Give No Quarter (Privateer Tales Book 10)

by Jamie McFarlane

  "If he's alive, he's so dead," Mom said.

  "What? Who?" I asked.

  "Just get out," she said, pushing on my backside impatiently.

  I opened the shuttle's door as quickly as the atmo-reclamation system would allow and jumped out of her way. Mom and I bounded across the top of the station to the habitation domes. Baker followed more slowly, struggling in the low gravity. I marveled at how quickly Mom moved. Something was definitely going on.

  The airlock on the habitation dome was only good for a single person and there was no way I was getting between Mom and whoever she was after. As I waited for her to cycle through, I noticed that the dome was short on O2.

  "Oh, geez," I said when I finally entered. Before me were three kids, one of whom was already in Silver's arms. The other two were on the receiving end of a lengthy and brutal tongue lashing, something I hadn’t heard in over ten stans and had hoped to never hear again. I held my hand up to the window of the airlock and muted my external mic. "Baker, you don't want any part of this. Why don't you hold up a moment?"

  "Aye, Aye, Captain," she replied.

  "What's the situation?" Ada's voice came over the comm.

  I patched her into my current external data-stream, adding Nick, Tabby and Marny to the subscribers. It would save more explanations later. I filled them in on the drama.

  "Priloe and Milenette stowed away?" Ada asked. "Who's the other kid?"

  "Not sure. We're not to the question and answer portion of this sortie just yet," I said.

  THREE STEPS FORWARD

  I'd set Hotspur on the downhill side of the lake that provided water for the Yishuv settlement.

  "Tell me again why our cleaning bots can't get this?" I complained as I slogged into four centimeters of sludge left behind by the animals.

  "Too much material," Nick replied over the comm link. We'd split duties. He was up on Petersburg Station organizing Merrie, Amon and Ortel as they worked to undo the damage wrought by Belirand. I was to clean out Hotspur and fulfill our contract with the Yishuv Council.

  "How long does Silver stay mad?" Priloe asked sheepishly, not bothered by the slop which coated the entire hold and was now dripping from the ceiling.

  "Give her a few days; she'll cool off," I said. "I'm doing you a favor today."

  "This isn't so bad," he said. "The gang used to make me crawl through the privies of homes we broke into on Nannandry. That stuff smells a lot worse."

  I laughed and handed him a heavy bundle. "You and Demetria drop this pump in the lake so it has at least a meter and a half of water on top, then stretch the hose back to the hold."

  I pulled at the loose pieces of the animal cages we’d assembled on Freedom Station. We were in for a fairly ugly afternoon, but I wasn't about to leave my ship to amateurs.

  As for the girl we'd found with Priloe and Milenette, so far, we'd learned that she was abandoned by Oberrhein when they'd been run out of Descartes. Priloe, Ulran and Merley had discovered her trying to survive on an old claim. She was still hoping someone was coming back for her, although it sounded like that was another story entirely. I didn't mind putting the two of them to work, especially considering the amount of work I had available.

  "What now?" Priloe asked, handing the hose to me.

  "Now," I said, handing the two of them long-handled brooms, "we clean."

  By the end of the afternoon, we'd cleaned out enough of the gunk that we were able to sit back on the rocky hill and allow the construction and cleaning bots to take over. At first, the cleaning bot exited the hold every four minutes, ejecting a new batch of biological material that closely resembled what the three of us had all over our suits.

  "We should jump in the lake," Priloe said.

  Demetria objected immediately. "We'll drown."

  "No way! Besides, we'll just wade in," Priloe said, looking to me for confirmation.

  "He's right. Your vac-suit will hold the water out; just close your mask," I said.

  It was well past sundown when we finally closed up the hold and accompanied the construction bot back to Yishuv. It would be another twelve hours before the cleaning bot would complete its job.

  I couldn't help but be impressed with the changes to Yishuv. When we'd first arrived, the settlement had been constructed using primitive building supplies employing a mix of worn technology from ages past in key locations. With the influx of the highly tech-savvy Belirand crew from Cape of Good Hope, as well as the donation of an industrial replicator from Anino's company via Jonathan, the settlement was improving quickly. Perhaps the most notable features were the presence of a city-based AI, smart fabrics, and responsive surfaces.

