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  It was a decent question. A more than decent one, causing Geary to think for a long moment before replying. “I remember a sense that we were still growing. That even though Alliance space was bumping up against regions already occupied, such as those controlled by the Syndicate Worlds, and gaps between stars that jump drives couldn’t span, such as the great rift, there were still frontiers to explore. New things to learn, new things to accomplish. We were still learning how many things we had yet to learn, and eager to search for more answers.”

  “Are you saying the Alliance didn’t see physical boundaries as insurmountable?”

  “We thought we could do anything we turned our minds to,” Geary said. “There was debate about where to allocate money and resources. There’s always debate about that, and there should be, I believe. But I think it’s fair to say that our gaze was turned to new challenges and new opportunities. We were united in believing the future could be better, and our efforts could make it better.”

  Senator Kim nodded. “Thank you, Admiral.”

  “I believe that is a good note to end on,” Senator Navarro said. “It’s been a very long day. All in favor of concluding this session? The motion passes. Thank you, Admiral.”

  The senators all began talking among themselves, while Geary sat, wondering what he was supposed to do now.

  The answer came in the form of a staffer who walked up to Geary’s seat and beckoned. Geary followed into a side room that contained a fairly fancy conference table, comfortable chairs around it, and large displays on the walls that showed nothing but generic scenes of Alliance member worlds.

  He stood, waiting, for a couple of minutes, feeling tired and grouchy.

  The door opened again and Senator Unruh entered. She gestured toward a seat. “Please sit down, Admiral. You must be tired after all of that.”

  Geary didn’t move, eyeing Unruh closely. “Who am I talking to, Senator?”

  “Do you mean who do I represent?” Unruh spread her hands. “From one perspective, the chosen representative of those determined to see this through, call to account those who abused their power and positions, and end the excesses in secrecy once excused by the war. From another perspective, I’m one of those who allowed it all to happen. Did we fail to ask the questions that we should have? Did we fail to insist on our rights as representatives of the people? We need to call ourselves to account as well, I think. The question is, what about you?”

  He’d interacted with Unruh at other meetings before this, and Rione had vouched for her. Both of those things gave him reason to trust Unruh. “I thought I’d made it clear that I’d done what I had to do, and would now leave it up to the Senate.”

  Unruh quirked one eyebrow at him. “Surely you realize that as long as you’re at Unity, many people will assume that you’re directing all of the actions here. No matter what you say. And, as long as you’re at Unity, the pressure will keep increasing on you to direct the actions here. Too many would willingly trade their freedoms for obedience to the whims of Black Jack.”

  He closed his eyes for a moment, wanting to shut out that reality. Opening them again, he fixed the senator with a grim look. “I’ve already, numerous times, withstood the temptation to do whatever I wanted because I could get away with it.”

  “Yes, you have.” For a moment, Senator Unruh let her tiredness and sadness show. “But, if you were here, would you be able to refrain from acting? What if it seemed that some senators and other officials guilty of misconduct, guilty of ordering the actions that led to the deaths of some of those under your command, were about to wriggle free? If it looked like they were going to be able to avoid being held accountable due to legal niceties or political influence, would you try to prevent that?”

  “Probably,” Geary said. “I’d try to do something.”

  Unruh nodded, her eyes on him. “Keeping you here would not only create the wrong impressions, it would subject you to endless temptation to compromise your own beliefs. Am I wrong?”

  “No,” he said. “I don’t expect to stay here, though. I’m subject to orders. I’m sure that Fleet Headquarters already has some orders ready for me.”

  “Oh, you can be sure of that!” Senator Unruh said. “But some of the names in the evidence from Unity Alternate are those of senior fleet officers.”

  “I’ve been told that some were under arrest.”

  “And more may follow as the evidence from Unity Alternate is analyzed. Their ambitions overrode any sense of loyalty to their oaths.” Unruh sat down herself, rubbing her eyes. “There’s been a lot of that. I can’t imagine our ancestors are happy with us. Admiral, in light of . . . concerns regarding the fleet’s senior officers, some of whom are already under arrest, a majority of the Senate believes that for now your orders should come directly from the Senate, to avoid any appearance of impropriety. To make it clear that you are doing what the government says.” Unruh gazed at him, her expression growing somber. “What will you do?”

  “Why are you asking me that?” Geary demanded. “I’ve already made it clear that I’ll follow lawful orders.”

  “And you’ve made it clear that you’ll resign your commission if you believe your orders are contrary to the principles of the Alliance,” Senator Unruh said. “You do realize what would happen if you resigned your commission? Black Jack would be casting down the gauntlet, telling everyone that he disapproves of the government’s actions. That shouldn’t matter, that one officer disagrees with his orders. But you’re Black Jack, you are the Alliance in the eyes of many, so if you resign your commission, the government will surely fall under pressure from the public. If that happens, I don’t think the Alliance will rise again. We’ll once more be a mass of squabbling independent star systems.”

  How should he answer that? He’d tried denying it after learning who the people of the Alliance thought he was, but he’d be a fool to keep pretending her words weren’t true. “Senator, please give me orders that I can accept in good conscience.”

