That being said, they still had time.
Jace would figure things out eventually. The hole she put in his precious brig when she broke Raider out would be a pretty big clue.
Jace cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "There's one other matter I need to discuss with you."
The way Raider stiffened distracted her. She glanced at him in question, only to find his face hard.
"You should know I've arrested Blue," Jace announced.
"Explain."
"She's responsible for Rothchild. She is our leak." Jace nodded at the tablet in front of her. "All the information is there. See for yourself."
Feeling like she was having an out of body experience, Kira reached for the tablet in question and dragged it into her lap. It was already unlocked, the files queued up and waiting for her to access them.
"The records of Himoto's you gave me go back years. Rothchild wasn’t the only thing he was investigating. There are files on every battle you mentioned. Every one that went unexpectedly wrong. Apparently, you're not the only one who suspected a leak."
Kira scanned a few of the files. "You're saying Himoto knew about Blue?"
The man she'd known would never have let a spy join the Curs. He would have rooted her out at the tiniest of suspicions. Evidence—or the lack thereof—wouldn't have stopped him.
Unless—he hoped to use her to disseminate false intelligence.
Himoto could have given a masterclass on spycraft. It was one of the reasons she'd stopped trusting him in the latter part of the war. There'd been a small piece of her that feared the forty three were right about him being the cause of everything.
"It appears so," Jace admitted. "Himoto identified at least four highly placed officers in Centcom's fleet who he thought might have been party to this. Admiral Kent was among them."
"No surprise there," Raider muttered.
Jace acted like he hadn't heard. "Several government officials were involved as well."
"Are any of them still in power?" Kira asked.
"Many of them helped spearhead the Consortium's withdrawal from the alliance."
"How is Blue involved? She left the Vega months before it was assigned that mission."
When Rothchild happened, Blue was attending a military academy on New Lexington. It was why Kira and Jin had excluded her from the list of suspects. Their orders hadn't come down until long after she was gone.
"There was a sleeper program embedded in the comms array. It was set to send her regular updates as to the Curs' status. Your status specifically."
Kira looked up from the tablet. "It's funny. This is the second time today that someone has claimed to know who was responsible for Rothchild."
Jace frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I ran into an old friend of ours down on the planet," Kira said, glancing at Raider as he leaned forward in sudden interest. "Remember, Diesel?"
Raider's nod was slow as a thoughtful look entered his eye. "I do."
"He's dead," Jace said in confusion. "I attended his funeral."
"Maybe he is now," Kira allowed, remembering the explosion that had leveled the Vega. "But earlier today he was as alive as you and I."
"What does this have to do with Blue?" Jace asked.
"Only that he claimed he was the one responsible for Rothchild."
There was silence at her answer. Then Raider exploded to his feet. "I told you it wasn't Blue!"
Jace wasn't listening. "Explain."
Kira took the storage device Diesel had given her and handed it to Jace. "You might want to get your people to look at this."
Jace took the device.
"When he handed that to me, he said he'd been approached by a woman looking to sell him ordnance. He was desperate due to the supply issues and took her up on the offer. What he didn't know was that the weapons had trackers on them set to give away our position at regular intervals."
Jace was quiet as he considered this new information, absentmindedly turning the storage device over in his hand.
"What happened to Diesel?" Raider asked.
Kira shook her head. "I don't know. We got separated. He stayed behind to delay the Tsavitee kill squad on my ass. After that, there was a rather large explosion."
"But you didn't see him die?"
Kira shook her head.
"He could still be alive then," Raider said, looking like he almost hoped he was so that he could get revenge.
"This doesn't absolve Blue," Jace said, gesturing with the device.
"No," Kira agreed.
But it did cast doubt as to her culpability. And it helped explained why Himoto had never done anything about her.
"Do you remember that time Blue tagged Bayside with a tracker beacon when he was on leave for R and R?" Kira asked Raider.
"He was pretty furious when he found out," Raider said with a light chuckle. "He'd been planning to visit the casinos and a bliss den."
Similar to the opium dens of old Earth, bliss dens were popular during and after the war as a place people could go to smoke an herb known for its relaxing properties.
While not illegal, the use was frowned upon by the higher ups. It was also not the kind of thing you wanted your annoying adoptive sister knowing about.
"Blue had extreme separation anxiety back then. It was bad enough that Himoto and I made it a requirement for her to see a counselor when she reached the academy."
Jace shook his head, looking impatient. "Don't try to sweep this away by attributing her actions to a mental health issue. Maybe you're right and she wasn't working with the Tsavitee. She still exposed sensitive information to our enemy. Anybody could have intercepted those transmissions. That alone is enough to sentence her for treason."
"Only if her actions weren't approved by someone higher up," Raider said thoughtfully.
"What are you talking about?" Jace asked.
Raider glanced at Kira. "She said Walker knew."
"That makes sense. They were always close."
Walker had lost a sister in a hovercraft accident before the war. Blue reminded him of her.
"You think he would have compromised your position for her?" Jace asked scornfully. "Walker wasn't that type of person."
"No, he wasn't," Raider agreed. "At least not without permission."
"He didn't ask me," Kira said at Jace's look.
She wouldn't have agreed to that. Not even for Blue.
"You think he asked Commander Berry."
Despite the disbelief in Jace's tone, he looked like he was considering it.
"Not just him," Kira said, looking down at the tablet. "Himoto knew too."
Beforehand or after. Either way, he hadn't done anything with the information for a reason. Kira was betting it was because Blue was a red herring who wasn't actually involved.
Jace sat back, looking defeated. "I can't release her just on that."
"I'm not asking you to," Kira responded, opening the rest of the files and flipping through them. "Just take a second look at everything while keeping in mind what we told you and whatever you find on Diesel's device."