Running With Argentine (9 page)

“We’re coasting along beside her,” said Sami.

“I suggest we… get out of here.”

En
Route to Tiffany’s Planet

It was Sami’s
idea (naturally) that Barry be hired as the pilot. She’d insisted that the
skills he’d displayed were remarkable. Argentine thought
insane
was a
better word but had more or less relented.

“This is a trial gig for you,” he said. “You still owe us
for your rescue. We’ll provide room and board but nothing more for the next few
systems on our journey. If you do a good job we’ll talk about you becoming a
full member of the crew. Are you up for that?”

“Brilliant! That’s a blinding move on your part. You won’t
get gobsmacked; I’m as good as I say I am. For the next fortnight or two I’m
your man. Consider your challenges aced!”

Argentine looked at Sami.

“He means, sure, he’s up for it,” she giggled.

ΔΔΔ

“So how many
more crewmen do we actually need?” asked Argentine.

Both he and the chief were sitting in his cabin trying to
figure out the next step. Using their newly acquired star charts they were now
en route to a medium distant planet that was home to a high tech civilization.

Argentine figured that with everything they were leaving
behind it would be a good time to use Sami’s skills to give them some distance.

“I could definitely use another engineer or two,” said the
chief. “Rory and I could use a little help on the engines but it’s mainly the
ship’s maintenance that we can’t cover. Without those extra hands the
environmental support, infrastructure, and ship’s electronics are going to
start degrading quickly.”

“Which means we need an Environmental Specialist.”

“Yeah, and let’s not even talk about damage control.”

“What about ore extraction and refining?”

“We could train our new engineers for that, but it would be
nice if at least one of them had some rock hound experience.”

Like most People’s Republic ships, the Pelican had served a
dual purpose. It was a warship but it was also designed for prospecting.

The most valuable resource in the spiral arm wasn’t jewels
or water or energy… It was the so-called Transition Metals. Gold (Au), Platinum
(Pt), Palladium (Pd), Cadmium (Cd), and Rhodium (Rh) were extremely important
to electronic and manufacturing processes and relatively rare in nature. For
reasons physicist still didn’t totally understand, some star systems held these
transition metals in relative abundance, but most didn’t.

The Pelican was equipped to not only extract and refine
these ores, but more importantly, had the sensing equipment to find them – if
they had someone that knew how to use the equipment.

This was the main reason that the Pelican had been assigned
a six man security contingent instead of the standard two-man team - the
refined ore made for valuable cargo.

“I’m assuming we also need to find a geologist,” Argentine
reminisced.

“Yes we do,” said the chief. “If we can find one he or she
should also be able to cover as our communications specialist. But I’m not
holding my breath, Argentine. The kind of geologist we need isn’t that common.”

Argentine had already figured that out. Normal ship’s
sensors fell under the skill sets of pilots and astrogators and the controls
were tied into their stations. But prospecting sensors were specialized and
typically tied into the communications station. In every navy they’d
encountered all stellar geologists were communications specialist, but not all
communications specialist were stellar geologists.

“What other skill sets can we not live without?” Argentine
asked.

“We need someone with medical training,” he responded.

“What else?”

“Information technology. We got lucky with Barry’s ship. The
protocols and logic chains were similar enough to ours to make conversion and
downloading easy. We are not always going to be so lucky.”

After a moment the chief continued.

“Everything else falls in the luxury category, more or less.
It would be nice to have a ship’s cook so everything doesn’t always taste the
same but we could live without it. It also wouldn’t hurt to have a cultural
attaché or someone with diplomatic experience, but other than that we just need
manpower.”

“Yeah, well… We’ll just have to muddle through it on our
own. Hopefully we won’t step on too many toes or violate too many taboos.”

"Really, a lot of it depends on what our long-range
plans are. Are we looking to settle down somewhere? What are we doing?"

Argentine just grunted. He really didn't want to face that
issue right now.

He also remembered something he'd been thinking about…

“Remind me to have the lieutenant put our crew through small
arms training – just in case we do accidentally ruffle some feathers.”

