Imperial Intelligence had the resources of the Empire government to draw upon. No shortcuts had been taken. Even the signatures forged on the documents were excellent copies of those of genuine officials of Farterra’s Department of Colonial Affairs.
Rom was impressed. “I’ll tell ya, Skipper, I doubt even the jabbos whose signatures these are would be able to tell for sure they were faked.” He shook his head sadly. “Think of the smugglin’ you could get up wi’ if ye had forgers this good t’work wi’!”
“You don’t anticipate any problems, then?”
Rom tossed the papers onto Kas' desk. “Nah, Skipper. Besides, we won’t have any problems for the next three jumps, anyway. They’re all Empire systems. They probably won’t even bother to look at our papers, since we’re comin’ from Prime.”
Kas’ grin faded. “Let’s hope you’re right!”
The jump went normally. Rom was casual, but Kas considered this jump, to the Nuhaven system, to be the first test of their disguise, and he paced nervously.
As soon as they emerged from Jump, Tera busied herself verifying the system was indeed Nuhaven. A few minutes after she confirmed their position, Nuhaven customs hailed them.
The official in the viewscreen didn’t look intimidating; he merely looked bored. “Customs,” he announced. Then, without a pause continued, “Ship’s ident and registration last port of call destination and purpose of visit.” He yawned.
Kas suppressed anger at the man’s attitude and replied courteously, “We’re Starhopper. Registration is being beamed. Our last port of call was Prime. We’re bound for Turow’s World. That’s a new colony being established by Farterra. We’re under charter to deliver three hundred fifty cold sleep colonists recruited on Empire planets. We won’t be grounding to trade. This is just a recalibration stop. Sir.” He added grudgingly.
The man snorted. “‘Colonists’. Hah! Gutter sweepings, you mean!”
Kas shrugged. “As long as they’re cold sleep passengers, I wouldn’t care if they were all murderers and psychopaths. That’ll be the colony’s problem.”
The man sniffed disdainfully. “As long as you’re not grounding, and begin boosting for a jump point within twelve standard hours, there will be no need for further customs inspection,” he said as though reciting an often- repeated litany. “Be warned: If you remain past twelve hours, you will be boarded and inspected.”
Kas shrugged. “That’s not likely unless we run into some kind of problem. I expect to boost as soon as our next jump is computed in less than four hours.”
The man nodded and clicked off with no further courtesies.
Kas felt irritated by the customs agent’s manner, but Tera, who’d been listening from the Astrogator’s station, was scandalized and furious.
“How could a representative of the emperor’s government act like that?” she fumed. “The man was a disgrace!” She carried on at some length about the proper attitude and demeanor for Empire customs officials, until Kas cut her off.
“Be glad he was such a poor excuse for an official,” he said, “and pray that all the customs agents we meet are that incompetent.”
Rom chuckled. “Nah, he’s pretty typical for the Empire, but the Independents take customs a lot more seriously. ‘Course,” he added, “If we’d been inbound from the rim, instead of outbound from Prime, even that gloot woulda paid more attention.”
As the hours passed, Tera fretted over the calculations for their next jump. There were no further hails, and Kas began to relax.
Finally, Tera pronounced herself satisfied with her computations and fed the data to the command console. Kas began to seriously consider double checking her computations, but stopped himself with a jolt as he reminded himself that Tera was a Fleet lieutenant commander with years of experience. Damn it! This disguise stuff was more complicated than he’d thought. With a jerk and an impatient grunt, he stabbed at the button that started the maneuvering program running. Starhopper moved toward the jump point, with Kas watching carefully for other traffic. After all, Starhopper ’s sensors were enhanced for a DIN-class, but still far inferior to the arrays on military ships.
Once back in jump, Kas called a crew meeting to discuss their first recal stop.
“Don’t get overconfident,” he warned. “This one was almost too easy. The next two are also within the Empire, so they shouldn’t be too bad. But then we hit the first of the Independents. If we’re going to have trouble, that’s where I’d expect it.”
