But if he hadn’t received that message from Lorica, would he feel the same way? Or, driven by anger and frustration, would he have reluctantly agreed with Cresida and perhaps fatally undermined a critical component of the fleet? He’d been appalled by the compromises made in the principles of the Alliance over the hundred years of war, but moments like this helped Geary see how easy it was to make such compromises, to abandon important principles “just this once because it was important.”
“Co-President Rione volunteered to be interrogated when she was under suspicion,” one of the Callas Republic captains reminded everyone.
“A politician can scarcely be considered to have a conception of honor equal to that of a fleet officer.”
Armus blurted out the statement, then reddened as he realized he’d said it in Rione’s presence.
“Given her position as an Alliance senator,” Duellos pointed out, “it was a comparable act.”
“And,” Captain Desjani stated in a deceptively dispassionate tone, “since many here believe politicians have much more to fear in the way of wrongdoing being revealed in such interrogations, Co-President Rione’s offer was arguably of even greater significance than if a fleet officer made such an agreement.”
“Thank you, Captain Desjani,” Rione replied in a voice that could have cut through hull armor. Geary had been stalling while Kila was occupied with the meeting, letting the debate ramble to kill time. Now Colonel Carabali looked aside at something visible to her, then nodded again to Geary. The trap was set.
Geary rapped his knuckles on the table to get everyone’s attention. “We need not question the honor of every officer in this fleet, nor do we need to subject officers to blanket questioning in ways that would harm the structure and discipline of the fleet.” He had their attention, all of the other officers watching him and clearly wondering what he would say next. Even Desjani managed to do a decent job of looking puzzled. “Instead, we’ll let the dead speak.”
Varying expressions of shock and surprise appeared on every face as Geary tapped the table with one fingertip. “Lorica’s commanding officer was able to transmit something important just before her ship’s destruction, something she’d found. Her ship was probably targeted because the plotters suspected that Commander Gaes had learned too much, just as Captain Cresida speculated.” He couldn’t be certain of that, couldn’t know for how long Gaes had been aware of the identity of the ship from which the original worm came. Gaes had known about the original worm, she’d warned Geary of it, but if she’d known who was behind it, she hadn’t told him then. Gaes had died in the line of duty, though, and had given him the information he desperately needed, so in Geary’s eyes she deserved to be given every benefit of the doubt.
Geary entered a command. The message from Lorica appeared, floating above the table, the meeting software making it appear to face everyone. “You’ll recall the first worm placed in this fleet’s operating systems, the one that would have disabled most of the jump drives, except for a few ships like Dauntless, which would have been doomed to remain in jump space forever.” He indicated the message. “This identifies the one thing we lacked, the information revealing from which ship that worm originated.”
Everyone was staring at him as Geary shifted his gaze and focused on Kila. “Captain Kila, that worm originated from Inspire.”
Kila appeared taken aback at the news. “Are you certain?”
“Yes, Captain Kila. Would you care to explain how your ship is the source of treasonous and malicious software aimed at your comrades in this fleet?”
“I don’t care for what you’re implying, Captain Geary!” Kila snapped back at him.
“We should immediately send orders to Inspire to arrest those who could have been involved,” Badaya urged. “Do it now, before they hear about this.”
Kila turned on Badaya. “This message hasn’t even been authenticated yet. Did it actually come from Lorica? If it did, is it real or fabricated? I assure every officer here that if I had known anything about such a thing, I would have personally ensured that those responsible were brought to justice! As for your suggestion, Captain Badaya, I am fully capable of ordering the arrest of those officers and ensuring that anything they know is revealed.”
If he hadn’t been tipped off by Rione to watch for it, Geary wouldn’t have noticed how one of Kila’s hands slipped out of sight during her impassioned denial. That hand could easily be manipulating controls outside the view of the conferencing software. “The message can be examined by anyone seeking to establish its authenticity,” he replied, trying to keep his voice calm even though he wanted to yell back at Kila. “Every communications and security officer who has looked at it thus far has identified its original source as Inspire. You were unaware that the worm originated from Inspire?”
“Of course I was!” Kila glared around, her gaze fixing on Duellos. “You set this up, didn’t you? The long-ago-scorned lover finally finding his revenge!”
Duellos had no trouble looking innocent as he shook his head, since he hadn’t been advised beforehand of the message, but his dislike of Kila was still apparent. “I would think that a commanding officer would be less concerned about herself and more concerned about discovering the source of that worm aboard her ship.”
“Whoever is responsible will be brought to account!” Kila stood. “I need to be supervising the search on Inspire for whoever did this, before they learn about this information, assuming,” she added quickly, “that the message supposedly from Lorica is authentic.”
Geary looked at Colonel Carabali again as the Marine listened to something not audible to the meeting, then the Marine commander nodded a final time, and Geary smiled grimly at Kila. “We should start with your ship’s systems-security officer, don’t you think, Captain Kila? And the communications officer and the executive officer?”
“Of course!” Kila said. “If you let me start my investigation, I will ensure they aren’t alerted about this possible evidence in time for them to—”
“The investigation has already started.” Geary broke in. “Colonel Carabali, can you bring everyone up to date?”
Carabali avoided looking at Kila, her own face set in rigidly professional lines as she spoke in a flat voice.
“On instructions from Captain Geary, my Marines assigned to Inspire waited until this meeting began, then covertly took into protective custody the executive officer, communications officer, and systems-security officer on Inspire.”
The images of the fleet’s commanding officers were now staring either at Carabali or Geary or Kila. Geary hoped he wasn’t looking triumphant. Kila’s face revealed nothing but seemed to have become unnaturally stiff.
“The officers taken into custody,” Carabali continued, “were placed inside a maximum-isolation security cell while they were checked for anything dangerous to themselves or Inspire. Maximum-isolation cells include complete coverage based on an ancient device called a Faraday cage, which blocks any incoming or outgoing radiation. Communication is maintained using physical messages passed through a series of shielded locks.” Colonel Carabali paused for a moment, then looked straight at Kila. “Approximately three minutes ago, examinations of the systems-security officer and the communications officer on Inspire revealed the presence of INBNDs. As of one minute ago, sensors on the outside of the security cells detected and grounded out a series of signals used for high-security, coded transmissions. The signals must have been generated inside Inspire’s hull.”