Chapter 64 Baidora and the Drifts
01
We made Baidora in 41 days signaling our arrival while passing the planetary guard station and slipping into our assigned orbit to await the quarantine and trade control inspectors.
Baidora is an oversized, 1.27g planet, with three large moons. Since heavy industry in the Unity is confined to moons, Baidora's three moon system made it an important center of heavy manufacturing for the whole of the Amdia system. Shipyards, foundries, factories, and large industrial printing facilities populate the craters of Baidora's three moons. And because Baidora was an over-standard gravity world, like Sanre-tay, much of its interplanetary trade and spaceers' row establishments are found under the domes of Muirnon, its premier moon.
Unlike trade within the Unity, trade between the Unity and drift trade is not highly regulated since it is so diffuse and the raw materials are necessary to the Unity. Only when goods or raw materials are imported, do they become regulated. The Azminn system is too remote from the drifts to have much drift trade, but the Amdia lies within the Myzar Drift and so has a very substantial drift trade. Ores, rare earths and elements, D-matter parts and machine goods manufactured by the sentient machines in the Inner Drift arrive daily in Baidora orbit. Agricultural products and finished consumer goods are exported to dozens of transfer stations like Plyra and from there, distributed far and wide in the teeming drifts via drifteer tramps and traders. Though most of the planets of the Amdia system conduct some direct trade with the drifts, Baidora conducts at least a third of the system's trade, making it a very busy port. And, as usual, a small, nondescript tramp, such as ourselves, has to wait the better part of a day before the trade control boat arrives.
Though I had a great deal of confidence in Rafe's expertise, I must confess I paced the bridge as I waited for the trade control officials. Being somewhat of a coward, and standing on my dignity as captain, I let Molaye meet the officials at the gangplank when they did arrive and waited for them outside the ship's office. I was momentarily startled to see a three-person Patrol crew follow the trade inspectors up the access shaft until I recalled Tenry once saying part of his duty was to “babysit” trade control officials during their inspection of ships from the drifts, which we were, Guild or not, so I was able to relax enough to draw a breath.
I welcomed them aboard, gave the Patrol leave to search where they cared to and took the lead trade official up to the cargo control tower to oversee the inspection of our cargo. The rest of his crew made the usual inspection of our Guild trade goods while the Patrol officers did a very sketchy search of the ship. The newly finished Botts II passed inspection without comment. Two hours later, they left without ever hinting that that we weren't what we claimed to be – the Starry Shore out of Plyra via Boscone and LaTrina. I dared to let a little dart of sunny optimism into my thoughts as their boat slipped away. We were home in the Unity. It felt good.
Several hours later, the first of the lighters arrived to collect their containers and by the end of our second day in Baidora orbit, we were free to begin the next phase of the Starry Shore's new career.
02
We spent 19 days in Baidora orbit. Six of them having the two damaged balancing engines replaced, and replacing all of the balancing engine cowlings, since I wanted my ship to look respectable, not like a patched-up, down-in-the-heels tramp and we could not find any that matched ours in the savage yards. The matching cowlings were only a start – the hull need a new protective coat, and though we've grown accustomed to the cut down engine, and its quirks, I wanted that restored as well – but I was reluctant to deplete our account until I had a better idea of our prospects, and both of those projects could be put off for several years, so I settled for the just the two new balancing engines, the set of cowlings, and two replacement drones.
At Botts' suggestion we replaced the two drones we lost with second hand drift drones – larger, longer ranged, and built with reinforced bows to better handle the deep drift conditions. They also came equipped with mountings to carry a dozen small anti-meteor missiles. It assured me that once a class 4 AI was installed, the drones could be deployed to launch their anti-meteor missiles at any would-be-pirate, giving us multiple angles of attack, which sounded well worth the extra credits.
Molaye, Illy, and I spent our days on Muirnon, calling on the offices of shipbrokers to introduce ourselves and learning the local cargo patterns and prospects. It was clear from the beginning that we'd be returning to the drifts. Most of the interplanetary trade is carried on freight liners rather than tramps – Baidora being the operations center for many large Charter Trading Companies who either used their own ships, or those of the big freight liners. We'd have to settle for the crumbs off their table – and fight for them with the drifteer tramps. However, as a Guild ship we had certain advantages – cargoes that missed their scheduled ships or boxes that were sent along for the first available Guild ship would fall into our laps and they were plentiful enough to eke out a bare living, which was enough for me. I just wanted to establish a reliable reputation that I could use in time to break into the interplanetary trade once more.
