The Bright Black Sea (29 page)

Vynnia looked in soon after I arrived back and I
filled her in on all we'd discussed. After we'd gone over all the
ship's business part of it, she asked me if I'd made any progress
in convincing Min to sail with us.

'I presented my case, which I thought was pretty
persuasive, but she was able to wiggle out of it,' I admitted.
'However, I think she can be convinced, but I'm going to hand that
task to you and Ten. As my commanding officer, I'm not in a
position to constantly question her decisions, especially since
she's not asking for my advice. You're like family, so you can be
more insistent than I.'

She didn't seem especially happy. I suspect the
(false) implications of Min's Yacht Club message where not lost on
Vynnia. She may've believed I had more lift with her than I did,
which made my casual acceptance of Min's plans all the more
puzzling. Truth is that I don't know what I wanted. I had to just
hope it would become clear when the time came to decide.

I spent the second and third watch going over the
ship's accounts with Illy, bringing all our accounts up to date and
paying the crew their wages. After our mid day meal, Vynnia and I
worked out our downside leave schedule and our policies regarding
guests.

Later, just as I was about to contact & Kin to
get some prices for our planned updates, I was pinged by Kai, who
had the harbor watch.

'Captain Jann on the com,' said Kai.

'Thanks, Kai.' I meditated on a long deep breath
before I brought up the screen and opened the link.

'Captan Litang,' he said with a nod as his image
appeared on the screen.

'Greetings, Captain Jann,' I replied and hurried on.
'Glad you've pinged me. I was planning to signal you myself. I've
just been going over a list of ships in the anchorage with the idea
of inviting all of Captain Miccall's old friends, shipmates and
rivals aboard for a meal and a few drinks to remember him. With so
many ships here, we should be have a good gathering, and I was
hoping you'd help me round everyone up. I'd hate to overlook
anyone.'

'I'd be glad to help. When are you thinking of
holding this soiree?'

'Certainly before you sail. I've already counted some
seven or eight captains and old shipmates, so we should be able to
get a nice gathering and I'd certainly want you in attendance.'

'I've a few days, Captain,' replied Jann gruffly, but
without rancor. 'The boxes take their time accumulating these
days.'

'Aye, so I gather.'

'The Neb knows what I'm to do with you,' he said with
a sigh. 'We'll need to talk about that. But anyway,
Congratulations, Wil. You owe me, and now I want to call in a
little of that debt,' he added in his usual blunt style. I wasn't
sure I owed him anything, but if he was willing to overlook our
last meeting, I was too.

'I'm always happy to help you in any way. And well,
just so you know – you needn't worry about us. Our new owners are
sending us out of system in search of paying cargo. That should
ease your mind some. So how can I repay my debt?' I added with a
smile.

'Out of system, you say?' he gave me a measuring
look. 'Drift work.'

'Aye.'

'Better you than me, though I did it in my youth and
survived.'

'I hope to as well. Came with the berth. Still, I've
an experienced crew that should see us through.'

He nodded. 'We'll talk more about that too. What I
want is answers, and I think you have some.'

'42,' I said with a laugh, that being the ancient
universal answer to everything.

Jann smiled slightly, 'I mean answers to what's going
on with Tallith Min, Min & Co, the Ministry of Death and
you.'

'I have some of those answers as well,' I admitted.
'But I'll warn you at lift, I'm not at liberty to answer every
question, so don't blame me if I'm less than forthright. But I'm
certain you know enough to find your way through the dust and
debris without a chart.'

'Fair enough. Are you free to get together now?'

'If you're willing to put up with me yawning, I've
not had time to adjust to CraterPort time. Bring your appetite,
we'll have dinner afterwards.'

'Oh, I'll keep you awake. Ten minutes. And I'd like
to bring Seni Shir along, if that's acceptable.'

'Of course, love to see Seni again. I'll meet you at
the port landing stage.'

