Chapter 38 #2
“Three more battleships appeared on the scanners. Hal thinks some are bogus. Small runners using tricks to fool the scanners. He had to clear the area of threats before he can come back.”
“How long will he be, and am I still getting a rescue?” she sang as she pulled out a few things to make the Balcoan version of a tasty wrap.
“He’ll be a while, I think. The battleships are spread out. If they are battleships.”
“If you can speak to him, tell him to be careful.” She hummed a little as she put her wrap together.
“I will. And the two runners are still coming for you, but I’ve told them the path out of the air tunnel may be compromised if people are going up and down the stairs now to access the storage level.
I’m going to try to find the code to this room so I can get you out, and we can hopefully find an alternative exit. ”
She was about to respond when the door to the conference room opened, and the man Bart called Kilmar stepped in.
He was filthy, covered in blood and grease and sand, and he looked very pissed off. Vira was right behind him, looking the same, minus the blood. When she stepped into the room, Nukolo eased in after her, equally in disarray, but like Kilmar, he had blood on his clothes, face and hands.
Things must be pretty bad out there.
Fee took a big bite of her wrap and took a seat at the head of the table. She’d gotten herself a cup of water as well, and she chased the bite down with a sip.
“Making yourself at home, I see.” Vira said.
“You haven’t given me anything to eat since you grabbed me out of my own office building,” Fee said. “So I was forced to help myself.”
Nukolo looked disconcerted, but Kilmar strode closer and crossed his arms over his chest.
“We haven’t heard anything more out of Larga Ways since just before Vira arrived with you,” Kilmar said. “What do you know about that?”
“No more than you.” Fee took another bite. “How could I?”
“Our people were supposed to send out a comm to say they’d gotten away,” Vira said.
“There’s a Garmman battleship right there, isn’t there? Maybe they’re blocking the signal now.” She set her wrap down on its plate.
Kilmar looked over at Vira, and she gestured at Fee.
“I told you she thinks the Garmman are going to sell us out and take everything.”
“She’s not the only one,” Nukolo said softly.
“What?” Kilmar turned on him.
“Just saying the workers have mentioned it a time or two. That if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.” Nukolo lifted both hands up.
“None of what the Garmman want to achieve works for them any other way,” Kilmar said, with a shake of his head.
“The only path to taking this part of the Grih’s territory will be if they can persuade the rest of the UC that we asked them to come to our aid.
Even if there’s a delay while the United Council squabbles and points fingers, it will muddy the waters enough for the Grih to be asked to withdraw from Balco’s solar system.
Then the Class 5 can be completed, and when it is, the tide will turn. ”
“Except the Grih have found the Class 5, and they’ve engaged with the Unhil.” Nukolo cleared his throat. “That’s why they dropped the cables, because they thought they were going to have a full engagement with a Grihan battleship.”
“I saw that, too,” Vira admitted. “The plan rested on secrecy, and that’s gone now.”
“I’m not leaving that fucking ship here after everything we sacrificed to build it.” Kilmar shook his head. “This has been a year in the making and it’s going up into nearspace to be finished if it kills me.”
“The Garmman agree.” Nukolo tapped his comm unit. “They’re sending the runners back down to get the cables. They’ll take them back up to the Unhil. The Grih were drawn away by other Garmman ships, so there’s a window of time where we still might pull this off.”
“The cables are already attached to the frame, so as soon as the runners get the cables up to the Unhil, we can lift.” Kilmar nodded slowly. “That works.”
“Except seven of my people are dead,” Nukolo said. His voice broke as he spoke, and his fists clenched.
“I know. I helped get them out from under the cables. I’ve got their blood on my hands, literally.” Kilmar turned on him, his bloody palms outstretched. Then he sighed. “That’s not your fault, and it’s not mine. It was the Garmman’s.”
“Almost like an allegory for what’s going on here,” Fiona said as she lifted her wrap for another bite. “As soon as the Garmman think they’re in danger, they’ll drop you like a cable from nearspace.”
Vira visibly jerked.
“And how do you know the Garmman are still going to build the Class 5 here? Now the Grih know what they’re up to, they’re just as likely to transport the frame across the space boundary into Garmman territory. And leave you out of things altogether.” Fee took a last bite of her wrap.
“Because they want preferential access to Larga Ways and better deals on the minerals we mine on Balco, that’s why.” Kilmar spoke through gritted teeth. “Besides the fact that we have the thinking system, and they need it.”
