She shook her head. “Won’t work.” Lar Tennig was also shaking his head.
“Look, Captain,” Kas replied in a nettled tone, “We’re trying to find a way to save your lives! It’s not too late to put you back aboard your ship, you know. Now, why won’t it work?”
“Because of something you couldn’t possibly know, Captain,” she replied. “I was born in space. My parents were traders as well. Most of the customs agents in this sector have known me since I was a babe in arms. They’ve watched me grow up. They know me and I know them. If a stranger suddenly shows up at any system in this sector trying to impersonate me, they’ll be locked up or dead before they can get a word out — and there will be some very hard questions asked!”
Lar Tennig spoke up. “She’s telling the truth, Captain. Everybody in the sector knows Lady Jane! Hell, she’s had that nickname since she was a kid. It’s probably the only joke that’s understood in every system in the sector.”
Kas frowned, and Jane Grey explained. “When I was a kid, oh, ten or twelve standard, I guess, I read this book about Old Earth. I dunno if it was true or not, but this book said that there was this place on Old Earth called Angle Land, or something like that. Anyway, it seems that there was a king named Henry Vee — something, and his queen was named Lady Jane Grey. Her name was even spelled the same as mine. She was young too, and she was only the queen for a few weeks, and then she was killed. It's a great tragic story.”
“Well,” she continued, “You know how kids that age are. I decided that I would now be called ‘Lady’ Jane Grey. My parents thought it was funny to go along with me. So, now everyone in the sector knows me by that name. And I can guarantee that you won’t make it past your first recal if someone tries to impersonate me.”
Kas’ frown had deepened. He sighed. “What you’ve told me only makes the decision harder. I guess the only thing we can do is put you back aboard your ship with supplies for several months and hope that no one finds you in time to interfere with our mission!”
Lady Jane leaned forward again, causing serious distractions for Kas. “Hold on a minute, Captain. Even if we’re found I’m not thrilled about sitting on a dead ship for months. Maybe we can work something out. You’re Impies, right? Well, we’re Alliance citizens. Tell us about your mission, and if it’s no threat to the Alliance, maybe we can help.”
Kas grinned. “You’re a trader, all right. And an excellent negotiator. But this isn’t a trade negotiation. I know this sounds melodramatic, but the future of mankind will be affected by the success or failure of our mission.”
She answered his grin with one of her own. “You’re right. It sounds too melodramatic to be true. But I keep remembering that it was important enough for the Empire to send a Fleet crew out here with another three hundred in cold sleep, and for the Glory to send out ships pretending to be pirates.”
“Captain!” Rom interrupted, “I’m sorry sir,” he continued, “but security…”
Kas waved a hand in dismissal. “Security be damned,” he replied. “The main reason we’re out here playing spook is because everyone in the sector already knows about it. I can’t see that it can do much damage to talk about the mission at this point.”
He turned back to his visitors. “An Empire battle cruiser went missing out near the edge of known space just over a century ago. Well, she’s been found. She’s intact, with her plague beacon running. The point is that she’s a complete, intact battle cruiser. That means she’s fully armed, including two planet busters.”
“Unfortunately, the people that found her talked to people all the way back in to the Empire. So, not only the Empire, but the Alliance, the Glory and about half the independents are out looking for her. We happen to think that the best thing that could happen would be for the Empire to reclaim her; but I’m not sure the Alliance would agree.”
“What I think we can agree on is that if the Glory or one of the nastier independents gets a fully operational battle cruiser, it could upset the balance of power throughout known space.” He shrugged. “It sounds melodramatic, but you could say that we’re trying to prevent an interstellar war.”
His guests exchanged glances. “Well,” Jane said at last, “We know how badly the Glory wants her.” She grimaced and shivered. “I was just imagining that Swordtan in command of a battle cruiser instead of a corvette.” She looked thoughtful. “Look, Captain. As we’ve mentioned, we’re known in every system in this part of space. We can help you.”
Kas chuckled. “I doubt it. Oh, we could use your undoubtedly complete knowledge of this sector, but I don’t think we need someone to shout “Impie spy!” at our next recal stop.”
She frowned. “We wouldn’t do that.”
Kas shrugged. “But we can’t take the chance that you would. No, I’m afraid we’ll just have to maroon you for a while.”
She sighed in exasperation. “Look, Captain, I can understand your lack of trust. All you know about us is that we’re Alliance citizens who spend all our time among the independents. But that battle cruiser is a threat to the independents, the Alliance, hell, everybody! Just the thought of planet busters in the hands of the Glory is enough to make me want to help you. Having them in Empire hands is far better than having them drifting around out here unclaimed.”
Kas started to reply, but she continued, “All right. We’ll give our word that we won’t betray you, even to the Alliance, and that we’ll do anything we can to help you get that damned thing back to the Empire!” The bald man beside her nodded, his face grim.
Again Kas started to reply. This time it was Rom who interrupted. “Don’t do it, Captain,” he said. “It’s an unjustified risk!”
Kas turned to him. “Rom, you’ve been crewing on traders for five years now. Tell me what you know about a trader’s word.”
Rom shifted uncomfortably. “A trader would die to keep his word. He knows that if he breaks it no one will ever do business with him again.” He shrugged. “I still say it’s an unjustified risk. We should put them back aboard their ship and boost max away from here.”
“He’s right, you know,” Kas said to the woman. “It is an unjustified risk. I have no right to jeopardize the mission for a pretty face.”
She grinned. “Pretty? Not in this universe!” Then she sobered. “Look, Captain. I ought to let you maroon us. We already know quite enough to blow your mission. We know your ship’s name and we know that you were here. You also let slip that you started from Prime. It wouldn’t be too hard to reconstruct your course data, project it forward, and get a pretty good idea where you’re heading.”
“But I don’t want to blow your mission. I want that damned battle cruiser safely back under Empire control. Oh, I won’t try to tell you that I wouldn’t rather see it in Alliance hands. But it does belong to the Empire, you’re the ones that know where it is, and you’ve got a crew for it already aboard.”
Kas looked doubtful, and she continued, “All right, I’ll prove my good intentions. You think that marooning us would be an effective way to isolate us for awhile. You’re wrong. This is a busy recal point. In fact, the Senegalese have been talking about putting a customs post here. It would be a few days at most before we were rescued. If we wanted to blow your cover, all we’d have to do is let you listen to your man here and maroon us, then contact the Alliance embassy on New Senegal when we were rescued in a few days.” she shrugged. “You see? I’m putting myself at risk just to tell you that. You could decide to kill us and destroy the Lady. But I don’t think you will. At least, I hope you won’t.” The bald man at her side nodded enthusiastically. “Me too!” he replied, glaring at the woman.