The Devil and Deep Space (40 page)

“Auditor, excuse the Pesadie team,” Jils suggested. The fact that the news was clearly not out gave her all she needed to determine a strategy — only a temporary strategy — but it would serve to stabilize the situation here at the Fleet Audit Appeals Authority. “I have privileged information to impart.”

She waited. Station Security validated the privacy fields; she spoke again, choosing her words carefully, trying not to enjoy herself more than she properly ought. “Dame Mergau Noycannir is the Clerk of Court you suspect of conspiracy with the
Ragnarok
, Admiral Brecinn?”

Brecinn was suspicious of the question, but she was trapped. There was no choice but to brazen this out now. “I do emphatically, Bench specialist.” Oh. So polite. “And I can’t help but suspect that she was involved in some plot or another with General Rukota. His presence at Pesadie Training Command might be taken as a little difficult to understand. A man with his connections can write his own posting–orders, after all.”

Jils nodded. “Since this suggestion has been made, there is some information I need to share with you all. Noycannir has emphatically been implicated in a plot.” Had unquestionably been plotting with somebody, and where had she got the Record to use for her forged evidence, if not from Pesadie Training Command? Jils didn’t know. Stildyne hadn’t let her examine the forged Record, and she hadn’t pressed the issue. It would all come out sooner or later: or not at all.

Brecinn seemed to know better than to let herself relax, even with this apparently encouraging information. She waited silently for Jils to continue; and the auditors — three of them — waited, too. It would be disobliging not to do so.

“But is unlikely to have been plotting with the
Ragnarok
. Because she has in fact attempted to assassinate its Chief Medical Officer. This behavior seems too contradictory for someone in collusion with the
Ragnarok
’s Command; Koscuisko was at home, out of the way. It just draws attention to Noycannir. Some other explanation must be sought.” There was no need to mention the fact that Noycannir was dead.

Brecinn was not stupid enough to blurt out any self–incriminating denial of whatever Noycannir might have had to say about her; not yet. There would be time. And there would be the Protocols, when the time came, though Koscuisko was unlikely to be the man who would implement them. Ever again.

“So I don’t need to tell you how delicate the situation is, Auditors. Dame Noycannir is clearly associated with Chilleau Judiciary. The Second Judge’s platform attacks the entire system of Inquiry, and a Clerk of Court from Chilleau has tried to kill Andrej Koscuisko. I have to take immediate action.”

Not the action that Brecinn might expect her to undertake. She needed to get to Chilleau, consult with Verlaine about the forged Record. Noycannir’s crime could destroy the Second Judge’s chances to be First Judge once and for all. And Verlaine had convinced her that he was sincere, which meant that Chilleau’s bid for control of the Bench was the best hope for reform of the Judicial system she was likely to see in her lifetime — however much was left to her of that.

“What action, Bench specialist, if we may ask?” Senior Auditor Ormbach’s voice was calm and politely curious, but Jils thought she could hear an undercurrent of amusement. Well. Brecinn had clearly felt confident of a sympathetic ear at Taisheki Station, and to a certain extent she had gotten it. But the Auditor was not turning off her own skeptical chaff detector, not even for Admiral Sandri Brecinn.

That heartened Jils. It meant that Taisheki Station might not be corrupt, though Brecinn seemed to be relying upon it to be. Jils didn’t care for players in principle. Wasn’t that ap Rhiannon’s stance as well?

“I need to quarantine Admiral Brecinn and her team. This information is too potentially divisive to be leaked by mischance.” Let alone on purpose, through a network of people who would take action to maximize their security and profit. “I will travel with the
Ragnarok
to Chilleau Judiciary to consult with Noycannir’s superiors and determine what should be done. I’ll want Safes. Bond–involuntary troops are Fleet resources, after all. It’s our duty to safeguard them.”

She didn’t know how the
Ragnarok
’s Bonds were taking things. That was only part of the point. The larger part of the point was that a ship traveling under appeal put any assigned Bonds on Safe. Therefore she would put the
Ragnarok
’s Bonds on Safe: to confirm that the
Ragnarok
was traveling as a ship under appeal. A ship with a protected legal status. A very visible ship, one which could not be quietly shunted off to one side and consumed piece by piece, ship and crew.

