18 Salas 1117: Tlianke – Tlianke/Hinterworlds -(1104 B664AA9-C M Hi 220 Na M3 V M1 VI)
We tumbled out of Jumpspace at around 1100. Close enough to our projected arrival time to not matter. I was already on the bridge and brought up the shipwide comms.
“Welcome to Tlianke, everyone. As I am sure you just felt, we have exited Jumpspace. As soon as we get in contact with Space Traffic Control and get an approach vector, we will be able to give you an arrival time on-planet. Until then, feel free to continue to use the facilities of the Grayswandir. All crew members, please report to your stations.” I clicked off.
Saahna was crawling under my seat as I did. Apparently, she had been in the crew lounge and had come forward as soon as she felt the transition.
“Jami is heading for Engineering,” she said, climbing into her seat and pulling up her sensor display. “I think Varan is still in his cabin. If Gunnery doesn’t check-in in a few minutes, then I’ll go back there.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Depending on how things are going.”
“What?”
She glanced back in my direction. “Apparently things aren’t going as well for him as he would like.”
“Oh?” Apparently, I was out of the loop again.
“Yeah, it seems…” she paused. “What in the hells is going on here?”
“What?” I saw her looking at the sensor display and pulled it up on my own console. I immediately saw what she was surprised by.
Tlianke is a triple-threat; a high-population, high-technology, high-starport class world. A lot of ships come through systems like that. A lot of ships. But… there were more than a lot of ships in orbit. Both parking and geosynchronous orbits were crowded, and I couldn’t even see the highport on my display because of the number of ships around it. It may not have been the most crowded system I had ever seen, but it was close.
“We are getting a message from STC,” Do’rex said without looking away from his console. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was surprised too.
“Yeah, put them on.” There was a click.
“Grayswandir?” came a tired-sounding voice. “Welcome to Tlianke.” There was a pause. “Grayswandir, we’re showing both Imperial and Hinterworlds Alliance registrations from you; can you explain?”
I was as confused as they were, and Saahna was looking over her shoulder at me. I shrugged and opened our comms.
“Thank you, Tlianke. This is the Free trader Grayswandir. We are of Imperial registry but have a subsidy contract with Boilingbrook. I don’t know what this ‘Hinterworlds Alliance’ is.” I paused, thinking. “Unless that’s what they’re calling their ‘Joint Economic and Defense Initiative’ now.”
There was a several-second pause as our signal made its way to Tlianke and their response came back. Both Do’rex and Saahna were now looking at me, and I shrugged again.
“How long have you been out? Boilingbrook has established something they call the ‘Hinterworlds Alliance.’ Something, I might add, that we have been trying to establish for some time, but which kept being blocked by your Imperium. But now? Boilingbrook thinks that they think they can take advantage of your troubles to make themselves the dominant polity in this sector. We on Tlianke have no intention of ignoring a threat to our sovereignty. So… where does your allegiance lie?”
What had we stepped into this time?. “We’re a Free Trader,” I said without hesitation. “We don’t care who you are or who you are aligned with as long as we have something you want and you have something that someone else wants. So… do you want what we have?”
The pause this time was longer than could be blamed on the lightspeed delay, but we finally got a response. “Very well Grayswandir, sending you an approach vector for Gate Prime. That’s our Highoort. We are not allowing non-allied ships to land on the surface at this time, so you are required to dock there. Shuttle costs are on you. Tlianke out.” the feed cut.
I looked back at Do’rex and Saahna, both of whom were now looking at me. I sighed and shook my head. Never a dull moment.
“Do we have the nav data?”
Saahna glanced and nodded. “Yeah, we’ve got it. Want me to set a course?”
“What else can we do? Take us into the highport. I’ll have to think of a way to spin it to the passengers.”
“Better you than me,” she said, turning back to her console. “Looks like a few hours, but that could vary; there are a lot of ships around the port.”
“Yeah, OK. I’ll let everyone know.” I paused, took a deep breath, and opened the shipwide comms.
“Hello everyone, this is the Captain up on the bridge again. It seems that Tlianke has instituted some new procedures and we will have to dock at their highport. Don’t worry, we will, of course, arrange transportation for all of you to your intended destinations. Please accept our apologies for the delay in your schedules, but we’re at the mercy of Space Traffic Control. All passengers should please start preparations for debarkation. Crewmembers, prepare for arrival.” I cut off.
My internal comms panel almost immediately lit up, but I ignored it. “Saahna? You have a transit estimate yet?”
“Between three and four hours,” She replied, not looking back from her console. “That’s just to get us there. I have no idea how long it will take us actually to get a docking bay.”
“Thanks.” I opened the comms again and relayed the estimate.
