Spinward Fringe Broadcasts 1 and 2

by Randolph Lalonde

  Minister Lorne picked up one of four bowls of yellow and green melon slices and added a dollop of white cream on top. She did the same and just listened as she ate small bites.

  “How much is this bounty?” Asked Jake.

  “Only five hundred thousand, but the word is they have a specialist on it.”

  “The word? I know Regent doesn't exactly let rumours out.”

  “All right, I checked with Intelligence before you arrived. We don't know anything about him yet, sorry. Reminds me of you when we first met.”

  “Hopefully he's not as good.”

  “Here's hoping,” he turned to her for a moment, his demeanour instantly becoming more pleasant. “How's the melon? I like it this sweet, not everyone does.”

  “It's very good, thank you,” Ashley said, holding her hand up over her mouth as she talked around a bite.

  “I expected more trouble from Regent Galactic. I cost them a lot of credits.” Jake continued.

  “I'll say. I don't think they'll be short on subjects to experiment on though. Our intelligence shows that there are a lot of ships just like the one you took out. I'm sorry we can't go after them, they're not a priority right now.”

  Ashley stopped eating, lowering the bowl down to her lap. Not a priority. The phrase rang in her ears.

  Jake only nodded. “How is the war going?”

  “Badly. We're not losing on all fronts, but our territory is shrinking. Regent Galactic is starting to cut off our main supply lines.”

  “Do you know where their supply lines are?” Jake asked.

  The Minister stopped and stared at him for a moment. “You're looking to do some damage,” he said with the beginning of a smile on his face.

  “I'm looking to trade services.”

  “Now things are getting interesting,” he hastily put his bowl down and rubbed his hands together while sitting up on the edge of his seat. “Captain Valance is asking for something.”

  “I need help finding my daughter. It's been a year and a half since she last contacted us and I didn't get the message then.”

  “What can you give me?”

  “All the information is right here,” Jake said as he put a small gold coloured centimetre by centimetre chip on the table.

  “What are you offering in return?”

  “I'll sign as a privateer with your government.”

  “Do it publicly. If you record what you're doing and we broadcast it over our networks, it'll bolster morale. We could quadruple our force of privateers in weeks.”

  “I don't work that way.”

  “Oh come on. You made Regent Galactic look like evil incarnate with your last capture, why not sign the contract in public and maybe say a few words? Then we can put recorders on your crew, you won't even know they're there, and make it a real show. Like a regular thing on the Newsnets, maybe even do a few live Holocasts.”

  “I'm not going to let you record everything we do and put people on my ship.”

  “All right, fine. No people on your ship but there's gotta be a way we can get you and your crew on camera,” he brought his hands up in the shape of a frame, squaring Ashley's face for a moment as though looking at her through a screen, “in three dimensions or two dimensions, you've probably got enough beauties and beasts in your crew to make some real drama in the dead times and a few mad minutes when the action is on. Toss me a line here Jake, let's make this war popular!”

  “I might be able to send you something but I'm not going to let you just jack in and record everything I do. You're not linking to us to any networks. We're not going to become some kind of reality programming. I can't have someone in the way or a link someone can trace. If I'm going to hit and run or capture cargo for you I have to do it unfettered.”

  “All right, let's lay it out then. We sign you on as a privateer, you get your repairs for cost and labour. You'll also keep forty percent of what you capture.”

  “I won't do it for less than seventy percent untaxed, and repairs when we pull into port. I'll also send you footage you can use while your intelligence network digs up information on my daughter.”

  “You'll do one recruitment spot and give us twenty hours of action footage within two months. If the rest of your crew could do something like a confessional type interview that would just wrap it all up nicely.”

  “No confessional interviews.”

  “Fine, we'll make something up,” he looked to Ashley and winked. “Unless you want to provide some details.”

  Jake sighed. “So I keep seventy percent of everything, repairs at material costs and you look for my daughter using your intelligence network. I'll need some experienced volunteers, whatever information you have on Regent Galactic's trade routes and supply lines. In return you get footage,”

  “Two hours of action footage, eighteen hours of coverage.” Interrupted the excited Minister.

  “okay, two hours of action footage and a recruitment spot within the space of two months and you can use the footage of us walking through your lovely facilities on the way here as coverage.”

  “Fine. Do we have a deal Captain?”

  “See what you can dig up on my daughter before my ship is repaired. If you find something I don't already know then we have a deal. I'll only sign with someone from the Defence Ministry though. I won't have you back this only to find out it gets kicked at the last minute,” Jake said, extending his hand.

  The Minister was positively grinning as he slipped his clean, soft, manicured hand into the Captain's black armoured grip. “The hero of the Thadd system officially on our side. They'll have to approve it. This'll go over like bang! In the press,” he exclaimed excitedly.

