25 Erbe 1117: Gashuumi – Tlianke/Hinterworlds (1206 B527769-7 O:1104 923 Na M4 V M9 D)
I rolled out of the bunk reasonably early this morning. Saahna told me she wanted to doze a bit more, so I quickly hit the fresher and headed downstairs to the restaurant.
My reluctance to let that last cargo go too cheaply paid off; we had an excellent offer on those containers of fructose syrup. Someone was desperate. I happily took it and then started scanning the available lists.
We had a couple of requests for passenger transport. Of course, we had Doctor Korvusar, and I was holding space for the Stetons and whoever we might have to evac with them, but I was only holding mediums for them. They could share a cabin. So I had a couple of slots left.
One request was for what seemed to be some corporate type wanting a High Passage. After Gimisapun, I wasn’t sure if I wanted someone that demanding on board, so I passed it by for the moment.
We also had a request from a couple wanting transit with their four children. I frowned a bit at that. That was a lot of our life support capacity but… who would risk their children? I put them on standby for now.
I started looking for cargoes and put in a few offers. One had just been returned, and I was making final arrangements when Saahna arrived.
“OK, I’m awake!” she said as she dropped into the seat across from me. She suddenly frowned. “Oh… I didn’t see you were busy.”
I shrugged as I finished typing on my comp. “Just grabbing us a load of electronics parts. Somehow. I’m not sure they manufacture those here, but I won’t complain.”
“Smuggling?”
“They’re awfully open about it if they are. I suspect a local broker picked up something that they couldn’t unload and are just trying to get rid of it.”
“Well, good for us. I guess.” She gestured towards my plate. “If you don’t like those, why order them?”
I glanced at my sausage flip. “I forgot how much they like salt here.”
“Yeah, you always forget the small things.” She took the menu the waiter had been offering her and ordered a coffee bulb. I asked for one as well.
Once he left, she turned to me. “Let’s go somewhere today. Just me and you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Back to the room?”
She sighed, rolled her eyes, then turned back to me. “Drop that for a bit, will you? Look, I just want to spend some time just… being with you. OK? I get that our schedules for the last… well, the last few dozen Jumps have been ‘take advantage of what time you can,’ but… let’s just go somewhere and… relax for a while.”
I gestured to my comp. “I’m waiting to see what comes from the other offers I’ve put in!”
“Do you have to be here to get those results?”
“No?”
“Then let’s go somewhere!” She stood up. “And don’t tell the rest of the crew, or any of your local contacts, where we’ve gone!”
“Where do you have in mind?”
“They have a resort down on Halaphon. That’s an island off their southern continent. Let’s go there for the day. Or a few.”
“Sunning on a beach with a combo on. Fun!”
She sighed but came around the table and pulled me to my feet. “Oh, come on! Do something spontaneous for once!”
I stood up and started toward the lift. “So, we need to pack…”
She yanked me toward the exit instead. “No! Spontaneous, remember?! Let’s go!”
—-
Part of me was convinced that it was a mistake, but I followed her to the air-raft. She jumped into the pilot’s seat ahead of me. She took us up to high altitude before heading southwest at what was probably an illegal speed. We talked about random things for most of the trip, her mostly talking about her time in the Marines and me talking about what it had been like working for Captain Anna before she signed on. I tried to talk about more recent things, but she always shut down those conversations.
We landed at the air-pad for a resort called The Excellent Ocean! The exclamation point was part of their name. Most visitors here seemed to come in by ship, but dozens of ground vehicles were in the parking lot. We were the only air-raft.
Saahna checked us in; she apparently didn’t want me involved. We wound up in a suite far larger than I would have selected on my own. We barely had time to look at it before she dragged me off again to go shopping.
She insisted that we buy a few days’ worths of clothing, all fancier than I usually wore. Yeah, I had always used my Ship’s Jacket when dealing with potential clients, but when I was on my own, I usually just wore basic civilian clothing if I wasn’t just wearing my ship’s jumpsuit. I never felt the need to stand out.
She also insisted that we buy a pair of artigills. They cost about half again what they would have elsewhere, but they couldn’t even support rebreather tech locally.
Shopping done, we dropped our purchases off at our room, then went out to eat. We found a place within the resort named Calan’s Citchen. The receptionist just waved us towards a dining room, and we found ourselves in a booth in the back with a view of the door.
I shook my head as we sat down. “You’ve been planning this.”
She smiled. “Hey. It’s our contract week. I… checked out a few places.”
“I’m trying to…”
“Overwork yourself!” she said, reaching out and grabbing my hand. “I’ve been watching you ever since you became Captain. You need to learn to trust yourself! We’ve got this. You’ve got this. You don’t need to be constantly working. Otherwise, you’ll burn yourself out.”
“But…”
“But nothing! We’ve scheduled our lift in six days. We’re here for five. For the next five days, let’s just spend time relaxing. Me and you!”
“But what if…”
“Everyone else is fine! You aren’t responsible for all of us! Hells, all of us have more credits now than we ever had, at any time, under Captain Martin! And you’ve supported us far more than she ever did!”
She pulled our hands together. “OK, maybe Captain Martin was taking care of you, but the rest of us were dealing with what she decided to give us. As a Captain/Owner, you are parsecs ahead of her! None of us will abandon you! Trust us! Trust me!”
I pulled away. “Will all of you stop that! I’m not ‘special.’ I’m not a ‘chosen one.’ I’m not what the critics call a ‘Larry Sue!'” I’m just someone who has learned to run a Free Trader. Really well. Hells, you can easily outdo me in combat. Jami can school me in Engineering. Even Varan can beat me in Gunnery, and he just got certified in that in the past month or so! I’m not some blessed-by-the-Ancients person!”
She smiled and shook her head, then retook my hands. “You are to me.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I love you. And that’s all I need to know.”
I squeezed her hands. “I love you too.”
“Even more than the Grayswandir?”
I hesitated what I knew was a fractional second too long, but she jumped back in.
“I know. It isn’t the Grayswandir. Not the ship itself anyway. It’s being a Traveller. Being in control of your own fate. Not tied to any system, but being able to go wherever you want to go, whenever you decide to. To be free. When I realized that was who you were, well… that’s when I realized that was what I wanted too. And that’s when I finally realized that I wanted to be with you.”
A surge of emotion washed over me, but I could not decide what to say. I finally fell back on the cliche of “Gods, I love you!”
She pulled away but laughed. “Yeah, I love you too. And you need to think about something other than work for a while. That’s why we’re here.”
“Why are we here?”
“To get you to focus on something other than work for a while! Yes, I know you need to take care of things. Passengers, cargo, trade, all of what you’re good at. And if you’re as good as you think you are? Then you get an hour at breakfast every day to deal with it. Outside of that, you’re taking care of your newly contracted partner. And I have a lot of plans for us.”
“But, what if…”
“It waits!” She grabbed my hands again. “Hey, you wanted this! Welcome to your contract.”
I took a deep breath. She was right. Things could wait for a while.
“I can’t wait to see what you have planned for us.”
She gave me a mischievous smile. “Then let’s get started.”
Happy to see a new update!!