Desjani had been following the conversation silently, but now looked toward Rione. “If we had some automated warships, we could expend some of those on the mission without the risk of losing personnel. But we have none of those.”
Geary frowned, sensing from the expressions on Desjani’s and Rione’s faces that the statement had considerable history behind it. “Has that been proposed? Building fully automated warships?”
“It has been proposed,” Rione responded dryly.
Captain Desjani’s expression hardened. “In the opinion of many officers, we would gain great advantages in situations such as this if the construction of uncrewed ships controlled by artificial intelligences would be approved.”
Rione met Desjani look for look. “Then I’m afraid those officers are doomed to disappointment. One of my final acts before departing Alliance space with this fleet was participating in an Alliance Assembly vote regarding such a program. It was overwhelmingly defeated. The civil leadership of the Alliance is not willing to entrust weapons and weapons employment decisions to artificial intelligences, especially when those AIs are to be given control of warships capable of inflicting great harm on inhabited worlds.”
Desjani flushed. “If oversight AIs were also installed—”
“They’d be subject to the same potential failures, instabilities, and unpredictable behavioral development.”
“Install an override!”
Rione shook her head implacably. “Any AI capable of controlling a warship would also be capable of learning how to bypass an override. And what if our enemies learned to access this override through experimentation or espionage? I’ve no wish to give them control of warships we’ve built. No, Captain, we don’t believe we can trust AIs to operate independently. I assure you the Assembly is in no mood to bend on this point. Not now, and not at any point in the foreseeable future.”
Desjani, glowering, made a barely respectful nod and turned back to her display.
“Anyway,” Geary continued, pretending the argument hadn’t happened, “now that we’ve taken out the Syndic naval forces in the system, I’m going to threaten the inhabited world into sending us some cargo ships full of stuff we need. Food, mostly. Maybe some power cells, if we can adapt some of the Syndic stuff to work with ours.”
A officer with gray-streaked hair to Geary’s right shook his head. “We can’t, sir. They’re deliberately designed to be noncompatible. Just like their weapons. But if we can get the right raw materials, Titan and Jinn can manufacture more weapons. Titan can also build more power cells, and so can Witch. ““Thank you.” Geary tried to look as appreciative as he actually felt for the quick and to-the-point briefing. “Can those ships tell me what they need?”
“We’ve got the information onboard Dauntless, sir. Assuming their last updates to us are accurate, of course.”
“You’re supply?”
The gray-haired man saluted awkwardly, as if the gesture were long unused. “Engineering, sir.”
“I want you to make sure we know what the highest priorities are for each of those ships.”
“Yes, sir!” the man beamed, apparently honored at being given a task by Geary.
Geary turned to Desjani. “At least that way I’ll be sure to demand the right tribute from the Syndics in this system.”
Co-President Rione stood up and took a couple of steps to lean near Geary and murmur just loud enough for Geary and Desjani to hear. “By so making your demands, Captain Geary, you’ll also be telling the Syndics exactly what your greatest needs are.”
Desjani made a face. Geary thought she looked unhappy, too, but had to admit Rione was right. “Any suggestions?” he murmured back.
“Yes. Include some misleading demands. The Syndics will not know which demands represent real needs for us and which are luxury items, for want of a better term.”
“Good idea.” Geary gave her a lopsided grin. “Would you by any chance also have any suggestions as to who should present our demands to the authorities here?”
“Are you drafting me, Captain Geary?”
“I wouldn’t want to say that, Madam Co-President. But you do have the necessary skills, and it’d be nice if you agreed to volunteer before I gave you the job.”
“I’ll consider it.” Rione nodded toward Geary’s display again. “I understand most of what’s happening now, but not that activity around the surrendered corvette.”
“It’s being stripped for any useful parts,” Geary assured her. He focused on the information himself, then frowned and studied it closer. He gave Desjani a questioning glance, but she indicated she didn’t see anything odd, which also bothered Geary. He reached for his communications controls. “Audacious, why are all the survival pods from the Syndic corvette enroute to you?”
