Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades (21 page)

“You’re allowed to
celebrate,” Oz said.

“Get out of my head,”
Jake replied.

“No one expects you
to act like a statesman,” Oz said with a chuckle. “You’re the
renegade captain, wanted in nine sectors.”

“Ten,” Jake said.

“Okay, ten sectors.
People expect you to be rough around the edges, and they listen for
your frank opinions. With everyone else playing the alliance game,
you’re one of the last people who can just say what’s on their
mind and not worry about the fallout, especially now that you have
backing from the British Alliance. Congratulations on the
privateering contract.”

“Thanks, but I can’t
help but wonder,” Jake said. “What are the strings from that
contract tied to? The terms are too open, I have too much power for
too little in return. There are strings I’m not seeing here, or
we’re being used for a longer game than I can predict.”

“You’re the hammer
that will swing itself,” Oz replied. “If it does too much damage,
they can drop it and say whatever you’ve done wasn’t their
fault.”

“Maybe it’s that
simple. Ever since I got the details about the Victory Machine and
the motivation behind the Holocaust Virus, I think I’ve been seeing
conspiracies around every corner.”

“I know the feeling,”
Oz said. “I keep expecting the third watch bridge crew to wake me
up in the middle of the night reporting that they’ve found a cadre
of Citadel spies, or detected an Edxian battle group is entering the
system.”

“At least we know
that if we don’t win this war with the Order, there will be another
war in thirty years,” Jake replied. “Maybe a lot sooner.”

“You find that
reassuring?” Oz asked.

“I’d rather know
than not. I just wonder what the British Alliance will do with the
information now that they have our package.”

“Who knows? I’m
just surprised you got thirty-five million for it. The Triton’s
share is a huge help.”

“You’re welcome.
Haven Shore will be pissed when they find out we cut them out and
sent their three million directly to Ayan.”

“I haven’t told her
the deal went through yet. I thought you could give her the news, and
the cash.”

“That’s all right,
send her the news, and store her part wherever she wants it,” Jake
said.

“Something going on
between you two?” Oz asked.

“Nothing. I’ve been
away and we haven’t crossed paths in two months. I moved on.”

“I was going to say,
sorry things didn’t work out with Xanna.”

“It wasn’t serious,
I don’t think either of us expected much.”

“I bet Ayan will be
relieved.”

Jake fixed him with a
warning glance.

“Moving on,” Oz
said, clearing his throat.

The pair walked down
the small private hallway leading to the security office and Oz’s
ready room. “I want to ask for crewmembers for the Warlord, but I
know you need everyone for the Triton’s refit, so how about a
compromise. Just set us up with a few people who can program skitters
so we can get some working on the Warlord. I’ll give you a good
deal on a few materializers,” Jake said.

“You know everyone
here is earmarked for something, training took months. I was going to
ask if there was anyone you can spare. I’m short on senior staff.”

“You shouldn’t have
let people transfer to Haven Shore, you knew you wouldn’t get
people transferring back.”

“What was I going to
do? It’s not like they had much choice but to be on Triton when
most of these people came aboard. We rescued slaves and took on
refugees, not exactly the best recruitment strategy.”

“True, you should
start recruiting on Tamber, or even better, Kambis.”

“The Carthan
Government is telling us not to, they’re afraid we’ll start
picking up some of their former prisoners.”

“Never trust a
government that brainwashes their criminals to become soldiers,”
Jake said. “It’s not a new rule on my ship.”

“Good rule,” Oz
said.

“From experience,”
Jake added. “Listen, Oz, the British Alliance people I got on loan
are gone, all of them. My ship’s interior still isn’t finished,
and I have new problems that are going to take even more manpower to
fix. I need some of your people, even for just a week – anything
will help.”

“How about you send
me a couple hundred skitters and I’ll start looking for five or six
permanent volunteers for the Warlord?” Oz asked.

“How does that
measure up? Six volunteers don’t make up for the work a couple
hundred skitters can do once we program them. How about you set up a
few volunteers and we trade you five materializers each. These things
are too dainty to work on most of what the Warlord needs, but they’re
perfect for a lot of the Triton’s interior finishing.”

