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“In what order should we conduct the interviews?” Lieutenant Commander Khanjan asked. “I’m not what you could term particularly experienced in these matters.”
“Does any part of the intelligence package give us information so we can establish relative positions in the Commonwealth power hierarchy?”
“To a certain extent, sir.”
“Then set it up with those who have the most apparent power first, and we’ll see if it needs adjusting. We’re just as much in the dark on these matters as you are, if truth be told. I don’t think we can go terribly wrong by switching a few in the order of march.”
“Will you sit in on the interviews?”
Dunmoore allowed herself a wan smile.
“I’ll be conducting them. There are a lot of questions I need answered before we report to Fleet HQ again.”
“Understood, Admiral. Based on what I read, I suggest you begin with Vitus Amali. He, among them, seems the most highly placed as vice chair of the ComCorp board of directors. The next would be Carl Renzo, spouse of Senator Judy Chu from Arcadia. Apparently, she pretty much runs the Home World faction in the Senate despite anything the SecGen may want.”
“That’s what I hear. Very well. Now that the quarantine’s lifted, we will interview them in the flag conference room one at a time, starting with Amali and Renzo. The first one right after lunch today at two bells in the afternoon watch.”
Khanjan nodded.
“Will do, sir. No escorts, I presume, just a guide.”
“Indeed, seeing as how they’re guests and not prisoners. A tray of non-alcoholic refreshments won’t come amiss either.”
“I’ll see that the wardroom takes care of it.”
“And make sure the recorders work. We’ll be sending a video of each interview back to Earth.”
**
“Come in, Mister Amali.” Dunmoore gestured at the chair across from her. “Please sit. Help yourself to whatever you want from the tray.”
Vitus Amali didn’t immediately enter the flag conference room. Instead, he stood on the threshold, eyes searching every nook and cranny before they finally settled on her. His mistrust was evident, although it fought with equally clear curiosity.
Like the rest of the rescuees, Amali wore simple, dark green clothes — trousers, collarless shirt, tunic — along with low shoes produced by Iolanthe’s fabricator. They weren’t up to his standards of elegance but still beat orange jumpsuits any day of the week.
He finally stepped in and cautiously took the indicated chair.
“As I announced this morning, now that we’ve lifted your quarantine, it behooves us to interview each of you about your experiences from the time Athena was captured to the moment you boarded Iolanthe. We’re recording the interviews for later analysis, hoping the information you provide will help us prevent further hijackings.”
“And what if I’d rather not?”
“Then you’d be doing yourself, your fellow passengers, and future victims a disservice, Mister Amali. We interviewed everyone in Athena, crew included, and they graciously cooperated.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “Even Sara Lauzier?”
She nodded.
“Yes. You expected otherwise?”
Amali gave her a tight shake of the head.
“No. All right, ask away, Admiral.”
His story up until Corto’s people removed him from Athena matched what she’d heard from those who remained aboard. But when it came to the removal itself, he seemed visibly hesitant, as if his recollections of that moment didn’t add up.
“What is it, Mister Amali?” She asked in a gentle tone.
“Something Sara said. A few minutes after she came back from meeting the head pirate and told they would execute us one after the other if Earth didn’t cooperate, two thugs entered the private lounge to seize me. Just before they injected me with a knockout drug, I asked her for help, and she said, ‘I’m afraid I can’t do that, Vitus’ in a tone that seemed almost gleeful. Her behavior that day was a bit strange, now that I think back. In any case, I woke up in a large, bare compartment, lying on a thin bedroll. They’d left me in my clothes and shoes but took everything else — jewelry, wallet, reader. Over the next days, they dumped my companions into the compartment one after the other. We had sanitary facilities and were given ration bars three times a day along with bottled water.”
Amali rolled his eyes as he sighed.
“Can you imagine? Weeks of nothing but ration bars. Readapting to actual food from your galley is proving a tad — how shall I put this? Uncomfortable. Eventually, we were herded aboard a shuttle, flown planetside, and locked up in a stockade where they gave us orange jumpsuits. I somehow felt they didn’t quite know what to do with us, but don’t quote me on that. Then, you showed up, they loaded us back aboard the shuttle, and here we are.”
Over the following ten minutes, Dunmoore teased out information about the people he’d seen — appearance, weapons, behavior, etc. When he finally fell silent after her last question, he let out another sigh.
“I hope what I’ve said will be useful in finding these miscreants and the criminals who put them up to it. And now I’d like to ask whether we can move into better quarters. I’m sure a ship this size has plenty of spare cabins with more comforts than the Marine barracks, even though we each have a private compartment.”
“I’m sorry, Mister Amali, but no. We can’t allow thirty-six civilians to wander around in a warship that’s still sailing beyond the Commonwealth sphere. The amenities you’re enjoying do not differ from those of Iolanthe’s crew, officers included, and you’re eating the same food. It won’t be for much longer. A week or two, maybe three, then we’ll reach Starbase 30, from which you will no doubt be taken home under more luxurious conditions. Thank you for your time. The petty officer in the corridor will take you back to your quarters.”
