Chapter XXXII
Date: 225-993
Location: Aboard the Bray Keaven, in jump space between Aleif and Liar's Oath
At the first crew meal following the interrogation and cargo search, Swann says to the others. “Well, we had our prisoner going there for awhile, until he caught onto our plan. But I think he did give us some useful information.”
“But do we admit to knowing it?” Vasilii asks.
“If we knowingly carry a bay weapon, and deliver it to a non-starport rendezvous on Shanape, then I really don’t think ‘But we had papers from the starport director at Kerin’s Tyr’ is a cast iron get-out.
“I can’t say I really
want to hand a military weapon to the sort of sophs that thug Jarvis associates with, either. I mean, imagine Commander Holland’s old friends, or Mr. Silver’s sister, in some 400-dTon patrol cruiser with turrets, when they run into a 50 dTon bay weapon. Imagine all the other merchants who might get robbed with this thing — it could end up in the Raidermarch, or the Szylin Republic!”
He turns reflective for a moment. “Mind you, we did agree to a verbal contract. I hate to break that.”
“If no one is waiting for us when we emerge from jump, I say we run to Liar’s Oath at full speed,” Swann says. “We have to refuel there anyway.”
“Yes, indeed,” Vasilii says. “I think the first question is do we broadcast a request for an official escort on the way in, saying we’ve had an attack by pirates, if it looks like a warship might be available?”
“I really expect to find a ‘welcoming committee’ once we emerge from jump,” Ian says.
“Yeah, we should plan for the worst,” Swann says. “That’s how our luck’s been running.”
Swann pauses briefly, to steel himself for what he is going to suggest next. “Liar’s Oath is run by the local military, if I remember correctly. I say we turn our prisoner over to them, along with the spoiled organs and the info we have on the
Urroe, Dzuekskini, and the Oeskhoets pack.”
Vasilii pulls a face. “That Vargr can tell them we know we’ve got a bay weapon.”
Glancing at Saro, Ian says, “I know it rubs a few of us the wrong way, but as Martha pointed out a few days ago, we are well within our rights to do anything to the hijackers we see fit. What’s the old Terran saying: ‘Dead men don’t talk.’
“If we feel our butts are gonna get in a sling from that mangy SOB's loose talk, then I would rather see him silenced.”
“That would be my first choice,” Swann says. “I just wasn’t sure how the idea would be received.”
He pauses again, parts of him still at war with each other over even suggesting cooperating with the authorities. “Then we see about hiring an armed escort back out to the jump point, and bill Shanape Bulk Freighting for it when we deliver Jarvis’ ‘starship equipment’ to Urriav.”
Vasilii emits a bitter snort/laugh. “Oh, I think this deal will carry an implicit ‘taking care of contingencies as they occur’ clause. Well, on the top of the hundred thousand or so it’s going to cost us to do this run and disentangle ourselves from Jarvis, a bit more won’t hurt.”
He shrugs like it hurts already, and rubs his chin. “I think they do run a fair amount of starmerc business here, it props their wretched command economy up, but it’s more Army than Navy. I don’t know if one could hire something on the SDB scale.”
“As a duly authorized, uniformed Imperial representative, I think I’m in my rights to have broken the inspection seal. Especially considering the circumstances,” Kevon finally says.
“I think that might fly, if we can say ‘there was a pirate attack in jump space, we were checking for more in the rest of the cargo,’ ” Vasilii says.
“We take this information and cargo to the local authorities, with the weight of Imperial law on our side,” Kevon says. “The only other alternative is to space the Vargr
and the bay weapon, and let Mr. Vargas explain the loss to his pack leader.”
Ian’s jaws clench up a moment. “Dammit! The whole point of this trip is to get ourselves untangled from Jarvis, not make it worse! I don’t know about the rest of the crew, but I have no delusions that the cargo we are carrying is nice and legal. Unfortunately, now we know for certain it is not. I just want to deliver this load and regain a bit of freedom so we can hopefully choose our own destinations in the future.
