Terran Catalyst: Terran Catalyst, #1

By D.H. Aire

Henry Blue is a Spacer. His family facing financial ruin, he takes a desperate gamble and steals the family's the oldest and recently retrofitted freighter, the Charlie B., making a final run with a crew that no one else would want… to a restricted planet, Earth.

Meanwhile on Earth, a tragedy starts an investigation, which will take a Terran Catalyst to both save a starship freight company and solve a mystery that might bring to a distant world that which it needs most… hope.

Welcome to the first book in a new series, Terran Catalyst, by D.H. Aire, author of the Highmage’s Plight Series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: D.H. Aire
• Release date: Aug 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516357192

Book preview

The Terran Catalyst

Book 1

D.H. Aire

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Your non-refundable purchase allows you to one legal copy of this work for your own personal use. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload, or for a fee.

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination based on documented history, or used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 D.H. Aire

Cover design by Aleksandra Klepacka

Second Printing

Works by D.H. Aire

Highmage’s Plight

Merchants and Mages

Human Mage

Highmage

Well Armed Brides

Prophecies’ Pawns

Paradox Lost

Hand of the Highmage Series

For Whom the Bell Trolls

Of Elves and Unicorns

Goldilocks and the Three Dwarves (forthcoming)

Dare2Believe Series

Dare 2 Believe

Double Dare

Triple Dare (forthcoming)

Terran Catalyst Series

The Terran Catalyst

Plymouth and the Rock

Rock and a Hard Place (forthcoming)

Crossroads of Sin and Other Stories

Want D.H. to email you when he publishes a new book or when one goes on sale? Go to dhr2believe.net and sign-up for his new releases notification list. Those are the only times he’ll contact you. No spam.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

About the Author

Dedication

To Sarah

Acknowledgements

I would like to gratefully acknowledge copyeditor, Karen MacLeod, for assistance in offering editorial advice on this book. As ever, I also wish to thank my family for all their support.

Chapter 1

She’s still too far out for us to scan accurately, his friend said over his comm screen link from the orbiting station.

Shaking his head, Henry fought despair.

Buoy Nine is relaying her damage report... Simon hurriedly added, We’ve a guard cruiser in the area. It’s at their disposal. I’m so sorry, Henry.

Nodding, Henry severed the connection. It was a relief not to hear Simon say another word as he fought back tears. His hands trembled as he tried to tell himself that things were not as bad as they sounded.

The news was bad, especially with his family so dependent on that ship’s cargo. The Company was their life, had been for generations. Right now, the Fontana was vitally important to their gambit to save the Company. He pounded his fists against his chair’s arms, How bad is it? he cried, not even knowing if any of his family members or crew, who were like family, were hurt or even if any of the cargo was still intact. Even if the cargo arrived unscathed, the point of having beaten their creditors would be moot should any of what family he had left have died on that ship.

The console screen in front of him flashed with the data being relayed from the Station scan of the Fontana’s damage.

He read: ‘Main cargo section blown. Ship otherwise secure.’ Henry groaned. Blue Company had been prosperous for more than a thousand years. After all those centuries, it suffered a series of misfortunes, which were bankrupting them. The first catastrophe had occurred almost thirty years before, when the Company’s primary freighter, Northstar, had collided with a meteor just out of hyperspace. All hands were lost; more than a dozen of them close family members, a Spacer’s nightmare. The loss of each crewmember had been a dear one; especially, in the close-knit community of Blue Company.

Over the next few decades, they faced more setbacks. The old freighter, Forlorn, needed almost constant repair, earning the Company little money as the port bills mounted. Blue Company’s oldest ship, the one they had started the Company with so long ago, began showing its age. It entered the refitting docks, where small repairs became major ones, and systems checks began to find stress damage. Her main engines and power plants were thoroughly gone over. Special parts were made in the Company shops to complete a suddenly major refit of a positively ancient ship.

The ship was finally ready for an off-planet run only awaiting a crew to take her out. That crew was inbound with its ship’s main cargo bay blown open to vacuum. Its cargo and crew would have headed back out in less than a day, keeping their costs to a minimum. The profits of this venture would, at least, have bought the Company more time.

It might have really worked, Henry thought, sighing. He could forget his father’s grand scheme. What more could they do? Alone, with just Fontana, they had convinced themselves that they could save the Company, but even that gamble had failed months before. This double gambit had been their last great hope. Time had just about run out.

Before this last desperate run, Fontana had been on a seven star trading venture, which had intersected several star sectors. They couldn’t lose, or so they’d thought. It was impossible, yet everywhere the Fontana went there was no trade to be found. Port officials, after much cajoling, finally offered ridiculously low prices, while most wanted nothing to do with the Fontana at all. No one needed medical supplies, technical components, foodstuffs from distant worlds, or any of the luxury items the ship carried within her holds.

