Valt and Tor, at least, hadn't accepted that risk. In fact, they hadn't even known of it. And now, Valt was in an Boondock hospital. The initiative had all been on the sides of the users, the manipulators, and he was tired of it. Via's disapproval of Jirik's involvement in smuggling and politics was obvious, as was her loss of respect for him; and Jirik couldn't blame her a damned bit!
He would have to do something to regain the initiative. This crap of operating in a reactive mode was both foreign to him, and frustrating. He was getting some ideas about that, now that he wasn't being driven by events and had time to think. He headed for the engineering deck, to talk to Bran.
Bran listened quietly as Jirik vented his ire, and declared his intention to stop being a pawn, and start being an active player in this dangerous game. When Jirik's stream of complaint and invective finally began to slow, Bran asked him what he intended to do.
"First, I'm going to call a crew meeting, and I'm going to tell Tor and Via the whole story," Jirik replied, "All of it. Their lives are at risk, and they have a right to know why. I'm going to put them to thinking of things that we can do to regain the initiative!"
Bran frowned. "Are you sure that you want to let Via know the whole story? That could be risky, if She's still an Actionist."
Jirik jumped to his feet, pacing the small length of Bran's engineering cubby. "I know. That spook Tomys would call it an 'unacceptable risk'. But I don't give a damn. She spent more time on Boondock than any of us, and she could help a lot. Besides, I like her; and I like her and trust her even more since her confession. I think she's just what she says she is, and I think that she'll help if we give her a chance. Valt nearly got killed because I couldn't tell him what was going on. That's not going to happen again!"
Bran, surprisingly, was grinning. "Now, that's the Jirik we've all come to know and love. Straight, honest and honorable. 'Damn the deviousness, full speed ahead!' Welcome back, Captain!"
Jirik flushed. "All right, damn it," he replied sourly, "I'm not a devious character. I never pretended to be. I hate these 'wheels within wheels' people, and I'm tired of playing their games. Now, stop razzing me, and tell me what you think, damn it!"
Bran's grin faded, but a slight smile remained. "I wasn't making fun of you, Captain. I admire your honesty and straightforwardness. I agree with you. It's time we stopped letting ourselves be manipulated; but I'm not sure that there's anything much that we can do about it."
Jirik shrugged. "I'm not sure, either. But I know that we've got to try, damn it. What do you think about leveling with Tor and Via?"
"Don't worry about it, Captain," Bran replied, "Just do it. You've always been successful by being honest and straightforward. So, let's deal with it in an honest, straightforward manner. Deity knows we're not going to outdevious Tomys or Cony, but devious people can sometimes be completely confounded by simplicity and honesty. So let's try playing it your way. Maybe we'll catch them off-balance."
Tor was obviously confused and wondering at the idea of having a crew meeting in mid-jump. Via merely seemed casual and uninterested. Her respect for Jirik had obviously plummeted badly after Jirik's admission of smuggling.
"All right," Jirik said as the meeting convened, "There's been a hell of a lot going on since we got to Boondock, and most of it's been bad. I called this meeting to brief you on exactly what has happened, and why, and to get your help in dealing with it." He recited the whole story, from Via's report that the Lass' visit to Boondock was arranged by Cony, through Tomys' visit and its role in the bookchip deal, Valt's beating, and the Actionist 's Tomys-approved smuggling deal.
Throughout his recital, Tor looked dumbfounded. Via's bored look disappeared as the story unfolded, and her beautiful face registered interest and thoughtfulness. Concluding his account with Via's confession and his determination to seize the initiative, Jirik asked for questions.
Tor's expression had become stricken. "But, Captain, Why didn't you tell us; I mean, Valt and me? We had a right to know, and maybe we could have helped!"
Jirik nodded. "You're right, Tor. You and Valt did have a right to know. I decided to keep it from you and Valt because I wasn't sure that I could rely on your discretion. I'm sorry. Valt was drinking too much for me to trust him to stay silent, and you were hanging.around with all those University students, many of whom were Actionists. I wasn't sure that you wouldn't.let something drop accidently that could have put us at even more risk."
