Shiver Me Timbers

by Chris Hechtl

“We need a maid for that,” she said as she came out of their bedroom.

  “No, we need you to clean up after yourself. You are here all the time. It isn't hard; you can do it,” he said as he finished up. He said the entire thing without looking up once.

  She stopped and stared at him. “You … don't start with me, Fredrick!” she growled, eyes flashing.

  “Correction, you started it. You didn't even say hi or anything. Just launched in with a complaint,” he said.

  “Well frack you! I'm sorry if I'm not a traditional housewife,” she said scathingly, glaring at him. “Mister high and mighty. You want your dinner ready when you get in, dear?” she asked with an acid black tone of voice.

  “Given that all you are doing is sitting on your ass, bitching, pissing, and moaning, and not to mention drinking, why yes, I'd like a little more of a traditional housewife than that. Is that too much to ask? You refuse to go out and do anything else!”

  “There is nothing to do here!” she snarled, voice rising to a shriek. “Stare at the walls! Wallow in the glory and grandeur of the navy!” she sneered.

  “All, right, you want to have it out now, fine,” he said, glaring at her.

  “What's that supposed to mean?” she asked warily.

  “It means I'm tired of your shit. Yeah, you are angry. I get it. Things didn't come out like you wanted. Welcome to reality!” He threw his hands up in the air. “We don't always get what we want!”

  “And that's why you've been avoiding me? Instead of being here, comforting me?” she sounded angry, hurt, and confused.

  “Comforting you? I tried that, remember?” he demanded. “Nursing your hangovers, listening to your day-in and day-out rants. Putting up with the constant sulks and pouts! Like a petulant spoiled child! I'm sick of it!”

  Her eyes were wide as she stared at him. She took a step backwards when she realized she really had gotten to him. His fur was up, and he was fully bristled, teeth bared.

  “You can't talk to me like that!”

  “Bullshit! I'm tired of it! Tired of the rants, the tantrums, the drinking …,” he waved to the drink nearby and the empty bottles. “And all of it. You can't get what you want so you are acting like a spoiled child!”

  She slapped him. He turned with the slap, then back, brown eyes flashing. She instantly realized that her impulsive action had been a mistake. He flared further, fur rising and screamed in her face, teeth bared. When she flinched away, he slapped the bottle off the end table to smash into the far wall, then turned and threw the couch cushions.

  She huddled up, ooking and making soft sounds, eyes downcast until he calmed down. She trembled, not just in fear but other things. She then extended her hand submissively. He took it.

  He chuffed and then let go and went to the bathroom to regain his composure. When he came back, she was quiet. “You haven't done that—ever.”

  “I hate it. But that pissed me off. This entire thing with you has been pissing me off. And I'm tired of it.”

  “I know. I just … can't do anything.”

  “What happened to starting a business? The temp agency? One of the others?”

  “I don't want to commute to the civilian habits. They are … terrible.”

  “Yet, you can shop there?”

  “I have no other place to go! Please, can't we just go?”

  “Go? Go where?” Fred demanded, exasperated with her.

  “Home!” She begged with her eyes, touching his hand. “Go home.”

  “Home.” He stared at her for a long moment and then huffed. “You do realize there aren't any ships returning to Rho. Not for a long time. Every ship we have is needed right here. Second, if I left I'd be throwing away the undersecretary of the sector position and most likely my career.”

  She winced and bit her lip.

  “And then there is Ayumu.” He wondered if she knew he had been deployed and had left the star system. Since she had been ignoring their son, he doubted it.

  “Ayumu can come … he can quit. It'll be like before …”

  “No, no, he can't,” he said gently. He saw the hurt in her eyes but decided she needed to face facts further. “He is an adult now. We'd have to leave him behind. You might never see him again,” he said firmly.

  “Um …,” she bit her lip.

  “Do you honestly think he'd go to the navy and tell them he is quitting because his mommy told him to? That his mommy wants him to come home with her?” He shook his head as he sat down on the edge of the coffee table. “He's an adult, and he's got a career now. One he's in love with. One he's working hard to build. I'm proud of him even if you aren't.”

  “But …,” she bit her lip. “He can die! The risks …”

  “The risks are worth the rewards.”

  “Not to me!” she flared.

  Fred sighed and shook his head. “I know you are scared of losing him. But it's his choice. He is an adult.”

  “The damn navy. He had no choice! They brainwashed him on the trip out here!”

  “No, he was navy mad before we came here. I knew it. You didn't listen. You were too busy having swanky parties and planning his future to even ask the lad what he wanted.”

  “I did. He never …,” she started to flare up again, voice rising in indignation but then stopped at a knock on the door.

  Fred wuffled a sigh and rose. Saved by the knock, at least for the moment, he thought. He adjusted his clothing and went to the door. “Yes?” he asked as he opened it.

  “There was a report of a disturbance,” the SP said. He looked beyond to Phoebe.

  “We had a bit of a loud disagreement,” Fred admitted. “I lost my temper.”

  Phoebe grimaced and turned away.

  “Ma'am? Are you okay?”

  “I'm fine. Just go,” Phoebe said, squaring her shoulders.