  She surprised him with a slight smile. “I hope we have just that. For now, return to the fleet base at Varandal Star System and oversee the repairs to your ships. There’s an independent commission going over military expenditures, so you should start getting more of the funding you need, while money being wasted on projects like the Defender fleet and a new class of admirals’ gigs will be devoted to better uses.” Turning to one side, Unruh touched a panel to activate a starscape that appeared over the table, the tiny stars winking in the air between her and Geary. “After that . . . Admiral, when the Alliance was founded humans were flooding into space. We’d discovered the jump drive, and the galaxy was open to us. The future seemed to be limitless in every sense of the word.”

  He nodded, his eyes on the stars. “I wish we could remember that time. So much today seems to be about fear and drawing back, not hope and exploration of new things.”

  “Exactly.” Senator Unruh pointed to one edge of the starscape. “Going beyond our previous limits. You’ve done that already, exploring through alien-controlled space. And as you pointed out, that once gave the people of the Alliance something to pull together for. We need to keep doing that. There are two missions the Senate wants you to undertake.”

  “The Senate?” Geary asked. “All of it?”

  “Oh, the vote was far from unanimous,” she said. “But there was a clear majority. Mission one is to make it easier to reach alien space. Our access to those regions of the galaxy is through Midway, and Midway is a long ways from the Alliance. Getting there requires crossing some very dangerous areas of space, and then using the Syndic hypernet, knowing the Syndics can block our access to it.” She indicated those far-off stars again. “A team of scientists and engineers has developed what they think is a means to link the Syndicate Worlds hypernet gate at Midway to the Alliance hypernet, allowing us direct access to Midway.”

  “What? I thought it wa
s impossible to change the characteristics of a gate once it has been activated.”

  “Science is about learning things once thought impossible, and engineering is about making the impossible work,” Senator Unruh said. “They think that they can do this, and the Senate wants to see if they can.”

  Geary stared at the starscape, rubbing his chin as he thought. “Midway will have to agree, won’t they?”

  She nodded. “That’s why you have to lead the expedition. Yes, a majority of the Senate wants to get you far away from Unity so you don’t seem to be pulling our strings, but that’s only part of our reason. If anyone can convince Midway to let Alliance engineers play around with their hypernet gate, it’s you. I’ve seen the intelligence reports from former Syndicate star systems. They believe that Black Jack is ‘for the people’ and the only Alliance official they can trust. That’s mission one. Mission two is that once you’ve delivered our team to Midway and gained Midway’s agreement, we want you to reestablish connections with the Dancers.” Senator Unruh paused. “What do you think of the Dancers, Admiral?”

  He considered his words before replying. “I think they’re willing to work with us, and they’re willing to help us. They helped us fight against the Kicks, they helped us get back to Alliance space afterwards, helped defend Midway, and showed up to help defeat the Defender fleet.”

  “But why are they willing to do those things?”

  “The Kicks are a common enemy, but beyond that I’m not sure,” Geary admitted. “No one is.”

  “Exactly.” Senator Unruh nodded toward the display of tiny stars. “We want you to escort a ship to Dancer space, a large passenger ship modified to act as a long-term research and diplomatic vessel. It’ll carry scientists and representatives of the government to act as an Alliance embassy to the Dancers.”

  “Will the Dancers accept that?” Geary asked.

  “The only way to find out is to try it and see how they respond. The embassy ship will be unarmed except for close-in defenses. It will carry only a small honor guard, not a full military unit.” She bit her lip, eyeing the stars as if they were pieces in an immensely difficult game. “The Dancers seem to know a great deal about us. We need to know a lot more about them.” Her eyes went back to Geary. “Are your orders acceptable, Admiral?”

  The question startled him. Thinking of the tasks ahead, he’d mentally gone far beyond the initial talk of his intentions. “Of course, Senator. Since you ask my opinion, I think both actions are important to at least attempt.”

  “Good.” She smiled again, though her eyes remained serious as she watched him. “I assume protocol requires you to visit Fleet Headquarters. You can do that tomorrow and inform them of your orders from the Senate.”

  “I won’t be asked to testify again tomorrow?”

  “The evidence you brought speaks for itself.” Unruh sat back, looking tired. “Today was about everyone staking out public positions. Having you there forced every senator to make their own stand clear. But we don’t want this process to become about you. As long as you sit in front of the Senate, it looks like you’re judging us. I assume that you want that as little as we do. No, you’re, um, ‘free’ tomorrow to deal with military matters.”

  “Senator,” Geary began, reluctant to bring up a question that could easily be seen as insubordinate, “Fleet Headquarters undoubtedly already has other orders for me, and for the ships currently under my command.”

  She shook her head. “You are being tasked directly by the Senate. Your orders come from the Senate.”

  “What about the ships under my command, and the people on those ships?”

  “The same,” Unruh said. “Until our investigation of all of the material you brought from Unity Alternate is complete, you and those under you answer directly to the Senate. We’ll try to give you what you need for the missions we’ve assigned you. If you don’t get it, we want to know.”

