Love on the Rocks - 8. Chapter 8

Marc

Ice Miner Wanderer

I nodded as I turned back to the screens. One last nudge and we are golden. I thought to myself as I increased the power to 100 percent on the Ice Strippers. I checked the temperatures, and they held to 5 spots beyond the decimal point. My smile grew as I watched. Micah saw it and turned back to the Mining Controls, looking at the screens. Nodding to himself.

“How long do you think it will hold there before it climbs?” I shrugged.

“Like I told Zoe. I am only usually out for around 48 hours of straight mining. We’ll be here for 72 this time. I’ll be monitoring it once we hit 40 hours.” He looked thoughtful as he turned back to watch it.

“I wonder about using cooling jets.”

“I thought of that. Just more items to break. As you know, I am sure it will happen when you most don’t want it too.” He chuckled.

“How true.” I stood and checked the time.

“OK. I’m going to grab some food and head for my cabin. I’ll be back for my watch. Yell, if anything changes.”

“Aye Captain.” Said Zoe as Micah gave her a quick kiss and headed down to eat and grab some sleep. He was on my watch so we could talk more during the trip, and I am sure he is reporting to Ernesto. I smiled as I tapped out my selection into the food processor. Grabbing my tray and some drinks before heading to my cabin. I fired up my tablet and the ship’s tablet. I set mine to Link Sasha and the other to give me a control screen for Wanderer. I could see all the major items I needed to make sure the ship was functioning perfectly from here.

“Hi Marc. Are you sitting in your cabin?”

“Hey Sash. Yeah. Tiny isn’t it.” He looked as I lifted the tablet to pan it around a little.

“Good enough for a few days, I guess. Smaller than I thought it would be.”

“It’s a small ship, really. We are mostly ore holds and power. We’ve probably have as much power as your ship.”

“Really. Oh yeah. The Mining Strippers.”

I nodded, “Yes. Right now I am running the reactors at 90 percent. Outside of Command and Control power as well as Life Support which is only 3 percent, everything is going into the strippers.” His eyes bugged out. “That’s a lot of power.” I nodded in response.

“How is your day going?” He smiled.

“I’m lonely. Otherwise, good. We won’t be leaving as early as we are taking on more 92 grade than Ernesto thought he would be able to supply.” I chuckled. He looked at me funny. “He’s buying yours?”

“He is indeed. I tagged these three before his team got over here, so I get the big load to myself on this side of the rings. I’ll be moving in about 18 hours as these will be finished. I have three more 90 grades to follow it up with. That will keep us going until I pull out of here in a few days.”

“Have you had the chance to look at the schedule yet?” His expression was hopeful.

“I have not. Let’s take a quick look now.” His smile lit up his cabin again. I looked at what he had sent. Pulling up my ideal schedule. I was flipping back and forth between the two screens. At some point, I ran my fingers through my hair, then down across my mouth to hold my chin as my elbow leaned on the table. Sasha waited patiently. My eyes flicked over to the ship’s repeaters for a fast look, then back again to the schedules. I opened another schedule and started to tap out some ideas. Then smiled as I nodded. It will be just an evening here and there, but I can give him a full day and if his family can push their schedule up by 12 hours. I could ride down to Low Sec with them.

“Sash. How flexible is the schedule? On the 9th, could I board your ship and ride down to Low Sec with you? I just need them to push it up 12 hours. I have to be at Low Point Station on the 12th, the latest.” He was practically jumping for joy.

“I think it would be OK. Let me go ask them.”

“Wait, Sash.” He froze. “Let me work this for a few more minutes, and then I’ll send it over to you. You can look at it and then you can take it to your parents.”

“OK Marc. That sounds good.”

“Remember my love. We are in no hurry right this minute. I need to get some sleep here soon before I go on my Watch at 23:30 hours.” He smiled.

“Sorry Marc. I get excited sometimes.” I smiled.

“No. Not Sasha. My boyfriend doesn’t get excited. Much.” I worked hard to keep a straight face as I tried to maneuver my own work around to make the time our relationship needed. His laugh was so nice to hear.

“Check this out tonight and then ask them tomorrow.” He was bouncing now.

“OK Marc.” I smiled as he tried to keep from asking if it was ready yet. I sighed, and he looked sad.

“Best I can work out at the moment. My schedule next month is not posted to me yet, so I don’t know when the meetings are I need to be at or where they are, for that matter.” His smile was brightening by the minute as he worked down the list, I sent him of possible times we could see each other.

“That’s more than I thought, Marc. Thank you.”

“I am trying Sasha. It could have been better, but my schedule was already tight before you came into my life. Now it’s tighter. I’m working on it, though.”

“It’s OK Marc. I know and I love you for all the effort you are putting into us.”

