092-1117 – Girar System

7 Erbe 1117: Girar System

Both Saahna and I were up early this morning. We didn’t say much, I think both of us somehow knew today would be somewhat messy. We quickly hit the fresher, then packed up and headed for the Grayswandir.

There was still a bit of cargo in the bay, but the loaderbots seemed to have it under control. She only stopped by our cabin long enough to drop off her downbag, but I took the time to change and pull on my Captain’s jacket. I’m not sure why, but I felt that I may need to show a bit more authority this Jump.

The crew lounge was empty, so I went on to the Bridge. Do’rex was already there, to no surprise. He waved a tentacle but was otherwise engrossed in his display. I climbed up into the Captain’s seat and pulled up my own.

And immediately climbed down. Jami was in Engineering and insisted that I had to come to talk to her.

—-

“We’ve got unrefined!” she yelled almost as soon as the door irised open. “Who the hells is in charge here!”

“What?”

“They filled us with what looks like raw seawater. It’s full of crap! What the hells did you ask them for!”

“Wait, give me a second.” I shook my head, trying to catch up. “We’ve got raw fuel?”

“Yes!” She was furiously pounding on her console without looking at me. “I’m trying to run it through our filtration plant, but that’ll take hours. I wish you would have told me you were cutting corners sooner!”

“I wasn’t!” I was as surprised as she was. “Gray!” I said, looking upwards, “Get me a comm channel to Starport Control!”

“Acknowledge,” came the quiet reply. A few seconds later, “Girar Starport Control on the channel.”

“Greetings, Grayswandir,” came a cheerful voice. “What do you need?”

“You loaded us with unrefined fuel! What the hells?”

There was a pause. “You… never specified.”

“What! I asked for refueling! And you charged me for refined! What the hells is going on?”

A longer pause. “We’re sorry, Grayswandir. We’ll drain your tanks and refill. But, we were expecting your departure in a few hours. So that may take a while.” Another pause. “We’ll have to reschedule your departure for tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?! I’ve got passengers arriving!”

“Maybe the day after?” Now I heard the amusement in his voice. “We’re sorry. It was a mistake. We will correct the issue as soon as we can.”

“Please do!” I cut off. “Well, we’ve really annoyed someone.”

Jami had turned to face me. “What are we going to do?”

“I’m not letting them get the better of me.” I pinged the internal comms. “Do’rex. We’ve got a lousy reaction mass load. Can you deal with it?”

I heard a click of surprise. “How bad?”

“Very.”

Another click. “Is it necessary that we depart on schedule?”

“Unless you tell me that you can’t handle it, then yes. I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of delaying us.”

There was a longer than expected pause. “As long as Engineer Wistina is confident, then I am.”

“I’ll let you know.” I turned to Jami. “How do you feel?”

She was glaring at me. “I’d rather not have to deal with it.”

“And I’d rather not have to deal with a bunch of angry passengers and brokers. And I don’t want to let Girar, Tlianke, or any of their colonies think they can push us around. So, can you deal with it?”

I could tell she was upset, but she was doing her best to hide it. “Is that an order?”

I took a deep breath to calm myself. “If you think it is a danger to the ship or crew, then no. I trust you to tell me if I’m doing something stupid. On the other hand, I’d really not like to admit that they got to us.”

She turned to her console, tapped at it, and I saw her brow furrow in thought. Finally, she turned back.

“How long to Jump Point?”

“I haven’t done the calculations but… from a planet this size? About 10 to 12 hours.”

She frowned but nodded. “OK. If I run the filtration plant at full load, we can probably get a clean load before Jump. Though we’ll be going out a bit light; when you filter, you throw away part of the mass, you know.”

“Will we have enough for the power plant?”

“Yeah, sure. That’s the priority. But, if we have to do a lot of maneuvering when we get there, we may not have as much as we need.”

“Well, if we’re in-system, then we can deal with it. Let’s go.”

Her frown turned to a smile, and she gave me one of those sloppy salutes I hadn’t seen in a while. “It’s been a bit too quiet lately anyway. Glad to see you’re taking a chance.”

I shook my head as I turned to leave. “I’d just as soon not have to take one, but here I’ll make an exception.”

—-

I entered the lounge just in time to see Shelly welcoming two people through the airlock, both dressed in the usual Tlianke outfit of jumpsuit-and-monocular. They were each carrying a large duffle, the color of which matched their jumpsuits; one was blue while the other was an obnoxious yellow.

“Welcome aboard the Grayswandir!” she was saying, smiling. “And who are we welcoming?”

The two looked at each other, then back to her. “Steton,” said the man, the one in the yellow jumpsuit. “Damaris Steton. And this is Kyris. We’ve been reassigned to… we’re moving to Gashuumi.” I noticed that both of them seemed more resigned than excited. Neither of them wanted to be here.

“Glad to have you with us,” Shelly was saying. “Now, do you have any additional cargo?”

“There’s a container outside that is ours. Beyond that,” he held up his duffel. “Just these.”

“OK. You are in cabin 3 upstairs; starboard-aft. If you leave your bags here, we will have them delivered to your cabin. Another of our crew is upstairs and will get you settled in.” She gestured toward the ladder.

Kyris looked, then stepped back. “We have to climb that?”

Shelly glanced at me, then back to them. “Well… yes. The passenger deck is upstairs.”

Kyris was shaking her head. “No. I can’t climb that!” She turned to her partner. “Dami, tell them I can’t climb that!”

He sighed. “Do you have an elevator?”

