Home Run (Smuggler's Tales From the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Book 3)

by Nathan Lowell

He swallowed but made the mistake of looking at Konstantin.

  “Don’t look at me,” Konstantin said. “You’re the one digging your own grave.”

  “You’re fired, Mr. Lindley,” Zoya said.

  He stood up. “I don’t work for you. I work for him.” He pointed at Konstantin.

  “Apparently you’ve finished with the shovel,” Konstantin said. “You’ll be confined to quarters until we return to Margary.”

  He stood suddenly stock-still. The color drained from his face. His mouth opened and closed as he looked from Konstantin to Zoya and back again. He even looked at Natalya who shrugged.

  “Uh. Maybe I was a bit hasty,” he said.

  Zoya folded her arms and waited.

  “I’d need a hardsuit. I didn’t bring one with me,” he said.

  “There’s one in the vestibule,” Zoya said. “The question is why I would let you use it.”

  He sighed and looked at his boots. “You’re right,” he said. “That was unprofessional. I’m sorry.” He sighed again. He looked at Konstantin. “I’ll be in my stateroom.”

  Konstantin looked at Zoya with a raised eyebrow.

  “You learn anything?” Zoya asked, stopping him before he left the control room.

  He looked at her, a hangdog expression pulling his jowls down. “Don’t mess with the boss’s granddaughter?”

  “Close,” Zoya said.

  He frowned, his eyes working their sockets like he was examining something we couldn’t see.

  “Close?” he asked.

  Zoya nodded. “Drop the last word.”

  “Don’t mess with the boss?” he asked. He looked at Konstantin and back at Zoya.

  “There you go. I’ve found it to be a good practice to know who you’re working for.”

  “I thought I worked for him,” he said, nodding at Konstantin.

  “I know. You were wrong.” Zoya paused. “Now. You want to stuff that ‘all due respect’ crap and start over?”

  He stared at her for more than a few long moments. “Are you going to be a stone cold bitch about it?”

  Zoya grinned. “Probably. Why?”

  He offered a tentative smile and his hand. “I just wanna know who I’m working for. Nice to meet you, Ms. Usoko.”

  She shook his hand. “Suit’s in the locker in the vestibule. Gimme a couple of Mark-one eyeballs on that grinding tower. I’m worried that the impellers aren’t aligned correctly and I’d like to make sure all the grav-plates are right side up this time.”

  He blinked at her and laughed. “Why do you need me if you know enough to look for that?”

  “Because I’m the boss and you’re the expert. I’m not worried about what I know. I’m worried about what I don’t. That’s why I need you to tell me if there’s something wrong I don’t know about.”

  “You got it.” He grinned at her. “Boss.”

  He scurried out of the control room and in a few ticks his voice came over the local comms circuit. “Radio check.”

  Zoya pressed a button on the console. “We have you, Lindley. Stand by.” She looked at Natalya and jerked her chin in the direction of the vestibule. “Wanna check his connections?”

  Natalya nodded and headed down the passage.

  Konstantin smiled at Zoya. “You don’t think you were a little rough on him?”

  Zoya shook her head. “No, and neither do you.”

  He chuckled. “True. You want to keep him here?”

  “If you can spare him.”

  He nodded. “He’s not got the best odor in Margary. Some of the supervisors don’t think he’s Usoko material.”

  “Sure. I’d be glad to have him.”

  “Why?” Konstantin asked.

  Zoya smiled. “I could give you a line about how much I learned about handling crew at the academy or what I learned from working with High Tortuga or how seasoned I’ve gotten dealing with the completely crazy culture here in the Toe-Holds.”

  Konstantin’s eyebrows rose slightly.

  “I blame Furtner,” she said. “What was it he used to say? There’s no bad crewman. Just somebody who doesn’t know he’s not a good one.”

  “Think Lindley got the message?” Konstantin asked.

  Zoya shrugged. “I don’t know but at least he knows who he works for now.”

  He nodded. “I think that’s safe to say. What made you so sure you were right?”

