24 Sina 1117: Kupakii – Tlianke/Hinterworlds (0101 C654352-A S 905 Cs K4 IV M8 D)
Today was our last day here. Thank the gods. I’m not sure I could take this much longer.
The first thing I did was go out and visit the local clothing shops. I had forgotten to get Shelly’s shipsuits and jacket, so I had to go find someone who could do them at the last minute. Once we had the templates the Grayswandir could reproduce them at will, but I had to get an original first.
He finished late in the afternoon. I hoped everything would fit.
I had pinged everyone earlier and told them to meet me at Vikkainisha. It was as good of a place as any, and Gavin had been friendly enough the other day.
I headed there after picking up the new uniform. Gavin waved to me as I entered. It was a bit early, so the place wasn’t too crowded.
“You have any more problems with that Jarishki?” he asked as I sat down, sitting a beer in front of me. “Intolerance, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah. He stopped me again, told me I was an idiot, and that he didn’t want to see me again.” I shrugged. It wasn’t exactly a lie. “Haven’t seen him since.”
He shrugged as well. “Yeah, I wondered. Had security come through asking about him. And you.”
“Me?” I was more surprised than I should have.
“Yeah. And not local security either. The Imperial patrol types.”
“Oh?” I started to feel a bit worried at that.
“Yeah. I guess they got wind of it somehow and wanted to make sure the current local celebrity wasn’t hurt.”
“Local celebrity?” Now I was getting confused as well.
He nodded. “Haven’t been watching the news-nets?”
“No… I usually stick to net dramas.”
“Ah, OK. Anyway, Mayor Moraz and Minister Traton held a press conference yesterday talking about the new alliance. They both mentioned you as being instrumental in getting Traton here safely. Apparently, someone tried to attack him on board, and you saved his life?” He shook his head. “You Free Traders lead a far more interesting life than I expected.”
I felt my stomach tighten a bit. I had been ignoring the local news. Normally I would have been looking at them but… with what was going on and our involvement in it… I really didn’t want to know any more than I already did.
“It’s Trakon,” I said. “And… yeah… Normally I don’t like having my life that interesting.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I bet.”
“So…” I said, looking around and hoping to change the subject. “I’ve got a meeting with my crew here later tonight. Is there a table or something we can grab?”
He gestured around. “Pick anyone you like.”
I nodded. “Yeah, but I’d rather hang up here until a few of them show up. The service is better.”
He smiled. “Got it.” He tapped something on his comm, and a “reserved” holo appeared over a circular booth in the corner. “Will that do?”
I smiled too. “Yeah, that’ll work.”
“And I’ll take care of you too,” he said. “So you won’t have to wait in the line.” He frowned. “Though if we get busy, I may be a bit slow.”
“That’ll work, thanks.” He nodded and went to take care of a new customer. I grabbed my comp and pulled up the local news feed.
He was right. Minister Trakon had told everyone the full story of what had happened, pitching it as an example of how determined the Imperium was in trying to keep the worlds of the Hinterworlds separated. I frowned. I understood why he was doing it; it helped strengthened his pitch for an alliance. But… we would obviously collect some unwanted attention from it too.
I guess I should have looked at his subsidy offer a bit more closely.
On the other hand, if I hadn’t agreed he may not have thrown his support behind us with Commander Winters. It was a tradeoff.
I sighed. I hated getting involved in politics.
I was still scanning through the feeds when someone sat down beside me. I looked over to see Do’rex.
“Good evening, Captain,” he said. “I trust we have had a productive week?”
I nodded. “Yeah, we made out pretty well. How about you?”
He flipped a tentacle. “I am well. The locals here seem to be a bit less accepting of outsiders than many places we have been.”
I shrugged. “We’re on a Main, but they’re still a fairly small population. I suspect most crews never leave the scout base.”
He clicked. “I wasn’t aware that was an option.”
“Yeah… It wasn’t for us. We aren’t exactly their favorite ship to come through.”
He clicked again. “While I was not subjected to the same level of questioning that you and Commander Denan endured, I was able to get some idea as to the magnitude of the situation.” He paused. “I will be happy to be out of here.”
I nodded. “Right there with you.”
Anything more I might have said was cut off when someone came up behind me. “Heya, crewies!” I turned to see Varan, his arm around a woman I didn’t recognize. “So how is everything going with our elite selves?”
I frowned at that. “Well…” I said, finally. “You’re in a good mood.”
“Hells, yeah!” he said. I frowned further. He had obviously been drinking before he got here, which wasn’t typical of him.
“Anyway,” he continued, not noticing my reaction. “This is Carma.” He gestured to the woman next to him.