The gangplank did not move this time when Jann's gig
docked. Seni must've been at the controls. The hounds greeted Jann
and Seni as old friends and Jann greeted them and me just as
before. Belbania was well astern, as I'd expected. I had considered
inviting Vynnia to join us, but something in Jann's manner
suggested that this was business rather than social, so I showed
them to my office and waived them to my causal chairs. This time I
didn't chase the hounds out and put a globe of Ysent rum next to
Jann without bothering to ask.

'What can I get you, Seni? I'm going to have a mug of
cha...'

'Cha will be fine with me,' she replied. Seni Shir is
a very small, neat looking woman whose first, and true, impression
is one of economical efficiency. She knows everything there's to
know about running a ship wisely and effectively. She's the first
mate's first mate. She'd be a ship's captain already, save her
loyalty to the Night Hawk Line and Captain Jann.

We exchanged small talk about who we knew in the
anchorage while I made the cha.

I handed Seni her mug and settled on a chair. 'I
believe you wanted answers, Zel.'

'I'll cut to lift, this time. I need to know what's
up with Min & Co and Tallith Min, and why you have Tallith Min
signed on as a pilot,' said Jann setting down his globe of rum.

That knocked me completely off course. Min was still
on my crew list and Jann, as captain, would've access to the Guild
records that'd show that. I didn't see any course but admit to
that, but beyond...

'She is on my books but not aboard ship. May I ask
why you want to know?' I answered guardedly.

'Because Captains Dunnet, Kadalar, Ambon and I have
gotten into the ship owning business. We've bought four used
twenty-four box traders presently being refitted at & Kin's. I
want Seni to take my position as captain of the
Comet King
.
She's more than earned it. But I want to be sure the position is
hers before I resign. If I can't be certain, I'll stay on and
appoint her captain of my trader, which I'm thinking of naming
Zelbe's Folly
. I'd rather Seni take over the
Comet
King
and I command my own ship, but I'll not have her serving
under another Ministry of Death or Min & Co appointed master.
So I need to know who and what I'm dealing with back on Calissant
to make this happen. I'd also like to know what's up with this
White Bird Line and how it'll affect us. Fair enough?'

Dunnet, Kadalar and Ambon were three of the Night
Hawk Line captains whose ships had been laid up on Calissant. The
precipitous fall in trade volume meant that smaller ships with
smaller crews (planet traders needed only a crew of four, often
just family run affairs) are able to show a profit with today's
smaller cargoes. It was probably a pretty canny move on the
captains' parts to snap up these planet traders, though these ships
were almost small tramps.

'Fair enough. Vinden owned the
Lost Star
outright when he died. The documents were all in the Ministry and
the heir was clearly listed so rather than risk loosing credits,
they released it to the heir. My understanding is that the rest of
the fleet will go to someone else, so we have no official or
unofficial connection to Night Hawk Line anymore. As far as Tallith
Min, she decided being a shipbroker did not suit her at this point
in life. She sold her share of Min & Co to Phylea Kardea and
the staff. She still controls the other two thirds of the business
her brother and sister own, but she's given Kardea full operational
control of Min & Co, so when you're dealing with Phylea, you're
essentially dealing with the owner these days. Phylea might have to
confer with the Ministry to change captains, but I'd think they'd
almost certainly go along with anything she suggested. I can't
imagine Phylea would have any objection to appointing Seni captain,
or why the Ministry would either.'

Jann looked to Seni and nodded. 'Good. It should work
out.' He glanced across to me, 'Seni's put in too much time and
effort for her loyalty not to be rewarded. Now what about Tallith
Min? I'd like to meet her but you said she's not aboard?'

I nodded. 'Right. She's not,' I paused, uncertain of
how to continue. I could trust Jann and Seni, so I opted to tell
the truth, as little as possible of it, but the truth. 'She
originally signed on, but when an opportunity to sail as a guest of
her former captain aboard the Aurora came up, she took it.'

'But she's still on your books.'

'Yes. Her original plan was to sail with us as pilot
to learn the tramp trade, but now seems she's content to see the
eight stars as a simple tourist...'

'But she's still on your books,' Jann insisted.
'Why?'

'I'm still hoping she'll sail with us. So I've kept
her on.'

