“Sure. Thanks, Zeke.”
“Why, even Vidal thinks that you did well. Come, eat with us. I bought some beer on station. We can share.”
“Thanks, Zeke.”
“How did you get to be such a good driver of a broomstick, Jake,” Zeke asked as they walked over to the mess table in the middle of the deck.
“I’m not that good. I was trained on one when I was young, and we had to use it all the time at my station. It just takes practice, as you know. You’ve gotten much better yourself.”
“Yes, I have been practicing whenever we have a break at a station.”
“You are lucky. I am jealous,” Suzanne said. “I wish I had your talent for flying. Perhaps I will ask Bassi to show me how to fly a broomstick next.”
“Well, I wish I had your talent with a gun. You never miss.”
“I’m just lucky.”
“Enough about talent,” Zeke said. “Time to celebrate.” Zeke opened a beer and passed it to Jake before opening one for himself.
“Don’t let Jake drink too much, Zeke. We all know what happens then.” Suzanne walked over to Jake
She started to walk away, then stopped, turned back and leaned in close. He was startled but didn’t move away. He could smell her cologne. “Oh, and Jake,” she said, whispering close to his ear. “Thank you again for saving me.” She put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him very firmly on the lips, holding it for a long time. Jake froze. After what seemed like forever, she pushed back, smiled mischievously, and turned and walked toward the ladder toward Vidal’s office. “See you boys in the morning.”
***
“That was too close. They could have shot us up,” said Sue.
“Yes,” agreed Nadine, “this has got to stop.” She turned off the audio alarm of the radar receiver. It had been beeping steadily since the large cargo ship had appeared in the distance heading toward the station.
“Let’s get a look at her,” Nadine said, switching to the telescope. They didn’t have much in the way of active sensors—no masers, for example, but they had good passive ones.
“Big,” Nadine said. “Thousand tons, maybe. Interior cargo bays and lots of truss space.”
“That’s a laser on the top,” Sue said.
“And two more on the sides,” agreed Nadine.
“What’s that on the bottom?”
“That’s a mass driver. A rail gun.” Nadine immediately switched back to the pilot’s screen and inserted a few random course changes and a couple of random thrust changes as well.
“What’s that for?” Sue asked.
“If they shoot that mass driver at us, they usually shoot where they think we’ll be based on our vector at the time of shooting. We just need a slight change to move out of their perceived path. They can almost never hit ships.”
“What’s the use of a rail gun over a laser, then?”
“I said almost never, not never. And when they hit, the kinetic energy causes much more damage than a laser. And they’re deadly against stations or anything that can’t dodge, like an unpowered satellite.”
“Where to next?”
“We’ve been following the TGI playbook, running along those GG colonies. We need to think outside the box or outside of the regular trade routes anyways. Take over for a while, I’m going to do some research.”
***
“Platinum group. Sure, we have lots. Come on down,” said the voice on the radio. “We’ll do some trading. Whatever you need.”
Nadine and Sue looked at each other. They’d headed away from the regular routes, moving instead toward a small cluster of stations and proto-stations that were not members of any corporate grouping or route.
Pirate stations, most probably.
“You think they have anything? Or are they just getting us down there to rob us,” Sue asked.
“Both, I think. I’m sure they have some PGMs.”
“How do you know?”
“Part of a container load went missing out this way about a year back. It probably ended up here.”
“Again, how do you know?”
“Some gambling friends told me.” Nadine shrugged as spun the ship to face the “station” on the asteroid.
“That’s not even a station. That’s a bunch of containers landed randomly and connected by access tubes. What’s that in the middle?”
“Looks like a junked ship. That will be their fusion plant.”
“This place looks sketchy, Nadine.”
“It does. And just in case, we’ll take some insurance.” Nadine flicked the comm. “Big D, bring the blue banded gun case from the ship’s locker and meet me at the airlock. Don’t try to open it.”
“Or it will explode?” the voice across the comm asked.
“No, this one releases deadly gas. Just bring it and don’t open it. We’re going to go old empire on these guys.”
The station airlock door swung slowly inward, then stuck. Nadine had to lean her shoulder into it to get it moving again, and then it stuck again. Finally, she stepped forward and pushed it with both hands, walking it completely open.
The area inside was dark, with just an emergency light visible. Nadine could see a vague figure under it, but nothing else. She looked around. “Chin? Are you Chin?”
“Go,” a voice said. Three spotlights flooded the compartment, catching Nadine and her party in a harsh glare. Nadine put her hand over her forehead, shielding her eyes against the light.
“Freeze. Drop your weapons, or we’ll shoot.”
“No way,” Nadine said. “You freeze and drop your weapons, or we’ll shoot. And get that light out of my eyes.”
The voice paused, coughed once. “That’s not the way it works.”
“Listen, you’ve got, at best, a couple folks with revolvers. You might have a shotgun with solid slugs in it, but that’s all. You need our ship undamaged, so you don’t dare fire into it. We, on the other hand, have full hard suits on and we’re not firing ship ammo, because I don’t give a crap if your low rent habitat ends up leaking atmo from five hundred holes.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“There better be nothing important behind that light up there,” Nadine said, pointing up toward the ceiling, “because I’m going to make it go away.”
