Jack Campbell - Victorious

“I’ll try not to. I thought things went okay in there.”

“Possibly.”

“That one senator, Costa, seemed supportive.”

Rione breathed a short laugh. “Yes and no. Costa thinks she is supportive of the military, but she would have voted to order suicide missions to collapse Syndic hypernet gates. You could see that as well as I. And I have no doubt that she would have welcomed a military coup. Not for personal gain, but out of misplaced patriotism. You can’t trust her to do what’s really best.” She glanced toward the ceiling. “My equipment says there are some cameras up there, but my jamming gear is fogging their views so they can’t read our lips. Anyway, you can’t count on Costa, but she can be useful if properly guided.”

“Not many of the council appeared openly hostile,” Geary said.

“ ‘Openly’ is the key word. Gizelle doesn’t like you, but that’s a badge of honor in my book. He’s the sort who would welcome a coup as a chance to make loads of money and gain more power.” Rione smiled wryly at Geary. “He’s doubtless a bit upset that you’re standing at the gate preventing that. I never did find out what deals Gizelle made with Admiral Bloch, but Gizelle did work hard behind the scenes to get Bloch’s plan approved, and we both know what Bloch’s ambitions were.”

Geary rubbed his eyes. “What about Senator Navarro? What did those digs at him mean?”

“They mean he’s suspected of making covert deals with the Syndics. He’s from Abassas Star System, near the border, and surrounding Alliance star systems have been hit multiple times by the Syndics. Abassas hasn’t been hit since Navarro was elected to the grand council.”

At the least, that didn’t look good. “Do you think he’s dealing with the enemy?”

Rione looked away for a moment, thinking. “I’ve never heard any proven charges of corruption against Navarro. That is, of course his enemies spread charges of corruption, but he’s never been caught at it. I’d know even if it had been covered up. Aside from the curious lack of Syndic attacks on his home star system, there’s no evidence of treason or any lesser crimes.” She paused. “I think he’s as honest as any of us these days, and I think he’s trying to do his best for the Alliance. But he’s had to compromise in many ways to hold things together. That’s the difference between good military commanders and good politicians, John Geary. You’ve shown me that a good military commander spends the lives of their people reluctantly and with regret, but does spend them when necessary. The good politician does the same thing with principles. There aren’t any fine burials for sacrificed principles, though.”

“Are you saying he’s like you?”

“In many ways.”

“Then, despite the lack of attacks on Abassas, we can trust him.”

Rione gave him an exasperated look. “I wouldn’t advise you to trust me in everything. But, yes, I believe he’s going to endorse whatever course of action seems to him to be truly best for the Alliance. You saw that his ability to keep the council under control is hampered by the suspicions against him, though.”

Something else had been bothering him, and now Geary asked it. “Is that why Navarro let the council approve Admiral Bloch’s plan given the odds against it and the chances that Bloch would try to ride success into a dictatorship?”

“The chair of the grand council rotates.” Rione shrugged. “When Bloch’s plan was approved, Costa was chair. Navarro argued against approving Bloch’s plan, but because of the doubts about him, those arguments didn’t prevail. A traitor wouldn’t want a war-winning plan approved, would he?”

“I see. Of course, neither would a prudent and loyal individual given the risks posed by Bloch’s plan.” He looked toward the sealed door. “Why wouldn’t you tell me anything about those politicians before I gave my report?”

“Because I wanted you at your apolitical military best, Captain Geary.” Rione sighed. “If you’d been briefed on their personalities, you might have reacted to them on a personal level. You might have come across as political yourself. This way, you were totally professional, completely detached, a paragon of a military officer who wasn’t even thinking about politics but just how to do his job.” She laughed derisively. “You probably couldn’t tell how much that rattled them. They were expecting another politician, though one wearing a uniform, and when you betrayed nothing of that, they had no idea how to get a handle on you. At one point I could tell Navarro realized that you weren’t acting, that you were exactly what he was seeing and hearing, and at that point I really started to hope we could succeed here.” Her mood suddenly shifting again, Rione turned a sardonic look on him. “It’s a good thing I’m in your pocket, isn’t it?”

He paused in the act of replying, then settled for a mild statement. “I didn’t realize you were monitoring all of my communications.”

“I’m not,” she assured him. “I’m trying to monitor all of Badaya’s. Getting through your security screens is very difficult thanks to the diligent efforts of Dauntless ’s commanding officer, but in that particular case I came in through Badaya’s transmission. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt the man unless he becomes a loose cannon. Right now all of his illusions are useful to us.”

That sounded wrong in any number of ways. “I’m not deceiving him for personal gain. Neither are you.”

“Don’t think you know everything about me, Captain Geary.” Rione smiled coldly. “Trust no one any more than you have to.”

Instead of arguing, he just nodded. Rione remained a riddle, but as far as he could tell, she also remained an ally. He also had no doubt that Desjani, Duellos, and Tulev were keeping a close eye on her for any signs of betrayal.

The wait dragged. Geary could only stand stiffly while Rione leaned against the opposite wall, her eyes distant. Not the first time, Geary wished he could tell what she was thinking.

Timbale eventually returned, shaking his head. “General Firgani was planning an operation to take out your Marine ‘honor guard.’ I finally convinced him of the stupidity of that by contrasting his available assets with the massed weaponry of the fleet, and demonstrating that it would be impossible to overcome a platoon of armored Marines in an outer-shell compartment like that without the entire star system spotting the fireworks. Even Firgani isn’t dumb enough to start a battle that one-sided.”

“And Admiral Otropa?” Rione asked.

“He had a lot of questions about what had gone on after he was asked to leave.” Timbale made no effort to hide his glee. “He wanted me to give him a full report. I told him I was needed back here.” The admiral’s demeanor had changed dramatically, with Timbale now acting as if he were firmly on Geary’s team instead of being terrified of what Geary might do next. “There’s no hidden game here, is there? I can’t see the point of one, but my ancestors know I wouldn’t have seen half of what you did in Syndic space.”

Geary shook his head. “No hidden game, sir.”

“That’s a relief. I don’t mind telling you that.” Timbale looked older for a moment. “A lot of us knew what Bloch intended. Plenty of other officers were jockeying for similar moves.”

“What would you have done had Bloch returned victorious?” Rione asked.

The admiral took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t even answer that, but Captain Geary obviously trusts you. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know what I would have done. Truly. A lot of us didn’t. We were as despairing as the rest, didn’t trust the government, knew how frayed the entire Alliance was becoming, didn’t know what else to do. But a coup … Have you heard of the quantum cat, Madam Co-President? The one where you have to look in the box to tell whether it’s alive or dead, and the universe doesn’t actually decide one way or the other until you look? It was like that. If Bloch had come back, a lot of us would have been opening that box to see what our hearts told us. Only then could we have seen the answer. I’ll never know that answer now, to my relief and to my shame. As that one senator said, it used to be a lot easier to know what loyalty to the Alliance meant. But maybe it wasn’t easier, and maybe now it’s not really all that complicated. Maybe the answer never changed, just the questions we were asking.”