“A shift failure. On the way here.” Heethoo’s voice was constricted, mournful. But then again, she had always been unusually expressive.
“A shift failure.” Alnduul repeated. “That is almost unheard of. Is there any indication of a cause?”
“Nothing definitive,” Suvtrush replied brusquely. “There may have been a slight navigational correction just prior to the event, but even that is uncertain.”
The dispassionate recitation of the facts, or rather, the lack of them, calmed Alnduul, helped him focus. Which was essential if he was to emerge from the hearings with anything vaguely like an acceptable existence. He turned to face the room.
Four members of the investigatory board had been at the meetings with Caine Riordan: Heethoo, Nlastanl, Suvtrush, and Laynshooz. His eyelids flicked involuntarily when he regarded the latter. “I was not aware you had become a Senior Arbiter, Laynshooz.”
“I am here as an acting Arbiter.”
“Ah. To sit in place of Glayaazh.” Handpicked to ensure my downfall, no doubt.
Laynshooz’s reply was so indolent that it bordered on smugness. “No other suitable individual was able to respond in time.”
Alnduul let his gaze drift into the far corners of the Communitarium. “I am even more surprised to see you here, Menrelm. I presumed the Custodial appointee to the board would come from the Audit Group, possibly the Senior Auditor himself.”
“And so I have,” Menrelm replied stiffly. “I am the acting Senior Auditor.”
Alnduul cycled his eyelids very slowly. “You must be gratified at the felicitous change in your position. I heard that you had been removed from your position as Senior Mentor of the Arat Kur oversight group.” Hardly a surprise, since Menrelm’s utter failure to detect the preinvasion preparations of the Wholenest was arguably the most spectacular case of Custodial incompetence in living memory.
Menrelm became as stiff as his voice. “I was invited to serve directly under the Senior Auditor. Who is replacing Glayaazh as the Custodians’ Senior Arbiter.”
Which moves the Collective just that much further down the path of political disengagement. “And Vruthvur approved this?”
“Elder Custodian Vruthvur was traveling on other matters when the summons to this board arrived. He has not yet responded.”
Alnduul lifted a single finger in acknowledgement, considered the faces in the room. Only Heethoo’s was friendly. Nlastanl’s was impartial. While scanning the rest, he did not allow his gills to ruffle in exasperation or misgiving. And so the predators have swarmed me in deep water. “Let us proceed.”
“We have been ready to do so for almost a week,” Suvtrush scolded. “What is the cause of your lateness?”
And so the shadow of the largest predator swims across the sun. “I was completing an errand of mercy that may have diplomatic benefits pleasing to both this board and the Collective. But that is a side matter. I am ready to begin.”
Suvtrush raised himself high in his chair. “Alnduul, I am told you are familiar with the rules governing this board of inquiry.”
“I have sat on many. Just not as their object of scrutiny.”
“Long overdue,” commented Laynshooz.
Suvtrush stared sharply at Laynshooz. “Personal invective has no place in these hearings.”
Laynshooz’s voice was stubborn. “That was not invective. It was a legal opinion founded upon a thorough consideration of the subject’s career.”
“Many voices on this board recommended against your inclusion, Laynshooz. More remarks of that nature will prove their reservations were well-founded.”
Laynshooz shrank back slightly. “I shall alter my interactions appropriately.”
“See that you do. Alnduul, we shall start by articulating those actions of yours that demonstrate the pattern of behavior evinced in the allegations, but are not under investigation today. Unless you have questions, we shall proceed.”
Alnduul swished a finger toward the floor: no questions.
Heethoo recited the events that ostensibly established Alnduul’s predisposition to ignore both proper procedure and his superiors: his siding with human and Slaasriithi ships against Ktor attackers at Homenest; his failure to censure the same forces for trespass when they rescued the Lost Soldiers from Turkh’saar; his unauthorized alteration of the Corcoran-simulacrum’s source data; and lastly, his decision to use Custodial medical assets to save the lives of both Caine Riordan and Elena Corcoran.
