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"It's a suggestion." He shrugged. "It requires higher approval."
"By whom?" If we had to wait for someone back in the Tabi Empire, who required a full briefing, I still had a little time...
"Mathet is considering all options."
Mathet Waa Silvec, captain of an assassin team was considering...? He outranked the Tabisee trade ambassador on this?
Then again, what did I know of Tabi politics and security? I was only a grunt in the trenches, plowing around the universe in guilt-twisted oblivion.
Was. I wasn't anything, anymore. Not without my wetware...
For a moment my mind sort of fogged and I floundered in the emptiness of the Vasty. The Thief's Hand was gone. My partner's life was on the line because of my choices. I was putting the economic future of the EA and the Tabi Empire at risk. Hell, I couldn't even save one little kid... Again.
Despair and self-doubt flooded through me. I was useless. I always had been.
Years of therapy, however, had taught me how to shelve that. I required a purpose to move beyond immobilizing despair. Saving the kid was that one thing I could tell myself was not totally lost to me. Before I saved her, however, I had to save myself.
I drew a hard breath. "How long?" I asked.
Meeroush shrugged. "That is under consideration."
"And the kid? She's here by accident."
"The decision will be made at the appropriate level."
"You can't go around eliminating people for no good reason—"
"The future of the Tabi Empire is the only good reason," Shoff snapped. "In war, casualties fall. Not all are guilty or innocent."
"If I could just tell—"
"No tell. No speak. No part in decision except to receive fate."
Again, I was reminded that I could not consider the Tabisee as allies; sheltering me was not worth the consequences of breaking Whooex law. Considering the threat, it was amazing they had let me live this long.
I could let despair take me, or I could start working to keep us all alive.
"Why were you in the Endar warehouse?" I asked.
"You never know what you'll catch," Meeroush said.
"Like a Human escaping a Tabi ship?"
"Told you, that's impossible." He settled back in his chair, facing me. Shoff did not budge from her position beside the door. "Warehouses under dedicated member field areas are considered diplomatic zones. There is no access by other members or locals. We have to supply all our own equipment and maintenance."
"Even your own whizbats?"
He nodded.
Someone had to give in here if I was going to make any progress. I decided to accept their claim as true. "So, why were you really in an Endar warehouse?"
"We were working. That's an automated warehouse. The Endar seldom go there."
"Seldom? I saw two people from up on the flyway. I was just starting to climb down and follow them when you pulled me in. I'm pretty sure one was Endar."
Shoff's ears snapped back in displeasure. The two Tabi exchanged a look. "Missed because of idiot Human," she growled.
That didn't sound good, but it sounded convincing.
Meeroush focused back on me. "Describe the second being."
"Not dressed in leather. I saw legs. And skinny, but not tall." I gestured mid-chest.
Meeroush pushed off the chair and came over to stand in front of my cell. "What else?"
"That's all. They were far down one of the rows, walking together. I needed water and a way out, so I decided to follow them. They turned a corner, out of view, right before you snatched me."
"Would you remember where you saw them?"
As I flew along above endless rows of stored goods, hanging on for dear life? "Probably not."
Shoff muttered something in Tabisee that didn't translate in my software.
Unfortunately, I understood 'maku naku' meant 'halfwit idiot'. For the first six months after Saura and I had been matched as combat buddies I thought that was her affectionate nickname for me.
"If I am to die for this, I should know what it is," I said in Tabi.
Her lip curled in irritation, then she shrugged. "Tell her," she said to Meeroush.
"We suspect that warehouse is an entry point for contraband. We think the Endar are smuggling live cargo."
"Live? Where does it go?"
"To the Grip. Their security compound."
"Is it food? Maybe an animal to butcher?" Who knew what the High Jerak ate?
"We suspect something different."
I waited.
"We suspect they are smuggling beings of a different species."
"As slaves?"
"Possibly."
"Why wouldn't they bring them through legal channels?" Some member species of the Whooex had no problem with slaves and they didn't care what Humans or anyone else thought on the subject.
"They could if the cargo was legal."
"What's not legal here? Beyond a berserker or a war devil. Or a Human."
There was that exchange of looks again.
"Wait." It was ridiculous, but I threw it out there anyway. "Telepaths?"
The tension in the room relaxed noticeably.
"But the law..."
"Bans telepaths, for fear a member will use them to gain trade advantage over other members by gathering insider information. This is different. We think they use them to spy on members of the Consortium and manipulate them."
That was a serious accusation to level against the people in charge of security.
