Love on the Rocks - 5. Chapter 5

A week later, I was on my way to Seventy-Seven with my grandparents, the Armstrongs, aboard Solar Flare. I sat in the right helm seat as I flew the ship up the Pipe to our first stop at Weissman Station. Working on my hours for this class of ship. I was even allowed to handle the docking in the hangar alone for the first time. More of a challenge with a ship this size than my current mining ship, Mini Borer, due to weight and inertia. Once secured, I joined my grandparents for dinner.

“Who’s the boyfriend we are trying to meet?” I rolled my eyes.

“No one Grandma. He’s a friend, and it’s hard to meet up when they are underway all the time. His family has a stop at Joshua Seventy-Seven Station. They extended a day and I’m trying to get there before they do to greet them.” Grandma just gave me the look. I sighed. “Why does everyone think I’m dating him?” Grandpa spoke first.

“Probably because of the trouble you’re going through to get there.” I thought about it and just shook my head.

“So. If I have a friend I enjoy spending time with, automatically makes them my boyfriend? And yes, we sleep together too.” My Grandmother cackled as I finished speaking.

“Friends with benefits. I should have known. We have been thinking about canceling one of our stops and arriving on Tuesday instead of Friday. Your father said you wanted to take an Ice Miner out. That would give you enough time to make two runs. One before and one after the Ceremony.”

I thought about it and pulled my tablet over to check the availability of miners for rent. There was one. I could go out on Tuesday afternoon and return early Thursday evening. That would give me Thursday night through Monday morning with Sasha. I smiled as I started the negotiations after sending my records to the Corporation leasing it out. Grandpa stood behind me and made suggestions as I haggled before we had a deal and they would let me mine with one of their groups while providing haulage at the going rate. My grandparents smiled as I jumped up and hugged them.

“Good thing Ernesto is mining Ice this month. They’re good to work with. You did well at the negotiations. He’ll remember that and enjoy working with you again.”

“Good. I want to go back out Monday after Sasha leaves and return late Wednesday evening.”

“Then you should Comm Ernesto back now and let him know you want the same deal.” Said Grandma. Grandpa agreed.

“Although he knows us, Marc. He didn’t give you a special rate. You dealt fairly, and so did he. He will appreciate you calling him back to ask for another ship with even more notice than the previous one. It lets him plan his operation better.” Added Grandpa. I nodded and opened a new Comm.

“You change your mind, Sa Alexander?”

“Absolutely not Sa. I was talking to my grandparents, and they suggested I Comm you now about another set of dates I would like the ship for as well. If it is available. Same deal as this one, please.”

“Indeed. What dates would you like Sa.” I told him and he looked them up.

“I don’t have the same ship, but a comparable one. I can make sure the same crew is aboard, though. I’ll send you the specifications so you can confirm it is what you need.”

“Thank you, Sa. I’ll be just a minute.” He nodded as he saw Grandma off to the side.

“Hello Barbara.” She moved closer.

“Hello Ernesto. I heard you were running the Ice this month. How is the family?”

He smiled, “Good. Emily is off to Westport for a few months, then she wants to go to Dravidian III for some project or other. Mama is down running the books as usual. I see the young Alexander likes his Ice as well as his Rocks.”

“He does indeed. He’ll probably make you a tidy profit this month if he can talk his parents into letting him stay up here for a few more weeks.” He barked out a deep, guttural laugh.

“He’s a fair negotiator and welcome anytime. Something most of these young pups could stand to learn these days.” That made my grandma laugh too.

“All to true Ernie. Looks like Marc likes it. He’s ready to talk. My best to the family.”

“Same to you and yours Barbara.” His eyes shifted to me. “Does the ship meet your needs, young Alexander?” My eyes were a little wider than normal.

“That Ice Miner is maxed out on tech. It is your personal ship, isn’t it?” He spread his hands.

“Yes. I am coming in for a few days of down time. The crew is my second string crew. All good people that fill in when we come in for breaks. My Second Captain has left for a ship of his own and I could use the extra help. So if you, as your grandmother says, can stay for a few weeks. I’ll have a ship for you to rent and a crew for you to pay for me.” He said as he laughed. I smiled.

“I’ll work on them after Friday and see what I can do.” He nodded.

“Well said. As I told your grandmother. You are welcome here with us whenever we are here.” I smiled.

“Thank you, Sa. I need the funds this mining will produce for my own miner.”

“Rebuilding one, I assume.” I nodded.

“Yes. I am looking for parts too. I am open to reasonably priced, lightly used, but not abused parts if you should have any for a ‘15 Mauler Mining Vessel. Model 007.” He stroked his chin as he thought, then started tapping out some queries.

