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Cait summoned Toby at the first bell after sunrise, and started to detail his duties on the Rose. After a moment, Cait slowed her speech to a stop, noticing how Toby could barely keep his eyes open, how he swayed just a little as he stood before her. A few delicate questions uncovered that he had not slept at all the night before. Cait prepared an herbal tea for him, a blend she knew would knock him out within the span of a bell, and sent him back to his bunk. Just before sunset, at the start of First Shift, she gathered her crew on the bridge.
“I have not been very open with you about what is happening with young Tobias,” she said. She explained to her crew how she had found Tobias on the docks, of the escort with him, and the orders to take Tobias to the Firebrand, and that she could not abide by that.
“Sir,” Xiphos said from the helm, “why do we hate the Firebrand?”
Billy folded his arms across his chest. “The Firebrand is a boat somewhere in the Southern Ocean. It’s a corrections camp for teenagers. Most of what they do is in the name of fixing ‘out of control’ teenagers, but is much closer to torture.”
Nina’s ears pressed flat against her head. “We don’t want that,” she said, almost whispering.
Tre breathed out a long sigh through his nose.
“I know,” Cait said. “We will be in trouble with the Lat Colony authorities, but the Confederation is very clear about where they stand on this issue. That being said, I did not give any of you a choice in this decision, and all your records in the Civilian Navy will reflect that. When we reach Anchorhead, you may all resign if you feel you must.”
Cait’s statement brought her a wall of silent, focused stares. Billy narrowed his eyes at Cait.
“Oh crap dammit, Cait. No one’s going to resign off this boat.” Billy turned to the helm. “Xiphos, are you resigning because Cait made a difficult but morally right judgement?”
Xiphos shook her head.
“Longtime Travelers? Want to leave because of Cait?”
Patel and Tami, arms folded across their chests, squinted.
“Are you kidding?” Patel asked.
“We wouldn’t be here this long if we didn’t like you,” Tami said.
“Nina? No? Tre? What about Billy? Billy, are you going to resign because Cait did the right thing, even though it was a hard choice to make? Oh, I don’t know, it’s so hard to-”
“Thank you, Billy,” Cait said. “No one is resigning. Well illustrated. If there is no more business, I think all of you have work to do, no?”
With a few “aye”s from the crew, they dispersed, leaving Cait and Xiphos alone on the bridge. Cait studied the next day’s schedule, making sure all of the shifts were covered. Next to her, Xiphos checked over the weather on one of her screens. She had sent up the buoy to the surface as soon as she took the helm.
“Sir, it looks clear. I’m going to surface,” she said, focusing on her controls.
“Please do,” Cait said. She leaned back in the helms chair next to Xiphos. “Open the vents when we get up, too. We could use some airing out.”
“Aye,” Xiphos said absently.
“Helmsman, is everything alright?”
Xiphos flipped a few switches, preparing the Rose to surface. Off in the silent waters around them, Cait could hear the buoy being pulled back in to the boat. “Are we losing the Rose?”
Cait sighed. “Xiphos, we are not losing the Rose.”
“Billy said that-”
“What have I said about you two gossiping?”
“Usually, ‘that is the bloody stupidest thing I have ever heard’,” Xiphos said, her voice weaker.
“And now is not special, is it?”
“No, sir,” Xiphos said. She hurried back to her work. Within a few moment, she had opened the front portal of the Rose, and a few more moments after that, the water gave way to the night sky of the southern hemisphere. The vents above the bridge hissed, and cool air surged into the ship. Cait closed her eyes and inhaled.
“No one is taking the Rose,” she said. “The cargo we have is going to make us enough money to pay off our debt. And then we will no longer have creditors to worry about.” Cait sat back in her chair and watched the view outside the portal. They were in one of the shipping lanes heading to Anchorhead, and she could see the wake of other boats stretch for miles in every direction. The moon hung just below the horizon, a little sliver of a beacon to the east.
The Great Rose herself never had to put up with creditors, Cait reflected. Of course, Rose had talent for the trade; she was, after all, a Molyneux. Of course she had talent.
“Sir,” Xiphos said, staring hard at one of her screens. “There’s been a attack.”
Cait stood, and looked over Xiphos’s shoulder. Behind her, through the rush of the air around the ship, she could hear someone climb the steps to the bridge.
“Looks like a freighter from Lingguo got hit hard,” Xiphos said.
“Was anyone hurt? Do they need help?”
Xiphos’s eyes darted over the screen. “A few injured. Looks like most of their cargo was taken, but they haven’t put up a help flag.” Xiphos paused, scanning down the report. “Sir, they’re reporting it was Burian Lake.”
Cait stood up straight, her eyes still on the screen. “What do you think, helmsman?”
“Sir?” Xiphos said. “I recommend we go around the area.”
“How long would that take?”
Xiphos tapped on one of the keyboards on the helm. It sounded as if it had been built to survive for a thousand years, its clacking keys echoing with each stroke. “Likely 12 hours if the weather’s good.”
“Pirates?”
Cait had been waiting for that. Toby stood on the bridge behind them, fidgeting with his hands as Cait and Xiphos planned their route.
“It seems that way, yes,” Cait said. “But nothing to be worried about.”
Toby nodded.
“What do you know of pirates?” Xiphos asked, turning in her chair, a plotting smile on her muzzle. Toby could feel the fur on his neck bristle. He closed his fists, keeping his arms at his side. He stared at Xiphos.
Everyone from the Colony knew about pirates. Pirates were part of the world, whether or not Xiphos thought the Colony was. The former and current Latanian colonies made their riches on industry, and the ocean states tended to shift those riches around for the continent. And yet, there was a divide between them, a distrust that compounded on itself long ago. The Continents made, the Islands moved. They had at once a symbiotic and completely hateful relationship.
News of pirate attacks always moved quickly through the Relay. Newspapers and Relay communique always kept track of these attacks, because the public wanted to know. Trade was to be done, people moved, and when these activities were suddenly, forcibly stopped, violently stopped, the Continents noticed.
“I know enough,” Toby said. “The Lats used pirates in the war against us.”
“That was a hundred years ago,” Xiphos said, almost laughing at him. “You’ve only ever heard stories. Have you ever seen a real pirate?”
“We go through,” Cait said.
Xiphos looked up at Cait, her eyes wide, her ears standing up. “What? Sir, this is Burian Lake we’re talking about!”
“He will be gone by the time we get there,” Cait said.
Xiphos sat stunned a moment. “But… Pirates!”
“I am not afraid of pirates, and I am certainly not afraid of Burian Lake.” Cait looked down at Xiphos. “That was not a suggestion, helmsman.”
Xiphos cleared the course changes she had entered. She drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them, and watched the ocean pass them by.
Behind both of them, Toby couldn’t help but smile. Cait turned to him. “Well, come on, Tobias. Let’s talk about ship duties.”
[g]
Hmm. No, now is not special. That’s awesome :)