A Choice of Treasons (29 page)

York frowned. Once he’d sobered up the first thing he’d done was pull up copies of the scan reports from the time they’d left Dumark’s atmosphere to about a half hour after they’d made transition out of the Dumarkan system. He’d spent a day going through the data, processing the information again and again to pull a faint trace out of a mess of noise. And he was certain he’d found the exact moment when each of four ships had made transition behind them. Comparing that with the much clearer data gathered before up-transition, he was confident he’d identified the second, third and fourth ships following them: a cruiser and two destroyers, all
feddies
. The first ship, however, had not appeared on the sublight reports, and, by all measures, shouldn’t exist. That ship, he knew, was a hunter-killer.

Sierka wouldn’t take any of his calls, so he’d shown the data to Maggie, though he’d had a difficult time convincing even her. But she decided to trust his judgment, had gone to Sierka with the data, and he’d blown his stack, refused to listen to anything.

But Maggie wasn’t foolish enough to discuss such a matter with civilians. “May I ask,” York said, “how you heard about this?”

Thring frowned. “Commander Soladin mentioned it at lunch yesterday.”

“At lunch?” York asked.

Thring nodded. “It’s public information, isn’t it? Or rather, whether or not it was meant to be public, it is now.”

York nodded. “In any case, without Commander Sierka’s permission I’m not at liberty to discuss such a matter.”

Thring’s frown deepened, but Harshaw nodded. “Then it’s true. I’m sorry, Cap’em, but anything short of denial is confirmation of the rumor. It also confirms my suspicion that young Soladin is a bit indiscreet.” Harshaw stood. “We’ll let you get back to your work.”

Thring stood, but as they both left Harshaw said one last thing in an almost confidential whisper. “Be careful, Lieutenant.”

The meeting with Simorka, Palevi, and Yagell lasted more than three hours, would have gone on even longer had they not been interrupted. “There’s a Lady d’Hart and a Senator Andow here to see you, cap’em.”

York looked at Elkiss image on his console. “ I’ll be right there. And tell everyone to look sharp.” York started to turn away from the screen, but he hesitated and turned back. “Oh yes, the usual security procedures, but don’t let them know you’re scanning them.”

York met Andow and the d’Hart woman at the entrance to the barracks. He bowed carefully to the woman, then to Andow. “Your Ladyship. Senator Andow. To what do we owe this pleasure?”

The d’Hart woman smiled. “I’ve never seen a marine barracks before, thought if you had the time, you might show me around.”

Andow added, “And I’m tagging along.”

“Of course, I have the time,” York said, though he didn’t believe her explanation for a minute.

York showed them the armory, where a team of marines had three suits of armor broken down for maintenance. The marines started to jump to attention when York came into the room, but he barked, “As you were,” and they returned to their chores.

Andow looked closely at one of the stripped down suits of armor. “This is new, isn’t it?”

York nodded. “Yes. We found about three hundred new suits in ship’s stores.”

“But if they’re new,” the d’Hart woman asked, “why are you repairing them?”

“We’re not repairing them. We’re checking them out, making sure they work properly.”

“But if they’re new, you shouldn’t have to do that either.”

“If there’s anything wrong with one of those suits, one of dies. So we run each suit through an extensive checkout, then fit it to the marine that’s going to wear it. And if that marine’s smart, he’ll then take the suit aside and run it through a complete checkout himself.”

They moved on to ordinance supplies, where another group of marines had one of the heavy rotaries torn apart. “We test fired this weapon yesterday,” York told his two guests. “It malfunctioned, so we’re trying to find the cause.”

Andow nodded. “You’re being rather thorough, I see.”

“Yes,” the d’Hart woman said. “One would think half the Directorate was following us.”

York looked at her closely, decided not to take the bait. He showed them through the barracks, then took them up one deck to Hangar Deck. They stopped in each of the service bays where York had crews checking out
Cinesstar’s
three gunboats. They were watching a crew working on
Three
when York’s implants spoke. “Cap’em. This is Hyer in Hangar Deck control. I got Commander Sierka, and he ain’t real happy. Wants to talk to you.”

York keyed his implants. “Tell him I’ll be right there.”

York excused himself, left his guests in the gunboat bay, stepped into Hangar Deck Control, noticed that Hyer and a few marines were manning the stations there, that evidently no proper crew had been assigned to that duty. Hyer pointed to a screen. “There, sir.”

York stepped up to the screen, activated it, and Sierka’s face appeared. He immediately tore into York. “What’s this I hear, Lieutenant? You’re spreading rumors about
feddie
warships following us.”

York shook his head. “No, sir. I’ve spoken to no one but Miss Votak about it, and that was strictly in an official capacity—”

“Then she’s spreading the rumors, eh?”

“No, sir. I don’t believe—”

“Don’t argue with me, Lieutenant. I won’t have you spreading false rumors and blaming other people for it.”

“But they’re not false, sir. There are four
feddie
warships following close behind us: a hunter-killer, a cruiser, and two destroyers. I was able to isolate their transitions in our scan reports from—”

“I’ve seen your data, Lieutenant, and it’s a lot of meaningless, random scratchings on a screen. I won’t have you needlessly exciting the crew and our passengers with your false conjecture. There are no Syndonese warships following us. Do you understand?”

York swallowed hard, decided to cut his losses. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Report to my office immediately. We’re going to talk further about this.”

“Yes—” York started to speak, but Sierka cut the circuit before he could finish.

York leaned forward on the now blank console and tried to compose himself. He turned about, found Andow and the d’Hart woman standing behind him. They and the marines had heard every word.

“You’ll have to excuse me again,” he said to his two guests. “I’ve been ordered to report immediately to the captain, and I mustn’t delay. Corporal Hyer here will show you back to your cabins.”

