ã€ŠThe Data Tradersã€‹


 The Apprentice

    Data Trader Handbook

    This document is intended to serve as a study guide for the Data Traders Guild Journeyman¡¯s exam. This exam is composed of four parts, each of which are addressed separately in this guide. The Data Trader¡¯s guild is one of the oldest and most respected guilds in the known galaxy. To be accepted as a Journeyman in this honored profession is one of the highest honors any human can aspire to.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Leo quickly checked his uniform as he waited next to the starboard personnel receiving lock. His utilities were fairly clean and the DA Reginald O¡¯Rourke patch was attached on his right shoulder just like the manual said it should be. Glancing down at his chest, the certification tabs he¡¯d earned in brokerage and security were aligned correctly above his RFID tag. His black ship boots probably could have looked better, but they were reasonably clean and had been polished a few weeks back. They¡¯d do to greet a dirty foot apprentice, he reckoned.

    Looking down, he consulted the datapad he carried. The picture of the newbie looked pretty ordinary. Short blond hair over a nice-looking face showed a young woman of mixed ethnic descent. Not too uncommon here in Theta quadrant. She had a single tattoo shaped like a diamond below her left eye but was otherwise unremarkable. Glancing at the file again, Trader Apprentice Candidate Ramona Eddington seemed pretty normal. No noted genetic engineering, also pretty normal for this region but the standard augments for health and etc.. Two meters tall was pretty standard for non-augmented humans and the blond hair and blue eyes were not unheard of if a bit uncommon on worlds mostly populated by outcasts from lower down on the spiral arm. The file was pretty vague on her past experience which was unusual. She was listed as an Apprentice Candidate which meant that she had passed her Apprentice written exam but was not yet a member of the Guild. The transfer from field was blank which implied she had no current ship which made sense for a fresh nugget. However she also had a couple of spacer qualifications that you cannot get on the ground (Life Saving, Vacuum; EVA; etc.). This implied spacer experience, but lack of current ship implied she was a dirtyfoot.

    Apprentice Spacers born dirtside were not uncommon in the Guild. Leo had been born aboard an Ark to a Trader family but about half the Reggie¡¯s current crew were ¡°dirtyfoots¡± instead of spacers born. There was a definite bias against those not space born, but in general the Guild was a meritocracy. There was just too much to do and not enough hands to do it for anything else.

    Leo glanced at the time. The seconds were ticking away. Time for Apprentice Eddington¡¯s first test. Traders were notoriously compulsive about time and being late to a meeting was considered tantamount to a slap in the face. Operating in an environment where success was measured in milliseconds could do that to you. Three¡­ Two.. One¡­

    The hatch cycled open.

    Leo looked up from his pad and did a quick double take. Ramona took a hesitant step into the inner lock and looked tentatively around. Leo shook his head and hoped he looked more dignified than he felt. It wasn¡¯t that Ramona was crazy sexy or even model beautiful. For some reason, she had a presence that had an impact on Leo that went beyond the physical. At 32, Leo thought he had women and dating pretty much figured out even though he had never entered into a long-term contract with anyone. This was something different though. Trying to cover up his consternation, he cleared his throat and put his best ¡°Master to Apprentice¡± face on. ¡°Apprentice Candidate Eddington? Welcome to the Reggie. I am Journeyman Timur; Leo Timur.¡±

    Ramona turned to see Leo properly. He fervently hoped that his moment of stupidity went unnoticed. A hesitant smile and an extended hand matched her words. ¡°Thank you Journeyman Timur. I am very glad to be here.¡±

    Unlike a military ship, Data Arks were run on a fairly informal basis. This meant no saluting and very little deference to rank, except for the masters who basically ran the show. This is not to say there was no discipline onboard. It was still a working ship and commands sometimes had life and death consequences which meant that the chain of command was always present. After a brief handshake, Leo proceeded with the legal forms necessary to onboard Ramona onto the Reggie. The i¡¯s dotted and t¡¯s crossed, Leo began a very brief tour on the way to Apprentice spaces. As he pointed out the locked hatch to Data Store 10, he asked the question that came to mind when he first read her file. ¡°I assume that this is your first Data Ark since you¡¯re not a member of the Guild but you seem to have some space experience. Have you served on a deep space vessel before?¡±

    She looked down, seemingly embarrassed by the innocuous question. ¡°I served eight years in the Raeburn Guard. Enlisted when I was eighteen and served my time.¡± Ah, that explained a bit of the file. No official deep space experience with the Guild but plenty of practical experience on a ship. Sometimes ex-military types wound up in the Guild which paid much better and had better amenities when compared to military vessels. Leo didn¡¯t know why she found this embarrassing but was smart enough not to ask about it. Assuming they served together at the trading desk, they would have plenty of time to get to know each other if that¡¯s what she wanted.

    ¡°Ah, great. Shouldn¡¯t have any problems with the Apprentice Practicum then.¡± Leo and Ramona proceed up deck to the Apprentice spaces (female). ¡°We¡¯re a bit old fashioned here on the Reggie, Apprentice Spaces are separated by sex. Female spaces here, Male spaces up on 18. Your deck captain is Olufunke Channah. Just call her Ollu.¡± With that, he touched the data pad that he¡¯d been carrying so that it showed her berthing space and handed it to her. ¡°Orientation is at 08:00 tomorrow on the trading floor. You have zero level clearance now so you can get to all the common spaces and use the lifts. Anything really interesting is still off limits until you qual in. Questions?¡± Ramona shook her head with a little smile. Not knowing what the smile meant, Leo nodded and turned back down the corridor.

    Ramona turned away from Leo and attempted to access the door to the Apprentice Spaces. The hatch reported as locked and refused to open. Was this a gag for the new nugget? In the guard, there had been plenty of rough gags and outright hazing in some cases, so she expected some amount of rough treatment here in her new ship but she was surprised that it had begun so soon. Before she could formulate a plan, the hatch cycled open and a small woman of African heritage stepped through. To say she was black was a complete misnomer. Although she had the darkest skin of any woman Ramona had ever met, her skin was a dark mahogany. The color of excellent coffee or perhaps the darkest wood you had ever seen. Ramona was instantly jealous of her skin which looked flawless. She was obviously ship-born. There was no way that face had ever seen natural sunlight. The woman caught up short. ¡°Are you Apprentice Eddington?¡± Ramona could only nod. ¡°Why are you standing in the passageway? I was expecting you in the Apprentice Spaces.¡±

    Ramona wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Any admission of ignorance could be fatal for a new nugget but seeming arrogant or cocky was never a good idea with a new crewmember either. The simple truth was usually best. ¡°The hatch was locked.¡±

    Ollu snorted. ¡°Of course it¡¯s locked. Don¡¯t want some horny apprentice trader showing up at three AM looking for panties, do ya?¡± Ramona wasn¡¯t sure what to say. She had heard that things could be very loose on a trader ship, but panty raids seemed a bit out of line even for their loose moral code. At least she hadn¡¯t mentioned rape. Not unheard of on Guard vessels, but normally very harshly dealt with. The captain could order summary execution in extreme cases which kept all but the most deranged in check. Ramona had a moment of indecision, had she made a horrible mistake? Ollu noticed her look of horror and took pity on her. ¡°Relax. Some of the youngsters act more like boys than men. The lock is just simpler than giving them punishment duty for being stupid or taking a dare to go into the girl¡¯s shower. Think naughty puppy, not rapist. Just tap your RFID and the door will unlock. Same as any authorized space in the ship.¡± Looking over to where Ramona¡¯s salad board should be, she saw nothing. Realizing her mistake, she swore in a language that Ramona didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Aw crap. Didn¡¯t Timur give you a RFID? Obviously not, you¡¯re not wearing it. OK.. OK.. Come in out of the corridor and we¡¯ll get you fixed up.¡± Ollu led her into the compartment which actually proved to be a series of smaller berthing spaces. Walking down the corridor, Ramona peeked into the open doors and saw that the spaces where quite generous by her standards. Each one had a single bunk, a small desk and some built in cabinets for personal storage. Considering her bunk as a new spacer in the guard was a ¡°hot bunk¡± she shared with another woman, the Apprentice Spaces aboard the Reggie seemed quite luxurious.

    Ollu walked back to the Fab station and interacted with the wall mounted terminal. A few minutes later the Fab produced a small white square with Ramona¡¯s name and picture on the front. ¡°Here¡¯s your RFID.¡± She pronounced it ¡°are-fid¡± like it was an actual word. ¡°This technology is ancient but it¡¯s guaranteed to work even in complete vacuum and under any sort of nasty environmental condition. The device is sealed and completely passive, no internal power whatsoever. As you can see, the Fab node for the Apprentice spaces is here and you can feel free to print out whatever you need while you¡¯re housed in this unit. We all have a mass limit but you¡¯ll have full archive access once you¡¯re logged in and you¡¯ve posted your Guild papers.¡±

    The last sentence perked Ramona¡¯s ears. She had accepted this berth because it meant an automatic acceptance into The Guild. Her contract had specified that she¡¯d be accepted into the guild as part of the agreement, but she was still dubious it would actually happen that easily. Over the centuries The Guild had gained almost mythical proportions. The idea that a ¡°dirtyfoot¡± would be allowed to join just by passing a few tests seemed impossible. She had no idea that almost half the ship¡¯s compliment were born planetside, same as her. She had heard dozens of stories on the transfer station about people who had applied but been rejected for spacer posts on Guild vessels. While she trusted that The Guild would back up her contract, she still was a bit in awe of the whole thing. A dark, distrustful part of her expected a cruel trick to play out any second. A bad drama called ¡°Space Slavers¡± came to mind. The absolutely horrible drama had made the rounds while Ramona was in school. Just the thought that she might be in the clutches of a space slaver made her smile a bit inside. Nothing showed on her face. Growing up in her father¡¯s household had taught her to school her expressions and maintain a calm fa?ade despite the chaos around her. Ollu gave her a brief but comprehensive tour of the spaces including her cabin and a quick introduction to her neighbors on both sides. Wrapping up with instructions on how to reach her duty station the next morning, Ollu managed to surprise Ramona one last time. ¡°Remember, these are the Female Apprentice Spaces. No males allowed. You¡¯re welcome to fuck your brains out outside the spaces, but please keep it outside. Same goes for sexual relations with your other Female Apprentices. Hands off. Bad sexual behavior is grounds for dismissal and you will lose your Guild membership.¡±

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    On her own in her cabin, Ramona took stock of her surroundings. She knew that new employers meant a new lifestyle but she wasn¡¯t really ready for what it meant to be a Trader. The absolute equality of the sexes on her home world of Raeburn¡¯s world had actually made sex a bit dirty and tawdry. In some ways, Raeburn was a bit prudish. Yes, she bunked with a mixed crew of men and women in the Militia. No, she would never discuss sex with a senior officer. Never. Naturally, all the things that young men and women do when unsupervised happened just like do everywhere, but they were never discussed. It was like talking about taking a crap. It was just considered impolite. Yes, you knew everyone used the head; no, you didn¡¯t discuss it in such a matter of fact way. Working on a ship full of people with no morals would take some getting used to. Just one more disquieting aspect to this mission.

    Leo walked into the main trading floor and into the commercial design trader¡¯s pit. There were always a few members of the trading team on duty when they were within the latency envelope of a system. The on duty traders looked up eagerly at Leo¡¯s approach. Everyone knew about the new apprentice. A ship was a very large thing, but in the end it was just another small town. Everyone knew everyone else¡¯s business and a new member of the community was an opportunity for variety not to be missed. He didn¡¯t consider himself a gossip but denying his teammates any knowledge of the new apprentice seemed unnecessarily cruel. Besides, what little he knew would be public knowledge throughout the ship shortly. Senior Journeymen were encouraged to take the new apprentices under their wings, but some amount of hazing of the ¡®plebs was just unavoidable. As long as it remained purely psychological abuse, it would officially be ignored.

    Jamison, the senior watch stander, raised his eyebrows in an unambiguous ¡°tell me everything¡± gesture. Jamison, unlike Leo, was a TERRIBLE gossip. Unless his curiosity was fulfilled, he would simply invent details to fill the empty space. Considering that his imaginary world ran much closer to ¡°Space Slavers¡± than actual trader doctrine, Leo decided to share what details he had and spare Ramona any unnecessary speculation. ¡°Before you ask, her name is Ramona. Seems to have a good set of space legs, comes from a local militia background. Some ship handling, born a dirtyfoot.¡±

    Jamison smirked, ¡°Trust you to check out the legs first Leo. Perhaps I should offer her a personal tour of the ship after shift change. Only two more hours until we hit the latency envelope and we stand down.¡±

    Lela, the second watch stander, snorted loudly enough to be heard in the noisy room. ¡°Leave over Jamison. If your reputation in the Apprentice Spaces isn¡¯t enough to frighten her off, your ugly face certainly will.¡± She looked down to her console for a second before continuing. ¡°The real question is, which pit will draft her for first round. We¡¯ve got first pick, but we¡¯ll obviously pick the trader born. Any whispers Leo?¡± Now everyone in the pit was looking at Leo. Getting drafted into a pit was a major roll of the dice for any apprentice trader. While in theory apprentices had the right to rotate into as many pits as they wished before majoring in one, the reality is that your best chance for promotion was to pick a specialty early and excel within that specialty. ¡®Plebs who rotated more than a couple of times rarely made it up to master trader and usually washed out after a few years.

    Leo rubbed his chin unconsciously. He had heard the industrial process pit boss grumbling about new recruits but she always grumbled. Between the unglamorous reputation of ¡°I-Proc¡± and the cranky nature of their pit boss, only the least promising apprentices tended to stay there. He wasn¡¯t sure why, but he really hoped Ramona didn¡¯t end up at I-Proc. ¡°Given her military background, I would guess either Weps or Ships but who knows. She just may wind up scrubbing decks.¡± An old joke left over from ancient wet water navies, ¡°swabbing the deck¡± was no longer a task actual humans usually did. However, it was occasionally used as a punishment duty to scare the more stubborn ¡®plebs back on track.

    Now it was Jamison¡¯s turn to laugh. Like most traders, his genetics had been modified to ensure his external appearance was ¡°optimal¡± for the society he¡¯d been born in. Unlike most, that meant a long face and almost hawklike nose. When he laughed, he looked like a cross between a horse and a bird of prey if that was remotely possible. ¡°Isn¡¯t she Banned?¡± He pronounced banned with an audible capital B like it was a disease. ¡°I don¡¯t think that Gunny would consider playing with rocks and spears in some backward banned navy as a ¡®military background.¡¯¡± Gunny Thomplin was the Pit Boss of the Military and Security Weapons Trading Team, universally referred to as the ¡°Weps Pit.¡±

    Leo glared at him but Lela was much less accepting of his abrasive manner. ¡°Don¡¯t let Gunny hear you say that. Remember what he said to you when you applied for a Weps rotation?¡± Jamison just looked at her, silently promising payback if she repeated the story. ¡°I for one, will never forget: ¡®Son, being a warrior is not about pushing buttons or wearing a pretty uniform. It¡¯s about killing people. I could kill you with a coconut from 100 meters and you would have no idea I was there. Pick another pit that needs candy ass pretty boys.¡¯¡± Her laughing fit eventually got the rest of the Pit laughing so hard that the senior Pit Boss gave them a glare from across the room. Lela gave him a friendly wave and then a rude gesture when he turned away.

    Leo hid his grin with one hand and looked away. As fun as Lela¡¯s taunting was, he needed a good working relationship with Jamison and taunting him would just cause more friction between them. Leo was very close to taking his Master¡¯s board. Being a cutup and hazing the other Journeymen was considered fine for a first or second year like Lela but it was seen as unbecoming in a Master. Leo had quite a few unfortunate ¡°incidents¡± from his early years as an apprentice that he had to play down. The other masters had to be convinced that he was ready to assume all responsibilities that being a Master Trader implied. Being able to stay above the fray between the junior team members was one of these unspoken skills that he was expected to show before he could pass his boards and achieve the coveted master¡¯s rank. ¡°Ah, she¡¯s from Raeburn¡¯s.¡± Leo looked at Jamison, no recognition was sparked there. ¡°As you may recall, Raeburn¡¯s is the world that successfully held off a Combine attack. Single handed. And that was ten years AFTER they were banned. I hear their Militia is top notch, even if their ship designs are not the latest. I wonder what local developments they¡¯ve made in the interim?¡±

    Lela and Jamison had a similar look to Leo now. It was the look of the data trader. If there was one thing that they all had in common, it was a passion for design. The bread and butter of the Data Trader was the ability to look at a piece of IP and decide its value in the galactic market. This implied the ability to not only read but to understand designs. The larger implications of a more efficient oxygen scrubber were probably moot to most people but were hugely important in the trading of design data across interstellar distances. Banning a system not only punished the designated system by cutting them off from the galactic community but also withheld any new developments from that system from the data traders. Leo knew of a couple of profitable environmental systems designs with original patent holders from Raeburn¡¯s World. He wondered what follow on work was not available to the trader network because of the ban.

    Leo gave himself a mental shake. Tiernen, the Commercial Design Pit boss, was not going to thank him for distracting the junior duty crew. Because the Reggie was on her outbound leg, most of the important transactions for this system had already been completed hours or days ago. The final shift before moving out system was generally reserved for the junior team members so that they could gain experience with standing a watch and having responsibility. The odds of them doing something spectacularly stupid were reduced but it gave them experience and confidence. Lastly, it got them on the trading boards and established the first entries in their ¡°score¡± which was a lifetime balance sheet of every trade conducted by each trader. The first few trades of a trader¡¯s career were usually closely monitored. Once they were ¡°on the board¡± with official trades on their record, they eventually graduated into ¡°fourth shift¡± where they were much more loosely supervised. As unpleasant as Jamison could be personally, he had a very good lifetime score and seemed to have a talent for deals that had a predictable rate of return. In the long run, it was the steady trader that ran up the score. Taking too much risk was sure to backfire eventually. ¡°OK, children. As you were. Only a few more hours to drive up your scores before we hit the latency window.¡±

    As he left the floor, he let his suppressed mirth surface. Jamison was such an ass, he enjoyed watching Lela skewer him. Tiernen was a genius for pairing them as watch standers. Either Jamison would snap and try to throttle her or they would both make Journeymen within six months. Walking down the hall, he let out a chuckle, garnering a few stares from random passersby. Looking forward to a good long rest, he lengthened his stride towards Journeyman spaces and his bunk. They had been in system for sixteen days. A long time to be working watch on watch. He was ready for one of the Apprentices to pass their boards and fill the hole in their watch rotation. He made it to his cabin and was in his bunk before Ramona was in his thoughts again. Why did she make such a first impression on him? Still wondering, Leo faded out to a blissful ten hours of rack time, barely rolling over as the Reggie hit the E-Limit and passed into FTL on her way to the next system.

    Ramona was much more aware of their shift into FTL. This was only her second time beyond the E-Limit and the novelty had not yet worn off for her. Also, the transition to ship¡¯s time was going to take a couple of days. A quick nap was all she had managed, her body clock insisting it was time to get up even though it was the middle of the night by ship¡¯s time. She had spent six months on the transfer station, taking odd jobs and working up enough exam credit to make her application, giving her plenty of time to adjust to local time. Then the Reggie had appeared, accepting her application and starting the next phase of her journey. Checking the comm screen in her cabin, she noted she had about eight hours before she was to report to her ¡°orientation officer¡± to begin her first official ship¡¯s day. She assumed that ¡°orientation officer¡± really meant ¡°babysitter¡± but wasn¡¯t really sure. Oddly, the note did not give the name of this officer or to which exact area she should report. It just said that ¡°further details would be forthcoming.¡± Very mysterious. There was a chime and the comm indicated that Ollu was outside asking for entry. Ramona ping¡¯d the door open and Ollu strode in with brisk efficiency.

    ¡°Howdy, Ramona; how are you making out so far?¡± She looked like she really wanted to know the answer but she seemed a bit tired. Ramona assumed she was coming off shift now that the ship was in FTL and the crew stood down to underway watch-standing.

    ¡°Fine, thanks. Just trying to get through the orientation classes. There are a ton of them.¡± Ramona glanced down to the reader that was still open on the bunk, it¡¯s holographic surface still showing an image of the 100 damage control stations located throughout the ship.

    Ollu smiled. ¡°You know, you have a couple of weeks to get those done. You don¡¯t have to do them all today!¡±

    Ramona smiled back, feeling more comfortable talking about training and exams. ¡°Well, they are mostly the same as my ship-handler exams back in the Militia. I figured I could knock down all the repetitive ones right away and then spend my time on the ones that were different. However, I¡¯m on lesson 20 and they¡¯re all pretty much the same.¡± She looked down, a little embarrassed. She didn¡¯t mean to brag, it was just that the material was something she already knew. She had made it to specialist, first class, in the Militia which meant that she was running her section of five specialists and reporting directly to the Chief of Watch. Most of the material she was reading now was part of Militia ground school. She never would have seen the inside of a garbage scow back on Raeburn without passing this far.

    Ollu chuckled a bit. ¡°Yeah, these things are meant for civilians. People with a business background. Last wing wiper we had down here passed all 40 in the first 48 hours. That was a record.¡± Ollu gave Ramona a significant look. ¡°You know, the traders are a competitive lot. Breaking a record means something to them.¡±

    That sparked a question in Ramona¡¯s head. Ollu seemed open to passing along information so she hazarded the query out loud. ¡°You refer to traders as ¡®them,¡¯ aren¡¯t you one of them?¡±

    Now Ollu really laughed. A rich belly laugh that would be expected of someone twice her size. ¡°Lord no.¡± She leaned over a bit to show off the shiny stylized space ship on her shoulder tab. ¡°This here means ¡®Master Ship Handler¡¯ not trader. I¡¯m just the hired help around here. We drive them where they tell us to go and we keep this beast full of air and pointed in the right direction.¡± Ollu gave Ramona a conspiratorial wink. ¡°Sister, you are about to join the most exclusive club in the known universe. Just remember that I knew ya when, OK?.¡± With that she chuckled again and was off to find her rack.

 The Draft

    Historical Context

    In ancient times, raw materials and finished goods were commonly transported from place to place because of scarcity or the difficulty in producing finished goods.  As technology advanced, the ability to manufacture goods was only limited by the imagination and technical competency of the designer.  The complete automation of production late in the solar era meant that there were very few reasons to ever transport finished goods more than a very short distance.  In the era of interstellar commerce, the notion of transporting actual finished goods across thousands of light-years is obviously ludicrous.  However, detailed design specifications of finished goods from household items to military hardware are extremely valuable.  With a core set of replication machinery and the correct set of specifications, an entire spacefaring society can be created in relatively short order.  Thus, it is the transportation of Intellectual Property, or Data, that has become the backbone of interstellar commerce.  This is the vocation to which you aspire as a petitioner to the Data Trader Journeyman¡¯s review board.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°Pleb Draft in Ten Minutes.¡±  The reminder whispered softly in Leo¡¯s ear.  As a master¡¯s candidate, one of his duties was to support his team in the draft.  Not that he got to actually choose; he was basically a gofer for the masters in his trading group.  Right now, that meant he had to be there for the meeting but didn¡¯t really have anything useful to do.

    The Pleb Draft was a common enough occurrence that they had a routine for the draft but not so common that it got boring.  There was a well-established ¡°rotation¡± order that gave each group first pick on a rotating schedule.  There were always more openings for traders than they had candidates so there was keen competition for the best candidates.  Today, it was the ComDes team¡¯s chance for first pick.  They had picked up four pleb¡¯s at the transfer station so they had a decision to make.

    Not that there was much suspense in the decision.  Leo had reviewed the jackets of each of the candidates and one of them was a standout.  He came from a good trader family and had grown up on trader ships.  Two of the others were in-system merchies, only Ramona was dirty-foot.  Like it nor not there was definitely a bias in the guild to those who came from guild families.  Growing up on the DA Connor Loic (¡°Connie¡±), Leo had known he would grow up to be a trader and had spent his entire life preparing for his upcoming master¡¯s board.  Anyone from outside of that world simply could not operate at that same level, could they?  Yes, everyone was evaluated on merit but the reality is that not everyone is equal.

    The masters were starting to file in.  As usual, Gunny Tomplin was exactly fifteen minutes early.  His (far in the past) military training and experience still shaped his worldview, and that worldview did not include being late to meetings or imprecise in any way.  Leo got a friendly nod.  Tomplin liked him for some reason that he¡¯d never bothered to explain.  The other masters filled in the chamber with the ¡°Arts and Entertainment¡± folks being last into the room as usual.  While everyone was on time, only the Gunny kept the ¡°fifteen before¡± rule.  Finally, when a decent interval had passed, Roger Thorsten, the guild master, stood up.  ¡°OK folks, we¡¯ve got four new pleb¡¯s from the transfer station.  None of them have come to their senses and asked to switch to ship¡¯s company so we have four drafts to make.¡±  He looked over at Leo¡¯s boss.  ¡°Larry, I think it¡¯s ComDes up first in the rotation.¡±

    Tiernen looked a bit surprised, which was strange since this was common knowledge.  There had been speculation for weeks about who he would choose with his first pick.  ¡°Rog, not really sure about our pick.¡±  There was muffled laughter in the room.  ¡°I think that we will trade our pick.¡±  The laughter stopped.  One of the strange things about being a professional trader was that almost anything was for sale.  Yes, they had an agreed rotation, but anything that could be earned could also be sold.  Tiernen looked over to Tomplin.  ¡°Gunny, how about I trade you two for one?  You¡¯ve got an extra pick coming up because of what happened last month.  I need two people.  What do you say?¡±

    Gunny looked down to his pad in a very studied manner.   Leo was starting to smell a rat.  Gunny¡¯s acting wasn¡¯t very good.  This cool nonchalant thing wasn¡¯t really his style.  He always did everything with purpose.  ¡°Innocent¡± wasn¡¯t really a facial expression he did well.  Leo was starting to think that his boss had rigged the pick by having a deal with Gunny up front.  ¡°Well sure Larry, I guess I can help ya out.  I am only one pleb short anyway.  So I¡¯ll go first.  Weps takes Eddington.¡±

    Now the silence in the room was complete.  Nobody could ever remember a dirty foot being drafted above a trader born.  Certainly not above three spacers born.  It was crazy.  Tiernan nodded with the look of a man who had the whole thing planned well in advance.  ¡°OK, great.  ComDes takes Warren,¡± the merchie, ¡°and Torries.¡±  The other merchie.  This left the trader born at the bottom of a class of four.  In theory, the masters were not supposed to discuss the picks with the plebs but in practice everyone would know the selection order.  In this case, it would look like Ramona got picked second or third since ComDev was ¡°supposed¡± to go first.  Now Gunny had gotten his dirty foot without everyone knowing he had picked her first.  On the other hand, the next pick was going to reverberate around the ship.

    Thorsten continued as if nothing of note had happened.  ¡°OK.  I-Proc, you¡¯re up next.¡±

    Kelly looked like she had found the original patent for oxygen.  ¡°I-Proc is happy to take Swabian.¡±  No wonder, who would have guessed with fourth pick she¡¯d get the ¡°number one¡± seed.

    The meeting continued with normal business for a while including a discussion of future ports of call.  Leo tried to be interested but was completely consumed by the outcome of the draft.  Having Ramona right next door in Weps was the best possible outcome for him.  He had consciously tried to not think about it but now that the draft was done, he realized that he was very taken with Ramona already, which was strange since he barely knew her.  If she had been drafted into ComDes, he would have been responsible for her and thus any sort of relationship would be bad form.  Not strictly barred but certainly ¡°not done¡± and a good way to piss away your chance of making master trader.  Similarly, a draft into I-Proc is generally considered a death sentence and nobody ever wanted to go there.  Weps was perfect.  ComDes worked with the Weps folks all the time and their pits were right next door on the trading floor.  If there was to be any sort of relationship, it could happen or not on it¡¯s own.

    Leo¡¯s internal musings about his personal life meant he pretty much missed the close of the meeting.  When he looked up,  Tiernan was looking at him with a half-grumpy half-amused look.  ¡°You with us Journeyman Timur?¡±

    Leo sat up straighter and tried to look like he was paying attention.  ¡°Yes, master trader.  Nice move with Gunny, I don¡¯t think anyone saw it coming.¡±

    Tiernan took a moment to look self-satisfied.  ¡°That¡¯s the way to play it Leo.  Never go into a negotiation session unless the outcome is already assured to be in your favor.¡±  Abruptly, he shifted gears.  ¡°You should be thinking about your masters boards in a few months.  You still have some against you because of that stunt you pulled in Segini Minor a few years back.  You need to do it better and cleaner than anyone else to ensure your board is a foregone conclusion.  Right, son?¡±

    Leo knew that Tiernan was trying to help but he really resented the way people brought up ancient history all the time.  What was done was done.  Besides, his lifetime score was the highest of all the Journeymen on the ship.  His truculence must have shown on his face because Tiernan snorted.  ¡°Don¡¯t get all stubborn on me Leo.  This isn¡¯t about right or wrong, fair or not fair.  It¡¯s about getting the outcome you want, right?¡±  Leo nodded.  ¡°Then listen to the old man and rig the game in your favor.  Tick all the boxes and dare those bastards to fail you.  Right?  Right!¡±  Leo sat up straighter.  He really wanted to make master and Tiernan was trying to help him which he didn¡¯t have to do.  ¡°OK.  Pep talk over.  For the next six months, you are going to get every shit job that comes my way.  You will be doing buoy maintenance, courier duty and whatever other low level crap I can think of.  And starting right now, you are the best fucking onboard mentor on the ship!  Read me?¡±

    Leo stood.  ¡°Yes, master trader.  I read you, zero latency.¡±

    Tiernan gave him a mock salute and with a loud ¡°harrumph¡± marched out of the meeting room.  Leo thought he heard him mutter something like ¡°fucking kids¡± but wasn¡¯t quite sure.  As he gathered up his own things he was startled by a hearty slap on the back.  ¡°Buck up son!  If you were in Weps, we would have had you scrubbing the corridors with a toothbrush for a month!¡±  The booming baritone of Gunny Tomlin was unmistakable.

    ¡°Uh, thanks Gunny.  What¡¯s a toothbrush anyway?¡±  For a second, Leo thought Gunny was going to tear him a new one but then he let out a loud gaffaw.

    ¡°You space born are all the same.  Electricity is free, water is expensive.  Down on a real planet, it¡¯s the opposite.  Water is free for the taking but it takes time and money to make electricity.  Why use a sonic scrubber when a cheap brush can clean your teeth just fine?¡±  Oh.  It was a dirtyfoot thing.  ¡°So, how is your onboard mentoring going for Apprentice Eddington going?  If she¡¯s going to be one of mine, I want her squared away pronto.¡±

    Ah, so he had heard the little pep talk from Tiernan.  Cross-pit mentoring was one of those ¡°must have¡± items to be considered for a masters spot.  ¡°Just fine Gunny.  I am meeting with her later today.  She has tons of shipboard experience so her first few weeks will be a breeze as she re-quals.¡±

    ¡°Son, listen to me good.  If you want to be the best fucking onboard mentor on this ship, we are not going to wait two weeks for her to re-qual.  She will be fully qual¡¯d in two fucking days.  Read me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, master trader.¡±

    ¡°Zero latency?¡±

    ¡°Zero.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I like to hear.  Carry on.¡±  He did not salute but looked like he expected Leo to do so.  When no salute was forthcoming, his exit was as precise as only a military man can be.  Each stride the same length, crisp 90 degree turn into the hallway.  Leo couldn¡¯t decide if Gunny was really that gung-ho or if he had just cultivated the persona for so many years it had become a habit.

    While Leo was not looking forward to ¡°every shit job¡± that Tiernan could think of, the idea of spending some quality time with Ramona wasn¡¯t exactly his idea of rough duty at all.

    Ramona was up early and hadn¡¯t slept well.  A couple more short naps was all she had managed.  The time adjustment added to the nervous energy of her first day on the ship were combining to make it difficult to sleep.  She could have taken a pill but didn¡¯t want to get into a habit of that.  Her militia experience told her she would settle down into a watch routine if she let her body work things out.  In the meantime, she was flying through her quals.  She had spent four hours on them before finally trying to sleep and now she had almost an hour before she needed to report.  The system had updated with a reporting location and a person to report to.  Assuming correctly that being precisely on time was imperative, she had walked up to her reporting location and timed out exactly how long it would take.  Adding a few minutes for getting lost or having people in her way, she knew exactly when she had to leave.

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    It was time.  Checking her utilities in the mirror panel, she ensured that everything was correct according to the new onboard instructions she found on her message queue.  The Reggie patch was new and looked good on it¡¯s spot on her shoulder.  The apprentice pips on the collar looked strange to her since they looked more like Militia officer tabs than the Specialist stripes she wore on her old uniform.  Military style spit and polish didn¡¯t seem to mean much to the Guild but she wasn¡¯t going to fail to follow correct uniform instructions just in case.

    Watching the chrono out of one eye, she made her way up to the trading floor as instructed.  She was about thirty seconds ahead of schedule which allowed her to eyeball the room and find her master trader.  ¡°Gunny¡± was famous on the ship but Ramona had never met him.  She had a picture but that wasn¡¯t the same thing as being able to see him in person.  After a quick scan, she saw him across the large room.  Twenty seconds to 08:00 and her reporting time.  She measured the distance, measured her pace and¡­ ¡°Spacer Eddington, reporting for duty, Gunny.¡±

    Gunny took a long and obvious look at his chrono.  It read 08:00, exactly.  His parade ground voice carried easily across the large room.  ¡°Welcome to Weps, apprentice candidate Eddington.   I expect you to be at least fifteen minutes early for any duty or watch.  You read me?¡±

    Faced with the standard military fifteen before rule and Gunny¡¯s very crisp order, her military training kicked back in.  Before she could think, she barked out ¡°Sir, yes sir!¡±  Feet a regulation shoulder width apart, she cracked off a drill company perfect salute and stood at attention.

    Gunny smiled and continued in a lower voice, ¡°At ease Eddington.  We¡¯re not really in the military.  Just wanted the squishies to see what happens when you push a real spacer.  I am very glad to have you in my trading pit.¡±  With an unfeigned grin, he stuck out a calloused hand for a firm handshake.

    Ramona relaxed a bit.  Sergeants were sergeants across the galaxy.  She knew how to deal with a top kick.  ¡°Thank you gunny.  I was afraid that we would be dealing with some fifteen before the fifteen before nonsense.  I¡¯ll leave that crap to officers, I have always worked for a living.¡±

    Gunny let out a loud guffaw, sergeants were sergeants everywhere.  Gunny led her around the weps pit and introduced her to the rest of the weps traders present.  Although the new trader orientation program on her console seemed very comprehensive, it was nice to meet people who actually knew what the job was all about.  Unsaid knowledge and expectations make the difference between merely competent and truly excelling at any task.

    On the surface, the concept of being a data trader was very simple.  The goal was to buy patents for less than they could be sold for.  In theory, this simply meant buy low and sell high.  However, since IP has no physical existence (beyond some bytes on a computer), there were no real guides about how much a given set of IP was worth.  There was a theoretically limitless sell side market since the IP could be sold as many times as you wanted.  Thus, acquisition costs should not be an obstacle.  However, in practice most designs had a limited lifespan.  In addition, patents expired, which prevented monetization of IP beyond a maximum window.  This implied that you needed to make a profit on the item in question within a few years.  There was also differences in which systems preferred which technologies.  To some extent, there was a subjective measure of the value that could not be represented by any algorithm.  Some things just had more value than others even if they appeared on paper to be exactly the same.  Hence, the humans in the loop on the trading floor.  Most of the sell side activity was completely automated but buy side was very tough to automate completely.

    In the case of weps, the items being bought and sold had some sort of military value.  Mostly weapons, but also military specific designs for sea, land, air and space craft of all types.  Even things like protective undergarments worn beneath space armor could be part of the weps IP pantheon.    Thus, the weps pit was always busy and was considered one of the ¡°glam¡± positions on any Data Ark.  Ramona wasn¡¯t really aware of the cachet associated with the position yet, but she could certainly understand why trading in military IP could be a very lucrative business for the Guild.

    Gunny took Ramona over to one side of the pit and introduced her to a young-ish trader who also wore the single pip of an apprentice.  ¡°You might have met Christine already in the apprentice spaces.¡±  When both women shook their heads, he continued.  ¡°Well, she¡¯s also an apprentice here and she¡¯s about six months ahead.  I¡¯m going to make you two partners for a while so she can bring you up to speed.  Some of us older traders have forgotten what¡¯s hard and what¡¯s easy about the system so I like to pair up the young¡¯uns at first.  Plus, this way you can talk about me behind my back.¡±  With a conspiratorial wink he left them alone and went over to harass some journeyman traders on the other side of the pit.

    In actuality, the term ¡°pit¡± was a bit of a misnomer.  It wasn¡¯t really sunken into the floor.  Rather, it was a roughly trapezoidal space with a long line of consoles around the longer sides and a shorter line of consoles facing inwards.  On this day, the traders were wandering around with a very casual air.  There wasn¡¯t much going on here in deep space.  Mostly, people seemed to be chatting and gossiping but Ramona assumed there was some real work going on.

    Christine was short and squat.  Ramona speculated she was from a high-gee planet.  With mouse-brown hair and eyes to match, she wasn¡¯t someone you would call a raving beauty.  However, she had a humorous glint in her eye that made Ramona think she wouldn¡¯t be lonely very often if she wanted company.  ¡°Welcome to the Reggie, Ramona.  I gather this is your first trader vessel?¡±  Ramona nodded.  ¡°Yeah, me too.  I¡¯m from Isoguard.  Us dirty-foots have to stick together, eh?¡±  Ramona smiled, she wasn¡¯t really sure what dirty-foot meant in the guild but it wasn¡¯t very complimentary where she was from.  Still, she learned in the militia that you either endured nicknames or embraced them.  Either way, you¡¯d have a nickname and probably not one you wanted.  ¡°So, I¡¯m a long guns specialist.  We did a ton of trades while we were in-system so I thought the simplest thing would be to replay the in-system run in sim mode and then walk you through the sequence.  That should give you an idea of what we do.  Then you can ask questions as we go.  Make sense?¡±  Ramona nodded enthusiastically and the two women settled down side by side and started the simulation.  Christine was pleased to find that Ramona was a very quick study.

    Watching from the ComDes pit, Leo wondered what Christine was showing Ramona on her console.  Based on how focused they both were, he assumed it was a simulation of the last in-system run.  That¡¯s where he would have started but everyone had a different idea about how to best orient a new nugget.  Looking at his pad, he checked when Ramona went off shift, 13:40.  He put a note in her queue suggesting they meet to go over her quals and answer any questions.  Technically, she had 90 days to finish her paper quals across the ship and change from a passenger to actual trader aboard the Reggie.  Gunny had been adamant however that Ramona could do it in two days.  While each exam was fairly short with only 10-20 questions each, studying for such a diverse set of topics usually took a few weeks at least and not a small number of apprentices flunked out of the program at 90 days because they failed to pass all the quals.  As an experienced spacer, Leo knew that wouldn¡¯t happen to Ramona.  She already knew most of the subjects.  All she had to do was to learn the things specific to the Reggie.  Leo was pretty sure the Reggie dwarfed any vessel Ramona had served on in the militia but the basic concepts were likely to be the same even if the exact procedural details were different.

    Leo sighed and took a look at his to-do list.  There were a long list of things he had put off while in-system.  In theory he had plenty of time while in deep space for them all but it was always daunting to see the huge pile the first day out-system.  Not to mention that all the admin crap got put off until the trading desk closed.  Oh well, nothing for it but to get started.

    ¡°So, where does an apprentice trader get something to eat around here?¡±  Leo looked up, startled.  It was 13:41 and Ramona was leaning over his console with a small smile.

    ¡°How long have you been standing there?¡±

    ¡°About 30 seconds.  It¡¯s a short walk.¡±  Apparently, the first session hands on with Christine agreed with Ramona.  She seemed relaxed but focused.  Leo hoped she had spent some time talking to Christine about life aboard ship.  Having a friend early on could make the difference between a good cruise and a bad one.  Leo led Ramona out of the trading floor and down into one of the cafeterias.  The Reggie was a big ship and had several places to eat and/or be entertained.  They even had two pubs onboard.  Data Arks spent the vast majority of their time in deep space so the crew had to have opportunities for R&R along with all their other needs while onboard.

    ¡°The food selection can be a little intimidating at first.¡±  Leo walked Ramona up to the orders section and walked her through the menu selections.  ¡°You can sort by ingredients, by flavors or by region.  Here, I can set it to Raeburn and you can get something from home.¡±  Leo hesitated.  Not sure if he had just made a mistake.  Of course, all of the latest fads from Raeburn wouldn¡¯t be there.  Only things from before they had been banned.  Machine printed food wasn¡¯t for everyone but it was nutritious and offered variety that was simply not possible from natural ingredients on a deep space vessel.

    Ramona made a face.  Oh crap, Leo worried he had offended her by bringing up Raeburn.  ¡°I¡¯m not really a fresh nugget you know.  I¡¯ve had plenty of time in the deep dark.¡±  She took a moment to figure out the menu options and then picked out a few ¡°faves¡± to put on the first page for herself and made her selection.

    ¡°Uh, sorry.  Not used to apprentices who are already spacers.  Most apprentices don¡¯t have much space experience.¡±  Leo and Ramona moved to an empty table in the large room.  Many other traders were also coming off shift so the room was filling up but not yet crowded.  ¡°This is one of the more popular choices with the traders.  Most of the caf¨¦¡¯s offer the same food so it¡¯s mostly just a change of scenery.  The ship drivers are mostly up forward or back down by the engineering spaces but you are free to use any caf¨¦ you want at any time.¡±   Leo was feeling an unaccustomed level of nerves talking to Ramona for some reason.  Usually, he was all business with the plebs, but this one was different.

    ¡°No worries Leo.  Just giving you a hard time.  Actually, that food console is the first bit of kit I recognize on this bucket.  Almost identical to the ones we had back in the militia.  Do you guys just install new gear for the hell of it or what?¡±  She tucked into something that looked suspiciously like enchiladas verdes, one of Leo¡¯s favorites.

    Leo hadn¡¯t thought about it before, but he supposed Data Arks did get gear refits pretty frequently.  When the cost of materials was basically zero and the designs were free, it was hard to justify installing something you knew was inferior when replacing a failing unit or doing a major overhaul.  The Reggie had a very large fabrication capacity for a ship of her size so she could basically manufacture almost anything the ship or crew needed, given sufficient raw materials.  Almost any system they visited was more than happy to trade raw materials for Guilders so there was never an issue there.

    ¡°So, Ramona, how are your quals going?¡±  He had caught her with a full bite of enchilada so there was no answer forthcoming except a nod and a hand gesture that he couldn¡¯t interpret.  ¡°Since you¡¯re a spacer, I¡¯m assuming most of them are review but there are a couple of things that are unique to the Reggie that you might need some help on.¡±  Another nod.  ¡°So, I¡¯m happy to do some review time with you.  Most of them are later in the cycle so perhaps tomorrow?¡±  Leo took a big gulp of his water, his mouth was very dry for some reason.

    ¡°Yeah, I failed the fire and collision duty stations qual the first time because I just winged it without studying.¡±  Leo nearly spit out his water.  Fire and collision?  That was one of the last quals on the list!  ¡°So, a little review would be great if you have the time.  I¡¯d like to get these things out of the way so I can focus on real work.¡±

    Leo managed to get the water down.  Not sure what to say, he was silent for a bit.  ¡°Umm, you know that you have ninety days to pass the quals, right?  I mean, you¡¯ve been on the ship for what, 20 hours now?¡±

    Ramona looked over to her pad, ¡°18.5 actually.  Why mess around?  I know all this stuff, it¡¯s just a matter of clicking the right buttons on the right form.¡±   Leo realized that it wasn¡¯t a question of IF she was going to break the record, but simply a question of by how much she would break it by.  Well, there was no reason to try and slow her down.

    In the end, she passed her final qual twenty three hours and thirty minutes after entering the Reggie for the first time.  Not only was that a record, she had better than halved the previous best time.  A stunning achievement regardless of her previous deep space experience.  The time was so extraordinary there were more than one grumble of cheating.  How else could she have beaten even trader born plebs?  Not possible in the eyes of some.  Naturally, her full record set was pulled up and showed very clearly she was taking the exams completely by herself.  Leo had been careful to not be in the room for each qual attempt.  Even if he wasn¡¯t helping, there was no point in giving the appearance of impropriety.

 The Buoy

    The Singularity

    Despite the fact that the term ¡°Singularity¡± and the possible effects on human kind were actively debated centuries before the actual event, the impact of rapid technological change still had profound and unexpected impacts on human society and our place in the galaxy.  While this guide is not intended to be a history text, this context is vital to understand the purpose of the guild and our unique place amongst the human population of our galaxy.  Simply stated, the singularity occurred when human technical advancement gained such a pace as to appear vertical in all respects.  In practice, the change occurred when completely automated factories could produce other factories.  This is to say, machines could build all other machines with no human interaction.  This means that a single replicator node can produce as many replicator nodes as you have raw materials to support and that this process can go on indefinitely.  This self-replication ability meant that anyone with sufficient knowledge could simply establish their own replication node and then build everything else required for an industrial base from that single node.  In the context of a single solar system, this can obviously cause political and social upheaval as raw materials become the only brake on development.  If the singularity had not been quickly followed by a practical Faster than Light (FTL) propulsion system, the human race would have most likely flamed out as so many other races have done throughout our galaxy¡¯s many millennia of existence.  {{Meta Tag: ¡°Pre FTL Singularity Societies¡±}}

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Leo was running late for his appointment with Thorsten.  While he had the excellent excuse of an unexpected call from the trading pit, you never wanted to be late for an appointment with the boss man.  Any attempted excuse would result in a lecture about being prepared and anticipation.  Ah, the glamorous life of a data trader.  Leo quickened his pace.  He could see Gunny down the corridor.  Since he was already late, the last thing he needed was an impromptu demand for status on Ramona¡¯s mentoring.  Apparently, Gunny had seen him also and quickened HIS pace.  At any rate, Gunny was standing at Thorsten¡¯s door before Leo got there.  Gunny had what for him passed as a grin.  On anyone else, it would look like a murderous glare.  You had to know Gunny well to tell when he was smiling or happy.  He reached out and gave Leo a light punch on the shoulder.  ¡°Well done young Timur.  Never break a record, you have to shatter it.  I won¡¯t forget this when you sit your master¡¯s board.¡±  Before Leo began to protest, he continued.  ¡°That means you have me and Thorsten as locks.  You need one more lock to guarantee you pass 3-2 worst case.¡±  Leo was a little shocked.  He knew that these things were decided largely in advance but he had never heard such bald faced vote fixing before.  Apparently, things were a little different once you made master.  ¡°Don¡¯t look like I just told you there was no such thing as the tooth fairy.  You know that things are different once you make master.  You want to be a master: expect people to treat you like one.  OK, end of free lessons today.¡±  He opened the door to Thorsten¡¯s office and called out in his best parade ground bellow, ¡°Here¡¯s young Timur for you.  He¡¯s late because I was bending his ear about Eddington.¡±  With a wink, he snapped an about face and strode off along the corridor.

    ¡°Come on in Leo, and close the door.¡±  Once Leo was settled into one of the utilitarian chairs in Thorsten¡¯s office, the guild master continued.  ¡°Tiernen tells me that you¡¯ve volunteered to do all the maintenance sweeps for our upcoming visit to Upsilon Irridini.  That¡¯s very generous of you.¡±  Leo hadn¡¯t so much volunteered as been informed by Tiernen; but in the end it amounted to the same thing.  He nodded and Thorsten smiled.  ¡°Always nice to see the extra effort before a master¡¯s board.  You can¡¯t imagine how much preventative maintenance we get done each year before the board sits.¡±  Leo sighed inwardly.  He knew that Larry was right about the extra duty but it was a pain getting every shit job that came along in addition to his regular duties.  He had already been pulling extra shifts to get his team ready for going in-system and these extra duties were eating up all of his spare time.  Luckily, Ramona was a quick study or his mentoring duties would have been impossible.  ¡°Checking the records, it looks like it¡¯s been quite a while since there has been a Data Ark visit to U-I.  I¡¯d like you to take a fast cutter out ahead and check the 6 O¡¯Clock Buoy before we slip inside the E-Limit.¡±  Most systems had their major planets and other features in a disc called the elliptic, viewed from above, it looked like a circle and the place on the circle where Buoy 1 was placed was informally referred to by spacers as ¡°noon¡± or 12 O¡¯Clock in reference to ancient mechanical clocks.  Six O¡¯Clock Buoy was therefore 180 degrees opposed to that first Buoy.  Which Buoy a ship used depended on the direction they were approaching from.  In theory, all pending transactions were queued to all the Buoys in the system but in practice, the units never actually came to a full sync due to latency in speed of light transmissions.  Even a tight beam laser link like the ones normally used by data buoys could only maintain a certain level of transmission so discrepancies were bound to creep in.

    Leo glanced down at his pad.  Every buoy ever touched by the Guild had an official name and the name of the 6 buoy for Upsilon Irridini was UI-231-A.  Checking the maintenance records, the buoy had not been touched in almost two years.  While the units were very rugged and designed to last indefinitely in space, there was no substitute for a human eyeball to check the condition of the buoy and the guild tried to do maintenance visits for buoys about once a year so this one was definitely due for a visit.

    ¡°OK.  Checking the math, the computer says I should be able to get out there in a cutter before we hit the e-limit if I leave in the next six hours.  Six hours out, two hours back plus four hours on station if everything turns out right.  That is assuming the Reggie maintains current programmed course and speed.¡±  Leo was already setting up the astrogation needed.  There were several cutters on the boat deck that could do the job and he went ahead and asked for one of them to be brought out of storage and run through pre-flight checks by the boat crew.

    ¡°One last thing, Leo.¡±  Thorsten leaned back in his chair and gave Leo a strange, knowing smile.  ¡°Take Eddington with you.  Good chance to get her logged into a Buoy for the first time.¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    While Leo was more than happy to spend what amounted to a whole day in a small ship with Ramona, he wasn¡¯t really sure why the big boss would care who he took with him.  Not that it mattered, there was only one answer to that type of direct order from the Guild Master.  ¡°Yes, Guild Master.¡±

    Leo was whistling off key as he strode down to the boat deck.  Everyone he passed gave him a friendly wave and some were openly envious.  He was wearing an EVA suit liner so everyone knew he was going to take a small boat out.  Despite Larry¡¯s warning of ¡°shit jobs¡± in his future, he quite enjoyed Buoy maintenance.  It gave him a chance to get off the ship and it was a very rare chance to actually pilot a ship in open space.  Unlike riding in the Reggie which felt like the world¡¯s biggest office building, a small cutter like the one he was about to take up really felt like piloting.  Walking into the enormous boat deck, he could see Ramona standing by a cutter on the ready pad.  She was also wearing a suit liner.  Somehow, Leo never really considered the utilitarian form fitting garb sexy on anyone else before but on Ramona there was no other way to describe the way it highlighted her curves.  Trying to not stare, he walked up to Ramona and the little cutter for pre-flight.

    If there was one thing that his flight instructor had pounded into him from the beginning, it was ¡°follow the check-list.¡±  The instructor had been able to quote from memory dozens of accidents that would have been prevented if only the crew had followed the check list to the letter.  Leo brought up the pre-flight check list on his pad and started the external inspection check list.  The little craft didn¡¯t have much sophistication, it was designed to be fast and that¡¯s about all it could do.  Not much more than a large ceramic carbon composite cylinder tapered on each end, it never the less had 25 external fittings for everything from laser comms to airlock mating collar.  Leo carefully checked each one.

    When he finished, he walked back over to the main airlock where Ramona was patiently waiting.  She had a small smile on her face.  ¡°It seems that flight instructors are the same everywhere in the galaxy.  I can still hear mine, ¡®Eddington, check every goddamn item on the checklist or I swear you will be inspecting thruster nozzles for the rest of your fucking tour!¡¯¡±

    Leo laughed outright.  ¡°I think mine swore less, but yeah that pretty much covered it.  Mine liked to quote fatal accident inquiry board reports listing all the times the crew died because they failed to follow the checklist.¡±  Even though he knew the boat crew had already checked, he re-checked every item on the entire 250 point pre-flight checklist himself.  There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots.  Or so the ancient saying went.

    The interior of the ship was spartan, but comfortable enough for a crew of up to six.  With only two onboard it was almost luxurious.  There was a main crew cabin with small bunks, a head and small galley.  Most of the mechanicals to the rear were sealed and very infrequently maintained in space.  Because this was a guild ship, it was almost new and impeccably maintained.  Outside of training simulators, Leo had never had a single mechanical failure while piloting a guild vessel.  A record he did not want to break as small craft mechanical failures could easily be fatal.  Up front there was a small bridge with just enough space for two acceleration couches and an array of consoles.  You could fly the craft manually, but this was extremely rare outside of training.  The vast majority of the time, the ¡°pilot¡± told the ship where to go and the ship did all the flying.

    As Ramona settled into the copilot¡¯s couch, she shifted slightly and removed what looked like a holster.  Leo had been working so hard not to stare at Ramona he hadn¡¯t noticed the side-arm before.  ¡°Are you expecting trouble, Ramona?  I don¡¯t usually go armed on these maintenance runs.¡±

    She looked a little embarrassed.  ¡°Actually, no.  I saw this design when I was doing my training with Christine.  It was submitted by a firm on U-I but the previous guild ship through the system had passed on the design, they thought the patent holder was asking too much.  Christine and I were looking at previous trade records at U-I to help me get a feel.  She¡¯s a long guns specialist so I decided to start with handguns.  It¡¯s something I know about from my militia service.  I was surprised that we had the rights to print out up to 10 copies for testing but that nobody in the guild had bothered.  I had the replicators run this up for me along with a holster and a zero-g harness.¡±  Leo just stared.  That was the longest utterance he had heard from her in their short relationship.  Ramona looked down, embarrassed at her outburst.  She held out the weapon for Leo to inspect.  Out of politeness rather than interest, he took the weapon and inspected it.  Leo was not very familiar with weapons but it seemed lighter than other guns he had trained with.  Ramona nodded enthusiastically when he expressed his very amateur opinion.  ¡°Yes, exactly.  It weighs 100 grams less than the standard militia piece but produces an additional 500 Joules at the muzzle.  The internal compensators have been upgraded so you can take a 50% shot in zero-g with no kickback.  In full 1G you can take a 100% shot and not kill yourself.  It uses a compressed tungsten round which can be tuned for penetration or spread.  The E-M impeller is 25% more powerful than a standard militia weapon and it holds a charge 10% longer.  The weps trader who looked at it last year wrote about two sentences in his review.  He claimed it was too complicated for ground troops to use and not powerful enough for armored marines.  However, I can¡¯t see any evidence that he ever printed one out, much less shot one to see how it felt.  I put a hundred rounds downrange with it yesterday and I freaking love it.¡±  Now she looked completely chagrined.  ¡°I slept with it under my pillow last night.¡±  Now Leo was most definitely staring at Ramona.  His mouth was also open, which wasn¡¯t a good look for him.  This time it wasn¡¯t the curves of her suit liner that occupied his mind.  ¡°So, yeah, I kinda like guns.¡±

    Luckily for Leo, the deck officer interrupted the conversation.  ¡°Leo, are you going to take that ship out or are you just going to oogle your pleb all morning?¡±  Leo looked out the pilot side window to see Ollu grinning at him.  ¡°Starting external cycle in ten secs.¡±

    Leo got busy with his console.  The ship was buttoned up and ready to go.  Ollu knew that from her display; he assumed she would not have cycled the lock if the ship hadn¡¯t been ready.  Or at least Leo hoped she wouldn¡¯t have.  The ship cycled out through the internal hatch and then ¡°pushed¡± through the GTE barrier that held atmo inside the lock.  The big doors could be cycled manually in an emergency but the GTE barrier was much faster under normal conditions.

    Leo was still thinking about Ramona¡¯s sidearm.  While it was perfectly acceptable for a trader to go armed outside of the ship, it wasn¡¯t common.  Yes, there were places where you just didn¡¯t go unarmed, this part of the spiral arm wasn¡¯t one of them.  It never would have occurred to Leo to bring a sidearm along on a normal buoy maintenance run.  No matter.  If she wanted to carry one she was within her rights to do so now that she was a fully qual¡¯d member of the crew.

    Slowly, the little cutter eased away from Reggie.  In reality, the most likely thing that could go completely and fatally wrong at this point was to collide with the larger ship; so the exit procedure was very carefully managed.  Once free, the smaller ship was able to build up charge in her systems and power away.  Within ten minutes the running lights of Reggie were invisible to the naked eye and only instruments told them they were anything but a mote in an infinitely empty universe.

 U-I Six

    The Information Economy

    Once the Singularity occurred, coupled with practical FTL, most objects and materials that had previously been valued by human society rapidly lost value.  There is little point in valuing something like gold or a particular make of air car when the ability to produce both are readily available to the general public.  This change to a true information economy was the most profound side effect of the singularity.  This is sometimes referred to as a ¡°Post Scarcity¡± economy but we of the guild do not prefer this term.  The implication of ¡°Post Scarcity¡± as a term is that there is no commodity valued by the society.  We know that this is simply untrue.  The one commodity that retains value and will always retain value is information or more accurately Intellectual Property.  The ability to control intellectual property and other types of information forms the basis of the post singularity economy.  We refer to this as the ¡°information economy¡± and it is the purpose of the Data Trader¡¯s Guild to help manage and regulate this economy.   {{Meta Tag:  ¡°Post-Scarcity Societies¡±}}

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Cutting its FTL drives, the cutter dropped into normal space above the plane of epileptic for U-I.  Activating the gravimetric drives, Leo shaped a course for the six buoy.  They were on time.  There was enough time to dock with the buoy, do the full diagnostic and manual inspection and still get back into position to rendezvous with the Reggie before she passed in-system of buoy six.

    Ramona was manning the sensor suite.  He had set her the exercise of scanning the buoy remotely mostly to test her out on the sensor console, rather than because he thought she would find anything.  ¡°Leo, I¡¯m picking up a drive flare about ten gigs away from the buoy.¡±  He was about to ask why she was scanning ten giga-meters beyond the buoy when she continued, ¡°ship is on a reciprocal course from buoy six.  Estimate 99% probability that they are burning away from a close rendezvous based on current heading and speed.¡±

    While it was unusual for ships to visit a guild buoy in deep space, it wasn¡¯t completely unheard of.  The buoys also acted as emergency stations of a sorts.  Ships having issues with environmental systems could dock and make repairs.  For this reason, they were stocked with consumables and this meant occasional restocking missions for systems which were infrequently visited like this one.  So, this MIGHT be a coincidence.  But then again, ¡°see if you can hail her, it might be a resupply mission from the local polity.¡±  Ramona brought up the comms system.  With a distance to target of 30 giga-meters the light propagation delay was already 90 seconds.  And this would only increase as the ship continued to accelerate away.  They would have hard dock with the buoy in two minutes.  Not enough time for the hail to reach them and the answer to come back.  Leo instructed the ship to begin docking procedures.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think we should wait until the outbound ship has responded?¡±  Ramona didn¡¯t look concerned as much as puzzled.  To her, a ship was a threat until proven otherwise.  To Leo, a ship was a potential trading customer until proven otherwise.  Very different life experiences led them to look at the world differently.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they will just tell us they were doing resupply.  Besides, we¡¯re not going to hunt them down in an unarmed cutter.  If we¡¯re not happy with the answer, we¡¯ll tell the Reggie when she arrives and let the locals deal with it.¡±  There was a loud CLANG as the cutter made hard dock with the station.  Leo and Ramona floated back into crew quarters and got their hard suits on.  In theory, the interior of the buoy should be fully pressurized.  One thing that Leo and Ramona¡¯s life experiences completely agreed on is that ¡°in theory¡± and ¡°bet your life on¡± are not the same thing at all.  Leo wondered what Ramona would do with the handgun she had left drifting nearby as she suited up.  Then he learned what a ¡°zero-g harness¡± was as she affixed first the harness to her suit¡¯s hard-points and then the gun to the harness.  Ramona pushed a button on the side of the weapon and then put her gloves on.  The little weapon changed shape, the grip grew and the trigger guard re-formed.  Leo was puzzled for a moment and then nodded, the pistol would have to be a different shape to use with gloves than with bare hands.  A very clever design indeed.  The only time Leo had trained with weapons while suited up they had used special weapons designed for gloved use.

    ¡°Leo, the station is registering five degrees warmer than nominal.  The last ship through did not report any issues.  There could be a problem onboard.¡±  She was referring to a display inset into the arm of her hard suit.  It was repeating the diagnostics running on the main console.  To Leo, problem meant mechanical problem.  That¡¯s not what Ramona meant but he didn¡¯t realize that until later.

    ¡°OK, let¡¯s check it out.¡±  He cycled the lock open and started to enter the station.

    ¡°Leo, wait!¡±  Ramona had been looking down and didn¡¯t realize he was about to open the door.  Now she was positioned behind Leo.  Suddenly, she reached out to the grab bar she was floating next to and compressed her legs.  Then she gave a powerful thrust and flew across the airlock, right at Leo.

    ¡°Wuf!¡±  The collision knocked the air out of Leo¡¯s lungs and sent them both tumbling into the main area of the buoy.  As they twisted, he could see two armed and armored spacers standing to each side of the airlock.  Not visible to anyone inside of the airlock, they were perfectly positioned to ambush anyone coming through.  The unorthodox entry must have surprised them however because they did not have their weapons pointed towards the tumbling pair.

    Ramona twisted and threw Leo away from her.  This stopped her spin and canceled much of her forward momentum.  Pulling her pistol, she barked at them through the external speakers of her suit.  ¡°Toss your weapons!  No sudden moves or I shoot!¡±

    The two men were either very brave, stupid or both.  She clearly had them zero¡¯d.  However, each leveled their weapons.  Rather, they attempted to.  In the time it took them to aim, Ramona had fired four times in rapid succession.  Two hits on the first suited figure and one on the second.  The recoil had shoved her backwards into the far wall of the room but she maintained her aim point on the second opponent.  The first one wasn¡¯t going anywhere.  The projectiles has apparently been set for ¡°penetration¡± because they had punched a hole clean through the face shield, through the man¡¯s head, through the back of the armored helmet and then torn a chunk out of the very thick armored casing of the airlock.  The other was badly injured and most likely to lose a leg if not immediately treated.   He released his weapon and it floated away, towards the middle of the room.

    Meanwhile, Leo had flown across the room like a sack of potatoes.  He hit the far wall, taking another blow to the back as he bounced off.  Gathering his wits, he was able to bend his body enough to cancel the spin and the second impact was soft enough he was able to regain control and take a handhold.  By the time he righted himself, the fight was over with one man dead and another seriously wounded.  Leo himself was no slouch in zero-g, he had competed in school in gee-ball and thought he was pretty good.  However, Ramona¡¯s circus stunt of using Leo¡¯s greater mass to cancel her spin and negate her velocity was something he had never seen anyone do.  He had heard that militia training on Raeburn¡¯s World was very good but this was beyond his wildest imagination.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Ramona had attached herself to one wall but still had the second would be ambusher under her gun.  Based on what she had just accomplished, no sane person could think she would miss from that position.  ¡°Leo, you OK?¡±  He gave her a thumbs up.  Shaky, but definitely OK.  ¡°Grab the emergency locker over there.  Should be a med kit and some emergency patching tape.  Tape his hands together and put the med kit on that leg. He may bleed out.¡±  Despite being ¡°senior¡± to her, Leo did not consider objecting.  Leo could see the well-marked emergency locker on the wall and gave himself what he would have thought of as an expert push off to float over to it.  He had just revised his estimate of what ¡°expert¡± zero-g maneuvering was, however.  Getting it open, he found both a med kit and a hull patch kit.  The tape in the hull kit was strong enough to cover holes in the outer hull and retain hull integrity so he was pretty sure it would hold a guy with a leg wound.

