attention.
She was obviously the woman who’d been talking to the Glory; but in person she was much more striking. Even the short spacer’s cut couldn’t conceal the fullness of her auburn hair. It framed her rather angular face perfectly. Actually, he mused, it wasn’t that she was extraordinarily beautiful. Her short, pug nose and freckles made her look like a juvenile tomboy, in fact. But those full lips and sparkling blue eyes somehow riveted his attention. The grin she flashed him was all tomboy, as well. “Captain Preslin?” she inquired, “I’m Jane Grey, owner and skipper of the Lady Jane.” She hesitated as if expecting a comment, then continued, “This is Lar Tennig, my Engineer, First Mate, and Comm Officer.”
The tall man slipped off his suit’s gauntlet and proffered a hand. “What,” Kas asked with a smile, “Not Purser?” A grin spread over the bald man’s skull-like face. “Nossir,” he replied in a pleasant baritone, “Nobody but the Lady here handles the money end!”
They chatted inconsequentially as the two unsuited, then Kas invited them to his cabin. Rom followed.
Unsuited, Jane Grey was some 150 centimeters tall, and massed about 50 kilos. That 50 kilos, Kas thought, was distributed in a disturbingly attractive fashion. He was trying to figure out why he found this woman so damned attractive, and he wasn’t having much luck. Her body was well-curved, without evident tendency toward fat, but it wasn’t spectacularly so. Her breasts, though full, weren’t unusually large, nor did she flaunt them. So, why was he responding so strongly to her?
“Well,” she said once they were all seated in Kas’ cabin, “Now that we’re all comfy, would you mind telling us who the devil you are, where you came from, and what happened to that damned Glory?”
Kas licked his lips. This was going to really strain his cover story. “Well, as I mentioned, we’re Starhopper, out of Prime, chartered to ferry colonists to a planet called Turow’s World. That’s a new colony being established by Farterra.”
He shrugged. “As for that other ship, all I know is that our sensors detected two flashes, and when we closed to investigate, we detected two ships close aboard. We hailed, but suddenly one of the ships boosted out max.” He shook his head. “He must have thought we were someone else. When we got closer, we could see the damage to your ship, and decided to check for survivors.” He frowned. “You say that pirate was a Glory?”
Her eyes were narrowed. “Uh huh. Look, Captain. I know you’ve saved our lives, and we’re grateful. But that Glory left us deaf, dumb and blind, not stupid. Please don’t pee on my boots and try to tell me it’s raining. Rank tabs or not, that Glory was at least a Swordtan in their Lord’s Host. Now, the Glories are a lot of things, but they’re not cowards, and they’re not stupid enough to confuse a DIN-Class with a battle cruiser!” She shook her head. “No, somehow you managed to run off or destroy that bastard. I don’t know how and I don’t really care. I’m just glad you did.”
She sat forward, resting her elbows on Kas's desk. “While you were talking I was thinking. You’re the ship that bastard was really after, aren’t you? What are you, some kind of spy or something? And what’s this crap about a battle cruiser?”
Kas took a deep breath. “Whew! That’s some imagination you’ve got there! Would you like me to show you the three hundred fifty cold sleep cabinets in our hold?”
She shook her head impatiently. “Please, Captain! Look, we’re wasting time. If you’re spooks, you can’t tell us anything but your cover story, even if that story becomes absurd. By the way, whoever put together your cover story was working from out-of-date information. Farterra isn’t colonizing anything. For the past three years they’ve been having money problems, and for the last eighteen months they’ve been in an economic depression. Last I heard, there were food riots on Newhome.”
She shot him a piercing glance. “On the other hand, spooks would have either finished us off or left us to rot. That means you’re not professional agents. Military, maybe? You shouldn’t have rescued us, should you? And now, you’re having a hell of a time deciding what to do with us.”
Kas shifted uncomfortably. In less than five minutes, this woman had completely exposed their identity and indicated that she suspected that their mission concerned a battle cruiser! She was right; he was beginning to regret rescuing them. Rom, in the corner of the room, apparently shared his concern. The needler he’d taken from the weapons locker was in his hand. Kas tried to remind himself of what was at stake — war or peace throughout known space. He tried to harden himself to signal Rom to open fire.
