Relentless (24 page)

“It wouldn’t have, Captain. Even if it was delayed in delivery, the system would log when it was actually sent.” The watch-stander looked briefly baffled, then nodded as understanding came. “The message had to have been parked and hidden in the system. People aren’t supposed to do that, but there are several ways to manage it.
Lorica
, or somebody on
Lorica
, sent that message out at some earlier time into the comm-system net but had it concealed under a protocol that wouldn’t make it visible to the system until something happened, like a certain time arrived.”

Geary shook his head. “Why would
Lorica
have done that?” He could think of a number of reasons why someone who had screwed up would want a message time to be different from when it was actually sent, but couldn’t understand what might have prompted someone on
Lorica
to set that up. Calling up the message, Geary scanned it. It wasn’t actually a message, but a big dump of code. “Captain Desjani, who can tell me what this is?”

She eyed it, then tapped some more controls. “With your permission I’ll get an assessment from my systems-security officer before we send this anywhere else, sir. We don’t know what might be in it.”

He felt a momentary surge of fear and anger at himself. “This could be the worm that almost destroyed us?”

“Not sent that way,” Desjani replied with a shake of her head. “The filters and firewalls in this part of the comm system don’t let anything active through. Trying to send the worm this way would be like shooting a picture of a missile at us instead of the actual missile. If that’s what this is. My systems people should be able to tell.”

The response came fairly quickly, the face of Desjani’s systems-security officer appearing in small windows on both her and Geary’s displays. The lieutenant commander seemed stunned. “Sir, Captain, I mean, uh . . . that message from
Lorica
. It’s the coding for the first worm, the one that would’ve messed with every ships’ jump drives.”

“That worm came from
Lorica
?” Geary felt a deep sense of disappointment. He’d trusted Commander Gaes, given her a second chance, and yet—

“No, sir. The message is a copy of the first worm, with the system-tracking information and originating ship’s identity still on it. I have no idea how
Lorica
got a copy of that.”
Dauntless
’s systems-security officer swallowed nervously. “According to what’s in
Lorica
’s transmission, that worm originally came from
Inspire
, sir.”

GEARY felt a coldness spreading through him. “You’re certain? There’s no doubt?”

“Not if that message is real, sir. It could’ve been faked, of course, though it’d be very hard to construct a false system-tracking record that authentic-looking. But to me it looks like someone on
Lorica
discovered where that worm came from and had a message containing the information planted in the comm system under a dead man release, so if the cruiser registered as destroyed, the message was sent.”

So Commander Gaes had known who was responsible but had kept that information close for reasons that would never be known now. But she had also made certain that if she was silenced, then the truth would come out.

Desjani’s face was flushed with rage. “This is good enough cause to get Kila into an interrogation room and see what she really knows about it.”

“Yeah,” Geary agreed, thinking of the dead on
Lorica
and already mentally phrasing his orders to a firing squad for Captain Kila, but as he reached for his controls to order the Marines on
Inspire
to act, another hand came down on his, and Victoria Rione’s voice spoke intensely.

“Wait. You want to make certain you get her.”

Geary rounded on Rione, wondering when she’d arrived on the bridge and gotten close enough to overhear his and Desjani’s conversation. But before he could speak, Desjani did.

“If we want to be certain we get her, then we do it as fast as possible!” Desjani whispered vehemently. “That woman tried to destroy my ship!”

“I know what she tried to do!” Rione whispered back angrily. “Listen to me! Kila has done a magnificent job of covering her tracks. Her actions clearly include contingency plans for eliminating evidence and potential witnesses against her, as we saw in Lakota when the shuttle carrying those two officers was destroyed. If we don’t lay a careful trap, she might already have some plan in place for dealing with something like this.”

Geary fought down his own desire for instant vengeance, recognizing the truth in Rione’s advice. “What do you suggest? We can’t let her keep operating.”

