"Consign a can at random to Harukk. Tell them and then tell the stsho."
"To the kif?" Haral gasped, and Khym turned round at his post with the whites of his eyes showing.
"As a gift. To one Sikkukkut, captain of Harukk. Let the stsho sue him."
A thoughtful, wicked look came into Haral's eyes, bewilderment to Khym's.
"No one sues the kif," Khym said.
"No," Pyanfar said, "they won't. And let Sikkukkut and the station worry what's in that can, whether it's valuable or not. If he won't take it he'll have to wonder. If he does and finds nothing but trade goods — kif have remarkably little sense of humor, where face is involved. Sfik. And gods know if he has one of his cronies pick it up he'll have to wonder whether he got all that was in it. Kif don't trust each other. They can't."
"But-" Khym said.
"No time. Do it, Haral."
"Aye." Haral sat down at com, stuck the receiver in her ear and punched out a blinking light.
"Captain, that's Tully again. He's called up here a dozen times. Keeps asking something about a packet of papers. He wants to come up here and discuss it with you."
"Gods." She raked at her beard distractedly and stared round her at the bridge, at Khym's broad back as he kept dutifully to the board, proving — proving things to her. Deliberately. Stubbornly.
Then she realized what she was thinking and thrust the thought away. Male and male, same space. Old ways of thinking died hard. He's not hani, for the gods' sakes. And they're on the same ship.
"Tell him come up," she said. "Tell everyone get up here soon as they secure the hold. Prep ops for undock. And send that message."
"Aye." Haral's voice droned the communications in sequence. She punched from one to the other channels without amenities. Then in snarling stsho: "Meetpoint Central Control, this is the hani ship The Pride of Chanur, berth 6, responding to your notification regarding cargo: must inform you can 23500 has already been consigned to berth 29, Harukk-"
"Get through to Sikkukkut," Pyanfar said to her back. "Tell him there's a shipment for him in the hands of the stsho."
"You can't afford to lose that cargo," Khym said, swinging round. "To stsho or to kif.
Pyanfar-"
"Captain," she said, folding her arms. His eyes burned. She stood her ground. "You're on the bridge. It's captain. Eyes to that board."
He visibly trembled. The sigh gusted through his nostrils like the breath of a furnace. And he turned back to the board.
"Huh," she said, her worst anticipations overturned.
"The stationmaster wants to talk to you," Haral said. "I think it's gtst interpreter."
"I'll take it." She sat down in her place at controls and stuck a com plug in her ear, leaned toward the board pickup and punched the blinking light. "This is Pyanfar Chanur. Have you a question, esteemed director?"
"The director informs you-" the reply came back "-this high-handed threat will not suffice.
We have your signed acknowledgment of responsibility, but this does not cover lawsuits and our liabilities. We wish payment now."
"Is that so?" Her lips drew back as if she had the director in sight. "Tell the director gtst new Phase is a scoundrel, a liar and a pirate."
A pause. "-Our demand is just. The damages of four hundred million must be paid and the lawsuits must be settled-"
"Collect it from the kif."
"— If The Pride of Chanur undocks without payment it will violate treaty and application for reparations will go to the hem. Now this message would be more convenient than usual to deliver."
She sucked in her breath. Gods. For a stsho, the old bastard had a certain flair.
"— Your response."
"Bargain. On the one hand we will countersue. If we lose we will appeal to the court at Llhie nan Tie, to Tpehi, to Llyene, and the case will go on for years — while gtst remain legally responsible for holding our goods in warehouse while litigation proceeds."
"— This might be acceptable."
"On the other hand-on the other hand, esteemed director-"
"— Get quickly to this other hand."
"If the request for payment were otherwise phrased, and if Meetpoint makes itself responsible for all present and future lawsuits out of the settlement, money might be forthcoming."
"— Please restate. Was this an offer of payment?"
"The station assumes full financial responsibility for present and future suits and reparations arising from the riot, releases all cargo claims, trades with our factors at listed station exchange rates, and provides us one unified bill for The Pride's damage repair."
"Please restate, Chanur captain. This translator understood 'ship damage repair.'"
"You have it right."
A delay. "-This smacks of illegality."
"Absolutely not. We will swear to damages suffered by The Pride during the disturbances.
Never mind what kind. I'm sure you have the talent to word it so we can both sign it."
"Please; please, this translator must be correct"
"You've got it. You clear our record, expedite us out, and pad that gods-rotted bill as much as you want. I'll meet you on the dock with the credit authorization in a quarter hour."
"— This is subterfuge. Chanur is known destitute."
"Revise your information, esteemed director. Chanur just called in a debt."
Prolonged silence.
"Well?"
"Excuse, esteemed Chanur captain. This will take consideration."
"You by the gods get me out of here."
More silence. "Please be discreet."
"Would the esteemed director contact me on an unsecure channel? The esteemed director is no fool. It would not be profitable for gtst to appeal to the han, in whatever form. This would surely tie up the funds in litigation." She turned and motioned furiously at Haral. "Legal release," she said into the pickup; and to Haral, and her eyes fell on Khym once-lord-Mahn, on a tense expression turned her way. She motioned at him, listening with one ear to stsho dithering. Do it, she mouthed. "-Listen, I told you, pad the bill all you want. I'm not coming to the office again. You're coming to the docks and you're going to sign a release for all damages, hear that?"
There was frantic activity to her right. Haral had comp reeling up legal forms and Khym was leaning over her shoulder muttering corrections and wordings.
By the gods, Mahn's ex-lord, ex-legal counsel. In his element.
She grinned at the mike and listened to more blather. "Simply put," she said to the director, once Stle stles stlen, "you sign ours, we sign yours, we get our papers clear and our cargo sold for top going rate, and you can show the High Director at Nsthen you got full compensation, right? Otherwise you report unpaid damages. Which do you want?"
"The director relays to you gtst profound distress that Chanur should have been slandered by fools. Gtst is sending you the papers at once and further sends you a gift to make amends for this misunderstanding."
"Chanur will reciprocate in acknowledgment of the director's wisdom in detecting these slanders." She searched rapidly through the data bin for the appropriate forms, copied those, snagged the one that Harai thrust into her hand, fully printed, bilingual in stshoshi and ham and ready for signature.
"Profound gratitude, yes." She broke the contact and flipped the documents looking for key clauses.
"Watertight?"