"Mr. James?" Turnigy asked.
Starting with the destruction of Cape of Good Hope and ending with the destruction of the Stenka, Nick patiently walked the captive audience through the series of aggressive actions of the Oberrhein fleet.
"What have you to say about this, Captain Benesch?" King Kostov asked.
"I cannot speak for what occurred before Lord Kiirilov arrived in Tipperary," he said. "As for the sequence where the Kordun was present, the video does not appear to have been altered."
"Ambassador Turnigy, what is your claim?"
"We have broken our treaty with Nuage by forming a space fleet and harrying free trade within the Descartes belt. Our attack on the Loose Nuts Corporation in open space is a direct violation of this treaty, as they carry the Nuage flag. Further, the coordination required to launch such an assault shows a disturbing link back to what I can only assume is a rogue element within the Belirand Corporation.
"I see. I'm not following the issue with Belirand," King Kostov said. "How is this our problem?"
"If Mr. James and Mr. Hoffen's assertion is correct - that Lord Kiirilov was involved in the events that led up to the destruction of Cape of Good Hope - Kiirilov will have single-handedly opened the nation of Oberrhein to hostilities from Nuage and Belirand. And for what? Has he delivered a single dram of ore? Has he done anything other than deplete our fuel reserves and carelessly get the Stenka destroyed?"
"Captain Benesch. Would you defend Lord Kiirilov's actions? It appears that he is unavailable this morning," King Kostov said.
"No, your Majesty. I have faithfully served Lord Kiirilov as I was ordered to do, but I have no insight as to his actions."
"How did you locate the Loose Nuts fleet in open space?" Kostov asked.
"We chased them from the Descartes belt to Belirand's Terminal Seven. Once they departed, we received a data stream," he said.
"From whom?" Kostov pressed.
"J.T. Emre, the station commander," he said.
"Why would he provide this?"
"So that we could run their fleet down and destroy it," Benesch said simply.
"Thank you, Captain, you are dismissed," he said.
Benesch nodded curtly, spun on his boot and walked out of the room.
"Council, I thank you for your participation this early morning. We will meet next week to discuss these events," King Kostov said, standing up.
"Ambassador Turnigy, I would see you and your guests in my chambers," he said.
As we followed Turnigy out of the throne room, we were flanked by a half a dozen guardsmen.
Kostov's chambers were less showy than the throne room and more functional. With the aid of a servant, he pulled off the heavy robes so he was down to a tunic and belt.
"Please, sit," he said as he plopped down behind a beautiful wooden desk. "Khalil, your intuition on Kiirilov was right. What would you have me do?"
"We get ahead of it. There is plenty of time to turn this to our favor," Turnigy said.
"Hang Kiirilov out to dry?"
"Yes. We take back his ship, persuade him to confess and then trade this information with Belirand for favorable status and better rates through the gates," Turnigy said.
"And, you can do this?" Kostov asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty, but I'll need some things," he said.
"I suspected that might be the case. What is it that you desire, Khalil?"
"I want command of the Kordun, so that we might use it to take the Karelia." he said.
"No. It is our last ship and it is critical for trade," Kostov said.
I cleared my throat which got me the attention of both men.
"Mr. Hoffen, you have something to add?" Kostov asked.
"We will capture the Karelia and turn Kiirilov over to you," I said.
"As generous as that sounds, you destroyed one of my ships. I had intended to take yours when you arrived, but for some reason, you showed up in a shuttle," Kostov said looking pointedly over at Turnigy.
"We'll give you the Karelia," Nick said.
"In return for what?" Turnigy asked.
"Leave us alone at Descartes. Better yet, trade with us. The miners can't produce ore if they're terrified of being attacked all the time, but they'll work themselves into the ground if they have someone to buy their ore," Nick said.
"Isn't your contract with Belirand?" Turnigy asked.
"It isn't exclusive," Nick said.
"What do you need from me?" Kostov asked.
"A squad," I said. "Men who can take orders and breach a ship."
