One Trade Too Many

by D. A. Boulter

  “One could,” Minda agreed. She sat beside him, with her reader open to manifests. “We have, of course, cindra berry juice from Pelgraff – two thousand litres left. And we have tulla wool. You say that Sylaire tea sells well to Pagayans?”

  “Very well. And, I imagine, a specialty tea shop would find ready customers for it, as well.”

  As she went through the list of goods the Damargs had for sale or trade, she felt Korsh becoming more tense.

  “What is it Mr Korsh?”

  He gave a quick look at her as if she’d caught him in something.

  “Excitement, Ms Yrden. I have important news for my company. Also fear.”

  “Fear?” she asked. What would the Damarg have to fear?

  “I have remained on Blue Powder almost a Damarg standard year. I might get a recall to my company, or they might suggest I find a different ship to continue on – perhaps a Pagayan one that touches on more Pagayan worlds. I would miss my place here on Blue Powder.”

  Minda gave him a light pat on the knee.

  “We would miss you, too, Mr Korsh. But you’ll always find a welcome on Blue Powder.”

  He smiled at her. “Thank you. It means much to hear you say it.”

  “Ladies and Gentlemen,” the InShip broadcast sounded. “We have now docked at the Pagayan Fandaff Station. Fandaff Station time is just past noon. Please have your identity cards at hand if you plan to visit the station. They will be ready to accept you in one standard hour from now.”

  “And that’s our cue to go,” Minda told Korsh. “We don’t have to wait the hour.”

  * * *

  Fandaff Station

  Telford watched as the three Damargs walked away. Only one had done the trading for the group; only one had said anything that Korsh might translate. He wondered why? All three Yrdens, Clay, Colleen, and Minda had taken turns. Did the other two perform the job of security, just as he did for the Yrdens? One, he felt sure, had that duty. Something in the way he held himself. Friln, he thought. Korsh had introduced him as Friln.

  “Another successful trading day,” Colleen said. “Thank you Mr Korsh.”

  “My pleasure,” he replied. “Now, if I might, I would like to take some off-time. I will make my report to my company and turn it in to the trade desk with my recommendations for Pelgraff.”

  Clay grinned, “And perhaps meet with some others of your species off the tradeship?”

  Korsh smiled back. “Perhaps. The sound of my own language makes me – what is the human term? – homesick. Though I enjoy my time on Blue Powder, it feels comfortable to have my language in my ears, and news from home.”

  “Understood.”

  “We’re going back to Blue Powder to get the traded goods ready to ship,” Colleen told him. “And you, Adrian?”

  “I’ll see you back to the ship, and then I’ll take a turn around the station.” He wanted to see what sort of complement the Damag ship allowed on station, whether they frequented the shops, the eateries, the touristy rooms.

  He saw not one, but did see Ms Pendleton.

  “Adrian,” she said, greeting him. “You never come down to the passenger deck any more.”

  “No, Ms Pendleton, I don’t. My job there ended with the capture of the saboteurs.”

  Her eyes widened in remembrance. “A frightful thought. Did they really mean to kill all of us?”

  “Yes. So, it was fortunate that you got on to them, though our own security did ring the alarm when Little used Vickers’ card to pass into Engineering. Vickers had no reason to enter that area.” He guided her into an eatery, and sat her in a corner booth where no one else might overhear them.

  They ordered.

  “And you, Ms Pendleton, how are you? I hope that incident didn’t detract too much from your voyage.”

  “Mary,” she said. But he wouldn’t go that step, not now, not ever. She shrugged, then her eyes lit. “Actually, it was fun! Exciting.”

  Fun? Telford hardly thought so. Then, she hadn’t felt the pressure the rest of them had, those who knew about Starfield.

  “In my business, we prefer a definite lack of excitement.”

  She laughed. Then she sobered. “My time with Yrden Lines is coming to an end Adrian.” Her voice betrayed sorrow. “I’ll leave Blue Powder at her next stop, at Rossiya. From there, I’ll catch another Yrden ship back to New Brittain.”

  “We’ll be sorry to see you go,” Telford offered.

