The Sculpted Ship

  The Sculpted Ship

  Copyright © 2016 K. M. O’Brien

  All Rights Reserved.

  Published by Kevin M. O’Brien

  Beavercreek, Ohio

  First Edition, Fourth Revision.

  Victorian Parlor typeface by Eric Kurniawan, used with permission

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Many, many thanks to my parents. Without them, this book would not exist – for so many reasons, not just the usual ones. Special thanks to my editor, Maureen, who demanded that I finish. Thanks to Elizabeth Moon and David Drake for being excellent authors who continue to inspire me. Thanks to Andy, Herb, Mike, and everyone else I had the good fortune to meet and work with in CE and Comm. Sometimes you have to get down in the dirt (or worse) to broaden your horizons.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: A Swift Kick

  Chapter 2: The Ship of Dreams

  Chapter 3: A Crazy, Impractical Plan

  Chapter 4: To Repair, Perchance to Lift

  Chapter 5: Fair Winds and Good Fortune

  Chapter 6: An Unusual Couple

  Chapter 7: In Which Politeness Yields Income

  Chapter 8: For Science!

  Chapter 9: Not Just A Lawyer

  Chapter 10: In Which Art Is Inspired

  Chapter 11: A Good Week

  Chapter 12: Tea with Friends

  Chapter 13: A Good Plan

  Chapter 14: Sacrificing for Art

  Chapter 15: But Wait, There's More

  Chapter 16: The Captain's Past

  Chapter 17: The Scofflaw Sister

  Chapter 18: Something Curious

  Chapter 19: The Baroness Soldeen Appears

  Chapter 20: Anailu's First Safari

  Chapter 21: The Black Mountain

  Chapter 22: Another Curiosity

  Chapter 23: Snow

  Chapter 24: An Unwanted Proposition

  Chapter 25: Stopped

  Chapter 26: The Boss

  Chapter 27: Boom

  Chapter 28: Choosing

  Chapter 29: The Pirate Queen

  Chapter 30: Tournament

  Chapter 31: The End of the Bet

  Chapter 32: From The Black Mountain

  Chapter 33: Curiosities Explained

  Chapter 34: Making Plans

  Chapter 35: Reconnaissance

  Chapter 36: The Polite Gentleman

  Chapter 37: A Working Lunch

  Chapter 38: The Show

  Chapter 39: Free Testing

  Chapter 40: Cross Purposes

  Chapter 41: Friend or Faux

  Chapter 42: Team Alpha

  Chapter 43: The Blue Swamp

  Chapter 44: The Decoys Are Not Decoys

  Chapter 45: Waiting

  Chapter 46: A Well Executed Plan

  Chapter 47: The End of the Beginning

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1: A Swift Kick

  "I won't sign this." Looking across the table at the captain, Ship's Engineer Anailu Xindar laid the datapad down.

  "Aw, come on, Anailu. What's the problem? The company wants to give everyone a twenty percent pay raise, and you won't take it? Are you nuts? I already told you this new contract is mandatory for all employees. The entire crew has already signed. Except you." Captain Folsom looked exasperated.

  "I'm sorry, sir, but I won't sign away my rights like this. Have you read these clauses?"

  "Look, this whole thing is no big deal. Mullwell is only doing this because all the other major shipping consortiums have already done the same thing, and they're only doing it because the big corporate clients want more stability. The important part is that the contract term is longer and they're paying the crew better. It was all in the last company newsletter."

  "And have you signed a contract like this?"

  "Not yet." He chuckled. "Maybe they think captains are more replaceable than good crew."

  "Or maybe the Captain's Guild won't approve such a one-sided contract."

  Captain Folsom sighed. "Anailu, you're a hell of an engineer. We passed our last engineering inspection with flying colors, and I know that was all because of you. I really don't want to lose you, but I've got no wiggle room on this. The company says you gotta take the new contract or you're gone. At least take a few days to think about it. Just say you'll think about it!"

  "I'm sorry, sir, but I will not sign this contract, not now, not ever."