The other ship wasn’t far away, so the reply came so quickly that it almost seemed real time. “There are materials on the Syndic survival pods we can cannibalize, sir. Emergency life support and emergency rations, mostly.”
“Do you intend leaving the corvette intact?” Not that it was all that much of a threat, but Geary hadn’t intended leaving any enemy warship in functional condition behind them, regardless of whether or not its combat systems had been trashed.
“No, sir.” Audacious replied. “The corvette will be destroyed by triggering a power core overload after we’ve finished stripping it.”
Geary waited, but when Audacious said nothing more, he tapped his communications key again. “Audacious, how do you intend disposing of the corvette’s crew?” He didn’t want to have to divert a ship to deliver prisoners to a planet’s surface or some other safe location.
“They’re on the corvette, sir.” The voice from Audacious sounded surprised at the question.
Once more, Geary waited a moment for Audacious to finish replying to his question. He was moving to tap the communications key again when he suddenly realized with a growing sense of horror that the other ship had finished answering him. “How do you intend disposing of the crew?” “They’re on the corvette, sir.” The corvette that was going to be destroyed by its own power core.
Geary looked down at his hand, the finger still poised over the communications key, and saw that his lower arm was trembling. He wondered how much of the rest of him was reacting to the shock of what he’d realized. They’re going to simply blow up the prisoners with their own ship. Ancestors, what’s become of my people? He looked over at Captain Desjani, who was talking with one of the Dauntless’s watch-standers and seemed unconcerned about Geary’s conversation with Audacious. Rione was apparently seated behind him once again, out of his sight.
Geary closed his eyes, trying to order his thoughts, then slowly opened them again and finally, moving his finger with great care, keyed communications. “Audacious, this is Captain Geary.” You’re about to commit mass murder, you bastards. “Return the survival pods to the Syndic corvette.”
A few seconds passed. “Sir?” Audacious asked. “You want the survival pods destroyed, too? We could use some of their components.”
Geary stared straight ahead and spoke with a flat voice. “What I want, Audacious, is for the crew of that corvette to be allowed to evacuate that ship in their survival pods prior to the destruction of the corvette so they can reach safety. Is that absolutely clear?”
A longer pause. “We’re supposed to let them go?” The captain of the Audacious sounded incredulous.
Geary noticed Captain Desjani was staring at him now. Ignoring her, he spoke again, letting each word fall slowly and heavily like falling hammers. “That’s correct. The Alliance fleet does not murder prisoners. The Alliance fleet does not violate the laws of war.”
“But … but … we’ve—”
Captain Desjani was leaning toward him, whispering urgently. “The Syndics—”
Geary’s control snapped. “I don’t care what’s been done before!” he roared at both the communications circuit and the bridge of the Dauntless. “I don’t care what our enemie
s do! I will not allow any prisoners to be massacred by any ship under my command! I will not allow this fleet and the Alliance and the ancestors of all aboard these ships to be dishonored by war crimes committed under the all-seeing eyes of the living stars! We are sailors of the Alliance, and we will hold ourselves to the standards of honor our ancestors believed in! Are there any further questions?”
Silence reigned. Captain Desjani was staring at him, her face frozen, her eyes reflecting shock. Finally, Audacious replied, her Captain’s voice hushed. “The survival pods are on their way back to the corvette, Captain Geary.”
Geary struggled to control his voice. “Thank you.”
“If you wish my resignation—”
“No.” It had been several days since the last wave of weakness had hit him, but one seemed to have come on now, and Geary tried to fight it off without resorting to a med-patch. “I don’t know everything that has led to this. I have every reason to believe you were carrying out your duties as you understood them. But I must emphasize that whatever violations of the laws of war that took place before this must stop. We are the Alliance. We have honor. If we hold to that, we will win. If we don’t hold to it … we don’t deserve to win.”
