Chapter 52

After completing the last of the tour with his friend, he did just as Jasper suggested. "I need some people willing to unload some supplies from shuttles," he stated as bluntly as possible to Damien.Over the last few months, Alexander realized the man preferred this approach to him trying to butter him up or small talk in general.

"Why don't you just add it to the job board like the rest?" the man asked.

"Because it needs to be done as soon as the shuttle lands. If you know anyone willing, tell them I will double the trade allotment for this job. I need at least four people." Now that the additional supplies were here, Alexander had a bit more wiggle room with what he was willing to offer in trade. At least until that ran out. For now, he still had plenty of credits to buy stuff from STO space but that wouldn't last indefinitely if he didn't start making some money.

The majority of Alexander's trade supplies came in the form of medical treatments. Before, he had to limit medical services to only those willing to do the hardest tasks. Soon he would open that up to more people willing to work for him. For now, doubling up the trade allotment would allow anyone who accepted this offer to at least afford basic treatments.

He hated to have to ration life-saving medicine like this, but he had no way to produce more. Everything pharmaceutical had come from off-world and it would for the foreseeable future unless some of the locals decided to go into the field. Alexander certainly had no interest in producing medications or drugs, but if someone else wanted to start a new enterprise, he wasn't opposed to that. That was likely not going to happen amongst the current locals though. Most seemed uninterested in doing anything other than just living day to day.

To be fair, Alexander hadn't really gotten to know them all that much. There was still this barrier between him and the drifter population. They tolerated his presence, but they weren't all that accepting of him. And he kept to himself unless he needed to interact with the people helping to repair the facility or taking up his jobs.

That probably accounted for the way he felt about the system he set up. Alexander may hate rationing his medical supplies like some greedy jerk but that didn't transfer to the rest of his supplies. He didn't owe these people anything. If they wanted something, they needed to earn it or trade for it.

The barter system he set up worked quite well. People would work to earn allotment credits which they could use to trade for whatever they offered. People could take advantage of it or simply ignore it completely if they wanted to and it wouldn't change anything.

The people of Eden's End could live their entire lives without having to interact with him at all if they chose to. He didn't charge them rent, taxes, or for stuff like water and power. So they had no costs associated with living here. The same as it had been before he purchased the facility. That was beyond fair in his eyes.

He thought about charging for those things but decided against it. It would be much easier to entice people to come to this out-of-the-way system or stay here if living here was essentially free. It wasn't like he had any other amenities to entice people to stay at the moment. And there was a whole lot of free space available for people to live. With just over three thousand current residents, Alexander could go an entire day without seeing another person if he was in one of the unoccupied sections. At its peak, the research facility could have housed eighty thousand people comfortably.

With everything so damaged and decayed from non-use, it could probably only house ten thousand at the moment without people having to cram in on top of each other. That would change as areas of the facility were repaired but that was a long-term project that could take years to complete. He hoped the population would increase as well, once word got around.

Damien grunted and walked over to a comm panel and pressed the button. "If anyone wants to earn double allotment, meet Alexander over in Atrium D. Only four temporary positions available." He turned back to Alexander. "There, now if you'll excuse me, I'm a bit busy." The man turned and walked away without another word.

Alexander picked four of the ten people who showed up in the Atrium to help unload Jasper's shuttle. It was too bad his friend wasn't able to stick around this time. His reaction mass was being topped off by the Talon and once the Zephyr was unloaded, he would be heading back to the core worlds until the danger settled down out here or Alexander could ensure safe passage.

The pair had discussed an ongoing delivery back before he left the first time but things have changed since then. The space outside STO's territory was too volatile to risk traveling through alone. Alexander would not want his friend to risk himself or his crew for his sake either so there were no hurt feelings on his side.

The fact that the Zephyr encountered a ship without a transponder on their way back was disheartening to hear as well. Sure the gunship had scared it off. But it was probably just an opportunistic pirate boarding ship.

From the intelligence briefings he received from Matthews, Alexander had learned more about pirates than he wanted to know.

For example, not all of their ships were armed. Some of the smaller ones were unarmed and built for speed. Those sorts of ships were used to chase down other ships and forcefully board those vessels. It turned out to be a pretty common tactic for the newer and younger pirates who were trying to get a start.

Unfortunately, just because some of their ships were unarmed, didn't mean they all were. Even the smaller pirate ships were armed more often than not according to Matthews.

Typical pirate armaments consisted of missiles or auto-turrets.

The missiles were by far the more dangerous of the two, especially with static shields to deflect space debris. Most ships could deflect smaller and slower projectiles, but they could not outrun a missile even at full acceleration, and the static field did little to mitigate the damage if one got close before detonating.

Just the threat of using one of those weapons usually got most captains to stop running and allow the pirates to board them in hopes of surviving.

If the ships being boarded didn't have security, the crew locked themselves in the bridge, or engine rooms and let the pirates take what they wanted from the rest of the compartments until they were satisfied. That didn't mean this tactic was always successful. Matthews had told him of plenty of instances where the pirates took the ship or crew hostage. If the hostages were worth anything, they ransomed them back, if they weren't or their contact refused to pay, the hostage disappeared as a slave inside the pirate strongholds.

