Free In Fire Forged: Worlds of Honor V-ARC by David Weber Page A

They’re very good at maneuvering within their own political and power circles, but outside that, they both tend to see what they want to see. I don’t doubt that they could convince themselves to believe this would all work out ‘for the best,’ and Daddy is particularly good at distancing himself from the human aspect… Look at his relationship with my mother.”
    Michael nodded. “Yes. Married enemies. That can’t be easy on anyone, but…”
    Alice shook her head. “There’s more to it than that, but now’s not the time to talk. You say the people who took Banshee here to Aslan Station transferred to Cormorant . Any idea of their course?”
    Vincent cut in. “Lieutenant Liatt just commed me. He’s been tracing various out-system vessels. He thinks he has Cormorant . It took him a while to sort her transponder out from all the surrounding traffic.”
    “And?” Michael said.
    “She’s heading out-system, but since she’s not hyper-capable, she’s probably heading for a rendezvous of some sort.”
    Alice nodded sharply. “ Kwahe’e . I’ll bet anything she’s going to meet Kwahe’e .”
    “ Kwahe’e ?” Judith asked.
    Alice swivelled her chair so she could look directly at Judith. “Parents never think their kids notice things. I’ve noticed a lot of things—like Kwahe’e . It’s a hyper-capable vessel, not large. Technically, she’s a small, fast interstellar transport for corporate VIPs, but she’s large enough to transport small, valuable cargos, too. In fact, that’s what she spends most of her time doing. Those cargos aren’t precisely illegal—at least I don’t think so—but they aren’t exactly the sort you want other people to connect to a prominent politician and business executive.”
    “So they’ll transfer Ruth to Kwahe’e, ” Judith said. “And Kwahe’e will be the ship that meets with Ephraim.”
    “That’s how I see it,” Alice said. “Now what do you plan to do? You can’t chase them down and shoot at them—for one thing, there’s too much chance the little girl will get hurt. What was your plan once you located them?”
    *     *     *
    Michael was momentarily stunned, especially when he saw the confident look Judith turned toward him. He’d never expected a chase out-system. He’d thought the kidnappers would go to another planet—probably Sphinx—and once downside he and Vincent would be able to recruit help from the local Palace Security detachments. They would have helped and kept their silence afterwards. Now, this…
    Alice came to his rescue. “I have an idea. Let me in on this. We’ll do a two-ship approach. I’ll com Cormorant, make some excuse for us meeting up: additional supplies probably. That should slow them. Then I’ll take Banshee out to intercept.”
    “What if they contact whoever hired them?” Judith asked, “and find out there are no such supplies.”
    Alice smiled sadly. “I’m willing to bet that they were never given a contact number. Too dangerous.”
    “I agree,” Michael said. “Why use a cutting edge avatar program and then create such an easy avenue for tracing? Okay. But I’m not sure I like the idea of your taking Banshee out.”
    Alice flared. “Don’t you trust me, Mikey? Do you think I’d condone kidnapping a small child? Or do you think I’m not capable of handling my own company’s ship?”
    Michael held up both hands in a gesture half-surrender, half-self-defense.
    “Easy! I wasn’t thinking either. I was thinking about you. You’re going to be in serious trouble with your parents as it is. If you don’t participate any further, you’ll be able to cover yourself: say we put pressure on you; say we lied and told you that we were authorized to take Banshee .”
    Unspoken in this was what they all knew. Even if—when—Ruth was recovered, the Ramsbottoms would go unpunished. The kidnappers themselves might stand trial, but they would know nothing about their principles. Even if they did,