“Um… no?” She glanced at me again.

I stepped forward. “Hello, Mr. and Ms. Steton. I’m Derek Kodai, the Captain of the Grayswandir. Is there a problem?”

Kyris looked to be near tears while Damaris shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Captain. But… my wife has balance issues. It will be challenging for her to climb a ladder. Is there any other way to get to our cabin?”

That was a new one. “I’m sorry, but I hope you realize that we are a working ship and not a cruise liner. Certain concessions have had to be made. Once you are upstairs, you can remain there for our entire week in Jumpspace. Are you certain you can’t make your way to the passenger deck?”

“No!” she almost screamed. “She turned to her partner. “Dami! Tell them!”

I groaned inwardly but kept my most professional smile on my face. “I am very sorry, but there is no other access to the upper deck. Perhaps we…”

“No!” she screamed, then fell onto the deck, sobbing. “I can’t… I can’t… And we can’t go back!”

Damaris was looking at me. “Please, Captain. Certainly, there is some way?”

I was thinking as quickly as I could. “We could… we could use the grav-plates to reduce gravity. She could just jump and float up?”

He shook his head. “No. Non-standard gravity disturbs her too.”

“Hang on.” I looked to see Shelly staring at me, fear clouding her face. She was slowly shaking her head. “Who is upstairs?” I asked.

“Varan. Passengers Trisk and Dradon came on-board while you were in Engineering, and he took them up, then said he would get them settled in and suggested I wait down here.” She shifted uncomfortably. “I think he wanted to talk to them before I did.”

“Yeah. Well, he…” My comm buzzed, with a priority pattern. I sighed and opened it. “Yes?”

“We’ve got a problem outside,” said Saahna. “Can you come out?”

I groaned out loud this time. “Another one?”

“What?”

“Nevermind. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I clicked off, then pinged Varan. It buzzed several times before he answered.

“Yes?”

“Why are you upstairs?”

“Just trying to help Shelly out some? And…”

“Nevermind. Is Doctor Korvusar on board yet?”

“Yeah, she’s up here. Why?”

“Can you ask her to come down here? We may need her help.”

“Something wrong?”

“A lot of things. Just ask her to come down.” I clicked off, then turned back to Damaris. “I’ve asked our Doctor to come down and look at your wife. She may be able to help her.” I looked over. Kyris was sitting on the deck, knees pulled up under her chin, and weeping. I had no idea what to do.

I turned to Shelly. “When Doctor Korvusar gets here, let her know what is going on and see if she has any ideas.” Shelly nodded, but I could tell she was becoming more uncomfortable by the moment.

“A Doctor?” Damaris asked. “Captain, I know you mean well, but we’ve had any number of doctors look at her, and…”

“You haven’t talked to our Doctor,” I said, a bit more sharply than I intended. “Let our Doctor Korvusar talk to Kyris. If she doesn’t have an idea, then I’ll see what I can come up with. But right now I have to make some more preparations for departure. Now, if you will excuse me?”

He started to say something, but I turned and left before he could say anything. I went through the cargo bay since it was faster than cycling the airlock.

In the bay, I saw Saahna standing next to a cargobot, a container in its arms. She gave a half-wave as I came up, turning on the thermals in my ship jumpsuit as I did.

“Took you long enough.”

“Sorry, I was dealing with a passenger who is crying on the floor of the crew lounge. Now, what’s happening out here?”

She shook her head and sighed, then gestured to the bot next to her. “One of our passengers apparently decided to bring a d-ton of cargo with them. And we’re full. Now what?”

“Who?”

She glanced at her comp. “Steton, it says. But they’re only Mediums. We don’t have that much cargo allocated to them.”

“Great, that’s our meltdown inside. Hang on.” I pulled out my comp and tapped. The contract we had gotten for the passengers had specified medium passages and hadn’t mentioned cargo. I switched to my comm and pinged the Relocation Ministry.

Someone answered almost immediately. “Relocation! How can we help you?”

“Hey. This is the Captain of the Grayswandir. We’re carrying a couple of passengers for you. You contracted for a Medium passage, but you’re sending a full d-ton of cargo with them. It doesn’t work that way. What is going on?”

“That’s strange, Grayswandir, but you don’t have a cargo contract to go with the passengers?”

“No!” I tapped my comp and flicked the contract into the comm stream. “This is all we have.”

“We are sorry Grayswandir, please give me a moment to pull up the records.” There was a click, and ambient music started coming out of the speaker. I groaned.

“Well, we’ve annoyed someone. They are definitely rutting with us now. First, the fuel and now this.”

“Fuel?”

“Yeah, they loaded us with what looks like raw seawater, and claim it will take over a day to fix. Do’rex thinks he can get us out on time, but Jami’s scrambling to get enough through the purification plant to feel confident with a Jump.”

“I wondered why the plant was running,” she said, gesturing to the top of the ship. I looked over in time to see a foamy mist spray from above the starboard drive, adding to a dried mess on the side of the hull. Typically purification was only done while skimming or in orbit where gravity didn’t pull the waste back onto the ship. Oh well, our next atmospheric entry would burn it off.

Saahna was still talking behind me. “Wait… we’ve got a bad fuel load and you’re still planning to lift? Hells, Captain Anna never went out without everything being spotless. You’re really going to risk all of us?”

I felt my jaw tighten but kept staring at the ship as another plume of what I had finally realized was salt was ejected. “Do’rex and Jami have both assured me that they have things under control. I trust them. And I don’t want the people here to think they can get to us.”