Establishing
Orbit

at

Tiffany’s
Planet

Tiffany’s
Planet circled Tiffany’s Star. It was another example of the original thinking
so endemic to colonist.

Unlike most planets there were actually a fair number of
ships in orbit… including what appeared to be two battleships.

Sami was literally jumping back and forth from her
astrogator’s station to the communications station, covering both duties.
Fortunately, Barry’s piloting of the ship into orbit had been routine.

“First, we’re being hailed,” Sami reported.

The entire bridge crew had been somewhat distracted by the
images their individual screens were showing.

The planet was a relative beehive of activity.

There were at least three large orbital platforms that could
be seen on this side of the planet and then an uncountable number of floating
space docks, anchor points, and other structures that were probably industrial
factories and the like.

Except for the Capital and a couple of other planets, the
People's Republic of Chezden was nowhere near this sophisticated.

"First?" Sami said again. "We're being
hailed!"

"Put it on open comm," Argentine finally said.

"What's the matter with him?" Barry whispered.

"Everyone's just amazed at how incredible this place
is," Sami whispered back.

"What? This backwater dump?"

"This is Orbital Control. Identify yourself," came
the voice over the bridge’s speakers.

"This is Argentine aboard the, uh… Pelican."

He'd realized at the last second it probably wasn't a smart
idea to identify themselves as the P.R.S. Pelican. He'd just as soon nobody
know that they were a People's Republic ship.

"We are requesting an orbital vector and docking
coordinates," he continued.

"What are your intentions, Pelican?"

"Standard resupply, Control."

After a moment, "Be advised Pelican, I'm going to need
to speak to whoever is in charge over there."

"This is Pelican, Actual," Argentine said.
"Go ahead, Control."

"I'm guessing this is the first time you've visited our
system," came the response. We don't show you in our database."

"Roger that, control. We're a first timer. Will that be
an issue?"

"Negative, Pelican. But you're going to have to take a
high orbit until a credit line can be established and docking fees agreed upon.
If you can't pay, it's best you tell us now."

Argentine caught the chief’s eye and then said, "We are
not broke and we're not rubes. As long as the fees are reasonable we should be
just fine."

"Very good, Pelican. Prepare to receive orbit insertion
instructions. Orbital Control out."

"Well, they seem like nice people," the chief
ventured.

"A bit on the formal side," Argentine agreed.
"But then if I had a set up like this I'd probably be a little bit careful
about whom I did business with…"

Sitting at his station, Barry just shook his head.

ΔΔΔ

"We've all
been a little busy keeping the ship going, not to mention having to keep
looking over our shoulders to make sure the People's Republic hasn't sent
anyone after us," Argentine started the meeting.

"The People's Republic or anyone else…" the chief
said while looking directly at Barry.

After taking care of all the details, which included a
customs visit by the local authorities, the Pelican had been invited to dock
with one of the main orbital platforms. Normally, that courtesy wouldn’t have
been extended to a warship but Argentine gathered that their weapons and
systems were so out of date that no one took them seriously.

Before they debarked through the airlock and onto the
orbital platform, Argentine thought it would be a good idea to get everyone on
the same page about what they should try to accomplish here.

He was also curious about something…

"Barry, I think most of us are a little surprised at
the reception we’re receiving here. Yet, you seem to think it’s normal. Is
it?"

Barry tilted his head and responded in a way that indicated
he was, for once, taking the situation seriously…

"I'm beginning to understand that you blokes come from
a really anal society… Total mistrust and all that nonsense.

"The real world doesn't operate that way. Tiffany's
planet doesn't seem to me to be any different than most places I’ve
visited."

Everyone was silent so he continued…

"Look, it's just not profitable for the established
systems to make it hard to work with them. For the most part, the bigger the
technological infrastructure a planetary system has, the more welcoming it's
going to be.

"Or at least it will be as long as you play by their
rules. If you're a wacko or on some holy mission bent on destruction or the
taking of innocent lives then they're not going to mess with you.

"Degenerates like that are consigned to the smaller
stations and out-of-the-way planets. Which means that those places are less
friendly, much more careful, and very dangerous."

