Mutineer

by Sutherland, J. A.

  The four of them were sharing a table littered with bottles and plates. All but Ledyard had a girl seated in his lap and they appeared quite friendly. So, this is what they do all day instead of taking care of the men? Alexis’ frustration with the conditions the crew had been living in before she’d spoken to Commodore Balestra flared again and added to her rage. She stopped short of their table and stared at them. It took a moment for them to notice her.

  “Carew?” Bushby asked. “Didn’t expect to ever see you again.”

  Canion laughed. “Did you finally give parole and come to join us?”

  “Ledyard’s lap is free, if you have,” Timpson said. “You’re just his size.”

  Ledyard flushed, but laughed along with the others.

  As Alexis struggled to find the words to express what she was feeling, Delaine stepped past her and held a hand out to the girl in Timpson’s lap. “Mademoiselle, s'il vous plaît, vous voulez aucune partie de ce.”

  The girl looked puzzled, but she stood and Delaine drew her aside. Timpson glared at him.

  “My messages,” Alexis finally managed to say, staring at Timpson.

  “What?”

  “My messages. All of them? How could you?”

  Timpson looked confused, then he threw his head back and laughed. “I’d forgotten about that! What? Did the Frogs tell you, I suppose?”

  Alexis stepped closer to him.

  “Have you still been writing to them, Carew? It’ll make a nice bit of reading for them, if they ever go through. Especially that Philip fellow.”

  Ledyard piped up, making his shrill voice even higher. “‘Oh, Philip, I miss you so much. You are my only friend and the boys here are ever so mean to me.’”

  The four laughed again.

  Alexis struck out, her open palm connected with Timpson’s cheek in a resounding crack that echoed through the cafe. Timpson’s head rocked to the side and the laughter stopped.

  “Damn you!” he yelled. “You can’t—”

  Crack.

  “You are filth,” she said coldly into the silent cafe. Everything the four had done overcoming her. Her isolation, their snide remarks, stealing her stores, their cruelty to the men, it all overwhelmed her. “Thieves and bullies, the lot of you!”

  Timpson stood and glared at her. “Damn you, Carew! If you were a man—”

  Alexis shoved him in the chest with both hands. “What would you do? Call me out?” She shoved him again and he staggered back, toppling his chair. “Do it!”

  “Can’t and you well know it!”

  “Why? Because we’re officers?” Rage filled her and, though she hadn’t known what she wanted when she started into town, she was certain now that she wanted to kill Timpson. She wanted him to challenge her, despite the Navy’s ban on dueling, and she wanted to see him fall.

  Not for what he’d done to her, that had been cruel, but at least she’d known she wasn’t receiving her messages. No, what burned in her was the knowledge of her grandfather’s worry and what Philip and the others must have thought. Still thought. Receiving no answer at all, though they’d known she must have received theirs.

  “Look around you, Timpson,” she said. “We’re not aboard ship — we’re captured. Do you think the Hanoverse will care? Us dueling would be great sport for them!” She shoved him again. If he wouldn’t call her out, then at least he could fight back. “Fight me, damn your eyes!”

  “The Navy—”

  “Will give not a fig that one less midshipman comes back after the war!”

  She stepped back from him and looked around the cafe. The town residents had all stood and moved away from the table of midshipmen, staring on in fascination. All but the girls who’d been sitting with them. The two with Bushby and Canion were still on their laps, frozen and staring at Alexis along with everyone else. Delaine was whispering into the third girl’s ear and she was staring at Timpson, her eyes narrowed and her mouth set in a firm line.

  Alexis looked back to Timpson. “I name you a thief and a coward, Penn Timpson. What will you do about it?” She waited as Timpson straightened his jacket and looked away from her, jaw clenched but saying nothing. “I thought as much.” She spat at his feet, turned, and left the cafe.

  She was a hundred meters from the cafe when Delaine caught up with her. She gripped her hands together to stop them shaking, shocked at how viscerally disappointed she was that Timpson had not, in fact, called her out.

