Wen Carson found that his fingers trembled. All those wasted years. If she told the truth, his own bosses had done this to themselves – and to him. For what?
“Why?”
“They wanted to crush the Families. That’s all. They wanted a monopoly. When the Families, through risk and loss and hard work, began to make money, they wanted it. Greed.”
The public address came back to life, warning of the acceleration burn.
Carson swung his chair to the front, placing Jaswinder Saroya behind him. He needed to think, to adjust. The burn pushed them back into their seats. Soon, much too soon, they jumped. What had she discovered that allowed them to do this? Then a thought occurred. He turned his chair back, turned his face to her, and caught her gaze.
“They took you in, the Yrdens? They gave you sanctuary?”
“They did.” Her eyes stared straight into his. She all but reached out to him with them, asking for trust, offering comradeship.
“Take Angela,” he said, surprising her. “They’ll kill her; they’ll hunt her down and kill her even though she knows nothing. Give her sanctuary, too. Let her lose herself for a year or ten. She’s a good kid. She won’t betray you.”
Jaswinder sat back and digested that. She didn’t ask any stupid questions. Finally she spoke.
“And what about you, Mr Carson? Won’t they come after you, too?”
“I know nothing, and I can make people believe it. She knows nothing, and she won’t be able to. And if they do come for me, and kill me, what does it matter? I should have been on the bridge. I should be dead. I’ve lost everything, and nothing matters.”
“It matters, Mr Carson. However, I’ll take your request to Matt. I can promise nothing. I can tell you one thing: he won’t accept this without knowing more. You’ll have to explain it to us. How can we convince Angela to stay without knowing why we should?”
“I can convince her.”
Jaswinder smiled. “Perhaps, but I think it’s a long shot.”
CHAPTER 6
Venture
Thursday 27 May
Wen Carson’s reticence provided Jaswinder with a problem that soon became a headache. An hour’s discussion with Bettina offered a possible way out of the impasse. But, before meeting with the Amalgamated Shipping pilot, she visited Angela Fulton, and asked one simple question. Then she called for Carson to meet her in her office.
“You asked to see me, Ms Yrden?” Carson asked after she bade him enter.
“I did, Mr Carson. Please close the door, and take a seat.”
Carson stiffened slightly, and his eyes took on a wary cast. At least it beat the dislike that he usually directed her way. Nonetheless, he did as asked, and took the chair on the other side of her desk. She considered him for a moment, then sighed.
He spoke first, throwing her off balance.
“Picture of your family?” he asked, indicating the picture on her desk.
“Yes. My husband, Johannes; son, Owen; and daughter Rebecca.”
“Good-looking family,” he responded. “Not here?”
“My son prepares for his final exams, even as we speak. The others are elsewhere.” Then she understood. “I rebuilt, Mr Carson. You can, too. However, I didn’t call you here to discuss that.
“Mr Carson, I am convening this meeting as an official dialogue between myself, as the ranking member of the Yrden Family Line on board Venture, and you, as the ranking official of Amalgamated Shipping.”
He didn’t like that at all, she could see.
“Ranking member of Amalgamated?”
“Yes. We wish to discuss the return of Amalgamated 684’s Lifeboat-3 to its rightful owners upon drop from hyperspace in Sol System. As we found you in command, with all senior officers from Amalgamated 684 presumably dead, we must deal with you as the defacto captain of both Lifeboat-3 and all remains of 684.”
She could see that he liked it less and less, and distrust betrayed itself on his face.
“What are you doing? You can claim her as salvage – flotsam, if you will.”
“We could, were she abandoned, Captain Carson, but you did not abandon her. You and your crew—”
“My crew?”
“Ms Fulton. Unless you claim her as passenger? That would put a different light on dealing with her. We would have to—”
“You said you’d wait,” he accused her. “You said you’d take it up with Matt Yrden, head of your line.” His initial dislike of her had returned full force, as expected.
“I did. However, Captain Yrden made me aware of our responsibilities with respect to property belonging to another company: in this case, Lifeboat-3. I also approached Ms Fulton. She looks forward to seeing her father, and letting him know that she’s still alive.”
Carson stood abruptly, face dark with anger. “You can’t do that. They’ll kill her. They’ll kill me, and then they’ll come after you.”
Jaswinder sat back, and rested her chin in her palm. “You leave me no options, Captain Carson—”
“Stop calling me that. I’m no captain, and you know it.” He began pacing in the small office, three paces one way, then three paces back. “Why are you doing this?”
“We have obligations, Pilot Carson,” she acceded to his wish. “Obligations to your company, obligations to the League, obligations to you and Ms Fulton. You would have me kidnap her, hold her against her wishes? Duty demands that we make known to all shipping the distress call we picked up from the platform. Duty demands that we release Ms Fulton to the care of her employer and to her family.”
She opened a file on her reader. “Would you like to read the relevant sections under Maritime Law – as applicable to Space?”
Carson stopped pacing. “You are forcing my hand.”
“Yes Mr. Carson, I am. I need to know what you know. Should I take any measure contrary to the law, and find that you have misled me in any way, I might bring down destruction upon my Line. I cannot afford to take that chance.”
