THE MOTHER LODE BY ABRAXIS
Chapter 11 - FROM WHERE I SIT
When Barrol had brought those huge ass .... what did you call 'em? They were smith made so he guessed that made 'em daggers but they looked a lot more like Barrol's shiv than his sticker but sure not something you could hide. Anyway, when Barrol had handed him one, Jeeter's first thought was that he would rather have a nice straight blade. Then he thought again. After all, Barrol was the pro. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to try and learn a few things from him.
A'course the best weapon that Barrol had was those eyes. When Jeeter had seen 'em in the alley, he had thought he was dead. Yeah, they were his best weapon and his biggest problem if he didn't wanta get caught. That conversation Barrol and Lady had in the skimmer was interesting, though. If you could have that kinda eyes without the clubbers knowing about it, ...... now that was something to think about.
He didn't agree with the kid about how Lady was going to react, she had more class than that, but he had problems with Barrol wanting to carry in the open. Then, when the picture ah her blade flashed on the tailor's screen, he figured out what Barrol was up to. He didn't know if Lady was the flowers and candy type but he was damn sure that Barrol wasn't the type to give 'em. But Barrol understood blades and in his own way he was being just as romantic as hell.
As they entered the bridge and he saw the pleased look on Lady's face when she saw the daggers they were wearing and then when Barrol handed her her sword, that didn't surprise him. What did was the change in Barrol's face. Oh, it wasn't much. Wouldn't ah been anything at all for any other guy. But with Barrol, that flicker ah possessive pride was like a mountain scooting its ass over a couple ah feet. Jeeter wondered if the big guy knew just how deep he was digging himself in.
Lady was class; the real stuff not the fake, look down your nose, kind. And she had brains, wasn't one ah those bleeding heart do-gooders that didn't know shit about how things really were and got bent when you told 'em. Lady wanted to know and she listened and learned quick. She looked at you, too, really looked at you and sorta saw what you were deep down inside. He knew she didn't buy his act with G from the very first. If she had, she woulda never ah offered a contract. Barrol had always played straight even with that grease ball G. Jeeter hoped that he intended to do the same with Lady 'cause if he didn't he would probably wind up just like G.
And, the way she had handled G, and him looking so much like one ah her own people. That look on her face; that kind, gentle look ...... Holy Mother protect us. Jeeter shivered at the memory. It was worse than Barrol's cold, stone face. He didn't care and that was easy to understand. She did care, just like Barrol had told the kid, but it didn't make one little bit ah difference when it come to doing what needed to be done. When she got enough experience, Lady would be just as unstoppable as Barrol was even if it was for a lot more complicated reasons.
These thoughts were reinforced when he got a look at the scribble pad she handed Ben. The kid was still busy pulling in the tailor program for her and only read it quickly before he handed it to Jeeter to hold. He had time to get a real clear picture ah what she was up to. Maybe 'Raiders From the Edge' wasn't the joke Ben thought it was. Lady was hijacking the ships and a nice starter stash and doing a real fine job ah it. But it looked like she wasn't doing it until later.
Jeeter guessed that she was gonna get the others settled like they'd been talking about before she took off on her own. Guessed, too, that that 'later' was the difference between caring and not caring. Jeeter decided that put him on Barrol's side ah the line. 'Cept for the kid, he wouldn't have any problem with dumping the rest right now, between orbits. Then again, he might keep the little blond trick. Teaching the chit how she oughta behave might be a lota fun.
He handed the scratch pad to Barrol. Damn, he didn't even twitch. Just looked it over and handed it back with a kinda twisted smile that Jeeter read as approval. Ok, so maybe this was Barrol's play, something he put in Lady's head. That didn't bother Jeeter. The ships was where Lady belonged. Barrol helping her get 'em was ok. But, just where did that leave Jeeter? So far Barrol had seemed ok with Lady bringing him along but that didn't mean he planned on it staying that way.
"Jenna, where do Jeeter and I fit into this?"
Sheeze, was the guy a mind reader? Sure he would be interested in where he stood but he'd included Jeeter. Was he on the level about that?
"Jeeter, please get the printouts over there for me."
Giving the scratch pad back to Ben, he walked over to the area Lady pointed at and found a pile ah papers in a tray. As soon as he picked up the papers the tray disappeared back into the wall. Shit, this ship was something else. And that weapons slot. He hadn't seen anything like that since he went AWOL. The raider ship that took him on was nothing but a jury-rigged, junk yard.
From the second he sat down in that slot, he wanted to start touching the controls, running checks, seeing what she had. Man, what a rush. Little Migelito, who couldn't get beyond gunny mate 3rd 'cause ah where he come from, getting his hands on a sweet system like that. But take it slow. Don't stick your head up until you know where the shooters are. He handed the papers to Lady.
