Free Linesman by S. K. Dunstall Page A

time to regroup and reconsider while the waiter set the food in front of them.
    The line cartels had always had a close association with Gate Union.
    In the early days, when humans were just learning to use the lines, there had been no limits on the jumps. They lost five rich solar systems before they realized that ships coming out in the same space caused explosions that didn’t destroy just the ships, it destroyed space near them as well. When they finally understood the cause, the worlds had implemented a booking system, overseen by a central bureau. At first it had been a loose consortium of worlds that had to work together for their own safety. Over time, those worlds had turned into the main trading routes, making them some of the richest in the galaxy.
    Then, fifty years ago, the Alliance had tried to wrest control of the gates at Roscracia through political pressure. Some speculated it was because they realized the union of gate worlds had become a threat to their dominance. Others believed that they simply wanted their own part in the riches. Whatever the reason—the Alliance never said, and Rossi didn’t care, but it had to be one of the stupidest political moves of all time—it had led to the official signing of the Gate Union Treaty, supposedly simply to reduce bureaucracy between the worlds, but everyone knew it was to cement power against the Alliance.
    Nowadays, Gate Union’s power rivaled that of the Alliance. Not only that, the recent treaty they had signed with Redmond meant that most of the line factories now came under Gate Union auspices as well.
    All of them, Rossi reminded himself, remembering the earthquake at Shaolin.
    Linesmen clustered where the lines were, because that was where the work was. Thus it was to their mutual benefit for the cartels to work with Gate Union.
    The cartels considered the confluence theirs, which meant it was effectively also Gate Union territory. They wouldn’t take kindly to the Alliance muscling in on it, and they’d expect the cartels to deal with it. That was obviously going to be Rossi’s job.
    His and Rebekah Grimes’s. He poured himself another drink.
    â€œI’ve seen the vids.” He hadn’t taken much notice of them, being too busy with the confluence, but he’d still recognized many of the dignitaries who had arrived for the wedding. “She has some powerful people with her.”
    Naidan snorted again. This time some of her wine sprayed onto his plate. He pushed his plate aside. “If Emperor Yu decrees a wedding, you can’t not come even if you don’t believe it will happen.”
    But suppose he hadn’t decreed a wedding. Suppose it was just a way to get the power brokers into one place for a preemptive strike at Gate Union. Especially coming so soon after the Alliance had called their members to a special security council, ostensibly to discuss Redmond’s preemptive attack on the Haladean cluster, a minor skirmish that no one should have even worried about, least of all the other Alliance partners. Especially given everyone knew that the Alliance couldn’t possibly take on Gate Union and win.
    But if Lady Lyan was coming here, then she could only be taking Gate Union on. Coming to the confluence was an out-and-out declaration of hostility. Even though the Alliance had nothing to win and everything to lose in the confrontation.
    Maybe the Alliance knew that if Gate Union got any stronger, it would definitely lose. Doing it at this time, it had some chance of winning, or at least of forcing a standoff.
    It was the kind of thing Lady Lyan would do. Bold, brassy, and totally unexpected.
    Rossi leaned back in his chair. “Has anyone contacted Gate Union?”

FOUR

    EAN LAMBERT
    EAN WOKE NAKED, and for the second day in a row, he couldn’t remember where he was or how he’d gotten there.
    He lay and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. He was on a ship. He’d been fixing the