A Matter of Honor (Privateer Tales Book 9) (21 page)

"If in thirty tendays we haven't been attacked, then I will have been wrong. We can reduce our forces and I'll step down. Understand, however, when the Ophie march in here with ten times the forces we've seen previously and we haven't done everything we could to defend against them, we won't be talking about retirement."

"What will we be doing?" Bedros asked.

"In our last major attack on the city, only fifteen Ophie actually made it past the city gates. Those Ophie killed seventy citizens. Use your imagination, Bedros. What do you think a hundred or even five hundred Ophie running through the streets of Yishuv would do?"

"Is there nothing else we can do to prepare for this attack?" Peraf asked.

"You don't actually believe this madman, do you?" Bedros interrupted.

"Captain Gian and his predecessors have defended this settlement for three centuries. I see no reason to disbelieve him and I want to take advantage of his insight," Peraf said and then turned to Gian. "Captain?"

"We build a keep, just like our medieval ancestors did. It would provide shelter in case we are totally overrun. We could use the lumber we harvest from cutting back the forest. If we mount the city defense blaster over that bunker, we could hold off quite a sizeable force. It would be a desperate maneuver, but it could be the difference between survival and not," he said.

"I move that we grant Captain Gian his requests. We will revisit preparations every tenday," Peraf said. "All in favor?"

The other members of the council, who had been quiet to this point, raised their hands, Bedros the only detractor.

On the way out, Bedros walked up to Gian, catching him from behind by his arm.

"I suppose you feel that you won today," Bedros said angrily.

Gian turned around. "Do you really believe this is about politics?"

"You can play that game with Peraf, but don't try it with me."

"Then don't simply believe me. Come see it with your own eyes," Gian said. "We're close to gaining intelligence on the Ophie tribe. You can sit at the table and see what we see, no filter."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. We've been deploying new technology this afternoon. Come and see. Maybe you'll find something to hang me with," Gian said with a smile.

"Shite. You're good at this – I almost believe this stupidity. I've vastly underestimated you," Bedros said. "But if you're offering, I will come."

"Follow me," Gian said.

"Where are we going?" Bedros had to hustle to keep up with Gian.

"The old tannery."

When they arrived, Merrie looked up from the bench where she was typing frantically on the computer.

"Councilman Bedros. I... I wasn't expecting you," she stammered.

"I don't suppose so. Captain Gian promised there was something happening I should see," he said.

"Oh? No pressure then," she said, smiling.

"Merrie, why don't you introduce Councilman Bedros to your surveillance network," Gian said.

"Sure. If you would look up at the wall," Merrie said as she typed.

The large, flat screens she'd mounted on the wall blinked to life. The screens simultaneously showed images to the southwest over the fields, east over the front wall and north up the mountain.

"What is that?" Bedros asked.

"It's a live video feed. The same feed is being monitored in the barracks around the clock. I've added a motion sensing algorithm that alerts that protector. Well, technically, the AI on the engineering console wrote the algorithm, but you get the idea." She began typing again. A middle screen popped to life, showing a person looking at a similar set of video screens. "That's Terevit, he's on duty right now."

"That's interesting, but why is it a big deal?" Bedros asked.

"If Terevit were to see something, he'd communicate with the squad on duty and we could have a team on the farm within five minutes of an Ophie sighting," Gian said. "Previous to this technology, our response time depended on someone ringing a bell. Not only that, Terevit has the capability to talk to the squad leader with something Merrie calls a talkie. He can actually direct those who are out in the field from his safe position back in the barracks."

"How?"

"Say hello to Terevit," Gian said, holding a talkie in front of the man.

"Uh, hello?"

The image of Terevit turned to the camera and waved.

"He heard me?"

"Yes. All of our squads have these when they're in the field. They can communicate with home base at any time," Gian said.

Bedros couldn't help himself. He was astonished. "I thought all of the founder's communication equipment failed and we didn't have the materials to repair them."

"That's correct, but Merrie found much older technology that the maker machine is capable of manufacturing."

"Impressive. So how will you locate the Ophie?"

"We've been carefully laying down a communication network up the mountain. It's been painstakingly slow, but we believe we're almost there," Gian said. "Merrie, are we still on schedule?"

"We're ready," she said and typed furiously on the keyboard.

The screens flickered and changed to a new view, looking north, up the mountain.

"What is it we're looking at?" Bedros asked.

"Prepare to be impressed," Gian said as the quad lifted from the wall.

"How are you doing that?"

