Privateer Tales 3: Parley (8 page)

“Oh frak,” she said and her hand flew up to her mouth
again. “Sorry.”

I looked up at her. I’d had the good sense to twist us around so neither of us hit anything hard. I was real glad no one else was there to see it, however. It was the very definition of a compromising situation. We both started laughing.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think about that.”

“Payback’s a bitch,” I said.

She slugged me in the arm. “No cussing.”

“Okay, okay. How about I get dressed and I’ll see you topside in a couple.”

“I just wanted coffee.” She was still a little embarrassed.

I reattached my prosthetic and pulled on my vac-suit. She sure smelled good. Frak, I really needed to get those thoughts out of my head.

I met her in the cockpit. Whatever embarrassment she had felt was gone by the time I got up there.

“The AI could do this for you, but you might as well get the experience. It’s generally considered best practice to stop the burn, detach, fly to the other end, reattach and then start the deceleration. It introduces fewer non-linear stresses on the string. That said, we don’t have that option since the pirates destroyed the coupling on the other barge. Any idea how you might accomplish circumvolving?”

“Seems like the most obvious way would be to use the joysticks in a way which would cause us to lift.”

“You’re a quick one. That’s it, exactly. The AI will warn you if you start to twist, but generally if you’re close, it will just make up the difference.”

“Ready?” We had already dropped out of the burn and the AI was waiting for us to flip over one hundred eighty degrees to start our deceleration.

“Make it so.”

I shook my head and tipped the joysticks in. We slowly flipped over. Fortunately, the vid screen showed me the horizontal line I was aiming for and I slid down into position. At this point anyone who had grown up on a planet would be in real trouble because we were now technically pointed downward. But as spacers this wasn’t much of a problem for us.

“Good job,” Ada said.

“Thanks. So how do you guys set up your trade routes? TradeNet?”

“If we can’t line up something better, we use TradeNet. Recently, we’d been hauling for Precast. It was good money. They supplied the string and we ran out to the small mom-and-pop claims and haul
ed ore for ‘em.”

“I’m trying to figure out if I should use TradeNet as my primary or as a backup.”

“Out of the box, you’ll need to use them,” she said. “You won’t be able to make the contacts otherwise.”

“Perfect, thanks.”

I started punching in details about the trip we wanted to take and spent the next two hours setting up a few different scenarios. Most of the work I had to do was just inserting our two ships into the TradeNet system. I set an alert on cargo headed to Jeratorn as well as an alert for barge strings coming from there.

Ada seemed to enjoy helping me with the
Operator’s license studying. She knew most of it, but there were a few things she’d forgotten. It wasn’t really a terrible way to pass the time.

With only two days left to Mars, I received a communication from Tabby.

“Heya, Liam, that’s so exciting that you’re coming here. We get Saturday afternoon and Sunday off. I just have to be back before 2200 on Sunday. Is Nick coming? I’m super busy, but I’ll make sure I have my weekend clear. I gotta run to class. See ya this weekend.”

I breathed a deep sigh of happy relief. I wasn’t sure I’d survive if I didn’t get a chance to see her. I knew in my heart she was the one for me, but I’ll be darned if gorgeous women weren’t always showing up in my life and causing unwanted distractions.

By the time we were a day out, I’d studied about as much as I was going to. I was scoring in the high nineties on the practice tests, but Ada informed me that the actual test was harder. I only needed a seventy percent to pass and even then the score wasn’t recorded, only the pass or fail.

“If you blow this you can’t take it again for forty-five days and it’s another two hundred fifty m-creds.” Ada said. I could hear my mom’s school teacher voice sometimes when she spoke.

“Yup. I’m doing it.” An hour and a half later I finished the test and passed. They didn’t tell me how I scored but I didn’t really care.

“Now you just need to finish your hours,” she said.

“Let’s see how many I have.” I punched it up so it would display on the screen.

“What? That doesn’t look right.” Ada
looked at me curiously.

The display read thirty-five hundred, twenty-four hours.

“You’ve got a year and a half in the chair already?”

“Ore haulers. Life of an asteroid miner.”

“That’s fantastic. Pay for your license then.”

I did as she suggested. It was rather anti-climactic.

