The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Steadfast (34 page)

“No. The warbirds appear to be all right. They were all updated before they deployed here. This time it’s the software in the sensor and combat systems on the base.” Duellos waved a grand gesture. “My senior chief code cracker says the
New! Improved! Intuitive!
updates on the FAC base appear to be causing fights between the base’s subsystems.”

Geary shook his head, wondering why news of troubles with software updates was ever surprising. “Are there similar problems on
Inspire
?”

“Nothing nearly that bad, but some of the updates aren’t playing as well as they should with the others.” Duellos gave Geary a lopsided grin. “The FAC base systems were even suffering bleed-throughs from training-sim software.”

“Bleed-throughs?”

“Somehow, information from inactive training sims was showing up as active, real detections, before vanishing completely as their systems caught up with it, to be spotted by something else, then disappearing again almost as fast as the systems scrubbed the bad data.”

“And they’re sure these aren’t real detections?” Geary pressed. “We’ve seen some unusual stealth capabilities with the Dancers.”

Duellos smiled again. “The purported sightings were of a battle cruiser and two heavy cruisers. I think we’d be able to spot that bunch. My people cross-checked our own systems and confirmed that we’d seen nothing during the transient reports of those warships. If someone really could hide ships of that size, and those ships’ stealth really had stumbled for a second or two, we would have seen them as well.”

“You’re right, and nothing the size of a battle cruiser could be hidden using even the best stealth gear. It wouldn’t be the first set of updates that were buggy,” Geary said. “Are we certain that’s what this is? An update with bugs in it? Are there any signs of malware?”

“None, Admiral,” Duellos answered. “That was the first thing my people checked. There’s no sign of sabotage unless, like Colonel Galland, you believe that software updates are inherently acts of sabotage aimed at users.”

“Based on my own experience, I have a lot of sympathy for Colonel Galland’s opinion on that,” Geary said. “Do we need to hang around that base in order to help the aerospace techs?”

“No, Admiral. I would have let you know if that was an issue. My people can provide any necessary assistance remotely.”

“Good. I want to know when that’s cleared up,” Geary said. “That single FAC squadron has barely enough capability to maintain security here as it is. We can’t afford to have them chasing after software ghosts when we have enough real problems to worry about.”

Several hours later, Duellos reported that the software in the systems on the FAC facility was, if not totally pacified, at least no longer engaged in active friendly fire among its own subsystems.

Geary took advantage of the time spent getting the rest of the way through Yokai, and in jump to Adriana, to compile his report to fleet headquarters. He had a particularly hard time describing the loss of
Fleche
without using words and phrasing that cast guilt on the high-level fleet decisions that had ended up requiring his mission to Batara. As much as he might believe that, it had no place among the dry, official language of the report.

As they arrived at Adriana, Geary found that an official courier ship had shown up in their absence and was waiting near the hypernet gate.

“Probably dispatched by fleet headquarters,” Duellos commented to Geary, “so they can find out as quickly as possible whether you’ve cleaned up their mess, or whether disaster has struck, and they need to start blaming you for the whole thing without any further delay.”

“Let’s not keep them waiting,” Geary replied, transmitting his report. In a few hours they received the receipt for the report from the courier ship and watched as it accelerated into the hypernet gate. Clearly, it had been waiting just for his return.

Everyone at Adriana (except General Sissons) seemed happy with the outcome of the mission. Finally, with a sincerely fond farewell to Colonel Galland and a request that she look him up if she ever needed anything, Geary took his ships back to the hypernet gate, en route Varandal.

 • • • 

“MIND
if I come in?” Geary asked as he stood in the hatch to Captain Duellos’s stateroom. The enforced isolation of travel inside the hypernet had left him time to decide something.

Duellos stood and waved Geary inside. “Anytime, Admiral. Is this visit official or personal?”

“Both.” Geary took a seat, once again unsettled a bit by the close resemblance of the captain’s stateroom on
Inspire
to that on
Dauntless
. Aside from a few private mementos, this could have been Tanya’s stateroom, a compartment he had rarely visited to avoid potential gossip. He waited until Duellos sat down again at his desk before saying more. “
Inspire
took some major damage to her main propulsion at Batara. Once we get back to Varandal, she’ll be out of commission for a while as the repairs are carried out.”

