Rob had to inhale slowly, wondering what sort of surrender demand this would be. “Send it to me.”
A window opened on his display, revealing a woman seated in the command chair on a bridge nearly identical to the one on Saber. “Commodore Robert Geary, this is Captain Miko Sori, commanding officer of the Asahi, flagship of Benten Star System. I am in command of this task force, which has been assembled to assist Glenlyon and Kosatka against external aggression.”
Rob’s hand twitched, hitting the pause command as he stared at the image.
“Captain?” Vicki Shen asked, her expression somber.
“You need to hear this.” Rob’s hand shook so he had trouble touching the right controls, sending it to Shen’s display and reversing the message to play the first part again.
“—this is Captain Miko Sori, commanding officer of the Asahi, flagship of Benten Star System. I am in command of this task force, which has been assembled to assist Glenlyon and Kosatka against external aggression. We will proceed on a course to meet up with your ship, and then deal with the invaders.”
“Can we believe this?” Shen asked, her mouth hanging open. “Have our prayers been answered?”
The image of Captain Sori kept speaking, as if replying to Shen’s question. “To provide you reassurance that I am who I say and that we are here to assist Glenlyon, Commander Derian on Shark will be contacting you as well.” Sori gestured to one side of her. “I am told that this individual is also known to you and can confirm that our mission here is a friendly one to Glenlyon.”
The middle-aged man who appeared was indeed familiar to Rob. “Commodore, I’m Lochan Nakamura, special representative of Kosatka Star System. You know me, and I hope you trust me. I’ve been asked to let you know that Eire, Adowa, and Benten Star Systems have entered into an alliance to halt aggression in this region. Catalan has made a preliminary commitment to join as well. Kosatka has formally agreed to join that alliance, and we hope that Glenlyon will also do so. I, uh, made a preliminary commitment to the alliance on Glenlyon’s behalf because your Leigh Camagan empowered me to do so before she continued on toward Old Earth. I realize that doesn’t bind Glenlyon, but I assure you that I did my best to represent your interests as well as that of Kosatka. Please pass on my respects to Mele Darcy, who I hope is somewhere safe at the moment.”
The image switched back to Captain Sori. “I will await your reply on how our forces can coordinate their efforts to defend this star system. Just as our ancestors stood together in the past, so we stand together now. Sori, out.”
Rob buried his face in his hands, momentarily unable to speak.
“Captain?” Lieutenant Commander Shen asked, her voice shaking. “This is real? Not a trick?”
“It’s real,” Rob said, raising his head to look around the bridge. “I’ve never met Nakamura in person, but I’ve talked to him on calls like this, and Mele Darcy knows him. She’s told me I can trust him.”
“Sir?” Ensign Reichert said. “Are these new ships on our side?”
“Yes,” Rob said. “It seems so. It looks like we’ll be denied a heroic, doomed last stand against overwhelming odds.”
“I’m good with that, Captain.”
“Me, too,” Lieutenant Cameron said. “Sir, there’s another message incoming.”
This time the image was of a man Geary knew well, the commanding officer of the Shark. “Greetings, Commodore!” Commander Derian said. “It looks like we get to return the favor you did for Kosatka, and the favor your Marines and Commander Shen did for me personally and for my ship. I didn’t know Miko Sori in Earth Fleet, but I did know Bard Hubbard on Caladbolg. He says this is the real deal. The two ships from Eire are the Caladbolg and the Gae Bulg. I can attest that they have good crews and good commanding officers. I can’t imagine Glenlyon rejecting this alliance, but if anyone questions whether we can be trusted . . . well, you know the answer. I wouldn’t help anything that would hurt Glenlyon, not after how you guys helped us deal with that invasion fleet. And we haven’t finished avenging the loss of Piranha and Captain Salomon.
“Let me know if you still have any questions. Our task force commander on Asahi says all ships can contact Saber, so if you want to talk to Bard on Caladbolg or Tanya the Wicked on Gae Bulg, feel free. Derian, out.”
