BeyHop Chpt 11

==Beyond Hope- Chapter 11 - The Big Show==
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===Catching up while on the Move===
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Small Craft
Kowloon System, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)
3054
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The in-flight movies were predictably trashy, fun, content-less romps, and the ladies enjoyed ragging on the technical details and flaws in each of them. Eventually, they reached Kowloon's system, and the rendezvous for the trip back toward Tharkad.
"Jane…got a paint job?" Elizabeth was the first to say something as they moved from the commercial ship, to their ride to Tharkad.
“She did like getting her makeup done.” Helena chuckled. “Though I think she’s more of an autumn tone so the shading is a bit off.”
“I think she looks fantastic.” Elizabeth laughed.
"Coast Guard First Squadron." Helena judged, "They copied Anh Cu'ong's paint scheme on the Gloria."
"You're sure?" Elizabeth asked
"I saw it often enough, it does look better on Jane, than it did on a surpluses Type 51 Gunboat stolen from the Rim Worlders." Helena smiled.
Liz swallowed. "Gloria went down with the escort squadron when Dinh Ngo took the 171st to try and relieve Kentares." she said, "They didn't make it to within one jump of the place, the Draconis Combine knew they were coming and stopped them."
“That’s part of why you hate Comstar so much. They’re the only people who could have known that had a reason to tip them off.”
Liz nodded. "It's not 'hate' to take reasonable precautions with someone who's proven untrustworthy. The Ministry of Communications were the ONLY people who knew the 171st was moving. Majery even kept the Lyrans in the dark about it."
“Well, I never met Jerome Blake, but all the stuff I read about him does make me wonder exactly what the hell he was really up to.”
The shuttle banked, pivoted, slowed, and docked with practiced ease.
Helena was back aboard her sister's ship…
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===Getting going to Tharkad in style===
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SLS Elizabeth Cameron
Kowloon, Federated Commonwealth
3054
“Took you long enough.” Jacob said. “I should have gone with you.”
“No one came after me, it was fine.” Helena re-assured him.
 
"Not even the port-boys." Elizabeth added, "Though I remember seeing a lot of guys giving Her 'that look' at every stop, so you can stop being jealous."
“Jacob is just protective. He is my bodyguard afterall.” Helena smiled.
"Well, he's got The Body for it." Liz said saucily, "You should hook him now, while he's still disoriented or you're going to end up losing your shot at him."
“I’d prefer not to go to jail for statutory rape.” Jacob countered.
"She's…let's see…thirty plus two hundred seventy…" Liz teased.
“He’s shutting you down, Elizabeth.”
"Oh, I know, I was trying to make your guy blush. Didn't work." she shouldered her kit-bag, and tapped the floor of the deck to lift herself up to eye level. "Disappointing as it is, I'm afraid I lack your feminine wiles, Helena."
“More a case of the perils of a detail hand picked by Anh Cu’ong. All tailor fit to accommodate my baggage.” Helena chuckled. “So you probably do have a better shot at Jacob than I do.”
"Yeah, but I'm probably still going to die as an old maid." Liz commented, then, "Jane? Did they finish loading our goods?"
“Yes. My cargo areas are packed tighter than I think I’ve ever seen them.”
"Very good…Madam First Lord, we've an appointment in December, and it takes three months, we are now in August and late, shall we go?"
“You heard her. Time to get the show on the road.” Helena commanded with a smile
“Signaling for clearance.” Samantha reported.
"It's gonna be weird having leg-room…" Liz noted.
“I have lots more than just legroom. I have many accommodations. Many are great for stress relief.” Jane chuckled.
“Jane.” Helena chided.
“What? I’m actually serious for once. Pardon me for finding it funny that I’m not making a double entrdre’.” scolded Helena
“We have clearance yet?”
“Yes.” Samantha answered.
“Taking us out. Everyone secure for burn. Jump Point in two hours.” Jane nodded.
Helena checked her straps.
“Secure.” Jacob announced from his station.
“Ready.” Rachel announced.
“Good to go.” Samantha added.
Moshe just held up his hand in a thumbs up position.
“Allah guide us. I am ready.” Muhammed.
Bertha nodded from her post.
