Robert Asprin – Tambu

“Just relay this message to their captain. Tell him to take their shuttle to our ship-alone. I want to talk to him. Let me know when you get confirmation.”

Staring at the ships on the viewscreen, Tambu set aside the hailing microphone he had been using to communicate with Egor, then leaned forward to use the ship’s intercom speaker.

“Okay, you’ve heard the plan,” he said. “Now here’s what I want you to do. Puck, you swing your guns round to cover the Infidel. Whitey, stay with the maneuvering controls, but be ready to take over Egor’s battery if anything happens with the Mongoose. The guns should be set already, but check ’em out just to be sure. I want them set so that all you have to do is hit the firing button. I’ll go down to the shuttle docking port to deal with the prisoner. Call me on the intercom if anything strange starts to happen. Any questions?”

“Just the one I asked before,” Whitey drawled. “I’m still waiting for an answer.”

“I’m sorry-I’ve forgotten the question.” Tambu admitted.

“The question was if we were going to sell the two ships, and if not, why?” Whitey prompted.

“We’ll discuss it after I’ve talked to the Mongoose’s captain.”

“What’s to discuss?” Whitey argued. “What would we do with three ships?”

“We could cover three times as much space, or have one very powerful strike force,” Tambu snapped back.

“I should think you’d like that, Whitey. It would mean less fighting and fewer casualties on both sides.”

“How do you figure that?”

“If you were running a ship and three heavily armed ships overhauled you and demanded you stand by to be boarded and inspected, would you do it? Or would you try to fight?”