One Trade Too Many
(Book 3 of the Yrden Chronicles)
D.A. Boulter (c) 2019
Copyright page
This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events are fictitious and any similarity to people, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright (2018) by D. A. Boulter, all rights reserved
Cover Design by D.A. Boulter
Image: by innovari (from Depositphotos.com)
Not With A Whimper Books:
Not With A Whimper: Producers
Not With A Whimper: Destroyers
Not With A Whimper: Preservers
Not With A Whimper: Survivors
Yrden Chronicles Books:
Trading For The Stars (Book 1)
Trading For A Dream (Book 2)
Other Amazon Books by D.A. Boulter
Courtesan
Pelgraff
Pilton's Moon / Vengeance Is Mine
ColdSleep
The Steadfasting
Prey
Enemy of Korgan
Ghost Fleet
In The Company of Cowards
A Throne At Stake
D.A. Boulter’s blog: http://daboulter.blogspot.ca/
D.A. Boulter can be contacted at: mailto:[email protected]
One Trade Too Many
Copyright page
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
AUTHOR’S NOTE
CHAPTER 1
Daiovan Station on the border between Damarg and Pagayan Space
Tony Paxton sat down at the table once more and glared at the retreating backs of the three Damargs as they walked out of The Best Meet & Greet on Daiovan. He turned to Max Treverston and frowned.
“We do the work, and the Yrdens reap the rewards.”
Treverston just shook his head, saying nothing. What, after all, could he say that would suit the occasion?
“I have half a mind to not pass the word on,” Paxton said.
That caused Treverston’s eyes to widen. “I don’t think I’d do that, Tony. Mr Korsh seems a likable enough fellow, but those other two Damargs ... well, I’d hate to cross them, and then meet them later in a dark passageway.”
Paxton sighed, and then nodded. “And they seemed truly disappointed that they wouldn’t be able to meet bloody Jenna Yrden – as if her reputation for violence somehow enhanced her.” Paxton’s face tightened. “Those damned Yrdens. One day, they’ll get what’s coming to them. Mark my words.” He watched the Damargs disappear down the concourse of Daiovan Station. He pressed his lips together, then muttered, “And soon.”
But Max Treverston didn’t hear that. Just as well.
“If the Yrdens succeed, we should be ready to take advantage of it,” Treverston said, hand coming up to rub his jaw. “After all, we have a couple of months to consider all the angles.”
“That we do,” Paxton said. “That we do.”
* * *
Blue Powder orbiting New France
Colleen Yrden sat in the otherwise empty starboard acceleration lounge of the Yrden Lines flagship, Blue Powder, and gazed out to the stars. Their beauty never failed to enchant her.
“I thought I might find you here,” came Clay’s voice from behind her.
She swung the acceleration chair around and allowed her gaze to settle upon the warm smile that her husband sent her way.
“Caught,” she admitted. “Brian’s birthday party just got a little too loud for me. I needed a break. What’s your excuse?”
Clay walked down the stairs to the lowest row of seats, and took the one next to her.
“I missed my wife.”
She reached out and took his hand. “Works for me.”
They both sat quietly, looking out into the vast emptiness.
“A penny for your thoughts.” Clay broke the silence.
She rounded her eyes. “A penny? Do you know what collectors would pay for one in good condition – you wouldn’t offer me a worn one, would you? I could take a month-long holiday on Pelgraff, and still have credits left over.”
“Alone? Leaving me to look after the children all by myself?”
“You’re the captain; delegate.”
He laughed.
She went silent again, taken by the beauty in front of her, the beauty beside her.
“In all that vast emptiness, we found each other,” she finally said. “We grew together, had children, made a life. And now we travel the stars. Can you think of anyone more shot through with luck?”
He squeezed her hand. “We had a rough start, and a few bumps along the way. But, no, I can’t think of anyone.” He gave her hand a tug. “Come on, Brian wants to open his gifts; you don’t reach thirteen years of age every day. And David wants to play in zero-g again. I have the bridge, so you get the joy of it.”
She stuck out her tongue at him.
“Besides, I’ve already had a long day doing inventory on our trade goods. It’s nice to have something in the holds again.”
She laughed. “I’ll trade you the bridge watch for the zero-g room.”
He shook his head. “No, that’s one trade too many for me for the day. Maybe you could talk his Aunt Doreen into taking that duty.”
“Possibly. But everyone’s had a tough few days, getting the ship back into a working concern after the refit. Besides, she’s with them now.” Colleen smiled, the smile whitening the scar on her right cheek that reached almost from the corner of her mouth to her ear. “Nonetheless, I’ll be glad to be on the move again.”
Clay put his arm around her shoulder. “As will we all. I even think that my parents will be glad to see the last of us.”
She nodded. “Speaking of that, I’d better hop a workboat, and go over to say my goodbyes. Strange to think of them staying put on Haida Gwaii, now. Stranger still to think of us commanding Blue Powder.”
