Ion Trail 23: Friends and Associates

The jump to Bekter’s Rim was frustratingly uneventful. Normally a nice, quiet jump where I could visit with my crew and binge watch my shows would be exactly what I wanted, but every time I checked in with Janice, she was tight-lipped and even surlier than usual, though I’d have thought that was impossible before. I had a feeling that she was having a tough time with the datastick that StyxRatt had left us, but couldn’t bring myself to rib the kid over it; Despite her terse, often brusque demeanor, I got the impression that she was very earnest about being a productive member of the crew and this was bothering her more than she wanted me to know. So I held my tongue when she snapped at me, though after the third time I did stare her down until she muttered something that sounded like it might have met an apology once.

It didn’t help that I was starting to run out of shows to watch and I was getting increasingly nervous with each jump we made with out-of-date navdata. The rest of the crew was starting to get restless as well for what I assume were similar reasons. Our regular sit-down meals were still lively enough, but increasingly often the conversations would turn to new games to play or shows to watch. When you’re used to new media being constantly created on hundreds of habited planets and stations as well as centuries of classics, a couple months without updates seems like a bigger problem than it probably is; it was an extremely minor problem in the face of everything we’d survived, but it was beginning to wear thin nonetheless. It was a blessing when we finally arrived at Bekter’s Rim where we could touch base with those friends who’d remained and access new entertainment via public terminals; the paycheck for the cargo delivery wasn’t amazing, but it’d keep the lights on and the galley stocked.

“Free and clear?” Kyle asked, eyes wide. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “It’s crazy, but I’m officially alive and officially the owner of my own ship, the ‘Hostile Witness’.”

“Fitting name,” he replied with a knowing chuckle. We were sitting down in a bar on the main promenade, having drinks and catching up. He’d reestablished both a working and personal relationship with Kristina, and seemed to be doing well for himself. Shanna would be linking up with him later to talk business, but right now it was just him and I.

“Yeah, I liked it.” I finished my drink and contemplated having another, though it was starting to get a little late. “You’ve seen Clinton already, yeah?”

“Yeah, he and Omar stopped in as soon as you guys had docked, and we had lunch together.” He smiled. “It’s good to see him happy again. I haven’t seen his playful side since Kestrel. I was afraid he’d lost it.”

“He really does seem happier, doesn’t he?” I agreed. “I am, too.”

“Not the same way Clinton is, but you definitely seem more relaxed than the last time I saw you,” he said with a wry grin, then looked up, catching sight of something behind me. “Speaking of, here’s someone I’ve yet to see relax, ever.” I turned to look over my shoulder and saw Janice weaving through the tables toward us, her gaze fixed on me. I raised a hand in greeting as she arrived.

“Hey Janice,” I said. “You have good news for me?”

“I need money,” she replied. I blinked at the abrupt, indelicate statement.

“Um. Why? How much?”

“I just need a thousand credits,” Janice said, glancing around furtively. “I have the rest, I’m just short a little.” I blinked again. A thousand credits wasn’t chump change, but we did have it to spare. I glanced at Kyle who was watching our exchange with open interest; Janice hasn’t gotten to know anyone before we’d stopped at Bekter’s Rim, so it was likely even more surprising for him than for me. I looked back at Janice, considering.

“Okay,” I said finally, and I watched the tension go out of her shoulders, just the slightest bit. “I assume you’ll tell me what this is about soon?”

“Yes. You won’t regret it.” Then she stood there impatiently, until I realized she wanted it now. I looked back to Kyle, who sat in surprised silence to my quick acquiescence to what looked like a ridiculous demand.

“Looks like we’ve got to cut this short,” I told him.

“Looks like,” he said with a nod. “I’ll settle the drinks, you can owe me next time.” He stood and turned to go, then stopped. “Oh, hey, before I forget, Kris wants to meet with you tomorrow at Volcon HQ, if you’re available. She has a proposition for you.”

