by Timothy Zahn
Quinn ignored him. "Admiral?"
"It's not inconsistent with that scenario," the other conceded. "It's also not inconsistent with a simple leak."
"He's dead, Cavanagh," VanDiver insisted. "They all are. The Conquerors didn't stop shooting until every single beacon was silenced."
"Beacons can fail," the elder Cavanagh countered. "Or can be shut off." He looked at Rudzinski, a new fire in his eyes. "Or can be blocked."
"No," Rudzinski said, shaking his head. "We've already run that simulation. An operating beacon being pulled inside another ship would show a distinctive fade curve before dropping below detection threshold. There's no sign of anything like that in the watchship records."
"That doesn't prove anything."
"Neither does wishful thinking," VanDiver said, climbing to his feet. "All right, Admiral, you've done your duty. Now if you're quite ready, the rest of the Parliament observation group is waiting for us."
"Just a minute," Aric said as Rudzinski also stood up. "You haven't said what the Peacekeepers are going to do about finding Pheylan and getting him back."
Rudzinski's face seemed to sag a little. "I'm sorry," he said, looking at the elder Cavanagh. "There's nothing we can do. Without some kind of solid evidence that Commander Cavanagh is still alive, we can't risk sending out a search party."
"Why not?" Aric demanded. "He's out there somewhere - "
"You don't have any proof of that," VanDiver cut him off.
"And you don't have any - "
"Enough!" Rudzinski barked.
Aric broke off in midsentence. Rudzinski glared at him, then at VanDiver, and finally turned back to the elder Cavanagh. "In the first place," he said, his voice quiet again, "we wouldn't have any idea even where to start looking. Their exit vector was masked by the watchship static bomb, and without a baseline heat-dump profile for their hulls we can only make a guess as to how far they came. But that's not the crucial point. The crucial point is that if we go charging around out there playing blindman's buff, they're going to pick up on our tachyon wake-trails and follow the search parties straight back to the Commonwealth. And if there's anything certain about all this, it's that we're a long way from being ready to deal with a full-scale invasion."
So you're just going to abandon him. With an effort Aric kept his mouth shut. An insulting accusation like that wouldn't help solve anything; and besides, he knew it wasn't true. Rudzinski's primary responsibility was to defend the Commonwealth, and he couldn't put twenty-four worlds into unnecessary danger for a single man.
The elder Cavanagh put it into words first. "We understand, Admiral," he said, standing up and offering his hand. "I appreciate your time. And your honesty."
"I'm sorry I couldn't do more," Rudzinski said, gripping the proffered hand. He glanced at VanDiver - "And I presume I don't have to insult you by reminding you that everything we've said today comes under the Official Secrets Regulations."
"None of it will leave this room," the elder Cavanagh promised.
Rudzinski nodded. "The Marines outside will escort you to the exit. I wish I could do more."
"Thank you, Admiral," the other said softly. "I think you've done enough."
Across the room the door chimed softly. "Come in," Cavanagh called.
The panel slid open. "You wanted to see me, sir?" Quinn said.
"Yes." Cavanagh gestured to the chair beside his desk. "I need your professional opinion on something."
"Certainly," Quinn said, coming in and sitting down.
Cavanagh swiveled the desk plate around toward him. "Take a look. Tell me what you think."
He watched as Quinn's eyes flicked down the text. "Are you serious about this?"
"Very serious." Cavanagh cocked an eyebrow. "You don't seem surprised."
Quinn shrugged slightly. "Kolchin's call, not mine. Said you were practically broadcasting it on the drive back to the ship." He gestured to the plate. "But this isn't the way to do it."
"Why not?"
"Because freighters aren't designed for military activity," Quinn told him. "They're not warships, no matter how many missiles and particle cannon you cram into them. You send them out against our aliens out there, and they'll be cut to scrap."
"All right," Cavanagh said. "So how do we bring them up to fighting trim?"
Quinn shook his head. "We don't. It can't be done. Freighters don't maneuver well, they handle in gravity wells like helium-filled bricks, and their acceleration/mass ratio is a couple orders of magnitude lower than what you need for combat. And they're damn big targets."
