Free Engaging the Enemy by Elizabeth Moon Page B

settled into command of
Gary Tobai,
Stella completed the financial transfers from the convoy to the new Vatta account. It was tedious, as not all the convoy captains had accounts with Crown & Spears, and two of them had to wait for their cargoes to sell in order to clear the amount needed. Stella suspected that Ky would not have had the patience to keep after the various ship captains without annoying them too much.
    She had told Quincy to organize a priority list for repairs; now she told Orem how much they now had available to spend. Repair crews moved into the damaged cargo hold and began rebuilding the wiring. Stella looked at their balance—much healthier than she’d expected, even counting the cost of repairs—and went in search of trade goods. With traffic down, what would the market on Rosvirein be looking for? Or, assuming a reasonable course, something she couldn’t predict with Ky, the next logical port, Sallyon?
    If Vatta was to rebuild, it would need contacts on as many stations as possible. Garth-Lindheimer had been a prosperous and respectable trading station for some time; the system had several habitable planets, and insystem trade sustained the economy even with the ansibles down. No interstellar traders headquartered here, but she visited the branch offices of those who had regular routes through Garth-Lindheimer. Everyone’s business was down, pirate activity was up, and no one wanted to subcontract with Vatta, even for short runs. She paid a visitor fee to make use of the Captains’ Guild, where she expected the dining room gossip to more than repay that expense. At first she heard nothing new, just complaints about the time it was taking ISC to repair the ansibles, the apparent increase in pirate attacks, lost revenues, rapacious insurance companies.
    â€œSo what is Slotter Key like?” asked Captain Parks of
Amber’s Dream
on her third visit; he offered to buy her lunch, and she accepted.
    Stella shrugged, letting the soft knit dress she was wearing almost slip off one shoulder. He appeared to be only a few years older than she, sandy-haired with pale blue eyes. She’d seen him watching her before; perhaps he would be less cautious than the other captains. “It’s my home world; I think it’s beautiful. Pretty much standard type for unmodified human colonization. More ocean than most, I’d say.”
    â€œAnd why are you all the way over here?” he asked, his eyes straying to her cleavage.
    Stella took a calculated breath. This kind was the easiest to pump for information. She explained, briefly but emotionally, about the attacks on her home and family. “And then my cousin went off in the other ship, and left me to take care of things here.”
    â€œThat doesn’t seem fair,” he said. He was leaning forward now. Stella sat back.
    â€œIt’s not, but what could I do? I had to find someone to help me with the ship. I’m not a licensed captain, as you know.”
    â€œYou could have asked me,” he said.
    This was too ridiculous. “You have a ship already,” Stella said, with just a hint of tartness. “And I am asking your advice now. What sort of cargo do you think will be profitable if I were headed for, say, Bissonet? And is Rosvirein the best way to go, or should I head for the Topaz Cluster?” Stella had picked Bissonet as most obvious populous system beyond Rosvirein and Sallyon.
    â€œBissonet? They’re a major manufacturing center, and your ship’s too small to carry any raw materials they might want.” Parks moved his wineglass a centimeter. “I’d try culinary additives, art glass, things like that. Tricky, if you haven’t been there before.”
    â€œI’ve got to do something,” Stella said, shrugging. “If I’m going to rebuild Vatta, it has to start somewhere.”
    â€œA hard task,” Park said. He leaned forward, elbows on the table,