“No.” Rione paused in thought. “One hour. That’s enough time to set up our own trap. Call a fleet conference in one hour. Kila will believe that means you still have no idea who’s responsible for what happened to
Lorica
and almost happened to
Dauntless
. She’ll be expecting another ineffective appeal for anyone who knows anything to come forward. If we can keep her in ignorance of this evidence until then, we can prepare a trap she won’t be able to avoid.”

Desjani glared at Rione, but Geary could see her thinking. Then Desjani nodded abruptly. “That’s good advice. I’d take it, sir.”

Rione glowered back at Desjani. “Thank you so much for the vote of confidence.”

“Both of you try to remember who the enemy is,” Geary ground out, trying to control his own emotions. The watch-standers on the bridge had already surely noticed something unusual going on between him, their captain, and Rione. He had to divert the gossip about that away from the message he had asked about earlier. “All right, Madam Co-President. Design your trap and tell me what you need. But first give another good long glare at Captain Desjani and stalk off the bridge as if you two had been arguing again.”

“We have been arguing. Even
you
should have noticed that.” Rione smiled coldly at Geary, then shifted her gaze to Desjani and stepped slightly away. “Pardon me for wanting to be involved in your decisions,” she stated in a low voice that could still surely be heard by the watch-standers. “I thought I should be aware of what caused the loss of power on this ship.”

Desjani smiled at Rione in a forcibly polite way. “When I find out more, I will ensure you are told. Thank you, Madam Co-President.”

Rione stalked off the bridge, and Geary stood up, not having to fake a renewed gust of frustration. He wanted Kila in a cell right now, he wanted Kila in front of a firing squad right now, but he couldn’t rush into it. Rione had been right about the need to plan an ambush. They had to make certain that Kila didn’t have any more opportunities to destroy potential evidence or kill potential witnesses against her. He spoke clearly for the benefit of the watch-standers who might be listening. “Captain Desjani, let me know the instant anyone finds out anything more about what caused the loss of
Lorica
and the problem on
Dauntless
.”

“My systems-security officer is working the issue, sir,” Desjani replied, her voice quivering with suppressed anger. That’s exactly how her crew would expect their captain to feel about an attempt to destroy their ship, though. And if they wondered what else might have her angry, the widely known bad blood between their captain and Victoria Rione would surely explain the rest of their captain’s ill humor at the moment.

Geary sent the message calling a fleet commanding officers conference in one hour, then left the bridge, noticing the watch-standers all doing their best to avoid attracting the attention of Captain Desjani where she sat scowling at her display. He paused for just a moment, recalling his own days as a junior officer, when reading the captain’s temper and steering as wide of that individual as necessary on bad days formed an important part of the standard routine no matter the ship or the captain.

In the days when Geary had been a junior officer, the idea of open dissent against a fleet commander would have been thought insubordinate. A fleet captain conspiring against that commander to the extent of destroying Alliance warships would have been simply unthinkable. So much had been altered in the last century, driven by the stresses of an apparently unending war. But steering clear of a captain in a foul mood hadn’t changed in the hundred years he’d been in survival sleep. It probably hadn’t changed in a thousand years or more. No matter how much was different from the past, some traditions and practices withstood the stresses of time and events.

Not all of those traditions and practices were necessarily good or wise, but he still found the thought comforting.

 

 

ONE hour later he was in the conference room again, the atmosphere in the compartment as tense as it had ever been. Geary stood at the head of the table, trying not to look toward where Captain Kila’s image would appear, as the images of the fleet’s ship commanders popped into place, and the table and room appeared to expand to accommodate them.

Desjani entered the room, the only one besides Geary who was physically present, and took her seat next to him. She caught his eye and nodded, then fixed her gaze on the table surface. He could sense the tension in Desjani, like that of a great cat ready to spring but holding herself back by force of will. It was the same impression Desjani gave when preparing for a firing run against a Syndic warship, but this time her target was one of the Alliance fleet’s own officers.

