Fracture Lines (The Glass Complex Book 2) (13 page)

“I cut you off.”

“You can’t do that—you don’t have the authority—you don’t have the knowledge. I’ll make sure Colonel Attwood executes you for mutiny.” The alien continued his attempts to access computer links. His head and limbs now were all vivid red.

“Monty, your attempt to gain control of
Wasp
has failed. I’ve enough evidence to present to Attwood. I have a copy of the communication from the Xesset agreeing to your terms, with the starship as your reward.”

“Impossible—it’s not possible for you to know—besides, it’s a collection of lies.”

“Unfortunately for you, it is possible. I have copies of all your communications. I know the Xesset agreed to arbitration under the Dir Commercial Code, although why you’d trust those pirates is beyond me. Commander Gillespie’s people are analyzing all your messages. We’ve obtained enough evidence to hand you over to the Sicca War Merchants. I’m sure they’ll work out how to jail you—I imagine they’d be eager to fill a small tub for you.”

“You think you know everything, don’t you? You’re too late, this time, de Coeur.” The alien gave the equivalent of a snarl. “The Xesset are on their way to intercept
Wasp
. We’ll see who survives that encounter.”

“Thank you, Monty. I’ve been relaying our conversation to everyone on board. I’m sure you’ll be dealt with fairly.” Steg turned to his two escorts. “Let’s go. I don’t think there’s anything more to be gained here.”

Colonel Attwood stared at Steg with an expression of total disbelief. Steg had briefed him on Monty’s betrayal when he arrived on the command deck. “What?” he shouted, “Monty’s colluding with these pirates? He’s betrayed us? I—I don’t believe you!” The colonel slammed his fist into a bulkhead.

“It’s true, Colonel,” Commander Gillespie confirmed. “I’ve been reviewing messages Monty’s sent and received over the last three weeks. My staff have been assisting me. We’ve proof he’s been communicating with these Xesset and has entered into a contract with them. His reward, once you and your men are defeated, is control of
Wasp
. In turn, they’d get all our technology. Steg met with Monty almost an hour ago and challenged him about his contacts with the Xesset. His conversation with Steg was a virtual confession; he didn’t realize Steg was broadcasting their conversation, ship-wide. We recorded it all, if you want to listen.”

Attwood glared at the commander and turned back to Steg. “How did you access these messages?”

“They were transferred from Monty’s communications system to
Wasp’s
. We have headers, contents, validated receipts, everything. There are hundreds of them. There’s enough evidence to arrest and transfer Monty to Sicca without further investigation,” Commander Gillespie replied, saving Steg from a direct answer.

“I—I don’t understand. I can’t hear Monty on my link, either. It’s like I’m deaf. There must be a mistake, a misunderstanding, surely?”

“No, Colonel. We all heard his confession over the intercom when Steg was questioning him.”

The colonel’s eyes seemed to be unfocused. “This is your fault, de Coeur. I’ll have you arrested—for—for—providing false evidence.” The colonel’s move towards Steg was blocked by one of Steg’s armored bodyguard. “What’s this?” Attwood looked aghast at the marine from Ebony Company and stepped back as awareness penetrated his apparent fugue. He glared at Steg. “Are you threatening me?”

Steg surmised the colonel was still under the influence of the narcotic used by the Charion priestess in her pre-battle ceremony. “No, sir. I decided I might need protection while the news about Monty was circulated and verified. People are known to attack the messenger when there’s bad news. Commander Gillespie’s been reviewing the alien’s communications, and she confirmed there is verified evidence of his treachery. You have no basis for suggesting I’m providing false evidence.”

“Well, no, of course not,” muttered the colonel. “But I can’t hear him. It’s so difficult—I’ve lost my link to Monty. We—I—depend on his input, on his assurances and direction. I feel—isolated, yes, that’s it, isolated.”

“Colonel, we have to determine our strategy; this time, without the alien’s involvement. We must also determine what to do about the Xesset,” Gillespie said, adding the weight of her command to the discussion. “My bridge crew’s been reviewing the details Monty provided earlier and so far, we’re unable to find either the freighter or the pirates. Either they’re remarkably well shielded, or they’re somewhere else.”

