Rookie Privateer (34 page)

Hail the nearby cutter
. It would have been handy if we had given the cutter a new name, but we hadn't so I had to reference it by proximity.

"
Celina. Are you there?"

"
Where else?" she answered. She sure had a bad disposition.

Transfer full control of cutter to Celina Dontal. Release control by crew of Sterra's Gift from the same cutter
.

"
That's it. Ship is yours. Happy sailing," I said, not expecting a response.

Her voice was softer and didn't hold the contempt I had come to expect.
"I didn't think you would do it."

"
Roger that. Celina. Look us up sometime. I bet I will be looking for sharp captains in the future. You know, once I get my business going full tilt."

"
Thank you, Liam Hoffen. Someday. Maybe. Dontal out." She closed the communication channel.

I didn't immediately spool up the engines again. I wanted to see what Celina's first actions as a captain might be. I zoomed my viewscreen in on her ship expecting her to fire up and make a burn for Terrence. What I saw didn't surprise me but I can't say I was expecting it either. I probably should have, given the nature of Celina's experience.

Three suited figures were ejected from the airlock. I could tell they were still alive but apparently Celina had decided they were undesirable passengers. It was illegal to eject passengers from a working ship in space but then, these were pirates. I couldn’t imagine they would be filing a complaint.

Normal burn plan for Protectorate Platform Valhalla
.

It would take us fifteen days to get there.

It took a couple of days to establish our schedule. We had problems with storage. Every square meter of space on
Sterra's Gift
had been crammed with crates. There were only two beds, but with at least one person on watch at all times, it wasn't a huge deal. I had never had a sense of propriety regarding my bed, so I didn't mind that Marny used it, too.

I preferred to take the night shift. I shifted my sleeping pattern by six hours and found I could easily sleep until noon. I would have killed for this schedule at home and now Nick and Marny thought I was some kind of hero for it. I spent my days working out with Marny. She was teaching us both a new self-defense style called Krav Maga. It was an ancient martial art invented by the Israeli military sixteen or seventeen hundred years ago.

I found I liked that Marny slept on my couch. She wasn't much for perfume, but whether it was her soap or something else, my couch smelled like her. After a couple of days I was disappointed to find I had become used to the smell and no longer noticed it. That was until I was headed back to grab some coffee on the fifth night and happened to glance in our cabin. I noticed Marny wasn't on the couch. I didn't think it was that odd, she could be up checking on something.

I got my coffee and when I didn't find her in the galley, I checked the armory.
No success. I grinned when the answer finally hit me. I poked my head back into the cabin and saw Marny wrapped around Nick's much smaller body. I couldn't have been happier for them. I had known Nick was smitten with Marny from the first time he had seen her. What I hadn't known was whether or not Marny would accept him. The only jealousy I felt was that I couldn't spend the same time with Tabby.

We were still three days away from Platform Valhalla when we were approached by the first Naval Destroyer either Nick or I had ever seen. The
Kuznetsov
had been 120 meters long and shaped like an arrow. This destroyer was shaped like the end of a sledge hammer and was 180 meters long and five times as wide and tall as the
Kuznetsov
. The ship’s mass had to exceed that of the
Kuznetsov
by at least thirty times. There was nothing sleek or subtle about it.

Two ships never meet in space by accident. You might pass within a couple hundred thousand kilometers of another ship, but you would certainly be heading on radically different headings at radically different speeds. This destroyer slipped into space five kilometers off our port side before we had recognized they were even close. They even matched our current speed.

"
Sterra's Gift
this is the Destroyer
Walter Sydney Adams
. Do you read?" My heart jumped into my throat.

"
Nick, Marny, could you come to the bridge? We have company."

Hail Walter Sydney Adams
. "Roger that
Walter Sydney Adams
. This is Captain Liam Hoffen,
Sterra's Gift
. We read you."

Marny and Nick piled into the bridge and looked through the armor-glass. I pointed in the direction where the
Walter Adams
sat.