“So you’re Captain Kodai?” she asked. She was even drunker than Varan. “Varan has been telling me about you!” She turned back to him. “And he doesn’t look a bit like you said! He looks nice!”
Varan frowned, looking from her to me. “Yeah… yeah. He is. Listen… Let’s find a table. I’ll have to do a few things, get ready for the next week, then I’ll come back and see you.”
“Sure!” she said brightly. She turned back to me. “You really need to treat Varan here better. He’s keeping all of you safe, after all!” Anything more she might have said was cut off as Varan took her arm and pulled her away from the bar. I watched to see where they went to sit then turned back to Do’rex. He clicked and twitched his tentacles. I shrugged in return.
“So we’re apparently local celebrities here,” I said, just to take a break from the encounter.
“So I understand,” he replied. “I will admit to being concerned over how Scout Commander Winters will react to this.”
I shook my head. “She won’t do anything. So the locals are on our side at the moment. If she takes any action against us, things will rapidly go against her. From what I can tell the locals haven’t been particularly happy about the Imperial control here and were quite happy to accept Boilingbrook as their ‘liberators.'” I shrugged. “They may change their minds next week, but we’ll be long gone by then. Until then… she’s stuck with being as nice to us as possible.”
He clicked. “I agree. Fortunately, we will be leaving soon.”
“Tomorrow,” I said nodding. “I just wish we could have picked up a few more passengers.”
“Of course. But, with Boilingbrook now subsidizing us, that is certainly less important than before.”
“Yeah, sure. We’ve got that going for us, at least.”
Gavin came over and took Do’rex’ order, then went back to the bar. I noticed that business was starting to pick up. I waved to Gavin as he came back with Do’rex’ drink. “We’re going to head over to the table. And bring me another and some tama leaves when you get a chance.”
“Sure thing,” he nodded. “Just wave when you need something.”
“Will do.” I stood up and went over to where Varan and Carma were sitting. “We’re over there,” I said, gesturing towards the table. “Drop over when you can.”
He frowned but nodded. “Yeah… sure. I’ll be there in a bit.” He turned his attention back to Carma while Do’rex and I went on over to the table.
We had only been there a few minutes when Gavin dropped off my beer and the tama leaves. Do’rex asked for co’toki, a Vegan mix of roasted vegetables, and after a few seconds, Gavin nodded and tapped something on his comp. He had barely left when Jami and Shelly arrived.
“Heya, crewies!” Jami said, dropping into the booth and sliding around. Shelly gave a slight wave and sat down next to her.
“Welcome!” I said, nodding. “Hope everyone had a good week.” I reached under the table and pulled out the package. “These are yours.” I handed them across the table to Shelly.
She seemed surprised but pleased. “Oh, thank you, Derek! Captain.” She looked in the bag and pulled out the jacket. “Now I feel like I’m really part of the crew!” She immediately pulled it on and adjusted the thermals, then sighed. “Gods, it’s so cold here.”
“Well, we’re hitting vacuum tomorrow so we won’t have to worry about that much longer. So… did anything interesting happen this week?”
Jami shook her head. “Nope. Well… nothing you need to worry about anyway.” She smiled. “Let’s just say that Shelly had the room to herself after all.”
I smiled slightly. “Well, I’m glad you had a good week.”
“I’m sure you had one too, with you being the local hero and all.”
“What? No!”
She laughed. “You didn’t see the news? We’re famous. ‘Free Trader crew defeats assassins, saves foreign ambassador!'”
I grimaced. “Yeah, well… that kind of attention isn’t always the best.”
She shrugged. “Maybe not for the Scouts running the place, but the locals? They were very happy. And, let’s say, very appreciative.”
I sighed. “Not here in Home. You must have gone somewhere else. Here? They all work for the Scout Base, apparently, and don’t want anything to do with us. Anyway… I pretty much kept to myself this week. Thought I would keep out of trouble for once. Our last stop gave me enough excitement for some time.”
She shook her head. “Captain, what is wrong with you! I’ve only been here a few weeks, but I already know you better than that!”
I raised my hands. “Hey, sometimes you have to take it easy, you know?”
She made a blowing sound. “Yeah, sure.”
She was interrupted from anything more when Gavin returned with Do’rex’ order. Jami and Shelly put their orders in and, just as he was about to leave, Varan slid in beside Shelly and ordered a drink himself.
“No food?” asked Gavin.
He shook his head. “Maybe later.” He nodded towards the table where Carma was still sitting. “Can you see if she needs anything as well?”
Gavin frowned slightly and looked at me. I shrugged, and he nodded and headed for her table.
“Do you want to invite her over here?” I asked.
Varan looked a bit surprised but shook his head. “No. I’m guessing we won’t take too long?”
I shook my head. “Shouldn’t, unless you have something.”
