“The concept, no. I’ve never had a Boss that thought that way before, though.”
Rhonda said, “There are plenty that don’t. We’re just lucky, I guess.”
Bone said, “I’m beginning to understand that. Sure is different from the Navy.”
I said, “I hear that a lot, but I’m not sure what you mean by it. Better, or worse?”
“I don’t have any doubt it’s better when you get used to it. There is a lot to learn, though.”
We cleaned up the dishes, and went looking for something to do, till time to come out of FTL. Rhonda found a Frisbee. She said that they were standard issue on any of our ships, these days. Sounded like Taz’s idea, to me. We played in the cargo bay. It took Bone some time to decide it was something he wanted to learn, but soon enough, he was playing with us. They all took exception to me skipping the disc off Lyla’s saucer, since the bounce was so unpredictable. Rhonda and I stopped for supper, but Shorty, Jackie and Bone kept at it, learning more about how to handle the disc. I had thought to go back to the game, after supper, but Ace called me up front. “Ten minutes till we exit FTL, Boss.” I took the copilot seat. If anything went sideways, my organic reflexes didn’t stand a chance, but it felt like the place I should be, all the same. I called, “Shorty, could you take the sensors, please?” Nearly before I was done speaking, he was plugged in again. I asked, “I know you can detect a beacon from normal space, is there anything else you can tell, before we come out?”
Shorty replied, “I don’t know, Boss. If anybody ever looked into it, I never heard about it.”
“I’ll ask Scotti when I see her.”
Ace said, “No disrespect, Boss, but that sounds more like a Frank question.”
“It is. Frank is in the doghouse with me, right now. I’m not going to tolerate him using Julie for his personal plaything. She’s a person, dangit, and she doesn’t deserve the kind of treatment she’s getting from him.”
Ace replied, “Sorry, Boss. Didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject.”
“You might as well. I need to think about it, and figure out what I’m going to do. I need Frank’s brains, but this kind of behavior isn’t going to cut it.”
Shorty said, “I think I’ve got her systems to the place where he can’t get in, but Taz thought that, too.”
“How’s she taking it?”
“She’s pretty upset with herself for trusting him, after he had broken into her systems already.”
“Do you think I should put her back with him, or get somebody else for the duty?”
“I think she would be disappointed if you didn’t put her back, Boss. It’s personal now, as far as she is concerned.”
“You’re saying she will be more vigilant than anybody else I could put in the job?”
“Yes, Boss, that’s what I’m saying.”
Ace said, “Thirty seconds, Boss.” I turned my attention to the board. Ace eased us back into normal space, and Shorty said, “We’ve got no company that I can see. Yes, Boss, I’m checking for ghosts and anomalies, and I have exactly zero of those, as well.”
“Good work, both of you. Is there a way to code a beacon, so that Ozzie will know it is us?”
Ace hit a few buttons. “All set, Boss. Now we just wait for him.”
“You, maybe. If I don’t check in with Nikki soon, I’ll be in deep trouble.” I headed off to my cabin, to make the call. “Hey, Caveman. I thought you were coming back on the Gene.”
“I did too. Lyla had other plans.”
“What happened?”
“No clue. I’m hoping she can shed some light when she gets out of the autodoc.”
“Was she hurt bad?”
“The machine still won’t tell us how long it needs, so yeah, pretty bad.”
“What kind of injuries?”
“You’d do better to ask Rhonda. I just opened the ‘doc for her and Julie.”
“Rhonda? You took her on this wild goose chase?”
“No Ma’am, she snuck aboard all by herself. I had no idea, till I woke up to the smell of coffee, and there she was, cooking me breakfast.”
“Trying to keep you from being upset with her, I suppose?”
“Yep.”
“When do you figure to be back here?”
“Ozzie should show up with the prisoners in an hour or two, and then we have to drop them off at the Patrol. After that, we’ll be headed back, unless Murphy has another card to play.”
“Is it just because he is our shepherd, that I feel sheepish every time you mention his name?”
“Something like that, I think.”
“How long do you think it will take you to get back?”
“It’s been running two days, but with Ozzie and Ace, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a trick up their sleeves.”
“Did you at least get some good bounties out of the deal?”
“Bill says he wants me to go back to whatever I was doing, and let his accounts recover, so I’m guessing they’re pretty nice.”
“How do you have them secured?”
“Abe and Niner-Deuce put nighty-nights on them, and cable ties, and then welded them into a bunkroom.”
“Those two don’t screw around. Why are you waiting for Ozzie?”
“He and the Marines are bringing in the ship with the bounties on it. There wasn’t room for them here.”
“Are you sure they will be alright?”
“I hope they don’t have any trouble. I already gave Bill a count. I’d hate to come up short.”
“You think those two old-timers can handle all those
