Cobra Slave-eARC Read Online Free Page B

cleared his throat. “Actually—and this is all very confidential, so please keep it quiet—”
    “If it’s confidential, maybe you should start the quietness by keeping it to yourself,” Paul interrupted quickly. “No offense, but Nissa Gendreves is still pushing hard for that treason trial. There’s no point giving her extra ammunition by passing out state secrets.”
    “This isn’t exactly a secret,” Corwin told him. “And under the circumstances, I think you deserve to know. The Dominion isn’t looking for the Tlossies. They’re looking for Qasama.”
    “For Qasama?” Jin asked. “What in the Worlds for?”
    “I don’t know for certain,” Corwin said. “But Qasama is a lost Dominion colony, and I know that Santores is already talking about bringing the Cobra Worlds’ legal structure back in line with that of the Dominion. You’re welcome to connect the dots however you choose.”
    “I don’t think the Qasamans would like the way the Dominion does things,” Jody murmured.
    “Oh, I’m quite sure they wouldn’t,” Paul agreed grimly.
    “Why don’t they just ask Chintawa for Dome’s records?” Lorne asked. “We’ve made, what, three different trips there?”
    “Four, counting your grandfather’s mission to rescue your mother,” Corwin said. “The problem is—and this is where the confidential part comes in—all those records have been expunged.”
    Jin felt her mouth drop open. “Expunged?” she echoed, staring in disbelief at her uncle. “I never heard anything about that. Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “The Council and then-Governor-General Chandler ordered that the plan be kept quiet,” Corwin said. “That veil of secrecy applied even to you.” A muscle in his cheek twitched. “Maybe even especially to you.”
    “When did this happen?” Paul asked.
    “About three weeks after she returned,” Corwin said. “The Council was terrified that someone would go to Qasama for any of an number of reasons, get himself captured, and that the Qasamans would use his ship and the navigation history files to come charging across space and take their revenge.”
    “Which they’d essentially promised to do,” Jin murmured.
    “And which the Council of course knew all about,” Corwin agreed. “So when the suggestion was made that Dome ban travel to Qasama and eliminate all records of its location, they jumped at the chance.”
    “Well, that was brilliantly forethoughtful,” Lorne growled. “Whose clever idea was that?”
    Corwin raised his eyebrows slightly. “Mine.”
    For a moment the room was silent. “And your reasoning?” Paul asked calmly.
    “They were terrified of the Qasamans,” Corwin said. “And rightfully so, at least if you looked at what had happened from the Qasamans’ point of view. But that kind of terror doesn’t last forever. Sooner or later, whether it was this Council or the next, I knew that someone would eventually find themselves unable to resist the temptation to again go mess with the place.”
    He looked at Jin. “I knew how much Daulo Sammon and his family meant to you, Jin. How much the people there meant to you. So I used the Council’s fear to make sure we would never bother them again.”
    There was another silence, a longer one this time. “The search of my quarters last night,” Lorne said at last. “They weren’t looking for incriminating evidence. They were hoping I had some data on Qasama.”
    “Probably,” Corwin agreed. “I assume you don’t have anything?”
    “No, nothing,” Lorne assured him. “I just wish I’d known they were coming. I could have put together a package with enough random numbers to keep them searching for the next hundred years.”
    “Just as well you didn’t,” Jin said. “It’s dangerous to play with a screech tiger. Especially one that’s already this mad at us.”
    “They can be as mad as they want,” Lorne said flatly. “I don’t really care.” He snorted a sudden laugh. “You know