Home Run (Smuggler's Tales From the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Book 3)

by Nathan Lowell

  “Look, lady. It still doesn’t change the reality that people with money have influence. They’re so much more important than us little guys. You think you can just email my boss and get whatever you want whenever you want it?”

  “As a matter of fact, I do.”

  “Why?” he sneered. “You got money, too?”

  Natalya laughed. “Next time you see Brian, ask if he remembers Natalya.”

  “Brian who?”

  “Your boss? Brian Dorion? The guy who has so inconvenienced you? Remember him?”

  “Dorion? He’s my boss’s boss. How can you know him?”

  Natalya shook her head. “I’d love to tell you but I signed a nondisclosure agreement.”

  “Ha. Next you’re going to tell me you had lunch with Joe Allen.”

  “NDA.”

  “Yeah. Sure.” He jerked the handle of the grav pallet and marched out of the lift. “Hide behind the NDA.”

  Natalya sighed. “Thank you for the installation. I don’t know what exactly you think we’ve done to earn your animosity over doing your damn job, but I’m sorry we’ve put you out. For what it’s worth, Zoya’s been all but cut off from Usoko Mining support here. She’s the one who messaged Dorion. Not her grandfather.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Tell it to Joe next time you have lunch with him.” He dragged his gear through the lock and the door started to lever closed. He peered back out. “Good luck with it.”

  The lock clamped shut and the ship backed out a few ticks later.

  Zoya came down the stairway, her head shaking. “What was his problem?”

  “Apparently Dorion lit the fire under this guy’s boss and diverted him from wherever else he was going. He didn’t much like having a High Line fat cat calling the shots out here in the Toe-Holds.”

  “Dumbass,” Zoya said. “Doesn’t matter. We’ve got the terminal and the buoy is live again. We can send messages direct from the Peregrine to the buoy until we get a station net going.”

  “We’re going to need some computer gear for that,” Natalya said.

  “Add it to the list.”

  Chapter 33

  Smelter Seventeen:

  2368, February 16

  Natalya ran down the pre-flight checklist before she put on her softsuit. “Better safe than sorry.”

  Zoya nodded. “You think it’ll even start? Kim says it’s been here a while.”

  “There’s fuel in the tank. There should be enough atmosphere to run over to the Mindanao. We really need to find a gas giant and do some skimming. Rock Ripper’s going to need some soon.”

  “While you’re gone, I’ll put out a call for proposals on the base hull construction.”

  Natalya snapped her safety harness in place. “You think your grandmother will foot the bill?”

  “I’m operating on the assumption that this station belongs to Usoko Mining and her instructions gave me enough mandate to commit the company.”

  “Don’t you need an account number or something?”

  Zoya shook her head. “I’ll let Gram worry about what accounts need to be charged when she gets the bill.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “I don’t know how we’re going to get this thing rebuilt otherwise,” Zoya said. “Until we get a ship in here to cart off some of this finished metal, we’ve got no income.”

  “True, but with the buoy up and running again, we’ve got access to market data. All we need is a console and somebody to run it.” Natalya reached up to close up the shuttle’s cockpit. “Wish me luck.”

  “Good luck,” Zoya said, lending a hand to make sure the door closed all the way.

  Natalya gave her a thumbs up when the hatch closed with a solid ker-chunk. She ran the last few items on pre-flight and waited for the dock indicators to register vacuum. The dock status light blinked amber before finally turning green. The big outer door opened and she toggled the thrusters to kick her off the deck and into space.

  She kept her velocity down until she got a feel for the tiny ship. A quick squirt from the main engine pushed her away from the station. She keyed each directional thruster in turn.

  “Shuttle, Smelter Seventeen, over.”

  “Smelter Seventeen, Shuttle, over.”

  “You’re looking good out there, Nats. How’s it handle? Over.”

  “Smelter Seventeen, Shuttle. It feels like it has zero mass. Tiny pulses move it all over the place. I’m almost done checking the attitudinals, over.”

