Sameena nodded, feeling a hint of nervousness. Present-giving wasn't a strong tradition on Jannah, where it was customary to give children – particularly boys – religious texts for their birthdays and then quiz them mercilessly about them for months afterwards. She’d thought long and hard over what to buy for the girl she had come to think of as her younger sister, but she honestly wasn't sure about her choice. In the end, she’d purchased a dress from Madagascar with a little help from Jayne.
“It’s lovely,” Regina said, when she unfurled the dress. It was sky-blue, matching her eyes and setting off her blonde hair nicely. “Thank you!”
Sameena watched as Regina pulled the dress over her shipsuit and spun around, showing off the skirt. It was considerably more modest than anything Jayne had suggested; Sameena had balked at the thought of giving a ten-year-old girl anything revealing, no matter what culture she had come from. But it also looked nice. The storekeeper had included, at Sameena’s request, some material and tools to extend the dress if necessary. At least she knew how to sew. Neither Ethne nor Jayne possessed that particular skill.
She grunted as Regina gave her a tight hug. The girl was stronger than she looked – the result of genetic engineering, Jayne had told her – and seemed to be unaware of it, although she did spend most of her time wrestling with her brother or Jayne. The doctor had promised Sameena her own classes on self-defence, something that had definitely not been a possibility on Jannah. No doubt they hadn't wanted women – or men – defending themselves.
“You’re welcome,” she murmured, as the girl let go of her. “And I hope you have many more birthdays to come.”
Paddy tapped the table, summoning Regina, Richard and Jayne to sit down, while everyone else gathered behind them. Once they were seated, he started to hand out small cakes in plastic containers, one of which bore Sameena’s name. There was a small amount of alcohol in some of the cakes, Sameena had been told, but he’d picked one for her that didn't include alcohol or anything else forbidden in the recipe. Paddy, it seemed, was nicer than he wanted to let on.
“Eat up,” Paddy urged. He grinned, as if he was enjoying a private joke. “And don’t forget to do your teeth afterwards.”
Sameena realised what he meant the moment she bit into the cake. It was astonishingly sweet, tasting sweeter than the sugar drops she’d eaten as a child. The icing – bright green – seemed to be nothing, but sugar. Thankfully, the cake itself was rather bland. She ended up leaving half of the icing behind. Richard promptly asked her if he could have it.
“Now that we have had our celebration,” Captain Hamilton said, “it’s time to get back to work. We arrive in two hours, remember?”
“I’ll clean up here,” Paddy said, scooping up the discarded containers. He looked over at Sameena. “You should be on the bridge for when we arrive.”
“Good idea,” Brad agreed. He gave Sameena a sidelong glance. “Did you ever work out when it was your birthday?”
“Four months, more or less,” Sameena said. “I think, at least.”
She had needed the computer to help calculate her age, if only because Jannah’s years were longer than the Imperial Standard Year used by the Empire. It struck her as odd to realise that she was effectively an adult by the Empire’s standards, although being an adult woman on Jannah wasn’t that different from being a child.
“It’s always tricky to be sure,” Brad said. He shrugged as he led the way out of the galley and up towards the bridge. “Most spacers just go by the Imperial Standard Year, but it does cause problems. People have been arrested because someone failed to take different years into account.”
Sameena nodded. She’d run across case studies while doing her reading for interstellar law, some complex and some so absurd she was at a loss to understand how they could ever have happened. A child could be considered sixteen years old on one planet and thirteen the next; one planet’s legal age of consent was five, which had shocked her until she realised that five years on that planet were effectively comparable to nineteen standard years. Such problems cropped up regularly and, as Ethne had noted sardonically, made a lot of money for lawyers.
The bridge was deserted when they arrived, the automated systems monitoring their passage through Phase Space. Captain Hamilton had impressed upon Sameena – and the rest of his crew – that the bridge was never to be left unattended while they were in normal space, but nothing could threaten them in FTL. In fact, it was hellishly difficult to track a ship through Phase Space, let alone attack it. Brad sat down in front of the helm and checked it, briefly, before looking up at her. His face was faintly red.