“An old 007. This will take a while. I’ll drop you a Link with what we have and the prices.” I smiled as I thanked him and closed the Link. Grandpa smiled as he patted my back.

“You’ve made a new friend, it seems.”

“It appears that way. I guess the name didn’t hurt me either.” Grandma laughed.

“We’ve worked with his family for decades. We’ve always been good to one another. Make sure you keep that goodwill going, please.”

“Of course, Grandma.”

* * *

We were pulling into the Joshua Seventy-Seven Station hangar. Always loving the design of this station as it was more a series of towers connected together with the hangars being more of an outward extension than being part of an outer ring like they are at Low Point Station. I had the helm as we approached under the watchful eye of Robert. 10 minutes later we had the Docking Clamps engaged and the Lock extended. We were in the process of securing.

“Marc. Grab your gear and we’ll go over to the ship with you so your grandfather can check the systems out for you.”

“OK Grams. Give me 15 minutes and I’ll be at the Lock.” She nodded as she told my grandfather when I would be at the Lock.

We walked in silence as we made our way over to the dock the Ice Miner was at. I took a moment to check out the condition of the outside of the ship through the view ports as we approached the ship’s Lock. The beautiful forward wedge of the rectangular blocky ship was broken by the armorplas view ports of the Bridge. I could see the two turrets on the top that were where the Mining Crystals were mounted behind the focusing tubes and the Liber Stream projector that retrieves the ore. Grandpa nodded to himself as he looked as well.

“Looks well maintained, Marc. I’ll make a quick check on the systems for you, then you can handle any replenishment you need before you head out.”

“Thanks Grandpa. Ernesto sent me the latest scans from an hour ago for me to look at, too. I should have a good idea of where I want to position myself in the ring to get the best out of this.” His hand patted me on the back.

“That’s your department. Not mine.” I smiled. I was very good at picking spots to mine. Good enough that the ships I had gone out on realized I had the knack for picking up the right group of asteroids and started letting me do it. I carded in with the Watch Stander at the Lock. She introduced herself as Zoe. My second in command for this trip. She escorted me to my cabin, then returned to the Lock to finish her duties there. Grandpa made his rounds of the Engineering space and I went to the Bridge to check out everything there. I met a few other members of the crew and Zoe told me that everyone would be ready to depart in two hours. We were just waiting on our provisioning order and the EO to return from a certification test.

Two hours later, I took us out and into the Ice Fields where I met the Mining Boss. He gave me a few instructions on how they did things and arranged for a Hauler for us. All I had to do was let him know which area I had staked out so he could plan for my pickups. I double checked the Ice I was looking at and our new scans looked good as I put us onto the Ice. Both Ice Strippers were running at 80 percent as I watched the screens. Checking out the equipment as well as the Ice itself. Zoe was watching me as I made some fine adjustments to the Mining Crystals and boosted the power to 90 percent.

“You’ve been here before.” She said as a statement, not a question.

“I have indeed. This will make twice as Captain, but with over twelve times in the past two years on an Ice Chopper.” She nodded her head in approval.

“You’re letting the Crystals get warm before you push them and that’s a nice modulation on the cutting frequency.” I smiled.

“I picked that up last year by accident and have been working on refining it every time I come out. Should give us another 2 to 3 percent of product after I get her up to temperature.” She nodded in satisfaction as she looked at the numbers for herself. I nudged the power up just a bit every 30 minutes for the first 4 hours until we were at 100 percent. Zoe had another nod of approval as she looked at the numbers, then calculated the next 40 plus hours. Her eyebrow raised a little as she looked at the numbers again.

“You made another change?”

“Just a slight tweak of .00028 to the Liber Stream.” She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the specs and screens again.

“She’s not even running hot.” I hummed my agreement.

“It appears to be a sweet spot. A little either way and the heat rises. Here it drops down and holds for about 48 hours before it creeps up. I’m only out here for around 48 hours at a time, so I don’t know how high it will climb or if it levels out again.” Now I had her attention. Her problem was it is written into the contracts that my settings were my settings. They couldn’t keep them on file to run themselves. The settings left when I did. I just showed her I could get a total of 3.2 percent more raw Ice than an unmodified Ice Chopper. Over the span of days that adds up. In her eyes, I just gained respect for my knowledge of the ship’s systems.

“Well. That explains how you got the Captain’s Insignia at your age and Ernesto must like you, because you are using his ship next week.” I smiled.

“My diapers were changed on the Bridge of a ship. In a way, that means I have more Bridge time than most Captains twice my age. But I was raised to run a ship and a Corporation. I have my own miner, a Mauler Model 007, I am rebuilding and I am looking at getting an Ice Chopper after that project is complete. That’s what these two trips are about. I need credits to purchase parts and finish the repairs.” She looked at me thoughtfully.

“That 007 is an old armor tank, isn’t it?”