“You’re licensed to bring us in to dock now. With me on board, you won’t even have to get AI oversight.”

“You think that’s a good idea?” I asked.

“Why not. I’ve done it hundreds of times. You have to learn sometime. Anyway, Precast’s dock isn’t near anyone really. It’ll be easy.”

“Are you dropping off the barges with Precast? I thought you’d filed a claim of salvage,” I said.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Because of your deal, they waived the penalty on our original contract.”

“Nice. So what’ll you do after all this?” I asked.

“Know anyone looking for a freighter captain?”

“What about you and your dad’s business?”

“He’s done. He wants to retire. He’s giving me part of the insurance payout from the loss of
Baux
, but I’m out of a job.”

“I don’t think you want to get involved in our next gig. We’re headed into pirate territory.”

“So, what? You don’t want me along?” Man, she could go from happy to grumpy in a hurry.

“No, I’m not saying that. It’s going to be really dangerous.”

“And I can’t handle it?”

“No, you’re plenty tough. It’s not that.”

“Then what?”             

“I like you Ada. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” It didn’t come out the way I wanted it to.

“Liam, I understand the risk, but I want to do something that matters. And I don’t think about you that way.”

Oh crap, I’d really messed this up. “No, I didn’t mean that.”

“What, so you don’t like me?”

“No. I mean yes. But not that way.”

“So do you or don’t you?”

“What? Like you?” I felt like a fighter who’d taken one too many punches in a fight.

“No, need a captain for the freighter?”

“Yes, of course we do.”

“Good then, it’s settled. Wake me up when we’re a thousand kilos from the dock.” She pulled herself out of the chair and slid down the ladder.

“Look Captain, we need to get this resolved. I feel like you’re stonewalling me,” Qiu Loo said.

“Have you spent much time on a mining colony? If we show up there with a half loaded ship and no contract to haul ore, we’re going to draw a lot of unwanted attention. I’ll get a load put together, but it takes work.”

“I still don’t feel you’re prioritizing this mission, Captain.”

“Let’s be clear, Lieutenant. I don’t know what this mission is, other than dropping you off.”

“Is that why you’re dragging your heels? You’re miffed about not being read in?”

“Not fair, Qiu. I’m not dragging my heels. You’re definitely holding back on us though. If all you want is a taxi, then there are a hundred cheaper ways to get that done. You asked us, remember?”

“This
discussion isn’t productive.”

“Agreed. We’ll have the
Adela Chen
docked by 1500 and then Nick and I have some things to get through. How about you and I sit down with Nick after that and we can talk about schedule and expectations?”

“I’d like that,” she said.

“Hoffen out.” I terminated the comm. Damn, but she was exhausting.

We were about twenty thousand kilometers from Mars. One of the great features of the Fujitsu tug we were flying was the ability to change the orientation of the cockpit by rotating around the ladder opening. For the final two hundred thousand kilometers I’d swiveled around so I could catch the first view of Mars. The glow from around the engines was so bright that it wasn’t until we were within fifty thousand kilometers that I was finally able to make it out.

The scale of a planet is hard to understand if you’re from one of the colonies. As we approached Mars, it just kept growing. Precast Products' refining platform orbited Mars at eight hundred kilometers. At that distance, the planet would likely fill my entire view from the cockpit.

I slid down the ladder and knocked on the bunk room door. “Ada, we’re getting pretty close, you want to come up?”

She opened the door. “I’ll be right there. I was thinking, once we unload the string, you could use our slip on Puskar Stellar’s orbital station. It’s not big enough for both ships but you could leave the freighter there until we take off again.”

“Are you sure you still want to come?”

“Yes. Are you sure you want to have this conversation?”

I knew when to let it go.
“Nope. See you topside.”

After a few minutes, Ada slipped into the other pilot’s chair.

“Oh, good, you rotated the cockpit. We’ll slide in like this at Precast,” she said.

“I’m going to tell Nick to meet us at your dock at Puskar. Do they have any public slips?”

“Yes, loads of them. I’ll send him the info.” Ada shot a message over to him from her reading pad. Less than twenty seconds later she announced, “That was fast, he already responded and said they’d meet us there.”

“That’s Nick all right.”

We both watched as
Sterra's Gift
cut across our field of vision, accelerating toward their destination.

