Chapter 120: 119. Routine

"As far as I can tell," Jenny announced in a calm quiet tone, "Everything about this shipment is legitimate."

A moment later she elaborated, "The shipping order was placed by one of the mining corporations based here in the Fuminja Cluster. According to their internal documents, it's some advanced heavy machinery they originally purchased from a business on Rolandan-2. They'd hoped it would facilitate their mining operation in one of the other large asteroids here, but apparently the equipment's performance in zero gravity has been shall we say, underwhelming."

"So they're selling to the mining corp on Regulon-4? To try and recover their investment I guess?" I asked.

We were back on the Demeter again, and the four of us were seated around the table in the mess as we discussed the job our captain had accepted. Jenny's android was still operating in autonomous mode, according to the pink fringe in her hair. I'd already figured out her main self was probably busy hacking computers and gathering information, in addition to monitoring sensors and comm frequencies.

And our guest was still in their cabin, resting and recovering from their injury. Unlike our captain, who continued to ignore her own wound for now, along with my advice that she too needed some rest.

"Correct," our AI responded. "At a substantial loss I might add. Apparently they tried to return it to the manufacturer first but were refused a refund. So they're selling it on as used equipment, even though it is allegedly in nearly brand-new condition. According to the internal memos, two people lost their jobs and a third was demoted over the whole affair."

Rebecca nodded, "All right. Thanks for the background information Jenny. I trust nobody noticed you were accessing their systems?"

Jenny smiled, "I left no traces of my presence in any of the computers I visited."

"Where's the local mining corp based exactly?" Sarah asked. "We're picking the goods up at Fuminja Gamma, right?"

The android explained, "They have a presence here at Fuminja Beta as well as at the processing plant at Fuminja Gamma, but their base is built into one of the... I hesitate to call them 'smaller asteroids' but perhaps one of the medium-sized ones? They've claimed about two dozen moderate-sized rocks as their own, and built their facilities into one of them while they extract minerals from the rest."

"And you accessed their systems remotely? From here?" our engineer asked in surprise. "I thought you needed to be closer? Like docked with them."

Jenny grimaced slightly, "The more I do this Sarah, the better I get at it. And in this case the corporation made it easy for me. They have their own infrastructure in place to allow communications between their main facility and their two remote offices. That's how I was able to access their systems from here."

Rebecca and I both guessed what Sarah was getting at, the boss looked at our AI and asked "Does that mean you could access the computers at Fuminja Epsilon from here? Or do you still need us to dock there to get you inside?"

"Sorry captain," she apologized. "I could access their public-facing systems from here, but not the secure private computer. For that we will need to dock at their facility."

"That's ok Jenny," Rebecca replied. "We'll find an excuse to get back there, sooner rather than later. In the meantime we should probably get this ship moving. We've got a cargo to pick up."

I asked, "What jump level are we making this trip? Is this a rush delivery, or...?"

The captain shook her head, "It's a standard delivery so we'll be taking it slow and easy. Level zero, twelve days in jump from Fuminja to Regulon. Just like old times."

"What'll we do from there?" Sarah asked. "I can't imagine there's much in the way of work for a tramp freighter at a closed facility like that."

Rebecca sighed, "You're right about that. We'll probably have to fly empty from there? Maybe back to Port Ecclestone, then we can start looking for work again. Or we'll be near enough to Rolandan-2, we could visit Tamsin again? We'll see. We have a dozen days before we need to worry about it. For now let's get this ship moving."

We all got up from the table, Sarah headed aft to engineering while Rebecca and I made our way forward to the cockpit. And Jenny opted to remain in the mess for now. I slipped into my co-pilot seat but noticed the captain was standing behind me again, rather than taking her usual seat.

"I take it I'm doing the flying again boss?" I asked as I looked back over my shoulder at her.

She grinned, "That's right Amanda. I'm actually thinking about getting Sarah to install a tail-friendly seat on the right side, so you can just take the pilot's controls."

I rolled my eyes and joked, "Then what? You retire to a life of luxury while the rest of us do all the work?"

