19 Salas 1117: Tlianke – Tlianke/Hinterworlds – (1104 B664AA9-C M Hi 220 Na M3 V M1 VI)
It was less than an hour later before Saahna and I found our way back to the common area. Well, a common area. There were multiples scattered across the highport. This one happened to be near the starport, in the area where most ships’ crews would be staying.
It was crowded. Very crowded. A few locals were around, easily recognized by their monoculars and jumpsuits. Finally, I saw the crew–and Carma–standing in a knot near a far entrance with Jami at the center. I wandered over.
“Everything is full!” Jami was looking at her comp, frustration evident in her voice. “Hells, how many people do they have up here?”
“Too many,” I said as I arrived. “It’s a mess. Don’t worry, I’ll let you have another planet. But for here? Do we have anywhere that can fit all of us?”
She frowned. “Yeah? Maybe? But… it’s a bit more expensive and a bit more high social than where we usually hang out.”
“Just get us a table. We’ve got things we need to talk about. With everyone.”
She hesitated, then tapped her comp. “OK, it’s a place called the ‘Eye of the Storm.’ I have no idea. But there’s a dress code. Don’t show up in just your jumpsuit, though I think our ship’s jackets should get us in.”
“Fine. We’ll meet there.”
“0200. Sorry, but that’s the earliest I can get a table for.”
“Well, we’ll just have to sleep in tomorrow. We’re on a frustratingly tight schedule, so we have to get this done now. It looks like we’re departing on the 22nd.”
“What?” That was from Varan.
“Not my decision and I already warned you about that; it was either take an accelerated departure time or leave immediately. And I didn’t want to have to deal with Director Morn if we didn’t drop her off here. So… we’ll meet there.” I turned to look directly at Carma. “You need to be there too.”
She glanced between Varan and me. “Oh? You suddenly want to know what I think?”
“I try to make sure that everyone on my ship is happy,” I said, as evenly as I could. “Crew and passengers. So, I would like for you to show up for the meeting. If you don’t want to, I’m sure Varan will relay to you what we discuss.”
She glanced from to me to him; I wasn’t sure who she was the angriest at.
Finally, she responded. “OK, fine. I’ll show up with Varan.”
“OK, then!” I said, trying to be as upbeat as I could. “See everyone at this Eye place in an hour. Or we just head over there now and see if there is space at their bar. Anyone have anything else?”
No one did, so we headed as a group for the Eye of the Storm. It took us longer than it should have–the entire station was packed with a mass of people–but eventually, we got there.
None of us had bothered to go back to our rooms, so we were all in a mix of ship’s uniforms, jumpsuits, and street clothes. There was a human bouncer at the door who looked us up and down while shaking her head, but she allowed us to go in. It was evident that we were a ship’s crew, and even here being a Traveller carried a certain amount of prestige.
Inside it was somehow even more crowded, even at this time of night–not that day or night really mattered on a highport–but we made our way to the bar. All of us managed to find a place to squeeze in. We did wind up separated, but I found myself with Saahna and Shelly.
“So many people!” Shelly was saying, looking around. “I had thought we were crowded on Boilingbrook, but this…”
I shook my head. “This is an unusual thing. They have a lot of ships coming through here, and most of them usually hit the downports. Who wants to pay shuttle fares after all? But they’ve changed their regulations, probably because of the mess we helped start by taking Minister Trakon to Kupakii, and now they’re forcing everyone who isn’t allied with them to dock up here. And it would be really difficult for us to claim we have nothing to do with this ‘Hinterworlds Alliance’ given that we are literally being paid by them. So… there isn’t much I could do.”
I had expected her to be angry, but she just shrugged. “Hey, I voted for Minister Trakon. If he thinks this alliance is the best for Boilingbrook and the sector? Then I have to assume he’s right.”
I started to say something but didn’t. She was from Boilingbrook and was still thinking as if she was part of that system. You start becoming a Traveller when you realized that you didn’t belong to a single system–or even to a subsector or sector–because the entire galaxy was out there waiting for you! There was nothing special about any one system, beyond it just being another place you might stop. She was learning but hadn’t made that final leap yet. I was confident that she would.
“Politics isn’t our thing,” I said, deciding not to say anything else. “But it’s certainly biting us this time around.”
A bot, running on a track above the bar, came around and asked us for our orders. I found out that the local pale was called a Counterspin and I ordered one for Saahna and me. Shelly just ordered a Taradam. It wasn’t really intoxicating, but it did boost your senses. I avoided it because it kept me awake.
We had gotten our drinks and had barely enough time to look around when a waitbot floated over and announced our table was ready. We followed it to a large, circular table in the middle of the room. Do’rex was already there.