I switched the video comm onto the heads up display of the bridge so Nick and Marny could also participate.
"Greetings Captain Hoffen. Commander Joe Alto here. We have been asked to escort you to Platform Valhalla." The video showed an officer in a uniform vac-suit. He was older, with graying sideburns, a close cut haircut, receding hairline and bright gray eyes. He epitomized my idea of what a hawk might look like.

I responded.
"Fair enough."

"
With your permission we will synchronize navigation and put your weapons systems into passive mode." His message must have contained a command request as it popped up on my vid screen. I didn't think we had any real option. I accepted the request.

"
Thank you," the commander responded. "Are you in any need of assistance?"

"
Nothing some downtime wouldn't solve," I replied glibly.

"
Roger that.
Walter Sydney Adams
out." I guess he wasn't much for chatter.

The approach to Platform Valhalla was an exercise in outrageous. A cross section of the platform was a shallow triangle. The top was half a kilometer wide with the two sloped sides of the triangle meeting in a point underneath at the mid-section. The platform was twelve kilometers wide and ships of all different sizes were docked beneath it. From our vantage point it looked
as if it was only 10% occupied. I wondered if the entire Mars Navy could dock at the same time. That is, until I saw the battleship.

You never forget the first time you see a battleship underway in space. At almost three times the length and
girth of the destroyer, I had difficulty imagining what could ever stand up to the amount of firepower on display.

I also counted two cruisers, half a dozen destroyers
, and at least ten different corvettes in addition to the battleship. Hundreds of smaller craft were flying back and forth between the different vessels. I had never seen so many ships in one place.

Commander Alto provided the location of a docking bay on the platform. We were to await further instructions once we landed.

The approach was straightforward enough but the landing instructions didn't make sense to me. The final destination showed we would be thirty meters below the deck surface. When we arrived it made more sense, there was an open hole in the deck of the platform. I lowered
Sterra's Gift
through it and with help from the ship's AI, I landed on the sub-deck.

A small group of marines in full armor, awaited our arrival.

"Captain Hoffen, do you read?" It was a familiar voice.

"
Roger that. Lieutenant Belcose?" I responded.

"
Yes. Request permission to board. I would like to send a squad of Marines in to secure the prisoner. Will you comply?" Geez, the guy always sounded like he had a stick up ...

"
Good to hear your voice. Permission granted. Let me open the door. It isn't in that great of shape. Oh and we have a bonus prisoner for you," I added.

"
Repeat last?"

"
We have two prisoners. We ran into Sheriff Xid and decided we would bring him along. I was hoping you would take him off our hands."

"
Wait one," he replied. It took more than five minutes for him to get back to me. I suspected he was looking for permission. "Okay. We will take possession of both prisoners."

The Marines were a professional group. With a minimum of fuss, they extracted both Xid and Mie-su from the brig. After babysitting them for the last twenty days, if I never saw them again it would be too soon. Xid was a disgusting slob and Xie had a mouth on her. I felt a little sorry for their new jailors.

I watched the Marines remove Xid and Mie-su from the door of the bridge. When they were gone, Belcose remained and approached me.

"
Nice job, Captain. Commander Sterra would like to extend hospitality to your crew. Would you be available at 2200 for a shared meal?"

"
We would be delighted," I answered without hesitation.

"
Oh, and there is the matter of the offline storage device you are in possession of?"

I pulled the black marble out of the pouch in my suit and handed it to him.

"We will get this analyzed. Looking forward to dinner." He nodded and exited. It took me a minute to realize he hadn't been wearing a vac-suit.

"
Is this bay pressurized?" I asked.

Marny answered.
"Sure is, Cap. We dropped through a pressure barrier."

"
Didn't know such a thing existed."

"
Takes a crazy amount of power, but these platforms have energy to burn," she answered.

"
There is more than one of these platforms?" It was hard to imagine the Protectorate had one, much less several of them.

