"Rumor is, you're two for three with these cruisers. Those are hardly bad odds," he said.
"Luck of the circumstance," I said. "You get Jake dropped off, Ada?"
"That's how I ran into Luc. They were waiting for us when we landed. Did you really give Jake my new shuttle?" Ada asked.
"He didn't even negotiate, just rolled over like a kitten," Tabby said, glaring at me.
I shook my head from side to side. I had no defense other than cold logic and I could see that was going nowhere.
"We're going to have to replace that tug if we want to haul ore. I wonder if Belirand would work with us on a loaner," Ada said.
"What would you think about a segmented container type freighter?" Tabby asked. "Mars Corporate preferred those to barges - must have had a good reason for that."
A segmented, container freighter was composed of a nearly infinite extendable series of common steel containers. Mars Colony Corporation, or M-Cor, had giant segments, each of which were twelve by twelve by six containers, packed in a neat, rectangular box. Between each segment of eight hundred sixty-four containers, was a coupling unit which had its own fuel storage and booster engines.
"It's not a bad idea. We could start with a smaller segment configuration, say an eight by four. Four segments would give us a hundred-twenty-eight containers," I said. "We could probably even push it with Hotspur."
"You wouldn't dare," Tabby said and hit me on the shoulder hard enough to hurt.
I raised my eyebrow and looked to an equally offended Ada.
Tabby pulled a reading pad from a nearby table and started furiously swiping and typing out commands. I had to laugh as Ada sat on the arm of Tabby's chair and they searched for freighter tractor options.
"The segmented design would be a good choice for us. We could manufacture containers on the station and then sell them at the destination if there's enough market demand," Nick said.
"I'm not sure we're in any position to buy anything," I said.
"I know it's hard to imagine, but we really could use Hotspur as the engine for a segmented hauler. Her design, with the engines on the wings, would work," Nick said.
He handed me a reading tablet showing Hotspur with four segments of containers strung out behind it. Between each segment of thirty-two containers, were small directional engines and fuel storage.
"You really know how to hurt a guy," I said.
"Thing is, Hotspur has plenty of power, so we could get by with linkage motors that aren't as powerful," Nick said.
"Where would we find the segment links?" I asked.
Nick gave me the look I had come to understand was him being patient with me. "We need six motors, gimbals, fuel storage, and frames. The only thing we can't manufacture are the motors."
"I can't believe this is what you are talking about." Luc Gray had a bewildered look on his face. We all looked back at him and he felt compelled to explain as the table grew quiet. "You just got out of combat, were threatened by the commander of Nuage Air Defense with imprisonment and have no doubt annoyed the king of one of the only two nations within a hundred million kilometers."
"Well, since you're not telling us anything, what are we supposed to do?" Ada asked.
"I can't," he answered. "I took an oath."
"So, this is what we have," Ada said matter-of-factly. "Speaking of, have we figured out when they'll be done with repairs and where we're staying tonight?"
Nick had us set up at the same resort we'd stayed in on our last visit. It was expensive, but with the stress of recent events, we agreed it was worth it. For the next few hours we sat around and talked about whatever came to mind. Reliving the combat for Ada and Luc and hearing about the events from their side as well.
We'd hoped to see Jake later in the evening, but he never did show up, although a number of Commander Gray's squad mates did. We bought several rounds and well into the wee hours of the morning we stumbled back to the hotel.
With little to do for the next few days, we exercised, ate, swam at the resort's beautiful pools and made plans for the future. Nick had a line on the engines we needed for the segmented transport and arranged to have them delivered and loaded into Hotspur.
On the morning of the fourth day, Nick said, "Jake's on his way up."
We were in the hotel suite's main room. I'd been looking for ore, ingot and sheet purchasers and discovered that there was a considerably better market if we sailed to the other side of the Descartes belt and to the mostly desert planet, Curie. The prices for the iron and steel weren't as good as Belirand offered, but we couldn't afford to lose another ship.
After a few minutes, we heard a knock on the door and we let Jake in. He looked haggard and gratefully accepted a cup of coffee.
"I haven't been to sleep yet, but I wanted to talk to you all first," he said.
"You're welcome to crash here," I said. "Ada hasn't been using her room."
This got a raised eyebrow from him, but he didn't otherwise comment. "Thanks, but Nuage is putting me up."
"Tell me you found something," I said.
"We did and it might as well be a smoking gun with Kiirilov's DNA all over it," Jake said. "He tried to delete it, but Nuage finally found fragments of the backups in the septic processor and the refer units."
"We have data-streams backed up in the septic?" I asked. I didn't really know a lot about how data was stored, it was always just available.
"Every piece of smart fabric or AI system - which is just about everything we come in contact with - gets replicated. Ship systems are pretty good about not extending outside of the confines of the ship, but yes, in short, data is spread, replicated and duplicated hundreds of thousands of times. That's great for accessing it, but not great if you want to remove it. Kiirilov released a worm to delete the data, but it didn't get it all," Jake said.
"What did you find?" Marny asked.
