Chapter 5

A Lagrange point is a spot in space that the balance between two strong gravity wells makes a neutral spot. The Lagrange points between the Earth and the moon is the balance between Earth's gravity and the moon's gravity. A space station orbits Earth, chasing the point around the Earth's orbit. This renders the position of the station quite secure and stable. Another location would require constant alteration of position and consume considerable fuel. At the Lagrange points, the orbit is free of that awesome expense in fuel. The particular orbits the Lagrange points used were numbered. Those around the Earth-Moon points were Lagrange 1. Those Between the Sun and Mars were Lagrange 2, Those between Mars and the Asteroid Belt were Lagrange 3. The individual stations were then lettered.

The Elizabeth approached the Lagrange 3A station with very little fuel left. The human controller queried the automatic transponder response that all ships entering its space signaled, then notified her that Elizabeth needed to have her pilot contact him before approach.

“Lagrange 3A this is Elizabeth, responding,” radioed Jeffrey.

“Elizabeth, Lagrange 3A. State your business.”

“Lagrange 3A, Elizabeth. We have processed ore and need to refuel and re-provision.”

“Elizabeth, Lagrange 3A. State name of Elizabeth Actual.”

“Elizabeth Actual is Jeffrey Sokolov.”

“Elizabeth, Lagrange 3A. Stick to broadcasting protocol. Copied Jeffrey Sokolov. Captain Sokolov, records show you have inadequate credit for the transaction you indicated.”

“Lagrange 3A, Elizabeth. We have a new credit line. Chit is being attached, now.”

After a couple minutes pause, the controller came back online. “Elizabeth, Lagrange 3A, proceed to docking bay Delta 64. At initial point, surrender control to the auto controller.”

“Lagrange 3A, Elizabeth. Acknowledged docking bay Delta 64, at IP auto.”

“Lagrange 3A Out.”

Elizabeth, Out.”

Jeffrey mulled the transaction over in his mind. Things seemed more 'by the book' than the controllers had ever been. A little care was required here. “Elizabeth, do not surrender to the auto controller.”

“BUT CAPTAIN, THEY WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO PARK.”

“Understood. What I want is for you to appear to surrender control, and follow auto control orders unless they present danger.”

“YOU ARE BEING VERY CAUTIOUS. I APPRECIATE THAT, CAPTAIN. WILLCO.”

“Wilco?”

“EARLY RADIO COMM TERMINOLOGY FOR 'WILL COMPLY.'”

“Oh. Learn something new every day. Notify the crew that we are about to dock.”

After a moment, the voice of Elizabeth came over the public address system. “NOW HEAR THIS, NOW HEAR THIS. APPROACHING Lagrange 3A DOCK.”

Then she said to Jeffrey, “I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THAT!”

“AIs with personality. Arrrgh.”

As The Elizabeth approached the Initial Point, the automatic docking computer began to perform the handshake routine with Elizabeth. Elizabeth mimicked the appropriate protocols, and followed the instructions of the docking computer, while analyzing in real time the entire broadcast.

“CAPTAIN, THEY ARE ATTEMPTING TO UPLOAD A VIRUS PACKAGE ON THE CARRIER WAVE.”

“Is it the same one we have already seen?”

“NO, CAPTAIN. THIS ONE IS MUCH MORE CRUDE. IT APPEARS TO BE FROM A LOCAL HACKER.”

“All right. Let's give someone some trouble.”

He activated the mic and said, “ Lagrange 3A, Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth, Lagrange 3A, go ahead. Note, Elizabeth, you are on a public channel.”

“Lagrange 3A, Elizabeth. We are experiencing an illegal intrusion on our computer system via your automatic dock carrier wave. It appears to be from a local hacker. Cease and desist this attack on our system.”

The Lagrange 3A docking staff seemed to be running around, from what Jeffrey could see through the portholes they used.

Chatter on the open channel increased, then Jeffrey heard, “Elizabeth, Sigmund. Thanks for noticing. Our ship now seems to have a serious infection.” “Elizabeth, Roberto Maru. Ditto. Thanks.”, “Elizabeth, Aegian Sea. We saw it, but too late. Couldn't figure how it got on board, didn't think of the carrier wave.” Other ships in the vicinity also reported infections.

Jeffrey then turned back to the authorized channel, and said, “Lagrange 3A, Elizabeth. Request permission to approach and dock on our own power, considering your computer seems to be infected.”

A new voice came on the radio. “Captain Sokolov, this is Lagrange 3A Actual. Permission granted. Thanks for noticing and notifying us of the...illicit use of our system. I will meet you at your dock.”

“Okay, Elizabeth, take us in.”

“AYE CAPTAIN.”

The crew gathered at the docking port, the gangway tube stretched towards Elizabeth's egress port. Jeffrey said, “I need to arrange for fuel and supplies. I need you all to start shopping for civilian gear and some additional tools. I will meet you at the Field Gear store as soon as I can get free from the politician on the wharf. Janet, stay aboard Elizabeth. Arm yourself. Allow nobody but one of us on board. Elizabeth will assist you.”

