...*...*...*...*...
D'red shook his virtual head, a human mannerism he'd picked up over the centuries of interacting with only humans for virtual company. His true arms wove discontent signs as Kennet paced in his virtual chambers.
“What the hell am I going to do! You're station council! Think of something!”
“In this case I represent the stations interests. Your actions are counter to those interests Mr. Kennet,” D'red said calmly, watching the human pace. The pacing abruptly stopped however.
“You're kidding me! I'm on the council1 My interests are the station's interests!”
“But you're a small part of the council. A small part. There are other members remember? Their interests are also a part of the station and its activities. You have put us in a precarious position, you're activities are beyond legal and are damaging to the station. I've already sent the other council members a warning memo.”
“You...” Kennet gaped at him. “You can't do that!”
“Ah, but I can. I told you, I represent the station not you personally Mr. Kennet. I cannot in good conscious represent you in any legal actions or in your upcoming bar hearing. To do so would put me into a conflict of interest.”
Kennet stared, furious beyond words for a long time. “I... Fine. I'll represent myself then,” Kennet ground out.
“I suggest you hire council. Remember the wise maxim, an attorney who represents himself has a fool for a client,” the Veraxin chittered. “I strongly suggest you mediate on that and your actions.”
“I'll do whatever I damn well please,” Kennet snarled, disappearing.
D'red snorted. “Fool,” he said softly in his native language.
...*...*...*...*...
When Petunia's shift had to cancel because Petunia had been tapped to work on an emergency project on the station, Mairi was at ends on what to do. Harif chased her out of the berth, he was busy working on machining parts for other projects. Mairi headed to the bar. Alice smiled and took her out to lunch and an ice cream.
Her weekly jaunts with Alice were turning into habit, something she was starting to enjoy. Some of Alice's thoughts were rubbing off on her, she felt more of a woman, more confident after talking with her. She talked to Alice more than her mother, there was something there in the woman that told her she was not only wise, but supportive.
Alice had a temper too, and a stubborn streak. She'd seen her go toe to toe with Ralph, and even when Ralph threatened to belt her she'd just glare and tell him to shut up. She'd been afraid they'd go to blows a couple of times but that was before she had learned about play fighting. She still didn't get the appeal, but they seemed to enjoy it, so whatever.
Mairi admitted she'd never had a confidant, a friend. Alice wasn't her own age, but she was a mother figure. She also liked to shop, and encouraged Mairi to learn and grow. She still threatened to drag Mairi off to an opera, something she still couldn't trap Ralph into going to... whatever that was.
“I'm always picking up after her, cleaning up her messes,” Mairi said, pouring her heart out to Alice about her mother. Alice nodded.
“I've seen that in you. You are a dutiful child. I'm proud of you for that. For being that kind of person.”
Mairi squirmed a bit and then took another spoonful of her ice cream. “Heavenly,” she said.
Alice chuckled and sat back, looking around the little ice cream shop. The couple who had leased it had been smart, it was near the park and they made a killing in sales. “I wish Ralph had been willing to do this but he wasn't, she sighed.
“What this?” she asked, waving to indicate their hookey time.
“No, well, yes, but no, in this case I meant the business,” Alice replied. “We got such a great deal on our leases that well...” she shrugged.
Mairi's pert nose wrinkled. “Leases?”
Alice nodded, poking at her banana split. She cut off a bite and then pause. “Yes, since we were some of the first people from Kiev to make the jump we got in on the deals the station offered. Life time leases for our apartment and the bar for rock bottom prices. It's all locked in too, they can't raise it.” She grinned. “Though we've had a few paper pushers in the leasing office who tried to get around it.”
“Wow! I wish I'd gotten that kind of deal,” Mairi replied.
“Yeah, and we've got working food replicators in the back of the bar and at our apartment. One of the perks of being one of the first restaurants,” Alice replied and then took a bite of her melting ice cream. “Um, so good,” she mumbled with her mouth full.