"Kiirilov launched a veritable fusillade of magnetic particles into the Cape's engine. The composition of the particles set off a chain reaction when it entered fold-space. He did it, there's no doubt. Nuage also found communications with Atin Emre implicating him in the attack," he said.
I breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Was this communicated to Belirand?" I asked.
"That's what I've been doing for the last day. We've been sharing our discoveries with Belirand engineers back in Sol."
"Any of that going to splash back on Oberrhein?" I asked.
"We didn't talk about repercussions, it was just fact finding. I can say, though, that we had several of Belirand's top brass on the comm at different times and they want blood. I don't think anything is off the table for them," he said. "As an aside, I also received word that the Emre brothers are on the run."
"How'd you hear that?" Tabby asked.
Jake looked at her with a smirk. "Let's just say, I heard they were looking for transport and I decided to pass on the opportunity."
BACK IN BUSINESS
Meerkat's repairs, while expensive, were thorough. The bilge and turret were repaired and spotless. It was an expensive area to get hit, as many of our life support systems were housed there.
Six large crates of motors filled most of the cargo hold and we packed in as much additional fuel and as many supplies as we could afford. The colonists at Descartes were nervous, but our first delivery of supplies and setting up purchasing agreements with them had done much to stave off panic. At this point, we had to start delivering the material we'd purchased or we were going to completely run out of operating capital and cash.
"Schedule-D, Ada," I answered in response to her query. She'd taken the responsibility of laying out our navigation plans and wanted to plug in how much fuel we were going to use.
"Roger that, Captain," she responded.
We hadn't seen much of her while we were on Gros, but Tabby had informed me that Luc and Ada were 'just friends.' I wasn't sure what that meant and suspected it was much like the relationship I'd had with Tabby before
we finally figured it out.
Even on a Schedule-D, we arrived at Descartes six days later. We had been enjoying a period of time where the mining belt was well aligned with Grünholz. Now their orbits around Tipperary's star were starting to separate. Within eight months they'd be so far apart that the trip would take us more like twelve days on a Schedule-D and, at its very worse, eighteen. It was the life of a freighter pilot to worry about such things.
On the sixth day, we dropped from hard burn, closer to our destination than we would ever have considered when the small cruisers had been in system. My heart leapt when the warning klaxons went off as soon as our sensors were able to resolve the system around us.
Silent running, I said instinctively. I had no doubt that whatever had spooked the AI had also seen us drop out of hard burn and I wasn't going to present an easy target.
"Cap, we're being hailed by the heavy cruiser, Fist of Justice," she said.
Crap.
"What is the ship's registration," I asked.
"It's Belirand," she said.
My mind whirled with the possibilities. If the Emre brothers had somehow managed to make off with a cruiser, they might be looking to exact their revenge on us.
Accept hail.
Tabby pulled up the forward holo display and it showed two heavy cruisers accompanied by two cutters.
"Captain, I need to lock down those turrets."
A request showed up on my forward vid screen. I hated the idea of giving over control of our only weapons, but we'd done it to ourselves, sailing almost directly into the middle of a fleet that could easily take us out.
I accepted the lockdown.
"Lorraine Tullas, Rear Admiral, Belirand Security Services," she said, introducing herself.
"Liam Hoffen, Loose Nuts," I responded. For whatever reason, I was struck with how little punch my introduction had in comparison.
"Greetings, Captain Hoffen. We've been expecting you," she said.
"How's that?" I asked. I couldn't imagine the technology required to track us through space.
"According to a Mr. Big Pete, and I quote; 'you're not on the approved list, you'll have to wait until my son arrives and talk to him,'" she said. There was a flicker of a smile in those words.
"My apologies, Admiral, but we've not had the best working relationship with Belirand recently."
"Your father seemed most unimpressed when I informed him that we could take out his defensive cannons, if necessary," she said.
"Do you mind if I ask what you're doing out here?"
"My mission is to secure the Descartes Mining colony," she said.
"From?"
"Anything that impedes the colony's primary mission. Would you be amenable to a face-to-face?"
"Certainly. I'd appreciate a chance to check in with the Co-Op and unload supplies," I said. "I'll add your fleet to our list of friendlies."
"We'll need turret control codes," she said.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am. That isn't possible. You've got to understand, Belirand has been party to nearly killing my crew several times and most of the colonists have been threatened directly by same. I don't believe you'd send the message you desire. Perhaps you'd be willing to leave your fleet on the outside of the security perimeter and sail in on one of the cutters?" I proposed.
Her lips pursed as she thought it through. She muted her end but didn't cut the feed and spoke to someone we were unable to see.
"I understand that we have to earn your trust," she said, returning to the conversation. "I'm risking my career by not taking control of your turrets, but I believe it is in line with the mission. If you'll promise not to fire on our ships, we'll concede the requirement to have positive control over the cannons."
"As long as your ships take no provocative actions against Co-Op property or personnel, we are in agreement," I said.
She sighed. "Aye, Captain, we'll agree to that. We'll be back at 1600, which gives you two hours. Is that sufficient time?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am. Looking forward to meeting with you," I said and closed the comm.
As we sailed past the underside of the Co-Op asteroid, we saw that the number of habitation domes had grown considerably since we'd last been here. It made me wonder if there were any miners still out working their claims.
