“I don’t expect any of them carrying the fuel to hang around and search,” said Hollister. “If they were going to, they’d have to get into a stable orbit - which this thing doesn’t encourage.”
“And I’m glad of it.” Sassinak stretched. “Gah! I can’t believe I’m stiff after that little bit of running - “
“And getting shot at. Did you know your back armor’s nearly melted through?”
So that had been the hotspot she’d felt. “Is it? And I thought they’d missed. Now - do you suppose that other escort is going to show up - and if it is, do they have it crammed with as much armament?”
“Yes, and yes, but probably not for another couple of hours. The little ships will have told them about the explosion. Wish we could pick up their transmissions.”
“Me, too. Unfortunately, they don’t all speak Standard, or anything close to it.”
Finally, the steward came again to pick up the dirty mugs, and gave Sassinak a worried look. “Anything wrong, captain?”
“No - thanks for the thought. I just indulged my taste for chocolate instead. Tell you what - I’m briefing the senior officers in my office in - “ she looked at the chronometer, “ - about fifteen minutes. Why don’t you bring a pot of coffee in there, and something to eat, too. We’ll be there awhile.” The steward nodded and left. Sassinak turned to the others. “Bridge crew, you can get out of armor, if you want: have your reliefs stand by in case. Terrell - “ This to her new Executive Officer, a round-faced young man.
“Yes, captain?”
“Take the bridge, and tell the cooks to serve the crew coffee or some other stimulant at their duty stations. As soon as we’re sure that cruiser isn’t onto us, we’ll stand down and give everyone a rest, but not quite yet. I’ll be in my office, but I’m going to the cabin first.” Sassinak went aft to her cabin, got out of the armored suit, and saw that the beam had charred a streak across her uniform under it. Grimacing, she worked it off her shoulder, and peered at the damage in her mirror. A red streak, maybe a couple of blisters; she’d peel a little, that was all. It didn’t hurt, really, although it was stiffening up. She grinned at her reflection: not bad for forty-six, not bad at all. Not a silver strand in that night-dark hair, no wrinkles around the eyes - or anywhere else, for that matter. Not for the first time she shook her head at her own vanity, ducked into the stall, and let the fine spray wash away sweat and fatigue. A clean, unmarked uniform, a quick brush to her curly hair, and she was ready to face the officers again.
In her office, her senior officers waited; she saw by their faces that they appreciated this effort: nothing could be too wrong if the captain appeared freshly groomed and serenely elegant. Two stewards had brought a large pot of coffee and tray of food: pastries and sandwiches. Sassinak dismissed the stewards, with thanks, and left the food on the warmer.
“Well, now,” she said, slipping into her chair behind the broad fonwood desk, “we’ve solved several problems today - “
“Created a few, too. Who let off that firecracker, d’you know?”
“No, I don’t. That’s a problem, and it’s part of another one I’ll mention later. First, though, I want to commend all of you: you and your people.”
“Sorry about that cargo lift - “ began Major Currald.
“And I’m sorry about your casualties. Major. Those here and those on the transport both. But we wouldn’t have had much chance without you. I want to thank you, in particular, for recommending that we split the marines between us as we did. What I really want to do, though, is let you all in on a classified portion of our mission.” She tapped the desk console to seal the room to intrusive devices, and nodded as eyebrows went up around the room. “Yes, it’s important, and yes, it has a bearing on what happened today. Fleet advised me - has advised all captains, I understand - of something we’ve all known or suspected for some time. Security’s compromised, and Fleet no longer considers its personnel background screening reliable. We were told that we should expect at least one hostile agent on each ship - to look for them, neutralize their activities, if we could, and not report them back through normal channels.” She let that sink in a moment. When Hollister lifted his hand she nodded.
“Did you get any kind of guidance at all, captain? Were they suspecting enlisted? Officers?” His eye traveled on to Currald, whose bulk dwarfed the rest of them, but he didn’t say it.
Sassinak shook her head. “None. We were to suspect everyone - any personnel file might have been tampered with, and any apparent political group might be involved. They specifically stated that Fleet Security believes most heavyworlders in Fleet are loyal, that Wefts have never shown any hint of disloyalty, said that religious minorities, apart from political movements, are considered unlikely candidates. But aside from that, everyone from the sailor swabbing a latrine to my Executive Officer.”
“But you’re telling us,” said Arly, head cocked.
“Yes. I’m telling you because, first of all, I trust you. We just came through a fairly stiff engagement; we all know it could have ended another way. I believe you’re all loyal to Fleet, and through Fleet to the FSP. Besides, if my bridge crew and senior officers are, singly or together, disloyal, then I’m unlikely to be able to counter it. You have too much autonomy; you have to have it. And there we were, right where you could have sabotaged me and the whole mission, and instead you performed brilliantly: I’m not going to distrust that. We need to trust each other, and I’m starting here.”
“Do you have any ideas?” asked Danyan, one of the Wefts who had been in the firing party. “Any clues at all?”
“Not yet. Today we had two incidents: the firing of an unauthorized missile which gave away our position, and the cargo lift being left unlocked in an area which could easily be penetrated. The first I must assume was intentionaclass="underline" in twenty years as a Fleet officer, I have never known anyone to fire a missile accidentally once out of training. The second could have been accidental or intentional. Major Currald takes responsibility for it, and thinks it was an accident; I’ll accept that for now. But the first… Arly, who could have fired that thing?”
The younger woman frowned thoughtfully. “I’ve been trying to think, but haven’t really had time - things kept happening - “
“Try now.”
“Well - I could, but I didn’t. My two techs on the bridge could have, but I think I’d have seen them do it - I can’t swear to that, but I’m used to their movements, and it’d take five or six strokes. At that time, the quadrant weaponry was on local control - at least partly. Ordinarily, in stealth mode, I have a tech at each station. That’s partly to keep crew away, so that accidents won’t happen. That went out of quad three, and there were two techs on station. Adis and Veron, both advanced-second. Beyond that, though, someone could have activated an individual missile with any of several control panels, if they’d had previous access to it, to change its response frequency.”
“What would they know about the status of any engagement?” asked Sass.
“What I’d said today, was that we were insystem with those slavers, trying to lie low and trap them. Keep a low profile, but be ready to respond instantly if the captain needed us, because we probably would get in a row, and it would happen fast. I’d have expected them to be onstation, but not propped: several keystrokes from a launch, though not more than a five second delay.”
“The whole crew knew we were trailing slavers, captain,” said Nav. “I expect the marines, too -?” The marine commander nodded. “So they’d know when we came out of FTL that we were reasonably close. Full-stealth-mode’s a shipwide announcement… easy enough for an agent to realize that’s just when you don’t want a missile launched.”