"Done. It will be as you say. You will deliver the Karelia to me in working order. I will supply my Captain of the Guard, Colonel Yakovich, and a squad of hand-picked men. If you are successful, I will grant jurisdiction of your section of the Descartes belt to Loose Nuts in return for a trade agreement to be worked out later.
He turned to Turnigy, "Khalil, if you are successful at this, I will grant you Nannandry as your fief. We will take the city and I will make you its lord."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Turnigy said, standing up and bowing.
I exchanged a knowing look with Nick as we stood. We'd spent much of the night trying to figure out what Turnigy would get out of this deal. Never in our dreams had we thought it might be the rundown city of Nannandry.
"When will you require Colonel Yakovich's services?" Turnigy asked as we walked out the entrance of the castle.
At the end of the path, a transport waited for us.
"It depends. Can you get us a location on Kiirilov?" I asked as we climbed aboard and lifted from the grounds of the castle.
I looked out over the dilapidated city as we flew up to the landing pad. It was a depressing sight.
"Reports are that he is headed to his fief in the Descartes belt," he said.
Tabby, who was walking better now, slid in next to me, wrapping her arm around my waist. I appreciated how she just knew that I was focusing on the gloom around me and needed her touch.
"We'll leave from Nannandry in twenty-four hours. Have him and his squad ready with armor and blaster rifles," I said.
We landed at the strip and transferred to the shuttle. Sitting down, I noticed the fuel had been topped off, although we'd only burned through a third of the tank.
"Nick, did you authorize a fuel transfer?" I asked.
"Yup. Request came through this morning," he said.
Negotiate departure with City of Solnste.
"Cleared for departure," the shuttle's AI replied.
Reminiscent of a simple ore-sled, the controls were all virtual and projected by my AI. Relying on comfortable routine, I pushed up on the flight stick, forward on the thruster and eased the stick back, lifting the ship toward the dome. The shuttle had been designed to be sleek, stylish and easy to maneuver. Most passengers would simply instruct the AI to fly it, making the need for actual flight hardware unnecessary. But piloting was in my blood and I needed something to focus on.
As soon as the nose of the shuttle lined up with the opening in the dome, I dropped the thrust down hard and we rocketed ahead. The loud boom we made as we passed through the sonic barrier was worse than it should have been, but, I felt, truly expressed my opinion of our visit. Infantile, maybe, but it felt really good. I'd had enough of Oberrhein and I couldn't get away fast enough.
"Nannandry work for you, Ambassador?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"You wouldn't happen to know if Oberrhein has any use for ten tonnes of nano-steel I-beams. We're selling them at a nice discount," I said.
"Ever the trader, Captain? I could ask our quartermaster or city planner. Do you have specifications?"
I gestured to move the specifications to him. "I'm looking for thirty-five thousand credits, and we'll only transfer them in Nannandry."
"Why Nannandry? That is hardly convenient," he said.
"Something to do with how your King was willing to take our ship by force, had we landed in Solnste," I said.
; "It was fortunate you were instructed not to bring it along, don't you think," Turnigy said. "You do plan on returning my shuttle to me, don't you?"
"I believe our terms were very specific. No harm was to befall any of my crew and you were not to deceive us on the purpose of the visit," I said.
"Ms. Masters volunteered to be my champion," he said. "I can't be held accountable for that."
"And, if she hadn't and you'd been killed by Mihael Ivov? What would have happened to us then?" Nick asked.
"Hard to know. And, I just received word back. Yes, we're interested in the I-beams for thirty-five thousand credits."
"I'll make you a new deal, Turnigy," I said. "If we aren't successful in taking the Karelia from Kiirilov within the next two months, I'll give you your ship back. If we are, then we'll give you the Karelia."
"But that was already our deal. You'd already agreed to hand over the Karelia," he said.
"And you agreed not to put us in harm's way or you'd forfeit your shuttle."
"Toads and snakes. I hate traders," he said, mostly to himself.