Duellos leaned back and twisted his mouth in a dissatisfied way. “I wish I could disagree with that assessment, but it is accurate. The only question is exactly how many weeks the repairs will take.”

“Which leads me to the reason for my visit. Roberto, this is a personal counseling session. We’re off the record.
Inspire
won’t need you while she’s laid up in dock. I would like you to take leave as soon as we return to Varandal so you have the opportunity to deal with some important matters at home.”

It took a moment for Duellos to reply. “Tanya’s been talking to you?”

“She let me know you’re facing a difficult situation, and I could see during my time aboard
Inspire
with you that you’ve been more on edge lately. Don’t mistake me. Your performance as a commanding officer has not suffered. But I can tell you’re under stress.”

“It’s not an easy situation,” Duellos said, sighing and seeming to sag in his seat as if he had partly deflated. “My wife isn’t wrong. I have responsibilities at home. My heart remains at home. But . . .”

“You need to talk it out.”

“I’m not sure that will help.”

Geary looked down, biting his lip, before raising his gaze back to Duellos. “My executive officer on
Merlon
had the same difficulty. Lieutenant Commander Cara Decala. She loved being in the big dark, traveling to other star systems, doing everything the fleet did. Her spouse had close ties at home, no desire at all for extensive travel, and wanted Cara at home, too.”

“I see. Somewhat like my own situation now. How did that work out for her?” Duellos asked.

“I . . . don’t know. Cara was supposed to go on leave, go home, and talk it out, once the convoy we were escorting had reached its destination. But the Syndics attacked us at Grendel. I had to order her off the ship when the crew evacuated.” Geary paused, his gaze distant as he remembered the chaos and alarm that had seemed to fill the universe as
Merlon
was destroyed around him. Events a century ago, which to him felt but a short time in the past. “I discovered after being reawakened that Cara had got off all right, and was picked up, but . . . she had died a few years later, commanding her own ship in another battle. I never learned whether she had ever had a chance to go home, to reconcile things, whether she had died still united in spirit even if separated by distance, or if she had been separated in all ways when the end came.”

Almost a minute passed in silence before Duellos replied. “I see. You never know when the last chance to say the right things will come and pass by. But, Admiral, I don’t want to leave while we don’t know what might happen to the fleet. You do need all of us.”

“I’ll have Tanya again when we get back to Varandal.”

“True. She’s worth more to you than all the rest of us combined.”

“And I suspect that your wife is more important to you than I, or this fleet, are,” Geary added.

Duellos smiled. “That is true.”

“Take leave as soon as we get back to Varandal. Go home. Talk. Whatever happens, let it be something you decided on, not something you let happen.”

“Yes. You’re right. Thank you.” As Geary got up to leave, Duellos fixed him with a demanding look. “What if I had said no? Would you have ordered me to go on leave?”

“Yes.” Geary paused in the hatch, looking back at Duellos. “You’ve already given the fleet, and the Alliance, a lifetime’s worth of sacrifice. I hope you’ll be back. But if you decide otherwise, you’ve more than earned it.”

“Thank you,” Duellos said again.

Geary left, the hatch closing behind him, and walked slowly back to his stateroom, pausing to speak to some of the crew members whom he met on the way, asking about their homes and their lives, letting them know that he cared and that he knew those things mattered.

Because you never did know when it might be too late to say such things.

 • • • 

“I
hope you’re not expecting them to be grateful,” Tanya Desjani grumbled as they left the shuttle dock on
Dauntless
, where the crew had just welcomed back Admiral Geary in nicely turned out formations and immaculate uniforms.

“The people of Batara?” Geary asked.

“Them, too. But I meant fleet staff. Just because you bailed them out of the mess they created doesn’t mean they’ll stop trying to undermine you.”

Geary smiled. “Fleet staff will be busy for a while answering questions from the Senate about why they let the security situation around Adriana get so bad. I bailed them out, but I didn’t take the fall for their decisions.”

