12 Eamis 1117: Mupikaa – Tlianke/Hinterworlds – (1337 A426588-A NI 903 Na M2 V)
We both overslept a bit today. This was a local darkday–meaning we were in Mupikaa’s 22-hour night–and we were both waiting on a sunrise that never came.
Different systems have adapted to different day/night cycles in multiple ways. Humaniti has yet to be a space-faring civilization long enough to break away from our evolutionary-ingrained 22-26 hour cycle, so we still tend to fall into that pattern. When the Ancients took the original humans from Old Terra, they carefully distributed us onto planets within about 10% of its 24-hour day. And a few thousand years of random cycles have yet to be enough to break eons of evolution. Most systems with drastically different cycles usually compensate for it.
Mupikaa had done that with their lightday/dark day split of a 44-hour day, but most systems compensated with artificial lights. Mupikaa hadn’t.
Despite having more sleep than usual, I was groggy, but I finally pulled myself out of our bunk. I hit the fresher, then told Saahna that I was heading down to the hotel bar to work on our business for the week. She just groaned and waved me toward the door.
After grabbing some grilled, shredded tuber-cakes and a coffee bulb, I found a table and started work.
Most of the Freight we had carried had already been picked up, but the rest was still sitting in a transit warehouse that we were still paying fees on. I pinged the delivery contacts again to remind them that it was here and added that if they didn’t pick it up soon, I would just sell it myself to avoid fees. I got one instant ping in return and hoped the rest would follow suit.
I then started putting our cargo up for bids. I had a few quick responses trying for a too-low price, presumably hoping we were desperate.
I wasn’t. We were well enough off to leave here without doing anything, and still keep us Jumping. The number of offers implied that our problems on arriving in-system were known, and they hoped to capitalize on that. I was happy to disappoint them.
After I listed everything, I debated my next move. I could list Drosyodry as our next destination, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to pick up freight or passengers from here. So… I held off.
As I was working, Saahna came down and dropped into the seat opposite me with her own plate of fried tubers and coffee. She had some kind of curdled dairy, something or another that she had taken one bite of, grimaced, and shoved aside. But she downed the tuber cake in record time.
“What are these things!” she said when I snapped my comp shut, while gesturing at her now-empty plate.
“Tubers of some kind,” I said, shrugging. “They’re apparently very versatile. The sophonts here eat them in an amazing number of ways; boiled, mashed, fried, shredded, or as part of a stew or something. Nutritionally, they provide almost all the nutrients needed to survive. I’m not sure why we haven’t encountered them before.”
“Really? Yeah, and they’re tasty too! Why aren’t these everywhere?”
“They’re apparently something the Solomani are keeping to themselves. According to the locals, when the Terrans first expanded into their own system a few thousand years ago, their first colony was Sol-IV. This plant grew quite readily under the local conditions, needing only the biowaste of the first colonists for fertilizer. So they depended on it for a long time.
The environment on Sol IV is a lot like the one here, and some early Sol settlers remembered these tubers. So they imported some, and… it’s been their primary food source here since then.”
“And… they’ve never tried to export it?”
I shrugged. “I’m not going to tell these people that they are sitting on a lanthanum mine, But you better believe that a big chunk of our cargo space will be taken up with this stuff when we leave.”
“OK, but… There must be some reason this stuff isn’t a major export.”
“Well, it will be if we have anything to do with it.” I paused as my comm buzzed with the crew pattern. It was Do’rex.
“Can you meet us?” he said as soon as I opened the connection.
“Uh… yeah? Where are you?”
“We are at a facility called the Oceanview. Both Ms. Tharis and I are here. We would like to be able to speak with you.”
I grimaced but nodded. “Yeah. Sure. Give me a few.”
“We are waiting.” He clicked off.
I hadn’t engaged privacy mode, and Saahna was looking at me. “What now?”
“I suspect that Shelly has decided not to Travel with us anymore. And that Do’rex is staying with her.”
“Wait… I knew they were spending time together, but I also knew how much he likes being with us. I’m… really?”