“You look very good in that dress,” he stammered. “It suits you.”
“Thank you,” Sameena said, flushing. She’d worn the green dress, which set her skin and hair off nicely. It felt odd to wear the shipsuit underneath, as if it was a piece of oversized underwear, but there was no choice. “I’m glad you like it.”
Brad seemed tongue-tied afterwards, so much so that it was a relief when Captain Hamilton and Ethne came onto the bridge as the timer ticked down towards zero. A faint shudder ran through Logan as she returned to normal space, the stars flickering back into existence on the viewscreens. Sameena wondered, absently, how many of the stories of ships trapped forever in Phase Space were actually true. Ethne had pointed out that a trapped ship would never be able to get home to report, but the stories were still creepy. Richard seemed to enjoy hearing them from Paddy before he went to bed.
“Welcome to Sungai Buloh,” Captain Hamilton said. “Brad; check with our escort, then take us into the inner system.”
Sameena picked up the terminal and started to read through the files on Sungai Buloh, as Brad had suggested. The planetary system should have been well-placed for an economic boom – there was a large asteroid field and a pair of gas giants for fuel – yet the settlers had fallen into a prolonged civil war a bare two hundred years after settlement. It was difficult to reconcile the disparate versions of history stored in the database, but it seemed that the founding corporation had provoked an uprising, which had become civil war after the corporation cut its losses and retreated. Just to make matters more complicated, it seemed, there were a number of semi-legal settlements throughout the system. The Empire had landed a garrison in the hopes of dampening down the violence and preventing the system being used by pirates, smugglers and insurgents, but the reports suggested that they weren't having much success.
She frowned as the freighter and her escort made their way further into the system, studying the displays. There was a surprising amount of traffic moving through the system despite the civil war – or perhaps because of it. Technically, the entire star system belonged to the planet’s government, but as the planet’s government couldn't enforce its authority anyone could move in and start settling or mining for themselves. It was going to be a nightmare when the civil war finally burned itself out and the government started trying to assert itself outside the gravity well.
Good thing Jannah’s founders picked such a worthless system, she thought, ruefully. What would have happened to us if they had landed on prime real estate?
“They want us to dock at Orbit One,” Brad said, shortly. “Apparently, the Imperial Navy just took the whole place over, once they arrived in the system.”
“Probably for the best,” Captain Hamilton said. “Steer us towards the station.”
“Maybe,” Ethne said, doubtfully. “They may also wish to search the ship.”
Sameena had never seen a life-bearing world from orbit before, not even Jannah. Sungai Buloh was a green and blue orb, hanging against the darkness of space, seemingly completely untouched by humanity. God had worked wonders in creating the universe, she realised, and yet few people on Jannah would ever see the results of His handiwork. Nothing human, not even the terraformed worlds like Mars, could match up to a natural planet.
Orbit One seemed cruder than Madagascar, she decided, as Brad slowly brought them into
dock. It was a blocky structure, studded with sensor blisters, docking ports and open-space warehouses. A dozen heavy-lift shuttles were making their way to and from the planet below, transporting goods from orbit to the surface. Three Imperial Navy starships orbited near the station, watchfully. One of them was dropping projectiles on the planet below.
“KEWs – Kinetic Energy Weapons,” Brad commented. “There’s never any shortage of rocks in an inhabited star system.”
There was a dull thud as the ship docked with the station. “We have arrived,” Brad said. He looked down at his console. “The Imperial Navy is sending crewmen to help off-load the supplies. Apparently, we’re welcome on Orbit One, but they advise us not to try going down to the planet.”
“Quite right of them,” Ethne agreed. She looked over at her husband. “Sameena and I will go onto the station and look for our contact. Can you see to the unloading?”
