I sent them a message with instructions about our intended destination and timing, as well as proof of our bond.
As with most complex things on a spaceship, the AI did the vast majority of the work. It was our job to make sure we had instructed the AI correctly. The Adela Chen and its string of barges slid neatly into the pre-arranged location and the engines spun down. I instructed the AI to disconnect us and returned the cockpit to its normal forward orientation.
“Well executed, Mr. Hoffen, and congratulations on your first official heavy freight load.”
“Congratulations to you as well, Ms. Chen. I hope everything works out with Precast.”
“Out of my hands now,” she said.
Set course for Chen Family slip at Puskar Stellar orbital docking station.
“You’ll want to let the AI take it in from here,” she said.
“Why’s that?”
“You’ll see.”
Engage autopilot.
The freighter pulled back gently, turned a graceful arc, and sailed toward the planet. Ada took joy in pointing out many of the different landmarks of Mars, both natural and manmade. The closer we got, however, the more traffic increased. It finally became almost unbearable. If I’d been flying manually I’d have been terrified. As it was, I felt a cold sweat break out on my back. I’d never been so grateful to stop sailing as I was once we finally docked. It would have been one thing with Sterra's Gift but the controls of Adela Chen were still too unfamiliar to me.
“You get used to it, but I didn’t think a rock jockey like yourself would be expecting the traffic.”
I punched her arm gently. “Careful who you’re calling rock jockey.”
The spaceport above Puskar Stellar was gigantic - I estimated four kilometers long and a kilometer wide. At the center of the station, a tethered space elevator extended downward to the city of Puskar Stellar. I hoped we’d get a chance to visit. I’d never been in a city that was home to millions of people.
“Cheap seats out here. We have a time-share arrangement. It takes longer to get over to the elevator but the price is right,” Ada said.
“We’ve got to be a couple of kilometers out.”
“Two point four kilometers to be exact. Don’t sweat it, there’s a tram we can catch.”
“I’ve got work to do on Sterra's Gift. We’re planning to sail in ten days. That work for you?”
“Yes. I’ll be ready. Let me know if anything changes.”
“Roger that.”
I helped Ada carry her bags off the ship to a tram platform.
“Thanks Liam … for everything.” She gave me a quick hug and stepped onto the tram.
It was 1630. Frak. My meeting with Qiu was in less than thirty minutes.
Give me a route to Sterra's Gift.
My AI projected a route, overlaying my vision. It was subtle, but it appeared there was a line of green vapor leading from my current position to where I needed to go. It was the sort of thing that could be configured according to a person's needs. Some people preferred to have it show up on the ground or as a blinking orb in the distance. The variety was endless. A small contrail of vapor was my current thing.
I jogged through the concourse. It wasn’t that far and I traveled light – just my blaster pistol in a holster strapped to my waist. I placed my hand on a panel next to an airlock. The gangplank between the slip and the ship’s airlock was pressurized, so all I needed to do was unlock and push my way in.
Marny saw me in the hallway and gave a conspiratorial grin. “Heya, Cap. Welcome aboard. Oh, and you’re late.”
I rolled my eyes at her but quickened my pace all the same.
“Captain on the bridge,” Nick said when I entered.
“Heya, buddy.” It had only been six days but I’d missed him.
Qiu Loo was seated at the engineering station. I nodded to her. “Lieutenant Loo.”
“Captain.” I tried to read her expression but got nothing.
“Would you give us a few minutes, Lieutenant?”
She didn’t respond other than to stalk off the bridge. I closed the door behind her.
“Any advice on that?” I looked toward the door.
“Nope.”
“Okay. Let me deal with it. Any luck on finding an auctioneer for our load?”
“Yup. Stevedores will be here in an hour.”
“Any problems on the legal end?” We’d liberated the cases from a pirate base. I had no illusions that they were anything but stolen goods.
“Ordena’s on it, he’s working with the auctioneers.”
