Back to Part 044 – Forward to Part 046

Toby had been making attempts to clean the dishes for the better part of an hour. Each start was met with a poke, and he’d turn around to entertain for a while, and then back at the dishes. This time, his tail was pulled. He dropped the plate he had been scrubbing off and on again into the sink and turned around.

“I’m booooored,” Auburn said. She leaned on the counter across from him, arms down at her sides.

Toby sighed. “Do something.”

“Like what?”

“You can help me with the dishes…”

Auburn sighed loudly. “That sounds like something you’d do on shift. I am not on shift. What’d you normally do before I got here?”

Toby dropped his eyes away, and hugged himself. “Well, usually I’d hang out with Nina…”

“Oh,” Auburn said, quietly.

“There’s books,” Toby offered, recovering the conversation.

“No.”

“You could play Shah.”

“No!”

Toby hugged himself tighter. “Cards?”

“N-maybe.”

He turned away. “I’m sorry.” He planted his hands on the lip of the sink and stared into the water. “I don’t really have much to give you.”

Auburn stepped forward. She pulled him close, nuzzling into the soft fur on his head. “No, I’m sorry. I should feel lucky for being here.” She kissed his ear.

Toby leaned back into the hug. “I’m sorry Frank couldn’t be here. You’d probably have more fun.”

The human shrugged. “But he’s happy now, which is awesome. He got to go home to his own people. I don’t think he ever though that’d happen.” She leaned forward and kissed Toby’s muzzle. “You should get back to work. Also, have you seen my room yet?”

The fur on Toby’s face grew noticeably redder. “Yeah.”

“You should come check it out when you’re done.”

Toby turned around. “Is it different?”

Auburn only giggled at him. She playfully hit him on the shoulder and left him alone in the kitchen.

Alone, he made quick work of the dishes, the weight of the day slowly working its way off his shoulders.

The intercom clicked on. “Attention, everyone.” It was Cait. “We have answered a ship’s distress call. Please prepare for incoming wounded. Tre, greet them at the docking port. Auburn, you’re with Billy.” Just before the intercom clicked off, Toby heard in the background, “Why’s Auburn get to be with Bi-”

Toby dried his hands and headed to the bridge.

Xiphos manned the helm, but had turned her chair to face Cait, who made herself busy preparing for their guests. Xiphos scowled, her arms folded tightly over her chest.

“If you would like to return to your old position you certainly may,” Cait said. She leaned over Xiphos, checking a display that said “docking ring.” All indicators said that it was “in progress,” whatever that meant. Toby tried to remember if he had seen a docking ring at all on the Rose.

“I know first aid,” Xiphos said firmly, as if this was a forgotten fact.

“Auburn has shown she does as well. She is also an organiser, and that is something we could use if there are multiple wounded on this ship.” Cait turned to look down at Xiphos. “If it pleases you, we could arrange a change of position, and Auburn could take the helm.”

Xiphos turned around and poked at her screens a bit. Her ears flattened against her head. After a moment, she turned to Toby. “What?”

“I don’t know what to do,” he said. He straightened up when he spoke to her, just as he had seen Auburn do, and made forced, brief eye contact.

Xiphos, to Toby’s surprise, said, “ohhh. Good point. I dunno. Boil water?” She looked for Cait from her chair. “Captain?”

Cait had slipped into her office for a moment. She returned and said, “If you want to help, you could-” She stopped suddenly. Her ears perked and swiveled around on her head, searching. Xiphos did the same. They were listening, and Toby strained to hear what Cait’s subconscious already had.

“Helmsman, what happened to our engines?” Cait asked slowly. Xiphos pulled a monitor up to her and rapidly paged through the displays. She froze on one page, two bright red indicators flashed at her.

“I don’t know-”

“Get them back online.”

“Captain,” Xiphos said, panic poorly concealed in her voice. “Systems are shutting down all over the ship.”

The helm shut down, its screens squeezing down to a thin line, and then blinking away. The light went out, and they were left only in emergency lighting.

“Xiphos…” Cait folded her arms.

Xiphos jumped out of her chair and flung open a panel on the wall. She started flipping breaker switches. The lights flickered, and then sputtered out again. “Maybe it’s the other ship.”

“That is silly,” Cait said flatly. “More likely, it is-”

An alarm cut her off. Cait groaned. She grabbed Toby by the arm and pulled him over to a locker. She reached in and handed him a hand gun. “The loud end points at what you want to die. Only point it at what you want to die. Understood?”

“What am I-?” Toby started.

“What’s going on?” Xiphos asked, leaving her switches. Her eyes got wider as she saw Toby’s gun. Cait pulled a gun of her own from the locker.

“Keep trying. It seems our guests aren’t interested in only our services.” She pushed Toby against the wall on one side of the door. Xiphos tried the switches again, but got no results. She huddled up behind Toby.

“Are we going to die?” She asked softly. Cait rolled her eyes.

“No. I am not interested in dying.” She closed the hatch to the bridge and screwed the locks shut, just in time to catch the faint pinging of one of their guests sprinting towards them. There was a pause, and then what sounded like tools being applied to the hatch. Cait pushed herself against the wall, gun drawn, and she waited. Toby looked back at Xiphos, who trembled where she stood, a tear welling up in her eye. He reached back and took her hand in his.

There was a loud crack, the sound of metal snapping, and the hatch slammed open. The guest came into the room screaming. Cait stepped forward with a carefully timed charge, crashing into the guest and knocking him hard to the floor. She pointed her gun down the hall to the bridge, and then back down to him. She narrowed her eyes, tilting her head so she could see him face.

The intruder shook his head. He stared into the barrel of the gun, then followed it up to its owner.

“Hey… hey, Cait,” he said.

Cait’s eyes grew wide. She stood up straight and threw her gun down at the intruder’s head. “Goddammit, Burian! What the hell do you think you are doing?”

Toby’s gun fell the the floor with a hard clank as he put everything together in his head. It took him a moment to realize he was gawking, and he closed his mouth.

Captain Burian Lake stood, and then hunched over a little, holding his side. “We needed a doctor,” he said, offering Cait a sheepish smile.

“We were entirely willing to offer a doctor.”

Captain Lake thought a moment. “Oh, right, you can just ask people for help. I’m not used to that.” He winced.

Cait slapped him. “Ass,” she said. “You can forget-” She looked at where he was holding his side. “You are bleeding.”

Captain Lake nodded. He rubbed the cheek that Cait had slapped. “That’s not what I’m here for.” Cait ushered him out the hatch. “There’s this girl…”

Toby and Xiphos were left alone on the bridge. She was shaking harder than before, her eyes fixed on where Cait and Burian Lake had been standing. Toby squeezed her hand. “I think we’re okay.” He gave her a relieved smile.

“Shut up,” she said. She crossed the bridge and sat down at the helm, shaking her fear away. She still had Toby’s hand, and Toby shuffled reluctantly behind her. He tugged his hand.

“Uhm… I should go see if I can help.”

Xiphos broke out of a concentrated trance. “Yeah…” She let go.

Toby wandered into the guest quarters. Little drops of blood made a trail to the infirmary. He stood back, not really interested in finding the source. Tre emerged, a fresh bandage on his head, and he strode over to Toby. Without so much as asking, he picked Toby up and carried him into the infirmary.

The medical table was pushed against the wall. There was a girl on the table, probably his age, unconscious, her fur a sickly pale. Her blood-stained shirt had been pulled up to reveal her abdomen, and fresh stitches poked out of her blood-matted fur. Billy directed Tre to put Toby down on a makeshift med table. He grabbed the boy’s arm and tied a tube around it. And then, before Toby realized what was happening, Billy slid an IV needle into his arm. Toby cried out, more in surprise than anything, and blood started to flow from his arm.