  "What do you think of our new Municipal Center plans?" Councilman Bedros clapped me on the back, catching me from behind.

  "I don't believe I've seen them," I replied.

  "We broke ground two tenday ago," he said, flicking plans of a modern, three story building at me.

  "Nice looking building, but that's a lot of glass and steel," I observed. "Do you have manufacturing capacity?"

  "Indeed, it is beautiful. I was hoping to talk to you about sourcing zero-g panels from your new station," he said. "Not that I have any idea what I'm talking about."

  I laughed. "Given time on your industrial replicator, we could probably facilitate that."

  "We'd want future discounts on the product of your kilns." Clearly our meeting wasn't by chance.

  "As long as we receive future discounts on the products of your livestock," I shot back.

  He stopped and considered me for a moment. "I'll have to keep my eye on you. I wasn't sure if you were serious just then. I assume you've heard that we've lost one of the cows and two of the sheep."

  "Unfortunate," I said. "But not unexpected. It was a difficult journey."

  "There are those on the council who would like to change our deal as a result," he said.

  "You mean, the deal where we are allowed to finish recruiting after putting our lives on the line to bring back livestock so you can eat food that's more palatable?" I couldn’t withhold the hostility from my voice.

  "It is not helpful that Mark-Ralph was killed," he said.

  "Your council has remarkably short memories," I said. "Councilman, we have a deal. We kept our end of it and you will keep yours. I will not be summoned to your council as if I were a schoolboy to be scolded. Tomorrow our recruits will report for duty. After that, I would love nothing more than to negotiate how Petersburgh Station could supply nano-steel and zero-g panels for Yishuv."

  To his credit, Councilman Bedros did not immediately speak, but considered my words, looking at the ground as he did so. "I previously learned you are not one to mince words." He slowly looked up at me. "You must understand that while your crew has brought salvation to Yishuv, you have also brought much change and a perception of new danger. From what we have learned of Belirand, if they choose to destroy us, they would not find it difficult. Unlike you, we have no means to defend ourselves."

  "Setting yourselves against my company will not change how Belirand treats you," I retorted.

  He nodded. "Perhaps not, but we'd like to be part of the process that decides how to move forward."

  "We have no desire to shape how Yishuv grows," I answered.

  "That is not what I'm referring to. Let me be plain spoken. We would like to approve the missions you're embarking on," he said.

  I'm sure my cheeks flushed and I was glad for the darkening sky that hid my visceral reaction. "One step at a time, Councilman. Let's get those recruits delivered and we can work out a contract for building materials."

  "And if we refuse to deliver the recruits?"

  "If you default on our contract, it will change the relationship between Loose Nuts and Yishuv in a negative way. If you're asking for details, I don't have them. I suspect you've considered a number of scenarios …" I looked at him for confirmation. A short nod was all I needed. "I'd suggest you're thinking short term, in that case. My guess is that
you've taken measures to protect the industrial replicator and the recently delivered livestock just in case we try to make a move on them. Is that about right?"

  "I don't think this is an appropriate discussion …"

  Even with the darkening sky, I could see I'd struck home. "You've misjudged us. We value the lives of the people of Yishuv too much to threaten those resources. No, the threat is that when we recover new refugees we will seed a new settlement as far away from Yishuv as we can place them and we give that new settlement the benefit of our trade and technology. Simply put, Yishuv becomes irrelevant to us."

  "I will see to it that the volunteers are not delayed. There is no reason for us to grow apart," he replied smoothly. "Shall we proceed to the municipal building site?"

  I nodded and followed along with him. Thirty minutes later I slumped into a chair in the corner of one of the revitalized settlement's many cafes. "Liam, what are you up to?" Tabby's voice came over my comm. She and most of the non-Ophir based crew had spent the day working on Petersburg Station, moving the defensive guns into place and setting up habitation domes.

  "Just finished up. Hotspur is out of action until tomorrow 0500," I said. "Are you guys coming down?"

