by Peter Grant
“I see. Caitlin managed to buy fifty nuclear space mines at Marano. They’re much more modern than these missiles, of course. They use the same bomb-pumped laser warheads as Marano’s missiles, which is very helpful. I checked the specifications provided by our contact at New Westray. We should be able to shoehorn the Marano warheads into these old missiles, to replace non-functioning ones. I want to keep ten mines. I’ll leave forty with you. Take their warheads and wire them into forty thoroughly tested, refurbished missiles, but keep the rest of the mine shells and systems intact – we may rebuild them when we have access to more warheads. You can use a couple of the modified missiles for testing, if you need to. Refurbish as many of New Westray’s nuclear warheads as you can, with the emphasis on reliability. I need at least five fully loaded missile pods, and as many more as possible for use as reloads.”
“Five pods? Is that how many of the patrol craft can be modernized?”
“Yes, more’s the pity – the shipyard says the other three are so far gone they aren’t worth refurbishing. Fortunately, we can replace many of their old-fashioned military systems with modern commercial equivalents. The state of the art has advanced a lot since they were built. Even so, it’s going to cost us close to fifty million francs to modernize each ship to even a limited extent.”
Sue winced. “That’s a heck of a lot of money! Where are you getting it from? I thought our budget was pretty much committed.”
“It is. I’ve taken out a loan from a local bank, with the help of the shipyard. We’ve got the equivalent of two hundred million francs from them – enough to refurbish four of the patrol craft. The fifth will stay here, awaiting funds to put it through the same process. The remaining three hulls will be held in reserve. We’ll cannibalize them for spare parts. What about this depot ship? Did you get a chance to look at her in depth on the way here?”
“I did, sir. I don’t think she’s worth saving. She’s worn out. Too many of her systems keep breaking down. I’d rather transfer the support gear for the patrol craft to one of our freighters, to serve as a temporary depot ship until we can afford something better. This ship carries four of the same laser cannon as the patrol craft, though, and they all seem to be in working order, along with their fire control system. We can mount them for point defense on one of our other ships.”
Cochrane nodded approvingly. “We probably will. They’re not as good or as powerful as more modern units, but they’re accurate up to about two hundred and fifty thousand kilometers. That’s enough to help with missile defense, or target a nearby vessel. We’ll leave the depot ship here for now, because I’ve pledged her as collateral for the loan, along with the patrol craft we won’t be modernizing. You’ll stay with her at first, along with your technicians, to refurbish the missiles and warheads, and keep an eye on what the shipyard is doing. I’ve told them I want the first two patrol craft ready within six weeks from now, if possible, and they’ve promised to do their best. Please try to have missile pods ready for them at that time.”
“I reckon I can, sir. What are you going to be doing?”
“I’m waiting for Commander Cousins to get here with a newly leased ship. He’s been handling a special mission for me. He should arrive tomorrow or the next day, if all went well. If he’s succeeded, I’ll park that ship here under your supervision for safekeeping, then ferry him and his crew back to his original freighter in my courier vessel. He’ll bring her here. I want to fit her with a missile pod, if you can get a sixth unit working for her, plus those laser cannon you mentioned, then load the first two patrol craft aboard her.”
“OK, sir. I’d best get back to work.”
Commander Cousins was bone-tired when he showed up at Constanta the next day. His crew wasn’t much better. “We should have had twice as many spacers as we did, sir,” he complained when Cochrane joined him in his office aboard the leased freighter. “We’ve been working watch-and-watch for three weeks straight. That’s too much, sir.”
“It is, and I’m very grateful to you and your people for working so hard. Unfortunately, we have to be very careful who we hire. Caitlin’s doing a great job on interviews, background checks and truth-tester analysis, but she and her team are also too few for what we need. After all, we’re expanding from nothing to an organization of two-hundred-plus people by the end of six months. Between us all, we know enough good officers and senior NCO’s to form our leadership core; and they know enough qualified spacers and junior NCO’s to set up our initial cadre. Fortunately, that means we won’t have the added headache of training people.”
“I guess so, sir. Sorry if I sounded whiny. I’m just plain exhausted.”
“I can see that. You’ll have a few days aboard my courier boat to relax and catch up on sleep on the way back to your own ship. There are ten cabins available, with two bunks each, so some of your people will have to put mattresses on the deck, or hot-bunk; but we’ll fit you all in somehow. How did it go in the Mycenae system?”
“Very well, sir. We recovered one hundred sixteen asteroids in the three areas you identified, all beaconed by the prospector robots. They’ve been working hard since our first visit.”
“One hundred and sixteen?” Cochrane’s voice was astonished.
“Yes, sir.”
“I… That changes things. I’d hoped for a few, at best a few dozen, but that many… d’you realize what this means? We may get enough for them to pay for our ten-year plan in less than half that time!”
