Inadvertent Adventures

by Jones, Loren K.

  “What are you thinking?” Denise asked.

  “They are on the way out here in a ship,” Sterling said, looking at Ann. “A small ship with big boosters.”

  “That explains the shorter com time. We can’t be on their sensors yet, so go ahead and alter course for one of the commercial ports.” Ann sat back and considered her options. “Sterling, once we’re on course again, switch to the system security frequency and contact them. It’s just a guess, but I think someone wants Katrina silenced.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “I can only guess, but it probably has something to do with that incident at Greater Montreal.”

  Confirmation of Ann’s guess was soon received. “Admiral Ann’s Revenge, this is DA-CC control, Alexandra Von Rubenstein-Habsburg speaking. You will disregard all previous transmissions from DA-CC. Brandon Von Rubenstein is no longer Chairman of the Board.”

  Another transmission was right behind that one. “Admiral Ann’s Revenge, you will surrender that lying little bitch to me immediately. Do you understand me? I will not tolerate her lying about a good man and disrupting my company.”

  “He must have intercepted that message from Countess Alexandra,” Ann mused, then pushed the ship-wide stud on her armrest. “Miss Carter to Control. Miss Carter report to Control immediately.” Releasing the stud, she transferred her attention to her panel. “I’m powering up fore and aft weapons.”

  “Ann, you can’t fire on an unarmed ship,” Sterling said as he turned to face her.

  “I won’t, but I want everything online and fully powered if that other ship comes within range. I think having twin fire-control radars locked onto them might discourage them from approaching.” Ann smiled serenely, and Sterling just shook his head. He knew Ann’s moods, and this was not a good one.

  Another message arrived half an hour later. “Admiral Ann’s Revenge, this is Brandon Von Rubenstein on board the security cutter Katzenkoph. Your attempt to evade us is futile. If I have to disable your ship in order to retrieve my daughter, I will.”

  Ann pushed the ship-wide announcing system stud on her armrest again. “Battle stations. All hands to battle stations. All hands don environment suits immediately.” Her order was obeyed in less than ten minutes. “Miss Carter, energize your fire control system. Find and target the Katzenkoph, but do not fire.”

  “I already have the cutter on passive, Ma’am. They flipped and reversed their acceleration to close with us.”

  “Are they within range?” Denise asked.

  “Not even close. Based on my instruments, they won’t be in range for two days at the earliest. Active radar coming online now.” Mandy flipped a switch and sat back.

  *

  “What!” Brandon Von Rubenstein roared, catapulting out of his seat to stand at the captain’s shoulder.

  “We are showing two active radars on the merchant vessel, sir,” the captain of the Katzenkoph said as he looked at his own readouts. “They are old SN-SSF3-3 Fire-Control Radars. She is listed as an armed merchantman.”

  “They wouldn’t dare fire on me,” Brandon snarled.

  “According to the incident report from Maori System Security, this ship destroyed an old European Hegemony Frigate with absolutely no warning. I believe they would fire on us if they feel threatened.” The captain of the Katzenkoph sat back and shook his head. “Alter course away from the merchantman. Secure from action stations. Plot us a course back to New Frankfurt orbit.”

  “No! You will continue to close with that ship and retrieve my daughter,” Brandon Von Rubenstein shouted, but the captain just turned and stared at him.

  “Sir, you do realize that they outgun us two to one. We’re an in-system private security vessel, not a System Security interceptor. If they decide to challenge our right to stop them based on your contract, then there really isn’t much we can do about it.”

  “I’ll have your job for this,” Brandon snarled, but the captain just shook his head.

  “You can have it if you think you can handle it. Me, I’m not going to die because you can’t control your daughter.”

  “I will not tolerate your insolence,” Brandon Von Rubenstein snarled, but the captain just shook his head.

  “What you will or won’t do is irrelevant. Now sit down and shut up.” The captain turned away from the furious man and settled in his chair.

  *

  “Admiral Ann’s Revenge, this is Alexandra Von Rubenstein-Habsburg. Please dock at DA-CC Space Dock Rhineland as originally instructed. Also be aware that I now hold the Chairmanship of DA-CC.”

