Free To Honor You Call Us by Harvey G. Phillips, H. Paul Honsinger

you are, you won’t have any problems picking it up.  Now, on top of what your records say, Admiral Hornmeyer has notified me unofficially that you have personal contacts in the Free Corridor that might be able to put us on the trail of Krag purchases and ship movements.  Now, how in the big bright galaxy is that?”
    “Captain, as you know, I was born on Tubek.  But, at the risk of sounding like a well-worn literary cliché about Arab and Turkish traders, my father’s ancestors for many generations have been merchants and traders from New Istanbul in the Markeb sector.”
    “I’ve served on Patrol Vessels in that area.  Any company I might have heard of?”
    “The firm was Harun Sahin & Sons, founded by my grandfather.”
    “That’s not one I remember.  But, I’d remember only the largest ones and the ones who gave us trouble.”
    “I am certain that our company would have been neither of those.  It was in that broad medium tier of firms.  We kept anywhere between five and seven ships running all the time, usually about half a dozen charters and the two owned by the company with family members on board.”
    “Well, that wouldn’t make it one of the big players but that’s still a pretty good sized company.  Anyway, what kind of trading did your folks do?”
    “There wasn’t any specialty, really.  They stayed away from contraband and extremely bulky goods such as ore and grain, but on the whole they simply looked for items in one system that they could buy and sell for a profit in another.  It really didn’t matter what, although I remember carrying a lot of precision machine tools, gourmet olive oil, and fine art Pfelung glassware.  The routes tended to be among the worlds of the Free Corridor and between the Free Corridor and the Union worlds in the Markeb and Tulloi sectors.  Because my cousin and I were to take over the business when my father and his brother became too old to run it, we frequently went along so we could be introduced to their business contacts and so the contacts would get to know us.”
    “When the Tulloi sector fell to the Krag, my father, his brother, and their wives were all on board the two family ships, along with most of the rest of my relatives, and were never heard from again.  I was relieved that my younger sister and two brothers were attending secondary school on Tubek and were not harmed.  Of course, Tubek fell a few years later and they are now lost as well.  In any event, I know people or—at least know people who know people—on many worlds in the Corridor who are likely to be the people with whom the Krag are doing business.  From them we might learn departure times, routes, and other information that will help you find these ships in the immensity of space.”
    “Quite possibly.”
    “And, am I correct in my understanding that before our departure this vessel was provided with a Piper-Grumman Shetland class micro-freighter?”
    “It was.  The Navy has done us proud, too.  She looks worn and banged up on the outside, but she’s been retrofitted with naval specification engines and weapons that just might get you out of a tight corner or two.”
    “I look forward to piloting her,” the doctor said with enthusiasm.
    “Don’t think so, Doctor.  Able Spacer Second Fahad came aboard an hour before I did.  His Pilot Assessment Score is one eighty-five on that ship and one sixty overall.  He looks enough like you pass at least for a cousin.  He’ll be doing the piloting.”
    “But, I grew up on freighters.  I can pilot the ship.”
    “Sorry, Doctor, I’ve seen your piloting scores.  They’re barely high enough to let you at the helm of a Vespa-Martin Dragonfly in open space in some of the more lenient systems.  No way are they high enough for me to let you pilot a souped-up armed microfreighter in company with a Rated Warship, much less land on her hangar deck.  Hangar deck landings are a specialized skill and you haven’t had the