Tanager's Fledglings (The Tanager Book 1)

by Cedar Sanderson

  “In that case, feel free to seek a more dedicated carrier.” Jem leaned back. “The Tanager is an independent trader with an extensive route. We would like to do business with you, but if it is in your best interests...” He shrugged.

  Tryggen tipped his head back and laughed too loudly. “Don’t worry about my interests, boy. Worry about your own.”

  “Oh, but I am.” Jem stood up smoothly. The traditional Old Japan restaurant had them sitting on mats, but he was young and had been training. Right at the moment he was grateful for that ability to mimic savoir faire. “The penalty clause is egregious, and while we appreciate your business...” Jem decided to twist the knife, and offered a very small bow, more of a head inclination. “We do not need it. Good night, Ser Tryggen.”

  Jem gestured at the hostess as he walked out, ignoring the other man who was struggling to rise from the mat, more than a little red in the face. She floated over to him with tiny steps under her tight gown, and Jem held out his card. “My check, please.”

  He walked out of the restaurant before Tryggen could catch up with him, the hostess having been savvy enough to simply tap her mini-tablet to his card fast enough Jem didn’t even have to check his steps. To Jem’s relief, Ed was there, leaning against a dilapidated hovercraft. Jem eyed it, but didn’t slow down.

  “Ready to get out of here?”

  Ed straightened. “Someone chasing you?”

  Jem shrugged. “Not really. Just a man who isn’t used to having to pursue something he wants. I get the feeling his prey usually lies obligingly on his plate to be devoured.”

  Jem settled back into his seat and watched Ed drive. He liked the guy. Ed was eager, but not subservient, he worked hard and seemed to have his head on straight. In an initial assessment, Jem was sure he was going to hire him on, but this little errand got him out of town and Tryggen’s reach. Tryggen didn’t frighten him, but Jem was certain he’d bluster a lot.

  “So. A hacienda on a planet settled by Asgardians?” Jem had done some research on all their route stops, at first by assignment, and then from curiosity. Some planets were boring, but others had fascinating stories. Loki hadn’t been a protest planet, exactly. More a statement by a group who had a point to make. Jem wasn’t clear on what that point was, but any colony on this planet was not going to have a rosy path in front of them.

  Jem looked out into the darkness. They had left the lights of the small city behind them, and Loki’s night was unusually dark. The moonless planet with an eccentric orbit took night time seriously. Jem could just make out darker masses against the near-black. Trees, he guessed, but it was hard to be sure.

  Ed got around to answering Jem’s question. “Mi abuelo... um, my grandfather...”

  Jem interrupted him, “mi hablo espanol.”

  “No necesito. I speak English better my own self.”

  Jem chuckled. Ed went on with his story. “He came here by accident, I think. He was working as a cargo hand on a ship, and got stranded here when it landed. I still think it mighta crashed, his story changed a lot. You know, he’d tell us one thing, and then another the next time.”

  “Yeah.” Jem was thinking about how little he knew of Walter’s early life. He’d learned more from Jade in a matter of days than he had from the old man. “We could look it up.”

  Ed flashed a look at him, the whites of his eyes showing in the dim reflected light from the headlights. “We can?”

  “If you really want to know,” Jem said. “Might be more fun to go with the stories.”

  That got a laugh out of Ed. “I just never thought, you know...”

  “It’s sort of what I do. There’s a lot of time, on the ship in transit. I do, uh, research.” Jem realized he’d never explained this to anyone before. “So the ship your grandfather was on, that’s the engine at the hacienda?”

  “No, no, my papa found this one in salvage when I was a baby. We didn’t have, um, didn’t have power at the place before that.” Ed rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re pretty poor, you know?”

  “Nothing wrong with that.” Jem grunted as the car hit a massive hole in the road. He hoped it was a hole. There had been a splash along with the jolting sensation.

  “Sorry. Forgot to warn you about the creek. Papa won’t fix the bridge.” Ed turned the wheel. “It washed out a few years back.”

  “S’ok.” Jem rubbed his head from where he’d bounced off the headliner.

  “Well. We’re here.” Edd stopped the car, and it settled down with a crunch and a shriek of metal from the skirt plates.

