Inadvertent Adventures (7 page)

"Real as can be, Ma'am." Silver laughed for a moment with the microphone open. "The
Kiev
is one of
Willy's
escorts. Ann knows about what I--we--did in Germanicus, and I'm sure she told the
Kiev's
captain. All we have to do is keep running and not die before they get here."

"Not dying may be the hardest part, Silver," Olaf said in the captain's place. "We're having problems with the main drive. If it goes…" Olaf left the rest hanging. It didn't really need to be said.

The first blast from the raider's weapon to hit the Jane was a glancing blow that opened part of the cargo decks to space, but didn't otherwise affect the crew. The second hit did. Silver felt his ears pop even though there were seven sealed bulkheads between him and the engine room. His suit sealed automatically, and he sent a brief prayer to the Lords of Space that everyone down below had already been buttoned up.

Captain Denise's voice came through his suit radio and he sagged with relief. "Silver, we're in deep trouble. That hit ruptured our fuel tanks and we're going to lose the mains in about ten minutes. Signal our surrender. Do anything to buy us a little more time."

Silver said, "Aye, Ma'am," before punching the broadband transmitter button. "Pursuing vessel, we are damaged and losing propulsion. Please don't fire into us again. We surrender."

The reply was almost instantaneous. "
Jolly Jane
, we don't give a rat's ass about your surrender. You will be destroyed, and your records with you. And don't think I fell for your
Kiev
deception. As the old saying goes, 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.' I'm not going to let you disgrace me again."

Silver couldn't help being surprised by the response. "You simply want us dead, do you?" he asked the inside of his helmet. Keying his mic, he spoke again. "We are nearly dead anyway, but we've broadcast your ship specs to the entire Hobson's system. They know who you are."

"This ship's specs are of no consequence. We never make port in these systems anyway. We don't need them. Our employer just wants your nosy asses scattered through space." The gloating that was evident in the raider's com officer's voice was almost palpable.

"Your employer at Amberson's? You know, if they hadn't sent us straight to you, we never would have made that connection," he radioed back.

There was a pause on the other end, then the communications officer came back. "We don't work for Amberson's."

"Sure you do," Silver almost laughed. "You knew who we were at LaFontain as soon as we came out of hyper. They sent you word to expect us, then loaded us with a cargo of trash that was supposed to be valuable mining equipment. It was heavily insured against loss in transit, of course. The mining facility in LaFontain was surprised to see us when we finally arrived, but not really surprised to open the shipping containers and find garbage. They accused us of stealing from them, of course, and when we proved that the seals were still intact they chased us out of there without refueling. They also exchanged a number of coded transmissions with you, which we recorded for the authorities. Are those the records you want destroyed?"

"Broadcasting it won't do you any good. Without your actual records it's just the word of a tramp freighter against a multi-system conglomerate. I've had enough of this. No one is coming to your aid, and we've closed to easy killing range." The broadcast broke off and Silver braced for the impact he was certain was coming.

The blast of the gamma ray laser blew up through the engine room and sent the
Jolly Jane
spinning wildly off course. Silver keyed his microphone and asked, "Captain, Olaf, Will, are any of you still alive?" There was no reply.

"Captain, Olaf, please answer me!" he almost pleaded, though he was sure it was useless. A tear threatened at the corner of his eye, and he couldn't unseal to wipe it away. He'd hardly known Will and Jeremiah, so their deaths didn't really affect him, but Denise and Olaf had become almost like family. Then a different voice burst from the communication's gear.

"Raider, this is the CSS
Kiev
, Captain Roman Alexandrov commanding. You have committed murder in the Confederate Star Systems. Said murder has been recorded for playback to the Confederate Government's Anti-Piracy Board. In accordance with my instructions and under my authority, you are condemned."

