Inadvertent Adventures (26 page)

Captain Janszoon stood and took a deep breath. "If you'll excuse me, Ma'am, I would like to review this. If what you're saying is true, and I have no doubt that it is, I've hated the wrong person for nearly twenty years."

"There is one other document on that chip that you might find illuminating."

"That is, Ma'am?"

Admiral Carter let her mouth twist into a wry grin. "Lieutenant Stevenson's official letter of reprimand for failing to carry out her orders."

* * *

Three ships emerged into the Nuwe Vaderland System and set course for Beloofte. They had emerged farther into the system than was normally considered safe, and it was only two hours before the Beloofte System Control contacted them.

"Ships entering Nuwe Vaderland space, are you in distress? Please transmit any emergency needs with your ship identification papers."

Ann grimaced as she looked at Sterling. "Contact
Tivor Carva
and
Mintze
. Inform them that we will take the blame for the close emergence."

"Aye, Ma'am," Sterling replied, then made contact with the two DA-CC ships. He received an immediate reply. "They say go ahead."

Ann nodded, then signaled Sterling to record her message. "Nuwe Vaderland Control, this is the
Admiral Ann's Revenge
in company with the refinery ship
Tivor Carva
and assay vessel
Mintze
. We have no emergencies. Ships documentation for all three vessels is attached to this message." She nodded to Sterling and he cut the recorder, then attached the message packets to the transmission and sent it.

"Nothing to do now but decelerate toward the planet until we receive instructions," Sterling said as he sat back.

Ann stood up and stretched. "I'm going to inspect my eyelids for a few hours. Wake me if anything significant happens."

"Aye, Ma'am," Sterling and Denise answered.

When Ann had closed the hatch behind her, Denise turned to give Sterling a questioning look. "Is she all right?"

"Yes, she's all right. It was just hearing that her old boyfriend is dying that shook her up." Sterling paused and shook his head. "She's depressed. It'll pass in time. She just needs something to wake her up and make her feel alive again."

Ann returned on her own after just three hours, and sat in her chair, silently staring at the visual display in front of her. Then she spoke softly to nobody. "The sins of my past, all come to wish me bon voyage."

"Ann?" Sterling asked.

"I'm worried about Vicky Janszoon. She can blow us out of space with a single notation on her report. And after what I did to her, she just might do it."

"You had to-" Sterling started to say, but she cut him off.

"I know that!" she snapped. "I know, but I've never told her. It would sound too much like I was trying to make excuses, shift the blame to someone else. True or not, orders or not, I treated her worse than I would treat someone like that piece of scum Otto."

"Then we can only hope that Admiral Carter can rein her in. Or that there is nothing on Frisland that is even marginally intelligent." Sterling took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Hiroshi knew. He had to have known."

Control was silent until the radio messages that were necessary to bring them into port began. Ann remained silent, letting Sterling deal with it all. It took just five days of deceleration to match the velocity of Beloofte, and Ann remained silent until they were docked.

"We are secure at Jan Smuts Station," Sterling announced.

"Contact station health. When we are cleared to open hatches, replenish our stores and refuel the ship." Ann stood and headed for the wardroom. "I'm going to ask CM if she can get some local foods. Something different from the same-old slime-mold we loaded in New Frankfurt. There are supposed to be some interesting foodstuffs that the Beloofters think of as boring. Maybe we can trade New Frankfurt goods for something exotic."

Carrie-Marie was making her 'shopping list' when Ann caught up with her. "CM, while you are wheeling and dealing with the locals, see if you can trade some of the stores we loaded in New Frankfurt for something from here. I really don't care if I never see knockwurst again."

Carrie-Marie chuckled. "Yes, Ma'am. I'll do my best."

Ann turned away and found her newest crew member walking toward her. He had been all but forced on her by the Von Rubenstein family. "Doctor Mandel?" she said as he stopped.

"Captain, I have spent our voyage setting the Med-Deck to rights, as instructed, but I must once again urge you to consider bringing an assistant medical officer on board." He wasn't wringing his hands or pleading. He'd already found out that those tactics didn't work on Ann or Sterling. "There are going to be times when more than my hands are going to be needed."