“I can’t. Things will get out of control.” He glared at her, as if willing her to understand – or perhaps just out of hatred.
Jaswinder stood. “Mr. Carson. Things went beyond your control the moment you uploaded the distress call to the beacon. You cannot take back that act, nor ask me to pretend we didn’t receive that message. Our whole crew knows. All secrecy died the moment you uploaded. Now, you have only two options left open to you. First, you present me with the relevant facts, and trust that I’ll do my best for all concerned. Or you deny me that information, and I follow protocol.”
“You bitch. You’d allow her to die.”
“This meeting is at an end. You may leave.”
Carson stood still, trembling with anger. Jaswinder wondered if she’d have to signal for the help she knew waited inside the next office, the Captain’s Day Cabin. She prepared to trip the alarm with her foot.
“You may leave, Mr Carson.”
“No.”
He turned to confront her, and her toe edged closer to the trigger. She could see the hatred and anger in every line of his body, in his face and, especially, in his eyes. She gave an inward shudder. The last time she’d seen something similar, Richardson had then tried to choke the life out of her.
“No?” She’d give him three seconds. She dared not let him get close.
His shoulders slumped. “No. You win. Come with me to Lifeboat-3, and I’ll show you what I have.”
“I’ll call Shiro, then we’ll go.”
“No. Just you and me. Alone.”
She froze. If she went with him, she’d have no chance if he decided to attack her. He’d wait until something distracted her. She’d have no one she could call to for help. He must have seen something on her face, for he smiled. She saw not a trace of humour or good feeling in that smile.
“You asked me to trust you. You win. I’m trusting you. Now, I’m asking you to trust me. And, believe me, you don’t want any of your people to know that we’re going there, or to even
guess what we might find.” He waited, eyes bright, watching her every move.
He had no way to escape the ship if he did attack her, but what good would that do her if she lay dead? She couldn’t take the chance. She’d have Shiro and her people tear Lifeboat-3 apart, piece by piece. She didn’t dare face another incident like that with Richardson. The Family needed her.
He stood, quiet, though intense, waiting for her answer. She weighed her options.
“Mr Carson, Angela Fulton told me that you were the nicest man on your ship. I’m going to believe her. Come with me.”
She walked past him, and opened the door. Before they walked down the passageway, she knocked at the Captain’s door, then opened it. “Back to work, everyone,” she said.
Jaswinder and Carson walked down the long corridor, dropped down to the cargo deck, and entered Hold Number 3.
The hold lay empty save for the lifeboat. Carson used his key to enter it. The air smelled stale, for Venture’s people had powered down the craft, including the circulators. Carson pulled open the access panel behind the flight deck, then pulled up the floor, and dropped down, leaving Jaswinder waiting. From a cranny, he pulled a datastick, and showed it too her.
“They never would have found it,” he told her.
“Perhaps not,” she admitted.
“Take the Nav chair.”
She went in, and did as he requested. That put him between her and the exit. He sat next to her in the pilot’s seat, and inserted his licence. The board lit up. He plugged in the datastick, then turned to her.
“Are you ready for your world to change?”
* * *
Topside One - Earth Orbit
Saturday 29 May
Brian Richardson stared at the itineraries. Then he scrolled through the manifests, a hard look upon his face. They made money, no doubt about it, but not near as much as they would had they the Family League secrets – be they routes or whatever Jaswinder Saroya had discovered. He needed to get them. If he wanted to finally best the League, and the Yrdens in particular, his only hope lay there.
A blip caught his attention, and he switched screens. A ship had dropped from Hyperspace, low exit velocity. A trader. He waited for further information. Venture. Her ship. Bloody bitch. She had done this to him, to Amalgamated. She and her damned husband’s family.
The desk comm chimed.
“Yes?”
“Message coming in for you, sir,” his secretary reported. “A Jaswinder Yrden on the tradeship Venture.”
He froze. Her. What could the bitch possibly want from him?
“For me, personally?” he asked, trying to fight his way past the hatred.
“No, sir, to the highest ranking Amalgamated official on this platform.”
Did she know? He’d see from her reaction.
“Put her through.” He turned on the camera, and smiled pleasantly into it.
He remembered the face, not as young as when he had last seen it, now with a sprinkle of grey in the raven hair. When the return signal reached Venture, her face tightened. So. She hadn’t known.
“You,” she said, voice lacking all warmth.
“Brian Richardson, Chief Operations Officer, Amalgamated Shipping, at your service, Ms Yrden. To what do I owe the pleasure of this communication?” Let her chew on that. Let her believe that he didn’t strangle her every night in his thoughts. He waited the several seconds for the comm lag. Her reaction pleased him. It looked like she’d swallowed something sour.
“Mr Richardson. The Yrden Family, as head of the Family Trading League, requires you to meet us aboard Haida Gwaii at your earliest convenience. I’ll be there in six hours. I suggest that you be not far behind.”
Richardson maintained his calm expression, but inside he fumed. Ordering him around like a flunky? He’d be damned if he’d – Haida Gwaii? They wanted him aboard Haida Gwaii, where no TPC person had ever set foot, instead of FTL-1, the Family Trading League base? He’d go. But he’d twist her tail first.