She started to say something, but the music suddenly cut off. “Captain Kodai?”

I whipped up my comm. “Yes?”

“We’re sorry, it appears that the delivery of that part of the contract failed. But, we see that you have already accepted the passengers. We can have them transferred to another ship, but that will take some time. Plus, you will be responsible for any transfer and delay fees.”

“No!” I snapped. I took a deep breath to calm myself. “We will see what we can do. Let me get back to you.” I clicked off.

“What?” I turned to Saahna, who was openly staring at me. “We can’t take this cargo! Unless you want to drop something we already have!”

“I don’t want to give them the satisfaction,” I said flatly. I turned back to look as another plume of salt was ejected from the ship, but I was looking at something else. I clicked open my comm.

“Varan, are you still in the passenger lounge?”

There was a slight pause. “Yes? Why?”

“Are the Stetons up there yet?”

I heard him sigh. “No. She’s having some kind of panic attack, it sounds like. Doctor Korvusar is down there with her.”

“That’s fine. Tell Shelly to leave her with the Doctor. I need you to get in the air-raft and bring it down here.”

“What?”

“Just get in the air-raft, lift out, and land here beside us in the landing bay. I’m not going to let the people here get to us.”

There was a pause. “OK, I’ll get on it.”

“Thanks.”

I clicked off and turned back to Saahna, who was nodding. “Nice idea.”

“You do what you have to.” I clicked my comm again. “Shelly, you upstairs?”

“No?” I’m still here with Ms. Steton. I’m not sure…”

“Tell her we have a way to get her to the passenger deck without her having to climb the ladder. And we’ll be bringing their cargo on board at the same time. Just have them come outside. Then, get upstairs. Varan’s bringing the air-raft around.”

“What?”

“Nevermind. Just get the Stetons out here then get upstairs.”

“Well… OK. Sure.” She clicked off.

—-

The next hour went as well as it could. Varan brought the air-raft down, we put the cargo and the Stetons on it, then took it back to its bay. Which, being on the upper deck, meant that Ms. Steton didn’t have to climb the ladder. And we got their cargo, which we would just leave in the air-raft. One more d-ton wouldn’t affect us that much. I left Shelly and Varan to deal with the passengers, then headed for the bridge.

Do’rex clicked as I entered and climbed into the Captain’s seat. “Is everything OK, Captain?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve got it now. I hope.” I was checking my console when the comms pinged. It was the Relocation Ministry.

“Hello, Grayswandir. This is Administrator Havan. I understand there is a problem with a contract?”

I sighed. “Yes. You contracted us to carry a pair of passengers for you, but you also sent along a ton of cargo that we don’t have a contract for. Medium passengers only get 100 kilos of cargo. Freight is a k-cred a ton. If you want that cargo to Gashiuumi, we need a contract for it.”

There was a pause. “Are you able to carry it? I was told that you didn’t have space. I was actually calling to offer to cancel the contract for the Stetons.”

“We managed to shift some things around and make room. We just need to be sure we’ll be paid for carrying it.”

A longer pause ensued. I smiled to myself. Your move, Girar.

Finally, Haven came back on the channel. “Well. I’m… glad everything worked out. How are the Stetons, by the way?”

“They’re fine. They’re in their cabin right now, but I can patch you through if you need to speak with them.”

“Yes. Please.”

“Patching you through.” I tapped the console, then muted my end of the comm while asking Gray to record everything. Dr. Korvusar was right; they were terrible at this.

I rechecked the console. All of the cargo had been loaded, but we were still short two passengers; Xavis Flix and Haether Thorn.

I pinged the crew comms. “Anyone heard anything from passengers Flix or Thorn?”

Responses all came in negative. I saw that Varan was now in the crew lounge while Shelly was upstairs, which was good. Saahna was in the Gunnery suite. I pinged her.

“Do you need me to set up our nav plot?”

“No, I’ll be there in a few. I’m just running a full diagnostic. Since you said that Security had been all over the ship, I wanted to make sure they haven’t left us any surprises.”

“Yeah, Jami’s doing the same thing in Engineering. Let me know if you get hung up. In the meantime, I’ll try to track down our missing passengers.”

I clicked off and pinged Flix and Thorn. They knew our departure time, and what time they were supposed to be on board, so I wasn’t in the best mood regarding their being late.

To my surprise, I got a response almost immediately from Xavix Flix. “Grayswandir? Are you loading? I thought you had been delayed?”

Oh? I thought. “I’m sorry, Mr. Flix, but the Grayswandir prides itself on being on-time. We are currently scheduled for our lift in… less than two hours. Currently, the only things we are waiting on are you and Ms. Thorn.”

There was a pause. “Are you sure, Captain? I understood that there was a problem with your fuel load?”

“There was, but it has been handled. The Grayswandir has full fuel purification facilities on-board. We would prefer not to have to use them, but our ship and crew are well capable of dealing with such a minor setback. Actually, our major complaint was that we were charged too much for what was delivered. But that’s an operations issue and of no importance to you. So… when do you expect to arrive?”

The pause was longer this time. “When… which are you scheduled to depart?”

“Our current departure window is in 97 minutes. We can request a reschedule, of course, but that may delay us for hours, if not overnight. And doing that would inconvenience the passengers we already have on board, which I am very reluctant to do. Are you able to make our lift?”

“Captain! You cannot change your departure time, then change it back and expect everyone to stay on the old schedule!”