Tor's face flushed with anger. "You could have trusted me, Captain! I can keep my mouth shut!"
"I'm sorry, Tor," Jirik replied earnestly, "All I can say is that I didn't know you very well, and I didn't feel that I could take the chance, with all our lives at stake. I'm still not sure that I was wrong." He shrugged. "Like me, you're not a very devious person; and we had reason to believe that the people we were dealing with were both devious and deadly. Valt's beating was no accident; and Tomys tells me that he wasn't intended to survive it." Tor looked only slightly mollified, and Jirik was going to explain further, when aid came from an unexpected source.
"Relax, kid," Via put in, "The skipper was right. The University is an Actionist recruiting and education hotbed. They invest a lot of time, energy and money indoctrinating students. They get students from all over the Alliance, and when they send them back home, they're dedicated Actionists, ready to betray their home planets, if necessary, to spread the Atmos doctrine. One wrong word, and you could all have wound up dead." She glanced at Jirik. "I don't know if your Class I knows about the University, but if he doesn't, he should."
Tor's anger had evaporated, to be replaced by obvious bafflement. "But, what do we do now?" he wailed. "It looks to me like we're caught between the Alliance and the Actionists!"
"Not to mention a thousand or so pirates chasing a twenty-five-million-credit prize," Bran added wryly
Jirik grimaced. "Yeah. Well, all we can do about them is try to avoid them. If we make it to Alpha, at least that threat'll be over. Hell, I'm a lot more comfortable fighting pirates than secret agents!"
Via flashed that incredible white grin. "I can believe that. Well, skipper, I'll do my best to get us to Alpha, and I know that the others will, too. Now, I'm signing off on Alpha, but if there's anything I can do to help you out of this other thing, you can count on me. I wouldn't want any other Alliance agents or terrorists to think that they can use spacers that easily. Besides, I feel guilty and damned mad about what they did to your astrogator, just to get me aboard."
Tor was fidgeting. "Yeah, but what can we do?" he repeated "I don't see where we have any choices! If we break that book contract, it'll ruin our reputations; and if we run out on a Class I agent, we could be charged with treason!"
Jirik nodded. "You're right, Tor, we can't just run out. We'd have both sides gunning for us. As for what we can do, that's why I called this meeting. I, for one, am tired of being herded around by a bunch of spooks on both sides. I think it's time that we started taking the initiative., and doing things for our benefit, instead of theirs."
"First," he continued, "I want us all to be thinking about this. Be trying to think of ways that we can look out for ourselves. If you come up with any ideas, any at all, that might help us come out of this with our ship or our skins intact, I want to hear about them. I don't care how far-fetched they seem, bring them up and we'll talk about 'em. We've got plenty of time during the jumps to think about it; just use that time. Let's start acting instead of reacting. And Via," he added, "You know these terrorists better than any of us; if you can think of anything that you know that might help, please mention it. We really need your help on this."
Via grinned again. "You got it, skipper. You know, I'm kind of sorry that you have your own navigator; I'd kinda like to stick around with you guys. The Lass seems to be an exciting ship!"
Bran snickered. "Like hell. Usually, the old bitch is boring as hell. And that's the way we like it. This is the first time we've had to deal with interstellar intrigue."
>
"And the last, with any luck!" Jirik interjected sourly.
The meeting broke up and the others went out. Tor was chattering excitedly while hovering over Via, blushing furiously.
During the next recal stop they detected a ship at extreme range on the long-range scanners that Via had enhanced. Luckily, the blip was on the other side of the system, and they decided that, unless the other ship's sensors were also enhanced, there was little chance of their detection. Just before they powered up the supralight drive the other ship evidently detected them, as it fired up its inertial drive and headed in their direction; but it was hopelessly distant for interception. Jirik decided not to activate their modified beacon, and minutes later, they were safely supralight. After securing all in-system systems, they gathered to discuss the contact.
Tor was unexcited. "They barely detected us, Captain, and we weren't showing a beacon. They can't know who we were."
"They probably have a pretty good idea, Tor," Bran replied "We learned something, and they learned some things."
