The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency #1)(56)

“So, here’s the deal,” Kiva repeated. “You tell us everything we ask you questions about, and you don’t give us any shit about it, and I don’t purge you out of the airlock without that fucking helmet. I’m not going to repeat myself again. You fuck with me and you die. Got it?”

Chat croaked and nodded.

“Can you talk yet?”

Chat held up a gloved finger as if to say Give me a second.

“How about now?” Kiva asked, ten seconds later.

Chat looked up through bloodshot eyes with an expression that said You have to be fucking kidding me, but nodded.

“You’re Chat Ubdal.”

Nod.

“You came onto this ship under false pretenses.”

Nod.

“You work for Ghreni Nohamapetan.”

Nod.

“Who sent you out on this ship.”

Nod.

“To kill Marce Claremont.”

Chat held up a hand and made a wiggling motion. Sorta.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Chat tried to make words, stopped, swallowed, and tried again. “Not primary goal,” he managed to croak.

“What was your primary goal?”

“Take him alive.”

“How the fuck were you going to take him alive? You can’t leave the fucking ship!”

Chat looked at the airlock door and then back at the camera, as if to say, Oh, really.

“You can’t leave the ship alive, then, you enormous asshole.”

“Pirates,” Chat croaked.

“Oh, shit,” Kiva said, looking over at Pinton.

“The pirates aren’t coming for our cargo,” Pinton said. “They’re a shuttle service.”

“But we could get away from the pirates,” Kiva said, back to Chat. “Maybe.”

Chat shook his head. “Bomb,” he said.

“A bomb?” Kiva was incredulous. “You were going to put a fucking bomb on this ship?” Chat nodded. “How does blowing up the fucking ship serve your purpose?”

Chat shook his head and tried talking but he was trying to make too many words and choked to a stop.

“Let me try,” Pinton said, and leaned over so Chat could hear him. “You weren’t going to blow up the ship, were you? You were just going to disrupt the ship’s systems enough that it couldn’t get into the Flow.”

Chat nodded and pointed to the camera, as if to say, You got it.

“That’s why he was touring those particular corridors,” Pinton said, to Kiva. “He was looking for the right place to put the thing.”

“And he didn’t think we would notice? Blinnikka would space him the second he did that.”

“We’d have to deal with the explosion and damage first, and then there would be pirates and we’d be too busy to worry about him for a while. I suspect he intended to leave on the pirate ship, along with Claremont.”

“And how would he get a bomb on the fucking ship anyway? Don’t we fucking screen for that?”

“It’s probably not a big bomb,” Pinton said. “He could probably make it on the ship.” Pinton leaned back over. “If we go through your personal effects, we’re going to find bomb components disguised as toiletries and sundries, yes?”

Chat nodded.

“There you go,” Pinton said.

“This motherfucker,” Kiva said. “I want to space him just on principle.”

“Microphone,” Pinton said, pointing.

Kiva realized she was close enough to the open circuit that Chat heard that last comment. She looked at the screen to see him with a concerned expression on his face. She rolled her eyes and leaned in again. “I’m not going to kill you, you miserable shitfuck. Unless you stop talking. Or croaking. Or whatever the fuck it is you’re doing at the moment. Just keep doing it.” Chat nodded. Kiva turned to Pinton. “Turn that thing off for a second.”

Pinton slapped closed the communication circuit. “What is it?”

“Something’s not right about this,” Kiva said.

“None of it is right,” Pinton said. “This is all highly fucked up, ma’am.”

“No, I mean—” Kiva pointed at Chat, who was waiting, looking up at the camera. “He wants to bring Claremont back, and he’s willing to damage the ship to do it. Ghreni is willing to deal with fucking pirates to bring him back.”

“You said that Lord Ghreni tried holding him hostage to get those imperial funds released. Maybe he just really needs them.”

“Yeah, okay, but shithole here,” Kiva motioned again toward Chat, “tried to kill him once he realized he was trapped and found out. If he couldn’t bring him back, he needed to kill him. But if he killed him, then he couldn’t use him as a fucking hostage, now, could he? So what was the fucking point? Why did Ghreni go through all this effort? What’s the reason?”

“You got me,” Pinton said.

“Yeah. Open that circuit.” Pinton turned it back on. “Important question, Chat. If I don’t believe you, your lungs are coming out through your nose. You got it?”

Chat nodded.

“Why does your boss want Marce Claremont so fucking bad?”

“Don’t know,” Chat croaked.