“Yeah. Me too. But… I need to talk to them.” I waved my ident in the general direction of the wait-bot and heard the beep. “Let’s go.”
—-
The Oceanview was in another dome, a kilometer north of the central dome. We had grabbed a mag-cab, and this was the dome where most of their oceanic projects originated from. In fact, the dome extended a surprising distance over the ocean.
The Oceanview was, obviously, the restaurant/pub most located over the ocean.
On arrival, we walked a few minutes to the Oceanview. It was at the northern edge of the dome, but there was still enough clearance on the roof to have an open space there. We went up.
My attention was immediately taken by several voices, all raised. I looked over.
The upper level of the Oceanview was an open patio surrounding a relatively-small bar. It only had space for four or five seats, but several wait-bots were moving between the bar and the roughly dozen tables on the open deck, half occupied.
Three of the seats were occupied. Well, one of them was. Evel Cane was sitting in it, looking uncomfortable. Varan was standing next to one, and Jami was standing next to another.
“So why the hells are you still putting up with his biowaste!” Varan was shouting. “You know he is lying to you!”
“And you never lie?” Jami was visibly annoyed. She was basically wearing… nothing, a pair of panties that barely covered her modesty, and nothing else. A man I recognized from the night before stood a few steps behind her, but she waved him back when he started to step forward.
I stepped forward.
“Why are you antagonizing my crew? Get out of here.”
He spun to look at me, eyes wide. He took a few breaths.
“You’ve rutted enough of us over!”
“No. You just thought that you had more influence than you did. Get the rut out of here!”
“You can’t tell me what to do!”
“What? Can’t find an outbound post because of our reputation? What about that berth that Ms. Cane promised you?”
She looked over as soon as I mentioned her name, then almost as quickly started looking at something on her comp.
Varan was seething. “You screwed that up!”
I sighed. “If you had ever paid attention to anything that was going on, then you would realize why I do things the way I do. Now… close out and get out of here.”
“Hey! I’m not part of your crew anymore. You can’t tell me what to do!”
“I don’t care. Get the rut out of here!”
As I spoke, Saahna had taken a few steps forward and tucked a hand under her vest. Varan blanched.
“OK, fine!” He looked at Ms. Cane. “Let’s… go somewhere else.”
She was looking at me, but she nodded and stood up. The two quickly left the bar.
—-
Jami was shaking her head. “I tried to explain the same thing, but he… didn’t want to hear it.”
“Yeah. Not surprised.” I looked around. Finally, I saw Do’rex and Shelly sitting at a table tucked into a corner of the architecture. I wouldn’t have seen it from the bar without taking a few steps away. I went over. Saahna, Jami, and her friend following.
About halfway there, Jami suddenly stopped and turned to her companion. “Hey, Vail. Why don’t you just save our seats at the bar? I’ll… be back in a minute?”
He frowned. “Is everything OK? You seem to be…”
“I’m fine.” She said as she gave him a solid kiss on the lips. “We’ll go to the beach like you wanted later. Just hold our seats.”
He glanced between her, me, and the table, then turned and headed back. I watched as he sat down, realized that he couldn’t see us at our table from the bar, then followed Saahna, who had already joined the two there.
As Jami and I sat down, a waitbot quickly hovered over. Do’rex clicked in what I recognized as annoyance while Shelly suddenly became fascinated at the view of the city behind her. We ordered drinks and a few baskets of tuber chips, then sat in awkward silence until it returned with our orders.
“Try these; they’re delicious,” I said, taking a handful of chips and pushing my basket toward Do’rex and Shelly. He looked in my direction while she looked at them curiously before hesitantly taking one.
“He is gone?” Do’rex asked.
“Yeah. I told you that. He is no longer part of the crew. He isn’t with us anymore.”
“Then why was he here?”
“I certainly didn’t invite him. Look, there are less than a million sophonts in the entire system. And only so many of them are here. We’re going to run into each other. This was bad timing, nothing more.”
“Why hasn’t he left?”
“Because he apparently has yet to find a berth out. His down-girl from Gashuumi apparently promised him one, but that seems to have fallen apart.”
“So we’re stuck with him.” Shelly was glaring at me.
