Geary nodded. “The Dancers say they’re Taon.”

  “What’s Taon? What does that mean?”

  “Damned if I know. Charban thinks it might be the name of a new, different intelligent species.”

  “If so,” Desjani said, “they’re not very talkative. Maybe they’ll contact us before they jump out of this star system.”

  * * *

  THEY didn’t.

  The next day, Geary watched his display for the last twenty minutes before the new ships were estimated to jump. Whatever they’d done had already been done an hour and a half ago, but he wanted to be watching if and when a message finally came in from the Taon. But nothing did, the ships vanishing as they had entered jump space an hour and a half before.

  Determined to try to accomplish something, he got up and headed for the brig.

  Reaching the maximum-security cell holding Kaliphur, Geary was astonished to see Sergeant Tyminska from Colonel Webb’s unit in close conversation with Colonel Rogero.

  Rogero nodded in greeting. “Admiral, this is Sergeant Tyminska.”

  “I know. I’m a bit surprised to see you two discussing things.”

  “The sergeant appreciates that I am no longer working for the Syndicate.”

  “And appreciates that you’ve fought the Syndics, sir,” Tyminska added. “And those enigmas. We got a look at your recordings of the action at Iwa.”

  This time Rogero inclined his head toward Tyminska in silent acknowledgment of her words. “The sergeant thinks your prisoner shows subtle signs of counter-interrogation training that differs a bit from what she and her companions have received.”

  “The prisoner’s not saying anything, sir,” Tyminska explained. “But it’s how he’s not saying anything. Tiny physical reactions, slight movements, body posture, that sort of thing.”

  “Since I know all too much about both Syndicate interrogations and their counter-interrogation training,” Rogero explained, “the sergeant thought I might be able to offer some interpretation of my own.” He smiled. “I also have considerable experience with assassins, of course.”

  “Have you two learned anything?” Geary asked, looking at a display showing the scene inside the cell. Kaliphur was lying on the bunk, his eyes closed, his face betraying no expression. Geary felt a twinge of anger at the sight of the attempted assassin apparently relaxing, but fought it down. Maybe anger was what Kaliphur was aiming for, because angry people made hasty decisions.

  “He’s not from a unit like mine,” Sergeant Tyminska said, her gaze following Geary’s to look at the prisoner on his bunk.

  “We think he received his training from a nonmilitary source,” Rogero added.

  “His suit has nothing that could identify where it came from,” Tyminska said. “None of his gear does. No surprises there. I viewed the ship’s surveillance video of the fight where he was captured. He was using some advanced infighting moves, but nothing unique that I could use to identify where he learned it.”

  “It definitely didn’t reflect Syndicate training,” Rogero said.

  “What about that nerve agent dart?” Geary asked. “Can you tell anything from that, and tell whether or not Kaliphur is the one who killed Inglis?”

  Sergeant Tyminska grimaced. “No, sir, to both questions. That dart was made to not show anything about its origins, and it’s similar enough to others of its type that someone else could have employed one that seemed identical.”

  None of that was surprising, but it was still disappointing. “Does that mean you consider it likely or just possible that there are more like Kaliphur concealed within the fleet?”

  “In my opinion it’s pretty certain there’s another on Boundless,” Tyminska said. “All of our luggage was scanned when we came aboard. So was all the cargo brought on. Those scans would’ve spotted that stealth suit. That means somebody else must have helped him get that suit aboard without it being seen by the security scans.”

  “I don’t know your exact security situation on Boundless,” Rogero said, “but with what I’m familiar with it wouldn’t be impossible for one person to have smuggled the suit aboard. It would be very difficult, though. Anyone wanting to have a solid chance of success would have a helper to misdirect or blind the security scans when it came to that item.”

  “That’s not the answer I wanted to hear,” Geary said. “But if you both think it’s the right answer I’ll have to assume you’re correct. What are the odds we’ll learn anything from Kaliphur about a second spy, or about anything else?”

