3 Eamis 1117: Jumpspace
Well, technically, it’s the 4th, but I haven’t gone to my bunk yet. I’m still on the bridge.
Saahna came up earlier and tried to get me to come to bed, but I’m just not ready to shut down yet.
Things happened. I need to deal with them. I feel as if I did the right thing, the thing I needed to do. But… things happened.
I had to make a choice. And I did. I’m the Captain. It isn’t just me anymore. It’s… all of us. And what I think we can be.
This is bigger than just me. Just us. I believe that now. I get that now. And I have to do… what I think is the right thing.
No matter what my oldest friend thinks.
—-
Saahna and I got up early this morning and headed for the Grayswandir after taking just enough time to hit the fresher. Today would be a tough day, and I wanted to get ahead of any problems.
We were the first ones there. A lone container was sitting outside the ship, which I quickly confirmed belonged to our corporate passenger, Overal Ceana. She was utilizing her High-Passage allotment, so I had it scanned and, when nothing showed up, told the cargo bots to put it inside in the only space left.
Everything was still powered down. I frowned. Usually, someone was here before us. I told the Grayswandir to power everything up as we dropped our downbags off in our cabin.
I stopped long enough to pull my snub pistol from the safe and tuck it under my vest. I thought it might come in handy. Then I switched from my vest and into my Captain’s Jacket. Just in case I needed a more visible symbol of authority.
Saahna, watching me, pulled out her gauss pistol and hid it under her vest as well. We nodded in understanding, then returned to the crew lounge.
Do’rex was cycling through the airlock as we entered. He waved a tentacle and clicked.
“Good to see you again,” he said, even though we had met the night before. He emitted a few more clicks. “I suggest you talk with Steward Tharis when she comes on board.”
I grimaced, remembering the previous night. “Is she OK?”
“I spoke with her for some time. I have managed to reduce much of her anxiety. But she does wish to talk to you.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I get it. I’ll talk to her as soon as I can.”
He gave a last click and, simply dropping his downbag outside his cabin, headed for the bridge. Saahna and I followed.
As they got into their seats I climbed into the Captain’s chair and brought up our status. Everything seemed to be good. I turned toward Do’rex.
“Hey, I want to give you a heads-up. We’re doing an in-atmosphere pickup today.”
He clicked and turned to face me. “That will be a challenge. I assume you have filed the proper authorizations with COACC?”
“We’re telling them we’re doing some in-atmosphere calibrations after replacing the dorsal airlock. And Jami has requested some time in low orbit for calibrations of her own. They don’t need to know someone is coming on board. I’ve confirmed that they have no decent coverage in that area. We should be clear.”
He clicked, then bobbed his head. “Understood.” He turned back to his console. “If you can give me the coordinates now, it will help my preparations.”
I flicked the coordinates from my comp to the ship’s system, then flicked it over to him. He clicked in acknowledgment but didn’t say anything more.
I turned back to my controls. Jami had come on board while we talked and was already in Engineering. As I watched, the fusion plant came online and reached full power. The ship switched to internal power and disconnected from the Starport umbilical. We were on our own internal systems and close to being ready for the lift.
I flipped through a few more displays. Shelly was also on board and brought Lanta and Reika Lemmis, our Middle Passengers. I needed to talk to her but decided to give her a few more minutes to settle the Lemmis before talking to her.
I also noticed that Varan hadn’t checked in. I glanced at the chronometer and frowned; it was well after our scheduled time to be on board and getting uncomfortably close to our lift time. I opened external comms and pinged him.
He answered almost immediately. “What?”
“We’re getting a bit close to our scheduled lift time here. Are you planning on joining us?”
“Oh, for rut’s sake, we’re getting coffee. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Give me a break, OK?”
I thought of several responses. “We?”
“Yeah, Evel is coming with us. She has some business on Mupikaa, and I invited her to Jump with us. You said we were going out light, so I figured it would be fine.”
“I wish you would let me know about things like that!”
“Hey, do we have the extra capacity or not? You weren’t lying again, were you?”
Again? I did quick mental math. “No, we have capacity. I just wish you would let me know about these things. And she’s staying with you; I’ve spread the cabin space around upstairs. Just keep her downstairs; I don’t want our paying passengers thinking we’re carrying people for free.”
He sighed audibly. “Yeah, I know how this works. We’ll see you in about 15.” He clicked off.
I looked back at the chronometer. That would put us about 10 minutes behind schedule, but we could live with it. I climbed down from my seat.
“I’m going to go check in with Shelly,” I said as I cycled the iris and exited the bridge.
There was no one in the crew lounge. I thought about checking in on Jami but decided Shelly was the priority. I went up the ladder to the passenger deck.
Shelly was there, showing the dispenser to someone I didn’t recognize, presumably Overal Ceana. I hated her after just looking at her. She radiated “Corporate Type with No Actual Skill” too vehemently. I knew the Lemmis were on board, but I didn’t see them; I assumed they were in their cabin.
Doctor Korvusar was also on board, sitting in her regular place and–as usual–drinking a glass of wine while looking at her comp. I went over.
“I trust everything is well?”
She looked up in what seemed to be genuine interest. “Captain Kodai! I am so glad to see that you have recovered from your injuries. Are you well?”
“Better than I’ve felt in years, actually. Thank you for your concern.”
“I am only trying to ascertain the status of one of my patients. I spoke with Ms. Tharis earlier. I am glad that both of you have made such a miraculous recovery. I was very concerned.”
“Thanks.” I paused, thinking. “Things are going to be… complicated over the next few hours, and maybe the next day or so as well. Just giving you a bit of advance warning.”
“Warning? Certainly, you aren’t expecting problems.”
I glanced back at Shelly, still conversing with Ceana, then turned back to her. “Yeah… like I said. Things have gotten complicated. Well, even more complicated than usual. We need to talk.”
“I always welcome any conversation with you,” she said, flipping her comp back open. “And I appreciate your warning me as to possible ‘complications.’ But, for now, I wish to spend my time preparing for Jump. We will speak later, I trust?”
I glanced around to see Ceana heading for her cabin while Shelly was looking in my direction. I turned back.
