The Data Traders

Non-Guild Data Networks

Because most local polities have their own data network, it is common for Guild ships and members to communicate using Non-Guild networks. In all cases, care should be taken to ensure the safety of Guild data. By default, non-Guild network traffic is automatically isolated from the trading systems on all Guild vessels as part of technical standard 453.5.

Excerpted With Permission

Data Trader’s Handbook

Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

“Approaching the e-limit for Raeburn.”

Leo looked over at the main console. He had little to do since there was no longer a trading function on the ship and Ollu was fully capable of running the ship by herself, which she had demonstrated before they had been able to recruit crew. With a relatively full crew, Ollu was in her element. Softly spoken commands were given from her place in the center of the bridge and the crew quickly carried them out. Leo felt a bit lost and out of place.

Ramona must have sensed his mood. “Hey, we’re about to get rich, not attend a funeral.”

Leo laughed, glad to talk to Ramona instead of brooding by himself. “I think this is the first time in my life I don’t have anything to do.”

“Nothing?”

“Nope.”

“Don’t you have to go terrorize your apprentice?”

“Some genius told him we’re not in the guild anymore so he’s not my apprentice.”

“Oh?”

“OH! That’s all you have to say, OH?” Leo gave her a mock glare.

“Hey, I just asked the kid if he wanted to emigrate to Raeburn or stay behind on UI.”

Ollu looked over to Ramona. “Ramona, this is your show. Shouldn’t we call in or something?”

“Oh, trust me, they know we’re here and they’ve already scanned us deep enough to know we’re unarmed.” She turned to Leo. “I put some messages in the queue for the Seekers, once you unlock the interlock they’ll go out.”

Leo looked at Ollu. “Two hours to the e-limit, if the old charts are still right.”

Ollu pointed to another watch stander on the bridge. “Give the repeater crew the go. I want that repeater in a stable orbit just inside the Oort cloud but well outside the e-limit.”

Leo watched the crew work until he got bored. “OK, let’s release the interlocks and grab some lunch. It will be a while, I guess.”

It was closer to three hours before the responses started coming in. “OK, we have permission to orbit the primary and I’ve got a meeting with the head of my order the day after that.”

Leo was very slowly sipping a coffee next to her in Café one. “Head of your order?”

“Yes, his official title is ‘Grand Seeker of Truth’ but we just usually call him ‘Seeker’.”

“And then what?”

“And then we open up a business and start selling the rights to our patent.”

“As simple as that?”

“Well, I’m sure it won’t be that simple. You’re not a Raeburn citizen, so I have no idea if you can even do business here or not.”

Leo nodded. Operating outside the boundaries of the Guild was completely new to him. He had no idea what the legalities for selling IP without the Guild would be. Glancing at the status repeater from the bridge, he noticed that they were continuing to slow relative to the primary planet in the system, Raeburn. It felt completely wrong to bring such a huge ship into orbit a planet, but they literally had no other place to go at this point, so it made sense to bring the Theo closer to the planet, at least until they decided what to do next.

He flipped to another screen on his tablet. “Wanna know the ball scores from UI?”

“What?”

“The feed is working. I’m getting live time streams from UI.”

“IT’S WORKING?!?!” Ramona tore the table out of his hands.

“Yeah, we knew it would, right?”

“…and you chose to download the g-ball scores? What the hell Leo? This transmission will be in the history books someday.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it is the first time data has been transmitted via quantum entanglement. It will be like that guy Bull.”

“Who?”

“The telephone guy. Bull.”

“I think it was Bell.”

“What?”

“Bell. His name was Albert Bell.”

Apparently, Leo’s apprentice had been listening from the next table. “Ah, uh, I think it was Alexander Graham Bell, uh, ah, sir. Uh, I mean Master Trader Timur.”

Leo laughed as he looked over. “You can call me Leo, Wilson. We’re not in the Guild anymore.”

“Oh.”

“OH? That’s all you have to say?”

“Uh, I mean, yes, uh, ah, Leo. Uh, sir.”

Leo just looked at Ramona, who laughed. “We’re going to have to figure out how we want to run things.”

“Yeah.”

But Wilson wasn’t done. “I think my history teacher said his first words were ‘Come Here Watson, I need you.’”

“Well I guess it could be worse than G-ball scores.”

“Call it ‘near instantaneous inter-stellar news feeds’ or something. Sounds better than ‘G-ball scores from yesterday.’”

Naturally Craig had a better idea and thus the term, “Q-Feed” was born.

