He gave me a sardonic grin. "It's true. I guess it's just in my blood."
"As long as it's not contagious," I said, waggling my eyebrows at him. I was glad we'd finally gotten to a place where we weren't arguing about the fact that I'd chosen a different life.
He shook his head in mock dismay. "I hope I got everything. I had to draw down our savings to make up the amount the insurance company didn't pay out."
"You won't be on your own out there," I said placing my hand on his back as we both moved through the open airlock of Hotspur.
"Just don't get us shot down over Deivid," Nick said.
"Well, that could be a problem. Marny, any thoughts?" I asked as we took the lift up to the bridge deck.
"Aye, Cap," she said. "I talked to Deivid Air Defense about your last visit. This time they're providing a protected corridor. They also said that if you'd asked, they would have warned you about the bandits."
"Ugh. Live and learn, I guess." I started working on the system checklist. I felt an unfamiliar tug on my ring finger. It took me a second, but I remembered the function of the ring and I looked over to Tabby. She smiled back and we shared a private moment in the midst of all the departure activity. I earned a return wink by finding the crystal in my own ring and giving it tap.
"All stations, report status for departure," I said, to which Marny and Nick reported clear. "You want the helm?" I asked Tabby.
"All yours, Captain," she said.
I pushed forward on the throttle and pulled up on the flight stick. For such a big girl, Hotspur lifted off the ground like a ballerina. I loved the feel of the ship slicing through the atmosphere and the sensation of lift caused by the stubby wings. A few minutes later we entered a high orbit and I accepted the course Nick had laid in. It would take a couple of hours to traverse our way to the other side of the planet.
"Take the helm?" I asked Tabby.
"Aye," she replied.
I hopped out of my pilot's chair and sat on the floor between Nick and Marny's workstations. I'd been reviewing Nick's proposed purchases for our move to Tipperary and had a few items I wanted to discuss. On my HUD, I pulled up the planning worksheet we'd been working on.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I've been researching Grünholz. Their biological products are off the charts for the materials we need for meal bars and med-packs. If we brought along a Class-F medical grade replicator, we'd be able to generate trade goods that most miners need regularly." I was proud of myself for having done the research.
Nick looked at me appraisingly. I knew the look, he was trying to assess how much effort I'd put into it. "Class-F replicators are expensive," he said.
"Right. Best price I can find is three hundred thousand. We'd have to be aggressive to get a payback in three years, but that's not my focus. We're going to be in a foreign system and if we can't get access to food and medical supplies, it will end our trip."
"What are we trading for on Grünholz?" Nick asked.
"It's perfect - a heavy gravity planet, ninety-five percent covered by water. The cities are carved out of the plant growth on top of bogs. The water isn't more than ten or fifteen meters deep for the majority of the planet."
"What's that got to do with trade?" Marny asked.
"Limited access to minerals," Nick said.
"That's right," I agreed. "They're basically in the stone-age. The expense of getting into the crust of the planet is so high that refined minerals hold a high value. The problem is they don't have much to trade."
"Except biological materials," Nick added. "That's a good find, Liam. Any thoughts on where we come up with three hundred thousand?"
So far, selling the items from the pirate outpost had topped us out at just over one-point-one million. The list of what we needed was long and included items like a Class-D Industrial replicator, an old barge for the Adela Chen, and mining equipment to use as trade goods. We'd already spent or spoken for all but seventy-five thousand.
Once we were in the Tipperary solar system we wouldn't have much use for Mars Credits. Moving goods from Sol to Tipperary was outrageously expensive. The only thing we'd be able to use our Mars Credits for would be to purchase replicator patterns. Seventy-five thousand was the number we'd agreed upon leaving untouched.
Nick was right, we didn't have enough funds to purchase the medical grade replicator.
"I think we need to let go of a few of the missiles we got from the Red Houzi," I said. After fully loading out Sterra's Gift and Hotspur, we had fourteen left.
