7 Salas 1117: Gimisapun – Tlianke/Hinterworlds (1103 A000000-B Lo Ni As Ba 603 Na M0 V M2 D)
By the time we got up, we were only an hour or so out from Gimisapun. I went up to the bridge and started setting up our approach to give Kona more room in the cabin. I had just received confirmation from STC when she came out and dropped into the co-pilot’s seat.
“This is gonna be great!” she said, rubbing her hands and glancing at her console. She stared intently for a few seconds, then smiled broadly. “I knew Risan would come through!”
“Who’s Risan?”
“What? Oh!” She gave me a sheepish smile. “He’s a… friend of mine. He’s a mechanic and engineer. A good one. I told him about the Flatland, and he’s agreed to sign on with me. He knows a few people too. We’ll get the Flatland up and flying in no time.”
I nodded. “Good. Sounds like this paid off for you.”
She nodded in return. “Yeah, and for you as well. So… what are our drugs worth?”
I frowned. “They’re legal pharmaceuticals, not drugs.”
She waved her hands. “Yeah, yeah…”
I pulled up my research on my comp. “Looks like I can get about 600 kCreds for each ton either here or there, so I’m going to go ahead and sell them. That lets me pick up more for Tlianke.
“So… we even?”
I hesitated. “You said you would introduce me to an info broker?”
She nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll set that up for you.” She hesitated. “So… you aren’t expecting something more?”
I shook my head. “What do you mean?”
“You aren’t upset about Risan and me?”
I frowned. “I’m leaving in three days anyway. I certainly wasn’t expecting anything beyond that.”
She hesitated. “And… tonight?”
I shrugged. “That’s up to you.”
She looked away. “I… I just thought…”
“Thought what?”
She kept looking away. “I thought you… never mind.”
I frowned. “I told you, I wasn’t expecting anything long-term.” I let out a short laugh. “Actually, I wasn’t expecting anything.”
“Oh?” She turned to me, anger flushing on her face. “So… I’m not your type?”
I leaned back in surprise. “I’m not sure I have a ‘type.’ And I didn’t know we had anything besides a short-term arrangement.”
“Yeah, but…” she trailed off. “I guess… I guess I’m not used to someone paying attention to me who didn’t just expect something in return.”
I wasn’t sure what she was trying to say, but I shrugged. “Hey, I’ll never turn down the chance to spend time with a competent woman.”
“Competent?”
I shrugged again. “Being attractive doesn’t hurt.”
She frowned. “I just thought that you… maybe…”
“Maybe what?”
She sighed. “That maybe I wasn’t just another random person on another planet.”
“Hey!” I said, feeling as if I had been insulted. “I don’t get involved with ‘random persons.’ If I wasn’t interested, then you would know it.”
She looked away again. “How interested?”
“Interested enough that I’m trying to help you salvage a starship?”
“You’re getting something out of that too.”
“Yeah, I am.” I paused. “So what are your plans once we get back to the starport?”
She shrugged. “Go to the admin office to make sure my claim is filed correctly. Then start tracking down some people to work on the ship.”
“I’ll… see what I can pull up myself.” I paused. “I’m staying at the Chrysalis. Drop by when you’re done. If I’m not in my room, I’ll be in the bar.” I flicked my data over to her.
She glanced in my direction and smiled. “Got it. I’ll also set up a meeting with my info broker. I’ll bring that with me.”
“Sounds good.” I looked back at my console and made a slight correction. “We’re on-course. Should be down in about twenty minutes.”
“Great!” she said, standing up. “I’ll go get my stuff together.”
It was only about 15 minutes before I was maneuvering into a docking bay. I didn’t land as cleanly as Do’rex had, but I managed to get down without slamming into anything. Well, not hard enough to damage the duralloy anyway. I had just gotten landing confirmation when Kona arrived back from the cabin.
“We’re down?”
“Just landed,” I replied. “External pressure should be good in a minute or two. So…” I stood up and went to her, putting my arms around her. “You’re coming by tonight, right?”
She smiled and kissed me. “Absolutely.”
I smiled back and stepped away. “Great. See you then.” I heard a ping from the console and gestured towards the airlock. “After you.”
The airlock was only big enough for one of us at a time, and she was out of the bay by the time I got through. I took my bag and headed for the rental office to return the boat, arranging for the cargo to be transferred to the Grayswandir. I then went back to my room at the hotel.
I checked my comms and didn’t see anything that needed immediate attention. Saahna hadn’t said anything about those passengers I had sent her, but I really couldn’t expect her to spend her downtime doing ship’s work either. I did take an overly-long shower; the fresher on the boat had been a bit lacking, then headed down to the bar.
There I ordered the local beer and some tama leaves and started looking through my comms and the local news more closely. The alliance with Boilingbrook had been officially announced, but most of the local population had seemed to pay no attention to it. Even system-level politics were more than they wanted to be involved with, apparently.
I saw that the pharmaceuticals had been transferred to the Grayswandir and pinged an acknowledgment. I then checked the local cargo boards. Nothing looked reasonable, so I opened our few remaining tons of cargo to the freight shippers.
I had just finished that when Kona dropped onto the stool next to me. “Everything good?” she asked, nodding towards my comm.
“Yep,” I said, closing it and dropping it into my vest pocket. “How about you?”
“Great!” she said, unable to hide her enthusiasm. “The salvage is mine, and a crew from Valaran Shipyards is heading over there in two days. They’ll seal the breaches in the hull and fuel tank and fly it back here. After that? I’ll get it fixed and start running my own ship.”
I smiled and stuck out my hand. “Congratulations, Captain!”
She seemed unexpectedly surprised by that. “Yeah. I guess I am a captain now.”
I nodded. “Yes. You are.”
Her expression had changed completely, looking around. “Yeah! I’m a Captain. I have a ship!” She jumped up from her seat and gave me an enthusiastic hug and kiss. “Thank you!”
I tried to sound nonchalant. “Hey, you found it. And I got a cargo out of it.”
She smiled and leaned against me. “Yeah, but you helped me.” Her voice softened. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
I returned her hug. “Glad I could help.”
“Great!” she said, stepping back again. “And I’ll make sure you have a last few good days here.”
“Looking forward to it.” I paused. “So… did you get up with your information broker?”
She nodded. “Yeah, go by around 1000 tomorrow morning.” She glanced in my direction and my comp pinged. “There’s the address.”
“Thanks. This person got a name?”
She winced. “Well, he… they’re not a person. They’re a Hiver.”
I winced at that. “Oh?”
She looked at me. “You have something against Hivers?”
I shook my head. “As sophonts, customers, or passengers? No. As someone that I’m going to be sharing private information with?” I hesitated. “At least I know that they know what they’re doing.”
She frowned. “They wouldn’t be in business here if they weren’t trustworthy. And you know that the Hivers know their shit.”
I sighed and nodded at that. “Yeah, if anything is going on then they almost certainly know about it.” I sighed again. “OK, sure. I’ll talk to them. What’s their name?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. They give a different name to everyone they work with.”
“Of course they do.”
She smiled. “Yeah. Though I’m not so sure what good it does them; there are only so many Hivers on Gimisapun.”
“Yeah.”
“So!” she said, jumping up. “Let’s get going!”
I frowned. “Going where?”
She grabbed my arm, pulling me from the stool. “I’ve got a couple of places I want to show you. Places you’d never find on your own. Let’s go!”