Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades (31 page)

“Yes, Ma’am,”
Lewis replied.

“With the Clever
Dream running cover, they can hit a supply shipment faster,” Ayan
replied. “I still have to firm things up with Jake, but I’m
pretty sure I can get him to do a run for us in return for the
crewmembers we’re recruiting for him.”

“That’s brilliant,”
Lacey replied. “I know the Triton is huge, but you’ll run out of
room eventually, and there’s security screening to consider. If the
Order has any intelligent people in their command chain, there must
be spies on Tamber.”

“You’re right, and
that’s why a number of our recruits will be placed with the
Rangers, while most will be moved to the Order of Eden mobile
garrisons we captured. Combined, they have room to house a little
over thirty thousand.” Ayan watched Lacey think for a moment. The
woman was working logistics through in her head. “You won’t be my
second anymore, that’s for sure.” Ayan said with a smile.

“I’m getting the
picture,” Lacey replied. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to help
me set things up, I’ll need help every step of the way. I believe
in Haven Shore, but the essentials are built now, and the political
thinking will eventually change with people like Mischa and my father
on the Council. Frost may have been wrong about how he got my
attention, but he’s right about one thing: we are exposed, and this
war has to be fought from more than one side of the Order’s
territory if we have a chance of winning.”

“What do the Carthans
have to say about this?”

“So far they’re
staying away, and the British Alliance is willing to sell me eight
extended troop transports. They’ll be getting here today. Even they
recognize the good that could come out of this.”

“You’re excited,”
Lacey said with a smile. “More excited than I’ve ever seen.”

“Everything about
this feels right, even though we have to maintain tight security and
steal resources.”

“How are you going to
maintain security?” Lacey asked. “You don’t have enough comm
bands for everyone.”

“We will, but for now
we’re maintaining a ratio of one guard to ten new recruits, and
anyone who gets picked up by the Warlord is their responsibility.
It’ll work out. There will be bumps, but it’ll work out.”

“So, what should I be
doing to help, Founder?” Lacey asked, regarding her with a teasing
smile.

“You’re going to
hate this,” Ayan said.

“Try me.”

“I’d like you to go
to the Eastern mobile garrison with a few rangers and inspect it. See
what you’ll need to get it ready as a training facility. You can
connect with a Ranger combat shuttle on the Triton.”

“I love it,” Lacey
said. “I’ve missed being hands-on and neck deep. Feels like a
great weight is off my shoulders now that I’m away from that
Council.”

“You’re not the
only one,” Ayan replied. They stepped out of the captain’s
quarters and started for the small bridge. “Oh, and ‘chicky?’”
Ayan asked, amused.

“It seemed like the
right word at the time,” Lacey replied.

Ayan chuckled. “It
got my attention.”

“I was raised in a
clean house with clean language, so I come up short when harsh words
are called for.”

“I wouldn’t call
that a failing,” Ayan replied. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Lacey sighed, the last
of the tension visibly draining from her. “Thank you.”

Ayan couldn’t help
but feel a pang of loss and guilt at forsaking Haven Shore, but
Frost’s words still cut deeper. In retrospect, she couldn’t
believe how she was pulled into the political and personal maelstrom.
It all started going wrong when she reached for Liam Grady, and it
couldn’t be more fitting that it ended within hours of Crewcast
reporting that he was out of range. For the second time in her short,
new life, she felt a calling, and it would be hard, with surprising
difficulties, but she was ready to get on with the business of
building the future – and with Lacey at her side, Oz and her father
backing her, she was feeling less alone all the time.

The Next Step

“From being
short-staffed to tripping over each other in three days,” Frost
told Jake as he finished fastening a primary power line to one of the
Warlord’s tertiary feeds. The indicators around the socket flashed
for a moment then turned green one after another. “Looks like we’re
in business.”

The stationary
generator room was almost finished. Minh-Chu could remember when it
was being used to store finished armour plates for the ship’s
interior only five days before. Ashley walked into the room right
behind and stepped off to the side with Minh-Chu. “Where’s Jake?”
he asked.

