Free Starfist: A World of Hurt by David Sherman & Dan Cragg Page A

she was no astrogator and had no idea what stars or constellations lurked invisibly in the daytime sky where she looked.
    Wilma Arden was a navy captain. She wasn't supposed to wonder what to do, she was supposed to act like she knew exactly what to do--even if she hadn't the foggiest notion. She spun back to Gullkarl and slapped the palms of her hands on her desktop. "Thank you, Lieutenant Commander," she said firmly. "Your 'distant cousin' was right in referring this to the military, and you were right in bringing it to my attention. I'll take care of it from here."
    "Yes ma'am." He stood, understanding that he was dismissed, and came to attention. "By your leave, ma'am?"
    She nodded curtly, and he marched out of his commander's office, glad to have that crystal off his hands. A few minutes after he sat back at his desk, it occurred to him to wonder whether he'd promised cousin Himan he'd get back to him on the final disposition of the report. Then he shook his head. No, Birkenstock hadn't seemed to have any notion what the report was really about and had probably forgotten all about it.
    He was right.
    Commander Moon Happiness liked to think he had the best job in the We're Here!
    navy--commander of the heavy cruiser Goin'on, We're Here!'s most advanced starship. Just then, though, he wasn't as happy about his command as he had been. Admiral of the Starry Heavens Sativa Orange, Chief of Naval Operations for We're Here!, had taken personal command of the mission to locate the current home port of the Broken Missouri, the pirate freighter that was hauling rare ores from the planet designated 43q15x17-32--at least Admiral Orange and Commander Moon had independently concluded that's what the unmarked-but-nonetheless-identified Broken Missouri was doing, though Moon kept to himself his opinion that she wasn't a pirate ship--and made the Goin'on his flagship for the mission.
    Happiness was unhappy because Orange was unhappy. Not because he commiserated with Admiral Orange, but because the admiral was unhappy with him. Admiral Orange believed that the Goin'on should have already located the Broken Missouri's home port, and had made known his suspicion that her failure to do so was due to either dereliction or incompetence on the part of her commander. So Commander Happiness was justifiably concerned that instead of being promoted to captain, as he should be as commander of We're Here!'s most advanced warship, he might be relieved of his command, which would effectively terminate his career.
    Admiral Orange, in expressing his displeasure with Happiness, said more than once that he had forgotten more about being a ship's commander than the Goin'on's current commander had learned. Which was true as far as it went. Unfortunately for the sake of accuracy, what Admiral Orange remembered was less than what Commander Happiness knew. One detail that Admiral Orange had forgotten was, once a starship jumped into Beamspace, it was impossible to follow.
    When the Goin'on reported back to We're Here!, the admiral had come aboard with his primary staff and ordered the starship back to the Rock, which he called by its official designation. They'd only waited for nine days standard before the Broken Missouri, still cloaked, reappeared and headed for the planet. Admiral Orange wasn't impressed by the freighter's stealth capability or by the skill demonstrated by the Goin'on's crew in spotting it.
    "Why didn't you pick her up earlier?" he growled when he realized the starship must have been in Space-3 for three or four days before she was detected.
    They watched as the unmarked starship docked with the equally unmarked space station.
    They waited while the freighter took on its cargo. They followed discreetly when the Broken Missouri headed out-system for her jump into Beamspace. When she jumped, Admiral Orange waited with growing impatience for the Goin'on to follow. He finally demanded to know what the delay was.
    Commander Happiness did his best