"You know anything about that, Jonathan?" I asked.
"Bard Sanderson is indeed the son of a wealthy industrialist. There is little public information about Freedom Station, other than it does not respect Ordwall conventions and is therefore banned as a public trading hub," Jonathan answered.
"How many cannons are we looking at?" I asked.
"Enough to take down a frigate," Ada quipped.
"Aye, Ada, and I doubt we're seeing them all," Marny agreed. "Most defensive installations like this have cannons that are dark until there’s a need, making them impossible to target. We'll want to play nice here."
Just then Tabby and Nick entered the bridge. I caught Tabby's eye. It was hard to let her fight without me and when she returned, that point was driven home. The look of spent exhilaration in her face was enough for me to realize that there would be no getting around her desire to do just that.
"Nice job on that cutter. You had all of us fooled," I said as I met her at the door and pulled her in. I didn't care who was watching. I'd had to deal with her getting shot at, so they could deal with this. My hands lingered on her hips as I looked into her face. She was alive with excitement.
"Nick's idea. He knew you'd be looking to give us cover and Justice Bringer would be playing hunt-the-wumpus," she said and then whispered in my ear. "I want to do bad things to you."
"Liam, incoming hail from Alcântara," Ada interrupted.
I grinned at Tabby and turned away. I hated the idea of losing whatever she had in mind, but we were on a mission. Knowing her, it was a good bet she wouldn’t lose too much of it.
"On forward screen." I was starting to appreciate the forward bulkhead's large bank of integrated vid-screens. The workstations were set lower into the deck, giving us all a great view of whomever we were talking with. In this case, Admiral Penna reappeared in his impeccably tailored uniform. The bridge of the Alcântara looked identical to that of Strumpet, giving me some idea as to its manufacturer. Judging from the interior, it was older, but still well maintained.
"Greetings Captain Hoffen. Lieutenant Fuentes communicated your desire to trade with Freedom Station. Is this your intent?" he asked.
"Yes, Admiral. We're transmitting those details now." I nodded to Jonathan. We all watched as Penna reviewed the order we had.
"Seems like a lot of tension for livestock," he finally summarized.
I chuckled. "Admiral, I believe you may have a knack for understatement."
"You are welcome to proceed to the station. Would you like to assign the salvage claim of your two wrecks?"
"One moment, please?" I asked. Mute.
"Jonathan?"
"Freedom Station's governmental process is self-described as pro-liberty. It is somewhere between the extremes of anarchy and socialism," Jonathan stated.
"You can't get much further apart than that," Nick replied.
"Respectfully, we disagree," Jonathan said. "They are not exclusive concepts, rather they are orthogonal ideas. In this case, socialism is only applied to basic needs: housing, food, air, water, medicine and defense. A person has the right to defend themselves, but if obviously attacked, the government might step in. It seems poorly defined as presented in publicly available information."
"Information overload. I need to answer Penna's question. What’s he asking?"
"Belirand attacked us," Nick interjected. "According to their laws, we own those wrecks and they have value. He's asking if we want to assign them to someone to be salvaged. He's helping us."
Unmute. "Thank you, Admiral Penna. We would like to assign those wrecks. Do you have a recommendation?"
"I do." Penna looked to his side. "Wilmarie, tell Scooter Beers he has the wrecks."
"Aye, aye, Admiral," Lieutenant Fuentes replied, her face appearing on the forward vid-screen. "We've also cleared docking twelve for Intrepid. With your permission, I'll transmit a navigation plan now."
"As efficient as you are deadly, my dear. Please do," Penna replied. "Captain Hoffen, as for the matter of straying into our controlled space without invitation, I am dismissing this as an unavoidable. It is our belief that any entity must be given the latitude to defend themselves. Clearly, you were not the aggressor here, as Belirand arrived well in advance, lying in wait for your arrival."
"Your generosity is appreciated, Admiral," I responded. "Hopefully, I'll have a chance to buy you a drink on station."
