Galaxy's End: Book One by LeRoy Clary (popular ebook readers txt) 📗

the planetoid the entire time. Dozens of meetings were held. The admiral's people offered suggestions as they refined the plan.

Best of all, the Escolta was being fitted with a direct-link subspace radio which connected the communication hub of the secret Bradley Concord shipyard with the Escolta. Messages would still be expensive in terms of energy, but private, and at no cost to the Escolta.

The admiral complimented both Fang and Bert at various times. She never knew how good they really were, or she would have probably tried to recruit them. On the morning of the fourth day, a shuttle took Kat and the captain back to the Dreamer after finalizing several details with the admiral.

Things had changed aboard the ship.

Evidence of thorough cleaning and painting were everywhere. The taint of oil and hot machinery gone, the air even had a faint and agreeable scent. The crew smiled a welcome. The passengers broke out clapping and cheering in the galley when they entered.

The workers and military had spread rumors of how Captain Stone had saved the ship and their lives. The crew had been told to expect healthy bonuses because of the Dreamer’s return and the lawsuits that had been avoided from the passengers, who were also to receive a future passage at no cost.

The supplies had been loaded, and the marines were in their quarters, which was a cabin for each, small but the trip to Heshmat would take only six days. The wormhole routes were well-charted and almost direct.

Nobody mentioned the steward, Chance. Captain Stone and Kat noticed the door to the cabin where he had been poisoned was sealed and locked. Nobody would have wanted to occupy it anyhow, but it was a symbol.

Captain Stone went for an inspection of the ship, bow to stern. She shook hands, accepted slaps on her back and compliments, and poked her head into every space, cabin, and compartment. She talked to all, made certain the ship was ready to safely depart, and finally entered the bridge where Fang lolled in his chair, the mister on full blast with a swarm of tiny insects swirling around his head. Now and then, his long tongue whipped out and plucked one from the air.

She settled into the captain’s chair and said, “It looks like you’ve had a nice vacation. Are you ready to take us out of here?”

Fang said, “Been ready for three days.”

“Anything I should know about?”

“No. I suspect you heard about Chance?”

“Yes. Any idea who did it?”

Fang snapped up another bug. “Damnedest thing. The cabin door was locked. Vids don’t show anybody entering. The best estimate is someone on the crew knew a way to get in that isn’t shown on the specs for the ship.”

Captain Stone turned to him. “How reasonable is that?”

Fang shrugged. “He killed for profit. Put all our lives in danger. I’m not going to waste my time speculating or investigating. If I happen to stumble across the one responsible, I may express my profound thanks.”

“Meaning I should shut up about it.”

“I wouldn’t presume to tell the captain what to do or not to do. But if anyone deserved to die, it was him,” Fang said harshly.

A ping sounded. “I agree,” Bert added from his location in the comm room.

She couldn’t help but wonder if either of them had had anything to do with it. Or both. However, the man had murdered the last captain to sit in her chair, the very one she was in at the moment. With Chance dead, the chances of her living improved, and she refused to smile at the pun on the word, chances, and his name.

Out loud, she said, “Make final preparations to depart and report any discrepancies to me.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

 

Kat

 

My eyes never left the captain. I accompanied her on the inspection of the ship as if I was her First Mate. I was not scared anymore, not since Chance died. That did not mean I was a silly girl without any fears. I’d survived a dozen or more years on my own while living on Roma, if “on my own” meant having Bill and Bert there to help. I was used to overcoming fear.

But those two were my friends, not my parents. I could have left them at any time and gone on my own. I’d even considered doing that more than once. Now, I was a crewman for a ship I’d never seen, bound for uncharted territory on the human rim, which was another way of saying we had no idea where we were going after reaching the Escolta.

Captain Stone announced we were in the final stages of preparedness before departing for Heshmat and the ship I hoped to call home. I used an old-fashioned check sheet she sent to my tablet. She talked. I recorded.

She made a point to speak to every person we encountered, crew or passenger. Together we inspected the ship in areas I’d never been. She opened hatches, cupboards, and closets methodically. Now and then she had me record an item but despite the age of the ship, I believed most were minor discrepancies and she seemed pleased.

Eventually, we reached the engine room. McL met us and trailed behind. I grinned at Bill, wanting to stop and speak but my duties were as important as the things he repaired. At least, that’s the way I’d tell it.

I’d never seen him so happy.

Beside the console where McL sat while on duty, sat a place like the bridge only smaller, complete with screens filling the wall providing information for him. There was now a makeshift desk. On it were two tablets with exploded views of mechanical things, and a self-paced program on electronics.

McL was tutoring him. He was loving it. That made me happy.

We left them after Captain