Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [21]
"It shall be done, Liege," Kori'nh said. "Rapidly and efficiently. I hope we can act quickly enough to prevent further loss of life. Are we to recover our equipment and buildings?"
"No, they are tainted with the disease. Also, the Terran Hanseatic League has bargained hard and negotiated well, and they have...acquired Crenna and all its resources from us. Their preliminary tests have made them confident they are not susceptible to this plague. Humans will move into the empty settlement as soon as our people have been evacuated."
Kori'nh was aghast, especially after having seen the outrageous experiment at Oncier that would provide them with four new moons to inhabit. "What could the humans possibly need with a new planet? They have already spread like a disease across so many worlds."
"It is all part of my plan, Adar. Better to let them have our leavings than to let them grow too ambitious on their own."
Adar Kori'nh nodded. "It is as I have warned for decades, Liege. We must never let down our guard. I suggest we maintain a careful vigilance."
"I always do, my Adar," said the Mage-Imperator. "I always do."
12 RLINDA KETT
As a successful merchant with five ships, Rlinda Kett was not accustomed to biting her nails and waiting in meek silence. Especially during an ambush. She stood next to General Kurt Lanyan on the bridge deck of the Juggernaut-class battleship, the most heavily armed vessel in the Earth Defense Forces.
While lurking in the empty silence of space, Lanyan had ordered the Juggernaut to shut down all its running lights and dampen their electromagnetic signature. The EDF battleship's dark hull plates of stealth material would keep them invisible, just a gravitational anomaly floating among the rocks at the outskirts of the Yreka system.
Waiting. They had already set their trap.
"How long have we been in position?" Rlinda said in a quiet voice.
"No need to whisper, madam," the General answered. His cheeks and chin were so smooth and clean that the skin looked slippery. When he focused his attention, his close-set icy-blue eyes seemed to drink in light and then reflect it back twofold. Lanyan indicated the tracker screen that showed the blip of Rlinda's cargo ship, the Voracious Curiosity, as it proceeded along the commercial flight path toward Yreka's inhabited planets. "We can't hurry this. That bastard Sorengaard has to make the next move."
"You'd best be certain to respond the moment he does, General." Now that she no longer bothered to whisper, her booming voice carried an intimidating quality. "That's my personal ship out there, and it's being piloted by my favorite ex-husband."
"Your favorite one, madam? How many of them do you have?"
"Ships or ex-husbands?"
"Ex-husbands," the General growled as if she should have known his intent. "I am already aware of how many ships you run."
"Five ex-husbands, and BeBob is the best of the bunch, the only one who still works for me." She still got along with Captain Branson "BeBob" Roberts, personally and sexually. Besides, he was a damned good captain.
Space corsairs led by the outlaw Rand Sorengaard had recently captured one of Rlinda's merchant ships on the Yreka run, killing the crew and taking all of her supplies. Settled by one of the original generation ships, the Abel-Wexler, Yreka was near the edge of territory claimed by the Ildiran Empire, far from the core of the Terran Hanseatic League, which meant that neither race provided much surveillance or protection. But when Sorengaard's corsairs had taken to running down cargo ships, the Earth Defense Forces had vowed to root out and crush such flagrant lawlessness, even if it meant using Rlinda's ship and her favorite ex-husband as bait.
Rlinda was a black woman with an ample body, a big appetite, and a hearty laugh. She allowed people to draw their own stereotypes, which often led them to underestimate her; Rlinda was not quite as soft and roly-poly as she appeared. A shrewd businesswoman,