With our refit completed, I set a sailing date and Molaye, Illy and I began to round up a cargo. Our efforts netted 34 regular containers and three oversized, bulk grain containers for our first run into the drifts. We'd chosen destinations that would take us up the drift and further away from Despar. We'd make a sliver of a profit, if everything went well, even if we picked up nothing on the way back. But that was to be expected at this stage. We could afford slivers of profit for some time to come.
As a long time understudy of Captain Miccall and Illy, I've become something of an old hand in dealing with brokers and shippers, but Molaye, with her cheerful enthusiasm and her ability to get an intuitive read on people, quickly became a favorite with the shipbrokers. And, since Rafe isn't set up in the Amdia system to track possible cargoes like he was in Azminn, having a first mate with Molaye's touch was a great plus. I've no doubt that she'll be a very young ship captain. The best I can do is to give her a long leash and let her learn as fast as she can.
Two days before sailing, Molaye, who was down on Muirnon making our final calls signaled, 'Good news Captain! I've lined up a last minute bonus-premium cargo. Pure profit!'
I tried to keep the What has she gotten us into now? thought out of my voice as I answered, 'Great, what did you find?'
'Subject to your approval, of course, I've got a container of sleepers. I just happened to be in the office when the signal came in, and decided to jump at the chance. The Numbia Mining ship Deepdrift Prince is running late and won't be able to deliver a relief crew to a refinery five days out of Creylin. I gather crews get grouchy and expensive when they're not relieved on time, so it's a high priority high premium item. The fact that we'd carry the container in our atmospheric hold, seals the deal as far as Numbia is concerned,' she said, grabbed a breath, and before I could object, hurried on, 'I know you don't like passengers, especially on our side of the bulkhead, but as you said, we're here to win friends, and Numbia is a friend worth having. Besides, they're all regular employees, so I didn't see any risks. All I need is your approval and they'll have the box here in 18 hours, and we can sail directly, since the last of our boxes are due in a few hours. So, should I give them the thumbs up?'
She'd given me enough time by rattling on, to see the advantages of her rather precipitous arrangement. Since Botts can monitor and control all aspects of the ship, I was far less concerned about possible pirates in with the passengers than I would've been without it.
'Excellent. Well done, First. Sign the documents.'
'Really?' She said, and I could picture her giving me a squinty-eyed look.
'Really. Then hop over to the Guild exchange and sign on two pilots. I'll leave the choices to you.'
'Right, Cap'n, I'm on it... And thanks,' she said and signed off.
I alerted the engineers that we might be sailing
a few hours earlier than scheduled.
CTC ships and freight liners are cushy berths, and their first class spaceers usually have long careers serving on them, which meant we had slim pickings for our required pilots at the exchange. Molaye signed two with long, nondescript records of service aboard many ships, but lacked any Captains' comments. This generally implies that they do their jobs, but have other issues that keep them moving from ship to ship. Still, any planet in a quantum storm. Only one system tech is required, so I re-signed Kie on as an apprentice Environmental Engineer, to fill that post. We'd all been pitching in to fill in for Dyn, and I promised Kie that wouldn't change – his appointment was only for Guild requirements and until we could find some better quality spaceers than what was available on Baidora. Kie didn't kick. He'd take over the environmental system's management and we'd all continue to lend a hand in plumbing, electrical, and recycling maintenance.
We sailed less than two days later and made Refinery no. 177 (known locally as Hell's Sub-basement) 30 days later, delivering the relief crew on time. The refinery was a collection of flood light lit space stations and asteroid based facilities clustered around a vast free floating furnace. Small metallic asteroids pushed into its gaping maw to be melted, purified and then formed into ingots for transportation back to Baidora.
We spent less than a day at Hell's Sub-basement before sailing for Creylin.