Frost pointed to the
combat-shielded antimatter enhanced mass reactor standing near the
front of the generator room. It was installed on a forty-five degree
angle beside another that matched it exactly. Three more pairs were
lined up behind it, all idling, faint indicator lights blinking in
sequence showing ready status. Captain Valent emerged from a panel on
the opposite side of the nearest one, kicked the heavy cover closed,
and took a scan using a high-powered hand tool. “That’s it, the
Big Surprise Two just looks like an old super-capacitor and a bunch
of reserve batteries.”

“We got another one?”
Ashley asked.

“We built a bigger
one,” Frost said with a grin. “It’s right under this generator
room.”

“This is a lot of
power,” Minh-Chu commented, looking at the nearest mass reactor.
There was another armoured room just like the one he was standing in
closer to the front of the ship, and a main generator room near the
centre that held most of the Samson’s older power generation
systems. “Two of these generators could power a ship with the
Warlord’s mass.”

“Aye, but the
Warlord’s no normal ship,” Frost said.

“That’s the truth,”
Minh-Chu said. “When I came in you were talking about the new
trainees?”

“He was complaining
that the ship seems a lot smaller with a full crew,” Jake replied.
“It happens when you’ve got an army of skitters and two hundred
and ten souls aboard.”

“Nevermind him,”
Moira said as she came in through the opposite hatchway with
Stephanie and Alice. “He’s been complaining about having too
little or too much since he was a tot. First it was food, then drink,
then drink and money. Complaining about too little most of the time.”

“Quiet, woman. You’ll
tarnish my sterling reputation,” Frost replied, accepting a brief
half hug from his cousin.

“I’m assuming
you’re accepting my petition to join you on this trip?” Moira
asked Captain Valent.

Jake opened a panel on
the newest mass reactor and began rechecking its status. “You’re
more than welcome to come, you didn’t have to make an official
request.”

“I did when I saw
there was no invitation coming,” Moira replied with a crooked
smile.

“I thought you’d
want to stay with the Hell Shrike. She still needs a lot of work.”

“But I’m not her
captain, was never really meant to be. What I need is a ship, and I
hear you’re hitting a supply waystation.”

“You’re going to
hitch a ride and steal a ship?” Alice asked, thrilled.

“Aye, the Hell Shrike
is packed with crew. They’re busy with repairs now, but when
they’re done I plan on peeling a few choice officers off for my own
ship. There are other seasoned captains aboard her that want to do
the same as soon as they can. May as well get started.”

“Can you get a
boarding team together?” Jake asked.

“I was planning on
going along with one of yours, figured I’ve proven myself in
training sims with your people over the last three days.”

“That’s not his
worry, Moira,” Frost said. “His people are set to take one ship
and its cargo. If you can get another team together, we can grab for
another ship.”

“Where are you
headed, Captain?” Moira asked. “Where they’ve got so many ships
lying around that you can pluck them as you like?”

“First thing’s
first,” Jake said as Agameg and Finn came through the hatch near
Minh-Chu and Ashley, closing it behind themselves. They were in a
scan resistant compartment – no one would be able to eavesdrop on
them. Jake also blocked their outgoing message capabilities on their
command and control units. “Are we still ahead of schedule on
repairs?”

“You just put us
another hour or so ahead by helping with those generators. Thank you,
Captain,” Finn said. “Room Two is all wired, the reactors all
check out. It was nice to buy something off the shelf instead of
adapting salvage.”

“I’m sure it was,
but it was expensive. We’re down to our cash reserves.” Minh-Chu
knew Jake was lying for the greater good. The cash vault they got
their hands on contained ninety-three million in Galactic Currency.
The fourteen antimatter enhanced mass reactors and their parts cost
eleven million, and the other parts Jake bought for the ship only
cost two. The rest of the cash was hidden on the Triton and the
Warlord, making Oz, Frost, David, Jake, and himself the only ones who
knew about it. A ship like the Warlord required cash reserves for
emergency repairs, bribes, and other expenses.

“It’s a good
thing,” Jake continued, “that our new crew don’t mind food and
lodgings as payment for the first tour. That brings me to the next
issue. Do you think they’re ready for action?”

“Normally I’d tell
you this is a bad idea,” Frost said. “Three days is a short time
for any new crewmember, but we got some real experienced crewmembers
out of Port Rush, and aye, they’re still learning the tricks of
this ship. Everyone we kept are able, experienced. I’d like a
couple more days though. They need to get more familiar with the
ship, come together as a team, and that takes drilling, practice.”

