Four
Reversing The Circle
We left Mangan on Lassen just prior to sunrise, when the winds were calmest, and the traffic was mostly outbound.
We were flying what was commonly called the 'Counter'.
The overwhelming majority of cargo traffic flew the rings in a clockwise fashion, if you looked at the map with Alturas at the nine o'clock position and Pouli at the three.
There were smaller or shorter-distance haulers that handled the shipping into the third ring, or cargoes that were up to two realms away from their port of origin—which was typically a first or second ring location.
But there were always some cargoes going farther that needed to get there sooner than the clockwise route would.
Those cargoes had two choices: fly with a shipper going counter at about the same price, or fly with a shipper going through Prime, also known as Vroma, at roughly three times the haulage costs.
While transiting via Prime drastically reduced the number of portal transitions and the distance, all traffic going through Prime was stopped and inspected.
There were fees for cargo ships involved, as well.
The first time I'd done it, Dani had dealt with the bribes and the fees, as we'd been doing it as a cargo ship, and port inspectors had a much higher regard for elves than any catfolk.
The next two times, it'd been as a troop transport hauling orc soldiers, and Kardez had dealt with it.
The inspectors were much more polite those times, wanting nothing more than for us to get through Prime as quickly as possible.
The only reason we were flying the Counter was that Makill had lined up a series of cargoes that needed that treatment.
Once we'd delivered that cargo, we'd have to book another one heading in the same direction—or rather, Makill would.
Thankfully, there were brokerage concerns on Prime that, for a very small fee, handled ship-to-cargo matching.
Communication was primarily by letter, and there was a very old, but fast, mail packet ship system that ran twice a day from each world in the first and second rings to Prime.
The round trip for any particular ship was two to four days, depending on where it left from.
While that might not have sounded fast, going from one realm or world to the next took several days for a fast ship, a week for a large hauler with a load on, and longer still if loading and offloading cargoes were involved or if a stop to refuel was required.
So when we got to our offload destination, Kardez, as the captain, would check in with the local brokerage office to find out what our next cargo was and where it was going.
As the ship's owner, I could accompany him if I desired, but Makill and Kardez knew their jobs, so I had no desire to interfere.
"Are you going to be flying with us for the whole trip?" Jill, the senior cook, asked me as I sat in the mess, drinking coffee. It was after breakfast, and I was trying to think of what to do with myself. It was an interesting state of affairs.
"Maybe? Though right now, I'm looking to visit some folks and places in Rossiya, so I'll probably leave the ship at some point after we get to Thayne."
"Been a while since you've sailed with us by yourself. I'm surprised you don't have one of your usual women with you."
I shrugged. "Kani needs to stay with our child and my children with Dani. Rachel really needed to go back home, and, well, there wasn't anybody around Rachel could hang on me to keep me from showing up with yet another one," I said and winked at her.
Jill laughed. "I'd say you're full of it, but you have come through here with quite a few women, William."
"I do have a couple of girlfriends, I'll admit," I said, smiling up at her.
Jill was a very attractive catfolk woman, with a black pelt, a nicely toned body, and a ton of sex appeal.
As the head cook on the ship, she knew everyone, and I doubted that she lacked partners or opportunities on the Kashmir, or whenever it put into port.
"Well, the last time I saw you here stag, we had a bunch of orc warriors with us and went to war. I don't think that's the case this time?"
"Nope, thankfully."
"So just why are you here?"
"Like I said, I need to check on some places and people, and seeing as I own the ship, and it's going there, I figured I might as well deadhead. I'm surprised you're asking so many questions."
"I guess I'm just wondering who you're thinking of pursuing to fill that void."
"As the owner of the ship, I'm not sure that would be a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Because whoever I chase might be afraid to say no, since I'm the boss, and they might worry I'd fire them over it."
"That's an interesting attitude."
"It's the truth," I said with a sigh. "You all know what kind of man I am, the kinds of things I've done, the kinds of things I'm capable of. I don't want a woman in my bed who doesn't want to be there, but she's too afraid to say 'no'."
Jill smiled and gave a nod. "I see your point, but I don't think any of them would say no, because you are an impressive tom."