03
We made orbit around Creylin Station five days later, and spent most of our first day discharging our cargo to the various consigned warehouses, leaving only two boxes to be off loaded.
'Lighter's on its way,' said Lili over the com link.
'Thanks,' I said and with a sigh, rose from my desk to head up to the cargo control tower. I still like handling cargo, but in this case, I'd little option since Molaye was away with the gig taking our two Baidora-hired pilots to Creylin. They'd decided not to stay aboard. A mutual decision. That meant we were at least one pilot short – assuming Illy would once again return to the pilot's chair – and the prospect of finding a Guild pilot, much less any better ones on Creylin was nil. My only option was to hire a drifteer pilot, either on a Guild waiver or as an apprentice.
I didn't – exactly – blame Molaye. All she did was see that they did their job, and I don't think she was too hardnosed about it. Just very persistent. Had it been me, I might've cut them enough slack to get through this voyage without having to resort to a drifteer pilot, but well, I wasn't the mate. Still, leaving their performance aside, neither were happy – they didn't like the food, the ship was too cold, and the crew unfriendly, and so on. Just about what you'd expect from their record. So perhaps it is all for the best. Captain Miccall made a point of hiring young spaceers or apprentices, like myself, when he needed to replace a crew member since young spaceers are usually more flexible and can adopt better to our ways. With no Guild Exchange on Creylin, I'd have to find my own pilot or pilots, and not knowing anyone here, or how reliable anyone was, it looked to be a problem.
'Greetings, Captain,' said Elana Colniz, the lighter pilot, as she gracefully swung her lighter into position over the open hatchway. 'Anovic's is open for deliveries, so I'm here to collect those last two boxes.'
'Hi, Elana. You're welcome to them,' I said, as I raised the cargo crane and called up the location of the two Anovic boxes.
We quickly transferred the two boxes to the lighter, in this case, little more than a pilot's pod, two wide spaced engines set in an open framework. The lighter carried a service-bot on board that could be used to attach several boxes together to make a train of containers, if needed.
'Well, that's it Captain, you're rid of me.'
'Thanks, Elana. It's been a pleasure. Ah, but before you go, perhaps you can do me a little favor,' I added.
'Of course, if I can,' she replied.
'I'm in need of a pilot or two. The ones I signed on in Baidora failed to mesh with the old crew. I'm looking for a young pilot who's flexible enough to fit in. We're not a horrible ship, just set in our ways making it sometimes hard for spaceers set in their ways to fit in. I'd be willing to offer a Guild apprenticeship to the right candidate which can lead to a Guild ticket in a year or two. Do you know of any young pilots who might be interested, or could direct me to someone who could help find some?'
'You're in luck, Captain! I know just the pilot you're looking for. A cousin of mine, who's in port at the moment. We were just talking about going off on our own, so I think he'd jump at the chance. You see, there's a drift tradition of leaving the nest when you're young to see something of the Neb before settling into the family's business. I like being a lighter jockey, but I don't want to do it for the next two hundred years. Anyway, his name is Dicier de'Vel, and his father, my Uncle Viner de'Vel, owns three drift traders. Dici grew up aboard ship and has been piloting for nine years and he's now chief mate at 25. Even so, I'd think he'd jump at the chance to move to a bigger ship and a Guild ticket. I know he wants to see more of the Nebula than just rocks and drift stations.'
'He sounds perfect,' I replied. Could I be this lucky? 'How do I get in touch with him?'
'I'll tell Dici to get in contact you straight off. You'd like him. He's easy to get along with, and knows just about everything about ships and drifts. He's lived aboard'em all his life.'
'Just what I'm looking for. Pass him the word and we'll have him aboard to have a look around. And if you can think of anyone else, let me know. I can get by with one, but if I could find two good candidates, so much the better.'
'I'll ping him directly, and, well, if I think of any other young pilots, I'll let you know,' she said.
I caught a little catch in her voice, and it struck me that perhaps...
'You wouldn't be interested in leaving the nest as a pilot as well, would you?' I asked on the spur of the moment.
'I'm not a space ship pilot.'
