Personal Log 77: 2nd - 8th November, 3301
03 Oct 2016Jemine Caesar
2nd - 8th November, 3301"Well," said Sam. "Sarah's always been a little unpredictable."
We were speaking by k-cast the next day. Sam had taken his Asp, the R134, on another bounty hunting trip in the nearby systems, and I was scouring the bulletin boards for delivery jobs.
Sam chuckled at my account of his sister's confession. "I can't say I'm surprised that she's taken a shine to you, Jem," he said. "Considering how beautiful you are!"
Now it was my turn to chuckle. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Samuel!" I said. "But I do hope you're not thinking of dumping me just yet!"
The bulletin board jobs took me to EZ Aquarius, Tau Ceti and Toolfa. Sam's father had asked me to pick up another few cases of Toolfa Gin when I was next in the system, and I met up with Sam for drinks at a bar on Crook Hub starport called 'The Tinker's Tale'.
"This place is run by John Hammond," said Sam. "John Hammond the third, to be precise. He's an old friend of my grand-dad's. They've known each other since they were 11 years old. They lived in the same street on Homeland."
John Hammond III proved to be one of Toolfa's licenced exporters of the finest brand of Toolfa Gin. The cases of gin I was to collect had been ordered through Mr Hammond's export company. The man himself was a jovial, straightforward man, who certainly didn't look anywhere near his 70+ years.
As it happened it was Sam, and not I, who had to convey the Toolfa Gin back to Beta Hydri. A malfunction in The Last Thing's helm controls meant that my ship was stuck on Crook Hub.
"Sorry, love," said the maintenance tech in an accent similar to Sam's. "The lateral translator's become misaligned, so you'd be continually spinning to port if you tried to take off. Unfortunately we don't have one in stock. It'll take a couple of days to arrive."
After three days I was bored rigid. I'd explored Crook Hub's shopping malls, buying a couple of dresses in the process. Tired of shopping (very unlike me!) I sat in the station landing bay observation room with a holo-novel, glancing up every now and then to watch the comings and goings of other ships. My eye was caught by a Sidewinder on a nearby pad. On its side was a gaudy sticker, which proclaimed "My Other Ship Is A Federal Dropship!" It reminded me of Marcus Trelawney. I smiled at the memory, and resolved to contact him again soon.
*****
At last my ship was refitted and declared spaceworthy once more. Gleefully pulling on my flightsuit and jumping into the cockpit, I powered her up and ran through the pre-flight check. My course to Beta Hydri took me through 82 Eridani, Terravor and Minmar.
On my way to Stephenson Base I was attacked by a Competent-rated Cobra. We were quite evenly matched in combat, but my assailant evidently decided I wasn't worth the bother and FSD'd out before I could do much damage to him.
Back on Stephenson Base I lost no time in getting changed and heading to The Rose, where Sam was waiting for me with a white wine and a kiss. Mark had been drafted in from The Black Hole bar to help out while Ben recovered from his recent heart attack.
Jenna gave me a warm welcome. "I've missed you, Jem!" she said. "You've become one of the family now. I hope you're here when I have the baby." I told her she could count on that.
"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else!" I said.
Sam told me that there might be a politician in the family soon, too. "Andrew is running for the Worker's Party in the Homeland parliamentary elections. We'll know tomorrow whether he's been successful!"
The Rose was exceptionally busy the next day, November 7th. I did a double shift on bar to help out, and lost count of the number of people I either congratulated or commiserated with, depending on whose side they supported in the elections. Most of what they actually had to say was way over my head, but it didn't matter as long as I was keeping their glasses full.
Things were a lot calmer the following day, so I took The Last Thing on a couple of delivery runs to LHS 3836 and back, during which my comms panel flashed an incoming call. It was Aiden Majes.
"Hi Jem!" he said, cheerily. "How's it going with you?" We chatted for a while. Aiden told me he had bought an Asp a month earlier, and was currently exploring the Pleiades.
"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Are you supplying materials for the new starport they're building out there?" Aiden admitted that he hadn't contributed so far, but might be tempted if he could source some metals at a good price.
On returning to Stephenson Base, Sam updated me on the results on the Homeland elections:
"The election result didn't go down well with some," he said. "In short it was a hung parliament, as no party had enough seats to govern on their own. The Beta Hydri Nationalists lost their supermajority and dropped into near obscurity. The Beta Hydri Democrats made large gains, not enough to govern alone, but likely to form a coalition with the Workers Party. As a result, supporters of the BHN began rioting, requiring military intervention. So we may well see a little of Andrew Thoms MP from now on! Jenna's naturally delighted and by his side of course!"