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.Azov and his entourage.“Private message, Mr.Konstantin?”“I need to get crews at their jobs,” Damon said.“They’ll move at a voice they know.”“I’m sure they would, Mr.Konstantin.But no.Stay away from com.Let our techs handle it.”“Sir,” Josh said quietly.“May I intervene?”“Not in this matter,” Azov said.“Keep at non-public work, Mr.Konstantin.” Damon drew a quiet breath, walked back to the console he had left and carefully sat down.More and more troops had come in.The hisa crowded back against the walls and onto the counters, chattering soft alarm among themselves.“Get these creatures out of here,” Azov said.“Now.”“Citizens,” Damon said, turning his chair to look at Azov.“Pell citizens.”“Whatever they are.”“Pell,” Mallory’s voice came over com.“Stand by for un-docking.”“Sir?” the Union com tech asked.Azov signaled for silence.Damon leaned and tried to hit an alarm.Rifles leveled and he thought better of it.Azov himself went to com.“Mallory,” Azov said, “I’ll advise you to stay put.”A moment’s silence.“Azov,” the voice returned softly, “somehow I thought there was no honor among thieves.”“Captain Mallory, you are attached to the Union fleet, under Union orders.Accept them or stand in mutiny.”Again a silence.And more silence.Azov gnawed at his lip.He reached past the com tech and keyed in his own numbers.“Captain Myes.Norway refuses orders.Move your ships out a little.”And on Mallory’s channel: “You take our offer, Mallory, or there’s no port.You can rip loose and you can run, but you’ll be number-one priority for our ships in Union space.Or you can run join Mazian.Or you can go with us against him.” “Under your orders?”“Your choice, Mallory.Free pardon… or be hunted down.” Dry laughter came back.“How long would I stay in command of Norway once I let Unioners on my deck? And how long would my officers or any of my troops live?” “Pardon, Mallory.Take it or leave it.”“Like your other promises.”“Pell station,” a new voice broke in, disturbed.“This is Hammer.We’ve got a contact.Pell station, do you read? We’ve got a contact.” And another: “Pell station: this is the merchanter fleet.This is Quen of Estelle.We’re coming in.”Damon looked at longscan, that was rapidly compensating for new data, reckoning a signal two hours old.Elene! Alive and with the merchanters.He crossed the room to com, caught a rifle barrel in the stomach and staggered against the counter.He could get himself shot.Could do that, at this late hour.He looked at Josh.Elene would have been in reception of Pell transmissions that showed trouble four hours ago; two hours inbound.Elene would ask questions.If he gave wrong answers… if she got no response from known voices… surely, surely she would stay out.Eyes tuned to scan, one man at first, and at that expression, others.Not one blip now, but a dusting of them, sent in as other input reached them.A mass, a swarm, an incredible horde of merchanters moving in on them.Damon looked, and leaned against the counter watching it come, a smile spreading across his face.“They’re armed,” he said to Azov.“Captain, they’re long-haulers and they’ll be armed.”Azov’s face was rigid.He snatched up a mike and patched it in.“This is Azov of Union flagship Unity, fleet commander.Pell is now a Union military zone.For your own safety, stay out.Ships which intrude will be met with fire.” An alarm started blinking, a board flashing alarm across the center.Damon looked at the lights and his heart began to speed.White dock was warning of imminent undocking.Norway.He turned and hit that channel while the trooper stood paralyzed in the confusion.“Norway.Stay put.This is Konstantin.Stay put.”“Ah, we’re just letting you know, Pell central.Warships might make quite a mess of those merchanters, armed or not.But they’ll have professional help if they want it.”“Repeat,” Elene’s distance-delayed voice came over com.“We’re coming in for dock.We’ve been monitoring your transmissions.The merchanter’s alliance claims Pell, and we hold it to be neutral territory.We assume that you will respect this claim.We suggest immediate negotiation… or every merchanter in this fleet may well withdraw from Union territory entirely.Earthward.We don’t believe this would be the first choice of any parties involved.” There was silence for a very long moment.Azov looked at the screens, on which blips spread like plague.The merchanter Hammer had ceased to be distinct, signal obscured by the reddening points.“We have a basis for discussion,” Azov said.Damon drew a long, slow breath and let it go.iiPell; Red Dock; 1/9/53; 0530 hrs.md; 1730 hrs.a.She came, with an escort of armed merchanters, onto the dock.She was pregnant, and walked slowly, and the merchanters about her took no chances exposing her to hazard on the wide dock.Damon stood by Josh, on the Union side, as long as he could bear, and finally risked himself and walked out, not certain whether either side would let him through to her.Rifles in merchanters’ hands leveled at him, a nervous ring of threat; and he stopped, alone in that empty space.But she saw him, and her face lit, and merchanters moved, ordered aside left and right until their ranks drank him in and he could reach her.Merchanter, and back with her own, and long off the solid deck of Pell [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]