Rione turned her head for a moment to give Geary a searching look. “Does she react this way to you, as well?”
“No. I understand the protocol, and I have an established role. I let her run her ship while I try to run the fleet. That sort of thing is well understood. But there’s no real protocol for having a high-ranking civilian on the bridge. There’s bound to be some friction. Captain Desjani’s a good commanding officer, though. She’ll get used to your appearances on the bridge, and she won’t act improperly toward you.”
“Thank you, Captain Geary.” Rione inclined her head in a brief gesture. “I wish you to understand that for my part, I did not take amiss Captain Desjani’s strong words regarding the issue of robotic warships. The argument is never-ending, and I truly appreciate the thoughts of those who actually fight, but I cannot imagine fully entrusting weapons to artificial intelligences.”
“To be perfectly honest, I agree with you.” Geary shrugged. “It’s the same problem we had in my time. If an artificial intelligence isn’t smart enough to employ a weapon all by itself, you can’t trust it very much in battle. If the AI is smart enough to employ a weapon all by itself, you can’t trust it at all.”
Rione’s lips made another very brief smile. “True. But it’s time I addressed the issue that brought me here.” Geary waited while Rione stared at the depiction of the stars. “I find it necessary to confess something to you, Captain Geary. You have shamed me.”
“If this is about the prisoner thing—”
“It is. I suppose you’re tired of hearing us express our feelings?”
“That’s not how I meant it.”
“No. I didn’t think so.” Co-President Rione seemed to be studying the starscape again. “Captain Geary, I’m not one of those who believes that the past was always a better place. That the old ways were necessarily better. But I have known for some time that the pressures of this war have warped those who fight it. How much so is easily overlooked. We have forgotten some very important things.”
Geary frowned and pretended to be looking at his hands. “You’ve all been through a lot.”
“That’s an explanation, but it’s not an excuse.” Rione had bent her head again, her mouth a thin, hard line now. “It is all too easy to become like the enemy you hate, isn’t it, Captain Geary?”
“That’s why we have the laws of war. That’s why we try to teach honor to those who have to fight.”
“The laws of war mean nothing if those charged with following them do not believe in them. Honor can be twisted, turned upon itself, until it appears to justify the most evil actions. You know this, Captain Geary.”
Geary nodded heavily. “I’m in no position to judge anyone, Madam Co-President. I had the luxury of avoiding the many years of war that led to this state of affairs.”
“Luxury? You don’t appear to have enjoyed the experience.” Rione raised her head, but she still didn’t look toward Geary. “In the last few hours, as time permitted, I’ve gone back through my classified archives, studying the true history of the war and trying to determine how we reached this state. I want you to know it wasn’t the result of any deliberate process. I could see where the rules got bent here and there, always for what seemed good reasons. The next time they got bent some more.”
“For the best of reasons,” Geary stated without emotion.
“Yes. Step by step, over the course of time, we grew to accept things. We grew to believe that the deplorable actions of the Syndicate Worlds justified deplorable actions on our part. Even I accepted this as an unfortunate reality of the war.” She finally looked at Geary with an expression he couldn’t read. “And then you reminded us all of what our ancestors would think of those actions. Only you could do this, because no one else could speak so clearly from the past to us. You reminded us that this war began because we were different than the Syndicate Worlds. Because there were things the Syndicate Worlds would do that the Alliance would not.”
Geary nodded again, uncomfortable under Rione’s gaze. “I never believed that the Alliance somehow made a decision all at once to start violating the laws of war. I guessed it had been like you said. Starting down the slippery slope and ending up at the bottom without even realizing how you got there. All because of the old argument that we had to do some bad things to win because it was important to win.”
“An old argument and a false one, isn’t it?”
“I think so. If the Alliance starts modeling its actions on those of the Syndicate Worlds, I’m not sure what the point of winning would be.”