“Yes, sir.” It was hard to tell from the voice of the Captain of Audacious what he thought of what Geary had said, but at least he was doing what he was told.
Geary slumped in his chair, feeling as if in the last several minutes he’d aged the century he’d slept through. Captain Desjani was staring at the deck, her face troubled. She’s a good officer. Like the Captain of the Audacious. Just misguided. Somewhere along the line a lot of important things got set adrift. “Captain Desjani—”
“Sir.” Desjani swallowed and shook her head. “Forgive me for interrupting you, sir, but while you were speaking to Audacious, the Marines reported they have taken the Syndic base and are conducting mop-up operations.”
“Thank you, Captain Desjani. I wanted to say—”
“Sir. The Marines have taken prisoners of most of the garrison of the base.”
Geary nodded, trying to understand why Desjani kept interrupting him.
“The rest of the fleet heard what you told Audacious. However, the Marines would not have been monitoring the communications circuit you used with Audacious.”
Then he got it. Prisoners. Lots of them. And Captain Desjani, whether she agreed with Geary or not, was going to keep interrupting him until he realized what might well be going on at that base. “Get me Colonel Carabali.”
“She’s out of communications for some reason, sir, but we have an audio and video feed from the ground force command-and-control net.”
“Give me a link to that!” His display blinked, and the three-dimensional projection of ships and the Corvus Star System was replaced by a panel made up of at least thirty individual pictures ranked side by side and in vertical columns. It took Geary a moment to realize he was looking at video depictions from what were probably each squad leader in the Marine assault force. He reached forward as if to touch one, and the image expanded, pushing the other images to the side. Geary touched another, and it and the first image adjusted so both were the same size, the other small images ranked around their borders ready for access. Wow. That’s a pretty neat toy. I wonder how many commanders have played with it while they lost track of the big picture?
Geary scanned his eyes across the images, searching for signs of prisoners or any obvious indication that one of the images represented a link to the commander of the assault force. His eyes paused on one image, watching the metal of a corridor wall warp as something firing large solid slugs punched numerous holes in it. Symbols flowed across the image, he saw an arm gesturing within the view, then he could see Marines dashing forward, looking inhuman in their combat armor. Two fired some sort of barrage in the direction from which the shots that hit the wall had come, then a third leveled a large tube and fired it.
The view shook. Marines dashed forward, the image Geary was viewing jerking as the Marine broadcasting it ran with the others. Around the corner and down a long corridor with some sort of security station at the end. Geary, expecting to see mass devastation from whatever weapon had been fired from the large tube, instead saw only bodies sprawled about in armor different from that of the Marines. A concussion weapon? I guess the Marines used that because of their orders to limit collateral damage to the installation. That might mean those Syndic soldiers are still alive.
The thought brought Geary’s mind forcefully back to his current mission. He searched the images again, finally noticing one scanning across some sort of large room or hanger with a big crowd of people in it. He touched the image, and it grew. That’s it. Those are Syndics. “Captain Desjani, how do I talk to someone using this?”
She indicated a communications symbol at the bottom of the image. “Just touch that.”
“Have you reached Colonel Carabali yet?”
“No, sir.”
Then I’ll have to bypass her. Geary touched the symbol. “This is Captain Geary.”
The image jerked once. “Yes, sir.”
“Who’s this?”
“Major Jalo, sir. Second-in-command for the landing force. Colonel Carabali ordered me to oversee mop-up operations to secure the main installation while she checked for any pockets of resistance in outlying areas.”
“Are these all the Syndic prisoners?”
“Not yet, sir. The mop-up sweeps are bringing in some final holdouts.”
“What…” How do I ask this? “What are Colonel Carabali’s orders regarding the prisoners?”
“I haven’t received orders on final disposition, sir. Standard procedure is to turn the prisoners over to the fleet.”
