As he entered the courier, Van noted that the port controller had not moved the groundcart, at least not while the lock was open.
Chapter 29
Following his orders, two days later, after a long one-jump trip on the Morraha, a crowded down-shuttle ride to New Oisin, and an expensive commercial groundcar ride, Van reached RSF headquarters. There, he was escorted impartially to the visiting senior officers’ quarters, where he waited two days for another physical, which took a full day. He was grateful that he had arrived in Oisin’s fall, rather than full winter.
On fourday morning, he was sitting, waiting in the outer office of Sub-marshal Vickry, deputy chief of RSF Intelligence and Strategy, for his scheduled debriefing. He knew he’d run across the name before, and not just on the RSF organizational chart, but he couldn’t remember where.
“Commodore Albert, Sub-marshal Vickry will see you,” said the senior tech at the console.
Van rose and stepped through the archway that held more screening equipment and then into the office that stretched a good ten meters by eight, overlooking the Yeats Green.
Vickry was redheaded, with age-faded freckles, and rail-thin. Intensity radiated from him. He did not rise from his desk console, simply gesturing to the chairs facing him. “Commodore Albert. I’m glad to see you back in health.”
“Thank you, ser,” Van replied, after easing himself into the chair directly facing Vickry.
“I’ve been assured that, if you take care, you’ll enjoy a long and healthy retirement.” The sub-marshal’s smile was professionally warm, the kind of forced emotion that Van distrusted.
Van waited.
“Commodore, Marshal Connolly and I have reviewed the available information on the Scandyan incident, and there are several aspects of the event where we thought your personal observations might be useful. You are known to have been an impartial and highly ethical officer, and that reputation makes your observations that much more important.”
“I’d be happy to share those with you, ser. I don’t know that I saw that much more…”
Vickry waved off the demurral. “Commodore, you clearly saw more than anyone else because you were the first to react, and certainly the first correctly to assess the danger. No false modesty, if you please. I’d like you to explain in your own words why you reacted.”
“It was almost an accident,” Van began. “I noted that some of the servers were tall, almost like Rev troopers. That was just an idle thought at first, but I saw several like that. Then, when we left the embassy building and went out on the lawn for the flareshow, I saw two of them on the dais, and one glanced out across the lawn. I looked where he looked, and there was another server there, with a tray, and only one person anywhere near…” Van went through the entire incident again, word by word, action by action.
After Van finished, Vickry nodded slowly. “Coincidence, in a way, that you happened to be in the right position to see all that, but what appeared to be unconnected events to others, you saw with a trained and observant eye.” He paused before speaking. “I understand that, after your release, you visited the Coalition consulate again. What was your rationale for that?”
Van forced a smile. “I’d read the summary report that Commodore Guffree provided me. As you may know, I contacted all attachés remaining in Valborg whom I knew and who remained, not that there were that many. I hoped to find out if I’d missed something.”
“Did you?”
“Nothing that seemed to add to the RSF report,” Van said. “There were a few more facts and some confirmation of what I’d seen.”
“You had mentioned to Ambassador George that you thought that there were other clones involved. Did you have any hard evidence for that conclusion?”
Once more, Van wished he had not made that admission. “No, ser. That was circumstantial, as I told the ambassador. The Keltyr military attaché had told me that they had put all the temporary help through intensive screening. The Kelt commander seemed most professional, and duplicate clones seemed the only way possible.” Van shrugged. “That was my surmise. I don’t have any idea if that was how it was done, but it could have been done that way, and I certainly couldn’t think of any other.”
“What about simply gimmicking the Kelt embassy screens?”
Van paused, then replied carefully, “That might have been possible. I’m not into espionage. My implant registered that they had screens, and I’m certain that any overt malfunction would have been detected. But, if someone had a way to pass just the assassins…how would anyone know? Except the Kelts, and they certainly wouldn’t admit that kind of failure.”
“No. They wouldn’t,” Vickry agreed.
“You could probably discover that, though,” Van mused. “It ought to be possible to find out if the Kelts did any extensive changes in the embassy’s structure or equipment after the incident to rectify any shortcomings that they had discovered.”
“That certainly would be possible.”
That response confirmed to Van that Vickry had already looked into that possibility—with no success, making Van’s hypothesis even more likely.
“Tell me, Commodore. Did you ever have any contact with the Revenant embassy?”
Van shook his head. “Not except in passing. I was introduced to the Revenant ambassador at one function, then introduced myself to their attaché at the Kelt reception. I’d made a number of calls to the attaché, but none of them were ever returned, and he didn’t even recognize my name when I introduced myself.”
“Yet Commander Cruachan had no difficulty there.”
“That may be. Perhaps he was more skilled at making contacts with the Revenants. He doubtless had more experience before taking his post.”
“Ah…yes. There is that. Now…did you gain any new insights from the Coalition attaché? Major Murikami, was it?”
“Some. He noted that the Sandyans and the Revenants both had exhibited a growing prejudice against the Argentis and the Coalition—or their peoples.”
For the first time, Vickry looked truly interested. “What did he
