Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

“Incoming comm.” Borji’s lips were thin, his voice a little hoarse, as he spun to face Dav in his chair.

“I see it,” Sazo spoke through the overhead speakers, not just to Dav personally through his earpiece. “I’ll try to trace it, if you could respond, Captain.”

Dav wondered if that was an order or a plea, but he chose to take it as a request. Sazo was not capable of diplomacy at the best of times, and this was as far from the best of times as it was possible to get.

“This is Captain Dav Jallan of the Barrist .” He kept his information to the ship only. He could introduce the concept of the Grih and the United Council later.

Beside him stood Nivan Cossi, the Bukarian representative from the United Council—here to represent the combined interest of the council as a whole.

She was the older sister of a member of the Bukarian military who Dav had become friends with since the necessity of dealing with the Tecran had brought the Grih and the Bukari closer together as allies. He was glad to have Nivan by his side as a witness to this.

“We do not understand what you said. This is Priyan of the ship Havelan .” The words were spoken in Tecran, and there was a murmur through the bridge.

“They must have managed to listen in to the Tecran enough to work out how to speak the language,” Jia said. “Smart.”

“They were waiting for the Tecran to come back,” Nivan Cossi agreed.

“I can speak the language you are using, but not very well,” Dav responded, although he could, in fact, speak it well enough. It was nice to have an excuse to speak slowly, and perhaps to claim a misunderstanding, if they found themselves in a situation where they needed to calm things down.

Sazo and Irini had created a translation device for this meeting, but it was on Sazo’s Class 5, out of his reach, and he made the decision to keep its existence to himself.

“Why are you here?” The woman who’d identified herself as Priyan sounded angry.

Dav paused. “Before I answer any more questions, what have you done with Rose? And why did you take her?”

There was a beat of silence. “Our sister ship took her to ensure we had something to exchange for the crew that were taken from us the last time we had . . . visitors.”

Dav lifted a hand and pressed it to his forehead. “You ensured nothing by doing that except our distrust, because your crew killed themselves almost as soon as they were taken, as far as we were told, when they torched the inside of their ship.”

There was another silence. “So we understand from the prisoner. But we do not simply take your word. Show us evidence of our people’s deaths, and when that occurred, and perhaps we can talk.”

They cut off the comms.

Dav turned to look at Jia. “Send a probe back to Grih Battle Center. Relay a message to Paxe to send any lens feed he may have of what happened to that crew. Or if Irini has something, have him send that.”

“The Tecran disposed of their bodies in space.” Jia worried her bottom lip. “And there are no official reports of what happened. The Tecran weren’t in the habit of memorializing their incriminating behavior.”

“No.” Dav rubbed a hand through his hair. “Did you get any information from their signal, Sazo?” he asked.

“No. They hop around as they transmit, so it is almost impossible to track them.” He sounded quiet. Dav thought maybe that was the most frightening mode he had.

“Then we keep going,” Dav said. “We keep looking for the planet. Because right now we have no leverage at all.”