“Damage control,” Abram said, when they were all back in the workroom. “If Michelle doesn’t go back to Lancia soon, one of her younger siblings will take over. But if we don’t stay here with the council, we’ll lose credibility.”
“If we haven’t lost it already,” Michelle said. “The lines know how much support we lost with my father and the Factor arriving.”
“You might get some back now he’s dead,” Ean said.
He looked at Michelle, who had loved her father despite all he did. He couldn’t tell her he was sorry, because he wasn’t, so he didn’t say anything. He’d talk to Katida and Orsaya himself, and maybe Shimson and Trask. Somehow, he’d convince them things would be better now.
“Whom do we tell first?” Michelle asked. “The council or Lancia?”
“Tell them at the same time,” Abram said. “Warn the council we will be making an announcement, then jump the Lancastrian Princess to Lancia, so that we get communication between sectors, and make the announcement from the palace at Baoshan. Walk in as you mean to continue, Misha. I’ll walk into Admiralty House and do the same.”
“Both of you with bodyguards,” Vega said. “I will supply them.”
“And the council?” Helmo asked.
“We come back for the sessions and spend part of our time here, part there. Until Michelle can sort out a government loyal to her.”
“That’s a lot of jumps.” The terror that Ean associated with Helmo and jumping cold started to seep into the lines.
“We order a lot of shellfish,” Vega said.
“They’ll pick that up by the third jump,” Helmo said. “If not earlier.”
Ean had to convince the captains to jump cold. Or they had to come up with a way to stop Gate Union’s blocking New Alliance jumps. Both needed a miracle. Could they convince Vilhjalmsson to get the jumps for them? After all, he needed to get home.
“Do we trust Markan?” he asked. Admiral Markan was in charge of Gate Union military. He was also Vilhjalmsson’s boss, and Markan valued Vilhjalmsson, for he had rescued him before.
Michelle choked on her sip of tea.
“No,” Vega said.
“Vilhjalmsson was investigating the same thing Radko was. He must know Redmond was about to defect. Maybe you could exchange some of the information Radko brought back in return for jumps. About Redmond. About their experimenting on the lines.”
Gate Union had more to lose from Redmond’s defection than the New Alliance did. Especially if House of Sandhurst proved to be as deeply involved as they looked to be, for Markan had supported Iwo Hurst’s failed bid to become Grand Master. If Hurst proved to be knowingly involved in the experimentation on linesmen—and how could he not be—then Markan stood to lose the support of the line cartels if he didn’t do something about it.
Radko shook her head. “Markan already knows. Vilhjalmsson got the original report from OneLane’s.”
“Ha.” Vega brought out the comms she’d been looking at earlier. “The problem is, if he bases his information on this report and tries to replicate it, all he’ll do is destroy a few extra linesmen.” She tapped the report. “Quinn and his friends think they’ve found a way to make linesmen out of nonlinesmen. But they haven’t.”
She couldn’t possibly have read the whole report already.
“They find someone with line potential, feed them full of drugs, then test them. All the way up to level ten.”
Michelle understood before anyone else did. “Single-level linesmen. It’s probably the first time they’ve ever been tested for every level.”
“They’ve been testing fully for six months now. I’m guessing Lancia suggested that.” Vega tapped the comms. “There’s a list in here of people who might be suitable for the treatment. Fergus Burns, Mael St Mael. Nadia Kentish.”
Failed linesmen.
“They think it’s a simple matter of finding the right combination of drugs, and they’ll get themselves another twelve.”
The lines didn’t work like that. “Didn’t Bach or Yu tell them?” According to Katida, single lines were a badly kept secret.
“Maybe not,” Abram said. “I suspect they kept line-related information close to their chest.”
Michelle sighed. “It would have been Lancia’s only bargaining tool. Lines and the linesmen.”
“However,” Abram said, “we may have enough to bargain with Markan. Especially if we do it with the Grand Master of the line cartels present. We can’t keep line training and single lines secret forever.”
“Vilhjalmsson knows Bach was arrested,” Radko said. “If he goes free, he’ll take that back to Markan.”
Abram tapped eleven-time on the console. “We hand Vilhjalmsson back so he can tell them how Redmond planned to defect from Gate Union. Give Markan information about how line testing is flawed.” He frowned. “It’s enough to get us jumps to Lancia, but it has to benefit the whole of the New Alliance. Otherwise, we’re no better than Yu himself, and they’ll still look on us as traitors.”
He looked at Michelle. There was a blue snap through the lines. From one of them? Or both?
“Ask for a temporary truce,” Michelle said. “Three months. They give us unrestricted line travel. Jumps when we ask for them. We provide all we can about Lancia’s plans with Redmond and the Worlds of the Lesser Gods.” Her dimple showed. “We’ll put Bach in charge of that.”
Gate Union needed time to regroup. After all, Redmond owned the line factories. And Markan had elevated House of Sandhurst over the other houses. Their participation in line experiments wouldn’t go down well.
“And line twelve?” Vega asked.
“That’s not part of the deal. They don’t get information about that. Just about the singles.”
“We do need to warn some people,” Michelle said. “Annette Jade, for one, as well as Admiral Katida. Balian and Aratoga have both supported us longer than they should have.”
They wouldn’t be able to hide it from Orsaya, either.
“I’ll talk to Vilhjalmsson and Katida,” Abram suggested. “While you talk to Governor Jade.”
Michelle nodded, and they shared a quick, smiling glance before Abram inclined his head toward Ean. “Linesman, you might ask Admiral Katida to linger over dinner.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: EAN LAMBERT
Stellan Vilhjalmsson looked as if he should still have been in a hospital.
“Young Chaudry patched me up well enough,” he said, in answer to Abram’s query. “The medical staff at the station here looked at me as well and pumped me full of drugs. Unfortunately, I need my wits about me, so I can’t take too many painkillers. But I will stand, if that’s okay?”
Abram nodded, but he didn’t sit down either. Nor did Orsaya or Katida. Radko took her normal position over near the wall. Ean perched on the edge of the table.
“Markan must have few people he can trust if he sent you on this mission,” Abram said.
“Not really. I went to investigate a stolen report about line experiments. How important could it be? I was bored sitting around headquarters.”
It even sounded reasonable, but the lines heard evasion.
“He’s not telling the whole truth,” Ean said.
Vilhjalmsson looked at him, then at Abram. “Do we have to have the human lie detector in on this meeting?”
Radko dropped her stance to stand straight. Vilhjalmsson flinched. Ean stood up, too.
“Easy,” Abram said to them both. He smiled at Vilhjalmsson. “In this room or out there, won’t make any difference. He’ll still know.”
“I confess,” Vilhjalmsson said. “I find him rather alarming.”