by David Drake
Bailey seemed to have disappeared. Goodness knew what this would mean for the gunnery officer, but Daniel couldn't find much sympathy for someone who knew what civilization was but preferred to sell himself to barbarians.
The interior of the large compartment surprised Daniel, though he supposed it shouldn't have. Rugs covered the deck. Over them were piled cushions which must be fixed in place or acceleration and weightlessness would fling them about. The curved tables at two corners were low, and the very capable-looking console against the forward bulkhead was intended to be used by someone sitting cross-legged.
There were four male servants in uniforms like the Palmyrene spacers' but with cloth-of-gold bands at wrists and ankles. The fifth man present was a burly fifty-year-old with a full beard. He wore robes similar to those of the Autocrator but in black silk; only the sash at his waist was gold.
"So, Polowitz," she said. "The tall one is an Alliance officer come to spy on us."
Von Gleuck stood very straight. "I assure you, Admiral Polowitz," he said, "that I am not a spy but rather a naval officer like yourself. And—"
He turned and nodded toward Daniel.
"—like Captain Leary here. Your Excellency—"
Looking back toward the Autocrator.
"—if my presence disturbs you, I will of course take my leave."
"Nothing the Alliance does disturbs me," she said, "except its pretensions and its very existence. Isn't that so, Captain Leary?"
"Quite the contrary, your Excellency," Daniel said, smiling easily. "The Alliance, and particularly its Fleet, have often done things that disturbed me."
He grinned at von Gleuck and added, "For example, an Alliance missile struck the ship I was commanding less than six months ago and left it a constructive loss. I was lucky to escape that with only a headache, but it was a very bad headache."
"I heard reports of the Battle of Cacique," von Gleuck said, "though I was not present. Fortunately I was not present, I may say. I believe that since our nations are now at peace, it is proper for me to congratulate you on your victory, Captain; even if it cost you your flagship."
"I have heard you fancy yourself as an astrogator, Leary," said Polowitz. Von Gleuck had been the first to mention the admiral's rank, but it didn't surprise Daniel that the Fleet officer had done his homework. "Perhaps you will come with me on one of our cutters and I will show you what real astrogation is."
"I've heard remarkable things about Palmyrene abilities, sir," said Daniel. He kept his lips smiling and his voice pleasant, but he felt his back stiffen despite willing himself to relax. Who cares was a barbarian thinks? "And having seen the external controls on the cutters in the basin when I arrived, it's clear to me that the stories were not exaggerated."
"What do you think of the Piri Reis, Lieutenant Commander?" the Autocrator said to von Gleuck, showing that she had been not only been listening but was able to convert Fleet ranks to their RCN equivalent. "Now that you've had an opportunity to view her."
"She's a trim ship and well found in all respects that I was able to see," said von Gleuck, neatly finessing the subject of the antimatter converters. They appeared to be absorbing the efforts of both Power Room watches, save for spacers who had been on some other fatigue and exempted. Bailey hadn't taken the visitors through the converter bay. "You and your officers—"
He nodded precisely to Polowitz.
"—must be rightly proud of her."
The Autocrator gave von Gleuck a guarded expression, perhaps because she either thought he was mocking her or because she had expected some form of condemnation. Tsk! He's a gentleman, not a barbarian who picks his teeth with a knife.
Instead of replying, however, she turned to Daniel and said, "And you, Captain? What is your view of our flagship?"
That I'd be happy to take her on with any light cruiser in the RCN, thought Daniel. Missiles and gunnery would decide a battle between heavy ships, and there the Palmyrenes didn't have the experience an RCN crew would. Though I suspect she could give me points in dodging her way through the Matrix.
Aloud he said, "I've never seen a crew as tightly disciplined, your Excellency, or a ship as well maintained."
He coughed. "Some cables that struck me as worn. But we'll be loading rigging from the base stores here to replace some of ours, also. After we've delivered our passengers to Zenobia, that is."
The Autocrator's head snapped around. "Polowitz!" she said. "Is that true?"
