Let's Make a Deal (Bob and Nikki Book 11)

by Jerry Boyd

  “Yes, Boss. Nobody wants to repeat that mess Phonelia got into.”

  “How about you, Joshua? What do you have going on?”

  “I’m trying to figure out the route for my next trading trip. I want to stay in the less traveled colonies, so I keep a low profile with the walnut cartel.”

  “I’ll let you boys get back to it, then.” After they left, Lakki said, “I looked up that search the bots did on the fleet courses, and I have a similar algorithm running on the government files. Any more ideas for how we could get a handle on which files are important?”

  “I don’t have anything. I wish Nikki was here, she might have some ideas.” She walked in while I was saying that. She asked, “Ideas about what, Caveman?”

  “How to figure out which Squirrel files actually have useful information on how their government works.”

  “What all does Lakki have running so far?”

  Lakki said, “I’m running a search on the training history of known political figures, and I have a search like the bots used on the strategy files running as well.” Nikki sat down, and they started talking hacker. It was clear I was no longer needed, so Snitz and I wandered over to the bridge. Saucy called out, “Commodore on the bridge!”

  I replied, “As you were.” Topper asked, “Need something, Boss?”

  “Nothing in particular. How is our corner of the galaxy today?”

  “Seems quiet, Boss.”

  “Have you heard yet when we can expect the Ambassador to return?”

  “No, I haven’t. Black Beauty and Midnight have been running patrols to make sure there isn’t a change of management under way, though. They haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary, yet.”

  “How many ships does Snappi have back under reliable management?”

  “Two, so far. He has people interviewing officers on a third, but it will be another couple of hours before they clear it.”

  “Saucy, get me Captain Sally, on the Shepherd.”

  Sally’s voice came over the speaker, “Yes, Boss?”

  “I’d like you to jump out to where Captain Sloan was observing earlier, and keep a watch for ships headed this way from Squirrel space. If the Emperor decided to send another fleet, they should be arriving this evening, give or take.”

  “On it, Boss. Any special instructions?”

  “Don’t get caught, jump out if you are discovered.”

  “Understood. You need info, not heroes.”

  “Exactly. See you soon.”

  “Later, Boss.” The Shepherd jumped out. The other carriers changed formation to compensate. Saucy said, “Call from the Ambassador, Boss.”

  “Put him on.”

  “Good morning, Commodore. We’ll be over shortly. Sorry for the delay.”

  “No problem. Oversleep?”

  “My nephew had some business to take care of this morning. Nothing major, and he has it taken care of, now.”

  “See you in a few minutes, then.”

  “See you then.” I turned to Saucy. “You have records of all comm activity, don’t you?”

  “Yes, Boss.”

  “How often does the Ambassador call to announce his intention to come over?” He messed with his console. “The only time was when he first got here, Boss.”

  “That’s what I thought. Tell Andre to turn out in the landing bay.”

  “On it, Boss.”

  “Send to the fleet, ‘Attack possible. Be alert.’ and sign it as coming from me.”

  Topper asked, “Do you want the conn, Boss?”

  “More than you know, but I better get down to the landing bay, just in case I’m overreacting.”

  “What are your orders?”

  “If they start something, finish it, quick as you can, with as little bloodshed as possible.”

  “Understood.” I headed out to the landing bay. Snitz started to follow, and I told him to stay with Topper. In the transit, Taz came over the speaker. “Boss, we’re shadowing the ship the Ambassador is supposed to be on. It reads way too many people.”

  “You don’t have a stunner on that ship, do you?”

  “No, Boss. All the power goes to the sensors.”

  “We’ll deal with the problem when they land. Thanks for the heads-up.”

  “All part of the service, Boss.” Andre was waiting when I got off the transit. He said, “Boss, you’re not going in that bay. Sorry.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it isn’t safe. Taz told us that ship is full of people, when it should just be the Ambassador and his nephew. They’re attacking again, and they’re going to be gunning for you. You can order me to let you in, if you like, but remember, you’re the one who ordered us all to get nanny protocol, and your order would be against your best interest.”