“Absolutely. Once we hit Jumpspace, you will have my undivided attention.”
“Thank you, Captain. I look forward to hearing of your experiences on Gashuumi.” She immediately turned her attention back to her comp.
I walked over to Shelly. “Do’rex said you wanted to talk to me?”
She looked away. “Yeah. I wanted to apologize for last night. I… overreacted.”
“No. You didn’t. Varan was trying to see how many of us he could get angry. He succeeded for at least two of us.”
She nodded, still without facing me. “He keeps… bothering me.”
I sighed. “I told him to leave you alone.”
“But he doesn’t! He keeps offering to ‘help.’ He keeps wanting to ‘show me how to do things.’ He isn’t being too overtly ‘interested,’ but he finds too many convenient excuses to hang around.”
I started to say something, but she turned back to me and shook her head. “I know you’ve talked to him. But…” She looked away again.
“I’ve thought about leaving. Just… not coming back. I’ve got enough Credits to get back to Boilingbrook, even if I couldn’t find another ship to Travel with. But… I like it here. I feel at home here. Except for… him.”
It was my turn to look away. “He’s about reached the limit of what I can deal with too.”
“Oh?”
“I’m the Captain here. This is my ship. He may be my oldest friend, but he’s also part of my Crew. And I need a crew I can trust. And… I’m not sure I can trust him anymore.”
“I’m not asking you to…”
“I know you aren’t. This is a completely different thing. I thought… I thought we had reached an understanding.” I sighed and looked back at her. She was now looking at me as well.
“I can deal with a lot of things, but… today? He crossed a line that I can’t ignore. Everything will be fixed after this Jump. One way or another. I… have to be the Captain.”
She shifted uncomfortably. “Hey, I know he and you have been together for a long time and that I’m new. I just…”
“We have,” I interrupted. “And I’m starting to realize how one-sided that connection was.”
She was quickly becoming less confident in herself. I saw her expression change. “I… Look. It’s OK. I can…”
“No, you shouldn’t have to. Just like I shouldn’t have to deal with a crewmember bringing a ‘questionable friend’ on board at the last minute.”
“Is she here? I thought he was just trying to impress her last night.”
“He was. And… that’s probably my fault.” I shook my head.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. We… spent a lot of time on Downports together. I showed him things that worked.” I frowned. “I wonder why Captain Anna never called me on that.”
“Oh! So you taught him to act this way?”
I looked directly at her. “No! OK, I know how to read people. But there are certain lines I never have and never will cross. Hells, you should know that! He’s… crossed those lines.”
She was looking at me dubiously. “He has.”
“I’ll deal with it.”
“Will you?”
I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah. I will.”
“You take care of it, or… I leave at the next system.”
I closed my eyes. Had it come to this?
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Good!” She turned back to her console. “It looks like they just cycled through the airlock.”
I nodded and headed for the ladder. “This will be taken care of. Trust me.”
“I… want to.” She didn’t say anything more. I headed downstairs.
—-
Varan and Evel were there, along with an unreasonably large pile of luggage. He was showing her the dispenser.
“Ms. Kane!” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could fake. “Good to see you again! Welcome aboard the Grayswandir!”
She turned to me and narrowed her eyes. “Glad to be here, Captain. I am actually surprised to find you so welcoming.”
“Not at all! You’re a friend of Varan’s, so you’re welcome here. He and I have been jumping together for a long time.”
Varan looked a bit uncomfortable but quickly regained control of himself. “OK, yeah. I was a bit afraid of how you would deal with someone showing up at the last minute.”
I waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. We’re going out light, so this isn’t a problem.” I turned back to Evel. “Though I will have to ask that you stay on the Crew Deck this week. The amenities aren’t as nice, but I don’t want our other passengers to think you are getting service that they aren’t. You understand, I’m sure.”
She turned to Varan. “You said that I would have my own cabin!”
He flushed. “Well… um… I actually…”
I shook my head. “We weren’t expecting you, so we spread our cabins out upstairs. We don’t have any passenger cabins left. But I am sure you will enjoy sharing a cabin with Varan.”
There was a brief flash of anger, but she quickly smiled. “Of course! I’d prefer that! I just didn’t think that you would allow it.”
“Hey, Varan knows how we do things. We’re fine.” I turned to Varan. “Look, we’re going to do some in-atmosphere testing to ensure everything is good with the dorsal airlock. Take a break, and I’ll let you know when we’re heading for vacuum.”
He frowned. He knew something was going on. “I’ll get Evel settled into my cabin, then hop in the gimbal. Just in case.”
I tensed but nodded. “Sure. Let me know when you’re ready. We’re already beyond our scheduled lift time, so I need to get to the bridge. Jump in when you’re ready.” I quickly turned and headed for the bridge.
—-
As soon as the iris closed behind us, I spoke. “Do’rex. Get us up and to those coordinates. Gray, Evel Kane does not have access to the passenger deck. And lock down any external comms without my explicit permission.”
I climbed into the Captain’s Seat as Do’rex clicked in acknowledgment. I saw the ground dropping away from below us as I strapped in. “Gashuumi STC had been asking about our departure. They are happy to have their docking bay available again.”
I saw a Cruiser hovering nearby, but we lifted past them, rotated, and headed off to the west. The fungus barge was the Arifan and had been waiting for about 15 minutes. I shrugged.
Gashuiimi COACC quickly came online. “Grayswandir! You are not ascending to orbit. What is your status?”
I opened the comms. “Sorry, Gashuumi. We had major damage to our dorsal airlock coming in. We’re going to head out over the Effarian to do some in-atmosphere seal testing before heading for vacuum. I thought I had alerted you, but… I guess not. Our bad. Sorry. Is that a problem?”
There was a pause. “You should have cleared this in advance. Can you send us the coordinates you have chosen for this ‘testing?'”
“Certainly!” I said as I flicked them over. “Sorry. It looked completely out of the way, so we weren’t anticipating any problems.”
“No, not a problem Grayswandir. Just a bit unusual. Hang on.” There was a brief pause. “You’re clear. Just let us know when you are ready for orbit.”
“Will do, Gashuumi. And we’ll probably do some vacuum calibrations afterward. Hopefully, that won’t cause you too many problems.”
