13 Degrees of Separation (41 page)

“No problem,” Mairi replied, trying hard not to grit her
teeth. “You know it's not all fun and games right? Most of it is milk runs
between the station and the yard, running crew and cargo back and forth. Rock
hunting is even worse.”

“I still thank you for the opportunity to try,” the Veraxin
replied.

“Sure,” Mairi said, now a little off balance and
uncomfortable. “Never say I didn't do my part to thwart the idiot paper
pushers,” she grunted. “Go do a preflight on the new tug. I'll come along to
check on you in a minute,” she said.

“Thank you,” the Veraxin said again before bowing and
skittering backwards on all four legs. The young woman watched the centaur
alien easily climb the side of the tug and enter the cockpit.

“She's good,” Freeze said.

“If you think so,” Mairi replied, a little hurt that she
wasn't the center of attention anymore. Or soon wouldn't be.

“Look Mairi, we need this. We need to continue to grow as a
company. And quite frankly, you need a break kid. Having someone spell you so
you can have a day or two off would be nice.”

“True,” Mairi replied and then sighed. “Fine.”

“Clio's sent you the paperwork. You can go over it later.”

“Paperwork?” the girl asked, now disgusted. Freeze
chuckled, shaking his head as he left. Mairi swore softly.

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

Mairi talked with Harif about having to train Yuri, and the
situation with her mother at their next date. She resented both. “I don't
understand what they want from me! I mean, I thought I was doing fine! Now I'm
getting flack both at home and from my mother!” she growled, throwing her hands
up in the air. Her mother had been pushing for more credits. That was too bad,
if she wanted more she'd have to get a regular job. Mairi had tried to get her
to do work at Ralph's but Alice had seemed a bit put out by the idea, and
besides her mother had nixed it as below her. So much for that idea, she'd
thought.

Harif was supportive, he listened to her or at least seemed
to do so but he didn't offer any advice either way. For some reason he was
strangely distant to her and brusque. When he left she was confused and hurt.

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

Howie, Shari, Freeze, Sparks, and the others still working
for the station put in for their accumulated time off. Joe tried to tell them
it was a bad time but Sparks just shrugged it off. “So was that last pay cut
boss. We're making the yard.”

Joe suddenly understood. He nodded. “Make it work then.”

Freeze nodded. “We will. We'll call you when we're set.”

“Do that. You aren't the only ones tired of this crap. I'm
sick of getting it in the neck, stuck between the brass and you guys. I want
more.”

“Well, we'll keep that in mind Joe,” Sparks replied with a
grin.

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

Clio traced the various financial dealings surrounding the
Yard Dogs. She'd seen a lot of suspicious activity, the other corporations kept
tanking their stock, buying it and then selling it at a loss to drive the price
down, then buying it up again. She wasn't sure why, they couldn't control the
company, the shares were what mattered. None of the Yard Dogs were selling
theirs, in fact any time someone put up a share it was snatched up by a holding
company in seconds. Hurting their stock prices just made it harder for them to
raise capital... maybe that was it? She puzzled over that for a moment before
she shrugged. She didn't have the experience in finance as the other AI did.
The thoughts did bring up another point, the share holders. She'd seen some
strange dealings there. She checked the listings and found a holding company
had a healthy chunk of shares.

So! she had discovered a secret share holder. She used her
banking contacts to trace the holding company to a series of shell companies.
When she got to the source she was even more confused. Immediately she sent off
a request for a meeting.

She confronted Hishina in private, in the old woman's
private room. Hishina only agreed to the interview if it was private and if
both parties signed a standard Non Disclosure Agreement first.

“Mind your own business holdings?” Clio began. The various
holdings traced out behind her on a virtual wall as she laid out her evidence.
The name of that one struck a humorous tone however, something the normally
frigid Fu wasn't known for.

Hishina Fu drank her virtual tea, serene, not at all
bothered by the AI or what she had to say. She was the picture of Ancient Asian
perfection, red kimono dress with nice crisp lines, gray hair up in a perfect
bun, paper white face and body like fine china. She sat there on her knees,
content. “Yes it is me,” she said simply.

“I can't believe it! You and Yan...” Clio paced, one hand
holding the folds of her virtual toga up. Here in the Fu house hold the cloth
had real weight and texture. It was an odd feeling for one not used to such as
her.

“No, just me,” Hishina replied. Her wise old eyes caught
Clio's. “What Yan doesn't know will not hurt him.”

Clio blinked at her in confusion. “You are...
not
doing this with your husband?” she asked. “This is a... private endeavor?”

“Correct,” Hishina replied coolly as she set the tea cup
down with a slight clink of china. “My husband insulted
my
honor in
denying Fleet Admiral Irons and in actively conspiring to prevent him from
protecting this station and system. In his insults to the military and in those
who served to protect him.”

“Why?” Clio demanded.

“That you would have to ask Yan,” she replied quietly.

Clio shook her head, golden locks bobbing. “No, why help
us?”

“Because, a long time ago my family was in the military. My
father died on the line. Most of my family served honorably at one time or
another.” She smiled a small smile of memory. “Including me,” she said ever so
softly.

Clio blinked at her again. “Well, this is a surprise.”

“Yes. I do not want anyone to know of it, not even the
Warners. Consider it part of the NDA Clio,” she said, leveling her eyes on the
AI.

“Fine,” Clio replied testily.

“Understand me Clio,” Hishina said, looking directly into
the AI's avatar eyes. “I do this for the benefit of all. I am
not
setting you or the others up to fail, quite the contrary. I
want
them to
succeed. I
want
them to build something lasting, to start the rebuilding
process here and abroad. To show others that they can too, and to shame those
who stood in their way. And I want them to build something to help defend this
system. I for one know the pirates will return when they realize we are here.”

