Captain Stone said to the Simian who hadn’t offered his name, “You will sit with me. Tell your minions to stand aside against the wall. Would you like a refreshment?”
The Simian who wanted to be addressed as “Adjuster” slowly advanced and sat. The lizards moved to the wall opposite of where Kat and Lila stood.
When he didn’t respond, Captain Stone glanced at Lila. “Please bring me a tall glass of iced tea. Lots of sugar.”
She turned her attention back to the Simian Adjuster. “I’ll do the talking for the moment. There is no set percentage for salvage, as you know. There are rare cases where it has been as high as forty percent of the value of the vessel.”
“And as low as two percent,” the Simian growled.
“Agreed. My staff has researched the value of the Dreamer, as set by your company, so we now only have to agree on a percentage. See? We’re already finding mutual ground.”
“You are holding me hostage.”
“As you were willing to do to me, earlier. I’m certain your company and any legal enforcement agency will understand my counter-threats. Now, back to bargaining, I assume you are not going to offer forty percent.”
“Three.”
“Please be reasonable. We are not only returning the ship but believe we have prevented the passengers from filing multiple lawsuits.”
“Five.”
She had hoped for as much as seven or eight percent, but even five would buy her a nice ship to use for her exploration. However, the Adjuster had gotten under her skin. She shook her head. “Besides the lawsuits, there is the matter of taking command and bringing the ship to a neutral port. My services do not come cheap. Delivering it to any of a hundred different ship habitats where they would repurpose the ship with a new name and crew would have brought me ten times that amount.”
The Adjuster scowled.
She added, “There is also the issue of a member of your crew murdering the Captain. We prevented a long, embarrassing trial. That is worth something. And you would be buying our silence in the matter. We were also threatened by the murderer and since we, meaning my crewmen, were passengers on your ship at that time, we are entitled to the same options of filing suit. If you consider the number of us, and threats to our lives you did not prevent, I think a fair settlement might be twenty percent.”
“It would take years to settle a suit of that magnitude.”
“I own a starship outright and keep substantial bank accounts on several worlds, as I’m sure you are already aware of. I have the means to hire quality lawyers and wait for the settlement.”
The Adjuster muttered, “Eight.”
“Fifteen.”
“Ten.”
“Done.” She extended her hand to seal the deal for twice what she had wanted.
The Simian eventually extended his hand slightly. She took it and traditionally shook hands. Captain Stone seethed at the attitude and disrespect and said, “Bert, did you record the agreement?”
A single ping.
She said, “Good. Encrypt it, store it, and submit it to both the legal department of Heshmat and have a copy sent by subspace radio to the parent firm, at their cost, of course.”
A single ping responded.
The Simian Adjuster snarled, “Now, return us to Heshmat Habitat.”
“Bert, ask Fang to do as he asked. You may have to plead or threaten him but try your best to convince him to do as I want.”
The Simian stood and turned away without speaking. He reached to open the door.
Captain Stone still sat on one of the tall stools, a frown on her face, anger rising. She said, “Oh, Adjuster, one more thing.”
“I have no wish to speak further with you.”
“Okay, I understand. But come and find me if you wish to negotiate for the cargo.”
He spun on her. “The cargo is part of the ship.”
Bert interrupted before she could answer, “No, it is classed as an extraneous value under the interstellar salvage laws. A ship might carry a cargo of little value or one of immense value, so it is considered a separate salvage fee beyond that of the vessel.”
Captain Stone had been going to settle for five percent, an enormous sum. The deal they struck was for twice that. Because of the disrespect, the Adjuster had shown, she smiled and said sweetly, “I would have believed you would know that. Bert had recorded our salvage agreement and it is legally binding, as you know.”
From his expression, he had known about the cargo, too. He had intended to ignore it, thinking she didn’t know the salvage laws. He was now trapped by his inaction. The contract to salvage the ship was a separate issue.
The ten percent he had agreed upon was the maximum she had hoped for, including the cargo. She would have agreed to five for both at the inception of the talk. Now, she wanted blood.
“Two percent.”
She stood and stalked the two steps between them, barely holding her anger in check. “You came aboard and immediately attempted to intimidate me and bully me into accepting a lowball offer. You then tried to make me accept a ridiculous offer for no other reason that you believe you could.”
“Two percent is a lot of money,” he said.
She said, “Bert, I believe the cargo contains a threat to this ship. As captain of a vessel under power, I must protect the ship. Send every crewman we have to the cargo deck and get them into atmosphere suits. If the Adjuster does not agree to ten percent of the cargo value, open the cargo doors, and shove every container out. I will not be compromised nor change my order to protect all of us from what may be in those containers.”
A single ping sounded like a gunshot. “All crew have been notified.”
The Adjustor stood his
