“If you were to capture their mine for us,” he said, without waiting for an answer, “I would pay your stargate fees from here to Trrgos System, and we would not have to get back into that tiresome discussion on slavery and such.”
“We’ll do that for you,” the CO said. “And in addition to giving us transit to the Trrgos System, you’re also going to replenish our stores.” It wasn’t a question.
“I will split the costs of refurbishment with you.”
“No, you will replenish our stores, and now you’re going to pay us, too, at a rate I will determine, for doing this task for you.”
“And why would I do this?”
“Because I’m tired of your shit and your obstinance. I’m also going to leave a detachment of folks here to make sure you don’t do something stupid while I’m off doing this task for you.”
“Like what?”
“Like calling for help, which I don’t think you’ve actually done yet.” The CO stopped and smiled at the proprietor again. “Let’s face it, if I hand a producing diamond mine over to you, it’s going to be a tremendous financial gain for you, which is probably going to advance your personal prospects in this cartel thing of yours. Paying us for our time isn’t going to make much of a difference in your bottom line.
“This, by the way, is my final offer for the foreseeable future. You can either take it or leave it. Before you decide, though, I want you to understand, if you turn me down now, the terms will be much more severe the next time I offer…should I ever choose to do so.
“So, what’s it going to be?”
“You have me at a disadvantage,” the proprietor said with a whine. “You have a warship and can enforce whatever terms you want. It just does not seem—”
The CO stood and walked over to the proprietor, then reached down, grabbed a handful of the proprietor’s shirt, and yanked him to his feet. Sheppard pulled the proprietor close and looked him in the eye. “I didn’t ask for any of your whining. I only asked for one thing—if we had a deal or not. I’m done fooling around with you. What’s it going to be? Yes. Or. No?”
The proprietor mumbled and spluttered a second, then answered, “Yes.”
“I’m sorry,” the CO said. “I couldn’t hear you. What was that?”
“Yes!” the proprietor exclaimed. “We have a deal.”
“Good,” the CO said. He gave the proprietor a push, and the man fell back into his seat. He turned back to Calvin. “C’mon. Let’s get back to the ship. We have some planning to do.”
Calvin followed him from the room and through the corridors back to the shuttle bay. As they approached their shuttle, he finally asked, “Hey, Skipper?”
The CO turned, with what appeared to be a real smile on his face. “Yes?”
“Would you really have done all those things you threatened?”
The smile grew. “Of course not.”
“So you were just bluffing?”
“Pretty much.”
“If you ever ask me to play cards with you, the answer is no.”
* * * * *
Chapter Eleven
CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Jangeth System
“I’m worried about leaving a bunch of the troops here, sir,” Calvin said, once everyone had been assembled to discuss the new mission. “If we’re going to have combat with the Resource Cartel, I’d like to have all our troops with us; we don’t have that many to start with.”
“We need to leave some of them here,” the CO replied. “We can’t trust this guy as far as we can throw him.”
Calvin thought for a few moments. “What about if we leave some of the pilots and WSOs? They look military and can carry pistols or rifles. We could leave a few of the fighters and some of the technicians in case something showed up.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Captain Sheppard said. “Work out a plan to do so.”
“Yes, sir,” Calvin said with a nod.
“Did they send over any other intel?” the CO asked.
“Just that there are two mines and where to find them. Of note, the imagery they had of the mines was 15 years old. Apparently the Resource Cartel has a different set of stargates they can use to get back to the Trrgos System; they don’t have to come through here.”
“So we really have no idea what we’ll find when we arrive.” Calvin shook his head. “I see why you don’t want to leave any of the troops behind.” The CO sighed. “Anything on the system between here and there?”
“Only that it’s a vacant system, and the stargates are always on.”
“Well, that at least is helpful. Stargates we can actually use without having to kill someone first. How refreshing.”
Calvin chuckled. “I said the same thing myself when the tech told me. He didn’t understand why I was laughing.”
“Anything else?”
“Yeah, I talked with their security manager. He said the reason they haven’t been there in 15 years is they tried to take the mine then, but they failed.”
“So the Resource Cartel, or whatever company owns the system, will expect an assault, or at least know one is possible.”
“Not only that, but he also told me why they failed—the mine there has anti-aircraft lasers and missiles, and there are defensive platforms in geostationary orbit above the actual mines.”
“How many mines did you say there were?”
“Two, sir, and we need to capture both of them.” Calvin shrugged. “The good news is, we don’t have to assault both of them at the same time. Maybe—hopefully—when we capture the first one, we will overawe them so much that the other mine will surrender.”
“Do you think that’s likely to happen?” Master Chief asked.
Calvin shook his head. “Based on the way our luck has run so far? No. So we’ll develop a plan for assaulting the second one at a time and a place of our choosing. Once we take them, the transport with the Mineral Cartel folks on it will show up, and they can assume control of the facilities. At that point, our mission is complete, and we can return to the proprietor to get our goodies and go on our way.”
