Jack Campbell - Invincible

“There have already been some attempts to interfere with the running of the fleet,” Geary said. “I’m sure you’re already aware of them.”

“Unfortunately, I’m aware of nothing else. If their plots continue, they do not include me or anyone who reports to me in their confidence.”

“Can you tell me anything about Admiral Lagemann? His record is spotless. Battlefield promotions got him to the rank of admiral, not politics.”

Her gaze grew briefly puzzled. “Then why ask me about him? I know of nothing negative about the man. His name never appeared in any of the internal-security reports I’ve read in the past. Apparently he was too busy actually fighting the war to spend time politicking for advancement or maneuvering against the government.”

“That was my assessment of him,” Geary said. “But I’ve been wrong before, and if there was any dirty laundry in his past, I thought you would know of it.”

“That hurts, Admiral.” She almost sounded truly wounded by the suggestion.

“My apologies,” he replied, letting the sarcasm come out clearly before finally activating his controls.

A few moments later, the figure of Admiral Lagemann appeared from Mistral . Lagemann, who had been among the few from Mistral allowed to view the recent fleet conference, cocked his head at Geary. “Something new already, Admiral Geary? We’re already tossing around ideas for what to do to get through that jump point.”

“Got any good ones?” Geary asked.

“Not a one.”

“There’s something else I need looked into besides the current situation here,” Geary explained. “Something critically important. You and your fellow veterans gave me a very important heads-up about what tactics the enigmas might employ at Alihi. I would be very grateful if you could now assess what the enigmas will do knowing that we jumped to this star.”

“You mean aside from celebrating that we jumped into this briar patch?” Lagemann asked.

“Exactly.”

“That’s a really interesting question.” Lagemann stood silent for a moment, his eyes hooded with thought, then nodded. “We’ll see what we can come up with. May I ask you something, Admiral?” Lagemann accompanied the question with a subtle glance toward Rione.

“Go ahead.”

“Are we really heading back, or is that for public consumption to keep morale from heading for the nearest black hole?”

“We’re really going back,” Geary said. “And then all of you guys will be the government’s problem.”

“Not me. Get me home, and I’ll retire and find a nice, quiet job on my home world.” Lagemann paused again, thinking. “Something where I work inside at night. I’ve seen enough stars for one lifetime.”

As Geary departed, leaving Rione alone in the room, Desjani stood away from the bulkhead where she had been waiting and walked at his elbow. “Did you have a nice chat, Admiral?”

“Yes, Tanya.” They walked in silence for a while. “She says she’s going to help get the fleet home.”

“Oh, how wonderful,” Desjani declared in perfectly flat tones. “That witch is still trying to use you for her own purposes. ‘Don’t do this because I want you to. Do it because the great hero Black Jack has sacrificed sooooo much for you.’”

“I don’t think she wanted us to come out here, Tanya,” Geary said. “I think she was forced as much as we were.”

“You’ve said that before. You can go on believing what you want. I’ll keep an eye and a weapon on her . Notice how I’m not even commenting on how quickly you decided to trust that woman again or how gullible you can be.”

“Gullible?” Geary asked.

“Trusting. I said trusting, not gullible.”

“You mean when you weren’t commenting?”

Desjani turned a glare his way. “Someone has to watch your back. Admiral.”

“And there’s no one I trust more than you. But she wants the fleet to get home, too.”

“When did that change of heart occur?” Still keeping step with him, Desjani gave him a sidelong glance. “Or is she just trying to distract you when you should be bore-sighted on resolving our current situation with the bear-cows?”

Geary waved one hand in frustration. “I’m going to refocus on that as soon as we’re done talking. She said something about finding another alien species. Maybe whoever wanted to sabotage this mission put a higher priority on learning about another potential threat.”

Desjani smiled. “Oh, darling, you admitted that someone is trying to sabotage this mission.”

“I never denied the possibility.” Had he? “And watch your language, Captain.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

“I think Rione is also worried about her husband.”

“So am I. I still think he’ll commit sabotage someday.”

Geary barely managed not to glare at Desjani. He wasn’t mad at her, he was angry with… fate, perhaps. Whatever had caused this to happen. “I’ve looked at Paol Benan’s service record. He wasn’t like this before he was captured. He had a good record. Now he’s impulsive. Angry. Unpredictable.”

“Well, duh,” Desjani agreed. “The Syndics tortured him. There are ways to do that without leaving conscious memories or physical traces, you know.”

He stopped and stared at her, finally grasping what Rione had only hinted at. “Lieutenant Iger told me we never sank to using torture though he also admitted that was partly out of pragmatism. Torture didn’t produce worthwhile information. Surely the Syndics realized the same thing.”

Desjani chewed her lip for a moment before replying. “What you and Lieutenant Iger, and the fleet doctors, are not taking into account is that for some people, torture isn’t about getting reliable information. They do it because they like doing it, or because they think someone deserves it as punishment.” She must have read his reaction on his face. “I do not believe that the Alliance ever permitted that. As far as I know, we always screened interrogation personnel very carefully to rule out those kind of tendencies. But do you honestly believe that the Syndics took such care?”

He had met some Syndics who didn’t seem to be terrible human beings. Some had shown every sign of being decent and responsible. But he had met many others, usually senior leaders, who appeared to lack any sort of moral compass. “I’ll tell the doctors to work on that assumption and see what they can do.”

“It’s a lot easier to break people than it is to put them back together,” Desjani said, her voice low. “For the record, I wish it had not happened to him. Or anyone.”

“I never doubted otherwise. I know Commander Benan is under medical surveillance. Do you have people watching him, too?”

“Twenty-four/seven.” She paused. “They have orders to stop him if he starts to do anything wrong. I don’t want grounds for court-martial; I want to avoid damage to my ship.”

“Good.” They reached the hatch to his stateroom. “I have a growing feeling that I need to talk to him again.”

“That would be a very bad idea, Admiral.”

“Just him and me,” Geary added. “To see what he says when we’re alone.”

Her tone stayed remarkably even. “With all due respect, that would be a very bad and a very dumb idea, Admiral.”

“I’ll let you know before I try it, and it won’t be until after we’ve figured out how to handle the bear-cows.”

“That makes me feel so much better.” Desjani shook her head. “The living stars must be guiding you. No human would consider a one-on-one with an unstable man whose wife you slept with a good idea.”

She rarely talked about that directly, incidents which had occurred before he and Rione knew that her husband still lived and before he and Desjani had realized their own growing feelings for each other. Desjani’s bringing it up now told him how upset she was. “I promise to discuss it with you again before I have a private conversation with Commander Benan. Now I’m going to forget that problem and work on ideas for getting out of this star system.”