Brightly Burning(40)

“We heard he was a bit of a character,” Preity added. “I mean, when he brought the Rochester out to orbit the moon, everyone assumed he was either stupid or crazy.”

“You mean it didn’t always orbit the moon?” I asked with little hesitation, belatedly kicking myself for participating in idle gossip about my ship.

“You didn’t know?” Griegs said, not without a seriously judgmental tone.

“I’ve been here only a few months,” I admitted.

“Where were you before?” Lizzy this time, same tone.

“I was on the Stalwart.”

All four hissed air through their teeth.

“No wonder you’re clueless.”

“Do they even have fleet comms on that bucket?”

I ignored the first—?Lizzy was tactless but sweet—?but responded to Griegs with my head held high. “Of course we had fleet comms. But we didn’t busy ourselves with the affairs of all the private ships. We had more important things to attend to. Like growing most of your food supply.” They appeared rightly cowed by that. “It seems you know more about this ship than I do.”

“No one from the Ingram has seen him in years,” Lizzy said. “We used to be neighbors, part of the same orbit cluster around Earth. For almost two hundred years. But then there was the . . . incident with the Fairfaxes, and Hugo became captain and hightailed it out here . . . We’ve heard rumors, that’s all.”

Moving out to the moon was an extreme, if odd, reaction to his parents dying, but it didn’t make Hugo crazy. I didn’t like them using crazy as a pejorative and I told them as much. “The captain is exactly what you’d expect for someone who had to take over when he was fourteen, in not exactly ideal circumstances,” I said. “He’s mature beyond his years, responsible; he can be kind of quiet. But he’s kind to all of us. We’re not expected to put on airs and graces, as you may have noticed.”

“Just wait until Bianca gets here,” Preity said below her breath. “That’ll change.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d heard lightly disparaging comments about Bianca Ingram, about whom no one had yet adequately provided me information. I’d asked several times, but the junior crew was as mum on the subject as Xiao. I didn’t bother to pry again, instead castigating myself for saying anything about Hugo. Hopefully nothing I’d said could be misconstrued as overly affectionate.

The senior Ingram staff arrived for dinner, summarily kicking us out. I didn’t like the segregation by rank they engaged in, nor did I appreciate it when Lieutenant Peters asked me to stay behind to serve them. I politely but firmly declined, most likely earning myself an enemy in the process. But I didn’t care. I was not beholden to them, not because I had lower rank, nor because I was a woman. I was an equal for the first time aboard the Rochester, and I would not yield that for anyone.

“You are stupidly bold, Stella Ainsley,” Preity said to me as we left Griegs behind to bear the job of food service. Lizzy ran off to do whatever it was she did after dinner, but Preity hung back with me. We made our way slowly toward my quarters. “I would say you were a role model, but the Ingrams would vent me into space if I conducted myself as you do.”

“They sound awful,” I said, but Preity only shrugged.

“It’s a nice ship and a good life. They’re strict about protocols but otherwise undemanding. We have plenty to eat; we’re allowed to do as we please on our own free time. Of all the transfers I could have gotten, I’m happy with it.”

“You were a transfer? From where?”

“The Empire. I transferred out as part of the orphan program six years ago.”

“Oh. Me too.” I couldn’t believe it. The fleet wasn’t huge, but who would have thought it could be this small? “How did we not know each other from the Empire? Wait, did you know George Davies?”

The light of recognition lit behind her eyes. “Ginger bloke?”

“Yes! He ended up with me on the Stalwart.”

“Wow. How is he?”

I said the first thing that came to my mind. “Hot. But, you know, in an annoying kind of way.”

Preity simply laughed. “Yeah, he was annoying on his best days when we were kids. But I could see him going the way of seriously attractive. What part of the ship were you in? Maybe that’s why we never crossed paths.”

“Engineering,” I said.

“My family was in textiles, like George’s. That explains it, then.”

“This is me.” I indicated my door.

“Oooh, can I see?”

I gave Preity a tour of my humble abode, watching her eyes become saucers as she took a turn of the room. “No wonder you like it here. This is orbital.” A reply was halfway out of my mouth when Preity went still and began talking to herself. Then I realized she was receiving a message on comms.

“Roger that; I will be there in five,” she said. Then she turned to me with a grim look. “The Ingram has arrived.”


Chapter Fourteen


I did the sensible, mature thing and hid in my room for the rest of the night. No one hailed me to go help with bags, and I was hardly going to volunteer. I was in no mood or shape to play purser. I needed a full night’s sleep and a long, hot shower before I discovered what kind of captain had returned to the ship.