They reached his stateroom and Geary waved her inside, but Desjani hesitated. “I don’t want anyone thinking we’re having a warm reunion now that you’re back.”

“Oh.” She had a point. It had been hard to avoid wrapping his arms around Tanya when he had seen her again. “Stand in the hatchway, then.”

“Thank you for sounding disappointed.” She leaned against one side of the hatch coaming, arms crossed. “I thought you wanted nothing more than to avoid the press.”

“That’s how I usually feel, yes,” Geary admitted, sitting down and enjoying the sense of being back where he belonged, aboard
Dauntless
.

“Do you have any idea how much press coverage there has been of your question-and-answer session at Adriana? And the visit to the orphans?”

Geary blew out a long breath, leaning back resignedly. “What are they saying?”

“Most of them think it was all very Black Jack.” She smiled at the expression on Geary’s face. “In a good way. Some wondered whether you were positioning yourself to run for political office—”

“Ancestors save me, no!”

“—and others hinted at darker ambitions, but most just cheered on the protector of the Alliance.”

“That could have been worse,” Geary said. “I just want people to stop worrying about what others are going to do and start wondering what they can do. I wondered if going to the academy at Adriana was the right thing or if I’d be accused of using the children as political props.”

“Yes, it was absolutely the right thing,” Desjani said. “Those kids are sort of the conscience of the Alliance. Too many of us can too easily imagine being in their place, and worried about our own children ending up in one of the academies. You did the right thing, there,” she repeated, then paused, just smiling at him.

“What?” Geary finally asked.

“I was watching you say those things, in all those press reports, about how we’d rebuild and make a better future because that was who we are, and I thought, I ought to marry that man because I’ll never find anyone better. And then I remembered that I had.”

He gave her an astonished look. “We’re on duty.”

“Well . . . damn. Yes, we are. Even I slip once in a while, Admiral.” She winked at him, then adopted a studiously professional expression. “Have you talked to Captain Jane Geary since you got back, sir?”

“No. I wanted to talk in person, not over a comm line that would probably have eavesdroppers no matter what kind of encryption we used. It was a relief to see that she and her ships got back intact.”

“Her mission wasn’t a wild-goose chase, either. It may still have been intended to get her away from Varandal, but it was real enough. She’s standing by to talk to you.” Tanya saw his hesitation and smiled crookedly. “Relax. This is Admiral to Captain, not Great-Uncle to Grand-Niece.”

Geary snorted. “My grand-niece is biologically older than I am, since she wasn’t frozen for a century like I was.”

“That’s not what’s bothering you. It still concerns you that she grew up hating the legend of Black Jack that has warped the life of every Geary for the last hundred years. You know she feels a lot differently now, having gotten to know you.”

He shook his head. “I can’t forget that her brother Michael probably died right after I assumed command. I don’t see any way she can forget.”

Desjani nodded, sadly. “She knows Michael Geary chose to sacrifice his ship and maybe himself as well. I honestly don’t think she blames you for that. You know that Michael Geary himself didn’t blame you. Stop blaming yourself. We don’t know how many of his crew survived and whether he himself still lives. For now, Captain Geary is waiting to talk to you, Admiral.”

“Thank you.” He said it in a way that made it clear he was thanking her for a lot more than her last words. Tapping a control, he saw Jane Geary’s image appear almost immediately in response. As usual, he couldn’t help searching for resemblances in her to his long-dead brother, her grandfather. “Welcome back, Admiral,” she said.

“Welcome back to you as well,” he replied.

“I can provide a detailed report in person later,” Jane Geary continued, “but to summarize, my ships brought back about ten thousand Alliance prisoners of war, most of them elderly, from the middle period of the war.”

“You didn’t run into any problems? The Syndics cooperated with the prisoner handover?”

“Yes, Admiral.” Jane smiled thinly. “It was a matter of profit and loss for them. A few Syndic star system CEOs had gathered the Alliance POWs together to hand them back to us so they could close down the POW camps they controlled and save some money. I got the impression that the central Syndic government is offering many star systems a lot more autonomy because otherwise they might revolt.”