"Yup." It was Nick's standard reply for when he'd already thought about the problem and was waiting for me to come around. "I'm glad you're thinking about that. Maybe we should sell the mech suits."
"Will M-Pro have a problem with that?" I asked.
He had thought this through. "If we sold six missiles and the suits, we could raise almost three million credits. With that we could set up a small co-op refining station and lay out a sensor net. Imagine what we could do with refined ingots, a Class-D Industrial replicator, a renno-bot and a construction bot."
Big Pete joined us while we were talking. Nick had clearly grabbed his attention with talk of the refinery. "You'll need a few more pieces to make that work, but I wouldn't accuse you of thinking small, Mr. James," he said.
"Like what?" Nick asked.
"To start with, a rolling mill would give you sheet products," he said. "Your industrial replicator will do that, but a roller would speed you up by two orders of magnitude."
"A hundred times faster?" Nick looked at dad skeptically.
"At peak, absolutely. Also, there are patterns for buckets, carts, rail and a few items that you could manufacture on-site to really amp up your production. Once you can produce basic sheet, you have a product that should sell. The only problem I see is that it turns into a full time job if you want to make consistent income. Give me a minute, I'll send you a list," Dad said. He returned to the couch and started gesturing, obviously doing research on his HUD.
"You really want to get into this?" I asked Nick. For the first time I wondered if we might be interested in different things.
"It's a perfect use of our capital. There's a lot of demand for refined material in the system," he said.
He wasn't understanding my concern. For once, I was thinking further down the road than he was. By investing so heavily in a colony start-up we'd be seriously tied down.
"Won't someone need to stay behind and run that operation?" I asked.
"To start with, that's true," he said. "But check out these projections based on actual demand I can find in the system. My conversion back to Mars Credits isn't perfect, but if anything I'm too conservative."
He tossed a graph to my HUD showing that we'd be able to return the value of our capital in less than five years.
He continued, "And that's assuming we hire two people in the first year. We'll be busy, but it's a heck of an opportunity."
Nick continued to explain the ins and outs of his plan. I understood most of it, but having gotten him started, there was no stopping him. I hadn't seen him so excited in a long time. If this was his thing, then I would support it.
"Here you go," Dad said, seizing on the quiet that finally settled between us. He flicked a list of items. He'd separated it into what we needed patterns for and what we needed to purchase right away. It was a long list, with a healthy price tag of just under three million credits. He had included all of the refinery equipment that I was familiar with from working on Colony 40, as well as the robots and replicators Nick had already mentioned.
"I thought I'd heard you say you had about three million. That's how I'd use it. You could pick some of it up from Wellington, today even," Dad explained.
I sat back and waited for Nick who was busy moving items around on an invisible worksheet. He finished up and spun his chair around to include Pete in the conversation. "That's a good list. I made some changes, what do you think?" He flicked a sheet back at Pete.
&nb
sp; I stood up. As much as I enjoyed a good conversation about inventory, I was getting bored. I put a hand on Nick's shoulder so he wouldn't think I was annoyed. "I'll let you guys work that out. I'm in either way. I don't mind selling off the suits and missiles. Just leave me a full load of ammo on both ships. "
"Your idea about the medical replicator is solid. It would give us independence as well as a good introduction to Grünholz. We might be able to find more items to trade with them," Nick said.
I rejoined Tabby in the cockpit. We were clear of the busy space over Puskar Stellar and speeding toward Deivid.
"What was all that?" Tabby asked.
"Nick's got it in his mind to start a colony when we get there," I said.
"Seriously?"
"Roger that. Refinery, sheet production, sensor net, the whole shebang."
"Sounds like my grandpa. Always building toward the next bigger thing."
"I didn't think you liked your grandpa," I said.
"I don't. But you gotta respect how he gets things done. Fortunately Nick's not an asshat," she said.
"Hey, I heard that," Nick's voice filtered up from the bridge.