The pressure outside the airlock equalized with the pressure in the ship, and Torres un-dogged the airlock. After Jeffrey and the crew exited, Janet re-dogged the port. Elizabeth posted a couple remotes armed with cutting lasers at the port.

Jeffrey exited the gangway tube to find the uniformed administrator with two security officers awaiting him. “To my office.” The administrator turned on his heal, and stalked off to his office overlooking the docking wharf. Jeffrey followed, while the crew began heading to the station proper, One of the security officers called out to them.

“You!”

Torres said under his breath, “Don't look, keep going.” The security officer began to move towards the crew, but noticed Jeffrey and his administrator increasing distance from him. He decided to let the crew go, and chased after the administrator and Jeffrey.

At the administrator's office, Administrator Chin motioned Jeffery to the couch against the wall, then sat behind his large, empty desk. “Mr. Sokolov, how did find the virus? From what I understand it was well hidden in the carrier wave.”

“I have had some experience with carrier – wave based attacks. Kind of knew what to look for.”

“I see. You embarrassed my command by broadcasting to the rest of the ships.”

Jeffrey replied, “Sorry, but if it wasn't made public, several things would have happened – nothing and ziltch. Now I don't want to cause you embarrassment, and I'm sure if you show yourself as a pro-active administrator, you should be able to save face. But I am not into face saving at my own expense.”

Administrator Chin looked over Jeffrey with squinted eyes. His brow wrinkled, his mouth frowning. He said, his voice cold, and with a little waver, “Thank you. Dismissed.”

Jeffrey exited the administrator's office, and worked his way down to the concourse. His first stop was at the fuel vendor, and he made arrangements for a complete fueling. He then stopped at the food warehouse, where he ordered both fresh and prepackaged food, and set a delivery time.

He then met his crew at the Field Gear store, where they had busied themselves both window shopping and picking out personal items. Jeffrey gathered them together. “Okay, I think there is a bit of hostility on the part of the administration. We will be quick. Get whatever you want. The entire bill is on me. You need work gear, personal gear, more tools, books. I also want you to get the highest quality space suits – hard shell. Spare no expense.”

Audrey said, “My God, Captain, no one ever said that to me! You sure know how to show a girl a good time!”

The crew finished up their work rapidly, with delivery to the ship to occur just before the grocery order. Jeffrey notified Janet of the goings-on, then had Sneaky replace her to allow Janet the shopping she needed.

Jeffrey met her at the gangway, and they strolled to the Field Gear store. He said, “I'm sorry we don't have a lot of time, but I kind of expect trouble.” He saw one of the security officers glancing at him from a corner, half concealed. He looked around and spotted the other one at a different corner, looking in his direction.

“Janet, we're going to need to move a bit faster. I think trouble is just around the corner.”

He took his radio out, and spoke, “Elizabeth, Elizabeth Actual.”

Audry answered, “Elizabeth Actual, Elizabeth. Go ahead.”

“Elizabeth, encrypt comm.”

“COMM ENCRYPTED, CAPTAIN.”

“We are likely to need a distraction. Can you arrange one?”

“EFFORTING. ENCRYPTION DISABLED. ELIZABETH OUT.”

“Elizabeth Actual, out.”

Janet said, “One more stop, Captain.”

Jeffrey wondered what else she needed, but she took him to the Dirt Store. She purchased a couple pallets of potting soil, fertilizer, and vegetable seeds. Then arranged for them to be delivered just after the personal gear delivery.

They then made their way back to the ship, Jeffrey noticed they were still being followed, now by four security officers that he could see. Probably others, he thought. At the gangway, he and Janet stood chatting, when the personal items they had purchased were delivered. Smitty and Mbaka took them from the delivery persons, who looked disappointed.

Then the delivery from the Dirt Store arrived. Torres and Svoboda took charge of the palettes of sacks of soil. Janet said, “put them in the hanger, for now.”

After a few more minutes the grocery order arrived, and Smitty and Digger took charge of it. There were six palettes of vegetables and frozen meat and canned and otherwise packaged goods. Jeffrey said, “Take these to the processing hold. Elizabeth will scan them.”

The fuel crew arrived and connected the nozzles to the various connectors, and began the rapid transfer of fuel from the station to Elizabeth's tanks. After ten minutes, the fuel crew disconnected the nozzles and retracted their hoses. Elizabeth reported that the tanks were topped off, the items were all stowed in the hold or hanger, but that the food contained several of the capsules they had earlier found. They had been placed into the Faraday cage and disarmed.

“We still need to unload our processed ore. I haven't been able to negotiate with anyone for the sale,” said Jeffrey. He scanned the concourse, looked up at the Administrator's window and saw Administrator Chin looking back at him. He gave a little wave. Chin turned away.

