Incansable (71 page)

Desjani saluted as well, an unmistakable look of pride on her face as she gazed at Geary.

“What?” he asked.

“I’ll explain it to you someday,” she replied with a smile. “By your leave, sir.”

“Certainly, Captain Desjani.”

After she’d left, Rione’s image sat silent, her face in her hands.

“Are you all right?” Geary asked.

“I underestimated you,” she replied in a low voice.

“I don’t understand.”

Rione lowered her hands and looked at him. “You’re even more dangerous than I thought. They’re yours. You must have seen that. And even I found myself wondering what I would do if you announced you would become the leader of the Alliance.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You know exactly what you’d do.”

“I suppose.” Rione stood up. “You need to talk to Badaya. Soon. Otherwise, the momentum to make you a dictator may become unstoppable.”

“I’ll talk to him before we leave Padronis.”

“Good. There are very few people in human history who have rejected the kind of power you could have, John Geary.”

“I’ve rejected it,” he insisted, “because I’m not qualified to wield it.”

“And that belief of yours, ironically, is what would enable us to trust you with that power.” She leaned closer. “Hold to your oath, Captain Geary. Only your example and forbearance can save the Alliance.” Then her image vanished as well.

On his way back to his stateroom, Geary realized that he had two more decisions to make and not much time to make them. Reaching his stateroom, he immediately called the bridge. “Captain Desjani, please get ahold of Captain Duellos and have him call me as soon as possible.”

Sitting down, Geary tried to absorb all that had happened. It was hard to believe that dangerous opposition to him within the fleet had finally been brought to an end.

His hatch alert chimed and Geary gave the hatch an irritated look.
Can’t I have five minutes to deal with this?
But he didn’t know how important this visitor might be. “Please enter.”

Co-President Rione stepped inside his stateroom, then made a questioning gesture around her. Understanding what that meant, Geary activated the stateroom’s highest-security seals. “What is it?”

“I want you to know that my agents within the fleet have detected no signs of any other opposition. They’ve been watching as the news about Kila spreads. There are no signs of other worms, no signs of anyone expressing any support for her or Caligo, no missteps that might indicate hidden sympathies for them.”

“That’s good to know.” Could he finally dispense with such things and no longer worry about someone having to monitor his own officers for indications they might pose a danger to the fleet? “I’ll feel a lot better, though, as soon as
Valiant
’s geeks finish sweeping
Inspire
’s gear.”

“Of course.”

An insistent buzzing told Geary that someone was trying to contact him using command priority. “Excuse me, Madam Co-President, but I probably need to take this.” He accepted the message, and Captain Desjani appeared on the comm panel.

“That’s perfectly all right,” Rione replied. “I’ve told you what I needed to say, and I didn’t mean to intrude on your rendezvous with your special friend.”

Geary was still searching for the right, unheated reply when Rione left.

Desjani’s image was glaring from the comm screen. “Sir, I swear that I am
this
far from hurting that woman,” she hissed, holding her thumb and forefinger less than a centimeter apart.

“That would be a violation of Alliance law and fleet regulations,” Geary replied wearily.

“Only if they prove I did it knowingly. I could beat the hell out of her in some really dark place and say I didn’t know who she was.”

At the moment, the idea did sound tempting. Geary tried to shake it out of his head. “No. We need her.”

“Do I get to beat her up when we don’t need her anymore?” Desjani asked.
“Please?”

More temptation. “I can’t promise you that. Even though at times like this I’d like to. What’s up?”

“Captain Duellos is ready to speak with you. You had a security hold on incoming transmissions, so he couldn’t get through,” Desjani added in accusing tones.

“Sorry. I’ll lift the hold. Thanks.”

“My pleasure, sir,” she responded pointedly. before her image vanished.

Geary sighed and waited for Duellos to appear. A moment later the other captain did, his virtual image seeming to stand in the stateroom with Geary. “You wanted to speak with me, Captain Geary?” Duellos asked.

“Yes, but first please take a seat.” Duellos nodded gratefully and sat down in a seat on
Furious
, the image in Geary’s stateroom mimicking the gesture on one of Geary’s seats.