“I heard you say that. I agree.” Rione bowed her head toward him. “You reminded us of who we once were, Captain Geary. And you had the courage and fundamental decency to stand by the truly honorable things you believed in, even at the risk of alienating those in this fleet who believe in you and follow you.”
Geary shook his head. “I’m not a courageous man, Madam Co-President. I just acted on instinct.”
“Then I hope that you will continue to do so. When first we met, I told you that I had no use for heroes and expressed my concern that you would lead this fleet to ruin. I freely admit that thus far you have proven me wrong.” Rione inclined her head again and left.
Geary rubbed his forehead, thinking over Rione’s words. She didn’t exactly give me unconditional approval, did she? “Thus far” I haven’t lived up to her worst expectations. But that’s okay. She’ll help keep me honest. I don’t want to end up believing I deserve all those worshipful looks I keep getting from people in this fleet.
He thought about going back to the bridge of the Dauntless, and then thought about having to face all the others there. I think I’ve had enough drama for now. He paged the bridge instead, telling them he’d be catching some sleep and making sure they’d wake him if anything important happened.
Seven hours later a buzzing sound jerked him awake. “Geary here.” He tried to come fully awake, shocked at how long he’d slept and how tired he still felt. Obviously, he hadn’t recovered as much from his long survival sleep as he’d been imagining.
“Captain Geary, this is the bridge. Sorry for waking you, sir. You asked to be notified—”
“Yeah, yeah. What is it?”
“We’ve sighted major elements of the Syndic fleet exiting the jump point. Captain Desjani assesses it to be the main pursuit force.”
SIX
“Captain Desjani, I’m afraid I have to agree with your estimate.” Geary totaled up the ships that had so far been seen exiting the jump point. A swarm of HuKs led the way, with multiple squadrons of heavy cruisers right behind. Since the Alliance fleet was looking straight back at the jump exit, the leading Syndic ships tended to obscure those behind them, but several squadrons of battle cruisers and battleships had been confirmed bringing up the rear. “There’s a lot of junk blocking the view of the jump exit.”
Desjani grinned. “You ordered mines placed at the exit, sir.”
Oh, yeah. Geary took another look. “How many did we get?”
“They swept the mines with HuKs and light cruisers, sir. The hard way. We estimate they lost or suffered severe damage to about fifteen ships. The debris fields we can see correlate to the destruction of most of those.”
Coming out of jump space and running right into a minefield. They probably never knew what hit them. “Do you think what we can see is everything?”
Desjani gave him a look that implied she thought Geary wanted more enemies to fight, then studied her display. “There could be a follow-on wave. But if this is it, we can take this force.”
Geary noted that Desjani’s voice seemed torn between excitement and worry at the prospect. All of her training called for charging into action, but the last time the Alliance fleet had faced a major Syndic force, it had gotten its butt kicked hard.
“We could,” Geary stated with a confidence he didn’t really feel. After watching his fleet make a mishmash of the engagement with minor Syndic forces, he wasn’t looking forward to a m
uch bigger battle anytime soon. But he knew he had to outwardly express confidence in the fleet. If word got around (and it surely would) that he’d even implied the fleet lacked the ability to win, it could cripple the fleet’s chances before the next shot was even fired. “But we’d have to turn back to engage them. I don’t see any reason to do that.” He tried to make it sound like the pursuing Syndic forces weren’t worth the trouble. “I hadn’t planned on any more battles in this system.”
Apparently, he succeeded to some extent. Desjani and the watch-standers on the Dauntless’s bridge all nodded knowingly.
Geary fiddled with his controls, trying to make the display calculate the chances of the Syndics catching up with the Alliance force. “Have I got this right?” he muttered to Desjani.
She looked over, then after a moment nodded again. “Yes. We’re only about four light-hours from the jump exit now. Forty hours of transit time if we stay at .1 light speed, but even if we had to slow for some reason, we’ve got a very big lead. We’ll be at the jump point to Kaliban well before they can catch up to us and delay us further.” Desjani grinned. “Some of the fleet captains questioned why we didn’t take more time to loot this system. This should answer them!”
