A Matter of Oaths (15 page)

The point of greatest danger would be the jump from the
Jalset system into the Aramas system; two patrolships would go ahead to secure
the arrival point. But they would not travel with the convoy. Once the
cargoships were taking their share of the responsibility for their own safety,
two patrolships would form an adequate escort from Jalset’s world to the
departure point. The other two would be free to carry out the second part of
their orders: to gather intelligence about the Outsiders.

The Jalset system’s nearest neighbour was an uninhabited
binary system. Uninhabited, and with the multiplicity of major jump points that
any binary system had; an ideal system for the raiders to route through. Two
patrolships would leave within a planetary day to seed that system with
recording drones, set to monitor jump flares, before jumping on to Aramas. The
drones would be collected during the next convoy’s turnaround. If the raiders
were passing that way, the recordings would reveal it, the first pointer for
the diplomats and the historians to the origin of the Outsiders. If the records
were blank, then the drones could be reused in another system.

It would have been too insulting to Noromi to ask for
questions at the end of the presentation, too likely to undo any good that had
been done. Instead, Rafe gave the audience a hesitant,
expecting-to-be-corrected look and waited for their reaction. Equally tactfully
— or, on Rallya’s part, maliciously — the other Commanders waited for Noromi to
speak first.

“There’s a lot you haven’t considered,” he said grudgingly. “How
would you persuade the cargoships to agree to their share, for example?”

“It would have to be explained to them by the right person,”
Rafe told him. “Somebody they already trust with their safety.”

“He means, not by an upstart First,” Rallya said helpfully.
Her face was expressionless but Rafe suspected she was enjoying herself.

“I should think not,” Noromi grunted. He stood up and studied
the displays closely. “Your manners leave a lot to be desired, young man,” he
pronounced, “but you’ve done quite well for a first attempt. The idea about
jumping after the raiders is too risky, of course. The kind of crazy idea we
all have when we’re young. But there are elements of this we may be able to
use.”

* * *

Rallya glared at the list on her screen: texts from her
library that Rafe had accessed since joining
Bhattya
, and not one of them dealt with convoy tactics. Wherever he
had learnt the basis of today’s performance, it had not been there.

It was not, she reflected irritably, that he had come up
with anything of startling originality. The organisation of a convoy with a
limited escort was standard enough, and the seeding of the binary system with
recording drones was an obvious use of a spare patrolship or two. The interest
lay in the way he had put it together, jumping from the fact that the raiders
had never destroyed a cargoship to the conclusion that the convoy would be as
safe with two escorts as it was with four, and using that to create the spare
patrolships that Maisa perpetually lacked.

And it had taken real skill, she credited him jealously, to
trap Noromi into allowing him to speak. It was not a ploy that would work
twice, but as she had remarked to Joshim in another context, once was usually
enough. It was certainly more success than Rallya had had in years with Noromi,
who spent more energy in avoiding her opinions than he did in forming his own.

Inevitably, Rafe’s plan had survived Noromi’s review
unscathed, and Noromi was disgustingly pleased with it. By the time the convoy
returned to Aramas station, it would have become Noromi’s plan and Rafe’s name
would not be mentioned in his report to Maisa. Rallya grinned wickedly, sorry
that she would not be there when the rumour about Rafe’s Oath-breaking reached
Noromi.

It would be instructive to learn where that rumour had
started. Rallya had had it from Erelna, Commander of
Corir
, just before the conference. Erelna had had it from a junior
in her web-room, who had had it from an unknown junior from a cargoship during
shared liberty time. There would be no tracing it back to its source, even if
there was time to try before
Bhattya
left orbit.

It would also be instructive to learn if Rafe knew about it
yet. He had chosen an opportune time to display his talent. Had that been luck,
or the knowledge that he needed to shine? When the rumour reached
Bhattya
’s web-room, if it had not done
so already, he would need every scrap of good will that he could muster.
Emperors knew, seeding an uninhabited system with drones was only marginally
less boring than convoy escort duty, but to arrive at that viewpoint took forty
years of experience. Most of
Bhattya
’s
web-room would be delighted with the news, and impressed to learn that Rafe was
responsible.

Well timed or not, there was something that bothered her
about Rafe’s performance at the conference, Rallya realized. Not the cynical
asides to his audience, about the Court’s urgent need for blissdream or the
overwhelming gratitude that they might earn from the diplomats if things went
well; every patrolship Commander shared that cynicism about the results of
their work. Nor the smoothness with which he had presented a plan which there
had been no time, no reason, to think through beforehand; Rallya had had plenty
of examples of him thinking on his feet.

No, it was the sheer confidence with which he had led them
through his ideas. Rallya could recognize fake confidence and she could
recognize the real thing. This had been real, somebody sure of what they were
saying, accustomed to being listened to and heeded. It was the understated
confidence that only came with experience; as she had thought when he destroyed
the raider, she was seeing more than raw talent in Rafe. It was an intriguing
conundrum: how much could a junior with maybe a year’s experience have learned,
even from the most expert of teachers? And, since the answer was less than Rafe
knew, how much experience had he had when they identity-wiped him?

Damn Sajan for getting herself killed before Rallya could
ask her again about Buhklir. About how young he had looked when she knew him,
and how young he might have looked ten years ago. Young enough to be taken for
a junior just qualified? And was he so committed to the New Empire that he
would make the choice that Rafe had made? If a Commander was identity-wiped,
they would have to start again as a junior; in that situation, Rafe’s youthful
appearance could make a mistake about his age inevitable.