“Sorry,” Billy said. “You have her type.”

“Look at it this way, kiddo,” Captain Lake said. He stood just over Toby’s shoulder. “You just saved her life.”

“And with that, everyone needs to leave,” Billy said. “The girl needs rest, and I’m sure Toby has a few new trust issues he needs to work out.”

Cait and Tre, and Captain Lake and his associate, a pretty tiger, Toby noticed, all left them alone. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. A little machine gently took his blood and passed it over to the girl, an IV also in her arm.

“It’s just like Nina…” he said, just short of whimpering.

Billy patted the boy’s shoulder. “Thankfully, it’s not this time.”

—-

Captain Lake and his partner sat down at one of the tables in the guest quarters. Tre stood by the hatch to the bridge, his eyes narrowed at both of them. Cait was the last to enter, and Captain Lake’s partner stood, a gesture Cait moments later deciphered as a show of respect. Captain Lake remained seated.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you,” Cait said. She stood in the middle of the room, hitting him with a stare that could have broken glass.

“Mutual interest,” Lake said simply. His partner sat down, looking over at him.

“There is a lot of money to be made in bringing your limp body to the nearest Navy outpost.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Lake said. “It sounds like you’ve met our Traveler friends before. I can only guess that if that were true, you’d want to track them down as much as we do.”

Cait scowled again. “I am perfectly capable of doing so without your help. Secondly, I do not trust you.”

Lake nodded. “That’s fair. But I think we could benefit from one another’s help.”

Cait stared harder. Tre mimicked her from over her shoulder. “Get off my boat,” she said.

“I’m not leaving without my crew.”

“Then you may take her with you.”

“I can’t let that happen,” Billy said, coming in from the infirmary. “She’s in no condition to be moved.”

“Not helping, Billy,” Cait said.

“She stays until she’s better.”

Lake, looking into Cait’s eyes, said, “We’re stuck with each other. At least let me share the information I have.” Cait said nothing.

Lake continued. “We had to do some quick digging when we realized we were being followed, but we did manage to get some names from the crew list. Some of them have actually been spotted in known pirate areas. There’s the captain, a something Vu, but she’s fairly new… to… the scene.” He realized Cait, Tre and Billy were all staring now.

“Captain… Vu?” Cait asked. Her stare softened.

Lake nodded.

“What is the first name?”

“I can’t remember.”

“TRY.”

Lake traded a confused glance with his parter. She stood and bowed to Cait. “Jace Norton-Li, sir.” Billy’s eyes grew wide out of recognition. “I believe the name was ‘Logan’.”

Cait unfolded her arms. “Well,” she said. “I do believe you have our attention, Captain Lake.”

[g]

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Back to Part 044 – Forward to Part 046

Back to Part 043 – Forward to Part 045

Tami was climbing out from her capsule when the Captain found her. On the floor was a small duffle bag. He stood with his hands on his hips, backlit from the gallery’s lights. He waited until she could feel him standing above her. She jumped, stifling a scream, hand over her muzzle.

“Is Patel in there with you?” He asked. He was much more serious now, his voice grim, focused.

“No, he’s-” Tami started. The Captain cut her off.

“Wake him up and get to the gallery.” The Captain turned and left. A moment later Tami entered the gallery, Patel following groggily behind. Tami took a quick look around the cramped space. She set down two bags by the hatch to the capsules. Jace moved in between the helm and the gallery, as usual. Frankie was no where to be seen, which meant she was in her own capsule. The Captain did not try to get her.

Patel took a seat at the table while Tami looked around the gallery.

“What’s-” Patel started.

“We’re going to talk about the what brought you aboard this ship smelling like blood.” The Captain stayed standing, but he motioned for Tami to sit down. She slid into her chair. Neither Traveler said anything. They traded nervous glances.

Jace came out from the helm. “Five miles and closing,” she said, and then ducked out of the gallery again.

“We really don’t have much time,” The Captain said. “We’re being stalked, and I’m losing my patience. Which do you think will be worse?” He turned slightly, and light gleamed off the polished grip of a holstered gun.

Tami and Patel leaned in for a quick conference. The Captain couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but it appeared to him that Tami won the argument. She stood and disappeared to her capsule. She returned with the tube she had brought aboard.

“Open it,” The Captain said. Tami unsealed the tube and gave it to The Captain. He spread out the map on the table. And then, standing back a little, he said:

“That’s pretty incredible.”

Tami and Patel both squirmed in their seats. Patel looked up at The Captain. “It looks pretty neat,” he offered. The Captain ignored him.

“I’ve been doing this all wrong. I thought I had things figured out. You know what this is?”

The Travelers shook their heads.

“I don’t think that’s true. You hurt people for this map. That’s not something you do, not for a painting, unless that painting stands to give you a pretty big reward.”

“We rescu-” Patel started.

“Oh, don’t.” The Captain planted his hands on the table. “That’s a sweet claim that decent people would make. I don’t think you’re decent people. Decent people don’t lie about being the sole survivors of a sinking, burning ship. Let me do this,” he started, standing up straight again. “Let me tell you what I know so you don’t lie to me anymore.”

He glared at the Travelers. They watched him move. Patel sweated. Tami’s ears were folded back against her head.

“The fun thing about a map like this is that, when one person knows it’s out in the open, everyone does. This map was aboard a Molyneux ship before this one. That Molyneux ship did not burn and sink, because that’d be on the Relay in minutes. There was, however, a Molyneux ship that suffered a loss right around the time we picked you up. Someone’s niece.”

Tami gasped. She covered her mouth, as if to both cover her surprise and to keep herself from throwing up. Patel locked his eyes on The Captain.

“There’s something you should know about Molyneuxs,” The Captain continued. “They don’t forgive. You attacked them. You’re dead Travelers walking. Jace,” he called into the helm.

“One mile, and fast,” she shouted back.

“So here’s what’s going to happen: you’re going to leave that map here, and you’re going to get on the boat that’s coming to pick you up.”

“So either way…” Patel started, leaving the accusation floating.

“Gosh,” The Captain said. “I really don’t care what happens to you.” He drew his gun, but didn’t point it at the Travelers. He motioned to the map. “Roll it up and put it in its tube.”

Patel stood, as if he had drawn the short straw. He rolled up the map and set it on the floor next to them. The Captain said, “Now, get to the hatch.”

Patel sat back down at the table, never taking his eyes from The Captain. The Captain grunted. “What-?”

An alarm went off on the bridge. The Captain quickly glanced in as Jace shouted to him, “Brace for impact!”

The Captain turned back in time to see the Travelers grab on to the table. He dropped his arms down to his sides. “Oh, balls.”

The ship lurched forward hard. The Captain fell from his feet, thrown into the wall of the gallery. The tube twisted and slid, and The Captain made a clumsy grab for it. Patel stumbled from the booth, only to fall to the ship’s floor, his leg kicked out by The Captain.

The ship leveled out, Jace putting her weight into the controls. The Captain made another grab for the map, catching its shoulder strap. He pulled it away from Patel just as he reached for it.

The Captain stood, drawing his gun. He slung the tube over his shoulder.

“I’ve lost my patience,” he said. He aimed the gun at Patel.

“What just happened?” Frankie threw herself into the gallery. She made it only a few steps before Tami grabbed her from behind.

“Let us-” Tami started. Almost as soon as she grabbed Frankie, the girl flipped the Traveler over her shoulder.