FOOL ME ONCE
"You should have seen the look on Ambassador Turnigy's face as we lifted off from the landing strip. I really don't believe he thought Liam would take his ship," Tabby guffawed. We were all sitting together in Jake's lounge recounting the events of the last few days.
"He'd never have respected me in a negotiation again if I hadn't. To you, Ada Chen," I said, lifting my cup. "Your quick thinking gave us a ship."
"Hear, hear," Tabby said. She was feeling a lot better after seeing a medical technician in Lèger and generously spreading med patches up and down her ribs where she'd been stabbed.
"You know we can't let an armed squad of Marines onto our ship," Marny said.
"What if we require them to hand over their guns before boarding?" I asked.
"That could work. We'll install a temporary head and cots in the hold. As a Marine, I certainly lived like that often enough."
"It'd only be for the ride out, anyway," I said. "They can ride back in the Karelia."
"Copy that. What are you thinking? Basic run 'em down, breach 'em type tactic?" Marny asked.
"No. More insidious."
"Do tell," Ada said sliding forward.
"I'm thinking we give Kiirilov something he can't resist," I said looking around at the group.
"What?" Ada asked. She was always my best straight man.
"Sterra's Gift."
"No!" Ada was affronted.
"And by 'give,' I mean use it as a distraction," I said, mollifying her a bit. "We make a big deal about diffusing the charges on Mom and Dad's claim, but we act like they were killed in the process. In the chaos, Sterra's Gift is left sitting on the asteroid - open - because, of course, Mom and Dad were planning on taking off while the bots worked, but got blown up."
"Kiirilov would have to inspect the area. He couldn't leave a ship like that alone. And while he's launching his away party, we breach," I said.
"How do you know Kiirilov's going to be at Descartes?" Ada asked.
"Turnigy already told me he's headed that way," I said.
"How'd Turnigy know that?"
"Just does. I didn't ask," I said.
"It's as good a plan as any," Marny said. "Who leads the boarding party?"
"I was hoping you'd tell me."
"I'll work it out with the Oberrhein Colonel," Marny said. "When do we pick him up?"
"0600 tomorrow," I said.
With the departure the next morning, we'd decided to make an early night of it. When we were walking out, Jake pulled me aside.
"Talk to you for a minute?" he asked.
"You okay?" Tabby asked, seeing that I'd stopped.
"I've got this, you go ahead."
I turned to Jake, "What's up?"
"I've got some news you might be interested in," he said.
"Really? I'm nearly broke at this point."
"On the house," he said and whispered his secret to me.
"Well… shite," I said. "Thank you, Jake."
"Just looking out for my best customer," he said.
I nodded and hurried to catch up to Tabby and the rest of the crew. I had some hard thinking to do and calls to make.
"What was that all about?" Tabby asked.
She needed help getting out of her clothes. She didn't like to let on, but the effects of the poison were still hindering her.
"How about we get some sleep and we'll talk about it tomorrow," I said.
"Sure," she agreed.
I lay awake for an hour worrying about the information I'd received. At some point, I drifted off to sleep only to wake a few hours later to my alarm.
"Jake passed along information I want to share with everyone," I said at breakfast the next morning. It was 0500 and since we'd been out the night before, no one was too chipper.
"Do tell," Ada said.
I shared what Jake had told me the night before.
"That changes everything," Tabby said. "I can't believe you didn't tell me last night."
"I don't think it changes anything," Nick said. "We can't run our business on rumors. We just need to adapt our plan."
"What do you have in mind?" I asked.
Fifteen minutes later we were flying through the atmosphere, getting ready to punch into the heavy cloud cover of Grünholz.
"You think Ada minded staying behind?" I asked Tabby.
"No. I think she understands we have to keep everyone safe," Tabby said.
I nodded. I didn't like singling Ada out like that, but we had to be sure.
"Here we go, folks," I said.
I set our course so we'd come in closer to the city instead of taking the scenic route over the ocean. We'd heard reports of a huge storm over Nannandry, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. And it begged the question - when hadn't there been a huge storm over Nannandry?