“Yar,” Rom agreed, “It won’t just be the first ‘un. There’s a lot of smugglin’ going on outside the empire, an’ each system seems to be tryin’ to be tougher than the next.”
Kas nodded. “Don’t let down. Keep practicing until you can convince each other and yourselves that you’re not Fleet!”
After the crew had returned to their duties, Kas asked Rom to his cabin.
“Rom, you’re our resident expert. What do you think? Do we have any chance of carrying off this deception?”
Rom grinned. “Y’mean I’m th’ ony one that ain’ an ‘officer ‘n gentlebein’.”
Kas answered Rom’s grin with one of his own. “I doubt I’ll hurt your feelings if I agree with that; in fact I suspect you’d consider it a compliment. Your manner is as much a pose as what the rest of us are trying.”
Rom’s grin faded, and he eyed Kas narrowly. “Now, what w’d ye be meanin’ by that, Cap’n?”
Kas chuckled. “I keep remembering you were a Fleet officer for fifteen years. If you’d had the same speech and manner then, you’d have given several senior officers coronaries.”
Rom hesitated a moment, eyeing Kas appraisingly. Then he sighed and grinned. “You’ve caught me, Commodore.
“After I resigned,” he began, his gutter accent disappearing, “I made a cruise out toward the rim aboard a tramp. I found my innerworld manner made people out there suspicious and hostile. Luckily, one of my crewmates was from the slums of Newton. I watched him, and listened to him. I slowly tried to become him because his lack of polish made him welcome and let him fit in out there. By the time a few years went by, I was so adapted to the character I was playing I had to concentrate to go back to my polished manners. “I probably would have told you before, but you seemed to be enjoying my performance.”
Kas chuckled. “You could say I admired it. On this mission, I wish we all could act as rough and undisciplined as you do. Besides, I suspect you’ve been having a lot of fun with the reactions you’ve been provoking. I asked you if you think we’ll be able to carry it off. I’m especially worried about Tera.”
Rom’s grin faded, and he sighed. “Me too. She’s just too damned Fleet, if you know what I mean.” He paused. “I hate to say it, sir, but I don’t think she’s really trying very hard. She’s spent her entire career proving to the innerworlders that she’s as good as they are. She’s worked hard on that veneer and polish. I think she just can’t bring herself to shrug it off. To be honest, she’s endangering the mission.”
He tilted his chair back. “As for the others, Toj is so obviously a Bulworther that he’s almost sure to pass, especially if he keeps his mouth shut — and for Toj, that’s not a problem.”
He chuckled. “Then there’s Gran. If anybody blows our cover besides Tera, it’ll be him. Oh, not because he isn’t trying, but because he’s trying so hard. He’s also been trying to copy some of my mannerisms; and all that’ll do is make people wonder. You might need to talk to Gran.
“Edro is probably the best of the crew, as far as not looking military. He’s so introverted he’s painful to watch. Anyone who meets him is going to be so busy trying to get Edro to respond that he won’t care what kind of response he gets.”
Kas chuckled and nodded. “And me?”
Rom took a deep breath; let it out in a hiss. “Well, sir, you might be all right, if you can remember. When you keep your mind on it, you do all right. When you get distracted, you sound more and more like a Fleet officer.”
Kas looked thoughtful. “I’ll work on that. Do you think I’m a risk to the mission?”
Rom hesitated. “You’re the Captain. People expect captains to be a bit more controlled, even military. You can probably carry it off, especially if you keep practicing.”
Kas sighed. “So, Toj and Edro will be no problem. Nor you, of course. If I talk to Gran, tell him to tone it down, he might pass. That leaves Tera and me. All I can do is keep practicing. I hadn’t realized how hard it would be, until that officious little customs bastard at Nuhaven got me fuming.” He shrugged. “It’s obvious I’ll have to