"So I've been told. Still, it's not a chance I want to take."
"Then you're okay with being in that cabin all alone when you could have someone else with you?" she teased.
"Why, Jill, are you making a pass at me?" I asked, smiling at her.
"Ummm," she said, suddenly looking quite embarrassed.
Laughing, I got up and bussed my tray and dishes, then left the mess and went up to the bridge.
I knew we'd be stopping at a port in Keman in about a week to deliver cargo and pick up some as well, then we'd stop again in Melamar a week after that.
The majority of the cargo we were hauling was bound for an agricultural concern in Savoy.
After that, I had no idea what was on the schedule next.
Jill had been right, however; it had been a while since I'd slept alone.
When I'd been off visiting Cameron, I'd slept in a tent with him, and if we were in a town or camp, there were typically a lot of other folks there as well, as we slept in a much larger tent, if not a building—though I don't think that was what Jill had meant when she was teasing me.
Now I had slept alone while traveling to Stepheen's realm, but that didn't really count in my mind, as I was constantly on the move, traveling the entire time, and having to be on guard for most of it.
So while it wasn't exactly a unique experience, sleeping in a safe, quiet place without any female accompaniment had been a lot longer than I'd realized.
Of course, I didn't wake up in the middle of the night feeling the weight of those two years on my soul anymore, which was a welcome improvement.
I didn't have any nightmares about some of the things I'd had to do over the last few years during that war, either.
In short, it was restful, it was nice, and I wasn't being visited by my personal demons currently.
When I woke up, I just lay in bed for a while and stared at the ceiling above me.
It was nice to sleep the sleep of the innocent, especially as I was anything but.
#
"Sleep well?" Jill asked me as I went through the serving line in the mess when I finally made it there for breakfast the next day.
I smiled at her. "Yes, I did. You?"
"And here I was, expecting a witty comeback."
I stopped and thought about that. "Right now, I'm not sure I want to get involved with anyone. Also, my comments from yesterday still stand. However, if I were to seek companionship, you'd be at the top of the list, Jill," I said with an apologetic smile.
Jill stopped a moment, blinked, and then finished serving me. "I think I'll stop teasing you now."
I just smiled and nodded, then went and sat down at an empty table to eat. The watch had already changed, and I'd gotten here a bit late, just as breakfast was winding down.
I spent the rest of the trip to Keman helping Thraznick, the ship's dwarven engineer, with some maintenance tasks and sleeping very much alone.
I also helped with the unloading, which only took about four hours, and then we spent a few hours loading an opportunity cargo bound for Melamar, our next stop.
We got underway almost immediately, because the cargo we'd loaded was on a schedule.
The leg to Melamar took about five days.
Kardez had opted to burn a little extra fuel to get us there sooner so we could get a bonus on the delivery.
When we made port, we unloaded that cargo first, then the one from Lassen.
I helped, of course; after all the time I'd worked shipping cargo, standing around and watching was too boring.
The unloading done, the crew was given a short leave, as we were spending the night in port, since Kardez was hoping to find an opportunity cargo. I joined the rest of the crew on their foray out to a restaurant and then a bar.
The group dynamics were interesting, as the single women on the ship were three catgirls and an elf, and the single guys were five orcs.
Thraznick, I think, had a wife, and I'd already picked up that he wasn't interested in getting laid.
The three orc deckhands, who also did security, were very much interested in getting laid, as was Bork, our cargo master and purser.
Boe, the orc who worked in engineering with Thraznick, however, didn't seem to be looking around all that much.
"Interesting dynamics," I said to Zed, who had Nita and Alena with him, as I nodded towards Neli, Anna, and Rella, who were very much hanging out with Kanhz, Muahtz, and Haas. Jill was talking with Kardez and Glaesile.
"They know the guys will keep them out of trouble."
"I know I shouldn't ask, but are any of them…?"
"Well, Rella's sleeping with Kanhz, and that's kind of recent."
"She is?"
"While Kanhz may be a born killer and as tough as they come, he's still polite and well spoken."
I nodded because it was true.
"Jill?"