An Airless Storm: Cochrane's Company: Book Two

by Peter Grant

  If the doubters’ obstructionism proved too great in future… well, there were solutions for that problem, too. He took comfort in the thought that the Patriarch would have understood that, and approved, if he were still here.

  “It looks like their board meetings won’t give us much useful information in future, then,” a young man observed gloomily that evening.

  “Not before the fact, anyway,” the building manager replied as he piled food on his fork. The restaurant around them was filled with diners, the hubbub of their conversation, clinking glasses, and the scraping of cutlery on plates, all helping to prevent their words being overheard. “We’ll still learn about some things after they’ve happened. Apart from that, we’ll have to rely on our office bugs to pick up what they’re up to.”

  “Yes, but that won’t be enough,” the third member of the group objected. “Kreshnik uses quantum-encrypted systems. We can’t monitor the other side of their calls without them realizing someone’s listening in. We’re limited to what’s said in their offices, which may not be enough to give us all the details we need. Besides, they talk outside the office as much as they do inside.”

  “We’ll just have to do the best we can. We were lucky that the Admiral gave our mission such a high priority. Captain Lu’s narrow escape must have shaken him. He sent us here with enough money to build the new block, to improve our cover story of being off-planet businessmen. It demonstrated that we meant to invest here, not just take the locals’ money and run. That, in turn, meant that the Brotherhood came to us when we’d only just started construction, offering to lease the whole place provided we met their security needs and conditions. We’re actually going to make a profit on this deal, if only they keep paying long enough!”

  The younger man asked, “Will this go on that long?”

  “It might. You heard them. If they get those destroyers, they’ll be as powerful as Hawkwood, perhaps more so – unless Hawkwood has something up its sleeve we don’t know about.”

  “The Admiral wouldn’t tell us, even if they did. That’s outside our area.”

  “Yes, it is. He’s got Captain Lu to keep him informed about that. She’ll still be in danger, though, if the Brotherhood decides to take the fight to Hawkwood. It’ll be up to us to give the Admiral enough information to let him warn her if necessary.”

  “Why did the Brotherhood lease our building in the first place, rather than buy it?”

  The leader shrugged. “That’s been their policy ever since they arrived here. They must want to reserve all their capital for this Fatherland Project, whatever it is. Also, I suppose they can move faster if they don’t have to abandon fixed property, should the need arise. If their homes and offices are rented or leased, they can just walk away from them without worrying.”

  “And what about their contents?”

  “Stuff is just stuff. It can be replaced. They’ll take only what’s critical, or of sentimental value – and they’re not a very sentimental crowd, are they?”

  “Unless you count hate, resentment, bitterness and anger as sentiments.”

  “Well… yes, there is that.”

  4

  A thirst for revenge

  MEDUSA

  “You’re sure it was her?”

  The speaker was clearly ill at ease in the bar on Entertainment Alley aboard the space station. The spacers thronging it were rough, tough and loud, very different from the more refined people with whom he usually worked, and the places they frequented. He couldn’t know that his reaction had been anticipated. It was one of the reasons the meeting had been arranged in this setting.

  “Aye, it was her. You can’t disguise a repair ship. They’ve got too many cranes and equipment housings sticking out all over, not to mention half their superstructure being a flat deck, to work on modules and smaller craft. Besides, Colomb was built for the Lancastrian Commonwealth Fleet. There’s something about their ships, a sort of flair, that you don’t see in many others. I’ll be damned if I could put my finger on it, but it’s there. She still had it.”

  “And she still looked like that?” The businessman pointed at the picture he’d laid on the table.

  “She did when she arrived.” The mechanic tech sniggered. “Didn’t look the same by the time we’d finished with her, o’ course.”

  “Where did she go?”

  “Now how the hell would I know that, mister? This is Medusa. Ships come in here all the time. We work on ’em, make ’em look different, then send them out to be resold. By now she’s probably half the settled galaxy away, serving a new owner. Why? Didn’t your insurance pay out for her?”

