“Yes, Zori,” Stella said. The girl might not be family yet, but she now believed it was likely to happen.
“I just heard something…it may be only a rumor, I don’t know, but this boy at school said something about your cousin Ky, the admiral—”
“What?”
“That she…she died. Her ship blew up.”
“What! No, of course she didn’t.” The icy wash that seemed to drown her for an instant passed. “I’ve had messages from her.”
“Oh…” Zori slumped against the desk. “That’s a relief. I didn’t really think Jed knew what he was talking about, but he said he heard it from a man who heard it dockside.”
Except…Ky hadn’t actually contacted her personally. Of course that meant nothing; she was busy; she had a fleet to organize, enemies to watch out for. Still…she must be alive. Someone would have told Stella if she wasn’t. Someone would have known, someone would have made contact, surely.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to check. Just to be sure. And if a rumor was going around that Ky had been killed, that might impact morale…she should let Grace know.
With that thought in mind, Stella placed an ansible call to Moray, and waited longer than usual for the icon to resolve into someone’s face. Not Ky’s face, but then she had staff…Stella tried to ignore the knot in her stomach. The uniform was unfamiliar as well.
“Admiral Vatta, please,” she said. “From Stella Vatta.”
“I’m sorry; the admiral is not available.”
“Would you give her a message to contact me directly as soon as possible?”
“I…will transfer your call to a more senior officer. Just a moment.”
Stella’s anxiety grew.
Ky had just finished taking Teddy Ransome’s latest hourly report when one of the Moray officers walked in. “It’s your cousin,” he said. “She wants to talk to you. She’s on a secured line, but—”
Ky shook her head. “She can’t know I’m alive. Stella wouldn’t leak it but there’s too much chance, with Toby and Zori there, and Zori’s father having been one of them—”
“She’ll be upset—”
“My concern is defeating Turek,” Ky said. “We have only a slim chance of doing that anyway. I’m not going to give it away to comfort Stella. Tell her my ship blew up.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Sera Vatta.” The senior officer in Moray uniform who had appeared on screen was an older man. “I realize this may come as a shock—I am sorry it is necessary to—”
“What?”
“When Admiral Vatta arrived here, we were under attack by the force we’d been warned of. In the battle that followed, her forces joined with our own defenses and drove the enemy away, albeit with losses. Admiral Vatta’s ship blew up while in pursuit of the enemy.”
“Her…ship?” Stella could not think for a moment. “But—but she was in a special unit. She should have survived—”
“I’m sorry,” the man said.
“So…who’s commanding Slotter Key forces now? And the coalition? Has the Moscoe Confederation government been informed?”
“All relevant governments have been informed,” he said. “Clearly the alliance is still necessary. I believe Slotter Key is sending someone out to take command of their ships, and the overall coalition commander will be decided very soon. More than that I cannot say.”
“Were there any…was anything…recovered?” Stella asked. She still felt numb, but knew that pain would follow.
“No. I’m sorry…the aftermath of a battle in space is…not…” His voice trailed away. “I wish I could offer some comfort—”
“Comfort!” White rage etched through the numbness; Stella fought it down. “I’m sorry; I have to go—no, wait. The government here hasn’t made any announcement, so if they know—perhaps I shouldn’t say anything—?” But how could she not?
“I believe the decision was made not to publicize Admiral Vatta’s…passing…in order not to disturb the public. But you might want to speak to Garond Seviera, in the Moscoe Confederation Department of Defense.”
“Seviera,” Stella muttered, entering it in her implant database. “What’s he?”
“An undersecretary for propaganda, I believe. And sera, if anything is…recovered…you will certainly be informed.”
“Thank you,” Stella said.
After she’d disconnected, Stella sat motionless, waiting for the grief to strike. She could sense its approach, a giant block of misery…all the things she’d said she could not now take back or explain away, all the words unsaid that could not now be said. No. She could not wait for it. That first stab of anger at the Moray officer gave her energy. She looked up Seviera and placed a call to his office.