“I understand,” Admiral Brecinn said. Nobody had asked her. She did understand, Jils was sure of it; and was doing what she could to change her future. “You may rely on my discretion with absolute confidence, Bench specialist.”

That wasn’t going to be necessary.

“I agree to sanitary quarantine for Admiral Brecinn and her people,” Auditor Ormbach said. “And to release the Safes, though I meant the
Ragnarok
to come here for them. But in light of your evidence, it is crucial that the ship not be permitted to remain in possession of a battle cannon. If their motivations are unworrisome, they should have no objection to surrendering the contraband item to be placed into Evidence.”

This was unpleasantly unexpected, but not in the least remarkable. Unfortunately. “I have no personal knowledge of the existence of such a piece of contraband,” Jils said, carefully. She had been told that the evidence against Pesadie Training Command included a black–market, main battle cannon, and its munitions load on top of it. She had not actually seen the cannon, however. “Consider your request, please, Auditor.”

If the contraband that the Auditor demanded existed only in Brecinn’s imagination, the
Ragnarok
could only prove that by submitting to an intrusive and time–consuming search by Taisheki Station resources. Jils couldn’t wait. Nor could she afford to leave the
Ragnarok
vulnerable here, lest Koscuisko play his trump to protect his ship.

And if the
Ragnarok
surrendered a contraband cannon, by the time it all came to explanations who knew what the audit trail would look like?

“Questions have been raised as to the motivation and loyalty of the
Ragnarok
’s chain of command, Specialist Ivers, and an officer of the Court at Chilleau Judiciary has by your report attempted to kill one of the
Ragnarok
’s officers. If the ship is armed, I cannot let it leave here. I’m sorry. I see no alternative that would not be grossly irresponsible.”

Well, Auditor Ormbach was right. As long as there was a main battle cannon unaccounted for, it would be criminal negligence on Auditor Ormbach’s part to permit a potentially compromised warship with an understandably aggrieved senior officer to leave the system.

Unless.

“Safes, Senior Auditor. I will take them with me as a token of goodwill on your part, and convey your instructions to the
Ragnarok
’s Command and General Staff.” She’d get the Safes. She’d have Brecinn and Brecinn’s team sequestered under strict quarantine, not an uncomfortable imprisonment by any means, but bound to be boring.

She had to get to Chilleau Judiciary, and the
Ragnarok
with her, so that she could get space between Fleet and Jennet ap Rhiannon, so that the First Secretary could offer Koscuisko his personal assurances and discuss mutual concerns. “As you say, Bench specialist,” Auditor Ormbach agreed. “And we will in the mean time initiate appropriate precautions.”

And she had to hold the secret of the forged Record, if she could, until after the Selection. It was not a very closely kept secret. Everyone who had been there in the great hall of Chelatring Side was in a position to know, but the Malcontent could do the damage control there. She had to trust the Malcontent for that. Bench specialists didn’t like having to trust anything or anybody, but there was no help for that now.

After the Selection they could expose the fraudulent Record under Bench seal, and cancel any charges outstanding against those troops for whose sake Jennet ap Rhiannon had dared so much. She would log Koscuisko’s documents then. He would be relieved of Writ. She would find a way to make it all come out right — once the Selection had been safely completed.

###

Stildyne helped Andrej up onto the upper tier in the little room, letting him down gently onto the slatted bench as Andrej grunted in reluctant discomfort. Andrej didn’t think it was the wound in his shoulder. That was healing nicely now, from the inside out as desired; and the tissue itself was carefully protected by a therapeutic breathable membrane — one that would have to be exchanged soon, which was the only reason that Narion had allowed him into the sauna at all. And then only with strict conditions about heat and humidity.

“All right, sir?” Stildyne asked, with his hand at the back of Andrej’s neck to keep his head from knocking up against the wall before Stildyne had had a chance to pad the point of contact with a folded towel. It was perhaps not absolutely necessary for Stildyne to be handling him so carefully, but Andrej couldn’t begrudge it.

Stoshik had been right. He had wronged Stildyne. He was not going to make it right, either, because he couldn’t imagine such a thing as that; but he could try to accept care more gracefully than he had in the past, with more self–awareness in his acceptance of courtesies that he had become dangerously close to taking for granted.