  “Shuttle, Smelter Seventeen. Roger that. Out.”

  Natalya kicked the pitch thruster to spin the ship upward—bow over stern—in a slow-motion arc. The stars spun around her as the ship did a lazy backward flip. When she tried to stop, nothing happened. She triggered the reverse pitch again but the thruster failed to fire, leaving the ship doing backward somersaults through space.

  “Smelter Seventeen, Shuttle. Over.”

  “Go ahead, Shuttle. Over.”

  “Smelter Seventeen, Shuttle. Dorsal pitch thrusters are unresponsive. Over.”

  “Shuttle, Smelter Seventeen. Can you get it back to the shop? Maybe it’s still under warranty. Over.”

  “Smelter Seventeen, Shuttle. I’m pretty sure I violated that last night. Lemme try to roll.”

  Natalya used the wingtip jets to turn the ship over on its back. The corkscrew motion of the stars around the ship made her dizzy for a moment but the ship stabilized quickly on the new orientation. A quick burst of the pitch jet put the vessel on an even keel again.

  “Roger, Smelter Seventeen. Got it back. I’m returning to station. Over.”

  “Shuttle, Smelter Seventeen, I was worried there for a second. I didn’t want to have to come chase you down in the Peregrine. Over.”

  Natalya heard the tenseness behind the flip comment and grinned. “Who got higher marks in shuttle qualification? You or me? Over.”

  The pause went on so long, Natalya checked the radio to make sure it was still on.

  “Shuttle, Smelter Seventeen. Are you on your way back? Over.”

  “Smelter Seventeen, Shuttle. Roger. Back in a tick or two. Out.”

  Natalya headed straight back to the empty dock and settled the tiny ship back in its nest. The dock door closed and the amber lights flashed until finally settling on a solid green. She pulled the release on her restraints and popped the hatch. Zoya and Ahokas came through the airtight door, one after the other.

  “You all right?” Zoya asked.

  “Oh, yeah. I just need to get into that dorsal pitch thruster. I didn’t have any response at all. Not sure if it’s got a clogged rocket nozzle or broken fuel line or what.” Natalya shrugged and stood up to clamber out of the shuttle. “Other than that, she’s good to go.”

  “It’s been there for months,” Ahokas said. “The Bravo Team had problems with it and had to get somebody from the station to come pick them up.”

  “Soon as we get this fixed up, we’ll be able to move everybody onto the Mindanao,” Zoya said.

  “How will that help?” Ahokas asked.

  “For starters, it’s got bunks for a couple dozen people. Full showers. A complete galley—with food, I hope. We’ll be a lot more comfortable there than here.”

  “What about local comms?” Ahokas asked.

  Zoya looked at Natalya. “Any insight on the comms array over there?”

  “In theory, the auxiliary bridge should have the equipment.” Natalya shrugged. “The question is whether or not the external antenna survived. It’s a commonly stocked part. Even if it’s not there, we can rig one.”

  “That was my concern as well,” Zoya said. “I just wanted a second opinion.”

  Ahokas nodded. “We can only do what we can do.”

  Natalya grinned. “Right now, what I can do is find out why that thruster isn’t working.”

  Ahokas turned and walked back to the common room.

  “Is she all right?” Natalya asked.

  Zoya shrugged. “I keep thinking she’s coming bac
k from wherever she’s been and then she leaves again. I can’t say as I blame her.” Zoya sighed. “Not much we can do for her—other than listen and offer support. You need a hand with the thruster?”

  “No. Just need to get the cowling off and see if something’s obviously out of whack.”

  “That a technical term? Out of whack?”

  “No, that’s just a common saying. Technical terms are like thing-a-ma-bob, do-flotchet, and widget.” Natalya fetched a couple of tools from her tool box and set about removing the nose cowling from the shuttle.

  “I’m so glad I asked,” Zoya said, then chuckled as she strolled out of the dock.

