A Brother's Debt (2 page)

Step did as he was bid and trailed along behind the bureaucrat as he led the way through the counter, past the lady, and down the corridor beyond. It didn’t take long for them to reach Ri Charid’s small office, where he settled himself behind his desk, and gestured for Step to take the seat across from him.

The seat was made of hard uncomfortable plastic, with nothing to pad it, and Step did his best to ignore the discomfort, reminding himself the pilot seat of an Ageta fighter was worse, and he was not likely to spend as much time in that chair as he had strapped into his fighter while on patrol.

“Before we do anything else, Mr Velkin,” Ri Charid said once they were both seated, “would you mind placing your chip on the scanner, so I can confirm your identity.”

Step was not surprised by the request, and did as asked without hesitation. Pushing up the sleeve of his shipsuit he placed his forearm on the plate set in the desk at the side of the computer. The plate lit up as it scanned the chip embedded in the bone near his wrist, first checking to be sure it hadn’t been tampered with, and then reading the data on it.

As the data appeared on the screen before him the bureaucrat read it. “Stepanovich Mikhail Velkin, thirty one galactic standard years. Chamri in the Mulnoy navy!” Ri Charid looked up, surprise, and a tinge of respect, on his face. “We don’t normally get officers out here on the frontier, at least not on anything but official business. Usually it’s the washouts and burnouts who come here. The ones who can’t cope with life in the navy. Whichever navy it happens to be.”

“I wouldn’t be here now, but for my brother.” Step remarked. “He said he was in trouble and needed my help, but before I could get here you guys notified me he was dead.”

“You have my deepest sympathies.”

Though Charid did his best to sound sincere Step wasn’t convinced, but neither did he care. It didn’t matter to him whether the bureaucrat across the desk was actually sorry about his loss, a part of him wasn’t sorry either. He’d been close to his brother once, until Andrei joined the navy. He followed suit, once he was old enough, only to discover his brother had become a gambler, a bad one, and made friends with people who were anything but good for him.

Too many times Andrei had called for help, and he had bailed him out, in one way or another. It had finally come as a relief when Andrei was caught selling Navy property to pay off a gambling debt. He was seventeen light years away at the time, flying combat patrols from the Jel Tuk Na’Ru battle-station, too far away to help. The distance had saved his career, by ensuring he could not be associated with his brother’s actions, and thrown out of the navy with him.

After that his brother had moved to the frontier and he had heard from him only occasionally, and not in the last three years until his message arrived, four weeks before. He was in the biggest trouble of his life and needed help.

Step had been surprised to find himself arranging a leave of absence, and booking transportation to Hanratty station. He had supposed he just wasn’t the sort to let his brother down when he needed help, no matter what had happened in the past.

“Can you tell me how he died?”

He had to wait a few moments while Charid searched for the information. “I’m afraid not, all the system will tell me is when he died, nine days ago. You’ll have to speak to someone in the medical bay to find out how he died, or possibly someone in security.”

Given his brother’s past troubles, and the contents of his message, Step was not surprise to hear station security was involved in his death. “If security is investigating his death, are you able to release Andrei’s body to me?”

“Yes,” Charid said, after consulting the screen again. “Security have released the body, you are free to do what you wish with your brother.

“If you like, I can assist you in making arrangements to ship your brother’s remains wherever you wish to take them. Alternatively we can provide any kind of service you feel would be appropriate, within certain limitations. All of our services are provided at minimal cost.”

It wasn’t something Step had to spend any time considering. There had been plenty of time for him to think about what he was going to do with his brother’s remains during his journey to Hanratty. He had also had ample opportunity to become accustomed to the fact of his brother’s death. Having expected it almost from the moment Andrei had announced he was going to the frontier sector, ‘To live how he wanted to live’ had made it easier to accept.

Since they had no other family, taking Andrei’s body anywhere would be a waste of time and credits. “A cremation here will suffice.”

“Do you require anything special?” Charid enquired, entering information into his computer. “Was your brother a member of a religious order, for example? We have representatives of most major religions on board, they would be happy to officiate at a service, though it may take a little longer to arrange and require an additional fee.”

“No, Andrei wasn’t religious.”
‘Except when the cards were going against him,’
Step thought, remembering listening to his brother whisper prayers to every deity he could think of when he was losing.

“Would you like ashes to be provided? Some people cannot afford the expense of transporting a loved one home. Ashes provide an opportunity to observe whatever rites or protocols are relevant to your culture, without the difficulty of transporting a body.”

Step shook his head. “That isn’t necessary. No ashes, thank you.”

“Then the service will be,” Charid took a moment to go through a few things on his computer, “two hundred and fifty credits. I’m afraid I must ask for payment now.

“Thank you, Mr Velkin,” he said when Step had made the payment from his credit account. “Here you go,” he handed over a small strip of clear plasfilm, “this tells you where the service will be held and what time, just slip it into any information board and the board will provide you with a guide card. If you already have one it will program your destination into it.

“Now that that is out of the way, may I enquire whether you have made arrangements for somewhere to stay? We have an assortment of hotels and hostels on the station, in a variety of price ranges.”

“That shouldn’t be necessary. As my brother’s only living relative I believe I should have inherited his ship.” Though they hadn’t stayed in contact since Andrei moved out to the frontier, Step did know his brother had bought a ship and was operating a transport service, he was also pretty sure he hadn’t married. If he had married Step was sure Andrei would have told him, and he would not have still been listed as his next of kin. “Can you confirm that the ship is now mine?”

