"Thank you Amanda," the boss grinned as I served up breakfast. "It all looks and smells great as usual."
"You're welcome," I replied with a smile as I took my seat at the table.
Then Sarah commented, "I know it's rare for us to return to Ecclestone's World before we've used up all the best supplies, so I'm wondering if we're going to stock up again while we're there?"
We were two hours away from dropping out of jump, which meant we were only about three hours away from landing back at Port Ecclestone. And considering our destination we were all fully dressed for a change, in the kind of 'work clothes' that were appropriate for that planet.
There was a bit of quiet apprehension around the table though. The last six days had seen some ups and downs, mostly regarding the cargo we'd salvaged from the Kaden Merit.
On the positive side we were definitely going to have a good payday today. And odds were there'd be another nice payday when we reached Rolandan-2, assuming we could sell all the equipment we stripped off the derelict vessel.
We were also hoping to be able to sell off some of the salvaged cargo. The agri gear was all brand new and allegedly worth a bit of money. Same with the cases of computer gear, that was all sealed in retail packaging and looked ready to go up on store shelves.
On the other hand the rest of the cargo was kind of depressing. Those seven cases that came from the freighter's main deck turned out to be food after all, but nothing like what we were used to on the Demeter. Each case held fifty-six emergency ration packs, or nearly four hundred rations in total. Odds were that's what the ship's passengers and crew had been living on, rather than getting fresh cooked meals or even something out of an autochef.
Combined with the freighter's lack of maintenance, it painted a picture of a very unhappy ship. It left me wondering if they were flying short-handed because the captain didn't want to pay more salaries than he had to, or if they simply couldn't convince anyone else to sign on with them.
"Actually how long do you expect we'll be in port boss?" our engineer added after a sip of her coffee. "Is this just a brief layover before we ship out to Rolandan-2? Or will we be here a couple days? Will we have time for dinner at Gilly's before we ship out again?"
Rebecca was munching on a forkful of pancake and bacon so she couldn't respond right away. For that matter me and Cam had already got started on our food as well. So it was a half minute or so before the tall redhead could answer our engineer's question.
"I'd like to make it a short layover," the boss finally replied. "But realistically we'll probably be there a day or two. There's a growing list of things we need to take care of."
She paused to enjoy another bite or two of her breakfast before continuing, "Number one priority once we've touched down is to contact Nate Seyoun. He said he was in a hurry to get his goods, and I'm in a hurry to get our pay, so with any luck we'll have those containers off our ship within an hour or two of landing."
"And while we're waiting for Seyoun to show up," she added, "We'll try and contact the folks who were looking for that agricultural equipment to see if they're still interested in it. We can try and haggle over the value, maybe get a couple thousand ecks out of them in salvage and delivery fees? Ditto for the computer equipment."
I had a sip of my coffee then asked, "At the risk of bringing down the mood, what about the weapons? Are you going to contact that dealer who bought most of the Hammersmith's guns?"
That was the other unhappy cargo that ended up in our hold. Those twenty-three bins were loaded with a wide assortment of military hardware that made the Hammersmith's armoury look like kids toys. It was a lot more than just high tech assault weapons, there were cases of smart ammunition, cluster-type weapons, smart mines, the works. The most worrying were the two bins Rebecca had us seal back up the moment Sarah got the lids off. Whatever the boss saw inside was bad enough she didn't even want to discuss it.
"I don't know yet," our captain replied with a long sigh. "As much as I don't want that crap on my ship, I'm not sure I want that stuff hitting the open market. We've basically got a bunch of war crimes waiting to happen in those bins."
Sarah frowned, "I still don't understand what that stuff was doing on a civilian freighter, or why it was going to Deveron-8. Not that I think anyone should have that kind of firepower, but it definitely feels like something that maybe shouldn't be in private hands at all."
The boss shrugged, "It's not hard to guess. It might have been a clandestine government shipment? If that world really is tipping over into anarchy then it won't be long before whatever illusion of peace they've maintained in the capital collapses. Then the folks in charge are going to want to make sure they can put down any armed resistance."
