It wasn’t just the former prisoners coming in, though their arrival could arouse a wave of rumors and even instability among the citizens. There were still snakes hidden out there, and he couldn’t hunt for them while confined in a room that didn’t even allow him to call out.
Is my own loyalty suspected? Colonel Morgan has been acting guarded around me for a while, but Colonel Malin knows me well enough to know I would not betray General Drakon. But, if knowledge of my ties with the snakes has become more widely known…
Rogero looked toward the door with a sinking feeling. Protective custody? Is that what this is? To keep my own troops from murdering me as a snake agent? Surely Drakon would tell them the truth, that I misled the snakes and protected the General. But would they listen?
He saw the door latch move, then the portal swung open. General Drakon himself, looking unconcerned. “I’m sorry you’ve been kept on ice for a while, Donal. There was something I needed to take care of.”
“General,” Rogero said, rising from his seat a bit faster than he usually would have, “is there anything—”
Drakon waved a dismissive hand. “You’re all right. I brought you here to tell you that you’re getting another collateral duty.”
“Another collateral duty?” That wasn’t welcome news. Extra jobs on the side tended to take an inordinate amount of time away from your primary job. But compared to his earlier worries, it was a very small inconvenience. “What is it?”
“I’ll show you. Come on.”
Rogero followed, mystified, as Drakon led the way through the complex. “How’s your unit doing?”
“They’re fine, General. Morale is good.”
“Excellent. I need to talk to you later about your impressions of the troops and their attitudes toward the citizens.” Drakon stopped before the closed door of a small automated snack bar for use by headquarters personnel. “But that can wait a few hours. Here we are.”
“General?”
Drakon glanced at Rogero. “Your new, extra responsibility is inside. It’s something that only you can deal with, Colonel.”
“In… a snack bar?”
“Take your time. When you’re done in there, report to VIP Quarters One. Understand?”
“VIP ?”
“Just do as you’re told, Colonel.” Drakon partially opened the door, took Rogero by one arm, and urged him through the gap.
Mystified, and a bit worried again, Rogero started to turn back as he heard the door click shut behind him. Instead, he spun to face the inside of the room as someone stood up from one of the tables.
For one of the few times in his life, Donal Rogero could only stare, unable to think or talk.
“I bought you a drink,” Captain Bradamont said, offering a bottle. “I didn’t have any of the local currency, so your General lent me some.”
The Alliance dress uniform she wore was clean and neat, not like the torn and burn-marked battle uniform that Bradamont had worn on the prisoner transport ship and in the labor camp. A command pin had been added to the decorations she wore, along with some new campaign and battle ribbons. But she herself had not changed at all. “Honore?” Rogero finally said as his brain gradually began working again. “Is this real?”
She walked up to him, offering the bottle once more. “It’s real. I told you that I’d buy you a drink someday. Your General said this is a popular drink here.”
“He was joking,” Rogero said, feeling dizzy. “The troops call it croak because of the taste. We use it to clean brass.”
“Oh, sorry.” She paused, looking at him. “You said you’d buy dinner.”
“Yes. I did.” Rogero shook his head. “I… I don’t understand.”
“I’ve been detached from the Alliance fleet with orders to serve as liaison officer to the Midway Star System.”
“It’s… not possible. General Drakon knows. He knows about us.”
“Yes. So does Admiral Geary.”
“Then… why?”
“Because they know us,” Bradamont said. “They know that we held to honor despite everything and that we never failed in our duties. We never betrayed them, we never betrayed our worlds, and we never betrayed each other. Maybe that qualifies us to show our respective peoples how to work together. There were some other reasons why I ended up being asked to volunteer for this assignment, but we can discuss those another time.”
Enough neurons finally started firing in Rogero’s brain for him to think. “General Drakon set this up? How did he know that the last thing you said to me was that you would buy me a drink someday?”
“I told him.” She smiled. “He seems like a hard boss, but a good one.”
“He’s a very good boss. He’s… he’s… Dammit, Honore, may I hold you? May I kiss you?”
“Why the hell are you asking instead of doing it, Donal? But be careful not to muss the uniform.”
Drakon waited until an escort arrived to get Bradamont safely to her quarters, telling them to wait until Colonel Rogero opened the door. As he walked away, he saw Morgan standing at the end of the hallway, her eyes locked on the door to the snack bar.
“Is what I heard true?” she demanded.
Instead of replying, Drakon bent a stern look her way. “Is that the proper tone of voice to use with me?”
She made an obvious effort to control herself. “Pardon me, sir. Is it true that an Alliance fleet officer is in that room and not under arrest?”
“We’re not at war with them anymore, Colonel Morgan. In fact, they’re acting a lot like allies.”
“Sir—”
“Yes. An Alliance fleet captain is in that room. She is an official representative to President Iceni and me, and she is under the personal protection of President Iceni and me. She is my scion. Understand? Nothing is to happen to her, and she is to be treated with the respect appropriate to her rank.”
“Your… scion.” Morgan stared at him, her eyes wide and alight with fury. “An Alliance officer. They killed—”
“We all killed, Colonel Morgan. The war has ended. We have plenty of enemies in common. We start over now. Even if that weren’t true, we need the backing from Black Jack that woman gives us. She might be the one thing that buys us enough time to get our forces strong enough to stand on our own.”
The way she regained full control almost instantaneously was startling and more than a little alarming. The fire in Morgan’s eyes died, replaced by a cold shield that revealed neither thoughts nor feeling. Her expression smoothed out into a similarly shielded exterior. “Yes, General. I understand.” Even her voice was now perfectly professional and properly respectful.
“Colonel Morgan… Roh… we need to do things differently. For a long time, the past, the present, and the future were all the same. The same war then, the same war now, the same war to come. That pattern has finally been broken. The future can be different than the past. The future can be better than the past.”
Emotion came back. Morgan nodded, smiling in total agreement. “Yes, sir. The future will be better. We will build our strength, and we will make a better future.”
“You understand that declaring Captain Bradamont to be a scion of myself and President Iceni is to ensure her safety?”
Morgan smiled and nodded. “It doesn’t mean she’s really your heir in any way.”