  Ann shared a surprised look with Sterling and Denise. “Plot the course and implement it immediately. It would appear that our contract with DA-CC is secure after all.”

  It took another six days to reach the dock, and Ann was in private communication with Countess Alexandra through the last two hours of it. When she emerged from her day room she was smirking, but just waved away Sterling’s questioning look.

  Katrina was, as usual, in the wardroom galley when Ann found her. “Kat, I have some news for you.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “I’ve been speaking with your aunt. She rescinded her proxy and took over her son’s votes, making her the majority stockholder and new Chairman of the DA-CC Board of Directors. That piece of crap Otto has already been charged, tried, and convicted of rape and child-molestation. Both your mother and the doctor kept records that supported your statement, and he’s been sent to a prison colony. Your father was going to try to make you recant your statement in order to save his own reputation. It seems that his refusal to properly deal with Otto nine years ago is being seen as a major character flaw, and everyone is distancing themselves from him because of it.”

  “I knew Aunt Alex was up to something, Ma’am,” Katrina said as she moved a pot off the stove.

  “Yes, and there is something else that she wanted you to know: You can go home and resume your old life if you want to.” Ann paused as Katrina froze. “Your mother divorced your father when he still didn’t want to deal with Otto, and he has moved out of your family home. It seems that your mother’s prenuptial agreement was much better than those of his previous wives.”

  Katrina had her back to Ann, and her shoulders started heaving as both hands came up to her face. Ann was concerned that she was crying, but a snort of laughter finally escaped and Katrina turned toward her, tears streaming down her face as she finally let loose. Laughter echoed through the empty wardroom as Katrina fought to control herself.

  “Oh, Captain Ann, that’s just too perfect!” she crowed. “Mom’s had proof of Father’s infidelities for years, but she never really cared. She didn’t want to sleep with him, and felt sorry for anyone who did. It was part of their pre-nup that infidelity would result in an immediate loss of all assets—but father put that in because his second wife cheated on him. He never expected it to apply to him, the great Brandon Eric Von Rubenstein. Mom just let it go because she didn’t care, but I guess he went too far this time.”

  Ann nodded, and then stepped forward to rest her hand on Katrina’s shoulder. “Kat, you’re not under contract. You can go home if you want, but we’d be happy to have you stay.”

  “I can—Captain Ann, I would prefer to stay here. I’ve actually enjoyed the last few months. Cooking is fun. Cleaning isn’t, but you can’t have everything.” She grimaced and shrugged one shoulder. “I’d like to contact my mother and aunt while we’re here. Explain my decision to them. They’ll understand.”

  “As you wish, Katrina. And for my part, thank you for staying. I meant it when I said I couldn’t face CM’s cooking again.” Ann patted Katrina’s shoulder and left the wardroom as Katrina started humming a bright tune behind her.

  Chapter 19

  THE ADMIRAL ANN’S REVENGE LEFT NEW FRANKFURT once again after a thirteen-hour cargo transfer that left everyone exhausted. This time they were loaded with fifteen thousand tons of nova wheat bound for the survey colony on the planet Trondheim, i
n the Hafrsfjord System. Trondheim had been discovered just twenty-eight years before and was that most valuable of finds: a planet that supported life and provided a breathable atmosphere for humans. The local biology was sufficiently different that none of the local fauna showed any interest in humans, and none of the local flora was edible.

  The nova wheat was going to be seed in the first large-scale attempt to grow human-edible crops in the Trondheimian soil, as well as providing foodstuffs for the colony. Small test plots had so far provided promising results. The reason the Revenge was being used was simple: Trondheim had no orbital facilities and they were going to have to use the shuttle to deliver the cargo. Fortunately, both the Admiral Ann’s Revenge and the shuttle used the same fuel.

  It was a long way from New Frankfurt to Trondheim, and they expected to take twenty-three ship-days in hyperspace to reach the system. They had been in hyper for sixteen days when the general alarm sounded through the ship, followed by Amanda’s voice.

  “Captain to Control! First mate to Control! All engineering officers to the engine room. We have a hyperspace drive malfunction. Captain to Control immediately!”