"Or it could have been bound for some rich and well-connected local warlord," she added with a grim look on her face. "Someone who's got the resources and ambition to stand up to the government. Or maybe even looking to topple them and take control for themself."
I sighed, "You're talking about a coup, or civil war."
Rebecca nodded, "Yeah. It sucks but that's probably where the situation there is heading. You've got a world full of desperate hungry people, and from what the folks told us at Ganvis the government's already turned their backs on the population."
At that point I realized that our newest crew member had been silent since we all started talking. And considering we were talking about their homeworld, the conversation had become rather insensitive.
I turned towards the cat-kin and asked, "Cam? Are you doing ok?"
They shrugged then replied quietly, "I'm all right I guess. I already know my world's a mess. I just hope the folks back at Ganvis Station are going to be ok. Even if I don't really have any friends or family back there it's still kind of my home. And Jace was always nice to me, I'd hate for anything bad to happen to him."
"Me too," I agreed. "He seemed like a good guy, I hope he's doing ok."
We were all quiet for a few moments after that. Cam didn't have anything else to say, and I wasn't sure if that's because they were upset or uncomfortable with the topic. Or if there simply wasn't anything else to say on the matter.
Then Rebecca spoke up again with a change of subject, "That case of expensive liquor we ordered should have come in while we were offworld, so we'll make a point of picking that up while we're in port. Then maybe after we've finished up at Rolandan-2 we can drop in on Doc Linnz again, and see about getting clearance to Fuminja Epsilon."
"So will that be our itinerary for the next trip?" I asked. "From Port Ecclestone to Rolandan-2, then Regulon-4, and finally Fuminja Epsilon? What about after that?"
The boss shrugged, "I don't know yet, but we'll have plenty of time to think about it on the way. Depending on how things go at the research facility there's a good chance we'll want to lay low for a while. Assuming we get out of there without being killed outright."
That left another awkward silence around the table again, until I suggested "In that case maybe we can have a bit shore-leave on Rolandan-2? Give us some time for fun before we go do the dangerous stuff."
"I think we can arrange that," Rebecca nodded in agreement. Then after finishing her breakfast she asked Jenny, "Once we've landed can you contact the folks who were expecting those other two cargos? Let them know the Kaden Merit was wrecked but we salvaged their orders and are open to negotiating a fee for delivery."
Our AI nodded, "Of course captain. Do you want to handle those negotiations electronically, or would you like me to invite them to come and talk in person?"
The boss thought about that for a moment then shrugged, "Maybe you can start the haggling in those messages? Ask them for half the list price, so about six thousand ecks for the agri goods and ten thousand for the electronics? I doubt either of them will go for it since odds are they've already paid for the goods. Let them know they can come and talk to me in person if they want to argue about it."
"Is that legal?" Cam asked. "I mean, if they've already paid for the stuff then doesn't it belong to them?"
Rebecca shrugged again as she drained the last of her coffee, "Strictly speaking the merchandise doesn't become their property until they accept delivery. In this case the goods were lost in transit, and assuming they had insurance they might be able to get their money back. If they didn't have insurance then their only option is to order the stuff all over again. That means paying full price a second time, then waiting however long it takes for the replacements to show up."
"Giving the original purchasers a chance to take it off our hands at a discounted rate is win-win," she added. "They get their goods immediately if they're willing to pay our salvage fees, and we free up our hold space and get the money right away. Otherwise we can try and sell it for close to full price to anyone who's interested. More money for us, but potentially more work and time to find a buyer."
We ended up spending the rest of our time in jump discussing stuff like interstellar shipping laws and customs. We also talked about the difference between professional salvars who respected the rules and customs of their trade, and unscrupulous scavengers who did not.
