LIGHTNOVELONLINE 19. Descent
Piper got back into her 'business outfit' again before the three of us went to the cockpit. Unlike the mining colony, our captain appeared to be unarmed this time. I took that as a good sign.
Another difference was this world's port controllers were a lot more involved in our approach. They contacted us long before we even reached orbit, then Piper had to identify the ship and our reason for being here before they gave us an approach vector.
That wasn't even to get us on the ground, it was just clearance to move into a high orbit. Then we were stuck in that orbit while we waited for further instructions.
It made sense, this world had a lot more traffic around it. There were ships coming and going, and several orbital platforms. It was obvious that there was too great a chance of collisions if ships were allowed to just fly around wherever they wanted. On the other hand it took a lot of the glamour away from being a starship pilot.
Growing up on my agricultural home-world, pilots were sort of idolized. They were hotshots who strapped into their spaceships and flew between the stars, with all of space open before them. The reality was apparently a lot more bureaucratic and tightly-controlled than the fantasy.
And this was out in the 'lawless frontier', it left me wondering how boring spaceflight must be within the Imperium.
Eventually Piper got clearance to move us into a lower orbit, and from there she could contact the shipyard she wanted us to land at.
"I'll monitor the port control frequencies while you're communicating with the shipyard," Jenny offered.
Meanwhile I was watching a confusing array of blips on the ship's sensors that represented a few dozen other craft nearby, and Sarah was looking at her engineering displays.
Our captain thanked the AI then had me switch the comm over to a private channel. She thumbed the mic in her hand and called, "Freeborn Shipyard, this Merchant Vessel Demeter in orbit, requesting clearance and a landing vector at your earliest convenience."
The response came after a few seconds. The voice sounded like an older gentleman, friendly and in good spirits.
"Rebecca! What have you done to that flying antique of yours? I know you've done something, her next scheduled maintenance isn't for another half-year."
I glanced at Piper and saw her cheeks colouring slightly as she protested, "The Demeter's fine Mel! And we go through this every single time, call me Piper. Or Captain Piper if you want. Anyways what are you doing answering the comm? Did you finally get demoted or something?"
Mel replied, "Captain Piper was your father kiddo, you'll always be Rebecca to me. So what brings you around here if you're not looking for me to patch up that old boat?"
After only two exchanges I was positive this Mel person was a lot like the Hammersmith's captain. A friendly approachable older guy, he probably acted like a father to everyone he worked with. Or in this case, he came across as a friendly uncle.
Our captain's cheeks were a brighter shade of red now. I could guess what was going through her mind, she obviously wasn't expecting to talk to this Mel person and he was saying stuff she didn't want the rest of us to overhear.
Piper thumbed the mic again and stated, "I came across some salvage that's right up your alley. Can we leave the pleasantries and chit-chat till we're on the ground please Mel? I'm on the clock here, we've only got about sixty hours before we need to depart if I'm going to make my next delivery on schedule."
After a few seconds of silence Mel's voice came over the comm again. "All right Rebecca, I've transmitted clearance to port control. Sending you a vector. We've got a job in your usual spot right now so we'll put you in number four this time. I'll meet you once you're on the ground."
"Thanks Mel," Piper responded. "See you soon."
The landing vector arrived right away, but we still had to wait for landing clearance from the port.
While we were waiting, Piper glanced at me and Sarah then sighed "I'm sure you all have questions after everything Mel said. I really wasn't expecting him to be on the comms, he actually runs the shipyard."
I didn't want to press her for information, but I was definitely curious.
"We can forget what we heard boss," Sarah offered. "I get the feeling Mel's known you for some time, and he probably didn't know you'd have strangers in the cockpit when he was talking."
The captain grimaced, "Right on both counts. Anyways I may as well get this over with while we're waiting to land. Gabriel Piper was the previous captain of the Demeter, the guy who saved me and my friend after the Cumberland disaster. Obviously he wasn't really my father, but..."
Her voice trailed off for a moment before she pushed on, "After my first experience in the healing pod I came out looking like I was eighteen again. Gabe was in his forties at the time and he took to telling people I was his daughter. Told folks when he was ready to retire I'd be taking over the Demeter from him, that I'd started working with him as his apprentice. I ended up taking his last name, I became Rebecca Piper. Except Gabe didn't actually retire, we flew together for a long while after that. The Demeter's been getting serviced at the Freeborn Shipyard since Mel was a junior mechanic and his dad ran the yard. He's known the Demeter for almost as long as I have. He knew Gabe, and he's known me as Rebecca and as Gabe's daughter almost from the start."
"He's actually the only one in the whole sector who's known me for any length of time," she added. "Gabe and I never took any long-term work or long-term contracts, most we ever dealt with anyone was a few years at a time. He didn't like to be tied to anything for too long, even if we did stay in this sector he liked the freedom of being able to just up and leave whenever he wanted. The reason we've stuck with Mel's shipyard so long is they do excellent work and he's been a good friend over the years."
