An Airless Storm: Cochrane's Company: Book Two

by Peter Grant

  “Of course. Our engineers and designers are looking forward to working with him.”

  “You have the reload missile pods ready for us to load aboard Orca, our armed freighter?”

  “Yes, four of them for Bobcat, plus two more for Orca, as arranged.”

  “Good. All right, I’ll see you in two days for the handover ceremony.”

  Frank Haldane brought Orca into orbit ahead of schedule, in time to come down to the planet that evening. Cochrane and Hui were surprised by his insistence on joining them at once, but at first put it down to a simple desire for a good meal at a quality restaurant. They were soon disabused when they picked him up at the spaceport terminus.

  “Sir, we’ve got a problem,” he began without preamble as he threw his carryall into the back seat of their rented vehicle, then slid in behind Hui. “Is it safe to talk in here?”

  “I… I presume so,” Cochrane replied, startled, as he engaged the electric motor and moved off slowly. “We chose it ourselves out of the rental lot, with no-one there to jog our elbows. I doubt they’ve bugged the entire fleet!”

  “You never know, sir,” Frank said darkly. “There are some planets… Anyway, I’ve got a friend, Saul. He’s in the same business I was, before I joined forces with you; namely, stealing spaceships to order, or ferrying hot ones to places where they’re less hot, to dispose of them. With me?”

  “Uh-huh.” “Go on.” Cochrane and Hui spoke in unison.

  “Guess whose spaceship he’s just been hired to steal?”

  “Not one of ours?” Cochrane demanded incredulously.

  “Yes. What’s more, there are two great big flashing red warning lights, sir. The first is, he’s been hired by someone on Callanish named Dunsinane. Ring any bells?”

  “Yes! He’s the chairman of the consortium there that hired Colomb to steal NOE’s satellites in Mycenae.”

  “He wants to steal Humpback, sir, your big warehouse freighter in Constanta orbit. He’s hired Saul to figure out how to do it, raise the necessary team, and get her for him. If he can’t get Humpback, he’s to pick the next most valuable ship, and steal that. He’s been told to ‘inflict the greatest possible loss’ on us. He says those were Dunsinane’s exact words. He quibbled, citing our security as being a real danger, so Dunsinane ended up offering him double the fee. He even paid him half up front, to prove he’s serious. He must want to hurt us very badly. The other flashing light is that Saul was already working for someone else, who suddenly canceled the agreement. He paid him off, and gave him a bonus to talk to Dunsinane instead. Saul said he looked scared. He knew him well enough to ask him what was going on. The man would only say that ‘a guy from Patos’ made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

  Hui struggled around in the front seat to stare at Frank. “Patos? But that’s –”

  “Yes, ma’am. It’s where that Albanian ship came from, the one that was blown up by one of our mines in Mycenae a couple of years back.”

  “Well, well, well.” Cochrane was smiling. “How did Saul let you know about this? Do you trust him? What’s the timetable?”

  “I trust him enough to take him seriously, sir. I saved his ass from being sent to a prison planet one time. He’d have spent the rest of his life there, if I hadn’t bribed a few guards to spring him from the transit prison. He owes me for that, and always swore he’d find a way to repay me. He knew I was working for you now, so he sent a private message to me at Constanta from another planet. It reached me just before I left to come here. He says he’s drawing things out, using our good security as an excuse to delay until he’s hired the best team available. He reckons he can stall another month or two before he has to go to Constanta. He wants to know whether I can fix up something that’ll make him look good to Dunsinane, so he can keep his advance, but not hurt us.”

  “Can you have him contact me at Constanta, as quickly as possible?”

  “I can send him a message from here by express interplanetary courier, sir. It’ll be expensive, though.”

  “Hawkwood will pay for it. If he’ll play along with us, I think we can make sure he not only keeps Dunsinane’s advance payment, but the rest of it, too, and earns something from us into the bargain.”