"Yeah," Via contributed. "We learned that whoever that was had some damned good long-range sensors. If the rest of their sensor array is as good, we're damned lucky that we came out of supralight as far away as we did.'
Jirik shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "They also had pretty damned good reaction time. Now we know that our sensors are better than theirs, but not by much. Once we started maneuvering for the jump, they picked us up fast. Then, they headed for us. In case no one else noticed, that ship is damned fast. They were accelerating at over .01G. If they kept that up, they crossed that system in hours. The only standard ships I know of with that kind of acceleration are Fleet Couriers; and from the blip, that was no Courier."
Bran's head jerked when Jirik mentioned the mystery ship's acceleration rate. "Point Oh One G!" He exclaimed, "That's over 1800 meters per second per second!" His expression became thoughtful. "If she wasn't a Courier, that means that she was stripped and beefed up for speed, with oversize inertial generators and super strength gravity compensators to keep from crushing the crew. A ship like that would be no good to anyone except a pirate. The modifications wouldn't let her haul much cargo."
"Right." Jirik replied. "So, now we can be sure that we weren't just being paranoid. The word and the pirates are out."
Via, too, was looking thoughtful. "Captain, that system was too remote for a pirate to be hanging around it, unless it just happened to be his base system, or he was looking for us. I'd have sworn that that system was safe. I'd say he's got a hell of a navigator on board!"
"He's got more than that," Jirik replied. "He's got our drive traces to track our maneuvers, and the coordinates where we jumped. He also knows that we're running without a beacon."
Via's head jerked. "Damn! I'd forgotten that! A navigator good enough to suggest staking out that system is good enough to analyze our course data, or at least most of it. The only thing that he won't know is the length of the jump. If he's that good, I'll bet he can make a pretty good estimate, though. He knows the type of ship we have, and the nav equipment that she carries."
Tor was looking confused. "I don't understand. He's hours behind us, isn't he? I thought that all ships traveled at the same speed in supralight. Even if he can figure out our next recal point, he can't get there before we jump again, can he?"
"Theoretically, no," Bran replied, "And maybe even practically, no. AS we told you, there's still a lot that we don't understand about supralight. When it was first discovered, they called it 'FTL', for 'faster than ight'. but then some bright boys got to computing, and realized that there was no way of knowing for sure whether it really was 'faster than light'. It's only usable over interstellar distances, and there's no common frame of reference. They do know that the duration experienced by the crew is not relevant. For a while, they called it 'hyperspace' but they gave that up when mathematicians isolated true hyperspaces."
"But, doesn't 'supralight' mean 'faster than light'?" Tor persisted.
Via's gleaming grin reappeared. "Linguistically, it means "above light'. But we needed a term that we could use to describe jumps that wouldn't send the mathemeticians into a tizzy. It seems that the phrase 'Faster than light', and the abbreviation 'FTL' had been used even before space trave to describe certain specific physical conditions, and the theoretical physicists and mathematicians kinda thought they owned them. So, we compromised. They agreed not to assign any specific meaning to 'supralight', and we agreed not to say that 'supralight' meant 'faster than light'. Actually, we don't know whether it does or not."
"The point," Jirik interrupted caustically, "Is that we don't know for sure. It's impossible to keep up with scientific progress on several thousand planets. And talk about supralight makes my head ache. To get back to your original question, there are too many 'ifs' involved. That ship was accelerating at a hundredth of the speed of light. How fast could she go? We don't know. How long did it take her to get to our jump point? We don't know. If her supralight generators are as modified as her inertial drive generators, can she travel faster than us, supralight? Probably not, but we don't know. We do know that at least one pirate has an astrogator who could second-guess Via, here, well enough to let him stake out one of our recal points, and nav computers good enough to let him justify it to his captain. Are he, and his computers, good enough to let him predict another of our recal points, and jump ahead to it? If so, you can bet that his crew is at this moment enhancing his sensor array even more. And, even if not, you can bet that they'll at least try. We were very lucky this time. We came out of supralight too far away to catch. But that luck could change in a microsecond."