“Not at all Grayswandir. There isn’t that much traffic up there. Give us a bit more of a heads-up next time, OK?”
“Will do. And I’ll buy you a beer next time we’re through. How does that sound.”
“It’s a date! See you then!”
“Thanks. Grayswandir out.”
I clicked off, then turned to Do’rex. “Get us there as fast as possible without looking too suspicious.”
He clicked. “What is ‘too suspicious.'”
“I have no idea. Just do whatever you can.”
—-
We climbed to about ten kilometers, then headed to the west. We were about a third of the way there, had just crossed the shoreline, and were flying over the ocean when Varan came on the internal comms from the gunnery suite.
“What are we doing? Why aren’t we going for orbit?”
“I told you! I want to check the seals on that dorsal airlock before hitting vacuum. We’ve had problems in the past; I don’t want to risk heading directly back out.”
“Oh yeah, right. Well, let me know when we’re going for orbit.”
“I will.”
—-
For another ten minutes, all of us concentrated on our consoles. I saw that Evel was still in Varan’s cabin, but some of her luggage was in Cargo Bay. I sent a utility bot to scan it. I also activated our rendevous beacon with the agreed-upon frequency.
We reached the proper location and went into a hover. There was silence for several minutes, then a signal appeared on sensors.
Varan was on comms almost immediately. “We’ve got a small vehicle heading toward us!”
“Yes. And if you look a bit closer, you’ll see that it’s our air-raft. We had a few passengers on a fungus barge who couldn’t get to the Starport. We arranged to meet them here.”
“Wait… you said we were just doing testing. But picking up passengers? Who?”
“”Lanta and Reika Lemis,” I said at random. “And yeah, that’s why we’re doing the testing here. Everything is fine. That’s ours, and we know who is coming on board.”
“Do we!”
“Yes!”
There was a brief pause before he came back online. “You should have told me about this!”
“And I would have. Yesterday. If you hadn’t brought someone not in the Crew to our crew meeting!”
“Hey, she’s Travelling with us! She deserves to know what is going on!”
“No, she doesn’t need to know what is going on. She’s a passenger. Just one that happens to be paying for her passage to you.” I was angry. He knew how things worked. Even Captain Anna had done a few pickups like this.
“She’s with us!” He repeated.
“No, she’s with you. Try coordinating things next time. This is how things work. It’s just another deal. This is what we do.”
He clicked off. I saw on internal comms that he had immediately contacted his cabin. The Grayswandir, of course, could have intercepted that call, but that was a line I wouldn’t cross.
Well, not yet.
I looked to see where the air-raft was. It was now a few dozen meters behind us and requesting docking. I opened the external doors and watched as the air-raft entered the bay. I dropped out of the Captain’s chair.
“Get us to orbit at about ten diameters and tell Jami she can run her calibrations there.”
Do’rex clicked as the iris opened. “That is a bit high for just testing; is there a reason?”
“Lowest orbit where we can even attempt a safe Jump. Just in case things go rimward.”
“Are we expecting a problem?” I heard Saahna behind me.
“I hope not, but… just in case.” I left the bridge for the crew deck before hearing any more questions.
—-
It was, fortunately, empty. I quickly climbed the ladder to the passenger deck.
As I arrived, the passengers from the air-raft were entering and being welcomed by a surprised Shelly. I didn’t recognize either of them.
The first of the arrivals came up to me, extending her hand. ” Captain Kodai? Salva Kramon.We were so happy when you showed up. I was about to panic.”
The other waved his hand in greeting. ” Altor Vitramin. We’ve been with the group for a while, but this is the first major op we’ve been on. They asked for volunteers who would be fine with leaving Gashuumi and Tlianke space. You got us.”
“Glad you made it. And, sorry… we have a bit of an internal problem going on and were unfortunately delayed.”
Altor shrugged. “Hey, I have never been as relieved as I was when I saw your transponder show up. I was afraid we had been compromised.”
I grimaced. “We might have been, but not by Gashuumi. I think they know something is going on, but not what. And we haven’t done anything directly that they can call us on, so they’re torn between going after us and not wanting to worry their other ‘preferred trade partners.”
“Yeah, and we might have some intel that will explain that. We…”
At that point, internal comms pinged. It was Do’rex.
“We are now heading for orbit, but another ship has appeared on our sensors. I am not certain of its origin, but it does not seem to have departed from the Starport. It is now matching our vector at approximately ten megameters. And it is showing no transponder.”
“Gashuumi STC can’t be happy with them about that.”
“I have picked up multiple calls from them asking who they are and where they came from. The unknown ship does not seem to be responding.”
Great. “Gray, open comm to gunnery suite. Varan, we’ve got a ship shadowing us. Do you see it?”
There was a brief pause before he responded. “Yeah, about ten kklicks out. Not at full power. Do you think we need to worry about them?”
“I don’t like anyone just following me for no reason. Keep an eye on them and let me know if they go to full power.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Everyone else, keep an eye on them too.”
Do’rex clicked. “Certainly, Captain.”
“Thanks.” I clicked off.
“Sorry, things are getting more complicated.”
Altor nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.”
I shrugged. “I knew what I was getting us into. And we seem to be OK for now. So, what do I need to know?”
“The Arifan, the fungus barge we were on, is out of normal coastal sensor range, but their sensors would have recorded the fact that we left and that you picked us up. They’ll put two-and-two together at some point. But the Captain knows the situation and will say that we had reached the end of our contract and were just staying on the barge until we could leave. If they start digging, the Crew will tell them they don’t know who we are.”
“Best I could expect, just wanted to know the story in case I started getting questions.” I turned to Shelly. “Can you handle this for now?”
“I guess? But.. what is happening!”
“I’ll explain later. Probably tomorrow, once we’re safely in Jumpspace. Get everyone into their cabins as best as possible and get them to stay there! OK?”
She was confused but nodded anyway. “Yeah, I’ll take care of everyone.”
“Good. I need to get back to the bridge.” I nodded to everyone and then headed back downstairs.
—-
I had hoped to get back to the bridge without interruption, but Ms. Kane was in the crew lounge as I descended the ladder. She ran over as I reached the deck.
