Buccaneers (Privateer Tales Book 8) Page 12

"I hailed Sterra's Gift and no one was home," she said. "If you head down to level twelve, they're pretty fast at getting you through. They'll ask if you're looking to naturalize, you probably want to say no. They're happy to give us automatically renewable two-year visas."

  Tabby and I walked through the arched door and I felt a slight pressure change. We'd passed through a transparent energy barrier. It was a nice change from having my ears constantly buffeted by the wind.

  My HUD's vapor trail showed that we were to continue directly into the center of the city following a wide, carpeted passageway. There were a few unoccupied retail spaces and things appeared dusty, as if this level didn't see much traffic.

  We stopped at four vertical transparent tubes which were clearly elevator shafts.

  Call elevator. I said. One of the four immediately pulsed red at both the ceiling and floor. A moment later the pulse changed to green and an opening appeared in front of us. We stepped into the elevator and dropped to level twelve.

  "That was fast," I said.

  "Seriously?" Tabby looked at me. "These guys float entire cities and you're impressed with their elevators?"

  "Ah, right," I said.

  The office we were looking for was only a few doors down from the elevators.

  A woman greeted us as we entered. "You must be Mr. Hoffen and Ms. Masters." Our clothing must have given us away. It was different from the colorful, baggy pieces we saw on everyone else.

  "I understand from the application you've provided that you're interested in obtaining a visa. Do you believe you'll be applying for naturalization?" she asked. I remembered Marny's warning.

  "Visas would be great," I said. Tabby nodded in agreement.

  The woman looked disappointed.

  "If you'll step onto the scanner, we need to make sure you are who you say," she said.

  We both complied.

  "Almost there." She held out a swipe pad. "Just need your signature and you'll be on your way. Your visa is good for two years, and can be automatically renewed if you're here during its renewal period. Do you plan to stay long?" I caught a slightly wistful look.

  "Miners and traders. We're hoping to set up a permanent base here, though," I said.

  Her face brightened. "Then let me be the first to welcome you to Léger Nuage."

  IT ALWAYS COMES DOWN TO CHICKEN

  "Nick, we're headed up, where are you?" I asked.

  "Level-23. There's a loading terminal. It's totally empty except for us. Ada just brought Sterra's Gift around. If you want to bring Hotspur, there's room," he said.

  "I thought we were on twenty-four," I said.

  "Yup. The loading terminals serve three levels. It's well done. You'll like it," he said.

  "We're on our way," I said.

  "This way." Tabby jogged away from the elevator banks.

  I chased after her and we got strange looks. We were already dressed oddly for this place, so we would have gotten the looks either way. Tabby paused at the edge of the city, where the outside walls swept around in a wide arc. She pointed at metal stair treads welded into the wall and painted to perfectly blend in.

  "You want to run up twelve levels?" I asked.

  "Try to catch me," she said.

  I knew I didn't stand a chance, but needed the exercise all the same. I lunged for her, but she easily avoided me, turned and started running up, three steps at a time. It was a feat I quickly became incapable of, catching my toe on the fourth set and sprawling forward onto the hard surface.

  I heard Tabby land lightly, with her feet straddling my hips. She pulled me up to my feet. Since her time in the tank, Tabby's physical strength and agility had continued to increase to the point where I wasn't remotely in her league.

  I touched her nose. "I caught you."

  "So cheap," she said and slid around me, racing back up the stairs.

  I dug in, taking two at a time. I felt like I was keeping close, but Tabby was soon out of sight. By the time I made it to level twenty-one, my lungs were burning. But I had to admit it felt good.

  "Nice job," she said, waiting for me on twenty-four.

  "Don't … patronize …," I said, between breaths.

  She put her arm around my back and walked me out to the ship. I was breathing regularly by the time we slid into the pilot's chairs.

  "Good to have you back on board," Tabby said.

  I looked over and smiled, but inside I worried that I'd never be enough for her.

  Navigation path to Level 23 loading terminal, I said.

  I pulled up on the flight stick, lifted off from the pad and sailed lazily around to the opposite side. The open bay beckoned and I slid us in nice and slow, landing next to Sterra's Gift.