As Heethoo finished, Menrelm leaned forward. “I should add that many on this board were disposed to include these actions in the list of charges against you.”
Alnduul managed not to show any amusement. Of that I am quite sure, Menrelm.
Nlastanl commenced his part the proceedings—stating the actual allegations—with some reluctance. “Alnduul, based upon your own reports and records, which have been corroborated by accounts you neither deny nor contest, we determine that your following actions may warrant disciplinary measures.
“Firstly, after the most recent Convocation, you traveled to Earth without final authorization and implanted virus transmitters in humans to disable the Arat Kur data links.
“Secondly, you failed to recover three of the five viral transmitters that you implanted.
“Thirdly, during the counterattack upon the Arat Kur Wholenest, your insufficient security precautions allowed the humans to learn how to conduct deep space shifts.
“However, it is the judgment of this board that your fourth and earliest violation was the most severe, since it was the root from which the others grew. Specifically, that you acted without authorization when you sent a factotum to introduce a medical biot into Nolan Corcoran to mediate the coronary damage he suffered during his intercept of the Doomsday Rock. In doing so, you preserved the one human who, more than any other, enabled their rapid and highly destabilizing interstellar expansion.” Nlastanl spread his hands flat on the table and stared out toward the bay.
“This concludes the allegations,” Suvtrush announced. “In summation, your mismanagement of the Custodians’ human oversight initiatives makes you personally culpable, should war erupt between Earth and the Ktor.”
Alnduul remained silent. The only way to handle such an outrageous statement was to politely ignore it.
Suvtrush’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You have nothing to say?”
“I am prepared to allocute, if that is what you are asking.”
Suvtrush leaned back slowly, his eyes hard upon Alnduul. “You may proceed.”
Alnduul signaled his gratitude with two air-drifting fingers. “I shall deal with the last allegation first, since it is indeed the root of all that followed.
“Several years after his mission to the Doomsday Rock, Nolan Corcoran’s cardiac instability increased without warning. The biot’s implantation, which was pending final approval, required that the factotum be in position prior to any surgery. When Corcoran’s condition continued to decline dramatically, we could no longer wait for authorization.
“If Corcoran had died, the humans would have been defeated or far more severely damaged when they were invaded over two decades later. So all my subsequent actions do indeed originate with the implantation of that biot. Including a further action you have not even bothered to mention.”
Suvtrush’s eyelids snicked audibly. “Indeed? And which is that?”
“My decision to carry out Corcoran’s final request: to be buried in space.”
Heethoo’s gaze was steady, intrigued. “And how is that a violation?”
“I made the offer without prior authorization.”
“That is a matter of no consequence,” Suvtrush declared.
“I cannot agree. By doing so, I preemptively derailed a human investigation that would have been as damaging as revealing the existence of the Lost Soldiers.”
Laynshooz’s riposte was more sneer than statement. “If you are suggesting that Corcoran’s body had to be removed to prevent closer forensic study,
then you are compounding your past incompetence with present lies. The biot in Corcoran denatured into normative human biochemical compounds. It left no durable evidence.”
“Correct. So you are also aware that the humans’ forensic review detected the biot before it had completely vanished.”
Laynshooz’s voice became cautious. “If you are contending that the forensic damage had already been done, then there was no reason to remove Corcoran’s body.”
Alnduul trailed a patient finger in the air. “Laynshooz, your pursuit of a single smelt blinds you to the school in which it swims. As long as the humans possessed Corcoran’s corpse, they might resume inquiries into his mysterious death. But without it, they would have no evidentiary basis for reopening the case. That is why Corcoran’s body had to be removed.”
Heethoo’s breath went out of her gills in a warble of surprise. “Of course. Because a deeper investigation would have led to the factotum.”
Alnduul swept two approving fingers upward. “Precisely. If the humans ever resumed asking questions about Corcoran, it would not be long before they ceased wondering what had been inside him, and instead began to ask how it got there. A cursory examination of his treatment records would show that just a week before the surgery, an individual with impeccable credentials was added to the postoperative team. But as their investigation went deeper, they would have discovered that every record pertaining to that person was not only electronic, but had since unwritten itself.”