  “Absolutely zero, sir, if you want my candid opinion,” Sergeant Tyminska said.

  “I agree,” Rogero said.

  Geary blew out an angry breath. “Do either of you have any recommendations about what I should do with him?”

  “We’re in war status,” Sergeant Tyminska said. “You could order a field execution, sir. If he’s dead, he can’t create any more problems.”

  “That’s really your only option,” Rogero said. “Either keep him in this cell until you can hand him off to someone else, or terminate him.”

  Geary made a face. “It’s true that if he’s dead he’s no longer a potential threat of any kind, but it’s also true that as long as he’s alive there’s always a tiny chance we might learn something from him. If he has a co-spy somewhere in the fleet, would that person try to help him escape, or try to murder him so we couldn’t get anything from him?”

  Rogero shook his head. “He has no value. He’s known to you. We’re far from home. If he was broken out of his cell, he has no place to go, and would be a constant burden and danger to this hypothetical but likely co-spy.”

  Sergeant Tyminska nodded. “Yes, sir. I concur. If they do anything, they’ll finish him off. Of course, if you have him executed first, they won’t have to bother.”

  “I can’t—” Geary stopped himself in mid-sentence. Because the truth was, out here beyond the borders of humanity, he had authority to unilaterally convict Kaliphur and order him executed. But he knew he’d be doing that only because it simplified things. And he couldn’t order someone to die because he didn’t want to deal with that person. “I understand.”

  Sergeant Tyminska frowned toward the cell. “If you’re willing to risk it, sir, you could try leaking information that the prisoner was cooperating in some manner. That would be most likely to generate an attempt to murder him by any co-spy still free to operate.”

  “That might work,” Colonel Rogero agreed. “But make it clear he hasn’t said anything yet. Say he was negotiating to talk in exchange for an agreement to let him go when you get home. Something like that could motivate a quick try to silence him. You’d have to be subtle, though. Just spreading the word around would make it look like bait to lure someone out. It’d have to look like real leaks of information. Of course, if you do that, there’s also the chance the co-spy would successfully murder Kaliphur just like that sailor who bought it.”

  “Got it.” Geary thought about the ethics of risking Kaliphur’s life in exchange for the possibility of luring another spy out of hiding. That seemed a lot more justifiable than executing Kaliphur just so Geary wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore, especially when there was a chance any spy still free might attempt other assassinations. “Thank you for coming here, Sergeant. And thank you, Colonel, for assisting with trying to learn something from our prisoner.”

  “Admiral,” Sergeant Tyminska said, “Colonel Webb requested that I bring the prisoner’s stealth suit back with me so our unit can examine it.”

  Geary thought for a moment before nodding. “I’ll authorize that, because I want anything you can tell us about how to adjust our ships’ internal sensors to spot any weak points in that suit’s stealth capabilities. And as long as it’s clearly understood that the suit is being loaned to you. Ownership of it as evidence remains with the master-at-arms force aboard Dauntless.”

  “Understood, Admiral. I can’t guarantee we’ll find any exploitable weak points in the suit, but we’ll do our best. May I make a personal request as well?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Is there any chance I could see the duck?”

  Somehow, humor could work its way into the strangest situations. “I think that can be arranged, Sergeant,” Geary said. “Let’s talk to Chief Master-at-Arms Slonaker about the suit, and about an escort to take you to see Ensign Duck.”

  That done, he sought out Tanya Desjani in her stateroom.

  “I know how to spread false information in a way that makes it look real,” she said. “Or rather, I know someone who knows how to do that.” She touched her comm pad. “Bridge, notify Master Chief Gioninni that I need to see him right away.”

  “We’ll need to tell the guards on the cell of the potential increased threat,” Geary said. “How do we do that without one of them telling all of their friends?”

