Honorable Intentions

"My resignation." Korwyn flashed the datapad and sneered. "God have mercy on your soul, Captain." She turned toward the door.

"I found him dockside, outside my rooms with a bloody spanner held over a dead man. What the hell do you think I was supposed to do?" The door remained closed.

"Have a little faith!"

"We've been trapped on this station for a month! Six people have died! I couldn't believe it any more than you, but I saw it with my own eyes!" The Captain’s voice trembled. Korwyn wheeled around and slammed her hand on the desk.

"Barnak from the Rigel's Rose, Corin from the al-Jaleel, Darby and Collins from the Ninth Wonder, the whore from the corner under Barnak's window and a teenage boy with an ice bucket within running distance from Darby's hotel."

The Captain took a deep breath. "Not in that order."

"No, but that was the killer's intention. Can't you see? The son-of-a-bitch was trying to behead the Guild in this sector."

"I hardly call two Captains in a random spree beheading the guild." The Captain tried to maintain her composure, damned if she wasn’t going to be the adult in the situation.

Korwyn tried not to scream. "The whore and the kid were just witnesses! Daoud announced his retirement six weeks ago. The al-Jaleel was docked here to sign the ship over to Corin."

"The second mate's word for it is hardly more than hearsay."

"And Darby and Collins are hardly a secret." The Captain shuddered. "Just because you don't fuck your subordinates doesn't make it a fleet rule."

"That’s enough!"

The datapad took an ugly scar out of the cherry finish as it careened across the desk.

The Third's voice was deadly calm. "He ran your engines awfully clean for someone with seven offers in the last three months."

Mouth still open, the Captain retrieved the datapad from where it had bounced off the wall.

"The Croatoan has been after him at every port we’ve met for the last two years! You can't tell me you had no idea."

"Seven?" she repeated.

"You expect me to believe you never knew why he stayed?"

"That's...." She thumbed down the tab. Seven very good letters. Seven very good ships. “Nobody told me a thing.”

"Nobody else knows. I hacked his account to get them. He's been keeping watch on your rooms ever since he thought he picked up on the killer’s pattern. I didn't believe him at first."

The Captain stared, dumbfounded.

"Honestly, I thought he'd lost his marbles until you turned him in." She sighed, pushing off from the table. "He dies for this? You don’t have a crew." The door slammed on her way out.

He’d never said a word, never seemed at ease around her. No personal life to speak of, threw himself into his work. In eight years, she’d never asked why. The glowing screen on her desk said it all. Keeping watch outside her rooms? That meant… the datapad hit the floor as she tried not to heave.


“Oh God…. John…”