"It's another of Merrie's discoveries. See that broken machine on the table? Merrie is flying one of them up the mountain. We've been working for the last tenday to map out a route and extend its range," Gian explained.

"It was really Eliora," Merrie explained as she manipulated the joysticks. "She's been installing equipment that sends the video signal back to us, all the way up the hill."

"Not all the way," Gian said. "Today, we're going to try to finish the last few kilometers. It's too dangerous for our people to get that close."

"How fast are you flying?" Bedros asked.

"Thirteen or fourteen meters per second," Merrie said. "Slower if we get a headwind. We're lucky, the original design of these quads used really old power systems. They could only fly for fifteen or twenty minutes. My girl will stay up for several days if I want."

"The downside to this technology is that the Ophie's hearing is such that they know when we're coming," Gian said.

"Do you think they know it's us?" Bedros asked.

"I believe so. They're very quick to knock one down if they see it."

They watched quietly as the quad flew across the tops of the trees, occasionally buffeted by winds. Merrie's flying skills had improved to the point that she easily adjusted.

"Now we have to get to work," Merrie said. "We're about to leave communications range."

"How will you fix that?"

"The first thing we do is make sure we don't have any Ophie standing right next to where we want to plant a repeater. Learned that the hard way. Then it's not too hard. We launch it from the quad and it will stick in most trees. We need one every half a kilometer or so."

As she'd been talking, Merrie made a sweep of the area, bobbed down, lined up on a sturdy limb and fired a small dart. She inspected her handiwork, pulled back and quickly gained elevation. She kept moving and repeated the process several more times before she started attracting attention.

"This one's going to be dicey. We could be done for the day if I screw this up," Merrie said.

A group of adolescent Ophie had started chasing the quad and were ineffectively throwing rocks at it.

"They don't look like much of a threat right now, but believe me once I get lower, their accuracy improves. I'm going to have to bust out some of my ninja moves," she said.

"Ninja?"

"Sorry, been watching old vids from the same century when these quads were invented," Merrie said.

The quad accelerated and swept around a tree, erratically dodging from side to side as she did. At the last moment, she leveled out, fired a dart and used the momentum gained from the dart to accelerate backwards and up.

"We'll need to inspect that one later," she said. "They're getting too close. Ready to get a good look, Captain?"

"You think we're close enough?"

"I'm going to drop a few repeaters on the ground and sprint in. We're recording, so if I go too fast, we can replay. Don't worry," she said.

Merrie flew forward and dipped down when the signal started to dip. She launched a dart at the ground and then flew forward, finally clearing the ridge they'd been working toward.

"My God. Is that what I think it is?" Bedros asked as the quad gained elevation.

"It's worse than I feared. We're out of time," Gian said.

Lèger Airspace, Grünholz, Tipperary Solar
System

Hail Meerkat Shipyard
.

"Meerkat. Who might I have the pleasure of speaking with?" A holo rendering of Bing, Meerkat's foreman, popped up on the display.

"Bing. Any chance you could clear a deck for us? I need you to take a look at something and give us your professional opinion," I said.

"Captain Hoffen, my favorite scallywag. I wasn't expecting to see you until next week."

"No. That's
Kestrel
. Captain Norris is sailing her out from Curie. We scraped up
Hotspur
a little and were hoping you could squeeze us in," I said.

"You been mixing it up with those Oberrhein boys again?"

"Nah, something outside of Curie," I said. It was as close to the truth as I could tell him.

"Bring her in. We'll clear the deck and take a look. I can't promise anything on the schedule, however. It might be a week or so," he said.

"We'll see you in ten," I said and closed the comm.

"That doesn't sound hopeful," Ada said.

"I guess we'll just have to see how deep Jonathan's pockets are," I said. "Any change in
Stark Justice's
attitude?"

"He's falling back some. I dropped into the atmosphere of Grünholz," she said. "He'd have to really want us."

"You suppose he can even dock at Gros with that thing?"

"It would take constant monitoring, but Luc said they have a high altitude wharf for bigger ships. I'll bet they're headed there," she said. "What do you think he wants to talk about?"

"My guess is he wants to threaten us."

"With what? If he wanted to put us down, he could have already," she said.

"Not in front of Nuage Air Defense. They want to keep us quiet until they can catch us in the open. I have a hard time believing he wants to see
Cape's
crew die, though," I said.

"I hope you're right. We don't stand a chance against those heavies," Ada said.

"Meh, we can still outrun 'em."

"Can't outrun missiles, Liam," Marny said. I hadn't heard her come up to the bridge.

