Family Law 2: The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet (2 page)

If their fleet did run into somebody out there, it seemed likely anyone they encountered would be more polite to a small fleet than a single ship. One ship you might arrest or destroy, four of them presented a much reduced chance of doing that successfully.

Besides wanting his magazines full of the higher performance ship to ship weapons, Gordon wanted the DSEs fitted with an entire extra reactor and a Greaser – a gamma ray laser weapon that had much higher performance than mundane petawatt optical lasers. Greasers were so far unknown in civilian ships. Fortunately Fargone was not at all picky about weapons sales, and the DSEs had a lot of open holds and storage, being designed for long voyages with small crews.

Both DSEs already had an externally mounted fuel mining systems and an extremely high velocity 'peashooters' a weapon that very accurately threw a rice grain sized projectile at a substantial  fraction of the speed of light. The name was far easier in everyday usage than saying – "Give me a status report on the Asymmetric Pseudo Polarity Hypervelocity Traveling Wave Accelerator."  There simply wasn't an acronym that fell off the tongue easily. Just one pellet from the device had converted an Earth orbital fort into expanding cloud of plasma during the war.

The cab Lee and Gordon were riding in left the fast lanes and drifted down an exit ramp into the heart of the Fargone government campus.  A cluster of tall building rose around them like you'd expect in smaller Earth cities with just a couple million people. Landing was the biggest city on Fargone. Fargone had a policy which limited the growth of cities as much as possible. Nobody stopped them to check identities or inspect the vehicle. It was one of the Fargoer's own automated limos and it would have never been allowed down the ramp if the passengers didn't have business here.

The open cart the father and daughter transferred to just inside the building entry however, had a driver. He gave them a gracious bow and indicated it was his pleasure to take them to Admiral Hawking, the head of Fargone Space Forces. The driver's name tag indicated he was Propensity Jones, the Fargoers being given to a different custom in names than Earth Humans.

At least they'd be dealing with a spacer who understood what they were doing. Nobody suggested Lee hand over her pistol. As for Gordon, he was much harder to disarm. Even without the ritual ax or modern pistol on his belt, a Derf could make his way through the interior of most human buildings by creating expedient doorways bare handed.

The cart delivered Lee and Gordon right to the Admiral's door and they were not trifled with by any silly Earth games such as making them wait to show status. The Admiral  stood to greet them, letting them see he wore canvas cargo shorts under what Gordon would have called a golf shirt. Fargoers were not much given to showy symbols of authority. He only wore a medallion of rank around his neck on a stout chain and would have expected quick obedience and respect if he were otherwise buck naked.

"Miss Anderson, Mr. Gordon," he bowed as deeply as their driver had. He addressed and
looked
at Lee first, so he knew what the deal was here. That was one less thing where they could bullshit him. His name plate on his desk said Admiral Serendipity Duvochek Hawking. Serendipity was a very favored given name for both sexes on Fargone.

Laying on his desk was a hammer, the square head of which was about three kilo of unpolished steel. The thick handle was carved of a dark native wood to be grippy and there was a braided rawhide lanyard a half meter long hanging from the handle. It was Fargone's
second
highest military award. Gordon had told Lee a few things he's researched about the Admiral when they were asked to this meeting, and explained they would never meet a recipient of the
highest
award, because it was only given posthumously.

"It is my custom to have a break for coffee and snacks about this hour of the morning," Serendipity explained. "Would you join me in a cup and help me regulate my blood sugar and retain my good humor this morning?"

Gordon allowed he'd take a cup with a little honey or brandy. Lee suggested a mug with a shot of bourbon would be welcome. If serving alcohol to a fourteen year old at ten in the morning bothered him at all, the admiral never let a twitch or hesitation cross his face. Maybe that was normal here for all she knew. On Earth most people would have been horrified as it was increasingly Puritanical. The age to buy alcohol in North America had been twenty-four for some time now.