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When she saw the Persian daggers, Riddle's was actually a short sword, and her own scimitar, Jenna was immediately intrigued by the idea of openly displayed weapons. It wasn't the least bit subtle unless you compared it to carrying disrupters and pulse rifles. Still, it could be considered somewhat ceremonial and ..... well, damn, she really liked the idea of doing it. She knew, of course, that this was not behavior common to criminals so she was sure that Riddle had found out about her love of blades and had done this with the intention of pleasing her. She liked that, too.
No matter what his motives, he was the first person to ever make the effort to find out what really appealed to her rather than just assuming she fit the usual mold of her gender and her class. Even if he turned out to be a rotten son of a bitch in the end, he was paying her the compliment of recognizing her individuality. He was also demonstrating a very interesting level of intelligence in her own fields. Good con men usually did. But, Riddle was a contract killer and very, very few of them ranked high in psychological subtlety. Psychopathic killers often did but they were rarely successful contract killers, preferring victims that matched their own personal needs rather that those that someone else wanted dead. But for all of the psycho-babble, it finally came down to the fact that Riddle just didn't ring her very well developed internal alarms as a psychopath.
The question was how Riddle had found out about this side of her nature. It was quickly answered as Ben pulled up the information that they had already entered into the tailor programming. Since Ben had acquired a stunner, the sheath for one being programmed for his right boot, they had to have visited the weapons pod. Ben, who obviously had a bad case of hero worship when it came to Riddle, would have been like a child being given the chance to demonstrate his knowledge to a responsive adult. He would have told Riddle everything that he asked and probably a lot more. Jenna wondered just how much of that was information about her that she really didn't want him knowing.
That problem, however, would have to wait. A more serious one was Ben's having a weapon. She gently broached the subject with him. His explanation that it was non-lethal and that 'First' wasn't going to let him have a blade until he taught him the proper way to handle one reassured her. Riddle had already voiced his understanding that committing murder was something that would be very detrimental to Ben's borderline mental stability. Now, it seemed that he had been able to find a suitable solution to Ben's problem with Cameron. Since Jenna was now in a position to protect Ben from any outside retribution, she had no problem with him having the ability to shock Jeff Cameron into a groveling puddle of protoplasm whenever the man aggravated him. Cameron was a classic bully and was long over due for a lesson in good manners.
Ben also mentioned Riddle's having the weapons pod locked off. His believing that this precaution was necessary, set Jenny to thinking about the contents of other pods. While none of the laboratories and shops with the exceptions of the tailor, the armory and the infirmary were totally functional, many could be brought into working order quite quickly and many contained materials that could be used to make weapons of one sort or another. Jenna instructed Ben to use the main computer to lock off everything but the infirmary and the living quarters, including all engineering sections of the ship and the bridge and auxiliary bridge, immediately and the BC's bay as soon as the others were finished unloading the bus. She had him key the hatch locks to answer only to voice command and only to the voices of the four now occupying the bridge.
While discussing this with Ben, Jenna had seen Jeeter's and Riddle's reactions to the scratch pad. When Riddle's question came, she decided that it had more to do with Jeeter than with himself with the possible exception of his wanting to know just how far she had thought this through. She felt a definite ripple of pride as she sorted the papers into four piles and the fourth pile into several page packets. Picking up these packets, she gave each man one.
"These are the laws governing the requirements that need to be met for anyone to qualify as a ship's captain, the rights and responsibilities of a ship's captain and the acceptable punishments for any interference with his ability to exercise them." She handed the rest of the pile to Ben. "I want you to hand these copies out to the others as soon as we walk into the conference room."
She went on to the second pile.
"These are standard crew contracts for the 'Hole in the Wall'. Sign them with any name but the one you intend to use permanently. Ben can register them in the ships records and give each one a light background, just enough to pass a crew check if we run into that problem."
She filled out the position description for each man and signed as 'Captain Jenna Pace' before passing the contracts to them: Riddle, First Officer/Pilot; Jeeter, Second Officer/Chief of Security; Ben, Com Operator. She didn't want Ben in the line of command for two reasons; first, he wasn't qualified for it and, second, if things blew up in their faces, he would be far less criminally liable.
"Chief of Security? Just what does that mean, Lady?"
"It means that as soon as we are out of hyper, you will be spending your time in the simulator until you can get a passable score on the weapons slot. In fact, all of you are going to put in simulator time until we have as full a coverage of all bridge slots as we can get."
"Is that were you learned to fly and pilot, sweet thing? It must be top of the line."
Jenna was chagrined to find that she liked his use of that nick-name. Somewhere during the night, it had stopped being irritating.
