Valiant tlf-4

by Jack Campbell

  “How kind of her,” Desjani muttered, her face definitely showing anger now.

  If only there was a way to know for certain. And Geary realized there was such a way. “I’m going to see if she’s willing to be asked about this matter while in one of the interrogation rooms.”

  Desjani looked startled. “You intend ordering a senior civilian elected official of the Alliance to submit to interrogation by military-intelligence personnel?”

  “No, I intend asking her to do so.” He stood up, feeling something sour in the back of his throat. “If she’s truly crazy enough to plot murder, that request should send her clawing for my throat. But if she agrees, it can clear her.” Desjani looked troubled and disapproving as she stood as well. “I don’t believe that she’s a danger to me.” Not right now, anyway. “Or to this fleet.”

  “With all due respect, sir, you can’t afford to let misplaced loyalty or lingering personal feelings get in the way of a detached assessment of the danger any individual might pose to you or this fleet.”

  He felt a little angry himself now, but then he didn’t really have any right to since he had let himself get involved with Rione. “My loyalty to Rione as an individual doesn’t come close to being as strong as my duty to this fleet and the Alliance. And there are no lingering personal feelings.” Desjani somehow conveyed disagreement without saying or doing anything. “Give me some credit for being able to make that kind of judgment.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’m going to follow up on this. I’m not discounting your information or your assessment.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Dammit, Tanya—”

  “Yes, sir. It’s your decision.”

  He considered possible responses, most of which would be unfair or unprofessional or simply unwise. “Thank you.”

  “Then I will carry out my own orders, sir. I’ll have the message you requested ready as soon as possible, sir.”

  He wanted to yell at her, but she was being perfectly professional and proper. “Thank you,” Geary repeated, letting his aggravation show. As Desjani left, her back either at attention or just stiff, Geary spent a moment contemplating the unfairness of having to deal with relationship problems with a woman he couldn’t have a relationship with.

  Victoria Rione didn’t go for his throat, but she did seem to be thinking about doing that. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking?” He hadn’t heard her voice that icy for a long time. “Do you actually believe that I would imperil this fleet by having anything to do with the worms you found?”

  “Why do you have unrestricted access to Captain Desjani’s stateroom?” Geary asked bluntly. “The settings were altered recently, without Captain Desjani’s knowledge.”

  “I have no idea!” Rione seemed on the verge of shouting with anger. “Perhaps she—”

  “My stateroom security settings were also altered to allow you free access again.”

  Rione choked off her next words and stared at him. “Damning. Definitely damning. Do you think I’d be stupid enough to do something that so obviously pointed to me, Captain Geary?”

  “No,” he replied. “I’ve been thinking about it, and if you could’ve changed those settings, you could have also made up some false identity and allowed it access. You’re too smart to have generated such clear evidence of guilt against yourself. But I want it undeniably known that you’re not involved.”

  She gazed back at him for a while before answering. “Because the other fleet officers would be willing to believe the worst of me. A politician.”

  “I fear so. That’s why this was done, I’m sure. To discredit you, as a political representative of the Alliance, and to deny me your counsel.”

  Rione finally relaxed slightly, running her hands through her hair. “Very good. I have taught you a few things. Do you really want the intelligence personnel involved in this, though?”

  “Yes. I need them to certify to others that you told the truth, and I need them to help us deal with these problems. Traitors and aliens. Both groups have stepped up their attacks on this fleet, and that means we need to ensure that some other people know what we’re dealing with.”

  Rione spent a moment thinking, then nodded and began walking toward the intelligence area as Geary called ahead to alert the personnel.

  When they reached the high-security hatch at the entry to the intelligence area, Lieutenant Iger was waiting, his uniform showing signs of hasty dressing and his expression worried at this very-early-morning summoning. As Geary and Rione walked up to him, Captain Desjani and the systems-security lieutenant commander came hastening from the other direction, Desjani offering Geary a data pad, her face as emotionless as Rione’s.

  He read the alert quickly, then added a further order: All indications are that this sabotage was carried out by someone within this fleet. All personnel with any knowledge of the matter should contact the flagship as soon as possible. It is critical that those responsible for attempting the destruction of at least two of our own ships and the deaths of their crews be found before they try to commit further treason against the Alliance and their comrades in this fleet.

  Desjani read the addition and nodded her approval wordlessly. Geary hesitated, then offered it to Lieutenant Iger to read. The intelligence officer skimmed the message quickly, his face reflecting shock as he took it in. Then Geary tapped the approve button and the message went out. Within moments, the commanding officers of every other ship in the fleet would be getting roused from sleep with very unwelcome news. Geary couldn’t help wondering how many of them would secretly be distressed not by the sabotage but by its discovery. “Thank you, Captain Desjani.”

  “Yes, sir.” Desjani’s eyes swept over Rione, then settled back on Geary. “Is there anything else, sir?”

  Yes. Stop being so damned cold and formal. “We’ll have a fleet conference in a few hours.”

  “Yes, sir.” She saluted rigidly and left with her systems-security officer.