“I can give you four
days in transit,” Jake replied. “How about your boarding and
security people, Stephanie?”

“They’re all former
Triton crew. I’ve been able to keep Oz from poaching my people, and
I stole a couple more when I sent notices through Alice asking if any
experienced people wanted to leave Haven Shore. I’ve got a full
team with backup, and all of them fought for the Triton when she was
trapped last year. Our on-board security’s good too. I kept a
couple who are still green, but they’re mostly cut from the same
lot as the boarding team. That’s not to mention Remmy and his team.
The Rangers are disciplined and well trained. I don’t know what to
do with them yet, but I’ll find something, I’m sure. With Remmy’s
experience on the Sunspire and against the Order Knights, I’ll make
sure he’s got something to do.”

“Minh?” Jake asked,
turning to him.

“Samurai Squadron is
ready with one substitution. Joyboy is out, Tacker is in.”

“Oh, how’s Paula
doing?” asked Stephanie.

“She looks like a
little stick swallowed a giant watermelon whole,” Ashley replied to
the room’s amusement. “Healthy though, she’s due in a couple
weeks.”

“You guys made up?”
Alice asked.

“We’re civil, I
think pregnancy is calming her down a little,” Ashley replied. “Or
she’s just too tired to keep yapping at people the way she used
to.”

“Other than that,”
Minh-Chu continued, “Samurai Squadron is good, and the hangar crew
is ready. Thanks for finishing our punter systems, Agameg.”

“You’re welcome, it
was a good system to train the team on.”

“Your turn, Finn,”
Jake said. “How is the Warlord?”

“Ready,” Finn
replied. “Like Frost said, I’d like to drill the crew more, make
sure they know their way around better, but the ship is ready. Given
the four days in transit, everything will be finished, from the
aggressive shielding to fixing the creak in Alice’s bunk.”

“I’d like to
request a temporary transfer now that the ship is almost finished,”
Agameg said. “Finn is more than capable of handling the Chief
Engineer position.”

“I know,” Jake
said. “Looking to transfer to the Triton?”

“Yes, Sir, for two
weeks. They have many crewmembers in need of more training than
simulations or their existing pool of officers can provide. I have
experience on that ship, and would like to assist while the Warlord
is still pursuing non-military targets.”

“I hate to lose you,
but after everything Oz and the Triton have done for us over the last
few months, I think I owe it to them. Good luck, Agameg, we’ll miss
having you aboard. Don’t get too comfortable over there though,
you’re only getting the two weeks you’re requesting.”

“Thank you, Captain,
I won’t.”

“Now that we’re all
up to date, it’s time to lay out our next mission,” Captain
Valent said. “Normally we’d be meeting in the captain’s mast,
but our new doctors are using the space to teach some of our crew
about the emergency medical systems.”

“It’s better this
mission brief happens while we’re on our feet, anyhow,” Frost
said. “It’s going to be a busy one.”

“Right,” Jake
replied. “Thanks to a recruiting drive, our need for supplies is
doubling every week. Commander Ayan’s efforts to convert the
bunkers claimed by the Rangers and Haven Shore Regulars is probably
going to work out too, so I bet their food will start running out in
about a month. Since we’re putting our lot in with her and the
Triton, and they aren’t ready to start producing what they need, it
falls to us to acquire supplies and equipment.

“We’re headed
straight into the Iron Head Nebula, for an Industrial Starlight Port.
It’s not a Regent Galactic company, but they were contracted by
Regent to deliver supplies and materials to the Order. The Port we’re
hitting is considered safe from attack because it sits on our side of
the nebula, close to a major Regent Galactic military shipyard and
dispatch centre. They assume the Regent Galactic base could send
Order ships out fast enough to stop any attack. They think sneak
attacks are impossible too, since cloaking is dodgy near the nebula,
and impossible inside. The same matter that interferes with cloaks
makes it a little dangerous for most ships to enter the outskirts of
the nebula at high speeds, so they have to slow down at a significant
distance from the Port facility. They also have to cross through the
nebula at specific points. Our intelligence tells us that there are
major deceleration and acceleration waypoints, where ships finish
decelerating from faster than light travel or open wormholes before
heading through a safe part of the nebula to the Order of Eden
frontline. There are a lot of possible objectives there, so we’re
going to wait nearby, take our time picking our targets and our
timing.