CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

“I want you to go back and tell your commander about this personally,” Ky said. “I don’t want to transmit it over conventional radio.”

“He’s not expecting me back,” Pitt said. “I’m supposed to take care of our people here—”

“Will he let you come back, d’you think, if I tell him I’m sending you with an urgent message?”

“Probably. But why don’t you go? Or send one of your own crew?”

“He knows you,” Ky said. “He knows of me, but he knows you—”

Her office com binged. “Captain, Captain Ransome wants to speak to you. Shall I patch it through?”

“Go ahead,” Ky said. To Pitt, she said, “Ransome’s someone we met on Adelaide. I’m using him and his ships as scouts.” She tilted the vidscreen so Pitt could see it.

“Captain Vatta!” Ransome’s broad grin went with the tone of delight. “Guess what! We found the observer!”

“Where?” Ky asked.

“At…uh…” He turned, and someone handed him a note. “24-893-2217. Fully stealthed, as you suggested, and transmitting on its own ansi—” He stopped, seeming to notice Pitt for the first time. “—thingie,” he finished. “Anyway, we…er…we recorded it, and we stripped the beacon, and I just thought, you know, we could blow it away if you like. It’s quite close, well within our range—”

Pitt was staring at the screen with an expression of horrified fascination. “What—”

“Just a minute,” Ky said. “Captain Ransome, do I understand you to say that you have stripped that ship’s beacon?”

“Oh, yes. Neat as an oolun sucking a pinkfish off the hook.”

“You are aware that they will know their beacon’s been stripped?”

“I don’t think so,” Ransome said. “We were very careful. You said you didn’t want—”

Losing her temper would accomplish nothing at this point. Ky fought it down. She hadn’t told them to go looking for the observer, but she hadn’t told them not to. She’d told them to go about their business…and for Teddy Ransome, that meant sneaking up behind stealthed enemy ships for the fun of it. “Do you think you could ease away without being detected?” Ky asked.

He looked hurt. “I could…but where’s the fun in that? Why can’t I just blow it away? I’m in the perfect position.”

He was in the perfect position to be blown up himself if he didn’t get out of there, Ky thought. If she didn’t blow him up herself. “We may have need of it,” she said instead. “We’re not getting any other prizes out of this, you know.”

“Oh.” His face sobered briefly, then returned to that expression of glee. “So…if I offered to buy you another ship the same size, then could I blow this one away?”

Ky just managed not to let her jaw drop. “I…suppose so,” she said finally. She glanced at Pitt, whose face had gone unreadable again, though she had a very intentional glint in her eye. “Go ahead then, Captain Ransome.” She closed the connection and put her head on her desk for a moment, then looked up at Pitt.

“And I thought you were a potential loose cannon,” Pitt said. “Who is that decorative character and why are you having anything to do with him?”

“His name’s Theodore Albert Driscoll Ransome,” Ky said. “He and his friends—who all have long names and about as much sense as wild rabbits—got together in their personal ships to hunt pirates in their home system.”

“He is good looking,” Pitt said. “If you like that kind.”

Ky scowled. “What matters to me is that he has three ships with superior speed and maneuverability, he’s richer than stink, and he’s willing to use his ships and his money to help us. I don’t care about his looks.”

Pitt gave her a long look, then nodded. “The major thought you were too susceptible, but I can tell you’re not. Not now, anyway. Is he trustworthy?”

Ky shrugged, still a little annoyed that Pitt might think she’d been affected by Teddy Ransome’s looks. “He went where I told him to go, and did what I asked him to do during the fight,” she said. “I haven’t known him long enough to assess his long-range reliability. I suspect, though, that he’ll stick it out as long as it’s exciting and suits his sense of adventure, and then go do something else.”

“I’ve seen that kind before,” Pitt said, nodding. “They can be useful cannon fodder as long as they do what you tell them.” She looked around again, as if assessing the décor. “So…you want me to convince my commander that this marvelous technology exists and…and what?”

“See if he wants it,” Ky said. “By the way…Teddy’s forty-seven point three light-hours away. Did you notice any lag?”

“He was what? That’s…a long way.”

“Yes. And you know this system’s ansible isn’t working.”

“Can you confirm the distance?”