“Vasilii, is it possible to fix the seals on those containers to appear unopened? I would prefer to try and control my own destiny, rather than throw it out to some ‘local authority’ of a backwater planet.”
“Hmm, I believe it’s not the easiest thing.” Vasilii raises an eyebrow at Swann, and then another at Aidan.
-----
Swann easily (perhaps too easily, by Kevon’s opinion), can provide the opinion that with appropriate equipment (specialized printer and, more importantly, foil impregnated “papers”), it would not be
too hard to do. With the equipment onboard, it would be extremely hard since they don’t have the right equipment and source materials. After all, the seals
are Imperial SPA Customs seals.
-----
“Well, how about this then. Maybe,” Ian pauses for dramatic effect, “when we got done ‘dealing’ with the pirates, we found the containers already opened. Could be that the pirates wanted to verify the cargo before proceeding with their plan? Sounds plausible to me.”
“Well, I’ve heard worse,” Vasilii says. “Normally from used air/raft dealers, mind you.
“It would hinge on the inability of one mangy Vargr not spilling his guts, though.” Vasilii ends with a frown and a look of feigned thought.
“Didn’t you mention that the law gives merchant crews considerable,
leeway, in dealing with pirates, Miss Smythe? Is anybody up to speed on that?” He looks around the table, and wracks his own brains.
-----
Both Saro and Aidan know that, while merchant crews do have a wide degree of latitude to defend themselves against pirates, merchant crews do
not have the authority to summarily punish any pirates they capture. Captured pirates are expected to be turned over to the nearest authorities (Imperial or local) for trial and punishment. Any merchant claiming that pirates attacked him is also required to turn over evidence to support the claim. In some regions, the percentage of pirates who end up being killed in the attempt of piracy instead of being captured is quite high (only partly due to the fact punishments for piracy are severe).
-----
When others suggest spacing the Vargr, Saro objects strenuously. He notes that in his unconscious state the Vargr is not a high threat and that while actions taken in defense or during grave threats are of one nature, spacing, torturing, etc., a helpless sophont is quite another — murder, actually.
Saro advances the opinion that given how often the crew has escaped from legal infractions in the past using duplicitous means, the odds are rapidly piling up against them at further successes in ‘smokescreening’ their way out of tight situations. So, perhaps in this case, when going to the authorities (Imperial, preferably) with their captive, they should be as honest and forthcoming as possible about their current situation and status.
-----
“Doctor Talbek, we either ‘lose’ these hijackers somehow, or we go tell the authorities about them and hope we’re lucky enough not to get our hold inspected,” Vasilii says. “If our hold’s inspected, I think we’re pretty much dead, either courtesy of the Imperium for smuggling weapons or a Vargr crimelord for telling the authorities about it.
“Myself, I’d rather take my chances running for the hills, on or off the Bray Keaven, with or without the rest of you.
“So, I think we need either a way to avoid close questioning or a way to ‘lose’ the three hijackers that you can stomach. Nothing else will do.
“Tell me, how do you feel about sedating him, sticking him in the smuggling hold, putting him in a low berth after we leave Liar’s Oath, and releasing him with a memory wipe on the edge of some backwoods village down the line? Preferably on Aleif, or better still Miip?
“Can you do that? Will you do that? I’ve no doubt it’s contrary to your ethics, but then so is killing him. And if you insist on us going to the authorities, then I feel that’s pretty much tantamount to killing the rest of us.
“That’s unless somebody can come up with a better way to approach the authorities than we have at the moment? Something beyond ‘turn up and hope everyone — official and criminal — smiles and lets us off.’ ”
-----
Saro has read that a memory wipe and implantation, while often the stuff of bad holovids, is only theoretically possible. He has heard rumors of Imperial research stations that have done such procedures as well as certain unscrupulous psionics institutes have done the procedures for a fee. Of course,
everyone knows the Zhodani do such things regularly.
