The Princess & The Privateer

by Peter Rhodan

  “You have no First Class uniform Midshipman?” he asked softly but with a slightly quizzical tone.

  “Aye, Sir. But this is a destroyer, sir. A working boat, not an Imperial barge, Sir.”

  The Lieutenant’s face broke into a smile and he returned her salute.

  “Very good Desnoute. I like that. So will the Captain. Welcome aboard. I have looked at your file and you have some good scores there, as well as some not-so-good ones.”

  “Sir. Yes sir,” she answered, not sure what else to say.

  Her navigation had always been her weak point, although she was not a lot better at engineering, not that line officers needed to be good at engineering. Anyone who was good with nuts and bolts was put on the engineering track. However, line officers did need to have a basic understanding of engineering functions, ship design, construction, and how to fix things if the real engineers were not available. On the other hand, she had stood out in tactical and headed her class in combat while communications and cybertech were her middle-of-the-road subjects.

  “I’ve put you in Beta Watch for the moment. You will be under Lieutenant Tremaine who is the Beta Watch Tactical officer, although as part of your training you will rotate through all bridge positions and damage control stations once we get out of port. That means you are off duty till nine hundred hours. I suggest you familiarise yourself with the ship during your free time, you will be tested on that as well as many other things.”

  This last was accompanied by a grin that while it could not be classed as evil, it could not be termed exactly friendly either. Gizel had the feeling that Lieutenant Halfron was looking forward to making life hell for one Imperial Princess.

  Keeping her face bland she nodded back.

  “Aye aye, sir. Thank you for the heads up, sir.”

  Halfron’s eyes narrowed but he nodded at her.

  “Dismissed Midshipman Desnoute.”

  “Sir,” she answered, saluted and once he acknowledged it, she wheeled and left the bridge.

  She spent the next couple of hours exploring the ship, matching the downloaded plan she had with the actual vessel. She finished up in the small Marine compartment aft of the hanger bay. Only one of her two bloodhounds was present, Dedsun, who spoke into his comm unit before coming over to her.

  “Stallon was looking for you, Your Highness. Getting quite concerned he was, first hour aboard ship and thought he’d lost you already!”

  This was said with a shake of the head, but Gizel knew Dedsun well as he had been one of her security detachment during her last six months at the Academy. She could tell he was making fun of his younger, newer, and seriously keen colleague.

  She smiled dutifully, and then made her face take on a serious look.

  “I don’t really think I need one of you two trailing me about the ship.” she offered, interested in his response.”

  Dedsun was about thirty and had a rather dry sense of humor for an Imperial Security fellow.

  “Of course, Your Highness, but Stallon is, shall we say, a trifle over-keen, in carrying out his duties. He didn’t believe me when I told him we would only be guarding you whenever you left the ship, and your cabin door during your sleep period of course.” he paused and smiled at the face Gizel pulled when he said the last. “I have that order directly from your father, Your Highness. He specifically instructed me to make sure your door was guarded whenever you were asleep, so don’t make that face at me Your Highness. I know you are a lot better at protecting yourself than your father thinks, if nothing else you’re deadly with that pistol of yours, but he is your father, and also the Emperor, and I have to follow his orders.”

  “I know Janus, but it grates you know, setting me apart from my shipmates. You know what I mean.” she grimaced.

  “Yes, Your Highness. I do understand, but being on guard outside your cabin I won’t be moved on, I’m sorry.”

  Just then three of the Marines appeared from the shower area where the rest of the squad must still have been getting themselves clean, given the sound of showering still going on in the background. A destroyer only rated a squad of Marines, usually only a sergeant, two corporals, and eight troopers, although sometimes a Lieutenant might be assigned as well, and the ship could carry two squads at a pinch. One of the three had sergeant’s stripes on his undress greens, and he immediately came to attention and saluted, instantly followed by his two fellows.

  Gizel immediately responded and said, “At ease.”

  She studied the older man quickly, noting the slightly greying hair and the long-time ago broken nose, which had not been repaired properly.

  “Please treat me as you would any other green midshipman sergeant. Tell your people to do that as well, please. Continual ‘Your Highness this and Your Highness that’ gets tedious very quickly.”

  He nodded gravely.

  “As you wish your High... sorry, as you wish, sir.” he nodded with a rueful smile.

  Gizel smiled back then waved her hand in a questioning manner.

  “So, what do you have in the way of spare Marine Assault Armor sergeant?”

  The other two had been going to turn away but they turned back at the sound of this.

  “Assault Armor Your, I mean, sir?”

  “Yes, sergeant, Assault Armor. I know from the inventory you have three spare sets of female armor aboard but no females in your squad. What I don’t know is what condition they are in, nor what size they are, and whether one set can one be modified to fit me?”

  “Actually, there is one suit that could probably be made to fit you, sir, without too much modification, but I doubt the Captain would agree to it.” the big Marine commented, the doubt in his voice very clear.

