“He seemed very concerned about sticking to space boundaries just a week or so ago,” Voa said. “What a hypocrite.”
“Hail them.” Hal glanced over at Gerbardi. “The admiral is connected?”
Gerbardi nodded, then sent the hail.
Hunner appeared on screen, and Hal inclined his head. Stayed silent.
The Garmman captain shifted in place.
Hal tilted his head, lifted a brow.
“We received a call for help from Balco.” Hunner cleared his throat. “We responded, but wanted to observe first, to make sure the call was genuine.”
“A call from whom?” Hal asked. But he suddenly had a good guess.
“Leader Baruke.”
“Who was kidnapped yesterday, and whose whereabouts are still unknown,” Hal said.
“Impossible,” Hunner said. “While the original call for help was from a Balcoan diplomat on behalf of the government, alleging a break in your agreement with the Balcoans, I confirmed the details with Baruke a few hours later, and that was less than a day ago.”
So either Baruke was being threatened when he communicated with the Garmman, or they were lying about talking to him and were in on the plot.
There was an outside chance Baruke was complicit, but Hal didn’t think so. He’d nearly died at the dinner, and he’d looked very unhappy when Fiona had spoken about the disruptions to Paxe’s rebuild.
“I highly doubt he spoke to you willingly,” Hal said. “Given it was just yesterday I had his daughter begging me to find him after he and his bodyguards disappeared without a trace.”
Hunner looked like he’d been slapped, but Hal couldn’t decide if it was because he had a feeling he’d been duped, or because Hal wasn’t buying his story.
“Please leave our airspace immediately. You can expect a formal complaint will be lodged at UC headquarters.” Hal widened his stance.
“We are here in response to a call for help, Vakeri. The Balcoans say they’re no longer willing partners to the accord you have with them, and they feel threatened.”
“And have they raised this with the UC?” Hal asked. “Have they raised this issue with Battle Center? Either formally or informally? I think you’ll find the answer to all of those questions is no.”
“What are you suggesting?” Hunner asked.
“That this is a ploy on your part to take Larga Ways and adjust your space boundary to include what was once ours.” Hal lifted his shoulders. “A clear breach of about three agreements between our nations.”
Hunner tilted his head as if listening to a message in his ear piece and then he sighed. “I have been told to withdraw for now.”
“Thank you.” Hal bared his teeth.
Hunner winked out, the screen going blank as he cut the comms, and then theCiollamoved back, and light jumped away.
“That was easy,” Chel said.
“Too easy.” Hal frowned.
“They’re not on our scanners any more,” Gerbardi said.
“They aren’t on our scanners as a battleship,” Hal said. “But they’ve been playing games for weeks, remember. Fine-tuning their strategy in real time with our battleships. What do you bet theCiollanow looks like a small fleet of traders to most scanners?”
“Ah.” Voa turned in her seat to face him. “The little sneaks.”
Fee wassure the grahudi was following her, but every time she looked back, there was nothing to see.
If it had been haunting the base since it was blown up, it must have developed strategies to stay hidden. She guessed she’d only see it if it wanted her to see it.
