A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [142]
Everything depended on one key resource: ekti. All the extreme emergency measures the EDF had taken, the strict conservation programs, the pressure and encouragement applied to Roamer clans, had resulted in only a trickle of stardrive fuel. The Terran Hanseatic League simply could not survive without ekti. Colonies were already starving—and the damned hydrogues refused to negotiate at all. His nostrils flared.
And he had heard nothing from Davlin Lotze in his search for answers about the missing Colicos xeno-archaeology team, so he assumed that was a bust, too. It had been a long shot anyway.
Maybe the deep-core aliens would learn their lesson at Osquivel. Soldier compies, green priests, a full-scale EDF battlefleet…and a last-ditch negotiator. So much was riding on that offensive.
Normally, Basil’s thoughts would have been interrupted a thousand times in an hour, but he had initiated a full communications block to keep out all visitors and all transmissions. Foolishly, he thought he could figure out a solution if only he could concentrate on the problem long enough. But he didn’t seem able to bully his imagination into submission.
When the guest signal sounded, Basil knew exactly who it must be. Only Sarein had his private access code. He had given it to her several years ago, and to her credit she rarely used it. Now, however, he could use an interruption.
Beautiful and enthusiastic, her face appeared on the tablescreen, pushing aside data summations. He had always found her physically attractive, sexually stimulating. At first, he’d thought she was far too young, but Sarein was more mature than most women he had met. Her mind was quick despite her upbringing on a backwater forest planet. He had told her some of his political plans, divulging secrets he should never have confessed to anyone. So far, she had proved a worthy ally.
“I know you don’t want me to use this channel unless it’s a crisis, Basil,” she said. “And let me tell you up front that the world is not coming to an end—at least not today. But you and I need to have some time alone. Let me arrange for a quiet dinner.”
“Sarein, this is not a day for us to build a relationship.”
“I’m not talking about that, Basil. I’m talking about your ability to make decisions, to think clearly through stress. Let me be your sounding board. Haven’t I already proved my value by bringing you all those green priests?”
He wanted to turn her away, to tell Sarein to leave him alone so he could think, but that would accomplish nothing. “All right, you’ve played your card. Out of appreciation for what you’ve done, we will have a conversation.” He pointed a finger at her dark-eyed image. “But don’t expect to use the same coin every time you need a favor.”
Her laugh was spiced with a lovely wiliness. “If I want something else from you, Basil, I’ll just have to pull off another miracle.”
She made him chuckle, and to Basil that was worth the annoyance of the interruption. “Give me an hour to finish here, then come to my private levels. Arrange whatever meal you’d like. It’ll be fine.” He blanked Sarein’s image.
General Lanyan had incorporated the nineteen new priests into his fleet across the ten grids. He hoped that the instantaneous telink communication would help change the uneven balance of power in the hydrogue war. Perhaps the Osquivel operation would turn the tide for good…or perhaps the green priests would simply report each catastrophe a bit faster.
With the hydrogues blocking access to gas giants, there could be no ekti.
Without ekti, there could be no Ildiran stardrive.
Without faster-than-light travel, there could be no interstellar trade.
With his gray eyes, Basil scanned the numbers again, seeing how the Hansa colonies were weakening, drawing apart. He had racked his brain for years. The only other option, which seemed even more improbable, was to find a completely new system of fast transportation that did not depend on ekti. Both Ildirans and human scientists had reworked the stardrive, but there simply was no fuel