Captain Tulev spoke into the momentary silence that followed. “INBNDs?”
“Injected nano-based neural disruptors,” Carabali explained, “which are commonly known as ‘brain barbecues’ for their effect on the nervous system once triggered. They can be injected into an individual without that person’s knowledge if the individual is distracted. The intercepted signals appear to have been intended to trigger the brain barbecues.”
This time the silence was longer. “Someone just tried to kill those three officers?” Captain Badaya finally asked incredulously.
“The systems-security officer and the communications officer, definitely. We’re still examining
Inspire
’s executive officer to see if INBNDs are present in his body.” Carabali’s eyes didn’t leave Kila. “As I said, the intercepted signals originated on
Inspire
.”
Desjani had her own gaze locked on Kila as if she were a hell-lance battery ready to fire. “How strange that someone tried to kill those officers right after those in this meeting were told of the worm that originated from
Inspire
. Who on
Inspire
would have known that those officers were going to be questioned?”
Duellos nodded, his own expression as hard as the armor on a battleship. “It will certainly be interesting to see whom those officers implicate once they are informed that someone tried to kill them. To keep them silent? To make it appear that they were the only guilty ones? We would have been left with two or three dead officers and perhaps some convincing evidence that they committed suicide after learning they were suspects.”
Kila’s single-minded devotion to promotion had left her few friends and admirers among her peers or juniors, and Geary could see every other commanding officer in the fleet watching Kila with an appalled or angry expression. Even Caligo seemed stunned.
“Captain Kila,” Geary stated with what he felt was admirable restraint, “in light of recent events and the evidence available to the fleet, you are hereby relieved of command while the situation on
Inspire
is investigated. Colonel Carabali, please send some of your Marines to escort Captain Kila to a shuttle for transfer to
Illustrious
.”
Kila looked around the table contemptuously, then raised one arm in a dramatic gesture before lowering it to tap something on the control panel before her on
Inspire
. “Never mind, Colonel. Your Marines won’t be able to enter my stateroom. The Alliance is going to lose this war because it’s weak, because its fleet officers are
weak
. None of you are fit to command this fleet, especially you,
Captain
Geary. You care more for the lives of Syndics than you do for the lives of Alliance citizens!”
Badaya spoke in a voice so deep he seemed to be speaking from his gut. “You murderous bitch. How dare you claim to care for the lives of Alliance citizens when you murdered the crew of
Lorica
and tried to murder the crews of
Illustrious
,
Dauntless
, and
Furious
!”
Kila bared her teeth at Badaya. “We are all sworn to die for the sake of the Alliance, and the unfortunate sacrifice of those crews would have been for the highest cause. It would have been no different than if they died in combat against those who would weaken and destroy the Alliance. If we want to swap accusations of treason, I’m ready. What has Geary promised you after he takes over the Alliance? You call yourselves loyal? You’re pathetic and corrupt, selling yourselves out for someone who wants power but won’t do what’s necessary to save the Alliance.”
Duellos answered, his voice as cold as Geary had ever heard it. “The Alliance has been doing what some people claimed to be ‘necessary’ for the last hundred years and is no closer to winning the war.”
“Because of half measures and hesitation!” Kila declared. “Always pulling back from what necessity demanded. The enemy deserves no mercy. None. They deserve death, and only when they realized that we were willing to kill every one of them would they have given in.”
“And if the enemy didn’t give in?”
Kila swept one hand in a dismissive gesture. “Then they’d all be killed, and the war would end that way.”
Tulev spoke, his voice flat. “I have as much right as any to comment on that. I don’t know what the Syndics deserve, but their killing of the Alliance’s people has never served to persuade us to surrender. Even if your proposal weren’t physically beyond the capabilities of even the Alliance, it would be fundamentally flawed in its belief that humans would bow before mass murder of their own.”
“Your spirit died at Elyzia,” Kila replied, causing a rare display of emotion by Tulev as his face reddened. “I don’t fear to speak the truth about such things. But none of you want the truth, none of you want to face your own shortcomings. You could have had a leader who would have done what needed to be done, but you’d rather die by stages, pathetic shadows of what fleet officers used to be.”
