******
It was late and the corridors of the Sea Wolf were empty. As Julius went down the passageway, he could hear a soft hiss sounding from an air vent along the war-torn walls. His footsteps interrupted the shroud of silence as he trekked through.
Julius made his way to the reactor room. He stood overlooking the port reactor at the lower level below. He saw Murdock and a few engineers working on it. Alongside them sat large pieces of machinery and various tools scattered on the ground. He could hear Murdock cursing every other word as he grumbled to the others.
“I don’t care what Julius thinks! There is no way we can make this piece of shit work without a new graviton coil. He’s just going to have to buy new one; I don’t care if he has to sell all of Laina’s shit to do it.”
“Ahem.” Julius cleared his throat.
“Yeah, I figured you were there listening,” Murdock continued, unfazed, as he kept up his work on the reactor, his head buried inside of it.
“Really? How’d you know it was me walking in?”
“Because I reached in here and tickled the ship’s cooter. I figured that would bring you by.”
Julius had to smile. Murdock was probably the only person on the ship that could get away with talking to him like that.
“How bad is it?” Julius asked.
“Bad enough to put this reactor out of commission. I shifted all power to the starboard one, but we’re going to have to take it easy on her or she’ll blow.”
“Any ideas on where we can get a graviton coil?” Julius asked, already knowing the answer.
“Unfortunately, there’s only one person I know that probably has one. I think you know who.”
Julius sighed. “I guess we’re going to have to see that pompous ass after all. Can we get by on one reactor for now?”
“Yes. But like I said, we have to take it easy on her. Forget about any raids or fights. We won’t have enough juice to charge up the gravity amps if we’re in a fight. The shields and weapons array will eat up all the reserve power.”
“Noted. Come up here, we need to talk about something.”
Murdock slid from out of the reactor compartment and joined him. They walked together to the other side of the reactor room where it was more private.
“I need you to rig up some EMP explosives on a remote detonator for me. Can you do that without any of the crew knowing about it?”
Murdock scratched his head. “Maybe. Depends on where you want them planted, though.”
“Laina’s quarters.”
Murdock stopped walking and whistled. “That’s going to be tough without her knowing.”
“Make it seem like it’s repair work.” Julius thought for a moment. “Tell her there’s an irrigation leak and she’s in danger of it spilling raw sewage right into her quarters.”
Murdock chuckled. “That’s sure to make her snooty ass uncomfortable. But I’ll need someone to help me or it will look suspicious.”
“I think I know just the recruit to help. Someone that I think we can trust to keep his mouth shut.”
“All right,” Murdock said, and then paused. “Does this have something to do with the cargo she’s carrying in there? There’s a lot of rumors flying around the ship you know.”
“Yes,” Julius said.
“Is it really A.I.?” Murdock whispered.
“You don’t need to worry about that, Murdock. Just get those charges ready.”
“Julius, the crew is really nervous—they don’t like being kept in the dark. You need to tell them something soon.”
Julius thought back to the crew morale problem. “All the crew has to know right now is that this ‘cargo’ is very valuable. And valuable things can be sold for good profit. Any profit we get from it will go into the shared plunder for everyone. If you want to help, that’s the rumor you need to inject.”
Murdock smiled. “All right, Captain. You got it.”