((“Medical secured for burn.”)) Majery’s voice came over the comm system.
“I’m ready.” Elizabeth Ngo announced.
Jane brought her engines up slowly, giving her crew and guests plenty of opportunity to adjust from microgravity to thrust gravity.
The blinking lights of navbuoy satellites guided them out of the orbital parking area.
Despite all the shuttles and Dropships she’d been on there was something different about being on a Warship under thrust for Elizabeth Ngo.
“It’s because I’m bigger than anything you’ve rode on before.” Jane needled when she saw Elizabeth’s expression.
“You really are terrible, you know.” Elizabeth Ngo said.
“I am pretty hopeless, but the joke was there…” Jane chuckled.
“So it was.” Elizabeth chuckled.
“Three months of this. I’ll probably have a new complex to add to the list by the time we get to Tharkad.” Helena laughed.
"But will it be vast and spacious?" Liz giggled.
“It’ll probably give architects nightmares when they see how it turned out.” Helena laughed.
“Next refit, padded walls and decks. And starched white jackets.” Jane chuckled.
"Padded walls and corridors probably wouldn't be a bad option, honestly." Bianh said, turning from the navigation station. "Your Grace, Majesty, Jane might tell you or not, but we're just waiting on Commodore Li's confirmation to jump, so I'd actually suggest everyone get comfy."
"You were going to tell me about this, Jane? Stealing one of my officers?" Liz asked playfully.
“It’s so sudden, I mean we’ve not been together that long and…” Jane suddenly cracked up.
"Vu Dao, who else did Alicia Li decide needs to be serving as able crew?" Liz asked.
"I kept Sithers, Nghien, Chao, and we've got Pol Nguyen from the surface boat squadrons on his cherry run in the Black."
"Not familiar."
"Corporal, he was an EOD diver, did the blasting that kept Stoney's dropships from airmobile off Ia Drang Plateau while you were finishing the Regent in Hue, mum. He cleared Dive training and finished his level ones for space service, but he's here as your meat-shield."
Helena looked at Jacob, "Is the new guy any good?"
"He's quiet, and he's good with his hands. Reminds me of Dak Nguyen from the Coastie Marines on Elbar." Jacob said, "Nice kid otherwise."
“Good enough then.” Helena nodded.
"He's a Corporal..." Liz frowned.
"He's only a year older than you are, Liz…yes, he's still a junior enlisted, but we didn't have room for a full fire team, never mind a platoon."
"Right…"
“Sorry. Ship was refitted with my baggage in mind, so not a lot of room for guests.” Helena offered.
"Okay, it's Helena's boat, Jane, are you the Flag Captain then?"
“Yes.” Jane acknowledged. 
"Okay, so who's your Exec, is it Vu Dao, or one of your regular staff? I need to know what the command chain looks like for this trip."
“Vu Dao. Rachel is engineering, Samantha comms, Jacob, Muhammed, and Moshe security, and Majery is CMO and personal physician to her Majesty.”
"Helena, we've got three months to get to Tharkad, and I have…five? Marines who desperately need cross-training to keep them from getting bored and doing stupid things, one of whom is a blaster. Can we work something out?" Liz asked.
“Yeah. Idle hands are rarely a good thing, especially when one pair is demolition rated.”
"Not just demo rated, if Nguyen is the guy who stopped Stoney's backup from lifting, he's nuke qualified, he collapsed one of the Plateau's ridges to do that. Subterranean blast, we're going to put a lake in the crater."
“Yeah, we need to keep those hands busy.” Helena nodded.
"Okay duty assignments then. Corpsman Dienh will work under Majery in sick-bay, Sithers is your third shift, Bianh?"
"Ayeh, Mum." 
"Good, I want her to take some time running classes for the grunts, we're 'officer heavy' this trip, so if we pool our educational resources, those kids might make enough points to get promoted early."
"What do you want them to study?"
"Anything that results in four or more hours of book-work per day." Liz said, "Whatever you think we can dream up to make them work on."
“Well we have experts in medicine, physics, engineering, electronics, and while Jane doesn’t have a Prometheus core like Helm’s, her nature does mean she’s got all sorts of technical knowhow of her own she can impart.” Helena offered.
