Starship Engineer

Chapter 94 Family Reunion

The approach to the refueling station was anticlimactic. The only issue was two other ships were docked here. We came to the station from their blind side, and Julie was in their systems long before we docked. She was now controlling three ships and an automated refueling station. Julie stated there were 22 personnel on the station and she was busy ensuring none of them got a good look at the Void Phoenix.

Julie asked if she should give us a free refueling, and I decided not to take advantage of the offer. A corporation owned it, and I didn’t want to leave a trail. Julie co-opted the Persia system FTL transmitter and sent out Abby’s and Francis’s messages to summon their marine targets to the specified system. I hired a heavy in-system cargo ship on the station. In disguise, I was going to Persia VI to see my family and pick up our cargo. Abby sent two marines with me. The remainder of the marines contained our soon-to-be departing guests. Eve was supervising the talkative Celeste and quiet Amos on the trip. They were just over a year old and doing well.

The slow transport was a bit annoying as I had become accustomed to much faster and more luxurious ships. We landed in the city a few hundred kilometers from my parent’s harvester. I left one of the marines to handle loading the alcohol I had purchased. The other marine, Eve, and the babes came with me on a rented hopper. The hopper was basically an old, well-used air taxi. I resisted the urge to run diagnostics on it before lifting off.

When we landed on my family’s harvester an hour later, an angry man came tearing out of the structure. It took a moment for my father to recognize me. After an awkward hug and we were headed down to the living area. My mother dropped a circuit board she was working on and came over and cried while hugging me. I had been pronounced MIA and presumed KIA. Seeing me was like seeing a ghost. The excited conversation followed about my travels. I glossed over everything and didn’t reveal my new alias to them.

I didn’t tell my parents that Eve was a bot. They assumed she was my wife after I introduced Celeste and Amos to them. My uncle’s family joined us, and my younger sister as well. My older sister had moved to the city after I had paid off the family’s debt. My family had thought my brother had cleared their debt since they thought I was dead. We talked about inconsequential things until the conversation turned to my brother.

The fleet of Union ships that fled was well-known in the back channel news and gossip circles. My parents hadn’t been aware that my brother was most likely on board one of the ships, though. They had been hoping he was in the Sapphire prison world and would earn his freedom over time. The Persia system was in the boonies and didn’t get news often, so I guessed it was expected they had sporadic and partially inaccurate information. My cousin made an appearance. She was carrying a daughter that was about two. She had married a boy on another harvester. It seemed so long ago that she had taught me how to kiss.

She said Eve was very pretty and my children were gorgeous as well. I told her the boy was adopted and just the girl was mine. Mother prepared a large meal, and we ate in the crowded dining room. My parents looked older, and I felt bad. I should have planned to somehow get them to the Void Phoenix and receive a SNAIL treatment.

I told everyone I was a small-time trader. I had a junker cargo ship and limped from system to system, making small profits. Father asked how I managed to bag such a beautiful woman, indicating Eve. Eve spoke for herself. With some coldness, she said she was just the nanny. I let her tone slide.

My parents played with the children after my uncle’s family left. My mother started pressing me about my ship. Could it travel the rim? Could I go and search out my brother? She started to lay into me, trying to guilt me to bring him home.

Then my father and sister joined her. I wouldn’t have called my family close. At least, that is not how I felt growing up. This pressure to retrieve my brother from the clutches of the corrupt remains of the Union navy was unexpected. Would they have pressured my brother to look for me if our situation had been reversed? For some reason, I doubted it.

Internally I was growing angry with them, so I decided it was time to leave. I did leave them a small fortune in hard currency. It should be just enough to buy the harvester if they wanted it. I told them I might not visit again but that I loved them. Or at least I loved them for raising me. I conceded that I would further inquire about my brother and his situation. If I had as many marines as I thought coming on board in the Hofstra system, then I should get a fair amount of news on the lost fleet.

The visit didn’t go the way I had thought it would in my head. The first 15 minutes, maybe…they were happy to see me but didn’t gush over Celeste as I had pictured. They had eyed Eve just as much as Celeste. Then the conversation revolved around my missing brother instead of my daughter. I gave them enough hard credits to live comfortably, so I did my duty as a son. On the flight back to the automated refueling station, I had to overcome a little bitterness. Eventually, I was able to look past it and just be happy that I got the opportunity to spend time with my parents and sister. I sampled my purchased cargo. It was a mix of aged whisky called bourbon.

When we docked at the station, the cargo was transferred. I had a meal with Gwen and Danielle and told them how it went. I relayed the reunion with the family in an as optimistic frame of words as possible. Celeste and Amos were now eating in chairs with us, but their words were limited. Amos was well-behaved, but Celeste was already becoming a little monster with her food and words. The Claire bot, with all its nanny programs, seemed ineffective in containing her. Julie assured me that she would grow out of it. At least she had behaved in front of my parents.