Geary shook his head. “Fleet officers never believed in killing their own to satisfy their ambitions.”
Kila’s snarl turned smug. “My ambitions? Do you think I was delusional enough to think a herd of sheep like this would accept me in command? Your pitiful egos couldn’t have accepted that. I had someone who would listen, who’d be accepted by all of you, even though he now lacks the courage to stand beside me.” She turned and looked directly at Captain Caligo, who stared back. “Weren’t you going to tell them? Staying in the background isn’t going to work this time. I have no intention of falling on my sword to protect you while you try to hide your own involvement.”
Caligo shook his head violently. “I don’t know what—”
“We agreed that we were willing to die for the Alliance, remember?” Kila goaded him. “I saw your face just now, saw that you were ready to blend in again, being whatever those around you wanted to see. What do you think they see now?”
Caligo had gone very pale. “You’re lying. There’s no proof for any of this.”
“Do you think I was stupid enough to trust you?” Kila stood at attention, her contemptuous gaze sweeping across every officer there, then reached down and tapped a sequence of commands. “You wanted evidence,
Captain
Geary? I just transmitted enough to make it clear that Caligo agreed to everything.” Her eyes were fixed on Geary now. “My enemies have always wanted to drag me down out of envy, but if you were really Black Jack, I could have supported you! I could have stood with a real man, but that man died in survival sleep and left you, an empty shell. All you deserve is that dishonorable politician and that simple-minded captain. I only hope one or both of them wake up and stick a knife in you someday. It’s the only thing you’re worthy of.”
Duellos shook his head, looking regretful but unyielding. “You’re so certain of what everyone else deserves, but you’re a poor judge of that. You made your enemies, Sandra, your ambition blinded you, and now you will face the firing squad you deserve.”
“You have no right to judge me.”
Captain Armus answered. “The crew of
Lorica
has that right, don’t they, Kila? Soon enough you’ll be facing them. If I were you, I’d be preparing to beg forgiveness. None of them survived to see you die, but we will witness that moment for them.”
Kila glared at him, staying at attention. “I won’t give any of you the satisfaction of watching me die. I’ll see you all in hell, which is where you’ve chosen to be led.” She slammed her hand down on her controls back on
Inspire
, and her image vanished.
“Colonel?” Geary demanded.
Carabali was listening to a report, then frowned. “My Marines can’t override the lock on Captain Kila’s stateroom. They’ve sent for—” Carabali paused, looking to one side and nodding to someone, then faced Geary again. “My Marines report an explosion inside Captain Kila’s stateroom. It appears to have been equivalent to two standard room-clearing charges.”
“What are the chances anyone in the room with that is still alive?”
“Zero.”
The conference room was silent, everyone staring at the spot that Captain Kila’s image had once occupied. The quiet was finally broken by a high-priority message alert. “Was this cleared by the security screens?” Geary asked.
Desjani spoke rapidly into her data unit, then nodded. “It’s clean.”
He opened it, seeing a mass of files and archived e-mails. Selecting a few at random, he read them, seeing hatred and contempt for him, and much else as well. “This is the evidence that Captain Kila sent before killing herself,” he informed the other officers. He popped one of the old e-mails onto the display over the table so everyone could read it.
Tulev was the first to comment. “From Captain Caligo, reaffirming his commitment to follow instructions from Captain Kila in return for her backing as commander of the fleet. Can we be certain of the authenticity of this document and the others provided by Captain Kila?”
Badaya was glaring at Caligo. “They certainly constitute adequate grounds for interrogation. If Captain Caligo is innocent of involvement in the attempts to destroy Alliance warships and the destruction of
Lorica
, I’m sure he won’t object to the chance to clear himself.”
Caligo swallowed and spoke. “As my fellow officers, you surely adhere to the principles in which the fleet believes.”
“Was that a yes or a no?” Duellos asked.
