Starship Eternal (War Eternal Book 1) by M.R. Forbes

Author:M.R. Forbes [Forbes, M.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Quirky Algorithms
Published: 2015-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

31

Mitchell was standing in the shower, leaning against the wall and letting the hot water run down his face and over his chest, when Millie arrived. She didn't announce herself. She didn't call out to him or say anything at all. Instead, he heard the shower head next to him begin sputtering water, and he glanced over to see who was there.

"Captain," she said, smiling at him as though none of the bullshit in the hanger had just happened.

"There's a free head down there," he said, pointing to the furthest part of the shower. He did his best to ignore her nakedness, finding it half-easy, and half-hard. He decided it had to be the drink still messing with his brain.

"I thought we could talk for a minute," she replied.

Mitchell took a deep breath, ready to use it to scream at her. The action made his entire gut throb. At least one cracked rib, he guessed. He needed to get down to medical and have the bots fix him up.

"I've got nothing to say," he replied quietly.

"It was nothing personal," she said. "I had to do it. The crew expected it."

Mitchell was silent. He stared at the drain below him, collecting the water for recycling.

"This ship isn't like any other ship in the galaxy, Mitchell," she continued. "I have to somehow keep control over a crew of rapists, sadists, pedophiles, hackers, mad scientists..." She trailed off.

"Murderers?" Mitchell said.

The anger flashed across her eyes. "Yes. These are tough men and women, people who fall outside of what anyone would consider social norms. You might think there's something to your rank, but not here. Their pecking order has nothing to do with the bars on your shirt. If you want respect, if you want them to follow you into a dogfight, you need to earn it."

He turned his head towards her again. "By putting me at a massive disadvantage? By setting me up?"

"Yes. They had to see what you're made of for themselves. They don't give a shit what your duty record says." She reached out and put a hand on his arm. "What you did down there? You bought yourself the respect of every one of the crew. You showed them that you don't give up, you don't give in, you keep fighting. In ten minutes you taught every single member of this squad that if they mess with you they're going to find themselves bloody and beaten."

He pulled his arm away. "And you had this whole thing planned out the whole time? You were sure it was going to end the way it did?"

"Not at all. I couldn't be sure you would win, but if you didn't... Then I would know something about you, too, and your place on Riggers would have been set. It didn't matter if you won or lost, it was how you played the game."

"You have some crazy ideas on how to run a ship, Captain."

"I've learned the hard way. It wasn't always like this, Mitch. When the project first launched, I tried to be fair and honest, stern yet lenient.

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