She fell silent, and finally Cole said, “That’s it?”
“That’s everything that was said, yes, sir.”
“Nothing about summoning help from other systems?”
“No, sir,” answered Christine. “They seem to think they have ample firepower without requesting more.”
“Okay, that’s it,” said Cole decisively. “Contact the nearest of the four ships and have it dock at our shuttle bay as quickly as possible. Tell the other three to spread out and be ready to enter the wormhole that leads back to the Frontier on my command.”
“That’s what you were waiting for?” asked Forrice, puzzled. “But you knew they were going to attack us.”
“Of course I knew. But I had to know how many ships they planned on sending. If they’d asked for more from neighboring systems, we’d have had to change the script.”
“What script?”
“To the play that Commander Jacovic and I are going to perform for them,” answered Cole.
26
“Which of the ships has docked with us?” asked Cole as he walked onto the bridge, accompanied by Forrice and Jacovic.
“The
Silent Dart
, sir,” said Domak.
“Okay,” said Cole. “That’s the ship Jacovic will command.” He turned to the Teroni. “Can you come up with a good Teroni name for it, one that isn’t in use?”
“
Korabota
,” replied Jacovic. “It would translate as ‘Killer Snake’ in Terran.”
“Good. For the next few hours the
Silent Dart
will become the
Korabota
. Christine, Domak, this is very important: under no circumstance will you refer to it as anything except the
Korabota
. Four Eyes, have Briggs enter the
Silent Dart
and change whatever needs changing to
Korabota—
subspace radio ID, whatever.”
“Do you want me to have Slick change the insignia on the exterior of the ship?”
Cole shook his head. “Hopefully no one’s going to get close enough to see it. Christine?”
“Sir?”
“What frequencies can the Navy ships read from this distance?”
“Just about all of them, sir,” she said. “Perhaps if I knew what you had in mind . . .”
“You will,” answered Cole. “Have we got some frequency that’s relatively difficult to read from this distance? I don’t want to make this too easy for them.”
“Probably Frequency number Q03W6—”
“I don’t need to know the number,” he interrupted her. “But give it to Mr. Briggs and tell him that I want him to adjust the subspace radio on the
Silent—
. . . on the
Korabota
to send only on that frequency.”
“Yes, sir,” said Christine. “What about receiving?”
“Let it receive on all frequencies.”
“I’ll pass the word to Mr. Briggs.”
“All right,” said Cole. “I think that takes care of everything that needs to be done on the
Teddy R
and the
Korabota
.”
“I’ll do what you ask, sir,” said Christine, a puzzled frown on her face, “but I really don’t see what I’m doing it
for
.”
Cole smiled. “That’s because you’re young and idealistic and honorable, Lieutenant. Not to worry; you’ll grow out of all three.” He turned to Forrice and Jacovic. “You two jaded realists have doubtless figured it out, of course.”
“I’ve figured it out, all right,” said the Molarian. “But they’re never going to buy it.”
“Why not?” replied Cole. “I’m Number One on their Most Wanted list. I deposed a starship captain in wartime. I broke out of a military prison. I returned covertly to the Republic to sell stolen diamonds. I am a villain of titanic proportions if I say so myself.”
“You have a point,” admitted Forrice. “Maybe I should turn you in for the reward.”
“It is a shame you don’t have anyone aboard the
Theodore Roosevelt
who speaks the Teroni tongue,” said Jacovic. “It would lend to the illusion.”
“I agree,” said Cole. “We’ll just have to make do with what we’ve got. I know you speak Terran fluently, but it’ll make more of an impression if you take a T-pack along, speak Teron, and let it translate you into that annoying monotone.”
“Ah!” said Christine excitedly. “Now I see!”
“We’ll have to be clear on some details,” said Cole. “You can’t say you’re still commanding the Fifth Teroni Fleet. It’s too easy for them to check its whereabouts.” He paused and considered the problem. “How many fleets does the Teroni Federation have now?”
“Fourteen,” replied Jacovic.
“All right,” said Cole. “You’ve been chosen to head the newly formed Fifteenth Fleet. You’re not up to strength yet, but you’ve got close to two hundred ships with you. You’ve been whipping them into shape, holding maneuvers on the Inner Frontier.”
“How did we meet?”
“I contacted you with a proposition. We’ll argue about it once you’re aboard the
Korabota
.”
“Should I go there now?” asked Jacovic.
“Wait until Lieutenant Briggs tells us that he’s adjusted the radio.”
“Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Christine. “I was so fascinated by what you were saying that I forgot to tell him!”
“It’s all right,” said Cole soothingly. “Calm down. It only cost us a minute, and the Navy ships are still an hour and a half away.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” she said miserably. “I just—”
“Contact Briggs now,” said Cole. “Apologize later.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How long do we wait?” asked Jacovic as Christine was transmitting the instructions to Briggs.
“We don’t want them getting too close,” said Cole. “They’ve got to be faster than we are, and I’m sure they’ve got the latest in long-range weaponry.” He was silent for a moment as he considered the problem. “If they haven’t bought it in ten minutes, we’d better run hell for leather through the wormhole and hope we beat them out the other end. And we don’t rendezvous. We split up, make them divide their forces, and meet the survivors back at Singapore Station in ten Standard days. But hopefully it won’t come to that.”
Briggs’s image appeared a minute later and announced that the radio had been adjusted.
“Okay,” said Cole. “Good luck.”
Jacovic saluted—Cole assumed it was a salute; it wasn’t like any he’d ever seen before, but he couldn’t think of what else it might be—and headed off to the shuttle bay.
