Duty Bound by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

touched the
switches which armed Ride The
Luck , brought the scans
online...
    "...have returned fire and am hit. Breath's
duty--notify my clan of our enemy--I have three hours of air, heavy
pursuit and no Jump left. Tell Grenada I forgive the counterchance
debts. Notify my clan of Balance due these..."
    Scans showed debris in orbits that should
have been clean, and warnaways at Nev'Lorn itself.
    Into a battle had
come Ride the Luck , Tree-and Dragon broadcasting on all ID ports. No way to tell
immediately how old some of the incoming messages might
be--
    Daav thumbed a switch.
"Daav yos'Phelium, Scout Reserve Captain, co-pilot of packet
boat Ride the Luck , requesting berthing information or assignment.
Repeat..."
    Before he was finished the second iteration
he heard a cry of "Korval!" over the open line, and, fainter, "The
Caylon's ship!"
    The chatter built and by
then Ride the Luck had cataloged a dozen objects of note, including two closing
tangentially.
    On commercial frequency--responding to the
ID no doubt--came:
    "Freighter Luck you are to stand by
for boarding by the Department of the Interior; you are under our
weapons! Repeat--"
    On the Scout frequency:
" Luck , Courier 12
here, I have you on my scans. I'm at breath's duty, pilot! I have
one salvo left before I'm gone. Get away and tell Clan Kia the name
of their enemy..."
    Kia was a Korval trading partner.
    Ride the Luck's ranging computer showed the two potential targets
and attendant radio frequencies; Daav touched the guidestick and
clicked the red circle over one of them. The circle faded to
yellow.
    Still nothing from Nev'Lorn base.
    "Give me my commission, dammit! Are you
asleep!" Daav's finger danced over the board: now he had the ship
that had broadcast the duty message identified, and the one that
had ordered him to stand by for boarding.
    Again the commercial
frequency--"Freighter Luck , you are under arrest by the
Department of The Interior. You are to agree to boarding or we will
open fire."
    As if to punctuate their demand, the
Department's ship fired a beam at Courier 12, raking the little
vessel from stem to stern. And, finally:
    " Ride the Luck , this is Nev'Lorn
headquarters. Captain yos'Phelium, you are on roster for berth 56A.
You are authorized to aid and assist in transit..."
    "I have conflicting orders" Daav spoke into
the mike, both channels open.
    The circle on the ranging computer showed
orange now.
    "This system is under direct supervision of
the Department of the Interior," came back the message rather
quickly--they were closing fast. "Nev'Lorn Headquarters has been
disbanded and is outlawed. Your decision or we fire, pilot!"
    Nev'Lorn, five light seconds more distant,
sent again; "Captain you have a berth waiting..."
    "Department, " Daav said quietly into the
mike, "I am taking your orders under advisement. You have the range
on me, I'm afraid."
    The image of Courier 12 seemed to blossom
then, as the pilot launched his remaining missiles at the oncoming
Department ship. Eight or ten scattered, began maneuvering.
    The target circle went dull red.
    "Department, please advise best course?"
Daav demanded.
    That ship, busily lashing out with particle
beams at the oncoming missiles, did not reply. The static of those
blasts would have torn the transmission out the ether in any
case.
    The target circle grew a flashing green ring
around a bright red center.
    With a sigh, Scout Captain
Daav yos'Phelium clutched the guide-stick and punched the fire
button. And again. And again. And again and again until Ride the Luck complained
about overload and the expanding gases were far too thin to contain
survivors.
    * * *
    EVEN CLONAK'S GENIAL optimism wasn't
sufficient to approve of the ration situation by the time end of
shift had come and gone six times, postponed by the simple fact
that they still had been unable to achieve complete orbital
elements.Between observations and calculations they'd managed to
get the test circuit live to the in-system engines