Jack Campbell - Victorious

“Certainly?” another senator asked Rione.

“Yes,” Rione replied flatly. “We know the Syndics have them.”

“I feel compelled to add,” Geary said, “that I would resign my commission rather than carry out orders to collapse hypernet gates with a goal of wiping out human-occupied star systems.”

Navarro shook his head. “Resign your commission? You wouldn’t simply refuse the order?”

“Refusal of a lawful order is not an option under Alliance fleet regulations, sir. I would remind you as well, sir, that destroying a hypernet gate requires warships close by firing upon its tethers. Destruction of those warships is a certainty.”

“A suicide mission,” Navarro commented.

“But look at what could be gained!” another senator insisted. “The people and the armed forces of the Alliance expect us to make the hard decisions necessary to win this war! If that means trying to use the Syndic hypernet gates as weapons at the cost of the Alliance warships sent on such missions—”

“They expect us to use some wisdom when we make decisions about spending their lives,” Navarro countered. “You may consider it hard to decide to send people to their deaths, but I’m fairly confident that it’s a lot harder on those who do the dying.”

“We need to win! Some of us may not want victory—”

“There are no grounds for making charges like that against any member of the council!” another senator countered.

“No proof perhaps—” another senator chimed in.

“I wonder”—Navarro’s voice cut across the debate—“if the Alliance wouldn’t be better off if those Marines had followed Captain Geary in here.” In the shocked silence that followed, Navarro fixed each senator in turn with a hard look. “We could win by wiping out human-occupied star systems? At what cost? At what cost to our own humanity?” The senators stared at each other, none seeming to have a ready answer to that. Finally, Senator Navarro shrugged. “It seems the option of using the hypernet gates as weapons no longer exists for anyone, so there’s no need for such a decision or argument. Personally, I thank my ancestors I don’t have to make that decision, and I thank the living stars that the threat to us has been contained.”

Navarro paused, his eyes once again on Geary. “It occurs to me that the knowledge of the threat posed by the gates, and how to use them as weapons, would have been an unstoppable advantage to anyone seeking to gain control of the Alliance government or to exploit the hysteria that collapsing gates within Alliance space would have caused. Instead, you gave us that knowledge.”

“It never occurred to him to do otherwise,” Rione remarked. “He requires politicians to point out such options, but fortunately he disregards such possibilities.”

“Fortunate, indeed,” Navarro agreed dryly. “I’ll need to give thanks to my ancestors tonight. You could have held on to that Syndic hypernet key as well, since it offers such a great advantage to any Alliance force. You could have made yourself indispensable, Captain.”

Geary wondered how much of his reaction showed. “The last thing I want is to be indispensable, sir.”

“Some people seek it as a guarantee of job security, Captain Geary. Continue with your report, please.”

There wasn’t much left by that point. Geary ran through the last engagements, finally bringing his account up to the battle at Varandal, when his fleet made it home. “You’re certain the Syndics planned to collapse the hypernet gate here in revenge for the gate collapse at Kalixa?” the heavyset woman demanded.

“That’s our best estimate, Madam Senator, and is consistent with Syndic actions during that period. I wish to add that the valiant defense of Varandal by the Alliance personnel and warships here prior to and after our arrival may well have made all the difference in foiling the Syndic plan.”

Navarro turned to Admiral Timbale. “What did the prisoners from the Syndics’ ships destroyed here tell us about this? They’re from that reserve flotilla, aren’t they?”

Timbale pressed his lips together as he formulated his answer. “Most didn’t appear to know anything, or why they had been stationed along that border so far from the Alliance. There seem to have been widespread rumors of a mysterious enemy, but no certain knowledge among most Syndic personnel. Under interrogation, a few of the most senior prisoners revealed that they did intend collapsing the hypernet gate here to wipe out this star system in retaliation for Kalixa. They also betrayed awareness of an intelligent nonhuman species on the far side of Syndic space from the Alliance. We were able to confirm that had been their mission, to defend against that species. But they don’t seem to know any specifics about these aliens, nothing that we can get them to say or trick out of them, anyway.”

“But they confirmed such a race exists?” another senator asked.

“Yes, Senator, they did. That is, their brain patterns betrayed that in response to our questioning.”

“And that this race is hostile?”

Timbale hesitated. “The Syndic prisoners wouldn’t say anything, but they were clearly worried about these aliens.” He glanced at Geary with a tight smile. “The fact that the Syndics kept a powerful naval force tied up so far from the Alliance is to me strong evidence that the Syndics don’t trust the aliens.”

Senator Suva shook her head. “Why haven’t previous prisoner interrogations revealed the existence of this race? We’ve captured the occasional Syndic CEO before.”

Rione answered. “Nobody was asking those questions. Why would they? We didn’t know of any reasons to inquire about a possible intelligent nonhuman species on the far side of Syndicate Worlds’ space.”

“But you figured it out,” Navarro commented, looking at Geary.

“Not on my own, sir,” Geary denied. “We also ended up having access to Syndic records and territory that Alliance personnel haven’t seen. It was a combination of events.”

Navarro seemed suddenly older. “You believe the aliens may have provoked the war between the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds?”

“We consider it a reasonable possibility. It fits what we know and explains some things that otherwise don’t make sense.”

Another senator spoke with so much bitterness that Geary could almost feel it. “Even if true, that wouldn’t relieve the Syndics of responsibility for this war, for all the pain and suffering we’ve endured.”

“I’m not arguing that it would, Senator,” Geary replied. “The Syndic leaders made their decision. However, if the aliens did trick them into attacking us, it would be another clear indication that the aliens already regard us as a threat to be dealt with. It would also be consistent with the use of the hypernet technology as a means of fooling not just the Syndics but all of humanity into seeding our star systems with unimaginably powerful mines.”

“Experts on the hypernet have been consulted?” Navarro asked. “They agree with the theory that the hypernet is alien technology deliberately leaked to both human sides in this war, and that the hypernet gate at Kalixa could not have spontaneously collapsed?”

“Yes, sir. That is, I’ve spoken with the experts within the fleet. I have not consulted with outside experts pending authorization to do so, given the sensitivity of the matter.” Geary looked down for a moment. “Unfortunately, the fleet’s best expert on the hypernet, Captain Cresida, died in the battle here at Varandal when her ship, the battle cruiser Furious , was destroyed.”

“Jaylen’s dead?” a previously silent senator blurted. “I hadn’t heard. Oh, damn. I know her family. But you say she was promoted to captain before then?”