Star Traders

The Earth Princess shuttle ship left the lower lock on Deck one. There were six passengers aboard the small shuttle. Jayne, Jake Armitage and four Larn all dressed in their dress uniforms. The small contingency of Larn carried several packages. The ship, 20 feet long and 10 feet high, was shaped like a small missile and was crowded with people and packages.

“What’s in the bags, Captain?” Jake asked.

“Lunch.” sahe answered.

“Lunch?” Jake looked back at the Larn. “Really?”

“Yup” Jayne smiled. “Lunch. Enough for about 30, I hope. Broiled trout with rosemary. A bit of garlic, some oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. A load of tomatoes and cauliflower with some asparagus. And a small stove, of course. I have no idea what they have for ovens over there.”

“Damn! I thought I recognized one of the cooks! The fastest way to someone’s heart is through his stomach, huh?” Jake asked, smiling as he maneuvered the shuttle among the pods that made up the starship. “I think we’re getting close. That strobe light is just a few pods away now.” He lowered the speed as huge doors opened to allow them entry into the starship.

They slowly set their ship in the middle of the space provided. The strobe lights continued to flash. In about 10 minutes the strobe lights stopped. Jayne assumed that the air in the lock had reached sufficient pressure to allow the crew to disembark. A small crowd of Larn approached their shuttle.

Jayne cracked the airlock and lowered the stairs to the deck of the starship. Their own contingency of Larn stepped forward to meet the starship representatives. A short conversation ensued. The starship representatives seemed in awe of the uniforms of the crew of the Earth Princess. Their own dress was a robe tied around the middle with a sash, and short boots. The material appeared to be wool, or heavy cotton, and was a uniform shade of dirty gray. The contrast to the bright colors of the Earth Princess crew was striking.

“We are to follow them to the committee room, Captain Ma’am,” one of the Larn informed them. “We would like you and Mr. Armitage to walk in the middle of our four, please,” he asked.

“Certainly,” Jayne said.

The Larn carried their packages along with them. A short walk brought them to a door guarded by two armed guards. The guards stepped aside and indicated the Earth Princess contingent to enter the room.

It was not particularly impressive, but 10 people rested on elevated chairs, about a foot above the floor. Their surprise was evident when Lieutenant Armitage still had to look down at them from his 6 foot six height. They sat in awe as he seated Captain Rice at the table obviously for their use. The four Larn stood at attention behind them as Armitage also seated himself. Jayne waved them to chairs.

“I assume you are the ships commanding committee?” It wasn’t really a question; more of a statement. She had taken the initiative away from the committee head. He didn’t look very happy about it.

“And you are Captain Rice?” he asked. “It’s not often a woman is in command of a ship. I congratulate you. You must be very adept, indeed, to hold such a high position. I am headman Assure. I am the final authority on this ship during the present cycle.”

“This is Lieutenant Armitage, my navigation officer. Let me explain what we are doing here. Some time ago, our people discovered a Faster-Than-Light drive and decided to open trade with the known planets of the Larn. We are the first vessel to arrive in this system. Unfortunately, we find a war going on and there is no doubt we will not be allowed to land on the planet.”

“Trade between planets?” Assure shook his head. “This is unheard of. But, I suppose if you can exceed the speed of light, it is a possibility. What is on your mind, Captain?”

“I’m going to offer to trade with Epsilon 4,” Jayne explained. “We get to go down and trade our goods, and we get rid of your ship for them.”

“And just how do you think you can do that?” Assure had a smile on his lips. “It seems we have you outnumbered by a huge margin!”

“We are traders! We came to trade. We are prepared to offer you a new world to settle on. And we can do it within the next 100 days. It’s sitting there waiting for you to take over.”

Assure was speechless.

Armitage leaned over. “Boy, Did that ever shut him up!” he whispered.

“You can do that?” Assure asked when he had caught his breath.

“We can do that,” Jayne nodded. “That and more. We can also offer you all the help you need to allow your group a good start on that world.”

“What proof do you have?”

“Do we need more proof than that before your eyes?” Jayne asked. “You already see that we are strangers in this system. How did we get here in such a small ship? We were only in space for about 35 days. Do we look like you? Do we act like you? Are we dressed like you? It would have taken us 50 years to just come from the closest star to this system. We could not have done it with our small ship if we were limited to something less than the speed of light, as you are. Face it Assure. We are what we claim to be. And we can take you back with us.”

“Why would you do that?” Assure asked.

“Two reasons. We need bodies on our world if we want to continue to be traders. And, more important, we are aware that these ships carry with them several back-up gravity wells for every system you have in all of these pods. The long voyages between stars demand that much of a safety factor. What we need from you in payment for saving all your lives is your word we will acquire all these extra gravity wells once we have reached the Sol system. After all, once you are there, you will not need them any longer.”

Assure thought for some time. “We seem to have little choice. We cannot conquer the world below us. And we will die if we do not. You offer us an alternative. We accept your offer. However, we cannot give you all of our back-up gravity wells. We can give you a considerable number. When we arrive at our final destination, we are going to need those gravity wells to power the necessary equipment we are taking planetside for survival. We could possibly give you half of what we have available.” Assure said, the rest of the committee nodded their agreement.

“Done! Half now, half on delivery,” Jayne informed him. “We will take half those gravity wells now.”

“Captain, do you have any idea how many extra gravity wells we are carrying?” Assure asked.

“Not the foggiest,” Jayne admitted.

“You would need three of your little ships to just carry half of them,” Assure said. “What we will do is transfer those wells to our empty farming pods and you can have control over those pods. We have plenty of them. That is, if you approve.”

Jayne looked at Jake. He nodded. “Sounds like a deal.”

“Jake,” Jayne said in English. “After lunch I want you to take a tour of this ship. Not all of it, of course; just enough to be sure this guy is telling the truth. I have to know if they really are in trouble with their farm pods, or if they are just marking time until they can conquer Epsilon 4. I’d hate to be on the wrong side here!”

“OK, Captain. That should be easy,” Jake said with a grin.

“Now, Assure,” Jayne addressed the headman in Larn. “Now we contact the powers that be on Epsilon 4 and negotiate!”

“And how do you propose to do that?” Assure asked.

“Watch us! We are traders, after all! Do we have your cooperation?”

“We have nothing to lose, it seems to me. So say I. So what does the committee say?” Assure looked around.

All the rest nodded without saying a word.

“So it will be done. What are you planning to do now?” Assure asked Jayne.

“Have lunch,” Jayne said as she waved the Larn away to find a kitchen.

“Lunch?” Assure asked with some question.

“Something to eat,” Jayne explained. “I took the liberty of bringing over some of our trade goods for your approval. We will have trout for lunch.”

“Trout?” Assure asked.

“A fish,” Jayne explained. It will be ready in about 20 minutes. In the meantime, let’s plan…