Jack Campbell - Guardian

Geary stared at Carabali. “Are they trying to claim they’re pirates or something?”

“Private individuals,” Carabali said in a flat voice, “on a private venture. That’s all we’ve gotten out of the one prisoner who is able to talk.”

“Do you think they’ll stick with that even if it means they face death for terrorist actions?” Geary demanded.

“It’s hard to tell, Admiral. We’re in unexplored territory when it comes to that. Before, they’d be Syndics, and we were at war, so we’d treat them all as combatants. For better or worse. Now that we’re officially at peace, technically the official Syndics have protections as prisoners that freelancers do not. However, they don’t seem to have anything on them that would prove any claim they made to official status, if they tried to make one, and I think it’s a reasonable assumption that the Syndic CEOs here will deny any knowledge of them and their actions, which means that no matter what they said, we could legally, officially, and with honor execute them all.”

And these Syndics surely knew that. Had they known it going into this operation? Or had they only realized it when trapped aboard Invincible , their initial attacks foiled and their numbers rapidly dwindling, while the Kick ghosts gnawed at their minds?

“Offer them a chance to live,” Geary said slowly. “Tell them I will give my word of honor, officially and on the record, that any of them who surrender and cooperate will not be harmed.”

“I’ll make sure that offer gets to them,” Carabali said. Her expression hadn’t wavered, but her tone of voice was that of someone agreeing to a course of action she had no expectation of working. She paused, frowning to one side as she listened to a report. “Admiral, the prisoner who is being interrogated shows signs of having been subjected to mental conditioning.”

Why did news like this continue to surprise him? “What kind of mental conditioning?”

“It’s not clear yet. Any discussion of a military background generates responses consistent with mental conditioning. They may be incapable of admitting they are, or were, special-forces personnel.” Carabali grimaced. “They may also be incapable of surrendering. If they won’t, or can’t, surrender, we’ll have to take whatever actions are necessary.”

“I understand.” Having seen the impact of such conditioning on Commander Benan, it was easy to understand that the Syndics subjected to it could not override the blocks implanted within their minds. He also understood why the Marine had raised that issue with him. He was in command, and he had the responsibility to either clearly rule out all necessary actions or to clearly order that they be taken. “Your orders are to take the necessary actions to eliminate the threat those Syndics pose to Invincible and our personnel aboard the ship.”

“Yes, sir. Preparations are under way. We’ll notify you before we go in.”

Once he had finished speaking with General Carabali, Geary sat back, trying to ease tense muscles. There wasn’t any need for him to lean forward while viewing the Marine action, no need for his body to be ready to leap into action, but instincts were not easily overridden. Besides, it would feel somehow wrong to be leaning back in a relaxed posture while watching men and women risk death not in a video production but for real.

“When are the Marines going in?” Desjani asked.

“How did you hear they were going in?”

“It’s all over the fleet’s back channels. This is ironic, isn’t it?”

Geary glanced at her. “How so?”

“The Syndic plans are getting messed up because the Kick ghosts freaked out their boarding party. The Kicks are helping us defend that ship.”

“Too bad the Kick ghosts can’t disarm nukes. Were there any survivors off the Syndic shuttles?”

Desjani shook her head. “Nah. Not surprising. When a shuttle takes hits from warships, there’s usually not a lot left. I told some of the destroyers to recover debris, though. It might help as evidence that the Syndics did this.”

“Can’t hurt. Thanks. Don’t be surprised if there’s nothing, though. All of the equipment belonging to the Syndic soldiers on Invincible had been completely sanitized.”

“Word is we got at least one prisoner.”

“And initial results indicate the Syndic soldiers themselves were sanitized. Mental blocks.”

She stared at him. “Ancestors preserve us. Why the hell haven’t the people living in the Syndicate Worlds risen up and torn their damned CEOs into tiny pieces?”

“Damned if I know.” He thought about some of the star systems they had seen. “I guess some of them are, in some places. Maybe that’s why the Syndic CEOs are doing anything and everything against us. They have to be terrified of what will happen to each of them if they show the slightest sign of weakness.”

“Trying to save their hides by making their own citizens even madder at them? Yeah, that’ll work.”

He shared her opinion of the spreading revolts that the Syndic government’s tactics would eventually lead to, but in the short term, that still left him, and this fleet, facing the problem of dealing with the increasingly desperate and increasingly vicious tactics the CEOs were adopting to try to save themselves.

Geary scanned his display. The fleet was moving away from the hypernet gate, the destroyers and light cruisers still arrayed around Invincible and down along Invincible ’s track. Nothing lay before the fleet… no, nothing could be seen before them, Geary corrected himself, except some Syndic merchant traffic, the nearest of which was still nearly two dozen light-minutes distant. “Tanya, work up a course to the jump exit for Simur. I want to go wide, using a longer path than required, just in case something else is waiting along our path.”

“No problem, Admiral. Do you want that implemented right away?”

“No. Hold off on it. I want to avoid moving Invincible around until the Marines have finished their job.”

His gaze went back to the display. Sobek only had the one jump point, so anyone arriving through the hypernet gate who didn’t also leave that way en route another destination could only go to Simur. From Simur, the fleet could jump to Padronis, and from there to Atalia. The Varandal Star System, in Alliance space, could be reached from Atalia. Not that long a path, but one all too predictable if the Syndics had laid other traps. It’s not just Sobek, it’s that our options from Sobek are so limited. Sobek to Simur to Padronis, if we want to get home. Atalia wasn’t cooperating with the Syndic government anymore when we last went through there, but every star system until Atalia is going to be a gauntlet to run.

Another call brought him out of his worried thoughts about their route home. Rione was wearing the icy look that meant she was extremely frustrated, but fortunately the frustration wasn’t aimed at him.

“If you were counting on diplomacy or negotiations resolving the matter inside Invincible , you might want to consider other options,” she said.

“I wasn’t counting on it. More like it can’t hurt to try,” Geary admitted. “You don’t see any hope for ending this with words instead of actions?”

Rione shook her head. “It might be the environment in there, or it might be the result of finding themselves cut off in a hopeless situation, but the woman I’m talking to isn’t giving any ground even though she seems rattled. It’s like talking to people with their backs to the wall. They know they can’t run, but they won’t give up. I was informed that you were willing to promise that we would treat them as military prisoners if they give up. I’m not so sure that you could make that promise stick once we returned to Alliance space, but that doesn’t matter because the offer did not make any difference. They don’t seem inclined to believe promises from senior officials.”