Aylis and I were reluctant to tell Jamie anything more about Direk, not knowing how she would react. I think you were the best person to talk to her. Aylis and I are too close to her."
= = =
"What is it like back there?"
"I'm reminded of scenes from 20th-century war movies," Jamie said, "where paratroopers are waiting to jump out the door of an airplane."
"I know you've seen action," Zakiya said. "I know you're nearly as old as I am. But my heart is in my throat as I think about placing my daughter in harm's way. Being a mother is still new to me."
"Being a daughter is new again to me. Don't worry. All of my guys have seen some action. They know what to do. They just don't like it when it looks like murder. This isn't murder, it's survival. We'll be as nice as we can and as bad as we need to be."
"I want you to come get this if I fail." Zakiya showed Jamie the silver bag.
"The cryptikon?"
"It may impress the Malay, if I live long enough to get their attention."
"You can transmat with it?"
"No. You need to hold a docking bay for me."
"That's one of our targets. This is moving too fast!"
"You did something to the cryptikon, Jamie."
"Me? Nobody can do anything to it. It's a cryptikon."
"Nevertheless, it's changed. The patterns are different."
"I doubt it. It could have been you."
"Somebody is supposed to use it. If you changed it, you need to have it."
"Are you that calm before battle, that you can discuss such things?"
"It's important," Zakiya said. "The cryptikons have a use. Come get it, no matter what the cost. No, I'm not calm, just determined."
= = =
"It's a hundred years old!" Iggy declared. "You should be able to detect it! Technology advances."
"It was upgraded by you," Horss said. "Next time, don't be so good at what you do!"
"I need to know where it is! I don't want to involve it in the electrodynamics!"
"Let's assume she knows where to put the yacht! Start detuning the envelope! We're within range!"
"Maybe she can sing to them," Iggy muttered grumpily, "and none of this will be necessary."
"Field eddy opening toward us," Freddy warned.
"They've seen us," Horss said. "Are you fully detuned, Admiral?"
"Close enough. Rotating to maximize discharge."
"Stand by. The admiral is talking to them."
"Twelve eddies in their far hemisphere," Freddy said. "Multiple transmations inbound to the privateer."
"They anticipate boarding. Or they're preparing to run."
"These are Malay," Iggy said. "They don't run. At least, not according to popular fiction."
"Stand by," Horss repeated. "You read space adventures, Admiral?"
"I write them, too."
"Really? Would I know any of the titles?"
"I don't think so."
"Cannon apparent!" Freddy warned. "Class two coherent particle accelerator. Field eddy deepening."
"Automatic response locked in," Iggy said.
The privateer cannon stabbed its brief bursts of energy across space and struck the drive envelope of the Freedom. Instead of reflecting away, the first pulse found a weakness in the detuned drive field and punched into the rocky material of the passive shielding. The unstable drive field collapsed into a river of quantum circuitry pointed back along the vector to the privateer's cannon. The small amount of free energy chaos transferred to the passive shielding set off a chain reaction in the explosives mined into the rocky material by Khalanov's engineering staff. The cascade of explosions hurled chunks of spongy rock everywhere. The brilliant shaft of energy connected the two ships and the smaller ship began losing its drive envelope. At the same time, the gravity effect of the connecting circuit began to accelerate the two ships toward each other.
"Shield debris is disrupting the circuit," Iggy said. "We need a little more time to kill their envelope."
"You sure you have the timing right?" Horss asked. "That's a lot of delta-v!"
"When the drive envelopes degrade," Iggy responded, "changes in effective mass can be impossible to predict. I had to make a few guesses."
"Thank you for providing a little excitement to my afternoon!"
"Added to that is the uncertainty of our drive efficiency after the explosives blasted against our hull."
"I think I can see the whites of their eyes," Horss said. "Twenty thousand klicks."
"Killed their drive. Program is running."
"Here they come!" Horss was trying to be as calm as Iggy seemed.
The privateer ship lost its acceleration but retained its accumulated velocity. The Freedom began to reboot its drive envelope. In a few seconds the ship was able to slip aside, just as the privateer flew by.
"Perfect!" Horss declared. "Turn and pursue!"
"Too close for my old heart!" Iggy groaned, after his held breath exploded from his lungs.