Jace bounded out of the helm. “Frankie, get back to your bunk.”

Frankie turned back to the capsules, but Patel caught her. He held his knife to her neck.

“Let. Us. Go.”

The Captain stared hard at Patel, his gun still leveled at his head. Patel tensed, tightening his grip on the girl.

“Frankie?” The Captain said.

“This sucks!” The girl said. She struggled against Patel’s knife, pushing back against the human.

“Don’t make the stupid man angry, Frankie,” Jace said. She too leveled her gun at Patel.

Tami inched for the hatch. “Give us the map,” she said. Her voice cracked. “Give us the map and we’ll give you the girl.”

“I told you I didn’t like them,” Jace said.

“Duly noted,” The Captain said.

“You heard her,” Patel said. “Give us the map, and you get your girl.”

Something clanged against the hull of the ship. There was another lurch, and the boat started to move sideways. Jace looked out at the helm.

“We can shoot you,” Jace said.

“We’re pretty good at it.” The Captain kept his gun level. “I have kind of a reputation.”

“The map for the girl,” Tami said again, and this time her voice was steadier. The Captain could feel himself losing the situation. He tossed the tube at Tami. It hit the floor with a plastic pang, and she grabbed it. She crept to the ladder up to the hatch.

“Now your turn,” The Captain said.

Patel eyed Tami. She crawled up the ladder and screwed open the hatch. Cool, fresh air poured in. “I can see them!” She shouted back. And then she was gone. Her footsteps panged across the roof of the ship.

“Your turn,” The Captain repeated. He stepped closer. Patel tightened his loosening grip. Frankie let out a surprised whimper, grabbing his arm.

“How do I know you won’t shoot me?”

“You don’t,” The Captain said. “We probably will.”

“But Tami got out. She has the map.”

“It’s a matter of pride at this point.” The Captain adjusted his grip on the gun. “And can I say: using a kid as a shield? Really? Frankie?”

“Still here,” she croaked. She tried to pull Patel’s arm away, but he held it tight.

“Give us Frankie,” Jace said. Patel inched towards the hatch. He evaluated is situation.

“Yeah,” he said. “I can do that.” He spun Frankie by her arm, and guided a practiced hand to her ribs. Frankie let out a sharp cry. Patel pushed her at Jace. The blood on his knife was dull against the light, and the smell of blood filled the cabin. He threw himself up the ladder. The Captain followed.

He stuck his head out before he thought about it, looking around for Patel. It was dark, the only light coming from the helm, casting shadows on the green water ahead of them. There was footfall from the aft, and The Captain spun, aiming his gun down the hull of the ship. He could see nothing, and then…

It was as if the sun had risen right off the bow of his boat. He shielded his eyes with his arms. He tried to aim, and was greeted with gunfire. He grabbed the hatch, pulling it down as he sank back into the ship. Metal collided with metal all around him. Something hot brushed against his side. He slammed the hatch down and sealed it.

He stumbled to the helm, and dove his ship as soon as he could. The impact of gunfire ceased, and he struggled against the tow rope attached to his boat before he over-powered it. The cable snapped and the boat surged forward. The Captain pointed his boat to the projected path of the closest ship, and pushed her forward, full speed. The Captain held his side, eyes fixed on their ETA. In the gallery, Frankie whimpered as Jace tried to dress her wound.

[g]

Back to Part 043 – Forward to Part 045

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Back to Part 032 – Forward to Part 034

Auburn Nash uncurled from her sleep into a weary stand. She regained her balance, scratching her head and yawning. Light streamed in from a tiny window at the top of her “room,” and she cracked it to discern the temperature of the world outside. Still summer, still humid. She looked down at the little grate where the wall and the floor met, the one that separated her cell and the cell next door. She crouched down, her head almost touching the floor, and peeked through. She couldn’t see much, though she could make out a patch of brown fur. She smiled, and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by her door opening.

Camp councilor Wu stood on the other side, staring at her through impatient eyes.

“Morning!” Auburn said. She gave Wu a smile, large and squinty. Wu, as always, was not impressed, nor did he seem to be having a good morning. Auburn stepped out into the narrow hallways of the Goodship Firebrand, joining a dozen of her fellow campers. Wu ushered her and the rest of the campers out to the dining hall.

Auburn glimpsed over her shoulder to check out her new neighbor. He was short, brown-furred, dog of some sort. He had longish headfur that he kept brushed across his face, stylish in the Colony, though his headfur looked as if it had seem much better days. Wu prodded her in the back and shouted something that Auburn had come to recognize as “move”; Wu spoke little Latanian, and Auburn didn’t speak any Linian. All the same, it hurt just as much as any of his other jabs.

Auburn and the boy were separated in the dining hall. As soon she took a seat at a table, several other campers moved to join her. She turned to one, a Doric hound, and briefly described the boy. The hound disappeared into the throng of other campers.

Another camper sat across from Auburn. He was fox, his big ears common to Sandtribers, his fur the color of the light side of a dune. The councilors would have called Frank an ‘accomplice.’ Auburn would never hesitate to call him a friend.

“We lost Jens,” Frank said. He always had a bit of an accent; Latanian was his second language.

“What?” Auburn leaned forward. “How?”

“To the Glee Club,” Frank said.

Aubrun groaned, burying her face in her hands. “I liked Jens.”

“I know,” Frank said, patting the human on the head.

“How do you know? When did you find out?”

Frank pointed over to the table closest to a makeshift stage at the far end of the dining room. The councilors used this platform for announcements, and when they felt like it, to make examples of some of the campers. The Glee Club was happy, abnormally so, all smiles, chatting bubbly with each other. When one of the councilors would walk past, those with tails wagged them. In the mix of campers, Auburn could pick out a black and white cat, trying his hardest to smile like the rest.

She sighed. “I liked that boy.”

Frank nodded. He twisted back to face Auburn, but not before one of the Glee Club noticed.

“Alex is coming.”

“Balls,” Auburn said. She and Frank sat back from each other. A large, very attractive wolf strode over to them, his ever-present smile shining in the light of the dining hall. He stood behind Frank, who stayed focused on the plate in front of him, arms down at his side.

“Good morning!” Alex said, looking over Auburn’s group. “How are things on this side of the hall? Wonderful?”

“Are they never wonderful?” Auburn asked flatly.

“One never knows,” Alex said. “I worry about this little gang sometimes. Always so sad. Always so down. It’s summer outside! We should be happy for that!”

“I can barely contain myself,” Auburn said.

“Oh dear,” said the wolf, his smile fading somewhat. “You should see the nurse.”

“You know what? You are right. I’ll go see the nurse after breakfast. I bet that’ll help.”

Alex brightened. “There you go! Well, I’ll see you at assembly!”

“Pip pip and all,” Auburn said. Alex returned to his table, a swell of greetings rising up from the group.

“I’m going to be ill,” Frank said.

“What do you think that creep wanted?” Auburn asked, trying to look at the other table and not be noticed. “That was entirely useless.”

“I don’t think so,” Frank said. “They’re still watching, aren’t they?”

Auburn gave a quick glance. “Yes.”

“There it is,” Frank said. “That’s what they wanted.”

The hound, a boy named George, came back to the table, the new boy right behind him. Auburn lit up. “Hey!” She said. She patted a spot for the new boy, and then relayed the bad news to George.

“Augh,” George said. “Was… was he in?”

Auburn shook his head. “I don’t think so. Thank the gods.”

“That’s good,” George said. “I hate’d to have to beat that boy up.” He took his seat further down the table.

“Hello!” Auburn said to the new boy. “We’re neighbors!”

