A Starship Called Starsong

Chapter 55

The stares were annoying me, and I knew that many of the people were whispering about me. As much as it annoyed me, I was pretty sure that it was bothering Ronan even more as he kept an eye on me from a distance. I was getting a lot of attention from all directions, which was undoubtedly making his job much harder.

Being the first trade ship to dock here in over two months was noteworthy, but word of the four defeated warships near the edge of this solar system was spreading like wildfire. The fact that such a young woman was actually the Captain didn't help with the gawking or whispering.

The small grace was that only the docking station staff and a handful of hopeful suppliers were on the docking station. I had no intention of going into the city below during this stop. I entered the trade hall, and it was easy to tell which one of the four suppliers present was the one I had scheduled a meeting with since only one was clearly prepared. Starsong had also provided me with his picture earlier, so I knew who I was looking for.

I went over to the table that already had several sheets of paper lined up. This meeting wasn't going to take enough time to justify me ordering a tea. The man got up as I approached and held out his hand. "Captain Wanderer, thank you for coming."

I shook his hand. "You are welcome. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me."

We sat down, and he pushed a small pile of papers closer. "Here are some potential trades that may interest you."

I picked up the papers and quickly flipped through the six sheets before going back to the first one for a more in-depth read. The quick overview would have allowed Starsong to scan everything.

'And what is the verdict? These numbers mean nothing to me...' This supplier dealt with unusual spices and most of the names on this list were not ones I recalled seeing before.

"As we had expected, there are not many good deals on this list. Nothing is seriously overpriced, but they clearly assume that a powerful ship means we are also rich, and they hope we are naïve enough to pay the average going rate. This was expected though, and the other trades we already arranged will more than make up for it."

I continued listening to him as I circled several lines that did happen to be good deals. The going rate on the other items would still allow a passable profit on a distant planet, but this would show him that we knew our prices.

I passed the sheet back to him, and we parted ways. The other suppliers watched me walk out, but Starsong had already told me that they didn't carry anything he was interested in.

"One of the people in charge of the docking station is waiting outside to escort you wherever you may be going. This is the sort of preferential treatment they give to any highly-reputable or influential Captain, so you don't need to overly worry."

A well-dressed man with grey hair was patiently waiting outside and approached me. "Good afternoon, Captain Wanderer. I hope your day is going well."

I paused for what was likely going to be idle chit-chat. "Thank you. Yes, it is. How is your day going?"

"My day is going well, thank you for asking. Your ship is the first trade ship to stop by for some time, and I see it is your first time docking here as well. On behalf of the docking station, I would like to inform you that we will be waiving the docking fees for up to three days if you wish to stay that long."

I was slightly surprised by their offer, but didn't show it. "That is a very gracious offer. I am afraid that extending our stay will not be as much of a benefit as you may wish, since we have already arranged to trade most of our food stocks."