The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Invincible (30 page)

What could he say? Geary looked down for a while, trying to find words, then back at Duellos. “How does your wife feel?”

“Grateful that I came home alive. Grateful that no more of our children will be sent off to die in an endless war. Perplexed at the melancholy with which I confronted a world changed beyond recognition, a world in which what I am became obsolete in the blink of an eye.” Duellos shook his head, gloom showing. “It’s been wearing on me. Peace is good. The cost of war is so terrible. But I know nothing of peace. I’ve been molded for war. I hate war. I hate the death, I hate knowing more will die, I hate being away from those I love, but . . . but it is what I know. Everyone back home wishes to put it all behind them as fast as possible, to forget it happened, but when they forget the awful things, they also forget the sacrifices, the deeds done by those they sent off to fight. They don’t want to hear about that now. And I simply don’t know what I am supposed to be now that what I am has ceased to be wanted.”

Geary looked away, trying to think of what to say. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Admiral,” Duellos said. “You did what you should do. You did what legend said you would.” He paused and looked closely at Geary. “But the legend never said what Black Jack would do after he saved the day, did it?”

“I don’t know. I never wanted to hear about the legend.”

“Tanya and I have talked about it. It’s something we never realized even though we grew up being told that legend. It never had a ‘happily ever after’ or anything like that. Black Jack would save us, then . . .” Duellos looked at Geary again. “It doesn’t say. The story just ends. Now we face the reality. Is there still a need for Black Jack? How many people still want Black Jack?”

“I don’t exactly want to be Black Jack, remember?” Geary replied. “And you know about the popular movements to make me run things back home, to take over the government and ‘fix’ it, whatever that means, or somehow miraculously root out all of the corruption and misdeeds that plague any form of government. People want that.”

“Do they?” Duellos asked. “They say that, but what if you were actually given those tasks? How long would it take for the hero to develop feet of clay?”

“The hero has always had feet of clay,” Geary replied. “It would be a relief for me if people stopped thinking I should step in and save the day. It wouldn’t break my heart to just . . . just . . .”

He paused to order his thoughts.
To just what?

“Roberto,” Geary said slowly, “you know I wasn’t thrilled to have to assume command of the fleet back when it was trapped by the Syndics. You know that I never liked the Black Jack legend. For some time, I consoled myself by thinking that I would get the fleet home, then I would go somewhere and . . . hide. Just go away, to somewhere where no one had ever heard of Black Jack. Winning the war wasn’t my job just because the government had dreamed up some stupid myth about me being the hero to end all heroes.”

“But you changed your mind,” Duellos said, pretending to be examining the imaginary wine in the imaginary wineglass he was still pretending to hold.

“Tanya made me realize that I couldn’t do that.” Geary sat looking glumly downward for a moment. “I knew it couldn’t happen. I had a job to do. But the government never really wanted Black Jack. You know that. They wanted the legend to help inspire the fleet and the people of the Alliance. But they didn’t want a real person. Ever since I stepped into that legend, I’ve been someone that the people who created the legend want to get rid of.”

Duellos eyed Geary, then actually pretended to set down the wineglass before leaning forward. “And here we are, you and me and a lot of other people who aren’t needed or wanted anymore. What a coincidence that we should be sent deep into territory unknown to the human race, on a mission whose level of danger was very literally unable to be calculated.”

“Yes. Isn’t that a coincidence.” Geary felt his lips pressing into a single tight line. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk about.”

“So Tanya advised me. Something about the government?”

“Among other things. Fleet headquarters. Hidden agendas. Plots. Plans. Hidden construction of new warships. And maybe other things, too.” Geary blew out a long breath as he ordered his thoughts. “Let me tell you what I know, what are facts, and what I suspect.”

“Fair enough.” From somewhere in his own stateroom, Duellos had produced an actual wineglass and now took an appreciative sip. “Fact one?”

“Fact one. The Alliance government and fleet headquarters tried to makes us leave for this mission too quickly, before we were as fully supplied and ready as I wanted. I understand that sort of nonsense goes on all the time. Hurry up and wait. Do nothing for six months, then get told it all has to be done in a week. That’s normal. This didn’t feel normal.”

“Everyone noticed,” Duellos commented. “We know all too well the feeling of being rushed into action. It was one thing to do so when the Syndics were knocking at the door, and another to have that same crisis-mode preparation when no crisis was known to exist. But you were in command, so we accepted that something required such urgency.” He took another sip of wine. “Fact two?”

“Fact two,” Geary said. “At the last minute, and I do mean literally at almost the last minute, fleet headquarters tried to yank the majority of our auxiliary force capability out from under us.
Titan
,
Tanuki
,
Kupua
, and
Domovoi
. What shape would we now be in if all we had were the four smaller auxiliaries?”

“Not good,” Duellos said. “How did we dodge that bullet? Did you simply disregard the order?”

“No. Admiral Timbale pointed out that the order was sent contrary to standard protocols and therefore required clarification. He sent off the request for clarification, and I took off with the four auxiliaries in question.”

“It is important to do things properly,” Duellos agreed. “Fact three?”

“Fact three. We were all told, I was personally told several times, that new construction of warships had been halted to save money. But there’s substantial evidence that the government is secretly building a significant number of new warships.”

Duellos stopped moving, his eyes on his wineglass, a frown slowly developing. “How strong is this evidence?”

“It’s convincing to people who understand such matters.” He didn’t want to go into detail with Duellos about the evidence uncovered by Lieutenant Jamenson in hundreds of apparently unrelated contracts and reports.

“How many ships?” Duellos asked, skepticism clear.

“Twenty battleships, twenty battle cruisers, and an appropriate number of cruisers and destroyers to serve as escorts.”

