I wasn't in the mood to change material. Synth-cotton was very comfortable. "Let's stick with the synth-cotton," I requested.
"Swipe here, please." He indicated a payment terminal.
Nick interjected, "These are together."
The man turned a greasy smile to Nick. "And you were looking for a couple of shirts."
He convinced Nick to also purchase a light brown blazer that looked nice over the black shirt he had chosen. He didn't cave to the pressure to purchase a new set of shoes.
We worked our way around the nearly empty first level of The Strip to a weaponry shop. I was disappointed with the performance of the flechette gun that Nick was carrying and had no idea what I was into with the laser pistol I had appropriated from Xie Mie-su.
Apparently, Nick and I were just the proprietor’s type of people. We received a much warmer reception than we had anywhere else in Baru Manush.
"Welcome, friends! What brings you to my humble establishment?" The woman clearly had a spacer build with spindly legs, but had thickened around the middle with age. She had a disarmingly warm smile.
"Wondered if you could tell me about this pistol." I pulled the laser pistol from my holster and handed it butt-first to her.
"Ruger, long-laser 15, commonly known as the Ruger LL. See here, the barrel is three centimeters longer than your standard. Nice gun. You shouldn't leave it turned on though, it's hard on the power cell." She had a calm teaching cadence to her voice.
"Uh, could you show me?"
"Right here next to the trigger guard. Need to feel a little click to turn it on, shows red on the side when it's live." She held the gun so I could see the small stud that stuck out below the barrel. "Push it again and it turns off." She demonstrated and a small swatch of metal below the barrel turned from red, back to the same gray-silver color of the rest of the barrel.
"Cool. Can you check it out for me? I need to know if it's in good shape."
She pulled up a stool up and pushed her body onto it. "If a man's going to hand me his gun, I feel like I should at least know his name." She winked at me. I was sure I didn't want to know what she meant.
"Liam Hoffen. This is my buddy Nick," I said.
"Liam and Nick. Good enough. I'm Gladys. Let's see what we've got here." She put on a pair of glasses and then pulled on the pistol in a couple of strategic locations and the barrel popped off. She laid the barrel on a soft cloth towel on the counter and seconds later had the pistol stripped down into parts.
"See, you gotta love the Rugers, they are so well built. You know they won't release these to the replicators? Yeah, you gotta get this from Earth. Hmm, hasn't been cleaned for a while, got a little bit of carbon build-up. This baby has seen some action, but I can clean it right up for you. Wonder if that sight is lined up or not. Got yourself a real beauty here."
"How long to get it cleaned?" I asked.
"Five in the cleaner should be good. Need anything else? You got a charger?"
Nick replied to this. "Need an adapter for a P12 shelf."
Gladys gave him an appraising look, "Oh, got a gun cabinet then?"
"Yup, pretty much."
She pulled an L-shaped bracket from under the cabinet and set it on the counter, then placed the disassembled pieces under the counter. I heard the click of a cabinet closing and the slight whir of machinery. She pushed her glasses up to rest on her forehead.
"Let that run a couple of minutes. Anything else for you boys? Can I interest you in a Remington 8701? Good for personal defense."
"No, but take a look at Nick's flechette. It seems almost worthless, barely does anything but stick through the vac-suit."
"Let me take a look." She pulled her glasses back down.
"Hmm ... it's a basic model, nothing really wrong with it. It's not designed for anything more than pissing people off in a bar fight. What might peak your interest?" She was looking at Nick.
He wasn't looking for anything but we needed protection. I decided to answer for him. "What would you recommend?"
"Self-defense?" she asked.
"Yeah, but we are on a ship. Need to be careful about puncturing the hull."
"Well, flechette or laser are your options, then. Laser is a good choice for pure offense, not gonna punch a hole in anything, but they're pretty lethal and not legal in most places. A nice high-powered flechette will knock down a charging rhino. Add a suit interface to that and you can shoot around corners."
While she was talking, she pulled out a sleek gun with a dark black barrel and a brown wood grain handle. It was a nice looking gun.
