Stories of the Confederated Star Systems (22 page)

Captain Denise smiled and then started laughing. "Maintain course to Germanicus. Estimated time till orbital arrival?"

"Seven days, six and one quarter hours, Ma'am," he immediately replied.

"We came out too close. If we weren't so small that could have been a disaster. Watch your calculations more carefully. I'd rather spend more time decelerating than risk hitting a star. When we are in range of the station, switch to directional laser and tell Fredrick's Station Control who we really are. I'll leave communications in your hands for a while. I had no idea that you were such a sneaky bastard." She grinned at him, and he and Olaf both laughed.

At half an hour to orbit, Silver powered up the communication's laser and contacted Fredrick's Station. "Fredrick's Station Control, this is the cargo vessel
Jolly Jane,
inbound with a cargo of food stuffs. Requesting vector and docking instructions."

The answer was immediate. "
Jolly Jane
, this is Fredrick's Station. Where did you come from? We were under attack until the CSS
Kiev
contacted us. Were you on the same vector as she was? Why didn't you contact us?"

"Fredrick's Station Control, that was us, not the
Kiev
," Silver replied. "I remembered the
Kiev's
codes from my Navy days and didn't think you'd mind a little white lie under the circumstances."

"Under the circumstances I don't think I mind at all," the Fredrick's Station communications officer said with a note of relief in his voice. "Come to course three-six-one by four-seven-one. Dock at Port Three. You'll be met."

"Understood.
Jolly Jane
out." He punched in the slight course correction and looked over his shoulder. "Captain?"

"Change course, Mister Olaf. I can't wait to hear what the station manager is going to say about this."

The Health and Customs checks were expedited, but were as thorough as anywhere else. Disease doesn't discriminate. When the hatch opened they found a dozen men and women waiting for them.

"Who is the captain?" an older man asked as he stepped forward.

"I am Captain Denise Stabenow. Who are you, sir?"

The man smiled and stepped forward to take her hand and shake it vigorously. "I am Aaron Lewis, Station Manager for Germanicus Mining and Minerals. I am very pleased to meet you. Very pleased indeed. The legality of the trick you pulled has been discussed by the system board, and unanimously found to be well within the laws of this system. Not just legal, but damn clever. Please accept our thanks for your timely and effective aid."

"It was our pleasure, sir. I have a consignment of beef from New Texas. I was instructed to contact Sheilan Vardan," she said and one of the women stepped forward.

"I'm Sheilan," she said as she smiled. "This is a double pleasure for us. The beef shipment is always a time for us to celebrate. We'll get you unloaded and then celebrate your arrival."

A dozen station personnel joined in the unloading process while Sheilan inventoried the containers. At the end she walked over to Captain Denise and nodded. "Everything is in accordance with the manifest. Your payment is one hundred thousand sixty-one credits." She handed her memo-pad to Captain Denise for her signature.

"Thank you. I need fuel before we settle the account," she said. Fuel was always the most expensive portion of their consumable goods.

"Oh, that's been taken care of by Mister Lewis. The dockhands will top off your tanks and send him the bill. It's really the least we can do for you, after all."

Captain Denise stood still for a moment, and then nodded. "Thank you. Is there any chance for a cargo going someplace? Something small enough for us to carry?" she asked with just a hint of wistful hope.

"We mostly ship bulk, but I'm sure something can be arranged. Maybe one of the--I'll discuss it with Mister Lewis after we celebrate." She smiled and left quickly, her memo-pad clutched to her breast.

Station personnel in clean clothes soon came and gathered the crew of the
Jolly Jane
for an impromptu celebration of their combined good fortune. A blip of light from the direction that the raider had fled testified that they had indeed escaped into hyperspace, and everyone relaxed as the threat was logged away.

Mister Lewis was presiding over an electric grill, cooking for his people and laughing at the jokes that were tossed his way. Men and women were all over the station commons, some playing games while others just relaxed. The crewmembers of the
Jolly Jane
were toasted over and over again by strangers who only knew them as their saviors.