“Thank you, Brachi, it is fine.” It wasn’t the wound. It was his entire body. Strapped into a stasis–mover and scarcely conscious for all of that time, his arms ached and his back hurt, his neck was stiff, the muscles in his belly sore, his legs uncomfortable. They had done him good service at Chelatring Side. But he had unquestionably annoyed them. “I am more travel-sore than convalescent. It is why I so particularly wanted a sauna.”

Turning away without replying Stildyne crossed to the other side of the room to settle himself on the lower bench. It wasn’t far across the room, since it was a sauna. Stildyne’s choice of the lower bench was the only way Andrej could look Stildyne in the eye at that small distance, what with the difference of height between them.

At eye level, the impact of the rest of Stildyne’s all but naked body was manageable. Andrej had been taking saunas with Stildyne for years; he was accustomed to the experience, but it was still a sometimes stressful one. Stildyne’s body was scarred as well as Stildyne’s face, and if the scars were not as disfiguring, they were spread over a much larger canvas. Who was to say whether the cumulative impact was more or less awful accordingly?

“You’ll have noticed that things are a little different on board since we got back,” Stildyne suggested. Andrej closed his eyes and let his body drink in the grateful heat of the sauna. He could feel his muscles relax. He had not lied to Narion; it was simple therapy. The fact that he liked sauna was a side benefit only, and the fact that sauna was one of the few places on board the
Ragnarok
where a man could be almost alone was also beside the point.

“Our Command Branch officers are out of their minds. Yes. I had noticed.” Lieutenant ap Rhiannon was a piece of work if he’d ever seen one, and it was hard for him to take her solemn assumption of her duties with a straight face. Except that the other officers seemed to have no such difficulty. Andrej hadn’t decided yet whether they were perhaps playing an elaborate practical joke on him. “I think I like Command Branch better that way.”

“Problem, though, Andrej.” Stildyne’s voice was grave and considered, and Andrej thought his name sounded very odd in Stildyne’s mouth. Because it sounded just like “Excellency” sounded, when Stildyne said it to him rather than First Officer. “I’ve been talking to people. If ap Rhiannon doesn’t like what she hears when Specialist Ivers gets back from Taisheki Station, she’s leaving.”

Andrej thought about this. Stildyne was right to be concerned, of course. Based on her actions since he had left, there seemed little doubt that the woman had become desperate. Did he not know what madwomen were capable of? Had he not the hole in his shoulder to prove it?

“I’m not sure what she might think she could accomplish by defying the entire Jurisdiction, Fleet and Bench alike.” Wait, he couldn’t say that. That was precisely what he meant to do. “I’m not about to leave my Infirmary at the mercy of a maniac. We have had quite enough of that already. Where the ship goes, I will go also.”

He was in for the duration, now. He could not in honor leave until the issue of the forged Record had been resolved to his satisfaction, if only by placing it into Evidence. As long as it was an undisclosed forgery, it threatened his people.

And yet Specialist Ivers had been right: if he valued the Second Judge’s plans for a change in the system of Inquiry, he could not afford to place so destructive a weapon as the forged Record in the hands of Chilleau Judiciary’s political enemies. So long as the Record lay undisclosed, he had to keep with it; and for so long as that, he could not have the relief of Writ completed.

“I’m glad to hear that. Sir. So will your people be.”

The outer door into the changing room had opened. Andrej saw movement through the window in the door. Stildyne fell silent. Stildyne was up to something. After a moment, the inner door came open; and the First Officer came into the sauna. Andrej stared. He had never seen First Officer in a sauna.

He had never seen First Officer out of uniform that he could remember, and there was no rank on the towel that Mendez held in one hand. Stepping carefully past Stildyne’s scarred knees Mendez took a position beside Stildyne, close to the back wall, and laid his towel across his lap.

“Good–greeting,” Mendez said. “Warm enough for you? I don’t know how you breathe in here, Andrej.”

Andrej didn’t know what to say. He was too surprised. He had grasped that Stildyne had a plot in motion; but he had to process the apparition of Ralph Mendez, third of three so named, in a sauna before he could begin to parse the meaning of it out.