The new boy looked up at her, but didn’t say anything. Judging from the streaks on the fur on his cheeks, he hadn’t quite adjusted to his new surroundings yet.

“I’m Auburn,” Auburn said. “And you just met George. She went around the table, introducing the group. “And this is Frank. He’s Sandtribe.”

“MoGgi,” Frank said.

Auburn gave a squeak of joy at Frank’s lingual demonstration. “Tell him your real name, Frank.”

Frank, looking slightly bored, obliged: “Ggelanau.”

Another squeak. “Jay la now! Isn’t that pretty?”

Frank’s ears slid back against his head. He looked away.

“And I didn’t get your name,” Auburn said to the boy. He didn’t say anything. He dropped his eyes to the food in front of him. Frank looked back at Auburn, his chin in his hand, and raised his eyebrows. Auburn shrugged.

“Anyways,” she said. “It’s only fair to warn you that this whole thing is going to suck.”

The boy looked back up at her, his ears dropping.

“Oh, so you do understand. That’s good, at least.” Auburn gave the boy a smile. She figured he had to be fifteen, just a year younger than her, even if he looked young for his age. “There’s a couple things you should know: pick your battles with the councilors. They only take so much before they put you in “remedial classes,” and you don’t want to go there. Two, the Glee Club, no matter what they say, are not your friends. And no matter what, it’s not your fault. The councilors will try to make you say things that aren’t true. Don’t let them tell you what’s true.”

Frank looked up from his plate. “You seem nice, so you can sit here any time you want.” Auburn nodded in agreement.

A bell rang, and the kids in the hall started to get up. Auburn shoved the boy’s plate at him.

“Eat,” she said. “You may not get another chance for awhile.”

The boy quickly ate what he could. Auburn guided him to where his tray belonged, and then back again to the tables. Kids started to fold the tables and roll them to the walls, arranging them neatly. Auburn helped, motioning for the boy to come to her.

“Never be seen not working,” she said, keeping her voice low. “They don’t like that here. Always be helpful.”

The boy nodded. With the table folded up, their help not needed, Auburn pulled the boy off to rearrange chairs around the stage. Councilors walked between all of the kids, most of them with their hands behind their backs. Members of the Glee Club ran back and forth from their duties to councilors, chirping their accomplishments. Auburn tried not to pay attention to the little work the Glee Club actually did, making sure the boy was both busy and unnoticeable. Given what the stage looked like, Auburn could guess it was Confession time. She frowned, keeping an eye on the councilors.

The boy stopped. He let out a cough, and then sagged under the shock.

“That was pretty nasty sounding,” Auburn said, trying to stay just over a whisper. “You should get that looked at by the nurse later. Oh no.”

One of the councilors had taken an interest in the boy, and started over to them.

“Stay away stay away stay away,” Auburn whispered, keeping her eyes on the chairs. The boy looked over at her.

“You,” the councilor said. Auburn looked up at the councilor, who kept her eyes locked on the boy. “What’s your name?”

The boy shrank into himself.

“He’s not very talkative,” Auburn offered.

“Shut up, I was talking to him.” The councilor, a tall, slender fox, scanned a list of names on her clipboard. “Tobias Shaw?”

The boy met her eyes, and then dropped them away.

“You’re on the Confession list,” she said, and started walking away.

“No!” The word barreled out of Auburn’s mouth before she could stop it. The councilor turned back.

“What?” She loomed over Auburn.

“He’s new,” Auburn said, collecting herself. “He hasn’t even been to orientation yet.”

The councilor made an entirely uninterested sound in her throat. “Then you’ll be on the island tomorrow,” she said to Toby.

“That’s not orientation!”

“It will do. Now is that something you want to argue about?”

Auburn closed her mouth, her eyes focused through narrow slits.

“Good.” The councilor continued on her way.

“I’m sorry,” Auburn said, returning to setting up chairs. “I thought I was helping you dodge one bullet, but you may take another.”

Toby only nodded.

Auburn discretely pulled a napkin from her pocket and handed it to Toby. “It’s not much, but you should take it. You’ll need all the energy you can get for tomorrow.”

Toby peeked into the napkin.

“It used to be a roll,” she said. “You have to flatten things out so they don’t stand out in your pocket.”

Toby hid the napkin away, and went back to arranging chairs.

Within a few more minutes, the chairs in the hall had been set up around the stage. Auburn and Toby took their seats near the back, but not in the back row. Auburn explained that the councilors watched that row carefully. Frank joined them a moment later. He slumped in his chair, his ears down against his head.

Auburn looked him over. “So where ya been?”

“They were talking to me,” Frank mumbled.

“Oh no,” Auburn said. “They’re going to make you-?”

Frank nodded. “Again.”

Auburn sighed. She sat back in her chair, crossing her arms across her stomach. Very discreetly, she gave Frank’s hand a squeeze. “You’ll be okay,” she said, keeping her voice low. “It won’t be long before we end all of this.”

Frank looked around, his ears up, twitching like radar dishes around the room. “You shouldn’t-”

“No one knows. But we’re going to start spreading it.”

“The Glee Club’s going to find out.”

“Hmm.” Auburn sighed. “Fuck them.”

The lights in the hall dimmed, and all of the campers filed in to the rows of chairs. A man, an old bear, took the stage, and the campers fell silent. He cast his eyes over the room, and then, into a microphone, said “Good morning, everyone.”

The campers answered back, their response, “Good morning, Bob,” a cheerful drone.

Bob, looking satisfied, clapped his hands together. “Well, we all know how this works. A camper can’t heal without Confession, so let’s bring up the first camper.”

At once, several councilors invaded the rows of chairs, each pulling a camper up to the stage. Frank was the first in a long line, and a councilor took him and shoved him into a rickety wooded chair in the middle of the stage. Bob took the microphone from its stand and meandered to the boy.

“Frank,” Bob said, “how has your recovery been?”

“Wonderful,” Frank said. He looked at Bob from the corners of his eyes.

“Why are you here, Frank?” Bob asked, using a soothing tone. The fur on Frank’s neck bristled.

“The atmosphere.”

“Frank, that’s not an answer.”

“Sorry, sir,” Frank said. “The cooking.”

Bob leaned in close, almost nose to nose with the fox. “Last chance,” Bob said.

Frank drew in to himself, taking a long, deep breath. “I just…” He sighed, biting his lip. He took a moment for himself. “I just really love this part of the world.”

Bob stood up straight. He struck Frank with the back of his hand. Frank fell from the chair.

“Stand up,” Bob said. Frank tried to pull himself up, stumbled, and then fell again. “Stand up,” Bob said again, raising his voice. Frank struggled to his feet, holding his face and staring out into the audience of his silent peers.

“Why are you here, Frank?” Bob asked again, this time shouting.

The fox turned to him, fists down at his side. His ears snapped back against his head. “Because I ran away!”

“Why would you do that, Frank? Why would you run away from your loving family? Why would you forsake the people that gave you so much love?”

“They’re not my family!” Frank spat back. “I was kidnapped, you dumb bastard.”

Auburn tightened her jaw. “Frank, what are you doing?” She whispered.

Bob swung around again, catching Frank with the back of his hand. “You are here because you do not respect your parents.” Frank tumbled down into a heap on the stage.

“Stand up, Frank,” Bob said. “We are here to help you.”

This was the campers’ cue. They stood, clapping, cheering. Auburn pulled Toby up. “You are here to help,” she hissed, though not at Toby. She wiped a tear from her eye.

Frank stayed down. Bob stood over him. “Stand up, Frank.”

