The room was very silent. And then suddenly, the Captain started laughing. The other Citizens around the table started chuckling and it was infectious. I found myself with a big stupid grin on my face and even noticed the slight upturn at the edges of the lieutenant’s mouth.
“Well Lieutenant, I’ll have to give you that one. I’m assuming that the pirates somehow infiltrated the station and kicked you out?”
“Yes, when the last rotation of my regular crew arrived they weren’t alone. I’m afraid to say I didn’t realize it until it was too late. I had been in my quarters and before I knew anything was wrong they already had the control room. It was all I could do to grab my remote interface, an oxygen canister and some heavy weather gear, and a rifle. I managed to launch an emergency drone but didn’t have time to program it. When they started systematically searching the station I had nowhere left to hide except for outside.”
“You purposely went outside?” Sergio blurted.
“Yes, I felt it was my only remaining option.”
“But the reports say no one can survive on the surface of this moon,” I blurted out.
“That’s correct,” she said turning her gaze to me. “But I was only out there for three days and I was able to strip some equipment of its insulation and find a crevice in the rocks that was somewhat close to a volcanic vent. Because I could monitor what was going on in the station I managed to sneak back in a couple of times and collect some extra oxygen, but until you showed up there were too many of them for me to retake the station.”
I was starting to realize just how incredibly resourceful this woman was. Maybe I should say girl because I think she was about my age, but she had experienced more and endured more than I ever had… and then she’d even managed to turn the tables on some pirates and save our lives. This wasn’t your average long lashed Citizen.
“And that’s more or less when you decided not to shoot me,” the Captain said rather dryly.
“I had spent three days in subzero temperatures, Captain. My aim was a little more shaky than usual. All conquering of personal demons aside, you’ll never really know who I was aiming for,” she said with the first true smile I’d ever seen from her.
The Captain seem amused by this. “So what now?” he asked.
“Yes, what now? I had a lot of time to think when I was huddled between those rocks. I don’t suppose I could talk you into dropping me off on some obscure planet? Preferably one with a little bit better climate. I could just blend into the local population and never bother you again.”
“You’re a Citizen,” the Captain said. “And you look like a Citizen. I think it would be fairly difficult for you to blend in.”
“The depilatory will wear off in a few years and if I keep moving around eventually I’ll find a way to lose myself. Come on Captain, won’t you allow even one girl to escape the Acamar curse?” she said rather challengingly.
“But what about the station? Your responsibilities to the Empire?” I just couldn’t keep myself from jumping into the conversation.
She didn’t seem to take offense to my words, she simply said, “What would’ve happened if I’d died in those rocks? I think the Empire will survive.”
“Indeed it will,” said the Captain. But I don’t think your service to her has ended, Lieutenant.”
All eyes were now on the Captain and Lieutenant Monica Stiles spoke coldly, “So it’s going to be prison then. You’re going to protect the Acamar name to the end.”
“Yes, and no. It’s not really a prison although the Citizens and crew might be confused for inmates… No, the Halcyon has an opening for a First Officer. I want you to fill it.”
Chapter ten
LEUTENANT MONICA STILES
A New First Officer
The truth was that the Lieutenant hadn’t recognized Captain Acamar. Oh, the uniform was garish and he was obviously someone who thought himself important; but she hadn’t realized he was Eridanus’ brother.
If she had she might really have shot him.
As it was, her aim had been true despite the hard physical conditions she’d had to endure.
When she finally did understand who the Captain was, that he was an Imperial son, she felt strangely… Overjoyed. It’s not that she was really a vengeful person, but when your dreams of exacting retribution wake you almost every night it becomes hard to maintain your perspective.
The other emotion she felt was fear. Not for her own safety, but fear of what she might let herself become now that those dreams were within reach of being acted upon.
ΔΔΔ
What a strange ship, she thought to herself as she was sitting around the conference table.
The Citizens were an eclectic group. The Captain had changed into his day uniform which made him only slightly better dressed than many of the others. The lack of formality around the table was… odd.
The fact that she’d been told this session wouldn’t be recorded had astounded her.
Not that she believed it, but what choice did she really have?
She couldn’t help but reflect upon the events that brought her to this. Not so much the happy but terribly naïve time when she truly thought she was in love and had been loved – that was still too painful to think about – but what still brought a smile to her lips was what she’d done after she’d realized the cold truth.
