Webdancers by Brian Herbert Read Free Book Online Page B

wouldn’t do lasting physical harm. He’d never taken such action before, though, and knew he shouldn’t even consider it. Too much was at stake.
    Taking a deep breath, Pimyt continued. “In my position as the Royal Attaché to Doge Lorenzo del Velli, I gained extensive military experience. I was personally responsible for moving MPA troops and equipment around, taking steps to weaken merchant prince military capabilities while maximizing our own. I was also on the team that came up with the idea of inserting sabotaged computer chips into the firing mechanisms of merchant prince space cannons, ion guns, and energy detonators. The weapons will seem to operate perfectly, until our warships come into range and are identified—which automatically shuts the weapons down. What a delightful image: totally defenseless Humans, ready to be slaughtered.”
    The elegant insectoid smiled. “You are so like your Human friends, aren’t you? Always exaggerating your contribution, trying to take personal credit for everything. We Adurians are not that way, and understand the need to share credit, to work as a team. You know quite well that I had similar devices installed surreptitiously on the biggest Mutati warships, but I’m not bragging about it.”
    Pimyt grabbed the book. Perhaps if he threw it just right it would strike the Ambassador hard enough in the head to knock him out for a few minutes. Yes, he could do it quickly, without warning. Then he could.… The Hibbil salivated, but he set the violent thought aside, and the book.
    “Let’s stop bickering,” Pimyt said. “We agree the Humans have gone on a fool’s mission against the Parviis, and soon we’ll learn the scale of it.” He pointed to the holo-screen, which displayed a report sent back by HibAdu observers who had positioned lab-pods out on the podways to watch for enemy activity. “The Humans have big problems tying them down at the Parvii Fold, so much that they even had to send hundreds of ships back to the Tulyan Starcloud for reinforcements.”
    “Our Coalition forces are in perfect position, my furry friend. With the merchant princes tied up in a distant battle, their planets will be easy pickings for our massive fleet of four hundred and seventy-six thousand lab-pods, filled with military armaments and fighters. Uncel gestured with his wiry hands as he spoke. “The only question being worked out now is how to distribute our forces for the simultaneous attacks on Merchant Prince Alliance and Mutati Kingdom targets. The Humans have spread themselves too thin, so we’re assigning more of our forces to the attacks on Mutati worlds.”
    Nodding, Pimyt said, “Our enemies have weakened themselves by warring against each other, and now the shapeshifters have been further weakened by the destruction of their homeworld, Paradij.”
    “Close call for me,” Uncel mused, tapping a long finger on the desk top. “I got away just in time.”
    A pity , Pimyt thought. His eyes felt hot as he glared at the Ambassador.
    Uncel paused, seemed nervous as he continued to speak. “Only two days before the destruction, I was with the Zultan Abal Meshdi, spent a night in his palace. He was completely insane, you know, with that Demolio program to blow up merchant prince planets—wiping out our potential prizes of war.”
    Pimyt nodded. “It is a double-edged sword, isn’t it? Less planets, but the Mutatis are weaker because of the loss of Paradij.”
    “Lucky for me, I had to get back here for an appointment.” Uncel scratched his wiry neck. “Hard to believe Meshdi’s own son did it, a murder conspiracy with a huge miscalculation that blew up the most important Mutati planet. Even though rumors are rampant that Hari’Adab did that, most Mutatis seem willing to forgive him. “
    “No figuring shapeshifters,” Pimyt said.
    “That’s for sure. Even so, both target empires still have many valuables for us. We’ll hit them hard, out of the blue.”
    “I’d like