Kisia was beaming. “Uncle Edacki, you are the but. I’ll find out for you at once!”
“Make it so, sweetie. And Kisia? Lovie?”
“Yes, Uncle?” Her impatience was now again evident, along with a certain defensiveness, like a dog who was afraid its treat would be snatched back.
“You’re not to go there once you find out. Just relay the information and detain the Harakamians until I give you further orders.”
“Awww, Uncle!” “Kisia!” he said warningly.
“Oh, all right. May I hurt them while I detain them? Even if I can get the information some other -way?”
“There will be sufficient opportunity for that, dear heart, once we have the information you are after. Hafiz Harakamian has many secrets and I’m sure you will enjoy cajoling him to confide in you once I tell you what it is I wish to know. But that can wait. Now, scoot! You’ve a job to do. Commander Kisia!”
“Yes, Sir,” she said, blew him a kiss, and the screen went dark.
Some aspects of Ganoosh’s plans were going even better than he could have hoped.
His teams had found an entire chain of planets destroyed by the Khieevi. While the planets themselves were depressingly without commercial value, one of them had a serviceable moon. With the help of biosphere-type prefab experimental stations, it was soon able to support sufficient personnel for his purposes. Ganoosh installed his teams of scientists and security forces. The former were told what to look for and the latter were told where to find subjects. Nothing could be simpler.
General Ikwaskwan reported back to him via remote relay, and the reports were enormously satisfying to both Ganoosh and the general.
One by one, the Linyaari trade partners were being identified ^-occasionally by the Linyaari taken into custody, and more often by the trading partners themselves. A few of the trading partners had proved awkward, but forceful persuasion generally was all it took to sway them into surrendering their Linyaari guests, and the location of any trading partners they knew about. Two large, secure wards were currently filled with the white, single-horned humanoids. If things went well, there would soon be more. More horns and more likelihood of breaking one of the Linyaari and finding the location of their home world.
When the most recent arrivals were herded into the biosphere, General Ikwaskwan was in residence, listening to the complaints of the scientists. These unimaginative men claimed that they had all of these subjects, but unless the subjects could be observed doing whatever it was they supposedly did, the scientists would be unable to proceed. Linyaari were extremely stubborn, for a peaceful people. They seemed to be able to communicate without words, leaving the scientists continually feeling as if they were being discussed, even though the Linyaari never spoke in their presence, not even to complain, once they realized what the scientists wanted.
“Sedate them,” Ikwaskwan said. “Put them in cold sleep until you need them. I don’t care.”
“I thought so!” a loud, nasal, feminine Linyaari voice rang through the sphere. “General Ikwaskwan! Are these your people? There has been some mistake. You know who I am. Please tell them to release me and my crew and our people at once.”
Ikwaskwan didn’t know the lady in question at first. For a heart-stopping moment, he thought he had actually captured Harakamian’s niece, Acorna. But no, there was somethingolder, about this -woman. “Madam, you have the advantage of me,” he said, with a mocking, courtly bow.
“I’ll refresh your memory then,” she said, dragging her captors nearer to him. He signaled for them to let her go. “I am VL)e()haanye ferliii Neeva of the Linyaari people of narhiiVhiliinyar. I demand to know the meaning of this outrageous imprisonment of myself and my people. The trumped-up charges your people used to abduct us are so patently ridiculous, I’m amazed you were able to take us without a formal protest from our hosts.”
“Your hosts stood to gain a great deal by the transaction, madam, if you know what I mean,” Ikwaskwan said. “Besides, we were able to convince them that while you may be wellbehaved in your own sector, you were definitely a criminally disruptive influence in ours. You are to be congratulated on finding so many supremely stodgy allies.”