A Matter of Honor (Privateer Tales Book 9) (19 page)

"Isn't that always the case," Rastof guffawed. "Why is it these birds always get hit in the shitter?"

I smiled. If only he knew.

The three hours it took to complete the manufacturing would give me time to place a more permanent patch on the hull and clean the existing mess in the bilge.

When I opened the hatch into the aft bunkroom, I noticed Tabby sitting on Ada's bunk, waiting for me.

"Is that a new smell you've invented?" she asked.

"Very funny. Your mask is closed."

I lifted the jack and welder/cutter onto the floor of the bunkroom, then pulled myself up and out.

"You need help?" she asked.

"Sure. We need to weld a patch onto the hull," I said.

"Go measure. I'll bring it out."

It was a good plan. Until I got outside, we wouldn't know for sure how big a patch was needed. I arc-jetted through the pressure barrier to the small hallway that led to the external hatch and then out the pressure barrier to space.

If there was good news to be had, it was that the beam had struck our armor so sharply that the hole it created wasn't much wider than the beam itself.

"Tabbs, I'll need a thirty centimeter square or round," I said.

"Round it is," she said.

I pulled a zero-g reciprocating hammer from my tool belt and got to work on the opening. All I needed to do was bend down anything that stood proud of the normal line of the hull. Due to the nature of the damage, there wasn't much to fix and by the time I'd finished, Tabby was jetting along the bottom of the hull with a patch and magnetic clamp in tow.

"Good timing," I said.

"Something about 'hull breach' just hustles a girl right along."

Tabby expertly lay the patch in place and positioned the magnetic clamp so it held the disc firmly to the hull.

"You want to do the honors?"

I held the welder out. It wasn't so long ago that I'd taught her how to use it.

"Sure."

She grabbed the welder and got right to work. I jetted backward for a better view. There were plenty of scorch marks and abrasions on the hull, but I didn't see any more issues.

"I'm going to finish the hull scan if you've got that," I said.

"Copy," she replied. Her terse response only meant that she was concentrating.

A hull scan had been one of many priorities we hadn't gotten to yet. It wasn't difficult, simply requiring one of us to jet over the entire surface of the ship. I flitted back and forth until my AI was satisfied I'd given it a sufficient view. The report I got back wasn't surprising. There were several suspect spots, but nothing that would prevent us from sailing. By the time I got back to Tabby, she was detaching the magnetic clamps.

"Want to help in the bilge?" I asked.

"Sure, what are we doing?"

"First job is to pull off all of the couplings on either side of the damaged septic field. It'll be messy, but it's not hard."

"You really know how to show a girl a good time."

"I can't think of anyone I'd rather crawl into the darkest part of the ship with," I said.

"Ooooh. Talk dirty to me."

"Doesn't get much dirtier than the bilge."

"All hands. We should be holding atmo again. Hull scan is showing solid," I said.

"Hey, Liam, how's that head drain coming?" Ada asked.

"Let me guess, things are becoming urgent?"

"Good guess."

"I have some parts being manufactured on
Cape
, want to go get 'em for me?"

"Yes! A hundred times yes!" she said.

Tabby and I were almost run over by Ada as she exited the pressure barrier on the way over to
Cape
. Theoretically, we could visit
Cape
anytime we wanted, but there was tension on the larger ship, so we avoided it like the plague.

"I'll go with her," Tabby said.

"Don't take too long. You'll miss all of the fun," I said.

They returned carrying bundles of freshly manufactured parts. Unlike
Sterra's Gift
,
Hotspur's
bilge had plenty of room to move around in and I'd already removed all of the broken pieces and was swabbing up the goop that had fallen on the floor.

"If you want, you could take those bags I've already filled back to
Cape
. They've a reclaimer," I said. It was a luxury a smaller ship like
Hotspur
couldn't afford.

"You planned that," Ada said.

"Pure coincidence. And you shouldn't complain. I already put the bad stuff in bags," I said. "Would it help if I said I'll have a working head by the time you get back?"

"I've always wondered if your head worked at all," Ada quipped.

Tabby leaned over to her and whispered and they both giggled. It was the second time today they'd shared an inside joke at my expense. I just shook my head, gratefully accepting the bundles of piping. To think at one point Tabby had been jealous of Ada and my relationship.

I finally emerged from the bilge a couple of hours later. I'd had messier cleanups, but that was small consolation. My vac-suit was going to smell for weeks.

Marny surprised me when I came down the hallway. She was sitting upright at the mess table with her vac-suit peeled back and a tight wrap around her chest.

"What are you doing up?" I asked.

"Almost out of the woods, Cap," she said. "And boy do you stink."

"Right. Anyone working on dinner?" I asked as I turned the corner which gave me a good view of the galley where I was surprised to see Jonathan hard at work.

