I had been subvocalizing but the anger, seething like magma at the core of a volcano, finally pushed one word to the surface.

“…Incompetent…”

Wei looked up, her face turned into a question mark. I could have let it go but I suppose I wanted it in the open.

“Not you. I was talking about our captain.”

The question mark relaxed into a smile; apparently she thought I was joking. Like everyone else, she loved the captain. That was part of the problem.

Wei went back to the engineering report. We’d sustained heavy damage, thanks again to the captain. It was going to be patch-and-pray all the way back. When she finished I told her to do the best she could and complimented her on the job she’d done so far. On my way out I paused.

“What I said just now? About the captain? I wasn't joking.”

The question mark returned. “Yes… captain.”

Number twenty nine, E deck. Captain’s Quarters. I reached for the admit panel and stopped, listening to how quiet it was. A lot of the surface party used to live on E deck. Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, I hurried down the corridor.

As always, Nikolai was fifteen minutes early. It was his ingenuity that saved those colonists, not the captain’s “instructions.” He was the XO and he'd make an excellent commanding officer certainly better than the one we had. After I gave him the status report we passed the remaining time with small talk, until, smiling, he said, “What's this I hear about you bad mouthing the captain?”

“It’s true,” I said. “It’ll be a miracle if anyone gets back alive.” The expression froze on Nikolai’s face. There didn’t seem to be anything else to talk about. I left watch early.