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"C'mon, Rebecca, shake that thing," Harper said as he danced in his seat.
It was booty-shaking music for sure, but she didn't feel up to it. Not today. "No, you go ahead and find somebody to dance with," Beka answered as she moved her food around on her plate.
"You won't dance, you won't eat, you won't score. You okay, boss?" Harper asked, looking worried.
"I'm fine. Just tired. Go, already. Cruise."
"Nobody compares to you, doll," he answered, puppy-eyed. He was sweet. And truthfully concerned.
"Find the next best thing."
"Okay. Oh. Oh! What light over yonder dance floor breaks?"
"That was fast."
"No, no. Look." He pointed. "She has a face made for smiling." And was doing it as he pointed. Very cute girl, full of joy. He smiled at Beka, though. "I have a thing for redheads."
She had to get him away from her. He so often reminded her of her dad at his best with his sense of humor, smarts, and inventiveness. She had to admit that a benefit of being Harper's captain was that she could command him around and he knew that if he ever broke a promise to her she'd throw him back to Earth so fast his head would spin.
Usually that resemblance gave her a bittersweet feeling, but not today. Not on the anniversary of her dad's death.
"Beka?" he asked.
She smacked his back, trying to be hearty. "Go get 'er, sport."
Frowning, he stood, gave her another intent look, then left the table, dancing through the crowd to get to his target. She watched him talk to the redheaded girl, who smiled even more and stood with him. Grinning, they danced with more enthusiasm than skill, and Harper's rabbit's foot swung madly as he shook his rump. They looked even cuter together than they did apart.
Beka had made the right decision sending him away. He'd have sat it out with her if she hadn't, and why should he be depressed over a man he'd never met?
Harper drank, but he wasn't an alcoholic. If he ever started doing drugs, he'd be on the receiving end of an intervention he'd never forget.
"Beka Valentine."
Beka turned to face the speaker and tried to quickly mask her dislike. "Captain Nijlen," she answered, giving Keyo Nijlen the respect Nijlen had denied her.
Without asking, Nijlen sat in the seat Harper had vacated. "I'm surprised you're not out there, but it works out for me. I wanted to ask you to do something."
"I'm always up for listening to a sister captain." Beka couldn't afford to offend other salvagers without cause. Getting blacklisted would kill the Eureka Maru.
"Elena Biris is getting married. Why, I don't know, since marriage is so archaic, but there it is."
"I'm happy for her, I guess." Beka didn't know Biris well but thought she might be the environmental tech for Best Interest.
"You're wondering why it concerns you." The creepy old woman's face stretched taut as she smiled. Too many cheap rejuv jobs. "She's going full traditional, which means she wants one last wild fling before she chains herself to that boy. The girls, lots of couriers and salvagers, are going out on a rampage tomorrow night. They'll drink."
"While I don't. You want me to ride herd?" Herding drunks sucked and was hard work. Herding one junkie had been hard enough, and she'd only done it because he was her father.
"There will be strippers."
If she said no, she would face such shit. "Cover charges and drink and food expenses have to be covered for me."
Nijlen sneered. "Because seeing strippers is such a hardship."
"Getting the partyers home will be rough and thankless work. You know that."
"Fine. See you tomorrow." Nijlen stood and left. How friendly.
Harper came up and watched her go. "What did The Good Life want with you, boss?"
Harper had been in space for only a few months, and he already knew The Good Life's captain? "How did you--"
"I propositioned a member of her crew this morning and got turned down flat."
Of course. "She wants me to mother a bachelorette party."
"Fun!" Then he looked at her. "Not fun?"
"I have to get all the drunks home."
"Ick."
"What are you doing back here?"
"Well, I saw Miss Havisham sit down." He picked up the bowl of apple slices. "Besides, when I mentioned some of what I had for dinner, Kaylee told me she wanted to lick fruit juice off my fingers."
"She sounds a little weird."