The pause this time was much longer before Duellos spoke. “I can see,” he began, “why the government would want to keep that hidden from a war-weary public, but why mislead you on the matter?”

“That’s a very good question though it may be related to fact four. Our warships are facing major life-span issues with their systems. None of them were designed to operate for more than three years.”

“That is not a secret to anyone who was present at Honor,” Duellos said. “I knew problems have been developing, but that was a real eye-opener.”

“For all of us,” Geary admitted. “I knew about the problem, I knew it would be getting worse before it got better, but I wasn’t prepared for that sudden cascade of failures at Honor. We may face something similar at Midway, though Captain Smythe thinks the stress on our systems at Honor blew out everything close to failure, so we’ll now have a period of relative reliability. Still, even with everything our auxiliaries can do, we’re slowly losing ground on readiness.” Should he tell Duellos the next thing?

“There’s more,” Duellos said with calm assurance.

“There is.” Geary smiled ruefully. “Everyone tells me that I’m a lousy liar.”

“You are. You’re horrible at it. It’s one of your more commendable features.”

“All right, then. Those new ships that are being built? We have reason to suspect that they’re being built to much higher standards than these ships were.”

“Not implausible,” Duellos said. “In fact, it is what one would expect if our ships were built to be expendable in wartime and these new ships are built to last a long time as part of a peacetime fleet. But . . . it does imply that people in authority know that you would face a serious and growing problem with reliability among your fleet. Is there a fact five?”

“There is.” Geary waved toward the star display. “We were sent on a mission into unknown regions against a foe of unknown strength, yet specifically ordered to find the extent of the territory occupied by the aliens even though that could have been much more distant than it has proven to be.”

“Using a fleet that authorities knew would be suffering escalating problems with the reliability of its systems,” Duellos said. “And one from which fleet headquarters tried to yank half of your auxiliaries. This isn’t forming a particularly pleasant picture.”

“It gets worse. Fact six. On the way to that mission, we were diverted, engaged in a major distraction liberating the POWs at Dunai. Fact seven. Rione was ordered to stay on the same ship with me and Tanya even though those issuing those orders must have known how disruptive that could easily have been.”

“Another distraction.”

“Fact eight. The enigmas could easily have isolated us on the far side of Syndic space by collapsing the entire Syndic hypernet. We could still have made it home, but it would have taken a lot longer. We didn’t think of that. Some of the Syndics did, though. That’s why I traded with the authorities at Midway for the Syndic-developed fix that will protect a hypernet from being collapsed by remote command.”

Duellos’s eyes had narrowed, his expression hardening. “And someone on our side may have thought of it also?”

“Fact nine,” Geary said. “Fleet headquarters also tried to yank everyone in this fleet with theoretical knowledge of the hypernet.”

“Someone did think of it.”

“It’s hard to assume otherwise, isn’t it?” Geary agreed. “Fact ten. Victoria Rione has not been acting normally.”

“In all seriousness,” Duellos said, “I would be hard put to know what ‘acting normally’ is for that Rione woman.”

“Has Tanya been talking to you about her, too?”

“Constantly. At least I assume ‘that woman’ is Rione.”

“Did Tanya tell you that Rione finally admitted to having secret orders? From a source or sources that Rione still can’t name?”

“According to Tanya,” Duellos said judiciously, “‘that woman’ is a greater threat to this fleet and the Alliance than the enigmas, the Kicks, and everything left to the Syndicate Worlds. But I have seen that former senator, former vice president of the Callas Republic, and current Emissary of the Alliance Victoria Rione has done us services in the past, and I do not underrate her intelligence. Why would she accept such orders?”

“Blackmail.”

“Concerning you?” Duellos asked.

“No. That’s no secret, and the relationship that Rione and I briefly had, not knowing her husband was still alive, is something that could only reflect on her honor.”

“Someone else’s honor then?” Duellos nodded. “I’ve heard a few things about Commander Benan from Tanya as well. There are some secrets there that Tanya would not share with even me.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true. The point is, someone wanted to force Rione to accompany this fleet and to take certain actions. I don’t know, but firmly believe, that Rione has refrained from doing anything that would have harmed this fleet while technically adhering to the terms of those secret orders.”

Duellos nodded again, his eyes on his wine. “Are there more facts?”

“No, just suppositions.”

“Let me guess.” Duellos’s gaze went to the star display. “Someone wished this fleet, of questionable loyalty to the government, to be lost again. As well as the hero from the past, who had the bad form to show up alive. With the Syndicate Worlds falling apart and a formal peace in place, the Alliance no longer needs either and is building a new fleet already to defend itself. It will crew those ships with men and women who have not been under the personal command of Black Jack and therefore have no personal loyalty to him, and give the command of the new ships to some officer whose loyalty to the government is unquestioned.”

“Not quite,” Geary said. “Rione has dropped hints that this isn’t some monolithic conspiracy, that in fact different factions are maneuvering to do different things, some of which ended up pushing me and this fleet in this direction.”

“The practical difference being?”

“Some of those factions, some of those individuals, may be pursuing agendas in which loyalty to them is more important than loyalty to the government.”

Duellos stopped moving, nothing showing on his face now, but his eyes focused on some train of thought. “You told me,” he finally said, “that when you have met with the grand council of the Alliance, some of the senators appeared to be openly hostile to you, while others appeared to be working more subtly.”

“And some appeared to be honest and dedicated,” Geary said. “Senator Navarro, for example. But as Victoria Rione said, Senator Navarro has been worn-out by his former duties as head of the council and attacks by political enemies. I don’t trust Senator Suva at all, and I know she played a role in our orders to go on this mission. I still don’t know what cards Senator Sakai is playing. Those are just three examples.”