Cavanagh grimaced. He'd sweated for nearly two hours trying to work up a halfway respectable task force from the ships and crews in the CavTronics merchant fleet Two wasted hours, apparently. "Let me put it this way: I'm going to go look for Pheylan. What can you do to give me a fighting chance?"
Quinn sighed. "Look, sir, I know how you feel. But this doesn't make any sense. You haven't got the weaponry or the experience. And you don't know where he is."
"We've got the vector they came in on," Cavanagh said. "I'll start with that."
"He may not even be alive, sir," Quinn said quietly. "Odds are he isn't."
Cavanagh looked away from him, toward the wall with the inset pictures of his children and his late wife. "Then at least I'll know that for certain," he told Quinn. "Either way, I'm going."
He could feel the other's eyes on him. "We can't do it with freighters," Quinn said at last. "We need warships. Six attack fighters - Axehead- or Adamant-class, if we can get them. Plus crews. Plus a stardrive-equipped fueler to carry them."
"Really," Cavanagh said, slightly taken aback by the sudden shift in attitude. "Where do you propose we get them?"
"We steal them, of course," Quinn said.
Cavanagh felt his mouth drop open. "You're not serious."
Quinn returned his gaze without flinching. "As serious as you are about going."
For a half-dozen heartbeats Cavanagh just stared at him. The man meant it, all right... and the challenge was now squarely on Cavanagh's side of the table. Just how far was he willing to go to find his son?
The door chimed, jolting into his thoughts. "Come in," he said, reaching over and swiveling the plate back around to face him.
"Dad." Aric nodded in greeting as he and Melinda walked into the room. "We interrupting anything?"
"Not really," he assured them. "How are you two doing?"
"We're holding up." Aric glanced at Melinda. "We wanted to talk to you about Pheylan."
Cavanagh glanced at Quinn, got a fractional shake of the head in return. "What about him?"
Aric's face changed; not much, but enough. He looked at Quinn, back at his father. "We were wondering if there was anything we could do to help get him back," he said, strolling behind Quinn and around the side of Cavanagh's desk. "Some kind of pressure we could bring to bear on Rudzinski or the Parliament."
"We don't know if he's even still alive," Cavanagh said, watching his son's all-too-casual approach. He'd picked up on the mood, all right, and he was aiming for a look at the plate. "But that's a good idea," he added, reaching over and blanking the screen. "Why don't you and Melinda go work up a list of Parlimins who owe me favors."
"Sure," Aric said, measuring his father with his eyes. "You want to tell us first what's going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, Dad," Aric said. "This is no time for playing games. You and Quinn are planning something. What is it?"
Cavanagh looked at Melinda. She was watching him, too, her expression firm and alert. He'd never noticed before how much there was of Sara in her face when she looked like that. "All right," he told them. "I'm going after Pheylan."
"I see." Aric looked at his sister. "When?"
"Wait a minute," Melinda said. "Personnel before timetable, Aric. You're not talking about going yourself, are you, Dad?"
"Yes, I am," Cavanagh said. "And I don't want to hear any arguments about it."
"Too bad," she said. "Because you're going to get some. This is not some little joyride out to - "
"Melinda." Aric held up his hand. "Let's hear it from the top first, okay? Dad?"
"There isn't much yet to tell," Cavanagh said, waving them both to chairs. He should have known that he couldn't keep this from them for very long. Though to be honest, he hadn't really wanted to. "I was planning to take four of our armed freighters and go look for him, but Quinn tells me that won't work. He thinks we ought to borrow some Peacekeeper attack fighters instead."
"Does he, now," Aric said, giving Quinn a long, speculative look. "And how does he intend to perform this interesting feat of prestidigitation? Especially in the middle of war preparations?"
"Actually, the mobilization will work in our favor," Quinn said. "A lot of Peacekeeper ships and personnel are being rushed back and forth across the Commonwealth right now. A couple extra transfer orders slipped into the stack will hardly be noticed."
"How many transfer orders are we talking about?" Aric asked.