  “Understood. If they have any stunner resistant people left, they’ll be on that ship. Be prepared to escalate to lethal force.”

  “Yes, Boss. I had that figured out.”

  “You also get that there’s a good chance of them having the Ambassador aboard as a hostage?”

  “Now that you mention it, that does sound like something they would pull. Thanks, Boss.”

  “No problem. I have something I need to take care of, since I’m out of pocket.” I got out my comm, and called Dingus. “Morning, Commodore. What can I do for you?”

  “Dingus, I’m off the bridge. Can you command the fleet until I get back there?”

  “Sure, Bob. What do you expect?”

  “I expect them to have sent whatever stunner resistant people they have left on the Ambassador’s ship, probably with the Ambassador as a hostage. Andre will do his best to rectify that situation, but I have to think they’ve gotten the idea that I’m one of a kind, and if they hit us while I’m down here to receive Natti, they can defeat us. Would you be so kind as to show them the error in their ways?”

  “With pleasure, Commodore.”

  “Wilson out.”

  “Sloan out.” Andre asked, “Aren’t you going to head back to the bridge, Boss?”

  “Nope. I want to be here, in case we wind up having to negotiate for Natti.”

  “What do you think they will do?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past them to put him in a bomb vest that will trigger if the guards go down.”

  “You think nasty, Boss. I’m glad you’re on our side.” The ship supposedly carrying the Ambassador landed. Andre let me watch through a window, but he hovered close, ready to pull me out of the line of fire if things turned ugly. I knew he was watching out for me, but feeling his hand in the rescue handle on the back of my uniform didn’t do anything for my state of mind. As I had feared, Natti came down the ramp being held prisoner by some fellow with a knife to his throat. I heard a couple of our Squirrel-derived rifles go off, and the elbow on his knife arm looked quite a bit less functional. He dropped the knife, and Natti ran toward our Marines. Niner-Deuce called out, “Exit the ship with your hands up, slowly.” I didn’t understand why his lips didn’t match his words, until I looked down and saw that my badge was running. His answer was rifle fire from inside the ship. Several flash bangs went flying through the hatch and into the ship. They were followed closely by Marines. Shortly, they began marching out prisoners. I looked at Andre, and he nodded. I went into the bay, and found Natti. “Good morning, Ambassador. Thank you for providing my boys with a little exercise.”

  “Morning, Bob. I see now why your people call you Asshole. A little exercise, you say? It seemed like more than that to me.”

  “I can see how it would, you being the guest of honor and all.”

  “Thankfully, this was the only ship they took over, this time.”

  “Is Snappi okay?”

  “He’s fine, they just put him off the ship before we came across.”

  “That’s strange, I didn’t get a message from him that your ship wasn’t friendly.”

  “I better call, and send someone to make sure he’s alright, then. I didn’t think they did any
thing to him, but maybe I didn’t see everything.” He got out his comm, and called his ship. It took him a bit to get ahold of someone who knew what was going on. He talked with them a minute, and hung up. He said, “They stunned him before we left, so he couldn’t warn you. They expect him to wake up soon.”

  “As long as he is okay. Will he be joining us later?”

  “The plan was for him to sit in on the negotiations again today. Do you mind waiting for him to wake up and get over here?”

  “I don’t know if I can stand to put off starting something that is so much fun, Ambassador.”

  “Yeah, I’m having a great time, too. It has to be done, though.”

  “Suppose you’re right. Don’t suppose you know if the Emperor sent another fleet or not, do you?”

  “Even if I did, it would be my neck, to tell the infamous monkey. That was why your ship left, to stand watch, in case he did?”

  “Busted.”

  “What do you propose to do, until Snappi shows up?”

  “I hadn’t thought about it. You have anything you’d like to see, while you’re aboard?”

  “I’m supposed to try and get a look at your main guns, and launch bay four was also mentioned.”