"Yes to both questions. It's the prototype for the latest military upgrades. Cameron was solving some engineering and hydraulics problems for them and Ben was twinking the programming. Once they were satisfied with the production models, Mr. Sen talked them into letting us keep the original for a play toy; something to keep the brilliant children from becoming bored and troublesome. Ben had a great deal of fun adapting the programming to the specifications of our equipment."
"Sure I did, Jen, but tell the truth. You were the reason we got to keep it. When they saw the way you took to it, it was a done deal. They would have done anything to stop the publicity you were causing."
This was definitely a subject that Jenna didn't want taken any further. She picked up the rest of the crew contracts and the pile of passenger contracts and handed them to Ben.
"Bring these to the meeting but hold on to them until I tell you otherwise."
She then handed each man a copy of the final contract.
"This is the answer to your first question, Barrol. You and Jeeter already have my word on the original contracts we made; new identity and set-up funds. If either of you decide you would rather stay with me, this is the contract I offer in addition to that one. Take your time reading it since it can't be signed until you have decided on your permanent name. Ben, if you wish to stay with me you will have to decide on another name, also, one that the others can't know.
"The major change from the standard contract is in the shares section. Since all ship's costs are met before shares are calculated, I see no reason for me, the captain/owner, to receive any greater personal share than anyone else. I don't intend to take on crew for nothing but lumping and other menial duties and will expect everyone to be as knowledgeable as possible in as many areas as possible. Since our profits will depend so equally on all of us doing the best we are capable of, I see no justification for anything other than equal shares. Now, read them over carefully and then we will lock them away until it is time to use them.
"Ben, make the same changes to the ship's record vault and the main computer as I ordered for the hatch locks. When you lock up the shares contracts, pull identity packets for Barrol and Jeeter. They can work on those while you do your hacking and I see what I can come up with on these uniforms. Any questions, gentlemen?"
There didn't seem to be any. Riddle and Jeeter signed the 'Hole' contracts and handed them and the shares contracts back to Ben. He also signed his 'Hole' contract and, setting all three aside for data entry, stored all the shares contracts in the records vault and handed Riddle and Jeeter identity packets. Soon, all three were diligently working away on their various assignments. Even Riddle was working on the new identity section of the packet. Jenna bent herself to the task of the uniforms.
It wasn't as hard as she had thought it might be. The required boot sheaths gave her a good selection of foot wear to choose from and she decided on a square toed, knee-high model. Then came the search for loose trousers that were cut to be worn inside boots. She whittled down this selection to two; the Nazi and the Cossack. She decided that the Nazi was just too military looking, that its stiff tailoring was at odds with the artful lines of the Persian daggers and scimitar. The Cossack's relaxed folds and gathers were much more the style she was looking for.
She stayed in the 'Russian' section with the shirt search since it had a great many styles with loose cuts and full length puffed sleeves. She passed on the high-buttoned necked styles and choose the more relaxed took of one called the Gypsy that had a wide turned down collar and lapels and a laced closure up the front. She added the waist length, open front vests that were displayed with the Gypsy but removed all of the fancy decoration from them. After she keyed for various weights of a comfortable material labeled syntho-cotton (everything in the inner cluster was syntho unless you had more credits than God), she put the whole ensemble, including daggers and scimitar onto images of herself and the others.
Except for the white of the shirts and the glint of the gold and steel of the weapons, it was black on black and it looked very good. She did have to add a back panel under the laced front to her own shirt but nothing else needed changing. All in all, she thought they made a rather dashing group, more pirate or privateer that official military but without the excess individualism of the rogue. She flashed the image onto the bridge's forward viewer.
"Well, gentlemen, what do you think?"
The reactions were a bit mixed.
"Wow, X-er for everyday but what about dress uniforms?"
"You wanta have some kinda insignias, too, with rank and slot."
"Yeah, and Jen should look different from the rest of us. Stand out as the leader."
Only Riddle remained silent but his face wore a wicked smirk that told her he had his own changes in mind. Jenna threw up her hands, mentally.
"All right, gentlemen. I intend to go to my pod to clean up and change into something more presentable. You have until I finish doing that to make any changes you want. Just remember that I have last say, which could include a little bit of revenge if you get too wild."
This last was spoken directly to Riddle. His reaction wasn't what she expected.
"No. Make a list of what you need from your pod for Jeeter. You can use the bridge lounge and fresher. Until we have that meeting and know friend from foe, you aren't getting out of my sight."
"Same here, Lady."
Ben was nodding furiously in agreement. Well, that certainly made it unanimous. She made the list.
While Jeeter fetched her things, she worked on the insignia requirement. She finally settled on a gold sunburst as the main motif to continue the imagery of the ships' present names. For the captain's rank she used a large version of the sunburst with nothing else added. For the other ranks she used a smaller version with the upper left quarter removed and replaced with common symbols for the slot designations also done in gold: pilot, a finned needle-nosed ship; security, a dagger like Jeeter's sticker; com, a round oscilloscope display.