"How much is that?" I asked, drawn in.
"Twenty-five hundred," she replied.
"Wow, that's a nice gun." I was a little put off by the number.
Nick picked up his flechette and put it back into his holster.
"We’ll think about it," he said. Message received, he wasn't ready to buy something.
"Okay, you boys talk it over. You wouldn't be disappointed," she said smoothly.
Gladys pulled the parts of Xie's laser out from beneath the counter and placed them back onto the towel. I couldn't see a difference, but she seemed happy enough to reassemble the gun.
"Twenty for the cleaning and twenty five for the bracket."
We made it back to the ship by 1800, two hours to spare before dinner. I wanted to put some numbers together before getting back to Lieutenant Belcose with a proposal. I wasn't sure what he would do if we came in too expensive, but I also didn't want to jeopardize our relationship either.
I was happy to see that a file on Sargent Marny Bertrand of the North American Federation was waiting.
The file showed Marny Bertrand had been born on 498.04.02. That put her at twenty-two years old. She had joined the North American Marine Corp at the age of seventeen, shortly after earning her EMC. Less than six months later she was fighting in South America in the Amazon Basin. While in the jungle, she had been awarded a Bronze Star with Valor and then received another Bronze Star while aboard the North American Naval Cruiser, George W. Bush.
I found Nick working in the engine room. "Do you have a minute?" I asked.
"Yup." Nick looked at me expectantly.
"I think we need to hire Lieutenant Bertrand, she’s a war hero for the North Americans. She can do a lot better than this shit-hole. I also want to take Belcose’s deal. What do you think?"
"Do it. Marny is the right kind of person and I’m not just saying that because I kind of like her. We are running too thin on staff and need people we can trust. If she checks out with Belcose, that’s good enough for me. As for the rest of it, I’m in. Just let me know what you need this baby to do and I’ll make it happen."
Back in our quarters, I composed a message to Belcose. We would bring the device and Xie Mie-su to Mars for 360,000 m-creds. We would be spending every m-cred we had to get her out of here alive. I wanted my 180,000 back and doubled. Then, I messaged a metal fabricator and requested a meeting for the next morning. I wanted to turn BR-2 into a temporary brig.
"Can you see if that mechanic is willing to work overtime? Tell him we will double his rate if he can get the engines up and running in three days," I said into my communicator and worked my way back to where he was.
"Let's run it down, we have 180 less 62 for engine and armor repairs. How much for fuel, oxy and repairs for atmo system?"
Nick replied, "Another twenty, give or take."
"Okay, puts us at ninety-eight, take out five for parts we have been replicating. Think big, what else?"
"First Mate's flight stick and a compliment of vid screens for the bridge. Add a heads-up display and replace carpet in the bridge. Refrigeration and a galley pro." Nick listed off, looking at his tablet.
"What's a galley pro?" I asked.
"Re-hydrates meal-packages that we get from the chandlery. Can do eight at a time. If we are going to have crew, we will need one. Not everyone wants to eat meal bars."
"Okay. Got it. How much damage are
we talking and can we find any coffee on this station?"
"Leaves us at roughly seventy-two thousand and we will have to load up on the food at the Chandlery. Also probably our best bet for coffee. They will have synthetic at a minimum."
"Do it. We may not make it out of here, so we might as well give ourselves every chance. Don't take us any lower than sixty thousand without telling me, okay?"
"Agreed. I'll get someone to install the septic repairs too." Nick offered.
"Oh, thank Jupiter, yes! Ready to head out for dinner in half hour?"
"Yup."
Leaving the ship, I felt naked without my vac-suit. My boots had heels on them which made me stand a little taller and I liked how they came to a point in the front. I had seen cowboy boots in vids before, but this was the first time I had ever worn them. I had all sorts of firsts happening to me these days. The white linen shirt let a lot more breeze through than I was used to and the black blazer pulled along my shoulders. I wasn't comfortable, but Nick assured me that I looked good.
