Don't Leave Me Hanging
…
Captain Alfonzo rarely showed much emotion toward his crew. According to company guidelines, outright cussing an airman out for no reason was an offense that called for termination, so he had to at least check that the airman whom he was shouting at had done something to piss him off. Most of his crew could at least acknowledge that, or else work would not get done because every airman would clear the deck whenever he was in a bad mood. That said, the crew still tried to keep their distance if he was angry, mostly because it was demoralizing to have any captain swear at them.
One stop at Rake Island put the Grand Sails in a delay. Livestock was always one of the worst cargoes to carry. Large animals had to be transported a few at a time or else sink when the inevitable panic and subsequent stampede damaged vital components of the ship. Small creatures were about as troublesome; assuming that a hungry airman did not also have skills as a butcher, any animal that was not caged or tied up was liable to wander onto the weather deck and fall over. Either way, it meant a large number of precautions and safety standards had to be met. Animals that would not cooperate often led to hour-long delays. The rancher shipping a group of cuccos had had to send one of his sons to inform Alfonzo that a rotten board in their coop had resulted in the ranch's whole stock escaping the night before. It was currently noon, and Alfonzo was still waiting for word that the cuccos had even been found. Some of the crew reported seeing what were presumed to be members of the rancher's family clucking across the port looking for the escaped birds.
The delay was driving the crew crazy. Rake Island, being mostly dedicated to farming and ranching, smelled of feces all hours of the day, and one could feel breathing steadily become more miserable the longer one was forced to stay. The outgoing winds pushing over the top of the island ensured fresh suffering every minute of the day. Alfonzo could not give the crew any time ashore since there was no way to tell when the shipment would be ready. He had already recorded the delay with the dockmaster's office to be relayed to Skyrider Port (even though Alfonzo was inclined to turn the ship around and report the delay himself so he could hand the job off to another captain with more patience; Skyrider Port was only an hour away).
Kon kon.
Alfonzo was letting himself doze off at his desk when Lieutenant Greg knocked on his cabin door. He gave a grunt and took a moment to rub his eyes. "Come in," he told the door.
"Hey, Captain?" Greg asked as he leaned inside. "Uh… we may have a problem."
"What is it now?" Alfonzo groaned.
"We can't find Airman Link."
The next sound Alfonzo made almost sounded like a trumpeter trying to play while being choked by another man with hands larger than his head. Alfonzo was not actually intending to approximate the sound, but he had heard it so often that he had previously realized that he made the same noise whenever he had had to deal with a long string of frustrations. Greg tried to pretend he had not heard the sound in spite of the noticeable echo. Alfonzo finished his inarticulate complaint with a sigh and asked, "Did you ask Line where he is? He usually knows."
"Airman Line is the one who reported Link missing," Greg replied.
"Ugh…" Alfonzo grunted. "Does anyone know if he went ashore for anything?"
"I already checked with the guys berthed near him. Nobody knows. Line and I have been wandering the ship for twenty minutes trying to find him."
"Lieutenant Greg, one of the things you need to know about Airman Line is that he is horrible at finding anyone or anything without Link," Alfonzo said as he stood up. "Grab a couple more airmen and start scouring the ship."
Although looking for a missing airman was not part of the job, Alfonzo thought he could at least do something since he was only falling asleep from boredom. And this was Link, who, in spite of his few years on the job and general friendliness of the crew, was still a target for bullying airmen. He had been hoping that Link would start toughening up, but Alfonzo had to admit that Link being so small made his attempts to direct older airmen laughable. Perhaps the only reason Link could pass along orders was because anyone receiving them was laughing well enough to not bother arguing. And perhaps because Alfonzo was not known to like airmen who ignored orders.
Alfonzo directed some of the flow and had to remind his crew that Link running afoul of a poor-tempered airman meant he could have been shoved into any nook or cranny on the ship. There were plenty of spaces like that on a galleon the size of the Grand Sails. And he knew how cruel some of his airmen could be, whether Link was annoying them or otherwise.