  Jem looked out of the windshield. Ed had shut down all the lights, and all Jem had seen so far was a rutted track that could charitably be called a road. “Where?”

  “Engine house.” Ed got out, and Jem reluctantly followed.

  It wasn’t that it was dark, it was that it was very dark. Deep space had more light. Jem looked up, for the stars, but there was nothing. He felt an unaccustomed bubble of panic and forced himself not to turn around and climb back into the familiar metal surroundings of the hovercar. Ed had gone ahead, and now a light flared up, a familiar rectangle that meant door. A door, and inside under cover. Jem headed for it.

  Inside it looked nothing like an engine-room. The hulk of the spaceship engine squatted in the center of a low building, the metal roof showing overhead between wooden trusses, underfoot a concrete floor was bare, but swept clean. Jem looked around curiously. He’d never seen an engine outside a ship, and he didn’t remember it being this big. Most of it must be hidden from view on the ship. Heavy wires and cables led into the shadows behind the metal hulk.

  “What do you think?” Ed ginned. “Pretty sweet, isn’t she? Purrs like a kitten. Here, look.” He pointed at a hidden part.

  Jem came over and leaned down. It wasn’t hard to read once he was close enough. The polished plate read: “X78NGH 3524 Old Port.”

  “Two hundred years ago.” Ed patted the engine. “And she still runs like a top.”

  “Do you even know what a top is?” Jem asked, smiling at him.

  “Um, well, a kid’s toy? Spins?” Ed shook his head. “My little sister...”

  Jem heard a strange noise in the shadows. He held up a hand. “Sh. What’s that?”

  “What?” Ed hadn’t heard it, obviously.

  “Sounded like...” Jem heard it again. “An animal. Or something, hurt, sounds like.”

  He’d already started walking toward where the shadows were deepest, around the shelves that lined the far wall. There was a scuffling noise.

  “Oh...” Ed grabbed his arm. “Cap’n...”

  There was a squeal, and a small form launched itself from the shadows and into Jem’s legs. There was a flurry of light blows, making him stagger back more from surprise than anything. He looked down and saw... calico?

  “What the?” Jem stood still and let the girl punch him in the thigh. It didn’t hurt.

  “Monstroso! El hombre mal!” She looked up at him and shouted. “Mi hermano...”

  “Chica! Stop!” Ed grabbed his sister. “What are you doing?” He shook her for emphasis.

  “Ed.” Jem put his hand on Ed’s shoulder.

  The younger man jerked around, his face a mask of anger and worry. “What?”

  “Ed, she’s worried about you. Don’t be angry with her.” Jem thought he understood. Ed had told her he was leaving, and that Jem was the one taking her brother.

  Jem crouched down. “Little one. ¿Cual es su nombre?”

  She clung to Ed’s leg. Big, dark eyes blazed at him through the tangle of her black hair. Jem kept talking, his voice soft. “You are, what? Just about 7 years old?”

  The fierce eyes softened a little. “Soy nombre Julia. Siete años, si.”

  “I am not stealing your brother.” Jem told her. He wasn’t sure how much English she spoke. It was the language of trade, but there were still pockets of other languages, both from colonists that clung to the old ways, and those who were making a determined return to wh
at-had-never-been.

  “Yes, you are!” She lashed at him in accented English, tears flowing now.

  “He is coming to work with me, that is all. I promise to feed him, you know. And pay him.” Jem smiled at her.

  “You can’t take him.” She hugged Ed’s leg harder. “We... I need him.”

  “I understand. He keeps the lights on, yeah?”

  “What?” She shook her head. “No, no. He keeps Papa from hitting us.”

  “What!” Jem shot to his feet and glared at Ed. “What kind of family...?”

  “S-sir.” Ed lifted his hands. “It’s not him. It’s the drink... When he’s drunk.”

  Jem held up his hand. “Stop talking. I’m about to do something stupid, and I don’t want you to talk me out of it.”

  Ed’s mouth hung open for a moment, then he made a strangled sound and closed it again. Jem knelt on the floor facing Julia.

  “Would you like a job?”

  Her eyes got even wider. Jem didn’t think he’d ever seen such big eyes. He kept talking, “I don’t expect you to take care of a big thing, like this engine. Your brother will do that.”

