Sólarupprás Ferðir (Sunrise Tours) Corporate Docks
Hjamokjim, Grímsvötn, Glisandia
Stan had arrived early that morning to the docks, a little after 0500. He was more than a little anxious to make sure that everything went smoothly with this first voyage of the Upplausn. It couldn’t quite be called the maiden voyage, as they had already done that some weeks earlier, and then another trip out onto Lake Agloza just a couple weeks prior. However, this would be the first voyage of the vessel with actual civilian passengers. The previous voyages were all test runs, to make sure that all systems, electronic and mechanical, were in working order. Even the ship’s plumbing had been vigorously tested during these dry runs.
So, he had gone over checklists upon his arrival that day. He checked the general shape of the inside of the hull, and randomly inspected pipes, conduits, and anything else he could in the infrastructure. He would go over the computer control systems with his Executive Officer, Lilja Astridsdottir, when she arrived a little later.
He would then do a visual cursory inspection of all the engines and mechanical systems with his Chief Engineer, Jason Hoyt, who would run diagnostics on all of it.
He and Hoyt would then go over all he had earlier on the infrastructure, seeing what he had missed, or what he had caught that Hoyt might have missed. There really only needed to be the joint inspection, since they’d just done one two weeks earlier for the last voyage, but he had all this nervous energy that he felt he needed to get it out in some useful way.
When it came to systems inspections, though, more than one set of eyes never hurt. At least that’s what Stan told himself, although Hoyt could easily go over all the engines and systems with a junior engineer in his department.
Whatever other pressing business, it would wait until they had breakfast. It was what they looked forward to every morning. A crew ritual to start the day. His mouth watered already and that was still a good 2 and a half hours away.
He had paused to have a smoke, walking outside and back down the gangway to admire her once more from the waterline. He considered smoking his only vice, and it was a rare treat that he afforded himself. He wore a wool coat, to fight off the chill, for while it would surely warm up in the afternoon to short sleeve weather,, it was quite dark now and the temperature was barely 3 degrees Celsius. Then it would drop again to colder than this even in the early evening. Typical Northern Tavlyrian weather for this time of year.
He noticed a man approaching as he had walked towards the bow. The short, somewhat balding blonde man wore a special visitor’s badge attached to his black parka that gave him access to this side of the docks.
As he neared, he waved.
“Captain Redmondsson? How are you?” As he neared he lowered his voice appropriately. Something about him was slightly familiar.
“Hello, I’m Leif Ermandssen.” Little wisps of vapor puffed out from the man’s thin lips.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Ermandssen?”
“I just wanted to talk to you about today.”
“Well, as you know, there’s a lot to be done, so...I guess you have until this is done.” He held up the half-smoked cigarette, a Hámarki, a popular Glisandian brand.
“Yes, well, bare with me. I hope you can give me more time than that. This might take just a bit longer.”
“Important, eh?”
“I should think so. We have a lot riding on this. All of Teremara is watching.”
Stan snorted.
“That’s a bit of hyperbole, don’t you think? I think it’s not even a major news item for all the Lake bordering nations, let alone Tavlyria or the whole region.”
“Perhaps. It is a big deal to us. And I think it could be a big deal to our former enemies.”
“You’re not with Sólarupprás Ferðir, are you?”
“No, Captain. Not exactly. I’m with the government, but...I’m here with the full knowledge of your bosses.” He pulled a packet that he had tucked under his arm, in a nondescript envelope. “Please take this. It has some information, both in some files, and on a flash drive, that you should review with your Security Chief.”
“Something that would delay launch?” Stan took a big drag of his smoke.
“I should think not, no. We don’t want you to do that, but you should still be very aware.”
“We had our special brief with the GSB (Glisandian Security Bureau) the other day.”
Recognition dawned on him. Ermandsson had been at that briefing, sitting in the very back. He’d never said a word then. If it were not for this interaction now, Stan would never have remembered him. He didn’t bother mentioning that fact to the G-man.
Ermandssen cleared his throat.
“Yes, well this is new.”
“Look...I am aware that some of the powers on the Lake tend to be...cantankerous, shall we say? That’s par for the course for sailing this Lake. There’s all the tight, overlapping mineral, fishing, and territorial claims. Especially as we’ll be docking at all their big ports, too, there will be a lot of eyes on us. That’s just a fact.”
“Yes, I should hope the previous brief covered that well...This is more recent...eh...rumblings we have been made aware of. We just think you should be too.”
“Well, I guess I will need to make my crew aware of these...rumblings, also.” He put his hand out for the packet.
Ermandsson drew back his arm with the packet just a little.
“Eh...maybe just your Security Chief for now. Let’s not alarm everyone.”
“Your tone is alarming. I don’t keep things from my crew. They need to know what I know for us to operate optimally. “
“Well, yeah, but…”
“You don’t run a ship, Mr. Ermandssen. I don’t expect you to understand, just to acknowledge what is going to happen. I ran Yellowsian blockades at the height of the War. I’m not afraid of a little sword wiggling.” (He intentionally didn’t use the word ‘waving’.)
“I think you need to watch your tone with me, Captain.”
“They want me to sail this ship out for the prestige of the Grand Duchy...To represent our rebirth as a modern, stable nation with room for leisure, I presume? I think I know exactly what I need to watch and where I stand. Sólarupprás Ferðir is not finding a ship captain of my standing on such short notice, a Glisandian captain for all the headlines, no less... And you know that. You need me more than I need you.”
“Maybe for now. There’s no need to burn bridges and make this your last voyage with the company, or at the helm of any Glisandian registered ship.”
“There’s no need to threaten me either. Last I heard, that’s not how we do things in the very democratic, post-war Grand Duchy.”
“We’re on the wrong track here. I’m not here to threaten you or put undue pressure on you, Captain Redmondsson. Quite the opposite. I’m on your side. I’m just asking you to be discreet here, for the good of the nation. We’re looking out for you all. For your crew and passengers. We want you to be informed and prepared, that’s all.”
Redmondsson scowled at him. “My crew is discreet. Do you think we would unnecessarily alarm our passengers?”
The GSB man thrust out the packet again.
“Just take this. Review it. No one but you and your Security Chief have clearance to see it.” He smirked as if that solved that argument.
“Maybe you should pack a bag and come with us...to protect us, Mr. Ermandssen?”
Ermandssen’s voice grew colder than the morning chill.
“You have no idea what would go to hell if I was stuck on your boat for a week, Captain.”
“The weight of the world, eh, Mr. Ermandssen?” He entirely meant to be a little sarcastic.
Stan begrudgingly tucked the packet under his free arm, the one not holding the cigarette.
“I think we’re done here.”
Ermandssen turned abruptly and strutted off, back towards the access gates.
Stan looked at the cherry of his smoke that had burned all the way down to the filter. He flicked it in the water, then headed back up the gangway.