  "Hey, you okay?" Tabby asked.

  "Absolutely," I said. There was no way I was going to let her see me feeling sorry for myself.

  While we were in the armory changing into armored vac-suits, I received a ping from Nick.

  "You going to open up?" he asked.

  "Almost there," I said, sliding my heavy flechette into the chest holster that I preferred. Tabby was already holding a blaster rifle.

  "Any trouble out there?" I asked.

  "Nope," Nick replied.

  Lower the rear cargo ramp, I instructed. I did a quick scan through the ship's sensors and could only pick up Nick.

  "Where is everyone?" Tabby asked as we walked down the ramp.

  "Up on twenty-four," Nick said. "They're all checking out Lena's new diner. You mind staying here until we're unloaded? That way I can organize our warehouse as the crates are delivered."

  "Sure. How do you get there though?" I asked.

  "It's a sweet layout. We are directly below the end of the warehouse. A three meter lift loads items from the ship directly up and into the back of our warehouse. We might want to invest in a stevedore bot. I was able to rent one, but I had to exchange Mars Credits," he said.

  "How expensive?" I asked.

  "We're spending two thousand for today," he said.

  I whistled. I wouldn't have expected to pay more than four or five hundred. "Is the exchange rate that bad?" I asked.

  The system currency was confusingly called a credit and was an agreement between Nuage and the two nations on Curie and Hipparchus. As far as we'd heard, Oberrhein didn't participate in the exchange. "The exchange rate is bad. For goods, a Tipperary credit is about half as valuable as the corresponding Mars credit. For example, we had been paying three Mars credits per kilogram of fuel. Fuel here is six and a half credits per kilogram. Worse, there's very little call for Mars Credits here," he said.

  "Good to know," I said.

  "Let's get Lena's and Jake's crates unloaded first. She really wants to get rolling on her diner. Did you know Jake leased a bar?" Nick asked.

  Nick poked a button on his reading pad and a stevedore bot lifted from the ground and jetted toward Sterra's Gift.

  "We talked about it on the trip out," I said.

  "How's he going to trade?" Tabby asked. "He doesn't have a ship."

  "I guess he'll hire it out," Nick said, shrugging. "Oh. We've agreed to let Lena use a small part of our warehouse. You okay with that?"

  "Well. We agreed to let her use the Industrial Replicator as long as she paid for materials," I said.

  Nick laughed. "She mentioned it. Wanted to know when we'd have it set up. She has a sign for her diner she wants to manufacture."

  "Why wouldn't she just hang a vid screen?" I asked.

  "She said it wouldn't be authentic. Something about neon lights."

  "Sounds fun," Tabby said.

  The stevedore bot finished stacking half a dozen crates and settled down on top of them.

  "That's my ride. I'll send the bot back down once we've unloaded the lift," Nick said.

  He walked over to the stack of crates and gestured on his pad. He and the crates were lifted through a widening hole in the ceiling.

  Two and a half hours later, we'd finally unloaded the last crate. T
abby and I changed into normal vac-suits and locked down both Sterra's Gift and Hotspur. We hadn't seen a single person the entire time we'd been unloading, but I turned on Hotspur's sentry program regardless. It wouldn't apply lethal force, but it would cause quite a ruckus if ignored.

  We rode the lift up to the warehouse. Most of the items we'd carried in the ship's hold had belonged to Jake and Celina and they fit easily in the large space.

  With everything loaded in the warehouse, Nick instructed the construction robot to set up the industrial and medical replicators against the wall. We would move them out to Descartes once we had outpost warehouse constructed and the defensive systems set up.

  "Come see this," Ada said. She'd been picking items out of a crate and handed us each a bundle to carry to Lena's. We made our way through the warehouse, into the connected storefront space and finally into the main hallway.

  "She's to the right, toward the center," Ada said.

  "Just put those bags on the counter," Lena said as we walked through the front door of her diner.

  The restaurant had a row of booths running down one side. A long countertop separated the booths from a service area on the opposite side. Patrons could sit on stools at the counter or in the booths.