"Okay, so as long as we play nice and abide by their
rules we should be safe here. How do we know what the rules are?" asked
the chief.

"A standard set of System Etiquette and Laws should
have been sent over to us with the original docking instructions. I can't
believe they wouldn't do that…"

Everyone's eyes turned to Argentine… He hadn't bothered to
read
everything
they'd sent over…

"Hey, I've been busy…"

When no one said anything he continued, "Okay Sami, put
it up on everyone’s screens. We might as well all go through this
together…"

Orbital
Platform III

Argentine was
frustrated.

The café was only half-full and he leaned back in the chair
at his now empty table. Staring at his half-empty coffee cup he drummed his
fingers on the small table's edge

He'd never imagined life could be so damned difficult...

Yesterday, they'd been amazed when first entering the
orbital platform. In the People's Republic of Chezden, all off planet
infrastructure was owned by the government – which meant the military.

Money wasn't wasted on decorations or convenience; simple
functionality was the theme followed by all the architects and designers.

From the moment they'd stepped onto the platform it was
obvious that they weren't in the People's Republic anymore…

The docking bays were functional, but… organized! There were
actually separate accommodations for passengers and freight.

"Why would they assign us to a VIP docking bay?"
Argentine had asked aloud.

Barry had just laughed, and walked off shaking his head
again.

It was still hard for Argentine to accept, though. Even the
portion of the docking bay designated strictly for freight had been built for
extreme safety – there were no sharp edges and awkward objects like structural
ribbing were all padded.

But all of that paled in comparison to when they’d left the
docking area and entered the main concourse.

He had never in his life seen valuable space taken up on a
ship or station by an artistic sculpture. Especially the size of this one.

In addition, the concourse was ringed with shops,
restaurants, and other various offices. There were even recruitment centers for
differing opportunities on the planet below - which is something that had
surprised him…

So he was in a good mood this morning and had every reason
to think he was in for a good day.

It had started bright and early at the platform’s offices
for Inner and Outer System Employment.

There'd been no wait at all and after spending an hour or so
responding to a computer-generated questionnaire regarding their background,
their needs, their references, and their intentions, he had found himself
sitting at the desk of a very pretty red haired and green eyed civil servant.

Judging from her smiles, Argentine got the impression that
she was enjoying the interview as much as he was…

"Captain Argentine," she'd said (he hadn't
bothered to correct her on the title). "The challenge is that you don't
have any history with us or any of the systems we cooperate with. We don't have
any way to vet you."

"Well, it's true that we're new here, but we've
established our credit and have honest paying jobs to offer… Surely there are
qualified spacers that need work?"

She had again smiled in a not unkind way.

"Not as many as you might think. At least not so many
so that they would be willing to risk hiring on with an unknown ship. Surely
you were expecting that?"

After realizing that he obviously hadn't, she continued…

"Look Captain, according to what you've told us you're
coming from down spiral. If you've never been here before you need to
understand that Tiffany's planet sets on the edge of a large swath of
independent sectors.

"We don't share a government and there's nothing
official between us, but a number of us
do
cooperate with each other;
especially when it comes to keeping the space lanes, and trade, safe.

"There's a certain etiquette, or protocol that we all
follow. It brings stability and stability brings prosperity. All of our
economies are expanding and new planets are constantly vying to prove their
worthiness to us.

"In short, anyone that does choose a profession in
space has a lot of opportunities and a lot of choice. From our perspective, we
have a growing, stable, and safe society…"

"But from my perspective," Argentine said…

"From your perspective," she cut in. "We
probably appear as insular, elitist, and biased against outsiders."

After giving her patented smile again she said, "In reality,
I think both perspectives are right. All I can really tell you is that sticking
around long enough to become known and respected is worth the wait…"

"And how does one go about doing that?"

"It might be difficult here," she admitted.
"But there is a major hub world not far away – only a few dozen
light-years. On Asperia you could probably secure a few minor contracts to at
least get your reputation established. Once you get your foot in the door, who
knows? If your employers like you it could lead to bigger things."

