A Matter of Oaths (3 page)

Rallya cursed automatically as she shifted from her right
side to her left. The ache crept up on her every night, but if she asked the
station surgeon for something to ease it, there would be the inevitable
conversation about retiring. She only ached where she had been injured before
they perfected regen; anybody would, eight or eighty, but the surgeons refused
to believe it. Faffing fools had none of them been born back before they
perfected regen. Probably thought nobody could survive a broken bone without
it.

She squinted at the time. Second hour. Fadir would have
started preparing breakfast in the web-room. She rolled off her bed and went to
shower, setting the water to warm. As she soaped herself, she wondered whether
the Oath-breaker would turn up for the web-time she had offered him. He would
be a fool not to, after forty days without and with the prospect of a five day
wait for station time. As big a fool as she had been to make the offer. The
sensible thing would have been to get him moved to the head of Amsur
’
s waiting list.

She would tell Joshim about it over breakfast, in front of
witnesses so that he could not immediately reopen the argument. Dressing, she
ran through a mental list of ships in dock that had vacancies for a Second.
Joshim would know better than she did but she could not ask his advice, and she
had to find a berth for Rafe before
Chennya
came in or they would lose Lina to
Vasir
through Joshim
’
s stubbornness.
Masma
owed her a favour, but not a large
enough favour to take Rafe because of it. Maybe somebody would take him in
return for a favour in the future?

Fadir had breakfast ready when she entered the web-room.
Half a year more and his apprenticeship would be over. She would miss him,
mostly for his habit of rising before her.
Bhattya
would acquire a new apprentice, a scared sixteen year old to take Rasil
’
s place as the youngest and most
ignorant, and Fadir would take the Oath and be given his web. He would make a
useful junior but he would never reach senior rank; only one in ten did and it
was obvious early on which ones they would be.

She was still scowling at that thought when Joshim came in,
yawning. Eight years and she had never seen him truly awake until after
breakfast, except in a crisis. She passed him a mug of alcad without a word and
waited until he had drunk half of it.

“
I offered
somebody some web-time last night,
”
she said casually.
“
He hasn
’
t had any for forty days. I didn
’
t think he should wait any longer.
”

“
Anybody I know?
”

“
We bought him a
drink last night.
”

“
Rafe?
”

“
Don
’
t jump to conclusions,
”
Rallya warned.
“
He
’
s entitled to
web-time like anybody else, that
’
s
all.
”

Joshim looked unconvinced but could not pursue it in front
of Fadir.
“
What time is he coming?
”

“
He didn
’
t say he was.
”

“
I
’
ll need to have a look at his record,
”
Joshim said hopefully.

“
I doubt there
’
s a queue for it.
”

Joshim gave her a sharp look. Rallya made a small gesture of
apology. As a last resort, letting it slip in
Bhattya’
s web-room that Rafe was an Oath-breaker would force Joshim
to give up; it would be impossible for Rafe to control juniors who knew.
However, Rallya would rather succeed without antagonizing Joshim. He could
hardly object if she found the child a berth, but he would be furious if she
spread the truth about him around the zone and mentioning it in front of Fadir
would do just that.

She would have to be careful to whom she did mention it, she
realized. There were seniors of command rank who would broadcast it as far as
any junior.
Masma’
s Captain, for
example. She struck them off her mental list. Emperors, she was getting old!
One accursed Second should not be causing her so much trouble.

“
Still want the
web for a workout this afternoon?
”
Joshim checked, putting his empty mug aside and stretching lazily.

“
Yes.
”
Rallya crossed to the notice board and
examined the web schedule displayed there, then altered it to bring forward the
time of her tactics workout. Anybody who neglected to check the schedule this
morning deserved the standing penalty for missing a workout: three days
confined to ship.

Stepping back, she almost fell over Fadir, craning to see
what she had done.

“
Make sure they
pay the going rate for the warning,
”
she told him, enjoying the blush that he could never quite control.

“
Yes, ma
’
am. I mean, no, ma
’
am, I don
’
t charge. I
mean, no, ma
’
am, I won
’
t warn them.
”

“
Fadir, not only
are you distinctly unenterprising, you are also a lousy liar. After two years
with
Bhattya
, you should have been
cured of at least one of those problems.
”

“
Yes, ma
’
am. May I be excused, ma
’
am?
”

“
Yes, Fadir. I
would like nothing better than to see the back of you. And there
’
ll be three days confined to ship for
you for every person you do warn.
”

“
Yes, ma
’
am.
”
He contrived to bow and slink out at the same time.

“
How does he
expect you to find out if he disobeys?
”
Vidar wondered, coming in as Fadir left.

“
She
’
s telepathic,
”
Joshim said crisply.
“
Fadir
and Rasil reached that conclusion long ago.
”

Rallya chuckled.
“
Useful
if I were.
”
She poured herself
another alcad.
“
Vidar, are you waving
that flimsy around for effect, or did you intend to show it to us?
”

Vidar handed her the output from the messager.
“
Orders,
”
he said happily.
“
With
an "expedite" flash.
”

Rallya read through them quickly.
“
Back to Aramas,
”
she
said thoughtfully, handing the flimsy on to Joshim.
“
The Outsider incursions must be getting worse.
”

Joshim nodded agreement.
“
How
long before you have the new mass sensors in, Vidar?
”
he asked.