  She smiled sadly as their meals arrived. “But not so sorry that you’ll call me Mary?”

  “I prefer formality. In my business, it rarely pays to become close to anyone.”

  “That is just so sad,” she said, but bent to her meal, as he did to his.

  * * *

  “So, Mr Korsh, are you ready for the next leg of your journey?” Minda Yrden asked, joining him as he walked back to the dock.

  He gave her a human-style ‘thumbs-up’, but didn’t look exactly happy. She shrugged. He would tell her if he wanted to.

  They walked in through the hold, and he left to go to the crew deck as the cargo handlers began to unload a shuttle’s cargo hold.

  “Hello, Mr Korsh. Did you enjoy your vacation on the station?” Doreen McTavish waved to him as he approached.

  “Not quite as enjoyable as some of the others,” he admitted. “I received some bad news from the company. It will bear thinking about.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. If you need someone to talk to...”

  “No, I just need to figure out how it will affect me. But thank you.”

  “Seems a little preoccupied,” Doreen said to Minda.

  “A little,” she agreed, mind on ensuring that the goods from the Damarg ship matched what she had on her manifest. Everything came up exact. The Damargs, thus far in her short career with them, proved honest and meticulous traders.

  She glanced at the manifest. So, the rare earths from the planet below had arrived. Rossiya would welcome them, and Blue Powder would make a substantial profit on the transaction. She went to confer with the cargo master.

  * * *

  Blue Powder

  Colleen sat with Yvonne, eating lunch.

  “And Mr Korsh comes up complaining that his reading caused him a migraine,” Yvonne said.

  “He does that a lot. I’m not sure whether it actually does or not,” Colleen replied.

  “Anyway, he asks if he can do something to get his hands dirty, so Teemo opens up the GravGen for a PMI.”

  Colleen winced. “That’s a dirty one, right enough. Did Mr Korsh give up on it?”

  “Nope. He got right in there with Teemo, and went to work. Last I saw them, they were grinning like idiots.”

  “Speaking of me?” Teemo asked.

  Yvonne nodded. “Said you and Mr Korsh looked as happy as schoolkids on a snow day, what with your hands wrist-deep in grease.”

  “What’s snow?” Teemo asked. “No snow in space.”

  Colleen looked around. “Where is he?”

  “Mr Korsh? Said he wasn’t hungry, and I left him reading up on the next PMI. I’ll get back to him, and we’ll have some more fun.”

  Colleen shuddered. “Better him than me.”

  Telford came over with his tray filled. “Seat taken?”

  “Sit,” came the order from three throats. He looked around him their faces, and sat.

  “What’s the joke? Me?”

  “Nope,” Yvonne said. “Mr Korsh. He chose the dirtiest PMI in Engineering to help Teemo with. And now he’s skipping lunch so he can read up on the next one – both in filth and in order.”

  Telford looked at Teemo. “You left him alone in Engineering?”

  “No, of course not. Callie and Peter are in there with him.”

  “Ah, good.” He took a bite of potato. “Ms Pendleton leaves us at Rossiya. We should have her up for a special dinner or something to thank her for her help. Without her, there’s a chance that Mr Little might have done some damage – and we surely wouldn’t have
found out about Muncer or his agent on Deutschland-1.”

  “Good idea,” Colleen agreed. “And, why don’t we have her up to the bridge as a guest for the drop at Rossiya Waypoint Two?”

  “I’ll tell her.”

  * * *

  Telford walked into the starboard acceleration lounge as everyone got set for the drop to Rossiya Waypoint Two.

  He saw Ms Pendleton talking with Drew Hatcher, who had boarded at Fandaff Station. Perhaps she would transfer her interest to that man.

  “Ms Pendleton?”

  She looked up. “Adrian. What a pleasant surprise.”

  “And I have one for you, too. The Captain has invited you to observe drop from the Bridge. It’s a rare honour. If you’d like to.”

  Her face lit up with a smile. “I’d love to.”

  She unstrapped, and then walked with him to the lift to the crew deck.

  “The view from the bridge exceeds that from the lounges by a considerable margin,” Telford said. “You get to see the start of the fire from the bow and on back, coming right at us. A spectacular sight.”