“That should be plenty then.” Liz nodded.
“Hehe. I’ll have personnel records reviewed, recommendations for best fits for what subjects in terms of both teacher and student, and a duty shift rotation that includes class time here shortly.” Jane smiled.
"Good." Elizabeth said, "I told Helena about it, and I mean it."
"’it'?" Jacob asked.
"We're in a dark age." Elizabeth said, "I don't have the luxury of hoping to live a few generations to see the end of it, but I want that end-the darkness to go away. So maybe the next kid who finds out they're going to die by forty has a chance not to."
"Your Great Uncle." Bianh nodded.
"Wait, how much do they know?" Helena asked.
"Enough Ngos have died of Cholmann's over the decades that it's a known thing, Helena." Elizabeth said obliquely, "Starting with the first of us you met, when your world's greatest hero died screaming blood, well… it's like being a Hapsburg in the pre-twentieth century with the funny lip and the blood ailment. Everyone knows it's a probability."
"Plus you dump tells all over the place." from the doorway, Sithers leaned, "Bosslady, we got clearances yet? I finished the damn calculations ten minutes ago, if we don't get a clearance, I'll have to spend the next hour re-doing them!"
"Tells?"
"No dating, no boyfriends, not even a pen pal, there's a flag on your Personnel with AFFC Military marked '4M', and you're not crazy. You're also not old enough for a Psyche disqualification, you don't have cancer, I checked with OUR medical, you have all your limbs in the right places and you're not a bleeder, as proven in several 'accidents', and you're high right now, though only me, Lady Helena, and the Corpsman can see it. It's not a secret from the Heinies, and the rumour mills both in the Outsystem and on Kowloon have put together strong circumstantial that your giddy wastrel act is the same image your Great Great Great Grandfather tried to pull off before he collapsed into his first stage two seizure in front of a live audience."
“Then we need to work on that too. You need something to help provide a public shield, a distraction. Even if it goes nowhere, it will help keep people from poking around too deeply.”
"Image." Elizabeth said, "Maggie told me about image, the persona-even if people don't believe it entirely, if it's consistent, they'll respect it."
“And they’ll never question it if you don’t give them a reason to.”
Comms came up with three tones.
"We have clearance!"
A pause.
Helena said, "Engage?"
//////Discontinuity\\\\\\
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===Visiting Digniateries===
Inarcs System, Federated Commonwealth
Civil Defense Headquarters over Inarcs had an emergence wave picked up at the system's Zenith point, which in turn had controllers needing clean underwear.
“We really should have called ahead.” Jane said.
"I'll say…no. We really shouldn't have." Elizabeth Ngo said with a nasty grin, as the Inarcs Militia's fighter wing peeled off, slowing down to return to their dropship.
“Yeah toss up. This way we have the fun of controllers panicking but it could lead to a bad incident. But the secret will be out after this so this will have to do for our fun.”
"Inarcs Control, this is Kowloon Prototype Heavy Elizabeth Cameron responding to your query, we have Duchess Elizabeth Ngo and guests aboard en-route to Tharkad, Over?"
<<"Kowloon Heavy Prototype, you scared the shit out of us!! Why didn't you call ahead, Over?">>
Liz took the mic, "Because I didn't know if the jump drive…" she winked at Jane's remote, "...would actually work, could you imagine the mess if we didn't arrive after telling everyone, Over?"
<<”Overdue would be a lot less mess than we have to clean up now.”>>
"Request you pass along to Her Grace LaRue, then; proof it can be done, use those exact words, and five Kroner, control, Over?" Liz asserted.
"What can be done?" Jane asked.
"Grandfather had a bet with Her Grace's old man that he could fix anything." Liz said, "the old man narrowed it down to 'can you fix a broken warship'. The bet's been on since the 2990s."
“Hmmm…I suppose that misjump did require me needing repairs. So not cheating, much.” Jane commented.
"Yup, technically it's a win, and I'll take the technical win for home and hearth." Liz joked.
“Well we’ve got a week.”
"Yes, we do…" 
<<"I've got your five Kroner, Liz, are you coming to the planet or do I have to bring it out there to see what kind of madness you've done this time?">> Tanadi LaRue asked, adding belatedly, <<"Over">>
“Heh. If you want I’m open to hosting.” Helena chuckled.
