Engaging the Enemy (4 page)

Ky Vatta looked around the bridge of
Fair Kaleen
shortly before they were due to drop back into normal space in the Garth-Lindheimer System. Her crew had removed all the evidence of the pirates' occupation except what had been locked away in case evidence was needed. The weeks in FTL flight had given them plenty of time to inventory cargo, purge and reinitialize the computers, and make her a healthy ship for decent crew to ship on. With a new paint job,
Fair Kaleen
could be the flagship of a new Vatta fleet, proof that Vatta Transport, Ltd., was still a going concern.

Or she could be a privateer, proof that Vatta Transport, Ltd., was a going concern with teeth.

When they emerged into the Garth-Lindheimer System, her ship's excellent scan showed nothing suspicious in the system except that the system ansibles were not functioning. Without ansible function, they had no real-time communication with Garth-Lindheimer Traffic Control, so Ky entered their ship's information in response to the automated beacon's request. The convoy, as expected, had emerged ahead of her ship, with the Mackensee escorts positioned to guard either flank. She saw less traffic than expected, and all but two local. Those two carried normal beacon IDs; one had already jumped out by the time they received its signal.

She hailed their escort. “When we dock, the other ships will owe me their percentage for safe transit. Under the circumstances, I could sign that over to you, if you'd like. Or have you made separate arrangements with them?”

Lieutenant Commander Johannson shook his head. “No, Captain Vatta. They still have a contract with you, not with us. It's a legal mess at the moment. Let's keep it simple. They pay you, as they agreed. You pay us, as we agreed. Then we part company.”
Forever,
his tone implied.

“I would be glad to supply a statement for your command, if it would help,” Ky said.

“I'm afraid it wouldn't,” Johannson said. “Any statement by you would be considered contaminated. We'll just take our scolding when we do finally get home.”

“I'm sorry we've been such a problem to you,” Ky said. She'd had leisure, during the long transit, to realize just how foolish she'd been, and how far the mercenaries had bent their rules to save her and her ship. Should she admit that? “You were right,” she said. “About the trap, about…everything. I can't regret taking out Osman, but there must've been a less risky way to do it—”

“I hope you keep that in mind the next time you're in a tight spot,” Johannson said. His voice had warmed a trifle.

“I will,” Ky said. “And I appreciate your standing by us and saving our skins.”

“Some skins are worth saving,” Johannson said, and then cut the contact.

Ky stared at the blank screen a moment. What was that about? Her skin? Vatta Transport's? Then she shook her head and called Stella on
Gary Tobai.
“How do you like being a ship captain?”

“I haven't done anything fatal so far,” Stella said. “I think Quincy could run this ship herself, though I have been studying hard. But how are we going to dock without a pilot? I can't bring her in, and Quincy says she can't. She's not a licensed pilot, and anyway she doesn't know how.”

That was a problem Ky hadn't thought of. Legally, they should not approach within two kilometers of any facility without a licensed pilot aboard. Legally, every ship was supposed to have a licensed pilot aboard, too, but most orbital stations had a pilot service for those whose pilots were incapacitated for some reason. Still, that could be expensive, and it was also a route by which strangers could intrude. She would prefer not to trust a pilot she didn't know.

Ky glanced over at her own pilot. “Lee, how do you feel about a suited transfer back to the
Gary
to bring her into dock?”

He grimaced. “I can…if that's the only way. Maybe we'll be lucky and this station will have a tug or pilot service.”

“They list one,” Ky said. “But after that bonded security service guard tried to kill me, I'm not inclined to trust a commercial service.”

“There's a scooter down in number three hold,” Rafe said.

“That's better than swimming,” Lee said. “But you'd have to wait for me to come back out and bring you in—assuming you're sending the
Gary
in first.”

“I was planning to,” Ky said. “With us out here armed to the teeth, she's less likely to run into trouble. I hope.”

Next, Ky talked to the other captains in the convoy, explaining that her contract with Mackensee would end when they docked. “I will open a new account as soon as we're close enough; you can pay into that.”