"We'll see," she responded, after stifling a giggle. "Anyways you know what to do. Get us clearance and a vector over to Fuminja Gamma, then take us out. I'll be back here watching..."

Her voice trailed off for a moment then she added with a smirk, "Unless I get bored and go wander off. Or maybe I'll go take a nap? I think the ship's medic was pestering me about getting some rest earlier."

"A nap huh?" I asked as I reached for the mic. "Now that you mention it, that's something you old folks do right? After all the times you teased me and Sarah about being kids maybe we need to start teasing you about being ancient. Eight-two wasn't it?"

Rebecca laughed, "I didn't hear any complaints in bed last night kiddo, so I assume you're ok sleeping with your octogenarian girlfriend."

"Hush granny," I teased, though I did have a bit of a grimace on my face as the conversation had definitely veered into uncharted space. "I have to talk to the nice port control people now."

She stayed quiet as I got the clearance and vector we needed. Sarah had the engines ready, and as soon as the docking clamps released I carefully backed the ship away from the gantry. When we were clear I brought us about then gradually accelerated away from Fuminja Beta, as I followed the assigned course to our next destination.

Gamma was about a third of the way around the asteroid belt, and as usual our course followed an arc that brought us out of the asteroid belt for part of the trip. Before long we curved back into the asteroids, and less than thirty minutes after leaving the port I was on the comm talking to the dock master at Fuminja Gamma.

The docking facilities there were impressive, due to their requirements. They were able to handle ships significantly larger than the Demeter, like heavy freighters that could handle full loads of either unprocessed ore or big processed ingots of refined metal. They also had numerous smaller docking bays to handle the local shuttles and haulers that belonged to the countless independent miners who lived and worked in the asteroid belt.

Ironically all that meant the one thing they weren't well-suited for was light freighters like the Demeter. They only had one docking gantry for ships our size, and it was currently in use. Given the option of either waiting up to eighteen hours for the other ship to move on or find an alternative, the captain opted for plan B.

"I'll grab Sarah and we'll get suited up," Rebecca stated. "Depressurize the main hold and be ready to cut gravity when I give the word."

I nodded, "Yes ma'am."

Working with the dock-master, I carefully nosed the Demeter up to one of the oversized docking gantries, where the cargo would be transferred across the unsealed gap to our hold. A couple minutes after the boss left the cockpit Jenny joined me there. Her android was still operating in autonomous mode as she slipped into the pilot seat next to me.

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"I've already warned Cam that we'll be cutting gravity at some point," she let me know. "They'll remain in their cabin until the work is completed."

"Thanks Jenny, that's good thinking," I replied. Most of my focus remained on the task at hand though.

After a few seconds she offered, "I can take care of the hold pressurization and gravity functions if you like?"

I nodded, "Thanks again, that would be very helpful."

"Of course," she smiled.

Apart from maintaining a stable position dangerously close to the docking gantry, most of the procedure was actually almost routine. It really wasn't that different from loading up salvage from the Hammersmith, which was all done at zero gravity and with the main hold depressurized and the doors open to space.

Rebecca and Sarah were down there in their e-suits to help position and secure the heavy containers, while three or four dock workers did most of the work. They were efficient too, it only took them about twenty minutes to get all six containers into our hold.

The captain asked me to close the ramp and seal the hold as soon as the local folks were cleared, but she and Sarah needed a few more minutes to secure the cargo before it was safe for us to start moving again. And with Jenny looking after the hold and the gravity situation, I was free to keep my attention on holding the ship stable while my girlfriends worked.

Eventually Rebecca let us know it was safe, and Jenny started slowly ramping up gravity and repressurizing the hold while I got us a departure vector and clearance from the dock-master. And once again it was almost routine as we moved away from the processing facility, then followed a course perpendicular to the orbital plane of the asteroid belt.

As soon as we were clear of any hazards I started plotting our level zero jump to Regulon-4, so we were all ready to go before Rebecca even got back into the cockpit.