To Geary’s surprise and gratitude, the image of Captain Duellos showed up next to that of Captain Cresida. Duellos’s uniform had been cleaned and patched up. Aside from the slight stiffness of his movements, it would have been hard to tell how much he had been through lately.

The image of Co-President Rione appeared among the captains of the fleet’s ships from the Callas Republic and the Rift Federation. She also looked directly at Geary and nodded, though in her case the gesture also conveyed the message that the ambush was ready to spring. Rione’s eyes held a warning reminder, too.
You’re a lousy actor and very bad at lying, Captain Geary,
Rione had told him less than half an hour ago.
You’ll be angry, but try to make that anger look like it’s directed at someone whose identity you don’t know. Don’t say anything about the first worm or speculations about where the worms have come from until you get the signals that the trap is ready. If you don’t talk about what we know, then you won’t be lying, and you won’t sound like you’re lying.

There were worse flaws to have than an inability to lie well, he thought as he waited for everyone’s image to arrive at the conference. At least as long as he had Rione along to help him past places where he might otherwise have to lie. Geary imagined how the fleet’s officers would simply nod knowingly if they ever found out he needed a politician to provide advice on avoiding the truth.

Colonel Carabali appeared as unruffled as ever, but she also took a moment to nod to Geary in apparent greeting, actually confirming that her Marines were ready.

The last officers arrived, most of them relatively junior commanding officers from the smallest and therefore most distant warships who had slightly misjudged the time delay for transmissions at the speed of light to cross between their ships and
Dauntless
. Now everyone sat silently as Geary stood up and began speaking in as controlled a voice as he could manage. “One of our heavy cruisers,
Lorica
, has been destroyed and her crew murdered by individuals whose political goals are more important to them than the lives of our fleet’s personnel.” Rione had suggested those exact words, linking the ones responsible for the loss of
Lorica
to the sort of politics the fleet scorned. “
Dauntless
narrowly avoided destruction as well.”

Captain Badaya slammed his palm onto the table before him, the meeting software obligingly adding the sound of the gesture as if Badaya had physically hit the table on
Dauntless
. “Backstabbing bastards! How can anyone in this fleet with any knowledge of those responsible for this hold back?”

“I don’t know,” Geary replied, letting his eyes search the faces of every officer. He noticed that Kila looked around as well, with a perfectly calculated expression of righteous anger, a move that, Geary realized, kept her from having to meet his gaze. “This is the last chance for anyone here who knows anything. Tell us what you know, or you’ll face the same punishment as those who did it.”

No one answered.

“I know there are those who disagree with my decisions as commander of this fleet,” Geary added. “Dissent is one thing. Murder and the destruction of Alliance warships is another. I believe I’ve given everyone adequate grounds to be certain that I will keep my word. Those who destroyed
Lorica
also surely destroyed the shuttle carrying Captain Casia and Commander Yin in Lakota Star System. Those officers were murdered, too, to keep them quiet. Anyone who knows anything about this should realize that their lives are in the hands of someone who will kill rather than risk exposure. You will be protected if you come forward now.”

More silence, longer this time.

Duellos looked like he was tasting something foul. “I increasingly suspect that whoever is behind all of this is operating under a cloak of anonymity. I cannot believe that if their identities were known to many of those who once supported them, that they would not be revealed now.”

“If someone could find a thread leading to them,” Captain Tulev objected, “then they could trace that thread back given time and determination no matter how many precautions had been taken.”

“Maybe that’s why Commander Gaes died on
Lorica
,” Captain Cresida interjected. “She went with Falco, so at one time she was tied in with those opposed to Captain Geary’s command of this fleet. She’d also acquitted herself loyally since that time, though. Maybe she used the contacts she knew of to find the ones behind all of this.” Cresida hadn’t been told that, but she was shrewd enough to connect the dots once
Lorica
was targeted for destruction.