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"Bell, once things are over with this morning, report to me. We're going to
see the Captain about this, and you, too, O'Brian."
"Yes, sir, I'm sorry, sir," O'Brian replied in a wheedling tone.
The cook reached across the corridor and slid the door open into Tanya's room.
"Hey, you lazy
Russian, get your butt outta the net and in here. I need you."
O'Brian pushed Justin into the galley. Justin went over to the coffee
dispenser, filled a container and took a gulp of the scalding brew. The
caffeine, lack of sleep and nerves started him shaking. O'Brian went back to
work. A minute later Leonov, obviously in a bad mood, came in.
"Close the door," O'Brian snapped, "and get to work."
"Look, O'Brian," Leonov began. "No one calls me a lazy Russian and Her voice
trailed off as she looked at Justin.
"You look like hell, Justin, what happened?"
Justin told them the news and the two looked at him, stunned.
"I knew he'd flip some day," O'Brian snarled. "Damn all. It's going to be
straight into the fan once we dock."
"What do you think will happen then?" Leonov asked.
"What if this separatist thing on Gustavus goes bad? What if personnel from
the Service got killed? I think there might be some who will back MacKenzie
up. At least in public. Say that it was an emergency, Everett was talking
sedition and mutiny. MacKenzie is shrewd. None of the personal stuff will come
out he'll act remorseful, claim that he was reluctantly forced to act to save
his ship and he'll be exonerated. Besides, notice how he claims to have
compromised by sparing the other eight. That'll make it look like he tried to
be fair. And there's one thing that separates Everett from the others. "
"What's that?" Leonov asked."
"That Matt supposedly hit MacKenzie," Justin said.
"So there's two counts against him and your friend gets spaced."
"Thorsson would never sit for that," Leonov replied. "He'd bust his own career
to get
MacKenzie for killing one of his cadets."
"Would he? Look young lady. There are some who think Thorsson's off his nut
with all this talk about the brotherhood of the service and our destiny to go
for the stars; the emergence of the new generation of humanity. Chances are
Thorsson will fall too because of this."
"Thorsson fall?" Justin cried. "That's impossible."
"There are some folks who think your Academy is nothing but a billion-dollar
toy. They'd turn around and say that Thorsson was soft and Everett was the
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result. The truth of it all will get buried in a lot of mudslinging. And I
tell you this, even if MacKenzie never goes a step farther in the Service,
he'll have won what he wanted. He showed everyone that he was tough."
"By killing a sixteen-year-old cadet?" Leonov cried.
That will be forgotten. He'll be branded a traitor. What will be worse,
though, this will drive a wedge between the two sides. In the Fleet the small
core of hard-liners will rally around
MacKenzie. But on the broader side of things the separatists will have a
martyr and proof for their argument that the Service is an iron fist ready to
smash them if they resist. This could take the simmering pot and make it boil
over. And that, as well, is exactly what MacKenzie wants."
Justin listened to O'Brian, fascinated by how clear his logic suddenly was.
The act of the simple, rough cook was, Justin realized, a facade. There was a
depth of understanding to the man he'd never quite seen before. O'Brian looked
at Justin and winked as if he knew what the cadet was thinking.
The door slid open and Hemenez stepped into the room.
"Lieutenant, sorry, I just heard the news," O'Brian said.
"Don't worry about me now, that's the least of my concerns."
O'Brian drew a cup of coffee and pressed it into her hand.
"All right, Bell, what gives?" Hemenez asked.
And as Justin began to talk the three looked at him with wide-eyed
astonishment.
Alone in his room, Captain Ian MacKenzie stared out the forward view port.
Mars was to one side, shining with a brilliant intensity in the center of
Gemini.
It was quiet at last, the arguing finished, the task all but accomplished.
Finally it will be clear, out in the open, he thought. He could sense what
would happen when they finally docked. But it would be beyond recall. They she
would portray Everett as a hero. Just like them to take such deceit, such
arrogance and turn it about, wrapping it in a shimmering mantle of glory. Let
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