“I’d like to see the passenger deck if I could?” she asked with barely veiled desperation. “I just… want to see what it looks like.”
“I assure you that it isn’t much more than down here. Yeah, it’s a bit bigger and has better carpet,” I glanced down as I said that and suddenly realized that the flooring was looking a bit worn, “but we’ve got the better holodisplay down here!” I gestured upward. “Gray put the external view on the holo.”
“Confirm,” it replied. Immediately, we were semi-surrounded by the view around us. Gashuumi was behind us, partially obscured by the flare from our fusion drive. Elsewhere was dark, except for the occasional annotation highlighting ships, satellites, and other objects in space around us. Our orbital destination and jump points were also highlighted, and a curving arc ahead of us showed our current trajectory.
Evel didn’t even try to conceal her displeasure. “Yeah, you have more details down here, but I need to get up to the passenger deck!”
“Why?”
“There are… some friends of mine who are thinking about Travelling with you! And… they wanted to see what the accommodations were like!”
I smiled. “Well, while I’m happy for their interest, it may be a while before we pass through again. We’re heading rimward-trailing, and I don’t know when we’ll be here next.”
She frowned. “Where are you going?”
I shrugged. We’ll head over toward Hiver space, cut back Spinward into the Expanses, then head back Coreward toward the Imperium. Hopefully, they’ll have sorted out their differences by then. Then we’ll start another loop, but I can’t guarantee we’ll stop here. So… just tell them that it will probably be a few years before we’re through here again, but we’ll be happy to carry them to whatever our next system is!”
With a final nod, I headed for the bridge.
“But I want to see the passenger deck!” she shouted behind me.
“Maybe later,” I said over my shoulder. “Once we’re in Jumpspace. But, for now, I need to get back to the bridge. Will you excuse me?”
She yelled something else as I cycled through the iris. “Status?” I asked as I climbed into the Captain’s seat.
—-
“Engineer Wistina has completed her tests, and we are now on course,” said Do’rex without looking back. “That one ship is still on a parallel orbit, and you have a comm from Gashuiimi STC.”
“Oh?” I finished settling into my seat and pulled up my feed. “STC? Sorry, I was away from my console for a while.”
“Are you OK, Captain? We were becoming slightly concerned.” I was trying to place the voice.
“Yeah. Sorry. I was dealing with an internal issue. But we’re fine, I assure you.”
“And that ship shadowing you? We hadn’t had that one on our scanners or sensors, which isn’t showing a transponder. Friend of yours?”
I grimaced. “No. We’ve seen them too, and our gunner is tracking them. I suspect they’re just using our Navigator to get them to the Jump Point, though I don’t know what they plan to do after that.”
“Well, we’re about to break orbit to come to join you. We just brought you in; I don’t want to have to rescue you again.”
The voice suddenly clicked. “Oh! Captain Yplinsk! Sorry, I didn’t recognize you at first.”
She laughed. “Well, you weren’t in the best shape when we picked you up.” Her voice turned more serious. “But we didn’t spend a lot of resources helping one of our preferred partners just to have them immediately attacked again. So… we’ll tag along until your Jump. Just in case.”
I didn’t want any more attention than necessary, but I couldn’t deny that having the Horizon Aura around would be a bit of a safety net. I pinged the gunnery suite.
“Varan, we’re going to have the Horizon Aura join us. Just giving you a heads up.”
There was silence.
After a few moments, I pinged again. “Varan? You there?”
More silence.
I looked up, “Gray, where is Varan?”
She immediately replied. “Gunnery Officer Varan is on the Passenger Deck.”
“What? Why?”
“He did not advise me as to the reason as to his movement. Do you wish that I inquire?”
I shook my head as I quickly dropped to the deck. “No! No. Maintain normal operation. Wait! Stand by to activate anti-hijack protocols on my command.”
“Confirm.”
I was waiting for the iris to cycle. “And remove crew status from Varan!”
“I require secondary authorization for that.”
“This is first officer Do’rex, confirming the removal of crew status for Mr. Holt.”
I glanced back. Do’rex had not turned his head, but Saahna had pushed back her seat and climbed out. She nodded grimly in satisfaction. “I’ll take the gimbal.”
“No. The Horizon Aura has us covered. Follow me.”
I quickly entered the crew lounge. It was empty. I glanced at the gunnery suite but quickly took the ladder to the passenger deck.
—-
“But who are they!” I heard a woman’s voice yelling as I cleared the iris. “I need to know, now!” She was trying to sound assertive, but I could hear the edge of panic in her voice. It was Evel Kane, of course.
I climbed onto the deck, stepped to the side, and looked around. The Lemmis were there and looking around in panic. Dr. Korvusar was in her usual seat, though I noted that she was now wearing a tunic I had never seen her in before and that she had crossed her arms with one hand tucked under said tunic. She didn’t acknowledge my arrival but kept her gaze aimed at Evel.
“Varan, what the hells do you think you are doing!”
He spun to look at me; apparently, he hadn’t heard the iris cycle. His eyes went wide, but the gun he had been aiming at Shelly was now aimed at me.
He laughed. “See what it is like when someone gets you involved with some local politics! Yeah! It’s good to you being inconvenienced for once, instead of just dumping it on all of us!”
I sighed and took a few more steps away from the iris. I didn’t want him to see Saahna behind me. “You think you can come back from this?”
“Come back?” He laughed. “All of us have followed you, even while you’re getting us involved in all kinds of conspiracies! I’ve asked you to back off, but you never did! And now you’ve done it again!”
I was glaring at him. “I haven’t done anything this time!”
He laughed. “Except for bringing the Steton’s back on board! After they tried to kill us!”
I shook my head. “The Steton’s aren’t on board.”
“Yeah, right. Prove it!”
Is that what all of this is about? “I assure you, the Steton’s aren’t on board.”
“Then let me see who is! Now!”
I sighed. Yes, he was pointing a gun at me, but it wasn’t the first time I’d had one pointed at me. And I was pretty sure that he wouldn’t use it. Though part of that may have been me hoping he wouldn’t.
“We have one High Passenger; Overal Cenna. And two passengers we picked up from that Fungus Barge; Alter Vitriman and Selva Kramon. None of whom are the Steton’s, as you may notice. Nor are they anyone that we have had contact with before.”