She also added insignia for a ship's doctor, the Caduceus; and for both types of ship's engineers, two interlocked gears for one and image of an atom with its circling electrons for the other. The next was a challenge. She had a crew position in mind for Sasha that would not only keep her occupied but also provide a very useful function. The problem was choosing a title and insignia for it that would satisfy her preference for flash and yet be dignified enough to give her real status in the eyes of the others. A lot of the problems with Sasha came from her feelings of inferiority.
Jenna finally came up with 'Environment Enhancement Officer' and a slot symbol containing a wine bottle and glass fronted by a cluster of grapes. Instead of the silhouette style used with the other symbols, she had this one lined in gold but colored to show the wine in the bottle and glass and the matching variety of the grapes. As a last thought, she called up a deep sleeved oriental robe that she knew Mr. Sen liked, colored it black and added an insignia with a yin/yang symbol to its left breast. She stored the records of all of this, added the proper insignia to the left breasts of both the vests and the shirts of the display and titled it 'Duty uniforms'. If the others wanted dress uniforms they could do the work on them.
When Jeeter returned, she put the display on the main viewer. All three men voiced their satisfaction with the insignia but she would see that they were anxious to add their own touches to the project. In fact, she sensed a conspiracy between the three and was sure that it involved her uniform much more than theirs. She quickly withdrew to the lounge with a mental prayer that they wouldn't go over the edge with whatever it was they had in mind.
She had put a sweat suit and running shoes on the list but, after finishing a sinfully long shower and soak, she settled for the simplicity of wrapping herself in the ample folds of her heavy, full length bath robe. Why put in the effort to dress completely when she would be changing clothes again as soon as they settled the uniform question.
She even ignored the shoes and padded bare-foot onto the bridge, settling into the command slot somewhat like a cat curling up on a cushion. She fully expected Riddle to start nagging her to go back to the bunk room and rest but instead he crossed to the galley and returned with a steaming cup of coffee for her. Then he bent close and whispered to her.
"We need to force Cameron's hand, have that meeting just before we can hyper and then get them all drugged before they have too much time to think about it. If we think that any of them need to be on house arrest, they'll cooperate about it or risk going hyper conscious. I've already collected Jeeter's and Ben's hypos and all the recovery hypos from Syrus. I watched him prepare them just in case he had jumped the wrong way already."
Jenna smiled.
"I suppose that you noticed the slight resemblance he has to Mr. G and are judging him by the same standards. Don't. Syrus could have found a hundred ways to mess with the hypos no matter how closely you watched him. But don't worry about that. Unless he has decided that he wants to be captain himself, he isn't a threat. Since his research is his total passion, that is highly unlikely. I predict that he won't involve himself at all until he's sure who is going to be the winner and then only to insure that he will be able to continue his research as soon as possible. It's Mr. Sen that I'm worried about. I'd swear that the word inscrutable was invented personally for him. I've never been able to read him underneath."
Riddle chuckled and Jenna had an insane urge to place her hand on his chest to see if the vibrations this created felt as good as they sounded. The words that followed that chuckle cleared that thought from her mind completely.
"What you seem to think was a 'slight' resemblance almost got Syrus killed, twice. You really should have warned us that he was G's identical twin."
Jenna was shocked.
"I can't believe that. It couldn't take more than a few seconds to realize that Syrus wasn't G."
Riddle brought his mouth very close to her ear.
"In the world Jeeter and I live in, death doesn't take more than one of those seconds. You better be very sure you want to live that way before you go any farther, sweet thing."
What was this? A concerned warning? Perhaps second thoughts about the part he had played in enhancing her self-awareness? Or was it another of his tests? Another in the almost constant barrage of them that he had aim at her from the very beginning?
He pulled back and she was looking at her own reflection once again. She was beginning to really hate that. Eyes had always been her focal point, even as a small child. They were the one feature by which she could identify someone no matter how obscured the rest of their features and body were. They were the keys to her ability to read others. Her continuing inability to get a clear view of Riddle's eyes was becoming a crippling disability, the same one she had with Mr. Sen and his sleepy lidded eyes. She needed to get him on Syrus' table as soon as possible and get those shades out of the way. Of course, if she followed through with her own plans would she still have that same ability to read eyes? She answered that fear and Riddle's challenge with the same thought.
"From where I'm sitting," she tapped the arm of the command slot with a finger nail, "I really don't have any choice, do I. Now, why don't you move off to a safe distance and show me what you and Jeeter have been up to with the uniforms."
Riddle matched her own wicked smile.
"Would out of arms' reach be safe or should I worry about your blade?"