“Sera Vatta, how may I help you?”
“You can tell me if it’s true that my cousin Ky is dead and you’re hiding that fact.”
“Sera…where did you hear that?”
“The young woman I’m taking care of, Zori Louarri, heard it from a schoolmate who heard it from someone who works dockside. She didn’t believe it, and neither did I until I tried to contact Ky myself. And an officer of the Moray Defense Services told me her ship had blown up.”
“I’m sorry you found out this way,” he said.
“So it’s true.”
“According to the report we got, her ship was in hot pursuit of the enemy—possibly the enemy flagship—and suddenly exploded. I haven’t heard anything more about the exact cause, if it can be determined. There have been other priorities. As I’m sure you’re aware, the ship had some deficiencies that went uncorrected—”
“Yes, but she was supposed to be in that secure modular thing—”
“CCC, yes.”
“That was installed here. I thought it was proof against anything—”
“Nothing’s proof against everything. It’s certainly a tragedy. And to answer your second question, it’s true we’ve not publicized her death, and I hope to persuade you not to…the thing is, so many people were impressed by her, we’re afraid her death would be a serious blow to morale. And if the enemy doesn’t know she’s dead, perhaps it will delay their next attack.”
“I see…so you don’t want me to tell even the family?”
“That’s a difficult decision, sera. I do understand the desire to have family support at a time like this. But if word got out—and that reminds me…can you tell me more about how you found out?”
Stella recited it again—Zori, the classmate, the unknown spacer dockside.
“We need to plug that hole,” Seviera said. “I don’t want to bother the young lady; she’s had enough problems. Do you think you could get the name of that classmate from her and let me know?”
“It was Jed-something,” Stella said. “I could try, but I don’t know if I—if I can keep the truth from her. I’m—”
“Upset, of course,” he said. “You’ve suffered a terrible loss, on top of all the others your family has had to endure. I’ll check the school registry first.”
Stella closed that connection, and wondered what to do now. If Slotter Key’s government knew, then surely Grace knew…and hadn’t told her…but if they both knew, surely they could talk. She looked at the time where Grace was. Three in the morning. Grace might be up, but she wouldn’t appreciate a call in the middle of the night. For just an instant she thought of calling Rafe—but that would not do, even if he also knew.
She tried to bury herself in the accounts, but she kept seeing Ky in everything Ky had touched. Images of the sturdy, stubborn little girl, the sulky teenager, the wary adult, all ran into one another and kept her mind from focusing on the figures. Another one of the family gone, every childhood playmate, gone.
She would not cry. She would not…but in spite of herself, tears rolled down her cheeks.
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Slotter Key
“So Ky isn’t telling Stella she survived the explosion?” MacRobert said. “Tough on Stell
a. You told Helen.” He handed Grace the padded grip of the exercise apparatus. She wrapped her small hand around it slowly, careful not to stretch the flexible sleeve that still protected it as it grew.
“Helen’s not in the middle of a crowded space station, the sole licensee for a technology vital to the war, with two intelligent and no doubt naïvely nosy adolescents living with her,” Grace said. She moved her arm back and forth in the range-of-motion exercises. “I can trust Helen not to leak it to anyone, and the children are too little…nobody’s going to listen to them, even if they do insist their cousin Ky is alive.”
“Stella’s going to be furious when she finds out,” MacRobert said. “With you, as well.”
“Not when she’s going to get the CEO-ship,” Grace said. “If we can get Maxim out before he does something else stupid—”
“Do you still think he might be a Termanian plant in support of Parmina?”
“I’d like to think it, but no. Nobody else in the family has done anything suspicious, and he hasn’t been offplanet. Yes, he’s got the right genes to be an intended problem, but I think it’s coincidence. We’ve looked—you and I both—and we’ve uncovered everything else.” They had found Turek’s agents in the local mafia, and located the portable ansible they’d used to keep in touch with Turek. Even deep interrogation hadn’t produced any links to Maxim. “He’s just young, in love, and full of innate stubbornness.”
