This Corner of the Universe (7 page)

Heskan
activated a communications link to Engineering.  A voice responded, “Engineman Second
Class Ross, sir.”

“PO
Ross, I need Lieutenant Jackamore in Engineering right away.”

“He
just walked in, sir.  I paged him when we got the max speed order.”

Smart
man
, thought
Heskan.  “Good call, Ross.  Lieutenant Jackamore, if you look at your plot you
can see we’re chasing a freighter.”

A
few seconds later, he answered, “Looking at it now, sir.  It looks like we’ll
come up short.  Let me guess…”

Heskan
nodded even though there was no way for the engineering officer to see it. 
“Can you give me point three-two-C, Brandon?”

The lieutenant
answered immediately, “I think so, sir.  Ana can’t dash that fast forever but
we’ll see how long she can hold it.”  The incredible amounts of power needed to
achieve the speed would diminish once
Anelace
reached it but the power
requirements to maintain
Anelace’s
structural integrity and suppress
inertia actually increased over time and speed due to the Hoss-Boland effect. 

Lieutenant
Vernay and Ensigns Truesworth and Selvaggio entered the bridge out of breath. 
They quickly nodded to Heskan as they took the primary seats of their
respective stations.  The second shift navigator, gunner and sensorman stood by
their section heads.

Selvaggio’s
soprano voice called out, “Updated time to intercept is now forty-two minutes,
six seconds.  Vagabond will enter the tunnel point effect zone in forty-one minutes.”

“If
they maintain their speed,” Riedel commented. 

Heskan
looked knowingly at him.  “Fat chance in that but we have to try.”  Heskan rose
from his chair and took the three steps necessary to move next to Lieutenant
Vernay.  “Go ahead and call the ship to action stations, Stacy.  I doubt we’ll
get Vagabond into our weapons envelope for some warning shots but I want to be
ready in case we do.”

The action
stations alarm sounded throughout the ship.  The second shift crew who were standing
next to their officers exited the bridge to head toward their assigned action stations. 

Heskan
reseated himself and watched as his chair arm console displayed
Anelace’s
status.  Each of her sections would turn green as they readied up.  Right now, all
crewmembers were running to their assigned stations.  Down in Auxiliary Control,
the second command team was forming up, ready to assume command in case the
bridge was destroyed.  In the bow of the ship, the Kruger Mk 237 mass driver was
spinning up and being loaded with a 0.762 meter wide kinetic projectile.  Each
of the four general-purpose lasers was cycling through its warm-up procedures
and training out toward the freighter.  Chief Brown’s operations crew was
staging at strategically placed damage control rooms throughout the ship, ready
to act as corpsmen and damage control parties.  Ensign Truesworth’s sensors crew
of three was split; two in the main sensor room, continuously monitoring the
data
Anelace’s
sensors were accumulating and one in the AIPS control
room operating the corvette’s defensive screen.  His section would also be
responsible for estimating the battle damage that
Anelace
might inflict
upon her foe.  Ensign Selvaggio’s three crewmembers were in the main navigation
room located on the lower deck, coordinating
Anelace’s
movements with
Engineering.  Far aft of the bridge, Lieutenant Brandon Jackamore had his
entire twenty-man engineering department working hard to monitor not only the
ship’s power plant and drives but also all the other vital systems running
throughout the ship.  Engineering’s other officer, Ensign Antipova, would be
moving to the middle of the ship to lead the Auxiliary Control team.

Once
Heskan had ensured all stations were green, he checked the ship’s chronometer. 
One hundred forty-five seconds… that’s not bad but it could be better.

Ten
minutes later, Truesworth exclaimed, “Red shift!  Vagabond is accelerating.  She's
at point one-two-C and increasing.”

Selvaggio
followed up dejectedly, “They’ll beat us to the tunnel point easily now.”

Heskan
ordered
Anelace
to reduce speed back to .3
c
.  He still wanted a vigorous
pursuit but there was no point in stressing the ship unnecessarily.  During the
remainder of the chase,
Vagabond
never responded to the challenges the
corvette had issued and Heskan and the crew watched the freighter close the
distance to the tunnel point and dive in. 
I wish we could follow her or even
just get a message to Narvi to stop that ship
, he thought futilely. 

