Stand Against The Storm (The Maxwell Saga Book 4) (4 page)

Kinnear grinned. “You do like to paint yourself into corners, don’t you, Sir?” They both chuckled. “Seriously, though, I think there’s a way. Your job is to be the ‘big boss’ – the top dog. I’ll be the day-to-day supervisor. They can resent me all they like; it’s an NCO’s job to be the lightning rod sometimes. If necessary you’ll be the voice of reason to bring back balance. You tell us what to do, then get out of the way. I’ll break that down into tasks, treating all our people as professionals. I’ll encourage them to put forward their own ideas, too. While they’re at work, you and I can ‘manage by walking around’. Anyone with a problem can talk to me, and if I can’t sort it out, we’ll bring it to you. The prisoners can use their
chargé
as a liaison officer if they like.”

“Good idea. I’m going to take him up on his offer to move in with us while the work’s going on.” Steve sipped his coffee appreciatively. “Thanks, Gunny. I like your approach. I’m also going to talk to the prisoners’ leaders before they get here. They formed two ships’ companies, so their skippers or other officers are bound to be among them. I’ll use them as team leaders for their own people. If they have better skills than we do – for example, their engineer officers and techs almost certainly know more than we do about power plants – we’ll put them in charge of those areas. That’ll prove we’re treating them as equals, and free up our people for other important work. How about using joint work parties – Marines and convicts all mixed together? We can divide them up according to their skills and the needs of the job, rather than where they come from.”

“That’s a good idea, Sir. While you’re talking to the prisoners, I’ll make sure our people understand what we’re doing and why. I’ll tell them that if a prisoner’s in charge of a group, it’s because he or she is best qualified to do that job. They shouldn’t get bent out of shape about it.”

“Will they accept that?”

“I can be very persuasive when I want to be, Sir.”

Steve laughed aloud. “I just bet you can! All right, Gunny. Thanks for your input. Let’s make this happen.”

~ ~ ~

The officer in command of the transit prison was anything but happy to receive his orders. He plugged the data chip into a reader, scanned the text as it scrolled across the display, and scowled. “This can’t possibly be right! There must be some mistake. These are hard-core criminals!”

“There’s no mistake, Captain,” the
chargé d’affaires
said mildly. “These orders were signed by Governor Sirhan, as you can clearly see. If you’d like to call his office to verify that, please feel free to do so.”

“Damn right I will!” The officer reached for a comm unit.

The subsequent conversation with an aide in the Governor’s office was short, to the point, and not at all to the Captain’s liking. “I don’t know how you did it, but you did,” he growled at the diplomat as he ended the call. He transferred his scowl to Steve. “You accept full responsibility for these prisoners, right? Anything goes wrong, any of them escape, we’ll hold you accountable for it, understand?”

“I understand,” Steve replied as calmly as he could, restraining his impulse to shove the man’s rudeness back down his throat on the end of his fist.

“I’ll have my guards assemble the prisoners in the mess hall. They’ll escort them to your transporters, but no further. Once they’re aboard, they’re your responsibility. How many guards did you bring?”

“None.”

“None?
Are you crazy? They’ll be over the tailgate and away before you’ve gone a hundred meters out of the main gate!”

“As you said, Captain, that’ll be my responsibility. I think we can deal with it. I’d like to speak to a few of their leaders before we load them, if you’ll please arrange for us to use an interview room. Mr. Jiang will give you their names.”

“All right, but it won’t do you any good.”

Orders were issued and guards scurried to obey them. The Captain led Steve and the
chargé
to a stark white room with a barred window and a steel security door. It contained only a round table and half a dozen chairs.

“I’ll have them brought in here while we assemble the rest,” he snapped, then turned on his heel and stalked off without waiting for a reply.

“We seem to have offended his sense of the fitness of things,” Steve murmured to Mr. Jiang. “Why is he so upset? Has he had trouble with your people?”

“He feels they don’t give him sufficient respect,” the other replied softly.

“And?”

“It’s really not for me to say,” Jiang hedged.

“I hope they do better with us, otherwise they’ll be back in here before long,” Steve warned. “Please make sure they understand that before we leave. If they’re not prepared to cooperate, better for all of us if they stay here.”

“I’ll make sure they understand. You don’t mind if I speak Mandarin with them if necessary?”

Steve grinned and said in that language, “I don’t mind at all. I’ve been studying it for two years along with my wife, who knows about my relationship with the Tong. She suggested it might be useful, and it gave us something to do together during a number of trips on recruiting duties.”

“Well!” Jiang replied, also in Mandarin, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “That was certainly enterprising of you both. Do you read and write it, as well as speak it?”

Steve switched back to Galactic Standard English. “Less well than we speak it, but we’re still learning. Fortunately, hypno-study makes that much faster and easier. You might want to mention to your people that I speak the language. I wouldn’t want any of them to think they can talk freely in front of me, and give away Tong secrets by doing so.”

Jiang looked quizzically at him. “That’s very considerate of you. Many people would have taken advantage of the situation to learn all they could.”

Steve shrugged. “The Tong’s always treated me with respect, and I’ve tried to do the same in return. This is part of that for me.”

“Thank you. I’ll make sure they understand.”

The tramp of marching feet came down the corridor towards the interview room. Four tough-looking guards ushered four men and a woman into the room. All were handcuffed behind their backs, and Steve felt his face flush with annoyance.

“Remove those handcuffs at once!” he ordered the guards sharply.

“Who do you think you are, giving us orders?” the man in charge demanded belligerently.

“I’m now responsible for these people, by order of the Governor. If you’re in any doubt about that, consult your Captain. Now
get them off!”

The NCO glared at him, but the anger in Steve’s eyes clearly gave him pause. After a moment he turned away. “All right, you heard the man,” he muttered to his subordinates. They joined him in removing the handcuffs, then let themselves out and closed the door behind them.

