By Darkness Forged

by Nathan Lowell

  The chief looked at me with a question in her eyes. “What makes you think they’ve been in the Toe-Holds for a long time?”

  “The taller one, Zoya. She’s fleet to the core but she wasn’t dressed for it, didn’t seem overly disoriented by being at Dark Knight. She fit in with the Toe-Holders almost seamlessly.”

  “What about Natalya?” the chief asked.

  “If I had to guess, I’d say she’d either been born there or spent a lot of her life pre-academy there. Just the way she moved, her clothes. She didn’t look like she was trying to fit in. She just fit in.”

  The chief looked at Al. “You’re right. He’s no slouch.”

  “Wait,” Pip said, bracing his beer bottle on the table. “Wait. I know these names. Natalya, Zoya. Where do I know these names from?”

  “They were neighbors for a while,” the chief said.

  Pip’s eyes grew wide enough that I could almost see the whites all the way around his irises. “Oh, no. Statuesque. Drop-dead gorgeous. Took over when UMS17 got blown up?”

  “Wouldn’t surprise me,” I said.

  He closed his eyes and hung his head forward on his neck. “Aphrodite.”

  “The goddess of love and beauty,” Al said.

  The doorbell rang and Pip went so pale, I thought he might pass out as the blood rushed from his face. “Would somebody get that, please?” he asked.

  Chapter 45

  Port Newmar: 2376, May 17

  I went to the door and enjoyed the looks of surprise. I held out a hand to Natalya. “Hello. We haven’t been introduced but I’m Ishmael Wang.”

  She seemed a little dazed but shook it off enough to shake my hand. “Natalya Regyri.”

  I offered my hand to the other. “Ishmael Wang.”

  “Zoya Usoko.”

  “Pleased to meet you both. Come on in. At least one of your friends is here.”

  Natalya looked at me. “At least one?”

  “I believe you know Chief Stevens?”

  She nodded. “Of course.”

  We walked into the dining room where the chief met them with effusive greetings including many huggings and exclamations.

  Al caught my eye and shrugged.

  Pip looked like he might pass out and was examining the floor for a likely landing spot.

  The chief did the honors. “This is First Mate Alberta Ross. She’s been selected for a prestigious position over in Jett.”

  Al stood and shook the offered hands but stayed clear of any incipient hugs.

  “Natalya Regyri is my collaborator on the emergency Burleson collar, among other things.” The chief looked at me like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat before turning to Zoya. “Zoya Usoko, chairman of the board for Usoko Mining. Between them, they’re two of the key players in ore and metal distribution in the Western Annex.”

  Natalya held up a hand. “Don’t oversell us, Chief.”

  “Pull up some chairs,” Al said. “Let’s talk techy.”

  “Can I get you anything from the galley?” I asked. “There’s no tea, I’m afraid, but I’m sure there’s coffee.”

  Natalya nodded. “I’ll take a coffee. Black, please.”

  I looked at Zoya.

  “I know this is a job interview and all, but if there’s another Clipper Ship ...” she said.

  Natalya looked at Zoya. “Really? You’re going there?”

  “It’s Clipper Ship. Of course I’m going there.”

  Pip looked up and the movement must have attracted their attention because both of them zeroed in on him like radar on a rock.

  “Carstairs,” Zoya said. She didn’t look angry as much as confused. “What role does he play in this circus?”

  “Chimpanzee,” Al said, a bemused expression on her face as she looked from Pip to Zoya and back.

  “CEO,” I said. “Phoenix Freight. Also cargo master on the Chernyakova.”

  Pip looked up, struggling to his feet. “Long time, no see.”

  “You care to explain just what the hell happened back then?” Zoya asked. If her face were a storm, lightning would’ve been shooting out her nose and thunder out her ears.

  “I was taken by surprise,” he said, looking at where his finger traced circles in the moisture on the table. “I wasn’t expecting you.” He swallowed. Hard.