  Frank grinned, relaxing for the first time since he’d climbed into the vehicle. “Just what have you got up that tricky little sleeve of yours, sir?”

  “My tricky little arm, what else?” Frank and Hui laughed. “I think we can make Dunsinane wish he’d never been born. It seems he didn’t understand our unspoken message, last time, to stay away from us. He must be a slow learner. We’ll have to make it a lot clearer. Also, I think this might help us pay for a really big purchase of more missiles.”

  “Huh? How do you figure that, sir?”

  “Let’s wait until we’ve had supper, then go back to our suite. I’m going to mull over a few things in my mind while we eat. When I’ve got them nicely lined up, I’ll tell you more about them. Oh – one more thing. You say Saul’s in the same line of business you were, once upon a time. Is there anyone else you trust still doing that?”

  “Ah… yeah. There aren’t many as good as I was, or Saul is, but there’s a couple.”

  “I’ll want to know more after supper. We may have a use for them from time to time.”

  Late that night, lying together in companionable closeness, Hui said, “You really surprised me with what you planned with Frank tonight. I didn’t suspect you had such a devious side.”

  He grinned invisibly in the darkness. “Sometimes I surprise myself, too. I think it has possibilities.”

  “Oh, it does – if it works. Making it work will be the problem.”

  “Yes, but then, Frank’s contacts should be able to help. We’ll just have to play our cards, and see how they fall. Meanwhile, there’s something I’ve been wanting to raise with you. It’s been almost a year since you last visited Qianjin, although I know you’ve been sending back reports to Fleet Intelligence there, and exchanging messages with your family. Isn’t it time you paid them a visit?”

  She sighed. “Yes, it is… but that means spending time away from you, and I don’t want to do that! I’m being silly, I know.”

  He hugged her gently. “No, you’re not. I’m going to miss you, too. I’m sure your Admiral would like to inspect Bobcat, to see how we’ve shoehorned cruiser-size missile pods into a frigate. Why don’t we let Frank take her on a high-speed long-distance run to Qianjin and back? She’ll need one, as part of her acceptance tests, and he could take you along too. I’m sure you can persuade your Fleet to allow her into the system. Your Admiral can look her over, and you can visit with your family. Frank won’t be able to stay long, but you can take commercial spacecraft back to Constanta when you’re ready, or ask the Admiral for the loan of a communications ship.”

  She rolled over onto her side, looking at him eagerly. “That’s a wonderful idea! It would give the Admiral bragging rights if Qianjin’s was the first Fleet to examine a brand-new design like your frigates. He’ll probably ask permission to have several senior officers look her over, if you won’t mind that, and maybe have Frank take them out for a demonstration run.”

  “I don’t mind at all. He’s let us – in particular, he’s let me – have you as a full-time liaison officer, to exchange intelligence about the Albanians, and he’s been very generous in sharing what he learns. This will be a little quid pro quo for that. You can take the opportunity to visit his people while you’re there, and gather anything else they can provide that might help us.”

  “Thank you, darling. I don’t know that Qianjin will want super-frigates of their own, because they cost almost three-quarters as much as a destroyer, which is a bigger and more capable design. Even so, they’re bound to think hard about designs to replace their old light cruisers in due course. If you can build two of their missile pods into a frigate hull, there’s no reason they can’t build three or four into a destroyer hull. That might be very useful.”

&nbs
p; “Let him have a look, and tell me what he says.”

  “All right. What will you be doing while I’m there?”

  “I have to detour via Kamamoto on my way back to Constanta, to see the Fujita shipyard about our communications vessels. Mr. Kim says their design is even better than Kang’s, and he’s given me a letter of introduction. We’ll see what they can do for us.”

  “All right. With luck, you’ll find a message from Frank’s contact waiting for you when you reach Constanta.”

  “Let’s hope so. Now, darling, you’ve been neglecting your duties. What are you going to do about it?”

  “Neglecting my duties?”

  “Yes. You’re my liaison officer, aren’t you? Why aren’t we liaising?”