"True enough."

Tabby walked up behind me, placed her chin on my shoulder and looked out the armor glass. "Never get tired of that view," she said.

I looked forward and took in the three towers of Nuage Gros. It was the capital and largest of Nuage nation's eighteen cloud cities, all of which floated above the planet Grünholz.

"You think Belirand can make trouble for us with Nuage?" Tabby asked.

"They can try, but they'd have to risk us spilling the beans to Nuage. I'd expect something a lot more clandestine," I said.

"Cap's right," Marny said. "Belirand hasn't made any friends out here. I doubt anyone will stand up against 'em, but they won't be bending rules for them either."

Nick, Jonathan, we'll be landing in less than five
.

I enjoyed watching Ada bring a ship into close quarters. Tabby and I were both excellent pilots, but neither of us could compete with Ada's fine control in-close, which she attributed to spending most of her youth maneuvering giant barges with her mom.

Meerkat was located in the main center tower, on the first habitable level. As we approached, I saw that Bing had opened their main doors. There was only three meters of clearance in either direction, but Ada flew in and set her down softly on the crowded deck. Bing had made room for us by scooting other jobs out of the way.

"Nice control, Ada, I'd have let the AI bring me in if I had the chair," I said.

"Best you remember that," she said and got up.

"Tabbs, you mind grabbing our bags? I'll see if I can get Bing to find us a slot," I said.

"What? Now I'm your butler?"

I looked over to her, surprised. "No. Sorry," I said quickly.

"See? Now, that's nice control." Tabby looked at Ada and they giggled as they walked toward the back of the bridge.

I felt an arm around my shoulder. I'd momentarily forgotten that Marny had been seated at the couch.

"Cap. You've much to learn about women," she said.

"Tell me about it."

I grabbed Tabby's and my bags from our quarters and met the crew on Meerkat's deck.

Tabby looked at her bag in my hand and smiled. She then handed me my favorite heavy flechette with a waist mountable holster. "Get strapped. Who knows what kind of shenanigans we might run into."

"Aye, Tabitha, mischief is afoot and I don't want anyone out in the open without an escort," Marny said, clearly excited to be resuming her role as head of security.

"Aww, Marn, I've got plans," Ada said.

"Would that be Nuage's very own eligible bachelor, Captain Luc Gray, you'd be referring to?" Marny asked.

"Perhaps."

"If you give me two minutes to read him in on our security situation, he'll be a fine escort," Marny said.

"Okay, he'll like that anyway. I think he's got a thing for you," Ada said smiling.

"Not what I'd call just a few scratches!" Bing said as he walked up holding a reading pad. "And who in Hera's name did you have pasting those patches on? My kid makes less of a mess with her modeling clay."

"Can you fix her?" I asked.

"Anything's possible with enough money, Captain Hoffen."

Marny, Tabby and Ada split off from the group and walked toward the lift that would take them up into the rest of the city.

"Hold on a second, Bing. Tabby, where are you guys headed?" I asked.

"It's 1500 and we skipped lunch. We're headed to de Laroche. Don't worry, I'll order you a burger and a Guinness," she said.

I turned back to Bing who was flicking through a reading pad.

"What's the bottom line?" I asked.

"You're not going to like it. I've looked at the scans we took as you flew in. Eight days, six-hundred forty thousand. We could start on it in six days if we push off your other ship,
Kestrel
," he said.

"That bad?"

"No getting around it."

"Do you have access to missiles?" Jonathan asked.

"No armaments here… and I don't believe we've been introduced," Bing said.

Jonathan held out his hand and shook. "Jonathan of Anino Enterprises. We'd like to be ready to sail in five days. Would you be willing to negotiate a premium for appropriate consideration on your schedule?"

"I'm afraid that might be above my pay grade," Bing said.

"How many jobs do you have in front of
Hotspur
?" Jonathan asked.

"There are four," Bing said, rubbing his neck. A flush rose in his cheeks.

"Perhaps if you were to provide an incentive to these customers?" Jonathan pushed.

Bing looked back to me. "Look, I appreciate your business, Captain Hoffen, but these smaller jobs keep me in business. I can't be jacking them around," Bing said.

"We'll pay fifty thousand to step to the front of the line," Jonathan said.

"I don't know…. "

"And an additional hundred thousand if the work is complete in ninety-six hours," he said.

"We'll run double shifts."

"One more thing. This is off book until we take possession."

"That might be tough," Bing said.