Riedel
grumbled, “If we had a second ship with us and had posted it at the buoy, we
would’ve had her right as she tunneled into the system.”

“Yep,
and we can’t even get word to Narvi until the next freighter arrives, assuming
that one doesn’t run too,” Heskan added bitterly.  He stared at the plot for a
full minute trying to think of options and then sighed. 

Anelace
came down from action stations
and reduced speed further when Heskan ordered her back to the Beta Field. 
“Let’s replay the whole feed again, folks.  I want to watch everything,
starting from the time Vagabond entered the system.  We’re going to learn about
that ship.”

Five
days after the
Vagabond
incident, Heskan sat at the desk in his cabin
reading about the situation at Anesidora.  Strangely enough,
Anelace
and
Vagabond
had synched standata.  The Anesidora system was heating up even
more, if that was possible.  The Hollaran blockade was still in place and a
large task force from Second Fleet was destined to make way to break it in just
a few weeks.  The news listed the ship names comprising the task force and it
was an impressive group.  Heskan was unsure sending a task force headlong into
an adversary’s blockade was the best way to peacefully resolve the situation
but he understood that Bree could not allow the blockade to stand.  The
precedent of permitting a rival government to dictate where commercial traffic
could sail inside the disputed zone was unacceptable.  Still, he found himself
hoping that cooler heads could somehow prevail even with all that firepower
concentrated in one star system.  The news article purported that the overwhelming
Brevic force and moral authority of free trade would overcome the naked
aggression of the Hollarans.  Surely even the Hollaran Commonwealth could see
preventing Brevic trade in a single border system was not worth an actual
shooting war that could devastate each side.  Heskan was not so sure about that
but those problems were, literally, light-years away.  Closer to home, Heskan
had used his off duty time to pour through manuals, schematics, purchase logs,
shipping manifests and public records in an effort to learn all he could about
Vagabond
. 

It
had been easy to obtain general information on the Class 8-BA 250,000 metric
ton bulk cargo HandySize freighter.  The Class 8-BA was on the small end of the
spectrum for bulk carriers but could still make a nice profit delivering a
valuable ore such as promethium.  The ship class had been in service sixty-four
years and hundreds of ships had been produced at five different ship
construction sites.

Specific
information on
Vagabond
was harder to find.  Built in orbit around the
planet Chelsea, she had been launched in 1023.963, which put her in the middle
of her lifespan at thirty-one years old. 
Vagabond
had two previous
owners, neither of which had paid for any major overhauls but that was common
among privately owned ships.  Her current owner was listed as Edward Black.

Personal
information on Mr. Edward Black was nearly impossible to discover.  Heskan
couldn’t even find a planet of birth for the freighter captain.  The sole
document available was his bulk cargo captain’s license from the Titan system
and even that told him virtually nothing since the home address was the
Vagabond
itself.  The license fee was paid for in Brevic credits. 

These
facts by themselves were not sinister.  Most private ship captains probably
paid in credits and most ship captains lived on their ships.  Given
Anelace’s
limited database, it was not surprising that personal information about one
random, private commercial captain would not be available.  However, Heskan had
the suspicion that even if he were standing at the Titan Core Library, he would
have about as much success researching Mr. Black’s life as he did on
Anelace
. 

The
only unusual thing Heskan found to help confirm his uneasiness was that
Vagabond
was self-insured.  Private freighter captains made their money transporting
cargo and that fact alone meant their ships were their lifeblood.  An
inoperable ship meant no income and an inoperable career.  Risking the very
essence of a career and livelihood did not make sense, especially when
insurance for a small, middle-aged, bulk freighter that hauled safe cargo would
not have been unreasonably expensive.  Black’s negligence in leaving his ship uninsured
was just plain bad business and people who worked their way up to owning their
own ships were not bad businessmen.  Heskan searched for prior shipping
manifests for
Vagabond
but came up empty.  He supposed it was possible
that
Vagabond
normally shipped high-risk cargo and that would explain
the reason for being self-insured.  Unfortunately,
Anelace’s
standata simply
did not have the answers.