An hour later I took the helm and lowered us into the atmosphere, following the path given to us by Deivid. It called for our approach to the white walled city to be executed at three thousand meters, giving us an excellent view of the landscape. We could see small clumps of homes and green circles of irrigated crops.
"See that?" Tabby asked, highlighting a heavy gun emplacement ten degrees off our starboard.
"That's a big gun," I observed.
"Aye, Cap," Marny joined in. "They must've had a pretty tough run of it down here. I've seen at least half a dozen of 'em so far. And you can bet there are some we haven't seen. It should be a nice quiet ride in."
"Do you think that's why they have us flying so close to the ground?"
"I believe they're looking to restore their reputation with us," she answered.
Hotspur's AI had been negotiating our approach with the city since we'd shown up in their airspace and we'd received instructions to proceed directly to the Wellington factory. A few minutes later I landed in an open bay.
Tabby and I joined Marny in the armory and we pulled on our armored suits.
Landing on the deck, as opposed to using the block-and-tackle lifts, allowed us to load considerably faster. We filled three hundred of the available six hundred cubic meters. Nick had added the refinery equipment we needed. With the short notice, we had to settle for re-manufactured pieces but Wellington insisted they were every bit as good as the original.
The trip back from Deivid was as uneventful as it had been on the way out. Dad and Nick spent the entire time discussing where and how to set up the refinery, co-op main building and ore grav-pads – basically an incredibly long, drawn out conversation with infinite detail that they seemed to both relish.
We spent the rest of the week delivering supplies to our warehouse. When we ran out of space, Nick rented another temporary area to handle the overflow. We weren't interested in placing anything onto the barge until the last minute.
Finally, Sunday morning came. The Southern Gardens restaurant was as beautiful as ever. The all-white wood décor was covered with green vines and brilliantly colored flowers. I was disappointed, but not surprised to hear that Tali Liszt and her entire crew had turned us down. On the other hand, I was thrilled to find that in addition to my crew and parents, we'd been joined by Celina Dontal (Lena), her sister Jenny, and Jake Berandor. Even more surprising was how chummy Jake and Lena seemed.
I looked around nervously, not seeing Ada. "Has anyone heard from Ada?"
"You don't think I'd let you off this planet without me?" Ada asked from behind me. I stood up. As usual I was struck by her brilliant smile. I gave her a hug and she sat on the other side of me. I felt a tug on my ring finger from Tabby, so I pinged her back. I wasn't sure if she was warning or reminding me.
I let the group talk for a few minutes - it was impossible not to. Mom and Ada had become best buds, having sailed the Adela Chen on dozens of missions together and apparently they needed to catch up. Nick and Dad still hadn't finished their conversation about the refinery and Jake and Lena were intently discussing something I couldn't hear.
Once we were halfway through breakfast, I stood and rapped an orange juice glass with my knife. Satisfyingly, it actually made a clear ringing tone and quieted the table.
I addressed the group, "I'm glad you all could make it this morning and I know you've been thinking about our next adventure. At the end of this week, we plan to get underway. Our first stop will be the Bethe Peierls TransLoc gate where we'll join the Belirand expedition to Tipperary.
"We've more than enough room for everyone and have sufficient supplies for several months. Ultimately, we'd like to know your interest and how you'd like to participate. I was thinking I'd start by just going around the table, if that's okay?
"But before we do that, I'd like to make an announcement," I said. I looked around the table at my friends and family who were smiling back at me. I had no doubt that most of them knew what was coming. I reached over to Tabby and held my hand out to her. She grasped it and stood up.
"Tabby are I engaged to be married," I said.
If I thought we were going to get much done in the next few minutes, I'd have been dead wrong. Ada bolted from her chair, pulled me into a hug, kissed me on the cheek and then pushed me to the side, grabbing a startled Tabby.
"I can't believe he finally worked up the nerve. Show me the ring," she said after she stopped hugging long enough to let go. "I know he wanted to, but you know how men can be."
"Well, I guess, technically, he didn't," Tabby said.
