Free Black Dawn by Morgan Brautigan Page B

said you’d take care of us. Besides, most of us needed a
meal and bed badly enough not to quibble about a paycheck.” He
stopped and grinned. “But as long as you brought it up...”
Coy looked him in the eye. “Nothing.”
The grin froze. “ Pardon?”
“I didn’t charge them anything.”
Ken opened his mouth, but nothing came out. On the second
try he managed, “Oh.”
“That meal and bed still enough for you?”
The commander cocked his head. “Am I going to be graded on
my answer?”
Coy went to the vidcom and punched up Fleet finances. “They
did volunteer a token payment, which covered expenses. Which means
we basically break even.”
Butler came and read over Coy’s shoulder. “I’m going to
make the assumption you know what you’re doing.”
Coy pulled out the gold disc and handed it to him. “That’s our
real payment.”
He turned it over and over, hoping it was more valuable than it
looked. “What is it?”
“A favor. We may redeem that ,” Coy pointed to the coin, “for
one Royal favor. Any time. Any size favor.”
Butler looked thoughtful. “Guaranteed?”
“Guaranteed.”
“ Any favor?”
“Anything we want. Back up, a ship, weapons, supplies, an
alibi, a place to hide, any one of a multitude of things that cash
couldn’t easily buy.”
The grin spread back onto Butler’s face, growing wider as he
absorbed the possibilities. “Is this going to be procedure from now
on?”
“It just might. I think I like it.”
“When are you going to tell the crew?”
“I should as soon as possible. I hope they understand. Anything extra that we get will be divided between everyone as I said.
Twenty people are a lot easier to fund than your normal fleet of thousands. Besides, if we’re ever desperate, I have some property on
Servati that I could liquidate.”
“Property, huh? I’m not even going to ask where you got it.”
He handed the disk back. “Let them party tonight and tell them at the
morning briefing. Which reminds me, I’d better debrief them so they
can get to the party.” He paused. “Are you coming?’
Coy managed to find something fascinating in the computer
files. “I may. Don’t hold your breath. And...” it added as Ken was
leaving. “Make sure senior staff stays functional.”
He saluted, still grinning and exited.
Coy turned off the computer, locked the door and stared out
into the blackness of space.
* * * * *
    The
streaked along in space, lurching at another direct
hit on the shields. They returned fire, but their pursuers’ shielding was
as good as their own.
    Captain Lamont braced itself against the changes in gravity
and remained peering intently at the tactical display, trusting the pilot
and weapons officer to keep them alive long enough to use the brilliant
plan it was still trying to come up with. There was a flicker in the
small representation of the large enemy vessel behind them.
    “What was that? Bon, what happened to them?” Coy called to
the chief engineer.
Bon studied his own monitors. “They have a fluctuating
shield.”
“Parker!”
“On it,” the weapons officer called as her fingers sped over her
targeting console. And a few moments later, “Shield is down, Captain.”
“Keep up the firepower.”
“She’s turning,” Aziza announced, “protecting that side.”
“Good. They’ll be out of pursuit position temporarily. Let’s
see what we can do with that. How close is that transit portal?”
“Ten minutes,” Hoffman answered through gritted teeth at the
abuse “he” was taking. No one but pilots themselves understood the
complicated relationship they had with their ships. The headset physically connected their brain to the navigation system, allowing them to
weave the ship through Transit. The ship was, from the pilot’s perspective, an extension of themselves.
Coy knew and understood Hoffman’s feelings, but now was
not the time for sympathy. “Make it five”. Lamont thought ahead to
what was on other end of their trip.