  “We can’t,” Desjani said. “That information would be all over the fleet in a heartbeat. What we can do is order fairly frequent, random checks that keep them jumping, and occasional reminders that anyone trying to kill this prisoner the way Inglis was murdered might target the guards, too. We can also have the Marines on guard in full combat load-out, using the murder of Inglis as justification for the need for extra firepower and personal sensors.”

  “That’s good,” Geary said. “The Marines and the other guards will probably think it’s an overreaction by the chain of command, but as long as they’re on edge and well armed that should do the trick.”

  Desjani gave him an arch look. “How about posting Ensign Duck on guard?”

  That actually made sense, he realized. Not so long ago he would’ve thought that posting a duck on sentry duty was a bad joke, but now it seemed like a smart thing to do. Except . . . “We can’t keep the duck there around the clock. And if he is there all the time the co-spy might not try anything. It’s too bad we couldn’t have kept it secret that the duck spotted Kaliphur, but there were too many witnesses. How about random visits? Make it part of the duck’s daily walk, but vary the time of the walk?”

  “I will make it so,” Desjani said. She looked over as Master Chief Gioninni arrived at her door. “If you’ll pardon me, Admiral, I have some special tasking for the master chief.”

  “I have every confidence in Master Chief Gioninni,” Geary said as he left, earning himself a pleased and slightly suspicious, slightly worried look from Gioninni.

  * * *

  HE had no idea if the plan would work. Or if the other spy would fall for the bait. Or how many other spies there might be in the fleet, either assigned by some part of the military or the government, or other human governments and militaries, or simply freelancer tools and fools like Inglis had been.

  Nor did he know when the Dancers would either start giving them more and clearer answers or tell the Alliance fleet to go away because they didn’t want a permanent human ambassador.

  One of the military mantras that was probably thousands of years old complained about the need to “hurry up and wait.” Having fought his way through to Dancer space, Geary had expected things to happen once he got there. Instead, the only things happening were inside his fleet, and so far they hadn’t been good.

  Inside his stateroom, Geary set to work tackling administrative paperwork, his least favorite task. If anything would distract him from other issues, it would be dealing with the strange turns of the fleet’s regulations.

  It was perhaps only to be expected for Lieutenant Iger to show up soon after he had begun, and for Iger to be wearing his “bearer of bad news” expression.

  “Now what?” Geary asked.

  “The security sweep of the alien-modified transmitter room found a bug,” Lieutenant Iger said.

  “That’s unfortunately not a surprise. And it has nothing to trace its origins, right?”

  “No, sir,” Iger said. “The design is clearly Syndic in origin. It’s an older design, about a decade old.”

  “Syndic? How could the Syndicate Worlds get a bug in there?”

  Iger hesitated, looking more uncomfortable. “Admiral, we have two personnel aboard this ship who—”

  “Kommodor Bradamont and Colonel Rogero?” Geary sighed and shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. In terms of people, former Captain Bradamont has an impeccable reputation.”

  Lieutenant Iger spoke stiffly. “I feel compelled to remind the admiral that during the war with the Syndicate Worlds, former Captain Bradamont was involved with a top-secret program which passed information to the Syndics.”

  “She was working for our intelligence agencies when she did that,” Geary said. “Let me finish. While I don’t know Colonel Rogero nearly as well, and he definitely has some leftover Syndic mindsets, he has struck me as an intelligent and capable officer. Do you agree that he’d be a challenging foe?”

  “Yes, Admiral, I do,” Iger said.

  “Why would an intelligent and capable officer employ a bug that pointed straight back at him? Especially since he and Bradamont have been granted free access to that transmitter room. I’m having trouble with method and motive here.”

  Lieutenant Iger paused for several seconds. “It is difficult to explain,” he finally admitted. “But we have the evidence.”

  “Evidence that creates more internal problems,” Geary said. “There only seems to be one possible culprit, but he seems far too smart to have used a bug whose origin could be easily determined. Doesn’t it seem far more likely that bug was planted by Kaliphur with an obvious origin aimed at misleading us if we found it?”