Ada looked at me and then back to Tabby and guffawed. "Of course you did. So, what is that stone? It's so gorgeous," she continued, nonplussed.
To be honest, the conversation continued after that but I tuned it out. I loved Ada as much as I could love another woman other than Tabby, but when she got fired up about this type of thing I lost interest. After a few minutes of congratulations and well-wishing, everyone finally returned to their chairs.
"So about our trip," I said, squeezing out a polite laugh from the group. "Ada, would you mind going first?"
"Are you kidding? You pledge your undying love to another woman and then you ask if I want to run off to another solar system with you?" She looked at me and then to Tabby. My heart fell. I'd seriously underestimated the situation.
The table grew quiet as all eyes turned to me. Blood rushed in my ears and I started to feel dizzy.
"Oh frak, that's too good. Sorry, just messing with you," Ada said, winking at Tabby. It was hard to ever be mad at Ada for long.
"I'm in," she said. "I've already applied for a claim with Big Pete's help and I'm hoping that I can both set up a mining operation and run loads with Silver."
I nodded at her, still shell shocked from her earlier joke.
"We're in," Marny said looking at Nick. It came as no surprise.
Big Pete was next, but looked to Mom who answered for the both of them. "Same here."
Jack had taken a position between Mom and Jenny. I wondered what direction his relationship with Jenny was going. They seemed to be no more than good friends. Given the trauma they'd both endured, I wasn't surprised they'd found each other.
Lena was next and piped up, "Jenny and I are hoping for a ride to Léger Nuage."
"That will be our first stop in the system, so no problem. Do you mind if I ask what you're planning?"
"Not at all. Jenny and I both have a lot of experience running diners. We've made an offer for one on level twenty-four. We need to talk about how much cargo room you'll have available," she said.
I looked at Nick, who answered, "How much do you need?"
"Thirty meters," she said. I was surprised at the volume but also knew we had lots of room.
"That's not a problem. We've a hundred meters open beyond that. Even
more if it could be put on a barge," Nick said.
"No. That should do it," Lena said.
"Jake?" I asked.
"I'm in. I've a lease on a bar around the corner from Lena. It even has a pass-through to her kitchen, assuming she leaves it unlocked."
"You never struck me as a bartender," I said.
"I hope to just manage it. Lena said she'll show me the ropes. I'm really looking to create my own trade-hub. The bar thing is mostly because the price of alcohol in system is disproportionate to other goods. With Belirand paying for fuel and TransLoc passage, I figured it was a good time to carry high mass, high value goods."
"Sounds about right," I said. "Without being too specific about our departure time, we'd like to be loaded and ready to go before Saturday. Does anyone have an issue with that?" I looked around the table. We'd already communicated the schedule so it shouldn't have been a surprise. "Great. We'll be talking to you all a lot this week as we get ready to go."
Over the next week, we shifted from buying to packing. We'd moved the barge into position next to our warehouses and carefully executed Nick's load plan. With our entire family's net worth on the three ships, we'd taken to sleeping on Hotspur and running round-the-clock watches. It was overkill with the warehouse's already heavy security, but the risk was too high.
Finally, late Friday night, we were all loaded – Mom and Dad on the Adela Chen, Ada, Jake and Lena on Sterra's Gift and the rest of us on Hotspur.
Open comm, Loose Nuts Fleet. All ships' announcement.
"What's up, Captain?" Ada's cheery voice greeted me.
"Adela Chen here," Mom said over the comm.
Cue Willie Nelson.
I heard groans from all around me but they were soon replaced with the dulcet tones of an ancient singer.
"On the road again"
"Just can't wait to get on the road again …"
IRON GATES
I glanced over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of Mars receding behind us. It brought back memories of our arrival a year before and I wondered when I'd once again see the red planet. While it was beautiful, it was too crowded for a space rat like me. I'd miss the friends we were leaving behind, but in front of us lay an adventure of our own making.
Buccaneers (Privateer Tales Book 8) Page 4