  "That bad, eh?" she asked.

  "I need a shower and a suit cleaner. How did things work out today with Merrie and Amon?" I asked. I'd wondered how the young couple who'd been Yishuv's engineer and blacksmith were adjusting.

  "Funny to watch. Neither of them have experienced zero-g, so that was entertaining. They're smart though and Amon is strong like Marny, though not as flexible. Ohh… you'll never guess! It sounds like Ortel wants to stay on the station and run the mining operation. Did you put him up to that?" Tabby asked. It felt good to just hear her go on about things for a while and I took a pull on my beer.

  "First I've heard of it," I said. "I wonder if the idea of being crew wasn't working out for him. Did Nick say anything?"

  "Said he wanted to discuss it with you, but that he thought it sounded interesting," she said.

  "How did things go with Xie?"

  "We're not going to be friends, Liam, but she certainly worked hard today, just like everyone else. Oh, there's Nick now. Looks like we're headed out and we'll see you down there soon," she said. "Your mom wants to have a chat with Priloe back on the station."

  "Good. They need to work things out," I said. "My guess is she's not sailing with us anymore. I can't see her bringing Priloe along and I can't imagine her leaving Milenette behind."

  "She as much as said that today," Tabby said. "Didn't want to speak for her, though."

  ***

  "Get up!" Tabby placed her foot squarely in my back and pushed. I'd been ignoring my 0430 alarm and it was now 0445. I'd promised to go running with her before we met with the new recruits.

  "Have mercy." I rolled from bed and pulled on my clean grav-suit.

  "What's that smell?" Tabby asked as I opened the ramp. The funky smell from the remnants of the material we’d flushed out the previous day was wafting back into the now very clean hold.

  "Right, let's move the ship up next to the gates," I said, closing the hold back up.

  After moving the ship, we set out for our run and by 0545 we were back, showered and had coffee brewing.

  "There they are." Tabby pointed at a single file line of people slowly jogging our way.

  In the lead was the slim figure of Baker, closely followed by Zebulon and five more I recognized, but couldn't put names with. Marny was jogging beside them. The contrast was striking and it wasn't between Marny and the rest. The disparity was between Marny, Zebulon and Baker and the other five recruits. Something in the present crew’s bearing was simply different.

  "Company, halt," Marny ordered as they came even with Tabby and me.

  "Welcome to Loose Nuts; Burford, Cary, Divelbiss, Hill-Clark, and Kerwin. First, if anyone wants to turn back, this would be a good time to do it. I'm hoping you've had a chance to talk with Baker and Zebulon and get a good feel for what we're about. If this isn't for you, no hard feelings," I said. "Anyone feel like they've taken a bad turn here?” No one in the group spoke up.

  "You’ve about twelve hours to figure that out. After that, we'll be underway and you'll be part of the crew," I said. "Once you step aboard Hotspur, you're under Master Chief Bertrand's command. Anything to add, Marny?"

  "Aye, Cap. If you'd run us over to the back gate, Yishuv set out a significant cache of supplies," she said. "Compliments of Councilman Bedros."

  I smiled. He had either been listening last night or was a really great politician. I'd take either if it set us up with fresh supplies.

  "Give me an all-clear when you're ready to lift off. We'll be on the bridge. For the rest of you, welcome aboard," I said and turned back to the forward door that led to the berth deck.

  "Cap, give us fifteen minutes," Marny instructed as we set down next to the back gates.

  "Roger that." Tabby and I watched Marny work with the new recruits and organize the stevedore bot to load the hold. It was unusual for Marny to miss a deadline and, sure enough, fifteen minutes later we sailed through the upper atmosphere of planet Ophir on our way to raft-up with Intrepid.

  Catwalk extended, Marny disembarked with her recruits and Tabby and I then sailed on to Petersburg Station, coming to rest on the flat side. Much work had already been completed and I was surprised to see the refinery had already churned out several tonnes of iron ingots.

  "They're waiting for us inside," Tabby said, motioning to the habitation domes that had sprung up like so many toadstools in a damp bilge. I followed her to the central-most dome and the smell of something baked hit me straight away.

