girl, too.
“I’m sure you all have work to be doing. The port wants us out within the hour. Calen, take the girl to my room. David, please take the bridge with Oden at the helm. All of you, get to your stations.”
In record time, the entrance to the ship emptied. Jack marched down the remaining stairs and followed Calen and the girl into his room. He shut the door with more force than he had intended and, to his surprise, the girl jumped before tucking herself into a free corner.
“Now, Calen, tell me exactly what happened?” he asked as he reached out for the documents.
As Calen had said, the previous owner had signed the girl—Larissa Earnest—over to Calen. The girl’s debt was very near a million dollars. By herself, he suspected she would be working for the rest of her life to work off the debt. He flipped back through the documents, noting that Calen was now her sixth owner.
“I told you. I won her in a game of poker. Didn’t really think I’d win, to be honest. It all happened so fast.”
“Do you have any idea what this means?”
Calen shrugged. “She can work with Vance. Cleaning and cooking and whatever the stewards to do.”
Jack squeezed his eyes shut, amazed at his brother’s ignorance.
“And how will we keep her safe?”
“Safe?”
“From the men. You’re telling me these men,” and he waved at the door of his room, “are gonna act like perfect gentlemen with a woman on board? You really think none of them will try something indecent with her?”
He watched as Calen blanched. He may not have thought of it on his own, but Calen wasn’t slow to understand what his brother was implying.
“I hadn’t thought…”
“No. You never do think, do you?”
“When do we leave port?”
“Any minute,” Jack barked.
“Jack, you’re scaring her.”
The captain glanced at the girl. Sure enough, she had her eyes glued to the floor, her whole body quivering. Jack took a deep breath, willing his voice into a calmer tone, despite the rage roiling inside his chest.
“We fly to Mars. I’ll find her a job there when we arrive. Guess this is your lucky break, girl. When we get to Mars, you’re
free to go.”
He watched as her blue eyes lifted to his face and widened with fright. Jack frowned. He had expected her to be grateful that they were forgiving her debt, but the expression she showed him was sheer terror.
“P-please, sir. You can’t,” she said, her voice a mere whisper.
Jack found himself leaning forward to catch her words.
“Why ever not?” he asked. “You’d be free of the debt.”
The girl swallowed as though something was clogging her throat. “It don’t work like that. Mr. Asselstine were the last employer, according to the records. They find me on Mars, rather than with my employer,” she nodded to the documents, “they’ll ship me back to Mr. Asselstine and the cost of the voyage will be added to my debt.”
Jack groaned. He didn’t know this “Mr. Asselstine,” but judging by the healing bruises half hidden by her tattered tank-top, he had not been a kind employer.
“Calen, go do your work. I’ll deal with you later.”
Jack felt a new rise of anger as he watched the girl shy away from him. He hadn’t realized how much the girl had already grown to trust Calen. For whatever reason, he found himself hating the fact she trusted Calen more than himself.
She pressed herself back into the corner, her eyes focused on the floor again.
Jack stepped past her and opened the door into his private bathroom. It was one tiny closet, acting as shower, sink, and toilet all at once. He pointed to the lever that would turn on the water.
“That’s how you turn it on,” he said, pausing to make sure she actually looked where he was pointing.
He moved to the drawers tucked under his bunk and pulled out a clean towel. He dug in the bowels of the lowest drawer and pulled out a t-shirt he had long thought too small and a pair of sleeping shorts.
“And here’s some clean clothes. Go ahead and clean up. I’m gonna go to the bridge and contact the authorities. See what I can do about my brother’s mess.”
Jack turned to the door, ready to exit, his hand resting on the handle. “I’m sorry, miss, for what my brother’s done to you… wrecking your life like this.”
With that, he marched out and shut the door behind him.
Randal, the commander of his new security team, stood near the staircase leading up to the bridge. He gave Jack a little smile. Like David, Randal was older than Jack by a good number of years, and yet perfectly willing to work under the younger man.
“Randal,” Jack sighed as he scratched the back of his head.
“Never a dull moment,” chuckled the older man.
“Not with my brother around. Will you hang around here for a few minutes? No one’s to enter my quarters, but I don’t want it looking like I set a guard.”
Randal nodded. “’Course, Captain.”
Jack nodded before jogging up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He reached the bridge and ignored the glances David and Oden threw at him. No doubt they were curious what the fate of the girl would be. She was pretty enough that even Jack had given her a second glance; more’s the pity. If she had been ugly, Jack might not have been so quick to get rid of her.
He sat down at the communications console, popped the headphones over his ears, and began punching buttons a little harder than necessary.
Twenty minutes later he punched the off button and tossed the large headphones against the console before scratching at his head where the earphones had pressed against his skull. All his efforts had failed.
“Sir,” came a hesitant voice from near the helm.
Jack turned in his seat to see his XO staring pensively at him.
“They’ve finished loading the crates. Port’s asking when we’ll detach.”
Jack rose from his feet and took his station on the bridge. “Contact Port. Tell them we’ll be detaching as quickly as we can. Oden, begin uncoupling procedures.”
The captain glanced at the displays. The space around them was clear. Compared to other departures, it should be a fairly straightforward procedure, meaning he had few excuses for avoiding the coming conversation.
Jack scratched at his head again. He was loathe to leave the bridge. Here he knew what he was doing. He knew the moves, the commands needed for leaving port. Down there, where that girl waited, he had no idea what he was doing.
“David, the ship is yours. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said as he turned toward the exit.
“Cap,” came Oden’s voice.
Jack turned back to look at the tattooed pilot. His hands were still on the controls, ready to continue his work.
“The girl staying?” he asked.
“Looks like it.”
Trust and Treachery Page 2
