Around him, cheers had erupted on the bridge of the Dauntless as they watched the small Syndic force get slaughtered. The sound wore at Geary’s nerves, leaving him looking for something to vent his anger on. He tapped the fleet communications circuit again. “All units not yet in standard attack formation Alpha Six are to expedite their movement.”
Desjani gave Geary a surprised glance, but quickly hid her reaction. Not that the Dauntless’s captain had to worry. As flagship, the unit every other ship had to take position relative to, the Dauntless was defined as being in position the moment the order was issued. “Do you think that’s their entire fast-pursuit force?” she asked so quickly that Geary suspected she was just trying to change the subject.
How the hell would I know? Geary wanted to snap back. Instead, he thought about the question for a moment. “I think so. If they were sending through more, why leave an appreciable gap between their arrival times?” He paused. “That wasn’t a big force, though. They should’ve been able to get it through the jump point right on our heels.”
“They were just over an hour behind us.” Desjani appeared to be thinking, then nodded. “They hesitated, then sent through a small force just in case it might find us unprepared.”
Hesitated. Yes. Geary nodded back. “They sent something so they could tell their superiors they’d maintained a hot pursuit. Enough to make it look serious, but nothing big enough that they’d mind losing it.” And too bad for the sailors on the ships their bosses didn’t mind losing.
“Yes. Human life means nothing to them.” Captain Desjani looked straight into Geary’s eyes, her voice flat.
“Point taken.” I’ll have to remember not to misjudge Captain Desjani. She has what she believes are good reasons for everything she does. Geary bit his lip as he studied his display. If that was the entire Syndic fast-pursuit force, he could order the battle cruisers to rejoin the rest of the fleet. But the Syndics could’ve deliberately paused between waves to mislead defenders into thinking they wouldn’t be sending in anything else for a while. But those battle cruisers were already ten light-minutes away from the rest of the fleet. Ten minutes away for receiving messages. Ten minutes away from Geary even knowing if those ships were in trouble. At least an hour away from being able to help them. And they were getting farther away every moment. “Captain Duellos, Captain Tulev, this is Captain Geary. Well done. Please rejoin the fleet as expeditiously as possible. Have your ships assume assigned positions within standard fleet attack formation Alpha Six.”
Ten minutes for Duellos and Tulev to get the message. Then they’d have to get their ships up to speed and start a long stern chase to catch up with the fleet. It’d be quite a few hours before they were in formation.
But at that, it seemed those battle cruisers would be in formation before anyone else achieved that goal. Instead of resolving into the ordered rectangles, the Alliance fleet seemed to be rushing to further fatten the end of the rough wedge facing the Syndic base.
What the hell is going on? Geary pulled back the display, trying to see if he was missing some large picture inside the more detailed view. No. It still didn’t make sense. Only the slower units like Titan seemed to be in their assigned positions. And crippled Titan didn’t have any choice in the matter, slowly crawling across the system in the wake of the faster warshipsIt only gradually dawned on him that Titan was distressingly unaccompanied. “Where’re the ships that are supposed to be acting as close escort on Titan?” He expanded his look at the situation again. “All the support craft accompanying the fleet are missing their escorts. Where the hell are the escorts for the auxiliaries?” No one on the Dauntless’s bridge answered.
He’d avoided verbally blasting most of the other ships in the fleet again for being slow to get into formation, not wanting to give in to what he suspected was bad temper as opposed to professional judgment. But falling back into formation should’ve been a relatively quick and easy maneuver for the assigned escorts. If they’d actually been headed for their positions, they must have been in them by now. This was simply too careless—Careless? Or something else? Geary took another look at the way the ships in his fleet were strung out, then pulled the view back to get the two Syndic corvettes into the focus.
It took him entirely too long to figure out what was going on, but he finally did. “Ancestors save us all!”
Desjani stared at him, clearly wondering if the vague outburst this time referred to her own ship. “Captain Geary?”
Geary just concentrated on his display, trying to get control of his anger and voice before speaking. Finally, he pointed at the movements of the Alliance ships. “Those … fools … aren’t getting into formation because they’re all trying to get in on the kill when we make contact with those corvettes.” Now that he’d realized what was happening, it seemed obvious, the way almost the entire Alliance formation had bent and stretched toward the place where the fleet would intercept the Syndic corvettes. Most of Geary’s fleet had abandoned or ignored their assigned positions, and their assigned duties in the larger scheme of things, just so they could possibly get a lick in when the corvettes were annihilated by a ridiculously overwhelming force.
Desjani looked as if she were hesitant to speak, then finally began talking. “Aggressiveness is the primary—”
“Aggressiveness! That’s what you call this?”
“‘Close with the enemy,’” Desjani stated in a way that again sounded like a quote to Geary. Then she confirmed it. “That was one of the final orders given at Grendel.” Desjani watched him, knowing he’d make the connection.
And Geary remembered, trying once again not to let his emotions show. Because, after all, those events during a battle a century before in the Grendel Star System hadn’t been much more than a month ago for him. His ship had lost communications with the other units in the convoy as they battled the Syndics. But before the loss in communications, one of the last orders he’d given his own ship, which would’ve been heard over the command net, had been “close with the enemy.” “You’re not seriously telling me that … that…”
She nodded, radiating pride now. Pride in herself, in the fleet, and in Geary. “That’s our primary rule of engagement in the Alliance fleet. Be aggressive. Never hesitate, never delay. Close with enemy, just as Black Jack Geary ordered long ago,” Desjani declared, her face glowing.
Geary wanted to grab her and shake her. You idiot! All of you idiots! That’s not a one-size-fits-all solution to every tactical situation! It’s not even smart a lot of the time! “By every ancestor of every sailor in this fleet, Captain Desjani, discipline matters as much as aggressiveness! A few frigates can take down those corvettes. I was going to send a single squadron of them to do it.”
“They know they’re fighting under the eyes of Black Jack Geary, sir! They want to show you how good they are!”
“They’re not! They’re acting like an untrained mob! They’re ignoring my orders!” Geary bit back whatever he might’ve said next. Desjani and the other members of the Dauntless’s crew were staring at him as if he’d just slapped Desjani. “Look, aggressiveness is all well and good in its place, but if it’s not matched to intelligent tactics and coordinated, disciplined actions, it’s a recipe for disaster.”