“What is it that is so important it cannot wait, Captain?” he asked as we sat down. His voice held no emotion, as usual, but I could tell from the way his tentacles were raised that he was tense.
“We’re about to change things officially, and I wanted all of you to know first,” I said, glancing around. I saw the rest of the crew arriving from the far side of the bar and waited until they were seated. A waitbot appeared and took our orders, then departed. Once it was gone, I glanced around once more then turned back to the table.
“OK, we’re changing things,” I said without preamble.
I saw various expressions of annoyance or confusion, but Varan was the one who spoke. “Changing… what?”
“We’re no longer a passenger ship. You saw where that got us this Jump. We don’t need them anymore. We make far more than enough credits to keep us flying without them, and we don’t need their disruptions during Jump. So let’s drop them.”
“What!” Carma stood up. “If this is your way to get rid of me!”
I was far too tired to deal with anything and so gestured sharply towards her seat. “Sit down. I’m not dumping anyone who is with us.”
She glanced between Varan and me, then sat back down. She still wasn’t happy.
“OK, we’re losing a minor source of income but relieving a significant source of stress. We really don’t need to be dealing with anyone while we’re in Jump. That’s time for all of us to relax.
“Hey, I’m, working during Jump!” said Jami with some irritation. “Someone has to keep the Jump Drive functioning!”
“I’ve got an Engineering cert as well,” I said, shaking my head. “Maybe not as good as yours, but good enough that I know that the Jump Drive does everything it needs to do on the tumble and doesn’t do anything after that.” I sighed and paused as I rubbed my eyes. “Sorry, I’m up way too late and have too much on my mind right now. Forget I said that.”
“I will,” she said, voice tight and indicating that she wouldn’t.
“Anyway,” I said, trying to brush past the awkwardness. “We aren’t advertising for passengers here. Someone approaches us? OK, I’ll talk to them. But we aren’t taking anyone random anymore. Look at it this way… we’ll have enough cabins that everyone can have a high-passage suite to themselves. Enjoy it.”
Everyone glanced at each other. Shelly finally spoke. “What about… what about me?”
I waved a hand; I wasn’t even thinking that way. “I’ll switch you over to being our ‘Liaison Officer’ or something. Just keep posting your net-vids. We’ll call it marketing. As I said, I’m not kicking anyone off.”
“What about Doctor Korvusar?” Saahna asked with more tension in her voice than I would have expected.
“She’s helped us in the past. I don’t know what would have happened back on Kupakii if she hadn’t been there. As long as she is willing to support us, then she is welcome to stay.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“She isn’t part of the crew. And she won’t be a passenger anymore. We’ll call her the ship’s doctor on working passage for a while.”
“So what happens in three months?” Varan asked. He seemed as dubious as Saahna.
“Well, we’ll worry about that then. So, for now, does anyone have any actual objections to not being a passenger ship anymore?”
Everyone glanced at each other. I could tell most of them were unhappy for one reason or another, but no one said anything.
“OK then,” I said. “Moving on to our next Jump; we’re heading to Girar next. They’re a Tlianke client, so we’ll probably get the same reception there that we did here. Unfortunately, the only other system in that direction we can reach is Khumukunar, and it’s pretty much a jump-over; no government, no laws, barely any population, and nothing worth trading for anyway. So… we’re kinda stuck with Girar. From there we’ll jump on to Gashuumi. They’re another Tlianke client, so we’ll keep with their ‘hospitality’ as long as we can.
From there we’ll go on to Mupikaa, Drosyodryu, and Ariden. That gets us into the core of the sector.
Saahna had been looking at her own comp. “A couple of Ambers on that route.”
“Girar is that way because it has a lot of debris in orbit from a relatively recent collision between two moons. It’s actually classified as a ‘puzzle world’ because the light reflections from the ice shards in orbit make walking around outside confusing. Not to mention the fact that random rocks will occasionally fall on you from orbit. I guess we’ll see what it is like when we get there. As for Drosyodryu, it isn’t unified; there are multiple governments that you might have to interact with, including a Droyne colony. We’ll figure out which one to land at when we get closer and have a bit more up-to-date data.”
“There isn’t a better route?”
“Best I could find. We could Jump to Durne, but they’re Ral Rantan and who knows if they are any happier with this ‘Hinterworlds Alliance’ than everyone here is. And even then we’d have to double back in this direction again. Not much else we can do.”
“Why not Arghikii?”
“Because that takes us back the way we just came from! Look, I’m trying to keep us out of politics. We all know the Imperium is having problems right now. So… let’s put some distance between them and us.”
