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  After talking with Reffel, Kas was happier. The man might not be a book officer, but he certainly knew DIN class traders, and was familiar with quite a number of the independent systems.

  Kas briefed Rom on the mission, and told him to change his uniform for a plain shipsuit.

  Rom relaxed with a huge sigh. “I’ll tell ya, Skipper, when Cap’n Froud tol’ me I’d be posin’ as a civilian aboard a DIN class wi’ a fleet crew, I wasn’t too happy. Th’ Fleet ain’t much good at cloak ‘n dagger. If yer’ve an outie crew, and if this ship is any example, we’ve a chance. Long as your outies c’n resist marchin’ ‘n salutin’ ‘n all!”

  Kas smiled. “I don’t know if they’ll ever be as unmilitary as you are, Rom, but they’re working on it.”

  Rom returned Kas’ grin. “Yar, well, It’us the military folderol that run me out. Seems as soon as some people gets a little braid on ‘em, they turns inter parade ground sojers! Long as yer don’t ‘spect that from me, I can be good at m’job. Yer’ll see!”

  Kas’s smile widened to a delighted grin. Their chances of pulling off the deception had just doubled. “We lift in just under twenty hours. Change out of that uniform, and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew. Most of our lading is complete, but you’ll want to look over the manifests and stowage yourself. Let me know if anything doesn’t look right, or just doesn’t ring true. Once we boost we’ll have three days to our first jump point to get things straightened out.”

  Chapter 3

  They lifted on schedule. Once the course to the jump point was laid in, the crew used the three days on inertial drive to begin the delicate process of getting acquainted. The others were taken a bit aback by Rom’s manner, but by the time they reached the jump point, most seemed comfortable with it. The always cheerful Gran Telker was even beginning to ape Rom’s casual manner.

  Toj Kray seemed a bit perturbed by Rom’s manner, but since the chief engineer was so taciturn, the signs were subtle. Kas noticed that Rom seemed to have recognized Toj’s reaction, and was making an effort to thaw the husky Bulworther.

  The introverted Edro Jans several times fled from Rom’s manner and wit; but Kas noticed that when the innerworlder wasn’t looking, Edro’s gaze was one of envy.

  The only possible trouble point was Tera Fauss. Rom’s irreverent comments about the empire and the fleet and his casual manner seemed to constantly irritate her. Kas kept a close eye on her, and was unsurprised when she appeared at his cabin door six hours before jump.

  Her face was red and she was quivering with anger. “Captain, I know this is an undercover mission,” she began, “but we shouldn’t have to tolerate that man’s lack of respect for the service!”

  Kas didn’t have to ask who that man was. “I don’t see a problem, Tera. He’s acting like an innerworlder signing onto an outie trader would act. I suspect that he’s going to be the most convincing of us all.”

  “But it’s not right,” she persisted in an urgent tone. “You may be right about him being convincing, but there’s no one here to convince. We’re all Fleet officers. It’s not right for him to be making jokes about the Empire and the Fleet.”

  Kas shook his head. “You’re wrong, Tera. We can’t relax and fall back into fleet behaviors just because we’re between jumps. We’ve got to act our parts all the time, or we risk a slip. A slip could get us and those three hundred fifty people in the hold killed, and turn a battle cruiser loose on settled space.”

  He shrugged. “I know how you feel. As an outie, I had to make sure that my military bearing was better than everyone else’s. I’ve stood ramrod straight and marched everywhere since I was in my teens. Trader captains don’t have a military bearing. I‘m having to learn to slump and stroll instead of marching. Rom is a terrible example of a Fleet officer. That’s why he’s perfect for this mission.”

  Tera was unconvinced. “But… It’s not right!”

  Kas sighed. “I’m afraid it is right, at least here and now. I wish all of us found it as easy as Rom does. Once we get back, he’ll go back to inactive status, and you won’t have to be concerned about his effect on the Fleet’s reputation. For now, I’d suggest you start trying to be as unmilitary as he is.”

  Tera left in a huff, but when he next noticed her, she was watching Rom with a thoughtful expression.

