The Captain's Heart CH 66 (Patreon)

“What?” Jeremy asked with a chuckle, roll of meat with a vegetable paste at its center to his lips. The last week of issues with the toilet

“What?” Jeremy asked with a chuckle, roll of meat with a vegetable paste at its center to his lips.

The last week of issues with the toilet had caused him to visit medical, where tests had showed he was deficient in a series of nutrients Kelsirian didn’t need in as large quantities. Instead of handing him pills to deal with it, after a quick search, they had a list of dishes he needed to make his mainstay. He needed more vegetables in his diet, they’d told him, and those had vegetable based pastes instead of the proteins based ones many of the selections contained.

The list had been long enough, he’d been able to replace all the flavors with something that had vegetables in it.

“Just enjoying the view,” his Heart replied, smiling.

“Feels more like you’re paying attention when I’m looking at other people. You know you don’t have to worry, right? I’m not going to—”

“I know,” Gralgiran said gently. He took his hand. “You don’t need to constantly reassure me. I trust you, Jer.”

He chuckled nervously. “Sorry. It’s just that with how…” he couldn’t voice it. Even now, after reminding his friends, and sometimes strangers, all the flirting made him feel like he was expected to cheat on his Heart.

“I know,” Gralgiran repeated in the same tone. “You don’t have to worry either.”

He squeezed his Heart’s hand. He hadn’t realized how much he needed the reassurance. “What’s the plan for you today? Any large administrative task to keep you from getting bored? I’m on power distribution supervision, again.” He couldn’t keep the derision out of his voice.

“Don’t diminish the work. Every position is important to a properly running ship. As for me, we’re still a few days from our destination, so I won’t know what will have to be done until we have scans of the area. But I need to make sure we’re ready for all eventualities.”

“That’s what the quartermaster gave you, right?” When Gralgiran only nodded he added. “You were expecting it, right? I mean, he works for you, you the hunter, I mean.”

Gralgiran laughed. “No. He doesn’t. Not officially, at least.”

“What does that mean, not officially?”

His Heart ate three of the meat cylinders dipped in the spiced sauce they shared before answering. “We have networks, people in places to hear information that can help in our hunts, or even start them. And some of them are within groups the leadership considers the undesirables, since they are the best placed to learn of criminal activities that might impact Kelser as a whole.”

“Like those vanished ships.”

He nodded. “Most of those are people we rescued, and they pay us back by informing us.”

“The way you rescued Xenial er Ta’halan.”

“Not exactly. I didn’t know who he was when I rescued him. The hunt I was on happened to take past the village he’d been abandoned in. I saw the fighting and intervened.”

“Alone? Without a pack?” Jeremy asked suspiciously. From conversations with Thuruk and his Heart, he’d picked up bits about hunter procedures, and one of their core tenets was that they acted as packs.

“The female I was tracking was alert for hunters, so the pact hung well back. It was easier to pass myself off as a tourist if she ambushed me on my own.”

“So you rescued him, but he doesn’t get you information?”

“He does, but not because I rescued him. I didn’t learn he was Ta’halan until he’d made himself Quartermaster.”

“Wait, made himself? Don’t positions that capitalize the name have to be earned through academies and sum such?”

“Quartermaster is fully a civilian position, so how someone ends up in charge is handled differently. The planet where he was abandoned wasn’t one I could leave him on and not have to worry about Xeniila Haran Meddling in my life in ways I don’t want. Because, for as much of an annoyance as Xenial er Ta’halan can be, he wants to earn his keep; he convinced the Quartermaster to employ him. The female retired the next time we were at Kelser, and he was her recommendation for the position. I had no reasons to go against her wishes, so I let it stand.”

“You let the guy who drives you nuts have a position of authority? Didn’t it occur to you he might have arranged things?”

“If anyone arranged anything, it’s his namesake. And I hadn’t had reasons to interact with him until then. More than once, I’ve considered leaving him at a station for some of the things he’s done.”

“And you haven’t…?”

“Because each time it’s becoming a serious consideration, he’ll hand me something like this, which will either play a crucial part in bringing a hunt to an end, or put me on a scent for something that would have had serious repercussions for our people. His namesake makes sure Xenial er Ta’halan earns his right to stay.”

“And that’s helping with the ships.”

“I trust that it will. And because of that, he’s staying out of the cells for somehow having information on a hunt I hadn’t filed.”

“Do you have to—” his tablet buzzed. The reminder his shift was going to start soon. As a technician, he couldn’t afford to be late to work. “I need to get to work.” He took his Heart’s hand and rubbed his cheeks against it. “I’ll see you after shift.”

“Have a good one,” Gralgiran called after him.