Rebecca knew some folks viewed both groups the same way, and maybe there was a little blurring of the lines in a case like the Kaden Merit where the ship was basically a grave site. But she made it clear that she didn't disrespect the deceased, and didn't pick through their personal property. The only reason she entered personal cabins was to account for the crew and passengers, and the only things she took from those cabins were the sheets she wrapped the bodies in. The ship's safe was kind of an exception since it was located in the captain's cabin, but technically it was ship's gear rather than personal property.
The discussion reminded me of the Hammersmith, and I realized it was the same there. As far as I knew the only personal cabins Rebecca entered were mine and Sarah's, and she only did that so the two of us could retrieve our own belongings.
When the time came for the ship to drop out of jump the boss got to her feet and asked, "Sarah, Cam, how about you two join me in the cockpit again? So our newest crew member can get a little more experience with that side of the operation."
"Amanda and Jenny you two can take it easy for the landing," she added.
That was basically a repeat of our departure a little under twenty days earlier. The android and I were seated in the ship's lounge for the descent, and based on the sounds and vibrations coming through the deck I could estimate the Demeter's speed and altitude as we headed down into the planet's atmosphere.
We remained seated until the ship was safely on the ground and I could feel the engines shutting down, then I got up and headed forward to the cockpit to check on how the landing went. Rebecca was already on the comm, making arrangements with Seyoun to come and get his shipment. Meanwhile Cam was in the engineering seat and Sarah in my copilot position.
It only took the boss a half minute to sort things out with our client, then even though we'd all heard the conversation she still announced "He'll be here in thirty minutes to collect his goods."
"I'll give you a hand offloading stuff when he arrives," Sarah offered. "Or at least, I'll be there to back you up if you need me."
I added, "Me too. Although I don't imagine any of us are going to be lifting shipping containers. Seyoun's probably going to bring his own people with the equipment necessary to move those things."
Rebecca smiled, "Amanda's got a point, but I still appreciate you both keeping me company. Just make sure you're both armed when we head down to open up the hold."
"Right," I grimaced.
Before we let the cockpit the boss made another call on the comm, this time to that Elaine Rho place. She confirmed that they received her shipment, and made arrangements for us to go over and pick up the fancy liqueur later today.
After that Rebecca Sarah and I all strapped on our sidearms before heading down to the main hold, while Cam stayed up on the main deck with Jenny.
Our customer showed up right on schedule, with a flatbed grav-sled. He also had a handful of heavily armed employees with him, and I couldn't help worrying that I'd been right about the guy being shady. Fortunately Seyoun wasn't looking to cause trouble, and it seemed like his guards were there to protect his goods rather than threaten us.
They also had a set of grav-assist lifters, so they could move the sealed shipping containers out of our hold and onto their vehicle. That process was over in about twenty minutes, and a satisfied-looking Seyoun handed our captain a dozen bars in payment.
"I admit I had my doubts about you," he said as he gave Rebecca the money. "But you and your ship lived up to your reputation. Good work Captain Piper, I'll keep you in mind if I need your services again."
The boss nodded, "Thank you Mr. Seyoun, it was a pleasure doing business with you."
That was the end of that, and as Seyoun and his 'assistants' left with their cargo we sealed up the ship again then headed back up to the main deck to join Cam and Jenny. They were sitting at the table in the mess, and as soon as we got there our AI shared some news with us.
"I've exchanged a few rounds of communications with both business contacts for the other shipments," Jenny informed our captain. "I know you were more interested in unloading the agricultural equipment due to its size and weight, so I took the liberty of handling that transaction completely. As you suggested I opened with an ask of fifty-percent list value, and after two rounds of haggling we've agreed on a thirty-five hundred eck salvage fee. The contact is on their way here now with the cash so they can claim their merchandise."
That put a wide smile on Rebecca's face as she replied, "Excellent work Jenny. What about the computer gear?"
The android replied, "You said you weren't in as big a hurry to move that, so when the contact balked at our initial asking price I suggested they could come and negotiate with you in person."
"Sounds good Jenny," the boss replied. "In that case we'll deal with the rest of the cargo right now, and visit the booze merchant and the port authorities afterwards."
