“You can take all the leave time you want.”
“To be frank, I'm tempted just to tell the service to go to hell. I'm a veteran; I can get out whenever I want.”
“But you aren't going to do it.”
After a long pause, he shook his head, and said, “That's not what she'd have wanted. It still hurts, damn it, and it always will. There's no point losing my ship as well, though.”
“Your ship?” Marshall said, forcing a smile.
“You ship masters are all alike,” he said, trying to find relief in the banter. “You just fly the shuttle. The engineers own it.” He paused, shook his head, and said, “Maybe I should take a while.”
“All the time you need,” Marshall replied, clapping him on the shoulder. “I know what you are going through. I've been there.”
“Does it ever get any easier?”
Taking a deep breath, he said, “I've still got a gaping hole in my soul. Sometimes I can bury it. That gets easier with time.” Looking out over the desert again, he added, “Stay with the family, Jack. Assuming I can keep it together.”
Nodding, he replied, “They'll have to drag me off that ship.” With a sigh, he said, “By your leave?”
“Go,” Marshall said. Quinn nodded, then walked out of the room, the doors opening onto an argument that Orlova seemed to be having with a blonde woman wearing civilian clothes.
“What do you mean I can't publish anything!” she yelled.
“I did warn you,” Orlova replied.
“This is just a lot of...,” her voice was cut off by the door slamming shut, Caine stepping in at the last minute.
“Danny, the shuttle’s on final approach. They’ll be here in a minute,
” she said. “How's Jack?”
“Hurting like hell.
One more casualty of this nightmare.
Another of the perpetual walking wounded.”
Shaking his head, he continued, “I want to get away from here. Get clear of this mess.”
“I know what you mean,” Logan replied, walking into the room. “I got tired of waiting.
Orlova's really having fun out there.
”
“Good work at Planetary Defense,
by the way
” Caine said.
“I’m spending most of the next week updating their intrusion protocols for them,” he replied. “Hours of paperwork and inspections, but maybe some good will come of it in the long run.”
“How can you be so sanguine about this?”
“I’m a damn good actor, Captain,” Logan said.
The door opened, and Orlova walked in, hurriedly closing the door behind h
er
. Marshall ran over to her and wrapped her in a bear hug, Caine heading over to clap her on the back.
“Hey, I need to breathe!” she said. “It’s good to see you guys too, though.”
“I’m sorry for leaving you to handle this mess,” Marshall said.
“You thought you were leaving me at Staff College, remember.” Shaking her head, she said, “My erstwhile teacher is singing to the prosecutors right now. I managed to break away from the gaggle for a moment; I don’t know what Sena...President Olongo has in mind, but I wanted to see you first. How many dead?”
“Forrest, Dixon, maybe a dozen others. Mostly Espatiers. Cooper’s pretty shaken up.
H
e’s in with his wife right now. I’ve already signed off on three month’s leave for both of them to sort themselves out. Alamo can manage without them for a while.”
“You’re assuming that they’ll still be on Alamo,” Caine said.
“A safe enough assumption, Lieutenant,” Olongo said, walking into the room with Senator Harper behind him. “They will be, and as long as they stay out of the way, I have no objection to their taking leave.”
“I think Cooper’s uncle’s arranging them passage on one of his ships to Ragnarok. They don’t want to be bothered either.”
“Tell me, how is Sub-Lieutenant Bradley?”
“She’ll walk again,” Marshall said. “Though it’s going to be a long recovery period.”
“Pass on my regards to her. To all of your crew. We owe them all a debt we can never repay.” Turning to Orlova, he said, “I understand you turned down the offer of a Senate position from the Technocrats. You might not be aware that the Patriots have made you a similar offer.”
“Who?”
“The Progressive Party has shattered into two; the Patriots are the larger, breaking away from Norman. I think it likely that she will lose her seat at the election, something which does not displease me. Captain Marshall, you likewise have received similar offers.”
“Not interested.”
“That, too, does not displease me.” He looked out of the window, and said, “I’m going to concede that what you did was necessary, and that there are persons in the Senate who let things go too far. Hopefully the electorate will punish them.”
