The Burning Crown (Stone Blade Book 4) (8 page)

Fortunately enough, the responses he received on the few local independents he did manage to contact gave him one good, solid crewman and a potential treasure. He took out a gold coin, one hundred credits League-au, and spun it on his desk. His comm beeped just as it settled on heads.

"Visitors, cap'n," said Gil Barker, his first mate, "Looks like our first interview's here early."

"Send them in, Gil." Wilkison smiled as he pocketed his lucky coin. They didn't just arrive early, they arrived
very
early!

Wilkison eyed the pair critically as they walked the short distance from the door to the table. He had an eye for people accustomed to life aboard a starship and he saw it in both the man and the woman. Then he amended his thought: perhaps less so in him than her, but still there.

"Good morning, Captain Wilkison," said the man, "I'm Elmer Dimarr and this is my wife Patsy."

"Honor and pleasure, sirra," said the lady.

Both Dimmars had a sincere handshake and they met Wilkison's eyes easily and without hesitation. Their records listed a short tour in the Navy, terminated when they married. Since then their employment had been sparse, at least space-wise.

"It's because we don't want to serve separately, sir," explained Patsy, "We won't try to hide it, sir. I do love my El and he loves me." Here she shrugged. "That's why our record's spotty, sir."

Wilkison smiled at that. On the few occasions when they did ship out they earned outstanding evals and recommendations.

"Standard pay, then," he said, "Guild bonuses, even though we aren't. Don't expect much on that, though. This isn't a qualified run. The company will guarantee transport back here or anywhere cheaper, provided you don't rut the puppy and cost them a lot. Contract's basic Guild plus Crown specs with the 'temporary employment' proviso. We're scheduled to leave tomorrow at 1030 so be here by 0700."

"Yes sir!" "Thank you, sir!"

The next morning Wilkison collected five credits from Barker when the Dimarrs walked up the ramp at 0624. They had their gear stowed by 0637 and reported in before Wilkison had his second chog. He locked his coin in his personal safe. Once again it brought him a treasure!

***

"I do believe I could do this for a living." Karr shed his duty cloak and tossed it onto the rack.

He and Blue settled easily into the ship's routine, befriended the rest of the crew readily and neither won nor lost too much at cards. Overall, thought Karr, they made quite the good impression.

"We do, silly man," said Blue, now preparing to go on shift, "Anything?"

"Squelch. Gil said Cap'n Wilkison and the astrogator are the only ones who know the destination for, and I quote, 'Bunko-Sludge runs.' Didn't seem bothered by it, either. He said it's SOP and not to worry."

"Basically what Deb told me," said Blue, "Yesterday." She let the rub-in sink in.

"No blather, m'lady. I know. Ship engineers know everything and willingly share with brother or sister engineers. Did she say anything about frequency?"

"Only that they've had more of them recently. I didn't want to press too hard. None of the crew particularly like them, nor does Wilkison, but it's part of the job."

"Are they under contract?"

"Nak. All of 'em but us have passed their option-to-drop dates but they love their captain and he always pulls good side profit, except when they're doing debt-runs. Mostly legally, too, from what Deb said. You think our virus is still hot?"

"I hope so," he said, "We'll need it for certain sure when we get back. We may even have a better point of attack."

"Truth and pure," she replied, "I need to go on shift now. Can't let our reputations falter! Kiss kiss."

"Kiss kiss," As soon as Blue left, Karr deactivated their garble and went to bed.

***

After an unsettling eight days in link the
Warmwind
finally dropped back to reality. Karr voiced his concern to Barker after five days, then six and then seven but the first mate assured him the ship would make it. She had before, he said, and no doubt would again. Blue, much more familiar with shipboard life, speculated at the jitter the vessel had built up. The transition came during lunch, at which both Karr and Blue heaved a sigh of relief.

"'Bout ruddy time," said Wes Martin, one of the cargo wranglers, "Bet me we won't be longer goin' back."

"Or not," said Deb Stevens, the engineer, "Jitter was a vix, no blather, and the skipper didn't like it worth feces. He'll take it easier on the flip."

