Four hours was a long time to lie awake next to Victoria Rione, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. That alone was unusual enough that Geary didn’t want to disturb her. Whatever her thoughts and feelings actually were, at night they caused inner turmoil obvious to someone sharing his bed with her.
He got out of the bed carefully, dressed silently, then left, pausing in the entry to gaze back at Rione for a moment before starting to close the stateroom’s hatch, only to hear her call out, fully awake, “I’ll see you on the bridge.”
“Okay.” Damn. He couldn’t even tell when she was really asleep. Or know why she’d faked sleep until he was leaving, only to let him know at the last minute that he’d been fooled.
Captain Desjani was clearly awake, sitting in her command seat on the bridge and going over her ship’s preparations for battle. She flashed him a look filled with confidence. “You’re a little early, sir.”
“It’s kind of hard to sleep.” He spent a few moments going over the same fleet status readouts that he’d been studying for days, then stood up again. “I’m going to walk around the ship.”
As he had guessed, just about everyone else in the crew seemed to be awake already as well. Even those who had come off the watches that ended at midnight had stayed up to mingle restlessly with others in mess areas or at duty stations. Geary fixed a hopefully calm and confident look on his face and walked among them, exchanging greetings and making small talk about homes and how they’d surely beat the Syndics again in Lakota System. Whenever conversations veered to when the fleet would get home, Geary tried to be honest. He didn’t know when the fleet would once again reach Alliance space, but he was doing all he could to make it happen.
And they trusted him. They trusted him when he said that. They trusted him with their lives. In a very real way, they trusted him to save the Alliance, though saving the Alliance didn’t always mean the same thing, depending on who they were.
He paid a little more attention to how the crew members of Dauntless talked about home, about the Alliance, trying to see if they expressed the same frustrations with politicians, the same feelings that the blame for the state of the war rested there. Perhaps he was hypersensitive to the issue now, but Geary thought he heard more of that sort of thing than he’d ever realized was being said. Like Rione told me that time, it doesn’t matter what you say as much as what people think they hear. I haven’t been hearing this stuff.
No wonder they welcomed the “miraculous” return of Black Jack Geary so much. They weren’t looking for just a military leader but for someone to lead the Alliance itself. Ancestors, help me.
He returned to the bridge with about an hour to go, finding that Rione was now there in the observer’s seat, she and Desjani being outwardly polite when dealing with each other.
The only option left for killing time was calling up the local star systems display and trying to figure out where to go if the fleet couldn’t employ the Syndic hypernet gate at Lakota, which was the most likely outcome. As usual, the lack of current intelligence on surrounding star systems ranged from being annoying to infuriating. Branwyn seemed relatively safe as stars went, but had its small human presence and associated mining facilities been abandoned in the decades since the latest reports available to Geary, or were the Syndics still there to complicate any attempt to get more materials for the auxiliaries? Going to Branwyn would also continue toward Alliance space. Had its jump points already been mined? Were Syndic blocking forces already moving into position?
Of the other options, T’negu was actually reachable from Lakota just as it had been from Ixion. Would the jump exit from Lakota be mined or left unobstructed, since the Alliance fleet wasn’t supposed to enter T’negu from that direction? Seruta seemed average, bypassed by the hypernet system, with a single harsh but habitable world holding a population measured in tens of millions and a scattering of off-planet facilities. No special threat there, but going to Seruta angled away from Alliance space again. And of course Ixion, the place they’d left.
He didn’t like the options, but they were better than in any other place he could have taken the fleet.
“Five minutes to jump exit,” a watch-stander called, startling Geary out of his thoughts.
Captain Desjani tapped an intercom control. “All hands prepare for battle upon exit. Remember that the eyes of Captain Geary are upon us.”
He tried not to flinch, but something made Geary look back to see Rione’s reaction. She gazed back at him with an unreadable expression, but her eyes betrayed nervousness.
“One minute to jump exit.”
Geary tried to calm his breathing, focusing on the display where a portrayal of Lakota Star System now hung before him, showing what the old records knew of that star and the Syndic presence there. In moments that display would begin frantically updating as the fleet entered normal space again and the fleet’s sensors began spotting everything that wasn’t in those old records.
“Stand by. Exit.”
Grayness turned to blackness, then Geary felt himself being pushed to one side as Dauntless swung through the tight turn preprogrammed into the maneuvering systems. All around Dauntless, the rest of the ships of the main body swung together in the same turn. Up ahead, the vanguard was already well into the turn, and to either side the flanking formations were turning along with the main body. Moments later, the trailing formation flashed into existence, then began the same swing to port.
“Where are the mines?” Desjani demanded, then smiled grimly as warning markers sprang to life on the displays. Sure enough, a dense minefield floated along the straight path out of the jump point. The Alliance fleet had now turned so that the coin-shaped formations were moving in the directions of one of the thin sides, as if five coins were standing and sliding across a smooth surface edge first. Off to the starboard of the Alliance formations, the minefield drifted past impotently.