Heethoo’s lids nictated once, very slowly. “Our factotum.”
Nlastanl exhaled slowly. “And with the humans’ postwar panic over Ktor-aligned infiltrators, the investigation would have been elevated to the highest priority. It would have engendered a paranoid outcry: just what we are trying to prevent by working to suppress disclosure of the Lost Soldiers.”
Menrelm raised all his fingers. “Alnduul, it is perplexing that you were so careful to remove Corcoran’s corpse and yet were so cavalier regarding the much more important matter of retrieving the virus transmitters you embedded in humans. That technology could destabilize not only their own polities, but the Accord itself. Yet the transmitters remain unrecovered.”
Nlastanl’s eyelids widened. “And do you have evidence of this ongoing dereliction of duty?”
Alnduul closed his eyes. “He does.”
Suvtrush spread his fingers wide, turned to Menrelm. “Show us.”
Menrelm complied. A holographic recording brightened at the center of the table. “This is the secure Communitarium on board Olsloov, just after the Arat Kur surrendered. Alnduul, I, and Vruthvur, then a Senior Coordinator of the Custodians, are present. This was the discussion.”
The frozen figures began speaking. Alnduul heard the measured tone in his own voice. “Sabotaging the Arat Kur command and control on Earth was effected by a single human agent fitted with a viral implant. However, there were four others in place to perform the same task, if required.”
“What of those other four devices? Have they been retrieved?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
Menrelm’s image sat suddenly erect. “Are you not responsible for these devices?”
“I am. However, we lost track of these operatives when we were compelled to accompany the humans to Homenest. We had no assets to leave behind for monitoring events or operatives on Earth.”
“So you chose to leave four highly sophisticated cyberwarfare devices behind? In human hands? Unacceptable.” Menrelm turned toward Vruthvur. “This operation has ever paddled beyond the edge of control and accountability. From the start, I have not liked it.”
Alnduul’s image raised a finger. “With respect, Menrelm, we had little choice. Without a Custodial flotilla to shield the humans, the only way to give them parity was by crippling their enemies. And since I received no authorization to make my presence known to the invaders, the virus had to be conveyed to the target by humans.”
“And once they had liberated themselves, the implants should have been removed.”
“Menrelm, had you ever known war, you would appreciate the axiom of the human strategist von Clausewitz: in war, even the simplest thing is very difficult. So it was in this case. Only one operative, Richard Downing, was even aware that he had an implant in his body. However, he was the senior intelligence officer for the Terran forces; we had neither the time nor seclusion to effect a surgical removal. Of the other four, two—Riordan and Elena Corcoran—came into our care after the Battle of Jakarta. Riordan’s implant was removed while he underwent surgery. Elena Corcoran’s condition was so critical that further surgery was likely to be fatal.
“The other two were inaccessible. One operative, Opal Patrone, was killed at the end of the Battle of Jakarta. Without a factotum in place, we could not infiltrate their casualty clearance services and gain access to her corpse. The other implant is in Trevor Corcoran, who remained on active duty. Again, we had neither access nor opportunity.”
Menrelm waved the hologram away. “The implants are still unrecovered.”
“True,” Alnduul confirmed, “although I have sent over a dozen warnings to the Senior Assembly that, so long as the Collective eschewed communication with Earth, we had no way of correcting that situation. Of course, had we protected Earth as we promised, this war, and all the sequelae that you attribute to my incompetence, would not have occurred.”
“Perhaps,” Suvtrush allowed. “Yet, the combination of Corcoran’s strategic foresight and our computer virus did not merely defeat Earth’s invaders: it paralyzed them. The humans acquired a treasure trove of intact Arat Kur technology for analysis and emulation.” He paused. “Or perhaps that was your intent all along.”