“Certainly,” Harper said, “We’re going to do the best we can to make sure of that. There’s some information we can leak.
Perhaps your journalist friend will oblige, Ms. Orlova. I understand she has ambitions to become a political columnist.”
“Journalist friend?” Caine asked.
“Long story,” Orlova replied. “Long, long story.”
Turning to face Olongo, Marshall said, “Why do I have the feeling that you are about to do something to us that I’m not going to like.”
“All of us in this room agree on one thing, I presume. That what has happened here cannot become public knowledge. If it came out that we danced this close to a coup, confidence in the military and political arms of the Confederation would collapse. We could easily have a real civil war.”
Nodding, Caine said, “We took steps to restrict the information as much as possible.”
“You aren’t going to let them get away with it,” Orlova said. “And how the hell do you explain what happened in orbit?”
“Operation Talon,” Olongo said. “The Battlecruiser Alamo was instructed to attempt a simulated attack on Mars, testing the capacities of the Battleship Zeus in actual combat conditions. Enemy agents – Cabal, UN, we don’t know – managed to sabotage the missile guidance systems remotely, causing what looked a lot like a battle.” He smiled, then said, “There was so much jamming going on up there, there are few reliable records in any case.”
“We’re on the case,” another voice said, and Fleet Captain Paine, head of Triplanetary Intelligence, stepped into the room. “By tomorrow, the orbital engagement will be properly concealed. That leaves the human factor.”
“Everything else happened outside the system,” Olongo said, “and was witnessed only by serving officers. Some of which are to be arrested under charges of treason.” Turning to Orlova, he said, “You very helpfully indicated that there was a Cabal conspiracy going on to the press. I’m happy to report that we have caught something on the order of thirty traitors, all of whom have agreed to testify in exchange for sentence reduction. Tarrant, Rogers, Watson, a host of others.”
“As long as they face justice,” Orlova said.
“We’re sending them to Driftwind,
t
o join the Cabal prisoners out there
already
. It seems a logical place to dump them, and there they are in no position to tell anyone anything.”
He paused, then said, “Certainly their crime merits a life sentence. All of them have already agreed to the plea bargain that will give them their one-way ticket.” Looking at Marshall closely, he said, “
That leaves you and your crew, Captain Marshall. The only others who know the truth.”
“Are we going to be dumped on Driftwind as well?” he said with a scowl.
“No, Captain, I will not do that. For one thing, you are a hero. Word of what happened at Hades Station has begun to spread, and your actions in commanding the forces that secured that facility have not gone unnoticed.”
“What, then? Are we to be spread across the galaxy again?”
Taking a seat, Olongo said, “It goes a lot further
that just you, Captain.
More than a hundred Fleet officers have resigned in the last hour, using a combination of disagreement about the treaty and blame for the Cabal spy ring as their reasons.” He smiled, and said, “All confusing enough that the press will quickly come up with their own story. That includes the top five officers in Personnel, the top four in Deep Space Operations, all but one of the Combined Chiefs.” He shook his head, “Those officers will of course be replaced. Tomorrow. For today, the chain of command has been shattered.”
“Meaning?”
“That today, we can pretty much do what we want to do. What state is Alamo in, Captain?”
“We’d need repairs before a battle, and I just lost my Systems Officer.”
“Can you find a new one?”
“Maybe.”
“Pick anyone you want, and that goes for your crew. I’m sending you to
Hunter
Station to make repairs
.
”
“
Ragnarok? That's only a tripwire outpost at the moment.”
“With enough maintenance facilities attached to allow you to spend as much time as you need putting the pieces back together. You see, Captain, I have the notion that you ought to be out on the frontier, for everyone’s sake. I need you and your crew out of the way for a few years, to buy time for this all to fade away into the past. At least four years.”
“After the election after next,” Caine said.
“Exactly. Captain Winter was wise enough to ensure that none of the crew who went out with you had families back home.”