His resolve faltered a bit. “Then… why the secrecy in picking them up?”
“Kramon and Vitriman have ended their contracts and are getting out-system as fast as possible. Which I’m fine with; their credits spend as well as anyone else’s; I’m trying to get out of here as well!”
He was shaking his head. “No. No! They have to be here! You wouldn’t leave them! That’s what that whole secret meeting was about, right?”
“You would have known what that secret meeting was about if you had bothered to show up instead of wanting more bunk time with your down-girl here. And it was about Kramon and Vitriman!”
OK, it was a minor lie.
Ms. Kane turned to face me, but her gun was aimed at the floor. She seemed to be about to say something, but before she could say anything, Do’rex came in over the overhead speakers.
“My apologies, Captain, but you are not responding to your personal comm. That ship pacing us has gone to full power and is now on an intercept course. The Horizon Aura is also inquiring as to our status.
“Hang on!” I turned to Evel. “What the hells is going on?”
She shook her head. She had the expression of someone far outside her safety zone but doing her best to ride it out. “I… I just need to know who your passengers are.”
I shook my head. “You realize there is no way back from this.”
“Yes! No! Wait…” She looked away, raising. “This was supposed to be so easy! They promised that it would be easy!
Do’rex broke in again. “We are receiving a directed comm from the unknown ship, but it is encrypted. Do you wish to remove external blocks?”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me. “Friends of yours?”
She looked around frantically. “I just need to… they asked… Just… let me know who your passengers are!”
I shrugged. “Fine.” I looked up. “Gray? Owner’s override. Open all cabin doors.”
“Confirm?”
“Confirm.”
There was a slight pause, then with a hiss, the other passenger cabin doors opened. Overal Ceana almost immediately exited hers.
She looked around and saw me, then charged in my direction. “Captain Kodai! I must object to this! I had my cabin set for full privacy, and you…”
She trailed off as she saw both Varan and Evel aiming firearms at her. She blanched, then backed off toward her cabin.
“Ms. Kramon, Mr. Vitriman… it would be helpful if you came out here right now…” I yelled.
There was a pause, then Altor exited, followed a few moments later by Salva. “What is going on, Captain?” he asked. I could tell he was concerned.
“I’m working on it!” I said more sharply than I should have. “Gray? Drop the block on external comms.”
“Confirm.”
I turned to Evel. “I think you have a comm to answer.”
She was looking around frantically but finally pulled out her comm. “Yes?”
“Ms. Kane?” came a voice in an accent that I couldn’t quite place. “Our contacts on Gashuumi have told us that you would be able to provide us with a full passenger list for the Grayswandir. Do you have such a list?”
She glanced around. “Well, yes? Maybe? I mean…” she looked at Varan. “Who is everyone again?”
I stepped forward and plucked the comm from her hand, trying to show more confidence than I had. We weren’t in the best position, but being assertive might buy us enough time for the Horizon Aura to get close enough to support us. I realized that I had never asked Gray to take over the turrets, so we had no defenses at the moment.
“Overal Ceana, Lanta and Reika Lemmis, Salva Kramon, Alter Vitriman, and MIlisana Korvusar. That’s it.”
There was a pause.
“Ms. Kane, can you confirm? We understand that you are compromised, but are you sure!”
She looked around as I handed her comm back to her. “Well, I think so?”
“Have you checked everywhere? All cabins? Cargo? Airlocks?”
She looked at Varan. “OK, let me…”
“It won’t matter. If the crew over there knows what is going on, then you won’t find them.”
There was another pause.
“Let me talk to Captain Kodai. I assume that is who I was speaking to earlier?”
“Well… yeah, but…”
I reached out again. She pulled away, but I grabbed the comm. She pulled her gun up, but I knew she wouldn’t use it by this point.
“Kodai here. And you’re a bit far from Home, aren’t you?” I had finally placed the accent and emphasized one word a bit.
“You’re clever, Captain. I will give you that. I have seen your reputation, and it seems to be well-deserved. But you realize that we can get to Mupikaa before you.”
“Good for you.”
“We’ll be there in time to get our local contacts to see who does disembark from your ship. And we expect Ms. Kane to be one of them. Trust me, we don’t forget our assets. I hope you are as careful with them as you are for your own.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. “Look, I try to avoid trouble. They aren’t here. Go find someone else to bother.”
“Try to avoid trouble? Oh, Captain Kodai. I’m sorry, but you’ve taken too much after your father. But don’t worry, if the people who deboard your ship at Mupikaa are only who you claim will be there, then we’ll have no further problems. Until then… I hope we never meet again.” She clicked off.
“Well…” I said to no one in particular, “I’m glad we got all of that worked out.”
Evel nodded. “Thank you, Captain. I’m sorry but… I was afraid…”
“One moment…” I said, holding up a finger as I looked up. “Gray? Execute.”
“Confirm.”
A pair of turrets instantly deployed from the ceiling. Darts, calibrated to their biometrics, fired and hit her and Varan.
Varan had just enough time to stare at me in surprise before collapsing to the floor. I looked over to see Evel had collapsed as well.
I looked back at Varan. “And how did you think that was going to end?” I asked the air around him.
Ms. Ceana was staring at me. “Captain Kodai! I must object to this! I have never been on a ship where…”
“Another Free Trader?” I asked, turning a now angry gaze at her. The emotion was finally hitting, and I was not in the mood to explain myself to anyone, much less an annoying passenger. “For us, this is ‘Thursday.’ OK, this is a bit out of the ordinary even for us, But it’s over. Mark it down as another exciting event on your Travels that you can regale your friends with going forward.”
“What! No! You can’t just…”
“I’m refunding your passage. Do you think even a High Passage means that much to me anymore? Now, please, return to your cabin and…”
“No! You can’t…”
“Gray? Refund Ms. Ceana’s passage, plus give her a voucher for a future trip. Transfer immediately.”
“Confirm.”
