She shook her head. “Isn’t this more likely to be a bluff? We think the dark ships identify Bhavan as a star system friendly to them. If we just keep heading for the jump point, won’t they drop the threat to that planet and try something else?”
“No,” Geary said. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Look what they did at Atalia and Indras. They are either programmed to be ruthless when they think it is necessary, or their thinking has gone off the rails, and they are justifying to themselves any action they want to take. They have targeted escape pods, they have targeted civil populations, they have even gone after a clearly Alliance installation like Ambaru Station.”
She frowned, thinking, then looked away. “Or, they may be programmed like Black Jack, but as you’ve already noticed, in addition to reflecting your own actions since assuming command of the fleet, they also sometimes act like the Black Jack we were all expecting before you really came back.”
Geary stared at his display, feeling a knot in his guts. “The Black Jack who would tell you that everything you had been doing in the war was right and would help you do more of it?”
“That’s the guy,” Desjani agreed. “I’m thinking how I would be looking at this situation before you showed up. You remember me then, I assume.”
“Yes, Captain, I do. The officer who shocked me by expressing disappointment that she could not employ null fields against inhabited planets.”
“Yeah. Her. It’s a good thing she didn’t know what hypernet gates could do to enemy star systems, isn’t it? If I put myself back into that mind-set, I know that I want the enemy commander to engage me. I know that this enemy commander will protect planets that he believes are really threatened. If he doesn’t respond to the threat to attack a planet, it would be because he doesn’t think I’d really do it. So I need to do it, I need to hammer that planet into total ruin, to ensure that next time the enemy commander doesn’t assume I am bluffing.
“I still don’t think that Admiral Bloch would bombard Alliance planets. But I have been watching the maneuvers those dark ships are carrying out, and I am not seeing Admiral Bloch’s touch in any of them. And he has not responded to your attempts to communicate. No one has. That’s not like Admiral Bloch, who would be reveling in your predicament and enjoying telling Black Jack to surrender to him. Even if Admiral Bloch is present, I don’t think he is in command of the dark ships anymore.”
“Then you agree with me that this is not a bluff? That the only way to keep the dark ships from wiping out human life on that planet is to move to engage them again?”
Desjani did not hesitate this time. “Yes, sir, I agree.”
“I concur with your thinking, Captain, even though I wish we were both wrong. Dr. Nasr believes that the dark ship AIs may have warped their programming into a state where they are simply justifying whatever they want to do. He thinks there may still be some hard limits on their actions, but we don’t know what those are. Based on Indras and Atalia, bombarding civilian targets is no longer one of those limits.” Geary took another look at his display. “They may not turn to engage us as soon as we turn to engage them. They may want to lure us as far from the jump points here as possible before moving to intercept us again. That’s what I would do if I wanted to minimize the chance of any opponent’s escaping. I’ll give them what they want, and they will regret getting it. This time I will go after the nearest wing formation.” He touched his comm controls. “All units in First Fleet, immediate execute, turn starboard five four degrees, up zero two degrees.”
As his three formations turned, Geary issued additional orders, pivoting the diamond formations again so they were canted forward, the leading point higher than the trailing point, and facing down the vector they were traveling. Then more commands, spreading out the formations, so that the battle cruisers were out to port, then two light-seconds to starboard the first battleship formation, and two light-seconds beyond that the second battleship formation.
“What are we doing here?” Desjani asked, her eyes on the display before her.
“I want to see who the dark ships aim for,” Geary said.
“The battle cruisers. So we can’t outrun them. Just like last time.”
“Not if the dark ships expect their own battle cruisers to show up behind us. Their best move in that case, the move I would make, is to concentrate everything they have on one of our battleship formations and inflict so much damage on it that it is rendered useless.”
They waited. On their current vectors, Geary’s ships would not catch the dark ships for days. Everyone knew that if the dark ships intended bombarding the primary inhabited world at Bhavan, they would have ample opportunity to do so. But no one said that out loud.
Even if the dark ships turned onto a direct intercept right now, it would take them nearly an hour to close the distance to Geary’s ships. If they waited, it might be several hours at least before anything else happened.
He felt a need for some time to think without eyes upon him, yet the solitude of his stateroom felt wrong. He also needed inspiration, and where could he find that?
Geary realized he knew somewhere that might help, and stood up. “You know,” he commented to Desjani, “it’s been too long since I talked to my ancestors.”
“Say hi to them for me,” she replied.
Geary walked to the special rooms near the center of Dauntless set aside for crew members to worship however and whomever they wished. Crew members saw him going that way, so he knew word would spread. He hated making a public spectacle of such an errand, but surely his ancestors would understand the need.
In one of the small rooms, Geary sat down on the hard, wooden bench and lit the single candle before him, watching the flame dance. You know what I am fighting, he thought. Please tell me what I need to do. I don’t want more people to die, especially men and women under my command. The dark ships must have more weaknesses that I can exploit. Weaknesses that will compensate in some measure for their advantages. I already feel confident that what I am doing is right, but I wouldn’t mind reassurance on those grounds, either.