“No, we aren’t. He isn’t Jumping with us anymore. Believe me. He crossed a line.”
“Oh, and when he was harassing me, that wasn’t crossing a line?”
I looked back at her. “I thought that was behind us. I didn’t realize that it was still happening until this last Jump. If you had told me earlier, then, yeah, I would have given him an ultimatum. But… I can’t react to what I didn’t know.”
Do’rex clicked. “How did you not know?”
“Hey, I was in a coma for a while, remember? And until recently, I didn’t spend much time with all of you while in-system. Yeah, I should have so that I would know what was concerning you. Again, my fault. I really didn’t know.” I paused. “Why didn’t you say something to me?”
He clicked uncertainly, then looked away. “I… did not wish to intrude upon your friendship.”
I sighed. Yeah, this was definitely my fault.
“OK, listen. I know that we have all been Jumping together for a long time. Years, even. But… I’m not just someone else on the crew anymore. I’m the Captain now. And the Owner. I need to know when things are going Rimward. Yes, I don’t want to set myself apart from you. We’re all in this together, especially given what we have learned from events back in the Imperium. We have to work together!”
I tried to be as sincere as I could. “Going forward, the only sophonts we can depend on are ourselves. OK, yeah. Maybe I’ve messed up. No, not ‘maybe.’ I have missed things. But…
“I need you. Both of you. All of you. Things are… getting bad. Both back home and out here. And, ignoring what our dear Doctor is saying, I can see a way that we can keep things going. We can’t save everyone from what is happening. But we can save a few systems.
“And… that is going to be our purpose. That is what I am going to do. I’ve… failed to help sophonts who were depending on me before. I’ve failed to help my crew before. Say whatever you want. I deserve it. And this isn’t just me begging for approval.
“The Grayswandir will keep Jumping. I can handle that. I just need all of you to… trust me. Again, I know. I have screwed up a lot. But… I now know what I am doing. And I can’t do it without you. All of you.
“If you want to leave? Fine. There are dozens of ships passing through here every day. All of you are very capable of finding passage on any ship here. But… I want you with me.
“I need you with me. I… can’t do this alone.”
I hadn’t realized how deeply I was reaching, but I blinked back tears. I had learned what I had to do, what my father had prepared me to do, but it had just become real now.
No, not what my father wanted me to do. What I wanted to do. He had set the example. And I knew that he was right. I could only follow his example.
—-
I hadn’t realized I had closed my eyes to hold back the tears. I opened them and looked up.
Everyone was looking at me. Somehow, Jami and Saahna sensed my mood and held up their hands. Do’rex and Shelly were looking at each other.
Finally, Do’rex looked back at me and raised a tentacle. “I… hope that you are sincere. As long as you follow your beliefs, I am with you.”
“Absolutely. And I ask you, personally, to keep me honest to that.”
He bobbed. “I will honor that request. Even if it upsets you.”
“Of course.” I turned to look at Shelly.
She was frantically looking around. “Why me?”
“Because you are actually the most important of us. We’re going to try to be a beacon. A ‘Torchbearer’, to quote Doctor Korvrusar. But, to inspire others, they must know what we are doing. That is where you come in.”
I leaned forward. “I don’t think that you’re being on the Grayswandir was an accident. Not anymore. The people who got Minister Drankon on board were those who got you on board. And I’m pretty sure they were working with Jestin Former and the Doctor’s Embers. You’re here because you need to be here.”
There was a long silence. Saahna was looking at me, nodding slowly, while everyone else was looking a Shelly.
She looked around frantically. “No! I can’t do this!”
“I get it. I’m unsure I would stay with us if I didn’t own the ship.” I smiled weakly at the joke that no one else had responded to.
“OK. Well, we’re here until the 18th. If you change your mind, you have all of our comm codes. But… I can’t force you to stay.”
Do’rex was standing up. “I… will contact you later.”
“Of course. I won’t expect any more contact until the 17th. We’ll have the pre-lift meetup then.”