-----
“Isn’t there a Terran expression about the devil and the deep blue sea that fits here?” Vasilii says. “Something about being trapped between one and the other?” He looks around the table for confirmation.
With a wry grin, Ian says, “Yes, I believe there is.”
Vasilii says, “We go along to whichever authorities are available, and say ‘Excuse us, but we seem to be carrying a bay weapon to a bunch of dubious sophs but, um, yes it’s a mistake, honest.’ And they either arrest us or pat us on the back, accord-ing to luck and finesse. And then we have friend Jarvis put a price on our heads, or he just send his minions to do the job. Time to run for the border, in a J2 ship that can’t scoop fuel.”
“Can’t say I care for that scenario,” Ian says.
“Are there any Imperial Navy at Liar’s Oath anyhow, or is it all local forces?” Vasilii asks, but doesn’t wait for an answer. “Or we deal with this Vargr. And then we deal with any more pirates at Liar’s Oath, or even Shanape. And we make our delivery, and we’re disentangled from Jarvis. And we hope none of it attracts official attention, or if it does they don’t look at our cargo. And if they do look, and ask why we broke the seals, it was because we detected another bomb in the cargo bay and we ‘put it out the airlock in jump space again. But we’ve no idea what the cargo is, oh no not at all.’ ”
“That’s the one that gets my vote,” Ian says, smiling.
Vasilii gazes at the ceiling for a moment. “Lovely choice.”
Vasilii then looks at Kevon across the table. “I don’t suppose you have any friends in Imperial Naval Intelligence who’d like to persuade us to deliver a
bugged and booby-trapped bay weapon to Shanape? Then maybe give us all biosculpting and a change of identities? Maybe I’ll open a little corner shop in the Galian Federation and sell model starships.”
He sighs, leans back. “Well, the last time something like this happened, I must say our lives would have been a lot simpler if we’d just announced the contents of our fuel purifiers to the Navy at the first opportunity.”
Ian, as if quietly speaking his thoughts, says, “Ain’t that the truth.” And shakes his head.
-----
Vargas listens via the ship’s comm to the conversation through the haze of residual pain and the effects of Saro’s treatment. “As has been stated, we are between the rock and the hammer. Now, let’s evaluate our situation. As I see it these are the facts:
“Kevon’s inspection neither confirmed nor denied the presence of a bay weapon. However, he did break the seals. With those broken seals, our paperwork from the starport is worthless. I suspect that some glory hungry junior administrator will be happy to nail another ship full of smugglers. That individual gets credit, we get a long term in prison.
“If we double cross Jarvis, well I for one will be in a great deal of trouble and he probably will be greatly displeased with the others. I am not sure how far his influence extends, but I really don’t want to find out. It has already been pointed out that he may put quite a price on our heads.
“We have already killed a pair of the pirates and I am sure that pack will not be happy with us. In addition, we have one of their members alive and they will probably want him back.
“Now, let’s evaluate what would be in the best interest of this ship and crew. The most important treasure we have is our good reputation. We are known as a crew that gets the job done regardless of the cost. If we dump this cargo or turn it over to the local authorities, we have violated our contract with a major conglomerate. The incident of the cubes was a fairly black mark on our record; do we want to add another? If we continue to fail in our obligations, we will soon have no shipper using our services.
“We do have to be concerned with the effects of our actions with the local authorities. We cannot burn the candle at both ends and not eventually get burned.
“As far as dealing with a group that sends a crew aboard to kill us in our sleep, their word is worthless. I think that dealing with them is the same as signing our own death warrants.
“I put these thoughts out for the consideration of the crew; it is really up to the crew to make a choice. Whatever path we take is certainly going to be fraught with danger, but I believe that we go where fools fear to tread.
