The Stones of Silence_Cochrane's Company_Book One

by Peter Grant

  “Very well. When can you start construction of the frigates?”

  “We’ll have to finalize the design first. I expect that to take at least six months, what with communications back and forth. As soon as it’s mutually agreed, we can begin ordering systems, weapons and fittings for the prototype. You understand, with a brand-new design like this, it would be unwise to proceed with full production until a prototype has been tested and approved.”

  “I understand.”

  “Good. Robotic construction is relatively speedy. We should be ready to run trials late next year, make any necessary modifications, and prepare for regular production to start about two years from now. The prototype will be upgraded to full production standard, to become the first of your nine frigates. If there are no corvette orders to follow your ships, we can use that production line with minimal setup delay. The depot ships and communications vessels will be our standard models, customized where necessary to suit your requirements. Our usual terms are a quarter of the price on placing the order, one-quarter when construction starts, one-quarter on completion, and the final payment when you take delivery from our shipyard.”

  Cochrane’s mind raced, comparing expected income from asteroid sales with the construction timeline. “That seems fair. I can pay you for the design work right away, and for the corvette, too, if we buy her. What about more corvettes?”

  “We can start the first pair of your remaining eight in three months, and have two ready for handover every five to six months after that. The depot ships will be built on another line, and take about a year each. Even robotic, modular construction can only move so fast, and we still have to finalize their special design features for you.”

  “That’s acceptable. If we can agree on price while I’m here, I can pay the deposit for the first two corvettes at once. I’ll also send you a half-million-ton fast freighter as soon as mutually convenient. Build pods to fit into a couple of her holds, containing classrooms and training materials for all the systems aboard our new ships, plus spacious, comfortable accommodation and upgraded support systems to accommodate up to two hundred spacers, over and above her crew. We’ll use her as a training ship. When you’ve had a chance to inspect her, give me a quote to arm her with up to four laser cannon, and a frigate missile pod and fire control system. I may use her to help patrol the Mycenae system while she trains our spacers. There’s no reason she can’t do both jobs at once.”

  Kim nodded. “There should be no problem with any of that. We’ll need four to six months for the freighter conversion, but it’s relatively simple work from an engineering perspective. We can do it in space using a repair ship, without tying up a construction berth.”

  “Very well. When can we inspect the corvette?”

  Kim reached for his desktop comm unit. “I’ll arrange that for tomorrow morning, and have our Head of Design pull a team together. You can start work with them tomorrow afternoon.”

  12

  Interlude

  CONSTANTA

  Cochrane and Lu watched through the viewports as the Qianjin communications frigate settled into orbit. “It looks very lovely,” she said, indicating the deep blue seas that surrounded the planet’s three continents. “They must have some wonderful beach resorts.”

  “I’m told they do. In fact, I could use a short break. I’ve been flat out at work since I started this project, almost a year ago. Would you care to join me for a week at one of them, once I’ve taken care of what’s piled up in my absence? No strings attached, of course,” he hastened to add as she cocked her head, looking at him quizzically. “Separate rooms.”

  “I’m on duty, remember? I can’t just take time off whenever I feel like it!”

  “You said yourself you need to check on security companies like ours, because you use them for some commercial operations. This could fall under that heading.”

  She grinned at him. “You’re reaching awfully hard, you know.”

  “Yes, I am, but I’d like your company.”

  “Well… let me think about it. What do you have to do first?”

  “I’ll have to check what’s waiting for me. I’ve got to meet with the shipyard owner, to see how the refurbishment of our last patrol craft is coming along. I also want him to introduce me to a suitable contact in Constanta’s government. If we’re going to have an influx of ships, I want to use this planet as an alternate center – perhaps even the primary center – for our operations. I’ll ask for a local license to operate armed ships, and use the shipyard as our maintenance and repair base. It’ll probably be expensive, but we can afford it now, and it’ll be good to have a fallback location if anything happens at Rousay.”

  “Do you think it might?”

  “It’s possible. We’ve done things that are sure to ruffle the feathers of the powers that be, if they ever find out about them. I’d rather not say more about that right now.” Mentally, he was smiling. If NOE figures out that their illegal asteroid prospecting has helped pay for our new ships, they’ll blow several fuses – and then there’s the Callanish consortium, and those Albanian gangsters. There are a lot of people who won’t be happy with us, if they figure out all we’ve been doing.

  “While you’re doing that, may I discuss those robot prospectors with your electronics specialist?”

  “Certainly. I’ll introduce you. You can also go over our last patrol craft at the shipyard, if you like. It’s so old it qualifies as an antique, though, so it may not interest you.”

  She smiled. “You forget my job. Warships always interest me, even old ones.”

  She wasn’t so sanguine when they met for supper the following evening, at a restaurant on the orbital space station. As soon as they’d entered their selections into the menu screen at their booth, she exploded, “I can’t believe you’re risking your life, and the lives of your spacers, in deathtraps like those patrol craft! I’ve never seen anything so decrepit in my life – at least, not in space!”

