Children of Steel Read Free

once again concentrated on making it behave.
    He smiled then and leaned back in his chair
relaxing a little. "Listen I've been working for the company for
almost fifty years, and I've been Captain of this ship for more
than ten. So let me give you some advice. Keep your eyes open and
be real careful, I have about a forty percent attrition rate in new
ani's like yourself. Now I know you cats all think you're hell on
wheels, but this is dangerous work, that's why you're here and I
hate having to get replacements.” He leaned forward and looked
serious again. “Oh, and by the way, your predecessor lasted three
months. Got his neck broke in a bar fight, a real waste of talent
that.
    "Good luck, Dismissed."
    I stood up, saluted, and left. I decided that
I should probably find out a little more about my predecessor, and
soon. They had told us life could be rough, but no one had ever
mentioned that kind of thing.
    I made my way back to the quartermaster's
office next; the Astra was a pretty big ship. It displaced about
fifty seven thousand tons. Its cargo holds could double as assault
ship bays and it always carried six such ships just in case. It had
a standing crew of about three hundred, and could carry another
five hundred troopers if need be. One thousand if you didn't mind
sleeping in the hallways.
    I found the quartermasters' space and went
inside. The quartermaster was a Fox, which surprised me
considerably.
    "Hi, I'm the new warrant, and the Captain
sent me down to get outfitted."
    He looked up from his terminal and gave me
the slow once over.
    "Ah, more fresh meat I see. Well come over
here to the counter and we'll see what you need."
    As he walked over to the counter I noticed he
had a pretty good limp.
    "You newbs are all pretty much the same, not
a pot to piss in."
    "Yeah, that pretty well describes it; I guess
you know how it is."
    "Nope, not me, I was a free born, not one of
you crèche specials."
    That surprised me even more, I’d never run
into a freeborn before, I didn’t know that the company employed
them. Guess they had to work somewhere.
    He took some measurements, looked at my I.D.
tag, then started to dig through the lockers and pile equipment on
the counter.
    "Here ya' go. Vac suit, flight gear, survival
gear, ammunition. The guns are locked up in the forward weapon's
locker. Got a fighting knife?"
    "No, why?"
    "You're gonna need one here."
    "What for?"
    "Listen you're new here, and you got a good
position, some of the long timers might resent that. Especially the
security types, they're always looking to take down an officer or
warrant. Now they can't touch a human, that'd be a quick death. But
you're different; they can and will pick on you. Figure you might
be easy meat. Plus some of the places you’ll be taking leave on
aren’t the friendliest in the galaxy."
    "I see," I said my eyes narrowing. "What
exactly happened to the guy I'm replacing?"
    "Take it easy, don't get your ears back. He
got his neck broke in a bar fight."
    "So I heard."
    "Yeah, they don't know who did it, but I'd
place money on it being one of our more illustrious crew mates. He
was a raccoon and a little too smart for his own good. There are
quite a few leopards on board so I think you'll probably get a
little more respect."
    "Thanks, I'll take the knife."
    I checked the balance, spun it around my
fingers a couple of times, to show him I knew how to use it, and
then sheathed it and clipped it on my thigh.
    "Anything else I should know?"
    "Well you're billeted in three forward, F
deck. The equipment costs will be added to your bill."
    "How much?"
    "One hundred twenty three thousand."
    "Ouch, isn't that a little steep?"
    "Not really, the Vac suit's 60 thou, the
survival, com, and flight gear, plus the weapons make up the rest.
It's good equipment though and while I ain't a conscript like most,
I'm not going to shaft my own kind. The humans treat me just the
same as they'll treat you."
    "Oh? How's the Captain?"
    "Not bad, he's a