One by one the campers sat down, until only the Glee Club was left standing. Nervous whispers floated up from the audience. Bob waved a councilor over. They hovered over the boy, and then, with the aid of another councilor, they carried Frank off stage. “See to it he’s on the island tomorrow,” Bob said after them.

Auburn covered her mouth. She sat stunned for a moment as the idea sunk in. “Tomorrow,” she said, forming the idea in her head, “I need you to make sure you get into Frank’s group. Stay with him. Make sure he stays out of trouble, okay?”

Toby nodded.

Auburn stroked Toby’s ear back. “Thanks,” she said, her voice cracking. “It’s going to be a weird day today.”

Jens was next, taking a seat in the chair. He smiled, just as he had tried to do all morning. Bob composed himself, and then turned to Jens, turning his soothing voice back on. “Hello, Jens.”

Jens’s tail twitched back and forth behind him. “Hello, sir.”

“Why are you here, Jens?”

The cat started to speak, but paused himself. He thought a moment. “Because… because I ran away?”

“Jens, you lie about the evils you have done,” Bob said. “Why are you here?”

The cat thought another moment. “Because I don’t respect my parents?”

“That’s right,” Bob said, and Jens lit up. “Now, tell your campers about the evils you committed.”

Toby let out another long, wet cough. Auburn sat back, crossing her arms again. Toby leaned against her, shaking. She gave him a quick hug around the shoulders before any of the councilors could notice. She closed her eyes, blocking out the world, save only the sound of her former ally betraying himself onstage.

[g]

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Back to Part 032 – Forward to Part 034

Back to Part 028 – Forward to Part 030

The Kelonio met up with the Rose a day later, both the boats now tracking the attackers’ boat. Cait and Billy transferred to the Kelonio to plan with Galle how they would precede.

Galle had assembled a good collection of his crew on the bridge, including many of his performers. They gathered around the captain’s station, their mob easily fitting into the expansive compartment. And it was loud, louder than the Rose’s bridge ever got. But then again, Cait had never tried to cram fifty people on to the Rose’s bridge. Celine, his wife, had joined as well. She was never one to socialize with family, but then again, neither was Cait. Cait stood by Celine, arms folded over her chest, focused on nothing in particular.

Galle cleared his throat, and the group of performers and crew fell silent. “It looks as if we’ll catch up to the attackers in less than a day. I would like all of you who choose to board the ship to be prepared.” Galle flicked his eyes over everyone in the room, and then continued. “Yes, we are after a map, and yes, we would like to get that map back, but more importantly, we are after the people that killed Nina. We can do without the map if we must, but taking the Travelers alive is important.”

Cait handed out copies of the Travelers’ papers. The crew took a moment survey pictures.

“Suppose,” a cast member said, “we are unable to take them alive.”

“We do what we can,” Galle said. “Alive would be preferred, but if you must…”

Cait cleared her throat. Galle closed his eyes. “As Molyneux,” he said, forcing each word, “we would prefer to seek justice over revenge.”

Mostly satisfied, Cait nodded.

“How will we attack the boat?” Another cast member asked. He, like many of the others, spoke with a heavy accent, perhaps from the meadowlands state of Préterre, in the 21 Kingdoms.

“I suppose we’ll ram it,” Galle shifted his gaze to Billy. “Mister McGuire may be able to speak better about this subject than I.”

Billy nodded and stood up a little straighter. “We know nothing about the boat, so right now we’re assuming it’s larger than us. Right now, our plan is to fall behind, as if we’re just riding their wake to the next port, and then, when they are forced to surface to recharge, we strike. I’ve sent out a few requests on the Relay looking into the registration number we have, but I haven’t heard back from anyone yet. From there, we board.”

Billy turned to Galle. “One matter I have not discussed yet is who are our volunteers?”

A number of the crew and cast stepped forward, from simple hands, down to the jugglers and clowns. Billy folded his arms over his chest and looked over the volunteers.

“How many of you have firearms or hand weapon training?”

Only a few raised their hands. Billy gave a disappointed sound from the back of his throat. “I’d like the few who do have weapons training to meet with me when they are done. Those who do not, I’m not sure if we can use you.”

“Excuse me,” one of the cast members said. He stepped forward. He was small, lithe, as most of the other performers were, rabbit, covered with well-kept brown fur. He focused on Billy with cool composure, someone quite used to being out in the open. Like many of the others, he too carried a thick accent. “I do not think you have given us a proper chance to show you what we can do.”

Billy looked to Galle.

“Yes,” Galle said. “This is Paul-Henri, one of our jugglers.”

“And what can a juggler offer me?” Billy asked. Cait raised an eyebrow at him; you are coming off elitist. Billy narrowed his eyes; this is valid, and besides, what do you know about not being elitist?

Paul-Henri pulled three knives from his belt. He demonstrated his act, or a simplified version, juggling the knives with precision. He then caught them one at a time.

Billy started to speak, but Paul-Henri stopped him. “Where were you born, Monsieur McGuire?”

“Eight Seas Island, in what had been Beiland.”

Paul-Henri indicated a map on the wall of the bridge, a nautical map of the world. The cast and crew spread out a little, and when Paul-Henri had enough room, without hesitation, he threw the knife. It stuck, point first, perfectly straight, its tip right on the tiny dot of Eight Seas Island.

“You will find that we all have such talents,” Paul-Henri said. “The streets of Ste. Simone were not so friendly, you see.”

Many of the other performers nodded, mumbling their agreement.

Billy stared at the knife, sticking out of the map. “Okay,” he said.

“Nina was our soeur,” another cast member said. “We are invested in this as much as you.”

Galle nodded from behind his podium. “That’s quite touching. Thank you. Yes, I imagine you all can be helpful. But for now, we are very close. Let’s retire until we are ready for the attack.”

The crew left the bridge, Billy speaking to those who had been trained in combat. Celine and Cait stayed where they were while Galle collected his notes. They had not spoken at the funeral, not that Cait could blame her. Her failure of Galle’s trust was also a failure of Celine’s. Finally, after a tense, silent moment, Celine turned to Cait.

“Captain, would you care to join Galle and I for dinner?” She gave Cait a warm smile.

Cait’s ears relaxed. “It would be my pleasure,” she said. “Though I must ask, as always, Celine, that you call me Cait. We are family.”

“Yes, of course,” she said. She was tall, a strikingly beautiful human, and, Cait knew from their hours of conversation, that she was fiercely intelligent. Cait would have expected no lesser a choice from Galle. Celine started towards their suite when the Kelonio’s communications officer stopped them.

“There’s a message from the Rose, sir,” he said. Cait nodded, and followed him to the Relay terminal.

“This is Cait,” she said,

“Sir.” It was Toby.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Tre thinks we need to get under as soon as possible. He says there’s a hurricane ahead.”

Cait looked to the communications officer, who pointed at his weather radar. The hurricane loomed huge on the map. “Yes, of course. I will be here on the Kelonio with Billy. If worse comes to worse, we can carry out the attack, while you stay behind.”

There was a pause. “Tre looks mad,” Toby said.

“I can imagine. Is there anything else, Tobias?”

There was another pause, but Cait could hear why. She heard it on their end first, and then on the bridge of the Kelonio. “He’s pointing to something. They’re a bunch of these little dots, and they’re blinking- what?”

Cait cut in. “Emergency beacons,” Cait said. “It appears the hurricane is leaving the area. Tell Tre that you three are to assist at once, as best you can. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.” And Tobias was off the Relay.

Cait turned to find Galle, and nearly ran into him as he stepped on to the bridge.

