TADJ37

==Chapter 37 - The Adjudicator==
KCGS Cham Nguoc
Sampan IV-Class Cutter
Taussen Star System
Early 3160
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"Stand by." was the order.  The voice that gave it sounded synthetic, mechanical, and without inflection.
"Well, we definitely got their attention, Mum...and they aren't shooting." said Lt. Commander Nygen
"Yet." Clarissa said.  "They aren't shooting yet."
"Kowloon Coast Guard Vessel Cham Nguoc, You will stand by for a boarding inspection, Over." the voice interrupted whatever she was about to say.
"Acknowledge that...Well, guys, now we see if we get shot, arrested, and interned, aren't you glad you signed up for the service?"
This got a few dry chuckles from the crew on the bridge deck.  A trio of small-craft approached from the smallest cruiser on their scopes.  "Damn, look at the spectra-the plumes are running almost above visible for nearly a kilometer before cooling blue."
Some damned efficient drives.  Clanner engines could run almost that efficiently, but nothing built in the Inner Sphere.
"Speculation, monatomic hydrogen fusion?"  Clarissa asked.
"Looks like it.  No bubbles of H2 or helium 3 in the trace off those fighters-and they're about the size of a Chippewa.  The shuttle looks like an NL-42 variant, but that exhaust suggests she's got a lot more brute thrust on tap." commented her XO.
"I guess we're getting the executive treatment.  They don't send a fighter escort that small if we're dangerous." and wouldn't at all if the guy on that shuttle wasn't important. thought Clarissa
----
The man who came through the airlock wore a crisp, white, uniform with polished low-quarter shoes and a double row of ribbons. His ranks were something right out of the history books-the insignia of a Terran Hegemony Fleet Captain.
"Permission to come aboard, Commander?" he asked.
"Permission granted, sir." Clarissa said.
"Welcome to the Terran Hegemony dependent outpost Taussen...you caused quite a bit of a stir, Commander Ngo." he told her.
"Well...that comes with the job, sir." Clarissa stated, "In the interests of full disclosure. I have warrants to look for specific individuals believed to be here, but you knew that before we arrived."
"You didn't ask my name." he observed.
"Well, I was dangling between waiting for you to just give it, or experimenting.  Is it Cameron or Stone, sir?" she asked.
"Cameron." he told her, "You're that investigator from the Commonwealth digging into Devlin Stone's past."
"Yes sir." Clarissa stated. "Did you get picked for this, grown for it, or just fall into it, sir?"
"I have parents." he said with a chuckle, "Not a cannister kid.  To be honest, we knew this would come up sooner or later...just expected more shouting and shooting."
"I'm not equipped for the shooting, but give me a little prep time and I'll shout your ears off." she told him, "You all have me at a severe disadvantage, Fleet Captain.  You know the details I don't, and you've got the firepower.  All I have, is the concept to keep you from using it."
"What concept?" asked Fleet Captain Cameron
"Rule of Law, Sir."  she said, "I suspect I'd be really, really dead if your people didn't value that on some level.  You confirm that Devlin Stone originated here?"
"Cousin Devlin was decanted here, and we did give him training as a 'Mechwarrior and military man, yes." he said.
"Why?" she asked.
"For that, you and your men will have to wait until after the reception." he said, "My god, is this your command deck?"
"Yes, sir." she answered.
"I'll have to say, it's...rustic." he politely commented
"Cheap, sir, the word is Cheap. Cutters are mass-production ships." she said, "Everything works, but..."
"But I can see you don't have an ADS terminal." he said, "Manual all the way in?"
She nodded.
He turned to one of his armored marines.  "Take the helm, pilot, and bring this...rustic...vessel in to dock at the base."
His man took the helm, and the man's forearms split into fours, to handle multiple controls simultaneously.
"You're not going to freak out?" he asked.
"Seen worse, Sir." Clarissa noted, nodding to PO1 Grau, who watched the foreigner run her board.  "Growing up seeing aftermath of Manei Domini attacks. I've even did forensics when they caught one cutting up hookers on Hood IV during my midshipsman cruise on the Drake Tranh."
"I'd like a look at your personnel records." he told her, "That is both a request, and more." 
"I got that when you put a cyborg in my helm station, sir." Clarissa said, "We're not quite prisoners, but we're not sovereign because you don't have any agreements with the Commonwealth that are current.  My records are in the Sea Cabin."
"You can't bring them up on a terminal?" asked the Fleet Captain.
"We don't store that stuff on the computers, except for transfers. Which get copied to hardcopy and archived-too vulnerable to slicing." she said, "To hack Our records, you'd have to break in and use a pair of scissors."
"Show me then." he said.
She took him the three meters back toward the central airlock, and down one level into the Sea-Cabin of the ship.
"FOWLES!!! Visitors, pull your pants up." she announced.  
Lt. Fowles, the former boss of the boat and now her XO, rolled out of the ready-rack fully clothed.  "I'm decent." he said.
"Fleet Captain Cameron, my XO, Lieutenant Commander Fowles."  she said, "We need to open the records locker."
"Aye mum..." he folded the bed up, and opened the chest with a seven digit combination and a key.
"Your...executive officer was in your office?"
"Hot bunking, it's kinda cramped and we're hauling gear instead of bodies." Clarissa clarified, "What?"
"This ship is like a living history exhibit." Cameron said.
"Living history...yeah, good one.  We've got more room than normal for a mission this long. We actually get to stop for resupply instead of carrying everything." Fowles observed, and handed across several file folders.
"It's actually roomier than the ship I first qualified on." Clarissa noted, "The Tranh was a Sampan III, and we had fifty marines underfoot and twice the missile capacity, plus six fighters and two boats and their ground crew and pilots in a hull about ten meters shorter and thinner."
"A...dropship?" the Fleet Captain asked.
"Nope. Cutter like this. Capable of a fifteen light jump engine with a secondary capacitor." she told him, "The mark four is spacious in comparison."
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