Valiant

He seems to be sincere, Iger advised Geary. There’s some anger spikes as memory areas light up, consistent with recalling events that upset him.

Geary nodded at the Syndic. “Your superiors seem to be willing to run a lot of risks. Very big risks, like the one that got this fleet trapped deep in Syndic territory.”

It… it wasn’t my plan.”

“The ambush in the Syndicate Worlds’ home system? The double traitor who offered the Alliance fleet that hypernet key so it would rush into the ambush?”

“Yes! I never would have taken such a risk.”

Geary shook his head. “It looked like a sure thing. You’d have taken it. But it backfired.”

“Because of you!” Cafiro yelled, suddenly red-faced and openly furious. “If you hadn’t shown up-” He stopped speaking, his flush fading rapidly as his face paled with fear.

“Yeah,” Geary agreed. “I showed up.” The Syndic CEO swallowed and stared at him. “Let’s think about it. Someone, if that’s the right word for members of an intelligent nonhuman species, tricked the Syndicate Worlds into starting this war. Your Executive Council screwed up royally and has refused to admit it. Now, the Alliance will soon have the means to nullify the Syndicate Worlds’ hypernet system because your Executive Council screwed up royally again. They started the war, and now they’re about to lose it. And you’re remaining loyal to them when you could be talking about ways to minimize the damage.”

Cafiro plainly did think about it, his eyes shifting before he finally spoke. “Are you… negotiating?”

“I’m just asking you to consider alternatives.”

“For the good of the Syndicate Worlds.”

“Right.” Geary nodded, keeping his face calm.

“You want the war to end?” Cafiro challenged.

“You and I both know that humanity faces another enemy. Maybe it’s about time we stopped killing each other the way that enemy has tricked us into doing.”

More thinking, Cafiro avoiding Geary’s eyes again for several seconds. “How can we know you’ll keep your word?”

“There’s proof of that in every star system this fleet has traversed since we left the Syndic home system. Don’t try to pretend you haven’t heard.”

CEO Cafiro pushed his palms tightly together, pressing the tips of his fingers to his mouth as he thought again. “It’s not enough. Not now. I tell you honestly, as long as there’s any chance that you can be stopped, no one will move against the current membership of the Executive Council.”

He’s telling the truth, Lieutenant Iger reported in an astonished voice.

“And when this fleet does make it home?”

The Syndic CEO eyed Geary. “Then the failure will be huge, the costs incalculable, the consequences too serious to contemplate. Even then, the current membership of the Executive Council won’t negotiate. They can’t afford to because that would assign the failure to them.”

Geary nodded, remembering how Rione had stated the same thing.

“But,” Cafiro added, his face hard, “after something like that, the rest of the Syndicate Worlds would not be willing to sacrifice themselves to protect the Executive Council from its failures.”

Ask him if that means revolt, or new members of the Council, Rione urged.

Geary nodded as if to Cafiro, but also to Rione’s words. “Are you saying there’d be a revolt, or that we’d be dealing with new members of the Council?”

Cafiro’s eyes shifted. “I don’t know.”

Lie, Iger advised.

“Let’s say it’s new members,” Geary pressed. “Will they be willing to negotiate an end to this war?”

“Under those conditions? I think so. Depending on the terms.”

Truth, Iger stated.

“Would they work with us to deal with the aliens and stop pretending they don’t exist?”

“Yes, I-” Cafiro flushed red again, this time with apparent self-anger at having finally blurted out an admission that he knew of the aliens.

“We both already knew the truth,” Geary said. “We want the same thing. An end to a senseless war and a united front against something that threatens humanity. That should be grounds for working together.”

The CEO nodded once.

Appeal to his self-interest! Rione demanded. Not the best interests of humanity or the Syndicate Worlds! His self-interest! He didn’t become a Syndic CEO by being self-sacrificing!

She had a point. Geary forced a small smile. “Of course, when I speak of working together, I’m talking about with someone we know. Someone who understands the issues.”

His brain’s reward centers are lighting up, Iger observed.

Cafiro nodded again, this time much more firmly. “As you say, we need to think in terms of mutual benefit.”