  “That he worked for me instead of you?” Zoya asked.

  “Yeah. Even for you that was ballsy.”

  “Because you wouldn’t have bothered bringing him out here if you didn’t intend for him to stay. You’re going to have to go back and I’m going to need a supervisor for this unit. I’ll need another one for the metal forming when that unit gets here in ten weeks.”

  “You’ll have one,” Konstantin said. “I’d have taken him back to Margary, you know.”

  “Figured you would, but then we’d be short in a critical function here. It was more important for us to get that filled and the only thing wrong with him was his attitude.”

  “You sound sure of that, too.”

  “You wouldn’t have dragged him out here if he didn’t have the chops.” Zoya shrugged.

  Natalya came back into the control room. “He’s all sorted. Did you two get everything ironed out or do I need to go stand in the vestibule awhile longer?”

  Konstantin looked at Zoya.

  “We’re good. How long before he finds the note?” Zoya asked.

  “He looked like he knows which end the feet are on. I’ll give him twenty ticks. It’s a long way down the barrel.”

  “Note?” Konstantin asked.

  “I left a note in the base of the grinder tower. Fluorescent paint on a sheet of scrap metal.”

  “You’ve been in it already?” Konstantin asked, his eyes widening.

  “How do you think I knew about the grinder alignment or the screwed-up grav plates?” Zoya asked, then pointed at Natalya.

  “I went in a couple days after it went up. We’ve got a few discrepancies to report to them, but I also left the note. ‘You made the right decision.’”

  Konstantin threw back his head and laughed. “I think we did, too,” he said when his laughter died down.

  Zoya smiled at her grandfather and turned to look up at the grinder looming above them.

  Chapter 60

  Smelter Seventeen:

  2368, July 18

  Star Struck and Ally Wishes both jumped in the same day Higbee proclaimed the residence ready for habitation.

  “We’ve established an atmosphere and started the environmental services. You’ll need to give it a couple of days to warm up before you do much in terms of moving in, but you can at least survey it and see if there are any problems,” Helms said.

  “How much water does it have?” Natalya asked.

  Helms winced. “Not that much right now. Again. It’s cold and we didn’t have much to draw on here. It holds a lot of water and can synthesize more. It’s built to CPJCT specifications with a few obvious exceptions. It’s aimed at single-tenant companies and not CPJCT, obviously.”

  “Obviously,” Zoya said. “You have a crew spec sheet? How many of what skills?”

  “We included that in the information packet delivered to your Mr. Bean.”

  Zoya looked at Konstantin. “I’ll have him forward that to you.”

  Konstantin nodded. “The bus will be here in a few more days. We’ll see who we need to put on the next run.”

  “At least I’ve got a chef,” Zoya said. “Came off one of the barges and I’m pretty sure he prefers cooking to grinding rock.”

  “He any good?” Konstantin asked.

  “No. Terrible cook,” Natalya said. “You wouldn’t want him. Can’t boil water without burning it.”

  Konstantin laughed. “I wasn’t going to kidnap him. If I remember there are at least a couple of stewards coming in on the bus. He’ll have some help to boss around.”

  “I think he’ll en
joy the installed galley. There are several, actually. Most of them identical. Some shop space, administration offices. Everything’s plug-in ready. Just add your own furnishings,” Helms said. “If there’s nothing else? I need to get back to the office. Can I expect your sign-off on delivery today?”

  “Probably tomorrow at the latest.” Zoya looked at Natalya. “We need to make an inventory of equipment we need.”

  Natalya nodded and pulled out her tablet. “I can start it but Maggie’s coming in tomorrow with the equipment.”

  “So we need to get people off the Mindanao and over to the residence soon?” Zoya asked.

  “Soon-ish. It’s going to take some time to do the fittings, get them tied in to the navigational systems, and calibrated.”

  Zoya nodded. “Time enough to get some mattresses and bedding, I guess.”

