Windjammer: The Tradership Saga Book 1

by M J Gauntlet

  “Oh Zax…” Pilar cooed, slowly shaking her head, “Hon, you needn’t have worried about that. The entire crew, including the captain, knows that you didn’t do that to curry any favor from the crew. Ever since what you said about compensation over the repaired injectors, everyone knew what type of person you really were, besides if anyone on board had thought that you were trying to bribe them to hop in the sack, then they would have thrown those items back in your face. No, the attention they were paying you was strictly because they genuinely like you! That and the fact that they are all horny as hell,” she finished, with a gurgling laugh.

  “You mean that they don’t mind that…well that you and I…er…” Zax stammered, as he tried to get the words out.

  “Of course not, Zax! Like I tried to explain to you before, we spacers see sex and relationships different than ground pounders. Not to say that you still fit in that category. You are fast becoming a true spacer, if that wasn’t so, the captain would have revoked your ‘temporary crew’ status long ago. But even though you have good spacer instincts, unfortunately you still have some antiquated dirtside ideas floating around in your head,” Pilar said with a smirk. “C’mon, you’ve seen how cramped it is on a tradership, don’t you think that everyone, including the captain, doesn’t know about our little rendezvous here in your cabin? And for that matter, do you think that any of them cared?

  “Let me try and explain it to you further. By definition, ‘spacers’ spend an inordinate time in space! That means that we are constantly being subjected to radiation fields, harsh environments, toxic gases and more mutagens in a given year in space, than a dirtsider will be subjected to in their entire life on a planet. Did you know that every spacer has set aside a sperm or egg samples to be held in cryo because of the possible detrimental effects that are caused by spending so much time in space?”

  “But I always thought that the C-Cas9 encoded nanobots corrected any genetic abnormalities at the cellular level,” said Zax, puzzled.

  “Yes, Zax they do, but they cannot work on sperm and egg cells. Remember, these cells are supposed to contain only half of a person’s genetic code. The C-Cas9 nanites can only restore a full genetic sequence. They are useless in determining mutations to sex cell genotypes. It is because of this and other factors that you will find that spacers have a more liberated view of personal relationships. Like I first told you, what we have been doing has been quite enjoyable and a lot of fun, but that’s all it should have meant to either of us.”

  Zax was a little taken aback at Pilar’s cavalier attitude at their semi-regular trysts in his stateroom, then realized that the rest of the crew had to have known, yet they had never alluded to their relationship. Pilar saw the slight consternation in his eyes and her face softened.

  “Zax…hon…I tried to tell you before not to put too much into our relationship. It’s not that I don’t think that you are a great guy, but like I told you, I have my eye on Brax and I’m gonna land him, just you wait and see. As for the rest of the crew, I will bet you a unit to donuts that anyone of the girls would fall all over themselves to get you into their beds! That includes Irene and she doesn’t even like men! As for the captain, she would only restrain herself because you are ‘officially’ (Pilar raised her hands to simulate quotes) crew and she would never allow herself to become familiar with a crewmember.

  “I don’t believe you understand the true nature of the gift you have given the women of the Windjammer, Zax,” her voice sounding wistful

  “Oh, the Krillian cloth…really Pilar it was…”

  “No Zax, it is not just the cloth I’m talking about. That is only a small part of what you have done,” Pilar whispered softly, shaking her head slowly. Seeing the confusion in his face, Pilar cupped his face into his hand and stared into his golden eyes.

  “Zax, you see how everyone on the Windjammer acts and dresses, yeah? Even though we are all business for the most part and walk around in spacer jumpsuit ninety-nine percent of the time, we are still women and what you gave us was a reminder that we can still be, well, pretty! I know that seems an odd thing to say, but we are still women and we love to be reminded of that fact from time to time.

  “You did that, not with hollow flattering words, but with gifts given from your heart. You did so for no other reason than you saw us women, not as anonymous crew walking around in bag suits. A girl needs to feel that there are people around that still sees her as a pretty person, not some rough, gruff, spacer that can swear with the best of them.