She looked at me. “You can’t think that just giving me a free trip will…”
“Read the Merchant’s Guild regs someday. Or all that boring text they send you with your ticket. The most we are expected to provide in the event of bad service is a full refund. I’ve doubled that. Now… go back to your cabin before our computer decides that your confrontation with me hits the trigger for our now-active anti-hijack protocols.”
She heard the tone in my voice and looked from me to the turrets still deployed from the ceiling, then back.
“Thank you for… compensation, Captain.” She quickly hurried to her cabin, and I heard the bleeps as she kept hitting the close door button.
I looked up. “Gray, release owner’s override.”
The door slid shut.
—-
Saahna had climbed into the Passenger Lounge the rest of the way and was now standing next to me. Shelly had picked up the gun that Evel had dropped and was looking at it curiously, while Vitramin had retrieved Varan’s and stuffed it in his waistband. The Lemmis were still looking around in concern.
I started in their direction, but Shelly ran up to me. “What were you waiting for? She said she would kill me!”
I sighed. The adrenaline surge I hadn’t noticed was starting to fade, and I was beginning to shake. “She… wouldn’t have. I don’t think she could.”
“But she had a gun! Pointed at me!”
“Yeah, she was trying to intimidate you into telling her what she wanted to know. And you didn’t. Which is good.”
“They weren’t here! I kept telling her that, and she kept telling me I was lying! You had those… gun things up there!” She gestured with the gun she was holding herself, though I’m not sure she realized she had it. “Why didn’t you use them earlier!”
“Because there was a ship three times our size pacing us that was waiting on a report from her. I needed her to give a report saying that they weren’t here before I could do anything!”
“And how was I supposed to know that! Is… is he right?” She waved the gun at Varan. “What have you done this time!”
It hurt, hearing that from her, but I was still on adrenaline. “Because I didn’t know myself until we were middle of it! This has nothing to do with what we have done. Someone else made a bad assumption.” I paused. “Although I suspect that Varan verified their wrong guess, even though…” I trailed off.
Saahna had come up beside me. “Shelly, listen. I know how upset you are. I know how scared I was the first time I had a live firearm pointed at me. So I get it. But… trust me. I’ve been with Derek all week. We were as caught by surprise about this as you were. I was on the bridge with Derek when we realized what was happening, and we responded instantly. This… caught all of us by surprise. But… I know how you feel. Let’s talk.”
As she spoke, she took one of Shelly’s hands, then retrieved the gun from her other, clicking the safety back on and sticking it into her belt. She led Shelly, who was now crying openly, away.
I sighed, wondering what I could say to her later. I then turned back to the Lemmis.
“I’m sorry that you got caught up in this,” I said, taking a step or two toward them. “I’m refunding your passage and issuing you a voucher as well. But, for now, please return to your cabin. Things should be back to normal soon.”
Lanta was shaking his head. “But… what was that all about!”
“We got involved in a situation on our last Jump. Someone thought the perpetrators would also be on this Jump and wanted to intercept them. They were wrong. But even Gashuumi had sent a ship out to cover us. They were wrong, and we had no one and nothing of interest on board. So they left.”
He was nodding. “I just… I just never thought I would get caught in something like this. It was… it was like something from Captain Spaceways!”
“Yeah, sometimes they get it right.” I was about to continue when Do’rex came in again.
“You left your comm on your console,” he repeated, without preamble. “The unknown ship has gone to 3Gs of acceleration and is pulling away from us. The Horizon Aura has matched our course and is asking if they should stay with us or pursue the unknown ship.”
“Much as I would like to send the Aura after whoever they are, that won’t help us. Give me a comm to the Aura.”
There was a brief pause, then a click.
“Grayswandir, are you OK?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. Someone thought that we were transporting escaped prisoners of all things. They had infiltrated one of their people onboard and attempted to access our passenger cabins. We demonstrated them and that other ship that their ‘people of interest’ were not on board, and they left.”
“And their operative that they had ‘infiltrated’ onto your ship?”
“Currently lying on the floor of the passenger deck unconscious.”
I heard a slight laugh. “You don’t have lasers in your nojack defenses?”
“Sorry. I think that breaks a regulation somewhere. Something about ‘accidental triggering.'”
I wasn’t sure why I was suddenly being flippant. I should be upset, angry, sad, or some combination of the above. It was probably just some weird adreneline reaction. I almost felt as if I was outside of myself and watching events as an outsider.
“Who did they think you had on board that made it worth burning one of their assets?”
“The Stetons,” I said, with as little emotion as I could show. “I’ve heard they escaped, somehow. Whoever they are, they must be after them very badly.”
“Sols,” said Captain Yplinsk. “I recognized the design of the ship. One of their ‘Survey Cruisers.’ I have no idea what one of them was doing here or what they wanted from you.”
“The Stetons know something about Solomani operations in the area,” I said. From her tone, I hoped for a sympathetic response. “We got that much from them before they were arrested. And now they’ve escaped. Probably because someone wanted to get to them before your people did.”
There was a long pause. I was beginning to think that I had pushed too much, but then she came back online.
“Yeah… We’re thinking the same thing here.” She paused.
“OK, you’re one of our partners, so you probably know. We’ve been trying to keep diplomatic relations with both the Imperium and the Confederation for some time now. How better to keep our neutrality and expand our influence while keeping both of them at arm’s length, right?”
She sighed. “Then your Imperium had to start a rutting Civil War. And now the Sols think they can just swoop in and take us over. That… We had never expected that to happen.”
“Trust me. I would never have expected that either.”
“Yeah! An Archduke kills the Emperor and claims the throne? And then everyone else claims the throne as well? What the hells were you thinking over there!”
“I’m not a big fan of the Imperium myself at the moment.”
“You’re still showing their transponder.” She paused. “And one for the ‘Hinterworlds Alliance.’ Forget who you are working with?”
I grimaced but tried to make the best of it. “Well, I don’t have a transponder for Tlianke.”
“You don’t?” She sounded genuinely surprised. “You should have gotten that with your Preferred Partner package. Hang on…”
There was a pause, then the comms pinged. “Add that to your transponder. We’ll forgive you for being with those Boilingbrook people. For now. Just… when it comes down to it, remember who your friends are.”
How the hells do they still think we are legit?! was all I could think. “Thanks. I’ll get it set up.”
