Chapter 12 New Beginning
It was the middle of the fourth watch (late Secondday evening in Primecentra). The bachelor birds were quiet, Astro, Orbit and Ginger were dozing together in a pile on one of the fleeting sunny squares, and having finished my last mug of cha, I was summoning the ambition to stand and drift off to my hammock for a nap when the Ghost lifted out of Port Prime and came alongside.
Min radioed a brief 'Hello 'Star' as she approached, rockets flaring, but held off docking, content to slowly orbit her ship. I replied with an equally brief 'Hello Ghost' and let her admire her tramp freighter. I'd done it myself.
I remained anchored on a lounge, while the dogs abandoned me – clattering off to the main stairs and down to the landing stage to await Min's arrival. Ginger, awakened by the departure of the dogs, looked around, stretched and curled back up and closed her eyes again. I used my com link tied into the ship's sensors to keep an eye on Min's boat.
'They never spent credits on the hull. Must have liked the authentic tramp look. Lots of character,' I said, via the com link, adding, 'Mostly in the patches, dents and fading livery...'
'So I see.'
'And, she's all yours, dents and all.'
I'd not heard from Min the entire day. No doubt busy courting the Tiladore charter and taking formal ownership of the Lost Star and its accounts. I spent the day doing odd chores aboard ship, thinking as little as possible about my future. With the exception of a few stragglers, most of the worries I've had to carry since the death of Miccall had been eliminated or passed on to the new owner.
I noticed Ghost edging in towards the starboard gangplank, so I pushed myself upright and headed down to join Astro and Orbit on the landing. I found Dyn waiting as well. I'd briefed him on Min's inheritance. He knows all and reveals nothing, so not telling him would've been pointless and petty. We exchanged a few words as the bright hull of Min's boat appeared in view, slipping into the gangplank dock without the slightest tremor. We stepped forward as the safety door-panel slid open. The dogs charged ahead. We caught them before Min emerged.
'Welcome aboard, Owner Min,' I sung out as she swung on to the gang plank. She was dressed in her usual blacks and whites.
'Congratulations, Talley,' added Dyn. The dogs barked their welcome, bounding under our hands.
'Thank you,' she said with a weary smile as she took my hand and Dyn’s, 'Owner Min, is it, Captain?' she added as she knelt to greet the dogs.
'It was Pilot and Purser Min and Owner Vinden, so Owner seems part of the tradition.'
She shrugged. 'Talley, or Min if you care to be more formal, will be fine, Captain.'
'I rather like Owner, but Talley or Min it is, if you'll call me Wil. We're not much for formality, are we Dyn?'
He snapped to attention and said in his always unexpected show of wit, 'No sir, we're not.'
Min laughed and I just sighed. 'I rest my case.'
She hesitated a moment before saying, 'I believe I need to have a conversation with each of you...' she said, looking from Dyn to me.
Dyn spoke up, 'We can talk whenever. No hurry. I'm delighted you're our owner – it's the way Fen and Captain Vinden envisioned the future of the Lost Star. You have my blessings as well as theirs.
Min took his hand again. 'Thank you Dyn. I appreciate your blessing. I hope I can live up to your expectations. And theirs. We'll have a long talk later.'
'You'll do just fine. I'll leave you to talk to Captain Litang,' he said snapping a salute and heading back to the engine room and on to his inner hull realm.
'You see what I have to put up with. I don't suppose the captain of the Aurora would put up with that, but, we're tramp spaceers, and we have our own way of doing things.'
'So I've found, Captain.'
'Er, yes. The ship's office or awning deck?'
'The awning deck would be fine.'
The light of Azminn was now slanted down through the fabric awning and lanterns from the banquet as we arrived. We talked quietly in the bistro bay while I brewed two mugs of cha. Min told me about her talks with the Tiladore Planetary Development Committee – they seemed content to settle for us without a fuss if we meet all their requirements – and her adventures within the Ministries of Probate and Trade tying up the details of the transfer. Luckily she could call on the experts at Min & Co to reset all the Lost Star's business relationships with customers and suppliers.
I handed her a mug of authentic Chantsom World cha and we walked out of the little bistro bay into the wide awning deck, now fleetingly bathed in a rich orange red light as our orbit swung us around to the night side of Calissant.
Min stood watching the sun slip behind Calissant before she turned to me in the deepening twilight and said, 'First off, I've decided to accept your offer and sail with the Lost Star – as a pilot.'
'As a pilot and owner,' I assured her. ''I was thinking about it today, and I see no reason why it can't be done. Molaye's finished her cross-training so you'll slip nicely into that slot plus you'll be accumulating time on the bridge towards your master's ticket requirements. You'll want to be Captain Min as soon as you get your time in. All Calissant's tramp ship owners are ship captains.'