“We never changed our departure time. Where did you hear otherwise?” Are these people even trying to be clever? I thought.

As I had been speaking, Saahna had entered the bridge and climbed into her seat. She looked up with brief concern, then pulled up her console.

There was a bit too-long pause, with a dead silence that let me know that Flix had muted his comm. After several seconds he came back.

“Port control indicated that you had problems with your fuel load and had requested that you be refueled and that you would be delayed.”

More games . “I’m sorry, Mr. Flix, but we never requested an extension. Our departure time is as-scheduled. Are you saying that you are unable to make departure?”

“Captain Kodai, please. Do you really expect me or Haether to travel on a ship that is using unrefined fuel? How little concern do you have for your passengers?”

How difficult were they trying to make things for us? “I am very concerned about my ship, Mr. Flix,” I said, letting an annoyed tone drift into my voice. “I own it, after all. I assure you, our Jump will be using refined fuel. There is absolutely nothing for you to worry about. So… when will you be on board?”

There was another of those too-long, too-silent pauses. I wondered who else was with him. Finally, he came back.

“I’m not sure we want to travel with you, Captain. We are a bit concerned about our safety.”

Of course you are. “Mr. Flix, the safety of the ship and its passengers is our utmost priority. I assure you that there is nothing to be concerned about.”

“Well, I am.” Yet another pause. “I do not believe we will be travelling with you, Captain. You will, of course, be refunding our passages?”

I was almost relieved. “Of course, Mr. Flix. We are sorry you have chosen not to Jump with us, but we will respect your decision. Your refund will be processed shortly. Is there anything else?”

“You have other passengers. Are they aware of the risk they are taking?”

Not giving up, are you? “I assure you, Mr. Flix. There is no risk.”

“Well, I hope you know what you are doing, Captain. Please process our refund before you depart, just in case your confidence is misplaced.” He clicked off before I could reply.

I sighed, then told the system to refund their fares. Under Merchant’s Guild regulations I could have kept 10% as a cancellation fee, but I was just as happy to be rid of them. When I finished, I checked on our status and then sealed all the outer hatches.

“How is it looking?” I asked.

“Waiting on a lift window,” said Saahna, annoyance in her voice. “We should have gotten one by now.”

“Probably waiting for the last possible moment. They’re playing games with us, so expect a last-minute notice. Just set us up for a direct to deep space; we’ll adjust towards the Jump Point once we’re clear of their control range.” She nodded and turned back to her console.

“Everything is ready from my station,” said Do’rex. “Engineer Wistina has assured me that the fuel she will be giving me will be safe to use.”

“I hope she’s right. I’m not going to let them get to us.” I swung out of my seat. “I guess I need to go do a walkthrough. Let me know if something comes up.” Do’rex said nothing, but Saahna waved over her head as I left.

Varan was in the crew lounge when I exited, looking at something on his comp. He looked up as I came in. “Everything OK?”

“You tell me. Why were you upstairs earlier?”

“Trying to help Shelly while staying out of her way? And, you know, showing Karan how things worked.”

“Let Shelly do her job. She’s still a bit upset. Don’t force things. Just… respect what she wants and stay out of her way.”

“You know, you were a lot more fun before you became Captain.” He was half-smiling as he said it.

“You can find out how little fun I can be. I’m trying to bring all of us together again. Don’t make it more difficult than it has to be.”

He frowned. “OK. Got it.”

“Good. So… weapons ready?”

“Do you think we’ll need them?”

“Who knows? But given what the locals have pulled already today, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ‘missed’ a distress GK from us, so… be ready.”

He grimaced at that. “Got it. I’ll… go give the suite another once-over.”

“Sounds good. I guess I need to go talk to the passengers.” He headed towards the gunnery suite while I went up the ladder.

—-

I arrived to see a visibly flustered Shelly facing Damaris and Kyris. Kyris saw me enter and rushed over before I was even completely clear of the ladder.

“Captain! They say this ship isn’t safe! We need you to let us off! Now!”

I held up my hands. “This ship is perfectly safe! Who is saying that?”

“Xav… someone pinged me and said that you had unsafe fuel on board! I can’t deal with this! You need to let us off now!”

I gave my most professional smile. “Ms. Steton, I assure you that the fuel we are using is perfectly safe. Yes, we did get a bad batch of fuel loaded by mistake, but the Grayswandir has full purification facilities on board. We would never use anything that hadn’t been properly processed. The only danger is to our expense reports for this Jump. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

“Of course you would say that! You just want our credits! I. Want. Off!”

I would have been more annoyed if it wasn’t apparent that all of this was orchestrated. And not very well.

Well, if Tlianke wanted to play games, then we would play games. Games are all about negotiation, after all. And negotiation is something I am very good at.

“Very well, Ms. Steton, Mr. Steton. If you collect your luggage, we will help you disembark. In the meantime, allow me to contact the Relocation Office.

“Thank you, Captain,” said Damaris. “But we have already completely unpacked. You realize that this may take us some time, do you not?”

I failed to stop a raised eyebrow. He had insisted that one duffel bag was all that he was carrying only an hour or so before. But I knew a bluff when I saw one.

“Certainly. Take what time you need to. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to contact your Relocation Ministry. Shelly, would you mind helping Mr. and Ms. Steton get their belongings together?” She gave me a horrified look as I descended to the crew lounge.

Once there, I didn’t even bother going to the bridge. “Gray? Open a channel to the Relocation Ministry.”

“Immediately, Captain.” There was a pause. “Relocation Ministry on-line.”