“Your own scan can do that,” Ky said with a shrug. “I agree, the timing of his call was convenient, but he’s out there.”

“Can you just call our ship on that thing?”

“No. Each node has to have a unit, and ships are movable nodes. That’s how it was explained to me.”

“Can it interface with system ansibles?”

“Not at present. Our units can’t. But I don’t expect that to last, frankly. And if the pirates get that technology before the rest of us—”

“—we’re all in serious trouble. All right. I’ll need to call and get permission to return.”

“I’ll take you up to the bridge,” Ky said. “Tell him I’d like to talk to him about this, and other things,” she added. “But when we’re in a secure location.”

“I’m sure he’ll be interested…though you still haven’t answered his question about who’s footing the bill for this Space Defense Force we never heard of before…surely not the gallant Captain Ransome…?”

“That, too, is something I’ll want to talk to him about,” Ky said.

Pitt shook her head. “With all due respect, ma’am, you are getting entirely too canny for one of your tender years.”

“Captain Vatta!” That was Ransome again, this time with his mop of blond hair in an untidy muddle. “I am delighted to report that the observer ship has been immobilized without injury to Glorious or her crew.”

“Immobilized?” Ky asked.

“Well…in a way. I know you would like another ship, and so we…er…fired our EMP mines at her, the whole salvo. She fired back, but our anti-missile missiles intercepted most of theirs and our shields held against the rest. And now she’s dark—not transmitting at all, not moving.”

“That may not last,” Ky said. “Some ships have self-repairing AI systems.”

“I know…I was going to ask your permission to board and secure her.”

“Board—! How big is she?”

“Larger than Courageous, but not as large as Vanguard,” he said. “My crew have done hostile boardings—we took back ships from those criminals in our system.” From his expression, he might start saying Please, please, please! any moment.

“I can’t stop you,” Ky said, “but I don’t want to lose you or your crew, and I can’t spare one of the larger ships; we’re all involved in recovering Mackensee casualties. Do you think you should have Furious or Courageous over there?”

“If you could release Courageous, that would be perfect,” he said, brightening up. “Just in case…”

“Go ahead, then,” Ky said. “But keep your scans on. Just because you found one—”

“—doesn’t mean there aren’t others. I understand, Captain Vatta.”

Ky called Metaire on tight-beam and spoke to Colonel Kalin. “In about forty-eight hours, you’ll pick up warhead detonations here—” She recited the coordinates. “One of our people out there found a stealthed observation ship and immobilized it. They’re trying to board; I’ll keep you informed.”

“Master Sergeant Pitt’s told me about your…uh…” Ky could see the struggle to find another word. “We do need to talk, Captain Vatta. Assuming Master Sergeant Pitt’s report is accurate, there are…um…both tactical and strategic implications…”

“Indeed there are,” Ky said. “But since this is not a secure location, I think that talk should be deferred to a better place and time, where we can demonstrate the object.”

“You would not consider coming aboard Metaire?”

“Would you consider coming here? I am not comfortable leaving my ship while the situation is so uncertain.”

“Point taken. No, I can’t come. Our regulations forbid my leaving my command.”

“We both know Master Sergeant Pitt. I would like to use her as a courier, if that’s acceptable. I realize she has duties to personnel, but—”

“It’s acceptable.”

“Good. I’ll be sending along some tactical analysis you may not have yet, and some suggestions based on that, for your consideration.”

Ky looked at the system plot as she waited for Pitt’s return. If a large pirate force moved in, they were clumped too close. “Move Bassoon out,” she told Pettygrew. “If trouble jumps in, we want to be set up to defend Metaire as well as ourselves. I need to stay physically close for a while, because I’m using a courier to share sensitive data.”

“Right,” he said. “We’ll keep an eye out. What’s Ransome up to?”

“Let me get Argelos on, too—” Ky waited until Argelos come into the contact. “Ransome’s found and immobilized a stealthed observer ship,” she said to them both. “It was transmitting on the pirate channels; he’s stopped that. Now his crew and the Glorious crew are trying to board and capture it.”

“He’s an idiot,” Argelos said. “A shipful of pirates? It’ll be a disaster.”

“Well, he’s done all right so far,” Ky said. “It seemed worth a try to me. If he gets the ship relatively undamaged, we’ll have a chance to learn more about the tech the pirates had.”