The party had been going on for several hours before Mister Lewis found Captain Denise. "Ah, Captain, there you are. Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Yes, sir. All of us are." She pointed to where Olaf and Silver were telling some outrageous lies about their pasts to a crowd of onlookers. "Those two are going to be an embarrassment."

"Not to worry, Captain. I don't think anyone there believes them. Shielan tells me that you are in need of a cargo. We only have one shipment that you could hold, but it's seldom carried by any ship that doesn't belong to the consortium."

"I understand, sir," Captain Denise replied, but she was stopped by his raised hand.

"I said
seldom
, not never, Captain. As it happens, I'm inclined to trust you. We do, after all, owe you far more than full fuel tanks. Therefore, I will allow you to carry this cargo to New Hispaniola and deliver it to our consortium headquarters." He leaned forward and spoke softly. "It's a very precious cargo, and not one that we advertise exists. You see, Germanicus has a better than average supply of platinum. That was what the raider was demanding, by the way. They blew up one of our cargo shuttles and killed four of my people as a demonstration of how serious they were. This shipment was supposed to go on our next mail courier, but I'll send it with you instead. It'll land you a good profit on delivery."

Captain Denise sat back as her eyes widened. "That is very generous of you sir, and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart."

"Not nearly as much as I--we--appreciate your timely, if unconventional, assistance, Captain. Not nearly as much."

The next morning a single container was loaded aboard the
Jolly Jane
and secured in the middle of the cargo deck. "Not much of a shipment, Ma'am," Jeremiah sighed.

"Heavy metals, Jeremiah. They’re valuable enough that we'll turn a profit and small enough for us to carry. We can't ask for much more than that," she replied, then slapped his shoulder. She wasn't telling her crew what they were carrying until they were safely away.

"And free fuel. I can live with that, I guess. Cargo bay is ready for acceleration, Captain," he formally reported.

"Noted. Prepare for departure." She turned away and headed up to the control room.

As soon as she reached the control room Olaf reported, "All ship systems are green and ready for departure, Ma'am."

"Begin departure sequence. Navigation, set course for New Hispaniola. Engage main drive as soon as we are clear of the station." Captain Denise sat back and smiled in anticipation. The reaction of her crew when she announced what they were carrying should be magnificent.

C
APTAIN DENISE WAITED UNTIL THEY WERE
in hyper before she told her crew what they were carrying. Olaf was the first to react. "Platinum?" he asked in a breathy whisper.

"Platinum," she confirmed as her crew sat in slack-jawed shock. "Five-hundred million credits worth, by the manifest."

The four junior officers of the
Jolly Jane
just sat and looked back and forth between one another. After a few moments Captain Denise spoke again. "It's a fortune, but what it means is more important. We're carrying a major cargo for a multi-system conglomerate. It's a foot in the door to better, higher profit cargos from other customers. After this delivery, we'll be available for another run for GMM, or one of their subsidiaries. It's our chance at the big time contracts, and we're not going to blow it."

"What's the margin, Captain?" Jeremiah asked.

"Straight delivery fee of three hundred thousand credits. Add in our payment and seventy-six thousand credits of fuel in Germanicus and we're way ahead. Even if we don't get free fuel in New Hispaniola, we'll be over two hundred thousand ahead."

"Ho, Captain, that's music to this old man's ears," Will said, a smile splitting his face.

"That goes for all of us, Ma'am," Jeremiah agreed and received nods all around the table.

She grinned as she finished her announcements. "And, since we did get free fuel in Germanicus, we cleared the full one hundred sixty-one thousand credits. Half to the ship leaves us with sixteen thousand credits each." She grinned at each of her crewmen. "Your pay transfers will be sent to New Hispaniola with the rest of our documentation."

The trip to New Hispaniola was routine, and only took ten ship-days in hyper to complete. They slipped out of hyper, slowing bit by bit to conserve fuel. Even if it had been free, Captain Denise was not going to waste it. "Ship entering New Hispaniola space, this is New Hispaniola System Control. Please broadcast your documentation as soon as you receive this message."