“It is a little dangerous down in Low Sec. I have the shields too. Still working on getting the Shield Boosters fitted.” That made her purse her lips in thought. Then she nodded, more to herself than me.

“You should make a trade with Ernesto. Your modifications for ours. We used to have some of the old 007s up until a few years ago. Ernesto had some interesting modifications for them to run in unsafe space. It improved their speed, power and tanking abilities.” My eyebrows shot up towards my hairline.

“Really. Then we should make sure we document our haul over the next few days and then again when I return next week. We’ll see if I truly have a good trading chip or not against his ship’s performance.” She made a smile that seemed like she was excepting a challenge.

“I like the way you think. And I think Ernesto would too.”

We had been running right on 100 percent power to the Ice Strippers and the modifications I had made were holding up nicely as was the temperature of the Crystals. Right in the sweet zone of the harmonics. Our production was running good too. I chose good quality ice. My haul for this mining run was going to be better than I predicted. Zoe let the rumor float through the crew about the crew shares. They were ecstatic as she worked out the projected numbers. Everyone was going to make more than anticipated. That always makes crews happy. It didn’t hurt that I was kind to them, either. I don’t need to yell to get my point across. We were in the process of shutting down and calling in the last pick up for our Ice when Zoe approached me. She held out a tablet for me to see.

“Here is our total for the haul Captain and the reports you asked for on the Crystals.” I smiled as I looked at it before I approved the report and sent a copy to myself, as well as Ernesto. She smiled when I handed the tablet back.

“That should start the ball rolling very nicely. Thank you and the crew, Zoe.”

“Thank you, Captain, for the nice production bonus you made for us.” I chuckled.

“We’ll do better next time. These crystals are old and I couldn’t push them. Ernesto’s ship’s crystals are newer and can be pushed harder.” Her eyebrows raised slightly.

“You can get more out of newer crystals?” I smiled. “Yes. Only another 2 percentage points at most, but more than 5 percent total if the crystals are in good shape.” She actually let out a low whistle.

“Ernesto will definitely give you all the upgrade specs, and you should push for more. I heard he sent you a list of parts and prices. You should work out a reasonable offer for some parts, too.” I nodded.

“I’m already calculating how much his 7 Ice Miners will be able to increase production by as opposed to my single 007. I will work out something comparable for the trade.” Her eyes lit up like I had just hit the jackpot in a casino or something.

“I really like the way you think. You’ll go far with your own ship.” I dipped my head in appreciation.

I worked more on the numbers as we headed for the Station. I tapped out a quick message and hit send. “Sasha. I am returning to the station after the first of my mining runs. I have just my Cousin’s Bonding Ceremony on Sunday and I will go back out mining after you leave Monday. Otherwise, I am all yours until you leave. Marc.” It wasn’t a minute later when he replied.

“Marc. We are heading in now, too. Had an extra pickup in the Ice Fields and are behind our scheduled arrival. See you for a late dinner at 19:30? My family would love to see you again, too. Sasha.” I turned in my chair to face one of the crew.

“EO, did we have a Jump Freighter in the fields with us before we departed?” He checked his scans and the logs from earlier.

“Yes Sa. We did.” I smiled.

“Where is she now?” He looked again. Then a new plot appeared on my navigation screen.

“Dead ahead of us, Sa. Lining up for a Jump.”

“Thank you, EO. Helm plot us an intercept course, best possible speed.”

“Aye Sa. Plotting now.”

“Thank you Helm.”

“Course on your screen, Sa.” I looked at it and nodded.

“Thank you Helm. Bring us to the new course and 100 percent on the Mains if you please.”

“EO, open a Link to that ship please from my station.”

“Aye Sa. You’re on.”

“Good day Jump Freighter Sara Maru. This is Captain Marc Alexander looking to speak with Sasha Jasenka, please.”

“Standby Captain.” I waited as they confirmed he wanted to talk to me and passed me to him. The Link came to life again.

“Marc. How did you find me?” I laughed.

“Look behind you. I’ll be alongside in 17 minutes to escort you and your family to the Station.” I saw he looked to the side as I spoke and he smiled as he said something to someone off screen. I looked at the plot again and noticed the change in speed of the Jump Freighter as they slowed slightly.

“Maintain your speed Sasha, so you don’t lose your docking window.” He looked at me and someone said something to him from off screen and the Jump Freighter increased speed again.

“Thanks Marc.” I heard his mother say from off behind him.

“Your welcome.” I replied, as I smiled at Sasha. “Shame on you Sasha. Making everyone late for dinner. I can run circles around that space whale even in this Ice Chopper.” He laughed, as did some people behind him.

“So you’ll come for dinner tonight.”