  She shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about but my eyes are up here.” She forked her fingers at her own eyes. “CEO or not, I’d appreciate it if you’d talk to me and not the table.”

  He held up both hands in surrender. “I’ll do my best, Ms. Usoko. Let me get you a beer.” He shrugged, being careful to look her in the eye. “We can talk.”

  I looked at the chief who shrugged. I noticed Al had narrowed her eyes at Pip and seemed to be struggling to hold in a grin.

  “Have a seat,” I said, waving the two women into chairs at the end of the table. “We’ll be right back.” I looked at Natalya. “You want a beer instead of coffee? We’re all officers here.”

  “Coffee any good?”

  “I don’t drink bad coffee.”

  “Coffee, please.”

  “I thought you were a tea drinker.”

  “Because we were in a tea shop?” she asked.

  “It’s a logical assumption.”

  “Are you a tea drinker, Captain?”

  I grinned. “Touché.” I grabbed Pip by the arm and dragged him through the swinging door and into the small galley. I lowered my voice to a near whisper. “You wanna tell me what the very hell is going on between you and Usoko? Is it her money?”

  He blinked a couple of times as if trying to process. “Money? No. She has money?”

  “Usoko Mining? The Usoko Mining?” I rummaged in the cupboard for the grinder.

  His eyes got big. “Her?” he asked, the word coming out like a quiet wheeze.

  “What then?”

  “Have you seen her?” he asked. “I can barely look at her without freezing up.”

  “We all noticed,” I said. “What’s the story?”

  “She’s gorgeous. Some kind of goddess sent to haunt my dreams.”

  “She’s a talented and intelligent deck officer. Stop being a dumbass and go give her a beer.”

  “You don’t understand. I’ve met her before. It’s been stanyers and I cannot get her out of my mind.”

  “Must have been some meeting.”

  Abject horror washed across his face. “I was a complete ass. Rachel still rides me about it.”

  “Some things never change. Get a grip. We need to interview her for the first mate slot. We’ll talk later.”

  He nodded, steeled himself, and pushed through the door.

  I measured some beans into the grinder and pressed the button, getting some cold water into the reservoir by the time the beans were ready. I pressed the go button and went back into the dining room to see what fresh hell our CEO had rained down on us.

  “It’s brewing,” I said, trying my best to be professional in a room full of cross currents and strange vibes. I looked to the chief. “I’m guessing that pulling jackets won’t tell me much.”

  She nodded. “I can tell you that these two started the job that we finished in Telluride. Between them, they built the Zvezda Moya mining depot.”

  “That was really Higbee’s doing,” Zoya said. “We just put the blocks together after my grandmother placed the orders.”

  I heard the coffee pot finish brewing and held up a hand. “Hold those thoughts. Coffee’s ready. I’ll be right back.”

  A quick pass through the tidy kitchen gave me two china mugs full of coffee and I returned almost before the swinging door stopped flapping. I gave one of the mugs to Natalya and kept the other. I looked at the chief. “Now. Can we speak freely?”

  She nodded. “They picked up the pieces after our friends detonated a bomb in a Usoko Mining station. They’ve known about it for a very long time.” She looked at Zoya. “It’s over, by the way. We found the base and fumigated it.”
/>
  Zoya’s eyes closed for a few heartbeats and then opened. “I knew there had to be more.”

  “We got the Prince shortly after you went to Margary, but we’ve been trying to track the rest of them ever since.”

  “So it’s really over now,” Natalya said.

  “The Chernyakova made it possible,” the chief said.

  “And now you’re going to be here teaching?” Zoya asked, her eyes narrowing just a little.

  “Yes, and finishing the next edition of the book, thanks to Natalya’s insight,” she said.

  “And you’ve got a plum job elsewhere?” Zoya asked, looking at Al.

  “Artist-in-residence at a gallery on the orbital at Jett over in Diurnia.” Al’s eyebrows rose only the slightest fraction.

  Natalya glanced at the chief and then looked at Zoya, pursing her lips. “How fortuitous for us.”

