Jack Campbell: Relentless

“Our intelligence personnel believe the Syndic mine inventories must still be very low after all of the mines they laid in the star systems around Lakota to try trapping us,” Geary continued. “We’ll still do a preprogrammed evasive maneuver upon arrival at Heradao and be ready for combat coming out of the jump exit. Are there any questions?”

“What about Kalixa?” Captain Kila asked. “It’s on the way home, too, and it has a Syndic hypernet gate.” Her tone seemed to be intended to be mild but was still sharp. Diplomacy definitely wasn’t Kila’s strong suit, but then he already knew that.

“We’re not going to Kalixa,” Geary replied. “The risks posed by a Syndic hypernet gate are too great.”

Kila pretended puzzlement. “Are risks a problem for this fleet? We’re not afraid of what the Syndics can do, Captain Geary, but this would be a good opportunity to inflict more damage on them by eliminating another star system of theirs.”

Commander Neeson sounded incredulous. “Excuse me, Captain Kila, but you were at Lakota with us, weren’t you? Our own fleet could have been destroyed.”

“It wasn’t,” Kila pointed out. “Avoiding actions out of exaggerated fears of the enemy response isn’t what’s expected of any commander in this fleet, let alone a battle cruiser commander.”

Neeson’s face flushed with sudden anger. “Are you accusing me of cowardice?”

“Quiet,” Geary ordered. “Everyone. Captain Kila, your statement was out of line.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t mean offense, merely to point out—”

“That’s enough.” He could see the flare of defiance in Kila’s eyes as he cut her off. “Commander Neeson has demonstrated his courage many times. I will not tolerate attempts to question the abilities or the bravery of anyone in this fleet without good cause.”

Captain Cresida, who had clearly been waiting for an opening, jumped in. “Commander Neeson is also right. The energy discharge when the hypernet gate at Lakota collapsed was on the low end of the theoretical range. I’ll remind Captain Kila that the high end runs up to a nova-scale burst of energy. No ship in the same star system could possibly survive that even if located as far as possible from the gate when it collapsed.”

“In theory ,” Kila replied sarcastically. “We didn’t see anything like that at either Sancere or Lakota, so perhaps the theory is wrong, and the gates may be safely used by us as weapons to eliminate Syndic star systems and finally make them pay in full for what they’ve done in this war!”

“That statement,” Cresida returned with growing heat, “reflects a total misunderstanding of what is known about the hypernet gates and the data we collected at both Sancere and Lakota!”

“That’s enough.” Geary broke in again. “Captain Cresida is right. We don’t need to debate the science here. Captain Kila, I recommend you familiarize yourself with what is known before you make suggestions for courses of action.” Kila reddened at the barely veiled rebuke. Daring ’s captain nodded. “As for being able to ride out taking down a hypernet gate, we all saw what happened to the Syndic warships that took down their own gate at Lakota.”

“Our ships—” Kila began.

“At Sancere my ship was right up there while it was collapsing, and Inspire was a long ways distant! I know exactly what it’s like to be near a collapsing hypernet gate, and I don’t want any part of that again no matter what you say. Only luck and the living stars saved us at Sancere and Lakota.”

“Luck, courage, and brains,” Geary added. “As long as this fleet continues to use the last two, we can save the first for emergencies. And as for using the hypernet gates to destroy enemy star systems, I’ve already stated that I will not order such an action. Neither the living stars nor our ancestors could possibly approve of such an atrocity and on such a scale.”

“It appears,” Captain Duellos observed, “that there’s no reason to go to Kalixa then.”

Kila shot him an ugly look as Captain Caligo chimed in once more. “We’re one fleet. We all believe in the same things. Arguments like this only serve the goals of the enemy by driving us apart.”

That brought many more nods of approval. Geary couldn’t find fault with Caligo’s words, either, and for some reason they even shut up Kila, who finally subsided.

“Are there any other questions?” Geary asked dryly.

There weren’t, and the meeting ended in a flurry of images vanishing and the room apparently shrinking back to normal dimensions again.

Captain Duellos lingered for a moment. “I have to confess I was starting to wonder why we hadn’t headed out of Dilawa before now.”

“I needed to have my head pounded with a brick,” Geary admitted.

“Ah, I see. How fortunate that you had Captain Desjani handy for that task.”

Desjani gave Duellos an annoyed look. “Don’t you have better things to be doing right now, Roberto?”

Duellos nodded, then smiled. “Call me if you ever need another brick, Tanya.”

“I’ll do that. He’s got a hard head. I bet you’ve saved up quite a supply of bricks so they’ll be handy for arguments with Kila.”

“She’s not worth our time,” Duellos said dismissively. “I only speak with her when duty requires it.”

Geary grimaced in response. “I’m just glad she shut up before I had to outright order her to do that.”

“Even Kila couldn’t object to what Caligo said.”

“Yes, she could’ve,” Desjani insisted. “Even the blandest statement can be twisted. I was surprised she accepted it so quietly.”

Duellos pursed his lips in thought. “That’s a point, but you’re implying that Kila and Caligo have some sort of agreement. They don’t socialize, I don’t know of anyone who’s even seen them together except in meetings like this one, and they’re not exactly soul mates.”

“I won’t argue that,” Desjani conceded.

“How well do you know Captain Kila?” Geary asked.

Desjani shrugged. “I’ve had little contact with her, but that’s been by choice based on what I’ve heard from friends. And I’ve heard plenty.”

“What did your friends say?”

Another shrug. “They say that Kila’s bitch-switch is locked into the ‘on’ position and comes with a power-boost setting that activates at the slightest provocation.”

Geary managed to convert his laugh into a cough. “That sounds like good justification for avoiding her.”

“As well as an accurate description,” Duellos observed.

“How did she make rank with a personality like that?”

Desjani gave Geary a skeptical look. “Are you serious? Her personality only comes into play with people junior in rank to her, or with peers who are rivals for promotion. As far as her superiors are concerned, she’s always as fine as a micron filter.”

“Oh.” It had been a dumb question. He’d encountered a few people like that in his career a century ago, and somehow wars usually managed to avoid causing the loss of such individuals.

“So you can see,” Duellos continued, “that Kila isn’t the sort to buddy up to a bland sort of officer who can do nothing for her ambitions. Caligo is the sort of officer that Kila snacks on for fun.”

“That doesn’t mean they couldn’t end up in bed together,” Desjani pointed out.

“Ouch.” Duellos made a pained face. “I know you meant it metaphorically, but now I have that image in my head. Oh, please, make it go away. By your leave, Captain Geary, I have to go take a shower.”

After watching Duellos’s image vanish, Geary shook his head at Desjani. “I’m glad you two are on my side.” He held up a hand as Rione started to leave. “Can you wait a moment, Madam Co-President?”