“We’ve encountered some agents of that,” Geary said. “I’ve got two under detention.”
Rione gave him a keen look. “And no one has shown up demanding their release?”
“Apparently, they’re not supposed to exist,” Geary replied. “So no one has claimed them or been willing to admit they do exist.”
“That must pose an awful dilemma for someone.” Rione laughed harshly. “What are you going to do, Admiral? Go on following orders like a good little officer?”
“It’s that or resign,” Geary said. “But, so far, there aren’t a lot of orders showing up. I can’t be sure, but I think the government has tied itself in a knot over the dark ships. They don’t want to admit they built the dark ships, they don’t want to admit the dark ships are running amuck, they don’t want to admit my available ships are weaker than the surviving dark ship force. They’re not throwing up barriers, not telling me I can’t deal with the dark ships in any way necessary to stop them, but they seem to be hoping I’ll just do that as part of my standing orders to defend the Alliance.”
She smiled. “Isn’t it amazing how many very powerful people confronted with an adverse outcome suddenly find themselves unable to do anything? How they suddenly declare themselves powerless? You’re going to stop the dark ships, then? How?”
It was his turn to shrug. “You said that you listened in to the conference.”
“Yes. A secret base. One you apparently cannot reach.” Rione pondered that. “I have to admit that you have a better plan so far than I do. I know that I’m going to find my husband, that I’m going to make those responsible pay, but I am currently at a total loss for the details on how to do that.” She looked around. “Didn’t you used to keep wine in here?”
“Not at the moment.” Geary regarded her, resting his chin on his interlaced hands, and decided to confide completely in Rione. “What do you know about Unity Alternate?”
Rione paused, then shot a sharp look his way. “A myth, I thought, though there were some classified programs and expenditures I became aware of during the war that led me to wonder about that.”
“They never briefed you on it?”
“Me?” Rione asked. “I may have been a senator of the Alliance, and co-president of the Callas Republic, and briefly a member of the grand council, but I was also a citizen of an allied power, not a citizen of the Alliance itself. There were things I was never officially told but learned about anyway. I have no idea how many things there were that I wasn’t told about and never found out about. Are you saying that you’ve actually found Unity Alternate?”
“We think we know where it is, and we think we know why no one has ever been able to find it. But we don’t know everything that might be there,” Geary added. “Anything you can suggest would be useful.”
She spent nearly a minute thinking, her eyes now focused on a far corner. “Supposedly enough to keep the government and the military running if Unity fell to the Syndics. That’s the long-running legend, anyway. But however many people they planned for if the worst happened, there can’t be that many there on a routine basis. They couldn’t keep the secret if masses of people were being shuttled in and out.”
“A skeleton crew running things?”
“That’s what I would guess.”
“It has occurred to me that other things beside the dark ships, other people, could be hidden at Unity Alternate,” Geary said.
Rione inhaled slowly and deeply, her only external reaction to the news. “People whose existence elsewhere would create problems? That’s very insightful, Admiral. That is where my husband must be. The one place I haven’t looked, because I didn’t think it really existed.”
“We think Invincible is there as well. It has also disappeared without a trace.”
“The alien battleship? Something that massive would be very, very hard to hide. All right, do you want me to beg? Where is it?”
“At a binary star system,” Geary said. “Not too far from here as interstellar distances go.”
She gazed back at him, then laughed softly. “Oh, they were clever. How did you figure it out?”
“The Dancers practically drew a bull’s-eye on it for us.”
“I owe them.” Rione smiled winningly at him. “You’re going there?”
“We’re going there. To destroy the dark ship base.”
“And how, Admiral Black Jack, do you intend justifying attacking Unity Alternate?” Rione asked.
He spread his hands. “As far as we can determine, Unity Alternate has been occupied and is being used by a hostile force. The only way to save Unity Alternate is…”
“To destroy it?” Rione smiled again. “Please let me come along and assist in your efforts.”
Geary smiled back. “You’d come along whether I said you could or not, wouldn’t you?”
“I’d find a way, yes.”
“Then I’d much rather have you out in the open, where I can keep my eyes on you. I’ll notify the commanding officer of Dauntless that you’re aboard again and need a stateroom.”
“And won’t she be thrilled to hear that.”
“Actually,” Geary said, “she’s been worried about you and your husband.”
Rione twisted her mouth and looked off at an angle. “Despite everything.”
“She doesn’t like you or trust you much, but Tanya doesn’t like seeing people hurt.”
“Unless she’s the one hurting them, you mean? With some large weapon?” Rione sighed. “I’m a rotten bitch. I use people. I don’t know why anyone should care what happens to me.”
“You’ve got some redeeming qualities,” Geary said. “I know you deserve better than you’ve received from the Alliance. And I mean to do what I can to make things right.”
“The Alliance… the Alliance is more than some of the people who claim to represent its interests. I’ll take care of making things right, Admiral. Just get me where I can find my husband, and where I’m within reach of some of those who decided they had the right to play God with his life and mine.”
“I’ll do my best,” Geary said. “If you have any sources who can help us find out how to access the hypernet gate that must be at Unity Alternate, it would help get us all there.”
“I’ll do everything I can.” Rione stood up, her eyes downcast. “I long since gave up on the idea that common decency existed in most people, and I… don’t tend to make friends easily. I don’t know entirely why you are helping me, but I do appreciate it. Thank you.”
Geary smiled sardonically at her even though he felt the pain coming off Rione. He knew she wouldn’t want sympathy, wouldn’t want any acknowledgment that she had betrayed vulnerability. “To be honest, Madam Co-President, Senator, Emissary, you do make some friends. Not easily, but it happens occasionally despite your best efforts.”
Rione laughed. “We’ve come a long ways, Admiral. Now let’s go to Unity Alternate. But first, I happen to know there’s another visitor on the way for you, due here tomorrow.”
“Who?” Geary asked.
“Someone important. She might even have what you and I most want at this moment.”
Ten
The next day, Geary was not surprised to get a call from Admiral Timbale asking him to stop by Ambaru Station for a vaguely defined liaison conference. Timbale met him at the shuttle dock, waved away the Marines and soldiers providing security for Geary and Timbale, and led the way deeper inside Ambaru, along passageways that had a curious absence of other pedestrians. “How does everything look?” Timbale asked as they walked. “There’s something I wanted to show you,” he added before Geary could respond.