“See?” Shank said with an artificial note of happiness in his voice. “You don’t think they’re all evil.”
“I never said they were evil. I said you were an idiot for getting involved with them. There is a rather significant difference.”
“Well, we were hoping you would get involved with them too.” Allie held her breath and braced herself for the coming explosion. Anpaytoo slowly angled her chair two inches to the left to square off against Allie.
“Excuse me?” Anpaytoo’s voice had arctic tones.
“Not SC exactly,” Shank said, rushing into the abyss, which was good because Allie was almost sure Anpaytoo was planning her assassination. Shank held out a hand palm forward. “The miners have excess ore, and that includes yttrium and dysprosium.”
“And?” Anpaytoo demanded when Shank had the audacity to pause for a moment.
“And the SC got the bats to agree that the miners could send excess ore back to their families to support their children, but the miners need someone willing to transport the ore and only take a fair percentage as a fee.”
Anpaytoo leaned back in her chair. “Wait. Are you telling me that you’ve negotiated a trading deal with the SC? Chankoowashtay ...” Her voice didn’t trail off as much as it sounded like it’d been strangled in her throat.
Allie decided to try her hand at negotiation. “The bats are fine with ships coming to trade with the miners, but they won’t allow miners to leave. The SC doesn’t think it’s a good idea for their ships to do the trading. They can’t afford to make mistakes because they represent the Earth alliance, and they’re afraid that Command would demand equal access to the resources.”
“Which means Command would send in a ship full of idiots who would do something to restart the damn war,” Anpaytoo finished. The woman might be a pain in the ass, but she did catch on quickly. “So, you volunteered the family ships? What else did you volunteer?” She pinned Allie with her glare.
Allie gritted her teeth and reined in her temper before she answered. “We didn’t volunteer you. We said we would come here and ask for help. This would be good profit for you, and it would help these people.”
“And?” Anpaytoo asked.
“And what?” Allie demanded.
“Do not act as if I were born yesterday, child. Why would they send you two with this deal? Either you want something more, or they think I’m a danger to anyone other than my son.”
Allie did not like getting backed into a corner, but she couldn’t exactly withhold information if they wanted help. “Commander Jasper gave us the option of either running around with known SC codes or of gathering intelligence without being so obvious,” Allie said. “We said we’d rather run under a family ship flag.”
“A family ship?” Anpaytoo looked at Shank. “You told them you would run your ship like a family ship? While working for the SC? Truly?”
“None of us fit well with the military,” Shank said almost apologetically. “We will respect all family codes, and we will not give family intel to SC, although Claire and theMonitormight find life getting a little uncomfortable.”
Anpaytoo studied Allie. “So, you think you’re up to owning a ship?”
“Oh hell no.” The words slipped out before Allie could even make them sound more polite.
Anpaytoo laughed. “That is the most intelligent thing I have heard you say yet.”
“Mom, be nice,” Shank said wearily.
“That is me being nice. So, if you’re not up to the task, who do you think would own this ship of yours?”
Allie took a deep breath. Shank had mentioned his mother might ask for this. The owners were usually women, so that left half the crew out. And while warriors and fighters might be captains, the family ships had far more cautious owners. If they wanted people to believe they were a family ship, they had to fit into that pattern.
There was only one choice.
“Zeke is the captain, but Copta will be the owner. She knows the logistics of running a ship, and she’ll make sure the rest of us don’t lose theUnktomiin our first month.”
Anpaytoo’s eyebrows rose. “Copta? She might actually be acceptable.”
From Shank’s mother, that was a rousing endorsement.
She leaned back and pressed her fingers into a steeple. “You promised your brother he could go along on your next adventure.”
Shank was already shaking his head before she finished. “I’m not going to get Chet caught up in this, I promise.”
“Are they training you? Are you going to get some of that infamous SC training on Nicve?” Anpaytoo had a dangerously calculating expression on her face.
