The Belirand Corporation expected us at the Bethe Peierls Trans Location Terminal in two weeks. Belirand must have pretty deep pockets as they were not only paying to jump us all through three gates but would top off our fuel tanks after each jump.
I wondered what it would feel like to travel under the effect of the folded space of the TransLoc engines, but we'd find out soon enough. The technology behind a TransLoc jump was mostly beyond me. To the best of my understanding, the idea had been theorized for longer than humans had been in space. Like most things, a theoretical understanding and the ability to practically implement were two different things. The first TransLoc jumps were performed about eight centuries ago. Unfortunately, each jump was so expensive, not to mention unpredictable, that the entire field of study was dropped for decades.
It hadn't been hard to convince adventurous crews to take blind leaps into the dark corners of our galaxy. Ultimately, what caused these missions to fail was the communication technology. It was actually too good. It's one thing to send ships off, never to be heard from again. It was another thing to watch crews starve to death or asphyxiate because they'd sailed into completely barren sections of space.
Two centuries after the first failed missions and resulting public relations disaster, an Italian scientist, Marcel Anino, invented the TransLoc gate system. Instead of a single launching point, Anino's gates worked in matched pairs. Once the giant exploration ships arrived at their destination, they would deploy the return TransLoc gate that was built into their ship and return in a much smaller jumper. The entire process took decades to complete and was outrageously expensive, but mankind had once again gained the stars.
Eight centuries later, we'd successfully explored hundreds of solar systems and settled in four of them on a large scale. There had always been talk of the systems we'd abandoned or simply decided to ignore as not being sufficiently profitable. There were even popular conspiracy theories about colonies in far flung systems that had been cut off. Growing up, Nick and I had spent endless hours speculating on the reasons for abandonment and how these mythical colonies might have developed.
I awoke to the alarm I'd set, gently lifted Tabby's arm off my chest and tried to slide out without waking her.
"Where do you think you're going?" she asked, not lifting her head off the pillow.
"We're four hours from Belirand's Terminal One," I said. "It's my shift."
"Wake me when we're an hour out." She pulled her arm back under the covers.
It was hard to leave her as all I really wanted to do was crawl back in with her. I also knew that one thing would lead to another and I'd end up being late to relieve Nick at the helm. I sighed, got ready and then grabbed the lift down to the galley for coffee. I wasn't surprised to find Marny leaning back in a chair, dozing, with her feet on the mess table. Her eyelids fluttered open as I poured the coffee.
"Want a cup?" I asked.
"Is it that time already?"
"We're four hours out, I'm about to relieve Nick. How about you both catch a couple hours? We'll be coming out of hard-burn in three. No doubt that'll wake you up," I said.
"I'll be up before that, but I wouldn't mind a little rack time." Marny had the ability to sleep just about anywhere and she could jump from completely asleep to fully alert at a moment's notice.
I left her in the combined galley/mess and took the lift back up to the bridge deck. I enjoyed the serenity of the empty Hotspur bridge during off-hour shifts. Long, narrow windows on both sides allowed for a beautiful view of the star field.
"Anything to report?" I asked.
"All systems are normal. We're two hours fifty four to our final approach to Terminal One, leading to Bethe Peierls," Nick replied.
I sat down and pulled up the displays on the forward vid screen. All systems were reporting green and I noticed that Nick had added a countdown display. As soon as I took the helm, the display would switch to my own preferences.
"I relieve you," I said.
"I stand relieved," he replied, finishing the formal turnover.
"Are we doing the right thing here?" I asked.
He was confused. "What do you mean?"
"It feels like everyone is blindly following us to Tipperary. What if it's a bust? What if we run into pirates and get everyone killed?" I asked.
"What if we hadn't risked everything and taken Sterra's Gift when we did? We would have been on Colony 40 when the Red Houzi arrived and we'd most likely be part of a press-gang or dead. Your parents are miners, Liam. Most of their lives were devoted to working that claim, only to have their ore stolen and their machinery destroyed. This is their chance to start fresh."