“And if their problems extend out here?” Saahna frowned.
“The Imperium won’t give up anything. Hells, we’ve apparently got Margaret as Empress out here. Her husband is a Merchant Prince. He isn’t about to surrender any of his trade zones. We’re fine.”
She was frowning. “I hope so.”
Varan shrugged in apparent agreement. I wasn’t sure that everyone else at the table was as convinced, but no one said anything.
“Well, that’s it then. Again, we’re on a tight schedule here so the pre-lift meeting will be on the 21st. See everyone then. In the meantime, have fun.”
Immediately Carma stood up and glared at Varan. He looked around, saw her, and then slowly stood up himself. He waved in our direction as they left.
“He’s having some problems…” Saahna said, not looking after them.
“I can tell.” I shrugged. “Not a ship’s problem.”
“It might be. She’s not a Traveller. She doesn’t want to keep jumping from system to system. She wants to find a system to settle in, and she wants to have someone to settle in with. Right now? That’s Varan.”
“He’s been a Traveller long enough to know how that works. He can handle it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, he’ll be fine.”
“I hope so.”
“If she wants to keep Travelling with us? Fine. If not? I’m sure she can find any number of ships to take her where ever she wants to go.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“What do you mean?”
She shook her head. “Listen… I know all of you. We’ve been together for what? Six years or more? I’ve not seen Varan this interested in anyone in all that time.” She hesitated. “Like you and Kona?”
“What? Hey!”
She shook her head. “Must have been something in the atmospherics back there.”
“And Gimisapun is ‘back there.’ We’re all moving forward. OK?” I was surprised at her reaction.
She shrugged in dismissal. “I’m just worried about Varan.”
“Oh?”
She paused and glanced around. “Sorry. I think I’m speaking out of turn.”
“It’s OK,” I said, wondering what had set her off. “I trust Varan. If something is going on, he’ll let us know.”
“OK. Sure.”
“We’re fine. So… does anyone have anything else? Because otherwise I just want to go somewhere and fall asleep.”
No one did, so I waved the waitbot over, paid our tab, and then Saahna and I left.
—
“I wish I were as confident as you,” she said when we were back ‘outside.’
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t think things in the Imperium are as stable as you do. Look, I’m a Marine. I know what they trained us for. What is going on now is way beyond anything they ever even thought might happen.”
“Yeah, they never thought someone would be as stupid as Dulinor.” I sighed. “Look, Dulinor will become one with the ionosphere on whatever planet they find him on. Lucan will come back to Capitol expecting glory and the Moot will tell him he’s an idiot. They’ll pick a new Emperor, well Empress since they’ve already picked Margaret, and then things will go back to normal. That’s it. We’ve had civil wars before. This is just the latest one.”
“And if you’re wrong?”
“What? Galactic civilization collapses? Good thing we have a ship that works and people who know how to keep it jumping.” I shook my head. “We’ll be fine.”
“A few weeks ago you were saying nothing would be happening at all.”
“So some people in the Imperium are a bit more invested in themselves than I thought. Whatever. They won’t destroy civilization just to better themselves. People like us, out here in the periphery? We’ll be fine.”
“I hope so.”
“The Imperium will always protect its trade.” Gods know how many times I had said that lately. “No matter what else is going on, that will always be absolute.”
“And what if the Imperium can’t?” She stopped. I had taken a few more steps before I realized that she wasn’t beside me and turned back to look at her.
“What?”
“What if it can’t? Or… won’t.”
“What are you talking about?”
She grabbed my arm and started walking forward again. “Let’s… get back to our room.”
—-
We actually didn’t talk anymore when we got back. We both just collapsed into the bunk and fell asleep almost immediately. I couldn’t even tell you which of us got there first.
I finally woke up as she was getting ready to head out. She just said that she ‘just had to be out for a while’ but quickly assured me that she would be back later. I waved goodbye as I headed for the fresher.
The rest of the day was consumed with me getting our cargo set up for sale. Everything was on-planet, so I was paying an extra 100 credits a ton just to shuttle it down, but there was nothing else I could do.
Sometime during the day, Jami pinged all of us saying that she had found a “fun spot” for us to meet. I wasn’t totally sure that I really wanted to go to a place that she thought was ‘fun’–I think I had a different definition of that word than she did–but I agreed. I had told her she could pick a place after all.
I was setting up the last of my bids for outbound cargoes when Saahna returned to the room. She seemed surprised to see me there.
“You’ve been in here all day?”
