The Privateer

by Zellmann, William

  Cale frowned. "Now that is bad news. I need to know how much help you can be. Will your programming prevent me from using the weapons?

  "I am unable to answer definitively, Captain," Tess replied slowly, obviously running tests and diagnostics. "The prohibition against allowing harm through inaction is somewhat weaker than the more direct prohibition against harming a human. This renders it more susceptible to interpretation, and permits the defense programming to become a factor. I am certain I will not be forced to disable the weapons. I believe I will be able to assist you with targeting data, charging the laser and loading the quickfirer. I am certain, however, that I will be prevented from actually firing a weapon."

  "So, we need to improvise some manual controls for the weapons," Cale said. "Luckily, we'll have plenty of time. They won't attack in a settled system, and no one can attack a ship in jump. We have a day and a half before we reach the jump point. Then we'll have ten days to two weeks in jump, depending upon our destination. Speaking of that, have you and Dee come up with one? A destination, I mean."

  Tess's voice took on an amused tone. "We have located several that Dee considers suitable. She plans to talk to you about them. But I suspect she will wait until the last moment. She still harbors a hope of returning to Faith."

  "Well, we have an added requirement, now. We need to have a destination that will require the first recal stop to be in an uninhabited system. If we're going to have to fight, we want to do it as soon as possible, and we don't want stray civilians as witnesses."

  "Why not? We are the victims. They are the pirates."

  Cale shook his head. "No. We would have to wait for them to make the first move. We may need the advantage of surprise gained by a first strike. Anyway, as I see it, we need a destination two jumps away, where we may be able to get medical help and ship repairs. Once the fight's over, we'll want to get to help as quickly as possible. To sum up, we need," he began ticking off the requirements on his fingers. "A destination two jumps away, with an empty system as the recal point. The second jump should be as short as possible, but the destination should have enough advanced technology to provide medical treatment and repairs to your systems if necessary. Oh, and it would be nice if it were a place Dee would like."

  "Stringent requirements. I have a destination that meets all requirements, except that I doubt Dee would like it. Angeles."

  "Angeles? I just skimmed the data on local systems. Tell me about it."

  "Well," Tess replied, "for one thing, while Faith may be moving from democracy to hereditary monarchy, Angeles is already a hereditary monarchy, and has been for centuries. In fact, it is amazingly stable for that form of government.

  "Historically, the weakness of a hereditary monarchy is that eventually a fool or an idiot becomes king. One of the early kings of Angeles set up a system of adoption and provisions for removal from the succession list when necessary. So far, it has worked. When an unsuitable heir has appeared, the royal family has altered the line of succession. And when no heir was apparent, they have been very conscientious about adopting gifted children into the line."

  Cale grinned. "I doubt Dee would approve. She would probably be starting a movement within a week!"

  "Perhaps," Tess replied. "However, the dynasty has carefully preserved personal freedoms. A reasonably free press is tolerated, and a bureaucracy controlled by a parliament carries on most of the day-to-day business. It has many of the characteristics of a constitutional monarchy, with the exception that the King has absolute veto over everything. Remarkably, the people respect the monarchy, and they actually seem quite proud of it.

  "At any rate, in response to your requirements, the monarchy has retained control of off-planet trade, which for centuries has supported the government. Taxes are mainly collected for regional and local needs, and are very low except for those imposed on heavy industries. As a result, the planet itself is largely pastoral and prosperous. Heavy industries were encouraged by the tax structure to relocate to orbit. There are colonies at all five LaGrange points engaged in one industry or another. A large space station, known as 'Trading Central' orbits the planet, and serves as the center of off-planet trade. Even since the Fall they have retained a comparatively brisk offworld trade, though it continues to decline each year. Shipyard services and ship's chandlers are readily available on Trading Central, as are advanced medical facilities. In short, Angeles meets all of your requirements except that of pleasing Dee."

