The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian

by Jack Campbell

  Geary laughed. “I might be able to think of some who would benefit from that sort of thing. If the opportunity arises, would you be open to being invited to return to work with the Dancers?”

  “Admiral, if you arrange such an invitation I will be here so fast that even the hypernet will look slow by comparison.” Shwartz hesitated. “Admiral, I really don’t know how to thank you. You found them. You found three intelligent, nonhuman species, and even though only one of those will speak to us, you still found all of them.”

  “We all found them. I’m just glad we survived the experience.”

  After the shuttle docked, the corpsmen raced off with the stretcher while Rione watched them go with a blank expression.

  Dr. Shwartz ambled away, waving farewell and looking around like a tourist as she went.

  Admiral Lagemann saluted Geary, then grabbed his hand. “Thank the living stars, I’m home. And thank you. A rescue, an astounding adventure, and a final command that no one else can match. I hope to see you and your, uh, Captain Desjani again.”

  “We’ll look forward to it, Admiral,” Desjani said. As Lagemann left, she looked at Geary. “You’re welcome. I figured you could use some more pleasant diversion on the ride than worrying about politics.”

  “And, as always, you were right. Here comes our escort.”

  This time there were no armed soldiers threatening to arrest Geary, just some military police handling crowd control to keep a quickly gathering mass of people from swamping the area as they sought to meet and see Black Jack. From the happy buzz of conversation, Black Jack’s stock was still pretty high among the residents of Ambaru station.

  “Admiral, Captain, Madam Emissary,” Admiral Timbale greeted them. “I was delayed seeing to the arrangements for the delegation from the grand council. I’m to bring you to them right away. Ah, that is, I’m to take Admiral Geary.”

  “I received a late invitation,” Rione said. “Someone realized that they might want to have someone else present who has conversed extensively with the Dancers. I recommended Emissary Charban come as well, but that suggestion was vetoed.”

  “I never get to go to these meetings,” Desjani said. “But I’m sure I’m happier as a result.”

  Timbale grinned and gestured to them to accompany him as he began walking down a passageway cleared of other traffic. “Have you seen the news?” he asked.

  “I’ve been trying to avoid it,” Geary admitted.

  “Understandable. But you need to know what’s going on before you end up in front of the grand council.” Timbale exhaled heavily, gazing upward. “Here’s what they’ve been seeing. Cute aliens. Really cute aliens. We killed them. A lot of them. Ugly aliens. Really ugly aliens. We brought them home with us.”

  Desjani hissed in exasperation. “Do they know that the really ugly aliens helped us kill the really cute aliens?”

  “Thank the living stars, no. Even though the records of your encounters with the Kicks have been highly classified by the government, somehow detailed accounts of how hard you tried to communicate with them and avoid bloodshed have been leaked to the press.”

  “Somehow?” Geary asked.

  Timbale shrugged in reply, doing his best to look innocent. “The upshot is that people all around the Alliance are confused. Did Black Jack do the right thing? Or did his heavy-handed missteps cause another war? Many of the academic experts you had along are hinting broadly that if you had just listened to them in particular, then all would have been well.”

  “What are they saying about the enigmas?”

  “Hurrah! Black Jack rescued humans from the enigmas! Also highly classified by the government, also mysteriously leaked to the press.” Timbale scratched his nose thoughtfully. “I’m pretty certain that leak came out at Unity. Someone in the government is either your friend or playing their own games that happened to benefit you that time. Otherwise, the enigmas remain, well, enigmas, but the second attack on human space and the attempt by an alien race to bombard a human-occupied planet from space have aroused vast indignation.”

  Geary shook his head in wonderment. “It’s okay if we bomb human planets but aliens can’t do it?”

  “You have to keep things like that in the family,” Timbale advised mockingly. “Oh, the ugly aliens. Public opinion was very much against them, but—”

  “Mysteriously,” Desjani guessed, “the information was leaked that they had prevented a bombardment of a human planet?”

  “Very mysteriously,” Timbale agreed. “The Syndics. Everything you ran into in Syndic space has been classified above and beyond top secret, but . . .

  “You’ve got a lot of leaks on this space station.”

  “No one can prove any of them came from here.” Timbale eyed Geary. “You do realize how much of a role good press relations have played for the last few decades in promotions to the highest rank? No? I won’t burden you with that information, then. There have also been leaks with no basis in your reporting. A big story claims that you received direct communications from the lights while in jump space. There are all kinds of variations of that story circulating. The lights led you to the Kicks and the Dancers. The lights told you what to do. The lights told you to save the Alliance again—”

  “Save the Alliance again?” Geary demanded. “From what?”

  “If you had been reading the news, you could guess some of the possible answers to that question.” Timbale grinned crookedly. “The rather large number of VIP former prisoners you brought back have helped keep things confused. And the six thousand other liberated prisoners were a real shot in the arm for the government, an accomplishment it can claim credit for.”

  His smile slipped. “The bottom line is there’s a vast amount of uncertainty. Three alien races, and one wants to talk with us. No one wants to start fighting the Syndics again, but the Syndics are taking advantage of that. Your intentions are still critically important and just as subject to interpretation as ever. Your fleet got shot to hell, but you won some important fights. That reminds me. How are you paying for all of this repair work? I haven’t heard a single squawk from the budget bean counters.”

