Lt. Leary, Commanding by David Drake

Perhaps very little—but Hogg had always rebounded swiftly.

Delos Vaughn came out of his berth, dressed in a flowing blend of blues and greens. His servant, Timmins, watched him head for the bridge. When he was sure of Vaughn’s intention, Timmins ducked down the companionway. He was still wearing fatigues, having waited to change into liberty dress until he’d attended to the passenger.

Daniel’s eyes narrowed slightly. To get that sort of service from a spacer after a voyage like the one just ended, Vaughn must be paying quite well. Which shouldn’t have been a surprise, of course.

Vaughn paused at the bridge hatchway. “Lieutenant Leary?” he asked. “May I speak with you?”

“Yes, of course,” Daniel said. “Welcome to the bridge, Mr. Vaughn.”

It didn’t bother Daniel, but he’d noticed that Vaughn always called him by his rank, lieutenant, rather than his position as captain of the Princess Cecile. If the choice was a political game, Daniel didn’t understand it. But perhaps Vaughn was just ignorant, the niceties of shipboard usage having passed him by.

It didn’t exactly bother Daniel.

“I have friends here on Sexburga, Lieutenant,” Vaughn said as he stepped over the hatch coaming a trifle shakily. He spoke normally, but his cheeks had sunk noticeably in the past seventeen days. “I believe they’re waiting for me on the dock now. I wonder if you might be able to join us for dinner tonight? I’d like to show my appreciation for the skill as well as the hospitality you demonstrated on this voyage.”

Daniel reached over to Bett’s console—his own keyboard was out of reach from where he stood—and brought up the panoramic view with quick keystrokes. He hoped he wasn’t frowning at Vaughn, though he wouldn’t pretend that he really cared that much.

“Your friends waiting for you, Mr. Vaughn?” he said, adjusting the display to expand the quay to which a team of riggers was extending the corvette’s gangplank.

“Why yes, Lieutenant,” Vaughn said. “I believe you met Mistress Zane at my party? Though of course you might not remember her with all the excitement that day.”

“I remember her,” Daniel said in a quiet voice. Indeed, that was Zane standing ramrod straight beside the open door of the ground car now waiting on the quay. Daniel had thought the vehicle was bringing harbor officials to handle the administrative details of the Princess Cecile’s stay on Sexburga. “She must have made good time to arrive before we did.”

Vaughn shrugged. “There’s quite a lot going on, Lieutenant,” he said. “As no doubt you realize.”

Adele had come out of her cabin; Tovera straightened an everted pleat of her mistress’s jacket with fingers as thin and white as if they were merely the bones. The midshipmen waited stiffly in the passage, their faces scrubbed and saucer hats in their hands. Vesey was squinching forward, apparently in an attempt to minimize the grease stain she’d somehow managed to get between her first and second jacket buttons.

“I appreciate your invitation, Mr. Vaughn,” Daniel said, changing the subject back to one he felt comfortable with, “but I’m afraid tonight is impossible. I’ll remain aboard the Princess Cecile until the liberty parties return tomorrow and Mr. Pasternak takes charge.”

“I see,” said Vaughn. A flash of anger suggested that at heart he didn’t see any reason ever that his will should be thwarted, but the emotion was gone as quickly as it appeared. “Well, can we say tomorrow, then? I really feel a duty as a citizen of Strymon to thank you before a gathering of my compatriots. Quite a number of the chief residents here are natives of Strymon, you realize.”

What Daniel realized was that Vaughn was making the invitation a matter of planet-to-planet protocol. Why he’d want to do that was puzzling, though a simple desire to get his own way would be a believable explanation; but Vaughn certainly had the power to make trouble for Daniel on the grounds of a political snub if the invitation were refused.

“I’d be pleased to attend you, yes, Mr. Vaughn,” Daniel said. “With the proviso that I’ll call on the Cinnabar Commissioner as soon as I go ashore; and whenever Commodore Pettin arrives, I’ll be entirely at his disposal.”