"Course is set captain," I said as soon as she joined Jenny and I. "We're clear of the Fuminja system, just waiting for your approval then I'll accelerate us into jump-0. ETA is twelve days for arrival at the Regulon system."

She grinned, "You really are looking for that first-mate promotion, aren't you? All right Lieutenant Fox, take us into jump-0 whenever you're ready. This old lady's going to check on our passenger then get herself a drink."

Rebecca didn't even stay to watch, she turned around and headed aft while I was double-checking my course.

"First mate now is it?" Jenny commented with a smirk. "You're going to need to ask the captain for a raise Amanda, considering all the different jobs and responsibilities you're doing. Navigator, co-pilot, medic, cook, mascot, and now first officer as well? I'm impressed."

I rolled my eyes again, "You really are picking up the slack when it comes to teasing me, aren't you? Well, you and Rebecca both."

The android grinned, "Just doing my part as a member of the crew."

By that point I was satisfied with the course I'd set, so I accelerated us to jump-0. Even that was routine by now though. Level one jumps were still a big deal, but level zero was a lot less stressful than flying through asteroids or docking the ship against a fragile plastic gantry. Then with the ship underway I set the usual automated sensor monitoring routines, and finally unstrapped and got up from my seat.

Jenny followed as I made my way aft to the ship's mess, where I found both my girlfriends and our passenger. And from the look of it Rebecca had decided it was finally time to pour those shots that Sarah offered after the attack in Fuminja Beta.

"...dozen days en route to our next stop," the boss was in the middle of saying to the cat-kin when Jenny and I joined the others.

She continued, "Sorry your visit to our last port of call ended so abruptly and violently Cam. I promise it's not usually like that, although I suppose our last few stops actually have been kind of rough."

"What's it like at the next place?" they asked, with more than a little apprehension in their voice.

Rebecca grimaced, "Not great to be honest. In fact I'm going to say right now, I don't want you to leave the ship there. Sarah and Jenny will be staying aboard as well to keep you company."

"What about me?" I asked as I took my seat.

"You and this Jenny will be coming with me," our tall strong captain told myself and the android. "But we don't need to worry about that for another twelve days, so for now let's just relax and enjoy some peace and quiet. And good whiskey."

Sarah grinned, "I'll drink to that."

Jenny of course abstained, and neither Cam or myself had much of a taste for the stuff either. So the two of us stuck with soft drinks while we let our elders enjoy their harder beverages. And with twelve days stuck on the ship in jump ahead of us, we all sort of settled into yet another of our routines.

I cooked the meals and Sarah helped with the cleaning up, though after a day or two Cam started doing that as well. Even Rebecca pitched in, and before long I had the three of them taking turns doing all the washing-up while I handled all the prep-work and cooking.

Meanwhile the rest of us all continued to help Cam adjust to life away from the only home they knew, while the we got used to having the cat-kin on board with us. And they seemed to growing accustomed to being there with us. In a way they reminded me a little of myself, when I first ended up on the Demeter.

Somewhere around the fourth day the princess received another FTL from her secretary, apparently Gwen was getting a bit impatient for news. Or perhaps she was worried about her highness doing dangerous work hauling cargo around. Either way, she wanted to know when we'd be back at Ecclestone's World with some proof of her relationship with Gabe.

The captain sent an FTL message back that amounted to 'be patient' and 'we will arrive when we get there'. Basically there wasn't much we could tell Gwen since we didn't know where we'd be going after we left Regulon-4. Without a destination we couldn't give an ETA, after all.

The other notable thing that happened was about eight days into the flight we finally ran out of the fancy high-quality food we'd stocked up on way back when we were last on Ecclestone's World and thought we'd be spending eighteen days en route to Deveron-8.

We still had plenty of food on board, but after the good stuff was gone I was back to cooking with processed protein chunks from the auto-chef and dried or preserved goods from the back of the pantry.

After that I noticed both Rebecca and Sarah making some comments about a level one jump back to Ecclestone's World when we finished our delivery at Regulon-4, which I definitely wasn't going to complain about. I'd gotten just as used to the nicer meals as the rest of them.