Nick had on his jeans and a black shirt. He had opted to wear the light brown coat and switched to a shoulder holster also. He is considerably smaller than I am with dark black wavy hair. It gets out of control pretty quickly, but he had showered and even shaved, which was something I didn't need to worry about. He had brown eyes and I could always tell what he was thinking by how his jaw was set.
Without a vac-suit, I wasn't able to run my security program. This station had recently hired up a lot of defense personnel due to the pirate attacks. We saw their presence in the hallways everywhere we went. Aside from the suspicious glances and hostile glares from the inhabitants, we felt pretty safe.
The Strip was playing an upbeat music set that echoed back into the hallway on our approach. We stopped at the railing and looked down. The Tipped Kettle was on the first level, not far from Wuzzies.
I nudged Nick when I saw Marny. She was wearing a loose, colorful tunic with a wide black belt. The tunic hung to mid-thigh and she had tight black pants on beneath that. Her hair style hadn't changed, close cut on her neck with longer bangs swept to the side. She had high cheekbones and a wide jaw, which gave her a striking look. It was hard not to stare. As a man, I would have to be dead not to find her interesting. She was a lot of woman. But, honestly, thoughts like that just made me miss Tabby. I found myself wishing she would respond to my message.
Marny must have been watching for us. It didn’t take long before she turned and looked directly up at us and waved. We waved back and grabbed an elevator down.
"You boys look great! I love the new clothes. Cowboy boots?" She looked at me.
"Always wanted 'em," I replied.
She turned to Nick. "Nice coat, Mr. James. You are a handsome little devil, aren't you?"
I grinned internally. That comment would keep Nick spinning for the rest of the night.
"You look really nice, Lieutenant. Where did you find that shirt?"
"Marny, remember? Lieutenant when I'm working. Back when independent trade ships were here more often, I got this from one of their bazaars. Nice old lady. Said she wove it herself. "
Nick nodded with a dumb smile, poor guy. We walked into the Tipped Kettle and were stopped by a young woman manning a podium. She escorted us through the dimly lit dining room to a table topped with a white tablecloth and a small light in the center.
"Wow, this is nice," I said.
"Don't be too impressed. I like the food better at Wuzzies. Atmosphere is better here," Marny said.
"You want to take care of ordering for us?" I asked.
"Will do. They have a nice set of Italian dishes here. Do you like lasagna?"
I looked to Nick. He answered, "Never had it, but that sounds good."
"Let me get to the point," I said.
Marny fired back without missing a beat, "Perfect, that's how I like it."
"We are going to take Mie-su back to Mars and we don't have enough crew. There are four Red Houzi ships on their way here right now, will be here in less than a week. If we aren't gone by then, I don't think we are going anywhere."
Marny started to stand up, "I need to tell my boss, Captain Stabos. He can notify the Indian Navy and send some help. We can't hold off five ships."
"It's already done. Mars Protectorate informed them and they aren't sending help. By all means though, call your captain, but I'm sure he knows about it."
Marny left the table and was gone for twenty minutes and we had to ask the waiter to give us a few minutes. The restaurant wasn't busy, so he didn't seem to mind. When Marny rejoined us at the table her normally pale skin was bright red, like she had been exercising.
"You okay?" I asked.
"You're right. He knew all about it. He said to do whatever I had to do to help you guys get off the station. You have seventy-two hours to clear out. "
"Ouch. That's not enough time to get our engines repaired."
"It's gonna have to be," Marny said unhappily.
The waiter chose this moment to come back. He wasn't bothered by the fact that we were talking and asked if we were ready to order. Marny ordered lasagna and some sort of wine.
"So what do you want from me?" Marny was wound so tight, she seemed ready to explode.
"Why do you think the Indian government would allow pirates to converge on one of their stations?" I needed Marny to put it together.
"Clearly they don't have the assets available. Maybe they're not worried about it. Shoot straight. Do you know something?" She was getting hot and I didn't want to let her keep spinning up.