"You're right, of course," I said.
"As for pirates. We're never going to escape them. Pirates are just people who aren't willing to work for what they want. They'll always be around." He grinned at me. "That's why we have you and Marny."
"Marny, maybe. Not me." I was uncomfortable being put into the same class as Marny.
"Don't sell yourself short. Both Tali and Marny believe you're a tactical genius. Tali said if you didn't have your own thing going on, she'd have tried to hire you," Nick said.
"Seriously?" I asked.
"Yup." Nick put his hand on my shoulder as he started down the stairs to the bridge. "I'll be back once we drop out of hard-burn," he said and disappeared.
I looked out of the cockpit window wishing I could make out the approaching Bethe Peierls Terminal, commonly called Terminal One. It was one of the things I appreciated about Hotspur. With our side-mounted engines we could actually decelerate in hard-burn while facing the object we were approaching.
Place a targeting reticle on Terminal One. My AI projected a small rectangular box around the point in space where the terminal was located. I imagined I could see a flicker of light in the center.
I busied myself studying the system we'd end up jumping into. Bethe Peierls was by far the most productive system of any that had been discovered. There were four habitable planets and a large moon, Khayyám, around Vermeer, the largest of the four. It was a shame that our schedule wouldn't give us a chance to stop at any of the planets along the way.
Data moved slowly through the TransLoc gates and I found myself looking at stale TradeNet data. For my purposes, it didn't matter. I wouldn't be setting up any trade routes just yet, but I wanted to get a feel for how things were priced in the different systems. If anything, the availability and margin on shipments were higher than in Sol. Although that was somewhat offset by the higher price of fuel. There were even a few outstanding requests for goods that I was certain I could deliver from Mars and still make up for the TransLoc fuel and gate fees.
"Transition from hard-burn in two minutes," the AI announced on the ship's public address.
"Tabby, you hear that?"
"What?" she replied groggily.
"Two minutes and we're dropping out of hard-burn," I said.
"I'll be right there," she said.
By the time we were twenty minutes away, the bridge was humming with activity and everyone was in their place. Jack and Jenny, who'd ridden the first leg of our trip on Hotspur, were on the couch, barely containing their excitement while trying to corral and play with Filbert.
"Hey, Jack, how 'bout putting Filbert into the grav-box?" I suggested. I could handle Jack and Jenny, but if something went sideways, having a frightened cat running loose could be a disaster.
Hail Bethe Peierls Terminal.
A friendly looking, middle aged woman appeared on the cockpit's holo projector. "Greetings Hotspur. Belirand Terminus Control here. We've been tracking you for the last forty million kilometers, I trust your trip has been uneventful."
"Roger that, Belirand. I'm accompanied by the Adela Chen and Sterra's Gift." I wanted to make sure we were being clear with them. Belirand had a reputation of aggressively protecting its assets.
"We've been expecting you and you're clear for approach. I'm transmitting docking instructions as
we speak," she said.
A notification popped up on the forward vid screen. There were, indeed, docking instructions but also a turret lockdown requested at a hundred thousand kilometers.
"I see you're asking for turret lockdown at a hundred thousand. Are you secure at that range?" I asked.
"We are, Captain Hoffen. I can also assure you that no ships are within twenty million kilometers, other than Belirand Security. No one is within intercept range of your fleet," she said.
Mute. I instructed the AI.
"Marny, any thoughts?" I asked.
"She's on the up-and-up, Cap. Their scanning technology is the best in the galaxy. If she says no one's close, then we're good," Marny said.
Unmute.
I accepted the turret lockdown for our fleet and looked back at the holographic image of the woman. "Thank you, Belirand. We'll see you shortly. Hoffen out."
We sailed in silence for a few more minutes and watched the terminal grow in front of us. We were approaching one end of what was essentially a triangular prism, its flat top half a kilometer wide and five kilometers long. I'd seen enough vids of TransLoc gates in operation to know that the top was used for launching and receiving ships from fold-space. The V-shaped lower structure was the station itself and where we had been instructed to dock.