“But we want to go on,” Captain Sindarin of
Beauty of Bel
said.

“Then you'll have to contract with Mackensee yourself,” Ky said. “They may be willing.”

“Why did we stop out there and hang around for days?” asked Captain Tendel of
Lacewing.
“Mackensee wouldn't tell us anything but that it was safer.”

“Pirate in a system we came through,” Ky said. “With allies. They jumped you out of the system, went back and dealt with them.”

“Oh. But you weren't on scan…where were you?” That was Captain Harper, of
My Bess.

“Bait,” Ky said. “My choice. That's where this ship came from.”

“Oh. We thought maybe you'd picked up another convoy member. The beacon reads Vatta.” Captain Tendel, as always, looked as if she suspected Ky of something.

“The pirate had stolen a Vatta ship,” Ky said. “They were operating under our name, illegally.”

“So you're taking the ship in for adjudication?”

“I'm reclaiming stolen property,” Ky said. “And we can discuss this, if you wish, once we're docked.”

Harper nodded; Tendel just glared at Ky until the screen blanked.

“That was interesting,” Rafe said from over her shoulder. “I wonder what Tendel has against you. You've got a bigger ship, maybe?”

“Maybe. Doesn't matter, really, as long as she pays her share.” Though the cargo on
Fair Kaleen
was valuable enough to cover the fee, if any of the convoy reneged on their payment. If anyone would buy suspect cargo off a former pirate ship…but of course they would. Osman had been making a living that way, and a good one, too.

About a light-minute from the main station, a warning message met them. “
All ships on approach. All ships on approach.
Identify yourselves on Channel Eighteen. Report shipname, registry, ownership, organization, captain's name, number of crew. Do not depart from present course without authorization: you are targeted.”

“Friendly bunch,” Lee said.

“Better than what we were told about Leonora,” Ky said. She entered the data for
Fair Kaleen
as if that ship had never been anything but a Vatta Transport ship. Her name matched her beacon chip, at least. Registry, Slotter Key. Ownership, Vatta Enterprises. Organization, Vatta Transport, Ltd. Captain, K. Vatta, crew of six.

Shortly a message came back, voice only. Ky was not sure if it was a live person or computer-generated: “Ownership and captain do not match previous contact. This ship and captain of record are interdicted in this system. Explain.”

She had not wanted to explain this over open airways. “Request secure link.”

“Secure link available…” Status lights blinked, then steadied: lightlag plus a minute or two.

“Go ahead, Captain Vatta,” a different voice said. “This is Port Security, and I'm Division Chief Edvarrin.” The blurred image on screen steadied to show a severe-faced woman in a green uniform with blue facings. Two rows of silver buttons ran down the front.

“The person operating this ship was not a Vatta employee,” Ky said. “I understand you had issues with him?” She waited, watching the communications chronometer readout. Fifty-nine seconds for the message to go…fifty-nine for it to return…plus whatever time someone needed to frame a message.

Question answered question. “Was he a Vatta family member or using a false name?”

“By birth he was a Vatta, yes,” Ky said. “He had been expelled from the family years ago. He stole this ship and represented himself as being part of Vatta Transport when he wasn't. Whatever he was doing, he did it for himself, not with any authorization from us.” Again the wait. She tried to anticipate the next question, be ready to answer quickly.

“And your relationship to Vatta Transport's corporate structure?”

That was another sticky bit. How far had news of trouble with Vatta spread? “My father was chief financial officer,” Ky said. “Until his death.”

“We can't verify that with the ansibles down…”

“You should have some records on Vatta Transport,” Ky said. “Are any of our ships there now?”

“No. A Vatta ship departed some ten days before the ansibles went down. If you're really Vatta, you should know what ships worked this route.”

“A moment,” Ky said. She queried her implant, and her father's data came up. Garth-Lindheimer lay on a lucrative trading circuit; Vatta had two ships constantly on the route. “
Connie R.,
captained by Casamir Vatta, and
Tregallat,
captained by Benton Gallat.” She paused again. “Unless something messed up their schedule, the ship that departed before the ansibles went down should have been
Connie R.
Sometimes they do overtake each other.”