“Good. But… You don’t have the Stetons on board. Do you?”
“No! I assure you that we don’t.”
“Then… what was that weird hover over the Efferian all about?” An edge had come back into her voice.
I hope that their cover will hold for a while… We picked up a pair of passengers from a fungus barge. They had finished their contract and wanted to leave as fast as possible, so we had to be as careful as we could. Sorry.”
She laughed. “Seriously? If someone contracts here and doesn’t want to stay, we are happy to get rid of them. We need people loyal to us, not unhappy people. They could have left at any time! Who are they?”
I hesitated, then responded. “Salva Kramon and Alter Vitriman.”
There was a pause. “OK, I’m marking them as out-system, just so their barge doesn’t try to do a search pattern thinking that they fell overboard. And tell them we hope they are successful where ever they wind up.”
It was my turn to pause. “Really?”
“Yes! We know we have a… unique culture. But most of our citizens are happy to be here. We have never asked or forced anyone who isn’t happy to stay here. But, you know that.”
Except for people who can’t afford to leave, I thought, but I was starting to wonder about my opinion of Tlianke culture. “I’ll let them know. Thanks.”
“Do you need us to escort you to your Jump Point?”
“Probably not, unless that Sol ship hangs out waiting for us. I think we’ll have more problems at Mupikaa.”
“You’re probably right, but we can’t follow you.” There was a pause. “The Sunset Shadow is patrolling the standard outbound point. I’ve sent them a comm letting them know what is going on, so they’ll look out for you. Sound good?”
“That… will work. Thanks.”
“Not a problem. Just remember to add our code to your beacon. And remember which ones to activate and deactivate when you get there.”
“Yeah, sure. Sounds good. Thanks Aura”
“See you next Jump!” The comm clicked off.
I looked around. Percy had arrived and was looking over both Ms. Kane and Varan. I gestured to it.
“Anything wrong?”
“No,” it replied. “But there is always a possibility of a misdose with the automated systems. They will both be sedated for at least another two-to-three hours.”
“Can you keep them out for longer? Say… until tomorrow?”
It blinked a few lights at me. “They would require more attention, in that case, to ensure proper hydration and nutrition levels.”
“Fine.” I looked up. “Gray, get the utility bots to take Ms. Kane and Varan to his cabin and place them in their bunk. Then block all access to anything but basic life-support in the cabin, and seal the door to anyone who isn’t part of our crew. Which no longer includes Varan. Remove all crew privileges from Varan Holt.”
There was a slight pause. “I require a second confirmation for that action.”
“Captain and Owner override. Remove crew status from Varan Holt. He is now considered supercargo.”
Another slight pause. “All access previously allowed to Mr. Holt has been removed. He has access to basic life support only.”
“Thanks.”
There was no reply, though I hadn’t expected any. Gray had done her job and had nothing else to say. I walked over to where Kramon and Vitriman were standing near their cabins.
“So…” I said, trying to sound more in control than I was. “What the hells is so important about the Stetons that the Sols were willing to burn this many assets on a guess?”
Alter looked at me and smiled. “The location of all Solomani assets in the Hinterworlds?”
“What?”
He nodded. “Yeah, they got lucky. Well, unlucky for them. They got access to a lot of data. Data that the Sols really don’t want to get out. They’re pretty desperate to recover it.”
“And you have a copy?”
He nodded. “Yeah. We… managed to get it.”
“Managed?”
He sighed. “Yeah, we… got it. It was our payment for getting them out.”
I hesitated but decided not to ask. “Where are they?”
“Safe? We’ll keep them in our safehouses for a few months, then get them out-system. They’re a bit unhappy, but they’re alive. Confined for a while is better than being an involuntary organ donor. Right?”
I wondered what he wasn’t telling me. “So… what intel did they have?”
He looked around. “We’ll go over that later. Once both of us are sure that our previous shipmates there,” he gestured to where a utility bot was lowering Ms. Kane down the ladder to the crew deck, “didn’t leave any recording devices or transmitters hidden on board.”
I nodded, then looked up. “Gray, start a full scan for any recording or comm devices anywhere on board.”
“Confirm.”
“You know that they would probably be shielded.”
“Yeah, but you start with what you have. So… can you tell me what you know?”
He sighed and shook his head. “Not now, no. Maybe, tomorrow, once we’re in Jumpspace and we’ve checked where ever we are for sensors. But for now? Let’s just hope we get through the next few hours.”
I looked at Kramon, but she just nodded in agreement.
“Well, try to get what rest you can. We should hit Jump distance in about 10 hours. After that? We’ll see what happens.”
“Thank you, Captain.” The two turned and left. I idly noted that they both went to Vitriman’s cabin.
The passenger lounge was mostly empty. Saahna and Shelly were sitting on a sofa in quiet conversation, and Dr. Korvusar was in her usual place, now engrossed in her comp again. I sighed and walked over to her.
“Thank you for your help during that… incident.”
She didn’t even look up but handed me an empty glass. “You seem to have handled it well, Captain. But, right now, I really would like another wine, since your Steward seems to be indisposed. I don’t suppose…”
Instead of taking it, I rubbed my eyes. “You could have stepped in at any time, you know.”
She looked up, still holding her glass. “But why? I’m just a passenger.”
“Yeah, with a laser pistol under her tunic.”
She shrugged. “I had assumed that my pulling it out would have triggered your defense protocols. I am surprised you didn’t have them set to automatic, especially after your experience with Sir Gortor.”
“I’ll review our protocols.” I took her glass and went to the dispenser. I glanced over at Saahna, who was still comforting a now-sobbing Shelly. She gave me a quick nod as I refilled the glass, returned to the doctor, and then handed her the glass.
“Thank you, Captain. You are most helpful, as always.”
I gave a tight smile. “I try. But I think we need to change our relationship a bit.”
She frowned and snapped her comp shut. “Captain? I hope I have not offended you.”
“Not at all, but I’ve realized we need to be more careful of our behavior. You asked for a Medic position a few months ago. I’m willing to accept your application if you are still interested.”
She paused for longer than I would have expected. “I will accept, Captain, but… why now?”