Dejectedly, the Fontana returned home months ahead of schedule, having earned little money, nothing in trade, the worst indignity of all, they’d paid the highest docking fees on record. For more than a week his father had been unapproachable. His crew had quit as soon as they had set foot on station, and jinx rumors had abounded ever since.

They had had no choice but to conclude that there was a spy in their midst; someone in their company selling them out. The port officials at every station the Fontana had visited had to have been bribed long before their arrival.

The facts pointed to it; there could be no other explanation.

Without further preamble his father had outlined the plan that held out their last hope. The Old Man chose his crew carefully; although, few but those most loyal to his father had any wish to crew his jinxed ship. The Fontana had time for only one trip, and this time only the Old Man knew where his ship was bound.

Henry banged his fists on his desk, angry. It had been a good plan. Blue Company was more than a business; it was a way of life. Now Fontana was returning with a blown hold.

The computer screen flashed a station relayed Fontana message. He stared then cried out in grief as the words ‘Captain Grant Blue: deceased,’ engraved themselves across his mind. His father was dead.

#

Harriet Blue Whitney wearily took a seat opposite her nephew. She was the Fontana’s executive officer and hurriedly boarded a planet-bound shuttle minutes after the Fontana docked with the station. Harriet was silver-haired and a year younger than Henry’s father.

He tried not to think about the fact that she was the last of her three siblings with Grant Blue dead. They met in his twentieth floor office at Blue Company House, which held company owned offices and apartments. In its day, it had been the tallest structure in Alpha, the largest and oldest metropolis on Centauri.

They bore a strong family resemblance, marked by the unmistakable hazel eyes of Spacer kin. Gazing at her nephew, she noted the rims of his eyes marred with his anguish. She knew his pain all too well. Her husband had died in the Northstar disaster. For her, Grant’s death was merely another burden upon her soul. For Henry, his entire world had just collapsed.

She hesitated, knowing her words would not make his grief any easier, You know it was sabotage?

His eyes filled with anger. Of course! he exclaimed. When I heard the only damage was to the cargo bay, what else was I to think? His voice broke as he asked, What happened?

Grant grew uneasy before our jump from Eldorado.

Tears filled Henry’s eyes as he heard ‘Eldorado.’ His father had chosen a rich world, beating his murderers in a little way. They’d not guess the Fontana would jump so far with so little time. Henry had no doubt the goods in the blown bay would have brought the profit the Company desperately needed.

Fifteen minutes before our jump, he said something about going to check the cargo one last time. I thought he was overreacting... As his aunt continued Henry could almost see his father, as he never would again in life.

Uneasy, Grant had gone to check the holds one last time, discovering the cargomaster’s body. He tracked the saboteur into the main cargo bay and shot the traitor with the energy pistol he had never gone anywhere without on a station liberty. He called Harriet on the bridge and aborted the jump only moments before its scheduled entry into hyperspace.

He gambled that the explosives would be triggered by the jump...

But it wasn’t, Henry said, while another part of him whispered, He saved the ship.

If Fontana had been in hyperspace when the explosion occurred, it could easily have been destroyed or lost without anyone ever knowing her fate. The Company would have gone bankrupt waiting for a ship that would likely never return.

With that in mind Henry rose, leaving without another word.

As the door closed behind him he could not fail to hear his aunt say, You can still save the Company, Henry. There’s still barely time.

#

The train shot down the southern track from the heart of the city into the Brooklyn subsector, one of four districts, which studded Alpha. Brooklyn was the site of the landing of the first colony ship, later becoming a burgeoning colonial port as starships came to the familiar stretch of land that grew into a budding metropolis of urban and commercial life.

Thoughts of Mainport drew at Henry. It lay thirty kilometers to the east, and was no longer as active as it had been with Centauri Station in the sky. The old starport had a pull upon his spacing heritage. His grief became poignant, knowing that his family’s spacing days were ending.

Through the train’s windows he looked out at the dimly lit dirty streets and buildings of the sector. It had not even taken a century for the area to become so run down once the star station drew much of the business away. Now the area was a slum, many of the area’s traditions lost to memory chips; however, out of the midst of all that was decrepit here, renovation was being done. Commerce was returning.

Brooklyn was getting a second chance, and for one reason, Spacers lived and worked here.

The train slowed. Its polished gleaming sides at odds with the filth and grime of the station it entered. The doors opened as it stopped, allowing the few passengers to disembark, from the almost vacant cars. Henry moved steadily down the stairs to the exit as a burly man brushed past him, in a hurry to be off the late night streets, fearing the denizens of the slum.

