Page 45 of Under His Heel

Tracht’s hand slammed down on the desk. “Shut up, Alex. I have no patience for you right now.” Then he scoffed. “You’re going to sit quietly while I do the necessary paper work and think up a suitable punishment for you.”

Wait, what? Alex’s good mood stared souring. “Punishment? Why?”

“Because, Alex, I told you that I abhor violence and interpersonal drama on my ship, and that fight was both.” Tracht brought a hand up to rub his brow. “Honestly, I have half a mind to cancel the contract the moment we dock.”

“No! You defended me! I heard you!” Alex rushed across the room and fell to his knees next to Tracht’s chair. “You sided with me!”

It was a risk, but Alex reached out to touch Tracht’s knee. His heart pounded hard, and he remembered when Tracht had kicked him for the same action. Not doing anything wouldn’t fly though, because Alex would still rather have a million of Tracht’s punishments than ever go near the Nilsens ever again. He kissed Tracht’s knee, the texture of his uniform pants rough against Alex’s lips, and lingered enough to moisten the fabric a bit. Then he moved lower, doing his best to show that he was good for it, that Tracht didn’t need to get rid of Alex.

There was a moment where it seemed like it was working too. Alex heard Tracht’s breathing hitch, and he felt fingers lightly touch his scalp. Then those fingers twisted and pulled, forcing Alex’s head back. Tracht’s foot came up to Alex’s chest and pushed him away entirely.

“No. It’s decided. I will not have order on my ship be disrupted.”

Panic rushed through Alex. “No! Please! I’ll do anything!”

But Tracht wasn’t swayed; in fact, he looked even angrier. “No. Go sit in the corner and shut up. I don’t want to hear a single word out of you.”

Alex crawled over to the corner, stewing internally. What was the point of doing any of this shit if Tracht was going to throw him out immediately? They had a good thing going, didn’t they? Tracht got his jollies, Alex got to not get handed over to sadists who wanted to chop parts from his body and make him completely unrecognizable.

A couple of times he considered throwing in a few words in his own defense, but Tracht didn’t look to be in any better mood, and there was still an indeterminate amount of time for Tracht to do even worse to Alex than he had already.

Shit. The more Alex thought about it, the more scared he got. Atalanta station was too connected to Cadmus for him to be able to get away. No way would Tracht just cancel the contract and not hand Alex over to station authorities, and from there he’d get shipped back to Cadmus to fulfill his debts. Straight into the Nilsens arms, because apparently organized crime was completely fine, but screwing over said criminals was frowned upon.

Alex flexed his fingers and wondered how many of them he’d be allowed to keep. His hand trembled.

A knock on the door startled him out of his self-pity. The door slid open and Espinosa took a cautious step inside. Even she knew that Tracht would be in a bad mood.

“Captain? I heard what happened. I came to see if I could help.”

Tracht sighed loudly. “Yes. Pull up a chair. I’ve been writing the formal disciplinary write ups, but we can watch the security footage and see whose files they need to go in.”

That was how Alex ended up subjected to reliving the entire scenario. He couldn’t quite see the screen from where he was sitting, but he heard his voice, his words. In retrospect, he couldn’t believe he’d let himself get goaded like that. It was fucking stupid, that’s what it was.

Once or twice Alex caught Espinosa looking over at him and frowning, but at least she didn’t say anything. She didn’t laugh when vid-Alex professed his ignorance, and she didn’t laugh when the fighting broke out.

She and Tracht paused the video and listed the names of everybody who’d been in the crowd. Eight people in total, not counting Parsons and whoever had gone to tattle on them all.

“I’m almost wondering if I should give Mr. Parsons some sort of commendation for attempting to stop it,” Tracht said. “But I’m loathe to pay him yet another bonus. It’s getting ridiculous.”

“Save it for Schultz,” Espinosa suggested. “If not for her it would have gone on much longer.” She started tapping on her own tablet. “I’ll make the job listing for a new crew member and send it out as soon as we hit comm-space.”

“Good. And please see to it that Ms. Carpenter is doing toilet duty for the rest of the trip. Hopefully that will deter the others from letting their cabin fever turn violent.” Tracht rolled his shoulders and then stretched his arms. “I think that’s enough for today. Thank you for your assistance, Ms. Espinosa. You’re a boon to have on board.”

Shockingly, Espinosa started smiling. She liked Tracht, Alex thought. Legit liked him, probably wanted to bone him. He snorted a quiet laugh, and was glad that Tracht had no interest in women at all. As long as Alex was the only person on board who could give Tracht what he wanted, there was still a chance for Alex to get Tracht to change his mind.

Espinosa collected her tablet, bade her farewells, and was out the door. Now was Alex’s chance. He had to find an angle, but he was not getting sent back to the Nilsens. No way.

The door swished open again. Alex cursed the interruption and sent a glare at whoever had come in.

“Did you forget something, Ms. Es—” Tracht trailed off again, his expression turning stern. “Ms. Rodriguez. How may I assist you?”

The other one of the lesbians from that morning. Carpenter’s girlfriend, then. She looked a lot less defiant than Carpenter—probably knew better than to mess with Tracht. She took a couple of hesitant steps into the office and stopped a good meter in front of the desk.

“Sir, I heard what happened and... I wanted to make a case for Paula.”

Tracht’s answer was quick and decisive. “No.”

“Please, sir!” Rodriguez squared her shoulders and stood straighter. “Paula deserves the disciplinary action, but dismissal will ruin her.”

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