“Sure, I’m flexible,” I told him. “Send me a message with when and where, and I’ll be there.” With a parting wave, I left with Janice tensely following behind me. I found the nearest public terminal and initiated a transfer from my personal account to hers for a thousand credits. It reminded me that I’d need to set up a business account for the ship, now that I wasn’t just an employee or a refugee, but I’d take care of that later. As soon as Janice confirmed receipt, she made a quick excuse and left hurriedly. I stood alone in the corridor, realizing I probably hadn’t needed to say goodbye to Kyle after all, as I still had much of the evening remaining. With a shrug, I started back to the ship; I still had a few episodes I could watch before I turned in for the night.

When I got back to the ship, it was as quiet as I expected; most everyone was taking advantage of the station to get out and relax. I was surprised when, on the way to my cabin, I noticed that the lights were on in the galley. I poked my head in and saw Shanna sitting at the table with a bottle of wine, a glass, several sheets of plas and her datapad. She was so caught up in what she was doing that she didn’t even notice me, so I took advantage of her distraction to watch her for a moment. The way she bit her lip when she was thinking over something, and the constant, unconscious toss of her head to flip a lock of hair out of her face made me smile. It took her longer than I would have expected to notice me, but between finishing off the glass of wine and reaching for the bottle to pour another she finally caught sight of me and startled hard enough to knock over the empty glass, which broke the stillness with a musical ping as it fell.

“Oh goodness!” she exclaimed, putting a hand to her chest while trying to fumble for the glass before it rolled off the table. I took a few quick steps and caught it, setting it back up right. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” I replied, grinning. “What’s got you so engrossed?”

“Oh, you know, the usual,” she said, gesturing to the plas sheets. “Kyle sent over some preliminary data, so I could have an idea of what jobs they had available before we met tomorrow.” She rose while she spoke, moving toward the kitchen. “Do you want a glass of wine? There’re a lot more cargo deliveries than I would have expected; Volcon has quite a bit going on.” She hadn’t waited for my response, just kept talking as she grabbed a second glass. I decided that a glass wouldn’t hurt, so I sat down as she continued to ramble on about the various shipping jobs.

I’d always made time to keep up on information like this, since I’d one day hoped to be flying my own ship, but I didn’t have the sheer inexhaustible interest in interstellar mercantile operations that Shanna did. I drank my wine and responded in appropriate places, but mostly she just kept on about shipping hubs, route optimization and overhead costs; apparently research on this topic was how she’d spent a lot of her free time over the last few jumps.

“Oh geez, how long have I been rambling?” she said at last. I lifted the second empty bottle and just looked at her with one brow cocked and she blushed. “I’m sorry Suze, I’m sure you don’t even care about all of this.”

“Of course I care,” I answered. “I just never realized how much there was to it.”

“Neither did I, honestly,” she said, her eyes lighting up again. “I just wanted to educate myself so I could contribute to the crew, but there’s just so much to learn!” the smile on her face made this statement an exciting one, rather than daunting. I couldn’t help but smile, too.

“You know, you’ve got a really pretty smile,” she said, then blushed again. “I mean, I like it when you smile.”

“Uh, thanks,” I said, feeling my face heat up as well. I stood up, grabbing the empty wine bottles and moving to dispose of them in the kitchen, far more flustered than I would have expected to be from a simple compliment; it wasn’t like she’d meant anything by it. I took a few deep calming breaths, then turned around to go back to the table.

Shanna was standing right in front of me as I turned around, and I nearly ran into her; I hadn’t even heard her move. Her face was inches away and she wasn’t blushing anymore. Her eyes were serious, pensive and her hand trembled as she reached up to touch my cheek.

“What are you doing?” my words came out as a whisper, and I could feel a shiver run down my spine as her fingers lit gently on my face.

“I want this,” she said softly. “I’ve wanted this, you, for a long time.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “If you don’t want me, just say so and I’ll go. I’ll never speak of it again.”

“But, I’m the Captain,” I said weakly. I wanted this too, though I’d never consciously let myself consider it before this moment. I didn’t pull away and the light touch on my cheek became a caress.

“No one else has to know, if you don’t want them to,” she whispered. “It’s just the two of us.” I reached up to cup her cheek in my hand, mirroring her gesture. It was a lovely contrast, the calloused warm umber of my hand against her fair skin. I felt all resistance slip away as I closed my eyes, leaned in and kissed her.