“What’s that going to cost?” We’d first met Jeremy Ordena on Colony 40. He was a sloppy looking, easy to underestimate, slightly greasy lawyer. I had mixed feelings about working with him, but no doubt he would get the job done.
“Five percent.”
I sighed but didn’t argue.
“How about repairs and munitions load-out?”
“We’re scheduled for 1000 tomorrow at the Coolidge Yard. Navy’s giving us a good deal on armor. We’ll have to pay cost on the supplies.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand.”
I whistled.
“New stuff according to Belcose. Very hard for smaller slug throwers to penetrate. Also, we’ll super harden the captain’s quarters and the non-glass portion of the bridge.”
“How long will they have the ship?” I asked.
“Eight days and that’s only because Loo put ‘em in a headlock. They’re going to run triple shifts on it.”
“That’s progress. How about you get us a nice place to stay? Tabby’s staying with us Saturday night.”
“Which Saturday? Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow for sure, I didn’t ask about next week.”
“That works out well, the shipyard orbits over the town of Coolidge, which is near the Naval Academy. I’ll stick to that area and find us accommodations.”
“Perfect. Let me grab Loo.” I found Qiu and Marny chatting in the galley and asked them both to join us on the bridge.
“Lieutenant, it looks like you were successful in getting us an expedited repair schedule. According to Nick, that puts us at eight days. I need to know when you will fill us in on the details of this mission.”
“We’ve been over this. The mission is too sensitive to read you in.”
“No, I get it. Fact is we have no interest in the mission per se, but we need to understand what ‘light fire support’ means. You can’t possibly expect us not to prepare for that.”
“Fair enough. If I’m successful, that won’t come into play.”
“And if you’re not?”
“The most likely case is I simply get dispatched.”
“As in …”
“Killed. Yes.”
“How many hostiles are you estimating?” Marny asked.
“Could be as many as fifty.”
Marny whistled. “That’s a frak-tonne of baddies. Are you extracting some sort of payload?”
“Personnel extraction,” Loo answered.
“Do we have any budget for crew?” Marny looked to Nick.
“Budget should handle up to two additional,” Nick replied.
“Lieutenant, can you hook us up with some gear? Mostly standard tac stuff. I can work with your quartermaster once we have crew set,” Marny said.
“We’ll need it back,” Qiu Loo said.
Marny winked at Loo. “That’s the spirit.” Qiu wasn’t completely sure what to make of her comment.
“We’ll be ready to go in ten days unless there are delays on the repair.” I said.
“What if you still can’t find a load?” Qiu asked.
“I’ll make it work. Worst case is we leave the tug behind.”
“Seems like that’d be a good idea in either case,” she said.
“Not your call, Lieutenant. I’ll stay out of your business if you stay out of mine.”
“Understood. Anything else?” she asked.
; We all stood with her and I extended my hand as a friendly gesture. She was hesitant but accepted it. “See you in ten days,” I said.
We all watched her exit the bridge and I gave a sigh, then said. “Let me spend some time working on loads, then I’ll come find you guys.”
I still couldn’t see any perfect matches for our load configuration. If I was willing to deadhead the tug to Delta there was a two-barge string that needed to come back. Delta was a lot closer to Jeratorn than Mars, but it was a weak proposition.
Filling Sterra's Gift was going to be ridiculously easy. There was enough material headed to Jeratorn to fill our cargo hold at least twice and we’d make decent money on each trip. I suspected the recent pirate activity on the station description in TradeNet was causing most captains to avoid it. I’d keep looking during the next ten days to see if I could get the tug a load.
I walked back to Nick and Marny’s quarters. Nick looked up from a reading pad he had sitting on the small table. I sat on the comfortable L shaped couch that partially surrounded it.
“What else do we need to accomplish?” he asked.
“This’d be the perfect time to work on our team skills. Also, you boys are a little soft. We need to get you into an exercise regimen,” Marny said, completely serious.
Nick and I looked at each other and started laughing.
