For Anailu, the party was a little overwhelming. Anailu had never been a party person. In the past, she'd tried to find a quiet corner, or ideally, leave as soon as she could politely escape. There were so many people who wanted to talk to her! She didn't know how to act like a “proper” captain in a social situation, much less host a party.
This is supposed to be a good day, isn't it?
Fortunately, Orym helped manage all that. He led Anailu around, making introductions and moving them from group to group so all the guests had a chance to meet her. She shook a lot of hands, accepted a lot of congratulations, and kept hoping for the ordeal to be over.
When the party wound down, Anailu set the Silver Queen down at Orym's lot to let her guests depart. Rather than going back to her ship's old resting place, she set down on one of Orym's landing pads. She already had a contract for her first cargo, thanks to another Doran tradition that was supposed to bring good luck to both the ship and the shipper. Anailu hoped the tradition would bring her luck, because on its own, that first delivery sure wasn't going to bring in much.
The next morning, Vargit was at the yard bright and early. He came aboard the Silver Queen to say goodbye to Anailu.
“Orym wanted to be here, but last night, he partied like he had made the biggest sale of his life. I guess you saw that. I don't believe he'll be in before noon. I'm guessing he asked you not to tell anyone how much you paid for the ship?”
She nodded.
He chuckled. “Yep, that's Orym, always thinking of the angles. He may not have his gate guard anymore, but I bet folks around here will be talking for years about the big payday he must have gotten when he finally made this sale.”
Vargit took another look around at the ship before he continued. “Kid – I mean, Captain – I'm impressed. You did good, but I'm thinking you figured out the drives were working before you even cut the deal, didn't you?”
She stayed silent, but she couldn't stop just a little smile of satisfaction.
“Yeah, I thought so. So you just spent those five days doing a full checkout before you even tried a drive start. That's smart. While you were at it, did you check the market prices for on-planet transport services?”
She nodded.
“Well, I don't know it for exact, but I know you aren't going to get rich off that sort of work. You sure you're OK with that? You know you could still trade your ship back to Orym. I'm sure he'll give you a better deal now that it's mobile. He might even find a buyer for it, with all the attention from tonight.
“So far, you're out a week's work, a few parts, and the cost of a Doran airship registration – and the party, too, I suppose. That's not much, yet. Just remember that if you really stick with this ship, you aren't taking it off-world anytime soon.”
“Well, you're wrong about one thing. The Queen isn't registered as just an airship. I couldn't do that to her. She now has a full Imperial 'free navigation' registration.”
Vargit whistled. “Well, I guess you still have that crazy streak going. That ain't cheap! Of course, I thought you were crazy to try and get this ship running in the first place, and I was wrong about that. Maybe you'll have better luck finding those parts than we did.”
Chapter 6: An Unusual Couple
After delivering her first cargo, Anailu had trouble making a profit for a while. She could make a little if she got a full cargo, but at first, she was only getting smaller loads. Many of these jobs actually cost her a little money because she wasn't even making enough to totally cover her fuel costs. The Queen had big tanks because she was designed for long trips. With full fuel tanks, and only running the drives at idle, Anailu didn't expect to need more fuel for a few months. Though the small jobs didn't pay for themselves, she took any that might help her build a reputation for speed and reliability.
Anailu also figured out that she had the fastest purely atmospheric ship doing regular, on-planet operations. The Queen might be operating purely on CG, but just like her drives, her CG generators were way overpowered for her size. Together with her aerodynamic shape, it meant she had a lot of go-fast. The ship was designed to operate with the thrust from the main drives, so Anailu wasn't even close to stressing the hull on CG alone.
From time to time, Vargit checked up on how things were going. He told her again how he was convinced that the parts were somewhere on Doran. Anailu was certainly going to check that possibility first, if only because it was the cheapest option. It was always possible that Orym hadn't looked in the right place at the right time.
Anailu wasn't going to pin all her hopes on that plan, though. She needed alternate solutions that involved less luck. One option was to cannibalize the parts from another Dove that was no longer in service. That would require finding such a ship, with the parts, and with an owner willing to sell for a reasonable price. Another option was to get in touch with the companies, governments, or individuals still operating Doves and, unlikely as it was, find out if any of them had keystone spares they were willing to sell. The last option was buying replacements from the Telani. That would require no luck at all, but she knew it would be the most expensive option, and probably not one she could achieve anytime soon.
When Anailu wasn't on a job, she split her time between looking for more jobs, and getting the systems of the ship as right as she could, at least without spending any money. One small problem she discovered right away was that both of the drives were always using a little more fuel than they ought to be, according to the specifications. It wasn't so much that it would indicate a serious problem, but it was enough to bug her. She knew that worn out drives had a tendency to lose efficiency, but the Queen didn't show any other symptoms of hard use. She tried to trace down the issue, but she was only able to reach the conclusion that finding and fixing it would require pulling the drives and completely overhauling them, and that was a cost she couldn't afford right now.