He did not feel any answer. His thoughts refused to coalesce around any image or memory that might help. It’s up to me, then? Again? Am I ever going to get a break? How about these men and women that I command? Haven’t they already given enough? How much more will be asked of them?
Still nothing. After several minutes, Geary sighed and moved to snuff out the candle.
But the flame seemed to dance aside. He grumbled and tried again, once more missing it. It took a third, determined try to put out the candle.
He was halfway back to the bridge before he wondered whether that had been some sort of message.
—
TWO hours later, light arrived from the region of the jump point from Varandal with the news they had been expecting. “Twelve battle cruisers,” Lieutenant Castries reported. “Accompanied by fourteen heavy cruisers and twenty-five destroyers.”
“Can we see any signs that any of those dark ships engaged in combat at Varandal?” Geary asked, tensing as he waited for the answer.
Castries bit her lip as she studied her display, then shook her head. “All dark ships are undamaged as far as we can tell, Admiral. It’s possible some of them have damage on portions that we cannot see, but the odds of none of that being visible would be pretty small.”
“Roberto Duellos would have hurt them,” Desjani said forcefully.
“There are two dark battle cruisers unaccounted for,” Geary pointed out, unwilling to feel completely relieved as of yet.
“Two major combatants completely destroyed and not a mark on any of the other dark ships? That doesn’t seem plausible. Admiral, it looks to me like those dark ships raced straight through Varandal from the hypernet gate to the jump point for Bhavan. Captain Duellos could not have managed an intercept und
er those conditions unless he was perfectly positioned.”
It was what he wanted to believe, which made it too easy to believe, but Geary couldn’t argue with Desjani’s logic. “I hope you’re right, Tanya.”
“The new dark ship formation came starboard after arriving and steadied out on an intercept with our track, Admiral,” Lieutenant Yuon said.
“We have a target-rich environment,” Desjani commented in cheerful tones that drew looks of disbelief, then grins, from her bridge crew. “For once,” she continued, “I will not insist that Dauntless achieve the majority of the kills. There are plenty of enemy warships to go around.”
“The dark battle cruisers are coming up to point two light speed,” Geary said. “They’ll take a long time to intercept us even at that rate, but I expect the dark battleships will finally turn once they also see the light of their battle cruisers’ arrival.”
Geary’s warships were only eight light-minutes from the dark battleships. Less than twenty minutes after sighting the dark battle cruisers, the enemy battleships maneuvered, not turning their formations but simply pivoting around to face toward a fast intercept with Geary’s force. Lighting off their main propulsion on full, the dark ships labored to first stop their movement toward the primary inhabited planet, then accelerate outward in a nearly opposite direction toward Geary’s warships. That maneuver used a lot of fuel cells since it first killed momentum completely in one direction, then built it in another. Swinging through a turn instead would have altered the direction of momentum, which also involved a lot of propulsion, but made some use of the existing movement and so was not nearly as expensive in terms of fuel.
As they maneuvered, it became clear that the dark battleships were all accelerating toward an intercept with one Alliance subformation, the one that contained the battle cruisers, including Dauntless.
“They don’t just want the battle cruisers,” Desjani said with dawning understanding. “They want you.”
“I was starting to suspect that,” Geary said, trying to sound casual about knowing he was being personally targeted by such a massive force. “Tactically, it makes a lot of sense. The enemy has a skilled commander, so it is a good idea to aim to take out that skilled commander.”
“But we suspect that dark ship fleet was built at least in part to counter any threat you might pose to the Alliance government,” she pointed out. “That’s not about tactics. Are they programmed to go after Black Jack?”
“It’s entirely possible that they were, under certain conditions, and they may have decided that those conditions have been met, maybe when we beat them at Atalia, maybe just when I challenged them at Atalia.”
Desjani glanced sidelong at him. “We can use that.”
“Yes, we can.” It seemed very unlikely that would be enough to compensate for the superior numbers and capabilities of the dark ships, but at the moment he would take anything he could get.
SEVEN
GEARY’S three diamond formations were heading in toward the star. Ahead of them, and slightly to starboard, were the three dark battleship formations. The main body of the dark ships in its rectangular box shape was accelerating fast onto a curving path through space that aimed for a direct intercept on Geary’s battle cruiser formation, the two smaller side formations closing in on the main body so that the three dark ship formations had almost merged into one long rectangle.
Nearly a light-hour behind Geary’s ships and a bit off to port were the twelve dark battle cruisers and their escort ships. The dark battle cruisers and the heavy cruisers and destroyers with them were accelerating for all they were worth and also steering on a vector that would eventually catch up to Geary’s formation.
“They don’t mind burning fuel cells like nobody’s business, do they?” Lieutenant Castries commented, then cast a hurried look at Captain Desjani as she realized she had spoken aloud. “I’m sorry, Captain.”
“It’s true,” Desjani replied. “Why do you think the dark ships are maneuvering in that fashion, Lieutenant?”