"Active sensor sweep now!"
"Priority targets one through ten acquired," Freddy said. "Relaying to the admiral."
"Where is she?"
"The yacht is inside the privateer," Freddy replied. "Their cannon apparently exploded and she entered the privateer there."
= = =
"Is that you, Lam?"
"JJ?"
How many billions of people in the universe? she thought. How much empty space between the stars? How few Marines?
"Small galaxy!" she called out from her concealment.
"When did you get out of the brig?" Lam asked, also hidden.
"Which time?"
"Must be you! Are you still a Marine? Why aren't we all dead?"
"You're not dead because we don't want to kill anyone."
"Say again? I was a Marine, too."
He sounded like the Lam Syed bin Hamid she once knew. He sounded less than completely serious, just like the old Lam. But this was his home. She was certain he would defend it with his life. She was certain he would kill her if she gave him a chance. She was also certain that he still thought well of her. Would it help if she tried to reason with him?
"We don't want to kill anyone, Lam. Admiral's orders. Why are you privateering?"
"More like scavenging, JJ. We don't endanger lives unless we're threatened. Can't say the same for the Navy."
"I agree, Lam. We're not a Navy warship. There's something we need in that asteroid and you're in the way. If we were real Navy we would have destroyed your ship without warning."
"Are you receiving an order to stand down?" Lam asked, sounding shocked but suspicious.
Relief flooded through her body and drained away the tension and dread. She had the same message from her shiplink. She couldn't have killed Lam and she had no idea what she could have done otherwise. It was a measure of how much she was changed, that only weeks ago it would not have been a problem - Lam would already be dead or wounded.
"I have orders to cease hostilities," she said. "I'm not surprised but I think you are."
"Yes! Are you going to shoot me, anyway, JJ?"
"I was hoping to, for old time's sake."
"One shot each?" Lam asked.
"Sure. On the count of three. Three!"
Jamie stood up from her place of concealment behind smoldering bales of plant fiber. A beam of energy punched through the smoke and fire-suppression vapor and illuminated her personal defense field. She staggered a little, absorbing the kinetic energy translated from the weapon's beam by her defense field.
"Nice shot, Lam, but you missed my heart."
"I was compensating for a feint left which you didn't do. Are you going to shoot?"
"No. I need to check on my people, make sure they're still alive. Give me a second."
"Did you finally get religion? You're different from the JJ I knew."
"I finally got family, Lam. I'll introduce you to them. It's good to see you again! Are you happy being out of the Marine Corps?"
&
nbsp; She completed a roll call of her Marines as she walked over to Lam and slapped him on the back.
"I sometimes miss the old days." Lam shouldered his rifle and grabbed Jamie's hand in friendship. "But this is where I belong. I can't believe you're still a Marine! You had a hard time obeying Navy orders. Navy is bad, you know."
"I know! I don't think I have time to explain, but I'll tell you this: the rest of the Navy is after us, and if you guys stay around here very long, you'll get more trouble than you can handle."
They walked rapidly through the privateer ship. People emerged from hiding to watch them pass.
"The rest of the Navy is after you?" Lam wondered. "Sounds like fun! Do you think you could take me with you?"
"I'd be glad to have you aboard, Lam. But I just heard you say you belonged here."
"I don't know where I belong! The Marines scrambled my brains! You didn't blow us away! You're the good Navy, right? I always wanted to be in the Good Navy, to be a Marine in the Good Navy, to do good and important things. These are my people but I don't like the way they live, always looking over their shoulders. Maybe I can make things better for them by serving with you."
Jamie followed a signal to lead her to her mother. She and Lam entered a large room filled with people laughing and talking. Admiral Demba, the apparent guest of honor, put down her cup of tea and smiled at her daughter. "They saw me on the Mother Earth Opera broadcast," she said. "One of my songs came from their culture. Isn't that a nice coincidence?"
2-19 Princess Charming
Jamie was following Demba - Zakiya - her mother! - someday she would decide how to think of her. She was following the Mission Commander from place to place, watching her solve problems. Her mother dealt mainly with the civilian crew, and now the Malay. Jamie tried to be a good student of the process but she found it difficult to concentrate. Didn't admirals sit in offices and wait for people to bring the