  As they approached their first jump point, Kas, Tera and Rom huddled over the nav comp to work out their course.

  “We could make it there in nine very long jumps,” Tera announced. “But with the comps we’ve got, that introduces too much possibility for error. We don’t want to emerge from jump inside a star.”

  Kas shuddered. “The shortest route takes us through three of the Glory’s systems.”

  Rom nodded. “Yar. Y’don’t wanna do that. The Glory pickets all jump points with military ships manned by Swords of the Lord. Ever’ ship is searched from sensor array to drive tubes.”

  Kas raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t think the Glory would have that much of a smuggling problem.”

  Rom shrugged. “It ain’t smugglin’ they’re worried about, Skipper. Oh, they look for contraband, but mostly they’re searchin’ for anything heretical or blasphemous. You’d be surprised what they consider blasphemous. They burn blasphemers,” he added.

  Kas shook his head and sighed. “All right. I’d already decided to avoid the Glory systems if possible.”

  Between them, they mapped out a course that would take them to the Rekesh in twelve jumps. Only three of the jumps would be into Empire space though, and while they avoided the Glory, they would pass through systems belonging to six of the Independents, and two belonging to the Alliance.

  Kas also had Rom look over Starhopper ’s papers for inconsistencies. There shouldn’t be any. There really was a Starhopper. She had been trading actively for almost a century, until she had the misfortune to blow an inertial drive coil at the edge of an empire system. She limped into port several months late. By the time her crew finished paying delivery penalties, there weren’t enough funds left to pay for repair. Empire Intelligence had covertly bought her for unpaid port fees. Some tinkering with serial numbers and Kas’ imitation Starhopper had genuine papers and a genuine history.

  The only real risk came from the papers documenting Starhopper ’s charter by Farterra to recruit and transport 350 cold sleep colonists for a planet referred to as Turow’s World.

  Imperial Intelligence had the resources of the Empire government to draw upon. No shortcuts had been taken. Even the signatures forged on the documents were excellent copies of those of genuine officials of Farterra’s Department of Colonial Affairs.

  Rom was impressed. “I’ll tell ya, Skipper, I doubt even the jabbos whose signatures these are would be able to tell for sure they were faked.” He shook his head sadly. “Think of the smugglin’ you could get up wi’ if ye had forgers this good t’work wi’!”

  “You don’t anticipate any problems, then?”

  Rom tossed the papers onto Kas' desk. “Nah, Skipper. Besides, we won’t have any problems for the next three jumps, anyway. They’re all Empire systems. They probably won’t even bother to look at our papers, since we’re comin’ from Prime.”

  Kas’ grin faded. “Let’s hope you’re right!”

  The jump went normally. Rom was casual, but Kas considered this jump, to the Nuhaven system, to be the first test of their disguise, and he paced nervously.

  As soon as they emerged from Jump, Tera busied herself verifying the system was indeed Nuhaven. A few minutes after she confirmed their position, Nuhaven customs hailed them.

  The official in the viewscreen didn’t look intimidating; he merely looked bored. “Customs,” he announced. Then, without a pause continued, “Ship’s ident and registration last port of call destination and purpose of visit.” He yawned.

  Kas suppressed anger at the man’s attitude and replied courteously, “We’re Starhopper. Registration is being beamed. Our last port of call was Prime. We’re boun
d for Turow’s World. That’s a new colony being established by Farterra. We’re under charter to deliver three hundred fifty cold sleep colonists recruited on Empire planets. We won’t be grounding to trade. This is just a recalibration stop. Sir.” He added grudgingly.

  The man snorted. “‘Colonists’. Hah! Gutter sweepings, you mean!”

  Kas shrugged. “As long as they’re cold sleep passengers, I wouldn’t care if they were all murderers and psychopaths. That’ll be the colony’s problem.”

  The man sniffed disdainfully. “As long as you’re not grounding, and begin boosting for a jump point within twelve standard hours, there will be no need for further customs inspection,” he said as though reciting an often-repeated litany. “Be warned: If you remain past twelve hours, you will be boarded and inspected.”