  "Lena was able to get them to build it out to her specifications. She just had to bring her own ovens, preps and hydrators. Her kitchen is back here," Ada said, pushing through a gate that led into the service area. She turned to walk through a tall set of swinging doors, which was where we found Jack and Jenny, loading foodstuffs onto the wire shelving.

  "Where are Nick and Marny?"

  "They're helping Jake set up his bar," Jenny answered.

  "How do we get there?" I asked.

  Jenny pointed at an open door at the back of the kitchen. "That hallway links up a few of the businesses. His back door should be open."

  "Thanks, we'll go check it out."

  "I'm staying here," Ada said.

  It was a short walk through the narrow hallway. We heard Marny and Jake's voices and followed them into a storage room.

  "There they are," Marny said when she saw us walk in. "You'll never believe what Jake's got on tap."

  I shook my head not understanding. "What's that?"

  Incoming comm, Silver Hoffen. I held up my hand to let Marny know that I was getting a comm.

  "Mom. What's up?" I asked.

  "We might have some trouble up here," she said.

  "What kind of trouble?"

  The room grew quiet.

  "Two small cruisers have pulled up on us. Oberrhein registration," she said.

  "What do they want?" I asked.

  "Nothing yet."

  "We're on our way," I said. I looked at Marny and gave her a curt nod.

  Quickest route to Hotspur. The familiar blue contrail snaked out in front of me and I jogged after it with Tabby, Marny and Nick in tow.

  "Nick. I need you to get Ada and follow in Sterra's Gift," I said. My gut said that more ships would be better, but I knew I could get there more quickly with Hotspur.

  "Can do," he said and peeled off.

  "What's up, Cap?" Marny asked.

  "Two cruisers on the Adela Chen," I said. "No comm yet, but they're making Mom nervous enough to make a call."

  "Aye."

  Without the AI, I'd never have found my way back, but I palmed my way into the warehouse on a dead run.

  Open hatch and raise lift to halfway up. It was an obscure command and I hoped my AI could figure out what I meant.

  When we got to the back of the warehouse, the hatch was open, meaning the lift was rising. It would be a three meter drop, but I was in a hurry. Without hesitation, Tabby jumped off and landed gracefully, allowing her legs to absorb the impact, squatting deeply. Marny and I jumped at the same time. I bent my legs allowing myself to roll on impact. My suit absorbed enough of the shock that it was merely painful. I appreciated that Marny also opted for a roll, although her recovery was better than my own. We took the second drop to the loading terminal where our ships sat.

  "Tabby, Marny, suit up and I'll get us out of here," I said.

  They both acknowledged monosyllabically.

  Display Nuage controlled space on forward holo, Hotspur cockpit.

  I'd just cleared the airlock, well behind Tabby. She'd kicked open the door leading into the berth deck, even though she hadn't yet entered. I passed by the armory, through the back door and onto the lift.

  Display navigation path to Adela Chen.

  Filbert looked up from where he'd been lying on the couch. I slowed my movement, knowing he'd bolt if I approached too quickly. He lazily rolled over on his back, looking for a rub.

  "Not this time, killer," I said, scooping him up and petting his fur flat. I gently slid him into the grav-box. He gave me an annoyed chirp, but settled in, all the same.

  I slid into the cockpit seat and pulled on my combat harness.

  Prepare for emergency departure.

  The forward vid-screen reported 'All Systems Nominal.' It was not our routine takeoff sequence, rather something we'd worked up for this type of event. The ship would close down all external hatches, look for critical systems that were non-operational and inform all occupants that we were about to take off.

  I simultaneously lifted on the right stick and pushed forward on the left throttle. I couldn't afford to get too aggressive this close to the city, but I'd push it nonetheless.

  There were only four ships in the vicinity of the city and none in our path. I accelerated as quickly as I felt was reasonable.

  "Mom, how's it going?" I asked.

  "They're demanding an inspection. They say we're in their airspace and they are looking for contraband," she said.

  Tabby leapt over the back of the starboard cockpit chair and pulled on her combat harness.

  "Marny, how close are you for a combat burn?"

  "Go, Cap. I'm in," she said. I could hear her footsteps running.

  Combat burn. I pushed the throttle down and was thrust back into my chair.