"Doctor, as I have explained before, the first mate, second mate, and I all have basic medical training. We can assist you if necessary," Ann said in a patient tone. "Two medical officers in a crew of twelve would be ridiculous."

"But Captain, we are headed out into the farthest reaches, beyond explored space. What if something happens out there?"

Ann closed her eyes and took two deep breaths before answering. "Doctor Mandel, the
Tivor Carva
has a fully staffed medical facility with four doctors, nine nurses, and twenty attendants. The
Mintze
has two doctors and four nurses. The
Duyfken
has a doctor, two nurses, and eight corpsmen. You are hardly going to be the only doctor in the system."
You pathetic ass.

C
ARRIE-MARIE DECIDED TO TAKE ANN'S
suggestion and run with it. Instead of just sending in her order, like most vessels, she went to one of the dock supply offices in person. "Hello?" she called as she opened the door.

"Come in, please," a man's voice answered. "How may I be of service?"

Carrie-Marie stepped into the office and closed the door behind her. "I'm Carrie-Marie Chanticlair, Supply Officer of the
Admiral Ann's Revenge.
We're loading stores for a long deployment, and I wanted something different for my crew. We've made our last few load-outs in the New Frankfurt System, and the variety is getting stale."

"And you mention this for what purpose?" the man asked.

Carrie-Marie looked at him silently for a moment. He was old. Not just older, but truly old, in his eighties at least. "Wanna trade?" she asked with a grin.

The old man's head tilted to the side as he asked, "What do you have to offer?"

Carrie-Marie pulled out her 'Pad and started reading off the list of excess supplies. "I have eight tons of New Berlin Knockwurst, ten tons of sauerkraut, and six tons of Novatal Mountains Thüringer Summer Sausage that I'd like to replace with something different."

"We don't import much from New Frankfurt, young lady. And am I correct in thinking that yours is the ship that found the new system way out beyond the borders of explored space?" the old man asked, sitting forward in his chair to fix her with a piercing gaze.

Carrie-Marie smiled and nodded shyly. "Yes, sir. We're on our way back. It's just a guess, but we may be out of the Confederacy for a year or more."

"I see," the wizened old man murmured. "Well, I can trade you boerewors for your knockwurst. That's a sausage made from Wilderbeast and titano-rhino meat with assorted spices."

"Pardon the interruption, but
what
is it made of?" Carrie-Marie asked.

"Wilderbeast is a native animal that vaguely resembles a Terran Wildebeest, except its three times the size and omnivorous. Mean as hell and dangerous, but tasty. Titano-rhino is pretty close to what it sounds like: a rhinoceros the size of an elephant, but with two horns side-by-side instead of front and back. They're big and docile, and were one of the first native animals we domesticated after settling the planet."

"Oh. Is there someplace I can try some before I take it aboard? I'd hate to end up with something the crew can't stand eating."

The old man smiled. "Let's go down the way to the Beskuit Huis. I'll buy you a meal you'll not soon forget."

"I can pay, sir," Carrie-Marie started to say, but the old man cut her off.

"Ha. Not likely. Besides, it's not often I get to share a meal with a pretty young woman like yourself. Just come along and see what we have to offer." The old man smiled and ushered her out the door and to the left.

The Beskuit Huis was just a short walk away, and Carrie-Marie sniffed appreciatively as they entered. "Smells good."

"Martin, what are you doing here so early? And who is this?" a woman in an apron asked as she walked up to them.

"Dani, this is Carrie-Marie from that ship that discovered the new system a month or two ago. She's their procurement officer and wanted to try boerewors, biltong, and some preserved shaal-grass before she takes it aboard."

"You're going back out? I heard that the Navy just sent out a survey vessel three weeks ago," Dani said as she guided them to a table.

"Yes, but we already have permission to start operations on the non-habitable planets. Dresden Agro-Commerce Collective is sending out a refinery ship to begin making fuel and a mine assay ship to begin explorations of the inner planets."

Dani raised her eyebrows at that, and then went to get their food. Apparently, Martin's comment was being taken as an order. She returned in just a few minutes with a large plate of meat and a bowl of something resembling blue spaghetti-and two steins of dark amber beer. "Ah, Dani, you're an angel," Martin sighed as she set the beer down in front of him.

