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Twelve hours later, I was happy to be underway out of the Pendax system. I’d arranged to have Janaan quartered a deck below us, and I put Harrington in a spare stateroom right near the service lifter. Janaan could come and go as she pleased, and neither Karina nor I would have to have any contact with her, our main duty lifter being on the exact opposite end of the deck.

  Harrington and I had several informal meetings, but he was saving his big briefing for the last few hours before we dropped out of traverse space near the end of our thirty-two hour journey to Sandosa. In the meantime, I kept myself busy on the bridge and in my own stateroom with my wife.

  If I was being honest with myself, this whole mission made me uncomfortable for a number of reasons. The upset with Karina, Harrington’s lack of enthusiasm for meeting Union Concord guidelines, Janaan’s mere presence on my Lightship, and the whole “People’s Republic of Sandosa” thing. I couldn’t help but think we were heading into troubled waters. Troubled, but in the end not dangerous, or so I hoped.

  With eight hours of traverse time left in our journey, Harrington called his briefing at 0900. Present in Harrington’s stateroom were Harrington, Lena Babayan, and of course Janaan. I’d left George Layton at the con. Harrington cleared his throat before beginning.

  “The main city on Sandosa is the capital, known as New Seville. It has a population of about 1.3 million. The rest of the planet is a collection of small cities and fishing villages, all connected to the original seafaring industries. Only about thirty of these cities have a population in excess of one hundred thousand, almost all on the main continent and most of them located on or near the sea. The mining plateau on the main continent is where the true riches lie: gold, silver, platinum, copper, magnesium, and uranium, along with precious gemstones and the like. The plateau is mostly inhabited by the second-wave immigrants. There are no cities there to speak of, and most towns are just small camps built around the resources. The place is a miner’s paradise, but the living conditions outside the fishing towns and the main cities are primitive.” He paused before continuing.

  “At some point in the Imperial past, the second-wave population grew so fast that the camps couldn’t hold them. The uneducated worker population started coming down out of the mountains and onto the plains seaports looking for other opportunities. The First Settlers didn’t take kindly to having so many mouths to feed. Some second-wave colonists were taken on as indentured domestic servants, and the wealth generated from the metals trade made the First Settlers immensely rich. The second-wave colonists eventually took over much of the industrial work as the First Settlers retired to lives of leisure. This was well known and well documented in Imperial times, but after that things get sketchier, of course. There were obviously social pressures with a population of haves and have-nots at odds in a two-class system. We know the second-wave population eventually overthrew the original Sandosa government, but we don’t know how long ago. And without Interstellar trade, the planet struggled to survive during the Great Separation, before Reunion Day. We believe that in Imperial times the population was close to nineteen million. Today, our scouting parties estimate it at closer to eleven million. Understandably, they are very anxious to resume trading with other worlds.”

  “Understandably,” I said. “But I’m still unsure what Pendax hopes to gain from trade with Sandosa. It doesn’t seem like they have much to offer either Pendax or the Union beyond their minerals, which are available on other worlds.” Harrington looked uncomfortable. When the silence dragged on, I got very direct with him. “What do you hope to accomplish with this agreement, Admar?”

  He looked at me, then pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before continuing. “As we discussed earlier, Captain Cochrane, my government is having difficulty transitioning to a democratic form that the Union will accept. In exchange for many of the things we used to sell to Sandosa, it is my hope that my merchant Wasps will come home with many of the precious metals I mentioned,” he said. I was curious about this.

  “Why? I mean, you’re already a wealthy man,” I said.

  “Yes, but not so wealthy that I cannot be challenged. Like it or not, Pendax is run on a currency system that is based on gold, silver, and other precious commodities. If I can import enough of these materials from Sandosa, I can increase my position exponentially. Then no one can challenge me, and my power in the Merchant Council will be such that I can push through your precious Union reforms. Isn’t that what you want?” he said, more than a bit testy with me.

  “I am not a politician, Admar. I’m a Lightship captain, nothing more.” I glanced from him to the Princess Janaan. She seemed uncomfortable with this exchange, and then the two of them exchanged a look which made me curious again.

  “And what’s the part you’re not telling me?” I asked. Harrington shook his head.

  “I’ve heard about your damned intuition!” he said. “Annoying trait.” He slapped both hands down on the table. “Very well. I’ll tell you, then. The other thing we need from Sandosa is . . .” He looked to Janaan one more time. “Women.”

  “What?” I said. Harrington sighed heavily, swept some papers off the table, and looked away from me as if he were embarrassed. It was Janaan who ultimately answered.

  “Pendax has agreed to exchange its advanced technology and political support for Sandosa’s Union membership in return for immigrants. Female immigrants,” said Janaan. I looked to Babayan, but she said nothing, so I nodded for Janaan to continue. “The war was hard on Pendax. They were bombarded by both sides. The upshot is that on a planet of twenty-four million people, there simply aren’t enough women. Many of the men fought off-world, and frankly, when they returned, much of the original population was gone, killed in the war or the aftermath. They’ve fought a shortage of women in their population for decades.”

  “I see,” I said. “And Sandosa?”

