The Captain By Sarah Tenor The “starport” barely deserved the name, any more. The vast hangars and loading bays stood silent and empty. Broken casings and strewn cables told of crude and hurried looting of anything easy to carry. Vermin scuttled in the dark corners of crumbling buildings. A sudden gust of wind dislodged the torn remnant of a HarCop League banner from a pile of refuse, sending it whirling and dancing across the once-pristine landing ground before catching in a straggly purple bush growing through the supposedly impervious black surface. *** As he looked out of the dirty and distorted viewport, he wondered again what he was still doing here. The League had forgotten about this place even before the Final Collapse. The supplies that he could scavenge from the stores were getting scarcer and more difficult to find; he hadn’t seen another person in weeks, let alone a ship. Not surprising - there was little reason for anybody to come to this part of the city these days.

But, he reflected, he wasn’t even really sure why he was here in the first place. Not so long ago really, he’d been the proud Captain of one of HarCop’s newest and sleekest merchant starships, helping to push the frontiers of civilisation further and further across the systems.

In normal times, the misunderstanding (as he habitually thought of it now) would have been quietly forgotten about. As it was, with entire crews being abandoned on whatever planet the maintenance spares ran out, as route after route became suddenly worthless... as it was, he was lucky to get himself assigned to the post of Starport Officer in this dead end.

His thoughts were cut off by the familiar rumble of the thrust engines of a starship in landing mode.

Familiar... and yet, not. His experienced ear picked out the harmonics that didn’t belong to anything produced by the League’s fabrication plants. Moments later, the traffic control sensors finally caught up. His console beeped three times, made a peculiar fizzing noise, and went dark - he sighed in exasperation but then dismissed it from his mind as he caught sight of the ship itself making its descent.

Even here, they’d heard of the outsiders. This was the first to land here as far as he knew, but there had been whispers, rumours - tall tales of aliens of every shape and size, in starships almost as varied. This one at least was similar enough to League ships that the planet-tied might even have mistaken it for one. The Captain (he’d suddenly - unconsciously - started thinking of himself that way again, though if he’d realised it he would not have been able to say why) automatically began noting differences - some with interested approval, others suspicious disdain.

***

The four crew members forming the bridge team of the Aldous sat at their consoles as the ship made its steady progress towards the landing ground. Not one of them were familiar enough with the Terran classics to understand the name the dockyard had given their ship before this pioneering visit to the Coreward Arm. The advanced neurotech that had almost instantly made them into competent starship crew did not cover literary appreciation.

Benjamin cleared his throat as he peered doubtfully at the external optical feed. “Err. Are you sure about this, Dave? These guys don’t look like they have much to trade”. He paused before going on, “In fact... there don’t really seem to be many guys here at all”.

Dave glared resentfully. “Look. I didn’t ask to be in charge. What the f...” - deep breath, marginally more restrained tone - “What do I know about trading? How would I know where the... where the best places to land are?”

Caroline muttered,“Best? I’d settle for good. Hell, adequate.”

Dave rounded on her, all pretence of calm gone now, “Yeah? Yeah, Caroline? And who was on sensor duty when the asteroid hit? Maybe if somebody had been paying attention, the Captain would be selecting our destination.”

She flushed with rage, flinging herself out of her seat towards the Acting Captain - but before he could react, before she could cross the bridge, she stumbled as the ship lurched and settled.

Simon coughed guiltily when everybody turned to look at him. “Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Descent complete; all systems nominal. Three minutes to airlock cycle”

***

The bridge team shuffled down the ladder, landing heavily in the gravity a little stronger than shipboard standard. Uniform regulations had barely survived the Captain’s memorial service, and they were a mismatched and unkempt bunch.

He greeted them uncertainly. “Good morning; I’m the Starport Officer. Could you ask the Captain to come out? Or the crew?”

They looked at each other uncomfortably, straightening and tugging at their clothes in what they thought was a discreet fashion. They felt they should have been angry, resentful; but somehow nobody wanted to be the one to stand up to this Starport Officer.

He stared in disbelief as he realised the truth. “You’re the crew? How? What kind of Captain would allow... this?”

More silence.

“Explain yourselves!”, he bellowed.

Dave finally began the story, but was interrupted before he’d really got started. The crew fell to bickering again among themselves - arguments that had become such a familiar pattern they were automatic, almost a comfort. Much less disconcerting than the Officer, certainly. “If you had...”. “All the way back in Discordia...” “But...”. “I wasn’t even...”. “Harlong...” “Yeah, and what about...” “The Captain would have....”. “Well, why didn’t you...” “Court martial...” “I’ll give you a pis...” “Enough!”, he snapped finally, losing patience. The crew looked at him, a little shocked, slightly sheepish; the sharper ones wondering a little why they obeyed so readily, the others oblivious but obedient nonetheless. “Who owns this ship? And... how well do they pay their officers?” *** The new Captain settled back in his seat. It was less well cushioned than the command chairs he was used to, and significantly less grand and imposing - not to mention shaped for a completely different anatomy. And yet, for all that, it was somehow undeniably familiar. He smiled. “So. Tell me about this Republic we’re part of”