Geary smiled briefly, unsettled both by Desjani’s endorsement of what she clearly saw as Black Jack’s once-again demonstrated infallibility and by the news that some of his captains had been grumbling about his decisions openly enough for someone as clearly loyal to him as Desjani to have heard. Then he finally noticed something else on his display. “What’s this? Who’re these guys?” Geary pointed at a group of ships coming up at an almost leisurely pace from the direction of the inhabited world. Even though the ships were moving slower than the Alliance fleet, they’d been coming from ahead and so were on course to intercept the Alliance force. “They’re Syndic, but they’re marked as nonthreatening?”
Desjani curved the edges of her lips in a very brief smile. “That represents the fruit of our Co-President’s efforts at diplomacy. Twenty merchant ships, supposedly loaded with food and other materials we asked for.”
“Twenty ships?” Geary couldn’t help grinning. “That’ll be a decent amount of supplies.”
“Yes,” Desjani agreed with visible reluctance at the idea of being in debt to Co-President Rione.
“How are we set up for the rendezvous?”
“They’re merchants, so they can’t accelerate worth a damn, but they’ve been told to use their propulsion systems without regard for economy, and they appear to be doing so. By the time we meet up with them, they should’ve been able to get up close to our speed. If we have to brake, it won’t be by much.” Desjani’s finger raced across the display, pointing out details. “The merchants are headed to join up near the positions of our big auxiliaries. That’ll minimize the time needed to transfer the supplies over.” She paused. “We’ve confirmed their identity as merchant transports by visual and full-spectrum scans. No weapons are visible.”
Geary nodded, feeling a surge of relief that everything had been handled well, even though he’d been dead to the world. “What about security?”
“I took the liberty of contacting Colonel Carabali. Detachments of Marines will take boarding shuttles to each of the merchants, conduct searches for hidden weapons, and maintain a watch on the crews.”
“Very good. That’s exactly what I’d have told the Colonel to do.” Desjani beamed at the praise in a way that seemed incongruous in a woman her age. “Where’s Co-President Rione now?”
“I believe she’s resting.” Desjani made “rest” sound like an unmilitary activity, apparently forgetting that Geary had just spent several hours doing the same. “She did record a report for you.”
“Thanks.” Geary pulled up the file.
On the recording, Rione looked weary. “Captain Geary. After substantial negotiations, hindered by our distance from the inhabited planet, I convinced the Syndicate Worlds authorities that we would be willing to forebear from annihilating them if they would provide suitable tribute. Captain Desjani’s crew provided me with an estimated number of large cargo ships in this star system as well as how many had been seen in time-late images near the inhabited world. This information enabled me to insist on twenty such ships carrying supplies listed on both our real and false needs lists. The Syndicate Worlds authorities provided remote signing of an agreement not to attempt any action using the cargo ships against the Alliance fleet in exchange for our promise not to launch further attacks within the system before our departure. The text of that agreement is attached. Please do not hesitate to contact me if questions arise.”
Geary read through the agreement, finding nothing that raised alarms in his mind. Rione seemed to have covered everything. Then it’s just a matter of trusting the Syndics at this point. And I’d be crazy to trust the Syndics. But what can they pull with Carabali’s Marines breathing down their necks?
He looked back at Captain Desjani. “Those merchant ships are a little farther from the jump exit than we are, but they must’ve seen the arrival of the pursuit force by now.”
“But they’re not altering course,” Desjani agreed, answering Geary’s unstated question. “Perhaps they’re afraid we’ll run them down if they try. They’re close enough and cumbersome enough that by the time they managed to get turned and going away from us, we could have destroyers all over them. Or perhaps they’re afraid that if they run, it’ll provoke an attack on the inhabited planet.”
“Good possibilities.” Despite the appearance of the Syndic pursuit force, everything seemed well in hand. Unfortunately, it’s usually just when you think everything’s under control that everything and its brother starts going to hell in a handbag. So what can go wrong? Titan? She looks like she’s not in trouble for once.