“If privateering
doesn’t work out, you should go into retail,” Oz replied. “Yeah,
fine, sure. I’ll find a few people who are looking for the kind of
adventure they’ll find on the Warlord.”

“Make sure they can
program skitters,” Jake said.

“You know, there’s
another deal I’ll make. You give me Agameg or Finn and I’ll find
you twenty able crewmen in exchange.”

“Stop trying to poach
my best people,” Jake replied, laughing.

“Twenty crewmen for
either one,” Oz pressed.

“How about a
hundred?”

“Fine, I’ll drop
it.” Oz and Jake walked into the ready room, soft lighting
activated, bathing the simple interior in warm colours. Through the
main transparent section of hull, Jake could see the British
Alliance’s Third Battlegroup. Three massive carriers lazily drifted
amongst an uncountable number of destroyers that were vaguely shaped
like rifles. Between them were dozens of interception corvettes a
little bigger than the Warlord and fighters on patrol. “So, you’re
really not going to offer anything from this haul to Haven Shore.”

“Not even the empty
cargo containers when we’re done. They’re getting a complete list
though,” Jake replied.

“Oh, that’s cruel,”
Oz replied with a chuckle.

“They have it coming.
We brought most of those people here, took care of them, and they’re
not willing to choose us over the Carthans? Yeah, Ayan and her island
city are getting the same treatment my crew are getting.”

“This haul is that
good?” Oz asked.

“You’re about to
find out.”

“And you’re giving
me first pick even though you know I’m running a cash-strapped
ship?”

“You mean
cash-absent, once you use what Minh and I brought in on supplies,
don’t you?”

“Cheap shot,” Oz
replied.

“Yeah, I’m offering
you an opportunity you can’t refuse. How would you like to have a
Xetima farm?”

“What? How? I mean,
you’d just leave that here with me? There’s no way I could afford
it, even on a twenty year payment plan.”

“I’ll leave it
here. You take care of it, get it expanding, sell what you don’t
use to enhance your thrusters, and I’ll take thirty five percent,”
Jake said.

“We’ve got maybe
two small ships that use Xetima, most would be for sale,” Oz
replied.

“Exactly. You could
increase the Triton’s thrust by eighty percent and have enough
excess to become the main supplier in this system. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“You should have
haggled, I would have gone down to twenty.”

“I don’t care,”
Oz said. “Why not sell it to the British?”

“They’d give us a
good offer on it, sure,” Jake said. “But then they’d move it
out of the system and resell it to some coreward ally. They don’t
have a need for the stuff. Besides, I want to tie the Warlord in with
the Triton’s battle group. If not officially, then economically.”

“You know that Triton
will be joining in on the offensive the moment he’s in shape and
crewed up properly, you don’t have to tie us in, we’re with you
already.”

“I know, but there
are no ties like economic ties. If we’re connected on the record,
then your future officers can’t leave me out of decisions in the
future. I know some of your officers in training don’t like me or
the Warlord. They believe we’re early instigators.”

“Who are you talking
to on my ship?” Oz asked.

“The more people I
loan you, the more I hear,” Jake said with a knowing smile.

“Ashley,” Oz said.
“The one everyone wants to talk to off duty.”

“And more,” Jake
replied. “There are people on your ship who have approached me
asking about transferring to the Warlord. Your crew is starting to
split, one side wants to fight as soon as possible, the other
believes the Warlord is out there picking a fight too early.”

“Any chance I could
get a list of crewmembers who’ve gone behind my back with transfer
requests?”

“Sure, if I can get
my pick of them for my crew.”

Oz laughed and nodded.
“We’re two captains here, not two old friends in this
conversation, right?”

“I’m sitting on the
biggest privateering take in the solar system, trying to firm up ties
with one of the most influential commanders in the region. Friendship
is easy, negotiations are hard.”

“Okay, what’s at
the top of your list, Jake? You’ve given me a fuel production
operation, told me you have evidence of a rift in my crew, and will
trade me important manufacturing systems on the cheap. What’s the
big ticket item you’re pushing for, Captain?”