"Your Excellency, cables of the length required for a cruiser's rigging are not standard on Palmyra," the Admiral said. He wasn't pleading, but his voice had lost the bluster of moments before. "We have more on order—"
"It will be ready when we return home!" the Autocrator said. "Or there will be executions, you understand? Perhaps starting with the Admiral who failed to see to it that the cables were available when they were needed!"
"Yes, your Excellency," Polowitz whispered.
The Autocrator's eyes swivelled back to Daniel and von Gleuck. "Well then, Captain," she said, her voice still trembling with fury. "You have criticized my cruiser, well and good. But—
Daniel would have protested, but he knew that would make the situation worse. The Piri Reis was perfectly safe to operate, and her rig was in better condition than that of almost any merchant vessel in Cinnabar registry. The RCN—or the Fleet—would by now have replaced some of the cables on vessels in frontline service, that was all he'd meant.
"—perhaps you will be good enough to show me your ship in turn?"
"Yes, of course, your Excellency," Daniel said. "When would you like to visit the Princess Cecile?"
"Now!" said the Autocrator. "And these others—"
She nodded to von Gleuck and Posy.
"—can come too. If her brother will allow her, that is."
"We on Zenobia are civilized, Irene," Posy said with her nose lifted again. "Hergo does not direct my movements, nor I his."
"Master von Gleuck," Daniel said, standing formally straight, "Lady Belisande. Will you do me the honor of touring the Princess Cecile with the Autocrator and me?"
He broke into an honest smile. "I'm quite proud of her, you know," he said.
Von Gleuck clasped Daniel's hand. "The honor would be ours, sir," he said. "And I hope in the future you will call me Otto. There need be no formality between two professionals, need there?"
They laughed together while Autocrator Irene watched in stony silence.
CHAPTER 9: Raphael Harbor on Stahl's World
"Irene has three guards with her," Tovera said, watching a feed from the Sissie's external camera. "My goodness, they have mob guns."
She giggled, then added, "It always seemed to me to be simpler to learn to shoot accurately; but then, I'm not from Palmyra."
Both valves of the forward airlock were fixed open while the corvette was in harbor. Lieutenant Cory, wearing utilities, entered the rotunda from the hull and stepped onto the bridge.
Glancing over his shoulder to see that he hadn't been followed, he said, "Captain Leary and four civilians are coming up the ramp. They've got guards with them."
"The Captain is bringing the Autocrator Irene of Palmyra with her admiral, and the captain of Z 46 with the sister of the Founder of Zenobia," Adele said. She hadn't been formally told who the guests would be—Daniel had just reported that he would be arriving in half an hour with four visitors—but Adele had of course been watching the proceedings aboard the Piri Reis. That was her job, after all.
"The Palmyrenes who came on ahead know what they're doing," Cory said uncomfortably. "Woetjans is watching them run up and down the rigging, and I checked with Pasternak too. He says the ones in the Power Room are sticking their noses everywhere. There were even a couple crawling up the throats of the thrusters."
"Is there enough room to do that?" Adele said, looking up from her display.
"Some of them don't look older than twelve," Cory said with a shrug. "Maybe they're just small."
He
grimaced. "Mistress, do you know what they're doing?" he said.
"Captain Leary reported that he would be bringing a party to view the Princess Cecile," Adele said carefully. "He then added that a number of Palmyrene spacers would be preceding them, and that they were to given full facilities to see whatever they wished."
She pursed her lips and, because it was Cory, added, "I don't know what their purpose is either. It may simply be that Captain Leary has a reputation as a skilled spacer, and the Palmyrenes are curious because fancy themselves in that area as well."
"They're coming up the forward companionway," Tovera said. The echo of footsteps was warning enough.
Vesey was in the Battle Direction Center and most of the crew was on liberty—the Sissie was moored in an RCN base, after all. Pasternak and Woetjans had rushed back to take charge of their anchor watches. Both senior warrant officers were in their liberty suits and the bosun was staggeringly drunk as well, but she wasn't too drunk to carry out her duties if they didn't involve fancy footwork.
