Inadvertent Adventures (34 page)

Missus Easterbrook shook her head. "Still, twenty-five percent is excessive. We would be willing to go as high as ten percent after a five-year grace period."

"I say no deal," Denise muttered.

"Agreed," Olaf said in a stronger voice.

Missus Easterbrook looked at Ann and Sterling, but the answer was clear in their expressions. "I cannot agree to twenty-five percent without board approval."

Ann shrugged. "Then we have no agreement. Good day." She stood and the rest of her officers stood with her, then they all turned away.

Denise looked over her shoulder at the stunned GMM team. "Mister Lewis, when you see your Mister Javier Tavana del Rio, remind him that GMM does
not
do business with tramp freighters." Then she joined the others as they walked away.

Behind them they heard cursing as Thom and the security detail escorted the very disgruntled GMM team from the ship.

T
HE DAY BEFORE BRANDON'S TRIAL WAS
to begin, a different visitor arrived. Harriet Fairmont came aboard without prior notice. Not even a com-call to say she was in the Deutschland System. She just showed up at the dock and asked for her baby.

"Annie!
Annie, there you are!" she called out as Balder escorted her into Control.

"Mom!?"
Ann all but shouted as she stumbled out of her chair to embrace her mother. "Mom, what are you doing here?"

"Why looking for you, silly," Harriet replied. "And where is that boy?"

"Right here, Ma," Sterling said as he walked up, and was immediately enfolded in a hug. "Nice to see you again, too."

"Sterling, you naughty boy. You didn't even stop in to say hello when you were in Hobson's."

Sterling was suddenly a six-year-old boy again and said, "I'm sorry."

She smiled at the tone of his apology. "Well, so long as you aren't dead again, I suppose I can forgive you."

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Ann asked again.

"Oh, I want to invest in your system, of course."

Ann and Sterling shared a long look. "You want to invest in Farflung?" Ann finally asked.

"Of course. That silly resort has been turning a wondrous profit for the past few years. Enough that I can afford to build another satellite over Farflung. If, that is, I can reach an agreement with the system government." She smiled and patted Ann's cheek. "Close your mouth, dear. That's impolite."

Sterling recovered first and asked, "Ma, you want to build a resort over Frisland?"

"Oh, of course not, you silly boy," Harriet replied with a grin. "I want to build a spaceport."

"Mom, how could you-?" Ann began, but let her voice fade.

"Annie, that resort has been turning a very good profit. And since neither the Hobson's Planetary Government nor ConfedSec could find out who that dreadful Pahna Mah's partners were, it's all been going to me. It seems that none of the partners want to be identified or associated with his dirty dealings."

Sterling chuckled. "Imagine that. Where are you staying, Ma?"

"With you, of course. I just arrived from Hobson's."

Ann and Sterling shared another glance, then Ann took her mother's arm. "We have room for you, Mom. Where's your luggage?"

Balder chuckled. "I put it in stateroom fifteen, Captain." Ann gave him a mild look, but he just laughed it off. "I couldn't see you saying 'no' to her anymore than I could say no to my mom." Balder froze as a horrified expression crossed his face. "Oh, that's a terrible thought."

Harriet shook her finger at Balder as she and Ann passed. "You be nice to your mother, young man."

Balder sighed, "I see where she gets it," as Sterling passed.

"Oh, yeah," Sterling agreed.

An hour later, Harriet was in the wardroom enjoying coffee and cakes with the crew of the
Revenge
. She'd been very pleased to meet all of them, especially Katrina. "You're such a wonderful cook, young lady. Wherever did you learn to make such delicious cakes?"

Katrina smiled deeply and blushed. "I learned here, Ma'am. Captain Ann let me experiment."

"Very good, Annie. Encouraging such young talent is always a good idea."

Mandy chuckled. "It hasn't always worked out that well. She's never poisoned any of us, but a few of her recipes got the 'Never Again' stamp from the rest of us."

"Oh,
pshaw
! That's the price of inspiration. It'd be a dreadful bore if everything always turned out perfect. Then there'd be no room for improvement. Young lady, you just keep on as you are."