Mairi snorted. “Now I'm jealous. How'd you wrangle that? We had what? Two working food replicators in all of Senka?”
Alice swallowed and shrugged. “Like I said, when we first started we were the first restaurant. Though we never set out for that. Ralph still prefers bar over restaurant, I can't blame him.”
“Okay,” Mairi replied, poking at her frozen confection. “So, since there wasn't anyone else you got the first customers?”
“Exactly!” Alice replied with a grin. “And they gave all of us settlers a bonus for settling and all the work we did to sort the station out without getting paid. The admiral and the Warners pushed for that.”
“Oh,” Mairi sighed. “I wish I'd gotten in on that. Seems like a sweet deal,” she said. She pushed the ice cream away, the sugar was too much.
Alice smiled. “Well, she took her spoon and took a sample of Mairi's strawberry confection. Mairi opened her mouth to object but then shrugged it off. After all, Alice had treated. “Well, Ralph wanted, oh this is sweet! Tooth rottening in such a good way,” Alice said and then swallowed, savoring the flavor. “Ralph, um,” she stopped to pat her chest for a moment. “Sorry,” she said weakly. “It must have gone down the wrong track.” she turned away and took a deep breath. After a moment she collected herself and set her spoon down. “Where was I?”
“Bragging about getting in the door?” Mairi asked, eyebrow raised.
“Oh it wasn't all fun and games believe me!” Alice said shaking her head. “This place really was a ghost station. Derelict, or almost. Roving gangs, Dilgarth, an insane AI, no power, everything falling apart... scary.”
Mairi's imagination picked up on each of those items and she shivered. “Yeah,” she said quietly. The name Dilgarth spooked just about everyone. But an insane AI?
“The admiral's AI took care of the insane one, or so I heard. But this was a pretty bleak place. The Cybers were at ends, they didn't know what to do. The admiral sort of took charge, cajoled everyone into working together after he nearly tore the place apart. And now...” she turned to indicate the park around them.
Mairi looked, feeling the artificial breeze on her face. Nearby she could hear the muted cheering of people watching a bunch of kids play some sort of game with a white and black ball on a field. Further away more people were sitting on blankets under trees talking and eating or playing. “Yeah, nice,” she said.
“It is,” Alice said nodding.
“So, you had all that money?” Mairi asked. “Have I mean. You're rich?”
Alice snorted and then laughed. “I was trying to say Ralph wanted to open a chain of bars but there wasn't enough population and other restaurants were opening up. Besides, he didn't want to have to be bouncing around from one to another, he wanted to settle down. So, we had this money, plus the income from the bar. Clio did our taxes for us, and she suggested we invest the money. We were trying to think of what to do when Savo and Howie got into an argument in the bar. Ralph was ready to break their heads until he realized it wasn't a fight, just an argument. They weren't even arguing with each other, just venting. Which with a chimp is something else,” Alice said shivering.
“I've seen Savo in a mood,” Mairi agreed. Alice nodded. “So Ralph got interested?”
“Yeah. Savo is an old friend from the Kiev. He told them he and Howie and the others were trying to figure out the Yard that the admiral had dropped in their laps. The Warners were go
ing forward with it and had approached them to join.”
“Oh.”
“They were arguing about the name too,” Alice snorted. “The chimps didn't like being called dogs,” she laughed.
“I never understood that. Not that it matters,” Mairi replied.
“Well,” Alice said, picking her spoon up for a second onslaught on the melting confections. “As they explained it to me, a person who works in a shipyard is called a Yard Dog. Hence the name.”
“Oh.”
“Well, they were going for Antiguan space shipyard, but I guess the acronym didn't go over well,” Alice said, grinning slyly to the girl. Mairi laughed. She picked up her own spoon still chuckling. “Come on, let's eat the evidence here and then go check in all smug while Ralph bitches and whines,” Alice said.
“You're on,” Mairi replied, chuckling again.
...*...*...*...*...
