Chapter 127: 126. Lecture

The five of us had a relatively quiet evening once we got back to the ship. I made dinner for everyone, but it was just leftovers from our meal at Gilly's the day before. Then after dinner we finally told Cam about the situation with that research facility at Fuminja Epsilon, including what they were working on and we were planning to do about it.

The cat-kin was as horrified about that stuff as the rest of us, and when we told them what we were planning to do about it they agreed completely and volunteered to help any way they could.

Eventually we all turned in for the night, and cuddling up in bed between my two girlfriends was a great way to forget about the stresses and complications of the day.

Now it was morning again, we were all up and dressed and the others were sitting around the table in the mess while I got breakfast ready for my girlfriends and shipmates. Sarah had the table set, and there were mugs of fresh coffee in front of everyone but Jenny.

"Thanks cutie," Sarah grinned as I started serving up the food. "It looks and smells amazing."

Rebecca agreed, "Hands down the best thing about Port Ecclestone is it means a fresh load of supplies, so Amanda can spoil us with her cooking."

All that left me blushing and smiling as I finally joined them at the table and we all got started on the food. I couldn't argue though, it was good food and I enjoyed it as much as they did.

As we ate the conversation around the table was mostly about our plans for the day. Sarah and Cam were going to head back to the Persephone to install those parts, while Rebecca was going to find us some cargo. Preferably a nice safe easy job that didn't involve anyone shooting at us.

We were only about halfway through our meal when Jenny suddenly announced, "Captain Nieves is approaching the ship."

"Just Tanya?" Rebecca frowned. "Not Tanya and Gwen?"

The AI nodded, "That's correct captain. Tanya Nieves appears to be alone."

"I hope everything's ok," I commented.

"Would you like me to meet her at the airlock? I can escort her up to the mess if you wish?" Jenny offered, since the rest of us were still eating.

The boss nodded, "Thanks Jenny I appreciate that."

"Of course," our AI replied as she got up and headed for the starboard ladderway.

A couple minutes later Tanya Nieves came up that same ladderway, followed by Jenny. As they joined us in the mess Rebecca greeted her, "Have a seat. Can we offer you a coffee or something?"

Our guest thanked the captain and accepted the coffee. Then she apologized, "Sorry for coming by so early. Until we get the Persephone's comm unit fixed we're kind of stuck, and I didn't want to risk waiting too long and missing you if you had business in the city."

Jenny got Tanya's drink ready since she was on her feet, then set the mug down in front of our guest before taking her own seat again.

Meanwhile the boss responded, "I'm surprised you don't have any portable or back-up comms. It might not be a bad idea to invest in something like that, so you can stay in touch with your people when they're off-ship."

"Anyways if you're here to ask about the spare parts we picked those up yesterday. Sarah and Cam can head over to the Persephone today to take care of your repairs," Rebecca added. "Or was there something else you wanted to discuss?"

Tanya thanked Jenny for the coffee, then after a sip she responded to our captain "There were two things, and you've already answered the first."

She sighed as she continued, "I really appreciate all your help. I know things have been difficult, between Gwen's mission and our mission and your own opinion on both those matters. And I can only imagine what sort of stress you're all under, keeping your own secrets and avoiding Imperium entanglements. So I really hate to ask you for another favour but..."

"What is it Tanya?" the boss asked. "What else can we do for you?"

After another sip of her coffee she responded, "After the Persephone's been patched up I need to get that ship moving. Me and my people need work. We need a mission, a job, whatever you want to call it. Tempers are flaring and nerves are stretched to the breaking point. We've been parked here in Port Ecclestone for more than forty days now, and between port fees and fancy eating we're bleeding money like crazy."

"At first my crew were treating it like a vacation," she added. "It was fun, it was almost relaxing. But it's gone on way too long and I'm losing control of my people and my ship. So I've come to ask your help."

Rebecca frowned, "How do you expect me to help with that? Even if I was willing to let you people call me princess I got the feeling half your crew wouldn't respect the crown or my orders."

Tanya shook her head, "That's not the sort of help I need. I need work, but I have no idea how to find us a job out here. None of us do, we're all military not merchants. We've got a ship, it's got a cargo bay, so how do we get customers and cargo?"