“No, don’t think so. So… anything?” He looked like he was about to stand up again.
“Yeah, a few things. Though I’d kinda like to wait until Saahna gets here.”
“Um… she may still be out of town,” said Shelly, sounding a bit unsure of herself.
“Oh?”
She hesitated. “Well… she and I went with a couple of the locals down to a place called Highpoint. It’s a mountain retreat somewhere south of here. They kept buying us drinks and the like and I… well… it was nice having people being really friendly to me and all.” She flashed a quick, embarrassed smile. “Anyway, we could have stayed, but I wanted to be back here, where the ship was, and so came back. She… stayed down there.”
I felt that usual twinge but just smiled. “Yeah, that sounds like Saahna. She’ll be fine. But… she usually is on time for these.”
The rest of the food arrived, and we spent the next few minutes eating and small talk. An X-Boat had come through with the latest news download, but nothing seemed to have changed in the Imperial situation, beyond a few more people calling it a civil war instead of a rebellion. Given the distances involved, it would be months before we knew if anything significant had happened.
I was about to start going over the schedule for our lift when Saahna appeared, looking slightly out of breath and carrying her downbag. She saw us and came over, stuffing the bag under the table as she sat down next to me.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “The subshuttle here was delayed. They’re running ‘increased security checks’ because of the current ‘unsettled situation.'”
I frowned. “Any problems?”
She shook her head. “I’ll have to get my gauss back from security before we leave tomorrow. That’s it.”
She didn’t sound wholly settled. “That’s it?”
She looked at me, levelly. “Yes. That’s it.”
I held her gaze for a few moments then shrugged. “OK then.” I turned back to the table. “So we’re off to Gimisapun tomorrow. Usual drill. At the ship around 0800, cargo and passengers at 1000, plan to lift between 12 and 1400. If we can hit vacuum by 1400, we should be able to hit Jumpspace by 2000. And good riddance.”
Jami laughed. “You really didn’t have a good stop here, did you?”
“You weren’t the one who had to talk to Commander Winters,” I said, a bit more angrily than I intended. “Not everyone here is quite as happy with us as the locals are.”
“And not all of them are either,” said Saahna, her own anger showing. “I ran into a few.”
“Oh?” I said, turning to her. “I thought you said ‘that was all.'”
She gave me a glare. “That was all you need to worry about,” she said with obvious, artificial pleasantness.
I held the look a bit. “OK. Fine. Just… let me know if you need anything.”
“There’s nothing you need to worry about,” she repeated.
“OK. Just… let me know.”
She looked away and busied herself with the menu. I looked around the table. “Anyone have anything else?”
“Passengers?” asked Varan. “I mean… since it’s Shelly’s first jump as Steward.”
“Only 4,” I said. “Two middles, two highs. Plus Dr. Korvusar, of course, but I’m not sure she really counts anymore.”
Jami frowned. “Do we really want to keep her with us?”
I sighed. “Like I keep saying, she’s a guaranteed High Passage every Jump. And…” I paused. How much did I want to reveal? “And I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that much longer anyway.”
“Oh?” That was from Saahna, suddenly interested again. She frowned. “What happened this time?”
I shook my head. “Nothing like that. Remember that guy we tried to meet the other day? Somebody Green?”
“Yeah,” said Shelly. “That Elijah Green guy. Did you ever find him?”
“Not exactly. He found me.”
“Oh? What happened? What did he say?”
“That we were all idiots.” I laughed. “Seriously. Apparently, he was some kind of secret contact here, but our going to see him while Commander Winters was watching us messed all that up. We are seriously not welcome in their little spy group anymore.”
“Oh…” She seemed almost disappointed. “Yeah, well… I guess that makes sense.”
Varan laughed. “We’d make horrible spies anyway.”
I nodded. “Yeah, probably.”
“That’s it?” Saahna asked. “Just that we’re idiots?”
“Pretty much. And to forget that we ever had anything to do with them. And we shouldn’t expect them to have anything to do with us again.”
She thought a moment. “OK. I guess. We’ve got too much attention on us after what happened. Here anyway. Everyone will be watching us for a while.”
“So,” I said, wanting to get off the subject. “At least we won’t have to worry about that anymore. Anyone have anything else?”
No one seemed to, so I waved to Gavin. “Well, see everyone on board tomorrow.”
Varan almost immediately jumped out of his seat and headed back to the table with Carma. Saahna nodded, gave me an unexpected kiss on the cheek, then stood up and left without another word.
Jami was hurrying Shelly out of the booth. Shelly was getting frustrated while trying to get out of the way.
“In a hurry?”
Jami laughed. “Hey, I don’t normally find locals in this good of a mood with me. I’m not going to waste my last night here.”