“So, let me get this straight. When Nick says shore leave, your immediate thought is to get us into better shape? Are you sure you’ve been on leave before?” It felt good to laugh.
Marny looked at us skeptically. “We can still enjoy ourselves, I just want a small budget, and four hours a day.”
“Four hours?” I was flabbergasted.
“How much budget?” Nick sat up straighter.
“I could get by with three hours and squeeze it all in for thirty-five hundred.”
“You’re serious?” I asked.
“Oh, come on, Cap. Tell me you wouldn’t like to be on the giving side once in a fight instead of on the receiving side.”
“Okay,” Nick agreed.
Damn his infatuated little ass. “Start Monday?” I could at least negotiate.
“Sunday. I promise if Tabby is who you’ve described, she won’t want to miss day one.”
I groaned. “What time on Sunday?”
SHORE LEAVE
Planet-side, in the town of Coolidge, it was 2200 local time on Friday night. Marny explained that the locals used the position of the Sun to adjust their clocks so midday was always 1200 and midnight was 2400. Moreover, they used a twelve hour clock that reset at those two points. I couldn’t have come up with a more ridiculous idea if I’d tried, but Marny insisted that’s how it worked.
The naval shipyard was connected to Coolidge by the same type of elevator / tether that most modern space ports deployed. While Sterra's Gift was capable of landing on Mars, we left her at the shipyard for repairs and upgrades.
The physics of a space elevator is terrifying. Each pod is a relatively small, four meter round, three meter tall capsule. Once loaded, it simply drops, in vacuum, accelerated by magnetic fields. A local gravity generator keeps the inhabitants stuck to the floor and magnetic forces keep the pod from touching the sides of the elevator.
The Coolidge Naval Yard was in orbit at five hundred twenty kilometers. From that elevation, it was a ten minute ride to the planet's surface. With Sterra's Gift in the shipyard, the elevator was an inexpensive way to get down to Coolidge, not to mention both Nick and I desperately wanted to ride on one.
The three of us stepped off the elevator platform, found a restroom and immediately changed into our civvies. Nick sported black jeans, a black collared shirt and a light brown blazer. I wore a black coat, white shirt and blue jeans. We had both opted to wear shoulder holsters with flechette pistols. Marny warned us that Coolidge, as a military town, was likely to enforce the 'no laser blaster law' most towns had. Marny wore tight fitting blue jeans and a colorful tunic with a Mao styled collar. She didn’t wear an obvious weapon, but I’d be willing to bet she had easy access to something.
“Boys, dinner’s on me tonight,” Marny said. We were standing in a large open area in the most spacious building I’d ever been in. The ceiling had to be at least twenty meters above our heads. Intellectually, I knew atmosphere wrapped around the entire planet but my spacer sensibilities were overwhelmed by the wanton waste of space. The atmosphere to fill this room alone …
“Cap … you with us?” Marny asked. I was lost looking around the room.
“Uh, sounds good. You know some place? I thought you were North American Navy.” I said.
“Sure enough, but I’ve been here plenty. We’re allies, you know.” She winked at me.
The elevator terminal wasn’t overly busy. In the ten minutes we’d been here, perhaps twenty pods had arrived. The area was nowhere near the capacity it was made for, even if you just considered the floor and not all the openness. I wondered if it was built this way just to mess with spacers like myself. If that was the goal, they’d certainly succeeded.
“Cap. This way, big fella.” Marny had a grin on her face and Nick stood next to her with his arm wrapped around her waist. They didn’t show much affection on the ship, but apparently on leave, all bets were off.
As we neared the exit doors, we could see through the glass that it was very dark outside. I heard a loud rhythmic noise, as if the glass was being pelted by thousands of pieces of debris.
“Looks like we’re gonna get wet,” Marny said.
Nick and I looked at each other and simultaneously yelled, “Rain!” We bolted for the door, pushed our way through and ran out into the street. There was water all over everything and it was coming down heavy enough that it was hard to see much farther than ten or fifteen meters.