"Nothing specific. I know general things. Why would the Indian government allow a group of Chinese pirates to raid their station? Rumor has it the Chinese are controlling the Houzi at some level or at least allowing them to exist and they're keeping the Indian government at bay."
Marny wasn't buying it. "So you want me to believe the pirates are part of the Chinese government and the Indian government is just allowing all of this to happen?"
"Work with what we know. The Indian government isn't sending help when a credible threat is headed to this station. The why and how of that seems secondary to me."
That seemed to mollify her and she sat back, deflated. The timing was good because the waiter brought out three steaming plates of an incredible smelling dish.
"Careful," the waiter warned. "It's very hot. Will there be anything else?"
"No thank you. We need privacy for a while. Could you leave the bill?"
"Swipe here and thank you." He was miffed.
Nick grabbed the pad and swiped payment.
We ate in silence. It was important that Marny be the next one to talk. She could take as long as she needed to process what she had just learned.
She finally broke the silence, "Hard to enjoy food with all that."
"Sorry," I said.
"No, not your fault, not really." She wasn't as self-assured as she had been. "How do I fit into this?" she asked quietly.
"Gonna shoot you straight, Marny, put all my cards on the table, no bull. Okay?" She nodded. "Nick and I need you. Come be part of the crew. With you we have a chance. We need someone who understands weapon systems and can handle a prisoner. Xie Mie-su eats us for lunch."
"Quit my job here?" she asked.
I gave her a few moments to process. "Be part of something new. Something important. Mars Protectorate needs Mie-su to help break these bastards. That device might have a critical piece of information on it that helps them do that. We can't do this without you."
"Why me?" she asked.
"When the chips are down, you do the right thing. I've seen your file, Marny."
"After this job?"
"Marny, we're looking for a partner, not an employee. What Nick and I are trying to build is bigger than the two of us. It's bigger than even the three of us. With the right people, there's nothing we can't do, but right now we need your help keeping us alive."
"Let me think about it. What does partner mean?"<
br />
"I'm not sure. How about 33% of whatever we earn on this run and a free ride to Mars. That should be around fifty thousand. If you want to get off there, then we part as friends. If you choose to stay on, we will give you stock options and a salary that you set."
"You're crazy." She looked over to Nick. "You on board with this?"
"Ever since I was seven years old," he replied.
ESCAPE FROM BARU MANUSH
0800 came earlier than I would have liked. Nick, Marny and I had polished off a bottle of wine and I had another headache to remind me of the night. I was starting to wonder if wine was such a good idea.
I checked my queued messages and was excited to see a message from Tabby. She wore a cobalt blue suit liner and was sitting in a small cubicle. The suit must have been new because I had pretty much memorized all of her clothing. Her buzz cut still took some getting used to, but I was dealing with it.
"Hi Liam. Gratz on your first load. I knew you would get out of that place! I just didn't think you'd do it before I even got to school. There is absolutely no privacy aboard this freighter so I grabbed one of the offices. We're almost constantly on hard-burn, either accelerating or decelerating, so I've spent the entire time in 1.5 gravity. It's a workout just walking around. They have a nice gymnasium so I am keeping in really good shape. Wanna see?"
Tabby had a mischievous glint in her eyes and she stood and zipped her suit liner down the center to below her belly button. If she didn't have my full attention before, she certainly had it now. It frustrated me that she was somehow able to keep the suit strategically covering a mystery I wanted to explore. I had to admit that she was in incredible shape, her abs were completely ripped.
"Alright. Enough teasing." She closed her suit back up and sat back down. She smiled, knowingly. "Hate to have you forget about me." Tabby continued to fill me in on life aboard a freighter with no luxury accommodations. It sounded a lot like life on Sterra's Gift, but without the pirates.
The next message was from Lieutenant Gregor Belcose, "Captain Hoffen, I have received approval for an open account on Baru Manush for mission supplies, repairs and personnel. Please make all haste to the Mobile Protectorate Platform Valhalla, coordinates embedded. Happy hunting."
Rookie Privateer Page 22