  The spacer’s version of St Elmo’s Fire entranced everyone who saw it, and Telford hoped that it would impress Ms Pendleton the way it had him, the first time he had seen it from the bridge of a ship.

  “Hello, Ms Pendleton,” Captain Yrden said, as they entered. “Welcome to Blue Powder’s bridge.

  “Mr Telford, if you would kindly seat the lady, we’ll get ready for drop.”

  He helped her with her restraints on the chair, and then took the one next to her. The jump seats rarely saw usage, and he fumbled with his own restraints for a moment before he got them properly adjusted.

  “Ready for drop?” Captain Yrden said.

  “Ship’s ready,” Colleen reported.

  Ms Pendleton opened her hand and reached out towards him. Reluctantly, he took it. Might as well give her that last thrill.

  “Drop!”

  The ship dropped to normal space. The starfield appeared, and the enhanced euphoria of a linked drop rushed through Telford. He only wished that he held Colleen’s hand instead of that of Mary Pendleton. But she held her husbands. He looked away.

  “Oh, my!” Pendleton gasped as the euphoria hit her at the same time as their St Elmo’s Fire sparkled down the ship heading towards them. Then it had passed.

  “Near distance clear!” Brint on detectors reported. “Medium range, clear.”

  “He’s looking out, checking to make sure no objects are nearby, that we might have to avoid,” Telford explained.

  “Long distance...” Brint paused. “Three ship on long distance, closing.”

  “What?” Clay Yrden jumped up to take a closer look at the detector screen, then at the NavTank. “Meteor Shields up! Max! Heat the weapons! Get us out of here.”

  “Jump engines off-line, sir. Unable to engage propulsion, sir.”

  “Weapons failing to heat, sir. Meteor shields not engaging.”

  CHAPTER 26

  Blue Powder

  “Aud signal coming in, sir.”

  Telford had let go of Mary Pendleton’s hand, and stared intently at the NavTank. While he had never studied it, he saw that the projected course of the three ships intersected their projected course.

  What the hell? Telford thought. What had happened?

  “Aud signal demands we make no moves, and that we open our bay doors for boarding. Message in Pagayat. No vid.”

  “Sound the alarm. Emergency Stations!” Clay ordered. The alarm sounded, then Clay went on the InShip Broadcast.

  “All passengers and non-essential crew report to the Catastrophe Core at once.”

  Minda came rushing into the bridge from the Trader’s Cabin just off the bridge.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Pirates,” Clay said succinctly. “And we’ve had sabotage. We can’t raise shields, run, or fight back.”

  He stared at the closing ships in the NavTank.

  “Open up the small arms locker.”

  Minda went to it and began passing out weapons. They had but ten pistols, needlers. She handed one to the Captain, one to Colleen, and one to Telford. He checked it, and then accepted two spare magazines.

  “Engineering, report!” Clay ordered.

  “Yvonne here. We’ve no idea what happened. We’re checking everything.”

  “They’ve launched shuttles,” Wentworth reported. “Estimated time to docking, ten minutes.”

  “Pirate signal. They advise us that any attempt to alter course or attitude will result in a missile being fired into our engineering section. They order us to open holds to space. They will take what they want and then leave. No one will be harmed.”

  Colleen looked at Clay. “Do you believe that?”

  “No. We have accurate scans on those ships. They’ll want, at the very minimum, to delete all computer files. That will leave us drifting, helpless. And they will likely take or destroy Scout-1 to prevent anyone from going for help.”

  “Sean, quick. Conference call to all pilots. We need a volunteer to take out Scout-1.”

  “Clay, they’ll destroy her,” Colleen objected. “She won’t have a chance.”

  “I’ll take her, Captain Yrden,” Sean said without hesitation. “I’ll take Doreen with me. They won’t catch us.”

  Telford recalled the tales told of Sean and his run through the asteroids to rescue the miners at Erin. According to every pilot who had run the simulation, Sean had preformed at a level that none other could attain. Maybe he did have a chance.

  Beside him, Mary Pendleton sat in shock.