  The captain sighed again, then tapped the desk intercom. "Drena, get in here." He looked back at Anailu. "You've been with the Sunset for what, four years, now? You know I'll probably have to hire three people just to replace you?" He shook his head sadly. "At least Doran is a big port, so there should be plenty of knuckleheads looking for work."

  Drena, the first officer, opened the hatch and stepped into the ward room. The stocky, well endowed woman spoke in an offhand manner. "Whatcha' need, Cap?"

  The captain looked up at her from his seat behind the table. "Drena, Anailu is leaving us here on Doran."

  Drena was aghast. "Oh, shit! Say it ain't so, Ana!"

  Anailu gave her a sad look. "Sorry, it's this new contract."

  Drena frowned. "And can see your look that says nothin' and nobody's gonna change your mind, so I ain't even gonna try. Alright, let's go pack your shit, not that it will take long for you. Then we'll come back so the captain can handle the rest of your outprocessing."

  The packing and the paperwork went surprisingly quickly. Before she left the ship, the captain talked to Anailu about what he thought she should do next.

  "When you leave here, you go straight over and take that final test for your Master's License."

  "But I'm not ready!"

  "Don't tell me that. I know how smart you are, and I know how long you've been studying for it. Hmm, I suppose I never pushed you to finish because I didn't want to lose the best engineer I've ever had."

  Anailu blushed, not that anyone else could see it on her unusual grey skin. "Thanks, Captain."

  "When you've passed that exam, you could go to work for someone, but I don't know how many would hire you with a fresh Master's license and straight from Engineering with no experience as a deck officer. Besides that, any of the big companies will be wanting contracts like this one soon. There's a better option for you.

  "I know you hardly spend any chips. I hope that means you've been saving it up, not sending it off to support some cult or something. You've been working your engineer ticket for what, ten years? If you've been saving like that the whole time, then maybe it's time you got your own ship."

  Anailu was dumbfounded. Sure, that had been her plan when she started out, but that had been so long ago. What had it been, ten years? It had taken her long years of work to save up money sufficient to buy even the cheapest, least reliable used ship.

  That hadn't been sufficient for Anailu. She'd heard enough stories of captains who lost their ships because they'd had one bad break and couldn't recover from it. Saving more money would allow her to buy a better ship. She had been very well compensated in this berth, because aboard the MS Sunset Beach, she'd been single-handedly doing the work of three or four engineers. Aside from all that, she respected the rest of the crew, and they respected her.

  Like the captain had mentioned, Anailu had kept studying for the license exam. That had been enough for her. Now she realized she hadn't thought seriously about it for some time. That didn't bother Anailu; her loyalty to the crew of the MS Sunset Beach had been more important.

  She really would have stayed on, except for this new contract. It would have tied her down more than she was willing to accept. So, now she was free.

  But now that she was free, what was stopping her from buying her own ship?

  Not a thing.

&nbs
p; She finally gathered her thoughts enough to reply to Captain Folsom. "I really could, couldn't I?"

  He looked relieved. "Well, that's great, then! You're in the best place to do it, too. We're in the Outer Rim, and to be blunt, there are weirder looking folks than you out here, so people out here are less likely to hold that against you. And there isn't a better place for buying ships out here than Doran. So you go take that license exam today, and then meet us tonight at the local Captain's Guild for a farewell dinner.

  “Would that be OK? I know you prefer to keep to yourself, but everyone on the Sunset has a lot of respect for you, and I know they'd like a chance to say goodbye."

  Anailu nodded. "Yeah, OK."

  "And promise me you'll take that exam today, just as soon as you can."

  "Alright, I'll do it."

  Once she'd taken her belongings to one of the transient crew hotels around the port, she kept her promise and headed to the Commerce Ministry to take the exam. The whole process took several hours. It included tests of knowledge related to ships and shipping, covering everything from spacer knowledge to interstellar commerce contracts to Admiralty Law. The exam finished with several simulated scenarios. Anailu was surprised at how easy it was, at least compared to what she'd expected. She wondered if maybe she should have gone independent sooner, but she saw no point in worrying about what was past.