    Getting the attacker¡¯s hands taped behind his back wasn¡¯t super easy in zero-g.  Leo wound up using his boot magnets to hold himself down while he taped the man¡¯s hands together.  He was utterly compliant which made it possible even if it wasn¡¯t easy.  Even so, Leo was very careful of Ramona¡¯s line of fire, he had no doubt she would shoot to kill if needed.  The assassin apparently agreed with Leo¡¯s assessment and made no hostile moves.  The binding done, he then activated the medical kit and clamped it the intruder¡¯s leg and set it to automatic.  Leo knew almost nothing about gunshot wounds, but the whole point of a self-contained med-kit was that he didn¡¯t have to know.  Based on what he¡¯d read, he thought the man would live unless his blood loss was much higher than Leo was guessing.

    ¡°He¡¯ll live.¡±  Ramona apparently agreed and Leo had the feeling this wasn¡¯t the first time she¡¯d seen a gunshot wound.  ¡°Give me a hand with this vacuum.  Gotta get this blood out of here before it spreads into the environmental system.¡±  She sounded calm, but Leo could see that the hand holding the vacuum was shaking.  Leo¡¯s hands were shaking also, but he didn¡¯t need pinpoint control to vacuum up the loose liquid.  Thinking about a normal spacer function like cleaning up loose liquid in zero-g made it easier to keep from screaming his head off.

    Ramona had her helmet off and was talking to a console on the far side of the room.  ¡°This is Eddington, we have an emergency on buoy six.  Say again, emergency on buoy six.¡±  She turned to Leo.  ¡°Reggie just passed the e-limit.  She¡¯s still a ways out but she should get the message in about ten minutes.¡±  Leo looked at the panel on his sleeve.  Had it been only ten minutes since they had docked?  It seemed like hours.

    Once all the blood was cleaned up, they were able to make a shroud out of hull patch fabric and tape the dead body into it.  It probably wasn¡¯t strictly necessary, but Leo for one felt better not having to look at the gaping hole in the man¡¯s head.

    ¡°¡­.and now we wait.¡±

    Leo was confused with Ramona¡¯s comment.  ¡°Wait?  Wait for what?   Shouldn¡¯t we finish cleaning up?  Or do the maintenance?¡±

    Ramona had a sad look on her face.  ¡°Leo, I just killed one guy and gravely wounded another.  There will be an inquiry.  We cannot tamper with any evidence.¡±  Before Leo could interrupt, she continued.  ¡°We did what was necessary, kept the blood out of the enviro system and covered the body.  Anything else would be considered tampering.  And before you ask, yes I have done this before but I was on the other side.  The Raeburn Militia is both a military and police force for any part of the system outside the jurisdiction of a local polity.  I have worked several murder scenes so I know the drill.¡±

    Leo¡¯s quiet ¡°oh¡± was probably lost in the background noise of the vacuum.  Once again, his mouth engaged before his brain could stop it.  ¡°Is everyone from the Raeburn militia a lethal circus performer?¡±

    Ramona looked stricken by the question.  Perhaps Leo should not be talking.  He was a bit rattled and random stuff was going to come out.  Too late.  ¡°Uh, no.  I mean I wasn¡¯t in the circus.  I was on my district gee-ball all-star team which is how I won my scholarship to the academy.  Because of that, I was section leader for my zero-gee combat class at the academy.  When I got to my ship, we did some boarding actions.  If you do something enough, you get good at it.  Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.¡±  Leo wasn¡¯t sure what a squirrel was or why it would be blind (did they have eyes?) but he got the picture.   He understood the value of repetition and practice.  He had spent hundreds of hours in the gym practicing his outside shot in gee-ball himself but he had never thought about zero-g combat before or why being good at gee-ball would make you a good candidate for the military.

    Before Leo could ask another stupid and/or embarrassing question, Gunny Tomlin¡¯s voice came from every speaker in the room including Leo¡¯s helmet and the operations consoles.  ¡°Eddington, Timur: confirm your status.  Is the buoy secure?¡±  Leo was over his shock so he was able to activate his communicator to answer in the affirmative.  ¡°Roger that Timur.  Lock down and do not touch anything.  We will be coming in the aux lock in two minutes.¡±

    Giving Leo an ¡°I told you so¡± look, Ramona locked the aux control console she had been using and went to check on the prisoner.  Putting her helmet back on but face shield up, she waited by Leo for the aux lock to open.

    Predictably, it was Gunny who was first through.  Carrying what looked to be an old fashioned zero-gee carbine slung across his chest, he quickly checked the interior of the buoy including a couple of cubby holes that Leo and Ramona had not checked to her obvious embarrassment.  Two other armed spacers came through the lock.  Leo didn¡¯t recognize either of them but he could tell from their insignia that they worked for the ship¡¯s master at arms.  That is to say, they were ship¡¯s crew and not traders.

    Gunny was in full military mode, issuing crisp orders that he clearly expected to be followed and no nonsense.  One of the men took possession of the prisoner and quickly moved him back through the aux airlock.  Gunny was checking the enviro system for fouling, he gave a pleased grunt when he found none and removed his helmet.  ¡°You two are on restricted duty until further notice.  We are on a guild buoy so we are subject to guild law only.  The guild master will need to convene an inquiry.  The Reggie is thirty minutes out, we¡¯ll transfer you across on a shuttle.  Your cutter will remain here until it has been processed for evidence.¡±  In a much lower voice with his mouth inches from Ramona¡¯s ear he said:  ¡°Well done spacer.  Nice grouping on the stiff.¡±  Leo would learn later that there had been quite a commotion back on the Reggie when Gunny had usurped the master at arms¡¯ authority by taking command of the armed cutter assigned to recover Leo and Ramona.  In the end, Gunny was a master trader and the master at arms was simply a hired hand so the outcome wasn¡¯t really in doubt once Gunny decided to take issue.

    When it came time for Leo and Ramona to transfer back to the ship, they sealed up their hard suits and went out the aux lock like the rest of the Reggie¡¯s spacers had done.  Looking up, Leo could see the massive face of the Reggie looming over the buoy.  Even at a safe kilometer stand-off distance, Reggie was huge.  Living inside a moving mountain was one thing, seeing her from outside was another.  Festooned with antennas and other external fittings, the Reggie was more functional than what most people would consider beautiful.  Her bluff bows sprouted with emitters for her FTL system and her mid-ships were wrinkled with heat sinks for her massive data cores.  She lacked the clean lines of a ship designed to enter atmosphere or the deadly grace of a warship.  Leo enjoyed the view until they entered the airlock of the shuttle which had been sent to pick them up.  She was the most beautiful thing Leo had ever seen.

 On the Board

    Raeburn''s World:  "Banned" system.  No trader activity allowed with this system.  System was "banned" for trading with another banned world.  The circumstances of this action are disputed.  The official appeal to the Ban was rejected in 3249.  System is relatively advanced and has capacity to build FTL ships.  Of the two primary Polities in the system, the Raeburn Federation, is the largest with the majority of artificial habitats and asteroid based colonies.   The Inner Union controls the majority of the system''s habitable planet.  While not at war, the two entities are mutually aggressive.  The Raeburn militia is in theory neutral and is a joint service but in practice heavily favors the Federation.  Care should be taken when traveling in this system.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°Trader Apprentice Eddington, you understand that the evidence you are about to give will be recorded and that any perjury on your part will result in your expulsion from the guild?¡±

    ¡°Yes, master trader.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±  Guild Master Thorsten was looking very stern today.  Seated on a hastily erected podium in one of the larger meeting rooms aboard the Reggie, he was the president of the tribunal.  Two other master traders (as required by guild law) were also sitting in judgement.  In this case, Master Trader Tiernen sat on his right side and Master Trader Tomlin sat on his left.  All three wore the official dress uniform of the guild which was rarely seen.  A black jacket, pants and beret with silver piping along the pant legs and at the epaulettes.  The berets were neatly lined up on the desk before the three masters.  ¡°The tribunal has reviewed all the video and data evidence in this case.  Unless you object, we will enter the logs into evidence.¡±  At the slight question in his voice, Ramona shook her head, no objection.  ¡°Very well.  While the facts of this case are very clear, the circumstances are not.  I don¡¯t think anyone is going to deny that the apprentice here shot a man dead and gravely wounded another.¡±  He paused and looked around the large room.  Nearly every master trader was present.  None objected to this observation.  ¡°Therefore, this panel will restrict its investigation to the motivation behind this homicide.  Apprentice Eddington, is it correct that you are a trained military officer and have a policing background?¡±

    There was a slight gasp at this.  Standards for homicide were much higher for military officers, serving or not.  Since they were highly trained, the expectation is that they would use this training to improve their judgement and thus be held to a higher standard of conduct.  ¡°No sir.  That is to say sir, I was a member of the Raeburn Militia as a senior specialist.  I graduated from the academy but did not sign my commission at the conclusion of my tour.  I was not a commissioned officer.  I do not have a policing background except as in accordance with my duties in the militia.¡±  Ramona stood ramrod straight before the tribunal.  Her eyes fixed at the wall behind the panel members.

    Thorsten looked down at a pad.  ¡°However, you seemed to expect armed conflict.  How is it that you knew there was an ambush waiting inside the buoy?¡±

    Ramona¡¯s tone remained flat as before.  ¡°Sir, I did not know there was anyone inside the buoy.  However, the system registered excess heat.  This may mean the presence of unaccounted for personnel.  It is standard practice in the Militia to scan unmanned buoys and stations for heat and to assume any unaccounted for personnel are potentially hostile.  I was about to conduct a more thorough scan when Journeyman Timur opened the hatch.  I was concerned about unaccounted for personnel so I acted on the assumption that they might be hostile.  However, I did not initiate hostile action at that time.  I was following my training and I was not aware that Trader practices are different in that regard.  Sir.¡±

    Thorsten did not look impressed despite the fact that he must have watched her manhandle Leo half a dozen times on the sensor log.  Leo certainly had.  A couple of times in slow motion.  ¡°However, you did enter the station armed and you did aim your weapon at the persons you found inside, correct?¡±

    ¡°Sir, that is correct.  There were two armed men inside.  They were clearly not guild members based on their gear and as I said, they were armed.  I felt that my life and the life of Journeyman Timur may be in danger which justified drawing my weapon.  Sir.¡±

    Gunny sat up straighter and asked:  ¡°Based on what evidence did you feel your life was in danger?¡±

    ¡°Sir, they were both armed with model JMP-R 92 rail guns.  Each weapon was fully charged and safeties removed.  I knew this because of the three red icons on the side facing me.  Sir.¡±

    This earned a nod from Gunny.  However, Thorsten wasn¡¯t done with this line of questioning.  ¡°Apprentice, given your notable experience in this area, wasn¡¯t it possible to simply wound them instead of killing them?  If you could precisely aim for their head, doesn¡¯t that mean you could have disarmed them?¡±

    ¡°Sir, no sir.  I was trained to aim for center mass.  In a firefight you don¡¯t aim to wound.  You aim to kill.  I offered them the opportunity to surrender and they chose to escalate.  I took the only reasonable option available and fired.  My intent was to shoot to kill.  I do not regret my actions.¡±   There was a noticeable pause while she looked directly at Gunny.  ¡°Sir.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Gunny¡¯s muttered ¡°goddamn right¡± probably wasn¡¯t the most professional thing a panel member ever said but it echoed Leo¡¯s thought exactly.

    ¡°Thank you Apprentice Eddington.  Do the members of the panel have any further questions?¡±  Looking at the two others and receiving head shakes, he continued.  ¡°Very well.  We will withdraw to render judgement.  The session is adjourned.¡±  The three members of the tribunal rose and left the room together.

    It took less than ten minutes for the tribunal to return a verdict of not guilty due to self-defense.  While Leo didn¡¯t expect any other verdict, it was still a relief to have the formalities over with.  The entire episode had thrown the Reggie into a turmoil.  The port of call schedule had been thrown into chaos when Reggie had to divert and drop her in-system speed down to basically zero which had not pleased anyone.  If everything went well, ships like the Reggie rarely slowed down when traveling through remote systems like U-I.  The goal was to slice across the elliptic at relatively high speed (relative to the local star) and exit to the e-limit as quickly as possible.  Total in-system time was usually only a few days.  The actual course was a shallow ellipse that cut across the latency envelope established as one light hour (approximately 20 GigM) from one of the guild buoys in the system.  In this case, the Reggie had slowed to a stop relative to the buoy to conduct the inquiry and this meant dumping immense amounts of velocity which then had to be built back up again to exit the system.  In addition, the delay meant that the local planets and other objects had moved which also changed the shape of the gravity well.  Not a huge difference, but enough to change the ¡°optimal¡± course out system.

    With something as big as the Reggie, changing her course through the system was a non-trivial task.  Her huge mass was not designed for high-G maneuvers like a warship.  Although she was capable of high burn rates in an emergency such as this one, they placed stress on the engines and the framing of the ship.  Inspections were required after every emergency burn.  Thus, the ripple effects of her course change would affect all the departments onboard.  For the trading floor, this meant much more time in-system than originally planned.  What was originally a quick fly-by and thus mostly focused on sell side now became an extended loiter within the gravity well and all that entailed.  As Leo made his way to the trading floor, he could hear the commotion.  Chaos might have been too strong of a word, but it was certainly much busier than you would expect.

    As usual, Gunny was holding court in the weps pit.  Although Gunny was not considered to be the ideal role model of a master trader, the weps pit on Reggie had the highest overall score of any pit.  Gunny was extremely proud of this and wasn¡¯t afraid to bring it up in casual conversation in case you forgot.  Fresh from the tribunal, Ramona was at one of the junior trader consoles with her head together with Christine.  Gunny walked over to watch over their shoulders.  They were discussing buy-side activity and simulating trades on the system.  The large status board above the console was glowing orange and repeated the message ¡°Simulation¡± over and over again.

    Christine was talking Ramona through an IP buy.  ¡°Let¡¯s finish the analysis of the gun you liked last time.  So, you can see that the seller¡¯s bid is about 200 Guilders above the buyer¡¯s final offer.  You can set it up with a min/max range here but most traders prefer a spot price.  Automated pricing is easy to detect on the seller side and can be countered with smart seller algorithms.  That last offer was more than six months ago so you can assume that there is some panic settling in.  Here is a link that lets you research the seller and find out their current financial status.  So, you can see here that they haven¡¯t sold a design in the last year so they may have a higher willingness to sell than six months ago.¡±

    Ramona nodded, taking it all in.  She understood how to make a deal and she understood how to strong-arm someone.  The guild was all about negotiating from a position of strength.  ¡°Yes, I see that.  However, this is a family firm.  See how the seller agent has the same name as the patent holder?  Oh, look at the registered CFO, that must be his mom.  They only have two employees and their place of business looks like a residence.  Their expenses are super low.  Check this out, they already have two handgun patents filed and a third around miniaturized compensators.  Their income from those three trades is more than ten times the median income here.  The last two have ten more years to run on their patent expiration.  They don¡¯t need the money; this is about pride in workmanship.¡±

    Gunny interrupted the lesson.  ¡°So, Eddington; what is your call?  What would you offer?¡±

    Despite the hum of activity, the weps pit was suddenly silent.  This was a major test for the new trader, not simply an idle question from Gunny.  If Ramona was aware of the silent attention from the rest of the pit, she didn¡¯t show it.  ¡°I would meet their ask Gunny.  This handgun will sell like wildfire.  Their ask is fair and we will make a strong profit.¡±  One of the mid-level traders down the row let out a loud guffaw.  How would she know the value of this patent?  She¡¯d only been onboard a few weeks.  She had failed the test.  More than one trader was gleefully waiting for the rookie to get her comeuppance.  Breaking records brought both good and bad attention to yourself.

    Gunny silenced the incipient laughter with a glare.  ¡°Apprentice Eddington, please explain to me your reasoning.  On what basis did you come to this conclusion?¡±

    Finally feeling the weight of the conversation, Ramona slipped back into her military training.  Leo wasn¡¯t sure if her speech patterns were unconscious when talking to Gunny or she was intentionally playing up their mutual background in the military.  ¡°Sir, as part of my training exercise, I was able to procure a limited license.  I used this license to print a copy of the weapon.  I then test-fired this weapon over 100 times.  Based on my experience in the militia, I found this weapon to be vastly superior to other, similar designs.  Sir.¡±

    If possible, the pit got even quieter.  Even the adjoining pits were silent.  ¡°Apprentice Eddington, is this the weapon you used to air out those dusters yesterday?¡±

    ¡°Sir, yes sir.¡±

    With a feral look in his eye, Gunny reached over Ramona¡¯s shoulder and toggled the console from ¡°Simulation¡± to ¡°Live.¡±  ¡°You may execute the trade, Apprentice Eddington.¡±

    With a few keystrokes, Ramona Eddington was on the board.

 So is Space

    The Data Arks

    While FTL travel is now commonplace, no practical method of FTL communications is currently known.  This means that any data transfer between major star systems must be done by physically moving the data.  While many mechanisms have been tried including store and forward, the current state of the art for moving large amounts of data across interstellar distances is clearly the Data Ark.  Data Ark refers to a class of interstellar commercial ships that are designed specifically to securely store and transmit as much data as possible given current limits of technology.  While there are many designs and classes of vessels, the general design principals are remarkably similar.  In general, they consist of a series of redundant storage cores, ringed with processor nodes and a variety of transmissions technologies for import and export of data once within a system.  The vast majority of guild members serve out their careers on these vessels.  Indeed, some ships are owned and operated by extended clans who live out their entire lives on their ships.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    The Reggie was finally settling back into a new routine.   The events at Upsilon Irridini had caused not only scheduling chaos but also gave the small town that was the Reggie much grist for the gossip mill.  Amongst the most unlikely rumors was that Leo and Ramona had foiled the plans of a group of space slavers.  While not only inaccurate, it also seemed self-conflicting since nobody could decide if Ramona was the potential victim or the liberator.  If she was the liberator, where were all the slave girls?  Leo tried to take the long view and be amused by such things but stories about Ramona being a space pirate or a secret agent of some kind just made him angry.

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    Only half aware of where he was going, he walked down the empty corridor towards Master Thorsten¡¯s office.   Coming nearer, he realized that the Guild Master already had a visitor.  Slowing further, he heard Gunny Tomlin¡¯s unmistakable bellow coming from the office.

    ¡°Of course!  Why do you think I wanted her in Weps?¡±

    Master Thorsten said something that Leo couldn¡¯t hear at a more reasonable volume.

    ¡°No, I won¡¯t lower my voice!  Do not mess with me Roger!  I don¡¯t give a good Goddamn what the rumor mill says!  This is doubly my problem as chief of security and as Guild Master for Weps.  You know that.¡±

    Another reply too quiet to hear.

    ¡°You bet your ass!  If I think Eddington was an actual danger to the ship, out the airlock she would go.  This ain¡¯t my first rodeo.  For fuck¡¯s sake Roger, what do you think we¡¯re playing at here?  Did you think she would be some candy ass REMF?  She¡¯s a real soldier even if she is a seeker.  I told you to keep the team focused on the astronomer.  Now she¡¯s on her guard and he¡¯s disappeared.¡±

    As he got closer, he could her Thorsten¡¯s voice.  ¡°I just think she could be dangerous.¡±

    ¡°So is space.  Deal with it.  From now on we do this my way.¡±

    Leo would have loved to listen to the rest of the conversation, but he could hear them finishing up and didn¡¯t want to be caught listening in the hall.  He quickly continued on his way before he was discovered.

    The conversation disturbed him not because he was worried about any danger Ramona might cause but because of what he had not heard.  Why would the Master Trader be concerned about Ramona?  She obviously had a military background, but so did many people already on the ship.  Everyone agreed that she had acted appropriately and probably had saved Leo¡¯s life on the buoy.  And what the hell was a seeker?

    Even more troubling, none of the masters were asking the obvious question:  Why were those armed men on the Buoy in the first place?

 Chip Delivery

    Guild Monetary Policy

    Because of the very large numbers of political entities involved, interstellar politics and regulations can produce barriers to commerce.  One of these is simply the currency in which the transactions are to be conducted.  In order to facilitate the flow of interstellar data transactions, the guild has established a single common currency.  This currency is the only valid form of payment for any guild sanctioned data transfers.  Sometimes referred to as a ¡°Guilder,¡± the actual name of the guild currency unit is ¡°Guild Data Transfer Credit.¡±  This currency is pegged at the rate to transfer one terabyte of data (1TB) one light year (1LY).  Because this currency is pegged to a single real transaction value, there is no possibility of inflation or deflation associated with this currency.

    Any guild member convicted by a sanctioned Guild security court of accepting transactions in any currency other than Guild Transfer Credits will be banned from the Guild for life.  Appeals can be made to the quarterly Guild security council meeting.

    Any world, system or political entity which refuses Guild Transfer Credits will be Banned for a period of at least one Terran year and not exceeding ten Terran years.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Leo was filled with trepidation.  He felt stupid about it, but that didn¡¯t change the way he felt.  A routine chip delivery assignment was nothing he should fear.  He¡¯d done similar duty dozens if not hundreds of times over the years.  While most data was simply transmitted via laser or RF relays, some data was considered by the owners to be too sensitive for transmittal.  Always open to extra profit, most Data Arks were happy to hand carry data chips from point a to point b.  In Leo¡¯s mind this was a completely useless extravagance, but the customer was willing to pay so the guild was happy to oblige.  In this case, Leo had a chip that was to be delivered to a named party on one of the space stations orbiting Titsim Prime.  The delivery instructions were very clear and there didn¡¯t seem to be any strange details.  Titsim prime was a fairly large world and it was considered safe for the guild to operate there.  Leo had never been to orbital eight, but he had been to the Titsim system before and there was nothing special about the world or the system.

    No, it wasn¡¯t anything to do with Titsim or the delivery that was making him anxious.  He was remembering the last time that he had checked out a cutter.  He still had nightmares about Ramona shooting the mysterious kidnappers on U-I Buoy Six.  He told himself over and over again that this was a totally different mission and a different situation.  However, he also told himself to listen to Ramona next time she was worried about something.  If he had listened last time, they would have run a deep scan and probably would have found the guys waiting on the Buoy before entering.  The dead spacer would probably still be alive if Leo hadn¡¯t just barged ahead into the Buoy despite Ramona¡¯s warning.  He told himself not to worry.  He also sent Ollu a note asking her to assign them a different cutter than the one they had used for in the U-I system.  Her response was a simple affirmative, no question about why he wanted a different ship.

    As before, Ramona was waiting for him at the ready pad on the boat deck.  She still looked good in the tightly fitted suit liner.  She was armed again, but this time she had a duffel under her arm.  At his questioning look, she replied: ¡°civvies.  Don¡¯t want people leering at me in my suit liner on the station.  It gets annoying.¡±  Leo looked down.  He hoped he hadn¡¯t been ¡°leering¡± but he was looking this time.  Apparently, Ramona was checking him out also.  ¡°You strapped?¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t really sure what that meant.  ¡°Uh, what?¡±

    He must have had a goofy look on his face because she laughed.  ¡°Unless you¡¯re really happy to see me, that¡¯s a gun I see on your hip, Journeyman Timur.¡±

    Leo was embarrassed before, now he was really red.  ¡°Well, after our last adventure, I thought I¡¯d better learn to shoot.  When I told Gunny that I had been practicing to get my small arms quals he told me that I should carry a sidearm when doing away missions.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure that¡¯s what he said.¡±

    ¡°Well, I think his exact words were, ¡®Son, I don¡¯t give a fuck if you shoot yourself or not.  But Eddington is one of mine; you better bring her back without any holes in her or you are walking to the next fucking system.  Read me?¡¯¡±  Leo¡¯s imitation of Gunny¡¯s low grow must have been pretty good because Ramona started laughing and didn¡¯t stop until tears ran down her face.

    Naturally, Ollu chose this moment to finish her walk-around of the cutter.  ¡°You children going to stand around chit-chatting all day or are you going to fly this bird off my deck?¡±

    Ramona managed to choke down her laughter.  ¡°Ready to fly, master ship handler.¡±

    ¡°Right, off with you then.¡±

    The exit from the ship and subsequent departure were completely uneventful.  That didn¡¯t really help Leo¡¯s nerves as much as it should have done.

    Ramona wasn¡¯t really big on letting sleeping dogs lie, either.  ¡°So, what are you packing?¡±

    ¡°Um, sorry, what?¡±

    She leaned over the command console separating the two pilot seats and growled a fairly convincing Gunny imitation.  ¡°What kind of fucking gun is that, son?¡±

    ¡°Uh, it¡¯s one that we had demo license for so I thought I¡¯d try it out.¡±

    ¡°Oh, really?  Did you consult with the weps pit?¡±  Her humorous tone had a bit of an edge to it.

    ¡°Uh, yeah.  They have a shit-hot trader apprentice over there.  She says it kicks ass.¡±

    ¡°Oh?  And who is this hot trader over there that you are so enamored with?¡±  Her tone was much less amused than it had been.  A bit tart even.

    ¡°She¡¯s new.  Apprentice Eddington.¡±  Leo suddenly found that he needed to re-confirm their course and busied herself with the console.

    ¡°oh.¡±  Ramona found herself at a loss for words.  Perhaps she should confirm their course with the computer.

    Leo shifted slightly to ease the unfamiliar weapon and it¡¯s holster within the harness of the pilot seat.  He didn¡¯t know much about weapons but he did know about trading and traders.  He could tell that Ramona would be one of the great ones.  She was still raw and had a ton to learn, but she had the gift that you could not teach and she was fearless.  This certainty made Leo feel happy in a way he could not really describe.  He felt protective of Ramona even though she had shown no need to be protected by him.  He wanted her to succeed, to become a trader.  Aw crap, he thought, am I really falling for a new nugget apprentice?  And what the hell is up with the masters and her anyway?

    His internal consternation continued until they eventually contacted Titsim approach.  Getting into and out of such heavily traveled space wasn¡¯t exactly hard but it wasn¡¯t something you wanted to be nonchalant about, either.  In theory, the automatics would guide them in and ensure that everything went were it was supposed to go.  In practice, the ship guidance protocols were designed for an ¡°average¡± amount of traffic.  There were exceptional circumstances that could throw them off.  In the end, as the pilot in command, it was Leo¡¯s responsibility to bring his ship in safely.

    ¡°Tisum approach, this is Trader Flight Reggie Two-Niner.  Asking for vector to orbital eight.¡±  Leo was always amused that voice control was still the preferred method for approach controllers; but in the end, the safest way to ensure you had a good lock was to talk to the person monitoring the system on the other side.

    Titsum approach was prompt with a tone that said this speech had been given thousands of times.  ¡°Roger Reggie Two-Niner.  We have you in the system and you are locked to orbital eight.  Good lock on mamma¡¯s gadget.  Course request green.  Please be aware of the no-fly within 500 kilometers of the geo-sync system defense orbitals.¡±   Ramona just looked at Leo.  Mama¡¯s gadget?  Leo shook his head.  Must be local slang for the flight controller.

    Leo just responded with the exact response recommended in the training manual.  ¡°Roger Titsum approach.  Locking in the course.  I have a green light.  Reggie Two Niner out.¡±  And that was that.  While Leo continued to monitor the automated systems, he was really just watching for something unlikely that the system couldn¡¯t handle.  The odds of that happening but allowing him time to recover were slim to say the least, but he still did his job.

    Orbital eight was actually on the other side of the planet from them at the moment.  It would come around eventually, but the computer plotted an intercept vector that used the planet¡¯s mass to sling them around behind the station on a closing course.  Better to Chase it than Race it was the pilot¡¯s aphorism.   It was much more energy efficient to approach an orbital from ¡°behind¡± because the planet¡¯s mass would help you match your course.  Allowing the station to overtake you meant that you had to reduce speed to overtake which decayed your orbit then you had to add delta-v to make that up.  Leo wasn¡¯t paying for reaction mass, but he approved of the more elegant approach vector that the computer had picked.  This also gave them a good view of the planet and he rotated the ship so that the planet was ¡°up¡± and they got a good view of the blue/green marble as they performed a gravity slingshot around the back side of the heavily populated world.

    ¡°It looks like home.¡±  Leo looked at Ramona in surprise.  From the look on her face, she didn¡¯t realize she had spoken aloud until he turned his head.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never been to Raeburn¡¯s.¡±  Leo winced as he said that.  Of course, he as a trader would never go to a ¡°banned¡± system.  Well, in for a credit, in for a guilder.  ¡°Do you miss it?¡±

    Ramona paused as if considering her answer.  ¡°Not really.  There are some people I miss.  My parents, some friends.  But I always wanted to go to space.  I¡¯ve visited home since I joined the militia but I haven¡¯t lived dirtside since I gained my majority.¡±

    This was the most Leo had ever heard her say about herself.  Perhaps the beauty of green continents, blue seas and white swirling clouds above them had loosened her usual reluctance to talk about herself.  ¡°I miss the Connie.¡±

    Now it was Ramona¡¯s time to stare.  ¡°The Connie?¡±

    Leo looked abashed.  ¡°I was born on the Connor Loic.  My parents are both master traders.  It¡¯s considered bad form for you to apprentice under your own parents so I moved to the Reggie when I became an apprentice.  If I make master, I could move back but I¡¯ve been on Reggie so long, I can¡¯t imagine leaving her either.¡±  He checked the controls again, training and habit forcing him to check and recheck even while having a conversation.  ¡°Of course, I may have to quit the Reggie if the masters won¡¯t pass me for master.¡±

    Ramona looked interested.  ¡°Is making master that important?¡±

    Leo nodded. ¡°Yes, until you make master you¡¯re just working to make the masters rich.  You don¡¯t control your own destiny until after you make master.¡±  Leo sighed.  ¡°I have worked my whole life for this one thing.  I really worry that the masters are against me and I¡¯ll have to leave.¡±

    Ramona made a sympathetic noise.  ¡°Well, if you have to you have to.  It was hard leaving home, but I¡¯m starting to think it was the right move.¡±

    The ship quickly passed the terminator line and the continents below twinkled with artificial illumination.  Leo was keeping an eye on the screens and orbital eight was now showing on instruments.  ¡°Five minutes to deccel burn.  I have the orbital on instruments.  Should be coming up six o¡¯clock low in a few minutes.¡±

    As their higher orbital speed pushed them up into a higher orbit, they slowly gained altitude relative to the planet.  Since they were inverted, that meant they were moving ¡°down¡± towards the station and ¡°away¡± from the planet.  Of course, such terms as up and down meant little in space but the human monkey brain insisted that up and down mattered, so such terms persisted even for those born in pace like Leo.  The deccel burn started right on time and the now visible orbital gained visual mass as they got closer.  The original dot had grown to a toy and now filled the windows as the five kilometer long station got closer.

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    Leo wasn¡¯t impressed.  ¡°This thing is ancient.¡±  Pointing to the twin rings of the main habs with a wince, ¡°look, they¡¯re using rotating hab modules.  Don¡¯t they have a-grav?¡±

    Ramona was starting to get used to Trader arrogance, but she still didn¡¯t like it much.  ¡°Leo, not everyone has the credits to buy whatever IP they want.  This design works and I¡¯m sure they got it super cheap.  Don¡¯t judge.¡±  Her tone was flat, but Leo heard the rebuke in it.

    He had to think for a minute to figure out why she was mad at him.  ¡°Sorry.  Sometimes I forget that some people have to pick and choose their IP buys.  This is a wealthy system, that shouldn¡¯t have been a make or break buy for them.¡±

    Mollified, Ramona smoothed her tone.  ¡°Perhaps not, but you don¡¯t know what they are investing their Guilders in.  Look how perfect their world is.  Perhaps the terraform was more expensive than you think.¡±

    Leo nodded.  Terraforming could be amazingly expensive.  While there were many inhabited systems, the total number of terraform projects were relatively small.  This meant that the IP got re-used infrequently and not many specialists had the ability to do primary research on the subject.  Low volume, specialty work that was literally life and death for a new colony meant that the IP didn¡¯t come cheap.  He knew intellectually that setting up a new world was expensive, but he didn¡¯t tend to think about things in terms of generational projects like terraform specialists did.  You don¡¯t terraform a world for yourself.  Only your children or grandchildren would really enjoy the fruits of your labors.  This explained the premium placed on T-norm worlds.  While rare, they did exist and there were millions of star systems in just this sector of space.  Even something extremely unlikely like a T-norm world happened quite often when you were talking about millions of lottery draws.

    From a purely economical point of view, planets didn¡¯t make sense.  Even for a post scarcity society, the investment required to build a functional society on a new world was absurd.  It was much simpler to build habitats.  Habitats were controlled environments that could be built in completely automated fabs.  Planets were uncontrolled environments which required human ingenuity to overcome.  Each one was unique which meant that automation was very difficult if not impossible.  While most human societies had human resources to spare, it was tough to get a couple of thousand people to agree to leave their homes for years at a time to work on a project that would provide zero value to them in their lifetime.  However, humans were illogical creatures.  Having a ¡°home¡± on a real world was the goal of a significant percentage of the human population.  For this reason, habitable planets very rarely suffered from lack of population.  In fact, most had strict population control efforts in place to prevent the types of tragedies that had occurred on old Earth before FTL drive was discovered.

    None of this was relevant to the job at hand, however.  Leo got himself back on task with difficulty.  ¡°Orbital Eight, Reggie Two Niner, requesting docking bay.¡±

    They must have a decent data net because the response came back instantly.  ¡°Roger Two Niner.  Daily or hourly docking rates?¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t really prepared for this question.  Most stations handled docking fees afterwards.  Much easier to set the rate when you were already locked on.  ¡°Expect to be onboard less than one t-norm day.¡±

    ¡°Roger Two Niner.  Proceed to docking bay 11, hourly rates apply.  Course laid in and locked.¡±

    The indicated course correction showed up on the nav system and the docking bay started blinking green through the window.  ¡°Roger Orbital, I have the bay visually.  Course accepted.  Reggie Two Niner.¡±

    The ship made its precise way to bay 11.  There was a large amount of other traffic, but the system seemed to be efficiently managing everyone and Leo was able to relax once he felt the mag clamps pull the small ship onto the docking collar.   Leo started the shutdown checklist and tossed half it to Ramona¡¯s console.  Together, they were able to safe the ship in only a few minutes.  Since this wasn¡¯t a trader orbital, there were some extra steps to ensure the security of the ship which they planned to leave unattended.  Leo opened the safe built into the after bulkhead and removed the courier bag with the data chip in it.  ¡°Give me your RFID.¡±  Ramona looked confused.  ¡°We never allow our RFID to leave the ship.  Too easy to compromise.  I¡¯ll lock them up here while we¡¯re gone.¡±  She nodded and handed the RFID over.  Twisting around, she recovered her duffel and moved aft to the head to change into civvies.  Leo hadn¡¯t brought a change of clothes.  It hadn¡¯t occurred to him until she showed him her bag back on the Reggie and he hadn¡¯t wanted to admit his oversight.  He usually just dropped the chip and left the station as soon as possible.  Clearly, Ramona had larger plans.

    ¡°You in a hurry to get back?¡±  She had already changed into a very sharp looking outfit of black slacks, a turquoise top and a leather jacket.  ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind eating at a real restaurant.¡±

    ¡°A restaurant?¡±  Leo knew what they were, but had never been to one.

    ¡°Yeah, you know with food made by humans?¡±  Ramona had look and a tone that implied she wasn¡¯t sure if Leo understood the concept.

    ¡°I know what that is.  I¡¯ve just never been to one.¡±

    ¡°Never?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t spend much time off the ship and we don¡¯t have one.  The Connie didn¡¯t either.¡±  He consulted the nav system for a moment.  ¡°We have six hours of slack to catch the Reggie before she hits the e-limit, no hurry, I guess.¡±

    ¡°OK.  We are definitely going out to eat then.  You know that you get paid, right?  The locals will happily take your guiders you know.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m not an infant.  I¡¯ve been on dozens of stations before.¡±

    ¡°But not a restaurant?¡±

    ¡°Seemed like a silly extravagance.  I can get food for free right over there.¡±  He gestured at the replicator in the corner.  ¡°Why trade for something you can only use once?  I would rather buy the pattern so I can have it as many times as I wish.¡±

    Ramona sighed dramatically.  ¡°Leo, it¡¯s not the same thing.  Real food tastes better.  Plus, it¡¯s the ambiance that you¡¯re paying for.¡±

    ¡°Ambiance?¡±

    ¡°Ambiance.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±  Leo looked down.  ¡°I am not sure, but I don¡¯t recall people eating at restaurants in suit liners.¡±

    Ramona laughed.   ¡°Not usually, no.  Here, I looked up some clothing designs when you told me we were coming.  A couple of them are more appropriate for a man than a woman.  Print something out.¡±

    It took a few minutes to print, but the outfit Ramona had suggested seemed appropriate for dining on a civilian station.  Despite his rather sheltered upbringing as a trader born, Leo did know how to get around on non-trader stations.  He had made many trips off the ship and it was part of his job to understand the cultures of the various systems that they traded with.  Picking suitable clothing wasn¡¯t really hard but it wasn¡¯t something he thought about when doing a courier run.  He took a quick look in the mirror and decided that the dark brown slacks, deep burgundy shirt and station jacket looked good on him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s deliver this chip.  The instructions say to hand deliver up on deck eight.  They should be expecting us.¡±

    Finding the correct address on deck eight proved a little harder than Leo expected.  The station had grown organically over several centuries so the corridors were uneven and the compartment numbering was not sequential.  Eventually, Ramona stepped into a local shop to ask for directions.  She came back out and pointed Leo in the correct direction.  The destination turned out to be a pretty anonymous office with a plain brown door.  Leo ushered Ramona in and walked up to the only person inside.

    ¡°I am Journeyman Trader Leo Timor.   I have a certified chip delivery for a Ms. Lark.¡±

    ¡°I am Terry Lark.¡±  The older woman behind the desk was dressed in what passed for normal business attire in this system.  Dark slacks, white shirt and a brown jacket.  She looked happy to get the delivery and unsure what to do next.

    ¡°Nice to meet you.  The delivery instructions specify a bio-metric ident before delivery.  Can you please press your thumb on the reader?¡±  Leo offered up the chip case which had an integrated bio-metric reader.  In theory, only the intended recipient could open it.  DNA based bio-metrics were the gold standard for secure identification.  Anything powerful enough to damage the case would also damage the chip and render it unusable.  The Guild had been using virtually the same design for almost a hundred years and had never had a chip stolen successfully.  Terry put her thumb on the reader which quickly turned green and issued an audible click as the case opened.  ¡°Thank you.¡±  Leo handed her the chip.  ¡°Have a nice day.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°Yep, that¡¯s it.¡±  With a wave, Leo left the shop, taking Ramona with him.  The delivery had been so quick Ramona hadn¡¯t said a word inside the office.

    Ramona was curious about the delivery.  ¡°What was on the chip?¡±

    ¡°No idea.¡±

    ¡°What, you don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°Nope.  Secure transfer doesn¡¯t work like that.  We just take the chip.  We only need to know how much data is on it so we can charge the correct amount.¡±

    ¡°What if there is banned material on the chip?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s against guild policy.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and?¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s against policy.  It¡¯s up to local polities to enforce the law.  We¡¯re just the traders.   If we know it¡¯s illegal, we refuse the transaction.  However, we don¡¯t try to open a customer¡¯s files.  None of our business.¡±

    ¡°But you could be facilitating an illegal act!¡±

    ¡°Yes, but we¡¯re not the police or the militia.  If the local polities report the abuse, we will ban the customer from trading.  That¡¯s a good motivation to follow the rules.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but¡­¡±  Clearly flustered, she wasn¡¯t sure what to say.

    ¡°Ramona,¡± Leo tried to put it as gently as possible.  ¡°You aren¡¯t in the militia any longer.  We get paid to move bits.  That¡¯s it.  It¡¯s bad business to break local laws so we don¡¯t do that.  We try not to facilitate illegal activity but we don¡¯t investigate our customers.  That¡¯s not our job.  We just move the bits.¡±

    ¡°I guess I assumed that the Guild knew the details of all the bits being moved.  We are very careful to inspect any IP we buy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s different.  If we are buying something, we need to know all about it.  How else would we understand it¡¯s true value?  Moving bits is different.  It¡¯s the actual origin of the guild, you know?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Originally, the guild was formed to move bits.  That¡¯s why the guilder is pegged to data transport rates.  The trading function came later when we figured out it was more profitable to buy the IP than to just move other people¡¯s IP around.  Moving encrypted data around is just baked into our DNA.  It helps even out the trading because it is so much more consistent.  A good trader desk will make the transfer business look tiny but it can save you when the desk really messes up.¡±

    Ramona was surprised that such basic information about the founding of the guild was not commonly known.  ¡°Why keep that a secret?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a secret.  Just old news.  This was hundreds of years ago.  When you go to elementary school on a trader vessel you learn about that stuff in history class.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah I guess that makes sense.  I learned about the founding of Raeburn¡¯s World in school.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, exactly.  I have no idea how Raeburn got founded.¡±

    ¡°Surprise, it was a guy named Raeburn.¡±

    ¡°Stunner.  So, restaurant?¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t sure if he could taste the difference between the hand made food in the restaurant and the food from the replicator.  However, sitting at a table in the station¡¯s atrium chatting with Ramona was lovely.  Ambiance indeed.

    ¡°See? Isn¡¯t this nice?¡±

    ¡°Actually, yes.  Thank you.¡±

    Ramona smiled.  ¡°And we can split the check if you like.¡±  She looked down.  ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t know how to pay for anything.  I don¡¯t have a local credit account in this system.¡±  A panicked look crossed her face.  ¡°Do you?¡±

    Now it was Leo¡¯s turn to smile.  ¡°No, but this is ship¡¯s business.  We are working so the ship will pay for our meal.¡±

    ¡°What?  I thought you said it was an extravagance?  You¡¯re saying it¡¯s free?¡±

    ¡°Not free, the ship pays.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the same thing.¡±

    Now it was Leo¡¯s turn to be shocked.  ¡°We¡¯re all shareholders, it¡¯s all the same money.  Why spend what we don¡¯t have to?¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°Didn¡¯t you read your contract?¡±

    Ramona looked embarrassed.  ¡°I thought I did.  Something about ship¡¯s shares but I assumed that meant a bonus if we did well.¡±

    ¡°Hah, no.  The Reggie is a common shares corporation.  Everyone on the crew is a part owner.  You earn shares based on your rank and time in grade.   We all own her together.¡±

    ¡°Even the ship handlers?¡±

    ¡°Well, no.  They¡¯re employees.¡±

    ¡°Ah.  Yeah.¡±

    Leo was feeling defensive but wasn¡¯t sure why.  ¡°It¡¯s a fair system.  It¡¯s a Guild ship. Without the Guild there would be no Reggie.   Makes sense that we own her.  You need crew but they don¡¯t run the business.  They get paid in Guilders so it¡¯s a good job for them.¡±

    ¡°But without crew, the ship wouldn¡¯t go anywhere and we wouldn¡¯t have a business either.¡±

    ¡°Some ships are family businesses and the families run the ship.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes, every family has a black sheep.¡±

    ¡°Ah.  Yeah.¡±  Ramona didn¡¯t look pleased.

    ¡°That was a joke.¡±

    ¡°You mean that the ship handlers aren¡¯t considered second class citizens by their own families?¡±

    ¡°No, that part is true.  I meant I don¡¯t have any ship handlers in my family.  Trader families who run their own ships are considered a bit eccentric to say the least.¡±

    If anything, Ramona looked less pleased.  ¡°Ah.¡±

    The conversation wasn¡¯t going well but Leo didn¡¯t really understand why.  The Guild worked the way it worked.  If the ship handlers wanted to be traders, they could take the test and apply.  Not everyone had the abilities or the aptitude, but that was just the way things worked.  Wasn¡¯t it?

    An interruption saved Leo from his confusion.  An older man dressed in a conservative brown ship suit walked up to their table.  At first, Leo thought it was the restaurant manager but then he realized that the man didn¡¯t work at the restaurant.

    ¡°Excuse me, are you from Raeburn¡¯s world?¡±  What struck Leo immediately was the man¡¯s accent.  He spoke just like Ramona.  The man was starting at her.

    ¡°Yes, why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Ah, I thought I might recognize you.  Are you Ramona Eddington by any chance?¡±

    Ramona looked a bit panicked at first, then embarrassed.  ¡°Yes, I am.¡±

    The man reached out a hand.  ¡°Very pleased to meet you.  Would you mind shaking my hand?  I watched you play g-ball for years.   Always great to meet someone so famous.¡±

    Now Ramona definitely looked embarrassed.  ¡°Well, thank you for being a fan.¡±

    Satisfied with his handshake, the man wandered off.  Leo was thunderstruck.  ¡°Wait, you¡¯re famous?¡±

    ¡°No, not really.  I told you I used to play g-ball back home.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I used to play g-ball too, but nobody ever recognized me in a strange system like that.¡±

    ¡°Well, he must have seen me on the vids.  I played in a couple all star games when I was playing for militia.  People like to watch those games even though they¡¯re not pro games.  It happens sometimes.  Didn¡¯t expect to run into someone from back home here though.  At first, I was worried he was a nut.¡±

    ¡°A nut?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, some fans get carried away.  One of my teammates on the all-star team had a guy stalking her for a year.  Not fun.¡±

    Leo was able to pay with his Trader account.  One tenth of a guilder seemed like quite a bit for lunch, but Ramona seemed to think it was reasonable.  The prices were all in local currency so paying in Guilders was always a bit of a negotiation.  Naturally, the restaurant was more than happy to accept Guilders which were always valuable.  Leo had a lot to think about as they walked back to the cutter for the return trip.

 The Ship

    Banned Worlds

    While the Guild attempts at all times to remain neutral in any political or military dispute, there are times when the very foundations of interstellar commerce are threatened. In those cases, the Guild retains the right to ban a world or worlds based on a strict set of criteria laid down in the Guild bylaws. The Guild may ban a world under the following conditions:

    <ol>

    <li> If it is shown that the world, worlds or other political entity has no respect for intellectual property and/or refuses to enforce intellectual property laws as agreed to by the Interstellar Commerce Pact.</li>

    <li> If it is shown that the world, worlds or other political entity participates in human trafficking or refuses to enforce human trafficking laws as agreed to by the Interstellar Commerce Pact.</li>

    <li> If it is shown that the world, worlds or other political entity refuses to allow Guild members free transport of their space, dominion or other special and national boundaries.</li>

    <li> If it is shown that the world, worlds or other political entity has traded intellectual property to any banned world, worlds or other political entity. </li>

    </ol>

    Petitions for bans or ban relief are heard at the quarterly Guild security council meeting. Banned worlds have up to five tenths of a Terran year to respond to petitions and have the right to be represented before the security council.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Back on the Reggie, Leo was no more settled in his feelings for Ramona than he had been aboard the orbital. In some ways, she was not his type at all. She was a dirtyfoot and from a banned world, for goodness sake! He was sure his mother would not approve. On the other hand, she was a bit mysterious and definitely different than the other women he had dated over the years.

    The GQ alarm was at once a familiar sound and something totally unexpected. While the ship had regular GQ drills, this was not one of them.

    ¡°General Quarters, General Quarters! This is not a drill. Say again, this is not a drill. General Quarters, General Quarters¡­.¡± The automated alarm repeated three times and loud enough to ensure that even those heavily medicated and in a coma heard it.

    Because Leo¡¯s GQ station was on the trading floor and he was already heading in that direction, he simply lengthened his stride and hurried to the trading floor which was becoming crowded with other traders.

    He arrived in time to hear Gunny arguing loudly with someone on the comm. ¡°Godammit, that is not the point. What if they are hostile in there? Have you ever led a hostile boarding action?¡± There was a pause while the other person spoke. ¡°Yeah. Right. I have. So that means I¡¯m going. End of discussion. Pick ten security team members and have them meet me on the boat deck in armor.¡±

    Gunny slammed down he handset with even more force than he usually used. ¡°Eddington, you¡¯re with me.¡± He looked over to the ComDes pit. ¡°I need a systems specialist in case the enviro systems are fucked. Who over there with an enviro systems specialty has an EVA rating?¡±

    A group around Leo raised their hands. Including Leo. Gunny continued. ¡°And small arms quals?¡± All the hands went down. Except for Leo. ¡°Ok Timur, you¡¯re with me.¡± Gunny stormed out of the trading floor with Leo and Ramona in his wake.

    Out of earshot of Gunny¡¯s rapidly retreating back, Leo whispered to Ramona, ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±

    Ramona looked very focused. ¡°We have detected a ship ahead of us and it¡¯s not responding to comms.¡±

    ¡°What? That¡¯s impossible.¡±

    ¡°Coms go down sometimes.¡±

    ¡°No, I mean finding a ship in the deep dark. Do you know the odds against that?¡±

    ¡°Why? We¡¯re between two populated systems. Must be a few ships going this way every day.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point, space is HUGE. The odds against us just accidentally finding a ship in the deep dark are a million to one. Besides, everything is moving all the time. The route we are taking is going to be different than the route that a ship will take leaving even an hour later.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s there.¡±

    Gunny glanced back. ¡°Hurry the fuck up. I want you in suit liners with your side arms in ten minutes on the boat dock.¡±

    After that, Leo was in too much of a hurry to ask any more questions.

    Arriving on the boat deck, Leo was not surprised to see ten crewmembers from the Master At Arms in full battle armor, but he was surprised to see Ollu suited up in a hard suit and ready to go. While Ollu was fully EVA qualified, she didn¡¯t leave the ship very often. Unlike the battle armor the security personnel wore, the hard suits were designed for maintenance and other normal ship¡¯s activities in vacuum.

    As Leo and Ramona struggled into their hard suits, Gunny was giving a short briefing. ¡°Listen up, we have a ship in apparent distress. No engine signature and not answering on comms. We have no idea what is going on, could be simple mechanical failure or something more ominous. I want weapons tight, but eyes open. You see something, you say something. Copy?¡±

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    The response was nearly in unison, ¡°Copy¡±

    ¡°Zero latency?¡±

    ¡°Zero latency!¡±

    The ride in the shuttle was quiet. Gunny and Ramona looked grim. Ollu looked resigned. The security personnel were a range from excited to openly fearful. Leo had literally never heard of a ship being found like this in deep space. Yes, ships had vanished over the years, but you never found them. Space was just too big.

    The loud CLANG of magnets pulling the shuttle in startled everyone except Gunny. ¡°Button UP! Check your buddy!¡±

    Leo carefully sealed his hard suit and then turned to inspect Ramona¡¯s. As expected, everything was working properly. When he finished, she returned the favor. One by one the members of the boarding party held up their hands to indicate a good suit check and telltales turned green.

    After isolating the crew bay from the pilot¡¯s cabin, Gunny opened the airlock. The receiving vestibule on the other side was dark. ¡°Timur! Get your ass over here! Eddington, cover him!¡± As Leo knelt down, both Gunny and Ramona readied their weapons. Gunny was once again carrying his antique carbine and Ramona her preferred handgun. Examining the panel, he saw that it was pretty familiar.

    ¡°Gunny, this is a trader ship.¡±

    ¡°No shit, Timur. Why do you think we¡¯re here?¡±

    Feeling angry that Gunny had chosen not to reveal that little detail, he got to work. Most trader ships operated off of the same consoles and used the same enviro systems. Those systems worked and were tested. They didn¡¯t change that often. This one had apparently been shut down but still had power.

    ¡°Hmm.. Systems shutdown ordered. Trying the evac override.¡± Most trader systems were triple redundant. Failures of environmental systems tended to be fatal so there was little incentive to under-spec them. ¡°OK. I¡¯m in. Starting. We have emergency power. Someone will have to go down to engineering if you want to start main power.¡±

    ¡°Good job. Stand back, son.¡± Slowly, Gunny led the armored boarders into the disabled ship. ¡°Stay tight. Russel, you have tail. Timur, stay with him.¡± As they stepped into the ship, what struck Leo the most was how ordinary it looked. Nothing strange, nothing out of place and no apparent damage. ¡°Left, up to the bridge.¡±

    Deck after deck, hallway after hallway it was the same. No damage to the ship, nothing out of place. Except the people. No people anywhere.

    Leo had never been on the bridge of the Reggie, but he imagined this one was similar. It certainly looked like the bridge on the Connie he remembered from tours when he had been in school. Two main consoles that looked like ships controls and an array of smaller consoles that he assumed controlled engineering and other functions. In the center was a slightly raised chair which he assumed was for the captain. As Leo walked around the bridge, he noticed that one panel was open. Not sure what it was supposed to look like, he didn¡¯t know if that was normal or not, but he assumed not since all the others were firmly closed.

    Ollu saw his interest and moved over to take a look. ¡°Data cores. All the data cores are missing.¡±

    ¡°What? Why would there be data cores on the bridge?¡±

    Ollu smirked. ¡°All these years living on a ship and you don¡¯t really know how they work?¡± Leo just shrugged. Traders didn¡¯t run the ships. ¡°The systems are all fully redundant. If this part of the ship is cut off from the rest, you don¡¯t want things to fail because you don¡¯t have computer support. Each major control point has their own compute nodes and data cores. Just in case.¡±

    Gunny was looking at the empty cabinet also. ¡°Timur, take Eddington down to the trading floor. See if you can bring any systems up. Eddington, keep a sharp eye out.¡±

    Ramona readied her pistol and nodded for Leo to proceed. While they didn¡¯t know exactly where the trading floor was, they should be able to find it.

    ¡°Leo, I don¡¯t like this.¡±

    ¡°Me neither, this ship is creepy.¡±

    Ramona stopped and turned to face Leo. ¡°No, not the ship. The situation. What happened? Where is the crew? Were they boarded?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what worries me. If it could happen to one ship, it could happen to others.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can find out what happened first.¡± Finally, after several wrong terms, they found the trading pits. Similar to the Reggie, the pits were gathered into a large room in the center of the ship. All of the systems and consoles were shut down. Leo tried to activate one of the consoles, but wasn¡¯t able to do so. Main power was out and the backup systems had drained down to zero. ¡°This isn¡¯t going to work. We need to go to a data core. Let¡¯s try the one we passed a ways back.¡±

    Backtracking to the data core, they were presented with another problem. The door was locked and power was off. Ramona removed a small toolkit from her hard suit. ¡°Let me see if I can get this open.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a lockpick also?¡±

    Ramona gave Leo a withering look. ¡°Standard guard training. What¡¯s the point in trying to rescue the crew from a disabled vessel if you can¡¯t get the doors open and they suffocate?¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    After a few moments Ramona and was able to get the door open. The massive data core room on the other side was dark. ¡°That can¡¯t be.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ramona was standing in the open door with a hand light. Sweeping the beam around to get a look at the large room.

    ¡°This part of the ship I know. There should be lights in here. System backups, backup generators, the works.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps the emergency systems just ran down?¡±

    ¡°Doubtful. On the Reggie and the Connie each data core has it¡¯s own backup fusion reactor. Those things are rated to run ten years without refueling.¡± Leo also snapped on a handheld light and started looking for the emergency console. When he found it, he just stood there. Looking.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s off.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I got that part. Can you turn it on?¡±

    ¡°No, I mean it¡¯s all the way off. Like when a core is removed. These things are never off. Never.¡±

    ¡°Can you turn it on?¡±

    ¡°I think so. If the batteries are intact. Normally, you start from shore power. But there is an emergency restart sequence. I had to memorize that for my Journeyman¡¯s exam.¡± As Leo puzzled over the console, he found what he was looking for. After flipping a few large switches, a small green button lit up. Leo held it down. A low moan filled the compartment as the fusion bottle lit. ¡°OK. There we go. Fusion bottle coming up. It¡¯s fully fueled. Looks just like the one on the Reggie.¡± He stopped, puzzled. ¡°The system should be coming up.¡±

    ¡°Should be?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never actually started a data core on my own. Not something we usually do.¡±

    As the compartment lights started to flicker on, Ramona turned around to get a better look around. Row after row of memory core cabinets filled the large room. ¡°Leo? Are those cabinets supposed to be empty?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± As Leo walked over to the nearest cabinet, he realized it was empty. All of the memory modules that were supposed to be in there were gone. Quickly, he opened the next one, then the next. They were all empty.

    Leo toggled his communicator. ¡°Gunny?¡±

    ¡°I read you Timur.¡±

    ¡°Gunny, it appears that all the memory modules in this data core are gone.¡±

    ¡°You mean they are damaged?¡±

    ¡°No, I mean they are gone. As in someone took them.¡±

 The Red Lever

    Digital Rights Management (DRM)

    Data is normally transported aboard Guild vessels within three classes of service.  Those are Open, Restricted and Private.  Open data as the name implies is data that contains no DRM and is lightly managed by the Guild.  Once Open data is sold to a third party the data may be used for whatever purpose that party desires with no restrictions including re-selling this data onward.  Normally, this consists of publicly available data such as census information or older intellectual property against which the copyright has expired.  Restricted data is that data which has an active copyright which the Guild is obligated to enforce.  Restricted data resides within the Guild DRM system and may only be used by the licensed user for the sole purpose stated in the license agreement.  In most cases, Restricted data consists of plans or source code that is currently under copyright.  Data in the Restricted category may only be transmitted to Guild approved and signed nodes.  Private data is encrypted prior to being transferred to the Guild and normally the Guild does not retain the decrypt key for these archives.  Rates for Private data transfers are necessarily higher and may vary from ship to ship depending on total system capacity.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand any of this.¡±  Leo was still puzzling over the empty cabinets.  Why would someone steal the cores?  Yes, they were valuable, but there were many things on the ship as valuable or even more so.  The ship its self had value.  Why the cores?

    ¡°Leo think.  What is the one thing a non-guild member cannot have?¡±

    Leo just looked at Ramona.  What was she getting at.  ¡°Is this a riddle?  I¡¯m not good at riddles.¡±

    She just pointed at the cabinet.  ¡°What was in there?¡±

    ¡°Data cores.¡±

    ¡°And what was on the cores?¡±

    ¡°Data.¡±  Ramona just looked at him like he was stupid.  Perhaps he was.  ¡°Every piece of IP ever purchased by the Guild.  Oh, shit.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Yes, exactly.  Do you have any idea what the entire Guild database is actually worth?¡±

    ¡°Uh, no.¡±

    Gunny¡¯s gruff voice broke in at that point.  ¡°About thirty five trillion Guilders.¡±  Walking by the stunned Leo, he went to inspect the nearest data cabinet.  ¡°These have been carefully removed.  Not just ripped out, removed properly.¡±

    Ramona was nodding.  ¡°So you could re-assemble them later.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Leo was struggling to keep up.  He realized that this meant that the data had been STOLEN.  ¡°Wait, you mean they STOLE the entire database?¡±

    ¡°Yeah kid, that¡¯s what we mean.¡±  Gunny looked at Leo with a less than pleased expression.  ¡°Try to keep up Timur.¡±

    Just then a loud klaxon started to blare, startling Leo.  What sounded like an automated voice started to blare from every speaker.  ¡°General Quarters, General Quarters!!  Reactor levels critical!  Reactor levels critical!¡±

    Leo raced over to the emergency repeater station by the door.  ¡°Looks like we have an unstable bottle down in main engineering.¡±

    Gunny was shouting into his communicator.  ¡°EVAC!  EVAC!  All personnel report to the shuttle.  We lift in two minutes.  MOVE YOUR ASSES!!¡±

    As Leo and Ramona began to run up the corridor, they ran into Ollu running the other way.  ¡°Ollu!  We have to evacuate now!¡±

    She didn¡¯t slow down.  ¡°Those bottles have an eject.  We just have to get it out before it goes critical.¡±

    Leo stopped in the hallway, looking at Ramona.  ¡°Fuck, do we help her?¡±

    ¡°Do you trust her?¡±

    ¡°Hell yeah.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡±  Ramona turned and started to run after Ollu towards main engineering.

    ¡°Gunny, this is Timur, we are going to try to jettison the bottle.  Don¡¯t wait for us.¡±

    ¡°DAMMIT Timur.  Get your ass on this shuttle!  We are not waiting for you.¡±

    ¡°Affirmative Gunny.  Get clear, just in case.¡±

    Leo had to sprint after Ramona.  She was in better shape and faster, but Ollu was slower so he was able to catch up.  After a few breathless minutes of running down empty ship¡¯s corridors, they came to a large pressure door.

    ¡°Fuck, it¡¯s locked.¡±

    Ramona was already working to open the door.  ¡°Thirty seconds¡±

    ¡°We only have another minute or two.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m working on it!¡±

    Ramona was intently focused on the door locking mechanism.  Twenty seconds later, it opened and Ollu charged into the room.  Leo followed closely on her heels.  ¡°Leo!  Eject number 2, I¡¯m going to scram the rest, just in case!!¡±

    Leo looked around, confused.  ¡°Where?¡±

    Ollu pointed.  ¡°Over there, it says Fusion 2.  The big red lever that says ¡®EJECT¡¯¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    Leo sprinted across the large room.  Everything was clearly labeled which was a good thing since Leo didn¡¯t really know what he was doing.  Main engineering wasn¡¯t on the journeyman test and he had never been down into the engineering spaces except for the open house that the ship did every year.  The massive reactor vessels were clearly numbered.  He made it to the one labeled with a six foot high ¡°2¡± on it.  Looking at the panel, he found a red lever labeled ¡°EJECT.¡±

    He hesitated with his hand over the lever.  ¡°This one?¡±

    ¡°Yes!  Pull it for fuck¡¯s sake!!¡±

    Leo reached out and pulled the lever.  For a moment, he thought nothing was going to happen.  Then a series of loud CLANG sounds rang out.  Then the deck shook and there was an even louder WHOOSH sound.