Castries hesitated as she thought through possible explanations. “There are a variety of profiles that our automated maneuvering systems are designed to adopt based on the situation,” she finally said. “Battle Priority profile places emphasis on completing maneuvers quickly and deemphasizes fuel cell usage levels because it focuses on achieving a quick, decisive victory. It appears that the dark ships are using Battle Priority as a default, perhaps because they see their ability to accelerate and maneuver better than our ships as a decisive advantage.”
“Not bad, Lieutenant,” Desjani said. “You are very likely correct. Where we modify our instructions to the maneuvering systems and sometimes override the automated preferences, the dark ships are forced to use purely automated controls that they may not question.” She looked back at Geary. “What are we going to do? Try to lure them into a lunge for Dauntless as we swing by again? It will be hard to set that up so we can get a decent number of hits, but we can try once more.”
“It’s too hard,” Geary said. “Time and numbers are not on our side. We can’t risk inconclusive firing passes, but if we cut a pass too close and get chewed up, we could lose this fight very quickly.”
“Maybe—”
“Hold on.”
Desjani ceased speaking instantly, turning a warning glare on the bridge watch-standers to ensure they also remained silent. Geary rarely cut her off, especially so abruptly. When he did, she knew it meant he was chasing an idea, something that was hanging on the edge of his consciousness but staying just out of sight.
The candle had offered a clue. Dodge aside from the enemy attacks. But battleships could not dodge battle cruisers. In order to set up conditions that would give him a chance to avoid getting hit too hard, Geary knew he would have to first inflict a major blow on the dark ships. But he couldn’t dodge and hit the dark ships hard. If only he could tear straight through the dark ship formation. But they would target Dauntless, they would aim every weapon at this battle cruiser, and—
Of course. They’ll aim at Dauntless. They’ll throw everything they’ve got at her. “I’m going to give them what they want,” Geary said. “A lot of clean shots at Dauntless.”
Desjani twisted her head rapidly to stare at him. “I’m waiting to hear the rest of the plan, Admiral.”
He pointed. “We go through here. The center of the dark ship formation. Not a glancing blow. We aim to go through them.”
Desjani nodded. “Then what, Admiral? Because the dark ships won’t plan any maneuvers if we come in aimed at that spot. They’ll know even if we make a last-second alteration of vector, we won’t be able to get clear of their weapons’ engagement envelopes.”
“Exactly. I want them targeted on Dauntless, and I want them waiting to get their shots. We’re going to refine what I told the heavy cruisers to do at Varandal.”
“Messing with the dark ships’ targeting priorities?”
“Exactly.” He indicated the other two formations of his fleet. “We’ll maneuver so that our battleship formations will be coming in at the same point in the dark ship formation, at the same time.”
“So our battleships can target the dark ships while they target Dauntless?” Desjani nodded again, her expression revealing no emotion. “It’s a smart plan. Which other ship will you be transferring to before that?”
“I’m staying aboard Dauntless.”
“No, you are not, Admiral! Because Dauntless will not survive that firing pass! There is no possible way, and you must survive. I recommend moving to Leviathan because Captain Tulev—”
“Tanya.” Geary pointed to his formations again. “The dark ships will target Dauntless. As long as Dauntless remains a priority target, they will not shift targets, and they will hold fire waiting to hit her. How long does it take our fire-control systems to reprioritize targets? About a second?”
“Abou
t that,” Desjani said. “Maybe a little longer. It depends on the complexity of the firing solutions and the relative velocity of the engagement.”
“My idea is to bring in our three formations so they intercept the dark ships as close to simultaneously as possible, but with the formation containing Dauntless a fraction of a second in the lead, and at the last possible moment accelerating our battleships so they switch lead with the battle cruisers, coming in a fraction of a second before Dauntless.”
She stared at him. “So the dark ships are holding their fire, waiting to hit Dauntless, while our battleships hit them a fraction of a second earlier?”
“Yes,” Geary said. “The dark ships don’t get their shots off because we hit them just before they fire.”
“Can you handle a maneuver like that?”
“No. But our maneuvering systems can, right? This is close to a straight-on intercept, without much deflection to worry about, and our three subformations are close together and moving along nearly the same vectors. Our automated maneuvering systems can make it work.” He paused. “I think it should work with the fire-control systems of the dark ships, which are identical to ours in every way that matters.”
“Why don’t we check on that?” Desjani gestured to Lieutenant Yuon. “Have Senior Chief Tarrani get in touch with me immediately.”
It took less than thirty seconds for Senior Chief Tarrani’s image to appear before Desjani. “Yes, Captain?”
“I’ve got a question about our fire-control systems, Senior Chief,” Desjani said. She explained Geary’s plan. “Can that work?”
Tarrani’s expression had shifted from puzzled to startled to admiring to considering. She took a few moments to answer. “Based on the way our fire-control systems work, Captain, the answer is yes. Keep the time differential down to less than a second, and the fire-control systems will not shift targets. They won’t change targeting priority based on that small an interval because recalculating time to fire and sending commands throughout the ship to shift weapon firing times takes just over one second. If we can cut the approaches of our three formations that fine, it will work. The dark ship fire-control systems will not reprioritize based on that small an interval.”