Captain Hamilton nodded. “Just remember to share the proceeds,” he said. He shared a long smile with his wife. “And see if you can pick up on any other contracts here.”
“Doubt it,” Ethne said. “This place has little to offer the universe.”
Orbit One’s designers and operators seemed to agree, Sameena decided, as they stepped through the airlock and into the giant structure. Madagascar was a whole settlement in its own right; Orbit One seemed nothing more than a giant orbiting warehouse, with a handful of shops and other facilities tacked on as an afterthought. Apart from the Imperial Navy personnel, there was hardly anyone on the station. The single store for spacers contained nothing, but overpriced junk.
“That isn't too surprising,” Ethne said, when Sameena pointed it out. “This system doesn't go out of its way to attract visitors.”
“You’d think they could offer fresh food,” Sameena objected. “Even if they don’t offer anything else ...”
“They do,” Ethne said, darkly. She nodded towards a hatch that was decorated with an image of a naked woman. “They offer sex.”
Sameena stared at her. “Why ...?”
“War causes refugees to flee their homes,” Ethne said. “Many of them have nowhere else to go, so they become prostitutes. The ones here are actually lucky, in many ways; they may be working as sex slaves, but they’re not actually in danger of sudden death.”
Sameena shuddered, but said nothing.
Ethne found a data terminal and typed in a name, hunting for their contact. “Got him,” she said, after a moment. “He’s currently stationed on one of the gunboats.”
“One of the ships,” Sameena said. “How are we going to get to him?”
“We message him and ask for a meeting,” Ethne said, dryly. She typed in the message and then scowled. “No integrated system here. We’ll have to wait for a reply.”
It was twenty minutes before a reply arrived, requesting a meeting in two hours. Sameena wanted to go back to the ship, but Ethne insisted on taking a look around the station so she could memorise the layout. Orbit One was a standard design for a newly-settled colony world, she explained, and knowing one would give her a working knowledge of the others. If Sungai Buloh had developed normally, she added, the station would probably have been replaced by now.
Sameena had to admit that it was a fascinating tour, particularly when Ethne talked the crew into allowing them to see the command centre, which was a fancy name for a compartment only twice the size of Logan’s bridge. Sungai Buloh just didn't have enough interstellar traffic to rate a larger station. Even so, it was a relief when they finally returned to the meeting place. Some of the looks the crewmen had been shooting at her suggested that they’d been mentally undressing her.
Their contact proved to be a middle-aged man wearing a white duty uniform, with gold stripes that proclaimed him to be a Commander. He looked almost fatherly; Sameena couldn't help wondering if he was deliberately trying to be a father to his men. But then, Imperial Navy crewmen would be even more isolated from their families than trader crews.
“Thank you for coming,” he said. His voice was so calm that it was hard to imagine anything flustering him. “Do you have the datachip?”
Ethne smiled. “Do you have some ID?”
The Commander reached into his pocket and produced a wallet, then held up an Imperial Navy ID card. Ethne took it, pressed it against the reader in her datapad, then nodded grudgingly and handed it back to him.
“Commander Sebastian Viol,” she said. She produced the box and passed it to him. “And we need the other half of the fee.”
“One moment,” the Commander said. He opened the box with his thumbprint, then checked the datachip in his reader. A line of text scrolled up in front of his eyes. “It seems to have been left untouched.”
“We live to serve,” Ethne said, tartly.
“We cannot be too careful,” Viol admitted. He produced a credit coin and passed it over to Ethne, who took it and checked the amount. “When will you be leaving the system?”
“Four days, unless we find another contract,” Ethne said. “Do you know of any possibilities?”
“I will have to send a reply back,” Viol said. “There are, I believe, several groups that wish to leave the planet permanently. They will be offering cash to any freighter willing to take them out of the system.”
Ethne lifted an eyebrow. “And where do they want to go afterwards?”
