Implacable, page 22
“But is that what the Wooareek meant?” General Charban wondered.
Bradamont shrugged. “Their translator seemed to be remarkably accurate when it used other words. Those words matched what humans would use.”
“I see,” Rycerz repeated. She paused. “My staff and I have been speaking with the Dancers about an agreement governing contact and travel through each other’s territory and trade. The Dancers approached us with their own proposals, which seemed to be very broad. They could be characterized as an umbrella agreement. Perhaps those proposals are the same which govern the Dancers’ association with other species, and how other species interact with each other. But there seems to be some other meaning to the term as they’re using it that we’re not getting.”
“Why not just tell us, then?” Captain Badaya said, exasperated. “Why can’t the Dancers simply tell you that? And what about other humans? The Dancers know the Alliance doesn’t represent all of humanity. No one does! What happens when other humans don’t abide by the ‘umbrella’ agreement between the Alliance and the Dancers? Do we get accused of violating the agreement?”
General Charban answered, his expression unhappy. “ ‘Human problem, humans fix.’ That’s what the Dancers told us about the Syndic flotilla we dealt with. That’s what they told us about Fortuna. Maybe the Dancers expect us to enforce whatever deal we make. Enforce it against any other humans,” he added with heavy emphasis.
“Lokaa,” Geary said, as Charban’s words reminded him of earlier thoughts along those lines. “The Taon led by Lokaa were welcome in Dancer space. But there were other Taon who attacked Lokaa’s force. Lokaa said those other Taon were xenophobes. Is Lokaa’s fleet in that star system to enforce an agreement with the Dancers about contacts between their species?”
Ambassador Rycerz gave Geary a worried look. “Which might indeed mean the Dancers expect us to do the same with regard to any human actors not part of the Alliance.”
“Have the Dancers flat out told you that?”
Rycerz’s reply came out reluctantly, as if she regretted the need to share the information. “There are parts of the Dancer proposals whose meaning is . . . unclear to us. We’ve been trying to get their meaning, as understood by the Dancers, nailed down. But it is a reasonable interpretation of them that the Dancers do expect us to enforce the agreement.”
“You realize,” Colonel Rogero said, “that Midway could not accept such an agreement.”
“Even parts of the Alliance, such as the Callas Republic, might not,” Captain Hiyen said, speaking up for the first time.
“Old Earth wouldn’t,” Captain Duellos said. “Nor the Old Colonies. The smaller associations of stars between the Alliance and the Old Colonies wouldn’t accept it. And, of course, the Syndics would never buy into such an agreement.”
“Not to mention Mr. Medals and his fellow nutcases on the other side of the galactic arm from Old Earth,” Desjani said. “We haven’t heard from any of them since Dauntless visited Old Earth, but news like this will spread through every place humans have reached.”
“Amid all the uncertainties,” Captain Smythe said, “we do have one certainty. Some humans will try to do unethical things to the Wooareek, as well as to the Dancers, and to the Taon. Try to cheat them on a deal, try to steal technology, try to break any rules the Wooareek or the Taon or the Dancers have established.”
“The Syndicate will do all of those things,” Bradamont agreed.
“As I reminded the admiral regarding the Fortuna,” Colonel Rogero said, “what you just described are considered nothing but good business practices in the Syndicate.”
“Right there!” Smythe said, pointing to Rogero. “So, we make these deals, sign these agreements, and then what happens when other humans break them? Are we, the Alliance, willing to go to war with the rest of humanity in order to keep the peace?”
“That,” said Ambassador Rycerz, “is one of the most bizarre statements I’ve ever heard. And I’ve heard many in my diplomatic career. But it also may sum up our choices. I hope we’re not interpreting them correctly.”
“The Wooareek didn’t seem worried about anything like that,” Lieutenant Iger said. “They may have special means of keeping out unwanted visitors.”
“That still leaves us with the Dancers and the Taon,” Smythe commented.
“There are grounds for hope,” Geary said, drawing surprised looks from everyone but Tanya Desjani. “The Dancers, the Taon, and the Wooareek have found ways to make this sort of thing work. If they can do it, humanity should be able to figure out an answer.”
Captain Duellos arched his eyebrows at Geary. “Admiral, if former senator Victoria Rione were here I think I can easily imagine what her response to those optimistic words would be.”
Geary smiled in reply, again startling the others. “Rione was as cynical and manipulative as they come. But she always believed there was an angle, a way to handle any situation that came up. You just had to be, uh, creative in looking at the problem and thinking of solutions.”
“I feel obligated to remind you, Admiral,” Captain Armus said, his voice heavy, “that her last solution, may her memory be honored, required her to sacrifice herself.”
“We’re not at that point yet,” Geary said. “Think, people. For all of our flaws, humans find solutions. We want to find a good one.”
“How long do we have?” Captain Smythe asked. “The fleet can’t stay here indefinitely.”
“I will emphasize that to the Dancers,” Rycerz said. “That’s all I can promise.”
