Solfleet: The Call of Duty (95 page)

“You’re
right, Admiral,” Krieger admitted. “I should have known better and I apologize.
I meant no disrespect.”

“Don’t
patronize me either, junior. And pardon my lack of patience, but the
cyberclones can wait,” Hansen said authoritatively. “I want to know about this
alleged murder conspiracy, and I want to know right now.”

“I’m sorry,
Admiral, but that’s not how we do things here,” Krieger responded. “And my name’s
not ‘junior.’” He took a second to collect his thoughts, and then explained, “Look,
I’m not trying to play hard ass with you, sir. I understand you have a lot of
questions and I promise I’ll do my best to answer all of them. But there are
certain procedures I have follow in situations like this. Certain ways I have
to approach things. When I’m brought in on an investigation and asked to
conduct the interviews, I usually have ample time to review everything first so
I can determine the most logical place to begin. But in this particular case...”

“In this
particular case, Mister Krieger, you’ll begin by explaining this murder
conspiracy charge to me,” Hansen insisted. If Krieger was as interested as he
appeared to be in hearing what he had to say, the last thing the young investigator
would want him to do would be to invoke his rights. That gave him a certain
measure of control over the interview and he knew it, so he added, “Either that
or I will immediately invoke my legal rights to remain silent and secure a
civilian attorney of my own choosing. And I’m quite sure the attorney I intend
to choose won’t be available for at least several weeks.”

Krieger
smiled the smile of a man who knew he’d just been outwitted by a worthy and
superior opponent, and said simply, “Touché, Admiral.” No doubt he’d decided it
was better to give a little ground where it couldn’t do any real harm. That
was, after all, exactly what Hansen would have done had their rolls been
reversed. Cooperation usually came easier that way.

“Don’t be
discouraged, Mister Krieger,” Hansen said, sounding much more pretentious than
he’d intended. “You’re good at what you do. I’m just better.”

“I
appreciate the input, Admiral,” the investigator said, though his words lacked
sincerity. “Now, do you want to discuss these charges, or would you rather just
continue the psychological boxing match we’ve gotten ourselves into?”

Hansen
grinned. “No, I think I made my point, Mister Krieger. By all means, let’s talk
about the charges, starting with the murder conspiracy.”

“Thank you,
sir.”

His thanks
sounded even less sincere than his appreciation, bordering on sarcasm. He might
have been good, but he still had his youth and inexperience to overcome. His
confidence had been shaken. He was rattled. Intimidated. He’d be on his guard from
here on out, looking for Hansen to try to trip him up instead of concentrating
on doing the same to him. Consequently, he’d be more cautious than aggressive,
which was exactly what Hansen wanted.

“All of the
evidence that led to you and Commander Royer being arrested was provided to E-S-C
Chairman Brian MacLeod by a Cirran university professor named Loson Min’para,”
he began. “Fortunately, the professor was smart enough to keep a computer
record of everything he uncovered before he was murdered.”

“What?”
Hansen asked, hardly able to believe his ears and wanting to even less, even
though he’d already suspected the worst where Min’para was concerned for some
time.

“I said,
fortunately...”

“I heard
what you said, Mister Krieger. Professor Loson Min’para was murdered? Are you
sure about that?”

Krieger
stared at him for a moment, then said, “Yes, Professor Min’para was murdered.
He was gunned down outside the New York City Federation Building two weeks ago
today.”

Two weeks
ago today. The very day Royer’s people had followed him to Earth. That fact
slammed home another ugly truth that Hansen already suspected but hadn’t wanted
to believe. The police detectives who’d lost their lives, whose identities had
never been released to the public, weren’t police officers at all. They were his
own agents. Hansen sighed. “So it
was
him,” he said. Damn her.

“That’s
right, Admiral,” Krieger confirmed.

Hansen bowed
his head and sighed. He hadn’t
wanted to believe that Liz had so
blatantly defied him...
again
...and then hidden what she’d done from him...
again
.
He still didn’t want to believe it, but he couldn’t deny it any longer.