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"Thank you Amanda," the boss grinned as I served up breakfast. "It all looks and smells great as usual."
"You're welcome," I replied with a smile as I took my seat at the table.
Then Sarah commented, "I know it's rare for us to return to Ecclestone's World before we've used up all the best supplies, so I'm wondering if we're going to stock up again while we're there?"
We were two hours away from dropping out of jump, which meant we were only about three hours away from landing back at Port Ecclestone. And considering our destination we were all fully dressed for a change, in the kind of 'work clothes' that were appropriate for that planet.
There was a bit of quiet apprehension around the table though. The last six days had seen some ups and downs, mostly regarding the cargo we'd salvaged from the Kaden Merit.
On the positive side we were definitely going to have a good payday today. And odds were there'd be another nice payday when we reached Rolandan-2, assuming we could sell all the equipment we stripped off the derelict vessel.
We were also hoping to be able to sell off some of the salvaged cargo. The agri gear was all brand new and allegedly worth a bit of money. Same with the cases of computer gear, that was all sealed in retail packaging and looked ready to go up on store shelves.
On the other hand the rest of the cargo was kind of depressing. Those seven cases that came from the freighter's main deck turned out to be food after all, but nothing like what we were used to on the Demeter. Each case held fifty-six emergency ration packs, or nearly four hundred rations in total. Odds were that's what the ship's passengers and crew had been living on, rather than getting fresh cooked meals or even something out of an autochef.
Combined with the freighter's lack of maintenance, it painted a picture of a very unhappy ship. It left me wondering if they were flying short-handed because the captain didn't want to pay more salaries than he had to, or if they simply couldn't convince anyone else to sign on with them.
"Actually how long do you expect we'll be in port boss?" our engineer added after a sip of her coffee. "Is this just a brief layover before we ship out to Rolandan-2? Or will we be here a couple days? Will we have time for dinner at Gilly's before we ship out again?"
Rebecca was munching on a forkful of pancake and bacon so she couldn't respond right away. For that matter me and Cam had already got started on our food as well. So it was a half minute or so before the tall redhead could answer our engineer's question.
"I'd like to make it a short layover," the boss finally replied. "But realistically we'll probably be there a day or two. There's a growing list of things we need to take care of."
She paused to enjoy another bite or two of her breakfast before continuing, "Number one priority once we've touched down is to contact Nate Seyoun. He said he was in a hurry to get his goods, and I'm in a hurry to get our pay, so with any luck we'll have those containers off our ship within an hour or two of landing."
"And while we're waiting for Seyoun to show up," she added, "We'll try and contact the folks who were looking for that agricultural equipment to see if they're still interested in it. We can try and haggle over the value, maybe get a couple thousand ecks out of them in salvage and delivery fees? Ditto for the computer equipment."
I had a sip of my coffee then asked, "At the risk of bringing down the mood, what about the weapons? Are you going to contact that dealer who bought most of the Hammersmith's guns?"
That was the other unhappy cargo that ended up in our hold. Those twenty-three bins were loaded with a wide assortment of military hardware that made the Hammersmith's armoury look like kids toys. It was a lot more than just high tech assault weapons, there were cases of smart ammunition, cluster-type weapons, smart mines, the works. The most worrying were the two bins Rebecca had us seal back up the moment Sarah got the lids off. Whatever the boss saw inside was bad enough she didn't even want to discuss it.
"I don't know yet," our captain replied with a long sigh. "As much as I don't want that crap on my ship, I'm not sure I want that stuff hitting the open market. We've basically got a bunch of war crimes waiting to happen in those bins."
Sarah frowned, "I still don't understand what that stuff was doing on a civilian freighter, or why it was going to Deveron-8. Not that I think anyone should have that kind of firepower, but it definitely feels like something that maybe shouldn't be in private hands at all."
The boss shrugged, "It's not hard to guess. It might have been a clandestine government shipment? If that world really is tipping over into anarchy then it won't be long before whatever illusion of peace they've maintained in the capital collapses. Then the folks in charge are going to want to make sure they can put down any armed resistance."
