“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 debate 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. ”
Silence reigned for a moment, then Warspite’s commander spoke up. “Class Six? Is there any way to deceive or mislead a Class Six?”
“Specialized training can suggest ways to avoid answering questions in deceptive ways, sir, but I and my personnel have been trained to identify when someone is using those techniques,” Lieutenant Iger replied. “We might not be able to pin someone down into saying what we want, but we can tell if they’re evading the real question so they don’t register as deceptive. Co-President Rione did not employ such methods. Her answers were direct and unambiguous.”