“I need to know how well you’re doing. You seemed fine during the confrontation with Kila, but are you really in good shape inside?”

Duellos cocked an eyebrow at him. “I’m doing as well as can be expected for a captain without a ship.”

“Do you want another ship?” Geary asked bluntly. “I’ve got a couple of battle cruisers that suddenly need captains.”

“
Brilliant
and
Inspire
?” Duellos drew in a long breath. “Which one?”

“Which one can you handle? I don’t think
Brilliant
has any special problems aside from the shock the crew must be feeling.”

Duellos bared his teeth in a humorless grin. “But you need me on
Inspire
.”

“That’s true.” Geary sat down opposite Duellos. “I need the best I’ve got on
Inspire
, and that’s you. I have no idea how badly Kila messed up that ship, but it might be a real snake pit. The former commanding officer is dead, the former executive officer, systems-security officer, and communications officer are all under arrest, and the remaining officers are all going to have to be investigated.”

“A real opportunity to excel,” Duellos murmured with more than a trace of sarcasm. “Many of my officers got off
Courageous
, so if I was authorized to bring some of them along . . .”

“Granted. Take as many of
Courageous
’s old crew as you want.
Inspire
took some serious personnel losses while Kila was making glorious charges against the enemy and needs the replacements.”

Duellos thought for a few moments while Geary waited, then finally nodded. “
Inspire
’s crew will be needing a lot of rebuilding. I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you. I couldn’t ask for more, or a better officer for the job.
Inspire
herself needs a lot of rebuilding, too. She’s pretty badly shot up.”

“Having to focus the crew on repairing the ship may help repair their own morale.” Duellos quirked a small smile. “At times like this, seeing something tangible accomplished can make a big difference. I assume you want me on
Inspire
an hour ago?”

“Yes,” Geary agreed, “but take the time you need to choose which personnel from
Courageous
you’re taking with you. Like I said, you can have all of them if you want. I’ll position
Inspire
near the auxiliaries so they can provide repair support and services easily.”

“Another ship and right back near the auxiliaries? I may get a reputation as a bad-luck captain out of this.” Duellos smiled slightly again. “Thank you for not asking me to take
Orion
.”

“I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with
Orion
.”

“Put Numos back in command,” Duellos suggested. “He’ll cause
Orion
to be destroyed in the next engagement for certain.”

“If her crew doesn’t start performing, I may do just that.” Geary looked upward as if addressing the living stars. “I’m joking.” Lowering his gaze to Duellos again, he indicated the fleet status display. “The First Battle Cruiser Division is down to one ship,
Formidable
, and the Seventh only has
Brilliant
and
Inspire
. I was thinking of folding them into a single division, a reconstituted First Division containing all three ships.”

Duellos shook his head, looking haggard for a moment. “Combining two battle cruiser divisions and getting only three ships in the result. I think that’s a good idea, but it also indicates how badly torn up this fleet has been.” He paused, then nodded firmly. “Yes. A good idea.
Formidable
won’t be lonely, and
Inspire
and
Brilliant
will have a fine ship as a division mate and a symbolic new start. Who do you plan to give
Brilliant
?”

“Beats the hell out of me. Captain Baccade off
Intrepid
was pretty badly hurt along with her ship. She’s in no shape to take another command yet.”

“I understand Commander Vigory is eager for a ship,” Duellos commented blandly.

Geary shot him an annoyed look. “He told me that within a day of being liberated from the POW camp. I’m not impressed by his record, and I don’t have time to teach a new commanding officer how I fight.”

“Just thought I’d mention it since he’s devoting a great deal of time to complaining about your decisions. That one regarding him and many others.” Duellos smiled wryly. “I was watching him to see if he’d be contacted by the conspirators against you and lead us to them. But events here in Padronis took place before anyone working for Kila or Caligo could contact him.”

“Not everyone opposed to me is a traitor,” Geary grumbled. “I’ll make sure he’s being kept busy, but I’m not going to give Vigory
Brilliant
or any other ship. I think he’s just too assertive on his own behalf. Self-confidence is important, but not when it tramples on discretion.”