“Christine, get me the captain of the
Silent Dart
. And this is an intraship communication, not a subspace message. I don’t want the Navy ships to be able to read it.”
“I’ll make the signal so weak that no one more than a mile away can pick it up, sir.” There was a brief pause. “You’re connected, sir.”
“In another minute Commander Jacovic, the Third Officer of the
Teddy R
, is going to board your ship. I want you to turn over command of it to him for a period of one hour. Should you be attacked, command will automatically and instantly revert to you. Commander Jacovic will have full access to the subspace radio. I want every member of the crew, including yourself, out of holo range, so that when his messages and image are transmitted, no one else can be seen or detected. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” said the captain of the
Silent Dart
. “Just for an hour, you say?”
“That’s right. And during that hour, no one contradicts him, no one says a word. If he calls your ship by another name, if he threatens me, if he makes claims that you know to be untrue, you are to remain silent. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Pass the word to your crew.”
“We only have a crew of six, and they all can see and hear you, sir.”
“As soon as you know Jacovic is safely aboard, put as much distance as you can between our two ships and then turn over command to him. I’m ending this transmission now.”
He nodded to Christine, who broke the connection.
“What do we do now, sir?” asked Domak.
“Now we wait for about ten minutes, until the
Korabota
is far enough away to justify speaking to her via subspace radio. And then we see if Commander Jacovic has spent enough time associating with Men to lie convincingly.”
Cole turned and walked to the airlift.
“Let me guess,” said Forrice. “You’re going to have another cup of that stuff you’re addicted to.”
“No,” said Cole. “I’m going to get rid of the last two or three cups. Even your steel-bladdered Captain has to answer the occasional call of Nature.”
Cole entered the human bathroom that was next to the airlift. When he was done, he slapped cold water on his face, combed his hair (which never seemed to stay in place), had half a smokeless cigarette and threw the remainder in the trash atomizer, and finally returned to the bridge. He came to a stop, hands on hips, and studied his surroundings.
“Forgotten what the place looks like?” asked Forrice after a moment.
“Just trying to decide where to stand, in case they can pick up a visual as well as an audio,” replied Cole.
“Why not your office or the mess hall, which is where you usually conduct business from?”
“The Navy used to frown on that,” answered Cole. “They believed that important decisions could only be made on the bridge. And since we’re expecting the Navy to intercept this transmission, we want them to know that this is important business.” Finally he walked over to the sensor console. “Here, I think.”
“Why not by the communications station?” asked the Molarian. “It’s more impressive.”
“Because we’re not disabling its functions, and I don’t want to pretend I don’t see it lighting up like a Christmas tree when it reports that all our incoming and outgoing messages are being intercepted.”
“What’s a Christmas tree?”
“Ask me tomorrow,” said Cole, looking at the ship’s chronometer. “It’s time. Christine, contact the
Korabota
on the frequency you decided upon. From this point on, nobody speaks except me.”
Jacovic’s image popped into existence. “Greetings, Captain Cole,” he said through his T-pack.
“Hello, Commander Jacovic.”
“I see the Navy ships are closing in on you.”
“Don’t worry,” said Cole. “I’ve got plenty of time before I have to move.”
“You are a foolish man, Captain Cole,” said Jacovic. “You have ten Standard minutes at the most.”
“I’ve got more than that,” replied Cole. “But ten minutes should be enough for us to reach an agreement.”
Don’t blow it now
, thought Cole.
Start arguing so we can let them know what the agreement is.
“I have already entered into a binding contract with you,” said the Teroni.
“Well, ‘binding’ is a very elastic word,” said Cole. “The
Teddy R
’s the ship that’s at risk, not the
Korabota
. I want more.”
“We have agreed upon a price, Captain Cole. This is not the time to renegotiate it.”
“Look,” said Cole. “I heard that you and the
Korabota
were taking this new Fifteenth Fleet out on maneuvers. Don’t forget—I’m the one who contacted you and said I could lure some Navy ships to the Frontier, get so close to them that they’d claim hot pursuit and follow me right to you, where you’d be waiting for them with your two hundred ships.”
“I have only one hundred and eighty-seven ships, and some of them are not battle-ready,” replied Jacovic.
“Fine,” said Cole. “So you’ll only have a hundred and fifty or sixty to their twelve. Big deal. Once I lure them into the wormhole, they’re dead meat and you know it, and the numbers are such that you have nothing to worry about. But I’m the one who’s going to be bait, who has to let them get close enough to think they’ve got a chance of nailing me. A million credits isn’t enough. I want two million.”
“First, we do not deal in credits but in New Stalin rubles, as agreed. Second, I will not allow you to extort more money from the Teroni Federation. The agreement was for one million rubles, and that is what we shall pay you. Third, if you abrogate our agreement, if you make any attempt to warn the Navy that the Fifteenth Fleet lies in wait for them, I will consider that an act of war against the Teroni Federation on your part and will respond accordingly. Am I making myself clear?”
“All right, all right,” said Cole, putting an edge of annoyance into his voice. “I’m going to lead them into the wormhole now. Just make sure you let the
Teddy R
pass through unscathed—and don’t forget: my money is due the instant the last of the Navy ships has been destroyed.”
“It will be waiting for you, if you can actually draw the twelve ships into the wormhole,” said Jacovic.
“Just keep your eyes open,” said Cole, signaling to Christine to break the connection. “Pilot, take us to the wormhole, but don’t reach it for fifteen minutes.”