by Ryk Brown
“Then the lone shareholder must petition the court to transfer all shares to the sole surviving shareholder.”
“You said Mister Coulthard is supportive of our plans for the Glendanon,” Cameron chimed in. “Why don’t we just get the court to award all shares to him?”
“That is an option,” Captain Gullen agreed. “However, the court would require an exhaustive search for the unaccounted-for shareholders prior to granting the petition. Under normal circumstances, this would take a minimum of six months. At present, who knows.”
“Great,” Jessica complained. “So, we’re stuck.”
“There is another legal option,” Captain Gullen continued. “Under times of emergency, the government can invoke “right to use” laws and take control of whatever resources it needs to deal with the emergency. This would include ships like the Glendanon.”
Nathan sighed. “I’d prefer not to go that route.”
“Surely current conditions qualify as an emergency,” Cameron stated.
“Perhaps,” Nathan agreed, “but we don’t want this alliance to be seizing control of ships. It’s a bad precedent to set.”
“There is one other option available to us,” Captain Gullen said. “Assuming Mister Coulthard’s search for the other investors turns up no one, he could sell us half of his shares, thereby giving us equal voting rights as a shareholder, thus meeting the two-shareholder minimum requirements for a lawful vote.”
“Why half?” Nathan asked.
“To ensure that the lone shareholder is not selling a single share to someone in order to rig the vote in his favor.”
“That’s stupid,” Jessica exclaimed.
“Most laws are,” Captain Gullen added.
“How much would those shares cost?” Cameron wondered.
“They would not be cheap,” Captain Gullen warned. “Mister Coulthard is a majority shareholder, and legally the value of his shares would have to be reassessed. Considering all the upgrades we have made to the Glendanon over the past few months, those shares have likely quadrupled in value.”
Nathan sighed again. “Then I guess we have no choice but to wait and see if Mister Coulthard finds any shareholders.”
“That would seem best,” Captain Gullen agreed.
“Let us know if you hear anything from Mister Coulthard,” Nathan added.
“I shall,” Captain Gullen promised, ending the call.
“What do we do if no other shareholders can be found?” Jessica asked.
“We can’t afford to buy half the shares,” Cameron agreed.
Nathan sighed a third time. “I really do not know.”
* * *
Mister Dekkan stood at the front of his ship’s shuttle bay, four armed men spread out to either side, watching as his guest’s shuttle rolled out of the transfer airlock and into the bay. The shuttle turned slightly to starboard, turning to a forty-five-degree angle to him before coming to a stop.
“Entry scans show five occupants, four of them armed,” the guard to Mister Dekkan’s right reported. “The shuttle itself is unarmed.”
The ramp of the shuttle began to deploy, and Mister Dekkan signaled one of the guards to his left to prepare. The guards split into two pairs, each pair moving into position to have clear lines of fire on the shuttle’s hatch as it opened.
As expected, four men appeared, each dressed differently, yet all carrying identical weapons and moving in a fashion that indicated considerable training.
Mister Dekkan’s guards immediately raised their weapons to the ready, but without actually taking aim. The guest’s guards did not respond, and their expressions did not change as they took up positions on either side of the boarding ramp.
Finally, the buyer stepped out, coming down the ramp with the same confidence and swagger as before.
“Mister Griosan,” Mister Dekkan greeted in a business-like fashion. “A rather large shuttle for such a small group.”
“Mister Dekkan,” Lord Dusahn greeted in return. “It is an older design, and its systems are quite bulky,” he continued, looking around the bay. “An impressive vessel, for someone dealing in used spacecraft.”
“The nature of this particular transaction necessitates such a vessel,” Mister Dekkan explained. “I don’t normally travel with such firepower. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course,” Lord Dusahn replied. “I trust you have verified the balance in the escrow account.”
“We have been checking the balance every few minutes since you transmitted the monitoring codes,” Mister Dekkan assured him. “Nothing personal.”
“Of course.”
“Was there no pilot?”
“I piloted the shuttle myself,” Lord Dusahn replied.
“A man of many talents. I trust you brought the escrow control key?”
Lord Dusahn reached into his jacket pocket, slowly pulling out a small data chip, holding it up for Mister Dekkan’s men to see before handing it to their employer.
Mister Dekkan smiled as he accepted the chip, immediately inserting it into a small comm-device pulled from his pocket. “This will take a few minutes.”
“I understand,” Lord Dusahn replied, looking around the bay. “This is a fine ship. Well armed as well, I suppose.”
“Very well armed,” Mister Dekkan replied, “and well shielded. I am about to hand you control of six heavily armed vessels, after all.”
“I don’t suppose you’re willing to sell this ship as well,” Lord Dusahn wondered. “I’d be willing to pay top credit for her.”
“This ship is not mine to sell,” Mister Dekkan explained. “If it were, I suspect I would be in an entirely different business.”
“Pity.”
“You know, you never mentioned why you need so many warships.”
“I wasn’t aware that knowledge was required for this transaction,” Lord Dusahn replied.