How old would Buhklir be now? Fifteen years ago, he had
become the youngest Commander ever, so Sajan had claimed, or the youngest
Commander in the New Empire. He might have been forty then, the same age as
Rallya when she reached command level, but certainly no younger. That made him
fifty-five now. Rallya scowled in disappointment. At fifty-five a web’s growth
was invariably complete, but at thirty it would still be maturing. Joshim would
not have missed a discrepancy like that between Rafe’s age and the state of his
web. But everything fitted except the arithmetic, so damn Sajan again for
getting herself killed; her timing could not have been worse.

Or better, Rallya thought suspiciously. If Rafe were
Buhklir, how would his conditioning react to a prolonged encounter with
somebody he knew in his previous life? The brief meeting at Aramas had shaken
him badly, and Sajan would have sought him out again, on Jalset’s World or at
Aramas, to reminisce about the New Empire and to add him to her collection of
aristos, or near-aristos. Even if Rafe were only Buhklir’s son, would
identity-wipe survive such a direct counter-stimulus? And what would be the
result if he did regain his memory? Who would have an interest in ensuring that
he did not?

Nobody, if the identity-wipe had been applied for
Oath-breaking; if memory returned, it would be wiped again, with nobody a loser
except Rafe. What if the identity-wipe had not been the result of Oath-breaking,
but to hide something in Rafe’s past? In those circumstances there would
certainly be people interested in preventing a return of memory, Rallya thought
grimly, people at the highest level in the Guild. Identity-wipe was so serious
a step that it had to be sanctioned at Council level; to impose it on a webber
for any reason except Oath-breaking was a betrayal of every Oath the Council
members had taken. Discovery would destroy those implicated.

But, if it was vital to conceal something that Rafe knew, why
run the risk of discovery by keeping him alive, even identity-wiped? Simpler
and safer to kill him: no need to involve a psych-surgeon to perform the
identity-wipe, no need to keep him under constant observation. The observer’s
identity was clear: Elanis, first on
Avannya
and now on
Bhattya
. Clear too that
his instructions included murder if necessary; Rallya herself had told him that
Sajan recognized Rafe, and Sajan had died at the first opportunity. Which
brought Rallya full circle: if they were prepared to kill to keep the secret,
why was Rafe still alive?

And, when Elanis had all the influence necessary to keep his
berth on
Avannya
indefinitely, why
had he left it so suddenly, just before an accident which should have led to
the death of every webber aboard? Accident? Rallya snorted derisively. Nothing
that happened around Rafe was an accident. Somebody
had
tried to kill him, somebody with more influence that Elanis’s
controllers. Somebody willing to sacrifice an entire web-room to be sure that
he died. Rallya swore bitterly.
Avannya
,
then Sajan.
Bhattya
next? There was a
good reason to keep Elanis aboard, in spite of Joshim’s protests. Whoever
wanted Rafe dead did not consider Elanis expendable; his presence was
protection of a kind, his departure a warning of imminent danger. Unless there
was a reassessment of priorities and Elanis became expendable, but a patrolship
— an alerted patrolship with Rallya aboard — was not the easy target that
Avannya
had been.

New Empire Guild politics, ten years ago? Rallya could not
remember what had been going on, doubted that she had ever known. No reason to
suppose it was any more attractive than Old Empire Guild politics, and she had
a surfeit of that thirty-five years ago. Buhklir would have been a likely candidate
for the Guild Council, Sajan had suggested. Was he in favour of partition, or
against it? Whatever view he held, neither faction would have been forced to go
to such extreme lengths to prevent his election. And if the reason lay only in
the New Empire, how had help like Elanis been enlisted on this side of the
Disputed Zone?

There were too many linkages missing to make sense of it
yet, but too many elements of the picture present to doubt that there was a
secret to be discovered. Rallya smiled contentedly. No mistakes this time, she
promised herself. Handle it slowly and carefully, like the explosive it was,
and detonate it where it would have the most impact: under the Guild Council.
There would not be many with anything to hide who would survive the shock waves
that would travel through the Guild. Especially not those who had accepted the
offers that Rallya had turned down thirty-five years ago. The ones who had
achieved power since then because Rallya had spoken out too soon, before she
had the whole picture. The ones who would soon learn that thirty-five years was
not too long to wait to win a war.

…After induction, you will be assigned to the web-room of a
ship for two years, where you will receive your initial training under the
supervision of your ship’s Three…

…Upon satisfactory completion of your apprenticeship, you
will be granted a half-year’s leave, which should normally be spent in your
home environment. The purpose of this period is to enable you to consider the
gravity of the Oath that you intend to take… Twenty percent of apprentices
leave the Guild at this time…

…Once introduced, your web will take between one hundred and
four hundred days to establish itself. The degree of discomfort experienced
during establishment varies between individuals… You will already be aware that
permanent sterility is a side-effect of establishment… Training starts again
when establishment is complete…

…Once qualified as a probationary junior, you will normally
be assigned to the web-room of a ship or station, and achieve full junior
qualification within two years. Junior assignment is the responsibility of the
Personnel Directorate, although your preferences and those of the Webmasters concerned
are always taken into account…

…If you wish, you may go on to qualify as a senior, entitling
you to accept the offer of a senior berth. Selection of a web-room’s seniors is
the responsibility of the Three involved, but subject to approval by the
Personnel Directorate…

…You may also wish to train in one of the specializations
open to you. These include: Captaincy (specializing in ship, station, and
communications systems); Webmastery (specializing in personal, ship, and
station webs); Cargomastery (specializing in the commercial aspects of the
Guild’s work); Surveymastery (specializing in interstellar navigation and
exploration); and Command (specializing in peace work)…

…Any senior may accept the offer of a place in a Three, thus
achieving command rank. Selection of a new member of a Three is the
responsibility of the existing members, subject to ratification by the Guild
Council (see later). Each Three consists of: one Captain, one Webmaster, and
one other specialist appropriate to the ship or station to be commanded…