19 Isten 1117: Fugitak – Adar/Hinterworlds (0602 C5A027A-5 Lo Ni De A 125 Na F2V M3D)
Varan didn’t get come back to the room last night, so I assume he patched things up with his local friend.
I almost didn’t see Saahna. She was in the common room and watching something on her comp when I passed through.
“Anything interesting?” I asked, gesturing towards her comp.
“Oh, hi Captain,” she said, shutting it as I sat down. “Just checking up on the latest news. An X-Boat came through last night and dropped a download.”
“Anything interesting? Or anything that affects us?”
“Not really. Empress Margaret has activated the reserve fleets in the Old Expanses, but that’s about it.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“I’m actually surprised she didn’t do it earlier. The Solomani may think they can try something while we’re distracted by the assassination, so she’s wanting to make sure they know that we’re ready for them.”
“Galactic politics as usual.”
“Yeah. In some ways, it makes me glad we’re away from there for a while.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Can’t hurt.”
“So how’s the wheeling-and-dealing going?”
I shrugged. “Not bad. Got a line on some raw minerals; not the best profit margin but any is better than none. And some art pieces, of course. That’s all they seem to produce here.”
“Yeah, this is not going to be one of my favorite places that we’ve been to.”
I paused, then smiled. “You told Varan that you and I are back together again?”
She looked away. “It was the nicest way I could think of to tell him I wasn’t interested.”
“As long as it isn’t a problem.”
“No, I don’t think it will be. He’s never tried to cross the line. I think he just thought with you out of the picture he would see how things were.” She shrugged. “They weren’t.”
Something in her tone struck me. She was being a bit too hesitant in her speech. “So… am I out of the picture?”
She smiled slightly but continued to look away. “Maybe. We’ll see how it goes. But… don’t get any ideas anytime soon.”
“I’ll be good.”
Her smile widened slightly. “There’s no fun in that.”
“OK, I’ll be fun instead of good.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry, we’re good.”
“No problem.”
I leaned forward, turning the conversation back to business again. “I suspect that we’ll have less than a full passenger complement this time around.”
“You should have expected that. There are only around 30 people here.”
“Here specifically, yeah. But there’s a few thousand on the planet.”
“The UWP shows a lot less than that!”
“They’ve got a lot of ‘temporary workers’ here.” I shrugged. “None of my business.”
“I wish Survey would do a better job on their ‘census’ numbers.” She paused, lost in thought for a moment. “Back when I was with the unit we landed on more than one planet where we expected light resistance, only to find they had a few thousand ‘temporary mercenaries’ that no one had bothered to count.”
“Well, in this case, let’s hope it translates to a few extra passengers hoping to get the hell out of here.”
“Don’t say that too loud. They have penalties for that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it falls under their ‘spreading dissension’ laws. Which reminds me. We… may have a few more fines on our tab.”
Now what? “What happened?”
“I’m not sure. I just got tagged on it.”
“OK, we’ll figure it all out when we get ready to leave.”
“Sorry, Captain.”
“Who would know? Don’t worry about it.”
“Heya crewies!” I looked up. Jami was there, her arm around the woman I had seen her with the other night. “Everyone having fun?”
I waved my hands. “Hey, all of you get time off when we’re at downport. Some of us have to make all the deals that keep us flying while we’re here.”
“Yeah, and you get the week off on-board.”
“OK, then you get to do the Nav plot next time.”
“Hey, I’m just watching what you do.” She turned to Saahna to share the joke, but Saahna just looked at her levelly. Jami’s smile faded.
“So how are things going for you?” I asked.
“Great!” She gestured to the woman with her. “This is Amada. She’s one of their computer techs. Keeps all the starport beacons and everything running.” Amada smiled weakly and gave a slight wave in our direction. “She’s been showing me around. I never thought about how complex it was to keep a settlement active on a planet like this!”
“Yeah. It’s easier when you have breathable air outside.”
“Yeah, but I never thought about that. And thanks, Captain!”
“For what?”
“Captain Barikus was big on us not interacting with the locals when we landed. Glad you aren’t like that!”
She had no idea. “Yeah, it helps when you’re carrying legal cargo.”
She frowned as Amada looked sharply at her. “Oh, we didn’t do that much smuggling. Well, not too much.” She smiled. “But that’s behind us now, right!” She pulled Amada a bit closer.
“Well, anyway, just passing through. Later!” She and Amada left, heading towards the landing pads.
I looked back at Saahna. “What was that all about?”
“It’s a tiny settlement. We’re all going to run into each other if we go anywhere.”
“I guess.”
“Anyway, maybe you’re right. Some of these ‘temporary’ workers may want to leave. We might pick some of them up.”
“I hope so. We aren’t making a lot on cargo this time around.”
“Thought about putting the low-berths back in?”
Hells no. “No, even here we’ll make more on the cargo space than the low passages. And we’d have to hire a Medic then.”
“You could hire Dr. Korvusar.” She smiled at that.
“Hey, we definitely make more from her as a passenger. Let’s not get carried away here.”
She nodded, then stood up. “I guess you’re right; you were way more involved in the financial side of things than I ever want to be.” She gestured towards the exit. “I’m going to grab a nap, then see if they have a firing range or something around here. Or I’ll go outside and shoot at some rocks. Need to get some practice in.”
“Have fun.”
“You could use some range time yourself.”
I held up my comp. “I’ve got to finish negotiating their regulation labyrinth here to see what I can pick up. I’ll make it up. Sometime.”
“You won’t. See you later.” With a final wave, she left.
I gave a vague wave back then went back to my comp. It really looked like the only thing I was going to be able to pick up were those raw minerals. I hoped someone would respond to our passenger offer. Eventually, I gave up and headed back to my room.