“Hello?” I said. “This is Captain Kodai of the Free Trader Grayswandir. We have a pair of your clients on board, and they are requesting to be reassigned to another ship. What do I need to do to accommodate that?”

“Oh, Grayswandir! Yes, we have heard about the Steton’s concern. You are using unrefined fuel, and they are unhappy about that, yes?”

“Yes, and we will be offloading them once they get their belongings together. They should be waiting for you soon in the docking bay.”

“Thank you for being so understanding, Captain Kodai. We appreciate you taking their concerns into account.”

“Certainly,” I said. “And I’ll be sure to update the records for Girar. I want the other Guild members to know not to expect any Relocation–or other official traffic–if they are using their own purification plants. I wouldn’t want my colleagues to be surprised by what they are getting into.”

“That’s… that is fine, Captain. We need to update our standard contract forms. I’m sure you understand.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t be a problem. Actually, I would be remiss in my duties as a Guild member if I didn’t. And I’ve got the paperwork from when you refunded us for passengers Flix and Thorn, so I don’t need any more documentation.”

There was a pause on the other end. I noticed that both of the Stetons had stopped and were now looking at me. Our conversation was over the lounge speakers, after all.

“Um… that is fine, Grayswandir. Though we really don’t need you to make an effort.”

“As I said, I would be remiss if I did otherwise. I’ll also let the Guild know that Relocation passengers can be transferred to other ships if they feel uncomfortable with their assigned ship. That way, they will know to make them as comfortable as possible. In fact, they should probably remind those passengers of that so they will be sure to make the best impression possible. I’ll remember to do so for any future passengers I pick up.”

Damaris had been staring at me while Kyris was looking around in near-panic. He quickly stepped forward.

“Actually, Captain. We… I didn’t realize that you had a purification plant on board! We… well, Kyris and I have no concerns under those circumstances.”

Kyris glanced at him in concern, then up at the ceiling where the speakers were located. “Well… yes, of course. If they… you have a purification plant, then there is no real concern!”

Damaris turned to me. “If everything is taken care of, then we will Jump. We… would certainly never question the Relocation Ministry’s choice of transport. As we shouldn’t!” He glanced up as he said that.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I wouldn’t want anyone on my ship who didn’t want to be here.”

I was enjoying this far more than I should have.

He shook his head a bit too much. “No. No, we’ll be fine.”

“That’s good.” I involuntarily glanced upwards as well. “Is that OK with you, Relocation?”

There was a too-long pause.

“Well, Captain Kodai, it seems that your passengers are content with the arrangements we have made. Which… we are thankful for because we didn’t want to have to tell them that they had to use the ships we have designated. Please… do not think their objections are something that can negate the contracts we have negotiated. We will, of course, uphold any contract we have made.”

“I never questioned otherwise, but thank you. Well, since everyone seems to be happy now, I assume our departure clearance will be granted? We are already sealed.”

“What? Oh! Of course! Yes. We have your departure request. Please, be prepared to lift on time.”

“Thank you, Girar. Grayswandir out.” I waited until a click indicated that the communication had ended, then turned back toward the Stetons. “I understand your concern, but I assure you that we are totally committed to giving you a safe Jump. Now, if you will excuse me?”

I saw the frustration on Kyris’ face, but Damaris was all smiles and apologies. “I am sorry, Captain. I didn’t realize that you were prepared for an unrefined fuel load. Since you are…” He paused and nodded. “Since you are, we have no concerns about Jumping with you to Gashuumi.”

“The safety of this ship and its passengers and crew are always our highest priority. Now, unless you need anything else, I need to go prepare for our lift.”

He nodded. “Yes, of course. Thank you… Captain.”

I nodded in return. “Welcome aboard the Grayswandir“. I quickly left and took the ladder to the crew lounge.

—-

Once there, I shook my head. They were really not used to anyone pushing back against them. I had no idea why they gave in so fast.

Unless… they wanted us to think we had won, but still had the Stetons on board. I looked up towards the ceiling. “Gray?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Keep surveillance on passengers Damaris and Kyris Steton. If they go anywhere other than their cabin or the passenger lounge, let me know.”

“Confirmed, Captain.”

“And monitor everything they do on the computer. And all comms.”

“That is a violation of Merchant’s Guild Statute 127.4.18 regarding passenger…”

“I know. Ship’s security override. We’re allowed to do that if we have sufficient reason for concern. And I have sufficient reason for concern.”

“Noted. I will monitor all activity of passengers Damaris and Kyris Steton as long as they remain on board or until ordered otherwise. Do you want me to start full surveillance of their cabin?”

We could, of course. But, no matter how much I would have loved to know about what they said, that was one line I couldn’t cross. “No. No internal surveillance of individual cabins.”

“Certainly, Captain. Does the exemption for passenger cabin 4 still apply?”

“What? What exemption?”

“The one created by Gunner Varan two weeks ago. He asked for surveillance of that cabin.”

It was several seconds before I could speak again. Cabin 4 was the one Shelly had taken when she had gone upstairs. “No. It doesn’t. No surveillance of any cabin, passenger or crew, unless the request comes from me directly. And even then only if at least two other active crew members confirm the order. OK?”

“Understood, Captain. The surveillance of passenger cabin 4 is ending. And I will no longer initiate surveillance unless you and a minimum of two other crew members request me to. Is that correct?”

“Yes. And delete all surveillance you have of cabin 4.”

There was a slight pause. “All surveillance deleted.”