“Yes, if you’ll come to my cabin for the night.” I said, as I was tapping out some course projections.

“Deal.”

“Can you hold this Link for a few minutes? I need to check something.”

“Sure Marc. I’ll wait.”

“I’ll be right back.” He nodded, and I hit the hold tab. “EO, get me Station Control to my station please.” He tapped out a few codes.

“Aye Sa. On your station.”

“Thank you, EO.” I tapped another tab. “Joshua Seventy-Seven Station Control. This is the Mining Vessel Istasha. Captain Marc Alexander commanding. Requesting Reserve Jump Area 42 for Jump Freighter Sara Maru and myself.”

“Standby Marc. I check if it’s available.” Said the male voice.

“Thank you, Roger. Standing by.” I continued my course projections and worked out the timing. 16 minutes until we needed to jump. That will work.

“Marc. We checked your location. It looks like you are closing with them. Is that correct?”

“It is. We should be alongside in 12 minutes.” He nodded and was working out his own projections.

“You’ll have to move fast, Marc. Their Dock is ready. And we can assign you one now, but you have to move the minute you come out of Jump. You have someone coming in right behind you.”

“Copy that. I’ll start the clock for a high-speed Jump and run. I’ll pass my course and calculations to you for review.” I said, as I tapped out the commands and sent it. Roger nodded as he opened the plot and looked it over.

“Looks good Marc. You are a go for your Jump.”

“Thanks Roger. Alexander out.”

“See you in a few. Control out.” I tapped the Link open to Sasha again, “Sasha. Grab your Mother. I have a course for you.” He looked confused as I tapped in the commands and sent the course and Jump calculations to them. His Mother appeared.

“What course Marc?”

“I took the liberty of getting us Reserve Area 42. Should cut 20 minutes off from your approach. We just need to move fast once we come out of Jump.” Sasha looked wide eyed. “My family owns the station, Sasha. I can make requests occasionally if the space is open.” His Mother patted his shoulder as she responded.

“Thanks Marc. We are loading the course now. Estimating 12 minutes to Jump.” I looked at my plot.

“I concur. I’ll be alongside and will match speed in 8 minutes.” She nodded as she left the screen after saying.

“Have Sasha give us the signal to Jump please Marc.” I nodded to him.

“He will Captain.” By this time, Sasha had regained his composure.

“Are you sure you’re not my boyfriend?”

“Sorry. No. I’m just hungry.” He gave me a fake pout before he started to laugh.

“Well, thank you anyway. Did you have a good run in the fields?” I smiled.

“Yes. We did very well. I had a good crew.” Zoe and the people she had with her were no slouches in the efficient running of the Ice Miner. “Did you pick up Ice by any chance?”

“Yes. They had hauler problems, and we dropped in to take several loads into our hold to take to the station. We work with them often.” I raised an eyebrow at that.

“Are you working with them next week?” He shrugged and tapped out some commands and read what it said.

“As a matter of fact, we are. Monday we are sitting there overnight to take on a large load that is going to Westport.”

“Then I might see you there. I am heading back to the same ice rings after you leave.” He smiled

“Maybe we could meet up?” I laughed.

“I don’t have a shuttle bay on here and I need to crank out the Ice.” He smirked.

“I was just kidding.” I gave him my best predatory grin. If I did have a shuttle bay, there would be cross visitations that I am sure would include sex.

“I wasn’t. If I had a shuttle bay, it would be a different story.” He laughed.

“You’re bad.”

“That wasn’t what you said the last time we were together.” He laughed again as I checked the plot. My timer was ticking down. I checked and Sara Maru was on course.

“Sasha. 2 minutes to Jump.”

“Two minutes to Jump.” I watched the timer count down. “1 minute to Jump.” Sasha repeated my warning. Then I locked eyes with him. “Race you.” He looked at me questioningly. “Jump in 5” I point to Sasha., “4, 3, 2,1, Jump.” We both said at the same time. I felt the usual uneasiness until we dropped back to normal space. I tapped a few keys. “Sasha, break for your dock. Best speed. Helm take us to C-7, best speed.”

“C-7 Aye Captain.” I watched as we turned and accelerated before we headed to our hangar designation.

“We are already moving, Marc. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“I’ll be there.” I cut the Link as Zoe walked over.

“Your boyfriend?” A slight lift of my shoulder as I shook my head.

“No. He’s just a friend.” She gave me the ‘Yeah, right?’ Look. I smiled.

“Seriously. We are just friends.” She held up her hands in surrender.

“You two look like you would look good together.” The corners of my mouth lifted in the grin that formed.

“I get that a lot.” She laughed as she went back to her seat. I had the helm bring us into position for unloading of our last full holds of Ice. To be followed by me finishing up the disbursement of the crew’s final credit shares as we moved to our docking location.