by Dan Thompson
“You paying standard rates?”
“If that’s enough.” He suddenly worried that maybe he needed to be throwing in ship shares or some kind of bonus.
“Yeah, it’s good,” Carlos replied. “I think you just got yourself a navigator.”
“And you don’t mind working for a young captain like me?”
Carlos stuck out his hand, the edges of a tattoo sticking out from his sleeve. “There’s something to be said for making a fresh start.”
Michael took the hand and shook it, craning his head to see the tattoo. It looked like one of those serpent-style dragons with blue scales. He saw Carlos had caught him staring. “Nice ink,” he said, releasing his hand.
Carlos rolled up the sleeve a bit and held it up for inspection. “Yep, that’s me, blue dragon through and through,” he said, showing it off as the dragon curled around his forearm. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
Michael quickly shook his head. Malcolm had had a couple of tattoos himself. One dated back to the war: a shield-and-sword combo on his left shoulder. The other Michael had never seen, but it had apparently been on Malcolm’s right buttock and was removed about three ports after he had acquired it. “No,” he replied. “No problem at all.”
On Carlos’s recommendation, Michael closed up his interview booth at the hiring hall, but left the open postings and instructions that any interested crew should come out to the Sophie to interview. “No disrespect,” Carlos had said, “but the Sophie looks a lot more like a ship than you look like a captain, so lead off with her.”
He had grumbled about it, but he knew that his new navigator had a point, and it had taken only a day to prove it. They had already had two visitors this morning. One had come for the environmental job, but backed out as soon as he saw the water system. “Sorry, sir, I don’t do ozone pumps. I never got the training, and I damn near broke the last one I tried to run. It looks like a nice ship, but you don’t want me treating your water.”
The other had been a short girl named Winifred Vargas. “Winner,” she had said. “Or Vargas. But not Winnie.” On that, she sounded quite firm. Michael could not tell much about her form underneath her loose clothing, but she moved with a dancer’s grace. She was applying for the cargo slot, but she spent as much time examining the small gym as she did the cargo bay. In particular, she lingered over the 50-kilogram punching bag Malcolm had installed three years back. There was a certain lethality to the way she sized it up that reminded him disturbingly of Maya Zoland, one of the guards that had held him prisoner on the Blue Jaguar. Winner was only 25, but her profile showed nine years of shipboard experience. Michael assumed that meant she had started with a family connection, which was much more comforting.
They ended up sitting at the table down in the mess. “What do you think?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Standard rates?”
“Plus five percent profit,” he replied. He was still a little worried about that, but Carlos said it would help people get over his Guild status.
She glanced around the galley. “I’m a decent cook, too, if that makes any difference.”
He thought about it. If she could run the galley when they were in transit, he might be able to ship out with one fewer crew. On the other hand, he also knew that you could only multitask someone so far. “If you take some galley duty, I’ll give you a quarter over standard.”
She nodded. “But let me be clear on one thing: I don’t fuck crew.”
His eyes must have bugged out, because her face cracked into the first hint of a smile she had shown so far. In that moment, she reminded him less of lethal Maya and more of Karen Larkin back on his uncle’s ship, the Heavy Heinrich. She had been a lot of fun, but he also remembered how badly it had ended. He did his best to recover his wits and nodded once. “Neither do I.”
“Good. When should I start?”
“Well, we’re not …” he shook his head. Focus, damn it. “We won’t be leaving for a couple of weeks, but the ship has been grounded for almost a year. I can use all hands in getting her ready to ship out again, so I’ll take you on as soon as you’re able.”
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
They shook hands on it, and she nearly crushed him. Shaking his fingers loose, he walked her out and returned to the bridge. Carlos was running another set of simulations at the navigation station. “How did that one go?”
“It looks like we have a cargo specialist as well as a cook.”
Carlos nodded. “It’s not a bad combination. That is, if she can do more than use the flash heater.”
Michael thought about his own culinary skills. “She can’t be much worse than me.”
Carlos laughed and looked up through the forward view screen. “Well, lucky day. I don’t know if you want to fill out the crew with ladies, but this one would certainly be a pretty addition.”
He was about to dash Carlos’s unspoken hopes with Winner’s plainspoken refusal, but then he saw who was on the view screen: Josie. “Oh, shit!”
Carlos looked back at him. “Really? I don’t go for that kind of thing myself, of course, but I figured you’d be all over her.”
Michael looked at her, slim but curved and with long, flowing, blonde hair. She was in tight pants and a top that left little to the imagination. It had been a year since he had seen her last, but she had aged a lot more than that. She had been pretending to be younger when they had met, but now she looked her proper age of 27. Also gone was any hint of innocence. He had known that had been a professional mask even at the time, but it was still a shock to see her without it. She did not look slutty or anything so crude, but she did look ready to pounce on any unsuspecting man-meat that crossed her path.
“Actually I would. In fact, I did. I mean, she’s kind of my girlfriend. Or ex-girlfriend. It’s complicated.”
Carlos shot him a mischievous grin. “Captain Fletcher, I will serve you and this ship with loyalty and perseverance, but for this, you’re on your own.”
