6 Erbe 1117: Girar – Tlianke/Hinterworlds (1205 B645766-9 M Ag O:1104 A 322 Na M4V M5D)
I was woken up way too early by the beeping of my comm. No one other than the crew could have gotten through at that time, so I answered.
“Yeah, I’m here. What?”
“I just got ‘visited’ by Hegemony Security!” It was Varan.
“Yeah? I told you they were snooping around.” I paused. “Wait, just now? It’s…” I looked at the chron. “0430?”
“Yes! Just now! Hells, they just entered my room without me letting them in! And kept asking me about biowaste!”
“What did you tell them?”
He audibly groaned. “They were asking about our contacts on Tlianke.”
“Yeah, they asked me too. We contacted them, we took their cargo, and then we sold it. So?”
“You knew it was illegal!”
“You were there! You knew what we were doing. And I told you how I got rid of it!”
He sighed. “Yeah, but I haven’t had local security breaking into my room before!”
“I’ll file a complaint with the Guild. So… are they gone? Or have they arrested you or something?”
“What? No! They left. And I’m pretty sure they’re angry.” There was a pause. ” Karran got upset and left, and now I think they’re following her.”
I winced. “Sorry.”
“Yeah, I saw your ping but… hadn’t said anything. She was unhappy that we were ‘less than reputable.'”
“Sorry to ruin your night. But I’m quickly coming to realize that keeping secrets from people close to you causes problems. Who knows, a few suggestions of our exploits may have made her more intrigued.”
There was a dubious laugh. “Well… maybe. Anyway, I told them who we met with back on Tlianke. Sorry to ruin your contacts.”
“They already knew. Just… tell them what we did. Trying to cover it up would be the worst thing we could do.”
There was a pause. “Yeah, I told them everything.”
“Then, you’re fine.”
“I was just trying to let you know. What a mess.”
“Yeah, sorry.”
“Yeah. Sorry to wake you up.” He cut off.
I shook my head. Tlianke Security was obviously wanting to find… something? Otherwise, they wouldn’t have broken in on Varan in the middle of the night. But what were they looking for? I hadn’t lied, we had told them everything we knew.
I did take the time to write up a complaint and send it off to the Merchant’s Guild. It wouldn’t change anything, of course, but at least I had done what I could. Then I went back to my bunk.
I lay there for a while, but eventually was able to go back to sleep.
—-
But not well. Eventually, I just got up, made a quick stop in the fresher, then headed over to the starport to check on the ship.
Most of the cargo was already there, but it was just piled up around the bay. The cargo bay doors were closed, and there was a guard in combat armor standing beside the closed airlock. I frowned and walked over.
“Sorry, sir,” she said, taking a firmer grip on the ACR she was holding. “This ship is off-limits while under inspection.”
“This is my ship; I’m the Captain and the owner. And no one told me about an ‘inspection’!”
She gave me a professionally bored look. “And you are?”
“Derek Kodai. Captain Derek Kodai.” I pulled out my ident and waved it at her. She stared through her monocular while tapping on her thighpad, then looked back at me.
“Very well, Captain Kodai. The Grey Swan has been selected for a random security check. There is a team on-board. Please do not interfere with their inspection.”
“Grayswandir,” I corrected reflexively. “Why was I not told my ship was being inspected!”
“Standard procedure, Captain.”
I sighed. “So… how long will this ‘inspection’ take? I have cargo to load and passengers to prep for.”
“That will depend on what our inspection team finds.” She didn’t seem concerned. “But I cannot allow you, or anyone else, to board the ship until the inspection is complete. We will notify you when it is.”
“You could have told me before!”
“Standard procedure, Captain. We will let you know when the inspection is complete. For now, you should leave the bay.” She had shifted her grip back to the ACR again.
I gritted my teeth. “I’ll be filing a complaint about this. This is not a normal procedure.”
“You aren’t in the Imperium, Captain. Though it seems that parts of the Imperium aren’t in the Imperium anymore.” She seemed amused by what she thought was a clever joke. “We will let you know when the inspection is complete. Now, please leave the bay.”
I glared at her, but she didn’t seem intimidated by a random starship captain. I held her gaze a bit longer, then turned and left.