  “Just the opposite problem. More women than men by as many as three million. They’ve promised a million female immigrants over the next decade. It would be a huge boon to Pendax,” she finished.

  “And to you personally, no doubt,” I said, turning back to Harrington. “They’ll probably make you president for life if you pull that off.”

  Harrington shrugged. “So now you know it all.”

  “Thank you for being honest with us, Admar,” I said. Then I turned to my XO.

  “What updates do you have for us, Lena?”

  She opened her plasma and spread it out on the table top. “We’ve had no further updates from the survey teams,” she said, “and that’s disturbing. Of course we can’t expect contact while we’re in transverse space, even by longwave, but the teams were well overdue for reporting when we left Pendax.”

  “I’m not comfortable with this lack of information, Commander. I expect you to reestablish contact with your survey teams within an hour of us flashing into Sandosa space. I will see any failure to do so as a sign of potential hostility toward our survey teams by the Sandosa government,” I said. Then I turned my attention to Harrington once again. “I won’t put this ship in harm’s way for the sake of an economic mission, Admar. Any irregularities will have to be sorted out straight away, or I’ll turn this ship around at a moment’s notice.”

  “I don’t expect any such problems, Captain. My contacts on Sandosa should be able to sort out any problems. I’m sure it’s just the vagaries of an antiquated communications system,” he replied.

  “And just what is it that the good captain fears?” asked Janaan, cutting in. “You have the most powerful ship within fifty light-years at your disposal. Certainly a small backward planet like Sandosa can be of no worry to you?”

  I stared at her for a second or two, trying to decide if she was seeking to embarrass me. Whether she was or not, I found I didn’t care for her implications.

  “Perhaps the Special Secretary should keep to her areas of expertise and let the Lightship captai
n keep to his,” I said in reply, then turned again to Harrington.

  “My guidelines stand, Admar. I want to hear directly from the survey teams within an hour of dropping out of traverse space, or this trip will be over before it begins.”

  “I don’t foresee that as a problem,” he said.

  “As you say.” I turned back to my XO. “Commander Babayan, please have Mr. Marker prep his marine teams for planetary Search and Rescue. If we don’t have clear contact from the survey team by my deadline, I will be authorizing the marines to go in and get them.”

  “Aye, sir, I’ll have the plan on your desk within the hour. But I must ask, how will we find them on the planet?” she asked. I tapped a spot on my left arm.

  “Historian tracker technology. Standard now on all pre-contact survey teams. I could tell you the details, but then I’d have to kill you,” I deadpanned. Babayan smiled.

  “Understood, sir,” she said. “I’ll also talk to Gracel about receiving any possible traverse space telemetry updates. She may have some special trick she’s willing to share.”

  “Thank you, XO,” I said. “I prefer that you oversee the marine plan first. If there’s nothing else?”

  With that I was up out of my chair and went quickly out of the stateroom, heading to the far end of the deck and the lifter to the bridge as my XO followed behind me. The deck was busy, and I saluted lower ratings more than a few times on my way. Babayan peeled off to head to the marine quarters on the hangar deck, and I dismissed her.

  Presently I arrived at the lifter and pressed the call button. After waiting a few seconds, the doors parted silently, and I stepped inside. As I turned to close the doors, a hand reached in and held the door back. To my great surprise, the Special Secretary swept into the lifter and then shut the doors behind her.

  “Princess, if I’ve given you the impression—” I started.

  “Stop,” she said as the lifter accelerated up the conning tower toward the command deck. The lifter obeyed her command, stalling between decks. I turned to her.

  “Madam Secretary, this is a surprise—”

  “Surprise is what I want to avoid. I must share with you my concerns, Captain, not as your former fiancée but as the Special Secretary,” she said seriously. Now I was intrigued.

  “State your concerns, Madam Secretary,” I said. She turned and faced me directly.

  “Harrington has me worried, Peter,” she said. I was uncomfortable with her using my proper name under the circumstances, but I decided to ignore it for the moment.

  “Why?”

  “This trading in women, it seems out of place to me. I worry about the conditions these women will be sent into on Pendax. It is a fairly wealthy world, but it is a completely male-dominated society. Women do not even have the right to own property in their system unless directly granted permission by their husbands,” she said.

  “So your concern is that they’ll essentially become servants to their husbands?”

  “Yes. And I don’t trust Harrington on the mining operations, either. I think he would like to completely take over and make the miners trade one form of indentured servitude for another.”

  I thought about what she had said, and I had to admit that I had my own reservations about Harrington. “The most I can promise you, Princess, is that I will make sure any formal agreements have to be approved by the Union Council. I will make a full report to them myself and include all of your concerns in my report,” I said.

  “I appreciate that,” she said.

  I nodded, then turned to the lifter controls and said, “Resume.” We had barely started up again when she said, “I do have one more question.” Something about her tone gave me pause.

  “Stop,” I said to the lifter control. “What do you need to know, Princess?” Again she faced me directly. We were separated by a few feet inside the lifter.

  “If you hadn’t met your princess, your Karina, and if there hadn’t been a crisis on Carinthia, would you have kept your promise to marry me?” she asked. I didn’t hesitate to answer.