  “Okay. Well, if you need us …,” the SP frowned and looked at Fred. “Try to show some restraint. Have a good evening, sir.”

  “We will. Thank you, Officer.” After the door closed, he sighed and clenched and unclenched his fists.

  “Sorry,” she murmured.

  “You are frustrated. I'm frustrated with you because you won't step up. It is high time you do something with your life other than sit here and stare at the walls and drink yourself into a stupor because the world won't arrange itself according to the way you want it,” he said scathingly. He turned to her. “Figure it out.”

  “I …,” her temper flared. She got up and went to the bedroom. She came back and tossed his pillow on the couch. “You can sleep there.” She went back and closed the bedroom door.

  He looked at the disheveled couch, the broken glass, and then shook his head. “Screw that.” He took the pillow and went to his son's former room. He was pretty sure his son wouldn't mind.

  <()>^<()>

  Abdul smiled as he took a tour of the civilian ship in port. He'd wanted to get away from his desk; he was starting to feel like he was drowning in paperwork. The Tauren freighter was a good way to get out and stretch his legs and practice his engineering skills.

  It was a mark of how far they'd come that they were not excited about every new arrival. The civilian ship had traded well with the locals, so well she'd opted for more than just the basic free checkup and computer cleaning.

  He had to sign off on the new equipment before it was installed. Fortunately, with the five missions out and with the offensive force off training, the repair slip was no longer saturated with work. That was one reason he'd found a week to slip the Tauren medium freighter in for her minor refit.

  Well, that and the construction rates had slowed a bit with the hyperdrives and other components being built. Installing them would make for better ships but slowed things down, at least until they got a handle on things.

  He was starting to want to tinker with some of the designs. Not a whole lot, just a few of his own twists and ideas. Not that he had many. But that was something for the future. It was bad enough that they were revis
iting the CEV line idea again.

  In anticipation of future need with the ships in Tortuga coming, he'd shifted priorities to have a second fitting-out slip constructed. That one was already in use with the sublight rebuild project as well as any minor repair or refit that was needed with the navy ships in the star system.

  He was even considering building a third slip. He made a soft puttering sound but cut himself off when he got to the bridge and saw the ship had a wooden wheel on one bulkhead. He had to go over to admire the thing. It was made out of real wood too, with pegs for hand holds and brass fittings. It looked worn too. “That's a bit out of place, isn't it?”

  “That it is,” the Tauren captain said, turning to him.

  “Where did you even get it?” Abdul asked, looking the thing over. Someone had shined it up nicely. He wished they'd paid as much attention to the engineering details of their ship as they had to the spit and polish.

  The Tauren captain pointed to the wheel, and then the brass bell, wood belaying pins, and other articles. “A water world and real wet ships. They traded well for them.”

  “Ah.” Abdul nodded. Now it was making sense.

  “They make a great talking piece though,” the Tauren said with an ear flick.

  “Yeah, that they do,” Abdul said as he went over to the work party working on rebuilding the helm station.

  <()>^<()>

  Shelby watched the latest training exercise. She still wasn't fully convinced the three carriers and small cruiser force would be enough to take out Dead Man's Hand. She lacked the personnel to build a bigger force though. The Admiralty had signed off on it though but only as a raiding force.

  She had agreed. A raiding force that was outnumbered by the enemy defenders.

  That meant they'd have to be crafty with what they did have, dispatching forces to go in and kick the pirates out and deny them a hiding spot and a place to resupply from. By breaking their infrastructure, she could be very well stirring up a hornets' nest, but in the long term, it would be a detriment to the pirates. They'd have no place to go, no place that was a safe harbor. Eventually they'd fall to old habits, and her people would be able to patrol and pick them off one by one.

  But still, three escort carriers, two heavy cruisers, two destroyers, two couriers, and four support ships were a bit light when facing an enemy battlecruiser, twenty-six known cruisers, and an unknown number of other ships. She cut strict orders for Captain Rogers to cut his losses and fall back if he had to do so. The carriers and cruisers were not to be risked. He was not to go in until he had accurate intelligence from Zeng He either.

  She was happy about how the board had sat on V'r'w'll's actions. She had signed off on promoting the captain to take over Belfast.

  Chapter 32

  Tau-1252

  “Thank you for being here, Admiral. And may I congratulate you on your recent promotion?” Rachel Trejo said, opening up the interview with Shelby. Shelby had put it off, even fostering the reporter on Helen and her people for a bit before finally biting the bullet when things had slowed down.

  “Thank you. It's nice to be here again,” Shelby demurred.

  “Some have compared your efforts here with your father's in Pyrax,” the reporter stated.

  “There are a few things in common. Both starting with a space-based star system for one,” Shelby replied with a nod. “The starting tech and education levels are similar. The same for the surrounding star systems, but that is where the similarities end.”

  Boni had noted that Rachel and a few people on the boards had been talking trash about her production rates. She wanted to face that head on and put it behind her.

  “How so?”

  “Well, for my part we have more starting industry. But, we lack the manpower due to the plagues. That is a major distraction to our original mission.”