Captain Denise pushed the stud on her armrest and Silver added the Germanicus Mining and Minerals information so their customer would be aware they were coming. Four hours later they received a vector from New Hispaniola System Control and settled down for the eleven days of deceleration to match speed with the system. Six hours from orbit the expected radio message was received.

"Space vessel
Jolly Jane,
follow course two-seven-five mark seven-six-one to GMM Space Dock Madrid. GMM authorities will meet you there to receive your shipment. GMM New Hispaniola Control out."

"Well, that's nice. Mister Silver, lay in the course. Mister Olaf, make course corrections to bring us into sync with Space Dock Madrid." Captain Denise sat back and smiled in anticipation as she contemplated the profit from this run.

Once they were on course, Captain Denise addressed the crew while they ate. "Our contract with GMM has a confidentiality clause. Don't tell anyone what we hauled for them. For any reason. It would cost us a hundred thousand credit penalty. I don't expect it to be much of a problem here. Just keep it in mind while we're in port."

Three hours later the
Jolly Jane
used her maneuvering thrusters to gently make contact with the docking clamps at Space Dock Madrid. It took nearly an hour for the mandatory health and security checks to be completed, but they were finally allowed to unseal the ship and open the hatch.

Captain Denise froze when she saw the welcoming committee. Fifty armed men and women were lined up with assorted weapons all pointed at the crew of the
Jolly Jane.
A single man in a stylish suit stood in front of them.

"I am Javier Tavana del Rio, Cargo Master for Germanicus Mining and Minerals. Step aside and I will verify that our cargo is intact." He motioned imperiously and Captain Denise shepherded her people to the side as del Rio and five men entered the
Jolly Jane
. A moment later ten men with a pallet jack followed them, and then all of them returned with the sealed cargo container.

"The seals have not been broken. That is good. Your Captain Stabenow will sign for the agreed upon payment of three hundred thousand credits." He held out his memo pad and Captain Denise stepped forward. She signed and pressed her thumb on the DNA scanner, then handed the 'Pad back to del Rio. "Your payment is registered. You are now required to move your vessel to another port."

"I had hoped to arrange another cargo with GMM, sir," Captain Denise began, but Mister del Rio held up his hand to stop her.

There was real anger in his eyes when he said, "Germanicus Mining and Minerals does not deal with tramp freighters."

"Sir, while the
Jolly Jane
isn't the biggest…"

"You will leave immediately. GMM does not deal with the likes of you." Mister del Rio turned and stamped away, leaving the crew of the
Jolly Jane
facing the armed members of the greeting party.

"Return to the ship," the captain commanded in a subdued tone, and everyone quickly complied. "Seal up and prepare to depart. We'll get fuel at one of the commercial ports."

"So much for the big time," Olaf groused. "Still, that run alone will net us more than we make most years, Captain," he continued as he fired up his thrusters.

"True, but I had hoped--it doesn't matter what I hoped. Nav, contact New Hispaniola Orbital Control and get us a course to another port, then plot it."

"Aye, Ma'am," Silver replied. It was only a few moments before they received instructions to one of the commercial shipping ports. "Course laid in: ready for your order, Ma'am."

"Olaf, get us out of here," Captain Denise said and the ship immediately shoved away from the GMM dock.

The commercial space port called NHSP-1 was almost as old as the
Jolly Jane
, and just as shabby. Dozens of small freighters like the
Jane
were nestled into her ports like suckling piglets against a sow. Captain Denise's first concern was fuel, and shook her head as sixty-thousand credits worth of fuel flowed into their tanks. Then she registered with the local shipping companies and sat back to wait.

"This is the worst part, Silver," she commented as she signed for a day's fees at the port. "Every day we stay here costs us five hundred credits. That's why we fuel up first thing. We can always leave if there isn't a cargo here, but there are ships that have been seized because they couldn't move or pay."

"Yes, Ma'am. I request permission to go look around. Pick up some ship's coveralls that fit right. Eat someone else's cooking." He paused and smiled shyly. "Maybe find a--a friend."

She smiled at him and said, "Check your friend's health certificate first, Silver. I won't have any diseases on my ship and I
will
leave you here." Then she waved him on his way as she went back into the ship.