"Perhaps," he replied and terminated comm. A moment later, with his light frigate Alcântara in the lead, Marco Pontes on its wing, and the rest of the Freedom Station fleet forming up quickly behind, they snappily sailed away. I smiled. They were obviously a proud lot.
"We have a course, Liam," Ada prompted.
"Ahead, slow. We don't need to give anyone the jitters," I said.
"Aren't we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" Tabby asked.
"Which one?" I asked.
She rolled her eyes. "How'd Belirand know we were coming here? Someone aboard this ship told 'em."
I sighed. She was right and I was trying to ignore it.
"That seems like the most obvious answer," Nick agreed. "Jonathan and I are looking into it. There will be telltales if it came from the ship."
"My money is on Xie Mie-su," Tabby said.
"That would be a neat trick," I said. "She was in the med-tank up until a few hours ago."
"Look at that," Ada interrupted and flung Intrepid's forward view onto the forward and top vid-screens. The screen resolution was so high it appeared as if she'd opened up our view directly to space.
Involuntarily, I gasped. Freedom Station wasn't at all what I'd expected. In my mind's eye, I'd pictured a boxy, metallic structure like Baru Manush Station or possibly a watermelon shaped asteroid- turned-station, like Colony-40. But Freedom Station couldn't be compared to either of those. In front of us lay a kilometer wide, ten-kilometer-long strip of farm land. The strip was bent in an arc with bright lights that shone down from strategic locations. Beneath the land was a combination of asteroids, steel girders and finished space station. Bard Sanderson had dropped an oasis into the desert of space and it was of a magnitude I had difficulty coming to grips with.
"Is that thing moving?" I asked. It appeared to be rotating around an unseen fulcrum.
Nick tossed a diagram to my HUD and understanding of the magnitude of the station struck me. The strip was only half of the station. The other half, a more standard looking station, sat opposite, attached by cross members and an elevator system that transported residents between the two sides.
"They're using rotation for gravity," Nick said. "It's very efficient."
"And they've enclosed the farm side in armored glass?" I could see it was the case, I was just having difficulty believing it.
"If you have manpower and access to the machinery, it’s not unreasonable." Nick defended the idea. "I'm sure it's segmented to protect against asteroid strikes. With all those cannons, nothing very big is getting through."
"Our docking instructions put us dead center between the two big pieces of the station," Ada said. "According to my instructions, it’s called The Collet. Otherwise, its Dirt Side and Star Side."
I shook my head in acknowledgement. "Nick, can you reach out to Scooter Beers and find out when he'll have a value on the wrecks? We'll need local currency for repairs and crew shore leave," I said.
"On it," Nick said.
"Marny, would you and Ada work out bridge watch and shore leave? We won't know when we're leaving until we know if someone here can affect repairs and we can afford them," I said. "Ada, you have the bridge. Ping me when we're docked."
"Roger that, Liam," she replied.
"Tabby, you're with me," I said.
"Oooh, where are we going?" Tabby asked suggestively as we stepped from the bridge. For a moment, my mind jumped to where hers already was, but I wasn't really in for a five-minute event. I would prefer to enjoy more time together. I didn't answer her, but led her forward to the Civ
ilian Bunker, which had been locked down shortly after hostilities had started.
I palmed open the door to the room. Beth Anne and Xie looked up expectantly. "We're on approach to Freedom Station. I've restored your communications if you'd like to make final arrangements for arrival. Beth Anne, I believe you were going to introduce us to the livestock handler?"
"Were those Belirand ships?" Xie interrupted.
"Right, like you don't know," Tabby spat.
"Having Belirand follow us to Freedom Station would provide me with no benefit," Xie said smoothly. "Not to mention, I was attempting to repair the ship we were sailing when I was injured."
"Who knows why you do anything," Tabby said.
Xie nodded. "An understandable suspicion. In this case, I recommend casting a wider net."
Beth Anne stepped forward, clearly annoyed by the exchange. "I've already received a comm from Mr. Jackson. He is most interested in meeting with you and starting work on the livestock pens on Hotspur." She flicked instructions to me. Freedom Station had to account for the change in mass with all of Beth Anne's material being moved onto the Star Side and the livestock and feed being removed from Dirt Side. We were to check in with the station at every step of the way.