  “The same goes for the crewmen of the Windjammer. You thought of them, not to curry favor but to give them something that you felt they deserved. That’s spacer thinking and that is why not one of them would ever hold it against you if you decided to bed every woman on the ship, including me. It would be different if you were a passenger who wanted to ‘dally’ with a poor ‘spacer chick’, but Brax and the rest now see you as crew, a spacer, one of them…almost.”

  “You mean Brax knows about us and he doesn’t mind?” Zax said hesitantly.

  “Of course, he knows, in fact, I think he is a little bit jealous because I have been spending so much time with you! I love it! It serves him right. Brax has known all along that I’ve had my eye on him and he has been playing hard to get. Even though he knows I’m the best thing he has going. He’s just being stubborn and contrary! But once he sees me in this marvelous dress you made possible, his eyes are going to pop right out of his head, and I will have him from that moment on. Oh…that reminds me…” Pilar stepped away, reached around behind her back and began to twist and contort her arm in an intricate series of movements. After a moment, she shimmed her shoulders and the dress fell into a heap on the stateroom floor.

  “I only wore this so that you could see it first. After all, you made the whole thing possible, so it was only fair that you saw its unveiling.” Reaching down, she gathered up the gossamer gown and laid it over the back of a nearby chair. Bare assed naked, she turned in a little pirouette to face Zax once more, causing all her natural parts to shift and sway seductively. “So, tell me…which do you prefer…me in the dress, or me out of the dress?” Pilar crooned, with a twinkle in her eye.

  Two shipboard hours later, Zax was woken by a muted buzzing in his head. Lazily rolling over in the slight contragrav field, he noticed with a wry smile that once again Pilar had gone before he had awoken, this time taking the remarkable gown with her. She must have had a spare set of spacer clothing in the duffle bag she was carrying, he mused. He was about to roll back over for an additional hour of rest, when the cerebral buzzing returned. Belatedly, he realized that it was the ship’s A.I. attempting to get his attention.

  “Yes, Windy? Is there something you want?”

  “I am sorry to disturb you crewman Zax, but Captain Ahosi has requested that you meet her in the bridge wardroom at 1300 hours. That is approximately twenty minutes from now. Shall I inform her that you will be there at the specified time, or will you need more time to ready yourself?”

  Zax wasn’t sure, but he could swear that there was a slight lilting tone to Windy’s question. Just then something Pilar had said earlier crept into his brain: “… don’t you think that everyone… doesn’t know about our little rendezvous here in your cabin?” Zax supposed that also included the ship’s A.I., who had imagers everywhere throughout the ship!

  “No Windy, inform Captain Ahosi that I have received the message and will be there…on time!”

  “Very good, crewman Zax. I will tell the captain to expect you at the appointed time. But if you should need a little more…” Windy started to add.

  “Zaxxion, out!” he said, rather crisply. Jumping out of the field, he quickly entered the fresher and took a quick sonic shower. Exiting, he went over to the wardrobe and reached for his normal paper clothes, but on a perverse whim he decided to wear the cloth suit he had been given to him by Mrs. Pearl. Reaching into the stateroom’s wardrobe, Zax removed the dress crew uniform that was lent to him
and draped it over his arm. He thought he had an idea as to why the Captain Ahosi wanted to see him, so he wanted to be able to return the uniform when she removed his crew status.

  Looking down at his wristcom, he saw a small blinking icon that signified that there was an unread message in the queue. Tapping the icon, he was surprised to hear Pilar’s voice in his ear.

  “Zax, in the next few weeks before the Windjammer finally reaches Plato, I want you to consider something… why not give Branda and Trina a tumble, eh? They both think that you are someone special and I know they are just dying to show you how special they are! Yeah…yeah…I know. You still have those ground hugger morals, but don’t forget about them, ok? All you need to do is just hint that you are interested and believe me, they will do the rest! They are good girls and self-stimulation can only do so much.

