Page 126 of Sway's Peace
“You’ll have to obey my rules if you’re part of the crew.”
“Absolutely!”
“And you’ll have to work.”
“I wouldn’t expect not to,” she nodded eagerly. “I don’t really know what I can do around here, but I can learn fast.”
“Actually,” Tanin gave her a look before saying, “we could use someone with your skills. To handle job acquisitions and datawork and records. Payments and things like that.”
Grace’s brow furrowed as she hesitated. “You mean… admin work?”
Tanin nodded once.
She blinked.
Sway opened his mouth to speak, but before he got a chance, a wide smile broke out over her face, and she laughed happily.
“Awesome! I’m great at administrative work! Oh! I already have ideas. Your subnet space is so basic and outdated and so clunky to navigate. And why don’t you have an automatic response when a job request is placed? Customers don’t like the sense that they’re being ignored or like something might have gone wrong when-”
Loud, pounding footsteps made Grace jump as Sway turned. He, Tanin, and the twins all reached for their respective weapons – purely on reflex – as Vytln came barging into main storage. He was huge, his hard, brown skin broken in places, glowing like lava through the cracks. He had a hard, determined look on his face as he ran past them, to a panel on the wall. Seemingly at random. He grabbed it and threw it open, yelling-
“Got you!”
-at nothing.
Everyone stared at him as he began cursing in a very growly, harshly toned language. His voice sounded like rocks beating together at the best of times, but when he spoke in his native tongue like that, it was even more pronounced.
The twins snickered darkly under their breath as Tanin relaxed. Sway frowned, looking back at his captain as Vytln slammed the panel shut, though his angry cursing continued.
“What’s wrong with him?” He asked.
Tanin shrugged, unconcerned. “Apparently, we picked up some kind of pest back on Hir-Fallow.”
Grace gasped, affronted. “I beg your pardon. You did not!”
“Yes, we did!” Vytln barked at her. “Somethingcrawled from your station into our ship, and by the black, I amgoingto find it!”
“You did not get a pest from my dock!” She snapped back, putting her hands on her hips, but Vytln wasn’t listening. He was already marching away, his heavy boots loud on the metal floor.
“Didwe pick up something from the docks?” Sway asked. Grace shot a sharp look at him, but he didn’t look her way. He just wrapped his arm back around her and pulled her against him. She tried to resist at first, but very quickly gave in and relaxed against him – even if she did it with an offended pout. Like Vytln had personally blamed her for the pest.
Tanin responded calmly, “Alred can’t find anything, and Vytln has had him scan the ship a few times. But Vytln swears something is moving around and messing with the ship’s internals.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Grace asked, frowning.
“The engine is too hot for anything but Vytln to approach, and the life support and subspace generator have protections against pests. Anything else it could get to would just be an inconvenience. I’m letting Vytln handle it.”
“Come on, we can catch up later,” Garnet interjected, smiling at them. “I’m sure you’re tired and probably want to get settled in. I’ll bring you some food too.”
Sway gave her a grateful smile. Tanin might not be equitable to a father-like figure in his mind, but Garnet certainly filled the role of a nurturer very well. Much more than anything back in the Song, he was comforted by that simple offer.
It was good to be home.
Chapter 32
Grace
Grace should be tired. She hadn’t slept properly last night. She was definitely hungry, and she devoured the food Garnet brought her. The hot, fresh meal wasn’t one she recognized, but it was delicious. She was glad the food synthesizer was working well.