Michael swallowed hard. “I’d better get down there.”
“Better down there than in here.”
He made his way back down the side lock with its ramp, hearing Carlos laughing behind him. He walked down the ramp and nodded to her. He had been afraid to face Annie again for good reason. This was going to be even worse.
“Michael!” she shouted, and came running. Her arms flew wide in the last few meters, and he braced himself for a slap or worse. Instead, she almost bowled him over with a hug. “Thank the stars, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you!”
Bewildered, he hugged her back. “I missed you,” he said, realizing how true it was now that he felt her in his arms: soft, lithe, and so very close.
She pulled back slightly and kissed him long and deep. Eventually, she came up for air. “Your birthday came and went, and I started to worry about you. How long have you been back?”
“A while. I guess Annie told you.”
“No, I saw the … wait, Annie knew you were back, and she didn’t tell me?” She let go of him with one arm and made a fist. “She and I are going to have a talk.”
“No, it’s …” he trailed off, shaking his head. “How did you find me?”
She relaxed her fist and pulled him in closer. “You’re taller now.”
“Josie?”
She pulled back to face him. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the Sophie. I saw that she had been moved out of secure storage, but I hadn’t heard from you. Then I saw the job postings at the hiring hall, so I knew it had to be you.”
“You’re looking for a job?”
She shook her head. “No, you silly boy … I mean, you silly captain. I’m looking for you.” She glanced down at his uniform. He had finally worked out a set of utilities with the captain’s star. He had meant to buy a new one, but in the end, he had pulled one from Malcolm’s cabin. “You’re all official now. When were you going to tell me?”
He looked down, got an eyeful of her cleavage and turne
d away, shaking his head. “I’m not all that official yet. It’s a Guild thing, and I wanted to wait until ...” He shrugged and turned back to look her in the eye. “But I wasn’t going to leave without seeing you.”
She gave him a little smile. “I don’t care about any Guild thing. You’re captain enough for me, so you and I are going out.” She pulled her arms in tight and took hold of his front shirt pockets. “Tonight, okay? And be sure to wear your dress uniform. I want to show you off a bit.”
He hesitated. “It’s at the tailor’s. The jacket didn’t fit right.” He saw the beginnings of a pout, so he took hold of her chin. “Tomorrow night?”
She nodded. “But get us a room somewhere nice, something with a view,” she said, smiling. “And a hot tub.”
He kissed her again. “Absolutely. I’ll pick you up at seven?”
She shook her head. “Eight.”
He watched her go and slowly made his way back to the bridge.
“You survived!” Carlos proclaimed.
Michael realized he was still smiling from that last kiss. “No one is more surprised than me.”
Michael’s dress jacket had gone from too tight to too loose, but the tailor assured him he would grow into it. The metaphor was not lost on Michael, but honestly, he would have preferred it fit now. Still, it looked better than it had, so he issued his now two-person crew orders for the next morning and marched over to the apartment Josie shared with Annie.
When he signaled the door, he heard a click and a distant “It’s open.”
He went through to find Josie standing in the living room looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her. Her blonde hair was braided over the top of her head before spilling loose over her bare shoulders. She wore a cobalt blue strapless dress that was little more than a clingy bodice that flared out into a knee-length skirt. The fabric had a translucent shimmer to it, and as she walked toward him, the entire outfit seemed to defy gravity.
“You’re very handsome in uniform,” she said.
“You look very handsome, too. I mean beautiful,” he stammered. “I … damn, Josie. You’re amazing.”
She gave a little grin. “I’ll take your fluster as compliment enough. Shall we go?”
“Sure, but where’s Annie?”
“She left early,” she said, fetching a tiny matching purse. “You can talk to her some other time. Tonight is about us.”
And it was. He had finagled a corner table at the High Marina on the top floor of the Carson Tower. He had wanted to find a rotating restaurant like Malcolm had taken him to once in Stonefall on Latera, but Taschin did not have one. Still, their static view went out into the bay in one direction and out to the spaceport in another, with ships taking off every twenty minutes or so.
The food was excellent, a local variant of lobster with half-kilo tails, and the wine was light on his brain. Still, he felt like he was not enjoying it as much as Josie.
Clearly, she saw it as well. “What’s wrong?”
He sighed. “I don’t know. I guess it’s that this is the first really expensive place I’ve ever taken someone where I’m paying for it.”
“Oh, Michael, you picked it. I would have been happy with someplace cheaper.”
He chuckled. “No, it’s not that. I can afford it.” Though he reminded himself that he could not afford it often, at least not until the Sophie was turning a profit instead of sitting on the ground eating through the cash Malcolm had left him. “No, it’s that I always figured that first expensive meal would have been with my dad. I was going to get my license, join the Guild, and buy him the most expensive item on the menu.”
“And you’d rather be with him?” she asked.
Michael shook his head. “I only wish he’d been around for me to have the option.”
“And if he had been, who would he have told you go with?”
“Oh, definitely you, hands down.”