  Kas shrugged. “That’s not likely unless we run into some kind of problem. I expect to boost as soon as our next jump is computed in less than four hours.”

  The man nodded and clicked off with no further courtesies.

  Kas felt irritated by the customs agent’s manner, but Tera, who’d been listening from the Astrogator’s station, was scandalized and furious.

  “How could a representative of the emperor’s government act like that?” she fumed. “The man was a disgrace!” She carried on at some length about the proper attitude and demeanor for Empire customs officials, until Kas cut her off.

  “Be glad he was such a poor excuse for an official,” he said, “and pray that all the customs agents we meet are that incompetent.”

  Rom chuckled. “Nah, he’s pretty typical for the Empire, but the Independents take customs a lot more seriously. ‘Course,” he added, “If we’d been inbound from the rim, instead of outbound from Prime, even that gloot woulda paid more attention.”

  As the hours passed, Tera fretted over the calculations for their next jump. There were no further hails, and Kas began to relax.

  Finally, Tera pronounced herself satisfied with her computations and fed the data to the command console. Kas began to seriously consider double checking her computations, but stopped himself with a jolt as he reminded himself that Tera was a Fleet lieutenant commander with years of experience. Damn it! This disguise stuff was more complicated than he’d thought. With a jerk and an impatient grunt, he stabbed at the button that started the maneuvering program running. Starhopper moved toward the jump point, with Kas watching carefully for other traffic. After all, Starhopper ’s sensors were enhanced for a DIN-class, but still far inferior to the arrays on military ships.

  Once back in jump, Kas called a crew meeting to discuss their first recal stop.

  “Don’t get overconfident,” he warned. “This one was almost too easy. The next two are also within the Empire, so they shouldn’t be too bad. But then we hit the first of the Independents. If we’re going to have trouble, that’s where I’d expect it.”

  “Yar,” Rom agreed, “It won’t just be the first ‘un. There’s a lot of smugglin’ going on outside the empire, an’ each system seems to be tryin’ to be tougher than the next.”

  Kas nodded. “Don’t let down. Keep practicing until you can convince each other and yourselves that you’re not Fleet!”

  After the crew had returned to their duties, Kas asked Rom to his cabin.

  “Rom, you’re our resident expert. What do you think? Do we have any chance of carrying off this deception?”

  Rom grinned. “Y’mean I’m th’ ony one that ain’ an ‘officer ‘n gentlebein’.”

  Kas answered Rom’s grin with one of his own. “I doubt I’ll hurt your feelings if I agree with that; in fact I suspect you’d consider it a compliment. Your manner is as much a pose as what the rest of us are trying.”

  Rom’s grin faded, and he eyed Kas narrowly. “Now, what w’d ye be meanin’ by that, Cap’n?”

  Kas chuckled. “I keep remembering you were a Fleet officer for fifteen years. If you’d had the same speech and manner then, you’d have given several senior officers coronaries.”

  Rom hesitated a moment, eyeing Kas appraisingly. Then he sighed and grinned. “You’ve caught me, Commodore.

  “After I resigned,” he began, his gutter accent disappearing, “I made a cruise out toward the rim aboard a tramp. I found my innerworld manner made people out there suspicious and hostile. Luckily, one of my crewmates was from the slums of Newton. I watched him, and listened to him. I slowly tried to become him because his lack of polish made him welcome and let him fit in out there. By the time a few years went by, I was so adapted to the character I was playing I had to concentrate to go back to my polished manners. “I probably would have told you before, but you seemed to be enjoying my performance.”

  Kas chuckled. “You could say I admired it. On this mission, I wish we all could act as rough and undisciplined as you do. Besides, I suspect you’ve been having a lot of fun with the reactions you’ve been provoking. I asked you if you think we’ll be able to carry it off. I’m especially worried about Tera.”

  Rom’s grin faded, and he sighed. “Me too. She’s just too damned Fleet, if you know what I mean.” He paused. “I hate to say it, sir, but I don’t think she’s really trying very hard. She’s spent her entire career proving to the innerworlders that she’s as good as they are. She’s worked hard on that veneer and polish. I think she just can’t bring herself to shrug it off. To be honest, she’s endangering the mission.”