'We'll see,' she said quietly. 'The owner on record is now the White Bird Line. I'm merely shareholder in Spectre Holding Co, which happens to be a major share owner of the White Bird Line along with several other space related properties, like my Ghost. Please keep my ownership status secret for now. Owning a ship complicates things for Min & Co. Besides, a tramp ship pilot is what I'll be most of the time.'
'I don't see you needing to act as owner in passage. Now, however...'
'Yes, now we've things to settle. That's why I'm here,' she said warily, watching me.
I nodded. 'Good. We need a real owner in charge.'
She stepped away and looked out across the nebula sky for a moment. ‘I took your suggestion about Phylea and Min & Co. I've appointed Phylea managing director and put into motion the sale of my share of the firm to her and the staff. I cannot be both a ship-owner and shipbroker without upsetting at least some of our clients. Phylea will run Min & Co and I will run the Spectre Holdings and the White Bird Line,' she glanced back with a faint smile.
'I'm sure that's for the best, though I hadn't thought you'd sell your share in the firm.'
She shrugged. 'Oh, I still control my brother's and sister's shares, so it doesn't matter. I've also decided to take the ship out of the system, to either the Aticor or Amdia system. This takes us beyond the operating sphere of Min & Co and will keep the firm's reputation above reproach. More importantly, it should offer us a better chance of earning a profit. There were almost a thousand tramps sailing the Azminn system, last year, next year there may be only five hundred, the lucky ones just eking out a slight profit. If we leave now, we'll be better established when other tramp owners seeking richer orbits, send their ships to the Amdia or Aticor star systems as well.'
I stared at her dumbfounded. It never occurred to me that we'd abandon our old rounds.
'Plus there's that girlhood dream which you reminded me of yesterday, to visit all the eight systems. I now have the means. I don't see how I can refuse. We'll sail for Sanre-tay either via Tiladore if we get the charter or empty and see if we can pick up an outbound cargo for either Aticor or Amdia. I understand that there's always lucrative work for a tramp willing to sail the deep drifts out of those systems,' she added with a smile, watching me (likely turning pale).
'If one is desperate enough to do drift work,' I corrected her.
Azminn lay between two of the nebula's many bands or drifts of dense dust and asteroid belts. Flourishing within these drifts are large human colonies devoted to mining and heavy manufacturing. And sometimes, less savory activities as well. Azminn doesn't have a great deal of trade with the various drift colonies but Aticor, which lays on the fringe of the Helgont Drift and Amdia within the Myzar Drift are far more integrated into the economies of the drifts.<
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'I admire your boldness. It's not a choice I'd have the courage to make. I'm a rather cautious fellow, you see. I'd have stayed serving our regular shippers, as we have for the last fifty years. We'd have to tramp a bit more, but I think we can get by.'
She offered a slight, cool smile, 'Any course has certain risks, Captain. Most will be mine.'
'Yes, but I should at least mention that we discussed alternatives and came up with several possible alternatives on the voyage here. They're low investment, low risk and possibly profitable options. For example, both Belbania and Kimsai are in a good position to be used as transfer points for the small planet trade ships. With smaller shipments the new norm, the small planet traders are taking on longer haul cargo, though they'd be better off making shorter hauls and more of them. If the Lost Star was to be put in orbit around either of these planets we could use the ship as an orbital warehouse and transfer point making it easier for these smaller ships to drop-off and swap cargoes, keeping them operating in their optimal range. And there's the possibility of using the ship as an orbital hotel or resort – look around, this is certainly luxury on a modest scale, especially for Belbania and Kimsai...' I paused. She looked mildly amused. I could see that I wasn't going to change her mind. I hadn't expected to, but I had to try.
'I've no intention of trying to talk you into anything. I merely felt I needed to mention that with some creative thinking there could be alternatives to going out of system that wouldn't be a drain on your credit balance...' and seeing the faintest smile touch her lips, if not her eyes I added, 'But that, I suspect is not your primary reason for wanting to go out of system.'
'Oh, it's one. But I don't really want to spend the next five years just scraping by with the odd cargo or running an orbital warehouse, whorehouse or whatever,' this last with a faint leer adding, 'I might as well be a shipbroker.'
She was enjoying this a whole lot more than I.
'A hotel or resort. But I take your point. On the other hand, I don't know the first thing about tramping in either Aticor or Amdia.'
