by Mike Moscoe
“Well, at least a mother’s love can find us,” Ding muttered.
As Mattim finished his tube of porridge, Zappa grabbed a handhold on his table. “I asked one of the kids going home to tell my folks I was all right. Mom’s paid for a reply. What should I tell her?”
The speaker came alive. “Comm for the captain. We got message traffic from a ship that just jumped in-system.”
“Things are looking up.” Mattim grinned. “Put it on screen down here. No use making the troops wait for the rumor mill.”
“Mat, this is Elie Miller. I’ve been mustered out, and I wanted to get back in touch with you. Had a lousy time finding you, but I remembered that girl from your ship, Zappa. Her folks told me she was still on Wardhaven. Andy is retiring and looking for new fields. I’ve still got six months of a sabbatical left, so I’m in no rush to get back. Thought we might team up. A couple of old tugboat captains at Pitt’s Hope offered us a fast ride to Wardhaven. They look like pirates or smugglers to me, but we took them up on the offer. We’re in-system. Do you still have all the kids with you? Over.”
He glanced around the room. Every eye was on him, kids, marines, both Navy and merchant crew. “Right now we’re having problems with our credit chits. People who get too close to us suddenly have their bank accounts unavailable and their credit numbers lost. The kids are still here. They’ve set up their own university. Over.”
“Andy figured there was trouble when we couldn’t find you anywhere on net. He and I bulletproofed our money before we took off. See you soon. Bye.”
There were cheers among the middies, and back-pounding that led to some interesting twists in zero gravity. “Make enough friends,” Sandy said with a grin, “somebody’s bound to look you up.”
“Comm here. We got a message from the port captain. There’s a buyer that wants to look the ship over. Shuttle due here in thirty minutes.”
Ding snorted. “Make enough enemies, and they’re bound to hunt you down, too.”
“This doesn’t feel right,” Ivan growled. “Selling a warship to the enemy. I mean, just been enemy…You know.”
Ding shook her head. “Strange, but not unusual. Peace breaks out, wrecks get scrapped where they lay.”
“The Maggie’s no wreck.” Mattim gnawed his lower lip. “She’s a crime scene and a working warship. I don’t like this.” He turned to Mary. “I’d like to prepare a reception for whoever it is who thinks they can buy a ship out from under me. You and yours game?”
Mary took in her marines. She liked what she saw. “Yeah.”
• • •
Rita piloted the shuttle. Before docking with the Sheffield, she did a turn around her. Most of the ice was gone. One raw gash showed along the port side. Whatever had caused it had started inside. Ray had read the classified reports on the way up. He hated mutiny.
He hated genocide worse.
Things must have gotten lively aboard that boat.
Rita docked them with a gentle bump. Glad to leave his canes behind, Ray went hand over hand to the exit. He led, she followed. Rita’s newly hired driver, an ex-corporal from the 2nd Guard, trailed them, his hand in his coat. So their fellow was armed.
Ray froze at the door. Drawn up along the back of the bay was a welcoming committee—damn near a platoon of marines in full battle gear. Left arms anchored them to a cable. Right arms held assault weapons at the ready.
Lines crisscrossed the bay. Out of the marines’ line of fire to his left, a collection of naval officers drifted in formation. Ray squelched the automatic reaction to render honors as was appropriate when boarding ship; he was not in uniform. He pushed himself forward. “Mighty nice of you to meet us,” he said.
• • •
Mattim wasn’t quite sure what he expected. The show of force was just that, a show. If it came to a fight, he’d surrender before firing a shot. Still, he wouldn’t give up the ship without a try at bluffing his way through. The Maggie was still a good merchant ship, dinged a bit, needed some work, but a quick and easy conversion back to what she’d been. She was also a very deadly warship.
The man who lead the “buyers” was military to the core, back ramrod straight even as he came aboard hand over hand. Mattim spotted the flickering start to rendering honors before it was aborted. The woman behind him was beautiful in a pilot’s jumper, sporting military rank he did not recognize. Her he recognized. When last he’d seen her, she’d been a happy kid, showing him around her father’s gardens. Hers had been one of the faces on the bombs he refused to deliver. The last man aboard, screamed bodyguard both by his carriage and by the hand in his jacket pocket. Mattim moved to meet them; the three newcomers halted in place. With Ding and Mary at his back, Mattim quickly blocked their way.