  “Oh, you! Stop talking and come here!”

  CONSTANTA

  Cochrane wasted no time on his return to Constanta. As soon as he’d read the message Saul had sent him, in reply to Frank’s message from Goheung, he summoned Lachlan MacLachlan, Hawkwood’s logistics director.

  “Lachlan, I want you to buy me a simple tramp freighter, a quarter of a million tons or so, certainly not much larger than that. She must be cheap, because she’s disposable. I don’t mind if she’s old and well-worn, just so long as she’s spaceworthy and not dangerous to her crew. I need her here inside a month. Can you do it?”

  “A month? Ye Gods, sir, that’s pushing it! I’ll have to send one of my people to a couple of the nearer major planets, to see what’s for sale, or even go myself. May I use a courier ship, to get there as fast as possible? It can carry some of our spacers as a passage crew, too, and the purchase price. We’ll have no time to come back here to draw an interplanetary bearer bank draft, once we know her cost. We’ll have to pay on the spot, in gold.”

  “No problem. If I give you all that, and the passage crew, can you come through for me? It’s important.”

  “I… sir, you’re asking something almost impossible, but I’ll try. I may not be able to do it in four weeks, but I’ll do my best. Would six weeks work?”

  “If that’s the best you can do, I suppose so, but no longer. Four would be better. Another thing. There must be no traceable connection between her and Hawkwood at first sight. Set up a shell company on the planet where you buy her, using a lawyer’s office for the address, and register it as her new owner.”

  He mentally blessed Caitlin Ross’s intelligence efforts at the height of the problems in Mycenae. The information she had gathered would now be put to very good use. He continued, “She must be insured for her full purchase price through Rendall Insurance of Callanish. Tell your people to use a local broker to do that. In addition, take out cargo insurance through Rendall, at full replacement cost, for thirty-two brand-new missile pods. I’ll give you the details. They’re very expensive, so the premium will be high, but that’s all right. Make sure both policies meet United Planets regulations governing interplanetary payment guarantees. That’s critically important, because Rendall is bonded under them. Pay both premiums in full, in gold, in advance, and have the broker send the full payment for both policies to Rendall by express courier right away. There must be no delay.”

  “Ah… may I ask why, sir?”

  Cochrane smiled to take any sting out of his words. “If you don’t ask me why, I won’t have to lie to you.”

  “Oh. All right, sir. There’s just one thing. If you make a claim against that cargo insurance, you’ll have to provide officially certified proof that the missiles were aboard. Being military hardware, involving nuclear weapons, a simple civilian bill of lading won’t cut it, I’m afraid.”

  “I’ll see to it.”

  Next, Cochrane called in Lieutenant-Commander Tom Argyll, his Chief of Security, and explained what had happened. “I’m planning an unpleasant surprise for Dunsinane and his consortium. However, that Albanian worries me. If he wanted this Saul to accept Dunsinane’s job so badly, that can mean one of two things, perhaps both. He may want to encourage the Callanish consortium to cause trouble for us, so we have yet another thing to worry about. That might take our focus off the Albanians. Alternatively – or as well – he might want to try something himself at the same time. If we’re blaming the Callanish people, and trying to get our own back on them, we may not realize that the Albanians used them to cover their tracks.”

  “You’re making a lot of sense, sir. What do you want to do about it?”

  “I know our defensive teams are top-notch by now, after over a year of training. What about our offensive teams?”

  “The instructors say they’re coming right along, sir. They tell me that in six months, they’ll be right up there with the best.”

  “Ask them whether they’re good enough to handle a live mission. I’m going to have our criminal contacts watch for new arrivals on Constanta. Nicolae Albescu’s people found those four fake spacers and freight agents earlier this year, and he’s been helping us keep an eye on them. They’re almost sure they’re watching us, although they’re covering their tracks very well.”

  Argyll nodded. “That’s what convinces me they’re Albanian spies, sir. They know too much tradecraft. Amateurs wouldn’t be that good.”

