But, he thought, while atevi universally understood that he represented a certain force, maybe it was a good idea for the human side of the station to get the same picture.
When they took the lift to the vicinity of Central, Mospheiran workers stopped what they were doing, stopped talking, except a few quiet mutters. Those in their path moved back to the walls.
And if Mospheirans caught the notion that atevi officials had firepower to match a ship’s captain, that might be salutary in itself.
They passed into Central’s area. Human security, in green fatigues, and carrying only sidearms, looked uncertain, and one urgently used communications, reporting their presence, one surmised, and hoping not to be told to stop it.
The door to Central itself turned up shut when they reached it, with two armed Mospheiran security in front of it.
“Order of President Tyers,” Bren said. “Open the door.”
The crew there didn’t look confident. Didn’t move, at first.
He read the name tags. “Mr. Reeves. Ms. Kumara. Order of President Tyers, open the door. I will report names of the non-compliant, and I will report them to the President. Please open the door.”
Reeves quickly punched in a code. The door opened.
Bren walked ahead with Jago and Banichi in the lead. The observers split into two teams as his aishid team did, either side of the door. Geigi’s man and Nawari entered with him, into a wide room lined with displays and consoles—while the two guards outside came inside, looking upset.
Techs at their stations looked in his direction and froze, evidencing unease and alarm as Guild took up station with crisp precision. Bren gave a very little nod, still watching hands, and put on a neutral expression. “No problem, ladies and gentlemen. As you were. Is Stationmaster Tillington here at the moment?”
There were nervous looks at that question. Some few looked at each other; most looked at him, and two people independently and very slightly nodded toward the administrative office at the rear of the room.
A second little nod. “Thank you. Please carry on.” He said in Ragi: “Banichi, Jago, stay close with me. The rest please wait. The technicians themselves are complying. There are, however, a few buttons in the administrative offices.” And again in Mosphei’: “Be at ease, everyone, please. Please stay in your seats. Thank you.”
He went to the office, knocked on the door, and with no answer pushed the button.
It didn’t open.
“Mr. Tillington, open the door, or any damage will be laid at your account. I have come up here at the President’s request as well as the aiji’s. Open the door. What I have come to say to you this morning is not that unpleasant.”
The door opened.
Tillington sat at his desk, an ordinary-looking, middle-aged man in shirtsleeves, looking greatly upset.
Banichi and Jago positioned themselves on either side of the door, inside. Bren gave a little bow. “Stationmaster Tillington. Thank you. And good morning.”
“What is this armed intrusion?”
“Atevi security accompanies me wherever I go. It’s a regulation. And it’s useful for them to understand the current situation here so they can convey correct information to the aiji-dowager, among others.”
“You’re scaring hell out of my workers. This intimidation is not appreciated.”
“I’d suggest, sir, that we carry on a quiet conversation, the two of us, and it would be far better conducted here, quietly. I would much prefer that. If you would like your own security present, that would be perfectly agreeable, and we can wait for you to call them.”
Tillington stared at him, not moving.
“I know you oppose my presence as a Mospheiran official,” Bren said. “That’s nothing I take personally. It’s your right. I would like to uphold the dignity of your office on principle, and I would like to support you in my reports to the President and to the aiji. You’ve done a good job. You kept the station going through very difficult times. You deserve respect for that. Now we have a different situation, and the President has found it necessary to bring additional resources to bear. I am certainly one of them, at your disposal, if you would view it in that light. The president is also sending a personal envoy aboard the incoming shuttle, with emergency powers. At that point, you will be dealing with the President’s representative, and I’ll be concerning myself primarily with the kyo situation.”
“You arranged these aliens coming here! You arranged the whole mess we’re dealing with!”
“Stationmaster Tillington, the kyo declared they would visit. We had no means to prevent that, and we have none now, but certainly keeping their visit quiet and pleasant is in all our best interests. Dealing with these visitors will be entirely an atevi responsibility, initially, since the language of choice during the initial contact was Ragi, and the persons with whom the kyo chose to speak were atevi.”
“No way.”
“Sir, you have no means even to speak to them.”
“We will not be excluded from negotiations!”
“The Presidential envoy will deal with that question, sir. And Mospheira will be consulted during negotiations. But atevi Central will be the operations center until the envoy arrives to take command.”
“No. No, this will not happen!”
“I ask your cooperation in the meanwhile, sir. And the more cooperation we receive, the more we will give.”
“Damn you, no!”
“Sir.”
“You have no right to be here. No right! The same two captains who set up this situation come in here and quarrel with my staff, second-guess my orders. Sabin is the reason we have this situation. Sabin is the last person who ought to be directing anything to do with this! And you’ve been right there with them!”
“I’m sure Captain Ogun makes command decisions, sir, within the Captains’ Council. I don’t. The President of Mospheira has asked me to represent Mospheiran interests in the negotiations, and I will do that.”
“Get out of my office!”
“Listen to me. This is in no wise Sabin’s fault. From the moment we entered Reunion space, the kyo, already sitting there, watching the station, had absolute ability to track the provenance of the ship. They used the station for bait. They were waiting to see what humans would do. Our choice in this last encounter was to communicate. And they responded. Our choice now needs to be to communicate. We need to take up the conversation we left off at Reunion, and demonstrate that we have no ambitions to be a problem to the kyo. I am exceedingly sorry that we could not have had this conversation between ourselves in advance and in detail, but we could not guarantee the security of communication within the station prior to our arrival, and we had no wish to generate panic aboard the station. The information was held within ship command. We’ve done our planning through ship channels until we docked here, and you can ask Captain Ogun to confirm the nature of it.”
“No.”
“Mr. Tillington. Stationmaster Tillington. The Presidential envoy is arriving to make decisions on the Mospheiran situation. The envoy will take charge of Mospheiran operations, and what your own relations may be with that person is for you to determine. I would advise cooperation.”
“Tell that to Braddock and the Reunioners!”
“I intend to.”
“Fine. Then start there. And get the hell out of my office!”
“Stationmaster Tillington.”
“These are the people that started the whole problem. These are the people that we couldn’t live with. These are the people that stirred up trouble with God knows who out there, and now we’re all in danger!”