"Or it could have been bound for some rich and well-connected local warlord," she added with a grim look on her face. "Someone who's got the resources and ambition to stand up to the government. Or maybe even looking to topple them and take control for themself."
I sighed, "You're talking about a coup, or civil war."
Rebecca nodded, "Yeah. It sucks but that's probably where the situation there is heading. You've got a world full of desperate hungry people, and from what the folks told us at Ganvis the government's already turned their backs on the population."
At that point I realized that our newest crew member had been silent since we all started talking. And considering we were talking about their homeworld, the conversation had become rather insensitive.
I turned towards the cat-kin and asked, "Cam? Are you doing ok?"
They shrugged then replied quietly, "I'm all right I guess. I already know my world's a mess. I just hope the folks back at Ganvis Station are going to be ok. Even if I don't really have any friends or family back there it's still kind of my home. And Jace was always nice to me, I'd hate for anything bad to happen to him."
"Me too," I agreed. "He seemed like a good guy, I hope he's doing ok."
We were all quiet for a few moments after that. Cam didn't have anything else to say, and I wasn't sure if that's because they were upset or uncomfortable with the topic. Or if there simply wasn't anything else to say on the matter.
Then Rebecca spoke up again with a change of subject, "That case of expensive liquor we ordered should have come in while we were offworld, so we'll make a point of picking that up while we're in port. Then maybe after we've finished up at Rolandan-2 we can drop in on Doc Linnz again, and see about getting clearance to Fuminja Epsilon."
"So will that be our itinerary for the next trip?" I asked. "From Port Ecclestone to Rolandan-2, then Regulon-4, and finally Fuminja Epsilon? What about after that?"
The boss shrugged, "I don't know yet, but we'll have plenty of time to think about it on the way. Depending on how things go at the research facility there's a good chance we'll want to lay low for a while. Assuming we get out of there without being killed outright."
That left another awkward silence around the table again, until I suggested "In that case maybe we can have a bit shore-leave on Rolandan-2? Give us some time for fun before we go do the dangerous stuff."
"I think we can arrange that," Rebecca nodded in agreement. Then after finishing her breakfast she asked Jenny, "Once we've landed can you contact the folks who were expecting those other two cargos? Let them know the Kaden Merit was wrecked but we salvaged their orders and are open to negotiating a fee for delivery."
Our AI nodded, "Of course captain. Do you want to handle those negotiations electronically, or would you like me to invite them to come and talk in person?"
The boss thought about that for a moment then shrugged, "Maybe you can start the haggling in those messages? Ask them for half the list price, so about six thousand ecks for the agri goods and ten thousand for the electronics? I doubt either of them will go for it since odds are they've already paid for the goods. Let them know they can come and talk to me in person if they want to argue about it."
"Is that legal?" Cam asked. "I mean, if they've already paid for the stuff then doesn't it belong to them?"
Rebecca shrugged again as she drained the last of her coffee, "Strictly speaking the merchandise doesn't become their property until they accept delivery. In this case the goods were lost in transit, and assuming they had insurance they might be able to get their money back. If they didn't have insurance then their only option is to order the stuff all over again. That means paying full price a second time, then waiting however long it takes for the replacements to show up."
"Giving the original purchasers a chance to take it off our hands at a discounted rate is win-win," she added. "They get their goods immediately if they're willing to pay our salvage fees, and we free up our hold space and get the money right away. Otherwise we can try and sell it for close to full price to anyone who's interested. More money for us, but potentially more work and time to find a buyer."
We ended up spending the rest of our time in jump discussing stuff like interstellar shipping laws and customs. We also talked about the difference between professional salvars who respected the rules and customs of their trade, and unscrupulous scavengers who did not.
