Rookie Privateer (14 page)

"
No idea." Okay, that wasn't true, but I wasn't feeling overly trusting at this point.

"
What are you into, Mr. Hoffen? People don't just get attacked for no reason."

Mom wasn't having any of that.
"Are you serious? Liam gets mugged and you blame him? How about you review the vids, track these guys down and put 'em in jail?"

"
Mrs. Hoffen, I'm sorry. That came out wrong. Liam, do you have any idea what this might be about?"

"
No idea." I had some idea, but I would be talking that through with Gregor Belcose.

Deputy Bound continued.
"We found your sled piled into the side of the station. Someone has it in for you, Hoffen. You might want to help us figure that out." She was out of questions and excused herself.

Once I had my suit back on, I sent a ping over to Big Pete and asked if he could meet me on
Sterra's Gift
. It was an easy trip from the hospital up to the Mercantile and from there up through the James' Rental shop's back lift.

Big Pete was standing outside
Sterra's Gift
when we got there.

"
Want the penny tour?" I asked.

"
Sure. Glad to see you keep it locked up. Never know who you might find skulking around." Big Pete sounded almost cheerful.

I led him up to the bridge, showing him the sleeping compartments along the way. I was glad I'd removed a lot of the trash, but seeing it through Dad’s eyes made me painfully aware of how long it would take to get it ship-shape.

"Let's grab a seat in the captain’s quarters," I suggested.

"
And I thought this was a social visit." Big Pete was definitely in a good mood. It threw me off balance. Grumpy would have made sense. I was a little surprised we were still talking.

"
Dad, they threatened you and mom."

That got his attention.

"Who threatened Silver?"

"
The guys who attacked me."

Big Pete stood up and hit his comm.

"Where are you, Silver?" He paused to listen. "Okay. Don't leave there, not even with someone you know." Another pause. "No. We'll talk when I get there." One last pause and I could hear her voice rise in pitch. "Finishing up with Liam in a few minutes. Don't go anywhere."

"
Where is she?" He had me concerned.

"
Gravel Pit. Public place at dinner time. She'll be okay there for now. Tell me what you know."

I relayed what the thugs had said to me.

"Dad, you have to keep this to yourself, but the Navy says it’s a criminal corporation called Red Houzi. They think the pirates that attacked the refinery are the same ones who were responsible for attacks on Baru Manush and some of the other colonies."

"
You aren't trained to deal with this, Liam. These guys are playing for keeps."

That set me back,
"Do you think I should return the ship?"

"
No. That won't change anything. Don't worry. I'll take care of your mom. Their mistake was giving us a warning. You know Silver and I met in the Marines, right?"

"
What? Mom's a teacher."

"
Sure is. A darned good one too. Point is, we'll be okay, but you need to start observing some security protocols. You have any arms?"

"
Flechette pistol count?"

"
Yes. I'm guessing you weren't wearing it."

"
No, didn't think I needed to."

"
Well, they aren't pros. It’s a stupid message. Either take the ship or don't. No point in being all dramatic. You boys need to carry a weapon at all times. Always travel together. Stay aware and keep your suit up when outside the ship. I'll send you a suit subroutine that will scan a ten meter perimeter around you. If someone breaks that bubble, you start paying attention."

Big Pete continued,
"Any security routines running on this tub?"

Nick, who had joined us from the engine room answered,
"No, we've been trying to get basic functions up and going."

"
I'll come back tomorrow and get that running. Keep it locked up."

Miner, huh? I told dad I got attacked and that they were coming after him and Mom, and he was all smiles. He said more words in the last ten minutes than I'd heard from him in the last year.

"I'm going to pick up Silver. I probably freaked her out a bit."

"
We need another flechette. Any suggestions where to get one?"

"
I'll bring one tomorrow. You need to get off station. You're too open here. Does she sail yet?"

"
Tomorrow."

"
Got it. Get some sleep and be careful."

We saw Big Pete out. Once the airlock was closed, I started to feel like we were in a prison.

"You still good with this?" I asked Nick.

"
It'll work out. Glad you're okay. Would like to stop picking you up from the hospital though."

It hurt to laugh.

Nick had the bed and I stretched out on the couch. The stuffing had been pulled out of the cushions but I flipped them over and it wasn't too bad. Every time I rolled over, I could feel where the guy had tuned me up. According to the medical report, I had two cracked ribs and a minor concussion. Sleeping and breathing sucked and the pounding headache wasn't much fun, but everything else wasn't that bad. The medical patches would heal me soon enough.

I woke to a muffled banging sound.
I shook the groggy out of my head and rolled off the couch. My ribs felt the same, but my headache was gone. I checked the time, it was 0530. Ensign Lok wasn't due for another hour. I walked back to the galley where I had left the flechette pistol and checked the chamber to make sure it was loaded. Good to go. I went back to the airlock window, but couldn't find the source of the noise and I wasn't about to open the door without being able to see who was out there. The banging continued. It was more of a continuous thumping and got fainter as I moved aft and grew louder forward.

I looked out the armored glass on the port side and saw Big Pete banging the side of the ship with some sort of pipe. He looked up at me and gave a wave. I wasn't sure how he knew that I had entered the bridge, but I suspected it was his own suit's security program.

Hoffen Channel One
. "Dad, you could have pinged me."