Katrina grinned and ducked her head in embarrassment. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Well, since everyone is here, let me make my pitch." Harriet sat up straight and took a sip of coffee. "I want to ship materials out to Farflung for the port. Such an odd name. No matter. I propose building a small spaceport. Just enough for ten or twelve small freighters like the
Admiral Ann's
Revenge
. Nice name, by the way. Fitting. I've already purchased the bulk freighter YSL3620 and renamed her
Narcissus.
It was really only their twentieth ship, but they threw the '36' in front of it to make them look bigger than they were."

"Ma," Sterling interrupted, "how big is the
Narcissus?
"

"She's a big one, but she's too old to keep in service. Too expensive to keep up the repairs."

"How big, Mom?" Ann persisted.

"Three kilometers long and one across, with an empty mass of seven hundred thousand metric tons."

The room was totally silent except for the gentle sigh of the ventilation system.

Sterling finally found his voice. "How in the universe could you afford that?"

"Oh, it wasn't hard. Yvette System Limited Shipping went bankrupt. Seems some of the board of directors absconded with the bulk of their liquid assets not long after that nasty affair with the Amberson Cartel and left the Confederacy. Several lucrative contracts also fell through, and there was some talk of insurance fraud as well. The government wouldn't bail them out because they were a small company, so the whole thing was sold off. The
Narcissus
was one of their oldest ships and I got it for scrap prices. Just nineteen million credits." She grinned at the expressions around her. "One of Andy's friends helped arrange it. Another provided me with a delightful set of plans."

"Mom, what are you up to?" Ann asked.

"You'll see. Now don't interrupt. It's rude." She set a holo-projector on the table and keyed it to life. Above the table now hovered a huge ship that slowly morphed into a space station. The ship was an older design, with the engines, control, and crew's habitat just a wart on its aft end, and the huge bulk cargo space sitting in the front like a sausage. It was the space-going equivalent of a tug pushing a barge. "The
Narcissus
forms the central hub, and also provides a good portion of the construction materials, especially hull plating for the outer rings. Only the crew's habitat and engine room will be retained intact, and they'll form most of the hub. The rest of the materials for the station will be shipped inside her."

Sterling raised his hand to get her attention. "Ma, how much did you spend on this?"

"Everything together cost four hundred million credits. The
Silver City
made that last year. The construction crew will just cost another six million. It's not that much, really."

Balder whistled. "That's a lot to us."

"Today, perhaps," Harriet said with a smile, "but in a few years you'll shrug off such a sum with hardly a thought."

"She's got a point," Carrie-Marie said as she looked around the table. "I'm in favor of the proposal."

"Wait," Bart said, holding up a hand. He looked Harriet in the eye and asked, "We get a prefabricated space station in Frisland orbit, but what do you get?"

"Immortality, young man."

"Huh?"

She giggled. "It's the Harriet Fairmont Space Port, dear boy. The first in Frisland orbit." She grinned at the stunned look on Ann's face. "That's why I named the ship
Narcissus
."

Ann whined,
"Oh, Mom!"
as the rest of the crew laughed.

* * *

Brandon Von Rubenstein's trial was short and bitter. He never denied what he'd done. He never showed the slightest hint of remorse. He maintained that he had a
right
to Katrina's portion of Farflung and Frisland. He was, after all, her father. His blood ran through her veins. Eliminating Ann and Sterling was just a way to increase his share. Killing Bettina would have been a bonus that would have allowed him to reclaim his ancestral home. He was, after all, Brandon Eric Von Rubenstein.

It was over in just three horrid hours. Brandon was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Bruno Windholt was a different story. He maintained that he was just following his employer's orders. It took seven days, but in the end he was convicted of committing the same crimes, and was given the same sentence.

The news reached the
Admiral Ann's Revenge
just before they left orbit. Once again, they were headed to Beloofte. "And so it ends," Sterling said as he sat back in the helmsman's chair.

