Geary also shook his head. “Couldn’t they see there’s a better way to fight?”
“Ah, that will take time, if enough time is granted to us.” Duellos quirked a small smile as Geary stared at him. “I decided after we arrived in the Syndic home system and were badly hurt that we’d probably never see home again. So, I’ve accepted we may not make it.”
“We’ll make it.”
“I dare not believe that completely, but if we should make Alliance space once more, I’ll buy you every drink you can handle.” Duellos looked tired. “You must realize the officers you command are not used to firm hands. It’s fortunate you’re not a strict disciplinarian. I’ve read of such. A commander like that would’ve already lost command of the fleet. These officers truly need to be led, but they will not accept the whip.”
“I’m not a whip-employing kind of officer, but I need to show them the old ways work,” Geary stated.
“Yes. But it’ll take time, as I said. Time to forget one set of habits and acquire a new set. Time to gather victories that reinforce the new habits.” Duellos stood, preparing to leave. “Do not despair, I beg you. We all need you, even those who don’t think they need you. Perhaps I should say, especially those who don’t think they need you.”
Geary gave Duellos a tight-lipped smile. “I can’t afford to give up.”
“No. You can’t.” Duellos saluted, then his image vanished.
Geary pushed himself up from his seat, glaring at the now empty compartment. I need to hold fewer meetings. No. As much as I hate them, I have to keep holding meetings. It’s my only chance to see all of these officers, even though I’m not liking what I’m seeing.
He walked back to his stateroom, so lost in thought that he was surprised to find himself at the hatch. Rubbing his eyes, he considered a med-patch but decided against it. The meds were guaranteed not to cause physical addiction, but the last thing he needed was psychological addiction to the temporary comfort they brought.
This day’s already gone to hell, so I might as well catch up on paperwork. Geary called up his message queue and cycled through incoming material as fast as possible, until he came to one that made him pause. “Intelligence exploitation report regarding Syndicate Worlds facilities in the Kaliban System.” I didn’t think the Syndics had left anything worth exploiting.
He began reading, then started skimming as it became apparent the Syndics had indeed left little of interest behind, and what there was of interest was decades old and therefore of doubtful use.
Wait a minute. Geary stopped scrolling and paged back to find whatever had caught his attention. There it is. The security vault at the headquarters facility had been breached at some point long after the departure of the Syndicate Worlds authorities. This assessment was reached after examining damage done to the vault by its physical breaching via the use of power tools. Analysis of the stress fracturing of the metal cut through indicates it was at ambient environmental temperature when the power tools were employed, which could only have been the case after the facility had been mothballed and abandoned for some time. As far as could be determined, the vault was empty when sealed, so the reasons for the breach are undetermined. Since attempted intelligence collection by Alliance assets could not account for the damage, it was most likely caused by criminal elements, though their reasons for trying to access a security vault in an abandoned facility cannot be understood. It is also impossible to know why those breaching the vault made use of drill bits whose diameters match none of those used within the Syndicate Worlds or the Alliance. We can only assume the nonstandard drill bits were employed to prevent their source from being identified.”
Geary read through that section of the report several times, trying to figure out what bothered him. The fact that the security vault had been breached long before the Alliance fleet had arrived at Kaliban made no sense at all, of course. Someone must’ve believed something valuable would be in there, but the Syndics were fanatical about following standard procedure, and surely anyone associated with the Syndics would know that standard procedure presumably included removing everything from the security vault before the star system was abandoned.
The speculation about using nonstandard drill bits to avoid being traced. That was it. The conclusion stood logic on its head. It’d be far easier to trace nonstandard drill bits than it would standard bits, since uncounted millions of such standard bits existed in both the Syndicate Worlds and the Alliance.
But that left the question begging. Why go to the immense trouble of using nonstandard drill bits?
Unless those were the only drill bits you had. Because you didn’t belong to the Syndicate Worlds or any worlds known to the Alliance.
That’s quite a leap, Geary. You wouldn’t have even thought of that if the Marines hadn’t raised the possibility that the Syndics were worried about some nonhuman intelligences. But even the Marines didn’t want to stand by that conclusion. They just felt they had to bring it up. Wiped operating systems and nonstandard drill bits aren’t exactly strong proof that there’s alien intelligences wandering around Syndic space.