  “We should put the crew back on the barges,” Ahokas said. “We have enough crews to start them heading back out to the belts. We’re going to chew through the rock we have pretty quickly. If we put the crews back on their barges, that frees up the Mindanao and gets them moving again instead of laying around the mess deck complaining about being bored.”

  Natalya laughed. “She’s right.”

  Zoya nodded. “I’ll pass the word to start the mining rota again. Do we have everybody back?”

  Ahokas shook her head. “No, we still have barges coming in from the other side of the system. They’re the ones that were outbound when the station blew. They’ll need replenishment but we’ve got it now, thanks to Demetri.”

  Konstantin looked at Zoya. “Have you given any thought to what you’re going to name the station now?”

  Zoya shook her head. “I knew we’d probably want to change it but I’ve been a little busy. What did you have in mind?”

  Konstantin pursed his lips and shrugged. “Just wanted to plant the seed before I left.”

  Zoya nodded. “When you going?”

  “Now, actually. Care to walk me to the lock?” He looked at Natalya. “You, too, please?”

  Zoya smiled but her brow furrowed. “I thought you’d be here for a while longer. Everything all right back in Margary?”

  “Just fine,” he said. “I wanted to check in. Let you know I wasn’t ignoring you and see if I could help. I’m just underfoot here now. Time to go.”

  “You’re never underfoot,” Zoya said.

  Konstantin headed for the ladder. “We can talk at the ship.” He held his hand out to Ahokas. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Ahokas. I’m sorry for your loss.”

  She shook his hand and ducked her head in a little bow. “I never thought I’d get to meet you, sir. It’s been an honor. Thank you for rebuilding.”

  He smiled at her and shook his head. “I’m rather stubborn. I’m not going to let a few criminals chase me out of this system.” He paused, looking out of the observation deck at the darkness outside. “Rebuilding seems like the least I could do to honor those who died here.”

  Ahokas nodded, clearing her throat. “Thank you,” she said, her voice thick.

  “UMS17, Star Struck. Where should I offload?” Over.”

  Ahokas crossed to the console. “Star Struck, UMS17. We’ll have a docking ring here at the yard shortly. Over.”

  “Roger, UMS17. Standing by. Out.”

  “That’s my cue to leave, I guess,” Konstantin said with a smile. He headed down the ladder to the lock, Natalya and Zoya following in his wake.

  “We really need to get a full comms protocol established,” Zoya said. “We’ll need to upgrade the equipment. A single overworked radio isn’t going to cut it.”

  “There should be a comms protocol template in the operations manual. One of the appendices, I think,” Konstantin said. “You have a copy, don’t you?”

  Zoya shook her head. “I never had one. No need.”

  Konstantin stopped outside the lock. Taking out his tablet, he flipped through a few screens, selected an item and tapped the send key.

  Zoya’s tablet bipped.

  “You should now. There’s a section on establishing a new station along with the cross reference for communications. You probably still remember most of the standards.” He grinned.

  Zoya laughed. “I used to think they were a bit silly. Then I started learning the CPJCT standards and realized they weren’t that bad at all.”

  Konstantin held his arms wide and Zoya stepped in for a big hug. “You’re doing a wonderful job, Zajka.”

  “Thanks, Pop-pop. Your instructions gave me a lot of leeway.”

  His laugh rumbled in his chest. “Your grandmother said you’d spit fire when you read it.”

  “She was right,” Zoya said with a short laugh of her own. “Am I so predictable?”

  “Only in some things.”

  Zoya stepped back. “Safe voyage, Pop-pop.”

  Konstantin turned to Natalya and enveloped her in a hug as well. “Take care of her,” he said.

  “We take care of each other,” Natalya said.

  “You sure you’re not a couple?” he asked, pushing her back to arm’s length.

  “I’m pretty sure we’d know,” Natalya said.

  “Stop your matchmaking, Pop-pop. You’ve got a long ride ahead of you.”

  He laughed and shrugged. “Until later, then.” He waved and disappeared into the lock. The door levered shut behind him.

  “Why do people assume we’re a couple?” Zoya asked.

  “Why else would we be together?” Natalya asked.