The invitation to visit the Seeker headquarters came a few hours after they reached stable orbit. Apparently, they maintained quite an operation on the surface with multiple facilities across the globe. Looking down at the planet from a viewport on the boat deck, Leo could see why Ramona had been so attracted to Titsum prime. It still seemed odd to see anything other than deep space outside, but he would have to get used to it. The Theo’s days as a data trader vessel were over, almost before they had really begun.

Ollu had a BR prepped and was giving it a final inspection. Ramona came into the boat dock wearing civilian clothes and, surprisingly, she was armed. Her brown leather pants and matching leather jacket looked amazingly good on her. Leo looked down at his ship suit. “Am I under dressed?”

“Depends on how you want the Seeker to react. Are you a new emigrant to Raeburn or are you a member of the Guild which has been his mortal enemy for most of his life?”

Ollu laughed from where she was finishing the checklist on the BR. “Oh, can we have option two, please?” Ollu seemed completely uninterested in changing out of her ship suit with her silver master ship handler flashes on the collars. She had removed her Guild master insignia within minutes of getting banned and hadn’t mentioned them since.

Leo grimaced and shook his head. “Why not just bring Craig along and possibly start an interstellar war while we’re at it?”

Ollu just laughed again and Ramona tossed him a data chip. “Here, I bought some civvie clothes patterns, pick one out and print it out on the way down.” As she got closer, she handed him a gunbelt with his sidearm holstered. “Just in case.”

“In case what?”

Ramona just looked at him, hands on hips. “OK, OK. You’re in charge of security.”

“Yes, and that includes the guns.”

“Yes, including the guns.”

“Don’t shoot unless I do.”

“Right.”

Leo had forgotten how much he hated atmospheric flight. The BR was a very sturdy ship, but it had not been primarily designed to fly through atmosphere. It could do it, but it was mostly brute force and forcefields that made the landing possible. A smooth ride, it was not. Leo barely got dressed in his new slacks, shoes and brown coat before the turbulence started and he had to strap in. He wasn’t sure about the bright green pants, but Ramona assured him that it was quite fashionable. The soft suede slip on shoes were extremely comfortable, he had to admit, even if he missed his ship boots.

The landing field they were directed to was small. Much smaller than Leo had expected given the size of the nearby city.

“This is a military airfield.” Ramona explained. “Technically, it’s an executive field used by the brass. I’ve never been here.”

Leo followed her down the ramp, only to be nearly blinded by the bright sunlight. Leo hated planets. “Why did they have us land here?”

The unformed man standing at the bottom of the ramp answered. “Security.” He turned to Ramona, “Specialist Eddington, I believe?”

She sketched a brief salute. “Retired, Major.”

“Inactive reserve, I believe.”

She stopped and gave the Major a hard look. “We have a problem, Major?”

He smiled and extended a hand. “Not unless you make one. Welcome home, specialist.”

Ramona still looked suspicious. “Why the star treatment, Major?”

He just laughed. “You’re joking, right? ‘Eddington the Hammer’ returns from her Seeker mission? Oh, and you brought back quantum comms?” He gestured to the fencing a mile away. There seemed to be quite a number of people gathered there. “People still remember that game against Army. Holy shit, I was there and I still don’t believe it.” He looked at Leo and winked. “You lucky bastard, I had to pull rank on two captains and a lieutenant to get this duty.”

Leo looked at Ollu who just mouthed ‘the hammer’ at him and chuckled. Ramona threw her a warning look and turned back to the Major. “Major, I have an appointment to keep.”

“Certainly Specialist Eddington. We have an aircar here, if you will follow me?”

Leo and Ollu followed Ramona and the Major into the very large and sumptuous looking aircar. As soon as the passengers settled in, the vehicle rose with an unexpected burst of speed, surprising Leo. Glancing around, he noticed two very serious looking aircraft pacing them at one hundred meters. Their precise formation making it clear that they were military even if Leo wasn’t familiar with the vehicles or their markings. Looking back to the Major, he noticed that the officer was armed and then he realized that no word had been spoken about his and Ramona’s sidearms.

“Expecting trouble, Major?”

“Oh, no, not at all sir. Just a precaution.”

“Precaution? Against what?”

“An assassination attempt, of course.”

Leo was completely confused. “Why would anyone want to assassinate me?”

The Major just smiled. “Not you, sir.” He pointed at Ramona. “Her.”

Leo was becoming concerned. “I thought Raeburn’s World was safe. Is crime that bad here that we need a military escort?”

