Truth and Beauty 2-2

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Jack’s attention had been diverted by Natalie; Uncle Rufus generally managed to have young, good-looking maids, and either the whiskey he had shared with Jevons had given him beer goggles, or Natalie was no exception.

Uncle Rufus laughed. “You won’t have time for her, anyway,” he said as Natalie left the balcony. “You have a ship, and you’ll be up in space before the end of the week.”

“A ship, sir?” Jack turned his attention back to his patron.

“Yes, and no mean midshipman’s berth for you, either, a lieutenant’s commission and you’re in command!” Jack’s heart began to swell and he put down his drink. “Willard said you were up for second lieutenant on the Bakeneko, but I said ‘no, no, we can do better than that. Think of the Thebes-”

“The Thetis, sir?”

“Exactly, ‘and the Santa Brigada.’ Would you like a cigar?” he asked, taking one from a silver box and offering the box to Jack.

“Thank you, sir.”

Uncle Rufus returned the box to its table at his elbow and went on. “‘Think of the Thebes and the Santa Brigada, it has to be a command.’ So he hemmed, and he hawed, and went on about how lucky I would be, with the Bakeneko, but he came up with the Fury, who will need a temporary captain while hers is up for the Parliamentary session, a few weeks or so.”

Jack knew the Fury well, having served a short stint in her as a midshipman, and while Uncle Rufus paused to cut his cigar and light it from a fussy little table lighter, Jack considered his new, albeit temporary, command. One of Julio-Novak’s Vengeance class of brigs, she was fast, nimble, well armed for her size, and carried a superb electronics-and-measures suite. Just the ship to distinguish himself in and earn a permanent appointment. A smile spread across his face and he cut his own cigar. “Thank you, sir, she sounds ideal,” he said.

Uncle Rufus blew out a cloud of smoke and shook his head. “No, no,” he said. “Nonsense. She’s a silly little thing, barely four thousand tons. And only a few weeks before you’d be back on the shore. No, no. Not to bore you with the details, I convinced him to take me through the ships he had available and found you just the thing, the Wrath, 40,000 tons.”

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