The Military Advisors

The Military Advisors Adventures of a Jump Space Accountant Book 6 Andrew Moriarty Copyright © 2023 Andrew Moriarty All rights reserved. Version 1.00 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Special thanks to my dedicated team of beta readers – Alex, Bryan, Catherine B, Christopher G, Dave M#1, Dave W, Dave M#2, Djuro D, Greg D, Haydn H, Jolayne W, Keith C, Kent P, Michael G, Michael R, Peter B, Scott, Skip C, Susan G, Tigui R, Vince, and to my editor Samantha Pico. Chapter One The jump countdown on Jake’s board reached thirty before the collision alarm bonged. “Not again.” Nadine tapped her screen. “Jakey, your stupid alarm is going off again. Fix it.” Jake switched on the threat radar screen. Empty. He shared this with the four crew occupying the control room. “We’re on course. I don’t know why it’s triggering. According to the computer, there’s nothing there.” Nadine pivoted the far left control chair to face Jake, who was sitting in the back of the control room. “Then why does your computer say it is?” “Not my computer.” Jake stilled the alarm. “It’s the ship’s jump computer.” “But you are the only one who knows how it works,” Yvette, the backup helmsman and primary Free Trader representative two stations to Nadine’s right, said. She muttered in Francais to Odette, her deputy. Jake shut the alarm off. “Emergence in ten, nine, eight—” “We can read, Jakey. We don’t need you to count,” Nadine said. The counter ticked down to zero, and the blue glow of the jump field faded from the exterior cameras. “Passive sensors say nearspace is clear,” Odette said. “Doing radar scans.” Nadine tapped her screen, and a red planet sprung to life on the main screen in front of the consoles. The terminator was visible sweeping across it. The light side was undifferentiated red, the dark side only black. “No visible indication of anything,” Nadine said. “Quantity one, airless, waterless, peopleless planet.” “Nothing on long range radar except the three moons from the charts,” Odette said. “No ships or stations.” “This isn’t working,” Nadine said. She slapped her screen. “There is nothing here. We need to go home. We’ve come far enough.” “Odette,” Jake said, “any beacons broadcasting?” Odette shook her head. “Nothing, el supremo, we see nothing. This system is dead, like the others.” “Please don’t call me that,” Jake said. “Call me Jake. Or captain, if anything.” “N’est pas possible,” Yvette said. “Free Traders only call the master of the ship captain. You are just the owner.” “We’re not Free Traders,” Jake said. “We’re a Delta crew.” “Not your crew. That is why we wear our own uniforms.” Yvette gestured at her clothes. Her skinsuit was dark blue, like her coveralls, and had Free Trader emblems. Odette wore the same. Nadine wore a custom-fitted skinsuit with a blue jacket over it. Jake covered his own skinsuit with gray Militia coveralls. “I’ve told you not to wear those,” Jake said. Yvette winked. “Of course. Then, you will help me take them off later in my cabin?” Jake blushed. “I meant, wear the Delta uniforms, like I do.” Jake pointed at his own clothes—plain skinsuit and plain blue-gray coveralls with a Delta patch on the right breast. “Perhaps I will compromise and wear just a smile, then,” Yvette said. “What will you do then?” Jake bit his lip. Yvette had done her black hair in a tight braid that exposed her slender neck. Jake had a thing for necks. And her Free Trader uniform was tight enough to leave no doubt she was female. “What about me?” Odette said. “I can smile, too. And I fixed my hair.” Her hair looked like she had fallen out of bed. Her uniform was tighter than Yvette’s, making her appear as Yvette’s younger, more wanton sister. “I don’t want to see you naked,” Jake said. Keep your eyes on their face. Don’t look anywhere else. “That’s not my information, Jakey.” Nadine folded her arms across her chest. “I heard you’re pretty ambitious about that.” “Nadine,” Jake said. “We can talk about this later.” “No, we won’t, Jakey,” Nadine said. “Because, later, I’m going to be busy turning this ship around and heading back to Delta. This exploration has gone on long enough. Time to get back to civilization.” “Dashi said we’re to explore until we reconnect to the Empire.” “Did he say keep going through empty system after empty system until we run out of fuel?” “There’s no shortage of fuel in any of these systems,” Jake said. “There’s been hydrogen everywhere. Even this one. I see a gas giant on that screen. Odette, can we have a course, please?” Odette typed on her screen. The main screen beeped, and the course appeared. Accounting Error was a larger version of the standard freighters Jake was used to. The bridge had two rows of four consoles. Nadine sat in the primary pilot position, with Yvette and Odette in the row next to her. Jake sat alone in the second row. “We’re going to starve to death,” Nadine said. “Four systems so far and no people, no Empire, no habitable planets, nothing.” “We won’t starve to death,” Jake said. “We’ve got plenty of trays.” “Red-green-blue trays,” Nadine said. “Frankly, Jakey, I’d rather starve.” Yvette and Odette exchanged mutterings in Francais and then they both laughed. “What’s so funny, Trader chickees?” Nadine asked. “You are. You and your worry about foods,” Yvette said. She looked Nadine up and down. “Perhaps a little less food might be good for you. What is the standard word, porky?” “Porky?” Nadine flicked her hands, and a knife appeared. “I’ll give you porky. My problem is that I’m not eating a balanced diet. Not enough vitamin C. It’s messing with my complexion.