  Not nearly enough, the questioner thought grimly. We had to borrow a couple of hundred million from our bank to help replace her, and they gouged hell out of us on the interest rate! He contented himself with saying, “We still want to get our hands on whoever was responsible. What about the other repair ship, the one you swapped for her?”

  “She was much bigger, but empty. She had no equipment or tools to speak of. They’d have had to buy them somewhere else.”

  “They didn’t take them off Colomb?”

  “Her workshops and machine rooms were filled with tools an’ gear when she got here, so I guess not. One thing, though – they were all pretty old and worn. I was surprised they hadn’t been replaced long before.”

  Aha! She’d just been refurbished, and fitted out with all new tools and equipment! That means they stole all that out of her, and filled her with stuff from somewhere else that they no longer needed. If we can trace the stolen gear by its serial numbers…

  “And the two fast freighters?”

  “Frank an’ his men brought in two brand-new million-ton fast freighters. I reckon they hadn’t seen so much as a ton o’ cargo yet. They swapped ’em for two used freighters half the size. Dunno where the two big ’uns came from, but they took the smaller ones to the same outfit that brought in Colomb and swapped her for the stripped-down repair ship.”

  “You mean Eufala Corporation?”

  “Yeah, something like that. Weird name. Never heard the like before.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t know where ships went when they left here?”

  “Mostly I don’t, but I know some o’ Frank’s boys. Had a beer with them one night before they left. They told me.”

  “I see. Well, you’ve been most helpful.” He reached into an inside pocket of his jacket, took out a plain white envelope, and laid it on the table. “Here’s the rest of what we agreed.”

  “You won’t mind if I count it?” The tech didn’t wait for an answer, but ripped open the envelope and thumbed rapidly through the banknotes inside. He looked up with a satisfied grin. “Yeah, it’s all there. Thankee, mister. This’ll come in right handy.”

  He slid the envelope into his own pocket as his visitor left the bar. He finished his tankard of beer, then stepped out himself, walking down Entertainment Alley to a diner. He found his employer seated in a booth, sipping a cup of coffee, and sat down opposite him.

  “It all went just like you figured. I told him everything you wanted me to say.”

  “Good. Did he buy it, d’you think?”

  “I reckon so. He went away with a long face.”

  The other produced an envelope of his own. “Here’s what we agreed. Added to what he gave you, that should be better than a year’s pay.”

  The tech tore it open and counted rapidly. “It sure is! Thankee, mister. Any time you want to put one over on someone else, just call me. I’m your man.”

  “I will, thanks.”

  The other man watched the tech leave the diner, then ordered another coffee from the automenu on the table. Provided he ordered something every half-hour, he wouldn’t be disturbed.

  He was on his third unwanted cup of coffee when his assistant slid into the booth. “It’s done.” He handed him two envelopes. “He didn’t have time to spend any of it.”

  “Good. Endrit will be pleased that we kept ou
r expenses low. You made sure the tech won’t be found anytime soon?”

  “I dumped his body down the nearest garbage chute. It’s in the trash tunnel now, waiting for the next removal cycle. If no-one spots it before tomorrow morning, it’ll be ground up with everything else, then vacuum-dried for disposal.”

  “Very well. Let’s go. We’ve got a ship to catch.”

  CALLANISH

  Several weeks later, the atmosphere was stormy in a boardroom in Achmore, capital city of Callanish.

  “So they got away scot-free with stealing her, while we were out a quarter of a billion Neue Helvetica francs for the cost of Colomb’s refurbishment, plus another two hundred million to make up the insurance shortfall in her replacement value! Four hundred and fifty million francs!” Scott’s voice was outraged.

  “Not only that, they got a newer and bigger repair ship, plus two smaller freighters, in exchange for Colomb and our two brand-new freighters,” Dunsinane observed. The Chairman’s voice was dispassionate, but tight, as if he were exercising strict control over his emotions. “I think we’re more than entitled, morally if not legally, to seek some sort of… compensation for that.”

