Reavers (Book 3) (4 page)

“I say something wrong?” she asked.

“Not at all.  His first words to me were: ‘Will you shut up?’”

The girl started to giggle.  Kevin turned his back on the two.  That did it.  The girl burst into full bore laughter along with about ten others.  Tardos hadn’t realized it, but everyone who could had been eavesdropping.  With a smile, he settled into his bunk.  It hadn’t been the best of introductions, but at least it was over for now.  The only worry now was what the second in command had meant by “tomorrow you start your new lives.”  In Tardos’ experience those words
always
heralded work and suffering.

After a restful night’s sleep, a gentle shaking awakened Tardos.  Opening his eyes, he found Kevin standing over him.  As Tardos was about to greet him, Kevin moved his hand to his face.  He was obviously telling him to remain silent.  Visions of the hulking man seeking revenge flashed through Tardos’ mind.  Sitting up, he quickly scanned the room around them.  The regular crewmembers were still fast asleep.  Along with Kevin, the other newcomers were awake.  Tardos stood up and shook the sleepiness from his face.  As his senses sharpened, he recognized the second in command standing in the entrance.  Quickly and quietly the new crewmembers snuck out and followed the second in command while the others slept.

“What time is it?” Tardos asked Kevin when he was sure they were far enough away from the others still sleeping.

“Too blasted early,” a dull feminine voice said.

Turning his head to glance behind him, he instantly snapped it back.  He recognized the girl as the one who had picked the bunk on the other side of him, although who she was seemed instantly trivial.  What she was wearing on the other hand was harder to ignore.  Or perhaps it was better to say what she wasn’t wearing.

While there was no dress code on a pirate ship, there were still forms of decency.  At least Tardos thought there were.  The girl behind him was wearing what appeared to be a single length of cloth that wrapped around her in a manner that covered only that which
had
to be covered.  What was worse was the cloth was semi-transparent.  Even the parts it concealed were
barely
covered.

“Something wrong?” she asked with a yawn.

Feeling obliged, Tardos turned to face her and shook his head.  Instantly, he realized she wasn’t even looking at him.  Her gaze was firmly locked on the back of Kevin’s head.  He restrained the urge to laugh.  The outfit that was getting him hot and bothered was designed to do exactly that.  The girl seemed to have the equivalent of a schoolyard crush on the dashing Kevin who had saved them all from that hulking brute. The only problem was he seemed completely and entirely ignorant of that fact.

Here the girl was walking around practically naked for him, and he hadn’t even seemed to notice.  Tardos rubbed the bridge of his nose.  Was his young friend really that dense?  Abruptly, he ran right into Kevin’s back.  In the few moments he had taken his eyes off him, Kevin had come to a dead stop.  Before he could ask why, he realized the second in command had stopped his advance and had turned to face them.  They were in a large open room obviously used for training and exercise.

“First things first.  We have not yet been formally introduced.  My name is Andreas Viera.  From this point on you are expected to know the names of everyone around you.  This ship regularly engages in combat situations that require quick response times.  I will not have you putting this ship in danger because you are bad with names.”

The new crewmembers tried to stand at attention against the formality of Andreas’ voice.  After his introduction, he made a strange hand signal Tardos had seen before but couldn’t remember exactly what it meant.  Kevin grabbed his hand and pulled him alongside him.  That was it.  Andreas had ordered them to form a line.  Getting the hint, the others quickly moved to form a less-than-perfect line.  Andreas calmly walked to one end of the line and looked expectantly at the man standing across from him.

After a moment of confusion, the man introduced himself.  Tardos focused on the man’s name and face.  He had been a strategist, not a combatant.  In the past he had only had to remember who was the captain and who was second in command.  The rest were nameless pirates who moved like chess pieces according to his instructions.

As Andreas moved down the line, Tardos quickly lost track of who was who.  The progress came to grinding halt when Andreas stood across from Kevin.  He stared expectantly at Kevin.  Kevin looked like a statue that hadn’t moved in years.  The hints of a frown started to form on Andreas’ face.  Tardos realized he had to speak up and took a deep breath.

“His name is Kevin,” the girl standing next to him said.

She had beaten him to the punch.

“Does
Kevin
have a problem?” Andreas asked, without taking his eyes off of the boy.

“I don’t think so . . .” the girl said looking at the short man for support.

“Give him an order,” Tardos said flatly.

Andreas broke his stare to look at the short man.  After a few moments of an unbearably hard stare, Andreas returned his attention to Kevin.

“Any order?” Andreas asked.

“Yep,” Tardos confirmed.

A wicked smile formed on Andreas’ face.

“What’s your name?” he asked the girl who had given Kevin’s name.

“Sasha Pajer.”

“All right, Kevin,” he said with a smug look on his face.  “Sasha spoke out of turn.  I think she needs to be punished.  Take her clothes from her . . . if that’s what you can call that getup.”

The gathered group started to mumble disapprovingly.  No one dared protest with words, but it was obvious Andreas was not making any friends.  Kevin nodded and approached Sasha.  She instantly panicked and tried to run.  With a firm hand, he held her still.  Her eyes started to mist.  Tardos moved to stop the affair but Andreas held him back.  After making sure he understood how to disrobe her, Kevin closed his eyes.

Without peeking once, he completely removed her clothes.  Then strangely, without opening his eyes, he took off his shirt and pants.  The others watched in stunned silence as he then handed his clothes to the girl.  With large tears in her eyes Sasha quickly took the clothes and covered herself.

“I didn’t say you could . . .” Andreas protested.

“You didn’t say he couldn’t either,” a gruff voice said over him.

Everyone turned to find Revel standing at the far end of the room, his arm in a cast.