“More than Osman left you?”

“I don’t know how close Osman was to the power structure of the current bunch,” Ky said. “It’s said thieves fall out with thieves, and certainly there wasn’t stealth tech aboard Vanguard. We need to beware any others; they might have had more than one.”

“Right,” Pettygrew said. “I’ll keep a careful watch.”

“Kalin expects a relief group of Mackensee ships to show up in…what is it now, ten days? Anyway, I’ll find out if we need to do something about those mines at the jump point. I know we mapped a safe route through, but if they come in fast—”

“What about trying to fix the system ansible? It’s only a relay; maybe its inbox is just stuffed.”

“We don’t have Rafe,” Ky said.

“No, but I’ve got Dozi Lattin. She thinks it’s possible she might be able to unstick it, if it’s something simple like that.”

“You can try,” Ky said. “But the watch is more critical right now.”

“Understood. We’ll just ease up to it and see what she thinks.”

Pitt arrived back within the hour, on a shuttle with more wounded and a senior sergeant to take over as NCOIC of the contingent billeted on Vanguard.

“The colonel thinks you’re part brilliant, part crazy, and part scary as hell. That’s a direct quote, ma’am,” Pitt said, handing over a hardcopy packet. “And he told me to say that.”

“What I am now is hungry,” Ky said. “How about you?”

“No thank you, ma’am. I ate when I came aboard, you’ll recall. But I don’t mind waiting while you—”

“Good.” Ky turned to Hugh. “Hugh, have them send something light to my office, please. And patch my office comunit through to the ship’s ansible again. I need to check on Ransome.”

By the time she and Pitt got to her office, a tray with soup and a pile of sandwiches was on her desk, along with a carafe of water and another of coffee. Ky flipped open the packet Pitt had handed her and sipped from the mug of soup. Colonel Kalin had given her his main concerns: time insystem until the other Mackensee ships arrived, the mines at the jump-point entry, the possibility that more pirates would arrive before the relief ships did…

“How likely do you think another incursion is?” Pitt asked.

“Less likely now than before,” Ky said. “Their observer will have reported that their forces were wiped. If they’d won…they might have brought in more to attack your other ships when they came. Of course, they may see this as a chance to attack us. Metaire’s suffered some damage, expended a lot of ammunition—and no, I’m not asking how much is left. It’s not my business. But I’m guessing that full as she is of wounded and overcrowded with the rest of the other crew, she won’t fight at her best.”

“That’s true, unfortunately.” Pitt sipped at the glass of water Ky had poured her. “So that leaves your three larger ships and the little ones…what’s happened to Ransome’s boarding attempt, by the way?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t reported in. I’ll check now.” Ky turned to the ansible, entered Courageous’ code, and the screen lit with the face of a crewman.

“Captain Vatta,” he said. His gaze slewed sideways, clearly to another screen on the bridge. “Captain Ransome’s not here…”

“He left the ship?” Ky said.

“Yes, ma’am. He led the boarding party, like he always does.”

Ky managed not to say what she was thinking; Pitt’s expression said it for her. “I see,” she said instead. “Do you have any word on the progress of the boarding?”

“There’s resistance,” the man said. “Uh—but they just now got through an air lock—”

“You will keep me informed,” Ky said.

“Oh, yes, ma’am. As soon as they take the ship, I’ll let you know.”

Or as soon as they didn’t, and were dead. Ky closed the connection. “That idiot,” she said, shaking her head.

“Cannon fodder,” Pitt said. “Brave, though. I hate hostile boardings, myself.”

Ky finished reading the material Kalin had sent. “I’ve put together a packet for you to take back,” she said. “And it does not escape my irony detector that we are sending messages by hand in an era when instantaneous universal communication is—was—common.”

“Well…it’s secure if no one takes it out of my hand, which no one is going to do,” Pitt said. She took the packet Ky handed over, slid it into a pocket on her suit. “If I could just make the suggestion, ma’am…I know some very reliable people in my unit, and we could spread this duty around.”

“I know,” Ky said. She had, in the course of reading Kalin’s report, finished the soup and eaten half a sandwich. Her mind felt as if she had just walked through a veil into clear air. “I was just—a bit fuzzy. Tell me who you’d like to have on the job; I’ll accept your assessment.”