I couldn't imagine the conversation Marny was about to have with Zebulon and Mark-Ralph. They were about to become baby sitters to twenty-five tonnes of livestock, after having left Ophir to escape just that. But then, for all my running away from being a miner ...
RED SHIRT
"Which part of crew don't you get, Ralphie?" Ortel asked as we loaded onto Hotspur.
"I said, don't call me Ralphie!" Mark-Ralph shoved Ortel into the bulk-head. The crew's antsy behavior had been brewing for a while and a change of pace, even if it was loading livestock, would do them good. "I didn't sign up to be a farmer."
"If you boys can't work things out, I can cancel crew shore leave," Marny said. "I've a new conditioning routine I've been wanting to work on."
"No, Master Chief," Ortel quickly replied. Mark-Ralph shot Ortel a dirty look, but didn't reply.
"Company, halt," Marny ordered. "Cap, go ahead. It appears I have a discipline issue to work through."
"No, Master Chief," Mark-Ralph quickly amended.
I led Beth Anne and Xie up to the bridge, along with Nick and Tabby. Marny had already explained she would keep Mark-Ralph, Zebulon and Baker on the berth-deck while we sailed Star Side to offload Beth Anne's cargo.
"Will you set up another bar?" I asked Beth Anne casually as I slid into the pilot's chair.
"We'll see. Most of the goods I trade aren't illegal here, so I won't need a front," she said. "I won't be able to require a premium, but then I won't have to go to the same lengths to move them, either."
"Are you concerned about security?"
"For the first few weeks, yes. After that, I should have things figured out. Xie will be a big help," she said.
Establish comm with Freedom Station, I instructed.
"Freedom Station, go ahead."
"This is Hotspur. We're requesting permission to dock with Star Side to offload cargo for Beth Anne Hollise," I said. I pinched the original instructions we'd received from the station on organizing.
"Wait one," the man replied. I slowed Hotspur's approach. "Please hold fifteen minutes. We're transferring mass."
"Roger that, Freedom Station. Fifteen minutes. Waiting on your word," I cut the comm. "Nick, have you heard from Scooter Beers yet?"
"His team just made it out to the first wreck. Would you believe Tullas just left two survivors behind?" he said. He waited a beat, then continued. "Beers said there's a good trade on slaves."
"Frak. Are you serious? We can't let him keep slaves on our account," I said.
"I already told him." Nick chuckled at my emphatic response. "He said the salvage looks decent; plenty of armor, which is in demand. Ferez might even have an engine left. If that's the case, this might not be a total loss."
"That'd be a first," I said.
"Says the man sailing a stolen frigate," Beth Anne said.
"Spoils of war, my dear," I replied. "Don't forget though, Tullas only has to win once and we're done. That's why she's willing to hit us so hard."
"There's more going on here than you've let on," Xie Mie-su interjected. "Your behavior is irrational. Stealing a ship from Belirand, purchasing livestock at exorbitant prices from a non-terrestrial source. It's almost as if … I'm not sure what you're doing, but it's big."
"Trust me Xie, you don't want to look down that rabbit hole," I said. "Belirand has a special brand of justice they like to apply for people in that realm. And you've just seen a small part of it."
"I've been an outlaw for as long as I can remember, Liam. I've never seen someone move as quickly from the bright-shiny-hero column to the enemy-number-one column. Moreover, there has been nothing about this on any of the grey news feeds. And believe me, they've loved covering you so far," she said.
"Surely they won't be able to cover up this battle," Beth Anne said.
"We'll know in forty minutes, give or take," Xie answered.
Beth Anne smiled. "You really don't like mysteries."
"Incoming hail, Freedom Station."
"Hotspur. Go ahead," I answered.
"You're clear for docking at M-143, instructions embedded." The woman's voice was all business.
"Copy that." I pulled the instructions from the comm-stream, dropped them onto our nav-computer and sailed in. The 'M' level, or mezzanine, was just below the main commerce level. It was a new setup for me. I was to sail in and allow the station's grapples to pull us in.