I wound up back at Inversions. I was running out of places where I was welcome. We had stepped in it fairly big this time, though I still thought our deal back on Tlianke had been the right move. We had made money and gotten our preferred partner status. Which, I had noticed that no one had questioned. I wasn’t sure what to make of that.
I kept telling myself that we were fine; that our cover story would hold as long as Bettis had done her bit. And they could inspect the ship all they wanted; there was nothing there to hide. Though the first thing I would do would be to have Jami run the most complete check she could on the drives before we tried to Jump, then we’ll spend the week in Jump going over the entire ship with a fine set scanner to see if they had left anything.
No one besides Varan had said anything about being visited by Security, but I assumed that everyone had. Do’rex never interacted with us while down, and everyone else was down at Hedron’s Crossing. I wasn’t sure.
I pinged everyone and told them to meet me here in about 6 hours for the pre-lift. Most everyone pinged a response almost immediately. Varan was the only one I didn’t hear from. I frowned but shook my head. We would have time to talk once we were in Jumpspace.
I then called Dr. Korvusar. She took some time to respond, long enough that I was about to cancel the call when she finally answered.
“Why, Captain Kodai! I wasn’t expecting to hear from you today. What is it that cannot wait until we are back on-board tomorrow?”
“The fact that we may not be back on board tomorrow?”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Look, I’m down at Inversions. You should be able to find it. We need to go over a few things.”
“Why? I see that you are taking on passengers again, so I assume that I am no longer a part of your crew. Why do you need to talk to me?”
“Has Hegemony Security talked to you?”
“Yes, as I’m sure you know. I’m just a passenger who was forced to take a working passage before you realized that ignoring passengers was cutting off too much of your revenue. I had no idea that you were involved in any kind of illegal trade. That revelation has actually made me reconsider if I want to keep Travelling with you or not.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Look, I need to talk to you. Come down here when you get a chance.”
“I am always happy to talk to you, Captain. But… why that location? I actually prefer Happy/Joy.”
“Because I’ve asked the crew to meet me here tonight for our pre-lift, so I’d just as soon stay here.”
There was a slight pause. “Of course, Captain. I will be there shortly.” She clicked off.
I had no idea how long “shortly” would be, so I ordered some food. I got a Glitterbelt, some tama Leaves, and something they called a Guash Club. It turned out to be toasted bread with frozen-to-the-point-of-crunchy meats and vegetables inside of it. It was… edible is the best I can say about it.
I then checked the ship’s status. I noticed that cargo was now showing as having been put on board, so apparently that “inspection” had ended. The fact that no one had shown up to talk to me implied that they hadn’t found anything, which didn’t surprise me because there was literally nothing to discover. Unless Jami or someone had something in their cabin that I didn’t know about.
We had also gotten our final passengers; Karran and Reina. I raised an eyebrow at that. Apparently, Varan had been wrong.
I had ordered another beer and some more tama leaves when Dr. Korvusar appeared. She sat down opposite me without waiting for an invitation.
“Do you have that music you were playing last time?”
I gestured towards my remote, already sitting in the middle of the table. “Yeah. I’m only turning it off when I need to order something. They’ve already called me out on it, so Security knows that I have it.”
She shook her head. “Which I why I would have preferred to meet at Happy/Joy. Sometimes natural noise and too-obvious locations can be a better deterrent than technology, both of which just shows that you’re trying to hide something.”
“We aren’t. They know we sold the cargo instead of delivering it.”
“You sold it to someone who was supposed to deliver it for you. Do they know that?”
“Nope. If they did, they would have done more than just annoy all of us. You said they talked to you too?”
“They didn’t learn anything. Honestly, their security teams aren’t very good. I think they depend on their local population being afraid of them instead of having to use any kind of skill. That may work on Tlianke, where everyone is under constant surveillance anyway. Not so much here.”
We turned to generalities for a while so that I could turn off the scrambler while she ordered something. After everything was delivered, I turned it back on.
“You realize the purpose of the monoculars everyone here wears, don’t you?”
I shrugged. “Just their way of doing things. I’ve seen things that are stranger.”
