Milk Run (Smuggler's Tales From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper Book 1)

by Nathan Lowell

  Natalya took the seat she’d taken the night before, leaving room for Pritchard at the captain’s left hand.

  Zoya started to take her seat to the right of Blanchard’s but the captain raised a hand. “Sit here, if you’d be so kind, Ms. Usoko?” He indicated the first mate’s chair to his right.

  She blinked a couple of times, stopped halfway into her chair.

  The captain nodded and smiled. “Please,” he said.

  Zoya took Albee’s seat.

  The captain smiled and reached over to pat Zoya on the shoulder. “Buck up, Ms. Usoko. You’ll be fine.”

  Zoya seemed to pull herself together and straightened up. “Of course, Captain. It just came as a bit of a surprise.”

  He chuckled. “Not as much as Albee got, I bet.” He glanced at Zoya. “You can have his stateroom if you like.”

  Zoya shook her head. “Thanks, Captain, but I’ll stay where I am.”

  Trask nodded and glanced at Natalya. “Not a problem.”

  “What will happen to him?” Zoya asked.

  Trask pursed his lips and shook his head. “No idea. He’s a good enough line supervisor. He’ll probably just go back to the ore plant and pick up his next shift.”

  “What did he mean that you needed his thumb?”

  The captain shrugged. “He seemed to think he’d need to certify the voyage. His identity records have already been sanitized so that they all think he’s who we say he is.”

  “I see,” Zoya said. Her expression belied her statement and she looked at Natalya, eyes wide.

  Natalya said, “What about the cargo master?”

  “Josh?”

  “Yes, Captain. He seems a bit—well—disabled.”

  “We do need Josh. His thumb goes on the final transfer docket. It’s a bit of a strain on him. He’s been getting worse each trip. I’ll ask Mr. Kondur to find us a new cargo chief before we go back again.”

  Charlie Blanchard breezed through the wardroom door with Pritchard close behind. “Good morning, all. Sorry we’re late. Traffic was terrible on the commute this morning.” He smiled at Zoya. “I see I have a new boss. Good morning, Ms. Usoko. How may I suck up to you today?” Blanchard winked at Natalya across the table.

  The captain chuckled and waved a hand. “Shut up and sit down, Charlie. She’s still in shock.”

  Pritchard edged around the table and took his seat at the captain’s left hand. “Good morning, Skipper. Congratulations on the promotion, Ms. Usoko.” He practically beamed.

  “Good morning, Steven,” the captain said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Pritchard,” Zoya said and nodded at Blanchard. “I’m still not sure why or how I got bumped ahead of Mr. Blanchard.”

  “Charlie, please. And you got bumped because I turned it down.” He shot a look at the captain. “As I always do.”

  Zoya said, “You people realize—”

  The captain placed a hand on her forearm and spoke over her. “We realize that your experience handling the ore haulers in Margary have given you very much more experience than your chronological age might indicate, Ms. Usoko.”

  Pritchard didn’t seem to notice the exchange but Blanchard did and nodded. “Precisely.”

  The captain looked at Blanchard. “Charlie, we’ll need to push the departure back to at least noon. Mr. Kondur is sending a replacement third mate but he’s going to be a bit delayed.”

  “Shall we push it back to 1500? Nothing goes as planned and I’d rather give him some extra time than have to adjust it again.”

  The captain nodded. “Yeah. Let’s do that. I know Mr. Kondur wants this shipment out of here but a couple of stans aren’t going to make much difference across twelve weeks.”

  “Will do, Skipper,” Blanchard said. He looked at Zoya. “You need help adjusting the watch schedules?”

  “I’m sure I can handle that much.”

  The captain looked down the table at Natalya. “Engineering is ready to go?”

  “I’ll have everything on warm standby by 1500, Captain.”

  “Very good.”

  Mr. Bray brought in platters of scrambled eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes. “Breakfast is served, sars.”

  By the time breakfast was over, Zoya looked a little less anxious.

  Natalya still had her doubts but for fifty thousand credits and getting her ship back, she was willing to take the chance.