  Geary turned back to Rione and gave her a momentary glare, seeing the amusement Rione couldn’t quite hide as she watched Desjani’s still-stiff-backed departure. “Lieutenant Iger, we need an interrogation room.”

  Iger’s lingering shock changed to surprise. “You already have a suspect, sir?”

  “We have someone who will likely be identified as a suspect, Lieutenant. I don’t think she’s actually involved, but evidence was planted implicating her so she’s agreed to answer any questions in a controlled interrogation environment.”

  Lieutenant Iger nodded, his puzzlement still there, then his eyes shifted to Rione and widened in renewed shock. “M-madam Co-President?”

  “Let’s get it over with,” Rione ordered.

  Looking very much out of his depth, Iger led them into the intelligence spaces, past more high-security hatches and the enlisted intelligence personnel standing watch at this hour, who eyed the unusual procession with ill-concealed concern. A chief petty officer came up to Iger to see if he needed help and was waved off.

  Iger sealed the hatch leading to the interrogation room behind them, then looked nervously at Rione. “Madam Co-President, if you would please enter that hatch and seat yourself in the red chair.”

  Rione nodded haughtily and stalked off, while Iger directed Geary into the neighboring observation room. One wall acted like a one-way mirror, giving them an unobstructed view of Rione as she sat down and stared ahead rigidly at what to her was a blank wall. Iger tapped controls, activating the devices that would not only monitor Rione’s external physical signs but also conduct remote brain scans and other measures to provide clear evidence if the person in the interrogation room was lying or telling the truth.

  Iger turned to Geary. “Sir, uh, who … ?”

  “I’ll ask.”

  The lieutenant tapped another control and nodded to Geary.

  Geary composed himself, then spoke clearly, knowing his words were being repeated inside the interrogation room.

  �
��Co-President Victoria Rione, did you have any prior knowledge of the worms found within the jump systems of Dauntless and other Alliance fleet ships?”

  “No.” The single word was as hard and direct as a grapeshot volley.

  Readouts before Geary glowed green.

  “Do you have any knowledge of any malware on Alliance fleet ships?”

  “Now I do,” Rione replied coldly.

  Geary winced. He’d have to phrase his questions better. “Did you have any knowledge of any kind regarding the modifications to the security settings on either my or Captain Desjani’s staterooms prior to my telling you?”

  “No.”

  “Did you have anything at all to do with those modifications? ”

  “No.”

  “Have you taken any actions which might harm any ship in the Alliance fleet?”

  “No.”

  “Do you know of anyone else who is taking or planning such actions?”

  “Not for certain. I only suspect certain individuals of being involved.”

  Geary paused, trying to think of other questions, then glanced at Lieutenant Iger. Iger nodded, licked his lips nervously, then spoke with the emotionless calm of a trained interrogator. “Co-President Rione, would you notify proper authorities if you had any suspicion of any harmful actions directed toward the Alliance or any ship or person in this fleet who is carrying out their duties toward the Alliance?”

  “Yes, I would.”

  “Would you harm or allow to come to harm this ship?”

  “No.”

  “Would you harm or allow to come to harm anyone on this ship?”

  “That would depend upon whether or not I had good reason to believe they were acting against the Alliance.”

  Every indicator still glowed green. Iger tapped a control again, then spoke to Geary. “Sir, all indications show truthfulness in every answer. She’s, uh, not happy, but in her own mind she’s being truthful, and her answers are short and direct.”

  Geary took a long look at the readouts. All confirmed Iger’s words, though “not happy” was a nice way of saying that the readouts indicated high levels of anger. He wondered how much of that anger was directed at him, how much at Desjani, and how much at the enemy. I’ve got Rione in the one place where I could know what her every answer meant. Just how much did you get emotionally involved with me? How do you feel now? Would you justify trying to harm Tanya Desjani by thinking of her as a danger? But he couldn’t ask those questions. Even if Lieutenant Iger weren’t here, asking them would break the implicit bargain under which Rione had agreed to enter an interrogation room. “Thank you, Lieutenant. Let’s get Madam Co-President out of there. There’ll be a fleet commanding officers conference in a few hours. I want you present.”

  “Yes, sir.” Lieutenant Iger seemed baffled this time. Such conferences had become political meetings over the course of the last century, backroom gatherings where deals could be cut and senior officers jockey for support from more junior commanding officers. Lesser beings were excluded so they couldn’t be aware of the political maneuverings their seniors were debating.

  “You looked at the things I asked you to examine? On the far side of Syndic space?”

  “Yes, sir.” Iger’s expression shifted to worry again. “Who are they? Who’s on the other side of Syndic space, sir?”

  “No idea, Lieutenant. The most-senior Syndic leaders know. Do you agree with me that whoever or whatever they are, they’ve intervened actively against this fleet?”

  “Yes, sir,” Iger repeated. “They must have been responsible for diverting that big Syndic flotilla to Lakota. But why?”

  “We don’t know, can’t know, for certain. The best guess is that they want humanity tied down in this war, and they were afraid we’d get the Syndic hypernet key home and gain a decisive advantage. But that’s still just a guess.” Iger nodded unhappily. “We won’t discuss that at the conference, and I don’t want you informing anyone else. But I need you thinking about it, and about anything you might see or have seen within intelligence channels that might provide more information about the threat.”