“Keep that shoulder level,” MacRobert said. “You’re compensating with a tilt.”
Grace tightened her grip on the handle. “I wish this thing would grow faster!”
“It took you fifteen years to grow the first one—this one’s growing pretty damned fast. Now remember—shoulders level, breathe with it—”
“How angry do you think Stella will be?” Grace asked, halfway through the next set.
“You know her better, but from what she told you about that trip with Ky…she really resented being kept literally in the dark. If I were you, I wouldn’t let Stella get the idea you and Ky have a special bond—”
“We don’t,” Grace said, startled.
“You know Ky’s alive. Helen knows Ky’s alive. That’s all the family. Stella—your protégée—is the only one who doesn’t. And she’s just made up with Helen, forgiving her for not telling about the adoption. Another secret she’s locked out of? I think it’s explosive.”
“But Ky’s reasons—”
“Make perfect sense from the military point of view. It’s not one Stella’s ever been really sympathetic to, is it? There’s Vatta sense and military sense, and you’re the only person who can make them overlap.”
Grace unclasped her hand from the handle and flexed the fingers. The arm ached now, instead of itching as it had earlier; it had skin and muscles and it moved, within its covering, almost without thought. Fine-motor was still a problem, but she was sure once she got rid of the protective covering it would come quickly.
“How could I do it without Toby finding out? And why would she accept it from me?”
“You’re her mentor. You’re senior in the family. You’re the Rector of Defense. All those together. You can tell her it was essential for Ky herself to make no contact with anyone, anywhere. That you were the only one who could do it safely.”
“That might work.” Grace stretched the young arm forward, measuring it against her old one. “Ha. Look at that.” The tips of her left fingers touched the base of her right palm. “Not long now.” MacRobert took her hands, both of them, and lightly kissed them. “You’re right, Anders, that should work. Ky wanted to tell her, but didn’t dare get on herself—she wanted me to tell her—” She glanced at the clock. “I could call her—”
“Before she calls you, yes.”
Cascadia
When the Slotter Key origination code came up, Stella wasn’t surprised. Aunt Grace, of course. Probably Seviera had told her that Stella knew.
“Aunt Grace,” Stella said when Grace’s face appeared.
“How secure is your end?” Grace asked.
“Best I can make it,” Stella said.
“And you’re alone.”
“Yes…look, I already know—” She felt tears stinging her eyes again.
“No, you don’t,” Grace said. “You have a privacy shield in your office, I’m sure.”
“Yes, but—”
“Engage it.”
Stella took the cylinder out of her desk and laid it where the video pickup would include it, then touched the nub on one side. “Engaged,” she said.
“No one must know what I’m telling you,” Grace said. “Not Toby, not Zori, not anyone, including that twit in the propaganda department.”
“I know it’s a secret,” Stella said.
“But you don’t know what secret,” Grace said.
“Ky—”
“Ky is alive,” Grace said.
“She—but they said—”
“Ky is alive. She could not tell you; she can’t communicate outside the system she’s in without risking the enemy finding out she’s alive.”
“But—but I thought it was her death that was supposed to be secret.”
Grace shook her head. “It’s a double cover, Stella. We seem to be hiding the fact that she’s dead, but we’re actually hiding the fact she’s alive.”
“But her ship—”
“Did blow up. She was nearly killed, injured but not too seriously; only being in the CCC saved her. And the enemy think she’s dead, which we think—we hope—will give her a slight advantage in the coming battle.”
“The coming battle?”