Jeffrey called his commodities broker, who agreed to meet him at the dock. A few minutes later, a little man in a hard suit, carrying his helmet, appeared on the concourse. He was stopped and addressed by two security officers, then came over to Elizabeth's berth. “Jeff!” he called out in a rough but jovial voice. But as he got closer, he said, sotto voce, “Man, what did you get me into? Security doesn't want me to do business with you. At least not on station.

Jeffrey replied, “Yeah, I should have done this first. Anyway, I can transfer off-station. You interested or do I need to take this load somewhere else?”

The broker thought about it for a moment, then said, “We'll talk after you clear the station.” Then he turned away and walked quickly back to the concourse. The two security officers stopped him again and questioned him.

Jeffrey and Janet then climbed the gangway and entered the ship. “Elizabeth,” said Jeffrey. “Have the crew prepare for takeoff. Can you disconnect the clamps and gangway?”

“OF COURSE, CAPTAIN. BUT THERE ARE SECURITY OFFICERS CLIMBING THE GANGWAY.”

“Disconnect the clamps, and prepare to push off the gangway.”

“CAPTAIN, ONE OF THE OFFICERS HAS AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE.”

“Okay, the distraction we set up. Now.”

Sirens throughout the station activated. All the lights illuminating the station began flashing in a coordinated fashion. The security officers climbing the gangway quickly ran back down to the station, Elizabeth took advantage of their abandonment and detached the gangway tube.

Jeffrey and Janet ran to the bridge, and he took up the microphone. He noted that there was chatter on all the channels of the radio. An opportunity, he thought. They won't hear me, but there will be a record of my broadcast.

“Lagrange 3A, Elizabeth.”

Of course there was no answer. He repeated the hail, then said, “Lagrange 3A, Elizabeth, no contact. Please note, we are departing under our own control.”

“Okay Elizabeth, lets move out.”

The cloud of ships surrounding Lagrange 3A was nearly a thousand kilometers in diameter, and Jeffrey had Elizabeth move toward the outer edge of the cloud. There they waited for the commodities broker. Meanwhile, the crew redistributed the foodstuffs.

Janet had the soil taken to a vacant cabin, the one that had been made into a brig in the earlier actions. She assembled a few large boxes and filled them with soil. Then she planted the variety of vegetables she had acquired seeds for. She took a few cups and added flower seeds to them. After watering the soil, she had Elizabeth produce low level ultraviolet light. Satisfied, she returned to the bridge.

Jeffrey was on the bridge, busy composing a report on his tablet. They had been off station for twenty-one hours when finally they were hailed by the broker. He had arrived in Elizabeth's vicinity in a small shuttle, obviously too small to take on the cargo in Elizabeth's hold.

The shuttle landed in the shuttle bay, and he came aboard.

Jeffrey took him to the galley where the small commodities broker parked his helmet. Jeffrey provided coffee, and he and Janet sat down across from the broker.

The broker took a sip of coffee. “Jeff! I always like visiting you. Your coffee is the best of all the miners.”

Jeffrey winced at the misuse of his name. “So what's the story?”

“You managed to piss off quite a few people.” Said the short man. Jeffrey noticed his face was unshaved and his hair considerably messier than wearing a helmet would justify. “After you took off, I was unceremoniously dragged before his lordship Administrator Chin. I was told not to do business with you. And he made me do other things to cooperate.”

Before Jeffrey could inquire about what other things, Elizabeth's voice announced,“CAPTAIN, INTRUDER IN SHUTTLE BAY.”

“Ah, I see what you mean,” he said to the broker. “Stay here.” Then to Janet, he said, “Watch him.”

“Elizabeth, have the crew meet me at the shuttle bay. Armed.”

When Jeffrey arrived at the shuttle bay, he saw a panel in the trader's shuttle had been removed, it had apparently been a hiding place for a single intruder. There were not a lot of places to hide in the shuttle bay, but still the intruder was not immediately visible.

Svoboda was the first of the crew to arrive, and Jeffrey told her, “Get in the Shuttle, check it for bombs.” Having done this already several times in her tenure on Jeffry's ship, she was the logical choice. She ran to the shuttle and began her systematic search.

Torres, Mbaka and Smith then arrived at the same time, stunners drawn. They spread out and began the search like the combat team they actually were.

“Elizabeth, locate the intruder.” said Jeffrey.

“UNDER THE FLOOR PLATES NEXT TO THE SHUTTLE.”

On hearing this, the combat team returned to the shuttle, Smitty pulling floor plates while Torres and Digger covered. The third floor plate revealed a hard suited, plasma rifle armed, security officer from the station. Realizing the stunners would have no effect on the hard suit, the three pulled back out of the line of fire. Jeffrey carried a projectile weapon, so he aimed it at the armored officer. The speaker on the officer's suit announced “Security! Drop your weapons! Drop your weapons or I will fire! Drop your weapons!” the voice became louder and more shrill as he spoke.