  “Sorry to disappoint, but even if I tried, my crew would keep me from showing you those. My Chief Engineer would have my guts for a new seal on the power core, if I took you to launch bay four. That’s where she has her playhouse.”

  “What does she have hidden?”

  “Danged if I know. I haven’t heard what she’s working on for a week or so. I know a couple of ships that operate out of that bay, but I’ve got no idea what the current project is.”

  “Don’t you worry what might be going on down there?”

  “I trust Scotti. When I need to know, I will.”

  “You are different from our Captains, that’s for sure.”

  “Still learning. I doubt I’ll ever be quite like your fellows, though. We have some new rifles, would you like to come down to the armory, and try one?”

  “Let me guess. Based on our tech, and better than anything we have?”

  “It has capabilities yours don’t, at the very least.”

  “Sure, I’ve already been humiliated once today, let’s go for round two.”

  “Hang on, I need to let my crew know where they can find me, when the Emperor’s fleet shows up.” I commed Topper. “What’s up, Boss?”

  “Andre has the situation well in hand. I’m headed to the armory, to show the Ambassador Nunya’s new carbine.”

  “You still think the Emperor is going to send us a nasty surprise?”

  “I haven’t seen anything that makes me think otherwise, yet.”

  “We’ll keep an eye out, then. You’ll be heading back if it hits the fan, won’t you?”

  “Sure thing, Topper. Let me know as soon as Sally sees anything headed this way.”

  “Will do, Boss.” We got to the armory, and Jackie greeted me with, “Hi, Boss. Who’s your friend?”

  “This is Ambassador Natti Dressi, of the Oak Empire.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Sir.”

  “You as well. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

  “I’m Jackie. What can I do for you gentlemen today?”

  I said, “I was going to demonstrate one of Nunya’s carbines for the Ambassador. The rifles his people carry don’t rock and roll.” She wandered off to get a carbine, with strains of ‘Your Momma don’t dance, and your Daddy don’t rock and roll’ trailing behind her. She came back with a rifle and a box full of magazines. “Anything else you need, Boss?”

  “You have some eye protection handy?”

  She handed me a couple of pairs of shooting glasses. We wandered back to the rifle range, and I showed Natti how the gun worked. After I covered the basic functions, I said, “If you push this down farther, like this, that’s the happy switch. Your stuff doesn’t have one of those.”

  “Could you show me what you mean, Commodore?” I called up a moving target, and walked fire onto it.

  He asked, “How do you shoot so fast?”

  I replied, “I don’t. The weapon keeps shooting as long as I hold the trigger down. Nunya’s mods to keep the recoil down really help with keeping it on target while it’s doing that.”

  “May I try?”

  “Sure.” I left the partial mag in the weapon, so just in case it got away from him, he wouldn’t cause as much mayhem. He did better than I expected, all his rounds were close to what he was shooting at. He asked, “Impressive, for sure, but why is this better than what we have?”

  “It’s useful when you find yourself outnumbered, or you need to keep the other fellow’s head down while you advance. Most of the time, it’s just a waste of ammo, but not always. Better to have it and not need it, don’t you think?”

  “I suppose. Can it fire one round at a time?”

  “Sure, just flip this up.” He tried some single shots at the fixed targets on the range. “This doesn’t have much recoil, does it? Is it powerful?”

  “Not especially, but it’s enough to do the job.” We fiddled around for a while, and then Topper’s voice came over the speaker. “Boss, Captain Dressi is coming aboard. Playtime is over.”

  “Have you already paged Mrs. Wilson?”

  “Yes, Boss.”

  “Have the Captain meet us at the ready room, please.”

  “On it, Boss.”

  “Talk to you later, Topper.”

  “Later, Boss.” We hit the transit, and when we arrived, Nikki and Snappi were waiting on us. Nikki said, “Where did you sneak off to, Caveman?”

  “We were down at the armory. I was showing Natti the carbine Nunya came up with.”

  “I should have known you would be on the range. We’ve kept you cooped up too long, haven’t we?”