"That depends on what you've done."
Chapter 11 - FROM WHERE I SIT
When Barrol had brought those huge ass .... what did you call 'em? They were smith made so he guessed that made 'em daggers but they looked a lot more like Barrol's shiv than his sticker but sure not something you could hide. Anyway, when Barrol had handed him one, Jeeter's first thought was that he would rather have a nice straight blade. Then he thought again. After all, Barrol was the pro. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to try and learn a few things from him.
A'course the best weapon that Barrol had was those eyes. When Jeeter had seen 'em in the alley, he had thought he was dead. Yeah, they were his best weapon and his biggest problem if he didn't wanta get caught. That conversation Barrol and Lady had in the skimmer was interesting, though. If you could have that kinda eyes without the clubbers knowing about it, ...... now that was something to think about.
He didn't agree with the kid about how Lady was going to react, she had more class than that, but he had problems with Barrol wanting to carry in the open. Then, when the picture ah her blade flashed on the tailor's screen, he figured out what Barrol was up to. He didn't know if Lady was the flowers and candy type but he was damn sure that Barrol wasn't the type to give 'em. But Barrol understood blades and in his own way he was being just as romantic as hell.
As they entered the bridge and he saw the pleased look on Lady's face when she saw the daggers they were wearing and then when Barrol handed her her sword, that didn't surprise him. What did was the change in Barrol's face. Oh, it wasn't much. Wouldn't ah been anything at all for any other guy. But with Barrol, that flicker ah possessive pride was like a mountain scooting its ass over a couple ah feet. Jeeter wondered if the big guy knew just how deep he was digging himself in.
Lady was class; the real stuff not the fake, look down your nose, kind. And she had brains, wasn't one ah those bleeding heart do-gooders that didn't know shit about how things really were and got bent when you told 'em. Lady wanted to know and she listened and learned quick. She looked at you, too, really looked at you and sorta saw what you were deep down inside. He knew she didn't buy his act with G from the very first. If she had, she woulda never ah offered a contract. Barrol had always played straight even with that grease ball G. Jeeter hoped that he intended to do the same with Lady 'cause if he didn't he would probably wind up just like G.
And, the way she had handled G, and him looking so much like one ah her own people. That look on her face; that kind, gentle look ...... Holy Mother protect us. Jeeter shivered at the memory. It was worse than Barrol's cold, stone face. He didn't care and that was easy to understand. She did care, just like Barrol had told the kid, but it didn't make one little bit ah difference when it come to doing what needed to be done. When she got enough experience, Lady would be just as unstoppable as Barrol was even if it was for a lot more complicated reasons.
These thoughts were reinforced when he got a look at the scribble pad she handed Ben. The kid was still busy pulling in the tailor program for her and only read it quickly before he handed it to Jeeter to hold. He had time to get a real clear picture ah what she was up to. Maybe 'Raiders From the Edge' wasn't the joke Ben thought it was. Lady was hijacking the ships and a nice starter stash and doing a real fine job ah it. But it looked like she wasn't doing it until later.
Jeeter guessed that she was gonna get the others settled like they'd been talking about before she took off on her own. Guessed, too, that that 'later' was the difference between caring and not caring. Jeeter decided that put him on Barrol's side ah the line. 'Cept for the kid, he wouldn't have any problem with dumping the rest right now, between orbits. Then again, he might keep the little blond trick. Teaching the chit how she oughta behave might be a lota fun.
He handed the scratch pad to Barrol. Damn, he didn't even twitch. Just looked it over and handed it back with a kinda twisted smile that Jeeter read as approval. Ok, so maybe this was Barrol's play, something he put in Lady's head. That didn't bother Jeeter. The ships was where Lady belonged. Barrol helping her get 'em was ok. But, just where did that leave Jeeter? So far Barrol had seemed ok with Lady bringing him along but that didn't mean he planned on it staying that way.
"Jenna, where do Jeeter and I fit into this?"
Sheeze, was the guy a mind reader? Sure he would be interested in where he stood but he'd included Jeeter. Was he on the level about that?
"Jeeter, please get the printouts over there for me."
Giving the scratch pad back to Ben, he walked over to the area Lady pointed at and found a pile ah papers in a tray. As soon as he picked up the papers the tray disappeared back into the wall. Shit, this ship was something else. And that weapons slot. He hadn't seen anything like that since he went AWOL. The raider ship that took him on was nothing but a jury-rigged, junk yard.
From the second he sat down in that slot, he wanted to start touching the controls, running checks, seeing what she had. Man, what a rush. Little Migelito, who couldn't get beyond gunny mate 3rd 'cause ah where he come from, getting his hands on a sweet system like that. But take it slow. Don't stick your head up until you know where the shooters are. He handed the papers to Lady.