“Every officer has a right to have his full record considered and his honor not questioned without reason . . .” Caligo’s voice trailed off as even he realized that some powerful reasons existed.
Desjani leaned forward, her expression as stern as Geary had ever seen it. “There is exactly one thing that might grant you an honorable death instead of that of a traitor and a coward. Tell us everything you know and everyone who was involved in this. We’ll get that anyway, even if you have to be read the names of every person in this fleet so we can see your reactions in the interrogation chamber. But it will save time and possibly ships if you talk now.” She looked around the table. “Kila may have tried to activate another worm. Until we know everything, we have to assume the threat isn’t over.”
This time the looks bent toward Caligo were frightened and dangerous. He quailed before them and shook his head. “I don’t know. I swear.”
“Do you know which parts of the fleet net Kila was using to send out the worms? Do you know any identifiers? Who wrote them?”
“Y-yes.”
Colonel Carabali listened to another report. “My Marines have blown the hatch on Captain Kila’s stateroom and entered. They confirm that she’s dead. They’re doing a sweep for physical booby traps and recommend that fleet software experts do a careful search for any triggers in that stateroom that might activate destructive worms.”
“Is there anyone on
Inspire
we can trust to do that?” Geary asked the officers around the table.
“Send in a team from
Valiant
,” Cresida suggested. “They’re probably the sharpest software geeks in the fleet.”
Commander Landis,
Valiant
’s commanding officer, smiled tightly. “My software-security team is good. I’ll have them shuttled over to
Inspire
. I’d recommend every system on
Inspire
be scrubbed. That will take a while.”
“Can you get it done before we jump for Atalia?” Geary asked.
“Yes, sir. One way or the other, we’ll have
Inspire
certified clean before the next jump.”
“Thank you, Commander Landis. Get going on that immediately.” Geary faced Captain Caligo, who was now sitting perfectly still, like a rabbit caught in the open and trying to avoid attracting attention. It seemed pretty clear that he wouldn’t commit a spectacular act of suicide like Kila had. “Captain Caligo, you are hereby relieved of command effective immediately. You’ll be taken into custody and transported to
Illustrious
. I expect you to provide us with all of the information you’ve promised to deliver, and I expect to start seeing that before you reach
Illustrious
.”
Caligo didn’t respond, just sat staring at the table.
“Captain Caligo, do you understand?” Geary asked in his harshest voice.
“Yes, sir.” Caligo bent his head and began speaking quietly into a recorder in his stateroom. He was still at it when the Marines assigned to
Brilliant
arrived and removed him from the meeting software.
Afterward, everyone sat, seemingly stunned. To Geary’s surprise, it was Captain Armus who broke the silence, speaking gruffly. “Captain Geary, I’ve not hesitated to speak up when I disagreed with you. But now I apologize for anything I have said or done that may have encouraged Kila and Caligo to believe their actions were justified.”
“Thank you, Captain Armus. I haven’t always been happy with your dissents, but I recognize the need for them and appreciate your willingness to speak your mind. I do not hold you at fault in any way for the actions of Kila and Caligo.” Geary looked around the table, easily able to see how badly rattled his commanding officers had been by what had taken place. “A terrible thing has happened. Two of our officers have broken faith with the rest of us. There may be more, but we have the leads we need to unravel the rest of the plot if need be. My confidence in everyone still here is unshaken. I have said before and I will say again now that no one has ever been privileged to have a finer group of officers serving under him, and no one has ever been so honored as to command such a fleet as I have. I thank you for your service and your loyalty and your sacrifice. I will do all I can to live up to the honor that has been given me to serve as your commander.”
He wasn’t sure how they’d react, but one by one, then in a rush, every officer stood to attention and wordlessly saluted him.
Geary returned the salutes, feeling overwhelmed. “Thank you. The investigation will continue, but let’s put this ugliness behind us and prepare for battle at Atalia.”
They cheered then, after which the virtual presences vanished slower than usual as images crowded forward to bid individual farewells to Geary. Finally, he was alone in the room except for the real presence of Desjani and the remaining image of Rione.