  “Are you mad, Dunsinane?” Pentland demanded, surging to his feet. “Let me remind you that we stole New Orkney Enterprise’s satellites around Mycenae Primus Four, using Colomb to do the job. Somehow, they found out that she was there, and that we’d hired her for it. They then stole her, plus the two fast freighters we’d bought using the money we got for their stolen satellites. We asked for what happened. We started it, dammit! After the fuss was over, NOE didn’t bring charges against us. They didn’t say even one word about it. They were signaling that honors were even, and they were willing to leave it at that. Why make it worse? Why start another fuss? Can we afford to lose another half-billion francs? They can. Don’t forget, they now have legal authority to exploit the Mycenae system. Their resources must be a hundred times greater than ours, if not a thousand!”

  The Chairman stared at him, drumming his fingers on the polished table-top. At last he said, his voice icy cold, “Pentland, if you ever accuse me of madness again, I… will… break… you. Do I make myself clear?”

  The director stared at him, unintimidated. “If it comes to breaking, two can play at that game. Don’t start something you can’t finish.”

  “Oh, stop it, the pair of you!” MacNeill’s voice was bitter. “This isn’t solving anything. Dunsinane, I’m inclined to agree with Pentland that we’ve no real chance against NOE any longer. What makes you think differently?”

  The chairman let out his pent-up breath in a long, slow sigh, forcing down his anger. “I don’t think we need worry about NOE at all. It was their security contractor, Eufala Corporation, that stole Colomb, and our freighters as well. NOE had nothing to do with it, and didn’t know anything about it until they found out after the fact.”

  There was a stiff, tense silence for a moment. Scott broke it by asking, “How did you find that out?”

  “I have my own sources, ones I’m not prepared to discuss here. However, you can take that to the bank. Eufala did it, not NOE – and I’m thinking Eufala, or Hawkwood as they’re now calling themselves, will be a much easier nut to crack. They don’t have the mineral resources of the Mycenae system behind them. They’re just a security company. In terms of corporate revenues, we’re bigger than they are. That means we can fight them on better than even terms.”

  “They’re an armed security company, remember? They can defend themselves with more than just money and lawyers.”

  “Yes, but missiles can’t ward off prosecutors. What if we can trace some of the equipment aboard Colomb – equipment we paid for, I remind you – to Hawkwood’s own repair ship? Its gear will have serial numbers, that can be compared to what we bought. That might provide grounds for a court order to seize the ship, pending criminal investigation and trial. We might even be able to swing a charge of piracy, which carries the death penalty. Also, as a second string to our bow, we can adopt Hawkwood’s approach. They hired a criminal to steal our freighters – one of the best in that line of work. He’s not the only one. If we hire our own, they have ships that will be vulnerable, too. I think, given time and ingenuity, we might get back all we’ve lost, and maybe more besides.”

  Pentland looked mulishly stubborn, shaking his head, but several of the other directors perked up. They were all painfully aware of their losses at Hawkwood’s hands. The thought of revenge was particularly sweet.

  That evening, another Albanian reviewed a recording of the board meeting with great satisfaction. Endrit would be delighted that the Callanish consortium had become their unwitting allies – or, rather, tools – against Hawkwood. Perhaps they could piggyback their own activities on the back of whatever Dunsinane planned. That way, if anything went wrong, Callanish might be made to shoulder all the blame, with their own involvement not even suspected.

  Pentland, though… he might be trouble. He led the faction that voted against Dunsinane. They lost, but they might still make mischief – or betray Dunsinane’s plans to Hawkwood, despite their promises of secrecy. Maybe we should do something about Pentland? Perhaps we could silence him in such a way that Dunsinane can take credit for ‘breaking’ him. He won’t mind – he’ll probably revel at being suspected of it, particularly since he knows there’s only supposition, not real evidence, behind it – and no-one will even dream that we might have been involved.