  -Pilar”

  Zax stared in the mirror and shook his head. There just some things about being a spacer that he felt he would never get used to.

  Taking one last look in the reflector, he straightened his lapels and headed up to the bridge.

  When he reached the bridge, second mate Trina Idrija, was manning the shop. She smiled at Zax and told him to go to the adjacent wardroom. When he entered, Zax saw Captain Ahosi sitting at the head of the long table going over some papers in her hands, and her first mate Santo Gomez, standing just behind her, holding what looked like a garment bag in one hand and a utility belt in the other.

  “Good day to you Zax, please have a seat,” the captain began. “We will be making planetfall on Plato in a couple of weeks or so and I wanted to inform you of the news we have concerning the Rapture and Captain Ito.”

  “I’m sorry if I haven’t had time to meet with you so that you could rescind my temporary status as crewman ma’am, but I have been spending time hanging around down in engineering and I let time get away from me. But I have the dress crewman uniform here that you loaned me back at the colony ship,” Zax apologized as he took a seat.

  Captain Ahosi smiled broadly and nodded as if to confirm something to herself. “The fact that that old bear Abram allowed you to ‘hang around’ in the engine room, speaks volumes as to how much the crew has come to know you. Abrams has the fool notion that you might make a decent engineer, if you put your mind to it. But we will get to that later, back to the Rapture, to my great surprise it turns out that Captain Ito can keep to a schedule after all. The Rapture is in port and was due to depart in a week, and since we are two weeks out, I sent a request that he delay is departure until our arrival. I gave for a reason that it was a matter of the trader’s code. At first, he was not inclined to acquiesce to my request, but I reminded him about the code and that he owed me a couple of favors, so he was convinced to stay. But, before you make any decisions, I suggest you hear us out about our petition on your behalf.”

  “Petition? What petition ma’am?” said Zax, slightly taken aback.

  Santo Gomez steeped forward and handed him the sheaf of papers. “Why the petition to make your temporary status as a crewmember of the Windjammer permanent of course,” she answered, smiling at the look of astonishment on his face. “In there you will find the standard trader contract for the enlistment of crew personnel. I know that this is all rather sudden and new to you, but I assure you this is a legitimate offer and that this is a binding contract.

  “In that packet you will find out what your share percentage of profits will be due you in Unity eunits, and I might add, any debt you are responsible for in an equal percentage of risk. There are other conditions and qualifications that you will need to be familiar with before you accept.”

  “Wha…what? Are you saying that you…the crew…I mean…”? Zax stammered, as his mind simultaneously went in a dozen directions.

  “Look,” Ahosi said, in a soothing voice, “there are a couple of things that are obvious to me and the rest of the crew, even if you haven’t grasped them yourself. Firstly, it doesn’t take a genius to see that you have spent almost your last available eunit to get to Plato in the hopes that you would meet with Captain Ito and the Rapture, and that if you had missed that rendezvous, you would have been stranded there. Even if you did meet with Ito, there was no guarantee that he would even honor the request of a long dead associate, code or not code. Yet you still had the balls to ship out and take the chance. Those are spacer balls.

  “Secondly Zax, whether you know it or not, you are a born spacer. We can tell by the way you hold yourself, by your perspective on things, even by the way you try to do for yourself without constantly asking Windy or other crew members to hold your hand. Except for Pilar, who I wager has held a little more of you than that. That alone tells me a lot. Despite what you might have heard about spacers and their so-called morals, and notwithstanding the fact that the woman tends to think more with her groin than her brain, Pilar is usually right about people and is very particular about who she beds.”

  Zax had the modesty to blush, so that his normal chocolate skin turned two shades darker. The captain gave a tiny smile, which she hid behind her hand in a cough.