“It’ll keep my people busy if we rotate it. When you call for a courier, someone will be there.”

“Captain Vatta! Captain Ransome wants you to know that they’re in the ship but resistance continues!”

“Thank you,” Ky said.

“He’ll let you know when he’s completed the capture,” Ransome’s crewman said.

“Tell him to watch out for people dropping out of the overheads and coming up through the decks,” Ky said.

“How did you—he said something about that.”

“It’s what I did the last time we were boarded,” Ky said.

“Oh…I’ll tell him,” the man said, and cut the connection.

“The last time you were boarded?” Pitt said. “When was that?”

“Gretna Station, before we went to Adelaide. They’ve got a nasty little scam going: first they charge the earth for dock privileges, local identification, and air, and then, just as you leave, they attack. Their idea, as near as I can tell, is to get back everything they sold you to resell to the next unfortunate, hand your ship over to the pirates, and take your crew as indentured workers on trumped-up charges. And in the meantime, your credits are in their account.”

“Slavers,” Pitt said.

“Good as,” Ky said. “My medical team came from there—medical personnel on their way to some kind of meeting, sold as general labor.”

“You bought them?” Pitt said, looking horrified.

“It was the only way to get them out,” Ky said. “Freed them as soon as they were aboard, of course; some elected to stay in Adelaide, but the ones I have now stayed because they wanted to.” She finished off another sandwich. “Anyway, they attacked all three of our ships. They weren’t amateurs, either. They knew how to go about it—attacked while we were too close to the station to use the beam weapons, and their shuttles were inside the fusing limits of our missiles. Luckily, this ship’s full of useful passages, and though it got messy, we evicted them handily. They expected to be in control before we got far enough away to use our forward beam…but they weren’t.”

“You blew the station?”

“No…not everyone there was part of the scam, I’m sure. The other indentured workers, for one thing. But I scorched ’em and destroyed their communications masts, so they couldn’t tell their remote platforms to burn us on the way out.”

Pitt shook her head. “I know I told you, back then, that you were cut out for the military, but now I think I underestimated you…must’ve been that head injury. You’re implant-linked now, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Ky said. “That was another…interesting moment. But a story for another day. You’ll want to see your people and set up a rotation, I’m sure.”

“That I will. Thank you, Captain. I can find my own way—”

When Pitt had left, Ky stared at her desk for a long moment. The clarity a meal had given her had worn off. She started to call up to the bridge just as Hugh put his head in. “Captain—you’re still up?”

“Of course I’m up,” Ky said. “Why?”

“Because you’ve been up more than a day. May I suggest a few hours’ sleep?”

“I haven’t had a final report from Ransome. And we know the enemy might be jumping in—”

“And you’ll cope better if you’re even more exhausted?”

“You’re right,” Ky said, pushing back from the desk. She felt as if the artificial gravity had been notched up. A lot.

“I was off for four hours…”

She barely heard him as she headed for her cabin.

When she woke, she realized she’d fallen asleep in her clothes and had a kink in her neck. Muttering, she went into the shower, emerging in a few minutes awake and eager to find out what had happened to Teddy Ransome. Her implant reported all ship functions normal. She dumped the clothes she’d had on in the ’fresher, dressed, and headed for the bridge.

“Captain Ransome reports he has the enemy ship under control,” Hugh reported. “He was a little disappointed not to speak to you personally from its bridge once he figured out how to reset their ansible for our channels, but I explained that you had important other duties and would get back to him.”

“Sleep is a duty?” Ky said, grinning.

“For combat commanders, yes. Whenever they can get it without imperiling the mission.”

“I think it’s a duty for executive officers, too, Hugh. I know you’re made of tougher material than the rest of us, but it’s your turn—”

“And I’m going,” he said. “Shall I send up something to eat?”

“An excellent idea,” Ky said.

“Oh—and no other stealthed ships have been located,” Hugh said as he left the bridge.

She contacted Colonel Kalin, who looked as much more rested as she herself felt, on tight-beam.

“If you left now, could you intercept your people before they jumped in here?” she asked.

“Not likely. They were going—well, I can’t say where, but coming here they’d be doing serial jumps through several points.”

“Well, it was a thought,” Ky said. “Do you want me to blow those mines at the jump point?”