Savo sat down with Clio the next day just after he got off shift. He was hesitant, but finally he broached the tender subject with her. It wasn't like he was gossiping, not really, he was actually discussing a sensitive subject and the health and welfare of their prized employee with another board member. Or so he told himself as he laid the situation out to the AI.
“I noticed the Jersey account is wiped out,” Clio said when he finished. She adjusted her virtual toga on the screen. He didn't know why she clung to her roman look. The muses did, but some of the others had outfits that blended the toga with business suits and pencil skirts. Come to think of it, at least the toga was consistent. He had to admire her for that, for keeping to her roots despite everything going on around her.
Savo's brown eyes glittered as he turned to the AI avatar. “You checked? Isn't that illegal or something?”
“Yes and no, since I'm on the board that owns the bank they are using...” she shrugged.
“Nice.”
“No, not really, and yes I believe I shouldn't go into details so I won't. But what do we do about this? This situation I mean. Her rent is due and if they miss the payment...”
“It's not like there aren't other places to rent,” Savo growled.
“Yes but we need them. Need them viable. Or at least Mairi. Her mother we could do without.”
Savo grunted, tapping his fingers here and there on the table absently. He was restless. After a moment he finally grunted again and then nodded. “Yes. I know. And yeah, I agree, we need Mairi, Ogla we could do without. And yeah, I know, we need them. We don't need them out on the street or sleeping in the slip. Just imagine what Kennet would do with the fine for that.”
Clio winced. Kennet was the council's eyes on the Yard Dogs. Or at least he was one of them, she hadn't found the others. Every time she checked they vanished and did a damn good job of covering their tracks. She was having difficulty cutting off remote access to the slips and work spaces of the company. She was seriously considering a lawsuit for breach of ethics and breach of privacy.
“Do you have a suggestion to solve this? You seem to have a bond with the girl,” Clio said.
“No,” Savo said, drawing circles on the mahogany table top with his index finger. “No I don't. I'd stay out of it but we need her safe and healthy. Can you front the money? I'll pay for it out of pocket. I don't like doing it, it's just enabling Olga, but the kid deserves better than what she's getting now.”
“True,” Clio replied. She didn't fully understand familial bonds organics apparently needed but did understand that they were important. Breaking them was hard and caused significant emotional distress and possible long term trauma. The company didn't need that. Not at this delicate junction.
“I can front the money to Billy Bob and have him keep it on the down low. If and when they make it up he'll pay me back. I take it you don't want Olga to know?”
“No.”
“So some sort of penalty is in order?”
Savo sighed. He hated soaking the kid, she had enough to worry about. But if soaking drove more of a wedge between her and her mother... “Yeah.”
“I'll come up with something. Maybe have Olga work it off cleaning or something if they offer.”
“I'd give Mairi a bonus for all the overtime but we don't have it in the budget now.”
Clio cocked her head, looking thoughtful for a long moment. Savo snorted and her frozen image re-animated. “Oh? Sorry, distracted with other tasks. Yes, a bonus is a good idea, though yes not in the budget. We can make one retroactive. I'm talking with Billy, I'll see if I can get him to give them a rake off on the rent. He just rented ten similar suites at 21% less than what he is charging them. And he gave one couple free one month's rent.”
“A year lease?” Savo asked. He had a long term lease now, one that prevented anyone from jerking the rent up.
“Good idea. I'll inquire about it. Thanks,” Clio said in way of dismissal.
“Thanks yourself. I hope it works,” Savo said getting up. “I gotta go get some face time in with the family. Take care Clio.”
“You too Savo.”
...*...*...*...*...
“Mairi!” Freeze said just as Mairi came into her berth. She blinked, there was a second tug there as well as one of the Veraxin space hands. She frowned and sauntered over. The shiny new tug was bigger than the Bitch, twice as large easily. She had all the usual signs of an automated tug... grippers, massive engines, shields, sensor balls all over the hull... except for the cockpit ball on the front. The cockpit glass glittered like multifaceted eyes. The thing looked like a beetle she'd heard about. A big pest.
“What's up?” she asked.
