“Nonsense. You clearly saw the TGI ship sending a boarding party to capture that poor trader.”
“Er, yes, but there was damage on both sides. More on the TGI ship, it looks like. Perhaps, sir, it would be best to send two boarding parties to secure and sail both ships. We can take them both back to lower orbit for adjudication. Them and their cargo.”
“Why would I want to do that? We will just let the trader go.”
“I believe that this is the trader that was purchasing at the restricted colonies. We should look into that, and its cargo might be of interest. It might be necessary to secure their cargo here, onboard, for safety’s sake. We could recompense them, of course, with GG credits.”
Meaning, an opportunity for the ship to pay heavily discounted company currency for real platinum, thought the first officer,
The captain paced and looked thoughtful for several moments. “An excellent idea number one, excellent.” The first officer let out a sigh of relief. “We do need to ensure security and stability on the Rim. Prepare two boarding parties and occupy both ships. I’ll be in my cabin.” The captain strode out.
The first officer turned back to his crew. At least some things were going his way today. Now all he needed to do was find two boarding parties that wouldn’t shoot themselves in the foot.
Chapter 14
Jake did not enjoy being in jail, again.
It wasn’t really jail but a four-person stateroom with four acceleration couches stacked on top of each other and a head in the back. He shared it with Zeke and two engineering crewmen from the Petrel that he knew slightly. They were both older, thin, sober men who talked little. They could have been brothers.
The Bountiful Onion had “arrested” both ships pending an investigation. That entailed sending large armed boarding parties onto both of them and collecting and handcuffing both crews. They were left handcuffed for several hours before they were moved onboard the Body Odor, as Jake had overheard the crew call it. They were cursorily searched for weapons and locked in the staterooms and then called out for questioning. The two engineering crewmen went first.
“Just you and me, Jake,” Zeke said.
“I guess so. Did you see what happened?”
“No, but I talked to one of the bridge guys. That other ship fired on the Previous Solution.”
“Why did they do that?”
“Nobody knew.”
“And why are we locked up?”
“Nobody knows that either.”
“Huh.”
“Jake, a question.”
“Yes?”
“How did the Previous Solution lady know your name?”
“What are you talking about?”
“She called you by name on the radio channel. How do you know her?”
“I don’t know her. I never saw her. But…her voice did sound familiar.”
“Familiar to who?”
“Somebody I knew at the academy.”
“So, somebody you knew at the Merchant’s Academy is a pirate.”
“I don’t know. Why are you asking?”
“Jake, she knew your name, and we never used your name over the comms. Plus, how did they find us and sneak up on us? Space is big.”
“Space is big, but we were broadcasting a huge pile of messages. That’s why we were running without the engines on. We used the whole fusion plant output for the antennas to send messages. They probably heard that.”
“Still, it is suspicious.”
Jake stayed in his room for almost two days before he was called in for questioning. He was chained hand and foot and escorted to a room where he sat in front of a very tired looking man with first officer’s bars and an incredibly well-dressed man with a pair of white gloves that looked like silk and captain’s bars seemingly tattooed on his suit.
“Jake Stewart?” the first officer asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“You are an ‘indentured voluntary militia’ TGI auxiliary specialist level 0.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why were you boarding that other ship?”
“They shot at us.”
“So, you admit you were trying to capture it?”
“No, sir. They shot at us and disabled us, and then used their weapons to hold us hostage. They demanded a ransom. My job was to bring the ransom over to the Previous Solution.”
“And you blew a scuttling charge in their airlock?”
“Uh, no, sir. We exploded a sand caster round in the airlock.”
“Exploded a sand caster round in the airlock? What was the point of that?”
“Cover, while we shot out their laser gun, sir.”
“How would you shoot it out? You said you had no functioning weapons?”
“One of our crew had a rifle, sir.”
The captain laughed.
“You expect me to believe that you were caught totally by surprise, and your ship was damaged, and you expected to take the other ship’s weapons out with a rifle—a hand-held firearm—and then blow a hole in them with a sand caster round.”
“Uh, yes, sir.”
“The Previous Solution says they were maneuvering to render assistance to you when you shot at them, disabled their laser, threatened them, sent out a boarding party, and blew a hole in the airlock with a breeching charge,” the captain said.
“Surely the sensor logs should support our version, sir?”
“Your sensor logs stop abruptly before the battle starts.”
“Would that be when they shot us, sir?”
“Or you turned them off. We know who the pirate here is and who is not.”
The first officer cleared his throat. “Captain, there is some dispute here, sir. Some of the sensor logs are ambiguous.”
“Enough, First. I know a pirate when I see one, and I see one right here in front of me. That poor young lady, she must have been terrified to see these TGI thugs attacking her ship.”
Jake looked at the captain. “Poor young lady? “Umm, was this young lady about my age, blonde, athletic build, a little shorter than me, captain?”
“Aha. You even know who you were attacking. You must have been stalking her.”
