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back a little. It was a truly evil smile. "Do you know where that geek Lohseph Carinvanter is?"
    "You mean my Chief of Intelligence?" she asked with a hint of a smile.
    Silver chuckled. "Go see Pahna Mah, but take Lo with you. If I could beat the cheat, Lo should have no trouble at all. With that proof you should be able to put him out of business."
    "And what about you?" she asked, caressing his reddened cheek softly.
    "I'll ride this out wherever it takes me. Tell your mother I said hello when you see her. Unless you already told her I was dead. Then it might be just a little weird."
    "I'll take her with me to the Flaming 'O' and let her gamble a little. With Lo at her side. Once she breaks the bank, I'll expose the crooked games. And Willy will be in close orbit in case they decide to try anything."
    Silver stepped forward and hugged her tightly. "I've missed you, Ann. And I'm sorry I made you cry, but since Mom died I really don't have any other heirs. I should be getting back to my ship before my new captain decides I deserted--or got shanghaied again."
    "What about your chip?"
    "Keep it. Or give it away. It's keyed to you now, so it's yours to do with as you please." He grinned. "Let your mom use it when she goes gambling. If Pahna Mah sees that much money he'll come begging her to play his games."
    She chuckled and nodded, then led him back through her ship. If anyone thought it was odd that the straight-laced, hard-as-nails Admiral Stevenson was walking through the corridors of her flagship cuddling under the arm of a strange man, none of them had the guts to say so. Not to her face at least.
    Admiral Stevenson accompanied Silver back to NHSP-1 aboard her launch, but left him at the airlock. "I have to go to Hobson's Planet to pay back Pahna Mah. Stay out of trouble for a while, and stay alive. I don't want to cry over you again."
    "Goodbye, Ann. I'll watch for you at our ports. Maybe we can have dinner sometime."
    Silver watched as the hatch closed and the launch boosted away from the port, then turned and started finding his way back to the Jolly Jane . Captain Denise met him as soon as he reported aboard.
    "I was informed that you had been arrested for assaulting a Navy admiral and were being held without bond. How the hell did you get released?" she demanded.
    "It was all a misunderstanding, Captain. Just a misunderstanding." He collapsed at his station and called up an external view of the area. There, shrunken by the distance, was the CSS William the Conqueror , CVH-672, surrounded by her consorts. Even as they watched, she got underway, boosting hard away from New Hispaniola with her supporting units chasing her tail.
    Silver chuckled. "It looks like Ann is in a hurry to go see someone about an unpaid debt. I don't think he's going to like the payment."
    "Who?" Captain Denise asked.
    "Rear Admiral Annette Fairmont Stevenson. My ex-wife," he replied, then stood and looked around. "Whose turn is it to cook? I'm hungry."

Chapter 5
    T HE BLACK SHIP HUNG AGAINST THE star-studded glory of the Milky Way, waiting. Their message drop was late, and the captain was beginning to get nervous.
    "Hyper transit, Sir," the sensor operator reported.
    "Incoming scrambled transmission," the communication officer reported just a moment later.
    "Hyper transit again, Sir. They're gone."
    "Decode the message, Coms. Let's see what our lords and masters have to say."
    The audio message began playing just a moment later. "Captain Harris, I wish to congratulate you. You had almost succeeded in getting the shipment of platinum from Germanicus when a tramp freighter showed up and chased you away. I must applaud your sense of self-preservation. Oh, we understand about the game they played with their communications suite and the false transponder code. Everyone, especially GMM, is having a good long laugh at your expense. Now get your sorry ass to LaFontain and wait. We will send the mighty warship Jolly Jane to you. Do try not to let them