  “You may be right. At any rate, if they are Albanian agents, I daresay they’ll meet whoever arrives, to coordinate action with whatever Saul is going to do. We might be able to scoop up some or all of the team, red-handed. Are our interrogation specialists ready?”

  Argyll’s face lost all expression. In a flat tone, he replied, “Yes, sir, they are, and they have interrogation kits patterned after those we captured from the Albanians. If we can take them alive, we can make them talk.”

  Cochrane grimaced. “I know how you feel, Tom. It makes me feel dirty, too! Nevertheless, we’ll do whatever we have to do. Remember, they were willing to fry Frank’s brain to get him to talk, and kill one of their own to stop him talking. As you said last year, if they’re willing to be that ruthless, the only way we’re going to stop them is to be just as ruthless ourselves.”

  “Yes, sir – but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!”

  Finally, Cochrane summoned Sue McBride, now a Commander and in charge of all engineering matters for Hawkwood’s fleet. She grinned as she entered his office.

  “Och, and it’s looking fit and healthy you are, sir. Hui must be agreeing with you.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Are you people ever going to stop teasing me about her?”

  “Only when you marry her, sir!”

  He sighed. “That’s… never mind. I understand the nineteen defective missile cells we got with the patrol craft from New Westray are still in storage aboard Humpback.”

  “Aye, sir, they are. They’re loaded with all the defective missiles, too. I was going to toss ’em into Constanta’s sun, but I’ve been so swamped I’ve never found the time. It’s not something I want to trust to juniors, you understand.”

  “I certainly do! Are their warheads still on them?”

  “Most of them, yes, sir. None of them work, of course. They were in even worse shape than the missiles.”

  “I’m not surprised, judging by what you said when you first saw them. All right. You’d better stand by to transfer them to another ship shortly. I have a use for them.” He smiled nastily.

  She looked at him narrowly. “What evil trickery are you up to now, sir?”

  “Me? Evil?”

  “Yes, you!” She grinned. “I’ve known you too long, sir. You’re up to something.”

  “Yes, I am. I can’t tell you precisely what, not yet, but it’s going to be interesting.”

  6

  High and low crimes

  CONSTANTA

  The Lieutenant-Commander from Constanta’s System Patrol Service was the soul of cooperation, after he riffled through the banknotes in the fat envelope handed to him in the docking bay. “I’m sure there’ll be no problem, ma’am,” he assured Commander McBride as he slipped it into an inside pocket of his uniform jacket. “The inspection�
��s a mere formality, designed to ensure that weapons and warheads are stored in conformity with our regulations.”

  “I understand. It’s almost a pity to waste your time, because you know we’re always very strict about safety standards. Still, the regulations must be observed.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll get right to it.”

  Sure enough, there were no problems at all. The officer physically counted nineteen very old missile pods in the holds of the freighter Molly Malone, each containing fifteen main battery and fifteen defensive missiles. Mysteriously, the inspection form on the electronic tablet listed thirty-two brand-new pods, each containing thirty main battery and thirty-five defensive missiles, plus ten penetration aids – missiles with electronic payloads replacing their warheads. Ignoring the discrepancy, he signed the document without turning an official hair, and handed back the tablet with an air of a job well done.

  “I’ll be back in a year for the next annual inspection, ma’am.”

  “And we’ll have your usual welcome waiting for you.”

  “That’s very kind of you, ma’am. Until then.”

  Sue watched him enter the airlock leading to his cutter, and grimaced. She didn’t like dealing with corrupt officers. Too many of them cut corners on safety to save money, and that got good spacers killed. However, in this case, she was prepared to make an exception.

  She uploaded a copy of the inspection form to the freighter’s official document storage, glancing around the well-worn boat bay as she did so. Its paint was shabby, but every piece of equipment worked, despite its age. Molly Malone could serve for a few more years, until hard use finally wore her down… provided she survived whatever the Commodore had in mind for her.