Lt. Leary, Commanding (58 page)

Adele shrugged. "You can't hold a landsman to a spacer's standards, Daniel," she said. With the bosun's help, Vaughn was struggling out of a rigging suit meant for someone a size larger, shooting frustrated looks toward her and Daniel but for the moment unable to join them. There was too much ambient noise for him to overhear. "I doubt whether he could, let alone does, understand that he's done anything questionable."

"Yes," said Daniel, "but that's rather a picture of his life, don't you think? The ability to do whatever's expedient without knowing or caring about anyone else's viewpoint?"

Vaughn kicked out of the suit's right leg and stepped to the hatchway. "Permission to enter the bridge, Captain Leary?" he said in a clear voice.

"You may enter the bridge, Mr. Vaughn," Daniel said. Then, because he didn't want to seem petty, he corrected himself: "President Vaughn, that is."

" `Mister' is quite sufficient between old shipmates," Vaughn said with his familiar engaging smile as he strode forward. "And present allies, I'm pleased to say."

Sun looked over his shoulder, then went back to his display; Betts never paused in obsessively computing missile courses. Adele continued to listen to the snips of intership and surface communications which her software culled out for her, but her eyes and her primary attention were on Delos Vaughn.

"I didn't expect to see you again, sir," Daniel said. "Not after the way you left us on Sexburga."

Facing Vaughn, he found it hard to be sure of how he felt about the man. Not hatred, certainly, nor even anger. There was a sort of admiration, Daniel had to admit, for a person who was so pure an example of the thing he was; and disgust as well, at what that thing was.

"I won't bother to apologize for the way I tricked you, Captain," Vaughn said, bluffly disarming. "Nothing I could say would be enough, and you wouldn't accept it anyway. I'll make up for the trouble in every way possible, however. One of the estates Nunes confiscated has been put in your name already. You may well want to spread the largess among those of your servants who were left on South Land with you. You'll be able to make them very happy without noticing the cost, I assure you."

Tovera watched from just inside the captain's suite; her right hand rested lightly on the grip of her submachine gun. Hogg was in the bridge hatchway, toying with a loop of fishing line and grinning.

"I'm a Leary of Bantry, sir," Daniel said quietly. "We understand cost very well, but the term rarely has anything to do with money when we use it."

"I take your point, Captain," said Vaughn; and he did, the tightness around his nostrils showed that clearly. "I've come for help clearing up the final patches of resistance to my assumption of the presidency. The two sons of the usurper Nunes are forted up in the family residence in the Tatrig Mountains. They'll require heavy weapons to blast them out, and—"

"President Vaughn," Daniel said. "I'm aware of your claims that the Republic backed your rebellion. You and I both know there's no truth to that. I won't become involved in what is clearly an internal Strymonian matter."

Vaughn's smile was crystal hard. "Well, Lieutenant, so far as Strymon knows, your Observer Mariette included," he said, "you're already involved. Pleyna Vaughn came out of Palia to discuss settlement terms because my military liaison, Lieutenant Daniel Leary of the RCN, guaranteed her safety. Of course I'll be able to correct this misapprehension as soon as you—"

Sun rose from his console in a fluid movement. His face was red. Adele grabbed his wrist. Sun jerked loose, but Hogg now stood between the spacer and Vaughn, and Tovera was behind him with her gun's muzzle a millimeter from his spine.

Everyone was looking at Daniel. "I'm not concerned with the lies of foreign rabble, Officer Sun," he said mildly. "Return to your duties, please. The
Winckelmann
's lighted her thrusters, so we can expect further orders shortly."

Vaughn was a brave man to have boarded the
Princess Cecile
now. Despite that, he wasn't a fool, so he must need Daniel's help very badly.

"A combination of those who oppose the new president . . ." Adele said. Her left hand came out of her pocket; Sun was at his console again and the two servants had backed off the bridge.

" . . . and the large percentage of the population who resent their president being chosen by Cinnabar," she continued, her eyes on something far distant in time, "will make it difficult for the regime to stay in power if there's a center of armed resistance."

She looked at Daniel, then at Vaughn. She added, "We on Cinnabar know something of conspiracies also, Mister President."