That’s interesting. Do the Marines know what happens to prisoners? Or do they pretend everything’s okay to keep their consciences clear? Geary was about to ask another question when the view in his image jerked again. Everyone visible within the image swayed on their feet. “What was that?”
Major Jalo’s voice came faster, hyped and ready for action. “Some sort of heavy explosion, sir. There’s another,” Jalo added unnecessarily as the image jerked again. “Somebody’s hitting the area with heavy ordnance.”
Heavy ordnance? The Marines have already taken the surface around the base, and the ships overhead have taken out the anti-space defenses. Ancestors. The ships overhead. “Captain Desjani! Are any of the ships positioned near the Syndic base firing?”
He watched the image from Major Jalo dance a few more times as Desjani answered. “Arrogant is firing upon an area near the base, Captain Geary. I don’t know what the target is.”
“Hold those prisoners until you get further orders from me,” Geary barked at Major Jalo, then he leaned back and scowled at the array of images. “How do I get the fleet display back?”
Desjani reached over and tapped a control. There was the representation of Corvus System, with the ships of Geary’s fleet spread all over the place. He fumbled at the communications key for a moment, fuming inwardly. “Arrogant! Identify the target you’re firing upon!” Geary waited, his temper rising, as no reply came and Arrogant continued to pound the surface near the Syndic base. “Arrogant, this is Captain Geary. Cease fire. I say again. Cease fire.”
The other ship was only a few light-seconds away, but a full minute passed with no response. Geary counted to five inwardly, thinking through his options. “Captain Desjani. Exemplar and Braveheart. Which has the best commander?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Exemplar, sir. Commander Basir.”
“Thank you.” Geary tapped the communications key. “Commander Basir on Exemplar, do you copy?”
“Yes, sir,” the reply came within less than a half minute.
“Can you identify the target being fired upon by Arrogant?”
A longer pause this time. “No, sir.”
“Have you, Braveheart, or Arrogant received requests from the Marines to fire upon any targets on the surface?”
>
“No, sir. Not Exemplar, and I overheard no requests to Braveheart or Arrogant on the coordination net with the Marines.”
I don’t know what that idiot on Arrogant is doing, but if that ship keeps throwing heavy weaponry at the surface, she’s liable to hurt our own Marines, not to mention damaging supplies at the base. And now I know for certain that Arrogant’s not responding to any threat to her or the Marines. “Thank you, Exemplar.”
Geary glared around at the personnel on the bridge of the Dauntless. “Can I control Arrogant’s weapons? Do we have a way to remotely override local control?”
Everyone shook their heads, but only Captain Desjani spoke. “No, sir. As previously discussed,” she added, somehow glowering toward Rione without actually looking that way, “it is believed that allowing ship systems to be controlled remotely opens up vulnerabilities that can be exploited by the enemy.”
Rione’s voice came. “Enemy intrusion into the remote command systems, avenues for delivering disabling viruses—”
“And a lot of other things that good emissions warfare can do even if it isn’t supplemented by espionage. Thank you, I know. I spent a moment hoping someone’d found a way around all that during the last century.” Geary bared his teeth as a thought came to him. “But I do have one thing on Arrogant that I can control.”
Desjani raised one eyebrow in question.
“Arrogant’s got Marines on board, right?”
She nodded.
Geary tapped his communications control. “Arrogant, this is Captain Geary. You are endangering our personnel on the surface. You will cease fire immediately, or I will relieve your commanding officer of command and give direct orders to the Marine detachment aboard Arrogant to place that individual under arrest. I will not repeat my order again.”
Even though he was royally ticked off at the moment, Geary couldn’t help wondering how the fleet would take that kind of ultimatum. But Captain Desjani seemed grimly pleased. Apparently Arrogant’s commanding officer wasn’t popular with her, at least.
“Arrogant has ceased fire,” Desjani reported a few seconds later in a carefully bland voice.
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