"So it does," Ann agreed. "Countess Alexandra informed Katrina that Brandon's shares have been divided between her brothers and sisters. Johan is taking Brandon's seat on the Board of Directors and voting their proxies." She shook her head slowly. "Kat didn't receive any. The paperwork disinheriting her was upheld."

Sterling nodded. "I think they made up for it."

Ann chuckled. "Her new chemistry set?"

"If you want to call that fully-equipped chem-lab that is now inhabiting the E-1 Level berthing compartment a chemistry set."

"You know, we
are
going to have to hire a new cook in Beloofte, Sterling. Kat is going to be too busy working on Frisland to spend any time in the kitchen."

Sterling nodded without looking around. "I'd been thinking along those lines as well. We might want a few extra personnel in other areas as well. Especially engineering."

Ann stretched in her seat. "I've been thinking about who we need with us to explore Frisland. Kat is our bio-chemist. I'm not about to take that away from her. But we need other scientists as well: botanists, organic chemists, straight-out biologists, even ichthyologists and marine biologists. Frisland has a lot of oceans to explore."

Denise chuckled. "What we need is a full university science department."

"That isn't a bad idea," Ann mused. "Or even several." Ann hit the com button on her panel.

"Wardroom,"
Katrina's voice answered.

"Kat, which university did you get your degree from?"

"Berlin University, Dresden Campus. Why, Ma'am?"

"I'll explain later." She clicked the com off, and then looked at her husband. "Sterling, before we're out of range, see if you can get me in contact with the dean of Berlin University."

"Aye, Ma'am," Sterling replied, already punching buttons. It took five minutes and three repeats of his identity to get a line straight to the Dean.

"This is Dean Von Braun. To whom am I speaking?"

Sterling looked over at Ann, so she answered. "Dean Von Braun, this is Captain Annette Stevenson of the
Admiral Ann's Revenge
. We are boosting out for Frisland, and a thought occurred to us. Would the university be interested in establishing a research post on Frisland?"

There was a moment of silence on the com, then the dean replied, "Very much so. Under what terms?"

Ann looked at Sterling and said, "Helm, reduce power. Nav, get us a high orbit and coordinate with the helm. We may not be leaving yet." She clicked her com back on and replied, "Dean Von Braun, we hadn't really considered this until now. My thought, on behalf of my crew, would be to allow you to establish a small research station to investigate the native flora and fauna, and the sea life as well."

The dean was silent for a long moment before he replied, "It would be quite expensive to establish such a post. I had hoped the Frisland Government would be willing to finance it." He paused as Ann shook her head. "I was afraid of that when I heard some of the news reports. I would have to present the idea to the board of trustees for approval, and arrange a sponsor to pay for it. And I would have to locate sufficient staff to man it. I could not give you an answer in less than ten days."

Ann gave Sterling a silent shrug. "Dean Von Braun, on behalf of the Farflung System Government, I invite Berlin University to send a one-hundred person research team to Frisland. This will not, however, be the only invitation we will be extending. If your university decides to create such a station and you can arrange funding, you may send your people at your convenience. I recommend a ship capable of making landfall to provide both facilities and habitat for your people. Frisland is a cold place, and there is no infrastructure in the system to accommodate them."

"Thank you, Captain Stevenson," the dean replied. "Since there is no hurry, I will have my professors work up a proposal to present to the board. I personally favor it. It's not often that a new habitable biosphere is discovered, and I imagine that the rest of the trustees will agree." He smiled briefly. "Several of them are involved in pharmaceutical research concerns that regularly fund such expeditions. I would expect at least one, if not several of them, to jump at the chance to explore what your planet has to offer. If that is the case, our ship will probably be two or three months behind you. And once again, thank you." He chuckled. "I had actually been trying to find an opportunity to approach you, but you're a hard person to get in to see. It seemed that every moment of your time was taken up with other matters."

Ann sighed. "Yes, Dean Von Braun, it sometimes seemed that way to me as well. Very well.
Admiral Ann's Revenge
, out." Sterling cut the connection and turned to face Ann. She shrugged. "Resume course when our orbit brings us into position."

Sterling and Denise answered, "Aye, Ma'am," and began their calculations.