Trying to hide his disappointment he realized he had no
other reason to keep sitting there, so he asked, "Would you like to get a
cup of coffee?"

ΔΔΔ

Mandi, the civil
servant, had agreed to take a break and meet him at an open-concourse cafe in
another ten minutes.

Argentine had always prided himself on being a patient man,
though nobody else ever seemed to recognize it. He’d taken a deep breath…

"So you've got yourself your own little paradise
here," he’d quipped. "And you have to pay your dues to get in…"

"Well," she’d laughed. "I wouldn't call it a
paradise. We have our challenges."

Now it had been Argentine's quirky smile that invited her to
continue…

"Just this week our platform was notified that a
major
criminal might be hiding out here," she confided in mock seriousness.
"A real dastardly villain."

"What did he do?"

"
She
," Mandi had emphasized, "hacked
into our planetary database."

"Is that possible?"

"It's not supposed to be. No one's ever done it before,
at least that we know of. We almost didn't catch it this time."

"What happened?"

"I'm really not supposed to be talking about
this," she’d confided.

Argentine hadn't been able to keep from grinning.

"Well, it's not such a big deal, really," Mandi
had said. "I mean it
is
a felony but nobody got hurt in a bad way.
And you probably should be warned anyway...

"She was hacking into all the inner and outer system
personnel files. When a new ship would arrive in-system, like yours, she would
approach crewmembers pretending to be with Tiffany Planetary Security. She'd
let them know that she was there to arrest them for the outstanding warrants
they had from wherever they came from."

"How would she know about those?" Argentine had
asked, trying to hide his own concern.

"She wouldn't!" laughed Mandi. "She’d use
that line on everyone, and when she found someone that actually did have
outstanding warrants on them she let herself be bribed out of the arrest on the
condition that they left the system ASAP."

"That's…"

"Brilliant!" Mandi had finished for him.
"Even once we figured out what she was doing we still haven't been able to
catch her… She keeps hacking in and changing her photo and physical description
in our database."

"Your people
still
can't keep her from hacking
in?"

"They say they have it figured out… this time. We'll
see."

After a comfortable silence she’d said, "Captain, you
seem like a good enough person and I really do understand how difficult it can
be to break in around here.

"I don't want to get your hopes up, but I may have an
idea...

"About seven months ago a colony ship made an emergency
port of call. They had some major equipment malfunction and still haven't been
able to get it all repaired. At this rate, a lot of people are starting to
think they never will. It's just possible that some of their people might be
frustrated enough to look for other work. I've got your list of needs… Would
you like me to make some inquiries this afternoon?"

Argentine gave her his most dazzling smile.

"That would be incredible," he said
enthusiastically. "But you have to let me repay you. Let me take you out
to dinner tonight and you can tell me all about what you learned."

"I… I'd like that," she’d said with a smile.

ΔΔΔ

Argentine was
frustrated.

Ten minutes ago Mandi had left the table to return to work
and he'd been in seventh heaven.

He had a valuable lead on recruiting some new personnel that
would make everyone's life much easier.

He had a new destination and the beginnings of a plan in
mind to start building their credibility; They could begin building that
comfortable life he and the chief had always talked about.

And to top it all off, he had a dinner date with the most
attractive, fun, intelligent woman that he'd met in a long time… And she seemed
excited about him as well!

He'd been in a great mood… Until his comm had chimed.

"What is it, Chief?" Argentine had asked.

"Get back to the ship. Right now!"

"Why? What's up?" Argentine asked, sitting
straight up in his chair.

"A Haven ship has just entered the system. Barry says
it's from their Enforcer’s sect. We need to leave, now. While we still
can."

"But… That's Barry's problem! I mean… Chief, we can
find crew here…"

"I know; I know… But Barry says it'll be our problem
too if they figure out we brought him here, and I believe him. We've got to go,
Frank."

The café was only half-full and he leaned back in his chair
at his now empty table. Staring at his half-empty coffee cup he drummed his
fingers on the small table's edge.

He'd never imagined life could be so damned difficult...