“No. In point of fact, we need to answer this one.”
“Go ahead. I’ll capture. We’ll play it as you direct.”
Call Prakuyo’s name? They had no guarantee Prakuyo was on that ship, and no guarantee what Prakuyo’s status was, whether currently in good favor or not.
“Bren. Ilisidi. Cajeiri. Sit. Talk.”
He had said it in kyo.
“Got it,” Jase said to someone. “Recorded. Transmit that three times in close sequence, on same interval as their transmission.”
He heard an immediate loud argument from someone near the com.
“You have the order,” he heard Jase say then, angrily. “Transmit that in the pattern as ordered.”
“Damn you.” He heard that, too, and guessed it was Tillington.
“I’ll talk to Tillington,” he said.
“He’s all yours,” Jase said, and evidently passed the com. He heard a click. Then:
“Cameron, damn your arrogance, you come on board here and start giving orders—”
“Mr. Tillington?” he asked, dead calm. An adrenaline surge did wonders for exhaustion.
“Mr. Cameron, you do not countermand an order from Central.”
“Mr. Tillington—”
“That’s Stationmaster Tillington.”
“Stationmaster Tillington, I have dealt with these people. I established the protocols in the first—”
“You have no authority here!”
“I’m here at the request of the President and the State Department.”
“You don’t represent a damned thing, Cameron! You have no authority! Your commission expired when you left your job unfilled and the continent in a mess.”
“Mr. Tillington, it would be in your best interest at this point to come to my office.”
“You don’t have an office!”
“Effectively, I do, but I was about to say, despite the hour, I would also come to yours. The kyo may be responding to the shuttle arrival. Very likely they are observing—”
“You’re not in command of this station and you do not give orders in Central!”
“Stationmaster Tillington, we need to hold a discreet and private conversation. We can do it in the morning, but in the meanwhile, that transmission needs to go out.”
“You have no authority to be anywhere, and you damned sure don’t have it to give orders to my staff!”
“You may say that, Mr. Tillington, but I do have the authority, I hold a commission from two governments as well as the approval of the Senior Captain, and I sincerely hope you are the only one hearing this. For your personal good, Mr. Tillington, and in the interest of handling the question of my authority quietly and with dignity, please come and discuss the situation with me in private.”
“I don’t go to that side of the line.”
“Mr. Tillington, Stationmaster Tillington, contact with the kyo is a matter requiring experience and expertise. I have dealt with these people before. I have every confidence I can bring this meeting to a safe conclusion, given—”
“They’re here because of the Reunioners, because Sabin, here, failed to take out the damn Reunioner records, and she’s standing here trying to run my staff! Call her to your damned office!”
“Mr. Tillington, you are wrong. And there’s no sense carrying on this discussion long-distance. Return the com to Captain Graham, and I strongly urge you take his suggestions at this point. I’ve given you a response that should hold the status quo with the visitors for the next few hours, granted they follow pattern, and I am extremely tired. I would ask we let tempers cool and take up the technicalities of my status here tomorrow. Can we set a time and place to meet, sir?”
“You hide over on the atevi side. Fine! You operate from there. You keep the hell off the human side of the station! You don’t belong here, you’re not wanted, and you’re not needed here! The hell with you!”
There was some little disturbance in Tillington’s background. Bren didn’t break the contact—figuring that Tillington’s shouting would have informed Jase they were getting nowhere. He hoped that Jase would take over the com.
But the connection broke. Possibly Tillington had indeed thumbed it off.
He clicked off, from his end. He waited.
And waited, figuring that whatever had happened, Jase would manage it better without him calling into the middle of it. He laid the com on the table to wait, and took a sip of cooling tea, noting that Jago had come back into the room during the final exchange, and that she was standing attendance by the tea service, beside the servant.
Jago gave him a lifted brow. Likely her hearing had picked up the louder bits.
The com vibrated, and he picked it up and pressed the button. “Bren here.”
“Thank you, Mr. Cameron.”
Not Jase. Sabin herself. Second-senior captain.
“Captain Sabin. A pleasure. I regret the circumstances. I fear I didn’t do well with Mr. Tillington.”
“His choice. Your transmission is going out as requested. Tillington’s left Central. Senior Captain is aware.”
Ogun knew Tillington had left. Tillington had held on to the station controls very possibly as Ogun’s ally. And now he left in high temper. Gone to Ogun? Maybe.
“I’m a little concerned that he’s upset.” Understatement, but everything they said was passing through the system, accessible by techs in that room. He could order Tillington’s arrest if he thought it necessary. He had every confidence Shawn would back him if he did that.
But at possible political cost to Shawn, and maybe exacerbating the situation Tillington had stirred up on the Mospheiran side of the station.
So Ogun had pulled the rug from under Tillington.
And Ogun had been in contact with Sabin. Had at least gotten her advisement.
Sabin was probably running on high adrenaline herself, and there was some chance she was a little upset that her supposed ally in the aishidi’tat had put a conference with Ogun at the top of his agenda. But he didn’t think so. She was canny and practical, in a major way.
“I’m relieved,” he said. “I just had a very productive discussion with Captain Ogun on the kyo situation. I think we can work this problem out very quickly with Mr. Tillington. I’d like to meet with you directly at your convenience; and I need to talk to Mr. Tillington in a calmer frame of mind. Has the kyo ship had time to respond?”
“They’re about three hours lagged. Just had a repeat of their new transmission, identical to the last. Interval identical. They won’t have gotten our transmission yet. We’ll be keeping the same schedule, with your message.”
“Possible their message is related to the shuttle docking?”
“Not timed to it, but very possibly they observed the shuttle approach.”
“Well, we’re here, we’re available to you at any hour. It’s my sense they’re going to continue their own speed for a while. And that they’re going to repeat that statement of theirs at the same interval for a while.”
“It’s my sense that they’re observing, mapping, and taking notes as they come.” Sabin’s voice was grim. “It would be odd if not. But we don’t know how long they’ve been out there.”
“I agree with you, Captain. I’m going to go off call for a few hours and get some necessary sleep to get my head clear. But I remain available for any other change in that transmission, any trouble or change from any source. Are communications to Central secure?”