The d’Hart woman frowned. “So we’re being followed by enemy ships?”

York shook his head. “You heard the captain. There are no Syndonese warships following us.”

Andow’s eyes narrowed. “But you disagree with him?”

Again York shook his head. “No, senator. Commander Sierka has made it quite clear I was wrong.”

Andow persisted. “But what if he’s wrong?”

“Commander Sierka is the captain of this ship, and so by definition he’s right, and if I disagree with him, then I’m wrong.”

Andow considered him for a long moment. “Very well, then let’s speak hypothetically. If there were four hypothetical enemy warships following us, and you knew where they were, could you target on them and eliminate them as a danger?”

York glanced at the marines in the control room, then lowered his voice carefully. “But I wouldn’t know where they were. I would know where they had been at the moment they made transition behind us several days ago. I would also know that in transition they’re as blind as we are, and neither of us can pinpoint the other with any accuracy.”

“Why don’t we just take a chance?” Sylissa d’Hart asked. “Fire on them, and perhaps get lucky?”

York shook his head. “Because it’s highly unlikely we’d hit them. But in firing one of our transition batteries, we’d give them enough of a signal to target on us quite nicely.”

Andow nodded. “I see. Stalemate. As long as we both do nothing, we’re safe. But the first to make a move gives the other a significant advantage.”

“You’re only half right,” York said. “Remember, anyone in sublight can spot our transition wake for a couple of light-years, if they’re looking in the right direction. We’re probably safe right now because we’re in a region of space we’ve been fighting over for a long time, so we long ago blew the hell out of any permanent installations in the area, and no one wants to just sit around here in sublight unless they have to. But we’re headed straight for the Directorate. Someone could spot us, take a few shots at us, and even if they miss, if we have to do anything to defend ourselves, we’re going to become a very visible target. All hypothetically speaking, of course.”

Andow nodded. “Of course.”

York looked at his watch. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m keeping the captain waiting.”

They let him go without further delay and he headed straight for the lift. He was still not authorized to vocally program the lift, so he had to do so manually. Sierka was waiting for him with Soladin and Armbruster, and he’d managed to work himself up into a frenzy. York stood at attention in front of his desk for more than an hour while Sierka shouted at him, berated him, questioned his competence, his ethics, and his moral character. It took him that long to blow himself out, then he dismissed York with orders not to show himself above Hangar Deck again. “But, sir,” York asked. “May I at least eat?”

“All right,” Sierka growled. “You can go to the main mess for meals. But that’s it. I don’t want to see your face again.”

On the way back York programmed the lift incorrectly, accidentally stepped out on the crew deck, immediately noticed the locker room smell of stale sweat and realized his mistake. But the smell gave him pause, and he investigated further. A short distance down the corridor something had been spilled on the deck, then allowed to dry into a sticky stain. It looked as if it had been there for some days. He found several crewmembers lounging around one of the bunkrooms. They looked at him with obvious distrust when he asked, “Who’s in charge here?”

They all frowned, looked back and forth at each other for a moment, then one fellow with chief’s stripes on his sleeve shrugged and said, “Guess I am.”

“What do you mean you guess? What’s your duty assignment?”

The chief shrugged again. “I got no duty assignment.” He looked at the rest. “Anyone here got a duty assignment?”

They all shook their heads.

Out of curiosity York took a walk through G-deck. They’d rescued about a hundred and fifty civilians from Dumark. Those without rank or station or wealth or power were barracked on G-deck, and like the spacers, were waiting for someone to take charge. Again, he noticed an unwashed smell to the place, and anyone he encountered viewed him with obvious suspicion.

He checked several more decks, found a lot of unmanned stations and no order.

York looked up from his tray of food at Maggie and Frank who sat opposite him in the crew mess. They’d hunted him down there, and Frank had carefully posed an unsettling question. If he’d asked it in a slightly different way, it could be construed as
conspiracy to commit mutiny
, so York chose his reply just as carefully. “I can take no action on the crew deck, nor any concerning the civilians, without direct orders from Sierka. I recommend you discretely take a census of those on board, then draw up a duty roster and give it to Armbruster or Soladin as a recommendation. But don’t mention my name; they’ll just pucker up, Sierka especially if he thinks if came from me.”

York had intentionally chosen a seat with his back against a bulkhead facing the entrance, saw Daka Temerek and Sylissa d’Hart step into the mess hall. Maggie was saying something, but York’s attention focused wholly on the new arrivals as they paused and scanned the tables quickly. Temerek’s eyes locked on York, he said something to the d’Hart woman, and they both started toward him. Maggie and Frank were unaware of the newcomers closing in behind them, so York interrupted Maggie by standing suddenly. He bowed and said, “Lady d’Hart. Lieutenant Temerek.”

Maggie and Frank started to stand. “Please,” the d’Hart woman said. “Don’t stand. Continue with your meal.”

They stood anyway and Maggie did a nice job of shifting gears. “Will you join us?” she asked.

Lady d’Hart smiled and said, “Yes, I’d like that.” She sat down next to Maggie, and Temerek sat down next to her, all four of them lined up opposite York.

“Actually,” the d’Hart woman said, looking at York. “This isn’t a coincidence. I asked Daka to help me find you.” She looked at Maggie and Frank. “And I’m glad you two are here also. I wanted to ask you about the enemy ships following us.”

Temerek frowned. “ There aren’t any enemy ships following us.”

“But Lieutenant Ballin maintains there are four Syndonese warships in transition behind us.”

Maggie and Frank had suffered one of Sierka’s tongue-lashings on that subject and looked at York uncomfortably, so York said, “I maintain no such thing. For me to do so would be in direct violation of Commander Sierka’s orders.”

“Surely you can disagree with him on a matter of opinion.”