Chapter 3 Alliance

Chapter 3

Traffic thinned and disappeared as they neared the area around the new channel. Elena resolutely refused to even mentally call it the Elena channel. After their chat in the darkness Elena and Benjamin had been fairly quiet. For her part, she was trying not to dwell on past events and focus on the upcoming ones. As they approached the channel, Elena could see it like a worn spot in her favorite pair of jeans. She reached her energy forward and the section of space began to unravel, allowing the Storm Chaser to pass through, leaving space behind and splashing down in the alien sea.

"I suppose at some point someone will have to actually name the ocean, " she mused as salt water scoured the deck, removing any leftover traces of her cooled coffee diagram. As she corrected her course and adjusted the ship to sail in planetary waters instead of the black between the stars, Benjamin opened the galley and stepped onto the deck. Elena laughed when she saw him. In one hand he held a tackle box and in the other, a fishing rod. A hat festooned with various hooks and lures was pulled down over his head.

"And where exactly are you going?" She called out through the open window of the pilot house.

"That way, " he gestured with his rod towards the ship's bow. "Since Kiera pronounced the fish we caught before free of human harming toxins, I figured I'd see if I could snare up something fresh for supper tonight."

"I see, " she said, still grinning.

"And if I catch something we've never seen before then the lab will have another sample. I made sure to get pictures of all of the fish we caught before so that we could have a comparison. It makes quite a colorful mural to brighten up back of the pantry door. I didn't want it too obvious in case you had another dinner party planned."

"Good luck, " she told him with a laugh. Spin followed the big man to his chosen fishing spot and sat by his side expectantly. She had been almost as downcast as Benjamin when his first catch had gone into the samples category rather than the dinner table. As she sat, Spin's tail flicked side to side almost like it was ticking away the seconds. Elena let them be and returned to her own duties.

It was, however, not long before Benjamin and Spin were rewarded for their efforts. Not happy with simply one fish, they kept at it until Elena thought they were stocking up for winter. She didn't complain any though once dinner was served. Even though Benjamin could do amazing things with the canned ingredients stocking the galley, fresh anything was a welcomed change of pace.

The Storm Chaser was spotted long before she docked and when Elena finally weighed anchor along Maria's ship, El pollo loco del mar, Crazy Chicken for short, a welcoming party was waiting. Elena secured the ship and she and Benjamin took the dinghy from the Storm Chaser to the docks. Her cousin Mateo caught the rope Benjamin tossed and secured them to a pointed outcropping that seemed designed for the purpose. In a few moments she was standing on the pier, trying to remember how to walk when not ship board.

"Well, " Mateo asked expectantly.

"What I don't even rate a, hi, how was the trip?" she teased. He frowned.

"Yes fine. Hi how are you? How was the trip? Did you meet any interesting people? And what did the Council say!?" Elena laughed.

"We have the planet, " she told them. "We will be moving towards trade soon. The rest of the details we can go through once everyone is present earthside. I already had Consuelo reserve a banquet room." She told him taking pity on him.

"We got the planet?" he repeated. She nodded. Mateo let out a whoop and grabbed her around the middle. He spun her around a few times and almost toppled them both off the pier and into the sea.

"I take it things worked out well?" Kiera said, amusement staining her voice.

"Yup, " Mateo said. "We now have full trading rights." He looked to Elena and she nodded again in confirmation. The little group made its way to the shore.

"Anticipating your no doubt brilliant convincing of the Council, we stationed monitors for the off season. That way we can track weather patterns, finding out about seasons here as well as what sort of creepy crawlies lurk when we are not around." Mateo said pointing out some of the changes since she had last been to the planet. "Unless of course you wanted to leave a party here over the off season." He said darting a glance her way. Elena smiled and shook her head.

"You brought that up in less time than I expected, " she told him. "Right now there aren't enough supplies and not enough knowledge about the off seasons here to risk it. We might be able to pull it off next season though." Mateo shrugged, disappointed, but expecting the answer nonetheless. Elena spotted the mounds of waterproof crates and containers stacked on the beach. They were close enough to the shore that they would be easily transported, but far enough away to be out of the reach of the tide.

"More samples, " Kiera said. Elena looked the two of them over. Mateo wore a ball cap and Elena thought it was more to hide the fact that he had not had a proper shower in a while then to shield his eyes from the sun. Kiera's honey blonde hair was braided and wrapped around her head. A black scarf was tied over the impromptu coronet and Elena thought it served the same purpose as Mateo's ball cap. Both looked tired, but ecstatic. Maria and Jasmine, the two pilots left behind as a safety precaution were showing similar signs of wear, but it was not as pronounced. As Kiera and Mateo would have been tromping through the jungle more than the pilots, Elena thought it understandable.

"I hope you've been keeping lists of the things you'll need for a longer stay, " Elena said. She felt like she was picking up the kids from summer camp as all four of the people in front of her nodded in unison. Behind her she heard Benjamin stifle a laugh, as he was quite aware of where her thoughts had gone.

