and he started out already convinced he was the savior of the Alliance.”
Geary spent a while thinking about that before nodding again. “His arguments have such force because he really believes them, but they’re even less grounded in reality now than they were twenty years ago.”
“Much less grounded in reality.” Duellos shrugged, looking unhappy. “On top of that, Captain Falco’s spent a long time in a labor camp, where routine rules. Did you notice how hard a time he has now adjusting when something unexpected happens, even in a conversation? He hasn’t dealt with emergencies, he hasn’t been fighting battles. He’s horribly out of practice at commanding ships. That’s just the mental side of things. Physically, he’s older and has been living under stressful conditions with poor food and poor medical care.”
“It’d been a century since my last command when I took over this fleet,” Geary noted dryly.
Duellos grinned this time. “For us. For you it had been a matter of weeks. And if you’ll forgive me for being blunt, the only thing Captain Falco has in common with you is the rank insignia.”
“That’s nice to hear,” Geary admitted, smiling to show he didn’t take the implied compliment too seriously. “So you think Falco won’t be able to command effectively at all?”
Duellos nodded, grim again.
“What will those ships do then? Make a glorious charge to the death into the teeth of the Syndic fleet?”
Duellos spent a moment gazing at the star display, his face serious. “Unlikely, I think. A glorious charge to the death has to be led by someone. Unless I miss my guess, Falco will be overwhelmed and incapable of doing that. The other senior captains like Numos and Faresa are neither inspiring nor emotionally suited to such an act of brave desperation. So, no leader to lead a charge. Worst case, they lose their heads and scatter, becoming easy meat for the Syndics. Best case, they remember Ilion and charge for the route back there, holding their formation together so they can protect each other. The Syndics wouldn’t be expecting those ships to head for a jump point leading back into Syndic space, so that might leave a chance for them to make it. A small one, but it’s there.”
Geary nodded, his eyes on the same stars. “You sound like you’ve been listening in to my prayers to my ancestors. That’s what I’m praying those ships will do.”
“If they do come to Ilion,” Duellos stated, “there may be Syndics in pursuit. A lot of Syndics.”
“I know. We’ll be ready if that happens. Ready to fight our way out of Ilion if the odds are bad enough, or to kick that Syndic force halfway out of this sector if the odds favor it.”
“You should have told our ship captains that, too,” Duellos advised.
“I will, in a message before we jump.” Geary took a deep breath. “Do you think anyone else will leave?”
“Now? No. Even those who are scared to follow you are more scared of leaving the fleet. That’s what held them from following Captain Falco.”
Geary laughed. “I guess that’s the best endorsement I can hope for.”
Duellos stood and saluted. “I’ll see you in Sancere, Captain Geary.”
Geary came to attention and returned the salute. “Count on it.”
To Geary’s surprise, the instant Duellos vanished, Commander Cresida’s image reappeared. She looked haggard as she saluted him. “We have something that may work.”
“Really? We can limit the energy release from a gate failure?”
“In theory. If the assumptions made are accurate.” Cresida made a helpless gesture. “We won’t know if it really works until it’s actually tried.”
“And if it doesn’t work, then we may not get a chance to try something else,” Geary noted sourly. “Great job, though.”
“Sir.” Cresida hesitated. “There’s something else.”
GEARY cradled a data disc in one hand as the fleet went into jump, leaving the bloated shape of Cydoni’s sun behind. The jump to Sancere would take over two weeks, a length of uninterrupted time in jump space that no one in the fleet but Geary had ever experienced. Nodding to Captain Desjani, he stood, knowing he probably looked distracted. “I’ll be in my stateroom.”
The walk to his stateroom seemed unusually short with his thoughts focused elsewhere. Reaching it with what seemed surprising quickness, Geary sat down, then gave a hard rap to his internal communications controls. “Madam Co-President, I need to speak with you.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be convenient.” Victoria Rione’s voice sounded not only colder than space itself but also tired.
“I’m afraid I must insist.”
There was a pause before her answer came. “What is this about?”
“Something critically important.”
“Am I supposed to trust your assessment of that?”
Geary fought down an angry retort. “I don’t care whether you trust it or not. I need you here to discuss something. If you actually care about the safety of the Alliance, you’ll come and talk to me.”
“And if I don’t?”
Geary stared at the bulkhead opposite him. He could threaten force, but that wouldn’t predispose Rione to listen. It also might not work. Not with Co-President Rione. “Please, Madam Co-President. I swear on my ancestors’ honor that this is something you must know.”
The pause this time was longer. “Very well, Captain Geary. I still believe in the honor of your ancestors. I’ll be there soon.”
Geary slumped back, rubbing his eyes. To think I once looked forward to Rione’s visits. But this is too important. I can’t avoid it.
His hatch alert chimed, and Rione entered, her face impassive and her eyes glittering like ice. “Yes, Captain Geary?”
He nodded to the seat opposite him. “Please sit down.”
“I’m comfortable standing.”
“Just sit down!” His bark startled Geary as well as Rione. “Forgive me. The matter I need to discuss with you is an issue of critical concern.” The formal words helped keep his voice level.
She eyed him narrowly but slowly sat down, her back stiff. “What is it, Captain Geary?”
Geary found it hard to look at her, his gaze wandering away to rest on the starscape, imagining supernova- scale explosions ravaging it. “We’ve been planning on what might happen in Sancere, which has a hypernet gate, as you know. I assumed the Syndics would try to destroy that gate. I’ve since been informed that destruction of hypernet gates could liberate huge quantities of energy. Or perhaps none at all. It’s all theoretical.“
Her voice sounded as cold as ever. “Huge quantities of energy? Construction of the hypernet system was approved long before I joined the Alliance senate, so I don’t know many of the technical details. What does huge mean?”
“Supernova scale.” That finally provoked a change in Rione, her eyes widening in shock. Geary took a deep breath. “One of the ship captains, Commander Cresida, came up with a theory about the hypernet gates. If Cresida’s theory is right, how the gate tethers are destroyed, the exact timing and sequence in which they lose their grip on the particle matrix, will calibrate the level of energy release. The fleet’s network ran the math with some difficulty and came up with a weapons employment algorithm that might let us scale down any release of energy to minimal levels.”
Rione’s voice was still cold, but puzzled now, too. “Why does this have you upset, Captain Geary? I admit this news that hypernet gates were such a potential danger is surprising, but if you’ve learned how to control the danger, it seems like a good thing.”
Geary looked down at the silvery disc in his palm. “It has me upset, Madam Co-President, because of the corollary. To work out a way to scale down the energy release, we also had to work out a way to scale it up.” He held up the data disc, finally looking at her. “We would have the means to employ hypernet gates as by far the most destructive weapons in the history of mankind. We could in theory destroy not only entire individual star systems, but entire regions of space.”
Victoria Rione was staring back at him, her face reflecting horror. “How could the living stars allow such a thing? Humanity believed when we left ancient Earth that we’d removed the threat of racial extinction from disaster, that scattering among the stars would bring us safety from that. But weapons such as these-” Her eyes fixed on the disc. “What is that?”
“The algorithm for scaling up an explosion. The fleet network had to work up both, as I told you.” He tossed it