"I've quite a repertoire, Captain. I hope you don't mind," he said.

"Ordinarily, I'd say you'd have to arm wrestle Marny, but I think she's unlikely to object today," I said.

"We've been having a lovely conversation," he said. "I'd wanted a chance to ask her about her experience in the Amazonian war."

"Cap, you really don't need to be polite," Marny said with an obvious gulp. "Let's continue this conversation after you've run that suit through the freshener."

"Fair enough. Can you ask Tabbs to bring me a fresh liner?" I pulled off my vac-suit and fed it into the freshener.

"Aye, aye, Cap," she said.

I closed the door behind me, stripped off my suit liner, lathered up and watched with satisfaction as soapy water disappeared into the gravity-assisted drain. I didn't even see Tabby replace my old suit liner with a fresh one. Once the water was turned off, the smell of garlic grabbed my attention, adding a sense of urgency to getting dressed.

When I reemerged into the combined mess/galley the whole crew was already seated and steaming bowls of food were piled on the table. I wasn't particularly surprised to see that we'd invited Captain LeGrande, her first officer Johannes Grossman and Engineer Rastof. It was a tight fit, but the way the food smelled, I didn't care.

"Captain, would you like to say a few words before we eat?" Marny asked. No one was eating yet, waiting for me, and I appreciated her subtle reminder.

"Thank you, Marny, I will," I said. I grabbed my glass of white wine. "A toast. To new friends."

We all drank and it was my responsibility to start eating, which I was more than happy to do.

"Jonathan, it's delicious," I said after a few minutes.

"Thank you, Captain." I was surprised to see that he was also eating, although less gustily than the rest of us.

"Captain Hoffen, have you been successful in repairing your fold-space generator?" LeGrande asked.

"I haven't had a chance to update Liam, but thanks in no small part to Mr. Rastof, we're very close," Nick said.

"Have you discussed my idea of finding a new home?" I asked.

"We have, at length." LeGrande glanced at her first officer and then to Rastof. "We're not of a single mind and have questions. For example, how do we find a suitable planet? Would you just leave us here while you're looking for it and what if you couldn't return?"

"Unfortunately, we don't have answers to most of your questions. It's not like we have a catalog of planets for you to choose from, but I think your last question is the most important," I said.

"How's that?"

"This is about survival. The longer you sit out here in the deep dark, the more at risk you are. You need to be someplace where you have a chance to survive," I said.

"On that we agree," Grossman said.

"Have you ruled out sending people back to Tipperary with us?" I asked.

"Tullas' threats were clear. If any of our crew return, she will go after
all
of our families. I believe that meant your families as well, Captain Hoffen," Grossman said.

"That bitch," Ada said.

"Captain Hoffen, how do you know
your
return won't trigger Tullas into going after our families?" Grossman asked. "We shouldn't allow anyone to return."

"Why would she involve your families for our actions?" I asked.

"She's a power-hungry zealot," he said.

"That is not a reasonable assessment," Jonathan said.

"Excuse me?" Grossman asked. He grew agitated and I hoped that Jonathan saw it as well.

"Lorraine Tullas has been consistent in her actions," Jonathan said. "Belirand has an objective to keep knowledge away from the population. She would gain nothing in hurting your families. There is no risk to information leakage."

"And you're willing to risk our families on your theory?"

"As opposed to what?" Tabby asked. "Stay here and die? That isn't going to happen. If you want to die out here, that's up to you. Remember, we came here to help."

"And you're doing a bang up job of it," Grossman said.

"That's enough, Johannes," LeGrande said.

"I understand your concern, Johannes. We all have families," I said. "But we can't be frozen by fear. We have to trust Belirand to act rationally. We'll keep their secret and find a way to survive."

"Then you're more delusional than Tullas is," he fired back.

"Well, that was pleasant," Tabby said as we got ready for bed.

"You can see his point. What if Belirand goes after Mom and Dad, or Jack?"

"Then we expose the whole thing. Right now our families are their leverage for remaining quiet," she said. "They don't gain anything by killing innocents."

"I'm not sure I'm okay with going public. What if there really is a big, bad alien threat out there? Do we open up that Pandora's box?" I asked.

"No. It's still not a good enough reason to let forty-five people die."

"You're right…" I said.

"Of course I am," she said as she snaked her leg over my waist and sat up on me. "And, you'd best remember that."

We only slept for eight hours, but it felt like twelve. I'd been completely worn out and I awoke feeling recharged to the strong smell of coffee. A small movement on the bed alerted me to someone's presence. I rolled over and Tabby was sitting there staring at me with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Is that for me?" I asked.

"If you're getting up," she said. "Marny is up and she made rolls."

"Really, she's feeling that good?"

"Apparently."

