Offensive Move
Disclaimer: If you
haven’t figured out by now, I own a single, legitimate box-set of the series,
and a legitimate copy of the OST1 CD (which is awesome!). However, I own no rights of any of the
characters. That privilege belongs to:
Geneon, and Chiaki Koichi, Tamioka Katsuhiro, and Yamashita Tomohiro. Enjoy my completely free story, based (some
would say loosely) on the characters in Last Exile.
Chapter 6
When Walker opened his eyes, he couldn’t believe what he was
seeing. There was a tall burly man
sitting in his favorite chair, drinking out of his favorite mug and smoking one
of his expensive cigars. “Who the fuck
are you?”
“Name’s Godwin. I’m
Rowe’s chief mechanic.” He blew a smoke
stream into the air, and took another sip of ale.
As Walker sat up, he realized that there might be more to
this man’s invasion than met the eye.
“My head is pounding. What the
hell happened?”
Godwin leaned over and smiled at him, holding up his
mug. “That’s what I want to know. Exactly how many of these did Miss Forrester
drink last night?”
Walker groaned.
Despite the splitting headache, aching body, and teeth covered in
vile-tasting fuzz; recollection was a sharp knife. “More than one, less than me.”
“Well, considering that she’s half your size, I guess that’s
a good thing.” He took another
chug. “Pretty good ale by the way. The cigar’s not half-bad either.” He looked at it, having no idea what brand
it was.
“Imported from Dissith, they know a few things about cigar
making.” Walker straightened up, not
willing to stand yet. “Is Miss
Forrester okay?”
“Mmm, I’m sure she is having the same type of morning, minus
the man in her room; but she is a pretty resilient woman.”
“Alex is a fool.”
Godwin chuckled. “He
probably wouldn’t agree with your general assessment, but actions sometimes
speak louder than words.”
“I suppose he sent you to take care of me?”
Godwin chewed on the end of the cigar for a second before
answering. “Yup. I had to carry your sorry drunk ass all the
way from the Silverna to your quarters.
I also decided that since Alex Rowe would want to make sure you survived
your drunken stupor, I’d make do with this chair, and the free perks.” He gestured to the mug.
“So we did make it back to the ship. I was concerned about that.” Walker was already figuring the deduction
Alex would make to his commission, and it wasn’t looking so good for keeping
himself in perks. Teach me to spend
time with any of his chosen people.
“So, why are you STILL here?”
“Just wanted to make sure you understood a few things.”
Walker groaned and looked at the younger man named
Godwin. “I see a lot of things while
running this place. As the very
successful owner, I would hope I’ve sense enough to realize what does and
doesn’t actually happen on my property.”
Godwin stood and grinned at the older man. “I thought you looked like a reasonable
fellow.”
“Nobody will hear anything from me.” He chuckled at Godwin’s scowl
“I have too much respect to repeat things I see either.”
“Good man. Why don’t
you take a couple of those cigars with you, my way of showing appreciation for
being babysat.”
Godwin opened his jacket, showing three cigars stowed in the
inner pocket. “Already have.”
They both chuckled and Godwin left, leaving Walker to clean
up and start his morning.
ssssss
Sophia was sure she’d died and gone to hell. As she wobbled over to the mirror, she
envisioned blood shot eyes emphasized by the green wrinkled flesh of her
face. When the woman in the mirror
looked normal, she closed her eyes long enough to give thanks. Opening them again, she noticed her hair was
down. Touching it, she frowned. Did Alex take it down for me? She looked around and found her clamp and
beads sitting on her desk. Not taking
time to think further about it, she pulled her hair up and prepared for a
miserable day.
As she walked onto the bridge, she noticed Alex was standing
in her usual spot. Campbell raised an
eyebrow at her before turning back to the wheel. Alex glared at her as she approached. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“This is my job.”
She looked around. “What are you
doing, just out of curiosity? I thought
we were at dock.”
“We are. I decided
since my XO was in bed sick with the flu,” he looked at her pointedly “I would
work on precision drills with the staff.
They are leaving to go to Casino Royale at fifteen-hundred, that gives
us two more hours to practice.”
“What are we practicing for?”
“You, my peckish XO, are practicing sleeping. Go back to bed before you infect the rest of
the crew.” He turned her around and
marched her to the door.
Once they were outside, she turned to look at him. “I don’t have the flu.”
“We both know that, but do you really want all of your
subordinates to know the truth?”
She hung her head, again Alex showed wiser judgment. “No.
I’ll be in my quarters whenever you’re ready to mete out my punishment.”
Alex observed the sweat running down the edge of her
hairline, and the slight grayish tent to her skin. “Oh I believe you are being punished quite satisfactorily as it
stands. But, we’ll talk about how
you’ll make up for today’s inconvenience later.” He sent her on her way, watching as she entered her cabin and
shut the door. “And that bill will be
hefty.” Turning back to the bridge, he
decided that the staff could leave early and give him time to deal with his
other miscreant.
ssssss
Walker was working in his office when Alex came in. He looked up, saw who it was, and went back
to work without acknowledging him. “Ah,
I see we’re hiding in our office today.
Avoiding me?”
“Not particularly. I
just wanted to finish this last line of accounting before my pounding head had
to focus on you.” He gestured towards
the bar. “Help yourself, I’m kicking
the habit for a few days.”
Alex walked over to the bar and poured a whiskey, and a
glass of ice water. Setting the water
in front of Walker, he took the chair opposite his desk. “Sophia is none the worse this morning.”
“No hangover?”
“Oh, she’s hating life; but she won’t be permanently damaged
by it.” He listened to the workers in
the hanger. “Is this the quietest place
you could find?”
Walker grimaced.
“No, but a hangover doesn’t keep the work from piling up. I don’t plan on handling any heavy equipment
today, but I can still see that my staff stays on task.”
Alex crossed a leg and looked at his old friend. “So, what did you talk about?”
“Our favorite subject of course.”
“And did you learn anything about your favorite subject,
that your favorite subject needs to know about?”
“No. Your XO is
trustworthy. I just discussed escapades
we got into when you were a younger, less cynical Alex; and Sophia talked about
some things the four of you did while you were at the academy together,
before…”
“Sophia huh?”
Walker looked at Alex, it was hard to believe this man
hadn’t made any moves on his XO. Alex
was so eaten with jealousy that Walker could almost see the green imps. “When you get as drunk as we did, you no
longer have to worry about formalities.
Don’t worry,” he took a sip of water “I’ll refer to her as XO Forrester
when we’re in public.”
“So, do you have plans to do this again with my XO?”
“Your XO is still a free citizen, but I suspect she’s the
type not to repeat her mistakes.”
Alex stood to go.
“Most of the time.”
As he reached the door, Walker stopped him. “The Silverna will be ready at the end of
the week.”
“Thank you.” He was
gone before Walker could tell him that the Dissith fleet had petitioned the
Guild for a battle the following week with Anatoray, and his team had sped up
their pace to make sure Alex was ready, just in case.