“Tanya the Wicked?” Rob repeated.
Shen grinned. “They’ve got Tanya the Wicked with them.”
“She’s commanding one of the destroyers. How’d she get that nickname?”
“Allegedly it’s because her record is absolutely spotless. Never a mark or a demerit. Earth Fleet used to gossip that meant she was so good at hiding the bodies that nobody’d ever been able to catch her working her evil plans.”
“What’s she like at commanding a ship?” Rob asked, wondering just how rigid a person would be who’d never been caught doing anything wrong.
“That’s the funny thing,” Vicki Shen said. “Because her record was so clean, because she never broke a rule, she could bend the rules more than anyone else, because her superiors assumed Tanya the Wicked would do no wrong.”
“She sounds like a good person to have on our side. I can’t . . .” Rob tried to get his head around what had happened, the sudden shift in odds, the unexpected help, the chance to finally engage the enemy again with Saber. He realized that his first priority would be passing on this news and getting approval to act with Glenlyon’s new allies. “I need to make a private call in my stateroom. Get me President Chisholm and link the call to there.”
It took ten minutes after Rob reached his stateroom before the image of Chisholm appeared. The president, who looked like she’d been awoken from the sort of miserable attempt at sleep that Rob had also been enduring, had apparently been briefed on the probable reason for the call. It took her two tries to get the necessary words out. “Is this as bad as it looks? I’m told that four more enemy warships have arrived.”
“No,” Rob said. “It’s very good news. The four destroyers that arrived from Jatayu came from Kosatka. They’re here to help us.”
Saber was far enough from the planet for a tiny delay in communications, but Chisholm took much longer to reply than that would account for. “They’re friendly?” she finally got out. “Are these ships hired by Leigh Camagan?”
“No. She probably hasn’t even reached Old Earth yet. These ships are allies from Kosatka, Eire, and Benten. Eire provided two of them.”
“Allies? We’ve only signed an agreement with Kosatka.”
“Yes, Kosatka sent Shark, their surviving warship, and—”
“Eire and Benten? Why are Eire and Benten helping us?”
“Apparently Kosatka’s special representative Lochan Nakamura convinced them that would be a smart thing for them to do.” Rob spread his hands. “That’s all I know so far. I can attest that really is Nakamura aboard the Benten destroyer, and that Commander Derian on the Shark is genuine as well. I have to no reason to doubt their claim that they’re here to help. But I need, as soon as possible, approval from the government to reply to their messages and to work with them to defeat the ships attacking our orbital facility.”
President Chisholm frowned in thought. “What do they want in exchange for this help? Have they said?”
“No,” Rob said, startled. In his exhilaration over the arrival of help, the question of possible costs or trade-offs hadn’t even occurred to him. “There hasn’t been any mention of a quid pro quo, but Nakamura did say that Benten, Eire, and, um, Adowa have already formed an alliance that Kosatka has joined, and Catalan may have joined. They’re hoping we’ll join, too.”
Chisholm sighed, looking older than her years. “At least they’re asking us to join their group. That’s an improvement on the threats and demands we’ve gotten from Apulu, Turan, and Scatha. But we’re going to need to know a lot more before we commit to an alliance with that many other s
tar systems. Who’s in charge of these ships? This Nakamura?”
“No. He’s a representative of Kosatka’s government. Captain Miko Sori on Benten’s destroyer Asahi is in command of the four destroyers,” Rob said. “Nakamura said he also attempted to represent Glenlyon at whatever negotiations took place to form this alliance because Leigh Camagan asked him to.”
“That’s—! Wait. What?” Chisholm shook her head, grimacing. “Nakamura was empowered by Camagan to represent Glenlyon? She didn’t have the authority to do that.”
“She must trust him,” Rob said.
