I requested a fleet-wide meeting in v-space in one hour, and half an hour later, everyone in the fleet had logged in and was waiting to hear what I had to say. I had chosen an amphitheater for the setting. As I walked out onto the stage in deathly silence, I scanned the first few rows where the commanders sat, looking for Newman before I began speaking.

"I hear someone has accused me of trying to kidnap you all and drag you off to The Speaking Ones."

The amphitheater erupted into a rolling thunder of voices. I held up my hand and raised my voice. "I beg you, in the name of God, to listen to what I have to say before you judge me! If I have done anything wrong, then punish me as you see fit, but if I have not, then see to it that my accusers meet the justice they deserve."

I stood quietly in that circle of angry spacers waiting for the silence that would show I had their undivided attention. "I assume you know the difference between a human and an alien," I said in an ironic tone. I paused, hoping for at least a few chuckles, but got only hard stares. "—and between a human world and an alien world. Your ships, they all have navigators and star charts and the same transit station maps I have, right? Well then, is it not absurd to say that I intend to trick you into going anywhere you do not wish to go? Nor am I likely to force you. It will take nearly a hundred jump ships to transport the fleet and I can only be in one.

"But if I were, by some mystical mental powers, able to get you to a world belonging to The Speaking Ones, how long would I, one man against the whole fleet, survive once you saw you were not home?" I paused and smiled. "I assure you I could find far more dignified ways of committing suicide."

This time I got a few, if somewhat derisive chuckles. "No. The idea is absurd." Here I caught Newman's eye. "They are the paranoid fantasies of small-minded men, jealous of the honor you've shown me in electing me your leader."

I turned my back on him and surveyed the crowd around me. "This jealousy, however, is completely unnecessary. When have I ever denied any commander the chance to hold a conference with you or volunteer for a task or even suggest something helpful?"

I made a show of searching for a face in the crowd. "Did someone get passed over for promotion? Is this about a bad OPR?" I got a few more chuckles but, more importantly, the crowd's body language grew more relaxed. I swept the crowd with a smile. "Seriously, if you can find a more capable commander who is willing to work the long thankless hours on your behalf I will gladly step down as your commander.

"But I didn't call this meeting so I could talk about myself, but so that we can clear the air. If anyone feels I have cheated or tricked them in some way, let them speak now. Tell everyone here what I have done."

I waited until the silence became uncomfortable daring any one of them to say anything. I was ready for it. All I heard were some nervous coughs. "I'm willing to wait as long as you like, but after we've hashed this out, please don't log off until we've had the chance to discuss what I see is a greater threat than the Cacks. A threat that even now could turn both the aliens and even our own kind against us."

I walked over to an empty seat next to Chris and sat down as if I were turning the meeting over to the rest. Chris gave me a confused frown and I watched similar expressions spread across the faces of the crowd.

The silence grew painful, then someone called out. "What is it?"

"Yes," another said. "What is the threat?"

"Tell us."

"Yes."

As the murmuring rose, I stood and walked back out to the center of the amphitheater. "I'm sure you remember our stay at Black Mesa and how, when supplies and funds grew scarce, we would often trade with their alien neighbors. These aliens gave us free passage throughout their systems and treated us as allies—and why shouldn't they?

"However, as the fleet was leaving, this happened." I played a digital reconstruction of a group of Solarian vessels attacking an isolated station on an asteroid.

"The raiders apparently thought this unmanned remote research station was some sort of supply depot. Unfortunately for them, by the time they were able to regroup, the aliens were prepared for them."

The scene changed. A wing of Solarian ships moved into attack the main planet's orbital facilities, some racing ahead recklessly, others falling cautiously behind. They should have easily defeated the aliens, but they became separated and individually surrounded, unable to support each other's defense. Those who fell behind were driven off as their comrades were destroyed.

Everyone in the meeting watched the holographic reproduction with shocked expressions. I had embedded the gravimetric and optical info in the data stream, so that many heads bobbed up and down between the projection in v-space and the data pads in their laps.

"What follows next is an even greater outrage. The aliens sent their most revered leaders to talk to our friends at Black Mesa under cover of diplomatic immunity. Black Mesa assured them the attack was not sanctioned by the fleet and they accepted this. They did not ask for damages and had even offered to return our dead when some of the surviving attackers found out. Then this happened."