It took the rest of the day to load the samples and for Mateo to set up his last minute checks. That night they stayed anchored, with everyone getting some much needed rest. At dawn Elena cast off while the others slept. In the red gold light of early morning she saw the Crazy Chicken weigh anchor and follow. Before they turned in, Elena and Maria reached an agreement. They both knew Mateo and Kiera would want just one more check if allowed. The safest course of action would be to get underway before they awoke.

The journey to and through the channel was uneventful and Elena wondered if this channel would vary with the seasons. Checking her log book she found that there had been little variation in depth during the season and the only shifts appeared to be current and weather related.

"Helps with transport, " she said to herself. "And useful that it can take a heavier draught. But definitely something to remember." With the weight they were hauling it would be close when pushing through the Marta. When they reached the Marta, Elena's ship, the Storm Chaser went first. Unlike the new channel this one did not appear as a worn spot in space but a well-established passageway with edges worn smooth by time.

Although she laughed at her last dealings with Thompson, Elena was desperately hoping he was not around for this re-entry. The plan was for her to go through and search for the USS Maine, the ship Thompson's crew used as base. If spotted then she would run up a green flag. Maria's crew would see it, even if they weren't able to make radio contact. If Maria saw the flag, she would sail in the opposite direction, taking a different route back to port. It would add days to their trip, but the hope was that the USS Maine had not figured out how to go in two directions at the same time.

Elena pulled the Storm Chaser through the Marta's rainbow swirled depths and came out in the Atlantic. The day was clear and the sky a bowl of Prussian blue. She pulled away from the Marta, to allow room for The Crazy Chicken and to steer clear of the electronic interference. When far enough away from the interference, she flipped on the sonar. No shapes met her gaze. Unless they were running silent, the coast, so to speak, was clear. She called out to Mateo, who raised a gold flag up the flag post. A few minutes later she saw the Crazy Chicken slide into the sea. With a sigh of relief, both ships headed for home.

The two ships reached the port at Grant's Inlet with no mishaps, much to Elena's relief. They were both heavily laden with samples and could ill afford trouble. Cargo was transported to the waiting trucks and ferried off to Mateo and Kiera's joint lab and Maria and Elena began the process of hauling the ships out for the off season. During the off season, both ships would be cleaned inside and out and the tracery that kept the oxygen bubble sealed around the ship inspected. Even minute flaws would be repaired so there was less chance of a skyside failure. All backup systems would be checked, and should either ship need upgrades they would be made. Mateo and Kiera rode back to the city with the truck load of samples and Maria and Jasmine shared a ride back to their apartment. Elena looked at Spin delicately grooming herself to make up for her affronted dignity at having to regain her land legs.

"Do you feel like stopping for a bite before we head home?" She asked the cat. Spin straightened, arched her back in a stretch and mewled. "Then I think we will stop and see Consuelo." Elena turned her steps towards the local restaurant, Dockside Annie's.

As always she wondered who Annie was. Somehow she had never gotten around to asking. Even though it was nearly two in the afternoon, the restaurant was far from empty. At the door she scooped up Spin to keep the small cat from being trampled and gave her name to the hostess to secure a table. The hostess didn't bat an eyelash at Spin's presence and Elena assumed she was either Guild raised or had been with the restaurant long enough to grow accustomed to those who were.

It was considered ill luck for a channel rider to leave port without a cat on board and while the folks of the Guild were a little less suspicious lot then the general sailing population, this superstition was well ingrained. Not for the first time she wondered where it had come from and if there truly was a connection to the Egyptian goddess Bast. The hostess summoned a waitress who showed Elena to her seat. A pillow was brought for Spin, who took this as her due and settled regally onto the pillow to watch Elena dine.

Glancing around the room Elena saw several cats in similar perches. She also saw several pilots, captains and other assorted Guild members she recognized from the Docking Facility. She shook her head a little as she perused the menu the waitress had left behind.

"Smith would love to get his hands on this crowd, " she thought, images of the front man the military put out to find out more about the pilots and the Guild. While Thompson more or less captained his crew and seemed to be concerned about using the new information safely, Smith was more interested in having Elena tell him everything so that the military could have sole ownership of the skills. Even though they seemed to have scaled back the design schematics to a more reasonable level after the twenty-six person crew of the USS Navigator, the military's first attempt at a channel riding vessel, was lost, Elena could still see images of giant transport ships dancing in Smith's eyes.

In the mood for more normal fare, Elena skipped the more off world dishes and ordered a small wood fired pizza with onions and mushrooms. Mushrooms on ship board were by necessity of the canned variety and the change to fresh would be nice.

"I'll have to go grocery shopping, " Elena thought as she sipped her soda and waited for her pizza. Idly she wondered when the last time she was home long enough to need groceries. "Hope I didn't leave anything in tinfoil, " she said to Spin. With all of the informational gathering, meetings on the Docking Facility and general transport trips she had undertaken, Elena hadn't spent more than three days in a row in her apartment since the season began. "January, " she muttered.

"Looking forward to next season all ready?" Elena looked up at the voice.

