IV.  Motives Revealed

   *****

The calm air encircling the spaceport Circuitia provided a stark contrast to the chaos inside the captain's stateroom of the R.L.S. Redemption.

"You're a privateer!"

"Aye."

"You never told me!"

"Ye never asked."

"You said you deliver cargo! I hardly felt the need to ask if you were a mercenary!"

"Well, Ah dinnae lie, exactly… We are going t' be delivering cargo…"

"That's not the point!"

Aubrey chuckled. "Ah was going t' tell ye before we launched, Jim."

"And what if I had said I didn't want to be your first mate any more?"

"Ye haven't left yet…"

"If I had left – "

"So ye're not?"

" – you'd be grounded until you could find a replacement!"

"Believe me when Ah say it wouldn't take that long, lad."

"I thought you were respectable… I mean, you were a professor at the Academy!"

"Now hold on a tic, Hawkins. Ah'm a perfectly respectable spacer."

"But – but – Privateers are just pirates that get paid to murder and pillage… right?"  Jim was suddenly unsure.

The statement elicited a laugh from Fletcher.  "Some are, Jim, yes."  She sat down heavily and gestured for him to do the same.  "But one of th' things that makes me th' best, is that Ah know how to pick m' employers."  She grinned and spread her arms wide. "And Ah am th' best."

Jim felt himself smiling along with her.  "You could have told me sooner."

She looked aghast. "Wha'? An' spoil th' fun o' this?" She shook her head. "Nah. Jim, I wanted t' hire ye because ye wanted to work fer me.  Not b'cause of my job, and not b'cause o' th' payoffs."

"But you told me to apply to those other captains…"

"Aye." She smiled. "And ye never did."

Jim flushed. "How did you - ?"

She waved him off. "Ah have m' ways.  Ye didn't apply, an' that's the point."

"How so?"

"Would ye let me finish, lad?"

"Sorry Captain."

"If ye had applied, Ah'd've known ye weren't sure about sailing wi' me.  Obviously, ye were sure, an' Ah'm tickled pink t' have ye.  Ye're a fine lad, James.  An' I expect ye t' be a fine first mate."

There was a silence.

"Ah'm finished."

"Thank you, Captain…"

"Ye have something to say, don't ye?"

Moment of Truth, Jim decided.  Aubrey watched him patiently.

"I'm looking for John Silver!"  Oh yeah, real nice, Hawkins.

"The John Silver?"

"Um, yeah…"

"Well, Ah hate t' disappoint ye, lad, but he's not on this ship." A grin tugged at the corners of her mouth.

Jim rolled his eyes. "I know. But, um, well, you've been a lot of places… And I thought you might know something about where he might be."  He swallowed forcefully. "Or maybe you were hired to find him…?"

"No lad. Ah'm afraid our paths have never crossed.  Ever since the mutiny on the Legacy – " here she smirked at Jim "- neither hide nor hair has been seen of that old spacedog."

"What about the Revenge?"

It may have been the first time Jim had seen Fletcher look genuinely surprised.

"So ye know about that?" She sighed. "Well, Jim, as much as Ah'd like t' meet that friend of yers, Ah find it highly doubtful that a wanted pirate like him'd join up with such a high-profile crew…"

"But it's possible?"

She chuckled and shook her head.

"Don't get yer hopes up too high, lad.  But we'll ask around."

Jim smiled. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

   *****

Aubrey had introduced him to most of the crew, and Jim was glad to discover that just about all of them were the exact opposite of the crew Doppler had hired for the Legacy.  They grinned and laughed and slapped each other heartily on the back… Not a one acted suspicious in any way.  And they were all keen on meeting the first mate that Fletcher had spoken of so highly.

The cook turned out to be an old friend of Fletcher's. A Conevian who went by the name Spence, and refused to answer to anything else.  Jim had found it a bit surprising that he was blind, but Aubrey assured him that Spence was the finest cook she had ever had.  Jim had pushed back the slight disappointment he had felt as they ambled down to the galley, and instead of the large cyborg, there was only the hunched Spence. 

But Spence was quite likeable.  He told Jim a story about Fletcher while the captain's back was turned; about how as a pup traveling on her father's ship, the young Aubrey had fallen from the main boom and broken her arm while trying to show off for the son of the first mate.  Jim laughed, and Fletcher, guessing Spence's story, rounded on the old cook, grinning.

"Aye, well, if yer spawn hadn't threatened me with the label 'coward', Ah never would've done it!"

They bid farewell to the cook, who promised that their first meal on the etherium would be some feast, and made their way up to the bridge.

"Spence was your father's first mate?"

"Aye.  When m' Mum and Da' retired, he became cap'n, and Ah was his first mate."  Her mood had become somewhat sullen.  "His first time as cap'n on this ship, an' a meteor storm steals his sight from him."

"Really?"

"Aye."

"So that's when you became captain?"

She grimaced. "Not right away.  Ah wasn't quite ready t' handle the responsibility, so we took on another cap'n."

Jim read her expression and furrowed his brow.  "What happened to him?"

"Killed by pirates on his maiden voyage."

"Then did you…?"

"No. We went through still one more b'fore the crew feared tha' th' ship was cursed.  I was afraid of losin' m' crew, so I stepped up t' th' position."

"…And?"

"We ended up 2000 drubloons richer than we hoped we would be by th' time th' first voyage was over."

"Wow."

"Yeah.  Well, Spence couldn't stand t' leave the 'therium, so he learned t' cook, and we've been sailin' t'gether ever since."

The helmsman, Digland, saluted smartly as Aubrey approached.

"Afternoon, Cap'n!"

"Mister Digland. Wonderful to see ye at the helm again!"

"I sooner fly a mantabird than any ship other than yours, Cap'n!"

"Well, that makes two o' us, Digland."  She winked and gestured to Jim.  "May Ah introduce ye t' m' new first mate, Jim Hawkins."

Jim grasped one of the four paws that had been offered.

"A pleasure, Mr. Hawkins!"

"Now don't shake his arm completely off! Ah'm going to need ever'one t' be in top condition this trip."

"Aye-aye Cap'n!" Digland abruptly let go and turned back to the helm.

Aubrey grinned at Jim. "Well, Hawkins, why don't ye show us how an Academy graduate launches a galleon like this."

Jim returned the grin and began calling orders to the enthusiastic crew.  It was about time.