Chapter 7
Ginger stepped onto the bridge, his helmet tucked under his left arm and a Pistol locked to the thigh of his light armor. He took a moment to glance around the bridge, noting the calm efficiency of the crew before moving toward Marie at the command console.
"You called?" He said as a way of announcing himself. Marie turned around to face him and he saw the barely veiled anger in her eyes.
"Follow me." She walked past him and he turned to follow. She lead him to a door at the rear of the bridge, a small office for the captain of the ship to have a modicum of privacy when the need arised. She continued forward, moving behind the small desk in the middle of the room and took a seat, gesturing at a chair across from her. Ginger sat down and placed his helmet on the ground beside his chair.
"For the sake of this conversation, I'll drop any formalities if that's alright with you?" She stated, but the question at the end showed she still respected his authority over her.
"Of course, speak freely Captain." Ginger answered, adjusting to a more comfortable position in his seat.
"What the hell were you thinking?" She all but shouted at him. "I'm not ready to be captain, I was a damn Comm Officer not 12 hours ago! A lieutenant!"
She stood from her chair and slammed her hands down onto the table, glaring at him the whole time.
"What could possibly make you think that I was ready for this position?"
Ginger met her stare, his face neutral as her took in her rage, her fear and her uncertainty. Breathing softly, he leaned forward in his seat and motioned for her to sit back down. She did, after a moment and he allowed her some extra time to calm down before he spoke.
"What do you think makes a person leadership material? Is it charisma? Their ability to convince people to follow? Is it their tactical or strategic brilliance? Being able to win the day with minimal casualties. Maybe it's their ability to think outside the box. Being able to see things from a different perspective and approach problems in a way that no one else would." Ginger leaned back into his seat. "The answer doesn't really matter. Itchy's a good leader because of his experience, same as me. Hat's a good leader because he takes charge and people naturally fall in line, though he'll never admit it. That's where you fall in."
Marie opened her mouth to respond, but a quick glare from Ginger silenced her.
"You took charge when the crew needed it most and they gladly followed because they didn't have the balls to lead themselves. You may not want the position, you might think you're not ready for it and you're probably right." Ginger smirked. "But you're what we've got and you've got myself and my squad to back you up. If you need advice, we're here. I'll help with the crew, Hat can teach you everything you need to know about the ship, trust me, you'll wanna know and Itchy will handle ground operations. You're not alone."
Ginger reached out a hand to shake and gave an encouraging smile. Marie took the hand and gave a sigh of relief. While not all of her fears had been addressed, it was good to know that she wasn't being cast into the deep end and expected to swim.
"Now." Ginger leaned back into his seat and gave her a hard look. "Let's go over your plan for the immediate future. You've given us a long term goal, but we need the here and now."
"Well..." Marie trailed off, looking anywhere that wasn't in Ginger's direction. "I've uh...I've got nothing."
Her head dropped to the table and she let out a defeated sigh. Ginger chuckled before scooting to the edge of his seat and leaning forward to rest his arms on the table.
"That's what I'm here for. What's the status of the Swordbreaker's defenses?"
Marie lifted her head and pulled up her MobiGlas, but before she could turn it on, Ginger placed a hand on her wrist and gently pushed it down.
"There's a console on the table. You're registered as the ship's captain so you have access."
Blushing in embarrassment, Marie turned to the console and logged in, unsurprised when her credentials were accepted and the monitor came to life. She pulled up repair reports and turned the monitor so Ginger could see.
"Shields are online at one-hundred percent and Weapons suffered no damage in the fight. Offensively and defensively we are good to go."
"Perfect. Now, knowing that the ship can defend itself, what would be a better use for Itchy's squad?" Ginger asked, not so subtly leading her on the right track.
"With jump capable craft, they could theoretically jump to the system and perform scouting operations, though with their limited Quantum reserves they wouldn't be very effective." Marie bit her lower lip as she thought, one finger tapping the desk. "But the Cutlass has an upgraded Drive. Not fast, but more efficient. We could use the Cutlass to scout the system, at least the initial jump location for the Swordbreaker."
"Now you're on the right track." Ginger smiled and leaned back from the table.
"You could make the jump with Hat and Reaper, scout the area and wait for our arrival, but you'd be able to bug out if there was any trouble." Marie gained more confidence as she spoke, her plan coming together as she accounted for any variables or hiccups. "If we were to outfit the Cutlass with deep space scanners, we could get a pretty good idea of the system and the planetary bodies."
"So Captain." Ginger interrupted Marie smoothly. "What are your orders?"