Amali stared at her for a few seconds, then inclined his head.
“Thank you for your courtesy, Admiral. Please enjoy the rest of your day.”
The other rescuees had even less to say, though most asked for more comfortable quarters and better catering. However, Dunmoore noted that none ever saw, let alone spoke with Sara Lauzier after the abductions began. It was congruent with her orchestrating the removals when she met with Corto and withdrawing afterward so she could stay in the clear. Hopefully, whoever was reading her reports back on Earth wouldn’t shy away from taking a closer look at the SecGen’s daughter and decide whether she had reasons for making people disappear.
When the last of them left the conference room, the door to the flag CIC opened, admitting Gregor Pushkin, who’d watched the interviews from his workstation.
“You look ready for a stiff drink, Admiral.”
“I’ll make do with a cup of coffee, black, no sweetener, and I’ll fetch it from the wardroom in a moment.” Dunmoore shook her head. “What a bunch. No sense of observation, no self-awareness, but my are they ever concerned with themselves.”
“Our esteemed guests normally live in another universe altogether. Ours is rather alien for their pampered sensibilities. I noticed you pointedly didn’t tell them we were making a detour to find their hijackers. Any reason?”
She stood and stretched.
“Whatever happens in the Cullan system will be covered by one of our usual top secret special access codenames, so it’s best they don’t find out. That way, they can’t blab to the newsies. Besides, I’d rather only the Confederacy and we know about what happened out here. It makes for fewer political complications back home.”
“But what if the Howlers spread the news?”
“After the surprise we pulled at Abaddon, our appearing in the Cullan system unexpectedly will make them rather nervous, something they won’t share with potential employers, lest they appear weak. And as a bonus, nervous foes make stupid mistakes. I love taking advantage of those.”
“What’ll you do if we find Lena?” They left the conference room and took the nearest spiral staircase down one deck.
“Capture or destroy her ships. If we can land the crews on Cullan beforehand and strand them there, so much the better. I’d rather not engage in a wholesale slaughter of Fleet veterans, and we can’t take them back for trial because that will definitely cause no end of complications. But I’ll let Lena believe we’ll reduce her and her crews to so much space dust. It might concentrate her mind on the benefits of telling me what happened aboard Athena in exchange for their lives. Whoever has been sponsoring our mission at Fleet HQ will surely be pleased if we can find out.”
Pushkin chuckled.
“You’re becoming rather good at what some would call blackmail backed by threats of unrestrained violence.”
She shrugged.
“The dark and dirty little wars of peace are better fought through coercive measures than actual combat. It saves on ships, crews, and ammunition while being more politically palatable for our leaders and the citizenry at large.” As they entered the wardroom, she said, “Once we finish our coffee, please see that Attar packages the interview recordings for transmission. I’d like them on the Colonial Office subspace network headed for Earth the moment we drop out of FTL.”
“He’s already on it, Admiral.”
“Did I ever mention how much I enjoy having a flag captain who can anticipate my orders?”
“Yes, but you can say it as often as you like.”
**
“Got a few spare hours, Kathryn?”
She grimaced at Holt’s image on her office display.
“You know what it’s like around here. Ask me for anything but time.”
“I see you’re familiar with Napoleon Bonaparte’s famous saying.”
“Siobhan made sure her people spent the time productively by educating themselves when not on watch during long patrols. She gave all of us — officers, chiefs, petty officers, and ratings — a reading list shortly after we limped home from Cimmeria in Stingray.”
He gave her a knowing smile.
“She did the same thing in Iolanthe not long after taking command. I still have it somewhere. I understand those officers who took her recommendations seriously arrived at the War College well prepared. Those who didn’t read the classics before or during the course quickly learned to do so. Otherwise, they felt the sharp edge of her wit slashing their egos apart. Now, back to my original question. We received recordings of Siobhan interviewing the thirty-six rescuees. My folks are running the usual analysis on them, but I thought you might be interested in watching a few, such as Vitus Amali and Carl Renzo. We think they were on the removal list because the families of both wanted them gone in exchange for supporting a Sara Lauzier run at the Senate and then the SecGen’s chair.”
“Nice. I always figured the Amalis as murderous bastards who’d sooner knife you in the back than smile. But why would Judy Chu wish her husband to vanish?”
A cynical smile lit up Holt’s face.
“So she regains her marital freedom without losing the money Renzo brought into their union. He’s the rich one who funded Chu’s career. The new man isn’t quite as wealthy, but he is younger, more handsome, and apparently remains sober enough to be a good bed partner in the evenings. With Renzo gone, she inherits and, in return, backs Sara’s political rise. And no, it’s not actionable evidence, but the theory fits. We’re still working on the others, but it’s obvious Geraldo Amali has wanted Vitus out of the family business for a long time. Yet because Vitus inherited his block of shares, he can’t be dismissed or bought out.”
“I’ll come over at two. Does that work?”
“It does. Shall I prepare some popcorn?”
“No, but a green tea would be nice.”