"But, what can we do?" Tor asked plaintively. "There must be something we can do!"
Jirik sighed. "We'll try like hell. Bran, At our next recal point, you'll contaminate the inertial drive traces. Can you make us look like any specific type of ship?"
Bran shrugged. "There's not exactly a catalog of drive signatures. Basically, engineers have just learned to recognize certain types over a period of time. Off hand, I don't know for sure what I can make us look like. We won't look like a DIN Class Cargo Hauler, though."
Jirik nodded. "All right, just do your best. Via, I know that you can't do anything about the next recal stop now, but what about after that? Can you be even trickier than you have been?"
Via grinned, but this time the grin was savage. "I'm not worried about the next recal point, Skipper. It's inside the fringes of a nebula. Any pirate staking it out from inside the nebula will have useless sensors, and anyone staking it out from outside the nebula will be too far away, even with beefed-up generators. Besides, he wouldn't be able to see us very well."
"What about our sensors?" Jirik asked, "We need them to recalibrate."
"That was the tricky part," Via admitted, "I had to program us to emerge far enough in to be protected, but far enough out to use our sensors. There's going to be a certain element of luck involved. If we emerge too far in, we may have to maneuver for hours to get to where we can recalibrate. If we emerge too far out, clear of the nebula, we'll have to duck in quickly. I'm planning to calculate a microjump to let us jump into the nebula it we're too far off, or if we're ambushed."
Bran was startled. "A microjump? I thought those were so dangerous that no one used them!" He glanced at Tor. "A microjump is a jump whose duration is a fraction of a second," he explained. "The trouble is that it's impossible to calculate them precisely, and you might emerge into a solid body."
Tor looked intrigued. "What happens if you do?"
Bran smiled grimly. "Elementary physics. Two masses can't occupy the same space at the same time. Both masses are converted to energy. One helluva bang."
Via's smile was equally grim. "To answer your question, you're right. They are so dangerous that nobody uses them. But if it comes down to certain death from a pirate, or taking your chances on a microjump, what would you choose?"
Bran looked uncomfortable. "Yeah. Mind
telling me how you're going to compute it ahead of time?"
Via shrugged, causing interesting secondary effects under her tunic. "Sure. I'll program the computer with all the information except the direction. I'll write a subroutine to put in that value with a single keystroke. Then, when we emerge, if there's a pirate waiting, all I have to do is locate the nebula, and punch one key. Zap! we're inside the nebula."
"As long as we're not inside an expanding ball of hot gases." replied Bran sourly. Via merely smiled.
"I like it," said Jirik. "It's the kind of desperation move that no pirate would expect, but that could give us a chance. Watch the duration, though. The farther inside the nebula we emerge from the microjump, the more chance we'll have of emerging inside a solid, and the longer we'll have to maneuver on inertial drive to get to where we can use our sensors to recalibrate. I wouldn't want to spend too much time even in a nebula with a pirate, or a pack of them, chasing us."
Via nodded. "No problem, skipper. Even if we emerge outside the nebula, we won't be far outside. I figured that a microsecond should be enough."
Jirik nodded, satisfied, but Bran still looked unhappy. "I guess the risk is justified, but I have a suggestion. Captain, suppose I rig the sensors so that we emerge with them activated. Then, as soon as they get readings, I can rig them to record them. That way, if we have to jump, we'll have a 'snapshot' of the sensor readings. Then Via could start recalibrating while we're still working our way out of the nebula."
"It's a good idea, Bran," Jirik replied, "but won't the sensors burn out if you activate them during a jump?"
"Ordinarily, yes," the engineer replied, "but I think I can rig a buffer circuit that'll protect them. The readings will be garbage in supralight, of course."
"Good," Jirik said. "Via, how much good would 'snapshot' readings like that do you? Would they help?"
Via was looking excited. "Hell, yes. With readings like that to work from, I'd only need a few minutes of direct readings to complete the maneuvering calculations! If I could do all of the recalibrations ahead of time from recorded readings, we'd be able to maneuver and jump within ten minutes."
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