In Ashes Born (A Seeker's Tale From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper Book 1) (12 page)

He shrugged. “Just cargo first, at the moment, thanks.”

“Hmm.”

“What, hmm?”

“How’s that for a name?”

“Hmm? Kind vague, isn’t it?”

“I was thinking more of ‘Cargo First.’”

He gave me a long-suffering look. “We can do better. Come on. I hear a beer calling my name.”

We trundled up the path toward the O Club, taking turns offering bad names to each other.

“Secure Can.”

“Can D. Man.”

“Barbell of Doom.”

“What if we decide to expand the fleet?” I asked.

“Barbells of Doom?”

I shook my head. “Cargo Crew.”

He looked at me as if actually considering it. “I like that but I think there’s already a CC out there.”

“Hamlet’s Ghost?”

“It’s my turn. You had Cargo Crew.”

“Sorry. Sheesh. You’re going to be this touchy when we’re partners?”

He cast me another pained look. “Worse. Hush. Let me think.”

I waved a hand rather than speak and spoil his concentration.

“Beer Runners.”

I looked at him. “Seriously. That’s the best you got after all that buildup?”

“All right, Mr. Captain. What’ve you got?”

“Black,” I said.

“Black?”

“Black, Inc.”

“That’s really bad.”

“What? You want Red?”

“Red, Inc.?” he asked.

I nodded.

He took a deep breath and blew it out through his nose. “This is going to be a long day.”

I held the door for him at the O Club and he sailed through. “We’ll think of something,” I said.

He grinned at me in passing. “We always do.”

Chapter Twelve
Port Newmar:
2374, June 6

Alys Giggone leaned over her salad and swept her gaze back and forth between Pip and me. I couldn’t read the expression on her face, but I thought it might be either indigestion or amusement. “Let me get this straight,” she said, her voice lowered to the point where I needed to lean in to hear her over the ambient noise of a lively lunch hour. “You two are going into business together?”

Pip nodded. “Yes, sar.”

She shook her head. “Don’t sar me, Carstairs. At least not at lunch.”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Skip it,” she said.

“Yes, we’re going into business together. If we can find a lawyer to make it legal,” he said.

She waved a hand. “Lawyers are easy. I know several. Tell me about this partnership.”

Pip looked to me and shrugged.

“You know about the
Chernyakova
? It’s in my jacket.”

“You commanded the salvage detail. Yes.”

“It’s had some problems and still hasn’t sold. The auctions kept failing. There’s a new one in a month.”

“And you two terrors are going to bid on it?”

I nodded.

“And use it to start a fleet,” she said.

Pip shrugged. “I don’t know about a fleet. It’s a ship. Bulk hauler. I want to test my model against a single-cargo vessel. We’ve had some good confirmation on diversified cargo ships, but the data on single-cans is less robust.”

“You’re going to buy a ship and go into business as an experiment?”

We both shrugged. “Why else?” I asked.

She sat back in her chair and took a forkful of salad. She kept looking back and forth between us as she chewed. “Profit?” she suggested.

“Ideally,” Pip said. “It’ll be hard to keep the experiment going without it.”

She ran a finger under her nose as if stifling a sneeze. “I see.”

“I could retire and live comfortably for the rest of my life,” I said. “I’ve no real need to make more.”

“You will if you sink it all into that ship,” she said.

I gave a half shrug to concede the point. “I’m pretty sure we can make a profit. At least enough to get our money back. Worst case, we liquidate the assets. We’ll probably get the ship for a bit over scrap value. If we put a few credits into it, bring it back up to spec, we’d be able to double or triple that investment without carrying a can.”

“I can see that,” she said. She took a sip of her iced tea. “So what do you need from me?”

“Recommendation for a lawyer who can get us incorporated in time to participate in the auction in Breakall next month,” Pip said.