But I have to wonder. This report about the nonstandard drill bits made them fit a predictable scenario even though it didn’t really make sense. How many other small things like that have been filed away and forgotten because someone came up with an alternate explanation? An explanation that didn’t involve making an assertion, that alien intelligences might be involved, which would’ve gotten people laughed at? I’ve gone through the classified files on Dauntless and found nothing about evidence of nonhuman intelligences. But even in my time the overriding assumption was that we were alone out here, and facts tend to be bent until they corroborate overriding assumptions.
The chime on his hatch announced the presence of a visitor. He didn’t really feel like talking to anyone, but couldn’t justify turning away what might be important business. “Come in.”
Victoria Rione entered, her face composed, as usual giving no clue to her inner thoughts. “Captain Geary, may we speak?”
He stood up, suddenly uncomfortably aware of how rumpled his uniform was. “Sure. I hope it’s nothing too serious.” Like accusing me of being a dictator in training again. “Is there something I can ask you first?”
“Certainly.”
He waved her to a seat, then took his own again. “Madam Co-President, I assume you’d be willing to share any classified information with me if I asked.”
She gave him a questioning look. “You have access to every classified piece of information on this ship, Captain Geary.”
Geary lowered his head so she couldn’t see his grimace. “There may be things too sensitive to be in the databases of even a fleet flagship. Information kept within governing channels.”
Rione shook her head slowly. “I don’t know which information you might be referring to.”
“Is there anything known to the Alliance, that you are aware of, regarding any nonhuman intelligences?”
Her head froze in midshake. “Why are you asking this?”
“Because something at Kaliban led some of my officers to speculate about it.”
“I’d like to hear what it was. In response to your question, I’m not aware of anything like that. I’ve certainly never seen anything along those lines.” She looked upward as if expecting to see signs of an alien intelligence somehow visible there. “Encountering a nonhuman intelligence would be a very significant event in human history. They might be able to tell us a great deal. Perhaps help explain things we don’t understand. Maybe even explain things about ourselves we don’t understand.” She gave a brief, humorless laugh. “Such as why we’ve spent a hundred standard years fighting a war. Or even why it started in the first place.”
Geary had been about to say more, but he stopped at her last words. “We never learned why the Syndics launched their first attacks?”
Rione gave him a speculative look. “No. Not the timing, anyway. As I think you can confirm, the fi
rst attacks were a total surprise because there’d been no indications that tensions had risen to such a level.”
He brooded on her statement, remembering so clearly the shock he’d felt at Grendel when it became clear that a Syndic attack was underway. Total surprise, just as she said. “I’d assumed the reasons had become clear by now.”
“No. Our best assessments provide complex answers, Captain Geary. There’s no clarity. There appear to have been many factors.”
“‘Appear to have been.’” He chewed his lower lip for a moment. “Then we still don’t know exactly why they did it? Why they attacked when they did? Why they attacked at all?”
“No,” Rione repeated. “Not for certain. Their Executive Council doesn’t share its deliberations with anyone. The answer is surely buried in the secret records of the Syndicate Worlds’ leadership.”
Geary nodded at her words, but his mind had generated a question he couldn’t ignore. “Then we don’t know of any…external factors that might’ve influenced the Syndics’ actions?”
She spread her hands in a gesture of incomprehension. “I don’t know what you could be speaking of. External factors?” Her eyes widened. “You’re not talking about nonhuman intelligences, are you? Is that why you asked about them? You’re not suggesting they were somehow involved or caused the war, are you?”
“No. No, of course not.” I’m a long way from wanting to openly suggest such a thing. But I’m wondering. If the Syndics did encounter nonhuman intelligences, how long ago was it? More than forty-two years ago, certainly, if what the Syndics did when they shut down Kaliban means what it might mean.
Did the Syndics encounter alien intelligences? When did they find them? What happened?
Did it have anything to do with the start of this war? Could it perhaps explain why the Syndics attacked, and why this war has continued even though victory seems impossible for either side? But how could it have had anything to do with either of those things?
Outwardly, Geary smiled politely. “Thank you, Madam Co-President. Now, what did you need from me?”
Rione seemed a bit surprised that Geary had changed the subject, but she went along without protest. “I feel I should tell you what the commanders of my ships have told me. Those loyal to Captain Numos are attempting to spread a tale around the fleet that you deliberately kept him and the ships in his formation out of the battle so you could claim all the glory.”
