The Princess & The Privateer

by Peter Rhodan

  “Your Highness!” he breathed in astonishment.

  Then realized that he must look a bit silly kneeling in the ship’s mess so stood again.

  “But what, how?” he asked, in what Gizel quickly realized was a strong Kimerian accent.

  “Didn’t your Captain explain how he, ah, rescued me?” she asked smiling.

  He nodded. “Yes, your Highness but he did not mention it was you, Your Highness, that he had rescued.” He answered, getting somewhat tangled up in his sentence structure.

  “Well, he didn’t know who I was himself until just a few moments ago. It was very noble of him to rescue me like that when he had no idea who I was.”

  Before he could reply a chime sounded. Lothar jumped up.

  “Zat will be ze stevedores,” he said and headed out.

  Captain Alistair reappeared and followed Lothar with just a nod at Gizel, or Andreas, she wasn’t sure which. Andreas waited till they had gone before speaking again.

  “But we have to get you back to Kimeria!” he breathed in some trepidation.

  Gizel rather agreed with him although she was quite enjoying being around a group of people who didn’t bow and scrape to her, or treat her like a child. She had immediately realized that trying to throw her royal weight around would get her nowhere, except offloaded onto the dock as quickly as possible! Besides she found this strange ship and her eclectic crew thoroughly intriguing. There was something about these people and this ship that was not what she would have expected from a tramp cargo ship.

  On the other hand, her parents would be frantic by now, although a part of her thought with some satisfaction that it served them right. However, she smiled at Andreas seeing his obvious concern for her.

  “Yes, well there are problems with that idea you see. Someone managed to put a tracking device in my clothes, which was how they were able to track me to Starfire. As Captain Alistair quite rightly pointed out someone who has the capability to plant trackers in my underwear at the Palace could just as easily have someone in the local embassies in their employ. I would have to wait at the embassy for my identity to be confirmed, as I have no paperwork with me, and no way of proving who I am. While these checks are taking place such a person would probably be able to make me disappear quite easily, especially on a neutral station where I know no one.”

  Andreas seemed struck by this and frowned off into space for a bit.

  “But we could take you back to Kimeria,” he offered.

  Gizel smiled, as this thought had occurred to her too, but she also saw some problems with this course of action.

  “Well yes, but suppose we are stopped and searched? It appears that the entire Home Fleet has scrambled and is flying about all over the place looking for me. You wouldn’t be able to dodge them all, and then you will have to hand me over to whatever Kimerian ship it is that finds me aboard. Not only that but you will also have to explain to the authorities how I came to be aboard this ship. Your Captain didn’t seem too keen on putting himself in a situation where he was being interrogated by the Kimerian Navy.”

  Andreas had begun nodding halfway through her explanation.

  “Damn. Yes, we would have to do a lot of explaining to avoid being charged with your kidnapping and we can’t afford to have the Kormorant searched.”

  “Oh, why not. Are you smugglers?” she asked.

  She was suddenly alert to maybe getting some useful information about this odd ship from her compatriot.

  Andreas looked taken aback as if he realized he had said more than he should have and appeared to mutter something about his loose tongue and the trouble he kept getting himself into. Just then the Captain came back into the room and he was spared from having to answer any further questions from his Liege Lady, or at least her daughter, by hailing Karvon and good-naturedly ribbing him about kidnapping Imperial Princesses.

  “No lip from you, Kimerian,” Karvon said harshly while smiling at the same time. “Or I’ll tell the Princess about your efforts on Harkon.”

  Andreas colored up and stammered something incoherent, but the Captain forestalled him by turning to the Princess.

  “Whom could we safely hand you over to Princess?” he asked.

  Gizel thought about this. All of a sudden, people, even relatives, became suspect and she found herself shaking her head in negation.

  “Apart from my parents? I think from what Andreas said it would be difficult to get me to them without making things awkward for you and your ship. Yes? After them then the next best thing would be to arrange a meeting with my brother.”

  Karvon appeared to consider this.

  “He’s in your navy, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, a Lieutenant, but I don’t know where he is at the moment. I haven’t seen him for some months.”

  Karvon smiled. “Easy enough to find out. But not I think here.”

  He went over to the kitchen and returned with a cup of coffee. Corinne reappeared and joined the group at the table.

  “What are you thinking Karvon?” asked Andreas.

  Karvon made to answer but the other man who had left earlier also returned.

  “Princess, this is our Engineer Moxton Pain. Moxy this is Princess Gizel of Kimeria.”

  The man’s Asiatic eyes narrowed at this.

  “Really? Well, I know you promised that we’d meet all manner of interesting people shipping out with you Karvon, but a Kimerian Princess is pretty special, even for you!”

  He smiled as he went over to acquire his cup of coffee. If anything, the man’s response further highlighted to Gizel just how strange the crew of this ship was. There was something more than just a little strange about the ship and more importantly the people aboard her!

  Karvon grinned at the comment then touched a spot on his neck.

  “You there Krevis?”

  “Sure am boss. Why?”

  Came a voice over invisible speakers somewhere above her.

