Thanks for sequelling :)

Do we know who this narrator is? He can’t be the first mate, as he’s been introduced (and would have stayed behind on the ship anyway, I suspect). Quartermaster? Passenger? Air Corps officer assigned to keep an eye on Firus?

The last one seems most likely. Or the equivalent of a CIA agent. The smuggling ship could be used for black ops/undercover work and our guy could be there to take orders from Command and keep things going smoothly. As far as specifics, I didn’t want to step on your toes so, no I don’t know who the protagonist is. What I feel (which may not be correct) is- young, military, naive (relatively), probably put on this job to get him out of the way of front line war, and desparately wants to do the right thing. What do you think?

I’m really sorry, I forgot that I wouldn’t get a notification for this.

I originally thought Quartermaster, actually, because Firus obviously has some measure of respect for this guy, even if he only shows it in the way he listens to him. His loyalty could be naive patriotism.

On the other hand, while your impression (which fits completely with what has been written and what I felt myself) fits Quartermaster, it might well fit the Air Corps assignee as well. My only objection would be that Firus isn’t very likely to have been so welcoming if he knew this were so.