  Chapter 34

  Smelter Seventeen:

  2368, February 17

  Natalya tightened the last of the cowling fasteners and rubbed a rag across the shuttle’s nose. “That should do it, but we have another problem.”

  Zoya looked up from where she sat at the helm. “What’s that?”

  “We’ll need somebody inside who knows how to operate the lock on the hangar bay.”

  “We’ll need to take both ships for that,” Zoya said. “Or make two trips. One of us has to go over in a softsuit to open the bay for the shuttle. Is that a problem?”

  “Just trying to work out the logistics,” Natalya said.

  “It would be best if we had a few more people,” Zoya said. “Rock Ripper’s been sitting out there for a week. Barges have a docking ring. So do the haulers. We can’t unload them until we have someplace to put the ore.”

  Bean stepped into the bay. “Uh? Gotta tick?”

  “Of course,” Zoya said. “What’s up?”

  “I’ve got some sketches for plans but there’s something you haven’t considered.”

  “Something good, I hope,” Zoya said. “I could use some good news.”

  “The good news is that we can build this whole thing from scratch. You seem pretty set on a custom build,” he said.

  “But?” Zoya asked.

  “But that’s not what we did on Grinder Eight.” He shrugged. “I don’t know if that’s good news or not.”

  Zoya’s jaw unhinged and Natalya slumped against the shuttle’s bow.

  “Start from the beginning,” Zoya said.

  “We can build it, sure, but it’ll take time to get the materials, time to get the people, time to do the build and then even more time to get the fixtures and fittings and get them installed. Your grandmother used Higbee’s pre-fab service when we brought Grinder Eight up in Margary.”

  “Explain,” she said.

  “Grinder Seven couldn’t keep up with the ore coming in. It got stockpiled in their ore bunkers. Your grandmother got tired of building more bunker space so she commissioned Grinder Eight about four stanyers ago. It’s opposite Grinder Seven but in the same orbit so the barges hit whichever one is closer. The outputs all go to Smelter Four.”

  “I’m with you so far. Higbee offers a pre-fab?” Zoya asked.

  “Yeah. We just wanted the basic grinder setup but I know they offer a kind of a la carte service where you say how many metric tons of ore you want to process, what processes you want included, and they quote a price. From what I figure it’s about twenty percent more expensive than scratch-built but it’s also a hell of a lot faster. It would take us stanyers to build this ourselves. We could probably have Higbee get a replacement grinder here in a matter of a couple of months.”

  “What about the smelter?” Zoya asked.

  “Stage it. You just need to tell them what you want. If you’ve got the credits, it might be worth investing a few to get your production line at least started.”

  “So we could order the grinder to be set up now and the smelter next stanyer?”

  He nodded. “That’s my understanding. Your grandmother would have more insight.”

  “What about our plans for the custom arrangement of the lines?” Natalya asked.

  Bean took a deep breath and blew it out slowly before answering. “I hate to say it but I’m not sure about those plans. We can do it, but it’ll take time and we’d have to custom build everything from the decks to the overheads. What’s the goal? To make a spiffy station or get it up and running as soon as you can?”

  Zoya frowned at that and looked to Natalya. “Input?”

  “You’re the boss,” Natalya said. “How many barges do we have coming in now?”

  “Too many. Rob, are there any newer grinders out there than Grinder Eight?”

  He shook his head. “Not in Margary. I wouldn’t know if they were anywhere else.”

  “How was Grinder Eight as a platform?” she asked.

  “It was pretty utilitarian. It did the job it was supposed to do, did it well, and didn’t have anything in the way of extras.”

  “You have Higbee contact info?” Zoya asked.

  He nodded. “I worked with them while they brought the station online.”

  Zoya arched an eyebrow at Natalya. “What d’ya think?”

  “How will you pay for it?”

  “I’ll just put it on Usoko Mining’s tab.”

  Natalya gave her a side-eyed look. “And Higbee’s going to know that you have purchase authority for a few million credits?”

