Chapter 32 Dax
Dax
Burn was still on the bridge when I returned. “Everything good with the cargo?” she asked.
I dropped into the captain’s chair. “It’s fine. Strapped down solidly. Shouldn’t move at all during this trip.” Man, I really hoped it didn’t.
“You’re not worried about this, are you, Sarge?”
Shifting in my seat so I faced her, I said, “In my head, I know that we flew with munitions a thousand times more dangerous than what we have in our cargo hold right now. But now that it’s our ship, our small ship, it’s kind of terrifying to have that much explosive power just one level away.”
When we’d discussed having our own cargo-hauling business, we’d never actually talked about what the cargo would be. We hadn’t discussed a lot of the realities that we now faced.
Burn smiled wryly. “It’s probably too late to get out of this contract, isn’t it?”
Remembering the stacks of crates strapped in below, I laughed and shook my head. “Yeah, definitely too late.”
We couldn’t afford to lose another cargo. Our accounts were running low. Food, fuel, and other necessities were expensive, especially out here on the farther reaches of space.
“Even after Moya’s cut, our finances should be pretty solid. Enough that everyone could take their share and still have enough in the ship’s account to hold us over a few months if we need it.”
“How big a cut?” Finn dropped into the chair behind us. Both Burn and I swiveled to face him.
I shrugged. “I haven’t done the math. We need to ensure that Fortuna has enough in reserve to hold us through any dry times.”
“Lacy definitely earned her keep getting us this contact and loading the cargo,” Burn said. “She gets a cut, right?”
Burn seemed to be coming around to having Lacy on board. I don’t know if she was friendly, but she definitely wasn’t as antagonistic as she’d been.
“No! What the hell?” Finn’s outburst was unexpected, but par for the course since he’d been on the ship. Whatever was going on with him, that shit needed to stop.
“What the fuck, Finn?” Burn said. “Without her, we wouldn’t even have this cargo. She deserves a cut.”
“What the hell does this woman have on you? You’re both all ‘Oh, Lacy should get some of our hard-earned money.’ She isn’t one of us. She doesn’t belong here.” Finn’s tone was darker than I’d ever heard him use.
Burn placed a calming hand on his arm but he shrugged it off.
“I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you, but you need to cut this shit out right now.
You’ve been an asshole since you got on board.
Lacy’s a perfectly nice woman whose sister is missing.
We’re going to help her find her. In return she’s teaching us a bunch of shit we didn’t know when we started this business. ”
Finn surged to his feet. “What kind of bullshit story is that? She fed you some sob story about a missing sister and now she has free range on the ship? Engineering. Cargo hold. Captain’s bed.
Has she been in your bed yet too, Burn?” He sneered.
“You’re a bunch of suckers. She’s here for the ship.
Probably some mission for Blazer. Hundred percent she’s still on his crew.
We’re probably gonna get boarded and our cargo stolen before we even reach the mining colony. ”
I stared at Finn in shock. That was quite an imaginative story. Where the hell was all this coming from? “Stand down, marine.”
“Fuck you, Sarge. We’re not in the corps anymore. You may be captain, but you’re not the boss here.” He stormed off the bridge, leaving Burn and me staring after him in shock.
Finn was no longer visible, but I still stared at the corridor outside the bridge. I could only hope that he’d gone back to his quarters rather than stomping off the ship. We were on a timeline now and I still had to request a departure slot.
We’d come here for cargo and crew and I didn’t want to have to chase after my crew. We stuck together and didn’t leave a teammate behind.
I closed my eyes. If we left Finn behind, it would be his own damn fault. But he wouldn’t see it that way.
Activating the intercom, I winged it. “This is the captain. We will be departing the station shortly. All crew on board?” It wouldn’t be the worst thing to have a protocol for when we had a larger crew.
Lacy responded immediately. “Here.”
There was a long pause, then the crackle of static. Finally, Finn’s voice came over the system. “Here.”
“Great. Burn and I are on the bridge. Everyone stay on board. We’re taking off as soon as we’re cleared for departure.”
“Copy,” Lacy said.
“Sir, yes, sir.” Finn being a total asshole.
“You got any idea what’s going on with Finn?” I asked Burn once I’d switched off the intercom.
“I haven’t seen him this on edge since . . . you know.” She paused. “The accident.”
The accident that had killed Wilson and injured Finn. He’d been laid up for a few weeks, getting crankier and crankier.
Hell, we’d all been cranky, drowning in our grief.
“That’s what I was thinking.” I looked over at her. “One of us should corral him and find out what’s bugging him.”
“Not it,” Burn said immediately.
“If I can’t talk some sense into him, you’re going to have to try.”
Her lips curled up in a moue of displeasure. “Fine. But make sure you try really, really hard first, okay?”
“Always. Ready to get out of here?”
“Ready when you are.”
Switching to an external channel, I picked up the comms. “Rigel Naught stationmaster, this is Fortuna requesting clearance to take off.”