Jake’s heart sank. He knew that “young lady.” It was Nadine. She worked for somebody else, somebody who didn’t like TGI. She was very good at lying and had managed to get him framed for murder during his last semester at school. Apparently, now she was framing him as a pirate.
“We’re not thugs, sir. We’re TGI staff and we were just defending ourselves.”
“So you say. Why did you have extra crew with no duties who were not on your books?”
“Sir?”
“You are three people over complement, and none of you have any shipboard ratings. But you are all trained in weapons. You are not, technically, crew. You must be shock troops, paid hooligans, to terrorize the crews you capture.”
The first officer stirred, and Jake could see him mouthing “hooligans,” shaking his head, and then speaking up. “Captain, these stories do not make sense, and I do not think that more questioning will make any difference. We should just lock them back in their rooms, finish repairs, and continue back to the inner belt.”
The captain nodded thoughtfully. “That is an excellent suggestion, First. I agree totally.”
“You do, sir? I mean, thank you, sir.” The first officer looked very surprised.
“Yes, an excellent plan. We will incarcerate the crews from both ships on board the Bountiful Onion and put our own crews on their ships to bring them back to the inner rim where we will arbitrate this with TGI.”
“Very well, sir. I will make the arrangements.” The first officer stood up.
“But that is not all. We will incarcerate the crews of the ships, but this one, and the two others, the boarders, they are not technically crew, are they?”
“Well, they are not on the books as such, no, sir.”
“So, they are hooligans. Pirates. Do you know the penalty for piracy,
young hooligan?”
“Incarceration?” Jake guessed. He wanted to try out how the word sounded.
“Hah. No. Death. Out the airlock with all three of you.”
***
The first officer could be heard protesting as a crewman brought Jake out of the office. They hustled him down the corridor and down a deck to his jail stateroom. They unlocked Jake and pushed him through the door. Zeke looked up. “So, what happened to you? What did they say?”
“They said I was sentenced to death for piracy, and that I was to be put out the airlock. Oh, and you and Suzanne too.”
“That’s funny, Jake. What did they actually say?”
“That was it. They think we attacked the PS and were boarding it to steal it.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“They were arguing when I left. I’m not sure if it’s real or if they were just trying to mess with me.”
“Suzanne wasn’t even in the boarding party. Why is she being labelled a pirate and not Vidal?”
“They checked the records. We’re not listed as regular crew so their captain thinks we’re pirates.”
“Oh.”
Jake flicked door switches. It was locked, of course.
“So, Zeke, your career as a TGI employee reaches an ignominious end.”
“I do not know that word.”
“Ignominious? Um, famous, but famous for bad things.”
“I do like the sound of that. Perhaps I will be remembered as Zeke the ignominious.”
“Zeke, you know we are in jail, and they are going to space us. Let’s focus on that.”
Zeke gave his Francais shrug. “I don’t usually worry about those things, Jake. Something will come up. Besides, it has been fun so far.”
“Fun?”
“I’ve gone to space. I’ve jumped between spaceships. I’ve been on other stations. And I have made a good friend. You, Jake.” He clapped Jake on the shoulder. “Has it not been fun for you as well, my friend?”
“No. It’s been difficult. Tiring. Embarrassing. Humiliating.”
“What was humiliating?”
“Getting arrested. Getting sent to jail. “
“But surely some of it must have been fun?”
“That’s me, Zeke.” Jake sat down on one of the couches and put his head in his hands. “I’m not much for fun, really.”
Zeke smiled. “Jake, Suzanne and I thought you were too serious when we met you.”
“Too serious?”
“Oh, we liked you, but you were strange. You took everything so seriously. You studied things. You made notes. You tried so hard. It was difficult not to giggle when you kept missing the target.”
Jake raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t think it was funny.”
“We know. Suzanne and I talked about it. You were trying too hard. If you had been more relaxed, it would have been better. But you do not relax very well.”
“No, I don’t. But it’s good to be prepared.”
“You should relax. All your preparation and here you are, locked in a room about to die by being thrown out airlock for being a pirate. How did your preparation help you there?”
“Not very much.”
“You see? But for me, I like to try new things. I do not want to die, but I do not want to not do something because I am afraid. And I want to have fun while I am alive. This has been very frightening, this militia ship, but very rewarding.”
“It’s not a militia ship, Zeke.”
“As you say.”
“And we should have been prepared for something like this. There are pirates all over and we weren’t exactly subtle about what we were buying up or how much. I should have known someone was going to decide it was worth it to try and hijack us. I should have planned for this scenario.”
“Yes. That is what Suzanne said when she spoke of you. She said you over prepared.”
“Suzanne spoke about me? What did she say?”
Zeke smiled. “Why, are you interested in what she said?”
Jake sputtered a bit, and Zeke smiled again. “I am sorry, Jake. I cannot resist teasing. You know she talks about you. She likes you.”
“She likes Vidal more.”
“She did. He was a challenge. Suzanne likes challenges. You were not so challenging.”
“So, she was just stringing me along.”