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When she saw the Persian daggers, Riddle's was actually a short sword, and her own scimitar, Jenna was immediately intrigued by the idea of openly displayed weapons. It wasn't the least bit subtle unless you compared it to carrying disrupters and pulse rifles. Still, it could be considered somewhat ceremonial and ..... well, damn, she really liked the idea of doing it. She knew, of course, that this was not behavior common to criminals so she was sure that Riddle had found out about her love of blades and had done this with the intention of pleasing her. She liked that, too.
No matter what his motives, he was the first person to ever make the effort to find out what really appealed to her rather than just assuming she fit the usual mold of her gender and her class. Even if he turned out to be a rotten son of a bitch in the end, he was paying her the compliment of recognizing her individuality. He was also demonstrating a very interesting level of intelligence in her own fields. Good con men usually did. But, Riddle was a contract killer and very, very few of them ranked high in psychological subtlety. Psychopathic killers often did but they were rarely successful contract killers, preferring victims that matched their own personal needs rather that those that someone else wanted dead. But for all of the psycho-babble, it finally came down to the fact that Riddle just didn't ring her very well developed internal alarms as a psychopath.
The question was how Riddle had found out about this side of her nature. It was quickly answered as Ben pulled up the information that they had already entered into the tailor programming. Since Ben had acquired a stunner, the sheath for one being programmed for his right boot, they had to have visited the weapons pod. Ben, who obviously had a bad case of hero worship when it came to Riddle, would have been like a child being given the chance to demonstrate his knowledge to a responsive adult. He would have told Riddle everything that he asked and probably a lot more. Jenna wondered just how much of that was information about her that she really didn't want him knowing.
That problem, however, would have to wait. A more serious one was Ben's having a weapon. She gently broached the subject with him. His explanation that it was non-lethal and that 'First' wasn't going to let him have a blade until he taught him the proper way to handle one reassured her. Riddle had already voiced his understanding that committing murder was something that would be very detrimental to Ben's borderline mental stability. Now, it seemed that he had been able to find a suitable solution to Ben's problem with Cameron. Since Jenna was now in a position to protect Ben from any outside retribution, she had no problem with him having the ability to shock Jeff Cameron into a groveling puddle of protoplasm whenever the man aggravated him. Cameron was a classic bully and was long over due for a lesson in good manners.
Ben also mentioned Riddle's having the weapons pod locked off. His believing that this precaution was necessary, set Jenny to thinking about the contents of other pods. While none of the laboratories and shops with the exceptions of the tailor, the armory and the infirmary were totally functional, many could be brought into working order quite quickly and many contained materials that could be used to make weapons of one sort or another. Jenna instructed Ben to use the main computer to lock off everything but the infirmary and the living quarters, including all engineering sections of the ship and the bridge and auxiliary bridge, immediately and the BC's bay as soon as the others were finished unloading the bus. She had him key the hatch locks to answer only to voice command and only to the voices of the four now occupying the bridge.
While discussing this with Ben, Jenna had seen Jeeter's and Riddle's reactions to the scratch pad. When Riddle's question came, she decided that it had more to do with Jeeter than with himself with the possible exception of his wanting to know just how far she had thought this through. She felt a definite ripple of pride as she sorted the papers into four piles and the fourth pile into several page packets. Picking up these packets, she gave each man one.
"These are the laws governing the requirements that need to be met for anyone to qualify as a ship's captain, the rights and responsibilities of a ship's captain and the acceptable punishments for any interference with his ability to exercise them." She handed the rest of the pile to Ben. "I want you to hand these copies out to the others as soon as we walk into the conference room."
She went on to the second pile.
"These are standard crew contracts for the 'Hole in the Wall'. Sign them with any name but the one you intend to use permanently. Ben can register them in the ships records and give each one a light background, just enough to pass a crew check if we run into that problem."
She filled out the position description for each man and signed as 'Captain Jenna Pace' before passing the contracts to them: Riddle, First Officer/Pilot; Jeeter, Second Officer/Chief of Security; Ben, Com Operator. She didn't want Ben in the line of command for two reasons; first, he wasn't qualified for it and, second, if things blew up in their faces, he would be far less criminally liable.
"Chief of Security? Just what does that mean, Lady?"
"It means that as soon as we are out of hyper, you will be spending your time in the simulator until you can get a passable score on the weapons slot. In fact, all of you are going to put in simulator time until we have as full a coverage of all bridge slots as we can get."
"Is that were you learned to fly and pilot, sweet thing? It must be top of the line."
Jenna was chagrined to find that she liked his use of that nick-name. Somewhere during the night, it had stopped being irritating.
