Desjani grinned. “Per your instructions, we’ve already ordered all shuttles and personnel back to their ships.”
“Good. Have they initiated destructive shutdowns of all the equipment we reactivated?”
“Yes, sir.” Desjani’s approval of the scorched-earth tactic was clear. “That equipment won’t be working for anyone again.”
“That’s the idea.” It was a pity in a way, but he couldn’t leave industrial assets behind for the Syndics to possibly use again for their own purposes. Geary studied the situation for a long moment. “Coming out of that exit, they must’ve come from Saxon or Pullien, and they could’ve reached either of those stars from Yuon, right?”
Desjani checked her display. “Pullien would take an extra jump, but yes. Either way, they’ve come in using the jump exit closest to us.”
Just as I could’ve predicted from my experience with the perversity of the universe. The Syndics came out of the closest jump exit to the Alliance fleet, only two light-hours away. We just saw them, which meant the Syndics actually arrived at Kaliban two hours ago. The Alliance ships hadn’t been able to see the suddenly arriving Syndic ships until light made its journey, but the Syndics would’ve instantly been able to see the Alliance fleet and its position as of two hours before. The amount of blue shift on the light from the Syndic ships indicates they were doing point-one light coming out of jump. If they’ve maintained that speed, that’d put them point two light-hours closer to us by the time we saw them first arrive. It still means they’re eighteen hours away from reaching us at that speed, though.
There’s no doubt we could accelerate away and avoid action on our way out of the system. It’d be easy.
And it’d give a lot of strength to those rumors that I’m not fit to command this fleet. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to decide what to do when the Syndics arrived. I couldn’t really make up my mind until I saw how big the Syndic force turned out to be. Now I know. It’s significantly smaller than us, but still powerful. It could do a lot of damage.
Geary glanced over at Captain Desjani, seeing how her muscles were tensed in anticipation of combat even though it was at least several hours away even if Geary accelerated the Alliance fleet to meet the Syndics. He knew she and most of his other ship captains would be disappointed to leave Kaliban without engaging the Syndics. More than disappointed. He took another look at the latest estimate of the enemy force’s size. I’m not sure the fleet’s ready to take on a force like that. We outnumber them by quite a bit, but if we screw things up anything like the engagements at Corvus, we could take terrible losses. Can I trust my ships to keep formation and follow orders?
I know what prudence dictates, but these people I’m commanding need to believe I’m the one who can lead them to victory. How long will they follow me if they think I’m afraid of combat? Should I give in to that concern despite my doubts? Or are my doubts greater than they really should be? Am I afraid to risk these ships because of the mistakes they might make, or because of the mistakes I might make?
Run or fight. Which would be right? Which would be best?
Ancestors, send me a sign.
“Captain Desjani,” the Dauntless’s communications watch called out. “Witch reports there’s a dead bird on Ishiki’s Rock.”
Geary took a moment to process the modern slang through his brain. “Bird” was what the sailors called shuttles, and “dead” meant…
“There’s a shuttle that can’t rise?”
“Yes, sir. On Ishiki’s Rock. One of the big cargo haulers.”
“Tell them to abandon the cargo. Just get the personnel out.”
“They tried, sir. It’s not a mass issue. Propulsion and control systems went dark when they tried to lift. They’re troubleshooting now.”
“How many of our people are on Ishiki’s Rock?”
“Thirty-one, sir, counting the shuttle crew.”
Geary looked at Desjani. “You know these shuttles better than I do. What’re the odds they’ll get it fixed soon?”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t place bets on it,” Desjani advised. “Two major systems dead means multiple junction failures.” She gestured toward the engineering watch-stander. “Your assessment, please?”
The watch-stander grimaced. “That bird won’t be going anywhere until a full maintenance unit can get a look at it. Exact time to get it flying again will depend on how many subsystems did a meltdown, but I’d assume four hours minimum once the maintenance team gets there, assuming they’ve got all the parts they’ll need.”
“I had a feeling it’d be that bad.” Geary looked back at the display, running through possible options in his head. Ishiki’s Rock was thirty light-minutes closer to the Syndics than the Alliance fleet’s main body. Titan had finished topping off its raw materials storage a day and a half ago and moved back with the fleet, but Witch was still out there near Ishiki’s Rock.
Five hours transit time at .1 light, and while Witch massed less than Titan, it had less propulsion capability so it couldn’t accelerate much better than Titan. He could order Witch to send another shuttle out to pick up the people on Ishiki’s Rock and abandon the dead bird in place. Or he could send in a maintenance team to fix the bird. Witch was close enough to Ishiki’s Rock that they could probably revive the dead bird and still get it back to Witch in time for the fleet to take off ahead of the Syndics. Though that could well be a close thing. The safest thing to do would be to abandon the bird.
And wouldn’t that look bad in the eyes of people who already didn’t like to see the Alliance fleet “running away” from Syndics.