“That doesn’t matter. Nothing he said or did will bind the government of Glenlyon. Especially when command of this group was given to—” Chisholm halted in midsentence, staring into space before focusing back on Rob. “The ship from Benten is in command of this group? Didn’t you say two of the warships are from Eire?”
“Yes. The Caladbolg and the Gae Bulg.”
“Doesn’t the larger group normally provide the commander in a case like that?”
“I . . . think so,” Rob said.
Chisholm chewed her lip. “There’s a lot of symbolic meaning in giving that command to Benten. Yet Donal Morgan of Eire agreed to it. From all I’ve heard, Donal Morgan can be a total rocket when he feels like it, and he feels like it fairly often. Why did he agree to this? And how can we learn the truth?”
The implications of the president’s words bothered Rob. “From what Mele Darcy has said of Nakamura, I think he’ll be open with us about whatever agreements were reached.”
“Darcy knows Nakamura? Has she vouched for him?”
“She has to me, yes,” Rob said. “If it comes to that, trust him with your life, she said.”
The president rubbed her temples as if fighting a headache. “Trusting our lives is one thing. But this is about trusting our world and our star system and everyone in it to the word of this Nakamura. How long do we have until the new ships are close enough to this world to attack either our enemies or us?”
“At this point in our orbit, they came in three point eight light hours from us. They’re accelerating, but we don’t know how fast they’re going to ramp up their velocity. If they stick to point zero two light, it’ll be about eight days. If they go up as high as point zero four, only about four days.”
“No sooner than that, though? Can you find out more about their plans?”
“If I’m permitted to talk to them,” Rob said. “It sounds like they want to develop plans together with us.”
“That may be what they’re saying, but . . .” Chisholm looked pained. “All right. If you could have everything you wanted at this moment, what would it be?”
Rob didn’t have to take any time to think about that. “Permission to both communicate freely with the new arrivals, and to coordinate the actions of Saber with them to ensure those attacking our star system are wiped out.”
“Coordinate? Are you talking about placing Saber under the command of the officer on Benten’s warship?”
Rob realized that hadn’t occurred to him. “No. I guess I assumed the government wouldn’t agree to that. I’m talking about acting with each other, making sure the actions of our warships support each other, as we did at Kosatka.”
President Chisholm squinted as she thought. “Is there any chance they’d agree to be under your command? Since they’re in our star system?”
“My command?” Rob hesitated, then shook his head again. “I can’t imagine that either Benten’s Captain Sori or the officers on Eire’s ships would agree to that. They probably have orders not to do anything like that. Shark might agree to it, depending on their orders from Kosatka’s government.”
“Then maybe we should do that. Even up the forces.”
Rob looked at his display, wondering why he felt a vast reluctance to agree, and finally realizing why. “That’d be splitting the alliance, wouldn’t it? An alliance forms to come help us, and our first act when they get here would be trying to split it by breaking Kosatka’s warship away from the others.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“With all due respect, Madam President, that is what you’re talking about,” Rob said. “Four ships arrive under unified command of an alliance formed to help us against aggression, and our response is to try to get one of those ships to answer to us instead of to the alliance commander. How would you interpret that other than as a deliberate act to split the force and undermine the new alliance?”
Chisholm grimaced in frustration. “Maybe that’s what we should be doing.”
“Someone is offering their hand to us and our response is to slap them?” Rob demanded, the frustrations and fears of the last weeks boiling over inside him. “I’ve been waiting for the moment when my ship had to enter a hopeless battle. For the moment when my crew had to die trying to make a difference for the future and the freedom of this star system that’s our home now. And when instead I learn that my crew can live and we can all strike a blow to win this fight as long as we cooperate with those who’ve come to help us I’m supposed to say, ‘Hell no, we won’t trust anybody but ourselves’?”
“I have to think of the future of everyone in Glenlyon! My responsibilities are far greater than yours!” Chisholm sat back, fuming.
Rob considered his next words carefully, knowing that he’d never be able to take them back. “I will not continue in command if this offer of help is rejected, or if the government refuses to commit to accepting the help.”