“Thank you, Gray.” I stopped and took a deep breath. No one had mentioned that. I was suddenly angry at Varan. I had helped him a few days ago, and he had done that? That was way out of line. Completely out of line. He had been Steward on the Grayswandir long enough to know that was… completely rutting wrong.

I felt a sick feeling in my stomach, and I tensed up. I had hoped to defuse this but…

Did I want my own ship or my friends? And… If I kept my ship… what friends did I want on it.

I turned and headed for the Bridge. I had a week to worry about how I was going to deal with it.

Though there was only one answer.

—-

Both Do’rex and Saahna were at their consoles as I climbed up to mine. I pulled up my status displays without saying anything. It looked like we were sealed, so I quickly pinged STC to let them know that we were ready to depart. Space Traffic Control came back promptly with a departure window, about 40 minutes away.

Saahna looked up at me in slight annoyance. “Yes, Captain. We are ready for departure.”

“Hey, I just assume that all of you know your jobs.”

Some portion of the stress I was feeling must have come through. “Is… everything OK?”

“Yeah. The locals tried to play a few games to delay us. They just didn’t know who they were playing against.”

She held her gaze a bit longer, then turned back to her console. “Well… OK. Now that we have a window, I’ll get us a plot to orbit. I’ve already got a plot to the Jump Point, so about… 30 minutes after we get there, we’ll be good to go.”

“Good. You good Do’rex?”

He gave a surprised click. “Yes, of course. Why would you expect otherwise?”

“Given the blockades they’ve been throwing at us, I have no idea what you might have run into. So, we’re good?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Then let’s get out of here.”

He tapped on his console. “We are ready for our lift in approximately 37 minutes.”

“Good.” I sighed and leaned back. “I really should go talk to the passengers again, but I think I’ll wait until we’re in vacuum. I don’t want to think about how many problems the Stetons are going to cause this Jump.”

“Anything I need to worry about?” asked Saahna without looking up from her console.

“Just… be aware we may have a problem. I’ve already got Gray watching them.”

“Maybe you should get her to watch those other passengers too. You know, the ones you and Varan conveniently ran into after local Security couldn’t pin anything definite on you?”

I sighed. “Yeah. You… aren’t wrong.” I looked up. “Gray? Expand your surveillance to passengers Trisk and Dradon for this Jump.”

“Confirmed, Captain. Do you wish surveillance of cabins 5 and 6?”

“No, no surveillance of individual cabins.”

“Confirm, Captain.”

“Are you sure?” Saahna turned back to face me. “As much trouble as they’ve tried to give us, you don’t want to know?”

I shook my head. “There’s a line. Watching people in their own cabins is on the wrong side of it. I won’t cross that line.”

“Have you forgotten the Gortors? If we had been monitoring their cabin before he tried to hijack the ship, we might not have had a problem.”

“I won’t cross that line!” I realized that part of my anger was because Varan had. For a totally selfish reason. I would do anything else I thought I had to do to prevent danger to the ship, but… I wouldn’t intrude on someone’s private space. If for no other reason than because I wanted people to trust the Grayswandir. I wanted us to have the reputation of a “safe” ship. And I wouldn’t go against that.

Had Captain Anna? That suddenly bothered me. Varan had been Steward under her. Was that why he thought it would be OK?

Saahna held my gaze a bit too long, but eventually shrugged and turned back to her console. “Well, if someone pulls a gun on you in Jumpspace again, don’t blame me.”

I sighed and leaned back. Even though it was early in the day, I was actually tired.

“They’re going to try to inconvenience and delay us, not actually hurt us. And it will be a long time before we come through here again. This Jump will be annoying, but not dangerous.”

“I hope you’re right.”

—-

The next minutes passed with little more than an occasional status check. Finally, I received the ping indicating that we had received departure clearance.

I flicked it to Do’rex, then opened the shipwide comms. “All passengers and crew, we have just received departure clearance from Girar Space Traffic Control and are ready to start our lift. While there should be no problems with our inertial systems, we suggest that everyone find seating until we have reached orbit.” I clicked off and turned to Do’rex. “Get us out of here.”

“Lifting, Captain.” He tapped on his console as I switched us over to internal gravity. There was no sensation of movement as the landing bay fell away below us.

Girar seemed to want ships that were arriving or departing to use their runway as if they actually needed to use forward momentum to generate lift. Which hadn’t been necessary for the few millennia since we discovered gravitics. Usually, I would have followed local custom, but Do’rex apparently felt the way I did about the locals and immediately pitched our nose upwards and started climbing directly towards orbit.

“Grayswandir!” came an almost immediate response from STC. “You are violating airspace protocols. Please return to your assigned departure course!”

“Understood, Gashuumi,” I said, feigning apology. “We will intercept our departure course at… ” I glanced at my display. “We will be on-course at about 100 kilometers altitude.”

“You’ll be in vacuum by then!” Whoever was on the other end seemed to be legitimately annoyed. I almost felt sorry for them.

“Not quite but… close enough. Sorry.”

I could tell they were repressing a groan. “Alright. FIne. Just… watch out. You’ve got the cruiser Fesarius about 20 kilometers to your south on a circular approach. Try not to get too close?”

“Understood, STC. Thank you.” I suddenly felt a pit open in my stomach. “Wait… did you say the Fesarius?”

There was another click, and another voice joined the channel. “Why, hello, Captain Kodai. Assassinate anyone while you were here?”

I grimaced. “Haven’t had any more hijack attempts lately, Captain O’Haran. So, no. But thank you for your concern.”

