“Thanks, Topper. Where did you put our guest?”
“She’s in one of the extra rooms aboard ship. Ruth is watching her, in case she manages to wake herself.”
“I thought Ruth was hurt?”
“She is, but as long as she doesn’t have to chase anyone, she’ll be fine.”
“Well done.” Snitz and I wandered off to take care of business, and I dialed Sally. She answered, “Morning, Boss.”
“Give me the report, please, and don’t try to make it sound better than it is.”
“Bill Richards attempted mutiny overnight. Diego was hurt capturing him, but he is in the autodoc, and Mr. Branham expects a full recovery. Angus has him locked down in the brig, and his dependents are being looked after.”
“Since you warned Topper, I’m assuming you had some sort of advance warning?”
“I did. Are you saying I should have let you know?”
“I left you in charge, you took charge, what is there to complain about?”
“Thanks, Boss. Are you okay?”
“I didn’t even wake up till Topper called to let me know they had caught her.”
“He didn’t need to do that, if she was already in custody.”
“His biggest concern seemed to be whether or not I wanted her to survive to be questioned. I think he’s been hanging out with mean old hillbillies too much.”
“You give yourself too much credit, Boss. I looked up his records, he was like that in the Navy, too.”
“Are you going to elaborate on that?”
“Not my story to tell, I think you would say.”
“Good answer. We have these idiots dead-to-rights for mutiny, then?”
“We do, Boss.”
“If we were in your Navy, I’m guessing we could send them for a walk.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Do me a favor, and figure out where we stand, as a commercial operation.”
“I’ll take care of that. I’m assuming you want to be aboard before sentence is carried out, whatever it winds up being?”
“Yes, please. My ship, my responsibility.”
“Understood. Anything else you need to know?”
“How long is Diego expected to be in the autodoc?”
“You would have to talk to Mr. Branham for that answer, Boss.”
“I’ll do that. Do you have one of the nanny bots looking after Bill’s dependents?”
“I do.”
“See if they can figure out what the kids would like to do, as far as a place to stay. I know they like their Uncle Bill, but I don’t know right now if we are going to be able to keep them together.”
“I’ll see what I can do about that, Boss. Anything else?”
“I don’t think so, right now. I’ll get back with you, if I think of anything else.”
“Bye, Boss.”
“Bye, Sally.” When the connection quit, I dialed John. “John Branham.”
“Morning, John. I thought you looked to see who was calling, before you answered.”
“You have to have your eyes open to do that, Bob. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Diego in that bad of a shape?”
“No, he’ll be fine. Jane has the baby fever, and I was up most of the night trying to give her the cure.”
“TMI, John. WTFTMI. Especially this early in the morning.”
“You asked, Bob.”
“I was going to try and sugar coat this, but just for that, you’re getting it straight. The whole thing with Bill proves that there are people willing to go to any lengths to get their hands on the old Commonwealth Navy. In my mind, that leaves us with one option. We need to go get it first. To do that, we need Captains, ready to take charge, and get their ships out of there. Here’s where you regret putting me in charge. You will report to Sally, for whatever training she sees fit to give you, with the goal of getting you ready to take charge of your own ship. Any questions?”
“Why me? Why not Jane instead?”
“You don’t want it. Sally seems to be convinced that is the most reliable indicator of a good captain. Train Jane up to be your XO, if it makes you feel better.”
“Okay, Bob, I’ll do it. You do realize that if we ever get to play paintball again, your heinie belongs to me.”
“I would expect no less. Diego is next on her hit list, as soon as he’s vertical.”
“I had gotten so used to giving people good news when they came out of the autodoc. I hate to break my streak.”
“If it means that much to you, ask Sally to tell him.”
“Just messing with you, Bob. I’ll get started on the training today.”
“You don’t sound that surprised.”
“Jane told me it would be coming, as soon as that mess with Bill broke. She said, ‘Bob’s going to want people he can trust trained to be captains. That means you, Honeybunch.’”
“We have a couch, for when she figures out how poorly she married.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think she’s going to let me out of it that easy.”
“I better let you get back to it. I need to get in the house and get some coffee started.”
“Later, Bob.”
“Later, John.” Snitz finished, and we went back in. To my surprise, Topper had started the coffee, and was working on breakfast. I asked, “When did you learn to cook?”
“Mr. Sloan taught me while we were waiting for you and Mrs. Wilson to get back from your honeymoon.”
I sat down with a cup of coffee, and tried to get my mind around everything that had happened. I didn’t make much progress, before Nikki came stumbling out, following the smell. She said, “Morning, Caveman. Do I need to call Grandpa to come pick us up?”
“Nope.