“I guess I
don’t need to tell you, Admiral, that the other five casualties weren’t New
York City police officers,” Kreiger said. “They were co-conspirators from your
own agency.”

Hansen
looked up at Krieger and said, “The agents under my command are professionals, Mister
Krieger. They’re Solfleet officers of the highest caliber. Those five gave
their lives in the performance of their duties. They did what they did in
compliance with what they believed to be lawful orders.”

“Are you
sure about that?”

“Damn right
I am. None of them would have murdered anyone in cold blood, and if you even
think
about dragging their names through the mud...”

“Not even
under the direct orders of their superior officer, Admiral?”

“
I’m
their
superior officer, Mister Krieger,” Hansen pointed out, “and I assure you, I
would never give such an order.”

“You’re not
their
only
superior officer,” Krieger pointed out.

Hansen froze.
No reaction in his weary body, no expression on his pale face. There it was.
There was Krieger’s end, as obvious as it could possibly have been. He was targeting
Liz. And why not? She was obviously responsible.

Krieger
picked up the handcomp and tapped a few buttons, then offered it to him. “These
are the names of your agents who were involved in the incident, sir,” he
quietly told him.

Hansen glanced
at the list just long enough to read the five names, then dropped his gaze to
the tabletop. He knew every one of them. All five were agents who had worked
closely with Royer several times before. Agents who had always been
unquestionably loyal to her. They were also husbands and fathers, brothers and
sons, and one daughter not ten years older than his own.

Their lives
had been wasted...thrown away...and for what?

Krieger held
the device in place, its screen staring at Hansen like a big bright unblinking accusatory
eye.

Anger born
out of his despair filled the admiral’s soul. He looked up at Krieger. “Get that
damn thing out of my face,” he demanded.

“I
understand your anger, Admiral,” Krieger said as he set the handcomp aside. “Truth
is, I never thought you were involved in these deaths in the first place. Min’para
believed you were in this up to your neck, but the evidence seems to indicate
otherwise. So tell me something. Is it just the loss of all those lives that
angers you, or are you angry at someone in particular?”

He and Liz
had served together for years. But did he owe her anything after she’d twice
defied him so blatantly? Did he owe it to her to protect her? “What are you
getting at, Mister Krieger?” he asked. As if he didn’t know.

“I think you
know exactly what I’m getting at, Admiral.” He paused a moment for effect, and
to give Hansen a chance to play dumb, which he didn’t. Then he asked, “So who is
it? Who are you angry at? Who betrayed you and ordered Min’para’s murder?” He
paused again and leaned slightly forward in his chair. “Who’s responsible for
the needless deaths of those agents whose families you’re going to have to
write to?”

Did he owe
it to Liz to protect her? “If I’m not mistaken, Mister Krieger, you already
have a suspect in mind.”

Krieger
leaned back again. “Yes I do,” he conceded. “But at this point your
confirmation would go a long way toward strengthening my case against...her.
Your executive officer is very adept at covering her tracks.”

Did he owe
it to Liz to protect her? “And why should I help you strengthen your case
against my executive officer?”

“Simple,
Admiral. Because it’s the right thing to do, and you know it.”

Did he owe
it to Liz to protect her? Hansen looked the impressive young investigator dead
in the eye. He hesitated, but only for a moment. He could hardly believe it had
come to this, but the kid was right. Things had gotten way out of hand. The
time to face the consequences had come...for both of them. He knew what he had
to do, and he knew that once he did it there would be no turning back.

“Mister Krieger,
you are in fact looking in the right direction.” The words tasted bitter as
they passed his lips, like poison on the blade of a dagger.

“Strictly
for the record, Admiral, and so I can be sure I understand you correctly, are
you telling me that your executive officer, Commander Elizabeth Royer, did in
fact order the murder of Professor Loson Min’para, a citizen of the planet
Cirra who was visiting Earth at the time?” he asked, doing a pretty good job of
hiding the exuberance he almost certainly must have been feeling over having
solved one of the most critical parts of his case so easily.

“For the
record, Mister Krieger?” Hansen asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“All right.
For the record, I never heard her give such an order. For the record, no one
has told me that she gave such an order. For the record, I have not overheard
any talk of her giving such an order.”

