by Zen DiPietro
“What am I going to do? Spend a few weeks banging my head on the bulkhead? At least this place is easy living, and they’re comping me my room and unlimited access to the mess hall.”
“That’s a relief.”
Jess snorted. “The PAC is lucky they decided to do that. If they’d charged me to be stranded out here in the middle of nowhere, this place would have come down with a bad case of the gremlins.”
“What do you mean?”
Jess leaned against the bulkhead. “Old mechanic trick. If the employer caused problems, they’d find themselves facing a lot of inexplicable failures and false alarms. There used to be ghost stories about little critters that could infest places and cause such problems. But it was just the engineers and mechanics.”
Fallon laughed.
“Never piss off the people who take care of your hardware.”
“It’s a good rule to live by,” Fallon said.
“So what brings you by?” Jess asked. “Missing the old days before all these people arrived?”
“Just thought I’d see how you were doing, since we haven’t been crossing paths. Why, do you dislike the station’s crew?”
She shrugged. “They’re like any other. Mostly fine, with some notable exceptions. That’s just people anywhere.”
“Which notable exceptions?” Fallon asked.
Jess’s gaze sharpened. “What are you digging for?”
“Nothing really,” Fallon said casually. “I just figured if anyone had the gossip from around here, it would be you. The real stuff, though, not the silly junk about who might be hooking up with who.”
“Hm, true, I do have a way of knowing things. But not here, really. Not since all the officers arrived.”
“What about those of you from the skeleton crew?” Fallon asked. “Have any of them had any issues?”
Jess pressed her lips together, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Katheryn’s experiencing a little hazing. Nothing to worry about, just some minor pranks from the mid-level command officers as they test her mettle.”
“She didn’t mention that,” Fallon said. “You’re sure it’s nothing to be concerned about? She’s just paying her dues?”
“Yeah. Just messing with her a bit. Telling her the captain’s in the corridor and wants to see her when he’s not, that kind of thing.”
“Okay,” Fallon said. “What else?”
Jess hesitated.
“What?” Fallon pressed.
“This might be the gossip type of thing, but it might be relevant, too.” She shrugged. “Whatever. The first officer is pregnant.”
“Commander Eidul’s expecting a baby?” Fallon blinked in surprise. She’d been prepared for Jess to say a lot of things, but that news took her entirely by surprise.
“Yep. Experiencing a lot of health issues, too, but since the father doesn’t know, she doesn’t want the crew to know yet either. She wants to tell him in person, apparently. I imagine there have been whispers about her.”
“Yes,” Fallon admitted. “Though I don’t think a pregnancy was a popular theory. It’s good to know that it’s a personal issue and not something else.”
No wonder Captain Lydecker hadn’t informed the rest of the crew about the reason for Torra Eidel’s odd job performance. He was being discreet.
“Like favoritism?” Jess asked.
“Exactly. How did you find out about the first officer?”
Jess smiled. “People at the lower rungs talk. I have a friend who’s a medical tech. Don’t ask me who, though. I won’t tell.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Speaking of friends, have you heard anything from Priestley? I’m curious how he’s doing with his new assignment.”
“The job’s fine,” Jess said. “But on the three or four occasions he’s crossed paths with the captain, the captain has had something negative to say to him. His uniform was too dirty, or he was making too much noise, or something like that. Things that would be no big deal if they were true, but they weren’t.”
“Hm.” Fallon folded her hands in her lap. “Any idea why the captain would dislike him?”
“No. He’s a quiet kid who gets his job done. He does tend to get nervous around authority figures, so maybe he just gets edgy when the captain’s around, and the captain notices that he seems shifty.”
“Maybe.” Fallon hoped it was that simple. “And Jacen?”
“That kid would be popular on a deserted planet. He’s got all the charm to get along on a place like this. He’s been hanging out with a cute ensign, but you said you didn’t want to hear about that kind of thing.”
Fallon smiled. “Yeah, it’s not really my business if it’s unrelated to station operations in any way.”
“Ah well,” Jess gave her a playful smile. “It’s just a fling anyway. Truth be told, I’m a little jealous. Wouldn’t mind a bit of a fling myself, but of course, I’m too old for most of the people here.”
“So what are you keeping busy with?” Fallon asked. “I hope you’re not bored.”
“Nah. I’m still taking the vacation I intended to have. I’m just doing it in a different way. I thought about taking a transport over to Bennaris, but I’d have to pay living expenses there. So I read. I watch holo-vids. I sleep as much as I want and as long as I like. Well,” she amended, “outside of any bloody drills.”
There was really no reason Jess should have to participate in drills, since she wasn’t remaining on the station.
“Tell you what,” Fallon said. “For the rest of the drills, how about you lock yourself in your quarters? I’ll omit it from life sign reads, if there are any. I’ll make it so your quarters and comport won’t register the drills. So if the alarm lights flare in here, it’s for real, and you’d better be sure to haul ass out of there.”
“You’d do that?” Jess perked up. “Wow, that would be great. I’ll just buy some earplugs for when I’m working, and I’ll be set. Thanks.”