“The hurricane has made landfall,” Cait said levelly. “I have ordered the Rose to assist with triage and rescue. I suggest the Kelonio does the same.”

Galle looked over Cait’s head at the view outside the Kelonio’s tiny portal, his jaw set firm. “Not when we are this close.”

“Galle, I understand-”

“I’m sure you do,” he said, still watching over her head. “But Nina’s murders are under a day away.”

“Revenge, Galle, will not fix what has happened.”

Galle broke his gaze and dropped his eyes to Cait. He suddenly softened. “That is a question we can talk about over dinner.” He turned, putting his arm around Cait’s shoulders. “Come on, Celine’s waiting.”

—-

Cait found herself on a couch. She sat up, pushing away a blanket that had been laid over her. After a moment of collecting her bearings, she recognized Galle’s suite from when they had last been on board. She couldn’t tell how long she had been out.

Celine came into the room, her clothes different than before. It was just as Cait had feared: she had slept though the night.

“Good morning,” Celine said cheerfully. “It turns out a little wine and a little food is all it takes to knock you out for the evening.”

Cait frowned and scrubbed her face with her hands. “Well, that is embarrassing.”

Celine helped Cait up off the couch. “Luckily,” she said, “there’s no time for that. There’s a message from the Rose, and they say it’s urgent.”

Cait stretched. Celine led Cait up to the bridge, across the expanse of the Kelonio. A fresh communications officer waited for Cait, saluting when she stepped on to the bridge. Cait rolled her eyes; he must have been a recent hire. He handed the radio to Cait, and she clicked on the receiver. “This is Cait.”

“They took him.” It was Xiphos, her voice panicked, breathless.

“What?”

“They took Toby.”

[g]

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Back to Part 028 – Forward to Part 030

Back to Part 027 – Forward to Part 029

It was six bells into the First Watch when Toby came to the bridge. The way Xiphos looked back at him gave Toby the impression she had thought she was the only one awake aboard the Rose, though he didn’t seem to startle her. Xiphos sat with her lights turned down, the little light she had mingling with the light off her screens. She had pushed the screens away, clearing her view of the world outside the bubble. They were under again, the waves above too choppy to keep sailing on the surface.

Toby carried with him a tea pot and one of the last of his leftover baked goods, a simple cookie on a plate. He set down the tea pot, a cup and saucer, and the cookie , all on a little table next to Xiphos. She turned to him as he started away.

“Hey Cupcake,” she said. “You don’t have to leave.”

Toby paused at the portal, and then turned back around. He carefully took a seat in the empty navigator’s station. Xiphos poured herself some tea, and let the cup sit to cool on the table.

It had been a busy day. Cait had taken the information from the Traders and keyed in the route while Xiphos slept. They were following a boat with no name, just a registration number. They were still a few days off from the boat, and just a little further from Narwe Canal, the link between the South Ocean and the North Ocean. Just a few days, Cait had said, and they’d get to the people who took the map. If Xiphos could coax herself to sleep after tonight, it’d be a miracle.

Toby fidgeted next to her, watching out the bubble just as she did. Then, screwing up his courage, he asked, “What were they like?”

Xiphos cast Toby a sidelong glance. “What?”

“The New Archer Revolutionaries? You said you were friends with them.” He mumbled, his courage disappearing.

Xiphos thought a moment. “They were nice,” she said. “I always felt really lucky to get to be around them. I never had to ask to be around them, they just kind of… allowed me to be there. They always were around each other, and I always got to be there, always invited to dinner when Fink’d cook. You…”

She stopped, her face flush, not looking at Toby. She dropped her voice. “You remind be a lot of him, like how you cook and how quiet you are and stuff. He was pretty relaxed, though, and he loved plants. And he had a huge crush on Manni.” She stopped again. “We all had a huge crush on Manni…”

Toby took all of this in, turned now to watch Xiphos talk. Xiphos gave Toby another quick glance, and quickly dropped her eyes to her controls. “You ever had a girlfriend?” Xiphos asked.

“Yeah…” Toby said, fidgeting again. He dropped his eyes away, too.

“What?” Xiphos said, raising her voice. “You’re, like, eight.” She smiled at him all the same.

Toby shrugged. “It was last summer. It didn’t last too long, like a month I guess. Mostly we wandered around the woods and made out-” He stopped himself, but it was too late. Xiphos watched on, her turn to drink everything in.

“I kinda screwed it up,” Toby continued, his ears dropping.

Xiphos’s smiled faded. “That happens,” she said. She sat back in her chair. “Crash was my first… well, everything. She went after me. How weird is that? I ran away from that. Well, not that, but the whole thing, the revolutions.”

“I’m sorry,” Toby said.

“Yeah, but..” Xiphos said, letting her eyes follow wire conduits on the ceiling. “I mean, I wouldn’t've met Nina, or Cait. We wouldn’t be having this conversation. Also, they kind’ve disappeared, and I don’t know if I’d be included in-”

An alarm went off on Xiphos’s control panel. She swung her gaze around, sitting up, and then instantly paging her control screens through until they showed the long-range sonar. One little dot, a dozen miles back, was on a collision course for them, and getting closer far too quickly. Xiphos fumbled with the radio, her face a mask of stark terror.

“Captain,” she started, “we have a Wanderer-”

Cait was out her door before Xiphos finished, the alarm echoing in her quarters, fully awake. “How much time?” She asked.

“Four minutes,” Xiphos said. She jumped from her chair and, throwing open a locker along the back wall of the bridge, pulled out three bright orange suits. Cait took the radio from the control console.

“Everybody wake up,” her voice echoed through the ship. “We have a Wanderer. Survival suits. Two minutes. Get up to the bridge if you can.” She clicked the radio off. She helped Tobias into his, giving him a quick rundown of his rebreather, how to turn his oxygen on, how to activate his emergency beacon. She then put her own on.

The voices started right after, one or two at first, a low murmur over the intercom. Xiphos tried to turn down the volume, but they got louder, more of them, all speaking at the same time, until there were thousands. Toby couldn’t understand them, any one of them, the languages they spoke sounding at once ancient and alien. The roar of the voices drowned out everything, the hum of the engines, the alarm, the captain. Toby covered his ears, which only muted the sound slightly. And still the dot got ever closer.

Billy and Tre joined them on the bridge, both in their survival suits. That’s when the Wanderer’s dot eclipsed theirs. Xiphos tensed, holding tight to the back of her chair.

The Rose shook violently, listing sideways, knocking Toby off his feet. The bridge was suddenly bathed with light, so bright it washed away the bridge itself. So bright their shadows first stood strong against the wall, and then succumbed to the light. The voices started to fade, and then, as the light disappeared into the haze of the ocean, the voices stopped, the Rose’s alarms seeping back in to the cabin.

The Relay feed came alive, all boats in the area all chattering at once. The sonar showed the dot speeding away, until it left the screen. Xiphos cautiously climbed back into her chair, barely able to slide in with her survival suit on. She was visibly shaking, but Toby, picking himself up off the ground, figured they all were.

“One-hundred eighty-two knots,” Xiphos said, her voice breaking.

“That may be a record,” Cait said. “Anyone need help?”

Xiphos scanned the Relay feed. “Nothing yet,” she said. “Just sightings talk.”

Cait turned to Billy and Tre. “I want a status report straight away. I will help.”

“Sir,” Toby said. “What was that?”

Billy clasped a hand on Toby’s shoulder. “That was your first Krakken sighting.” He gave the boy a quick smile, and then hurried off into the Rose. Tre followed.

“Tobias,” Cait said, removing her survival suit. “I do not believe any of us will be able to sleep tonight. Do you feel up to making us a midnight Tea?”