 A Secret Within A Secret

    Guild Membership:  Ship

    Any operational data ark of any class may apply for Guild membership at any time.  All applicants must establish to a certified guild inspector that they meet all Guild minimum Data Ark technical and legal requirements as outlined in GTP 432.1.  Once the vessel has been certified, it will be issued a unique DRM signature and will be registered in the ship¡¯s registry service.  DRM signatures may not be modified once issued and remain with the vessel until it is decommissioned.  Ship Guild memberships cannot be revoked for any reason.  Guild ships that cannot meet the standards outlined by the Guild are subject to impound and auction by the Guild.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°Leo, take a look at this panel.¡±

    Slowly, Leo walked over to the panel that Ollu had indicated.  ¡°What about it?¡±

    Ollu looked at Leo like he was slow in the head.  ¡°Just take a look.¡±

    ¡°Ollu, I¡¯m a envro systems specialist, I don¡¯t work on reactors.¡±

    Ollu just put her hands on her hips.  Reluctantly, he looked at the panel.  Then he really looked.  Scrolling through a few screens, he became increasingly upset.  ¡°This isn¡¯t possible.  Why would they do that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the question isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Finally Ramona could take no more.  ¡°What in the hell are you two on about?¡±

    Leo relinquished the panel.  Pleased that he was once again playing his role as Ramona¡¯s mentor.  ¡°Just like enviro systems, these reactors have maintenance records.  Very robust, they are baked right into the core design.  Not something you can easily remove.  They need to survive an accident to see what went wrong.¡±

    Ramona thought she understood.  ¡°So, we know what went wrong?  Why the reactor went critical?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  Nothing went wrong.¡±

    Now she was confused.  ¡°What the alarm broken then?  Did we eject a working core?¡±

    ¡°No.  It was critical all right.  Just like it was supposed to be.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Someone removed all the safeguard circuits and intentionally set the system to go critical.  It didn¡¯t break, it was rigged as a bomb.¡±

    ¡°How is that even possible?¡±

    It was Ollu¡¯s time to lecture.  ¡°Most ships systems can be rigged to exceed parameters.  We learned ages ago that a trained human operator is much safer than a pre-programmed control circuit.  Sometimes, you need to run a reactor at 200% just to save the ship or the crew.  You don¡¯t do it unless you really need to, but sometimes you have no choice.  The reactors have multiple levels of safeguards to protect against human error but if you are persistent you can rig one to exceed safe parameters.¡±

    Ramona was aghast.  It had never occurred to her that a ship¡¯s engineer could destroy the ship if they chose.  ¡°What do you mean, by ¡®exceed safe parameters¡¯?¡±

    ¡°I mean big boom.  No more ship.  That much energy released all at once would be instantly fatal to the ship.  The ship¡¯s hull is designed to protect the crew from space, not designed to withstand an explosion inside of it.¡±  Ollu tapped the insignia on her collar and grinned.  ¡°That¡¯s why we get the big bucks.¡±

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Leo was just beginning to work out what this meant.  ¡°So, someone tried to destroy the ship?  Why?¡±

    Ollu just shook her head.  ¡°I have no idea.  These logs just show that an authorized operator intentionally overrode the control circuit and set the reactor to overload.  The shutdown command came later from the bridge.  Then the logs are blank, no commands until we issue the restart order here.¡±  She pointed to a part of the log from just a few hours ago.

    Ramona had a realization.   ¡°So, two people.  Or two groups of people.¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t following Ramona¡¯s train of thought.  ¡°What?  Why two?¡±

    ¡°Why bother setting the ship to explode and then just shut it down?  You would do one or the other.  Either you leave the hulk to drift, never to be found, or you blow it up.  Why set a trap that will never be sprung?¡±

    ¡°But we found it.¡±

    Ramona just looked at Leo.  ¡°You said it yourself.  It¡¯s impossible.  There was zero chance that we would come across this ship way out here.  The people who left it here never expected it to be found.¡±

    ¡°Then why rig it to explode?¡±

    ¡°To keep a secret.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°There is only one reason why you try to destroy something AFTER a crime is committed.  To remove evidence.  There must be something on this ship that they didn¡¯t want to be found.  Even if it was years later.  Even if it was extremely unlikely.¡±

    ¡°But only some people knew.¡±

    ¡°Right.  A secret within a secret.¡±

    Leo¡¯s eyes began to wander around the compartment.  It was massive.  Huge machines designed to power a ship through interstellar space.   Enough energy to reduce them all to atoms in an instant.  For the first time in his life, he was fearful of being on a ship.  Fearful of the consequences of the actions of others.  ¡°Do you think there could be others?¡±

    Ollu just stared at him.  ¡°Oh, fuck.¡±  She ran over to a master console and began typing quickly.  After a few minutes, she sighed.  ¡°OK, I just wrote a command string that will set all safeties to defaults.  Faster than checking every system.¡±

    ¡°No big boom?¡±

    ¡°No big boom.¡±

    Leo began inspecting the control console.  After a few minutes, he opened the access panel underneath.  A few minutes later he got down onto all fours and stuck his head inside.  ¡°This is an Elmandorf.  I trained on one of these when I did enviro school.  Same basic design as the consoles we used on the Connie.¡±  There was a muffled click and Leo scooted back out of the console with a grin on his face.  In one hand he had a memory module.  ¡°Backup node.¡±

    Now both Ollu and Ramona were confused.  ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Finally, something about the ship that I know more about than Ollu!¡±  The two women just glared at him.  ¡°These Elmo units have a nice safety feature.  They automatically sync their backup memory with other nodes on the network.  It¡¯s bolted into the design.  The backups are written to a secondary memory controller so that you can field service them.  Something goes haywire with a node on the net and you can pull the node and put it into the failed node.  It¡¯s a backup mode in case the ship¡¯s network is damaged.¡±

    Ollu looked annoyed at this bit of info.  ¡°But we would never do that.  Just re-route the network and install a new node.  Running a physical memory module up to the bridge would just be a pain in the butt.¡±

    Leo laughed.  ¡°Yeah, the feature never got used on Trader ships.  Those consoles were originally designed to be used on warships that had hard compartmentalization requirements.  The extra memory backups were not ever intended to be used on civilian ships.¡±

    Ramona just looked puzzled.  ¡°How the hell do you know all this?¡±

    Leo laughed.  ¡°How do you think I made Journeyman?  My last buy as an apprentice was for the new Paulson design.  Half this size and less power required.  Still the best trade I ever did.  Really ran up the score.  I had trained on Elmos and knew them inside and out.  My old trainer was a real son of a bitch and made us take them all the way down to components and build them back up again.¡±

    Ollu was staring at the memory core.  ¡°Can you use that to restore the bridge control station?¡±

    ¡°Care to find out?  If we print out some new cores, we should be able to run a restore from this one.  Well, we should be able to restore ALL the ship¡¯s systems from this.  In theory.¡±

    ¡°Timur, Eddington, REPORT!¡±  The obviously pissed off voice of Gunny transfixed the three of them.

    ¡°Fuck.¡±  Leo keyed his communicator.  ¡°Gunny, this is Timur.  We believe that the situation here is stable.  The critical core has been ejected.  We are checking systems now to confirm.  Please stand by.¡±

    Ramona looked intently at Leo.  ¡°Leo, don¡¯t say anything about the backup.¡±

    ¡°What, why?¡±

    ¡°Just trust me.  Safer for us if nobody knows.¡±

    Leo glanced at Ollu who nodded minutely.  ¡°Timur, you have five minutes.  Get your ass to the airlock.¡±

    ¡°Roger that Gunny.  Starboard personnel lock in five.¡±

    Shrugging, Leo put the memory unit into his utility pouch and started walking to the airlock with Ramona and Ollu.

 Right of Salvage

    Data Transfer

    For most Guild ships, the amount of time spent in-system is minimized as much as possible.  Ships are profitable when they¡¯re moving data across interstellar distances; not when they are sitting in port connected to a data feed.  This means that most ships attempt to onboard and offload data from the moment they cross the hyper-phase.  While small data transfers are possible even via high latency, the reality is that latency is the enemy of throughput.  For this reason, the Guild has established buoys in most populated systems that perform a store and forward function.  This reduces latency to passing Guild ships and thus improves throughput.

    In order to ease interstellar commerce, the Guild has standardized access protocols and compression formats.  This ensures that any Guild certified ship will be able to communicate with any other Guild ship and allows data customers to receive a consistent data product regardless of the actual ship or consortium providing the transfer service.  As of this writing, there are over 1,000 standard protocols and standards for data transfer.  These are documented in GTP 2343.2 and are updated once per Terran year by the Guild sub-committee on connectivity and standards (GSC-CS).

    Refusing a valid data transfer request from a Guild ship or signed node is grounds for suspension from the Guild.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Gunny was quietly smoldering on the trip back to the Reggie.  The shuttle was completely silent for the entire trip.  The soft hiss of entering the GTE barrier seemed amazingly loud when it came.  When the door opened, Gunny pointed at the door.  ¡°Eddington.  Timur.  Channah.  You three with me.¡±  Without a backwards glance, he stalked out, fully expecting to be obeyed.

    Leo, Ramona and Ollu looked at each other for a second then Leo shrugged and followed Gunny out of the shuttle door.  Following Gunny¡¯s tense back the found themselves in a conference room.  A table was set up and two masters sat behind the table.  Gunny took the remaining chair.  Leo looked around, there was no place for the three of them to sit.

    Guild Master Thorsten was the first to speak.  ¡°This tribunal is now in session.¡±  Leo blinked in shock.  How did they convene so quickly?  ¡°We have reviewed the evidence submitted by Master Tomlin from communications logs.  They clearly show that you were ordered to leave the unknown vessel by Master Tomlin and you did ignore that lawful order in a life critical situation.  This falls under Guild Code fourteen point six.¡±  Leo was stunned.  While he knew that he was bound to face some flack for disobeying the order to abandon ship, he had not expected a formal tribunal.  Certainly not so quickly.  ¡°Journeyman Timur, as the senior trader present do you wish to make a statement?¡±

    Leo cleared his throat.  ¡°Master Thorsten, it was my assessment at the time that it was in the best interest of the Guild to attempt to save the ship if possible.  While this did involve danger to myself and to Apprentice Eddington, I felt that the risk was justified.¡±

    The three masters were stone faced.   Obviously unmoved by this defense.  ¡°And using what evidence did you make this determination?¡±

    ¡°Statements made to me by Master Ship Handler Channah.¡±

    ¡°To summarize, you decided to accept the word of a Ship Handler over the orders of a Master Trader?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master Trader.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±  Thorsten looked at Ramona and Ollu with a look that did not invite comment.  ¡°Do either of you two have anything to add?¡±

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Both Ramona and Ollu shook their heads.  Leo fully expected the Tribunal to consult in private and was stunned that they merely conferred for a few seconds.  ¡°Journeyman Timur.  This tribunal finds that you did willingly and knowingly disobey a direct order from a Master Trader during a life critical situation.  You are hereby banned from taking your masters board for a period of two years.¡±  Leo was devastated.  Two years.  And very unlikely to pass after that time.  Not with a black mark like that.  ¡°Apprentice Eddington.  This tribunal finds that you showed poor judgement but that you were following the lead of a senior trader.  You are fined one thousand guilders and removed from Weps pit.  You are assigned to i-Proc effective immediately.¡±  Ramona maintained a blank look, showing no emotion at all.  ¡°Master Ship handler Channah.  You are hereby relieved of duty and removed from ship¡¯s company.  You will be put off the ship at our next port of call.  You are restricted to quarters until that time.¡±  Ollu simply shrugged then reached up to remove her collar insignia.  After looking at them for a moment, she casually tossed them onto the table.

    Master Thorsten seemed to be expecting a statement or an outburst.  He looked expectantly at the trio standing before the makeshift tribunal.  ¡°Very well.  This tribunal is closed.¡±

    As the three masters began to rise, Ollu spoke for the first time.  ¡°Master Thorsten. A moment please.¡±

    He looked at her as if a piece of furniture had started to speak.  ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Have you formally entered your judgment into the record?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    ¡°Can you do so please?¡±

    For a moment, he looked as if he was going to unload on her.  However, he simply sat down and used his tablet to enter the judgment.  ¡°Not sure why you are so eager to have your employment ended, but there is no reason to delay.  The judgement of this tribunal is formally entered.¡±

    Ollu showed emotion for the first time since entering the shuttle.  She smiled.  ¡°Thank you master trader.  As per Guild policy forty six point seven, I claim right of salvage.¡±

    Everyone was looking at Ollu now.  ¡°YOU WHAT!?!¡±  Thorsen looked like he was seeing a strange alien creature rather than someone who had been a senior member of the ship¡¯s crew until moments ago.  ¡°There is no Guild policy forty six point seven.  You¡¯re making that up.¡±

    If possible, Ollu¡¯s smile got wider.  ¡°SPACER¡¯S Guild.¡±  She looked directly at Gunny.  ¡°I claim right of salvage.  As a member of the spacer¡¯s guild I am legally entitled to salvage rights for any vessel found abandoned outside of a registered polity.  I claim right of salvage.¡±  She tapped the table with her index finger to emphasize the last sentence.

    ¡°That is a Guild SHIP!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, master trader.  I am willing to sell it to you at fair market value.  In the meantime, I will register clear title for the ship at the nearest registered polity as per Spacer¡¯s Guild guidelines.  You may file your bid to purchase at that time.¡±

    ¡°You cannot claim salvage right when you are working for the Guild.  Everything you do at our direction belongs to us.¡±

    ¡°Yes, master trader, you are correct.  Any action I take at the direction of the Trader¡¯s Guild is subject to Trader law.  As we have just established, my actions were not at the direction of the Trader¡¯s Guild.  This fact has been formally entered into the record; I believe.  I am a member of the spacer¡¯s guild and thus outside of Trader Guild jurisdiction if I am not employed on a trader vessel.¡±

    ¡°HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THE GUILD?  YOU CANNOT¡­¡±

    A loud guffaw cut him off.  Gunny started to chuckle, then laugh outright.  Finally banging his hand on the table with mirth.  ¡°She¡¯s got you by the balls Roger.  You just fired her, remember?¡±

    Thorsten looked at Leo.  ¡°Timur, if you ever hope to make master, you will clarify that you were in charge of the salvage operation at all times.¡±

    A surge of hope hit Leo.  Could he make master after all?  But there is no promise of master, just the threat.   ¡°Master Trader, I believe that if you wish my testimony on this matter, I would need to see the results of my masters board now.¡±  Now all eyes were on Leo.  Could he really go through with it?  He thought furiously.  Anything could be traded.  This was the lesson he finally understood.  It was the way of the Guild.  ¡°If the three masters present confirm my completion of my masters board, then it would be clear that I was in charge and I could answer your question truthfully.¡±

    Now it was Thorsten¡¯s turn to bang on the table, and not with mirth.  ¡°You little shit!  I will not be blackmailed!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called trading.  Master trader.¡±

    ¡°You will never make Master.¡±

    Leo looked down.  They had called his bluff.  Time to go all in?  Leo thought about what Ramona had said.  Without the possibility of becoming a master, there was really no point in staying.  It was time for him to leave his second home.  He looked at Ollu, who smiled sadly.  She knew what had to happen next.  ¡°Master Trader.  I hereby submit my resignation as a member of the DA Reginald O¡¯Rourke.¡±

    Ramona took a half step forward.  ¡°Master Trader.  I hereby submit my resignation as a member of the DA Reginald O¡¯Rourke.¡±

 Master Ship Handler

    Guild Membership:  Individual

    Any qualified spacer may apply for an individual guild membership.  Membership in the guild can only be granted upon joining a Guild ship as a member of ship¡¯s company.  For apprentices with no space experience, a standard training and certification program is available as a free download from any Guild vessel.  Validated completion of one of the validated specialties is required prior to application to any Guild vessel.  Qualified Guild members are eligible for life unless they are banned from the Guild with cause.  Membership can be suspended or revoked based on a finding from any sanctioned Guild security court.  Banned individuals may not take place in any trading activity for any reason on any Guild vessel.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Leo, Ramona and Ollu were crammed into her small cabin in the Apprentice spaces.

    Leo was surprised at how small her cabin was, smaller than a Journeyman¡¯s cabin and made the mistake of saying so.  Ollu was not amused.  ¡°How can you live on a trader ship your entire life and not know that crew gets the short end?  We¡¯re just the hired help around here, you know.¡±

    Leo stammered out an apology when Ramona surprisingly came to his rescue.  ¡°You can¡¯t blame him for being a trader.  It¡¯s all he¡¯s ever known.¡±  Leo wasn¡¯t sure if that was a defense or a condemnation for lack of imagination.  Ramona continued.   ¡°Look Ollu, what¡¯s your plan?  You can¡¯t just run that ship by yourself.¡±

    Ollu grinned.  ¡°Do you think I just did this without thinking it through?  The moment I saw that ship I was trying to figure out how to claim salvage.  There at least two dozen crew members who will come with me for a share of the new company.¡±

    ¡°New company?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, to operate the ship.¡±

    ¡°You mean to operate a Data Ark?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.  Why else would I claim salvage?¡±

    Leo was speechless once again.  This was becoming a habit for him.  ¡°But you¡¯re not a trader.  How can you¡­.¡± Leo trailed off.

    ¡°I¡¯ve passed all the quals.  I just need to sign on as a member of ship¡¯s company.  Says so right in the Data Trader¡¯s Handbook.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d be an apprentice?¡±

    ¡°No, I would sign on as Master trader.  I own the ship after all.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you can¡¯t do that.¡±

    Ollu laughed again.  ¡°Sure I can.  Where does it say you must be an apprentice before you become a master?  It doesn¡¯t say that.  It only says that the Master Trader must approve you to become a master.¡±

    ¡°But..  But..  That ship has no master trader!¡±

    ¡°Yes, exactly.¡±

    Leo looked to Ramona for help but only got a blank stare.  ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Jesus Leo.  Don¡¯t you read your own regulations?  What is the procedure for operating a Guild ship in case of a emergency and all Masters are unable to perform their duties?   You know this, it¡¯s in the Journeyman¡¯s exam.¡±

    ¡°Wait, how do you know what¡¯s in the Journeyman¡¯s exam?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve taken it of course.  Passed it first time.¡±

    ¡°What?  How did you?¡±

    ¡°Leo, the IP is not secret.  Anyone can take the exam at any time.  It¡¯s on the ship¡¯s data net.¡±

    ¡°But, you¡¯re not a trader.¡±

    ¡°Leo, you¡¯re not answering the question.  What happens if no master can fulfil their duties?¡±

    ¡°Then the duty falls to the senior Journeyman.¡±

    Ollu grinned again.  ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°But that ship has no Journeymen!¡±

    Ramona reached over and smacked Leo on the back of the head.  ¡°She¡¯s offering you a job, dingus!¡±

    Leo thought furiously.  Ollu was right, he had never spent much time on the letter of the law.  As a trader born, he just knew the way things worked.  He had never actually studied the guides or the exact rules that he supposedly was following.  He just did what everyone else did.  He did remember one lesson from school though.   ¡°The ship.¡±

    If possible, Ollu¡¯s grin got even bigger.  ¡°Now you are thinking my boy.¡±

    Ramona turned to Leo again.  ¡°The ship?¡±

    ¡°The ship.  Under Guild law it¡¯s actually the ship that is a member of the guild.  Each ship is like a mini polity under it¡¯s self.¡±  Leo slapped his hands together in delight.  ¡°The idea is that the ship carries on forever even though people come and go.  So technically the ship is a member of the guild and we join the guild by joining the ship¡¯s company.  It¡¯s called an ¡°individual membership¡± under guild law but the trigger is when you sign on as member of ship¡¯s company.  That is a guild ship so it is qualified to join the guild.   You and I are already qualified members of the guild.  Thus, when we join the ship¡¯s company we become members of the guild again by default.¡±

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Ramona was looking at Ollu and Leo in turn.  She wasn¡¯t sure if they were crazy or completely genius.  ¡°And who decides who can join the ship¡¯s company?¡±

    Now it was Leo¡¯s turn to laugh.  ¡°The senior trader on the ship.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a problem?  How do you join a ship that doesn¡¯t exist?¡±

    Ollu picked up the thread at that point.  ¡°Actually, that part of the Guild charter is explicit.  Any Guild qualified member can form a new ship¡¯s company at any time.  You must be qualified and you must have a Data Ark that meets guild standards.¡±  She looked at Leo again.  ¡°And we have both of those things.  I cannot form a new ship¡¯s company because I¡¯m not qualified yet.  But Timur here can.¡±

    Ramona looked more confused now.  ¡°Then why doesn¡¯t anyone just go do that?¡±

    Leo looked at her, shocked.  ¡°Do you have any idea how much the IP for a Guild ship costs?  At least a billion guilders.¡±  He shook his head.  ¡°Who has that kind of money?  It usually takes at least five or six masters working together to form a new ship¡¯s company.  I assume that¡¯s why they didn¡¯t bother to specify that you must be a master to start a ship.  Who else could afford it?¡±

    ¡°Wait, five masters could come up with a billion guilders?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.  How do you think new ships are formed?¡±

    ¡°At home, we form a common stock corporation.¡±

    Ollu cut off the discussion.  ¡°Focus people.¡±  She pointed at Leo.  ¡°Leo will you join my new ship¡¯s company as the first trader of the ship?¡±

    Leo thought about it.  He had quit the Reggie partly as an act of defiance.  He knew he had no future here but had planned to join another ship¡¯s company, away from Gunny and the other masters.  On the other hand, the derelict ship was worth over a billion guilders on it¡¯s own but could not function without IP to sell or data to move.  Even a couple Petabytes of data delivery would allow them to buy raw materials and keep the ship running.  ¡°You need cash to bootstrap the ship.¡±

    ¡°Yes.  I am willing to sell you half the ship for one million guilders.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s well under market price.¡±

    ¡°Call it recognition for services rendered.¡±

    Ramona laughed.  ¡°Why not ask for a billion?  Where is Leo going to get one million guilders?  You could buy a whole station for that back home.¡±

    Ollu¡¯s eyes had never left Leo.  ¡°Leo?¡±

    Ramona stopped laughing.  ¡°What?  Are you really that rich?¡±

    Leo thought hard.  He had planned to become a master this year and save up for his own ship by teaming up with a couple of other masters.  He had been working as a trader for ten years and literally had nothing to spend his money on.  He currently owned enough stock in the Reggie that he could meet Ollu¡¯s offer.  ¡°You didn¡¯t come up with that figure at random, did you?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Traders talk, Leo.  Many of you seem to think of us ship handlers as furniture.  All we have to do is listen.¡±

    In the end, it was a good trade.  He was buying something worth half a billion for only a million.  His answer was pre-determined.  As a trader, how could he pass up a buying opportunity like that?  The detailed dickering over the contract took longer, but was not really difficult.  Ollu didn¡¯t want anything unreasonable and she was willing to part with half of a very valuable asset.  She got what she wanted which was operating capital and a member of the guild to bootstrap her ship.

    While Leo and Ollu were discussing legal details, Ramona was thinking about practicality.  ¡°So, how do we get back over to your new ship?¡±

    Leo looked at her with a small smile.  ¡°We?  You coming along also?¡±

    ¡°Turns out I need a new gig and unlike some, I¡¯m not made of money.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.  Happy to have you along.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t change the subject.  I am sure that Thorston has issued orders that we are not allowed to check out a cutter or a shuttle.¡±

    Ollu pointed at Leo.  ¡°Just buy one.¡±

    Leo looked back, confused.  ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Buy one.  Do you think that they turned off the automatic sell side system?¡±

    ¡°No, why would they?  But can you buy a ship?  I¡¯ve never sold a real thing before.¡±

    ¡°Jesus Leo.  Do you ever take your nose out of your trader console?  It¡¯s a trader ship.  Everything is for sale.  We¡¯ve sold a few things over the years to colonies who had limited replication capacity.  My deck crew has to shift anything physical that gets sold.  Mostly replicators, but other things also including raw materials.  It¡¯s all in the sell side system.¡±

    Leo quickly opened his tablet.  He wasn¡¯t a member of ship¡¯s company anymore which legally made him a passenger.  Reggie and the other Data Arks did have the capacity to carry passengers although the practice was rare.  All the passenger side systems were up and running.  ¡°Son of a bitch.  Look at that.  Almost everything on the ship is for sale!¡±  He clicked through some screens.  ¡°Should we get a cutter?  Look at this one!¡±

    ¡°Leo, just get us a shuttle.  We may need the extra cash later.¡±

    ¡°Right.  OK.  Here¡¯s one.  Looks like an older model, the IP is pretty cheap.  I¡¯m gonna get the ship and all her IP.  Watch, if you bounce your offers like this you can force the sell side system to re-bid.  I told Larry to fix that glitch.  OK, price just dropped.  Buying.  OK, we own a shuttle and the IP for it now.¡±

    Ollu picked up a communicator.  ¡°Deck department?  Can you please get passenger Timur¡¯s shuttle ready?  He is departing shortly.¡±  She listened.  ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about that.  This is a private shuttle that passenger Timur owns.  Yes.¡±  Ollu grinned at Leo.  ¡°He has the right to leave at any time as he is no longer a member of the crew.¡±  A pause.  ¡°Look him up then.¡±  Another pause.  ¡°Right.  See you in five.¡±  She looked at Leo and Ramona.  ¡°I suggest you gather up your things and haul ass down to the boat deck.  Who knows what the masters will cook up if we give them time to think.¡±

    While Ramona had been on the ship for a fairly small amount of time, Leo had been there for almost ten years.  As he walked into his cabin, the enormity of the chance he was taking hit him.  What the hell was he doing?  I¡¯m making a trade.  I¡¯m just trading security for advancement.  This was his only path to master and he knew it.  Get it done, Leo my boy.  Get it done.  Looking around the room, he selected a few mementos from the Connie and a couple changes of clothes.  Anything else he could print out on the new ship once they had her up and running again.  Within five minutes he as striding down the corridor towards the boat deck.

    Upon entering the huge compartment, he saw Ollu pre-flighting an unremarkable looking shuttle.  Smaller than the cutters he normally flew, it was not FTL capable but it could easily take them to the nearby ship.

    ¡°Hold it right there Timur!  You are not going anywhere!¡±  Gunny had entered the compartment with a squad from the master at arms.  ¡°You have no right to use Guild property on this ship, you¡¯re just a passenger now.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Gunny, I am aware of that.  This is my ship and we are leaving now.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my ship.  I¡¯m not a member of ship¡¯s company as you just pointed out.  I have the right to leave at any time.  I¡¯m leaving.  Now.¡±

    Gunny reached out to take Leo¡¯s arm.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that Gunny.  I would hate to put a hole in you, but I will.¡±  Ramona was standing ten feet away with a gun pointed right at Gunny¡¯s head.  ¡°You know I won¡¯t miss.¡±

    ¡°Leo!¡±  Ollu¡¯s voice was urgent.  ¡°The ship is accelerating.  We need to go, NOW!¡±

    Leo hadn¡¯t noticed the subtle difference in the sounds of the ship but Ollu had.  The Reggie was firing up her engines.  If she could re-enter FTL they would not be able to get back to the derelict ship.  Leo turned and sprinted to the shuttle.

    Ollu was already inside, spinning up the engines.

    As Ramona retreated slowly back to the shuttle, Gunny started shouting at the deck crew.  ¡°Get that hard lock CLOSED DAMMIT!  They don¡¯t leave!¡±

    The deck crew milled around for a moment, seemingly unsure what to do.  ¡°Get to it!¡±

    The senior crewman finally spoke.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry Gunny but we need a master ship handler to approve the override.  I don¡¯t have sufficient systems access to close the hard lock, only the master ship handler on duty can do that.¡±

    ¡°Well, who the hell is the master ship handler on duty?!?¡±

    The crewmember just pointed to the shuttle and Ollu¡¯s smiling face at the controls.  Ramona smiled also and with a wave entered the shuttle, closing the hatch behind her.  ¡°Get us out of here!¡±

    ¡°GOING!¡±

 Bay Four

    Latency Envelope

    When transferring large amounts of data, care must be taken to ensure that the transmitted data and the received data are identical.  At less than astronomical distances, this usually means a handshake mechanism that occasionally ensures that data transfer is proceeding without corruption.  In the case of the extreme latencies incurred by space travel, transit time between data nodes can vary from seconds to days or longer depending on the distance involved.  Because of this, there is a practical limit to the amount of bandwidth available at any given astronomical distance between any two nodes.  Within the data trader community, this is known as the ¡°latency envelope.¡±  For most practical purposes, this envelope is set to one hour (approx. 1,200 GigaMeters or 0.04 Parsecs).  While one way transmission is possible even at extreme latency, handshake is impractical which makes the transfer difficult to confirm.  Beyond one hour of latency, large data transfers are rarely attempted, even via laser-comm tight beam.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    As they exited the Reggie, they could see the derelict Data Ark through the main viewport of the shuttle.  Still relatively close, they would have no problem covering the short distance in the small shuttle.  The Reggie, her engines continuing to spool up, rapidly shrank until she was invisible to the naked eye.

    Ollu expertly piloted the shuttle towards the ship.  Leo was startled to see that she was flying using manual controls.  While Leo knew how to fly a shuttle, he always used the automated systems.  As he looked out the window again, he realized that the ship¡¯s running lights were on and the boat lock had a flashing green light around it.

    ¡°Hey, the docking systems are up!¡±

    Ollu just grinned.  ¡°Sure, why do things the hard way?  After we brought up the reactors I ran a full system boot.  All the automated systems should be back up by now.¡±

    Leo still looked glum.  ¡°If only we had the trading systems up, we could sync with the Reggie before she leaves.¡±

    Ollu was still grinning.  ¡°Well, you better get busy.  You¡¯ve got about an hour before the Reggie hits the latency envelope.¡±

    Leo just shook his head.  ¡°No way to bootstrap the system.  All the memory cores are gone.  If I had a couple dozen cores I could at least to a prelim sync, but not without the cores.¡±

    As the shuttle passed through the GTE barrier of the boat deck, Ollu pivoted the ship and brought it to a perfect halt on the pad.  As she shut systems down she looked back at Leo.  ¡°Why don¡¯t you check replicator bay four?¡±

    ¡°Sorry?¡±

    ¡°Replicator bay four, that¡¯s where I ran the memory core build program.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    Now both Ramona and Ollu were looking at him again.  Ollu repeated her instructions like she was talking to a child.  ¡°Bay Four.¡±  She held up four fingers, just in case he didn¡¯t know what four meant.  She made a shooing motion with her hand.  ¡°Now git.  Fifty eight minutes.¡±

    Leo flew out of the shuttle and down the corridor with Ramona close behind.  He wasn¡¯t exactly sure, but he thought bay four was down there and to the left.  Luckily, his memory was correct and he found the large door with the number 4 painted on it where he had remembered it.  Entering the extremely large compartment, he was shocked to find a pile of memory cores.  They were neatly stacked up in the output area.  The automated system had made at least a hundred of them but the output area was filling up and the system would have to halt soon.

    ¡°Grab one of those lift carts.  Take the first batch and I¡¯ll grab the second.  We¡¯ll go back to the main DC we looked at before.  I left the backup power running so we should be able to bootstrap the system.¡±

    The carts were easy to manage.  They were powered and designed to haul much heavier loads than memory cores.  However, they weren¡¯t quick.  Leo fretted all the way up to the data center they had inspected on their first visit.

    Leo was relieved to find that the DC was still powered up.  The backup fusion bottle was running and the indicator lights were green.  If they could bootstrap the system, they could do a data sync with the Reggie before she got too far away.

    ¡°OK you take cabinet one and I¡¯ll take cabinet two.  Twenty four modules per cabinet.  That should get us enough memory to bootstrap.   We can keep adding memory as we go.¡±

    Adding the memory cores only took a few minutes.  They were designed to be easy to maintain and they simply snapped into the sockets provided.  The console was a different story.

    ¡°Dammit, they pulled the main memory core.  We can¡¯t bootstrap it.¡±

    Ramona was looking at where the memory core for the console was supposed to go.  ¡°Isn¡¯t this another Elmo console?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, of course.  The whole ship will be the same.  Makes maintenance easier.¡±

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    ¡°What about the backup?¡±

    ¡°The backup?¡±

    ¡°You said these consoles have backups.¡±

    ¡°Oh, damn..   I completely forgot.¡±  Leo opened the case and looked into the bowels of the machine.  ¡°Crap, this one doesn¡¯t have a backup installed.¡±  Leo thought for a second.  ¡°Oh, shit!  I still have the one from engineering!¡±  Rummaging around in the pouch he still wore he found the memory module he had removed from the engineering console that morning.  ¡°Here goes nothing.¡±  Leo hit a few keys on the console and recycled the system.

    After a few seconds, the console started to come up.  ¡°Oh yeah!!  It¡¯s working!¡±  Leo furiously typed on the console for a steady minute.  ¡°OK, we have a bootstrap here.  The system is starting to come up.  Oh man, this is slow.  It has to decompress this massive backup before it can do anything.¡±

    Slowly, the system was able to restore running state from the compressed backup.  Once the main memory was again populated, things got moving faster.

    ¡°Bringing up data transfer subsystem.¡±

    Ramona looked puzzled.  ¡°Why that one?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the most automated.  If we can sync with Reggie it will automatically sync all data transfer jobs in memory, starting with those that have the closest point of delivery.  It¡¯s our fastest way of making some guilders.¡±

    ¡°Right.  Delivering the mail.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Leo watched the status indicators crawl along.  ¡°Yes!!  Handshake!  We have handshake with Reggie!!¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means that the two ships are talking.  That they recognize each other and are doing a sync.¡±  Leo continued to work on the console.   ¡°OK buy side system coming up.¡±  More console work.  ¡°Sell side.¡±

    Ramona was also studying the displays.  ¡°Leo?  Shouldn¡¯t our latency to Reggie be rising on this display?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re moving away from us.¡±

    ¡°Well, it says latency is down to one minute.¡±

    ¡°What?  How?¡±

    ¡°They must have turned around.¡±

    ¡°Oh, shit.¡±

    At about three seconds per gigameter, a sixty second delay meant that the Reggie was about twenty gigameters away.  While this was a massive distance on a planetary or even solar scale, it was tiny on an galactic scale.

    ¡°Why are they coming back?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but they¡¯re helping us right now.  The closer they get, the tighter the sync will be.  Help me load more memory modules.  We may run out of storage if they get any closer.¡±

    As Leo and Ramona loaded the remaining modules into cabinets, Ollu arrived with another cart full of modules.  ¡°OK, we have core bootstrap running and all the maintenance bots are up.  We¡¯re in pretty good shape shipwise.¡±

    Leo was halfway down the first row of cabinets.  ¡°Bring that cart over here, it looks like we are going to get more data from the Reggie than I thought.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±  Ollu wheeled the cart carefully down the narrow isle.

    ¡°Because they¡¯re coming back.¡±

    ¡°Oh, shit.¡±

    Leo laughed despite the strain.  ¡°That¡¯s what I said.¡±

    Ramona finished with her cabinet.  ¡°I think Gunny will try to board us.¡±

    ¡°What?  That¡¯s illegal.¡±

    ¡°According to who?  Any Guild tribunal would be judged by his buddies, the masters.  Would they find him guilty?  Or themselves?¡±

    Leo paused in his work.  ¡°No, that¡¯s a good point.  They wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    Ollu started on another cabinet.  ¡°Well, they won¡¯t shoot at us, I know that.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Because the Reggie isn¡¯t armed and I took the armed cutters down for maintenance before I left.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Well, I was afraid something like this might happen.  The Reggie only has two.  Simple enough to enter a maintenance order.  By now, they should both be in pieces in the maintenance bay.¡±

    ¡°But they could print one out.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s a thirty hour job, minimum.  By then, we will be FTL.¡±

    Ramona looked determined.  ¡°Gunny will try to board us.  That¡¯s what I would do.¡±

    Leo thought about it for a moment.  Gunny was used to getting his way and Thorsten wasn¡¯t going to try and stop him.  However, he had been a trader for as long as Leo had been alive.  His much vaunted military service had been ages ago, when Gunny was eighteen.   He had only served in the Marines for eight years before getting medically discharged and eventually becoming a trader.  Leo wasn¡¯t even sure if he had made Gunnery Sergeant or not.  ¡°He¡¯s a trader.   He will play the odds.¡±

    Ramona shook her head.  ¡°It¡¯s about mission.  Get the mission done.¡±

    Leo placed a hand on her arm.  ¡°He¡¯s been a trader way longer than he was a Marine.  We just need to make the operation too risky and he¡¯ll back off.¡±

    ¡°OK, how do we do that?¡±

    Ollu suddenly grinned.  ¡°Variable thrust maneuvers.¡±

    Leo looked confused.  ¡°Say what?¡±

    ¡°Remember your flight training?  What was the most difficult docking maneuver you ever tried?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah.  The faulty engine scenario.  The target ship kept making unpredictable course changes because they had a simulated engine control system failure.  I crashed that one like four times in the simulator.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    Leo scratched his head.  ¡°So, we break our own engines?¡±

    Ollu punched his shoulder.  ¡°Keep to trading kid.  No, we just program the ship to make random course and thrust changes.  Add enough variability and your docking maneuver gets tough.  Especially if we close the hard lock on the boat bay.  Those external lock points are small and hard to hit.¡±

    Ollu pulled out a data pad and started entering programming the guidance system.  Leo could hear but not really feel the engines come online.  Instead of the steady drone he was used to, they changed pitch up and down at odd intervals.  Occasionally, there was a slight vibration.

    Ramona was impressed.  ¡°These trader ships have the best of everything don¡¯t they?  Those compensators work amazingly well.¡±

    Leo was back at work installing memory modules.   ¡°Let¡¯s get this row finished.  That should give us enough capacity for a full sync.¡±

    ¡°How long to full sync?¡±

    Leo consulted the console.  ¡°I¡¯d say another hour at this latency.  We¡¯ve already got a good chunk of the data transfer queue.  We¡¯re getting the open source libraries right now.  Latency is still dropping.  Down to just ten seconds.¡±

    ¡°How long until they figure it out?¡±

    ¡°Figure what out?¡±

    Ollu gave Leo yet another disbelieving stare.  ¡°Come on Leo, you¡¯re not dumb.  What happens next?¡±

    ¡°What?   We finish sync and we go to FTL.¡±

    ¡°No, they disable their systems to prevent us from pulling a full database.¡±

    ¡°But, that¡¯s illegal¡­.¡±

    ¡°Leo.¡±

    ¡°OK, OK.¡±

    Ten minutes later, the console bleeped a warning.  ¡°Handshake lost.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, took them longer than I thought.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to turn that stuff off.  They¡¯re designed to always stay on.¡±

    ¡°Just cut power to the transmitters.  That¡¯s what I would do.¡±

    ¡°Might not occur to a trader.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡±  Ollu made a sweeping gesture to the other two.  ¡°Let¡¯s head up to the bridge.  If they do launch a boat we¡¯ll need to use the guidance systems and sensors.¡±

    Leo went down to the replicator bay for another batch of modules.  Now that they had a working network, they could restore console functionality on the bridge once the modules were installed.  Each of the consoles only took two modules, so it would be much faster than the work in the DC.  Walking down to the bay by himself, he finally began to realize how alone they were.  The Data Ark was massive and normally held anywhere from fifteen hundred to two thousand crew members.  With only the three of them onboard the ship felt very large and empty.  What the hell are we doing?

 Misfits

    Einstein Limit

    The Einstein Limit (or E-Limit) is the distance from a gravity well (usually a star but actually any large mass) at which super-luminal speeds affect time and mass dilation as per Einstein¡¯s ancient physics model.  Because the effect of gravity is equal to the inverse square of the distance from the object, the actual E-Limit from any given body varies based on the actual mass of the object.  Because attempting to enter FTL within the E-Limit would require effectively infinite energy or zero mass, it is simply not possible to enter an FTL envelope within this limit.  Also, because of the inverse square law, this limit is sometimes referred to as ¡°the cliff¡± as the actual amount of energy required to accelerate a non zero mass to greater than light speed falls off very rapidly outside of this boundary.  Because time-dilation is a function of gravimetric effects within a gravity well, Guild Ships never attempt FTL travel within the established E-Limit of any given star system.  Generally the E-Limit of any star is calculated in advance and most ships use the same distance from the primary star as the ¡°e-limit¡± number.  In practice, the actual energy available to the ship and the mass of the ship will change the actual distance required but commercial ships normally use the reference e-limit and do not re-calculate this distance for each combination of energy and mass.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Once up on the bridge, Leo was able to restore all the consoles to working order.  After that, he didn¡¯t have much to do.  His experience with handling large ships was exactly zero.

    ¡°Ramona, can you get on the astrogator¡¯s station there?¡±

    Ramona moved to the station indicated.  All the consoles were functionally identical, but the astrogator¡¯s station had a larger holographic display.  ¡°OK, astrogation is up.  Where to?¡±

    Ollu turned around.  ¡°Leo?¡±

    ¡°Uhhh¡­  Not back to UI, that¡¯s for sure.¡±  Both Ramona and Ollu nodded.  ¡°Well, Reggie is headed to Lysium.  I suggest we pick a destination off that path.¡±

    ¡°OK.  How about  Cornevia or Illgo?¡±

    Leo briefly consulted his tablet.  ¡°Let¡¯s go with Cornevia.  Slightly more data transfer traffic there.  We¡¯ll pick up some free guilders.¡±

    ¡°Right.  Cornevia.¡±

    Ramona was able to manipulate the astrogation controls easily.  Actually operating a starship wasn¡¯t hard.  The training was all about what to do if something went wrong.  With a crew of three, they had no hope of actually fixing anything that went seriously wrong, but this was a trader vessel and system failures were unlikely.  ¡°Course laid in by the computer.¡±

    A warning light began to flash on Ollu¡¯s console.  ¡°Yep, here comes a cutter.¡±  Ollu reached down to the manual flight controls.  ¡°Turning away from programmed course.¡±

    ¡°What?  Why?¡±

    ¡°Do you want Gunny to know where we¡¯re headed?¡±

    ¡°Well, no.  But aren¡¯t we going to get lost that way?¡±

    ¡°Come on Leo, this isn¡¯t my first rodeo.  Fifteen seconds to FTL.¡±

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Ramona was now watching the external sensors.  ¡°They¡¯re not giving up.  Ten klicks.¡±

    Ollu reached down and twisted a control on her console.  The starscape outside began to spin.  ¡°Rotating the ship.¡±

    ¡°That will mess up their docking solution!¡±

    ¡°Five klicks.¡±

    ¡°Here they come.¡±

    ¡°One klick.¡±

    Leo looked nervously from Ramona to Ollu.  They both looked calmer than he felt.  Well, that¡¯s not hard.  He tried to calm himself.  There was nothing he could do either way.

    ¡°One hundred meters.  They are trying to match our spin.  It¡¯s not going well.¡±  Leo felt more than heard a muted thud.  ¡°Failed lock on.¡±  Leo just stared at Ramona.  That was the most blas¨¦ description of a crash that he had ever heard.

    ¡°Five seconds.  Four.  Three.  Prepare for transition.¡±  The transition to FTL, when it came, was anticlimactic.  One moment they were in normal space, the next they had transitioned into FTL drive.  After only five minutes, they dropped out of FTL again.  ¡°Resuming programmed course.¡±  Again, the FTL drive engaged and they left normal space.

    ¡°Do you think they will follow?¡±

    ¡°Doubtful.  That cutter didn¡¯t look good.  Most likely the Reggie will need to pick her up.  Also, it¡¯s very hard to calculate the exact vector and speed of an FTL ship.¡±

    Ramona looked over from her place at the astrogation console.  ¡°I¡¯ve done it.¡±

    Ollu smiled.   ¡°So have I, kiddo.  But never twice in a row.  How about you?¡±

    Ramona laughed.  ¡°No.  It¡¯s mostly luck.  Even if they saw us drop out, the odds are miniscule that they could follow a second jump on a different trajectory.¡±

    Leo looked from one woman to the other.  ¡°So we¡¯re clear?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re clear.¡±  Ollu looked down at her controls.  ¡°Except for one major problem.¡±

    Leo sighed.  ¡°Now what?¡±

    ¡°Our ship doesn¡¯t have a name.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Our ship.  This thing you are sitting in.  It doesn¡¯t have a name.  That¡¯s not OK.¡±

    Ramona laughed.  ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s very bad juju right there.¡±

    Leo just looked at both of them.  ¡°I just assumed we¡¯d pull the name from the records and use that.¡±  Unlike movies Leo had watched about ancient sea going ships, spaceships didn¡¯t have names painted on them.  There is no point in putting lettering on a hull that nobody would ever see.

    ¡°No Leo, that doesn¡¯t make any sense.  We cannot join ship¡¯s company without the permission of the existing master trader.  We need to form a new ship¡¯s company.  That means a new ship.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.  OK.  Makes sense.  What do we call her?  The Channah?¡±

    Ollu just make a nasty face at Leo.  ¡°Something less pretentious than naming after one of us, I think.¡±

    ¡°The Theodore Onassis?¡±

    ¡°Oooh.  Good choice.  I don¡¯t think there is a Theo active right now.¡±

    Ramona looked confused.  ¡°Who is Theodore Onassis?¡±

    ¡°He was one of the founders of the Guild.  Way back when the guild first started as a data transport union.  Sorta like how the spacer guild started.¡±

    ¡°It was a rough time back then.  Trader vessels used to get stopped by pirates.¡±

    Ramona was shocked.  ¡°Pirates?  There is no such thing as space pirates!??¡±

    Leo could remember the lessons from grade school.  ¡°Well, not anymore.  Back then there were some conflicts between polities and they licensed what they called ¡®privateers¡¯ to steal IP from their rivals.  That was a big part of why the union started.  Later, they changed the name to the Data Trader¡¯s Guild.¡±

    Ramona was pleased with the story.  ¡°I like that.  Sounds like a rebel.  We¡¯re a bunch of misfits, we probably would have fit in well on his crew.¡±

    Leo was offended.  ¡°Misfits?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, misfits.¡±  She pointed at Ollu.  ¡°A ship handler who owns a trader ship.¡±  She pointed at herself.  ¡°A dirtyfoot from a banned system.¡±  She finally pointed at Leo.  ¡°And a failed Journeyman who abandoned his shipmates and defied his master trader.¡±  Leo began to object.  ¡°Oh yeah, don¡¯t forget about your checkered past.¡±

    Ollu laughed.  ¡°See?  Traders talk.  You just have to listen.¡±

    Finally, Leo shrugged.  ¡°I like the name.  We¡¯ll call her the Theo for short.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good.¡±

    Leo was feeling hungry.   ¡°They got anything to eat on this bucket?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure the replicators are working.  We are full on raw materials.  Print out what you want.¡±

    However, when Leo got to the nearest dining hall, he found to his dismay that their download had been incomplete.  None of the public domain food templates had come down.  They had the ability to make food, but they didn¡¯t have any recipes for the system.

    ¡°Anyone know how to base program a food replicator?¡±

    ¡°Ummmm.  No.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s depressing.  What do we eat?¡±

    Ollu shrugged.  ¡°There should be emergency supplies in the shuttle.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t it have a food replicator like the cutters do?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s only for short hops.  No food or anything like that.  But there should be thirty days food for a crew of four in the emergency locker.¡±

    ¡°Yummy.  Shelf stable ration bars.¡±

    ¡°It will keep us alive.¡±

    ¡°There is that.¡±

 Banned Content

    Banned Content

    While the guild attempts at all times to remain a neutral arbiter of information and has a duty to transmit information and intellectual property without fear or favor; the simple truth is that some data is simply not acceptable by the greater galactic society in which we operate.  Therefore, The Guild has established the following minimum criteria for transmission of any content on any Guild vessel or signed node:

    <ol>

    <li> Content must have clear title and be shown to be the intellectual property of the declared owner.</li>

    <li> Must not contain sexual content depicting minors (under 18 terran years).</li>

    <li> Content must conform to the universal content standards accords.</li>

    </ol>

    Any content that violates the minimum standards will be considered ¡°Banned Content.¡±  Banned Content will be isolated into a partitioned space until such time as the arbitration process can be completed by The Guild.  At the time of arbitration, content will either be expunged from all Guild systems or released depending on the outcome of the arbitration board.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Leo was making an inspection of the datacenters as he chewed his umpteenth ration bar.  They hadn¡¯t been so bad at first, but after a few days they got very dull for three meals a day.  Well, I may lose some weight.  Thoughtfully, he rubbed his stomach as he opened the main hatch into DC number four.  So far, everything had been completely normal, if you considered a completely empty data ark normal.  Each of the Data Centers had been identical to the one they had opened on their first visit to the derelict.    Each had been completely functional except for the missing data cores.  Leo was still struggling with the why of it all.  Removing all the cores had been a time consuming and tedious process.    Why go to all the trouble?

    After all, they could just copy the data to another Data Ark in a few days with a hard link.  With that thought, he stopped dead, halfway down the first aisle.  ¡°Another Data Ark!  I am so dumb!¡±  Of course, if they already had a data ark, they wouldn¡¯t need to steal one, would they?  They could just make another.  But what would you do if you didn¡¯t have one?    What if you wanted all of the IP in a data ark but weren¡¯t a member of the guild?  You couldn¡¯t just buy the IP, that would cost a fortune.  More than the GDP of most star systems if Leo was honest.  However, if you took all the cores, you could then install them in a station or a planetside facility.  You could then print out whatever you wanted.  Including Data Arks.

    No, that isn¡¯t right.   They stole the Data Ark already.  Why not just keep it?  The whole episode was deeply disturbing when he thought about it too much.  There had to be a reason why they took the cores but abandoned the ship.  They certainly hadn¡¯t expected anyone to ever find it.  The odds against that were literally astronomical.  Why not just blow it up?  After thinking about it for a few moments, he realized he could answer that question.  Millions of tiny pieces flying in all directions would create a debris field much, much larger than an actual ship.  Over time, the debris would expand to a size large enough that detection became possible, if not likely.  Much less likely to find a single ship (as large as it was) than a huge, expanding cloud of debris.  The only ¡°safe¡± way to dispose of a ship would be to fly it into a star or a gas giant.  Much easier to just leave it in the deep dark where nobody would be looking.

    He was so distracted by these thoughts that he almost missed the data cabinet at the end of of the last row.  Nothing unusual about the cabinet.  It was the same as all the other hundreds of cabinets he¡¯d seen already.  However, this one wasn¡¯t empty.

    He opened the comm.  ¡°Ollu, Ramona; have either of you been working in DC 4?¡±

    Ollu was the first to answer.  ¡°No Leo.  With just three of us on a ship supposed to be handled by a crew of a hundred, I¡¯ve been a tad busy.¡±

    Ramona answered a few seconds later.  ¡°No, I¡¯m up on the bridge with Ollu or sleeping.  Why?¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t sure how to respond.  ¡°Well, there are three cabinets down here with cores in them.¡±

    Ollu wasn¡¯t impressed.  ¡°Great.  Saves you the trouble of repopulating.¡±

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    Leo sighed.  ¡°Doesn¡¯t it make you wonder what¡¯s on those cores?  Why those got left behind when all the others were taken?¡±

    ¡°Maybe they¡¯re empty?¡±

    ¡°No, the system doesn¡¯t work like that.  Data is automatically balanced across all nodes and replicated.¡±

    ¡°Except for banned content.¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah, obviously.  I mean¡­¡±  Again Leo froze.  Banned content?  Why would they explicitly leave the banned content?

    ¡°Leo?¡±

    Leo thought furiously.  Why banned content?  Wouldn¡¯t a thief especially want the banned content?  After all, it¡¯s the one thing that¡¯s NOT for sale.  Banned content would be worth more than the rest of the ship combined if sold to the correct parties on banned worlds.  Surely someone who stole a ship and killed the entire crew would not hesitate to profit off of banned content, would they?

    ¡°LEO!¡±

    Leo could think of only one organization that would want banned content to remain secret and off limits.

    ¡°The Guild.¡±

    ¡°WHAT?¡±

    ¡°The Guild took this ship.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?  Leo, that makes no sense.¡±

    Leo was running to the bridge now.  He needed a console.  As he burst onto the bridge, a startled Ollu and Ramona just stared at him.  All he could say was ¡°The Guild.  The Guild.¡±

    After a few minutes of work, he was able to confirm his guess.  All of the memory on the ship had been removed.  Except for the banned cores.  The two cabinets he had found in DC4 and two more in DC5.

    ¡°Leo!  Will you please calm down and tell us what you found?¡±

    Leo took a breath.  Looking at Ramona, he was surprised to see a concerned look on her face.  ¡°It¡¯s OK.  I just realized what must have happened on this ship.¡±

    ¡°And tell us what that is?¡±

    ¡°The guild must have seized the ship and taken the cores.  It¡¯s the only thing that makes sense.¡±

    ¡°How does that make sense?  This is a Guild Ship!  Why would they seize their own ship?!?¡±  Ramona shook her head.  ¡°You¡¯re not making any sense.¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu.  ¡°Ollu, if you wanted to remove something from a guild database, how would you do it?¡±

    She shook her head.  ¡°You can¡¯t.¡±

    Now Ramona¡¯s face went from concerned to confused.  ¡°What?   How could that be?  I¡¯ve seen things removed from the catalog before.  Things with expired IP agreements, etc..¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°Yes, you saw that they had been removed, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.  How else would I know that they had been removed?¡±

    Ollu just looked at her.  Expectantly.

    ¡°Oh, right.  OK, I¡¯m dumb.  The index is permanent.  I know that the object exists even if the data is removed.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.  I cannot tell you how complex those systems are.  Extremely precise systems who¡¯s only purpose is to ensure that NOTHING is ever lost.¡±

    ¡°Or removed?¡±

    Ollu smiled again.   ¡°Or removed.¡±

    ¡°But wait..  Wouldn¡¯t that object be replicated to at least one other database?  At least to the buoy where the trade was registered?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Now Leo smiled.  ¡°Unless it is banned.¡±   Both women looked at him.  ¡°Banned content is the only thing that isn¡¯t replicated when a full data sync is initiated.¡±

    ¡°So, the banned database is permanent but only for the lifetime of the ship?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  And I think ¡®lifetime¡¯ is the operative word here.¡±

    Ollu sat down at the pilot¡¯s station.  ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why the Guild would do this to one of their own ships.¡±

    Leo sat down also.  ¡°It¡¯s been bugging me.  None of this makes sense.  Or it didn¡¯t until I found the banned cores.  The only thing that makes sense is that there is something in those banned cores that the Guild doesn¡¯t want to have loose.¡±  Neither woman looked convinced.  ¡°Think about it.  My first thought was thieves.  The IP they took was immensely valuable.  However, they wouldn¡¯t have left the banned content.  It has value too.  Perhaps more than the rest of the IP since it¡¯s not on the open market.¡±

    Ramona was pacing in front of the control consoles.   ¡°Walk me through this.  The ship has something in the banned database.  They Guild wants this thing to go away.  So, why not just wipe the database?¡±

    ¡°How?  You can¡¯t really do that without destroying the ship or at least the ship¡¯s systems.  Besides, someone would ask why.¡±

    ¡°And the crew?  Won¡¯t the crew talk?¡±

    Ollu just shook her head.  ¡°Kiddo, the crew is dead.¡±

    ¡°Well, I assumed that pirates or whoever had killed them, but surely the Guild wouldn¡¯t¡­.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t what?¡±

    ¡°Kill an entire crew of guild members!¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°I can¡¯t imagine anyone in the guild doing that.¡±

    Ollu shook her head sadly.  ¡°Unless the alternative is worse.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s worse than killing an entire crew?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we should look at those banned files?¡±

    ¡°Only the Guild Master can do that.¡±

    Ollu smiled.  ¡°Yes, Guild Master.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right.¡±

    Leo was not looking forward to the Banned database.  Usually, content was banned for very good reasons.  Some things offered for sale to the Guild were downright despicable.  Others were merely illegal or infringed on some other IP.

    After eight hours, he was wrung out and frustrated.  There were literally thousands of files in the banned database.  Thousands.  He had no idea what he was looking for.  At least half the items were in the entertainment category.  He quickly found out how sick and twisted people could be.  ¡°That¡¯s IT!  I cannot look at any more if this disgusting junk!¡±

    Ramona looked at him with sympathy.  ¡°Perhaps we should re-think.  Would the guild really kill an entire ship of over some smutty video?¡±

    ¡°I just don¡¯t know.¡±  Leo slumped at his console.  ¡°A week ago, I would have said that they wouldn¡¯t have done this under any circumstances.¡±  He shook his head.  ¡°Now, I just don¡¯t know.  Maybe I was all wrong about that happened.¡±

    Ollu looked over from the captain¡¯s station.  She looked worn, not enough sleep for her as the only person who really knew what she was doing.  Even doing the absolute minimum was driving her to the ragged edge.  ¡°Leo, take a break.  Let¡¯s re-think this after some sleep.¡±

 Pitch Me A Story

    Durable IP

    The Data Trader¡¯s Guild is fundamentally based on the concept that traders are free agents and thus have the ability to move from one ship¡¯s company to another.  For this reason, it is against guild law for ships to engage in employment contracts that strip traders of their rights to IP that they purchase on behalf of the ship.  While IP sharing agreements are allowed and encouraged, no such agreement shall seek more than 49% ownership of any IP purchased by a trader, regardless of the other aspects of their employment agreement.  All such agreements must be registered with a guild signed node within 30 days of execution.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°Ready for transition from FTL.¡±  Ollu looked like she could sleep for a week.  ¡°Transition, now.¡±

    With little fanfare, the Theo slipped back into normal space.  Leo brought up the long range scanners and focused on where the nine o¡¯clock buoy should be.  ¡°Right on target, nine is within ten klicks of predicted.¡±  He did some calculations.  ¡°About eight hours until we are in the latency envelope for nine.¡±

    Ollu slumped down over her console.  ¡°Let¡¯s all get some sleep.  We¡¯ll coast down for eight hours before we try to maneuver.¡±

    A full eight hours of rack time had restored all three of them to a semblance of normalcy.  Reassembled on the bridge, they contemplated their next steps.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been over this again and again.  We need ship handlers.¡±  Ollu was obviously not thrilled to go over this well worn argument.

    Leo was looking stubborn.  ¡°I¡¯m not saying we¡¯re not, just saying we should post for traders also.¡±

    ¡°Think about it Leo, if you see a ship come into a system advertising a hundred or a thousand empty births, won¡¯t you ask questions?  We gotta keep this low key.¡±

    Ramona, as usual, had to play peacemaker.  ¡°Why not just reduce speed and stay in system longer?  Then we will have plenty of time to bring crew on in waves.¡±

    Normally, a Data Ark would cut across a system elliptic as quickly as possible to pick up a single bouy and then right back out of a system.  Time in system was time not moving bits.  Leo nodded.  ¡°Yeah, I think we have to.  We just can¡¯t go on without more crew.¡±

    Ollu started pressing keys.  A system diagram appeared on the main display.  ¡°OK, if we deccel burn now, we can cut an arc here towards the 12 o¡¯clock.¡±  A curving line appeared, arcing away from the 9 o¡¯clock buoy and around the system towards the 12 o¡¯clock buoy.

    ¡°What happens if we keep going around to the three?¡±

    Ollu just looked at Ramona.  ¡°Why would we want to do that?¡±

    Ramona brought up another chart on her display.  ¡°We want to keep going away from where we started.  If we exit the system from around the three, we can pick from six systems without having to maneuver too much.¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°Why do we want to keep going that way?¡±

    Ramona looked at Leo with what was becoming a familiar expression.  ¡°Leo, think about it.  If Gunny is going to do anything or let the other masters know what happened, they will have to send messages or any pursuit using data arks.  Moving away from them means we stay ahead of any possible ambush.¡±

    ¡°Ambush?  Why would they ambush us?¡±

    ¡°Leo, you said it yourself.  They killed everyone on this ship to hide whatever is in those banned files.  Why wouldn¡¯t they do the same to us?¡±

    Ollu tapped her lips with the tip of her finger.  ¡°That assumes he knows what was on the ship and why it was abandoned.¡±

    Ramona nodded.  ¡°True, but don¡¯t you think it¡¯s safer to assume he does?¡±

    Ollu sighed.  ¡°Yes, unfortunately I think you¡¯re right.¡±

    A light started to flash on Leo¡¯s console.  ¡°We¡¯re inside the latency envelope.¡±

    He looked at the two women with him on the bridge.  The both nodded.  Leo started tapping keys.  ¡°Releasing locks.¡±  It had taken a few days, but he had figured out a way to lock the automated systems with a single system master command.  He didn¡¯t want to have the same problem the Reggie did if for some reason they needed to stop the automated trading systems.

    Ollu turned to her console.  ¡°I¡¯ll write up the job requisitions.  This is a major system; I expect we should be able to hire a couple dozen crew easily.¡±

    Leo sat down at one of the consoles and started typing.  Ramona looked a question in his direction.  ¡°I¡¯m writing a search program.  I should be able to find any Guild members in system by tracking Guilder spend.  Anyone spending Guilders rather than local currency might be a trader.¡±

    Ramon still looked puzzled.  ¡°Why do that?¡±

    ¡°Keeping a low profile.  If there are Guild members in system, we may be able to hire them without posting ¡®help wanted¡¯ all over the system.¡±

    Ramona walked over and read the query over Leo¡¯s shoulder.  ¡°You can track Guilder transactions?¡±

    Leo grinned.  ¡°Helps to own your own currency.  Guilders are just another entry in the trade database.  All Guild ships automatically replicate trade records with system buoys whenever we enter a system.¡±

    Ramona just shook her head.  She had heard people back home on Raeburn¡¯s World railing about how evil and omnipotent the Guild was, but never really thought about how tight a stranglehold they held on interplanetary trade.  It was truly breathtaking to consider the power a relatively small number of people had amassed.  She had seen estimates that the Guild composed less than 0.0001% of the human population in the galaxy but controlled almost half of all human wealth.

    Leo was watching the results stream across his console.  There were literally millions of transactions over the last month, but he was looking for spend patterns.  The goal was to find someone who EXCLUSIVELY used Guilders which was unlikely to be a local.  Most non-traders would have access to Guilders but few would use them for anything but transactions with a Guild vessel.

    Leo edited out any period where a Guild ship had visited the system.  This left him with only a few thousand transactions.  Then he sorted them by transfer ID number.  One came out on top with almost half the transactions during ¡°quiet¡± periods when no guild ship was in system.

    ¡°Here we go.  It looks like we have someone who is a member of the guild spending guilders.¡±

    ¡°Who is it, can you tell?¡±

    ¡°No, these transactions are anonymized.  We know they are here, but we don¡¯t know their name.¡±

    Ollu leaned back in her chair.  ¡°Check the news.¡±

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    Leo looked at her, confused.  ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Check the local news sites.  Don¡¯t you think a trader living on a local station would be considered news?  The gossip rags would at least talk about the rich foreigner living the high life.¡±

    ¡°Rich foreigner?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  How do you think the locals feel about the Guild?  You¡¯re not one of them, that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    Shaking his head, Leo wrote another query.  This time using the local news streams.  ¡°Umm. Yeah.  How¡¯s this for a headline, ¡®UNITY¡¯S MOST ELIGIBLE BATCHELOR IS A TRADER BORN¡¯ or this one ¡®RICH BASTARD TRADER SPENDS HIS TIME DRINKING OUR BOOZE AND CHASING OUR WOMEN.¡¯¡±

    Ollu laughed.  ¡°Yeah.  Bet you a guilder he¡¯s a master.¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°No bet.  I bet YOU a guilder he¡¯s an A&E specialist.¡±

    Ollu laughed harder.  ¡°No bet.¡±

    Ramona looked confused.

    ¡°A&E masters are known for living the life.  Drugs, sex and trading is what they¡¯re supposed to live for.¡±

    Leo shook his head again.  ¡°That¡¯s just a stereotype.¡±

    Ollu looked doubtful.  ¡°Uh huh.¡±   She smiled again.  ¡°Bet on it?¡±

    Leo just started writing a message addressed to the trader on Unity station.  The gossip rag had named him as Craig Linton.  There was a Master Trader named Craig Linton registered with the Guild, Leo hoped it was the same person.

    A few hours later, they had their answer.  ¡°He¡¯s agreed to shuttle out and meet with us.¡±

    Ollu was reading through applicants to her ship handler advert.  ¡°What did you tell him?¡±

    ¡°Just that we were looking to bring on another master for a long term contract.   Nothing else.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    Leo had taken the time to print out a new uniform and ship boots between the many items he¡¯d tried to get completed in the two days they had been in system.  Although there was no way they could operate a full buy side operation, the sell side operation had been running and they had made enough on data transfer to pay the operating costs of the ship and a crew that they didn¡¯t have.  Luckily for Leo and the rest of the Theo, data trading was immensely profitable, and they could operate indefinitely at lower than normal revenue levels.