"If it were easy, we wouldn't need to pay a premium," Jonathan said as he mimed pinching a contract and flicking it at Bing. The last part was for show, as I doubted Jonathan needed to use a HUD to accomplish anything.

Bing's eyes didn't actually bulge out of their sockets, but he was suitably impressed. "Right you are. See you in ninety-six hours then," he said, signing the contract.

"Thanks, Bing," I said.

"Always a treat when you're in town," he said. I wasn't sure if he was sincere or not.

With bags in tow, Jonathan, Nick and I made our way over to the lift and climbed on.

Level Twenty-three
, I requested and watched the levels blink by through the transparent doors.

"If you don't mind, Captain, we've tasks to attend to while your team refuels," Jonathan said.

"Now that you mention it, I need to spend some time working on supplies for
Cape
and see about the rest of our business. We've been out of contact forever," Nick said. "Would I be in your way if I accompanied you, Jonathan?"

"Not at all, Master James," he said.

"Nick, you want me to have Marny bring you anything to eat?" I asked.

"Something fried and a chocolate shake. Tell her I'll eat healthy for dinner," he said.

I smiled. "I'll pass it along."

They dropped me off at the entrance to de Laroche and took my bags with them back toward the lift. I made my way through the ancient aircraft-themed bar and found Ada, Marny and Tabby lounging at a large round table.

"Where'd you lose the boys?" Ada asked.

"They wanted to spend some time alone," I said, chuckling.

"Let me guess. My little man didn't get enough screen time because we were stealthed on the way in?" Marny asked.

"That's probably right," I said. "But I can't imagine why anyone would want to dust off having lunch with you three beauties."

"Is that what you were dreaming about last night?" Tabby asked suggestively. "Remember you sleep naked so your dreams aren't always that subtle."

"No…" My cheeks started to burn as Marny shook her head back and forth.

"I think he's feeling guilty, Tabbs," Ada giggled. "Cut a little close to the truth there, Liam?"

"You're all so naughty," I said. "You'd kill me if I ever said anything like that."

"Not kill - you'd just be another good looking female crewmember, that's all," Tabby said.

Fortunately, a waiter showed up in time to cut the conversation short. They hadn't ordered yet, so I asked for a soy-based burger with extra sharp blue cheese and a basket of hot pepper and nacho covered potato wedges.

"Just a glass of white for me," Ada said. "Luc's on his way down."

"That was fast," Tabby said. "I think he's got it bad for you."

"We're just friends."

"You sure Luc knows that?"

"Knows what?" Captain Luc Gray of the Nuage Air Defense, still in uniform, approached the table.

Ada jumped up and wrapped her arms around him. "Luc!" she squealed.

"I heard you were back in town. You have anything to do with that Belirand cruiser docked in high orbit?" he asked.

"Wish I could say no," I said.

I shook his hand and pulled him in for an embrace. He'd been there more than once when I'd needed him and I considered him a good friend.

"Not good enough to have Oberrhein after you? So now you've pissed off Belirand too?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I said.

"Try me."

"Wish I could, my friend. Suffice it to say, we've run into some problems with the way they do business and we're working through our differences."

"I know you've dropped a few cruisers in your time, but that Belirand ship is in a different league," he said.

"That's an understatement.
Hotspur
has nothing that'll get through her armor," I said.

"Do I want to know how you know that?" he asked.

"Join us for a drink?" Tabby cut in.

"Can't hurt," he said and sat in the chair I'd pulled over for him. Ada wrapped her arm around his neck and sat sideways in his lap, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Luc. Are you carrying a service weapon?" Marny asked.

"I am. Why?"

"The threat from Belirand is real and we're taking precautions. I'd appreciate it if you didn't spend too much time in public venues with Ada. I'm also requesting you carry a weapon," she said.

He looked from Marny back to Ada who nodded her head affirmatively. "Let's say things are strained," Ada said.

"You think they'd attack an officer of the Nuage Air Defense in our home base?"

"Probably not. We're just taking precautions," Marny said.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"We are," I said. "Fact is, we're still trying to figure it out. Just be careful, please?" Marny asked.

"Sounds, horrible. We'll have to stay inside, watch vids and order takeout." he said, grinning.

"If by stay inside and watch vids, you mean go shopping, then yes," Ada said.

"Ada," Marny said, caution in her voice.

"Just a little shopping. Hardly any at all," Ada said.

By the time we'd finished eating, Luc and Ada had taken off and we still had an hour before MacAsgaill would arrive.

"I'll run Nick's food up," Marny said. "You want to come along or wait here?"