"Hello Isa, " Elena said evenly. Inwardly, she groaned. Isa was one of Therese's cronies. To add to the mix Mateo had taken her home one night and in typical Mateo fashion promptly forgotten she existed afterwards. In turn, she ignored Mateo when he was around and concentrated on Elena. She wondered if Isa was gathering information for Therese or trying to get back at Mateo for using her as a one night stand. "How are you today?"

"Fine, " she answered. "Just fine." She eased into one of the chairs across from her. Spin looked at her with distain from the other one. "So have you plotted out your off season yet?" she asked. Not waiting for a response Isa continued. "We're starting out at the beach while it is still warm and then once the temperature drops making the rounds of the ski resorts."

"I see, " Elena said. She had forgotten about the leisure contingency. While many of the Guild focused on earthside commerce during the off season, there were those who simply treated the off season as vacation time. Her grandfather never approved of this lifestyle and as a consequence even Therese limited her beach bum to snow bunny time.

"If you don't have any plans you should totally come, " Isa continued. "You could use some time in the sun." Isa laughed. "Of course at the end of the season who of us couldn't?" Elena smiled wanly at the poor joke.

"I really don't think…, " she began.

"Therese won't be there, " Isa said cutting her off. "You don't have to worry about running into her at my place." Elena noted the emphasis on the words her and my and frowned slightly.

"Really, " Elena said, somewhat surprised. Isa and Therese had been almost inseparable since they began their training.

"Yeah lately she's become, I don't know, somewhat pedantic." Elena lifted an eyebrow in question.

"Pedantic?" she repeated.

"Yeah, really." Isa said with a sad shake of her head and then a toss of her shiny blond locks. Elena wondered if Isa actually knew the meaning of the word pedantic as it didn't seem to fit the context in which she was trying to use it.

"Well, it is a lovely offer, but I'm afraid I really can't. I have rather a lot to do right now."

"Please, " Isa said, fluffing her hair a little. "It is the off season. What could there possibly be to do?" Elena thought of the two businesses she had to run and the excursion and potential settlement of a new planet she had to plan. With a start she realized that she was actually going to be setting up a type of colony. Perhaps spending some time with the history books might not be a bad plan. 'At least I don't have to worry about indigenous peoples.' She thought.

Elena smelled the scent of freshly baked pizza and looked up. She saw the pizza first and felt her mouth water. The onions were diced thin and the mushrooms sunk a little into the cheese. The crust looked thin and crisp and she could smell the tang of the tomato sauce. From the pizza her eyes wandered up, and kept going.

The pizza was held by a tall, big boned woman in her sixties. Her long black hair was pulled into braids and wrapped around her head. The streaks that had started to gray had been dyed green and purple. Underneath her white apron Elena could see she wore a brilliantly decorated fuchsia caftan. As always her scuffed combat boots peeked out from below. Elena smiled.

"Consuelo, I didn't expect a personal delivery from the chef." Consuelo McCracken, head chef and part owner of Dockside Annie's, laughed her stiletto bark of amusement.

"I heard you returned and I wished to say hello and see how you fared this season." As always Consuelo's voice held no accent. It wasn't the careful no accent that TV newscasters and some of the Midwest favored before they started to elongate their vowels, but the no accent that spoke of carefully chosen words and diction. Elena had never spoken to anyone who knew where Consuelo was from; it was just one more mystery in a slew of mysteries surrounding the brilliant and eccentric chef.

"I fared well this season and I missed you greatly before I left, " she replied.

"Oh?" Consuelo said, placing the pizza down. Isa shifted her gaze between them as if unsure whether to comment or not.

"Yes, after the council session Grandfather had us all to Grazos. The meal was… missing something." Before starting Dockside Annie's Consuelo had been the head chef at Grazos.

"Of course, it was missing me." They both laughed and Isa let out a weak chuckle. "But the next meal will be better. The reservation still stands?"

"Definitely, " Elena confirmed. Neither woman elaborated, both conscious of Isa's presence.

"Good, " Consuelo said. "All will be ready. You should eat before your food gets cold." Consuelo glanced pointedly back towards the table Isa had come from, where her plate had just been delivered.

"Speaking of which, I need to go. It was so nice seeing you again Elena and if you change your mind, call." Isa slid out of her chair and headed back to her table. She had to give Mateo credit. The woman was lovely. It was just the lack of overt intelligence that caused her opinion of her cousin to dip. Even Therese recognized her as the not so bright accomplice. Consuelo watched her go and then turned back to Elena.

"A friend?" she asked.

"Not of mine, " Elena commented. "She wanted to know if my off season plans included hitting the beach or skiing." Consuelo let out another bark of laughter.

"One of those huh?"

"Yup. After all what is there to do in the off season?"

Consuelo chuckled to herself. "Somehow I think that you will find something to occupy your time."

"I think you might be right." Consuelo left Elena to her pizza and while many glances were darted her way, she was left to eat in peace. At the end she paid, gathered up Spin and made her way to her trusty Toyota. Spin curled up in the passenger's seat as Elena settled herself behind the wheel.

"Time to go home Spin, " she said as the engine roared to life. Spin yawned, which Elena took as agreement. She pulled out of the parking lot and headed back to the city.