By that point we were all finished eating, so I quietly got up and started gathering the dishes and clearing the table. Sarah and Cam both got up to help me, while Rebecca Jenny and Tanya remained seated at the table.

The boss took a deep breath then sighed, "All right. Me and Amanda were planning on heading out this morning to find work for the Demeter. You can tag along with us, I'll show you around and give you some pointers and tips. I'm not going to broker jobs for you though. You're the Persephone's captain, that's going to be up to you. I'll point you in the right direction and get you started."

"Sarah," she added as she looked over her shoulder to where my blonde girlfriend and I were standing by the sink. "What's the ETA on the Persephone repairs? Do you think you and Cam can get that ship space-worthy today, or are we talking a few days before you've patched her up?"

Our engineer smiled as she replied, "Cam and I can will have her up and ready to go in five hours, maybe less. Now that we've got the parts, I figure ninety minutes to repair the comms unit in the cockpit, three hours to swap out the primary plasma coupler in the power plant. And a half hour for testing, to verify the repairs."

"That's amazing," Tanya smiled. "Blix spent days moaning and complaining that the ship was dead and we were all screwed. Then you folks come along, diagnose the problem in one day, source parts the next, and now you're saying the repairs will be done before the third day's over? I can't thank you all enough for all your help."

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Rebecca shrugged, "You'll be paying for the parts. And it'd be nice if you offered Sarah and Cam something for their time as well."

After draining the last of her coffee she added, "You mentioned earlier about not knowing how to run a merchant ship, you're going to have to learn mighty fast. A big part of that is managing your cash. I seem to recall one of your crew said something about splitting your funds four ways? You won't last long if that's the kind of budgeting you're doing."

Tanya frowned, "What do you mean? What's wrong with splitting it evenly?"

"First off there's five of you not four," the boss stated. "Unless you're planning to cut Gwen loose after all? If not then she's part of your crew and you're responsible for her. But that's not your main problem. You've already figured out about port fees and keeping your ship stocked up on food and other supplies, and I assume you know about paying for fuel? You want to keep those tanks topped up whenever you get the chance. Now you're finding out about repairs, and the last big one is maintenance."

Rebecca continued, "If the Vysalis Defence Force is anything like the marines then you're probably used to your maintenance crews taking care of everything. Maybe you update the tech log if something breaks during a mission, but someone else looks after the details? Out here you're on your own. You need to stay on top of your ship's regular maintenance. You need to find a good shipyard you can trust who'll do the work for you, but you need the cash to pay for that. Same with repairs, if something breaks you can't expect help or handouts. You need the cash on hand for emergencies."

"I remember you told us this stuff when me and Amanda first signed on with you boss," Sarah spoke up. "You take the pay for a job, subtract the fuel, port fees, any other related expenses to figure out the profit. Then eighty percent of that goes to the ship, the other twenty gets divided up between the captain and crew."

Tanya's eyes widened, "You hold back eighty percent of the profits and split the rest?"

The boss nodded, "Maintenance isn't cheap, neither are emergency repairs. And unless you score a long-term contract there's no regular payday out here. What do you do if you can't find cargo? If there's no money in reserve you can't buy fuel. If you don't have fuel you can't fly. If you can't fly there's no more work. Then you lose your ship, sell it off to pay for food and port fees. Same thing happens when you can't afford repairs."

"Anyways," she added as she got to her feet. "We can talk more while we're out looking for work. Amanda are you ready to go?"

I nodded, "Let me grab my jacket first, then I'm all set."

Sarah and Cam were just about ready as well, and after a minute or two to grab jackets commlinks and side-arms we were all down in the main hold. And everyone except Jenny was climbing into the grav-sled. The plan was to drop off Cam and Sarah at the Persephone, along with the replacement parts. Then Rebecca Tanya and I would head into the city to start looking for work, while the boss continued telling the other captain how to not go broke and die out here in the frontier.

Jenny opted to remain with the Demeter today, but she was in the hold with us to see us off. And ostensibly to manually operate the main airlock and ramp, to maintain the fiction that she was a normal person like the rest of us.