“No…it’s our habit to come in carefully. You aren’t leaving, are you?”

“Not while I have your personnel aboard several of our ships.”

“I still need to talk to you about your base of support—”

“And I still prefer to wait until we’re in a secure location.”

“Your people didn’t find another stealthed observer—”

“Colonel, I am perhaps too suspicious, but I do not think that not finding something means it’s not there.”

“Wow!” That was her com officer. “They did it!”

“Who did what?” Ky asked, turning to look.

“Bassoon. They got the system ansible on. Look at the icon.”

“The ansible came on!” Colonel Kalin said in her comunit. “Was that your people?”

“I think—just a minute, I’m getting a report.” Ky clicked off on that circuit and switched on the shipboard ansible. “Captain Pettygrew?”

“Sorry it took so long, Captain Vatta, but my tech said it was a bit more than a stuffed mailbox. She had to go EVA and get physical with it. I wouldn’t let her go until she’d had some sleep.”

“That’s fine—I’m impressed. Tell her so for me. Have you tried making an actual call?”

“I don’t know who—I guess we can call up the index…there. We can talk to Adelaide, and from there to anyplace they’re connected.”

“Colonel Kalin,” Ky said to him. “The ansible is indeed up—Captain Pettygrew’s best technician fixed it. You can try contacting your people—”

“And we can expect ISC to come down on us like a storm,” Kalin said, frowning. “We had a huge assessment over that Sabine mess, even though it was only held in escrow. This time—”

“You didn’t do anything; my people did,” Ky said.

“Yes, well, I don’t suppose you’ll get off lightly, either. And they may assume we’re part of that.”

“I doubt it,” Ky said. “We’ve been involved with ansible repairs before—with an ISC agent who was traveling with us, until he went back to Nexus to report. As near as we could tell, ISC didn’t even notice that their ansibles were repaired, though I’m sure they will eventually. He thought they were probably overwhelmed by the amount of sabotage.”

“He probably had an authorization code,” Kalin said. “Did he give it to you?”

“No,” Ky said. “He never said anything about a code.”

“I wouldn’t expect him to,” Kalin said. “Our people asked, when the ansibles went down, about using our techs to help with repair. The local ISC office told us that we couldn’t—that we must not, in fact—because we didn’t have the correct authorization codes and they weren’t about to give them to us.”

“Well, they can come after me,” Ky said. “And I’ll tell them about Rafe. Besides, they’re going to have more to worry about than someone being overhelpful—”

“So I gather from that material you sent. Is this something we can talk about, since we’re on tight-beam?”

“I would think so—as close as we are, laser com should be secure enough even if there is another observer in the system. I would prefer we not name the articles, even though they know I have them.”

“Good,” Kalin said. “I have a few questions. Did the articles originate with the same firm?”

“According to my informant, yes. But the articles as they now exist were modified, by an unknown source, and distributed to the persons you’d least like to see have them.”

“Did the ships that attacked us have them?”

“Almost certainly,” Ky said. “The stealthed one did. The ones that attacked us before—long story, details to follow—did. I found a supply of them on this ship, sufficient to suggest that a regular trade in them was ongoing.”

“Oh…my.” From his expression, that had not been his first choice of words. “What will be the original firm’s official reaction to their use, do you think?”

“My contact was horrified, but recognized the reality that the tech was already out in the universe, in use. I expect they’ll adjust somehow; they always have.”

“I still worry about ISC’s reaction to anyone’s messing with system ansibles, even to repair them. We’ve assumed the outages weren’t their fault, but if they had some reason for it—”

“I know that one of my surviving relatives on Slotter Key got the Slotter Key system ansible repaired,” Ky said. “If they go after Aunt Grace, they’ll put their hand in a buzz saw.”

Kalin raised his brows, then shrugged. “I hope you’re right. We don’t need any more trouble. Still, I’ve had my communications techs send messages to the intermediate jump points. We might catch our people that way, let them know what happened, though it’s uncertain. There do seem to be more system ansibles up and working than when we left.”

“If enough systems get impatient and fix them, ISC won’t have the resources to punish them all,” Ky said.

“We can hope,” Kalin said. “Meanwhile…I’m not sure I’ve thanked you properly for your help. You saved our skins, that’s for sure.”

