“You are in complete medical isolation,” Dr. Nasr explained. “You show no signs of current infection, but will have to stay totally isolated in that compartment for the next three weeks.”
“Infection?” Castries was staring at her hand, which seemed to be covered with colorful hues of black, purple, and green as bruises developed.
“You have been on Europa.”
“I’ve— That’s— What—? I’m actually awake? This is real? I have to spend three weeks in here?” Castries suddenly realized something and her stare shifted to Yuon, who was blinking himself to awareness. “Three weeks in this little hole with him? What have I done to deserve this?” she wailed.
“A sedative may be required,” Dr. Palden noted dispassionately.
Relieved at seeing Castries all right, and at having the risky rescue operation successfully completed, Geary could not keep himself from laughing briefly as he looked toward Desjani. “I think that lays to rest any possibility that Castries and Yuon could be an item.”
Tanya grinned. “You never know. They’re going to be stuck in there together for three weeks, so there’s always the possibility of hostage syndrome.”
Geary escorted Commander Nkosi back to the shuttle dock, where they were met by the two doctors, as well as by Senior Chief Tarrini and the two weapons specialists that Nkosi had brought with him. Behind Geary came Senator Sakai and Victoria Rione. As Geary entered, he saw that a jovial Master Chief Gioninni had backed the two weapons specialists into a corner, where he was apparently thanking them profusely.
Nkosi paused before entering his own shuttle, gazing at his comm unit. “My ship has relayed a message to me. Sol System government orders me not to permit your operation until further consideration.”
Geary smiled. “Sometimes light-speed limitations and communications lag can be your friends.”
“Certainly, especially when those to whom you send reports and who send orders back are close to a light-hour distant.” Nkosi hesitated again. “I will tell them all that I saw.”
“That was the idea,” Geary said, no longer smiling. “We didn’t try to hide anything. And we only did what you would have done if your orders permitted it, and what you would have done as soon as you could.”
“Yes,” Rione emphasized, “we did as your rules required. Ensure that you tell everyone that, Commander. We carried out the actions that Sol Star System rules made us carry out.”
Nkosi gazed steadily back at her. “I will ensure that is widely known. Enforcing the quarantine of Europa is a lonely, boring, and on rare occasions horrible experience. I will not hesitate to remind the people of Sol Star System what their rules require of others and require of my own crews. And I will tell them that your actions were not only necessary but have eliminated an awful threat to us all.”
“Thank you, Commander,” Senator Sakai said. “The Alliance is grateful for your cooperation in this.”
“Hopefully, you won’t be the only ones who are grateful for that!” Nkosi saluted, then turned and walked into his shuttle. Behind him came Dr. Palden and the two weapons specialists. As the hatch to the shuttle closed, Geary saw those two hauling out large comm devices and shaking them with puzzled expressions.
The moment the shuttle left the hanger, Senior Chief Tarrini and Master Chief Gioninni broke into laughter.
“What did you do?” Geary asked.
“Nothing bad, Admiral,” Tarrini assured him. “You saw those big units those two specialists had? Comm units, hell. Even Sol Star System isn’t that far behind on their tech to require something that large. Those were collection devices. They were scanning and recording everything they could while they were close to our weapons.”
“So we set up a strong mag coil in that corner,” Gioninni said with a chuckle. “I backed them into the corner while telling them how grateful we were for them helping out, then Senior Chief triggered the coil. The field was strong enough to send all of their files down the backassward black hole of degenerate data.”
“An unfortunate accident,” said Senator Sakai with a rare smile showing. “I believe my own files have encountered that black hole on occasion.”
“Senator,” Geary said, “with the permission of the Alliance government, I would like to head for the hypernet gate now and get on our way home.”
“Permission granted,” Sakai said, solemn again. “Is that how you say it properly?” He looked around at the others. “Thank you for finding a solution that saved those two young officers and for the excellent work in carrying it out. I would like to thank the Marines personally when the opportunity arises.”
Tarrini was eyeing Sakai as if uncertain of the politician’s motive in saying “thank you,” but Gioninni grinned. “You are welcome, Senator. It may be a few days before the Marines are up to meeting you, though. They’re all pretty beat-up.”
“And they will, I think,” Dr. Nasr added, “need additional meds and therapy to cope with the events on the surface.” Despite his dour words, since Dr. Palden left, Nasr had been acting as if a dark cloud had lifted.
“It was a dirty job,” Geary agreed. “I’m sorry we had to ask that of them.” He tapped the nearest comm panel. “Captain Desjani, head for the hypernet gate. We’re going home.”
Only a few seconds passed before he heard cheers echoing through the passageways of Dauntless. The word had spread fast.
He didn’t feel like joining in the jubilation, though. The events on Europa had cast too dark a pall over his feelings. All he could feel was a tired sort of relief that, once again, an unavoidable job was complete.
Senator Costa would sometimes take a seat in one of the dining compartments, engaging crew members in conversation. Geary had long ago figured out that Costa’s goal in this was not simply to ingratiate herself with the crew but to find out what they knew and gauge their feelings on different issues.
He usually made only a polite greeting when he saw her doing that, but this time as he walked by Geary saw the two sailors sharing Costa’s table getting up to go, their meals finished. Before the senator could stand as well, Geary came to the table where Costa sat. “How are you doing, Senator?”
Costa’s smile was as insincere as that of a Syndic CEO. “Not badly, Admiral.”
“May I join you?”
“Of course. I’m surprised that you’re seeking out a conversation with me.”
Around the two of them, the nearest tables were being unobtrusively vacated as the sailors at them moved away. Other crew members who were walking past changed their paths so that they also did not come close. In a matter of seconds, without any obvious message or conversation, a large unoccupied region had appeared around the table where Costa and Geary were, granting them some measure of privacy even in this public area.
Senator Costa didn’t seem to have noticed, instead waiting expectantly for Geary’s reply, but he noticed one finger tapping the small bracelet on her left wrist twice. Because of his time around Rione, Geary recognized what had happened. Costa had activated a personal security field which would garble the sound of their voices for anyone trying to listen in.
The senator could be blunt when she wanted to be, and on this occasion Geary decided to do the same, keeping his voice at a normal volume to see how Costa would react. “I was just wondering what information you’ve gathered about how the crew feels,” he asked as he took a seat opposite her.
The senator’s artificial smile widened. “Is there anything that you are worried about me learning?” Her own voice wasn’t pitched low, so his guess had been right. She wasn’t worried about being overheard.