Story: A Matter of Trust
Written for:
brigits_flame, October 2011, week 3
Compulsory Prompt: Prejudice
Additional Bonus Prompt: Homemade
Words: 1539
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: mentions of past ritual self-harm
A Matter of Trust
"Men, women, I know you are not happy with this decision and believe me, neither am I. Still, since so many of our crew perished during our last mission and the Endurance was damaged beyond repair, I would like to welcome the remaining crew of the Endurance aboard. I do not wish to see any hostility. From today, you are all equally part of the Felicity’s crew. Is that understood?”
Captain Hedlow looked over the assembled crew. There where nods, some more reluctant than others.
Pierar thought the captain’s gaze lingered on him for a brief moment but dismissed the thought. He was just a bit nervous about joining a new crew, that was all.
“Well, I now that that is settled, let’s get to work. I’m sure you all have your new schedules. The ship takes off tomorrow morning.” With a last nod, Hedlow left the assembly area.
“Thank the seven ravens he didn’t give a big speech,” a cheerful voice to Pierar’s right said. Pierar turned around and found himself looking at a small, roundish woman.
“You’re one of the engineers as well, aren’t you?” She inquired, then started slightly when she noticed the blue stripe on the shoulder. “Oh, I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t realize you were an officer. Hedlow isn’t big in formalities, so I’m not really used to….”
“Don’t worry, Captain Torpe wasn’t either, she said it just made things more complicated. It’s fine if you call me Pierar.”
“Oh, that’s a relief. I’m Gilra. Come on, why don’t you find the other engineers from your old team and I’ll introduce you to the others on the shift, including my lovely wife Kanra.”
As it turned out, there were three of Pierar’s old crew and four others from the Felicity’s orginal crew on the shift. Pierar was welcomed by Lieutenant Parkes, who was in charge of the engineers. The others were Orp, who was an elderly robot; Tshebur, whose tentacled face shone with delight while greeting the newcomers and Kanra, who turned out to be a scrawny, outspoken woman.
“Oh, I’ve never met a narh before!” Kanra exclaimed when she noticed Pierar’s left earlobe was missing. “Did it hurt to cut off your earlobe or were you in trance? How long did it take you to dec…”
“Kanra!” Gilra gave her wife’s arm a soft smack. “Don’t you realize how rude you are being?!”
“I don’t mind some curiosity,” Pierar replied. “Cutting it off is supposed to be a test and a sacrifice. You are supposed to endure the pain and I gladly did it for my oath. I’m afraid I can’t tell you much more, there are things I swore to keep silent.”
“I brought along some of my homemade sun algae jam and some freshly baked bread,” Tschebur said, his twitching tentacles clearly indicating the wish to move to more comfortable subjects. “I thought we might want to celebrate the arrival of our new team members before getting to work.”
The others agreed eagerly and Pierar found himself impressed at the octopoids culinary skills.
A couple of days later, Pierar watched as Captain Hedlow came into the machine room where the engineers were busy doing routine checks. They had been on the journey towards the next planet and so far, everything was going smoothly.
“How are you settling in?” Pierar heard Hedlow ask Jeff, one of the other engineers from his old team. “Have there been any problems?”
“No, everything is going well,” Jeff replied. “The ship is not much different from our old one and everyone has been welcoming.”
Pierar turned his attention away from their small talk and back to the screws he had been checking.
He looked up as the Captain came towards him a few minutes later, expecting a brief exchange as well. Hedlow merely gave him a brief nod, his eyes drifting towards Pierar’s ear.
Slightly surprised, Pierar went back to work.
At lunch time, Jeff sat next to him in the cafeteria.
“What do you think of our new Captain? He seems to be even easier to get along with than Captain Torpe.”
“I have no idea. He didn’t stop to speak with me,” Pierar shrugged his shoulders.
“Huh. That’s strange. He seemed fairly chatty to me and mentioned he had spoken to the others earlier. Perhaps he remembered something he had to do,” Jeff replied.
Captain Hedlow had called the team of engineers together. Most of their faces bore the unmistakable signs of too much drink and not enough sleep the night before. The farewell party for Lieutenant Parkes had been quite a success. In the past few months, Pierar had come to enjoy the older man’s company and was sad to see him go into retirement.
The Captain cleared his voice, eager to hear who would now be in charge of the engineering department. To Pierar’s great surprise, it turned out to be Gilra, who had only been promoted to officer a few months ago. He applauded together with everyone else before listening to Hedlow’s short speech.
Later that day, Gilra approached him.
“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that,” she confided. “I was so sure it was going to be you. It should have been you, I don’t know why he didn’t promote you….”
“Nonsense, you’re going to be great,” Pierar replied. “You’re amazing at getting everybody to work together and motivating them, which is just what the team needs. There’s no need to hide your light under a bushel!”
“Thanks,” Gilra smiled. “I am looking forward to it.”
He smiled after her, a nagging feeling telling him he did know why Hedlow hadn’t promoted him. Pierar briefly fiddled with the uneven edge of his left ear before shrugging his shoulders. There wasn’t much he could do about it and after all, Gilra was really going to excel.
Pierar filed his suspicion to the back of his mind and over the next couple of months, not much happened to confirm them. He didn’t have much to do with Hedlow, even though many of his co-workers were on friendly terms with the Captain.
Then, once again, Captain Hedlow called the engineering team together.
“Good morning! There are new regulations that each team must have someone to ensure health regulations are adhered to and who can take care of emergencies. Those of you who were on board of the Endurance already know how this works, since you had the same set of rules back then. Are there any volunteers? You will receive additional training for this and of course, an additional salary.”
Pierar had held this position on the Endurance. It had been an additional challenge he had enjoyed, so he eagerly raised his hand, along with some of the other team members.
Hedlow’s eyes scanned the group, once again lingering on Pierar’s ear. “Good, I think Tschebur and Jeff should be good choices. I’ll let you know when the training is.”
With that, Hedlow nodded at them and left the room. For a moment, Pierar debated with himself. Realising things wouldn’t change if he continued accepting them as they were, he hurried after the Captain.
“Sir, may I have a word?”
Hedlow turned around and nodded.
“I was on the health regulation team on the Endurance as you probably know from my file. I know you may not trust me, may wonder how I am going to ensure other crew members’ safety if I can’t even keep my own ears intact. I know you aren’t one of the traditionalists; you treat the robots and octopoids on your crew the same as everybody else. I don’t really understand why you have a problem with my being a narh, but there have been several instances in which this has shown through your behavior.”
“I….” the Captain’s face shifted. “You are right, I have a problem trusting narhs. You don’t value your own health by cutting off your earlobe when you take your oath. If you betray your oath, well, I’ve seen it, how it spreads from the ear... How can I trust someone who doesn’t even value their own life?! That, and there is no knowing which oath you have taken. I know you can’t tell me. You could have sworn to destroy as many ships, as many lives as you can. How can I trust you, even if I’d like to?”
“I guarantee you, my oath was not one to bring harm to anybody, I can promise you that. As for trust, I can never prove to you that I'm trustworthy if you don't let me."
Hedlow looked doubtful.
"I'll give it some thought. I'm afraid I have an appointment now."
Pierar sighed. That hadn't gone too well, but what had he expected?
Two days later, a list of the health team members was pinned to the notice boards. To his great surprise, Pierar found his name alongside Tschebur's and Jeff's.