I sighed and gestured to my comp. “Trades aren’t happening on their own. But they’re all on the planet, and I’m having to cover the shuttle expenses. Plus… we apparently aren’t a ‘preferred trader’ here, so I’m getting more than a few outright refusals. They won’t even try to deal.”
“I thought you said that trade wouldn’t be affected?”
I sighed and shrugged. “OK, I wasn’t thinking that any system would want to cut themselves off completely. They’ll realize pretty quickly that isolating themselves will only hurt them. The next time we come through here? They’ll welcome us.”
She shook her head. “You know, I think you’re being too optimistic.”
“What do you mean?”
“Listen…” She paused, thinking, then came over and stood next to me. “I love you. I really do, no matter what you seem to think. But… you are so frustratingly naive sometimes!”
“Hey!”
“Look, I know how you feel about your father.” She held up a hand when she saw I was about to react. “I get it. I really do. He tried to do the right thing for the people on your planet and… it didn’t go well.”
“You do not get to talk about my father!” I stood up angrily. “Maybe you personally had nothing to do with it, but it was your Imperial Marines who killed him!”
I could see her fight down a moment of anger on her own. “I’m just saying that… maybe you took the wrong lesson from what happened.”
“What?”
“Listen. Again, I know you have a reason to dislike the Imperium. And it’s a good reason! I get it and understand. Hells, I fought and risked my life for them and even then I didn’t agree with them all the time. The Imperium protects trade because that’s what the Imperium is! They don’t rule planets; they rule trade. And that is what has held 11 thousand worlds and 30 trillion sophonts together for over a millennium; they all knew that they could depend on every other world in the Imperium to provide for them what they couldn’t and that the Imperium would back them up when needed. That’s why we’ve pretty much had peace for all those centuries. Yeah, the Solomani have to satisfy their egos and fight over a couple of planets every century or so, and the Zhodani like to invade the Spinward Marches every now and then–I think just so their own nobility can claim actual military experience–but we haven’t had a major war in centuries.”
I was still angry. “Yeah? Trust me, I know the history. And the socioeconomics. Personally.”
“Like I said. I get it. Really. Listen, Derek… I get it. But… this is different.”
“What do you mean?”
She paused, thinking about what she wanted to say. “We trained for a lot of things back in the Marines. Invasions. Insurrections. ‘Uncooperative Worlds.’ Whatever. We even had plans in place for if a sector Duke, or even a domain Archduke, decided to overstep themselves.”
“But this is beyond that. If Dulinor had just declared the Domain of Illesh independent, then there was a plan in place to take care of him. If Lucan had just seized the Iridium Throne after his brother died–under what are pretty obviously ‘suspicious circumstances’–then there was a plan in place to take care of him. If the Moot had just declared a random Archduchess to be Empress instead of only following precedent, then there were plans for that. But what we’re dealing with now? This is way beyond what anyone had even expected.”
I shook my head. “Like I said last night. This morning. Whatever. I’ve been keeping up with Imperial politics. It kinda impacts us, even out here. Lucan will vaporize Dulinor; even the entire Domain of Illesh fleet can’t stand against the entire Imperium. Lucan will come home triumphant, the people will rejoice, the Moot will re-accede power to him–in order to get their own power back if nothing else–Margaret will be demoted back to Archduchess and will either accept it or have an Imperial fleet with recent combat experience come after her, and she won’t be that stupid. We’ll be back to normal in a year or so.”
And, like I said this morning, I wish I could be as optimistic as you.”
“Then what do you think will happen.”
“Dulinor would never have done what he did if he didn’t think he had support. There has been a lot of talk about how the Imperium needed to do more for the worlds it controls, even before Dulinor started his crusade. Strephon took the standard Imperial line that the Imperium didn’t control worlds. Which, frankly, is really impossible to do given how Jump travel works. You can’t control something that is literally years away. That’s why we have Archdukes, Dukes, and everything else down to Counts like your father.”
I was really irritated and wished she would just get to whatever point she was trying to make. “Yeah, yeah. I get it. I understand how the Imperium works. I was part of it… remember? Because you keep trying to remind me!”
She winced and closed her eyes for a moment. “Sorry.” She sighed and, almost under her breath, said, “I’ve been practicing this…”
She took another deep breath and looked at me again. “What I am trying to say is that this is different. We missed something. People aren’t really invested in ‘The Imperium.’ They consider themselves citizens of their system first, then their subsector and sector second and third. Maybe their domain forth and the Imperium a distant fifth or sixth.”
“Again, what does that…”
“Everything!” she snapped, glaring at me. “Dulinor wouldn’t have killed Strephon if he didn’t think that his own domain, at least, would support him. Lucan has pulled in every fleet he could; the fact that the main Old Expanses fleet withdrew shows that. And Margaret has her own supporters; the movements of the Old Expanses Reserve fleets show that!”