“All right, Admiral,”
Jake replied with a smirk. “I have a vision for the Triton in this
war. You lead her into enemy territory, hidden. The Warlord and other
ships in her class fly missions off your launch decks, and the Triton
becomes a platform for important operations.” Jake could tell from
Oz’s reaction that he had thought of something similar, and he knew
that getting the Triton’s cloaking systems was a big priority when
the Warlord departed seven weeks before. That technology was key in
Jake’s plan.

“And Haven Shore?”
Oz asked.

“They don’t seem
interested in joining the team, so leave them out after appealing to
qualified people to join your crew. Haven Shore is a great place for
shore leave, even if they charge every member of my crew like
tourists. The Triton is too important to be tied to a single solar
system during war time, it’s made to perform as a mobile base of
operations.”

“It’s made for long
term missions of exploration and defence,” Oz corrected. “But I
see your point. The reformation of Haven Shore’s government may
change a lot for Triton, maybe the Warlord too. I can see your
vision, but it’s too early to tell if that’ll be the way things
turn out – Triton isn’t ready for long range missions yet.”

“So, we’ll see,”
Jake said.

“We’ll see,” Oz
agreed. “I do still want Triton in this fight, Jake.”

“I know, but thanks
for reminding me. Just keep thinking about what kind of difference
one carrier could make at this end of the sector once it gets moving.
I’m giving you an intelligence update on the Order and Regent
Galactic out here. You’ll see what I see – a soft underbelly. I
want to run the Warlord off the deck of the Triton in a month at the
latest. If the Warlord can build a legend for itself and the Triton
because people see we’re working together, you’ll never have to
worry about finding good crewmembers. You’ll be turning them away.
We should fight this war together.”

“I’m doing
everything I can to get Triton in shape,” Oz replied. “If I can
find a way to set up a Xetima farm and crew it, then we might be able
to buy half of the fixtures we need outright; we won’t have to
fabricate everything ourselves.” Oz handed Jake a glass of dark
amber restorative juice. It was a vitamin and mineral cocktail that
tasted like old-fashioned iced tea, a product unique to the British
worlds.

“Here’s to that,”
Jake said, raising his glass.

“Are you sure I can’t
wrestle Agameg from you for a few weeks?” Oz asked.

An emergency
communication came through and Jake answered while shaking his head
and rolling his eyes. “We have a problem, Steph?”

“There’s a ship
coming in from the Irish Territories, it’s in bad shape.”

Oz checked his command
and control unit and nodded. “Triton Control just granted them
permission to land in Hangar Two.”

“On my way,” Jake
said. He chugged the contents of his glass and started for the door.

“I’m going with
you,” Oz said. “The Irish Territories are right in the engagement
zone.”

Family Reunion

Jacob Valent, Terry
Ozark McPatrick, Minh-Chu Buu, and Ashley Lamport met in the waiting
area overlooking Hangar Two of the Triton. They watched the Hell
Shrike as it was elevated into the large hanger. The ship was longer
than it was wide, bristling with paired railgun turret emplacements.
The multi-coloured hull was battered through in some places, melted
through in others, and dented everywhere between. Five big pulse
propulsion engines stuck out the back, and thruster pots dotted the
surface of the ship.

“Where are Frost and
Steph?” Jake asked.

“Frost was inside one
of the cargo containers so he couldn’t get our messages, she’s
getting him down here,” Ashley replied. “She figured it would be
better if she got him herself instead of relaying things through a
crewman.”

“Ever see an Irish
Union city?” Minh-Chu asked as the industrial sized lift reached
the bottom and the door started sliding open.

“Never,” Jake said.
“I’ve heard a lot about them from Frost and Stephanie, though.”

“Stephanie’s from
somewhere near there?”

“A couple stars to
the left. The Irish Union and a lot of early colonials settled in the
same sector during the first exodus,” Ashley replied. “I’ve
seen a few old cities. Some are beautiful, the sorts of places you
want to make your home port. Most are pretty rough though, lots of
people struggling. A lot like Stephanie’s home town.”