Silver used the little power he had left to lock the
Jane's
optics on the raider once again. It began an immediate skew turn to the ecliptic south, but that made no difference. Three hyper drive equipped torpedoes broke into normal space directly in front of the fleeing ship. Three one-megaton globes of destruction engulfed the raider's vessel and left nothing but a few twisted pieces of metal when they faded. The
Kiev
reversed course in order to slow down, but they were moving far too fast to possibly stop in time to rescue anyone from the
Jane.

Silver shook his head sadly. "Got here just a little too late, Roman." He punched the record button on his suit breastplate and began dictating.

* * *

The frigate CSS
Larice Ustanov
had to use all of her thrust to reverse course and catch up with the drifting hulk of the
Jolly Jane.
Their headlong fight from the raider had increased their velocity to fourteen percent of the speed of light, but that was not a problem for the fleet little frigate. Captain Dala Harvaln waited until they were along side before broadcasting their presence. "
Jolly Jane,
this is the
Larice Ustanov
closing at fifty meters per second. We will grapple your ship and bring you along side for rescue and towing to Hobson's Choice Station. Do not attempt to maneuver.
Jolly Jane,
do you understand these instructions?"

"No response, Ma'am," the comtech said without looking up.

"Very well," she replied. "Lieutenant Arandsen, prepare your boarding party. Search and rescue first, then get their computer core."

"Aye, Ma'am. Is it true about the admiral and…"

"Yes, it's true. She still wears his ring even though they've been divorced for over ten years. It's just a thought, but you might want to look for Sterling first. He was in their control room. Take extra oxygen with you and adapters in case his--their--suits aren't standard models. You never know with these independent operators."

It took ten minutes and some tricky ship handling to match the trajectory and spin of the
Larice
to that of the
Jane,
but only a moment to stabilize them once the grapples were set. Moments later Lieutenant Arandsen and his men burned through the
Jane's
hull next to the ruined airlock.

The search of the wrecked ship took just a few moments and three space suited bodies were quickly brought back to the
Larice's
sickbay. The
Jane's
computer core was brought back next.

Once Lieutenant Arandsen and his people were back aboard the
Larice,
Captain Harvaln ordered a course back to Hobson's Planet at the best speed they could maintain with the
Jolly Jane
in tow.

* * *

Silver opened his eyes slowly as he regained consciousness. The first things he saw were the firm breasts of the Navy nurse who was leaning over him. Just a breath later a cool hand slid over his eyes and a much missed and beloved voice said, "Keep your eyes to yourself, Sterling."

He tried to say, "Ann," but only managed a strangled croak.

"Shh, don't try to speak," Ann said a she stroked his forehead. "They had to intubate you to get you breathing again. Your throat is probably going to be sore as hell once the drugs wear off."

Silver brought his hand up and caught hers. He kissed her palm before he started drawing letters on it. C R E W

"There were two other survivors from your crew. A woman who fits your description of your captain, and a man who is built like a brick. We didn't get his name."

Silver again drew on her palm. O L A F F I R S T M A

"First Mate Olaf," Ann finished for him. "They are in worse shape than you were. The last shot from the raider opened the engineering spaces to vacuum and threw them around a bit." She paused for a moment. "We found a severed arm near the rupture. That's all that was left of your other crewmen."

Silver kissed her palm again and closed his eyes. They had survived, despite the odds and the best efforts of the raider to kill them. Sleep wrapped him in her warm embrace as soon as he relaxed. The last thing he was aware of was Ann stroking his hair.

T
HE BOARD ROOM OF THE AMBERSON
Cartel on New Britannia was quiet as a recording played from the sound system’s speakers.

"Pursuing vessel, we are damaged and losing propulsion. Please don't fire into us again. We surrender."

"
Jolly Jane
, we don't give a rat's ass about your surrender. You will be destroyed, and your records with you. And don't think I fell for your
Kiev
deception. As the old saying goes, 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.' I'm not going to let you disgrace me again."

"We are nearly dead anyway, but we've broadcast your ship specs to the entire Hobson's system. They know who you are."