His gaze swinging away from the most immediate threat, Geary searched for enemy warships. None just outside the jump exit. None nearby. His eyes went farther and farther across the display, scarcely able to believe the lack of enemy warships, until they reached the hypernet gate.
The expected Syndic flotilla waited there, cruising slowly past the hypernet gate on what must be a fixed patrol path. “Syndic Flotilla Alpha consists of six battleships, four battle cruisers, nine heavy cruisers, thirteen light cruisers, and twenty HuKs,” the combat systems watch reported at the same time as the displays portrayed the identical information.
“We’ve got them,” Desjani exulted. “We can take that force easily.” She turned a fierce grin on Geary, the smile of a fellow teammate when the other side has made a fatal error and victory seems assured.
Geary tried to relax himself, scanning the displays for any more Syndic warships in Lakota. But except for a couple of HuKs moving down near the inhabited world five light-hours from the Alliance fleet’s current position, everything seemed to be in the flotilla moving past the looming presence of the hypernet gate.
“That would be more than enough Syndic firepower to destroy that gate before we reach it,” Rione noted flatly.
“Yeah.” Geary nodded. But such a possible opportunity shouldn’t be thrown away. Couldn’t be thrown away. Desjani wouldn’t be the only officer in the fleet convinced that the Syndics were easy prey. “A straight charge at the gate would cause the Syndics to stay there and destroy it. We need to try to lure them out of position, then get to the gate before they can return.”
“If we destroy them—” Desjani began.
“I know. But our overriding priority is getting to that gate while it’s intact.”
Desjani nodded reluctantly.
“How will you lure them?” Rione asked.
“What would you suggest?” Geary replied.
Rione spent a moment thinking. “Offer them something? An irresistible target?”
“Yes,” Desjani agreed. “Make them think we’re not interested in the gate and present a target
they’ll have to go after.”
Unfortunately, there was only one Alliance target that satisfied that need. “Formation Echo Five Five. The auxiliaries and the badly damaged warships.” Like sick animals at the rear of the herd. But he didn’t want to lose any of those ships. The auxiliaries remained crucial to the fleet’s continued survival, and the damaged warships with them were not only important for the combat capability they retained but for what their presence told the fleet: that Geary wouldn’t abandon ships or crews. Using them as bait didn’t exactly keep faith with that concept.
He took a long look at the entire situation again. Lakota Star System seemed wealthy after the sparsely populated stars the Alliance fleet had visited lately. The primary inhabited planet, nine light-hours distant on the other side of the star Lakota right now, showed every sign of being a growing and dynamic world. Substantial colonies existed on a couple of other planets, and facilities of various kinds dotted the system on stars, moons, and in fixed orbits. Between all of that a fair amount of civilian traffic moved, merchant ships plying within the system and heading outward from within it or inbound after arriving from other stars, and big ore carriers hauling resources from the mines on rich but uninhabitable outer worlds and asteroids. Fixed antiorbital defenses surrounded a few off-planet locations, but Geary paid them little attention. Those, and the military stations orbiting the inhabited world, were sitting ducks for long-range bombardment by his fleet.
If only they could linger here to haul some of the cargo from those ore carriers onto the Alliance auxiliaries.
The maneuvering systems had no trouble running the actions that Geary wanted. “Second and Seventh Destroyer Squadrons, you are to detach from the formation and intercept the Syndic ore carriers located near the gas giant one point two light-hours to starboard of the fleet. Take possession of the ore carriers and escort them to join the fleet so we can transfer their cargoes to our auxiliaries.”
He paused to decide if that was all he needed to order now, then decided to simplify his problems in this system. Geary told Dauntless’s combat systems what he wanted destroyed by highlighting targets and how to achieve it by choosing a weapon, and the combat systems presented a reply after thinking about it for a tiny fraction of a second. Geary studied the plan for a few moments himself, then forwarded it to Reprisal. “Eighth Battleship Squadron, conduct kinetic bombardment of Syndic military installations as laid out in attached plan of action.”
As Geary ran his next course calculations, the four battleships were already spitting out the solid chunks of metal that would gain energy all the way to hitting their targets. At the velocities the metal projectiles would be traveling when they struck their targets, not only the projectiles but also a fair amount of surrounding real estate would be vaporized. Ships could easily see kinetic projectiles coming and make the tiny alterations in course necessary to dodge something coming from millions of kilometers away, but installations on objects in fixed orbits were stuck on predictable paths, which had made them easy targets ever since mankind had weaponized space.
“All units,” Geary ordered, “turn starboard seven two degrees, down zero three degrees, at time one six.” The orders would cause every ship to pivot in place, the formations aligned the same way but now heading in a different direction so that the broad sides of the coins once again faced forward.
Desjani only took a moment to analyze the order. “You’re splitting the difference between the jump points for Branwyn and T’negu?”
“I want to keep the Syndics guessing on our objective,” Geary explained as he stood. “Ready for another fleet conference?”
“If you can face them, I can,” she replied.
Desjani followed Geary off the bridge, but as Geary passed Rione, she stood up and came right behind him, interposing herself between Geary and Desjani. “You’re going to be physically present at this conference?” Geary asked, surprised out of his concentration on his alternatives.