"I can see written on your faces that you are unhappy. Fargone put a roadblock in your supply plans. We are not inflexible about it, or we wouldn't be meeting here to discuss it."

"Not a roadblock," Gordon assured him with a dismissive little gesture. "A speed bump at most. We have plenty of copies of the ship to ship weapons. We can simply go to New Japan to have them copied. If anything New Japan is ahead of Fargone on rapid prototyping and fabrication. We had major battle damage during the war, a hole burned straight through our ship, repaired there in only four days. Fargone may have the edge at present in actually
improving
on a design, but we are willing to forego that slight advantage to get what we need. Also, in the future we won't be sharing such captured designs with Fargone if you don't show reciprocity, so I expect the edge on improvements will shift over to New Japan if they are the opener, more accommodating society. Which is an ironic shift, given their long held reputation for xenophobia."

"But a supply switch would be an unnecessary delay. You'd have to keep your crews on hold drawing salary for another six weeks or so plus transit time to deal with New Japan."

"Better that, than to let our supposed allies start
managing
us," Lee assured him grimly. "As to expense, we have the entire fifteen percent take on the leases and development rights and outright sales of the best class A planet to hit the economy in over a decade, personal income equal to something over five percent of
your
Gross World Product right now and accelerating. In addition we have unusually large private land holdings for a prize crew and could sell mineral leases or tracts of land to raise considerable capital. So we can carry our crews indefinitely without it being any particular
burden
."

"You know Fargone has always followed a course of slow and cautious development," the Admiral reminded them, steepling his hands below his chin. "We don't mean to get into a pissing contest with outside powers, especially fast growing ones, but we have only seen public releases about what your intention is in mounting this expedition. We have legitimate concerns about how you will be representing three species and many cultures, including Fargone, to anyone you meet."

"We hadn't intended to storm through the Beyond like Cortez through the Americas," Gordon assured him. "We
are
in it for the loot, but only what is laying about unclaimed. If we run into any intelligences you may assume we'll treat them with respect. Pillage and burn, or bombard  and subjugate, wasn't on our play card. It is Lee's opinion that our spherical expansion geometry by its nature gets far too slow as its surface area increases. If there is another more aggressive star-faring culture out there, they may meet us far closer than half way, rightfully claim all the territory they bypassed in detail, and hold it reserved for their own exploitation."

"But how shall you present yourselves if you must negotiate with a new civilization, particularly a technological one?"

"As what we are, a family business," Lee asserted. "If we meet someone who desires political entities with which to seek treaties and relationships, then they will have to seek them out or request they send an emissary. We can offer trade, but we are not in the treaty business."

"These theoretical aliens may not believe an armed fleet represents a family enterprise."

"I think
you
are the one having trouble believing we are a commercial venture. There is always the possibility these aliens may not have much more use for governments than I do," Lee said. "We shall be
there
and they may not see any pressing need to deal with you at such a great distance."

"If you mean you will only supply us if we put an official government commander in charge of our expedition, so it is
not
a private enterprise, then let me make it clear. Over my dead body," Gordon said. "Go outfit and recruit and send your own expedition if that's what you want. I won't do it for you."

"No, no. I can see where you'd think that was the direction I was headed. Actually what we had in mind was far more moderate. We'd like to send a
ship
along with you."

  Gordon and Lee looked at each other. This wasn't anything they'd anticipated at all.

"
Not
in a command oversight position?" Gordon asked.

"As an observer, subject to your overall command and use, except as any commander is responsible for his vessel both as to its survival and to refuse any orders he finds illegal or morally reprehensible. But if someone you meet
does
want to treat with a government they'll have a spox aboard available with limited power to speak for us or carry messages home."

"Can your active duty military legally draw crew shares on discoveries?" Lee asked.

"That is something I have the power to regulate in ten minutes with my signature. Do you
want
them to have shares, or depend completely on Fargone to supply and compensate them?"