“OK, so things are disrupted for a bit…”
“A bit! You think the loss of all protection for the Old Expanses will just be a ‘bit;.” She looked away, staring into the distance. “I was stationed there. I remember an op there once. Against the Solomani. Did you know that? The Solomani were trying to prove themselves and had sent a fleet in with a few dozen squadrons. My squad was sent in to convince them of the error of their ways.”
She paused, and I could tell her mind was light-years away. “We forced them off the planet, of course. But… once they knew they had lost but before their shuttles could evacuate them? You… don’t want to know the things they did to the local population.”
She looked back at me. “The primary and reserve fleets in the Old Expanses have been withdrawn. You think the Solomani haven’t noticed that? And here? Hells, the Hinterworlds aren’t even part of the Imperium! Yeah, they supported us because they were in our back yard and they couldn’t do anything about it. But now? The Imperium is too busy dealing with its own problems and, to the Solomani, the Hinterworlds are right there! They aren’t fighting among themselves. Which is a single point in their favor, I guess. But no one in the Imperium is paying attention to the Old Expanses at the moment, which means that absolutely no one is paying attention to the Hinterworlds. We’re on our own out here.”
I shook my head. “Margaret isn’t…”
“Going to sacrifice her chance to be Empress to protect a bunch of systems that aren’t even part of the Imperium? Hells, she abandoned everyone in the Old Expanses, and they are Imperial citizens! How many other places have had that happen that we just haven’t heard about yet? Antares? Deneb? Are they willingly sending their fleets off to ‘defend the Imperium,’ or are they holding them back so they can protect themselves? We have our problems, but do you think the Aslan and the Vargr aren’t looking our way as well? Hells, even the Zho! The Spinward Marches are probably the only sector as exposed as we are here; if the Vargr cut off Corridor then they’re entirely alone!”
She sighed, then continued. “Lucan has however many Imperial fleets that have decided to follow him, plus the Core fleets. At best. We have no idea if the Old Expanses fleets are turning back to defend Margaret now that the Moot has crowned or, or if they are heading on towards Illesh. Honestly, it’s probably a mix of both. And, even if some do turn back, what happens next? Once Dulinor and Lucan have finished fighting each other, the winner will still have to defeat her supporters; I doubt that either of them will suddenly accept the Moot’s choice of her as a successor. So that’s another guaranteed war. This won’t be over; not for a long while.”
“Fine. Whatever. So three Nobles are fighting each other for what is really just a ceremonial position. How does that hurt us? They won’t kill themselves for their own egos!”
“But they are!” She stepped forward. “Look, if Lucan cared about the Old Expanses, then he wouldn’t have pulled the fleets there away. If Margret cared about them, then she wouldn’t have pulled the Reserve fleets away. They are both willing to give the Expanses to the Solomani just to protect their own agendas. And being Emperor isn’t ceremonial anymore; the Moot is dissolved, remember? We’re on our own out here, and a lot of sectors are probably finding themselves in the same situation.”
“But…”
“‘But the Imperium will always protect its trade,'” she said mockingly. “And I know why you think that. But, right now, you’re wrong! You’re right about one thing though; we’ve got three people who are putting their egos ahead of the Imperium as a whole. And all of us are going to suffer for it!”
I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again. I thought. “You’re saying… that Doctor Korvusar is right?” I asked, finally.
She nodded tightly. “Yeah. I think she is.”
“And us? Being a beacon? Or ‘torchbearer’ or ’ember’ or whatever she is calling us?”
“I thought you were the one wanting to keep her on board?”
“Yes! Because she’s an Imperial Agent! And she’s on our side! I’m perfectly happy to give her a cabin every Jump as long as she keeps intervening on our behalf!”
“So… maybe you should start listening to her! She thinks things are going to be bad! Harkin and the ‘Spoilsports’ think things are going to be bad! Maybe you should start thinking that way!”
I wanted to respond but couldn’t think of what to say. What did I think?
“What do you think?” I asked, finally.
She stepped closer and put her arms around me. “That this is going to be bad. Really bad. And… we need to be ready for whatever happens.”
I returned the embrace. “What do you want me to do?”
“Admit that? And admit… that we may need help? From the Doctor. Or Minister Trakon? Or… anyone else we can get on our side? Because if the Solomani start showing up…”
I suddenly remembered what “Radish” had said. Friends and allies will be in short supply. I suggest you do what you can to keep them.
“Yeah, I get it,” I said, pulling her a bit closer and rubbing her back. “I get it.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed myself.