Galactic Freighter: Scourge of the Deep Space Pirates (Contact) by Kenneth E. Ingle Page A

from what most young women experience. This might be just the thing they need to keep them firmly grounded in the real world."
    "If nothing else, Sir, Phoenix is the real world." Buck hoped it would be an uneventful trip. What they'd been through so far was nothing for young women to see.
    He assured his host Phoenix would do its best to see to their needs and said his goodbye after accepting an invitation to dine with the governor and his wife. He decided to invite Molly and commed her as she seldom had a chance to enjoy liberty. Most outposts catered to bawdy men and women—Borcom was no exception.
    He didn't spend much time with the other planet dignitaries, no more than courtesy demanded. Those courtesies were among the drawbacks of having a commission from the Emperor: every official wanted, expected a meeting with him. A call on the Marine commandant was different. He'd lost men in the slaver raid so this stop was more than ceremonial.
    This was a part of life that Buck had never expected would be his. Maybe some freighters might have fancied it, but he never had. His illusions dealt with more practical matters; such as a flask of hearty brew and a lusty woman—then he thought of Molly.
    ***
    Two days later, the crew had rearranged, modified the area Molly had selected next to her cabin, and Phoenix had something approaching a facsimile of accommodations ready for the governor's two daughters. As Buck expected, a gaggle of people had gathered at the spaceport to see the women off. He did learn it wasn't the young women’s first time away from their parents, but never had they departed aboard a freighter. The novelty would be the talk in the elite circles on Iona for some time.
    Designated to see to their welfare, Molly took to the task with gusto. Buck planned to stay clear of them. Before spacing, he'd asked around and learned the oldest girl was a bit on the uppity side, willful, expecting everyone to defer to her wishes. He'd made himself bow to the Emperor’s wishes but wasn't going to do for these girls, especially on his ship.
    He thought for a moment and realized he often deferred to Molly. So be it.
    ***
    Two days out from Borcom, Phoenix took a comm from the Marine commandant. They had received a distress signal from a freighter two parsecs distant. Borcom's deep space ship was on a mission and unavailable to go to their aid. The governor requested that Buck render assistance.
    Buck keyed the comm. "This is Captain Fryman. Send me the ship and captain's name, coordinates, planet of origin, and nature of their emergency?" He suspected a rat. The governor's daughters would make a prize catch for some marauding pirates.
    Following Molly's discovery of the saboteur, comm established a round the clock monitor on all space communications within range of Phoenix, incoming and outgoing, and they had received no such distress call. When at a port-of-call, tracking messages was iffy at best. He suspected Finsterman might have alerted the pirates to their passengers.
    "I'll be in my cabin." Trusting his manner hadn't given the crew undue concern, he quit the bridge.
    Entering his cabin, he keyed the computer, checking Phoenix's outgoing signals.
    "Damn." While orbiting Borcom, Phoenix's computer search had been offline. That wasn't uncommon, as a spaceship's overpowering signals fouled local communications. Their saboteur would have plenty of opportunities to send a message from dirtside.
    He returned to the bridge and took his chair.
    Borcom forwarded all available information on the freighter and Buck ran it through their database. As he suspected, the Galactic Space Registry (GSR) had no record of any ship by that name or captained by the man. Virtually, every ship that spaced listed its name, date of departure, destination and expected arrive with the GSR. If for any reason, they didn't make port when expected, after a reasonable wait, a search vessel would hunt for them.
    "I think this is a hoax," he told the