Daniel came up in the lead. Hogg was immediately behind him, wearing a scowl. The servant hadn't been allowed to join Daniel at the gala, which he had accepted; but he had become thoroughly irritated when he learned that the young master had then gone into the midst of a gang of armed wogs without him.
Hogg would have been carrying a sub-machine gun openly if Adele hadn't told him to return it to the armory before he met Daniel at the entrance to the Naval Basin. He hadn't needed the shoulder weapon for any practical reason, but it would have shown how displeased he was to be excluded from possible danger.
"He had no business going off and leaving me like that!" Hogg had muttered. "Anything could've happened!"
Adele smiled faintly. Based on past experience, nobody in Daniel's company had to worry about being kept out of danger. There would be plenty to go around—perhaps not on a mission to Zenobia, but soon enough.
Posy Belisande and her escort, von Gleuck of the Z 46, were next up the companionway. Adele had checked the Alliance captain's record as a matter of course. He not only commanded the naval detachment on Zenobia, but the imagery from the gala made it immediately obvious that he was more than a casual factor in the life of Adele's target.
Von Gleuck's record was very good. He would almost certainly have been promoted above command of a destroyer if he hadn't been quite so well born.
Adlersbild was one of the six worlds which had formed the Alliance eighty years ago. While it wasn't nearly as big as Pleasaunce or Blythe, it had some of the finest shipyards in the Alliance and had given the Fleet some of its most famous commanders. The status of the son, even the second son, of the ruling Count was high enough to be a potential threat to Guarantor Porra. Command of a destroyer on a distant station was safer for both of them.
Adele exchanged a glance with Daniel, then turned and watched the rest of the activities on her holographic display with her back turned to the hatch. She had set the screen to focus, as generally, for her eyes only. Anyone else looking at the display would see a shifting pattern of pastels; attractive enough, she supposed, but not informative.
Adele was in utilities again, making herself virtually invisible to a civilian visiting the corvette. If the Autocrator and Admiral Polowitz hadn't been present, she would have arranged an introduction to Posy Belisande. Since they were, Adele wasn't going to call attention to herself.
"Sir!" said Cory, but Daniel's quick smile and finger-twitch toward the companionway warned him to wait. Two Palmyrene guards appeared behind the flaring muzzles of their weapons. They looked to be proper cutthroats, scowling through mustaches which merged with their sideburns.
Adele watched their images with a smile that would have been frightening to anyone who understood it. She would fire twice into each right eye; the last round would be off before either of the victims reacted. There was always a chance that a dead man's convulsion would cause his trigger finger to close, but even a barbarian should know better that to leave his safety off as he climbed slick steel stairs.
And if not? Well, death would come one day or another. Today would suit Adele, though she would regret it if Cory were caught in the crossfire.
Autocrator Irene was a handsome woman, though it was unlikely that the pile of blond hair held in place by the tiara was her own. It galled Adele that she couldn't be sure how old the Autocrator was.
Fifteen standard years earlier she had married Odin, then heir apparent. The records in Xenos—and probably on Palmyra—didn't allow Adele to trace Irene back before that point. The Autocrator appeared now to be forty, but she might be younger by ten years.
Adele's lips twisted into another almost-smile. So far as she was concerned, bad recordkeeping was a clear sign of barbarity.
"This is my Second Lieutenant, honored guests," Daniel said with a courtly gesture toward Cory. He didn't bother to introduce them to a warrant officer, of course. "Would you care to see the bridge?"
Irene stepped through the hatchway without replying. Two of her guards—another had followed the group up the companionway—pushed in behind her. Tovera had moved to a jumpseat against the starboard bulkhead, her face as smooth as an egg and her hand resting on something within her half-open attaché case.
"It's small," said Irene, "but the whole ship is small, of course. What do you think, Polowitz?"
The Admiral had been whispering with two of the Palmyrene spacers who'd come aboard earlier to inspect. He entered the bridge and came to attention.
"Your Excellency," he said. "It is very suitable. The converters are all running properly, and my men have inspected the logs. There have been no converter failures in the past six months!"