  “I suppose, but it’s my job, isn’t it?”

  “Grandpa does a pretty good job at it. You could take some time off.”

  “I would like to get back to Earth, at least for a bit. That’s a problem for another day, though. We need to negotiate with these fellows some more right now.” We got started, and I guess I was beginning to get into it, because I was surprised when Stella came in with lunch. After we ate, we got back to work. I was just beginning to get hungry again, when Topper came over the speaker, “Commodore Wilson to the bridge, please. Commodore Wilson, please come to the bridge.”

  I said, “Sorry, gents, meeting adjourned. You might want to see what the situation is, before you head back to your ship.” I ran across to the bridge, and Saucy announced me. I replied with, “As you were. My ship, report.”

  As I was strapping in, Topper said, “Sally detected a fleet coming in. She says one of the ships is bigger than anything she’s seen before.”

  “Tell the fleet to bounce as soon as they emerge. No use being sitting targets for these idiots. Saucy, get me a line to Sally.”

  Sally’s voice came over the speaker. “Yes, Boss?”

  “Did you get a count of how many vessels we’ll be facing?”

  “The monster, one carrier, and six destroyers.”

  “Unless that big boy is really tough, that doesn’t sound like all that much of a fleet. Jump in behind them, just to keep them confused. I’m beginning to get a funny feeling about this.”

  “Understood. Sally out.”

  “Wilson out.” I turned to Topper. “Send the fleet Sally’s count of our opponents. Tell Black Beauty and Midnight that I want scans of that big ship as soon as they can manage.”

  “On it, Boss.” I hadn’t realized everyone from the meeting had followed me to the bridge. Natti spoke up. “Did I hear correctly? There is a massive ship incoming?”

  I replied, “Yes, Ambassador, that is correct. Sorry to say, I don’t think you have time to get back to your ship before it arrives. You might want to have Nikki brief you on how to use our life pods, this ship is bigger than anything we’ve fought before.”

  “I don’t th
ink that will be necessary, Commodore. The only ship I know of that is that large, is the Emperor’s personal yacht. It’s quite impressive, but it isn’t a warship.”

  “Wait a minute. You’re saying the Emperor his own self has come to the party?”

  “That’s what it looks like to me.”

  “Saucy, give me a channel to the fleet.”

  “You’re on, Boss.”

  “Be advised, the large ship about to emerge from FTL and scare the crap out of you is thought to be the personal yacht of the Emperor of Oak. Do not fire on it, unless it fires on you first. All Captains acknowledge on this channel.” Everyone but Sally acknowledged. I said, “Thank you, Captains. Good luck.” I gave Saucy the gesture to cut the connection, then I said, “Make sure Sally is informed as soon as she emerges. We don’t want her getting the wrong idea when she comes out and sees that monster in our system.”

  Saucy replied, “Understood.” We waited, and then the Emperor’s fleet emerged. His yacht and the carrier both launched fighters, which proceeded to put on an ‘airshow’, designed to impress us with their mastery, I suppose. I said, “Ruth, as soon as they recover, show them what precision flying looks like.”

  “Yes, Boss.” She punched a few buttons, and said, “Flight plan delivered to the fleet, Boss. Awaiting your go.”

  The Squirrel fighters began recovering on the yacht and the carrier. I noticed their flight ops were sloppy, compared to Gene. Once they were mostly back aboard, I said, “Go, Ruth.” Saucy put the show up on the main screen. All our carriers went into barrel rolls, so that they could deploy a fighter screen without the fighters having to maneuver. Once the fighters were far enough out for it to be safe, the carriers started jumping into one another’s fighter screens. Ruth had the timing down well enough for it to look like magic. The destroyers were keeping up their end, doing all sorts of tricks. Once the carriers were back inside their own fighter formations, the fighters recovered, and we jumped back to our starting positions. Natti said, “You just put on a better show than the Emperor’s demonstration teams. That will get his attention.”

  I replied, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

  Saucy said, “Incoming transmission, Boss.”