She took a sip of the stew-like meal she had ordered, gave a slight look of disapproval, then took a larger spoonful. “Their heads-up displays that put an overlay on whatever they are seeing. Directions to places, the name of whoever they are talking to, or just what the weather is outside. Useful things, enough that everyone feels comfortable with using them.”
She took another sip of her stew then pushed it aside. “But, what they don’t think about is that everything they see is being sent to a central computer somewhere. How else could it add all those bits of information to what they are seeing? But that means that everything they are seeing is being seen by their government as well. Everyone wears them, and so their government knows everything they are doing all the time. Your contacts on Tlianke may have had their scrambler,” she gestured towards my remote on the table, “But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t blocking their monocular feeds. They’re too used to them. You see? That’s the secret. Make something ubiquitous, easy, and useful, and people will use it. Even if it can be used against them.”
She paused, picked up her wine glass, and examined it for a bit. I wasn’t sure what she was getting at, but she was obviously going somewhere, so I waited.
“That’s why you’re important since that is what you keep asking.”
“Wait… what?” I still had no idea what she was talking about.
“Why has the Imperium lasted as long as it has? It has been around for over a millennium, without really doing anything directly for its people. That was Dulinor’s motivation to assassinate Strephon, after all. He felt that the Imperium needed to do more for its citizens. But, the Imperium was already doing something for them, something that none of them recognized.”
Now I was utterly lost. “OK… what?”
She smiled, then took a sip of wine. “Trade. I know you have said any number of times that the Imperium will always protect its trade. Have you ever wondered why?”
I sighed. “So some megacorp somewhere can make a few more credits. That’s it.”
She shook her head. “That’s… partially true, but more of a side effect. Tell me, think back to Keystone. Could you have survived without trade?”
“What? Yes! Well… no.” I stopped to think. “Keystone is an agricultural world. We mostly provided concentrated proteins. So we had tracts set aside for growing grains then industrial fabricators for turning them into protein concentrate. Plus, some areas set aside for live animal and fish harvesting, for those planets that didn’t trust fabricated food. So… yeah, we could provide for ourselves for a long time.”
“Could you? When one of those fabricators broke, could you fix it? Did you have local manufacturing facilities to make replacement parts?”
“Sure! We have industrial-scale fabricators and could make anything we needed.”
“For how long?”
“What do you mean?”
“Fabricator tolerances are fairly loose. You would eventually get a part that wasn’t quite right. The machine would fail and break other parts. You fabricate them, but they aren’t quite as good either. So more parts break. Eventually, you will have to either build entire factories and train entire new groups of workers to operate them or… just buy the parts from somewhere else.”
“So…?”
“That is the problem the Imperium is currently facing!” She leaned forward, more intent than I had ever seen her. “The Imperium is a machine; an economic machine. Yes, that benefits the Megacorps, but it also benefits everyone living in the Imperium, all ten trillion of us. Any planet can retool itself to provide whatever it needs but, right now, it’s cheaper to buy something made a dozen light-years away than to make it yourself. The Imperium is the single most efficient economic system that has ever been created, ever! That, and that alone is why we are the major polity in the known Galaxy. No one can stand against us because we can simply outspend anyone who challenges us!”
She caught herself, took a breath, then leaned back. “Dulinor, Lucan, Margaret, and anyone else out there fighting, plus those we haven’t heard about yet, have all forgotten this. Lucan pulled the fleets from the Old Expanses. Then Margaret pulled the reserve fleets. Nothing is preventing the Solomani from moving in. What will other systems in the Imperium do when they suddenly don’t have access to goods from there?”
I sighed. “Look, I know you’re worried about Atil, but…”
“No! This is far beyond that. I’m worried about everyone!” She leaned forward again. “That is why you are important. You are a Free Trader. No, you don’t carry the volume of goods that the big bulk carriers or even a Subsidized Merchants can, but… you are there! You carry what the people need. That is what Project Ember is all about. We’re supporting traders, like you. And that is because trade is what made the Imperium what is. And trade is what will keep us alive through what is coming.”
“Wait. You know something? What is coming?”
She took a moment to take another sip of wine before continuing. “The Imperial fleets are pulling back from various sectors near Sol. They’re assembling near Vega, so your Pilot’s friends and family should be safe, but a lot of areas that had enjoyed Imperial protection before now are suddenly open to the Solomani. And we know how they treat sophonts who aren’t from Earth.”
