13 Degrees of Separation

by Hechtl, Chris

“We are it.”

  “For others yes. For Io 11 our ship, no,” the Purser laughed, silently blessing the Admiral and the engineers for their efforts. “Our ship has been restored, we can go several jumps without refueling now.”

  That tidbit got their attention.

  “You're bluffing,” the waterman said, scowling.

  “No, I'm not. But we decided to go one better, we are in the process of setting up an automated gas giant refinery in the atmosphere of this system's gas giant. Which means technically we don't need fuel from you at all, as long as we're willing to wait for it to come. I'm throwing you a bone here, helping you out. We could just call it a day and wait it out in orbit until the fuel is ready.”

  “So why don't you?”

  “Because I thought it over and I decided I'm not going to be as big a bitch as I want to be. It's fun, but not as fun as I thought it was. Look, I know your economy is dependent on the boost ships like us give when we pass through. Fine, I can see it intellectually, but I think you are being short sighted.”

  “Short...” He frowned ferociously.

  She wasn't sure how much was getting through, he was focusing on the insults and not on what she was trying to get across. She sighed patiently. “Look, let's take a break,” she said. “Tempers are getting a little hot under the collar and I need a drink of water,” she said, waving a hand in a fanning motion.

  The Mayor nodded, bending over to murmur something to the waterman. The waterman nodded grudgingly.

  Vanessa snorted softly. She knew the trick they had in mind as well. Get someone filled up on water then let nature take its course. The water would hit the victim's bladder and after a couple of hours the pressure would get to the point where they would agree to anything in order to get away and go pee. It wasn't going to happen though, she only took a couple sips and then called the ship. She put her Bluetooth in her ear so she'd have half privacy, then turned and went over to the window to look out below and shield her side from the two natives.

  “How is it going?” The Captain asked through the link.

  “About what I expected,” she murmured. “They're being an ass, even when I'm trying to be helpful.”

  “Oh lovely.”

  “Give them what they want,” Faith said.

  “You...” Vanessa sputtered.

  “Seriously. Think about it. We're trading goods that we've made from materials in this solar system for water. It was almost a scam if you think about it,” Faith said, reminding her.

  “It's the principle of the whole thing!” Vanessa growled, not about to give away the entire cargo.

  “So? We'll get it back. Give my people a week and we'll double it. Triple it maybe.” The Purser was amused by their enthusiasm.

  “So, what you're telling me is we really don't need anything at all? What about fresh vegetables and fruit?” Vanessa said, loudly enough for the two natives to hear. She heard them stop talking and turn her way. She turned, hiding a slight smile. “Okay, no, I'll see what I can do Captain,” she said before the Captain could say anything more. “Out here,” she said, disengaging the link and then removing her ear piece. “Sorry gentlemen, where were we?” she asked, smiling sweetly.

  <===^===>

  They left New Haven orbit with enough fuel to fill their tanks along with tons of fresh vegetables and fruit. The Purser had even wrangled pieces of equipment from the natives. In exchange they had signed over the title to the gas giant refinery and built some infrastructure to support it.

  The delay had allowed the crew to take a few steps further along with their plan to build a second ship. By the time they exited the system for Airea 3 a third of their holds were stuffed with generic parts or structural components. The engineers wrangled over the plans constantly at every opportunity. The young AI Io pointed out some of the issues with building parts. They had some from before the admiral left. The Captain had also left a hidden stockpile of parts in B448c

  <===^===>

  Two days after entering the hyperspace slip stream Jennie woke to abdominal pain. She had to pee, but before she could fluid of a different sort gushed from her. Her water broke as she tried to climb out of bed. Shandra helped her to sickbay where she gave birth an hour later to two beautiful girls.

  The Captain checked in on the growing family the next morning. “And life finds a way,” she said softly, her usual gruff voice muffled by the mask she wore. She stroked the soft hair on one little girl's head. She smiled when the baby yawned, then tried to insert her tiny pink fist into her mouth.