She barely twitched her finger, and suddenly there was a soft crack and the light exploded.
“So, you shot a light out. Big deal,” Chin said. He coughed again.
“I also blew out the fixture and shot a hole in the wall, probably melting it. If you check the next few walls behind that, probably them as well. It likely went all the way through this ship and out the other side. You’re losing atmo as we speak.”
Nadine waited. A second later the alarm started bonging in the distance.
“Perfect timing. Big D, lights.”
Lights came on behind Nadine. Big D stood behind her carrying a strange looking rifle. The barrel was surrounded by a thick coil of wire, and a bright spotlight was attached. She saw four figures in front of her. Two pointed revolvers at her. Chin was short, black haired, yellowish skin. He had no weapon in his hands, but he did have a big handkerchief that he pressed to a runny nose.
“Ever seen one of these?” Nadine asked, turning her hand slightly so Chin and the others could see what she was holding.
It was a small gun, but very odd looking. There was no obvious barrel, just two parallel metal rails with a coil around them connected to an almost rectangular handgrip with a button on top.
“I have,” said a new voice from behind a revolver. “Not in real life, but I seen pictures. Is that a gauss gun?”
“Full points to you,” Nadine said. “The finest the old empire could produce. Now put down your weapons.”
“What’s a gauss gun?” Chin asked.
“Big magnets, small metal needles, high velocity. Shoots 10g needles at 3km/sec. The velocity makes up for the size. It’ll punch through any armor and walls, and it fires at full automatic as l
ong as I keep the trigger down. Oh, and it’s keyed to my fingerprint, so you can’t use it.”
“It’s just one gun,” Chin said.
“I have one, Sue has one, Big D back there has its big brother, and we’re wearing armor. Throw your guns down or we’ll have the shootout and see who comes off best.”
One of the shadows coughed, shrugged, and holstered his weapon. The others did the same.
“Now,” Nadine said. “Let’s do some trading.”
***
“That wasn’t what I expected,” Sue said.
“How so?”
“For a pirate base, it was really poor.”
“Not much money in pirating, especially if you have nowhere to sell your booty.”
“Booty?”
“That’s what it’s called. Booty. The stuff they steal.”
“Where do they get ‘booty’ from?” Sue said as she stifled a cough.
“They’ll have a small ship, perhaps two. They raid settlements or ships, and sometimes they’ll go into a bigger station and trade.”
“Where’s the ship now?”
“Off somewhere, I guess. I think they were a little worried. Notice they mostly bought food and medical stuff, and only the one set of handguns. Their ship might be overdue.”
Sue coughed again. “It was pretty dumpy, really. Broken down ship, old furniture. It seemed to be a collection of things that people threw out into the trash.”
“It probably was. What were you expecting? Jewels? Rich food? Banquets.”
“And served by handsome muscular waiters with their shirts off, if the vids are anything to go by.”
“Welcome to reality.”
“Where to now?”
“We’re heading to the biggest station in this cluster here. It’s the center of a group of mining stations, a few free-floating stations, some iceworks, a bunch of stuff. Even has its own foundry and a mill. A small one.”
“What’s it called?”
“Roundhouse.”
***
“We’re trying something new this time,” Vidal said.
“Is that why we’ve been under acceleration for a whole day?” Zeke asked.
“Yes. As much as I hate to admit it, Stewart has done a good job. Now we’re after just the high-value metals. We’ve picked up word of a new set of pseudo colonies, the Roundhouse. They’re a little off the beaten bath, but hopefully that will mean they’ll have a stockpile of metals to trade with us. We’re going to hit them up, let Stewart do his thing, and head out of here. If we do this right, we can all go home early. We do this right, and I’ll let them militia know you’ve served your sentence. You get me what I need, and you’ll all be free by the time this is over.”
Everybody smiled at this.
“And I’ll get my regular crew back,” Vidal said.
Aha, Jake thought. Vidal couldn’t ask for replacements while they were still on board, but he could have them freed, and get his old partners in crime back.
“We’ll have to spend at least two days at station,” Vidal continued. “We’ll need to shut the drive down to do maintenance, and the nav crew will need a break. I’ll need to supervise here on ship, so you three will be on your own for the trade. This is a family run place and they have a good reputation, so I’m not worried. But wear revolvers, just in case. Not you, Jake.”
Jake nodded. He had assumed that.
“Once your work is done, if you get everything we need, you can take some leave. Jake, either you or Zeke have to stay on the ship. You two work it out.”
Jake thought for a moment. If Suzanne was off the ship on the station… and so was he, some things might… improve.
Zeke spoke for both of them “Jake and I will work it out sir.” He winked at Jake. “We will do some trading, yes.”
Jake nodded agreement. He was good at trading.
Jake trooped out of the lock with Zeke and Suzanne. The airlock and truss weren’t large, but there were three other ships docked at the same time, all smaller than the Petrel.
