Falco nodded quickly, his eyes flicking over to Desjani. Instantly, as if he had needed something to focus him again, Falco’s expression shifted back to that of someone in command who was nonetheless a comrade. “It’s always a pleasure to meet a brave officer of the Alliance fleet. It’s obvious that you run a tight ship, Captain Desjani.”

Desjani nodded back politely. “Thank you, Captain Falco.”

Geary pointed to Rione. “And Victoria Rione, co-president of the Callas Republic and a member of the Alliance senate.”

This time Falco turned, nodding slowly and politely to acknowledge the introduction. Rione, her own face rigidly formal, nodded back. Geary could tell from the glint in her eyes that Rione didn’t like Falco at all and wondered what she knew of him. It struck him that Falco had offered a fellow officer a greeting full of compliments, false compliments surely, since Falco had no basis yet for declaring Desjani brave and her ship tight, but acted noticeably cooler toward a senator. He was treating Rione like a rival, Geary realized. Someone who had to be dealt with rather than collected as an admiring subordinate.

Desjani, not being a fool, had apparently noticed as well. Geary could see the tightening around her eyes that indicated the commanding officer of the Dauntless wasn’t happy at the assumption that she could be won over by some flattery. For her part, Rione gave Falco a greeting noticeable for its lack of warmth. “Your reputation precedes you, Captain Falco.”

Geary was wondering exactly what that meant when out of the corner of his eye he noticed the other newly liberated Alliance prisoners. A slow ripple effect was running through them, with group after group turning to stare at him with those same expressions of hope and wonder that Lieutenant Riva had displayed. Geary, trying not to react negatively, noticed that Captain Falco had found something else to frown about. He doesn’t like them looking at me like that. But not for whatever reasons Rione is worried. No, if I judge Captain Fighting Falco properly, he’s jealous.

Great. As if I didn’t have enough problems. “Captain Falco, Lieutenant Riva,” Geary stated politely, “I need to attend to some business. Captain Desjani’s crew will see to your needs, I know.”

Falco, his carefully cultivated expressions crumbling in the face of new developments, seemed to have fallen back on an inexhaustible supply of frowns. “Business?”

“A conference,” Rione interceded smoothly. “Captain Geary and I must go. On behalf of the Alliance government,” she continued, speaking in a voice that carried through the compartment, “I welcome you all back to the fleet.”

A ragged cheer went up from the former prisoners as Rione led Geary out of the shuttle bay. Geary imagined he could feel Falco’s gaze boring into his back as they left, somehow certain that Falco saw him as a greater problem than he did Rione. But he didn’t want to talk about Falco anywhere they could be overheard, so he and Rione walked silently all the way to Geary’s stateroom. Not until they were inside did Rione turn to him with a scowl. “That man is a danger.”

“I thought I was a danger,” Geary noted sourly, flopping down into a seat.

“You are, because you’re intelligent. Captain Falco is a different kind of danger.”

“Needless to say, I don’t know anything about him. Are you saying he’s stupid?”

Rione made a dismissive gesture. “No. The longstanding thorn in your side Captain Numos is stupid. In fact, Numos is so dense that I’m surprised he doesn’t have his own event horizon. But Captain Falco is smart enough in his own way.”

Geary managed not to laugh at the all-too-accurate assessment of Numos. “Did you know Falco before he was captured?”

“Do you think I’m that old?” Rione asked, arching her eyebrows. “Captain Falco was captured about twenty years ago. I’ve been told of him by older politicians I’ve met since I became a member of the senate. Captain Falco was, at the time he was captured, a very ambitious and charismatic officer who managed to make bloodbaths look like grand victories. He would also make declarations that defeating the Syndics could only be done if we were willing to abandon the alleged inefficiencies of our democratic system in favor of a temporary autocratic government like that of the Syndics.”

No wonder Falco hadn’t tried to cultivate Rione. Even if he hadn’t read her attitude toward him and known that wouldn’t work, Falco probably saw elected politicians as rivals for power. Geary exhaled a gust of humorless laughter. “I assume that means an autocratic government in which Captain Falco would no doubt play a leading role. Why didn’t the government sack him for saying that kind of thing?”

Rione sighed. “The Alliance was just as desperate for heroes then as now, and Captain Falco managed to cultivate enough senators to protect him. He also had substantial public popularity. You saw him in there. Falco could charm the scales off of a snake. The governing council was afraid of the public outcry that would follow sacking Falco. But eventually his luck ran out and he was lost along with far too many of our ships. While the fleet mourned his loss for reasons I’ve never understood, since he’d probably killed more Alliance sailors than he had Syndics, the Alliance government was not terribly saddened even though it publicly expressed sorrow.”

“And now he’s back.” Geary shrugged. “I could see some of why the fleet liked him. He’s one of those people who can stick a knife in your back and leave you thinking he did you a favor.”

“I said he was charismatic, didn’t I?”

“Too damned charismatic for my peace of mind. Too bad I can’t think up an excuse to return him to the Syndics.”

“If I think of one, I’ll let you know.” Rione stared at the bulkhead, her thoughts elsewhere. “Captain Falco will contest your command of this fleet.”

“He doesn’t have a leg to stand on,” Geary stated. “I’m senior to him by at least eighty years.”

Rione smiled briefly. “Captain Falco did not take that well.”

“I could tell. But at least it’s the first time I got any joy out of it,” Geary admitted.

“But Falco will try to wrest command of this fleet from you, Captain Geary, regardless of regulations. If you thought Captain Numos and his allies were a danger, that danger has now increased greatly.”

“Thank you for your assessment.” Which unfortunately matches my own. Rione seemed skeptical of his statement, so Geary tried to give her a sincere look. “Your counsel is very valuable. I mean that. I’m grateful for your presence in this fleet.”

She gazed back at Geary for a while, her expression hard to read. “Thank you, Captain Geary.”

After Rione had left, Geary took a while to call up the records of Captain Falco’s battles. Looking at the replays of the battles in the combat simulator, it was far too apparent that Rione’s assessment of the man had been accurate. The losses during Falco’s so-called victories had been staggering, while there’d been more than one defeat due to simple errors. Fighting Falco, huh? Funny how that fighting captain managed to survive so many battles where a lot of other Alliance officers didn’t.

There were speeches and news accounts on file, too, showing a much younger-looking Falco dazzling crowds with high-sounding rhetoric delivered with apparently absolute sincerity. Geary found himself wondering if he had misjudged the man, then paid closer attention to what was being said. Appalled, he heard exactly what Rione had described: Falco blaming lack of progress in the war on the government’s policies and all but openly campaigning for the role of supreme leader. I wonder what would have happened if the Syndics hadn’t captured Falco. No wonder Co-President Rione was so worried about me when I took command. She thought I’d be like Falco. But fortunately for all concerned, I come from a time when fleet officers simply didn’t do such things. It never occurred to me that someone would, let alone that they’d get away with it by appealing to the public.