Geary found himself laughing for a moment. “Unfortunately, I already know that. I’m sure your ship commanders will soon provide you with the ugly details of my latest conference.”
“Then you’ve already confronted the issue?”
“Confronted it? Yes.” Geary let his feelings show. “Dealt with it? That’s another thing. There are some larger issues involved.”
“You mean the discontent over your changes to the Alliance fleet’s manner of fighting?”
Geary just stared at her for a long moment. “Just how many spies do you have inside my fleet, Madam Co-President?”
She actually managed to look slightly shocked at the question. “Why would I have spies in a friendly fleet, Captain Geary?”
“I can think of a lot of reasons,” he suggested, “many involving keeping track of what the fleet commander is up to. I’m beginning to think you didn’t entirely trust Admiral Bloch, either.”
Rione made a noncommittal expression. “Admiral Bloch was an ambitious man.”
“And I already know what you think of ambitious men.”
“I feel the same way about ambitious women, Captain Geary. Are you proud of your victory here at Kaliban?”
He started to simply say yes, surprised by sudden question, but then paused as other thoughts overtook him. “In some ways,” he finally admitted. “It was my first fleet action. I think I called the maneuvers pretty well. I did a decent job of predicting the enemy’s moves. But it wasn’t perfect.” He paused again. “I wish I could’ve done the same without losing a single ship or sailor. But I’m proud of this fleet. They fought well.”
“Indeed. The results of the battle were gratifying.”
“Is that how you feel now, Madam Co-President? Do you have no regrets about letting me retain control of the ships from your republic and the Rift Federation?”
She shook her head. “No. As long as we’re being candid…and we are being candid, aren’t we, Captain Geary?…I should tell you something you may learn regardless. My ship commanders are impressed with our victory in the battle, though a majority of them share with many Alliance officers unease regarding the way it was fought. They had a greater skepticism of this Black Jack Geary person than sailors of the Alliance did, of course, since to them you were a foreign hero. Now,” she blew out a long breath, “they are more inclined to believe there is some truth behind the myth.”
“Ancestors help me.” Geary let his feelings show, trusting Rione now to that extent. “There’s no truth behind that myth, as you well know.”
She clenched her teeth so tightly her jaw muscles stood out. “On the contrary, and as I have told you, Captain Geary. You are that figure of myth.”
“You know that’s not true!”
“I know you saved this fleet in the Syndic home system, I know you have brought it this far and won an overwhelming victory, and I know no ordinary man could’ve done that!” Rione was glaring at him as if daring Geary to deny her statement.
Instead of responding with anger, Geary found himself laughing in self-mockery. “My dear Madam Co-President, I’d never have made it this far if a lot of people hadn’t thought I was the living stars’ gift to the Alliance fleet. But you know as well as I, there are plenty of people with growing doubts as to the truth of that.”
Rione smiled back, though her voice had more sarcasm than humor to it. “I have a feeling you’ll find a way to cope, Captain Geary.”
He returned the sarcasm full force, bowing slightly toward her. “Thank you for your confidence in me.”
She stood up, walking away a few steps before turning to look at him again. “I notice you said ‘confidence’ and not ‘trust.’”
He shrugged. “Same thing.”
“No, it’s not. I’ll share one more confidence with you, Captain Geary. I’m not superhuman. I very much want to believe in you, to believe you are the hope we all need, a gift from our ancestors. But I don’t dare do so.”
Geary’s smile vanished, and he looked down at the deck for a moment. “That makes two of us who don’t dare believe that. If I do, I’ll be more dangerous to this fleet than the enemy.”
“Agreed. You make it hard to doubt you.” She smiled again, and this time it seemed genuine. “You have won your victory at Kaliban. What are you going to do now, Captain Geary?”
Geary walked over to stare at the starscape. For the first time in a long time, he searched through it until he recognized some of the stars in Alliance space. So far to go yet. His grandnephew Michael Geary, who’d died on his ship Repulse in the Syndic home system, would never see Alliance space again. Nor would the crew of the Arrogant. But there were a lot of ships’ crews left who were still counting on him, believing Black Jack could get them back to their homes, and a grandniece back in Alliance space who could tell him about the family he’d lost to time. “What am I going to do? As I’m sure you’ve already heard, I’m going to take this fleet to Sutrah. Eventually, I’m going to take this fleet home, no matter who or what stands in the way.”
The Lost Fleet: Dauntless Page 30
