Her Brother's Keeper - eARC by Mike Kupari Page A

the only two routes we can take?”
    “For all practical purposes,” Morrow said, “yes. We can vary either route through different systems, but none of those variations shortens the transit time. The routes chosen require the least amount of remass.”
    “ Madarchod ,” she cursed. “The red route takes us there by way of Orlov’s Star. I would rather not go through Combine space.”
    “Agreed,” grunted Wolfram. “ Kapitänin, it would be better if we could avoid the Orlov Combine altogether.”
    “Indeed,” the captain agreed. “I think I speak for all of us when I say that none of us want to risk traversing their system. However, the alternate route is much further.”
    “The blue route adds another thousand hours of travel time to our journey,” Astrogator Morrow explained, “assuming no complications. There are a lot of empty systems along the blue route, and it takes us a lot further out of our way. That’s where the frontier was during the Second Interstellar War. There’s not much out there these days.”
    “I…see,” Indira admitted. She was a dark-skinned, dark-haired woman of Indian descent, with a razor-sharp mind and a blunt, upfront demeanor that Catherine found refreshing. “We will need to resupply. The ship was not designed for an unsupported patrol of that duration. We must be cautious.” She didn’t need to say what everyone was thinking. Running out of food, water, or reaction mass and being stranded in a remote star system was most spacers’ worst nightmare.
    “Precisely,” Catherine agreed. “I’ve run the numbers. We can make it on that route. But we’ve got a thin margin of error, thinner than I’m comfortable with, and it assumes successful resupply in places that we don’t have any up to date information on. This is a rescue mission. We’re somewhat pressed for time.”
    Wolfram spoke up again. “With careful planning and execution, we could take the longer route and make up some of the lost time. It would require maximum efficiency in our flight operations. There is more risk, yes, but surely that risk is no greater than going through Orlov’s Star? The Combine is as likely as not to simply confiscate our ship and imprison us all for being spies.”
    Catherine didn’t think it was as dire as that; independent courier ships traversed that system semi-regularly. There was experience behind her first officer’s words, however. The Orlov Combine was a paranoid, xenophobic, total surveillance state. Its militant collectivist government put on a big show about being open to trade, and in fact many independent systems traded with them to get raw materials at low prices. But a single independent ship, with most of its crew hailing from the colonies of the Interstellar Concordiat? It was risky. The Orlov Combine considered the Concordiat the great imperialist oppressor and the reason for all of the suffering and poverty in their own system.
    The Andromeda was a licensed privateer in Concordiat space, but was actually registered out of the small, independent colony of Heinlein. Theoretically, Catherine thought, there shouldn’t be any legal hassles so long as they made sure they did everything correctly (including the paying of bribes).
    Theoretically.
    Wolfram von Spandau frowned at the holotank for a moment before speaking. “Could we not go around Orlov’s Star?” Stepping forward, he tapped the holotank controls rapidly. The red route was altered, going several star systems out of its way to avoid Combine space.
    “That route is technically possible, but logistically not so much. Our route depends on us being able to resupply at Orlov’s Star. There aren’t enough resupply points along that route that would allow us to simply circumvent Combine space. By the time we get close to Orlov’s Star, we’ll need to resupply there or else we will not make it to Zanzibar.”
    “Agreed,” Indira Nair said. She studied the route for a moment, then sighed. “I hope you