Lee Shores Read online

  Ginny and Fredricks reached out to their respective families, and once the arrangements were made, seemed to be walking on air. I was happy for them. They were well-suited to each other, and happier together than I’d ever seen them apart.

  Corano and Kereli revealed little of their plans, but that was not surprising. The Esselians were not much of sharers. Still, they seemed happy at the prospect of R-and-R.

  “Hey,” Maggie said later that afternoon, taking me aside, her green eyes twinkling. “I’m going to tell you something, but you can’t say anything, okay?”

  “Of course.”

  “Fredricks stopped by to see me earlier.” She grinned. “He’s going to ask Ginny to marry him.”

  I laughed. I was a little surprised by the suddenness of it – they’d only been dating for about nine months so far – but probably shouldn’t have been. “Wow.”

  “I know.” She added with an apprehensive shake of her head, “Married crewmembers. That’s going to be a first for the Black Flag. For better or worse, eh?”

  I nudged her. “Come on. Relationships onboard can work out just fine.” I kissed her cheek playfully. “Better than fine.”

  She smiled at me, and I felt my heart flutter. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with her rosy cheeks and fiery red hair. But when she’d smile, and the smile would hit her eyes…damn.

  “A hell of a lot better than fine, Katherine Ellis,” she said. Then, she grew more serious. “Still, there’s always a risk. What happens if they break up? We could lose the medic and one of our best techs.”

  I shrugged. “Yeah. We could. On the other hand, Fredricks is basically unrecognizable since he started dating Ginny.”

  She laughed. “That’s true, I suppose. I’m fielding a lot fewer complaints about his bedside manner, that’s for sure.”

  “And Ginny’s happy as hell.”

  “Yeah. I just hope it doesn’t go south. For their sake of course, but all of ours too.”

  I shook my head. “You worry too much, babe.” Then, I changed the topic. I hadn’t had a chance, yet, to tell her about Frank’s invitation. “Anyway, though, as far as our leave: I was thinking-”

  Her pager buzzed, and she glanced down. “Crap. This is one of the new clients I was talking about. I’ve got to take this, babe.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Tell me your idea later?”

  “Of course. See you, Mags.”

  She headed back for her ready room, picking up the call as she went, and I turned for engineering. I’d been chief engineer for about seven months now, since we lost the last chief in a bad bit of business with the Conglomerate crime syndicate. I still felt like I was learning the ropes most days, though. Like any ship, the Black Flag was her own beast, with her own eccentricities and quirks. You could read the manual all you wanted – and I had, more than once – but that only told you how she was supposed to function.

  The truth was, like any piece of machinery, the Flag had a will of her own. You could focus on her specs and what the paper told you to expect, or you could listen to the ship. It was, I suppose, a kind of engineer’s superstition. But those of us in engineering knew better: you didn’t argue with the Boss. You worked with her, you cajoled her, you pampered her, you coaxed her. But you never argued.

  We’d tried all of that today, and none of it worked. We were still burning a few degrees too hot; and there seemed to be neither rhyme nor reason behind it.

  I’d left after we got yet another diagnostic running, on what might have been the most impactful decision of the day: a coffee run.

  Ginny looked up as I entered the room, carafe in hand. “Thank God.”

  “Any luck?” I called, grabbing a set of mugs.

  “Not a damned thing. The diagnostic scan is at sixty-two percent, and it’s all passing with flying colors.”

  “Dammit.”

  “You’re telling me. I was hoping to get out early today.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Ginny. You can take off when you need to. I’ll call Max in early. He’s been complaining about not getting enough exposure anyway.” Max Vae was one of the night shift techs. His resume was leaner than Ginny’s, but he was younger, and eager to learn.

  “Thanks, Kay. I owe you one. Chris and I wanted to go over our schedule, and talk about where we’re going to book our reservations.”

  It took me a moment to realize she was talking about Fredricks. I’d known the doctor so long by his last name that hearing him spoken of more familiarly still threw me. I nodded. “No worries.”