“Stella, I can’t tell even you more than that. Most of the enemy got away; they fled shortly after she arrived. Here’s the thing: because outbound communication from Moray via the system ansible is limited to official transmissions, we know that rumors of her death must be coming from the enemy—and we’re using that to trace his agents—”
“Zori heard it from a schoolmate who heard it from someone who works on the docks—”
“Yes. Which means Turek has at least one agent on Cascadia they haven’t found. Thing is, you and Toby are still in danger; you must play ignorant just as you did on your first assignments. Report rumors, of course, but if the Moscoe government chooses to announce Ky’s death, just be the grieving cousin.”
“I can do that,” Stella said. “I was grieving—”
“Of course you were. Please understand—Ky could not risk talking to you herself, and it took awhile for the message to get to me—”
“I feel like I’ve been—yanked around,” Stella said. “I understand why, but—”
“You have been,” Grace said. “Anyone would feel that way. You’ve been under a lot of stress on other fronts, too. And you’ve done brilliantly with the company business…I always knew you had what it takes to run the trading side, but I didn’t anticipate either the need or the ability to manage a manufacturing start-up, the way you have. To learn your only surviving cousin was dead—and now that she’s alive—I’m sure it’s been a shock.”
Grief had receded, but it didn’t feel like joy, not yet. At least it was no longer pain.
“So…what is my assignment?” Stella asked.
“You don’t believe Ky is dead, in spite of any rumors that show up. If the Moscoe government decides to admit she’s dead, you are shocked and grieving, almost refusing to believe it.”
“What about other—I mean, does Nexus know the truth?”
“No. They refused to join the alliance, you recall. They’re out of the loop. I don’t know whether they think she’s dead or not—depends on whether they queried Moray for any reason. They did know the fleet was headed there.”
“Will Ky come swooping out of nowhere, like the deus ex machina in those old plays?”
“We hope so. But I must tell you, Stella, that the odds aren’t good. Turek got away with almost half the ships ready at Moray. His fleet’s larger than Ky’s, and more of it is real warships. That’s
why it’s critical that Turek continue to think she’s dead.”
“We could be attacked here. At Cascadia.”
“Yes, but we expect him to hit Nexus.”
That was nowhere near as comforting as Grace probably meant it to be. But Ky was alive. At least, had been alive the last time Grace had word of her.
“I hope you understand why Ky didn’t—”
“Yes. I’m glad you told me, though. If I’d thought she was just leaving me in the dark again, the way she did before, I’d have been furious. We’re partners—well, maybe not exactly, but she’s family, the closest I have in my own generation. She’s got to trust me.”
Moray System, Aboard Vanguard II
Ky was just heading for the personnel lifts on the Environmental level when the doors slid open and Master Sergeant Pitt appeared.
“Thought you might be on this deck,” Pitt said. “Message from Slotter Key on the CCC ansible.”
Ky’s stomach clenched. She followed Pitt into the lift tube and pressed the control. This Vanguard had a CCC designed into it from scratch—larger than the other one and centrally located on the command deck. Unsealed as it was now, it looked like a simple mirror of the bridge forward: the 3-D tank display, the curving double row of control stations, the command chair in its gimbels. The communications tech at the ansible station stood up and saluted. “Urgent request to speak directly to the admiral, ma’am. Sorry. It’s from the Rector of Defense; I thought I should pass it on.”
“Quite right,” Ky said. She sat in the station’s chair instead of the command seat, engaged the privacy screen, and tapped the code she and Grace had agreed on into the board. Grace’s face came up at once.
“You’re on your way, then,” Grace said.
“How’d you know that?”
“Your face. You’ve got that look. I’ve got a large packet of data to send you—and no, I didn’t need to bother you personally for that. But I had to tell Stella you were alive, and you need to know that. You were right: Turek’s agents are spreading the tale of your death, and it was going to interfere with Stella’s work…and with family. Also, I need your voiceprinted authorization for her to vote your shares—or me, or Helen. We have a situation here at Vatta headquarters. Young Maxim, who’s acting CEO here, is also an Osman bastard, adopted by the Termanian family—the same family as one of the ISC Board members backing Parmina.”
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