Tantamount by Thomas J. Radford

Author:Thomas J. Radford [Radford, Thomas J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
Publisher: Tyche Books Ltd.
Published: 2014-02-20T23:00:00+00:00

“The war's been going on for a few months.” Nel gestured at a map showing the disputed territories. It didn't make a lot of sense. There was Thatch, a backwater planet if ever there was one. Rural, pastoral, the type of place that would drive Nel to drink just to pass the time. She couldn't imagine the planet having anything else to offer.

Grange wasn't much better. In fact it was a smaller version of Thatch, a satellite colony orbiting the planet, probably survived on mining or some other primary industry, exporting compressed impossible-to-find-elsewhere bits and pieces.

It would be some rare or exotic substance found only on that particular planet, or perhaps more depressingly, some more common but still essential product. Ether came to mind—there was always a market. It was needed for ships and centres like Cauldron, for weaponry like wands and cannons. If there was a profit or even a potential for profit there would be some ragtag, frontier group willing to try for it. How many times had Horatio hired out the Tantamount to haul cargo for groups like that? Nel had lost count.

“What started it?” Horatio looked up from the map. “The war?”

“No idea,” Nel said. “Probably something minor, some local issue that flared up. Important to them, no doubt, pointless to the rest of us.”

“It must have been something.” Horatio frowned. “There aren't a lot of people out this way, not according to these charts, anyway. Thatch, Tribute, and Pale. A few thousand people between them. There's Marching and a few other settlements not worth the names planet-side on Thatch and out in the Rim. And Grange. Everybody out there is probably somebody's cousin.”

“Inbreeding doesn't generally lead to great thinkers, Captain,” Nel said.

Horatio grimaced. “Family squabbling doesn't usually lead to war, either.”

“Doesn't it? I can think of any number of times that historically it has,” Nel said pointedly.

“All right, fine,” Horatio huffed. “But not out back in parts like this. Grange and Thatch probably can't even survive without each other, Grange for a certainty. There's no way a settlement like that is self-sustaining. Have you talked to Castor about this? He was on his way to Thatch when we found him.”

“Aboard an Alliance ship, who we now find are blockading the system. You don't find that at all odd?” Nel asked.

“Should I?” The captain folded his arms. “What are you getting at, Nel?”

“I don't like this,” Nel stated. “It all feels wrong to me.”

“You're just being silly, Nel,” Horatio dismissed her concerns, fussing with his hat. “We'll arrive in a few days, make our delivery, and be on our way back to Cauldron to pick up where we left off. A few weeks late but there's no help for it.”

“And the blockade?” Nel asked. “Suppose they won't let us through?”

Horatio's forehead wrinkled, the captain's confusion causing the pit of Nel's stomach to drop. It was happening again. Horatio traced constellations on the maps spread out between them with his finger. “Blockade?” he said. “No, that shouldn't be a problem, shouldn't be a problem at all.

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