He glanced at the time and the distance, reminding himself that he was watching events that had played out about an hour and a half ago. The images seemed so immediate it was hard to recall that light from the events had been on its way out here for that long.
“Ten minutes to sighting of first impact,” the weapons watch called out.
Small flashes of light were blinking into and out of existence near the bright dots that were all Geary could see of the merchant ships. He picked one orbital installation to focus on and increased the magnification of his view until the merchant nearest its target was visible as a ship rather than a point of light. A moment later, the ship started getting bigger, causing Geary to check his controls to make sure he wasn’t still zooming in.
But he wasn’t. “Lead merchant aiming for Syndic Orbital Installation Alpha has been destroyed,” the weapons watch announced. The ship was getting bigger because its hull had been broken, and everything that had once made up the ship and its cargo was now spilling out into space, momentum still carrying the wreckage toward the target even though the engines had been silenced.
Something like hell-lances was being fired from the Syndic base, flaying the wreckage but unable to divert enough of it, and while the Syndic fire concentrated on the wreck of the lead merchant, the next in line, its engines still pushing it ever faster, came even with the debris of the first. Geary felt his jaws tighten as the Syndic close-in defenses shifted their fire to the still-intact merchant, though to what purpose he couldn’t imagine. The installation was obviously doomed. He hoped the defenses were on automatic and no personnel had been left to die in a futile attempt to save the orbital facility.
Minutes later, the second merchant slammed into one side of the Syndic installation, shattering a large section into fragments of junk. The remains of the ship itself, also reduced to junk by the collision, bounced off and kept going.
On its heels, the huge cloud of wreckage from the former lead merchant started impacting. Geary stared, fascinated despite himself, as the Syndic orbital base staggered under repeated impacts, its whole structure warping and breaking as hundreds of tons of matériel rammed into it at very high speed. It looked oddly as if the Syndic base was dissolving under the impacts as the wave of debris tore it apart. The view shifted as the optics on the Dauntless followed the installation’s movement. Under the force of the blows from the wreckage, the remains of the Syndic base were being shoved out of orbit, reeling farther and farther away from the planet it had both protected and menaced for who knew how long. The image became blurry as debris spread out from the impacts, hindering the Alliance fleet’s view of the devastation.
Geary decreased the magnification so he could see a larger area, watching as the remaining merchant ships shot past where their target had been. As expected, the angle between the ships’ courses and the planet meant none of the merchants plowed into the planet itself. One of the merchants hit the upper atmosphere of the planet at a high angle and glanced off, the friction and impact breaking its hull and spilling its cargo as the wreckage flew off into space. Three others drilled into the upper regions of the atmosphere at high speed, boring incandescent holes through the planet’s sky as the ships’ hulls vaporized into plasma, the slagged remnants of what had been a ship and cargo finally exiting back into space, still glowing brightly from radiated heat.
“That must’ve been quite a show from the planet’s surface,” Geary noted.
“Better show on the other side, Captain Geary,” Desjani advised. “That side of the planet was in darkness. Do you want the replay?”
“Yeah.” The details differed in that the first three surviving merchant ships all missed their target by varying distances, but the end result was the same, as by chance the fourth scored a direct hit, blasting a deep crater into the Syndic installation and surely destroying every piece of equipment on it by the force of its impact. This side only had two merchant ships enter and then exit atmosphere, but Geary had to concede that Desjani was right. Against the dark sky, the fiery trails of the dead ships stood out so bright that the optical systems on the Dauntless had to adjust sensitivity downward to keep the image from being whited out.
I wonder what the Syndic pursuit force thought of our little show? Geary checked their location. They won’t see it for another two hours. Then we won’t see their reaction to it for at least another eight hours. Not that there’s much they can do besides yell insults at us.
“Why haven’t we received another surrender demand?” Desjani wondered, just as if she’d been reading Geary’s last thoughts. “There’s been plenty of time for that Syndic force to get one to us.”
“Good question. It wouldn’t hurt them in any way to make another demand. Maybe they don’t intend offering the opportunity to surrender anymore.”
Desjani smiled crookedly. “With all due respect, sir, I don’t think that the Syndics ever intended making a sincere offer to accept our surrender. Whatever terms they’d have offered, and whatever terms we’d have accepted, would’ve meant nothing.”
“Based on what they did to Admiral Bloch and his companions in the Syndic home system, I’d have to agree with you.”
“I was thinking as well of what just happened in this system.”
“Another good example, Captain. You’re quite right.” Geary scratched behind one ear. “But if they never intended abiding by any terms of surrender, what would they have to lose by making offers or demands?”
He was answered this time by Co-President Rione. “They don’t want to appear weak by making demands they can’t enforce.”
Geary looked back, seeing Rione seated in the observer’s seat. “I’m sorry, Madam Co-President. I didn’t know you’d come onto the bridge.”
“I entered while the Syndic merchant ships were arriving at the inhabited planet, Captain Geary.” Rione’s face shadowed momentarily with some dark emotion. “I understand the agreement I negotiated was violated.”
“You might say that,” Desjani responded in a bland voice.
“But that’s not your fault,” Geary added, with a glance at Desjani.
“Nonetheless, I offer my apologies.” Rione nodded her head toward the displays before Geary’s and Desjani’s seats. “As I said, the Syndicate Worlds commanders cannot continue demanding our surrender. It’s a matter of politics and image. This fleet has escaped a trap at the Syndicate home system, and run through Corvus System without real hindrance. The appearance grows that the Syndicate commanders cannot bring us to heel. Under the circumstances, they must destroy us or force us to sue for surrender in order to reaffirm their strength.”
Geary rubbed his lower face, contemplating Rione’s words. “That sounds very plausible.” He glanced at Desjani, who nodded back reluctantly. “There may be another reason, too. I’ll bet you that right now the commander of that pursuit force knows there’s a big reception party waiting for us at Yuon. He’s figuring he’ll come through to Yuon on our heels, while we’re trying to fight our way through that ambush, and finish us. So he or she doesn’t want to talk surrender when he or she sees themself as on the way to being the Hero of Yuon.”