“Just a little bit. But she did say you were very nice.” Zeke coughed slightly. “Don’t worry, Jake. You will think of something to keep us both from being thrown out the airlock. You always do. And if not, at least rabbits will not pee on my grave,” Zeke said and walked over to one of the other couches and lounged back on it, staring at the ceiling.
One of the other men began to cough. “What’s wrong with him.” Jake asked, as he walked over to him.
“I do not know. But he has been sleeping and coughing all day.”
“What is that rash on his face?” Jake asked.
Zeke shrugged. “I am not a doctor. You must be a sound sleeper. He and the other one coughed all night. You slept through it.”
Jake stepped back a little. The man didn’t look well.
There was a bong and the door opened. A crewman with a shotgun stood behind the rating who had brought them there.
“Captain says you go out the airlock in 24 hours. He wants to know what you want for your last meal.”
Jake awoke after a long and surprisingly restful sleep. He felt clear headed, focused, and with a number or arguments against spacing him foremost in his mind. Somebody in his reading had said the possibility of being hanged in the morning concentrates the mind wonderfully. Boy, were they right. He was ready to argue.
Jake got up to use the fresher. The cabin stank. A lot. Jake hadn’t smelt a cabin that bad since he had been working on tramp freighters, and the workers had crapped in their suits during a long shift. Somebody had done the same here.
He flicked the cabin light on. Neither of the techs moved. Jake looked more closely. Their faces were completely covered with a rash. Their breathing was more like wheezing, and they were sweating profusely.
“Zeke. Wake up.” Jake walked over to shake Zeke awake and stopped himself. Zeke looked flushed and was breathing shallow. There was a slight the rash blooming on his face.
“Oh, shit,” Jake said out loud. He’d never seen this but he’d heard about it. His mother had said it had happened when he was very young, too young to remember. A ship had come in and brought a disease. First, people came down with a fever and cough and then a rash. Something like seventy percent of them had died within a few days. What was it she had called it? Jake racked his memory. Oh, yeah.
Measles.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Jake raced over the door and started banging on it. He pushed the comm and yelled into it. No one answered. He went to the head and soaked a towel in cool water, then placed it on Zeke’s head. He was burning to the touch.
Jake paced back and forth. He didn’t feel sick. No cough. No sweating. He must have been inoculated. That’s right, after the outbreak when he was a kid everyone got inoculated. But he didn’t think that was common. It certainly didn’t look like Zeke or the other crewmen had been.
What about the rest of the crew? Suzanne? He banged on the door and screamed some more. Still no answer. What about the crew of the Bountiful Onion, Jake thought. If they haven’t been inoculated, how many of them are getting sick? Was anybody out there??
“So, you are immune?” Suzanne asked, as the door closed behind the men carrying Sue’s corpse away.
“Well, I’ve had my shots,” Nadine said.
“What are shots?”
“Immunizations. Didn’t they stick a needle in you when you joined the Militia?”
“No, what for?”
“To keep you from getting sick. Or making other people sick. All the Militia get them.”
“We were not put in the Militia in the regular way. We did not get any shots. What about Sue?”
“She wasn’t pa
rt of my regular company. I guess she wasn’t immunized,” Nadine shrugged. “I never asked.”
“What does it matter. If you don’t get sick you’ll just get thrown out the airlock with the other pirates.” Nadine giggled a little to herself.
“Jake won’t let that happen. He is too clever. He will get us out,” Suzanne said.
“Jake won’t let it happen?” Now Nadine struggled not to laugh out loud. “How? Will he attack them all and kill them with his bare hands?”
“Of course not. He will have read the ‘Official rules regarding space executions’ or whatever the appropriate rule book is called, and he will have found a clause that only allows them to execute people if they have a pink spaceship, and since this spaceship is blue they clearly cannot execute anybody until they paint it pink, and then he will show them that there is a shortage of pink paint, so we will be safe. He is very good with rulebooks. This is why he is here.”
“That sounds like Jake.”
“How do you know Jake? You knew his name before we told you. You have met him before?”
“You could say that.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“Oh, around. Who shot our laser out?”
“That was me,” Suzanne said.
“Good shooting. Where did you learn that?”
“Around.” They both laughed.
“Do you have any other useful skills?” Nadine asked. “Spaceship skills, perhaps?”
“I do. Where did you get you ship from?”
Nadine poured a cup of water. “Well, that’s a funny story.”
Zeke and the techs got sicker. Jake mostly ignored the tech’s, he didn’t know them, and they weren’t his friends. Zeke was lucid for a while during the night and Jake tried to talk with him and keep him calm.
“So, I am going to die,” Zeke said.
“Not necessarily.”
“How many people die?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You are not a very good liar, Jake. I am sure you know these things. You must have read about it in one of your books. How many sick people die?”
Jake sat back and looked at. Zeke. “A lot. A third, half, three quarters. I’m not sure, but a lot.”
Orbital Claims Adjuster: Adventures of a Jump Space Accountant Book 2 Page 17