Gwen asked me what the plan was. We were off to the Hofstra system next. We had two more days at this remote automated station before leaving. My crew was good, and we were all ready to go, but I wanted to appear as a lumbering freighter with an average crew.

The only interesting event in the two days we waited was a Sapphirian Corvette that came and docked to refuel. It was a small merchant, and we turned down an invite for our crew to mingle with them. Julie had some difficulty hacking this new ship, but she did violate their system after twenty minutes.

It was actually a spy ship. Julie learned from their archived news that the Sylvan had destroyed Anderson Research Station. This was sobering news, and I felt some guilt working its way into my mind. The humans were putting together a large United fleet to chase the Sylvan city ship off. I was surprised that this spy ship was looking for the Void Phoenix. Julie confirmed from the captain’s logs they did not suspect us. It was a sobering bit of information, though. We needed to get away from Sapphirean-controlled space.

As we undocked from the station and headed into open space, the spy ship did scan us. Julie fed them false scanner data. It was a little scary how easily Julie could spoof other ships with the Brotherhood tech. It was even more potent if direct contact with computer systems.

Now the tricky part was going to be getting the 11 passengers and Kara’s crew to disembark without letting people see our altered ship. The system had heavy traffic and numerous stations throughout. I planned to dock at a remote mining refinery. From here, we would sell our salvaged bots and buy precious metals. Francis and Abby would see who had answered their call to join the crew, and they would make their way to us at the remote mining station. When we were ready to leave, Julie would alter the logs to show that the Void Phoenix had been docked the entire time. This would hopefully keep our disguise intact. Our passengers and departing crew would inevitably tell people they had just spent months on our ship at a remote station.

Only Edmund had suggested killing the people. I scoffed at the idea, and Edmund didn’t press. He just offered it as a viable option to obfuscate our trail. When we transitioned to the Hofstra system, a lot of things happened.

First, Edmund contacted me immediately. The Brotherhood had set up a screening net in the system for every ship. Data was being funneled to a large freighter orbiting an inhabited moon. Hundreds of FTL and system ships were in the system, and I hoped to be lost in the shuffle. Julie advised against hacking anything as she might get a firewall with Brotherhood tech that would alert them. So we were going to have to rely on our hull disguise.

The second thing that happened shortly later was Abby was starting to get confirmations of recruits in-system. The number was 39 currently and possibly more once she filtered her coded transmissions.

The scariest thing was our alien sensors picked up three ships, not on the public navigation buoy data! One was a human cruiser specced for stealth. The other two looked alien in nature. They were 80.3 million km from our ship. Our sensor calibration wasn’t good enough yet to get a clear image, but our grainy image made my heart race. It didn’t take long for our sensor station to confirm the ships belonged to the Silca race. Humanity had encountered them a few hundred years ago, and they were a silicon-based race that lived in high-gravity worlds. Their technology was equal to humanity’s in many respects, but the nature of their bodies allowed them to live in much harsher environments.

I was certain the humans knew they were there as the stealthed cruiser was directly between the two ships and the main populated planet. This was extremely eye-opening, and I immediately started allocating more hours to fine-tuning our sensors. 100 million km was a fair distance, but Haily hypothesized that range could be tripled with enough power and calibration.

There were no threats where we were going to dock, and we were at the system’s edge, so escape should be relatively easy if required. Still, I decided to keep three people on the bridge at all times.

The sale of the refurbished bots went smoothly and generated a healthy amount of funds. I included a fair amount of spare parts we stashed into the crevices of the hull’s shell. This was more because I wanted to make the Void Phoenix lighter rather than needing the funds. We would convert the funds to precious metals since the conversation was reasonable. The economy in the old Union was still recovering, and the metals were a bargain.

I didn’t leave the bridge for the first 48 hours we were in-system. I was constantly reviewing data and planning our next voyage. We were going to head for the Tirani station outside Union space. The Tirani was a bearlike race that traded themselves as mercenaries. I figured to unload all the infantry weapons we had obtained from the Esmeray station. I also doubted it had a strong Sylvan or Brotherhood presence. Elias was working on our next subspace plot now.

Two days in the system, and the first group of recruits was incoming. Abby and Buckie were excited to get seventeen new additions, all marines they were familiar with. They were still going to have to go through a thorough screening in medical, psych eval, and meet with Francis and Edmund as well for background checks. The second transport shuttle was twelve hours behind this one with fourteen marines. The remaining eleven candidates were still scattered individually throughout the system, and Abby was trying to get them into a group to take a shuttle to us.

With the first shuttle, four hours away from docking Eve came and forced me to get some SLUMBER time. I had already taken two stimulant pills, and I did need some rest, so I allowed myself to be brought to my cabin. I played with Celeste and Amos before getting a short nap in.