“Time to get busy,” Ada said.

“Pardon?” I had a dumb smirk on my face.

“Oh … Oh you’re terrible.” Her medium brown skin gained a slight shade of crimson. “Not what I meant. Initiate contact with Precast and they’ll give us the exact spot to drop the string.”

Establish contact with Precast Products, request docking instructions
, I said to the AI.

“Good, that’ll do it. Our job from this point out is pretty straightforward. They’ll give us a zone to drop it in, we just need to make sure the load has a zero delta with the refinery.”

“We just leave it?”

“Yes. They have their own tug system that
takes the material to the refinery.”

“How do the barges get back to the colonies?”

“Precast will contract them.”

“You have a contact at Precast I could talk to?”

“You really want to talk to them? They’re jerks.”

“Your lawyer was the idiot. That was a heck of a clause to mess up.”

“I suppose ... I have a contact.” She swiped at her reading pad. “There you go.”

I sent them a message with instructions about our intended destination and timing, as well as proof of our bond.

As with most complex things on a spaceship, the AI did the vast majority of the work. It was our job to make sure we had instructed the AI correctly. The
Adela Chen
and its string of barges slid neatly into the pre-arranged location and the engines spun down. I instructed the AI to disconnect us and returned the cockpit to its normal forward orientation.

“Well executed, Mr. Hoffen, and congratulations on your first official heavy freight load.”

“Congratulations to you as well, Ms. Chen. I hope everything works out with Precast.”

“Out of my hands now,” she said.

Set course for Chen Family slip at Puskar Stellar orbital docking station
.

“You’ll want to let the AI take it in from here,”
she said.

“Why’s that?”

“You’ll see.”

Engage autopilot.

The freighter pulled back gently, turned a graceful arc, and sailed toward the planet. Ada took joy in pointing out many of the different landmarks of Mars, both natural and manmade. The closer we got, however, the more traffic increased. It finally became almost unbearable. If I’d been flying manually I’d have been terrified. As it was, I felt a cold sweat break out on my back. I’d never been so grateful to stop sailing as I was once we finally docked. It would have been one thing with
Sterra's Gift
but the controls of
Adela Chen
were still too unfamiliar to me.

“You get used to it, but I didn’t think a rock jockey like yourself would be expecting the traffic.”

I punched her arm gently. “Careful who you’re calling rock jockey.”

The spaceport above Puskar Stellar was gigantic - I estimated four kilometers long and a kilometer wide. At the center of the station, a tethered space elevator extended downward to the city of Puskar Stellar. I hoped we’d get a chance to visit. I’d never been in a city that was home to millions of people.

“Cheap seats out here. We have a time-share arrangement. It takes longer to get over to the elevator but the price is right,” Ada said.

“We’ve got to be a couple of kilometers out.”

“Two point four kilometers to be exact. Don’t sweat it, there’s a tram we can catch.”

“I’ve got work to do on
Sterra's Gift
. We’re planning to sail in ten days. That work for you?”

“Yes. I’ll be ready. Let me know if anything changes.”

“Roger that.”

I helped Ada carry her bags off the ship to a tram platform.

“Thanks Liam … for everything.” She gave me a quick hug and stepped onto the tram.

It was 1630. Frak. My meeting with Qiu was in less than thirty minutes.

Give me a route to Sterra's Gift
.

My AI projected a route, overlaying my vision. It was subtle, but it appeared there was a line of green vapor leading from my current position to where I needed to go. It was the sort of thing that could be configured according to a person's needs. Some people preferred to have it show up on the ground or as a blinking orb in the distance. The variety was endless. A small contrail of vapor was my current thing.

I jogged through the concourse. It wasn’t that far and I traveled light – just my blaster pistol in a holster strapped to my waist. I placed my hand on a panel next to an airlock. The gangplank between the slip and the ship’s airlock was pressurized, so all I needed to do was unlock and push my way in.

Marny saw me in the hallway and gave a conspiratorial grin. “Heya, Cap. Welcome aboard. Oh, and you’re late.”

I rolled my eyes at her but quickened my pace all the same.

“Captain on the bridge,” Nick said when I entered.

“Heya, buddy.” It had only been six days but I’d missed him.

