The Mechaneer

Chapter 19: Ultimatum

Ellie stared at the officer displayed by the semi-transparent screen. For one, he was the handsomest man she'd ever seen. She felt something like Jack must have, seeing Chloe's birth mother all those years ago.

For another, he was familiar.

She knew she'd never met him before, but the sense of familiarity remained. She knew, or almost knew, the lines of his tanned jaw, the angle of his aquiline nose, the curve of his wavy platinum hair. Even his remarkable amber eyes, which she knew she'd never seen on a pure human before, struck a chord.

Maybe she'd met his parents, though where, she couldn't begin to guess. Second Admiral Marcel Avalon undoubtedly hailed from the core worlds of the Federated Stars, if not Etemenos itself.

“You okay, Hon?” Jack whispered.

Ellie forced herself to nod.

She and Jack had been called into Otto Algreil's office and stationed away from the camera broadcasting the Oligarch's image to the man displayed over the desk. They saw the admiral through the screen as he addressed Otto, but, the Oligarch assured them, Avalon could not see them.

Ellie wondered, and worried, why Otto had called them in for the meeting.

Did the Feds have Chloe? Or did the Oligarch, for all his anti-Federal rhetoric, plan to acquire something for his company by selling the Hugheses to them?

She could see his calm, cool smile through the semi-transparent projection of Admiral Avalon, but read him? Not a chance. Otto used facial expressions and body language as deftly as most people used words.

"To what do we owe the pleasure, Divine Auric Drake," he asked. Ellie recognized Avalon's mechaneer name from the Wellach Cup, and assumed using it represented an attempt at informality.

"I think you know why I'm here, Mr. Algreil," Avalon said. His rich tenor at once soothed and commanded. It almost drowned out his hard words. "And I fear my approach will bring you no pleasure. In short: surrender the girl Chloe Hughes and her parents. Now."

"Excuse me?" Otto cocked an eyebrow slightly, looked down the bridge of his nose. If she hadn't known better, Ellie would have sworn he had no idea what the admiral was talking about. "Are these people supposed to be employees of mine or something? What's this about?"

"Don't play the fool, Mr. Algreil," Avalon said. "I do not want to be forced to destroy you."

"Destroy –! Now wait just a damned minute!" Otto surged over the desk. "Before you start blowing holes in every treaty, law and constitutional right of the Oligarchy, Marcel, you'd better show me some kind of a warrant. And explain what in the hell it's for."

"If you insist on your ignorance, I will enlighten you. Analysis of footage taken during the Wellach Cup Arena tragedy clearly shows you in the company of one Jack Hughes, free trader, late of the salvage ship Mother Goose, and a former Colonel in the Algreil Aerospace Devil Rays under your command. Also present was one Ellie Hughes, a hybrid of the felid breed, wed to Colonel Hughes under transitional law."

"Jack and Ellie Hughes," Otto said. He tossed a slight wink to them. Ellie wondered if she'd have noticed it without a felid's enhanced senses. "Yeah, Jack's an old pal of mine. They're here, all right. Hoped I could help find their runaway daughter. That's this Chloe, right?"

Ellie tensed.

Jack squeezed her arm. She glanced at him. He gave an urgent shake of his head.

Avalon's voice rolled from the screen. "You are not providing them with a great deal of help, then, since the daughter is also in your possession."

"Hell of a leap of logic you've got there, Marcel," Otto said.

"You may drop the audacity, Mr. Algreil. You cannot surpass parading her right under my nose, even giving her name! I confess, but for the Black Rook's denuding the arena of its one-way glass, I would never have guessed even you and the Crimson Phoenix so bold as to hide her in such plain sight."

"Rudy? The hell?" Otto looked confused again, and annoyed, and perhaps a touch worried; Ellie couldn't begin to guess if he really was any of the above. "If you think I'd let an old friend's daughter within five kilometers of my kid brother, much less a girl valuable enough you seem to think I'd risk my company to hide her from the Federal Navy, you obviously don't know Rudy as well as you think you do – or me, for that matter."

"Precisely what I did think, when he introduced me to his lovely new 'mechanic.' Once I had seen the parents, however, it seemed only natural to compare security footage of 'Chloe Derringer' to the images we have on file for the Hughes daughter."

"Care to share that data, Marcel?"

"Anything to persuade you to cooperate without bloodshed," Avalon said. "Lieutenant Thibaut," he called to someone offscreen, "splice the comparative analysis of the Hughes daughter into my transmission."