  We poured ourselves a cup of coffee, hmming over the diagnostic results as they trickled in. Abruptly, Ginny turned to me. “Kay, you mind if I ask your advice on something?”

  I shook my head. “Of course not.”

  She took a deep breath, nodding. “I love Chris,” she said.

  I grinned. “I would never have guessed.”

  She flushed, but stayed on track. “I want – that is, I think I want to ask him to marry me.”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “Is it too soon?” Her brow creased with worry, and I realized my expression of surprise was probably not helping.

  “No, Ginny, I don’t think so.”

  “But you don’t think it’s a good idea?” she persisted.

  “I didn’t say that,” I protested.

  “Not with words.” She shook her head. “But your face…”

  “Ginny, it’s not that. I think it’s a great idea.”

  “Then what?”

  My mind raced. The truth was simple: their likeness of mind surprised me. Ginny was thinking of proposing at the same time Fredricks was. It was a hell of a coincidence – adorable, in its own way, and indicative that they really were on the same page in their relationship. Of course, I could reveal none of this to her without betraying Maggie’s confidence, and the doctor’s. “I just…didn’t realize things were that serious between you.” I hastened to add, “But I’m glad – thrilled, Ginny. And I think it’s a great idea.”

  The tension in her forehead relaxed a pinch, and the line between her eyes eased. “You do?”

  “I do.”

  She smiled now. “Oh good. You think he’ll accept?”

  “Well,” I lied, “I mean, there’s no way to know for sure…but, yeah, I’m pretty sure he will.”

  Chapter Three

  “Hey, Kay?” Frank asked. He’d caught me just outside the mess hall.

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you talk to Magdalene yet? About going to Kudar?”

  I shook my head. “Almost, but she got a call before I could. Why?”

  He frowned. “I might have mentioned it to her. Sorry.”

  “Oh.” I shrugged. “Well, it’s no big deal.”

  “You sure?”

  It was my turn to frown. “What do you mean?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know, just…she didn’t seem to like the idea.” He shrugged. “I know Kudar’s not everyone’s cup of tea. What I’m saying is, I hope you guys can come. But if you can’t…I understand.”

  He moved on, stepping into the mess hall and leaving me to frown in thought at that. He must have, I thought, got it wrong. I knew Mags didn’t have any other plans. And she liked Frank. If nothing else, she’d want to be there to support him in case this urgent summons turned out to be bad news.

  I pushed the thought aside and followed him. Catching sight of her, it was long gone. She’d already grabbed a seat and a plate. I ducked over to our table. “Hey babe,” I said.

  She looked up and flashed me a smile. “Kay.”

  “How’s dinner?”

  She grinned. “It’s no lunch, that’s for sure.”

  I grinned too. Dave had resumed his regular kitchen duties, and, judging by the lumpy casserole on her plate, he hadn’t put any more effort into it than normal. “Well, let me grab some anyway. I’ll be right back.”

  The cook was watching with critical eyes as crewmen passed through the line. “I
don’t want to hear any bitching,” he warned me as I approached. “I know you think that robot of yours is a better cook than me.”

  “Because he is,” Frank called from the far station, where he was filling a great mug with milk.

  “So can it before you say anything.”

  Oh geez. He was clearly not enjoying the ribbing. “Come on, Dave,” I said, “you know we’re just giving you a hard time. Anyway, this looks delicious.”

  It didn’t, and he scoffed along with Frank. “It’s not. It’s a slop of reconstituted chicken, rehydrated vegetables, and a cream base that’s probably not fit for human consumption.” He crossed his arms. “Those are the ingredients I have to work with. Unlike your little robot.”

  “You know Maggie would let you buy better stuff,” I protested. “She never gives you grief, whatever you buy. And you do your own shopping.”

  “I buy for long term storage,” he said. “We don’t know when we’re going to be at a port next. So I buy accordingly.”

  I nodded. “Alright, well, maybe you could compromise. Buy some of that stuff, and some – well, good stuff.”

  “Do I tell you how to get the damned engine going, Kay?”