  “Thank you, Senator,” Geary said, feeling a little dizzy and realizing he hadn’t eaten for a long time. “I’m not sure what time of day it is here.”

  “About nine in the evening.”

  It had indeed been a long day. “I don’t think Fleet Headquarters will be expecting me to show up right now.”

  “That’s why I said you can go there tomorrow. Get some sleep,” Senator Unruh said. “There are apartments in this building for visiting specialists and dignitaries. Comfortable and safe. I’ll have someone show you to one. You can order a meal from the cafeteria. It’s open all day because this is far from the first time our work continued into odd hours. Have you been told that a trusted investigative group is being established to go over the evidence and hear testimony from those aboard the other ship with you?”

  “Mistral?”

  “Yes. We can work out procedures for that. We don’t want anything to happen to what’s aboard that ship.”

  Geary held up a hand as Unruh started to leave. “Can I speak with my flagship?”

  “Certainly. There’ll be a comm unit in your room. Of course, all conversations on official comm units are monitored and recorded.” Unruh moved to leave, then paused again. “Admiral . . . I meant what I said. We failed in our duties. People died as a result. Most of us are resolved to ensure that we don’t fail again. Please trust us.”

  * * *

  HIS room turned out to be comfortable but not luxurious. It would’ve severely disappointed those who enjoyed complaining about spoiled government officials living high on the backs of Alliance taxpayers. Similarly, the meal he ordered from the Senate cafeteria was good, but hardly gourmet. Exhausted, Geary spent little time awake once he’d finished eating, falling asleep quickly after communicating with Tanya to ensure she knew what was happening. As tired as he was, he made sure to tell her about the Senate’s orders overriding any orders from Fleet Headquarters.

  Early the next morning, General Carabali showed up again, this time to escort him to Fleet Headquarters. As the armored limousine covered the distance from the government building, Geary noticed the crowds on the streets appeared to be those normal for a city going about its business. “Nothing blew up?” he asked Carabali.

  “No, Admiral, nothing blew up.” Carabali glanced from the views of the streets to him and back again. “What you said seemed to do the trick as far as a big chunk of the public is concerned. That and your standing firm like a rock when that drone tried to take you out.”

  “I was going to dodge,” Geary protested.

  “But you didn’t look like it.” General Carabali grinned. “It’s not often a fleet officer impresses Marines.”

  “At least some good came of it. Did they find out who sent that drone at me?”

  Carabali’s smile vanished as she shook her head. “The latest report this morning said they still couldn’t find any clues to exactly who tried to kill you. It was a very sophisticated effort, though. All the latest countermeasures and equipment on it.”

  Geary felt like he had tasted something sour. “Isn’t that a clue? Who has access to that sort of thing?”

  “Not that many people who could squirrel it away without being caught. All of those people are being checked out,” Carabali said. “If one of them was involved, I’m assured it will be found out. Have you been watching media?”

  Everyone asked him that. “No. Should I be?”

  General Carabali gestured in annoyance. “Faked vids of you are showing up by the thousands, and being shut down as fast as they appear. Everything from you supposedly declaring that you’re taking over the government to supposedly showing you running in panic from the local version of a rabbit instead of standing waiting for that drone attack. As far as authentic vids, it’s mostly your declaration to the press yesterday, segments of your testimony at the Senate afterwards, and segments of what various senators said, all of it heavily slanted toward different audiences.” She paused. “You’re expected to
show up at Fleet Headquarters. No one knows the time, but the place is obvious. Anyone aiming for another shot at you will probably try there.”

  “But we’re prepared for that,” Geary said.

  “Hopefully. We were prepared yesterday,” Carabali said. “You understand, Admiral, that when engaged in personal combat, displays of courage have their place, but as a rule it’s still wise to dodge or fall flat or otherwise seek cover.”

  “But . . .” Geary frowned, realizing that seeking cover hadn’t even occurred to him.

  Realizing that when the drone came at him he’d split-second analyzed the entire situation in the same way he would’ve a battle in space, using the same assumptions and preconceptions, even though he was in a totally different environment.

  “Admiral?” Carabali was watching him closely. “Is anything wrong? I mean, anything else wrong?”

  “I was just realizing how very much out of my element I am,” Geary said. What did he need to know to protect himself here? “Know your enemy” was one of the first rules. “Do we know what the motives are of people who want to kill me?”

  Carabali shrugged. “There are a number of motives, Admiral. Some people want the biggest possible distraction, as I said yesterday. Some want to kill you to ensure you don’t become a dictator. Other people want you dead so they can hopefully themselves become dictators in the ensuing chaos. One cult, thankfully a very small one, altered the prophecy about Black Jack a bit to include saying his return would herald the end of the universe. So now that you’re back they want to kill you so the prophecy will be complete.”

  He stared at General Carabali. “Why would they want the universe to end?”

  “Something about ‘we’ll all bask in the light of the living stars after that,’” Carabali said, herself looking puzzled. “Everyone’s supposed to end up there eventually after we die, so I don’t know what their particular rush is. That’s not the strangest quasi-religious cult after you, by the way.”