Jack Campbell - Leviathan

“So what we need to know, Lieutenant, is who those two are really working for. Isn’t there a term for someone who seems to be one of ours but is actually working for someone else?”

“A mole, Admiral.” Iger’s eyes narrowed in thought. “They could be moles. The identification could be completely legitimate, they could be part of a covert Alliance agency, and they could still be plants working for the Syndics.”

“Exactly,” Geary said. “I need to know whose orders those two are really responding to, and I am certain that we are more than justified in wanting to know that answer given events in this star system as well as at Indras and Atalia.”

“Yes, sir.” But Iger hesitated once more. “Admiral, it is likely that they will refuse to cooperate with interrogation and refuse to reply to any questions. We can still learn some things by monitoring the reactions of their bodies and their brain patterns to specific questions, but we would not be able to identify their true superiors using something that vague.”

Geary considered the statement, wondering what Iger was driving at, then abruptly understood. “Do not take any actions contrary to good interrogation procedures, the laws of the Alliance, or fleet rules and regulations. I want accurate, actionable intelligence. And when the time comes, I want to be able to greet my ancestors knowing that I did not shame them.”

Iger nodded, a smile flitting across his face, then saluted. “Yes, sir. Me, too, Admiral. I will do my very best to get the answers you seek, sir.”

“I never doubted that,” Geary said.

As Iger left, Geary leaned back in his seat, grateful to be in his stateroom aboard Dauntless once more. His ships were gradually assuming assigned parking orbits and taking on new supplies. A message from Captain Smythe had provided a real picture of the readiness of his fleet, one which wasn’t nearly as good as could be hoped but wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. Varandal’s defenses were now on alert, and the software patches were gradually being introduced throughout the star system to clean out at least some of the dangerous subroutines hidden in the mass of official software.

All of which left him in the unenviable position of trying to decide what to do next.

He called Desjani. “Tanya, who can we trust as a high-level courier and afford to spare?”

She was in her own stateroom, absorbed in the many and unending responsibilities of a ship’s commanding officer. Desjani looked back at him, rubbing her forehead with a resigned expression that implied she was also trying to deal with a few headaches. “Jane Geary,” she replied after several seconds.

“My grand-niece?” Geary grimaced as he considered the idea. “All of the battleships in her division are laid up in dock. Dreadnaught won’t be underway again for… five weeks.”

“Right. Long enough to use the hypernet to get to Unity and back.” Desjani shrugged. “Unless you’re planning to head off with part of the fleet—”

“I hope not.”

“Then Jane Geary won’t be needed to help hold things together here.”

“Will she be able to get to the right people?” Geary asked.

Tanya gave him one of those looks that told him he had said something that betrayed his lack of familiarity with how the universe worked a century after his supposed death. “She’s a Geary. Descended from Black Jack.”

“Descended from my brother,” Geary said.

“Close enough, since you didn’t have any children before the battle at Grendel. The point is, if Captain Jane Geary shows up and says, I need to talk to so-and-so, she’ll get to talk to so-and-so.”

“All right.” He looked away, thinking. “How much should I send?”

“Who are you sending it to?”

“Senator Navarro and Senator Sakai.”

“Navarro and Sakai?” Desjani gave him a doubtful look. “How much experience do we really have with Navarro?”

“I have seen him enough to have formed an impression,” Geary explained. “And Victoria Rione said he could be trusted.”

“Oh, well,” Desjani said archly, “if that woman vouched for Navarro, I guess that settles the issue.”

“Tanya—”

“Do you have any idea where she is?”

“She—? You mean Rione?” Geary asked. “No. Why?”

“Because you should send it to her, too.” Desjani smiled thinly at his expression. “Hey, I may not like her… actually, I definitely don’t like her… but I know she would get that information to places where it would do some good.”

“True,” Geary agreed. “But since I have no idea where she is, all I can do is authorize Jane Geary to pass Rione a copy if she runs into her.”

“That’s the best you can do,” Desjani said. “Now, as to how much to send? Send everything. Make it clear that absolutely nothing has been held back, that you are not keeping anything from them.”

“That’s good advice,” Geary said.

“Why, thank you, Admiral.” She lowered her forehead onto her palm, resting it there. “We’ve done the easy part. You know how hard the rest might be.”

“The rest of the dark ships?”

“Yeah.” Desjani raised her gaze to look into his eyes. “They’ve still got fourteen battle cruisers and twenty battleships, all superior in combat capability to ours. That’s not even taking into account the accumulated damage and wear and tear on our ships, whereas the dark ships are all shiny and new. I have no idea how to beat a force like that.”

“We have to hope that the rest of the dark ships haven’t slipped their leashes,” Geary said. “That they are still under control of humans who can shut them down.”

“If it’s a virus or other malware, not just glitches, the other dark ships could be just as badly infected.” Desjani rolled her eyes. “Crazy artificial intelligences. Driven mad by malware or just problems in programming that was too complex for anyone to really understand. How many horror movies have used that plot?”

Geary shook his head. “Apparently not enough. The government got convinced that this time the AIs couldn’t be corrupted or develop serious failures.”

“I used to think fleet headquarters had first call on idiots,” Desjani said, “but I have come to realize that the government must be requisitioning some of them. Aside from the ones that the citizens elect, that is.”

“Tanya, I know some of the men and women we’ve encountered in the government appear to have been born without any common sense and lost ground every year of their lives since, but if we start believing that as a rule the citizens can’t be trusted to elect their representatives, then we’ve stopped believing in the Alliance. We might as well change the name to the Syndicate Worlds and pass control to an unelected elite.”

She sighed heavily. “Doesn’t all that idealism ever make your hair hurt?”

“What?”

“Look, I understand. We all do. But it’s kind of hard to believe the way the Alliance is run reflects the best of all possible ways of doing things!”

“It doesn’t,” Geary admitted. “Somebody once said that allowing the citizens to vote on their government was the worst way of doing things, with the exception of every other way that humans have tried.”

“It’s the least-worst option?” Desjani asked. “That I can believe. Now, I’m going to use my dictatorial powers aboard Dauntless to get that package of material assembled for your courier. You need to put together an executive summary for it, though. Something with bright colors, explosions, and short words so our leaders don’t let their attention wander.”

After ending the call, Geary glumly turned to the task of trying to very quickly and very clearly explain what the mass of data he was sending meant. First, a secret Alliance program is out of control, threatening the Alliance itself. It has already launched unprovoked attacks on Alliance citizens and property. Second, the Syndics have threatened to start the war again because of the attack on Indras by elements of that secret Alliance program. Third, Atalia, a neutral star system, was savaged by the same elements of that secret Alliance program, which then launched an unprovoked attack on fleet units. Fourth, Atalia urgently requires humanitarian assistance. Fifth, software for critical, official systems is riddled with “features” that aid and allow intrusion and misuse, and place those critical systems in jeopardy of being unable to fulfill their functions. Sixth…