  “Got something to lay before you all, but first I think we need to decide on what to do about the Princess.” the Captain announced.

  Moxton returned with his coffee, sat down, took a sip, and then leaned back looking at his Captain closely.

  “What are you thinking boss?”

  “I’m thinking that it could cause us certain problems if she is found aboard. If Imperial Security were the ones that found her perhaps it would be all right, but other than them, I would not be happy being boarded by a Kimerian warship. We also have the problem of who do we trust? If you see what I mean.”

  He waited for a tick and those at the table all nodded without any obvious alarm or confusion. This was a very strange crew, Gizel thought to herself again.

  Karvon continued “Therefore if the Princess agrees, I feel it would best if we kept her with us for the moment. We have an urgent mission from the government of the Medio system which has a high priority fee attached to it. I am thinking that we take the Princess with us to Medio and leave her on the planet or at its station while we carry out the mission. Then we can pick her up and head to a system where we can make contact with her brother.”

  The others sat back and considered this.

  “It should not be too hard to find out where her brother is posted, Crown Princes are a little hard to hide even in space,” Andreas said.

  Corinne spoke up. “So, let me get this straight. We keep the Princess with us until after the Medio mission then go find her brother and hand her over to him.”

  Karvon nodded at her in confirmation.

  “That’s about it. As far as Imperial Security is concerned, at the moment the Princess has vanished into thin air, and given our subterfuge, we have not been looked at by the Imperial Navy chaps who arrived at the station. We should not keep the Kimerians in the dark for too long, but whether it is a few extra days or a few extra weeks it is not going to make that much difference now as they will already have reached maximum alarm levels.”

  He paused and looked at the Princess.


  “What about you, your Highness. How do you feel about my plan? Are you worried about how upset your parents probably are by now?”

  “Well yes. But I can see the security problems too. Given I owe my life to your intervention, I am happy to follow your suggestion. As you pointed out a few weeks, either way, is not going to make much difference now, and my parents have only themselves to blame. If they had let me attend Starfire I would have gone with a full security detail and none of this would have happened.”

  This last sounded more petulant than it should have and very much in the whiney teenager stereotype, Gizel realized, and quickly changed the subject.

  “So, what is the mission?” she asked ingeniously.

  She was half expecting to get the brush off, but this multifarious crew and this tramp cargo ship that she was beginning to think was more than what it seemed, was making her curious. Karvon hesitated before looking around the table at each of the other crew.

  “Well people, do we include the Princess or lock her in one of the rooms while I brief you all?”

  Lothar spoke up. “I say let her know. She does not strike me as stupid and besides Imperial Security knows of us anyway, although not exactly ze details of ze ship.”

  “That’s true.” Came Krevis’ voice over the ship’s intercom.

  Karvon’s gaze settled on the Princess who felt her face warm under his quizzical yet friendly eyes. Before he could say anything Krevis continued.

  “I found her brother. He’s on the Harod II, which is a battlecruiser. It’s currently assigned to the Kimerian Third Fleet but at the moment it is on detached duty in the Parisia Sector doing a round of showing the flag. No doubt showing off the Crown Prince as well.” he finished dryly.

  Gizel laughed and they all looked at her.

  “My brother hates that sort of thing. He calls it his Stuffed Gribble routine. They make him wear this special dress uniform that is very uncomfortable and he gets to wander around these diplomatic functions going gobble, gobble.”

  She failed to keep a straight face and started giggling while the others all smiled at her description.

  “Well, the Parisia Sector is way over the other side of the Empire so we will go to Medio first.” announced Karvon after a moment.

  Gizel felt his gaze on her again so she sat up straight and tried to look reliable and someone it was safe to tell secrets to. Karvon waited a moment then shrugged and smiled at her very unsettlingly.

  “Medio is hiring us for an anti-pirate patrol. There appear to be one or more of the buggers interrupting their trade with planets outwards from there.”

  “I didn’t know zere were planets outward from zere.” said Lothar in some surprise.

  Karvon gave a flex of his hand that Gizel took to mean the planets in question were of no great consequence.

  “Yeah, well there are, and the Medio navy has not been able to catch the pirates after more than six months of trying.”

  Andreas piped in. “And what sort of navy does Medio have then?”

  “Two ex-Lotharian Frigates apparently,” said Karvon with a smile.

  “Hmph,” said Andreas dismissively.

  It was clear he didn’t rate the two frigates as significant, except Gizel got the impression that in Andreas’ opinion their obvious inadequacy was the reason that the Medio government had called for help. Gizel found herself wondering why a planetary government would request the aid of a tramp freighter though. Rather than display any curiosity and draw attention to herself she kept her mouth shut. She was finding it a novel experience to be in the company of a group of people who largely ignored her royal presence.

  Lothar looked at Karvon.

  “No intel on ze pirate ship? Type, weapons, and such?” he asked.

  Karvon shook his head negatively.

  “Not much. The one they have a firm sighting of is about frigate size and also fairly fast. That was from the captain of another ship that saw an attack from a distance. He didn’t hang around to take notes, unfortunately.” This last was said with a rueful grin. “Travel time will be about a week through Brython space. Anybody need to do any last-minute shopping here?” he asked.