I got out of bed and pulled on my vac-suit, gratefully accepting the cup of coffee. After running a quick teeth cleanse, I followed her down to the mess, where Marny, Nick and Ada were already seated.

"Morning, Cap," Marny said. "Cinnamon roll?"

"Sure. Are you sure you should be up and at 'em?"

"Aye, Cap. I'm a little tender, but AI says as long as I keep the nanobots doing their thing, I should be good to go."

"As long as you take it easy."

"Do my best, but to be honest, this injury didn't even make my top five list, so you'll excuse me if I'm a bit cavalier about the whole thing," she said.

Motion caught my eye as Jonathan approached from the aft pressure barrier.

"Good morning, Jonathan," I said.

"Good morning, Captain."

"How is the fold-space generator coming along?" I asked.

"It is operational."

"Nick, any word on
Cape's
O2 scrubbers and algae fields?"

"They came online last night and Jonathan helped them disconnect the air exchange," he said.

"We should probably talk about last night," I said, looking around the table.

"What's to talk about?" Ada asked. "I'm with Tabby. I don't plan to die out here."

"Let's be clear. I don't think Tullas threatened our families. What I remember her saying was she'd hunt down anyone we told," I said.

"I'm not clear on what the big secret is," Ada said. "Everyone already knows about fold-space travel."

"I'm pretty sure the idea that individual ships can go wherever they want is what she's hiding. Belirand wants to control fold-space and they'll kill to keep it that way," I said.

"That and there are sentient aliens. It has been the practice of the North American, German, Europe and Korean alliance - through Belirand - to cut all ties with any system that has intelligent life," Jonathan said.

"Then why abandon
Cape of Good Hope
? Surely, there are no aliens around here?" I threw out.

"Sentient
species
might be a better way to say that," he said.

A light bulb clicked on for me. "You didn't originate in our known universe, did you?"

"It is always a joy to watch the intuitive leaps only humankind seems capable of. And, if by known universe, you mean the four solar systems explored by humankind, then that is a correct assessment."

"Was the 'intuitive leap' thing sarcasm?" I asked.

"We don't find sarcasm a particularly useful means of expression. It seems to make conversations difficult, even hostile at times. No, we are sincere when I convey that the human mind is something we very much admire."

"You didn't answer why they had to abandon
Cape of Good Hope
," Ada said.

Jonathan looked to Ada and smiled. It creeped me out. Did his kind ordinarily smile? Was he just making it up to seem more human?

"The ideas are very closely related. Your people are very curious, to the point of doing themselves harm. If fold-space were to be opened to everyone who could build a ship, then they would start running into sentient species. Most of which have compatible objectives for preserving life. The problem is that many of them don't."

"As in they want to destroy other species? That's terrifying," Ada said. "It still seems cruel to allow people to die, just to keep that secret."

"But, it sure makes more sense," I said. "Tell me, Jonathan, how many intelligent, non-human species are you aware of?"

"Perhaps this isn't the right time," he said.

"More than ten?"

"Don't push him," Nick said. "We need to show Jonathan the same trust they're showing us by exposing themselves. When they're ready, we'll have that conversation."

I looked at Nick and then back to Jonathan. "Fair enough. I meant no harm. Really, I was just curious," I said.

"I think that was his point earlier. We have an old Earth saying," Marny said. "Curiosity killed the cat. Only, I think Jonathan is trying to make sure curiosity doesn't kill us."

"It kind of casts Tullas and Belirand in a different light," Ada said. "We might not like how they're doing things, but it seems like they're not as awful as we originally thought."

"I call bull on that. Tullas tried to kill everyone here," Tabby said. "I'm taking that bitch out first chance I get."

"Not to change the subject or anything, but what do we need to do before we get out of here?" I asked.

"To go where?" Nick asked.

"Right, sorry. To me, it's clear that we need to repair
Hotspur
before we go much further and we need to bring supplies back for
Cape
. How many days can we all survive between what we have on
Hotspur
and
Cape
?"

"Fifteen days give or take. O2 and water will keep 'em alive longer than that, but most of the food stuff got destroyed," Nick said.

"So, not a lot of time for messing around," I said. "How about navigation systems? They took a pretty big hit."

"Rastof helped us manufacture basic units. We'll have to buy new ones when we get back in system, but what we have will get us somewhere for real repairs," he said.

"Are we going to have enough credits?" I asked.

"It'll be close," Nick said.

"I believe if you check your contract with Master Anino, you will find a clause that covers damage to your ship," Jonathan said.

"I'm not sure how valid that is with Anino being deceased," I said.

"It's valid, but I'd expect Anino's estate to be tied up," Nick said.

"I have sufficient standing in his companies to move the appropriate funds," Jonathan said. "Master Anino anticipated this possibility and made preparations for it. You should know he has granted
Loose Nuts
the exclusive use of his residences on Curie while under contract."