“I wish to state that I am absolutely against spacing either the cargo or our prisoner. I will not be a party to the cold–blooded murder of another sophont even if that sophont tried to kill me. I can see no reason to lower myself to the level of a pirate. I also vote that we carry out our contracted agreement with Jarvis. We accepted the shipment, now we are bound to deliver it. I do not want another cube incident on our record.”
“Actually, Mr. Vargas, I have the weight of Imperial authority behind my statements,” the lieutenant commander says. “Given my position, I have the right, and the responsibility, to break a seal and inspect cargo if I feel that the material inside poses a danger to the ship and crew.”
Kevon pauses, reminded of his failure with Holly. “However, you are correct that we should, at least, honor the agreement with your pack master,” he adds, pausing again slightly. “But I’m sure as hell not going through this again.
“Since I’ve come aboard, we’ve had everyone run off on their own ideas seemingly at every occasion, six different directions at times,” he continues. “It’s nearly gotten us all killed at least once – Vargas two or three times. There’s no central authority to keep the different tangents in check.
“I know that I’m just the hired help, and you all are part owners – but I think that fact hurts us as a crew. We lack a central authority that prevents individual inter-ests from compromising the safety and security of the ship, and our luck, such as it is, will only hold out for so long.”
The young officer lets the words sink in briefly. “I have served 12 years in the Imperial Navy, and achieved the rank of lieutenant commander. I have spent four years as a department head and third-in-command of a strike cruiser, and have been decorated in combat. My command ability is well–documented.
“You brought me aboard to replace my cousin, Marcus Argent. But it feels like I’m only the commander of the bridge, and only when it’s urgent,” Kevon intones. “What this ship needs is a captain with the authority to make binding decisions. And, by authority, I mean true authority that can not be overrode for issues of safety and security of the ship. We can draw up a charter to define the captain’s role, but something needs to be done to curb the chaos that’s enveloped the for-tunes of this ship and crew.”
Vasilii ponders this for a while. He shoots Kevon a “Why the hell did you raise this
now?” look, then speaks.
“You are of course ‘Captain’ of this ship in the Merchant Law sense of the term, since you are legally responsible for its actions in the first instance. I know I used to hurtle off into the wild blue yonder, but nowadays in an emergency I treat you as ‘Master and Commander’ — to use the Navy term — and simply follow your orders. The rest of the time, this is a commercial merchant ship and its policies are under the direction of the owners. The Captain does not control it himself, any more than the ‘Captain’ of a warship overrides broad orders set by admirals and general staff.
“I agree that we should make sure the owners and crew do what the Master and Commander says in future emergencies. But right now I would very much rather we settle the matter of the prisoner, and the cargo, and what we do at Kerin’s Tyr. Frankly, nobody has any
enforceable authority in this. We’re not going to stick people in the brig for disagreeing, here. It’s simply in our
urgent interest to agree on a viable course of action and stick to it.”
“Captain, you have a valid point concerning the different tangents causing danger to this ship,” Vargas says. “However, there are several points that must be made.
“The first of these points is that this is a civilian merchant ship, not a ship of the line. While you have experience in commanding military, what is your civilian experience, and do you have your ship's master’s papers?
“The second point is that this ship operates for profit and we cannot expect the citizens of the Imperium to bail us out with tax dollars if we get into financial trouble. Are you prepared to make choices involving the cargo and destinations that will yield maximum profit?
“You have mentioned several times that you are a uniformed representative of the Imperium. If and when our travels happen to run against the best interests of the Imperium, where will your loyalties lie?
“Lastly, I want to know if you are going to place the safety of this ship or your own personal glory first. I ask this because in our last scrape, after being reminded of your duty, you left the bridge of your ship taking several key crewmen when there were possible hostile ships nearby.
“Captain, I will be the first to give you the absolute authority that you request, but I want your assurances that you are going to place this ship, and not your personal goals, first.”