“Too bad. And I was hoping that since none of your Boilingbrook friends were nearby that we could have a long discussion about manners.”

Neither of us could deploy weapons while in the atmosphere–turrets aren’t that aerodynamic–so I wasn’t concerned about being attacked. I was more worried about why they were here and if they had followed us.

“I’d apologize for being a spoilsport,” I said, an idea suddenly coming to me. “But… I guess that’s more about your job.”

There was a long silence. Finally, Girar STC broke in.

“You are on track to intercept your departure corridor, Grayswandir. Is there… is there a problem?”

“No, no… The Fesarius is just an old… acquaintance of ours. We’re just… catching up.”

“Yes, just a couple of old friends talking. It’s too bad that we can’t have a private conversation. You’re resourceful, I have to give you that. Maybe you should think about being a spoilsport from time-to-time.”

“I’ll think about it. Oh, it looks like we’re clear of your approach window. Maybe next time?”

“I’m looking forward to it.” There was a click as they disconnected from the channel.

“Well, that was fun,” I said to no one in particular.

“Pardon, Grayswandir?” I had forgotten that STC was still on the channel.

“Just commenting on old friends, Girar. Grayswandir out.” I closed the channel and leaned back.

“Why are they here,” asked Saahna. She didn’t look back, but I recognized the tone in her voice.

“No idea. Well, maybe. Tlianke is trying to set itself up as a polity while the Imperium is busy with it but Boilingbrook got in ahead of them. Maybe they think they can influence them to join… whatever they are trying to set up.”

“Then why here and not Tlianke itself?”

“Remember what Tlianke looked like? Maybe they didn’t want to deal with the hassle there and just jumped here.”

“You don’t think they’re following us?”

“It doesn’t seem like it; they wouldn’t be a week behind us if they were. Just… more of our bad luck here.”

“We are in orbit, Captain,” said Do’rex, seeming to ignore the conversation around him. “We should hit our transfer point in about 20 minutes.”

“Great, thanks.” I sighed, then unfastened my harness. “I guess I need to go do the ‘Greet the passengers’ thing if only to see how bad the Stetons are going to be.”

“You think they’ll be a problem?” asked Saahna.

I looked at my console and at the flashing light from the Passenger Lounge. “Yeah. They will be.”

—-

Barely a minute later, I was on the Passenger deck. Damaris was standing over Shelly, who had backed up against the dispenser console.

“She is sick!” he was yelling. “Why didn’t you tell us you were turning on internal gravity! She can’t handle artificial gravity!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Steton,” I said as I came up. “What seems to be the problem?”

He turned his anger to me. “Kyris is sick! She’s been throwing ever since you turned your gravitics on! You should know better!”

I barely managed not to roll my eyes. “I’m sorry, Mr. Steton. There was nothing in your passenger file to indicate that gravitics would affect her.” Which was true. Despite any number of people who claimed to suffer from it, there had never been an actual study that showed anyone could distinguish between real and artificial gravity.

“It wasn’t, but you didn’t even ask!”

“Very well, I’ll have our ship’s doctor look at her.”

He stepped back in disgust. “I’m sorry, I won’t have a machine looking at my wife. I demand that you return us to Girar at once!”

“Who said anything about a machine?” I looked across the lounge. “Doctor Korvusar… Would you mind joining us for a moment?”

She quickly snapped her comp shut, picked up her glass, and came over. “Of course, Captain. What seems to be the problem?”

I gestured to Damaris, though I knew that she had heard everything that had been going on. “Mr. Steton’s wife is having an adverse reaction to our gravitics.”

“Oh? That is a rare affliction.” She turned to Damaris. “May I see the patient?”

He seemed taken aback. “You… you are a medic?”

“Yes. Surgeon, actually. But, when you serve on a starship, you must be certified for any circumstance. There aren’t many other options in Jumpspace. Now, may I see… your wife is it?”

He frowned, thinking. “How do I know you’re actually a doctor and not just some Free Trader tagalong who knows First Aid?”

I had expected a reaction, but she simply pulled out her ident, tapped it, then flicked it towards him. “I assume this is sufficient?”

He pulled out his comp and looked, then turned to me. “You don’t have a medic listed as part of your crew!”

“The Doctor isn’t an official part of our crew. However, we have a long-term travel agreement with her, which includes her acting as our ship’s physician as needed. I can assure you, she is quite qualified.”

He frowned further. “Welll, since her credentials are in order…”

“Please,” she said. “While we are here talking, your wife is suffering. I’m sure you are far more worried about her than about my status on this ship. Now let me check on her.”

He looked around helplessly, then nodded. “Of course. Please. This way.”

I watched them enter the Steton’s cabin, then turned to Shelly. “Is everything else OK?”

She sighed nodding. “Yeah, the others…” She quickly glanced at her comp. “Passengers Trisk and Dradon are in their cabins. We… you know we have them connected.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Are you OK?”

She nodded, though I knew she wasn’t. After a few seconds, she spoke. “What is going on? Why was he so upset?”

“They’re trying to get to us,” I said, touching her shoulder. “We’re fine. We haven’t done anything wrong. Technically. But they’re going to do whatever they can to make this a difficult trip for us. We should have skipped Gashuumi. But… I had given that route out, and I wanted to stay with it.”

She nodded, eyes closed. “Yeah, that’s fine. You’re doing… the best for all of us. It’s just… what can I do?” She was almost wailing before the end.

