Releasing March 1
“We need you to find them.”
“Two elderly Nisandrians in a galaxy with nearly four dozen
Human-habitable worlds, three times as many orbital stations and platforms, and
that’s just what belongs to the Alliance. Knowing Great-grandfather, he’ll decide
the smart move is to hide on a planet unfriendly to the Alliance, because no
one would expect him to go to a place that would gladly sell him out to
Nisandros.”
“Well, not exactly …” Jeyn glanced at Ashrock. He nodded.
“You know where they went?”
“Not where, but to who. At least, we hope so.” She shrugged again.
Yes, M’kar was getting irritated by that gesture. “Your brothers.”
“My brothers?”
“Ashar, Bannar—” Ashrock began.
“I know their names. Why would Great-grandfather and … No.” M’kar’s
head hurt with the new load of possibilities and theories cramming into her brain.
“Oh, yes, that will make them so much easier to find. Just look for a
free-trader ship broadcasting Nisandrian registration, with several
pirate-for-hire ships chasing them across the universe. Just how do you expect
me to talk my captain into putting the Defender in the middle of that
fight? We have families on board. Most of those children consider you their
adopted grandparents.”
“Yes, and that reminds me, we want to have a festival, now that—”
“Po’pa!” Her fists ached slightly from the single, hard slam that made
the bowls and serving platters and mugs bounce a good five centimeters.
“It isn’t that bad.” Jeyn reached to pat M’kar’s arm. “Your brothers are
the logical choice, because they’ve been in constant contact with Aquid for
years now. In fact, we found out they’ve been in contact since the day they
fled Nisandros, going on missions for Etrusca.”
“How?” M’kar shook her head. “No, don’t tell me. I can guess. All
three of them are just rebels and idiots enough to think Great-grandfather’s
crazy notions are good ideas. I wondered how Etrusca managed to send pieces of
the Gate off planet all these years. Now I know. It makes too much crazy,
twisted sense.”
“If it’s any comfort, they also left because of the pressure to kill
you,” Ashrock offered. “Most of our clan didn’t have any problem obeying the
prophets who demanded your death, but your brothers did. They were tired of
getting into battles with their cousins.” He chuckled. “Mostly because it got
so boring, winning all the time.”
A strained bubble of laughter escaped M’kar. Maybe in a few days she
would find some comfort in knowing that yes, her brothers did like her, enough
to not want her dead. And yes, it was some comfort to know a thirst for
adventure had sent them away from their homeworld. They hadn’t left because
they didn’t want to be around their half-blood sister.
“All right. I’ll ask Genys what we can do. Treinna will have to pull a
couple dozen strings to get people watching to catch the gossip. But that’s
about all I can do without taking leave and hiring a courier ship and going
hunting on my own.”
Ashrock accepted that just a little too easily. M’kar had the awful
feeling there was still much he hadn’t told her.
All in all, she was glad to watch Le’anka and Anwesta vanish behind
the Defender as the ship headed out on its next assignment. It was a
blessedly boring one for a change, making a wide circle of stations, dropping
off and picking up equipment and personnel and dealing with various technical
problems that required the miracle-working skills of Jasper Lore and his Engineering
department.
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