  Chapter 21

  Dark Knight Station: 2373, June 8

  Natalya called a section meeting for 1300 hours, right after lunch. She had the whole engineering crew with the exception of Pritchard assemble at the foot of the ladder in the main engine room. She stood on the ladder where she could address all of them at once.

  “Good afternoon, people. I’ve met a few of you in passing but this is the first time I’ve been able to meet with you all. In a couple of stans we’re going to get underway, and that means we’re going to have to start paying very close attention to what’s happening back here.”

  A couple of the ratings near the back rolled their eyes.

  “How many of you have real engineering experience? Environmental, power, whatever.”

  Natalya raised her hand and was gratified to see Knowles and the half-dozen people around him raised theirs. The two near the back that found her welcome so eyeroll-worthy also raised theirs.

  “Great. How many have made one of these runs before.”

  Natalya kept her hand down but most of the people on the floor raised theirs.

  “Thanks. That helps. Collie and Pearson?”

  Two ratings in neat shipsuits stepped forward. “Thanks. I just wanted to get faces with the names. Solomon?”

  “Here.” An older woman in the middle of the pack raised a hand.

  Natalya nodded to her. “Excellent. You three with Mr. Knowles are my section leads. Let me know if you need anything, day or night. Bip me.”

  They all nodded.

  “I know you don’t know me any more than I know you. I’m sure we’ll get to know each other better over the next few weeks. Any questions for me?”

  One of the eye-rollers in the back stuck his face in the air. “Yeah. I got one.”

  “Great. Who are you? What section are you in?”

  “Mike Town, Propulsion.”

  “What’s your question?”

  “Who made you God?”

  Solomon turned to face the crewman who seemed to be ignoring her.

  “Mr. Town, I am not God. That would be Captain Trask.” Her response got a bit of a chuckle. “I’m the only trained engineering officer on this vessel. I’m probably the only person here who’s torn down a Burleson drive and put it back together so it ran. The only one who’s rerouted fuel ducts around a failed structure to get a ship flying again. Your section leads know their sections but I’m the only one who knows how every one of these machines works, how they work together, how to keep them all running, and how to fix every one of them if it fails. I’m your ticket home if any of this gear goes tits up half way between here and nowhere. But I’m not God.” She paused and stared him down. “Does that answer your question, Mr. Town?”

  “Where’s Steve?” he asked, his jaw stuck out and his arms folded over his chest. “He’s your boss. Why isn’t he here givin’ the orders?”

  “Chief Pritchard is in his stateroom,” Natalya said. “You are free to check in with him if you like. He gave me my orders, Mr. Town. I am carrying out those orders now.”

  Solomon cast a glance up at Natalya. “Sorry, boss.”

  Natalya shook her head. “I’m happy to answer questions. I’m less happy to have to explain the facts of life to spacers, but I don’t mind doing it.”

  Town took a step forward. “You and who’s army?”

  The crew stepped away, leaving a clear path between Town and Natalya. Only Solomon stood in the way.

  “Stand down, Mike. You’re out of line,” Solomon said. “What’s gotten into you?”

  Town shook his head and waved her off. “We
’ve been hangin’ our asses out here—some of us for stanyers—and she’s some prissy newcomer goin’ to tell us how to run our shop? We’re just going to take it? Those pips are barely out of the box. Gimme a break.”

  Natalya took the three steps down to the deck in a single hop and strode to stand beside Solomon. “Mr. Town, we’ve got enough trouble without adding more to it. Do you have any problem with anything I’ve said or done so far?” She paused. “Anything specific, other than calling you all together so I can see who’s who?”

  Up close, Town was a bigger guy than Natalya had thought. Apparently he thought she wasn’t big enough because he lunged for her and swung a vicious right at her head.

  Natalya sidestepped, slapped the fist away, and kicked his legs out from under him. He slammed to the steel deck and slid with the momentum. Natalya turned to face him. “Bad move, Mr. Town. Your balance is way off. You telegraphed that blow. You’re angry and not using your head to plan. You also don’t know me or what my skill level in hand-to-hand combat is.”