  Cale frowned. "Yes, well, I'm afraid she'll just have to manage. This is a matter of survival. We could be badly hurt fighting off a pirate bigger than you, and we may need a refuge badly. Okay, enter the coordinates for a jump to Angeles, and I guess you can speed it up a bit now. I see no sense in prolonging the agony. Oh, and would you ask Dee to join me in the lounge, please?"

  "She is already in the lounge, Captain." Tess replied. "She is presently reviewing the ship's vid library."

  "That's strange. She could do that in her stateroom."

  Cale could almost hear a shrug in Tess's tone. "Perhaps she became lonely. In any event, it seems an excellent opportunity to engage her in discourse."

  A slight flush crept up Cale's neck. "Thank you, Tess," he replied with massive dignity. "I believe I will do just that."

  He rose quickly from his chair and hurried to the door to the lounge. Putting on a large smile, he entered.

  Dee turned from the viewscreen. "Good morning, Captain," She said cheerfully. She had evidently taken a shipsuit and done some amateur tailoring, perhaps with the help of Tess's robot minions. It displayed her figure in ways the shipsuit's designer had never anticipated. Cale found the resulting jumpsuit attractive and exciting, though there was nothing erotic in its design.

  Good morning, Dee," Cale replied. "I'm glad you're here. I have news. I have selected a destination."

  Her eyes narrowed and an angry flush suffused her face. "Oh," she replied in a barely controlled tone, "Have you? I thought I was to have a voice in that selection." Her fists balled.

  "I'm sorry," Cale hurriedly replied. "We're being followed. I think it may be a pirate." He quickly summarized the reasons for heading to Angeles. "How many people would know about the letter of credit your father gave you?"

  The flush faded from her face, replaced by a concerned expression. "I don't know. I'm sure my father wouldn't have kept it very secret. Surely you don't think it is large enough to attract a pirate?"

  Cale shrugged. "Another non-secret was the fees and bonuses awarded by the Senate and the church. Between them and the letter of credit, I suspect it's quite enough to attract a pirate, especially a small-timer or one down on his luck."

  She sat down with a thump. “Is there anything we can do?" She appeared composed, but there was a tinge of fear in her voice.

  "Oh, yes," he replied. “Cheetah was an Old Empire viceroy's yacht. She is armed. But she's no warship, and Tess's programming limits what she can do to help. She's also quite fast in normal space, and Tess is quite an advanced AI. Largely, our chances depend on what modifications, if any, they've made to that Epsilon-class tramp they're pushing. There's no way to tell about that until we fight her, of course, but I think our chances would be pretty good."

  "So you've decided to fight?" Her tone was cold, distant.

  Cale shook his head and smiled. "No, of course not. Everyone aboard has a vote on that. I'm trying to make certain your vote is an informed one. If possible, I intend to try to run away. If that doesn not seem possible, the only options are to surrender or fight. If we surrender, the options are probably gang rape and slavery or death for you, and torture and death for me. I'm voting to fight. What's your vote?"

  Suddenly one of her blinding smiles bloomed. "Fight, of course. I just wanted to be consulted."

  He returned her smile. "All right. Now, have you ever fired a weapon?"

  She shrugged, creating unintended distractions for Cale. "I was the daughter of the most important church official on Faith. Of cours
e, I received self-defense training in hand-to-hand, firearms, lasers, needlers, blasters, vibroblades, and swords. But not with ship's weapons, of course."

  He nodded, impressed. "Then you will have had to confront your ability to kill another human."

  "Yes. It is not a pleasant prospect. But some of the simulations were total immersion. Sight, sound and even touch and smell. If I was hit, it stung or burned. And when I hit an attacker, I might be splashed with his 'blood' and smell the burning flesh. Yes, I'd say I've had to confront that problem. Don't worry, Captain, I can defend myself, if necessary. Do you have any hand weapons aboard?"

  Cale grinned again. "None that we advertise. But I suspect we can produce something. Mainly, though, I was asking whether you could help me with the ship's weapons. Tess's programming prohibits her from harming a human, and it is an absolute prohibition. We have jury-rigged weapons systems installed, but I can only operate one at a time. I could use some help."