  No Captain in his right mind would entertain the idea of his Imperial charge partaking in boarding actions with the Marines. Having already checked the ship’s roster she was sure she was the most qualified person to be the boarding officer. For this trip, there were only two of the ship’s officers who were even rated to be able to wear the Marine Power Armor, her and the XO being the other.

  She’d read his nametag by now.

  “Leave the Captain to me, Sergeant Dockson. Just get that suit prepped so we can get the fitting organized once I return.”

  The sergeant looked a bit startled by her calm assurance and glanced at the Imperial Security man who shrugged and smiled crookedly, as if to say welcome to my nightmare. Before Dockson could respond Gizel turned and left the compartment, which was a good way of stopping any further obstacles being thrown up, and left the Sergeant with little option but to do as she commanded. She polled the ship’s computer to see if the Captain was available before she had to report for her first bridge watch. It appeared he was awake and in his cabin, so she polled it and he responded almost immediately.

  “Yes, Midshipman?”

  “Request permission to see you privately, sir.”

  There was a moment’s silence before the Captain responded.

  “Interesting. You have been aboard less than an hour and you are seeking permission to see me already, is your cabin not large enough Midshipman?”

  “No sir, I mean yes, my cabin is fine, sir. I wish to speak to you about another matter entirely.” She considered his words but shrugged off the implied criticism. Did he really think she’d come the spoiled Imperial Princess? Sheesh.

  There was an audible sigh over the comm.

  “Very well Midshipman Desnoute. I await your arrival as soon as you can find your way here.”

  The Captain’s tone indicated a weary disdain, which was obvious even through the somewhat metallic ship’s comm.

  Gizel realized this was not a promising start to their relationship and she was not sure why there was a note of disdain in the Captain’s voice when she had not even met him yet, but she determined to press on with her plan regardless.

  “Aye, sir. Should not take me more than two minutes to reach your cabin, sir.”

  There was no reply and she headed fo
r the Captain’s private cabin. She didn’t run but she moved quickly and reached his cabin well inside the two-minute deadline she had set herself. She received several looks from the crewmen she had passed while moving quickly and their expressions ranged from amusement, presumably at the seemingly overly keen new Midshipman, to annoyance as she brushed past them in the narrow passageways at speed.

  Her knock on the closed door of the Captain’s cabin was met with a tired sounding “Come!”

  She pressed the release button and the door swished open, whereupon she marched forward to the small desk the Captain was sitting behind and saluted smartly, which he returned in a casual manner and studied her for a moment before saying anything.

  “At ease Midshipman. Now, what can I do for you after only an hour aboard my ship?”

  This last was said in a testy manner and only reinforced the idea that he was apparently expecting her to be throwing her royal birth around in order to gain extra privileges not normally accorded to a new Midshipman. Well, she just might, but not in the way he was expecting!

  “Sir. I was looking over the list of officers and their roles aboard the ship and I noticed there was no designated Boarding Officer. A little research showed that the previous officer acting in that position had been promoted off this ship when the ship docked here. It also revealed that you have not appointed anyone else to that role, yet.”

  The Captain studied her for a moment with his head slightly cocked to one side, clearly surprised by the direction of her talk.

  “Yes, Midshipman Desnoute. Ensign Lorgon was the previous boarding officer. He was quite good at it too, having tried out for the Marines.” He answered slowly; suddenly wary of where she wanted the conversation to go.

  “Sir. Yes sir. So I noted sir. I have also studied the career histories of the other officers aboard the ship at the moment and found none of them have any experience in carrying out an armed boarding mission against a hostile ship, with the exceptions of yourself and the XO. Is that correct sir?”

  A look of surprise crossed his face, but he quickly returned it to the bland look he seemed to naturally affect.

  “Actually, that is correct midshipman.” His voice now carrying a modicum of wary interest, or so Gizel thought.

  All, right here we go! Gizel said to herself.

  “Well sir, given that it would seldom be optimal for either the XO or yourself to be leading boarding operations I hereby offer myself for that role. My results at the Academy, my proven record in Starmaster, and the fact that I have already engaged in a successful boarding action of a hostile pirate ship should be more than enough to qualify me for that role. Sir!”

  The captain leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers while he contemplated what she had said.

  “I am well aware of your accomplishments during training, indeed if not for your position in life I imagine you would have been transferred to a Marine officer course instead of coming out a Navy officer. I have not looked up your actual record in Starmaster but I remember the uproar when your identity was revealed, along with the fact that you qualified for the Finals on several occasions.”

  He paused and studied her for a moment.

  “I must say I was not happy that you were assigned to this ship Your Highness. I know the good it does the Empire for the Imperial children to serve in the Navy, but persons of your rank should be serving on board at least a heavy cruiser, or preferably something bigger. Not aboard this little tin can. It is too dangerous. We may have been at peace for decades, but we still lose ships to both pirates and accidents, and small ships like this come at the top of the list of dangerous billets.”

  He cocked his head sideways studying her for a moment. She was deciding what to say and elected to remain silent, continuing to stand at attention in front of the desk.