Harper grinned. "Beka, my little redheaded girl can lick anything she wants to off the Harper body part of her choice. Don't wait up."
Sometimes running cargo left a crew with unavoidable downtime as they waited for their current client to get his act together. Usually Beka took advantage of it as an opportunity to let off some steam and maybe get laid, but her brood continued through the day after the anniversary of her dad's death, making her sick of herself. Rev was off doing Wayist things, while Harper hadn't returned from his tryst with the little redheaded girl. If Harper remained missing for another day she'd start to worry, but she bet that he was actually just enjoying himself.
Nijlen walked to the hatch with... 16 women. A total of 17 people for Beka to watch over and herd. "This is going to be hell," Beka muttered to herself as she unlocked the hatch.
As they walked into the Maru, they looked around, judging her ship and reminding Beka why she didn't socialize with the other crews much. "How homey," Nijlen sneered. Bitch.
"Hey, Beka!" Harper called out as he walked in. "Oh, hey, party." The 16 women plus Nijlen turned to look at Harper, and Harper's expression changed from "hey, ladies" to "eep!" He said, "Nice to meet you all. I got things to do. Elsewhere. 'Bye!" and fled.
Nijlen's smile wasn't anything Beka wanted anyone she loved to be the recipient of. "I guess this is your way of making up for Ignatius never buying you a puppy."
Beka bristled. Her father's name should never come from that woman's mouth, especially not when a sneer was already there. But her chance to answer that, and screw herself over, passed when Wenyi said, "He's cute. Looks like he has a lot of energy. Hey, Beka, I think I need a tune-up. Think you could spare your engineer?"
"Up to him what freelance projects he takes up on the side," Beka said, saved by Wenyi's lust.
"I'll keep that in mind," she purred.
"Let me just give him some directions for when I'm out, okay?"
The girls made obscene suggestions. Oh, they should be great once they started drinking.
Beka found him in the engine room. "Smart move back there," she said.
He smiled nervously. "Beka, it was like feeding time, and I was the feed. I know a mob when I see one. You think they're gonna be able to hold back until they reach the strippers? I'm afraid civilians are gonna get hurt."
"What are you doing here? I figured you'd be with your little redheaded girl."
Harper sighed dramatically, and not all of it was a put-on. "Her ship left this afternoon. 'Sides, she was hung up on a crewmember. I told her that if she ever gets tired of waiting for her fancyman to come to his senses she could give me a call, but until then it's me and Freddy Five-fingers again."
This could work out. "Harper, are you gonna be here tonight?"
Harper grinned. "If you need help squiring the sharks back home, give me a call."
"Thanks."
"If it gets really bad, I guess you could throw me to them and run, saving yourself."
"I wouldn't leave you alone with them."
"Aw, you do love me."
Beka pried Donna-donna off the poor stripper again. "Okay, we've had enough," she said. "Home now."
"I don't get paid enough for this," the guy muttered as he fled them.
Wenyi whined, "The night is still young!"
"The night's old and dead. It's morning now," Beka shouted.
No matter what she did, once she got most of the group together she found out that one of the first women she gathered had wandered off for another drink and grope. She needed help.
When Harper came up on her wrist comp screen, he looked bleary and rumpled, with his hair standing up even more like a dandelion puff. "Hey, Beka, the chickens are dancing." Apparently he hadn't completely woken up yet.
"Harper! I need shark wrangling help."
That put some awareness into his eyes. "Oh yeah! Sorry. Gah, what time is it? Never mind. I'll be right there."
Jodi started guzzling another bottle of Weisbrau, as if she needed it. Harper better get here soon.
Beka had confiscated five bottles of various kinds of liquor and one stripper held under duress by Wenyi by the time a neatened up Harper arrived. From the reaction of the women, they saw him as the next stage of the evening's entertainment. Harper noticed their reaction too, because he had his hand on his gun. "Ladies, I'm cute but I'm armed. It's time to go home."