“That is correct. There is another Vatta ship in this group,
Gary Tobai
? It is on our list, with a K. Vatta as captain.”

“Yes. That was my ship. My cousin Stella's the captain now. She took over for me when I…obtained this one.”

“That is an issue, Captain Vatta. Precisely how did you obtain the ship you are commanding now?”

“Osman Vatta tried to trap me,” Ky said. She had been thinking how best to tell it. “He hated my father, because my father and uncle were the ones who banished him from the family. Because the ship had a Vatta Transport beacon, I trusted him initially—”

“But surely you had been warned about him. Do you not use implants, you Vattas?”

“He was banished long ago,” Ky said. “I suppose my father thought he was dead, or far away, and that I'd be unlikely to meet him. At any rate, I had no suspicion at first. We were traveling in convoy with a military escort—the Mackensee Military Assistance ships—and they advised me it might be a trap. I didn't agree, and stayed behind when they went on with the convoy. It was a trap, and Osman attempted to board and kill us; he had allies, two pirate ships. We improvised a defense…I was able to send a call for help, and after some hours—after Osman was dead—Mackensee was able to come back and take out the other ships before they closed with us.”

“So they did not witness what happened? You have no corroboration for your story?”

“They can corroborate that they found his being there suspicious, yes. That I left the convoy to check on him, yes. That I called for help, yes. That there were two ships that when challenged tried to fight, yes. Exactly what happened when he tried to board, no.” The usual delay, during which Ky wondered if any of the security recordings aboard
Gary Tobai
would help. With Gordon Martin, Rafe, and herself on this ship, would Stella be able to locate and duplicate them?

“It seems likelier that you yourself were the bait in a trap set by your convoy,” Edvarrin said. “A small, apparently unarmed ship like
Gary Tobai,
but with military backup, captures a ship like the one you have now? Mackensee isn't known for that kind of thing, but mercs have gone rogue before. Traders just don't have the skills or equipment to deal with a pirate, let alone a group of them.” A brief pause, then, “Mackensee informs us that you have a letter of marque from Slotter Key. And that you also have aboard an expert in ISC technology, who has been repairing inoperable beacons. Frankly, Captain, we have no reason to believe that you are in fact a legitimate trader or commercial carrier.”

Ky could not think what to say. She had anticipated having to make some argument to gain title of the ship, but she hadn't guessed that anyone might think she herself was a pirate.

“I do have a letter of marque,” she said. “But the fact is that Osman Vatta—whom you yourself interdicted—attacked my ship and intended to kill me.”

“That will be for a court to decide,” Edvarrin replied after a longer pause than usual. “Your military escort confirms your story, but also confirms that you insisted on taking Osman's ship as a prize. Under these circumstances, and in the absence of communication with Vatta corporate headquarters or the Slotter Key government—and with no Slotter Key diplomatic representative authorized to confirm or deny the validity of your letter of marque—we are unwilling to have you bring your ship in under your command. You will take up a station at least twenty-five thousand kilometers from our orbital station, under guard of our insystem security service, and transfer to the station by shuttle. You yourself may appear before a court as specified in the Uniform Commercial Code, Section 82, paragraph 32.b, this court to be convened upon your arrival. This court will then determine the legality of your actions and the ownership of
Fair Kaleen.
Should you choose not to submit to this procedure, you are forbidden to approach nearer than fifty thousand kilometers. On your present course, this intersection will occur in approximately sixteen hours.”

Ky looked around the bridge and met expressions as blank as she felt. “That's…not what I expected,” she said. “It could take days to straighten this out.”

“If you go in there, you'll end up in jail,” Rafe said. “Remember that
determine the legality of your actions
? If the civil court decides you were wrong to kill Osman and his crew, you'd be facing criminal charges in a system where you don't even have diplomatic representation.”