“Well, have fun then. Just remember, on-board at 0800. And sober enough to get the drives spinning up.”
She waved a dismissive hand over her shoulder. “Yeah, yeah. Got it. Later Captain. Shelly. Do’rex.” She quickly followed Saahna out of the room.
Shelly looked around a bit disoriented. I gestured back at her seat.
“Stick around, unless you have somewhere to go as well.”
“No. I mean, yes I…” She hesitated, then sat back down.
“Something wrong?”
She shook her head. “No, not really.” She smiled. “This is all still… really new to me.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I guess life as a Traveller does take a bit of getting used to. Get anything done for your show?”
She flushed and looked down. “No. I… Well, I tried to do some recordings but… I didn’t know what to say! What to do! There’s so much but… what can I tell anyone?”
“Whatever you want. Everything that happened is pretty much public record now. Just tell them that.”
She frowned. “Is that… is that OK?”
I shrugged. “We aren’t trying to be secretive here. Well, not too secretive.” I smiled tightly at that. “You should be able to tell by now what is safe to talk about. Just go for it.”
She thought a moment, then smiled. “OK, sure. Thanks, Derek.” She stood up again. “I’ll go back to the room and do an update. I’ll queue it for the next upload.”
“Fine,” I said, standing up myself. “But you don’t want to go join the parties with the others?”
She shook her head. “I’m… not exactly the party type.”
I shrugged. “That works too.” I turned. “How about you?”
Do’rex was exiting the booth behind me. “I believe I shall return to my room and get ready for lift tomorrow. Unless you need anything else from me?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Go get some rest. You’ll be doing most of the work tomorrow anyway.”
He flipped a tentacle at me as he headed for the exit. I started walking towards the bar then glanced back to see Shelly still standing by the table, looking around.
“Something wrong?”
She shook her head and smiled. “No, no I’m fine… I’m just…” The smile faded, and she looked around.
I gestured towards the bar. “I’m here a bit longer if you aren’t quite ready to head up to the room yet.”
“Oh, OK.” She seemed to think a moment then followed me over. I sat down, and Gavin came over, beer ready.
“Have I been here that much?” I asked.
He laughed. “Nope, I just keep track of my customers.” He turned to where Shelly was trying to fit the uniform bag under the barstool. “What about you? Same as your friend here?”
“What? Oh! No. No, he’s… He’s our captain.”
“Oh?” he smiled. “So you’re from the Gray Swan too?”
“Well, yeah.” She gave a slight smile. “Kinda. Yes. Well, I just started. This will be my first real Jump with them.”
“Ah, got it? And you are?”
“I’m… I’m Shelly. Shelly Tharis.” Suddenly she was Therry again and stuck out her hand. “Good to meet you…”
“Gavin,” he said, taking her hand. Gavin Hars.” He turned back to me. “Sure you don’t have a Steward position open?”
I winced slightly. “Um… Shelly is our Steward. She joined us on Boilingbrook.”
He laughed. “Well, how about that!” He turned back to her. “I was just telling your captain here that I was wanting to move on but don’t have the credits for a passage. He suggested signing on as a Steward, then shut me down when I volunteered.” He looked at her for a long moment. “I can see why!”
She laughed at that and leaned forward a bit. “Well… I hope our passengers feel the same way. Maybe they won’t notice when I serve them the wrong wine.”
I felt an inexplicable twinge of jealousy at that, having been on the other end of that smile myself. “Oh, don’t worry,” I said, mainly to remind them that I was still there. “I’m sure Dr. Korvusar will complain about the wine anyway.”
Gavin frowned slightly, but Shelly laughed. “Yeah, she probably will.”
I shrugged. “Hopefully we won’t have to deal with robotic assassins this time, so things should go a bit more smoothly.”
She laughed. “Yeah, hopefully.” She looked down at the bag she had finally settled into place then back at me. “These things don’t have armor in them, do they?”
I shook my head. “No, we don’t have that sort of thing happen quite often enough.” She laughed.
Gavin was shaking his head. “Robot assassins? I missed that part.”
She laughed. “Yeah, they aren’t advertising that on the newsnet.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “It was an Imperial robot assassin!”
He glanced at me. “Yeah, I kinda got that impression.”
She smiled. “Good thing I’m not an Imperial,” she said, glancing back towards me.
He laughed, looking towards me as well. “Yeah, who needs them?”
“Really!”
I sighed. “I’m not Imperial either, but I know when I’m not wanted.” I drained the rest of my beer and stood up. “On-board by 1000, OK?”
Shelly laughed. “I’ll be there, Captain!”
I nodded. “Good.” I left, feeling somehow jealous even though I had no reason to be. I went back to my room and started packing.