"I learned that much on the Cholot Traveler." She checked her prizes. The Ku watched her impassively. The artifact huddled behind him. The Ku was a mean looking bastard. "Next time you run off, WarAvocat can find you himself."
The Ku seemed amused. "He will, I'm sure."
— 91 —
Lupo grinned as the information came in. "We've got them. And all the investigators in the universe won't find a thing because we haven't done a thing. Lupo, sometimes you're so clever you scare yourself."
"Don't crow yet," Two cautioned. "That woman may not understand the real universe, and she may not be a genius, but she's stubborn. Don't underestimate her."
"I won't. Four. What were you so anxious to say a minute ago?"
"Valerena's Voyager broke off the Web. She wants to see you up there. She wouldn't say why. She sounded scared. Station says she hasn't asked for docking."
"Odd. Tell her I'll be up soon. We have to go, anyway. See if Blessed has his people ready."
"They're headed for the port. Ours are, too. We can lift whenever you get there."
One of the Valerena Others met Lupo at the lock. She led him to the operating bridge. Three more Valerenas there, exhausted from working ship. But no Valerena Prime. "What's going on?"
"Valerena is dead. We've brought back information on the circumstances. Our duty to the House. But we won't dock without assurances for our safety."
"I couldn't get rid of you if I wanted. The situation here requires a Valerena in charge. Blessed says he won't take over before his thirty-eighth birthday. Guarantee me you won't try something like the Simon Other did and you've got twenty years sure. Your natural lives if you behave."
Lupo Provik's word was good.
"Let me see what you've got."
What Valerena had obtained impetuously she had squandered. That was a shot to the heart. That Guardship had become the core of his vision of the future.
"Come see me when you get down. We'll work out details. Right now I'm running an operation and can't take time. Don't tell anyone about this."
Lupo contacted One during the crossing to station, prepared him for the Valerenas and their bad news.
Why go on? Nothing ever worked out.
— 92 —
The gates of the repair bay unfolded. "At last," WarAvocat murmured. On the track of the villains at last.
He thought of the artifact. She haunted him even now. First stop, M. Shrilica. Should have been something more from Haget. Long since.
A Guardship broke off the Web. "WarAvocat. Signals from XXVIII Fretensis."
"Here it comes," he murmured. The end of a quiet passage. Before it began.
The air behind his shoulder whispered. Rogue. VI Adjutrix. IV Trajana and XII Fulminata—again!—accepting destruction in order to take out the rogue and ensure XXVIII Fretensis's escape into Canon space. VI Adjutrix's final contrite act.
OpsAvocat asked if there would be a change in plans.
Of course. "After M. Shrilica, we're headed Outside. There were riders that couldn't be recovered." He began reviewing the data in detail.
M. Shrilica's outworks had been destroyed. Only gutted shells of stations remained, and an old capsule from Haget's Traveler that was useless. And, near breakaway point, there was the hulk of a ship unlike anything seen before.
It took four days to extract a coherent story from survivors in Tregesser Xylag.
Five ships had come. They had lain in wait for months. Someone had come, finally, had blown one of them away, and had fled before the others could close in. The survivors had destroyed the stations and gone in pursuit.
"Haget," WarAvocat told the Deified. "Who else would they be gunning for? He left no message capsule. Or it was destroyed. I have no idea why he didn't run to the Barbican."
The Deified Thaygos Mundt suggested, "Maybe they didn't let him."
"Perhaps. His first capsule is useless, too."
"And the hulk?"
They knew. But they wanted to make him tell it. "The type hasn't been seen before. The design is strictly combat. It contained no technical surprises except a geometric inertial system the equal of ours."
"And the creatures who operated it?"
They did want him to state the impossible before the crew. "They appear to be of human stock. With differences science staff say can be explained by isolation from the main gene pool for fourteen to twenty thousand years."
They wanted crew to know, but they did not make him remind them that known history predated Canon's founding only a few thousand years.
The Deified Ansehl Ronygos asked, "Explain your plan of campaign."
"First, D. Zimplica to inform Presidency General Secretariat. Then Outside."
WarAvocat ran the Web hard, twice forcing commercial carriers off into starspace. The pause at the Presidency capital system, D. Zimplica, lasted ten minutes. Then on to the Outside system where three Guardships had died.
He broke away in a magnum launch, into a swarm of ships trying to mine the wreckage. There were no surviving riderships.
It took eighteen hours to cleanse the system. Nothing escaped. He gave the Twist Masters ten hours to obliterate the remains of three Guardships. Then he proceeded to the next system in the empire of the methane breathers.
WarAvocat foresaw a six-year campaign softening defenses for Guardships to follow.
Tawn was seen twice after the fighting. He went but she was not there when he arrived.
— 93 —
Lupo felt good going into D. Zimplica aboard the Raintree Hauler Indefatigable. He had shifted operatives like game pieces. He had collected on favors done and had assumed a few debts. The operation was set so it could be carried out without any anomaly an investigator could hook onto.
There would be no ship in or out that was not regularly scheduled. None would have any known connection with House Tregesser. If it worked, nothing would happen to hint that the Lieutenant's party had done anything but change ships.
He would arrive two days before they did. He would have time to scout. And the two days of their layover to do the job.
He asked Two, "What can go wrong?" She had just walked in looking like something had.
"A Guardship just broke off the Web. VII Gemina. Mr. Stefens ought to make an appearance on the bridge."
G. Stefens was the Hauler's passenger of record. Stefens was a high official of House Raintree.
The Chief said, "Ah, Mr. Stefens. We'll dock shortly. Have you visited Belladonna before?"
"Yes." D. Zimplica 3, Belladonna, was a Freehold World, owing allegiance to no House, as well as the seat of Sixth Presidency General Secretariat. "It's probably the most attractive world in the sector. It's a shame it's already claimed."
"Yes. I suppose you're interested in the Guardship."
"Yes."
"It's gone. Stayed only ten minutes. Squirted something at the Secretariat, then left."
"Thank you." That was nice. That was beautiful. But it did not drain the water out of his legs. What message had it sent?
Lupo knew within the hour. The Secretariat had posted it to every ship. A Guardship fleet directive. An instant law.
Every ship docking at every station was to have its documentation examined. Any vessel making a nonscheduled arrival was to be searched and all persons aboard required to furnish documentation. Any creature of the description... (methane breathing colonial intelligence that Lupo recognized)... was to be destroyed upon discovery, without exception. NonCanon ships barred from Canon space. Vessels without license to be destroyed if they refused internment. Severe restrictions on trade beyond the Atlantean Rim. Severe penalties for noncompliance.