After
Vagabond
, the
temptation was to station
Anelace
5
ls
from the Narvi tunnel point;
however, she continued to loiter near the edge of the Beta Field even though the
ore extractors had not had any accidents since the corvette’s arrival.  Demyen
Timofei had said her presence was reassuring for the mining engineers in those
extractors.  In a slight compromise, Heskan had positioned
Anelace
on
the asteroid field’s edge closest to the tunnel point so she could clearly see
it but still be close enough to assist an extractor in distress.  The ship soon
fell back into a quiet routine as it waited for the next cargo freighter to dive
into Skathi, which was scheduled in twenty hours, or six days after
Vagabond
had dove out.  Heskan spent that time composing a summary of the events to date
along with an official request for additional support in Skathi to be sent back
to Durmont at the next opportunity.

*  *  *

On
the bridge, Heskan found himself staring at the ship’s system plot, counting
down the time until the anticipated freighter’s arrival.  Truesworth’s voice finally
broke the silence that had pervaded the bridge for some time.  “Sir, we have a
tunnel drive disturbance at the Narvi point.  We’re receiving a beacon now;
it’s a freighter’s beacon twenty light-minutes from us.  The beacon’s status is
green and identifies herself as EF Oh-eight.  Our sensors confirm a HandyMax
bulk cargo vessel.”

Truesworth’s
fingers danced over his console and seconds later he added, “Ship’s database
says Oh-Eight is a HandyMax freighter owned by Emeray Freight Company out of
Titan.  She’s a 450,000 metric ton bulk cargo carrier.”

“Send
out a greeting and request acknowledgment, Ensign.”  Heskan wanted a voice on
record in case EF-08 decided to pull an about-face.  “Diane, put us on an
intercept course, speed point two-C.”

Tandem
“aye, aye, sirs” came from his crewmembers and
Anelace
propelled herself
forward.  Both ships pushed toward each other,
Anelace
at .2
c
and
the freighter at .1
c
.  Roughly forty minutes later, Heskan received his
reply. 

A
tall, blonde man with a thick New London accent appeared on the main screen.  “Hello,
BRS Anelace, this is Emeray Freight Zero-eight, bulk carrier inbound for the
Refining And Loading Facility at Skathi-Three.  We welcome your escort and my
navigator tells me our ships will meet in about thirty more minutes.  Good to
see you, old boy.”

“Seems
amiable enough,” Truesworth stated. 

He
does
, Heskan
thought. 
I’ve heard of Emeray Freight; it’s a reputable company
. 
The
question is do I board her for a routine inspection and then have the word go
out that freighters are being inspected in Skathi, or do I save that surprise
for a freighter more likely to be carrying contraband?  My gut says wait.

Heskan
pushed at his console and commanded, “Lieutenant Riedel and Chief Brown to the
bridge, please.” 
May as well get some input.

Minutes
later, both crewmen arrived.  Heskan started, “Sorry to wake you, Mike.”

The
first officer smiled as he combed through his dark brown hair with his fingers. 
“Occupational hazard.  We have another runner, sir?”

Heskan
gestured toward the main screen, which was showing the tactical plot.  “Not yet
and I think she would have run by now.  I brought you two up here to get
opinions on performing an inspection on her.”

“Operations
could be ready in five minutes, sir,” the old chief stated as a matter of fact.

Heskan
smiled.  “I believe you, Boats.  However, once we do an inspection, that
freighter sure as hell will pass along that information and there won’t be
anymore ‘surprise’ inspections.”  Heskan posed his question, “So, do you gentlemen
think this is the best use of that opportunity?”

The
two men looked at each other before Brown gestured to Riedel that he would wait
to answer until after Riedel had his say.  “I’d say wait, Captain.  If we only
get one surprise, let’s save it for a more suspicious ship than an Emeray
freighter.”  He pointed to the plot, which showed detailed information about
the incoming ship. 

Heskan
turned to the senior chief.  “What do you think, Boats?”