“But you
believe she did,” Krieger presumed.

“Yes, Mister
Krieger, I believe she did. At this point I have little doubt.”

“And if in
fact she did, she did so without your knowledge or consent?”

“Of course without
my knowledge or consent!” Hansen barked, causing Krieger to draw back a little
bit. “
If
she did in fact give the order at all.”

“No need to
bite my head off, Admiral,” Krieger said. “I had to ask you that, strictly for
the investigation.”

Hansen saw
the truth in that easily enough. “You’re right,” he said more calmly. “I
apologize.”

“Forget it,
sir,” Krieger said, waving the whole incident aside, “but let me ask you this. Beyond
just acting without your knowledge and consent, didn’t Commander Royer in fact give
the order to kill in direct violation of your own explicit orders to the
contrary?”

Hansen might
have been feeling physically and mentally exhausted for weeks, but he wasn’t
stupid. He was well aware that he’d already pretty much solved Krieger’s murder
case for him, and he recognized that the investigator was throwing him a bone
in return—providing him with a way out from under the conspiracy charge. The
fact that the way out also happened to be the truth was just a bonus. The fact
that Krieger had gone out of his way to bring it up, on the other hand, could
mean only one thing. The ambitious young investigator wanted something more
than he’d already gotten.

“Yes, she
did,” he finally confirmed. “Again...
if
she did in fact give the order. I
explicitly forbade the use of deadly force against Professor Min’para.” Might
as well play it out and see where it leads. See what else Krieger wants.

“Why do you
think she did it, Admiral? What might she have been trying to hide?”

“Don’t you
mean, what might
we
have been trying to hide, Mister Krieger?”

“Do I, sir?
Commander Royer was willing to kill to protect her secrets. You weren’t. And
she thought nothing of taking about a half dozen of your agents down with her.
Maybe she was hiding something more than you were.”

Try as he
might, Hansen couldn’t figure this young investigator out. What was he doing?
Was he trying to give him a way out from under even more of the charges that
had been laid against him? If so, why? What did he stand to gain by doing that?
What more could he possibly want so badly that he didn’t already have? For that
matter, what exactly
did
he already have? How much did he know?

Hansen
pondered those questions for several long seconds before he finally decided
that it just didn’t matter anymore. He knew exactly what Royer had been trying
to hide, of course. They’d both gone to great lengths over the last six and a
half years, more or less, to keep it under wraps. But now several innocent people
had lost their lives and many more had no doubt been seriously traumatized. And
as far as he was concerned, as senior ranking officer he was every bit as
guilty as she was, regardless of whether she’d acted on her own this time or
not. The cover-up had gone on long enough. It was time to come clean and accept
the consequences of his actions.

“You’ve got
the professor’s records, Mister Krieger,” he pointed out. “You know as well as
I do what she was hiding. What
we
were hiding. It was the first charge on
the list.”

“Yes I do,”
Krieger admitted. “You were hiding illegally developed cyberclones. A hell of
a
lot
of illegally developed cyberclones, which was the first thing I wanted
to talk to you about when we started this little conversation. You see, Admiral,
there’s a lot of information in the professor’s records, but most of it’s kind
of sketchy. Some of the details don’t seem to fit quite right, and others don’t
appear to be relative at all.” He leaned slightly forward and added, “Still,
there’s enough evidence in there to put the both of you away for a very,
very
long time, even without your cooperation. But, believe it or not, sir, I
really don’t want to see that happen to you. I’d much rather hear your side of
the story now, so I can tell the government’s attorney that you cooperated
fully out of a great sense of remorse.”

That much
was true. He
was
remorseful. Not necessarily for what he and Royer had
done those years ago, or even for having probably stranded Günter in the past
for the rest of his life, though he’d certainly never feel good about that.
After all, they’d done all of that to serve the greater good—to protect and defend
the Earth and her colonies. Günter included. No. His only real regret was that
he’d misjudged Royer’s resolve so badly and that now, as a result of that poor
judgment, lives had been lost.