But staying long enough to try to salvage or fix the bird could run a real risk of having Syndic HuKs catching up with Witch if anything went wrong. He could bring up some ships to defend Witch, but how many would he need? If the Syndics were pushing their propulsion to maximum, they could shave significant time off their transit by accelerating half the way to Witch and then decelerating back to .1 light in time to engage her.
And what would happen to anyone left on Ishiki’s Rock if the Syndics came charging in faster than anticipated? The closer the Syndics got, the less time Geary would have to react.
Thirty-one people. One cargo shuttle. I can get the people out. No problem. Unless something else messes up. Which it could, and then we could face trouble. And if I try to save face by saving the shuttle, too, I’ll be risking more people. If we have to pull out fast…
Pull out fast, Geary? Try running away. Because no matter what label you put on it, that’s what it means. You know it, and so will everyone else. And you don’t really like it any more than they do.
The fleet’s trusted me to lead them this far. I have to trust them. I have to trust them to win if I can lead them competently.
And I can’t lead them unless they continue to believe in me.
And they won’t continue to believe in me unless I show them they can win by listening to me.
And I can’t win unless I take risks.
Captain Desjani was looking at him, having surely reached the same conclusions he had about the options available and wondering how Geary would handle it.
Geary took a deep breath, then activated the fleet command communications circuit. “Alliance fleet, this is Captain Geary. All units, assume Combat Formation Alpha. I say again, assume Combat Formation Alpha. Execute order immediately upon receipt. Take stations relative to fleet flagship Dauntless, formation axis aligned to Dauntless’s long axis. All ships prepare for action. Estimated time to battle is”—he did a quick estimate of how quickly the two forces would come together if the Alliance fleet headed directly for an intercept—“eight hours.” He glanced over at Desjani. “Captain Desjani, please have your communications watch inform the personnel on Ishiki’s Rock that the fleet is coming to get them. Then please bring Dauntless around so her bows point toward an intercept with the projected course of the Syndic formation entering the system.”
“Aye, aye, sir!
” Desjani looked exultant, and so did everyone else Geary could see on the bridge.
“Captain Geary!” He hadn’t seen that Co-President Rione had also arrived on the bridge. Now he turned to look as she spoke, her face appalled. “Are you intending to fight a full-scale battle for control of this system?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m planning. I have thirty-one personnel and a fleet cargo shuttle marooned on one of the asteroids in the system.”
“And with the Syndic ships well over half a day away, you believe a full-scale battle is your only option?”
Geary gave her a brief, humorless smile. “I believe it’s the best option for a variety of reasons.”
“You can’t risk the loss of hundreds or thousands of sailors and who knows how many ships for thirty-one people who could be easily rescued and a cargo shuttle that could be easily abandoned on that asteroid!”
“None of the available options are foolproof, Madam Co-President. We don’t know what the Syndics are doing this very minute. Even a simple rescue, if delayed by other unforeseen events, could place Witch or some other ship in peril. Yes, I’m risking the entire fleet to cover those personnel and that shuttle and the ships working to take them off that asteroid. It’s a matter of responsibility and keeping faith. The Alliance fleet does not leave anyone behind.”
Sudden cheers startled Geary and Rione. Looking around, he saw Dauntless’s bridge team holding fists upward as they roared approval.
He turned toward Captain Desjani, catching her just as she finished muttering something into her communications system. “Pardon me, Captain Geary. I was just transmitting the record of your statement to the fleet.” Even after spending almost a couple of months with her, Geary was still shocked to see the admiration shining in her eyes.
But he knew she’d done something right. As much as he hated to admit it, those words he’d blurted out would steel the fleet through this battle. And no doubt be added to the inspirational sayings of Black Jack Geary. Which, he prayed to every ancestor he had, he’d never have to actually hear repeated by anyone else.
Rione looked like she was praying, too, though Geary suspected they were prayers for what she thought of as sanity to prevail. “Captain Geary, what can I say to convince you that this fleet’s survival is the most important factor to consider?”
“Madam Co-President, I understand your concerns. I must ask you to trust my judgment that this fleet’s survival will depend ultimately on many factors.”
“Captain.” Rione stepped close and spoke very quietly. “You know how critical it is for Dauntless to return safely to Alliance space. The item it carries is of incalculable value.”
“I haven’t forgotten that,” Geary replied in an equally quiet tone.
“Have you forgotten that I have it in my power to pull from your command the ship contingents from the Callas Republic and the Rift Federation?”
“No. I’d strongly urge you not to do that.” Geary tried to look like he imagined someone should look when they knew the risks but could still be confident. “I’d wanted more training time, but the fleet can handle this well. There are good reasons for why I’m doing this. I’d like to have your ships participate.”
“And if I refuse to allow that?”
Geary exhaled heavily. “There’d be nothing I could do about it. You know that.”
She eyed him for a long moment while Geary ached to get back to the developing battle, but he knew he had to resolve this situation first. “Very well, Captain Geary. Your actions thus far have earned you the benefit of the doubt from me. You have your battle and you have the ships of the Callas Republic and the Rift Federation. May the living stars grant that neither of us regrets our decision.”
