Dark Knight Station: Origins by Nathan Lowell

Author:Nathan Lowell [Lowell, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Durandus, Ltd.
Published: 2020-12-18T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Carstairs brought up the incident over the dinner mess. “I hear we’ve had our first scuffle.”

The captain nodded and glanced at the chief.

“Symes is on light duty for a few days. I’ll rotate him onto day work. In the meantime, I’ve assigned one of the day workers to take his watches,” she said.

Carstairs nodded. “Parks?”

She nodded. “Symes hasn’t fingered him, but he’s just a little too full of himself in any case.”

“Symes did well on his testing,” Carstairs said. “Parks did, too.”

“I’ll put Symes back in when he comes off light duty.” She glanced at Carstairs. “Parks is machinist, right?”

“Yeah. I was surprised, too. Only a few people didn’t pass the test they were going for.”

“Vagrant missed?” the chief asked.

Carstairs finished chewing and swallowed before answering. “A few points. He seemed pretty upset about it but he got half a dozen questions related to each other and missed them all. I don’t remember which section offhand but I could look it up if you like.”

The chief shook her head. “Not important. I’ve seen it enough with quarter shares doing the minimum to get by on the practice exams and getting smacked when it matters.”

Carstairs nodded. “It’s a good lesson. Pickup crews like this are tough to get into shape.”

“Speaking of,” the captain said, looking at Kondur. “What’s the word from Mr. Atwater?”

“Parks didn’t have a gang as such. The real gangs stayed on the station.” He shrugged. “Atwater seemed to think Parks might be trying to build the gang here. His niece fingered Parks and three others as the problem children in engineering.”

Chief Stevens sighed. “Donaldson, Frazier, and Scott?”

“That’s the three,” Kondur said with a nod.

The captain finished his dinner and pushed the plate back from the edge of the table. “This is too pat,” he said.

“How so, Skipper?” Kondur asked.

“Why Symes?” Larkin asked. “And why rough him up when there’s such a clear trail back to Parks and his pals?”

“Maybe Parks doesn’t realize what a clear trail it is,” Carstairs said.

Larkin shook his head. “How does deck know what’s going on in engineering?”

“How could they not?” Kondur asked. “It’s a small ship. Only thing that travels faster than light is gossip.”

“You’re thinking it’s Vagrant,” Carstairs said.

Larkin nodded. “Has Symes fingered Parks?”

“Mr. Symes is particularly close-lipped about it, Captain,” the chief said. “We can’t exactly force him to spill.”

“Who’s close to Symes?” the captain asked. “He have a bunk bunny?”

The chief frowned. “Lemme get back to you. It’s not something that rises to my attention.”

“Verkol?” the skipper asked. “What’s the mood in deck?”

“I think Atwater keeps things buttoned down there. Most of the crew seems to know of him from the station. Nothing but respect, as far as I can see.”

“Feeding people good food at fair prices can buy you a lot of loyalty,” the chief said. “Especially on Vagrant Station.”

Prescott sighed. “If I could be excused, Skipper? I’ve got the mid and need to get some sleep.”

Larkin nodded. “Of course, Earle. Sorry, we’re running long.”

Prescott shook his head. “Wish I could stay, Skipper.

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