The officer stood and pointed the plasma rifle at Jeffrey, his finger on the trigger. “Elizabeth,” said Jeffrey, “I would like that rifle.”

The security officer said, “Say what?”

The remote robot with the industrial laser that was perched on the ceiling of the bay, disconnected the finger of the security officer in an invisible beam of light. The officer dropped the rifle in surprise and pain. “How'd you do that?” he asked while attempting to remove the armored glove with the missing finger.

Torres and Mbaka hoisted the security officer out of his hiding place, and Jeffrey told them to take him to the galley, treat his injured hand and put the severed digit on ice. Sneaky came out of the shuttle carrying the remotely-controlled explosives. The detonator had been removed from the explosive, and the electronic receiver had been jumpered to avoid the booby trap preset to explode if tampered with.

“You're getting pretty good at that,” said Jeffrey. She grinned proudly. He picked up the plasma rifle, studied it for a moment, then hoisted it and proceeded to the galley. Audrey 'Sneaky' Svoboda walked a few paces behind Jeffrey, carrying the bomb gingerly.

Just as they reached the galley, Elizabeth said through one of the wall panels, “CAPTAIN, I JUST RECEIVED THE DETONATION COMMUNICATION FROM THE STATION.”

“Well, how about that,” said Jeffrey. “Not too many moments too soon.”

In the galley, the security officer sat in his under-suit, his hand bandaged, and Janet was just administering a pain reducing medication. The hard suit was tossed into a corner of the galley, Torres was disassembling the third hand weapon taken from the officer at the other end of the table, while Mbaka and Smith hovered over the officer.

Jeffrey strode in, took the disabled bomb from Audrey, and slammed it down on the table in front of the officer. He said, angrily, “They just sent the detonation order for this device.”

The officer asked, “Who did? Where was it?”

Jeffrey said, “The order came from the station.”

Audrey said, “It was hidden under the floor plates of the shuttle.”

The security officer's face went white. Jeffrey could actually see the color drain down from his forehead to his neck. His unbandaged hand began shaking. He began muttering curse words under his breath.

Jeffrey asked him to repeat himself, or clarify. He said, “I didn't know. They were going to sacrifice me.”

Jeffrey asked him, “Who sent you, what were your orders?”

The security officer said, “Administrator Chin. He told me to capture this ship and bring it in.”

Jeffrey asked, “Why?”

“I don't know. I just followed orders.”

“Stay here,” said Jeffrey to the officer. To the broker, he said, “You. Come with me.”

He led the broker to his cabin, sat him in one chair at the table, and sat in the other one. “It looks like the station is infested with pirates. I am sick of those guys. The navy is going to have to come in and clean out that mess.” He paused. “Change of subject. Do you want to buy my cargo or do I have to take it to another station?”

The broker looked ashen. “What do you mean pirates?”

Jeffrey told him that he had been attacked recently but had defeated the attacking pirates. He didn't mention the Wanigan's issues or what methods or weapons he used, but he left the trader thinking he was some kind of superman.

The trader said he would buy the entire shipment, but that he couldn't take it with him in the little shuttle. “No problem,” said Jeffrey. “I'll just space it here, put a beacon on it with a claim buoy. You can pick it up later.”

“Unusual,” said the broker, “but adequate.”

They finished their business, and the broker said, “I have to get back to the station. If the navy is coming, there is going to be a lot of disruption. I need to get out ahead of that.”

“You are taking the security officer with you,” said Jeffrey.

The little man agreed, albeit reluctantly.

Jeffrey took the broker back to the galley, and had Torres and Smith escort the security officer and the broker back to the broker's shuttle. Torres handed the security officer a small plastic box containing the severed finger. The officer was in his under-suit, having left his hard suit on the floor in the galley. Audrey took the weapons to one of the arms closets and stowed them, and Mbaka took the hard suit to the suit room near the forward airlock.

After the broker's shuttle had left, Jeffrey asked Elizabeth to contact her counterpart Wanigan, and forward a confidential report to Captain Yusef describing the recent events at the station. He then said, “Also, broadcast a message to the ships surrounding this station – tell them that the station is currently being run by pirates and that until the navy arrives, they should avoid doing business with the station.”

“DONE AND DONE, CAPTAIN.”

“Thanks.”

Over the next few hours, Jeffrey hosted a radio discussion among the hundreds of ship captains in vessels surrounding the station. The general consensus was the ships would avoid doing business on the station until the situation was resolved. After things calmed down, Elizabeth told Jeffrey, “CAPTAIN YUSEF IS SENDING A COMMUNICATION. THERE IS AN EIGHT – MINUTE DELAY. “

Jeffrey played the communication from Captain Yusef.

“Commander Sokolov, I have received your communication through AI, and am responding via same. I have put Omotunde under secure watch, thanks for the heads up there. We are enroute to Lagrange3A. Estimated Time of Arrival 96 hours at full burn. If you are finished with your business, go ahead and take off. Please acknowledge.

