Nemesis

as the figure in the frieze. A group of guardsmen and attendants walked in lockstep

behind him, but the man paid them no mind. “The letter of marque and statement

granting my clan the right to roam the stars in the name of humanity. Our liege lord

ratified it with a drop of his own blood upon the page.” He gestured around. “We

carry the book in safety aboard the Iubar as we have for generation after generation.”

Daig glanced about him, as if for a moment thinking he might actually see the

real thing; but then disappointment clouded his face and his jaw set in a thin line.

“My lord,” said Hyssos, with a bow that the reeves belatedly imitated.

“Gentlemen. Allow me to introduce his lordship Merriksun Eurotas, Void Baron of

Narvaji, Agentia Nuntius of the Taebian Sector and master of the Eurotas Trade

Consortium—”

“Enough, enough,” Eurotas waved him into silence. “I will hear that a thousand

times more once I venture down to the surface. Let us dispense with formality and

cut to the meat of this.” The baron gave Yosef and Daig a hard, measuring stare

before he spoke again. “I will make my wishes clear, gentlemen. The situation on

Iesta Veracrux is delicate, as it is on many worlds among the Taebian Stars. There is

a storm coming. A war born of insurrection, and when it brushes these planets with

the heat of its passage there will be fire and death. There will be.” He blinked and

paused. For a moment, a note of strange emotion crept into his words, but then he

flattened it with a breath of air.

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“These… killings. They serve only to heap tension and fear upon a populace

already in the grip of a slow terror. People will lash out when they are afraid, and that

is bad for stability. Bad for business.”

Yosef gave a slow nod of agreement. It seemed the rogue trader understood the

situation better than the reeve’s own commanders; and then he had a sudden, chilling

thought. Was the same thing happening on other planets? Had Eurotas seen this chain

of events elsewhere in the Taebian Sector?

“I want this murderer found and brought to justice,” Eurotas concluded. “This

case is important, gentlemen. Complete it, and you will let your people know that

we… that the Imperium… is still in power out here. Fail, and you open the gateway

to anarchy.” He began to turn away. “Hyssos will make available to you any facilities

you may need.”

“Sir?” Daig took a step after the rogue trader. “My, uh, lord baron?”

Eurotas paused. When he looked back at the other reeve, he did so with a raised

eyebrow and an arch expression. “You have a question?”

Daig blurted it out. “Why do you care? About Iesta Veracrux, I mean?”

The baron’s eyes flashed with a moment of annoyance, and Yosef heard Hyssos

take a sharp breath. “Dagonet is falling, did you know that?” Daig nodded and the

baron went on. “And not only Dagonet. Kelsa Secundus. Bowman. New Mitama. All

dark.” Eurotas’ gaze crossed Yosef’s and for a moment the nobleman appeared old

and tired. “Erno Sigg was one of my men. I bear a measure of responsibility for his

conduct. But it is more than that. Much more.” Yosef felt the rogue trader’s gaze

pinning him in place. “We are alone out here, gentlemen. Alone against the storm.”

“The Emperor protects,” said Daig quietly.

Eurotas gave him an odd look. “So they tell me,” he replied, at length; and then

he was walking away, the audience at an end and Yosef’s thoughts clouded with

more questions than answers.

When the gull wing hatch of the flyer opened, the first thing that Fon Tariel

experienced was the riot of smells. Heady and potent floral scents flooded into the

interior of the passenger compartment, buoyed on warm air. He blinked at the

daylight streaking in, and with wary footsteps he followed Kell out and into…

wherever this place was.

Unlike the Eversor, who had not been afraid to provide the group with the

location of one of their Terran facilities, the Clade Venenum made it clear in no

uncertain terms that the members of the Execution Force would not be free to come

to them of their own accord. The Siress had been most emphatic; only two members

of the group were granted passage to the complex, and both were required to be

unarmed and unequipped.

Tariel was learning Kell’s manner by and by, and he could see that the Vindicare

was ill at ease without a gun on him. The infocyte was sympathetic to the sniper; he

too had been forced to leave his tools behind on board the Ultio, and he felt strangely

naked without his cogitator gauntlet. Tariel’s hand kept straying to his bare forearm

without his conscious awareness of it.

The journey aboard the unmarked Venenum flyer had done nothing to give them

any more clue to the whereabouts of the complex called the Orchard. The passenger

95

compartment had no windows, no way for them to reckon the direction of their flight.

Tariel had been dismayed to learn that his chronometer and mag-compass implants