He stared at me. 'I knew Hawker well enough to know
who Vinden willed this packet to, but that still doesn't explain
why she's still on your books after running off on the Aurora or
deciding to be a tourist. But I suppose it's none of my business,'
he added with a shrug.

Dare I leave it there? If they had been sailing in
hours, I would have. But they were not.

'Listen, this stays just between us,' I began leaning
forward and pausing until I had their nods of agreement. 'I can't
go into details, but briefly, Min believes that her parents were
killed, and perhaps Miccall and Vinden as well, by enemies out of
their past. She has very good reasons to believe they mean to kill
her too. She's determined to find out why and who's behind those
murders but feels she's a danger to anyone around her and is
determined to seek the killers alone. It may be none of my
business, but I'd feel a whole lot better if she pursued her goals
aboard the
Lost Star
. I've been able to sign on not only
Rafe gil'Giles, but Tenry Roynay and Vynnia enCarn as well, so you
see we're well equipped to find secret things and deal with shadowy
threats. But at the moment it seems I'm not able to convince Min of
that, but with her still on my books...' I left it hang with a
look.

Jann and Seni have both been executive officers for
many decades, so I didn't have to say more.

'Would you dare?'

'Yes. Well, maybe. Roynay and enCarn only signed on
to stay with her as watch dogs and will follow her whether or not
she wants them to... So you see I'm on a knife's edge. I have to
count on you to steer well clear of all this.'

Jann grinned. 'You're a surprisingly ruthless son of
a black star, Litang.'

'Driven so by necessity.'

'That's what all us ruthless bastards say.'

'He's bound for the drifts, Captain. I think he needs
all the expertise he can get,' added Seni, with a sweet smile.

'True. Well, you can count on us, Litang. I want to
sleep at night,' said Jann gravely.

I'm going to assume that was an example of Jann's
humor, so I'll sleep at night.

We moved up to the awning deck shortly afterwards to
join the rest of the crew. Jann explained his plans to use their
small trader fleet to shuttle boxes from the minor planets and hand
off the long haul ones to the remaining three Night Hawk Line
ships. That way they could offer express service for both short and
long deliveries, free the tramps from planet calls for a couple of
boxes, and drive business for all concerned. We suggested our old
plan of using a couple of laid up tramps as orbital warehouses to
smooth out the transfer process, which Jann though promising if
they could charter a couple of ships cheap enough. They stayed on
for several hours after the meal, and after I saw them off, I found
my hammock quite comfortable for the twenty seconds I was
awake.

Entertaining Jann and Seri pushed my call to &
Kin's back a day. However, by mid third watch the following day, I
was feeling fit enough to call down to Kelapa & Kin Spaceship
Sales, Service and Salvage to see what they could do for us.

The & Kin is a thousand year old joke. The last
Kelapa who'd actually owned the firm died twelve hundred years ago
but to this day it's still a family firm – every employee is still
related to the founder, Drigh Kelapa by blood or marriage. A
thousand years ago, one of the “cousins” employed by the firm
thought it clever to skip the obsolete “Kelapa” and shortening the
firm's name to simply & Kin to better reflect the nature of the
firm. The joke stuck.

I reached the moon-faced, always rumpled, always
harried “Cousin” Natsepe in sales.

'Hi Nat. Litang of the
Lost Star
. Looking to
make some easy credits?' I said as Nat's grumpy face came up on the
com screen. I'd dealt with him before.

'Hey Wil. And no, we've plenty of credits. Too many.
Don't have time to make any more. Lift off. I'm busy.'

'You're a born salesperson, Nat.'

'Neb-straight. Keep my services so exclusive,
shipowners brag in bars when I decide to sell 'em something. You
got'a have a mega-ton of lift for me to sell you anything at
all.'

'Have I the lift?'

'Neb no. Sorry, Wil, you're a wet behind the ears
ship captain. Don't rate.'

'You guys that busy?'

'It seems that every Neb-blasted ship owner in the
system has decided to fix one thing or another as long as the ships
are idle,' he replied. 'We're up to our eyebrows in work.'