"What are you going to do with those two trader ships here on the ground? What about that one still in orbit?" Zibo asked.
"I just thought the Nodac-Liujia traders would reclaim them now that they're on the ground," Tik said.
"They are covered under the same rules in the surrender. The traders lose them and you were using them in space so that makes you the owners. And NO, we do not own a share of them!" Zibo responded with feeling.
"We hadn't even thought about them. Things have been a little busy. It would be nice if we could have people from our planet start flying them but that would be way in the future. Why? Do you want to use them to haul your fighters home?" Ron said.
"That's not a bad idea but what I really had in mind was leasing them. I have two cousins that have been looking for a space ship. They have been trading with Master Traders for the last 10 years and they are ready for their own ships but haven't found any yet. Buying a new one is out of their price range right now but they could afford a lease and maybe earn enough to buy a ship in the future. I'm sure they could find someone else for the third ship," Zibo stated.
"I don't know if they would want the one that is damaged or the one that is in orbit. I don't know what it would cost to fix them. I haven't seen the insides of the ships but Tik says they are disgusting. Well, you saw them. How long would it take to clean out the insides and make them inhabitable for non-slobs?" Ron asked.
"My cousins and their crews would take care of cleaning everything up. As for repairs, do you three realize that with this salvage contract you will all probably be millionaires?" Zibo asked.
"We didn't realize that those warships would be worth so much. What should we charge if we lease those other ships?" Ron asked.
"Typically, they would pay you a flat fee per month or per year. Another way, would be to accept a percentage of their trades. That's a little more risky but potentially a lot more profitable," Zibo commented.
The trio met with ESP and decided to go with the percentage of trade. They really didn't have anything to lose. Ron said, "We'll go with the percentage of trade with the stipulation that they take a human, a Mis'stear or Sandghost as a trainee. I don't know if you have a training school for basic rules but; if the Traders do, that would be part of the costs. Your cousins will have to get the ship repaired and we will pay for it. The same goes for the one in orbit."
Zibo was very excited and said her cousins would be here with papers by the time the parade was over. She said her cousins would pay for whatever trade goods were already on the space ships. She would let her cousins know about the other ship as well. Kota sent word to the salvage company to come and investigate the five ships. They replied back that they had found another crew looking for a ship and they all would be there in two days with a contract. Kota arranged for them to bring the special chip, showing the Alliance credits to attach to Auntie. He wanted everything to be legal and to get the trio up to speed as fast as possible. Later in the day, he brought over the contract to affiliate the trio with his trading company. He announced that Dar Es Salaam Traders thought they could give coordinates to the trio's home planets. He thought they would have it by the time the trio arrived at their next planet. He said one of the Dar Es Salaam Trader ships would meet them there and they could see if the data they had on hand, matched their planets.
The news media had been trying to get interviews with the trio but they avoided them like the plague. The trio had no desire to be famous on more than just this planet. Little did they know that they and the Alcantaran ghosts were now tied together and stories were spreading through all the inhabited galaxies.
Ron went in the next morning to talk to Fu and to pay their parking fee. Fu presented him with three small, delicate porcelain bells his wife had made. They had a plastic covering that fit like a decal over the bells. There was a mountain scene with delicate little flowers and trees around the bottom. Ron was very interested in the plastic covering and asked about it. Fu said his wife did the scenes and had a company do the plastic covers to her specs. Fu said the covers could be changed with a simple process and showed Ron the other ones for the bell. There were several different scenes of the country around the city.
Ron asked, "Can your wife do larger covers? Could she custom make them to fit something?
Fu replied proudly, "Oh, I'm sure that would be no problem."
Ron explained, "I want some covers that would fit Dolores. I want them to look like dresses that had been on an old TV character. I want a solid background color with a small flower pattern all over it."
Fu called his wife and explained what Ron wanted.
She said, "That should be no problem. How quickly will Ron need it?"
Ron replied, "I'd like to have it by the day of the parade, but the way things are looking, it might be another day or two."
Mrs. Fu said, "I'll get in touch with my supplier to see if they can do something that quickly and then get back to you."
Shortly after Ron went back to the space ship, Fu called on the radio, "The supplier originally said it would take six weeks but when they learned who it was for, they quickly decided they could have it done by the day after the parade."
Ron told him, "I want six of them and this is the colors for the background. Just let your wife pick out the color of flower to compliment the background color."