  “I went as far as querying your deployment aboard this ship with Admiral Klugar, as it came as somewhat of a surprise. He assured me the orders were correct and I would just have to make the best of the situation.”

  He stopped and gave her a hard look.

  “I still think it is a mistake for you to aboard this ship. It is far too dangerous for someone of your rank and puts a lot of extra pressure on the officers and crew. Let alone the circus that would ensue if something were to happen to you!”

  He paused and looked away for a moment before returning his hard gaze to her face.

  “Now you want me to put you in an even riskier position based on some training scores and video game success. And what is this claim of actual boarding experience? There is nothing in your record about you serving on another ship, let alone taking part in any boarding action!”

  “No sir. It is not in my public record. I am going to authorize you to look at the files. Here is a coded disk, if you could put it in your desk console, I will authorize your access, sir.”

  She pulled up the small chain she wore around her neck and the attached Imperial Dragon motif pendant, then hiked it over her head and handed it to him, highlighting the data disk interface in the bottom of the Dragon.

  With obvious reluctance, the captain studied the data tab she carried disguised as a pendant and then inserted it into his console. She moved around the desk and picked up the retina scanning device attached to the Captain’s console for use in accepting high-security documents, and in moments she had authorized his access to the data tab.

  “If you would access the file labelled Kormorant sir.”

  She returned to the other side of the desk while he read the files in the folder. On several occasions he looked up as if to say something, but each time he decided to keep his mouth closed and return to the document until he had finally finished reading the files.

  “I am surprised, appalled, and impressed all at once Midshipman. I have heard of the Kormorant, most long-serving naval officers have, the details about her are more rumor than fact though. I have never seen her, or perhaps I may have seen her in the guise of one of her pseudonyms and was not able to recognize her anyway.”

  He paused and re-read a few sections before looking back at her.

  “It still doesn’t change what I said earlier about risking your Imperial behind, Your Highness. The boarding officer is a very high-risk position; probably the highest, although some of the engineering crew probably lead more dangerous lives. Even so, I can only imagine the look on Admiral Klugar’s face when he asks who my boarding officer is and I tell him it is the Imperial Princess!”

  He shook his head, and Gizel could see his point, but she had an answer ready.

  “Is he likely to ask that specific question, sir?”

  Captain Deltron shook his head negatively and grimaced sourly.

  “No, but he will almost certainly want to know what duties I have assigned to you and he will check in regularly to see how you are progressing!”

  Gizel smiled.

  “Well yes sir. I can see that. I doubt he will be the only person who will be asking you those questions, but if no one asks you directly who is your boarding officer then there is no need for you to mention that part of my duties.”

  “Until we engage in a boarding action and I have to file a report, after which the shit will well and truly hit the fan!”

  He frowned at her across the table.

  “Perhaps sir. But if the boarding action is only minor you can say it seemed like a relatively safe way to give me some real experience that I would not otherwise get!”

  She smiled sweetly at what she hoped was her almost convinced superior.

  “And if it is not a minor action what then do I say? Putting you in the firing line on a combat operation will not be seen as an optimal way of using an Imperial Princess.”

  “You could always claim I pulled Imperial rank, sir,” she said ingeniously.

  “Don’t be silly Midshipman. No proper officer would let you get away with that, as you well know.”

  “Yes, sir. As you say, sir.”

  She waited a few moments in
silence while he was obviously weighing things up in his head.

  “If I may add sir, that in a serious combat situation I would let the Marines lead, sir. I’m not stupid, sir.”

  The captain waved a hand accepting this point.

  “Glad to hear it, Midshipman. Can I show this file to Lieutenant Halfron?”

  Her face took on a more serious mien.

  “Yes sir. But only him, it is rated Security Code 1B, so disclosure is not automatically an act of Treason but it can be assessed as such.”

  “I understand the security rating, Midshipman.” he said dryly. “I will not agree to anything so outrageous immediately, but by the same token, there is some validity to your arguments. Leave it with me, Midshipman.”

  Gizel inclined her head. “Aye aye, sir. That was all I wanted to see you about sir.”

  The captain even managed a smile at this.

  “Not at all what I was expecting, that much I am prepared to admit. Very well, Your Highness. Dismissed.”

  Gizel stood, saluted smartly and at his return salute, wheeled and exited the cabin smartly. As she returned to her cabin she mulled over the interview. All in all, it could have gone a lot worse, she was quite pleased with how things had transpired once she had twigged to the fact that the Captain had been expecting a spoiled brat! She fully understood the Captain’s reluctance to put her in a position of danger, but by the same token, she was easily the best choice for the position, Imperial Princess or not.

  Nothing more was said about the matter for several days. Gizel settled into the routine the ship followed when in port. She met and got to know the basic personal details about most of her fellow watchstanders. They appeared to have been given instructions not to become overly familiar with their Imperial crewmate, so conversations were cursory at best. They all took great pains to always address her as Midshipman Desnoute and by the third day, it was all getting a bit wearing! Some of the crew were still on shore leave, but the mess began filling up rapidly as they neared their departure date as more of her fellow sailors returned to the ship.