Chapter 503 - 503: Homecoming

The Captain chose to go with Kian. Going from hauling freight to commanding a warship was a leap up the social ladder for him.

The Captain had an adventurous streak, too. Rather than shuttling a merchant ship back and forth between two planets, he'd much rather fly a warship all over the galaxy.

With that settled, the two of them settled in for a chat.

The Captain opened a bottle of Holy Amasec, then cracked a few cans of guana-beast meat and heated them over alcohol tabs. Before long the canned guana was bubbling in red chili oil, and the whole cabin smelled delicious.

After they'd downed three cups together, Kian speared a piece of meat with his dagger and ate it.

"So here's the thing. I've got a trade warrant between the Forge World and the Agri-World, but I don't have a ship.

"No way to cash in on it. What am I supposed to do?"

The Captain thought for a moment and came up with an idea.

"The route between the Forge World and the Agri-World is fixed. You don't actually need a ship to trade on it.

"You take a metal keel, strap the cargo containers to it, put a chemical rocket motor at each end, and just fire it off."

Kian's eyes lit up. You could do that?

"How does it work? Tell me everything!"

The Captain walked Kian through the pros and cons of this kind of shipping.

"It takes very little investment, but it only works on a stable route.

"Chemical rockets are cheap. You strap a hundred containers together in space, mount a disposable chemical rocket on the back to push them, and send them off. When they reach the destination, the rocket on the front fires to brake.

"It's really cheap. Hardly any up-front investment at all.

"But the downsides are obvious too. Rocket freight can only run fixed routes.

"And since there's no armour, if it hits space debris or a meteor, you lose a few containers at best, and the whole stack at worst!"

Kian rubbed his chin and thought it over for a while before asking:

"Pros and cons, huh... Has anyone done this before?"

The Captain said, "They have. For every ten cargo rockets launched, about two and a half get destroyed by meteors."

He speared a piece of guana meat dripping with red oil on his dagger and waved it in front of Kian.

"But every run of guana meat that makes it through earns about eight times what the shipment cost!"

Kian let out a low whistle. That was great! A loss rate of nearly one in five, but every success paid back eight times! Massive profits!

The only shame was that it couldn't carry important equipment, since one small meteor would wreck everything. It could only carry basic goods.

Kian asked, "Sounds perfect. So how do we do it?"

The Captain said, "My lord, leave it to me. I'll get the rocket motors, the empty cargo containers, and the operators.

"Crude as this shipping method is, every run needs three crewmen aboard to work the equipment.

"One mistake and people die, so finding crew will take some effort."

Kian nodded.

"All right, you handle it. And while you're at it, start recruiting a warship crew. In a few years my warship will reach the Forge World for repairs, and I don't want it fixed up with nobody to fly it!"

With that, the two parted ways. Kian returned to his Sanctum, planning to go back to Agri-World 496b by respawning.

It had been so long. He wanted to go back and see how Agri-World 496b was doing, see his old comrades, and see Nightingale.

Kian sat on the bed and jabbed in a black needle. When he opened his eyes again, he was already in the Underhive of Agri-World 496b.

Kian blinked and stretched. For some reason, when he was out fighting his way across the galaxy, time seemed to fly by. But the moment he came back to the Agri-World, life slowed right down.

He got up, collected everything the Sanctum had produced, queued up new production, and pushed the door open.

When the door opened, Kian saw a pale, clean-faced man standing guard outside who looked somewhat familiar. He seemed to be someone Governor Zeppelin had posted there to meet him, but for the moment Kian couldn't place him.

When the man saw Kian come out, he lit up with joy.

"Commander! You're back!"

Kian looked him up and down, puzzled.

"And you are? I can't place you."

Kian was certain nobody like this was among his old comrades.

The man said excitedly, "Commander! It's me, Ash!"

Kian's eyes went wide.

"Ash?! But you were my sooty little ray of sunshine! How did you..."

Ash gave a goofy grin.

"Commander, after you left, Governor Zeppelin put all the people you left behind to good use.

"I'm a PDF major now. My job is to stand guard here, and when you come out, take you up to the Spire.

"A major's got plenty of work to do. I don't have to go around stealing stuff anymore, so I cleaned up."

Kian said, "Oh," so that was it.

Then Ash drove Kian to the lift, and they rode it up to the Spire.

On the way, Kian asked what had been happening while he was gone, and Ash filled him in bit by bit.

On the whole, Kian's old comrades and friends had all done well for themselves. The Kae family had become administrators of the Underhive, overseeing hundreds of millions of people.

Little Joel's parents had become official brewers to the Governor. The planet's main priority now was paying off its debt, but a certain amount of drink still had to be brewed for those who had earned it.

Egghead and a group of PDF men had become drill instructors. They'd already trained more than a hundred thousand soldiers.

Leo had become the top man of the planet-wide Water Guild, and had finally joined the ranks of the powerful.

Kian was deeply gratified.

"Everyone's busy. Busy, busy. Busy is good!"

Ash took Kian through one vehicle after another and finally brought him to the Nightingale family's spire, to the atmospheric garden.

"Commander, you can go the rest of the way on your own."

Ash nodded toward the Victorian cottage in the garden, then took the lift and vanished.

Kian walked along the little stone path, now and then picking a flower by the roadside and sucking the nectar from it.

When he reached the Victorian cottage, he put his hand on the door handle. He was just about to push the door open when a baby's cry came from inside.

When Kian heard the crying, he froze for a moment. Then a smile spread across his face, and he pushed the door open.

The next moment, his eyes met a pair of gentle eyes.

Nightingale was sitting on the soft sofa, holding a baby and nursing it.

She looked at Kian with a tender smile.

Kian walked toward her, pulling the door shut behind him.

And then they did the deed. The End.

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