“Very well. We’ll meet in fifteen minutes—I need to speak with my officers, first.”

Steg raised his hand to attract Attwood’s attention before he exited the bridge. “Colonel,” he said.

“Yes, de Coeur?”

“I’ve placed guards on Monty’s area. I’ve instructed them to prevent any and all access, no matter who tries to contact the alien. There’ll be no exceptions. The guards are armored, and they’re the best marksmen from my company. We’ve also mined the access window to his front—ah—office, much to Monty’s extreme displeasure. I’m sure we can close the blast doors to prevent water from reaching critical areas, if we need to.”

“You’re thorough.”

“Yes, sir.”

The mood in the meeting room was noticeably different from the last meeting. All the bridge and mercenary officers were seated by the time Steg entered. His two armored guards accompanied him, and their presence generated negative reactions from Attwood and Fowler. He ignored the officers’ comments, and the guards remained standing behind his chair.

“The problem’s simple,” Steg said to the waiting audience. “Monty’s betrayed us. He’s contracted with the Xesset to help them defeat our forces. He’s agreed to override
Wasp
’s defenses. His motivation—he gets this starship. The Xesset, in turn, obtain all the technical know-how they can persuade Monty to deliver to them. Of course, they also earn their fees for supplying arms to the rebels on Eos. They likely have an intention to take control of the planet for themselves. I assume Monty has access to your central accounts and can drain any credit balance, if you’re all dead. Monty’s betrayal is verifiable. We have copies of his communications, and Commander Gillespie’s team has reviewed every detail. Additionally, most of you heard my earlier conversation with Monty. I have a recording if anyone wants to listen to it again?”

“What you’re saying is outrageous,” Major Fowler challenged. “It’s—impossible, for you to know he’s betrayed us.” There was a murmur of agreement from some of the other mercenary officers.

The bridge officers protested; they had spent the last eight hours or more working through the messages transferred to Commander Gillespie’s workstation and as a result, were well convinced of the alien’s treachery.

Gillespie voiced her support. “While I don’t know how he managed it, de Coeur exposed weeks of messages between Monty and the Xesset. We’ve read all his communications, including dialogs with each of the government officials and rebel leaders on Eos. He has been playing on all sides. There is a freighter. Yes, it does exist, and we’ve confirmed it’s loaded with enough munitions for an extensive ground war. We’re still trying to locate the Xesset starships.”

“Shouldn’t we have Monty online?” asked one of the lieutenants, young and inexperienced, whom Steg had not previously encountered. “He’s our strategy expert.”

Everyone, including Attwood, stared at the junior officer. His ears turned pink, and he looked down at the table surface. He swallowed. “Um—I suppose not.” His voice trailed off.

“Captain de Coeur,” Attwood said.

“Yes, Colonel?”

“You got us into this mess—now get us out of it.”

“You’re hardly being fair—” Gillespie began.

“Very well,” Steg interrupted. “I accept. With conditions. First, I need full operational command of both the starship and your mercenaries. Do you agree?”

Attwood was silent for a long moment. He appeared to be taken aback. Steg thought there was a high probability the mercenary colonel had expected him to protest, to make excuses, to back away from any further involvement in resolving the problems he had exposed. Instead, Steg, the newcomer, had taken, swallowed, and digested the bait, without hesitation. Except now Attwood was possibly the one who had been caught.

“There’ll be a cost,” Steg added into the silence.

“What—ah—reward—do you expect?” the colonel asked.

“The freighter and its contents.”

“What?” came the protest in unison from most of the mercenary officers. Even the bridge crew looked concerned.

“Without my warning, you would’ve walked into a Xesset trap and lost
Wasp
. Your entire force of Stingers ambushed and more than likely killed. You, yourselves, everyone in this meeting room—if you weren’t killed in action—would be put to death by the Xesset.”

“If we don’t agree?” Attwood asked.

“You’re on your own,” Steg said. He hoped the colonel wouldn’t recognize the falsity of his statement. He would agree to fight the Xesset without hesitation.

“Let me see,” reflected Attwood. “You somehow derived all this data, impugned our strategist, and now expect to take over the operation to capture the freighter. Oh, I acknowledge your potential capabilities, I’ve seen how you’ve organized and trained your company. You’ve demonstrated experience and capability. But why, for freksake, should I entrust you with my command?”

