1 Erbe 1117: Girar – Tlianke/Hinterworlds (1205 B645766-9 M Ag O:1104 A 322 Na M4V M5D)
We tumbled out of Jumpspace a little after 1300. Do’rex, Saahna, and I had been on the bridge for a while, and I had been just about to start to give Saahna a hard time about her Jump plot when the stars reappeared around us.
Everyone immediately pulled up their consoles. I waited until Jami and Varan checked in from their stations before starting a sensor scan. I wasn’t worried about Shelly; Dr. Korvusar would undoubtedly know what a Jump transition felt like.
Space was relatively empty. There was a Gorgon-class destroyer near the arrival point, but it was broadcasting a Girar beacon; presumably part of the Girar system defense force.
There were a few dozen ships between Girar and us and a much larger number in orbit around it near the highport. I also saw dozens of navigation warning beacons, all around Girar itself.
I pulled up visual sensors and zoomed in. We were still a few million kilometers out, but I could see a definite haze surrounding the planet. The “Glitter Belt” that was the cause of their status.
It was strangely attractive, frequent flashes of light that almost seemed to form a pattern, but my attention was pulled away when we received a call from Girar Space Traffic Control.
“Welcome to Girar, Grayswandir!” came the voice. “How may we assist you?”
“Just need a landing approach and beacon,” I said, trying to sound as if we belonged here. “Looking forward to being on the ground for a while.”
There were several seconds before our comms made it to Girar, and a response returned. “Sure thing Grayswandir! We’re having to divert all non-friendly traffic to the highport, but I guess you know how that goes. See you on the ground in a bit!”
Almost immediately, a beacon appeared and a set of navigation coordinates arrived on a subchannel. I flicked them to Do’rex and Saahna, then re-opened the comm.
“So… what’s all the complexity about? We had trouble landing on Tlianke too and wound up at the highport just because it was faster.”
There was a bit longer pause than could be explained by the speed of light, but a response finally came.
“Well, the folks back on Tlianke are concerned that whatever Boilingbrook is trying to do is an attack on us. With the Imperium preoccupied everyone is trying to make their plays out here. We’re glad you’re here but… maybe not everyone is as happy to welcome off-worlders at the moment.”
“Thanks for the heads-up, Girar. We’ll try to make our visit worth it to you.”
“And thank you Grayswandir; always happy to have new ships here. Girar out.” The comms clicked off.
There was silence on the bridge for a while as everyone worked on their consoles, then Saahna flicked something to Do’rex. He clicked as she slid her seat back and turned to me.
“Looks like maybe not everyone is as dogmatic as those back on Tlianke.”
“Captive government, captive population. Most worlds like to rule themselves. The Imperium keeps its hands off of things outside the Starport.” I frowned. “Usually. But I’m guessing they aren’t happy with how Tlianke is running things.”
“Yeah. Which should be good for us. So… are we changing our approach?”
“No. I’ll sell most of our cargo, then find a broker who I can sell our ‘special’ cargo to that will let me immediately repurchase it. Then we proceed as planned.”
“That should work. I hope.” She turned back to her console.
The next few hours passed as we approached the planet. There wasn’t much for me to do. Usually, I would have spent some time with the passengers, but that wasn’t necessary this approach, obviously. So I just started watching net-vids. I could see that Saahna was playing some sort of game on her console; only Do’rex was paying attention to the business at hand. Not that there was anything to do on an approach except to remember to flip over at midpoint.”
Sometime later we entered a high parking orbit that took us over the poles; high enough that we cleared the debris belt that covered everything between plus and minus 60 degrees. It would be a bit difficult to break our orbit properly and dodge the few bits of debris outside of that range, but I was confident that Do’rex could manage it.
He did. When our slot came up, we burned hard and dropped in over the polar cap. They used a runway landing system here instead of vertical pads, but we skimmed the surface of the icecap until the Starport came up, then landed on the runway. We taxied to our assigned slot where a tunnel snaked out and attached to our main airlock as cargobots began to cluster beneath the ship.
I hit the all-clear and switched internal gravity off. The change was barely noticeable. I gave orders to open the cargo bay and instructed the ship’s computer to start unloading. Then, I climbed down.
“Well, we’re here.”
Saahna had already closed out her console and ducked as I dropped down behind her. “Yeah, we’re good.”
“You need anything?” I asked to Do’rex. He clicked.
“I am shutting everything down and will be exiting shortly. Do not wait for me.”
“See you later then.” Saahna and I returned to the crew lounge.