But he had to explore all the options first. They were no threat in cold sleep, and by the time they were revived the mission would be over. Unfortunately, her easy penetration of Starhopper ’s identity indicated that there might be other problems.
He took another deep breath, let it out in a huge sigh. “All right. You’re too close for comfort. We’re not spooks. We’re Imperial Fleet. We’re on an undercover mission. We can’t afford to have that mission compromised. We had, of course, discussed destroying your ship or leaving you here. But we were able to come up with an alternative. We really do have three hundred fifty cold sleep cabinets in the hold. We’re going to revive two of the occupants that can use your identities, and put you into cold sleep to replace them. You won’t be harmed, and you’ll be revived and released as soon as we complete the mission.”
She shook her head. “Won’t work.” Lar Tennig was also shaking his head.
“Look, Captain,” Kas replied in a nettled tone, “We’re trying to find a way to save your lives! It’s not too late to put you back aboard your ship, you know. Now, why won’t it work?”
“Because of something you couldn’t possibly know, Captain,” she replied. “I was born in space. My parents were traders as well. Most of the customs agents in this sector have known me since I was a babe in arms. They’ve watched me grow up. They know me and I know them. If a stranger suddenly shows up at any system in this sector trying to impersonate me, they’ll be locked up or dead before they can get a word out — and there will be some very hard questions asked!”
Lar Tennig spoke up. “She’s telling the truth, Captain. Everybody in the sector knows Lady Jane! Hell, she’s had that nickname since she was a kid. It’s probably the only joke that’s understood in every system in the sector.”
Kas frowned, and Jane Grey explained. “When I was a kid, oh, ten or twelve standard, I guess, I read this book about Old Earth. I dunno if it was true or not, but this book said that there was this place on Old Earth called Angle Land, or something like that. Anyway, it seems that there was a king named Henry Vee — something, and his queen was named Lady Jane Grey. Her name was even spelled the same as mine. She was young too, and she was only the queen for a few weeks, and then she was killed. It's a great tragic story.”
“Well,” she continued, “You know how kids that age are. I decided that I would now be called ‘Lady’ Jane Grey. My parents thought it was funny to go along with me. So, now everyone in the sector knows me by that name. And I can guarantee that you won’t make it past your first recal if someone tries to impersonate me.”
Kas’ frown had deepened. He sighed. “What you’ve told me only makes the decision harder. I guess the only thing we can do is put you back aboard your ship with supplies for several months and hope that no one finds you in time to interfere with our mission!”
Lady Jane leaned forward again, causing serious distractions for Kas. “Hold on a minute, Captain. Even if we’re found I’m not thrilled about sitting on a dead ship for months. Maybe we can work something out. You’re Impies, right? Well, we’re Alliance citizens. Tell us about your mission, and if it’s no threat to the Alliance, maybe we can help.”
Kas grinned. “You’re a trader, all right. And an excellent negotiator. But this isn’t a trade negotiation. I know this sounds melodramatic, but the future of mankind will be affected by the success or failure of our mission.”
She answered his grin with one of her own. “You’re right. It sounds too melodramatic to be true. But I keep remembering that it was important enough for the Empire to send a Fleet crew out here with another three hundred in cold sleep, and for the Glory to send out ships pretending to be pirates.”
“Captain!” Rom interrupted, “I’m sorry sir,” he continued, “but security…”
Kas waved a hand in dismissal. “Security be damned,” he replied. “The main reason we’re out here playing spook is because everyone in the sector already knows about it. I can’t see that it can do much damage to talk about the mission at this point.”
He turned back to his visitors. “An Empire battle cruiser went missing out near the edge of known space just over a century ago. Well, she’s been found. She’s intact, with her plague beacon running. The point is that she’s a complete, intact battle cruiser. That means she’s fully armed, including two planet busters.”
“Unfortunately, the people that found her talked to people all the way back in to the Empire. So, not only the Empire, but the Alliance, the Glory and about half the independents are out looking for her. We happen to think that
