In this short story, Captain Kim Orbison receives a mayday to rescue a warship, but she's carrying flu patients on board her medical ship and risks pandemic flu if she diverts. Plus her ship doesn't have the resources to make the trip there and back home. But when she learns her father is on board, she has no choice but to rescue him and risk the lives of everyone on board her ship because the diversion now means she has to return home through a stretch of space inhabited by pirates. Reuniting with her father will risk her career and the lives of those on board, but it also opens up an opportunity for the United Planets when she devises a clever plan to outwit the pirates.