Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [145]
"By damn, that sounds like a mighty big operation," Kellum said. "And a management nightmare."
"Since when are you reluctant to tackle a big job, Dad?" Zhett put her hands behind her head while lounging in the chair. "We're set here. We've got cargo escorts flying out every hour on the hour, delivering ekti faster than we can issue bills to our customers."
"Now that the hydrogues know the wentals have returned, this war is going to heat up--and fast." Nikko could not hide the urgency in his voice. "If we don't defeat the drogues, then your skymines and the Roamer way of life spiral down a bottomless gravity well. The wentals need us, and we need them!"
"Well, the damned Eddies aren't going to defeat the drogues," grumbled a new skymine chief, someone Zhett hadn't met. "They get their collective asses whipped every time they engage."
Boris Goff let out a deep, rumbling laugh. "Ha, wouldn't they be embarrassed if Roamers saved the day?"
"Why should we help the Eddies or the Big Goose, by damn?" Kellum snapped. "Look what they've done to us."
Zhett finally stood from her chair. "I seem to remember one of your lectures, Dad, about taking the high road."
"That was different, my sweet." He scratched his beard as he pondered. The lights of far-off skymines continued to blink, lonely sentries above the clouds. Steam jets and exhaust plumes billowed like ghostly breath in the frosty air.
"Believe me, I've got no love for the Eddies," Nikko said. "They wrecked my family's greenhouse asteroids. As far as I know, my parents are prisoners of war in some hellhole work camp. But the hydrogues are a bigger problem. All I'm asking is that you commit some ships to haul wental water."
The young man grinned at Zhett, but she turned her attention to the clan heads. "Look at you all! Do you really want to miss the biggest battle ever to hit the Spiral Arm?"
"That's supposed to convince me?" Goff said. "After what we've already been through?"
Bing Palmer snorted. "Shizz, Boris, I've heard you brag for years about skymining through a moon-sized hurricane on Franconia. It's time you got some new stories, if you want anybody to keep buying you drinks."
"Just follow your Guiding Star," Nikko insisted. "It's time to take back more gas giants, like this one. You all know how many people died on the Blue Sky Mine here. On all the skymines."
"The bloody drogues killed my Shareen on Welyr." Kellum's nostrils flared. "All right, by damn, you've got my vote, Nikko. We've been punched in the gut so many times that I'm sick of just folding over. I'd rather be wringing the Hansa Chairman's neck for what he did at Rendezvous, but I suppose wiping out the drogues will have to do. For now."
Nikko grinned with relief. "I'm going to give you the coordinates for a planet called Charybdis. It's where Jess Tamblyn first seeded the new wentals. Meet me there and load up with all the wental water you can carry. We've got a schedule so that we, and all the other water bearers and all of their volunteers, can keep everything running smoothly."
The gathering degenerated into excited talk about commitments of vessels and materials, schedules of when to arrive at the ocean planet, suggestions of who else might participate. Nikko paced the deck, and Zhett could tell the young man was sneaking glances at her. Aloof, she turned toward the cloud decks below. Nikko was a handsome young man, though a bit flighty; she'd seen him make deliveries to the Osquivel shipyards, showing up either late or early, rarely on time. Zhett sniffed, not at all interested in flirting. The bad experience with Patrick Fitzpatrick still left a sour taste in her mouth.
At some point, the pilot slipped away to deliver his message to other Roamer settlements. Zhett saw his oddball growth-encrusted ship take off from the lower landing deck and skim across the clouds and realized she should have said goodbye to