“Because you’re facing an enemy force, and you know they won’t stop until you all are dead? Because your strategist betrayed you, your ship, and your people? You all heard the broadcast of Monty’s admission? If not, Commander Gillespie can replay the recording for you.” Steg waited.

The debate was noisy and aggressive. The commander and her crew were adamant in their support of Steg and his conclusions regarding the alien’s betrayal. The more experienced mercenary officers, except Attwood and Fowler, gradually acknowledged they needed to support Steg, while the less experienced, younger officers continued to support the colonel.

At last Gillespie cut through the arguments after the same voices repeated the same objections for the fifth time. “Enough. As commander of
Wasp
, I now call a vote. We have three options open to us. One, we can withdraw from this venture. Of course, if we do so, there remains a high risk the Xesset will still pursue us. Remember, we’ve accepted a contract with the authorities on Eos. In any event, I refuse to risk the ship in the subsequent legal action that would be justifiably brought by the planetary authorities if we withdraw. So, as commander, I’ll override the decision if a majority votes to withdraw. So one is not an acceptable option. Two, we can proceed with this venture guided by Monty, which’d be particularly stupid, and in any case, I require the aliens to be confined under arrest until we can hand them over to the authorities in Sicca. Finally, we’ve the third course of action, for de Coeur to command our forces to counter the Xesset. Yes, there’s a risk. However, as usual, we’ll survive if we’re sensible.”

Gillespie tore sheets of notepaper into strips and handed them around to each attendee, excluding Steg and the two armored guards. “Now write one, two or three on your paper, fold it, and return it to me.” She watched patiently as her instructions were carried out. Eventually, after she annotated and folded her paper, she had a heap of paper strips, all folded, in front of her. She looked at Attwood. “Colonel, I also need your vote.”

The colonel, with obvious reluctance, wrote on his strip of paper, folded it, and passed it across to the commander. She shuffled the folded papers, unfolded them one by one, and arranged them in piles according to the number written on each strip. When the commander finished laying out the strips of paper, there was one vote to withdraw, three to continue with the venture with Monty, and seventeen to allow Steg to command the mercenary forces in an action against the Xesset.

“We continue the action against the Xesset under de Coeur’s leadership,” Gillespie confirmed. “We have a clear majority vote for that option. Colonel, do you accept this decision?”

Attwood glared at Steg and then at Gillespie. “No, I damned well don’t,” he snarled. “It’s totally unacceptable.”

“Colonel, I’ll remind you we’ve followed agreed protocol as defined in our letter of marque. We’ve voted, and the majority decision is clear and undisputed.” Gillespie frowned. “The rules in the letter issued by Sicca require you to either comply with the majority vote or resign. So agree or I’ll accept your resignation, now. The same applies to anyone—any officer here—who refuses to accept our majority decision.” She looked at each of the officers seated around the meeting table. “Do any of you refuse to accept this majority decision?”

“I refuse,” Colonel Attwood said.

“Likewise,” Major Fowler said.

Two other officers also refused; one was the young lieutenant who had suggested Monty should be included in the meeting, and the last was a lieutenant who appeared to be even younger.

“Very well,” Gillespie said. “Your verbal resignations are accepted, effective on conclusion of this meeting. You’ll be designated as passengers, and you’ll be required to disembark when we reach a suitable system, which’ll happen at the ship’s convenience. Please remove your insignia and rank badges from your uniforms. Your resignations and status will be broadcast ship-wide when we conclude our meeting. Understood?”

The four officers nodded their acceptance of the commander’s rulings. They were silent, aware they’d been treated according to conditions contained in their letter of marque. Attwood reached a hand to his collar and began removing his rank badges.

Gillespie turned to Steg. “Well, de Coeur, it looks as though we’re in your hands. Can you—”

One of Steg’s guards leaned forward, his expression intent, and interrupted. “Captain de Coeur, I have a communication from Sergeant Kirby. He says to tell you Monty and his four wives may be trying to exit their quarters. He’s worried they may try to take over or damage
Wasp
. He said he needs you urgently in our war room.”