She pulled her tablet out of its holster and flipped through a few screens. She clicked a couple of functions and both of our tablets bipped. “There are three. Two are here in Port Newmar. The third is upstairs. I’ve done business with all of them.”

Pip looked at his screen and nodded. “Perfect. Thanks.”

Alys took a few more bites of her salad and pushed the plate back from the edge of the table. Mr. Armstrong showed up at her elbow and pulled it out of the way. She continued to eye us silently while he arranged our entrees before fading into the background again.

“Who’s going to be on the board?” she asked.

“Us,” I said. “We’ll need one more.”

“Three more would be better,” she said.

“Why?” Pip asked.

“Less chance of a two-against-one bloc developing,” she said. “Who’ll be chairman?”

Pip pointed to me. “Also CEO.”

I felt my eyebrows rise. “Did we discuss that?”

He shook his head. “Captain runs the ship. You’re always going to have the veto.”

Alys said, “Not necessarily. Consider keeping those functions separate.”

“Which?” I asked.

“All three. Chairman, CEO, and captain. The function of the board is to oversee the strategic and operational direction of the company and to monitor the company’s performance.”

“The extra set of eyes,” Pip said.

“Exactly. It’ll be hard to be objective if the chairman is also the captain.”

Having filled all three roles at Icarus, I could see the wisdom.

Pip looked to me across the table. “Who?”

“How?” I asked.

“How is easy. We get together once a stanyer and have a party,” Alys said.

“We?” Pip asked.

She grinned. “You don’t think I’m going to let you two have all the fun, do you?”

Pip frowned. “I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”

Alys’s grin evaporated and her lips pursed. “Why?”

“We’re going to be on the ship. When we’re the board, getting approval is easy. With a board spread around the Western Annex?”

She shook her head. “Private company. You only really need to satisfy the stock holders. One of the roles of the board is to make sure the stockholders are happy.”

“Meaning we earn enough credits to justify the investment,” Pip said.

“You two are the savviest traders I’ve ever seen. It’s not a question of whether or not you can keep the shareholders happy.”

Pip and I traded a glance that reminded me of so many other times when Alys Giggone had left us wondering what was happening.

“What is the question then?” Pip asked.

She leaned in. “How do I become one?”

“What? A shareholder?”

Her grin changed to a full on smile. “I always knew you were clever.”

My fork scraped plate before I even realized I was eating. I found myself shaking my head, trying to clear it and catch up.

Mr. Armstrong cleared the empty and filled my cup without asking.

Alys leaned back and tapped the table with one index finger. “Basics. How many shares were you planning on?”

“Twenty-three,” Pip said.

“Interesting number. Why?”

“I’m representing Carstairs, Ltd. They committed a hundred and ten million to the venture. We planned on having it just be an extension of our operation.”

Alys shook her head. “Little ships, big profits.”

“Oh, you know my father?” Pip said, his lips curled up in an almost sardonic grin.

“I know your Aunt P,” she said.

“Good enough.”

“I’ll toss in another hundred and twenty,” I said. “That’ll give us two hundred thirty mill in capitalization. Leaves me with a majority voting block and captain of the vessel.”

“Ten million credits per share,” Alys said without so much as blinking.

I laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Pip asked.

“We’re throwing numbers around that would take my breath away if I thought about them too long.”

Pip shrugged. “They’re just numbers.”

“So you two already have nearly a quarter billion credits? Just between the two of you?”

“Well, my family,” Pip said. “And him.”

“For a land-rat, you clean up nice,” she said with a wink in my direction.

“I had a good teacher,” I said.

“How much do you think the ship will cost?”

Pip said, “Two failed auctions had high sealed bids north of two hundred mill.”

“Failed how?”

“High bidder defaulted and paid the penalty to get out from under the debt.”

“Twice?” she asked, eyes wide.

Pip nodded.

Alys looked at me. “How bad is it?”

“Looks good on paper. In person? Not so much.”

“Structurally sound?” she asked.