Rebecca knew some folks viewed both groups the same way, and maybe there was a little blurring of the lines in a case like the Kaden Merit where the ship was basically a grave site. But she made it clear that she didn't disrespect the deceased, and didn't pick through their personal property. The only reason she entered personal cabins was to account for the crew and passengers, and the only things she took from those cabins were the sheets she wrapped the bodies in. The ship's safe was kind of an exception since it was located in the captain's cabin, but technically it was ship's gear rather than personal property.
The discussion reminded me of the Hammersmith, and I realized it was the same there. As far as I knew the only personal cabins Rebecca entered were mine and Sarah's, and she only did that so the two of us could retrieve our own belongings.
When the time came for the ship to drop out of jump the boss got to her feet and asked, "Sarah, Cam, how about you two join me in the cockpit again? So our newest crew member can get a little more experience with that side of the operation."
"Amanda and Jenny you two can take it easy for the landing," she added.
That was basically a repeat of our departure a little under twenty days earlier. The android and I were seated in the ship's lounge for the descent, and based on the sounds and vibrations coming through the deck I could estimate the Demeter's speed and altitude as we headed down into the planet's atmosphere.
We remained seated until the ship was safely on the ground and I could feel the engines shutting down, then I got up and headed forward to the cockpit to check on how the landing went. Rebecca was already on the comm, making arrangements with Seyoun to come and get his shipment. Meanwhile Cam was in the engineering seat and Sarah in my copilot position.
It only took the boss a half minute to sort things out with our client, then even though we'd all heard the conversation she still announced "He'll be here in thirty minutes to collect his goods."
"I'll give you a hand offloading stuff when he arrives," Sarah offered. "Or at least, I'll be there to back you up if you need me."
I added, "Me too. Although I don't imagine any of us are going to be lifting shipping containers. Seyoun's probably going to bring his own people with the equipment necessary to move those things."
Rebecca smiled, "Amanda's got a point, but I still appreciate you both keeping me company. Just make sure you're both armed when we head down to open up the hold."
"Right," I grimaced.
Before we let the cockpit the boss made another call on the comm, this time to that Elaine Rho place. She confirmed that they received her shipment, and made arrangements for us to go over and pick up the fancy liqueur later today.
After that Rebecca Sarah and I all strapped on our sidearms before heading down to the main hold, while Cam stayed up on the main deck with Jenny.
Our customer showed up right on schedule, with a flatbed grav-sled. He also had a handful of heavily armed employees with him, and I couldn't help worrying that I'd been right about the guy being shady. Fortunately Seyoun wasn't looking to cause trouble, and it seemed like his guards were there to protect his goods rather than threaten us.
They also had a set of grav-assist lifters, so they could move the sealed shipping containers out of our hold and onto their vehicle. That process was over in about twenty minutes, and a satisfied-looking Seyoun handed our captain a dozen bars in payment.
"I admit I had my doubts about you," he said as he gave Rebecca the money. "But you and your ship lived up to your reputation. Good work Captain Piper, I'll keep you in mind if I need your services again."
The boss nodded, "Thank you Mr. Seyoun, it was a pleasure doing business with you."
That was the end of that, and as Seyoun and his 'assistants' left with their cargo we sealed up the ship again then headed back up to the main deck to join Cam and Jenny. They were sitting at the table in the mess, and as soon as we got there our AI shared some news with us.
"I've exchanged a few rounds of communications with both business contacts for the other shipments," Jenny informed our captain. "I know you were more interested in unloading the agricultural equipment due to its size and weight, so I took the liberty of handling that transaction completely. As you suggested I opened with an ask of fifty-percent list value, and after two rounds of haggling we've agreed on a thirty-five hundred eck salvage fee. The contact is on their way here now with the cash so they can claim their merchandise."
That put a wide smile on Rebecca's face as she replied, "Excellent work Jenny. What about the computer gear?"
The android replied, "You said you weren't in as big a hurry to move that, so when the contact balked at our initial asking price I suggested they could come and negotiate with you in person."
"Sounds good Jenny," the boss replied. "In that case we'll deal with the rest of the cargo right now, and visit the booze merchant and the port authorities afterwards."
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