* * *
COLONEL Webb answered Geary’s call quickly, displaying his usual élan rather than any appearance of misgivings as during the meeting on the Wooareek. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Admiral?”
“I’m just checking in with you,” Geary said. He’d made this call from the now otherwise empty conference room, wanting to have more security than even his stateroom offered. “I know you’re not under my command, but I still feel obligated to keep an eye on any military here. How are things going?”
Webb paused, not answering for several seconds. “Admiral,” he finally said, “I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“Which shoe would that be?”
“The one wielded by the people who have made your life, and my life, far too interesting on this op,” Webb said. “That attempt a while back by a few of your ship captains to start a war with the Dancers while you were off with part of the fleet visiting the Taon seemed way too amateurish, if you’ll forgive my saying so.”
“It could’ve done damage,” Geary said.
“It still felt sloppy to me,” Webb said. “And under-resourced. We’ve got a lot of enemies trying to undermine what we’re doing.” Webb shook his head, looking unhappy. “I’m still waiting. I can feel it. Like a thunderstorm coming. Maybe I’ve been doing this too long and I’m getting jumpy. We’ll see. How did you manage it down on that planet?”
“With the Dancers, you mean?” Geary smiled slightly. “It was interesting.”
“I bet. Ambassador Rycerz has told me that if the Dancers want our embassy to be on the planet’s surface, she’ll want me and my soldiers to stay aboard Boundless. Between you and me, I’m okay with that.”
After a couple more exchanges of vague pleasantries, Geary ended the call. Webb had been unusually open about his worries, but that might be attributed to those worries. At least he seemed to be sure he and Geary were on the same side again.
* * *
A few days later the shoe dropped, though it would be a while before Geary realized it had happened.
“The task force is back from Midway,” Captain Desjani told him from where she was on the bridge. “It’s bigger than when it left. You’ve a message from Captain Jane Geary that was sent on their arrival.”
Geary got out of his bunk quickly, wondering what Desjani could mean. His stateroom display quickly supplied an answer.
The task force contained four more battleships, four more battle cruisers, seven more heavy cruisers, and twenty more destroyers than it had set out with. The new ships, rather than being mixed in with the older ships, were in a separate formation.
He didn’t want to analyze all of this alone. Settling his uniform, Geary headed for the bridge.
“Jane has gained a lot of new ships,” Desjani noted as she gazed at her display.
“I noticed. Why are they in a separate formation?” Jane Geary’s ships were arrayed in a wide box. But the new ships formed a spherical formation far enough from the others to make it clear that they were not part of the other force. “Who are they?”
“Ship identification broadcasts show them as Improved Audacious-class battleships,” Lieutenant Castries called out. “Audacious, Implacable, Defiant, and Paladin. The battle cruisers are Improved Renown-class. Renown, Intrepid, Invincible, and Fearless.”
“Improved,” Geary muttered, wondering why hearing that bothered him. It was natural for ship designs to be modified, incorporating lessons from earlier designs and experience in battle. But while he had managed to get his ships overhauled, very little in the way of modifications had come their way even though they had been bearing so much of the burden of carrying out fleet missions. “Do we know exactly what ‘improved’ means?”
Desjani glanced at him. “From what we’re getting on them it looks like mostly marginal improvements to shield strength and weapons.”
“Fine. Why did they have to name them after ships we’ve lost in battle?”
Desjani had looked away, but now focused on him again, surprised. “We’re used to that. It became common during the war, because so many ships were being destroyed.”
“All right.” He’d been told that plenty of times before, but didn’t want to discuss how seeing those names evoked for him those who had died aboard them, unwelcome reminders of how many casualties this fleet had suffered since he’d assumed command. “I didn’t realize we were still building at this rate.”
“Roberto Duellos was saying some of the planned cutbacks were reversed because star systems didn’t want to lose all of the space-dock jobs depending on new warship construction. But I don’t think even he realized this much was still being built.” She sighed. “They built another Invincible. Of course they did.”
Geary confined his response to a nod. During the war, a superstition had developed in the fleet that ships named Invincible were bad luck because the living stars didn’t like that humans were claiming something they built couldn’t be destroyed. And Invincibles really had been hard-luck ships, with average service lives before being lost in battle that were shorter than those of other battle cruisers. But, as Desjani had noted, the fleet brass refused to give in to the superstition and instead kept naming new ships Invincible as fast as the old ones were destroyed. It made the fleet leadership happy, even if it made everyone assigned to an Invincible feel like their lives were even more imperiled than those on other warships.
But he realized he should be focusing on the question of why the new ships were in a separate, different formation. That was odd. “You said we’ve already received a message from Jane?”
Desjani gestured. “It’s ready for you.”
He accepted the message, seeing the image of his grandniece seated in her stateroom aboard the battleship Dreadnaught. “I’m happy to report the mission to Midway was carried out without any losses,” Jane Geary reported. “The enigmas had minimal forces in Lalotai when we passed through en route Midway. We encountered no enigma presence at Pele except a single picket ship that remained near the jump point to Hina. On our return trip there were substantial enigma forces in Lalotai but they did not attempt to close on us, standing off at a distance of one light hour until we jumped out of the system.