'Neither was I when I signed on. I was a rocket boat pilot and before that, as I mentioned yesterday, a lighter jockey. I've seen how you handle your lighter so I know you're a rocket pilot, which is all that's really required. You'd pick up handling a big ship easy enough. You'd be an apprentice for two years, but you'd be comfortable piloting the ship by the time we return to Baidora. Then it's just a matter of putting in your time and getting to know all the other ship-board jobs. Nothing to worry about – the old gang has been training young spaceers for decades. It's all rather fun, in fact.'
'Are you serious, Captain?'
'Aye. What do you say?'
'I... well, yes, if you're willing to make a pilot of me...'
'You'll make a fine pilot. And with your cousin on board, it'd be easier for both of you to leave the nest. But I'll say right up front, I'm hoping to get into the Amdia planetary trade. It may take a few years, but you'd best be prepared to leave the drifts behind for a while. I can't promise much excitement, but can promise Guild wages, a great crew, and a wide open future.'
'I'm sure we'd find the planets exciting enough – there's not a whole lot in the drifts to find exciting, or so Dici tells me. Creylin is dreary enough.'
'Right. See if Dici's interested, but I'll sign you on without him, so don't let that stop you. Either or both suits me fine. Ping me and we'll arrange a tour. Bring an appetite since I want you to sample our ship's cuisine. Our chefs are from Mycolmtre, in the Artinday system, and the food is not to everyone's tastes. It wasn't to our last two pilots' taste anyway. And you know how it is – little things add up when you're not happy. We'll see how it lifts from there.'
'Thanks, Captain. I don't think food will stand in the way. We've just about grown up on synth food and will welcome any change. I'm sure he'll jump at the chance, and if you're willing to train me, I'll do my best to make it worth your while...'
Illy, the hounds and I met them at the gangplank three hours later. Both were the low grav, lanky young people you'd expect from an asteroid colony. Both were just as nervous as they should've been. Both were friendly and outgoing
and Dici clearly knew his way around a space ship, even if the ships he'd known were considerably smaller than the Starry Shore. Both made a good impression on everyone. Elana knew less about large ships – about as much as I did when Miccall signed me on – but I wasn't concerned. Like her cousin, she seemed a good fit with the crew, which was my main concern. This ship had secrets – from Botts to St Bleyth – and I wanted crew members that would bond with the ship and crew to keep those secrets, since you can't keep secrets on ships for long. Having not grown up Unity Standard, I hoped our secrets would pose no problems for them.
The only person I worried about was Molaye. I didn't quite know how protective she was of her position as my first protégé. But she was delighted with the prospect of having some more young people on board and took to Elana and Dici right from the start.
They left with everything pretty much agreed to. I told them to sleep on it and if they were comfortable, we'd sign them on the following day. The following day Elana's father, Delve Colniz, came onboard to check things out.
'I apologize, Captain,' he said as I greeted him on the gangplank. 'They're old enough to make their own decisions. And leaving the family nest is something we all do when we're young. But usually it's with someone we know. So you see, I just wanted to look in so I could tell Dici's folks to rest easy, when their ship comes in...'
He spent an hour with us. We got along fine. Really, the Starry Shore is a cushy berth even with a hardnosed first mate – so Elana and Dici signed on an hour after he left. We gave them two days to settle their affairs – I wasn't up against delivery times and, well, I wasn't concerned with profits as much I should be, so a few idle days was neither dust nor gas. It was worth taking advantage of our credit balance and the lack of oversight to put together a happy, reliable crew.
I signed both on as apprentices, handing Dici over to Illy to look after. Since he was an experienced pilot, all she'd have to do was break him in to our routine and then babysit him on the bridge. She could do her purser's work on the bridge as easily as in the ship's office. With his prior experience, he'd be able to get his ticket after a year's apprenticeship. I'd took on Elana since I had no assigned watches while Molaye, with her own watch and duties as first mate, had enough to do.
Dici shaved two days off our Dotage run by taking us on the drifteer's course through the Dortag reef. No point hiring local talent and not using it. He proved to be a thoroughly competent pilot who quickly came to terms with the much larger ship. Elana was another natural rocket pilot, and while it took her a while to get comfortable piloting a big ship – we'd only had three to four days under power at either end of our runs to get the feel of her – she took to piloting as readily as I had. Plus, her style was more like mine than Molaye's – making it much less nerve wracking to teach than Molaye had been.