Ron decided they needed something a little dressier for the parade. He made Tik and Gus go to the sewing room to be measured. Then they looked at some of the pictures of dress uniforms that Auntie had in her data banks. They settled for a very simple but elegant pattern with bright, electric blue material for trousers and jackets. The shirts were a wheat-colored yellow and they added a deep brown leather-like belt that would hold a holster on the right for their weapons. The belt had another strap that crossed from the right hip over the left shoulder and back to the right hip. On the left side was a small pouch for personal effects. They put an RTG Trading logo on the right breast in bright red. They settled for a light gray boot that came up about mid-calf on Ron and Gus. After the other two left, Ron added an order for an apron for Delores. He was completing a picture of Aunt Bea from the TV program he remembered watching.
The next morning, the salvage crew arrived. They brought contracts for everyone to sign and they had the chip for Auntie. They gave the trio a slip that showed a 500,000 credit deposit for each of them. Zibo's cousins also arrived in the afternoon and the trio walked through the two Nodac-Liujia trader's ships with them. The cousins liked the basic ship but not the mess the Nodac-Liujians and the rescue had left. The cousins told the trio they would give them a third of the profits for use of the ships. The trio agreed and the cousins produced the necessary contracts. They agreed to find suitable humans, Mis'stears or Sandghosts to send to the trader training and then would start them on the apprentice program. As soon as the contracts were signed, they took their crews to the ships to do an inventory and to start clean up. They reported it would take at least a week to clean everything and restock the ship. The other crew had flown to the ship in orbit and reported they could make a temporary patch that would enable them to get to a ship yard. They offered the same deal as Zibo's cousins. The trio agreed and signed the paperwork when the crew landed the ship on Europaische.
Late in the evening, the salvage crew brought two of the fighters back to the planet. They reported that the fighters alone would be worth much more than the deposit they had already put down. The trio, Kota and Zibo had to go out and climb into the fighters. Ron was the only one that really fit into the aircraft. Everyone else was going to have to have modifications to fit their bodies. Gus just needed the seat lowered six inches for him to be able to squeeze in. Kota and Zibo were going to have to change the canopy, also, to accommodate their nine foot frames. Tik was going to need adjustments to the flight controls so she could reach them. The salvage crew reported that some of the fighters were a little different but it would take a day or two to get them decontaminated. T
hey would fly two or three of the different models down and let the group decide which they wanted. Everybody wanted to fly the fighters, so Kota started walking them through the procedures. Just before dark, they decided they needed to secure the fighters, so Gus went to Auntie to get a portable shield. They set the shield so they were the only ones that could get through and then they headed back to their space ships for the night. Zibo had her cousins and the other crew over for supper and they loved the meal. They asked where they could get a robot chef and she said they would have to get it from Ron, Tik or Gus. They said that would be one of the top things on the list for tomorrow.
The next morning after the trio went through their practice routine, they sold three robot chefs. They had to go to town to order them. Ron advised the dealer to see about getting a stock of them. It seemed like they were going to be a popular item. They did order two more to take with them as trade items. When they got back to the space port, they had other questions that had to be answered about their leased ships and decisions about the salvage operation that kept them busy almost all day. Finally that evening, they got back to the fighters. By dark, Kota had finished the orientation on them. He suggested the trio try the flight simulator on Auntie. He told them to have Auntie query his ship for this specific fighter. The trio spent the whole evening practicing on the simulator. The salvage crew reported to Kota that they had found five two-seater fighters. They would have them decontaminated tomorrow. The salvage crew reported they were getting more workers each day and within five days would have a preliminary report of what was salvageable and what would be just scrap.
The next day, the trio was up early to take delivery of the five robot chefs. They took three of them right over to the leased ships and explained a little bit about their operation. They also explained that the chefs would purchase food stuffs if needed. Tik suggested they get a copy of Kota and Zibo's menu, which they could modify to fit their personal nourishment requirements. She told them that if they had the credit chips, the robot could then go into town to order supplies and have them delivered whenever they were ready. The cousins and the other crew were delighted and thanked them profusely. The trio then returned to Auntie to load and secure their new trade robots.
When they finished, they tried on their new dress uniforms. The sewing room had made a perfect fit for each of them. They could now look more official in the parade. Kota called to tell them there was a surprise on the ramp. When they went outside, there were five of the two-seater fighters sitting there. These fighters had a higher canopy and Gus fit into these a lot better. Kota and Zibo would fit but they had to scrunch down in the seat and weren't really comfortable. They would still need to modify the canopy and lower the seats. One of the fighters had been set up for a smaller pilot and Tik would be able to fly it with minimal modifications. Ron thought he could make the modifications himself.
They decided to take the fighters for a flight. Tik couldn't fly one so she rode along with Ron. The fighters were so easy to fly, they practically flew themselves. The group took a tour of some of the planet and then flew into space to see how they handled there. They came back to the space port and practiced a little more with the fighters there. They practiced hovering and then backing. Ron had an idea of how to carry them on Auntie. He just needed to make some modifications on the lower cargo bay. They parked the fighters under the portable shield and had the salvagers take the other two back to the warships. They quit early that night so they would be rested for the big parade tomorrow.
