“She is bluffing,” Lady Rockhurst said. “The information was destroyed. We all agreed.”
“I would hope so, since it was your job to destroy the shared data, Anne,” Lord Yamado said. “We destroyed our copies.”
Lady Rockhurst rounded on him. “You are not pinning this on me, Ren, so do not even try it. The data was destroyed.”
They both turned to Father. Albrecht stared them down. “She did not get it from our House,” he said. “I personally oversaw the deletion of our files.”
Despite their words, they all very likely had offline backups of the data because they were all backstabbing bastards. They would want to ensure that they could take down the other Houses if the data ever came to light in a way that was unfavorable to them.
They seemed to silently communicate for a few seconds. “If we give you a pardon, you will turn over all of your data to us,” Lady Rockhurst said.
I laughed at her. Even Father looked vaguely insulted that she thought I was that stupid. “The data will stay where it is. If I ever fail to reset the timer, it will automatically be made public.”
“For how long?” Lord Yamado asked.
“Forever. When I am old and gray, standing on death’s door, I will disable the timer, assuming I have no children to protect. Until then, it stays.”
“What if you die young from natural causes?” Lady Rockhurst demanded.
“Well, you had better hope I watch my diet and exercise,” I said, “because if I die young from any reason you all are screwed. You forget that I know how the Consortium works. One convenient space station ‘accident’ and I am no longer a threat. It is in my interest to make it in your interest to keep me alive. And free, obviously.” I tacked on the last bit because their idea of safety was more than likely a cell in the deepest, darkest pit they could find.
“Will she break, Albrecht?” Lady Rockhurst asked.
Loch rumbled next to me. I guess he didn’t appreciate them talking about torturing me as if I wasn’t here. I was with him on that, actually.
Father gave me an appraising glance, then shook his head. “Not fast enough,” he said. “She always was a stubborn one. Corner her and she will fight to the death.”
“How sure are you that she is bluffing?” Lord Yamado asked Lady Rockhurst.
“How sure are you that your data was destroyed?” she responded with an arched eyebrow. He inclined his head, conceding the point.
“I only need two of you to agree, which makes one of you expendable,” I said. “And time is wasting. It will take me at least ten minutes to return to my room or ship in order to reset the timer. Keep arguing and the decision will be made for you. Then you all become expendable.”
“As do you,” Father pointed out.
“I have always been expendable,” I said. “Today is no different.”
Loch growled. “Let me kill them and be done with it,” he said, weighing in for the first time. His deep voice rolled around the room like thunder. “I can deal with the RCDF.”
I tilted my head, considering it. Killing the councillors had never been my intention, but if they refused to negotiate, I would not let them walk away unscathed. Of course, if I killed all of them then there would be no safe place left in the ’verse, no matter what information I held.
“Give me the ship, and I will agree to your terms,” Father said.
Lady Rockhurst’s eyes widened at the offer. She cut a glance at Lord Yamado, who presumably didn’t know about Polaris or at least didn’t know the details. “Give me the ship, girl, and I will agree.”
“The ship is not up for negotiation,” I said. “It is mine and I am keeping it.”
It was clear Lady Rockhurst vehemently wanted to argue about who owned the ship, but to do so would be to tip off Lord Yamado. She kept her mouth shut, but her glare burned with hatred.
Lord Yamado, however, was not stupid. “What is so important about this unnamed ship?” he asked.
And with that, he gave me exactly the extra leverage I needed. My smile was bright enough to rival the sun.
Father and Lady Rockhurst shared a glance. They might be at war, but neither of them wanted another entry into their battle at this point. Each was confident they’d crush the other and keep the secrets—and power—of a faster FTL drive for themselves.
“We will give you and Marcus Loch full pardons, as well as remove the bounties,” Lady Rockhurst said. “In return, you will disavow all knowledge of the Genesis Project. If the information becomes public, your pardons will be rescinded. You will also be formally disowned from House von Hasenberg.”
She did not mention the other members of the Genesis Project, but I hadn’t expected to get those pardons anyway. As far as the Consortium was concerned, they were dead. That would have to be good enough. But still, I didn’t want to have to look over my shoulder every second. Watching for the Consortium would be exhausting enough without having the rest of the universe after me.
“No,” I said. “We have no reason to publicize the information if you keep your side of the bargain, so if it becomes public you are welcome to do your best to try to kill us out of spite, but our pardons stand. And if I am disowned, how long do you think it will be before someone with a grudge grabs me? I cannot reset the timer if I am being tortured to death for House von Hasenberg’s crimes.”
Father said, “While you will officially remain a member of House von Hasenberg, you will be banned from Earth and all Consortium events. You will have no contact with any member of the Consortium. House von Hasenberg will not be responsible for your welfare.”
“No,” Loch said. He tipped his head up to me. “You can’t give up your family for me,” he said quietly, correctly reading what Father was trying to do. “I’m not worth it. I won’t agree to it.”
Loch was worth far more than he thought, but I was not going to let my own Father railroad me into an agreement that prevented me from seeing my siblings. For this brief slice of time, I held all of the cards. I might as well make use of it.
“I will not be kept from my brothers and sisters,” I said, “and I am not at fault if a member of the Consortium approaches me. You won’t be able to break our agreement just because you sent someone to talk to me. I agree that House von Hasenberg is not responsible for my welfare unless I am taken by an enemy of the House as a political target. Then you’d better send your best and brightest to retrieve me.”
“Agreed,” Father said.
“Very well, I agree,” Lady Rockhurst said.
“I do not agree,” Lord Yamado said. “Not until someone explains the importance of the ship.” But the pardon only needed a simple majority to proceed, so Lord Yamado could complain, but he couldn’t stop it.
It took twenty minutes of furious negotiations before the pardon and contract language were deemed acceptable, and only then because I kept pointing to the timer on my com that ticked down the minutes. If Loch or I died or were held against our will, my information would automatically go public. If either of us tried to make the information public on our own, the Consortium would hunt us both down with extreme prejudice.
I would get to see my siblings, it just wouldn’t be on Earth. And I could contact Consortium members regarding contract-related issues but otherwise could not interact with them. I’d added the contract stipulation because I knew if I didn’t, Father would attempt to steal Polaris. I still wouldn’t put it past him, but at least now I could fight him in court.
I insisted on signed and sealed hard copies in addition to the electronic copies. They would hopefully never be needed, but an additional layer of security was worth the time it took to print them out and sign them. It also caused no end of grumbling from Lady Rockhurst, which was a win in itself. Lord Yamado refused to sign anything.
Loch remained chained to the chair in the middle of the room. I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t already escaped. Perhaps he was more hurt than he was letting on. With the hard copies safely in hand, I walked over to check on him.