    *

He tapped the screen, then brought up the slider to adjust the power to that section of the civilian quarter deck. Even before he had the slider where he wanted it, he knew something was off. The power wasn’t adjusting accordingly. At a glance, he had to send thirty percent more power to the deck to meet the demand he was seeing. He brought up a different screen, entered commands and confirmed the power running through the regulator he controlled matched the readings. Another set of checks and he had the culprits. One of the capacitor banks was eating power.

He’d called up the location and had to stop himself from starting to divert the power away. This wasn’t how things were done.

It still rank that he couldn’t just fix the problem, but all he had to do was remind himself that short of an emergency situation, he too preferred to be told what was happening instead of having a tech just handle it.

A look over his shoulder showed him the Engineer at the reactor, changing circuits. If Jeremy had known the boards could be powered up or down individually, he would have been able to get the reactor working much faster. He wanted to blame Thuruk for not telling him, but he hadn’t even asked. He’d taken for granted that the entirety of the reactor was a whole because that was how he built his.

He brought up the engineering messaging system.

Engineer, there is a power drain in the thirty-third capacitor bank.

He attached the information, locked the screen to a tab and continued to work, trying to put the situation out of his mind. The Engineer would decide how and who would handle it. His job was to see to it the rest of the sections had the power they needed to function properly.

Menial work, he couldn’t keep from mentally complaining.

But work that needed to be done. Work he needed to do well if he wanted a chance the Engineer would treat him with the seriousness needed so he could—

“What is the situation, technician Jeremy Bradshaw?” the Engineer asked.

“Defective capacitors, Engineer.” He brought up the tab. “We’re losing around thirty percent of the power. We need—” he stopped himself.

Not his job.

The Engineer consulted his tablet. “In an hour eighteen, divert their power requirement to bank ninety-four, a hundred and thirteen, and two hundred and fifteen. Then see to their replacement. I’ll have a set ready.”

Jeremy kept himself from commenting through pure will.

The sandy fur guy considered him, had a tilt to one ear, and spoke. “You have an opinion?” there was no judgment in the tone, but Jeremy knew better than to take for granted this wasn’t a test.

“Why wait? Getting the capacitors here only takes five minutes. It’s enough time for me to divert the power to the other banks, then I can do the changeover. Twenty minutes at most and we have everything back to normal.”

“And what happens to the power of those residences if a technician needs to make adjustment to those banks in the meantime?”

“So they’re going to have power fluctuations for a bit. That’s nothing horrible.”

The Engineer considered him. “I doubt those inconvenienced families will feel the same. In one hour eighteen, most of those families will be in away, and the power requirement will be low enough any shifts in the banks they now depend on shouldn’t be noticed.”

Again, Jeremy kept his mouth shut through willpower. But this time the Engineer’s expression was darker, and when he spoke, his tone carried restrained annoyance. “You have another opinion?”

He forced himself to keep his tone neutral. This wasn’t an argument. This was him explaining a point. “In that hour, how much anti-matter are were going to waste to that power leak? You can’t tell me that making it is so inexpensive you’re willing to throw it away like this.”

“That is my decision to make.”

“Don’t we work for the ship?” Jeremy asked, unable to keep his frustration out of his voice. “Don’t the owner have something to say about paying for waste like that?”

“I report to the captain, yes. Are you suggesting that those families should be inconvenienced just so he can save a handful of krurons?”

“It’s not going to be for that long,” Jeremy insisted.

The Engineer searched his face, and when he spoke again, the tone was surprisingly gentle. “Technician, we, Kelsirians, value our comfort above whatever profits might come from whatever transient discomfort they could incur. I understand Earthers see things differently. But you are among us, so I ask that you keep that in mind when you feel work needs to be rushed.” He smiled. “And when you see your Heart, you should ask him what the priorities of a hunter ship are. Profits are not among them. Once the time has elapsed, divert the power, and see to the replacement of the capacitor bank. Until then, you have work to do, technician.”

Outline section 

no Outline

Addition 

Jeremy noticing oddities about Gral’s behaviour

Scenes of engineering work, but not ‘learning how thigns go’ he’s been at it for a few days now, and Jeremy is a decently fast learner.

Getting permission to install the weight machine.

Xenial comes with a peace offering

Mainly have time pass in preparation for what Gralgiran will find.

Only got through the first two points, as both stretched longer than I expected. The bit of backstory about Xenial wasn’t planned, but once Jeremy brought up the hunt, it was going to be mentioned. And no, I didn’t know any of it ahead of time. I hadn’t considered how Xenial went from being rescued to being the Quartermasted on a hunter ship until now.

The section in engineering, on the other hand, happened almost exactly as I planned, except for Alix finally getting an understanding of why Jeremy thinks the way he does, and that makes him more sympathetic toward him, instead of more antagonistic.

And yes, ultimately. A lot of Jeremy’s ‘plot’ advancement will revolve around him coming to understand more and more how different Kelsirians are than humans.