Chapter 68 Refit
01
I made five decisions on our Ravin to Baidora passage.
First, that I was done with drift work. Period. The message on Ravin was the final straw. I'd no clue if it was or was not a threat, but it was simply one mystery too many. It was the safety and certainty of the Unity and interplanetary trade for me and my ship, no matter how poorly it paid.
Second, that it was now time to repair the main engine bell, move the engine back to its proper place and add an outer shield to the main engine as well. An outer shield is a petal like arrangement of panels that could be closed over the rocket bell when it was not in use, protecting it from stray micro meteors that might damage its lining. It was unnecessary in the interplanetary trade and considered something of a luxury even in the drifts, but after two engine shutdowns, and an uncertain future always in the offing – never knowing if or when we might have to run or be called to the drifts by Min, I decided adding the shielding now, in our general refit would be prudent. We could afford it.
Thirdly, I decided to have permanent fuel tanks installed in no. 1 hold replacing the temporary 30 box array we'd been leasing for the last six years. Like the shielding, we didn't need them for planetary work or even in the drift work we've been engaged in, but they had come in handy in our escape from Despar, and I wanted to retain that option. The tanks would permanently reduce our cargo capacity by 24 boxes, but that capacity is not required for profitability and I've yet to turn away boxes with the current 30 box set, so I could justify their addition with an eye towards making the ship more useful to Min at some future date.
And as long as we were going to be laid up, we might as well give the ship a new protective coat of color as well. The coating protected the thin outer, anti-radiation layer of the hull from erosion. It may take decades of space travel to erode the D-rad layer to a point where it'd lose its effectiveness, but now seemed a good time to renew it. With my intention of breaking into the interplanetary trade, it wouldn't hurt business to look prosperous. We settled on a powder blue hull with dark blue trim. Captain Miccall kept the Lost Star's hull well-worn and ordinary, which has worked to our advantage, but if we ever have to run again, it will be to the far side of the Nebula, so looking distinctive seemed no great disadvantage.
Finally, I decided to increase our defensive armament by adding a twin turret anti-missile battery also in no.1 hold along with the new fuel tanks. The whole system only took up the space of two containers, but included two small pop-up turrets that could be raised out from both the upper and lower hull, each of which could launch six anti-meteors (actually anti-missile) missiles at a time, guided by a dedicated A-level fire control (that Botts would {illegally} upgrade). Only the fact that the system could be classified as an anti-meteor/defensive system made it available in the Unity. The magazine would hold three thousand missiles, though I'd no intention of fully stocking it as long as we were in the interplanetary trade. Didn't want to look like we were planning to turn pirate. Still the fact that I could never rule out returning to the drifts made the purchase justifiable. I had enemies with long memories. All this work would exhaust our credit reserves, but with our salvage windfall in the offing, I wasn't concerned.
Back in Baidora orbit, I put the work out for bids and based on price and recommendations, I selected the Re'Tze Shipyards of Constina, with one small misgiving. As far as I knew, my grandmother, Zilantha V'Ran (the one from the drifts) owned a spaceers' row dive on Constina. She and Mother weren't close, and I'd met her only once, when I was a teenager when she visited us for the first and last time. Interstellar travel is not cheap, so visits would naturally be rare, but I believe her visit was the first time they'd crossed orbits since Mother ran off to space. I gather there'd been issues between them growing up, that were still only partially resolved. I remember Grandma V'Ran as being somewhere in those long middle years, looking – and acting – like Mother's rather hard-boiled sister. The issue was that to maintain the pretense of trading deep in the drifts I'd asked everyone not to contact their families. So if I called on my grandmother, I'd not only be breaking that understanding, but perhaps giving away our whole deception, given the nature of her business. I'd just steer clear of Constina's spaceers' row for our stay.
02
We had seven weeks before the shipyard could start work, leaving a month to get some tramping in, if I cared to. Which I didn't. We all needed a break – and with the crew's leave time piling up after our years in the drifts, the refitting provided a good opportunity to clear some of that time. So with the contract signed, we sailed direct to Constina with a dozen odd boxes. On arrival I gave the crew an eight weeks leave downside.
Molaye booked a sleeper berth on an express packet to Tradonia, but the rest of the crew found plenty to do on Constina. It proved to be a very pleasant planet, reminding me of my home world of Faelrain. Its cities were larger, since it was one of the prime worlds of Amdia, but once they were left behind, it was all lush rural countryside that became rustic, fading to almost wild on the fringes. There were oceans, beaches and mountains to explore. Riv was delighted to find zeps in common usage for travel outside of the cities, so he and Lilm hired a zep yacht and spent their leave sailing the skies of the southern continent together with various shipmates as guests. For Dici and Elana this was their first chance to experience a real planet beyond spaceers' row and they, along with Kie, quickly took up zep piloting under Riv's tutelage and hired one of their own to sail the planet. When not floating above it, the rest of the crew found plenty of other activities to keep them busy, sometimes together sometimes on their own.