I played the next recording. A small group of alien ships were parked near the Black Mesa transit station at com-laser range from a Black Mesa government transport. The view of the display rotated and a handful of Solarian warships swept in and fired missiles at them. The aliens were destroyed before they even had a chance to respond.

I paused the video. "To make matters worse, this incident was nearly repeated only a few days ago when representatives of Black Mesa came here and asked to speak to me."

I played a recording of the near attack on the black Mesa ship and the merchant vessels. I stopped it at a scene where two merchant ships had collided in their haste to get away. The spreading fan of debris paused spinning in place.

"If this is going to be our operating procedures going forward, perhaps we should consider the consequences?

"First of all, if anyone can lead any group of ships off on one of these little excursions at any time, the fleet will no longer be able to decide who it will fight and who it will ally with. Our forces will be too scattered to deal with large threats and if someone comes to offer us a lucrative contract, they're as likely as not to be attacked before they can even make the offer. Secondly, our fleet commanders will be powerless to command the fleet. Anyone who provides target selection and can convince even a few ships to follow them can kill whomever they want, alien or human, ally or even a fellow spacer.

"And what have these self-appointed commanders accomplished for you? Whether they have cheated you or not, the merchant ships have all fled leaving you neither supplies nor justice. Back on Black Mesa, where humans and aliens come and go freely, we alone cannot even approach for fear of being attacked. Can you blame them? Who in their right mind would allow us to negotiate for free passage through their system when we've killed ambassadors with diplomatic protection?

"If this is how we are to proceed, then let us put it to a vote and make it official so that each ship's commander can prepare how best to defend themselves from the others. But if, as humans and a supposedly advanced species, you think this is crazy, then we must find a way to stop this before we turn both the aliens and our fellow humans against us and leave ourselves defenseless while we hold our guns at each other's heads!"

I had to stop speaking. Those last words came out at a near scream and I feared if I continued they would descend into raging gibberish. I returned to my seat and waited, silently daring them to solve the problem they had created. I knew if I or any of the other senior command staff imposed a solution, we'd end up back in the same situation we were in now—or worse. Still, there was no guarantee the whole fleet wouldn't degenerate into a mob of pirates.

Commander Tereshkova who had once threatened me for lack of payment was the first to insist on investigating the commanders responsible for killing the alien ambassadors and bringing them up on murder charges. Ultimately, a legal commission was formed and a senior commander that everyone could agree upon was found and placed in charge. After that, the meeting began to veer off into lists of personal grievances and other unrelated suggestions, but at least it didn't seem likely the fleet would lynch me, or break up.

* * *

"Ken, you got to do something before they get out of control."

I paused from my paperwork and looked up at Solomon's worried face on the display. "Who?"

"This truth commission! Anyone can accuse anyone of anything and they launch a full investigation."

"That's kind of the idea." I turned back to my work sorting through everyone else's complaints.

"But they've got me on the case list!"

This time I was genuinely surprised and I leaned back in my chair and gave him my full attention. Solomon was a solid commander and a trusted ally in holding the fleet together. "Why ever for?"

Solomon rolled his eyes. "It's over the cargo from the jump ships we captured back on Black Mesa. Someone's accused me of theft."

"You didn't, did you?"

"Of course not!"

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much then. If you didn't do it, they obviously can't prove anything. Just turn over your records and ignore them."

"Er, that's the thing...."

I leaned in toward the camera. "You did keep records, didn't you?"

"Yes! But, you know how things were back then. Everything was in chaos. We were still trying to figure out how to organize the fleet."

I looked at him, unable to think of a response.

"I have signed inventory control records from all my control officers."

"But there are discrepancies?"

"Yes."

"Have they asked for a report of survey?"

Solomon sighed. "Yes."

I shrugged. "I don't think there's anything I can do. Just cooperate, don't give them any reason to think you're withholding anything and at worst you'll get a fine."

"You seem to have a lot of faith in this commission," Solomon said with a note of bitterness.

I glanced at the commission roster. "Commander Ashbless is a pretty reasonable man. I don't think he'll allow this to become a witch hunt."

"I hope, for your sake, you're correct."

"Why is that?"

"You're on the list too; piracy and murder."

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