  “Not exactly,” Zoya said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Captain, but a Barbell needs an engineering chief officer.”

  “You’re correct,” I said.

  She looked at Natalya and shrugged.

  For her part, Natalya’s face seemed to fall a little.

  “What’s the hold up?” I asked.

  “Engineering first officer,” she said, raising her hand and giving her fingers a little twiddle.

  The chief sat up in her seat and Zoya pulled out her tablet.

  Natalya leaned over. “What are you looking up?”

  “Qualifications for chief. Hush.” Zoya said. She apparently found what she was looking for and shook her head. “You sly old fox.”

  “Thanks, I try,” the chief said.

  “What am I missing?” Natalya asked.

  “You only need a senior chief engineering officer in good standing to certify your performance to make chief,” Zoya said.

  “That can’t be right,” Natalya said. “Don’t I need to pass a board review?”

  “The senior chief can waive it in favor of actual demonstration of performance,” Zoya said. “It has to be something the chief has personally observed and is willing to testify to.” She held the tablet so Natalya could read. “See. Right there. We saw this before in Margary. Remember?”

  Natalya looked at the chief. “You?”

  The chief nodded.

  “You haven’t seen my performance since we jumped that broken Barbell out of Zvezda Moya.”

  “Your point is what?” the chief asked.

  “You don’t know what I’ve done lately or what my performance is now.”

  “We worked together on that emitter yoke for a stanyer. I’m pretty sure you haven’t gotten worse because I’ve got a copy of every performance review since you got the Madoka out of the yards. That capacitor design is brilliant, by the way. Who programmed the latching circuits? That doesn’t look like Manchester code.”

  “She did,” Zoya said. “I helped with some debug and testing.”

  “Chief Willoby was ready to sign your promotion last stanyer but you didn’t have enough time in grade,” the chief said. “If you like, you can take the exam and we can convene a board here at the academy, but I can tell you what they’ll say.”

  I sat back and looked around the table. “So? Are we agreed that you two have the technical qualifications to be chief engineering officer and first mate in CPJCT space?”

  Zoya nodded. “I think so, Captain.”

  Natalya nodded. “I’m a bit in shock but yes, Captain. I believe so.”

  I looked Al. “You wanna conference on this?”

  She shook her head. “Your ship. Your call, Skipper.”

  “Chief?” I asked.

  She grinned. “All the work I put in getting this together and you think I’m going to pull the plug now?” She shook her head.

  “Well, there’s only one thing left to do,” I said. “Chief, Al, thanks. I think it’s time for us to see if the four of us can work together. Let’s get together for lunch tomorrow, shall we?”

  Al gave me a lopsided grin and stood. “Come on, Chief. I’ve got a case of Clipper Ship in my cottage and I don’t go on watch until tomorrow night.”

  The chief stood and headed for the door. “I could use another cold one, especially if you’re buying. Have fun, kids.”

  The sound of the door closing sounded loud in the silence.

  Natalya looked at Zoya and shrugged. “You have to admit. As ambushes go, it could have been worse.”

  “Grant you that,” she said and looked across the table at me. “Captain?”

  “Oh, she’s been doing this to me for stanyers. I’ve learned to roll with the punches.”

  Natalya laughed. “So have you figured out who she works for?”

  “I have some guesses,” I said. “It’s certainly not me. I’m just the handy cover story but I’ve learned a lot from her.”

  Natalya raised her mug in a toast. “I’ll drink to that.”

  Zoya frowned, staring down the table at Pip. “What’s your story, Carstairs?”

  He looked up and took a couple of deep breaths. For a couple of heartbeats I thought he was going to hurl, but he shrugged. “I’m working on being a better person.”

  His answer surprised me and it must have shown on my face.

  “What were you before?” Zoya asked, not exactly a challenge. Mostly curiosity with a little disbelief mixed in.

  He stared at the empty bottle on the table near his hand. “Kind of an ass.” He shrugged. “I’ve been a little bit obsessed for the last few stanyers. Off balance. I thought putting the company together and grabbing the Chernyakova would fill the void.” He shook his head.