I was surprised at the news but still grimaced. “Yeah… most of humanity in the Imperium is at least part Solomani, the Interstellar Wars and the false Imperium saw to that, but they don’t like anyone who has ‘Ancient Interference’ in their ancestry.”
“Yes, and our current problems are giving them the opening they haven’t had since then. They will be grabbing as much territory as they can. We need to limit that as much as possible, but…” She sighed, and, for the first time, I saw actual emotion on her face. “The Imperium is tearing itself apart. The Imperium and its clients need trade to survive. You, and ships like yours, need to make sure that spark stays alive. As long as there is hope that things will go back to normal, then we may keep a few systems out of Solomani hands.”
She composed herself again but drained her wineglass, then stood up. “I believe in you, Captain. I trust you. So far, my trust in you has proven correct. Please… keep doing what you think is right.” She abruptly turned and left.
I sat there in silence for several minutes. What had just happened? I realized that she had just revealed her entire reason for being with us to me, but… I wasn’t sure what she was getting at.
I thought for a bit. OK, yeah. Her view of the Imperium made sense. We were an economic union more than a political one. No one back home had cared as long as the trade shipments from elsewhere kept coming in. It didn’t matter if we couldn’t manufacture the latest VR headset as long as someone could get one within a few weeks whenever they wanted one.
If they couldn’t… then they would be extremely unhappy.
She was right. It was interstellar trade that had held the Imperium together. It was so obvious once it was pointed out.
I looked through my cargoes and freight for our Jump to Gashuumi. I wouldn’t change it now but… I’d be a bit more selective next time.
And I was now more determined than ever to head Rimward though the Hinterworlds then return via the Old Expanses. I even started putting together a tentative route.
We would make credits, no matter what I did. I may as well try to help the systems we visited along the way.
—-
I worked for the next few hours, researching systems across the sector. Somewhere along the line, I remembered the notebook and pulled it out as I cursed under my breath; I had invited Dr. Korvusar down to talk about what I had found but then forgot when she started talking.
I revised our route to include a few of the systems from the notebook; may as well see what options we could find and, given that the Solomani were interested in those systems, maybe we should look at them too. I had gotten about a dozen Jumps planned when Do’rex appeared. He slid into the booth opposite me without saying anything.
I quickly shut down my planning, flipped the scrambler off, and then checked the chron. “Wow… later than I thought. So… how has your week been?”
He rippled his tentacles. “It has been fine, though I was visited by local Security. They apparently knew of our recent deals, so I told them what I knew.”
I waved it off. “I’m pretty sure that they talked to all of us. We sold the cargo. There isn’t much that they can really do.”
He clicked slightly. “Of course. But I am uncomfortable with them paying this much attention to us.”
“Yeah, I don’t like it either, but… we’re clean. I’m just glad we didn’t try to deliver that cargo.”
“I agree.” He immediately started examining the menu the waitbot had brought over. I debated telling him what I had heard about his homeworld from Dr. Korvusar but decided to wait until we were well off the planet and in Jumpspace before doing so.
He had ordered something that sounded like a mix of rotting vegetables, and I had ordered another Icefish, given that we may not be here again for a while. Then Jami, Saahna, and Shelly all showed up together. They were carrying their downbags, and we spent a few minutes trying to figure out what to do with them before dumping them in the next booth.
“So, how was your downtime?” I asked when the put-upon waitbot had delivered mine and Do’rex’s orders and taken theirs.
“Great!” said Jami almost instantly. “Except when the security from Tlianke showed up and insisted on talking to us.” She glared at me. “I had him ready to take me back to his place before they scared him off, and no one wanted to talk to us after that. Remember that next time.”
I couldn’t tell if she was actually upset or just venting. “Yeah, we all got visited. Oh, they searched the ship; I hope that none of you had left anything on-board that you didn’t want them to know about. Because I’m pretty sure they know everything about us at this point.”
Saahna glared at Jami, then turned her glare to me. “Yes. We were out for dinner for the evening, and they showed up at our table. Then they pulled us outside to talk to us. The staff and… other patrons weren’t particularly happy with us after that. So… what happened?”
