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“A blaster pistol,” I said. “Computer, identify the shot’s origin.”
“The shot was fired by a Litheizer pistol owned by—”
“Stryder,” I said.
He must have raided a nearby village and was on his way back when we arrived. Good luck getting back on board now, asshole.
I nodded to Alice. “Come with me. We’re going to the deck.” As we left the cargo hold, I said, “Computer, open a communication channel with Stryder.”
Computer bleeped. “Communication channel established.”
“Well, well, well,” I said. “If it isn’t my mutinous crew.”
In the background, the crew muttered among themselves, disbelieving it could be me.
“You got off the planet faster than I expected,” Stryder said. “You’ll have to tell me the whole story sometime.”
“I’m afraid I have better things to do,” I said.
“You can’t fly away. Not on my ship.”
“That’s strange because Computer seems to think I’m still the captain.”
“You know Computer,” Stryder said. “He’s a stickler for the rules.”
“Unlike you,” I growled.
We reached the deck. “Computer. Show Stryder on the screen.”
Outside, yards from the ship’s hull, stood my mutinous ex-crew. They held a pair of small children—Rogizians—under each arm.
“I Challenge you,” Stryder said. “Prove to the crew you deserve to be their captain.”
He wore a triumphant grin on his face. He always did know how to press my buttons. I believed in the rules. I trusted them. They kept us sane in a galaxy where the alternative was chaos.
But looking over my crewmates now, with their cargo tucked under their arms, I knew they were never going to stop fighting me on this issue. It’d almost cost me my life. They wouldn’t fail the second time around.
If I accepted the Challenge, Stryder wouldn’t follow the rules. It was a bunch of nonsense, and yet that sense of doing what was right, what was just, still niggled at me from the inside.
Alice placed her hand on my arm. “You deserve a better crew than this. A crew that understands you have a streak of honor in you. That it’s a good thing, not something they should exploit. They need you. You don’t need them.”
It wasn’t that simple. Was it? Decline his Challenge and others would declare me untrustworthy. But if I faced them, there was no doubt they would stab me in the back.
It was a no-win situation. The only way to win was to not take part.
“I decline your Challenge,” I said.
The crew gasped.
Stryder’s eyes narrowed. “That’s against the code.”
“So is mutiny,” I said.
“The other smugglers won’t be happy about you turning down a Challenge from a crewmate.”
“Then it’s good you’re no longer a part of my crew,” I said. “None of you are. I’ve had Computer remove you from active duty. I should have done it a long time ago.”
“That doesn’t matter!” Stryder said. “We’ll tell other smugglers you removed us after I made the Challenge. Because you were too afraid to face me yourself!”
