"Eighty four thousand credits worth. The portable shelters and other survival gear are expensive though, there's got to be something we can do to get all the essentials with the cash we have," Ayan replied. “We might not have anything left to barter for landing space with if we buy temporary shelters though.”
"Well, at the price she's offering we can afford about a hundred four-man shelters with environment units built in, but that's no where near enough if we want to perform extensive repairs on our ships." The portable shelter fit in a half a meter by fifteen centimetres thick box. Laura carefully put it back into the case with the rest of them.
"I checked the exchange, if we had come along two months ago with the same money we'd probably be able to buy half of everything here. The cost of food and survival gear are up, big time," Jenny said quietly.
"I know," Ayan said pensively. "We can't do anything about that now though. We have to work within our means."
Laura looked down then back up to Ayan with a grin. "I wonder what her shipping containers are worth?"
"Well, I assume we might get one with the food we ordered, so that one might be built into the price."
"What if we bought an extra one or two? It's not like they have to have systems built in, we can rig survival machinery, and we can pick up the containers if we have to move them later with at least one of the ships we commandeered in the Ossimi Ring."
Ayan smiled and nodded. "I bet she has an extra or two." She looked for the Captain but saw one of her men instead. "Can you get on comms and fetch the Captain, please?" Ayan asked sweetly.
"Skipper!" The crewman hollered. "They're ready to close the deal!"
Captain Sima came up the stairs a few minutes later. "Figured a few things out?"
"We may have," Ayan said with a winning smile. "We're wondering what the going rate for empty shipping containers is."
"Not much, free if you have a ship with a hauler hitch and you're fast enough to pick one up before the junk yard scavengers get to 'em."
"I'll pay you to help us get a couple, how does that sound?"
Captain Stills looked over her shoulder to a much smaller ship with four swivelling engines and a great claw underneath that looked like the Samson's maxjack then back to the foursome. "You have a deal, miss."
"I was also wondering about that landing space. I need to move my people today."
"I’ll be level with you on this, since I bet it’ll go far with you. Most Port Masters are right pricks when it comes to setting people up, charging too much and double crossing. I checked with the more trustworthy kind and one of them fancies a meet with you, Captain Patrizia Salustri-“ Ayan heard Victor inhale sharply at the mention of the name and pretend as though he looking at something in the darkened warehouse.
“Heard of her?” Captain Sima asked with a crooked smile. “Where you hail from?”
“Pandem,” he replied quietly.
“Then you would have. Well, she wants a sit down with you. Good luck there too, she owns more slips than most, and if she wants to see you then she already has a deal in mind. Just don’t tell anyone I sent you her way, or there could be trouble.”
“Why not?” asked Ayan, she had to know.
“I rent from a competitor, that’s why. He’d be fair vexed if he found out you were standing right here and I passed you off without so much as looking at his ident.”
“Then I won’t say anything.”
“Good. When you strike a deal with Salustri, remember who got you in the door.”
“I will, thank you Ruby,” Ayan said, shaking her hand.
“You settle up with my man here, I’ll make sure there’s someone to meet her shuttle when it arrives.”
Chapter 24
Five meters from the express car was the rearguard of the command deck's assault force. There weren't dozens, but hundreds of soldiers dedicated to the effort of taking the command deck and the bridge. From everything Major Cumberland could discern, they had come at it the wrong way. "We're on deck and awaiting orders," he double checked his reticule to find the commanding officer's name. "Commander DeHansen," he finished.
"This is Commander DeHansen, my Senior Sergeants are all on the casualty list. I've taken direct command of operations. I'm assigning you as the senior officer to everyone you arrived with. You are to secure the hallways leading to the primary engagement area and reinforce us."
Major Cumberland couldn't help but glance over his shoulder at the thirty-one men and women who made it off the upper deck with him. Three had lost their rifles and were down to their service side arms. He didn't want to know how it happened. "Understood, moving up. So you are aware, my comms and scanner people are all out of action."
"No problem, we've got the whole place scanned out, you're just taking a quick gander before joining the fray."
The few rooms adjacent to the hallway were cleared quickly. They were small ready quarters, offices and conference rooms. A few had consoles that looked like they had been used as some kind of control room, but it, like every other nerve centre on the ship, was dark and dormant. It took him only a couple rooms to see that each of them had been investigated by several teams beforehand, but the Commander obviously thought checking them periodically was essential to keeping the enemy off their backs while they pressed ahead.
After clearing two dozen such spaces they came around a corner and saw the first real evidence that their allies had a significant foothold on the ship. It was a portable armoured barricade that sealed the hallway. Welded into place, it was almost as secure as a bulkhead door, and upon arrival they were scanned by two officers with hand units before the rearguard slid the barricade doors open. It was closed behind them quickly, as though they feared the wrong air would waft in behind them.
Several rooms, quarters from the looks of it, had been opened and were in use as triage centres. Many of the patients had been placed in stasis. Some were fresh from the fight, with limbs missing or holes through both sides of their armour. Whatever the people holding the bridge were firing, it cut through their armour like it wasn't there at all. Cumberland couldn’t help but recall the mental image of the nafalli they’d met who killed several of his people while wielding a nanoblade.
He made the mistake of locking eyes with a man as he was being rushed into the middle room. He was in indescribable agony as something that had burned through his armour continued to flare through the hole. "It's an aluminothermic reaction! We've got to isolate it so it doesn't burn straight through his hip!" called out one of the medics.
The man was twitching in pain so severe his screams were interrupted by convulsions. His gaze was desperate, piercing, and something Cumberland would see in his dreams. As the stretcher was placed down on a cot and the doctor stepped in with an instrument that looked like a hollow coring tool, he flinched his gaze away and cleared his throat. "Let's get to it boys."
"Sir, I have to lodge a formal protest," declared a voice from behind.
"Go ahead, but if you fall out I'll have to shoot you."
"That's well and good sir, but these people are better armed, know the terrain and have the overall high ground. We should consult with Command before moving forward."
"Your complaint has been recorded, it'll show up on Commander DeHansen's screen."
"I don't feel that I've been properly addressed. I want a response before-"
"Commander DeHansen is running this deck. If he says we move up and help him finish this, then we do. He can choose to address your complaint before, during or after we're engaged." A sudden rush of air was a sure sign that an explosive had detonated ahead. Major Cumberland wasn't looking forward to entering the fray either, but if they could take the bridge, it might finally give them the upper hand on the ship. "Now get in line and get ready or I’ll send you back up to deck twenty one. I hear Command is looking for someone to lead the suicide mission up there."