All The Stars to Sail

Chapter 6: Love in the Time of Piracy

For Jane, it was a revelation that brought both joy and sadness into her life. She could no longer deny how she felt, but now that she knew, all she could see were the ways that her feelings could complicate both her life and Amelia's. She was the daughter of a prominent family, raised over many years to blend with a society whose value set Jane had never been able to quite conceal her distaste for, and Amelia was a prominent officer, known across the entirety of the galaxy, and who could not afford the luxury of a love, particularly of a naïve young girl from Earth. "You are being a foolish, silly girl" she would tell herself sternly, in a tone that sounded all too much like her mother's when Jane had done something to displease her.

The realization that she had begun using her mother's methods, which she had never liked, on herself only served to lower her mood all the more, and she gradually became more somber and withdrawn to the point where climbing from her narrow bunk in the morning felt like a struggle. She knew it would not do for her to isolate herself from the ship's company as she secretly wished to do, so she continued to keep up appearances as the weeks passed. She still met with Amelia in her quarters, usually for the lessons that Amelia insisted she take, but sometimes for more casual affairs, at both of which Jane attempted to appear as unruffled as possible despite the loud pounding of her heart.

She felt herself becoming more and more of a tangle of nerves and so, in an attempt to work off some of the nervous energy that was becoming a greater and greater obstacle to her sleep, she had taken to strolling about the ship during the ship's night in attempt to wear herself down, with only limited success. Jane had begun to entertain wild ideas of faking a severe illness, attempting to sail home herself or, even more drastic, cabling her father to have another ship come and retrieve her. She never followed through on any of these plans as they felt either cowardly or childish, but neither could she see a way free from what she viewed as an increasingly inextricable predicament. Either she broke down and confessed to Amelia her feelings, thereby risking what respect and affection she had built up with the captain thus far, or else she kept it to herself and gradually transformed into someone she was not sure she altogether liked. What Jane failed to realize, however, is that one of the basic tenants of the universe is change.

Jane was in her bunk, half dozing after another sleepless night, when she heard the sound of a pair of heavy feet tromping down the corridor toward her, which was accompanied by an all too familiar voice bellowing ahead of it. It was the ursine Bosun's Mate Kalna. "All of yas, get up and about now! Planetfall's soon, and I'm not gonna be the one to tell the captain how stupid was the one who didn't get their gear stowed by then! Best get moving, my beauties, or I'll be in to show you how things are done in the service!" Jane, rubbing her eyes, stumbled from the bed and toward the door, hauling it open just as the mate passed by. The bearlike humanoid stopped, turned, and was about to bellow in her direction when he noticed who he was looking at. She was surprised to see him nod in a manner that almost deferential before turning to bellow back the way he had come. "Oh ho, look 'ere! The civvy swabbie's gotten up before all of you, and she's lookin' a damn sight finer the the rest of you lot!" He turned back to Jane, inclined his head again, and removed his tattered hat from his head. "You'll be excusin' me words, miss. It's all one can do to get these louts going on the best of days."

Jane was simultaneously stunned and embarrassed by the bosun's words, but her curiosity pushed its' way past those two dueling emotions to put a question into her mind. "Excuse me, Mr. Kalna, but did you say something about planetfall?" The hulking hirsuite figure nodded as he slammed his hat back on his head. "Aye, I did, and you'd best ready yourself too. Your kit, your papers, all you've got'll needin' to be inspected...saving your fair self, of course." A broad grin split the other's face before he doffed his hat again and strode off, resuming his bellowing. Jane stepped back inside her room, slowly closing the door, before she leaned against it and took a long slow breath. She was assailed by another dueling set of emotions now...joy at having freedom from this emotional typhoon she had been swept up in, and sadness that this would mean the end of her journey aboard the Legacy,. She remained that way for a few minutes until she exhaled again, drew herself up, and began seeing to her belongings.