  Solomon said, “Jeez, I’m sorry, Ms. Regyri. He’s not normally like this.”

  “Think nothing of it, Ms. Solomon.” She smiled at the older woman and shrugged. “Sometimes we have to do things the hard way and we all have our own way of learning lessons, don’t we.”

  Solomon blinked at her several times. “I can have him replaced.”

  Natalya looked at Town who still sprawled on the cold steel. “Oh, for goodness’ sakes, get up, Mr. Town.” She held out a hand to help him up.

  He looked at it like it might be a trap and levered himself up on his own.

  “You want to sit this one out, Mr. Town? Stay here on station instead of sailing with us?” she asked.

  He scowled and looked at the deck at her feet. “No. I’ll go.”

  Natalya smiled at him. “Good. We’ll have more chance to get to know each other, but in the meantime, I think we’ve all got stuff we need to do. The skipper will be calling navigation stations soon. Let’s not keep the man waiting, shall we?”

  The group broke up, Knowles leading his environmental team off to Environmental and Collie and Pearson taking a troop of enginemen up the ladder to Propulsion and Grav.

  Natalya offered her hand to Town. “No hard feelings?”

  “No hard feelings?” Solomon said. “Why are you apologizing to him? He’s the turd in the soup here.” She looked like she wanted to take Town by the ear and drag him to the woodshed herself.

  Natalya place a hand on Solomon’s shoulder. “Ms. Solomon, Mr. Town was only saying what half a dozen of the crew were thinking. If he hadn’t said something, that thought would have festered and turned nasty later in the voyage. With any luck, we’ve lanced that boil and we can move on.” She looked back at Town. “Isn’t that right, Mike?”

  He didn’t look up but nodded his head. “Probably.”

  Natalya stuck her hand out again. “Shake. Move on, spacer. We got places to be that don’t include here.”

  He glanced up at her, shook her hand, and then nodded. “Moving on,” he said. “Sar.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Town. I’m sure Ms. Solomon has something for you to do.” She glanced at Solomon who nodded. Judging from the look on Solomon’s face, Natalya was pretty sure that Town hadn’t actually seen the end of it.

  Chapter 22

  Dark Knight Station: 2363, June 8

  At 1400 Natalya took a tour of engineering. She stopped at the fusactor pair and did a manual check on the status of each before firing them up. Each of them powerful enough to run an orbital, together they powered the generators that kept the various ship’s systems in juice. When not otherwise engaged, the power diverted to the capacitor banks that gave the Burleson drives their ability to bend space. She also brought the Burlesons online. It would be stans—perhaps days—before the bridge would call on them, but they’d be ready. Finally, she cross-checked the sail and keel generators. The manual safeties showed as set, and she double-checked the proximity overrides. The ship wouldn’t extend her sails this close to a station and the manual safeties assured it.

  Finally, she scampered up the ladder to the big kicker engines that would give them their first push out into the dark. There wasn’t anything she could actually see or do in the compartment, but she walked around the behemoths, festooned as they were in pipes and tubing. Supercooled coils wrapped critical junctions; the whole assembly looked nothing like the sleek, streamlined rocket engines in the holos. It didn’t need to. She found the beauty in the beast in knowing how it worked and why. She couldn’t look at the kickers without thinking of the images her father had once shown her of the ancient steam engines that powered the early industry on Earth. Her survey completed, she patted one with the flat of her hand and left the compartment, dogging the airtight door behind her as she left.

  She felt a solid warmth around her as she considered what they were about to do. Getting the Peregrine underway always gave her a sense of freedom, of possibility. Anything might happen. She smiled to herself as she thought of all the things that might go wrong on this voyage and her heart seemed to beat a little faster at the thought, even as the excitement of taking the huge ship out into the Deep Dark washed over her. It felt good in a way she couldn’t explain.