"Jane?" Liz asked.
“Either is fine, but good luck getting Helena’s security detail to let her go somewhere without them again.” Jane commented.
Liz nodded to the ship's designated Lady of Comms, "May I again?"
"Ah, sure?"
Liz keyed the mic, "bring only two guests, no other staff, there's trade secrets that I'm keeping for other clients, Tanadi, so no recording devices, but come on up, you're going to be absolutely amazed."
"Let me guess…the LaRues owe you money."
"Nope, but their buddies do." Liz quipped. "Tanadi's like the popular girl in class, at least from the movies-she's not really bad but she underestimates others and overestimates herself."
“I’ll behave.” Jane promised.
"Good, 'cause I probably won't." Liz noted, "got a reputation to keep going, after all."
“Well then everybody has time to go over your stations and make sure it’s all cleaned up and ready to make a good impression on VIPs.” Helena smiled.
Two days later, after a hard burn on a fast dropship, Duchess LaRue was exhausted, polite, curious, and even charming.
But the curiosity was very much of the 'polite' variety, "is this truly a warship?"
"This is truly a Star League antique warship." Liz told her, "The ship's master isn't even me, Lady Helena of Spider Moon, This is Duchess Tanadi LaRue of Inarcs, Tanadi, Lady Helena's a Rockjack, mind your manners please, it's a long walk home for both of us."
"So you don't own the ship?"
"Nope, just leasing." Liz said, "Lady Helena and her sister own the ship."
<”She gives us good terms, lets us keep this thing running. At least for now.”> Helena remembered Maggie Doons’ advice.
Tanadi looked confused until a nervous gentleman that came aboard with her, translated.
"This is amazing, truly a wonder…"
"That's the idea. We've learned a lot about repair yards from helping Helena and her Sister make their repair and restoration efforts." Liz stated. "Part of that's going into a new project I'm co-sponsoring with several prominent businesses and Nobles, I know you're hips-deep in the 'mech business with Blackstone… but hey, that means I get someone to show it off to someone who doesn't have money on the line."
"Where did you get the yards then?" LaRue asked.
"We salvaged equipment from a few abandoned worlds in the Rimjob-er, Rim Worlds Republic, and copied what we could before selling it to Alarion." Liz confessed, "Not enough to build more of these, but maybe with time…"
"You're sure you don't want to on-board another investor?"
"Well, now, see, I don't own that side of the business, you'll need to get Lady Helena to approve your application to invest." Liz said it in a cagey way. "She's very nervous about bringing in outsiders who might get impatient."
<”Doing something like this is going to take time.”> Helena smiled.
"Did YOU invest?" Tanadi asked Liz bluntly.
"Yep. I did…but it's her show…and it's risky, you know how often yards get blown up when the fighting gets close…or when it looks like things are going to get better…"
“But things are getting better and places aren’t blowing up.”
<”Maybe. Right now the Clans have everyone in a panic. Especially after what Focht put out in his house cleaning. So we might have time, we might not. But we have to try.”>
"It's worth it because of the Clans!" Tanadi insisted, "They have warships, the Federated Commonwealth has…prototypes, maybe! Elizabeth, tell her how important this is!!"
Somehow, it got around to numbers, Kroner lost in shipping, insurance rates, the piracy problem, and possible benefits to the investors for a warship-capable shipyard.
The Duchess of Inarcs signed on for one point two trillion Kroner-roughly 3% of her system's annual revenue, and felt like she'd won getting into the investor's pool for the shipyard program.
After Tanadi LaRue left, Liz simply said, "Now, we have to finish it-right now, she thinks it's just a few gantries and a proposal, which is what we want, since we're going into the shipping business…or rather, Helena, you are going into the shipping business."
“So I should invest in antacid companies too.”
"Nope, you should invest in capitalizing the yards now that you own them and have some capital." Liz told her. "A lord without resources is a beggar. I'm going to be sworn to her Majesty the Archon, so you need YOUR resources too, or you'll be frozen out of the game except as my friend. I'm investing in your landhold, now you have Bradford, LaRue, and Brewer investing in it too, along with Haranshire. This is how we start-with a company that builds ships, and charging stations. Regular jumpships, but with a known effort into compact-cores so it's not a shock when we start building those."
