"You're a lot older than you look, Mr. Hoffen," she said. "We'll arrange a delegation and be over in short order."
In person, Rear Admiral Lorraine Tullas was taller than I'd expected. Something about Commander Sterra's diminutive size had me believing all female officers were small.
"Welcome to the Descartes Co-Op, Admiral," I said.
She'd arrived with three other officers and a single Marine that stayed by her side.
"Mr. Hoffen, it is good to meet you in person," she said, shaking my hand and then introducing herself to each of the Loose Nuts crew. She had a little something personal to say to each of us, just to let us know she had done her research. I wasn't sure if I should be concerned or flattered.
As expected, her presence was well received and she worked the crowd like a professional. You probably didn't get to her level without having a strong basic charisma. After a couple of hours, she finally broke free and found where Tabby, Nick, Marny and I were resting. We hadn't seen Ada for a while and I supposed she had found Selig.
I stood up to greet her. "Thank you for doing that, Admiral. You've no doubt made quite an impression here today," I said.
"As is always the case, I'm richer for the experience," she said. "Would you be available to meet with me onboard my ship?"
"Fist of Justice?" I asked.
"That's right," she said.
"Kind of an intense moniker," I said.
"We're the enforcement arm of Belirand Security. Most of the time, you don't want to see the Fist showing up," she said.
I looked at her, stopping before entering the airlock. "Do we have a problem?"
She laughed. "Oh heavens no," she said and continued out of the airlock.
A shuttle was waiting for us just outside of the warehouse to take us to her cruiser. Like everything Belirand, the ship was spotless and beautifully appointed.
"Captain, the reason I invited you and your crew to meet with us was to formally communicate Belirand's deep-felt appreciation for your part in uncovering the corruption that was at the heart of Tipperary's Terminal Seven project," she said.
"First, these fine people are my partners, not my crew. Second, you're welcome, but you didn't need to call us over to your ship for that," I said. "Would you mind telling us what happened to the Emre brothers?"
"We haven't found them yet, but rest assured, we will. I've posted a ten million credit bounty on each of them. We'll find them within the month," she said.
"How about Oberrhein and Kiirilov?" Nick asked.
"That's a little harder," she said. "Kiirilov is in Nuage custody, so we'll have to go through an extradition process. As for Oberrhein, there's not much we can do, other than to disallow their ships through the gates. We're not about to start a war with a nation that doesn't have any remaining warships."
"What about the Karelia?" Tabby asked.
"Admiral Marsh has generously agreed to turn the Karelia over to Belirand, so that we might investigate further," she said.
"That sounds fair," Nick said. "How about Terminal Seven. Is it safe to deliver ore and are you honoring the original terms of the contract?
"We've deployed one of our three fleets to Terminal Seven. It is probably the second safest location in Tipperary," she said.
"Descartes being the first?" Tabby asked with a grin.
"As perceptive as I was led to believe, Ms. Masters," she said. "There are two other matters I'd like to discuss with you. From the data-streams we received from Nuage, we understand that the Loose Nuts Corporation was substantially damaged financially. We always pay our debts and I'd like to know what you would feel is fair."
"The freighter we lost was worth seven hundred fifty thousand credits," Nick said. "We're not looking for recompense. The fact that you've set things right for that crew on Cape of Good Hope is the payment we've been hoping for."
I nodded my head in agreement. It was a sacrifice to leave the credits on the table, but it felt like it would sully the dead crew's memory if we took money at this point.
"Are you certain there's not something we can do?" Admiral Tullas asked.
"You could waive our fees when Loose Nuts uses the gates," Tabby said.
"Done," Tullas agreed.
"You said there was a second thing?" I asked.
"One of our scientists, a resident of Curie, has requested a chance to speak with you and your partners. He has a proposition he'd like to discuss with you," she said.
"Who?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she said.
"Tell us about it."
But of course, that's another story entirely
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Diane Greenwood Muir for excellence in editing and fine word-smithery. My wife, Janet, for carefully and kindly pointing out my poor grammatical habits. I cannot imagine working through these projects without you both.
To my beta readers: Carol Greenwood, Kelli Whyte, Robert Long, Jeff Rothermel and Nancy Higgins Quist for wonderful and thoughtful suggestions. It is a joy to work with this wonderful group of people.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jamie McFarlane is happily married, the father of three and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. He spends his days engaged in a hi-tech career and his nights and weekends writing works of fiction. He's also the author of:
Privateer Tales
Rookie Privateer
Fool Me Once
Parley
Big Pete
Smuggler's Dilemma
Cutpurse
Out of the Tank
Buccaneers
Guardians of Gaeland
Lesser Prince
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CONTACT JAMIE
Blog and Website: fickledragon.com
Facebook: facebook.com/jamiemcfarlaneauthor
Twitter: twitter.com/mcfarlaneauthor
Buccaneers (Privateer Tales Book 8) Page 35