  At 1430, Zoya’s voice called the crew to navigation stations over the ship’s speakers. Natalya’s feet carried her to the engineering control room. The captain had the bridge, but the chief engineer had engineering control. She found her power and propulsion crews already in place, mostly skylarking and drinking coffee. They had the consoles fired up and tracking, but little showed on them yet. As the bridge’s demands grew, so would their readouts here.

  The chatter died down as she entered. Town sat at the main propulsion control terminal; his ears and the back of his neck still showed red a whole stan later. Solomon caught Natalya’s eye and gave her a nod. Natalya swung into the engineering chief’s chair. Nobody questioned her right to it, although a couple of the ratings cast glances in her direction.

  One of the power section spec-threes sat at the main power console. Natalya pulled up her ship’s tablet and checked the logs to make sure she knew the correct names. “Mr. Collie?”

  The spec-three turned to look at her.

  “How stand we for power, Mr. Collie?”

  “Fine, sar. Fusactors are online. System is ready to take the load from shore power.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Collie. Ms. Solomon, propulsion?”

  Solomon smiled. “All field generators on safety standby. Kickers are primed and ready for firing.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Solomon.” She keyed her comms and spoke to environmental. “Mr. Knowles, how soggy is the swamp?”

  Natalya heard him laugh. “Fine as frogs’ fur, sar. All systems up, running, and nominal. We’re ready down here.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Knowles.” She scanned the room once more and nodded at the spec-three on gravity. “Ms. Pearson? How’s the gravity?”

  “Not much outside, sar, but we’re stable in the ship.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Pearson.”

  She signaled Zoya on the bridge that Engineering was ready to get underway.

  “And now, ladies and gentlemen, we wait on the convenience of the captain,” she said and settled down in the seat to wait.

  After only a few moments, Zoya’s voice came over the speakers again. “Standby for undock in ten.”

  Natalya buckled the seat belt on her chair and noticed which of the crew followed suit. Solomon and her propulsion team all buckled up. Collie seemed busy with Pearson on the next console. Neither of them bothered.

  A low thump vibrated the hull. Natalya watched the propulsion systems log the maneuvering thrusters. She felt a tiny slosh of movement before the inertial stabilizers squelched it. Nobody spoke in the room. All eyes remained focused on the tasks in front of them.

  Within a few ticks, the kickers rumbled into life just above Natalya’s head. Vacuum isolated most of the noise but v
ibration propagated through the engine mounts and into the ship’s frame. Natalya found it comforting, even if it made the armrest on her chair hum under her fingertips.

  Natalya’s tablet bipped an incoming message from Zoya with a schedule for jumps and their anticipated power needs. She acknowledged and turned to the crew.

  “Listen up, my dears. In about half a stan we’re going to make a short hop out of the local. We’ll adjust course and make another longer jump before we huddle down to recharge and regroup. Any questions?”

  Solomon lifted her chin and asked, “No sails?”

  “Apparently not. We’re going in with kicker velocity and jumping between systems as far as Albert. We’re expecting to pop in to Albert’s system space in about three days.”

  Solomon nodded. “That sounds familiar.”

  The chronometer ticked down for just over half a stan until Zoya’s voice sounded on the speakers. “Stand by for jump.”

  “They’re not wasting any time,” Solomon said and turned back to the propulsion console.

  The kicker vibration faded out for a moment and then the Burlesons jammed space-time into a ball for a split second.

  “Status?” Natalya asked.

  “Power normal. Full charge in half a stan.”

  “Propulsion normal. Kickers secured. Burlesons live for jump. Sails and keel on safety standby.” Solomon looked up at Natalya. “We’ve got enough for one more full jump, sar.”

  “Stand by. Mr. Blanchard will have to confirm our location and velocity.”

  The Burlesons fired again almost immediately.

  “Apparently he liked where we were, sar,” Town said.

  “Charge time, Ms. Solomon?”

  “Full charge in three stans, sar. Enough for another full jump in one.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Solomon.”

  “Secure from navigation stations. Resume normal watch rotation.” Zoya’s voice sounded calm and measured on the speakers.