"I don't," Diego said. "But it's irresponsible to not have a backup plan."
"I'll tell you what's irresponsible. Irresponsible is promising the Kig-Yar Slipspace engines, taking their payments of nifty little weapons and shipping them back to the colonies, but then pretending to warehouse those engines until you've got them all gathered up. When you never intended to hand them over."
"Damn it, Bonifacio," Diego shouted, "the council voted to proceed with the Exodus Project. It's a backup plan. Once we have enough Slipspace engines installed, then we'll hand the rest of them over."
"The Kig-Yar know what you've been doing anyway," Bonifacio said dismissively.
"What?" Diego stared at Bonifacio.
"You can't take an asteroid habitat as big as the Exodus Project and hang it way back off the Rubble, and not expect them to miss it. Plus, they really want their engines. They haven't believed your official excuses for not getting as many delivered to them as promised -- not in the slightest. They are our allies, our business partners. We stand a chance to live on. Let the Covenant and UNSC fight, while we make money and trade instead."
Delgado stared at both men. "The Exodus Project is a giant habitat?"
"He's pretty much told you what it is," Diego said, annoyed. "The largest rock in the Rubble was held back from the beginning. The surface was coated to try and stealth it. Back at the start, it was an emergency in-system retreat: get as many civilians in it if the Covenant came back in force and try to sneak out to the Oort cloud far on the edges of the system where no one ventures.
"Now the Exodus Project is being outfitted with Slipspace drives. A lot of them. The idea is not to hide in the system, but to head out away from the UNSC, and the Covenant. Just get into the stream and keep going until we're well away from all of this."
"That's audacious," Delgado said. "How many citizens can it hold?"
"It's big," Diego said. "Big enough for a million citizens."
"And you've hidden it away, all this time?" Delgado couldn't believe it. In the Rubble, where everything was voted on, the Security Council had pulled off something significant: a major secret.
The tug fired a series of thruster bursts and slammed into a docking collar.
Bonifacio grabbed Diego by the shoulders. "Look, Diego. I know you and I don't exactly agree on everything. But I'm a Council member, just like you. I want to see the Rubble continue and prosper. I'm not your enemy. You know that, right?"
"I know that," Diego said. "I'm sorry."
"I want that data on Exodus protected, but not out here in the Rubble where people are attacking it -- whoever the hell it is that's doing that.
Understand?"
Diego nodded.
"Good." Bonifacio pulled Diego tighter. "Now tell Delgado here to let us onto his ship so we can get it and do our duty." Diego looked at Delgado.
"Give him what he needs."
Delgado bit his lip. "You sure about this?"
"Yeah." Diego sounded subdued. "It'll be okay. And we'll need to talk to you about the Exodus Project. You can't repeat any of that to anyone."
"I can keep a secret," Delgado said, as the airlock doors opened.
Diego laughed. "I know. And after this, we'll make everything right for you. You took shots for us. They can't forget that."
They trudged out from Bonifacio's tug down an access tube to a set of quiet docks that Delgado had chosen. The rock ceilings sloped fifteen feet overhead, and only four or five docking collars led into this small chamber, as it was an old mining depot.
Delgado crossed the silent chamber to the airlock where
Distancia was docked. They all crowded into the airlock and cycled through and in.
Delgado took a deep breath, pulling in the smell of metal, oil, and sweat.
Distancia had once hauled miners out from Madrigal orbit across the system to the Rubble. Now she ferried cargo in and around the Rubble, from one end to another. Quicker than tube cars, as he didn't have to route through each habitat, pausing for traffic.
It felt good to be back aboard.
Maybe if Bonifacio was telling the truth, and he was really just a maverick Security Council member, then Delgado could just go back to ferrying things about the Rubble. Like before Diego had called, talking about the disappearing navigation data, asking him if he'd take on hiding it for the council, as he knew the Rubble the best. And he was the only person Diego personally trusted.
Going back to ferrying sounded good, Delgado thought, as he walked the small group over to the safe hidden under the floor grates of the tiny kitchen on the ship, halfway toward the cockpit.
It opened on his fingerprint, and Delgado pulled the oval container of hard plastic that held the chip out. He offered it to Diego.
Bonifacio reached out a hand, and Diego shook his head. "I think I'll be the one who keeps it on his person until we get it to the Exodus."
"I was afraid you'd say that," Bonifacio said.
Delgado turned around, eye to eye with the barrel of a very large pistol in Bonifacio's hand. "Hand it over to me,
Delgado."
Diego swore, and was hit in the ribs by one of Bonifacio's men.
"Thank you," Bonifacio took the navigation data away from him. "Thank you very much, Delgado. I'd hoped to just take it and promise to meet you two aboard the Exodus and never show, but Diego had second thoughts. You're rubbing off on him. Either way, Reth is really, really going to appreciate this."
Chapter THIRTY-FOUR
METISETTE ORBIT, 23 LIBRAE
The Kig-Yar named Reth screamed, a primal roar of pain and horror that echoed throughout the corridors of the ship, all the way up to the cockpit, where Thel sat poring over Kig-Yar estimates of human strength in the Rubble.
Zhar stood up, but Thel held up a hand. "I ordered Saal not to do this. I will go."
For a moment Zhar remained up, then he folded back down into his chair. "What -- "
"That is my concern, Zhar." Thel walked out of the cockpit, past the Unggoy clustered in the halls. They chattered nervously and cleared a path as Thel strode by.
Thel walked to Reth's cell. The Kig-Yar had been strapped to the wall, his arms and legs splayed out in a large X by strong straps.
On the other side of the energy bars, Saal stood in front of the Kig-Yar. As he leaned forward, the horrendous screams began again. "Why are you really here in this system?" Saal bellowed. "What is it you seek to gain?"
Reth spit purple blood and screamed.
Thel shut off the containment system, and stepped into the alcove. "Has he said anything new to justify continuing this interrogation? Maybe something different?" Thel asked softly.
Saal spun around, turning off his energy sword. Purple blood stained the hilt in his hand and dripped from his fingers. "No, honor. He has not. He's still sticking to his story. That a Hierarch commands him to have done all this."
"Have you forgotten your orders, then?" Thel stared Saal straight in the eye, neck bared, as if daring Saal to try for it.