ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Producing a book is not simply writing it. We would like to give a huge thank-you to and acknowledge, once again, the people who have been important to our getting this book out there.
Our agent, Caitlin Blasdell, and our editor, Anne Sowards. Without both of you, we wouldn’t have this book.
Bruce Jensen, for another amazing cover.
All those people at Ace involved in making this book.
And, of course, copy editor Sara Schwager, who put our commas in the right places again.
Our beta readers, Alison, Arthur, and Jenny. Thank you for reading the book and for your feedback. It was invaluable.
Dawn, your encouragement and support were timely and appreciated.
Our family, who are there for us always.
Helen, you have taken care of our garden so wonderfully and have been such an ambassador for our little books. Thank you.
And, of course, you, our readers, who took the time to read our books, to send us encouraging messages, and to tell us you cared what happened to these characters we had created.
NEW ALLIANCE DEPARTMENT OF ALIEN AFFAIRS
LIST OF LINES AND THEIR PURPOSES
Line 1 — Health of crew and lines
Line 2 — Small mechanics 1—air circulation, heating, cooling, power. Overall comfort and running of a ship.
Line 3 — Small mechanics 2—tools. Interact individually with other lines for repair, maintenance, management.
Line 4 — Gravity
Line 5 — Communications
Line 6 — Bose engines (engines with the capacity to take a ship through the void)
Line 7 — Allows ships linked by line eleven to move autonomously
Line 8 — Security
Line 9 — Takes ship into the void
Line 10 — Moves ship to a different location in space while in the void
Line 11 — Links ships together. Allows them to move/behave as a single unit.
Line 12 — Actual abilities unclear, but known to communicate across all lines and appears to have some control over other lines
CHAPTER ONE: EAN LAMBERT
Ean Lambert’s quarters on Confluence Station were in the same area as Jordan Rossi’s, with a brand-new titanium-bialer-alloy door between them and the rest of the station. The first apartment inside the blocked-off section had been gutted, and the newly opened space filled with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment, some of it of human origin, some salvaged from the damaged alien ships in the Confluence fleet.
It had been secure when Rossi was the only linesman here. Now it was triply secure.
Ean gave it a cursory glance and turned to the more immediate problem.
His bodyguard, Radko, had inspected Ean’s apartment with a thoroughness that bordered on paranoia. That was before she’d dropped the news that she wasn’t staying.
“You’re staying with the Lancastrian Princess.”
Radko scowled at one of the screens. “It won’t be for long.”
Ean didn’t know line one on Confluence Station as intimately as he did the line on the Lancastrian Princess, but he knew Radko, and he could hear a strong undertone of worry.
“But why?”
“Family business,” Radko said.
Ean knew nothing about her family except that she was a distant relation of Crown Princess Michelle. “Will you be all right?”
“I’ll be fine, Ean. So will you.”
She shouldn’t try to lie when the lines knew her so well. She was worried about something. And if Radko was worried, so was he.
The song of Confluence Station changed. Jordan Rossi, Yaolin’s level-ten linesman, had arrived. This was Rossi’s home, and the lines welcomed him.
“Be careful, Ean. Don’t do anything—”
“Stupid?”
“Don’t do anything that would upset Vega. At least, not until I get back.”
How long would she be away? “I’ll be a model linesman.”
Ru Li, who—like the rest of Bhaksir’s security team—was pretending to work at the screens while Ean and Radko talked, snorted. “That will be the day.”
Bhaksir frowned at him before turning to Radko. “The shuttle is ready to depart. And Captain Helmo only has a small jump window. We’ll take care of him for you.”
Radko nodded and glanced at her comms. “Remember, Ean. Be sensible.”
She took off at a run.
Ean looked around. Everyone in Bhaksir’s team pretended to be busy again. There was an underlying hum of worry from line one. It echoed the worry from line one on the Lancastrian Princess, for Crown Princess Michelle was going home on family business, too. Her father, Emperor Yu, had demanded her presence.
“Will Radko be all right?”
Bhaksir shrugged. Ean was glad she hadn’t tried to lie. He was glad, too, that Rossi halted in the doorway then. It stopped him from asking what the problem was with Radko’s family. If she’d wanted him to know, she would have told him.
“This is cozy,” Rossi said. “I go away for two days, and look what moves in.”
Ean ignored him. Through the lines, he saw Radko run onto the shuttle. The bay doors closed, and air was being pumped out before she’d even clipped herself in.
Captain Helmo called as soon as Radko was back on her home ship. “We’re ready to jump, Ean.”
On board the Lancastrian Princess, Michelle patted Radko’s shoulder. Radko tried to smile; couldn’t. Something was seriously wrong, and Ean had no idea what it was.
“Ready.” Ean pushed the worry to the back of his mind. Being distracted when you worked with the lines was a disaster waiting to happen. “Fergus?” Fergus was on the Lancastrian Princess.
“Ready.” Fergus’s line hummed with anticipation.
At least someone was happy.
The Lancastrian Princess was part of a fleet of six ships, joined together by the alien ship, Eleven. Until recently, they’d only been able to jump the fleet as a single entity. Then they had discovered that line seven could be used to allow a single ship to move on its own. They’d tried it before—of course they had—as often as they could get jumps. But every other time, Ean had been on the ship that had jumped.
Please let it work.
“Of course it will work,” the lines told him.
Fergus started to sing.
Ean could see it as clearly as if he were on the Lancastrian Princess. The ship lines connected. Line seven to every other seven in their mismatched fleet of six ships and one station. He heard them as song, saw them as lines of light, different colors for each ship. Every line had a knot at each end, tying the ships tightly to each other. Ean smelled fresh bread, tasted it, as the colors ran together and turned white.
“Ready, Captain,” Fergus sang.
“Prepare to jump.” Helmo’s voice was calm although Ean could hear the nervousness underneath. Helmo always said it wasn’t the jump that captains worried about; it was coming out the other end.
Line nine moved the Lancastrian Princess into the void, with Fergus’s line seven linking the fleet ships.
Line ten came in, and the Lancastrian Princess jumped.
Then they were out of the void. Helmo’s relief swamped the lines momentarily.
Ean checked the lines on each ship in the fleet. All were good. All were strong and straight. The song of the Galactic News ship had changed. They had a new engineer on that ship. He was surprisingly strong. Ean hadn’t realized he was a linesman.