    As Leo waited for the personnel shuttle to dock, he reviewed Craig¡¯s service record.  He was fairly old, 140 years, which was on the high side for an active trader but not unheard of.  Leo¡¯s grandmother had traded until she was 160 and finally retired on an orbital.  Interestingly, Craig had moved around quite a bit.  Leo saw several times when Craig lasted less than a year on a ship.  This was fairly unusual since most Trader vessels were common shares corporations and shares didn¡¯t normally start vesting until after the first year as a member of the ship¡¯s compliment.  Share dilution for durable IP also meant that when you moved vessels, you normally lost some percentage of your net worth.  Not what a master trader really wanted if things were going well.

    Leo glanced down at the chronometer.  It was about time for Craig¡¯s appointment.   Three¡­  Two.. One¡­

    Nothing happened.  The hatch remained stubbornly closed.

    Leo watched the time incredulously as seconds passed, then minutes.  It wasn¡¯t until a full five minutes passed that the hatch opened and a rumpled looking older trader sauntered out.

    Leo couldn¡¯t help himself, he blurted out the first thig that came to his mind.  ¡°You are late, Master Trader.¡±

    The older trader looked at Leo as if noticing him for the first time.  ¡°And who the hell are you?¡±

    Taken aback, Leo answered honestly.  ¡°I am Master Trader Leo Timur.¡±

    For the first time Linton seemed to really look at Leo.  Examining him from head to toe with his eyes finally resting on the master¡¯s insignia on Leo¡¯s collar.  ¡°Go run and tell your daddy that a real Master is here and wants to talk to the grownups.¡±

    Leo had no idea what to say.  ¡°My father is still on the Connor Loic.  I am the Guild Master of this vessel and half owner.¡±

    Linton snorted.  ¡°¡­and who owns the other half?  A pygmy goat from Alpha Centauri?¡±

    ¡°No, Master Trader Channah.¡±

    Linton threw his head back and laughed.  He laughed so hard, he leaned against a bulkhead and tears streamed down his face.  Gasping for breath, he was able to ask, ¡°Olufunke Channah?¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t sure if he was offended or amused by this performance.  ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. Do you know her?¡±

    ¡°Oh God, you¡¯re gonna kill this old bastard.¡±  Continuing to laugh, he eventually sat down on the deck.  ¡°I¡¯m an old man, you can¡¯t just drop shit like this on me.¡±  Finally, Linton was able to control himself.  ¡°Are you honestly telling me that a child and Ollu Channah own this ship?¡±

    Leo was getting angry now.  ¡°This is my ship.  I am inclined to put you on the next shuttle off.¡±

    Linton waved his hand in a shushing motion.  ¡°Relax, kid.  I¡¯m just surprised.  I find it funny that the ¡®rebel ship handler¡¯ herself is now an owner.  Don¡¯t be offended that I think of you as a child, I have several great-grandchildren older than you.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?  Who is the rebel ship handler?¡±

    Linton sighed.  ¡°Kid, don¡¯t you watch vids?  ¡®Rebel Ship Handler¡¯ was my highest grossing vid at the time.  Doubled my lifetime score.¡±

    Now Leo was very confused.  ¡°What does a vid have to do with Ollu?  She¡¯s not an actor is she?¡±

    Linton laughed again, but without the manic edge.  ¡°No, the whole vid was based on a real life incident when a ship handler decked a master trader for being a total asshole.  Made like seven seasons by the end of it.¡±

    ¡°And it was based on Ollu?¡±

    ¡°Well the phrase we use in the biz is ¡®inspired by real events.¡¯¡±

    At the point, Leo had no idea how to feel.  He had gone from confused to angry to intrigued in the space of a minute or two.  He really wanted to just boot this arrogant master trader right off his ship, but he also felt like there was an opportunity to benefit from a trader who operated in a completely different world than he did.  As he stood there, wondering what to do, Ramona walked into the compartment.

    ¡°Leo, what the hell?  Are you going to bring the new nugget up to the conference room or what?¡±

    Leo just looked at her.

    Ramona turned and looked at Linton for the first time.  ¡°Who is the fossil?¡±

    Leo tensed, expecting an explosion.  Linton laughed yet again.  ¡°I¡¯m Craig Fucking Linton.¡±  He turned back to Leo.  ¡°Who is this piece of ass?¡±

    Leo had no idea what to do.  Ramona solved the problem by walking up to Linton and poking him in the chest with a long index finger.  ¡°I¡¯m Ramona Fucking Eddington.  Anytime you think you got the balls for some, come get it.¡±  With a last firm poke, she pushed Linton back into the bulkhead.

    For a moment, everything was quiet in the small personnel airlock.  Leo and Ramona were facing Linton with scowls, ready for a fight.  Linton just laughed again.  ¡°Right.  I¡¯m not the muscle, sweetheart, I¡¯m the entertainment.  You want booze or drugs, I¡¯m your man.  You want a fight, look elsewhere.  OK?¡±

    Ramona shook her head.  ¡°Not sure if we should hire him or just shove him out the airlock.¡±

    Linton smiled.  ¡°Not an uncommon dilemma.  I think my last two wives would both agree with your assessment.¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°Let¡¯s introduce him to Ollu.  We can decide what to do later.¡±

    Craig smiled again. ¡°Oh, yes please.¡±

    As Leo and Ramona escorted Linton into the conference room they had decided to use for interviews, he considered their options and what he knew about Linton.  According to Guild records, Linton¡¯s lifetime score was incredibly high.  He was net positive over two BILLION guilders.  A seemingly impossible number considering that it only included his durable IP and that he must have left billions on the table as he moved from ship to ship.  It beggared belief that someone with that high of a score would still be working as a trader instead of buying their own ship or some other pursuit.

    When they finally made it into the conference room, Ollu was waiting.  Astonishingly, Linton was polite.  Coming to near perfect attention, he made a saluting gesture with his hand as he was introduced to Ollu.  ¡°Master Trader Channah, it is truly a pleasure to meet you at last.¡±

    Ollu had a bemused smile on her face as she answered.  ¡°A pleasure to meet you, Master Trader Linton.  I believe you have me at a disadvantage.¡±

    Linton bowed from the waist.  ¡°My apologies Master Trader.  Thirty years ago, I was approached with a concept for a vid project that was titled ¡®Rebel Ship Handler.¡¯  I have wanted to meet you ever since, but never had the opportunity.¡±

    Ollu was completely still.  ¡°Oh, no.  Not that.¡±

    Linton smiled.  ¡°Oh yes.  All of that.¡±

    Ollu sat down hard.  ¡°After all these years?¡±

    Linton sat down and placed his hand over hers on the table.  ¡°Fame may be fleeting my dear, but I would never forget.¡±

    Ollu looked at Leo.  ¡°Put him out the nearest airlock.¡±

    Leo was stunned for a moment, not knowing if she was joking or not.  ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Godammn trader born.¡±  She turned to Ramona.  ¡°Space him.¡±

    Ramona grinned.  ¡°You got it.¡±  She grabbed Linton by one arm.  ¡°We are gonna take a long walk out of a short airlock, you little shit.¡±

    Leo was caught off guard.  He had assumed Ollu was kidding, but now he wasn¡¯t so sure.  ¡°WAIT!  He¡¯s worth over a billion guilders to us!¡±

    Linton was starting to panic.  ¡°YES!  YES!  Listen to junior there.  I have guilders coming out of my asshole!¡±

    Ollu sighed.  ¡°It¡¯s not just about guilders.¡±  She looked at Linton.  ¡°Will you behave?¡±

    For the first time, Linton seemed to seriously consider the question.  ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I can.  This is who I am now.¡±

    Ollu looked at Ramona, then at Leo.  Leo, shook his head.  ¡°Well, that¡¯s the first honest thing I¡¯ve heard so far.¡±

    Leo sighed.  ¡°Look, Linton.  Craig.  We are trying to bootstrap a new ship here.  We¡¯re desperately short of crew and traders.  We could use your help but you seem to just want to be an asshole.¡±  Leo sat down at the table and looked at Linton.  ¡°What¡¯s it gonna be?  You want to grandstand or do you want to roll up your sleeves and be a part of something real?¡±

    Linton looked at Leo for the first time.  ¡°Look, kid; I haven¡¯t actually worked at being a trader for almost fifty years.  I¡¯m not sure I remember how.  Usually, I get hired on for all the IP I own and then I hang out until I get bored.¡±  He looked around the conference room.  ¡°How the fuck did you get this ship anyway?¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡±

    Craig rocked back in his chair and put one foot on the table.  ¡°I¡¯m old, kid.  Got no place I gotta be right now.  Pitch me a story.¡±

 Where Do I Sign?

    Data Ark Ownership Structures

    While there is no direct guild regulation regarding ownership structures for Data Arks, there are two primary ownership structures prevalent in the Guild.   The most common one is a common stock corporation.  This structure allows the Master Traders who maintain a controlling interest in the vessel to manage the operations of the Data Ark while still allowing for a distribution of profits to the data traders who are members of the ship¡¯s company.  In most cases, these structures allow for long term viability for the ships they govern and last for the duration of the ship in question.  The second is family-based ownership where only members of an extended family hold shares in the company and the remaining traders are employees of this family owned company.  These Data Arks tend to be smaller ships serving tertiary markets due to their less generous distribution of profits among the traders.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Ollu flopped down in a chair at the conference table that Leo, Ramona and her had been using as their unofficial boardroom.  ¡°Well, that¡¯s an even hundred ship handlers signed on.  If I interview one more I¡¯m gonna kill someone.¡±  She looked over to Leo.  ¡°And you¡¯re the closest.¡±

    Leo laughed.  ¡°OK, perhaps we should hold there for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  All we need now is the new antimatter for the reactor.¡±

    They had discussed the cost associated with the new reactor at great length.  It was easy enough to print out a new reactor vessel, but without antimatter materials, the reactor core was just a lump of ceramics and metal.  Antimatter material was one of the few things a modern fabricator couldn¡¯t make along with ¡°biologicals¡± which was a fancy way of saying you can¡¯t print out living things.  While it was theoretically possible to print antimatter, it was much more common and safer to ¡°breed¡± it in a special facility.  Usually, these facilities were well away from other infrastructure as they were highly reactive.  Any sort of failure would result in a massive explosion.

    ¡°Can we afford it?¡±

    Ollu looked at her financial calculations again.  ¡°Yes, barely.  That takes us down to almost zero of your initial investment.  The ship is fully stocked, but we won¡¯t have a running reserve if we make the buy.¡±

    ¡°What about payroll?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already put aside three month¡¯s payroll so we should be fine there.¡±

    ¡°OK, let¡¯s do it.  I don¡¯t want to jump again without all our reactors running.¡±

    Ollu initiated the transaction with the local system¡¯s only antimatter breeder reactor.   ¡°Delivery in twenty hours.  We should still be able to hit our outbound leg against number three buoy.¡±

    ¡°How long to print the reactor housing?¡±

    ¡°Already done.  Just need a work gang to install it.  Should be done by the time the antimatter gets here.¡±

    Leo looked down nervously.   He wasn¡¯t sure how to broach this next subject with Ollu.  He still thought of the Theo as her ship, but he owned half of it so they were partners and it was technically half his.  However, they hadn¡¯t gotten around to writing bylaws or anything like that yet so there were no formal agreements about how to run things.  ¡°Ollu, I have something to discuss before Ramona gets here.¡±

    Ollu closed her eyes and smiled.  ¡°About time.  Out with it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been moping around since we interviewed Craig.  Something¡¯s on your mind.  Out with it.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been thinking that we should add Ramona to the board of directors.¡±

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Ollu opened one eye.  ¡°She doesn¡¯t own any shares.  How can she be on the board?¡±

    Leo looked down again, strangely unsure of himself.  ¡°I would give her some of mine, like 1% of the ship or something.¡±

    Ollu opened the other eye and gave Leo a good long look.  ¡°What, for like services rendered or something?¡±

    ¡°Yes, exactly.¡±

    ¡°Jesus Christ Leo, please tell me you¡¯re not sleeping with her!¡±

    ¡°What?  No!  I mean she¡¯s been working super hard and it would be helpful to have her officially in on command decisions.¡±  Leo realized what Ollu had meant by ¡°services rendered¡± after a few moments.  ¡°Oh, Jesus Ollu!  Not like that, I just mean she¡¯s been a big help to the ship!¡±

    Ollu laughed and lounged back in her chair.  ¡°Just checking, kid.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re OK with it?¡±

    ¡°Sure Leo.  You wanna give away part of your share, it¡¯s no skin off my nose.  Knock yourself out.¡±

    ¡°OK, great.¡±

    Ramona chose that moment to walk in.  Looking at Leo and Ollu, she immediately got a concerned expression on her face.  ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu, who shook her head.  ¡°Don¡¯t bring me into this Leo.  It¡¯s your idea.¡±

    Leo nodded.  ¡°Right.  Ramona, I¡¯d like to offer you a position as a member of the board of directors for the Theo.¡±

    Ramona looked confused.  ¡°We have a board of directors?¡±

    Ollu smiled.   ¡°You¡¯re lookin¡¯ at them.  Try not to look so impressed.¡±

    Ramona sat down.  ¡°I¡¯m happy to help out as I can, what does being on the board mean?¡±

    ¡°It means helping to decide what the ship is going to do.  Pretty much what we¡¯ve been doing so far, but more formally.  Now that we have crew, we have to have an official org chart and all those things so people know who has the authority to make decisions.¡±

    Ollu pulled out a data pad and started making notes.  ¡°It¡¯s also helpful that there are an odd number of us.  Prevents ties.¡±  She slid the data pad over to Ramona.  ¡°Read. Sign.¡±

    Ramona started reading.  ¡°Wait, it says here I will own two percent of the ship.¡±

    Leo was confused.  ¡°Uh, I think that¡¯s just a type-o.¡±  Ramona nodded.  ¡°I meant to offer you one percent.¡±

    Ramona looked up from her perusal of the contract.  ¡°Leo, that¡¯s like ten million guilders, right?¡±

    Leo shrugged.  ¡°Yeah, I guess.  If you figure the ship is worth roughly a billion.¡±

    Ollu laughed.  ¡°No, it¡¯s twenty million.  One percent from me and one percent from Leo.¡±  Ramona just stared at her.  ¡°You know, for services rendered.¡±

    ¡°Services rendered?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±  She looked at Leo who looked as stunned as she did.  He hadn¡¯t expected Ollu to match his offer.

    ¡°Right.¡±  Ramona signed the contract and with that signature became the richest person from Rayburns World.

    Ollu smiled again.  ¡°OK, first board meeting.  First order of business.  Do we hire the asshole?¡±

    ¡°Craig?¡±

    ¡°Who else?¡±  Ollu shook her head.  ¡°He just pisses me off by breathing.¡±

    Leo nodded.   ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s pretty abrasive.  I¡¯m not sure we want someone with such a poor attitude working for us. ¡°

    Ramona absently tapped her stylus on the table.  ¡°Well, I dunno.  I¡¯ve worked with worse.¡±

    Ollu shrugged.  ¡°You wanna manage him?¡±

    Ramona thought about it for a moment.  She had literally managed worse.  Her time in the militia meant she had experienced both the best and worst of Raeburn¡¯s population first hand.  ¡°Sure, hire him on and he reports directly to me.¡±  Her face shifted to a concerned look.  ¡°Wait, is that possible?  I¡¯m just an apprentice.¡±

    Leo just shook his head.  ¡°You¡¯re a journeyman now.¡±  Ramona looked surprised.  ¡°Anyway, he works for you as a member of the board, your trader status doesn¡¯t really come into reporting.  We can do whatever we want for reporting.  In the end, it¡¯s your funeral.¡±

    Ramona smiled.  ¡°Or his.¡±

    They had allowed Craig to remain onboard while they made their decision.  No point sending him back to the local polity and then making him a job offer.  ¡°Timur to Linton.  Report to briefing six.  Immediate.¡±

    Leo wondered how long it would take him to report.  Normally an ¡°immediate¡± reporting instruction was met with prompt compliance, even a master trader would feel obligated to drop what they were doing.  Since Craig literally had nothing else to do, he should arrive quickly.

    Much to Leo¡¯s surprise, he did.

    ¡°Master Trader Linton, reporting as ordered.¡±

    Ollu grimaced.  ¡°Sit your ass down Linton.  You¡¯re not fooling me with that tin soldier crap.¡±

    Linton grinned and sat down.

    ¡°OK, Craig.  Here¡¯s the deal.  We¡¯re inclined to offer you a standard contract.  Fifty percent of your IP buys and one percent of the ship over ten years.¡±

    Linton nodded.  Very standard terms.  ¡°One year cliff?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡±

    ¡°Twenty and two.¡±

    Ollu looked a Leo and raised a hand slightly.  ¡°Forty and one but we get thirty percent of your existing IP.¡±

    ¡°Forty, one and ten.¡±

    ¡°Deal.  Ramona, record it.¡±

    Craig cast a hard look at Ramona.  ¡°Why her?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m you¡¯re new boss.  You sign on and you report directly to me.¡±

    Craig made a point of looking her up and down, even leaning over to look at her ass again.  ¡°I get to work for miss honey hips here?¡±

    Ramona casually got up from her seat, walked over to Craig and struck him full in the face.  The blow knocked Criag backwards.  He and his chair fell to the deck with a loud clatter.

    Leo jumped up.  ¡°Jesus Christ!  You can¡¯t strike your employee like that!¡±

    Ramona looked at Leo casually.  ¡°He doesn¡¯t work for me.  Not yet anyway.  And he won¡¯t with that kind of attitude.¡±  She leaned over to Craig and offered a hand.  ¡°Well gramps, what¡¯s it gonna be?  You going to behave or shall we just put you ashore now?¡±

    Craig reached up and wiped a smear of blood off his upper lip.  ¡°You people are nuts.¡±  He picked himself off the deck, studiously ignoring Ramona¡¯s helping hand.  ¡°I can¡¯t imagine a ship better suited for my unique skills.  Where do I sign?¡±

 Ollus First Buy

    Buy Side

    The act of buying IP is central to the revenue of any Data Ark and is the primary function of Master Traders and their associated buying desks. The so called ¡°buy side¡± systems cannot be reliably automated due to the lack of subjective criteria in buy side operations. Fundamentally, it is up to the master of each buying desk within a Data Ark to ensure that buy side activity results in a profitable portfolio of IP for sale.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Bringing Craig onto the ship¡¯s company had significantly added to the ship¡¯s finances. It also allowed them to trade on the sell side as he brought a lifetime of A&E content with him. Because the ship now owned ten percent of his back catalog, any purchase of his back catalog added to the ship¡¯s coffers also. In the few days remaining in system after Craig signed on, they had cleared almost a million guilders just from his IP sales.

    Leo was reviewing the automated sell side records. The total number of transactions were tiny compared to what the Reggie used to do, but he was amazed at Craig¡¯s back catalog. The man was literally PRINTING guilders just by being alive. He looked over to Ollu. ¡°Craig is a money machine.¡±

    Ollu looked up from her paperwork. Trying to act as ship¡¯s captain along with forming a new Transportation trading function for the ship was keeping her busy even if she wasn¡¯t personally running the entire ship any longer. ¡°Don¡¯t tell Craig that, it will only inflate his ego.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s possible.¡±

    Ollu laughed. ¡°Fair, but let¡¯s just keep it between us to be safe.¡±

    They had begun holding ¡°buy side¡± meetings every day in one of the main caf¨¦¡¯s down the hall from the main trading floor. With only four traders onboard and limited funding, they had to consider their buys carefully. Normally, a data ark produced so much free cash flow the only question in making a buy was if that buy would be profitable. Now, they had to consider their limited cash on hand and only make a small number of strategic buys.

    Ramona strolled over with a plate of something suspiciously like chicken enchiladas verde. A few moments later, Craig arrived and took his normal seat between Ollu and Ramona. Noticing her plate, he made a face. ¡°You¡¯re not eating open source food are you?¡±

    Ramona looked down. ¡°Well, what¡¯s my other choice? We don¡¯t own any food IP.¡±

    Craig laughed. ¡°Well, you could just program the replicator.¡±

    Leo stared at him. ¡°You know how to program a food replicator?¡±

    Craig looked surprised. ¡°What, you don¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    He looked around the table. ¡°None of you?¡±

    Head shakes all around.

    ¡°Ye gods. What kind of crew have I signed on for? Have you all been eating this slop since you found the ship?¡±

    Leo shook his head. ¡°Oh no. When we first got the ship we didn¡¯t have any open source food either. We ate ration bars for the first two weeks.¡±

    Craig shuddered dramatically. ¡°The horror.¡± He snatched Ramona¡¯s plate away and stalked away to the food replication station. After a few minutes he came back with a new plate that looked similar to the old one. ¡°Eat. Enjoy.¡±

    Ramona took a tentative bite. ¡°Oh, my God. This is amazing.¡±

    Craig nodded in a self-satisfied way. ¡°Never eat bad food children. Life is too short. I got that recipe from a little old lady on Alpha Centauri. She claimed to be an actual descendant of the original Mexican settlers there. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s true, but she had the best Enchiladas Verde I have ever eaten.¡±

    Leo took a sniff of Ramona¡¯s new lunch. It smelled amazing. ¡°Uh, what¡¯s a Mexican?¡±

    Craig rolled his eyes. ¡°Oh sweet Jesus. I¡¯m among the heathen.¡±

    Ollu rapped the table with her knuckles. ¡°Can we get started?¡±

    Ramona was shoveling food into her face as fast as she could. ¡°We should sell this stuff. We¡¯ll make a fortune!¡±

    Craig snapped his fingers. ¡°Piffle. Food IP is small potatoes.¡± With a loud guffaw, he slapped the table. ¡°See what I did there? Food, potatoes?? Anyone?¡±

    With a quelling look, Ollu began the meeting. ¡°This is the BUY SIDE meeting if you recall. Does anyone have a buy to promote?¡±

    Craig shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m been in this shit ball system for six months. There is nobody and nothing here I am interested in.¡±

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Ollu looked at Ramona. ¡°Ramona? Anything for weps?¡±

    Ramona shook her head. ¡°Not much. There is a powered armor design for sale, but that is very specialized gear. Not much resell on that, I think.¡±

    Craig looked at her casually. ¡°Fixed or morphic?¡±

    Ramona looked surprised. ¡°Fixed.¡±

    Craig nodded. ¡°Yeah, morphic is the way to go. I wouldn¡¯t buy that either. I¡¯ve seen morphic sets for almost that figure in the core worlds.¡±

    Leo held up a hand. ¡°English, please?¡±

    Ramona took pity on him. ¡°Fixed powered armor sets have a certain range of motion and dimensions. They¡¯re usually stronger but less flexible. They usually come in sizes and don¡¯t self heal. ¡®morphic armor can change shape and size on the fly and has the ability to self heal. It used to be crazy expensive which is why most troops used fixed armor but lately the costs of morphic have been coming down.¡±

    Ollu looked at her. ¡°And you know all this how?¡±

    Ramona looked insulted. ¡°I can read. All the data is there in the trading systems.¡±

    Craig reached over and stole the last bite of her enchilada. ¡°If you know where to look and understand what you are reading.¡±

    Ollu leaned back. ¡°You two are going to be trouble, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Craig smiled like the Cheshire Cat. ¡°Oh, I hope so.¡±

    Ollu just shook her head. ¡°Leo, what do you have?¡±

    Leo consulted his pad. ¡°Not much. There was another ark through here last month and the ComDes trades are pretty thin. Maybe this janitorial ¡®bot but not much else.¡±

    Craig¡¯s face scrunched up in thought. ¡°Is that the one from Lackers?¡±

    Leo consulted his pad again. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the one. The specs are good, but it¡¯s about ten percent more than the one we sold the most on the Reggie. Not sure.¡±

    Craig nodded. ¡°Have you checked the Lackers IP history?¡±

    Leo nodded also. ¡°Yep, twenty active patents, all of them positive trading balance. Good commercial reputation.¡±

    Craig tapped the table with his index finger. ¡°They design quality goods. Always a market for high quality merch. Better a small number of trades of a quality product than tons of shitty trades of some crap product.¡±

    Ollu nodded. ¡°I¡¯d rather pay a bit more for a ¡®bot that doesn¡¯t break down, but I¡¯m spoiled by working on trader vessels.¡±

    Leo checked the details on the trade again. ¡°OK, the IP is only 100K. I think we have room now.¡±

    Craig cocked his head. ¡°Wait for tomorrow. They know we are leaving, might make them willing to take 10K less. They didn¡¯t sell to the last ship through and they don¡¯t average more than three arks a year in this God Forsaken system.¡±

    Leo nodded and made a note to make the offer on the next day before they left the latency envelope.

    Ollu cleared her throat. ¡°So, I have one.¡±

    She had everyone¡¯s attention.

    Normally, a trader made their first trade as an apprentice. Once a trader made master they normally had a fairly extensive trading history like Leo did. Often referred to as ¡°getting on the board¡± a trader¡¯s first trade was a major event; even if not normally as spectacular as Ramona¡¯s first trade. Ollu¡¯s unusual circumstances meant that she owned a Data Ark and was a Master Trader but had never actually executed a trade.

    Craig¡¯s voice was amazingly gentle. ¡°OK, Ollu. Tell us about it.¡±

    Looking down, Ollu cleared her throat again. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a fast packet. FTL capable. Heavily armed. Crew of two and up to eight passengers.¡±

    Craig looked confused. ¡°A fast packet?¡±

    Ramona laughed. ¡°A blockade runner.¡± When Craig still looked confused, she continued: ¡°you know, a smuggler¡¯s ship?¡±

    Craig clapped his hands in delight. ¡°Like in episode twenty of ¡®space slavers¡¯?¡±

    Ollu visibly shook herself. ¡°You watch that crap?¡±

    Craig laughed. ¡°Hell no. I just make ¡®em, I don¡¯t watch them!¡±

    Leo¡¯s eyes opened in surprise. ¡°Wait, you made ¡®space slavers¡¯?¡±

    Craig laughed harder. ¡°Hell yeah kid. Ran the score up big time with that one!¡±

    Ramona was aghast. ¡°That show was complete trash.¡±

    Craig sobered quickly. ¡°It¡¯s not my job to judge the audience. I just provide the entertainment.¡±

    Leo tried to bring the conversation back to business. ¡°So, tell us why you like this fast packet.¡±

    Ollu looked uncomfortable. ¡°It¡¯s user friendly.¡±

    Craig snorted. ¡°Uhm, whut?¡±

    Leo poked him under the table. ¡°Ollu, what do you mean by that?¡±

    Ollu just stared at Craig, looking defensive. Ramona¡¯s voice was very gentle. ¡°Ollu, ignore that lump of meat. If you can¡¯t eat it, drink it or fuck it he¡¯s not interested. Tell us about the ship.¡±

    Ollu laughed and seemed to get past her inner doubts. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s like a ship handler designed her. You know, like the air scrubber filter cartridge is in the companionway. Most ships, it¡¯s stuck behind some panel in a random location. The last cutter we worked on for the Reggie, you had to remove twenty fasteners to get access to the air scrubber canister. Twenty! That¡¯s the most common maintenance procedure for a small ship. The people who designed this ship know that.¡±

    Leo nodded. ¡°Ok, gotcha. You mean they thought about maintenance tasks and designed the ship to make them easier.¡±

    Ollu was warming to her subject. ¡°Yes, but not just that. See this compensator circuit? Most ship IP holders design their own. They like to get all fancy and do proprietary designs. Not these guys, they just found the best one already on the market and shoved it in there. Why re-invent the wheel, you know?¡±

    Ramona was getting interested. ¡°And how about her specs? Armament?¡±

    Ollu started tossing spec sheets to Ramona¡¯s pad. ¡°Oh yeah, look at this. They completely over-spec¡¯d the power requirements. She can take twice the power load of a standard Guild Cutter.¡±

    Ramona was reading quickly. ¡°Jesus Christ. This thing is fast and it has the power to run some serious armament. We would have a tough time taking one of these things down with a Cutter back in the militia.¡±

    Leo was thinking about their balance sheet. ¡°How much?¡±

    Ollu looked nervous again. ¡°A million and a half.¡±

    Leo whistled. ¡°Damn. We don¡¯t have that much on the books.¡±

    Craig interrupted. ¡°Buy it.¡±

    Ramona looked at him angrily. ¡°Shut up Craig, we don¡¯t have the cash.¡±

    Craig looked unaccountably abashed, like he was embarrassed. ¡°Ollu, I will give you the money. Just buy it. This will put you on the board.¡±

    Ollu looked shocked. ¡°Craig, I am not going to take a million guilders from you.¡±

    Craig shrugged. ¡°Million and a half, but who¡¯s counting? OK call it a loan to the ship. We will make it back up in the next system. Two systems at the most.¡±

    Ramona still looked angry. ¡°OK Craig, what¡¯s your game here? I don¡¯t like you pretending to be a nice guy.¡±

    Craig just shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not. This is good for the ship and that is good for me. Just do it.¡±

    Leo was puzzled. ¡°How do you know it¡¯s a good buy?¡±

    Craig just pointed at Ollu. ¡°Because she does.¡± Leo shook his head, not understanding. ¡°I don¡¯t know crap about ships. I know people. If Ollu says it¡¯s a good ship, it¡¯s a good ship. We¡¯ll be able to sell it.¡±

    Leo looked to both Ollu and Ramona, both shrugged. ¡°OK. But we will make it a formal loan to the ship. You will be repaid from ship¡¯s profits as we exit each system.¡±

    ¡°OK.¡±

    And with that, Ollu was on the board.

 Coffee Anyone?

    Guild Apprentices

    All perspective members of the guild will enter with the title ¡°Apprentice Trader¡± until and unless the guild master of their ship confers additional titles or rank. Apprentice traders will be assigned to one and only one master trader. Master traders are responsible for the training and development of apprentices assigned to them but may delegate those duties to Journeymen or other qualified specialists at their discretion.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°We need more traders.¡±

    Ollu held her head in her hands. This conversation was becoming very annoying. ¡°Yes, Leo we do.¡±

    ¡°I want to recruit more aggressively in the next system.¡± Leo was looking at her intently, focused on his argument.

    ¡°Leo, we discussed this. We can¡¯t hire a hundred new traders like we did with crew. There simply are not enough traders running around the average system. I agree we should talk to any traders in system, but how many will there be? Craig was our ONLY candidate in the last system.¡±

    ¡°Then we take on apprentices.¡±

    ¡°And who will train them? Craig?¡±

    Leo looked shocked. ¡°Certainly not.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Ollu took a deep breath. Leo knew how to run a trader desk but had little experience outside of normal trader duties. He had been very sheltered before taking the leap of faith on the new ship with Ollu and Ramona. ¡°Leo, let¡¯s have this discussion once and for all. I don¡¯t want to discuss this at every port of all for the next two years.¡± Leo nodded, he wasn¡¯t enjoying the argument either. ¡°OK. The Trader system is built around masters, right?¡± Leo nodded again. ¡°So the number of total traders you can have is a factor of how many masters you have. We only have you and Craig. I¡¯m a master in name only and Ramona is still learning how to be a trader herself. Since Craig is not to be trusted with young impressionable minds, that means that we can only take on as many apprentices as you can personally supervise.¡±

    Leo shook his head. ¡°You and Ramona could take on apprentices.¡±

    ¡°No, Leo. We can¡¯t.¡± Olu sighed. ¡°As much as it pains me to admit it, being a trader is really hard. I know how the ship should run and how to efficiently manage it, but that¡¯s not the same thing as being a master trader. Ramona knows space and weapons but she¡¯s only made a couple of trades. It just doesn¡¯t make sense for us to train anyone.¡±

    Leo nodded in defeat. ¡°OK, I get what you¡¯re saying. It¡¯s just frustrating. I¡¯ve never been budget constrained like this before. We¡¯re making less than ten percent of what we should be making and most of that is coming from Craig.¡±

    Ollu shrugged. ¡°Did you think we would be making the same amount of money as the Reggie?¡±

    Leo looked abashed. ¡°Well, yeah. I did. At this rate it will take me YEARS to earn my money back.¡±

    Ollu just shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s how it works Leo. Anything worthwhile takes effort. On the ships I worked before the guild, we would have gladly given a kidney to clear a million guilders in a single system. Most non-trader ships barely make that in a year.¡±

    Leo looked confused. ¡°Non-trader ships? Do you mean banned systems?¡±

    Ollu smacked the table. ¡°Leo, this is getting old. I¡¯m going to make you read some books or something. No, not banned systems. I mean ships that move things that can¡¯t be reproduced with IP. People, biologicals, art. Things like that.¡±

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Oh, I gotcha. I know about all that, I¡¯m not dumb. I just don¡¯t consider that trading.¡±

    ¡°No, Leo, we called it cargo. It does exist, just not as profitable as moving data.¡± Ollu looked up at the overhead and counted to three. ¡°Leo, we need to talk about income inequality. Your privileged upbringing in the guild means that you don¡¯t really think about what life is like for regular people, outside the guild.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have a privileged upbringing. I worked for every guilder I have. My parents didn¡¯t give me anything.¡±

    ¡°Except automatic admission to the guild.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not automatic. I had to pass my boards.¡±

    ¡°Did any of the kids you grew up with fail to pass their boards?¡±

    ¡°Of course not!! The Connie is a respectable ship, we wouldn¡¯t have allowed that!¡±

    Ollu just waited.

    Leo looked confused again. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Leo, what percentage of dirtyfoots pass their boards and become traders?¡±

    ¡°How should I know that?¡±

    ¡°The data is in the system Leo. How many?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea.¡±

    ¡°Less than 1% who attempt to join the Guild successfully pass their boards and become traders. Less than 1%.¡±

    ¡°OK, but it¡¯s the same test. We don¡¯t get a pass or anything.¡±

    ¡°Leo, if you grow up on a trader vessel, asking about trading is like asking if water is wet. You¡¯re just born into the life.¡±

    ¡°Yes, right. Of course.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s called privilege. Others don¡¯t have the advantage that you had.¡±

    ¡°No, no. It¡¯s not like that. We are just in the right place at the right time. You know, we¡¯re lucky to be born into a trader family.¡±

    ¡°Come off it Leo. You¡¯re born to privilege.¡±

    Leo stood his ground. ¡°No way, I earned my spot. I worked for those guilders.¡±

    Ramona entered the room just as Ollu started her last sentence. ¡°Jesus Leo, Traders control almost half of all wealth in the systems where they operate but only compose less than one tenth of one percent of the total population. I literally took a class in high school about how the Guild creates the most income inequality of any human society in history. Earning money with the guild isn¡¯t work, it¡¯s just taking advantage of your position.¡±

    Leo looked at her and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. ¡°Yes, well of course they would say that. They¡¯re Banned.¡± Ramona looked at him like he had physically struck her.

    Craig laughed out loud. ¡°Damn kid. Should I take notes or something? I didn¡¯t realize it was ¡®acting like an asshole¡¯ master class today.¡±

    Leo started, he hadn¡¯t seen Craig come in with Ramona. ¡°Craig, you of all people should understand, being born a trader isn¡¯t privilege. We have to work to earn our spots.¡±

    Craig laughed even harder. ¡°Who the fuck told you that, kid? Being trader born is the winning the lottery of winning the lottery. Just look at me, I have almost no practical skills other than being able to read people and I¡¯m worth a stupid amount of money.¡± He sat down and placed a large coffee mug on the table. ¡°I¡¯m living proof that being a trader isn¡¯t actually work. It¡¯s more of a lifestyle.¡±

    Leo looked at three people sitting at the table with him. He was truly shocked at the turn of conversation. ¡°Well, if being a trader is so bad, why do you all want to be one?¡±

    Craig sobered. ¡°Nothing wrong with being richer than God kid. We aren¡¯t saints. I assume Ollu and Ramona here just want to get rich like the rest of us.¡± Both women nodded. ¡°I think the point is that acting like your shit don¡¯t stink is getting old and you should get over yourself.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t do that!¡±

    ¡°Sure you do.¡± Craig took a long slurp from his coffee. ¡°Don¡¯t take is personal, kid. Most traders do.¡± He cleared his throat dramatically. ¡°Ahem.. ¡®To be accepted as a Journeyman in this honored profession is one of the highest honors any human can aspire to.¡¯ It¡¯s in the FUCKING HANDBOOK, son.¡±

    ¡°How do you remember the exact text of the handbook? Haven¡¯t you been a master for over a hundred years?¡±

    ¡°Hell kid, I wrote that shit about fifty years ago. It was supposed to be a joke, but some moron took it serious and put it in there. No sense of humor, most of the masters.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you wrote the Data Trader¡¯s Handbook?¡±

    ¡°No kid, I redlined the thing to fix some of the more messed up shit in there. That bit just stuck in my head because I was just joking but it made the final edit anyway. Still there to this day as far as I know.¡±

    Ramona nodded. ¡°It is.¡±

    Leo looked at her.

    ¡°What? I¡¯ve read it you know.¡±

    ¡°The whole thing?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°What is that like eight hundred pages?¡±

    Ollu shook her head. ¡°Nine hundred and fifty.¡±

    ¡°You too?¡±

    ¡°What do you think, Leo?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ve read the whole thing.¡±

    Ramona smiled. ¡°Ironic, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Leo looked confused. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the only one at the table who hasn¡¯t read it.¡±

    ¡°OK, OK¡­. I get it. I¡¯m a privileged asshole who hasn¡¯t even read his own guild¡¯s handbook.¡±

    Ramona looked at him intently. ¡°You¡¯re forgetting one thing.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re OUR privileged asshole and the master trader of this ship.¡±

    Craig smiled. ¡°Couldn¡¯t have said it better myself. Coffee anyone?¡±

 Apprentice Candidates

    Ship Qualifications

    All members of any ship¡¯s company must qualify on the specific ship they serve on before they can formally take on any guild related activity. This includes but is not limited to trading. Each ship has the right to set their own qualification requirements but they must contain safety and operational baseline procedures as outlined by the guild.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°Latency envelope in thirty minutes.¡±

    While nothing like a ¡°normal¡± trading ship, life on the Theo had settled down a bit and the four traders were starting to fall into a working rhythm. It still felt odd to Leo that they were working across areas instead of being organized by specialty, but it seemed to be working for now. With Leo, Ramona and Ollu having the authority to make decisions for the ship this left Craig as a ¡°special advisor,¡± a role he seemed to enjoy.

    Leo hadn¡¯t even noticed when the ship had come out of FTL, he was too busy studying all of the stored applications for this system. Hopefully, no trader ships had been through recently and the candidates were still in system.

    ¡°OK, I see three candidates I like here.¡± He flicked their jackets over to Ollu and Ramona to review. Craig just grunted and sipped his coffee. ¡°Craig, do you have an opinion?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, ignore all those scores and crap. You can¡¯t tell if a trader has what it takes on paper, you have to meet them.¡±

    Ollu nodded. ¡°Yeah, for ship drivers, you have the touch or you don¡¯t.¡±

    Craig nodded like a wise old owl. ¡°Exactly. Do you know the correlation between exam scores and lifetime scores?¡± All three traders shook their heads. ¡°Look it up, it¡¯s all in the data. It¡¯s almost zero. None of the top fifty traders measured by lifetime score had an exam score in the top ten percent. None.¡±

    Leo shook his head. ¡°How the fuck do you know that, Craig?¡±

    Craig just grinned.

    Ollu waved her pad at Leo. ¡°Because he¡¯s number thirty five.¡±

    ¡°Thirty five what?¡±

    ¡°He has the thirty fifth highest lifetime score of any data trader.¡± Leo just looked stunned. ¡°Ever.¡±

    Craig chuckled. ¡°Yeah, and my shit don¡¯t stink either.¡±

    Leo shouldn¡¯t have been surprised, after all, he knew that Craig¡¯s lifetime score was massively large. Larger than he had ever seen personally. However, there had been literally millions of Data Traders over the hundreds of years of the Guild¡¯s existence. Being in the top fifty of any category meant you had really excelled at your profession.

    ¡°So, how do we evaluate them?¡±

    ¡°Just invite them up and talk to them. Anyone who has passed the exam gets an interview. You never know.¡±

    As the Theo entered the latency envelope for Gamma Ligne, Leo released the safety locks and the system began to sync. As the system updated, it turned out that there were only four qualified candidates currently in system. Leo extended interview requests to all of them. What the hell, he thought, Craig might actually know what he¡¯s talking about.

    Walking to the personnel lock, Leo did a quick check of his shipsuit. The new Theo patch looked good on his shoulder, he had to admit that Craig was a good artist and the new patch looked really sharp. Looking down, the master¡¯s pips on his collar still seemed odd even though he¡¯d been wearing them for a month now. While normally onboarding new apprentices was a Journeyman¡¯s job, they had all agreed that Leo should take this first batch since he was going to be their boss.

    Waiting at the lock, he checked the time. He counted down the seconds. Three.. Two.. One¡­. The lock opened and three young men stepped out. They quickly lined up along the wall of the corridor, following Leo¡¯s instructions. ¡°Gentlemen, I am Master Trader Timur. Weren¡¯t there supposed to be four of you?¡±

    The applicant on the end spoke up, ¡°Yes, master trader.¡±

    ¡°¡­.and?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, sir.¡±

    Just then, the door opened, and a fourth candidate appeared. He seemed more than slightly disheveled and looked at Leo with a panicked look on this face. ¡°Sir, I am sorry, but my safety belt did not release correctly.¡±

    The candidate who had spoken before sniggered but quickly schooled his features when Leo glanced at him. Returning his gaze to the tardy candidate, Leo took note of a device in his hand. ¡°That is strike one for you, candidate. Traders are always on time.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°You will address me as Master Trader Timur.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master Trader Timur.¡±

    ¡°The four of you, follow me.¡±

    Walking up the corridor, he made his way to the four conference rooms they had set aside for interviews. ¡°Clarke, in here. James, here. Sloan, here. Wilson, you¡¯re with me.¡± Wilson, the tardy candidate, followed Leo into the last conference room and Leo shut the door. ¡°Sit down Wilson.¡±

    Walking over to the opposite side of the table, Leo reviewed the file on candidate Wilson for a moment. In a moment of honesty, he admitted to himself that he didn¡¯t really know what questions to ask to figure out if this candidate would be a good trader or not. He had never interviewed anyone besides Craig and the didn¡¯t think that interview should be a template for future discussions. Hopefully, this one wouldn¡¯t end in violence, at least.

    Leo looked over at Wilson who was beginning to squirm in the face of Leo¡¯s stony silence. ¡°Wilson, why do you want to be a trader?¡±

    Wilson looked surprised by the seemingly simple question. ¡°Uh, so I can get rich.¡± After a pause, he added hastily added. ¡°uh, sir. I mean, uh, Master Trader Timur.¡±

    Leo had to chuckle. ¡°Well, you¡¯re honest at least. Tell me why you think you would be a good trader?¡±

    ¡°Well, sir, I¡¯ve always liked machines. When I was a boy, my da had to buy broken down machines at swap meets so that I could take them apart. Before that, I took apart my ma¡¯s food replicator but I couldn¡¯t get it back together. My da gave me a whuppen for that.¡± Wilson shifted in his seat as if he could still feel the bruises.

    Leo looked at the overhead. Could this bumpkin really become a trader? ¡°I assume your mechanical skills have improved since?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes SIR! I can field strip nearly everything in my da¡¯s shop. He runs a repair shop down on Lenni station.¡± Wilson pointed in the vague direction of Lenni prime. ¡°Yes, sir. Wilson¡¯s Universal Repair. We can fix anything!¡±

    Leo gave the young man a hard look. ¡°Anything?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes sir.¡±

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Come with me, Wilson.¡±

    Leo led the young candidate up to Caf¨¦ one. ¡°See that food replicator there?¡±

    ¡°Yessssir.¡±

    ¡°I want it working perfectly, it failed last month.¡±

    Wilson suddenly looked panicked. He looked around the room absently with an air of pure despair. ¡°Sir, I didn¡¯t know I would be fixin¡¯ things. I didn¡¯t bring my tools with me!¡±

    Leo made a calming gesture with one hand. ¡°Relax Wilson, I don¡¯t expect you to be a mind reader.¡± He turned to one of the crewmen eating lunch. ¡°Crewman Landers, can you please help this young man find what tools he needs to repair this unit?¡±

    ¡°Yes, master trader.¡±

    Leo got himself a cup of coffee and sat at a table well away from the replicators. Judging from the young man¡¯s nervous disposition, he assumed hovering would only slow down the process. After a few minutes, Ollu came in, got a cup of coffee and joined Leo at the table. ¡°Did you space your candidate?¡±

    Leo laughed. ¡°No, did you?¡±

    ¡°Thought about it. Little prick thought he was God¡¯s gift to trading. I sent him home.¡±

    Leo nodded.

    ¡°Where¡¯s yours?¡±

    Leo pointed to Wilson.

    ¡°What, behind the replicator repair guy?¡±

    ¡°No, the repair guy is candidate Wilson.¡±

    ¡°What the hell Leo?¡±

    Leo smiled and took another sip. ¡°Well, he claimed he could fix anything.¡±

    ¡°Hasn¡¯t that replicator been busted for over a month?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t the new maintenance tech we took on at the last system say it couldn¡¯t be repaired and needed to be replaced?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Jesus Leo, you¡¯ve been hanging around Craig too much.¡±

    ¡°Well, I just wanted to make sure he couldn¡¯t do it.¡±

    Craig¡¯s voice boomed out behind Leo. ¡°Couldn¡¯t do what?¡±

    Ollu pointed at Wilson. ¡°He¡¯s waiting for his candidate to fail at an impossible task.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Craig wandered over to the replicators, spoke to Wilson for a minute and wandered back to the table with a cup of coffee. ¡°Bet you a guilder he does it.¡±

    Ollu just looked at him. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I think he can do it.¡±

    ¡°You know people?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Ramona walked into the Caf¨¦ looking perturbed. After walking over to the replicators, she ambled over to the table the other three traders were sharing and sat down with a cup of coffee. ¡°What is that tech doing to the busted replicator? I thought it couldn¡¯t be fixed and had to be replaced?¡±

    Ollu laughed. ¡°Interviewing.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Leo decided to stop the pointless conversation. ¡°That¡¯s candidate Wilson. He¡¯s trying to fix the replicator.¡±

    ¡°What? Why? Didn¡¯t you tell him it couldn¡¯t be fixed?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°To see if he can fix it.¡±

    Craig chimed in. ¡°If he fixes it, Wilson will be Leo¡¯s first apprentice.¡± Leo just smiled.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡±

    Leo leaned back in his chair. ¡°Remember my story about the Elmos?¡± Ramona nodded. ¡°At the time I just thought my instructor was a stone bastard. However, now that I think about it, knowing how those systems work inside and out has helped me over the years. If this kid is really that good with equipment, he¡¯ll make a good trader. He¡¯ll see things in the design that others miss.¡±

    Ramona nodded. ¡°You mean like Ollu¡¯s blockade runner?¡±

    Ollu spit out her coffee, ¡°wait, what? It¡¯s a fast packet! And why bring me into this?¡±

    Craig slapped her on the back. ¡°Blockade runner it is!! It¡¯s all about marketing, Ollu.¡± Grinning, he took a big slurp of his coffee. ¡°Ollu, you¡¯re going to be a great trader because you know ships and you know people. We can teach you how to trade but we can¡¯t teach you about ships. If this kid has a natural aptitude for machines, we can teach him how to trade.¡±

    Ollu looked at Leo, who nodded.

    After another thirty minutes, Wilson came over to the table where the four traders were lingering over their coffee. ¡°Uh, sir, uh, I mean.. Uh, master, uh trader?¡±

    Leo gestured for him to continue. ¡°Yes, candidate Wilson, is there a problem?¡±

    ¡°Uh, yes, I¡¯m sorry but there is. You see you can¡¯t fix this design the way it is.¡±

    Ollu snapped her fingers. ¡°I knew it.¡±

    Wilson looked depressed. ¡°Uh, yes, I¡¯m sorry but this design is flawed and cannot be fixed the way it is.¡±

    Ollu looked smug. ¡°Well, of course, it will have to be replaced.¡±

    Craig placed a hand on her arm. ¡°Candidate Wilson, can you be more specific? You said ¡®with this design¡¯ can you elaborate? Can it be fixed by changing the design?¡±

    Wilson looked as if Craig had handed him an oxygen bottle in hard vacuum. ¡°Oh, yes sir. Oh, ah, yes, uh Master Trader! Yes!¡±

    Leo slapped the table. ¡°Well Jesus Christ! Can you fix it or not?¡±

    Wilson looked down again. ¡°Oh, ah. I reckon I didn¡¯t understand you. My da always says I¡¯m too literal. I thought you meant fix it with the parts you have there.¡±

    Leo took a calming breath. ¡°Wilson, can you fix it or not?¡±

    Wilson almost sank into the floor. ¡°Oh yes sir! It¡¯s just more of an upgrade than a fix, really.¡±

    Craig made a shushing gesture to Leo. ¡°Wilson, please explain. What, exactly would you do to make this replicator work again?¡±

    Wilson¡¯s face lit up. ¡°Ah, well, as to that. You see, sir, these units have a fatal design flaw in that they don¡¯t have sufficient micro assemblers for their planned function. I think whoever designed them didn¡¯t understand that when people make food they make it in all shapes and sizes. They just had some reference menu and used that. Yaseee, if you put it back into service as it is, it will break again ¡®cause the micro assemblers will get overloaded like they did last time. Didn¡¯t do proper testing, you know?¡± He looked around the table, seemingly unsure if he should continue. Craig waved him on. ¡°So, if I put the old micro assembler in there, it will just break again. Not really what you want, I reckon.¡± Craig nodded. ¡°Wellsir, I noticed that you have those Elmandorf replicators down the hall there. If you take careful look, you¡¯ll see that the micro assembler in that there unit, you¡¯ll find that it will fit in the food replicator. It¡¯s a standard cabinet size, you see, and¡­.¡±

    Craig cut him off with an imperious gesture. ¡°Son, I want some fucking enchiladas verdes out of that goddamn machine. Make it happen.¡±

    ¡°Yessir.¡±

    Leo just looked at Craig, who smiled. ¡°Sometimes leadership is about clarifying the objectives.¡±

    Leo shook his head. ¡°Is that what you call it?¡±

    ¡°Two guilders he fixes it.¡±

    ¡°No bet.¡±

    Thirty minutes later, Wilson returned with a triumphant look on his face and a plate of what looked like enchiladas verdes. Grabbing the dish from the young candidate trader, Craig took a big bite. ¡°Bleagh! Terrible!¡± Craig spit the bite out back onto the plate..

    Wilson was crestfallen. ¡°Didn¡¯t the replicator make the dish correctly?¡±

    Craig jumped up indignantly. ¡°Are you trying to kill me boy?¡± Taking the plate in one hand and Wilson in the other, he marched back to the newly repaired replicator. ¡°Open source food! For the love of all that is holy, never serve me open source food again!¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu. ¡°I guess we¡¯re going to hire the kid.¡±

    Ollu took a sideways look at Craig¡¯s abandoned plate. ¡°Yeah, I guess.¡±

    Leo watched Craig show Wilson how to program the food replicator to make custom dishes. ¡°Perhaps Craig would not be the worst person to train apprentices.¡±

    Ollu rolled her eyes. ¡°No, Leo. Just no. He¡¯s been useful to us, but God only knows what he would tell an apprentice.¡±

    As Wilson and Craig returned with two plates of steaming enchiladas, Leo waved Wilson over to his side of the table. ¡°OK, Wilson. We¡¯re willing to take you on.¡± He handed him a data pad. ¡°Sign.¡±

    Wilson hesitated for a moment and then reached into his belt pouch for the small device Leo had noticed when Wilson had first boarded the Theo. Wilson inserted an earpiece into his ear and then waved the small device over the data pad. After a moment, he nodded and affixed his digital signature. ¡°Thank you sir! You won¡¯t be disappointed.¡±

    Leo grimaced. ¡°I better not be.¡±

    Ollu leaned over for a close look at the device in Wilson¡¯s hand. ¡°What¡¯s that kid?¡±

    Wilson grinned and held the device so she could inspect it more closely. ¡°That¡¯s my reader.¡±

    ¡°Reader?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it reads things for me and then tells me what they say in my earpiece. It¡¯s a life saver, I can tell you.¡±

    ¡°Why not just read them yourself?¡±

    Wilson looked ashamed and uncomfortable. ¡°Ah well, as to that¡­ I can¡¯t read gobbledygook like that you know?¡±

    Leo slammed the datapad on the table. ¡°WHAT!?! You don¡¯t know how to read?¡±

    Wilson visibly flinched. ¡°Ah, no so. I know how. I just can¡¯t. Not properly, anyhow. You see, I¡¯m dyslexic.¡±

    Ollu nodded as if this explained everything. Leo was still confused. ¡°Dyslexic? What¡¯s that?¡±

    Ollu gave him a chilling look. ¡°It means that his brain jumbles the letters. Can¡¯t read complex sentances. With that thing though, he¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Wilson looked like he was going to kiss Ollu in relief. ¡°Oh yes sir!!! I can do anything anyone else can do. I just need a little help in the readin¡¯ part.¡±

    Ollu was now closely examining the device. ¡°Where did you buy the IP for this thing? It doesn¡¯t have any markings or codes.¡±

    Wilson grinned at her. ¡°Oh no ma¡¯m. I designed and built it. Since they came up with the DNA fix for dyslexia, you can¡¯t really buy them anymore. I had to make my own after researching the archives on how they used to do it.¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± Leo was having a hard time believing this story. ¡°Are you saying that despite not being able to read, you pulled up old designs, reversed engineered them and built this thing?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. Yes, sir¡­ Ah. Master Trader Sir.¡±

    ¡°And how the hell did you do that if you can¡¯t read?¡±

    ¡°Ah, well those designs just speak to me, you know? Numbers, symbols lines, arrows, those all work real good in my head. It¡¯s just them long words that get twisted up, ya know?¡±

    ¡°You mean like a legal contract?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yeah. Uh, I mean, yes, Master Trader.¡±

    ¡°Ramona, can you please get Apprentice Wilson situated? We want him to qual in as soon as possible.¡±

    Ramona grinned. ¡°As soon as possible?¡±

    Leo grinned back. ¡°Well he will set a new record for this ship, might as well make it a decent time for others to shoot for.¡±

    Wilson looked confused. ¡°A new record sir?¡±

    Leo laughed. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re our first apprentice so you will set the fastest time of any apprentice to qual in by definition. Enjoy the fame while it lasts, kid.¡±

    Wilson nodded, not too sure what was going on. As Ramona led him away, Ollu shouted after them, ¡°Ask Journeyman Eddington how long it took her to qual in!¡±

    Leo laughed. Craig just looked confused. Ollu explained, ¡°She set the record on the Reggie. Just under twenty four hours was it?¡±

    Leo shook his head. ¡°Twenty three hours and thirty minutes.¡±

    Craig tucked into his lunch with a muttered ¡°damn.¡±

 Monthly Content Review

    Master Traders

    Master Traders are collectively responsible for the operations of their assigned trading desk. In most ships traders are organized into trading desks such as Commercial Design, Weapons, Arts & Entertainment or other subjects. There is no direct guild policy on the internal organization of a Guild Ship, but only Masters can take responsibility for the operations of a given trading function and they are solely responsible for managing banned content for their trading desk.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Craig and Ramona were sitting at side by side consoles in the Weps pit. Or what would someday become the weps pit if they ever had an actual weps desk instead of just one trader.

    Craig was swearing as he worked madly with the console. ¡°There can¡¯t be that much banned material in here.¡± Ramona glanced over as Craig continued to work furiously with an occasional muttered curse. ¡°This ship is only month¡¯s old, for fuck¡¯s sake!¡±

    Finally, Ramona couldn¡¯t contain her curiosity. ¡°Craig, what are you doing?¡±

    Sighing, Craig looked up. ¡°I was just trying to run the monthly banned report, but the data is all messed up. There are items in here going back years. Something is royally screwed up.¡±

    Ramona shook her head. ¡°What is a ¡®monthly banned report?¡¯¡±

    Craig laughed. ¡°Just one of the fun things that masters have to do.¡± He pointed disgustingly at the screen. ¡°Someone has to look at the items flagged by the system as possible banned items. For us A&E types it¡¯s usually horrible stuff. However, you sometimes get a false positive so the master for each pit has to review it. There¡¯s no hard and fast rule, but most pits do the review monthly.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t I know about this?¡±

    ¡°Only masters have access to banned content.¡± Craig sighed again. ¡°However, there are items in here that seem to predate the formation of your ship. Something must have happened when you did your first full sync, these items should not be here.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I guess that stuff was in the cores that were left behind.¡±

    Stunned, Craig turned to face her fully. ¡°Left BEHIND?!?!¡±

    ¡°Uh, I think that Leo should tell you the details.¡±

    Craig reached over to the panel. ¡°Leo, would you mind joining us in the weps pit please?¡±

    Ramona made an exaggerated surprised face, here mouth forming an O and her eyes wide. ¡°Please?¡±

    Craig laughed again. ¡°Well, don¡¯t tell anyone, but I¡¯m not as much of an asshole as I pretend to be.¡±

    Ramona laughed also. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure nobody is that much of an asshole.¡±

    Leo strode up at that moment. ¡°Who¡¯s telling who they¡¯re an asshole?¡±

    Craig raised a hand. ¡°Yo. That¡¯s my department.¡±

    Leo just looked back and forth between Craig and Ramona who were both chuckling. ¡°Oh man, I think I was right about you two being trouble..¡±

    Craig sobered but was still smiling. ¡°Only the best kind of trouble son.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°It appears that we have a bunch of banned content in the system that predates your forming the ship¡¯s company?¡±

    ¡°Wait, how do you know that?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s in the system. Not a huge mystery.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but why were you looking in the banned files?¡±

    ¡°Just part of the job. Doing my monthly banned content review.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    Craig exaggerated his words, speaking slowly. ¡°BANNED¡­¡­ CONTENT¡­. REVIEW¡­..¡±

    Leo rolled his eyes. ¡°Yes, thank you. I heard what you said, but I don¡¯t know what that is.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t your pit do a review of flagged banned content once a month?¡±

    ¡°What? No. We just did it when it came in.¡±

    ¡°How often was that?¡±

    ¡°I think we had two or three.¡±

    ¡°Per day?¡±

    ¡°No, while I was on the Reggie. Like two or three the whole time I was there. Why?¡±

    ¡°Ah, OK. In the A&E business, a ship normally gets half a dozen PER DAY when in system. It adds up.¡±

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°What? That¡¯s crazy. How do you deal with all that?¡±

    Craig just looked at Leo.

    ¡°Right. Monthly banned content review¡­¡±

    Craig winked. ¡°Got it in one¡­.¡± Looking at the console, he flicked through a few entries. ¡°It looks like you have several thousand in here that haven¡¯t been reviewed.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we haven¡¯t done ANY reviews since we took over. There haven¡¯t been any for ComDes and I didn¡¯t think to look at the A&E queue.¡±

    Craig investigated a bit further. ¡°Ah, OK. It turns out that MOST of these have review flags but they¡¯re not valid because the review was done by someone who is not a member of ship¡¯s company. That means the review isn¡¯t valid and they¡¯re listed as needing review.¡±

    ¡°Can you just accept the previous reviews to get us current?¡±

    ¡°Yah, sure.¡± More console tinkering. ¡°OK, that¡¯s better. Now we have one hundred.¡±

    ¡°One HUNDRED?¡±

    ¡°Yah, we were in systems for almost twenty days all told. That¡¯s only five per day. Not a massive list.¡±

    ¡°And you do this EVERY MONTH?¡±

    ¡°Yep. Part of the gig.¡±

    Leo thought for a moment. ¡°Are there any unreviewed items outside the A&E queue?¡±

    ¡°Lemme see¡­¡± More work on the console. ¡°Oh, yeah. One for the comms pit.¡± Craig chuckled. ¡°Ah, yes. The old standby. Quantum data transport.¡± Chuckling, he marked the item as banned.

    Ramona suddenly stood up and pushed Craig away from the console. Almost feverishly, she brought up the details, reading the IP description and system drawings.

    Leo was startled by Ramona¡¯s reaction. She seemed more rattled by this IP application than when confronted by an armed assassin. ¡°Ramona, what is it?¡± Ramona just continued working with the console. She seemed completely unaware that anyone else was in the room.

    Craig watched her with an interested expression, slowing stroking his chin. ¡°Ah, Ramona my sweet summer child. You¡¯re a Seeker, aren¡¯t you?¡± Ramona just glared at him and returned her attention to the console.

    Leo looked at Craig, suddenly remembering a conversation between Gunny and Thorsten. ¡°What¡¯s a Seeker?¡±

    Craig sighed. Much more serious than Leo had ever seen him. ¡°A Quantum Seeker.¡± Leo shook his head, still puzzled. ¡°Raeburn¡¯s world has a very interesting social structure. Besides universal service requirements, they also have pretty much banned religion. However, the social pressures and human needs that drove creation of religion in the first place needed some sort of outlet. This gave rise to what they call Cliques. Rayburn Cliques are kinda like secret societies. Members have to pledge to uphold the bylaws and follow the principles. Over time, they became like religions. There are certain things that members of a Clique are supposed to believe and ways they¡¯re supposed to live.¡±

    Leo was fascinated but still not getting how this applied to Ramona¡¯s current behavior. ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°And¡­ One of the most elite Cliques on Raeburn is called ¡®The Seekers of Quantum Truth¡¯ or just Seekers. The Seekers believe that it possible to transmit information via Quantum entanglement and pledge to seek out practical mechanisms to do this.¡±

    Leo threw up his hands. ¡°But that¡¯s just a myth!! It¡¯s been proven again and again that it¡¯s not a practical method.¡±

    Craig nodded. ¡°Yes, hence the banned file here. It¡¯s just a false IP application, like all the others.¡±

    Finally, Ramona seemed to notice the conversation around her. ¡°Like all the others?¡±

    ¡°Yes, certainly. Just like perpetual motion or zero-point energy. There are an unlimited number of whack jobs out there trying to sell fake IP. They¡¯re either hucksters or just deluded fools who think they¡¯ve solved the one problem nobody else has solved.¡± Craig shrugged. ¡°Some people are just stupid.¡±

    Ramona was regaining her composure. ¡°But how do you know?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s impossible.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but how to you KNOW?¡± She gestured at the screen. ¡°Did you print it out and try it?¡±

    ¡°No certainly not.¡± Craig moved back to the console with a shooing gesture to Ramona to give him space. ¡°I bet you a guilder that this IP form doesn¡¯t include replicator patterns.¡± He hummed a bit as he dug into the file.

