A ragged cheer went up from the former prisoners as Rione led Geary out of the shuttle bay. Geary imagined he could feel Falco’s gaze boring into his back as they left, somehow certain that Falco saw him as a greater problem than he did Rione. But he didn’t want to talk about Falco anywhere they could be overheard, so he and Rione walked silently all the way to Geary’s stateroom. Not until they were inside did Rione turn to him with a scowl. “That man is a danger.”
“I thought I was a danger,” Geary noted sourly, flopping down into a seat.
“You are, because you’re intelligent. Captain Falco is a different kind of danger.”
“Needless to say, I don’t know anything about him. Are you saying he’s stupid?”
Rione made a dismissive gesture. “No. The longstanding thorn in your side Captain Numos is stupid. In fact, Numos is so dense that I’m surprised he doesn’t have his own event horizon. But Captain Falco is smart enough in his own way.”
Geary managed not to laugh at the all-too-accurate assessment of Numos. “Did you know Falco before he was captured?”
“Do you think I’m that old?” Rione asked, arching her eyebrows. “Captain Falco was captured about twenty years ago. I’ve been told of him by older politicians I’ve met since I became a member of the senate. Captain Falco was, at the time he was captured, a very ambitious and charismatic officer who managed to make bloodbaths look like grand victories. He would also make declarations that defeating the Syndics could only be done if we were willing to abandon the alleged inefficiencies of our democratic system in favor of a temporary autocratic government like that of the Syndics.”
No wonder Falco hadn’t tried to cultivate Rione. Even if he hadn’t read her attitude toward him and known that wouldn’t work, Falco probably saw elected politicians as rivals for power. Geary exhaled a gust of humorless laughter. “I assume that means an autocratic government in which Captain Falco would no doubt play a leading role. Why didn’t the government sack him for saying that kind of thing?”
Rione sighed. “The Alliance was just as desperate for heroes then as now, and Captain Falco managed to cultivate enough senators to protect him. He also had substantial public popularity. You saw him in there. Falco could charm the scales off of a snake. The governing council was afraid of the public outcry that would follow sacking Falco. But eventually his luck ran out and he was lost along with far too many of our ships. While the fleet mourned his loss for reasons I’ve never understood, since he’d probably killed more Alliance sailors than he had Syndics, the Alliance government was not terribly saddened even though it publicly expressed sorrow.”
“And now he’s back.” Geary shrugged. “I could see some of why the fleet liked him. He’s one of those people who can stick a knife in your back and leave you thinking he did you a favor.”
“I said he was charismatic, didn’t I?”
“Too damned charismatic for my peace of mind. Too bad I can’t think up an excuse to return him to the Syndics.”
“If I think of one, I’ll let you know.” Rione stared at the bulkhead, her thoughts elsewhere. “Captain Falco will contest your command of this fleet.”
“He doesn’t have a leg to stand on,” Geary stated. “I’m senior to him by at least eighty years.”
Rione smiled briefly. “Captain Falco did not take that well.”
“I could tell. But at least it’s the first time I got any joy out of it,” Geary admitted.
“But Falco will try to wrest command of this fleet from you, Captain Geary, regardless of regulations. If you thought Captain Numos and his allies were a danger, that danger has now increased greatly.”
“Thank you for your assessment.” Which unfortunately matches my own. Rione seemed skeptical of his statement, so Geary tried to give her a sincere look. “Your counsel is very valuable. I mean that. I’m grateful for your presence in this fleet.”
She gazed back at Geary for a while, her expression hard to read. “Thank you, Captain Geary.”
After Rione had left, Geary took a while to call up the records of Captain Falco’s battles. Looking at the replays of the battles in the combat simulator, it was far too apparent that Rione’s assessment of the man had been accurate. The losses during Falco’s so-called victories had been staggering, while there’d been more than one defeat due to simple errors. Fighting Falco, huh? Funny how that fighting captain managed to survive so many battles where a lot of other Alliance officers didn’t.