"Thanks Jenny," Rebecca said as the AI opened up the ship for us. "We'll be in touch if anything comes up."

She smiled, "You're welcome captain. And I'll call you if anything happens here."

"Cam, Sarah, good luck with the repairs," she added.

The cat-kin waved as we pulled out of the hold, then while Jenny sealed up the ship behind us we made the short hop over to where the Persephone was parked.

I hadn't really seen it up close before, but she was a very different ship from the Demeter. Where our home still reminded me of a pot-bellied dung beetle, the Persephone made me think of some fancy exotic bird. She was a long sleek twin-tailed craft with smooth curving lines that swept back into a pair of tails that extended out for half the ship's over-all length.

Even without the tails the main part of the hull looked a bit bigger than the Demeter. From what I could tell it was only two decks, with a large lower deck devoted to cargo and a smaller main deck for the crew compartments, flight deck, engineering, and other functional spaces.

The sleek lines of the hull almost looked like she was meant to travel through water rather than space. A pair of large engine pods that protruded from either side of the craft made it obvious this was a space ship.

The last notable difference between the two ships was their craft. Where the Demeter had two small shuttle bays the Persephone had just one, but it was twice as big. Their single shuttle docked into a protected space nestled in between the ship's two long sleek tails.

Rebecca set the grav-sled down alongside the other ship, just aft of the engine pods. Her main ramp was there at the back, rather than on the front like the Demeter. And as soon as we were landed our two mechanics hopped out, then started gathering up the parts and their toolkits from the back of the sled.

"Stay in touch, ok Sarah?" Rebecca asked. "Either with me or with Jenny. And let us know when you're done and heading back to the ship."

"Will do boss. Now go find us a rich customer," Sarah replied with a smile.

"I'll see what I can do," Rebecca smiled back, before guiding the sled back up into the sky. She glanced at Tanya and I then commented, "There's a few places around here tramp freighters like the Demeter and Persephone can usually find work..."

From there it was almost like she was delivering a lecture or teaching a lesson. I'd already heard parts of it before, but I didn't mind the refresher. And I had a feeling she'd have been teaching me this stuff even without Tanya tagging along. Rebecca seemed serious about me being the first officer, and apparently that meant I needed to know as much about the business side of her job as the piloting side.

Our first stop was actually the port facilities, where they had a place similar to the 'Ward Room' back at Fuminja Beta. It was basically an independent shipping brokerage that helped match up people looking to hire a ship or get cargo delivered with ships that had cargo space to fill.

That was one of the 'normal channels' for finding work that Rebecca talked about at one point. According to her it was the safest and most reliable way to find cargo. On the other hand it wasn't guaranteed and the rates weren't always favourable. She explained to both me and Tanya that a captain needed to know their ship and the sector, in order to make a decision on whether or not to take a given job.

She used Deveron-8 as an example, to explain to Tanya how you can end up losing money on a job or even getting into deeper trouble by flying into a dangerous situation. She warned the other captain that the Persephone would probably get taken advantage of and lose money now and then, until they were all more experienced and more familiar with the sector and its different ports.

Then Rebecca briefly listed the few 'safe' harbours, like Port Ecclestone, Rolandan-2, Fuminja Beta, and Regulon-4. Although she warned getting the Persephone docked at the mining facility at Regulon would be a challenge. Then she listed the problematic locations, like Deveron-8, Marshal's World, and the Knight system. She also mentioned a few more, Gametae which required paperwork and customs, and Tragentis-3 which was another agri world that was apparently a cross between Ecclestone's World and Deveron-8 in terms of lawlessness.

We made a few more stops at other places where jobs could be found relatively safely, and by mid-day we actually had a lead for the Demeter. Rather than cargo there was a potential salvage job. Rebecca made the arrangements for the two of us to meet with the customer later in the day.

As for the Persephone, Tanya also picked up a few leads. She didn't accept any work yet, she needed to talk to her crew and ensure the Persephone was space-worthy first. But it sounded like she was planning to head back out to some of those places again later, and hopefully Captain Nieves and her crew would have themselves a job.