“You’re threatening the government with your resignation?”
“It’s not a threat,” he said. “It’s what I will do. If all Glenlyon sees around us is enemies out to take our freedom, then that’s all we’ll ever have. Enemies. But I know Kosatka can be trusted. I know Lochan Nakamura would not lie, because Mele Darcy told me that. Whatever price this alliance requests . . . and we haven’t even asked what price before talking about breaking that alliance or rejecting its help . . . whatever price it asks must be a lot less than that demanded of us by those attacking us at this moment.”
President Chisholm glared at him. “We came out here to be free of obligations and commitments and control.”
He returned the glare. “If Glenlyon insists on a wall to keep out everyone else so we won’t have any obligations or commitments or any infringement on our own actions, then that wall will actually be a cage. A cage we built ourselves, to hide inside. A cage that limits everything we do. That’s not freedom. It’s self-imprisonment. I can’t tell the government what to do, but I can refuse to lead men and women to their deaths in support of a policy I believe will poison the future of this star system.”
She eyed him for several seconds without replying. “I see. I can’t deny your right to make such a decision. You feel this strongly about it?”
“Yes,” Rob said. “I’m not trying to dictate government policy, but I think approaching this opportunity as if it was simply another threat would be fundamentally wrong, and disastrous to our hopes for real freedom.”
“Do you think I’m unaware of the need for rules and laws and mutual agreements?” Chisholm demanded. “I wouldn’t be president if I wasn’t willing to work within such a system. But these are rules and laws and agreements that we made, without anyone holding a gun to our heads. Don’t you want to protect Glenlyon’s people from foreign coercion?”
“Yes,” Rob said. “I do. I think I’ve proven that by my actions. But . . . we’ve been attacked repeatedly. Almost since the day we arrived in this star system. We’ve come to see any approach from the outside as a danger. Is that how we want to view everyone who comes here? Do we want to let the actions of places like Scatha dictate how we respond to the actions of places like Benten and Eire and Adowa?”
“That’s a point worth considering,” Chisholm said. “Coercion can take a variety of forms, and poison can spread beyond its sou
rce. I admit . . . yes . . . my first thought when they arrived was that this had to be another attack. We’ve already been conditioned to see things that way. But that doesn’t mean such a view is wrong.”
“Madam President, if this force is here to coerce us, to make us do something, then Glenlyon might as well give up now. There is no chance of us winning that fight. We can’t wait too long to decide. Those new ships will arrive here in a few days. And even sooner than that, the enemy ships already attacking our orbital facility are going to figure out these new people are not their friends. They’ll act, whether we’ve made up our minds regarding this alliance or not.”
Another long pause as Chisholm thought, then her eyes sought Rob’s. “I’ll be contacting those ships directly for more information. You also have permission to communicate with the new arrivals.”
“Am I allowed to coordinate actions with them?”
“You already have authority to take necessary actions in space to defend this star system. Use it.”
“I’m to interpret my orders that broadly?” Rob asked.
She smiled, a cold, hard expression that carried a message of expectations as well as conditional support. “You’ve shown that you can interpret orders broadly, and make the right decisions when doing so. Act as you think you should, Commodore Geary. If the government decides that your orders need to be modified, they will be. Understand?”
He nodded. “I’m free to act until I do the wrong thing. I understand. I assure you that every action I take will be with the long-term safety, security, and freedom of Glenlyon foremost in my mind.”
“I’ve never doubted that, Commodore. That’s why I keep coming back to you when Glenlyon is in trouble. Keep me informed.”
The call ended, Rob sighed, got up, and walked back to the bridge, where Lieutenant Commander Shen waited along with the watch standers.
“What’s the word?” Vicki Shen asked.
He shrugged as he took the command seat. “The ball just got dropped into my lap again. I was pretty much told to decide what I should do.”
Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, The) Page 23