There were speeches and news accounts on file, too, showing a much younger-looking Falco dazzling crowds with high-sounding rhetoric delivered with apparently absolute sincerity. Geary found himself wondering if he had misjudged the man, then paid closer attention to what was being said. Appalled, he heard exactly what Rione had described: Falco blaming lack of progress in the war on the government’s policies and all but openly campaigning for the role of supreme leader. I wonder what would have happened if the Syndics hadn’t captured Falco. No wonder Co-President Rione was so worried about me when I took command. She thought I’d be like Falco. But fortunately for all concerned, I come from a time when fleet officers simply didn’t do such things. It never occurred to me that someone would, let alone that they’d get away with it by appealing to the public.
Twenty years. Desjani knew Falco only by reputation. She had seemed initially thrilled, but less happy once Falco had begun contesting command with Geary. Desjani’s loyalty to Geary was apparently unshakable. Geary wondered how the rest of the fleet would regard Falco. Especially if he and Falco ended up openly butting heads over command of the fleet.
I don’t want to be stuck with commanding this fleet, but I can’t surrender that command to someone with Falco’s record. He’d doom it to destruction and then issue a press release claiming it was a great victory. And if somehow he managed to get the fleet back to Alliance space, he would be the sort of danger to the Alliance government that Rione has worried about.
Unless Falco changed while he was in that labor camp. I have to give the man some benefit of the doubt until I find out how that experience affected him.
That reminded him of the need to deal with the current Syndic threat to the fleet rather than worrying about what Falco might do. With the fleet pulling away from Sutrah Five and heading for open space above the plane of the system where traps couldn’t have been placed, there was no longer a possibility of an immediate threat. Even if a Syndic fleet appeared at one of the jump points, there would be close to a day to prepare for action. But what about the longer term? What are the Syndics doing right now that could hurt this fleet at the next star and the next?
Geary pulled up the display for this region of space and spent a long time studying it, mentally jumping the fleet from one star to possible destinations and then on again, always eventually running into the same ugly conclusion. He had been doing the same mental projections ever since the fleet arrived at Sutrah, and the answers hadn’t changed, no matter how many variations he tried. Even without running simulations, his gut instincts told him that the Syndic net was closing on this fleet. The only way to avoid it was to do something so unpredictable the Syndics wouldn’t regard it as worth considering. How could he find something like that which wasn’t also suicidal?
His gaze kept coming back to one star. Sancere.
No, that’s crazy.
Crazy enough that the Syndics won’t believe I’d take the fleet there?
Maybe. I’m certain that as far as the Syndics know, it can’t be done the way I want to do it. They’re wrong. I know a way.
But how would I convince the fleet to follow me to Sancere?
THREE
The hatch alert on Geary’s stateroom chimed, startling Geary back into awareness of the here and now. He was surprised to see how long he’d spent thinking about the fleet’s next steps. Bringing up the fleet display as well, Geary checked the position within Sutrah System. As planned, the fleet had left Sutrah Five and was now following a course that would allow it to
head for either of the other two jump points in the system. Only an hour remained before the fleet would launch the kinetic retaliatory bombardment of the two inhabited worlds. There wasn’t any rush. Neither the two planets nor the targets on their surfaces could go anywhere except along the predictable and fixed orbits that made them sitting ducks for bombardments. “Please enter,” Geary called.
Captain Falco had managed to very quickly acquire a uniform adorned with all of the ribbons and awards to which he was apparently entitled. He’d also gotten his hair trimmed, but Geary couldn’t help noticing how the dashing young officer whose pictures he’d seen in old reports had been aged considerably by not just twenty years of time but also the hardships of a Syndic labor camp. Falco gave Geary a friendly, confident smile as he entered the stateroom. Geary recognized that exact smile from some of the records he had reviewed. “I’m sure you’d like to discuss our options for future operations,” Falco stated graciously. “My expertise and leaderships skills are at your disposal, of course.”