“Assuming he plays straight with us,” Master Chief muttered.
“Assuming that,” Calvin said with a nod.
“And the odds of that happening?” the CO asked.
“Pretty good, I think,” Calvin said. “I think you cowed him pretty well and, like you said, we are giving him a major asset—a producing diamond mind—gift wrapped. I think he’ll play fair with us.”
“So, backing up a bit, you said they have defensive platforms and anti-aircraft systems. I assume you have a plan for defeating both of those without a large loss of life?”
“Yes, sir, I do.” Calvin explained his plan for dealing with both obstacles.
“Okay, I’m a believer,” the CO said when Calvin had finished. “Now we just have to get it done. Anything else?”
“No sir, that’s pretty much all we know. We’ve planned for as many contingencies as we can; we’ll just have to see what actually exists when we get there.”
“Very well. Get the aviators together and work out a watch schedule for while we’re gone, then get them into place on the planet. We leave tomorrow morning.”
* * *
Proprietor’s Office, Mineral Cartel Station, Jangeth System
“They’re gone,” the proprietor’s assistant said through the intercom the next morning. “Their ship just went through the stargate into the Silrole System.”
The proprietor stood, stretched, and walked toward the door.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” Lieutenant ‘Skoal’ Skooliessiss asked.
The proprietor turned to the Kuji. “I have the yearly meeting of my directors. You are, of course, welcome to attend. There will be quite a few of us in attendance; if that is going to make you uncomfortable, then by all means, bring more of your troops to watch over us.”
“We’re not troops,” Skoal said. “We’re aviators.”
“Wha
tever. Feel free to bring more of your people with guns.”
“Where’s the meeting?”
“It is in the audience hall, a short way along the ring.” He opened the door.
“Lights, Skoal,” he commed. “Looks like there’s going to be a big meeting of all the local bigwigs in the audience hall. Zelph suggested I call for assistance if I was going to be overwhelmed by all the people.”
Lieutenant Commander Sarah ‘Lights’ Brighton replied immediately, “Tell him the meeting is cancelled until after the Gulf returns.”
“Proprietor, my boss says the meeting is cancelled until after our ship gets back.”
“The directors have come from a number of systems away, at great expense, and are away from the businesses they oversee. It is imperative that we have the meeting so they can return and not have productivity suffer. I will not be postponing the meeting. If you are uncomfortable, do not come.” He walked out.
“No go. He says the managers have come from a long way for it, and he isn’t going to postpone it.”
“Tell him you’re going to shoot him if he doesn’t do what you say.”
“My boss says I’m supposed to shoot you if you don’t return to your office.”
The proprietor was just walking out of his outer office. He turned in the doorway and looked down his nose at the Kuji. “So shoot me then. Otherwise, I have a meeting to attend.” He walked out the door and into the passageway beyond.
“He said to shoot him, and then he left.”
“Did you shoot him?”
“No!” Skoal exclaimed. “Did you really want me to shoot him?”
He could hear Lights sigh. “No, don’t shoot him. I’m coming, and I’ll bring Straw. Speedy is sleeping; he has the overnight shift. Three of us ought to be enough to keep a bunch of businessmen in line.”
“Okay. I’ll stick with him. Skoal, out.”
The Kuji hurried to catch up with the bigger humanoid, who was taking long strides. While they made great pilots and WSOs, Kuji weren’t built for running, and he was winded by the time he caught up.
As he drew up to the proprietor’s side, he found Administrator Yorch talking to him outside the door to the auditorium.
“…great plan—” the administrator stopped talking when he saw Skoal. “Oh, are they still here?”
“There are a few of their aviators still around to ‘watch over me,’” the proprietor replied. “Just ignore them, and I am sure they will go away soon.”
“They are not going to attend the meeting, are they? We do not want them to disclose any privileged information.”
“It will not be a problem.” The proprietor looked at Skoal. “Will all of you be attending the meeting?”
“No, just three of us,” Skoal replied. “The person who covers the night shift is asleep.”
“That makes sense.” The proprietor nodded. “Well, shall we go in then?”
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and went into the auditorium. Skoal followed him in, and saw he was in the biggest space he’d ever seen on a space station. The auditorium had a stage and 10 rows of stadium seating, with enough room between the rows to ensure people with tails wouldn’t have them getting stepped on by the people behind them. The facility could easily hold 100 people, he saw, and it was nearly full. The corresponding noise of all those people talking—and trying to be heard over everyone else—made actually hearing anything extremely difficult.
“…there,” Lights commed.
“Say again?” Skoal asked. He turned away from the crowd, leaned forward, and put his claws over his ears. “I can’t hear you.” He dialed up the volume on the comms.
“I said, we’re coming from the opposite direction, and that we’re almost…shit!”
Skoal spun around, but couldn’t see Lights and Lieutenant Simon Berry. There were two large men in suits pointing laser pistols at him in the way.
