>>5960401Calm down, don't go so hard on yourself. Maybe this is just a misunderstanding. Maybe you just unknowingly poked one of Tim's sore spots. It's best to leave him alone right now, give him some time to reflect on his own actions. In time, he will reach out to you, reluctantly. Then you can make him regret treating you so roughly. Or not, the decision's up to you.
After cleaning and bandaging your thumb with a nearby first aid kit, you return to your room for a decadently hot shower and luxuriant sleep. Over the next day the urge to see Tim occasionally wells up, but every time you manage to fight it down. In any case he also seems to be carefully avoiding you, going so far as to send a hapless cadet to fetch his lunch from the cafeteria.
All the better, he stays out of sight, easier to keep him out of mind. You occupy yourself with work, supervising Goldsmith's repair works and helping Silas sort out your company's accounts. In your spare time, you take up reading naval memoirs, especially those set during the Third Kaskandir Campaign nearly a decade ago, in the hopes of learning more about your father. As expected of such a recent event, most are little more than hagiographies of designated war heroes with sprinklings of vaguely historical factoids on top.
You would rather study something more direct, more personal, but his captain's logs were rather disappointing. It's almost as if he feared someone was looking over his shoulders so he jotted down only the most dry and technical details of the already dry and technical daily routine. Perhaps you can ask the veterans on this ship about him? No, that would be too irresponsible, everyone is busy enough as is.
A week before your badly delayed departure date, Silas call for a conference. The small planning room remains the same as the last time, sans Tim. Once again, he excused himself. Silas curses his tablet, “Damn it, what's the matter with him?” He turns to you, “I asked him about this recent mood once, but he just mumbled something about not wanting to bias my investigation. Ever since I could barely get a hold of him.”
You nervously laugh, “The investigation that's just going to turn up nothing anyway? The lady protests too much, don't you think?” Silas doesn't seem to take the feeble joke well, “Vee, did anything happen that I should know?” Shit.
“Nothing, nothing, Si, everything is fine, for real.” You try to endure his scrutinising gaze, but end up swerving your pupils a couple time. A poor show if you're going up against an Inquirer or a Restless, but Silas' thankfully neither. Eventually, your first officer shakes his head, “Vee, I don't want to say this, but he's almost old enough to be your father. Hell, your old man wasn't that much older when...”