“I wish the others on the council would!”

“They have their own agendas. Now that Fleet Admiral Irons
has left the very real threat is starting to sink in to even their greedy
minds. I believe the winds of fate will shift in favor of the Yard Dogs
shortly.”

“I hope so.”

“Was there anything more?” Hishina asked politely.

“No, thank you,” Clio replied. They bowed. She waved her
fingers and transferred herself out.

Chapter
10

Kennet got the bar hearing postponed due to pressing
station business. He was informed however that he would have to attend the next
appointment a week from the former date or be tried in abstention and possibly
permanently disbarred without any defense or appeal. He scowled and tossed the
form into his electronic trash.

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

With the Tribecca project finally under control they split
into two groups, one to continue the solar farm maintenance and expansion, and
the other returned their attention to building the actual yard. It was tough,
but they had more materials stockpiled and the work with the solar farm had
given them a great deal of practice.

A week into the actual job of building the yard and they
were half way finished building the new slip. It was a basic structure, no
frills, at least not now. One of the main problems was getting the supply
sorted out. Twice they had been forced to shut down due to interruptions with
the truss factory. Once due to a lack of titanium, the second time because the
solar panels powering the small robotic factory had been occluded by an inner
planet as well as one of Antigua's moons in some form of eclipse. The power
hiccup hadn't been for more than an hour, but it had been long enough for the
little factory's computer brain to shut down. And of course once it shut down
it had to go through a full POST routine and clean itself before it went back
online, a full day affair.

They were still having fitting issues as well. Things that
were designed to go together with millimeter precision sometimes warped in the
sunny heat, and ultra cold of the shade. The differential was a pain in the ass
to adjust for. Howie, Shari, Petunia, and the other space hands cussed while in
their new suits welding and fitting parts to the scaffolding. Instead of
finishing the scaffolding like they had planned they were instead rigging guy
wires to stabilize it and also laying out the grand block module. “I hate being
in a suit, can't itch!” Howie bitched.

Mairi turned to see him. She was at ends, she'd planned to
make another run at a rock but there was a problem with fuel so they'd called
the trip off. Now she was bored, looking for something constructive to do.
“Itch on your own time hairball. Right now focus on the job,” Mairi said with a
smile in her voice.

“Yeah right. You come out here and handle this why
dont'cha?” Howie grumbled. Mairi frowned, that had been an all too familiar
taunt as of late. They resented her sitting in her nice comfortable cockpit all
shift.

“Sure,” Mairi replied, coming out of the bitch and over to
the work crew.

“And what the hell do you think you're doing?” Howie and the
others demanded when they caught sight of her.

“You wanted me here I'm here,” she smiled, taking up the
spare torch. “I've done salvage work since I could see over the bitch's
controls. This is easy,” she said getting to work.

“Well tack, don't cut,” Howie warned, turning a critical
eye on her welds. They were cherry, cooling rapidly in the cold vacuum. “Damn
glad we're in shade. Those lights are awesome,” he said.

“True,” Mairi replied.

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

Not all of the material Mairi was bringing in could be used
right away by the yard. Getting a little devious and wanting revenge, Gwen and
Riff had Clio play the market. When they put an order in for silicon,
magnesium, and copper in they watched the prices sky rocket as the other firms
who had been watching the dog's purchases sprang and started buying up any
existing stockpiles for sale.

The dogs waited until the price had nearly tripled before
they offered their own stocks onto the market. Pete's pets, the Umbrella Corp,
and two small startup companies snapped up the stockpiles at over five hundred
credits a kilo. They made a small fortune before someone on the other side
realized what was going on and the trade price plummeted. Gwen snickered as
McDougall, Rinwerks, and Sunrise Metals all tried to get out and took a bath on
their ill gotten gains.

“Serves em right,” Riff said, crossing his massive arms. “I
think they'll be a bit more cautious about pulling this trick from now on,” he
rumbled.

“Hopefully,” Clio replied, not at all sure their deception
was legal. It passed her ethical subroutines, but only just barely.

“Hopefully we won't need to buy from the market anymore,”
Gwen replied. “Now that we've got our own tugs. What's next?” she asked,
turning to the AI.

“Well, we're still having control issues with the reactor.
The core isn't up yet so we've got it housed in a transhab in the main slip. I
did a prewarm test this morning and I received some odd readings. Can you take
a look at it? I've got some work to do with the bank.”

“Sure,” Gwen said, nodding her massive head. “Not a
problem.”

“Are you two going to move into the barracks? I mean when
it's finished?” Clio asked, not at all sure about the Taurens with their hooves
and horns in what for all intense and purposes was a balloon.

“No,” Gwen replied, shaking her head. “It's not the room,
it's... well, there isn't any need. We'll stay on as shareholders and
consultants, you know, help out when we can, but we like it on the station.”

“That and we don't want to lose our life time lease,” Riff
rumbled.

Clio nodded in understanding. “Ah, gotcha,” she replied.
“Smart. I think most of the others are thinking the same thing.”

“Probably. Quarters on the yard will be nice in time maybe,
but it's a far cry from the station. I'll commute thanks,” Gwen said.

“Me too,” Riff replied.

“And me three,” Clio replied with a half smile. “I really
got to run. But I'll be back later next shift.”

“We got this,” Gwen replied, waving a massive three
fingered hand. She was already pulling up the sensor readings from the reactor
test run.