Double Share, redux

Double Share, redux

I was disappointed with the Solar Wind series starting with Double Share. Here's another way it could have gone:

Tony Lower-Basch, Josh Mannon. Do you like this? Should I expand it?

Family Share ... a fan fic by William Nichols

At the Academy, I realized three fundamentals truths at the exact same time.
Number one: Pip would be my best friend for life.
Number two: I am poorer every moment Bev is not by my side.
Number three: The five years federated freight wanted for tuition has a buy-out clause.

After graduation, Pip went back with his family onboard the renamed ship the Prodigal Son. Bev surprised me, as instead of taking over one of her families ships, she came with me to Federated Freight. I'd be in Engineering, and she'd be third mate onboard the sister ship to the Lois McKendrick, the Angelica Schuyler.

We saw Pip every few months when our ships were in port together, but mainly Bev and I used the lessons we'd learned onboard the Lois McKendrick to make triple our wages through trading. We encouraged the crew to form a coop, and then joined in. Before long, our combined income was bigger than the Captain's!

Bev taught me to love action-adventure films, and I showed her the joy of the opera. We had plenty of entertainment on the Angelica, and went to local Opera when we were in port. Pip loved parties, and the three of us became a fixture on the 08 deck. Officer's tests are done on station, and I sat for every one I could; after a year, I was rated in Engineering, Deck, Cargo, and Steward.

After two year, we had enough wealth. Together, Bev and I bought out my contract. Bev contacted her mother, who set us up as third mate and Cargo Officer on one of their smaller family ships, the Peggy.

The Peggy was a tractor, carrying three cargo boxes behind. Within the next year, I'd sat for the third mate test and Bev was XO. We lined up our travels with Pip's whenever feasible, making sure we saw him every few weeks instead of every few months.

He was the best man at our wedding, with Captain Gigone performing. It was a big spacer wedding, and I finally felt like an adult. I hadn't realized it, but I still had the groundhog belief that you're not really an adult until you get married. Shortly after, Bev was asked to take the Captain's exam, which she passed with flying colors. For a while, I was her chief Engineer and XO.

A big corporate ship like the Lois McKendrick weighs in at 40,000t and could cost a billion credits or more, an astronomical sum we'd could never afford. But technological advance meant additional miniaturization, and smaller crew requirements with commensurate lower costs. With our savings and wedding presents, we were able to set up a small corporation and buy out a 9,500 ton ship. We christened her the Agamemnon, and brought Pip in as a partial owner and as our cargo master.

The three of us each owned 10% of the company, with 20% owned by Pip's family, 20% by Bev's, and 30% by Federated Freight. They believed in us, and had the money to spare on such a venture. Pip's family let him have their votes by proxy, as did Bev's. FF kept theirs, but in actually supported us at every juncture.

We found the Agamemnon about to be decommissioned; we got her at scrap prices. She could only carry cargo internally, but had more staterooms than the Angelica. Bev and I shared the captain's Cabin, letting Pip take the XO stateroom. We had three spare, and stocked crew and officer boarding with the same high quality bedding. If we were going to live onboard this ship the rest of our lives, we wanted comfort.

The three of us, and five crew. Bev was our Captain, of course. She also took care of ship handling. Pip and I were both ranked as XO, and it seemed only fair that he take it. He was also our cargo officer, and navigator. That left me as second mate, Chief Engineer, and in charge of ship's systems.

Any ship over 5,000 tons regulations call for at least one full time person in engineering and cargo, with a rated officer to supervise. Pretty frequently, this meant a single officer in charge of those divisions, but our variety of ratings meant we could keep a higher share.

We needed three bridge watch standers, an engineer and a cargo crew. Technically, with less than ten crew we didn't need anyone in Steward division, but I pushed for it so we could have great cooking, and an obvious morale officer.

At first, we tried out a new quarter share - he was a disaster. We needed someone who could manage the kitchen on their own. After that, we tried a half share, and a full share. While George and Lakon fit in and did their part, I really wanted someone who could take on a larger role and responsibility. We hired an officer, fresh out of the academy, name of Susan Holbach. Susan was a lot like me, not from a spacer family. She and Pip hit it off from day one. After three months, Susan moved into the XO cabin with Pip. Susan was a skilled ship handler, and took that duty off Bev's shoulders.

Pip continued to prove himself a master trader, we made money hand over fist. I got every crew member to sit for a test every quarter, always pushing them skip a rank. Bev had the brilliant idea of teamining with the crew's coop; they operated independently, but had access to ship's boxes not otherwise in use, and we got 10% of their profits. This gave us a reason to align the ship to help maximize the coop profits.

As the crew took more tests, we happily promoted them. Eventually, the three Deck crew were able to take over navigation, systems, and ship handling. Our Engineer achieved his spec one in environmental systems, making my life easier.

Susan's cooking was inspired thanks to her father running a breakfast restaurant at the other end of the sector. She'd trained as a steward at the academy, and had the brilliant idea of leasing out the spare rooms. We hired her an assistant, who ran parties and kept up morale. After a year, Susan and Pip got married and she bought into ownership of the company. She had to buy extra to get 10% from Federated Freight, a testament to the work we'd done. I'm pretty sure she used wedding presents from her and Pip's family to pay for it, but I never asked.

Most passenger ships are slow, taking months to get from place to place. At less than 10,000t, the Agamemnon was a fast packet, able to transition from system to system quicker. We got a lot of corporate and honeymoon passengers. Bev put her Captain's share into furniture and decorations for the ship, and the four of us put the full Owner's share into the mortgage.

That extra money helped us buy out our partners in ten years, rather than the ten we were planning, Finally, our home was really ours.