In the past, that’s precisely what Caledonia would have done. In a different situation, perhaps, it was still what she would do. But their current circumstances were too fragile. They were all afraid of what the others might do. Caledonia alone trusted both her original crew and her new one. It was up to her to make the hard choices right now, not cater to individual fears.

She held Amina’s iron gaze and answered, “No.”

Caledonia waited, letting her authority linger for just a second longer. This was the point on which she would hold her ground no matter how painful. She could understand Amina’s anger without folding beneath it, and if she wanted to pull this crew together, that’s exactly what she was going to have to do.

“Our job is to turn seventy-five people into a single crew. The only way we can do that is if we look united. You can disagree with me and you can let me know, but when we’re in front of them, what is decided in this room is law.” This time, she didn’t pause, but pressed on. “Pi is my second-in-command; that will remain unchanged. Sledge, I want you in charge of readiness. We may not have bows, but use what you can find and keep everyone in fighting form. Pine, you’re on weapons. Know what we have and who can use what. Amina, shiptech. I want your eyes on every piece of this ship; I want to know what we have that we aren’t using. Hime, keep your finger on our pulse as firmly as you can. Tin is operations; I want Harwell on engineering; and Nettle stays with helm.”

It wasn’t much of a shuffle in responsibilities, and she didn’t expect to see much upset surface in the larger crew. But here in this room, these five people strained against the discomfort.

“Pisces will oversee the division of teams among the crew. Sledge, I want you to work with her. Let her know which of your people have what skills or where they might fit best. I don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where we don’t know the shiptechs from the divers.” Now she paused, giving herself room to breathe and survey the room once more. “Steely?”

Pine and Amina nodded, but Sledge leaned in. “What about the Steelhand? Where will you keep him?”

Caledonia settled her hands on her hips and treated the question as though it were like any other. “I want Oran with me on bridge crew. He has intelligence we can use. When he’s not there, I want him on shiptech with Amina.”

Pisces asked, “Is this a discussion now?”

Whatever bomb waited behind that question, Caledonia felt prepared for it. “It is,” she answered.