Chapter 36: Truth and Consequences
Less than an hour later, I was standing in the President's office in Montreal. Jack stood next to me. Bodyguards blocked all the doors. President Cuerva paced behind her desk. "I don't know whether I'm supposed to lock you up or give you a medal," she said. "But we'll have to deal with that later. The Oolians want the Focus. I need you to tell me everything you know about it."
"Everything?"
"Everything. Now."
"What I know might not be much help. It's the remains of a ship that crashed there 20,000 years ago. It was crewed by modern humans, as far as Sellis' people could tell." I left out the part about how Sellis found a dead Robert Maxwell among the bodies. I didn't want to open that can of worms.
"And how did it dispose of the Koraxian fleet?"
"Well, I turned it on, and it interfaced with my cybernetics somehow. It asked me what I wanted it to do, and I said I wanted the fleet gone. And then it was gone."
She stopped pacing. "Are you saying we have a weapon that can destroy essentially anything we want?" She looked both thrilled and terrified at the notion.
"Sort of. It's off now, and I don't know how we could turn it on again," I lied. I couldn't get the other charm back, so I figured we could only use it one more time. And I wanted to keep that little trump card in my hands.
"What happened to Admiral Sellis?"
"I used it to make him disappear, too."
"No, the real Admiral Sellis. Jack said something about how the one in Newfoundland was an impostor."
"Yeah, apparently there's a kind of Koraxian that can be merged with another species. Sellis didn't tell me a lot about it, just that his kind are a persecuted minority, the transformation is permanent, and his entire goal was to rewrite history in their favor. I think."
"So it's a time machine?"
"He thought so, but I didn't do any time-traveling."
"Even so, we shouldn't take any chances. What of the Oolian ship you helped Sellis' rebels acquire?"
I shrugged. "He said it was somewhere safe and that he would call for it. But that's not going to happen, so I have no idea where it is or if it will ever show up again."
She sighed. "In other words, we have nothing to offer the Oolians to keep them off our backs about this."
"I'm afraid not."
She sat down at her desk, looked up at us. "Gentlemen, you'll have to excuse me for a moment. Wait in the hall. I'll get this sorted out with the Oolian ambassador. We'll talk after that. I'm not finished with either of you."
The bodyguards moved aside from one of the doorways, though I could tell they were contemplating punching Jack in the face for stunning them earlier. They shut the doors behind us, leaving us alone in a long, white corridor.
Jack leaned against the wall, folding his arms. "You didn't tell her everything."
"Nope. Would you have?"
"Of course not. I'm still curious to know why your corpse was up there, though."
"What's being done with the dig sites?"
"Nothing, yet. I don't think the general public needs to find out a spaceship crashed here thousands of years ago. Better off just disposing of all of it. I can probably get it classified as a security matter, and it will be in my jurisdiction."
"Cover-ups seem to be what you do best these days," I barbed.
"And if they weren't, you'd be in a lot of trouble. What do you think would happen if word got out that you have a 20,000-year-old corpse buried in Newfoundland? Scientists would love to get their hands on you and figure it out."
"Aren't you curious?"
"Obviously. But you're my friend. I'll back you up. I care more about what happens to you in the here and now than I do about some ancient skeleton. Just promise you'll fill me in if you learn anything else."
"Count on it. Besides, I might need your help again."
One of the doors opened. A guard called us in. "She's ready for you."
We brushed past him and walked up to her desk once more. She looked up at us, sternly. Kinda like a grandmother. A very irritable grandmother. "The Oolians have agreed to withdraw. They aren't happy about it. This incident may very well cost us down the road, especially if we ever need their help in the future. But, for now, they have opted to let bygones be bygones."
"That's good," I said.
"Not for you, Captain. I've had enough of your nonsense for one lifetime. You may be a hero, but you're also a dangerous liability. I understand you had some dealings with the Convier family, and convinced the Sellis imposter to release them. You also engaged in some sort of unauthorized attack on the Koraxian homeworld, if I understand correctly."
"Yeah, we killed Korath."
"I must say, assassinating foreign heads of state is beyond the pale, even for you. Even in wartime, that is not an acceptable course of action. World War III ended a long time ago, Mr. Maxwell. We don't play by those rules anymore. You don't get to do whatever you want, as long as it saves the day. The ends do not and cannot justify the means. I don't fully understand what happened in Newfoundland, but I have a feeling you're responsible all the way around--including saving all of our lives."
"You're welcome, Madame President," I said, letting just a hint of sarcasm into my tone.
"That you got your former CO to go along with this doesn't surprise me, although I always thought that, between the two of you, he had better judgment! Clearly, your reckless ways have rubbed off on him. So, we are left with the small matter of how to discipline the lot of you."
Jack and I traded quick glances, not sure what was coming, but praying it didn't involve the words "prison," "hard time," "incarceration," etc.
"I can't discipline Admiral Sellis, since he's dead, and his imposter is gone. C-in-C Holowell has already turned in his resignation for his role in this--signing off on your little black op to aid the Koraxian rebels. Jack, I am demoting you to desk clerk duty. If keeping you out of the field is what it takes to keep you under control, so be it. If you don't like it, you can retire. As for you, Captain Maxwell, I am not giving you the choice. You are retiring. As of this moment, I am terminating your commission."
"But Madame President--"
"No," she stopped me cold. "Not one word, Maxwell. This is the end of the line for you. Consider yourself fortunate you aren't being charged and tried for disobeying direct orders, dereliction of duty, destruction of Alliance property, aiding the enemy in a time of war, attacking allied vessels, grand theft, piracy, and perhaps dozens of other things I don't even know about yet. You'll get your pension and a personal craft. I do not want to see your face darken this office again. Do you understand?"
I nodded slowly. Yep, she'd put me in my place, all right.
"You're both dismissed. I will have a memorial service arranged for all the war dead--including those lost with the Protector. For now, it appears this war is over. We'll have to hope the Koraxians learn their lesson and don't make another attempt on us. You're both dismissed."
Jack and I left the office, a bit sullen, but hey--we were lucky to be alive and free.
President Cuerva's bodyguards escorted us out of the building, leaving us amid the streets of the Island. Government workers went about their business, a little anxiety permeating the atmosphere, but I think they knew things had died down. If we were lucky, the Koraxians wouldn't come back. If we were lucky.
Jack turned to me. "Well, at least I still have a job. You lucky bastard, you get to fly around by yourself and enjoy retirement."
"I'm going to be bored to death," I predicted.
"Oh, stop. I hear piracy's big these days."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Fuck off, Jack. Not funny."
He smiled. "And you say I have no sense of humor. Where are you off to next?"
"Ceres, I guess. Got the shit knocked out of me through all this. I need a tune-up."
He slapped my shoulder. "Good luck, then. Drop me a line once in a while."
I nodded. "Bet on it, Jack."
Chapter 36
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