“Understood.” He extended a tentacle to Shelly, who was engrossed in the basket of tuber chips in front of her. She suddenly seemed to become aware of Do’rex and took the tentacle in one hand while grabbing a handful of chips in the other. She avoided looking at anything but the floor as she followed him to the exit, though she did stop at one point to look back at us. She paused, then looked away and followed him to the exit.
“Well, that went well,” said Jami as the door slid shut behind them.
“I said all that I could. I can’t promise anything more.”
“Hey! At least things aren’t boring.” She leaned as far back as she could and stood up, realizing she couldn’t see the bar from here.
“Anything else for tonight? Because, otherwise, I need to make sure that Vail isn’t getting… distracted.”
I waved. “Have fun. Just be sure to show up for the pre-lift.”
“Hey, I won’t miss it!” She quickly left toward the bar.
I pulled the basket that had been in front of Shelly toward me and grabbed a few. Saahna was just looking at me.
“So… what now?”
“What else could I have said or done?”
“Maybe a bit more confident?
“About what?”
She thought, then nodded. “Yeah. What you said is… all we have.” She paused.
“OK, you have talked about setting up a loop of about a dozen worlds or so. Do you have one? Yet?”
I snapped open my comp. “Not yet, but the network here should be as up-to-date as I need. Give me a few.”
—-
We wound up staying for about two hours, most of which was me staring at my comp. I eventually pulled out my remote, projected the middle third of the Hinterworlds onto the table, and started pointing out systems.
“OK, I wanted to have a loop where we can visit every system in it at least once yearly. With time out for maintenance and… issues, we need 20-22 systems.
“We also need a mix of resources–a mix of raw materials, agricultural, and industrial worlds–so that we have systems that we can carry cargo around. Every system that is one depends on the other two to survive, so we’ll be a lifeline.
“Finally, I’d just as soon avoid Tlianke space. And Ral Ranta and the Anubians. And, of course, the Outcasts are a no-go. So… what about this.”
I tapped to collapse the 3d view of the local galactic arm to a 2d Jumpspace map, then scrolled it rimward.
“We’ll start here. Decent enough tech, top-end Starport, and what I hope is enough of a desire to stay independent that they won’t just submit to the first polity that comes by.”
Saahna was shaking her head. “They were pretty quick to stop us just because the Sols asked them to.”
“And equally quick to let us go once they realized we had nothing. So they won’t betray their own standards for someone else. The guy talking to me was more upset about how stopping us for no reason would affect their reputation than what SolSec had asked them to do.”
“Yeah. They forgot us almost immediately. We didn’t even get scanned when going through Customs. I mean, I’ve got a Gauss Pistol on me!”
“And they let me get in with my snub pistol, and I know you have your gauss. They were going easy on us. So we might have a bit of an edge now. They have to know our reputation. And both Shelly and that media group have been talking about us. They really don’t want us to say anything bad about us.”
“Yeah. Until Shelly decides she just needs to let everything out.”
“Fine. OK, yeah. I messed up. She can tell everyone about that. Hells, I’m almost happy to see Varan have to deal with some problems I won’t bail him out of for once.”
“Did that happen?”
“Yeah, too often.”
She grimaced but didn’t say anything else about it. “Do you think Shelly will stay with us?”
“Yeah. She will. She’ll put out a blast about what happened and will put a lot of the blame on me. Fine. But she will broadcast it. Ad I think Do’rex will stay with us, and she will stay with Do’rex. After a while… things will settle out.”
Saahna smiled. “For a system girl, she did adapt to becoming a Traveller pretty fast.”
“I knew she was a natural.”
“She is.”
I leaned forward again. “OK, so here’s my plan…”
She cut me off. “Yeah, we’re off to Drosyodry. We don’t need to worry about more than that right now.”
I frowned. “Hey, we need to work this out!”
“And you can! Over the next week. While we’re in Jumpspace for a week, you don’t have to do anything except plan routes. But, for now, we have things to do!”
“Like what?”
“Clothes shopping.”
“What?”
“Hey, you can’t deal with the locals if you don’t look the part!” She stood up, waved her ident at the wait-bot, then held out a hand.
“Come on! We’re going shopping.”