Vaughn swallowed. He said, "All I want from you, Captain, is a word to the frigates who've surrendered to you. The Fleet was thoroughly in Nunes's camp—and intriguing with the Alliance as well,
that's
no fable. If those ships enter the atmosphere and use their rockets against the Nunes positions, my mercenaries will have no difficulty in mopping up what remains. I don't trust the captains to obey me, however, and there're no other Fleet elements on Strymon. They all lifted for Tanais when your commodore landed."

Adele looked at Daniel sharply. He nodded. Vaughn knew his rivals had plotted with the Alliance, but he didn't realize that Admiral Chastelaine had reached the Strymon system.

"President Vaughn," he said, "you've entered a realm of politics that's properly the business of the Cinnabar Observer. If you prefer to raise the matter with Commodore Pettin, my superior, feel free to do so—his flagship will be in orbit shortly. For my part, I must request you return to your own vessel immediately, because I have—"

"Daniel!" Adele said. She'd rotated her seat to face her console again. "I'm cuing this to you!"

Vaughn's mouth opened, probably to protest. He was suddenly between Hogg and Tovera, backing quickly to the hatchway. Woetjans and the riggers with her in the corridor watched in amusement, but they didn't get involved where they would so clearly be superfluous.

"
RCN, this is Kelburney,
" said the Astrogator's voice. "
I left the cutters where the relay satellites used to be, just in case something came through that I'd like to know about.
Ten minutes back, Strete outside Tanais Base picked up a transmission saying that Admiral Chastelaine was lifting for Strymon with his whole squadron.
I guess you know more about what that means than we do, but we know it means we're headed back home soonest.
If you're smart, boy, you'll do the same.
Kelburney out.
"

Daniel glanced at the Plot Position Indicator. The pirate cutters were beginning to vanish like dewdrops in the sunlight. Captain Strete had brought word through the Matrix to his fellows, then fled only moments ahead of them. Daniel really couldn't blame the Selmans; not that it would have mattered if he had.

He hit the alarm button. "Ship, general quarters," he ordered. "All riggers topside. Riggers will remain on the hull during transitions until recalled. Captain out."

The
Winckelmann
's plasma thrusters covered the RF frequency with thunderous white noise, but the laser communicator should punch through the exhaust iridescence clearly enough to get the point across. Another hour would have been enough; but the RCN didn't depend on luck or prayer, either one.

"Adele," Daniel said. "Give me maximum emitter output and a tight focus to the flagship."

He cleared his throat and continued, "
Princess Cecile
to Squadron. We have an emergency. . . ."

Somewhere behind Adele, Delos Vaughn squealed briefly. She'd guess that Hogg was trussing and gagging the president rather than cutting his throat. Hogg being Hogg, you couldn't be sure; nor was it a question about which she could raise much concern.

Both Strymonian frigates were sending increasingly shrill questions toward the
Princess Cecile
as they watched the pirate cutters disappear into the Matrix. The
Achilles
's captain sounded querulous also, but since the yacht was unarmed—Adele had looked up the registry description—that wasn't a matter for present concern.

The patrol vessels were. Daniel and the officers in the Battle Direction Center were concerned with the ship and Commodore Pettin; but Adele was the signals officer, after all.

"Strymonian vessels Two-Oh-Four and One-Twenty-Seven," she said, using microwave because Daniel was on the modulated laser. "This is RCN Flagship
Princess Cecile
. You have your orders. If you violate them, we will destroy you without compunction! Ah,
out
!"

Were you supposed to say "flagship" if you were claiming to be a flagship? She'd ask when there was leisure, so she'd know the next time the question arose. For now, the terrified babbling of the Strymonian officers was sufficient.

"
—the
Princess Cecile
will therefore proceed to the neighborhood of Tanais,
" Daniel was saying, "
and screen the remainder of the squadron while your crews board. Leary over.
"

The corvette shivered as hydraulic jacks extended the antennas and spread the sails. For a moment Adele heard
clang-clang
,
clang-clang
. Riggers on the hull were freeing a jammed tube with their mauls.

