Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson [81]
“Maybe it’s a gift,” Sarein said. “What would the Roamers be sending us? A peace offering?”
“Not likely,” Cain answered.
Basil had had enough. “I want to get to the bottom of this game they’re playing. This is probably just an excuse to raise ekti prices—again.” He gestured to Pellidor. “Open it up.”
The blond expediter moved to open the crate. Remembering the hydrogue emissary who had exploded his environment chamber inside the WhisperPalace, Basil flinched. But it had never been the Roamers’ way to take aggressive action.
The sides of the crate retracted, exposing an old-fashioned device. “It’s an antique hologram projector,” said Pellidor.
The machinery glowed and hummed, warming up. Basil suddenly wished he had sent the other eavesdroppers away, but it was too late now. Sarein stepped closer to him, too close, and started to speculate on what the Roamers might want, but Basil cut her off, concentrating on priorities. “Quiet. I want to hear what she has to say.”
An image of Cesca Peroni no larger than a doll appeared in the air. Her face was turned, directing her words somewhere between Pellidor and the gathered technicians. Basil moved to where he could look the image in the eye, the better to watch her expressions.
“Chairman Wenceslas, I speak for all the Roamer clans. We have met and decided unanimously on a course of action in response to EDF piracy. You and the rest of the Terran Hanseatic League can expect no further deliveries from Roamer merchants. No ekti. No supplies of any kind.”
Basil clenched his teeth and drowned out the incensed and disbelieving mutters in the background. “Piracy? What the hell is she talking about?”
Speaker Peroni continued, her voice calm and reasonable. “Our clans have risked their lives to provide you with stardrive fuel, and we have been repaid with treachery. We long suspected that Hansa military ships were preying upon our unarmed cargo vessels. Now we have found outright proof of EDF attacks. We have in our possession the wreckage of a Roamer ship indisputably destroyed by military jazers. You stole our cargoes and tried to cover your tracks, but now we know what you have done.”
Basil pressed his lips together until they turned white. The Roamer Speaker seemed forceful, firm, controlled. “Therefore, until the Hansa brings the perpetrators of this heinous action publicly to justice, and renounces all such piracy in the future, trade is hereby severed between our peoples.” The hologram winked off.
Basil’s heart leaped to his throat, and he wanted to strangle someone. “What is she talking about?” He knew how easily General Lanyan could have justified such things, off the record. What a mess!
Sarein leaned nearer to Basil, but didn’t touch him, wisely recognizing that he was close to exploding. “That woman is an arrogant, self-righteous…coward. She gave you no chance to respond, allowed for no negotiation.” She was trying to be supportive, to share his outrage, but he didn’t need it.
“There will be no negotiations,” Basil said. More than ever, he was frustrated by the failure of his assassination plan, which would have set up a Roamer merchant as a scapegoat. That would have contained and strengthened everything.
Eldred Cain remained cool and contemplative. “First question, Mr. Chairman: Is there any truth to her accusations?”
Basil looked at the wide-eyed techs and turned to his expediter without answering Cain’s question. “Mr. Pellidor, take down their names and IDs. I want the content of this message kept quiet until the Hansa decides on an appropriate response.”
“Speaker Peroni can’t just be allowed to have her little temper tantrum,” Sarein said.
While Pellidor stepped toward the four intimidated technicians, the pallid deputy said quietly to Basil, “We can’t cover this up indefinitely, Mr. Chairman. People are already noticing