SotU Chpt 6

=Chapter 6=
==State of the Union==
Transient Jump Point, Zaniah III System
Skye Province, Lyran Alliance
13 December 3062
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Peter waited for the airlock pressures to match before he opened the door that now connected the dropship Glowworm to Clovis Holstein's JumpShip, the Bifrost. The last two days had been a rush of negotiations and even riding up from Zaniah's surface hadn't given him a chance to rest. In most systems the journey to a jump point would have been several days long but Zaniah's star had such a deep gravity well that it would have taken most of a month to reach the standard jump points above or below the system's plane.
Instead the Bifrost was waiting at a transient point between Zaniah III and its star. Barring those rare points times of their orbits when other planets in the system affected it, most trade to and from Zaniah III came through that jump point, regardless that it required more precise navigation.
There wasn't a lot of trade though - Bifrost was one of only two JumpShips at the point right now. The difficulty of navigating to the system made it less favorable for transit and thus Zaniah remained something of a backwater despite its place on the border. Its isolation that had spared it some of the worst of the Succession Wars.
On the other side of the lock he found Daniel Holstein and an older woman, probably his mother at a guess. The Bifrost's crew was tightly knit and he knew Clovis' wife was his deputy. "Permission to come aboard."
"Granted," the woman greeted him. "I'm Karla Holstein."
Peter pushed off and drifted across the interface into the Jumpship. "I hope my sister hasn't been a bother." After she somehow picked up a washed up Solaris gladiator while getting her clothes washed he'd had Clovis send her on ahead to the Bifrost on their shuttle.
Karla gave him a searching look. "Follow me, please." The last word was clearly a mere formality.
What now? He looked at Daniel for an answer as he passed the man but the younger Holstein simply shrugged and crossed the airlock in the other direction.
Left clueless, Peter followed Karla into one of the narrow passages along the length of the Invader-class ship. As he'd expected she was leading him towards the habitation decks towards the prow but she stopped once they were out of easy earshot of the airlock.
"I know who you are, but I don't know what possessed you to bring your sister out here." she told him sharply.
Peter raised his hands defensively. "I can't exactly book her into a hospital, Mrs Holstein. Official attention could be deadly."
"So could digging around on a devastated colony. I had to go through the safety briefings three times with her before I was sure it had sunk in, 'Mr. Morgan'. Not because she isn't sharp, but because she can't concentrate for any extended period of time."
"Yes, I've noticed that." He ran one hand through his hair. "She's getting better, if slowly, but if need be we'll keep her aboard the Glowworm during the salvage operations. If we can get through the next few months then I should be able to get her set up somewhere safe with a therapist."
"And if those few months means she never recovers?" Karla persisted.
"Do you think she's competent to make her own decisions?" he snapped at her.
Her lips thinned. "Yes," she said reluctantly. "When she's managing to focus."
"I gave her the choice of staying at Saint Marinus, which would at least remain safe for her or shipping for Arc Royal. One of the places she could probably get proper care and be safe instead of coming with me. Catherine chose to come. I'm not going to send her away if she feels safest with me."
Karla stared at Peter and for a moment he thought that she'd renew the argument but after a moment the tension left her shoulders. "I can't argue with that I suppose, but please be careful with her. You're not just her younger brother now, you're effectively her guardian as well."
He nodded and they continued as far as the habitation deck in silence. The quarters available were cramped - a narrow compartment with two bunks on each side, each given a little privacy with an opaque curtain, a small washroom and some lockers for personal items. One curtain was drawn when Peter entered and his sister's recruit was sitting in one of the others, an electronic book-reader in his hands.
"Mr Searcy."
"Sir." The man left the bunk and stood to attention, confirming Peter's guess he'd been regular military before going to Solaris.
"My sister?" he asked, nodding towards the closed bunk.
"Yes, sir. I believe she's asleep." Searcy told him.
Peter nodded. "How much do you know about what we're doing? I realize Catherine more or less dragged you into this."
"I gather it's a salvage mission in a hostile environment. One of the old Terran Hegemony worlds?" Peter told former Solaris VII Champion
"Yes, that's right. You're more likely to be using a Workmech or an exoskeleton than a BattleMech, which'll be a bit of a step down for you."
"Well, a change is as good as a rest. I didn't have any work lined up so this is as good as anything."
''
"We'll probably be moving on to Outreach or somewhere nearby after this so if things don't work out longer term you'll have saved yourself a few jump fares on the way there," Peter told him. "I take it you'd prefer to keep calling yourself Sears?" Technically false papers meant Peter was aiding and abetting a crime but, he couldn't bring himself to care about that under the circumstances.
Searcy made a face. "It might be best, at least until things calm down a little."
"You may have an unreasonable expectation of the universe there."
Slinging his bag into one of the lockers, Peter stretched out on one of the vacant bunks and reached for the curtain. Then a chiming noise came from his comm.
"Yes?" asked Peter
"Mr Morgan, could you come to the command deck?" Clovis didn't sound particularly apologetic. "Captain Colium wants to discuss picking up some supplies en route."
Peter rubbed his eyes mournfully. This was going to be worse than a field exercise in simulated battalion command, wasn't it? "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can."
He left the bunk and went to the washroom to clean his face with a wipe. And I don't have a staff, not even an aide to help me. His mind went to Sears. Or maybe...
"Come along." he instructed the Mechwarrior. "I may as well fill you in on some of the details of what we'll be doing."
The poor sap obediently shut down his bookreader and followed, not foreseeing the paperwork Peter intended to stick him with.
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