I promised Admiral Bloch I’d get this fleet home with the hypernet key. I can’t risk Dauntless.
But if I don’t risk Dauntless, I may well lose Titan.
But Bloch and Desjani both said the hypernet key on Dauntless is more important than anything else in this fleet.
He had a sudden memory of a very old myth, of a hero trying to make it home from a long war and losing his ships one by one, his followers one by one, until only he was left to come back. In the myth, that had been a triumph of sorts. And he had a vision of Dauntless limping back into Alliance space, alone, the wreckage of scores of other Alliance ships thrown to the wolves behind it, littering the path home.
And he knew that wouldn’t be a triumph of any kind in his eyes.
Even if it would, it’s too high a price.
And how long will these people follow me if I hang back and let them die?
Geary refocused on the people around him, watching him, and realized only a couple of seconds had elapsed while he’d been debating within himself. “Captain Desjani, I want Dauntless to take out that Syndic cruiser before it gets within range of Titan.”
Desjani grinned as the other sailors on the bridge uttered whoops of joy. “It’ll be a pleasure.”
“He’s very fast, and he’s good, Captain Desjani. Don’t take any chances. We have to ensure a kill, and we’re only going to get one shot at it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dauntless jumped forward under Captain Desjani’s commands, arcing over and down at her highest acceleration, Geary feeling a surge of excitement himself as the ship headed for her prey. He watched, not wanting to give orders over Desjani’s head directly to her crew, but fearing Desjani would misjudge the Syndic cruiser’s course. If they shot past the cruiser, the time required to turn and catch up would doom Titan.
Desjani was playing it smart, though. Geary watched the course she was pushing her ship down and realized Desjani was ignoring the combat system estimates. Instead, she was bringing Dauntless down to an intercept well ahead of the path the cruiser would have to follow to get within weapon’s range of Titan. At the speed the Syndic cruiser was going, it probably wouldn’t be able to see Dauntless’s maneuver until too late to react. Unless that Syndic commander guesses Dauntless will move to an intercept. But what can they do? If they alter course they won’t pass close enough to Titan to engage her. If they slow down to screw up the course projection, my other ships will be able to get close enough to throw enough junk at the general location of that cruiser that something will be bound to hit. And they can’t speed up more because they wouldn’t be able to brake down to engagement speed in time to shoot at Titan and have any reasonable chance of a hit.
I hope.
Geary watched on his display as Dauntless curved down toward a point where she’d cross the projected path of the Syndic cruiser and felt a strange pang of fellowship with whoever commanded the enemy ship. They obviously knew how to drive a ship and had a well-trained crew. How long had they been out here, exiled to Corvus System, waiting for the very unlikely chance that any Alliance force would ever arrive here? How easy it would’ve been to let things slide, to assume they’d never see combat, to let the ship and the crew deteriorate. But whoever they were, they hadn’t let things slide, they’d kept their ship and crew in top shape, and the efforts had almost paid off. Might still pay off.
The Syndic cruiser’s estimated position jerked again. “He’s going to have to start braking soon,” Desjani noted.
Geary nodded. “Do you think he’s seen us yet?”
“Unlikely, sir. He’s got old combat systems. They’ll be severely stressed by all the ships out here and trying to compensate for relativistic distortion at the speed he’s going. But even if he sees us, he won’t get past us,” Desjani promised in a soft voice.
“I know.”
Desjani grinned fiercely at Geary’s simple statement of confidence in her, but she kept her eyes on the combat display as she brought Dauntless down on the charging cruiser. Geary frowned. Dauntless had to be able to hit that enemy cruiser, but at the combined speeds of the Dauntless and the Syndic cruiser, they’d flash past each other in an instant without any chance for the targeting systems to engage. Had Desjani spotted that? Or was she so focused on reaching the enemy that she hadn’t realized what would happen? Should he say anything to Desjani? Overrule her, perhaps, in front of her crew?
The paths of the two ships kept converging, the remaining distance to the Syndic cruiser scrolling down at a fantastic pace. Geary finally cleared his throat. “Captain—”
But Desjani held up one hand, palm out, her eyes still riveted on the combat display. “I have it, Captain Geary.”
He wasn’t nearly as certain as she was of that, but Geary kept his silence. It was one of those moments he recognized, when you had to either have confidence in someone or else show everyone that you lacked confidence in that person. And Desjani had seemed very capable to him.
So Geary tried to look like he trusted her while inside he prayed to his ancestors that Desjani knew what she was doing.
“He should be braking now.” Captain Desjani rapped out orders, pivoting Dauntless around so her main propulsion system faced forward. “All ahead full.” Dauntless shuddered as her drives started braking her own velocity, the ship’s structure groaning with stress, and Geary feeling the force pressing him hard into his seat. A high-pitched keening noise filled the air as Dauntless’s inertial dampers fought to keep the stresses on ship and crew within bearable limits.
Dauntless’s projected course was altering quickly, bending down toward the path the Syndic cruiser had to be taking en route Titan.
Closer. Geary tried to swallow without showing it.
Desjani’s eyes were fixed on the display. “He should be down below point-two light now if he’s braking to engage Titan.” The image of the Syndic cruiser, only light-seconds away now in the closest thing to real time that naval engagements often saw, seemed to be very close to the course Desjani had predicted. “Set grapeshot to fire in sequence as we cross the cruiser’s estimated path,” Desjani ordered. “Charge null-field and stand-by.”
Dauntless, still braking hard, swept across the projected path of the Syndic cruiser at an angle, its grapeshot launchers hurling out their ball bearings down that path at millisecond intervals as each crossed it.
“Fire four specters, two to starboard and two to port.” The missiles swept out, each braking itself farther as its onboard sensors sought out a good fix on the Syndic cruiser undistorted by relativistic effects, then accelerating again toward their target.
Desjani paused. “Fire null-field.”
Geary watched on the display as the huge glowing ball that represented the null-field charge shot up and backward from Dauntless, toward the bottom of the Syndic cruiser’s current course.
And suddenly the Syndic cruiser was there, the range scales scrolling downward incredibly fast as it swept forward, either still unaware of Dauntless’s actions or trusting in speed to get it past Titan’s last defender. Even though he should’ve been expecting it, knowing the cruiser had to be braking, Geary was still surprised when he realized he was looking at the stern of the cruiser as it used its massive propulsion system to slow its progress.