Price of Ransom (11 page)

“Of course it makes sense, Thae,” said Scallop abruptly. “Excuse me for breaking in. I know it’s not supposed to be common knowledge, but I’ve heard rumors that Concord Intelligence is searching for all the old Soerensen network, those left alive, that is. It makes sense that if one ship could find its way across, others might have, years ago, ferrying saboteurs to safety in anonymity. Fair enough, if you ask me. I always thought they were persecuted through no fault of their own.”

“I didn’t think one could persecute psychopathic criminals,” interrupted Provoniya. “If you ask me, I think the lot of them ought to be locked up—”

“—and the lock code erased,” finished Scallop, as if he’d heard this argument many times before.

“It’s certainly possible,” said Thaelisha calmly. She smiled ruefully at Lily. “Excuse us for hanging out our dirty laundry. We don’t mean to interrupt you. You said there were two reasons.”

“I also accidentally ran across the
Sans Merci
. I believe she’s docked here now.”

Provoniya laughed. “The queen of the highroad. So that’s where she came from. We don’t usually see her here. She usually stays within The Pale. I feel a little sorry for Reft space, for where La Belle Dame goes, the rest of the privateers will soon follow. And your government has none of the covenants Concord has set up to control them.”

Lily smiled back. She rather liked Provoniya, despite what she had called the saboteurs. “I’m not sure Reft space is rich enough to interest them. I also met a privateer who called himself Yi.”

Provoniya and Scallop looked blank. This time Thaelisha smiled. “That must have been interesting. You’ve had an eventful time, Captain.”

She left a deliberate pause after her words and Lily knew that she was leaving unspoken her real question: Why you? So Lily chose the best method to deflect it—by asking a question in her turn. One she had to ask.

“These saboteurs you mentioned. Who—or what—are they?”

All three began to speak at once, stopped, chuckling a little, and then Thaelisha began unopposed.

“If my history is correct, the cryo ships that colonized your Reft space would have left here before we met the alien culture known as the Kapellan Empire. They—the Kapellans—gave us the vector drive, we put out the exploratory ships, known ever afterward as the ‘hard-luck fleet’ because so few returned, and soon after that the Empire decided to annex League space. We had no choice but to accept annexation into their Empire. Many decades later a man of Terran birth named Charles Soerensen led a revolt against them that almost succeeded. For some reason—and you’d have to get a xenologist who had studied them to explain it to you—the Kapellans ennobled him rather than executing him. Thereby putting him in a difficult position, you see. After many years, Soerensen put together a network of saboteurs, based on information—well, let me make this as short as I can—”

Scallop shifted and began to stand. “If you’ll excuse me a moment. My daughter—”

Hoshea stood up and came swiftly over. “I’ll change her. You stay here.”

“Thank you.” They transferred the child smoothly, and Hoshea disappeared out the door.

“In any case,” Thaelisha continued, “they began to disable by sabotage the industry and communications and transport web, and so on, of the Empire, especially within old League space and the regions bordering it. So that in time, when Soerensen launched a second revolt with a number of other leaders, the saboteurs had undermined enough of the Kapellan superstructure, and continued to do so throughout the revolt, that the League was able to sue for peace and gain autonomy and a large neutral zone which we call The Pale. Privateers are given a free rein within it, but must accord to strict covenants without, which is why we are surprised to see the
Sans Merci
here. But that’s another story.”

“I don’t understand.” Jenny, moved by this tale, spoke up unexpectedly. “Why would you want to lock these people, these saboteurs, in prison? I’d think they would be heroes.”

Thaelisha folded her hands in her lap, a quiet gesture. “You must understand that the methods these people used were often ones that normal people find repugnant.” She paused. “Quite repugnant.”

“Disgusting,” said Provoniya decisively. “They had—still have, one supposes—the ability to kill without remorse or even a second thought.”

“You mean they
enjoyed
it?” Jenny asked, unable to comprehend their revulsion.

“Some might have, I suppose. When one has already crossed the line it scarcely makes much difference. At least the mentally ill ones are treatable. The others”—Provoniya shuddered and glanced at Scallop and Thaelisha as if for confirmation—“are simply sociopaths.”

“I see,” murmured Jenny. It was clear to Lily that she did not see at all. Lily herself could only guess at the assumptions that grounded their statements from things Kyosti and Heredes had said to her.