“And migraine medicine.”
“Ah yeah. And probably a distillery too.” Elizabeth finally got the joke.
Liz reached into her valise, and handed Helena several card-paper items. "You're on the governing board of Ngo Industries, first new face on that board since twenty eight sixty…helena Drillson is on my board, which makes you privy to special deals we don't give outsiders..and it gives you the ability to flex proxy votes at the annual board meeting."
"Why me?"
"Evelynn will make a fine Duchess, but she has no head for business." Liz said simply. "I'm preparing for when I can't run the company anymore."
“And I practically did like 90% of the job doing what I did with the 171 and 90th.”
"More important, you sold Tanadi Larue on investing in you." Liz told her. "I didn't do that, I couldn't do it, she doesn't like me."
“She did strike me as the sort I should downplay what we’re trying to do.”
“You. Helena. It is eventually going to be all you.” Liz said.
“I know. I don’t like thinking about it but I know.”
"Cheer up, Helena." Liz said, "if nothing else, you'll be able to buy lunch after a few years…with your own money, not some stipend from a trust fund or taxes."
“We’ll have to make it one hell of a lunch when that happens.” Helena smiled.
"Yup, next stop is Arluna. Diego's more of a Hassenfanger than I am, but you might be able to flip some real-estate deals through Rowe-McClaren, but keep count of your fingers, the Diegos are pretty dirty for Nobles." Liz cautioned, "on the other hand, surveys by Nghien Sarkowsky and Sithers-Deen of the system show some high-probability light elements in the outer system, including nodular Germanium, so securing mineral rights is on our list."
“Right. Trot out the deal that seems like it’s what I really want but make my real offer the second more reasonable one by contrast and make them think they swindled me by taking that one. I’ve been learning.”
"Nobody falls for a con faster than a con-man, or so Grandfather used to say. Eduard Diego's not stupid though, and he's sharper than Tanadi, so I'll be along to hold your hand." Liz said dangerously, "We're going to need those out-system minerals if we're going to make this a serious go."
“Yeah. It’s been a few centuries since I’ve had to deal with sharks. They probably evolved while I didn’t.” Helena smiled.
"Put it this way, I cut a deal for Winter, and the Von Schrakenbergs are sharp-but they're ethical. Diego's not ethical. The only reason he doesn't have Lohengrin camped on the end of his bed, is that he's a very vocal supporter of the FedCom alliance, and he has a battalion of 'mechs dating back to the 18th Buena Hussars-a Rallier unit that went to work for the Lyrans after Kerensky left." Elizabeth's expression darkened.
"There's more to that, isn't there?"
"There are two major ethnic groups on Arluna-the people who came with the Lyrans, and the people who were defeated by them, and the second group lives in poverty in the hill country-and have been kept there. Being punished for things their ancestors only might have done."
"You really hate that, don't you?" Jacob asked.
"Yes. Even Amaris laid off people after the third generation if they didn't fight back like we did. The Diegos make New Capetown look enlightened. Their apartheid isn't color based, it's ancestral."
“How can they keep that straight?”
"History. How did Protestants and Catholics know who was who in North Ireland during the twentieth century?" Liz shot back, "Accents, language, some cultural 'tells' is how, to us outsiders there's not a lot of difference except the 'nice' parts of Arluna speak Spanish or German, while the Hillfolk are Anglophones with thick accents…but it's all the world to the people stuck there."
“Right. It’s not my job to police them yet.” Helena nodded.
Jacob glanced at Moshe, then…"if we weren't here, but you had this ship, Duchess, what would you do?"
Liz closed her eyes, "Helena you asked why I hated the Feddies, and I told you I didn't…that's because the Diegos? exist." she opened her eyes, "if I had the resources, I'd smash their little bigot empire into the ground, because how they rule makes me sick."
“Even with this ship, you’d need more.” Helena reasoned.
"And we're going to have to do business with them, because I can't just overthrow the bastards, not without proof of treason against the Commonwealth, and damn me but I can't make myself contemplate fabricating that proof."
"You'd need an army."
