A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [113]
“And why would the hydrogues listen to him?” the Chairman asked, glancing around the table.
Now Fitzpatrick jumped in, seeing a way to consolidate both schemes. “Because we’ll carry a big stick! Bring a massive battlefleet to Osquivel, show some muscle, then send Brindle down in his diving bell chamber to negotiate. He can say his piece, and if the drogues agree to talk, then everybody’s happy. If something…unfortunate happens to him, then we proceed with the first plan and pound the shit out of those bastards.”
Chairman Wenceslas remained silent, pondering. Tasia wanted to shout at all of them for even considering such a stupid stunt, but Lanyan turned to Robb. “All right, I accept your offer, Wing Commander Brindle, though I’m not sure if it’s a reward or a reprimand for discovering where the hydrogues live.”
“Thank you, sir…I think.”
In her temporary officer’s quarters on Mars, Tasia lay back on her bunk, her mind in turmoil.
She wanted to go hold Robb. She also wanted to yell at him for his macho idiocy, but she knew she would never convince him to change his mind. The cocky pilot had made his decision—and she couldn’t, in all honesty, blame him. She might have done the same, except that negotiating with the drogues had never been her object in joining the Eddies—only punishing them for what they had done to her brother.
She and Robb had never claimed to love each other, but they had an understanding. She was a Roamer; he was a military brat. Their personalities had drawn them together. On some vague and carefully unanalyzed level, yes, they did share deep feelings, but because of the uneasy tensions and the routine possibility of death, they had kept their relationship on a day-by-day basis. It was foolish for two EDF officers in the middle of a war to plan ahead.
Tasia’s other loyalty, though, lay with the Roamer clans. One of the largest hidden shipyards existed in the rocky rings of Osquivel, camouflaged from the Hansa. And a huge Eddie battlefleet was about to blunder into it. Chairman Wenceslas would love to discover just what kind of factories and facilities Del Kellum had set up there.
Tasia had to send a warning to Rendezvous. Osquivel’s habitation modules must be evacuated, the facilities disguised. Roamers had always been good at pulling up stakes. They could work together to cover up all signs of the massive shipyard’s existence.
But the Mars EDF base was under tight security, and no Roamer ships were allowed to approach the military zones. Tasia would have no chance for direct contact and didn’t dare send a message that anyone here might intercept. Perhaps she could get a furlough or a transfer to the lunar base, which did intercept trading ships.
Frowning, she accessed the various arrival schedules and discovered that no openings for even temporary transfers were available for three weeks…and after that point, the next Roamer ship wasn’t due to arrive for six days. Too long, much too long.
It would be months before the EDF could gather a sufficiently large fleet, build new ships, design and construct Robb’s armored pressurized chamber. Even so, the Roamer evacuation would take a massive drawn-out effort.
If she could get a warning to them in time.
After long contemplation, Tasia realized that she already had the perfect messenger. She summoned her personal compy, who came into her quarters, diverted from military busywork.
“EA, I have another mission for you, the most important one you’ve ever been given.”
“Yes, Tasia Tamblyn. What is it?” The Listener compy did not seem at all intimidated.
Tasia smiled and laid out her plan. “You must slip away from Mars and make your way to Rendezvous. I need you to deliver a message to Speaker Peroni.”
56
DD
On a dark frozen moon at the edge of an unmapped planetary system, the Klikiss robots continued their work, where no one could see or suspect. The black sky was a murky soup, the moon’s atmosphere so thick