Actually, the thought of discussing options with Falco hadn’t even crossed his mind. Especially since I don’t think much of your expertise and don’t trust your leadership skills. But Geary nodded with outward politeness. “There’ll be a fleet conference held soon.”
“I meant with me,” Falco noted. “In private. It’s always best to map out a plan of action before the battle, eh? A good leader like you knows that, and I’ve heard plenty about your achievements in command of this fleet. But even the best commander needs input from those with the skills to support him, so I’ve taken the time to evaluate the fleet’s position and work up a course of action.”
The praise left Geary wary, wondering what Falco intended. “That was rather quick.”
The understated sarcasm didn’t seem to register on Captain Falco, who sat down and pointed at the regional display still visible. “Here’s what we should do. The most direct course back to Alliance space is by proceeding to Vidha. From there—”
“Vidha has a Syndic hypernet gate,” Geary interrupted. “Since it’s an obvious objective for us and easily and quickly reinforced by the Syndics, it’ll be heavily defended, and the jump points certainly will be mined.”
Falco had one of his frowns visible again. Interrupting him seemed to trigger a frown almost automatically. But he recovered quickly, assuming the expression of a respectful coworker again. “This fleet can overcome any Syndic resistance. Aggressive action is always the best move,” he lectured. “I don’t need to tell a commander like you that. This fleet has the initiative right now, and we must retain it, as you know. You understand how important it is to keep the enemy reacting to us. Now, from Vidha—”
“We’re not going to Vidha.” Since Falco seemed unable to take hints, Geary laid it out bluntly, even as he felt some admiration for Falco’s ability to make it sound like agreement with Falco’s plan was just what a good commander like Geary would, of course, do.
That seemed to take a while to sink in. Unexpected developments appeared to throw off Falco in a way that surprised Geary. Was that an act, designed to cause opponents to underestimate him? But Geary hadn’t noted any examples of that debating tactic in the old records he had reviewed.
Eventually Captain Falco shook his head. “I understand there will be Syndic forces awaiting us at Vidha. Like us, the Syndics know that Vidha is the only reasonable objective.”
The repeated use of “us” was a nice touch, Geary had to admit.
“Not only because it takes us back toward Alliance space, but because it offers an opportunity to engage and destroy the Syndics surely awaiting us at Vidha.”
“I consider that an opportunity to stick our heads into a nest of scorpions,” Geary observed. “Accepting battle at the time and place we choose is our best option. Going to Vidha would mean fighting a battle at the time and place of the Syndics’ choosing. The best we could possibly hope for at Vidha is to take horrific losses, leaving any survivors easy prey in the next Syndic system we fled to.”
Falco frowned, taking a noticeable pause to absorb Geary’s statement. “I see. You’re looking at it in terms of material factors.” Falco made it sound like that was misguided, if not completely unreasonable.
“Material factors?” Geary questioned. “You mean like numbers and types of combatants? Minefields emplaced? Fixed defenses operational and ready to assist mobile forces?”
“Exactly,” Falco beamed, projecting admiration for Geary’s insight. “Those are purely secondary issues. You know that! You’re Black Jack Geary! The moral is to the material as three is to one! With us in command—” Falco hesitated and smiled good-naturedly. “With you in command and myself along, this fleet has overwhelming moral superiority. The Syndics will flee in confusion, and we’ll have no trouble crushing them.”
Geary wondered if he was avoiding showing how appalled he was. Discounting firepower in favor of “moral” factors? Such things counted, surely, but nothing Geary had seen since assuming command had led him to conclude that the Syndics were so poorly trained, motivated, and led that such nonmaterial factors could carry the day even if the odds were close to equal. “Captain Falco, this fleet fought a substantial Syndic force at Kaliban. They didn’t fight well, but they fought.”
“I’ve seen the records of that battle,” Falco noted. “You’re to be congratulated for your efforts. But look at how few of our ships were lost! The Syndics didn’t fight well, because they were overwhelmed by our moral force!”