“For a station this small, they sure have a lot of visitors,” Jake commented as they walked down the corridor to meet their contact.
A tall, white-haired man who was wearing some sort of robe and an elaborately tooled leather belt with a revolver holstered to it met them on board the station.
“Welcome, I am Elder Davi. Which one of you is Mr. Stewart?”
“I am,” Jake said.
“Welcome. I have reviewed the list of metals you sent and your suggestion on prices. I don’t agree with the prices, of course,” he flashed a smile at Jake, “but we can talk about things in my office.”
“Of course.”
They proceeded down the tube and arrived at an inner ring and entered a large storage area. Rather than chairs, the wall had metal benches. The four of them sat.
“I will tell you honestly, Mr. Stewart, that I would like to have our business here concluded quickly, even though that gives you an advantage.”
“Why so?”
“It is our three-year clan gathering.”
“I see. I was curious as to why you had some many ships docked. We’ll not take up too much of your time.”
“What is a clan gathering, Jake,” Zeke interrupted.
Jake tried to wave him off but Elder Davi seemed glad to answer.
“We’re in orbital resonance with a number of other stations of the clan, and we come together every three years, with each clan station taking turns to host a gather. We have several marriage ceremonies taking place today. My great niece is one, and a second cousin another. There will be a celebration and meal to follow. As guests, you are invited to come and join our revelry.”
“We thank you, Elder Davi. We will not keep you from your important duties. If you agree to our prices as written, we can conclude our business now.”
Elder Davi laughed. “Good try. We have the metals you seek and will trade for them, but I notice you did not include fuel in your requirements.”
“We have bladders, and several of our existing containers have been reconfigured as long-range fuel tanks.”
“A pity. Our fuel prices are extremely reasonable. We are absolutely swimming in water-ice asteroids, and we have our own distillery and water cracker. It’s solar powered, so we can run it continuously.”
“So, you have liquid H, O, and distilled water?” Jake was surprised.
“At very reasonable prices. And if you want to reclaim some cargo space, we might trade some empty containers for those bladder-filled ones.”
“I see,” said Jake, intrigued. He looked at the others. “This might take a while. You should go out to the hall and mingle.”
Zeke nodded. “Keep up the good work, Jake. Comm when you are ready to head back to the ship.” He and Suzanne stepped out of the office door. Suzanne waved at him and followed her brother out the door.
Two days later, the Petrel dropped from the docking truss. All tanks were full. O and H topped off completely. Jake had two new empty containers on the hull, the bladder-filled ones had been left chained to the truss. “Just leave them there. We’ll move them after the gathering,” Elder Davi had said.
Jake had a busy schedule during their stay and hadn’t been able to get away. With the change from empty to full containers, they had had to re-balance the entire load, and he had spent three full shifts getting the containers re-located again.
“It’s too bad you had to work so much, Jake,” Zeke said, looking tired but very relaxed. “You could have spent more time on the station.”
“Oh? Why so. I’ve seen stations like this before. Grew up on one only a little bigger in fact.”
“It wasn’t the station. It was this gathering thing. The little stations send all their people over. They meet and party. Everybody was very relaxed,” he said, and winked at Jake.
“So?”
“There were lots of girls, Jake. Pretty ones who only see their brothers or cousins for months. They come to these events to
make new friends.”
Jake had forgotten about that custom. Lack of genetic diversity was a big deal in small populations. In isolated extended families, there was sometimes a deliberate effort to expand it. And often fathers and husbands did not begrudge their daughters or wives doing their duty to expand that genetic pool.
“Did you make a new friend,” Jake asked.
“Several.” Zeke stretched elaborately and yawned.
“I wouldn’t have minded a new friend,” Jake muttered.
Zeke grinned at Jake.
“Stewart,” Vidal voice rang out over the comm.
“Yes, sir?” Jake said.
“Get your cargo reports together. We’ll have a comm window with HQ in about an hour. I want a full report queued up before we begin our trajectory home.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How much do you have to send?”
“Two gigabytes, sir.”
“All right, stand by.” There was a pause. “Okay, we’re going to boost the power and run on ballistic so the bandwidth will go up. Dump everything now before we head out.”
Jake understood. Orbital geometry was such that stations couldn’t always see each other, so when there was a clear shot between stations they sent all their messages in a hurry. The stronger the signal the easier it was for the receiver to read. The more detailed messages could be sent, and thus the more information per time unit. So, if you had a lot of information to send, you either sent it slowly at low power over a longer time and counted on error correction coding to fix any problems, or you boosted the power higher so you could send it faster. Ballistic running meant that the power from the fusion plant would be moved away from the drives to the antennas, giving a stronger signal, but the Petrel couldn’t maneuver while that was happening. So, they had to dump the communications now before they began on their long trip back.
Jake worked on gathering all the necessary information for the report while Zeke relayed stories of his adventures the last two days.
“Ah, space is the life for me, Jake. And to think, when we get back we will be free. Can you believe it?”
Orbital Claims Adjuster: Adventures of a Jump Space Accountant Book 2 Page 15