Geary checked the time, then called the fleet again. “All units. Updated estimated remaining time to contact with enemy force is seven hours. Recommend all ships rest their crews for the next few hours.” He grinned at Desjani. “Did you ever get held at maximum alert for half a day?”
She looked away. “That’s actually been common. To ensure everyone was fully ready.”
“You’re joking.” The look on Desjani’s face told him she wasn’t. “That wears everybody out before the battle’s even joined. There are situations where you don’t have any choice, but with something like this, where we know the enemy can’t engage us for close to seven hours, it makes sense for everybody to get what rest they can.” Geary made a show of standing up. “I’m going to take a walk,” he announced to the entire bridge, “and get something to eat.” Aware of all their eyes upon him, Geary sauntered off of the bridge, wondering how well he’d be able to fake an interest in food. He’d have to pretend to be resting for at least the next couple of hours, too, though he knew the chances of actually getting any sleep were nonexistent. “Please keep me informed of any changes in the Syndic force’s formation or movement, Captain Desjani.”
“Of course, sir.” Desjani hesitated, but as Geary was leaving the bridge he heard her standing down a good part of Dauntless’s crew so they could get some food as well.
After spending hours wandering through Dauntless to visit compartments and talk to the sailors in them, after pretending to eat in three different meal areas, and after periodically checking with the bridge to make sure there weren’t any new developments, Geary finally gave in and returned to the bridge. Desjani was still in her seat, having apparently not left the bridge the entire time.
Desjani gave him a sheepish look. “Force of habit.”
“You’re a ship’s captain, Tanya. I know that means you have to be here even when you shouldn’t have to be here.” Geary sat down, then forced himself to lean back and study the display again. The two opposing fleets had gotten much closer, but were still hours from contact. The Syndic formation remained unchanged. “We’re going to fight in Fox Five,” he advised her.
“Fox Five?” Desjani grinned in anticipation. “I can’t wait to see this fleet carry that off.”
Me, too. I hope they can carry it off. He ran calculations, using the latest estimates of the velocity at which the Syndics were traveling and the point at which the two formations would come together if nothing changed between now and then. Two more hours. Too long. I can’t order the fleet into Fox Five yet. Dreading the thought of spending the next hour staring at the display, Geary called up the simulation program and began running it using his fleet and the actual Syndic force. This should keep me busy, and maybe I’ll spot something I need to know.
It still seemed to take forever for the next hour to crawl by. “Okay, Tanya. Let’s get ready to kick some Syndic butt.” She bared her teeth in an eager smile as Geary called the fleet. “All units, this is Captain Geary on the Dauntless. Execute Formation Fox Five at time four zero. I say again, execute Formation Fox Five at time four zero. Dauntless remains the formation guide.”
Fox Five was an old formation, though as far as Geary could tell it hadn’t been used for a long time. It seemed perfectly suited to what the Syndics were doing and to what he wanted to do in the upcoming engagement, and it was one of the formations he’d included in the simulations, so his ship commanders weren’t totally unfamiliar with it.
“Fox Five?” a voice queried. Co-President Rione, on the other hand, wasn’t at all familiar with it. “What does that involve?”
Geary turned to smile at her, unaware until now that she’d come onto the bridge sometime in the last hour. “It’s a way of arranging my forces. A fairly complex way compared to the manner in which battles have been fought recently, but it should be very effective.”
“How so?”
“I have superior numbers,” Geary assured Rione. “The trick is getting those superior numbers to hit the enemy together so his defenses are overwhelmed.”
She looked skeptical. “If I understand what I’m seeing on the displays, your ships are heading off in different directions.”
“That’s the idea. Too many ships in one formation means you can’t employ them all together. An enemy force engaged on one side of the formation can’t be engaged by ships on the other side of the formation.”
Rione shook her head. “I see you breaking your force into pieces. How does this help them work together?”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to watch it in practice.” Geary felt too nervous and excited to want to try to further explain fleet tactics to a civilian. He’d practiced moving fleets around, he’d trained at it under some captains and admirals who awed him with their skill, and he’d done a lot of simulating such maneuvers in the last couple of weeks. But this was the first time he’d be doing it in earnest, the first time large numbers of ships would actually be moving and engaging the enemy on his orders, the first time his decisions would decide the fates of many ships and perhaps the entire fleet.
He concentrated on the display to calm himself. As the ships moved in response to his order, the main body of the fleet was splitting into three sections. The section centered on Dauntless was significantly larger than the other two, a flattened oval facing the oncoming Syndic force. Moving to a position a million kilometers, or a bit over thirty light-seconds, above and forward of Dauntless were ships that were gradually forming a flat circle containing the second section of the main body, while another flat circle consisting of the rest of the main body was forming up thirty light-seconds below and forward. Together, the three formations resembled a huge nutcracker awaiting the Syndics, with the base centered in Dauntless and the two jaws positioned above and below the course the Syndics were taking.
Off to either side, also thirty light-seconds away, two smaller discs aligned at right angles to the main body were rapidly coming into existence as lighter units, mainly light cruisers and destroyers, with a leavening of heavy cruisers, raced into position to form the cheeks of the nutcracker.
Moving back, behind the lines of combatants, were the auxiliaries and the warships designated as their escorts.
And all six pieces of the Alliance fleet were moving at a still-deliberate pace of .03 light speed, following the course and speed set by Dauntless, having abandoned the orbit around Kaliban that they’d occupied for the last two weeks and headed through space toward an intercept with the Syndic force.
Geary gave a quiet sigh of relief as he saw the ships responding to orders. No one seemed to be pushing into an unassigned station, no one was charging off to be first to engage the Syndic force. Geary grimaced as he reviewed the formations, though. There was another command he had to send, to confirm the command arrangements for the coming battle, and he’d had to make a decision in that respect that he feared he’d regret. “All units, this is Captain Geary on the Dauntless, confirming the command structure for the upcoming engagement. In addition to exercising overall command of the fleet, I will exercise direct command of the main body.”