The scrambler was still off, so I gave my prepared answer. “Those people back on Tlianke had to know that they were being monitored. Hells, she was still wearing her monocular, which she should have noticed was still working even though they were running their privacy program. I took their cargo because I would be stupid not to take guaranteed credits. I just sold it instead of delivering it.” I wasn’t lying. Technically. “So… what did they say or do?”
Shelly was wide-eyed, and Jami almost laughed, but Saahna kept her composure. “We told them what you just said. They weren’t happy, but they left, and we aren’t under arrest, so… I guess we’re fine?”
I shrugged. “I’m assuming that Security is keeping an eye on us. Don’t worry, we haven’t broken any of their laws.” I kept my expression as neutral as I could.
Saahna nodded, satisfied, as did Jami a few moments later. Shelly seemed openly horrified.
“So… Kol’toti and Tahma? We’re… just abandoning them?”
I gritted my teeth. I had deliberately left the scrambler off to reinforce our “innocence,” so I couldn’t say much. “They… they took precautions, but those weren’t really very good. We aren’t giving anything away. Those security people from Tlianke let on that they already knew about them, so covering for them would have made things worse for us. Selling the cargo protected us. We’re fine.”
She wasn’t happy, but she seemed to accept what I had said. “I’m just… sorry. I’m still new to this.”
“You’ll catch on,” I said, trying to show as much confidence as I could. “You’re a natural.” I paused, looking at the time. “As is Varan, but he isn’t here.” I pinged him on my comm.
Jami, Saahna, and Shelly looked between each other, then Saahna turned back to me. “Look, can we… just go ahead?”
I sighed. “OK then, let’s get started.” I tapped my comp, re-activated the scrambler, and then flicked the details for Gashuumi onto it.
“Gashuumi. Another of Tlianke’s colony worlds, so expect some more scrutiny by Security.”
Jami grimaced. “So why are we going there?”
“We already had cargoes and passengers going there before Security showed up. Can’t change without causing ourselves even more problems. Besides, we’re completely innocent, right? Why should we change?”
She shook her head as I continued. “Fairly high Law Level, but nothing we shouldn’t be used to by now with Tlianke. Ninety million people, so there should be plenty to do without being too crowded. And the air there is too thin to breathe, and you wouldn’t want to even if it wasn’t, so break out the combos if you go outside.
“You’ll have to,” said Jami as the food arrived. “They’ve never bothered with domes and just sealed their buildings. Kinda like back on Venad.”
We broke off as the food got sorted out and we put in some new orders. Once the waitbot left, I started the scrambler again.
“Whatever,” I said as I grabbed some more tama leaves. “I’ll just be happy to be able to walk around outside again.”
“You know you could have done that here…” Saahna said, looking at me.
“Not up here, way too cold. And I didn’t want to get too far from the starport.”
“Maybe just as well…” Jami said, looking at Shelly and laughing. Shelly blushed.
“What happened…?”
“Remember what the Glitterbelt looked like from here? Imagine what it is like directly beneath it!” She pointed from Saahna to Shelly. “I had to drag both of these two back inside at one point.” Shelly flushed even brighter and looked away, and Saahna shifted uncomfortably.
“Yeah, as I said, I want to get to a planet where I can walk around outside. So let’s get to one.” I gestured to the info on Gashuumi, still projected on the table.
“We’ve got a full cargo load and six passengers for this one. Seven, if you count the Doctor, so you’ll be a bit busy. I’ll make sure Varan can back you up.”
Shelly looked uncomfortable at that. “I’m… I’ll be OK.”
I shook my head. “Listen, I talked to Varan again and made sure he got it. If he acts up, even once, let me know. He knows he has to earn trust again. If he doesn’t…” I trailed off.
Saahna was looking levelly at me. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“That’s fine. Anyway, passengers. Here’s what we’ve got.” I flicked the manifest out.
“Xavis Flix and Haether Thorn. High Passengers, so we’ll need to be nice to them. We’ll also want to keep an extra eye on Xavis; he’s some kind of bureaucrat, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be reporting on us.”
Saahna was tapping on her comp, making notes. “And Thorn?”