  “You’ve always been an ass,” I said. “Why change now?”

  He shrugged. “We finished the job. All that stuff is behind us.” He glanced at Zoya before looking at me. “I guess I just have a reason now.”

  “So how’s this company organized?” Natalya asked. “You’re the CEO and cargo officer?”

  Pip nodded. “Yeah. It felt like too much conflict of interest for Ishmael to have CEO and captain. So, he’s in charge of the ship. I’m in charge of the company. Underway, he’s the law. Docked, it falls to me. Since I’m CEO, having me make cargo deals on behalf of the company makes sense. I don’t have to get into the details of running the ship, and he just has to get the can from here to there without running into anything.”

  “How do you two manage?” I asked.

  “Like the chief said, I’m chairman of the board for Usoko,” Zoya said. “I hired a CEO who runs the day-to-day operations. Board has oversight and we meet about three times a stanyer to review the operation. That’s in Margary. Will that be a problem?”

  “We have a mandated board meeting here at Port Newmar—nominally—once a year. I think we can work around it. Pip’s pretty good at finding a can going wherever we need to be,” I said.

  “What about the shipping company?” Pip asked, looking at Natalya.

  “One ship. It’s all we’ve needed. Usoko is our primary client. We run finished metals from Zvezda Moya in the Toe-Holds and deliver them all around the Western Annex. Manchester gets the lion’s share but we also handle shipments to the other shipyards. Unwin gets a big slug. Higbee is another,” Natalya said.

  “Do you have to have a board meeting or anything?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “Privately owned.”

  Zoya made a show of pointing at Natalya.

  “You own it. Outright?” Pip asked.

  “It’s a long story,” she said.

  “It’s one I want to hear,” I said. “But I have to ask. You were first mate on the Madoka? Is that the right name?”

  “Yeah,” Zoya said. “She was engineering first. Her ship. She can be whoever she likes.”

  “How can you come work for us?” I asked.

  Pip asked, “Why come work for us? Seems like you’ve got a sweet deal going.”

  “The second mate was ready to move up, but couldn’t because I was in the way,” Zoya said.

 
“I wouldn’t be able to make chief without bumping Willoby, and we don’t have a job to give him. He’s a great guy and an amazing officer. I couldn’t do that to him, the ship, or the company. When Chief Stevens suggested she could help me back at Dark Knight, I jumped on it. The only catch was we had to come to Port Newmar. We got a can coming this way and here we are.” She shook her head. “I never suspected she’d actually be the one to give me the rank.”

  “She works in mysterious ways,” I said. “If she ever shows up on my decks, the only thing I can count on is life is about to get interesting.”

  “You know that’s a curse, right?” Zoya asked.

  “First hand,” I said, toasting her with my coffee up. “First hand.”

  She laughed and even Pip got in a little chuckle. It hardly sounded strained at all.

  Chapter 46

  Newmar Orbital: 2376, May 19

  We signed the necessary paperwork aboard the ship. Pip booked a suite at the Newmar Zenith for Natalya and Zoya so we could all have access to the ship during the transition. Al and the chief took a couple of days to pack up while Natalya and Zoya got familiar with the crew. Zoya stood portside watches with Al, eating on the mess deck and generally getting a feel for the ship. Natalya and the chief fell into what looked like an easy working relationship, reminding me they’d worked together before.

  The crew seemed to take to the new faces readily enough. After a few double-takes, I noticed a lot of smiles in the passageways. I took that as a good sign.

  As we came to the end of our two-week layover, I called a meeting in the wardroom. It felt a little funny to have Al and the chief at the foot of the table while the new people stood to the left and right of me. I took a pull off my coffee cup and glanced at Pip. His earlier spasms seemed to have subsided for the most part. I still caught him staring at Ms. Usoko once in a while. I couldn’t blame him, but I hoped it would all work out.

  Ms. Fortuner slid into the wardroom and I took my seat. Everyone followed suit.