“They were overwhelmed by our superiority in numbers and our effective use of ancient tactics, which they weren’t prepared to deal with,” Geary corrected. “What I’ve seen so far is that the Syndics will fight even when faced with overwhelming odds, even when common sense would dictate avoiding provoking a fleet able to wipe out entire planets.”
“Nobody ever said the Syndics were smart,” Falco advised with another smile. “Our goal is to engage and destroy the Syndic fleet, so if they rush to their doom, so much the better.”
“My goal is to get as much of this fleet as possible home to Alliance space,” Geary stated. He wondered very briefly if he should tell Falco about the Syndic hypernet key on-board Dauntless and immediately dismissed the idea. Based on what he’d heard and seen so far, he simply didn’t trust Falco enough to share that critical information. “Hopefully, we’ll do considerable damage to the Syndic war effort on the way, but the overriding objective is getting the fleet home.”
Falco stared at Geary, seeming genuinely shocked this time. “You can’t refuse the opportunity for battle!”
Geary stood up and walked slowly around the stateroom, not looking at the other captain. “Why not?”
“It’s … this is the Alliance fleet!”
“Exactly.” Geary gave Falco a flat look. “And I have no intention of letting it be destroyed to no purpose. That would serve the goals of the Syndics. As I stated before, to the maximum extent possible, I’ll fight when and where I want to fight.”
“You’re supposed to be Black Jack Geary!”
“I am John Geary, and I will not waste the ships of this fleet or the lives of its crews.”
Falco’s face lost its shock and settled into stubborn lines. “Unbelievable. When the fleet ship commanders vote on—”
“There are no votes for courses of action in my fleet, Captain Falco.”
That seemed to startle Falco more than anything else Geary had yet said. Geary was increasingly convinced that, like the late Admiral Bloch, Falco’s skills had been centered on political gamesmanship to control the outcomes of such votes rather than on military tactics or strategy. Falco’s greatest victories had probably been won in such conferences and not on the battlefield. Now Falco spoke slowly, as if trying to ensure Geary understood something. “Tradition calls for the assembled wisdom and experience of the fleet ship commanders to have a role in deciding the fleet’s course of action.
““Tradition!” Geary paced again, shaking his head. “I t
hink I know a bit more about how this fleet used to operate than you do. Try regulations. Try good order and discipline, or unity of command. I’m the commanding officer of this fleet, Captain Falco. I will listen to advice, and I will consider all suggestions offered, but I will decide what this fleet does and does not do.”
“You have to show proper respect for the commanding officers of the ships in this fleet!”
Geary nodded. “We’re in agreement on that, but showing respect isn’t the same as avoiding my responsibility, my duty, to make critical decisions.”
“I must insist on following the command procedures that this fleet has developed in the face of constant warfare.” Falco looked stubborn and proud, not willing to yield the point. It was the same way he had fought battles, Geary realized, refusing to admit or recognize when head-on assaults simply wouldn’t succeed. Oddly enough, he was clearly being sincere about this. Falco really believed this was the right way to do things.
For that reason, Geary controlled his voice, speaking with care. “I have deep respect for the officers I serve with, and deep respect for the traditions of the fleet. I am also obligated to carry out my duties as I best understand them given the rules and regulations of the fleet. I’ve checked, and those rules and regulations say nothing about votes to confirm command decisions.”
“This is not about blind adherence to rules that may be outdated in the face of the threat we face,” Falco declared.
Geary recognized the words. Falco had said similar things a number of times before being captured, usually when talking about the government of the Alliance. “For better or worse, Captain Falco, I carry respect for those outdated rules within me, and I insist upon the fleet following them as well.”
“I repeat, I insist—”
“You don’t have the authority to insist upon anything. I’m the senior officer present. I’m in command. I believe that command procedures based on votes and committees are not a good idea, and I will not follow that kind of procedure. That will not change.” Falco made to speak again, but Geary pinned him with a demanding stare. “You’ve offered one suggestion. Do you have anything else?”
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