Chapter 89: Snart's Homecoming

Captain Snart and the Willowfin left the orbit around Stevens and headed for home port on the world of Trwennk. The spaceport was near the capital city of Muggertwain, and it was also the home of the Pfloran family. It would take them about 7 days to get back to Muggertwain, so there was plenty of time to do a little research. Snart had Sylvia connect him to their version of the world-wide web, but was more of a multi-verse web. First he researched the current conditions on Trwennk, political wise and read some of the news links, to see if he was in any serious trouble, which he wasn’t. By virtue of the FTL radio and Hellslinth communications, the public and the Navy brass knew he was on the way back, and about when he would arrive. Things looked good for a welcome home and not a trial by court martial, so that was good news. Next he checked his bank account and was really surprised by the amount in it. It seemed to be about 10 times what he figured it would be. But then he had not checked his balance in quite a few years. He started thinking back to the last time he had set foot on Trwennk and it had been over 50 years relative¹. If his figuring was right, it was just two months under 52 years relative since he left Trwennk.

¹ = Relative years are the years that have passed on the planet since you left. It may have been 10 years ship-wise since you left a planet, but 52 years could have transpired on the planet, since you left it.

So his account gave him 122 million credits to play with. He then looked at Carmaletta’s account. He knew that she had come from a wealthy family so she should have a bit more than him, he normally wouldn’t even pry, but he wanted some idea of what kind of nest egg they would have when he retired. He opened her account and about fainted. Carmaletta had over 30 billion credits. He looked at her monthly income and saw just over a 120 thousand credits being added to her account monthly, for about the last 6 years. There was nothing on the account prior to that but the account balance at that time was 17 billion, 99.3 million give or take a few thousand. That had to be from some trust fund or estate from one of her relatives. So now to add the 120 thousand plus his retirement pay of 56 thousand a month, plus their bank accounts, they were very rich and they could afford to do anything or go anywhere they wanted, in style. Snart checked his retired pay calculator and found he had been bumped up again and he would be getting about 62 thousand a month, not 56 thousand.

Well this gave him some real food for thought about what to do for retirement. He did a search for luxury yachts with a Hellslinth pilot and another for communications and transporter duties. He found several new yachts in the 120 to 150 million credit range, but they were very large and the smaller ones didn’t suit what he wanted. Then he found it, a dealer that would customize what you wanted for a price. He looked at some of the custom work this dealer had provided other customers, never naming anyone in particular. He saw one similar to what he wanted and downloaded the dealer name and address and printed out copies of the custom work done on this particular ship. This particular design was what he and Carmaletta had discussed they wanted for a ship of their own. But this dealer started with a brand new unit and then tore it all down and rebuilt it to the specifications of the owner.

This could get quite expensive, what with the initial cost, plus the remodel. So just for fun Snart looked for yachts that were less than 10 years old with low clock hours on the engines and hull. He found several that would be acceptable when you added the remodel cost, when he saw a four year old model with very few clock hours and a very low price. He contacted the owner and inquired as to why the low price. He was on a planet they would be close to on their way home. He was being divorced by his shrew of a wife and her lawyer was pushing the sale. No one had given a bid on it because they looked at it and figured something was wrong with it. Snart asked many questions about it and said he could be by to look at it in about 18 hours. If he needed to he would put a deposit on it. The man, an Alterian named Morth, said, “I will take it off the site for 24 hours, but if you don’t show by then, it goes back up.” Snart said he would definitely be there before then. As soon as they signed off, Snart called Lt. Gorgod and said they would be stopping by Alteria for a little while. Gorgod said he would let Helen know and would then let the captain know when arrival would be.

Snart printed the pictures of the yacht and went to find Carmaletta. Once Carmaletta saw the pictures of the yacht, she too was excited. They both knew this was perfect for them. Snart said, “I hear that Bob is quite a designer and if there are changes we need done, we can get Bob to design them and maybe have one of the Alertitian engineers build it for us.

The next sixteen hours just seemed to go by slowly, then Lt. Gorgod said, “We are in orbit Captain, do you wish to be transported to the planet?”

“Yes Lieutenant, Carmaletta and I will be going down. We will be in the transporter room shortly.” They both hurried to the transporter room and gave the coordinates to the ensign on duty. He punched the numbers in and then did a double check to make sure the area was clear and they were gone. Snart and Carmaletta appeared in the living room of a great mansion. There they met Morth in person. He asked if the three of them could be transported to another set of coordinates. Snart gave the order to the ensign and they appeared inside the control room of the yacht.

Morth showed them around the ship and even took Snart to the engine room and mechanical room too. Once back in the control room, Snart asked about the pilot and communications Hellslinth. Morth said, “The pilot is here and my wife has custody of the communications Hellslinth, I don’t know why. I guess she felt that without that I could never sell this and she would get it all. I had until day after tomorrow to sell it or it went to her, free and clear.”

Snart looked at Carmaletta and she nodded slightly. Snart said, “We’ll take it, do you have the papers here or on the planet?”

Morth said, “We can make the transaction simple. My pilot can do it and we can both be free to go where we want.” Snart put his bracelet next to the communications docking station and the pilot/communication/transporter Hellslinth came online saying, “Snart Pfloran, captain of the TWNS Willowfin, how much is to be transferred to Alterian citizen Morth Therwiggen?” in a very monotone male voice.

Snart said back, “I hereby authorize the transfer of the sum of 97 thousand Trwennkleihjof credits to citizen Morth Therwiggen in exchange for all rights and privileges to the space yacht ... what is the registered name of this yacht?”

“This yacht is registered in the name of Sainte Anne of Alteria,” said the monotone voice again.

“Yes in exchange for all right and privileges to the space yacht named Sainte Anne of Alteria,” said Snart.

Morth then put his bracelet on the port and said, “I hereby transfer all rights and privileges to the space yacht named Sainte Anne of Alteria to Captain Snart Pfloran in exchange for 97 thousand credits.”