"Yes to both questions. It's the prototype for the latest military upgrades. Cameron was solving some engineering and hydraulics problems for them and Ben was twinking the programming. Once they were satisfied with the production models, Mr. Sen talked them into letting us keep the original for a play toy; something to keep the brilliant children from becoming bored and troublesome. Ben had a great deal of fun adapting the programming to the specifications of our equipment."
"Sure I did, Jen, but tell the truth. You were the reason we got to keep it. When they saw the way you took to it, it was a done deal. They would have done anything to stop the publicity you were causing."
This was definitely a subject that Jenna didn't want taken any further. She picked up the rest of the crew contracts and the pile of passenger contracts and handed them to Ben.
"Bring these to the meeting but hold on to them until I tell you otherwise."
She then handed each man a copy of the final contract.
"This is the answer to your first question, Barrol. You and Jeeter already have my word on the original contracts we made; new identity and set-up funds. If either of you decide you would rather stay with me, this is the contract I offer in addition to that one. Take your time reading it since it can't be signed until you have decided on your permanent name. Ben, if you wish to stay with me you will have to decide on another name, also, one that the others can't know.
"The major change from the standard contract is in the shares section. Since all ship's costs are met before shares are calculated, I see no reason for me, the captain/owner, to receive any greater personal share than anyone else. I don't intend to take on crew for nothing but lumping and other menial duties and will expect everyone to be as knowledgeable as possible in as many areas as possible. Since our profits will depend so equally on all of us doing the best we are capable of, I see no justification for anything other than equal shares. Now, read them over carefully and then we will lock them away until it is time to use them.
"Ben, make the same changes to the ship's record vault and the main computer as I ordered for the hatch locks. When you lock up the shares contracts, pull identity packets for Barrol and Jeeter. They can work on those while you do your hacking and I see what I can come up with on these uniforms. Any questions, gentlemen?"
There didn't seem to be any. Riddle and Jeeter signed the 'Hole' contracts and handed them and the shares contracts back to Ben. He also signed his 'Hole' contract and, setting all three aside for data entry, stored all the shares contracts in the records vault and handed Riddle and Jeeter identity packets. Soon, all three were diligently working away on their various assignments. Even Riddle was working on the new identity section of the packet. Jenna bent herself to the task of the uniforms.
It wasn't as hard as she had thought it might be. The required boot sheaths gave her a good selection of foot wear to choose from and she decided on a square toed, knee-high model. Then came the search for loose trousers that were cut to be worn inside boots. She whittled down this selection to two; the Nazi and the Cossack. She decided that the Nazi was just too military looking, that its stiff tailoring was at odds with the artful lines of the Persian daggers and scimitar. The Cossack's relaxed folds and gathers were much more the style she was looking for.
She stayed in the 'Russian' section with the shirt search since it had a great many styles with loose cuts and full length puffed sleeves. She passed on the high-buttoned necked styles and choose the more relaxed took of one called the Gypsy that had a wide turned down collar and lapels and a laced closure up the front. She added the waist length, open front vests that were displayed with the Gypsy but removed all of the fancy decoration from them. After she keyed for various weights of a comfortable material labeled syntho-cotton (everything in the inner cluster was syntho unless you had more credits than God), she put the whole ensemble, including daggers and scimitar onto images of herself and the others.
Except for the white of the shirts and the glint of the gold and steel of the weapons, it was black on black and it looked very good. She did have to add a back panel under the laced front to her own shirt but nothing else needed changing. All in all, she thought they made a rather dashing group, more pirate or privateer that official military but without the excess individualism of the rogue. She flashed the image onto the bridge's forward viewer.
"Well, gentlemen, what do you think?"
The reactions were a bit mixed.
"Wow, X-er for everyday but what about dress uniforms?"
"You wanta have some kinda insignias, too, with rank and slot."
"Yeah, and Jen should look different from the rest of us. Stand out as the leader."
Only Riddle remained silent but his face wore a wicked smirk that told her he had his own changes in mind. Jenna threw up her hands, mentally.
"All right, gentlemen. I intend to go to my pod to clean up and change into something more presentable. You have until I finish doing that to make any changes you want. Just remember that I have last say, which could include a little bit of revenge if you get too wild."
This last was spoken directly to Riddle. His reaction wasn't what she expected.
"No. Make a list of what you need from your pod for Jeeter. You can use the bridge lounge and fresher. Until we have that meeting and know friend from foe, you aren't getting out of my sight."
"Same here, Lady."
Ben was nodding furiously in agreement. Well, that certainly made it unanimous. She made the list.
While Jeeter fetched her things, she worked on the insignia requirement. She finally settled on a gold sunburst as the main motif to continue the imagery of the ships' present names. For the captain's rank she used a large version of the sunburst with nothing else added. For the other ranks she used a smaller version with the upper left quarter removed and replaced with common symbols for the slot designations also done in gold: pilot, a finned needle-nosed ship; security, a dagger like Jeeter's sticker; com, a round oscilloscope display.
