Doc’s cry from the far side of the dock freed Cyra from her awkward introduction. Doc was breathless and half-shuffling, half-running toward her.
She held up her hand to slow the older man down, worried for his safety. “We’re alright. The spiders are back in the cage. All of them.”
Veda rushed to her mentor and took his elbow. “The Cassan docking crew says it appears someone tampered with the container. They’re making a safety fix to it now.”
Cyra groaned. The charge for the fix would be added to her docking fees. “I have to go to the bank. Varik says the accounts are empty.” No way Captain Auvi was broke. He’d been so frugal. Maybe because he didn’t have enough credits? “Veda, Doc, can you handle things here?”
“Veda will see to the ship. I’ll go with you.” Doc’s tone allowed for no dissent. “I have the proof of death you’ll need to transfer the accounts.”
What she needed to do was get a new crew, but fixing the credits and accounts first, made sense. “Let’s go.”
Chapter7
“Nothing left,”Cyra repeated for the third time since the credit agency manager had explained the accounts were closed. Her knees weakened, and she sank to a bench outside the facility. Some part of her had assumed Varik was lying until the truth had been confirmed by the very nice, but very useless man. “All those credits. Why did Auvi have Varik’s name on all those accounts?”
Doc grimaced. “He loved Varik once. Maybe still did on some level. They’d both lost faith in each other some time ago. But Auvi hated dealing with the mundane. He brought up changing his property inheritance months ago, and I jumped on changing it because I knew he would procrastinate. I had no idea the credit accounts were held in both their names.” Doc sat next to her and tried to put his arm around her shoulders. She was much taller than Doc, so it was more like around her back, but it was still comforting.
“Varik knew about the accounts but not the change in the plans forThe Treasure.” Cyra blinked hard and shook herself as she stood. “We have to get back. He could have been the one who tampered with the spider container. Who knows what else he’s up to?”
Cyra hurried back to the hanger with Doc in tow.
The security staff had the area cordoned off. Cyra held out her arm to allow access to her galactic identification. After scanning her GID chip, they allowed her to enter.
“Veda?” She hollered through the empty vessel. “Veda, where are you?” She moved to the cargo hold.
“I’m here,” Veda said emerging from the lower level. Her confusion was written all over her face. “Why are you screaming and why are you back so soon? I thought you’d be another hour at least.”
“I need to change the authorizations for the ship's systems immediately. I have to make sure Varik can’t get back on board or into the systems remotely.”
Cyra deleted all of Varik’s authority including several back doors he’d created in multiple subsystems, the sneaky bastard. She finally understood why Captain Auvi made her study so much. She had more knowledge about the ship than most engineers and captains combined. She could runThe Treasurefrom top to bottom—if it was possible to be in multiple places at once.
Crew. Her next hurdle. If she didn’t find at least a skeleton crew that would be willing to work for the promise of payment after they delivered the spiders and Dez, her time as captain would be short-lived. Her stomach soured. Dez had saved Veda and possibly Cassan. He should be treated as a hero but he was still cargo, and she had to honor the contracts to deliver all the goods on the ship. If she could.
She dropped into the captain’s chair and gazed unseeing out at the bleak metal hangar through the unshielded windows on the bridge. She shifted from slumped to alert when a few wayward crew mates entered the hangar. They must not have received Varik’s message. She had to tell them something that would make them stay, but she couldn’t make herself rise to share all her bad news.
Moments later, Doc called from the door to the bridge. “Cyra, the crew is waiting outside the lower deck. You need to speak to them.”
She stood with a sigh. “And tell them what? I have a ship with a partially completed contact and no money to pay them for the work they’ve already done?”
He moved briskly down the corridor. “Why don’t you let me speak to them?”
It might be weak, but she jumped at the chance to hand that conversation to him.
Doc stepped forward and held up his hands. “Listen.”
“Where’s our pay?” someone in the crowd of over fifty called out.
“I can explain everything. You may not like what you hear, but I’ll tell you the truth, unlike what you may have already heard.”
“Varik said?—”
“Captain Auvi was a good captain and kept this ship on an even keel for a very long time. I’ve worked with some of you longer than I can remember. The captain entrusted this ship to Cyra.” Doc gestured back to where Cyra was planted. The crew fidgeted and gave each other knowing looks. “And while Captain Cyra has been on this ship for several galactic years, you may not know her as I do. She’s trustworthy, reliable, and incredibly intelligent. She’s a planner and if anyone can figure out how to keep this ship profitable while taking exceptional care of its crew, it’s her. Auvi invested his time training her to be his replacement. She knows how to run this ship, but she needs you. Auvi gave her his loyalty. If you trusted Auvi, you can trust his judgement now.”
“Trust doesn’t pay my bills,” a voice called from the crowd. Several crew members were already tramping down the corridor.
“Look Doc,” Jarek, the navigator stepped forward. He was burly and had scales covering his shoulders and small curved horns. It made him look more fearsome than he was. “It’s not that we don’t trust Captain Auvi, but we work for a living. Even if we deliver this cargo, the first half of the money is gone. Varik told us it was already spent. It takes fuel, food, and lots of fees to fly this behemoth. We might have enough fuel and food to make the delivery, but what then. There are docking fees on Morgual. And with no contract, how are we supposed to get all the way to Kolben to make the second delivery?”
The remaining crew murmured in agreement.