  "Tabby, look at the holo. Can we get Adela Chen into Nuage Controlled space?" I asked.

  "Too low, she'd never escape the gravity."

  "Frak."

  At our current rate we'd arrive in two minutes. Good thing too, we were burning a frak-tonne of fuel.

  "Mom, stall 'em. We're almost there," I said.

  Her voice was tense. "Pete wants to burn for Descartes."

  "They'll fire on you. Give me two minutes," I said.

  "They must have picked up on your approach," she said. "They're forming up, getting between us."

  I pulled back on the throttle and dropped out of the combat burn. We were going fast enough that we'd catch up soon enough.

  Identify cruisers.

  The ship's registrations were Kordun and Stenka. Kordun had been the name of the cruiser Oberrhein sent to help the Karelia take over security of the mining expedition as it left Terminal Six. I couldn't imagine that was a coincidence.

  "Incoming hail, Kordun," the ship's AI informed.

  "Marny, how far out is Sterra's Gift?"

  "Two minutes behind us, Cap," she replied.

  Accept hail. "Loose Nuts, Liam Hoffen," I said.

  "I'll need you to stand down, Captain Hoffen. If you continue on your current course we'll consider your actions to be hostile."

  "Cruiser Kordun, you're illegally interfering with my ship in open space. I'm requesting that you stand off fifty kilometers," I returned.

  "Request denied. You're in Oberrhein space. Comply with my order or be fired on," he said.

  Terminate comm. Open Loose Nuts command channel.

  "Marny, you with me?" I asked.

  "Aye, Cap. You'll want to split them up, they'll try to trap us," she said.

  "Mom, go ahead and start your burn," I said. I was gambling they wouldn't destroy the load they were clearly trying to hijack.

  "Nick, warm up your missiles. We'll focus fire on the Kordun if it co
mes to that. Ada, make sure you're hit and run. Don't get too close to those turrets," I said.

  "Copy that," Ada said.

  I veered off to the side at twenty degrees looking to flank the Kordun but also give the appearance of heeding his requirement.

  "Ada, try to keep Hotspur between you and Kordun if possible," I said.

  The Kordun moved between us and the Adela Chen while the Stenka positioned itself five hundred meters directly in front of the barge.

  "You can make that, Silver," Ada said. "Cut your burn and pull up to dip the barge's nose down, let your inertia carry you past."

  "Copy that. I've got it," Mom said, her voice strained.

  I put a burst of speed on. I needed to at least keep their attention divided. Ada caught up and slid in to formation next to me. It was a good sign they hadn't fired on us up to this point.

  We all held our breath as we watched Mom maneuver the Adela Chen, dipping the front end of the barge beneath the Stenka. On her current course, the tug would collide with the cruiser once the barge had fully passed beneath.

  "You're almost there," Ada said. "Once the barge is seventy percent past, drop forty meters, but don't overshoot."

  "Gah. That's tight," Mom said.

  "You've got it, Silver."

  It was difficult to watch. Why did it always come down to a game of chicken? On schedule, she dropped the Adela Chen downward. The majority of the mass of the barge was already past the Stenka and as Ada had predicted, Mom neatly slipped beneath, narrowly avoiding collision.

  On the other side, Mom pulled the tug back into line with her original trajectory and fired its powerful main engines. Engine wash bucked against the Stenka, which in any other situation would have been considered a major breach of safety protocols.

  "Stay tight, Ada," I said.

  The Stenka moved to escape the turbulence and I saw an opportunity to outmaneuver the slower cruisers. For the moment, the Kordun stood between us and the Adela Chen, but with the Stenka moving into our lane I would use it just like I'd set a trap in pod-ball.

  Ada stayed tight as I rolled under the larger ship and accelerated toward the Adela Chen. The pilot of the Kordun responded as I'd hoped and shifted to cut us off. He realized, too late my move had been a feint. I reversed our roll and accelerated at full combat burn directly at the Stenka's bow. The Kordun's and Stenka's pilots attempted to adjust but lacked the necessary coordination. The trap had been sprung and we sailed around the floundering ship and watched with satisfaction as the Kordun executed an emergency braking maneuver to keep from colliding with its companion.