“Yes, sir. The news gets better. We ran preliminary assays on the asteroids during the journey here. They’re amazingly dense, sir, and seem to have a very high concentration of precious metals or rare earth elements. I’d say those prospector bots were programmed to cherry-pick only the very best, richest, densest asteroids they could find, those offering maximum value. We’re lucky we were able to collect them before the people who put the robots there came back for them.
“That brings up something odd, sir. There are three fields of prospector robots out there. All three are using bots from different parts of the galaxy. One field looks to be related to the New Hebrides cluster. The robots are from a supplier there. The second field is probably linked to the New Orkney Cluster, because that’s where its prospector bots were made. The third one, though… its robots’ data plates are in Cyrillic script.”
“Cyrillic? Who the hell could that be?”
“I don’t know, sir, but the impression I get is that each of those fields was sown with prospector robots by a different person or company. I reckon NOE’s probably behind one of them, and the Callanish consortium is behind a second; but there may be a third player involved, and we’ve no idea who it might be. I’m hoping we can use the Cyrillic data plates to identify where those prospector bots were made. That would give us a starting-point to look further – and we need to. You see, every time we tried to approach those bots, they self-destructed. They blew up. We recovered the data plates from their wreckage. Their computer processors and memories were melted down into slag, as if someone didn’t want us reading them.”
“That’s worrying. If they’re just fly-by-night claim jumpers, we can probably handle them; but if a planet or company is that paranoid, perhaps with some military muscle behind them, they could make life difficult for us. Were any of the fields protected by sensors, to monitor anyone who came calling?”
“We didn’t see any, but if you or I were doing something like that, we’d sure as hell have deployed sensors, sir. I reckon we’d better assume that they did, too.”
“You’re right. At least the gravitic drive emissions of your leased ship are different to any of those we’ll be using in the Mycenae system in future. They won’t necessarily be able to link her to us. We can’t worry about that now, though. We’ve got too much else on our plate. As soon as you get back to your freighter, bring her here. Have Warrant Officer McBride and her people help the shipyard to install a missile pod and laser cannon, plus their guidance and control systems, then loa
d the first two patrol craft as soon as they’re ready.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“I’m going to see someone about those asteroids. I’ll leave most of them aboard this freighter, and load some of the smallest aboard my courier ship. Her hold isn’t very big, but it should be large enough for a few of them, and I’ll put another one or two inside her cutter. It won’t be usable for general transport while they’re on board, but we can hire planetary shuttles for that. I’ll want your assay reports on those I take with me, and I want you to have a team conduct more comprehensive assays on those we leave here – as detailed as possible.
“As soon as possible after I get back, you’ll head for Mycenae. The new satellites will be installed there in about two months’ time, and I want you to be ready when they are.”
“Ready for what, sir?”
“You’ll see. It’s going to be fun.”
6
The Dragon’s Lair
BARJAH
Cochrane walked into the ornate foyer, looking around with approval. Clearly, no expense had been spared to create the right impression.
A black-suited maître d’hôtel stepped forward to greet him. “Good evening, sir. Welcome to the Royal Golden Dragon restaurant. Do you have a reservation for tonight?”
“My name’s Cochrane. I have an appointment with a Mr. Huang.”
“You are expected, sir.” He clicked his fingers, and a waiter hurried forward. “Take Captain Cochrane to the private suite.”
“Yessir! Please come this way, sir.”
He ushered him into a luxuriously furnished room. A table for four was set in the center of the floor. Two men came to their feet as he entered, the waiter closing the door silently behind him. They wore formal business suits, looking more comfortable in them than he felt in his own.
“Captain Cochrane? I am Huang Cheng. I am the leader of the Dragon Tong on Barjah. This is my colleague, Hsu Jin. He is the general manager for an asteroid mining operation in this system. As a specialist in what you wanted to discuss, and since his refinery ship will be involved in any business we may do together, I thought it would be best to involve him from the beginning.”
“I’m honored to meet you both.”
So, the Tong controls asteroid mining in the Barjah system, Cochrane silently thought. That’s interesting – and what’s even more interesting is that they aren’t concerned about my knowing it. They must have good friends in high places on this planet, and they want me to realize that.
Handshakes were exchanged, and the three took their seats. Huang pressed a button beneath the edge of the table, and the door opened again as he looked at Cochrane. “Do you know Chinese food, Captain, particularly at gourmet level?”
“I’m afraid not. I haven’t had the opportunity to eat any of it except fast food takeaways, and I’m told most of them aren’t nearly as Chinese as they claim to be.”
The other two laughed. “That is true. Since this restaurant offers the very best Chinese dishes, may I suggest that I order for you? I assure you, you will find it pleasing to your palate.”
“By all means, Mr. Huang.”
Huang gave rapid instructions in Chinese. The waiter bowed, and scurried off.
“He will be bringing food and drink in and out at intervals. He will sound a gong every time, so that we can stop talking while he is in the room.”
“That’s thoughtful. Are you sure this restaurant is secure from snoopers?”
