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 purposely 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.”
Gran’s expression had turned thoughtful. “I think I understand, sir. Instead of copying Rom, I should work out my own mannerisms and speaking.”
Kas smiled and nodded. “As for the accent, just use the one you were born with. That would be… uh… Jule, right?”
Gran looked gratified that Kas had taken the time to find out. “Yes, sir. My family were fishermen.”
"All right, just try to remember how some of the fishermen from your home village walked, talked and acted. You don’t have to be a perfect copy; I doubt we’ll run into anyone from Jule. Just be a good generic Jule fisherman.”
“Yes, sir!” Gran replied excitedly. His face lit with enthusiasm. “I know I can do that. When I was growing up, I used to watch the boat captains and try to imitate them. I know just what you mean, sir.”
Kas hoped Tera would be as easy to deal with, but he knew that she wouldn’t. He called her to his cabin.
Tera obviously knew the reason for his summons. She looked desperately unhappy, and her expression was sullen and morose. She didn't wait for Kas to speak. “I know what you want,” she said accusingly, “You want me to start behaving like some… rim barbarian. You want someone like… like Rom!”
Kas was sitting erect and formal, grimly military. “Exactly. Lieutenant Commander Fauss, you’re endangering our lives, and those of the people in cold sleep. More importantly, you’re endangering the success of this mission.”
She cringed slightly. Suddenly her shoulders slumped and her expression revealed her misery. She seemed on the verge of tears. “Do you think I don’t know that, sir? But… well… I’ve worked so hard on becoming a Fleet officer that I don’t know how to act like an outerworlder anymore.”
Kas snorted. “Nonsense!”
A flush spread over her broad features. “I can’t help it if I’m a Fleet officer and not some… some savage like Reffel!” she snapped.
Kas' expression softened and he relaxed slightly. Tera wasn't resisting him. She needed counseling, not a chewing out. “I wish you were half as good at this as Rom is. You know that Rom is my Exec; what you don’t seem to realize is that until he resigned five years ago, Rom Reffel was a Fleet Lieutenant Commander, just like you. In fact, He had several years’ more experience than you do now, including a stint as exec of a destroyer.”
Her eyes widened. “ Rom? Rom was a lieutenant commander? That.. that uncouth…” The eyes narrowed again, this time in anger. “I’ll kill him! All this time he’s been…”
Kas suppressed a grin. “Yep. I gather he’s really been enjoying your reactions.”
“Hmph! I’ll show him reactions! That… that… man!” She jumped to her feet.
“Hold it!” Kas gestured toward the chair she’d just vacated. “We’re not finished here, Commander. Sit down!” She thumped back into the chair, still obviously furious.
“This is a Fleet mission, after all,” Kas continued calmly. “You should have known Rom would be Fleet. At any rate, Rom is an excellent example of what we’re all trying to accomplish — all but you. Until now, that is. From now on, I expect to see an honest effort toward acting your part.”
“But I’ve tried!” she wailed. “I just can’t seem to overcome my fleet training.”
Kas rose and walked around the desk to stand over her. He regarded her sternly. “No, you haven’t tried,” he said firmly, “But you will. I’m warning you right now. I won’t have this mission endangered by your stubbornness. You’ve got until our last jump from empire space. If I’m not satisfied with your efforts by that time, I swear I’ll thaw out an astrogator and freeze you in her place. Is that clear?”
She looked panicked. “But I don’t know how to act… like that,” she protested.
“Of course you do. Twelve years ago, a young farm woman from Fargone arrived at the Fleet Astronautics Academy. Surely you remember what she was like? How she walked, how she talked? You worked hard enough to change her.”
The panic faded from her face, to be replaced with a thoughtful expression. “You mean I should just be me… the me of twelve years ago.” He nodded. “I can do that. Of course I can do that! If you only knew how hard I had to work to lose those manners and habits…” Her smile was rueful, tinged with slight bitterness. She straightened abruptly. “I can do it, Commodore… I mean, Captain. You’ll see.”
He nodded in satisfaction. She sounded sincere. He could at least expect an honest effort from her. “Very well. Remember, your deadline is our jump out of empire space.”
“I can do it, sir. You’ll see.” She stood again. “If that’s all, sir…”
“That’s all, Tera. If I or any of the others can help, just ask.”
She nodded, a determined expression on her face. “Thank you, sir. Right now, though, I think I’ll go have a chat with our Exec…”
Unfortunately for Rom, she bumped into him in a passageway while she was still furious. She backed him against a bulkhead and, finger waving in his face, unloaded her anger and frustrations on him in a way that left him gasping in awe at her command of invective. Then she stomped off before he could get in a word of reply.