  “We’re effectively utilizing all available resources,” Geary said.

  “Ha! The less I know about that the better. Oh, one bit of good news. Nothing has leaked so far about those freighters from Midway and the role of Captain Bradamont except the official and acceptable-to-almost-everyone reports that Syndic ships came to take some Syndic prisoners off our hands. I don’t think anyone who knows more has figured out how to use the information.” They had reached a high-security hatch. Admiral Timbale pointed inside. “Good luck.”

  “Tanya, will you keep an eye on things out here while I’m in there?” Geary asked.

  “Why did you think you needed to ask?” Desjani saluted. “Tell them you want a day off.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  The delegation of the grand council once again awaited him and Rione from seats behind a long table. Geary recognized some of the faces but not others. He was glad to see Senator Navarro among them and cautiously optimistic at the sight of Senator Sakai. Balanced against them were Senator Suva, who had never made any attempt to hide her distrust of Geary and the fleet, and Senator Costa, who rarely bothered to hide her contempt for Senator Suva or her willingness to do anything she thought necessary. Geary wondered if Costa, who had once pushed for Admiral Bloch to command the fleet despite knowing (or perhaps because she knew) that Bloch was considering a military coup, had been in contact with Bloch since the Syndics had returned him in hopes of further destabilizing the tottering Alliance government.

  “Why is she here?” Senator Suva demanded, pointing at Rione, before any greetings could be exchanged.

  Navarro gave Suva a sharp look. “Among other reasons, because Victoria Rione was appointed an emissary of the Alliance government during Admiral Geary’s mission.”

  “That was when the Callas Republic was part of the Alliance,” Suva said. �
�Since we heard just before leaving Unity that the Callas Republic has formally requested to leave the Alliance, a request which must be automatically granted under the terms by which the Republic joined the Alliance, this Rione is no longer a citizen of the Alliance.”

  All eyes went to Rione, whom Geary had spotted flinching slightly at the news of the Callas Republic’s intentions. But Rione maintained a bland expression, raising one hand as if asking for the attention she already had. “In that case, I should like to request that the grand council grant me asylum.”

  The resulting silence lasted until Navarro, obviously trying not to smile, spoke. “You wish to become a legal resident of the Alliance? That might be classified as refugee status.”

  “Or defection,” Senator Costa remarked. She didn’t seem amused at all. “Or treason against the Callas Republic.”

  “The warships of the Callas Republic,” Geary interjected, trying not to get angry so soon into the meeting, “fought loyally and well for the Alliance. Even if the Callas Republic is not formally part of the Alliance any longer, I still consider them friends and hope they think of us in the same way.”

  “Why then did you send those ships away?” brusquely demanded a short, thin senator whom Geary did not recognize.

  “They needed repairs, which the Callas Republic should provide, and they deserved some time at home after so much time away and so many sacrifices,” Geary said. Expecting to be asked that question, he had gone over his response quite a bit to try to get it right.

  “Senator Wilkes,” Sakai said to the small senator before he could speak again, “we must focus on the issue at hand. As to the matter of Emissary Rione, I would point out that she was invited to this meeting as the person who can tell us the most about the aliens known as the Dancers since she is the person who has had the most interaction with them.”

  “The Alliance,” Navarro added pointedly, “needs that person.”

  Suva, clearly unhappy, turned her attention to Geary. “We’ve read your report. You were sent on a mission of exploration.”

  “That is what I did, Senator,” Geary replied.

  “You started two more wars!” Senator Wilkes said. “You were sent to explore and learn, but you started two more wars.” He paused as if waiting for applause.

  Senator Navarro grimaced. “The record is pretty clear that the enigmas have been fighting humanity since long before we knew they existed. Admiral Geary didn’t start anything with them. From the official reports, he in fact tried to stop further fighting and negotiate with the enigmas.”

  “Those records are from the Syndics, Senator.”

  “Not the records from our ships, Senator. They show us trying to talk, trying to resolve things, and the enigmas persisting in attacking.”

  “Even if the enigmas would not speak with us,” Senator Suva said, “and given the probable actions of the Syndics and provocative actions by our own forces—”

  “Provocative actions?” Senator Costa asked. Geary had learned enough to know that Costa was not so much defending him as reflexively attacking Suva.

  “We entered space occupied by them without permission—” Suva plowed on.

  “Didn’t you push for Admiral Geary’s fleet to be given that exact mission?” Costa needled.

  Geary wondered whether anyone would notice if he got up and left the room. The senators were all locked in verbal combat now, each shouting over the others.

  “I really didn’t miss this,” Rione commented. She rested her right elbow on the palm of her left hand, lowered her chin into her right hand, and closed her eyes. “Wake me up when they’re done.”

  “You can sleep through this?”

  “It beats staying awake through it.”

