In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 9: Making Adjustments

 "Coffee." Joseph made the announcement as he slipped into the cockpit where Tyrone was doing morning system checks. He set a mug on a stretch of console at the pilots's position, which Tyrone carefully picked up and sipped from.

They both rose early, but they had completely different characters in the morning. Tyrone tended to stomp around blearily in a slightly grouchy mood until he'd finished waking up. Joseph was a cheerful riser and somehow didn't need that spin-up time; he was instantly ready to go.

"Are you awake enough yet for us to talk about our next move?"

"I think so." Tyrone sucked down a quarter of the mug, wincing slightly as it scalded his throat on the way down. "The coffee helps. Could you be more specific? I'm not sure if you're talking about our next cargo, ships, what we'll need to do for Allison, or dealing with our new notoriety among petty criminals."

"I think we need to talk about all of them, but I'm mostly focused on the second and the fourth at the moment."

Tyrone thought for a moment. "Which were those again?"

Joseph laughed. "Ships and our new enemies. Are you sure you're awake?"

"No, but I don't think it matters. You can always tell me again later. What did you have on your mind?"

"That you and Justine should take the new ship, when we have the money to buy it." Tyrone looked over at his partner to see if he was kidding, but Joseph's face was devoid of humor. "If we bought something comparable to Garden Variety Animal, we actually have the money now."

Tyrone frowned at Joseph. They had planned to buy a more expensive, more resilient ship because Joseph had wanted to make trips into more dangerous parts of space. Hauling to and from precious metal mines in systems with no habitable planets could be very lucrative, but those trade routes also attracted more attention from pirates.

"Why would we buy another of these? You don't want to go on trade routes to the asteroid mines with the same defenses."

"No, I don't." Joseph shrugged. "Maybe I wouldn't do those runs, just keep doing the unaffiliated systems like we already have been. It's familiar turf now. The reason I'm suggesting it is that the Temorran Kindred, and by now the Ventalian Mafia as well, will be looking for Garden Variety Animal, and they know it by name.

"You've been married for almost a year now and away most of that time. We were trying to build up enough money for our new ship, and we're almost there. Then you and Justine were going to operate this one together. There's always the risk of pirates, but I don't like the idea of you starting a family on a ship being actively hunted by gangs. Especially when I brought that trouble on it."

Tyrone considered his words for a moment, analyzing his partner's reasoning. He certainly didn't want the Temorran Kindred hunting his wife, but he wasn't sure it would come to that yet. He and Justine weren't planning to loose much time on having children once Joseph was on his own vessel though. Joseph had a point, and Tyrone said as much.

"It's something to think about, but I don't think we need to make a decision right now. We don't know what the fallout of this is really going to be. I'm not convinced the Temorran Kindred even have the resources to hunt us outside of their own system."

"The Ventalians certainly do," Joseph shot back.

"Maybe we'll stop freighting to unaffiliated planets then." Tyrone shrugged as he replied. "There's plenty of work inside Tetonite space, and the Ventalians won't stand a chance there if they tried to attack us. They probably aren't foolish enough to try. I'm just saying that we have more options than you're looking at."