“I can’t run Alamo with that small a crew…”
“You don’t have to. Take anyone you want. I mean that quite literally. The only ones who have to stay out there are the ones who know the truth.”
“They won’t talk,” Marshall said. “They’re loyal.”
“And they never get drunk? Couldn’t be snatched off the streets and interrogated with drugs?” Shaking his head, Olongo said, “This isn’t fair, I know, but I can soften the blow. Tell me, Captain, what is your dream assignment?”
“Deep space exploration.”
“Heard of Yeager Station?”
“I have,” Orlova said. “A small outpost at AD Leonis, one jump out from Ragnarok. Established last year, just after we left for Spitfire.”
“Right now that’s all it is, but I think it can be something more. To one side, there is the Cabal. To the other, uncharted space. Your job is to watch the border in that region, and to launch a four-year mission of exploration beyond. To see what lies beyond our ramparts.” With a smile, he said, “And I am promoting you, officially for what you did at Hades Station, to Fleet Captain.”
“Why?”
“Because your current rank is
worthless
to you. As a Fleet Captain, you can command
both
Alamo,
and
a
t least a small
task force. I’m assigning two more ships to you, to meet you at
Ragnarok
, crews to be selected at your discretion.” He looked up at Marshall, and said, “Isn’t this what you wanted? To get your ship back, and to get a long-range mission. No-one back home will interfere with you, as long as you don’t start any wars.”
“That’s in
pretty
bad taste,” Orlova said.
Looking up, he said, “You also are promoted. To Senior Lieutenant. On the grounds that you have made sufficient enemies back home that you are unlikely to rise through the ranks on merit, but I am assured that you are worth keeping in the service.”
“A bribe?”
“You can do the job, Maggie,” Logan said. “I presume you’re going to be Alamo’s Operations Officer again? Doesn’t that normally require the Senior Lieutenant rank?”
“I’ve been in the service for
less than four
years…”
“
R
ather active years,
though,
” Olongo said. “Captain Marshall...Fleet Captain Marshall, I beg your pardon, what do you think?”
“I agree, and the job is hers if she wants it.”
She looked at him, and nodded, “I’ll take it. For a while, anyway.”
“You have the crew you want, the mission you want, and be honest with me,
d
o you really want to come back here any time soon?” Olongo asked, looking at Marshall.
“I can’t wait to leave.”
“Then this seems like an eminently suitable solution to all concerned.”
“What about me?” Logan asked.
“
You are to be assigned as commander of the scout squadron. Which incidentally will be boosted to three ships as soon as Wyvern finishes her repairs.”
“That makes less sense than sending me to Spitfire did.”
Stepping forward, Paine said, “You’re in charge of the Cabal Desk,
Logan.
Permanently. We both know that the job needs to be done from the front, and where better to start getting agents into the Cabal, work to bringing it down?
Think of those scoutships as intelligence assets. There's method to our madness.
”
“We’ve bought some time today,” Olongo said, “but we all know that the Cabal are still going to work against us. You said so yourself, Ms. Orlova. We need to build up our defenses, and to prove that point, Ares will be taking your friend the Commandant home.
We must also
work to infiltrate operatives, build up an intelligence network. Another job for you, Captain Marshall. A critical one.”
“It’s in the middle of nowhere.”
“Our major bases are
to be
at Ragnarok, Spitfire and Hydra,” Harper said, nodding. “
Our efforts must be forcued there, which means that
our ability to support you long-term is likely to be limited. We can manage one big convoy of materials and personnel, but the rest is up to you.”
“Or, Captain, you could refuse my offer, and likely end up in Public Relations, touring schools and the like. Of course, the Senate remains
an option
.”
“And my crew?”
“Scattered across the galaxy, as Lieutenant Caine suggested.”
Marshall looked out over the window, back at the crash site again. Caine walked up to his side, her arm on his shoulder, and followed his gaze, while the others waited at the far side of the room.
“We still have a job to do, Danny. We can do it out there.”
“We?” he asked.
“I’ll stick while you do. You need someone to keep you on your toes.”