The Fishdollar Affair

The story follows Ensign Stephen Welnicki, a young watch officer whose idle subspace musings are interrupted when a group of settlers led by Wendrew Fishdollar seize their tender and declare a sovereign republic. Ordered to regress through subspace, Welnicki leads a small scout and boarding party to track the mutineers across star systems, weighing duty against the settlers' claim of national survival. Action alternates with ironic reflection on naval honor, the oddities of subspace navigation, and the comic tensions of commanding an understrength force faced with civilians, including women, in prepared positions. The tone blends adventure, humor, and gentle satire of bureaucratic protocol.