“It is not,” Mister Dekkan admitted. “I am just curious.”
“Let’s just say that I have been entrusted to protect the interests of a particular system whose import and export traffic is at risk.”
“Then they are to be escort ships,” Mister Dekkan presumed.
“Something like that.”
Mister Dekkan cast a suspicious eye at his guest. “You are somewhat cagey, Mister Griosan.”
“Information loses its value the more people that share it.”
Mister Dekkan smiled. A moment later, the device in his hand beeped, and a small light along the top of the key-chip flashed red. Mister Dekkan’s smile turned to a look of concern.
“Something wrong, Mister Dekkan?” Lord Dusahn wondered. “I trust the key-chip correctly verified.”
“It did, but this red light on the chip…”
“That is nothing to be concerned about,” Lord Dusahn assured him. “So long as you hand over control of the merchandise as promised.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The key-chip has been fitted with a small amount of an explosive compound,” Lord Dusahn explained. “Something my people call tre shaw te. Not particularly powerful, but completely undetectable. Fortunately, the tiny amount coated onto that chip is enough to kill you and anyone around you. Perhaps even damaging this entire deck. Furthermore, now that you have activated it, you cannot move it from this region of space, nor can you move it more than a meter from your body, as either will cause the device to detonate.”
Mister Dekkan looked uncertain.
“You did not think I was going to hand you access to five hundred seventy trillion credits without some kind of guarantee, did you?”
After a moment, Mister Dekkan replied, “I suppose not.” Mister Dekkan took breath, calming himself. “Then how are we to proceed?”
“My crews have already docked to the airlocks of all six vessels,” Lord
Dusahn explained. “Allow them to board and take their positions. Once you have evacuated your men from all six of my ships, you will transmit the control codes, releasing control of the ships to my people. Once you have done so, I will give you the code to deactivate the explosive device on the key-chip. We will depart, and you will be free to retrieve your credits.”
“How do I know that you will not open fire on us once you have control of your ships?” Mister Dekkan asked.
“Surely you have built in a delay cascade on the control codes,” Lord Dusahn stated.
Mister Dekkan smiled again. “I suspect you and I would get along quite well under different circumstances.”
“Doubtful.”
Mister Dekkan turned to the guard on his left, nodding.
The guard touched the comm-set on his ear. “Let the crews board and take position,” he called over comms. “Evac all our people back to the Lintas.”
“The Lintas,” Lord Dusahn stated. “An interesting name.”
“How so?” Mister Dekkan wondered.
“In my native language, it means ‘bringer of doom’. Appropriate for a warship, don’t you think?”
“What language would that be?” Mister Dekkan innocently inquired.
Lord Dusahn smiled. “This could take some time. I don’t suppose you have any more of that kuffel, do you?”
Mister Dekkan did not look amused.
“Surely we can complete this business transaction in a civil manner?” Lord Dusahn suggested. “After all, we are both just protecting our interests.”
After a moment, Mister Dekkan turned and gestured toward the forward hatch. “We shall wait in my quarters,” he said. “But I must insist that you stay close to me at all times,” he added with a smile. “Surely you can understand.”
“Of course,” Lord Dusahn agreed. “But my men shall be accompanying us.”
“As will mine,” Mister Dekkan replied. “As will mine,” he repeated as he led the entire group toward the exit.
Lord Dusahn smiled as he and his men followed Mister Dekkan. Everything was going according to plan.
* * *
Nathan had been back to the Voss several times since they had returned to the Aurora, yet he still couldn’t get used to the idea of an invisible energy barrier as the only thing preventing him from being sucked out into the vacuum of space.
Of course, the same had been true of the concept of jumping across vast stretches of space in the beginning. It had taken dozens of jumps before they no longer made him nervous. Had it not been for the urgency of their situation at the time, he might not have been willing to make the jumps at all. Space was vast and desolate, but it was by no means empty. To this day, he still wondered how they managed to avoid deadly collisions during their jumps. Abby had spent hours explaining the theories behind it, most of which went over his head. Eventually, he’d gotten used to the idea of jumping across the galaxy in the blink of an eye. Therefore, he would get used to pressure shields as well.
“How long until we can lift off?” Nathan asked Marcus as he approached.
“I thought you said twenty-four hours?” Marcus grumbled.
“I meant the next day, not exactly twenty-four hours later.”
“You might want to be a little more exact, in the future,” Marcus complained.
“Were you always this whiny?” Nathan commented as he passed Marcus and headed up the ramp.
“I had a lot stored up from all those months of having to be nice while babysittin’ your kin.”
“How long?” Nathan repeated, continuing up the ramp.
Marcus sighed, growling a bit under his breath. “Gimme an hour to close up the ventral access panels on the port side.”
“Thirty minutes,” Nathan insisted.
“An hour.”
“Thirty minutes!”
A string of expletives spewed forth from Marcus’s mouth as he returned to his work.
