Dexter glared at Bekka, who only shrugged and refused to back down.
“You love her?” Rosh asked, surprised. “Careful Cap, she likes messing with people, I think she’s got your number.”
Dexter threw his head back and groaned. “Enough! There’s no talk to be had about my love life… because there isn’t one! Jenna’s second in command, you’d do well to treat her with respect.”
Rosh blinked and then grinned. “Sunk her teeth in ya, ain’t she?”
Dexter bristled, forgetting that he was supposed to be in charge momentarily. “You’ve got no room for talking! What about Willa and you?”
Rosh opened his mouth then shut it. He looked thoughtful as he pondered what Dexter had said. “You think?” he asked. “I thought we was just friends and all.”
Bekka snorted from her position on the helm, but other than a sharp glance from Dexter, she was ignored. The pause served to help Dexter reign in his frustrations. He took a deep breath and addressed his Arms Master.
“What are you needing, Rosh?”
“Huh? Oh,” Rosh said, glancing briefly at Bekka and then shrugging.
“Cap, the other day, I didn’t mean nothing by what I said,” he explained. “I was just… well, we been having a run of bad luck.”
Dexter nodded; he could tell the big man had more to say.
“The course you been laying ain’t been easy, but we’re still here and I guess that’s something,” he continued. “Still, a fellow can’t help but wonder sometimes about other things.”
“What are you saying?” Dexter asked him, wanting to get to his point and spare the man the clumsy rhetoric.
“That’s all,” Rosh said. “I was just saying what I said. It ain’t easy for me, ya know.”
Dexter nodded, accepting the closest that man could give to an apology. Rosh smiled a little self-consciously, then slipped back out the door and headed off to have a friendly chat with Willa. The Captain watched him go, then sighed and turned back to the charts on the table.
Unseen on the helm, a faint smirk found its way to Bekka’s face.
The following days had been very stressful on the Voidhawk. Bailynn had seemed increasingly withdrawn. Jenna had been distant, though Dexter was thankful for that. His own thoughts were considerably remote, but in spite of it he still noticed how surprisingly cheerful Logan seemed to be. Apparently life on the Voidhawk appealed to him.
“Been meaning to have a word with you,” Dexter said, catching the man as he hopped up the stairs onto the forecastle to make sure some lines were tightened down.
Logan glanced up and smiled. He looked at the ropes and, assured they were right, turned his full attention to Dexter. “What can I do for you, Captain?”
“Between the problems we had and… everything else, I’ve had no chance to welcome you proper to the ship.”
Logan chuckled and shrugged. “Don’t worry, Captain. As you said, there were a lot of problems. I was reluctant at first, but now I find I could not have landed in a better place.”
“You’ve done right by us,” Dexter said thoughtfully. “But I’m still wanting to know what ails you.”
Logan glanced at the main deck and then shrugged. “I’m not sure,” he admitted, turning back to Dexter. “The moon, on Azmir, caused me madness.”
“At times I would wake up with my clothing torn and signs of trouble about me. Dirt and blood on my fingers, once even some hair stuck to my arm,” he said frankly. “It was never my own, and I could never remember where it came from.”
He shrugged again. “Since we left Azmir behind, I’ve yet to have any problems.”
Dexter nodded. “I got no idea what sort of thing this could be,” he said. “Don’t make sense, it just going away though. You be sure and let me know if you feel it coming back, we don’t need any more trouble here.”
Logan chuckled, unable to repress his good mood. He nodded though, and promised Dexter that he would. He returned to working and Dexter watched him for a long moment before he decided to head below and see about getting some food. On his way he stopped and saw Kragor sitting halfway down the steps to the main deck, the ghostly dwarf watching Willa as she worked on the main deck.
“Kragor,” Dexter said softly, by way of greeting. He found himself smiling, putting his troubled thoughts aside for a moment.
The dwarf glanced up at him and smiled, then pointed back to Willa. He gave a thumbs up motion, letting Dexter know he approved of her. For what, Dexter had no idea, but it still made him feel better.
Jenna rounded the corner suddenly, the elf girl moving silently and quickly and surprising them. She took the stairs quickly and passed right through the spectral dwarf, which caused him to scowl at her as he patted himself off. Jenna paused at the top of the stairs, next to Dexter and peered back down at them curiously.
“That was odd,” she muttered. She turned to the Captain, her expression still baffled. “Did you feel something?”
Dexter smiled uneasily. “Jenna, I-“
She scowled and snapped, “Not that! I meant when I came up the stairs I felt a touch of something cool. Not chilly or painful, just… odd.”
Dexter and Kragor met each other’s eyes. His scowl was gone and in its place was a wide grin. He pointed at each of them, one hand a piece, then formed a circle with the fingers of the hand pointing at Jenna and took the pointing finger of the hand pointing at Dexter and inserted it into the circle. He proceeded to pantomime a rhythmic motion that Dexter could hardly dismiss the obvious implications of.
“What’s wrong?” Jenna asked, seeing the color rising to Dexter’s cheeks. “Embarrassed to be seen with me standing near you now?”
Kragor, laughing silently, faded from view. Dexter turned, sputtering, to the elf and was going to try and defend himself but instead she just glared at him. “Bekka said we’d be coming up on a gravity well. She thinks it’s a small moon or something, it’s not on the charts.”
Dexter nodded. “Jenna…”
The elf shook her head, “Save it,” she told him. “This is a bad place for talking, and you don’t want your crew seeing what I plan to do to you.”
The tone in her voice and the angry and sad look in her eyes told him that he did not particularly want to know what she had in mind for him either. He nodded and sighed. “Alright,” he told her. Then, as he turned to head down to the bridge he whispered so he could be certain only her elven ears would pick it up, “I’m sorry.”
On the bridge Dexter glanced at the charts of the area briefly to be certain that it was as Jenna had told him. Sure enough, there was nothing but empty void where they were. Bekka was aware of him and asked distantly, “Captain — do you want to go around it or stop and investigate?”
Dexter thought about it for a long moment. They had plenty of supplies, so stopping was hardly necessary. Still, something uncharted could be a secret boon that might pick up everyone’s spirits. It might be undiscovered trade opportunities or perhaps a long lost pirate cache of equipment and loot. Dexter found himself smiling at the prospects, but then realized it could also be nothing — or perhaps something worse than nothing.
“Check it out,” Dexter said, moving closer to one of the two large round windows in the bridge.
Bekka did not respond, but after a few more minutes the ship began to decelerate as it entered the field of gravity. Dimly, Dexter could hear Jenna above calling out orders to bring the ship in closer for a look.
He hurried up to the deck for a better look as they sailed in. The ship moved in, the sails trimmed to slow it down some, and arced wide to give whatever the port used as a pilot boat a chance to catch up to them. As with surface harbors, a port for ships that sailed the void needed to be guided in to prevent chaos from clogging up the lanes.
No boat appeared. They drew closer and closer to the lush, albeit small, world and saw no sign of anyone interested in greeting or guiding them. Dexter’s grin spread and his excitement grew, overshadowing his other concerns and troubles. Had they discovered an uninhabited world? It was small, the size of a small moon, but that still would allow for thousands of people to live in peace, should they desire to do so. His thoughts raced ahead. If it was unoccupied, he could claim it and set himself up as Lord.