=+=

Kyle had scheduled the meeting with Kristina for mid-morning, and getting there was simply awkward. Shanna didn’t say a word about the previous night, but she didn’t really have to. She’d been gone by the time I woke up in the morning, and I didn’t see her again until I found her waiting for me at the star dock, because of course, as my trade specialist she had to go to this meeting with me. She greeted me with her usual morning cheer, but the small smile playing around the corners of her lips and the unmistakable strut as we walked through the station spoke volumes. I finally managed to regain some of my equilibrium once we’d arrived at Kristina’s office, and I was able to focus on the customary small talk in the conference room before we got down to business. Kyle had related our adventures at Terra Primus, and she was eager to congratulate me on getting my legal status cleared up. Once the pleasantries were concluded, I mostly sat back and listened while Shanna took over, discussing the various shipping jobs she’d been reviewing.

Normally during this time, I’d be limiting my input so I could focus on watching the potential customer, while Shanna did most of the talking. But while it seemed especially important to do so, since Kristina was certainly not the sort to haggle the details of job offers with individual captains, I kept getting distracted by Shanna. Was she smiling more than usual? Did she always push her hair back like that? Shit, did Kyle notice something was off? He was, like me, sitting back and letting Kristina do most of the talking, and at the moment was looking at me in the most peculiar way. Before I could go any deeper down that rabbit hole, a change in the rhythm of conversation drew my attention.

“Well, before we go any further,” Kristina was saying, “I’d like to talk to you about why I asked for this meeting.” She was looking directly at me, and I sat forward; we were finally getting to the point.

“Kyle mentioned you had a proposition,” I said carefully, suddenly finding myself distracted with memories of another recent proposition entirely. I caught Kyle still looking at me closely, and brought my attention back to Kristina. Fortunately, her attention had turned to the folio that had been sitting on the table since we walked in, from which she drew a single sheet of plas, which she slid toward me.

“Yes, we do.” She paused, waiting for me to take the sheet of plas, so I picked it up and 

scanned it quickly to get the gist, which was surprising.

“You want to hire my crew?”

“Not exactly,” she said. “It’s a proposal for an exclusive contract. You won’t be actual employees of Volcon Supply, but a contracted freighter. I believe the terms are quite generous.”

She wasn’t wrong. I turned my attention back to the proposal in order to give myself time to think. All fuel and regular maintenance covered by Volcon, meal allowances and a weekly stipend on top of per haul payments; there were other details, but those were the highlights; It was indeed an ample offering, but there was one major problem: I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it, for reasons that had nothing to do with money or trust. But how was I going to refuse without offending a potentially valuable customer? I made a pretense of reading it carefully, stalling for time. It worked; Kristina was obviously eager to get me to say yes, and I could see that Kyle was, too.

“The terms are negotiable, of course,” Kristina said, breaking the silence. “My factor in Stroika had nothing but good things to say about you, and my sources in Terra Primus said you were quite determined to ensure that your commitments were met there as well.” She paused, obviously waiting for a reaction. I smiled slightly, but did not respond right away, glancing at her then looking at the proposal once more.

“Captain,” Kyle said, finally jumping into the conversation. “The offer is completely legitimate, I give you my word. You won’t owe Volcon anything other to make your deliveries on time, which I know you’d do anyway.” Finally, I let the sheet fall back to the table with a sigh.

“The offer is more than generous,” I said. “Normally, I would jump at an offer like this. Who wouldn’t?” I would never actually agree to such a contract, but there was no kind way to tell them that. “The problem is that the Admiral’s assistance in getting things in order came with a certain… understanding that prevents me from committing to something like this.” That wasn’t strictly true, but it was true enough that I could get away with it without offending Kristina. “I’m sorry, I really am, but I owe the Admiral that much.” I glanced at Shanna to see if her expression would give it away, but  it turned out that she had a pretty solid poker face when she wanted to. If anything, her expression was faintly regretful.