  “No place else to go?” Zoya asked, her crooked smile taking up half her face.

  “Probably just habit at this point,” Natalya said. “One damn thing after another.”

  Zoya laughed and the lock clunked as her grandfather’s ship undocked. “We need to get our comms array up and running.”

  “We need people, equipment, supplies. Is there anything we don’t need?” Natalya asked.

  “More problems?” Zoya asked.

  “I’d buy that,” Natalya said. “Shall we go over and survey the residence?”

  “Now?” Zoya asked.

  “You got a date?”

  Zoya snickered. “You win.”

  Natalya led the way up to the boat dock and into the Peregrine. “Madigan’s over there, isn’t he?”

  “Either Madigan or Holden,” Zoya said. “Fries made a run over earlier.”

  Natalya dropped into the couch and ran through the initial checklist for getting underway while Zoya made the coffee.

  “You think we’re going to need that?” Natalya asked.

  “You don’t?”

  Natalya shrugged. “How long do you think this is going to take?”

  “Eleven decks,” Zoya said. “You think we’re going to get through this today?”

  Natalya grinned. “Now that you mention it, it’s going to be cold in there.”

  The Peregrine lifted out of the bay and started toward the residence gleaming like another star in the distance.

  “That’s a lot of light,” Natalya said.

  “Helms hasn’t collected the construction scaffolding yet,” Zoya said. “If we find something that needs fixing, he didn’t want to have to put it back up. He won’t need it for another week or so.”

  “Be nice when your grandfather’s bus shows up.”

  Zoya nodded. “I have a feeling things are going to move a lot faster now. I need some department people.” She looked at Natalya. “I’m thinking you’d be perfect for engineering.”

  An ice-cold finger stroked down Natalya’s back. “Me? I know nothing about station engineering.”

  “You know fusactors. You know environmental. You know gas temperature conversion rates.” Zoya shrugged. “That’s more than I know.”

  “I don’t have any idea what that last one is.”

  “I made it up to see if you were paying attention,” Zoya said. “Sounded good, didn’t it?”

  “I’ll give you that.”

  The Peregrine closed the distance to the structur
e in the time it took to brew a pot of coffee, the brewer hissing out its last gurgle as the ship approached the small boat docks.

  “Shall we have a cup before we start?” Zoya asked.

  “I wouldn’t turn it down,” Natalya said.

  Zoya climbed out of her couch and went into the galley to pour while Natalya eased into final approach.

  “Ah, Zee?” Natalya said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Zee, you might want to come see this.”

  “See what?” Zoya asked coming out of the galley and handing Natalya a cup.

  Natalya pointed out at the structure in front of them. “That.”

  Zoya looked up and her face froze for a moment. “Well, I thought that since he didn’t bring it up while he was here, I might have dodged a bullet.”

  “Looks like we were right all along,” Natalya said.

  “Apparently,” Zoya said.

  Natalya sipped her coffee, giving Zoya a chance to process it. “What do we do now?” she asked after a few moments.

  Zoya drew in a deep breath and blew it out. “Now? We have a station to inspect.” She took a sip of coffee. “We should probably get at it.”

  Natalya took one last look at the five-meter-tall letters painted on the outside of the residence—Zvezda Moya. “At least we’re no longer Smelter Seventeen,” she said.

  Zoya snickered and lowered herself into her couch. “It’s a better name for a station than a ship, anyway.”

  Chapter 61

  Zvezda Moya:

  2369, April 3

  Natalya settled back into her chair and cupped her coffee in both hands. “So? That’s the last of it.”

  Zoya swung around behind the desk and looked out at the platform gleaming in the distance. “Pop-pop says Manchester will begin construction in May. With any luck we’ll be starting to see some significant production by then.”

  “We’re already pulling two hundred metric kilotons a week out of the smelter.” Natalya sipped her coffee. “Isn’t that enough?”

  Zoya shook her head and spun her chair around again. “We’ll be using some of that finished metal ourselves now with the alloy tower in place. We’re using half the refined metal in the forming plant.”