Free Under a Tell-Tale Sky: Disruption - Book 1 by R.E. McDermott

to accommodate the entire crew, with the exception of two sailors he instructed Georgia Howell to leave on security watch. He told her to make sure she chose people likely to have no problem with the trip south. He wanted anyone likely to have objections to have an opportunity to speak their piece in the open meeting.
    With the crew assembled, he rose and briefly outlined the current situation, told them he intended to sail the ship to Texas and his reasoning for doing so, and opened the floor for comments. No one spoke for a moment, until Jerome Singletary, one of the new sailors in the deck department, raised his hand. Hughes nodded, and Singletary stood, his attitude hesitant at first.
    “My people all live in Baltimore. What if I don’t want to go to Texas?”
    “No one can force you to sail with us,” Hughes said. “You can sign off and I’ll give you as much cash advance as I can out of master’s cash. Your full pay will have to come from the company later, but to be honest, I can’t say for sure when that will be.” He refrained from adding, ‘if ever.’
    Singletary processed that for a moment before responding, his initial hesitance rapidly disappearing. “Sign off to do what, exactly? Get capped by a bunch of gangbangers trying to get home? Seems to me like the company owes me transportation to my home of record. SAFE transportation, and that’s to Baltimore.”
    Hughes hesitated a moment. “I can certainly include airfare in your payoff—”
    “That’s bullshit, Captain, and you know it! Ain’t no planes flying. My contract says you owe me transportation home. If y’all are going to Texas, then you can just turn north first and take me up to Baltimore—”
    “Not happening, Singletary. First of all,” Hughes said, his voice rising with his blood pressure, “by contract, you’re not owed transportation if you sign off of your own free will. Second, this isn’t a taxi cab, and even if I was willing, which I’m not, there’s no way I’m running a fully loaded forty-thousand-ton tanker up Chesapeake Bay without a pilot. Third, if Wilmington’s a war zone, I can’t imagine what Baltimore …”
    Hughes reined himself in, but Singletary glared at him. “I’m sorry, Singletary, but no, we won’t be taking this ship to Baltimore. You’re welcome to come with us, and if you don’t want to do that, I’ll do everything I can to leave you here in good shape, but you’ll have to make your own way home, and I truly hope you make it there and find your family safe.”
    “Ain’t right,” Singletary muttered, looking around the room in search of support. Finding none, he sat back down, defeated.
    Hughes looked around the room, inviting more comments.
    “I’ll be signing off, Captain,” said a petite brunette sitting at the table nearest Hughes. Shyla Texeira or ‘Tex’ as she was inevitably called, was small in stature but long on competence. She was a consummate mariner, as would be expected from someone descended from five generations of Portuguese seafarers. Her departure would leave a hole and Hughes was sorry to lose her. Nonetheless, he nodded.
    “I figured,” he said. “We’ll miss you, Tex.”
    “I’ll be signing off too,” said Bill Wiggins, the second engineer, looking at Dan Gowan. “I’m sorry, Chief. I don’t want to leave you shorthanded, but—”
    Gowan held up his hand. “It’s okay, Bill. We hate to lose you, but I’d be doing the same thing in your position. I just hope you make it home safe to your family.”
    Wiggins nodded and fell silent, looking down as if he were shamed by the thought of deserting his shipmates.
    Hughes looked around the room. “Anyone else?”
    No one spoke up, and just when Hughes was saying a silent ‘thank you’ they hadn’t lost anyone else, another voice broke the silence.
    “I reckon I’ll get off,” said Jimmy Barrios, the pumpman.
    Seeing his engine room gang being reduced by yet another experienced man, Gowan