Whatever the reason the previous owner had for removing the keystone parts, one area that was entirely untouched was the staterooms, both for passengers and crew. All the fittings were there, from plumbing down to bedding. All they needed was a nice cleaning and fresh bedding, and they might look almost new. She gave them the cleaning they needed, but the bedding still felt old and smelled a little musty. Buying new bedding was another expense that would have to wait.
The styling of the aft half of the ship was certainly an oddity. Anailu didn't know exactly how long the ship had been out of service, but she knew the style of the staterooms was one of the original choices available when the Doves were first offered fifty years ago. The shipyard seals on the cargo bay work indicated the refit was done only thirty years ago. She knew the Telani offered remodeling to update Doves to a more modern style, even now. Someone went to all the trouble and expense of converting this ship with an original yard rebuild, but why hadn't they restyled the rest of the ship at the same time? That was a comparatively small expense.
The Queen was a very complex ship, and she had a lot of systems packed into her mechanical spaces. The narrow internal accessways to the drives were actually spacious compared to the accessways provided in other parts of the ship. That wasn't uncommon; you were intended to use maintenance bots in those spaces, but the Queen was both more complicated and more densely packed than most ships. Anyway, Anailu was skinny and flexible enough to get into most of the tight spaces.
She sometimes wondered if every engineer designed ships with someplace that only a skinny person could reach. It had certainly been the case on every ship Anailu had worked on.
For the rest of the spaces she couldn't reach, the ship said that the equipment there was fully operational. For now, she had to accept that, because she couldn't afford to buy a maintenance bot, and she wasn't going to rent one if she could help it. As her first captain had always said, “Sure as nuts, that rental's gonna get in there and break something, and no chance the bot's owner will pay for it.”
Anailu kept flying all the cargoes she could find, but a
fter several months of it, her account was dwindling. She wasn't ready to panic yet, but she was worried.
On one particularly warm, sunny day, Anailu delivered a priority cargo to one of the few resorts on the planet, this one in the tropical Lightness archipelago known for “the best beaches on Doran.” With the cargo offloaded and the payment in her account, she was feeling especially good because this job had actually netted her a nice little profit. They'd offered an incentive for speed-of-delivery, and thanks to the Queen's speed, she'd earned the maximum bonus. Anailu didn't have a return cargo, so she was securing the main hatch, preparing to spend a few hours looking at the local scenery. She figured she could afford a little sightseeing when someone else had paid for the fuel.
She was just coming down the boarding ramp when an elderly, rather wealthy looking couple approached, trailed closely by a young, healthy looking man. To Anailu, he had not just the look of Security, but the stylish, understated look of Expensive Security.
“I say, young lady, are you crew aboard this vessel?” The man spoke with a decidedly upper class, Core-world accent.
Anailu was glad she'd chosen to wear her nice shipsuit today. “I am her captain, sir. Might I assist you?”
“The captain? The devil, you say!”
The woman touched the man's arm. “What my husband means to say is that he's quite impressed, and that we are quite curious to know who is the owner of your ship.”
He looked embarrassed – at least a little. “Yes, yes, my apologies, Captain. Please, who is the owner of this estimable ship?”
Anailu said proudly, “I am, sir.”
“Indeed? That is quite impressive, for such a young lady. And would you be willing to share with us what passengers of quality you are carrying, and if they are arriving or departing?”
“None today, sir. Apparently, there was an unexpected shortage of imported liqueurs, and they contracted me to bring a shipment in from Doran City.”
The lady gasped. “Hauling cargo – for hire – on a Dove?”
The gentleman took her hand and patted it. “My dear, we must make allowances. After all, this is the Rim. They do all sorts of terrible things to ships out this far. Besides, I think we can guess it was that potty young man and his friends who drank up all the good liqueur. You know who I am referring to. Undoubtedly, that lead to the requirement for a speedy refill of the local stock.”
Anailu bristled at the implication that carrying cargo was beneath the Silver Queen. Part of her realized it might be a bad idea to talk back to these obviously rich people, but right now, she just didn't care.
“I'll have you know that 'hauling cargo' is what the Silver Queen built for. Yes, it was a cargo refit, but she wasn't modified by some Rim world hack outfit, she was converted at the Telani yards!”
“What? The Telani convert a Dove for cargo? I've never heard of such a thing! But working locally out here on Doran? Surely there's more profitable employment for a starship – especially a Dove?”
“You're right, but for now, I don't have any choice on which planet I work on. As far as I know, the Silver Queen was brought to this world and left disabled, unnamed, and abandoned. I brought her back, I got her flying again. If she's just in the Doran sky so far, who cares? I am going to get her out in the stars!”
The gentleman was taken aback for a moment, then turned to his wife. “Well, not the diversion we sought, but a certainly a unique tale.” He turned back to Anailu. “Thank you for your candor. I wish you the best of luck in your quest.”
The lady closed on Anailu, took her hand, and looked closely at Anailu, as if looking for something. “Yes, the best of luck to you and your ship.”
Anailu was taken aback. “Yes, umm, thank you. I, I will try to do that.”