Open comm, Loose Nuts Fleet.
"Mom, Ada, are you all set with your docking instructions?" I asked.
"Adela Chen, all lined up," Mom answered.
"Good to go, Captain," Ada replied.
As we lined up for final approach, I saw twenty-five ships of different shapes and sizes beneath the terminal. Some of them were in great condition and moderately-armed, although most of them looked like they were barely up to the task of jumping through fold-space. Almost all of them had bundles of mining equipment, containers and pod-jumpers strapped inelegantly around their hulls. Without the Adela Chen and her giant barge, we'd probably be in the same shape, trying to bring enough material to the frontier of an untapped asteroid belt.
"You suppose these are all headed to Tipperary?" I asked idly as I let the autopilot guide us in.
"Most of them, I'd think," Nick said. "The expedition is thirty-two ships including us. We're still short seven ships if everything here is going."
"I guess I'm surprised not to see more Belirand ships," I said. "How do they keep up their defenses?" I'd come to expect that pirates would attack just about anyone. A large structure like this had to be a target worth taking.
"Don't need 'em, Cap. Belirand has the backing of NaGEK. Rumor is they can turn a battleship into rubble from a hundred thousand kilometers with their planetary defense level weapons. No expense was spared when they built these gates," Marny explained.
"How do you want to do security while we're lashed up here?" I asked.
"Let's have an all-hands meeting in the galley. We can run through all of this," Marny said.
"Sounds good, you want to make the arrangements?" I asked.
"Aye, Aye, Cap."
Twenty minutes later we were all packed into the mess of Hotspur. It was the single largest, non-cargo area on any of the ships. Even so, it was standing room only.
"We're going to run a single watch from Hotspur," Marny started. "I've got all of the ship's sensor arrays linked and a monitoring program running. You need to keep in mind that our turrets are locked down and our best defense is to notify Belirand Port Authority immediately if there's a problem. I've set up a watch schedule for the next five days and will send it to everyone after we're done here."
"How about weapons on station?" Big Pete asked.
"There aren't any restrictions. But keep in mind, Belirand Port Authority is an independent, fully autonomous entity and can mete out whatever punishment they see fit. I wouldn't expect problems, but if you run into something, contact me immediately. Cap, you have anything to add?" Marny asked.
"I do. Thanks, Marny. There are two mandatory meetings with Belirand. The first is for ship's captains. Their requirement is that we have a representative for each ship, although they recommend that anyone who pulls a watch should also attend. Now that we're here, I can schedule that. The second meeting is an informational session on mining in the Tipperary system. Jake, Lena and Jenny, you could probably skip that. Anyone with a claim, however, is required to be there. Finally, every day at 1800, until we take off for Bethe Peierls, Belirand hosts a banquet in honor of the expedition. Everyone's invited. It's not mandatory, but free food might be interesting. Any questions for either Marny or me?" I asked.
"No. Did you see they have a pod-ball court here?" Tabby asked. Apparently, we'd lost her interest somewhere along the way.
I ignored her for a moment and looked to Nick to see if he had anything else.
"It's true. They have three full-sized courts and a standing invitation for visiting teams," he answered.
I sighed. I should have known better. We'd been cooped up for ten days and I was standing between the crew and shore leave.
"I think that's all we have, then," I said.
As the room emptied, Tabby and Ada worked their way over to Jack and Jenny. I had a couple of things to work out with Nick, but quickly became distracted as the four of them kept looking over at me while whispering and smiling.
"I think I need to figure out what's going on over there," I finally said to Nick.
"No problem," he said. We would have plenty of time to talk in the next few days.
I approached the group and asked, "Alright, so what's going on over here?"
"They've got a pod-ball tournament running. It's not too late to join," Tabby said.
"How'd you find that?" I asked.
"Actually, Jenny found it," she answered.
I looked over at Jenny. "Oh?"