With the exception of a week when Illy took my harbor watch to allow me a zep cruise with Riv, Lilm, Rafe and Lili, I spent my time keeping watch with Botts, the mutts and cats aboard ship. Botts could keep watch alone, of course, but that wouldn't lift in the Unity. Still, with it on watch I felt free to slip away and go downside whenever I cared to for a day. I found, however, that unlike the last time I had the harbor watch with Dyn, in Calissant orbit, I was at ease. It was my ship by now and Botts is far better company than Dyn ever was with its old spaceer claimed stories from eleven thousand years ago, when all sorts of now banned technology was still in use, giving them an almost fantasy quality.
To my surprise, Molaye returned two days before the start of the refit. She couldn't have spent more than a week with Linnor on Tradonia.
'Did everything go well?' I asked with some concern.
'Oh, yes. But Fey was deep in work getting her new ship ready to sail, and well, a first mate's duty is to the ship and to look after her captain. I didn't want to miss all the activity.'
'It wasn't necessary,' I said.
'Yes it was. I've no intention of being any less devoted to my profession than Fey,' she replied. 'We had enough time together. And I've work to do here, as well.'
That's Molaye. Competitive, even when it comes to being a competent spaceer.
The engineering staff arrived the following day, for they, too, wanted to be on hand while their precious engine was restored.
03
Molaye breezily planted herself in one of the chairs on the awning deck next to me, a week after work had begun. 'We're going to have to sign on a new engineer.'
'A new engineer?'
'Aye. Myes is in love,' she replied with a smile.
I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, only to catch her smiling when I looked up.
'Myes is in love...'
'Riv tells me this is a regular thing with him. In fact, it's long overdue. I gather we just sign on a temporary engineer until it blows over and he catches up with us again.'
'Aye, that's the usual procedure,' I admitted. The half-life of Myes's love affairs was about three months. He'd fallen in love two times during my time on board the Lost Star. Miccall would log him on leave, sign on a temp engineer and wait for him to either catch up, or be waiting for the ship when it came around again.
r /> 'Is he planning to tell me personally, or is he sending you as his messenger?'
'Oh, I think he'll tell you himself, eventually. But he wanted me to break the news to you first. He was scared to do so himself.'
'Scared of me?'
'Scared of seeing you sigh and run your fingers through your hair. It'd have broken his tender heart,' she replied.
'But you don't mind?'
'I'm used to it.'
I sighed again. 'Well's there's nothing to be done but sign on a temp engineer. Do we know who his love is this time?'
'Aye, one of the shipyard gang. Nadde Zoe. You know her.'
'After only a week?'
'Ah, young love,' sighed Molaye, sarcastically. 'And it's spring, somewhere.'
'Yah. Well, at least I can't fault his choice,' I replied. We had the shipyard crew in every shift for their meal break, letting them use the awning deck to eat and relax, so I'd gotten to know them. Nadde Zoe was a bright, cheerful and spirited sparrow of a woman. Since she was also something of an engineer, they had a lot in common, though Myes was hardly a cheerful sparrow of a guy. Still, beneath his rather gruff exterior he's pretty tenderhearted. I rarely saw him angry, and never knew him to act like you'd expect him to act according to the way he looks.
'We'd better sign on someone we can live with. Nadde might be the one. He has never fallen in love with an engineer before. Besides, he was bound to find the right one sooner or later...' I said.
'Nice of you to take that attitude. He was rather concerned about how you'd take it.'
'Well, if we only lose one of the crew after this extended stay, I'll be happy. I'm not sure about Rafe. He's been aboard us far longer than his usual custom. We'll have to see if this break is enough or if he decides to stay downside, in which case we'd have to sign on an environmental engineer as well...'
'Don't make trouble we don't have.'
'Right. anyway, tell Myes I'm comfortable with his decision, approve of his choice, and he can see me when he dares. We'll have a farewell feast for the happy couple before we sail,' I added.
'Right,' replied Molaye rising, adding, 'You'd have broken his poor heart you know, what with your long suffering sigh and gracefully resigned acceptance. I'm sure Miccall would have barked at him to pack his gear and get off the ship until he came to his Neb-blasted senses.'
'I'm sure he did, a dozen times.'