“Fair enough. They want this area of Grihan territory, and they want a Class 5 of their very own, and they think getting the Balcoan stamp of approval will let them annex this slice of air space, and the Class 5 will help them to keep hold of it if the Grih violently object. But you do understand that even if you discount Paxe, there are three other Class 5s out there, and they all side with the Grih.” Fee pushed her plate to the side.
“No one should ever discount Paxe,” Eazi whispered in her ear. “And they very much don’t have the thinking system.”
She almost smiled.
“This Class 5 we’re building with the Garmman will have to follow orders. It won’t do as it likes like the others do. And the others will not want to harm it, so they won’t attack it. The Garmman are happy that they’ll have the best of both worlds.” Kilmar twisted his mouth into a smirk.
“Except, as you’ve just said, the secret’s out.
There will be no Class 5 built in hiding, and you lot were stupid enough to kidnap Leader Baruke, making it clear to the UC that the people of Balco aren’t behind this invitation to the Garmman.
You come off as a special interest group at best, and one without public backing. ” Fee leaned back in her chair.
“Leader Baruke hasn’t been kidnapped,” Nukolo said, shaking his head. He looked between Kilmar and Vira, and when they wouldn’t meet his eye, he took a step back. “He has been kidnapped?”
“He wouldn’t cooperate,” Kilmar said eventually.
“First, you tried to poison him, then you abducted him.” Fee tilted her head. “He’s here, isn’t he?”
She was guessing, but they were being squirrelly about someone being here, and they very definitely didn’t want her to know who.
From the shocked look on Vira and Kilmar’s faces, she’d hit a bulls-eye.
“Why would we have him here?” Vira needed to work on her poker face.
“Kilmar,” Nukolo breathed. “We abducted Leader Baruke?”
Nukolo seemed to be genuinely shocked, but given he was the technical whiz, Fee wasn’t that surprised he was out of the loop on the dirtier side of putting this Class 5 together.
“It was Halarian Bost’s call, nothing to do with me.” Kilmar shrugged. “And he’s not here.”
“Is he lying?” Eazi whispered in her ear.
“I think so,” she said in English. She said it like she was swearing, hoping no one realized she was conversing with Eazi.
Then she switched back to Balcoan. “I think the courts might beg to differ. Also, at last the mysterious Halarian Bost enters the equation. He lured Baruke out and then grabbed him?”
“You’ve heard Bost’s name?” Vira asked.
“Baruke told me he’d been approached by him.”
“Anyone else part of that conversation?” Kilmar asked.
“The head of Grihan Battle Center HQ on Balco, as well as a few others.” Fee smiled sweetly.
“Shit.” Vira shook her head. “Maybe that’s why we haven’t heard a word from Bost since yesterday.”
“You think they’ve arrested him?” Kilmar finally looked worried.
Nukolo lifted a hand to his ear again. “I’m needed to help hitch the cables back to the runners.” He took a step back. “Where does this lead, Kilmar?”
He jogged out of the room, and Kilmar watched him go.
“Is it over?” Vira asked.
“No. It’s not over until there’s proof it’s over.
I refuse to assume, or take innuendo as fact.
Bost could be unable to send out a message because he’s under surveillance, or because he’s being a prick, which is actually in character.
” Kilmar sent Fee a hard look. “And we still have the Garmman military in our corner, and the thinking system itself.”
Fee shrugged. Stood with her plate and moved back into the kitchen to set it in the dishwasher.
“What do we do with her?” Vira asked.
Fee turned to face them.
“Nukolo can make do with getting the technical answers he needs by contacting the Tecran or the Garmman,” Kilmar said. “We don’t need to keep her around, and she’s been nothing but trouble.”
“I’m not killing her,” Vira said. “Not when things could swing around on us. That’s a black mark on my name I really don’t need.”
Kilmar gave a slow nod. “Drop her in the desert and let her walk.” He shot Vira a glance. “Didn’t you say frien anti venom doesn’t work on her?”
Vira gave a nod.
“Do it yourself. Bart’s developed an attitude.
” Kilmar lifted a hand to his own ear. “Coming,” he replied to whoever was speaking into his ear piece.
He walked backward toward the door. “I’m needed, but it’ll take half an hour for the runners to get back to the Unhil and reattached the cables. Then we’ll need your help.”
“Got it.” Vira had a shockgun holstered to her thigh and she drew it and pointed it at Fee. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll let the admiral know you’re changing locations,” Eazi whispered in her ear. “They can fetch you out in the desert. It’s actually easier for them.”
Fee lifted her cup and drained the last of her water. “Sure.”