  After the exam was complete, she learned immediately that she had qualified! Though she was done, she wouldn't receive her license until the next morning; there were some final administrative checks they had to complete.

  As Anailu was leaving the Ministry building, a woman dressed in a loose-fitting yellow jumpsuit stopped her. "Excuse me, can you tell me where to report a divergence?"

  "What?"

  "A divergence. Change! Change! What does it mean? Have to report it. I just can't seem to think...."

  Anailu didn't know what she was talking about. The woman seemed to be confused. "Are...you alright? Do you need help? Do you need a doctor?"

  The woman reacted in sudden fear. "No doctor!" As she said this, she backed away, turning to run, while screaming, "No hospital! No help!"

  Anailu stood there in shock. The guard rushed out of the Ministry just before the woman disappeared around a corner. He looked at Anailu. "Are you OK? What did you do to set her off?"

  "What? She just seemed confused, so I asked her if she needed any help. She just flipped out!"

  The guard seemed relieved. "That's OK, then. She comes around sometimes, but she won't cause any real problems. We call her 'Mad Clara.'"

  "Shouldn't someone get her some help?"

  He sighed. "There's nothing they could do but lock her up, but she wouldn't hurt a fly, and she doesn't bother anyone. I saw she came up to you. Don't know why – she's never that bold. She's pretty much a fixture here around the port – the folks in this neighborhood take care of her, so don't worry about that. If you see her again, I doubt she'll remember you. Just don't mention doctors or hospitals again – or lizards. She doesn't like lizards."

  "OK, then."

  With a "Have a pleasant afternoon, ma'am," the guard turned and went back inside.

  It was almost time for the dinner, so Anailu headed for the "Captain's Rest," the local branch of the Captain's Guild here on Doran. She attended the dinner with the crew, but the captain had been right. She'd usually kept to herself, and she wasn't close with any of them. She was still sorry to be leaving.

  Chapter 2: The Ship of Dreams

  In the morning, She went to the Commerce Ministry to collect her newly minted “Imperial Shipmaster's License, Small, All Space.” Now it was secure in the new wallet she'd purchased specifically to hold it. It was time to find her ship.

  Captain Folsom had been right about the Doran system. It was reputed to have the widest selection of used ships in the Outside Rim. That wasn't as grandiose as it sounded. First of all, the “Outside Rim” of the Iris Empire wasn't anywhere near the rim of the galaxy. The early emperors had dreamed of galactic domination, so they had called the central star systems of the Empire “The Core,” even though they occupied a good length of a single galactic spiral arm, nowhere near the galactic core. Once they'd expanded to control parts of the spiral arms next outward and inward from the Imperial Core, those territories had been dubbed the “Outside Rim” and the “Inside Rim,” respectively.

  The Outside Rim in general was not very developed, but Doran was one of the brighter sparks of the region. It was young for an Imperial world, only heavily populated for about three hundred years. Most of the population was centered around Doran City, though there were smaller communities scattered around the planet and the system. Other than the many starship dealers, Doran was known for its excellent starship repair facilities (which went well with the many used starships), mineral exports, and tourism. It also had a planetary ring, unusual for a habitable world.

  Now that Anailu had her shipmaster's license, she needed an aircar. The ship lots on Doran were spread out enough that she couldn't reasonably walk to them all, and an aircar would let her fly over the lots and get a look at their inventory before she talked to them. The biggest, cheapest rental company, U-FLY-IT, had a branch just a block away from the Commerce Ministry offices.

  When Anailu walked in from of the morning sunlight, she saw there was no line, so she got out her comm and sent her ID info to the rental company's system. As she stepped up to the counter, the attendant, an older woman, looked up. “May I help you, ah....” The attendant was looking uncertainly at her screen. "Sorry, how do you pronounce your name?"

  Anailu wasn't surprised. Both first and last, her name sometimes threw people off. “It's pronounced Ana-eeloo Zindar.”