  Too Easy

  The ride back was quiet. Captain Valance wasn't brooding, that wasn't the word. He was pensive. She tried not to look at him. Thankfully the view outside was amazing. Ashley could see the hurricane meeting the electromagnetic break wall. Before it was mostly circular, a gathering of clouds around a dark centre. As she looked on the hurricane was taking on an oval shape and wisps of white clouds were starting to break free.

  “How long do you think it'll last?” She asked.

  “The war?”

  “Um, sure.”

  “They've been fighting for almost ten years. Regent Galactic is engaged with this government and another super corporation, it'll go on until they win. A few more years maybe.”

  “So these people aren't going to win?”

  “We haven't been in this area of space for more than a few months, but is there anywhere you haven't seen a Regent logo? They're in every port.”

  She thought for a moment. It was true, she even liked a few of the shops Regent Galactic owned, particularly Fresh N' Green and Spacerwares. Then again, everyone loved Spacerwares.

  “They're desperate. This idea of using me as the poster boy to their privateer recruiting initiative is the kind of thing a government low on options resorts to.”

  “Could it work?” She stared out the starboard side view as the last of the massive ships were disappearing from view.

  “It's a long shot. I've never heard of it working before. The best thing about having a lot of privateers in your system is that when you surrender and the war has come to an end, a lot of the privateers just don't stop. Get enough privateers and you end up with either a great big mess or an easy rebellion.”

  “So even if they surrender the fight might not be over.”

  “That's right. The Trade Minister would move on though. He'll have an easy time making a place for himself somewhere else in the Galaxy if he becomes known as the man who put a successful privateering effort together. I just hope he keeps to his end of the bargain.”

  He didn't say anything else the entire way back to the windowed hall overlooking the Samson.

  She couldn't stand it anymore. “So we're going to be privateers?” She still couldn't believe it even though the Samson had done privateering before. Stephanie was the only one left aboard who had been
around back then and she talked about how much money they made, how exciting it was, but she often acknowledged that they lost a lot of people, took a lot of risks.

  He stopped and turned to face her. His expression was serious but not at all intimidating. “As soon as we get our letter of marque. He has to pass it by the Minister of Defence's office and who knows who else.” He took her shoulders in his hands. It was hard not to remember Silver's accusation that she was some kind of surrogate daughter. “It'll be dangerous for everyone. You don't have to stay on if you don't want to. I'll make sure you get certified so you can find work.”

  She couldn't believe what he was saying. It was always a little different between them. He always treated her with a little more consideration, had a little more patience for her and when no one was around he seemed kinder, more at ease. “I don't want to leave. I owe you too much.”

  “You don't owe me a thing. You don't owe anyone.”

  “Do you want me to stay on?” She asked before thinking. If he didn't want her along she didn't want to know.

  “Of course I do. I just don't want you to feel trapped. As long as you're on the Samson you're in just as much danger as I am. Finding work on another ship would be easier.”

  “I know, but the easiest road isn't always the right one. I've talked to people who helped with the people in the cargo train. They told me what it was like back there. If we can do something to damage Regent Galactic I want to be there, they have it coming.”

  Captain Valance smiled and let her shoulders go. He turned and walked a little further down the hall to the broadest window overlooking the Samson. He leaned on the railing and watched the repair crews working on the large breach in the rear dorsal section.

  She walked over and leaned on the railing beside him. “Do I remind you of your daughter?”

  If he was surprised by the question he didn't let on. “I don't know her. I've only seen her on one holographic security recording.” They looked on as the workers pulled an older piece of hull plating free and a disposal robot collected it. “If I could choose a daughter out of the people I've met over these last few years, it would be you.”

  She looked at him for a moment. He had really said it. It didn't look like he was kidding either. Tears started to well up, she turned away. Where did this come from? There was joy but it came with a kind of pain. The person standing beside her was like the Captain she had known, only there was a human side he was sharing that seemed to emerge more and more.

  He put a hand on her shoulder and she turned into him. His arms came around her protectively. She felt small but safe. “Are you all right?” Came the hushed question.

  “Everyone trades for the upside, everyone wants something wherever you go. Except for you. You've just given and I spent so long wondering, asking myself what does he want? What is he after?”

  “Something I can't buy, you're not someone I want to see drift through the crew like so many others.”

  She looked up to him, he smiled down at her. “Why me? I still don't understand. Do you want to be my lover? My father? My master?”

  “I would like to be your Captain since you're staying on,” he said with a chuckle. “I think being your Captain, being their Captain,” he said, gesturing towards the Samson. “means something different to me now.”

  She just stared at him. He wasn't the same man at all.

  “I feel like someone turned off the gravity. Ever since we took that cargo train in the wrong direction for all the right reasons I've been weightless,” he said quietly.

  A smile spread across her face and he let her go. “Now that makes sense.” They stepped back over to the railing. “I think.”

  More repair team members entered the mooring bay and Stephanie came around the corner and stopped as soon as she got a look at Jake and Ashley. They looked contented with each other's company in the silence as they looked over the ship. “I'm interrupting something,” she said, putting her hands up and starting to turn back.

