Page 29 of Savage Union

“I see,” I groaned. “Now please leave me alone—I just want to sleep.”

“I’ll talk to the Captain for you,” Snuffy promised. “Youshouldbe excused from shower time tonight. Worm hole sickness is one of the few excuses he’ll accept.”

“Thanks,” I groaned. “Please, Snuffy—I need to rest before Gurflug comes back.”

“You probably should,” he said sympathetically. “Thatgreasstainis probably going to give him awful wind in his belly.”

I groaned again at the thought and buried my head in the pillow. Goddess of the Four Faces, if I’d known what I was getting myself into, I would have stayed home and gone through with the Binding to Grr. Malofice!

Snuffy left but I only had a few more moments of peace before Gurflug came into the room, bringing a cloud of stench with him.

“Well, that was quite a scene you caused in the mess hall,Catamite,”he chortled, kicking the bottom bunk with his size forty boot. “The whole ship is talking about it!”

I really wanted to tell him off for lying but I still felt too queasy for confrontation. I decided the best course of action was to keep quiet with my blanket over my head so he couldn’t tell I was awake.

“Sleep while you can,” he sneered, kicking my bunk again. “I’ll be seeing you after this ridiculous mandatory shower.”

He began stripping off his uniform, which was already nasty from his slimy skin, and threw it carelessly on the floor. Which was unnecessary—I had left half of the hooks on the far wall empty for his use. Gurflug clearly didn’t care though. At least he wrapped the towel Snuffy had left around his waist so I didn’t have to see him naked though—thank the Goddess of Four Faces for small favors.

I lay in the bottom bunk for the rest of the night, until lights out. Gurflug came back from the shower but he still smelled as bad as ever. I noticed—when I peeked out from under the covers—that his hair still looked greasy and his skin was still slimy. Had he showered at all? It certainly didn’t look like it to me. I wondered if anyone else would notice.

Of course, as soon as my noxious roommate came back and got in his bunk, I had to move to the floor. The springs of the mattress above me were sagging down nearly to my face and the minute Gurflug lay down and got comfortable, he started farting.

In a matter of minutes the smell was so bad I was afraid I might pass out or puke again. The floor was hard and cold but I couldn’t lie underneath him with that going on—not that and the threat that he might come through and squash me at any moment.

I spent a truly miserable night, thinking that I had gotten myself in over my head…but the next day, things got even worse.

13

TURK

Ifrowned as I surveyed my two new navigators. Both of them were in bad shape…but in different ways.

Gurflug looked dirty and disheveled in a way that was completely unacceptable. His uniform was stained and crumpled, as though he’d taken it off and thrown it on the ground the night before instead of hanging it neatly. His skin was still covered in slime and his hair was lank and greasy. Hadn’t I made myself clear about the mandatory shower time? It didn’t look like he was any cleaner than he had been when I’d hired him the day before. In fact, if anything he looked fuckingworse.

Cass was a different story. His uniform was neat and clean but his amber eyes were bloodshot and there were dark smudges under his eyes like bruises. I knew from talking to Snuffy the day before that he’d had worm hole sickness—which was a problem for a navigator, since lots of holes have time dilations. I had some medication I thought might help him, but I wanted to deal with Gurflug first.

“Navigator Gurflug, come here,” I said to him, rising from my chair and nodding at my Ready Room, just off the main bridge.

He shot me a narrow-eyed glance but rose from the navigator’s chair, which he had pushed Cass out of earlier. The boy was really going to have to learn to defend himself or he wasn’t going to make it, I thought grimly.

I kept a rough crew aboard The Illyrian—you can’t have a bunch of pacifists on board when you’re a smuggling ship. Besides, there are plenty of dangers out in open space. I’ve had to fight my way out of bad situations before and I need males behind me that can get my back. So my crew isn’t exactly the nicest bunch.

I did try to make sure they were presentable though—which fucking Gurflug absolutely wasnot.

“Navigator Cass, take the chair and plot our next jump,” I said. I threw the boy my clean-all rag as I spoke so he could wipe off the nav band. That alone was a reason Gurflug needed to shower—he was getting the expensive navigation equipment all greasy and slimy. I didn’t have room in my budget this run to replace the delicate nav band if it got clogged up and ruined.

I stepped into my ready room with Gurflug and waited until the door slid shut behind us. A good leader praises in public and corrects in private—in this case, there was alotto correct.

The minute we were in an enclosed space together, I noticed his odor all over again. Goddess above, the male smelled rancid! I had to fight not to cover my nose with my hand.

“Yes, Captain? You wanted to see me?” he burbled.

“Exactly—I wanted to see you—notsmell you,” I said, getting right to the point. “There have been some complaints about your odor, Gurflug.”

He flushed, a muddy brown color rising to his greenish cheeks.

“Has that little snot been talking about me behind my back?”

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