The piles of ore had also grown as well. It was impossible to tell if the ore had been mined from within the Co-Op station or if it had been dropped off from other claims. The AI reported that the Co-Op currently owned enough ore that, upon delivery, we would recover our losses and then some.
"Looks like Big Pete and Muir have the refinery up and going," Nick said.
"How can you tell?" I asked.
At Nick's request, my HUD highlighted an area I hadn't seen. A brand new platform had been constructed with the refinery set upon it. A small pile of pig-iron ingots were neatly stacked next to it.
"Look at that," I whistled.
Refined ingots netted ten percent more than raw ore and were a lot easier to ship. Once we were able to manufacture steel ingots we'd add another ten percent.
"What do you bet he's trying to get sheets rolled out?" I asked.
Nick just laughed. Neither of us were about to bet against Big Pete. We'd even cut him in for a share of the profits on any of the work the Co-Op churned out. That had been all the catalyst he'd needed to get off to the races.
When we pulled up to the docking bays, I was amazed at the amount of material that had been cleared. Long corridors led back from the bays and mining operations were in full swing as we approached.
"We'll meet you outside the warehouse." Dad's voice cut in on my comm.
"Roger that," I said.
We met up and before we were allowed to do much else, he took us on a tour of the Co-Op.
"We're about twenty percent cleared on Nicholas's plan," he said. "Once we start rolling out some sheet, we'll be able to close in the rock. We need an armor glass kiln unless we want to be buying glass all the time."
We passed more than ten different families, all mining material out of the co-op.
"How'd you figure to pay everyone?" I asked.
"They'll get a cut of the proceeds for the ore they mine. We're covering food, O2, tool breakage and all that. Most people get it though, they know we're building a safe haven and they want to be part of it," he explained.
"Now that it's safe, won't most of 'em go back to their own claims?" I asked.
"Aye. Most will. We've only three groups that will stay behind. Fact is, we got a heck of a jump on this station. Even with the reduced help, we'll be clear within a year. I expect to have pressurized sections within two months, that is if I can get some armor-glass," he said.
"We'll put an order together," Nick said. "I like the idea of a kiln, we're just a little short of capital."
"Understood. You all did the right thing, putting your company on the line to make sure everyone had what they needed. You can bet the corporations don't think that way," he said.
He led us through the central corridor to a vertical shaft that led deep down into the asteroid. When I looked down, I was shocked to see starlight.
"Does this lead to the bottom side?" I asked.
"Sure does," he said and jumped into the shaft head first. I followed close behind and we arc-jetted eighty meters, finally ending up on the bottom of the Co-Op, which was where all of the ore was stored.
It took a moment to get my bearings, but once I did, I jetted over to where I'd seen the refinery. Once I got close, gravity generators pulled me to the surface. The refinery wasn't currently operating, but it looked much like the refineries on Colony 40.
"This is up and running?" I asked.
"Sure is," Dad replied. "We were going to talk to you and Nick about how much ore we want to run through."
"According to Nick, it's all about labor," I said. "But, I'll let him work it out with you. You've done a lot in a few weeks."
"For a time, we didn't know how long we might be s
tuck here. Best if you keep busy at times like that," he said.
"We've another project." Nick explained about the motors he'd bought and the pattern he had in mind for the segmented freighter.
When we arrived back at the warehouse we found that all the lights were off.
"That's weird," I said. I was the last through the airlock.
The lights turned on and I was shocked to see the entire warehouse filled with people.
"Welcome home!" they mostly all said in unison.
Once things quieted down, the crowd looked at us expectantly. I felt Nick's hand in the middle of my back as he pushed me forward.
"Uh …. thank you," I said. "What's this all about?"
"Our last swap meet got shut down by Oberrhein. We all agreed we'd have a party when you got back. We've been planning it for days," Mom said.
"Let's start the festivities then," I said, looking over at Ian and Sylvia Folkson who took the cue and started playing their stringed instruments cheerily, Ian with his guitar and Sylvia with her fiddle.
An hour into the party, I'd completely forgotten about Belirand's imminent arrival.
"Incoming comm," my AI informed me. I accepted.
"Captain Hoffen? Admiral Tullas. Would you be willing to meet now?"
She was being polite, but I knew better than to make an Admiral wait.
"Yes ma'am. Would you be open to a suggestion?" I asked.
"Certainly, Mr. Hoffen," she replied.
"Better than three quarters of the colonists are in our warehouse attending a swap meet, which to the uninitiated looks a lot like a party. To the extent that you'd like to restore the colony's confidence in Belirand, your presence would mean a lot," I said.
"You want me to come to your party?" she asked. Her voice was a mix of shock and amusement.
"At least send a delegation. People have questions. It's a perfect time to apologize and reassure them," I said.
"Apologize?" she asked.
"According to Belirand, Oberrhein was in charge of security. Kiirilov preyed on these people in the name of Belirand. In short, you let us down. We're hardy people and we'll get over it, but you may want to get in front of this thing, own your mistakes. It won't cost you a dime," I said.
Buccaneers (Privateer Tales Book 8) Page 34
