Chapter 17
As they walked out of the hospital, Hal wondered what Baruke’s next move was going to be.
He’d been content to stand back and watch Fiona interact with the Balcoan leader, and watch the way Baruke responded to the conversation.
Baruke was definitely surprised by some of what Fiona had told him, but a few times, Hal thought he might have known more than he was admitting to.
“What do you think he’ll do?” Fiona asked as they headed for the runner the general had given them to use.
The fact her question so closely matched his own musings made him smile.
“I think he’s on his comms unit right now, demanding answers, asking for a full report about what happened at that warehouse, and calling Bost in for a debrief.
” If it happened, if Bost wasn’t suddenly impossible to contact, Hal would like to be a hidden observer to that meeting.
He wondered if the Grih could risk Balco’s goodwill by listening in.
It might actually be worth the chance of being discovered, because he had a growing sense there was more going on here than just someone playing games with Paxe’s rebuild.
If Fiona was right—and he had to admit he hadn’t put the pieces together the way she had until she laid it out—that someone was trying to build a Class 5 by stealing Paxe’s parts, then Grih Battle Center needed to know who was behind it.
“How are they going to power their battleship with no thinking system to run it?” Hal wondered.
“Maybe they think the problem with the Class 5 battleships is the thinking systems. That it would be a better battleship without one.” Fiona’s lips twisted, but Hal was sure a lot of people probably thought that.
“I thought they planned to steal one of us away,” Eazi said into Hal’s ear. “I hadn’t considered they’d actually prefer not to have a thinking system running the ship.”
Fiona glanced at him, and Hal touched his ear, acknowledging that Eazi was including him in the conversation.
“That would be a losing proposition,” Fiona said.
“Agreed.” Eazi sounded cheerful to Hal’s ears.
“While there are probably some Tecran and Garmman officials who know what we look like, we’ve all changed our original appearance since we broke free, and have kept that information to ourselves, so if that was the plan, it would never have succeeded, but what Fiona says makes more sense.
They plan to build a Class 5 without a thinking system. ”
“Would that work?” Hal asked.
“No.” Eazi laughed. “It might be possible to use such a ship, but it would never be capable of the same level of operation as one with a thinking system at the helm.” He paused.
“I miss my ship. But I also love running Larga Ways. This dilemma is making it hard for me to decide whether to rebuild my own Class 5.”
“Well, why don’t we see how it goes with Paxe’s effort, and learn from the experience?” Fiona said. “You don’t have to make the decision right away.”
“I’m the test subject?” Paxe inserted himself into the conversation, and Hal felt a frisson of shock. He needed to remember that Paxe was probably always listening. Eazi, too. The fact that Paxe often didn’t speak up didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of everything that was said.
“It has to be someone,” Fiona said, with a teasing tone to her voice.
She had been aware of Paxe, Hal realized. She wasn’t surprised at all that he had been eavesdropping on the conversation.
“Well, the process has certainly been interesting,” Paxe said. “The parts you found for me are exactly what I ordered, and I would like to get that cannon, even though it’s probably badly damaged from the reflector strike. I might be able to fix it.”
“It’s evidence right now.” Fiona glanced over at him. “Is there a way Paxe can get it when they’re done?”
Hal lifted his shoulders. “It’s his, isn’t it? Stolen from his supplies.”
“Yes, but if we mention that it’s Paxe’s property to Security, then it will most likely reach the ears of the people trying to steal Paxe’s parts that we know what they’ve been up to.
Do we want to tip our hand?” They had finally reached the military runner he’d been allocated and Fiona waited beside it while he disengaged the locks.
“Good question.” Eazi sounded thoughtful. “Right now, all they know is that two Grihan women bought parts at the market, and shipped them off. They don’t know you’re Fiona Russell, they don’t know we recognized the cannon or the other parts at the warehouse.”
“What did you tell them when you confronted them at the warehouse?” Hal asked. He helped Fiona in, then set the runner to autopilot and put in the hotel address.
“We told them that we saw them abduct Natta, and we chased them down.” Fiona closed her eyes, leaning back against her seat as if every part of her ached, and Hal guessed it did.
“So we still have the element of surprise,” Paxe said. “I could find a way to have the cannon sent to me without anyone knowing where it’s going or to whom.”
Hal caught a hint of hesitation in his voice, and suddenly realized Paxe was asking permission.
“If you can really do it without anyone the wiser, then do it,” he said.
“I don’t get a good feeling about what’s going on with Baruke, and if he doesn’t have a handle on the situation, we can’t expect anyone else to.
It’s safer for the Grih if that laser is out of enemy hands, and anyone who tried to kill Fiona is an enemy, as far as I’m concerned. ”
“If I can’t do it without giving myself away, I’ll speak with you again,” Paxe said, and from the dead air in his ear, Hal guessed he had cut off comms.
That was probably the closest to a friendly exchange as he’d ever had with the thinking system that had once tried to have Fiona assassinated, and then tried to destroy the whole of Larga Ways to kill her when picking her off in a targeted attack didn’t work.
Fiona had long since forgiven Paxe and given him another chance, but Hal still held a grudge.
That he was warming to the thinking system was slightly alarming.
They reached the hotel, and Hal took the runner to the underground parking himself. Fiona sat, eyes closed, as he keyed off, and he realized she’d fallen asleep.
He slid out and went round to her side, braced himself and lifted her into his arms.
“Oof, you’re heavy, Fiona,” she murmured into his ear, and he felt her lips curve against the skin of his throat.
“How do you know that’s what I was thinking?” he asked as he walked toward the lift. He had to shift his hold halfway there.
“Because I can read your mind,” she said with eyes still closed. “It’s part of my Earthling powers.”
“Well, you are heavy.” He stepped in as the doors pivoted open, and she put her hands around his neck and slid down to stand on her own.
“You just have teeny tiny planets, is all.” She looked up at him through long, dark lashes. “Not big, gravity-rich planets like mine.”
“Like Balco,” he said, and suddenly realized she seemed happier than usual, despite everything that had happened to her. Her whole demeanor was playful and laughing.
“Just like Balco,” she agreed with a hum. “Being down here has been marvelous. I can’t believe it took me so long to come back after the last time.”
“It is definitely more work for the Grih to walk around here,” Hal admitted. “We actually encourage our crew to visit here after a long time in deep space, because it helps build bone density and muscle strength, even though theoretically the grav generator onboard all Grihan ships is sufficient.”
“What I’ve discovered since I’ve been down here is that artificial is no substitute for the real thing.” She leaned against him and sighed as the doors pivoted open onto their floor. “I’m planning to take trips down much more often now that I know.”
“Are you up to taking a few more steps?” Hal asked her, seriously considering carrying her again.
“I’m good.” She slid her arm through his and they walked toward her door. “I wonder if Trayla is back?”
Hal had totally forgotten about Trayla, and wondered if she had found out anything interesting.
“I asked Eazi to tell her to pretend she didn’t know us and hang around to hear if anything was said about the poisonings that would be of interest.” After that, all Hal had cared about was whether Fiona was going to survive the poison.
He opened the door to the suite and saw Trayla, fast asleep on the couch.
Fiona tightened her grip on his arm. “Let her sleep,” she whispered. “I’m wiped out. We can talk later.”
Hal checked the time, and realized no matter what Trayla had to say, it could wait.
He was here, with Fiona, and they had the backing of Grih Battle Center and two Class 5 thinking systems.
Whatever was happening, they would overcome it.