  There was smoke coming from his ears. Or maybe that was the pan in front of him. Either way, there was definitely smoke in the air, metaphorically and – I was pretty sure, literally. “Geez, Dave. You’re the one who brought it up. I said it looked good!”

  “You lied,” he snapped.

  “Maybe,” I acknowledged. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to be nice.”

  He glowered at me, and I said no more, scooping as much slop as I thought I could reasonably eat onto my plate. Then, I moved on.

  Frank, I saw, had taken a seat with Corano and Kereli. I frowned at that. It was unusual for the Kudarian not to eat with us, and then usually only because someone else got his seat first. I remembered what he’d said earlier, about Maggie not being thrilled to go to Kudar. Maybe he’s giving us space to talk it over. I decided to ease into the topic gently. “Well,” I said, taking a seat across from her, “Dave’s in a mood.”

  She grinned at me. “I know. I heard.”

  “Maybe letting Syd into the kitchens was a bad idea.”

  “Well,” she nodded, “it certainly gave us all false hope about what we could expect.”

  I smiled, toying with the food on my plate and thinking of how to turn the topic. No segues popped into mind, though. To hell with it. “So, did Frank talk to you? About Kudar, I mean?”

  It was the wrong tactic. Immediately, her expression stiffened. “Yeah, he said you guys had worked it out. Something about staying at his folks’ place.”

  I nodded. “They’ve got plenty of room. Apparently, the Inkaya clan is well off.”

  “Hmm.” Her attention was fixed on her own food. “Well, hopefully you have a good time.”

  I reached out a hand to hers. “Hopefully we have a good time, you mean.”

  She glanced up at me, saying in a minute, “I’m not sure I want to go.”

  I blinked. “What do you mean?”

  Shrugging her shoulders, she answered, “There’s a lot to do, Kay. It’s not often we get a month of down time. As soon as I found out we were going to be down so long, I scheduled time in the docks for a heat shield rotation.”

  I groaned. “Hell, Mags, you didn’t?”

  “Why not? That takes two weeks. We never have two weeks free.”

  “We never have two weeks for you and me, either,” I protested.

  She turned wounded eyes toward me. “It won’t be me and you. It’ll be me, you and Frank. Remember?”

  I bit down on the exclamation that threatened to spill out. Jesus, Maggie. I didn’t want to draw eyes to us, and I needed to get through to her. “Come on,” I said, my voice low. “You know there’ll be plenty time for us. Frank’s got to deal with – well, whatever’s going on. And anyway, don’t you want to be there for him, in case it is bad news? In case he needs support?”

  “I don’t know,” she said again. “I’ll think about it. But I’ve got a lot I need to do with the ship.”

  Dinner passed in mutual, sullen silence after that. I was angry at her for scheduling work on the ship without even a thought to spending time with me. I was angry at her for being so stubborn now. She was angry at me for making plans without consulting her. And, somewhere just below the surface of her anger, was jealousy.

  Maggie didn’t say it out loud, but I could see it in her injured expression and hear it in her wounded tone. I’d made plans with Frank, and not her.

  It didn’t matter that she hadn’t been there when he’d asked. All she could see was that Frank had asked me to spend my vacation with him; and I’d agreed.

  During the early days of our acquaintance, Frank had had something of a crush on me. I’d fallen for Maggie, and nothing had come of it, but I knew it still lingered in her mind.

  The truth was, I was angry with myself, too, for agreeing so readily to go with Frank. It had been innocently done, and I’d expected Mags to come with me. But I should have asked first. Just like she should have talked to me before scheduling the repairs.

  If she was thinking anything similar, she kept it to herself, as I kept it to myself. And though she kissed me goodnight and wrapped an arm around me as we slept, there was still a tension between us.

  It was gone when morning came, though. She’d gotten up before me, and put on a pot of coffee. A coffee pot in her quarters was, as she’d told me in the past, one of the perks of being captain.

  It was one of the perks of living with the captain, too. “Mmm, that smells good,” I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

  “Morning, babe. I’ll get you a cup.”

