'Sir!' Ferreira protested. 'Sir, you can't-'
'Don't interrupt me, Lieutenant.'
'No, sir. Sorry, sir.'
'Apology accepted. Now, from here on out, this matter is no longer up for discussion. As soon as we get back to Nyleth, I'm going to see Commodore Anjula. If she asks, I will tell her that I told you of the problem and that you advised me to report the matter to her as soon as possible. And maybe she and the powers that be can come up with something to get me out of this mess.'
'As you wish, sir,' Ferreira said, her words taut with bitterness and anger.
'Come on, Jayla,' Michael said with a half smile. 'I'm pretty sure the first thing Anjula will do is relieve me of my command. I know I would if I was in her place, so it looks to me like you're going to get your first ship rather sooner than we expected. And what a ship; I'm going to miss Redwood.'
'Sir!' Ferreira objected, her face coloring.
'Sorry, bad time to be kidding around. Anyway, there it is. My decision's made, and I want you to respect that. You are not to raise this matter with me again. Is that clear, or do I have to give you a formal, written order?'
'No, sir,' Ferreira said, her face an expressionless mask. 'No, that's clear and I understand the order.'
'Good. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?'
'No, sir.'
'Very well. You may carry on.'
'Sir,' Ferreira said. Without another word, she climbed to her feet and walked out of Michael's day cabin.
'Shit,' Michael said softly as Ferreira's exit hammered home the brutal fact that he would never see Anna alive again.
'Captain, sir.'
'Yes, Jayla?'
'Can you meet me in Conference-2, sir? There's something I want to show you.'
'Okay,' Michael said with a puzzled frown. 'Anything I should know about?'
'I'd rather show you, sir, if that's okay.'
'Fine, fine. I'm on my way.'
When Michael opened the door to the conference room, what he saw brought him to an abrupt halt. The fact that the people who made Redwood an effective fighting ship-her officers and senior spacers-sat at the table waiting shocked him, not least because he knew they were not there to talk about the weather back on Nyleth.
'Attention on deck,' Ferreira barked, the order snapping everyone present to his or her feet.
'Carry on, please,' Michael said as he sat down. 'Jayla, I think you'd better tell me what this is all about.'
'Yes, sir. I will.' Ferreira paused to collect herself. 'In a word, sir, it's about you,' she said.
Michael struggled to maintain his composure, his body reluctant to breathe properly, his heart racing out of control. Had Ferreira decided to exercise her right to declare him unfit for command? She had every reason and every right to do exactly that, and this was the way to do it: in front of witnesses who would testify to the inevitable board of inquiry that she had followed due process. Was that why he was here?
'Okay,' he said. 'I'm listening.'
'First, let me tell you what I've done since last we spoke about Lieutenant Cheung,' Ferreira said.
In an instant, anger flared up white-hot; Michael fought to keep it in check. 'What the hell are you doing raising that here, of all places?' he said, his voice a shout. 'That's a private matter, and you know it.' Eyes narrowed with rage, Michael glared at Ferreira. 'Did I not give you a direct order that you were not to raise it ever again? I damn well did, didn't I?'
'Yes, sir. You did. You gave it to me, and I understood that order. No argument, sir.'
'Then what the hell are you doing, Lieutenant? You realize I cannot ignore your willful refusal to obey that order?'
'Yes, sir.' Ferreira nodded. 'I do realize that.'
Michael shook his head, baffled. 'Then what the hell are you playing at? If we're here to talk about Anna Cheung, then forget it. She is my problem, not yours, and I regret even telling you about it. Do not make things worse, Jayla,' he said, getting to his feet. 'I'm going to forget I was ever here, and so are all of you. And that's an order,' he added running his eyes across the faces of his senior crew.
Grim-faced, mouth set in a firm line, Ferreira refused to concede. She shook her head. 'I'm sorry, sir,' she said, 'but whether you like it or not, that is what we are here to talk about, and I strongly recommend you hear us out. If by the end of this meeting you don't want our help, that is of course your decision, and we will respect it. However, I have to tell you'-there was no mistaking the steely determination in Ferreira's voice-'that you will hear what we have to say… please, sir. Sit down and listen. That's all I ask.'
Michael could not speak; he stared at Ferreira, stunned by her open defiance and more than a little cowed by the fact that every one of the people that his command of Redwood relied on was sitting in front of him, their faces every bit as unrelenting as Ferreira's.
Chief Bienefelt broke the awful silence. 'Sir!' she said, leaning her enormous bulk forward the better to look Michael right in the face. 'You need to trust us. Hear what we have to say, then decide what to do next. Please.'
Michael had no idea what to think anymore. Part of him wanted to accept defeat, to confess all to Commodore Anjula, to abandon Anna, to let her die. Another part of him wanted desperately to hear what the people he most trusted, the people who made Redwood the ship she was, said. They might see a way to save the woman he loved more than his own life, but how?
Unless… Hope flared. Maybe there was a way; maybe he was arrogant and stupid to think he was the only person able to solve the problem. These were smart people, so why not hear what they had to say?
'Okay,' he said at last, brushing away the tendrils of doubt. 'I'll listen, but if I say stop, we stop. Understood?'
'Yes, sir,' Ferreira said. 'Before we start, I'd like confirmation that your neuronics are not recording.'
Michael did not even bother arguing. He had decided to trust Ferreira, so he would, even if people blocked recording only when they wanted to push the boundaries.
'Thank you, sir. Now,' she continued, her voice brisk, 'everyone here has seen the Hammer holovid with the threat to Lieutenant Cheung. Following our conversation yesterday, sir, I spoke to everybody one on one to see how we might go about dealing with that threat, and that's what we're here to talk about. I was a bit surprised to discover that everyone agrees there is only one way to solve this problem.'
Ferreira checked herself; Michael's shock must have been obvious, the idea that his people had contrived a way to save Anna too much to bear. 'Go on,' he croaked.
'Well, sir, we see it like this. To start with, we…'
Michael struggled to come to terms with Ferreira's proposal late into the night. Restless, unable to settle, he paced the length of his cabin, stomach knotted into a tight ball by the appalling dilemma Colonel Hartspring and the Hammers had thrust into his life.
What Ferreira wanted to do was extraordinary… and outrageous. No, that did not even come close to describing what his executive officer was suggesting. If he went along with her, he would be party to the biggest single crime in the history of the Federated Worlds, an honor he did not relish.
The problem was that even though some of what she had said was good, too much of it was bad. The basic outline was fine… in principle. True, it needed a ton of detailed work to turn it into a workable plan, a plan that had a reasonable chance of getting the desired result without killing everyone in the process, but Michael was more than confident that was doable.
Sadly, feasibility was never the issue. Criminality, criminality of unprecedented magnitude and compass, was.
Ferreira's plan was simple: mutiny on a scale not seen in the Federated Worlds Fleet, a mutiny that would take three frontline dreadnoughts out of the order of battle. It was insane, it was risky, it was wrong. He cursed softly, regretting the moment of weakness that had prompted him to unburden himself to her. If he had kept his mouth shut, she would not be contemplating something no commissioned officer should ever contemplate, let alone talk about. Worse, she was bringing along every other commissioned and noncommissioned officer onboard with her; how she had managed to persuade nine hard-headed spacers and marines to agree with her was a complete