  “Without a doubt, Janaan. But the fact is that I did meet Karina, and we did marry, and it has now become much more than a marriage of political convenience. I love her, and I intend to keep all my promises to her,” I said. She smiled wanly, disappointment on her face.

  “Then I am resigned to that truth. I could have made you a wonderful wife, Peter.”

  “I know.” We stood there in silence for a moment, and then I once again said, “Resume.” I thought for a moment as we rose toward the bridge, then uttered another command to the lifter. “Stop next deck,” I said. It did, three decks below the command deck. The doors opened, and I looked down the hall and called to a female midshipman. She came at a run, holding an armful of plasma tablets.

  “Yes, Captain?”

  “In the lifter, if you please, middy,” I said. She looked back down the hall.

  “Sir, I was just running these reports down to—”

  “I understand, middy. But please step aboard the lifter,” I insisted. She did as instructed, and I strategically placed her between Janaan and I. “When you get to the bridge, you are to walk around for a few moments, make some conversation, then proceed back down to your assignment. Understood?”

  She looked to the princess and then to me and nodded.

  “Yes, Captain,” she said, though she was obviously confused. Janaan raised an eyebrow to me.

  “Appearances,” I said in response. She smiled. I said nothing more as the lifter doors closed and opened a few moments later onto the command deck. I walked down the short hallway to the bridge and then to my station. The middy followed me in, then the princess, who made for the Historian’s station and struck up a quiet conversation with Gracel. Karina was at the longscope and turned to smile at me, then noted the princess and the female midshipman. She nodded to me, and I winked back at her as I took my chair.

  “Report, Mr. Layton,” I said, as casually as I could.

  In the Sandosa System

  We dropped into the Sandosa jump point right on time and within a dime’s distance of dead center. Lieutenant Arasan was good at his job.

  “Excellent drop, Lieutenant,” I said to him. It was no false praise. Jenny Hogan had been a great astrogator aboard both Starbound and Impulse, but Arasan was every bit her equal. “Chemical impellers until we clear the jump point, Mr. Longer. Then I want the sub-light HD drive engaged, .0002 light if you please.”

  “Aye, sir,” said Longer from my right. He leaned down to his Propulsion ensign and gave the orders. I stood up, and Babayan stood to my left, observing the bridge operations. At that moment Admar Harrington decided to join us on the bridge.

  “Mr. Harrington,” I said.

  “Captain,” he replied. “I trust all is in order, or soon will be.”

  “One would hope. Ensign Layton,” I called to my com officer. She rushed up to me, short blonde hair bobbing as she came.

  “Here, sir,” she said.

  “Report, Ensign.”

  She looked pensive. “No intel updates waiting for us on arrival, sir, either by packet or longwave communiqué,” she said.

  “That’s disturbing, Ensign.” I looked to my wife at the longscope station and nodded in her direction. “Work with the longscope officer to broaden your search. Feel free to bring in Historian Gracel if necessary. We need answers. Understood?”

  “Understood, sir,” she snapped. I waved her off and got a perturbed look from my wife before she turned back to her work. I suppose she found the gesture disrespectful, and she was probably right. I made a mental note to not repeat it. I turned back to Babayan.

  “I want an update from our survey teams, XO, and I want it yesterday. Use the teams from Intel section if you have to, but make sure you get it to me by 1900. I’ll be here on the bridge waiting for your full report,” I sa
id. That gave her an hour.

  “Aye, sir,” snapped Babayan, and she was off to the Intelligence section on deck eleven, no doubt to push and prod my new Intel officers for her report. My statement that I would be waiting for the report on the bridge indicated to my senior officers that our formal nightly dinner would be put on hold until further notice or even canceled. These ship routines were important, and I felt it was necessary to stick to a strict schedule whenever possible. It aided discipline, in my view. Waiting for those routines and working under stressful conditions were also part of the job, and that was necessary, too.

  I called down to Marker to get an update on our Marine Search and Rescue plan. Marker answered the call. “We’re ready when you are, Captain. Do you think we’ll need to rescue the survey teams?”

  “I hope not, John,” I said, then told them to prep for launch on a fifteen minute clock.

  “I have one shuttle ready to go now, sir. We can be off the landing deck in sixty seconds. The second shuttle can follow ten minutes after that,” he said.

  “Understood, Master Chief. And good work.”

  “Sir,” he said. I cut the com, as usual getting more than I expected from my head marine.

  At that I ordered Longer to slow our speed by half, just to give my Intel and com teams time to do their work, and then I left him the con while I went to my captain’s office to brood. This wasn’t a promising start. Harrington joined me.

  The office was a small work area, not even technically off the bridge but separated by an energy field that could drown out any conversation or go opaque for privacy. Karina nodded to me as I passed, but I felt I couldn’t acknowledge her now. When the captain was on the bridge, everyone was expected to maintain their stations regardless of relationships, shift times, or normal rotations. This crew had been on duty for ten hours already, but no one would be getting a break anytime soon. At least not until I knew what was happening with the survey teams on Sandosa.

  After activating the aural privacy field, I sat in my chair while Harrington sat down heavily across the desk from me. “The longer this goes on, the more troublesome it becomes,” he said to me.