“You told the boy to take her clothes,” Revel said.  “He did that.  You didn’t say a thing about giving his.  You’ve proved your point.  Kevin will follow orders; no need to embarrass the girl further.  None of them will keep the ship from running smoothly.”

With a look of annoyance, Andreas sighed.  Without a word of apology, he moved to Tardos.  Realizing they were continuing, Tardos gave his full name.  He skipped Sasha.  After the last of the new crewmembers had been introduced, Andreas handed each of them a pad.  Quickly checking it over, Tardos found a long list of menial tasks to be completed before the day was over.

“Dismissed,” Andreas said plainly.

As soon as his back turned, the new crewmembers made faces and gestures one did not make in polite society.

“Let’s get you some new clothes,” Revel said with a grin as he forcibly slapped Kevin’s bare back.

“I hate to ask, but aren’t you mad about . . . that?” Tardos asked, hesitantly gesturing to Revel’s cast.

“Mad?  Are you kidding?  Mad is for when you stub your toe on the hull plating.  I planned to come down here and return the favor.  And then some.”  Revel slapped Kevin’s back again.  “Seeing all
that
, I think I may have judged him too quickly.  You’re alright, kid.”

As he started to pull Kevin along, Sasha stopped him.

“Thank you for . . . everything,” she said in a soft voice, between sniffles.

“Girl, thank the man when he has some clothes on!” Revel said, bursting into laughter.

As Tardos followed after the rest, a sickening thought hit him.  What would Andreas have made Kevin do if
he
had answered before Sasha?  A shiver ran up and down his spine at the thought.  As they reached the bunks again, he overheard some of the male crewmembers following behind him talking among themselves.  Tardos struggled to place their names with their voices.

“I can’t believe that just happened!” Tommy said, or at least Tardos thought he was named Tommy.

“Tell me about it, but did you see her body?  A-ma-zing,” Isaac said.

“I can’t believe that guy closed his eyes.  What an opportunity!”

A mixture of annoyance and disgust filled him.  After that display, all they could think of was
that
?  As he shook his head, a familiar hand rested on his shoulder.  Kevin was redressed and was already looking over the tasks on the pad.  He shot a glance at him that asked if he was ready.

“One moment,” he said, gesturing for Kevin to stay.

Kevin raised an eyebrow as Tardos crossed the room and leaned in close to the two men.

“I hope you
boys
enjoyed that eyeful,” he said in a low voice so Kevin couldn’t hear, “because that is as close as perverts like you will ever get.  Because my friend chose to be a gentleman and not take advantage of that
opportunity
, he has a chance that next time
she’ll
be the one asking him to take her clothes off.”

The two men stared at Tardos in disbelief.  As he returned to Kevin he could hear the two men arguing enviously over how unfair life was.

“What was that all about?” Kevin asked in a whisper.

“Nothing important,” he answered with a shrug.  “Now tell me, my friend, what do you know about dating?”

“A little extreme for my tastes,” Rosalyn said indifferently.

“It served a purpose,” Andreas said defensively.

“I know, I know.  Makes me wonder though.”

“Wonder what?”

“If you’d like to strip me down too.”  Rosalyn ran her hands around her bust and hips suggestively.  “I can imagine you’d love to sneak a peak at these curves.”

“Attire like that is a distraction.”  He completely ignored her taunt.  “We can’t have the men tripping over their drool.  The lesson will keep
both
in line.”

“Plus, I’m the only one who gets to make men drool around here.  I am a little surprised by Revel though.  He loves to abuse the newcomers.”

“Don’t forget Revel originally came from a core world.  He doesn’t bat an eye over a broken bone or two.  However, he is overly squeamish about decorum.”

“Whatever you call it, I think your plan backfired.”

“How so?”

“Kevin’s made a powerful friend in Revel.  The two of them might be more than you can handle.  You’re losing your touch.”

“If I can handle you, I can handle anyone.  It’s a shame though.”

“What?  That you can’t confess your undying love for me?” Rosalyn said with a wink.

“That we will have to miss on so many targets.”

“You always have to ruin my fun, don’t you?” she asked as her face turned serious.  “Our last job should be more than enough to keep us running.  Although, I don’t like the idea of missing out any more than you do.”

“We’ll just have to make up for the lost time with a juicy target.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

With a nod, Andreas turned to leave the bridge.

“One more thing,” Rosalyn said quickly.

“Yes?”  He spoke without turning to face her.

“Have you found out anything about our new guest?”

“Novák?”

“Who else would I mean?”

“I’ve asked around and pulled in a few favors.  However, so far no one seems to know anything about him.  A few seemed to recognize the name but knew no real details.”

“Well, keep trying.  I don’t like dangerous surprises.”

With another nod, Andreas finally left the bridge.  Being a pirate meant freedom of action and movement.  She could do what she pleased, where she pleased - as long as no one caught her.  The price for that freedom was more than a fair bit of chaos.  Contracts could be broken on a whim.  There were no lawyers to force Duda to stick with his original agreement because that original agreement was against the law anyway.  Without a firm hand, loyal crewmembers could turn against their captain at any moment, robbing them blind or worse.

For the time being, the most annoying was the fact pirates never kept records of anything.  Everything was based on rumor and hearsay.  If Rosalyn was the captain of a legitimate ship, she could simply pull out her pad and get the personnel file of any crewmember she wanted.  In a few seconds she could have the complete history of Tardos Novák.  Unfortunately, pirates didn’t believe in that sort of thing.  If Tardos even had any kind of personnel file, it would be a list of lies and forgeries.  It was the same with every new crewmember.  Most times that was half the fun.  Watching Andreas whip the lot into shape was more entertaining than most 3Ps.