    ¡°Why do you think that?¡±

    ¡°Because replicator patterns would make it too simple to disprove. Just print it out, ya?¡± After a few moments he tapped the screen triumphantly. ¡°See! Here you go, ¡®subject device operates at the quantum level and thus cannot be replicated. The procedure described in this IP document must be followed precisely or the described function will not be operable.¡¯¡± He threw up his hands dramatically. ¡°Yea, if it don¡¯t work, it¡¯s because YOU did it wrong, not because the design is just snake oil!¡±

    ¡°But what if it DOES?¡±

    ¡°Does what?¡±

    ¡°WORK!!¡± Anxiously looking from to face, Ramona flailed her arms. ¡°WHAT IF THIS ACTUALLY WORKS?!?!?¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    ¡°Because it is impossible.¡±

    ¡°So was FTL, until someone did it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s different. They just didn¡¯t understand the physics.¡±

    ¡°No, it was ¡®proven to be impossible,¡¯ I learned that in school. They PROVED that FTL wasn¡¯t possible using math and experiments.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but that was in a gravity well. Any particle moving that quickly within a solar gravity well is gonna¡¯ do weird things.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but they didn¡¯t know that.¡± Visibly trying to get herself under control, Ramona sat down. ¡°I mean, why not try it out? It can¡¯t be dangerous; it doesn¡¯t use much power.¡±

    Leo transferred the IP application to his pad and started flicking through the design. ¡°Ya, nothing dangerous to the ship here. Just some quantum circuits and a ton of control circuitry. The application mostly focuses on how to establish the entanglement and how to apply signals to one side and monitor them on the other side. To be honest, it looks like a laser comm relay more than anything else, just without the actual laser.¡±

    ¡°Claimed throughput?¡±

    Leo flicked through some screens. ¡°10 meg per second.¡±

    Now it was Craig¡¯s turn to be surprised. ¡°Ten MEGABYTES!?!? Are they using coconuts and string also?¡±

    Leo looked up. ¡°What¡¯s a coconut, Craig?¡±

    Craig just threw up his hands. ¡°I¡¯m among the heathen. What the hell was I thinking? I¡¯ve joined the kiddy cruise!¡± Still muttering about children running his ship, he stalked out. ¡°Fucking quantum magic, my ass!¡±

    Ramona was looking intently at Leo. ¡°Leo, I¡¯m sorry that I didn¡¯t tell you that I am a Seeker.¡±

    Leo looked up, startled. ¡°Why would I care about your religion? It¡¯s certainly none of my business.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s not a religion. More like a cause or a calling.¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t really know anything about religions, causes or callings. At any rate, it¡¯s not my business. You can have whatever personal beliefs you like as long as you do your duty to the ship and the guild.¡±

    ¡°And of those things come into conflict?¡±

    Leo frowned. ¡°Well, that would be a problem, I guess. Do you think that¡¯s the case here?¡±

    Ramona spread her hands helplessly. ¡°I just don¡¯t know. Everyone back home thinks that the Guild is suppressing knowledge about Quantum based communications. There is an entire institute dedicated to making it work, but nobody has been able to. Now we have someone claiming to have solved it but nobody bothered to try it out. It just doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡±

    ¡°Maybe Craig¡¯s right. Maybe it doesn¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I have to try, right?¡±

    ¡°I guess there is no reason why you can¡¯t. We are allowed to test false claims if we wish.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a false claim.¡±

    ¡°Well, the point is we are allowed to try it if we want, that¡¯s part of any IP application.¡±

    ¡°So, I can?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Leo tapped his pad. ¡°I¡¯ve moved it from banned into the evaluation queue. You should have access now.¡±

    ¡°Leo, thank you!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not really a big deal.¡±

    ¡°It is to me.¡±

    ¡°Well, then you¡¯re welcome, I guess.¡±

 False Claims

    False Claims

    All IP applications making false claims are to be banned by the appropriate master trader of any ship that encounters them.  It is the duty of all traders to maintain the highest standards of IP quality at all times.  Because it is essential to the Guild that all IP under Guild management is of the highest integrity, it is the first duty of all traders to ensure that False Claims are immediately reported and that appropriate action is taken in al cases.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°Leo, Ollu, can I speak to you both for a moment?¡±  Craig looked decidedly uncomfortable as he stood in the corridor.

    Leo glanced at Ollu before answering.  She shrugged.  ¡°Sure, let¡¯s step into conference six here.¡±

    Once they had settled down around the small conference table, Craig looked each of them in the eye in turn.  ¡°How much do you know about Ramona¡¯s background?¡±

    Leo snorted.  ¡°We know enough.  She¡¯s a former member of the Raeburn Guard and she¡¯s been a huge help in getting this ship bootstrapped.¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu.  ¡°You know she¡¯s a Seeker, right?¡±

    Ollu just nodded.

    ¡°And that she¡¯s former SpecOps?¡±

    Ollu nodded again.

    Leo did a double take.  ¡°Wait, what?  SpecOps? What is that?¡±

    Ollu just gestured to Craig.   Who shrugged and answered.  ¡°Within the Raeburn Guard, the very best of the best are recruited into the Special Operations directorate where they receive advanced training in hand to hand combat, boarding operations, etc..  When they graduate from the program, they are eligible to wear the tattoo.¡±

    ¡°Tattoo?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, the one on her cheek.  That¡¯s a Raeburn Guard Spec Ops selection mark.¡±

    ¡°The little diamond?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t really getting why Craig felt the need to tell them this.  ¡°Craig, what¡¯s the big deal?  We know she¡¯s ex-military and we also know she¡¯s very talented.  Why should we care about any of this?¡±

    Craig fixed Leo with a piercing stare.  ¡°She¡¯s dangerous, Leo.¡±

    Shocked, Leo blurted out, ¡°That¡¯s what Gunny said.¡±

    ¡°Gunny?  You mean Master Trader Tomlin?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he was her boss on the Reggie.¡±

    ¡°Well, Tomlin is a self-important ass, but he¡¯s right about this one.  She IS dangerous.¡±

    ¡°But why?  She has done nothing but help us so far.¡±

    ¡°Leo, she is a highly trained killer who also happens to be a religious zealot.  If she decides that you are in her way, you will simply be removed.¡±  Craig looked at Ollu.  ¡°But you knew all this, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Yes, of course.  That¡¯s why I asked her to join our little party.¡±

    ¡°But why?  Why take the risk?¡±

    Ollu smiled.   ¡°Because I¡¯m a Seeker too.¡±

    Leo was trying to work out in head what it meant that Ollu and Ramona were religious kooks.  The whole idea of believing in something that was so clearly not true didn¡¯t really click in his head.  Ollu especially was such a practical person.  ¡°Ollu, I¡¯m sorry to say this, but I just don¡¯t get it.  How could you be a member of a crazy religion from a world you¡¯ve never been to?¡±

    Leo was a little concerned that he¡¯d offended her as she took a long pause to consider the question.  But then she smiled and shook her head.  ¡°Seekers aren¡¯t a religion Leo.  We¡¯re just seeking the truth.¡±

    Craig smacked his fist into his palm in disgust.  ¡°Ollu, you are the most level headed person I know.  How can you say that?  It defies logic.¡±

    ¡°No, believing something is possible just means you¡¯re open to the truth.  Believing that something is impossible without even considering the evidence defies logic.¡±

    ¡°But, it¡¯s been tried!!¡±

    ¡°Craig, you¡¯re not looking at this the right way.  There is no such thing as failure.  If you don¡¯t succeed, it just means you aren¡¯t done yet.  Keep trying.¡±

    Leo could almost see her point.  ¡°But why make this such a huge deal? Secret societies, all that nonsense?  Just fund an institute and leave it to the researchers?¡±

    ¡°Leo, that¡¯s EXACTLY what did happen.  Until the Guild.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it was the guild which decided it was impossible and got quantum research banned.¡±

    ¡°Quantum research isn¡¯t banned.¡±

    ¡°Sure it is.  The guild automatically puts all quantum communications IP on the banned list.  Therefore, it¡¯s banned any anyone who trades in banned IP can also be banned.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s because it¡¯s IMPOSSIBLE!¡±

    ¡°How do we know that if the research is banned and nobody bothers to check any claims to the contrary?¡±

    Leo had to admit that was true.  By blindly banning all quantum IP, it effectively meant that all quantum research was banned.  ¡°Are you saying that the IP actually works?¡±

    Ollu shrugged.  ¡°I have no idea.  I¡¯m just saying it¡¯s POSSIBLE.  Why wouldn¡¯t we investigate the possibility?¡±

    Craig grunted.  ¡°Because it would end the guild.¡±

    Ollu poked Craig in the chest with a finger.  ¡°Exactly.  It¡¯s super convenient that the guild has blindly decided that the one thing that could end their monopoly is simply impossible and thus can never be actually tested.¡±

    Craig nodded, doing his wise old owl impression.  ¡°Convenient.¡±

    Leo was still working through the implications.  ¡°Wait, Ramona said that there was a quantum research institute back on Raeburn.¡±  Ollu and Craig just looked at him.  The reality finally dawned on Leo.  ¡°Is that why?¡±

    ¡°Why what?¡±

    ¡°Why they¡¯re banned!¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.  They traded on banned IP.  Therefore, the world was banned.¡±

    ¡°Because they were working on something that the guild thought was impossible.¡±

    Craig ran his fingers through his shaggy locks.  Suddenly he looked all of his many years.  ¡°Because they were working on something that would end the guild.  It¡¯s as simple as that.¡±

    ¡°But if it¡¯s impossible, how is this any danger to the guild?¡±

    ¡°Makes you wonder, kid.  Doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    Ollu had a far off look in her eyes.  ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering about this for thirty years.  I¡¯m still not sure.  Do you know that no seeker has ever been elevated to the rank of Master?¡±

    Craig nodded.  ¡°Masters are a clannish bunch.  Most masters are trader born.¡±  He leaned back in his chair.  ¡°The guild has been fighting a cold war against the seekers for over fifty years.  In all that time they have never allowed a seeker to become a master trader.  There would be serious repercussions if that were to happen so it never has.¡±

    ¡°Until now.¡±

    Craig just looked at her, realizing that she was the first Seeker to become a master. ¡°Yeah.¡±  Craig sighed again, a pensive look on his face.  He looked down, then up.  He was obviously working through some inner conflict before he spoke quietly.  ¡°I have to admit I have wondered at times.  The Guild is WAY too afraid of Seekers.  There are things that the Guild has done that I don¡¯t agree with because they seemed too extreme given the fact that Quantum comms didn¡¯t actually work.  I always put it down to paranoia, but there may be more to it.¡±  Craig scratched his chin for a moment.  ¡°Did Gunny know you are a seeker?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be surprised if he didn¡¯t.  I never talked about it aboard ship but he¡¯s a nosy little bastard.¡±

    ¡°I bet he was thrilled that you claimed the ship.¡±

    ¡°Actually, he tried to stop us.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­  That¡¯s interesting.¡±

    ¡°It was¡­ exciting, at the time.¡±

    Leo threw up his hands.  ¡°Where does all this leave us?¡±

    Ollu smiled again.  ¡°Right were we started.  Quantum comms are either possible or they¡¯re not.  We investigate the claims just like any other.  If the thing doesn¡¯t work, back to the banned file it goes.  But at least we KNOW it doesn¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°And if it does?¡±

    ¡°Then things get interesting.¡±

 The Gizmo

    Data Transport

    Because faster than light communications are impossible, the Guild uses ships to transport data across known human space.  It is the ability to transport large quantities of data that formed the basis of what is now known as the Data Trader¡¯s Guild.  In the end, the Guild performs a service for humanity that cannot be replicated through other means.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Ramona was working feverishly on the Quantum comms IP.  So much so that she realized she needed a full reset.  The instructions were very precise and probably beyond her ability as a mechanic.  With a sigh, she stood back for a moment and took a deep breath.  Just treat this as an exercise.  Right, let¡¯s begin again.

    The mechanical parts of the design were very straightforward, and she had printed out six complete copies of each, just in case she had problems.  Assembling the core units was also straightforward and followed standard patterns she had learned during her guard service.  The follow-on manual steps were very confusing though.  It involved setting up quantum entanglements which was not something that anyone really understood properly.  The equipment to do this was included in the IP packet and she printed them out with the rest of the gear.  However, she had no idea if the equipment worked or not.

    After almost two days of working on the design, she finally got it fully assembled.  The final product was not very impressive looking.  Just two standard comms boxes designed to fit into a standard comms rack.  They looked identical from the outside to a laser comms unit.  All the front end connectors were the same and accepted normal inputs.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    After taking a deep calming breath, she hooked data pads up to each one and configured connectivity between the pads and the comm units.  Again, completely standard for a comm unit.  Using the standard relay test programmed into the data pad, she attempted to establish a connection from one pad to the other.

    Nothing.  100% signal loss.

    With a sigh, she took the covers off and started testing subsystems one by one.

    ¡°What¡¯s that gizmo fer?¡±

    Ramona almost jumped out of her skin.  She had been so focused on her task, she had been completely unaware of Wilson entering the room.

    ¡°Wilson!  You scared the hell out of me!¡±

    ¡°Sorry sir.  Ah, Trader.  Ah, Journeyman Eddington.¡±

    Ramona laughed.  ¡°Just Ramona.  No harm done, you just startled me.¡±

    ¡°Is that a comms relay?¡±  He peered down at the device.  ¡°Did you forget the laser assembly?  Or is it RF?  Where is the antenna?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a quantum comms relay.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±  He continued to examine the interior of the devices.

    ¡°Oh?  That¡¯s all you have to say?  Oh?¡±  Hands on hips, she just stared at Wilson incredulously.

    Looking nervous, Wilson pulled back from the devices.  ¡°Oh, ah, um.  I mean, ya, that¡¯s really cool.¡±

    ¡°REALLY COOL??¡±

    Wilson was getting extremely flustered.  ¡°Ah, um, ah, uh, I mean I ain¡¯t never saw one of dem dar quantum comms units before or even heard of one.  Ah, Journeyman¡­. Oh, uh.   Ramona.¡±  His eyes kept sliding to the devices in question.

    Ramona finally realized that Wilson had no idea about quantum comms being banned or any of the controversy around them.  ¡°Well, some people say that quantum comms are impossible.¡±

    Wilson gave his backside a furtive rub.  ¡°My da whupped the hell out of me for saying that.¡±

    ¡°Saying what?¡±

    ¡°That something was impossible.  ¡®BOY!¡¯ he said, ¡®it ain¡¯t impossible, it¡¯s just hard.  I¡¯m gonna whup your lazy ass until you do something useful about it.¡¯  And he did.  Whupped me good too.¡±

    ¡°And did you?¡±

    ¡°Did I what?¡±

    ¡°Do something useful.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes ma¡¯am.  Uh, yes, uh Ramona.  My da was a good motivator, that he was.¡±  His hand moved back to his ass again until he realized what he was doing and clenched his two hands together in front of him.  ¡°Uh, I guess he didn¡¯t have no quit in him.  I learned that from my da, that¡¯s fer sure.  There ain¡¯t no failure in life, you just ain¡¯t done yet.  Unless you give up, then you¡¯ve failed.¡±

    ¡°or you die.¡±

    ¡°uh, yeah.  Or you die, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Care to give me a hand?¡±

    Wilson eyes opened wider than Ramona would have thought possible.  ¡°Oh!  Oh!  Yes, please!¡±

 Priority Messages

    Guild Data Replication

    All Guild ships and buoys are required to accept replication requests  from any other guild node within their latency envelope.  The Guild Data Replication network has been perfected over the past one hundred years and provides an extremely robust platform for trading and transport of data.  However, in order to ensure the system works as design, all nodes must participate fully.  Any Guild ship refusing a validated replication request from a signed node will be banned.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Ramona slumped down in a chair in Caf¨¦ one.  A cup of coffee was in front of her but she was struggling to find the strength to actually drink it.  She had been working with Wilson for over six days trying to make the quantum comms unit work.  She had finally convinced herself that they had followed the instructions correctly, but the unit never successfully established a link between the two quantum entangled endpoints.

    ¡°Well, you look like shit.¡±

    Ramona just glared at Leo.  Too tired to even be angry with him.

    ¡°Quantum comms doohicky not working?¡±

    Ramona sighed.  ¡°I don¡¯t think it will work.  Even Wilson can¡¯t make it work.¡±

    ¡°Even Wilson?¡±

    ¡°You said he could fix anything.¡±

    ¡°Actually, he said that.  I said I wanted to find out if that was true.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re going to find out, aren¡¯t we?¡±¡±

    ¡°Ya, I guess.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s he doing now?¡±

    ¡°Building a test rig.  The problem is that the IP didn¡¯t include any sort of calibration or bench test equipment.  There is no way to tell if the particles are actually entangled or not.¡±

    Leo put a hand on her shoulder.   ¡°No reason to kill yourself.  Get some sleep, we drop out of FTL in twenty hours and you¡¯ll want to be rested for the down leg into the gravity well.¡±

    ¡°Where the hell are we, anyway?  I forget.¡±

    ¡°Idiluym.¡±

    ¡°Anything interesting there?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll find out.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I guess so.¡±

    The Theo dropped out of FTL about eight AUs up well from the nine o¡¯clock buoy.

    ¡°Thirty minutes to the latency envelope for nine o¡¯clock buoy.¡±  Ollu checked the system for signs that another guild ship was present.  Finding none, she released the interlocks in anticipation of starting sync once the bouy was within the latency envelope.  While the one hour latency window was somewhat arbitrary, anything beyond about 7.5 AU¡¯s (20 GigaMeters) meant that laser comms would take over one hour to travel one way.  Effectively, latencies this high meant that any meaningful communications were just not worth it.  Easier to simply move closer to whoever you were trying to talk to.  At the extremely high rate of speed they were travelling relative to the system meant that they would enter the envelope quickly and then cut across the epileptic before exiting the system without having to place undue stress on the ship or the ship¡¯s engines.

    Prompted by a laser burst from extreme range, the nine buoy started blasting compressed bursts of information in the direction of the Theo using multiple lasers running at different frequencies.   Some of these bursts were incomplete or corrupted.  Others came through clearly.  All of this was automatically managed by the ship¡¯s computers and automated comms relays.  The secure laser comm links used by the guild had been perfected hundreds of years ago and hadn¡¯t really changed much in the intervening years.  Given the physical limitations of light as a propagation medium, they had achieved the theoretical maximum ages ago and very little improvement had been made for a very long time.

    Leo sighed as he watched the system come online.  More work to be done.  This system hadn¡¯t had a Trader ship through in months so there were thousands of automated transactions stored up.  The automated sell side systems handled most of the buyer requests, but the buy side system would automatically flag most IP buys for manual intervention.  That meant hours going through them one by one.  Now that the ship had working capital, they could afford to do more buys but they didn¡¯t have enough traders to actually do the legwork.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    ¡°Ollu!  Where the hell are Ramona and Wilson?  We need to get moving on this buy side queue.¡±

    Ollu looked up from the console she had been working at.  ¡°I think they¡¯re down in the build lab still.¡±

    ¡°Working on that stupid Quantum comms thing?¡±

    ¡°Yah.¡±

    Leo moved to the communicator, ¡°Eddington, Wilson:  Report to the trading floor IMMEDIATE.¡±

    Leo was still frowning when Ramona and Wilson came into the trading floor.   ¡°Eddington, Wilson:  When we come into the latency envelope for any system, I want you here, not messing around with research or build labs.¡±

    Wilson looked like he had been shot.  ¡°Y-y-y-y-yes, master trader!¡±

    Ramona was less impressed with Leo¡¯s exalted status.  ¡°Relax Leo, I already pre-qualled the entire weps buy side queue last night.¡±  She glanced at a console for a few seconds.  ¡°Only one new weapon in the queue.  Nothing to hurry about here.¡±  Looking up, she smirked at Leo.

    Leo just stared at her.  ¡°Fifteen before.  No later.¡±

    Realizing that Leo was truly upset, she nodded.  ¡°Yes, master trader.¡±

    Hours later, Leo had calmed down enough to inquire about the work in the lab.  ¡°Do you really think all that work is worth it, Ramona?¡±

    Ramona shook her head, obviously frustrated.  ¡°I have no idea.  Wilson is a great mechanic but neither of us really understands the theory.  At this point, we think we have all the gear set up and connected correctly, just no signal.¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t sure what to say.  It was obvious that quantum communications were just a myth, but it was also obvious that Ramona believed that it could work.  ¡°Even if quantum is possible, there have been so many cranks and outright charlatans out there that you can¡¯t expect it to work your first time.¡±

    Ramona put her head in her hands.  ¡°How many possible solutions could there be?¡±

    Leo just shrugged.  ¡°Craig says he¡¯s seen hundreds of these things over the years.¡±

    ¡°Hundreds?¡±

    ¡°At least.¡±

    ¡°Oh, great.  Just great.¡±

    Days later, Leo was reviewing the trades they had made.  Having passed outside the latency envelope, trading was basically shut down although they would not hit the e-limit and leave the system for another hour.  Suddenly, his communicator interrupted his reverie.  ¡°Leo, come to the bridge, please.¡±

    It was Ollu¡¯s voice and she didn¡¯t seem happy.  Leo immediately got up from his workstation and headed to the bridge.  Upon entering, he looked around and was chagrined to realize he didn¡¯t know the names of any of the three people other than Ollu who were there.  ¡°Ollu, what¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Ship coming in.¡±

    ¡°OK.¡±

    Ollu looked at him with a disappointed look on her face. ¡°Trader Ship.¡±  Leo still didn¡¯t react.  ¡°You¡¯re not concerned?¡±

    ¡°No, should I be?¡±

    ¡°The last trader ship we saw tried to ram us with a cutter.¡±

    ¡°That was Gunny.  Nobody else would do that.¡±

    ¡°And who is this coming into the system?¡±

    ¡°No idea.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    Leo could see Ollu¡¯s point.  The ship coming into the system was coming from about the 3 o¡¯clock position.  They had entered from the six o¡¯clock.  In theory, the Reggie could have made it to this system by now if it had chosen to make longer jumps than the Theo had done.  Of course, there were so many systems it would be pure luck if the Reggie had guessed where they were headed.  It was unusual to run across another trader ship this far from the core worlds, but not unheard of.

    ¡°There is no way they tracked us down here.¡±

    ¡°No, but don¡¯t discount random chance.  They know about what sector we have to be in, they could have just pointed the Reggie in this general direction and gotten lucky.¡±

    One of the watch standers looked up.  ¡°We are coming into the latency envelope.  It¡¯s a Trader vessel, they are trying to sync with us.¡±

    Ollu looked at Leo.

    Leo had a moment of panic but then realized it was silly.  On the other hand, best to be cautious.  ¡°What¡¯s the name of that ship?¡±

    The crewman consulted the console.  ¡°Leona M. Tarsican.¡±

    Leo let out a breath he didn¡¯t know that he was holding.  Then laughed at himself.  ¡°Ok, release the interlocks.  Let¡¯s get a good sync.¡±

    After a few minutes watching the systems sync and assuring himself that everything was normal, he waved goodbye to Ollu and started walking off the bridge.  Before he got there, his communicator started beeping.  Priority message inbound.  Puzzled, he turned around, only to see Ollu frowning at her communicator.  ¡°Message traffic from the Leona.¡±

    ¡°Personal priority messages for both of us?  The last priority message I got was when my Uncle died.¡±

    Ollu shook her head.  ¡°I¡¯ve never gotten one before.¡±

    Leo looked back at his communicator.  He didn¡¯t recognize the sender.  So, it wasn¡¯t a family member.  Who then?  Opening the message, he didn¡¯t understand what he was seeing at first.  Then realization.  ¡°BANNED!  We¡¯ve been BANNED!¡±

    Ollu was a faster reader than Leo.  ¡°We¡¯re GOING to be banned.  This is a summons to our trial.  Wanna bet Ramona got one also?¡±

    Ramona settled the matter a minute later when she came running onto the bridge.  ¡°Did you get a summons also?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Leo and I both did.¡±

    ¡°Bastards!¡±

    Leo was still reading.  ¡°This makes no sense, it says we have been trading banned material.  What the heck are they talking about?¡±

    A crewman hesitantly interrupted.  ¡°Excuse me, Captain.  We¡¯ve reached the e-limit.¡±

    Ollu nodded and gestured for him to return to his station.

    ¡°So, do we go?¡±

    ¡°Go where?¡±

    ¡°To the trial, of course.¡±

    Leo was incredulous.  ¡°Of course we go!  If we don¡¯t they ban us for sure.¡±

    Ollu laughed.  ¡°Do you really think they won¡¯t anyway?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point.  If we want to operate a Guild vessel, we need to be accepted by the larger Guild.  If not, they will simply remove us as a signed node and we won¡¯t be ABLE to trade.  If we allow them to ban us, we don¡¯t have a functioning business.¡±

    Ollu was still shaking her head.  ¡°Remember what happened last time, Leo.  We can¡¯t assume that they will follow their own rules.¡±

    ¡°So, we just give up?¡±

    Ramona looked up from her pad.  ¡°They won¡¯t fuck with us if we¡¯re packing heat.¡±

    Ollu shook her head again.  ¡°We can¡¯t take on the whole Guild.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have to.  Just enough to get clear.  As long as we don¡¯t leave the ship, we can keep them off us long enough to get to the e-limit.  Most Guild vessels aren¡¯t armed.¡±

    Leo had no idea what she was talking about.  ¡°Neither are we.¡±

    Ollu was nodding now.  ¡°Blockade runner.¡±

    So was Ramona.  ¡°Blockade runner.¡±

    Leo took a moment to catch up.  ¡°Blockade runner?¡±  Then he realized.  ¡°Blockade runner!¡±

 Tribunal

    Guild Tribunals

    All normal investigations into violations of Guild policy are up to the Guild Master of that ship.  In all cases, the findings of the Ship¡¯s Guild Master are final.  However, in the case that a Guild Master is suspected of violating Guild policy, a Guild Tribunal must be formed.  A Tribunal consists of three Guild Masters in good standing with the guild.  The ruling of the Tribunal is final.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    The star didn¡¯t even have a name.

    Guild tribunals like this one were rare, but not so uncommon there wasn¡¯t a standard procedure.  Because the trial was going to involve the status of the ship and therefore Leo as the Guild Master of the Theo, three data arks needed convene, which was extremely rare.  When the Theo passed out of FTL, it was clear that they were expected.

    ¡°Three DA¡¯s in system already.  They¡¯ve been here a while; we are getting old comms backchatter that¡¯s at least a couple days old.¡±  Ramona looked up from her console.  ¡°Do we release interlocks?¡±

    Ollu walked over from the captain¡¯s chair.  They had agreed that the three of them, plus Craig would work from the bridge until they figured out if the ship was in any danger.  ¡°No way.  Who knows what back doors are in the system.¡±

    Leo was about to object, but then realized it was very possible.  All Trader vessels used basically the same software to run the ships.  Why not add code that allowed masters to take over or remotely monitor a ship?  It made sense.  ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s keep them closed for now.  Can we open a comms channel safely?¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll port it to the conference room down the hall there, but keep it isolated from all the ship¡¯s systems.¡±

    ¡°Ramona, any sign they have set an ambush?¡±

    Ramona worked at her console.  ¡°Hard to say with these sensors, they could have a dozen ships just sitting dark out there and we wouldn¡¯t know.¡±  She continued to work.  ¡°I think that it¡¯s unlikely.  Based on what we see here, it¡¯s the three data arks.  Likely that they have one or more armed cutters ready to go.¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu and Craig.  They both shrugged.  ¡°OK, take us in Ollu.  Ramona, be ready for anything.¡±

    The Theo began to slow relative to the star, matching the position and motion of the three existing data arks.  It was easy to think of the three ships as motionless, they were powered down and their engines were not operating.  However, everything in space is moving relative to everything else.  They were actually in a relatively stable orbit around the white dwarf sun, but well away from the various random rocks in orbit.  They had obviously picked their position to allow navigational safety and for little other reason.  In a virtually empty star system like this one, any orbit was as good as another.

    Once they approached to under a Giga Meter, latency was down to 3 seconds, making communications possible, if a bit annoying.  ¡°They¡¯re asking for a four way vid link.¡±

    ¡°OK, let¡¯s close the distance down to 100 KM and hold it there.  Craig, you¡¯re with me, Ramona ping me if they do anything sketchy.¡±  As agreed, Leo and Craig proceeded to the conference room while Ramona and Ollu stayed on the bridge.  They¡¯d be able to monitor the conversation there, but the plan was that Leo and Craig would represent the ship.

    At 100 KM, the light propagation delay was below a millisecond and thus normal conversations were possible.  Once the video bridge came up, Leo saw that the Reggie was represented by Thorsten as expected along with Gunny, which while not technically protocol was also expected.  Leo didn¡¯t know the two other master traders representing the other ships.  Since this was a formal hearing, three Guild Masters were required to form a tribunal.

    Thorsten spoke first.  ¡°Craig, are you representing the Theo as her master trader?  It¡¯s good to see you.  It¡¯s been quite a while.¡±

    Craig smiled.  ¡°Hello Roger.  You still buggering small boys for fun?¡±

    Leo slapped the mute button.  ¡°Jesus Craig, what the fuck?¡±

    Craig patted his arm.  ¡°Kid, Roger is going to try and fuck you over no matter what.  Better to keep him angry and off balance.¡±  He unmuted the channel to hear the end of an indignant comment from Thorsten.  ¡°And Gunny.  Still play acting the soldier, eh?¡±

    Gunny just laughed.  ¡°Always nice to hear from you Craig.  I figured you would have been killed by a jealous husband by now.¡±

    The second Master Trader tapped the table in front of him.  ¡°Gentlemen, this is a formal tribunal.  We will conduct this affair with decorum.  I am Master Trader Williams and this is Master Trader Lacey.  Master Trader Linton, I assume you will be representing the Theo in this matter?¡±

    ¡°No, master trader.¡±  Craig just pointed to Leo.

    ¡°Master Trader Williams, I am the Guild Master for the Theo and part owner.  Ollu Channah and I formed ship¡¯s company after she claimed right of salvage.¡±

    Thorsten was becoming more and more agitated.  ¡°This is ridiculous!  We can¡¯t take this little prick seriously!  They don¡¯t even have a valid ship¡¯s company.  This entire thing is a joke!¡±

    Williams was not pleased at the outburst.  ¡°Sir, if you cannot comply with the rules of the tribunal, I will ask you to recuse yourself and we will reconvene with another master who can.¡±  Thorsten calmed himself with visible effort.  ¡°Now, as to the status of the Theo.  I have reviewed the logs provided and I am prepared to rule on the current status of the Theo.  Master Lacy?¡±

    The third master, Lacey looked bored, almost asleep.  ¡°Yeah, right.  Fine by me.¡±

    ¡°Very well, it is clear that the Theo was formed within the letter of the Guild bylaws if not exactly in the spirit.  She is clearly a guild qualified vessel and both young Timur here and Ms. Channah are guild qualified according to the Reggie¡¯s records.  At the time of salvage, Ms. Channah was in fact not employed by the Guild and thus Spacer¡¯s Guild law applies to her.  I vote nay on measure one of the claim.¡±

    Thorsten was turning purple.  ¡°I vote aye.¡±

    Lacey appeared to be using a tablet just off screen.  ¡°Oh, uh.  Nay.¡±

    ¡°The nays have it then.  As per guild charter, the Theo is a guild vessel and Leo Timur is her master trader.  It is so ordered.¡±

    Williams looked down and consulted some notes.  ¡°It appears that you have been trading in banned content, Master Timur.¡±

    Leo just stared directly into the camera.  ¡°We have not.  I would ask any supporting documentation to be produced.¡±

    Williams picked up a tablet, consulting notes again.  ¡°I believe the simplest way to solve this is to examine the trading records of the Theo.  However, it seems that your ship has disabled data sync with the three arks already in system.  That is most unusual.  Most unusual.¡±

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Leo was prepared for this objection and had discussed it many times with the others on how to proceed.  ¡°Master Trader, the last time we interacted with the Reggie, Master Trader Tomlin attempted to interfere with the operation of our vessel in direct violation of Guild law.  We felt it prudent to protect ourselves against further violation of guild law.  You are welcome to come aboard the Theo and investigate our logs at your leisure.¡±

    Thorsten could not contain his anger any longer.  ¡°This is absurd.  We know that this vessel contained banned IP and thus the entire vessel should also be banned and the IP destroyed.¡±

    Williams looked pleased at Thorsten¡¯s more restrained objection.  ¡°Master Timur?  This is a very serious charge, sir.¡±

    Leo just shook his head.  ¡°Yes, we currently have banned content in our IP database.¡±

    Thorsten pounded the table with a fist.  ¡°He admits it!¡±

    Leo continued to shake his head.  ¡°As does your ship, Master Thorsten, and yours Master Williams.  We of course have a banned section of our database and we of course review it regularly.  Banned content is removed from the active trading system just like any other trader vessel.  We are fully compliant with trader norms.¡±

    Williams nodded reluctantly.  ¡°And will you submit to an audit to confirm this?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.  By yourself or your designate.¡±

    Leo was starting to relax.  Perhaps this was going to end well after all.

    Gunny leaned forward with an evil smile.   ¡°One of their masters is a seeker.¡±

    Williams looked like someone had raped his little sister.  ¡°What!  Is this true Timur?¡±

    Leo was surprised by William¡¯s reaction.  ¡°Yes, I suppose so.  I usually don¡¯t inquire into the religious beliefs of my shipmates.  It doesn¡¯t really matter to me what those beliefs are as long as they don¡¯t interfere with the operation of the ship.¡±

    Gunny¡¯s expression became even more evil.  ¡°Section four oh six.¡±

    Williams nodded a sad little nod.  ¡°Yes, concur.  Four oh six.¡±

    Leo just looked at Craig, who let out a sigh.  Silent until this point, he took in a deep breath and let out another sigh.  Deeper than the first, the sound could only be described as resigned.  ¡°Gentlemen.  Traders.  I beg you not to invoke section 406.  That provision was adopted by the security council in secret almost a hundred years ago and never been enforced.  There is no threat to the guild from seekers and you all know it.¡±

    Leo hit the mute.  ¡°What the fuck is 406?¡±

    Craig just sighed again.  ¡°It was a defensive measure enacted after the seekers were originally formed.  Before Raeburn was banned, there was a fear that the seekers would try to infiltrate the guild and destroy it from the inside.  406 was designed as a poison pill.  Any seeker who becomes a master will be instantly banned along with the ship they are ship¡¯s company on along with everyone on the ship.  It¡¯s the nuclear option.¡±

    ¡°You KNEW about this?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d be dumb enough to use it.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s an admission of guilt.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Before Craig could answer, Williams was speaking again.  ¡°It is the agreement of this tribunal that section 406 conditions have been met.  The tribunal will rule on the application of section 406.  Master Thorsten?¡±

    For the first time, Thorsten looked happy.  ¡°Aye.¡±

    Williams nodded and made a note on his pad.  ¡°Master Lacey?¡±

    Lacey seemed alert for the first time.  ¡°Nay.¡±

    Williams again made a note.  ¡°And as chair of the tribunal, I vote Aye.  The measure is carried.  The Theo and her crew are banned, Master Timur you are directed to surrender your vessel.¡±

    Craig hit unmute before Leo could get over his shock.  ¡°You stupid bastards.  After telling everyone that quantum communications is impossible for three hundred years, you¡¯re going to admit that 406 exists and tell everyone that the guild is deathly afraid of the one thing you all agree doesn¡¯t exist?¡±

    Thorsten turned red again, Williams looked confused.  Lacy just nodded.  ¡°Craig, you¡¯re a fucking asshole, but when you¡¯re right you¡¯re right.  This will end the guild.¡±

    ¡°Paul, you¡¯re a bastard and a cocksucker, but I always knew you had a brain.  You know what I will do next, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.   I do.  Say hello to the old bastard for me, OK?¡±

    ¡°Will do.¡±

    Before Leo could start asking questions, Ramona¡¯s voice came over Leo¡¯s earpiece.  ¡°LEO!!  They¡¯re launching cutters!!¡±

    Leo hit mute again.  ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°Six.¡±

    ¡°OK.  Go for option bravo.¡±

    ¡°Executing.¡±

    Leo unmuted.  ¡°Gentlemen.  There are currently six cutters on the way towards my ship.  Since I am no longer a member of the guild, I will assume they are hostile.  You should be aware that I joined the spacer¡¯s guild six hours ago and thus this vessel is now operating under spacer guild protection. Any hostile action will be met by force.¡±

    ¡°You cannot do that!¡±

    ¡°Watch me.  Theo out.¡±  With that, he cut the comms.

    Craig was looking down, repeating to himself over and over,  ¡°stupid bastards.  Stupid, stupid bastards.¡±

    ¡°Craig, snap out of it!¡±  But Craig wouldn¡¯t answer.  Leo gave up and ran up to the bridge.  ¡°How are we doing?¡±

    Ramona looked up from her console.  ¡°All twenty BR¡¯s launched.  We have a good handshake and they¡¯re forming up between us and the hostiles.¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°We¡¯re spooling up the drives.   Should be out to the e-limit in an hour.¡±

    ¡°BR¡¯s matching our movements.¡±

    Leo was confused.  ¡°BR?  I thought they were drones?¡±

    Ramona chuckled.  ¡°You know, ¡®Blockade Runner¡¯?  Craig said we needed marketing.¡±

    ¡°Oh Jesus.¡±

    ¡°Just think of the vid Craig is gonna make about this.  ¡®Renegade Traders¡¯ or something.¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll call it, ¡®the annihilation of hubris.¡¯¡±  Craig had recovered himself and was standing at the entrance to the bridge, leaning against a bulkhead with a sad look on his face.   ¡°Those stupid bastards are going to make me poor again.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about that later.¡±

    Ramona suddenly started entering commands into her console.  ¡°Well, here they come.¡±

    ¡°Stupid bastards.¡±

    ¡°Shut UP Craig.¡±

    Leo watched on the screen as the twenty Blockade Runners formed a defensive formation.  Icons lit next to each ship showing their status, weapons hot and locked onto their targets.

    Ollu picked up a handset.  ¡°Attention Trader vessels.  You are approaching a Spacer Guild vessel.  Veer off at once.  Repeat veer off.  Any approach closer than one gig will be considered hostile.  This is your only warning.¡±

    Leo raised an eyebrow.  ¡°A little dramatic, no?¡±

    Ollu shrugged.  ¡°Do you think those are traders flying those cutters?  I¡¯m hoping that some sense breaks out.¡±  She smiled.  ¡°Besides, it will sound good on the vid, later.¡±

    Ramona was continuing to focus on her console.  ¡°This trick is only going to work if we keep latency under half a second.  Keep our accel steady or we¡¯re going to lose link.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡±  Ollu adjusted the Theo¡¯s course and speed to allow the smaller ships to keep up.

    ¡°They¡¯re making a dash, going for a weapons lock.¡±

    ¡°On us or the drones?¡±

    ¡°On us.¡±

    Leo smacked his fist into his other hand in frustration.  ¡°Stupid bastards.¡±

    Craig nodded sadly.  ¡°Told ya, kid.¡±

    ¡°Fuck, we¡¯re going to have to shoot.¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu, pleading for another answer.  ¡°Sorry Leo,  we either surrender or we fight.  No other options.  You want to surrender?¡±

    Leo looked at Ramona who shook her head.   ¡°No.¡±

    Ramona looked at Ollu who nodded.  ¡°Set it up.  Take one out.¡±

    ¡°Roger that.  Taking out the lead.¡±  Ramona had spent the past two weeks during their transit rewriting the control code from the blockade runners to accept remote commands.  This effectively made the small armed cutters drones.  In the meantime, Ollu¡¯s crew had been busy printing out twenty of them.  This had almost exhausted their supply of raw materials, but pretty much ensured that they would have a significant edge in firepower compared to the relatively lightly armed guild cutters.

    While a guild cutter was a nice little ship and could defend it¡¯s self against most low tech threats, it wasn¡¯t a military vehicle.  The Guild hadn¡¯t been involved in armed conflict for hundreds of years and didn¡¯t realistically expect to be facing any armed opposition.  For this reason, their vessels and crews were not prepared for a full-on war with a prepared opponent.  Upon command, all twenty BR¡¯s turned their attention to the lead ship and fired several plasma bolts.  Ramona had referred to this type of attack as a ¡°time on target¡± attack.  A tactic the Raeburn Guard had used very successfully in defending Raeburn against the Combine.  The BR was extremely heavily armed for its size, designed to go up against full on warships.  Each one had more than twice the firepower of a guild cutter and they also outnumbered the guild ships by more than two to one.   Ramona had referred to them as ¡°eggs swinging sledgehammers¡± due to their light shielding and hugely powerful armaments.

    ¡°Hit.  Another hit.¡±  Ramona studied her console for a moment.  ¡°The ship is dead in space.¡±

    ¡°Hold fire.¡±  Ollu picked up her handset again.  ¡°Trader vessels.  We have no desire to kill you all.  Break off now and we will allow you to withdraw.¡±

    Ramona continued to work on her console.  ¡°They¡¯re not changing course.  I think they¡¯ll get lock on us in under thirty seconds.¡±

    ¡°Take out another one.¡±

    ¡°Sending the commands.¡±  Again, the twenty small ships acted in concert.   ¡°Hit, HIT.  The ship is coming apart.  That¡¯s a hard kill.¡±  A pause.  ¡°The others are breaking off.¡±

    Ollu sighed.  ¡°Stupid bastards.¡±  She shot a quelling look at Craig.  ¡°Not one fucking word from you.¡±

    Slowly, so slowly, the Theo made her way up out of the gravity well and towards the e-limit.  The other data arks in system made no move to intercept and the smaller cutters eventually returned to their home ships.  Ollu had been intently locked in on her instruments for entire run out system.  ¡°OK, let¡¯s bring the BR¡¯s in.¡±  In a relatively short time, the drone ships were recovered and secured in one of the boat bays midway down the Theo¡¯s side.  ¡°That¡¯s the e-limit, engage FTL¡±  As usual, the shift into FTL drive was almost imperceptible except that all external sensors stopped registering the system behind them.

 Proxima Centauri

    Human Diaspora

    In the early days of FTL travel, humans quickly began to explore their immediate area in the spiral arm. Proxima Centauri, the closest star to earth, became a jumping off point for exploration and was eventually settled via artificial habitats. Over time, the technology for terraforming became more sophisticated and hundreds of worlds were eventually altered to support human life. This has resulted in clusters of habitation across the spiral arm as various star systems have been developed.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Craig had collapsed into a chair at the back of the bridge, still muttering to himself. Despite his better judgement, Leo walked over to see how he was. ¡°Craig, you allright?¡±

    Craig looked at Leo with grief in his eyes. He looked like he had been crying. Leo was stunned. ¡°Leo, I need to talk to you and Ollu.¡±

    ¡°Craig, I think Ollu is a little busy at the moment.¡±

    Craig just shook his head. ¡°Leo. Now. I need to speak to you both RIGHT NOW.¡±

    Leo considered for a moment. While Leo was pretty upset about the tribunal, Craig looked like his entire world had just ended. ¡°OK, just calm down. I¡¯ll get her.¡±

    Leo got the three of them into a nearby conference room. Ollu wasn¡¯t happy at being disturbed, but she seemed to sense the urgency of the request from Craig. ¡°OK Craig, what do you want to say that¡¯s more important than getting tracked down by these morons? We need to take an evasion course soon, so I don¡¯t have much time for you.¡±

    Craig looked down at the table. For a minute, Leo thought he would start to cry again. ¡°We need to go to Proxima Centari.¡±

    Ramona just stared at him. Leo shook his head. ¡°Proxima? It will take us a MONTH to get there. Why would we do that?¡±

    Craig sighed. ¡°Because we need to end this.¡±

    ¡°End what?¡±

    ¡°The guild. We need to end the guild.¡±

    ¡°WHAT?!?!¡±

    ¡°You heard me.¡± Craig paused for so long that Leo thought he wasn¡¯t going to continue. Then he took a deep breath. ¡°This doesn¡¯t make me happy, but 406 was an insane measure adopted by the Guild many years ago, before you were born. It basically allows the Guild to punish ANYONE who challenges them directly. There is no appeal, no due process, nothing. There were only two of us who voted against it when it was enacted over a hundred years ago. I was able to fool myself into thinking that 406 would never be used and would just remain a dusty footnote in Guild history. I mean, quantum comms doesn¡¯t really exist, so there is no danger, right?¡±

    Ollu had been watching Craig¡¯s face intently for his entire speech. Now, she shook her head. ¡°I agree that 406 is a nasty overreach, but how is it worse than any of the other things that the Guild does every day?¡±

    Craig looked like he had been slapped. He took a moment before answering. ¡°OK, I guess that is fair. The guild does some really crappy things. However, it was always an organization based on rules and equal standing. The entire point of the Guild was supposed to be that no master stood above the rest. A meritocracy if you will. 406 basically says that any master can be banned at any time as long as two other masters don¡¯t like them. Now that the genie is out of the bottle, how long do you think it will be used to settle political scores within the Guild? Any dissenting voices will immediately be silenced.¡±

    Now Leo was nodding. ¡°You mean it would allow people like Gunny to remove any masters that want to moderate Guild policy, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, exactly. 406 is completely capricious and arbitrary.¡±

    Ollu was still for a moment, then she hit the comm button on the table. ¡°Helm, drop out of FTL. Also, can you please ask Journeyman Eddington to join us here?¡± She looked up. ¡°OK Craig, you have our complete attention. Once Ramona gets here, you are going to tell us the ENTIRE STORY and don¡¯t leave ANYTHING out. Then we will see what we see.¡±

    A few moments later, Ramona entered. ¡°Did someone die?¡±

    Ollu almost grinned despite the gravity of the situation they were in. ¡°No, but we need to hear what Craig has to say about 406.¡±

    After Ramona seated herself, Craig began to explain the history of the Guild¡¯s cold war with the Seekers and his years of believing it was just paranoia that caused the initial rift. After two full hours, he finally wound down. By the end of it, Ramona was just staring at him. ¡°So, it¡¯s all true.¡±

    Craig didn¡¯t look up from his clenched hands on the table. ¡°Yes. All of it.¡±

    Leo had no idea what they were talking about. ¡°What¡¯s true?¡±

    Ramona turned to face Leo. ¡°When I was recruited to special forces in Raeburn, I was given access to classified material.¡± Leo nodded. ¡°Raeburn¡¯s military has a massive amount of information about the guild and has spent over thirty years developing intel about the internals of how the guild works.¡± She paused for a minute, looking intently a Craig. ¡°I thought that they were just caught up in intuitional paranoia.¡±

    Craig was still staring at his hands. ¡°No, I haven¡¯t seen the details, but I think it¡¯s safe to assume they¡¯re not paranoid.¡±

    Ramona nodded. Then her eyes got VERY wide. ¡°Does that mean that the epsilon protocol is real too?¡±

    Craig sighed.

    ¡°IS IT?¡±

    He looked up at Ramona for the first time. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s real. And I intend to activate it.¡±

    Ollu had been shifting her gaze from Ramona to Craig like watching a tennis match. ¡°Craig, explain.¡±

    Another deep sigh from Craig. Ramona just gave him a warning look. ¡°Around the same time that 406 was being drafted, a Journeyman I worked with decided to perform a ¡®black hat¡¯ exercise against the database in his ship. The theory was that it could be possible for known bad actors like the seekers to simply corrupt the Guild databases and by doing this force the guild to give up the plans for quantum entanglement communications.¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    Ramona looked shocked. ¡°We never wanted to break the guild, we just wanted the Guild to stop interfering with us.¡±

    Craig nodded sadly. ¡°Yes, I know that. However, paranoia isn¡¯t exclusively a Raeburn disease. There was immense fear that once Raeburn was banned, it could lead to war or perhaps a guerilla action. Anyway, the point is that he performed a study to see if the system could be broken.¡±

    ¡°And.¡±

    ¡°And, he succeeded. On the fifth try.¡±

    Ramona smacked her hand on the table. ¡°Of course, epsilon. Fifth letter in the Greek alphabet.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°And where is this journeyman now?¡±

    Ollu suddenly understood and spoke before Craig could answer. ¡°Proxima Centauri.¡±

    Craig smiled, but there was no happiness or joy in that smile. ¡°Exactly.¡±

    There was a long, long silence after that.

    Leo was first to break the silence. ¡°Is that what we want? To destroy the Guild? My entire family is in the Guild. I don¡¯t think I want to make them suffer.¡±

    Ollu was nodding. ¡°I agree Leo, it¡¯s not something I want to do either. However, where do you think this is going to end? Do you think that masters like Gunny will simply leave it at that? How long until they go after someone else?¡±

    Craig looked very somber. ¡°Leo, I have to say I agree with Ollu. Now that they know they can make accusations with 406, they won¡¯t hesitate to use it again. There¡¯s no appeal, no second chance on that. They can go after anyone they want and probably will.¡±

    Leo was about to answer when the door burst open. ¡°Sir! Sir! Ah, oh, ah, Master Trader Timur!!¡±

    Ollu stood up. ¡°Apprentice Wilson! Get ahold of yourself.¡± Wilson visibly shook himself and an expression of sheer terror indicated that he finally realized that he had burst in on a meeting with three masters and included all of the ship¡¯s shareholders. He took a deep breath and started again. ¡°Master Trader Timur, I need to speak to you urgently. Sir.¡±

    Leo was just as confused as everyone else and it showed on his face. ¡°You¡¯re here now. Say what you have to say.¡±

    ¡°The com thingy works. Ah, uh Master Trader.¡±

    ¡°Com thingy?¡±

    ¡°Yes, master trader. The one me an Ramona done be working on.¡±

    Ramona was out of her chair so quickly if flipped over behind her. ¡°WHAT?!!?¡±

    ¡°The uh, quantinum thing.¡±

    ¡°You mean the quantum entanglement communications device?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. Oh, ah, Yes Master Trader Timur.¡±

    Before Leo could ask questions, Ramona grabbed Wilson by the elbow and started pushing him towards the door. ¡°Show me. NOW.¡±

    After they left the room, Leo looked at Ollu. ¡°Should we join them?¡±

    Ollu just shrugged. ¡°Why not?¡±

    Craig shook his head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t work. Why bother?¡±

    ¡°And if it does?¡±

    ¡°Then the guild is fucked.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    Craig grinned. ¡°Well, you know how to sell a guy, don¡¯t you?¡±

    By the time Leo, Craig and Ollu had made their way into the fab space that Wilson had been using as a lab, Ramona and Wilson were deep into conversation. After a few moments, Ramona stepped back. ¡°Are you certain it¡¯s not using RF?¡±

    Wilson nodded vigorously. ¡°There ain¡¯t no radio in that box. I can tell you that.¡±

    Ollu looked more closely at the unit. Or rather, the two units. They were fairly unremarkable. Each one was only about twenty centimeters high, almost a meter deep and a bit more than half a meter wide. The front panel looked exactly like any com unit she had ever seen and the back just took a standard power receptacle. Wilson had them both connected to separate isolated networks and each network had a pad attached. Leo took a closer look at one of the pads and he could see that a standard network diagnostic was running. Leo was unsurprised to see that it read 10MB throughput.

    Ollu finished her inspection with a shrug. ¡°So, someone figured out how to build a 10 meg pipe that will cover a couple of feet. I¡¯m not impressed yet.¡±

    ¡°But it must be using entanglement!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if there are two gerbils and some string. Does it work over interstellar distances?¡±

    Ramona had a fierce look in her eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s find out.¡±

    Ollu turned to the com panel. ¡°Deck department. Please fire up a BR and equip for a crew of two.¡± A muffled acknowledgement came back.

    ¡°Eddington, Wilson, pack up one of those units and set it up on the BR. Let¡¯s make sure it works within the ship first, then we can test at farther ranges.¡±

    Ramona grinned. ¡°Yes, Master Trader Channah.¡±

    As soon as Wilson disconnected the first unit, the test pattern on the tablet attached to the second one went to zero. So, the test was, in fact, going through the new com units.

    Leo could tell this would take a long time. ¡°Let¡¯s get some coffee, this is about as exciting as watching paint dry.¡± Ollu just nodded.

    After returning with their coffee, it only took about another ten minutes for the test signal to come back.

    The com panel chirped. ¡°Ollu, we¡¯re in the BR, are you getting a signal?¡±

    ¡°Yes, 10 meg like before.¡±

    ¡°OK. Heading out.¡±

    Leo waited, eyes glued on the pad. Ollu was casually sitting back and drinking her coffee.

    ¡°No change.¡±

    Ollu sat up and tapped the com panel again. ¡°Helm, let¡¯s get some distance from the BR. Give us ten percent on the mains, please.¡±

    ¡°Aye, 10% on the mains.¡±

    The pad stubbornly refused to change: 10 meg.

    ¡°Bridge, 95% on the mains.¡±

    ¡°Aye, 95% on the mains.¡±

    10 megs. They all waited, expectantly. Nothing happened. Or rather, the same something KEPT happening. No change in any way. They waited for a long time, but nothing.

    Then Leo noticed something. The latency. The network latency was only 2 milliseconds. That wasn¡¯t amazing, but it was way better than they should be getting.

    ¡°Ollu, how far away is the BR from us?¡±

    Ollu consulted her pad. ¡°About a gigameter.¡±

    ¡°Then why is our latency only 2 milliseconds? At a gigameter, it should be about 3 seconds.¡±

    ¡°Let me see that.¡±

    The readout stubbornly refused to change. 10meg, 2 milliseconds of latency. About what you would expect from a normal RF transmitter at close ranges, certainly not what you would expect at a gigameter.

    ¡°Helm, distance to the BR?¡±

    The answer came back almost instantly. Apparently, the rumor mill on the Theo was also working just fine. ¡°One point two eight four Giga Meters.¡± There was a pause. ¡°And rising. Relative speed, approximately five hundred thousand KPH.¡±

    ¡°Well fuck me with a broom.¡± Ollu¡¯s astonishment was so deep that she didn¡¯t even turn to give Craig a dirty look for the crude comment. She simply sat there, staring at the comm box.

    Finally, she pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger, took a deep breath and looked over to Leo. ¡°Leo, the universe we know just changed.¡±

    ¡°Changed to what?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know.¡± Ollu gathered herself with an effort. ¡°Helm, engage FTL.¡±

    ¡°Course?¡±

    ¡°Current heading. It doesn¡¯t matter, we just want to get some serious distance between us and the BR.¡±

    ¡°Engaging FTL in ten.¡±

    Leo could feel the subtle vibration that meant that they had shifted to FTL. As soon as it did, the displays changed. ¡°IT JUST DROPPED TO ZERO!!¡±

    ¡°DAMMIT! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IT WAS FAKE.¡± Ollu slapped the table with so much force Craig jumped back, startled by the loud sound in the quiet compartment. ¡°Helm, drop us out of FTL, and get turned around to pick up the BR.¡±

    ¡°Aye, dropping FTL now.¡±

    Suddenly, the network connection came back. 10 megabytes, 2 milliseconds of latency. ¡°HELM! BELAY THAT ORDER!¡±

    Leo examined the display closely. ¡°I¡¯ll have to check the logs, but it seems like the drop was exactly the same time as our FTL. It came back as soon as we dropped out of FTL again.¡±

    Craig chuckled. ¡°Well, that explains that.¡±

    ¡°Explains what?¡±

    Craig shook his head. ¡°I will bet you one million guilders this thing doesn¡¯t work inside the e-limit and doesn¡¯t work under FTL.¡±

    ¡°I get the FTL part, but why the e-limit?¡±

    ¡°Think about it. A guild ship is almost ALWAYS inside an e-limit or in FTL, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, so?¡±

    ¡°And who is convinced they don¡¯t work?¡±

    ¡°Well until now, everyone in the universe.¡±

    ¡°No, not everyone.¡±

    ¡°Ya, if the guild DID test these things, they tested them underway or inside the e-limit.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°So, it¡¯s related to gravity?¡±

    ¡°How the fuck would I know? I¡¯m an A&E specialist. I¡¯m just guessing as to why there haven¡¯t been more successful tests. Places like Raeburn would have figured this out years ago if they worked inside a solar system. The guild would know very well if they worked onboard a ship in space. Ergo, neither of those things work.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going bet against you. Yet.¡±

    Leo was still reeling from the discovery but remembered Ramona sitting in the BR, not knowing what happened. ¡°Let¡¯s get the BR and then set course.¡±

    ¡°To where?¡±

    ¡°Proxima Centauri, of course. One way or another, the guild is done.¡±

    Ollu took a moment to process. ¡°Right. Well, we will have plenty of time to figure this out on the way.¡±

 A Seeker

    Banned Worlds

    While the Guild attempts at all times to remain neutral in any political or military dispute, there are times when the very foundations of interstellar commerce are threatened.  In those cases, the Guild retains the right to ban a world or worlds based on a strict set of criteria laid down in the Guild bylaws.  The Guild may ban a world under the following conditions:

    <ol>

    <li> If it is shown that the world, worlds or other political entity has no respect for intellectual property and/or refuses to enforce intellectual property laws as agreed to by the Interstellar Commerce Pact.</li>

    <li> If it is shown that the world, worlds or other political entity participates in human trafficking or refuses to enforce human trafficking laws as agreed to by the Interstellar Commerce Pact.</li>

    <li> If it is shown that the world, worlds or other political entity refuses to allow Guild members free transit of their space, dominion or other special and national boundaries.</li>

    <li> If it is shown that the world, worlds or other political entity has traded intellectual property to any banned world, worlds or other political entity. </li>

    </ol>

    Petitions for bans or ban relief are heard at the quarterly Guild security council meeting.  Banned worlds have up to five tenths of a Terran year to respond to petitions and have the right to be represented before the security council.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    The trip to Proxima Centauri seemed to take even longer than the month it actually took.

    During the entire voyage, Craig was insistent that the only way forward was to destroy the guild in one fell swoop.  No warnings, no negotiation.  Neither Leo or Ollu were comfortable with that.  For all the Guild¡¯s issues, it worked and there were hundreds of thousands of people working within the Guild that had done absolutely nothing wrong.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    In the end, Ollu and Leo owned the ship and had full control of her course.  They could simply refuse to take the ship to Proxima Centauri.  Craig was their employee and was also at their mercy while the ship was underway.  He was overruled and had to promise to take no action without the approval of both Ollu and Leo before they agreed to enter the Proxima Centauri system.

    During all this, Ramona was strangely silent.  When asked a direct question, she would answer, but she didn¡¯t offer any unsolicited opinions during any of the strategy meetings.  She seemed to be withdrawing into herself.

    Finally, Leo pulled her aside and asked what was wrong.  ¡°Leo, regardless of what you decide to do, I¡¯m going back to Raeburn.¡±

    ¡°What, why?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a Seeker Leo.   A Seeker.  Don¡¯t you understand?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I swore an oath to find the secret of Quantum communications and now I¡¯ve found it.  I have to take this knowledge back home.  I have to fulfil my oath.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°Oh?  That¡¯s all you have to say, OH?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see that.¡±

    ¡°Leo, I¡¯m going to punch you right in the mouth.¡±

    ¡°What do you want me to say?  You took an oath and you¡¯re going to fulfil your oath.  I can¡¯t say I understand all that, but I can understand keeping your word.  I think I would keep my word, so I understand that you want to also.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°And what?¡±

    ¡°And do you WANT me to leave?¡±

    ¡°WHAT?  NO!  Of course not.  I mean, uh.¡±  Suddenly confused, Leo¡¯s feelings for Ramona rushed to the surface.  He had managed to not think about things like that since buying the Theo.  He just didn¡¯t have time and no relationship was possible between a master and journeyman anyway.

    Ramona really looked like she was going to punch him.

    Leo took a deep breath.  ¡°Ramona, if you¡¯re asking about us, about our relationship, I don¡¯t really know what to say or what to do.  Could we be a couple?  I think so.  Are we going to be a couple?  I don¡¯t know.  You work for me here, so I just don¡¯t see how that could work.  If you leave, then you leave.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you be sad about that?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  Yes, I would be very sad about that.¡±

    ¡°Then why the fuck didn¡¯t you say that?¡±

    ¡°Ramona, I don¡¯t know how to feel or what to do.  I just don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Tell me not to leave.¡±

    ¡°How do I do that?  Ask you to break your oath?  For what?  To work for me?  To not have a relationship on this ship?¡±

    ¡°Come with me.¡±

    ¡°To Raeburn?¡±

    ¡°Yes, come with me to Raeburn.¡±

    ¡°What are you asking me?¡±

    ¡°What you should have asked me months ago.¡±

 The Classics

    Habitations

    Because of automated space based factories, Habitations (or ¡°Habs¡±) are the most efficient way to house large numbers of humans.  Habs are easy to automate and their designs can be standardized and thus traded like any other IP.  Planets on the other hand are all unique and thus cannot be commoditized.  While most humans prefer to live on a planet, Habs are the most common home for humans today.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    The hab was one of the strangest structures Leo had ever seen.  Most habs were just simple cylinders.  A cylinder had the space needed to house as many people as you wanted while still having a relatively pressure friendly shape.  Boxes or other right angles aren¡¯t good for pressure vessels.

    Whoever built this thing didn¡¯t know or didn¡¯t care about that at all.  It was a series of cubes, almost stacked at random.  It really looked like one of those ugly statues Leo¡¯s mother claimed to like but didn¡¯t actually own.

    It was also brightly lit.  Not the normal navigational lights you would see on any space structure, but bright floodlights, illuminating various parts of the structure in vivid colors.  Why on earth did they light the OUTSIDE of their hab?  Who the hell is looking at the OUTSIDE?

    Finally, it had the word ¡°SVARG¡± written on each side in massive, illuminated letters.  Again, who was looking at lettering from space?

    ¡°Anybody know what a SVARG is?¡±  Leo asked the bridge at large.

    A short crewman of Indian heritage stuck his hand up.  ¡°Svarg means ¡®paradise¡¯ or heaven.  In Hindi.¡±  He pronounced it ¡°soo argh¡± not the way Leo had mangled the word.

    ¡°hmm.¡±

    Ollu just shrugged.  ¡°Comms, raise the Svarg, ask for permission for us to bring a shuttle across to dock.¡±

    After a few minutes, the crewman manning the comms station turned back to Ollu.  ¡°They say they¡¯re a private station.  No visitors.¡±

    Ollu looked at Leo who shrugged in turn.   Ollu sighed.  ¡°OK.  Pipe the connection down to conference two.¡±  She pressed a button on her panel.  ¡°Linton, report to conference two.  Immediate.¡±

    Once settled into the conference room, Ollu gave Craig a hard look.  ¡°OK Craig, you want us to talk to them but they don¡¯t want to talk to us.  Do your magic.¡±

    Craig just grinned and pushed a button on the comms.  ¡°This is Craig Linton, I need to speak to Vishnu Newman.¡±

    The answer came back immediately.  ¡°I am sorry Master Trader Linton, Rabbi Newman is not taking calls.¡±

    Craig laughed.   ¡°Who am I talking to?¡±

    ¡°This is Rabbi Newman¡¯s personal assistant, Leonard.¡±

    ¡°Leonard, I want you to listen to me.  I want you to listen very carefully.¡±  He paused.  ¡°Are you listening son?¡±

    ¡°Yes Master Trader.¡±

    ¡°Son, I have about eighty armed drones in the hold of my ship here.  If I don¡¯t talk to Vishnu in sixty seconds, I am going to blow the shit out of that garish hunk of crap you call a hab and I won¡¯t stop firing until I am positive everyone aboard is dead.  Do you read me son?¡±

    ¡°Yes, master trader.¡±

    ¡°Zero latency?¡±

    ¡°Zero.¡±

    ¡°Fifty eight seconds.¡±

    The line went dead.

    Ollu was shaking her head.  ¡°Just when I tell myself that there is nothing you could possibly do to shock me, you go ahead and shock me.¡±

    ¡°Think of it as entertainment value.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not exactly how I think about it.¡±

    Craig was ostentatiously looking at his chrono as the seconds ticked down.