“It seemed like it to me. We sailed it in from about nine AU. Once we got it stabilized, we had no problems with the sails, keel, or kicker. Fusactors stayed stable. We didn’t notice anything like cracked ribs or the like. We didn’t really look.”

“You just wanted to get it docked and get off it,” she said.

“Pretty much.”

“Certified engineering inspection found no major flaws in the structure or major fixtures,” Pip said.

“That’s what you meant by looking good on paper?”

“Exactly.”

“Why’d they forfeit? Barbells are expensive ships. Those were good prices.”

Pip looked at me with an eyebrow raised. “You were there.”

I sighed. “I’ve had nightmares about that ship since I went aboard. The photos in the prospectus show a cleaned-up ship. Somebody must have cleared out the trash and thrown away the stained mattresses.” I looked to Alys’s plate. “Are you done eating? If not, we might want to hold off on this discussion.”

She cleared her throat and shook her head. “I’ve heard enough.”

“I figure we’ll need to do some major refitting to make her habitable,” I said. “She’s probably spaceworthy, based on the engineering report, but living aboard would be challenging until it’s refitted.”

“Scrap value?”

“Around one forty.”

“Your bid?”

“We’ll start at ninety and hope none of the breakers are represented,” Pip said.

“Start?” Alys pounced on that word. “It’s not best sealed bid?”

“Last two were. Hundred fifty mill reserve. Best sealed. One percent default hidden in the fine print.”

“They’re taking it to open auction?”

“They want that ship gone. Third time’s the charm.”

“Why didn’t they go to the next highest bidder?”

Pip shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe they tried. Maybe there wasn’t another bidder.”

Alys shook her head. “This business would be so much easier if there weren’t people involved.”

We both laughed.

She looked at us, her brow furrowed in contemplation. “So you two galoots are going to jump over to Breakall, bid on this death ship, and expect to walk away with it for a fraction of its worth?”

Pip shrugged. “That’s the plan.”

“Your father know about this plan?” she asked.

“I’ve sent him a message. I can’t commit the family credit without his approval. I should hear by tomorrow. Next day at the latest. We need to get the paperwork in the mill, even if we don’t sign and finalize until we hear from him. The more work we can get done before we hear, the faster we can get the thing nailed down after.”

“What if he turns it down?”

Pip looked at me.

“Then we go to Plan B. I’ll kick in fifty mill, he’ll kick in five. We’ll lease a ship, maybe one of the Damien Fifteen tractors, and keep going.”

“Not a single-cargo ship, but limited diversification is better than nothing,” Pip said.

She pursed her lips and nodded. “I’m impressed you’ve got a Plan B.”

“There’s a lot depending on stuff we have little control over,” I said. “Plan B is much more modest, has lower levels of risk and lower upside potential, but it’s also much more contained.”

“All right,” Alys said. “In either case, you’ll want a board. I still want a piece of this action, if you’ll let me invest.”

“Seriously?” Pip asked. “We could crash and burn here.”

She shook her head. “I’d be willing to bet on either one of you alone. Together? I don’t want you leaving the planet until I can get in on this.”

Pip laughed.

“Seriously. Between the two of you, one will always see an opportunity the other won’t. You did it on the
Lois
, and I didn’t see any indication that either of you slowed down much when you got out on your own.”

Pip looked to me.

I shrugged. “Let us talk it over. I’ve got no objection on the face of it, but we’d have to come up with a new capitalization scheme.”

Pip leaned forward. “How much were you planning on investing?”

“Plan A, I can’t match money bags over there.” She smiled at me. “Ben and I could each kick in ten. That would give us each one share and keep your splits largely untouched.”

“Captain Maxwell?” I asked.

“He’s the only Ben I’m willing to speak for at the moment,” she said. “We could both be on the board and you’d only need one more. If I can rustle up one more investor, each of us buys in with one share and you two will still have the voting stock between you.”