Dreadnaught

“I doubt that you know him. Retired General Hyser Charban.” Rione smiled sardonically. “He’s not trying to achieve power by the coup route, but in the old-fashioned way, accumulating favors from powerful politicians before he runs for office on his own.”

“General? A Marine?”

She laughed. “No. Ground forces. I don’t know Charban personally, either. The reports I’ve seen characterize him as a ‘pragmatic dove, sadder and wiser for his experience with the limitations of firepower when it comes to achieving end-goals.’ ” Rione recited the words with an ironic lilt.

“There’s nothing wrong with being aware of the limitations of firepower,” Geary observed.

“Not if that’s what you truly believe.”

“What exactly are you emissaries coming along with the fleet to do?”

She paused, as if deciding what to say. “Our job is to represent the government.”

“That’s what you said before,” Geary pointed out. “It tells me nothing.”

“You’re getting better at this. Let’s put it this way. Since neither Charban nor I holds elective office, we can’t be voted out of power while in the middle of a voyage, something that would cast our legitimacy as representatives in doubt if it did happen.”

“Victoria, tell me why you’re coming with the fleet.”

She looked into a corner, her expression guarded. “Perhaps you should ask me instead what it is the government really wants accomplished on this mission.”

He took his own time answering, making sure he framed the words right. “My understanding is that I’m to learn more about the alien race, especially about their technology and strength, and attempt to establish peaceful relations with them.”

“More or less.” Rione closed her eyes, looking tired again. “What the government really wants is the cheapest, easiest solution to a big, complicated, and possibly very expensive problem. That should mean talking to the aliens and stopping any conflict. But maybe not. The aliens will surely want something in return. They may need to be pressured. It is the task of myself and Charban to make sure you take the path with the least costs and least risks up front.”

Geary blew out a derisive breath. “What about the long-term costs and risks?”

“Long-term problems can be confronted when they get here,” she said, her voice once again betraying no hint of her own feelings, “with more cheap and easy short-term solutions that push the problems further down the road for someone else to handle someday. That’s how politicians think. I thought you knew that by now.”

“You’re a politician.”

“One who got voted out of office.” She smiled without humor. “The government, all of the governments in the Alliance, are in survival mode right now. They’re afraid of you, but they also need you. So you’re being sent off to be heroic, far, far from any opportunities to cause problems.”

“I already knew that. Sort of like when I was dead. The government got the benefit of who they claimed I was but didn’t have to worry about what I’d actually do.”

“Yes, it is sort of the same thing, isn’t it? But you are alive, and capable of doing all sorts of things. General Charban and I are to judiciously guide your choices into directions most beneficial to the government.”

Maybe he had spent too much time around Rione because he immediately caught the significance of her words. “Beneficial to the government. As opposed to beneficial to the Alliance.”

“But aren’t those the same thing?” she replied in a bland voice that confirmed his statement without actually saying so. “Now you know where you stand and where I stand.”

“I know what you say your orders are,” Geary countered.

Another smile, but one that could mean anything. “Yes.”

“Why the hell did you come here, Victoria? You must have known how Tanya would feel.”

“I had my reasons, and I had my orders from the grand council.” Rione made a casting-away gesture with one hand. “Since I was between jobs, I wasn’t in any position to turn down the grand council’s offer.”

“I still can’t believe they really voted you out of office,” he said.

“The gratitude of the people tends not to extend very far.” Bitterness crept into her voice. “I was willing to state unpleasant truths. Unfortunately, I’d been influenced in that regard by a certain relic from an earlier age, a man commonly known by the name ‘Black Jack.’ ” She fixed the cool look on him that he remembered all too well. “My opponent was willing to promise the voters anything they wanted, and promise that they wouldn’t have to sacrifice in any way for it. A majority of the voters thought that was a wonderful idea.”

Geary looked back at her steadily. “So you lost the election because you insisted on being honest.”

“That is ironic, isn’t it?”

“As you once took pains to point out to me, some of the ships in this fleet are from the Callas Republic. Their crews, and the crews of the ships from the Rift Federation, are expecting orders to go home. They haven’t received them yet, and I’ve been trying to decide whether I should leave those ships at Varandal.”