Page 13 of Savage Union

“Well, we won’t know until we try, will we?” I said.

I have to admit, I was interested in the boy. It took guts to approach a Captain of the Four Families and make such an audacious claim. I had never heard of a navvie with no blind spots—it would be interesting to see if he could prove his words. At the very least, I might be able to use him as leverage to bring down Gurflug’s price.

The boy brightened at my words.

“Just give me a chance to show you, Captain—that’s all I ask!” he exclaimed in a high clear voice that was somehow familiar. I frowned—did I know him? But no—that was impossible. He must sound like someone else I knew. Come to think of it, helookedvaguely familiar too, which made no sense—I was positive I’d never met a boy like him before.

To be honest, the conundrum only made him more interesting and I wanted to see if he could prove his audacious claim.

“All right.” I beckoned towards The Illyrian’s loading ramp, which was currently down. “Follow me. You, too,” I added, speaking to Gurflug. “Might as well try both of you.”

Gurflug took offense at this.

“You’re going to testme?Captain, I am a Galafruxian! Our navigational skills are beyond reproach!”

“Then you won’t mind me checking them out,” I said blandly. “Even the best navvie can make a mistake—my last one flew twenty straight missions aboard The Illyrian before he nearly got us all killed. So you’ll pardon me if I want to be sure you’ve got the goods before I pay your ungodly price.”

He still looked highly offended, but when I turned and went up the ramp with the boy at my side, he lumbered after us, the ramp creaking from his weight.

I had to test them both—but I had no idea which one would become my new navvie.

7

TURK

Iled them through the ship’s narrow corridors, navigating with the ease of long practice. The Illyrian was my first love—I knew her every corner and angle.

She might have been my love, but that didn’t mean she was pretty. There wasn’t a spare inch of wasted space and a lot of the ship’s machinery had encroached into the living areas. The ceilings on the decks were tall enough that I didn’t hit my head—but just barely—and there were plenty of places where you had to step around things to get where you were going.

I noticed that the boy was quick and clambered over and around any obstacles with no problem. Gurflug, on the other hand, was clumsy. He hit his head more than once, since he was a few units taller than I was and I heard him bang his knee on one of the circulation pipes and swear a blue streak.

I didn’t mind the swearing but it was important to have a navvie who could get to the bridge of the ship quickly and easily in case of an emergency. I said nothing but I made a mental note.

I led my two navigator candidates to the lift and turned to face them.

“This is my private lift—the Captain’s lift,” I told them. “If I hire either one of you, you’re going to be using the Gensen’s tubes to get around the ship. Understand?”

The boy—whose name I still didn’t know—nodded quickly.

“No problem, Captain Turk,” he said.

I frowned—had I told the boy my name? I couldn’t remember doing so. Maybe he’d heard Gurflug talking to me before.

Speaking of the big Galafruxian, he was looking distinctly uneasy.

“Er, how big are the Gensen’s tubes on this ship?” he asked.

I eyed him up and down.

“Big enough—though it will probably be a tight squeeze,” I told him, after making a mental assessment.

He bristled.

“I think I should be allowed to use the lift instead. The navigator is an important member of the crew—some might say themostimportant.”

If the boy hadn’t turned up, I would have had to agree to this—even though I didn’t want my private lift smelling like rotten fish all the fucking time. But as things stood, I had more leverage than I had before.

“Sorry,” I said coolly. “It doesn’t matter how important you think you are, the lift is private and off limits to anyone but the Captain—that’s protocol aboard The Illyrian. However…” I raised a finger. “Just this once, I’m going to allow the two of you to ride with me. Come in.”

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