  “Thanks, Mags. Let me use the bathroom first.” I did, brushing my teeth while I was there – coffee breath was bad enough, but coffee breath and morning breath? I wouldn’t inflict that on her.

  She had a steaming mug waiting for me when I returned, and she settled onto the bed beside me. “I was thinking,” she said, handing the coffee over, “maybe we could drop the ship off for the work, and take a shuttle.”

  I wrapped my free arm around her. “That sounds great, Mags.”

  “Good.” She smiled wryly at me. “I’m sorry I was such a grouch yesterday, Kay.”

  “I’m sorry I made plans without you, babe. I didn’t think you’d mind – but I should have asked first.”

  “Me too,” she nodded, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

  I leaned into her embrace. It felt good, especially after almost fighting with her the night before. I didn’t like when she was mad at me. I didn’t like when I was mad at her. It made the whole world seem off, wrong somehow.

  But right now, it felt right again. I sighed, sipping my coffee. “We figured out that damned problem yesterday, by the way. When the fuel was burning too hot.”

  “Oh, good. What was it?”

  “One of the fuel mixture valves was off. Not the valve itself, but the sensor. It was getting the mixture wrong, but telling the computer it was right.”

  Maggie shook her head. “So that’s it, eh?”

  “Yup.”

  “Good work.”

  “It was Ginny’s thinking,” I said. “She – oh my God, Mags, I completely forgot to tell you!”

  “Tell me what?”

  “You know how you said Fredricks is going to propose?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Ginny asked me what I thought of her proposing to him.”

  A bemused laugh escaped her. “You’re kidding?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “What’d you tell her?”

  “Well, I didn’t know what to tell her without giving away what you’d told me. So I ended up saying she should do it.”

  Maggie grinned. “Well, at least we know what the answer’s going to be, whoever pops the question first.”

  We chatted through our cups of coffee, and I sighed. “I should get in the
shower and get some breakfast. They’re expecting me in engineering.” I added with a grin, “And I have to be on time today. Now that we replaced that sensor, we’re going to have to do another day of diagnostics.”

  She nodded. “Alright. I’ll wait for you.”

  “Okay.” I set the mug on the nightstand, and moved to get up. I froze, though, at the pensive look in Maggie’s eyes.

  “Hey,” I said, “what’s wrong, Mags?”

  “Nothing,” she shrugged.

  I frowned at her. “Come on, babe. We both know that’s bullshit.”

  She sighed. “It’s just…well, I don’t know. I was really kind of hoping – well, that we could do something. Together, you and me. Not you and Frank.”

  The hint of jealousy in her tone didn’t escape my ears this time either. “Why don’t you come with us, Mags?”

  “To Kudar?” she scoffed.

  “Yeah. Why not? Have you ever been there?”

  “Yes. It’s hardly the most welcoming place.”

  I wrapped my arms around her. “See? This is why I need you there with me. You wouldn’t send me onto a hostile alien world all by myself, would you?”

  She snorted. “You’ll have Frank.”

  “But I want Maggie.” I pecked her lips, adding, “Even when she’s pouty and grumpy.”

  She grinned, wrapping her hands around me. “And what about jealous?”

  “Oh,” I said, “especially when she’s jealous.”

  She smiled. “Sorry, babe. I know I’m being a pain in the ass.”

  “It’s okay, Mags. But you know you have nothing to be jealous about?”

  “I know, I know.” She frowned. “Dammit, Kay, I don’t mean to be so damned insecure.”

  I ran my hands across her shoulders, and down her arms. Her muscles tensed at my touch. “Babe, if I got jealous every time someone showed interest in you, I’d go nuts. The thing is – I trust you.”

  She flinched at my words. “Are you saying I don’t trust you?”

  “I’m saying, I think, on some level, you compare me to Irene.” Irene was Maggie’s ex-wife, whose cheating had been a component of their eventual separation.

  “I don’t.”

  I smiled softly. “You do.” She blinked at my words, and I squeezed her arms. “But one of these days, you’re going to realize just how much I love you, Magdalene Landon.”