The Major looked completely baffled. “Crime? Certainly not. We are a civil society here, sir. A grandmother can walk the streets of Mainport at 2am waving thousand credit notes and would not be harmed. I would bet my life on it.”

“Then why the hell do we need all this firepower?”

“The seekers have enemies, sir. Powerful enemies.”

“WHAT!?”

Ollu made a soothing motion. “Leo, relax. Everything will be fine. The major here and the local polity are just being careful. Nothing to worry about.” She glared at the Major. “Right Major?”

“Oh yes, ma’am. Just being careful. Nothing to worry about.”

The look on Ollu’s face didn’t do much to relax Leo. Looking at Ramona, he realized she had that fixed expression she wore when something bad was about to happen. Not worried, just focused and intent.

Ramona patted his shoulder. “Leo, prophecy is a hard thing to live with. Some people will be angry, or afraid when they learn Q-Feed is real. Most will be happy, but this is a huge event for Raeburn and some will resist.”

“Resist?”

“Relax Leo, these are Guard troops and ships. We can trust them.”

The Major sat up straighter at that. “Yes, sir. You can trust the Guard. I took an oath to protect this system.” He gestured at the flyers out the windows. “All my brothers and sisters in the Guard did. Even if Specialist Eddington here wasn’t one of us, we’d still do our duty.”

Everyone except Leo seemed to accept that answer. Still nervous at the thought that someone wanted to kill Ramona, he looked out at the scenery, trying to distract himself. He had to admit that Raeburn’s World was beautiful. Lush forests spread out to his left and to his right, a large city threw huge skyscrapers into the air. He could see relatively little civilian traffic, but he assumed most of that was underground as was the case in most terrestrial cities. Further away, he could see water sparkling in the distance, he assumed this was the large central ocean he had seen from orbit but he wasn’t sure exactly where he was.

“Is that the central Ocean?”

Ramona looked over, “We call it the Yaguri Sea.”

“Sea? Is that like an Ocean?”

“Yeah, just smaller.”

“Oh.”

Ramona smiled at him. “I don’t advise you use that answer, Timur.”

Leo laughed, glad for the break in the tension he had been feeling. Looking out again, he could see that the aircar was banking, beginning a large turn that would lead them to a small landing pad at the edge of what looked like a large campus. “Is that Seeker HQ?”

Ramona looked down. “Yes, we call it the Temple, but yes.”

Leo could see a relatively large group of armed individuals standing around the landing pad. “Friends of yours?”

“They’re Guard also.”

“Just in case?”

“Yes, just in case.”

As they landed, the Guard troops formed into a loose cordon around the aircar. The two fighters settled into a loose racetrack pattern above them. All the firepower on display just made Leo more nervous. The major seemed unconcerned, however. “This way, please.” He led them off the landing pad and down a short flight of steps and then along a path through a verdant green lawn. Leo supposed this was grass, it looked similar to what he had seen on Svarg, but a much larger area. He had heard about lawns, but hadn’t really seen one before Svarg. The guard troops formed up to either side of the building entrance the major was leading them to. The building its self didn’t really seem that impressive. Only one story tall, it was mostly made from stone or some sort of concrete. It didn’t look that large. As they went through the glass doors, Leo realized that this was just a vestibule, there were large escalators doing down from what he supposed was a lobby. Most of the building must be underground.

The major led them to a large desk that was built into the floor in the middle of the room. Leo looked around and realized there were more armed troops inside, but they were wearing different uniforms. “Who are they?”

Ramona took Leo’s elbow and leaned in to whisper urgently in his ear. “Those are Union Police.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“It could be, the UniPols and the Guard don’t always get along.” She made a quick survey of the room. “I don’t like this, they are wearing body armor and carrying long guns.”

“Is that unusual?”

“Yes, very.” Another quick scan. “If this gets hot, get under that desk and stay there.”

“What?”

“Leo, just follow my lead. We’ll be OK.”

The major, seemingly unconcerned, walked right up to the heavily armed and armored UniPol officer behind the desk. “Major Leonid, Raeburn Guard.”

The man behind the desk didn’t look impressed. “You may go now Major, we will take it from here.”

The major smiled. A tight hard smile that a tiger or a wolf might wear. “Son, I don’t take orders from toy soldiers. Either escort us to the Seeker or stand aside. Either way, we are going in.” Leo noticed that both the major and Ramona had their hands on their sidearms. The major was fiddling with a device on his belt using his left hand.

The UniPol officer seemed unimpressed. “Major, I have an arrest warrant for this Trader lover and the illegal alien troublemakers with her. If you interfere, you will be placed under arrest.”

