any chance of getting an ansible linkup?"

"Not for another couple of days, they tell me," the tech said. "What do you think, this guy's going beyond his orders?"

"I hope so," Ky said. "And I hope he's wrong about the station refusing dockage. We have to get in there for resupply and repair."

"I reckon ISC will have something to say about that," the tech said.

"ISC-why?"

"When someone messes up their ansibles, they usually hang around and pretty much run things until they find out who did it and punish them. And didn't you find that out?"

"I found out some," Ky said cautiously. "Not everything."

"So ISC ought to be grateful to you," the tech said. "If they want you to get docking access, you will, whatever poison puss says."

"I hope so," Ky said. She sighed. "I wish-" But she couldn't say

that aloud, not in front of her crew or these military types. She wished she was military, where everything was cut-and-dried, open and obvious, simple. Well, except for people like Mandy Rocher.

Her mind insisted on dragging up every person she'd found to have hidden motives. "I need to check on something," she said instead.

"If he calls back, don't accept it."

"What should I tell him?"

"Tell him I'm not discussing company business over an open line,"

Ky said, wishing she'd thought to say that earlier. She left the bridge and went to talk to the passengers. They were feeling well enough to complain about the delay in returning them to their ships.

"I can't do anything about that," Ky said. "You know I have no shuttles, and we have no independent power. At least we have adequate food now."

"That's all very well, but what about my ship?" one of the captains

said. "Is it still in the system? Are my crew all right?""I'll find out," Ky said, and dashed back to the bridge. With the exception of Empress Rose, all the ships were still in the Sabine system, and crews reported nothing but minor injuries or illnesses. She reported that to her passengers and explained that no, she could not provide them all a secure comlink to their ships, since ISC now controlled all communications and hadn't put a high priority on their needs.

She went through the protocols to request a link to Sabine Station, and to her surprise was put through to the acting stationmaster. This individual wore the gray ISC uniform with the silver lightning flash and introduced himself.

"Ah, Captain Vatta. I understand that you undocked against orders."

"Yes," Ky said. "Emergency situation."

"Quite. Sabine system imposes a fine of five thousand credits for

improper undock, and you have an outstanding ship balance due of 2345 credits for docking services." He looked down at something on his desk, then back up. "A counterclaim for failure to recognize a legitimate emergency and facilitate ship's withdrawal from danger will be entertained by the interim authority."

"The interim authority?" Ky was still wondering where she could scrape up another 7345 credits.

He grinned at her. "That's us, Captain Vatta. Should you make such a counterclaim, including, for instance, Sabine Station's failure to complete your refueling and to allow you timely access to repair and replacement parts, it is likely that your debt would be reduced to zero and docking permission could be given in accordance with Sabine law." His grin widened. "We prefer to make use of local law whenever possible."

Ky blinked. "I suppose... I should make a counterclaim, then."

"I would recommend it, yes. Your ship suffered damage, did it not, as a result of this station's negligence and lack of cooperation?"

"Er... yes."

"ISC has never favored frivolous suits, so unreasonable requests for

damages might prejudice your case, but since your ship was preemptively interned for use as a hostage carrier, in large part because you had no functioning deepspace drive and an incomplete fuel load on insystem, I suggest a computation of what it would take to restore your functionality."

Ky just managed not to gape. Surely they were aware that the ship was old and had more wrong with it than one missing drive component.

"I can't of course name a figure-that would be unfair of me, in my

capacity as interim stationmaster. I must be impartial-"

If this was impartial, she didn't want to see partial-at least not unless it was on her side.

"But any material damages could be named. Should they not be upheld by a later court, at least you would have some recompense,

I'm certain."

Getting docking privileges alone would be worth it, Ky thought.

She collected her scattered thoughts. "With permission,

Stationmaster, I'll be back with you shortly. I want to prepare an accurate statement."

"Very good, Captain Vatta," he said. The flicker of his eyelid was

not quite a wink. "With respect, I suggest you not wait overlong.

Soon our tugs and shuttles will be busy here. Oh, and the fee for towing you into a docking slot will be eight hundred fifty, as usual."

"Back in one," Ky said. She looked around at her bridge crew. "Did the rest of you hear what I heard? Was he really telling us to make out an expense account and blame Sabine Station for the past couple of weeks?"

"Sounds like it to me," Quincy said. "And he's right. The station should have facilitated our repairs, or at least sold us the sealed unit.

There was no rational reason to think we'd take it to the Secundus rebels or the mercs. And they should have given ships permission for emergency undock, all of 'em. Much more dangerous for the station if ships were there if the station was attacked."

"I'm tempted to just ask for what our back charges are," Ky said.

"That way we can't be excessive."

"No!" Quincy said. "Ky-Captain-that's not the way to think. Let me work on it. We had a lot of damage. There's two of our crew dead-one of them was an idiot, true, but the other wasn't. We had all that work to do in the cargo holds, modifying them for emergency quarters-that used up a lot of our reserve parts stock.

And some of that will have to be torn out to make room for cargo. Then there's our cargo, floating around out there-"

"Unless Furman grabbed it already," Ky said bitterly. "Wherever it is, it's not in our holds," Quincy said. "And we've got to retrieve it, unload the other stuff, and reload the holds. That's several days-docking fees for those days shouldn't be due from us, because it's not our fault. Nor should replacement parts, nor the labor cost to reconfigure the holds. The sealed unit was already damaged when we came in; I wouldn't gig 'em for that. But the beacon damage, and the control systems-that's going to take a complete purge to get it fixed."

The amount Quincy came up with after a few minutes seemed huge to Ky, but she transmitted it to the Sabine stationmaster's office anyway.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

The answer came back from Sabine Station after a decent interval.

Acting Stationmaster Dettin looked serious, but his voice was pleasant.

"On behalf of Sabine Station, I am prepared to accept this counterclaim of damages caused by this station's civilian management. Since the claims made here are substantially larger than the balance due on the fines and docking use fees on the books, it is my decision that Glennys Jones be allowed to dock here, and that all tug and docking fees will be waived for a period of twenty days. However, the final decision, and any monetary damages to be paid other than this offsetting, will be determined by a court at some later date. Acceptance of this proposal is not binding in law as later adjudication may choose to impose additional fines, penalties, or costs on either party." That came out in a near monotone, as if he were reciting text from some legal tome. Probably he was.

"Are you willing to accept these terms and defer funds transfer until adjudication is complete?"

"Yes," Ky said.

"Thank you, Captain Vatta," the man said. "Now, do you wish tug services immediately?"

"Yes," Ky said.

"I can assign you..." He looked blank for a moment. "You can

expect a tug to contact you in about six hours. Estimated time until docking will be... nine hours four minutes. Is this acceptable?"

"Yes," Ky said again, beginning to feel like an automaton. "I will

inform the passengers," she said. "Thank you."