In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 36: Decisions To Be Made

Seated at his desk in the workroom of Garden Variety Animal, Joseph scrolled through pages and pages of ship specs on the screens in front of him. He couldn't possibly review everything he needed to look at in one sitting, but that wasn't the goal. While they were still moored at Orson Station, he wanted to take advantage of the faster data transmission to download all the information possible for the ship models they were considering. Ultimately the decision was down to him, since he would be the captain, and he needed to make a selection during their next freight run.

Until he started researching their purchase months earlier, he hand not appreciated just how wide a variety bulk ore hauling vessels came in. For such an expensive piece of equipment he thought the options would be more limited. Ore haulers were in high demand, and with the size of the investment owners wanted their ships to be just so. There were highly customizable models from the biggest manufacturers in the Teton Sector, a massive selection of other options from smaller makers boasting this or that unique feature, all the way to small yards doing custom builds. There was more variety in ore haulers than in the much smaller inter-system freighters like Garden Variety Animal.

Footfalls in the hallway alerted him to Tyrone's approach. "We're back." The big man stuck his head in the workroom, and noticed what was on the screen. "How goes the search? Have you made any decisions yet?"

"Not yet." Joseph tried not to look too grouchy as he turned toward his partner. "It's nice to have a wide selection, but there is such a thing as too many choices."

"We have a lot of variables to balance, so it's good that there's a wide range."

"Yeah, we shouldn't have to sacrifice too much of what we need. No choice between either having the speed we need or the equipment we need, we should be able to get everything. It's just a matter of sifting through all the choices in our price range. I think that will take me most of this trip."

Tyrone stepped into the room, crossing his arms. "Just make sure it doesn't take longer, because the end of this trip is pretty much when we need to have the decision made. Vermilion Shipyard is our next stop, and the dealers will want us to have our order in ahead of time so they can have it ready when we get there."

"Yeah, I know," Joseph said. "Our crew will need somewhere to sleep when they arrive too, so we'll want it ready."

"What are you thinking for armament?"

"I'm not entirely sure on that yet. I'd like a set of heavier guns, closer to what that corvette had or maybe even larger. I'll still want a few smaller guns for taking on fighters at close range."

"Keep in mind, other nations aren't always too pleased about the amount of firepower on Teton Sector merchant ships,"

"I haven't forgotten, but I'm anticipating bringing most of our cargo into the Teton Sector. Most foreign ports we dock at will be in frontier systems, and they're more willing to overlook a heavily armed ship. In some cases they even welcome one."

"True, I just don't want any more struggles with port authorities that we absolutely have to have. Of course, you're the one who will have to deal with it, so I guess that's up to you."

Joseph laughed and rolled his eyes, already anticipating the exasperation those conversations would bring. "That's one reason for picking out the crew I did. They're all well behaved. Once we've been to a port once, they won't mind having us back again."

"They're a good group," Tyrone agreed. "Keep in mind that Charlie was going to retire, he's only going to work for us for a couple years."

"I know, he's doing us a favor more than anything. I'm glad he likes us enough for that, because he used to take frontier mine runs when he was younger. He can tell us what to be on the lookout for. Two years ought to be enough time to find some decent hands to take his place."