“As recently demonstrated to us in as graphic a way as possible.” Duellos seemed to think for a moment. “We lost
Tarian
at Heradao. Her former commanding officer, Jame Yunis, has a fine reputation.”

Geary pulled up Yunis’s records and skimmed them. “He does look good. You think he’s up to it?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. I’ll give him a good look and make a decision before we jump for Atalia.” Geary exhaled slowly. “Would you mind hanging around a couple of more minutes while I call Captain Desjani down here and we go over something with you? I’d like your impressions because I’m only going to get one chance to get it right. I will have to ask that you never divulge it, though.”

Duellos watched him for a long moment. “I can’t agree to anything that would violate my oath, you understand.”

“This won’t. I swear.”

Desjani only required a few minutes to join them. Geary went over his planned pitch, then waited. Once again, Duellos spent a while thinking, then nodded. “I can’t think of any way to improve that, but you’re walking a tightrope, you know.”

“One of many,” Geary agreed.

“If you’re going to speak with Badaya now, I’ll be happy to wait a few moments to make it appear as if I am, uh, ‘backing’ what you’re not really doing.”

Desjani nodded. “That’d be a good idea. Duellos is widely regarded as a special confidant of yours. His presence when Badaya arrives would please Badaya.”

“As would yours,” Duellos pointed out.

She gritted her teeth. “Do I have to? He’s going to say something. I know he will. And I’ll have to pretend I didn’t hear it.”

“Just for a few minutes, Tanya,” Duellos suggested. “Then we can leave and let Badaya have his special talk with Black Jack.”

“Roberto, you know that Captain Geary and I haven’t—”

Duellos held up both hands to forestall her. “Of course I do. All of your friends know that, Tanya. You wouldn’t do such a thing with your commanding officer, no matter what.” Desjani looked away, her gaze on the deck. “I imagine having to deal with the rumors is no fun at all.”

“Many things are difficult to deal with,” Desjani muttered. “I’ll manage.”

Duellos gazed at Geary as he answered her. “I’m certain you will, Tanya. All right, then. Let’s summon Badaya and get this over with. What happens if you can’t convince him?”

“I don’t know. I might have to bring the whole thing out in the open, make a public speech to the entire fleet declaring that I will not support a coup against the Alliance government, but I’m afraid some people would just read my bringing up the subject of a coup as implying I’m actually trying to sound out backing for one.”

“That’s exactly how those favoring a coup would see it,” Duellos agreed. “Let’s hope you can divert Badaya and the many who believe like him onto a course that we can all live with. Otherwise, the victory of bringing the fleet home may turn into the greatest defeat the Alliance has ever suffered.”

AS Duellos had guessed, Badaya seemed very pleased to be summoned to a conference featuring himself, Geary, Duellos, and Desjani. “You’re getting
Inspire
, Duellos? Excellent. Too bad you’ll have to share
Inspire
with Kila’s remains for a little while longer.”

“I thought we’d dispose of Kila’s remains here,” Geary commented. “Why wait until Atalia?”

Badaya gave Geary a surprised look. “You’re not familiar with fleet regulations regarding the disposition of the bodies of traitors?”

“No. I assumed Kila would have an unceremonious burial in space.”

“She doesn’t deserve an honorable burial,” Desjani interrupted.

“More to the point,” Badaya said, “regulations deny that option for Kila. They state that the remains of traitors are to be disposed of in jump space. No exceptions, no alternatives.”

Geary stared at him, then at Desjani and Duellos, both of whom nodded back solemnly. “I’ll admit I’m surprised. That’s the harshest possible treatment, consigning someone to jump space for eternity. How did a measure that extreme get approved?”

Duellos ran one hand across the table before him, speaking with unusual somberness. “The answer to that lies in some very unpleasant history that you had the good fortune to sleep through, Captain Geary. About fifty years ago, wasn’t it?” Desjani and Badaya nodded. “I’ll spare you the details, but suffice to say that if a harsher punishment had been possible, it would have been approved.”

“Then you’re saying I’m probably the only person in this fleet who’d be surprised to learn about consigning the bodies of traitors to jump space?”