"Not many," he said. "We'd need to get hold of a deep-space fueler and half a wing of Axeheads." He hesitated. "And one Copperhead fighter."
Cavanagh looked at Aric, saw his own surprise mirrored in his son's face. "I appreciate the offer, Quinn," he told his security chief. "But this is my responsibility. Mine and my family's. I'm not inviting you along."
"You don't have a choice," Quinn said bluntly. "You're going to need someone with military experience in command of those fighters - that's not even open to question. Don't worry, there should still be a few Counterpunches lying around that I can get my hands on." Cavanagh looked again at Aric, searching for something to say. Locating and getting hold of a Copperhead fighter hadn't been the part he was worried about, and both he and Quinn knew it. But finding a diplomatic way of putting it...
He was still searching when Melinda jumped into the gap. "I still want to know, Dad, when it was decided that you personally would be going on this trip."
"About two hours before you and Aric crashed the party," Cavanagh told her. "And it's not open to debate."
"Dad - "
"I said it's not open to debate, Melinda," Cavanagh repeated, putting some warning in his voice.
"Really," she said, not shriveling in the slightest under his glare. "I'd like to hear that from Quinn."
"Quinn has nothing to do with the decision."
"He most certainly does," she countered. "He's in charge of the expedition."
Cavanagh blinked at her. "Since when?"
"It's standard company policy, Dad," Aric put in. "You pick the right people for the job, then get out of their way. You told me that my first day."
Cavanagh shifted his glare to his son. He didn't shrivel, either. "Of all the things I've said to you over the years," he growled, "you had to remember that one. All right, Quinn, your turn. Let's hear your two cents' worth."
"Actually, sir, they're right," Quinn said. "You can't go."
Cavanagh tried the glare one last time, with the same results. "Why not?"
"To be perfectly honest, because you're too old," the other said. "The fighter pilots we get aren't going to go along with this unless they're convinced we're legitimate Peacekeeper officers. Fifty-seven-year-old men aren't generally in line-officer positions, and there's no reason why a senior officer would go on a search/rescue mission like this."
"We can find a reason."
"Not one that'll hold up long enough." Quinn looked at Melinda. "Unfortunately, Dr. Cavanagh, that also leaves you out."
Melinda frowned. "Why?"
"Because there aren't a lot of female attack fighter pilots or tail officers," he said. "Chances are good that whoever we get will know most or all of them, at least by name."
"Why can't I be a special envoy from Peacekeeper Command?" Melinda asked. "Or from Parliament? A specialist in captives or something?"
"Because I'd then have to explain why I'm flying a fighter without a tail," Quinn said. "This is going to be fragile enough without pushing things more than we have to."
Aric stirred in his chair. "Process of elimination," he said. "I guess that leaves me."
For a moment no one spoke. "I guess it does," Quinn agreed at last. "When do you want to leave?"
Aric's lip twitched. "The sooner the better, I suppose. What do we do first?"
"Head to Earth. I have an old associate at Peacekeeper Command who might be willing to put me onto a mothballed Counterpunch and some Axeheads that aren't doing anything."
"Okay," Aric said. "What about the deep-space fuel ship?"
"I can get that," Cavanagh said. "I know of a couple of older ones that have been decommissioned and converted to civilian use. I presume you'll be jumping off from Dorcas?"
"Right," Quinn said. "We'll need some other supplies, too - I'll make up a list. You can probably address them to me, care of the Dorcas Peacekeeper garrison."
"Or he could address them to me there," Melinda suggested. "I could go ahead and get everything set up. That way you'll be ready to go as soon as you get there with the fighters."
"That would save time," Quinn agreed, standing up. "All right, we'll do it that way. If you'll excuse me, I'll go get started on the supply list."
"Anything I can do to help?" Aric asked.
Quinn shook his head. "Just be ready to go when I am. I'll let you know."
He left. "Well," Melinda said into the sudden silence. "And to think all we came in to talk about was putting political pressure on Parliament."