04
I was standing next to Dici at the helm as he was setting the ship on a course through the twisting Missing Passage, outbound from the Dortag Reef.
'Shantien next. Ever been there?' I asked.
'Yes and no, Captain,' he replied with a grin.
'Yes and no?'
'We've called on Shantien often enough. Been there several dozen times, but well, you never actually get closer than 100,000 kilometers to it.'
'Rather reclusive?'
'Aye, and they have enemies,' he said with a grin. 'so they don't take chances. Their jump fighters come out of nowhere to check your identity. Scares the crap out of you, if you're not expecting it. Once they clear you, they send their lighters out to collect their boxes.'
Jump fighters.
'St Bleyth?'
'Ah, so you've heard of them...'
'Aye,' I admitted, with a sinking feeling. 'I've heard of them.'
'Well, Shantien is nothing too threatening. As far as I can make out, it's just a warehouse or some such thing. A modest hollow asteroid, from the sensor reading. I think they use it mostly as a receiving station for trade goods out of Amdia. They never ship anything out, just receive boxes. Must send them on in their own ships, but you'd not want to look too closely into that. The fighter pilots don't say much, but the lighter jockeys are friendly enough, though they don't talk about their monastery.'
'So they'll know you?'
'Aye. The Bird of Passage has made regular deliveries since I was on board. CTC and Guild ships don't care to call on Shantien, so their boxes are usually passed along to drifteer traders for delivery.'
'Ah, well, we're new and didn't know any better...'
He grinned. 'Don't worry, there's nothing to it. As I said, it's just a warehouse.'
Well, I did worry. But not too much.
Molaye didn't worry at all. 'If they didn't identify us on Plyra, I doubt they'd do it now,' adding, 'What better proof of our innocence than calling on one of their monasteries?'
'I suppose.'
'Dici and I will handle all the communications and cargo work. He knows them and you're an almighty captain, so that shouldn't raise any eyebrows.'
'I suppose.'
'And we have Botts,' she added.
'And we have Botts,' I admitted. 'Which is why my hair hasn't turned white yet.'
Molaye leaned back, looked at the grey hair over my ears and grinned, 'Right.'
I gave her a feeble grin right back.
We did have Botts. It had proven its worth in the Despar Reef and I knew that a jump fighter's range would limit their chances, so I figured we had a good chance of escaping even if St Bleyth made our true identity. The real Botts was out and about these days, keeping itself slightly more subdued around our new crew members. Slightly. Botts was hard to suppress, and really, I was already sure they could be trusted with its true identity.
Our A class defense system gave us more of a warning than Dici's drifteer trader's system, which allowed us to track their approach. I had Botts stationed in the tech room and hooked into the ship's system, ready to take control if needed. I stayed in my office, letting Illy and Dici deal with them from the bridge.
The pair of fighters approached within striking distance before demanding our credentials, which we provided using Dici on a vid broadcast. I figured seeing a familiar face should smooth things along. As it turned out, they cleared us within a minute, but escorted us inbound to the point where the lighters rendezvoused with us. Dici and Molaye offloaded the dozen containers we had for them in four hours. I listened in on Dici's banter with his old pals, the lighter pilots. Since he knew nothing that would endanger us, I'd given him no guidelines. He told his story about signing on, and they laughed about how we'd taken on this cargo without knowing where it was going. Everything went smoothly. Of course, if they intended to blow us to atoms, they'd want their boxes out of her before they did, so that proved nothing...
But we sailed away with a cheery 'Fair Orbits' from the lighter jockeys and put the chapter house astern. The jump fighter's 'Fair Orbits' were a bit curter, but they turned and flashed astern as well. I let out a long breath.
A quick seven day run to Hendin Station, and inward, Baidora bound, to Lyrina and on to Baidora orbit, 161 days after our departure. Dici and Elana had, by then, become comfortably established members of the Starry Shore, and I registered their apprenticeships with the Guild upon arrival and shared our secrets, which they found exiting. Youth.