Chapter 19 Dax
Dax
After explaining everything to me several times, Lacy had finally gone to bed. Her story hadn’t changed and by the third time through, I believed her. As much as I hated to admit it, her plan to pick up my crew—and visit her sister’s last known location—made sense.
Left alone on the bridge to stew, I stared glumly at her map.
The colored dots flickered among the white stars and planets, mocking me.
Her competence with my ship and everything related to it was preying on my insecurities.
In the space corps, I’d known my role and I’d been damn good at my job.
Lead a squad or turn a bunch of recruits into a cohesive fighting machine?
All day, every day. Arrange cargo and transportation?
I hadn’t felt so lacking since my own recruit days. It sucked and I didn’t like it one bit.
In the space corps, there had been three types of cargo: marines, munitions, and supplies. Everything else was just details.
But here in civilian space, those details mattered. Hence the mind-blowing number of cargo classes. According to Lacy, understanding those tiny details was the difference between a successful crew and one that scraped by. My squad and I definitely planned to be on the successful side of that line.
My squad. We were supposed to be a team, but here I was making decisions for everyone. Why the hell had they voted for me to buy the ship?
Oh, right. Because I had nothing else going on. I’d visited my family after my discharge, but only for a few days. Any longer and they would have started getting ideas about me putting down roots.
I shook off the self-pity. There was no time for it and I had a call to make.
According to Lacy’s calculations, Fortuna would reach the rendezvous point with Burn in just under two days. Thirty-six hours after that, we’d reach Finn. Once he was onboard, the next stop would be a mid-sized station to refuel, restock, and pick up cargo.
I picked up the radio and tuned it to the comms frequency for the team.
“Fortuna Prime calling Fortuna team.”
We were so far apart that there would be a lag. The radio crackled as I awaited their responses.
“Fortuna One here.” That was Burn. Our resident adrenaline junkie, she was on an uninhabitable planet doing an adventure race of all things. “‘Bout damn time you called. I was beginning to think pirates got you.” She laughed.
I flinched. She didn’t know how close to the truth she was.
“Fortuna Three.” Mercer’s cool controlled voice picked up next. Our medic was seemingly unflappable. “Good to hear from you, Sarge.”
Mercer had headed home to deal with his family—and the family business. Despite ten years in the space corps, his family was still pressuring him to be a doctor at one of their fancy hospitals.
It felt weird to be called by my old rank. But what the hell was I going to do? Demand they call me captain now? I shuddered. That was a title I wanted no part of. Most captains I’d met in the corps were assholes.
“Finn here.” I rolled my eyes. He’d dropped the military conventions faster than any of us and I had no idea what he’d been up to since we got our walking papers.
“Hey guys, good to hear from you all. Any word from Orion?”
“I think he’s still at home,” Mercer said. “Visiting his mama.”
My lips curved up. Orion was taller than my own six-two and outweighed me by at least fifty pounds, but he was a mama’s boy through and through.
“It’s pretty late there, I think,” Burn added.
Damn. I’d forgotten about the time differences. But with everyone scattered right now, there was no finding the perfect time for a check-in. Things would be so much easier once everyone was on board.
“Glad I at least got most of you,” I said into the expectant silence.
“How’s the ship, Sarge?” Burn asked.
“She’s great,” I said. They didn’t need to know that she had been stolen. Or about the fucking factory defaults. Those wouldn’t be an issue by the time they were onboard, because Lacy had promised to change them tomorrow and I was going to watch her do it.
“And the cargo? We get our first payday yet?” Finn asked.
“No, that’s why I’m reaching out. Change of plans.” Please don’t ask for details.
“Something wrong?”
“Everything’s fine, Burn. The first cargo job didn’t work out, but I’ve got a line on a few others. Wanted to give you and Finn a heads-up to be ready for rendezvous in the next few days. You’re the first pickup, Burn. Then Finn. Then we’ll hit Rigel Naught for cargo and fuel.”
Silence met my words. I stared out at the stars.
“This isn’t what we planned,” Finn said.
Mercer spoke up before I had to come up with a half-truth. “The civilian world is a lot messier than the military, Finn.” His voice was tired. What kind of mess had Mercer been dealing with?
His family owned an interplanetary medical system and they had hated the fact that he’d joined the space corps. I’d never known if it was because he’d enlisted or that he’d dared to not follow the plan his family had laid out for him.
Personally, I didn’t give a fuck what Mercer’s family wanted, because that man had saved my life on any number of occasions and I was damned glad he’d enlisted.
“Whatever,” Finn said.
Well, shit. That wasn’t good, but I couldn’t fix whatever Finn’s deal was from a distance. I’d have to wait until he was onboard.
“Burn, you still on Pangaea?” I turned my attention back to the star map. If she’d moved on, our plan would need to pivot again.
“Yep, just waiting for you to come get me.”
“Finn, we picking you up on Holyoke still?”
There was a drawn out pause until Finn said, “Um, no. How about I just meet you at Rigel Naught?”
I frowned at the unexpected change. “Sure. We’ll let you know when we’re on our way. Mercer, you good waiting a few more days? The plan right now is to make the first cargo run and pick you and Orion up after.”
“Ready and waiting,” Mercer said. The exhaustion in his voice was still there.
“I’d rush this if I could, but Fortuna can only fly so fast.”
Unless . . . I’d have to ask Lacy about fuel mods or anything that could make us faster.
“Don’t worry about me, Dax. Come get me when you’re ready.”
We all spent a few more minutes catching up, then signed off.
It was good to talk to everyone, but this time it felt different. Was it because we’d all gone our separate ways, even if it was just for a short while? Or was it because I was hiding things from them?