A Matter of Honor (Privateer Tales Book 9) (7 page)

"If you're all done hugging it out. I need to hear LeGrande's voice before I'm on board," Tabby said.

"Ever the skeptic, Masters. At least that's something I can understand," Anino said.

He dropped the crystal he'd been holding into a receiver on one of his many, cluttered work surfaces.

Hail Cape of Good Hope
.

After a few minutes a woman's voice replied. "Anino, is that you?"

It was the voice that haunted my nightmares.

"It is, Katherine. I think I've found our crew," he said, his voice softer than it had been.

"You shouldn't take this risk, Phillippe. You'll be starting a war you can't hope to win," she said.

"Wouldn't be the first time. What's your sit-rep?"

"It's pretty dire. Our O2 scrubbers are fouled and operating at forty percent. We've had to start burning the O2 crystals. We still have food and the water reclaimers are still operational."

"How much time, Katherine?" Anino asked.

"Two weeks, comfortably. After that, we'll start making tougher decisions," she said.

"Captain LeGrande, Liam Hoffen here," I said.

"Captain Hoffen. Good to hear your voice. You shouldn't let Phillippe drag you into this," she said.

"Try to stop us," I said.

"Katherine, just hold on. Help's on the way," Anino said.

"Roger that, Phillippe, LeGrande out," she said and cut the comm.

"That do it for you, Masters?" Anino asked, looking at Tabby.

She brushed a tear from her eye, tried to look casual, and failed miserably. When she didn't answer I stepped in.

"What aren't you telling us?" I asked. "Something doesn't smell right."

"Belirand will do just about anything to keep secret the fact that they can jump relatively inexpensively to just about any location within a hundred million light years," he said.

"That's crazy. Why would they need to keep that secret?" I asked.

"I can't tell you, because once I do, there'll be a price on your head," he said. "You need to understand, if you join me to go after LeGrande and crew, your lives will be changed forever."

"That sounds a little grandiose," Ada said.

"But it's not. You should know that if you accept this mission, the life you've known so far will change. Belirand is a powerful enemy," he said.

"And LeGrande and forty-four of her crew's lives hang in the balance… so no pressure?" I said.

"Life isn't fair, Hoffen. Bad people have power because no one stands up to them," he replied. "I'm asking you to sacrifice for forty-five people you've never met."

"My crew needs time to talk in private," I said.

"I haven't even made you an offer… and we'll need
Hotspur
," he said.

I nodded and looked around the room. "If we do this, it won't be for money."

"Don't be stupid. Name your price, I'm loaded."

"Two thousand credits a day per person, replacement insurance on
Hotspur
, twenty-thousand a week for the ship, and consumables," Nick said. "If we accept, there'll be organizational requirements as well."

"Done," Anino said. "I'll give you time to talk it over, but Jonathan is going to have a heart attack if I don't get that katana back from Bertrand."

"The sword?" Marny asked.

"Yup. It's a priceless Japanese relic and you took it for a swim in salt water," he said.

"Oh crap. My bad," she said, pulling the narrow bladed sword from where she'd slung it over her back.

"Not at all. You needed a weapon and your instinct caused you to grab perhaps the finest weapon ever crafted by humans." He accepted the sword with an odd little bow. "We're so impressed with our technology that we ignore the craftsmanship and skill of those who came before us.

Anino continued. "As for a place to talk, use my meditation garden over there." He pointed to a small seating group against the armored glass.

"Great. Thanks." I grabbed Tabby's hand, leading her to an overstuffed chair looking out at the sea bed. In the darkness, bioluminescent life forms stood out in stark contrast to the murky background. A sense of peace pervaded the area and it was easy to see why Anino enjoyed the spot. The five of us sat quietly for a few minutes, watching the beauty of life at a hundred meters and considering the quandary he'd presented.

I finally broke the silence. "If anyone wants to back out, I won't feel bad. We still need to get our load back to the co-op and Nuage."

"Don't look at me, Liam. I'm in," Ada said. "I can't believe Belirand would just leave them to rot."

"I didn't want to speak for you, Ada. Belirand is a powerful enemy to make," I said.

"I don't trust Anino," Tabby said.

"Something
is
off about him," Marny said. "I can't put my finger on it. He doesn't act like any teenager I ever met."

"Money has a way of messing with people. Can you imagine having the entire Anino fortune at your fingertips?" Nick asked.

"I suppose that could be it," she said.

"How about it, Marny? You in?" I knew the answer, but she needed to say it out loud for both of us.

"I'd never be able to live with myself if I passed on this one," she said.

"Tabbs?"

"I can't say I'm not going to rip that little pecker's heart out, but I'm in," she said. "As if I'd let you go on your own."

"Nick?"

"You think you could bump up our visit with that retiring hauler captain? Maybe we could get him to make a final run and take
Sterra's Gift
back with him. Is he still bonded?" Nick asked.

"That's one Captain Charles Norris," I said and sent the comm my AI had constructed based on our conversation.

I looked across the room to where Anino sat. He was engrossed in whatever he was working on. I normally felt like I could read people, but Marny was right, the teenager was odd. I walked over to where Anino sat, with Nick close on my heel.

"Anino, we're in, but we need to establish ground rules and we have business to take care of first," I said.

He looked up from his project and set down tools I'd never seen before.

"This should be good. What are your ground rules?" he asked.