“Thank you,” Jiang murmured to him. “Senior Lieutenant Maxwell, allow me to introduce Captain Chun of the salvage vessel
Lotus;
his First Mate, Mr. Ya; his Medical Officer, Dr. Ju; Captain Qiu of the merchant freighter
Pearl;
and his First Mate, Mr. Kun.” Each of the prisoners inclined their head slightly as they were named. “This is the Lancastrian Commonwealth Fleet officer of whom I told you earlier. He’s agreed to use your ships’ companies at the depot he’s establishing for the combat engineers rebuilding Surush’s infrastructure.”

Steve held up his hand. “There’s a bit more to it than that, Mr. Jiang. Would everyone please sit down? There aren’t enough chairs, so I’ll stand.”

He watched as they moved to the table. Captain Chun was a shorter, strongly built man, and from the way he walked and carried himself he’d probably had a lot of martial arts training and experience. Having the same background, Steve could recognize the signs when he saw them. He recalled the
chargé’s
comment about the Captain being the son of a very senior Tong official. Even in prison garb he gave off an air of command, as if he expected instant obedience.
Definitely a man to watch,
Steve decided.

He waited until everyone had sat down, then said, “I’d like to lay out the ground rules we’ll have to follow if this is going to work. Mr. Jiang has told me how you came to be here. I’m more than prepared to accept that you didn’t commit the offenses for which you were convicted. My prior association with the Dragon Tong has taught me that you don’t take part in piracy or support it in any way. Unfortunately, you
have
been convicted. That makes it more complicated for us to work together. You’ve been treated as convicts in the past, and no doubt resent it greatly. I can’t work with people who are resentful or suspicious. We’ve got to have mutual trust and confidence in each other, or this arrangement will break down before it even begins.”

He went on to outline what he and Gunnery Sergeant Kinnear had discussed. “We’re prepared to treat you as professional equals, not as convicts, and share what we have with you as if you were our shipmates. However, that means you’ve got to behave towards us in the same way. There can’t be any ‘us-versus-them’ incidents, and most important of all your people
must not
try to escape or cause trouble in any way. If they do, the matter will be taken out of my hands at once. You’ll be returned to close confinement and lose all the privileges we can offer you.”

There was a momentary silence, broken by Captain Chun. “You’re asking a lot after the way we’ve been treated.” Barely-controlled anger was evident in his voice. “We were almost a hundred and fifty strong before the rebellion broke out, only to find ourselves abandoned at an inland prison when all the guards deserted. We lost almost a third of our number defending ourselves until help arrived. Several are still recovering from serious injuries. After treatment like that, we have no love for the Eskishi authorities. Why should we believe you and your Fleet will be any different?”

“Captain, you must have heard of the Lancastrian Commonwealth Fleet during your merchant spacer career, even perhaps encountered our ships. What was our reputation?”

“It was… it was good. You were said to be a very professional service.” His tone was grudging.

“I can attest to that on the basis of well over a decade’s service in the Fleet. If we had that reputation before you were imprisoned, why would things have changed? We’re just as professional as we’ve always been.”

Dr. Ju raised her hand. “Lieutenant, what about our wounded crew members? Six are still confined to their beds, and there are another five who are fit only for light duties.”

“How many medical staff do you have besides yourself, Doctor?”

“Three sick berth attendants, two from my ship and one from
Pearl.
”

“There’s a twenty-bed hospital ward at Carsamba, an extension of the sick bay. It’s in the administration building, which was only lightly damaged and is still functional. If I put you in command of it, will you agree to provide health care to everyone without prejudice or favoritism?”

“Did you say ‘command’?” Her voice was incredulous.

“Yes, I did. I’m willing to put any of you in command of areas where your skills and experience are greater than ours.”

She shook her head. “I’ve been ignored and my medical advice rejected ever since we arrived here. After that, please forgive me if I find your attitude… literally unbelievable!”

Steve shrugged. “We don’t have a doctor or medics of our own as yet – all our medical people are helping to restore planetary health services. As far as I’m concerned, that means you’ve got the job. As I’m sure your Commanding Officers will confirm from their own experience, there’s no point in making someone responsible for an area unless you also give them the authority they need to run it. That means you’ll be in command of the sick bay and our medical supplies, including our Medbot units. Can you operate them?”

“I’ve used similar units. We should have little trouble operating yours – the computers will do most of it for us. All such equipment works in basically the same way, after all.”

“True. Very well, Doctor; if you want the job, it’s yours.”

“Captain?” She looked at Chun.

Her boss sighed. “I suppose we have no choice but to trust this man – at least until we see whether his actions match his words. Very well, Doctor. Go ahead.”

“Thank you, Sir.” She looked back at Steve. “I’ll do my best, Senior Lieutenant.”

“Thank you, Doctor. You can transfer your injured people to our sick bay and care for them there. Use those less seriously injured to help you with light duties.”

He transferred his gaze to Captain Chun. “As for my actions matching my words, Captain, I’ll do my best. If you and your people will co-operate, I think Mr. Jiang and I can work together to parlay your assistance into getting you much better treatment for as long as you’re on this planet, even after the Fleet leaves. However, in order to do that, what I
must
have – and this is an absolute, overriding requirement – is an unwavering commitment from all of you to be professional in your dealings with Fleet and planetary personnel. If you or your people act without discipline or do anything that’s an offense under local law or regulations, including trying to escape, then my ability to do anything for you will go out of the window. It’ll also get me personally, and the Fleet in general, into serious difficulties with the planetary administration. That’s not acceptable. I realize I’m asking a lot of you, particularly after how you’ve been treated on this planet, but it’s not negotiable. You need to tell me
right now
if you’re not willing or able to do that.”