"I think it unreasonable to ask them, even if they are genuine volunteers, to serve elbow by elbow with others who may end up billionaires, or trillionaires, risking their lives and being gone from civilization for years possibly, without equal compensation. If we find even
one
class A world, it hardly matters if the bonus is split two-hundred fifty ways or three-hundred."

"I agree," Gordon jumped in. "If there is not resentment going in, it may grow as they think upon the matter and feel the burden of the voyage. I don't want partners with conflicted feelings, who may decide they are being used badly."

"So this
is
something you'd consider?" Serendipity asked.

"What kind of ship?" Lee asked, suspiciously.

"What would you
have
us send?" Serendipity asked her.

"The biggest baddest heavy cruiser you have in service, give the commander authority to pick his volunteers from your whole navy and set anybody he
doesn't
want on the beach, without explanation. A fast courier grappled externally would be welcome too. I rode one of those and was impressed, but we will need to modify it. I'll buy one from you if altering it bothers you," she offered.

Gordon was surprised. The man didn't twitch at her casual offer to buy a fast courier. "And send one
civilian
official of your government as a contingency and so it isn't strictly military oriented," Gordon agreed. "That should satisfy the statists... that is... the civic minded, I mean."

"This is all we wanted and more," Serendipity assured them. "Given such easy agreement, I'll see to it you immediately have access to anything you wish to buy."

"Next time, you'd get less suspicion and easier cooperation, if you go straight to asking that we
talk
, before laying out what we saw as threats and obstruction," Lee told him.

"All this originated far above me, but I'll pass that thought on to the architects of our government," Serendipity promised.

Chapter 2

The Hinth proved a real challenge to recruit. Until recently there were only a few hundred  having off-world experience who were not political sorts. The Human administrator over Hin had actually reduced the number allowed off world steadily instead of increasing them. Indeed, few Humans or Derf had ever seen a live Hinth. The few Hinth who were off their home world had received early exit permits as working spacers had been afraid until recently  to even return home to visit Hin because they might never be allowed to leave again. If Hinth currently had off-world positions they were reluctant to leave those secure postings. That might change now that the Hinth had declared the Human treaty void and repudiated it, but any sizable number of Hinth leaving the planet would take months at a minimum to happen and the fleet was leaving in a few days.

The Hinth didn't do well alone. Ha-bob-bob-brie, who Lee had met on Derfhome station, isolated himself away from his kind after a catastrophe wiped out his shipmates and family in an exploration gone bad. He'd offered his name and bared his face to Lee, in camaraderie, after hearing of her own loss of family. However other Hinth regarded him as insane to be able to live years without other Hinth companionship. In fact, the first Hinth Gordon and Lee had interviewed had visibly
shivered
and almost lost the ability to speak of it, trying to describe how abnormal his isolation was to
proper
sane Hinth. They'd had no idea when they met him that he was so unusual.

The explorers had to amend their recruiting ads to allow signing Hinth as a group. They simply were not going to get any responses for individuals. Not unless, as Lee joked, they could advertize for crew in Hinth psychiatric hospitals. Thor didn't find that funny.

  Ha-bob-bob-brie they did hire, sane or not, as crew on the
High Hopes
. Their recruiters hadn't insisted on sanity for the other races after all. He seemed perfectly functional to them. He was a planetary landing specialist and as a bonus brought his own pressure suit and surface gear he already owned and had in storage. No few of the planet bound thought they were
all
crazy to go off so far into the unknown. The best they could do on short notice for other Hinth to take along was one family group of three, who would all remain together on the
Retribution
. The Hinth threesome seems relieved they would not be with Ha-bob-bob-brie. The idea the Hinth group would be close associates to the other crewmen and not wear the mask as they would have at home on Hin took a bit to work through. It said a lot about how hard set the custom was, that they still continued to wear the mask, but hanging lowered to their breast, like a Fargoer's medallion of rank. All the marks and writing on their masks were important to them, as it spoke to what and who they were and they had no other way to show it to. It didn't seem to matter to them that not one Human or Derf in a thousand had any idea what the symbols on the mask
meant
.