Cavanagh nodded, studying his son and daughter and marveling once again at the wide range of personalities he and Sara had created together. Aric, quiet and thoughtful, master manipulator of words but about as nonphysical as it was possible to get. Pheylan, three years younger, forever struggling to escape Aric's prestigious scholastic reputation and spending as much time fighting with his brother as he did defending him from schoolyard bullies. Melinda, midway between them in both age and abilities, skilled in the exacting physical art of surgery but with a lot of Aric's ability to use words as weapons when she chose, often to her detriment.
Pheylan had left home to join the Peacekeepers. Melinda had gone away, too, to the less hazardous but no less nomadic career of surgical design consultant. Only Aric had opted for the safe and familiar life of his father's business.
And so, naturally, it was Aric whom he was sending out into the unknown.
Melinda stirred and got to her feet. "I think I'll go watch Quinn work up his list," she said. "Maybe I can get some orders placed before you leave. You'll say good-bye before you go, won't you?"
"Sure," Aric assured her. "See you later."
She smiled at her father and left. "So," Aric said, cocking an eyebrow. "I trust you're as impressed by the irony of all this as I am."
"You don't have to go, Aric," Cavanagh said. "We can still concoct some story as to why a fossil my age is out on a mission like this. Better yet, we could send Kolchin or Hill along."
Aric shook his head. "Like you said before, Dad, this is family business. Besides, we can't tell Hill or anyone else about this. VanDiver would have your head on a platter if we broke the Official Secrets Regulations."
"I'm willing to risk that."
"I'm not." Aric smiled tightly. "Besides, think of the look on Pheylan's face when he sees his stick-at-home brother coming out of the blue to rescue him." His smile faded. "More important, someone has to be there who can keep an eye on Quinn. And can order him to unplug from that fighter if things get awkward."
Cavanagh sighed. "Good luck on that one," he advised his son. "Quinn considers his security duties to extend to the family, not just the corporation. And he takes those responsibilities very seriously."
"Yes, well, even he ought to be willing to concede that his duties don't extend to damn-fool stunts like this," Aric said.
Cavanagh nodded, feeling his chest tightening. The enormity of what they were planning was beginning to sink in now... and with
it were coming the doubts and fears. They weren't just talking about skirting some outdated regulation here, or of pushing the edge of accepted business practice. This bordered on treason. "Aric - "
"We don't have any other choice, Dad," the other said softly. "Not if we want to get Pheylan back. You know it; I know it; Quinn and Melinda know it. In fact, I'd bet money that Admiral Rudzinski knows it. It's our family. Our risk."
"Except that we're hardly the only ones at risk anymore," Cavanagh reminded him soberly. "There are those six Axeheads of Quinn's, for starters. That's twelve men right there. But the real danger is the one Rudzinski brought up back in the meeting. If we lead the aliens back to the Commonwealth, we could be responsible for murdering millions of people."
"No," Aric said emphatically. "You can't take the blame for that one. We've got thousands of ships crisscrossing the Commonwealth every day, every one of them laying out a tachyon wake-trail. If the aliens really want to find us, they aren't going to need a fueler and half a dozen fighters to do it. As long as we're careful and spread a few static bombs judiciously around, that shouldn't be a real threat."
"I hope you're right," Cavanagh said.
"I hope so, too." Aric took a deep breath, exhaled it noisily. "Anyway. I'm glad we had this little talk, Dad. Better go to my cabin, I guess, and get ready to go."
"You'll say good-bye before you and Quinn leave, won't you?"
"Melinda would kill me if I didn't," Aric said wryly. "Don't worry, I will."
He stepped to the door... and paused. "By the way," he said over his shoulder, his voice sounding odd. "Did you notice what VanDiver called them today?"
"Yes," Cavanagh said. "He called them the Conquerors."
Aric nodded. "Sounds like someone's been taking that Mrach legend seriously."
"Legends often have a basis in fact."
"Yes. Might be worth sending someone out to Mrach territory to look into that. Well... see you later."
The door opened and closed behind him. "Yes, indeed," Cavanagh murmured to the empty room. "It might be worthwhile, at that."
For a moment he sat there, listening to the background hum of his ship. Then, stirring, he turned on his plate again. He had a fueler to locate and arrange purchase for. After that he would have Quinn's list of supplies to order.