“I think you've met Yuri before,” Freeze said, nodding to the Veraxin. The Veraxin was in her suit, with her true arms showing third level embarrassment.
“Yeah, hey Yuri. Am I taking you out today? I thought it was Olaf's shift?” Mairi asked.
“No, we are changing it up a bit this shift and off and on for the next several. You see what we've got here?” Freeze asked, indicating the tug parked next to the Bitch.
“Yeah,” Mairi said, glancing at it. This wasn't what she thought it was, was it?
“Well, as it happens Yuri here is a pilot. At least on Antigua.”
“I flew aircraft. Biplanes and monoplanes. But I've always had an interest in space,” the Veraxin chittered.
“Huh,” Mairi grunted.
“So, what we'd like you to do is train Yuri here. She needs to pass her piloting license but she has her permit. Apparently she did that on her own, which,” Freeze nodded to the Veraxin. “Show's her initiative and commitment I think. But since it's a permit a licensed pilot has to teach her. That's where you come in,” he said, indicating Mairi in her flight suit.
“I can't babysit her!” Mairi replied, now disgusted. There wasn't enough room in that tiny cockpit!
“Who said anything like that?” Freeze asked, arms crossed. She could tell from the way he was looking at her that there wasn't much room for argument here. She scowled. “What you are going to do is check her out on the tugs. She can't be in space in them, but she can run them virtually around the yard. That's what we're going to do for a while. Then when we finish the tandem tug the two of you can go out for some larger loads and check flights. When you,” he turned to indicate Mairi. “As senior pilot feel she's ready, you will sign off on her taking her practical exam. If she passes she can fly solo.”
“Okay,” Mairi replied, somewhat mollified.
“Thank you for giving me this chance. I have always loved to fly. This... paperwork issue is frustrating,” Yuri said directly to Mairi. The Veraxin's true hands shifted into first level thank you and honor debt.
“No problem,” Mairi replied, trying hard not to grit her teeth. “You know it's not all fun and games right? Most of it is milk runs between the station and the yard, running crew and cargo back and forth. Rock hunting is even worse.”
“I still thank you for the opportunity to try,” the Veraxin replied.
“Sure,” Mairi said, now a little
off balance and uncomfortable. “Never say I didn't do my part to thwart the idiot paper pushers,” she grunted. “Go do a preflight on the new tug. I'll come along to check on you in a minute,” she said.
“Thank you,” the Veraxin said again before bowing and skittering backwards on all four legs. The young woman watched the centaur alien easily climb the side of the tug and enter the cockpit.
“She's good,” Freeze said.
“If you think so,” Mairi replied, a little hurt that she wasn't the center of attention anymore. Or soon wouldn't be.
“Look Mairi, we need this. We need to continue to grow as a company. And quite frankly, you need a break kid. Having someone spell you so you can have a day or two off would be nice.”
“True,” Mairi replied and then sighed. “Fine.”
“Clio's sent you the paperwork. You can go over it later.”
“Paperwork?” the girl asked, now disgusted. Freeze chuckled, shaking his head as he left. Mairi swore softly.
...*...*...*...*...
Mairi talked with Harif about having to train Yuri, and the situation with her mother at their next date. She resented both. “I don't understand what they want from me! I mean, I thought I was doing fine! Now I'm getting flack both at home and from my mother!” she growled, throwing her hands up in the air. Her mother had been pushing for more credits. That was too bad, if she wanted more she'd have to get a regular job. Mairi had tried to get her to do work at Ralph's but Alice had seemed a bit put out by the idea, and besides her mother had nixed it as below her. So much for that idea, she'd thought.
Harif was supportive, he listened to her or at least seemed to do so but he didn't offer any advice either way. For some reason he was strangely distant to her and brusque. When he left she was confused and hurt.
...*...*...*...*...
Howie, Shari, Freeze, Sparks, and the others still working for the station put in for their accumulated time off. Joe tried to tell them it was a bad time but Sparks just shrugged it off. “So was that last pay cut boss. We're making the yard.”
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