(eng) Mike Shepherd - Jump Universe 05 by Rita Longknife Enemy Unknown

Author:Rita Longknife Enemy Unknown [Unknown, Rita Longknife Enemy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Eighteen 18

Three days later, General Ray Longknife found himself standing on the pier waving as Rita, Alex and the Exeter pulled away.

“What’s wrong with this picture?” he murmured to himself.

“I don’t know about you, Soldier,” retired captain Andy Anderson said, “but us Navy types always got the right one on the pier.”

“It’s not like I could captain the Exeter,” Ray said. “Rita’s the ship driver in the family, and I can’t nurse Alex.” he finished, sounding lame even to himself.

Did I really do that poor of d a job in that argument?

“I hear tell there’s a thing called baby formula. It’s sold in all the stores, I’m just saying I’ve heard about it,” Andy said, big grin getting bigger.

“Well, we really couldn’t leave you in charge of the Ministry of Exploration. You did fight on the wrong side in the last war.”

“Yeah, the winning side, if I may point out,” Andy said, “though I will give you that most of the folks I meet with that have a box of medals on their ‘I love me wall’ are showing Unity colors. That kind of explains why I’ve skipped displaying mine.”

“You don’t have an ‘I love me wall’ in your office?”

“I haven’t found the time to put one up,” the old Sailor said.

Ray took one last look at the departing heavy cruiser, and sighed. “Well, let’s get back to our offices. I need to take my beggar bowl out and shove it under the nose of a whole lot of busy people.”

“Start with your father-in-law,” the old Sailor said. “Once he finds out that his daughter and grandson are off chasing pirates, he’ll cough up the money to help her. He’ll also know just what trees to shake to get more.”

Andy was right. Before the end of the day, Ernie Nuu had Ray sitting in a meeting with half the corporate wealth of Wardhaven at his elbow.

“It’s not just the damn pirates,” Ernie said. “It’s the matter of the Whitebred fellow running off with 20,000 colonists from old Earth. It’s hard enough to find folks willing to leave Earth’s flesh pots, but to lose those willing to risk the uprooting. And, damn it, we need them out here. If this story gets back that we not only lost two shiploads of immigrants, but lost them to a slaver, there won’t be a one of those nervous nellies willing to set foot off Earth, or any of those other overpopulated planets.”

“But Ernie, we’ve got one hell of a boom going on here on Wardhaven. We need our capital here,” pointed out a banker.

“But our markets are at the other end of a shipping lane,” an industrialist put in. “Yes, there’s plenty of demand here and now, but we’ll meet that demand soon enough. Out there is unlimited demand.”

That summed up the two sides. It took the better part of three hours of Ray’s life, which he would never get back, but in the end, the bankers coughed up money to crew and operate another half dozen exploration cruisers.

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