“I love you too, Sash. Let me get to sleep now. What time do you think you are free tomorrow to talk? I will not be up in the morning as I have the 23:30-04:00 Watch tonight. And I’ll be back on at 11:30 hours to 16:00 hours.” He looked at his schedule.

“How about 16:15 hours for dinner? I have the morning, and I am back on at 17:45 hours, but off at 20:30 hours until we dock the next morning at 05:00.”

“OK love. Dinner at 16:15, then I can get back to sleep for the night watch.” He smiled.

“Sounds good Marc. Love you and have a good night.” Sasha said.

I replied, “You too Sash. Love you.” And I disconnected the Link.

Three days later, my mind was spinning with all the information that Micah had provided me. I was redesigning my rebuild of the Mauler Model 007. She will be stronger and more able to protect herself as I mine the profitable ores in Low Sec. My thoughts drifted away from my ship to Sasha. My boyfriend. I had to digest that for a few minutes. I loved him, but I didn’t love him. I don’t see him as the Mate I will spend the rest of my life with. We ate meals together over the Link the past few days and I could see the changes in him. He understands that he didn’t really love me. It was more akin to lust. I had made a few alterations to my schedule that will allow me to see him every once in a while, but I have no desire to have him by my side constantly. Our longest period together in the next month is when I ride down to Low Sec with them. As long as his parents could push their schedule forward enough. Otherwise, I will stay here a few more days before taking commercial transport down. That will cost me credits, but I have some now thanks to this ship and her crew. Riding with Sasha’s family will cost me too. Just not as much. I don’t ride for free, even on my own family’s ships. I know my grandparents have been taking the funds I pay them and put them into a separate account which gets used by the people we bring aboard from my school that show promise in our areas as a way for them to gain real world experience. I figure they will give the rest to me when I need it most. Now when I stand watches, I even get paid the standard crew salary for a junior person, even though I am rated as high as a Watch Officer on most of our ship types now days and I am working on adding them to my Captain’s License. Zoe had been bouncing when she handed me the production report, which I went through, and thumb printed. Again, sending it to myself as well as Ernesto. I calculated out the crew bonuses for this trip and smiled. No wonder she was bouncing. As I always do, my choices in the best quality Ice I could find as well as with the constant 3.3 percent of production increase and we made credits. The best part was the Crystal Temperatures fluctuated only .008 degrees over the course of our mining period. That number was .0137 degrees below the normal running temperature that Zoe is used to seeing on these ships. That works out to another 182 hours of life on the Crystals. Or at least that was the number that Micah had worked out. In the grand scheme of things, that meant that another 182 hours of mining could probably cover the cost of a new set of Crystals, if mining the right ores. I smiled as the Helm announced 2 minutes to Jump.

I spent my first day back on the station catching up on lost sleep before I dove into the numbers of the trade proposal again. Grandpa Armstrong would be here this afternoon, and I could run it by him before I presented it to Ernesto. I was also doing lunch with Sasha today. I smiled. I really wanted to hold him in my arms for just a few hours, but that will not be today. I am taking a shuttle over to Westport to spend a few hours with him tomorrow night, before they pull out in the morning for the Lynx system. Then I will see them again here in 5 days’ time. They will arrive in the morning, and I will be returning in the evening. We’ll have 2 nights together before I leave again for a few days of mining, then I will fly out to Weissman Station to meet them for the 3-day trip down to Low Point Station. They have one stop on the way down with me living in the VIP quarters as his parents said it was going to be empty this trip and Sasha and I needed more room than his Cabin. I could agree with that, but I didn’t need a cabin as large as the VIP cabin. I just needed a sizable desk space to work at. I laughed when his parents told him about it on one of our dinner Links. He blushed at the thought his parents knew what we did alone. I thanked them for the thought and graciously accepted the cabin. I tapped out the last lines of my proposal and leaned back in the chair, my arms grasping for the overhead to stretch out the kinks as I looked over it one last time. As soon as Grandpa gives it a review, I’ll be able to send it off to Ernesto. I checked the time. 20 minutes. I guess I should run down and grab something to eat for our lunch.

* * *

“Hello my Sasha. And how are you today?” His parents smiled as he blushed a little. I raised an eyebrow as my grin spread across my face.

“Marc. It’s been a long day already. I could really use a hug.” I nodded.

“Your Watch Officer exams?” He sighed.

“Yes. I don’t think they were as good as they should have been.” I scrunched up my face in understanding.

“But. You don’t have the results yet. Is that correct?” He shook his head no.

“I should have them in a few hours. When I last checked, they were still processing.”

“Really?” I said, confused, which his father chimed in.