Hat watched as the engineers installed the long range scanner into the troop bay of the Cutlass. They had to remove the seats that ran down the centerline, but it's not like they had the bodies to fill them anymore. Dark? Maybe. True? Certainly.
He wasn't one to invest in hope and positivity. No. He was practical about things. They were in an unknown galaxy with a ship that had lost nearly half its crew and no idea as to what they were going to do long term.
The Quantum Drive overload that had landed them here was a one in a trillion fuck up that he seriously doubted could be replicated.
It was more surprising that they'd lived, to be honest. It was likely they'd used up all their good luck for the rest of their lives with this stunt.
The engineers signaled that they'd finished the install and Hat made his way over to complete the final checks. Ginger was there, watching the install, but he was only making sure they didn't damage his ship. He was a hell of a pilot, but he knew fuck-all about how to fix, install or repair the damn thing.
He'd tried to teach him, he really did, but the fucking red-haired bastard always said the same shit.
"Why would I need to learn when I've got you around?"
It sounded arrogant. It made him sound like he only saw him as a handy mechanic who he carried around to keep his ship running.
But he knew what he really meant.
"We'll always be a team and I know you'll always have my back."
It made him smile. He could he annoying, but he was his brother in all but blood. They were all family. His family. Despite their faults, of which there were many, they depended on each other to get the job done. Ginger flew and he fixed. Why fix what isn't broken?
"Swordbreaker Actual, MechaGinger. Requesting permission to depart."
"Permission granted, MechaGinger. Be safe out there." Marie said as she watched the ship begin to lift off the deck in the hangar. The engines rotated and the Cutlass took off into the void, passing through the energy barrier and disappearing from sight.
She switched to the Javelin's radar and watched as the vessel pulled away, gaining distance before pausing to line up a jump vector.
"Swordbreaker Actual, MechaGinger. Coordinates are locked and the drive is spooled up. Comms will have a delay, a minute at least."
"Understood. Report in every hour or if anything interesting comes up. Swordbreaker should be jumping in about...five hours."
"Roger that, Captain. We'll see you in system."
The line cut off and she watched the green dot that signified the Cutlass vanish from the sensors. With a soft sigh, Marie turned off the screen and went back to overseeing the repair efforts aboard her ship.
"Why did we have to tag along?" Nixie questioned as she stepped into the crew compartment of the Cutlass. Bacon was following behind her and Itchy was already there.
"If we're gonna be scouting the area, we may need boots on the ground." Answered Itchy, turning his head to look back at his team.
"For what?" Bacon leaned against the wall beside the turret seat where Reaper was sitting. "You expecting to run into something out here?"
"Can't be too careful." Reaper called out.
"Oh shut up." Becon swatted at the Gunner with a lazy hand.
"Reaper's right." Itchy cut in. "Despite the odds being low, we're in unknown waters. Security should he our highest priority right now."
"Once we know rather we're safe or not, we can relax a bit, but until then, I want everyone ready at a moment's notice." Ginger ordered from the pilot's chair. "That's why Reaper's got his ass planted in that turret seat and we're all wearing armor."
Itchy turned back to the cockpit canopy and stepped forward. He stood below the raised seats of Hat and Ginger, leaning against the glass so he wasn't directly under the chairs.
"How long is this jump supposed to take?" He asked.
"Bout thirty minutes?" Ginger replied, glancing back over his shoulder at Hat who nodded to confirm his answer.
"Once we arrive, we'll be using passive scans until we know what's around. If we're clear, I'll boot up the long range scanner and start pinging the system. It'll take about an hour for the scans to paint a decent picture of what's in system." Hat added.
"Didn't the Swordbreaker already conduct scans?" Nixie asked, taking a seat on one of the bunks in the back of the cabin.
"Those were only visual scans taken with the long range cameras. No information aside from what the eye can see." Hat shifted in his seat so he could see Nixie over his shoulder. "With the scanner, we'll be able to detect atmospheric composition, exact sizes of celestial bodies, asteroid density as well as mineral deposits on the surface. Granted, it'll only be from one direction, so if there's anything behind something, we won't see it, but like I said, we'll have a pretty good idea of what's around."
Nixie nodded in understanding, not really having any other questions at the moment. The cabin fell into a comfortable silence as everyone thought about what they might find in this new system.
"Dog goes "Woof", Cat goes "Meow", Bird goes "Tweet" and Mouse goes "Squeek"."
"GOD DAMMIT GINGER, I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Hat screamed as the song began playing over the ship's speakers. He lunged forward in his chair and started swinging at the back of Gibger's helmeted head. Everyone voiced their own complaints as the song only increased in volume alongside Ginger's obnoxious laughter.