Commander Hopper sighed, her eyes reflecting fatalistic acceptance. “I need to go along with the Marines when they drop.”
“What?” Geary, Smythe, and Carabali all said the same word at the same time.
“There are too many uncertainties about the trigger, and comms may be interrupted when the Syndics realize what we’re doing. You need someone there to look at that trigger and figure out what to do with it.”
“My scouts—” Carabali began.
“If they do the wrong thing, we lose six thousand prisoners,” Hopper said. “This trigger is going to be unique. It may have been designed to thwart the usual disabling techniques. The training and experience of your scouts won’t be sufficient to deal with it.”
“Can you do a stealth landing?” Smythe asked. “Keeping up with the Marines?”
“I’ll have to.”
Carabali eyed Hopper, nodding. “Let’s see whether you can. I’ll need you on Mistral as soon as possible, so we can see how you do in the simulators.”
“She’s even tougher than she looks,” Smythe offered.
“Let me know how it goes,” Geary ordered. “Let’s get to work.”
After the images of the others vanished, Lieutenant Iger lingered. “Admiral, about Lieutenant Jamenson…”
“Are you still concerned about her access to intel materiel?” Geary asked.
“No, sir! Absolutely not. She would be—she is—a tremendous asset. If she could be transferred to the intelligence office aboard Dauntless, I am certain that we would, uh, work very well together.”
“I see.” Unseen by Iger but visible to Geary, both Desjani and Rione grinned, though as soon as each realized the other was smiling both changed their expressions. “Don’t you think Lieutenant Jamenson’s hair would be distracting?”
“Distracting?” Iger asked. “I, uh, didn’t… really… notice… That is, no, sir.”
Geary nodded solemnly, grateful that a career of dealing with sailors had taught him how to keep a straight face in situations like this. “I will consider your recommendation, Lieutenant. However, I did make Captain Smythe a firm promise that I wouldn’t poach Lieutenant Jamenson from his staff, and she is carrying out some extremely important tasks for me aboard Tanuki.”
“Oh. I see, Admiral. I wouldn’t—”
“But I didn’t promise Captain Smythe that you wouldn’t offer her a different position. Feel free to speak to her about it.”
“Yes, sir!” Iger saluted hastily and rushed from the compartment, pausing only to hold the hatch as Rione followed.
Desjani waited until the hatch closed before she laughed. “A tremendous asset?”
“She would be,” Geary said.
“And I’m absolutely sure that’s all that Lieutenant Iger is thinking about.” Her smile faded again. “This op is going to be a bitch to carry off successfully.”
“I know.”
Eleven
“Tell the Syndics we’re going to make two passes above the prison-camp area,” Geary told Rione, “because we require two shuttle lifts to get all of the prisoners up.”
The fleet’s orbital track had been very carefully calculated so that the planet’s surface would track a bit to one side under it between passes. On the first pass, the fleet would pass just west of the prison-camp area. On Syndic displays in their control centers and command posts, the fleet’s orbit would be projected with one hundred percent certainty that the second pass would bring the fleet directly over the camp.
Windows showing Captain Armus of Colossus and Captain Jane Geary of Dreadnaught were open near the fleet command seat on Dauntless’s bridge. “You’ve got your initial maneuvering orders. Captain Armus, once your portion of the battleship force is cut loose, I want you to do everything you can to support the Marines on the ground at the trigger site. I don’t care how much of the surrounding landscape you have to tear up.”
Armus nodded, stolid and unperturbed. This fire-support mission was right up his alley.
“Captain Geary,” Geary continued, “your part of the battleship force is to keep those four groups of Syndic warships off Armus’s units and off the shuttles going down to pick up the Marines. Anticipate the movements of the Syndics and be there first. They don’t have the muscle to stand up to your ships, and if they try, I want them shot to pieces.”
“It will be a pleasure, Admiral,” Jane Geary replied. If anyone could use battleships in an active defense role, it would be her.
Desjani, sitting on the other side of the admiral, was trying not to let her displeasure show at the lesser role of the battle cruisers.
Orion had been destroyed. Relentless, Reprisal, Superb, and Splendid were tied to Invincible, not only towing the superbattleship but also providing point defense for her. That left Geary with eighteen battleships, many of them scarred by fighting against enigmas, Kicks, and Syndics. Those battleships also lacked the maneuverability and speed of other warships, but all were massive, heavily armored, and bristling with weapons. Nothing but superior firepower, and a lot of it, could best them in a fight.
Armus would have Colossus, Encroach, Amazon, Spartan, Gallant, Indomitable, Glorious, and Magnificent. Jane Geary would have Dreadnaught, Dependable, Conqueror, Warspite, Vengeance, Revenge, Guardian, Fearless, Resolution, and Redoubtable.
The images of the two battleship commanders disappeared. Geary called Carabali. “Are your people ready to go, General?”
Carabali saluted formally. “Yes, Admiral. Twenty-nine Marines, and one fleet engineer. Commander Hopper has received a crash course in stealth armor operation and employment, as well as planetary infiltration, and has received emergency certification as qualified for this action.”
To say the Marine force-recon scouts had been less than thrilled to have a fleet engineer tapped to join their mission would have been seriously downplaying their reaction. Geary could have sworn he heard their chorus of protests even across the empty space separating ships. But the Marines had been forced to acknowledge that none of their personnel had a fraction of Hopper’s expertise and experience with the sort of challenge the trigger would pose, and she had completed the necessary simulator work.
“Launch your people on schedule,” Geary ordered.
He sat back, trying to relax, studying his display. The globe of the inhabited world slowly grew closer. The fleet had drastically scaled back its speed again for this operation and to achieve a stable orbit about the planet. That would give the Marines a little less than two hours after launch to reach the surface, reach their objective, infiltrate it, and seize control of the trigger before the fleet made its second orbital pass directly above the Syndic version of a Continental Shotgun.
“Tanya, I want you to be ready.”
Desjani perked up and looked at him. “For what?”
“If necessary, or if a good opportunity offers, I’m going to set loose the battle cruisers by divisions to chase off or chase down those Syndic warships that have been hounding us.”
“That just leaves escorts and the four battleships tied to Invincible to protect the assault transports and auxiliaries,” she pointed out.