Swim slowly and carefully, Alnduul told himself. Here is where the sharpest teeth lurk. “With respect, Suvtrush such a formulation relies entirely upon hindsight. The success of Corcoran’s deception strategy, the cultural frictions between the Arat Kur and Hkh’Rkh, and Riordan’s serendipitous presence at the enemy’s command hub: none of these were foreseeable.”
Suvtrush slashed the air with an accusing finger. “And yet you have not responded to, let alone denied, my assertion that Terran ascendance has been your undeclared objective for a century.” He leaned forward. “You have been wildly intemperate in your support and admiration of humanity from your earliest years as Custodian and, as these allegations show, you became willing to break any rule on their behalf. You have even touted the humans’ primal reflexes toward violent action as a virtue, have drawn parallels between it and the modus operandi of the Custodians themselves.”
Suvtrush pushed back from the table, gills fluttering in disgust. “All opinions imbibed from your alarmist mentors, Thlunroolt and Glayaazh, no doubt. Their exhortations that we ‘reclaim our proactive integrity’ by swimming away from ‘moral relativism’ is as recidivistic as it is naïve.”
When he was certain that Suvtrush had finished, Alnduul sat high in his chair. “You asserted that my first loyalties lie with Earth. You tasked me to reply. May I?”
Suvtrush waved an impatient but affirmative finger.
Alnduul discovered that he was suddenly, mysteriously, calm. “Do I admire humans? Yes. Is that why I undertook the actions I did? No. And most pertinently, was I emulating them? Only to the extent that, in the face of crisis, I will choose unauthorized action over disastrous inaction.”
Heethoo’s eyelids flickered twice in affirmation. Nlastanl’s slow gaze suggested he was considering Alnduul’s counterassertions as valid, possibly exculpatory. The other three were expressionless, impassive, their judgment a foregone conclusion.
Suvtrush leaned back. “Alnduul, inasmuch as you have not denied any of the allegations against you…”
The best I may expect is a three-to-two vote. Which gives me the right to appeal.
“…nor provided evidence that your superiors’ orders were unclear or contradictory…”
But if either Nlastanl or Heethoo vote against me, I am lost.
What was Glayaazh’s final warning? To retain freedom of action at all costs?
“…this board of inquiry will now vote to determine—”
“Wait,” said Alnduul.
Suvtrush halted, eyelids narrowed to slits.
Alnduul stood. “I believe that I can resolve the matter of the Lost Soldiers in such a way that it meets with the approval of this board and convinces the Ktoran Sphere that war is unnecessary.”
The board of inquiry sat silent for several long seconds. Their gazes turned toward Suvtrush. Who said, “Explain.”
Alnduul waited until he was once again as calm as his external demeanor suggested. “You asked me at the outset why I was late. I deferred answering. I offer that answer now. Anticipating that the matter of the Lost Soldiers remained crucial, I crossed back into human space to search for them, based on Caine Riordan’s accounts of how they were initially hidden. Given our knowledge of Terran cyphers and security protocols, I was able to discern how they coordinated their changes of location. That led me to their current base, where I learned that they remain in constant fear of discovery by certain Terran authorities whose mandate includes their extermination.”
“This is just another example of—” started Menrelm loudly.
Alnduul spoke over him even more loudly. “Foreseeing that the outcome here might end my ability to accompany Caine Riordan, I brought a small group of these refugees over the border to assist and protect him. In so doing, I gained the trust of their command staff. They are desperate to leave Terran space, and the great majority of the Lost Soldiers—over ninety percent—are still in the Ktoran lifepods.”
The board was still silent, but the mood had changed from sullen condemnation to intense interest.
Alnduul took a deep breath. “This is the solution that I propose. I shall go over the border once again. I shall offer the remaining refugees from the Turkh’saar campaign complete exfiltration from CTR space along with their materiel, including all the Ktoran lifepods still in their possession. You will be able to assure the Ktor through back-channels that all the problematic personnel, both Lost Soldiers and Cold Guard, have been removed from human space. The Consolidated Terran Republic will logically presume that these groups simply remain hidden someplace within their borders, or have slipped undetected into the new ‘land-grab’ systems.
Marque of Caine Page 48