“I may not have it at the moment, Mr. Vargas, but my record stands for itself; I certainly qualify for a civilian master’s license by the virtue of my naval experience and skill,” Kevon counters, his voice gaining a slight crispness to it. “I’m a more–than–qualified bridge officer, recruiter and administrator — you’re more than welcome to view my personnel record again, if you like.
“So, a captain of a merchant vessel must know everything about profit and loss, as well as his bridge duties? Should he be a fully qualified engineer, and also the cargo master and sole negotiator? Or, like any good leader, should he trust in the skill and knowledge of the specialists of his crew, using the information he gets from them to make the decision that is in the best interest of the ship and crew?” the lieutenant commander continues. “If you insist on the former, you’ll be searching for a captain for the rest of your life.
“I can’t be sure I’d
want to remain with a crew that intentionally places itself against the Empire,” Kevon says. “If we unintentionally end up on the pointy end of an Imperial spear, then I hope my status as a current naval officer will be a benefit to our crew. I shouldn’t be forced to choose between loyalties.”
The young officer pauses briefly before continuing. “So, you think my actions were more egregious than, say, an open challenge of honor, in a fight that you knew you couldn’t win, and eventually placing us in the situation we now find ourselves in? For what, the
chance that you
might have wounded Jarvis enough to make it easier for Mr. McConnell to defeat him?
“And for your information, Mister Vargas, you may ‘think’ you were ‘reminding me of my duty,’ ” Kevon challenges, “but I had already weighed several options by the time you spoke. I am the better pilot, and I knew that our best chance of getting the
Donovan off the collision course was with me there.
“And if you think I was off ‘chasing glory,’ then you know nothing of me, Mister Vargas.”
-----
Swann listens to the other discussion and suggestions for quite some time, biting back several comments and retorts. But as Vargas and Kevon get into an ethics argument, he can restrain himself no longer. He suddenly rises to his feet and says in a loud, firm voice. “OK, that’s enough from both of you. You can compare halo sizes later. Right now we have to decide what to do about this problem that puts all of us in very real danger of losing our lives, or being in prison for a very long time.
“Some of us have a problem with just killing our prisoner and saying nothing. Others of us have a problem with just going to the authorities and turning everything over to them, which will do nothing to solve our problem with Jarvis. So we’re going to have to come to a compromise we can all live with. I see two choices that might fit that bill.”
Vasilii nods.
“First option: We say nothing to the authorities on Liar’s Oath. We make Thulon a popsicle so he can’t talk. We refuel and get to Shanape. We make our delivery, along with a bonus of Thulon, his two dead friends, and the information about their pack. And let Jarvis and his pack deal with it. That also will put Jarvis in our debt, which might be useful in the future, if just to get some of the pirates in the cluster to leave us alone.
“Second option: We drug Thulon so he won’t wake up for quite a while, just like we did with the surviving pirates from the
Oser. We tell the authorities a modified version of the truth — we woke up, they were trying to take over the ship. We don’t say anything about any specific cargo they were after. If the authorities search the cargo hold and find the open seals, we claim ignorance. We even suggest, as Ian said, that the pirates were the ones who broke the seals in search of something. If the authorities search the boxes, we claim ignorance about the contents. We were just contracted to deliver it, the Port Authority representative at Kerin’s Tyr assured us everything was legal, yadda, yadda, yadda.
“If Thulon wakes up before we can refuel and get out of port, and he opens his yap, it’s his word against ours. He’s a pirate. We’re just honest, hard-working merchants. We’re the good guys. Hell, we’re frellin’ heroes of the Imperium. And we’ve got Capt. Dudley Frellin’ Doright of the Good Ship Lollipop,” Swann says while gesturing at Kevon, sarcasm seeping into his voice, “as our poster boy. We have the Marquis back on Sentry as a character witness. We have a good shot at getting out of this, but only if we stick together and don’t turn on one another.
