13 Degrees of Separation (42 page)

...*...*...*...*...

Kennet was forced to attend the next bar hearing despite
his attempt at getting it canceled. D'red had been informed of his last excuse
and had informed the council that Kennet was a liability and his apparent
actions were exposing the station to legal and financial risk, risk they could
ill afford. The members took official notice of Kennet and inquired. When D'red
explained the situation and absently informed the board that Kennet had used
the excuse of pressing council business to delay his disbarment hearing Kennet
could only sit there and fume. He glanced at his mentor and saw disappointment
writ all over his face and demeanor. That he'd expected, he had screwed up.
Screwed up again, and he had no way of getting out of it. Yan was no longer
responding to his requests for an interview. He had been ducking them for
months, now he didn't even pretend to politely put them off. Being cut off was
humiliating.

He stared, angry as the council voted to suspend him for
thirty days to give him time to deal with the disbarment 'with the fullness of
your attention' Yan said, reading the verdict. “After your hearing the council
will consider your actions and decide if you are worthy to remain on this
governing body.”

Kennet felt intense shock at that, more so than ever
before. He could only stare as he was forced off the council and his codes
suspended. His virtual presence was returned to drift in the net. Adrift he
tried to decide what to do. He felt his presence being drawn to the judicial
wing and let himself go.

He stood there, not offering any defense or comment as the
hearing dragged on. In humiliation he was disbarred from practicing law on the
station for one year. He nodded curtly and then left the hearing.

...*...*...*...*...

They finished the first slip, the first transhab barracks,
and one attached module cluster nearly 8 months after Admiral Irons left. The
module was called a grand block module, a giant space with various machinery
designed to assemble blocks of a ship into a larger chunk of the ship which
would then be passed on into the slip for final assembly into the body of the
ship. It was large, 685 meters by 900 by 700. It came out as they had planned,
431.55 million cubic meters of space, enough to house the equipment to build
and repair ships... at least until they built the add on modules later. Once
they did that the space could go for its intended purpose. It had a massive set
of doors that opened onto the slip. When closed they allowed the vast chamber
to be pressurized and heated so the yard workers could work within it in a
shirt sleeved environment. When the doors opened they would be able to pass
equipment in and out, or parts for ships.

Mairi ferried everyone over in a transhab module designed
to act as a transport or emergency vessel. Eventually they would have a
dedicated tug that would make the rounds between the station and the yard. She
hoped they'd pick someone else for that chore, it was too boring for her.

When they docked the crews piled out. Everyone who could be
there was, they all wanted a chance to look around at what they had achieved.
They admired the cavernous interior after they tested it's atmospheric
integrity. “Air is cold,” Sparks said, watching his breath drift away from him
in a cloud. It was also a bit dark, only half lit.

“I like it,” Freeze said, looking around. The lights were
on, or at least half of them. They still had a long way to go to finish the
space, but at least they could work inside out of a suit.

“Why?” Sparks asked.

“Cause it's
ours
,” Freeze replied, grinning. He blew
a lungful out, watching it front around them. “Very cool.”

“The light bill for this place alone is going to suck,”
Savo muttered. They needed this to work, they had to make it work. They could
keep building but eventually, with no paying income they would fold. Payroll
alone was sucking up a lot of their cash. They were in the red again despite no
longer having to pay for the warehouse and selling the surplus fuel and
material to the station. Just barely in the red, but enough red ink could drown
them again. There was something Clio had warned them about a company that
operated in the red for a period of time could be seized, forced into
liquidation bankruptcy by the courts and its assets sold off to pay creditors.

“Not when we've got a fusion reactor and solar panels,”
Shari disagreed. The exterior of the slip and the various modules had solar
panels all over them. The little panel maker was churning out a dozen or so
panels a day depending on how much silicon they could turn over to it. She
understood now why they needed a surplus of material, having a steady supply
would insure a consistent output from the factories... and would prevent any
hiccups from interrupting their building schedules.

“And just think, this is just the first,” Gwen said,
turning to admire the space. “Each slip is supposed to have what 6 of these?
And each of these are supposed to have their own modules for sub component
fabrication and assembly. They all feed into this thing.”

“What trips me up is that the admiral's notes said this is
just the beginning. Like you said. We've still got to build the core module of
the station itself. When that's done we'll be able to have what 8?” Riff asked,
turning to Gwen. She gave him a thumbs up. “Yeah, thought so, 8 of these slips.
And we can stack core modules. We can build this place as big as we want!” he
said grinning.

The first thing built in the grand block module was another
tug, this one a full sized, 4 kiloton version that could reach the asteroid
belt and bring back over a hundred tons of material. It was automated with a
rather simple dumb AI so Mairi wouldn't have to give up her precious ride. The
AI was limited so she was informed she or someone else might have to
telepresence the craft from time to time. Hopefully up close, distance
telepresence in the main belt would be incredibly hard to pull off.

...*...*...*...*...

When they had the tug inspected and it passed, they
immediately had it fly a test flight and then sent it off on its first mission.
Word got around the station of the achievement. There was consternation in some
quarters, sparks of interest in others. Sid and Emily Berkheart along with the
other council members confronted the Warners and Clio. They demurred any
questions due to conflict of interest. “So you can make tugs and shuttle craft?
Why didn't someone say something!” Sid demanded, thoroughly disgusted.
"How? Without the keys, we're screwed!"

“I'll direct your inquiries for any vessels, services, or
construction to sales,” Taylor replied with a tight lipped smile.