Jeffrey said, “Commander Yusef, acknowledge 96 hours. Be aware I have had discussion with the other mining ship captains, and the consensus is there will be no business with the station until Navy arrives. We are done business here, so will move back to asteroid belt.”

Jeffrey, thinking the conversation was over, reassigned the crew to cleanup and repair responsibilities. After about nine minutes, Elizabeth announced, “CAPTAIN, FURTHER COMMUNICATIONS FROM COMMANDER YUSUF.”

“Put it through to the bridge.” Then Jeffrey walked from his cabin to the bridge, sat at the pilots chair, and played back the transmission from Yusef.

“Commander Sokolov, after receiving your last transmission, I want you to delay your move to the asteroid belt. Leave the vicinity of the station, but then wait half a million kilometers out, in case we need you for backup. Please Acknowledge.

Jeffrey replied, “Commander Yusef, Acknowledged half a million klicks.”

Then Jeffrey told Elizabeth, “Go ahead and take us out to the half-million kilometer point.”

“AYE CAPTAIN.”

“Please have Janet come to the bridge.”

“AYE, CAPTAIN.” Then on the ship public address system, “BIANCA, TO THE BRIDGE.”

After a few minutes, Janet arrived. “Yes sir?”

“How have you been coming along with the tutorials on the engines?”

“They're pretty straightforward, sir. So far I have no qualms effecting repairs.”

“Good. Next, of course, you are to be my backup pilot, so I need you to be familiar with the controls and astrogation. Elizabeth will not always be up, so we need to be able to handle the ship like in the olden days,” said Jeffrey.

“Not a problem, sir. I scored well at the academy in both areas.”

“All right, smarty pants, now you need to familiarize yourself with the weapons systems, and our surveillance.”

Janet smiled. “Yes sir. I'm sure Elizabeth will help me figure it all out.”

“You need to become expert soon, because you are going to be the training officer for the rest of the crew. They will need to become proficient. When we get out to the half-million kilometers point from the station, we have been ordered to stand by for Wanigan, which is high-tailing it to Lagrange 3A. We are going to hang back and provide backup to the Navy.”

Janet, looking concerned, wondered aloud, “What about Lieutenant Omotunde?”

“Yusef is aware and is taking measures.”

“Good. All right, sir. I'll develop a weapons training program.”

“Excellent. You can do that from here, you have the watch.”

“Aye, sir.”

Jeffrey left the bridge, walked to his cabin, and asked Elizabeth to have Torres come to his cabin.

Shortly afterward, Torres signaled to come in.

Jeffrey opened the door, and Torres entered.

“Ojo, I expect some issues in the near future, and want you to drill your team in anti-boarding techniques.”

“Not a problem, sir. We are still Marines!”

“Another thing to be aware of is Wanigan is coming to Lagrange 3A, should be here in four days. They want us to hang back a half-million klicks out, and act as their backup. So we may need to practice boarding techniques.”

“Again, not a problem. I'll sharpen the guys up.”

“You might want to take a look at the hard armor suits and put them in top shape.”

“Good idea, Captain.”

“I asked Bianca to train everybody in the ship's weapons systems, so when we get to our station, she will begin training and drilling on the various weapons.”

“Very good, sir.”

“One more thing, Torres,” said Jeffrey. “The team did really well with the security officer sneaking onto our ship. I want you to thank them for me.”

“Why don't you tell them yourself? They would enjoy hearing it from you.”

“Oh I will, but I want you to reinforce your command of the troops. You tell them, then I'll tell them. We both get to offer some positive reinforcement.”

“Right. You are a sneaky person, Captain.”

“Indeed I am. One thing, Torres. I want every member of the crew to be armed with these projectile weapons. Stunners just don't work on armored soldiers.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Once we are on our way to the asteroid belt, I'll need to train everyone in how to find, capture, and process ore. You guys are going to be doing a lot of learning on this deployment.”

The Elizabeth arrived on their station at a half-million kilometers around the same time Wanigan arrived in the vicinity of the Lagrange 3A station. The ship's AIs notified each other of their positions. Wanigan reported that she would be spending the next few hours in rapid deceleration. Shortly after that, there was a powerful broadcast of a warning that a Navy warship was coming in hot and that no ship or station should take any aggressive action, or face destruction.

Elizabeth recorded the entire cluster around the station for later analysis. Meanwhile, Janet began training the crew in the various weapons Jeffrey had recovered from the pirate vessels that had attacked Elizabeth.

She explained to the assembled crew, “Almost all of these weapons are electrically generated or require tremendous power to work. For instance the plasma canon takes bursts of a gigajoule to generate the plasma, and another megajoule to throw it. The x-ray lasers take sustained bursts of megajoules to cut in four second bursts. Two lessons from this – there are large capacitors which can aid in spreading out our generated capacity, and powerful million-watt generators to augment the ship's systems. But those are hungry capacitors. We need to be extremely judicious in how we utilize these weapons.