  Ann and Sterling arrived in Control just three minutes later, both in their environment suits, and took over the situation. “Mandy, Bart, go suit up and report to your emergency stations. Ensure that CM and Kat are suited up as well,” Ann ordered as Sterling took the helm controls.

  “We’re going to have to drop out, Ann,” he said as he reviewed the readouts on the auxiliary engineering panel.

  “How soon?” Ann asked, moving to his shoulder.

  “As soon as possible, before something happens that keeps us from emerging into normal space. I don’t like—”

  “Engineering to control, Olaf speaking,” the ship’s intercom announced. “Captain, drop into normal space immediately. We’re losing the hyper drive.”

  “Sterling,” Ann said, but he was already diving for the helm.

  “Initiating emergence into normal space now,” he shouted as he triggered the transition. The imbalance in the hyper drive was evident as the ship bucked and shuddered violently, and then went quiet. The apparent gravity that the main drive normally provided them vanished, and everyone had to grab for something to hold on to.

  “Control to Engineering, what is the ship’s status?” Ann asked over the intercom, and Olaf answered almost immediately.

  “I think we’re screwed, Captain Ann. I don’t know what malfunctioned, and I don’t know if we can fix it even if we find it.”

  “Understood. You and your people get to work. I’ll send Bart and Sterling down to help. They both have some engineering experience.”

  “Emergency in the wardroom! Medical team to the wardroom!” Carrie-Marie’s voice interrupted, echoing through the ship, and both Ann and Sterling launched themselves across the control room toward the hatch. The wardroom was only a short distance from Control, and they heard screams as soon as they opened the hatch. Those screams led them to the galley where Katrina had been fixing breakfast.

  “Zero-G caught her off-guard and the steam on the bottom pushed the farina up into her face,” Carrie-Marie said as she held Katrina near the sink and tried to get water onto the burns without drowning the girl. “She was just leaving to get her suit on.”

  Ann and Sterling immediately took over and pulled Katrina out horizontally, then used wet cloths to wipe the cooling farina from her face. The reddened skin on her face and puffiness of her eyelids left both of them dreading the damage that the boiling glue-like goop had done.

  “We’ve got to get her down to the med deck,” Sterling announced. “CM, get her suit and join us. Ann and I will take her down.”

  Bart and Mandy arrived just as they floated Katrina out of the galley, and the look on Bart’s face said volumes about how he had come to feel about Katrina. Fortunately, the dispensary was only one deck down, and Ann used a spray dispenser to coat Katrina’s face with a pain-relieving burn ointment. The result was almost instantaneous. Katrina’s body relaxed and she began crying.

  “Mandy, stay with her. Bart, you and Sterling go aft to engineering and lend a hand. Mandy, when CM gets here, get Kat’s suit on, then have CM go secure the galley. Move people,” Ann ordered, and everyone immediately moved to obey her.

  Ann went back to Control and sat at the navigation station. They had done what no captain in her right mind ever wanted to do: they had emerged at an unknown location in space, away from the inhabited portions of the Confederacy. Now she had to find their location, and plot a course to somewhere—if she could. If Olaf and his men could fix the ship. If nothing else went wrong. The “ifs” were daunting.

  Ann began surveying the area in search of a familiar star or pulsar. The navigation sensors were designed to read stellar spectra, and all she needed was three known stars. Just three points to triangulate their position. Then the sensors beeped.

  Ann spun and punched at the navigation system keyboard, calling up the image that had triggered the alarm. They were approaching a star system from the top, traveling at point one C, and their course would take them dangerously close to the primary in just seventeen hours.

  Ann pushed the intercom stud at her elbow. “Control to Engineering. Mister Larsson, I need thruster control as soon as possible.”

  “I’m concentrating on the mains right now, Ma’am,” Olaf answered.

  “I would prefer thrusters so we can try to miss the star that is directly in our path, Olaf,” Ann said as Denise joined her.

  “Olaf, we have a G-7 primary just,” Denise paused as she checked the readouts, “seventeen hours away. We need the thrusters now!”