—-
We wandered through the central dome area until Saahna found a store that seemed to suit her, and she dragged me inside. She started sorting through a rack of what might pass for pants and which also might get you arrested for indecency in most systems. Finally, she pulled out two and handed them to me.
“Here, try these on.”
“Try on? Why not just get something that fits?”
“Because no one here is wearing fabricated stuff? Hey, aren’t you the one always talking about how well you can read a market? Look around. No one here is wearing fabricated stuff. All of this is designed and created. So… you have to try to see if it fits.”
I sighed, then wandered to a small room designed for that purpose.
Closing the door, I looked dubiously at what she had handed me. One was a bright yellow set of shorts that barely covered my underclothes. The other was a dark purple thing that… well, it would barely keep me covered. As long as I didn’t move too quickly. I shook my head, then pulled the shorts on.
Leaving the room, I found her waiting expectantly. “Well?”
“You still have your shirt on. And your shoes.”
“Yeah?”
“Lose them.”
“What?”
“Lose them!”
I sighed, slipped out of my shoes, and pulled my tunic over my head. I dropped them to one side, then raised my hands.
“Does this work?”
“Perfect!” she replied, giving me an approving hand gesture. “You look like you belong here now.”
“Yeah, great. But… these things don’t even have pockets! How do I carry my comp, comm, ident, and anything else I need?”
“They have a solution for that. Wait here!” She waved, then quickly ran off into the store.
I sighed. I wanted to change back into my jumpsuit, but I also knew I would get any amount of biowaste from her if I did. So I just stood there. Uncomfortably. I saw some locals looking at me, but that may have been my imagination.
She returned with what looked like a narrow sash or belt with a bag attached. She tossed it to me.
“Hip pouch. An oversized pocket. The locals use them to carry those things. Put it around your waist or across your chest.”
I struggled with it for a bit and finally got it settled over my shoulder and across my chest. A secondary strap held it in place. I sighed as I put my downside carry equipment into it.
Including my body pistol. I had waited until no one was around before moving that over.
Satisfied, Saahna then headed off into the store. I gathered my discarded jumpsuit and shoes and followed.
She quickly settled on a bright green set of shorts and a top, which covered less of her than her underclothes usually did. She quickly changed and then exited the room.
“We just need a few more things. Hold this for now.” She shoved her jumpsuit and boots at me, and I struggled to hold onto all of them.
I followed her around as she grabbed a few extra matching sets of what we were wearing, in varying colors, then had us both fitted with “soles,” semi-rigid platforms that stuck to the bottom of our feet and would give us some protection from whatever we were stepping on. As we were checking out, she convinced the clerk at the desk to provide us with a large bag, which we used to stuff all of our previous clothing into. She did pay and then led me outside.
“Well, we look like we belong now!” she said, nodding approvingly. “So… what next?”
I still felt weirdly uncomfortable. I certainly wasn’t “prudish,” but I wasn’t used to being this “undressed.” In typical situations, I mean. I’ve been down to a pair of trunks at a beach or something, but wearing nothing more while going about my regular business was different.
And I felt angry whenever I saw one of the locals looking at Saahna. Even though I knew she was far more capable of taking care of herself than I was.
“I’m not sure, actually,” I said, trying to push my discomfort aside. “I’m not actually sure that I want to do anything here. We got targeted the last Jump, and we know the Sols have allies here. I don’t want to take any cargo, freight, or passengers from here.”
“How badly will that hurt us? And weren’t you just saying that you thought this would be a good hub?”
“Yeah, it is. Next time around. I’m not sure about now.”
“Do we have that much time?”
“What do you mean?”
“You were talking about a year-long loop. If what you are thinking about how things back in the Imperium will fall over the next year or so, will a year from now be too late?”
I sighed. “Yeah. You’re right. So we don’t need to just make deals here. We need to start setting up things.”
“So… how do we do that?”
I pulled out my comp and tapped on it for a few seconds.
“I need somewhere to work.”
She rolled her eyes. “OK, let’s drop our stuff off in our room, then let’s find a place to hang out for a while.”