Well,” Kristina said, dropping back in her seat. “Well, fuck.” The obscenity seemed out of place coming from her, and she smiled bitterly at my expression of dismay. “I guess I can understand your obligation. Can I persuade you, unofficially, to look to us first whenever you do need a job? I can assure you, we’ll make it worth your while.”

“Of course!” I replied relieved that I wouldn’t have to make further excuses. But I recognized an opportunity, so I leaned forward. “I have to ask, though. You seem uncharacteristically eager to secure our services. You don’t strike me as someone who overplays her hand, so level with me.” She smiled and gave me a nod of acknowledgement.

“You’re right, of course,” she replied. “I’m something of a talent scout for Volcon. It’s my job to find determined, resourceful people who will serve Volcon’s interests. With the war going on, Volcon has an opportunity for rapid expansion of our markets, but our risk is also much greater. You’ve proven your mettle more than once since our last meeting and my sources tell me that your ship is now armed. Not many small freighters do that unless they’re also the sort to play fast and loose with their customer’s cargo.” I nodded slowly as she spoke; all of this made sense. I guess I’d been so caught up with my own crew’s troubles that I didn’t really see how the black ships would be affecting everything else. Then I smiled, and looked directly into her eyes.

“So you know that our fees will be a bit higher than your usual small freighter.”

=+=

Shanna was positively humming on the walk back to the ship and I was feeling pretty good about things as well. Kristina had acknowledged my play, but the fact of the matter was she’d already been prepared for it. Negotiations for our next cargo had gone on for hours, and she and Shanna had wrangled down to the last credit. When we left the table I wasn’t sure who had gotten the better end of it; either way, we were going to be well compensated for what would hopefully be a bread run.

“So did you want to talk about it?” she asked me after several minutes of companionable silence. I felt my stomach drop out, as I knew without a doubt what she was asking about.

“Not even a little bit,” I replied candidly. “Just kind of want to let it ride for now.”

“You’re not regretting it, are you?” the vulnerability in her voice stopped me dead. Luckily we were still in the private business portion of the station, and traffic wasn’t too heavy; we had a moment for a private conversation. I exhaled slowly as I reached out to take her hands in mine.

“Shanna, last night was incredible,” I said. “But it was also completely unexpected and it happened so fast. I’m not good with relationships; I’m not even all that great with friendships. I really have no idea how I’m feeling about this, and I just need some time, okay?”

“Okay,” she said softly. The smile she gave me was warm and understanding, though her eyes were a little too bright. She released my hands first and I fell in beside her. Despite the awkwardness of the moment I felt lighter having spoken my mind and her step quickly regained its characteristic bounce. All in all, it was shaping up to be a good day.

When we reached the ship, I wondered if I was going to regret my own thoughts. A uniformed TU soldier was standing behind the ‘Hostile Witness’, his hands folded in front of him as though he intended to wait all day, if necessary. I exchanged a worried glance with Shanna before I started down the stairs to the berth. When he saw me approaching, he quickly came to meet me.

“Captain Susan Rickard?” he glanced from me to Shanna, his obvious uncertainty tempered with discipline.

“That’s me,” I replied, forcing a casual tone I didn’t feel. He reached into the courier pouch he wore at his hip and pulled out a datastick, marked with black and orange content notifications.

“Official communication from Terra Primus,” he said, holding the stick close to his chest. “For direct delivery to you, only.”

“Well, here I am,” I said, reaching out to take the datastick, but he still held it close.

“Ma’am, I’ll need to see identification first.”

“Oh for fuck’s-“ I grumbled, then pulled out my ID chip and proffered it to him. He scanned it with his datapad, reviewed the result, then nodded.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said. “Now I will need your official signature confirming receipt.” I muttered some impolite things under my breath, then scrawled my signature on his datapad and sealed it with my fingerprint. He handed me the datastick without further pleasantries and left me to stare at the stick in my hand. I wondered if I’d need to have Janice decrypt it first, then decided that wasn’t really the Commandant’s style; he’d likely trust in the system to ensure it came safely to my hand.

“What is it?” Shanna asked, approaching now that the soldier was gone.

“Not sure yet, but I have a solid idea who it’s from,” I replied. “Admiral Clarke has something he wants us to do.”