“We were lucky this time,” Ky said.

“I don’t know about that,” Kalin said. “You made all the right moves. Economical and tidy, as battles go. That’s unusual with an inexperienced officer commanding. Pitt says we tried to recruit you, back at Sabine…”

“Yes, but I had a contract to fulfill,” Ky said. She tried to imagine what it would have been like to be in Mackensee when her family was killed, and shook that thought away quickly.

“Yes—Pitt said your refusal was for honorable reasons. And now you’re in another military organization. I rather wish we’d caught you in the interim.”

“Then I wouldn’t have been here,” Ky said. “But thanks for the sentiment.”

“Point taken. All right, back to the…articles. Pitt said you wanted to know if we were interested. Of course we are, but are you interested in sharing? What does your command think about that?”

“Considering that the pirates already have it and our side needs it,” Ky said, “we’re more than just ‘interested’ in sharing. There are a couple of possibilities: direct purchase or license to produce…”

“You hold the patents? I thought you said the…um…original firm—”

“I can put you in touch with the office working on that issue,” Ky said. Stella wouldn’t be overjoyed about that unless she’d gotten the answers she wanted, but she might be able to satisfy him that they had some legitimacy. “You might be able to relay through to them from here.”

“I’ll have to talk to my commanders first,” Kalin said. “We have procedures—and I’m sure the Old Man wouldn’t want us using illegal technology—”

“Not even if it gave your enemies such an advantage?” Ky asked. “After all, you were attacked by these pirates.”

“I know, I know,” Kalin said. “But you have to understand—surely you have rules in your organization as well. Discipline is the core of military success; we can’t just do whatever we want.”

Unlike Slotter Key’s Spaceforce, Pettygrew’s tech didn’t know that system ansibles had an auto response when restored to service with or without the proper authorization code. As the ansible’s onboard AI regained control of its functions, its first message went out to all functioning ansibles, with relay-to-headquarters headers. Setting up the linkage from there to Adelaide to Nexus II took only seconds; the message itself took immeasurably less time. At ISC headquarters, in the status room, the watch staff noted that relay ansible Boxtop-zip-figaro 112 was back online, restored to service by an unauthorized intruder. They already knew about the Slotter Key ansible repair.

Pettygrew received the return message from Nexus II requesting identification within minutes. His comtech reported that Captain Vatta was in conference with the Mackensee commander; he shrugged and decided to answer the query himself. “Tell ’em it’s Space Defense Force, Third Fleet, light cruiser Bassoon,” he said. “They won’t have a clue who that is.” Almost immediately, a response came back.

“You are in violation of the Uniform Commercial Code, which prohibits any tampering with ISC installations, including attempts to repair faulty ansibles. This message is your legal notice of violation, and will be forwarded to the appropriate jurisdiction for adjudication. Note: ISC has no reference documentation for the so-called Space Defense Force; as of this date, it will be listed as an outlaw organization. To change this listing, supply documentation proving legitimacy under a recognized system and a legal business address.”

“Oh…dear.” Pettygrew and his bridge crew looked at one another. “I’m afraid we kicked an anthill. Captain Vatta isn’t going to be happy about this.”

“Well, we sort of knew ISC didn’t like people meddling with their stuff…”

“They should fix it faster, then,” Pettygrew said. “Let’s see if I can shake some sense into them.” He thought a moment, and sent: “This is an emergency situation. Pirates attacked helpless ships in this system. Many casualties. We attempted emergency repair of ansible to call for help.”

The response was not encouraging: “There is no legal justification for tampering with ISC equipment under any circumstances. As we have no record of any Space Defense Force, we have no reason to believe that this so-called report is anything more than a fabrication, an attempt to evade the legal consequences of illegal actions.”

“Something just stripped our beacon,” one of the bridge crew said. “I think it was the ansible…”

“Your beacon data have been appended to the charges we are filing,” the message went on. “You will be apprehended in any system and held for adjudication. Further attempts to contact this facility will result in additional evidence being stored against you. That is all.” The contact blanked.

“Do you think they’ll turn the ansible off?” someone asked.

“No,” Pettygrew said. “Oh, they might, but if it’s working, it’s a source of income for them when anyone else uses it. I think I’d better contact Captain Vatta right away, even if she is busy.”