Later information, after the destruction of the Collyns by the real Fergus, a deplorable occurrence, revealed that intelligence dispatches to RSF headquarters had been falsified by sources believed to have been either Keltyric or Argenti. The marshal determined that revealing this information would have been highly detrimental to Republic security, and the official position remains that the Collyns is presumed lost on secret maneuvers…With the drowning death of the RSF military attaché to Scandya, further disclosures are unlikely, although it was considered prudent to remove certain qualifications of the attaché from records open to public scrutiny…
Van took a long slow breath. He’d been attacked by the RSF and destroyed officers and techs he’d known. And, despite the denials in the file, it was clear enough to Van that Vickry and Marshal Connolly had actually set up the Fergus—the real Fergus—to be destroyed by the Collyns. Worse, there was a clear implication that Cruachan had been murdered because he’d known too much. But why? There had to be more.
He continued to read.
…Taran public had consistently failed to realize the danger posed by greater Revenant or Argenti influence in the Scandyan system…and the lack of newer and more advanced vessels…Council recommends that the RSF high command proceed in developing a plan that will make the electorate more fully aware of the critical situation developing…to prepare public opinion for alliances of necessity, and to develop a contingency plan for more direct action, should it prove necessary…contingency should also include operations to reduce areas of dissent within the Republic. Public opinion will support such an option [see Report XX-1A]…
The line that bothered Van the most was the last one. From what little he’d seen and heard, public opinion was definitely in favor of harsh measures against Sulyn, but he didn’t know what had changed matters so much. Or had that bias always been there, and he’d just ignored it?
…Commander Van Cassius Albert, commanding the RSFS Fergus, former commander of the corvette Eochaid in the Regneri incident. Also former CO of the Gortforge. Considered a good, but not outstanding ship-handler…Sub-commander Forgael, exec and senior pilot, also competent, but was one of the principal grievants in the Naomi case…
The Naomi case? Van concentrated, and his vastly improved memory—or memory access ability—brought up the name. Jillyan Naomi had been a major on the deValera, who had accused the senior commodore of pressuring junior female officers into having sex with him, promising either better annual reports or unsatisfactory ones. The evidence had been overwhelming, and the commodore had been court-martialed. Major Naomi had been transferred to the McCourt. Two years later, her body had been found at the base of a stone staircase on Sulyn, where she had been on leave visiting a friend. A local magistrate had found that her death had been caused by a broken neck from a fall. The bruises on the inside of her arms had not been explained.
Van nodded to himself and went back to the entry before him.
…None of the pilots on the Fergus are rated in the top-level of combat effectiveness…
Van drew in his breath. The implications were clear enough, but they were only implications, and not solid proof. He laughed softly. What he had wouldn’t be admissible in any court, and certainly not before a Board of Inquiry—and he’d never survive to reach a board, not if he went through the RSF. It was clear enough to him that the Marshal’s Council had wanted an “incident” in the Scandyan system, and they’d set it up in a way to remove another troublesome officer—him. When that had failed, they had implemented an alternative plan.
He continued to search through the files until he found another hint.
…contingency plans required activation of Commander Baile. After the loss of the Fergus in transit back to Tara…only remaining survivor of the Fergus’s encounter with the unidentified cruiser is Commodore Van Albert…recommend retirement…commodore’s health will be known to be less than perfect after his medical treatment in the aftermath of the Revenant attack on the Keltyr embassy in Valborg…would not be surprising if he did not long survive once he returns to Bannon…
The mention of contingency plans and the “activation” of Commander Baile were suspicious. Even so, the pieces fit together, though some were missing. But once again, even if Van could have forced release of the records, they were less than conclusive in a legal sense. Still, although he could not prove what had occurred, he had his answers—or enough of them.
In a practical sense, he could do very little. He couldn’t prove anything, and he dared not return to the Republic, not with two deaths on his hands, even though the RSF might never make the connection, and even if one of the deaths was in self-defense and the other certainly justified…
But…was he just rationalizing? Did his need to know, to discover what had happened, really justify his actions?
He’d done what he’d thought was right for Tara time after time, and in the end, what had he gotten? Any number of attempts to kill him or set him up to be killed, and the sacrifice of at least two RSF ships for political purposes.
He needed to send off a message torp to Trystin and meet with him—again—on Perdya. Between the Revenants and the Tarans, their section of the Arm was looking less and less stable—and Van didn’t even know what might be happening with the Argenti and the Coalition.
He checked the EDI screen again.
Neither of the cruisers had moved, but Van changed his own course to move “down” at right angles to the system ecliptic. That would play hell with his jump calculations, and add hours, if not days, to his transit time to Perdya, but there was no way any Republic vessel could reach him before he could reach an area clear enough for
