Christopher Nuttall - Barbarians at the Gates

Marius kept his face under tight control, considering his possible options. It wasn’t common for a Brotherhood member to declare themselves openly, no matter what the situation. Arunika had probably been ordered to do so by her superiors, which suggested that part of their reasoning focused around Marius himself. The Brotherhood was supposed to have operatives and members at all levels of society—an outlook that would irritate parts of the Senate—and no one knew for sure who led the Brotherhood, if anyone did. It said something about their influence and reach that the various intelligence agencies hadn’t tracked down the Brotherhood’s leadership, although it was quite possible that the Brotherhood controlled Federation Intelligence. The Brotherhood was not exactly a banned organization, but if Marius had learned one thing in three years, it was that the Senate would respond harshly to any threat to their power—and they could conceivably regard the Brotherhood as a threat.

“Let’s cut right to the chase,” he said once he’d ensured that the cabin was sealed. “Why does the Brotherhood have an interest in me?”

Arunika leaned forward, her face expressionless. “What makes you think that the Brotherhood has an interest in you?”

“You’re here,” Marius countered. He had little patience for games. “You declared yourself to me—to everyone on this vessel—and you’ve stayed with me. Why would you do that unless you wanted me to know who you work for?”

“Point,” Arunika conceded with a smile. “Although I don’t actually work for the Brotherhood. We are more of a collective society than a top-down system. Those of us who are accepted have a say in our collective decision-making.”

And I can believe as much of that as I like , Marius thought dryly. It seemed a cumbersome system, although perhaps it worked better in practice. The Brotherhood had been around since the First Interstellar War, and presumably had a great deal of practice in remaining underground and organizing themselves.

“But as for why we are interested in you, I would have thought that was obvious,” she added. “You’re the commanding officer of this fleet.”

“Your interest in me started before the Battle of Jefferson,” Marius pointed out. “I say again; why me?”

“You saved Earth,” Arunika explained. “That alone marked you as a person of interest. When you were appointed to the Retribution Force, we decided that it would be better if one of us accompanied you, if only to share our view of the situation.”

Marius’s eyes narrowed. “Did you know that Admiral Justinian was planning a rebellion before the Battle of Earth?”

“I’m afraid not,” Arunika admitted. “If we had known, we would have taken action to stop him before he launched his attempted coup. Sadly, Justinian and the other warlords are a symptom rather than the cause of the Federation’s problems. The Federation had been falling apart for a long time before someone decided to take advantage of its weakness.”

“As Captain—Professor—Kratman told me,” Marius said. Something clicked in his mind. Professor Kratman had access to far more information than he should have been able to access. “He’s one of you, isn’t he?”

“He could be,” Arunika said. “I don’t get to know everyone in the Brotherhood.”

“And how do you know, then, that I am not already part of the Brotherhood?” Marius smiled.

“There are signs and countersigns,” Arunika said. She touched the space between her breasts with one long, dark finger. “I’ll lay our cards on the table. Our purpose is to keep humanity—which means the Federation—strong and supreme. A strong humanity is one that isn’t threatened by alien invaders. This prolonged period of civil war risks shattering that unity and inviting aliens to try their luck. The Outsiders are already probing our borders, admiral. It will not be long before they start a full-scale invasion.”

Marius sat back in his chair. “How do you know that’s what they’re planning to do?”

“We have our sources,” Arunika said. “I’m afraid that we cannot give details, even to a prospective recruit, but we believe the Outsiders have been planning to invade for a long time. An alliance of Albans and aliens, an abomination against nature, will sweep down on the Rim and push in toward the Core Worlds. And if we keep fighting this civil war, we won’t have the power to stop them.”

Marius shivered, for her words conjured up a repulsive historical nightmare. Maurice Alban had been a Federation official back during the First Interstellar War who had either believed the lies the Snakes had told him or had sold out completely. Alban had made propaganda broadcasts to human worlds, attempted to organize human laborers working for the aliens and even acted as an advisor for the Snakes. He’d been assassinated four years after the war began, but his name lived on in infamy as a human stupid enough to believe that humans and aliens could coexist, or worse, that humans could submit to aliens. An alliance between Outsiders and unknown alien foes was the Federation’s worst nightmare.

“As you are currently the Federation’s foremost military officer, we have an interest in recruiting you,” Arunika added. “We have information and support—and influence—that you would find useful. In exchange, we’d want you to advise us and perhaps act on our requests from time to time.”

Marius considered it for a long moment. “I swore an oath to the Federation,” he said finally. “I cannot act against orders, even for the Brotherhood…”

“We wouldn’t expect you to betray your oath,” Arunika assured him. “We swore similar oaths. You want to protect and defend the human race, as you swore when you were commissioned into the Federation Navy; we share the same goals and oaths. We would not ask you to commit treason on our behalf.”

“I see,” Marius said. “What happens now?”

“If you accept, I make contact with my superiors and you get welcomed into the Brotherhood,” Arunika said. She held up her hand and displayed the silver ring. “If you refuse, you won’t hear anything more from us. We’re not going to assassinate you for daring to refuse.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Marius said dryly. “Do I get time to think about it?”

It occurred to him that the Brotherhood simply didn’t need to assassinate anyone. A person who accepted their offer would have his career path smoothed by unseen allies, to the point where he owed his position to the Brotherhood and would be willing to do anything for them. A person who refused simply wouldn’t be able to harvest any of the benefits of membership. And the Brotherhood was old . They could have their people in all levels of the Federation Navy, perhaps even in the Senate.

But he had already risen as high as he could go in the Federation Navy…

“Take as much time to think about it as you need,” Arunika said. She hesitated again. “Purely because your interests and ours coincide, I should tell you that we orchestrated the press campaign on Earth that ensured that the Senate couldn’t simply dismiss you when your military victories turned you into a possible threat to them. You may wish to consider what else we could do—both for you and final victory—before you make your decision.”

Marius found Vaughn in Marine Country, watching as the latest regiment of Marines ran through their training exercises before being deployed to Maskirovka on a pacification mission. It wasn’t the role that anyone wanted for the Marines, most particularly the Marine Corps itself, but it officially provided a training opportunity for the young soldiers. Unofficially, pacification battalions were in great demand throughout the Federation at the moment, so none could be spared for Maskirovka. It was butcher’s work, and Vaughn had complained bitterly about it—fortunately in private. Marius was sure that any public complaints of this nature would not have been good for Vaughn’s career.