Oz couldn't help but notice that his other hand touched the middle of Mischa's back with telling familiarity.
"Please," Oz said around a long exhale.
"Oh, here he comes, the teacher. Everyone quiet down while he buys the Officers time," mocked Edward.
"I couldn't help but overhear you, Edward. There's no need for this, or for your display."
"My display? They ignored every request I put in to see an officer over the last twenty hours!"
"I'm talking about the fire, Edward. You could have gotten someone killed. The suppression system withdrew all the oxygen from that room until the squadron arrived," The Chief Engineer's low voice was gentle, but carried over the crowd. The man was as broad shouldered as Oz, and only a little shorter, but somehow he seemed like a gentle giant, larger than life and entirely at ease with himself.
"You're saying I-"
"Everyone knows you and Leland March were at the core of this incident. Commander McPatrick could have you both in the brig along with anyone else who left a trace of themselves in that apartment but he decided to listen instead."
"But look what it took to get him down here!"
Liam smiled slightly and took a moment to regard Oz with a raised eyebrow. "He's here now, speak to him. Ask for solutions, don't accuse him of not providing them."
"That's just it! He's not providing! He gives skilled workers like Leland and I menial jobs and worse pay that's nothing but an ‘I owe you!’" Edward's fervour was fading, the crowd had begun to settle.
"Everyone aboard has food, practical clothing and a generous allotment of cumulative leisure rations for the materializers, manufacturing bay or for a good time at one of the entertainment establishments. That's all free aboard ship, it doesn't come out of your credits, which are being counted as cash, mind you. The Captain could have given you credit with some distant government to delay payment, but he’s offering real cash instead, pre-exchanged with whatever port you disembark to. Read the details of the agreement your representative, Mischa, approved sometime."
"What use are credits if we can’t use them with the materializers to boost our so called luxury rations? A second pillow cost me fifteen units! We only get twenty five a day!"
"That's a compromise everyone makes. It sounds more like you're simply worried-"
"Don't talk down to me you condescending son of a-"
"We're all worried," Liam spoke over Edward, his voice filling the ramp way and beyond. "We're all far from home. Some of our homes are unrecognisable and if we went back life would be much harder than it is aboard. There are over thirteen hundred slaves who are making themselves at home in bunks made for soldiers, technicians, pilots and other crewmen. I've visited them and they're happy. Not one of them has seen this place." He gestured to the botanical gallery as a whole. "But they're happy to be free. Most of them are looking to be of service thinking that the bunks they’re moving into will be home for months, maybe years. Some of them are outside the ship even now, helping with repairs."
"They’re used to a lesser standard! How can we be expected to live trapped here?"
"We're all trapped," Liam said with a flat finality that hushed everyone and caught Edward by surprise. "Until we decide we are free."
"What kind of-"
"Let me help you find your freedom," Liam appealed gently.
Edward seemed to realize that the majority of the crowd wasn't interested in supporting him any longer; they were listening to Chief Grady. He nodded, red faced.
"Oz, do we have a ship for these people?" Liam asked in a whisper.
Oz looked to Jason, Laura and Mischa. "The Cold Reaver's gone, so is the Clever Dream and the Sampson will fly, but it's iffy. The recently captured ships haven’t been fully inspected yet, but we didn’t capture anything that won’t fly under its own power."
Liam folded his hands in his sleeves and nodded. "This Edward fellow won't be the last dissenter. The crew is feeling the pressure and getting weary. Normally I'd say we should start moving more people into the Botanical Gallery and opening up more of the junior Officers quarters so we could space out the lower crewmen in the bunks."
"That's what I was thinking," Jason agreed.
"But we have to have a quick pressure release. We're too close to combat."
"So we give them a ship," Oz muttered.
"Is that really the best solution? Was the fire they started really bad enough to trip the emergency extinguishing systems?" asked Mischa.
"I checked. They hotwired the stove so it wouldn't shut itself off once it detected a high flame then used a branch to start the fire. If they were caught in the room they would have had to depend on their vacsuits for an environment. If someone else, like one of Iloona's children were hiding in a cupboard or closet they would have died without one." Liam replied quietly.
"Then I don't want them here," Mischa agreed solemnly. "Give them a ship, Commander. I don’t care if it’s only got one working thruster and a pressurized closet."
"Which is the best of the captured ships?" Oz asked Jason, who was already looking through the initial condition report from the Flight Control Centre.
"That’s a tie between a sixty one meter converted cargo vessel called The Lucien and a thirty meter long converted customs ship. I suggest the customs ship. No need to offer them anything larger."
"What about the Caran ships out there? They haven't hailed us since we left the Ossimi Ring and I don't think they'd give them much of a chance either," Laura asked.
"We'll have to make sure they know which side of the nebula to come out on and hope for the best. I mean, they're asking for a kind of freedom we can't give them right now. It's not like there's a free port inside the nebula."
Oz closed his eyes and nodded. "They have an hour to get aboard and launch. We're not giving them any personnel, only a squad emergency survival kit and a month of food each."
"As good as we can afford on short notice," Liam agreed.
"One more thing. They don't come back. Once they leave they're on their own," Laura added. She was a lead technician, an Officer, but she had no real say in what was going on.
"You're right," Oz admitted. "Besides, I don't want to see what Jake would do to someone who starts a fire on his ship."
Liam turned towards the crowd. "We're willing to provide you with a serviceable ship, supplies for a month and all the freedom you can handle. We'll give you a course that should give you a fair chance at avoiding our pursuers. You have one hour to quietly gather your possessions and disembark."
"What? You're just going to give us some old wreck and send us off?"
"Unless you'd rather stay here under these awful conditions," Liam laughed.
"Can we have time to decide? I don't know if we even have a pilot."
Oz stepped in beside Liam and shook his head gravely. "You have one hour to do it all or fall in line. This is a one time offer. Next time you get to leave it'll be in port or out an airlock," his tone was stern, cold.
Liam nodded silently.
"Oz, we have an emergency signal coming in," Jason whispered hurriedly. "One of our birds just caught a scan of a battle group on the other side of the nebula."
"I don’t have time to deal with this,” Oz said dismissively, gesturing towards Edward and the few who still stood with him. “Neither do you, Chief," he finished.
"You're right."
"Officer Kameri, have three squads shadow whoever would like to leave aboard the converted customs ship and stick to the one hour schedule," he told the Jpunior Lieutenant. “Don’t let Edward or Leland out of your sight. If they give you any trouble, arrest them.”
"Yes sir."