  A sudden lack of noise caught Geary’s attention. He looked toward the table, where the various senators were all glaring at each other but no longer yelling. Senator Sakai, standing, was looking down at the seated senators with an expression that as usual revealed little but this time somehow conveyed disapproval. “Was there a question for Admiral Geary?” Sakai asked as he sat down again.

  Wilkes spoke up first, chastened but still aggressive. “We are now at war with two other species. I trust no one will argue that? Why was our first encounter with the bov-ursoids a deadly battle?”

  “Bov-ursoids?” Geary asked. “You mean the Kicks?”

  “That is an insulting term. I will not tolerate its use here.”

  Costa laughed harshly. “No one cares whether your feelings are bruised by the nickname given to that maniacal species.”

  Another verbal riot seemed about to erupt, only to be quelled when Sakai bent cold looks down each side of the table.

  Geary glanced at Rione as he began speaking again. “We did everything we could to try to communicate with them. The first thing they did was attack us the instant they saw us. We took the actions necessary to defend ourselves. We kept trying to talk with them as long as we were in their star system. They never responded in any way except with further attacks.”

  “You all saw the reports,” Rione added in a matter-of-fact voice. “They attacked us, they pursued us, they continued the pursuit into another star system; even when facing certain defeat and death, they would not communicate with us, preferring suicide. You cannot talk to those who refuse to reply with anything other than further attempts to kill you.”

  “Perhaps they were frightened of us!” Wilkes insisted.

  “Perhaps they were. They may well have had what were for them excellent reasons for not communicating with us and fighting us to the death,” Rione said. “However, I did not feel any obligation to die simply because they thought they had a good reason to kill us.”

  “If you had not barged into their star system with all weapons blazing—”

  “We did not fire first,” Geary said.

  “Admiral,” Senator Navarro said, “did you enter, where was it, Honor Star System, in the same fashion as you did the enigma and uh, other alien species star systems that you visited?”

  “Yes, Senator. In a defensive formation.”

  “And at Honor, the representatives of the Dancers there welcomed you.”

  “They helped our fleet there!” Senator Costa declared triumphantly.

  “But . . .” another senator began, “these Dancers. They’re . . .”

  Costa kept grinning. “What’s the matter, Tsen? Would saying they’re ugly as sin be politically incorrect?”

  “We cannot judge them by appearances!”

  “But you are doing just that, aren’t you? And it’s tearing you apart, isn’t it?”

  “Senator Costa,” a tall, dark woman said wearily, “you might win more converts if you didn’t take such obvious joy in ripping your opponents’ arms off and beating them with the bloody stumps.”

  “I have a statement to make!” Senator Suva insisted.

  “We’ve hardly asked any questions, Senator,” the dark woman said. “Could we break with long-standing precedent and actually learn something about a subject before we make statements about it?”

  “Senator Unruh has a point,” Navarro said.

  Wilkes erupted again before anyone else could, pointing at Geary. “Why did you turn over every human liberated from the enigmas to the Syndics?” The senator’s tone was accusing, making the words sound as if a capital murder charge were being leveled against Geary.

  Geary did his best not to sound defensive. “They were all citizens of the Syndicate Worlds.”

  “They could have provided us with critical information about the enigmas!”

  “They knew nothing about the enigmas!” Geary controlled his anger before saying more. “Absolutely nothing. If you read my report—”

  “You gave away—”

  “I am NOT finished answering you, sir!” Everyone was staring at him. Fine. Let them stare. He had been through too much to put up with this. “Before you question me, read the available information so you know what you’re talking about. Then pe
rmit me to answer you in full without interruption. Every one of those humans we liberated from the enigma prison asteroid was a citizen of the Syndicate Worlds. I had no right to hold them against their will. None of them knew anything about the enigmas. None had ever seen an enigma, or spoken with one, or even seen any of their artifacts. They knew far less than we did even before the First Fleet entered enigma space. But the most important factor in my decision was that I had no right to hold them. They were free to make their own decisions about their fates.”

  Navarro spoke with an unusual level of sarcasm. “Are we to condemn Admiral Geary for acting in accordance with Alliance law? With Alliance principles?”

  “Since you brought up Alliance law,” Senator Costa said, “and the subject of leaving people with the Syndics has already been raised, I wonder if the Admiral would care to explain leaving one of his senior officers in the custody of the Syndics?”

  “One of my officers?” Geary asked. “We lost far too many officers in combat, and most of those received honorable burials in space. The only living officer who did not accompany the fleet home was Captain Bradamont. She has been assigned as liaison officer for the Alliance to the Midway Star System.”

  “Who approved leaving a liaison officer at Midway, Admiral?” Senator Costa asked, her voice harsh.

  “I wrote the orders,” Geary said in his blandest voice. “The idea was mine.” That was the official story he and Rione had agreed upon, and he was going to stick to it. One or more of the senators he was facing might have been among those planning on blackmailing Bradamont over her work for Alliance intelligence during the war. “Naturally, I first gained approval from the representatives of the government who accompanied the fleet.”

  “That would be me, and Emissary Charban,” Rione said brightly.

  “Your instructions as emissaries—” Costa began.

  “Granted us full discretion,” Rione finished. “Instructions approved by the grand council as a whole, I might add.”