"This ship's specs are of no consequence. We never make port in these systems anyway. We don't need them. Our employer just wants your nosy asses scattered through space."

"Your employer at Amberson's? You know, if they hadn't sent us straight to you, we never would have made that connection."

"We don't work for Amberson's."

"Sure you do. You knew who we were at LaFontain as soon as we came out of hyper. They sent you word to expect us, then loaded us with a cargo of trash that was supposed to be valuable mining equipment. It was heavily insured against loss in transit, of course. The mining facility in LaFontain was surprised to see us when we finally arrived, but not really surprised to open the shipping containers and find garbage. They accused us of stealing from them, of course, and when we proved that the seals were still intact they chased us out of there without refueling. They also exchanged a number of coded transmissions with you, which we recorded for the authorities. Are those the records you want destroyed?"

"Broadcasting it won't do you any good. Without your actual records it's just the word of a tramp freighter against a multi-system conglomerate. I've had enough of this. No one is coming to your aid, and we've closed to easy killing range."

"Raider, this is the CSS
Kiev
, Captain Roman Alexandrov commanding. You have committed murder in the Confederated Star Systems. Said murder has been recorded for playback to the Confederated Government's Anti-Piracy Board. In accordance with my instructions and under my authority, you are condemned."

The recording cut off and the woman at the head of the table looked around with hooded eyes. "Would someone care to explain to me just exactly what happened here? The CSS Justice Department has contacted me to let me know that they are launching a full-scale investigation into our involvement in this incident. The
Jolly Jane's
computer core has provided them with enough evidence for an
indictment
against us."

"Madame Chairwoman, there is no way--"

"Did ye no' hear me?" she snapped, her voice cracking with the strain of the last few days. "The Justice Department of the Confederated Star Systems Government has
indicted
the Amberson Cartel for supporting commerce raiding. I want to know exactly what has been going on, and who is responsible. There can be no payoffs this time. The entire Hobson's System heard those transmissions."

"Madame Chairwoman, please," one of the men down the table from her began cautiously. "There is no proof against us. There are just unfounded allegations made by a tramp freighter. It will be a simple matter to prove that we had nothing to do with them."

The Chairwoman of the Board glared at him for a moment, then pressed a button on her desk and a new recording began playing.

"LaFontain Control, this is Harris. We lost contact with that miserable little freighter. We're assuming that they were lost in hyper due to a bad nav fix."

"Harris, this is Station Manager Jameson. That miserable little freighter tricked you and came back here. They delivered the shipment and demanded payment even after we proved the containers were full of trash. They are on their way out now, so you have a second chance. Don't screw up again."

"I'm going to overtake them and kill each of them personally."

"Shut up, you arrogant ass! Don't get fancy, just blow them out of space. Fail again and Amberson's is through with you and your little crew of misfits. Kill that ship or you'll never dock again."

The recording cut off as the chairwoman glared around the room again. "Those are the decoded versions of the transmissions that the
Jolly Jane
recorded in LaFontain. The CSS Navy is on its way to arrest Nathan Jameson and seize the LaFontain facility. The indictment against us could land the entire
board
in prison, and allow the government to auction off the cartel." She paused and looked around at the stunned faces of her board of directors. "Someone's head is going to roll, ladies and gentlemen, and tis not going to be mine. Find someone to sacrifice and provide the Justice Department with all the evidence they need to convict them." She stood and looked around the table. "An' while yer at it would someone please kill the survivors from the
Jolly Jane
?"

* * *

Eleven parsecs away another recording was being listened to.

"My name is Sterling Albert Stevenson, but it's also Silver Llewellyn Garand. How that happened isn't important. I am the Navigator on the independently owned space ship
Jolly Jane,
Captain Denise Stabenow commanding. She, First Mate Olaf Larsson, Chief Engineer William Putin, and Load Master Jeremiah Brasov rounded out the crew. They are all dead, and I'm down to about three hours of air in my suit pack. Sorry, Ann. Please don't cry.