CHAPTER 17
As they walkedout 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 battleshipsisthe 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.
