Free The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Leviathan by Jack Campbell Page A

activity in space. No shuttle launches, no alerting of station defenses. It’s all quiet out here.”
    “That’s good.” He looked around, seeing what still appeared to be a perfectly normal view from a shuttle dock on Ambaru if you didn’t count the total lack of passing traffic. “But from here it all seems quiet inside the station as well, and we know it isn’t. Hold on. More company is coming.”
    Instead of another ground forces officer as Geary had expected, two civilians were walking into the dock, one man and one woman. Neither were the officials he had sent off earlier to speak to the ground forces. Both looked official even though neither wore an obvious uniform. Somehow, though, their generic suits gave the impression of still being a kind of uniform.
    They stopped before Geary, and the elder of the two smiled politely at him. “Admiral, we have to speak with you urgently. It is a matter of Alliance security.”
    “Is it?” Geary asked. “I’m sort of busy at the moment with matters of Alliance security.”
    “We’re going to defuse all of that, Admiral,” the younger of the two said in tones of utter confidence that grated on Geary’s nerves.
    “Are you?” he asked. “And just who do you work for?”
    “The Alliance, Admiral.”
    “That’s nice. Exactly what part of the Alliance?” Geary pressed.
    “Sir,” the younger of the two said, “we can tell you that when we are in a secure location, you are briefed into several very important programs, and the necessary security oaths are given—”
    “No,” Geary said, holding up one hand, palm out, to emphasize theword. “I’m waiting here. Anything you have to tell me you can say here and now.”
    “I’m sorry, Admiral, but we’re not allowed to,” the elder explained. “Please. We don’t want to have to insist.”
    “I don’t want you to have to insist, either,” Geary said. “What’s wrong with the comm systems on Ambaru?”
    “Once you are read into the appropriate programs and swear to the nondisclosure requirements—”
    “No,” Geary repeated.
    “Admiral,” the oldest official said with what seemed to be feigned reluctance, “now I must insist. If we have to arrest you, we will. We have that authority from the government.”
    Geary gestured toward some of the nearest Marines in their battle armor. “These Marines are loyal to the Alliance, but I think you’ll find that they aren’t inclined to trust you.”
    The younger official smiled. “What they think doesn’t matter. They can’t even see us or hear us.”
    “You think so?” Geary activated a comm circuit. “Captain, have two of your Marines target these two, one on each.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Two rifles came up and around, each centering on one of the officials, whose expressions had gone from smug to worried. “You can get away with a lot when you control the software,” Geary said to them. “But when other people figure out that there’s another source of malware, one coming through official channels, they can figure out ways to block it. Now, you two are under arrest for threatening an officer of the fleet. You will stand to one side of the dock under the close personal attention of some of my Marines. I assume you know that there are very few people who actively seek out close personal attention from Marines? You will wait there until I have had a chance to find out exactly what is going on here and have been able to get security reestablished on Ambaru.”
    “Admiral,” the eldest official said, “you are risking the compromise of the most important secret programs—”
    “You mean the programs that may have just restarted the war with the Syndicate Worlds?” Geary asked, surprised that his voice didn’t tremble with anger. “Did you bother looking at the vids that were sent here of what happened at Indras and Atalia?”
    “We were not authorized—”
    “You weren’t authorized to pay attention to what was happening, but you were