Alfonzo started with the usual suspects, the airmen who had done something to Link recently. Airmen Brent, who had previously thrown Link into the supply closet in response to Line whipping him with a spare mooring line (a case of mistaken identity), had been on the head most of the morning with a bad case of dysentery; he had only had time to report to the chief of the deck between bouts. Alfonzo told him to check in again and get to a clinic as soon as he could. Airman John, restricted to duty for dunking Link into a barrel of fresh water (which had forced the galley to give it to the engine room due to the contamination), had been on-duty in the engine room and, judging from his attitude, was not visibly interested in picking on Link anymore. Chief Goldwin was still bitter about having his pay halved for threatening to arrange another game of Dodge-Link, but he had been busy settling a dispute between two airmen over a stolen tunic (which, realistically, did not look like it could fit either one of them). The dispute was taking a while to settle because it had started as a fistfight.
After nearly an hour, Alfonzo was called back to the main deck. Airman Philip took him to the starboard bulwark amidships where Lieutenant Greg and another airmen were standing. Greg gave him a grim look, and Alfonzo immediately had a bad feeling twisting his guts. When Greg's eyes fell to the line anchored to a cleat beside him, Alfonzo strode forward with alarm and looked over the side.
In the next second, his eyes glared at the dangling end of the rope far below.
"AIRMAN LINK, WHAT IN THE THREE GODDESSES' TITS ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE, YOU LITTLE DIPSHIT!?"
"Dangling, sir!" Link called back up, his voice faint due to the distance. And the fear that his captain might cut the line out of rage.
"WHY?!" Alfonzo roared.
"Inspecting the keel, sir!"
Alfonzo snapped up and turned to Greg. "WHAT CLAP-RIDDEN SON OF A WHORE TOLD HIM TO DO THAT?!"
"I-I don't know, Captain," Greg replied, unconsciously taking a step back and raising his arms a bit as if anticipating being punched.
"It was Airman Lacy, sir!" Link had hollered up under Greg's response, having assumed that the clearly audible question was for him.
Alfonzo had heard Link and glanced over the side. "Who!?" he called down.
"Airman Lacy, sir!"
Alfonzo did not recognize the name right away, which was understandable; he only took a second to realize that Lacy was one of the three new men taken aboard at Skyrider Port three weeks ago. He looked at Greg and asked, "Where's Airman Lacy?"
"I don't know, sir," Greg replied.
"That wasn't what I said, Lieutenant."
Greg immediately caught on to Alfonzo's veiled order and quickly replied, "I'll find him, Captain."
"Airman Link!" Alfonzo hollered over the side while Greg jogged away. "Are you secure?"
"Yes, sir!" Link called back. "The boatswain's chair collapsed, but I-I'm still tied to the line with a pretty tight knot! Uh… sorry about the seat! I-I tried to catch it!"
Alfonzo glanced at Philip, who had stepped up beside Alfonzo to look, to find the man giving him a humored grin. "Get that stupid look off your ugly face and pull him up," Alfonzo told him. "Both of you. Carefully."
Both airmen immediately stopped smiling. "Yessir," Philip answered.
Alfonzo stepped back and watched the airmen slowly pull the rope back onto the deck, Philip hauling while the other held the line and watched Link over the side in case he had trouble.
"Captain," someone snapped about halfway through the process. Alfonzo turned around to see an airman, a combination of portly and muscular with barely a whisker on his round face, saluting him. "Airman Lacy reporting as ordered."
Alfonzo glanced around to see Greg giving a grimace, knowing full well by now what the airman may be in for. Alfonzo stared hard at Lacy for a moment, causing Lacy's face to waver with confusion. "How long have you been with this company, airman?" Alfonzo asked.
"About… six months, Captain," Lacy replied, dropping his salute.
"Did they give you the full rundown of the manual?" Alfonzo asked, his tone almost a casual chat.
"Yessir."
"Including the part about ship safety and inspections?"
"Yessir."
Alfonzo took a sudden step forward, forcing Lacy to look up at the slightly taller man while leaning back a bit so that their stomachs did not touch. "Then why is one of my crew dangling from a rope over the side of my ship, airman?" Alfonzo growled at him.
Airman Lacy was not blind to the fact that Alfonzo was angry, but the sudden wave of intimidation he felt wash over him gave him the impression that the wrath of Din was about to fall from above and leave a gaping hole in the deck where he was currently standing. Still, he tried to maintain a level of calm as he explained, "Ca-Captain, it wasn't gonna be anything harmful. I-I was just teasing the boy. I mean, he's not an actual airman, after all."