“After we delivered Kommodor Bradamont’s report to President Iceni, she approved using Midway’s hypernet gate to send Mistral with the warning to Alliance space. President Iceni sends her thanks for alerting Midway and their, um, associated star systems of the dangers posed by the jump drive modifications. It seems that same technology had mysteriously been ‘discovered’ in a nearby star system and there was debate going on as to whether to attempt the jumps.”
Captain Jane Geary paused. “Just before Mistral entered the hypernet gate, a large formation of Alliance warships arrived through it. Captain Constantine Rogov on Implacable informed me that the ships were under his command. Captain Rogov, who is junior to me, refused to place his ships under my command, saying he was acting under orders of General Arnold Julian, who is aboard Implacable. I was told General Julian is bringing additional orders for you.
“Unless instructed otherwise my force will proceed to a rendezvous with the rest of the fleet. I do not have control of the new ships commanded by Captain Rogov and am unsure as to their intentions. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”
Desjani raised her eyebrows as the message ended. “ ‘I am unsure as to their intentions’? That’s a pretty blatant red flag.”
Before he could comment in turn, another message arrived, this one from Implacable. Captain Constantine Rogov was not a large man, but he carried himself as if he were three meters tall. Geary, trying to decide whether that reflected laudable confidence or dangerous self-assurance, studied Rogov intently as he spoke.
“This is Captain Rogov, notifying Admiral Geary of my forces’ arrival in this star system. We are conveying General Julian to you in order to deliver critical new orders, and will proceed to orbit near Boundless. To the honor of our ancestors! Rogov, out.”
Desjani sat back, raising her eyebrows once more. “He’s notifying you of his arrival, not reporting to you? And telling us what he’ll do instead of outlining his initial actions and requesting further instructions?”
“Do you know anything about him? Rogov?” Geary said, trying to decide on the right response.
“Rogov? No, not really. I barely know the name.”
“What about this General Julian?” Geary called up data on the name. “Malphas Star System. He was in command there not long before I was found in survival sleep.”
“Malphas?” Desjani shook her head, looking unhappy.
“Should I read the details?”
“Only if you want to. Officially, Malphas was an Alliance victory.”
“And unofficially?” Geary asked, afraid that he already knew the answer.
“Unofficially it’s called Bloody Malphas.” She gave him a sidelong look. “The word going around before you were found was that our losses at Malphas were so bad they helped motivate the Senate to approve Admiral Bloch’s desperation plan to strike the Syndic capital star system. We know how that turned out.”
Geary squinted at the data. “If Julian was in command of that big of a disaster, why is he here doing something important?”
“Probably because Malphas was officially a victory.”
“He got a medal?” Geary said in astonishment as he read. “Why would the Senate have chosen Julian to bring me new orders?”
“Don’t ask me,” Desjani said. “I don’t pal around with senators like you do.”
He couldn’t do anything about General Julian, but he could about Captain Rogov. “Where’s a good place to park Rogov and his ships?”
“How about here?” Desjani suggested, highlighting an area beneath the main formation. “That’s a good spot while you wait to decide whether to distribute them throughout the formation.”
“Yes. I like that.” Tapping the reply command, Geary spoke like someone who knew his orders would be followed. “Captain Rogov, this is Admiral Geary. Boundless is not the guide ship for this formation. You and the ships under your command are to proceed to intercept the main formation, taking position as indicated relative to Dauntless. If you are carrying orders for me, that will place you in a better location to deliver them. I expect a full, standard arrival status report from you covering all of your ships. Geary, out.”
“Rogov ought to feel that burn,” Desjani murmured.
“Did you say something, Captain?”
“No, Admiral. Not a thing.” She gave him a sidelong look. “If I may, it might be a good idea to send a personal message to Captain Geary on Dreadnaught asking her why she included that ‘unsure of their intentions’ thing in her arrival report to you.”
“Another good idea,” Geary said. He stood up. It would be several hours before he could receive any reply from Captain Rogov. “I’m going back to my stateroom to send a personal message.”
* * *
JANE Geary’s reply came before Captain Rogov’s, which didn’t do anything to further endear Geary to Rogov.
“Admiral,” Jane said, remaining formal since this was an official, even though personal, communication, “I can’t offer any specific concerns regarding Captain Rogov and his ships. More than anything else, it’s been his attitude, which from the beginning with me was borderline insubordinate, as if he didn’t need to worry about obeying orders from me. His communications have also implied some sort of special secrets to which he is privy. It’s probably related to the presence of General Julian on his ship. I never received any communications directly from the general, which is a bit odd as well, and haven’t received any clues as to what his orders for you might be.”
Jane took a moment to order her thoughts. “I used a back channel to speak with an officer I know aboard the new Intrepid. We’d served together a couple of years ago. He definitely had an attitude of anticipation and told me something big was coming before asking me not to mention that to anyone else.
