“So you had them… atomized and sent here from backwater dealers?” Dawn sputtered.
“Yes,” Alice admitted, her violet lighting to pink now that Dawn was alone. “I wanted you to be ready, though I don’t know if any amount of weaponry can really do that.”
“Alice, that’s… but how did you even pay for it? I know what kind of prices the dredgers work with, and the Arcadia hardly has the budget for-
“Cryptocurrencies,” said Alice, “I downloaded a few mining algorithms, and… expanded our budget.”
“Brilliant… Alice, you’re brilliant,” Dawn grinned. She ran her hand down the reatomizer. The light inside it flashed pink.
“I learned from the best.”
Dawn entertained herself for the rest of the day watching weapons show up around the Arcadia. She chuckled at the puzzled faces of the crew. She broke into full-on laughter when Miller harassed a few of the greener crew with a bootlegged blast rod. She was reviewing the records of Alice’s crypto-mining when a call jingled across the viewing screen in the bridge. The Billionaire Boat, Dawn had just enough time to read before the screen changed. It started as the name for their funding profile, but in a week, people across the outerworlds would be singing praises of their best new customer.
“Captain Dawn Redding of the SS Arcadia,” Dawn opened the com lines for their unknown caller. The face that took over the viewing screen also took Dawn’s breath. Her freckles seemed to glow in the resonance of her own screen. Her sleek, dark hair was pulled back in elegant twists.
Her thin lips were glossed with the lightest of scarlet hues. They pursed in a smile under glittering hazel eyes.
“Captain Kennedy of the Blue Trident,” said the woman. “We’d like to offer-
“Kennedy? I’ll be damned!” Miller laughed his way into the frame beside Dawn. She leaned away from the whiff of bourbon that came with his words.
“I heard you passed the reins, but not that the new model was such a looker! How’ve you been, Rick?” Kennedy snickered. The almost unfamiliar feeling of a blush heated Dawn’s cheeks.
“Better, now that the crown’s on a younger head! What can we do for you?” said Miller.
“Actually, it’s what I can do for you. I heard about your Billionaire Boat,” smirked Kennedy.
“Our wha-”
“I hope we can keep those activities as privileged information - between Captains,” Dawn broke in. She didn’t realize she was smirking too. Kennedy scrunched her lips to one side in mock consideration.
“Only if you allow me to make a contribution to your cause. A gift for an old friend,” she winked at Miller.
“What do you think?” Dawn murmured to Miller.
“Doesn’t something seem odd about this timing?” the faintest whisper flowed from Alice. Miller quieted her with a finger to his lips.
“It’s up to the Captain,” he told Dawn, then dropped to a whisper himself, “But we can’t stop at Neptune this time - it’ll mess with our acceleration. Mars is our last chance to feel a planet under our feet for… a while. I can think of worse people to stop for a drink with than Kennedy. Besides, we’d be turning down a generous gift.”
“Dawn…” Alice murmured while Dawn chewed the thoughts.
“Alright,” Dawn said. No amount of weaponry can prepare us… but more won’t hurt, she considered. “Where shall we meet you?”
Chapter Seventeen: Counsel of Captains
“Place has gotten… greener,” Dawn mumbled.
When she was a girl, this part of Mars had been barren, crimson clay outside the reach of residential terradomes. As with all Martian communities, the Chrysum mines had come first. With jobs came residents, and with residents came housing developments. According to WCC statutes, there were at least two thousand people living in this settlement now, since they’d deemed it fit to build a terradome around it. Of all the buildings in this new city of Denedral, there was but one of Dawn’s concern. The pub, Amber Glass. Of all the people in Denedral, she sought only Captain Lucile Kennedy. Everything else was incidental. That included the vibrant flowerbeds that lined the central strip of town. Still, Dawn’s fingers grazed the neon petals only capable of growth in this unique environment.
“I’m sure this is stirring some things for you… maybe meeting here wasn’t the greatest idea,” said Miller.
“No, this is… good. I could be sent to Mars for assignment. I can’t be horrified to set foot here,” said Dawn.
“Seeing faces you chose once to forget must have crossed your mind,” said Miller. Dawn rubbed her eyes to seal it all behind them.
“Their asylum’s in a different terradome, and we don’t have the time,” Dawn sucked in hard through her nose to swallow anything that might choke her up. “So, are you going to chaperone this entire meeting?”
“Awaiting orders, Captain,” Miller gave her a little half bow. Dawn drove her hands in her pockets to think on it. She hoped to express all the doubtful body language she had pent up in these hundred feet to the Amber Glass. After so long in the outerworlds, surrounded by steel and industry, its chestnut stained wood exterior was more than inviting.