“Are they a good sort?”
“They're no worse than the rest.” Ayan was just about to walk off when the nafalli called after her in a whisper. “Just wondering; is everything they saying about you true? You took Valance’s operation over?” She didn’t know how to answer, but he must have discerned something from her expression, because his eyes went wide. “So he’s here, isn’t he?” he said in a hush.
“You’d know if he were here. As for who might be in charge, you need look no further,” Ayan said with a wink before turning her back to him.
The worn twelve person shuttle lifted off straight away, gaining a few meters of altitude before accelerating into an extreme upward curve. "I think I'll tell Jake to check cab companies if he ever needs more pilots. He was tracking at least two dozen other shuttles and God knows what else up there and it looked like it was as routine as brushing his hair," Laura said as she watched the old people mover disappear into the overhead traffic.
"There's nothing routine about grooming for a nafalli, except that they're always grooming," countered Victor.
"You have a point."
Ayan looked at the old, crooked metal archway ahead of them. There was a thick bodied five deck ship filling the centre of the circular landing pad. Layers of armour were piled onto some sections of the ship, and she could see where at least three gunnery turrets had been built into the vessel after her initial manufacture. The thing was nearly two hundred meters long with clamps along the bottom of her hull, giving her the look of some fat, misshapen cockroach.
The walls of the docking space were obscured by hundreds of stacked transport containers. Some had been welded together to form permanent multi storey warehouses. Metal stairs had been added, and she could see at least a dozen brand names that were absolutely foreign to her, and pictures of all kinds of products.
Several of the containers were marked SPACERWARES, the only brand name she recognized. Seeing it made her feel a little less dubious about dealing with the seller, "Looks like at least some of these people steal from Regent Galactic. I feel better about this already," Ayan commented.
"Regent Galactic owns Spacerwares? I love that store, it's like heaven for, well, spacers." replied Jenny, disappointed.
Two guards stepped out from the sides of the archway as the groups started walking towards it. They brandished heavy rifles, wore thick, mismatched armour and had slicked hair and grimy, greasy skin.
"What's your business here?" The taller of the two asked in a thick British accent.
Ayan pulled out the bulletin listing and held it out. "I'm looking to buy some food and supplies if you have them."
"You've come to the right place then, miss. I'll call Captain Sima straight away." He half turned and shouted; "Oi! Skipper! We've got customer!"
Ayan couldn't help but be reminded of the British holomovies she'd seen growing up. She couldn't get enough of them, holomovies, documentaries, anything she could get her hands on. Before her teen years she was close to her mother, so close that she'd picked up her accent, what some of the British called the aristocratic version of their accent, clean and clear. Ayan preferred more of a colourful, charming, street born accent, but when she used it everyone stared, especially when she did so in jest. When she was younger she had difficulty understanding why people were amused by the way she spoke. To Ayan everyone but her and her mother had accents.
It was her first time meeting someone who used such a bent, localized accent, and when she saw the Captain come down in brown trousers, a long sleeved shirt, dark brown vest and short cropped violet hair Ayan was surprised at how young she looked. By her best estimation, she couldn’t be more than twenty.
The woman had all the markings of one born of British heritage, in fact, many of her crew were the same. "We've a sister with us, I see," she smiled as she got to the bottom step, resting her hand on the hilt of her sidearm, a silvered heavy pistol.
Ayan stepped forward and offered her hand. "Ayan Rice, of the Clever Dream."
"Can’t say I’m unawares of you setting down on this watery rock, the newsies mixed you right in with the rest of the chatter and gab. Surprised you’re standing here though. Your people still stuck in the Dower Wastes?"
"Unfortunately. We haven’t found an alternative yet."
"I'm Captain Ruby Sima, good to meet someone else who's fighting for the right side. Keep out of the gutter politics around here and you should do fine if your people are as well armed as that fleet of yours. What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for a new place to set down and need to stock up on food and some extra survival gear, do you have anything?"
"Food, gear, I can help you with, but I don’t own any of the slips here, just a renter myself. I might be able to get you in touch with someone who’d be pleased to deal. Let’s start with what I can provide. What sort of food are you pressed to buy?"
"Well, we have a food processing unit that can work with base form proteins and we could use some pre-made stuff."
"Like meal bars and the like?" She asked.
"Exactly," Ayan smiled.
"You have credit or cash?"
"I have a few GC with me."
Captain Sima eyed Ayan's messenger bag and a smile grew on her face. "We've got business then, don't we? Let's start with the supplies and then we'll see about somewhere to park."
The tour of what Captain Sima had to offer was like walking through a bulk store. If Ayan wasn't pressed for time she would have listened to her go through the entire stock, but there were over a hundred shipping containers, and the state of things in the Dower Wastes was never far from her thoughts. She had bartered before, but this was different. This wasn't striking a deal for some keepsake during leave. It was food and essentials with the potential for finding a safer place for everyone. They needed a place to find their feet, especially since she couldn't know what condition the Triton would be in when it returned, if it returned.
If they were stuck with the materializers in their comm units and the ones in the Clever Dream they would find themselves desperate before long. The materializers would eventually need repair, and they simply didn't have the parts. If they had significant power problems they'd run out of food even faster. Minutes were passing, and though Ayan was enjoying her time exploring, there were people waiting. Too many people.
Captain Sima was a great sales person. She focused on what Ayan had asked for first, food. The Captain had raw stocks and the processors for them as well as dehydrated stock, fresh fruit, vegetables and vat grown meat. The storage containers they were in would keep them fresh for decades, but without a galley or a large clean environment for food preparation, there was no way Ayan would buy a single crate of the cultivated foods.
Ayan managed to nab four tons of raw food stock and Captain Sima was kind enough to throw in two portable processors that would change the flavour and consistency of the material into a few hundred different dishes, hot or cold. She also purchased a ton of meal bars and that settled their food problems for the time being. It was obvious that the Captain was trying to sell her wares first, since she guided them to specific sections of the makeshift warehouse. She was careful not to put down any of the goods they passed, however.
When it came to survival gear, there was a problem. It was all too expensive, even in quantity. After going through the entire list of equipment, which included everything from shovels to an entire portable bunker, and finding nothing that was within their means, Captain Sima nodded and said; "I'll leave you lot alone to discuss things a minute while I tell my Bosun what's what with the food order and make a call."
Ayan, Laura, Victor and Jenny watched her swagger away and down a steel stairway then turned towards each other. "So we have the food, that's something." Laura said.