  The rage she’d been feeling in the cafe was very like what she’d felt when she’d shot Horsfall. Then, and after, she’d told herself that it was necessary, that it was the only way to ensure the cooperation of the other pirates. Now, though, she had to admit that a part of her had looked at the harm he’d done to her crew and was glad for the excuse to kill him. The same part that had just tried to goad Timpson into challenging her. She clutched her suddenly roiling stomach and stretched her hand out to the wall of a nearby shop to steady herself. What am I? To do these things?

  “Alexis,” Delaine said, grasping her arm. “Are you unwell?”

  “I’m sorry —”

  “Non, do not.” He turned her to look back at the cafe. “But look, there.”

  Hermione’s midshipmen were in a heated conversation with the three girls. As Alexis watched the three girls spun and strode from the cafe, heads up and hair flipping behind them. Canion called something after them, but the girl Delaine had spoken to threw her hand up in a universal gesture of contempt.

  “What did you say to her?” Alexis asked.

  “I gave her no words but your own — and my oath that they were true.” Delaine smiled. “These aspirants, they will be quite lonely in Courboin now, I think.”

  Alexis smiled. That was probably a much more fitting punishment for them than what she’d attempted. What would she have done if Timpson had challenged her?

  “You frightened me, Alexis.”

  Alexis’ heart froze. Had Delaine seen that darkness rising up in her and been put off? Would she lose him too?

  “If he had challenged you … I could not bear to see you harmed.”

  Alexis laughed, the sound a little shrill to her ears. Was that what he was frightened of? She’d trained with the marines aboard Merlin and Hermione for almost a year. Though she was nowhere near as skilled as they, the other midshipman barely bothered themselves to practice the minimum required.

  “No fear there, Delaine,” she said. “If ever I step onto the field with the likes of Penn Timpson, it won’t be me left lying on the grass.”

  He took her hand and placed it on his arm to escort her back to the prison. “There is steel in you, ma chatte.”

  There’s something in me … I only wish I knew what.

  * * * * *

  Alexis closed her eyes and settled back against Delaine. They were sitting beneath a tree on a hillside some distance outside of town. In the far distance, she could hear the massive harvesters working the export fields. Nearer, the voices of those from the farms and town working their own fields by hand. The sun was very warm, but the shade of the tree and the occasional breeze made a pleasant contrast, and that breeze brought the scent of cut grain along with the workers’ voices. For a moment, she could almost believe that she was home on Dalthus, the sounds and smells of harvest time were so familiar.

  She reached for the remainders of the picnic lunch Delaine had brought for them and found the grapes, taking one and holding it over her shoulder for him. The feel of his lips on her fingertips made her shiver and flush. She giggled suddenly and covered her mouth with her hand.

  “What amuses you so, mon lapin?”

  She smiled and put her head back to rest against his chest. “Only that this is not at all what I should have imagined a foreign prison to be like.”

  She’d expected him to laugh, but felt him tense instead and she opened her eyes. The sky was blue and half full of soft, white clouds. The fields were full and prosperous. It was an idyllic sight and a perfect day, but she was
suddenly worried. “What is it, Delaine?”

  “I had thought to speak of it much later, but …” He took a deep breath. “I would ask that you make the parole to my commodore, Alexis.”

  Alexis felt a chill run through her. If Delaine was calling her by name instead of his duck or his hen or — What was that last one? His rabbit? No, if her name was all he could come up with then it was a serious thing indeed. “Why? After all this time?”

  “I will be leaving soon. My commodore, she has received orders to meet a fleet of le Hanovre.”

  Alexis’ heart fell. She’d known it would happen someday. He had a ship and the ship would have to sail somewhere at some time. She’d miss him terribly, though. She raised her hand to his cheek. “I’ll be all right with the lads, Delaine. Better there than in town with the others, I suspect.”

  “Non, you do not understand. This fleet will come and le Hanovre will … the officers with the parole, Alexis, they will be allowed to stay, but your men will go. It has happened before elsewhere. Not always, but … I would not take this chance with you.”

