Mallory of
Norway
was right and the black market was in fact Mazian's pipeline to supply and funds, the notion that ships were slipping over into Mazian's camp was very disturbing and very plausible. The War had been between the Earth Company and Union in its earliest days— and the Alliance hadn't yet existed. Merchanters had declared neutrality in what had been then a small-scale dispute.
Merchanters had served both sides, excepting those merchanters actively enlisted as gunships.
Meanwhile Earth had built the Fleet to enforce Earth's hold on the colonies and to break Union's bid for independence; Earth had typically failed to realize what it took to sustain a war on that scale, hadn't supplied the Fleet it had launched, declaring that to be the colonies' job; the Fleet had taken to relying on merchant shipping— buying off the black market during the War and engaging in occasional outright piracy even
before
the Battle of Pell. The Fleet had alienated the merchanters and it was the merchanters who had risen up against them to drive them out—out far into the dark, when their bid to take Earth itself had met Mallory and Union's and merchanter opposition. The Fleet, having lost all its allies, had had to retreat into deep space… to obtain supply by means that, indeed, no one had quite proved.
Most merchant ships had dealt with Mazian before the Battle of Pell; and once James Robert raised the specter of continued merchant supply far more widespread than anyone had added up, yes, it was chillingly reasonable that some merchanters, to whom personal independence was a centuries-old ethic, might still be willing to cut other merchanters' throats by continuing that trade on a large and knowing scale. That trade, not conducted on station books, had historically been hard to track—hard to develop statistics on what no station could observe. And what James Robert suggested was that Mazian had found large-scale ways to tap into the whole shadow trade, the meetings of ships at isolated jump-points, where manifests and cargomasters' stamps miraculously changed, and goods mutated or vanished on their way to the next port, altering the very records on which the statistics and the tariffs were based.
It was also a network that extended routes beyond what any Station tracked as regularly existing—no station could maintain records that covered every ship contact, and every ship movement, when only station calls registered in the ships' logs. The shadow market was a network where, theoretically, you could buy anything that moved by ship. Union, with order, had never liked it. Union didn't want Alliance merchanters serving its far, colonial ports—internal security, Union insisted. Others said it was because Union didn't want Pell and Earth to know how rapidly and how far it was expanding. At the same time Union was aggressively building ships, Union had selected Alliance merchanters it
would
allow to reach Cyteen, and favored them with deals designed to provoke divisive jealousy among merchanters. That increased demands on Pell to lower dock charges to match the favorable rates Union offered. But now James Robert came saying that Union should gain its point, and that merchanters should restrict
themselves
, and that all stations should lower tariffs in exchange for a merchanter pledge to conduct all trade inside the tariffs.
That, James Robert implied, or watch the whole Alliance slide blindly into Mazian's grasp—as
she
was worried about it sliding into Union hands.
But both of them had to admit that hard times would make some merchanters desperate enough to trade with the devil—or to call him back as a hero, a savior from grasping station politicians.
Conrad Mazian, hero. Themselves all as outlaws and traitors. The War renewed. It wasn't a new thought. Just the resurgence of an old, old worry.
All stakes became far, far higher, in that thought. Union didn't want that scenario for a future, either.
Finity
going back to
Norway
was right and the black market was in fact Mazian's pipeline to supply and funds, the notion that ships were slipping over into Mazian's camp was very disturbing and very plausible. The War had been between the Earth Company and Union in its earliest days— and the Alliance hadn't yet existed. Merchanters had declared neutrality in what had been then a small-scale dispute.
Merchanters had served both sides, excepting those merchanters actively enlisted as gunships.
Meanwhile Earth had built the Fleet to enforce Earth's hold on the colonies and to break Union's bid for independence; Earth had typically failed to realize what it took to sustain a war on that scale, hadn't supplied the Fleet it had launched, declaring that to be the colonies' job; the Fleet had taken to relying on merchant shipping— buying off the black market during the War and engaging in occasional outright piracy even
before
the Battle of Pell. The Fleet had alienated the merchanters and it was the merchanters who had risen up against them to drive them out—out far into the dark, when their bid to take Earth itself had met Mallory and Union's and merchanter opposition. The Fleet, having lost all its allies, had had to retreat into deep space… to obtain supply by means that, indeed, no one had quite proved.
Most merchant ships had dealt with Mazian before the Battle of Pell; and once James Robert raised the specter of continued merchant supply far more widespread than anyone had added up, yes, it was chillingly reasonable that some merchanters, to whom personal independence was a centuries-old ethic, might still be willing to cut other merchanters' throats by continuing that trade on a large and knowing scale. That trade, not conducted on station books, had historically been hard to track—hard to develop statistics on what no station could observe. And what James Robert suggested was that Mazian had found large-scale ways to tap into the whole shadow trade, the meetings of ships at isolated jump-points, where manifests and cargomasters' stamps miraculously changed, and goods mutated or vanished on their way to the next port, altering the very records on which the statistics and the tariffs were based.
It was also a network that extended routes beyond what any Station tracked as regularly existing—no station could maintain records that covered every ship contact, and every ship movement, when only station calls registered in the ships' logs. The shadow market was a network where, theoretically, you could buy anything that moved by ship. Union, with order, had never liked it. Union didn't want Alliance merchanters serving its far, colonial ports—internal security, Union insisted. Others said it was because Union didn't want Pell and Earth to know how rapidly and how far it was expanding. At the same time Union was aggressively building ships, Union had selected Alliance merchanters it
would
allow to reach Cyteen, and favored them with deals designed to provoke divisive jealousy among merchanters. That increased demands on Pell to lower dock charges to match the favorable rates Union offered. But now James Robert came saying that Union should gain its point, and that merchanters should restrict
themselves
, and that all stations should lower tariffs in exchange for a merchanter pledge to conduct all trade inside the tariffs.
That, James Robert implied, or watch the whole Alliance slide blindly into Mazian's grasp—as
she
was worried about it sliding into Union hands.
But both of them had to admit that hard times would make some merchanters desperate enough to trade with the devil—or to call him back as a hero, a savior from grasping station politicians.
Conrad Mazian, hero. Themselves all as outlaws and traitors. The War renewed. It wasn't a new thought. Just the resurgence of an old, old worry.
All stakes became far, far higher, in that thought. Union didn't want that scenario for a future, either.
Finity
going back to
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