Nor would Consops refuse to pay. Salvage law was clear. Whoever performed
the salvage was not required to turn the ship back to its owners until
the fee had been paid.
And there was another angle. The cruisers would tow the Connie into
the Federation spaceport in New Mexico. If past experience was any
indication, the Connie would lose about half its crew, perhaps more.
They would claim sanctuary in the Federation.
Rip shook hands solemnly with the grinning Scotchman. It would be a long
time before Consops tried piracy again.
"We'll be back at our family fight again tomorrow," MacFife said, "but
today we celebrate together. Ah, lad, this is pure joy to me. I've had
a score to settle with yon Connies for years. Now I've done it."
He put an arm around Rip's shoulders. "While I'm in a givin' mood, which
is not the way of us Scots, is there anything ye'd like?"
Rip could think of only one thing. "A hot shower. For me and my men. And
will you take the prisoners off our hands?"
"Yes to both. Anything else?"
"We'll need some rocket fuel. Terra says we have to correct course. Also,
we'll need a nuclear charge to throw us into a braking ellipse. And we
need a new landing boat. The sun baked the equipment out of ours.
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