  “Nope,” Ashley said with a sniffle, wiping her eyes. She half turned her head to address Stephanie. “Captain was just telling me how he's feeling different.”

  Stephanie walked to the railing and leaned her back against it between the pair. “Radiation sickness is cleared out sir?” She asked as she picked at the fitting of her gloves, pulling the fingers then drawing them back into place. It was something she had done since her early days in the infantry, even though the gloves included in the vacsuit were always fitted properly.

  “It has, but I don't think that's what Ash meant.”

  “Oh?”

  “Something feels very right about going after Regent Galactic,” he said quietly. “Like I've found the right path for us.”

  “What about your daughter sir?”

  “The lead we have is too old. We could try to follow it up but I get the feeling she's still in hiding. So the Minister will use their Intelligence agency to find her.”

  “Wow, he must owe you some favour.”

  “Well, I also promised that we'd be their mascots for a new privateering initiative.”

  Stephanie turned around to face the ship. The repair crew had started to remove one of the barrels on the upper turret. It had been split at the end. “Privateering again, I thought you said the last time would be the last time.”

  “That was when we were only doing it for the payday.”

  Stephanie looked at him. “This really is for good isn't it? You really aren't going to be checking the hunter's board and picking up other work.”

  Jake only nodded slowly.

  “I never thought I'd see it,” she looked back down towards the ship. “I still wish we could find your daughter before we get into this though.”

  “We're already in it. As far as Regent Galactic is concerned we're wanted criminals already,” Captain Valance said. “Besides, knowing that she wanted to contact me before tells me that what I have planned will work.”

  “What's that sir?” Ashley asked.

  “There are only a few important rules to follow if you're looking for someone who might want to be found. Make sure you get all the help you can, keep your eyes and ears open, and make sure that you do everything you can to make yourself visible.”

  “You're going to use the publicity to your advantage?”

  “Like a great big beacon.”

  “But it sounded like you didn't want to do any publicity,” Ashley commented.

  “I didn't want to have people following us around showing the galaxy what we'd have to do to get the job done. There's a difference. Just because I'm turning a new leaf doesn't mean that I'm not willing to be a very bad man to anyone in the wrong. When I think about that cargo train I get angry,” his expression darkened. “I get so angry. I think about all the jobs we've pulled off. Work that I should have questioned or turned down. Then I wonder how much damage I can do in all the right places with the same skills we used finishing that work. How much harm can I do to all the right people for a change.”

  Stephanie smiled and looked to Ashley. “It's about time.”

  They watched the repair crews for a while before the trio pushed away from the rail and started down towards the gangway. “How long to we have before the hunters start circling?” Stephanie asked.

  “There's a specialist coming after us already. As for the rest from Regent Galactic territory, the first of them should start showing up in about three weeks unless they have the cash for a wormhole generator.”

  “Think we'll be able to keep away from them?”

  “No.”

  “So we counter.” Stephanie concluded.

  Captain Valance simply nodded.

  “Counter?” Ashley asked.

  “When the bounty hunters start getting close we hunt them back.” Stephanie explained. “After we've taken care of a few most of the others should leave us alone.”

  “What about the ones who don't give up?”

  “Those are the ones I'll hunt down. We'll
turn them in to Aucharian authorities for a reward if there's anything left of them when I'm done.” Captain Valance concluded.

  Summons

  It happened fast. Captain Valance was on his way back to the gathering of city ships in orbit before the hurricane had been broken, mere hours after he had returned to the Samson. This time he went with Stephanie, his First Officer. Ashley was off doing her flight test for her certification, the defence base had two instructors aboard, and one of them was up early.

  Stephanie and Jake were taken to the large government city ship, the capitol city of the Aucharian government. It was a massive twin hulled vessel that dwarfed most of the other vessels in orbit.

  They were escorted directly to the office of the Minister of Defence, Lauren Timmer. She was a lovely woman with long dark violet hair and she wore the muted grey robes of her office. She appeared far too feminine to hold that post, but Captain Valance knew better. She was one of the greatest tacticians alive.

  They walked into her spartan office, decorated only with three chairs in front of a large desk. The floor was a dark red and the walls were a deep blue with a window spreading from wall to wall behind her overlooking the tumultuous planet below. “It's good to meet you Captain Valance,” she said from behind her desk, gesturing for them to sit down.

  They did so, but she remained on her feet. “Quite a storm,” she said, gesturing towards the clouds far below. It was still breaking up, and would be for some time. “We have climate control but every few years something comes along that our systems can't handle. It's a good thing too. Storms like these move so much water that land becomes exposed and the earth is turned. A natural tilling of the soil. Billions of plants and fish die, buried alive or crushed under kilometre high waves. It releases nutrients into the water, dredges up materials that would otherwise remain buried, and brings change. Opportunities for new life to take root arise, land masses shift. Without one of these storms certain crops would grow out of control, others would be suffocated. The circle of life might stop turning.”