The big guy walked over to the outer door.
"Wait! Can I have a ZEE?" I asked before they could duck out.
A Xeno Expedited Elucidator, or ZEE for short —the MoMo had named the damn things since they owned all the rights to them—was a type of Whooex handheld computer designed for people who didn't have a universal feed implanted in their heads. They were cheap, plentiful—some worlds gave them to their non-chipped inhabitants for free—and immensely useful.
Shoff's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Because I don't enjoy sitting here, staring at the walls, waiting for death."
"Use your universal feed."
I sighed. "No legal Human presence, so no auto code for access." And, it went unsaid, if I could access the feed, unregistered, alerts would light up Endar security and trace back to my location. A ZEE would allow me to snoop undetected.
"You don't have access to the feed for this world, but you think you can go out and track someone down in a vast city?" She sniffed in disdain, thumbed her comm unit, and turned her back to me.
Meeroush walked over to lean a shoulder against the bars of the cell. "She likes you," he said in a low voice.
"Yeah, I can tell." I shook my head. They were Tabisee, but they had a whole different mindset than my partner.
"She thinks you are hard to get rid of."
"Tenacious?" I suggested, hoping for a better description.
"No. Hard to get rid of."
"Not for lack of trying."
"Exactly," he agreed.
"Is 'hard to get rid of' bad?"
His eyes slid to his partner across the room. She continued to talk. He shifted his attention back to me. "Tabisee are warriors. We respect dedication to purpose, even if it is misplaced. We may have to kill you, but it is a good attribute."
Okay...
"One of the Frairies in the market referred to you as assassins," I ventured.
His ears twisted annoyance. "Duff is an important ally, but he talks too much. Shoff specializes in technical support. I am the assassin."
I nearly choked in surprise. I had grown to accept I might meet a speedy end at Shoff's hand—which still remained an option—but not from Meeroush.
"Oh," I said.
The amiable assassin shrugged.
Across the room, the technical half expressed strong displeasure with whoever was on the other end of her conversation.
"Why does a trade embassy need assassins? I mean, I'm not naïve, but assassins?"
"We are Tabi security."
"Tabi?" I was confused. "As in 'not' diplomatic?"
"Tabi," he repeated. "Our mission is to protect the interests of the Tabi Empire above all else."
"You can eliminate anyone you think threatens the Empire?"
He looked at me, golden eyes steady. "I just said that." His ears flicked. "Including a troublesome Human."
Yeah, I got it. "Can anyone here do that? Form their own security force?" I could see big problems with that.
"No. It is illegal."
Well, this situation had the potential to be a glorious star spack storm. "Is your ambassador even aware of you?"
"Need to know basis."
I suspected he knew something, but only enough to spare his dignity and preserve his deniability if something went completely sideways. He probably didn't want to know the specifics. "I guess Endar complaints keep him advised on what you're doing."
I thought I saw him smirk
"How often do you kill someone?"
"Very rarely. We are here to protect Tabi interests."
"The way you conducted the raid outside the Ritto warehouse?" There had been over two dozen Tabi personnel involved on the street.
He smiled. "That was a distraction for the Endar."
"And all those Carquetchians?"
"Their arrest records are conveniently lost in the T'lek T'la legal system. We work together for our defense."
"Defense? Against what?"
"The Endar." He looked surprised that he had to tell me.
"I'm not from here," I reminded him.
"The Endar Sat Quar controls Whooex Trade Consortium security. Their jurisdiction is the Trade Compound, which encompasses the Trade Zone and the Diplomatic Zone, where the embassies are located. Their authority does not extend to the city of T'lek T'la unless a Consortium member is involved."
"Tabisee," I said.
He nodded. "We must all work against Endar efforts to intrude their influence into the city. There is very little killing."
Very little killing? On a diplomatic world? "Are the citizens of the city hostile?" My mind flashed to the ragpiles.
He gave a soft snort of amusement. "The citizens are not the problem."
I understood feeling intimidated by the Endar; they sent chills running through me, but something sounded off. "Do the Consortium members all feel threatened by their security?
He flicked me a look but did not elaborate.
We went back to watching Shoff on the far side of the room. She paused, waited, talked again. Several times her ears slanted back in impatience or irritation.
Finally, she cut the connection, rummaged in a cabinet, took something out, and fiddled with the settings before stalking over to us. Leveling her golden glare on me, she thrust a small handheld device through the bars. "Familiarize yourself with your grave," she snapped.
Yeah, she really liked me.