The Little Ships (Alexis Carew Book 3) by J.A. Sutherland Read Free Book Online

transition back to normal-space — and that only in star systems and at particular places called Lagrangian points — there was no way to tell how the distances between matched up.
    Of course, none of that would happen if Artley didn’t relay her order to the crew outside.
    Alexis frowned as the time dragged on and Artley pecked at the signals console. It was a simple, common order, given four or more times each watch, and this was not Artley’s first time at the console. In fact he’d spent all his watches there, as it was often the assignment given to the most junior midshipman on watch.
    Artley finally reported that the order had been relayed to the spacers outside via the ship’s fiber optics, no electronics being functional outside the hull in the darkspace radiations.
    Once the log had been thrown and the information relayed back inside, Alexis bent over the navigation plot to update the ship’s course. She ran her own calculations, then allowed the plot’s computer to do so. She grinned as she saw that hers was not too far off the computer’s — it had been a long time since she’d once plotted her ship’s position all outside of known space, but the mental hoops required for darkspace navigation still tripped her up from time to time. That she and the rest of Shrewsbury’s crew relied on what were essentially guesses of the ship’s speed and direction for their safe arrival did still make her a bit queasy.
    When she was done, she displayed Artley’s records on the navigation plot to review them. The time he’d taken to relay a simple, expected order, and the uncertainty he’d shown, troubled her. She’d have to rely on him to command or even help man half her guns in the next action, and what she’d seen of him so far made her far from confident.
    Artley was new to Shrewsbury , she saw, with not very much more time aboard than she herself had. He’d come aboard just as the ship left the Core Worlds for the Fringe. That in itself wasn’t unusual. Shrewsbury had transferred to the Fringe from Core Fleet just before she’d come aboard and fully half the crew and officers were new to the ship.
    True, Shrewsbury was Artley’s first ship and he’d been in the Navy no longer than he’d been aboard, but midshipman recruits in the Core Worlds were most often from families with a Naval tradition. Artley’s lack of confidence and knowledge didn’t speak of someone from a Naval family and his records confirmed it. It seemed he’d had no prior contact with the Navy at all.
    Alexis’ frown deepened. From most Fringe Worlds the Navy was a step up for a young lad who didn’t want to follow in whatever work his father performed, especially if one could become a midshipman, an officer in training, rather than as common crew. But Artley had come from the Core, where there were far more opportunities and options available. Why, the lad hadn’t even finished the basic schooling available in the Core. True, there were ample opportunities for him to study with Shrewsbury’s systems, but it was still odd. What could have made him sign aboard ship? And more so, what could have convinced his family to allow it?
    Whatever the reason, his records didn’t say. She closed them and crossed to stand next to him at the signals console.
    “Mister Artley?”
    Artley jumped, as though he’d been unaware that Alexis had approached, and turned to face her. “Sir?”
    “I’m given to understand that you’ll be joining my division on the upper gundeck, in place of Mister Blackmer.”
    Artley nodded. “Yes, sir.”
    He swallowed and Alexis thought she saw his eyes glisten.
    Were they close, then? And has anyone thought to comfort him after Blackmer’s death?
    It was hard to know. Shrewsbury had eighteen midshipmen aboard, ranging in age from Artley’s twelve to a practically ancient one of twenty-three — who’d failed to pass for lieutenant so often that he’d likely resigned himself to being a midshipman forever