“Perhaps,” Rione answered with a frosty edge to her voice. “I’d like to know what you’re going to say beforehand, unless it’s a secret.”
“All right.”
Rione walked alongside him as they headed for the conference room, Desjani trailing and remaining silent.
“I’m going to tell them that I intend trying to lure the Syndics at the hypernet gate out of position. The track we’re on will keep them guessing as to our objective but lead them to believe we’re just transiting the system and intend leaving as soon as possible.”
“Isn’t that what you really intend doing?” Rione pressed.
“Well, yes, though if we get that Syndic flotilla far enough out of position, we can make a run for the hypernet gate. That’s going to remain an option.”
“Do you really think they’ll risk leaving the gate?” Rione wasn’t trying to hide her skepticism.
“They might. If they don’t, we go on to Branwyn.”
The conference room was already expanded by the virtual meeting software, most of the fleet’s captains already in attendance. A small heads-up warning floated before Geary as he took his place at the head of the table, reminding him that because the fleet remained dispersed, there’d be noticeable delays in response times from ships at a distance.
“Welcome to Lakota,” Geary stated, realizing that he’d need to come up with some other way to start these meetings. “It looks like we outguessed the Syndics again.”
“Why aren’t we headed for the hypernet gate?” Captain Casia demanded.
Feeling very tired of having Casia interrupt him, Geary just stood and looked at the man for a long time, until Casia began fidgeting. “I’d appreciate it in the future,” Geary stated in a voice as devoid of emotion as he could make it, “if you would wait until I have outlined our plans before commenting on them. Is that clear, Captain Casia?”
“I’m only—”
“Am I clear, Captain Casia? Did you understand what I said?” Oh, yeah. Black Jack could do this. It felt good on that level. He just had to make sure he didn’t push it past the point that John Geary would regard as appropriate.
“I understood you.” Geary’s face hardened, and Casia added a final word. “Sir.”
“Thank you.” Gazing down the table again, Geary tried to pick up where he’d left off. “There’s only a small Syndic flotilla in this system, but one easily big enough to destroy that hypernet gate if we try to charge it while they remain in position near the gate. As long as they’re there, we can’t hope to access the gate.”
He gestured to the display, where a representation of the Alliance formation glowed, a long line arcing through Lakota toward a point about midway between two jump points on the other side of the star. “If we can’t get those Syndics away from the gate, we’ll have to use jump points again. If it comes to that, we’ll head for Branwyn.” That brought smiles, since Branwyn led toward Alliance space. “But we might as well keep the Syndics a little uncertain until then about whether we might jump for T’negu instead.”
“They won’t leave that gate,” Captain Tulev noted. “The Syndics must have orders to ensure we don’t use it.”
“Probably,” Geary agreed. “But there’s a chance if they’re convinced we’re heading for a jump point, and they see an attractive enough opportunity, that they might risk coming after us.”
Far down the table, Captain Tyrosian flinched. The last time Geary had needed a lure, it was one of the auxiliaries. She’d be even less happy when she found out he intended using all four this time.
Geary altered the display floating above the table, zooming in on the depiction of the Alliance formation. “The Syndics can tell the ships in Echo Five Five consist mostly of our four auxiliaries and our most badly damaged ships. I’ve already positioned the formations so that Echo Five Five trails the fleet. As we head across the system, Echo Five Five will gradually lose ground on the rest of the fleet as if unable to keep up.”
“How much ground?” Captain Midea asked. Her attitu
de was a bit different, Geary realized. In the absence of an immediate threat, she’d been extremely aggravating. But with the Syndics around in force, Midea seemed more professional, more focused on dealing with the enemy than with messing with Geary.
“Echo Five Five will remain within supporting distance of the rest of the fleet,” Geary assured her.
“If so, the Syndics won’t take the bait,” Midea objected. “We need to be far enough away that the rest of the fleet seems too far off to render assistance.”
Duellos was giving Midea a measuring look, Casia was frowning at her, and Captain Cresida was nodding. “She’s right, sir.”
Geary shook his head. “I can’t risk—”
“Paladin can fight,” Midea insisted. “Put her back there with Orion and Majestic and Warrior. Add in the ships from the Seventh Battleship Division, and we’ll have seven battleships in that formation. That’s enough to deal with the warships in the Syndic flotilla.”
Commander Yin of Orion was staring at Midea with unsuccessfully concealed horror. Majestic’s commanding officer shook his head regretfully. “We’re not front-line capable. Neither is Warrior.”
“Warrior is prepared to engage in combat,” Commander Suram corrected quickly and firmly.
Geary gave Suram a measuring look, impressed by his attitude and letting Suram see it.
“Since when does the Alliance fleet need superior numbers to engage the enemy?” Midea demanded. “Warrior is ready to fight, so even if you leave out Majestic and Orion, that would still give us half the number of major combatants the Syndics muster. Alliance ships can easily defeat twice their number of Syndics.” She turned an accusing gaze on Geary. “Black Jack Geary defeated ten times his number.”