“I’m afraid not, that would be a legal issue, you will need to speak to someone from that department. If you’ll give me a moment I’ll see if the person handling your brother’s case is available.” With that Charid opened up a coms line and contacted the woman whose name was listed in the file on his screen.

Chapter Three

“Here you go, Mr Velkin, this is Bund Fret’s office,” Ri Charid said, a floor above his own office. “She will be able to give you all the information you need with regards to any inheritance resulting from your brother’s death.”

“Thank you, Mr Charid.” Step found himself speaking to the man’s back; the bureaucrat had already turned away and was walking back down the corridor towards the elevator.

The door to the office opened almost immediately, following the chime that announced his arrival, and Step entered. The office he found himself in was larger than Charid’s, with a screen covering most of one wall displaying a planetary scene of a tropical beach bathed in sun. The screen indicated the importance of the lady behind the desk, and seeing it made him a little nervous, for no reason he could have articulated.

“Good afternoon, Mr Velkin,” Bund Fret greeted the scout pilot briskly the moment he was through the door. “Please, take a seat.” She indicated a pair of chairs that looked infinitely more comfortable to Step’s eyes than the one he had occupied in Charid’s office. “Now, I understand from Mr Charid that you are here about the estate of one Andrei Velkin, your brother, is that correct?” she asked once he had taken a seat.

“Yes, Ms Fret. May I ask why a senior financial/legal administrator is dealing with my brother’s estate? I would not have thought his estate contained anything more than a few outstanding debts and an assortment of personal items, the only item of significance he possessed to my knowledge was his ship; nothing that should warrant the attention of someone as senior as yourself.”

“At the time of his death your brother owed the station a large sum of money, a sum which, as his legal heir, you are now responsible for,” Bund Fret said briskly, without any attempt to ease into the news. “That is why a senior financial/legal administrator, myself, is handling his estate.”

Step was silent as the news sunk in. He was not surprised to hear his brother had been in debt when he died, Andrei had been in debt on numerous occasions, and he’d figured that was the case again the moment he got the message from him. What he hadn’t expected to hear was that the debt was a legal one. “When you say a large sum of money, exactly how much do you mean?”

The senior administrator didn’t need to consult her computer, she already knew the figure. “At the time of his death your brother owed the station thirty eight thousand, three hundred and twelve credits.”

To say Step was shocked would have been an understatement. “How did Andrei get in so much debt?” The figure was almost twice what he earned in a year, and far more than any of the other debts he had helped to bail his brother out from.

Bund Fret did have to check her computer to come up with the answer to that question. “It appears that most of your brother’s debt, a little over twenty three thousand credits of it, results from an incident where he crashed his ship into the station. Your brother was charged eighteen thousand, four hundred and fifty credits in repair costs, and fined a further five thousand credits for reckless endangerment of the station, and station personnel.

“The remaining fifteen thousand credits of the debt are made up of hospital bills, docking fees, an outstanding payment for a load of fuel, fines for disorderly conduct and violation of station safety protocols, and penalties for late or unpaid fines and payments. Not to mention interest accrued on all of that.”

Step sighed. “Andrei never did anything by halves. So what happens now?”

“Well we have already taken steps to reduce the debt, and calculate ways in which it can be reclaimed. Your brother had one hundred and forty seven credits in his account when he died; a sum we have applied against the debt, leaving thirty eight thousand, one hundred and sixty five credits owing.

“We have also made an effort to inventory your brother’s possessions.” She produced a plasfilm printout, which she handed across the desk. “It was not an easy task, your brother was not an organised man, and his ship is somewhat, cluttered,” she said, after a momentary hesitation, during which she seemed to be considering the best word to use. “What we were able to inventory we have valued, to determine whether your brother’s possessions would raise enough money at an auction to cover his debt.”

“And the results of that valuation?” Step asked. His eyes were on the list he had been given, rather than on the administrator before him. From what he could see his brother’s ship had been filled with numerous items at the time of his death, none of which appeared to be worth much according to the valuations on the sheet he held.

“Including the ship, the total value of your brother’s possessions is twenty three thousand, seven hundred and ninety eight credits. That is only a valuation, I hasten to add, if they were to be sold it is likely that your brother’s ship, and its contents, would fetch considerably less than that.”

“So you’re saying Andrei’s assets are not sufficient to cover his debts.” As he spoke Step was mentally calculating how much of a shortfall there was. By his arithmetic he needed at least fourteen thousand, three hundred and sixty seven credits, and probably more than that, to cover the difference. During his time in the navy he had managed to save a fraction under thirteen thousand credits; it wasn’t enough.

“That’s correct. Given the fact that your brother’s possessions are not worth enough to cover his outstanding debt, we are left with several options to deal with this situation.”

“And those options are?” Step was not used to his brother’s debts being owed to people who operated within the law, even if the law was that of a frontier station. Always before when Andrei had found himself in debt, it had been to people who resorted to violence when they weren’t repaid in a prompt fashion and who would have already sold the ship and everything in it.

Chapter Four

Knocking discreetly the young woman entered the office. The door slid closed quietly behind her as she walked over to the desk, where she waited patiently to be acknowledged.

“Yes, Crezia?” Ettore Carboni pushed his keyboard away and looked up at his daughter.

“I’ve had word from our source in administration,” Crezia Carboni told her father. There was a seat next to her, but she made no attempt to sit. No one, not even his children, sat in Ettore Carboni’s presence without permission. “Andrei Velkin’s brother has arrived on the station.”