“Thank you.” Geary took another deep breath and turned back to his display. It would be several hours before the fleets clashed, but he’d already set events in motion that would make that battle inevitable. He needed to use the intervening time to maximize his chances of winning. And planning for what to do if disaster struck and he had to pull another desperate retreat out of his hat.
TEN
Deciding to fight started the adrenaline flowing, though combat was still several hours away even if both sides rushed toward each other at maximum acceleration. Geary ached to immediately order the fleet out of the generic Alpha formation into the actual battle formation he planned on using, but he knew that would be a mistake. His old commanders had drilled that into him. The three things you need to worry about the most during the hours leading up to an engagement are acting too early, acting too early, and acting too early.
And here was Desjani wanting to do just that. “Will we be fighting in this formation?” she asked dubiously.
“No.” Geary caught the look of frustration that flashed across her face and relented. “We won’t move into the battle formation until shortly before contact. I want to leave just enough time, with a small margin of error, for our ships to reach their new stations and then be able to accelerate to battle speed.”
“Why not do it now? You’ve told me you’re concerned about the fleet’s ability to maneuver properly in an actual combat situation. Why wait until we’re almost in contact with the enemy?”
He’d asked the same question a long time ago. “Because we don’t want to give the enemy hours of leisure time to study our formation and figure out our plan of engagement.”
“But we could be in one usable formation and then shift to another, couldn’t we? Then we’d be ready even if the ships didn’t get into the new formation in time. We could shift a lot and keep the enemy guessing as to our intentions.”
Geary laughed softly, drawing a puzzled look from Desjani. “I’m sorry, but I’m just remembering wanting to do the same thing. It took me a while to learn the flaw in that approach.” He waved at the display, where the symbols representing the Alliance and Syndic forces were slowly converging across the huge distances between them. “We decide to fight and then usually have quite a while to prepare. There’s a tremendous temptation during that time to keep messing with things. Keep changing formations, keep making minor adjustments, keep altering plans. And if you do that, you end up wearing out your crews and drawing down your fuel reserves before you even get into contact with the enemy. It’s far better to discipline yourself to wait, to give your ships a chance to rest a bit before battle.”
“I see.” Desjani shifted in her seat. “Yes, I do understand. I want to do something now, but it’d be premature. That’s how we’ve fought, you know. Immediately assume battle formation, almost always something simple, and then charge straight at the enemy.”
“I figured that.” He looked again at the display, where the Syndic force seemed to be following that kind of approach. Two opposing forces just hurling themselves straight at their opponents and beating the hell out of each other. Brute force against brute force. No wonder these people value pride and courage so much. In that kind of battle, the side that keeps fighting the hardest and longest is likely to win. But at a terrible price in casualties and ship losses.
Geary checked the time, then called the fleet again. “All units. Updated estimated remaining time to contact with enemy force is seven hours. Recommend all ships rest their crews for the next few hours.” He grinned at Desjani. “Did you ever get held at maximum alert for half a day?”
She looked away. “That’s actually been common. To ensure everyone was fully ready.”
“You’re joking.” The look on Desjani’s face told him she wasn’t. “That wears everybody out before the battle’s even joined. There are situations where you don’t have any choice, but with something like this, where we know the enemy can’t engage us for close to seven hours, it makes sense for everybody to get what rest they can.” Geary made a show of standing up. “I’m going to take a walk,” he announced to the entire bridge, “and get something to eat.” Aware of all their eyes upon him, Geary sauntered off of the bridge, wondering how well he’d be able to fake an interest i
n food. He’d have to pretend to be resting for at least the next couple of hours, too, though he knew the chances of actually getting any sleep were nonexistent. “Please keep me informed of any changes in the Syndic force’s formation or movement, Captain Desjani.”
“Of course, sir.” Desjani hesitated, but as Geary was leaving the bridge he heard her standing down a good part of Dauntless’s crew so they could get some food as well.
After spending hours wandering through Dauntless to visit compartments and talk to the sailors in them, after pretending to eat in three different meal areas, and after periodically checking with the bridge to make sure there weren’t any new developments, Geary finally gave in and returned to the bridge. Desjani was still in her seat, having apparently not left the bridge the entire time.
Desjani gave him a sheepish look. “Force of habit.”
“You’re a ship’s captain, Tanya. I know that means you have to be here even when you shouldn’t have to be here.” Geary sat down, then forced himself to lean back and study the display again. The two opposing fleets had gotten much closer, but were still hours from contact. The Syndic formation remained unchanged. “We’re going to fight in Fox Five,” he advised her.
“Fox Five?” Desjani grinned in anticipation. “I can’t wait to see this fleet carry that off.”
Me, too. I hope they can carry it off. He ran calculations, using the latest estimates of the velocity at which the Syndics were traveling and the point at which the two formations would come together if nothing changed between now and then. Two more hours. Too long. I can’t order the fleet into Fox Five yet. Dreading the thought of spending the next hour staring at the display, Geary called up the simulation program and began running it using his fleet and the actual Syndic force. This should keep me busy, and maybe I’ll spot something I need to know.
Dauntless tlf-1 Page 25