  She glanced upward at her brother's face, then back at Jem, clearly dubious. “What would I do?”

  He grinned. This one was spunky. “I have a dog. He needs a playmate.”

  “What is a dog?”

  “You’ll find out. He is smaller than you are, and has big ears. Now. You said we?”

  “We have a sister; her name is Maria.” Julia was much more confident, now. She pushed her hair out of her face and let go of Ed.

  “And how old is she?” Jem asked.

  “She is eleven.” That was Ed. “And she can cook.”

  Jem looked up. “Can you get her? Quietly?”

  “Si. I mean, yes.” Ed said. “Julia...”

  She looked up. “Go. I am safe. Can you bring my dolly?”

  “You need all your things.” Jem stood up. “Ed, I think I need to talk to your father.”

  “No, you can’t.” Ed shook his head. “Can’t we just... slip out?”

  “What were you going to do, sneak them on board?” Jem demanded. “With no clothes? Nothing?”

  “Um.” Ed hung his head.

  Jem laughed. “You were.”

  “How did you know?”

  “It’s what I would have done, had I had a sister.” Jem looked down. “Can you just take them, or will the law be after us?”

  Ed shook his head. “This is Loki, remember?”

  “I do, but why does that matter now?”

  Julia interrupted. “If you will not, I will get Maria. And my dolly.”

  “No, no.” Ed turned away. “Captain, can you take her to the car?”

  “We need to finish this conversation later.” Jem held out his hand to the little girl. “Will you come with me?”

  She took his hand with all the dignity of a queen. Silently, he walked back out into the dark, leaving the light on in the building behind them. He couldn’t have found the car without that light, and it wasn’t like the massive engine couldn’t run a city. There had to be more to the story than salvage.

  “Julia,” Jem said after helping her into the tall car. “What else do you need other than your dolly?”

  “Una vestido, y...” She trailed off lost in thought.

  “A dress? Just one? What about Maria?” Jem pulled his tablet out and started to make notes. He didn’t know what little girls needed, but he had a fair idea of what he’d needed after arriving on the Tanager.

  She shrugged. Jem asked her, “Do you know what a ship suit is?”

  She shook her head, her thick hair falling back over her eyes. Jem made a note to look into haircuts. Or something to hold that mass of hair in check, at least. He wondered if Misha would have better ideas. Certainly she would. Hopefully she would understand when he saw her again. The other door of the car opened, and Ed unceremoniously dumped a weeping girl in on the seat.

  “Scoot over, Maria.” He ordered, sounding out of sorts. “I need to get us out of here.”

  “Everything ok?” Jem asked. Maria had obediently cuddled up next to Julia and the two of them were hugging, black hair completely obscuring their faces, and only small sniffles emanating from time to time.

  “Oh, sure. He’s dead drunk asleep and I could have set off a bomb beside him with no danger of waking him. Just like most nights.” Ed got them pointed back toward the city. “Hang on.”

  The creek was just as jarring as Jem remembered. He and Ed both put protective arms over the girls to keep them in their seat. The bench seat was crowded.

  “Will he, ah, come after you?” Jem wanted to know what his impulsive act might have let the Tanager in for. He really needed to work on remembering he represented the ship, as her captain, and it wasn’t just his whims that mattered.

  “Me? Maybe. The girls, no.” Ed looked away from the road for a split second. “I left him money.”

  “Oh.” Jem made a note on his tablet to make sure he paid Ed for the work already done. And to draft a contract for the engineering position. “Do they have things for the night?”

  “Yes. I, ah, had started packing an emergency kit.” Ed looked sheepish, shrugging his shoulders. “I was not thinking of stowing them away, no, but...”

  “But you wanted to bring them along.” Jem was willing to give his new crew member the benefit of the doubt. “I’m not made of stone. I really will sign them on as crew. But they must work, and they cannot neglect their schooling.”

  Chapter 32: Jade and Baker

  Two days later, Jem was feeling like someone had painted a target between his shoulder blades. Nothing had gone wrong, for one thing, and after this season’s string of disasters, that left him feeling like something was going to go horribly wrong and imminently. For another thing, despite Ed’s assurances that their father was not going to turn up, Jem was feeling guilty about all but stealing the man’s family without even asking.

