“I’ll talk to him before we leave Padronis.”
“Good. There are very few people in human history who have rejected the kind of power you could have, John Geary.”
“I’ve rejected it,” he insisted, “because I’m not qualified to wield it.”
“And that belief of yours, ironically, is what would enable us to trust you with that power.” She leaned closer. “Hold to your oath, Captain Geary. Only your example and forbearance can save the Alliance.”
Then her image vanished as well.
On his way back to his stateroom, Geary realized that he had two more decisions to make and not much time to make them. Reaching his stateroom, he immediately called the bridge. “Captain Desjani, please get ahold of Captain Duellos and have him call me as soon as possible.”
Sitting down, Geary tried to absorb all that had happened. It was hard to believe that dangerous opposition to him within the fleet had finally been brought to an end. His hatch alert chimed and Geary gave the hatch an irritated look. Can’t I have five minutes to deal with this? But he didn’t know how important this visitor might be. “Please enter.”
Co-President Rione stepped inside his stateroom, then made a questioning gesture around her. Understanding what that meant, Geary activated the stateroom’s highest-security seals. “What is it?”
“I want you to know that my agents within the fleet have detected no signs of any other opposition. They’ve been watching as the news about Kila spreads. There are no signs of other worms, no signs of anyone expressing any support for her or Caligo, no missteps that might indicate hidden sympathies for them.”
“That’s good to know.” Could he finally dispense with such things and no longer worry about someone having to monitor his own officers for indications they might pose a danger to the fleet? “I’ll feel a lot better, though, as soon as Valiant’s geeks finish sweeping Inspire’s gear.”
“Of course.”
An insistent buzzing told Geary that someone was trying to contact him using command priority. “Excuse me, Madam Co-President, but I probably need to take this.” He accepted the message, and Captain Desjani appeared on the comm panel.
“That’s perfectly all right,” Rione replied. “I’ve told you what I needed to say, and I didn’t mean to intrude on your rendezvous with your special friend.”
Geary was still searching for the right, unheated reply when Rione left. Desjani’s image was glaring from the comm screen. “Sir, I swear that I am this far from hurting that woman,” she hissed, holding her thumb and forefinger less than a centimeter apart.
“That would be a violation of Alliance law and fleet regulations,” Geary replied wearily.
“Only if they prove I did it knowingly. I could beat the hell out of her in some really dark place and say I didn’t know who she was.”
At the moment, the idea did sound tempting. Geary tried to shake it out of his head. “No. We need her.”
“Do I get to beat her up when we don’t need her anymore?” Desjani asked. “Please?”
More temptation. “I can’t promise you that. Even though at times like this I’d like to. What’s up?”
“Captain Duellos is ready to speak with you. You had a security hold on incoming transmissions, so he couldn’t get through,” Desjani added in accusing tones.
“Sorry. I’ll lift the hold. Thanks.”
“My pleasure, sir,” she responded pointedly. before her image vanished. Geary sighed and waited for Duellos to appear. A moment later the other captain did, his virtual image seeming to stand in the stateroom with Geary. “You wanted to speak with me, Captain Geary?” Duellos asked.
“Yes, but first please take a seat.” Duellos nodded gratefully and sat down in a seat on Furious, the image in Geary’s stateroom mimicking the gesture on one of Geary’s seats.
“I need to know how well you’re doing. You seemed fine during the confrontation with Kila, but are you really in good shape inside?”
Duellos cocked an eyebrow at him. “I’m doing as well as can be expected for a captain without a ship.”
“Do you want another ship?” Geary asked bluntly. “I’ve got a couple of battle cruisers that suddenly need captains.”
“Brilliant and Inspire?” Duellos drew in a long breath. “Which one?”
“Which one can you handle? I don’t think Brilliant has any special problems aside from the shock the crew must be feeling.”
Duellos bared his teeth in a humorless grin. “But you need me on Inspire.”
“That’s true.” Geary sat down opposite Duellos. “I need the best I’ve got on Inspire, and that’s you. I have no idea how badly Kila messed up that ship, but it might be a real snake pit. The former commanding officer is dead, the former executive officer, systems-security officer, and communications officer are all under arrest, and the remaining officers are all going to have to be investigated.”
“A real opportunity to excel,” Duellos murmured with more than a trace of sarcasm. “Many of my officers got off Courageous, so if I was authorized to bring some of them along…”
“Granted. Take as many of Courageous’s old crew as you want. Inspire took some serious personnel losses while Kila was making glorious charges against the enemy and needs the replacements.”
Duellos thought for a few moments while Geary waited, then finally nodded. “Inspire’s crew will be needing a lot of rebuilding. I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you. I couldn’t ask for more, or a better officer for the job. Inspire herself needs a lot of rebuilding, too. She’s pretty badly shot up.”
“Having to focus the crew on repairing the ship may help repair their own morale.” Duellos quirked a small smile. “At times like this, seeing something tangible accomplished can make a big difference. I assume you want me on Inspire an hour ago?”
“Yes,” Geary agreed, “but take the time you need to choose which personnel from Courageous you’re taking with you. Like I said, you can have all of them if you want. I’ll position Inspire near the auxiliaries so they can provide repair support and services easily.”
“Another ship and right back near the auxiliaries? I may get a reputation as a bad-luck captain out of this.” Duellos smiled slightly again. “Thank you for not asking me to take Orion.”
“I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with Orion.”
“Put Numos back in command,” Duellos suggested. “He’ll cause Orion to be destroyed in the next engagement for certain.”
“If her crew doesn’t start performing, I may do just that.” Geary looked upward as if addressing the living stars. “I’m joking.” Lowering his gaze to Duellos again, he indicated the fleet status display. “The First Battle Cruiser Division is down to one ship, Formidable, and the Seventh only has Brilliant and Inspire. I was thinking of folding them into a single division, a reconstituted First Division containing all three ships.”
Duellos shook his head, looking haggard for a moment. “Combining two battle cruiser divisions and getting only three ships in the result. I think that’s a good idea, but it also indicates how badly torn up this fleet has been.” He paused, then nodded firmly. “Yes. A good idea. Formidable won’t be lonely, and Inspire and Brilliant will have a fine ship as a division mate and a symbolic new start. Who do you plan to give Brilliant?”