“I do not believe it will be difficult to convince her of the threat posed by Togo, General, but she may still be reluctant to order his elimination.”
“When she hears that Togo assisted vipers in reaching this planet and staging an attack, I don’t think President Iceni will have any reluctance at all.” Drakon paused, inhaling sharply, then gave Malin a questioning look. “I’m so used to having you around that I’d forgotten you were supposed to be acting as the president’s aide. What brought you to the command center?”
“A hint among security intrusion attempts, General,” Malin said. “Something that concerned me even though it is hard to define. I traced it to this headquarters and came over as quickly as I could to follow up.”
“You should have issued an alert before you got here,” Drakon said. “Why didn’t you?”
“I thought such an alert might tip off the enemy and did not put sufficient weight on the possibility that the enemy might be moving so quickly.”
“That was a reasonable judgment call,” Drakon said gruffly. “But next time put a little more weight on the enemy’s moving faster than we expect. How the hell did Togo get vipers onto the planet without anyone spotting it?”
“I will find out, sir.”
“Get back to the president and give her a report on what happened here. Turn over the security sweep supervision to Colonel Gozen. Tell President Iceni that as soon as I am convinced my headquarters is secure I will visit her to discuss the matter. Has my office been swept for booby traps and bugs?”
“Yes, sir.” Malin waited until Drakon had headed into his office before turning an intense gaze on Gozen. “Do you understand how important both he and President Iceni are?”
She gave him a level look in return. “I’ve seen other star systems, and I’ve seen Midway. They freed this star system from the Syndicate without trashing the place in the process, and they’ve kept it free. Yeah, I understand.”
“Both of them,” Malin emphasized. “It may look at times as if Iceni is the senior partner, but without General Drakon she turns into one more dictator. A currently beloved dictator, it is true, but one person who controls everything and without whom everything falls apart. There must be two, so both have authority and neither one finds it foreign to share that authority with another. That’s the only path to long-term stability.”
“Long term?” Gozen’s gaze at Malin turned appraising. “Not a few years long term? Decades?”
“Longer.” Malin, his eyes sparked with fire that contrasted with the coldness of his expression, swept a hand upward as if including all of space in the gesture. “This part of human-controlled space needs a strong alternative to the Syndicate. One that can hold off the enigmas and any other alien threat for as long as necessary and won’t suffer from the flaws and weaknesses of the Syndicate.”
“There’s always the Alliance,” Gozen said, probing for Malin’s reaction.
“That name is poison in this part of space,” Malin said in dismissive tones. “We can use some of their methods, but we can’t acknowledge where they came from. This has to be something credited to people here.”
“But you don’t have any problem with help from Black Jack?”
“Black Jack isn’t the Alliance we fought,” Malin said, a ghost of a smile appearing. “He’s what the Alliance always should have been. We can ally with Black Jack. We can use his help. You accept that, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Gozen bit her lip, thinking. “I guess that’s how I’d been thinking about it. Help from Captain Bradamont was okay because she is one of Black Jack’s officers. How closely are you tied to Black Jack, Colonel Malin?”
Malin gave another one of his ghost smiles. “Are you asking if I’m his agent? The answer is no. We have similar goals, I think. Do you share those goals?”
“I don’t know, yet.” Gozen jerked a thumb toward Drakon’s office. “But I’m going to back whatever he does.”
“That’s good enough. Do you have any questions regarding the security sweep?”
Gozen studied the big display where markers indicating individual soldiers and their units moved through a vast 3-D schematic of the headquarters complex. Cleared areas glowed light green. Uncleared areas were yellow. As she watched, several short, small passages appeared and glowed red. “Those are the entrances to the routes used by my visitor last night, I’m guessing.”
“Very likely, yes. They are to be searched very carefully. Assume the entrances and the passages are booby-trapped until they have been scanned down to bedrock.”
“I figured they’d be rigged to nail anyone who tried a quick pursuit.” Gozen faced Malin and saluted formally, her right fist coming across to tap her left shoulder. “I’ve got it, Colonel.”
Malin gazed at her for a long moment, then returned the salute. “I stand relieved. Inform the general that I have left for President Iceni’s office.” He spun on one heel and walked away.
Colonel Safir showed up ten minutes after Malin had left, walking into the command center along with a squad from her brigade. “They put you in charge already?” she asked, familiar with Gozen from their encounters at Ulindi. “I got word of trouble here, but by the time we could scramble an assist force you guys had put out the fire. Just stopping by to see things for myself.”
“We’re still picking up the pieces, but it’s under control,” Gozen said.
Safir was looking at the display. “That’s the sort of force dispersal that General Drakon would have set up. Did he do it and hand the task over to you?”
“No. Colonel Malin set it up.”
“That explains it.” Safir grinned at Gozen. “Are you two pals?”
“Me and Malin?” Gozen shook her head. “Does he have any pals?”
“Not that I ever heard of.” Safir’s grin turned into a speculative look. “Malin had a long feud going with Colonel Morgan before we lost her on Ulindi. I was wondering if he’d start acting the same way with you.”
“No, no trace of going to war on his side,” Gozen said. “He is suspicious of me.”
“Malin suspects everybody,” Safir said with a smile of derision. “If he tries moving on you without good evidence, the general will shut him down.”
“The general did,” Gozen agreed. “But even when Malin’s been accusing me it hasn’t come across as heated. Malin’s just…”
“Cold?”
“Yeah,” Gozen agreed. “Cold and driven. I guess he’s always been like that?”
Safir paused, looking away, her expression troubled. “Always a bit like that. He’s gotten colder and more driven lately though. Especially after Morgan apparently bought it. Like what little human warmth he had went with her.” She glanced at Gozen. “It’s enough to make someone wonder if they were lovers or something, and all that infighting was just a cover. But if it was a fake, it was the best damn fake I ever saw. There are rumors making the rounds, some of them pretty wild.”
“I don’t know enough people around here yet to hear the good rumors,” Gozen said. “But from what I’ve heard of Morgan, she and Malin weren’t exactly a match made in the heavens. Seems he’d be celebrating, not torn up about her dying on Ulindi.”
“She’s not confirmed dead,” Safir said.
“She was in the snake alternate command center on Ulindi when it was blown to hell.”
“Maybe she was still in there,” Safir said. “Maybe not. If you’d ever met Roh Morgan, you’d know why the rest of us aren’t willing to write her off in the absence of a body. And even if she is dead… well, Morgan’s exactly the sort who would reach out of her grave to pull down whoever put her there. Know what I mean?” Safir nodded toward Drakon’s office. “Is the boss accepting visitors?”