"The Princess Cecile is Kostroman built," Daniel said. Only someone who knew him well would have recognized the hint of caution in his voice. "We've replaced three of her original converters with units of Cinnabar manufacture, from Glanz and Son and from Webbern Brothers, during her service with the RCN and in private ownership, but she came from the builders' yard a very solid craft."
"The rig is well too, your Excellency," Polowitz said. "Very little of it is original, but the replacement spars are of good quality and have been fitted with skill."
He turned to Daniel with a tiny nod of recognition. The Autocrator clearly intended everyone to focus on her when she was present, but Admiral Polowitz was enough of a spacer to offer respect to an equal when he met one.
"Do you think to run up the price on me, Captain?" said the Autocrator. "I am no tradesman to haggle! I am the Autocrator Irene. You own this ship yourself, that is so?"
"That's correct, your Excellency," Daniel said. He slid his feet slightly apart and stood with his hands crossed behind his back in a formal At Ease posture. "I bought the Sissie when she was sold as surplus to the needs of the service. She's under charter to the Bureau of External Affairs, but she is no longer an RCN vessel."
Von Gleuck shifted slightly, putting himself between Posy and the nearest guard. He continued to smile, but his features could have been painted on a porcelain doll. Posy moved backward, stepping off the bridge.
Acting on a hunch, Adele fed imagery from the pickup over the hatch to a quadrant of her and scrolled back thirty seconds. She saw, as she expected, the Alliance officer's hand behind his back, motioning Posy away.
Somebody else understands the direction this might be going. The corner of Adele's lips moved slightly upward. She and Tovera had matters in hand, but von Gleuck wasn't taking that for granted.
"So," said the Autocrator. "I have a use for a ship like this, though it is small. I will buy it."
She and Polowitz appeared to be unaware of the sudden tension, but the last Palmyrene onto the bridge had picked up on it. He backed away from von Gleuck but collided with the Missileer's console; von Gleuck, with his affable porcelain smile, eased closer again so that the guard couldn't lift his clumsy weapon without sticking it into the belly of a high foreign official.
Palmyra might be barbarous,
but the guard clearly understood what that would mean on an RCN vessel in the middle of an RCN base. He looked sick. His experience told him that he would be the first to die—if.
"That's very flattering, your Excellency," said Daniel in a falsely jovial tone, "but the Sissie isn't for sale. We'll be lifting off very shortly for Zenobia—"
"Polowitz here says she is worth a half milliard of sequins," the Autocrator said as though Daniel had not been speaking. "That's some eight hundred thousand of your Cinnabar florins. Very well, I will pay you a million florins and a half. You wish it in coin? I will have my bankers on Stahl's World deliver it in the hour."
Cory stepped past von Gleuck and slipped out the hatchway. Adele felt an instant's amazement, then realized he had climbed onto the hull to warn Woetjans. A cue on her display indicated that he was also alerting Pasternak on a two-way link, though the Palmyrenes in the Power Room were too far away to be a factor in whatever happened on the bridge.
"I don't wish to sell, your Excellency," Daniel said, drawing himself up straight. "I—"
"Did you not understand what I said about haggling?" said the Autocrator, her voice rising. The two duller guards heard her tone but looked bewildered. Polowitz had a worried expression, but from the way he eyed his mistress, his concern was for her anger rather than what it might lead to. "Very well, name your price!"
"I have informed you, your Excellency . . . ," said Daniel. Irene opened her mouth again; he raised the volume of his voice sufficient to overwhelm anything she might have said. "That this vessel is the property of a Cinnabar gentleman who does not wish to sell her. The discussion is closed."
"You—"
"The discussion is closed!"
"Leary," said von Gleuck in the momentary silence, "Lady Belisande has an engagement elsewhere and must leave. Besides, I believe we have reached what a gentleman of Adlersbild would consider the limits of good breeding on a first visit. I hope to see you again in the future."
"Quite right, von Gleuck," said Daniel, suddenly affable again. "It's been a pleasure to meet another professional."