“Yes. There is a backlog up here. We should have had him wait until we arrived at Low Point Station. We only would have had to wait 20 or 30 minutes.” I nodded.

“Yeah. I usually got my results in less than 20 minutes.”

“It was my fault, Marc. I wanted to take them now so I could spend more time with you.” Sasha said as he hung his head.

“That’s fine Sasha. As long as you think you were ready for it. Next time tell me and I will help you study if I can. Remember what I said to you about me being very busy? You may be busy, too. You need to remember that I love you and I could wait an hour or 4 while you take an exam.” He smiled at me as he released a soft sigh.

“I know Marc. That’s what Dad said too, and he was right. Just like you are now.” He took a deep breath before he changed the subject.

“Did you finish the proposal?”

“Just finished it, as a matter of fact. The new numbers gave me more of a cushion. My grandparents are passing through tonight and are going to go over it with me. If all goes well, I’ll submit it to Ernesto tomorrow morning.” His parents had joined in, wishing me luck.

“Luck is good, but a good deal is better, and I think I have that.” Sasha’s father agreed. Then they finished and wished me luck again before they left Sasha and myself alone.

“Are you still coming tomorrow night?” I made a big show of thinking about it before I smiled saying.

“Yes. I depart here at 15:00 hours and should arrive before 17:00 hours at the latest. The only change is I can take the 06:00 Express back. So I don’t have to leave at 04:30 hours.”

“Great Marc. I can’t wait to see you.”

“I miss you too, Sash. I’ll make sure you’re satisfied for a few days before I leave.” He snorted.

“I know Marc. Everybody knows it seems.” He said with an eye roll.

“They teased you about it, like our kiss on the Dock?” He made a sour face as he nodded. “Did you ask them to stop?”

“Yes, and they did after the third time.” That made me angry, and I guess it slipped into my expression.

“It’s OK Marc. They were just teasing me.”

“I know, but it doesn’t mean I like it. If I tell someone to stop. That’s what I want them to do. I don’t want to tell them again to stop. Does that explain why I am not happy?” He thought about it.

“OK Marc. How would you have handled it?”

“One of two ways, depending on the person. I would have joked back at them or I would have told them they had been asked to stop and if they don’t that I would write them up on report.” He sat back and digested that. I waited as he worked it out in his own mind. He nodded.

“I understand Marc. I should handle it differently.”

“Possibly. Now back to us. I miss you too, you know.” He blushed again.

“I didn’t know, but I had hoped.”

“You don’t understand, do you?”

“I don’t understand that question, Marc.”

“You don’t understand that you are my boyfriend. Albeit in a different type of relationship. But my boyfriend nonetheless. I love you and I miss you. And all the other things you think of when we are together. The warm caresses of each other’s bodies, the hugs, the holding each other in bed, the hot sex, the passionate kisses. Yes Sash. I miss them all.” He would have melted against me if we were standing together.

“I miss you too, Marc, and everything you just said.” He choked up, then took a few deep breaths as I watched him regain control of his emotions.

“Very good Sasha. No crying.” He smiled weakly at me.

“I’m upset because I want to see you now and hold you in my arms.”

“I’ll be seeing you tomorrow night.” His smile lit up again. I nodded to him. “That’s better my Sasha. I need to go now. My grandparents are due in the hour. And I am sure you need to get back to work.” His nod confirmed it.

“Yes Marc. I do. I’ll talk to you tomorrow at lunch. The usual time?”

“I’m not sure, love. I may be working with Ernesto on the trade.” He nodded. Surprisingly, he didn’t look too upset about that. That made me happy.

“That will go well for you. You have a plan, I am sure, that will benefit both of you.”

“I think so. I hope Ernesto does, too.”

“OK Marc. I should let you go now. Love you and if we don’t have lunch, I will see you tomorrow night.”

“I love you too Sasha. I will definitely see you tomorrow night.” He blew me a kiss and closed the Link.

“Well Marc, it looks good. You could probably send it over tonight and let him read it after dinner, then set up a time tomorrow to discuss it.” I smiled as we had only changed the wording in a few areas. Nothing major was changed and Grandma had set up Zoe’s appointment for a Captain’s Board Exam and Hearing in 5 weeks. I smiled as she handed me the tablet with the information on it. She has been notified by a courier already. I wish I had been there to see the look on her face when she received it.

“Congratulations on your first letter of reference to the Board, Captain Alexander.” She said as she hugged me. I no sooner pulled away than my Link chimed.

“I need to take this, Grams.”

“Of course, dear.” I stepped over to a side room.

“Hello Ernesto.”

“Hello Marc. Well played. Zoe just got her courier 20 minutes ago and told me the story.” Then he laughed, as did I.

