“Is there anything known to the Alliance, that you are aware of, regarding any nonhuman intelligences?”
Her head froze in midshake. “Why are you asking this?”
“Because something at Kaliban led some of my officers to speculate about it.”
“I’d like to hear what it was. In response to your question, I’m not aware of anything like that. I’ve certainly never seen anything along those lines.” She looked upward as if expecting to see signs of an alien intelligence somehow visible there. “Encountering a nonhuman intelligence would be a very significant event in human history. They might be able to tell us a great deal. Perhaps help explain things we don’t understand. Maybe even explain things about ourselves we don’t understand.” She gave a brief, humorless laugh. “Such as why we’ve spent a hundred standard years fighting a war. Or even why it started in the first place.”
Geary had been about to say more, but he stopped at her last words. “We never learned why the Syndics launched their first attacks?”
Rione gave him a speculative look. “No. Not the timing, anyway. As I think you can confirm, the first attacks were a total surprise because there’d been no indications that tensions had risen to such a level.”
He brooded on her statement, remembering so clearly the shock he’d felt at Grendel when it became clear that a Syndic attack was underway. Total surprise, just as she said. “I’d assumed the reasons had become clear by now.”
“No. Our best assessments provide complex answers, Captain Geary. There’s no clarity. There appear to have been many factors.”
“ ‘Appear to have been.’ ” He chewed his lower lip for a moment. “Then we still don’t know exactly why they did it? Why they attacked when they did? Why they attacked at all?”
“No,” Rione repeated. “Not for certain. Their Executive Council doesn’t share its deliberations with anyone. The answer is surely buried in the secret records of the Syndicate Worlds’ leadership.”
Geary nodded at her words, but his mind had generated a question he couldn’t ignore. “Then we don’t know of any … external factors that might’ve influenced the Syndics’ actions?”
She spread her hands in a gesture of incomprehension. “I don’t know what you could be speaking of. External factors?” Her eyes widened. “You’re not talking about nonhuman intelligences, are you? Is that why you asked about them? You’re not suggesting they were somehow involved or caused the war, are you?”
“No. No, of course not.” I’m a long way from wanting to openly suggest such a thing. But I’m wondering. If the Syndics did encounter nonhuman intelligences, how long ago was it? More than forty-two years ago, certainly, if what the Syndics did when they shut down Kaliban means what it might mean.
Did the Syndics encounter alien intelligences? When did they find them? What happened?
Did it have anything to do with the start of this war? Could it perhaps explain why the Syndics attacked, and why this war has continued even though victory seems impossible for either side? But how could it have had anything to do with either of those things?
Outwardly, Geary smiled politely. “Thank you, Madam Co-President. Now, what did you need from me?”
Rione seemed a bit surprised that Geary had changed the subject, but she went along without protest. “I feel I should tell you what the commanders of my ships have told me. Those loyal to Captain Numos are attempting to spread a tale around the fleet that you deliberately kept him and the ships in his formation out of the battle so you could claim all the glory.”
Geary found himself laughing for a moment. “Unfortunately, I already know that. I’m sure your ship commanders will soon provide you with the ugly details of my latest conference.”
“Then you’ve already confronted the issue?”
“Confronted it? Yes.” Geary let his feelings show. “Dealt with it? That’s another thing. There are some larger issues involved.”
“You mean the discontent over your changes to the Alliance fleet’s manner of fighting?”
Geary just stared at her for a long moment. “Just how many spies do you have inside my fleet, Madam Co-President?”
She actually managed to look slightly shocked at the question. “Why would I have spies in a friendly fleet, Captain Geary?”
“I can think of a lot of reasons,” he suggested, “many involving keeping track of what the fleet commander is up to. I’m beginning to think you didn’t entirely trust Admiral Bloch, either.”
Rione made a noncommittal expression. “Admiral Bloch was an ambitious man.”
“And I already know what you think of ambitious men.”
“I feel the same way about ambitious women, Captain Geary. Are you proud of your victory here at Kaliban?”
He started to simply say yes, surprised by sudden question, but then paused as other thoughts overtook him. “In some ways,” he finally admitted. “It was my first fleet action. I think I called the maneuvers pretty well. I did a decent job of predicting the enemy’s moves. But it wasn’t perfect.” He paused again. “I wish I could’ve done the same without losing a single ship or sailor. But I’m proud of this fleet. They fought well.”
“Indeed. The results of the battle were gratifying.”
“Is that how you feel now, Madam Co-President? Do you have no regrets about letting me retain control of the ships from your republic and the Rift Federation?”
She shook her head. “No. As long as we’re being candid … and we are being candid, aren’t we, Captain Geary?… I should tell you something you may learn regardless. My ship commanders are impressed with our victory in the battle, though a majority of them share with many Alliance officers unease regarding the way it was fought. They had a greater skepticism of this Black Jack Geary person than sailors of the Alliance did, of course, since to them you were a foreign hero. Now,” she blew out a long breath, “they are more inclined to believe there is some truth behind the myth.”
“Ancestors help me.” Geary let his feelings show, trusting Rione now to that extent. “There’s no truth behind that myth, as you well know.”
She clenched her teeth so tightly her jaw muscles stood out. “On the contrary, and as I have told you, Captain Geary. You are that figure of myth.”
“You know that’s not true!”
“I know you saved this fleet in the Syndic home system, I know you have brought it this far and won an overwhelming victory, and I know no ordinary man could’ve done that!” Rione was glaring at him as if daring Geary to deny her statement.
Instead of responding with anger, Geary found himself laughing in self-mockery. “My dear Madam Co-President, I’d never have made it this far if a lot of people hadn’t thought I was the living stars’ gift to the Alliance fleet. But you know as well as I, there are plenty of people with growing doubts as to the truth of that.”
Rione smiled back, though her voice had more sarcasm than humor to it. “I have a feeling you’ll find a way to cope, Captain Geary.”
He returned the sarcasm full force, bowing slightly toward her. “Thank you for your confidence in me.”
She stood up, walking away a few steps before turning to look at him again. “I notice you said ‘confidence’ and not ‘trust.’ ”
He shrugged. “Same thing.”
“No, it’s not. I’ll share one more confidence with you, Captain Geary. I’m not superhuman. I very much want to believe in you, to believe you are the hope we all need, a gift from our ancestors. But I don’t dare do so.”
Geary’s smile vanished, and he looked down at the deck for a moment. “That makes two of us who don’t dare believe that. If I do, I’ll be more dangerous to this fleet than the enemy.”