  “True. Though I wouldn't call the deaths of millions a distraction,” Rachel stated.

  “It wasn't my intent to make it sound like it was. I was trying to be clinical,” Shelby stated.

  “You haven't produced nearly as many ships as your father did during the same time period.”

  “Again, I am limited on what I can do and my manpower. Also, my mission mandate was to build a small yard. We also fought a battle last year and have just made good on all repairs and quadrupled our defenses at each jump point.”

  “I see. Turning to other matters, what is your opinion of the Lebynthos vote? There is some resentment here that they have officially voted to join the Federation, the first star system to do so in the sector. The vote was close though; it only passed by a single percentage point.”

  “But it did pass, and we welcome the citizens of Lebynthos to the Federation. As far as Tau-1252 is concerned, I understand there is an election next week to determine that. We'll see how it goes.”

  “Ah. And the latest offense? Do you know when that will be?”

  Shelby frowned. Boni shook her head on her HUD.

  “I can't give you details on an active operation. Sorry, that's regulations. I can say that the Tortuga mission went off successfully. We are now in possession of Tortuga.”

  “I see. I did note that in your reports. What are you going to do with all the booty there?”

  “Well, many of the hulls will be sorted out. Those we can salvage will be outfitted and shipped here. From there we'll assess whether we wish to outfit them further and use them in the navy or if we wish to sell them at auction to the public.”

  Rachel blinked and then smiled. “I believe you just piqued the interest of a lot of people.”

  Shelby smiled. “I believe I have. They'll have to have the credits to purchase the ship. They will also be on their own for the outfitting, manning, operational costs, fuel, and such. We're just selling the ships.”

  “No warranties or guarantees?” Rachel asked.

  “We'll warranty our work up to a point. But we want a healthy economy, which means we need people to stand on their own. We'll help get them started, but it is up to them to take it a step further and go out on their own.”

  “Ah. Now …”

  <()>^<()>

  The following week the electronic vote on the destiny of what many were calling the capital began. The same ballot had a list of capital names as well as the initiative to join the Federation. In order for one of the names to pass, it had to receive an overwhelming majority. If none did so, the top three contenders would be picked for a runoff in six months at the next election cycle.

  The Federation initiative was a bit more complex. A majority of 60 percent of the vote had to be in favor of joining the Federation. Admiral Irons had set the bar high early on to make it clear to one and all that a majority wanted to return to the Federation. That way there could be no discounting the vote.

  Fred wasn't the only one nervous about how it would turn out. He'd spent months pushing the vote. He had to stay away from the capital station during the days before and during the election. But he monitored the unofficial poll boards from his office and occasionally checked in with Governor Adrienne.

  <()>^<()>

  Miss Trejo was in her element as she covered the vote with live coverage. She was on camera much of the time, acting officially as a nonpartisan observer, but it was clear to some that she wasn't completely dispassionate about the vote's outcome. She was very excited though, so waiting out the tedium was frequently broken with her entertaining exuberance.

  The vote was native only; the Federation citizens were only observers. They would vote for Federation matters, and their votes would be sent through the ansible.

  As the various polls on each colony or station closed, the tally began to come in. Some of the early votes had alarming outcomes. Mayors were chosen and some minor initiatives see-sawed back and forth. As the night progressed, it became clear that there was no clear winner with the star system name initiative. Given that there had been over a dozen on the ballot that hadn't come as a surprise.

  A bond measure
to raise funds to improve habitats and colonies had passed. As had an educational initiative. However, a port fee tax to support transport and medicine had failed as had a tax on liquor and recreational materials.

  The bond to begin exploring terraforming a dwarf planet also failed. The lease extension to the navy was overwhelmingly supported. It would allow the navy to remain an additional twenty years on top of the fourteen left on the first contract in exchange for various services and a tax rebate.

  The natives had voted overwhelmingly to join the Federation, however. The celebrations across the star system began before the final votes came in.

  <()>^<()>

  The pirate POWs in the capital had initially been contained on one of the prize ships. Sorting out their interviews and housing had taken some time, but eventually they'd been installed in a small rock. That had been expanded when fresh POWs had come in from the two Rho Mercy Missions.

  Shelby let Lieutenant Slattery and the SPs handle most of the interviews and day-to-day handling of the POWs. Only when she finally found the free time did she meet with Ensign Pons.

  The ensign had been put in protective custody, really a form of parole. She had been given more privileges than the others including a news feed. The day-to-day changes to the star system had further opened the young woman's eyes and mind.

  The ensign had gone so far as to request asylum and to actually join the Federation. Shelby had bucked the offer up through the ansible to the chain of command there. Obviously, the young woman would have to jump through a lot of hoops and interviews, not to mention loyalty checks before anyone acted on her request.

  She wasn't certain where it was leading but she was curious to find out.

  <()>^<()>

  Once the star system officially joined the Federation, the election campaigns for their congresspersons and senators were announced. Shelby had to plan to send a courier back to Rho with them once they were officially elected and certified. It might even need to be a bigger ship since they'd have to have staffs and also pick up delegations from Lebynthos and possibly other worlds.