    The com came alive at almost exactly 60 seconds.  ¡°Who the fuck is this?  Craig Linton is surely dead at the hands of a jealous husband by now!¡±

    ¡°Vishnu, it¡¯s me.  Cut the shit.¡±

    ¡°Bollocks Craig, I was just having one on with a¡­¡±

    Craig cut him off.  ¡°Shut the fuck up Vishnu.  Listen to me.¡±  Leo was stunned to hear that Vishnu shut up.  ¡°It happened.  They did it.¡±

    ¡°No fucking way.¡±

    ¡°Yes.  Me and this whole ship got banned.¡±

    ¡°406?¡±

    ¡°Yep.  406.¡±

    ¡°Stupid bastards.  Stupid fucking bastards.¡±

    ¡°So, you going to invite us over?¡±

    ¡°What?  Right.  Get your sorry butt over here.¡±

    ¡°Rolling.¡±

    ¡°Craig?¡±

    ¡°Yah?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t really have eighty armed drones in that bucket do you?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Fuck, I knew it.¡±

    ¡°I have twenty armed corvettes rigged for remote operation that we used to escape from six Guild cutters.  We had to take two of them out first.¡±

    ¡°Fuck.  Get over here.¡±

    Craig cut the circuit.  Ollu was still sitting in her seat, not showing any inclination to move.  ¡°Does everyone you know talk like that?¡±

    Craig laughed for the first time since the battle with the Guild.  ¡°If they don¡¯t when I meet them, they do after we get to be friends.¡±

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    In the end, they agreed that Ramona would come along also, if only to keep an eye on Craig and sit on him if necessary.  When Ramona arrived on the boat deck, she silently handed Leo his sidearm.  Leo looked at it distastefully then put the holster on his belt and the weapon in the holster.  Ramona had hers holstered already.

    Ollu saw Leo put on his gun.  ¡°You really going to go armed?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  You want one?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Leo didn¡¯t know if Ramona was rubbing off on him, but the idea of going into an unknown station unarmed made him feel uneasy.  Going armed didn¡¯t make him feel much better, but it helped a little.

    As they got closer to the hab, more and more strange details appeared.  Some of the cubes appeared to be filled with water.  Almost all of them had very large clear sections, through some of them they could see what appeared to be fish.  Others looked like parklands, one a desert.  ¡°What is this place?¡±

    Craig just grunted.  ¡°Heaven.  Just like it says on the tin.¡±  Leo gave Craig a searching look.  ¡°Look, Vishnu isn¡¯t wrapped too tight.  He¡¯s a Jewish guy from England who thinks he¡¯s actually Hindi.  He built this thing as a spiritual retreat, but it¡¯s basically just a monument to himself.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t wrapped too tight?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  Not all there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s something, coming from you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, keep that in mind.¡±  He shook his head.  ¡°I haven¡¯t seen him in fifty years, but I assume he hasn¡¯t gotten any saner.¡±

    As they pushed through the GTE barrier, Leo lust looked through the main port in shock.  They were in a park.  What should have been a docking bay looked just like a city park that he had seen pictures of from old earth.  Green grass, trees, benches scattered around, the works.  Instead of basketball courts, there was a large pad with landing lights installed.  ¡°I assume we put down there.¡±

    Waiting for them was a small man of mixed ethnic heritage.  Dark hair, tanned but not dark skin and dark eyes.  He was wearing a paisley nehru jacket and bright yellow pants but no shoes.  The tall blond man next to him looked positively ordinary by comparison, wearing a grey shipsuit.  Craig was the first out of the hatch and went straight to the man in the paisley nehru jacket and gave him a big bear hug.  ¡°Vishnu, good to see you.¡±

    ¡°Surprisingly, I¡¯m happy to see you also.¡±

    ¡°First time for everything.¡±

    Vishnu turned to the other members of the party.  ¡°Welcome to my home.  Welcome to Svarg.¡±

    Leo caught himself rubbernecking.  He¡¯d been on hundreds of habs, but never one like this.  It even had a ¡®sky¡¯ that looked pretty real.  Was that a bird?  ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a hab like this before.¡±

    Vishnu grunted.  ¡°That¡¯s because people are boring.  You can literally make your home any shape you want, why would you want to live in some boring cylinder thing?   Yech..¡±   He gave a dramatic shudder.

    Ollu was less impressed.  ¡°Not everyone is worth a billion guilders.¡±

    Vishnu just laughed.  ¡°Yes my dear, but I am.  What else would I spend it on, what?¡±  He made a shooing motion with his hands.  ¡°Enough chin wagging.  Come, come.  Let¡¯s sit and have some tea.  Galaxy spanning decisions require tea.¡±

    Leo let his puzzlement show.  ¡°Galaxy spanning decisions?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  Of course.  You¡¯ve come here to end the guild, have you not?  I haven¡¯t seen Craig here for almost fifty years.  I assume this is not a social call.¡±  He led the group towards what looked like a small building but turned out to be a lift.  Moving deeper into the station, they came out on a level that looked more like what Leo expected a hab to look like.  Long corridors, doorways, small atriums.   ¡°Oh, and Ollu, please allow me to extend a special greeting.  I don¡¯t often meet with ¡®Rebel Ship Handlers.¡¯¡±

    Ollu looked like she was going to slug Craig.  ¡°I usually just go by Ollu.  Master Trader Channah if you must.¡±

    ¡°Master trader is it?¡±   Vishnu led them into a very luxurious but quite normal looking conference room.  ¡°You must tell me more about how a ship handler, a SEEKER, ship handler became a master trader.¡±  He nodded to himself.  ¡°Oh yes, quite a tale, I am sure.¡±  He turned to offer Ramona a chair.  ¡°Oh my.  Raeburn special forces, is it?¡±  Ramona just nodded.  ¡°Oh.  And you must be a seeker also, aren¡¯t you my dear?¡±

    ¡°Well, yes.¡±  Ramona looked a little stunned.  She wasn¡¯t sure if Vishnu was a clown or the most dangerous person she had ever met.

    ¡°Oh my, my, my.  I seem to have fallen into one of Craig¡¯s less believable vids.  Craig old son, you¡¯re not having me on here are you?¡±

    Craig settled into a comfortable chair with a sigh that spoke to his hundred plus years.  ¡°I wish I were Vishnu.  I¡¯ve been hiding from this for over fifty years.¡±

    ¡°Hiding in a bottle you mean.¡±

    ¡°Vishnu, this is not the time to discuss my moral failings.¡±

    ¡°Ah, but I disagree old son.  This is exactly the time.  You are about to ask me for the most potent weapon ever designed.  I won¡¯t give it to an old drunk with a score to settle.¡±  Vishnu¡¯s mask of jocularity faded away, leaving him with a hard expression that Ramona recognized.

    She leaned forward.  ¡°Where are you from Vishnu?¡±

    ¡°From England.  Shropshire, specifically.  A little place called Telford.  Have you been to England, my dear?¡±

    ¡°No, I mean where are you FROM?  Who trained you?¡±

    Ramona had Vishnu¡¯s complete attention.  ¡°I don¡¯t think I quite understand, my dear.  I¡¯m a trader.  Master Trader Newman if you prefer.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Apologies?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Royal Marines.  Or SAS.  Sergeant at least, probably Sergeant Major.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen that look before.  I thought there was something about the way you walked, but you can¡¯t mistake that look.  Even on Raeburn we know about SAS.  We used your training manuals for OpFor research.¡±

    At that moment, a uniformed steward came into the room with a very elaborate tea set.   Vishnu clapped his hands in delight.  ¡°Lovely.  I hope you enjoy Darjeeling.  I wasn¡¯t expecting company or I would have popped down to earth for supplies.¡±  Vishnu busied himself with getting tea for everyone.  After everyone had a steaming cup in front of them, he sat down again.  ¡°It¡¯s a bit embarrassing actually, but it¡¯s Brigadier.  Some nonsense about services rendered to the crown or some such.¡±

    ¡°Well, Brigadier, do you expect me to believe that it¡¯s just a coincidence that the only person in the known galaxy who has the power to destroy the Guild is an officer in the SAS?¡±  Unlike most settled planets, Earth still had local political entities.  Some of them like the United Kingdom had been in place for literally centuries.  They seemed strange and something out of ancient history for those from outer systems like Raeburn, but they were still fully functioning governments even if their overall importance in the pantheon of human history were significantly less than when all of humanity occupied a single planet.

    ¡°Retired, my dear.  Retired.  And I can assure you the commission is strictly honorary.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t invent epsilon, did you?¡±

    ¡°Of course I did my dear, of course I did.  It was an exercise.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but an exercise conducted by who?¡±

    ¡°By whom, I think you mean.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to tell us are you?¡±

    ¡°There is nothing to tell.  You want epsilon, I have epsilon.  You want to destroy the guild.  I don¡¯t.  The history of epsilon isn¡¯t really relevant to the conversation.¡±  He sipped his tea with a smile.  ¡°I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ve come here to no purpose.¡±

    Leo leaned back.  ¡°No, the real question is why do we know about epsilon?¡±

    Vishnu looked at Leo with newfound respect.  ¡°My, you¡¯re a bright child, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Ollu looked at Leo, questions in her eyes.  He shrugged.  ¡°If we accept that he is who Ramona thinks he is, then nothing he does is without a reason.  He was assigned the task of creating epsilon, he didn¡¯t use it but he did let people know it existed.  None of that was an accident.  So, why did he do that?  Or rather, why did his political masters want that to happen?¡±

    Vishnu just smiled.

    ¡°It was a warning.¡±  Everyone looked at Craig.  ¡°The Guild was getting too big for it¡¯s britches and the UK decided to show them the limits of their power.¡±   He fiddled with his teacup for a second.  ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever wondered why the Guild allows local governments to exist?¡±

    Ramona was shocked.  ¡°ALLOWS!  We do what we want on Raeburn, we don¡¯t care what the Guild allows!¡±

    ¡°And you got banned.  Don¡¯t you think other polities know that?  The Guild has the power to make or break governments.  But they don¡¯t.  Why?¡±

    Ollu smacked the table.  ¡°Because they can¡¯t.  Epsilon is their Sword of Damocles!¡±

    Vishnu smiled.  ¡°I just love the classics, don¡¯t you?¡±

 Solve One With Two

    Local IP Laws

    While the Guild maintains exclusive rights to trading IP across solar systems, local polities control their own IP laws.  Generally speaking, the Guild does not participate in local markets and is not subject to local laws.  Guild members are not subject to local laws while aboard a Guild vessel and conducting Guild business.  However, it should be noted that Guild members are subject to local laws when aboard Habs or on a planet.  Care should be taken to clearly understand local legal structures and Guild members should conform to local laws and customs when away from their ships.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Ramona was dejectedly sitting at a table in the Caf¨¦ that most of the crew used.  It was a strange hour ship time so there wasn¡¯t anyone else there.  There was a cup of coffee sitting in front of her but it had gotten cold.

    ¡°Uh, Journeyman Eddington, may I sit here?¡±  Wilson was standing by her table, tray of food in hand.

    ¡°Ramona, remember?¡±

    ¡°Ah, uh, yes.   Uh, Ramona.¡±  He sat down and started eating.

    ¡°Do you have a first name?¡±

    ¡°Uh, what?¡±

    Ramona smiled for the first time in what felt like weeks.  ¡°A name.  A first name, do you have one?  I think I¡¯ve only called you Wilson for the entire time I¡¯ve known you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, ah yeah.  Toby.  It¡¯s Toby.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s better.  What have you been up to Toby?¡±

    Wilton had been stuffing food into his mouth like he hadn¡¯t eaten in a year.  ¡°Subheheyn.¡±

    ¡°What?  Don¡¯t talk with your mouth full Toby.¡±

    ¡°Uh.  Sorry.  Sudyin.¡±  He swallowed.  ¡°Ah, STUDYING.  I¡¯ve been studying the trader archives for designs.¡±

    ¡°Just looking at design docs?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±  He managed to get three more bites in.  ¡°Did you know that you can look at ANY design in the system?  For free?¡±

    Ramona laughed at his earnest expression.  ¡°Well, yes.  How else would we buy and sell them?¡±

    ¡°Hah, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯ve been doing that since we got the comm system working?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°For a month?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I guess.  There are a lot of them.  Took me forever to read them all.¡±

    ¡°All?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  I mean all the ones for sale.  Not the ones that have expired.¡±

    ¡°Wait, aren¡¯t there thousands of them?¡±

    ¡°Fifteen thousand, four hundred and thirty.¡±

    ¡°And you read them all?¡±

    ¡°Ya.  I kept forgetting to eat and stuff.  Man, I¡¯m super hungry.¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°Uh, doesn¡¯t everyone?¡±

    ¡°No, not all of them, just the ones we are working on at the time.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I guess that¡¯s easier.  My da would have whupped me if I didn¡¯t know how all our products work.  He would quiz me over dinner and stuff.¡±

    ¡°And how many things did your da sell?¡±

    ¡°About five hundred.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±  Ramona looked at her coffee again.  Normally Wilson¡¯s exuberant attitude made her happy.  It was usually fun to be around him, like having a puppy.  Sometimes he made a mess but he was so enthusiastic, it was hard to stay mad.  Today, she just kept turning back to what she had to do.  She unconsciously let out a sigh.

    ¡°Oh, ah, Ramona, are you OK?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine Toby.¡±

    ¡°Beggin yer pardon, you don¡¯t sound fine.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡±

    ¡°My da used to say that if it¡¯s complicated, talkin¡¯ it through can uncomplicate things.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because you like Leo and he doesn¡¯t like you, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Toby!  Where did you get an idea like that?¡±

    ¡°Uh, ah, I am a bit slow, but I ain¡¯t deaf, dumb and stupid.  I can see and hear stuff.  This here ship ain¡¯t that big and there are only four of you traders on it.¡±

    ¡°Well, yes.  I need to go home to Raeburn.  I asked Leo to come with me, but I don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to.¡±

    ¡°You need to go because you¡¯re a Seeker?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  I swore an oath.¡±

    ¡°Swore an oath to do what?¡±

    ¡°To seek out and find the secret of quantum communications.¡±

    ¡°Seems tah me that you done that.¡±

    ¡°Well, I think you did.¡±

    ¡°Uh, well, I¡¯m just stubborn.  You found tha thingamajoober.¡±

    ¡°Thingamajoober?¡±

    ¡°Uh, I guess it needs a name.¡±

    ¡°Quantum comm relay?¡±

    ¡°Sure, I guess.¡±  Wilson kept eating for a few minutes.  ¡°But that isn¡¯t really the thing, is it?¡±

    ¡°What isn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m pretty sure you didn¡¯t swear an oath to allow the guild to kill everyone on Raeburn.¡±

    ¡°What, no.  What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean to teach ya how to suck eggs, but it seems like the Guild would do whatever it takes to keep that there secret you told me about.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±  Ramona did a double take.  ¡°Suck eggs?¡±

    Wilson shrugged.  ¡°Don¡¯t change the subject, it seems tah me that that would include glassing Raeburn.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°They did that before.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    ¡°Ya, Craig told me.¡±

    Ramona pressed the comm on the table.  ¡°Craig, get your ass to Caf¨¦ one.¡±

    The voice that came back had a bit of a chuckle in it.  ¡°Is that the proper form of address for a Master Trader, Journeyman Eddington?¡±

    ¡°Craig, I swear I will push you out of an airlock if you are not here in five minutes.¡±

    He was there in three.  He strolled in quite casually and sat down next to Wilson.  ¡°I just love passionate women, don¡¯t you Wilson?¡±

    ¡°Oh ah, yes, I mean I don¡¯t know Master Trader.¡±

    ¡°Craig, did you tell Wilson that the Guild has glassed entire planets?¡±

    ¡°Well, yes.  They have.  That was one argument in favor of banning worlds.  Much more humane than glassing them.¡±

    Leo and Ollu walked in, chatting about what they had heard on the station.  Seeing Ramona¡¯s obvious distress, they walked over to the table where Ramona, Wilson and Craig were sitting.  ¡°You OK?¡±

    ¡°No.  No, I¡¯m not.¡±

    Leo looked at Craig who shook his head.  ¡°Wilson?¡±

    ¡°Uh, I think she¡¯s upset because the Guild is gonna glass Raeburn.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Craig made a shushing motion.  ¡°OK, everyone calm down.  Leo, Ollu, sit down.¡±  They both sat with growing looks of concern.  ¡°Look, I am very concerned about the direction the Guild is taking.  I have become convinced that the Guild needs to be burned down to the ground.  However, most people in the guild are good people.  They¡¯re not going to resort to mass murder unless they see no other path.¡±

    ¡°No other path to what?¡±

    ¡°To keeping quantum comms a secret.¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°It¡¯s hard for me to believe that the Guild knows about quantum comms and has been keeping it secret all this time.¡±

    ¡°How else do you explain it?¡±

    ¡°Never ascribe to malice what can be explained through stupidity.¡±  Leo shrugged and flung his hands up.  ¡°Hell, I always assumed quantum comms didn¡¯t work.  I never actually tested it.  Perhaps that¡¯s been happening for hundreds of years?¡±

    Ramona¡¯s strategic planning training had been running through her head lately but she¡¯d been too distracted to pay attention.  ¡°Let¡¯s break this down.  Talk about what we know, what we don¡¯t know and what our possible outcomes are.¡±  She looked at Wilson.  ¡°Perhaps talking it through will uncomplicate things.¡±  Wilson grinned back at her.

    Leo held up a finger.  ¡°One, we are currently banned.   We cannot operate this vessel indefinitely without income.  Two, we know that quantum comms works and we have a working model.  Three, we think the guild MAY have been acting to suppress that knowledge.¡±

    Ramona held up four fingers.  ¡°Four, we have a duty; or rather I have a duty to report that fact back to my brother and sister seekers.¡±

    Ollu held up five fingers.  ¡°Five, we know epsilon is real but that English bastard over there won¡¯t give it to us.¡±

    Wilson looked around the table.  ¡°Well you can solve one with two.¡±

    Leo just blinked.  ¡°Come again?¡±

    Wilson looked embarrassed.  ¡°Well, it seems tah me that the, uh, ah ¡®Quantum Comms Relay¡¯ is worth quite a bit, ah, Master Trader Timur.¡±

    ¡°But we don¡¯t own it.¡±

    Ollu laughed.  ¡°But we could.¡±

    ¡°We could?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s banned?¡±

    ¡°Ya, so are we, genius.¡±

    ¡°But, but, who would we sell it to?¡±

    Ramona laughed outright.  ¡°Raeburn.¡±

    ¡°Holy shit.¡±

 Duty

    Earth Governments

    Unlike most human settled solar systems, Sol and specifically Earth have hundreds of local polities. These are referred to as ¡°Governments¡± on earth and throughout the sol system. Because these government structures predate the space age, they vary in operation to a greater degree that is typical with modern polity structures. Great care should be taken when entering Sol system or Earth to ensure that local laws and customs are not violated. Because these Government structures are often armed with local military organizations, they can be extremely hazardous to Guild vessels and members. Care should be taken when entering the Sol system.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    Leonard found the Brigadier in his usual spot when he was moping around. The Brigadier was standing in one of the several parks on the station, just staring at the stars. Leonard was pretty sure he had been standing there for at least an hour, perhaps two.

    ¡°Why do you do this?¡±

    The Brigadier didn¡¯t look back to Leonard. ¡°Duty. You know as well as I do that I will do my duty.¡±

    ¡°No matter what?¡±

    ¡°I swore an oath.¡±

    Leonard put his hand on the Brigdier¡¯s shoulder. A very familiar gesture that would have surprised an outsider.

    ¡°Vishnu, you¡¯re a proud bastard, but you¡¯ve gone beyond even your own absurd standard of service.¡± The Brigadier turned to look at him finally. ¡°Isn¡¯t fifty years as a stalking goat enough for you?¡±

    The Brigadier just shook his head. ¡°I would stay out here until the day I died if it kept the peace.¡±

    ¡°Would?¡±

    The Brigadier sighed. ¡°Leonard old son, our vigil is over. Our mission to keep the peace has failed.¡±

    Leonard nodded, his face solemn. ¡°It¡¯s war then?¡±

    The Brigadier visibly straitened. ¡°It is.¡±

 Pack Heat

    Guild Data Integrity

    In order to maintain an Interstellar trading system, it is vital that the distributed databases that the Guild trading system is built on remain stable and accurate at all times.  For this reason, all Guild ships MUST comply with Guild technical standards at all times.  System updates MUST be applied as specified in the update instructions.  Any ship found to be lax in implementation of system level updates will be removed from the trading system until they come into compliance.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Back to Upsilon Irridini was almost a full month.  It gave the traders onboard plenty of time to talk and discuss what they would do next.  As Leo reviewed their planned course to UI, he remembered his experience on buoy six.  He turned to Ollu.  ¡°Do you really believe Craig that the Guild has glassed planets before?  I¡¯ve never heard that.¡±

    Ollu put down the pad she had been examining.  ¡°I don¡¯t really know.  Craig tends to mix fantasy and reality a bit but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever caught him outright lying to us before.¡±

    ¡°True.¡±

    Leo fiddled with his pad for a moment.  ¡°So, were those Guild assassins we ran into on buoy six?¡±

    Ollu put her pad down.  ¡°I doubt it.  Much easier to hire that type of work out.¡±

    ¡°But you think the guild was behind it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it makes sense.  If you are willing to take out an entire data ark to keep a secret, why not hire a team to be sure there is no trail of breadcrumbs pointing to the device?¡±

    ¡°So, what are the odds that the person we¡¯re looking for is still there?¡±

    ¡°Not great, but what else can we do?¡±

    Leo had another thought.  ¡°Is that why Thorsten specifically asked me to take Ramona with me?  To get her out of the way?¡±

    Ollu sighed.   ¡°Well, if they wanted her dead, they could achieve that several ways.  Doesn¡¯t seem likely that Thorsten would intentionally send her into a system with a known Quantum comms design running around.¡±

    Leo nodded.   ¡°True.¡±

    ¡°Probably he just wanted to see what would happen.  The masters don¡¯t really think Raeburn is a threat anymore, just a curiosity.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯re about to MAKE them a threat, aren¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Well, yes.¡±

    ¡°So, do we really want to do that?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Basically, our choice is to run away or to destroy the guild.¡±

    ¡°But how do we do that, we don¡¯t have epsilon.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about that.  In some ways, knowing epsilon exists makes making a new epsilon much easier.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°Well, we know that the vulnerabilities are there.  We also know that they¡¯re pretty basic architectural problems or the Guild would have fixed it by now.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°How do we know they didn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Vishnu is pretty confident.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but he seems like a nutter.¡±

    ¡°A very skilled and competent nutter.¡±

    ¡°OK, fair.¡±

    ¡°One thing that I¡¯ve been struggling with for months is the way the ship was rigged to blow.  Everything else the Guild has done has been super logical once you know what they know.  However, blowing up an empty ship that they¡¯ve already hidden doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, if you assume the same folks who we met on UI-6 were the ones who took the ship, then they could have just gone back for it.¡±

    ¡°Probably that was their plan, eventually.  Just fly it into a star.¡±

    ¡°So, it was really just parked there temporarily while they cleaned up the records in UI.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°So, why booby trap it?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°They were under orders.¡±

    ¡°Orders for what?¡±

    ¡°To ensure that if someone found the ship it would blow up.¡±

    ¡°But that was super unlikely.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°So, the danger to the guild must be massive also.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.  The ship is a danger to them.¡±

    ¡°Because of Quantum Comms?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.  But it seems like the ship it¡¯s self is a danger.  Otherwise, why not just destroy the modules and move on?¡±

    ¡°So, the ship had to be destroyed.¡±

    Leo tapped a com panel.  ¡°Ramona, can you join Ollu and me in conference six?¡±

    Once Ramona arrived, Leo brought her up to speed with their train of thought.  ¡°So, if we take the position that the ship is a danger to the guild just be existing, where does that leave us?¡±

    Ramona thought for a while.   ¡°Well, if I was still in the Guard, I would DEFINITELY want to get my hands on one.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because you can learn things about your enemy.  Find their weaknesses, things like that.¡±

    ¡°But this ship doesn¡¯t have any weapons.¡±

    Ramona smiled.  ¡°Sure it does.  This entire ship is a weapon.¡±  Leo just looked confused.  ¡°The most powerful weapon known to man:  information.  The Guild maintains power because they own the IP, they control it.  Without that control, the Guild dies.¡±

    ¡°So, the thing the Guild fears most is?¡±

    ¡°Losing control of the IP.¡±

    ¡°Epsilon.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Epsilon is the thing they fear.  Even more than quantum.¡±

    ¡°And yet, Vishnu is still alive.¡±

    ¡°Notice that he doesn¡¯t live on earth?  He lives in a brightly lit target.¡±

    ¡°Literally.¡±

    ¡°So, he¡¯s their canary.  Just sitting there, ready to be taken out.¡±

    ¡°And if he is killed?¡±

    ¡°I am assuming that if he¡¯s killed they release epsilon.¡±

    ¡°So, we just go kill Vishnu?¡±

    Ollu laughed.  ¡°Not sure if I like where your head is at Ramona.  No, I think that we make our own.¡±

    ¡°How do we do that?¡±

    ¡°With this ship.¡±

    ¡°The ship?¡±

    ¡°Well, the Guild obviously thinks it¡¯s possible.  We know it was done before.¡±

    ¡°I think this is beyond our capability.¡±

    ¡°Ya, we need a hacker.¡±

    ¡°There is an entire hacking division back in the Raeburn Guard.  They would do it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I want my fate in the hands of the Raeburn Guard.  No offense Ramona.¡±

    ¡°None taken, I¡¯m not sure if I want my fate in their hands either, that¡¯s one reason I left.¡±

    ¡°I had assumed you were still active duty, just on assignment here.¡±

    ¡°What?   No.¡± Ramona shrugged.  ¡°I¡¯m on a Seeker mission, like I told you.¡±

    Leo nodded.  ¡°Oh.¡±

    Ramona turned to him.  ¡°Oh?¡±

    Leo held up his hands in submission.  ¡°Ramona, please don¡¯t get mad at me again.  All this stuff is coming at me from left field.  If you say you¡¯re doing all this because you¡¯re a Seeker, then OK.  I believe you.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°And..¡±  Leo wrung his hands with nervous energy.  ¡°And, I¡¯m with you.   If you want to go to Raeburn, then I want that also.¡±

    Ramona smiled and put her hand over Leo¡¯s.  ¡°Thank you Leo.  I appreciate that.¡±

    Ollu smiled.  ¡°Do I need to leave now?¡±

    Ramona just laughed.  ¡°One thing at a time.  We need to get the Quantum Comms Patent.  If we own that, we can go to Raeburn and name our terms.¡±

    ¡°And what about epsilon?¡±

    ¡°I think we explore it, better to have it and not need it than need it but don¡¯t have it.¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°Makes sense.  If we have a weapon to keep the Guild in check, we don¡¯t have to use it.¡±

    Leo nodded also.  ¡°OK.  I like that plan.  We are ready to defend ourselves as needed but we don¡¯t have to destroy the Guild, just use it as leverage.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    The comm panel chimed.  ¡°Captain, dropping out of FTL.  Latency envelope in four hours.¡±

    Ollu acknowledged the report and turned to Ramona again.  ¡°What are the odds that our IP holder is still alive?¡±

    Ramona shrugged.  ¡°Not amazing, but what else can we do but look?¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    As soon as they entered the latency envelope to the nearest Guild buoy (number 9 in this case), they started interrogating the local system to find the IP holder.  It wasn¡¯t super hard, he was registered in the system and had provided electronic and physical addresses as part of the IP sale process.  Of course, nobody answered their messages.

    ¡°So, do we go over there?¡±  Ramona, Ollu and Leo were sitting in Caf¨¦ one over cups of coffee trying to decide their next move.  The IP owner, a person named Marcus Vinogradov, lived in a hab orbiting the sixth planet.

    Leo shrugged.  ¡°Easy enough, assuming that nobody is looking for him or for us.¡±

    Ollu drank the last of her coffee.  ¡°Take a BR and pack heat.¡±

    ¡°Roger that.¡±

 Bohemia

    Guild Member Dependents

    Members of a Guild member¡¯s immediate family are authorized to live on Guild ships starting at Journeyman level. Each ship may set policy around quartering and board of fare but it is generally recommended that immediate family members be treated equally to their Guild head of household. It is ultimately up to the Guild Master of each ship to ensure the health and welfare of all the Guild members and their dependents.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Once again, Leo found himself on the boat deck in a suit liner with a holster on his hip. He was starting to get used to it. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing. The BR sitting on the launch apron looked vaguely menacing with it¡¯s plasma emitters and massive engine nacelles. Much more intimidating than a standard unarmed Guild shuttle that he was used to piloting.

    As they completed the checklist, he went inside the little ship and through the main companionway into the bridge as Ramona sealed up the entry port. The small bridge looked similar to a Guild shuttle but had large weapons consoles to each side of the pilot¡¯s couches in addition to the standard navigation consoles. He wasn¡¯t too worried about those, Ramona would do any shooting required. All he had to do was pilot the ship to Bohemia hab.

    Ramona swung into her couch and started strapping in. ¡°What the heck is a Bohemia anyway?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a place on old earth.¡±

    ¡°Ya?¡±

    ¡°Ya. I looked it up. I didn¡¯t know either.¡±

    ¡°Wonder why they named their hab after a place on old earth?¡±

    ¡°No idea. Apparently, it¡¯s a co-op.¡±

    ¡°Co-op?¡±

    ¡°Ya, the hab is owned by the residents.¡±

    ¡°Oh, a common stock operation.¡±

    ¡°No, you have to live there.¡±

    ¡°Funky.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    They had a stunning view of the gas giant as they came over the terminus to the day side on their way around to where the hab was orbiting. The planet was banded like Jupiter, thick bands running parallel to the equator of deep ochre fading into red. The planet also had a pretty impressive ring system and at least a dozen moons. Quite the spectacle.

    ¡°Bohemia control, this is Bravo Romeo oh niner with you at one million klicks.¡±

    Leo waited the six seconds for his signal to get to the hab and a signal to return. Waited another 30. After a full minute, he tried again. Still no answer.

    ¡°Do you have the right freq?¡±

    ¡°Dunno, did you look it up?¡±

    ¡°Says one five nine point seven.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Strange.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps they don¡¯t get many visitors?¡±

    Leo kept trying every few minutes. After a while they could see it out the viewport and the latency was down to basically zero. ¡°Bohemia, Bohemia. Do you read me? Please respond.¡±

    Finally a sleepy sounding laconic voice came on the circuit. ¡°Yeah, dude. What¡¯s up?¡±

    Leo just looked at Ramona, not sure he heard it correctly. ¡°Ah. Am I reaching Bohemia Habitation Approach Control?¡±

    A long pause. ¡°Duuuuude. Don¡¯t harsh my mellow, man.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t understand your last.¡±

    What sounded like a long sigh. ¡°Duude. You in that ship out there?¡±

    ¡°Yes. This is Bravo Romeo oh niner, requesting approach vector and docking.¡±

    ¡°You the cops, man?¡±

    ¡°The cops?¡±

    ¡°Ya, cops, rozzers, the man. You know, the PO LEESE.¡±

    ¡°No, we¡¯re with the spacer¡¯s guild.¡±

    ¡°Oh, cool man.¡±

    Silence.

    ¡°Bohemia Control, this is BR oh niner, request approach vector and docking. Please respond.¡±

    ¡°Fuck, man, you are super uptight. You can park your ride on dock six.¡±

    ¡°Roger, dock six, will advise when locked.¡±

    ¡°Whatever, man.¡±

    Leo had no idea if the person he was talking to even knew what an approach vector was, but the system did seem to be working and the BR got a valid approach vector from the hab¡¯s control system. As they got closer, a docking bay with a large six painted on it started flashing green, a good sign. When the ship finally locked on with a hard CLANG, Leo let out a breath he hadn¡¯t realized he¡¯d been holding.

    ¡°Well, the systems seem to be working even if the controllers aren¡¯t.¡±

    Ramona started putting a jacket and pants on over her suit liner. ¡°That controller sounded stoned to me.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve run into worse when I was in the Guard. Drunk, stoned, high, I¡¯ve seen people operate ships in all kinds of reduced capacities.¡±

    ¡°That would explain it.¡±

    Leo and Ramona had agreed to keep a ¡°low profile¡± on the station by dressing in civilian clothes and concealing their weapons. They still had their suit liners on if they needed to get out in a hurry, but by wearing more normal hab clothing they hoped to blend in a bit.

    They needn¡¯t have bothered.

    Leo couldn¡¯t help but stare as they walked into the main part of the hab. Everyone had long, unkempt hair. Men wore long shaggy beards. Dozens of children ran around shrieking with laughter, pursuing games only they understood. Barefoot and dirty, the children looked like pre-spacefaring primitives, not like the relatively well groomed and well behaved children of the Guild. Living in a spaceship meant that children had to understand and OBEY the rules at all times. Lack of obedience in space can be deadly. The residents of Bohemia apparently didn¡¯t know or didn¡¯t care that space could be deadly for children left unsupervised.

    The pair were ignored completely despite standing out like sore thumbs. They were able to navigate the hab and eventually found the home of Marcus Vinogradov. Except, of course, he wasn¡¯t there. Leo pressed the call button several times, but he was pretty sure the apartment was empty.

    ¡°Yo man, you lookin¡¯ for Marcus?¡±

    Leo turned to the bearded man coming out of the doorway across the hall. ¡°Yes, do you know if he¡¯s home?¡±

    ¡°Naw, I don¡¯t think so man. Haven¡¯t seen him in a while.¡± He reached over and pushed the door open. He leaned into the apartment and let out a bellow. ¡°YO!! MARCUS!! YOU DEAD?¡± Laughing, he turned back to Leo. ¡°Marcus is a strange dude. Neat, freak, you know?¡± With that comment he wandered off, leaving the door open.

    Leo looked at Ramona who shook her head. ¡°I guess we can go in.¡±

    ¡°I guess so.¡±

    Entering the small apartment, they looked around. It was surprisingly ordinary. Very clean, even by Leo¡¯s standards. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what I expected, but this could be my mom¡¯s quarters on the Connie.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not Bohemian. They¡¯re dirtyfoots.¡± The small high pitched voice startled Leo so much that he jumped. Turning, they found a child. A little girl with tangled blonde hair and freckles. She was barefoot and wearing a flower printed dress that had definitely seen better days. ¡°That¡¯s what momma said, ¡®dirtyfoot.¡¯ Is that a bad word?¡±

    Ramona went down on one knee so she could look the child in the eye. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say it¡¯s a bad word, but you might hurt their feelings if you call them that.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°Do you know the people who live here?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah. I live there.¡± She pointed vaguely to her left. ¡°Momma says I can play grenn-ball with Leah if she¡¯s home.¡± She looked around. ¡°Is Leah home?¡±

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°No, sweetheart, I don¡¯t think so. We were looking for her daddy.¡±

    ¡°Oh Mister Marcus is NEVER HERE.¡± She nodded with emphasis so much that her hair completely obscured her face. ¡°Mamma says he¡¯s obsessioned.¡±

    ¡°Obsessed?¡±

    ¡°Ha ha. Ya, that¡¯s a funny word. Obsessed.¡± She said it a few more times, trying the word out.

    ¡°Do you know where Mister Marcus usually is?¡±

    ¡°Oh, mama says he¡¯s in his lab all the times. All the times.¡±

    ¡°In his lab?¡±

    ¡°Ya, in his lab. You know, the oort astranoomy lab?¡±

    ¡°Oort astronomy lab?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what mamma says.¡±

    ¡°Is your mamma home now?¡±

    ¡°No, she¡¯s at work.¡±

    ¡°Ok sweetheart. Thank you for helping us.¡±

    ¡°I like helping people.¡±

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re good at it. Maybe you¡¯ll be a teacher when you grow up.¡±

    ¡°Oh no, then I¡¯d be like mean old Miss Peabody. Telling all the children to sit and be quiet.¡± A dramatic shudder. ¡°She¡¯s the meanest old lady ever.¡±

    Leo and Ramona went back into the corridor and closed the door. There was nothing to learn in there. The little girl was staring at Ramona with unfeigned interest. ¡°Are you gonna help Mister Marcus like the other diamond lady?¡±

    Ramona stopped as if struck. Keeping herself under strict control, she turned back to the child. ¡°Other diamond lady?¡±

    The child stuck out a dirty finger and pointed to the small diamond tattoo on Ramona¡¯s face. ¡°The other lady had a diamond on her face like that. Do you know her?¡±

    Ramona smiled. ¡°Yes, sweetheart, we¡¯re kinda like sisters.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good.¡± With a shy smile she wandered off down the hallway.

    ¡°Leo, we need to go. NOW.¡±

    Leo had promised himself to listen when Ramona was concerned so he didn¡¯t argue. Ramona didn¡¯t say a word, just quick marched back to the ship as fast as she could without running. They disconnected in record time and were a thousand klicks from the hab before he finally couldn¡¯t stand it.

    ¡°What is it? What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°The Guard is here. Special forces.¡± She pointed to her tattoo. ¡°This is a Special Forces selection mark. Someone from the Raeburn Guard Special Forces was here.¡±

    ¡°What? Why would they be here?¡±

    ¡°Same as us. Looking for Mister Marcus.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡±

    Leo ramped up the gravimetrics to maximum. He had a feeling they needed to be back at the ship, pronto.

    Ramona was sitting in her couch, a thoughtful expression on her face. ¡°Hmmm. I wonder.¡±

    ¡°Wonder what?¡±

    ¡°Well there are certain protocols to follow if you get separated from your unit when operating in a foreign system.¡±

    ¡°Protocols?¡±

    ¡°Yes, ways to get in touch using civilian comms. You know, in case your comms are lost, damaged or compromised.¡±

    ¡°Oh yes, of course.¡±

    ¡°Hey, this used to be my business.¡±

    ¡°Yep. Right.¡± Leo checked their course. ¡°So, protocols?¡±

    Ramona turned to the terminal and logged into the local system network. Started a search. ¡°Yes, there are key words we are supposed to use. You leave them in message forums. The message looks normal, but if you know what to look for it will tell you how to exfil.¡±

    ¡°Exfil?¡±

    ¡°Exfiltrate. You know, leave. Go home.¡±

    ¡°And do you think that¡¯s what they¡¯re doing?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but if we show up at the exfil site, we can get into contact.¡±

    ¡°Is that what we want to do?¡±

    ¡°I think they have Marcus.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    After much searching of local social forums and for sale ads, Ramona discovered what she was looking for. ¡°OK, there¡¯s a bar on Neston hab. That¡¯s where we need to go.¡±

    ¡°A bar?¡±

    ¡°Good place for an exfil. You can wander in, sit for a minute for a whole day. Nobody will say anything. Lots of people coming and going.¡±

    Leo was working out astrogation. The Neston hab was in system from Bohemia. Luckily, it was on the same side of the star that they were currently on, but still a full day¡¯s travel. ¡°OK, looks like about 26 hours if we max the gravimetric drives.¡± Gravimetrics had made interplanetary travel a practical reality, but a solar system was still a very big place. Journeys of several days from one planet to another were not uncommon in many systems.

    Apparently, Bohemia was not typical for the system. ¡°Neston Control, this is Bravo Romeo oh niner with you at one million klicks.¡±

    About thirty one seconds later, ¡°Bravo Romeo, we have you on the scope. Engage approach control.¡±

    ¡°Roger Neston, we have a good handshake.¡±

    And that was that. The automated system did its normal efficient job and directed them to a docking ring on the cylindrical hab¡¯s outer surface. This hab obviously used artificial gravity like a starship, it was basically a giant pressure vessel in space. It was orbiting a small rocky world which the hab residents clearly didn¡¯t care about, the hab had only a small smattering of windows or other external ports.

    Once locked on with the ship¡¯s systems safed, Leo and Ramona once again dressed in civilian clothes and concealed their weapons. The bar in question was very near the docks, probably a hangout for spacers or other transients. As they made their way around the curve of the station docks, Leo couldn¡¯t help but notice random spacers standing around. Normally, spacers on a station were always moving. If you¡¯re tied up to a station, you¡¯re not making money. Time in dock was wasted time to be minimized. Not time to just idly stand around.

    ¡°Ramona¡­.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I see them.¡±

    As they got closer to the bar they were looking for, Leo could hear the music. He could feel it also. A deep bass beat that hit him in the chest with each thumping low note. Then he smelled it. Stale beer, sweat and¡­ was that piss? He shared a look with Ramona. She just nodded grimly.

    Once inside, the music was painfully loud and the smell worse. Ramona made a beeline for a booth towards the back, where she could sit with her back to the wall and see the door. She picked the right seat, keeping her gun hand free. Leo sat beside her, unsure if he would be any help if a gunfight broke out but determined to keep his eyes open so nobody was able to sneak up on Ramona.

    Using the console in the tabletop, Ramona ordered a couple of beers for them without consulting with Leo. He looked a question to her. ¡°We¡¯re not going to drink them anyway, it¡¯s just camouflage.¡±

    Once the beer came, Ramona picked hers up and put it to her lips, but the glass was still pretty much full. Leo figured out what she was doing and did the same. Holding the beer to his lips, he realized the smell wasn¡¯t piss, it was the beer. If he wasn¡¯t already convinced, the smell confirmed that he wouldn¡¯t be eating or drinking anything in this place.

    Casually, Ramona picked up a paper napkin from the table and began to fiddle with it. After a few minutes, she had folded it into a rough diamond shape. She leaned over to shout into Leo¡¯s ear. ¡°Now we wait.¡±

    ¡°For what?¡±

    Ramona just shook her head. Casually, she picked up her beer and held it down under the table. When she put it back, half was gone. Leo watched her and did the same, pouring half of it out under the table. After what seemed like hours of anxious waiting but was probably less than twenty minutes, a drunk shambled over to their table and put his face inches from Ramona¡¯s.

    ¡°Hey sugar hips, wanna dance?¡±

    ¡°Fuck off.¡± Ramona gave a shove that should have knocked him over but only pushed him back about a foot.

    The drunk grinned. ¡°I like that kinda dancing.¡±

    Ramona slowly stood up, she was at least six inches shorter and probably a hundred pounds lighter than the drunk. ¡°I said.. FUCK.. OFF..¡±

    ¡°Ha. That¡¯s the idea, sister.¡± The drunk took a wild swing at Ramona¡¯s head. She leaned back, out of the way and grabbed his arm as it went past her. Using his own momentum against him, she grabbed his upper arm and pushed him in the direction of the swing. The combination of his own wild swing and Ramona¡¯s expert judo move sent him tumbling down onto the table, beer flying in every direction. Leo rolled to his left, trying to get out of the way. The drunk twisted around and reached out with amazing quickness to grab Ramona¡¯s arm. With a grunt, he tossed her like a rag doll. Ramona rolled as she hit the ground, spinning to face him from the doorway. With a yell, he got to his feet and charged her. Grabbing her around her midsection, he hit her in a flying tackle that carried both of them out of the bar and into the corridor.

    Leo drew his pistol and ran after them. By the time he had gotten to his feet and out of the door, Ramona and the drunk had rolled down the corridor and into an alcove. Leo kept running and darted around the corner after them, weapon drawn.

    ¡°Leo, put that gun down!¡± Aiming the gun at the deck, he was surprised to see Ramona and the drunk sitting on the deck, both of them smiling.

    The drunk was rubbing his arm. ¡°Specialist Eddington, it¡¯s nice to see you again. I think you may have dislocated my shoulder.¡±

    ¡°Sorry sarge, just trying to sell it to the local yokels.¡±

    Leo took a second to figure out what was going on. ¡°You¡¯re from the Guard?¡±

    The drunk¡­ or rather the Sargent got a cold look on his face. ¡°Who¡¯s the wimp? Smells like guild.¡±

    ¡°Relax sarge, he¡¯s with me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the way this works Eddington, you know that.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s running this det? Lou?¡±

    ¡°No, Tex.¡±

    ¡°LT Ornasis?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Captain Ornasis now.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not that bad, he¡¯s grown up a bit since you saw him.¡±

    ¡°Does he still quote regulations every five seconds?¡±

    ¡°Down to once or twice a day now.¡±

    ¡°Well, this isn¡¯t a by the book problem I have.¡±

    ¡°What, you found a working quantum comms device?¡± The big man laughed, obviously quite pleased with himself.

    ¡°Actually, yes.¡±

    The Sargent abruptly stopped laughing. ¡°No fucking way.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡±

    Leo was getting antsy. ¡°Isn¡¯t there someplace we can talk more privately?¡±

    Ramona stood up and offered a hand. ¡°Sargent Ramirez, I have a story for you.¡±

    If anything, Sargent Ramirez looked even bigger crammed into the tiny galley on the BR. Cradling a cup of coffee, he just stared at Ramona. ¡°So, you¡¯re telling me the freaky geek wasn¡¯t lying?¡±

    ¡°Freaky geek?¡±

    ¡°Vinogradov. The hippy.¡±

    ¡°Hippy?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, have you been to Bohemia station? They¡¯re all hippies there.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve met him?¡±

    ¡°Yeah we have him on ice in a safe house. After the Guild kill squad went after him, we figured that he may have something, but then when we tested the device it was a dry hole. You know, the usual score.¡±

    Leo was becoming more and more confused. ¡°Kill squad?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you know, the dudes who kill people the Guild doesn¡¯t like.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Ramona placed her hand on Leo¡¯s arm. ¡°Leo, you met one. On buoy six.¡±

    Suddenly something clicked. ¡°Is that why?¡±

    ¡°Why what?¡±

    ¡°Why the masters didn¡¯t ask where they had come from or why they were on the buoy.¡±

    ¡°Yes, they knew very well why they were there.¡±

    Leo looked at Ramirez. ¡°So, what? You run around the galaxy rescuing IP holders the Guild is trying to kill?¡±

    Ramirez laughed. ¡°Well, we started off with every quantum comms IP holder we could find. However, it turns out that most of them are nuts.¡± He took a big slurp of his coffee. ¡°Once we figured out that some of the folks we talked to were winding up very dead, we realized the Guild had kill squads running around. Seemed to us like they knew something we didn¡¯t. So, we decided to tail them. Mebbee they know more than we do.¡± He shrugged. ¡°This is our third one, no joy. We are pulling out.¡±

    Ramona put her coffee down. ¡°But this one works.¡±

    Ramirez shook his head. ¡°Nah. The freak has been trying to make it work for us again for a month. I¡¯m tellin¡¯ ya, no joy.¡±

    ¡°Where was this?¡±

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°Ya, where did he try to replicate his results.¡±

    ¡°In the safe house, like I told ya.¡±

    ¡°And where is that?¡±

    ¡°Oh no, that¡¯s a step too far. You¡¯re not even in the Guard anymore. Court-martial is one thing; if I give you the guy I¡¯ll be shot. Fuck, I¡¯d have to shoot myself.¡±

    Ramona waved a placating hand. ¡°Relax. Just answer one thing, was it inside the e-limit?¡±

    ¡°What? Of course. There ain¡¯t no habs out past the e-limit.¡±

    Leo smacked the table. ¡°Oort astronomy lab.¡±

    Ramirez looked puzzled. ¡°No guesses, not gonna tell ya.¡±

    Ramona laughed. ¡°No sarge, that¡¯s where he worked. Wanna guess where it is?¡±

    ¡°Oort cloud?¡±

    ¡°Ya. You know, outside the e-limit.¡± She leaned over the table. ¡°So, was it inside the e-limit?¡±

    Ramirez grinned. ¡°Guess it¡¯s no harm, ya, we stashed him in a hab. So, ya, inside the e-limit.¡±

    Ramona looked at the ceiling. ¡°God in heaven. Could it be that simple?¡±

    Leo just nodded. ¡°Seems to be.¡±

    Now Ramirez was confused. ¡°What?¡±

    Ramona smiled. ¡°The device. It only works outside the e-limit. My guess is that Vinogradov was tinkering around with this thing while on duty at the Oort station. He makes it work there, comes home, tries to reproduce the result but he can¡¯t. Meanwhile, you jokers show up and stash him in a safe house that¡¯s also inside the e-limit. He tries to make it work, but still can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You mean the doohicky works?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And how the fuck do you know that?¡±

    ¡°We tried it.¡±

    ¡°We?¡±

    ¡°Ya, we. On a Guild Data Ark.¡±

    ¡°Guild Ark?¡±

    ¡°Are you gonna just repeat everything I say but as a question?¡±

    ¡°Just back the fuck up. How did you get here and why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a Seeker.¡±

    ¡°Ya, so what?¡±

    ¡°This is Seeker business.¡±

    ¡°Well shit.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re done with Vinogradov, I want him. I have an offer he can¡¯t refuse.¡±

    ¡°A bullet to the head?¡±

    ¡°No sarge. Guilders. More Guilders than he has ever seen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna buy it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then what?¡±

    ¡°Then we end the guild and get rich.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Leo grimaced.  ¡°I don¡¯t advise you use that answer, Ramirez.¡±

 Data Transfer

    Travel to Banned Worlds

    While Guild members are not prohibited from traveling to banned systems, it is not recommended.  Because banned worlds have no business relationship with the Guild, their reaction to Guild members is unpredictable.  It is also common for banned systems to harbor negative opinions about the Guild and this may be expressed as hostility or even violence against Guild members.  In most cases, Guild members should avoid banned systems or disguise the fact that they are Guild members while in those systems.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    In the end, Ramirez hadn¡¯t been willing to violate his orders and give the location of their ¡°guest¡± up to Leo and Ramona.  He had, however, agreed to take a message for Vinogradov.  After spending half an hour figuring out what to say, they passed the message along to Ramirez.  Now, they had to wait.

    Leo wasn¡¯t good at just sitting around.  ¡°Should we go back to the Theo?¡±

    Ramona has half asleep on an acceleration couch but opened an eye at Leo¡¯s question.  ¡°Why bother?  He could be right here on this hab.  Wait until we know the score, then we move.¡±

    Leo sat down and fiddled with a console.  ¡°I get bored easily.¡±

    Ramona shrugged.  ¡°Go wander around the station, get drunk, get laid.  Do whatever, just be ready to move if we get a call.¡±

    ¡°Get laid?¡±

    Ramona opened both eyes.  ¡°Leo, you¡¯re an adult.  I don¡¯t have any claim on you.¡±

    ¡°But, you want me to come with you to Raeburn, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Leo.  I want you to come with me.  I hope that we can have something together.¡±

    Leo looked down, still confused about his feelings.  ¡°Me too.  I think technically, you still work for me though.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Leo nodded.  ¡°OK, let¡¯s figure out all this business with the guild and the quantum comms.  We¡¯ll have time for us later.¡±

    Ramona smiled.  ¡°That would be nice, something to look forward to.¡±

    To Leo it seemed like ages has passed but it was only about six hours when the answer came back.

    ¡°Yes!  He¡¯s in!  He¡¯s willing to sell to us for a million guilders.¡±  Ramona slapped her hands together with glee.

    Leo just shook his head.  ¡°A million?  That¡¯s insane.¡±

    ¡°Leo, if this works the Guilder will be completely worthless.  Give him a billion Guilders.  Who cares?¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    Ramona sat down across from Leo in the small galley.  ¡°Leo, if we bust open the guild, the entire system goes.  The Guild controls their own currency.  Once their monopoly on IP is removed, why would anyone use Guilders again?¡±

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°But how would they trade across systems without Guilders?¡±

    ¡°There are other currencies, Leo.¡±  She took a sip of the now cold coffee on the table.  ¡°This is a problem that been solved many times over the millennia.¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.   I just never thought about the endgame here.¡±

    ¡°The endgame is that the Guild either ceases to exist or finds way to provide value to their customers without exercising monopoly power over IP trading.¡±  She grimaced at the acidic cold coffee.   ¡°Either way, the Guilder is devalued because it won¡¯t have the power of the Guild monopoly behind it.  Paying him in the Guilders we already have is cheap in the long term.¡±

    Ramona found it interesting that Leo didn¡¯t raise the obvious objection.  If they were going to pay with a currency they had reason to believe would become worthless, was it wrong to withhold that information to the seller?  Ramona worried about this, but not enough to stop her from acquiring a technology that held an almost religious significance for her and the other seekers.

    Of course, it had not seriously crossed her mind or Leo¡¯s mind to simply steal the IP.  After all, they possessed a complete set of plans and could do what they wished with them.  Those plans technically belonged to the Guild, but they could have just built devices based on the plans they already had.  For Ramona, owning the IP free and clear was important because any action she took using that IP would be very closely examined back home on Raeburn.  Any illegal activity on her part would be public knowledge very quickly.  For Leo, he simply didn¡¯t consider the idea that he should steal IP.  Buying and selling IP had been his only profession for his entire adult life and buying that IP legally was just ingrained into his worldview.

    In the end, the deal to buy the IP was largely anticlimactic.  There were standard contracts for such things and the deal was perfectly legal within the laws of the local polity.  Of course, what they were about to do next would be frowned upon by the Guild, but they were already banned as was Raeburn, so they really didn¡¯t have any recourse.  Or at least that¡¯s what Ramona and Leo both thought.

    Undocking the BR, Leo set a course back to the Theo which was currently outside the orbit of the major planets, just passing the UI three buoy.  Doing the routine tasks of piloting the BR left most of his mind free to think about other things.  ¡°How are we going to market this?¡±

    ¡°Market?¡±  Ramona laughed.  ¡°You don¡¯t have to market things like oxygen.  Quantum comms are going to totally revolutionize everything.¡±

    Leo was serious.  ¡°No, the concept of quantum comms will revolutionize everything.  However, you can¡¯t patent an idea, just the expression of an idea.¡±

    Now Ramona had to think.  She wasn¡¯t really an expert in patent law or IP.  ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I mean, once people believe us that this is possible, they¡¯re going to do something similar.  Even if they don¡¯t infringe on our patent, we should assume there are other ways to solve the same problem in a different way.  It¡¯s only because people didn¡¯t believe it worked that major corporations haven¡¯t worked on the problem.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true on Raeburn.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, but now they KNOW it works and they know why others didn¡¯t.  Do you really want to bet your future livelihood on them being dumb?¡±

    ¡°My future livelihood?¡±

    ¡°Ya, we¡¯re going to live off this patent, right?  No more guild means no more data traders.  How are we going to make a living?  Especially if Guilders become useless?¡±

    Ramona laughed.  ¡°I just never thought about the endgame here.¡±

    Leo laughed also.  ¡°Well, unlike quantum comms, I¡¯ve been thinking about how to become rich for most of my adult life.¡±

    ¡°Ya, I¡¯ve been thinking about quantum comms for most of my adult life.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±  Leo made a minor course adjustment.  ¡°So, that means that together we have this thing nailed.¡±

    Ramona just laughed.  ¡°Well to start with, we could deliver the mail.¡±

    ¡°Deliver the mail?¡±

    ¡°Ya, that¡¯s how the Guild started, right?¡±

    Leo laughed.  ¡°Ya.¡±  Then he looked thoughtful.  ¡°Funny thing, the Guild doesn¡¯t proscribe data transfer, just IP transfer.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You know, if you trade IP across systems, the Guild will ban you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡±

    ¡°But not data transfer.¡±

    ¡°Well, yes, of course.  Otherwise, anyone who carried a memory stick with them on a passenger ship would be potentially banned.¡±

    ¡°Yes, exactly.¡±

    Ramona was starting to get it.  ¡°Oh, right.  If we use Quantum Comms to trade, we would only be able to do it on banned systems.  Systems like UI won¡¯t touch us because they would then be banned.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±  Leo tapped a finger on the console.  ¡°QCom.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°We should call it something better than ¡®Quantum Comms¡¯ like ¡®QCom¡¯ or something catchy.¡±

    Leo and Ramona were deep into planning how to market their new product by the time they docked with the Theo.  Ollu and Craig were waiting for them on the boat dock.

 Raeburn

    Non-Guild Data Networks

    Because most local polities have their own data network, it is common for Guild ships and members to communicate using Non-Guild networks.  In all cases, care should be taken to ensure the safety of Guild data.  By default,  non-Guild network traffic is automatically isolated from the trading systems on all Guild vessels as part of technical standard 453.5.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°Approaching the e-limit for Raeburn.¡±

    Leo looked over at the main console.  He had little to do since there was no longer a trading function on the ship and Ollu was fully capable of running the ship by herself, which she had demonstrated before they had been able to recruit crew.  With a relatively full crew, Ollu was in her element.  Softly spoken commands were given from her place in the center of the bridge and the crew quickly carried them out.  Leo felt a bit lost and out of place.

    Ramona must have sensed his mood.  ¡°Hey, we¡¯re about to get rich, not attend a funeral.¡±

    Leo laughed, glad to talk to Ramona instead of brooding by himself.  ¡°I think this is the first time in my life I don¡¯t have anything to do.¡±

    ¡°Nothing?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have to go terrorize your apprentice?¡±

    ¡°Some genius told him we¡¯re not in the guild anymore so he¡¯s not my apprentice.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°OH!  That¡¯s all you have to say, OH?¡±  Leo gave her a mock glare.

    ¡°Hey, I just asked the kid if he wanted to emigrate to Raeburn or stay behind on UI.¡±

    Ollu looked over to Ramona.  ¡°Ramona, this is your show.  Shouldn¡¯t we call in or something?¡±

    ¡°Oh, trust me, they know we¡¯re here and they¡¯ve already scanned us deep enough to know we¡¯re unarmed.¡±  She turned to Leo.  ¡°I put some messages in the queue for the Seekers, once you unlock the interlock they¡¯ll go out.¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu.  ¡°Two hours to the e-limit, if the old charts are still right.¡±

    Ollu pointed to another watch stander on the bridge.  ¡°Give the repeater crew the go.  I want that repeater in a stable orbit just inside the Oort cloud but well outside the e-limit.¡±

    Leo watched the crew work until he got bored.  ¡°OK, let¡¯s release the interlocks and grab some lunch.  It will be a while, I guess.¡±

    It was closer to three hours before the responses started coming in.  ¡°OK, we have permission to orbit the primary and I¡¯ve got a meeting with the head of my order the day after that.¡±

    Leo was very slowly sipping a coffee next to her in Caf¨¦ one.  ¡°Head of your order?¡±

    ¡°Yes, his official title is ¡®Grand Seeker of Truth¡¯ but we just usually call him ¡®Seeker¡¯.¡±

    ¡°And then what?¡±

    ¡°And then we open up a business and start selling the rights to our patent.¡±

    ¡°As simple as that?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be that simple.  You¡¯re not a Raeburn citizen, so I have no idea if you can even do business here or not.¡±

    Leo nodded.  Operating outside the boundaries of the Guild was completely new to him.  He had no idea what the legalities for selling IP without the Guild would be.  Glancing at the status repeater from the bridge, he noticed that they were continuing to slow relative to the primary planet in the system, Raeburn.  It felt completely wrong to bring such a huge ship into orbit a planet, but they literally had no other place to go at this point, so it made sense to bring the Theo closer to the planet, at least until they decided what to do next.

    He flipped to another screen on his tablet.  ¡°Wanna know the ball scores from UI?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The feed is working.  I¡¯m getting live time streams from UI.¡±

    ¡°IT¡¯S WORKING?!?!¡±  Ramona tore the table out of his hands.

    ¡°Yeah, we knew it would, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­and you chose to download the g-ball scores?  What the hell Leo?  This transmission will be in the history books someday.¡±

    ¡°What?  Why?¡±

    ¡°Because it is the first time data has been transmitted via quantum entanglement.  It will be like that guy Bull.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°The telephone guy.  Bull.¡±

    ¡°I think it was Bell.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Bell.  His name was Albert Bell.¡±

    Apparently, Leo¡¯s apprentice had been listening from the next table.  ¡°Ah, uh, I think it was Alexander Graham Bell, uh, ah, sir.  Uh, I mean Master Trader Timur.¡±

    Leo laughed as he looked over.  ¡°You can call me Leo, Wilson.  We¡¯re not in the Guild anymore.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°OH?  That¡¯s all you have to say?¡±

    ¡°Uh, I mean, yes, uh, ah, Leo.  Uh, sir.¡±

    Leo just looked at Ramona, who laughed.  ¡°We¡¯re going to have to figure out how we want to run things.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    But Wilson wasn¡¯t done.  ¡°I think my history teacher said his first words were ¡®Come Here Watson, I need you.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Well I guess it could be worse than G-ball scores.¡±

    ¡°Call it ¡®near instantaneous inter-stellar news feeds¡¯ or something.  Sounds better than ¡®G-ball scores from yesterday.¡¯¡±

    Naturally Craig had a better idea and thus the term, ¡°Q-Feed¡± was born.

    The invitation to visit the Seeker headquarters came a few hours after they reached stable orbit.  Apparently, they maintained quite an operation on the surface with multiple facilities across the globe.  Looking down at the planet from a viewport on the boat deck, Leo could see why Ramona had been so attracted to Titsum prime.  It still seemed odd to see anything other than deep space outside, but he would have to get used to it.  The Theo¡¯s days as a data trader vessel were over, almost before they had really begun.

    Ollu had a BR prepped and was giving it a final inspection.  Ramona came into the boat dock wearing civilian clothes and, surprisingly, she was armed.  Her brown leather pants and matching leather jacket looked amazingly good on her.  Leo looked down at his ship suit.  ¡°Am I under dressed?¡±

    ¡°Depends on how you want the Seeker to react.  Are you a new emigrant to Raeburn or are you a member of the Guild which has been his mortal enemy for most of his life?¡±

    Ollu laughed from where she was finishing the checklist on the BR.  ¡°Oh, can we have option two, please?¡±  Ollu seemed completely uninterested in changing out of her ship suit with her silver master ship handler flashes on the collars.  She had removed her Guild master insignia within minutes of getting banned and hadn¡¯t mentioned them since.

    Leo grimaced and shook his head.  ¡°Why not just bring Craig along and possibly start an interstellar war while we¡¯re at it?¡±

    Ollu just laughed again and Ramona tossed him a data chip.  ¡°Here, I bought some civvie clothes patterns, pick one out and print it out on the way down.¡±  As she got closer, she handed him a gunbelt with his sidearm holstered.  ¡°Just in case.¡±

    ¡°In case what?¡±

    Ramona just looked at him, hands on hips.  ¡°OK, OK.   You¡¯re in charge of security.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and that includes the guns.¡±

    ¡°Yes, including the guns.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t shoot unless I do.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    Leo had forgotten how much he hated atmospheric flight.   The BR was a very sturdy ship, but it had not been primarily designed to fly through atmosphere.  It could do it, but it was mostly brute force and forcefields that made the landing possible.  A smooth ride, it was not.   Leo barely got dressed in his new slacks, shoes and brown coat before the turbulence started and he had to strap in.  He wasn¡¯t sure about the bright green pants, but Ramona assured him that it was quite fashionable.  The soft suede slip on shoes were extremely comfortable, he had to admit, even if he missed his ship boots.

    The landing field they were directed to was small.  Much smaller than Leo had expected given the size of the nearby city.

    ¡°This is a military airfield.¡±  Ramona explained.  ¡°Technically, it¡¯s an executive field used by the brass.  I¡¯ve never been here.¡±

    Leo followed her down the ramp, only to be nearly blinded by the bright sunlight.  Leo hated planets.  ¡°Why did they have us land here?¡±

    The unformed man standing at the bottom of the ramp answered.  ¡°Security.¡±  He turned to Ramona, ¡°Specialist Eddington, I believe?¡±

    She sketched a brief salute.  ¡°Retired, Major.¡±

    ¡°Inactive reserve, I believe.¡±

    She stopped and gave the Major a hard look.  ¡°We have a problem, Major?¡±

    He smiled and extended a hand.  ¡°Not unless you make one.  Welcome home, specialist.¡±

    Ramona still looked suspicious.  ¡°Why the star treatment, Major?¡±

    He just laughed.   ¡°You¡¯re joking, right?  ¡®Eddington the Hammer¡¯ returns from her Seeker mission?  Oh, and you brought back quantum comms?¡±  He gestured to the fencing a mile away.  There seemed to be quite a number of people gathered there.  ¡°People still remember that game against Army.  Holy shit, I was there and I still don¡¯t believe it.¡±  He looked at Leo and winked.  ¡°You lucky bastard, I had to pull rank on two captains and a lieutenant to get this duty.¡±

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Leo looked at Ollu who just mouthed ¡®the hammer¡¯ at him and chuckled.  Ramona threw her a warning look and turned back to the Major.  ¡°Major, I have an appointment to keep.¡±

    ¡°Certainly Specialist Eddington.  We have an aircar here, if you will follow me?¡±

    Leo and Ollu followed Ramona and the Major into the very large and sumptuous looking aircar.  As soon as the passengers settled in, the vehicle rose with an unexpected burst of speed, surprising Leo.  Glancing around, he noticed two very serious looking aircraft pacing them at one hundred meters.  Their precise formation making it clear that they were military even if Leo wasn¡¯t familiar with the vehicles or their markings.  Looking back to the Major, he noticed that the officer was armed and then he realized that no word had been spoken about his and Ramona¡¯s sidearms.