—
Tlianke is actually a beautiful world. We were over the dark side, only about a quarter of the planet was in daylight, but the night side showed the lights of the megacities that covered it–fractal patterns of lights extending into darkness–while the lit portion showed the blues, greens, and browns of a Terra-like world.
It’s an instinctual reaction; Terra-like worlds hold a fascination for us. Even after a few thousand years of being a space-faring civilization, the sight of a world that we could naturally live on calls to us. Tlianke looked like “home.”
We had plenty of time to look at it since it took almost a dozen hours before we got docking clearance, most of it spent in orbit with dozens of other ships near the highport. I used the time to contact a couple of shuttle firms and arrange the transshipment of our passengers and cargo. It would make a dent in our profits for this Jump, but there wasn’t much else that I could do. Finally, we got clearance for docking.
Do’rex took us in with deceptive ease. We passed through the iris into our assigned docking port and onto the pad. The external gravity re-established itself as the iris closed and the docking bay re-pressurized, and I switched off our internal gravitics. The station had, obviously, the same gravity as Tlianke, so the transition was barely noticeable.
The schedule I had worked out for the passengers and cargo wasn’t as soon or as convenient as they, or I, would have liked but it was the best I could do. I pinged the passengers to let them know their shuttle times, let the crew know to start disembarkation procedures, and told the ship’s computer to start offloading cargo. Then I climbed down from my seat.
Do’rex was still shutting everything down, but Saahna was already in the lounge. “What a mess,” I said as I entered.
She shook her head. “I doubt we’ve seen the worst of it yet.”
“Yeah… probably right.”
We exited through the cargo bay. The airlock has to cycle open and shut one door at a time, but we could walk straight out through the cargo hatch.
As soon as we went through the iris, the odor struck. That slightly sour and burned organics smell of a life support system that was being pushed too far beyond its limits. I saw Saahna grimace as well, but I immediately had other problems to deal with.
Director Morn was stalking towards me. “Captain Kodai. this is not what we booked passage for! I demand that you take us to our destination on the planet. The one we booked passage for!”
Saahna quickly left as I held up my hands. “Sorry, I’d rather be at a downport too, but Tlianke doesn’t want to let us on-planet right now. Probably because we just came from a ‘Hinterworlds Alliance’ system.”
“A what?” That seemed actually to confuse her.
“Sector politics. As a Free Trader, we try to stay away from those, but sometimes they sneak up on us.” I gave what I hoped was my most disarming shrug. “There is literally nothing else we can do.”
She glared at me. “That is not acceptable!”
“Again, there is nothing I can do. We were given no other option than to dock here. I have booked passage for you and your cargo, at a considerable extra expense I may add, so you will get to your destination. Maybe a bit later than you had intended, but sometimes Travelling works out that way.”
She glared at me. “You will hear about this, Captain!”
“Get in line,” I said, more annoyed than I should have been. I gestured to the trio of Custom’s officials who had entered the bay and were walking towards us. “But I need to take care of our official business at the moment. I hope you have success with your project here on Tlianke, Director.” I deliberately turned my back on her and walked towards the oncoming officials.
As I approached, one of them stepped forward. I noticed that he was wearing a monocular and typing something into a thigh-mounted touchpad. Both of his assistants were similarly equipped. All of them were wearing two-toned jumpsuits with a pattern of wide and narrow stripes on them. His was blue while theirs were a dirty shade of yellow.
“Captain Kodai?” he asked as I came up. “Of the Grayswandir?”
“That’s me,” I said, pulling out my comp. I opened it, then looked around.
“I’ve got it,” he said, tapping on his thigh pad. “Swipe when ready.”
I swiped towards him. He looked into the distance for a moment, reading what was displayed on his monocular. A monocular is a transparent display that sits in front of one of the wearer’s eyes. It’s like the windscreen display on an air-raft or ground vehicle; projecting information into the field of view of the wearer. They’re a bit unpopular in the Imperium since having one is a visible sign that the wearer is looking up information on you, but it isn’t quite as bad as finding out that they have a cyonic implant and is less intrusive than wearing a full set of display goggles. Apparently, they were commonplace here.
As he was looking at the display, I regarded him and his assistants. The jumpsuits they were wearing were of an identical style, distinguished only by their color and the arrangement of the stripes on them. I assumed they meant something but what I had no idea.
“Everything looks to be in order,” he said after a few moments, his gaze focusing on me again. “You have made arrangements for all of your cargo?”
I gestured with my comp. “I’ve sent you everything I have.”
He nodded. “I just have to confirm. Now, we have you scheduled for priority service so you will be cleared for departure in four days. Staying beyond that will incur a penalty.”
“Wait! I didn’t ask for a priority turnaround. I’ve got to arrange for cargo! And passengers!”