“But Taylor, why didn't you say anything?” Sid demanded.
"You know the boat we've been in!" Sid shook his head. He deeply
regretted the admiral's departure. The council hadn't appointed many engineers
to the council, and none of the surviving old guard had engineering keys. The
Warners had a few, but they were military grade and very limited in use. They
also flatly refused to use them for the station's benefit.

Draco and a dozen cybers had originally been the keeper of
the keys on Prime. When the station had been hit by the Xeno's and hid, many
had died or had gone insane. He still held reservations as to why they had gone
insane just before that vote to hide the station. Draco had never said
anything, and he had been judged insane as well.

That drastic action had left them in a tailspin, with no
engineering support. The Admiral's intervention had been in many ways a gift
from the gods, but he'd been an officer, he couldn't give keys to civilians.
That was why he had pushed for the return of the system constitution and
central government. Suddenly Sid's eyes widened as he realized Irons' intent.
All along the admiral had pushed for a constitution and Governor, and now he
had a small inkling as to why. Irons could have been trying to get support for
his Naval projects yes, but a system Governor held certain keys as well. That
Governor could appoint an industry board and distribute civilian grade keys to
a limited number of people. Of course the legalities were a bit more
complicated than that...

“Because it was proprietary information,” D'red interjected
with second level agreement. Sid hauled himself back to the here and now.
Taylor looked over to the attorney and nodded. “As well as a conflict of
interest. Which was why each of them have abstained from votes involving the
Yard Dog company's interests.”

“Correct,” Rasha replied.

"How?"

"Again proprietary. But, I will say this. If you
bothered to look at craft, even ship components, you'd realize there are some
things even the station can do. Fuselages for one. Or factories that make the
fuselages."

"Or fittings. I see what you are saying. We have been
willfully blind, seeing the lack of keys as a limitation, instead of a
challenge to overcome. I'm guessing Irons gave you some key codes before he
left," D'red said, but both Warners remained mute.

“Can we order a tug?” Sid asked hopefully.

“Sure,” Taylor replied with a shrug. “I'd ask you what
class, but again, I'd direct you to...”

“Sales. Right,” Sid said, already placing the call.

“Yard Dog inc Sales Department this is Alice, how can I
help you?” Alice said over the speakers. Emily snorted at how professional
Alice sounded.

Sid glanced at the others but when no one spoke he took the
lead. “Alice, this is Sid Berkheart and the station council. We were speaking
with Taylor here and he referred us to you.”

There was a long pause as Alice digested that. “Certainly,”
she finally said. “How can I be of help?” she asked cautiously.

“Well, we are interested in purchasing a tug. A new built
tug, possibly more than one.”

“I'm certain we can work out a contract. Would you like me
to come over so we can discuss the details in person?” she asked.

Sid smiled at the other avatars. Yan didn't say anything.
Finally he shrugged. “Sure, please do,” he said, checking the schedule. “We're
clearing a block for you in twenty minutes if that's okay?”

“That will give me just enough time to get there. If you
can clear it with security?” she asked.

Emily sent a series of mental commands. When she received a
positive reply she smiled. “Already done Alice, we're looking forward to seeing
you,” she said.

“I'll be there with the brochures,” Alice said, sounding
excited. The line clicked shut.

“Well! Since she's on her way, why don't we go over the budget
a little. Can we check the discretionary fund and see if we have enough for at
least one tug?” Averies asked, smiling.

...*...*...*...*...

A few minutes after the meeting and the public announcement
that the station had purchased two yet to be constructed tugs, Yard dog sales
started getting inquiries for the construction of shuttle craft and tugs from
the station. Alice was smug about it. When McDougall put in a feeler her eyes
glittered. “Let em stew!” she growled to Desi. “They can go to hell! Or wait
till it freezes over!”

“Now, now Alice, that's no way to treat a client!” Clio
tisked. Alice snorted. “But you are right, we are rather swamped so we'll just
have to tell them to wait their turn now won't we?” she asked, smiling a feral
smile. Alice chuckled.

...*...*...*...*...

Now that they had an operational base they closed the
warehouse on the station. The tug started diverting fuel from the delivery to
the station direct to the Yard Dogs. Immediately the station squawked. Alice
grinned and offered to sell their surplus to the station. For a long time the
station had charged them, charged them fees to process and store their own
fuel. Now the tables had turned. The squawking turned louder when they were
given the new price too.

“Let em squeal,” Savo said, eyes dancing. “Just let em
squeal. Their turn.”

The station council was pissed about the change and bump in
price. Clio sweetly remind them of all the crap they fed the dogs over the past
year. They grumbled but signed a new contract to keep the cost down and made
the initial down payment.

“No more free rides,” Howie said rubbing his hands
together. “Say, can we make another of those platforms?”

Sparks grinned to his partner before he slapped Howie on
the shoulder. “Hell of an idea kid. Glad you thought of it.”

“I did?” Howie asked and then saw the electrician’s
expression. Slowly he returned the smile and then chuffed a laugh. “Yeah, I
guess so, huh?”

...*...*...*...*...

At the usual Monday shareholder meeting, they were
surprised to find people packing the bar. Alice was amused, Ralph refused to
turn the customers away. Since they didn't have enough room to seat all the
share holders they decided to meet in the berth. An awe of disappointment from
the audience made Shari and a few others smirk. Ralph was a little put out when
many of the potential customers left.

“I got this,” Alice said, winking and waving the others
away. “I'll let Desi fill you in on sales,” she said, nodding to the sales
girl. Desi responded with a matching nod.

Alice however dragged a presentation holo transmitter out
into the middle of the bar and then set up. Interested, a few people lingered
to see what she was up to. When she was ready she gave a basic presentation of
some of the things the dogs had accomplished and what they were capable of
doing in the future. Many patrons listened with renewed interest.