Toby nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Thank you, dear.” She left to join Billy and Tre.

Toby struggled out of his survival suit, and he could hear Xiphos doing the same. As he finished, Xiphos took his hand. He turned around, eyes wide, but before he could say anything, she pulled him into a tight hug. Toby gave a muffled protest, then, giving up, very carefully rested his head against hers. They stood together, shaking, hugging if only because they were both alive.

“This doesn’t leave the bridge,” Xiphos said. She let go and, looking embarrassed, sat down in her chair. She turned back to the controls. “Now go make some damn tea.”

[g]

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Back to Part 027 – Forward to Part 029

Back to Part 026 Notes – Forward to Part 028 Notes

More flashbacks. Hello, past Rose.

I’m trying something out here. Aside from spending time letting the crew run around the ship, I had some history I had to drop. It’s safe to assume that everyone on the Rose knows who Eaton Fyfe is, and what he did. The footnote at the end of the section was an attempt to drop that history without having someone just spout it out. I kind of liked it, actually.

So here’s the situation: Logan has a business opportunity. Cait is skeptical. She knows better than to believe in what seems like a get-rich-quick scheme, but the name drop of Eaton Fyfe changes everything. What the footnotes hopefully communicated was that Fyfe was a businessman in Lat, made some (alleged) pirate connections, and some (confirmed) pirate connections, and got busted for it. He then disappeared.

Cait hears the part about the pirate connections. Logan hears the part about the magical thing that can make her life better. Cait hears trying to cheat to get into an early retirement. Logan hears glory, riches, adventure. Most importantly, Cait hears the pirate connections.

A lot.

Cait wants to run a respectable boat. Eaton Fyfe has no room on the Rose.

More on this later.

[g]

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Back to Part 026 Notes – Forward to Part 028 Notes

Back to Part 026 – Forward to Part 028

Two and a half years before

The Rose left port of Hin on the western coast of Lingguo, the weight of its cargo pushing the boat lower in the water. All twenty one of her crew moved about the boat, securing crates in the cargo bay they hadn’t had time to fasten down before they shoved off. In the kitchen, the chef had already started on dinner, and his sou-chef plating the first course. On the bridge, navigation, free of the harbor pilot, plotted the quickest course back to the COS, while the helm prepared a report for the captain of their upcoming voyage.

In the guest quarters, the crew settled in their passengers, who had left their suitcases in their staterooms, and now were mingling under the false-sunset of the dome. The lights on the tables around them provided the rest of their light, while the crew served drinks and set the guest table for dinner.

Logan found Cait just as she had started to prepare her office for sleep. The papers on her desk had been arranged into neat, separate stacks, only a few luxuriating in the In Box. What had been sorted, Logan knew, had been filed away in Cait’s filing cabinets. Her pens had even been lined up neatly at the top of her desk, ready to be used in the morning. Cait was unplugging the electric kettle as Logan stepped in to the office.

“Hello, dear,” Cait said, her ears lowering a little. “What brings you up here?”

“Just wanted to report in,” Logan said, waiting just inside the office door. Cait nodded.

“We have quite the haul this time. This may be a ship record,” she said. “Why are you actually here?”

Logan faltered, and then straightened up. “I have something,” Logan said.

“Oh?” Cait looked behind Logan, who held her hands behind her back. “Is it here?”

“Well, no. But it’s big!”

“Big like the Rose big?”

“Big like we’ll never have to work again big.”

Cait wrapped the kettle’s cord around its base. She set it back on top of the filing cabinets, her smile fading. “Go on.”

“I met a group while we were in Hin, and they’ve been talking about something that, if they can find it, will be worth more money than we have ever seen.”

Cait placed a hand on her hip. “Really? Treasure-hunting? How old are you, dear?”

“It sounds like a sure thing,” Logan said. “They have a few strong leads. With a little detective work, we could be part of this.”

“And in the meantime, we just give up our work?”

“I guess we’d have to, yeah,” Logan said. She stepped forward, holding on to Cait’s arm. “At least hear them out.”

“I will hear you out,” Cait said, sliding an arm around Logan’s shoulders. “What is this thing they aim to find?”

“They don’t know. They think it’s an old weapon, from a lost civilization. They think maybe it’s where Ebe himself had been imprisoned.”

“But they are not sure.”

Logan dropped her eyes. “No. But they have a whole lot of research about it. Lots of books. Like, on every surface. So many books.”

“And they are not sure of where it is,” Cait said, her ears very slowly leveling out.

“You should have seen the books, Cait!”

“I think,” Cait said, “that this would be a bad investment of our time.”

Logan let go of Cait’s arm, and Cait stepped into her quarters. She took off her COS coat and hung it neatly on a hanger. “Remind me,” she said, if not to Logan, than herself, “that I need a dry cleaners when we land again.”

“Eaton thinks this is a sure thing,” Logan said, leaning against Cait’s desk.

Cait came back out of her quarters, in a tank top that bared her arms and shoulders. Without her coat, Cait was slender, with a hint of a tummy snuggled up under her top. Logan was once again reminded of what years of training at Archertown got Cait. “Eaton? Eaton Fyfe?”*

“Yes?” Logan said, shrinking a little.

Cait suddenly seemed much bigger. “We do not associate with pirates. Under no circumstances do I want to hear that name on this boat again.”

“Cait,” Logan started, “he’s not that bad.”

“He’s part of the decline of civilization, and that has no place on the Rose.”

“He’s on to something really big,” Logan pleaded.

“I do not care. We have no room for him or his ideas on board the Rose. As your captain, I will not allow further contact.”

“What about my friend? What does my friend think?” Logan asked.

Cait grabbed Logan by her shoulder and with gentle force, pushed her out on to the bridge. “As far as I am concerned, this conversation is over. Good night, Logan.” Cait closed the door behind her.

Tre watched from the helm’s seat. Navigation had left early, or had stepped off for a bathroom break, and now Tre sat in the glow of the helm, eyeing Logan.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Logan said to Tre. She stomped off the bridge, fuming. She got down to the crew quarters before her mind caught up with her momentum, and she turned around, back up to the bridge.

Tre had resumed his duties, checking the monitors pulled up around him. Logan sat down in the navigator’s chair.

“I’m willing to bet you heard all of that,” she said to Tre. He eyed Logan, but kept his gaze on the weather radar.

“Do you want in?”

Tre didn’t move.

“There’s more on the other side of that. Glory, riches,” Logan said. “More than this existence. No more cramped bunks, no more sharing space with twenty other people. You can go where you want, when ever you want.”

Tre turned to Logan, exhaling hard and short through his nose. He stared into Logan’s eyes until she turned away.

“Fine,” she said. “I thought I’d try. Let me know when you change your mind.” She got up, shoulders back, and strode down into the crew quarters. As she entered, a hand named Trenz looked up from his cleaning.

“Hello,” Logan said. “You got a minute to talk business?”

—-

This is what the index of the Æncyclopedia Latania says about Eaton Fyfe:

Fyfe, Eaton (3943-?)
ALSO SEE:

• disappearance;
• Early life in Lat;
• entrepreneur;
• pirate connections, alleged;
• pirate connections, confirmed;

[g]

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Back to Part 026 – Forward to Part 028

Back to Part 025 Notes – Forward to Part 027 Notes

We’re leaning towards a Xiphos-heavy middle of this act. Sorry, that’s how this story is flowing. We lost Nina, and that loss is what’s driving a good portion of the story, and since Nina was Xiphos’s girlfriend, Xiphos is going to be doing some grieving.

I suppose I don’t need to tell you.