It took me a few moments to think through all that, and both Sarah and Jenny were quiet as well. It didn't take long for me to come up with a question.
"So you've been Rebecca Piper for nearly thirty years, and he's known you all that time... How have you handled the question of your age? I mean, you looked eighteen three decades ago, you look twenty now."
Piper grimaced again, "That's another good reason not to have long-term business relationships. And yeah, Mel knows about the healing pod. Kind of hard to overlook the big black mystery-tube in our secondary hold. He doesn't know too much about it, but he knows it's saved my life a few times. And every time I use it I come out looking eighteen again. He also knows not to go talking about that sort of thing. That's the other reason Gabe kept doing business with the Freeborn Shipyard. Mel knows to keep quiet and keep his nose out of anything that's not his business. So did his dad."
At that point we finally got landing clearance, so that was the end of our captain's story for the moment. She angled the ship downwards, and like at the mining colony she was flying manual but following the vector we received earlier.
As we started to drop out of orbit Sarah asked, "Did Mel know you before too? Like, before you became Rebecca Piper?"
"Yeah," the captain nodded. "Mel and I met once or twice before it happened. Afterwards, Gabe told everyone his ex-marine crew died when that deal went bad. Nobody knows who I was before. Except you three, I suppose."
I thought to myself, only Piper and Jenny knew who she was before. Me and Sarah only knew what we'd been told, which so far wasn't much.
And as usual I had lots more questions, but for now they were all forgotten. Once again I had a front-row seat as we headed down towards a planet. But unlike last time, this world had lots more interesting sights for me to look at.
We were over the night side as we angled downwards, and there were several dozen clusters of lights down there, indicating large settlements or cities. I was pretty sure we weren't going to land on the night side though, we weren't in that steep of a descent. Not yet at least.
My eyes stayed glued to the window as we continued flying downwards and the world turned below us. The ship hit the atmosphere just before the local star crested the horizon, and that gave me something new to focus on. And something new to worry about.
When we landed at the mining colony the descent was smooth and silent, but that world was airless. This was everything that first experience was not. It started as a very faint shudder, but as the atmosphere outside got thicker the whole ship seemed to shake and vibrate. I could hear what sounded like equipment rattling around in the cockpit, and those loose cables and conduits seemed to dance ontop of the control panels.
Every now and then there was a worryingly loud bang or groan from elsewhere in the craft, and very soon my attention had shifted from the view outside to wondering if this ship had an escape pod or some other form of emergency gear. I was afraid the thing was going to shake itself apart the way everything was rattling and shuddering around me.
Once in a while there'd be a jolt or thump through the whole ship, and I was grateful for the straps that kept me securely fastened in my seat.
I glanced over my shoulder at Sarah, I figured if anything was seriously wrong I'd know from the look on her face. Rather than showing any sign of fear or alarm, she actually had a wide grin. She looked like she was enjoying the ride, which made me wonder if she was as crazy as our captain seemed to be, thinking this antique ship was flightworthy.
Piper wasn't smiling, but she didn't look the least bit nervous either. She looked like she was working, like this noisy bumpy descent was just another part of her job.
When we got down to only a kilometer or two above the ground the bumping and rattling finally started to ease off, but that was replaced by the whine of the ship's engines. Outside the windows I could now see what looked like a huge sprawling metropolis ahead and to the right, but we were in a very gentle left-hand turn as we continued downwards.
Our course straightened out at about a half kilometer above the ground, and our destination was finally in sight. The shipyard was set up a little like a small spaceport, but with large heavy machinery here and there. The dozen or so landing places or work areas were separated by walls, and four of the bays had retractable roofs. About half the bays were occupied, with ships or parts of ships and some of the heavy machinery.
We were still descending as we flew, heading towards the far left corner of the shipyard when Jenny spoke up.
"Just a reminder captain," the AI said in what came across as a hesitant tone. "Your friend said to use bay number four, not your usual location."
Piper grinned, "Thank you Jenny. You just earned your pay for today."
The captain had a sheepish grin on her face for the final leg of the descent, as she guided the ship away from where we'd been heading and landed on the opposite side of the shipyard. Bay number four was quite a bit bigger than the Demeter, there was about two dozen meters between the front of the ship and the far end of the bay, while we had about fifteen meters clear on either side.
Compared to the rough descent, actually landing was about the same as it had been at the mining colony. Landing gear were extended, there was a little jolt as the ship set down, then we went through the landing checklist. Engines were powered down, artificial gravity was disengaged, and we were already extremely aware that there was an atmosphere outside.
Once everything was secure Piper unbuckled and got to her feet. She said in a slightly reluctant voice, "All right. Let's go meet Mel."