The passageways still gave off a slight odour of fresh paint. But they felt more cheerful despite that. Clay and Colleen crossed over to the portside acceleration lounge, where the party still roared.
A soft sponge ball hit her in the head as she walked through the entrance. A harried-looking Doreen spotted them, and grinned.
“Ah, my relief. I think I have several maintenance inspections to complete – shouldn’t take me more than eight or ten hours.”
Clay laughed at the beautiful woman’s mock desperation. “As captain of Blue Powder, I hereby relieve you of all maintenance duty for the remainder of the day.”
Doreen’s face fell, somewhat over-dramatically. “I have to stay here?”
“Until the very end,” Colleen agreed. She looked at the chrono. “Which should be in no more than one hour. A short stint in the zero-g room, and then time for the children to get to bed.”
“One hour, I can take.” She looked around and spotted Brian. “Brian, your Mom and Dad are here. Time to open the presents.”
Gaudy paper flew everywh
ere, and Brian marvelled at the cornucopia of gifts. Colleen watched with pride as he passed two of them over to his younger brother, David, to play with.
“I think we brought him up right,” she whispered to Clay.
“They grow up so fast. I find it difficult to believe that one day he’ll leave us. Seems like we’ll always be a family, together.”
“We will,” Colleen assured him. “No matter what distance separates us, we will always be a family.”
CHAPTER 2
Blue Powder
The alarm klaxon sounded. Everyone stared at the InShip broadcast speakers as the bridge relayed the warning.
“Hull Breach in Engineering! Hull Breach in Engineering. All non-essential personnel to the Catastrophe Core. All others: suit up and to Emergency Stations. Damage Control party to gather in aft Damage Control.”
The announcement repeated.
Colleen gathered up Brian and David, and rushed them to the Catastrophe Core, the best-protected part of the ship. She joined a small stream of other crew with children. Minda, their head trader, grinned at her as she guided people in, counting them off on her checklist.
“That’s everyone. Hatch closing, now.”
She lifted the manual lever that closed the hatch, eschewing its power switch, which might fail in an emergency. The hatch hissed closed.
“Everyone, to your seats and strap in. We may experience loss of gravity.”
She hurried from seat to seat, ensuring that all had their webbing engaged. Some of the younger children cried. Their parents or guardians made sure that each had a spacesick bag ready, should the gravity go.
“I’ll be glad when we’re done with this,” Minda said. She toggled on the InShip. “Bridge, Catastrophe Core. All present; all strapped in. Catastrophe Core sealed.”
“Good work, Minda. We will not lose gravity this time. Release the children and ignore any other alarm unless you hear the klaxon – no need to respond to anything unless the drill turns real.”
“Thank you, Clay.” Minda breathed a sigh of relief. She turned and called out, “You can all unfasten. Snacks at the rear. Readers available for those who want to study.”
As the adults and older children replaced the spacesick bags, Minda walked over to Colleen and took the seat next to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but the InShip Broadcast came back on.
“Prepare to abandon ship. Pilots to your lifeboats and shuttles.”
“Clay’s really working them,” Minda said.
“After four months of refit – with a quarter of the crew overseeing it and half the rest on vacation, while the other half went to other ships – we’re not a team any longer. We need this.”
Despite her words, Colleen agreed with Minda. Clay had the whole crew working hard, maybe too hard. Perhaps she would say something. But, no, he had to do things his own way; she should not interfere.
Minda heard a fight beginning between two of the youngsters, and rose to intervene.
“I guess he wants to get it right – his first captaincy,” Minda said.
“I know. But I’m not getting any sleep,” Colleen complained with a grin that had her scar tightening.
“At least we don’t have any passengers on board.” Minda placed herself between the two squabblers. “Okay, break it up or we’ll put you both in zero-g for a month.”
“Really?” came the eager reply in unison.
“Or we might make you walk all around the ship – on the outside.”
The children laughed at the absurdity of that. “No you won’t,” the young boy told her. “We don’t have our EVA ratings.”
“You don’t?” Minda asked. “Why not?”
“Because we’re only seven. You have to be at least fourteen to get an EVA rating,” the girl answered.
“You’re only seven? You look fourteen.” The children laughed, their fight forgotten. “I’m going to look up your birthdays. If I find out you’re actually fourteen, I’ll make you walk around the ship twice ... yes, on the outside.”
“Well done,” Colleen said when Minda had returned. “You’d make a good mother.”
Minda glared at her. “Oh, no, you don’t. I’m not babysitting for you tonight.”
Colleen shrugged. “I had to try. See, if I’m free, I can maybe whisper in Clay’s ear that we’ve had enough drills.”
Minda shook her head in disgust. “That’s fighting dirty. I should have left you and Clay on Erin.”