"Airman Link is at least four years your senior, airman," Alfonzo replied, his voice still low. Color and humor immediately drained out of Lacy's face. "That aside, you have committed some very serious infractions in this one action. Number one, you have falsified procedure to the detriment of this crew's operation by telling him that the keel needs to be inspected. Airman Link is not aware that the keel is only inspected in drydock by drydock workers. Number two, you have violated safety regulations by dangling a crewmate over the side with a single line. Number three." Alfonzo drew himself up to present more chest and less belly. "The boatswain's chair you made collapsed."
Lacy audibly gulped. "Ca-captain, I-I-I—"
"Are certainly very lucky Airman Link knows how to tie knots better than you," Alfonzo finished. "He at least had the presence of mind to tie himself to the line. And I wasn't finished yet." Lacy gulped again. "Fourth. You failed to operate a loaded line with a fellow airman, and I'm gonna put that one on you because you are the only person Airman Link has mentioned. If you had another man with you, he might have had the spine to say something to me. Fifth. You suspended a crewman over the side of the vessel and below the level of the keel. That is not considered a valid work zone."
"Captain, can I explain?" Lacy tried to interject.
"No." The word came out with a snarl that made Lacy's heart skip a few beats. "Because of number six.
"You pissed me off." Alfonzo paused to see if Lacy still felt like justifying himself. Instead, Lacy kept his jaw clapped shut. "The general airman can usually have some leeway when it comes to screwing around. But this? This is a serious breach of safety regulations, and precisely nothing you can say will ever excuse what you've done. I will be writing down everything I have told you about how irresponsible, how disgustingly idiotic this one stunt is. I suggest you pack up your bags; your career with us ends right here."
"Captain, I didn't mean any—" Lacy tried to say. Then he stammered. "I-I mean, he, wha—… I-I thought he wasn'—… You can't mean I'm getting fired over a child, right? Sir?"
"You wanna know a secret?" Alfonzo asked. Before Lacy could answer, Alfonzo leaned forward and whispered into his ear. When Alfonzo pulled back, Lacy's eyes and mouth were wide with shock. "Does that put things in perspective now?" Lacy did not respond. "If you dare speak up about this to anyone else, I will hunt you down, rip off your head, and lodge it and my boot up your dick."
"You're lying…"
Lacy did not mean to say that. As much as he did not believe what Alfonzo had just whispered in his ear, some part of his mind had the terrible idea of accusing Captain Alfonzo of the Grand Sails of lying. And Alfonzo was only moments away from turning to see if Link had been brought up yet.
Instead, Alfonzo glanced over to Greg. "Lieutenant Greg," he said, causing the younger man to jolt. "As of this very moment, Airman Lacy is terminated according to the Extreme Conditions clause of the Skyrider terms of employment. Do you agree?"
"Yes, sir, I agree," Greg replied, suddenly dreading what was about to happen.
"Then it is settled," Alfonzo told Lacy. "You are no longer a Skyrider, let alone a member of my crew."
Lacy's stunned reaction, only further paralyzing him when he had realized that he had made a serious mistake with his last statement, simply left him staring slack-jawed at Alfonzo. He barely even saw the windup.
Pakkh! Alfonzo's right fist struck Lacy's jaw with the force of a flying brick. Lacy sprawled and slammed hard against the deck, his fall causing Greg to jump out of the way. Greg stared at the man's limp body in shock, never having seen a captain belt someone so brutally. If Lacy was supposed to feel that, it would have to wait until he was conscious again.
"Lieutenant Greg," Alfonzo said as he rubbed his sore knuckles. "Get this sack of shit off my ship. Clean his crap out of the berth deck, too. I'd sooner not believe he was ever a member of my crew."
Greg's salute was a little limp as he replied, "Aye aye, sir." Then he flagged down a nearby airman.
Alfonzo turned around just as one of the men helping Link aboard grabbed him by the back of his tunic and hauled him over the bulwark. Link fell head-first onto the deck and let his body splay out as he lay in place on his back. "Airman Link, are you all right?" Alfonzo asked.
"Yes, sir…" Link replied as color started returning to his face. "I just… I-I need to…"
"You are dismissed from duty for the day," Alfonzo told him. "And next time pay attention. We don't inspect the keel outside of drydock."
"Aye aye, sir…" Link said, half-saluting and half-slapping himself in the forehead. Alfonzo began stomping away without another word.