"Hold on," I said as we approached.
"What the frak!?" Tabby asked as long arms unfurled and reached for us. "Do you want me to take 'em out?"
"No!" I laughed. "No. That's just how they do it."
"They need positive contact with the ship," Nick explained. "We're enough mass that they need to balance out the opposite side once we're part of this side of the station. It would be a problem for them if we detached abruptly."
"You really should warn a girl," Tabby said, giving her head a quick shake. She patted the console in front of her. "Any chance we'll be able to pick up missiles? I hate this empty feeling."
"I'm feeling pretty good about it right now," I said. "Although, I can't imagine what they'd have done if we'd shot their grappling arms."
"I asked first," Tabby said.
"Tabbs, you've the helm." I stood. "Try not to shoot anyone."
"I'll do my best."
We'd agreed that Jonathan and Tabby would stay aboard Hotspur while we unloaded Beth Anne's cargo. I couldn't help but think she'd gotten the better end of the deal. She'd successfully brokered a free ride between Jeratorn and Freedom Station that would have cost tens of thousands of Mars credits under normal circumstances.
It also wasn't lost on me that we were being yanked around by the Ophir council, expending time and effort to fetch livestock for them, when we could be out working on our mission. Of course, when I'd brought this up with Nick, he'd argued that the livestock were very much our mission. Without them, the people of Ophir would have a difficult time surviving and we wouldn't have a safe place for refugees. To which I'd argued the Ophir council would eventually balk at receiving refugees, as it threatened their status quo. The conversation generally fell apart at that point … I hated it when Nick was probably right.
"You in there?" Nick asked, having arrived at the armory where I was equipping myself.
"Yeah, sometimes I get lost in how we ended up at this point," I said, palming open the door.
"It's not easy doing the right thing. If it was, everyone would do it," Nick said, handing me my favorite heavy Ruger pistol, which I strapped across my chest. I'd be carrying a reading pad instead of a blaster rifle and wanted to have my pistol immediately accessible.
When we arrived in the hold, it was crowded with both people and cargo. "Cap, dock master just arrived," Marny announced.
I joined her and looked out the armored glass peep hole. A well-armed, vac-suited gang of six awaited. Standing in front was a man with a reading pad. Notwithstanding his armed escort, it looked like any other docking bay.
"Here we go." I palmed the security panel to lower the docking bay ramp. Those few moments we waited for the ramp to finish lowering were tense as we considered each other. Once it finally did, I approached. "Greetings, Freedom Station."
"Captain," the man answered, holding out his reading pad. It was a familiar gesture, which I mimicked and transferred a physical count and mass of each of the containers we'd be transferring to Beth Anne's new home.
"Vince? Vince Ferrante?" Beth Anne stepped forward from the hold. As she did, the well-armed gang behind the dock-master tensed up, rifles lowering to a more readied state. I didn't have to look back to know that my crew had done the same. I had no doubt she was familiar with some of the people on the station, but it hardly seemed the right moment.
The dock master nodded in acknowledgement. "Beth Anne Hollise, I'd heard you might be showing up here. This is all yours?"
"Not all of it," she said, sliding smoothly next to my arm. "I seem to remember stuffing a case of Jeppeson Scotch into one of these crates just for you. That is, if you're still drinking it."
"I see. I'll make sure the boys are extra gentle today." He smiled greedily. "Stand down, fellas. Ms. Hollise is on the up and up." It occurred to me that 'the boys' he was referring to were Freedom Station's equivalent of stevedores. It also occurred to me that if anyone were to know how to handle someone like this, it was Beth Anne Hollise.
"Just unload the crates anywhere," Beth Anne said, walking into the loading bay. "I've already negotiated to have them transported to their new home. Come along, Bernd. Xie will oversee it from here." With that, she sashayed from the loading bay, her overly thin assistant in tow. Every eye watched as her voluptuous figure disappeared into the oversized airlock at the back.
"Uh, right," Ferrante turned back to me. "Ready?"
Give No Quarter (Privateer Tales Book 10) Page 11