“Sir.” Both Geary and Desjani turned at the operations watch-stander’s hail. “Titan reports she has another primary propulsion unit back on line.”
“Praise our ancestors.” Geary had tensed in dread as Titan’s name came up on the heels of his worries. It had taken him a moment to realize it wasn’t bad news after all. Now he checked the statistics for Titan, noting its best acceleration had improved significantly. But she’s still too damn slow. What idiot labeled those ships Fast Fleet Auxiliaries? The only thing fast about them is how quickly they can get into trouble. “What are the chances Titan can strap on a few extra primary propulsion units at some point?”
The operations watch-stander looked startled, then glanced at the engineering watch-stander, who also looked surprised, then thoughtful. “It might be possible, sir.” His face began to take on the glow of an engineer presented with a complex problem that he might have the means to solve.
Geary leaned back, taking in the entire situation slowly, trying to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. But aside from the Alliance fleet itself, the Syndic pursuit force and the twenty merchants headed steadily for their rendezvous, nothing else seemed to be moving in Corvus Star System. All the other Syndic shipping had headed for the nearest place to dock and hope the Alliance fleet didn’t send any ships that way. Dauntless’s combat systems were estimating that the Syndic pursuit force had pushed up to an average velocity of slightly more than 30,000 kilometers a second, but against the vast scale of space, that still left them crawling at not much more than a tenth of light speed. “They’re not trying to catch us,” Geary noted.
Desjani frowned, her eyes darting to the representation of the Syndic warships. “They’re not?”
“No. Not if these readings are right. They’re not accelerating anymore. Not that they could catch us before we reach the jump point even if they did push up to point two light. But they’re not trying.”
“They’re … just chasing us?”
“Herding us,” Gearing corrected. “They want us to keep going.”
“To the jump point?”
“To Yuon. I’d stake my life on it.” Come to think of it, I am. Worse, I’m staking the lives of every man and wo
man on these Alliance ships on it. What if the Syndics have already guessed that I won’t run straight for home? What if they know Kaliban is the best alternative?
No. They can’t risk this fleet getting safely through Yuon, so they’ll be there in force. They don’t have any choice.
But they still might’ve seeded Kaliban with enough mines to rip this fleet to shreds. Has there been enough time for that? Would the Syndics have that many mines close enough to Kaliban to get them there before we get there? Have they even considered the possibility that we’ll go there?
There’s no way to know. I can’t afford to second-guess this. I can’t afford to let the possibility of disaster keep me from making and acting on decisions, because no matter what I do there’ll always be that possibility.
He took a long, deep breath, momentarily blocking out his surroundings. When Geary opened his eyes, he saw Desjani giving him an approving look.
“I don’t know how you can be so relaxed at times like this,” she confessed. “But I know it impresses my crew.”
“It’s, um, something I work at.”
It gradually became obvious that nothing was going to happen for a while. Geary checked the timeline for the rendezvous with the Syndic merchants and saw that the Marine shuttles wouldn’t launch for another two hours. Fighting off an irrational urge to keep watching everything for fear it might come unraveled without his personal attention, Geary stood up. “I’m going to get something to eat,” he told Captain Desjani. She nodded. Geary noticed as he left that the watch-standers on the Dauntless’s bridge were all watching him admiringly. Ancestors help me if I ever start to believe everything I do is as perfect as these people think. If I tripped and fell on my butt, they’d probably think it was Black Jack Geary’s way of preparing for action, and they’d all start doing it.
However, the interaction with the personnel on the bridge had reminded Geary of the importance of letting the crew see him. He’d been thinking longingly of holing up in his stateroom again and gnawing on a ration bar, safely hidden from the eyes of both those who worshipped the decks Black Jack Geary trod and those who thought John Geary was an ancient relic totally out of his depth. Instead, he walked to one of the mess areas, joined the line and got a meal, then sat down at a table with several sailors at it.
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