"
Last I knew, Mars Protectorate had five. They are spread out at different elliptical orbits around the Sun. There are probably more that we don't know about." I wondered what other surprises I was in for.

We met Gregor Belcose and Commander Sterra on board the
Kuznetsov
. It seemed like it had been years since the last time we had been there. In reality, it had been forty-five days. Nick and I chose to wear our new civvies, as Marny called them. She was wearing a normal vac-suit.

Steward Gellar once again provided an amazing meal. It was far superior to
any of the restaurant food we had eaten. She put out a spread of what she called fried chicken, mashed potatoes and cream gravy. In addition, there was a fresh salad and a vegetable called asparagus. We ate until I didn't think I could eat anything more. At the end however, I smelled the now familiar scent of fresh coffee. I wondered if we would get to have her chocolate cake again and drooled at the thought. Her dessert course wasn't cake, but a pie made with fresh peaches and vanilla ice cream. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

"
Commander Sterra? Is it possible to request Steward Gellar's company for a moment?"

"
Certainly, Liam." She spoke quietly into the collar of her suit.

The smiling face I had come to associate with the steward appeared at the Commander’s left side.

"Ms. Gellar, thank you for a most excellent dinner."

We all clinked our silverware against the crystal glasses. I had learned this gesture of appreciation last time we had eaten on the
Kuznetsov
.

"
Just as your dinner was appreciated, my crew wants to also thank you for supplying us with coffee for our last trip." More clinking from Nick and Marny. "To show our appreciation we would like to present you with a small token."

I pulled out two small boxes I had wrapped in bright floral silk scarves. Loot from the pirate hideaway.

"Oh, pretty," she responded.

"
I am not sure what you will do with its contents, but if anyone would know how to use it I imagine it would be you. The boxes contain five hundred milligrams of both saffron and cocoa. I understand they are both very desirable ingredients used for cooking."

She pulled her hand up to cover her mouth and looked at me in shock. She then looked at Commander Sterra for permission.

Commander Sterra nodded and responded, "Normally we can't accept gifts, but it would appear this is simply a trade of supplies and I see nothing inappropriate." She winked at the steward.

The hug I received for my
'trade' was a bit uncomfortable, mostly due to the excessive overeating I'd just done.

Commander Sterra continued,
"I believe you have business to discuss with Lieutenant Belcose and I have a trial to prepare for. On behalf of Mars Protectorate, I can't thank you enough for putting your ship and crew at risk. The intelligence we gather from the prisoners should put quite a dent in the Red Houzi's operation for some time, and our experts have already extracted a considerable amount of information from that storage device. You should rest easy knowing you have brought to justice the pirates responsible for the attack on Colony 40."

We all stood as Commander Sterra exited.

Belcose started the conversation, "Have you given any further thought to payment?"

"
I have. The Protectorate stood behind us when we needed it the most. Without that open account and intelligence, we wouldn't have been able to escape Baru Manush. Would you consider providing repairs of the combat damage to our ship, removal of the temporary brig and a load of fuel and oxy?"

"
We could probably do better than that."

As much as I wanted a big payday, I needed Commander Sterra and Lieutenant Belcose to know they had made a good decision in granting us the Letter of Marque. I wanted to send the message that we were not only mercenaries, but that we were also team players.

"Okay. How about you throw in a combat bonus to Ms. Bertrand. Without her, we most certainly wouldn't have made it." I looked at her and winked, she looked back slack-jawed.

"
Do you have a number in mind?"

"
Thirty thousand," I shot back.

"
Done. I will have an engineering crew contact you in the morning to see about repairs. It has been a pleasure, Mr. Hoffen."

You couldn't have found a giddier threesome as we made our way back to
Sterra's Gift
.

Just before we entered the airlock I turned to Nick and Marny, who were holding hands. Nick looked a little uncomfortable. We hadn't talked about it yet.

"I was just thinking," I said. "Maybe we should convert BR-2 into the captain’s quarters. I'm really not comfortable on that couch anymore.