'Neither do I. Neb, I've only been a ship owner for a day. Neither of us has the experience going in, but we can call on spaceers who do, so I think we can get by' she replied. 'But first I must decide on what I want in a captain – what mix of experience, competence and leadership do I need? Any ideas, Captain?' she said lightly with a sidelong glance my way. The deepening nebula lit twilight made reading her already guarded eyes impossible.
'Someone you trust, to start,' I said warily.
'Yes, to start. I also need someone I can work with and who can compensate for my lack of experience,' she replied quietly. 'Luckily, I've three options and two of them in hand. I have you, with your experience as the Lost Star's captain and first mate. I also have two very experienced master spaceers with the necessary tickets in Commander Vynnia enCarn and Boarding Boat Leader Tenry Roynay. Both ex-Patrol with fifty years in the service and have served us for decades since then. The third option would be to sign on an experienced tramp captain either here or on Sanre-tay.'
She paused to watch me.
I'd nothing to say, though I was thinking furiously.
'Before I can make my decision I'd need to know who's interested and who's not. Knowing my plans, do you want to be considered for the post or not?'
I'm no Brilliant Pax of the Space Ways. My plans never included tramping other systems or getting nearer to the drifts than an old spaceer's yarn. Neb, they never included being captain of anything more than a planetary jump ship. I'm pretty much an ol'Captain Crofter sort of character with very modest ambitions. But there's a chasm between being cautious and being a coward, and I felt myself straddling it. I stared out to the nebula trying to ignore the knot in my gut. It was a choice I really didn't care to make.
She gave me plenty of time to consider.
I knew now I could run the ship. Did it really matter where in the nebula I was running her? I've not sailed the drifts, but I didn't think we'd be too desperate. Azminn, Aticor, Amdia or in some drift – with the gang on board who've sailed these systems I could sail the Lost Star anywhere in the Nebula, I guess. Besides, she had far better options, so what had I to lose by tossing in my cap?
'You know the limits of my experience,' I began slowly, 'I'm open to the idea of staying on as your captain but I wouldn't be upset if you passed me over,' I paused and added, 'The hard decisions will fall to you, as owner. I'd try to make those decisions rare, but they'll be yours. If I didn't trust you, I'd be a fool to take the job, or even sail with you, but I believe I can trust you, so I'm willing to sail with you, as captain or in any other berth.'
'Fair enough. I think we can work together with that understanding, so I don't see any reason why you shouldn't continue on as captain of the Lost Star,' she said, which staggered me.
'But what of the other options?' I asked, trying to keep my alarm out of my voice.
'Neither Vyn nor Tenry were interested in the berth. Tenry didn't want the responsibilities and Vyn felt that not only does she know too little about the tramping business, but she feared her style of command – Patrol style – wouldn't sit well with a tramp crew. However, they're eager to sail with me, so we'll have their extensive experience and firsthand knowledge of all eight systems and the drifts. Plus, being ex-Patrol, they're familiar with the dark sides of those systems which should serve us well. They know the ship's crew and I think will fit in quite comfortably, so there's nothing lost by choosing you as captain. Besides, there's not much in the way of captains to choose from here – the most ambitious have left for Sanre-tay to find work, and do I really want to deal with an old experienced captain? Perhaps I could find a sweetheart of a captain who'd allow me to call the shots, but why take the chance when I have you in hand?' she said with a hint of a smile.
'A captain's job is to serve the owner, so I'll not take offense,' I replied with a shrug. 'Though I have one question, how do you see yourself fitting in as both a pilot and owner. In one role I command you, in the other you command me. What can I expect?'
'I'm out of the Z-line tradition where a ship's captain is lord and master – someone not to be trifled with. I don't intend to change; I see you as being in charge of the ship. I intend to act as owner only when I must and only in matters that normally concern the owner. Otherwise I'm determined to become a tramp spaceer. I believe we can make that arrangement work. Don't you?'
'I think so. Indeed, I'd hope you'll take the opportunity to be a young, carefree pilot and let me do any worrying. I'll not forget you're the owner when I need an owner's decision.'
'I take it that you'll accept the appointment?'
'I'll give it a go. We can see how it works out. We'll know by the time we reach Sanre-tay where you'd have more options. Thank you, Tallith Min.'
'Good. I'll have Phylea prepare your contract. I'm afraid it's Guild emergency minimum until we're out of system...'
We talked only for a short time longer mostly on details concerning the Tiladore charter, before Min, exhausted from the long day, pushed on to the Silvery Moon.
I have to admit that after she had gone, and the full impact of what I'd agreed to started to sink, in it had me wondering if the Dark Neb had actually prevented Molaye from running down that buoy in order to land me in this orbit. It seems that from the day I was appointed acting captain, I've never really had a true decision to make, circumstances and the Neb have driven me along some invisible chart line.