  “I presume you’ve been looking at the one being refurbished?” he asked, and she nodded. “Well, you’re seeing it at its worst. The shipyard’s done a good job of fixing up their old systems, and replacing those that are past it with modern commercial equivalents. The four that were in the best condition were the first to go through the process, so you’re seeing the poorest-condition ship that can still be refurbished.”

  “Whoever owned them before did a terrible job of looking after them! Where did you buy them?”

  “Ah… that’s a story for another time. I agree, they’re far from ideal, but they’re all we could afford at very short notice. We hadn’t recovered any asteroids at that time.”

  “I see; and I also see why you went ahead and ordered those corvettes right away. The sooner you can put your spacers into better, more modern ships, the better the odds that they’ll survive if they run into enemies. I don’t fancy their chances – not to mention your chance! – in those old rattletraps, even if you’ve refurbished them.”

  He smiled. “Dare I take it you care about what happens to me?”

  “If you haven’t figured that out by now, you aren’t very good at judging women, are you?” she said tartly, then softened. “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. It’s just that… we have a problem, Andrew.”

  It was the first time she’d used his given name. He felt a frisson of excitement, for the first time under such circumstances in several years. “What do you mean, Hui?”

  She blushed as he used her given name, also for the first time. “You’re setting up an independent security company, but you’ve no idea where you’ll be based in the longer term – only that you want to break free of the New Orkney Cluster. I’m an officer in the Qianjin Fleet. My service isn’t part of the Dragon Tong – it keeps its operations strictly separate from our system defense forces – but it’s associated with the Tong by a common planet, if nothing else. Our loyalties are to two very different entities, based hundreds of light years apart. I’m not about to
leave my job and home, and I don’t think you are either.”

  “It would be easier for me,” he corrected her, “because I don’t have a home, after my wife left me and took almost everything we’d built together. As for Rousay, it’s where I’m currently employed, not where I live. On the other hand, I couldn’t live on Qianjin. Quite apart from considerations about the Tong, you don’t encourage immigration.”

  “No, we don’t. It’s bad for security, and with our history, that would never do. You see my problem, don’t you? I don’t give my affections lightly. In fact, you’ve already crossed barriers I swore I’d never let anyone through again. I also was… I suppose the word is ‘betrayed’… by a previous lover, so I understand how your wife must have hurt you. I don’t want to go through that again, and neither do you; yet, if we get involved, but one of us can’t bring ourselves to join the other, won’t that be a betrayal too? We’ll leave each other dangling, desperately unhappy, but unable to do anything to avoid that.”

  “Won’t we be unhappy if we leave things as they are? I know I will.”

  “Yes, but at least we haven’t committed ourselves yet. If we become lovers… I think that will cross a line for me. I don’t know whether I could pull back after that.”

  “I’m not sure, either,” he admitted slowly, and sighed. “Maybe it’s a bit premature to think about that beach holiday together.”

  “I think it is. In fact, I think I’d better take a break from… us… while the going’s good, to give us both some breathing space. I’ve read through Warrant Officer Murray’s report on those prospector robots. He’s amazing! He figured out more from their chip architecture than I would have believed possible, and the analysis of their programming by his tech team was superb. I’d like to get it back to our specialists as fast as possible, along with the robot you gave us. They’ll be falling over themselves with interest when they see it all.”

  He sighed again. “I can see the sense in what you’re saying – but I don’t want to, dammit!”

  She smiled wryly at him. “That makes two of us. However, I’ll make you this promise. I still want to visit the Mycenae system, and see those things in operation. If my superiors permit, which I think they will, I’ll return as soon as our technicians have started their own analysis of the bots, and I’ve caught up with the work that’s accumulated for me back at Qianjin. I can be back here in about six or seven weeks, by which time your new corvette will have been delivered and you’ll be well advanced with training her crew. Are you going to take her to Mycenae?”

  “That was my plan, yes. My courier ship will follow her there, to bring me back here.”

  “Then why don’t I go with you? I can sell that to my bosses as a chance to see our corvette design in operation in another system, and perhaps even in combat. I’m sure that will interest them.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’ll miss you until then, though.” He reached over the table and covered her hand with his own.

  She turned her hand up beneath his, and stroked his palm with her fingertips. “And I’ll miss you,” she whispered.

  “Thank you for saying that. We’ll let matters between us lie where they are for now, and see what develops.”

  Next morning, as Hui boarded her communications frigate and headed for the system boundary, Cochrane met with Constanta’s Defense Minister and Foreign Minister.

  “We’ve considered your request for a license to operate armed vessels from Constanta,” the Defense Minister began. “You already have one from Rousay, and you’re a former officer in the New Orkney Cluster’s Fleet, so technically there shouldn’t be a problem. However, there are our costs to consider.”

  “What are they, Mr. Balan?”

  Before the Defense Minister could reply, the Finance Minister said, “They’re administrative in nature, plus the costs of registering your ships with the United Planets as legitimately armed. We do have to pay our civil servants for such things, you understand.”