  “Someone better take Ms Pendleton to the Catastrophe Core,” he said.

  Minda slipped into the First Pilot’s seat as Sean departed the bridge at a run.

  “Yvonne,” Clay spoke into the comm. “Yvonne, skeleton crew only in Engineering. Get to the Catastrophe Core. Once the pirates board, if they do anything but go to the holds, I’m going to call for zero-g, and then use manoeuvring thrusters. They won’t be able to fire on us if they have people on board, and if we’re rotating and tumbling, they won’t be able to board more people. I’m sending Brint with three weapons just in case.”

  He motioned to Brint, who took the pistols and ran through the open hatch.

  Jackson Pelburn appeared. “Situation?”

  “About to be boarded by pirates, Jackson.” Clay told him. “Send two of your security men to guard the Engineers – we’ve already sent weapons. The rest remain here, near the bridge. If we can keep the bridge and Engineering, we stand a chance of getting away. If we can’t we won’t.”

  He turned to Telford.

  “You, take Ms Pendleton to the Catastrophe Core and lock yourselves in. I’m sending everyone except the skeleton Engineering crew and the bridge crew there.”

  Telford drew his head back. “No, Mr Yrden. I belong here.”

  Clay ignored him. “Colleen, you go with them.”

  “What? No. I belong here, too.”

  “No, you don’t. The captain needs to stay on the bridge. And if they just raid the holds and leave, then all’s well. But if they board for real, and if the bridge falls, the ship will need a captain. That’s you.”

  “I’m not going.”

  Clay turned to Telford. “I’m counting on you to keep her safe, Mr Telford.”

  He nodded, and passed over his gun to Wentworth. They would need it more than he would.

  “Clay, no!”

  “I love you, Colleen. Now, take her, Mr Telford.”

  Telford took Colleen’s arm in a strong grip and pushed her towards the hatch. “You, too, Ms Pendleton.”

  Colleen began to struggle, but Ms Pendleton took her other arm and helped Telford propel her down the passageway to the lift. They met Cosgrove of Security coming the other way. Colleen passed her pistol and the extra magazines to him.

  “Pirates docking in three minutes.” The InShip broadcast sounded.

  “One minute,” Colleen said, and she duc
ked into her day cabin, came out again in seconds with something under her jacket. Telford figured he knew what she had taken.

  They made the Catastrophe Core in two minutes. People still arrived by ones and twos – crew that Clay had dismissed from Emergency duties.

  “Everyone, get strapped in, with spacesick bags at the ready,” Telford ordered. He pushed Colleen into the supervisor’s chair and handed her a remote earphone and mic so she could communicate without having everyone hear.

  Ms Pendleton likewise strapped in, eyes bright with excitement. She had no real conception of what this might mean.

  He went back outside to guide any stragglers in. When no one further arrived, he stepped inside, but kept the door open. He, too, wore a remote.

  “They’ve accessed the shuttle bay!” he heard Tony Wentworth call out. The bridge had an open mic so everyone could hear.

  “I’m going down, Captain,” Telford heard Pelburn say. “Cosgrove and I will stop them entering the ship.”

  “Colleen,” they heard Clay’s voice. “Pirates have begun raiding the holds. They’ve workboats. They’ve started with Hold Number 4.”

  “What have we in Hold Number 4,” Telford asked Colleen.

  “Rare Earths from Fandaff, bound for Rossiya,” she replied, then gasped.

  “What is it?”

  She pointed to the small screen at the supervisor’s position. She had accessed the vid feed from the shuttle bay. Telford swallowed. “There must be at least forty of them.”

  “And more exiting the shuttles.”

  ‘They’ wore armour and helmets. ‘They’ carried side arms and long arms. They had no intention of stopping with the raiding of the holds, Telford realized.

  “Launching Scout-1,” Clay reported. “Stand by for rotation. Closing hold and shuttle bay hatches.”

  “Scout-1 away!”

  Telford took a deep breath. He almost wished he had gods. If he had, he would have prayed for their intervention. As he didn’t, and doubted that any god would answer any prayers that he offered, he merely hoped Captain Yrden’s confidence in Pilot Williams well-founded.