  “It’s the right thing.” Ed said solemnly. “He would only ask for more money. And then I would be indebted to you.”

  Jem gave him what he was internally beginning to think of as the ‘Captain’s eye.’ “I’m paying all three of you.”

  Ed grinned. “Yes, sir. I’ll shut up, sir.”

  Jem laughed, and let Ed do his job. It turned out that with someone taking care of most of the chores - Maria would barely let him into the galley to make coffee; Julia and the pup had been love at first sight - Jem had time on his hands. Which he was spending collecting data and talking to people around the market to further gather intelligence. He’d been shamelessly exploiting his recent notoriety after the pirate attack, and it turned out most people liked to tell a story to someone, with very little encouragement.

  Jem made notes from time to time, but mostly he listened. It was a rare treat, gathering intelligence like this. Much different than sifting through data cubes and setting up search strings. Not nearly as reliable, of course. People told and re-told tales which changed subtly every time they were told. But there were threads running through them that Jem was pulling out and following. All the while he was waiting.

  He was waiting not only for the other shoe to drop, and a crisis to explode, but for Jade’s return so they could leave. The Tanager was stuffed to the bursting point. Loki had also been on the missing Gwar’s route, and Jem felt more than a little guilty over profiting off his fellow captain’s misfortune. Not that he’d ever met anyone from the Gwar. Jade and Moskvin might believe in aliens, Jem was betting on plain old greedy humanity in this case. The Gwar had also been a regular at Tianjin. It was madness, Jem noted as he wrote in his log, trying to keep his entries brief and professional, for Tianjin to prey on the traders.

  Even if piracy were not government sanctioned, the traders would leave the station in droves and not come back. The supply line would be severed, and the economy of the station, and likely the planet-moon, would collapse. The mere threat of pirates would be enough fo
r most people. Jem’s black tick in the log book, along with the previous two, would be public knowledge by now, even though Jem hadn’t made a big deal of it since arriving on Loki. He’d simply filed the proper forms remotely, and not spoken of it since.

  Jem looked at the time, and hovered indecisively near the hatch. He could go out into the evening market, but he was hoping to hear from Jade. If she didn’t call in by the morning, he would call for her. Excited squeals and yelps from the garden made him smile. The girls were settling in well, so far. He’d ordered ship suits for the whole family, and a few other supplies, after looking over what Ed had packed. He was probably missing obvious stuff, which could be a problem when they were in space. Which he was hoping Jade would be able to... His tablet buzzed, showing an incoming call.

  Jem answered it, “Captain Raznick here.”

  The head and shoulders of a woman in uniform flickered into being above his tablet. The holographic messenger looked tired. “Captain Raznick, I am Lieutenant Kathy Baker of the Regional Cooperative Military Patrol. We just arrived on Loki and need to meet with you as soon as possible.”

  “I am available now, Lieutenant. If that is suitable.”

  She smiled, but he noted it didn’t reach her eyes. “Eminently. Do you mind coming aboard our ship for this meeting?”

  Jem blinked. He trusted the Millies... and he needed to remember not to call them that to their faces. “Yes, I could do that. Things are...” The girl and dog ran past him making more noise than two small beings should be capable of, punctuating his statement. “Busy here.”

  Lt. Baker smiled broadly this time. “I hear that. We are in slip 49J.” She looked down, presumably at her tablet. “I see you are in 63K. Shall we say fifteen minutes?”

  It was doable if he moved with all due haste. The port wasn’t full, but Loki had been optimistic about traffic when they set it up, and things were spread out. “I’m on my way.”

  “Thank you. Baker out.” The holo flickered and disappeared.

  Jem pocketed his tablet and headed for the hatch, thoughtful. The RCMP was not quite a volunteer organization. It was just what the title said, a loose collection of planets and stations working together against corruption and external threats. They had a very good reputation, which was why he was willing to put himself in their ship at the mercy of this Lieutenant. She would be the captain of that ship, despite her military rank. She also looked like a grandmother, with long white hair swept up to the back of her head, and a wide mouth in a ready smile. He was more worried by the lines of stress on her face, and the urgency of her summons.