She also added insignia for a ship's doctor, the Caduceus; and for both types of ship's engineers, two interlocked gears for one and image of an atom with its circling electrons for the other. The next was a challenge. She had a crew position in mind for Sasha that would not only keep her occupied but also provide a very useful function. The problem was choosing a title and insignia for it that would satisfy her preference for flash and yet be dignified enough to give her real status in the eyes of the others. A lot of the problems with Sasha came from her feelings of inferiority.
Jenna finally came up with 'Environment Enhancement Officer' and a slot symbol containing a wine bottle and glass fronted by a cluster of grapes. Instead of the silhouette style used with the other symbols, she had this one lined in gold but colored to show the wine in the bottle and glass and the matching variety of the grapes. As a last thought, she called up a deep sleeved oriental robe that she knew Mr. Sen liked, colored it black and added an insignia with a yin/yang symbol to its left breast. She stored the records of all of this, added the proper insignia to the left breasts of both the vests and the shirts of the display and titled it 'Duty uniforms'. If the others wanted dress uniforms they could do the work on them.
When Jeeter returned, she put the display on the main viewer. All three men voiced their satisfaction with the insignia but she would see that they were anxious to add their own touches to the project. In fact, she sensed a conspiracy between the three and was sure that it involved her uniform much more than theirs. She quickly withdrew to the lounge with a mental prayer that they wouldn't go over the edge with whatever it was they had in mind.
She had put a sweat suit and running shoes on the list but, after finishing a sinfully long shower and soak, she settled for the simplicity of wrapping herself in the ample folds of her heavy, full length bath robe. Why put in the effort to dress completely when she would be changing clothes again as soon as they settled the uniform question.
She even ignored the shoes and padded bare-foot onto the bridge, settling into the command slot somewhat like a cat curling up on a cushion. She fully expected Riddle to start nagging her to go back to the bunk room and rest but instead he crossed to the galley and returned with a steaming cup of coffee for her. Then he bent close and whispered to her.
"We need to force Cameron's hand, have that meeting just before we can hyper and then get them all drugged before they have too much time to think about it. If we think that any of them need to be on house arrest, they'll cooperate about it or risk going hyper conscious. I've already collected Jeeter's and Ben's hypos and all the recovery hypos from Syrus. I watched him prepare them just in case he had jumped the wrong way already."
Jenna smiled.
"I suppose that you noticed the slight resemblance he has to Mr. G and are judging him by the same standards. Don't. Syrus could have found a hundred ways to mess with the hypos no matter how closely you watched him. But don't worry about that. Unless he has decided that he wants to be captain himself, he isn't a threat. Since his research is his total passion, that is highly unlikely. I predict that he won't involve himself at all until he's sure who is going to be the winner and then only to insure that he will be able to continue his research as soon as possible. It's Mr. Sen that I'm worried about. I'd swear that the word inscrutable was invented personally for him. I've never been able to read him underneath."
Riddle chuckled and Jenna had an insane urge to place her hand on his chest to see if the vibrations this created felt as good as they sounded. The words that followed that chuckle cleared that thought from her mind completely.
"What you seem to think was a 'slight' resemblance almost got Syrus killed, twice. You really should have warned us that he was G's identical twin."
Jenna was shocked.
"I can't believe that. It couldn't take more than a few seconds to realize that Syrus wasn't G."
Riddle brought his mouth very close to her ear.
"In the world Jeeter and I live in, death doesn't take more than one of those seconds. You better be very sure you want to live that way before you go any farther, sweet thing."
What was this? A concerned warning? Perhaps second thoughts about the part he had played in enhancing her self-awareness? Or was it another of his tests? Another in the almost constant barrage of them that he had aim at her from the very beginning?
He pulled back and she was looking at her own reflection once again. She was beginning to really hate that. Eyes had always been her focal point, even as a small child. They were the one feature by which she could identify someone no matter how obscured the rest of their features and body were. They were the keys to her ability to read others. Her continuing inability to get a clear view of Riddle's eyes was becoming a crippling disability, the same one she had with Mr. Sen and his sleepy lidded eyes. She needed to get him on Syrus' table as soon as possible and get those shades out of the way. Of course, if she followed through with her own plans would she still have that same ability to read eyes? She answered that fear and Riddle's challenge with the same thought.
"From where I'm sitting," she tapped the arm of the command slot with a finger nail, "I really don't have any choice, do I. Now, why don't you move off to a safe distance and show me what you and Jeeter have been up to with the uniforms."
Riddle matched her own wicked smile.
"Would out of arms' reach be safe or should I worry about your blade?"
"That depends on what you've done."