“Good.” Fallon checked the time. “I should get going. I wanted to talk to Jacen before Priestley gets off his shift, then see him immediately after. But if there’s anything I can do for you, or anything you think I should know, be sure to contact me, okay? And let’s get together for a meal in the next few days. We’ll make the guys come with us, too.”
“I like it. Thanks for stopping by, Emiko. It was really nice of you to bother with me.”
Fallon paused at the doorway, surprised. “You’re a valuable worker and person, Jess. People in uniforms aren’t the only ones who are worth knowing.”
She ducked out. Jacen’s quarters were in the same section, so she went there next.
“No offense,” Jacen said, “but I can’t wait to leave here.”
“Really?” Fallon asked. “I heard there was a certain ensign you were making the most of your time here with.”
He laughed. “Yeah, well, you know. It’s not like it’s serious. But what is serious is my need for some sunshine and fresh air. I never realized how much I enjoy being planetbound.”
Jacen was easy to talk to, and a half hour slipped by in no time. He tended to hang out with rookie officers, and didn’t have any info he thought he should share with her.
“I’m nobody, so nobody tells me anything,” he said with a chuckle.
He hadn’t heard anything about Priestley, but fortunately he had met up with him regularly.
At least Priestley had one friend on board. For the time being, anyway.
“I’ll come see you off tomorrow, just so you can feel good about someone waving as you leave,” she promised before hurrying to catch Priestley coming off his work shift.
As a resident of the station, albeit on the lowest end of the contract workers, he had quarters in a crew section.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t in his quarters. She’d checked the schedule, and he wasn’t on duty. She’d wanted to drop in on him unexpectedly to avoid giving him the chance to put her off. She had a feeling he would, if he was experiencing difficulties. It wa
s just a sense she had, but her understanding of him indicated that he would turn inward when he was having difficulties.
Since she didn’t have time to search the station for him, she activated her comport. “Priestley, this is Emiko. I’m at your quarters. Do you have a few minutes? I need to talk to you. I can come to wherever you are.”
A few moments later, he answered. “I’m in the gym. I can come meet you.”
He sounded very slightly out of breath.
“I don’t want to cut your exercise short. I’ll come run with you. Unless you were almost done.”
“No, just started. But I can do it later.”
“And deprive me of a run?” she asked. “No way. I’ll be there in ten minutes, so don’t wear yourself out before I get there.”
She immediately closed the channel to prevent him from arguing. Talking to him while doing some activity would probably be more comfortable for him than sitting face to face anyway.
Rather than drop by her quarters for her own workout gear, she’d change in the locker room and use some basic PAC standard issue that the station kept available for convenience.
She hurried to the gym. She didn’t want to give Priestley time to psyche himself out and quit running.
As she went, she noticed a few looks of concern as people saw her. They probably thought she was on her way to initiate a drill.
She laughed quietly to herself. It was good that they were on alert. They needed to stay that way.
In record time, she arrived, changed, and charged up the stairs to join Priestley on the running track that ran the perimeter of the gym’s walls, above the rest of the space.
“Hey,” she said as she caught up to him.
“Hey,” he echoed.
“How’s it going under the new command? Lots of adjustments, right?”
“It’s fine,” he said.
She decided to cut right to the point. “I’ve heard you might be experiencing some difficulties with command. Lydecker in particular. Is that true?”
His pace suddenly slowed.
She sensed him internally arguing with himself. As a member of this crew, even as a contractor, his loyalty belonged with the captain. On the other hand, he knew her first, and had worked under her, too. Plus, they’d formed something of a rapport.
She jogged along, giving him time to decide what he wanted to say.
“I just have a lot to learn,” he said. “I’m lacking. But I’ll improve.”
She hadn’t ever found him lacking in anything except confidence and social skills. “What do you mean by lacking?”
His pace slowed again. Now they were barely going along at more than a fast walk.
“I’ve met the captain exactly twice. Both times, he took issue with me. It was embarrassing.”
Though he said nothing more, she had a feeling that those interactions had been a lot more bothersome to him than he let on.
“I’m here to help, Priestley. I need to know the details.”
He let out a sigh, slowing to a walk. “The first time I met him, I had just crawled out of the air containment system. As you probably know, it gets filthy in there. I was dirty. Lydecker took one look at me and said, ‘Is this an Atalan refugee or a member of my crew?”
His cheeks flamed red.
“I’m guessing he didn’t say it in a joking tone,” Fallon said. Even if he had, it was a cruel thing to say. There were several Atalans on board. The civil war on their planet had been going on for quite some time and showed no signs of ending anytime soon.
“No,” Priestley answered.
“And the second time you met him?”
Priestley slowed to a stop and leaned back against the railing that looked out over the gym. “He was, as he usually is, flanked by his top three officers. I was helping unload a transport ship. The hover cart I was using had a power fluctuation and it tipped just enough to cause a box to fall. It made a loud noise and everyone looked at me.”
“And?” Fallon prompted when he fell silent.