  Bean coughed into his fist.

  Zoya looked at him.

  “It’s more than a few million credits,” he said.

  “How much?” Zoya asked.

  “Grinder Eight cost just over a billion.”

  Natalya whistled in spite of herself. “And that’s without the rest of the stuff we want to do here.”

  Bean nodded.

  Zoya tilted her head back and looked at the overhead for a very long time before speaking. “I need a quote to send up the line.”

  Bean pulled out his tablet. “I’ll send you the Higbee contact information.”

  Zoya’s tablet bipped. “How many barges did Grinder Eight service?” she asked.

  “Something like fifteen.” He shook his head. “Hard to judge because we split with Grinder Seven.”

  “So we’d need two of them to cover the ships we have here now?” Natalya asked.

  Zoya and Bean shook their heads at the same time.

  “Not necessarily,” Zoya said. “Margary is particularly rich and I haven’t seen the mineral distribution assay for this place. It could have more minerals than Margary but distributed more widely. I need to ask Pop-pop what the capacity of this station was.” She sighed. “This is why I don’t want to do this job.”

  “I can do it for you, if you like,” Bean said. “Draft a proposal and attach the requests for mineral assay and distributions. Request the specs for the smelter and grinder combo that was here.”

  “Can you add in the projected alloy processor and forming mills?” Zoya asked.

  “Sure. I can have that for you by tomorrow probably.”

  “Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”

  His ears turned a little red. He nodded and beat a hasty retreat.

  “That was unexpected,” Natalya said.

  “What? That Higbee has a pre-fab business?”

  Natalya shook her head. “That Bean has come out of his shock.”

  “Well, we’ve been here a week.”

  “Wonder why he didn’t bring it up before,” Natalya said.

  Zoya gave a short chuckle. “We didn’t exactly ask him, did we? Just started in with ‘draw us some plans’ if I remember correctly.”

  “True.” Natalya shrugged. “What’s next?”

  “Mindanao. We need to get the crew of Rock Ripper hooked up. If the company is still paying their salary, maybe we can find a couple people who want to help us.”

  “You’ll have to be on the horn for that one,” Natalya said.

  “You think we can move the ship closer to us here?” Zoya asked.

  “A lot will depend on how much maneuvering power it has, but we should be able to get it over here. Why?”

  “It’s either a can of food or a can of metal. Either way, I want it,” Zo
ya said. “We can lock a can of rock on for stability afterwards, if need be.”

  “We should probably see where the rest of the ships are,” Natalya said.

  Zoya sighed. “I knew I was forgetting something.” She shook her head. “First things first. Let’s claim that hull and get it moved over here.”

  “All right. Lemme make a final test run and make sure this bird is ready to fly, and we’ll start moving over. Between the two of us we can probably move the hull closer without too much effort.”

  “Sounds good,” Zoya said. “I’ll get Ahokas set up on local to get a roll call going on the ships in-system and what their statuses are.”

  Chapter 35

  Smelter Seventeen:

  2368, February 18

  Natalya stood by the lock controls while Zoya covered the helm aft in the auxiliary bridge aft. “I see them outside,” she said.

  “We’re holding station,” Zoya said, her voice sounding just a bit tinny in the speaker.

  The Rock Ripper touched the docking ring with a quiet scrape before the locking rings mated the two ships together.

  Natalya locked the Mindanao’s ring and waited for the lock to verify pressures. “They’re locked on, Zee.”

  “I show positive lock here, too.”

  The big doors opened and a pair of haggard spacers in Usoko Mining shipsuits stood in the opposite lock. They stepped forward and grinned at Natalya. “Permission to come aboard?” the short one asked.

  “Granted. I’m Natalya Regyri.” She held out her hand.

  The woman smiled and took the offered hand. “Captain Ruth Houston. This is one of my mining specialists, Chuck Anderson.”

  The big guy nodded. “Pleased to meet you, sar.”