  She sat up and turned to face him. “Go? Where will they be taken?”

  “Deeper into Hanovre. The war is hard and there are few to do the work. I have heard it is … difficult in these places.”

  A chill went through her. “You mean some kind of work camp? They can’t do that!” It was expressly against the laws of war to force captured spacers to work for the enemy.

  “Le Hanovre, I do not think they care.”

  “You have to stop them!”

  “Alexis, I will not be here. My commodore will not be here. We are to sail — all of our ships, all of our men — to meet this fleet and le Hanovre amiral, the admiral. Where he will send us, I do not know.” He lowered one hand to the grass and caressed it, seemingly unaware of the gesture. “Le Hanovre, with the war, I think they no longer trust us beneath stars that were once Français.”

  “Sail to meet them? All of you?” she asked, not understanding. “Even the guards?”

  Delaine nodded. “I do not think this admiral knows of your men yet, or he would not have ordered it so.” He shrugged. “But the orders are clear and my commodore, she must obey. All ships of the fleet, all men of the fleet, will sail and meet this admiral. Men from the town will guard you from tonight, until the admiral arrives.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Oui.” He looked down. “I am sorry. The orders, they only came this morning. As it is, I take time from my own ship, my Bélier, to see you once more.”

  Alexis raised her hands to her mouth, trying to take in these changes. He was leaving so soon and what would this new admiral really do with her and her lads?

  “You see, Alexis, yes? You must give the parole now, before —”

  She pressed her fingers to his lips, silencing him. “No, Delaine. Non.” She smiled. “You must go with your ship and I must stay with my lads. We can do no other.” She leaned forward to kiss him, sorrow at being parted from him warring with excitement at an idea that was just forming.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Remember what I told you,” Alexis whispered to Lain and Moberly.

  “Aye, sir,” Moberly said. “We’ll take care.”

  “See that you do. They’re simply men from the town, set to a task they never asked for. I don’t want them injured if it can be avoided.”

  “My lads will see to it, sir,” he said. “Take ‘em down gentle like.”

  “And you’ve told them the words I gave you?”

  “Aye, sir,” Moberly said, nodding. “Hands up and throw down yer gun, all Frenchified. Couple of the lads had trouble wrapping their tongues around it, but the meaning’ll come through, I think.”

  Alexis nodded, though not very confident. My mangled guesses at the words and their thick tongues, we’ll be lucky to get by without asking the guards to the summer dance. “Good then. Go see to it. We’ll give it an hour past dark and then move. Lain, do you have the man I asked for?”

  “I do, sir. Collison’s the man you want. Pinched fer stealing aircars on Etal and says he can pilot anything and steal most.”

  “Good,” Alexis said.

  She stood and pulled the blanket of her little compartment aside for them to leave. She laid back down on her cot to wait, wondering if this was the right thing to do. If Delaine hadn’t told her the men would be transferred, she likely wouldn’t even attempt it. Escape depended on too many variables. She had confidence that her men would be able to overpower the guards, but she also had to be right that the antigrav hauler she’d seen in the fields would return early in the morning, before dawn. That was the norm on Dalthus, but she was making a huge gamble that it would be the same on Giron.

  Delaine had to be telling the truth that the entire fleet had sailed to meet this new admiral. A single warship in orbit would put paid to any chance they had. At the same time, there had to be at least one merchantman in-system, and at least one of its boats landed at the port. It would be rather embarrassing to break out of prison, steal a hauler, and rush over two thousand kilometers to the port … only to be left standing on an empty landing field when the Hanoverese fleet arrived.

  Alexis closed her eyes, hoping to nap, but she still had a decision to make about the night’s plans. What to do about the officers in town? Entering the town to retrieve them would increase the risk to the entire group. And did she really want to? Williard, perhaps, was worth saving, but there was no doubt New London and the Fleet would be far better off to never see the likes of Neals again.