  He tilted his chair back. “As for the others, Toj is so obviously a Bulworther that he’s almost sure to pass, especially if he keeps his mouth shut — and for Toj, that’s not a problem.”

  He chuckled. “Then there’s Gran. If anybody blows our cover besides Tera, it’ll be him. Oh, not because he isn’t trying, but because he’s trying so hard. He’s also been trying to copy some of my mannerisms; and all that’ll do is make people wonder. You might need to talk to Gran.

  “Edro is probably the best of the crew, as far as not looking military. He’s so introverted he’s painful to watch. Anyone who meets him is going to be so busy trying to get Edro to respond that he won’t care what kind of response he gets.”

  Kas chuckled and nodded. “And me?”

  Rom took a deep breath; let it out in a hiss. “Well, sir, you might be all right, if you can remember. When you keep your mind on it, you do all right. When you get distracted, you sound more and more like a Fleet officer.”

  Kas looked thoughtful. “I’ll work on that. Do you think I’m a risk to the mission?”

  Rom hesitated. “You’re the Captain. People expect captains to be a bit more controlled, even military. You can probably carry it off, especially if you keep practicing.”

  Kas sighed. “So, Toj and Edro will be no problem. Nor you, of course. If I talk to Gran, tell him to tone it down, he might pass. That leaves Tera and me. All I can do is keep practicing. I hadn’t realized how hard it would be, until that officious little customs bastard at Nuhaven got me fuming.” He shrugged. “It’s obvious I’ll have to have another talk with Tera. I wish I could replace her; I hate having more than three hundred lives depending on a reluctant actor.”

  Rom frowned. “We can try to keep her out of sight as much as possible, try to limit her interactions with non-crew.”

  Kas shook his head. “An Astrogator can’t be invisible. For most routine contacts, you and I will be most involved. If we’re boarded for customs inspection, I can’t imagine an inspector not talking to all the crew.”

  Rom shrugged. “You’re right, of course. We have to find a way.”

  Kas had been thinking. “Perhaps we can give Tera her own cover story. She was Fleet, but was cashiered, or something.”

  Rom shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t know, Captain. You could end up causing more suspicion. What do her ident papers say about her?”

  Kas shrugged. “No more than is usual with civilian crew. Her logbook shows she graduated astrogator training at Largo University twelve years ago. There’s the usual list of ships. The dates are p
urposely vague, just as on our papers. We didn’t want to chance one of us meeting someone who was aboard a ship we were supposedly on.”

  Rom shook his head again. “I can’t recommend we try anything fancy. Sheol, she can’t even carry off being a civilian. Add some lame cover story, and you’re courting disaster. Maybe you should consider checking the ident disks of the people in cold storage. If there’s a female Astrogator back there, maybe you could exchange places.”

  Kas looked troubled. “That could be almost as dangerous. At least Tera is an outerworlder. All we’d need would be to thaw someone out, then find out they’re from the cream of innerworld society. Of course, there’s no guarantee they’d be any better actors than Tera. No,” he continued, “I’m putting my hopes on Tera. I’m going to have to shake her up. I may threaten to replace her.”

  Rom looked doubtful. “Well, I hope something works. By the time we reach the Independents, the rest of you might be able to carry it off, but not Tera.”

  Tackling the easier job first, Kas told Rom to send Gran to his cabin. Gran's cheerful good humor and youthful enthusiasm made him everyone's favorite, and contributed greatly to the ship's morale. He made Kas feel old and jaded, but he liked Gran as much as everyone else.

  “Gran,” Kas began, “I want to talk to you about your acting.”

  Gran looked distressed. “But I’m trying, sir. I really am!”

  Kas smiled. “I know you are, Gran. You’re trying hard to look unmilitary, and, to some extent, you’re succeeding.” He paused with a sigh. “The problem is that you’re trying to imitate Rom instead of developing your own style. Rom is very good at it, but he’s had years of practice in becoming what he is. You’re trying to copy him with only a couple of weeks’ practice. As a result, you just look like a cartoon of Rom, and that looks even more suspicious than Fleet manners.”