The Fractured Void by Tim Pratt

Author:Tim Pratt [Pratt, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: space opera, media tie-in, science fiction
ISBN: 9781839080470
Publisher: Aconyte
Published: 2020-11-03T17:55:33+00:00

Chapter 16

“I hate ocean planets.” Severyne gazed through the viewport at the looming shape of Vega Major, and the gentle curve of Vega Minor beyond. “All that water, none of it fit to drink. Wasteful and inefficient. There is darkness and depth and pressure, yes, if you go down far enough, but then, those depths are so often full of teeming monsters.”

Azad stood beside her. “On the other hand, there’s lounging on the beach, maybe someone attractive rubbing lotion on your back, you swim in the warm water, it’s got upsides.”

“There are species who consider such activities pleasant, I know, but the relentless sun is my own vision of horror.”

“So you sit under an umbrella, or wear a big hat. You’d look good in a big hat, Sev. Much better than you do in that flat cap with the little brim and the silver stars on it you were wearing when we first met. You can sip fruity boozy drinks out of hollowed-out examples of the very same fruit that’s blended up in the drink. Surely you can appreciate that – it’s efficient, right?”

Severyne’s lips twitched. She very nearly smiled. “You must think the Letnev a joyless people. It isn’t true. We simply take pleasure in things that your species, as a whole, does not. I find joy in competence, and order, and important work done well.”

“Sure, all that stuff is great,” Azad said. “But have you tried getting drunk and sleeping with a stranger?”

Severyne resolutely ignored that. “I assume this cloud of wreckage is our destination?” The screen lit up with hundreds of targets, ships all ringed in green to show the system didn’t consider them current threats.

“Welcome to the scrapyard of Sagasa the Disciplinarian. Biggest and best junkyard in the sector.”

Severyne narrowed her eyes. “I see Letnev ships among his inventory. How did he come by those? We decommission our own vessels in the Barony.”

“You’re looking at the far end point of battlefield economics, Sev. The Barony gets into the occasional fight, doesn’t it? And, contrary to what your national propaganda says, you don’t win every engagement. After a battle, the winning side recovers what they can, but usually they have to rush off to kill some other people someplace else, or they need to resupply, or they’re chasing down survivors, or they got beat up badly enough themselves that they need to limp home for repairs both medical and mechanical. There are teams of freelance scrappers who pay closer attention to politics than most politicians do, so they know where battles are likely to break out, and they hang around. After the surviving forces withdraw, the scavengers go in, and they gather what’s worth selling.”

Severyne had never really thought about what happened in the aftermath of a space battle. Logistics wasn’t her area, and neither was military engagement; she worked in what was sometimes called “inward-facing” security. “They loot battlefields and sell the spoils to people like Sagasa?”

“Only the junk.” Azad leaned on the curving black rail

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