“We’ve made both enemies and friends over the past few months. So I want to be more careful from now on. I don’t need someone suddenly wondering who this random passenger is who keeps Jumping with us. But, if you are Crew…”
“And it seems you may be a bit short on Crew soon. This latest incident hasn’t endeared you to many of them.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m… trying to think of what is best for the ship. And… being able to do what I have to do.”
“Oh?”
“I didn’t believe you at first. But… yeah. Things are going downhill rapidly. I could take care of myself, or… I can try to take care of the people that I am capable of helping.”
“Noblis Oblige,” she said quietly.
“Yeah. I don’t think I ever understood that until now. And I’m not nobility. Not for a long time.”
“‘Nobility’ doesn’t just mean having a title. It means having autonomy and the ability to influence the universe around you. You have both of those. You can have a bigger influence on the Hinterworlds than you think you can. You already have influenced things here, without even trying. Imagine what you can do if you do.”
I shook my head. “I still don’t buy that I’m some ‘chosen one.’ Leave that to Captain Spaceways. But… I’ll do what I can.”
“Good.” She opened her comp and turned back to it. “I will accept your invitation, Captain, on one condition. I keep the cabin I have now.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m going to stop searching for passengers anyway.”
“Why?”
“Well, we may be without a Steward soon, so I can’t carry then anyway.”
She glanced over to where Saahna and Shelly were still in conversation. Shelly seemed to have composed herself a bit but was still obviously shaken.
“I think you will be fine, Captain. I have spent time with Ms. Tharis, just talking, over the past few weeks. She is shaken now, but why shouldn’t she be? She’s had someone try to kill her on the past two Jumps. That’s a lot for someone new to Travelling. It takes almost a year for that to happen to most of us.”
She gave a smile that I didn’t return.
She shrugged. “She will be fine. I’m sure your Pilot Do’rex will do his best to convince her to stay too. The loss of your Gunner Holt will probably help you there.”
I grimaced. “I… need to talk to him.”
“He helped an infiltrator onto your ship and helped her gain access to the Passenger Lounge. Then both of them pointed firearms at you and your crew. What defense could he possibly give?”
“He…” I looked away. “He’s the oldest friend I have.”
“A friend? Who pointed a gun at you?”
“He was upset. He… wasn’t happy with some of the decisions I have been making.”
“Again, a friend?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I know. I’m… slowly getting there myself.”
“You know what the standard Imperial procedure is for hijackers.”
“Yeah. And I haven’t done that. Ever. I won’t stop now.”
“Why?”
I looked at the ceiling. “Because he was my friend. I can’t forgive the betrayal, but I can’t toss him into Jumpspace because of our past.”
She nodded slowly. “I… appreciate your loyalty to even sophonts who have betrayed you. But… you do realize he can’t stay with us anymore.”
“Yeah. I know.” I sighed. “The next crew meeting, I’m going to go full reveal. Tell everyone that we will try to help every system we Jump into, even if that means attracting attention to ourselves, which I will try to minimize. But… I’ll be looking for locals to help, and how to help them.”
She continued to look at her comp. “Then I look forward to attending my first official crew meeting with you. Tomorrow, I assume?”
“Yes.”
” I will be there.”
She turned her attention to her comp again, and I looked around. Beyond Saahna and Shelly, there was no one other than us in the lounge. I went to the iris and went back to the crew deck.
—-
Do’rex clicked as I entered the bridge but said nothing else. I climbed into my seat and went through everything that had come in while I was away. Almost all of it had been resolved while I was upstairs, and the rest was ignorable.
Do’rex turned to me once I was settled in. “The Horizion Aura is returning to Gashuumi. The unknown ship is now well ahead of us. Do we have any other concerns?”
I sighed. “Yeah, a few, but none of them are external. We’ll have to deal with the rest of it this week.”
I looked up. “Gray? Doctor Milansa Korvusar is now classified as part of the Crew with the position of Medic. She now has full Crew access.”
“Confirm.”
“And remove all Crew status from Varan Holt. He is no longer part of our Crew.”
“His status has already been removed, but I confirm that.”
Do’rex clicked but didn’t say anything.
—-
Saahna came in about a half-hour later. She held a hand, ducked under my seat, and climbed into her own. After checking her console, she turned back to me.
“I think I’ve talked Shelly down. She may stay with us, but only if Varan and his port-girl go away. So… it’s up to you.”
I hesitated. We had been friends for a long time. But… he had endangered my ship. And had pointed a gun at me.
“Yeah… he’s gone. He may be my oldest friend, but…” I paused again. “Now I’m wondering if he ever really was.”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m an outsider, but… it was one-sided.”
“Yeah. He was happy as long as I did what he wanted, but once I started doing other things? It didn’t work.”
It was her turn to pause. “I can guess what changed, but… we’ll talk. Later.”
“Thanks.”
We all turned back to our consoles.
—-
Hours passed, and we eventually reached our Jump Point. The unknown ship had long since Jumped, and the Sunset Shadow did nothing but acknowledge our arrival. I opened shipwide comms.
“Attention everyone, we are about to initiate Jump. We should have no problems, but we suggest you be seated at least while our tumble takes place. Please alert any of us if you feel uncomfortable.”
I dimmed the lights, then turned to Do’rex. “Whenever you are ready.”
He clicked and tapped his console. Almost immediately, I saw the glow build around the edges of the canopy, then the stars fade out. When they had been replaced with the shifting grays of Jumpspace, he turned back to me.
“Tumble complete. We should be at Mupikaa in a week.”
“Thanks.” I hit the control to close the canopy. “Well, let’s see what happens when we hit Mupikaa. Crew meeting tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise? Take it easy for a while.”
He clicked. He shut down his console, then ducked under my seat as he left the bridge.
Saahna had been watching and pushed her seat back after he left. She went to stand under my seat.
“You should take the same advice. You need to come to bed.”
I pretended to focus on my console. “Not now. I have a few things to take care of.”
She nodded. “OK, fine. Well, anytime you’re ready to talk…”
“I’m fine!”
She closed her eyes and nodded, then left the bridge.
When the iris had cycled behind her, I tapped on my console, asking a utility bot to bring me a beer. Or three. Then I leaned back in my seat.
What else could I have done?