He barely felt the ungentle shove or even noted his surroundings. Outside the exit doors, he blinked in surprise at finding himself on the dimly lit street. A vehicle sped past, blaring its horn as he moved to cross. He stared a moment then with an uncaring shrug walked up the avenue.

He did not walk that street alone at this late hour. All were nondescript, staying clear of the brighter lights, seeking to cloak themselves in the shadows. One with nefarious intent smiled thinly as he watched Henry’s progress. He began to dog his steps until the dim yellowish streetlights reflected off Henry’s eyes as he unconsciously glanced back. The thief shuddered seeing hazel eyes — Spacer eyes.

Fearing for his life in these Spacer-ruled streets, the thief turned aside seeking safer prey.

Henry barely noticed the man, who one moment stood before him then in the next was scurrying away, muttering a curse. It had not dawned on him to worry. This was a Spacer place. Brooklyn was home, and had been since man’s coming to this speck of light. Being a Spacer place, did in some ways keep crime down. Spacers were the law, and their justice could be harsh.

Property values around the various spacer enclaves were at a premium, and not altogether because of the renovation.  Even in the subsector’s darkest days, Spacers walked relatively free of the outrages that the other dwellers of the area habitually faced as a matter of course. Cultivating a Spacer’s friendship made life in this part of town bearable. Such a lifestyle earned the Spacers great respect and offered advantages.

There was enough a Spacer could lose in space without having to fight for survival in an atmosphere’s envelope. That thought drew other uncomfortable thoughts with it as Henry turned right onto an untrafficked avenue.

The buildings all around him were electronically as well as physically guarded. Already monitors were following his progress. The owners took no chances, metal grates sealed the lower floors and should anyone make it within, death was a certainty.

A few aircars flew overhead, moving in the direction he was going. He looked up as he walked and saw a sky full of beautiful stars, each calling, yearningly, to his soul.

Agonizing, he paused, shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. Steady once more, he marched morosely on. A squat five-story building lay before him. An aircar landed upon its rooftop, which brought a smile to his lips.

Few people, outside of Spacers from all across the far reaches of human habitation, knew that structure for the haven it was. Cardissi’s was possibly the oldest casino and restaurant in the colonies. For a select few, hotel accommodations could be arranged, or even far less legal accommodations, which were rare and few. This was a Spacer place on par with no other Henry had ever heard of. This famed institution was Henry’s subconscious goal for the eve, his sanctuary against despair.

He entered by the ground floor entrance, receiving a frown from the guard, who was unused to having a recognized customer enter through the back door, where far more beggared patrons usually sought egress. The guard stepped aside, opening the inner door for him with a muted, Good evening.

Once inside, he left his cloak with a startled attendant, who muttered in astonishment at his grimness, Mister Blue.

With a nod of vague recognition, he went up the stairs to the restaurant. Henry paused at the top of the steps a bit bemused by the noise and bright lights, then noticed the half dozen men glancing at him from the bar.

At a returned look from him, they nodded in respectful silence, bringing home to him anew, that he was now head of Blue Company and due their respect. He blinked at the deference that had always before been his father’s due, and his father before him, and so on through the centuries. Henry swallowed hoping none would call him, Old Man Blue, a title he was not ready to bear.

The realization left him melancholy as he walked toward the dark empty line of booths across from the bar, which bordered the main dining room. Taking a seat within the shadow of a booth, he was effectively hidden from the establishment’s other patrons. They might even call me the Old Man after the Company goes under.

Sir? muttered the barmaid who appeared. What’ll you have?

He responded automatically, My usual, never turning his head, practically praying for the drink would arrive soon. Glaring down at him, she asked exasperatedly, And just what would that be, mister?

With a shake of his head, he tried to force his mind to function again, while the question echoed through his thoughts. The fog that gripped him began to lift, making him truly note his surrounding and bitterly realize that the barmaid really did not know who he was. The fame of the heir to Blue Company had already sunk that low, he thought wryly. How ironic this day’s final injustice!

He’ll have the Terran Scotch, Suzy, said a newcomer hastily sliding across the seat opposite him.

The barmaid stared in surprise then swallowed and replied, Yes, sir, Mr. Cardissi, and practically fled.

I didn’t realize you were so hard up, Max. She can’t be more than sixteen.

They grow up fast in some parts of town, Max commented with a smile, but you do agree she’s pretty enough.

Henry’s slight grin was the best that Max Cardissi could hope to see before he said, "I heard about the Fontana and the Old Man."

Just so my creditors haven’t yet. I figure in two days it’ll be all over. Henry closed his eyes tightly then through gritted teeth stated, It was definitely sabotage this time.

Trying to give his friend some hope, Max replied, At least with the crew back...

Not even that, my friend. They resigned as soon as they docked. Shoulders slumped in defeat, Henry said sadly, "Without the Old Man to