“That is certainly possible as well,” Rione agreed.
He took another look at the display, pulling out the scale so that almost all of the Corvus Star System was visible on it, the Alliance fleet and the Syndic pursuit force both reduced to mere dots crawling across the great distances between jump exit and the new jump point. The Alliance force was most of the way through Corvus now, only a day away from being able to jump to hoped-for safety at Kaliban. Which reminds me. There’s some important unfinished business to attend to. “I’ll be in my stateroom.”
Geary swept past Rione, who gave him a look that was just a shade shy of suspicion. Once safely alone, he began calling up the list of names Captain Duellos had forwarded to him, looking for a new commander for Arrogant. He’d vowed that Commander Vebos wouldn’t be the captain of that ship when they left Corvus, and he meant to fulfill that vow.
with an entire fleet to draw from, there were plenty of candidates. However, Duellos had taken the trouble to highlight certain names. Geary, checking the names against their service records and whatever brief memories (if any) he had of the individuals, realized those names belonged to officers who were good at their jobs but not among the worshippers of Black Jack Geary.
One caught his eye. Commander Hatherian, currently weapons officer on the Orion. One of Numos’s officers, which would’ve made Hatherian automatically suspect in Geary’s eyes. In Geary’s experience, people like Numos tended to surround themselves with subordinates who were at least willing to pretend they thought their boss was the brightest star in the heavens. But Duellos thought Hatherian was worth considering. And Hatherian’s last fitness report from Numos had been good but not glowing. Clearly, Hatherian wasn’t Numos’s favorite.
Hmmm. Hatherian’s a commander. So is Vebos. I was wondering what to do with Vebos.
Geary crafted a pair of messages with great care, finally downloading them and then returning to the bridge where Rione still sat, her and Captain Desjani both apparently oblivious to the other’s presence. “I’m sending orders to Arrogant and Orion,” Geary informed Desjani.
“Yes, sir.” Desjani obviously wondered why she needed to be told that, but she read the outgoing messages and then fought to keep her expression unremarkable. “Do you anticipate any trouble having these orders followed?”
“Not on Orion’s part.” If he’d judged Numos right, the man thought himself an inspiring leader. Even if Captain Numos didn’t think too highly of Commander Hatherian, Numos would likely assume that Hatherian would be more loyal to Numos than Geary. Having himself worked for people like Numos, Geary knew things often didn’t work that way. Getting out from under such a commander was often a great relief, and little if any loyalty flowed from the past association.
Geary sat down, waiting.
Less than an hour later, a shuttle left Orion, heading for Arrogant. Desjani ran some figures. “It’ll take the shuttle about two hours to reach Arrogant.”
“I’ll be back.” Geary headed out, forcing himself back down to another mess area to pretend to eat another meal and pretend to be confident of their return to Alliance space. Then he vainly attempted to rest for a while before returning to the bridge.
“Orion’s shuttle is still a half hour out from Arrogant.”
“Thank you, Captain Desjani. Has Arrogant sent any messages to the shuttle?”
“No, sir. As far as we can tell, Arrogant hasn’t acknowledged the shuttle at all.”
Geary drummed his fingers on his chair arm, pondering what options he had if Vebos continued to act like an idiot. There were several, but he didn’t want the situation to escalate any worse than it absolutely had to. Reaching a decision, he tapped in a communications address that was becoming all too familiar. “Colonel Carabali, I have a shuttle en route to Arrogant from Orion.”
“Yes, sir.” Carabali eyed him, obviously curious as to why she should care.
“The shuttle carries Commander Hatherian to relieve Commander Vebos as commanding officer of Arrogant. Commander Vebos has orders to report to Orion as that ship’s new weapons officer.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re familiar with the fleet tradition of sideboys, Colonel Carabali?”
“Yes, sir.”
“It occurs to me that it would be a nice gesture if your detachment of Marines onboard Arrogant were to give the departing commanding officer a ceremonial send off.”
Carabali, who’d doubtless spent a career dealing with odd requests from superior officers, managed to keep from looking startled. “Sir?”
“Yes.” Geary smiled in what he hoped was a benign manner. “Like sideboys. I think it would be a good thing if your Marines onboard Arrogant reported to Commander Vebos and informed him that they were there to escort him to the shuttle.”
Colonel Carabali nodded slowly. “All of my Marines on Arrogant? You want them to find Commander Vebos and tell him they’re … sort of an honor guard.”
“Yes. Exactly. An honor guard. To escort him off the ship.”
“And if Commander Vebos declines to avail himself of that honor? What should my Marines do then?”
“Should that happen,” Geary stated, “have them maintain position around Command Vebos while they contact you and you contact me. We’ll decide on the proper way to persuade Commander Vebos to accept the honor based on the exact situation.”
“Yes, sir. I will issue the necessary orders, sir. I assume there’s no chance of weapons-release authority being given?”
Geary tried hard not to smile. Colonel Carabali hadn’t forgotten that it had been Vebos who had ordered the bombardment of her troops. “No weapons, Colonel. If we have to, we’ll frog-march him off the Arrogant. But I think even Commander Vebos will realize his options are limited when he’s surrounded by Marines. Besides, he’s going to Orion.”
Carabali’s face lit with understanding. “I see. Yes. That should help. I’ll keep you informed, Captain Geary.” Carabali saluted, and her image vanished.
Geary leaned back to see Desjani watching him and trying not to smile. “An honor guard?” she wondered.
“Yes,” Geary replied with all the dignity he could muster.
“Why to Orion, if I may ask?”
Geary looked around to make sure no one could hear and lowered his voice. “It seemed one way to minimize the number of places I need to keep my eye on. Besides, it gives Numos the opportunity to work with Vebos. And vice versa.”
“I understand. They deserve each other. Orion’s shuttle is on final approach. Arrogant still hasn’t acknowledged it.”
Arrogant, being smaller than Orion, didn’t have a shuttle dock. Instead, the shuttle swung close to Arrogant’s main airlock, extended a mating tube and moored to the outside of Arrogant.
“According to our remote readings, Arrogant’s airlock hasn’t opened yet.”
Geary checked the time. “I haven’t heard anything from Colonel Carabali. Let’s give it a few minutes.”
Five minutes later, Colonel Carabali called in, her expression carefully composed. “Commander Vebos and his honor guard are enroute to the airlock on Arrogant.”
Geary nodded back solemnly. “Any problems?”