Unlike many of the other Citizens around her she had always treated the people that served the royal family with respect. They might be only residents of the Empire but they were people just the same. Apparently that hadn’t gone unappreciated.
She’d thought long and hard about how she’d respond to being used and callously dumped by Eridanus… It had all started as just minor gossip. The prince had moved her into his summer estate on Centennial III. When she had been told she had three hours to pack and vacate the premises she had, in her anger, commented to some of the staff that at least she would now be free to find someone with a normal size penis, that it was tough having to continually pretend to be satisfied with his two-minute lovemaking sessions.
Comments like that were uncharacteristic of her and, she realized, totally beneath her. But she had been amazed by the reactions of staff. By the time the shuttle arrived to take her away even the gardener was hugging her and whispering her into her ear that she would be better off to go find a real man.
That had given her the idea.
She’d spent the next couple weeks visiting the estates of the Prince’s friends and associates. She wasn’t an official visitor, of course. But the Prince led a very social life and she was of course known to their household staffs. It was a simple matter to run into them as if by accident and casually mention her relief.
She was not so naïve as to think that they all believed her implicitly, but gossip in the Imperial Court is irresistible – and besides, most of them liked her better than the Prince anyway.
The coup de grace hadn’t been the Impotency Expert that had shown up at the palace honestly thinking he had an appointment with the Prince, but rather the penis enlargement equipment deliveries that had of course been intercepted by each of his many personal security teams.
The rumors had spread like wildfire and everyone at court had quickly learned of the Prince’s ‘problem.’ The Prince himself had held no clue until his father the Emperor had pulled him aside and asked him about it.
There were no photos or descriptions of the expression on the Prince’s face when the realization finally struck him, but Monica had no trouble seeing it in her mind… over and over again.
ΔΔΔ
“Okay, the first thing we need to know Lieutenant is who are you and how did you end up posted to IS 417?” One of the Citizens asked her.
Did they think she was stupid? The first officer she’d laid eyes on in the months since being assigned here was the brother to the Prince and they expected her to believe it was a coincidence?
Yet, what was the purpose of denying it? There was something
about the way the Ensign had appealed to her that made her want to believe them.
So she answered their questions the best she could. Of course, she didn’t tell them everything. There were things she had learned from freighter captains that she would keep very much to herself, thank you. She had at first been surprised to find that people out here on the fringe weren’t as crazy about the Empire as the circles she’d been immersed in, but after thinking it through it made perfect sense.
There wasn’t any reason, however, to tell the Captain and let it get back to the Empire.
There also wasn’t any reason for anyone to know the true depth of her degradation. The fact that she’d been raped by a group of raiders posing as a freighter crew, a crew that she’d naïvely welcomed to the station, wasn’t anybody’s business but her own. She’d learned to take precautions. Life was teaching her the hard way not to be naïve, but it was teaching her.
She’d learned to keep a cool exterior but inside she was still struggling to keep up with the turn of events. The Halcyon was an anomaly. These people certainly weren’t your typical Citizens. They reminded her more of the tough hunters and individualists from the mountains of her home planet. All except for the Captain, of course.
Unlike his brother he certainly didn’t take himself too seriously. As a matter of fact, Monica wasn’t sure if the Captain took anything seriously at all. She had fully expected him to be wearing his peacock attire aboard ship just as he had on the station below.
That was the only thing that kept her from totally dismissing him as another spoiled dilettante, that and the way the other Citizens deferred to him.
It wasn’t the formal respect required by military protocol; it was more like how you would treat your older brother or… the unstated deference you would give the member of a hunting party that was most familiar with the territory.
There were other things she couldn’t quite put her finger on but she knew immediately that there was more here than met the eye. The only Citizen that was out of place was the Ensign. By his rigid posture and self-control she figured him to be still relatively fresh from The Academy. And when he’d asked her to open up to them, there’d been a certain naiveté that in any other circumstance would have caused her to smile.
So she really didn’t know what to make of this ship and she certainly didn’t know what to make of the Captain, but the only possible thing he could’ve said to shake her up even more was asking her to join them.
ΔΔΔ
“You’re the insane brother, aren’t you?”
The Captain had asked her to stay behind after dismissing everyone else from the conference room.
“Every royal family has one. Usually they lock him in a dungeon or hide him from the public, but I’ve never been one to claim the Acamars are very smart,” she finished.
She’d passed the point of caring what happened to her. Why bother to control yourself when you’re already inside an insane asylum?