Ellie bit back a gasp.

On her left was the image Zelph had shown Jack: how the Feds' best predicative computers expected Chloe to look.

On her right, the screen showed Chloe in mechanic's gear, an Algreil Aerospace logo on the right breast of her vest, a young, blue-eyed redhead in a crimson flight suit walking with his arm around her waist.

"Chloe," Jack whispered. "What's she doing with Otto's kid brother?"

"What's she doing with those clothes," Ellie hissed, eyeing the short shorts and the bared midrif.

"That son of a bitch," Otto snarled.

"You acknowledge your guilt," Avalon said.

"The hell I do!" Otto slammed his fist on the desk, buzzing the executive assistant Ellie knew waited in the room beyond his office. "Where is that little bastard?"

"Mr. Rudolf's transponder is off, Sir," the assistant said. She neither hesitated nor remarked on the form of address; Ellie figured it was how Otto usually called for his brother. The assistant asked, "Would you like to place a call?"

"I'd like to rip his goddamned throat out," the Oligarch snarled. "But yes. Get him on the line yesterday."

"An impressive performance, Mr. Algreil," Avalon said. "If unconvincing. You cannot expect me to believe your brother acted alone in bringing Miss Hughes in when you admit her parents are in your custody."

"Believe what you want, Avalon," Otto said, "but it's true."

"I'm afraid that's not good enough. Surrender the Hughes family immediately – all of them – or I will take them by force."

Before Otto could answer, Jack stepped around the desk to face Avalon. "Look, Admiral," he began.

"Colonel Hughes," Avalon said, nodding a greeting. "I recall reading of your exploits during the War. It is a great tragedy that you and your wife have fallen under suspicion of treason. You may rest assured I will make every effort to disprove these charges, and that the Federal Senate intends no harm toward the young woman you call your daughter."

"Chloe is our daughter, Sir," Jack said. "And much as I appreciate the help – and don't get me wrong, it tugs the old heart strings, right down deep – I'm tellin' you, Otto doesn't have her. We've been tearing our hair out looking for her ever since she disappeared."

"Your reputation as a fast-talker proceeds you as well," Avalon said. "A certain Animus Hunter vouches for it."

Jack shrugged. "Can't help it if I've got a tongue as quick as my fist, Sir. Pattern of my days."

"Those days are reaching their end, Colonel Hughes, if you cannot persuade Mr. Algreil to surrender your family – your entire family – to the Federal Navy. Surely the mere presence of an Animus Hunter lends gravity to this affair?"

"We can't surrender what we don't have," Otto said. "Jack, if you're willing, I'll turn you over to the magnificent one-track here. Maybe in person, you can talk some sense into him."

"I'll sure as hell try," Jack said.

Ellie wondered at Otto's sudden solicitousness of their feelings. An act for Avalon's benefit, no doubt, since he'd portrayed himself as practically a friend of the family.

"And Chloe Hughes?" Avalon asked.

"I already told you, we don't have her," Otto said. "Let me talk to Rudy –"

"And how long will that take?"

"An hour, tops."

"Very well," Avalon said. "Stand down whatever defenses your arcology possesses. The Reformer will land an inspection team, whose work will require at least an hour. You may use this time to contact the Crimson Phoenix.

"And Mr. Algreil," he added, "I trust you will not attempt something foolish."

"Fight a destroyer?" Otto laughed. "I'd have to be crazy."

"Indeed you would. Avalon out."

The holograph disappeared.

Jack and Ellie exchanged glances.

Ellie said, "Chloe and your brother?"

Otto shook his head. "Hell if I know."

"Don't lie to us, Otto," Jack said.

"Goddamn it, I'm not. I wouldn't let her within five clicks of Rudy! He's got the responsibility of a five year old and the testosterone of a fifteen year old! He's the last person in the galaxy I'd trust with something important, and that goes double if that something happened to be packaged as a cute girl."

Ellie's frown deepened. "Chloe's responsible, though. She's a good girl."

"Damn straight," Jack said. He sounded nervous.

"Here's hoping," Otto said. "I don't even want to think about the problems that could cause. Assuming we live to worry about them."

"Speaking of which, what are you gonna do about your pal Marcel?" Jack jerked a thumb toward the office roof, and the destroyer presumably hovering somewhere overhead.

Otto grinned. "I'm gonna fight a destroyer, of course."