"
Leary, this is Pettin,
" a voice replied on a laser beam from the
Winckelmann
. Despite the initial tight focus and the voice sharpening provided by the
Princess Cecile
's communications suite, static roared through the commodore's words. "
You are not, I repeat, not to engage the enemy. You will proceed with utmost dispatch to Cinnabar and warn the authorities there of the situation in the Sack.
"

Adele glanced at the image of Daniel inset at the top of her screen. His fingers hammered at his virtual keyboard while his eyes flicked back and forth at the data appearing on the display before him. Daniel was a sure and reasonably fast typist, but he put as much effort into his keystrokes as he would in splitting logs.

"
Leary, there's nothing a corvette can do to affect a squadron of that weight,
" Pettin continued. "
You've shown how fast you can push your
Princess Cecile
.
Get home, get help, and tell Anston to get back here before the Alliance has the Sack sewed up.
Acknowledge and get moving!
Pettin over.
"

"
One minute to entering the Matrix,
" Midshipman Vesey's voice warned over the PA system. The signal lights pulsed.

"Princess Cecile
to squadron
," Daniel said. His fingers and eyes continued to move as though controlled by an entity outside the person who responded to Commodore Pettin. "
Sir, your transmission is breaking up.
I'm therefore maneuvering as previously described.
Princess Cecile
out.
"

He broke the connection. The eyes of his image met Adele's.

"Daniel?" she said. "I've downloaded a report on the Strymon system into both our message cells. If you set them for Sexburga, there's a sixty percent chance one will arrive. The authorities there can send a courier vessel to Cinnabar."

"Thank you, Adele," Daniel said, calling across the noisy bridge so that the other officers could hear as well. "But that'd mean shifting the ready-use missiles out of their tubes. I believe we're going to have more use for them than Cinnabar has for a message."

"
Entering the—
" Vesey said, and Adele's world everted itself in what was becoming a familiar fashion.

"Lieutenant Mon," Daniel said, "I'm going topside. Please take the conn. Out."

He stood, feeling the
Princess Cecile
heel through the soles of his feet. The ship was a living apex of the infinite directions and forces of the Matrix. Adele turned from her console and said in a tone of inward-directed anger, "There's nothing to add to the bare message! If Captain Strete had any imagery of the Alliance fleet, he didn't transmit it to the Astrogator; and now he's gone."

"Come up on deck with me if you would, Adele," Daniel said. "We have twenty minutes before the next exit, and the
Sissie
's wearing almost her full suit of sails. It's not something you'll often have a chance to see."

"For a variety of reasons, perhaps," he added. He tried to sound solemn, but he didn't manage very well. "Regardless, it's a lovely sight."

"Captain?" Betts said, looking over his shoulder as Daniel followed Adele toward the suit locker. "You'll be taking down Four Dorsal and Four Ventral to clear the tubes, right?"

"I won't know till we have a plot of the enemy formation, Betts," Daniel said. Tovera and Hogg were in the corridor, readying Adele's rigging suit. Hogg's face was a thundercloud; Tovera seemed, as usual, mildly amused. "I will say that I'll launch through a sail if necessary, though. Make your solutions regardless of the rig."

"You've got
no
business going out right now!" Hogg snarled to Daniel, his face turned aside as he lifted Adele without ceremony for Tovera to pull on the legs of the suit. "That's Woetjans's job. You're just full of yourself 'cause you spit in Pettin's face, you know. You're going to take a chance too many one of these days, young master!"

"I'm checking the rig, Hogg," Daniel said quietly as he donned his suit in a practiced reflex: legs, arms, and then close the plastron; three simple movements that he could do in the dark or so hungover that he could scarcely stand. "Which
is
my business."

He cleared his throat and added, "You'll recall that I stopped telling you where we should place our snares before I turned six."

"You didn't stop being a smart aleck then, though," Hogg said. He squeezed the rigid shoulder of Daniel's suit before turning away again. He muttered, "Wish there was
some
fucking thing I could do."

"You've already done it, Hogg," Daniel said. "You raised me to be a man."

He gestured Adele into the airlock, then stepped through and dogged the hatch.

Daniel started to clamp Adele's helmet for her. She raised her hand. "Daniel?" she said. "Why aren't you plotting missile courses now? And don't tell me because that's Betts's job, competent though I'm sure he is."