I was already searching.
“How about this. Cambridge Nest. It promises food, drink, and a ‘private experience.'”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Hey, why not use one vice as a cover for another?”
She groaned but nodded. “Yeah. Whatever. Just… don’t get too distracted. OK?”
“Absolutely not!”
—-
The Cambridge Nest was a few domes to the north. They were obviously less interested in views than being somewhere out of the way. I found us a booth and pulled out my comp.
“This… may take a while.”
“Fine. And I’ll be here with you.”
“Thanks.”
—-
I examined the goods available for export. Surprisingly, none of them were for the local tubers. I questioned that and asked why I couldn’t buy any.
Someone responded almost immediately. “Tubers are the main food crop here. They support the local population. We can’t spare any of them.”
I frowned. “These will sell like Lanthanum in any other system! Everyone is sitting on a lanthanum mine here! Why not?”
“Because we need it to feed everyone here! Yeah, it’s an open life form. You can find sprouts for export if that is what you are concerned about. But… you won’t find actual tubers for sale.”
I shook my head. “So… I can export sprouts, but not what they turn into?”
“We don’t even like that, but yeah…”
“How do I convince another system that they want these unless I can show them why they want them?”
I didn’t get a reply.
I sat there, frowning. Why didn’t they want to export these? After a bit, I looked for people selling “sprouts.” There were multiple vendors, and I quickly filled over half of our cargo capacity with them.
Then I looked at local food vendors. They usually did business with the locals, but I could see their offerings. I bid on a few dozen, almost enough to fill the other half of our cargo capacity.
Over half were declined almost immediately, but a few accepted my offers. I grabbed about 40 displacement tons of them.
Saahna had been following what I was doing and looked at me dubiously. “Those purchase prices aren’t good, and your expected sell price could be much better. Why?
“Because it will help us in the long term! Foodstuffs from Mupikaa to Drosydroyu will be a good thing. We just need to start it.”
She was shaking her head. “Then why hasn’t anyone done that before us?”
“Because we’re thinking long-term, not just the next Jump. Traders can pick this stuff up and sell it for a profit at Drosydroyu. And, the more we let other sophonts know about it, the more they will follow us. We’ll keep this area stable, no matter what happens in the rest of the Galaxy.”
She had pulled out her comp and was looking at it. “Amber Zone? And a Droyne presence?”
“You have something against Droyne?”
“No, I’m more worried about what caused the Society to decide they were an Amber Zone.”
I checked my own comp. “Yeah… I’m not seeing anything dangerous there. And… the Scout Service has them classified as a Puzzle World?”
“Do we really want to go there?”
“Best next Jump to start a loop around the center of the Sector.”
“And I guess I’ll have to accept your experience on that.” She suddenly tensed.
“We have company.”
—-
I turned to see two sophonts in green jumpsuits walking purposefully toward us; a man and a woman. The woman stopped a few steps away, but the man walked up, pulled out a chair, and dropped into it.
“Captain Kodai! So good to meet you in person, at last.”
I was taken aback and noticed that Saahna had started fiddling with the pouch slung over her chest.
“Sorry, this is a private table, and I’m not looking for passengers or brokers right now. So, if you wouldn’t mind…”
He smiled a semi-sincere smile. “I just wanted to apologize to you, Captain. Oh, I have forgotten my manners. I’m Captain Overton. Of the Amalfi Coast.”
He extended a hand, but I just looked at him. After a few moments, he withdrew it.
“Well, I get that. Actually, I wanted to apologize. You may not believe me, but I was told to intercept you and ask who was on board. I had nothing to do with the decision. And… I feel bad for what happened.”
I lowered my gaze and looked at him dubiously. “Really?”
He smiled slightly and leaned back but shifted slightly in his seat in discomfort. “Yeah. I wouldn’t have been asked to get involved unless someone way up the chain thought it was important. And now we need to get a dozen or more Jumps away ’cause we’re known here. Now. So… sorry.”
I held my dubious stare for a bit more. “OK, but why? What was so important?”
He waved his hands, trying to show a nonchalance that I now realized was fake.