“
They
’
ll be in by this time tomorrow,
”
Vidar promised.
“
If I have to steal them from the Stores, they
’
ll be in.
”

Almost more than anybody else, Vidar was eager to return to
an active zone. There, his task of maintaining the ship in peak condition was
made easier by the cooperation of a Storekeeper with the same priorities: get
the patrolships back on duty with the minimum delay; complete the formalities
later, if ever, when things were quieter. Here in Achil, Vidar and Second
Officer Jualla had been forced to battle with the Storekeeper for every item of
equipment, in spite of the fact that
Bhattya
had been assigned to the zone specifically for refitting.

Rallya frowned suddenly. Once Vidar had installed the new
mass sensors, the only obstacle to
Bhattya’
s
departure was their lack of a First, and the "expedite" flash made it
a matter of urgency to find one. By the look on Joshim
’
s face, he was having the same thought.

“
I
’
ll be off-ship most of the morning,
”
she announced hurriedly.

“
When are we going
to talk about our First?
”
Joshim
asked, refusing to be put off.

“
Vidar will be
busy most of the morning, and so will you,
”
Rallya temporized.
“
You may as well
take the opportunity to supervise Rafe
’
s
web-time. Save checking him out later if we do decide to consider him.
”
As she had intended, the suggestion
disarmed Joshim.
“
Then we can talk
about it after my workout.
”

“
You
’
re up to something,
”
Joshim said suspiciously.

“
Nothing you could
possibly object to,
”
Rallya promised.
“
Why don
’
t you call Rafe and make sure he
’
s coming?
”

* * *

Amsur was right, Joshim decided as he finished the last
flimsy of the printout: Rafe
’
s record
was excellent. Only one ship in the ten years since he came across the Disputed
Zone, and that was a first-class surveyship,
Avannya
. Promoted to Third after four years as a junior, to Second
three years ago and last year a brevet promotion to First, now lapsed. Rapid
progress by anybody
’
s standards, and
probably deserved: like patrolships, surveyships could not afford to carry dead
mass at any level in the web-room. Nor could they afford to discard obvious
talent because of a single line in his record — 082/5033: Identity-wiped to
enforce the Member
’
s Oath. Even
Rallya would have to admit that, Joshim thought hopefully.

Or had she admitted it already, by offering Rafe web-time?
No, if she had changed her mind about him, she would have said so openly.
Without an explanation, of course. Rallya never saw any need to explain
herself, or to apologize for her actions. If she wanted to invite somebody into
Bhattya’
s web, she would,
conveniently forgetting that only Joshim, as Webmaster, had that right.

Joshim sighed. He had not made that point at breakfast, as
he had not made hundreds of similar points in the eight years since he joined
Bhattya
, because it was rarely worth the
effort to argue with Rallya. Especially not when her hip was troubling her. The
surgeons talked about the inevitable effects of age, suggested drugs that would
keep her out of the web, and were surprised when she would not listen to them. Rallya
refused to acknowledge the pain that drove her out of bed in the mornings,
would have raised blue hell if Joshim dared mention that her performance in the
web was not what it had been eight years ago, and continued to behave as if she
owned
Bhattya
and would do so
forever.

Blue hell would be a tame description for what would happen
if she found out what Joshim was looking for in their new First. Yes,
Bhattya
without Rallya was unthinkable,
but it was going to happen. In five years time, by the rate at which her
web-reflexes were deteriorating, and the Emperors only knew if she realized it
was happening. Joshim dreaded the day when he had to tell her that he could not
allow her in the web, but he intended to have a First ready to step into the
Commander
’
s place when it happened. A
First trained by Rallya; there was nothing wrong with her devious,
unprincipled, knife-sharp brain. Her tactical skill had brought
Bhattya
safely through forty years of
action; Joshim was going to ensure that she left a fitting legacy, a successor
who would make it easier for her to leave, somebody she liked and was prepared
to trust with the ship that had been her life.

Chennya’
s Lina
would be ready for command rank too soon. She would move on again within two
years; she had a record of ship hopping. Somebody like Rafe would be ideal,
newly promoted to First but with obvious potential. The trick would be to get
Rallya to take him as her protégé. Without being seen to have anything to do
with it. Joshim smiled ruefully. At least not until Rallya had too much
invested in Rafe to be prepared to waste it.

All this was assuming that Rafe wanted to be a patrolship
Commander; that was one thing that remained to be established. His record
showed no specialization in ship systems or the web, which suggested that he
had no inclination towards Captaincy or Webmastery, but he had no patrolship
experience, which was a pity, and he was too young to have gained any in the
New Empire before he came across. He could hardly have had his web for a year
when he was captured. Could anybody so young have such entrenched loyalties
that they would refuse to switch their allegiance from the New Emperor to the
Old? Joshim dismissed the question with an impatient shake of his head:
obviously they could.

His audio-messager beeped in his ear; Fadir
’
s voice came through as soon as he
acknowledged the call.

“
Second Officer
Rafell is here, sir.
”

“
Bring him up to
the web-room, please.
”

Joshim smiled indulgently at the excitement in Fadir
’
s voice. The Senior Apprentice had his
own ideas about the reason for Rafe
’
s
presence: if he was here for web-time, he must be the new First;
Bhattya’
s web was so finely tuned that
no stranger would be allowed in. For Fadir
’
s
sake, Joshim hoped he kept his ideas to himself while Rallya was about or she
would chew him up and spit him out in extremely small pieces.

“
In here, sir.
”
Fadir opened the web-room door and
stepped aside deferentially for his companion.

“
Thank you, Fadir.
”
Rafe
’
s face twitched into a tired grin as Fadir bowed his way out.
“
I hadn
’
t the heart to tell him he was wasting his time trying to impress
me,
”
he commented as he made his own
belated bow.