“A drone. Controlled elsewhere,” Hal said. Although that was a lie. Fee had told him all the motley crew were self-aware—little people in their own right—although so far, they were happy to do whatever Paxe asked them to.
“What did it do to him?” Crane asked.
“It’s a tranquilizer,” Hal said. He hoped. “He’ll be fine in a couple of hours. And ready for questioning.” He turned back to the door and lifted his shockgun. “Now let’s get these people out, I’ve got other things to do.”
“Vistna really doesn’t knowanything except what he was told,” Admiral Hoke said. She looked pissed off.
Hal leaned back in the co-pilot’s chair of the runner taking him up to theIllium, and grimaced. The pilot glanced his way and then kept her eyes forward.
“That’s what he said when he tried to stop us from getting into the conference room to rescue the hostages.” Falna had been in there, unconscious, injured when she’d stormed in earlier, but according to an update from Battle Center’s med team, she would recover.
“Nolan Greste, the friend Vistna was trying to protect, really does seem to be blindsided by the betrayal of the Balcoans. He grew up on Balco, you know. His parents moved there as immigrants from Grih, and his knowledge of Balcoan was one of the reasons he got a placement at Larga Ways headquarters.” Hoke shook her head. “He also seems surprised at what a dim view his superior officers have taken at being held at shockgun point by him and the Balcoan that was in the conference room with him.”
“Was the Balcoan also surprised at the fact that the people he was working for had left the way station without taking it over?” Hal asked.
“Less so.” Hoke tilted her head. “I think it was a possibility in all their minds they may have to delay the take over while theIlliumwas hovering overhead. They had hoped the fun and games the Garmman were playing with us at the space boundary would keep you away, and when you arrived, it put a spoke in the wheels, so to speak.”
“They must have been thrilled to hear Fiona had left to spend some time on theIllium,” Hal said. “And that was Tean Lee’s idea.”
“That hasn’t escaped anyone’s notice.” Hoke tapped a long finger to her lips. “What’s your take on that?”
“Tean Lee rubs me the wrong way. Always has, but he might just be an innocent dupe in this. Someone could have led him to genuinely believe in a plot to assassinate Fee, and if that’s true, then he really was looking out for her, getting her off the station.”
Hoke sighed. “I agree. There’s not enough evidence either way.”
“Jaden Tris is another story altogether.” Hal thought back to Fiona’s admin, and wished he’d had the time to question the little bastard.
“Tean Lee’s got him in holding. He’s clammed up.”
Eazi had assured Hal there was nothing Jaden could tell them that Eazi didn’t already know or hadn’t worked out. But Eazi had also told him that he’d lost contact with Fiona. And that given the direction the runner had been going in, and the wall of interference since he’d lost their signal, there was only one destination that made sense.
“Eazi thinks they’ve taken Fiona to the old Tecran base in the desert.” The runner slowed as it approached theIllium, and Hal got to his feet, ready to head straight for the bridge when they landed.
“How? There’s nothing left.” Hoke frowned.
“Perhaps we were a little too trusting of the Balcoans’ assurances that they would dismantle whatever was left out there.” Hal wondered if their relationship with the Balcoans would ever recover from this betrayal.
“Maybe.” Hoke fixed her gaze on his. “Do you want me to send someone out there?”
Hal considered. “I do, but I’m worried if they’re seen, it might endanger Fiona more than she already is.”
“I’ll instruct them to go in stealth mode, land, and take hovers the rest of the way.”
“Only if they really can stay undetected.” Hal had to engage the Garmman first. He knew it, Eazi knew it, Hoke knew it. But what he really wanted to do was get Fiona to safety.
“I’ll send my best and stress the need to stay hidden.” Hoke made it sound like a vow, and Hal trusted her.
He nodded.
“Good luck with the Garmman,” she said.
He knew she would be listening in on the bridge, and probably would have the Garmman military leadership’s comms links within easy reach as soon as Battle Center had an idea of which way this would play out. So far the Garmman had been used as a threat, but a secondhand threat.
They needed to go to the source and find out what was really going on, and what their supposed allies were doing lurking behind a moon in Grihan airspace without permission.
The runner landed, and Hal saluted the admiral and jumped out into the launch bay of his ship.
Time to go to battle.