“For instance, if you aim the x-ray laser slightly ahead of where the ship will be in less than a second, and fire a four-second burst, you will likely cut the ship in half. If you miss, you will surprise someone a hundred billion klicks away some time next year.” The assembled crew chuckled at her humorous remark. “And you will need to recharge the laser which, depending on what other weapons are firing, the condition of the capacitors and the weapons generators, could take four to five minutes.”

Torres asked, “What if the x-ray laser is the only weapon firing, what is the quickest turn-around time?”

She responded, “You can fire immediately, four or five blasts before having to recharge the capacitors. I ran some simulations and some live fire tests and was able to hit five targets with the laser in twenty seconds.”

Janet had previously laid target buoys from Elizabeth's store, ten klicks apart, ten klicks from the ship, and had each of the crew practice their firing. When she was satisfied with their laser marksmanship, she instructed the crew in how to set up the laser for different power levels, apertures and frequencies, explaining how different targets would be better hit by different laser frequencies.

After the x-ray laser drills, she instructed the crew in the plasma canon, and tested them using the same target buoys previously deployed. There were also small anti-boarding projectile weapons – rail guns, which fired rapidly and accurately large-bore heavy projectiles, some including explosives, some hardened solid armor-piercing rounds, and some other rounds with specialized armaments.

She also explained how Elizabeth used her own modified rotational velocity to throw both heavy processed ingots and raw rocks at ships successfully, and how she used the engines to incapacitate enemy vessels. Smitty asked why they needed to know something they didn't have any control over, earning him a glare from Torres. Janet explained, patiently acting as if there were no stupid questions, “So when she or the captain or I pull one of those maneuvers, you will understand why you are being tossed around the ship like a loose meatball. You will get adequate warning to secure yourselves, but in a combat situation, only one warning.”

“Oh,” said Smitty, imagining how he could easily be thrown around the ship if loose.

She then drilled them on the guns. She noted that as long as they had raw materials, Elizabeth could manufacture her own projectiles and plasma canisters, even if she had to cannibalize her own interior structures. But this was one of the reasons that Jeffrey liked working in his favorite region of the asteroid belt. He had found pockets of heavy metals, including some radioactive, some inert, but all useful in reconstructing the ship, as well as selling. Janet had Elizabeth begin constructing ammunition for the heavy weapons as well as for the small arms within the ship.

Since Jeffrey ordered all the crew to carry loaded projectile pistols, they all needed to requalify on them. Torres was thankful for Janet's forethought, as he took the crew through firing exercises with the pistols. The Marines had gotten out of practice, having been used to non-recoiling beam and force field weapons. Now each of the pistols had adequate ammunition for practice and combat.

The crew took a break after Janet turned the training session over to Torres, and she returned to the bridge. Jeffrey welcomed her onto the bridge and said, “Sit down, take a load off, and look at this.”

He brought up the recording of the arrival of Wanigan in the station's area of influence. Then said, “Elizabeth, show me the overlay you did before. Each dot that represented a ship was colored red or blue, depending on the direction of travel relative to Elizabeth's current location. Then the overlay displayed colored lines alongside each dot, indicating communications and at what frequency. Jeffrey then started the playback again, this time with the overlay. The dot representing Wanigan hadn't come on scene yet, so there was a baseline of data from which to judge the upcoming chaos. Jeffrey then advanced the display to its normal speed. After about ten seconds, the dot representing Wanigan came into view, quickly moving, but just as fast, decelerating.

Wanigan began her loud broadcast which showed as a wide and tall bar alongside the dot, displaying the entire visible palette as she transmitted on a wide spectrum of frequencies.

Immediately, six of the ships in the cluster of several hundred began communicating in short bursts on a not-well-used frequency. Two others joined in the back and forth after a short while. The rest of the ships in the region used standard frequencies, and kept their communications brief.

Elizabeth then attached identifying data to those eight ships.

Jeffrey said, “Elizabeth, please share this with your sister, Wanigan and her captain.”

“EFFORTING.”

Studying the data, Janet pointed out that there were several other clusters of communication information. “I noticed that also,” said Jeffrey, “but when I identified the ships, it made sense. They are different consortia of rock miners and brokers. Nothing at all like the other group.”

“Of course, Captain.”

They sat quietly together, nothing happening on the coms or the screens.

“Janet, tell me about yourself,” he said, after a long pause. “I've read your dosier, but that doesn't tell me much about YOU, only some Petty Officer that was assigned to my ship.”

“Oh, well, not much to tell,” she began, much like everyone who is ever asked that. “Born twenty eight years ago. Both parents dead, a couple sibs on Earth – one on a farm in Southern Minnesota, one on a tree farm in Northern Minnesota,” she paused reminiscing. “Haven't been back since the funerals.”

“Do you miss it, deep in the gravity well?” asked Jeffrey.

“Not so much since I joined the Navy. Growing up in Minnesota was kind of a blessing, you get the best of both worlds – it was the high-tech capital of the country, the entire region, and you could still get dirt under your fingernails, smell the pine forests, eat real venison – that you shot yourself, cooked with real vegetables that you grew yourself.”