  "What is that?" I asked.

  "Apparently, Amon is something of a baker," Tabby said. "He says it comes from being a blacksmith."

  In the main room were Mom, Nick, Katherine LeGrande, Jonathan, Ortel and Merrie. "There you are," Mom got up and gave me a hug. "Everything go okay picking up your new recruits?"

  "Sure did," I said. "Marny just transferred them to Intrepid a few minutes ago for orientation."

  "The recruits are probably the first thing we should talk about," Nick said.

  "Oh?"

  "Katherine says Yishuv is getting pushy about ownership of Dulcinea," Nick answered, not really following his own topic.

  "The Council believes that since the original crew is now part of Yishuv, they have rights to the craft," she said. "I explained to them how maritime law with regards to derelicts has worked since the beginning of time and they were unmoved."

  "Nonstarter for me," I said. "I don't mind leaving her behind for defense, but I also need to be able to count on her in a pinch. I'm not giving her to Yishuv."

  "I agree," Nick said. "As does Marny."

  "Katherine?" I asked. "How do you feel about this? You're part of Yishuv's council now."

  "I resigned this morning. There are too many strong-headed people and I've had enough of that for one lifetime," she said.

  "That's interesting," I said, noncommittally. There was no way that Nick wasn't a million kilometers ahead of me in this conversation. "Mom, rumor is, you're not coming with us to the Aeratroas region."

  "Liam," Tabby swatted my arm, annoyed. "I told you that in confidence."

  Mom smiled at Tabby and turned to me. "I am not. I won't abandon Milenette and Priloe twice. Not to mention Demetria."

  "And Ortel? What about you?" I asked. "Might as well get it all out on the table."

  Ortel squirmed in his chair while looking at the floor. He was obviously uncomfortable with what he had to say next. "I thought I wanted to be a sailor. But there's so much need here for mining. At home, I was just one of the boys, even though I knew every piece of equipment as well as anyone could. Here, I have something to add. I'd like to help run the mining operation, train miners, and organize it. This asteroid has forty stans of work on it alone." The stan he was referring to was a stan-year of work for one miner and from what I recalle
d, his was a low estimate.

  "What's all this have to do with my recruits? I think you all have this figured out and are waiting for me to connect the dots. I think I see most of it; someone want to just give it to me straight?" I asked.

  Nick chuckled. From anyone else, it might have sounded patronizing, but he knew I'd been working on other issues. He was also smart enough to anticipate the decisions I would think made sense. "Sure. Ortel, Amon and - to a lesser degree - Priloe and Demetria mine the asteroid while Merrie runs production and fabrication. Silver is in charge of the station and Dulcinea, with Katherine second in command. They need three of our recruits and an engineer," Nick summed up.

  "What are the recruits for?" I asked.

  "Exploring this solar system in Dulcinea," Nick answered. "We can't expect them to sail her without crew."

  "You’re all good with this?" I asked, looking around the room. It made sense, but it felt like three steps forward, two steps back.

  "We've all had a part in crafting it," Katherine LeGrande answered.

  "I'd like to get Ada's take." I said.

  "I'm here, Liam," Ada answered through comm. "I'm on watch on Intrepid, but I've been involved in the negotiations. Your biggest problem is an engineer."

  "Tabby?"

  "I'm in. Engineer is easy, Ada, as much as I hate admitting it. Moonie is the best choice. He knows the ship," Tabby said.

  "That leaves us short an engineer," I said.

  "We have another one," Nick said.

  "I know. I just can't stand the thought of her on the bridge," Tabby said.

  "You wouldn't dare," Ada chimed in.

  "Xie?" Mom asked. "I wouldn't trust that woman…"

  "I have," I said. "Look, I know she's done some crappy things in the past and she paid for that. I trust Xie Mie-su."

  "Have you forgotten that someone has been selling us down-the-river to Belirand?" Tabby asked. "And Xie had plenty of opportunity to do that."

  "I think you're forgetting who was unconscious in the medical bay on our trip to Freedom Station. A trip she earned because she was trying to save my ship, might I add," I said.