Brown
took another brief pause before he spoke, “There’s a good argument to be made
to do either but in this case I think I’d board her.  Vagabond surely let the
cat out of the bag that we’re here if earlier freighters hadn’t already done
that.  Any freighter that comes in now smugglin’ somethin’ figures that he’s
probably goin’ to be inspected anyways.  An’ if they still come, then that must
mean they think they can beat my inspectors.  I think we oughta just start
inspectin’ all of ‘em.  I’ve taught my crew pretty good an’ we just might catch
somethin’.  If nothin’ else, it might scare smugglers away an’ that’s a win
too, Skipper.” 

Riedel
was nodding in agreement.  “He has a good point, Captain.”

Yes,
he does.  Good enough to change my mind in fact
, mused Heskan. 
Might as well
tell him, at least he’ll know I take his advice to heart.

“You’ve convinced me, Chief. 
Let’s board her.”

*  *  *

The bright,
white lighting on the bridge shaded slightly to red as Heskan ordered his ship
to action stations.  Across the corvette, crewmembers dashed to their stations
as section leaders urged them onward.  No section leader wanted his section to
be the last to signal “ready for action.” 

As
the two ships came within 1
lm
of each other, Chief Brown’s image
appeared on Heskan’s chair arm console.  He was decked out in standard Brevic
marine kinetic armor, his multi-rifle slung over his shoulder.  “Boardin’ team
is ready, sir.  I’ll be takin’ the entire complement over.”

Heskan
nodded, “Acknowledged, Chief.  Contact us upon successful boarding and then
again when your inspection is complete or if you encounter a problem.”

“Yes,
sir.  We’re loadin’ into the shuttle now.”  His image blinked out.

Heskan’s
eyes drifted up to the main tactical screen. 
Nine crewmembers, including
the chief
, Heskan thought. 
They may not have the training that real
Brevic marines have but they look awfully impressive in full armor
.  Heskan
called up some data on his console. 
EF-08 has a crew complement of twenty-two. 
My guys should be able to handle anything assuming they actually get aboard
.

Heskan’s
thoughts were interrupted by Ensign Selvaggio.  “Sir, we are now within one
light-minute of EF Zero-eight.”

Heskan
leaned forward. “Energize shield and weapons.  Jack, send out our challenge.”

Heskan
once again listened to the carefully prepared message he had recorded five minutes
earlier.  “EF Zero-Eight, by authority of Brevic Military Regulations and the
Brevic Rules of Interstellar and System Commerce, you are hereby ordered to
heave to.  Prepare to be boarded for a ship’s inspection per ISC Rule 4505.25.”

The
transmission took fifty-eight seconds to reach EF-08.  One minute after that
Truesworth blurted out, “Freighter is decelerating, sir.  Down to point
oh-five-C and decreasing.”

Heskan
could feel a bead of sweat trickle down the side of his face.  Annoyed by it,
he wiped it away.  “Navigation, pull us alongside and once we’re stationary,
have the shuttle launched.”  He glanced over to his first officer.  “Thoughts,
Mike?”

“They’re
complying so that’s good.  I can’t imagine them heaving to and then refusing
our shuttle—”

Truesworth
cut him off, “Incoming message from Oh-eight, sir.”  The young ensign divided
the main screen into two.  One half continued to show the tactical plot while
the other half displayed EF-08’s communiqué.

The
blonde captain appeared once again and said, “Emeray Freighter Zero-eight
acknowledges your order and submits herself for inspection.  Please have your
shuttle dock at our starboard docking collar.  My first officer will meet your
boarding party and my crew will assist in any way possible.  EF Zero-eight
out.”

Riedel
gestured toward the main screen.  “There you have it.”

Ensign
Selvaggio turned her chair away from her station to face Heskan.  “Anelace is at
relative rest with Zero-eight and the shuttle has launched, Captain.  She’ll
rendezvous with the freighter in a couple of minutes.”

The crew
on board
Anelace
continued to monitor the shuttle’s progress.  Finally,
after several minutes, Heskan received a transmission from Chief Brown that he
and his crew were safely aboard.  The actual inspection took several hours,
which seemed more like days to Heskan who was thirsty for updates but knew
better than to pester his chief while in the middle of it.  Heskan had
familiarized himself with ISC Rule 4505.25, the rule that authorized military
ships to inspect domestic commerce while performing duties related to commerce
regulation.  He had also discussed at length with Chief Brown the actual inspection
procedures.