  That blinding smile flared again. "I volunteer. How many weapons do we have, and what kind?"

  "We have an Alliance-style quickfirer and a destroyer-sized laser. Both are controllable from here or from the control room. Now, the control room is only large enough for one person. If you can handle the quickfirer from there, I think Tess and I can handle the laser from here."

  "Is this 'quickfirer' easy to handle? And what about the controls?"

  He shrugged. "It's dead easy. You have a joystick and you're watching a viewscreen that illuminates the projectiles' path. It fires a twenty-millimeter rocket that's plated with collapsed metal. It'll punch right through that Epsilon-class."

  "What about aiming?"

  Cale smiled. "Nothing to it. No gravity field or weather, so the rocket travels dead straight. Just walk it onto your target."

  Her smile this time showed an edge of savagery. "Can you set up a sim, so I can get some practice?"

  "Of course, Mistress Raum," Tess's voice put in. "The program already exists, and may be run at your pleasure."

  Cale walked her down the corridor to the tiny control room, and stood in the passage as he showed her the controls for the quickfirer. "Please don't touch anything else. Tess and I will be very busy, and won't need the kind of distractions that could cause."

  She gave him a wintry look. "I may not be a spacer," she replied frostily, "But I know what not to touch!"

  Cale started to straighten, and hit his head on the hatch frame. He shook his head to clear it. "I didn't mean . . ." he started, rubbing his head. He paused, and a grin crossed his face. "Well, maybe I did. Have fun. Tess and I will be busy for awhile in my stateroom."

  He returned to his stateroom. "All right, Tess. Any suggestions?"

  There was almost a smile in her voice. "The 'secret agent' files loaded aboard contain both strategic and tactical planning subroutines. While I did not permit the installation of the main programming," she continued primly, "I have retained those files. I regret that I find nothing immediately applicable to our current situation in them."

  Cale suppressed a grin at her ironic tone. "Then we're on our own."

  Both were silent for a moment.

  Finally, Cale broke the silence. "Tess, how long does it take you to physically reverse your attitude?"

  "The question is unclear," came the suddenly mechanical response. "Do you mean how long to reverse course in normal space?"

  He waved an irritated negative. "No, no! I mean to swap ends so your nose is pointing where your drives are pointing now. No change of direction, just attitude."

  "Using attitude jets, about 30 seconds."

  "Attitude jets?"

  "Yes. When I was constructed, attitude jets were still in limited use. Essentially, they are small jets that use compressed gas from pressurized tanks to rapidly change attitude. With them, I can literally spin on my long axis in nearly any direction. They have never been used except in trials," she added.

  Cale frowned. "Let's see if I understand. These 'attitude jets' are self-contained? They don't use the inertial drives at all? Are they still functional?"

  "I would never permit one of my systems to deteriorate beyond usability."

  Cale again suppressed a grin at the outrage in her tone. "Then we wouldn't have to wait for your jump engines to spin down and your inertial drives to light off," he said thoughtfully. "Is that correct?"

  "They are self-contained units. No external power beyond that for controls is required."

  Cale was slightly exasperated that Tess did not seem to see the potential in the antique fittings.

  "All right, how about this," he said. "Suppose we exit jump at the recal point, then, while you're getting the inertial drives online, you use these 'attitude jets' to reverse your attitude. The pirate pops out of the jump point, and we're already waiting for him, armed and aimed!"

  Tess seemed unimpressed. "We still must cycle down the jump engines and initiate the reaction drives in order to use the shields and weapons."

  Cale was getting excited, now. "Of course we do, but so does he! Didn't your Admiral Kedron take advantage of the power plant time lag in his war?"

  "Indeed. Until Admiral Kedron, there was a long debate about who held the tactical advantage, attacker, or defender. Since shields and weapons are powered by the inertial drives, an attacker has neither until his jump engines spin down and his inertial drives come online. Of course, crews cannot be kept in a battle-ready status at all times, and it takes time to man the weapons and shields. Admiral Kedron was able to use small intrasystem fighters carried aboard his ships to attack the enemy before they had weapons or shields."

