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 theUnhil.” 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’lltake them back up to theUnhil. 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 theUnhil, 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 muchdon’thave 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.