“Send them to me,” I said. “I’ll come to take care of it. And… don’t ask Varan to help.”

She tensed up at that. “Why?”

“He has his responsibilities, you have yours. We don’t need one of you neglecting your duties.”

She hesitated but relaxed and nodded. “He… he was fine today.”

“Good. Let me know if he doesn’t stay that way.”

She flushed at that. “I’m… sorry. I.. shouldn’t have…”

I waved her off. “No. We all do things we regret later. The trick is not to let those things affect you going forward. You learned and won’t do it again. That’s all that is important.”

“But… if Varan.”

“Then he will have to learn to go forward and not do it again.”

She took a deep breath. “OK. Sure. Thanks, Derek. I mean, Captain!.”

“Derek is fine.” I looked around. Dr. Korvusar had left the Steton’s cabin, gone to her own, then returned. I was wondering what she was doing when Gray came over the speakers.

“We are preparing to depart orbit for the Jump Point,” she said. “We ask that all passengers prepare themselves for maneuver.”

“And… that’s my cue to head back to the Bridge.” I looked back at Shelly. “You got this?”

She nodded. “Yes. Thanks… thanks for taking care of that.”

“That’s my job. Ping me if something else comes up.” She nodded, and I headed back to the lower deck.

—-

I stopped by my cabin long enough to drop off my jacket, then went up to the bridge. I got there just in time to see Girar drop away beneath the canopy as the drives engaged, and we started maneuvering out of orbit.

“Get the passengers sorted out?” Saahna asked as I climbed into my seat.

I shook my head. “For a few minutes anyway. I had to get the Doctor involved. Apparently, Ms. Steton is allergic to gravitics.”

Do’rex clicked but continued to focus on his console. Saahna laughed out loud. “Really?”

“Yeah. Someone has apparently been watching too much Subsector General Hospital. No, it’s just their latest attempt to play games with us. Once we hit Jumpspace, there won’t be much they can do.”

“Except for her to suddenly have Jump Sickness as well.”

“We’ll see. And I’ll just send Doctor Korvusar to check on her again. But I won’t let them get the better of us here.”

“And what about Gashuumi?”

I sighed. “I had posted us going there before any of this happened. We had already accepted cargoes. We’re committed. Which is why they’re trying to disrupt our schedule. If some of those cargoes are delayed by more than a day or two, we’ll be stuck with penalties. And I’m sure if we went back with Ms. Steton, they would find a way to keep delayed and on-planet for a while.”

“And if our passenger keeps demanding to go back?”

“Unless the Doctor tells me it’s a legitimate medical emergency, we’re heading for Jump. Passengers don’t get to force ships to turn around just because they don’t like the accommodations.”

“Tlianke may use that against us, not helping a passenger.”

“And we’ll point out to everyone that any of their ‘Relocation’ passengers can go back home by claiming to be allergic to gravitics. Which basically means they could never relocate anyone.”

“I guess.”

“We’re fine. So, Do’rex? How’s the fuel doing?”

He clicked. “Engineer Wistina is handling the situation quite well. She is cycling the partitions, so the power plant and drives are only getting what has been refined. I do not anticipate us having any problems.”

“Good.” I sighed, then started climbing back down from the seat. “Transit time?”

“We should be at Jump Point in about 11 hours. There is steady traffic, but we should have a window of about 15 minutes.”

“Good. Well, I guess I better go see how things are going upstairs since no one has given me an update.”

“Ugh,” said Saahna. I hope that isn’t bad news.”

“So do I.”

—-

Once again, I climbed to the passenger lounge. To my surprise, it was almost empty. Shelly and Dr. Korvusar were sitting near the forward screen and had been talking, but turned as I came up. All of the passengers seemed to be in their cabins.

“So… what’s up with Ms. Steton?” I asked as I walked up.

Shelly seemed to be upset about something–maybe still unhappy from our earlier conversation–but Doctor Korvusar was her usual calm self. “Ms. Steton is fine. I was able to convince her that she was simply stressed over her forced relocation. And, that the Ministry would not appreciate attempts to circumvent their efforts to move them, lest they give others ideas.”

I smiled at that. “Great minds think alike.”

“They really aren’t very good at this,” she said dismissively. “I don’t know how given the amount of traffic that must come through.”

“We, somehow, still have that Preferred Partner status we got back on Tlianke. They knew everything else we had done there, how did they miss that we had gotten that?”

“Unknown, but it is working in our favor. As for details, I have sedated Ms. Steton. She is sleeping now. I have also recommended that she use some calm-sticks while we are in Jump. I can give her some relaxants if necessary. I am confident that her ‘symptoms’ are an act, but I must do my duty as a Medic.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Of course, Captain. Now, do you need anything else?”

I frowned slightly at the implied dismissal. “We’re scheduled to hit Jump Point in about 11 hours. Let the passengers know.”

Shelly nodded but didn’t say anything. I wondered what was bothering her.

“Everything OK?” I pushed.

She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll let everyone know. You… can go back downstairs.”

Now I knew something was wrong, but I also knew I wouldn’t get any answers right now.

“Great. I’ll leave you to it then.” I headed back for the iris. “It should be quiet, but ping me if something comes up.”

“We will, Captain. Thank you.” That was Dr. Korvusar, not Shelly. I frowned as I descended to the crew deck.

—-

There wasn’t much to do at the moment; it would actually be tomorrow before we got far enough out for a Jump. I went up to the Bridge for a while but eventually just recorded this then went to bed. Jump would be way too early.