Melchior’s glass was empty. Heput it on the table in front of them and leaned back comfortably in theoversized lounge chair. “That’s a mighty fine young engineer you’ve got.”
John grinned. They had finallygot around to the main subject of their chat.
“You can’t have him.” He knew ithad to be Kowalski, although the answer would have been the same for any of theothers.
“I haven’t said that I wanthim.” Melchior eyed John cautiously.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can’t have him.”
“I could sequester him away fromyou.”
The implied threat, reinforced bythe captain’s cutting gaze, unsettled John. Melchior had the rank andauthority to do so.
“I would rather you didn’t dothat, sir.” His calm voice was an effort.
Melchior was quiet for a momentwhile he decided something. He casually looked around for the waiter,attracting the man’s attention with the beckon of a finger. A nod and a quickfinishing swipe across a tabletop and the waiter retrieved the whiskey bottlefrom the bar.
“I suppose it wouldn’t do me anygood at the moment anyway,” Melchior continued as the waiter poured him anotherdrink.
John shook his head as the waiterlooked to him, then backed away discretely.
“We need to put in for majorrepairs. The engines were shot to pieces. I don’t know how they got them upand running.”
John breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know how he would get along without Kowalski and he had no intentionof finding out. Had he been Decker or a captain in his own right, he knewMelchior would have left it as a suggestion, possibly an observation. He refusedto be intimidated by the man’s superior rank.
“Chat” over, John excusedhimself. His escort was waiting outside the lounge, straightening to attentionas the door opened.
John fumed as he was led to thetransporter room. The sooner he got off this ship, the better.
*
The engineers were waiting forJohn in Bismarck’s transporter room.
“Debriefing, sir?” Kowalskiasked.
“Yes. I want everything youlearned on Shimodo into our systems. Lock it away somewhere obscure where noone would think of looking. Make sure you tell me so I can find it in aninstant.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then go and get some rest. Youall look tired.”
They left amid mumbled thankyous, and John returned to the bridge. One look at his face and McReidyslipped out of his chair and back to navigation as quietly as possible.
He didn’t even acknowledge heraction as he slumped into his chair; the tension on the bridge rose a degree.
McReidy and Giacomo exchangedlooks, and Gillespie and Tan busied themselves.
“I don’t have to be a telepath toknow what you’re all thinking!”
McReidy turned her seat to him. “Want to get it off your chest?”
Her voice was soft. Unusuallyso.
“No.”
He hesitated and she began toturn her seat back.
“Captain Melchior,” John fumed. “He wants Kowalski.”
“He what?” McReidy spun her seatback to him, her eyes widening in disbelief.
Gillespie’s interest shot to theconversation.
“A crew of over two thousand,”John continued, the anger showing through in his words. “And he wants myengineer.” The emphasis was on the possessive word. “He even had the nerve tothreaten to sequester him from me.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I said no.”
There was silence. They all hadtheir own thoughts, but no one wanted to lose Kowalski.
“They’re putting in for majorrepairs,” John wiped his hand over his face, “so we should be safe. Somehow, Idon’t think we’ve heard the last of it.”
“Do you really think he couldtake Sam away?” McReidy ventured to ask.
“That depends on how high hegoes. I’m not very popular with the admirals.” He shuddered slightly at theadmission. “This stays here.”
He eyed them individually,receiving nods of confirmation. He realised he probably shouldn’t have saidanything in front of them, but if he couldn’t trust his bridge crew…
And he did trust them.
He shook his mood off. “Howwould you like some shore leave?”
“I think we could all do withsome,” Gillespie answered.
“Giacomo. Find us somewhere nice.”
“I think I know the perfectspot.”
Giacomo brought up a map of thearea on the main screen. A few adjustments to the view as he located andzoomed in on a likely target.
“Chatika. Earth friendly,according to all reports. Close enough to keep us on some sort of schedule andfar enough behind the border to give us a bit of peace. Hopefully.”
The last word was added with acheeky grin that seemed to cheer them all up.
John was pleased with the pilot. Giacomo was learning; his thinking was becoming instinctive. He knew where hewas and what was around him.
* * *
As soon as they reached Chatikanspace, John made contact with the homeworld. Formal greetings put him at easeand he was acutely aware that his dialogues were sounding more rote thanpersonal. Going through the motions of protocol wasn’t going to endear him toanyone and he was going to need a bit of sweet talking when they got back onschedule.
The Chatikan President didn’tseem to notice anything out of the ordinary in John’s greeting. They werewelcome for as long as they would like to stay. She even noted some areas ofrecreation that humans seemed partial to.
John thanked her and switched thescreen back to space.
“You want to slow down, Giacomo?”he queried. “Sideswiping asteroids is not going to get you there any quicker.”
“Sorry, sir,” Giacomo apologised,easing the ship through an asteroid belt and putting her into orbit around thehomeworld.
Chatika was a tropical paradise. The sun beat down on the golden sand below them. The ocean lapping along thebeach was warm and inviting. A cool breeze that filtered around the leaves ofthe trees kept the temperature at a reasonably warm level.
As Gillespie finished his summingup, Giacomo wasn’t the only one anxious to get down there.
“Rosters?” John asked.
“Done,” Giacomo grinned.
There was no doubt the pilot wasanxious to get away.
“You wanted first shift, sir?”
“Yes,” John confirmed. Paranoid,maybe, but he had no intention of a repeat of the Bachaan hijacking.
John was about to dismiss thecrew when he suddenly remembered what day it was. “Steve, game still ontonight?”
“For any of us silly enough to beback on board.”
The general thinking was probablynot. Come night time, it was a different matter. Almost everyone had hadtheir fill of sun, sand and sea,