She again lapsed into a thoughtful silence. Then said, “My first posting was in R and D – research and development. I was kind of a whiz kid, good physics, good math. Lousy social skills. Briefly married to someone I thought I liked and I thought liked me. Turns out I was just another notch on his well-used, but not very well practiced organ, if you know what I mean.”

Jeffrey chuckled, then burst out laughing. “Sorry,” he finally said. “ I do know what you mean,” as he wiped a tear from his eye. “I've known several of the sort. - allow me to apologize for the entire male half of the species.”

She joined in the laughter, seemingly reluctantly, but eventually she too had tears of laughter.

After a moment she continued, “Wanigan was my first ship. I thought I was doing Okay, but then I had to take you on, and then...got assigned to you. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“What about you, Captain?”

“What about me?”

“Story. Tell me your story.”

Before Jeffrey could begin, or respond, Elizabeth chimed in,

“CAPTAIN, COMMANDER YUSEF IS ATTEMPTING TO CONTACT YOU. THERE IS A THREE SECOND DELAY.”

“Put it through”

“Sokolov, Yusef. Thanks for the data and the analysis. The eight ships identified are all known to be associated with illegal activity in the past. Continue to standby. I am sending a contingent of Marines onto the station. We'll see how things go. I have assigned my marine lieutenant to intelligence, we'll see if he comes up with the same targets you did. That's all for now, Yusef out.”

“Well, that was interesting,” said Jeffrey. “Elizabeth, acknowledge.”

“AYE, CAPTAIN.”

After a minute of silence, Janet prompted, “Story. You can't get out of it that easily.” She smiled in a manner to suggest that Jeffrey was trying to weasel out of his tale.

“Okay,” said Jeffrey, “So I grew up in orbit on a small ship. Mom and Dad were miners who decided to come in-system to have me. They eventually parked in geosynchronous over Selene City, providing a shuttle service for bigwigs who couldn't wait for the regular bus from Selene City to the orbital station, even some had us take them to the Earth stations.” He got up, walked over to the bridge fridge, got himself a beverage. “You want one?”

“I'm fine.”

He sat back down. “Eventually things turned around, they bought this boat, hired a crew and did the big-time asteroid mining gig. Back then, shielding wasn't so good, and Mom came down with cancer. Killed her, and her death killed him. So I got the boat. Figured I'd better improve the shielding or I would follow suit. I was fifteen then. The crew thought a kid shouldn't run a big operation like that, but I managed. Eventually they all drifted off.

“I was every bit of nineteen when I met Elizabeth. She was the most beautiful thing in the universe. Well, the solar system, anyway. Oh, Janet, I was smitten.” He grinned at her. “She was a most extraordinary woman. Same age as me, but self-possessed. Smart, knowledgeable, good looking. Had a real business sense. The odd thing is, I didn't have to pursue her – she began chasing me. Almost more than a nineteen year old young man can handle!” He took a sip of his juice, then sat back. “I took a couple more trips out to the belt, brought home some decent rocks, and asked her to marry me.

“By this time, we were twenty, going on twenty-one, so we got hitched.” He paused and looked over to Bianca. “Janet, I would tell you she was a beautiful bride, she was, but she was a beautiful everything. I so loved that girl. We took the ship out to my spots on the belt and I showed her the ropes, but she outdid me there too. She found a region that contained gold, silver, mercury, molybdenum. That first trip made it so we could profit every time, not just alternate trips.

“Ten years. We had ten years of bliss. She was my inspiration, and the damnedest thing – I was hers. I still don't understand it. So on our tenth anniversary trip, we went out to our regular stomping ground, when we were put on by pirates. It was touch and go, they managed to board the ship, but we killed them all, except one. A goon that used to work for my folks, I rounded the corner and saw him attempting to rape her.” Jeffrey stifled a sob. “He had a knife to her throat. I shot him. Blew his head clear off – it rolled to the end of the corridor, I remember the look of astonishment on the face as the head rolled away. But the body fell, the knife cut through her carotids and jugulars.”

He turned away, tears now running down his cheeks. Janet said silently, sympathetically, “Oh my God. I'm so sorry.”

After a short pause, Jeffrey regained his composure and continued his story. “I brought the pirate ship on board, stripped it down of anything I could use on this ship, then smelted the rest. I brought the bodies of the pirates in-system, and informed all other miner ships in radio range of who and what was involved in the attack. Shortly after that there was an agreement that all miners would respond to a call for help.

“I bought a powerful computer, installed a military-surplus AI, and began programming it. I renamed the ship to commemorate my wife, Elizabeth, and the AI, which now had all the ship's systems under its controls, took on the name, and sensed my softness toward my late wife, took on some aspects of her personality. I take a little comfort in the affection the AI shows me, but it is a ghost of a shadow of my wife.”

