Desperate Defense Snippet 2

First off, the usual sitrep:
I finished the rough out of Act II of Waking the Sleeping Giant yesterday, despite the insanity going on all week... and today. I'll be lucky if I can get a sentence in today. :)

Also, Goodlifeguide.com put DD in the queue and told me it will be back in my hands by March 7 or sooner. So, just letting you know. :)

I just ordered an airbrush a moment ago. I've wanted one for 20+ years. Hopefully I can figure it out. It should be fun.

On to the snippet!

Still in chapter  1:

Jack, Max, and Menolly remained quiet as they returned to town. Jack looked over to see Max with his head out the window as usual, enjoying the breeze. He snorted. Menolly saw where he was looking, shook her head, then her left hand caught his right and squeezed.

A few minutes later, he pulled the truck up to the hospital's front door and insisted on opening the door for his wife. Menolly murmured he didn't have to, but they both knew she liked it when he was a gentleman. She ducked her head as she dimpled and then ran a hand over his chest. He pulled her in for a hug and then kissed her goodbye. “See you after work?” he asked teasingly, already knowing the answer.

She smiled to him. “Don't be late,” she accused, shaking her finger under his nose to him.

He was tempted to snap at the finger but instead held his hands up in supplication. “I'll behave. Him though,” he indicated Max.

“That goes for you too. And you can keep him honest fur face.” Max whined at her, then nodded. “Right. No chasing rabbits and you better not come home all muddy again. If I have to give you another bath, I'll use the lye soap, bub,” she growled, turning to shake her finger at him.

He gave her his best puppy expression.

“I mean it. Stay away from porcupines, and this time stay away from skunks!” she scolded.

Max rolled his eyes but nodded emphatically at that order. Once was more than enough for that experience, plus the cleanup afterward.

~~*^*~~

Jack returned to the colony's administration building almost reluctantly. After passing through security on the way to his office, he snagged a cup of coffee. He caught a doughnut from an unguarded box on his personal assistant's desk. He saluted Jasmine with it in passing when she looked up to protest. She opened her mouth to protest, then shook her head repressively.

Max took a sniff of the box, but Jasmine's growl made him back off hastily.

Jack shucked his jacket and tossed it on the coat rack, then flopped into his chair. He quickly worked through the basic inbox and then checked on the thing that really mattered.

He had already gotten a download of his mail and had gotten hourly implant updates about the incoming ship. It only took a moment to scan the latest report about the incoming colony ship. She was the Susan Constant, one of the latest Lagroose ships built by his son on her maiden voyage. Captain Ed Siever was her skipper and had already sent seven emails to his inbox.

It boiled down to the usual; the captain wanted a fast turnaround. Jack shook his head and checked the latest video. He watched it patiently, taking notes. “Everyone had been medically cleared in Sol before we took them on board. We can transmit their clearances when we are in orbit,” the captain offered.

Jack hit the pause and then recorded his response.

“We're still going to check everyone, including your crew. We don't know if they have a bug that our people don't have. The last thing we need is another influenza outbreak,” Jack said with a growl. “We have had that twice already. I've made it clear we will not accept any colonists unless they both pass medical muster and have signed the Pyrax charter.”

He finished recording a few of his notes and then sent it off to be transmitted.

He puttered around with minor emails and such before he got the captain's response ten minutes later. Jack hit play and then watched the man.

 The captain grimaced but then nodded. “Understood. I know it was in the general orders, but …,” the captain waved a hand. “We'll do anything we can to make this transition as quick and smooth as possible.”

Jack nodded and recorded a second response. “We'll transmit our medical history to you as well. No sense your people picking up a locally-brewed bug during shore leave either,” Jack said, relenting a bit.

When he got a response back, he was amused. The captain's image blinked and then nodded. “We'll have inoculations ready. Now, about the ship's resupply. Obviously, we need fuel and provisions; fresh provisions would be nice. We'd need to check everything, no offense, but they need to be cleared of bugs and be safe for consumption,” the captain said.

Jack leaned back and nodded to himself.

“We have an authorization for payment from the company. I understand there is an issue there,” the captain said. “So, we also have credits and some trade goods we can offer if the authorization isn't acceptable,” he stated flatly.

It damn well wasn't, Jack thought with a sour growl. Max looked up from where he'd been reading his tablet. Jack flicked his fingers for him to ignore him. Max flicked his ears and then went back to his reading.

Wendy had gotten cute when he'd begun to offer resupply on his end. The new ships hadn't expected it so they hadn't had anything to pay for it. He hadn't charged port fees, though he'd been tempted. What he'd accepted was an IOU.

And that was where Wendy had screwed him. Since they hadn't had an agreement in advance, she refused payment. She'd also stiffed him on the bill for the crew's shore leave. So, he'd refused fuel for the next ship to come in. He'd ended up negotiating a deal for a bit of fresh provisions from the crew, but they had been a bit put out over not getting what they wanted.

They'd returned to Sol with instructions from him to Athena and others to work on banking issues. The third ship that had come had brought along bank authorization files. The crew had been debited for their charges on the planet. The debits had been encrypted and sent to Sol's banking aboard their own ship. Credits had come back on the following ship and so on. It was tedious and slow, but it was at least a functional economic exchange. Having Athena in his corner helped immensely. When she died … his thoughts slithered to a halt briefly. Even after eight years, her “death” still bothered him. He'd thought of her as immortal. He shook himself and then brought himself back on track.

Getting repayment for the fuel and provisions had been a bit tougher, but he'd finally worked that deal out. But that was when he'd run into another issue, Wendy had retaliated when he'd tried to order equipment and goods from Sol. She'd charged him a premium on shipping the freight, plus all sorts of handling fees. Since only Lagroose ships had the data to get to Pyrax, she had him over a barrel.

Which meant he learned to buy data as much as possible. She hadn't started to charge him for the mail services or data transfer … yet.

He didn't like the tit for tat between himself and his daughter, but it was what it was. Apparently, time nor distance had cooled her ire for him and his method of departure. To be scrupulously fair, he still hadn't forgiven her for her coup either.

He dickered a bit with the captain on the resupply until they both got bored with the process and passed it on to the ship's cargo master and Jack's spaceport manager. He decided to let them hash out the final details now that he and the captain had a basic understanding.

“I miss Castill,” Jack said to Max when the calls ended. “They couldn't carry as much people and weren't in a hurry to get home. This guy … I bet he gets paid a bonus to move people like freight,” he said with a shake of his head.

~~*^*~~