The lady released Anailu's hand and stepped back beside her husband. She nodded to him, and he turned back to Anailu. “Captain, Thank you for your time. Goodbye.”
Anailu drew herself up to attention, as best she could. “No problem, sir. Goodbye to you.”
They left. Anailu stood at the bottom of the ramp, a little bewildered. When they were gone, she finally left the landing platform, hoping that this time she'd actually get to the beach.
Chapter 7: In Which Politeness Yields Income
She'd finally reached the beach, but as she walked along, she thought back to the encounter with the couple. For all she'd said to them, was she doing as much as she could to find the parts she needed? After just a half hour, she decided to cut her visit short and return to the ship. She knew there wasn't much chance of return cargo or passengers from here; each of the hotels had a contract with one or the other of the bigger Doranese airshipping concerns, and most passengers just took a commercial airship.
Just in case, she did check if there were any local parts suppliers. As expected, she didn't find any. Ships that landed in the Lightness had to travel to Doran City or one of the smaller ports to get anything more than fuel. All they had here was the little commercial airport and the landing pads at the resorts.
When she got back to the ship, she had a message waiting. That was odd, since her commercial ship listing directed calls and emails to her personal comm. The ship only got messages directed to the ship. It also reminded her how cheap the ship's very basic comm system was. Any decent system would have forwarded the message to her automatically.
She checked the message, but it wasn't for a cargo, it was one Obin Torrell, of Torrell Safaris. He said he was here at the Lightness resort, and he wanted to meet her, examine her ship, and see if it was suitable for a charter.
She'd previously contacted all the Doran tourist guides she could find, but nobody had been interested. They either had their own ships, or they had regular contracts with established outfits.
She looked up the available information about his company. His company had a reputation as the most expensive, aimed at wealthy clientele. She wondered how he had found her. Was it just a coincidence that she'd just talked with that wealthy couple?
Anailu returned his call. He asked to meet with her at the ship in twenty minutes. She looked over the ship, but the only thing that really needed cleaning was sweeping the floor of the cargo bays, so she did that. Then she went out and did a walk-around on the ship, just in case.
Twenty minutes later, Obin Torrell arrived, dressed like a gentleman hunter from some adventure story.
He walked up to her casually and shook her hand. “Captain, I'm Obin Torrell. I'm running a safari starting tomorrow for some off-planet folks. One of my guests asked me to come over and look at your ship, and let her know whether it was suitable for me to charter. So, if you have the time, I'd like to see what you've got here.”
“Mr. Torrell, I'm Anailu Xindar. I'd be happy to show you my ship. Shall we go aboard?” He was amenable, so she led the way up the boarding ramp.
Mr. Torrell walked up the ramp beside her, moving with purpose, and said, “Regardless of my guest's intentions, I want you to understand that I am not changing all my preparations for anyone, no matter how important she is. I am interested in determining if you might be useful for a future charter.”
Anailu nodded. “Thanks for being straight with me. Why don't I just tell you about her?” They were at the entry hatch, so she ushered him in. “Welcome aboard the Silver Queen.”
As they toured the ship, she told him about it, though she wasn't sure how much Dove trivia he was really interested in. She wasn't really comfortable trying to 'sell' him on the ship – it wasn't something she was used to doing. She made sure to detail the ship's limitations, but he nodded at these without comment. He seemed quite interested in the galley facilities and the medbay, but he also looked at the staterooms and the lounge, even trying the seats and sitting on a bed. He asked whether she had a steward on her crew.
As the tour ground to a finish at the main lock, Mr. Torrell turned to her. “You have a unique ship here.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I operate my own a
irship, specially fitted for safaris and social gatherings. It's large enough for a little group like the one I have right now, but I also book large groups, or excursions requiring more equipment than I can carry. When that happens, I usually end up renting a passenger airship for my guests' own staff, or a cargo airship to carry additional supplies, support equipment, excursion vehicles, or even just the excessive luggage some 'voyageurs' bring along. A few of my expeditions are large enough that I need to hire both cargo and passenger ships.
“I'm considering the possibility of using your ship for both roles. Using a single craft for both purposes would be more convenient. You don't have a large passenger capacity, but you'd be surprised how often I need just a few more staterooms. You have plenty of cargo capacity. Besides that, I've never found an attractive cargo airship here on Doran. And phew, but your ship certainly has that in spades.
“So here's my offer. Before I put my reputation in your hands on a trip with paying customers, I want to find out if we can work together. In two weeks, I'm hosting a little company outing, just for my staff and their families. It's my way to say thanks for all their hard work during the rest of the year. If you're interested in working with me, then you and the Silver Queen are invited. We'll use your ship for our transportation.
“For this trip, I'll only pay your fuel costs for the outing, but I will also provide you food, refreshments, and entertainment. It will be a great opportunity for my wife and I to get to know you, and vice versa. Since Mrs. Torrell is also my business partner, her opinion is at least as important as mine.
The Sculpted Ship Page 5