“There’s another old Terran saying: ‘In for a penny, in for a pound.’ We’ve all had to do some things since coming aboard this ship that we might not be proud of. Some of it was for profit, some of it was for the ‘greater good.’ Well this isn’t for profit, and it isn’t for the greater good. It’s for us. We may have to do some things that might sully our personal sense of honor or tarnish our halos, but I feel we are obligated to do it — for ourselves, and for each other. We’ve come this far. It’s a little late to be pointing fingers and pulling out now.
“Of course, all of this will be moot if Thulon’s friends are waiting for us in force when we come out of jump space. So let’s decide our course of action, then start getting ready.”
“Swann, well put,” Ian says. “And yes, we need to stick together and not let any infighting and disagreements get in the way of ship and crew safety. I would be agreeable to either of the two courses of action you have outlined. I think we need to try and deliver our cargo as contracted.”
Vasilii says, “I could accept either of those. Personally, I’d prefer a combination. We drug Thulon and put him in the smuggling bay rather than a low berth, since the low berths are (a) currently full and (b) available for inspection. Then we offload him later. And it’s about time those smuggling bays did something for us, instead of causing us trouble. Then we report the pirate attack at Liar’s Oath, and show them two bodies, and make sure nothing — like a suspicious extra vacc suit — points to a third hijacker.
“And, as you say, we get ready for a hot welcome when we come out of jump.”
Aidan looks up from his computer (where he’s working on the necessary legal briefs in case the ship and crew runs into the Imperials). “Swann, I like your first option very much. Favors are much to be valued out here on the frontier. Yes, the government is around, but tenuously — we operate largely on our own recognizance. And also as such, I’d dislike not meeting the obligations to Jarvis. Losing his favor could be equally dangerous.
“So let's come out of jump looking for trouble. It seems to follow us. If we run into the Imperials, we’ll deal with that, they’re not likely to be firing at us anyway. And I’ll work on tying them up into legal knots.
“Speaking of legal knots. I’d like to offer my services to addend the ship’s charter with the appropriate position for the Captain, or Master, or whatever the position is to be. It should be decided, but let’s do it after we survive this.”
“Vasilii, I like your combination plan,” Ian says. “Let’s do it. Admit to only two hijackers, hide the live one in the fuel processor area. They are responsible for the broken cargo seals. Everyone agreed? Let’s do it.”
“That plan works for me,” Swann says. “I suggest Vasilii and I be the ones who talk to the authorities, at least at first. I’m guessing we’ve probably had the most experience in these sorts of situations.
“Ian, as head of security, you should probably be there as well.”
“For what it’s worth, this employee agrees that we should just conduct our business and allow the Vargr to deal with the Vargr,” Kevon answers, the edge still prominent in his voice. “I’d rather we just turn those fur balls and the illegal cargo over to the authorities, but we need to get ourselves extricated from Vargr affairs, and quickly.”
The lieutenant commander gets up and hobbles toward the door. “Man, you people don’t make things easy.”
-----
The subject of the attempted hijackers’ weapons comes up. Swann suggests they be placed in the ship’s locker for use by whoever needs one of the snub SMGs.
“Mr. Hellinic, I really want to keep one of the weapons in my cabin or about my person,” Vasilii says. “I’ll put it in the locker or hand it to one of the military types whenever there’s an official inspection, at least until I can get a proper license.
“Hopefully Mr. Silver can help me with that. And I’ll buy another one, with one of those dot pointer things and some exploding ammunition, when it’s all regularized. Or perhaps somebody with a Class 3 permit can buy it for me.”
He looks pained, then continues. “I wish I hadn’t thrown those HEAP magazines away now.
“But with hijackers popping out of cargo crates in jump space in the middle of the night, I don’t think the locker is good enough any more. I mean, how do we know that there aren’t more of them in the cargo bay, tunneling their way through the cargo to get at us?”
His eyes look a little wild, and his blood is clearly up.