Joat and Joseph exchanged a look.
"He's always like this after he's been on leave," Joat explained.
Joseph nodded, "Of course, quite understandable."
Joat cocked her head at her crew, her brows raised.
"Um, Al. Would you like to pursue your acquaintance with this lady while Joe and I take a brief jaunt elsewhere?"
Alvec looked from Joat to Joseph suspiciously.
"Not especially. I mean, yeah, I want to pursue her acquaintance, she's beautiful, but not at the expense of my job."
"Your job is safe, Al. Joe's just visiting, he's got a wife and kids dirtside on Bethel. We've just got this thing we've got to do. And you deserve a vacation, you haven't had one in ages."
Alvec studied his employer, her little half smile, the raised brows, the wide innocent eyes.
"Now you've got me worried, Captain," he complained. "When you look this reasonable, you're usually up to something. I'll think about it." Alvec allowed his manner to convey his deep suspicion.
The com chimed. "Merchant Ship Wyal, Captain Joat Simeon speaking," Joat answered.
"Good morning, Captain Simeon. My name is Graf Dyson." The man smiled grimly. "Although I understand you know my name."
Oh-oh. Graf Dyson. I claimed to be a very good friend of Graf Dyson. Influential people tended to disapprove when you took their names in vain. She'd intended to be far away by the time Mr. Dyson got wind of how she'd used his influence without his permission. Oh, well, I never expected to want to get fined.
The man on the screen was dark haired, middle-aged and heavy featured. Looks honest, Joat thought. That was a bad sign. Conmen and sharps usually did.
"I am employed by the Bureau of Fines and Levies, as I believe you already know." He paused to let that sink in before continuing: "And I'm contacting you in regard to a matter that has been brought to the attention of Station Security and through them to my bureau."
"Mmmm?" Joat murmured cautiously, setting her coffee aside.
"A recording was anonymously sent to Security of an unauthorized space walk and illegal entry into the station through an emergency repair hatch by someone from the Wyal. We have reason to believe that the person shown on the recording might be you."
There was something about the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes that unnerved her. Me and my bright ideas. Using Dyson's name had been a good idea. Making the illegal entry had been a good idea. Tricking the New Destinies into giving her a cover story by fining her had been a good idea.
But when you added them all up, they didn't come to a good idea. This is what Channa used to mean by keeping the big picture in mind, Joat thought. For a moment she wished poignantly that Channa was there with her, someone older and wiser to lean on…
Fardling void with that, she thought stubbornly. I'm twenty-three. And even when I was twelve, I could look after myself.
"That's completely ridiculous!" she said briskly. "What possible reason could I have for doing such a thing?"
Joat stared back at Dyson with an expression of injured disbelief that had baffled even experienced child-welfare workers in its time.
"Your ship was under observation yesterday by Station Security. It's assumed that you became aware of being under surveillance and chose to avoid it by taking this round-about method of entering the station."
"Wait a minute," she said, hunching forward in her seat. "I was under surveillance? What for?"
"Why you were being watched is irrelevant, Ms. Simeon. What you chose to do about it is."
Oh it's Ms. now is it, you clabber-faced oaf! What happened to Captain Simeon?
"I think it's very relevant," she said aloud. "I demand to know why you were spying on me!"
"I'll have Station Security send you a report," Dyson said through bared teeth. "However, in regard to the matter in hand…"
"I did not take any unauthorized space walk!"
"Then how do you explain that you were not seen leaving your ship, but were observed returning?"
"Maybe I can walk through walls."
"Heh, heh. How very clever. And how do you explain being found outside the very lock shown in the recording, with your suit in your arms?"
"I was taking my suit to get the seals checked."
"And being in the corridor outside the lock?"
"I got lost."
"The Bureau finds it reasonable to fine you for this incident. And as you aren't a station resident, I have plenary authority. Unauthorized breaches of hull security are a serious matter."
They were. Spacers took pressure integrity even more seriously than Bethelites took fresh water. Joat felt a small twinge of guilt; she hadn't really endangered the Station's atmosphere… but if it ever got to a jury, they wouldn't be amused. At all.
Joat smacked both palms on the sides of the console and leaned forward menacingly.
"I protest!"
Dyson regarded her coolly. "That is certainly your right, Ms. Simeon. New Destinies is well supplied with lawyers who are specialists in dealing with the Bureau. I suggest that you avail yourself of their services, if you feel you can afford it-after paying the fine, that is. In the meantime, the fine will be registered against your ship and will be due in forty days."
Joat glared. "What's the fine?" she growled.
"Thirty thousand credits."
Joat's eyes snapped wide. Alvec gasped, and Joseph grunted in the background like a man belly-punched.
"You're crazy! No way can you justify a fine like that!"
"Shall we double it?" The man's features grinned like a shark for an instant, then went friendly-bland again.
She gave a shaky little laugh.
"What is this? Some kind of shake-down? You can't possibly hope to get away with this."
"Double it again. It's you that's trying to get away with something, Ms. Simeon. I'm simply doing my job and I'm fairly confident that I can get away with that. You now owe New Destinies one hundred and twenty thousand credits. I think you should stop talking before you owe us the value of the station itself. Don't you?"
Joat closed her mouth with an effort. This had gotten way out of hand. She sat still for a moment, feeling pale and shaky. What if CenSec refused to answer for this debt? She could lose her ship. They would refuse to pay it. Ten thousand she could have gotten out of them via Bros, and enjoyed him squirming on the Treasury's pin. A hundred and twenty thousand they'd refuse out of hand.
What can I do? Sue Central Worlds Security?
"Now you mentioned protesting the fine, didn't you?" Dyson asked pleasantry.
Joat nodded vigorously.
"Well, unfortunately the only date we have open for a hearing is sixty days from now. Also in that case we'd have to impound your ship. And since the fine is due in forty days, well, that would mean that your ship would probably already have been auctioned off by the time your case came up. Do you want to think about it? You have five days to protest the fine." He gazed at her blandly.
"Yes," she said. She found it hard to talk. "I… I could lose my ship?"
"Yesss, you certainly could. In fact, I'd be extremely surprised if you didn't." Dyson stared out of the screen at her, his hands folded neatly before him. He smiled again, the same friendly, honest-looking smile.
She thought of her remaining mortgage.
I'll be ruined, she thought desperately. I'll be a slave to the bank, working off a debt on something I don't even own. She pictured years of work under someone else's command with nothing to show for it but a slowly diminishing debt.