"I'd need more than an army." Liz said, "You can break the chains but you can't make people free if they're not ready for it."
Helena grabbed her Federated Commonwealth electronic library and started scrolling through it.
“True and maybe there is a way to get what you want without Treason or an Army.”
Helena paused on the section of the Federated Suns 7 liberties.
"You have an idea." Liz said.
“The start of one. I might need a real lawyer to get it across the goal line. But to me it seems we might have a chance to accuse them of breaking the 7 liberties.”
"Or…" Lizzie's eyes went crafty "...a real lawyer, and a meeting with the Archon to lay it out…"
“That could work too, yes.” Helena nodded.
Linda Sithers was coming on-shift as the two plotted. "Hey, Sithers…you're from Sithers-Deen 42, right?" Liz asked.
"Ayeh." Linda replied.
"Don't suppose you've got anything on the prospecting your folks were doing in the Arluna system in the forties?"
"We were cleared of the missing persons cases." Sithers said, "Cartwright fixed the records, why?"
"Evidence, it occurs to me we're going to meet Her Majesty herself on Tharkad this Christmas, how hard would it be for you to get your elders to turn loose with what they showed my Grandfather about what goes on on Arluna?"
"It's pretty old, Mum. The Nghiens have…had…contacts? With the Hill People, nothing big enough to draw attention, but 'Traditional' recruiting, no kidnaps, all volunteer."
"So witnesses?"
"Ayeh."
"UH…'traditional' recruiting?" Helena asked.
"Rockjacks and other Spacers have a bad rep in parts of the periphery. Stories of children being abducted. It's not all fiction, I'm afraid, though it was never kidnapping, it was usually sending someone into the Well on their wandering times, to find likely recruits among the population who wanted to get out, then smuggling them out. It's how we even know what's going on on Arluna outside the Tourist hotspots and fine sandy beaches."
“And because it was done unofficially, it looked like abductions.” Helena nodded.
"Only two Lines in the community still use 'traditional recruiting' and one of them, is Sithers-Deen." Linda asserted, "even Sakhalin gave up on it last century, too much heat, they use jobs boards instead."
"Why?" Jacob asked.
"Genetics. You have a population spread out over astronomical units in little burrows and stations, you have to avoid inbreeding." Linda explained, "Problem being finding people willing to endure the lifestyle."
“Even then the inbreeding can’t always be helped.” Rachel added. “But we try and it is big taboo.”
"Still is honored one." Sithers directed at Rachel, with a nod. "You're Elder of the Elders you know, you could sit on the Committee and nobody could say ought."
“Committee is boring. This is fun.” Rachel almost grunted.
Sithers grinned as if Rachel had told a very, very, very cultural in-joke. "Ayeh, Mum."
“But maybe when I’m ready to contract. Maybe then. Galavanting out across space is no way to raise children.”
"I understood like…a quarter of that." Liz noted very quietly.
"I heard it clearly." Helena whispered back.
Elizabeth's timer chimed. "Time for meds. I'll go to the sick-bay for it, let the doctor and the Corpsman see I'm taking my designated drugs in the right amounts. Majery's a damn drill sergeant about it-she WOKE ME UP yesterday to verify."
“Yeah. She’s the same with me. Which reminds me I should also eat something so I can take MY meds. Though I think you have me beat hands down for prescriptions.”
"Oh yeah…" Liz shook her head and left the Bridge.
“Those two are adorable together.” Jane chuckled.
“You know they’re both straight right?”
"Yeah, but they're so cute together. It's a waste, I tell you!!" Jane chuckled.
"The Duchess keeps eyeing Jacob there, like a starving woman." Sithers said bluntly, "She'd probably break herself on him if he'd let her."
“Thankfully she isn’t eighteen yet and I’m no pedo.” Jacob grunted.
"Yeah, you'd be tough to get out the airlock." Linda agreed, "On the flip side, she won't be under eighteen forever." she started humming a tune that Jane caught immediately. 
"The matchmaker song from Fiddler on the roof? Really?" 
"It's a good story, and I've got a few yisroel relatives down on the Plateau." Linda defended, "it's how my hair is so wavy and curly when I let it grow out!"