“Not my department,” he said as he tapped on his thigh pad. “We have far more ships here than we have docking space for so we’re moving all of you through as fast as we can. Oh, you will also be charged for the priority service.”
“What?”
“If you disapprove, then we can refuse your passengers and cargo, and you can proceed to another system. Otherwise, you will have to accept the necessity of our current situation.”
I tensed for a moment, then sighed. There was nothing else I could do. “OK, fine. Just get my passengers and cargo to where they need to be. That’s all I ask.”
“Of course, Captain.” He tapped something on his thigh pad, and my comp pinged. “You are cleared for entry into Gate Prime. Enjoy your stay, Captain. We will notify you of your departure time as soon as we are able. Please be sure to make that departure slot, or you will be accessed overtime penalties. Thank you for your time.”
He turned and left as his assistants started directing cargo-bots towards the ship. Director Morn was hovering over her container, yelling orders at one of them while Gains was standing beside a large pile of luggage in the middle of the bay. Chelis and Drakson were near the exit from the bay, luggage beside them and looking in my direction. Lorentz was nowhere to be seen. I hadn’t expected to see Doctor Korvusar.
I walked over to where Chelis and Drakson were standing. “Let me again apologize for the delay.”
Chelis waved her hand. “That isn’t a problem, Captain Kodai. In fact, we waited to be able to speak to you one last time before we left. We, both of us, just wanted to let you know that we thought you handled that situation with the Sitama specimen very well while on board. Most crews would have simply shot the thing.”
“I’d… rather not have the reputation of a ship that shoots all of its problems, but thank you.”
“Of course, Captain. I know this isn’t a business trip for us, but I’ll be sure to relay my impressions of you and your crew to my superiors when we get back to Gimisapun. It may not come to anything, but upper management likes to have a list of ships that we feel we can trust.”
I was surprised. “You don’t have to do that but… thank you.”
“No, thank you, Captain. You’ve made the first part of our honeymoon a pleasant experience.”
“Wait… what? You should have told us! We would have done something for you!”
They glanced at each other and both laughed. “Don’t worry, Captain,” said Drakson. “We didn’t mean to keep it a secret but… we didn’t want to make a big deal out of it either.”
I smiled and nodded. “OK, fine. But… accept my congratulations to the two of you, and I hope that you have a wonderful future in front of you.”
“And you as well, Captain.” She glanced at her comp then put her arm around Chelis. “Should we go?”
She nodded and put her arm around her in return. “Of course. And thank you again, Captain.” The two exited the bay.
—
I glanced around. Almost everyone else had left and the cargo unloading seemed to be well underway. The crew and Carma were standing in a knot near the cargo ramp, and I walked over.
“OK,” I said as I came up. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m dead.” I waved my comp. “It’s almost midnight, and I’d just as soon wait until tomorrow to have our landing briefing. Any objections?”
There was a general shaking of heads and agreements, but Jami seemed annoyed. “Hey! I’m picking the place, remember?”
I sighed. “Sure. Whatever. Just pick a place, and we’ll go there tomorrow. Oh, we’ve only got four days; the Tlianke people want us out of here as fast as they can so we’ve got enforced priority turnaround. So get your partying done as fast as possible.”
“What!” Jami was not happy with that statement. “You aren’t wasting a party night! We’ll do this as soon as we can. All of you find a place to stay, I’ll find a place to meet. We’ll do this in an hour or so!”
I groaned but wasn’t in the mood to argue. “Fine, whatever. The rest of you don’t want to deal with it? Just let me know what you want. I’ll ping you with what we decide.” I looked at Jami. “I’ll find a place to stay, drop off my downbag, and meet. Just say where.”
She beamed. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a good one!” She wandered off, looking at her comp.
“What?” Carma almost yelled. “You expect us to stay up even later!”
“All of you are off for the next few days,” I said, sighing myself. “You can sleep late.”
“But I need to talk to Varan!”
“Talk tomorrow,” I said, turning to walk away. “We aren’t going anywhere for a few.”
Do’rex clicked and, waving a tentacle, headed for the exit. I went over to Saahna.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
I raised an eyebrow. “Are we… finding a place together?
She visibly rolled her eyes before responding. “Aren’t we past that? And besides, I’m pretty sure we’re going to be limited as to where we can stay. May as well work together.”
“Fine,” I said. I wasn’t sure if her reaction was a good or a bad thing. “Looks like this place called the ‘ Pilot’s Rest‘ is the best choice. It’s just down the spinward corridor.”
“OK, whatever,” she said, shaking her head. “Let’s just get out of here. I’d like to drop stuff off before going to where ever Jami picks.”
“Right there with you.” I turned control of the Grayswandir over to starport services and picked up my downbag. “Let’s go.”