Qiu Loo was seated at the engineering station. I nodded to her. “Lieutenant Loo.”

“Captain.” I tried to read her expression but got nothing.

“Would you give us a few minutes, Lieutenant?”

She didn’t respond other than to stalk off the bridge. I closed the door behind her.

“Any advice on that?” I looked toward the door.

“Nope.”

“Okay. Let me deal with it. Any luck on finding an auctioneer for our load?”

“Yup. Stevedores will be here in an hour.”

“Any problems on the legal end?” We’d liberated the cases from a pirate base. I had no illusions that they were anything but stolen goods.

“Ordena’s on it, he’s working with the auctioneers.”

“What’s that going to cost?” We’d first met Jeremy Ordena on Colony 40. He was a sloppy looking, easy to underestimate, slightly greasy lawyer. I had mixed feelings about working with him, but no doubt he would get the job done.

“Five percent.”

I sighed but didn’t argue.

“How about repairs and munitions load-out?”

“We’re scheduled for 1000 tomorrow at the Coolidge Yard. Navy’s giving us a good deal on armor. We’ll have to pay cost on the supplies.”

“How much?”

“Fifty thousand.”

I whistled.

“New stuff according to Belcose. Very hard for smaller slug throwers to penetrate. Also, we’ll super harden the captain’s quarters and the non-glass portion of the bridge.”

“How long will they have the ship?” I asked.

“Eight days and that’s only because Loo put ‘em in a headlock. They’re going to run triple shifts on it.”

“That’s progress. How about you get us a nice place to stay? Tabby’s staying with us Saturday night.”

“Which Saturday? Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow for sure, I didn’t ask about next week.”

“That works out well, the shipyard orbits over the town of Coolidge, which is near the Naval Academy. I’ll stick to that area and find us accommodations.”

“Perfect. Let me grab Loo.” I found Qiu and Marny chatting in the galley and asked them both to join us on the bridge.

“Lieutenant, it looks like you were successful in getting us an expedited repair schedule. According to Nick, that puts us at eight days. I need to know when you will fill us in on the details of this mission.”

“We’ve been over this. The mission is too sensitive to read you in.”

“No, I get it. Fact is we have no interest in the mission per se, but we need to understand what ‘light fire support’ means. You can’t possibly expect us not to prepare for that.”

“Fair enough. If I’m successful, that won’t come into play.”

“And if you’re not?”

“The most likely case is I simply get dispatched.”

“As in …”

“Killed. Yes.”

“How many hostiles are you estimating?” Marny asked.

“Could be as many as fifty.”

Marny whistled. “That’s a frak-tonne of baddies. Are you extracting some sort of payload?”

“Personnel extraction,” Loo answered.

“Do we have any budget for crew?” Marny looked to Nick.

“Budget should handle up to two additional,” Nick replied.

“Lieutenant, can you hook us up with some gear? Mostly standard tac stuff. I can work with your quartermaster once we have crew set,” Marny said.

“We’ll need it back,” Qiu Loo said.

Marny winked at Loo. “That’s the spirit.” Qiu wasn’t completely sure what to make of her comment.

“We’ll be ready to go in ten days unless there are delays on the repair.” I said.

“What if you still can’t find a load?” Qiu asked.

“I’ll make it work. Worst case is we leave the tug behind.”

“Seems like that’d be a good idea in either case,” she said.

“Not your call, Lieutenant. I’ll stay out of your business if you stay out of mine.”

“Understood. Anything else?” she asked.

We all stood with her and I extended my hand as a friendly gesture. She was hesitant but accepted it. “See you in ten days,” I said.

We all watched her exit the bridge and I gave a sigh, then said. “Let me spend some time working on loads, then I’ll come find you guys.”

I still couldn’t see any perfect matches for our load configuration. If I was willing to deadhead the tug to Delta there was a two-barge string that needed to come back. Delta was a lot closer to Jeratorn than Mars, but it was a weak proposition.

Filling
Sterra's Gift
was going to be ridiculously easy. There was enough material headed to Jeratorn to fill our cargo hold at least twice and we’d make decent money on each trip. I suspected the
recent pirate activity on the station
description in TradeNet was causing most captains to avoid it. I’d keep looking during the next ten days to see if I could get the tug a load.