That was still better than what some pirates did to the crew when they wanted only the ship. Sёarᴄh the NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

While missiles were used by some of the more successful pirates, the most common weapons in the pirate arsenal were autocannons or chainguns. While not as deadly as missiles, that didn't mean bullets fired from the auto-turrets weren't dangerous, they were. Especially at close range. Fill the static field with enough incoming ordinance, and you could overload it or drain the systems used to keep it powered. Once you got through the field, it didn't take much to punch through most ships or disable their lightly protected engines.

If an armed ship had encountered the Hawks gunship and the Zephyr, it may have concluded the risk was worth a fight. And he hated to admit, the pirates might be right. The Hawks' gunship used a rapid-fire flechette turret as its main weapon as opposed to an autocannon, but they packed around the same punch. It was just easier to fit more flechette rounds into a smaller space than it was for the old-style cased ammunition, which is why the Navy had switched to flechettes long ago according to Matthews.

He hated to think what would happen if his friend came across a pirate ship that had railguns, Gauss turrets, or lasers. Matthews said he had never encountered a pirate with advanced weapons of that nature, and said it was unlikely to happen, but Alexander didn't see any reason the outlaws couldn't possess more advanced weapons. Look how easy it was for him to make railguns.

All of these dark thoughts were beginning to sour his mood, so he turned his mind to something much happier. Now that he had delegated the unloading responsibility, he had some free time. He decided to fulfill the other promise he made to Jasper.

It took a few hours to print out the surprise he had in store, but he managed to complete it and get it assembled before the evening meal came about. Yulia strode into the apartment, whistling a tune and smiling wide.

"You look like you had a good day?"

She nodded before climbing up on the stool. Alexander handed her a plate of food while she busily recounted her day. This reminded him of their time back on Petrov Station. If he had some greasy parts partially disassembled on the counter, the image would be complete.

The girl practically inhaled her food between talking with her mouthful. He admonished her about manners and she apologized, only talking when her food was mostly chewed. A small win was still a win.

Once her plate was cleared, she got ready to hop off the stool and run back out with her friends. Alexander stopped her.

"I actually have a surprise for you. Follow me," he motioned.

"But I was going to play with my friends," the girl began to pout but stopped herself.

He could understand she wanted to play with her friends. But Jasper was right, he needed to spend more time with his daughter. "Don't you want to spend time with me?"

"I'm sorry," she replied apologetically, lowering her head. "I didn't mean it like that, Alex."

"Why don't you ever call me dad, or father?"

She shrugged, "Dunoh."

That meant she didn't want to talk about it. That was fine, he wouldn't push her to call him dad if she didn't want to.

She held his hand as they walked to the nearby atrium. Very few locals used the atriums other than the one located where most people lived. He could understand why, considering how bleak and lifeless the large spaces were. Unless you wanted to play in the dirt or sit on benches, there really wasn't much to draw people to them. He had plans to fix them up but they were low on the priority queue for repairs.

He led Yulia to an area off to the side that still had some working overhead lights and a large stretch of level ground. The place had probably once been a park or garden. As they rounded a concrete divider, Yulia's eyes lit up.

"What's that?!" she asked eagerly as she released his hand and raced over to the colorful playground that Alexander had assembled.

He joined her shortly. "This is a playground. And that thing is a swing."

"What's a swing?" the little girl asked.

He picked her up and sat her in the plastic seat, before stepping around behind her and gently pushing her.

She immediately started laughing. "Higher!"

He obliged, giving her a gentle push. "Lean back while holding the sides and kick your feet out when you get to the top, it'll increase your height. Now tuck them in when you get close to the bottom. Good, you're getting it."

It didn't take long for Yulia to figure out exactly where to do this for maximum effect. He stepped back and watched her as she laughed non-stop. He should have expected what came next. On the next upswing, the girl cried out, "Catch me!" as she leaped from the swing.

Alexander was close enough to do that, but he did have a momentary bit of panic as she released the ropes. She landed in his arms and he absorbed her momentum before she could crash into him. "Please be more careful, if I wasn't here, you may have hurt yourself."

She promised him she would be, but somehow Alexander didn't quite believe her. She was a bit of a daredevil.

He showed her how to use the other playground items. The seesaw, the merry-go-round, the slide. He couldn't exactly use any of the equipment himself, but that didn't mean he couldn't demonstrate how they worked. She seemed to like the merry-go-round and the swing the best. Probably because they went the fastest.

It was a bit sad that Yulia had no idea what any of these things were before he told her. He wondered if the other kids who lived here were the same way.

After playing with her for a good hour, she finally needed to rest. "Can I show my friends this place?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course you can. I built it for all the children. Anyone who wants to come here can." She rushed over and hugged his leg.

Alexander stroked her hair. "Unfortunately, I have to get back to work. You have a little over two hours before bed. I suggest you use that time wisely," he winked at her, earning a giggle in return before she hurried off to gather her friends. "Thank you, Alex!"

Before he returned to his work, he looked over the playground one more time. The rubber padding underneath should be sufficient to prevent any serious injuries. And the Hawks camp wasn't too far away. They should hear if anyone gets hurt. Other than standing here and monitoring the children, he couldn't think of anything else to make it safer. And sitting here and monitoring them would likely scare the kids away, and make Yulia upset with him. He didn't want that.

As he was walking off, he wondered what the Hawks had thought of all Yulia's screaming and laughing. Considering nobody came to investigate the noise, probably not much other than just a kid having fun.