  “I understand, sir.”

  After Rione joined them, Lieutenant Iger led her and Geary back out into the passageway, where the dim night-cycle illumination and lack of other traffic came as a slightly jarring reminder that the official day was still a few hours away from starting.

  Rione waited until they were alone, then spoke in a voice so soft Geary could barely hear. “Who framed me?”

  “If we knew that, we’d know who planted those worms.”

  “Not necessarily. It could be a totally separate action. I know what you were thinking. I’m not the only woman on this ship capable of acting out of jealousy.”

  It took him a moment to realize what Rione meant. “Captain Desjani would not act that way.”

  “I’m glad you’re so confident of that.”

  Geary glared at Rione. “Tanya Desjani is a very direct person. If she wanted to hurt you, she’d hunt you down and beat you up. She’d confront you face-to-face. You’ve been on this ship long enough to know that.”

  Rione glared back for a moment, then dropped her gaze. “Yes. She’s not the sort to stab someone in the back.”

  “I’ve really got enough problems right now without you two sniping at each other.”

  “Are you going to tell her that?”

  Geary realized for the first time that Rione had long since stopped referring to Tanya Desjani by her name. “I did, and I will. I need both of you.”

  Rione raised her eyes to Geary’s, her expression sardonic. “You need both of us? Tonight, perhaps? I’m shocked.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I know what you think you mean.” Rione shrugged. “My loyalty is to the Alliance, Captain Geary. I’ll do what’s necessary to support that. Right now, that means supporting you to the best of my ability. Neither you nor she need fear me unless you start acting against the Alliance. You know I’m telling the truth.”

  He did, Geary realized, since a slight variation on that statement had registered as true in the interrogation room. “Thank you. I know this isn’t easy.”

  “You’d better be referring to the fleet’s situation.”

  He eyed her, wondering if he should admit he was also talking about personal issues.

  Her eyes blazed as she stared back. “Don’t you dare pity me. I left you.” Rione spun on one heel and walked quickly away.

  The atmosphere inside the conference room was different this time. The tension wasn’t from politics or worry about the Syndics. It was focused inward, with every virtual commanding officer’s presence eyeing those around it as if hoping to see clear signs of who had tried to sabotage the fleet. But eyes also kept going to Lieutenant Iger, who was looking uncomfortably out of place, and to Victoria Rione, who sat so silent and expressionless that she might have been carved from stone.

  Geary stood up, and all eyes went to him. “You all know the reason for this conference. I’ve received reports from all of your ships and confirmed that every single one had been sabotaged by the placing of a malware worm in the jump-drive systems. The great majority of those worms would have simply kept your ships from jumping the next time it was ordered and kept your systems off-line for some time while it was neutralized. Three ships, the battle cruisers Dauntless, Furious, and Illustrious, had worms which would have allowed the ships to jump but then stranded them in jump space forever.” He paused to let that sink in.

  “Someone intended removing me from command of this fleet by destroying a warship of the Alliance and her crew. Someone attempted also to destroy Furious and Illustrious.” Geary glanced at Captain Badaya, whose face was rigid with anger. “Whoever did it knew the daily changing security access codes for the system filters and had access to the means to transfer the malware to every ship in the fleet. That means it had to be the work of individuals wearing the uniform of the Alliance. This is not dissent, this is not deb
ate or professional differences or the act of someone loyal to the Alliance. It’s the act of traitors. The act of cowards. Has anyone found any information that might help identify them?”

  He ran his eyes over the long, long virtual table, meeting the gaze of each commanding officer in turn. He almost lingered on Commander Gaes but remembered in time not to. She’d been a critically important informant this time, and he couldn’t afford to risk compromising her. Lorica had been one of the ships that followed Captain Falco, and apparently whoever was continuing to conspire against Geary thought Gaes was still mutinous enough to be part of the plot. Either that or Gaes had managed to maintain enough contacts among the plotters to discover what they were doing.

  Captain Caligo and Captain Kila didn’t betray anything other than the same feelings shown by others.

  It was impossible to tell if any of the faces reflected guilt rather than anger or fear. Geary gestured toward Iger. “Lieutenant Iger is the senior intelligence officer on Dauntless. He has some information regarding Co-President Rione.”

  The commanding officers of the ships of the Callas Republic and the Rift Federation gaped at Rione, their expressions shocked, but she unbent enough to give them a reassuring look.

  Lieutenant Iger spoke in his briefing voice. “I was made aware of unauthorized security software modifications aboard Dauntless that implicated Co-President Rione.”

  “Why is she sitting here?” Captain Armus of Colossus demanded. “She should be—”

  “Let Lieutenant Iger finish,” Geary broke in, his voice like ice.

  Iger continued as if totally unaware of any interruption. “Co-President Rione volunteered to be questioned inside a Class Six interrogation cell. She was asked a series of questions to determine if she had actually been involved in those or any other software modifications, and registered as absolutely truthful in her denials of any knowledge or involvement.”