  "Yes, and we may be able to do the same thing. Okay, Tess, pile on the G's. Pull as far ahead of the pirate as you can. Every second you can gain gives us an extra second's advantage on the other end. With any luck, by the time he emerges, you'll have the inertial drives going, and we'll be waiting for him."

  "Boost is max. The pirate is also accelerating, but we are much faster than he is. By the time we reach the jump point, we should be approximately 7.237 minutes ahead. I must mention, sir, that due to the uncertainties of jump physics, this does not mean we will reach the recal system that much ahead of him. It is even possible that he will arrive first. Much is still unknown about the 'supralight', or 'jump' phenomenon. Unless his jump comps are slaved to me, much is unpredictable."

  Cale shrugged. "I know. But the pirates have learned over the years that if their entry into a jump point is computed to be exactly the same as that of the target, they can most often emerge in the same recal system and within a few days of the target. They may get there first, but they've learned to wait around a few days to see if the target emerges, and if the target arrives first, the pirates expect a long stern chase. And of course, sometimes the computations aren't accurate enough, and they lose the target. We estimated the chances of success in a chase at about 60/40. It's part of the risk of being a pirate. Of course, if you know your target's destination, you can usually predict their recal points, and get there first and wait in ambush."

  "I bow to your superior knowledge. Does that mean we have only a 60% chance of being attacked?"

  Cale shrugged again and sighed. "I don't know, Tess. It depends on the accuracy of the comps he's using to track us, and the abilities of his astrogator. If I had to make an estimate, I'd guess our chances of being tailed are in the 50% to 60% range. But I prefer not to count on luck."

  "Agreed," Tess replied. "Would you like to run some simulations using the laser? Dee is becoming quite proficient with the quickfirer, at least in simulations."

  "Yes, I would, and I’d like to check out those ‘attitude jets’ of yours. I assume you can’t use them in jump." Cale had to get a feel for this ship and Tess's control of it.

  “Of course. It is a basic tenet of jump physics that nothing can change the mass of a ship in jump without risking becoming lost in nothingness. That would include the gases used by the attitude jets.”

  Cale nodded. “I assumed t
hat. That means we need to evaluate the jets without alerting our pursuer to their presence.”

  “That should be no problem,” Tess replied primly. “They are at present more than a minute behind us. Unless we significantly alter our course, any changes of attitude will be undetectable by them.”

  Cale hurried to the lounge. “Then let’s not waste any time. I need to know exactly how precise your control can be in aiming our laser. Let’s run a simulation, but with you actually using the attitude jets.”

  “Yes, sir. Beginning simulation,” Tess said crisply. A graduated laser-targeting grid appeared, overlaying the usual star view. A bright dot appeared in the center of the grid. “I have programmed the simulation to use the maneuvering capabilities of the standard Epsilon-class freighter, with 20% enhancement. Transferring attitude control to your laser control pad.”

  Cale took up his laser control pad just as the target slid toward the left and down. Cale followed it with his finger, and the dot moved smoothly back to the center targeting ring. The target began frantic evasion tactics and even simulated chaff, but Cale had no trouble bringing it back into the targeting ring almost immediately.

  Cale was surprised and delighted. Both the laser and the quickfirer were mounted in small bubbles on the hull, and had very limited fields of fire. This meant that Tess had to execute tiny, precision maneuvers in order for Cale and Dee to keep their weapons on target. Tess's deft touch with the attitude jets amazed him, though; he admitted to himself, it probably should not have. Cheetah was a ship to the humans aboard, but it was Tess's body. Still, her ability to keep him on target during the simulations was incredible. It was as though his weapons were mounted in aimable turrets. His confidence rose considerably.

  Finally, Tess notified him that they were only five minutes from the jump point.

  “Okay,” he replied reluctantly. “Terminate the simulation. Let’s use these five minutes to monitor our pursuer. Let’s try to see what capabilities he night have.”