Things I like in this section:

• Xiphos, even in mourning, can’t resist taking a jab at Billy when he says something close to an innuendo. Yes, that was a “That’s what she said,” joke in my story. I make no excuses or apologies.
• Xiphos and Billy’s closeness. It’s not fatherly, or brotherly, but it is a definite caring.

The point of this section is, more than anything, chance is a bitch. In this case, chance is named Gumes (Goo mez, if you prefer), which you may remember from the act break as being the Servant of Chance. Gumes is often used to explain why things happen. It wasn’t that Nina was killed, Gumes had no hand in that. But why was she there? Why did Xiphos hear things in the cargo bay when she did? How did she get Nina at the time she did? Why did Toby choose the cargo bay rather than the guest quarters? All of that is something Gumes would oversee. So Billy’s goal wasn’t to tell Xiphos that she should feel good about it, but rather his goal was to get her to talk about the incident.

Also, he did want to check up on her head injury. So it all works out.

As always, any questions or comments you have are totally welcome.

[g]

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Back to Part 025 Notes – Forward to Part 027 Notes

Back to Part 025 – Forward to Part 027

Since he had taken over, Toby had the guest kitchen to himself. This is where he carefully constructed each meal, almost always in silence, usually by himself. Usually.

As he washed the dishes he’d need for that night’s meal, Xiphos stood by, taking the clean dishes, drying them, and stacking them neatly on the center cooking island. The process repeated: clean, dry, stack, all wordlessly. Xiphos didn’t announce herself when she came in. She started drying the dishes Toby had stacked next to the sink, and when she ran out, she waited patiently for the next, picking up what Toby set down. Catching on to the pattern, Toby just started handing Xiphos what he finished.

Toby opened his mouth to speak, but didn’t quite know what to say. He handed Xiphos another dish, and she put it away. Toby hazarded a glance, finding Xiphos focused on the dishes. She didn’t look when he stopped, just waited. When the sink was almost empty, Billy stuck his head into the kitchen.

“Kitten,” he said, and Xiphos’s ear swiveled to him. She looked back over her shoulder. “Come with me.”

Xiphos dried her hands with the towel and draped the towel over Toby’s shoulder. She slouched after Billy, a couple doors down to the infirmary. Billy patted the paper-covered chair in the middle, and Xiphos dutifully climbed on.

Billy’s infirmary was immaculate, everything tidy, everything exactly where it should have been. Xiphos knew it from rote, having put away, charged, cleaned or restocked every single item in every cabinet, drawer, or decorative canister. But that had been before the Ugliness, back when she was a medic.

Billy turned back to Xiphos, clicked on a little flashlight, and shone it into her eyes. Xiphos squinted and tried to wrench away from Billy.

“No squirming, please,” Billy said, leveling his gaze at Xiphos. “I need to gauge how bad that blow was.”

Xiphos’s ears twitched. “…what she said,” she mumbled under her breath, each word forcing its way out.

“Hush,” Billy said. “Any headaches? Dizziness? Trouble seeing? Hearing a ringing in your ears?”

Xiphos shook her head to all of these.

“Disorientation? Trouble focusing?”

“I’m fine.” Xiphos dropped her eyes away, leaning back on the chair, propping herself up with her arms.

“Hmm…” Billy said. He clicked off the light and tucked it away into his pocket. “It does seem that way. You look like, physically, you’re recovering well.”

“That’s a weird tone,” Xiphos said.

“Yes, well,” Billy said. “You need to talk about it.”

Xiphos started to climb off the chair. Billy stepped in front of her.

“I’m not going to let you bottle things up,” he said.

Xiphos sat back down on Billy’s medical chair, folding her arms over her chest. She squinted at nothing in particular, and then, very slowly, her ears dropped, her hard gaze melting away. She took a deep breath.

“I could have saved her,” Xiphos said. Her jaw trembled, and she held it shut as best she could. “I was right there. I could’ve pulled her away before-” She covered her mouth, closing her eyes to blink back tears. Billy pulled up a rolling chair and sat down across from her. He gently stroked her arm. When Xiphos regained her composure, he said,

“I want to show you something.” He rolled up his sleeve, revealing four names tattooed on his shoulder. The first read, ‘L. Cooper – ’74,’ and then, ‘B. Stonewall – ’77,’ and ‘J. Goodly – ’78′. Xiphos remembered something vaguely about Lat and anti-pirate operations in the Northern Ocean that matched up with those dates. Fighting had been hard, and often brutal. The last name, dark and sharp, the skin around the tattoo still pink from the procedure, read simply ‘Nina – ’97.’

“These are all people I lost personally. Every one of them I failed as a medic and a doctor. I did everything I could to save Nina, but she slipped away before I could save her.”

Xiphos wiped her tears away, still not looking at Billy. “But I could have stopped her.”

“Not with that head injury. You were hit hard, and that hard of an impact robs you of your motor control. There was nothing you could have done.”

“Is this supposed to make me feel better?”

“No,” Billy said. “Or at least, it’s not supposed to make you less sad. But you need to stop blaming yourself. Gumes flipped a coin and Nina happened to be the one to make the catch. It could have been you. It could have been Tobias. It could have been me.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Me neither, kitten.” Billy stroked her ears back, and Xiphos leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder.

“I miss her so much,” Xiphos said. Billy pulled her into an embrace.

“I know, kitten,” he said. “I miss her, too.”

“Does this mean we’re not going to look for the Travelers anymore?”

“Oh, no,” Billy said. “We will find them. And if it were up to me, I’d murder them on the spot. I think Cait would object to that.”

Xiphos made an entirely disinterested noise. Billy squeezed Xiphos, and then separated. He rubbed her arms. “We’ll make sure she didn’t die in vain.”

Xiphos only nodded.

“I don’t know if Cait said so, but you performed well when you had to.”

Another nod.

“Let me know if you start feeling anything weird. I’ll need to treat it as soon as possible.”

The cat nodded, and slid off the medical chair, and went back to the dishes. She found Toby almost where she had left him. He stared down at the sink, his eyes on his work, but he couldn’t hide the dark matted fur on his cheeks. He handed Xiphos a dish, and she wiped it dry.

“I shouldn’t have been there,” he said, barely audible over the din of the water. “If I hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have been there,” Toby said.

Xiphos eyed Toby carefully, watching as, eyes down, he handed her another dish. She took it and dried it.

“It’s not your fault,” she said.

[g]

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Back to Part 024 Notes – Forward to Part 026 Notes

I may have mentioned this before, but the New Archer Revolutionaries are old characters of mine. I have a habit of taking out of place characters from their old, unused series and placing them into a new environment. Xiphos came from the NAR, or at least their small group of friends. I had transplanted her when I started to feel the NAR’s story would never get told. And then I merged their universes, and so there we go.

We’ll talk about them more later.

(I doodled this out a while back. I like the way Manni came out a lot).

Logan’s being kind of a jerk here, and we should touch on that. Part of it is that Logan views, at this point, the Rose as partially her ship. So a stowaway is a slap in the face to her. Also, it’s extremely illegal. Whether or not it’s legal to throw the stowaway off the boat while sailing is something else.

Cait, of course, takes a much more civilized approach.

And Tre, of course, being the protector he feels he has to be, even with a girl that’s on board illegally. What a sweetie.

So, as always, what did I miss? Any questions and comments you have are always welcome.

[g]

PSST! If you’ve been enjoying the series so far, please stop by and drop me a vote on top web fiction. You may do so with this link. Thanks! It’s much appreciated.

Back to Part 024 Notes – Forward to Part 026 Notes