  “Understood,” was the only answer they received for twenty minutes, until the intercom came to life again. “Control, Engineering. All thrusters should be online now.”

  Ann had surrendered the navigation station to Denise and was at the helm herself when the announcement was made. She triggered the acceleration warning and waited until her crew was ready, then stabilized the ship, countering the tumble that their precipitous emergence from hyperspace had imparted on them. She then pointed their main engines at the star. She wanted to be ready when Olaf gave her full control of the ship. Once that was done, she fired all of her thrusters to alter their course away from the star, even if it didn’t stop them.

  Even with all of the thrusters firing, the ship’s apparent internal gravity only came up to point three-six G. They were enough to push them away from the star, however, and in just six hours they were out of immediate danger.

  Ann relaxed as Denise announced their change of status. “We’re going to miss the star by a comfortable margin now, Ma’am.”

  “Good. Take over here, Denise. I have to go check Katrina.” Ann stopped and closed her eyes for a moment. “Lords of Space, I hope she didn’t get it in her eyes.”

  In the dispensary, Ann found both Mandy and CM hovering over Katrina. “I told her to leave it, Ma’am,” Carrie-Marie whispered, “but she wanted to cover it. She wanted to put lids on her pots before she left to put her suit on.”

  “Not your fault,” Katrina whispered without opening her eyes. Her face was puffy, and there were several blisters on her cheeks and hands. She’d apparently managed to shield her face from the worst of it.

  “No, the fault is mine,” Ann said as she looked down into Katrina’s face. “I should have made sure you understood what was more important from the start. Katrina, nothing is more important than your life. When the order goes out to don suits, you drop what you’re doing and get your suit on. Everything else is secondary.”

  “No, Ma’am. I knew, but I didn’t want to clean it up. I didn’t want breakfast to spill.” Katrina opened one eye a little. “I knew better,” she whined, then started crying again.

  “Don’t worry, Katrina. You’ll be fine. You’ll be sore, but you’ll be fine,” Ann assured her, then left the room to go aft. She paused in the passageway and propped her back against the bulk
head. She whispered, “Thank the Lords of Space that her eyes are all right.” In the engine room, Olaf and Sterling were less reassuring.

  “We can get the main drive back on line, Ann, but the hyper drive may be beyond repair. We may be in for a long stay here,” Sterling said as Olaf nodded.

  “Then get the main drive on line so we can slow down. Denise has identified six planets in this system, even though she can’t identify the star. We may get lucky and find a mining colony on one of them.”

  “We’ll have the main engines ready in an hour and a half, Ma’am,” Olaf said, and Ann turned to leave.

  “I’ll be in Control. Inform me as soon as you’re ready. In the meantime we’ll be checking the closer planets,” Ann said as she walked out of the engine room.

  *

  After several hours of continuous effort, Ann called off the search for a human presence in the system. The Admiral Ann’s Revenge slowed down and approached the system’s fourth planet. Its spectra showed a nitrogen-oxygen-carbon dioxide atmosphere and liquid water oceans. The planetary temperature was a chilly twenty-seven degrees Celsius at the equator, and enormous icecaps covered both poles for more than thirty degrees.

  Sterling had joined Ann in Control and surveyed the planet as well as he could. “These sensors were never meant to survey a planet, Ann, but I do have some good news. The planet is apparently stable, and the oxygen content of the atmosphere is almost twenty-five percent. It looks like atmospheric pressure is only twelve point six pounds per square inch at sea level, so the high oxygen content shouldn’t bother us.”

  “If we land. There are so many things that could go wrong on an unexplored planet, and we still haven’t been able to find our location. We’ve only located one known pulsar, and it’s way off from what our position should have been.”

  Sterling nodded and stroked his panel. “I’d like to take the shuttle down and sample the air. We may not have a choice about staying.”

  “I’d like to argue with you about that, but I’m afraid you’re right. Very well, take Kat—no, you can’t.” Ann put her face in her hands and shook her head. “Oh, Lords of Space, just for second I let myself forget—take Mandy as a backup pilot and science officer. Remain closed up in your suits at all times and expose the interior of the shuttle to vacuum for an hour before you come back aboard.”