"And we know he'll be grinding rock on all of us, too," said Barker, "So phase down." Then to Karr and Blue, "Don't be surprised at what does or doesn't happen and don't take the captain personal-like."

With that cryptic remark Barker washed down the last of his not-bad rations with synthetic tea and made a much less cryptic one about not being late to their duty stations.

***

"Raise," said Blue, smug and riding an impressive winning streak.

"Call," said Barker, betting light.

After the ship grounded Wilkison sealed her tight and debarked with the astrogator. None of the others took this as strange so Karr and Blue played along, though curiosity devoured them both. Karr did venture a small surprise and disappointment.

"Nar," said Barker at the time, "It's SOP for a sludge run. Don't worry, you'll be paid for your time even though we're not working it."

"But I always check out the local slosh," said Karr.

"Not this time, lad. It's all of us, too, not just the two of you. None of us'll be sloshing down tonight. The cap'n usually takes about three hours plus time to load cargo so if either of you hid something in the bays now's the time to get it."

Barker then left to do something else.

"It's always the same on the bloody sludge runs," whispered Stevens, "Skipper figures the less we know we won't get in trouble for, I suppose. Heaven bless him, I wish he'd drop them and go for the steady gold."

Then the card game started. Barker produced a flask of rough liquor, poured each of them a shot and put the stuff away. None of the crew minded Blue winning. Karr had already lost more and, as Barker winked, she was a lot prettier! Her winning streak had just ended when Wilkison returned to the ship.

"Duty stations, Gil." He said nothing more than that.

***

True to Barker's word, Wilkison didn't relax until after their first microjump and even then he didn't by much. After they linked, the astrogator spent most of the time in his cabin. The rest of the crew stepped lightly and put extra spiff into their tasks.

Their sixth day in link, Karr and Barker walked up to the lounge for an afternoon chog when they heard heated voices from the lounge. Wilkison was in the process of bawling out Stevens of what summed to nothing. When he finished he stormed out of the lounge without a word, or even a look, to his first mate or Karr. When they walked into the lounge, Stevens still shook with anger and other suppressed emotions. She bolted for engineering, again without words, and left them to their chog. Barker caught Karr's eye and shrugged.

"Hades yes she talked," said Blue once they had their garble active, "According to her the captain is descended from an impressive group of unsavory animals, scavengers and bottomfeeders. Poor Deb is ready to rut this puppy and leave for richer orbits. Yes, he's been this way before but the number of sludge runs they've had lately is wearing on all of them."

Karr nodded. "I have something, too. It seems our esteemed captain is docked tight with one of Fallstar Lines' managing partners. Since there are only four of them and none of the others has a name even remotely close, 'Artie' must mean Artemis Dinge."

"So what do we know about him?"

"Nothing. Yet! I may have an assignment for our virus."

***

When they reached Faircoast two days later, Wilkison took an agonizing twelve hours to land the ship. Once she grounded he restricted them for another three. When he finally did release the crew he gave Karr and Blue their chits along with a promise for a good reference.

"I've enjoyed sailing with you, too," confessed Barker, "Flames! Any time we're in and you want to slap down some cards, give us a blip."

While Karr cashed their chits Blue composed her report. House McReely had offices at all the starports on all the Crown worlds and they all had secure ways to communicate. Of course Edders had presence too, but not always at the ports. Even though they didn't have a lot to report, yet, Karr wanted his Laird to have what they did, should catastrophe strike.

"Six sigmas on the beam," said Blue, "Do you feel like a celebratory dinner?"

"As long as it isn't Chugbarn's."

"Gasp! But I missed my Grape-E-Q. No worries, dear one, there's a nice cafe across from the Port Authority."

Karr ate slowly, enjoying his food and matching his pace to Blue, who didn't seem in any great hurry to finish. The Port Authority was packed. Given the number of arrivals and departures, that didn't surprise either of them. Just before dessert Blue made a happy sound and smiled.

"I probably should have told you," she said, "My favorite cousin works at the PA here. I messaged him as soon as we left the
Warmwind
and he's meeting us now."

Karr had no trouble recognizing the man, his House McReely crest notwithstanding. He had Blue's look and manner and the same hint of Edders blood. Upon spotting Blue, he beamed a huge smile and strode to their table.