  They all grinned at what Gizel decided must be some inside joke. “OK, we’ll get underway.”

  Corinne frowned at Gizel. “We’d better get some clothes for the Princess here. I haven’t got that many I can spare her you know.”

  Gizel saw the men all laugh at this comment without understanding why but assumed there must be some reason for the mirth.

  “Ok. Why don’t you two go shopping for what the Princess will need for say three weeks? Princess, you will need to wear a hat and keep your face down. The main areas on this station have good trivid cameras and it would not be hard for facial recog to spot you.”

  “What will I use for money?” Gizel asked.

  She suddenly realized she had nothing with her, everything having been dumped in the car park on Kimeria. Which reinforced the realization that she was entirely in their hands.

  Karvon grimaced then reached into a pocket and pulled out a small card-holding wallet. He extracted a money card and handed it to Gizel.

  “I can’t believe I am funding a women’s shopping trip,” he muttered.

  Andreas piped up. “And you’re not even married to her!”

  And then laughed at his own joke. Lothar smiled, Corinne frowned at Andreas, Krevis could be heard snickering over the intercom, while Gizel felt herself blushing at the idea of marrying Karvon and hurriedly looked at her feet, Karvon tried to glare at Andreas who was struggling to keep a straight face.

  Gizel took the card he had offered and suddenly had a scary thought.

  “What about ID? Aren’t customs or security going to stop me from just walking out of the ship and onto the station?”

  Karvon shook his head.

  “No. They’re pretty open here seeing as they’re wedged between Kimeria and Brython. That card is the only ID you’ll need to enter the station. I have an, ah, arrangement with the authorities here. As long as you don’t get arrested, and provided you keep your head down from the security cameras there should be no problem. If any of the law enforcement people approach you, simply hand them the card and that should suffice. Corinne will be with you anyway so let her do the talking. Hopefully, we will get you back aboard before the Kimerian navy can persuade the Lennister Station officials to do a station-wide search.”

  He paused and looked at her questioningly.

  “Are you all right?”

  Gizel blushed as she looked up into his countenance after he asked the last question in a soft voice that sounded like he was genuinely concerned with her welfare. She nodded and looked down at the floor again, thankfully Corinne saved her from further embarrassment by taking her arm.

  “Right. Come on your Princesship, we’ll find you a hat and then be on our way. Wouldn’t do to keep the menfolk waiting any more than we have to,” she said with a grin.

  As the two women left the room Lothar turned to Karvon.

  “You realize zey will be gone for hours, don’t you. You have had experience wiz women on shopping trips, haven’t you?”

  Karvon and Andreas both laughed and the Captain waved a hand to acknowledge everything implied.

  “Yes. Yes. But it will give Krevis more time to search for the Princess through the Kimerian news services while Moxton and I sort out that problem with the missile feed mechanism.”

  Chapter 7

  Adventure beckons

  Corinne got up and led the way while Gizel followed her into the same corridor that Karvon and Lothar had used earlier, which led to a ladder down into the cargo deck. Corinne simply slid down the ladder with practiced ease while Gizel carefully lowered herself rung by rung. When she reached the bottom Corinne pointed to a recessed double door on the right.

  “That’s the lift.”

  “Lift. There’s a lift and we used that ladder?”

  Gizel couldn’t help the note of co
mplaint in her voice.

  “Well yeah. Exercise is good for you, young lady.” the woman said grinning.

  Turning back to face the way they were headed she passed a couple of storage rooms then entered the main cargo hold which had a few crates stacked and secured over to one side and nothing else. A hatch cum airlock that had been built into the hull next to the cargo doors allowed ingress and egress when the hold was closed up as it was now.

  The outer hatch opened into a short flexible docking tube that brought them out onto the main floor of the docking bay. The ship was moored in such a way that a flexible collar could close up against the hull surrounding the cargo bay doors, which opened outward and down, forming a convenient ramp for the stevedores to roll cargo pallets up and down.

  Finding the cargo dock empty of people caused Gizel to relax a little from the rising tenseness she had experienced passing through the airlock. No squads of irate Imperial Security troopers or hordes of gun-wielding abductors awaited them and she let out a huge sigh in relief. Gizel had never been on the cargo dock area of a station before and she found it all quite interesting. Corinne informed her that when there were no ships docked at the bay it was securely sealed by doors that opened on either side of the loading bay. At the moment the doors were currently open, letting them see the ship’s cargo bay doors from the outside. The dock was clean but worn looking and they headed over to a large pair of doors that opened automatically on their approach. It was all very different from how she would have been treated if she were visiting the station as a Kimerian Princess.

  Beyond these doors was a wide corridor that disappeared in either direction, obviously connecting up the cargo docks sprinkled around the rim of the station. Corinne checked her pad and headed off to the right and after about two hundred meters they came to a large gateway leading into the station proper.

  “Lennister Station allows for the unrestricted transfer of goods between cargo ships, one of the main reasons the station is always so busy. Access to the inside the station proper is a lot more controlled of course.” Corinne commented over her shoulder as she approached the gated area.