“Worked with you,” Rafe said in what was almost a growl.

“Not really,” Stella said. “I already wanted to try it; you almost put me off with the professorial bit. I admit being impressed by the lime peeling.”

Ky looked at Stella. “I thought you said—”

“We weren’t involved, “Stella said. “I just slept with him and that was it.”

Ky wondered if that was true. She could not imagine sleeping with someone and not being involved—though she had been involved without the sleeping with. Was the look Stella gave Rafe now really that cool? Rafe, meanwhile, had a stubborn expression that Ky did not want to see aimed at her.

“You still—” Rafe began.

“I thought we were going to be discussing strategy,” Stella said. “Isn’t that right, Ky?”

“Right,” Ky said, switching tracks with some effort. “Now that we have some military assets, we can start doing something.”

“Do we know enough?”

“We know enough to get started,” Ky said. “If we wait until we know it all, we’ll wait forever.” On this she was confident; she saw surprise on Rafe’s face, but Stella just nodded. “But I have a few questions for Rafe.”

“And what are those?” Rafe asked.

“Does ISC know that some of its station managers are corrupted? Will there be… repercussions from them… if we remove one or two?”

“Remove, as in—”

“Kill,” Ky said.

Rafe went still all over for a moment, then one hand twitched.

“There’s not another quick way to get communications back up here,” she went on. “The station polity has no interest in listening to me. They aren’t suffering; they think they’re better off as they are. Other shippers are suffering, but they’re scared to do anything. Any legal approach will take weeks to months, and he’ll get away while doing more damage. We need him gone, out of his position permanently and quickly. That will give us some legitimacy in the eyes of the others.”

“Killing’s a bit extreme,” Rafe said, in a voice devoid of resonance. “Don’t you think?”

“Not in this instance,” Ky said.

“Ky—” Stella began, then stopped. She shook her head, then went on. “Ky, Vatta’s not—not ever been—that way.”

“Vatta’s not ever been at war,” Ky said. “We didn’t start it; I want Vatta around at the end of it. So, Rafe, what do you think ISC’s reaction will be?”

He was silent a moment, then folded his hands and gave her a steady look. “I think if there’s sufficient evidence of his treachery, they will overlook a… an accidental death. At least in the sense of taking no reprisals against other Vatta. I think they will be upset, however. It sets a bad precedent. ISC has never allowed anyone—government, commercial entity, whatever—to judge its people.”

“They didn’t take care of it,” Ky said. The edge in her voice surprised even her; she saw in their faces that they were both startled. “It cost lives—is costing lives. My position is that I am doing what they would do, and they had best accept it.”

“You sound almost as if you’re threatening ISC, Captain.” She did not miss the shift to formality. “If that is so, then I must remind you where my primary loyalty lies.”

“I hold your partnership agreement at present,” Ky said. “If you forswear that—”

He winced. “I know that. But—but you are asking me—perhaps asking me—to breach an older trust.”

“I don’t think so,” Ky said. “As an ISC agent—however covert—you are being asked to consider whether this ISC employee is guilty—”

“Oh, he’s guilty, all right,” Rafe said. “No doubt at all. Deep in the conspiracy. I have the evidence, too; I was on my way back to the ship with it when your people got in that trouble in the store.”

“Well, then. What would ISC do, assuming they had the resources at hand?”

“He’d be… all right, he’d be dead. We do have an… an enforcement arm that is… not subject to any governmental restrictions. So, do you want me to take him?” He looked haggard now; Ky wondered at that.

“Would you?” she asked. He stared back, his expression grim, and did not answer at once. She went on. “I expect you’d wait for orders from home. I expect you’ve had to do it, and don’t like it.”

“Not much,” Rafe said. His voice was breathy with the effort to keep it light.

“Then leave it to those who do,” Ky said. Stella drew in a sharp breath; Ky did not look at her. “What I ask of you, as the ISC representative, is agreement that he is guilty, that there is sufficient evidence, and that a quick removal is in the best interests of…” Her voice failed for an instant, remembering too well in the best interests of the Service. “—of ISC and its customers.”

Rafe nodded. “That—that I can do. I do not see a conflict between the partnership and my loyalty to ISC in making such a report.”

“Good,” Ky said. She smiled, but neither of them smiled back. Stella looked as if someone had hit her in the stomach; Rafe simply continued to look grim. “I’ll tell our liaison. They want to talk to you about the evidence.”

“It would be a good idea for me—for someone from ISC to have custody of it,” Rafe said. “And to give them authorization.”

“Do it,” Ky said. “We might as well clean up the whole mess while we’re about it. Lee can set up the secure line for you on the bridge.”

“You surprise me,” Rafe said, as he got up. He left without saying anything more.

Stella put out her hand as if to touch Ky’s arm, then withdrew it. “Ky… I almost feel I don’t know you. I mean, when you said leave it to those who do… you didn’t mean yourself…” She let that trail away, then shook her head. “Of course not; you mean the mercs. I suppose they’d have to.”

Ky’s stomach tightened. On the one hand, Stella was her closest family member; she should tell Stella the truth. On the other… she could not face what she expected of Stella’s reaction. Not right now, anyway. Later, maybe.

“I’ll need a complete assessment of our financial situation,” she said instead. “I’m going to try to get a few other ships to sign on with us as a convoy under Mackensee protection. We can spread the cost that way. But even so, we’re going to have to be careful. That defensive suite wasn’t cheap.”

Stella nodded. “Right. And good idea about the convoy, Ky.”

“Thanks. It’ll depend on how scared the remaining traders are about attacks in dock.”

Chapter Sixteen

Ky made it to the bridge before Rafe was through talking to their liaison. He looked grim; Lt. Commander Johannson looked satisfied.

“We’d like to have your… agent… aboard for this,” Johannson said. “As he has ISC authorization.”

“Rafe?” Ky said, looking at him.

Rafe grimaced. “My value, to you and ISC both, is at least partly in my being known only as a ne’er-do-well. If I’m part of the hit—”

“I didn’t mean part of the team,” Johannson said. “In fact we’d rather not have you; we have enough unknowns in the equation already. But aboard ship here, in direct communication, ensuring that our people got the right… mmm… evidence.”

“Then only a shipload of your people would know who I am,” Rafe said. “And how many is that?”

“Do you really think—” Johannson began, then stopped. “All right. I see your point. Even if they don’t know your name, information could be stripped from them. Disguise?”

Rafe gave Ky a strange look. “Could I pass as Vatta, Captain?”

“The only Vattas declared aboard are me, Stella, and Toby,” Ky said. “You’d have to have been… oh… hiding out on Allway, or something. Maybe a Vatta ne’er-do-well? Old Uncle Jonas, ditched from the family for… I don’t know…”

“Being a ne’er-do-well,” Rafe said. “It doesn’t have to be specific, whether I got the second upstairs maid pregnant with twins or embezzled to cover my gambling debts. Years ago and no one knew it; I’d been erased from the family tree. Of course that doesn’t explain how I know what I know.”