  “With a little help,” Shandra replied with a smile. She'd hated having to leave Jennie to take her shift but Jennie had insisted. At least Kensi had covered for her until the twins had made their appearance. Seeing the first crown was something she was never going to forget. Her or Mindy. The teen had nearly fainted.

  “They're beautiful,” the Captain murmured.

  “Thank you Captain, we aim to please,” Clarissa said, grinning in triumph.

  Airea 3:

  The planet was quite pretty, a series of mountain and jungle towns scattered over the small islands that dotted the planet. The planet was well known for trading gold, platinum, silver, and jungle products to passing ships.

  There was one remaining city floating in the western sea. The city was badly decayed by age and exposure to the salt water environment, it had a small caretaker crew. They traded goods with the city for filtered sea water.

  Through a bit of luck and a certain chatterbox, they found out about sleepers in the city who were awoken to care for its fuel supply and dying power plants. Faith gave the mayor and city authorities the admiral's flash sticks and information, including blueprints for his simple gas giant refinery.

  The refinery idea worked through the channels up to the planetary leaders. They called Io and commissioned the ship to build one. They did so, and built a simple drone and inflatable habitat in orbit as well.

  Diedra's small craft crew, made primarily of Hibiki and Dorah, got involved in a bar fight. They bonded to an ancient Veraxin who came to their rescue. The Veraxin had an old shuttle they repaired together while on leave. Hibiki snuck parts down from the replicator for them. The C'ck clan was quite grateful for the efforts on their behalf.

  “And just what do you think you're doing?” Io asked when she caught up with him.

  “Please, I'm trying to help some fellow spacers. Don't get me in trouble with the Captain!” Hibiki said.

  “Spacers? It's Vanessa you have more to worry about you know young man,” the AI said.

  “Look, he's an old guy. A really old guy. From the Admiral's time. He helped Dorah and I out in a bar fight and well...” He shrugged helplessly.

  “You and miss Dita? The two of you fell for a sob story?”

  “No he's really old. Very old! He's also got implants too, and an artificial leg. He's a bit senile, but a nice fellow. The C'ck clan. He's C'ck himself.”

  “Ah.” The Io looked thoughtful.

  “He was in the Navy. An officer at one time,” the lad said.

  The AI frowned and then nodded slowly. “Very well, carry on,” the AI said, winking out. Hibiki couldn't believe his good fortune. He wasn't going to question it, so he made it a point that this would be the last 'donation.'

  The Veraxin C'ck was from the admiral's time, but had only risen to the rank of first Lieutenant before he had been injured and then given a medical discharge.

  The two humans spoke to him of the admiral, which amused the Veraxin family until they realized Irons was a real person. C'ck spoke of Irons as well, but he was a bit senile though. His clan took charge of the shuttle. The humans were a bit put out over how they treated the 'old coot', it bordered on elder abuse. C'ck may be a bit senile and slow, but he still had most of his faculties and his wealth of experience and knowledge should be respected and treasured. They were tempted to offer the old Veraxin a berth on Io but he headed them off, quietly clicking that his home was with his clan.

&
nbsp; Io received her share of fuel. For the first time in months she had full tanks, tanks filled with Hydrogen and Helium 3, not sea water.

  <===^===>

  They passed through a series of empty systems between Aieria 3 and New Brunswick. None of them had ever rated a name apparently, since there was only a small brown dwarf or empty space in each of the systems. They passed Himalaya and entered New Brunswick's orbit two years to the day since they had left Pyrax.

  New Brunswick:

  New Brunswick however turned out to be a bust. Ten years prior the planet's population had been decimated by a plague. Now the survivors were barely scraping by. Where once there had been thousands, now only a paltry two hundred remained on the entire planet, scattered all over the main continent. Since the system was so far off the beaten path, in a cul-de-sac, it was most likely going to die on the vine in the next century or so.