His shoulders came up, giving him the look of someone trying to shrink out of view. “Nobody said anything. The captain just…had this look. I felt like he was deciding right then that he was going to find a reason to get rid of me.” He added quickly, “Dismiss me from the station, I mean.”
It could be paranoia. Priestly could be misinterpreting the captain’s expression and body language, since he didn’t know Lydecker well. The man was quite stiff and foreboding.
But since others had noticed, and someone else had alerted Fallon to the situation first, she thought it more likely that Priestley’s interpretation was correct.
“It’s probably just me,” he said. “I’m being too defensive, or I’m just not good enough to be here.”
He didn’t meet her gaze, looking down at his feet.
“I don’t think so,” she said.
He looked up at her.
She continued. “I’ve always found your judgment to be accurate. I trust it. There might be some reason for the friction, but I don’t believe you’re at fault. I’m going to look into it before I leave here, okay?”
His eyebrows rose in surprise. He seemed to be struggling to decide what to say. He settled on, “Why?”
She smiled gently. “Because I take care of my own. That means you, and this station as a whole. You’re a good worker. You’ll be an asset to Asimov. I owe it to you, the station, and Captain Lydecker to make sure you’re able to do your job without stressing out or second-guessing yourself. That will only lead to problems. Plus, if you quit, they’d be losing a hard worker.”
“I can’t quit,” he mumbled.
“Why’s that?” she asked.
He met her gaze. “I have nowhere else to go. I don’t have the money to live on my home planet. I don’t have money to relocate to another planet. One way or another, I need to make this work.”
She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. “Then I’ll help you make that happen.”
He seemed at a loss for words again, and she let her arm fall and stepped back. To free him of the need to speak, she said, “I need to get back to work now, but keep me posted on what’s going on with you, okay? You don’t have to handle this alone.”
He nodded and she turned away.
“Give me a daily report. If you don’t, I’ll come looking for you.” She smiled to make sure the words didn’t come across as threatening, but she meant it. “I won’t be able to leave here with a clear conscience if you’re struggling. So let’s take care of this. I’ll expect to hear from you this evening.”
Before he could respond, she walked quickly away and descended the stairs to the lower level.
She would have preferred a good, hard run, but that wasn’t consistent with her story of needing to get back to work. Instead, she removed the loaner shorts and shirt, dropped them into the processor to get cleaned and disinfected, and put her uniform on.
Back to work. She had a lot to do, and not much time to do it.
“Anything?” Fallon leaned over Minho’s shoulder to look at the voicecom. They’d done what they expected to be their final data grab during one of the last emergency scenarios.
The station’s security staff were running the drills now, and none of it involved the two of them, except for evaluation purposes.
“Lydecker has remained true to his pattern of every fourth day being unusual. I’d hoped to figure out why, but there’s nothing.” Minho frowned at the screen.
“Are we still scheduled to meet with him this afternoon?”
He turned to look at her and she took a step back. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
“I don’t know. Just wondered if we’d gotten bumped to another time due to super important captain stuff.”
“Nope. We’re on target. How did you want to handle the meeting?”
“I was thinking we could give him an overall evaluation of the security team, the improvement in the emergency procedures drills, and kind of do an official han
doff. Like we say we’re available to assist with anything over the next few days, but we think everything’s right on track. And then we can slide in the bit about Priestley somewhere.”
“Ah. Sneaky-style, then.”
“Sure, why not? We’re the covert ops type, right?
“Sure,” he agreed. “I’m sure we can find a place to mention Priestley and press the captain a bit. I have to wonder if Lydecker might be experiencing some subconscious bias.”
“Because Priestley isn’t an officer?”
“Not just that,” Minho said. “He’s got one of the most menial, low-ranking jobs on the station, and he’s a Zerellian from a very poor background. The captain is also Zerellian. I wonder if he has an issue with such a person representing his home planet.”
“Possible,” Fallon said. “A captain should be better than that, though. It’s not like Priestley asked to grow up poor.”
“Everyone has biases. Even captains. No matter how hard we try, our values and expectations are drilled into us, and sometimes it’s the most subconscious stuff that comes out. Hopefully, once we subtly point it out, we can smooth things over for Priestley. Or, in the case that he has actually done something to offend the captain, we can deal with that. Either way, I’ll feel better about leaving if we know he’s situated.”
“I thought the same thing,” she admitted. “It’s not his fault he doesn’t have Jacen’s ease. I know how it feels to have to make an effort. We can’t all be naturally popular, like you.”
He grinned. “Who said it came naturally? For all you know, I was a total outcast as a kid. People might have thrown garbage at me when they passed and called me gutter trash. I might have had some serious trauma, which might have been the impetus for my going to the academy and becoming an officer. Maybe that’s even why I wanted to get into covert ops—so I could wreak havoc on people in general.”
“Is that the case?” she asked.
“No. But you didn’t know that.”
She chuckled. “I really didn’t think so.”
She liked this. The weird moment of chemistry they’d had that one night hadn’t repeated itself. They were just comfortable, fun, and in sync.