The next morning, Ron checked out his idea for carrying the fighters in the lower cargo bay and then checked to see how much material he would need. By then it was time to put on the new uniforms and head for the terminal. The trio could tell from the expressions on Kota's, Zibo's, Fu's and the driver's faces, that they approved the new look. Kota and Zibo were resplendent in the Trader dress uniform. The driver took them to the parade which ended up at a grandstand in the park. There were thousands of Europaischens from all over the planet there. The leaders from several nations gave speeches and the entire group was awarded more medals for saving the planet. They were all more embarrassed than heroic. They were glad they didn't have to make speeches. Besides, a simple thank you made them look more heroic anyway. The day finally drew to a close and Gus declared that this was more tiring than packing cargo off the incoming ships in the Bug's mother ship. Everyone laughed and agreed. Some of the Charter Navy ships started leaving that night. The rest stayed to start transporting POWs to the troop ship.
The next day Ron ordered material and the trio spent four days retrofitting Auntie to haul the fighters. Zibo's cousins and the other crew had cleaned the ships and made temporary repairs to the damaged ship. They did some trading with the locals to help start their trading careers as captains of their own ships. They left the day before the trio was finished with their retrofit. Mrs. Fu delivered the covers Ron had ordered and he presented them to Dolores. He remarked later that you would have thought they had just given her a hero's parade. The way she carried on about how beautiful they were and thanking them for them was down-right embarrassing. Mrs. Fu was tickled that Dolores appreciated her work so much.
The day the trio finished the retrofit and loaded the fighters into Auntie, the salvage crew brought a list of weapons on the warships and an electronic copy of all the flight manuals and maintenance manuals for the fighters. Kota and Zibo picked 16 different weapons to take with them, which were made up of 8 different models. The trio picked 50 different weapons with 20 different models for Ron and Gus. Tik had 10 different models that would fit her body. Kota made a list to take back to the Trader scientists. They arranged to receive electronic copies of all the manuals for the weapons also. The salvage crew said they would deliver them the next afternoon. The trio and the two Traders decided they would leave the day after they were delivered. They arranged to go into town and have a farewell dinner with the Fu family and the driver and his family. It was a night that the Europaischen families remembered for the rest of their lives. The others enjoyed the evening just as much. There were some other patrons of the eating establishment who thought it was very memorable as well. They listened in on the stories of the Traders exploits and then the stories from the trio's home planets. The driver, his family and the Fu family were all sad to see them leave but understood the nature of their business.
The next morning, the trio was up early. They secured all the weapons and rechecked everything. Kota sent them a copy of the Charter trade rules and regulations. He also sent an abbreviated copy of the database that all Traders carried. It gave a lot more information about planets and their inhabitants than the Bug's database. It also opened up more planets for the trio to trade with.
Kota and Zibo left first. They were headed for their freighter. The cousins had hauled their fighters to the same planet where the freighter was being worked on, because they wanted to get permanent repairs done on the damaged space ship. Kota and Zibo both thanked them again for his rescue and the freighter. They were especially thankful for the robot chef. They signed off by telling the trio that they were sure they would be meeting again. Their paths were intertwined together; and besides, they had a contract to haul all the goods that they would be setting up in their trades.
Ron, Tik and Gus went through their take off check list. They were headed to Fen Avholog to see if they were cut out to be Traders or if they had just been lucky this time. Auntie blasted off and they flew into space. When they were safely away from the planet, Auntie jumped into hyper-space; off to their next adventure, to find the coordinates for their home planets.
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About the Author:
Terry Compton has raced stock cars, rode horses across the Scapegoat Wilderness, fished and hunted most of his adult life while working at several different jobs. He is an Air Force veteran and served in the Air National Guard for several years. He is currently the owner, chief welder and installer for an ornamental iron business. He has ma
de several award winning metal creations and is now turning this creativity to writing.
Terry loves to read science fiction, westerns and mystery stories. Some of his favorite authors are Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Andre Norton, Poul Anderson, Robert Heinlein, Louie L'Amour, Zane Grey and Anne McCaffery. He is currently learning about 'indie' authors who are publishing e-books.
Terry currently lives in Montana with his wife and a dog who thinks she is a short furry people.
Discover other titles byTerry Compton at Smashwords.com. Also check out the author's web page: http://www.terrysbooks.com/.
Already published or soon to be published novels and short stories:
Book 2 in the Alcantaran Series
Alien Challenge
The Alcantaran Key Book 2 in the Alcantaran Series
Seeds of Change A short story
The Recruiter A short story
Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction Page 35