“Over my dead body.”

The UniPol officer just smiled. “As you wish.” He gestured with his hand and the UniPol officers around the room started to unlimber their weapons.

As he did so, the major screamed “DOWN!!!” and Ramona yanked Leo down to the ground. Pushing him towards the desk, she shouted to him, “GET UNDER THERE!” Ollu was quicker and dove under the massive stone edifice just as the front doors to the building blew inward and a dozen Guard troopers rushed in, guns blazing. The noise was deafening. Crammed under the desk, Leo couldn’t see much, just a narrow slit in front of him but it seemed like the Guard was taking a terrible toll. Leo could count at least six of the Guardsmen down. He peeked out and saw Ramona and the major back to back, firing their handguns with deadly precision. Ramona paused to switch magazines. “Last mag.”

The Major nodded. “Same.”

“We have to get out of here.” She turned to Leo and Ollu. “On the count of three, run like hell for the front door.”

Leo was too stunned to protest. He suddenly realized he was also armed but wasn’t carrying a spare magazine. He drew his weapon and looked at Ollu who simply nodded. Ramona was conversing with the major, basically shouting in his ear, but Leo couldn’t hear her over the cacophony in the room.

“ONE. TWO. THREE!!! GO! GO! GO!” Leo sprang up along with Ollu, pausing only to fire wildly behind him, not expecting to hit anyone, but hoping it might distract their attackers. Ollu was as usual faster on her feet and was a few steps ahead of Leo getting to the door. To his astonishment, they both reached the door unscathed, jumping to one side to avoid the return fire of the UniPols still inside the lobby. Looking around, Leo noticed that the situation wasn’t that much better outside. The fighters were gone, either fled or shot down and there were smoke plumes in the distance. Leo turned to see where Ramona was, only to see her fall halfway to the door.

“Shit! Ramona!” Leo started to move, but Ollu grabbed his arm. “Leo, don’t go back in there!”

Leo was pulling, trying to get away from her grasp. “She’s hurt! Let me go!”

Ollu quickly glanced around the doorframe, only to be rewarded with three shots which barely missed her head. “Leo, those guys aren’t fucking around!” She took another peek to be met with more shots. “FUCK! Give me your gun, I’ll cover you.”

Leo handed her the pistol and took several deep breaths. Looking at Ollu, he nodded. Ollu reached around the doorframe and fired a shot randomly into the room. Leo took that as his cue and dashed back into the lobby. It seemed like he was running through molasses. Everything was taking so incredibly long. Each step seemed to take forever. He could see Ramona on the floor. She wasn’t moving and there was blood under her head. A bullet screamed past his ear and he dived for the floor, skidding to a stop just in front of Ramona. Looking up, a UniPol officer turned his gun to point directly at Leo’s head. Leo froze. Suddenly another shot rang out and the officer was down. “LEO!! GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!!” Leo grabbed Ramona’s hand and dragged her back to the door. Luckily, the smooth stone floor was pretty slippery so it was easy to pull her. Shots were going off all around him. Several Guard members had joined Ollu in the doorway and were maintaining a very high rate of fire. The remaining UniPol officers dove for what cover they could find.

Ollu dropped the gun and reached out to grab Ramona’s other hand. Together, they got her out of the lobby and onto the grass. Quickly Ollu examined her wound. “Looks like a head wound. It’s bleeding pretty good but doesn’t look deep.” Reaching down to the bottom of her shirt, she tore off a strip which she tied around Ramona’s head like a bandanna. It quickly turned red as it soaked up the blood flowing freely from her scalp wound. Ramona remained unresponsive, Leo hoped that she had just been knocked out. “I don’t see any other wounds, let’s get her out of here.”

“Where?”

“Back to the air car.”

One of the Guards grabbed Ollu by the shoulder. “Enemy aircraft overhead. You’d be dead in seconds.”

“Where then?”

He pointed to his left. “Down there, there’s a path into the woods. Two klicks east there is an urgent care facility.”

“Is that safe?”

“Safer than here, sister. Get The Hammer clear, we will cover your back door. MOVE!”

After trying to carry Ramona by holding arms and legs for a hundred meters, they finally decided that it was easier to just use a fireman’s carry one at a time and then alternate. After what Leo estimated was about a kilometer, they were well into a wood that seemed too pretty and well groomed to be natural. It was Leo’s turn to carry Ramona and he staggered to the side of the trail. “I have to rest.”

Ollu glanced around. The sounds of battle had faded over the past ten minutes and there was nobody in sight. “OK, five minutes.”