“Your former passengers. The Stetons? They… OK, not to put a spin on it. They discovered something my superiors didn’t want known in the general area. Bits of intel, if you will. And they wanted to make sure that intel didn’t get out! That’s all.”
“Oh, so it was you who planted that nanophage on my ship!”
He waved his hands and leaned back far enough that he almost lost balance. “What? No! I was at Gashuumi then! And that was probably the worst way they could have handled it! All that did was attract attention to them. And you.”
He looked me up and down. “But… you seem to have come through that fairly well.”
“You weren’t there. And we ‘came through it’ only because we had the credits to support it.” I paused.
“The Stetons didn’t and don’t know anything,” I said. “Yes, they found your nav satellite when it fell but couldn’t read anything from it since it was encrypted. They did give it to an acquaintance of theirs, but he was raided by TliSec before he could tell them anything. But he held out long enough to tell them to destroy whatever they had kept. Except… TliSec apparently didn’t believe that.”
He had leaned forward again and was staring directly at me. “So… That was it?”
I nodded. He had come apologetic and hoped I would relax and reveal something. I knew better than that.
“Yup. Pretty much. It was a navigation satellite, so I assume it had info on where you Sols have assets in the subsector. But, even if they knew anything, they never told me.”
He didn’t change his expression when I called out his allegiance.
He nodded slowly. “TliSec… got a bit overzealous, from what I have heard. I will apologize for my colleagues for that.”
He abruptly stood up, shoving his seat back. “Apologizes again, Captain. I hope our next encounter will be under somewhat better circumstances.”
“Um… what?” I had stood up instinctively and taken his offered hand.
“I’ve been looking at your exploits on the net, Captain. And I have spoken to one of your crew members. And I think… We may actually be able to cooperate in the future. Good luck, Count Kodai.”
He smiled and headed for the exit. The woman with him fell into step behind.
—-
Saahna visibly relaxed as I sat down. “Well, that certainly wasn’t what I expected.”
I held up a hand and looked under the table, then under the chair where he had been sitting. I found what I had expected; a now-familiar semi-transparent disc. I pulled it free.
I waved the waitbot back over and ordered another set of drinks and some tuber chips, then handed the disc to it and asked for it to dispose of it for me. It bobbed in acknowledgment, then left.
“So… what was that all about?”
“I’m not sure. I had been watching the waitbot, and it dropped the disc into a cycler before preparing our drinks.
“They’re unsure if we know anything and are starting to realize they may have shown too much of their hand by going after us. They need to be as ‘discrete’ as possible while interacting with us for a while, but I’m sure they’re still watching. That sensor proves that.”
“So what now?”
“Business as usual? I won’t change plans just because the Sols might be around. Hells, supporting systems they may be targeting may disrupt more of their plans.”
“And if they decide that they don’t want us interfering with their ‘plans?'”
“Then we’ll deal with it. Later. For now…” I paused.
“We’re going to do what we can. That’s… what we need to do.”
She sighed, then looked away. “I joined the Marines because I wanted to make a difference. I thought I was doing something important. Then, I realized I was helping MegaCorps exploit local systems in the name of the ‘Pax Imperium.’ We didn’t care about you. We just need to keep the Trade flowing.”
“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
“Yeah. I believed that but…” She turned back to me.
“We need to worry about the few. Helping them will help all of us! No polity can survive without the support of its people. I think… Dulinor knew that. He was trying to force the Imperium to support its citizens instead of just its nobles. No offense.”
“No, I’m right there with you. My father learned that the hard way.”
“And so did you. You wouldn’t have left Keystone if you hadn’t realized that. You could have led a life of luxury there. But… you’re here.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I hadn’t realized how much my Dad had taught me, but… yeah.” I suddenly realized that I was crying.
She reached out and took my hand. “I don’t have as close of a connection as you do, but… I’m with you. I’ll support you as long as I can.”
I smiled and tried to blink away the tears. “Thank you.”
She smiled and looked around, then stood up. “OK, then we need to do something to put you in a better mood.”
“Huh?”
She held out her hand. “Let’s go back to our room and fuck.”