Nathan reached the top of the ramp, weaving his way between all the components stacked about in the Voss’s center utility bay. Reaching the forward bulkhead, he stepped through into the octagon-shaped center junction. To either side were the corridors that led past the access hatches to the Voss’s four cargo bays, and at the ends were the hatches leading to the port and starboard nacelles. At the center of the junction was a ladder providing access to the dorsal and ventral gun turrets.
Nathan quickly ascended the ladder, stepping off at the main deck one level up. Moving forward, he stepped through the hatch and entered the ship’s common room, containing the galley, conference and dining table, lounge area, med station, and the main deck head.
As he continued forward through the common room, the part of him that was still Conner Tuplo couldn’t help but think of how many credits he and his crew could earn with a ship like the Voss. Even with only two of her four cargo bays converted for carrying passengers, she would still be able to haul three times the cargo that the Seiiki had carried even before she was refitted to carry passengers in her upper deck. The Seiiki might have been a better looking, and better handling ship, but the Voss was larger and more solidly constructed. The Seiiki had been designed as a private space-yacht. The Voss was a cargo ship from her landing gear up. And she was far easier to convert into a warship.
Nathan passed through the common room and the hatch at her forward side, and into the short corridor connecting the common room to the next compartment. Two steps up, and he was on the Voss’s command deck, moving past the auxiliary stations on either side of the railing around the stairwell leading down to the lower forward deck containing the crew’s quarters.
“What are you doing?” he asked Dylan, who was furiously entering commands on the slide-out keyboard at the pilot’s station.
“Rewriting some of the automated flight maneuvers so that the ship’s AI can scoop it,” Dylan explained with obvious irritation.
“I thought you already did that?”
“It didn’t work right in the simulations,” Dylan explained as he pounded away at the keyboard. “Turns out, there are a butt-load of safety protocols designed to prevent just such a maneuver.”
“Are you sure that’s the best use of your time?” Nathan wondered.
“According to Josh, it is. Apparently, it would be unsafe to go to an unfriendly world without being able to scoop it.”
“Can’t he do it manually?”
“In manual mode, the AI still prevents the pilot from doing anything that it thinks puts too much stress on the ship’s systems. The only way he can manually scoop it now is to shut down the AI completely, which is a very bad idea since so many of the ship’s critical systems are managed by the AI. So I have to convince the AI that scooping-it is not unsafe. That means I have to identify every system that would be overstressed by the maneuver and change the safety parameters for them, but only during that particular maneuver.”
“So Josh will have to announce his intention to scoop it to the AI before he does so?” Nathan surmised. “He’s not going to like that.”
“Actually, once I’m done, the AI should be able to anticipate Josh’s intentions without being told. The altitude, the power settings, the flight control stick inputs—it will read them all in a split second and adjust. After a while, the AI should even make the maneuver smoother. After all, it is designed to make a sloppy pilot fly better.”
“Please, Josh doesn’t need any reason to think more highly of his flying skills than he already does,” Nathan insisted. “Find a stopping point,” he added. “We depart in less than an hour.”
“I thought we had twenty-four hours?” Dylan replied, surprised.
“Why is everyone on this crew so literal?” Nathan wondered aloud as he turned and headed down the stairwell.
* * *
Despite favoring the meats of ruminants and fowl that dominated Takaran cuisin
e, he did very much enjoy the bittersweet taste of the kuffel. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to sell me a few crates of this fruit?” Lord Dusahn asked as he picked another piece from the platter before him.
“Would that I could,” Mister Dekkan replied. “I only brought a small supply with me. The rest is back on my ship.”
“Perhaps another time then.”
“I’d be more than happy to provide you with the contact information for the seller from which I acquired this delicacy.”
“I’m afraid I won’t be out this way again for quite some time,” Lord Dusahn replied.
“A shame.”
The intercom beeped. “Mister Dekkan, the control chip has been verified.”
Mister Dekkan raised the chip from the table, noting that the red light was still on. “Mister Griosan?”
“After the control codes for my ships have been transferred and verified,” Lord Dusahn stated plainly.
“Of course,” Mister Dekkan replied, pressing the button on the intercom. “Transmit the control codes to all six ships.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lord Dusahn reached out and plucked another piece of fruit from the tray. “I guess our business is nearly concluded then.”
The comm-unit on Lord Dusahn’s belt beeped, and he reached down to open a comm-channel.
“All six vessels report they now have full control of propulsion, navigation, sensors, and life-support; however, weapons systems show a thirty-minute delay before control will be released.”
“Be ready to depart upon my return,” Lord Dusahn instructed. “I guess that’s it.”
Mister Dekkan looked at the red light on the chip, then back at Lord Dusahn.
“Tre shaw te is a dance performed by the farmers of Dullelax to celebrate the harvest,” Lord Dusahn explained, smiling.
“Well played,” Mister Dekkan congratulated. “However, it might have been more prudent to wait until you were safely off my ship before revealing your bluff.”
The lights suddenly flickered, and the room went dark. A second later, emergency lighting came on, illuminating Mister Dekkan’s stateroom in pale blue light.
