She didn’t know men were capable of blushing that deeply. They didn’t reply.
“I’m not a sex fiend either, guys, don’t worry. I just need to know these things up front so I can make an informed decision. I’m assuming you’ll all be willing to not leave me hanging, right?” The men nodded, relieved not to have to say anything.
They made their way back to the common area. While she wasn’t sure she wanted to pick them, she would definitely pick them over the first crew of personality-deprived macho men.
She shook hands with them. “Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate your time. I still have another crew I need to talk to. I wanted to talk to all three crews before I make my preliminary decision about spending more time with any of them.” Tarrence cleared his throat. “Mind if I ask who?”
“I’ve already interviewed the crew of the Kendall Kant.” At that their faces fell as if anticipating defeat. “Oh.” She felt bad. While she knew it wasn’t professional, she added,
“I’m pretty confident they are off my list. Personality conflicts.” The men looked hopeful again. “Oh,” Tarrence said. “Who’s the other crew?”
“The Tamora Bight.”
All three men looked shocked, then burst out laughing.
“What?” she asked.
Tarrence’s confident grin pissed her off, but she hoped she hid it.
Their sudden, smirky self-confidence rubbed her the wrong way.
“I thought we had some real competition. I didn’t know it was the TB.” The men laughed again, as if enjoying an inside joke. Then it hit her they were making fun of the ship’s initials, comparing it to a long-eradicated communicable disease.
“What’s wrong with the Tamora Bight’s crew?” This was the first wide grin Tarrence and the others had displayed,
expressing genuine amusement and relief. “Well,” Tarrence said,
“they’re experienced, to say the least.” All three men snickered in an impressively irritating way.
“How about saying more than the least?” The men exchanged a knowing look. “They’re pretty much the polar opposite of the Kendall Kant’s crew. Captain Lucio and his boys¯” how he said that also pissed her off, “¯have a lot of service duty…under their belts.” The men snickered again, and Captain Tarrence personally escorted her to the main hatch.
He took her hands and held them for a moment. There was no doubt he was good-looking. “Thank you, Emi. It was a pleasure to meet you, and I can safely speak for my men¯” how he emphasized that managed to piss her off again, “—when I say I hope we’ll be spending more time with you soon.” He gently squeezed her hands in a tenderly seductive way. For a second, she forgot his arrogant and assumptive attitude.
Five years with these three wouldn’t be so bad. Not bad at all.
“Thank you.” She returned to the gangway after the hatch slid shut behind her. She sent Graymard another message.
Braynow Gaston, maybe. I’m not taking them off the list yet, need more time with them.
Send.
Emi looked up the Tamora Bight and sent them a message. A moment later she received their welcoming reply.
What was it about this crew the others didn’t like, other than their apparent bad-boy image? She slowed her pace as she walked down the gangway and studied their personnel files again. There weren’t many long-past details on them, just recent history. No details on how they obtained their demerits. Technically, she supposed they could be for anything from murder and mayhem to not docking straight.
Couldn’t be too serious or they wouldn’t have been assigned a larger ship than the other two crews, right? They weren’t in jail or the brig or whatever the frak they called it in the DSMC, so most likely they hadn’t broken any laws either.
She hoped.
When Emi arrived at the Tamora Bight’s hatch, she waited for an intercom greeting and didn’t receive one. She found the recessed panel in the hatchway and pushed a glowing button. A long, irritating moment later, she received a reply.
“Yeah?”
Okay, they lose points for not being prepared. “Hi, I’m Dr.
Hypatia¯”
“Oh, shit! You’re here?” There was a moment of desperate, garbled whispers, and the man came back on. “Sorry! Uh, I didn’t realize you meant right now. Hold on.” She tried to hold on to her irritation and couldn’t. There was something desperately sweet about the man’s voice. She wondered which crewman it belonged to.
The intercom crackled again, as if someone had accidentally hit the button. “…I freaking told him to clean that mess up, goddammit!
She’s here! Now!”
“Caph, you’re leaning on the intercom,” another, deeper male voice calmly said.
“Crap¯” It went silent again.
The second voice bore a totally different timbre and demeanor than the first. Calm, steady, in charge. Something about it immediately stirred her.
Caph must be…she consulted her hand-held. First Officer Caphis Bates.
She wondered if the other voice belonged to Captain Aaron Lucio.
Emi couldn’t help but smile. She was never one for great formalities, despite her training. There was no doubt in her mind that she’d be miserable on the Kendall Kant. The Braynow Gaston’s
crew…maybe they just came off a little wrong on first impression.
These guys, however, were already living down to their reputation.
After another moment, the intercom crackled to life and the second voice spoke again. The man’s smooth, calm tone not only soothed her, but touched someplace deep inside her. She’d like to get to know the owner of that voice.
“Sorry about that, Doctor. I’ll let you in. Just follow the main corridor all the way to the very end and take the last doorway on the right. That will put you in the secondary corridor. One of us will catch up with you there.”
“Okay.” The hatch slid open. She immediately realized this ship was of a different breed than the two medium-heavies she’d been on.
Its larger size translated into a more complex layout.
I hope they have a freaking map for this monster.
The corridor stretched nearly two hundred yards by her best guess.
From the external size of the vessel, she knew that it wasn’t extending the ship’s full length. She took the last doorway on the right, and another fifty yards down a running man emerged from a doorway and jogged to meet her. As he drew closer in the dim light she realized he was the mate, Ford Caliban.
When he caught up with her, he held up one finger, leaned over with his hands on his knees, and caught his breath. When he could speak he straightened and apologized. “Sorry, Doc. I was down in cargo. We’re not very well organized right now. We’re in the middle of inventory.”
“Is this a bad time? I could come back¯”
“No, no. As long as you don’t hold the mess against us.” His infectious smile couldn’t be denied a reply, and his blue eyes looked even bluer in real life. He wasn’t the second voice she’d heard. That must mean it had been Captain Lucio.