“That isn’t entirely fair.” Scallop addressed himself to Jenny. “It is true that without the saboteurs we could not have extricated ourselves from the Empire. We may deplore their methods, their willingness to use violence to solve what is better solved by negotiation—”

“You know, Ska-morian,” put in Thaelisha to Scallop, “some still say that at that time we had no ground on which to negotiate with the Empire.”

“How hard did we try?” demanded Provoniya. “To find civilized solutions and not opt out once again for the easy solution of violence?”

“There
was
no widespread fighting,” said Thaelisha gently. “We were spared that much.”

Scallop chuckled. “I’m afraid we’re confusing our visitors. What I
meant
to say, min Seria, is that a certain undercurrent of, shall we say, admiration—”

“Morbid fascination,” muttered Provoniya, unrepentant.

“—for the saboteurs has always existed. Stories still circulate, more legends, really, by now. The engagement at Betaos led by a handful—no more than five—saboteurs, who held off an entire Kapellan battalion.”

“Massacred one, you mean. They
are
life just as we are, and deserve the same respect. Common soldiers.”

“That woman Motley who actually snuck into the Imperial capital and wreaked havoc on their main intelligence computers before they caught her. Incredible.”

“What happened to her?” Jenny asked.

“Killed her, of course. I don’t try to excuse
their
conduct.”

Provoniya grinned. “Still, what a way to go. Can you imagine getting through that security? Some say the only reason they caught her is that she couldn’t resist trying to steal the Imperial slippers off of the Emperor’s feet while he slept.”

“And the master,” continued Scallop, “who had twin sons—one of whom went good and one of whom went—quite bad. They still talk about his masterpiece: rerouting an entire imperial fleet through the wrong vectors. Manually, from Boots Seven.”

“What happened to him?” asked Lily carefully, recognizing the story her half-brother Adam—the “good” twin son—had told her once, long ago, about Heredes.

Scallop shrugged. “No one knows.”

“What about that woman Katajarenta?” asked Thaelisha. “She was half-Sirin, you know, so we heard all lands of tales about her at my circle’s crèche. And that hell-raiser—what was his name? He saved two Ardakians in some engagement and went on working with them after that.”

“Do you really think that’s true?” protested Provoniya. “Everyone knows Pongos won’t work closely with humans because we smell so bad to them.”

Thaelisha shrugged, with a brief smile.

“Or that physician,” Scallop said, still indulging his fascination. “The one who affected blue hair like a je’jiri—” He stopped.

There was no mistaking the expressions on Jenny and Pinto’s faces. Lily, not as surprised, had managed to keep hers neutral.

“Have the stories spread
that
far?” asked Scallop. “It’s hard to imagine how they could. It’s only been thirty-four years since emancipation.”

Jenny and Pinto looked at Lily, expectant. Trey looked doubly confused. Lily sighed, heartfelt, hating herself for what she was about to do and yet in such strange and unknown surroundings she was not sure she had any choice. She only hoped that Kyosti could forgive her.

“He’s a member of the
Hope
’s crew,” Lily said quietly, and she went on while her audience was still too startled to react. “But there’s been a slight—problem. Hawk had no reason to love the League, but even he assured me that the League dealt fairly with its citizens. I don’t know your laws. I don’t know League space at all. But because of—circumstances—I have no choice but to trust you now.” She paused. If Provoniya and Scallop were still looking puzzled, Thaelisha at least had some measure of comprehension in her face. “A
valued
member of the
Hope
’s crew, I should add. But I’m afraid that as we came into the system he—he ran. Took one of our two-man boats and escaped. He hasn’t been well lately—” The sentence sounded terribly weak to her ears.

“Do you mean”—Trey had a look of outraged shock on her face—“that man—the one who—on the bridge”—the memory made her shudder—“That man’s a psychopath!”

“He is
not
—” Lily began hotly, and then controlled herself.

“But Lily,” said Pinto suddenly, “you said yourself that he’s only half—”

“
Pinto
.”

Pinto shut up. For once, he did not look sullen, but rather thoughtful.

“I’m not sure I understand what exactly happened,” said Thaelisha, watching this interplay with an eye that Lily feared was too acute.