Varan was standing there, stretching. “I think that’s the longest I’ve spent in the gimbal. Glad to be down.”
“I’m sure we’re fine. For now, anyway. Let’s hope they’re still happy with us when we leave.”
“Yeah, I get that.” He headed for his cabin. “Gonna pack. See everyone later?”
“Sure.”
Saahna looked at me. “I’ll get my downbag packed too. Anything I should be sure to pack?”
“If you think you may need to Vargr up later? Take it with you now. If things go bad, we may not be able to get back to the ship whenever we want.”
“I thought you said we wouldn’t have any problems here?”
“Shouldn’t have any problems here. But… let’s be careful, just in case.”
“Got it. See you after you check us in.” She headed for our cabin as I turned to the airlock.
Usually, I would have gone through the cargo bay since it could open directly to the outside, but outside was well below 0o so I cycled through the airlock.
Two people were waiting on me, both in the usual Tlianke jumpsuits, monoculars, and thighpads. One of them stepped forward.
“Welcome to Girar! I’m Dayan, this is Gala. Do you have your inventory?” He gestured back at his companion. She was wearing a combat vest, which had the same color and stripe markings as her jumpsuit. She had a combat rifle, but it was slung on her back.
I nodded and flicked my comp towards him. “Here’s our cargo. We don’t have any passengers this Jump.”
He tilted his head at that. “Oh? Unusual for a Free Trader, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I hate losing the revenue too,” I lied. “But things back at Tlianke are a mess. We got stuck on the highport there. I was already having to pay shuttle fees to the planet for everything, I didn’t want to have to deal with making arrangements for passengers as well.”
“You… aren’t the first,” he said, focusing on something past me which meant he was looking at his monocular. “OK, everything looks good. We’ll just wait until your cargo is in the warehouse, then check it. More room that way. That OK?”
“Doesn’t bother me. Faster I can unload the happier I’ll be. There’s a bar somewhere that I need to fill a barstool in.”
He laughed at that. “Impact Point. Lots of you Free Traders seem to like it. Tell Polaner, he’s the manager there, I recommended him. I get a kickback.”
“Got it!” I would visit, at least once. Having customs on our side was always a good thing.
“OK, that’s it then.” He tapped his thighpad and flicked something to me. “Here’s your warehouse code. We’ll have everything transferred there. And where Impact Point is.” He smiled. “Welcome to Girar, Captain.”
“And thank you!” We shook hands then I returned to the ship.
Saahna was still stuffing things into an already overstuffed duffle when I entered. “That was quick.”
“Having ‘Preferred Trade’ partner status seems to have its advantages.” I opened my locker, pulled out my bag, and started tossing clothes into it. “I’ve also got a meeting point for us tonight.”
“Oh?”
“Customs guy recommended one. He gets a cut. I want him to think we’re friendly.”
She frowned. “You know whatever place gets recommended by the docking crew is always a ripoff.”
“Yeah, I know. But we’re trying to look completely innocent here, remember? Clueless and innocent. Going there will make it look even more like we don’t know what we’re doing and have nothing to hide.”
“OK… you’re the Captain. You’re paying the extra.”
“Hey, the bonus payment we got from Tahma and Kol’toti will cover it. Just being careful.”
“Fine.” She, with some effort, zipped her duffle closed, then stuck a gauss pistol under her ship’s jacket. “So, are we ready?”
“Just a sec.” I opened my safe and pulled out my snub pistol, tossing it onto the bunk. I paused, then pulled out the small notebook from Gimisapun as well. I had mostly forgotten about it but thought it was time to look at it.
“What is that?”
“I’ll explain later.” I took my Captain’s jacket out of the locker, put it on, tucked my snub pistol beneath it, then closed everything up and picked up my bag. “Let’s go.”
—
I paused long enough to turn the ship over to ground control then entered the Starport. It was the usual collection of brokers, warehouses, hotels, and shops focused on transient traffic. Typically I would have left the Starport for something in the surrounding city, but here there was no neighboring city; just a network of tunnels and chambers melted out of the permanent icecap.
We eventually found ourselves at a place called Kukatomui. If it meant something, I had no idea what it was.
It was late; close to midnight by our time. Though, this close to the pole, it was still daylight outside. I decided to just wait until tomorrow to hold the landing meeting; I’m sure everyone else was as tired as I was. I commed the crew telling them to meet at Impact Point for lunch tomorrow, then shut everything down.
I had a feeling that this was going to be a really long week.