“I don’t think so, but I’m sure there are a lot of people that would take your side on that issue,” he said abstractedly.
“Now, do you want to tell me what you’re really after? Haven’t I been the Acamar’s play toy for long enough? Why don’t you just let me go?”
“How about this,” the Captain said. “If you still feel that way in three months we’ll find a nice obscure planet to drop you off on. You can choose the planet.”
She was watching him closely but he seemed totally relaxed, lucid, and even sane.
“Do you really expect me to believe that?”
He just shrugged.
“Okay let me rephrase, why would you do that?”
“Yes, that’s a much better question and one that I can answer. I need a First Officer and you have certain traits that I think would come in handy.”
Her eyes narrowed and she said, “Your brother thought I had certain traits too but I can promise you that’s not going to happen here.”
“Oh get over yourself, please. I don’t want you for a lover; you have other traits that are far more important to me.”
Monica mulled over his response and then took the bait.
“Like what, exactly.”
“Like the fact that I don’t have to worry about you reporting to the Empire behind my back,” he responded casually.
That brought her up short. It certainly wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting.
“Exactly what is it that you’re worried someone would report?”
“Oh, this and that. Nothing dishonorable I assure you. Unless, of course, you think the only things that can possibly be honorable are those that the Empire tells us.”
She sighed and made a decision; a delayed escape was better than no escape. “I’ll serve as your First Officer for three months, but only if you answer three questions and except one condition. Otherwise, no deal.”
Now it was the captain’s turn to set back and mull things over. Apparently coming to his own decision he said, “One additional proviso… I have a question of my own that you’ll need to answer honestly.”
She held his gaze and nodded.
He waved his hand and said politely, “You first.”
“Are you in any way acting as a pirate and stealing what doesn’t belong to you?”
“No.”
“Are you killing or injuring innocent people in your pursuit of whatever it is you do out here?”
“No.”
She’d picked the number of questions randomly, never expecting him to agree… Now she needed to make the last one count.
“When it’s all said and done will I be proud that I served as a First Officer on the Halcyon?”
“Yes, I truly believe so.”
While she was contemplating his answer he said, “And your condition?”
“That you know and believe that if you’re lying to me I will kill you.”
Since it was now his turn she held up her hand inviting the question…
His gaze turned intense and he stared into her eyes, “Is my brother really impotent?”
Chapter eleven
ENSIGN JACOBY NICOLAY
I’d Thought I Was the Only One
I was outraged.
What the Captain was suggesting was antithetical to Imperial doctrine. This is a Citizen that had been disgraced, was abandoning her post, and had an openly stated desire for revenge against the Imperial Family, yet our Captain wanted to keep her around?
No, not just keep her around. He was so infatuated with her that he wanted to promote her. He wanted to give her the second highest authority on the ship! This was the height of insanity.
And yet… I found myself happy that she wouldn’t be leaving…
ΔΔΔ
My happiness soon turned into anguish.
It was only a few days later when I realized that the only participant not to leave the Captain’s dinner party immediately after dessert was Monica.
All of the Citizens thought of her as Monica now. It’d been the Captain that had started using her first name and because she hadn’t bothered to correct him the rest of the Citizens followed suit. It’s not that she seemed to enjoy it, but since that’s how all the Citizens treated each other I assume she just wanted to fit in.
Strangely enough, her acrid banter with the Captain didn’t seem to change much. Even after she started making her semiregular overnight stays in the Captain’s cabin they were constantly sniping at each other. It never crossed the line but I could never figure out if it was a façade designed to fool the rest of us or some kind of game only they knew the rules too.
At any rate the ship started falling into a normal routine and I was faced with a different dilemma.
I knew the Admiral would be expecting a report. He’d instructed me on how to go about it and I didn’t think I could put it off much longer. But what did I want to say?
On the one hand, I had no problem reporting all the violations of protocol and the flaunting of authority. Fleet Regulations we
re being broken on an hourly basis. The Captain was obviously not fit for command, tended to take insane risks, and didn’t run anything even close to a tight ship.
I had to wonder, however, what would be the result of my report? Would the Captain have his command taken away? It might be the safest thing for him, but what would happen to the Citizens and crew? I was convinced that many of them were no less crazy than the Captain, but they didn’t have his Imperial safety net. Their careers would be over. I certainly knew that disgraced Imperial Citizens didn’t have a good life, just ask my dad.
My Friend the Emperor Page 10