“If the contract owner dies, the contract goes back to the cartel house,” Bach said.
That was a standard contract, not Ean’s. Michelle, Rigel, and Rickenback’s lawyers had spent days on it. But Ean didn’t argue. It didn’t matter anyway. If Yu had killed Michelle, he would have ensured that Yu never got a single alien line ship.
“You’re a fool.” Vega came over and cut the restraints around Bach’s hands. “But I imagine you’re not the biggest fool, for a commodore doesn’t come up with plans like this. I suspect Admiralty House at Baoshan may be a little empty for a while. Galenos will not take kindly to a plan to murder Michelle.”
“You can’t let him go,” Ean said. “What if he decides to kill Abram, for killing Yu?”
“That’s Emperor Yu,” Bach said.
“He’s dead. He’s not Emperor anymore.” Michelle was, and that was too strange to think of now.
Vega said, “Emperor Yu isn’t the first of his family to be assassinated by the incoming Emperor. He killed his own father, and his father killed his father before him. If Bach is loyal to the Crown, he will now be loyal to the Empress.”
But Yu hadn’t been assassinated by his daughter. Abram had killed him to save Michelle. It might have been better if Radko had done it. At least she was part of Yu’s family.
Ean was glad she hadn’t, all the same.
“What about your people?” Vega asked Bach.
“They serve the Crown of Lancia. They will support the new Empress.”
Technically, they’d been negligent because their job was to save the Emperor.
Vega looked at Yu’s guard. “Does anyone wish to complain, argue, or support anyone other than the Empress Michelle?”
There was only one answer to that, and it wasn’t “yes.”
“Good.” She turned to Sattur Dow. “And you?”
At least he’d stopped smiling. “I support the ruler of Lancia.”
Of course he did. But he would find the new ruler harder to influence than he had the old ruler.
Ean realized something else. “Radko doesn’t have to marry you now.” Something too strong to be relief flooded his mind and the lines.
“I am still prepared to take her,” Dow said. “Despite the gross negligence she showed today.”
He stepped back as Ean stepped toward him.
“I have a lot to offer a wife.”
Radko stepped between them. “I am sure we would both prefer to choose our own partners.”
Sattur Dow wouldn’t.
Abram said, “I’m sorry, Misha. I failed you by staying away you when you needed me most.”
Michelle pulled away, and looked at him. She shook her head.
“I will never do that again.” Abram kissed her.
A strong hum of satisfaction exuded from the ship. From .
Ean glanced at Helmo. You couldn’t see it from his face. It was as expressionless as Abram’s was normally.
“Do you mind?” Radko asked quietly from beside Ean.
He looked at her.
“Michelle. And Abram.”
Why would he?
She held his gaze. He held his breath. He was drowning, he was… a choir in the void. Ean blinked, and shook his head.
She smiled. “Good.”
Ean smiled back. “You know, Radko. I’m really, really, really glad you’re back.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: EAN LAMBERT
Vega and Helmo sent Bach’s guards to the cells. “We’re locking you down because we want to control news of this ourselves,” Vega said. “Lambert, make sure they can’t get a signal out.”
“It’s a bit late for that,” Ean said. “The engineer on the Galactic News ship already knows.”
Indeed, he was already on at the producer. “Coop. Coop. Something has happened to Emperor Yu. I don’t know what, but it’s big news. Big, big news.”
“What, bigger than someone’s stealing spaceships? And no, Christian, I’m not calling up the Emperor of Lancia. Five minutes ago, you wanted me to report on stolen spaceships. Which weren’t stolen at all, incidentally. At least, not according to the Department of Alien Affairs.”
“You know Spacer Grieve always misdirects. If he didn’t say outright someone hadn’t stolen that ship, then someone probably did. But Coop, what about Emperor Yu?”
Ean realized suddenly. “That engineer on the Galactic News. I assumed he was a six because he’s an engineer. He’s not. He’s a one.” He was picking up emotions from the lines in much the way Tinatin did, except his pickup was a lot more accurate. Tinatin was probably already giving Kari Wang her own garbled version.
“Well then,” Radko said. “It goes to show, you shouldn’t assume. Ever. Especially for someone who relies so much on listening.”
It was good to have Radko back.
“Lambert,” Vega said. “When you’ve quite finished, can we have lockdown on the soldiers, and on Sattur Dow.”
It would be a pleasure. “We should stop comms from everyone in Yu’s party.”
“Do it.”
Ean sang instructions to the ship. No communications in or out for any visitors. Only comms for Michelle and Abram, Vega, and Captain Helmo and his regular crew.
Bach tried his comms. “Impressive. I see why Lambert was so important. And we can train linesmen to do this?”
“Provided you get the right combination of lines,” Vega said.
Neither Michelle nor Abram was the sort to spend much time whispering romantically to each other.
“Lancia knew as well as you did that the old Alliance was dead,” Bach said, when the room had been cleared, and they were settled with tea. Michelle, Abram, Vega, Helmo, Bach, Ean, and Radko. Radko had been going to stand against the wall in her usual guard position. Ean was glad when Michelle motioned for her to sit down with them.
“I need all the support I can get today.”
So Radko had left the wall and come to sit beside Ean.
“We could see we were better off in the fledgling New Alliance than we were as a secondary world in Gate Union,” Bach told Abram and Michelle. “Until you started to send back reports of what the ships could do. What the linesmen could do—particularly a level twelve—and we realized how much power we had at our fingertips.”
He wasn’t talking about himself here when he said “we.” He meant the Lancastrian admiralty, and the palace. Had he even agreed with what they were doing? They’d never know.
“Emperor Yu sounded out his daughter; the admirals sounded out Galenos. Unfortunately, both of you were determined to work with the New Alliance. So His Imperial Majesty looked elsewhere. Redmond and Gate Union were having problems. After Redmond tried to implicate Gate Union in the destruction of the Kari Wang, it was obvious to everyone that their alliance was fracturing. And Sattur Dow knew of a way we could approach Redmond.”
Abram raised an eyebrow.
“Renaud Han,” Vega said.
“Yes.” Bach gave a twisted smile. “He was smuggling for Redmond in return for silence about his son.” Renaud Han, paying silence money for a secret that wasn’t a secret at all. “I don’t know how you found out about it.”
Vega didn’t say it was coincidence.
“We knew Tiana Chen was blackmailing him, didn’t know Redmond was until Chen started working with Sattur Dow. When Dow wanted something sent to Redmond, she organized it for him through Renaud’s smuggling links.”
Two people couldn’t deserve each other more.
“What were they blackmailing Renaud over?” Abram asked.
“The fact that Han is not his son,” Radko said.