Chapter 1 #2
“Because they say you’re biased against them.” Lee stopped moving the cup and looked across at her.
“They’re right,” she said. She set down the knife with a sigh. “Could you identify them?”
“I couldn’t see who exactly raised the issue, but I made a point of finding out who they all are.
I was in the booth behind them. It was a group of Garmman traders sitting together.
They’d just heard a rumor about it, talking about it quietly among themselves.
They weren’t the ones actively plotting to get rid of you. ”
Fee tilted her head and realized it was a gesture she’d picked up from her significant other, Grihan battleship captain Hal Vakeri. He was on his usual patrol along the Grihan/Garmman airspace border and wasn’t due back for at least a week.
“And what exactly were they saying about it?” she asked.
“That they were unhappy if it was true, because if you were hurt or even killed, and the Garmman role in the attack came out, life for them would get significantly more difficult, both with the United Coalition, and Eazi.” Lee watched her as he explained.
“Their concern for my wellbeing is almost overwhelming,” Fee said.
Tean Lee almost spat out his grinabo as he tried to hold in a laugh. “Isn’t it?”
“You followed them afterward?” Fee asked.
“I’ve already found the bar, and the group,” Eazi said in her ear. “I know who they are.”
“I followed them,” Tean Lee said. “And those I couldn’t, I went back and tracked them from the lens feed.”
“How come Eazi doesn’t know any of this?” Fee asked.
“Because I was worried if I told him right away, he’d retaliate before I had a chance to see who they interacted with and what more I could learn,” Lee said.
“He doesn’t trust me.” Eazi felt the same ambivalence toward Tean Lee as she did.
“And what did you learn?” Fee asked. It would do no good to tell the security chief he had taken a misstep.
“That they are all part of the trade group coming from Tecra, on their way back to Garmman airspace. They were here to restock their own supplies, not trade.”
“So they heard the rumors on Tecra?” Fee scraped the fruit pieces into a bowl.
“Yes, but from other Garmman traders who overlapped with them for a few days. They seem to be sure the danger to you is coming from their own people.” Lee shrugged.
“It could be a clever Tecran ploy, but the Garmman do feel like they won’t get back the respect they lost while you’re still around to remind everyone how they treated you. ”
“That’s probably true,” Fee said. She had been used as slave labor in a Garmman trading vessel. That ship’s command and crew had all faced consequences for what had happened to her, but she couldn’t deny she had no fond feelings for the Garmman as a result.
Just the sight of a Garmman made her anxious if she caught a glimpse of them on the streets of Larga Ways. She tried not to let it influence her decisions on the way station, but she knew Eazi had picked up on her unease and Garmman traders definitely got the worst berths on the docking arms.
“They don’t pay any more by way of docking fees or surcharges,” Tean Lee argued.
“They actually don’t have any grounds to complain.
It’s guilt talking, if you ask me. They know they did you wrong and they know if they were in your shoes, they’d have been far more vengeful.
Your fair approach makes them nervous, because they’re waiting for the hammer to drop.
If it was them in control of Larga Ways, it would already have done so. ”
That was an interesting perspective. Once again, Tean Lee proved to be a complex character. It was why she hadn’t fired him yet.
“So now Eazi knows about the threat, and you’re keeping a watch. There’s not much more we can do.” Although she would start to wear protective clothing as she walked the streets.
She had a bracelet she could wear that would send any projectile aimed at her back to the attacker, but in the narrow streets and crowded spaces of Larga Ways, that could end up hurting someone else.
“You don’t want to spend a night or two with Captain Vakeri?” Tean Lee asked. “Just a few days away for me to sniff out the threat without worrying.”
“You could pretend to go with Hal,” Eazi said in her ear. “But you could get him to drop you on Balco.”
That was a very good idea, Fee decided. She gave a slow nod to Tean Lee, who couldn’t hear Eazi’s side of the conversation. “He’s on patrol right now,” she said, “but I can see if it’s possible to take a runner up to the Illium.”
“That would give me some space to hunt,” Tean Lee said, pushing back his chair and standing. “Let me know if it’s possible, and the sooner the better.”
“I will.” Fiona saw him out, and then leaned back against the front door, listening to him run down the stairs.
“I either need to get more sensitive listening devices in the bars, or he made that up,” Eazi said.
Fiona’s gaze jerked to the lens set up on the ceiling. “I hadn’t considered he could be lying.” She frowned. “Why would he?”
“To get you off the way station.” Eazi sounded like he was chomping massive amounts of data in the background.
“I was about to get off the way station anyway,” she said. “So let’s make him think I’m chilling with Hal on the Illium, and instead I’ll go down to Balco, meet with Hi-Lan Baruke, and you can investigate the Garmman, and the investigator himself.”
“You’ll need some protection on Balco, too,” Eazi said.
“I’ll stock up on special equipment,” Fee assured him. “And if I know Hal, he’ll insist on giving me some bodyguards.”
Maybe he’d even come with her himself.