The carrier did not answer.
Ning waited, and when the silence stretched on, he asked again.
"Why are you here?"
"That is not your concern."
"You've been carrying soldiers for nine years," Ning said. "Through checkpoints and hubs and convoys, from one station to another. Into battle, sometimes. Somebody put you here, and they put you here for a reason. Are you watching them? Reporting where they go? Or are you here for something else?"
"I will not tell you that."
"Then I'll guess," Ning said. "And you can tell me if I'm wrong."
The Wardell's engines hummed. It said nothing.
"You're a spy," Ning said. "You listen to every briefing held aboard you and every order sent from your bridge, and you pass it all back to your people. That's why the Federation never seems to know where the Mekharans are going to strike next, but the Mekharans always seem to know where the Federation is going to be."
Silence.