"My crew takes orders from no one but me and I don't take orders from anyone during combat. Bottom line is, if you're coming along, we're in charge," I said.

"Is that it?"

"You need to tell us right now why Belirand is keeping it secret that they can jump inexpensively," Nick said.

"Once I tell you this, there's no going back," Anino said. "Are you sure?"

Nick looked at me and I nodded my head. I wasn't sure what we were getting into, but it was hard to imagine Anino could say anything that would make saving forty-five people's lives not worth the trouble.

"Tell us," Nick said.

"Aliens," Anino said. "The universe is packed with 'em."

"That's impossible. You can't keep that kind of secret," I said.

"There are less than a hundred people in our four solar systems who know and, besides me, they're all under constant surveillance," Anino said.

"That doesn't explain why Belirand keeps fold-space technology a secret," I said.

"Are you saying we discovered aliens who would threaten humanity?" Nick asked.

"No. But that's the fear," Anino said. "Don't get me wrong - we've run across some real doozies. But, imagine what would happen if a few million people started jumping to all ends of the universe."

"Belirand is saying eventually we
would
find a species that would destroy humanity?" Nick asked. "That's stupid. You can't assume that."

"But that's the bureaucratic mindset," Anino said. "All you have to do is believe in the possibility and fear will do the rest."

"It's not unlike ancient North American history," Nick said. "The indigenous people initially welcomed the more technologically advanced Europeans and were all but wiped out."

"An interesting angle on that, James. Take that fear and add the fact that Belirand has a monopoly on the TransLoc gates and can charge whatever they want. You end up here."

"What's next?" I asked.

"You're in?"

"You just told us we could rescue
Cape of Good Hope
and discover aliens. How could we walk away from that?" I asked.

"Be at this warehouse, 1000 tomorrow. And you're just in time, Jonathan, as usual." Anino turned away, picked up his current project and worked on fusing blocks of components together with bright lights.

"I assume you've come to an arrangement." Jonathan said. "I've taken the liberty of preparing the shuttle. If you'll follow me."

We followed him out to the shuttle.

"I've called the chandler and set in supplies for four weeks," Marny said to Nick. "Did Anino say how long we'd be gone?"

"If you'll pardon my eavesdropping, young miss," Jonathan said. "Our current plan calls for no more than three weeks."

"I'll adjust to six, in that case," Marny said, giving me a wry grin.

I looked to Jonathan. "Are you coming?"

"I am. As brilliant as Master Anino is, he requires a certain amount of support staff," he said. "Where would you like me to take you?"

"How much time do you have?" I asked.

"I am at your disposal."

"Don't you need to get back to Anino, to help him get ready?" Ada asked.

"My colleagues are seeing to preparations as we speak."

"Shipyard on Irène, if you don't mind," I said.

"There are three such yards. I assume you are referring to the Menard shipyard where you are to meet Captain Charles Norris?"

"That's a pretty good guess. Were you also eavesdropping on our conversation in the dome?" I asked.

"No, Captain. I was able to locate Captain Norris's ship for sale by searching for available cargo ships and I simply correlated it to your stated need."

"My apologies."

"None necessary."

***

The Menard shipyard on Curie's moon, Irène, turned out to be nothing more than a ten square kilometer bare patch on the otherwise verdant surface. Jonathan set the shuttle down next to a dilapidated building that was the only break in a four meter high fence. I wasn't sure of the purpose of the fence as at .15g clearing it would take no effort.

"I'm not sure how long this'll take," I said and closed the helmet of my vac-suit. Irène's atmosphere was good to breath, but the temperature was a negative five degrees.

"Hey, wait for me," Ada called and closed her suit.

Her action spurred the rest of the crew to follow suit and we exited the shuttle, walking down the retractable ramp.

I wasn't completely sure where to go, as all I knew was that Norris was waiting for us somewhere on the property. The most obvious location was the building we'd parked next to and I walked up and rapped on the door.

"Coming," I heard a voice say from behind the door, just before it slid open. "Charles Norris," he said extending his hand. "You brought quite a crew with you. Hoffen, is it?"

"It is," I said and shook his extended hand, introducing him to the rest of the crew.

"You're interested in my old bird, are you?" he asked, a twinkle in his eye. "What are you looking to haul?"

"Mostly ore," I said.

"Don't look like miners to me."

"It's a long story."

"Always is. No matter. She's served me well. Figure she's got plenty of life left in her," he said. "No need to stand around talking, though. Let's take a look."

"Captain, any chance you still have your bond in place?" Nick asked.

"That's a peculiar question for someone looking to buy a ship - not that I haven't been asked stranger things than that," he said. "Reminds me of a time…"

As we walked, he regaled us with a story of how he'd been asked to deliver a load of glass marbles. Apparently, one of the containers had broken mid-trip, spilling marbles out into local space at a station he'd stopped at along the way.

"I'll tell you… they wouldn't let me stop in there again for almost a decade. And here we are," he said. "She's not much to look at, but she's got it where it counts, kid. These Kestrel-1000s were built for the long haul."

The ship in front of us was old, but in better shape than I'd expected. Nick and I spent the next twenty minutes crawling around and inspecting its single deck configuration. Two torn up seats in the cockpit, a bed, barely large enough for two people, in a separate room, and a head in the hallway that separated the two spaces. It was small but functional.

I found Captain Norris where he'd cornered Marny, wrapping up yet another story.

"About that bond," I asked, hoping to keep him focused.