“Don’t move,” one of the men said as the other reached forward to take his laser pistol. As the man moved forward, Skoal got a look at Lights and Straw across the auditorium—several other men were covering them with pistols while their weapons were taken from them, too.
The crowd noise went away, then turned to muttering as people asked their neighbors what was going on. Skoal had to dial down his comms as Lights began yelling for Speedy to get up and protect himself.
“Everyone sit down!” the proprietor ordered through an amplifier. “There is one more of them in their sleeping quarters.” Two of the men covering Lights ran out the door.
“Move,” one of the men covering Skoal said, waving him in the direction of the stage. It was much easier for him to see, now that all the people in the auditorium had sat down. Skoal was herded down to join Lights and Straw, with five men pointing pistols at them.
“What is it you want?” Lights asked.
“The freedom and opportunity to act without you watching me, of course,” the proprietor said.
“Shit! Someone just broke down my door!” Speedy said. He sounded like he’d just woke up, and Skoal realized he must have had his comms dialed down.
“Protect yourself!” Lights said. “They’re coming for you!”
“I—” Speedy’s voice trailed off. “Too late; they got me.”
The proprietor smiled, and Skoal realized the man must have had some sort of comms system or radio system of his own.
“My people just collected the last of your group,” the proprietor said. He looked at Skoal. “Thank you for letting us know where he was.”
Lights’ eyes snapped to Skoal, and she frowned, but then she turned back to the proprietor. “You’ll never get away with this. The Gulf will be back soon, and my friends are going to kick your ass so badly you won’t walk right for weeks.”
“I don’t think so,” he said. “There is a reason we do not go into the next system—it has been claimed by pirates from another star chain. They have set up a base there, and I very much doubt your friends will be back.”
“You might be surprised,” Lights replied. “They’re very resourceful.”
The proprietor shrugged. “Maybe they will be successful. I would very much like it if they would clean out the pirates and capture the mines. But if they do not, no matter.”
“Wait—you sent a transport full of people with them to hold the mine once it’s captured. If the pirates destroy the Vella Gulf…”
“Then my people will be destroyed as well. It will be a loss, but that is why I sent the dregs of our company.”
“You would just sacrifice all those people?”
“No, my dear, I am not sacrificing anything. I am playing for the win. They are the nastiest people in the company. If your people get them to the mines, they will hold them. And if they do not, I will be rid of all my troublemakers.”
“With all your company talk of efficiency, I don’t see how it’s efficient to kill people off. There must be death benefits and such that would have to be paid if they were suddenly to be deceased.”
The proprietor smiled. “See, that is where you are wrong. There is a codicil in their contracts that death benefits need not be paid while they are in a change of duty station status. You see, we used to have people hurt and killed while transferring positions. Many would go to bars or smoke shops and become inebriated, then do stupid things, getting themselves killed. As it was their own fault and not the company’s, we had all the companies in the cartel make any deaths during change of station not payable occurrences, as far as death benefits go.”
“You’re…you’re awful.”
“How is it the company’s fault if people die on their own time?”
“Even if you sent them knowingly into a system with pirates?”
“They could have turned down their new positions.”
“And what would have happened to them if they had?”
“They would have had to pay to be returned to their homes of record or nearest transfer station.”
“And if they c
ouldn’t pay?”
“Then they would have become indentured servants and sent along with the group to the mines.”
“So they really had no choice.”
“And you think they should have?”
“Yes. What you’re doing is immoral and ought to be illegal.”
“And yet it is not illegal, and you and I have different definitions for what is immoral.”
Lights indicated her group with the wave of a hand. “So what happens to us now?”
“Now you go into holding,” he said, “and we will wait and see if your friends come back. As for us, we have a lot of planning to do before then. If it even happens.”
* * *
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Jangeth System
“Stargate entrance in five minutes,” the helmsman said.
“Set General Quarters,” the CO ordered.
“Setting General Quarters,” the duty engineer replied. The horn sounded and emergency lights began flashing. “Do we need it for the next system? I thought the mines weren’t until the system after that.”
“Ever been in the next system?” the CO asked.
“No, sir.”
“Then how do you know what’s in it?”
“Umm,” the duty engineer swallowed. “I guess I don’t.”
“Then GQ is probably prudent.”
“Yes, sir, it is.”
“Do you want stealth mode then, too?” Solomon asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“On and operational.”
Several minutes later, the ship jumped.
“Drones out,” the CO ordered. “Keep the fighters aboard for now.”
“That’s weird,” the helmsman said.
“What’s weird?” the offensive systems officer asked.
“There was no sensation of taste this time. You know what? I don’t know that I’ve experienced a taste on jumping on any of the jumps we’ve done since we got to this time.”
“You’re right,” the OSO agreed. “You know, I got so used to having it that I don’t really think about it anymore. What do you think that means?”
A Gulf in Time Page 19
