Gray Katherine - Preludes #2

 

Preludes #2

Captain Caroline Sorenson was aware that her knuckles were pressed under her chin while her right elbow rested on the plane of her left hand, as if she was a monument to deep thought. She was at rest, partly listening to Booker talking about the happenings at Thunder Bay. When the last time the Elven Imperial Navy had passed through. How the two Dohwar brothers, the Letterkyne’s, were doing with their contracts, and how there were a lot of interested captains that were either on their ships or lounging at the Perilous Orchard Tavern with not enough work to go around. Booker was listing off what contracts he did have available, none of them appealed to the brown haired captain. Caroline blinked after she heard Booker read off the first round of contracts, she realized the knuckles under her chin were aching when she decided to move her hand away and flex her digits to work the tension out of them. She put a booted foot on her desk before she spoke, cutting through any excuses: “What I need is an ore commission, Books. I’ve been moving ore this whole time, leaving my cargo hold compromised and needing to be cleaned if I’m hired to move something else. What do you have for ore delivery?’

Booker, or Books as Caroline had called him, was a tan human with a soft chin and a lot of rich cloth covering his body. He blinked behind a pair of crystal cheaters that were bound in black iron frames as he looked up from his reports, “Ironton’s exports have slowed down. Trouble on the roads between here and there. Either some guards from Thunderhead, or some of the folk from Ironton are going to have to put together an escort to move ores to the port. Probably some scro bandits are attacking the caravans and shipping the goods off-world, or to some haphazardly built smelting facility on the planet. The only thing I have available right this moment is a shipment of Stoverleaf Blanc that is expected to reach Rock of Bral if you don’t mind dealing with those scoundrels.”

“I’d have to clean out my cargo hold for consumables,” Caroline noted sourly. The Grey Katherine had a support crew on stand-by, but scrubbing the cargo hold meant she would have to offer hazard pay and have extra supplies in order to semi-properly clean and keep a sensitive cargo like alcohol, especially a wine with a reputation for sensitive as Stoverleaf, also known as S.B., or ‘Blanc’ from becoming tainted.

“It is in sealed barrels,” Booker noted, “Made from the finest timbers around and bound in Ironton iron bands. Surely you would not have to perform a full cleanse over sealed barrels.”

“It depends on the fussiness of the client,” Caroline said, “Sealed barrels would ease the workload on my men, the hold would still need a perfunctory cleaning, but it wouldn’t need a full scrubbing.
The pair paused when the door opened and a man sporting a pencil thin mustache, a gray workman’s tunic, and a pair of dungarees walked in, rolling liquid in a glass chilled by the localized frost magic in his hand. Booker nodded at George Meade while Sorenson kept her eyes on Booker. She inched her head up as George bent low, giving her a peck on the jaw while Caroline kissed the air, blowing it to her second mate and lover. There was a small circle of crewmembers who had been given the nod to come in without knocking, for others, they would have to get by Thaddeus, who was often on the bridge. George leaned against the back table as he left the cargo negotiations to his captain and lover.

“Will you at least come ashore and meet with the client? He’s really the only one left in Thunderhead who is willing to do business.”

“To do business with you at least, I wonder if the Letterkyne’s need anything moved,” Caroline wondered aloud, turning and winking at George as she teased the merchantman.

“In addition to your freight fees, how about I give you… ten percent of my commission as a bonus. I need to show some results in moving merchants before the next review comes up,” Booker said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, “The office is up for grabs.”

Caroline decided to be generous and accept Booker’s offer, nibbling only five percent of the middleman’s commission in order to keep him happy and off the streets. Booker had been fair in throwing transportation jobs her way. The deal was struck that she would meet a man named Quinton Scanlon who was the owner of the cargo.

“I have to meet a few others who are interested in transportation and are willing to work as temporary crew,” Caroline said as she walked Booker towards the Katherine’s gang plank, “We’ll do lunch while I ask why this man is foolish enough to try and move Blanc to the Rock of Bral.”

“Lunch it is- we each pay our own checks,” Booker snapped his finger and pointed at her. The money he might have used to pay for any food had been swallowed up by Sorenson nabbing that five percent.
Standing at the gunwail of her ship, her arms hanging over the side and looking at Booker’s retreating figure, Caroline flicked her gaze to Meade, who was sipping from his chilled glass. The film of condensation reminded Caroline what Meade had been working on while she was meeting with Booker.

“Did you fix that ice cube conjurer yet?”

“Probably going to need a part or two, refill the reservoir with liquid ice if they have any in town,” Meade said with a sheepish look.

“How are you keeping your drink cold then,” Sorenson asked sharply, leaning up from the gunwail.

“My own magic,” Meade said, lifting the glass towards Sorenson, which she grabbed and took a strong quaff that drained the rest of the juice that Meade had been sipping from.

“You better be ready to chill some of my drinks if you cannot solve this problem while we’re in dock, Hon, that’s all I’m going to say,” Caroline said before leaning in and giving Meade a quick kiss on the cheek before heading to meet her Engineer, Fredinger ‘Freddie’ Folsom. A human, partly trained by dwarves, that was on Sorenson’s staff who kept the ship running and arranged for maintenance crews to handle repairs and alterations. Sealed or not, she would need a partial cleaning of the Katherine’s cargo hold before taking on any consumables.