B00BFVOGUI EBOK by John Jackson Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

zagged outward, tracing through the section of the near sky that led toward Orion. “I’ve never heard of those places. Why haven’t you gone prospecting?”
    “Because we’re not here to waste our time,” Bridget said, irritated. “The biggest trading power in the Signatory Systems and the biggest conglomerate on Earth couldn’t make a go of that area. Do you really think we could?”
    Jamie looked around at the meeting room. “No, I guess not,” he said. He didn’t know whether Yang’s surge team was good at its job or not, though Yang certainly seemed to like yelling at people. But he’d known from the financials that the traders of the Altair expedition were third-rate, and the shabby look of the boardroom confirmed it. This was a place to make deals?
    Falcone stood, silent, staring into the images. “You know, it might work,” he said.
    Bridget looked up, seemingly startled to hear hope in that gravelly voice. “What?”
    “He’s right. Not one planet on that whole path has been opened,” Falcone said. He looked at her, bloodshot eyes dead serious. “You know the deal. Any first-contact contracts the expedition writes go to our bottom line, not the corporation’s. We find a hundred billion dollars in new business out there, and we erase what’s just happened here.” He fished for his pocket isopanel.
    Falcone seemed interested, but the more Jamie thought about it, the more it felt like grasping at straws. The odds weighed against the idea; most trailblazing trips never earned a dollar. “I guess you could try,” Jamie said, sensing Falcone was in the mood to try anything. “But it’s no sure thing. It’d be a hundred-day sales offensive into a part of the Orion Arm humans have never visited—”
    “‘Orion Offensive.’ Catchy. You’d better get to it,” Falcone said.
    “Me?” Jamie bolted upright.
    “Your problem. Your solution,” Falcone said. He started figuring.
    “Hold on,” Jamie said, flabbergasted. This wasn’t what he’d intended at all. He stood. “I’m a commodities guy, not some… traveling salesman !”
    Bridget glared at him, eyes steely. “Some of those salesmen die on this job,” she said, voice dripping with disdain. “And their escorts.”
    “All the more reason I’m not going!” Jamie looked at her, flustered. “Besides, I thought your job was to protect these people. How many do you lose?”
    “Don’t you ever read your attrition reports? It’s no trip to the beach out there!” She looked directly at him. “No,” she said, reading his eyes. “You don’t read the reports. We’re just numbers to you. Color me shocked.”
    Jamie stepped around the table and pleaded with Falcone. “Leo. Really, you don’t want me for this—”
    “I don’t,” Falcone snapped. “But thanks to you, you’re what I’ve got. My traders aren’t here and my depot’s falling apart. It’ll take weeks to reposition product for Sigma Draconis. You’re a great hustler when you’re trading across the light years, Sturm. Let’s see how you do in person!”
    Bridget laughed. “He’ll be eaten alive by the first thing he pisses off,” she said, smirking at Jamie. “If they can stomach him.”
    “I’ve taken that into account,” Falcone said. He passed her the handheld data device. “Here’s your new orders, Yang.”
    The chief gawked. “You don’t mean—”
    “You’re rebased. Surge Altair is now Surge Sigma Draconis,” the administrator said. “I want you headed there to set up shop within the hour.” Wiping his nose, Falcone walked past the stunned pair. He called back from the doorway. “You’ve had to take down some real menaces in this job, Bridget. Let’s see if you can keep this menace alive…long enough to save us!”
* * *
    “Die, Black Priest!”
    The shockpulse cannon fired, its deadly discharge enveloping one of Kolvax’s true believers. The armored Xylander shook and fell, cooked inside his own armor. The mutineers weren’t