Once we dropped into the clouds, the severity of the storm hit us right away. We were buffeted back and forth and the rain pummeled the hull.
"Okay, this is new," Tabby said, her voice raised so I could hear her.
"We better strap in," I said. "It's probably going to get worse."
Lightning flashed through the clouds and I was momentarily blinded. The auto darkening armor glass was having a difficult time reacting fast enough to the random, brilliant pyrotechnics.
I pulled on my combat harness and helped Tabby with hers. It was hard for me to see her struggling.
"We should break free of the clouds at two thousand meters," Tabby shouted.
When we dropped below the clouds, the atmosphere became slightly more stable, but the rain had increased in intensity.
"Nick, what happens if we're struck by lightning?" I asked.
"We've been hit three times. It's not a big deal," he said.
I was kind of impressed.
Tabby pointed ahead. "There's the landing strip."
The storm had let up slightly and she wasn't having to shout so much. I suspected it had something to do with being closer to the towering vegetation that the city sat upon giving us some break from the weather.
I swung Hotspur around and landed on the now familiar strip.
"You got this?" I asked Tabby.
"Of course. Just don't ask me to be your champion today, okay?"
I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and joined Marny on the lift. We were wearing our armored vac-suits and carrying blaster rifles. The show of force shouldn't be necessary, however, as we'd communicated our requirements to Colonel Yakovich. Their weapons should be neatly stowed in a crate that we would lock away in the armory until we arrived at our destination.
From inside the ship, it was impossible to see what was going on outside in the storm. Just in case, I chose to descend the stairs instead of dropping the cargo ramp. A rain-swept Turnigy met me at the bottom. Standing next to him was the Colonel.
"Ready to get going?" I asked.
"You should drop the ramp. We hav
e lots of gear," Yakovich said over the storm.
"We'll come around," I said. "We need to check the weapons first."
"As you wish," Turnigy said.
When we rounded the back of the ship, the rain let up enough for me to make out at least two squads of marines, all holding blaster rifles pointed at us.
"Frak, it's a trap, Tabbs," I said.
"Tell your crew to open the ramp and no one gets hurt," Turnigy said.
"It's you, isn't it? You've been behind all of it," I said.
"Not all of it, but the good parts, certainly," Turnigy said.
"How could you kill all of those innocents on the Cape?" I asked.
"That was all Kiirilov. Now, drop your weapons and lower the ramp," he said.
From the side of the landing strip a burst of blaster fire erupted and traced across the front line of Oberrhein Marines. The sleek blue shape of the Oberrhein shuttle rocketed past.
"Go!" I yelled. Marny didn't need convincing and raced back to the stairway on the starboard side, which led to the exterior hatch.
"Liam, you've got company," Ada's voice said.
I dove through the hatch just behind Marny as Nick fired the bottom turret, trying to pick off the dodging Marines.
"Tabby, we're in. You need to take off," I said. Missiles launched from the tubes and blaster fire erupted from Hotspur's turrets as Tabby lifted us up, not at all gently, from the landing strip.
Marny and I stumbled through the bridge, trying to keep our feet as blaster fire rocked Hotspur. We were being struck by something heavy.
I clawed my way into my chair and pulled on the combat harness. I heard a great pfhawhump as our rear turret fired and drained the batteries by nearly fifty percent. Our sensors showed we were being pursued by both Oberrhein cruisers.
"Frak. Jake didn't say anything about both cruisers," I said.
Hotspur's lights flickered as a fresh round of blaster fire rocked us.
"Tabbs, I have an idea. Give me the helm," I said. "Marny, stay sharp. This is going to be close."
Tabby had been trying to gain altitude and the relative safety of the clouds. The thing was, we weren't going to make it. The cruisers were tearing us apart.
I pushed the stick over hard and accelerated. In a pure lift, we had just about as much thrust, kilogram for kilogram, as the cruisers. But with our wings, we could afford to drop more quickly, as we'd be able to use them to help us pull up when we needed altitude.
Buccaneers (Privateer Tales Book 8) Page 32