  Still Clarissa and Mindy passed on all the medical knowledge and equipment they could, then Tara and Faith passed on what the admiral had left. In a rare show of humanitarianism Vanessa allowed them to give away a small replicator and solar panels to the last town.

  “We can always come back for it later,” Vanessa said diffidently. The Captain frowned, but then shrugged.

  <===^===>

  They refueled in the system and took on a dozen passengers. Most planned to debark at Nightingale. They passed through the chain of empty systems quickly, scanning each system carefully in case of ambush. Nothing was there so they moved on with a sense of relief.

  Nightingale:

  When they entered Nightingale Hibiki underwent a bit of a shift. The boy had finally aged and matured enough to accept Dorah's advances, or she'd finally worn down the last of his defenses. Bets had been taken, the Captain was rather smug that she had won the pool. Of course she had helped the betting along, making a few subtle suggestions to the Dita girl to help the poor girl fulfill her crush. It was time the two got over it, it was a distraction she no longer wished to hear about after all.

  “By the time you two get around to popping grandkids I'll be back in my wheel chair,” she'd grumbled to Dorah who had giggled with her hand over her face.

  Dorah had seduced the lad by locking him in a shuttle with a picnic basket. Of course the girl had helped herself along by doing a slow strip tease after she had handcuffed the lad. The aphrodisiac the Captain had slipped into their meal had been wasted, nature, or at least Dorah had gotten what it had always wanted.

  Hibiki had grudgingly settled in as Dorah's domestic partner as they crossed the system to the planet. He flat out refused to take her last name Dita however. Nightingale was quite a beautiful world, one with a ten percent axial tilt and very mild weather. It had a pretty good population measuring in the low millions.

  Most of their passengers were grateful to get out of the sterile confines of the ship and to solid ground. They immediately faded into the native population with only a small thanks to the crew for the transport.

  Hibiki was the pilot on duty when the Captain and Purser went planetside to make their usual trade. For once she wasn't sure what she was getting into, since they technically didn't need fuel. She did like the idea of the power that position allowed her to have.

  The Planetary authorities were smug at first, they had assumed the ship needed fuel. They named a rather outrageous fee per kilo instead of the normal fee per fluid ounce of water. And not even purified water at that. “And there's no need to try to negotiate, that number is firm. So you can take it or leave it.”

  Vanessa looked at her partner. They had been long time lovers and partners in this endeavor. She had gotten some work done after the Captain had, but not nearly as much. She had kept in shape, and besides, she was ten years younger. The Captain shrugged ever so slightly under her shawl. Her eyes twinkled in mischief. “Um...” Vanessa said.

  “No negotiating on the price. So, how much do you need? Your usual?” the water man said, holding up a pen and smirking. “Times are tough, we've had to adapt. You'll take it or leave it.”

  “No, we're good,” the Captain said smiling ever so slightly.

  “No? What? Did she say no??!”

  “What? What about passing through the empty system?” Another voice asked on confusion.

  “Yes but we refueled in Airea 3. In fact, we received hydrogen and helium 3. Good quality stuff from their refinery.”

  “Their refinery?”

  “Yes. We built it for them.”

  “You...”

  “Io 11 is full of surprises. She's not just a freighter, she's a factory ship as well. What can we build for you? For a fee of course.” The old woman grinned as the Governor sputtered.

  When the Purser presented them with a list of things they could do in the time they had allotted to be in Nightingale space the Planetary Governor grew despondent, then excited when some of the suggestions got through.

  “You'll bankrupt us! This is a negative balance of trade! We're used to trading for fuel not...” he waved his hand in despair.

  “It's not our fault your water people went so high on the rates. I have no interest in paying those rates. Why, if I wanted fuel I can go track down a comet and take what I needed and leave you completely out of it,” the Captain said.

  “I...” The Governor visibly deflated as he saw the go ahead and push me look the Captain had. The Captain smiled ever so slightly. “But, I am feeling generous. Quite generous, so I'll cut oh, ten percent off the cost of some of the easier projects. If you make the decision today.”