Janet said, “So you had no children?”

“No, we were planning on it, but not right away.”

“Tell me about those remote robots,” said Janet.

“We got the idea from some old science fiction shows from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Why not have a self-repairing ship? And why should we have to do all the work? So between us we acquired the parts for a few self-actuated bots, settled on a design and began figuring out the programming these things needed. We even created the base operating system, completely different from any normal computer's.

“And that was key to saving my bacon when the pirates inflicted the virus on our systems. I had Elizabeth make a copy of herself and hide it. When she became infected with the virus, so did all the other systems on the ship that required a computer. Power, life support, engines, everything. Except the bots. I Interfaced a bot with the network, plugged in a powerful antivirus routine, and completely cleaned out the system. Later, Elizabeth's clone popped up her head, saw what was going on, restored herself with new routines. Analyzed the virus and tweaked it to work to our advantage.

“So the bots became part of the defense of the ship. We replicated about a hundred of them, fitted some with cutting lasers – now all have those lasers – and made them work in concert. We can control the remotes, but usually its best to allow Elizabeth to do it – she is much more precise and accurate.

“The bots can drag about twenty-five kilos each. A team of four or five can haul an unconscious pirate to a brig, or a wounded marine to sickbay,” He chuckled, “If we had a brig or sickbay, but we have had pirates and Marines to worry about.”Jeffrey finished his beverage, returned the container to the recycle chute.

After about a half hour, Captain Yusef called again. “Captain Sokolov, thanks for standing by, we have finished our task on the station. Lagrange 3A is open for business again. Those other ships have been tagged for monitoring. We are heading out again.”

Jeffrey responded, “Captain Yusef, I have a request. I want each of my crew to be promoted to the next level, including increasing their pay grade. Please put this into effect immediately.”

“Captain Sokolov, I understand and will take under advisement.”

“Captain Yusef, I need a decision within the hour. Sokolov out.”

“Yusef out.”

Janet looked at him, her right eyebrow arched. “What's that about?”

“I like to reward good behavior. If serving on my ship gives my crew privileges, that makes them more willing to serve, and serve well.”

“Captain, you are one sneaky man.”

A few minutes later Captain Yusef called back and confirmed the promotions.

After confirming their next steps, Jeffrey asked Elizabeth, “Please have the entire crew meet in the gallley.”

“AYE, CAPTAIN.”

As Jeffrey and Janet walked to the galley, they met the rest of the crew noisily coming from the other direction, bragging about their marksmanship skills. They all entered the galley, and all sat down except Audrey, who made a batch of coffee. She poured cups for everyone, then sat down.

Jeffrey sat at the head of the long table, Janet alongside him.

“A few things to brief you on. First, you all did an outstanding job on Lagrange 3A. You are looking very much like you should; a team of competent space-faring roustabouts. Good work. I am also pleased you didn't betray your active Navy status. Undercover work is sometimes much harder than one gives it credit for, and you carried yourselves well.

“Second, because you did so well, and because I appreciate your efforts, I have requested, and received approval for promotions for all of you, one pay grade, and one rank level. Digger, you are now corporal,” the applause and cat-calls were brief but loud. “Torres, add another stripe to your sleeve,” again cheering from the assembled team. “Sneaky, I don't know if there is a rank above 'ninja', but you are now a Lance Corporal.” She held up both arms and wiggled her torso in a proud victory move, to the cheers of her comrades. “Likewise, Smitty.” He stood and bowed, then sat down again.

“Now, this young woman,” he pointed to Janet, “has been a Petty Officer for six years, far longer than one would expect for someone of her talents and experience.” He stood. “You may now refer to your former petty officer as Lieutenant Janet Bianca.” The noise was appropriately celebratory. Jeffrey let the congratulatory emotions continue for a moment, then calmed them down.

“Okay, a reminder – while on this mission, you receive combat pay as well as your regular salary, but you will also receive a pay deposit from me.” A brief happy hooting from the Marines. Torres told them to pipe down. Jeffrey continued, “Which brings me to the next topic.

“We have been released from the backup of Wanigan at Lagrange 3A, we are now going to spend the next week running towards one of my favorite mining sites. So I am going to train everyone in mining and processing operations.” A groan from the Marines arose.

“Meanwhile,” continued Jeffrey, “you will continue to drill on your combat skills. I need to be able to repel all boarders, I need to be able to destroy ships bent on our destruction. I need to be able to protect my own claims, and all of you are going to be my keys to those goals.”

Over the next week, while Elizabeth accelerated toward the target area, Jeffrey showed the crew how to use the smelter, the centrifuges, the refineries, the magnetic molecular disruptors and the other tools of a self-sustained processing operation. He taught them how to use the fabricator, what in the early twenty-first century they called a 3-D printer. But this industrial grade machine was able to fabricate nano-scale circuitry and incorporate it into large scale plating. It could easily build a toaster or a runabout or a four-poster feather bed, as long as you had the raw materials.