  Part of her longed to leave the midshipmen behind, but that was a vengeful, spiteful part of her. In the end, she couldn’t predict the Hanoverese reaction when they arrived and found she and the crew had escaped — would they honor the officers’ paroles, or would they punish them? That was what decided her — no matter her feelings about Neals, she couldn’t take the risk they’d suffer for her actions and decisions.

  She managed to sleep fitfully, but wasn’t at all rested when a spacer lightly shook her shoulder and whispered, “It’s time, sir.” In the dark and with his voice so low, Alexis couldn’t tell who it was. She rolled off the cot and put her boots on, having slept in her uniform.

  “Sergeant Moberly said as you’re to wait here ‘til it’s over, sir, if it’s all right with you. Be more’n enough confusion out there in a bit.”

  “Yes, Scholer,” she said, recognizing him now. “At least until it starts.”

  “That’s not what Sergeant Moberly said —”

  Somewhere in the darkness there was a muffled clang followed by a shout and then more shouting. Alexis ripped the curtain aside and strode out onto the warehouse floor. The lights came on, blindingly bright after the darkness, and Alexis could see that the struggle, at least inside, was over already. Each of the guards, even the ones walking the upper catwalk, was down on the floor, three or four marines and spacers surrounding them.

  Within a few minutes, Moberly came in from outside, leading a file of marines, spacers, and chastened-looking French guards. “Lock ‘em in the office, lads,” he said, “and make sure they’ve no weapons or coms on them.” He crossed to Alexis. “All taken, sir,” he said, “and naught more than a bump or bruise to show for it.”

  Alexis reached out and grasped his forearm. “Thank you, Moberly,” she said. “I’m afraid I have something more to ask of you, though.”

  “Sir?”

  “While Lain’s off to retrieve the hauler, I need a small group to come with me to bring back Captain Neals and the others.”

  Moberly paused. “Is that wise, sir?”

  Alexis saw the same look of doubt on Scholer’s face, as well as those of the spacer’s nearby. She could understand, even felt the same way herself. Entering the town to retrieve Neals and the others was an additional risk — both from being discovered in the town and from the officers themselves. There was no way of predicting how Neals would react. “Wise or not, it is what we will do, sergeant. I’ll hav
e no one from Hermione left behind. No one.”

  “Aye, sir.” His brow furrowed. “Four marines, do you think? So’s not to be too many tramping through the town?”

  Alexis nodded. “That will do nicely.” She saw Lain approaching with another spacer.

  “Collison’s ready to go, sir,” he said.

  “Are you certain you can start a Hanoverese hauler, Collison?” Alexis asked. “And fly it?”

  Collison grinned. “Never seen nothing I couldn’t steal and fly, sir.” His grin grew wider. “It’s keeping it too long that got me pinched.”

  “Well, that won’t be an issue this time,” she assured him. “Once we’re at the port we’ll leave the hauler behind and there’ll be something new for you to steal for us.”

  Collison laughed. “Always suspected the Navy was a good fit for me.”

  “It’s quite possible it won’t be locked at all,” she said, “if they treat it as we did on Dalthus. There’s little point in stealing something everyone on the planet can recognize.”

  Collison looked vaguely offended at the prospect of someone not locking their vehicle.

  Alexis clasped him on the shoulder. “We’re all counting on you, Collison. Get that hauler back here instanter.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  She watched Collison walk away with Lain to join the spacers and marines who were going after the hauler. “You picked steady men to go with them?”

  “Aye sir,” Moberly said. “And Lain chose a man or two who knows his way about sneaking in the dark.”

  Alexis nodded. The Navy’s penchant for sweeping the gaols for crew was coming in disturbingly handy. “I’ll want only marines with us when we go to town, Moberly,” she said. “I think it best the captain not see any of the spacers until absolutely necessary.”

  “And them not see him, sir? The lads’ll not be happy to see him and the others.”

  “He’s still the captain, Moberly.” She saw that he looked uncertain. “What is it?”