  “Even the ship’s A.I., Windy, has taken a liking to you and believe me, if there is any sign to us that you are a true spacer, that is it. But the main reason we are making this offer, is that it is apparent that there is something far more serious going on with you. There is something, or someone that you are running from.” She held up her hand to interrupt his protest. “Don’t bother denying it, I can see it in your eyes and how you hold yourself. You have the look of someone who thinks that they are being hunted or followed. A stretch in space just might provide you with the breathing room you need to able you reorganize your thoughts.

  “From what I’ve seen of you, whomever it is that is after you, better beware when you really get your shit together! I think you will be hell on thrusters in the very near future,” she concluded. Although Gomez had not moved a muscle during Ahosi’s discourse, he gave a slight nod of agreement at her last statement.

  “I want you to take these next few weeks, while we are inbounded towards Plato, to think over our offer. I say ‘our’ because the entire crew has a vote in this. And when I presented the proposal the vote was unanimous. But no matter what your decision, the crew and I have decided to present you with a little something to show you our regards.” Gomez stepped forward and laid the two items he was holding on the table in front of Zax.

  “This,” Ahosi said, pointing to the garment, “is a new spacer uniform, fresh out of Windjammer’s stores. After all you can’t go around in those sissy paper rags you have been wearing or that fancy set of cloth duds. The uniform is a better fit while in space, and if when you do see Ito, it will make a favorable impression on him.

  “The other piece is a handmade combination tool belt and weapon harness courtesy of Abrams and Brax. You will find a spot on it for both your tools and that antique cannon of yours. It also has a space for a standard energy weapon, along with various pockets and slots for both micro and standard tools. There is even a ‘hidden’ shielded compartment, where you can store certain, shall we say, prohibited items like that force blade. But I would suggest that you keep that force blade out of sight on planet landfalls. It is illegal on most of the civilized worlds, even out on the frontier.

  “One other thing, if Captain Ito does accept you onboard and if you do decide to ship out with him, you will find that things are a little…shall we say different, than those here on the Windjammer. I suggest that you don’t put too much stock in any first impressions you might have and give yourself time to become adjusted to his…er, shall we say…idiosyncrasies. Ito is a good captain and he is fair. Just give his current crew time to adjust to you as we have, and you will do fine. One thing I can say about the Rapture, aside from Windy, that old rust bucket of hers has one of the best ship’s A.I.’s you will ever come across.

  Zax sat stunned for the moment while the two looked at him and said nothing more, allowing him to think. After a moment he rose out of
the seat, gathered up the fax sheets, belt and garment bag then bowed slightly to the captain and her first mate.

  “I cannot tell you how honored I am at your petition. I will read through the contract and give it a lot of thought. You are right, there are a few things going on with me that I haven’t told anyone, not because I don’t trust you all, but I believe that a man must try and solve his own problems first. Thank you and will you please give the crew my thanks and appreciation for their vote of confidence. After I find out a few more things, I will let you know before planetfall.”

  Zax turned and left the wardroom simultaneously feeling both honored and worried. I have a lot to think about, but I must remember that whatever burden I carry is mine alone. I will not allow others to come to grief over whatever it is that is hunting me.

  The next two weeks seemed to fly by. Especially since Zax decided to follow Pilar’s suggestion to get to know the other members of the crew a little better. At the slightest hint of interest, Branda almost attacked him in the wardroom! Instead, she practically dragged him to her quarters for their encounter. Despite her size, she somehow seemed to be demure, and slightly hesitant during their lovemaking. Afterwards, he was mildly surprised to notice that her cabin was decorated with the most frilly, plushy and softly colored, items he had ever seen. A huge contrast from the gruff, strong person she portrayed.

  As the tradership headed sunward, Zax was able to learn more about the workings of the Windjammer, as the crew seemed to go out of their way to help him understand what each of them did aboard ship. One day as he was passing through the bridge, he saw Second Mate Trina Idrija was glued to the weapons station. The tell-tales all showed a bright amber which indicated the weapons were technically ‘hot’. Sliding into the secondary chair next to the first mate, Zax made sure that he did not disturb the spacer as she ran through the weapons check. When Trina finished going through the weapons check sequence, she turned to him and smiled.