Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [249]
“You’re back with the EDF now, young man. You are still a commissioned officer and a bona fide war hero. If we play this right, you can become the popular favorite of this whole operation. I can pull strings to get you another military promotion.”
“Ah yes, the dear EDF.” A scowl flickered across his face. “Don’t forget that they’re the ones who turned tail and fled at the battle of Osquivel. General Lanyan withdrew his forces and left us here drifting in lifetubes, transmitting distress signals—which they ignored. The EDF left their people behind, and you want me to feel grateful for that? If it hadn’t been for those Roamers, all the survivors would be dead, including me. That counts for something in my book.”
Maureen was now clearly angry. “But they came here as scavengers and grave robbers. They picked over the corpses of our ships and tried to turn a profit from it.”
He pounded his fist on the table. “These shipyards have been here for decades, long before the battle of Osquivel. The Roamers simply hid when the EDF battle group arrived. We were too intent on the hydrogues to notice them.”
Fitzpatrick met the old woman’s gaze, neither of them blinking. Maureen herself had taught him how to negotiate, and now he proved that he had learned her techniques well. They would not leave this room until they had sealed their under-the-table deal.
“You have a large group of parents and loved ones here on this Manta. Do you want to tell them that you’re playing games with the lives of their sons and daughters, spouses or siblings? Or that you prefer to go on a year-long wild-goose chase in the ring rubble? I know you better than that, Grandmother.” He leaned forward earnestly. “Look, I can speak with Del Kellum, arrange to have the Roamers deliver the EDF captives to a safe place where we can pick them up. But the Roamers have to be set free. They’ll pack up and leave, and we’ll never find them again.”
“That’s the problem, Patrick,” she said. “You’ve been out of touch with current events. The Hansa Chairman declared all Roamer clans to be outlaws. EDF battle groups have seized or destroyed the largest Roamer facilities, including their central government complex.”
“And why did they do that?” Fitzpatrick asked, already knowing the answer from Zhett.
“Because Roamers broke off trade relations with the Hansa, refused to deliver vital war supplies.”
“Grandmother, don’t just spout propaganda. Roamers are traders and businessmen. Ask yourself why they would break off trade with their biggest customers.”
“They made up some ridiculous story that EDF ships were hijacking and destroying their ships.”
Fitzpatrick felt his gut clench. “It’s the truth. I know that for a fact.” He swallowed hard, but did not want to admit to her, or to anyone, that he himself had destroyed a Roamer cargo ship. “You were Hansa Chairman yourself, Grandmother. You know the things that go on.”
She blinked. “Even so, we can’t simply back off. I don’t have much Hansa authority, but I know for certain Chairman Wenceslas won’t give up everything for the sake of thirty prisoners who were already presumed dead. That’s not enough.”
“Of course it isn’t.” Fitzpatrick finally revealed his trump card. “The Roamers found something that’s worth more than everything else you would confiscate in these shipyards. I can tell you how to find it. When we bring it to Earth, I guarantee you that nobody’ll care how many Roamers got away here.”
Maureen folded her knobby hands together. “You’ve never been a boy prone to exaggeration, Patrick, but that’s quite an extravagant claim. You’d better be able to back it up.”
“Oh, I can, Grandmother.” He showed her with his eyes that he could be just as stubborn as she was. “After the battle of Osquivel, the Roamers got their hands on an intact hydrogue derelict. It’s fully functional and comes complete with one or two hydrogue cadavers, I think. Nobody’s ever had access to one of the alien bodies before, nor have we been able to inspect