Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [31]
Cesca gave a wicked grin. "Oh, the Goose wouldn't like that at all."
"Not at all." Jhy Okiah looked at her student and nodded. "But I don't believe any legal restrictions prevent it."
Reynald's suggestion surprised Cesca, since few outsiders took the Roamers seriously, seeing them as ragtag groups that happened to provide a useful product. The Hansa had never bothered to keep track of how many skymines the Roamers operated or what gas planets they harvested. The Spiral Arm had so many uninhabited systems, so many gas giants, who could possibly monitor them all? How could a Hansa spy ship spot even a huge floating factory against the backdrop of a planet larger than Jupiter?
With apparent innocence, Reynald asked probing questions about Roamer bases and facilities, but Jhy Okiah skillfully dodged them all, giving the young man no useful information. "I must discuss this with the other clans, Reynald. However, I welcome the opening of relations between Therons and Roamers. What is it you are offering for your own part?"
Reynald could not stop grinning. "Perhaps the Therons could provide the services of a few green priests? With all of your far-flung clans, I'm sure the Roamers could make use of instantaneous communication."
"True, we are a widely dispersed people, and news travels slowly," the old woman said, "but we have learned to live with our own methods. We follow the Guiding Star."
"Still, sometimes you may wish to learn of significant events more quickly." Reynald's eyes were bright. He leaned across the small table in the yacht's galley, ready to tell a secret. "For instance, our green priests have just passed along a report from General Lanyan—that Rand Sorengaard was recently apprehended and executed near Yreka. The EDF set up an ambush for him and captured all of his crew. They were all sent out the airlock."
Cesca and Jhy Okiah met each other's gaze. Cesca swallowed hard. "Damned Eddies. That's bad news indeed."
Reynald seemed surprised. "Did you actually support Sorengaard's activities? He seemed more of a revolutionary than a pirate—"
"We understand his motivations, young man, for Roamers have been unfairly treated by the Hansa. Violence, however, only brings about further violence, rather than any acceptable resolution. As spokesperson for the Roamers, I can never condone his methods."
The old Speaker turned back to business. "Nevertheless, Prince Reynald, we must respectfully decline your most generous offer."
Cesca regarded the brawny, handsome young man. "I have to agree. Allowing green priests to live among the Roamers is simply impossible." The idea of having a stranger view their most carefully hidden installations sent a chill down her spine. While the telink process provided instant communication, such information became available to all green priests, everywhere. The Roamers would never open themselves that much.
Reynald took the rejection with good grace and a wry smile. "Basil Wenceslas would fall all over himself to have more priests, but we have turned him down. Your reaction is quite different from my experience with the Terran Hanseatic League."
"Roamer society is very different from that of other humans."
Reynald slid a glance over at the beautiful Cesca, obviously flirting. "We might consider a different sort of alliance then, a marriage perhaps—"
But Cesca raised her hand, looking first at her delicate fingers and then meeting his eyes. "Such a joining would indeed be a valuable political alliance. But I must inform you that I am already betrothed to the chief