“If it’s so important, you can come to the Amalgamated Office on Topside One.”
Her eyes went flat. “If you wish to bring down the largest suit in the history of this world upon your company. Otherwise, you’ll follow my instructions. Remember the purpose of your last visit with us, and keep your usual comments to yourself. All I require in response is a one word answer: Yes, or No.”
Richardson fought to contain his rage. He’d show the bitch. Eventually he’d have her in his hands once again.
“Yes. Richardson out.” He turned off the camera, then flung his cup across the room, where, had it not been made of high-impact plastic, it would have shattered against the wall. Instead, it hit with a heavy thunk, and dropped to the carpet on the deck.
He flicked the comm back on. “Get me Kevin Geller from Legal.”
Geller’s face lit up the screen within the minute.
“Mr Richardson?”
“Kevin. Pack a bag with a change of clothes. I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone, but we leave for Haida Gwaii as soon as I can get a shuttle. And, no, before you ask, I don’t know what it’s all about. The Yrdens have threatened Amalgamated with a suit the like of which will stun our board.”
Geller opened his mouth to speak, but Richardson cut him off.
“Just do it. See you at the shuttle lounge.”
After ordering a shuttle, Richardson replayed the recording from Venture. Remember the purpose of his last meeting with her? Had the company instituted some spy caper without his knowledge? Why would that bother her unless sabotage were involved? The hairs on his neck rose at that thought. He’d better call Corporate HQ on Earth to find out.
He stopped his hand halfway to the comm. Keep your usual comments to yourself. What had she meant by that? His usual comments? He had no usual comments – at least not where it concerned her. Had she given him a warning that only he should understand? Screw HQ, he’d find out for himself, then act.
“Karen, I’m leaving for the Shuttle Lounge. Anyone needs me, they can reach me at Haida Gwaii. And, if they do, they’d better really need me. I’ll want a change of clothes. Get someone to bring me my ready bag.”
* * *
Venture
Saturday 29 May
Matt’s face came on the screen. He looked tired, but happy to see her. “Hello, Jaswinder. This is a lovely surprise. If you have any free time, come on over and see what we’ve done.”
She blinked twice. If she had any free time? Then it hit her. The Yrden-1 code. Only she and Bettina knew that Venture had dumped its load specifically to bring her back – and Fred Paxton, of course.
“Good to see you, too, Matt. Actually, I’m planning on docking there soonest. And I have a surprise for you, too. Remember Brian Richardson?”
Matt’s face darkened when he received her words. “What about him?” His voice had gone far from friendly.
“I’ve invited him to Haida Gwaii for an informal meeting. He should arrive in about six hours, same as me. Anyone Heads or Reps from the Families on board?” This should be good. She waited.
“You’ve done what? He’s not welcome here. I’ll call him up and cancel that. If you must meet with him, do it on FTL-1 or aboard Venture.”
“No, Matt. It happens on Haida Gwaii. Have a conference room ready. Bettina will shuttle me and two others over. We’ll all take part. Now, again, have you anyone from the Families on board?”
Word that the captain of Venture would shuttle her over personally gave Matt pause. He stared into the screen, trying to read her face.
“Bill Tannon’s on Haida Gwaii, just over from FTL-1 to get an idea of what operations he can shift here, and when. Should I send for anyone else on FTL-1? Maybe hook up a vid-link?”
“Oh, no,” she smiled. “It’s not that important. I’d love to see Bill, though, and maybe he can clear up a point or two for us. Do ask him if he’s free. See you in six.” She closed the connection before he could ask any questions.
“Well, Jaswinder, he certainly took that well.” Bettina looked as grim as she felt.
She smiled, to relieve the tension. “After twenty years, he knows when not to push at me. But he’ll want answers.”
Bettina smiled back, not looking as though she wanted to. “He won’t like them.”
Jaswinder glanced at her chrono. “It’s going to be 11pm Station Time when we get there. We’d both better get a couple of hours sleep – if we can. And I need to finish packing. I have a feeling Matt’s going to move me over to Haida Gwaii for the foreseeable future.”
CHAPTER 7
Space Station Haida Gwaii in Earth Orbit
Sunday 30 May
“Welcome back to Haida Gwaii, Jaswinder.”
Jaswinder Yrden gave her brother-in-law, Matt, a tired smile. “I’m starting to feel my age, Matt.”
He laughed as he ran his fingers through his grey hair. “And I’m starting to look mine. You, however, look as good as you did when I first met you.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. She had worn the clothes and make-up of a prostitute at that meeting.
Matt’s head went back a centimetre, and he turned his palms up. “At that first dinner,” he corrected himself, chagrined, as he opened his arms to her.
“Of course.” She walked into his hug, and returned it. She took advantage of his ear being close to her mouth, and whispered. “Why the sudden call? Your father?”
“Later,” he whispered back before releasing her. “Let me show you to your rooms. Richardson arrives in about 45 minutes. You’ll have time to refresh yourself.”
Not With A Whimper: Survivors Page 6
