Chapter 17

Sean was kinda wishing he could trade places with Don right now.

Well, no, not really. He liked sex, reading, and drinking too much for that. Hell, he'd done all three at once a couple times, which had been a blast in more than one way. However, he probably would be wishing for death within a few minutes of getting up in front of his fellow teens. It's one thing to want to be in charge, to know that you, rather than some other idiot, knew what the best course of action was, and to desire to have it carried out. It was quite another to know that if things fail it's your fault.

He suddenly appreciated Kine's desire to always be the number two guy.

The forty or so remaining crew were gathered on the shuttle deck, sitting on whatever was lying around. On Kine's suggestion, kegs had been brought down for a pre-meeting beverage, although the supply was getting low. He had to remember to remind them of that fact. Another of Kine's suggestions.

Sean glanced to his right at Kine, leaning on a disassembled shuttle reactor. The bald Mel was next to him, whispering something in his ear to which the blond shook his head in amusement. The extent to which Sean was relying on the guy was frightening. OK, yes, he had been Don's second, so knew much of the stuff the little guy had been keeping from everyone else. But, still ... it almost seemed like Kine was promoting Sean to sacrificial figurehead.

He wasn't sure he liked the idea.

The crowd was getting restless, so Sean took a step up onto the loading ramp and faced them, holding up his hands. Kine pushed himself off the reactor and moved to the base of the ramp.

"OK, everyone, listen up!"

The crowd started to quiet, and Sean tried to take in their mood. It was...

"Who died and made you Don?"

The calm female voice came from the right. Turning his head, he saw ... Lessa.

She was dressed in black. Black combat pants, probably male but altered to be more form fitting, and a black t-shirt. He wondered where the hell she had gotten them, before remembering that one mission. Between her breasts hung three gold lockets on two chains, standing out against the black like stars. Her eyes ... even from twenty meters away, he could feel the power of her gaze. Her brown hair was in a fresh braid, gun belts crossing on her waist. Walking with her were both Shelly, which was to be expected, and ... what was that girl's name who impressed him on the London? Ah, right, Wendi. Both also dressed in black, and armed. They kept two steps behind Lessa as the three approached the group.

Sean had a very bad feeling about this.

As Lessa and her companions came to a stop two or so meters away from Sean, Kine casually moved between them, Mel also subtly sliding behind the trio. Lessa noted this with a smile that comforted nobody.

"So," Kine said, casually, "you decided to join us. You holding up OK, Lessa?" There was genuine concern in his voice, as well as the unspoken belief that any answer would not be fully trusted. Or so it seemed to Sean.

"I've had better days," she replied, glancing around. Anyone who felt her eyes on them looked away. She looked back at Kine, ignoring Sean. "What's the party for?"

"Oh, we're just going to talk about what happens next. The usual post-disaster briefing. Care to join us?" He motioned to an open spot where she could sit. Their eyes locked, some communication going on that Sean couldn't guess. Lessa slowly nodded, and she and her companions sank to the ground right where they were standing. Kine chuckled, moving back to his original position as if nothing had happened.

Sean looked back at the crowd. There was now a sense of ... nervous anticipation. They sensed a coming fight for leadership, and, he realized, didn't really care about the outcome. For now, they probably just wanted SOMEONE to do something.

His throat felt dry, and Sean remembered Don had taken to doing these things with a drink in hand. He had been smart, that Don. Looking down at Kine, he formed his hand slightly in the shape of a cup, and the blond nodded, signaling to Mel. The bald girl nodded and headed towards the refreshments. Sean figured he'd better start.

"We did not, I think, have a good day yesterday." There were mutters of agreement. The twin with the bandaged arm yelled out, "Yeah, ya think?" He looked down at Lessa.

"We're going to miss Don." She looked back without emotion. He decided to ignore her from then on and focus on the crowd. "Amanda has suggested we set up a memorial in the garden, for those we've lost, and I think that's a good idea. With luck, we won't be adding many more names to it."

Mel walked up to him, holding a cup, and gratefully he accepted it and took a sip. He spit it back out immediately.

"What the fuck is this, woman? 'Fruity beer'? Don't give me that shit! Either some real booze, or water, which in this place probably has a bigger kick than this stuff!"

That broke the tension. With laughter filling the room Mel took the cup back, a sly smile on her face, and walked back towards the drinks. A suspicion forming in his head, Sean flicked his eyes over to Kine. The giant was acting suspiciously non-suspicious. If this was that type of environment, Sean thought, he'd have him killed tonight as a long term threat. He saw Mel approaching again, and taking the drink saw it was a dark red wine. He raised it to her and took a swig, sighing in pleasure.

"That's better, woman." There was applause as Mel walked to the back of the crowd, nobody really noticing she then circled around and positioned herself behind Lessa's group again. His eyes again flicked to Kine. That girl was playing the blond the same way Kine was playing Sean. For some reason, that made him feel better. Sean continued. "We got our butts kicked, but now we have to think about the future. First ... we need supplies. Badly. We're not going to starve, not just yet, but the longer we wait the more we risk having to flee and not getting supplied at all. Besides," he grinned, "That's almost the last of the beer."

"No!"

"The horror!"

"My god, why have you forsaken me?!?"

There was laughter among the half serious cries of woe. Once again, Kine had been right. The mother fucker.

"We'll probably attempt a landing or docking in a day or two, once we figure out where's the safest. Which then brings us to what we do next. This system," he said, looking over at Hanna and Jenny, "is fucking dangerous now. We'll need to eventually move either farther out or back to the inner planets before any of you should leave us. Before then, though, Kine has suggested just laying low for a bit. Park the ship somewhere once we're resupplied and sit and listen for a few weeks. Find out what's going on, if the attack on the London is the start of something major or if things will die down and life will go back to 'normal'. Not that 'normal' was all that great."

He saw general nods, and both Jenny and Hanna reached for each other's hands as they whispered to each other. He felt frustration rising in him. Why couldn't he have a lover like that. They obviously were totally in love, not just lust. It showed in every movement they made together.

He shook his head, getting his mind off of that train of thought, and again looked over the crew. Someone in the back shouted up at him.

"Then what?"

"Then we go on as before. Nothing we did caused yesterday, so changing our plans because of it doesn't make much sense."

"Can I offer another option?"

Lessa stood. All eyes on her, she walked past Kine and up the ramp to stand next to Sean. She stopped so close he took a step back to get her out of his personal space ... then realized what that had to look like to everyone there. He cursed to himself. The battle was almost lost already.

Lessa looked over the crowd. She reached up and unconsciously fingered the lockets, a movement so reminiscent of Don that there were almost audible gasps from some of the teens. Gathering her thoughts, she raised herself to almost attention and spoke.

"Yesterday ... changed us. Changed me. We are not the same ship. We are not the same crew. To go on like that ... yes, it is what Don wanted. I wanted it too. But ... I now have a quest."

Sean closed his eyes and silently groaned. This could NOT be good.

"A quest I do NOT expect all of you to happily join me on. It's a quest of vengeance, and thus personal." She looked down at Amanda, sitting in the front with Sirenia. "What's one thing Don always said?"

"'Go fuck yourself, Kine'?" The room broke out into laughter again at that, and even Lessa grinned down at the girl.

"Well, yes, that, but he also said two things we should always take to heart. Don would often, as we lay together, curse the universe over the fact that, all too often, we just can't do what's right. We can not rescue those who need rescuing, help those who need helping. This was mostly because of his other saying, his other belief: Don refused to ask any of you to suicide for any cause. Any action was judged against the risk, and only those who volunteered were to ever be in danger. The rest of you were to be kept out of harm's way."