He was looking through the armored glass of the bridge at me.
"Yup, wanted to see how much work we had to do. Good job on the flechette. How many rounds you got in it?"

"
Meet me at the airlock." No way was I admitting to not knowing how many darts were in the clip.

Big Pete had a belt holster with a pistol quite a lot bigger than my flechette gun. I hadn't ever seen it before and was surprised to see it resting so comfortably at his waist over his dark blue vac-suit.

"You don't have a single sensor strip left on the hull. Must have sailed in blind, piggy-backed on that freighter. Too bad we don't have schematics, they wouldn't be that expensive to print. The IP cost on those strips would be darn expensive. We should be able to cobble together something, though."

Grant Pete Hoffen physical, engineering access Sterra's Gift
. My AI replied with an affirmative chirp.

I saw the reflection on Dad’s eye while he accessed the engineering diagrams. After a couple of minutes, I gave up waiting for him and made my way to the galley. Nick had checked out the water system and declared it to be operational, so I filled a pouch of water and rummaged through the cupboards to see if there was any food. I found a box of meal bars. For most people that would be a meal of last resort, but on the Hoffen claim it was pretty standard fare. I grabbed one for Big Pete and filled another water pouch.

He finally emerged from his browsing frenzy and I handed him a meal bar.

"
Find anything good?" I asked.

"
Where in Sol did you find a full set of specs?"

"
Neat. Right?" I wasn't ready to share everything.

"
Well, it'll still cost a few thousand to print a full set of sensor strips. You could probably get by with a lot less, but they will fit a whole lot better than what I had in mind."

Nick shuffled up, trying to look alert. His wavy black hair mashed against the side of his head in an unruly ‘I just got out of bed’ way.

"How do people wake up this early?" he complained.

"
All about caffeine, my friend." Big Pete clapped him on the shoulder.

"
Hey I found some meal bars, want one? I think mine was mixed berries and nuts." It was an inside joke in the Hoffen family since all meal bars tasted basically the same. A little crunch, a little sweet and if you drank enough water with them you felt full more quickly. I pulled another water pouch out of a drawer, pushed it onto the water dispenser and then handed it and a bar over to Nick.

"
What was that about the sensors?" Nick asked, after taking a couple of bites of the bar.

I got him caught up.

"Twenty-two hundred m-creds," he said after we were done.

"
What's that?" Dad asked.

"
Replicating cost for the sensor strips, plus delivery. They will be here by 1200. Appreciate you checking that out. I caught that yesterday. Hope you don't mind, Liam, but after yesterday I bumped up their priority. We are blind on board."

"
Nope, I agree."

"
That's some pretty serious cash. You sure you got this?" Dad sounded concerned.

"
I think so, Dad. We got lucky being able to salvage the ship. Navy bought the missiles from us, mostly because they wouldn't let us keep them."

"
Hmm." That was Big Pete's general word for letting me know he wasn't getting the full picture but wasn't going to ask. "Well, good enough. Now, let me see that pistol of yours."

I handed it over to him, after opening the chamber.

"Who taught you that?" he asked.

"
What?"

"
You opened the chamber before handing it over to me. If you weren't my own, I would have thought you had some weapons training."

"
Oh, I looked it up. Supposed to make sure a weapon isn't loaded before you hand it to someone. Rule number one."

"
You remember that. Never accept a weapon unless you know how to secure it." Dad pulled the magazine clip out from the handle and released a small row of darts onto the countertop next to the water dispenser. There were only two darts left. He then pulled the gas cartridge out and released the barrel from the stock. In less than a minute, he had the gun completely stripped down. Dad inspected each part carefully and then pulled a small box out of his duffel. The box contained some little plastic bulbs of oil, a few brushes and rags. He methodically cleaned each piece while Nick and I looked on. He finally seemed satisfied and reassembled the weapon.

"
Looks to be in good condition. You should clean it at least weekly. If it's getting a lot of use, you might consider an upgrade. I brought a Colt-F12. It was your mom's but she has been looking to upgrade and I figure with everything that has been going on, this would be a good excuse. I also brought a gas charger and a couple thousand darts, same size as yours."

The airlock started to cycle and before I knew what was happening
, Big Pete had his own pistol drawn and was slightly crouched facing the corridor.

"
No, Dad, that's Ke Lok. We're expecting him," I said quietly.

He lowered his pistol to his side, but didn't holster it.
"Did he ping you?"

"
Yeah. Just got it."

"
Why does he have your security code? Don't be giving that out so freely." Fortunately, he decided to holster.

Ensign Lok turned the corner to the aft and smiled. I was surprised to see him wearing a civilian vac-suit rather than his Navy issue.

"We have a couple of pallets to unload. You guys want to help?" His eyes came to rest on the battered side of my head where my suit had failed to deflect the club. "What happened to you?"

"
Trouble taking out the garbage." I didn't want to get into the entire story with Dad right there and fortunately, either the ensign didn't care or he picked up the clue.

"
I see. Well, there isn't much."

"
Feels like we are getting a little crowded. Ping me if 1200 isn't going to work," Big Pete said over his shoulder. As he headed to the airlock, I heard him mutter, "You’d think a guy would have free rein at six in the morning."

Nick came back down the hallway, pulling his vac-suit up over his waist.