“I am Captain Mattim Abeeb, licensed merchant officer and commissioned officer of the Society of Humanity Navy, presently commanding this ship, Sheffield.” Okay, ape, let’s pound our chests and see who runs.
“I am Ray Longknife, formerly of the Second Guard Brigade. This is my wife, Senior Pilot Officer Rita Longknife and her driver, also formerly of the Second. It seems I am to be offered Minister of Research and Technology in the next government for Wardhaven. My wife thinks we need a ship.” The man didn’t bat an eyelash as he laid his cards face up on the table. Not a bad hand, Mattim concluded.
“Seems like you need a yacht more than a beat-up light cruiser,” Ding snapped.
Mattim pointed behind him. “This is my Executive Officer, Commander Colin Ding, and the commander of the marine detachment, Captain Mary Rodrigo, formerly of the Ninety-seventh Defense Brigade.”
That brought raised eyebrows from the “buyers.” “Were you at the pass the first day?” Longknife asked.
Mary nodded. “We did what we had to.”
Longknife’s eyes took on a distant smile. “I’d like to hear your story, Captain. Could I buy you a drink sometime?”
“Be glad to, but I’d much prefer you didn’t buy this ship out from underneath me, sir,” Mary quipped, and brought them to the heart of the matter.
“I don’t know what you’ve heard about us.” Mattim’s words were soft, but he poured as much power through them as Ivan pushed out his engines. “But we are not traitors. We may have drawn the line at bombing a billion civilians, but turning over an operational warship to Unity is not on the same side of the line. We’ve shown we know how to wreck a ship. We’ll make sure it’s nothing but scrap if we have to.”
Rita looked around, almost lovingly. “I’ve lost one ship this war, I’d hate to cause the loss of another one. Especially one that’s gone so far.” That got Mattim’s attention.
“Yes,” Mr. Longknife said, “we intercepted your message to the Ninety-seventh about the sour jump, or rather my wife did. I’ve never seen her so excited. I have not let my wife talk me into a political post so others can use me for a figurehead. Once upon a time, I was a damn good soldier. And I promised a dead man I’d make the future worth all the lives that paid for it. I think opening up the universe would meet his specs.”
“A billion stars just waiting for us.” The woman smiled and patted her stomach. “What a present for our child.”
Longknife held out his hand. “My friends call me Ray. The ship will have to haul cargo to keep us from going too far into the red. I need an experienced merchant skipper and crew.”
Mattim looked at the hand. “If I’m going to be wandering the stars, never sure of what I may stick my nose into, I’ll need more than the usual crew.” He slipped aside and left the stranger facing Ding and Mary.
Longknife took the measure of the two of them. “I don’t expect you to go looking for a fight, but good gunners and good troops can come in handy a lot of places, What do you say?”
Ding’s answer was quick. “We’re ready now, sir.”
Mary glanced around at her marines. “It beats the last job we had. Sure is a damn sight more interesting.”
Mattim reached for his new employer’s hand. “
My friends call me Matt.”
“We get to go jump point hopping!” Zappa crowed from among the middies.
Sandy chuckled. “I wonder what we’ll find out there? Or who?”
Click here for more books by this author.
Ace Books by Mike Moscoe
The First Casualty
The Price of Peace
(June 2013)
They Also Serve
(September 2013)
Writing as Mike Shepherd
Kris Longknife: Mutineer
Kris Longknife: Deserter
Kris Longknife: Defiant
Kris Longknife: Resolute
Kris Longknife: Audacious
Kris Longknife: Intrepid
Kris Longknife: Undaunted
Kris Longknife: Redoubtable
Kris Longknife: Daring
Kris Longknife: Furious
Specials
Kris Longknife: Training Daze
Kris Longknife: Welcome Home / Go Away