“I don't think they care about that,” Viol admitted. He smiled, rather humourlessly. “I shall meet with you again in two days, same time and place. I’ll give you the reply then.”
“And the advance on the fee,” Ethne added. “If we don’t find a contract here, we’re going directly back to Madagascar.”
“I’ll see what I can forward in your direction,” Viol promised. He stood up. “Thank you for your time.”
Sameena watched him go, then looked over at Ethne.
“That man is deeply worried about something,” Ethne said, softly. “And they’re paying far too much for courier duty.”
She stood up and led the way back to the ship. Sameena followed her, mulling it over in her mind. What did it all mean?
Chapter Twelve
However, the money itself rested upon items of almost universal value. Salt, as noted above, was immensely valuable in some primitive societies. It could serve as a symbol of wealth, although as people did tend to find uses for salt, it was hardly a stable material. Later, precious metals became the first coins of the region. Gold, for example, was almost worthless as anything, but money.
- Professor Leo Caesius. The Science That Isn’t: Economics and the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire.
“I found us a potential contract,” Ethne said, two days later. “It may not be quite what we want, however.”
“Beggars can't be choosers,” Paddy pointed out. “Where do they want us to go? Han?”
Sameena looked around the galley, trying to judge their reactions. Captain Hamilton looked impassive; Steve and James seemed completely disinterested. Brad and Jayne, on the other hand, seemed rather more interested than Sameena would have expected. But then, Brad was planning to obtain a freighter for himself once he built up the funds for the first investment.
“Anywhere,” Ethne said, softly. “There are five families who want to escape their homeworld. I told them that we would be going to Madagascar and they jumped at the chance.”
“Sounds odd,” Brad commented. “Where are they going to go after Madagascar?”
“They have money to book transport onwards, it seems,” Ethne said. “All they really want to do is get to a system with regular interstellar travel. Madagascar would fit the bill nicely, with the added benefit of being where we want to go, so we can collect more money from the Imperial Navy.”
Steve scowled. “Five families,” he repeated. “How many people are included?”
“Twenty-seven, fifteen of whom are young children,” Ethne explained. “They have basic medical certificates from their homeworld, nothing from the Empire. There’s
no reason why they would be denied entry to Madagascar.”
“Not if they have money,” Paddy growled. “Do they really have enough credits to survive?”
“They’ve been trading with off-world traders,” Ethne said. “From what their representative said, their lives have been threatened and they just want to take their kids and run. Quite understandable, if you ask me.”
Sameena nodded in agreement. She could understand people wanting to leave their homeworld, even if it was where they had grown up. Besides, nothing she’d read about the world below had suggested that it might be a decent place to live. The civil war had been going on for far too long, despite the best efforts of the peacekeepers.
Steve scowled. “We will need to redline the life support systems,” he warned. “Assuming that we bed them down in the hold, we’re still going to have problems. I assume we can't take the kids first and everyone else afterwards?”
Ethne gave her son a dark look. “You would assume responsibility for their safety on Madagascar?”
“Dumbass,” Paddy agreed. He looked over at Captain Hamilton. “Permission to punch him, sir?”
“If we are to take all of them, we will need to install additional life support systems,” Steve said, sharply. “The cold equations do not bend. As you should damn well know, jarhead.”
Sameena shivered. Steve had ordered her to read the short story – apparently, it dated all the way back to the pre-space era – and explained afterwards that the universe didn't change its laws for anything, not even sentimentality. He’d then pointed out, once again, just how lucky Sameena had been to survive her first trip into space ... and how the next mistake could easily kill her.
Captain Hamilton tapped the bulkhead, loudly enough to silence both of them. “Do we have an expenses account as part of the contract?”
“Not a big one,” Ethne said. “But we can always resell life support technology on Madagascar, if we manage to obtain Imperial Navy-grade equipment.”
The Empire's Corps: Book 05 - The Outcast Page 11