Marny watched with a bemused expression from under the terminal's awning. She had hold of our bags, since we had impulsively dropped them. “Let me know when you’ve had enough.” She had to shout over the sound of the rain.
It grew old after a few minutes and we rejoined her. I was appreciative of our clothing’s ability to resist absorbing water. My hair was wet and I had water running down inside of my shirt and undies, but that would dry soon enough and it was worth it.
“I’ll call a cab.” Marny still talked louder than normal due to the rain.
A silver vehicle pulled up next to the awning and a door opened. We all piled in and Nick and Marny got into some sort of wrestling match. Their playful happiness was infectious and I couldn’t help but sit back and enjoy just being in the moment.
“We have a place to stay tonight?” I asked.
“Yup,” Nick answered. Take us to the Concord.
“You’re really going to love this place, I’ve never stayed, but I’ve been in it a couple of times,” Marny said.
“Will it be raining there too?” Nick asked.
“Yes my gorgeous little man, it’ll be raining there too.” Marny apparently couldn’t resist getting back to wrestling with Nick.
I couldn’t have been happier to have the cab start descending. The building we approached was a minimum of forty stories tall and made entirely of reflective glass. It was dark outside and giant flood lights attempted to light up the building's exterior. The rain, however, was heavy enough that the lights had a difficult time illuminating the large building.
The cab gracefully pulled to a stop beneath a wide canopy and its doors opened. It was 2200 local - which Marny insisted on calling ten o’clock - and the luxurious lobby of the Concord Resort was still very active. The people in the lobby appeared to be of two camps; either they were dressed for a fancy evening in suits and gowns, or they were dressed for play in shorts and t-shirts. I couldn’t see a single person in a vac-suit, which struck me as unusual.
We must have looked like we were lost since a man dressed in a uniform approached us and offered assistance. “Are you checking in?”
“Yup,” Nick said.
“Nigela would be happy t
o help you with that at the registration desk.” He gestured toward a long series of tall counters atop ornate wooden cabinets. A woman stood behind one of the counters and looked up at us expectantly.
“Thank you,” I said and we traipsed over to the desk. Checking in was painless and we found the glassed-in elevator that whisked us up to the thirty-second floor.
The suite Nick booked for us was, by spacer standards, extremely spacious. There were three large bedrooms, each with a bigger bed than I’d ever slept in. A living room joined all of the bedrooms together and a bar/kitchenette took up a portion of one wall. One entire side of the suite was glass from floor to ceiling. The only thing that broke up the glass was a door.
For me, the first order of business was to see what was on the other side of that door. I discovered, to my amusement, that it led to a balcony. The heavy rain initially made me wonder if the balcony had any sort of barrier to keep people from simply falling off the edge. As it turned out there was a perimeter wall, it was just made of some nearly transparent material. I wasn’t interested in getting closer to the edge or getting soaked again, so I soon came back inside.
“Were you able to see anything?” Nick asked.
“Not at all,” I said. “The rain is coming down so hard I can barely make out anything beyond the exterior wall. You guys getting hungry?”
“Marny’s already on it. She’s gonna order food, then take a shower.”
“Which room’s mine?”
“Two rooms left, grab one.” Nick said.
It was an easy choice. One room was near the door we entered and the other had an entire wall of glass with rain pelting off of it. I might not sleep well, but I sure would enjoy experiencing weather. I wondered if it might actually snow. It wasn’t out of the range of possibility at ten degrees.
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew Nick was waking me up.
“Keep sleeping or eat?” he asked. I hadn’t eaten for at least ten hours so there was no decision to make.
“Eat,” I mumbled and groggily got up. It took a couple of minutes to recover from my short nap. Once I caught a whiff of the food, I woke up very quickly. In the living room there was a large pizza that had to be at least five centimeters tall with a crust that towered to seven or eight centimeters in places.
Privateer Tales 3: Parley Page 7