“She’s a minor local net personality. From what I found out, she does some sort of travel/propaganda netcast, talking about how wonderful places in the Hegemony are. I suspect she was planted on us too so that she can show how horrible non-Tlianke ships are. Expect her to be a bit demanding.” I turned to Shelly. “Sorry.”
Shelly seemed thoughtful. “I’m a sort of netcaster myself, and my field of study was Communications. I can probably talk to her.”
“Oh? Good idea! Thanks. Just be careful not to share too much.” She gave me a glare.
“Next, we have two Mediums, Damaris and Kyris Steton. A younger couple who paid for us to carry a unit of “household goods” with them; they’re moving to Gashuumi. Oh, their passage was paid for by the Tlianke Relocation Ministry, so they’re probably spying on us too.”
Saahna audibly sighed, but Jami leaned forward angrily. “Did you only pick up people who are obviously checking up on us? Hells, how do we know that they aren’t planning to try to hijack us or something! Why else would Tlianke put so many of their own people on the ship!”
“Because we have Preferred Trader status with Tlianke, remember?” I turned in surprise to see Varan standing beside the table, having apparently just walked up in time to hear the last bit of the conversation. He nodded politely to the others, then sat down next to me. “Sorry that I’m late.”
“It’s OK,” I said, frowning slightly. He was a lot more subdued than he usually was, and was concentrating on a menu a bit too much. Jami and Shelly were looking somewhat dubiously in his direction, while Saahna seemed a bit more concerned.
“You all right?” she asked.
He nodded but didn’t look up. “Yeah, just… was busy talking with some people, and I lost track of time.”
“Security?” Her voice became more serious.
“No,” he said, gaze not leaving the menu. “Karran and Reina.”
“Who?”
“Karran Trisk and Reina Dradon. Derek… the Captain and I met them a few nights ago.”
“Oh?” Saahna turned to me with an eyebrow raised.
“All of you were down south, so we found some other Travellers to hang out with for the evening. I guess you’ve been keeping up with them?”
He smiled for the first time. “Yeah, I did like you suggested and commed Karran back. She had calmed down and asked what was going on. I explained as best as I could.”
“Well, I’m glad to see that things worked out,” I said, smiling myself. “An you must have explained things well enough because… they’re our last two passengers.”
“What!” both Saahna and Varan exclaimed, near-simultaneously.
I was surprised and turned to Varan. “You didn’t know?”
“No!” The look of shock on his face was genuine. “I didn’t. I mean, I didn’t… I didn’t mean to…” The shock was shifting to horror.
“Oh gods!” he said, putting his head in his hands. “Have I done it again?”
Saahna cut in. “Wait. Who are these people? What do you know about them?”
“Not too much,” I told them about our going to Happy/Joy, meeting Karran and Reina there, Varan’s encounter with Security while Karran was with him, and their subsequently booking passage with us.
Varan was still looking uncomfortable, but Saahna’s expression had turned to annoyance. “And you were worried about all the other passengers?”
“What do you mean?”
“They were the ones who booked after Security realized none of us were saying anything. So, they get someone else to look at us, someone we wouldn’t be suspicious of.”
I shook my head. “We met them before Security finished interviewing everyone.”
“Yes, and one of them was there when they showed up. Hegemony Security must have talked to Karran after she left Varan’s room. Then, maybe they made an offer to them?”
“Maybe, but so what? As I keep saying, we technically haven’t done anything wrong. The only thing we’ve kept from them was that someone else was delivering the cargo for us. And let’s be honest; I have no idea if Bettis, the broker I used, had any intention of actually delivering it. But I made my best effort to get the cargo where it needed to be without getting everyone involved arrested. And, given the attention we’ve gotten from the Hegemony, they would have. We’re fine.”
“I wish I could be as confident as you.” She shrugged. “I guess you’re right. But… part of my job is to be paranoid. I’ll keep a bit closer eye on things this Jump.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything else.”
“Wait…” said Jami. I had seen her deep in thought. “Why didn’t they pull that Preferred Trader thing we got? They know who we are, and they know we met with Tahma and Kol’toi, so… why do we still have it?”