“Damn straight. We’re that couple tonight. You know, the one that everyone is watching.”
He had noticed it. “I think it’s you that everyone is looking at.”
“Maybe the men,” she replied.
“No, I think it’s the women, too.”
“Only because they want to be me. In a port city like this, every girl grows up wanting to be with the mysterious man with that captain’s star on his shoulder. Tonight, I am that girl, but you’re not some crotchety old spacer with more chins than teeth. You’re young. You’re handsome.” Beneath the table, her bare leg snaked up against his trousered one. “And you’re virile.”
He glanced down at his plate, mostly empty, then back up to her. “Should I ask for the check?”
She licked her lips. “I think that’s a fabulous idea.”
He paid quickly, doing his best not to gape at the total, and escorted her back to the lift. It was one of those glass ones, looking out into the city. She drew him in close and started kissing him. One thing led to another, and before long, she had one knee raised up to his hip while he groped higher and higher up under her dress until his fingers met a lacy trim around thin elastic. The door chimed as their descent slowed, and they did their best to compose themselves before the elevator opened into the lobby.
She led him out into the plaza and paused at a small fountain with a pool surround. She took off her heels and handed them over. “I love walking barefoot in the water.”
He almost followed her in, but even if he took off his shoes, he would still need to roll up his pants. Watching her playfully splashing her bare legs through the water, he knew he would look ridiculous, so he simply followed her along the edge enjoying the view.
“So where are we off to tonight?” she asked.
He nodded across the road to the Spire. “I’ve got the corner suite on the top floor.”
Her eyes went wide. “You didn’t!”
“But I did.”
“You know, I was joking about the hot tub thing.”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t. Come on.”
She followed him into the lobby, hanging onto his arm, her bare feet leaving little wet footprints as she went. “Hang on,” she said once they were inside. “I want to dry off in the ladies’ room.”
He leaned against the concierge counter and watched her go, her swaying hips sending the skirt into hypnotic motions.
Another man stepped up to the counter beside him. “Cab, please,” he said to the concierge.
Michael glanced at him, tall and pale with almost pure white hair. He was in another dress uniform, double-breasted in the green of Takasumi Lines. The man returned the glance and gazed back toward Josie disappearing into the bathroom. “You’re a lucky man,” he said.
Michael grinned without reserve. “I certainly plan to be.”
The other man laughed. “That’s a good one. I’ll have to …” he trailed off and glanced down at Michael’s uniform. “Hey, Sophie’s Grace! You’re Captain Fletcher?”
Michael looked back at him. He was older, not ancient but older. He had a scar running next to his left eye, but the rest of his face lacked the weathering of true age. He guessed the man was no older than Malcolm had been. “You probably knew my father, Malcolm.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. Mostly I remember the name from the job postings I saw down at the hiring hall. You are that Captain Fletcher, aren’t you, sir?”
“Yes, I am,” he replied, struggling to shift back into a more professional mode. “Are you looking for work?”
“My current contract is up with Takasumi, and frankly I’m looking for a change. As loose as Takasumi claims to be, it’s still corporate through and through.”
“Well, what are your ratings?”
The man shrugged. “I’m a bit of a mixed bag. Some navigation, a little drives, and my most recent posting was environmental. Heck, I’ve even done my share of cargo and mechanical.”
A woman came out of the bathroom, but it was not Josie. “So, what are you hoping for?”
He shook his head. �
�My apologies, Captain. I can see this is a night off for you, and I don’t want to trouble you. Perhaps I could talk to your first officer?”
Another one came out, but still not Josie. “Actually, I don’t have one yet.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Do you have any candidates?”
“No, not really. Is that what you’re looking for?”
Josie came out through the door, walking across the lobby to them, every part of her moving with the sway of her steps.
“Perhaps, but I see what you’ve been looking for, so how about I stop by the ship tomorrow?” Josie flashed them both a smile as she approached. “Maybe I should make that late tomorrow.”
“I think so,” Michael replied, already lost in Josie’s eyes.
Josie slid between them and under Michael’s arm. “You two boys aren’t talking shop, now are you?”
“Not at all,” the man replied.
“The weather,” Michael stammered. He felt her arm snake around his back with her hand finally fumbling around in his pocket.
“Well, I’ll bid you two a good night, Captain Fletcher.”
“Thanks—your name?”
“Mosley. Richard Mosley.”
Josie peeled away and started tugging Michael toward the elevators. “Time for bed, Captain Fletcher.”
Michael held out her shoes. “Don’t you want these?”
She shook her head and did a slow twirl. “I’m not putting anything back on tonight.”
Michael made one furtive glance back at Richard. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Late tomorrow,” he replied.
Michael caught up to Josie and reached into his pocket for the room card. Instead, his fingers found lace and elastic.
Late tomorrow, indeed.
Chapter 5
“Once in a long while, life drops everything into a neat line for you, and it feels like it’s too good to be true. Now, it’s good to be cautious and all that, but there is such a thing as good luck. When you get it, grab hold and run with it for all you’re worth.” – Malcolm Fletcher