Leo collapsed on the ground. “What the hell happened back there?”

Ollu was sitting on a stump, panting. “No idea. Someone wants us dead or in custody.”

“Who the hell are the UniPols? I thought the Raeburn Guard was their military.”

Ollu shook her head. “I think that the local polity is called the ‘Inner Union’ or something like that. They must be part of that polity.”

“And the Guard?”

“They’re supposed to cover the whole system. Raeburn had a history of conflict between local Polities and the Guard were originally created to keep the peace between them.”

“Oh, great. So we are trapped between the Guard and the Inner Union?”

“Leo we are INSIDE the Union. This whole planet is part of the Inner Union.”

“Oh great. Just fucking great.” Leo pulled his comm out of his pocket. “This thing still doesn’t work. Can’t link with the local network.”

Ollu nodded. “We’ll have to find or steal a local comm. Get word to Craig.” She looked around. “Let’s get moving.”

Leo groaned but then he sat up and with Ollu’s help got Ramona onto his back again. Halfway there.

After two more turns switching back and forth, they finally came to the edge of the park. The forest ended very abruptly and the path continued on into what looked like a residential neighborhood. Thankfully, there was a sign pointing to the urgent care facility two blocks away. By the time they stumbled into the clinic, Leo was completely numb, only able to place one foot in front of the other. The nurse at the front desk was amazingly calm considering that three people covered in blood had just stumbled into her neat and clean clinic.

“Treatment ONE!” she said, pointing. “Doctor Nichols, treatment one, STAT.” Leo thankfully placed Ramona down on the gurney inside the small room. He and Ollu were filthy and bloody after rolling around on the ground and carrying a still bleeding Ramona on their backs for two kilometers. A very calm but focused doctor came into the room. “Are you two wounded also?”

“No doctor, it’s her blood.”

“OK, get out of here and let me work.” He reached over to the wall mounted unit and placed it carefully over Ramona’s head and upper body. He was so intent on the readouts that he didn’t notice that Leo and Ollu had ignored his order to leave. Muttering to himself as he worked, he continued to adjust the auto-doc. “OK, no brain damage, contusions, blood loss, concussion. She’s stable.” After a full minute, he nodded and turned around, only to find the two still in the room. “Didn’t you hear me? Get the hell out of here, this is a sterile room!”

Leo was so relieved to hear that Ramona wasn’t going to die that he didn’t even register the Doctor’s order. Ollu eased the door closed and pulled out the gun that she had the presence of mind to tuck into her waistband. “Doctor, we just got to this planet two hours ago. Since then, we’ve been shot at and our friend here nearly died. If you don’t mind, we are staying right here.”

“What? Did you call the police?”

“Doctor, the UniPols are the ones who shot her.”

“What did you do? Are you fugitives from justice?”

“No, we just got here. The Guard were escorting us to The Seeker and the UniPols tried to shoot us all. If it wasn’t for the Guard, we’d be dead by now.”

“Wait, the Guard? Is she with the Guard?”

“Used to be. Retired.”

“Oh, Christ. You’re the Traders.”

“What? No, we’re Banned just like you are.”

“But you’re the ones. The Trader agents trying to kill The Seeker.”

“The fuck? No, I’m a seeker.” Ollu pointed at Ramona. “So is she.”

“It’s on the news. The UniPols foiled an attempted assassination at the Temple today. A dozen UniPols were killed and the assassins got away.”

Leo collapsed into a chair. “Doc, you gotta believe us. We’re not assassins. We were bringing the Q-Feed IP to show The Seeker. Why would we want to kill him? Ramona found the damn thing.”

“Found what?”

“Q-Feed. Quantum communications. What the seekers were looking for.”

“Wait, what? Isn’t that a myth?”

Ollu sat down on the floor. “No, it’s real. It works.”

“Holy Shit.”

Despite his exhaustion and frayed nerves, Leo laughed. He felt like he was on the edge of hysteria. If he started laughing, he might not stop. He had to get ahold of himself. “Doc, you gotta help us.”

“Help you? I should call the police is what I should do.”

Ollu smiled. “You a g-ball fan, doc?”

“What?”

“G-ball. Do you follow g-ball?”

“Yes, of course. Mostly the amateur leagues. Guard is having a great year this year.”

“Wanna know the scores for today’s g-ball games in Upsilon Irridini?”

“What?

“I said, do you want to know who won the game today in Upsilon Irridini?”

“How is that possible?”

“Keep up doc, we just told you. Quantum comms.”

“And you used it for g-ball scores?”