"Jack told me the three of you used to be a team. I wondered if the station was organizing any games, what with all the people gathered," she said.
Tabby looked at me, pleading. "Come on, Liam, we have to do this."
"I'm not sure why you're selling me so hard on this. I'd love to play," I said.
"Good, because you're signed up for a pickup match in forty minutes," Jenny said
IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES…
UNTIL SOMEONE GETS HURT
On the trip out from Mars, I'd had a chance to learn more about Jenny. She was only a few years younger than Tabby and me, but for some reason it felt like a lot more. She'd had a rough time growing up and I figured she was making up for lost time. I hadn't decided if Jack followed her around or if she'd co-opted him. They were always together though.
"Are you going to play?" I asked, looking at Jenny.
"I don't know anything about pod-ball," she said.
"Good time to learn," Tabby said. "We'll find an open court and you can warm up with us. It's not hard to play, but it can get rough at the higher levels. We should see if they have a rec league."
"How about you, Ada? Do you want to play?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Sure. I've only played a few times, but it's fun."
I pulled up the station map on my HUD and found the courts. Two of them were busy, but the third was open. I sent a query and was rewarded with a reservation. "I've got a warmup reservation," I said.
"What's rec league?" Jenny asked.
"I'm surprised they didn't have one on Terrence where you grew up. The rec league is for newer teams, or people who don't want to compete as hard. There are four levels – Rec or B, Double-B, A and Double-A," Tabby explained as we started for the back door.
"Wait up," Marny said. "We'll work out with you."
"Sure. More the merrier," I said.
As we walked through the hallways of the terminal, I was impressed at how clean and well maintained everything appeared. The hallways were wide and painted with a grey deck paint on the floor. The walls were a muted white with a crisp, medium blue stripe running at waist level. Interactive vid panels, inset into the walls at each intersection, displayed a welcome sign for the Loos
e Nuts Corporation and Belirand's itinerary for us while we awaited the departure of the expedition.
"Here we are," I stopped next to the pod-ball arena entrance. Belirand had segregated the area into Red, Blue and Green venues. We'd reserved the Green court, so we entered using the court door, bypassing the one labeled 'gallery.' I wondered how many people their gallery could hold. On Colony 40, most people watched from their HUDs or vid screens as we didn't have many spectator seats.
Once we entered the court, I palmed a panel to sign for a pod-ball. It receded to expose a new looking ball which I tossed to Jack.
"We've half an hour before our match, so we can go over the fundamentals," I said. "If we really wanted to play competitively, we'd keep Loose Nuts together. But, by breaking up, we can probably field two Double-B teams by the end of the week. Anyone opposed to that?"
"What are you thinking for teams?" Tabby asked.
"Well, the four of us have good experience, but I think Jenny and Jack would have fun playing together. Ada, Jenny and Jack on one team and Marny, Tabby and myself on the other," I said.
"You'll crush us," Jenny said.
"Not at all," I replied. "I chose Marny because she has the least experience in low gravity. She'll make up for it some because of her physical conditioning, but this isn't a game of strength. It's all about maneuverability. Jenny, you'll be surprised by how much your spacer life will give you an edge."
Marny chuckled, "Aye. Once you turn that gravity down, I'll be no better than a pig on ice."
Ada had counted and looked around. "What about Nick?"
"I don't like to play. I'm the coach," he said.
I tried to imagine what a pig might look like on ice. It didn't make sense, so I let it go. "The rules of pod-ball are pretty straight forward. It's a mix of two old earth games – hockey and basketball. The objective of the game is to put the ball into the goal more times than your opponent. The primary rule that people have trouble with is you can't spend more than three seconds in the blue-zone in front of your opponent's goal. For defenders, the primary rule is that you can't spend more than three seconds in the red-zone guarding your own goal and attackers can't touch the pod-ball if they're in the red zone. Put your face shields up and your HUD will show you those two zones.
Buccaneers (Privateer Tales Book 8) Page 5