  “I need to consult the treasury...”

  “Oh we take trade ins as well, not just credit or raw material. Vehicles like the equipment you have might work, or sufficient rare materials your planet produces. I understand you have a supply of Osmium?”

  The Governor nodded. It was a rare material, one that had once been used in space industry but was now almost completely useless since no one could get around the replicator lock outs.

  “We have a use for such material. If you are willing to trade some of it,” Vanessa said.

  “I... see,” the Governor said. He waved the water man out. The waterman left in a daze, shaking his head. When he was gone the Governor frowned. The Purser took her list of trade goods they had noted and then passed it over to him. He took it and rubbed his goatee, studying it while thinking hard.

  “Yes, I think we can work on this. But the rates...”

  “Are, as your friend just said, nonnegotiable. But I will keep the ten percent off on the table. At least until sundown,” the Captain said. “Us old ladies do need our beauty rest so we tend to turn in early,” she said and yawned theatrically.

  “Let me make some calls,” the Governor said, getting up in a rush. The two spacers looked at each other as he retreated and smiled.

  <===^===>

  The crew did a lot of construction projects for rare materials from the planet. Vanessa rubbed her wrinkled hands over the gear and materials they had received in trade. The osmium was pure, wrapped in plastic. She had spotted it the last time they had come through and had heard the story. It had been dumped on the planet in order to take on refugees seven hundred years ago. It had languished in a warehouse for all that time, forgotten. She had a problem though. There was no place to put some of it with the ship's holds stuffed with engineering parts.

  While the crew had been downside they had passed on stories of the Admiral. Some of the tales grew with the telling. Some were scoffed at, but they brought along tablets and showed recordings of the Admiral and some of the things he did. Faith made certain to pass out flash sticks and tablets with the admiral's lessons to the schools, public library, and city hall.

  Nightingale didn't have a college, but it did have a small brick hospital. Mindy and her mother took a hand there, handing out tablets and equipment.

  While they were there the crew picked up another dozen crew members. Four were Neo canines, two were Veraxin, and six were human girls from a closed whore house. T
he girls had been sent out onto the street to fend for themselves and had run afoul of the local law along with the married women in town. Since most were considered debased, the single men weren't interested in marrying them.

  None of the new crew had any skills, but they were all eager to learn. Mindy was a bit put out to have a Veraxin sign on as an SBA in the sickbay. She didn't like the chittering and click click click of the Veraxin's legs on the deck.

  <===^===>

  The crew talked about their plans for the future at the mess hall, in the companionways, and while off duty or even while on duty. Finally, to end the endless discussion the Captain decided to go ahead and build the new ship. The girls were instantly excited, they hopped around in glee. The elderly Captain shook her head at their antics but chuckled, eyes twinkling. “I just hope you all know what you are in for. You had better know what you're doing. I want it done quickly, efficiently, and without any injuries,” she gruffly told them. Shandra, Faith, Jennie and the others nodded dutifully.

  “So, we're going to B448C Captain?” Shandra asked. “Instead of exploring that empty system?”

  “Yes. And yes, you can do a long jump young ladies,” the Captain said, bowing to Lessa and Shandra both.

  “Are you serious?” Shandra asked incredulously, clearly excited. She loved the idea of doing a long jump, passing through the Epsilon Triangula system without stopping.

  “Yes.”

  “Captain, this project... is it wise?” Vanessa asked nervously.

  “Heh,” the Captain snorted. “You can hide a lot in a system if you're careful. We'll have to be careful.”

  “But, I mean passing Epsilon...”

  “We'll go back,” The Captain replied with a shrug. “It's not a problem is it?”

  “No, no, not a problem,” Vanessa said, shaking her head.

  “Good. If we have any issues we can always look the admiral up in Pyrax.”

  “You mean change course? Go to Gaston and then to Pyrax?”

  “Of course.”

  “That is... certainly do able I suppose,” Vanessa murmured.