“She didn’t think I would be able to do it, but she doesn’t know me very well. Besides, Grandma was happy to submit it, as was everyone else that sent me the references I needed.” He laughed again.

“That’s what Micah told me, too. I see you didn’t use his reference.”

“Conflict of interest. Same reason I didn’t ask you for one.” He nodded approvingly.

“Have you put together the proposal yet?”

“As a matter of fact, I have. I was getting ready to send it over when Grams handed me the tablet with the delivery notification on it.” He smiled.

“Send it over and I’ll look at it now then Comm you back with any questions I might have.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll send it right over and await your response.”

“Sounds good Marc. Thanks again for having her put in for her Stars. She should have done it 2 years ago.”

“She’ll have no problems with it. I’ll send her some of my study materials too. Talk to you later, Ernesto.”

“Talk to you in a bit Marc.” He closed the Link. I went back to my tablet and sent the proposal over to him. Now I just needed to wait.

It wasn’t 20 minutes later when Zoe Comm’d me. “Thanks Marc. I got your study guides, too. I appreciate it.”

“Anytime Zoe. You deserve to go and I’m not the only one who thinks so, either.”

“I know. Dad was jumping for joy once he stopped laughing when Micah told him what I did.” My Link chimed again. Checking, I smiled.

“Apparently, your father wants to talk over dinner tonight.” She nodded.

“I just got that too. It looks like us. Your grandparents and Micah were invited, too.” My insides were both flipping upside down and jumping for joy at the same time.

“Then I will see you at dinner tonight.”

“Indeed, you will.” The expression she wore told me she knew something that I didn’t, I noticed as she closed the Link. I joined my grandparents as they talked with me about the proposal and Ernesto’s possible reactions to it. An hour later, we were heading over to Ernesto’s Quarters on the Station. We had a very nice meal as the first half was talking about Zoe taking the Captain’s Boards and everyone telling stories of our Board exams. Some where’s around the midpoint of the meal, Zoe nudged her father. He chuckled as he turned to me and discussed the proposal. We dickered back and forth until she nudged him again.

“Fine. You’re no fun Zoe.”

“OH, stop playing with him and give him your proposal.” He chuckled again and motioned for a staffer. They brought him a tablet, and he bought it to life, handing it to me. As I flipped down through the proposal, I stopped on the fifth page. Then went back to the fourth before I jumped ahead to the sixth. My head cocked to the side as I saw, out of the corner of my eye, my grandmother covering her mouth to hide a smile. Zoe had left the table.

“You have more ships than I was aware of, I see.” He nodded as I continued to absorb everything I was reading. When I got to the 11th page, my jaw dropped open. Zoe had obviously regained control of herself as she returned to the table.

“So I pushed her into her exam and now you are offloading her on me?” I said with an absolutely deadpan voice as I continued to read. More than just Ernesto snorted at my comment. I stopped reading and looked up from the tablet. With both eyebrows raised.

“I could get behind that, but I can’t run two ships now.” I said slowly. But Ernesto’s eyes flicked to Zoe and back. I smiled and looked at Zoe. “We have a lot of work to do so that I can hire you. Captain.” She nodded at me.

“Aye Captain.” I dipped my head at her in acknowledgment and turned to Micah.

“When can you start?”

“As soon as you need me to move down to Low Sec. Once we get that done, I can come back here to the Ice Miner.” Micah replied. I looked back at Ernesto.

“Three new Crystals for the 007?”

“They were in the warehouse. One of my engineers was pissed at the Corporation we sold one the Miner’s to and pulled the new ones to replace them with used Crystals. I forgot about them until Micah reminded me. We can’t use them up here, anyway.” I nodded as I understood that. I would need to buy new Crystals for the ores available up here too, should I decide to mine up here. I actually need two other sets for the ores down in Low Sec too, but one thing at a time.

“And it’s a straight lease to purchase agreement for the Ice Miner? Is it fully upgraded?” He smiled.

“Straight from the yards. Zoe has been on enough of our test runs and acceptance trials to know what we look for. I’ll even drop in during that for a run too, just to make sure everything is as ordered.” I smiled as I stood and walked around the table.

“Then you have a deal.” I said as I held out my hand and he took it.

“Good. We could use the help up here and it takes care of their problems too, by working for you instead of me.” It was a little more involved than that as I had to change my little Corporation. I had to name the ship, and it came out of the yards two weeks after Zoe took her exams. I hired Micah to start when I left here to head down the Pipe to Low Point Station. He was actually going to follow me down a few days after I arrived down there. My grandparents beamed with pride as I worked my way through everything. Once we finally finished signing everything and left for the night, I thanked my grandparents for their help as I told them I was leaving in the morning for Westport and would be back the following morning.