Vatta War 03 - Engaging the Enemy by Moon Elizabeth

Author:Moon, Elizabeth [Moon, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction
ISBN: 9780345491008
Google: 9I4zkkVFDwMC
Publisher: Random House LLC
Published: 2006-03-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

After setting up the new ship account, Ky asked about access to the other Vatta accounts.

“Of course,” the account rep said. “You have been identified as an authorized person, captain of a Vatta ship. What did you want?”

“I want to transfer a small sum to the ship account, to be transferred back when the West Cascadia Rehab Centre funds come in and clear. We need to pay docking fees, air fees, that kind of thing.”

“You’ll need about a thousand, then,” she said. “Here are the balances of the various Vatta accounts.

There’s the general corporate account, and each ship has its own—”

“I’ll transfer from the general,” Ky said. “What’s your clearing time on transfers from the planet?”

“For an entity like the rehab center, four hours. We have to run a verifying query to their branch, that’s all.”

Ky mentally added up the charges so far. “You’re right, a thousand should do it.” That transfer took only seconds. Ky then authorized payment of the outstanding charges, which came to 978 credits, and headed back to the ship with a freshly programmed leader-tag. She was able to anticipate most of its chirpy directions, and dumped it happily in the bin outside the dock entrance.

The status display outside the ship now showed green: all charges paid. No local police were visible, as they had been when she left. A very practical way, she thought, to ensure that no one pulled out leaving unpaid bills behind. The little blue bar at the bottom of the display puzzled her at first, but when she touched it, the text explanation came up. 48 HOUR CREDIT LIMIT APPROVED. So she wouldn’t have to transfer again even if the rehab center’s funds were delayed…good.

Back inside the ship, Toby met her before she got to the bridge. For once, the dog was not at his heels.

“You’re not going to make me sell Rascal, are you?”

“What? Of course not, what gave you that idea?”

“There’ve been inquiries coming in. It’s all the cargo they’re interested in, and they’re offering a lot of money…and he’s caused so much trouble…” Toby looked near tears.

Ky put a hand on his shoulder. “Toby, listen. Rascal is not cargo. He’s crew. Granted, he’s a noisy, dirty, smelly, mischievous little terror, but he’s our dog, officially, and your dog in reality.”

“It’s a whole lot of money,” Toby said, doubt still clear in his voice. “Martin said you might need it.”

“So just how much is a whole lot of money?” Ky asked.

“Er…um…thirty-seven thousand.”

“For a dog?” That seemed impossible. What were dogs good for, other than to make messes and cheer up orphans?

“Yes. And Martin thinks they’ll go higher…we haven’t even advertised.”

“Well, I wouldn’t sell you for thirty-seven thousand, or thirty-seven million,” Ky said. “And I’m not selling your dog.” The numbers danced in her head anyway. “But if you weren’t offended at the idea, maybe we could market his sperm.”

“You trust them?”

“No. But if we hired a vet, I’m sure there’s some way to do it on this ship, something that wouldn’t harm him permanently but could get your trading nest egg started.

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