    ¡°Expecting trouble, Major?¡±

    ¡°Oh, no, not at all sir.  Just a precaution.¡±

    ¡°Precaution?  Against what?¡±

    ¡°An assassination attempt, of course.¡±

    Leo was completely confused.  ¡°Why would anyone want to assassinate me?¡±

    The Major just smiled.  ¡°Not you, sir.¡±  He pointed at Ramona.  ¡°Her.¡±

    Leo was becoming concerned.  ¡°I thought Raeburn¡¯s World was safe.  Is crime that bad here that we need a military escort?¡±

    The Major looked completely baffled.  ¡°Crime?  Certainly not.  We are a civil society here, sir.  A grandmother can walk the streets of Mainport at 2am waving thousand credit notes and would not be harmed.  I would bet my life on it.¡±

    ¡°Then why the hell do we need all this firepower?¡±

    ¡°The seekers have enemies, sir.  Powerful enemies.¡±

    ¡°WHAT!?¡±

    Ollu made a soothing motion.  ¡°Leo, relax.  Everything will be fine.  The major here and the local polity are just being careful.  Nothing to worry about.¡±  She glared at the Major.  ¡°Right Major?¡±

    ¡°Oh yes, ma¡¯am.  Just being careful.  Nothing to worry about.¡±

    The look on Ollu¡¯s face didn¡¯t do much to relax Leo.  Looking at Ramona, he realized she had that fixed expression she wore when something bad was about to happen.  Not worried, just focused and intent.

    Ramona patted his shoulder.  ¡°Leo, prophecy is a hard thing to live with.  Some people will be angry, or afraid when they learn Q-Feed is real.  Most will be happy, but this is a huge event for Raeburn and some will resist.¡±

    ¡°Resist?¡±

    ¡°Relax Leo, these are Guard troops and ships.  We can trust them.¡±

    The Major sat up straighter at that.  ¡°Yes, sir.  You can trust the Guard.  I took an oath to protect this system.¡±  He gestured at the flyers out the windows.  ¡°All my brothers and sisters in the Guard did.  Even if Specialist Eddington here wasn¡¯t one of us, we¡¯d still do our duty.¡±

    Everyone except Leo seemed to accept that answer.  Still nervous at the thought that someone wanted to kill Ramona, he looked out at the scenery, trying to distract himself.  He had to admit that Raeburn¡¯s World was beautiful.  Lush forests spread out to his left and to his right, a large city threw huge skyscrapers into the air.  He could see relatively little civilian traffic, but he assumed most of that was underground as was the case in most terrestrial cities.  Further away, he could see water sparkling in the distance, he assumed this was the large central ocean he had seen from orbit but he wasn¡¯t sure exactly where he was.

    ¡°Is that the central Ocean?¡±

    Ramona looked over, ¡°We call it the Yaguri Sea.¡±

    ¡°Sea?  Is that like an Ocean?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, just smaller.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Ramona smiled at him.  ¡°I don¡¯t advise you use that answer, Timur.¡±

    Leo laughed, glad for the break in the tension he had been feeling.  Looking out again, he could see that the aircar was banking, beginning a large turn that would lead them to a small landing pad at the edge of what looked like a large campus.  ¡°Is that Seeker HQ?¡±

    Ramona looked down.  ¡°Yes, we call it the Temple, but yes.¡±

    Leo could see a relatively large group of armed individuals standing around the landing pad.  ¡°Friends of yours?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re Guard also.¡±

    ¡°Just in case?¡±

    ¡°Yes, just in case.¡±

    As they landed, the Guard troops formed into a loose cordon around the aircar.  The two fighters settled into a loose racetrack pattern above them.  All the firepower on display just made Leo more nervous.  The major seemed unconcerned, however.  ¡°This way, please.¡±  He led them off the landing pad and down a short flight of steps and then along a path through a verdant green lawn.  Leo supposed this was grass, it looked similar to what he had seen on Svarg, but a much larger area.  He had heard about lawns, but hadn¡¯t really seen one before Svarg.  The guard troops formed up to either side of the building entrance the major was leading them to.  The building its self didn¡¯t really seem that impressive.  Only one story tall, it was mostly made from stone or some sort of concrete.  It didn¡¯t look that large.  As they went through the glass doors, Leo realized that this was just a vestibule, there were large escalators doing down from what he supposed was a lobby.  Most of the building must be underground.

    The major led them to a large desk that was built into the floor in the middle of the room.  Leo looked around and realized there were more armed troops inside, but they were wearing different uniforms.   ¡°Who are they?¡±

    Ramona took Leo¡¯s elbow and leaned in to whisper urgently in his ear.  ¡°Those are Union Police.¡±

    ¡°Is that a bad thing?¡±

    ¡°It could be, the UniPols and the Guard don¡¯t always get along.¡±  She made a quick survey of the room.  ¡°I don¡¯t like this, they are wearing body armor and carrying long guns.¡±

    ¡°Is that unusual?¡±

    ¡°Yes, very.¡±  Another quick scan.  ¡°If this gets hot, get under that desk and stay there.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Leo, just follow my lead.  We¡¯ll be OK.¡±

    The major, seemingly unconcerned, walked right up to the heavily armed and armored UniPol officer behind the desk.  ¡°Major Leonid, Raeburn Guard.¡±

    The man behind the desk didn¡¯t look impressed.  ¡°You may go now Major, we will take it from here.¡±

    The major smiled.  A tight hard smile that a tiger or a wolf might wear.   ¡°Son, I don¡¯t take orders from toy soldiers.  Either escort us to the Seeker or stand aside.  Either way, we are going in.¡±  Leo noticed that both the major and Ramona had their hands on their sidearms.  The major was fiddling with a device on his belt using his left hand.

    The UniPol officer seemed unimpressed.  ¡°Major, I have an arrest warrant for this Trader lover and the illegal alien troublemakers with her.  If you interfere, you will be placed under arrest.¡±

    ¡°Over my dead body.¡±

    The UniPol officer just smiled.  ¡°As you wish.¡±  He gestured with his hand and the UniPol officers around the room started to unlimber their weapons.

    As he did so, the major screamed ¡°DOWN!!!¡± and Ramona yanked Leo down to the ground.   Pushing him towards the desk, she shouted to him, ¡°GET UNDER THERE!¡±  Ollu was quicker and dove under the massive stone edifice just as the front doors to the building blew inward and a dozen Guard troopers rushed in, guns blazing.  The noise was deafening.  Crammed under the desk, Leo couldn¡¯t see much, just a narrow slit in front of him but it seemed like the Guard was taking a terrible toll.  Leo could count at least six of the Guardsmen down.  He peeked out and saw Ramona and the major back to back, firing their handguns with deadly precision.  Ramona paused to switch magazines.  ¡°Last mag.¡±

    The Major nodded.  ¡°Same.¡±

    ¡°We have to get out of here.¡±  She turned to Leo and Ollu.  ¡°On the count of three, run like hell for the front door.¡±

    Leo was too stunned to protest.  He suddenly realized he was also armed but wasn¡¯t carrying a spare magazine.  He drew his weapon and looked at Ollu who simply nodded.  Ramona was conversing with the major, basically shouting in his ear, but Leo couldn¡¯t hear her over the cacophony in the room.

    ¡°ONE.  TWO.  THREE!!!  GO! GO! GO!¡±  Leo sprang up along with Ollu, pausing only to fire wildly behind him, not expecting to hit anyone, but hoping it might distract their attackers.  Ollu was as usual faster on her feet and was a few steps ahead of Leo getting to the door.  To his astonishment, they both reached the door unscathed, jumping to one side to avoid the return fire of the UniPols still inside the lobby.  Looking around, Leo noticed that the situation wasn¡¯t that much better outside.   The fighters were gone, either fled or shot down and there were smoke plumes in the distance.  Leo turned to see where Ramona was, only to see her fall halfway to the door.

    ¡°Shit!  Ramona!¡±  Leo started to move, but Ollu grabbed his arm.  ¡°Leo, don¡¯t go back in there!¡±

    Leo was pulling, trying to get away from her grasp.  ¡°She¡¯s hurt!  Let me go!¡±

    Ollu quickly glanced around the doorframe, only to be rewarded with three shots which barely missed her head.  ¡°Leo, those guys aren¡¯t fucking around!¡±  She took another peek to be met with more shots.  ¡°FUCK!  Give me your gun, I¡¯ll cover you.¡±

    Leo handed her the pistol and took several deep breaths.  Looking at Ollu, he nodded.  Ollu reached around the doorframe and fired a shot randomly into the room.  Leo took that as his cue and dashed back into the lobby.  It seemed like he was running through molasses.  Everything was taking so incredibly long.  Each step seemed to take forever.  He could see Ramona on the floor.  She wasn¡¯t moving and there was blood under her head.  A bullet screamed past his ear and he dived for the floor, skidding to a stop just in front of Ramona.  Looking up, a UniPol officer turned his gun to point directly at Leo¡¯s head.  Leo froze.  Suddenly another shot rang out and the officer was down.  ¡°LEO!! GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!!¡±  Leo grabbed Ramona¡¯s hand and dragged her back to the door.  Luckily, the smooth stone floor was pretty slippery so it was easy to pull her.  Shots were going off all around him.  Several Guard members had joined Ollu in the doorway and were maintaining a very high rate of fire.  The remaining UniPol officers dove for what cover they could find.

    Ollu dropped the gun and reached out to grab Ramona¡¯s other hand.  Together, they got her out of the lobby and onto the grass.  Quickly Ollu examined her wound.  ¡°Looks like a head wound.  It¡¯s bleeding pretty good but doesn¡¯t look deep.¡±  Reaching down to the bottom of her shirt, she tore off a strip which she tied around Ramona¡¯s head like a bandanna.  It quickly turned red as it soaked up the blood flowing freely from her scalp wound.  Ramona remained unresponsive, Leo hoped that she had just been knocked out.  ¡°I don¡¯t see any other wounds, let¡¯s get her out of here.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°Back to the air car.¡±

    One of the Guards grabbed Ollu by the shoulder.  ¡°Enemy aircraft overhead.  You¡¯d be dead in seconds.¡±

    ¡°Where then?¡±

    He pointed to his left.   ¡°Down there, there¡¯s a path into the woods.  Two klicks east there is an urgent care facility.¡±

    ¡°Is that safe?¡±

    ¡°Safer than here, sister.  Get The Hammer clear, we will cover your back door.   MOVE!¡±

    After trying to carry Ramona by holding arms and legs for a hundred meters, they finally decided that it was easier to just use a fireman¡¯s carry one at a time and then alternate.  After what Leo estimated was about a kilometer, they were well into a wood that seemed too pretty and well groomed to be natural.  It was Leo¡¯s turn to carry Ramona and he staggered to the side of the trail.  ¡°I have to rest.¡±

    Ollu glanced around.  The sounds of battle had faded over the past ten minutes and there was nobody in sight.  ¡°OK, five minutes.¡±

    Leo collapsed on the ground.  ¡°What the hell happened back there?¡±

    Ollu was sitting on a stump, panting.  ¡°No idea.  Someone wants us dead or in custody.¡±

    ¡°Who the hell are the UniPols?  I thought the Raeburn Guard was their military.¡±

    Ollu shook her head.  ¡°I think that the local polity is called the ¡®Inner Union¡¯ or something like that.  They must be part of that polity.¡±

    ¡°And the Guard?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re supposed to cover the whole system.  Raeburn had a history of conflict between local Polities and the Guard were originally created to keep the peace between them.¡±

    ¡°Oh, great.  So we are trapped between the Guard and the Inner Union?¡±

    ¡°Leo we are INSIDE the Union.  This whole planet is part of the Inner Union.¡±

    ¡°Oh great.  Just fucking great.¡±  Leo pulled his comm out of his pocket.  ¡°This thing still doesn¡¯t work.  Can¡¯t link with the local network.¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°We¡¯ll have to find or steal a local comm.  Get word to Craig.¡±  She looked around.  ¡°Let¡¯s get moving.¡±

    Leo groaned but then he sat up and with Ollu¡¯s help got Ramona onto his back again. Halfway there.

    After two more turns switching back and forth, they finally came to the edge of the park.  The forest ended very abruptly and the path continued on into what looked like a residential neighborhood.  Thankfully, there was a sign pointing to the urgent care facility two blocks away.  By the time they stumbled into the clinic, Leo was completely numb, only able to place one foot in front of the other.  The nurse at the front desk was amazingly calm considering that three people covered in blood had just stumbled into her neat and clean clinic.

    ¡°Treatment ONE!¡± she said, pointing.  ¡°Doctor Nichols, treatment one, STAT.¡±  Leo thankfully placed Ramona down on the gurney inside the small room.  He and Ollu were filthy and bloody after rolling around on the ground and carrying a still bleeding Ramona on their backs for two kilometers.  A very calm but focused doctor came into the room.  ¡°Are you two wounded also?¡±

    ¡°No doctor, it¡¯s her blood.¡±

    ¡°OK, get out of here and let me work.¡±  He reached over to the wall mounted unit and placed it carefully over Ramona¡¯s head and upper body.  He was so intent on the readouts that he didn¡¯t notice that Leo and Ollu had ignored his order to leave.  Muttering to himself as he worked, he continued to adjust the auto-doc.  ¡°OK, no brain damage, contusions, blood loss, concussion.  She¡¯s stable.¡±  After a full minute, he nodded and turned around, only to find the two still in the room.  ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me?  Get the hell out of here, this is a sterile room!¡±

    Leo was so relieved to hear that Ramona wasn¡¯t going to die that he didn¡¯t even register the Doctor¡¯s order.  Ollu eased the door closed and pulled out the gun that she had the presence of mind to tuck into her waistband.  ¡°Doctor, we just got to this planet two hours ago.  Since then, we¡¯ve been shot at and our friend here nearly died.  If you don¡¯t mind, we are staying right here.¡±

    ¡°What?  Did you call the police?¡±

    ¡°Doctor, the UniPols are the ones who shot her.¡±

    ¡°What did you do?  Are you fugitives from justice?¡±

    ¡°No, we just got here.  The Guard were escorting us to The Seeker and the UniPols tried to shoot us all.  If it wasn¡¯t for the Guard, we¡¯d be dead by now.¡±

    ¡°Wait, the Guard?  Is she with the Guard?¡±

    ¡°Used to be.  Retired.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Christ.  You¡¯re the Traders.¡±

    ¡°What?  No, we¡¯re Banned just like you are.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re the ones.  The Trader agents trying to kill The Seeker.¡±

    ¡°The fuck?  No, I¡¯m a seeker.¡±  Ollu pointed at Ramona.  ¡°So is she.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s on the news.  The UniPols foiled an attempted assassination at the Temple today.  A dozen UniPols were killed and the assassins got away.¡±

    Leo collapsed into a chair.  ¡°Doc, you gotta believe us.  We¡¯re not assassins.  We were bringing the Q-Feed IP to show The Seeker.  Why would we want to kill him?  Ramona found the damn thing.¡±

    ¡°Found what?¡±

    ¡°Q-Feed.  Quantum communications.  What the seekers were looking for.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?  Isn¡¯t that a myth?¡±

    Ollu sat down on the floor.  ¡°No, it¡¯s real.  It works.¡±

    ¡°Holy Shit.¡±

    Despite his exhaustion and frayed nerves, Leo laughed.  He felt like he was on the edge of hysteria.  If he started laughing, he might not stop.  He had to get ahold of himself.  ¡°Doc, you gotta help us.¡±

    ¡°Help you?  I should call the police is what I should do.¡±

    Ollu smiled.  ¡°You a g-ball fan, doc?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°G-ball.  Do you follow g-ball?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.  Mostly the amateur leagues.  Guard is having a great year this year.¡±

    ¡°Wanna know the scores for today¡¯s g-ball games in Upsilon Irridini?¡±

    ¡°What?

    ¡°I said, do you want to know who won the game today in Upsilon Irridini?¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?¡±

    ¡°Keep up doc, we just told you.  Quantum comms.¡±

    ¡°And you used it for g-ball scores?¡±

 The General

    Sell Side

    Ultimately, the Guild serves as an essential service to the systems in human space.  It is thus essential that all Guild ships at all times maintain a robust and responsive sell side system.  This means that all possible assets (both physical and digital) are priced and accurately represented in the system at all times.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Leo was getting more and more nervous the longer they spent in the clinic.  While Ramona clearly needed treatment, someone was going to figure out where they were.  While the doctor had apparently not reported them to the police, he hadn¡¯t helped them either.  They needed to get her out of such a public place.

    Finally Ollu snapped her fingers.  ¡°Next of kin.¡±

    Leo was confused.  ¡°What?¡±

    Ollu stood up and started walking to the nurse¡¯s station at the front of the urgent care facility.  ¡°I bet they are required to notify next of kin.¡±  Making a shushing motion to Leo, she walked over to the nurse on duty.  ¡°Sir, can you tell me if you¡¯ve notified next of kin for the patient we brought in?¡±

    The nurse took a moment to consult with the console in front of him.  ¡°No, it says here we don¡¯t have a name for the patient.¡±

    Ollu looked at Leo, who shrugged.  ¡°And if you do have their name, what is the normal procedure?¡±

    ¡°We would notify the person listed on their emergency contacts file.¡±

    ¡°I see.   And would I be able to talk to them also?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not, you brought her in, you may be able to answer their questions.¡±

    ¡°OK.  Her name is Ramona Eddington.¡±

    ¡°I see.  Do you know her birthday?¡±

    ¡°No, why?¡±

    ¡°To help identify her, there may be more than one.¡±

    Ollu looked at Leo with her first grin all day.  ¡°That¡¯s a scary thought.¡±

    Leo spoke up.  ¡°She served in the Guard, if that helps.  She couldn¡¯t be less than 25 or more than 30 years old based on what I know about her.¡±

    The nurse kept interacting with the terminal.  ¡°OK doing a search.¡±  He continued for a few minutes.  ¡°Yes, there is only one Ramona Eddington listed with those parameters.  Next of kin¡­¡±  He stopped, a look of horror on his face.  ¡°Wait, you brought The Hammer here?¡±

    Ollu sighed.  ¡°Yes.  We work with her now.¡±

    ¡°Oh my God.  We have to call the General.¡±

    ¡°The General?¡±

    ¡°Her father, General Henry Eddington.¡±  He looked closely at Ollu.  ¡°Where are you from?  You don¡¯t know who General Eddington is?¡±

    Ollu shrugged.  ¡°We just landed on this planet a few hours ago.¡±

    ¡°Shit.  I¡¯m not calling him.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s General Eddington.  He¡¯ll go ballistic.¡±

    ¡°Look, I¡¯ll talk to him, OK?  Just let me use your comms.¡±

    Finally, Ollu was able to calm the nurse down enough to place the call.  The face on the screen certainly looked grizzled, but not something to frighten trained nurses.  ¡°General Eddington?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what is this about?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to tell you sir, your daughter has been injured.  We are with her here at a medical facility.  The doctors tell us she will make a full recovery, but she¡¯s unconscious at the moment.¡±

    The calm visage clouded over like a violent storm.  ¡°What the hell is this?  She was supposed to meet with the Seeker today and now the UniPols are looking for her.  Who the hell are you?¡±

    ¡°Sir, I work with her.  She came with us just today to Raeburn¡¯s world on our ship.  There was a firefight and she was wounded.  We carried her here.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a ruse, or a prank.  Is it?¡±

    ¡°No sir.¡±

    ¡°Where are you?¡±

    Ollu got the address from the nurse and gave it to him.  ¡°Sir, I should add that we believe she is in considerable danger.¡±

    ¡°From whom?¡±

    ¡°From the UniPols.  They are the ones who shot her.¡±

    ¡°Those corrupt bastards?  Well, fuck them.  Stay where you are.  I will have a Guard medical team there in ten minutes.¡±  With that, he abruptly cut the line.

    The nurse looked like someone had just slapped him.  Ollu still wasn¡¯t sure who or what General Eddington was, but she hoped he could help Ramona.

    Leo looked over at the nurse.  ¡°So, what kind of General is he?¡±

    ¡°General Eddington was the commander of the Raeburn Guard until he retired ten years ago.¡±

    Ollu whistled.  ¡°This is gonna be a good story.¡±

    Apparently, retired Guard Generals still had plenty of pull with the Raeburn Guard.  True to the General¡¯s word, a full Guard medical team arrived in less than ten minutes.  They were also accompanied by a two full squads of Raeburn Guard troopers in full combat gear.  One walked up to Ollu with a hand scanner.  ¡°Yep, that¡¯s her, transport this one.¡±

    As he walked away, Leo grabbed his arm, or attempted to.  Before he knew it, Leo was face down on the floor.  ¡°Hey!  I helped carry her all the way here from the Temple.  I need to go with you.¡±

    ¡°Stay down sir, this is Guard business.¡±

    Ollu didn¡¯t seem especially concerned.  ¡°If you break him, you¡¯ll answer to the General.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    She pointed to Leo.  ¡°That¡¯s the Hammer¡¯s fianc¨¦.  Your call, but I¡¯d guess the General wants to see him.¡±

    Leo was about to correct Ollu when the Guard officer released him.  ¡°Terribly sorry sir, please come with us, we will take you to the General.¡±

    ¡°And where is Ramona?¡±

    ¡°The Hammer has been taken by air ambulance to the General¡¯s estate.  If you will follow me, please?¡±

    They were escorted outside where a full dozen armored air cars were arrayed on the lawn.  Looking up, Leo could see half a dozen sleek fighter aircraft circling.  As soon as they strapped into one of the armored vehicles, it lifted straight up with a force that pushed Leo back into his seat and drove the air out of his lungs.  ¡°Ooof.  They need to adjust the compensators on these things.¡±

    Ollu was looking out the window.  ¡°That was a 100G launch.  They¡¯re working fine or you would be strawberry jam.¡±  Leo looked out.  He could see the curvature of the planet already.  ¡°Shit.¡±

    Neither Leo nor Ollu knew much about Raeburn so they weren¡¯t really sure where they were headed.  The Guard troops in the transport completely ignored any attempt to talk to them.  Wherever they were going, it was pretty far away, Leo could see the terminator approaching and soon it was dark outside the transport.  As they started to descend, Leo couldn¡¯t see any lights on the surface.  No cities or significant settlements could be seen.  As they approached the ground, Leo could just make out a small landing pad.

    As soon as the transport touched down, the Guard troops slammed the doors open and lept out, guns ready.  The team leader quickly relaxed and saluted someone that Leo couldn¡¯t see.  As he got out, he could see an older man standing on the edge of the landing pad.  The same man they talked to on comms.  Ramona¡¯s father.  General Eddington.

    With a curt gesture, he waved them over to where he was standing.  As they walked towards him, he turned and headed down a path that led away from the landing pad and through the nearby woods.  After a hundred meters or so, they could see a house.  It was brightly lit, and Leo could see the work that had gone into it.  A very nice house, but not something that Leo would describe as a palace or mansion.  General Eddington kept walking until he was inside the house.  Once into the entryway, he paused to close the door behind Leo and Ollu.

    Ollu looked around, openly curious.  Leo was more interested in Ramona.  ¡°Sir, is Ramona here?  Is she OK?¡±

    The General grunted.  ¡°Yes, she¡¯s up in her room.¡±  He looked uncertain for the first time.  ¡°I understand I have the two of you to thank for getting her safely away from that ambush.¡±

    Ollu shook her head.  ¡°No thanks needed General.  She¡¯s our shipmate, she would have done the same for us.¡±

    ¡°Shipmate?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the Theodore Onasis.  We came here together, to bring Q-Feed to the Seeker.¡±

    ¡°Q-Feed?¡±

    ¡°Quantum Communications.¡±

    The General gave Ollu a cynical look.  ¡°Surely you¡¯re joking.  I never understood my daughter¡¯s devotion to that absurd clique.¡±

    Ollu looked thoughtful.  ¡°Sir, if I may ask, which clique do you belong to?¡±

    ¡°Preppers, of course.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Leo didn¡¯t know what a Prepper was and didn¡¯t really care.  ¡°Sir, may we see her?¡±

    The General grunted and gestured for them to follow him up the elaborately carved wooden staircase in the grand entry hall.  As they walked up the stairs behind the General, Leo looked around for the first time.  The two story entry hall wasn¡¯t massive, but it was impressive, decorated with wooden columns which had been carved with leaves and flowers, twining up towards the elaborate ceiling which was decorated with a floral fresco.  The General noted his visitors gawking and smiled.   ¡°This house was my wife¡¯s project, it was always her dream to have a place in the country like this.¡±

    Upstairs, they walked past several closed doors to a room guarded by a soldier in combat armor, a large plasma rifle slung over one shoulder.  He came to attention as the General approached.  The General touched his shoulder in a familiar gesture.  ¡°At ease Claude.  Just keep her safe for me.¡±

    ¡°My honor, sir.¡±

    Entering the room, they could see several medical devices spread about, obviously brought in quickly.  A uniformed nurse sat in a chair by the bed and quickly sprang to her feet when the General entered.  ¡°As you were, Nancy.¡±  As Nancy settled back into her chair, the General crossed to Ramona who was propped up in a fully powered hospital bed.  Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be sleeping.  Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gave Ramona a gentle kiss on the forehead.  ¡°How is she?¡±

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    The nurse flipped open a display and consulted it for a moment.  ¡°She¡¯s doing fine General.  The urgent care folks know their business.  She¡¯s sleeping now but she has an excellent prognosis and should make a full recovery in a few days.¡±

    The General nodded, obviously, this was not news to him.  ¡°Thank you Nancy, if you would give us a few moments of privacy?¡±

    ¡°Certainly sir, I will be in the hall if you need me.¡±

    The General stood for several moments after the nurse left the room, contemplating Ramona.  Leo was unsure of what to say but Ollu rescued him again.

    ¡°General, do you know why the UniPols attacked us?¡±

    The General looked surprised, as if he had forgotten Ollu was there or perhaps he was just surprised that someone would dare to interrupt him contemplating his wounded daughter.  ¡°To get to me, of course.¡±

    ¡°You?¡±

    ¡°Yes, naturally.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t think it was related to the Q-Feed?¡±

    ¡°What?  No, quantum communications isn¡¯t real.  This must have been a move to discredit the Guard by going after my family.¡±  He paused again for a long minute.  ¡°She is all I have left now that her mother is gone.¡±

    Ollu wasn¡¯t giving up.  ¡°But what if it IS real?¡±

    ¡°If what is real?¡±

    ¡°Quantum communications.¡±

    The general turned and really looked at Ollu for the first time.  ¡°You¡¯re an offworlder.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir I am.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re a Seeker also.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re just as delusional as the rest of them.¡±

    Leo was getting impatient.  He was pretty intimidated by Ramona¡¯s father but he also didn¡¯t see any point in debating things that they knew were true.  ¡°No sir, it¡¯s real.  I didn¡¯t even know what a seeker was until Ramona told me, but I can tell you for a fact that they¡¯re real.  We have an open comms channel right now to U-I.¡±

    ¡°What, it¡¯s in your pocket?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s in a comms sat outside the e-limit.¡±

    ¡°Outside the e-limit?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why most tests failed.  It won¡¯t work under FTL or within the e-limit.¡±

    ¡°And you are transmitting data real time with zero latency from U-I?¡±

    ¡°Well, no sir.¡±

    ¡°Ah!  Like I said, this is all bullshit!¡±

    ¡°Actually, sir the total latency is about 40 hours right now.  The data has to sync to the guild bouy in U-I first, then to our relay sat, then across the Q-Feed to a paired sat here and then down to a relay bouy we set up and then to our ship, so there is quite a bit of system latency.¡±  Leo looked the general right in the eye, daring him to call him a liar.  He waited a full twenty seconds.  It seemed like a lifetime.  Finally, he added, ¡°sir.¡±

    The general visibly shook himself.  ¡°And you¡¯ve got 40 hour old data from UI?¡±

    ¡°Yes sir.¡±

    ¡°And what data do you have?¡±

    Leo laughed.  ¡°Would you like to know the g-ball scores on UI from yesterday?¡±

    The general¡¯s face clouded and Leo thought he would explode.  Then he laughed.  ¡°You just proved half the galaxy wrong about quantum comms and you used it for g-ball scores?¡±

    After realizing that his first premise about the attack on Ramona was wrong, the general turned Leo and Ollu over to his chief of staff so that he could investigate alternative motives for the attack.  After being shown to the guest wing, Leo promptly laid down on one of the beds and fell asleep.  He awoke to Ollu shaking his shoulder.

    ¡°Leo, wake up!¡±

    Groggy from sleep, he looked around.  ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Power is out.¡±

    He shook his head to clear it a bit.  ¡°Well, it¡¯s a planet.  Doesn¡¯t that happen sometimes?  I mean they have central power stations hundreds of kicks away sometimes, right?¡±

    Ollu just shook her head and pulled Leo to his feet.  ¡°Does the general strike you as someone who would neglect to install a backup power system?¡±

    Leo thought about it for about three seconds.  ¡°No.¡±  Then he really woke up.  ¡°Ramona.¡±

    Ollu nodded grimly and led the way out of the guest suite.  They found their way back to the family wing only to find the guard in front of Ramona¡¯s door lying on the ground, unconscious.  Leo rushed to his side, ¡°oh shit, he¡¯s out cold.¡±

    Ollu moved to Ramona¡¯s door.  ¡°Get his gun.¡±

    Leo pulled the sidearm out of it¡¯s holster.  Luckily, it was very similar to guns he had trained on.  He checked the charge (it was full) and flipped off the safety.  Leo nodded for Ollu to open the door.

    Moving inside, he saw that the medical equipment was still functioning, it must have a backup power source.  He also saw the nurse, Nancy with a white tube in her hands, leaning over Ramona.  Uncertain of what was going on, he decided to play it safe.  ¡°Step away from Ramona!¡±  Taking careful aim, he placed the aiming sight on the woman¡¯s head.

    She turned to look a Leo and then turned back to Ramona.  ¡°She needs this medicine, don¡¯t interfere.¡±

    Leo was still uncertain, but he decided he couldn¡¯t trust anyone at this point.  ¡°Step back, hands up, or I will shoot.¡±  The nurse continued her move toward Ramona.  ¡°STOP!  I WILL SHOOT!¡±  Moving swiftly, the nurse held the small white tube up and moved it to Ramona¡¯s head.

    Leo fired twice.

    The nurse fell, most of her head decorated the wall behind her.  Leo leaned over and vomited on the plush carpet.

    Ollu rushed forward and took the cylinder out of the dead nurse¡¯ hand.  ¡°It¡¯s a sonic surgical knife.  She was trying to kill Ramona.¡±

    Leo collapsed to his knees on the carpet.  ¡°Holy shit.¡±

    Leo and Ollu both heard running feet in the hallway.  Ollu grabbed Leo¡¯s arm and shoved him behind a couch.  Leo propped his hand on the back of the couch, his weapon covering the door.  A few seconds later, the general came bounding into the room, moving much faster than Leo would have thought a man of his age could move.  ¡°What the fuck is happening here!?!?¡±

    Leo stood up and pointed his weapon at the ground.  ¡°We don¡¯t know, the nurse tried to kill Ramona so I shot her.¡±

    The general never stopped moving.  He quickly moved to Ramona¡¯s side and checked her pulse.  Seemly satisfied, he turned back to Leo.  ¡°Son, I don¡¯t know you.  I have two of my people down and you admit you shot one of them.  Give me one reason why I don¡¯t call in an armored brigade to arrest both of you.¡±

    Ollu placed a hand on Leo¡¯s shoulder.  ¡°General, if you can, I suggest you do exactly that.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°If you are able to communicate outside of this compound, call for help.  As much as you can get.¡±

    Finally waking up to the possibility that he had been betrayed by his own staff, he reached for a comm unit.  ¡°General Eddington to ops prime.¡±  Silence.  ¡°Ops prime, respond, immediate.¡±  Looking at Ollu, he fiddled for a moment to change to a different channel.  ¡°Rayburn orbital command, General Eddington, respond.¡±  Nothing.  ¡°Fuck.¡±

    He looked at Ollu again.  ¡°Tell me exactly what you know.  Right now.¡±

    She shrugged.  ¡°Someone or a group of someone¡¯s has been trying to stop us from using Quantum Comms for months now.  It seems to me that this is just more of the same.  Whoever has the juice to attack Ramona on the Seeker¡¯s front doorstep is not going to be afraid of a retired Guard General.¡±

    The look on the general¡¯s face might have dissuaded them.

    ¡°Right.¡±  He turned to Ramona¡¯s bed and started piling equipment from around the room onto the bed.  ¡°Give me a hand with this and we will get her to the bunker.¡±

    Leo was not keeping up.  ¡°Bunker?¡±

    Ollu was tossing equipment onto the bed.  ¡°Leo just do it.¡±

    They quickly gathered up the equipment the general wanted and Leo pushed the rolling hospital bed out of the room an into the hallway.  The general stopped to check on the guard.  ¡°He¡¯s just unconscious.¡±  With a grunt, he picked up the guard in a fireman¡¯s carry and continued down the hall.  He led the way to the end of the hall where a metal door opened into what looked like a normal lift.  Normal, that is for a spaceship, not what Leo expected to see in a country house.  With another grunt, the general placed the guard into a sitting position in the corner and gestured Leo to roll the hospital bed with Ramona into the lift.  Once they were all in, the general used a key to activate the lift.  It started moving down.  Quickly.

    The lift kept going.

    And going.

    Ollu stared at the general.  ¡°Where the hell does this thing go?¡±

    The general smiled for the first time.  ¡°The bunker.¡±

    ¡°Where the hell is this bunker?¡±

    ¡°About five klicks from the house, a klick below the surface.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re joking.¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°Ollu, does it look like he is joking?¡±

    ¡°No.  I guess not.¡±

    After what seemed like an hour but was probably more like five minutes, the lift slowed and eventually opened to a utilitarian looking corridor.  The general led them out and gestured for Leo to put Ramona¡¯s bed into what looked like a military medical unit.  He dragged the guard into the room also and loaded him into an auto-doc.

    The general grunted when the readout came up.  ¡°Synoctizine.¡±

    Ollu looked confused.  ¡°What the hell is that?¡±

    ¡°Knock out gas.¡±

    ¡°Never heard of it.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t.  It¡¯s only used by Raeburn Guard Special Forces.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?  You mean Ramona¡¯s old unit?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?¡±

    The general¡¯s grin held no mirth, only determination.  ¡°I¡¯m going to find out, trust me.¡±  He went back down the hallway and locked the lift controls.  ¡°There are only two ways in here and that one is the only one known to anyone but me.  It¡¯s locked now, we¡¯re safe unless someone decides to go after us with a bunker buster nuke.¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu, she didn¡¯t seem reassured.

    The general visibly reset himself.  ¡°If you¡¯re going to help me, you¡¯ll need to know something about Raeburn.¡±

    Leo was too shocked to be upset.  ¡°We¡¯re going to help you?¡±

    The general grin was feral.  ¡°That¡¯s right son.¡±  After checking again on Ramona¡¯s and the guard¡¯s medical monitors, he led them down the hall into a very comfortable conference room.  ¡°What you need to understand is that Raeburn suffered from almost a hundred years of war until the Guard was formed.  Do you understand what that means?¡±

    Leo honestly didn¡¯t.  ¡°No sir.¡±

    The general just nodded.  ¡°No reason why you should.  The guild has kept the peace for hundreds of years.  Before you were born, before your parents were born, I¡¯m guessing.¡±

    Leo just nodded.

    The general continued, ¡°Millions of our citizens were killed.  The divisions between polities just kept getting deeper.  Every outrage gave the other side a reason to do worse to their enemy.  It seemed like war and violence would just spiral out of control.¡±

    Ollu leaned forward in her chair.  ¡°Until the Guard.¡±

    The General smiled.  ¡°Until the Guard.¡±

    ¡°You ended all that by keeping the peace.¡±

    The general shook his head, sadly.  ¡°We ended all that by suppressing the violence.  The acrimony remained.¡±

    Ollu shook her head also.  ¡°But that was over a hundred years ago!¡±

    ¡°Some people have long memories.¡±

    Leo was actually beginning to understand.  ¡°So, there are people on Raeburn who would be happy if the Guard went away and let them settle scores.¡±

    The General looked at him with new respect.  ¡°Exactly, son.  The Guard has always had an uneasy relationship with the polities.  By our charter we are separate, some would say we were ¡®above¡¯ politics.  That makes us very unpopular with some.¡±

    ¡°But what does this have to do with Ramona?¡±

    The General settled back in his chair.  ¡°I would have said nothing.  I was upset when she decided to go off on her Seeker mission, but it took her off the board.  She¡¯s not with the Guard any longer so there is no reason to target her.¡±

    Ollu was thinking hard.  ¡°General, just suppose for a moment that Quantum Comms WAS real.  How would that affect things?¡±

    The General answered without hesitation.  ¡°Chaos.  Complete, total, utter chaos.¡±

    Leo was shocked at his answer.  ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Son, it means that people who are powerful will become less so.  They will fight to retain that power.¡±

    ¡°But it will end Raeburn¡¯s isolation!¡±

    ¡°And the power of those who benefit from that isolation.¡±

    Ollu smacked her hand on the table.  ¡°Collaborators.¡±

    The General smiled.  ¡°Exactly.¡±

    Leo was confused again.  ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    Ollu was thinking hard, her expression was focused.  ¡°Leo, think about it.  The Guild has an almost infinite amount of money.  Do you really think that they would hesitate to buy off selected individuals if that suited their purpose?¡±

    ¡°But Raeburn is BANNED!¡±

    Ollu just smiled.  ¡°Yes, and that makes it the perfect honey trap.¡±

    Now the General smacked the table.  ¡°Goddammn!!  That¡¯s it!  Just pay off the right people and wait!¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu.  She continued, ¡°Leo, let¡¯s assume that the Guild has known for some time that Quantum comms is real.¡±  Leo nodded, that seemed clear by now.  ¡°And if they know it¡¯s real, then the most important thing they can do is prevent it from being ¡®discovered¡¯ by anyone, right?¡±  Again, he nodded.  ¡°So, you can¡¯t watch everyone all the time, right.¡±  A third time, Leo nodded.  ¡°So, why not create an organization who¡¯s sole purpose is to look for this technology?¡±

    ¡°Wait, create an organization to find something that doesn¡¯t exist?¡±

    Ollu stood up and started pacing.  ¡°But it does exist.  Think about it.  The Seekers are perfect for the Guild.  They are from a Banned world so they can¡¯t be trusted or believed.  They have a near religious belief that Quantum comms exist.  They¡¯re going to spend every effort to find people who can make it work.¡±

    The general put his hand over his eys.  ¡°But they¡¯ll fail.¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°They¡¯ll fail.¡±

    Leo looked from one to the other.  ¡°Why will they fail?¡±

    Ollu smiled sadly.  ¡°Because they¡¯re compromised.  The seekers are a Guild front organization.¡±

    The General looked like someone had slapped him.  ¡°I always thought they were dreamers, but a Guild front?  That¡¯s insane.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s one way to prove it.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Let us talk to our ship.¡±

    Before they could figure out a way to do that, Leo heard a faint voice coming from down the hall.  ¡°Leo¡­¡±  Hardly thinking, he sprinted down the hall back to the med bay, careening around the corner just in time to see Ramona trying to sit up.  ¡°Whoah!  Lay back there, you¡¯ve been in a coma.¡±  Gently pressing her back into her bed, Leo was shocked to feel how weak she was.  ¡°Just take it easy, your father has us in this super bunker thing.  We¡¯re safe.¡±

    ¡°My father?¡±  Leo just nodded.  ¡°We¡¯re in the bunker?¡±  He nodded again.  ¡°Oh, fuck.¡±

    The general and Ullu came into the room at a much more leisurely pace.  The general actually smiled.  ¡°How you doing tiger?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty out of it, dad.¡±  Taking a moment to gather herself, she continued.  ¡°I have to talk to the seeker.¡±

    The general walked over to her bedside and place a hand on her shoulder.  ¡°Sweetie, we think the seeker is a bad guy.¡±

    Ramona just glared at the general.  ¡°Jesus Christ dad, I hate when you talk to me like I¡¯m six.  I am on a seeker mission.  I have found quantum comms.  I MUST REPORT TO THE SEEKER.  I MUST.¡±  Seemingly exhausted by her outburst, she fell back into her bed and closed her eyes.

    The general looked concerned.  ¡°Sweetie.  Ramona.  You¡¯re sick and weak.  Just rest up.  You¡¯re safe here.  Take some time to recover and then we¡¯ll talk about what to do.¡±

    After waiting a moment to ensure Ramona was asleep, the general gathered Leo and Ollu up with his eyes and led them back to the conference room.  ¡°She¡¯s not wrong about her duty.  Any seeker who finds quantum comms or even strong evidence that it MIGHT work is required to report directly to the Seeker immediately.  It¡¯s part of their oath.¡±

    Leo was looking down at the table.  ¡°Ya, that went so well last time.¡±

    Ollu had been very quiet up to this time.  ¡°General, if you know you¡¯re going to fight, how do you choose the location for the fight?¡±

    The general just grunted.  ¡°You pick someplace you know well and the enemy doesn¡¯t know.  Ideally, you have the high ground and the enemy has to come to you.¡±  He smiled.  ¡°Of course, all of this occurs under friendly air cover.¡±

    She smiled.  ¡°How well do you know the leader of the inner union?¡±

    ¡°Margie?  We get along.  She¡¯s a greenie, not a prepper, but honest enough as far as that goes.¡±

    ¡°Would she have ordered the attack on Ramona?¡±

    ¡°Oh hell no.  I assumed that was a rebel group just dressed up in UniPol uniforms.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we should call her?¡±

    ¡°What the hell for?  I can get a squadron of Guard ships here in ten minutes.¡±

    ¡°A test general, a test.¡±

    For a moment, Leo thought the General was going to dismiss the idea.  He actually opened his mouth, paused, closed it again and then he nodded.  He pointed to Ollu, and pivoted on his heel.  When Leo followed the General into the comms room, he was talking to someone over what looked like a secure comms unit.

 Franchises

    Guild Master

    Because of the distributed nature of the Guild, the guild master largely has authority to operate their ship as they feel best supports the overall mission of the Guild and the operation of their vessel.    Any violation of Guild policy can only be resolved by a tribunal of three other Guild Masters.  It is in the best interests of the Guild that ships operate independently and thus Guild Master authority is absolute within their own vessel.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    After two hours, the General declared it was safe to exit the bunker.  Ramona was in a powered grav chair and not very happy about the mobility restrictions placed on her.  ¡°What if I need to move quickly?¡±  Leo just ignored most of the complaints, he wasn¡¯t sure how steady she was going to be on her feet and he could see she was still getting tired easily.  As they walked along a path in the woods, Leo could see a large ship had landed in one of the many meadows surrounding the main house.

    He could also see dozens of guard members in powered armor, he assumed there were more in the trees he couldn¡¯t see.  ¡°General, aren¡¯t we concerned that more of these folks are compromised just like the nurse last night?¡±

    The General grimaced.  ¡°It¡¯s a possibility, but these folks have been pulled from the outer rim and they¡¯re all preppers.  Nancy was a Seeker who had been on my staff for over a year.  She must have been a sleeper agent for the Guild.¡±  He looked around.  ¡°If we can¡¯t trust the Guard, we¡¯re all fucked.¡±

    Leo didn¡¯t feel comforted by that statement.  So far on this planet he¡¯d been betrayed by at least two groups of armed people and he was about to depend on those same two groups to save him and Ramona.  ¡°and what about the UniPols?¡±

    The General didn¡¯t look happy.  ¡°Margie vouches for all of them.  It turns out that the UniPol guard unit the Seeker normally uses is almost completely Seekers.¡±  He paused for a moment, a concerned look on his face.  ¡°I suppose that wasn¡¯t the smartest plan, but the normal rule is that scheduling and staffing isn¡¯t influenced by your clique.  We¡¯re all supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law.  If a bunch of UniPol Seekers wanted that duty (and why wouldn¡¯t they) then they would probably get it.  Guard duty is pretty boring and that¡¯s not a duty that people usually fight to get.¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t thrilled by the plan that essentially used Ramona as bait, but he had agreed to it.  As they entered the large command ship, he saw UniPol uniforms everywhere but also a scattering of Guard uniforms which was reassuring.  For some reason, he still trusted the Guard to do the right thing.

    A guard major came up to the general and saluted.  ¡°The transport is sitting outside.  Minimal escort, sidearms only, as instructed.¡±

    The general returned the salute.  ¡°Backup units are in place?¡±

    ¡°Yes sir, Guard units are ready.¡±  He paused to look directly at one of the UniPol officers.  ¡°UniPol units also report as ready.¡±

    The general clapped his hands once.  ¡°Then let¡¯s get this show on the road.¡±  He turned back to where Ramona was sitting in her grav chair.  ¡°You ready to do this, kiddo?¡±

    ¡°Specialist Eddington, Reporting for Duty, Sir.¡±  The general just looked at her for a moment, then nodded.

    Heading back outside, they found an air car with UniPol markings parked about 20 meters away in the meadow.  It was large enough that getting the grav chair inside wasn¡¯t a major problem.  Once they got in, Ollu and Leo took seats facing Ramona.  Leo had practiced with the heavy plasma pistol at his side for several hours last night but still preferred the slug thrower Ramona had purchased all those months ago on the Reggie.  Ollu had the same gun strapped to her leg.  She had checked it once and left it alone since.  Leo couldn¡¯t help fiddling with his, checking it again and again.

    Ramona noticed his nervous checking of the gun.  ¡°Leo, relax.  You can trust my father.  He¡¯s a bastard, but he¡¯s good at this.¡±

    Ollu had been wondering about Ramona¡¯s relationship with her father.  ¡°You two seem to have an interesting relationship.¡±

    ¡°I barely knew him until my mother died.  He was always off somewhere on guard business.¡±

    ¡°And how old were you?¡±

    ¡°Sixteen standard.¡±  A haunted look came over her face.  ¡°I had to watch her die by myself.  He was on the other end of the system.  He showed up a week later, wanting all of a sudden to be my father and have a relationship.  I joined the guard the day I turned eighteen just to get away from him.¡±

    ¡°You joined the guard despite the fact that they kept your father from experiencing your childhood?¡±

    Ramona snorted.  ¡°That wasn¡¯t the guard.  They have family leave and officers with children can request garrison duty.¡±  She sighed.  ¡°He was always The General.¡±  Leo could hear the capitol letters in her voice.  ¡°I always knew that I came second to the guard.¡±

    Ollu reached out and touched her knee.  ¡°But you joined?¡±

    Ramona laughed.  ¡°I guess I was still trying to impress him.  It¡¯s honestly all I wanted when I was younger.¡±

    Ollu nodded.   ¡°And then?¡±

    ¡°And then I grew up.  I made my special forces selection mark, I was on active duty.  I made it, I achieved the goal.¡±

    ¡°No, I mean what caused you to leave?¡±

    ¡°I felt¡­  empty.¡±

    Ollu just nodded but Leo had no idea what Ramona meant.  ¡°Empty?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I realized that the guard held no meaning for me.  So, I turned to the seekers.  For meaning in my life.¡±

    ¡°Well, shit.¡±

    ¡°Ya.¡±

    Leo was having doubts about the plan.  ¡°Do you really believe that the Seeker betrayed you all and is a puppet of the Guild?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re about to find out.¡±

    ¡°Ya, that¡¯s what I¡¯m afraid of.¡±

    The aircar began to circle the remote airfield that the General had selected for the rendezvous.  Ramona had contacted The Seeker and requested a private meeting, explaining that she was afraid that there were traitors within his organization and that it was vital that they meet.  Leo hadn¡¯t been sure that the offer would be accepted, but within minutes, an agreement to meet had come back.  Ramona had in turn agreed to a UniPol escort which is why the three of them now found themselves in a UniPol marked aircar with two UniPol officers in the front compartment.

    As predicted, the airfield was completely empty.  As the aircar settled on the ramp, Leo was becoming more and more nervous.  The two officers in the front compartment got out and walked around the aircar, finally signaling that it was safe to come out.  Almost as soon as they got out, Leo could hear another aircar approaching.  Suddenly, Leo realized his error.  It wasn¡¯t one, it was four.

    Ramona squinted up at the approaching craft.  ¡°Well, that tears it, those are assault shuttles.¡±

    The General¡¯s voice whispered in all their ears.  ¡°Friendly air incoming.  Get clear.¡±

    As they sprinted the few steps back into the UniPol marked car, Leo could hear roaring from overhead, glancing back, it looked like a full scale air battle had broken out overhead, complete with missile tracks crisscrossing the sky.  ¡°Get us OUT OF HERE!!¡±

    With a sudden burst of acceleration, they were hundreds of feet off the ground.  Leo barely got his harness secured after securing Ramona¡¯s chair to the car¡¯s hardpoints.  Only seconds after strapping in, the vehicle began a very radical set of maneuvers, corkscrewing through the air and then violently pitching down towards the ground.  Looking down, Leo could see missiles racing up from the forest.  ¡°Oh, shit!  INCOMING!¡±

    With a loud explosion, the aircar started spinning, seemingly out of control.  When he woke up, he was hanging upside down from his seat.

    ¡°Leo, wake up!  Leo!¡±

    ¡°Ya, I¡¯m awake.¡±

    ¡°Get me out of this goddamn chair, Ollu is hurt.¡±

    Fumbling with the belts, he was eventually able to unbuckle himself, only to fall in a heap onto the roof of the aircar which was apparently sitting on the ground upside down.  Looking around, he could only see trees out of the windows which were largely smashed.  The aircar also seemed to be a bit crunched, the doorway had buckled and was jammed partway open.  Leo looked up, Ramona was hanging in the automatic restraints built into the grav chair.  Trying to brace himself, he hit the emergency release button on the chair, only to have Ramona land on him.  Since he was ready for it, he was able to cushion her fall, but not to keep her from hitting the roof.  She grunted and pushed herself up.

    ¡°You OK?¡±

    She just nodded and started to work on Ollu¡¯s belts.  Ollu wasn¡¯t moving and there was blood on her face.  ¡°Give me a hand.¡±

    Together, they were able to get Ollu down a bit more gracefully than Leo had managed with Ramona.  She was breathing, but obviously hurt.  ¡°Grab the medkit, it should be just behind the pilot¡¯s seat up front.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±  Leo moved into the pilot¡¯s compartment, only to find both UniPol officers had been killed when the aircar impacted a tree that went right through the front windscreen.  Gagging at the sight of the nearly beheaded officers, he reached up behind the pilot seat and pulled out the bright white and orange striped medkit.  Taking a few steps back into the main cabin, he opened it up and positioned it on top of Ollu.  Within a few seconds, it was working.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Leo took stock of their situation.  Ramona seemed fine, but he knew she was still super weak from the earlier injury, she was leaning heavily against the side of the aircar.  Leo certainly couldn¡¯t carry Ollu very far on his own and Ramona didn¡¯t look up to going very far either.  ¡°We need help.¡±

    Ramona nodded.  ¡°We can¡¯t use the comms, they can track that back.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think they already know where we are?¡±

    ¡°Probably not, or we¡¯d be dead by now.  It would just take one missile.¡±  Ramona groaned and sat down heavily.  ¡°How they hell did they get all that firepower?  There were anti-air missiles hidden in the forest in addition to combat aircraft.¡±

    ¡°I just assumed they were part of the Inner Union military.¡±

    ¡°No, the IU doesn¡¯t have a military.  That¡¯s what the Guard is for, to protect Raeburn.  The polities all disbanded their militaries as part of the treaty that created the guard.¡±

    ¡°Well, I think we¡¯ve conclusively proven the theory.¡±

    ¡°Ya, great.  I feel pretty dumb considering how right we were.¡±

    ¡°Well, if we assume that the Guild is helping them, there would be no shortage of military hardware.  The Guild has access to pretty much anything they want to have access to.¡±

    Out of the corner of his eye, Leo saw movement.  He whirled, pulling his gun.  Suddenly a loud voice boomed out of the forest.  ¡°PUT YOUR WEAPON DOWN!  Weapon down, hands on your head!¡±

    Slowly, Ramona reached over and pushed Leo¡¯s gun down.  ¡°Leo, it¡¯s OK.¡±  She looked back into the woods and called out,   ¡°EDDINGTON, SPECIALIST FIRST, ONE NINE SIX FOUR TWO FIVE.¡±

    Suddenly, there were armed troops all around the aircar.  One raised a radio, ¡°Ops Prime, Positive Contact with The Hammer.  Request evac, immediate.¡±  The one with the radio turned around and made a circling gesture with one hand.  The rest immediately turned and aimed their weapons out, away from the aircar.  ¡°Specialist, we need to get you and your crew out of here.¡±

    Leo pointed to Ollu.  ¡°She¡¯s wounded.¡±

    The leader of the team turned his head and shouted, ¡°MEDIC!¡±

    Within minutes, they were all aboard yet another vehicle.  This one a very serious looking armed shuttle.  After the three of them were strapped in by the Guard crew, the shuttle launched.  And it keept going.  And going.  Soon, the windows only showed the blackness of space.

    A Guard officer came back to where Leo and Ramona were sitting, next to the auto-doc that Ollu was in.  ¡°Specialist, comms from the General.¡±  He handed her a slip of paper.

    Ramona accepted it with a nod and read quickly.  ¡°Raeburn may be under attack.  My father is having us evacuated back to the Theo.¡±

    Leo was still partially in shock.  ¡°Does your father always communicate with you in written form?¡±

    Ramona shook her head.  ¡°Leo, these are orders, not a note from my daddy.  He¡¯s been activated and these Guard members are following his orders.¡±

    Much sooner than Leo expected, he could see the Theo in one of the small windows of the shuttle.  In minutes, they pushed through the GTC barrier and the shuttle was sitting on the boat deck of the Theo.  As soon as the door opened, he could hear Craig¡¯s voice booming out, ¡°WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!?  GET THE HELL OFF MY SHIP!¡±

    Leo leaned out of the door and saw Craig arguing with a Guard officer.  ¡°Craig, shut the fuck up and help me!¡±

    To his credit, Craig quickly jogged over to Leo and gestured madly to the deck crew standing on the other side of the boat deck.  With the help of a Guard member, he got Ollu¡¯s auto-doc off the shuttle.  Ramona followed, but after only a few steps, she staggered and almost fell.  Craig rushed over and put one of Ramona¡¯s arms over his shoulders for support.  ¡°Jesus, what happened to you three?  And where the hell have you been for two days?¡±

    The Guard officer approached and looked at Ramona.  ¡°Specialist, we need to move, our unit is on low guard against inbounds.¡±

    Ramona nodded.  ¡°Thanks for your help captain, we¡¯re good here.¡±

    Within seconds, the Guard shuttle was off the deck, through the GTC barrier and gone.

    Leo kept pushing Ollu¡¯s auto-doc until a couple of deck crew made it over to them and gave him a hand.  ¡°Take her to her quarters.¡±  He turned to Ramona, ¡°Can you make it to the bridge?  I think we need your help.¡±

    Ramona stood a bit straighter, ¡°Ya, I can make it.¡±

    Craig snorted.  ¡°Maybe if I carry you.¡±

    ¡°Just get me to the bridge and I can sit down.¡±

    Leo jogged over to a comms panel.  ¡°Bridge, this is Timur.¡±

    ¡°Bridge.¡±

    ¡°Break orbit, let¡¯s get some room between us and the planet.¡±

    ¡°Destination?¡±

    ¡°Least time to e-limit.¡±

    ¡°Least time, aye.¡±

    Leo moved back to where Craig was still supporting Ramona and grabbed her other arm.  Between them, they half carried Ramona out of the boat dock and up to the bridge.

    By the time they made to the bridge, the ship was under her full normal acceleration, headed towards the e-limit.  Raeburn¡¯s world was already way behind them and they were headed up the ecliptic, towards the e-limit.  While most people thought of a solar system as round, they were actually elliptical with most of them being relatively flat disks, not round but close enough.  This means that the e-limit is actually shaped more like a flattened egg than a sphere.  Moving ¡°up¡± across the plane of the ecliptic means shorter time to the limit and thus a shorter time before you can engage FTL drives.

    One of the spacers manning a station on the bridge looked up.  ¡°Master Trader, where is the Captain?¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°She was injured on the planet.¡±  He looked around.  ¡°I guess that means I¡¯m her backup.  What do you need?¡±

    The spacer looked back to his console.  ¡°We have a request for docking from an incoming ship.¡±

    ¡°What?  Is it another Guard ship?¡±

    ¡°No sir, the captain already left standing orders to allow Guard ships to dock.  This is an unknown vessel.¡±

    ¡°Unknown?  Surely, it has a valid registry?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it has a valid registry, based on Earth.  It says here, ¡®United Kingdom Official¡¯ but I have no idea what that means.¡±

    Craig dropped Ramona into a chair with a muttered curse.  She grunted with pain as she landed.  Leo just stared at him.  ¡°Uh, is that the brigadier?¡±

    Craig nodded.  ¡°You know any other British agents who might want to get involved in Guild affairs?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±  Leo looked back to the spacer.  ¡°Permission to board granted.  Please have the passengers escorted to conference one and have the master at arms provide an armed escort.¡±

    Craig snorted.  ¡°Do you think one of our kids is going to impress the Brigadier?¡±

    ¡°No, but at least we¡¯ll know if he wanders off.¡±

    Leo left Ramona in charge on the bridge.  No point in carrying her down the hallway again.  She seemed alert but was obviously in pain and had zero stamina after the auto-doc treatments.  With Ollu incapacitated, Leo was feeling the pressure of command.  Not that he didn¡¯t trust Craig, but the man carried so much baggage and so much history that he wasn¡¯t on the same page as the others.  That plus his history with the Brigadier made Leo nervous.  As Leo walked down to conference one, he thought about what he might say while he wondered what the Brigadier wanted.

    Leo nodded at the two Master at Arms crewmen standing outside of conference one.  Craig just stepped past them and into the room.  The Brigadier, dressed this time in what looked like an old fashioned tweed suit was sitting calmly at one end of the table.

    Leo decided he needed to drive the conversation to prevent Craig from saying something crazy.  ¡°Brigadier, welcome to the Theo.  My apologies, we were not expecting you so we don¡¯t have any tea to offer.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret, dear boy.  I travel with a supply.¡±  He reached into his coat and produced a small cloth bag.  Leo couldn¡¯t suppress a grin.  At least the man was consistent.

    ¡°What brings you here, sir?¡±

    The Brigadier glanced at Craig who shook his head minutely.  ¡°Leo, when you came out to my home, you asked about Epsilon.  Are you still seeking a way to destroy the guild?¡±

    Leo sat down and rubbed his face with one hand.  ¡°Honestly?  No.  I don¡¯t really know what I want any more.¡±

    The Brigadier smiled.  ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°This is a tough situation.  We have a group of people who have used their economic power to enrich themselves.  That¡¯s not really wrong of them, but it¡¯s not great for everyone else.  The problem is that there aren¡¯t enough checks on their power.  This means that eventually they will abuse it.¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°That¡¯s a pretty cynical worldview.¡±

    The Brigadier laughed.  ¡°Not cynical laddie.  Just honest.  Study history.  This is why autocracies never work out in the long run.  Just too much temptation.¡±

    ¡°So, what are you saying?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying that the Guild needs a brake.  Something to balance out their power and keep them in check.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s Epsilon?¡±

    ¡°It was.  For over fifty years, we¡¯ve held the sword of Damocles over them.¡±

    ¡°And you think that was a good idea?¡±

    ¡°It worked.¡±

    ¡°Until now.¡±

    The Brigadier smiled sadly.  ¡°Yes, until now.  A sword is only an effective deterrent if your opponent believes you will use it.¡±

    Leo was starting to understand where the Brigadier was headed.  ¡°And now?¡±

    The Brigadier nodded.  ¡°Yes, now it¡¯s you.¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t happy with this thread.  ¡°Not me!  Quantum comms is real, I¡¯m not the only one who knows that.¡±

    ¡°And how long do you think those people will live with that knowledge?¡±

    ¡°Are you saying the Guild would kill to keep that secret?¡±

    ¡°They already have Leo.  You know that.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but¡­.¡±

    ¡°But what?  You and your friends are somehow immune?  They already tried to kill you at UI-6 and that was just an offhand gesture.  Do you think the ships inbound to this system will leave while you are still alive?  While this ship is still intact?¡±

    Leo looked at Craig.  ¡°You are unnaturally quiet.¡±

    Craig looked despondent.  ¡°I don¡¯t want it to be true, but it is.  They will kill you if necessary.  They will destroy this entire system if they have to.¡±

    Leo looked at the Brigadier.  ¡°Can they do that?  Can they destroy Raeburn?¡±

    The Brigadier just shrugged.  ¡°They think they can.  I have no idea, it totally depends on what Raeburn has available for defense.¡±

    Leo reached over to the comm panel.  ¡°Bridge, do we have a good reading on the inbound ships?¡±

    After a few seconds, Ramona answered.  ¡°Leo, it looks like a full on invasion fleet.  Fifty large ships of an unknown type.  They look like capital combat ships, but we haven¡¯t seen them before.  We assume they are Guild, but they¡¯re not answering comms.¡±

    Leo turned back to the Brigadier.  ¡°Fifty ships?  How could that be?¡±

    ¡°Surely you¡¯re not that naive Leo.  The Guild owns immense amounts of IP.  They could easily set up an automated fab anywhere they want.  Just have the ships sitting there and ready to go.  The Guild is worth more than all the major systems put together.  Why wouldn¡¯t they have armed ships, just in case?¡±

    Leo turned back to the comm panel.  ¡°Ramona, where are they now?¡±

    ¡°Just inside the e-limit.  Looks like they are coming into the inner system.  Current course puts them into orbit around Raeburn.  Leo, my father has declared a system level emergency.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means martial law.  He¡¯s now the supreme commander for the entire system.  All government functions for all the polities answer to the Guard until the emergency is over.¡±

    ¡°Holy shit.  Is your Dad going to be able to beat them?¡±

    Ramona laughed.  ¡°Dad always wins.  It¡¯s annoying.  He always says, ¡®if you¡¯re not cheating, you¡¯re not trying hard enough.¡¯  He¡¯ll do whatever he has to do.¡±

    Leo looked back to the Brigadier.  ¡°So, what do you want us to do?¡±

    ¡°Me?  I want nothing.  I am simply here to hand the torch to you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Craig gave the Brigadier a dirty look.  ¡°Jesus Christ Vishnu.  It¡¯s not the kid¡¯s fault that all the Earth governments have been sitting on their asses for fifty years.¡±

    The Brigadier just smiled.  ¡°Eloquent as ever Craig.  Regardless of any actions or inactions taken by my government or other governments, there is currently only one brake on the actions of the guild and that young man there holds the IP rights to it.¡±

    Craig sighed.  ¡°Fair.¡±

    Leo looked back and forth between the two older men.  ¡°You¡¯re saying that Q-Feed is the only thing holding the Guild in check?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±  The Brigadier smiled.  ¡°Until, of course, they kill you.¡±

    ¡°And my parents?¡±

    Now the Brigadier looked confused for the first time since Leo met him.  ¡°Sorry?¡±

    ¡°My parents.  If I die, they inherit all my assets by default.  It¡¯s in my will.¡±

    ¡°Ah, of course.  Yes, and your parents.¡±

    ¡°And their heirs?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I see what you mean, Leo.¡±

    Ramona had been listening in.  ¡°No, it means they destroy UI.¡±

    ¡°WHAT?¡±

    ¡°Think about it Leo.  They control any interstellar trade.  Thus, your IP claim cannot be enforced if the guild doesn¡¯t recognize it.  They just declare it banned and that¡¯s it.  However, we didn¡¯t register the transaction with the guild.  It was an in-system transaction at UI.¡±

    Leo nodded, remembering his trade law classes.  ¡°Right, so we hold the patent in UI regardless.¡±

    Craig just shook his head.  ¡°They¡¯ll just ban the UI system.  They¡¯ve done it before.¡±

    ¡°Somehow the idea that only I need to die isn¡¯t that comforting.¡±

    Ramona was way ahead of Leo as usual.  ¡°Leo, this is actually good news.  We know their objective now.  That makes it easier for us to counter them.¡±

    ¡°Counter them how?¡±

    ¡°By forcing their hands.¡±

    Leo wasn¡¯t following.  ¡°And how do we do that?¡±

    ¡°We make more UI¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°More UI¡¯s?¡±

    The Brigadier clapped his hand in delight.  ¡°Oh, that is magnificent, my dear.  Bloody marvelous.¡±

    Craig was nodding.  ¡°Partnerships.¡±

    Leo finally got it.  ¡°No, franchises.¡±

    The Brigadier nodded like a wise old owl.  ¡°Quite so.  Quite so.¡±  With a nod, he stood and headed out of the room.  Halfway out the door, he stopped, turned and walked back to Leo.  After a moment of thought, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a red data chip.  Leo looked at it incredulously.  The Brigadier nodded again.  Leo took the chip.