“Hehe. Okay then. 20 Kroner says the day she turns eighteen she’ll break her wild mustang.” Jane smiled.
"How do you think she'll do it?" Rachel asked, breaking her usual silence and being outright intelligible for once, "Duchess Ngo's got that whole 'too forward' problem, she doesn't know how to lure a man!"
"Really?"
"Yes! Boys have to be teased and led, they don't like it when a girl grabs their junk and says 'this is mine'!"
“That sounds like far too much work.”
"The challenge can be fun..but yeah, it's a lot of work to find a man instead of a Port Boy." Linda agreed. "I can scratch the itch with a portboy, but if I contract for babies, I'll be wanting a decent MAN to be the father…even if I have to share him with another wife…someone like Moshe maybe."
Moshe flushed red for a moment.
“I knew you had a fun side.” Jane chuckled.
Linda regarded him with calculating eyes. "Hmmmm" but said nothing more on the subject.
Jane immediately started up a betting pool for various pairings and who’d be first to do what.
She only left one name off the list of possibilities, Helena’s.
She knew Helena wasn’t anywhere near ready for that sort of thing yet.
She also had to leave off Mohammed and Majery’s names in a few categories since they were already dating.
Elizabeth she only put down for fairly innocent things since she wasn’t eighteen yet.
Everyone would eventually find it in their portable noteputers later to place their wagers on.
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===Talk out of curiosity===
Arluna, Federated Commonwealth
3054
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The Arluna stop-off was short, and Elizabeth's suggestions turned out to be irrelevant. Duke Diego wasn't home, instead being several jumps away, conducting exercises with the 8th Lyran Regulars near Timbuktu.
George McClaren of the Rowe-McClaren banking partnership WAS in the system, overseeing a corporate project on Arluna's main world.
He, in turn, refused to even speak to anyone associated with Elizabeth Ngo…at first.
His reluctance ended up dissolving into rampant curiosity when he saw what the Kowloonese were using for a taxi.
thumb|300px|M5 Casper Class Destroyer, SLS Elizabeth Cameron 
"I didn't believe it." George is a mid-fiftyish man with swoop-cut hair styled with oils, dressed in a rather natty tieless business suit. "You know what you have here, don't you?"
"A warship that I'm glad I don't have to pay upkeep on?" Elizabeth Ngo bounced back.
"This isn't any ordinary warship." he stated, "Even when I joined the Navy for my five year term, Miss Ngo, I never hoped to see one of these outside of an airfix kit. Your lady friend and her sister salvaged a Caspar and refit it."
<”And I’ll appreciate it if you don’t drool all over it.”> Helena chided.
Elizabeth froze up. Whatever she'd been about to smoothly say went 'wham' into a wall.
George clasped his hands behind his back, and added, "the bolt-on structures didn't hide it well enough, even under the new paint. The Caspar series had a significantly more powerful Radar and LIDAR array than standard Lolas-even the threes, could manage, because they didn't have to worry about keeping a crew alive. When I was a boy, I used to fantasize about what such a ship would be like, if it weren't extinct, and had been refit for human beings. I'd ask where you found her, but the more pertinent question would be how much of the computer you left in place-which must be a lot, your entourage is tiny."
<”Uh, yeah. It would have been too expensive to dig it all out. So we left it. Fortunately it still functions very well because as you noticed we’re a tiny crew for a ship this size.”> Helena nodded.
He stroked his neatly manicured beard. "I heard you were investing in shipping, Ngo, and could hardly believe the wild little child who caused so much grief would be that far thinking…but this?" he clasped his hands behind his back, "This makes sense for you. Rowe McClaren will invest in your 'shipbuilding' project, and I'll talk to Gordon about lifting Daphne's restrictions. You've clearly reformed….or at least, you're doing something more interesting than vandalizing street signs and getting into fights."
"She missed Penny's funeral." Liz noted. "Was that part of those 'restrictions'?"
McClaren looked ashamed.
"It was. Well, at least I know who I'm angry with. If you want in, you make the deal with Helena here-it's her company, we're just helping with initial investment and some backing, I take my non-compete clauses quite seriously."
<”We have a wardroom all setup if you’d like to talk someplace more privately.”> Helena put on her best diplomatic smile.
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