  The old woman nodded. “What a pretty name, Ana-eeloo. How may I help you?”

  “I'd like to rent an economy car.”

  The attendant nodded, “And what company do you work for?”

  Anailu shook her head. “This is a personal rental.”

  The attendant frowned. “Oh, dearie. Our company policy is to only rent cars for personal use to pilots who are at least twenty-five years old. However, I can offer you a bot-piloted car for only 50 credits more per day.”

  “What? I'm licensed to pilot starships, and you won't let me fly an air car? Besides, I'm twenty-eight!” Anailu reached for her brand new wallet.

  The attendant waved her off. “Don't bother showing me your ID. After seeing enough fakes fool my system, I trust my eyes instead. Sure, you're a tall one, but there’s no way you’re even twenty years old, dearie. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Why, I tried that sort of thing myself, back when I was your age. But, if you want to rent from me, you'll have to get a bot car.”

  Anailu was astounded. “I want to speak to the manager!”

  “I am the manager, young lady, and the owner of this franchise. Now, do you want insurance?”

  Anailu didn't know what to say. She was so angry she couldn't think straight. She just turned and walked out the door. As she walked down the street, she finally started thinking more clearly. She was used to being taken for younger than she was, but during the years working as an engineer aboard other people's ships, she had never had this sort of problem. On the other hand, she'd been so dedicated to saving her money that she'd never had a reason to rent an aircar for personal use.

  Anailu knew it could be worse. Unlike the Core worlds, nobody here on Doran seemed to care how different she looked. Grey skin, and grey eyes, short grey hair, skinny, and taller than most women and a lot of men – none of that seemed to phase anyone. Out here on the Rim of the Empire, there were plenty of people who had chosen cosmetic modifications giving them odd hair, eye, and skin colors.

  She still needed a vehicle, though. The rest of the aircar rental places here were more upscale, and she sure wasn't going to pay for a bot pilot! She checked online, and found a place nearby that rented groundcars. That wasn't great, but it would do. This time, she placed the reservation o
nline, the way she should have the first time. She attached her captain's license as proof of age. When she went to pick it up, she didn't have any problems with annoying old women telling her she was too young.

  She drove her rental groundcar toward the outskirts of Doran City, where the ship lots were.

  Anailu knew exactly the type of ship she was looking for. Like any other newly independent captain, she wanted a cheap, small, tough cargo ship, but she had a more specific goal in mind. Over the years, she had listened to the stories of many independent pilots, taking lessons from both the successful ones and the unsuccessful ones. Based on everything she'd heard, and her own expertise with ship engineering, Anailu had decided that the best type of ship for her to buy was a Vole. It was a recent model with both reliability and fuel efficiency. It could also be handled by a crew of one, which meant Anailu wouldn't have to pay anyone else. It also tended to be undervalued.

  Voles had a reputation of being difficult to work on, but that didn't scare Anailu. A lot of captains who flew alone had started as pilots or traders, so their repair and maintenance skills weren't that great. She figured those were the type of captains that gave Voles a bad name. Anailu knew she would be equal to the challenge. On the other hand, having a bad name made Voles less popular, and therefore less expensive.

  Voles were also considered to be especially ugly. Considering that cargo starships weren't known for their beauty, that was saying something. Anailu didn't care if she was flying an ugly ship, as long as she could keep flying and making money. She was also used to having people point and stare when they saw her. Flying an ugly starship wouldn't make that any more difficult. She didn't plan to limit her examinations to Voles. They weren't particularly common, even on Doran, and she knew she might not find one that she met her needs.

  Most of the used ship lots were out on the edges of Doran City, well past the starport, where space was cheap. She spent the rest of the day visiting lot after lot, talking to seller after seller, inspecting ships, playing it smart, figuring how much she could get for her money, and looking for the best deal she could find. She was ready to buy immediately, if it was the right ship for the right price, but the whole first day had passed without finding 'the ship.' She wasn't giving up; there were plenty more dealers to visit tomorrow, but she was disappointed.