The hubbub around them reminded Colleen of the birthday party. “While we’ve this wonderful, relaxing opportunity, let’s go over the route again, and see what other trade goods we might want to take on from Haida Gwaii – or bring up from New France.”
“Good idea.”
They grabbed readers, downloaded the files and put their heads together. Colleen perused the route.
“We’ll be stopping at Pelgraff third, and can pick up comestibles there, so we can ship out light in the food department. They’re going to want more solar arrays. And I think we can afford another food processing unit. We can store it in their shuttle. That’ll save us time there when we unship it.”
Minda shook her head. “You’re playing favourites.”
Colleen smiled. “Pelgraff deserves it. They have so little, and they’re so open and friendly.”
“So you opened the factory, yes, I know. That’s where all your profits from Alistair McGowan’s career go.” She sighed. “And I have to admit that the world-class shuttle will give our own a break. She can carry about triple what one of our ship-class shuttles can. Still favouritism.”
“Good business,” Colleen countered. “Pelgraff is a logical stop between the human worlds and the Pagayan ones. Their dried fruit is like nothing we can get anywhere else. And we always sell the cindra berry juice at Daiovan for a good price. The Pagayans and Damargs love it. Guaranteed profit.”
“True enough. I wonder if the Damargs will ever let a human ship into their space. It would be nice to cut out the Daiovan middlemen. Sometimes I wonder if the Pagayans have asked the Damargs to not let us in so they can profit by the trade.”
“The ones I’ve met on Pelgraff are some of the nicest people I’ve ever come to know; I would find it hard to believe that of them. When we get there, we can ask Tro Vremen, if you wish. He would never lie to me.”
Minda accepted that with a nod. “Perhaps we should. I’d love to be the one to crack the Damarg market. The Treverstons and Paxtons would turn green. They’ve set up their people on Daiovan Station hoping for just that.”
Colleen called her back to business. “We have a chance at about a tonne of tulla wool cloth that’s sitting in our warehouse on the French station. I think we should take it. The Pagayans love it, and perhaps that will get us an in with the Damargs on Daiovan.”
Minda looked up. “There are Damargs trading on Daiovan? When did this happen?”
“I meant traders who dock there. We can try ship-to-ship. And Daiovan does have a trade desk there.”
“For the Pagayans. They’ve never accepted humans before.”
“We’ve never offered tulla wool before.”
Minda laughed. “I think you’re bucking for Head Trader. I should go lie down and leave you to it.”
Colleen’s grin faded. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying—”
A pat on her arm reassured her. “Just joking. But you’ll be head of the Family within a decade, or I’ll give you my five-percent of McGowan – which, by the way, has made me quite wealthy. He’s still as much in demand as ever. Maybe more. What does Erin put in its water?”
Colleen ignored the McGowan compliment, her attention caught by the other, more disturbing comment. “What do you mean, I’ll be Family Head?”
“Jenna’s grooming you for it. Don’t you realize that?” Minda looked at her closely. “No, I guess you don’t. Why do you think Clay got captaincy of our flagship? He’s good, yes, but there are a couple others more deserving. And it’s not because he’s Jenna’s son.”
“Me? You must be joking. What about Brian?”
“You. And I’m not. Brian’s an excellent pilot, a good captain – few better. He’s one of those I mentioned – more deserving of the captaincy of Blue Powder. He’s also a great administrator, and he can be tough. You know that, you’ve seen him at work. But you, you have something he’ll never have.”
Colleen didn’t want to hear that. She knew the direction Minda’s thoughts had taken.
“You can be utterly ruthless if it comes to that. And you’ll go after anything you really believe in, and make it work, one way or another. Take Pelgraff. Everyone else avoided it. They had nothing we really wanted or needed. But you saw something there, and you invested. Well, you and Clay – but I think he just gave in to your wishes to keep the peace in the family. And it has brought us – the Yrdens – profit. You overrode every objection, and invested your own personal fortune when the Family turned you down.”
“They deserved their chance,” Colleen said softly.
“Brian thought so, too, if you remember. He backed you. But you got it done, not him. We all saw that. Jenna especially.”
Colleen looked around, but no one else stood near, all remained engaged in their own activities.
“So, you’re saying that the only reason Clay got his captaincy is because of me?” She didn’t want that, didn’t want to even think it.
Minda laughed. “No, I’m not saying that at all. He would be captain now, even if you had left him after the first McGowan dividends came in. He just wouldn’t be captain of Blue Powder.”
She felt relief at that, but not at the thought that Jenna wanted her as Family Head, taking her position. And Brian must feel resentment. That wouldn’t be good, either. She asked.
“Oh, no, he agrees. When Jenna brought it up, he backed her one hundred percent. He’s more than content with Starfield.”
She would have to have a talk with Jenna. And that sooner than later.
“Fire in the Galley! Fire in the Galley! Fire-fighting crew report to Station Six.”
One Trade Too Many Page 1