"Residences, as in the dome under the Radium Sea?" Ada asked.

"There are several, but that is one of them. Its security profile is well suited to your current needs."

"How about Lèger Gros?" I asked.

"Are you thinking Meerkat Shipyard?" Nick asked.

I nodded and looked to Jonathan.

"We do not specifically own any residences on Lèger Gros, but it is possible to make arrangements," he said.

"I think it's time to finish our conversation with Captain LeGrande," I said. "Ada, can you work on a good location for us to jump to near Gros? It shouldn't be so close that we surprise anyone. Marny, are you up to working through a security protocol for us to follow while we're in the city?"

"Are you worried about Belirand sending agents after us, Cap?" Marny asked.

"I'm not sure what I'm worried about. I don't think Lèger would allow Belirand to just grab us, but there's a lot on the line and we'll be exposed," I said.

"Nick, Tabby, let's go up to the conference room and give Captain LeGrande a call," I said.

"Captain?" Jonathan asked as we all started to stand up.

"Yes?"

"Do you have any requests for us?" Jonathan asked.

"To be honest, I'm not sure how to treat you, Jonathan. Are you a passenger, crew, or do you simply represent Anino's interests?" I asked.

"We'd like to be treated as part of the crew, as long as it doesn't conflict with our commitment to Thomas Anino," he said.

I looked to the rest of the crew, each subtly nodding assent in their own way.

"Welcome to
Loose Nuts
," I said. "I assume you'll be forthright about these conflicts when they arise?"

"Yes, Captain, and thank you for your vote of confidence," he said.

"First on the list is to manufacture a case to hold those quantum crystals. It would be a shame to have any of them damaged. Also, would you upload a synopsis on each of the destinations they represent to each of the crew? Once we're underway, we'll want to start reviewing them for suitability," I said.

"Yes, Captain," he said.

"After that, work with Ada so she's comfortable with how to engage the fold-space generator to fulfill her navigation plans," I said.

"Anything else?" Jonathan asked.

"Marny will coordinate the supplies we're offloading to
Cape
. Any assistance you could provide would be appreciated," I said.

"Go, Cap. We've got it," Marny said.

I smiled. It was good to have her back.

Nick, Tabby and I made our way up to the small conference room that adjoined the Captain's quarters.

Open comm with Captain LeGrande
, I said.

Twenty seconds later her image popped up on the translucent vid screen I'd pulled up in the center of the small table.

"Good morning, Captain Hoffen," she said. "I feel like I owe you an apology for my first mate's behavior last night." If anything, LeGrande's appearance was more haggard than when we'd arrived.

"Apology accepted. Although, for the record, I don't believe any of us felt anything but empathy for his position. Are you all doing okay?" I asked.

"No, not really. We're hanging on by a thread over here," she said. "Our discipline is strained and there is a very real possibility of mutiny."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Beyond supplies and a new place to live?" she laughed without humor.

"Captain, you need to remain hopeful. We won't abandon you. We're packing up the supplies we can afford to leave and will transfer them shortly. My plan is to jump to Tipperary, repair
Hotspur
and bring back more supplies," I said.

"And what of a new home? Does such a place exist?" she asked.

"We believe it does. Belirand abandoning you out here happened because of a secret they desperately want to keep," I said.

"About being able to generate a fold-space wave with smaller ships?"

"No, about finding habitable planets that are also home to sentient life forms," I said.

"Aliens? There've been rumors, but why keep that a secret?"

"I could only speculate. What we know is that Belirand abandoned almost a hundred missions over the last three centuries."

"And you want to drop us at one of those worlds. With aliens?" she asked.

"I'll leave it to you, Captain. But just as Anino found you with a quantum communication crystal, we can find these settlements. Anino saved crystals for those abandoned missions. We'll have some idea what we're getting into," I said.

"That's incredible and it is indeed hopeful. When will you depart?"

"We're making preparations now and I'd like to be underway within the hour," I said. "We're expecting to bring back three months of consumables. Do you have a list of supplies that you're specifically in need of?"

"I'll have a final list to you within the hour and I'll send crew over to pick up what you have," she said and closed comm.

"She's in a tough position," Tabby said. "Can you imagine how many people on that ship believe they should be going home?"

"Hate to hear a captain talk about mutiny. I hope she can keep it together," Nick said.

"Won't matter if we can't find them a place to live," I said. "I sure hope Anino thought it through more than he did this trip."

"Tabbs, you want to help Marny get the supplies offloaded? I suspect LeGrande's crew will be over shortly," I said.

"Can do." Tabby got up and walked out of the room.

"I'm going to have to work in here for the trip back," Nick said. "We don't have any replacements for the workstations we lost."