“Yes, ma’am.”
Sale looked at their last prisoner. “Admiral Orsaya. Prisoner Vilhjalmsson will likely escape if he’s imprisoned in a regular cell.”
“I don’t see why I am a prisoner. I was working with Radko.”
“You’re in enemy territory,” Sale said.
“You and I will talk, I think,” Orsaya said. “The images the Confluence sent back of the inside of that station—the experiments on the linesmen—looked most interesting.”
Ean shuddered. “How do you know they were experimenting?” But then, Orsaya had seen everything Sale and her team had seen, and one thing she knew well was linesman.
“I would think it obvious. Their reactions to line eleven. The references to Dromalan truth serum, which, before it became the favored drug of interrogators everywhere, was used to enhance line ability until they realized its side effects. I wouldn’t mind Dr. Quinn’s notes.”
Ean had to force himself not to move away. “You’re not experimenting on any of the linesmen here.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Ean. I know what you can do with the lines. But it would be good to see what they did.”
“You should ask Vilhjalmsson about Quinn’s work,” Radko said. “He stole the report I was sent to collect.”
Orsaya’s eyes gleamed.
“I sent it on to Markan straight away,” Vilhjalmsson said. “I was worried someone might steal it back.”
“She would have, too,” Ean said.
“Pity.” Orsaya motioned to more of her staff to cover Vilhjalmsson. “Be extra careful with this one. He’s a trained assassin and works directly for Markan.”
The little group of Sale, Bhaksir, and Craik broke apart.
“Talk to you when we get back,” Sale said. “If I’m not in jail.”
Ean and Radko followed them onto the shuttle. Bach was already seated, restrained at the wrists and ankles. “You won’t be in jail.”
“You think not. Disobeying a superior officer comes to mind.”
“You didn’t disobey anyone.”
Sale looked at him.
“I should be in jail then. Not you,” Ean said.
“On a line ship. That’d be effective.”
They both glanced at Bach and fell silent.
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know already,” Bach said.
“That’s for sure,” Radko said grimly, but they were all silent for the rest of the trip.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: EAN LAMBERT
Vega and a team of guards waited for them as they docked on the Lancastrian Princess.
“His Imperial Majesty is in his apartments,” Vega said. “Admiral Galenos will be here soon. Group Leader Sale, I expect a report on my desk by the time this meeting is over.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sale left to record her report.
“Speaking of reports.” Radko unzipped a pocket, took out three comms. “One of these is a copy of the report Callista OneLane acquired. Unfortunately, Vilhjalmsson got the original. He’s already sent it on to Admiral Markan.”
Vega nodded and handed the comms to one of the people with her. “Decode it. I want that report when I come out of this meeting.”
The meeting. What could Ean do to prevent Yu’s arresting Abram for treason? He checked the Lancastrian Princess. “Is everything all right?”
“Waiting,” came the reply.
Helmo was in the captain’s chair, sitting back, letting his instinct tell him what was happening. Michelle was working at one of the screens in her workroom. Yu and Sattur Dow were smiling over a drink in Yu’s quarters.
As Ean watched, Abram’s shuttle signaled that it had arrived. Helmo stood up. “Give Galenos’s shuttle permission to land. Inform Her Royal Highness he is here. Vanje, you’re in charge. I want you on the bridge, staff on alert.”
He left at a brisk walk.
After Michelle received Vanje’s call, she moved over to a cupboard on the wall. Ean could hear through the lines that the lock was coded only to her, Abram, and Helmo. She took out a small, needlelike weapon and slipped it into an inside pocket of her jacket.
Had Michelle just armed herself?
She whispered something that might have been a prayer, her emotion too raw for Ean to read properly—or too raw and personal for him to want to read—and started for the meeting.
The atmosphere in the large meeting room was suffocating. Ean found it hard to breathe. Ship lines were a dirge.
Ean checked the other ships in the Eleven fleet. On Confluence Station, armed soldiers in Balian uniform were loading prisoners onto a shuttle. Orsaya’s captain, Auburn, and two teams of Yaolin soldiers stood ready to assist if required.
Katida and Orsaya were dining with Jordan Rossi and Stellan Vilhjalmsson.
Both admirals looked grim.
Ean suppressed a shiver.
Radko said, quietly, “Relax, Ean. Do what you do naturally. Things have a way of working out.”
They wouldn’t work out all the time. You only had to miss once, and Ean didn’t even understand what the problem was yet. It should have been simple. A Lancastrian traitor, trying to steal the ships. But it wasn’t about that at all. It was about a ruler who was prepared to frame a good, honest man to gain a seat of power.
He breathed in deep. There was no word in Abram or Michelle’s vocabulary for failure. Not in Radko’s, either. There were just setbacks to be overcome. Abram was right when he’d told Radko that Yu would catch up with him eventually. Keeping Abram away from Yu wasn’t the solution. Getting Yu to change his mind was.
Helmo arrived, followed quickly by Michelle, and finally Abram.
Abram smiled at Michelle, nodded to Helmo and Ean’s group, then looked at Bach, still cuffed at the wrists. “Commodore Bach.”
“I request His Imperial Majesty be present at this meeting,” Bach said.
Michelle nodded—once—though the refusal was pouring out of her. A hot yellow denial through line one.
“I shall request His Majesty’s presence,” Vega said.
Ean watched Vega’s brisk march through the ship to the Emperor’s quarters.
Yu was still holding court with Sattur Dow. Guards in pairs stood at attention around the room. Two behind Yu, two off to one side, another two near the door. Tiana Chen and Ethan Saylor were among the silent observers. Chen’s hands were balled into fists as she glowered at the back of Dow’s head. Ean wished her glare were more lethal.
Vega saluted, then stood to attention. “Commodore Bach requests your presence in the large meeting room.”
“That was quick.” Yu looked pleased as he stood up. He turned to Sattur Dow. “Sattur, would you like to be present at this historic occasion.”
“I don’t think Yu is expecting this,” Ean said. “But he is expecting something.”
Bach said, “You should refer to him as Emperor Yu, or His Imperial Majesty.”
In Emperor Yu’s quarters, Vega said, “It would be inappropriate to invite a civilian to this meeting. This is a matter for the Crown alone.”
Yu towered over her. “You presume to tell me what to do?”
Vega inclined her head and turned away. “The large meeting room, Your Majesty.”
Ean’s back itched until she was around the first turn in the corridor. “He’s bringing Sattur Dow.”
Abram blew out his breath but didn’t say anything.
Ean didn’t want Sattur Dow in the same room as Radko. If Dow attempted anything, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. He’d think of something.