 Love, Dad

    Propagation Delay

    Due to speed of light limits, data transfer across guild nodes is always accomplished via Data Ark movement.  This also means that data moves across the network at irregular speeds due to the semi-random movement of Data Arks.  Thus, a transaction record may move across many light years in as little as a week or it could take months.  This means that the complete Guild database will never reach a single consistent state nor does it need to.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    By the time the Brigadier left the ship, the Theo had gained considerable speed in relationship to the Raeburn system.  Of course, the star itself was moving relative to other stars so the idea that the Theo was moving at all was simply a reference to the local star system.  The human brain wasn¡¯t wired for stellar navigation, but the computers onboard the Theo were, so they were able to plot their course easily.

    Leo made his way to the bridge and was relieved to see Ramona sitting up and issuing orders to the bridge crew.   ¡°Feeling better?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I just needed some time and electrolytes.¡±  She held up the large jug she had been drinking from.  Modern auto-doc systems were really quite amazing, but nothing changed the fact that the human body needed time to repair and rejuvenate.  Ramona pointed to the large system chart on the main viewer.  ¡°It looks like Dad is falling back to the inner system.  All Guard units are retreating to within the second asteroid belt.¡±

    ¡°Is that significant?¡±

    ¡°Well, he¡¯s usually much more offense minded.  When the Combine raiders came, we used what he called ¡®boom and zoom¡¯ to establish local firepower superiority.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, what does that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means we went in hot and blasted the hell out of the invaders one ship at a time.¡±

    ¡°Oh, OK.   I get that.¡±  Leo examined the system chart again.  ¡°I¡¯m not an expert, but it looks like he wants them to come in.¡±

    ¡°Ya, I am Raeburn¡¯s foremost authority on my dad¡¯s thoughts on space warfare.  He would lecture me over the dinner table after my mom died.¡±

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°And, this is not what he would normally do.¡±

    Leo shrugged.  ¡°OK, what does that mean for us?¡±

    ¡°Not much, we are building momentum quickly.  The course we are on means a stern chase for the invaders if they decide to chase us.  It also means their shortest intercept is THROUGH the heart of the system.¡±

    ¡°And you think your dad wants that?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think he¡¯s trying to encourage them to enter the inner system for some reason.¡±

    ¡°I wonder why.¡±

    Ramona consulted the system chart again.  ¡°I think we¡¯re about to find out.¡±  She pointed.  ¡°The lead elements are about to enter into the second belt.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there?¡±

    ¡°Mining systems mostly.  Those asteroids are very rich in metals.  Iron, manganese, copper, things like that.¡±

    ¡°So, automated fabs?¡±

    ¡°Yes, mostly.  When Raeburn was banned, there was a concentrated effort to ensure that we were self sufficient.  There was a huge investment in automated mining and related technologies.  This allowed us to keep developing the system even after we were banned.  However, those mines are over fifty years old now, I don¡¯t think many of them are active any longer.¡±

    Suddenly, the system chart lit up and audible alarms went off on the bridge.  Leo turned to the watch stander.  ¡°What is that alarm?¡±

    ¡°High energy lasers and heat blooms detected.¡±  He pointed.  ¡°They¡¯re marked with the red icons on the screen.¡±  The system display had developed a rash of red icons.  Dozens, then hundreds of them bloomed on the display.

    Leo just stared.  ¡°What the hell?¡±

    Ramona laughed.  ¡°Dad¡¯s been busy.¡±  She pointed at the icons.  ¡°Hard to tell with these sensors, but I would bet you a guilder that there are hundreds if not thousands of automated installations all through the belt.  He probably parked massive weapons systems in thousands of those old mines.  The asteroids are basically just metallic rocks so attacking them with normal anti-ship weapons won¡¯t do much good.  They¡¯ll just absorb most weapons short of a direct hit with a nuke.  The Guild ships just walked into a killing field.¡±

    From what they could see, the Guild ships were being decimated.  Meteor belts aren¡¯t really dense like some vids portrayed, but space based weapons system ranges are usually measured in light seconds rather than in Kilometers.  This means that it would be pretty easy to establish overlapping fields of fire by carefully choosing which meteors had weapons systems installed on them.  A few of the ships tried to turn back but within thirty minutes, all of them were drifting, dead in space.

    A soft chime sounded on Ramona¡¯s console.  ¡°It¡¯s from Dad.¡±  Leo took the presumptuous step of reading over her shoulder, hoping the message was professional, rather than personal.

    Ramona,

    I am sorry your visit was cut short, but I understand that you¡¯ve got your own life to live.  Please come back to Raeburn soon, I would like to make amends for not being there for you when you needed me.  Leo seems like a solid young man, be good to him and I think he will be good for you.

    Attached, please find replicator files for ¡°Self-replicating anti-shipping weapons platform Mark VII¡± just in case.

    Love,

    Dad

    Ramona turned to see Leo reading over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

    Leo stepped back.  ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Ramona just shook her head.  ¡°It¡¯s just dad being dad.  He seems to like you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good, right?¡±

 Craig?

    Independent Data Transport

    Because every ship that travels from one system to another is by definition moving data between those two systems, it is not practical or desirable for the Guild to retain a monopoly on data transport.  It should be noted that local polities who create competing data transport networks should be treated cautiously and careful attention should be paid to ensure that they are not actively trading data across star systems in opposition to the Guild¡¯s purview.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    After much debate, Leo and Ramona had agreed to return to UI.  Because they only owned the IP in that system, any further commercialism would have to be done there.  In theory, they could create data links between UI and other systems, but in practice they didn¡¯t really know what the Guild would do in response.  In any case, they had to sell data transport services to make money and the only place they could do that would be UI.  Their current theory was that they could sell franchise rights to the Q in other systems, but that would only work if they showed that their system was economically viable.  Thus, they needed to set up a company in UI to sell capacity on that system and then connect the system to several other systems.  All of which meant they needed to go to UI.  Their exit from Raeburn hadn¡¯t been optimal for a trip to UI so they had a couple of weeks in transit.

    Leo walked down to Ollu¡¯s cabin after giving orders to the bridge crew to set course for UI.  They were well trained by Ollu so he wasn¡¯t worried about the safe operation of the ship.  Walking up to the door, he rang the call bell, hoping that Ollu was awake.  The indicator turned green, so he opened the door and walked in.

    Ollu was propped up in bed, looking haggard but she seemed alert.  ¡°Hey!  How are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Better, thanks to you and Ramona.  Thanks for saving my life.¡±

    Leo looked down.  ¡°It was Ramona, actually.¡±

    ¡°Ramona said you both pulled me out but that you had to go back into the cockpit for the med kit.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Ollu took Leo¡¯s hand.  ¡°It was bad, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°So, thank you for saving my life.¡±

    ¡°Mm.  OK.  You would have done the same for me.¡±

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Yes, but I didn¡¯t.  No offense, but I hope I will not have an opportunity to return the favor.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, me too.¡±  Leo sat on a chair that had been moved next to the bed.  ¡°You OK with the plan to sell QFeed in UI?¡±

    Ollu sighed, suddenly looking very tired.  ¡°Yeah, I think it¡¯s our only path.¡±

    ¡°Is that a bad thing?¡±

    ¡°It is because the Guild knows it¡¯s our only path.¡±

    ¡°So, they will try to stop us.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think they would have glassed Raeburn?¡±

    Ollu looked away from Leo for a moment, then back again.  ¡°Yes, I think so.¡±

    It was Leo¡¯s turn to look away.  ¡°And now they¡¯re even more angry.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°So, if we go to UI are we just putting them at risk?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you know we are.¡±

    Leo leaned back in the chair.  Why were things so difficult?  He just wanted to be a data trader.  Now he couldn¡¯t do that and the Guild seemed willing to do anything to stop QFeed.  ¡°So, do we just give up?  Find something else to do?¡±

    Ollu shook her head.  ¡°It¡¯s too late for that.  Raeburn knows that QFeed is real.  Only a matter of time before people in UI realize what¡¯s happening if they haven¡¯t already.¡±

    ¡°So we¡¯ve already put UI in danger?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think so.¡±

    ¡°So, we need to help them.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Leo sighed.  He didn¡¯t know anything about fighting or battles.  Then he smiled.  Ramona did.  He reached over to the comms panel.  ¡°Ramona, can you come down to Ollu¡¯s room?  We¡¯d like to discuss how to protect UI.¡±

    It took a few minutes but when Ramona came into Ollu¡¯s room she was smiling.  ¡°Hey Ollu, good to see you sitting up!¡±

    Ollu smiled.  ¡°Thanks.  And thanks again for saving my life.¡±

    ¡°Well, it was partly me and my dad¡¯s fault you got hurt in the first place so I don¡¯t feel like I did you a favor.¡±

    ¡°I knew the risks.¡±

    ¡°OK, fair.¡±  There was only one chair in the small cabin so Ramona just leaned against a wall.  ¡°So, UI.¡±

    Leo nodded.  ¡°We were talking about what happens when the Guild figures out we are using UI as our base of operations.¡±

    Ramona nodded in turn.  ¡°We should assume they do already.¡±

    ¡°And their response may be pretty drastic.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°So, how do we protect UI?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s pretty simple, my dad sent me the full replicator plans for Raeburn¡¯s anti-ship defense system.¡±

    ¡°So, we just print some out?¡±

    ¡°Already did.  Luckily, Craig restocked the bunkers while we were wandering around on the surface of Raeburn.  The units are pretty small, I¡¯ve printed out a thousand so far.¡±

    Leo was shocked.  ¡°A THOUSAND?!?!¡±

    Ramona just smiled.  ¡°A star system is a very big thing.  It will take over 100,000 to fully protect UI.¡±

    ¡°Holy shit.¡±

    ¡°Ya, we can probably print out another couple of hundred with stocks on hand.  There are some trace metals that we don¡¯t carry in large quantities.  I went ahead and checked the system information for UI, there are a couple of big asteroids in their primary belt that we could mine for the metals we need.  The design specs suggest seeding the system into metal dense asteroids.¡±

    Leo stroked his chin.  ¡°OK, but we don¡¯t have mineral rights there.¡±

    Ollu snorted.  ¡°I don¡¯t think that the UI government will complain that we saved their asses.¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°But they don¡¯t know that, they will just see us show up with automated mining systems.  That won¡¯t go down well.  What if they try to stop us?¡±

    Ollu made a fist and smacked it into her other hand.  ¡°Not to mention the fact that we¡¯re about to build what amounts to a private military capable of taking down any ship that enters the system.  Do you think they will be OK with that?¡±

    Leo shook his head.  ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t be.¡±

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been hanging around with Craig too much.¡±

    Ollu smiled.  ¡°Craig.¡±

    Leo just looked confused.  ¡°Craig?¡±

    Ramona also looked confused for a moment.  Then she smiled.  ¡°Craig.¡±

 You want to do WHAT?

    Local Polity Commercial Law

    While the Guild is not subject to the laws of local polities in the systems where the Guild operates, it should be noted that each system does have extensive laws and policies regarding the operations of businesses within their sphere of influence.  These policies may affect local IP pricing and thus Guild members should be aware of the laws of major Polities to determine how these laws affect pricing and other Guild operations.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    ¡°YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT!?!?¡±  Crag slammed his hand on the table.

    Ramona made a placating gesture.  ¡°Calm down.  Think about it.¡±

    ¡°I am thinking about it.  You are talking about over a hundred million guilders.¡±

    Ramona just smiled.  ¡°Guilders which you know will be worthless if QFeed works.¡±

    Craig visibly controlled himself.  ¡°I think they MAY become worthless.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t seem to mind before.¡±

    ¡°That was only a million.¡±

    Leo laughed.  ¡°Only a million?  What are you worth, a billion?¡±

    Craig smiled.  ¡°Two point six billion, but who¡¯s counting?¡±

    Ramona just stared at him.

    He looked back.  ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Are you fucking kidding me?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Holy shit Craig.  You could spend 100 million in every system in this end of the spiral arm and still have a billion left.¡±

    ¡°Ya.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    Craig smiled.  ¡°No.¡±

    Ramona stood up, infuriated.  ¡°What the fuck Craig?¡±

    Craig just smiled more.  ¡°No, your plan is dumb.¡±  He took out a tablet and started to write.  ¡°Let me tell you what we are actually going to do.¡±

    By the time they reached the e-limit of UI, Craig had a fully drawn-out plan and a series of legal contracts which he started submitting to the local polities as soon as they entered the latency envelope.  It took a few days, but UI had a very efficient central government which was more than happy to encourage local investment even if the source was from out system.

    ¡°Now we shop.¡±

    Ollu had finally improved enough to resume her normal duties.  The four of them were sitting in the old trading floor which they hadn¡¯t used much.  Craig was grinning, Leo was frowning, Ramona looked intent and Ollu just looked happy to be out of bed.

    Leo asked the obvious question.  ¡°Shop for what?¡±

    Craig made an expansive gesture.  ¡°For everything and anything for sale in UI.¡±

    ¡°You mean IP?¡±

    Craig laughed.  ¡°Well, sure but mostly I am thinking about physical things.  Asteroids, stations, ships, companies, stuff like that which we can convert to hard currency later.  Hell, I¡¯m thinking about just buying currency reserves but there¡¯s a limit of how many you can buy without pushing the price up.¡±

    Ollu tapped the table.  ¡°That¡¯s true for anything we buy.  We can¡¯t buy more of any one thing than the system can support.  Otherwise, we just drive prices up and crash the local economy.¡±

    Leo nodded.  ¡°So, we can buy mineral rights in the belt, but not ALL the rights.¡±

    ¡°Yes, exactly.¡±

    Craig tapped some keys and a series of charts displayed on the main viewer.  ¡°We can watch the markets we are entering like this, once prices start to rise by say¡­.¡±  He fidddled a bit more.  ¡°Five percent, we stop buying into that market.¡±  A series of graphs came up onto the screen.  ¡°There are a couple dozen commodities markets in this system.  Currency, shipping capacity, etc¡­  We buy into each one until we start to move the price, then we stop.¡±

    Ramona had been quiet up to this point.  ¡°Art and Biologicals¡±

    Craig smiled at her like a professor looking at a particularly bright student.  ¡°Exactly, my dear.¡±

    Leo looked at her, confused.  She smiled as she explained.  ¡°Things that can¡¯t be replicated are markets that the guild traditionally has avoided except for things like entertainment which is easy to transport.  Art and biologicals have value outside the normal guild system so they should be more stable.¡±

    ¡°More stable than what?¡±

    ¡°Than things the guild controls.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because those markets will fluctuate when we destroy the guild.¡±

    ¡°Wait, I thought we agreed not to do that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a matter of time, Leo.¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu who nodded, sadly.  ¡°The Guild will not take this sitting down.¡±

    ¡°OK, let¡¯s focus on making sure UI is safe first, then we can figure out what we need to do.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡±

    With literally billions of Guilders to spend, the question wasn¡¯t really IF they could buy things but simply a question of how much they could buy without breaking the local economy.  Despite Leo¡¯s concerns about political backlash, nobody in UI seemed concerned about a mysterious new conglomerate buying up mineral rights like crazy.  In fact, they seemed eager to sell.  Mining was important but wasn¡¯t really a high profit activity like data trading was.  Leo was able to buy entire asteroids on the open market, sometimes for as little as a hundred guilders.  Unlike actual mining companies, Leo didn¡¯t really care if the asteroid was a ¡°good¡± target for mining, he just wanted them spaced out around the system.  Within six hours, they owned over a thousand asteroids and were able to begin the process of seeding them with the self replicating platforms.

    Craig was cackling like a madman.  ¡°Yahoo!  I just bought the largest studio on the main planet!  This is fun!¡±

    Leo looked at Ramona, who shook her head.  ¡°It¡¯s his money.¡±

    The contract Craig had written up made the four of them board members of a new conglomerate which they all held shares in.  Craig had the vast majority of shares since he was providing the bulk of the guilders, but they all would be very rich if the plan worked.  The plan called for spending about one hundred million guilders in the system which had seemed like an obscene amount of money to put into a single system, but the deeper they got into UI¡¯s economy, the more things they realized they could buy.  So far, they had spent about half of the 100 million.  It was fairly unusual to fund a local UI company in Guilders, but there was no law against it.  Most organizations were more than willing to take Guilders instead of local currencies.  Of course, they also owned over a hundred million ¡°dollars¡± as the central bank of UI called their currency.  Unlike the Guilder which was pegged to transporting data across lightyears, the dollar wasn¡¯t pegged to anything specific which meant that the currency was traded like any other commodity.  This seemed strange to Leo, but the others took it in stride as a normal thing.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Once Leo got over the strangeness of buying and selling actual things like asteroids, he realized that these were just more commercial transactions.  Just like trading, he was buying something he felt he could sell later for more than he bought it for.  Of course, the amount of profit in these transactions would likely be tiny compared to what they would make on a regular trader vessel, but the concept was the same.  Within two days, they had gotten into a rhythm of buying things with each of the four of them consulting with at least one other for major transactions but for smaller transactions, they would just go ahead on their own.  During this time, the ship had moved further in-system, reducing the overall latency for transactions and making it easier for them to react to small market fluctuations.

    On the third day in-system, Ollu and Leo were sitting in Caf¨¦ one over a cup of coffee.  Ollu was playing with her tablet, examining possible destinations for the ship.  ¡°We have a couple of good choices here for next stops.¡±

    Leo looked over and examined the chart she had on her screen.  ¡°It looks like Montgomery is the most straight line forward.¡±

    Ollu frowned and consulted the details about the Montgomery system.  ¡°It¡¯s pretty small, only a couple dozen habs, no habitable planet.¡±

    Leo looked at the details, nodding.  ¡°I guess it depends on how we want to price QFeed.¡±

    ¡°Price it?¡±

    ¡°Ya, I had assumed we would just tag it to the guilder, you know one guilder per terabyte per light year.  But I¡¯ve been thinking about it, that¡¯s probably not a good idea.   We will need to significantly underprice the guild to make the system attractive.¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°Why not just flat rate?  One guilder per terabyte?¡±

    Craig sat down with his own coffee.  ¡°We will need to price it using local currency.¡±

    Leo looked at him, question in his eyes.  Craig just waived his hand, gesturing broadly to the star system all around him.  ¡°We are betting a hundred million guilders that the Guild will eventually collapse.  Why build a business founded on their currency?¡±

    Leo nodded.  ¡°Yes, but that implies that actual transport rates will vary as the currency varies.¡±

    Craig nodded.  ¡°Ya, so we make money on the arbitrage.¡±

    Ramona also joined them.  ¡°Arbitrage?¡±

    Leo nodded, understanding Craig¡¯s intent instantly.  ¡°Ya, we buy and sell currency as part of the business, thus we make money when the currency fluctuates.  We buy currency that¡¯s low and sell when it gets expensive.  That will allow us to put brakes on currency fluctuations but also allow us to profit from them.¡±

    Ollu flipped to another screen.  ¡°Except when the local polity doesn¡¯t allow that sort of thing.¡±

    Leo scratched his head.  ¡°No idea how common that sort of thing is.¡±

    Craig handed Leo a tablet open to a currency trading application.  ¡°About two thirds of settled systems in this part of the spiral arm allow currency trading to one extent or another.  Almost all of them have some sort of regulatory control.¡±

    Leo read the first screen of information explaining how currency trading worked.  ¡°OK, so not as liquid as IP, but similar in concept.  Supply is limited and sell side has pricing constraints.  Nothing we can¡¯t model, this type of trading has been going on since before space travel.¡±

    Craig nodded.  ¡°So, do we also set up IP trading as part of this?¡±

    Ollu shook her head.  ¡°No, that would be inviting a direct response by the Guild.¡±

    Craig laughed.  ¡°And QFeed isn¡¯t?¡±

    Ollu smiled.  ¡°Yes, they will respond, but they won¡¯t have any basis for that.  If the local polities see the Guild breaking their own rules, they¡¯re more likely to side with us.  Otherwise, we might get kicked out just to prevent the Guild from banning the system.¡±

    Ramona sighed.  ¡°Or glassing the planets.¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°Or that.¡±

    Leo tapped the table with his index finger.  ¡°I don¡¯t think we have the right to endanger these systems.  Based on what we saw at Raeburn, there is a real danger of a violent Guild response.  I don¡¯t think I could live with myself if our actions caused the Guild to kill millions of people.¡±

    Ramona shook her head.  ¡°The blood would be on their hands, not yours.¡±

    ¡°But still, I know this is a possible outcome, it¡¯s a risk.  It feels wrong to endanger these people just so we can get rich.¡±

    Surprisingly it was Craig who agreed first.  ¡°Ya, that is something that would be tough to live with.¡±

    Ollu waved her hand in the general direction of UI¡¯s populated planet.  ¡°We don¡¯t have to make that decision.  We can let them make it.¡±

    Leo looked at her with a confused look but it was Ramona who answered.  ¡°We file a business plan.¡±

    Ollu smiled.  ¡°Exactly.¡±

    Leo was getting it.  ¡°But they¡¯ll just think we¡¯re nuts.¡±

    ¡°So, we build the system first but we don¡¯t turn it on.  Once it¡¯s built, we file the business plan, give a demonstration and then let the locals decide if they want in or not?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Craig gestured back to Ollu¡¯s screen.  ¡°So, we¡¯re back to the first question, where do we go next?¡±

    Ramona picked up the tablet and started highlighting systems.  ¡°We go for high population centers within two weeks travel from here.¡±  She kept working for a few minutes.  ¡°That gives us ten star systems.¡±  She handed the list back to Ollu.

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°Higher population means more data transfer.¡±

    Leo nodded.  ¡°Ya, there¡¯s usually a direct correlation between population size and data transfer rates.¡±

    Ollu looked at each of the others in turn.  ¡°So, we¡¯re decided then?  We proceed to these ten systems and install QFeed in each?¡±

    Leo nodded.  ¡°Yes.¡±

    Craig nodded.  ¡°Yes, and we diversify.¡±

    Leo looked at Craig.  ¡°You sure about that?  The same as UI?¡±

    Craig nodded again.  ¡°Yes, I¡¯m becoming very certain that this will end the Guild one way or another.  Better to convert those Guilders into something real that will survive the coming crash.¡±

    ¡°OK, so rinse and repeat.¡±

    Ollu had been working on her navigation plan.  ¡°OK, if we take this course, we can visit each of these ten systems over the next eight weeks, that gets us back here in a little over two months.  If we seed each system with QFeed satellites, we will be able to launch the network from here at that time.¡±  She fiddled a bit more.  ¡°And if we stay on current course for one more day, our bunker replenishment orders will all arrive as planned.¡±

    Having an actual plan made Leo feel better about the whole thing.  He still didn¡¯t know what would happen and he worried about a violent Guild response, but having an actual plan to work through gave him something to focus on.  The ten system navigation plan was also similar to the way he had known where the Reggie was going and it helped him focus his trading activity on things that would help in in other systems later.  By the time they actually left UI, they had pretty much maxed out their local spend because the markets they were investing in had all started to move up in value.  They didn¡¯t want to create inflation in the local system by pouring money into the local markets so it was time to move on.

    The second system was similar enough to UI that they simply did exactly the same thing they had done in UI.  However, by the fifth system, the differences between the system started adding up.  Leo found himself spending more and more time looking back at his notes to see what they had done in the systems before.    He began to realize that running a large multi-star enterprise was going to take significant effort.  By the sixth system, he began to think they should simply stop.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can keep any more of this stuff straight.¡±  Leo was sitting in Caf¨¦ one with Craig, Ramona and Ollu.

    Craig laughed.  ¡°It¡¯s actually a pain in the ass owning actual stuff instead of just bits.¡±

    Ollu shook her head.  ¡°We are going to need to have staff just to manage all this stuff.¡±

    Ramona nodded.  ¡°Ya, this isn¡¯t what I was planning to do with the rest of my life.¡±

    Leo was thinking ahead.  ¡°Once we have QFeed up and running, we could set up an office in one system and run the whole thing from there.¡±

    Craig nodded.  ¡°True.  QFeed will allow multi star system conglomerates.    The slow communication and expense of data transport has meant that most businesses are within a single star system.  QFeed will change all that.¡±

    ¡°So, we¡¯re agreed?  We build a HQ in UI and hire staff and all that?¡±

    Leo looked around the table as each of the others nodded in turn.

    ¡°And who runs it?  Do we hire someone?¡±

    Ollu and Ramona looked away.  Ollu spoke first.  ¡°All I ever wanted to do is own my own ship.  Living on a hab or a planet would kill me.

    Ramona nodded.  ¡°I want to be in space, not sitting in an office.¡±

    Craig rubbed his temples and grimaced.  ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    Leo looked at Craig, shocked.  ¡°What?  No offense, but you are the last person I would suggest to run a big stable business with actual employees and responsibilities.¡±

    Craig just laughed.  ¡°Kid, I¡¯ve been just pissing my life away for years.  The Brigadier was right about that.  I think after hanging around with you crazies for a while I have come to realize that what I really want to do is to build something.  Something that will outlast me.  I think that QFeed Inc. might be that thing.¡±

    ¡°QFeed Inc.?¡±

    ¡°Sure, why not?¡±

    ¡°And you would live on a hab?¡±

    ¡°Sure, I was thinking about Bohemia.¡±

    ¡°Bohemia?  Those hippies?¡±

    Craig laughed louder.  ¡°Those are my people, kid.  Besides, I bought the station already.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    ¡°Ya, it was cheap as hell.  There isn¡¯t any meaningful industry on that station, about half the residents are just part time because they need to work elsewhere in UI.  Huge labor pool, massive amount of empty space and they are not coming close to using all the power they generate.  We could build ten data centers and hire thousands of people and not make a dent in the existing space and power.¡±

    Ollu shook her head, impressed.  ¡°You¡¯ve been thinking about this, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    Craig tapped the side of his head with his forefinger.  ¡°Always have a plan.  Always.¡±

 Something I Could Get Used To

    Polity Citizens

    The majority of systems have complex laws about citizenship, residency, taxes and other related issues. This means that citizens of each polity have their own responsibilities and rights as per that local polity and their government framework. Care should be taken when interacting with local citizens who are not subject to Guild law.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    By the time they made it back to UI, Leo was more than happy to offload the entire enterprise to Craig. The details of running such a large company were already starting to wear Leo out. He had no idea how simple data trading was compared to most businesses when they started their scheme to make QFeed a reality.

    Since they had no plans to leave UI anytime soon, they brought the Theo into close orbit alongside Bohemia station. Craig informed them that the gas giant Bohemia orbited was actually called Fluffy, of all things. Apparently, the system¡¯s founders had a sense of humor.

    Approaching Bohemia in the old shuttle they had originally bought from the Reggie, Leo noticed that the station looked different than he remembered it. There seemed to be some new external ports on the side facing Fluffy.

    He altered course a bit to get a better look. It seemed like there were massive windows all along the surface of the hab that faced the gas giant. Like most Habs, Bohemia was basically a giant cylinder. Usually that meant the external surfaces were pretty uniform since that was the most efficient shape for a pressure vessel which is essentially what a hab is. This one now bulged out on the side towards the planet.

    He pointed out the windows to Ramona who was piloting the shuttle alongside him. ¡°What the heck is that?¡±

    Ramona examined the side of the station. ¡°Looks like windows?¡±

    Apparently, Craig was listening from the back. ¡°Oh, did they finish my office?¡±

    ¡°Office?¡±

    ¡°Well, office, bar, entertainment spaces. You know, to host corporate events?¡±

    Leo just shook his head. ¡°Corporate events?¡±

    He couldn¡¯t see Craig from where he was sitting but he could almost hear the shrug. ¡°I think that¡¯s what they call them. You didn¡¯t expect me to live in a boring beige cylinder, did you?¡±

    ¡°Um, ya, I did, but now that I think about it, I¡¯m not terribly surprised.¡±

    Leo switched over to his radio to call the hab. Based on prior experience, he wasn¡¯t expecting much. ¡°Bohemia control, this is shuttle Quebec Foxtrot One with you at one million klicks. Requesting docking instructions.¡±

    Shockingly, ten seconds later, he got his answer. ¡°Quebec Foxtrot, you are cleared to bay nine. Confirm handshake.¡±

    After locking in the nav system, he eased his flight harness so he could lean over and look back at the passenger cabin where Craig was sitting. ¡°Craig, what the fuck?¡±

    Craig didn¡¯t do the innocent look well. ¡°What? Sounded like the proper response to me.¡±

    ¡°Ya, that¡¯s the problem. The last time we were here the guy on duty was asleep and seemed stoned out of his mind when we talked to him.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well. I may have modified the bylaws of the hab a bit.¡±

    ¡°A bit?¡±

    ¡°Well, I made it so any military veterans who want to live there get their rent at half off if they agree to work on station.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Good work ethic. I am going to need to hire a ton of people and veterans make a good hiring pool.¡±

    ¡°And the folks who lived here before don¡¯t mind?¡±

    ¡°No, they¡¯re pretty laid back as a rule. Most of them were concerned that the Hab would go into bankruptcy and they¡¯d have to move. Besides, I cancelled the debt of all residents who have been on station for five years or more. They were still paying the debt from initial construction. All and all I think people are happy.¡±

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    After safing and securing the shuttle, they moved out of the docking bay and into the hab proper. Leo wasn¡¯t sure, but the station seemed cleaner than before. ¡°Station seems really clean.¡±

    Craig rubbed his hands together and spread his arms in a gesture that encompassed the entire station around them. ¡°Can¡¯t have the Galactic Headquarters of QFeed Inc. looking drab or dirty, can we?¡±

    Ramona just stared at him, ¡°Galactic Headquarters?¡±

    Craig smiled and nodded enthusiastically. ¡°Yah kid. You gotta think big.¡± As they walked down the hallway, a janitorial bot passed them almost silently. Craig pointed to it. ¡°Remember that IP buy from Lackers? Turns out those things work great!¡±

    Leo laughed. Apparently, owning the IP for a janitorial bot was useful after all. He had completely forgotten the trade.

    Moving into the lift, Craig selected the top floor. ¡°Hopefully, the offices are ready.¡±

    ¡°Offices?¡±

    ¡°Ya, you know ¡®QFeed Galactic Headquarters¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Is that what we¡¯re really going to call it?¡±

    As the doors of the lift opened, Craig gestured for them to exit with a grand sweeping gesture. As soon as they entered the corridor, they realized why. Across the large corridor was a massive sign reading ¡°QFeed Incorporated¡± in ten-foot glowing purple letters and ¡°Galactic Headquarters¡± in only slightly smaller letters underneath.

    ¡°Holy crap.¡±

    Craig looked immensely pleased with himself. ¡°Like it?¡±

    ¡°Uh, it¡¯s a bit much, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± He walked up to a door in the corridor that looked like it was made from real wood and attempted to open it. When the door refused to open, he started banging on it with his fist. ¡°Hey! Hello!! Anyone home in there?¡±

    After a few seconds, a woman opened the door with a quizzical look on her face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we¡¯re not open for business yet. Can you come back another time?¡±

    Craig pushed forward, almost knocking the poor woman down. ¡°Nonsense!! I¡¯m Craig Linton! These two are board members! We¡¯ve come here to inspect the new offices.¡±

    A look of horror came over the woman¡¯s face. ¡°Oh! Sir! I¡¯m terribly sorry! Your instructions just said to get the construction done. We had no idea you were coming today!¡±

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re here now. How is the construction going?¡±

    ¡°Oh, just fine. Everything in your office is done according to your design and the outer offices are complete. All the furniture arrived yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Lovely. And your name is?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m Carol. Carol Jennings.¡±

    Craig reached out a hand and gave her an enthusiastic handshake. ¡°So nice to meet you Carol! Welcome to QFeed Inc. You¡¯re going to enjoy working here.¡±

    Carol looked confused again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry? I¡¯m just here from the temp agency, they asked me to keep an eye on things and make sure the construction was going as per the specifications.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. But you work for QFeed now. Welcome!¡±

    ¡°Oh, wait, I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t think I can do that.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡±

    ¡°Well, I have a contract, you see.¡±

    ¡°Ah, and you¡¯d rather keep doing temp work?¡±

    ¡°Oh no, I was a senior director of operations for a mining company until they went out of business a few years ago. Temp work is all I could get on station.¡±

    ¡°OK, right. So, you¡¯re now director of operations for QFeed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Linton¡­¡±

    ¡°Craig.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Craig but I don¡¯t think I can do that, you see I had to sign a contract that prevents me from working for agency clients. Standard sort of thing for a temp agency so you don¡¯t just bypass them and hire workers directly.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not a problem.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Can I ask why that is?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because I own the temp agency.¡±

    ¡°You do?¡±

    ¡°Yep. Bought it when I bought the hab. Actually, I bought most of the businesses here on Bohemia. Seemed simpler that way.¡±

    ¡°Oh, my.¡±

    ¡°So, you want to be my Director of Ops?¡±

    ¡°Um, yes, certainly. Standard contract?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll double your temp agency rate and give you a one year contract with an opt out for you after 30 days.¡±

    ¡°Um, that¡¯s very generous.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll earn it.¡±

    ¡°Well, then thanks.¡±

    He shook her hand again. ¡°Welcome aboard. This is Leo and Ramona, they¡¯re on the board of directors. Our other board member is Ollu and she may show up at some point. I¡¯ll send you photos so you can recognize her.¡± He started to wander around the room. There were several leather chairs spread about the large room and a large counter where presumably a receptionist would sit. At the far end of the room was another large wooden door. ¡°Where is my office?¡±

    Carol pointed at the second door. ¡°Just through there, end of the hall.¡±

    Craig walked over, opened the door and walked down the hallway. The hallway was lined with other, smaller doors, each one a natural wood door matching the two they had already seen. Leo walked behind Craig and was surprised to see his name on one of the doors. ¡°Wait, is that my office?¡±

    Craig smiled. ¡°Ya kid, you¡¯re a board member. Can¡¯t be working out of a coffee shop, now, can you?¡± He kept moving to the end of the hallway and a third large door. It said, ¡°Craig Linton, CEO¡± on it in gold letters. Craig threw open the double doors and entered the rather large office. In one corner was a large desk that looked like an antique, in another corner was a conference table that could hold eight people and in the middle were four plush leather chairs. Walking over behind the desk, he pulled open a panel inset into the desktop. ¡°How do I work this thing, Carol?¡±

    She walked over and pointed. ¡°Instructions are here. Green button opens and red button closes.¡±

    Leo was curious. ¡°Opens what?¡±

    Craig laughed and pressed a button on the console. Suddenly, the entire ceiling started to move, revealing windows underneath the wood paneling of the ceiling. Within a few seconds, the paneling had moved back and they could see out the windows. Windows that faced out, showing the magnificent face of Fluffy, the gas giant. The room glowed with the reflected light from the massive planet.

    ¡°Holy shit!¡±

    Leo didn¡¯t realize he had spoken aloud until Ramona laughed. She was looking up, transfixed with the view. ¡°Holy shit, indeed. Craig, you certainly know how to impress a girl, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Craig sighed and leaned back in the leather chair behind his desk. ¡°Now, this is something I could get used to.¡±

 Wake Me If Anything Serious Happens

    Treaty of Orion

    The Treaty of Orion, signed after the third succession war in 3022, explicitly defines an ¡°AI Based Weapon System¡± as any weapon that can take independent action without human interaction and explicitly bans all such weapons.  As a signatory of the Treaty of Orion, the Guild works actively to ensure that any IP infringing on these treaty definitions is banned.  This also means that any ships, polity or other organization trading in systems so defined will also be banned.  All Guild members are required to read the treaty and sign an affidavit that they understand and will comply with the treaty¡¯s requirements.

    Excerpted With Permission

    Data Trader¡¯s Handbook

    Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

    Craig seemed to take to running a large company like a fish to water.  Within two weeks he had hired an entire operations team and had delegated the vast majority of the day to day tasks to the new employees on Bohemia.  He had also moved into sumptuous quarters on the station and hadn¡¯t been off station since that first day in the offices.  Leo, Ramona and Ollu were feeling a bit at lost ends and didn¡¯t really have much to do.  They were all sitting over coffee in Caf¨¦ 1 onboard the Theo, just trying to decide what to do next.

    Leo wasn¡¯t sure how to proceed.  ¡°I¡¯m not really sure what happens next.  We could just stay here and run QFeed with Craig.¡±

    Ramona shook her head in disgust.  ¡°That sounds insanely boring.  I¡¯d rather go back to Raeburn and live with my father.¡±

    ¡°I thought you couldn¡¯t stand your father?¡±

    ¡°Well, he¡¯s not that bad, but ya.  You get the idea.¡±

    Ollu leaned back in her chair.  ¡°We could just take off and start trading.¡±

    ¡°You mean regular cargo?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°We would need a different ship.  I don¡¯t know much about normal cargo operations but the ship¡¯s I¡¯ve seen seem very different than Guild Data Arcs.¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°I don¡¯t think that would be a major problem.  There are several ships for sale right here in UI at the moment that I wouldn¡¯t mind captaining.¡±

    Ramona nodded.  ¡°Ya, I can see you being captain of a cargo ship.  A little boring, but you belong in command of a ship.¡±

    Ollu looked at her.  ¡°Thanks, I think.  What about you?¡±

    ¡°Well, to be honest, being in the military is the only thing I¡¯m really qualified to do. I can¡¯t go back to the Guild now that we¡¯re banned.  I guess I could become an apprentice again.¡±

    Ollu laughed.  ¡°You could just come with me.  Maybe we¡¯ll get lucky and pirates will attack.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tease me like that.¡±

    Ollu sobered.  ¡°You could easily buy your own ship, run your own wildcat trading operation.  Wouldn¡¯t be hard, Craig would fund you if you wanted.¡±

    Leo put his coffee down with a thump.  ¡°I just can¡¯t make any plans until I know what the Guild will do.  The waiting is driving me crazy.¡±

    Ramona patted his arm.  ¡°Waiting is always the hard part.  It¡¯s not the danger or the risk to your life that gets you in the military, it¡¯s always the waiting.  Once combat starts you¡¯re usually too busy to be scared.¡±

    Leo smiled at her.  ¡°Thanks, I¡­.¡±

    He was interrupted by a loud klaxon and an announcement over the PA system.  ¡°General Quarters, General Quarters!!  Captain to the bridge, immediate!¡±

    Ollu was moving before the announcement finished; she was up and out the door before Leo and Ramona had time to react.  Looking at each other, they both shrugged and Leo gestured to the door.  By the time they made it to the bridge, it was a scene of controlled chaos, every station manned and multiple people talking at the same time.  Ollu was sitting in the captain¡¯s chair, a concerned look on her face.

    Leo studied the large navigational map displayed on the main viewer.  It showed what looked like hundreds of red icons entering the system from the 9 o¡¯clock direction.  ¡°It¡¯s the Guild.¡±

    Ollu nodded.  ¡°They came packing heat.  Those are not the same types of ships that came to Raeburn.¡±

    Ramona moved over to a sensor console, relieving the watch stander there.  ¡°We have much better sensors than we had in Raeburn because of the defense constellation.  At least one hundred of the installations have them on sensors so we are getting a fused picture, super accurate.¡±

    Leo was still surprised at the sheer numbers involved.  ¡°How many platforms are there now?¡±

    ¡°About a hundred thousand.¡±

    ¡°That seems like an insane number.  Surely the Guild can¡¯t get through that.¡±

    Ramona just shook her head.  ¡°A solar system is a very big place.  Depending on how smart they are, they could pick a vector into the inner system that only exposes them to a couple dozen platforms.  These things are very powerful, but there are practical limits, you really can¡¯t engage something more than ten light minutes away or so, just too much latency to control the weapon.¡±  Ramona started fiddling with the display controls and suddenly, the map was overlaid with red shading representing ten light minutes from each defense platform.  ¡°We need them to enter into these shaded areas.¡±  Ten light minutes is about 180 million KM, so the engagement spheres were quite large and had significant overlap but they didn¡¯t cover the entire solar system.  Especially outside of the ecliptic.  The stations were all built on top of asteroids so they were all organized along the plane of the elliptic.  Like most solar systems, UI was basically elliptical since that¡¯s the shape of an orbit of a body around a larger body like a planet around a sun.  UI actually had three different asteroid belts due to the way the solar system was formed millions of years prior.  This was unusual, but not completely unheard of.  Humans tended to settle in systems that had asteroid belts simply because it was more economical to mine them than to build mines on planets with significant gravity wells.  Getting all that metal up and out of a gravity well was expensive even for a post-scarcity society.

    Looking at the display, Leo noticed that the Guild vessels were coming down from ¡°above¡± the elliptic.  ¡°It looks like they suspect we may have armed the asteroids like your father did, they are approaching from a pretty steep angle.¡±  It was true. On their current course, the Guild vessels would avoid the majority of the weapons stations simply because they had chosen to come ¡°down¡± into the system from a steep angle instead of cutting across the elliptic like a data ark would normally do.  ¡°What do we do?¡±

    Ramona was working on astrogation.  ¡°We give them a target.¡±

    Leo was afraid he knew what that meant.  ¡°You mean us, right?¡±

    Ollu was watching from her chair.  ¡°Yep.¡±  She turned to the navigator.  ¡°Helm, get us moving.  Take the mains to 100% as soon as we are clear of the station.  Let¡¯s move down into belt 2, I want belt one to be BETWEEN us and the incoming ships.  Got it?¡±

    The navigator was working furiously on their console.  ¡°Yes, captain.  Coming about, down 10, port 20.  Engaging.¡±

    Ramona continued to work at her console.  ¡°All Guild vessels have been tagged hostile by the defense platforms.  It will take a while for the instructions to populate all the stations, but it should be done well before they get into range.¡±

    Ollu turned to a different crewman.  ¡°Launch the BR¡¯s.  Keep them within one light second of us in a defensive formation.¡±

    Ramona was looking at her instruments again.  ¡°Looks like the UI military is not going on alert.  No movements to intercept.¡±

    After a short period of time, it was obvious that the Guild ships knew or at least strongly suspected that UI¡¯s asteroid belt held defensive platforms.  They were taking courses that ships would normally not take in order to avoid engagement ranges to the installations on the belt.  As they passed ¡°above¡± the orbit of Fluffy, the tactical display seemed to develop static.

    Leo wasn¡¯t sure what he was looking at.  ¡°What the hell is that?¡±

    Ramona knew exactly what she was looking at.  ¡°Weapons release.  Thousands of them.¡±

    Leo was still puzzled.  ¡°From that range?  What are they, like a light hour out?¡±

    Ramona consulted the sensor display.  ¡°Yeah, about that.¡±  She fiddled with the controls a bit more and projected courses were superimposed on the view.  Very quickly it became clear why the missiles had been fired from so far away.  ¡°Planets can¡¯t dodge.¡±

    Of course, all of this had happened more than an hour ago.  What they were seeing was sensor feeds transmitted to them via tight beam laser comms at the speed of light.  Because of speed of light delays, all this information was at least an hour old.  Of course, as the missiles got closer that information would be more current.  However, because of where the originating ships were in the system, that meant that they could only react to very old information.  In effect, that made it basically impossible to engage a mobile target like a ship from those kinds of ranges.  It was simply too easy for the targeted ship to make direction changes well beyond the ability of a missile to match.  At closer ranges, that delay went away and thus missile attacks were more effective.

    ¡°OK, we are getting good tracks.  There are about a thousand missiles headed to each of the three populated planets.¡±

    ¡°Shit, can we warn them?¡±

    Ramona had never stopped working at the console.  ¡°Already have.  Two of them are pretty close but the third is almost forty light minutes away so they won¡¯t have much warning.¡±

    ¡°Can we use the defensive systems to help protect the planet?¡±

    Ramona was working even more intently on the console.  ¡°We can help some, but at those ranges there is no way we can take them all out.  I¡¯ve tagged them all as high priority hostile so the system will attempt to attack at extreme range.¡±

    After that, it was a waiting game.  The tracks of the missiles continued their remorseless march towards the planets.  Finally, after what seemed like ages, the UI government started to respond.  ¡°UI military units going on alert.  Looks like two destroyers and a couple of frigates orbiting the inner planet, a destroyer on the second and two frigates at the third.  Yes, their sensors just went to full power.  They are maneuvering.  Marking UI units as blue force.¡±

    Slowly, so slowly, the weapons entered extreme range of the asteroid based defensive systems.   ¡°Our units are firing kinetic rounds.  Good track, on intercept.¡±

    Suddenly, the incoming missile tracks that had been straight lines for so long stared to kink and turned into squiggles.  ¡°What the hell!  Those missiles are dodging the kinetic rounds!¡±

    Leo sighed.  ¡°Well, it was worth a try.¡±

    Ramona was shocked enough to look up from her console.  ¡°What?  How did they get the command to dodge?  They were at least twenty light minutes from any Guild ship!¡±

    Leo thought about that for a moment.  ¡°Perhaps it was a pre-programmed maneuver?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    At this point, the UI ships started to maneuver aggressively, placing themselves between the three inhabited planets and the incoming weapons.  ¡°They are retargeting!!  Those are AI based weapons!¡±

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Leo just put his head into his hands.  When he looked up, Ramona was staring at him.  ¡°No, I¡¯m not going to say it.  I know that the Guild is capable of breaking any law, including their own.  Why should I be surprised that they¡¯re willing to violate Treaty of Orion?¡±  Despite what he said aloud, he was still shocked to his core.  The treaty had saved the early Earth colonies from endless destructive wars.  AI based weapons had nearly ended human civilization hundreds of years ago and the ban had held for all the time since it was originally ratified.

    Ollu had been watching the entire battle silently.  Now she spoke for the first time.  ¡°We need to have absolute proof of our suspicions.  If we can take that evidence to other star systems, the Guild will be done.¡±

    Ramona shook her head.  ¡°I¡¯m convinced now.  No way all that was pre-programmed.  They must have some sort of discretionary logic built into the weapons.¡±

    Ollu tapped her index finger on the console in front of her.  ¡°We need to be sure.  What can an AI based weapon do that a pre-programmed homing weapon cannot?¡±

    ¡°Extrapolate.¡±  Leo didn¡¯t realize he had spoken aloud until he noticed that everyone on the bridge was looking at him.  ¡°An AI system can derive and extrapolate but algorithmic software cannot.  Present them with new data and see if the extrapolate a course of action.  That would clearly violate the treaty by any standard.¡±

    Ramona nodded.  ¡°But what new data can we present?¡±

    ¡°It would have to be something related to their mission parameters.  The AI would have been given broad mission parameters to drive their decision-making.¡±

    ¡°And what would those be?¡±

    Ollu smacked her hand down on the table.  ¡°Q-Feed.¡±

    Leo was confused for a moment, then he nodded.  ¡°Right, the Guild¡¯s primary mission here is to eliminate the threat of Q-Feed.  The AI¡¯s would need to know that.¡±

    Leo looked at Ramona.  ¡°Do you think they¡¯re listening to our comms?¡±

    She smiled.  ¡°I would.  That¡¯s why we are using laser comms only.¡±

    ¡°And what if we made a mistake?¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°What if we needed to warn the UI ships about our cargo?¡±

    ¡°Cargo?¡±

    ¡°Yes, about all the new Q-Feed bouys we were taking out system to safeguard them?¡±

    Ollu laughed.  ¡°Yep, that would do it.¡±

    Now it was Leo¡¯s turn to work on a console.  Very quickly he sketched out what he wanted to see, then he picked up a handset.  Making sure he was using RF rather than laser, he began to transmit.  ¡°Theo to Alfa Bravo, be advised that we are proceeding with transport of the reserve Q-Feed satellite group to a secure star system as agreed.  We will check in upon arrival.  Advise further instructions, if any.¡±

    Leo looked at Ramona.  ¡°Ya, that would do it.¡±

    Ollu began issuing orders to the bridge crew.  The ship began to accelerate.  ¡°Captain, we are at 100% on the mains.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, carry on.¡±

    Ten more minutes until the weapons could intercept the radio message.  Ten minutes after that, they would see their reaction, if any.  The twenty minutes crawled by.  Then twenty one.  ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°Well, we were just guessing as to their mission brief.  Perhaps they didn¡¯t program them to seek out any Q-Feed related activity.¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡±  Twenty missiles at the extreme edge of the formation were turning.  ¡°All the missiles had to get the message and then they had to take a vote on what to do.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°If you have a large number of AI based systems, it¡¯s just like having people.  The normal thing was to hold elections to evaluate new data.  It just took a couple of minutes because of propagation delay.¡±

    ¡°So, what?¡±

    ¡°So, there is no way that was a legal weapon.  They are taking action based on an intercepted message that they COULD NOT have predicted in advance.  The response was also WAY too fast to have been approved by the humans on the launch vehicles, they are more than 40 light minutes out.  That decision was taken only about a minute after they intercepted the radio message.¡±

    Leo was watching the tactical display closely.  ¡°Uh, so the good news is that we have 20 missiles bearing down on us?¡±

    Ollu grinned.  ¡°Check our new course.¡±

    Leo looked more carefully, the ship¡¯s current course was also superimposed on the tactical display.  A bright green dotted line showed a graceful curve as the ship¡¯s course changed to point directly to¡­

    ¡°the asteroid belt?¡±

    Ollu¡¯s grin got wider.  ¡°Ya, you got anyplace else you need to be?¡±

    ¡°Uh, no.¡±

    Leo started to relax once they were inside of the engagement envelope of two defense platforms.  They should be pretty safe here.

    Ramona stiffened at her console.  ¡°Oh shit!¡±

    Leo raced over and looked over her shoulder.  ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°A bunch more missiles have decided to change course, towards us!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°We now have over two thousand inbound to our location.¡±

    ¡°Shit!¡±

    Leo looked up at the tactical screen.  It was a pretty depressing sight.  Even though he had great faith in the platforms and even more in Ramona, it seemed hopeless.  ¡°Do you think we can engage that many?¡±

    Ramona looked resigned.  ¡°No.¡±  She sighed.  ¡°A couple hundred and I would feel pretty confident.  Over two thousand?  No.  I don¡¯t see how we defeat that.¡±

    Leo looked over to Ollu who shook her head sadly.

    Leo sat down.  Rather, he fell into a nearby chair.  He wasn¡¯t thinking too clearly.  Absently, he toyed with the red data card in his shirt pocket.  It took him a full minute to realize what he had in his hand.  He turned back to Ollu.  ¡°How close are we to the 9 o¡¯clock bouy?¡±

    Ollu consulted a screen.  ¡°About five light minutes.  Why, you want to send a goodbye message?¡±

    Leo smiled grimly.  ¡°Something like that.¡±

    Feeling steady again, he walked over to a console and started removing the interlocks on the guild trading systems.  Ramona noticed what he was doing and gave him a confused look.  ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡±

    ¡°If we are going down, we are going to have company.¡±  He held the card high enough so she could see it.

    Ollu got out of her captain¡¯s chair and walked over to where Leo was working.  ¡°What the hell is that?¡±

    Leo just looked at her.  ¡°Epsilon.¡±

    ¡°Epsilon?¡±

    ¡°Ya.¡±

    ¡°The Brigadier gave that to you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And now you¡¯re willing to destroy the guild.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Ollu looked over at Ramona, who shrugged.  Ollu looked up to the overhead for a moment, then back to Leo.  ¡°OK.  It¡¯s over either way, fast or slow.¡±

    Leo nodded grimly and issued the command to release the interlocks.  The ship automatically locked on to the 9 o¡¯clock bouy and stared to send bursts of laser communications to it.  Within ten minutes, they would have handshake.  Leo paused for a moment.  You sure you want to do this?  Then, with a determined grimace, he shoved the red data card into the console¡¯s data slot.  He wasn¡¯t sure what to expect, exploding consoles like in the vids or just a silent virus attack.  What he actually got was completely unexpected.

    ¡°A menu!?!?¡±

    Ramona walked over and looked at the screen.  ¡°It¡¯s a weapon Leo.  Designed by the military.  That means it has to be easy to use and easy to control.¡±

    The screen was pretty easy to understand.  It said, ¡°Choose Attack Profile¡± and listed a variety of options from a single ship all the way up to total system corruption.  Leo chose the top option, ¡°Phased Invasive Viral Spread with Destructive Overwrite.¡±  He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what that meant, but he was pretty sure the Guild trading systems wouldn¡¯t survive it.

    Ramona was reading more carefully.  ¡°OK, phased means that it will propagate a bit before acting.  If it just wiped the first ship it came across, the virus wouldn¡¯t spread.  This means that the virus will spread to a specified number of nodes and then begin to corrupt the local database.  That pretty much guarantees that most active nodes will be infected.  Wow, they seemed to have a pretty good model of Guild propagation delay in here.  I think this thing will work.¡±

    Leo hit the execute button.  The screen went black and then returned to it¡¯s previous normal view.  He wasn¡¯t sure what was happening but the show was over.  ¡°I hope that works.¡±

    Ramona just shook her head.  ¡°We may never know.¡±

    While Ramona and Leo had been working on the virus, Ollu had been working on their course.  With the mains still at 100%, the ship was quickly gaining velocity.  Not as fast as a warship, but still a respectable amount of acceleration.  She was shaking her head.  ¡°If we had even an hour¡¯s more notice, I think we could have made it to the e-limit before they could close the distance.  Those missiles are insanely fast, but we had a good head start.  As it is, we¡¯ll pass down through the belt, out the other side and make it within a few light minutes of the e-limit.  After that, I have no idea what happens.¡±

    Time dragged on.  Unlike in the vids, space combat wasn¡¯t very exciting.  The distances involved meant that things took a LONG LONG time to happen.  They knew WHAT was going to happen, it was just math.  The Theo had a certain ability to accelerate, the missiles had a significantly higher ability.  So, it was just distance, speed and acceleration.  There was no point in dodging or weaving around as that would simply result in less acceleration away from the missiles.

    After half an hour, the missiles started to enter the engagement envelope of the defense platforms.  As they started to engage, the incoming missile count started to drop, rapidly.  It quickly went from over two thousand, down to fifteen hundred, then down to eleven hundred.  As the missiles raced on, they left the envelope and the numbers steadied.  ¡°One thousand and fifty three, exactly.¡±

    Leo looked at Ramona who just shook her head.  ¡°I will program the BR¡¯s to engage, but that¡¯s just too many.  Even one or two hits on the Theo will be terminal.  This isn¡¯t a warship, it¡¯s not designed to take that kind of damage.¡±

    Leo patted her on the back.  ¡°Nothing you can do.¡±  He thought about it a moment.  On impulse, he gently pulled her head around and gave her a kiss on the lips.  ¡°Sorry it took me so long.¡±

    Ramona¡¯s face was still for a moment, then she smiled.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry too.¡±

    Leo¡¯s console started beeping.  He walked back over.  ¡°Handshake.  We have a good handshake with the buoy.  Initiating a full sync.¡±

    Ramona was still locked on her console.  ¡°Pushing the BR¡¯s out to a full light second.  Orienting them for optimum intercept.¡±  A few minutes passed.  ¡°Engaging.  Twenty.  A hundred.  Three hundred down!¡±  She became very still.  ¡°BR¡¯s offline.    Six hundred inbound.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it then.¡±

    Suddenly a shrill klaxon began to ring out on the bridge.  Then an automated voice.  ¡°Collision alarm!  Collision alarm!¡±

    Ollu stalked over to the navigation station.  ¡°Will you turn that damned thing off?  I already know what¡¯s coming!¡±

    The watch stander looked at her with huge eyes.  ¡°That¡¯s in front of us, not behind us.¡±

    ¡°What the hell!?!¡±

    Leo turned back to the main tactical screen.  Directly in front the Theo was a massive wave of inbound missiles.   Thousands of them.  ¡°How did they get in front of us?¡±

    ¡°Does it matter?¡±

    The communications offer suddenly stood up and began screaming.  ¡°CAPTAIN!!  CAPTAIN!!¡±

    ¡°Everyone calm down.  If this is the end, we go out as professionals.  Stay at your posts.¡±

    The watch stander just shook his head and pushed a button on his console.  A familiar voice boomed out of the speakers on the bulkhead.  ¡°¡­.  United Earth Task Force Zebra.   Repeat, all ships in the U-I sector are directed to stand down.  Under the provisions of the Treaty of Orion, we are undertaking punitive enforcement actions against all Guild vessels.  All Guild vessels will stand to and prepare to be boarded.  Non-compliance with this order will be grounds for immediate destruction.    This is Brigadier Vishnu Newman, commanding officer, United Earth Task Force Zebra.¡±

    Leo just looked at Ollu and Ramona, not really sure what to think.  Had he gone insane?  Or was the Brigadier about to save their asses?

    Ramona looked down at her console.  ¡°Holy shit, those missiles are going to be CLOSE.¡±

    Of course, in space they could neither hear nor feel the missiles passing by.  But Leo could FEEL them.  ¡°Closest approach one kilometer!¡±

    ¡°Holy fuck!¡±

    For a spacecraft, passing within one kilometer of something was basically kissing distance.  No sane person would ever pass that close to another vessel on purpose.  At closing speeds approaching a significant percentage of light speed, relativistic effects made navigation extremely difficult.

    ¡°Passing now!  They¡¯re gone!¡±  Ramona continued to stare intently.  ¡°They¡¯re engaging the trailing missiles!  There they GO!  Jesus Christ!  They got them all!¡±

    Finally, the Earth ships started to appear on their sensors.  And they were CLOSE.  ¡°Those ships must be stealthed.  We didn¡¯t detect them until we were well within a light second.¡±

    ¡°Theo, this is the Brigadier.  Put Craig on the line, please.¡±

    Leo took a handset to reply.  ¡°Brigadier, this is Leo.  Craig is on Bohemia.¡±

    ¡°Bohemia?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the Hab orbiting Fluffy, the gas giant.  We started a company to run QFeed and Craig is the CEO.  That hab is our corporate HQ.¡±

    ¡°Pull the other one.¡±

    ¡°No, really.  He¡¯s running a major business there.¡±

    ¡°Right.  I believe that he¡¯s making money, it¡¯s the running the business that has me gob smacked.¡±

    ¡°Understood, but that¡¯s where he is.¡±

    ¡°Very well.  Stay clear and keep heading to the e-limit.   Safer for you out here.  We have some work to do in system.¡±

    Nobody on the Theo was about to argue with that.  The further from the combat currently going on in the system they could get, the better.  Most of them, including Leo, were just in shock.  He had been pretty convinced he was going to die, and his brain was not really functioning at full speed as a result.  He stared at the main display for at least ten minutes before he noticed a change.

    ¡°Uh, are they targeting the buoys now?¡±

    Ramona had been focused on the battle over the planets, not looking at the outer system.  Now she shifted her focus to the four Guild buoys.  Each one of them now had a pair of missiles aimed at it.  ¡°Why destroy their own buoys?¡±

    Ollu was nodding.  ¡°They¡¯re going to ban UI and try to contain the damage here.¡±

    ¡°But QFeed makes that impossible.¡±

    Leo was watching more closely.  ¡°Not if they take out our buoys also.¡±  He started looking more closely.  None of their buoys looked like they had been targeted.  Yet.

    Ramona was also investigating.  ¡°Those things are really far out and very hard to see if they¡¯re not transmitting.  Even if they are, you would have to walk across the laser to notice them.  Even if they know they¡¯re out there, it¡¯s a tough mission to track them.¡±

    Ollu was also investigating.  ¡°The weak link is the repeater buoy in the inner system.  They need to register with the local network.  All the Guild would have to do is interrogate the local network and they will find them.¡±

    Leo typed a command into the build system.  ¡°We have enough raw materials to print about a thousand of them.  Why not just keep printing them out?  If they destroy one, we just print out another.¡±

    Ramona was nodding.  ¡°Yes.  And if we put them close to the asteroid belt, we can cover them pretty closely with automated defenses.  Wait a minute.¡±  After a few minutes, the main screen updated again with new flashing green icons.  ¡°Twenty of them, spread out across the system.  Each one is inside the engagement envelope of at least three defensive platforms.  They could take them out, but it would be insanely expensive in terms of the number of missiles involved.  I think we can scale our production of satellites way faster than they can scale missile production.¡±

    Ollu was checking the plan.  ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡±  She turned to the navigator.  ¡°New course, let¡¯s head for the first location and shape an elliptical course to hit each one of these locations.¡±

    The navigator got busy.  After a moment, he looked up.  ¡°Aye aye captain.  Least time course three days.¡±

    ¡°Course approved, execute.¡±

    Leo suddenly realized what they just did.  ¡°Uh, is it a good idea to fly back into a combat zone we just recently escaped from?¡±

    Ramona shrugged.  ¡°Hard to tell what will happen next, but those Earth ships are pretty tough.  It looks like the Guild forces are withdrawing to the far side of the system.  I think that we are OK at least for the first two waypoints.  Then we can make the call if things aren¡¯t going well.¡±

    Leo looked at Ollu who nodded.  ¡°OK, let me know if things change.¡±  He looked at the main viewer again.  ¡°So, do we go ahead and send out the announcement to the system?  Let them know what¡¯s happening?¡±

    Ollu shook her head.  ¡°No, let¡¯s wait until we have some redundancy.   So, deploy three and then send the announcement.¡±   She looked down at the course plot.  ¡°That will be in about 23 hours.¡±

    Leo nodded.  ¡°Right.¡±  Suddenly he felt amazingly tired.   ¡°I¡¯m going to bed.  Wake me if anything serious happens.¡±