Lily said nothing for a moment, because she could not decide what to say. Trey looked angry. Jenny and Pinto waited patiently. The door opened and Hoshea returned. “I’ll take her,” Provoniya offered, and she settled the infant on her lap. The baby stared with wide, intent eyes at all the faces in the room.

“It’s very important,” Lily began slowly, “that he not be arrested or put in a cell or put in prison or—it’s
very
important that I—that
we
—get him back. That’s what I need your help for.”

“Are you saying he’s physically ill?” asked Scallop.

Lily hesitated.

“No,” said Thaelisha softly. “I feel somehow that what Captain Ransome is
not
saying is that she fears he is mentally ill. If that is the case, I am curious as to why you’re protecting him, or feel that he needs protection. We don’t throw our insane into institutions anymore, you know. All citizens have equal access to humane psychiatric care.”

“Maybe I’m afraid he won’t get equal treatment because of his background. As one of the saboteurs.”

“I hope we’re not such savages!” exclaimed Provoniya, looking righteously shocked.

“I sense there is something else,” murmured Thaelisha. “Why
you
want him back so badly.”

Lily looked at Jenny, feeling suddenly helpless. It was hard to admit even to herself the sick worry she felt in her gut at the thought of Kyosti running loose in who knew what frame of mind.

Surprisingly, it was Pinto who spoke up. “You might as well tell them the truth, Lily. It was the only understandable reason anyone would keep him around after what he tried to do to Finch. I know he’s a fine doctor, but”—His smile had a touch of unkind glee in it—“Poor Finch. I could never decide if he was more afraid of Hawk, or jealous of him.”

“
Jealous
of him?”

Pinto’s smile remained unsympathetic. “Since he wouldn’t stoop to sleeping with any filthy tattoos, that didn’t leave many available women, did it? And he
did
know you from before, as he forever kept reminding us.”

“Poor Finch,” echoed Jenny, but with rather more charity, as if she understood quite well what Finch had been suffering.

“All right,” conceded Lily, aware that her other audience had grown quite bemused. She met Thaelisha’s gaze. “He’s my lover.”

“Your
lover
!” Trey jumped up to her feet. “You could—with someone who could do what he did to Vanov and the others? That’s
sick
.”

“Trey. Sit down.” The sudden, chill snap of Lily’s voice sat Trey down. “You have no idea. None. I’m not excusing what he did, but until you know
all
the facts I suggest you not question my judgment.”

Trey’s expression went blankly neutral. Pinto coughed nervously into his hand.

“What did he do?” asked Provoniya, eyes bright. From her lap, the infant’s gaze fixed unnervingly on Lily.

“In League space he hasn’t done anything,” replied Lily a little testily, “except run from the
Forlorn Hope
.”

“If you’d like, Captain,” said Thaelisha, smoothing over the chill in the air, “you can help me prepare a report for my superior at Turfan Link. Under the circumstances, a report will have to go out in any case, but certainly we can include your comments.” She tapped her fingers thoughtfully on Scallop’s desk. “There’s also the matter of the
Forlorn Hope
itself. I have no idea if salvage rights apply to a vessel invested under the League Exploratory Guild, although like the other ships it was declared lost. But I can give you no guarantees, except that citizenship in the League is open and your livelihood would certainly not be taken away from you without proper and legal recompense.”

“Frankly,” said Lily, grateful to Thaelisha for allowing her to regain her composure during this speech, “I have no idea how your economy works, and we have nothing to use for credit anyhow.”

Thaelisha smiled. “Given the unexpected avenue of your arrival, and the momentous news you bring, I think it would be possible to arrange a, shall we say, open letter of credit, to be presented to any Concord official wherever you stop. Now that you’re here, what do you intend to do, Captain? You and your people?”

“Find Hawk,” said Lily immediately. Stopped, looking at Jenny and Pinto and Trey. Trey’s mouth was tight. Pinto looked astonishingly relaxed. Jenny looked—like Jenny had looked ever since Lia’s departure: bitterly unhappy and determined not to show it, but right now, it was mixed with a real spark of interest as she gazed back at Lily. And Lily wondered if Jenny had ever put aside completely her dreams of bootlegging and smuggling. If the League even had such people—other than, she supposed, what appeared to be the strange, shadowy legality of privateers such as La Belle and Yi.