With Khartoum Station down, the streamlined distribution system for the hogfruit ground into disarray. Ships dispatched shuttles to Khartoum itself to try to pack in as many crates of the fruit as possible, but this led to confusion on the ground in terms of which hogfruit producers had priority in shipping their product, and which trade ships had priority in receiving them. Fruit had to be unpacked from storage containers and repacked into shuttles; there were not nearly enough cargo men for the job. The vast majority of hogfruit rotted in its containers, delivering a major shock to the Khartoum economy, which would be compounded in the long term by the need to rebuild Khartoum Station—the economic lifeline for other exports as well—and bolster the defenses of Khartoum from further attack.

Before the Kristim Marie docked at Khartoum Station, it transmitted its identification, cargo manifest and recent itinerary as part of the standard security "handshake." The records showed that two stops previous, the Kristina Marie had traded at Quii, the homeworld of the Qui, one of the Colonial Union's few allies. It had docked rext to a ship of Ylan registry, the Ylan beir& members of the Conclave. Forensic analysis of the explosion left no doubt that it was intentionally triggered and not an accidental breach of the engine core. From Phoenix came the order that no trade ship that had visited a nonhuman world in the last year was to approach a space station without a thorough scan and inspection. Hundreds of trade ships floated in space, their cargo unpacked and crews quarantined in the original Venetian sense of the word, awaiting the eradication of a different sort of plague.

The Kristina Mark had been sabotaged and sent on its way, to the place where its destruction could have the most impact, not just in deaths but in paralyzing the economy of the Colonial Union. It worked brilliantly.

The Roanoke Council didn't react well to the news that I had sent Zoe to deliver a message to General Gau.

"We need to discuss your treason problem," Manfred Trujillo said to me.

"I don't have a problem with treason," I said. "I can stop anytime." I looked around the table at the rest of the Council members. The little joke didn't go over well.

"Goddamn it, Perry," Lee Chen said, angrier than I'd ever seen him. "The Conclave is planning to kill us, and you're passing notes to its leader?"

"And you've used your daughter to do it," Marie Black said, disgust creeping into her voice. "You've sent your only child to our enemy."

I glanced over at Jane and Savitri, both of whom nodded to me. We knew this was going to come up; we had discussed how best to handle it when it did.

"No, I didn't," I said. "We have enemies and lots of them, but General Gau isn't one of them." I told them of my conversation with General Szilard of the Special Forces, and his warning of the assassination attempt on Gau. "Gau has promised us that he wouldn't attack Roanoke," I said. "If he dies, there's nothing between us and whoever wants to kill us."

"There's nothing between us and them now," Lee Chen said. "Or did you miss the attack on us a couple of weeks back?"

"I didn't miss it," I said. "And I suspect it would have been much worse if Gau didn't have at least some control over the Conclave. If he knows about this assassination attempt he can use it to get back control of the rest of the Conclave. And then we'll be safe. Or at least safer. I decided it was worth it to take the risk to let him know."

"You didn't put it up for a vote," said Marta Piro.

"I didn't have to," I said. "I am still colony leader, fane and I decided that this was the best thing to do. And it's not like you would have said 'yes," anyway."

"But it's treason," Trujillo repeated. "For real this time, John. This is more than coyly asking the general not to bring his fleet here. You're interfering with the internal politics of the Conclave. There's no way the Colonial Union is going to let you do this, especially when they've already hauled you up in front of an inquiry."

"I'll take responsibility for my actions," I said.

"Yes, well, unfortunately, we will all have to take responsibility for them, too," Marie Black said. "Unless you think the Colonial Union is going to assume youVe been doing this all on your own."

I eyed Marie Black. "Just out of curiosity, Marie, what do you think the CU is going to do? Send CDF troops here to arrest me and Jane? Personally I think that would be fine. Then at lea|pt there'd be a military presence here if we're attacked. The only other option would be that they hang us out to dry, and you know what? That's what's happening already."

I looked around the table. "I think we need to reemphasize again a salient fact that keeps getting overlooked, here: We are completely, entirely and utterly on our own. Our value to the Colonial Union now is in our demise, to rally the other colonies to join in the fight with their own citizens and treasuries. I don't mind being a symbol for the rest of the Colonial Union, but I don't want to have to die for the privilege. I don't want any of you to have to die for the privilege, either."

Trujillo looked over to Jane. "You agree with all of this," he said to her.

"John got his information from my former commanding officer," Jane said. "I have issues to settle with him on a personal level. I don't doubt the information is good."

"But does he have an agenda?" Trujillo asked.

"Of course he has an agenda," Jane said. "He wants to keep the rest of the universe from stomping on us like we're fucking bugs. I thought he made that pretty clear."

That put a pause to Trujillo. "I mean does he have an agenda we don't see," he said, finally.

"I doubt it," Jane said. "Special Forces are pretty straightforward. We're sneaky when it's necessary, but when it comes to it, we come at you straight on."

"Which makes him the first," I said. "The Colonial Union hasn't dealt with us honestly in any of this."

"They didn't have a choice," Lee Chen said.

"Don't give me that," I said. "We're too far along in this to swallow that one whole anymore. Yes, the CU was playing a deep game with the Conclave, and it didn't bother to tell us pawns what the game was. But now the CU is playing a new game and it's dependent on us being taken off the board."

"We don't know that for sure," Marta Piro said.

"We know we have no defenses," Trujillo said. "And we know where we stand in the line to get more. Regardless of the reasons, John's right. We're up against it."

"I still want to know how you can live with sending your daughter to negotiate with this General Gau," Marie Black said.

"It made sense," Jane said.

"I don't see how," Black said.

"Zoe is traveling with the Obin," Jane said. "The Obin are not actively hostile with the Conclave. General Gau will receive the Obin, where he could not receive a Colonial ship."

"Even if we could somehow get a Colonial ship, which we can't," I said.

"Neither John nor I can leave the colony without our absence being noted by both the Colonial Union and our own settlers," Jane said. "Zoe, on the other hand, has a special relationship with the Obin. Her leaving the planet at the Obin's insistence was something the Colonial Union would expect."

"There's another advantage, too," I said. Heads swiveled to me. "Even if I or Jane could have made the trip, there'd be no reason for Gau to accept our information as genuine or in earnest. The leaders of colonies have sacrificed themselves before. But with Zoe, we're giving Gau more than information."

"You're giving him a hostage," Trujillo said.

"Yes," I said.

"You're playing a risky game," Trujillo said.

"This isn't a game," I said. "We had to make sure we were heard. And it's a calculated risk. The Obin are with Zoe, and I don't ttynk they'll stand idly by if Gau does anything stupid." }