Both men laughed. “We own the Royal Golden Dragon, Captain,” Huang assured him. “Look for a restaurant with the same name on almost every major planet, and you will find one. It is a convenient way to locate the Dragon Tong, if you should wish to speak with us. It is also, and always, fully law-abiding, offering no excuse for the authorities to look askance on it. That allows us to meet outsiders like yourself in an undisturbed atmosphere.”
“I’ll remember that, thanks.”
They passed a few minutes in pleasantries until the waiter wheeled in a cart bearing bowls of an appetizing thin soup, pouring glasses of an excellent white wine to accompany it. As they enjoyed the first course, Huang got down to business. “I showed Mr. Hsu the assay reports you provided, Captain. He was impressed.”
“Astonished might be a better description,” Hsu said with a nod. “I’ve seldom seen asteroids graded as richly as that. Are you sure the assays are accurate?”
“I am. As a matter of fact, I have all five of those asteroids in orbit aboard my courier vessel. If we agree on terms, I’m prepared to leave them with you for processing, without payment, as a sign of good faith. You can see their yield for yourselves once you’ve refined them. If it lives up to the assays, that will hopefully show that the assays of other asteroids I provide will also be accurate.”
“That is true. Your confidence in bringing them here is encouraging.”
“We have to trust each other,” Cochrane pointed out. “If I thought you would cheat me, I wouldn’t be here. I know you’re going to drive a hard bargain, but I also know the Dragon Tong’s reputation. Once you’ve agreed to something, you keep your word. I figured we’d best start off on the right foot, to give you a chance to see that my word is good too.”
“I wish more of our customers and partners had that attitude,” Huang observed. “I know you contacted us through Henry Martin. He is someone we’ve learned to trust at a lower level, in the limited contacts we’ve had with him. It’s due to that trust that your inquiry was referred up the line to my level in the organization, because you’re talking about much more money than lower-level operatives would be trusted to handle.”
They paused the conversation while a meat course was brought in, accompanied by several vegetables, sauces and condiments. When the waiter had left once more, the discussion resumed.
“If your assays are correct, even the five small asteroids that you’ve brought will yield precious metals and rare earth elements to the value of approximately five hundred million Neue Helvetica francs, once they’ve been refined,” Hsu said. “Under normal circumstances, an independent prospector who brought them in would receive one-quarter of that.”
“Yes, but I’m not a prospector. Furthermore, these asteroids aren’t from this system, so the local government doesn’t get a share; and there’s no grubstake involved, so that share also falls away. Basically, the value of the asteroids becomes a two-way negotiation between the refinery and their owner.”
“And what proportion are you expecting to get, Captain?” Hsu was looking at him keenly, and Cochrane knew that they were approaching the critical point of the discussion.
“That’s what I’m here to discuss. You have to make a profit as well, Mr. Hsu; and I need to deal with a partner whose integrity and reliability are beyond question. It’s still strange to me, after my former career fighting smugglers and other criminals, to say this about the Tong, but you do have a reputation for honesty among both criminals and law enforcement throughout the galaxy. Everyone who knows you, even if they hate you, admits that the Tong keeps its word, and never betrays its clients unless they betray it. That’s worth a great deal to me. Therefore, I’m willing to offer you a third of the proceeds from each asteroid.”
Hsu frowned. “That does not adequately compensate us for the costs involved, Captain. Let me describe what’s involved. To process an asteroid, its rock must be completely broken down. Its minerals are then extracted, usually by smelting, but sometimes – in the case of some rare earth elements, for example, which are very hard to separate from each other – using more complex techniques. The extracted bounty must then be purified. All that is an expensive process. A refinery ship costs well over two billion francs, and its operating expenses are also very great, many times higher than the average spaceship.
“After extraction and refining, the detritus – usually well over ninety percent of the asteroid’s original mass – must be gathered up, bonded together either chemically or mechanically for ease of handling, and removed.
We usually dump it on a deserted, unused planet, but in this case, because the chemical composition of your asteroids will be different from those in this system, we must ensure than no comparison tests can ever be run, to prevent that being discovered. We shall therefore dump your asteroid residue into Barjah’s sun, to be destroyed beyond any possibility of recovery. That means periodic spaceship flights for that purpose – an added expense.
“All those costs add up. For a very high value precious metal asteroid, they may amount to as little as two to three percent of the net value recovered; but few are so profitable. Most yield lower returns, so their processing costs are several times higher as a proportion of those returns. A one-third share will be too small to cover that while making the process worth our while. I therefore propose a fifty percent split. We each get half of the gross value recovered. That will allow us a fair and reasonable profit after refining expenses, and you the same after the costs of prospecting for and gathering up the asteroids, and shipping them to us.”
Cochrane thought for a moment. He wouldn’t have to bear the prospecting costs, of course, which was a bonus. He might get better terms from a commercial, rather than a criminal enterprise, but he’d have to find one that would ask no awkward questions – an almost impossible task. If he wanted the anonymity that the Dragon Tong would guarantee, which was essential if he hoped to dupe the NOE over the long term, then he would have to pay their price. He nodded reluctantly.
