Chapter 36
“I can pick up three small convoys,” Voa said. “All in this vicinity, and that’s not an unusual number of Garmman traders.”
“So now we have to find out if any of them are the Ciollo.” Chel stood braced with his hands behind his back.
“Maybe all three are Garmman warships,” Hal said. He wanted to be down on Balco, looking for Fee, but there was no way he could do that when there was a credible threat to Larga Ways. It was the whole point of the Illium’s presence in this part of Grih airspace.
Voa spun in her chair. “You think there could be three?”
Hal shrugged. “Why not? They can’t think we won’t call for reinforcements—Admiral Hoke already has—which means they’d be at a strategic disadvantage with only the Ciollo.”
“Not to mention the moral disadvantage,” Gerbardi muttered.
“I don’t think whoever is behind this cares about that,” Hal told him. “What we won’t know until it’s over is whether this is a breakaway military group like in the case of the Tecran, or whether the full Garmman government is behind the plot.”
“The closest convoy showing is on the other side of Balco,” Chel said. “Do we go there first?”
“Go find the furthest one, and work our way back,” Hal said. He’d rather make sure there wasn’t a battleship coming up behind him than take a risk of being ambushed.
Chel sat, and Hal felt the ship surge forward.
“Captain, the admiral wants a word.” Gerbardi lifted his head from his comm screen.
“I’ll take it in my office.” Hal moved off the bridge to the small office beside it, and sat down.
Admiral Hoke was already on his comm screen.
“Well handled, Vakeri. I’ve forwarded the exchange to Battle Center and they’ve contacted the UC and the Garmman. I can only imagine the squawks of outrage coming from UC headquarters right now.” Hoke leaned back in her chair. “You’re going after the Ciollo to make sure it leaves?”
“We’re going after every large convoy of Garmman traders, to make sure they aren’t actually the Ciollo in disguise.” Hal quirked up a corner of his mouth.
The admiral stared at him. “Oh, diabolical.”
“There are three that Voa can pick up. All three may be Garmman battleships, for all we know, or none of them. That’s the irritating thing, we can’t tell until we get a visual. But we’re checking each one.”
“I’ll be sure to inform your reinforcements to keep an eye out for that.
” Hoke blew out a breath. “They’ll both be with you in a few hours.
Manipulating us to make sure our battleships were spread out along our space boundary was obviously the plan.
Both the Yarmis and the Helio are over a light jump from your position. ”
“They’ve definitely won the first round,” Hal said.
Hoke looked very unhappy about that. She firmed her lips.
“Two of our fast runners left Distani for the desert two hours ago. They’ve been given strict instructions to keep out of sight and to find a way to extract Fiona, as long as they can do it safely.
” Hoke tapped a finger on her desk. “If the Balcoans meant to kill her, they could have done it on Larga Ways.”
“They want the information she has about the Class 5s. They’ll keep her alive as long as they find her useful, and she knows that.” He hoped she was stringing them along for all she was worth.
“I also made sure the Garmman are aware Leader Baruke is missing, presumed kidnapped, and any contact with him needs to be reported, and anything he says has to be considered under duress. General Olna has been officially approached by the Balcoan high cabinet asking for Grihan assistance in helping find him.”
“That’ll put a dent in the Garmman narrative that the Balcoans want to get rid of us.” Hal smiled.
“It will.” Hoke smiled back. “Let me know if you find a battleship.”
Hal stood. “The only question is, will it just be one?”
Hoke cut the comms on a shake of her head in clear disgust, and Hal moved back to the bridge.
“We’re coming up to the first convoy,” Voa said as he arrived.
“Have they hailed us?” Chel asked.
Voa shook her head. “Not a peep.”
“Swing wide,” Hal told Chel. “Go left and loop around behind them, and go full speed.”
Chel nodded, and the Illium tipped to the right as he took them into a steep curve.
“And there it is.” Hal took a step forward.
The screen showed the Ciollo.
“Ping them,” Hal said. “Inform them we’ve registered their refusal to leave our airspace with the UC, and then we can go on to the second convoy.”
Chel hopped over the top of the Garmman battleship in an overtly aggressive move, and they sped off.
“I can practically hear the gasps from here,” Garbardi said, with a grin.
“Patch the admiral through,” Hal told him.
She came up on the main screen. “I saw.” She shook her head. “You’re already on to the second convoy?”
He nodded. “We’ll send through the battleship name if it is another one. Then we’ll head straight for the final one. Speed is the way to keep them off guard, I think.”
“Especially when you’ve got no help coming for a while,” Hoke agreed. “Whatever happens, call me when you reach the third convoy.”
Hal inclined his head and Gerbardi ended the transmission.
“Captain Hunner of the Ciolla is hailing us, Captain.” He lifted his brows in question.
“I’ll bite.” Hal gave a nod.
The main screen switched to the Garmman captain, standing with a few of his senior officers on the bridge.
“Captain Hunner?” Hal kept his voice clipped.
“I object to your behavior, Captain Vakeri. We experienced some mechanical difficulties on our way back to the space boundary, and had to stop for repairs.”
“No you didn’t.” Hal wasn’t playing games anymore.
“You set your ship to look like a convoy. If you really had technical problems, you’d have sent us a comm to that effect.
Please don’t waste my time. And I assume you know that the Balcoan government has listed Leader Baruke as missing and has appealed to the Grih for help in finding him.
So if you get another transmission from him, I hope you’ll let the UC know about it. ”
He flicked a hand to Gerbardi, and he cut the comms without waiting for a response.
“That’ll make him mad,” Chel said, with a laugh.
“I hope so.” Hal crossed his arms over his chest. He was feeling more than a little mean right now.
“Second convoy coming up.” Voa’s tone was one of suppressed excitement. “And . . . here it is.”
They rounded DX987, one of the ten other planets in Balco’s solar system—a dead rock of a place—and there was an actual convoy.
“Well, that’s something,” Chel said. “Even if the last one turns out to be a battleship, two to one is better than three to one.”
Hal gave a nod as they leaped over the convoy, issued an apology for the maneuver, and sped on their way.
Last one, and it was closest to Balco.
“Captain, the third convoy’s disappeared.” Voa leapt to her feet, hands braced on either side of her screen.
“Disappeared?” Hal joined her, looking over her shoulder. He turned to Chel. “Go to the last place it registered anyway.”
Chel nodded, and increased the speed even more, but when they arrived, so close to Balco he could see the ocean below, there was nothing but empty space.
“The Ciolla let them know we were checking all the convoys,” Gerbardi said. “They must have.”
“They jumped away, switched off the convoy signals, and somehow reversed the signal they used to make those small runners look like battleships.” Chel got to his feet, too, staring at the empty starscape in front of them. “They’ve made themselves disappear.”
Hal wondered where they’d got to. There was a reason the Ciolla had taken the spotlight and then headed away from Larga Ways. It was trying to keep the focus away from Balco.
“They may be hidden, but they’re here somewhere,” Hal said. “Let’s go hunting.”