Turning his attention to Carrie-Marie, he pointed at the meats. "The fried rounds of meat are the boerewors, the sticks are biltong, and this is shaal-grass preserved in brine. I'd suggest a small nip of each at first."

Carrie-Marie did as he suggested and transferred a piece of each of the meats to her plate and just a little of the shaal-grass. She took a small bite of the boerewors and chewed it thoughtfully. "It's like sausage from home," she said, "but with a different set of spices. It's sweeter. I can say yes to this." Then she picked up the biltong. Looking at it, she was reminded of a twisted briar stem, and tapped it on the side of her plate gently. It may as well have been made of wood. She looked up to see Martin grinning at her. "You're sure this is edible?" she asked with a wry expression.

Martin laughed loudly for a moment, but he was nodding. "Contrary to popular belief, you can't quite sharpen it and use it as a weapon, but it is edible. Just trim off about two centimeters and chew thoroughly. You'll want some beer with it or it'll dry you out."

Carrie-Marie did as instructed and was glad that her teeth were in good shape. The stick slowly broke down into strands of meat as she chewed on it, and she eventually washed it down with a big swig of beer. "That's interesting. It's like the antelope jerky in the emergency survival stores that my father keeps in the attic."

Martin nodded and shifted his gaze to the shaal-grass. Carrie-Marie followed his gaze and took a bite. It was like crisp sauerkraut in texture, but the flavor was significantly different. It was spicy, but not really hot, with an undercurrent of sweetness like a melon, and left Carrie-Marie wanting more as soon as she swallowed. "Now this is very good. Even Kat is going to like this. Very well, I'm happy with the samples."

Martin smiled, served himself portions of each, and started eating. "We'll call this an early lunch, shall we? Eat up, now. No sense in letting anything go to waste."

Carrie-Marie took more of each item, especially the shaal-grass, and enjoyed the meal while Martin discussed the trade arrangements.

"Now, I'll trade straight across boerewors for knockwurst. For the summer sausage, I'll trade one-point-three tons of biltong to the ton. I'll trade one-point-five tons of shall-grass to the ton of sauerkraut. How does that sound?"

Carrie-Marie was nodding as she took a swig of beer to clear her mouth. "I agree to that."

Just then Dani walked by and wagged a finger at Martin, which made him start laughing again. Carrie-Marie saw and grinned. "She thinks you're taking advantage of me, doesn't she?" she asked.

"A little. And I suppose I am, but just a little."

"That's fair enough. But keep in mind that we'll be making this run fairly often, and there are other suppliers on the station."

Martin eyed her closely then nodded. "Very well. One-point-three tons of boerewors to the ton of knockwurst."

Carrie-Marie smiled deeply and had to chuckle. "That wasn't what I meant, but thank you. I suspect you're still getting the better of the deal, but that's acceptable. We're at dock eleven. I can have everything unloaded in three hours."

"I'll have the order there," Martin said as he smiled at her over his beer.

* * *

Ann and Sterling were supervising the loading of power cells for the mining robots when Carrie-Marie got back to the ship. "I have some new items for Kat to play with, Ma'am. I've tried each of them and I think they'll make a good addition to the menu."

Ann nodded and said, "Very well. Buy or trade?"

"Trade. I'll draft Kat and Bart to help transfer the cargo." She vanished into the ship as Sterling gave Ann a puzzled look.

"Trade?"

"I'm a little-well, a
lot
sick of New Frankfurt's version of food. I want something different. CM is trading some of our supplies for something local. She's got the refrigerators and freezers pretty well packed, and we've still got eight tons of nova wheat from the container we broke into." She looked across the hold to where the container of wheat was sitting.

"Well, I'm just as glad to be hauling power cells this time. The
Mintze
will be taking them off our hands as soon as we arrive," Sterling replied as another pallet of cells passed by.

"And the
Tivor Carva
should be able to refuel us for the trip back. But I'm going to max out our cargo capacity with external fuel tanks once the cells are loaded. It's going to take about fifty-six percent of our fuel to get there and into orbit, plus moving between the planets. I never want to have to pay for a tug again." Ann's expression was as sour as Sterling's when she thought of what that tow had cost them.