  I understand very well, Cochrane thought to himself. You’re looking for a rake-off to give me what I want. Well, I’m used to that. “Do you have a sum in mind, Mr. Lungu?”

  “We understand you’re paying Mr. Grigorescu in gold or Neue Helvetica francs for the work he’s doing on your ships. We were thinking a million francs per year, or the equivalent in gold, would cover it.”

  Cochrane restrained himself from laughing outright. They were asking a lot more than the market would bear.

  “You surely realize I’m paying less than a tenth of that sum on Rousay?” he queried mildly. “If I were to approach another planet in the New Orkney Cluster, I daresay I’d pay about the same.”

  “Ah… well, we understood that you’d prefer to have a base outside the Cluster,” Balan muttered. “Surely that’s worth something to you?”

  Cochrane kept his face impassive. “There is that. However, it’s not worth a million a year.”

  After brisk bargaining, Cochrane promised to personally deliver two hundred thousand francs, in cash, to the Foreign Minister’s office the following morning, and another two hundred thousand, this time in gold, to the Defense Minister’s office, in exchange for the armed vessel permit.

  “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen,” he said genially as he got to his feet. “I hope our future dealings will be as smooth.”

  “Provided we get our fees every year, I’m sure they will,” Balan promised.

  Unless you get greedy, or get a better offer to betray us, you mean, Cochrane added silently. Well, that’s only to be expected from politicians like you. I’ve recorded this meeting, and I’ll record tomorrow’s exchanges as well. If you try to betray us, I’ll make sure you go down before we do.

  He made a mental note to identify the major figures in Constanta’s underworld. It would be worthwhile to make certain arrangements with one of them, as an insurance policy against betrayal by the politicians. In his experience, such precautions had often proved useful. What’s more, if the targets learned about the arrangement – which would not happen unless they made it necessary – they usually took them seriously enough that they seldom needed to be activated.

  His meeting with Mr. Grigorescu was extremely cordial. The shipyard owner was delighted to see him again.

  “I must admit, Captain, your business has transformed my shipyard,” he acknowledged, raising his coffee cup in salute. “My turnover is twice what it was a year ago, and it looks set fair to double again in the next year, what with maintaining your patrol craft, two regular freighters, two fast freighters, your new repair ship, and your courier vessel. If you buy any more ships, I may have to expand!”

  “You will.” Cochrane laid his new armed vessel permit on the desk. “I’m planning to make Constanta my main base of operations for at least the next few years. That won’t last, because we’ll move on in due course, but while we’re here, I’d like to use your shipyard as our maintenance base. I’ve got a squadron of corvettes coming, plus their depot ships, and we’ll be hiring hundreds more spacers and officers to crew them. You’re an essential part of my plans.”

  “I’m very glad to hear it.”

  “You earned it by giving us a break on refurbishing our first patrol craft,” Cochrane assured him. “That helped us enormously, at a time when we couldn’t afford to do everything we wanted. Our expansion is being funded by the proceeds of action against criminals in another system, which by contract we can retain for our own needs. You’ll get a goodly share of them. For example, I want Sue McBride to speed up refitting that repair ship and getting her operational. I need her in the Mycenae system in six months, if possible.”

  Grigorescu pursed his lips. “That’s a very tight schedule, Captain. Even if she puts her in the shipyard and lets my techs work alongside her, it’ll be hard to meet.”

  “Do your best. We don’t have a shipyard in Mycenae, so we need her there as our mobile maintenance unit. She’ll be shuttling back and forth beween Mycenae and Constanta
for the next few years. What d’you think it’ll cost to get her up and running?”

  “You’ve got all the equipment you need from the old depot ship that came with your patrol craft, and from that other repair ship McBride stripped before she went off again. It’s just a matter of figuring out what to keep and where to put it, then installing it and connecting everything to the ship’s systems. McBride’s own techs are doing a lot of that. I can lend her a dozen more – all that aren’t busy with your last patrol craft – and all the robotic construction gear I can spare. I reckon… oh, twenty million should cover that, plus the use of a slipway, plus six months’ hard work. Parts and materials will be extra, of course.”

  “Done. I’ll pay you that right away, plus five million in advance to cover anything you need to buy. I want to keep your shipyard in good financial health, considering how badly we’ll need your services over the next few years. I hope we aren’t monopolizing you, and driving your other customers away. I wouldn’t like your relationship with them to suffer because of us.”

  “No, that’s not a problem at present. To be frank, business had been tough for a year or two before you came along. You’ve changed all that. I’ve even had a couple of queries from other planets, asking about refurbishing older vessels. It seems visiting freighters noticed what we’ve been doing with your ships, and spread the word. That makes me happy. Competition among smaller shipyards like mine is cutthroat. I’ll take every advantage I can get!”

  Dave Cousins returned from Mycenae with his freighter, and reported growing confidence and competence among the crews of the four old vessels now patrolling the system. “They’re settling into their jobs well, sir. The ships aren’t great, and the mish-mash of older and newer systems among them is a problem, but we’ll make do until we can afford something better.”