I gritted my teeth and sighed through them. “Honestly? I think it was because we immediately admitted that we had dealt with them. The fact that we would give up our clandestine contacts so quickly probably means they think we’re dumb enough to trust. They knew the risk they were taking, and we did our best to make the delivery for them. We haven’t betrayed anyone. Much.”
Jami leaned back and crossed her arms. “Captain Barrikus never gave up any of his contacts.”
I closed my eyes. I was tired of all of this.
“No, he didn’t,” I said, opening my eyes. “But… remember why you’re on my ship and not his.” I emphasized ‘my’ a bit too much. “He got one of his crew killed, his ship badly damaged, lost most of his contacts, and at least one of his crew. I hate to lose a contact, but I’d hate to lose any of you, or the Grayswandir, even more. So… I feel bad for Kol’toi and Tahma, and I hope that what they paid us to carry at least got to the sophonts they were sending it to but, at the end of the Jump, it’s just us. We have to take care of ourselves first.”
Jami paused, her brow furrowing further in thought. I looked around. Shelly was looking at Varan with an unreadable expression, Varan was engrossed in the menu, and Saahna was looking at me with a forced neutral expression. Do’rex was as blank as usual.
Jami finally spoke. “Yeah. I guess… that’s the best we could do.” She shook her head. “Gods, why is this so messed up.”
“That’s the first and last thing I’ve been asking myself every day. So… does anyone have anything else?”
Do’rex clicked politely. “Do you have a further schedule, Captain?”
I tapped on my comp, thankful for the change of topic. “After Gashuumi, we have Mupakii. They aren’t part of the Tlianke Hegemony, but definitely within their sphere of influence. Then we’re off to Drosydrou. They’re an Amber, but that’s because they aren’t even unified at a planetary level, much less a system level. Plus, about ten percent of their population is Droyne. So… it should be interesting.”
Shelly looked up at that. “Droyne? I’ve never met a Droyne!”
“Well, you’ll have your chance in a month or so. Just don’t take any medallions they try to give you.”
“What?”
“I’ll go over it later. Again, anything else?”
No one did, so talk turned to generalities. Apparently, Jami had had a better week than she had let on, and even Saahna and Shelly seemed more relaxed after their days off. After a while, I just told everyone to be at the ship by 1000, which they should be used to by now, then I headed back to my room.
—-
I was a bit surprised when Saahna fell in beside me. “I figured you were off on your own again.”
She gave me an annoyed look. “What? No. I told you; I was spending time with Jami and Shelly. And… it sounds like you’ve taken care of that.”
“I hope. Did Varan cause a problem?”
“No.” She paused. “So… what happed with him, you, and these two women?”
“For me, nothing. It’s just that…” I paused. “Varan’s problem was that he needed a wingmate.”
“What?”
I shook my head. “I had never really thought about it, but whenever we were on downtime, he and I would go out and… well, I was usually the one… making the hookup.”
She stopped and gave me a dubious look. “What?”
“Yeah.” I was unexpectedly embarrassed. “Well, when you weren’t with us anyway. But, it looks like Varan… needs a bit of help when it comes to finding someone. I hadn’t realized how much I had been… facilitating that. So, when I cut myself off from the rest of you–and yeah, that was my mistake–he was trying to do things on his own. And that led to Carma. And Shelly.”
She was still dubious. “And now?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. I honestly had no idea that Kaaran and Reina would be on the ship with us.” I paused. “At least he might direct his attention away from Shelly.”
“I’m glad to hear that you talked to him again.” She paused. “I was afraid that since he was your friend…”
I cut her off. “Yeah, he’s my friend. I’ve spent too many Jumps with him to be otherwise. And Shelly is one of the most natural Travellers I’ve ever seen. I won’t… I can’t deny her that. If she gets too unhappy and goes back home to Boilingbrook? She’ll be miserable for the rest of her life without knowing why. And I will, and that will always weigh on me.” I looked at her. “I’m trying to do the best I can here. Believe me. I really don’t want to lose either of them.”
She unexpectedly put her arm around me. “It’s good to see you taking command, finally.”
I responded by putting my arm around her. “Just keep that in mind a bit later.”
She smiled. “Looking forward to it. Let’s get back to our room and clean up. Then… let’s rut. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”