  He considered, then slowly shook his head. That was too big a step for him to take on his own. He’d suggest it to Endrit, and await his decision.

  5

  New ships and old

  GOHEUNG

  Mr. Kim totted up the figures he’d tapped into his display, and blinked. “Commodore, yet again you astound me. When you placed your first order with Kang Industries, I told you I’d never before come across a private security company that could afford so many and such costly ships. This latest order will increase that total by well over fifty percent. I know you can afford it, of course – your record of timely payment with our company is second to none – but nevertheless, the scale of your operations is truly amazing.”

  “It’s as I told you, Mr. Kim. With two more planets negotiating with us, we’re going to be placed under a lot of pressure. That’s why I want to accelerate our new corvette orders, even if it means slowing the frigate program, because it’ll give us more ships, faster. I’m buying two more system surveillance satellites for the same reason. If we know the direction from which trouble’s coming, and when it’ll arrive, our smaller ships will be better able to deal with it. However, please expedite production of the frigate missile pods. We need them on hand very quickly, even if we don’t have many ships to carry them, because those that can are going to be worked very hard. We also intend to use some as base defense pods, in orbit around our installations. We’re already preparing the casings and auxiliary systems to allow us to do that. The corvettes can control them.”

  “Pods are easy to assemble, but we’ll have to put pressure on the missile manufacturers. They seldom get such a large order, and they’ll need time to ramp up production.”

  “Please push them as hard as you can. I’d like to collect as many pods as possible within six months – up to thirty, if they can accommodate us.”

  Kim sucked in his breath. “That will be difficult, but I’ll see what I can do. Ah… are you willing to offer them financial incentives?”

  “If necessary, and within reason, yes.”

  “That will help, thank you. I’ll also approach Zhang Spacelines on your behalf. Your offer of a twenty-five percent slot fee, if they’ll allow you to buy and take delivery of the two fast freighters we’re building for them, is likely to prove very attractive. I know they’re having trouble finding enough premium-rate fast freight to fill their present ships. If they can put off their orders until later, and earn half the price of a new freighter into the bargain at no cost to themselves, I think they’ll
jump at it. Their freighters are more than half built already. We can complete them within three to four months.”

  “And the other ships?”

  “It’s very fortunate you placed your new order while the last of your previous ships were still on our ways. That means we hadn’t yet allocated the corvette building way to other construction. After we finish the last two ships of your present order, we’ll set up a new production pattern of two corvettes, followed by two frigates, and repeat that sequence until your orders are complete. We should be able to produce two corvettes every five months, and two frigates every seven, thanks to modular construction and robotic assembly. The depot ships, and your other fast freighters, will be shoehorned into vacant production slots on our other ways, as quickly as we can. As for the courier vessels…” Kim hesitated. “I’d like very much to have all your business, but we have only so many building slots. If we use them for your larger vessels, we can’t accommodate the smaller, and vice versa. You might be better advised to turn to another manufacturer for them.”

  “Thank you for your honesty. Who would you recommend?”

  “Fujita of Kamamoto produce a very good design, although it’s more expensive. It’s slightly larger, with twenty double passenger cabins instead of our twelve, and it has a bigger hold, to carry up to five thousand tons of cargo. If you want a high-quality product for fast delivery, regardless of the price, I’d talk to them. I can provide you with a letter of introduction to my counterpart there, if you wish. We know each other.”

  “Thank you. That’ll be very useful. As far as our freighters and depot ships are concerned, if another customer might delay their order in return for a slot fee, please let us know. If the cost is reasonable, we’ll take the opening. Commander Haldane will be here tomorrow, bringing with him the crew for our first frigate, HCS Bobcat. After the acceptance ceremony, he’ll run trials with her for three months. When they’re over, you’ll update our frigate design according to his findings, then modify Bobcat to incorporate them before we declare her operational.”