"Lacyyyyyyyy! It's six-sigmas polarity to see you!" The man gave her a quick hug and kiss before turning to Karr and offering his hand. "Jack Ron Rooke."

"Piotr Karr. It's an honor and pleasure to meet you, seigneur."

"You can belay that 'seigneur,' Piotr. Jackie's closer to me than some of my brothers!"

"Lucky for it, too," said Rooke.

After a few bites of his own food and some discussion on family matters, Rooke slipped a garble on the table and activated it.

"There. That should've bored them," he said, now sounding like Blue, "I checked, Lacy. There aren't any systems eight days from Faircoast. Not in Crown space, not in the League and not outside the League."

That puzzled Karr but before he could speak, Rooke continued.

"That made me curious so I ran a query with Scheduling. According to Wlikison's flight plan the
Warmwind
flew to Woodworld, spent five days there and came back. It should have been two or three but he miscalculated pommegrape season and had to wait for his shipment."

"That doesn't make sense, Signor Rooke. Would you mind checking eight-day no-stops, Signor Rooks?"

"Already doing it, and you can cold seven that 'Signor Rooke,' too! That's my dad. Eight days outside of time-space is more than slightly risky. The only reason for a no-stop is to avoid the ports in between. No captain worth his weight in crusty floppers would risk it, short of a dire emergency, and I haven't heard about any of those lately."

"Stranger by the second," said Blue, "Did they file a loss report, Jackie?"

Rooke shook his head. "Nak, Lace, but I'll keep my eyes sharp for it."

Blue excused herself for the fresher. Karr tried to thank Rooke but the other man stopped him.

"Lacy's the sister I never had. I don't know what the two of you are doing, but knowing her it's ruddy dangerous and for the honor of House McReely or its friends. You just make sure you stay alive and bring the bastards down!"

To that Karr agreed wholeheartedly!

***

Karr started the next day at the closest library with LINC access. He first researched everything he could about Fallstar Lines Inc. with specific attention to its management, the four partners who owned it and its House allegiances. Some of the information would take time to arrive but he found enough, especially with his own House access and the Brightcrown keys Laird Luther gave him. He did find more than a little information concerning Dinge cached locally, which suggested that Parl had made similar queries. In the meanwhile, Blue cited her desire to visit Rooke again and see what he might have discovered.

The Fallstar system was as far from the rest of the League as Faircoast was close. The largest company there and its primary source of revenue was Fallstar Lines RC, LCC. That piqued Karr's interest immediately: the company didn't ally itself with any house yet its partners paid the price both in credits and accreditation to hold the League certification as well. Its official paperwork listed it as an inexpensive cargo and passenger transport company, of which many existed, that specialized in trade outside the Crown and even outside the League.

What set Fallstar apart was its strict adherence to all of the requirements for shipping outside of Crown space. Though not uncommon, most merchants either purchased temporary permits or used a company that held the one they needed. Fallstar meticulously maintained every single certification required for any type of import and export. Those costs reduced their profit margin but enabled them to provide any type of transport quickly, and they marketed their service heavily on that fact.

For the most part Fallstar Lines had an impeccably clean record, even above certification requirements. Save for two incidents early in its history the company had no major incidents and Karr found those two indeed minor and the result of mishandled paperwork.

Until recently! Over the past three years the incidents started a slow increase both in frequency and in severity. On a hunch, Karr formulated a query against the specific dates, ships, declared cargoes, origins, destinations, and incident codes. He suspected each incident would occur on a Binkor-Sud debt-run.

Karr had no illusions that Binkor-Sud would avoid illegal activity. That House was quite capable of any illegal activity that would generate a profit. Though officially they avoided any such that would dirty their hands, they had ample tools for forcing complicity and performing them indirectly. Tools like debt-runs that were damnably hard to prove before a magistrate or Guild Arbiter.

About the four partners Karr found two of them with distant House connections: one to Edders and the other Toms-Watt. Neither was Dinge, and neither of them took advantage of the fact. Falsely noble, thought Karr, but not at all smart. Either House would have eagerly helped the company, both to avoid such crushing debt to Binkor-Sud and by lending House credentials for the certification.