  “Sir, we know the bug wasn’t planted by Kaliphur, or whatever his real name is,” Iger said. “All of the data recorded on it is from the last twenty-four hours. There’s nothing earlier.”

  “Do you have an explanation for why this particular bug can be easily traced to a Syndic source, instead of having nothing that can identify where it came from as has been the case with every other bug we’ve been finding?”

  “People can be sloppy, sir.”

  Geary shook his head. “Lieutenant, I don’t want to shut you down. You’ve got reasons for what you’re saying. But we know someone tried to set up Colonel Webb with alterations to his medical record that clearly pointed back to him. The bombs aimed at killing me during the diplomatic reception pointed back at Colonel Webb’s unit. And now this bug that clearly points to Colonel Rogero. We have two categories of misdeeds. There’s the stuff that contains evidence directly implicating someone, and then there are cases like Inglis and this Kaliphur where there’s no evidence at all. We still haven’t turned up anything about who gave Inglis his orders or provided that binary nerve agent, have we?”

  “No, sir.” Iger pressed his lips together. “Though it could be argued that in the case of Inglis, that evidence pointed back toward our own sailors. He was supposed to die along with Captain Bradamont and Colonel Rogero. That would make another case in which evidence pointed to a group to further internal dissension. In the only case where we have no evidence except that Kaliphur was a crew member on Boundless, he was clearly not expected or intended to be captured or detected.”

  “That’s true.” Geary looked sharply at Iger. “Are you agreeing with me about this?”

  Iger grimaced. “Admiral, as you point out, we have a pattern. Espionage is clearly going on, but so is sabotage in a form designed to create internal problems. I was surprised at the obviousness of this latest bug, but even smart people make stupid mistakes at times.”

  “Myself included,” Geary said. “I don’t want you agreeing with me because I pushed back on Colonel Rogero’s apparent guilt.”

  “I would not agree with you because of that, sir,” Iger said, smiling briefly. “There is a consistent tactic being used. I nonetheless request permission to continue to monitor Colonel Rogero’s movements and actions.”

  It was only reasonable, and Geary didn’t doubt that Rogero fully expected the Alliance to be doing that, so he nodded. “Granted. Lieutenant, tell me if this is totally off the wall. We managed to capture Kaliphur because of an unexpected variable, that being the presence of Ensign Duck aboard this ship. Is there some other variable we can throw into the mix that might expose however many whoevers are messing with us?”

  Iger lowered his head slightly in thought. “I don’t know, Admiral. Request permission to discuss specifics of this with Lieutenant Jamenson. She has that unique ability to come up with unexpected conclusions.”

  “Once again, granted.” It was like Iger to not have shared anything with his wife that she wasn’t cleared for. “You might also want to discuss it with Master Chief Gioninni.”

  “The master chief?” Iger stared at Geary, aghast. “Him?”

  “Lieutenant, if there is an expert on getting away with things that aren’t supposed to be done, it’s Master Chief Gioninni. If he knows how to hide his tracks, he might have some useful insights in how to spot someone else’s tracks.”

  “I . . . suppose.” Iger shook his head. “It won’t look good back at fleet intelligence, though.”

  “It can be our secret,” Geary said. “Or else I can give you written orders to discuss the matter with Gioninni. That’ll ensure you’re covered, and I’m certain that fleet intelligence already regards me as the loosest of loose cannons anyway.”

  “There has to be a written record of the disclosures,” Iger said apologetically.

  “Then you’ll get the written orders to include with those,” Geary said. “Are we good?”

  “Yes, Admiral.” But Iger hesitated before leaving. “Should Colonel Webb be briefed on this?”

  Of course, was Geary’s first thought. But then he thought about Webb’s reactions to earlier problems. “Not yet. Let’s see if we can develop some ideas about what to do before we brief Colonel Webb.” That way he’d have something to push back with if Webb proposed any measures that seemed too extreme.