The establishment had let him in with his weapon. They must have really wanted the bachelorette party out of there. With an armed Harper helping the roundup and keeping an eye out, they managed to herd the party out.
Taking them home seemed like a long nightmare of whining, misbehaving, and vomiting. The women didn't help her by shouting come-ons to all the men they passed, but fortunately the men seemed to sense that they were predators and didn't approach. At one point Harper squeaked. Beka didn't want to know what had startled that sound out of him but had a good idea, especially since once in a while he growled something like "Get your hands off my ass now." The crew of Mother of Pearl didn't want to take Jodi back until Harper turned his gun on them and demanded it. Nijlen was the last one to be delivered home, and she didn't bother to thank them. Beka knew she shouldn't be surprised, but it still chafed.
Harper yawned widely, then asked, "Is it finally over?"
"Yup." Beka ran her hand through her hair. "I feel used, angry... and hungry."
"It's breakfast time, so hey."
"It is?" Beka checked her wrist comp. "Damn."
"Drunk-wrangling makes me hungry too. I'll pay."
Beka had a sudden suspicion. "Harper, did you lift anyone's money?"
"At least the strippers got paid for being pawed. It's only fair that I get a tip too."
"You have a point."
"'Sides, I took a bit from everybody, so no one drunk lech took the hit. Geez, I used to think it'd be cool to be treated like a piece of meat, but I'm black and blue in a lot of places that shouldn't be."
"Sorry. But breakfast would be good, especially if they're paying." So Beka took them to a hole in the wall diner she knew was good from the last times she'd been on this Drift. As they sat down across from one another and punched in their orders, she said, "I had strippers just about in my lap, no cover charge necessary, and it was all ruined."
"I guess strippers are all right if you're into tall, half-naked guys with bulging muscles."
"Why wouldn't I be into that?"
Harper sighed. "You're too shallow. You need to broaden your horizons and go for a guy with soul."
"I've never been able to see a guy's soul when he's stripping, so no."
"You were too busy looking at other parts of their bodies to notice."
"Sure, sure."
"Beka, why were you so depressed yesterday? Okay, day before yesterday since today is the morning of the next day, but.... You don't have to tell me if you don't wanna, but I wanted to cheer you up so badly and didn't have clue one on how to do it since I didn't know what the problem was."
He was sweet and just about family, so she answered, "Yesterday was the anniversary of my dad's death."
Harper looked down at the table. "Oh. Sorry."
Beka realized that she didn't know anything about his parents, not even if they were alive, but asking would just depress him. Dead or alive, they were on a planet he often said he never wanted to return to.
Then he said softly, "I lost my parents too, ages ago. They should have just--"
Beka waited for more, but nothing else came. He just stared at a spot on the table with a wounded and frustrated look in his eyes. Since she'd been trying to avoid exactly that, she said, "I think you two would have really liked each other. You'd be drinking, trash-talking, comparing engineering principles, and cruising women together within minutes."
He looked up at her, shook off the depression as if it had never been there, and smiled. It took so little to make him happy. "Yeah?"
Harper seemed to see depression as a waste of time. Or maybe he just didn't believe in showing it to other people for very long....
"Yeah."
"You think you won any brownie points with last night's work?"
Figuring out the meaning of "brownie points" through context, Beka answered, "Probably not. They're a bunch of ungrateful bitches."
Harper almost snorted Sparky Cola out his nose. "C'mon, sugarcoat it for me."
"That is me sugarcoating it."
Beka had to admit that she felt better today, even after bachelorette hell. Her grief seemed less raw. "Thanks for the help, Harper."
"Keeping things running smoothly is my job and my pleasure, boss." His expression shifted into over the top lechery. "Speaking of pleasure...."
She smirked. "No, you can't 'console' me."
"I'm good at it!"
"No."
"You could lick my fingers."
This time Beka nearly snorted her drink out her nose. "No!"
"Aw, Beka...."