Zero-Option | Page 5

available. Every other suitable warship in Fleet is either out on duty or in the dock for repairs. It's true we could call someone else off the line, but that would mean more delay. You're here, now. And now is when we need you."
"Well, we wouldn't want to inconvenience to Naval Intelligence, would we?" Jhordel drawled acerbically. "And I don't suppose the fact that if you re-directed another ship you wouldn't be able to have one of your people on board"
Imbrahim blinked at her, but knew it would be fruitless feigning innocence in the matter. "There's that, too," he agreed, smiling thinly. "Naval Intelligence has taken a keen interest in this matter."
"Why?" someone asked.
"Because if the Unity is behind it, they may have some new weapon we should know about," he replied.
"But you don't think it is the Unity," said Jhordel in a blunted tone.
He hesitated. "No," he admitted, reluctantly, "we don't. If they'd such a weapon, it isn't likely they'd be using it out there. Nor does it seem likely they could've known the Niagara or the probes were going to be coming through the point in that sector."
"So what does that leave us with?" asked Wethers.
"Natural phenomena," Imbrahim offered. "Which is another reason for caution when approaching this matter."
"And if it isn't something natural?" asked N'robo.
Imbrahim shifted uncomfortably. "Then it may be something we've stumbled upon that we'd rather we hadn't," he muttered.

3.
"You're not telling me everything," said Jhordel. She gave him a sharp look, suggesting by that glower that she wouldn't accept prevarication.
"I'm not sure I know what you mean," he said innocently.
Her jaw line hardened. "I think you know perfectly well what I mean, commander."
He swallowed. They were alone again, the others having been dismissed from the briefing room so as to tend to their duties in preparation for departure. Imbrahim looked around the table at the empty chairs, purposely avoiding her eyes.
"There are some in Admiralty who believe we're dealing with some new agency," he said at length. He found the courage to look at her, and saw again the discipline that held her in check and kept her composed. It made him shiver and go cold inside.
"New agency," she echoed. "I see. And they believe this 'new agency' to be a threat to the Empire?"
"Possibly." He gestured helplessly. "Which is why there's some concern."
"Because of the information the Niagara was carrying?"
"Yes. She contained our latest developments. If someone got hold of her they could find out an awful lot about Fleet technology."
"I see." Jhordel sat back in her chair and rested one arm languidly on the briefing room table. "I take it Admiralty has sent you here to ensure we'll do the right thing then, should that become necessary."
"Yes," he said, his voice strained, not much more than a whisper.
She grinned sardonically and shook her head. "And how does that sit with you, Commander?"
"I, too, swore the oath, Captain. I knew what I was getting into when I joined the Navy."
"You thought you did," she corrected. "I know your sort, Commander. You got caught up in the patriotism, as so many do when war looms and we see all that we value threatened by outside forces. But you weren't gene-typed a spacers."
He showed surprise.
She laughed at that. "Come, Commander, surely you didn't honestly think it escaped notice. It's written all over you," she said.
"We all make choices, Captain. I made this one."
"Did you, now? That's not my understanding of how Jackson works."
He kept silent, not knowing what to say.
"You must be a latent," she said.
"Sir?"
"A potential empathy, Mister Imbrahim. That's the only way you could do as many jumps as you have without having been born a spacers. And Jackson wouldn't have been interested in you otherwise."
"You're very astute," he said.
"I've had practice." She stared at him, then cocked an eyebrow. "So can you��"
He shook his head. "Like you say, Captain, I'm a latent. The genetic component is there, somewhere, but other than letting me travel at leisure in space with an implant, it's not much good for anything else."
"You could have refused."
"Jackson?" Now he laughed. "Once I made a choice to join Fleet��" He shrugged. "The admiral is not someone you argue with, sir?"
She rose slowly from her seat. And though she was not tall, she had a commanding presence. He was reminded again of his father. Her lips twitched in a quirky little grin��almost a smirk. "So now you understand," she said.
"Understand?"
"That sometimes our choices are really not choices at all, are they?" With that she turned from him and left the room.
Imbrahim sat alone in the eerie silence, staring out the floor-to-ceiling viewports that lined the aft wall of the room. He could see Earth in the distance, an enormous shining sphere whose glow blocked out the feebler light of a