It took a minute to come up with an advantage for the Alliance fleet. The quality of my sailors is superb. They’re more experienced than has been the norm in the last several decades since crews tended to die before they acquired too much skill. But I’ve kept mine alive. Most of them.
And they’ll fight like hell, and they’ll fight to the death. Some of my subordinates are also good leaders. All of the ship commanders will listen to me now. I can count on their carrying out my orders. Within limits. He paused, trying to come up with something else, then remembered the Syndic guard flotilla destroying the hypernet gate at Lakota when the Alliance fleet was light-hours distant. And the Syndics are scared of me. Admit it. It’s an advantage for us. They expect me to do something unexpected, to do things that no one else can do.
How to use that? What unexpected things are still left to try with the force limitations I have to deal with? Too bad I can’t figure out a smart way to fight the kind of battle this fleet was used to fighting before I took command, charging straight into the enemy. After watching me command engagements at stars from Kaliban to Cavalos, the Syndics would never expect… Can I do that?
He watched the candle flame dance, ideas swirling through his mind. There might be a way. It wouldn’t be cost-free in terms of fuel cells, but it wouldn’t cost nearly as much as any alternatives, if the ships and the maneuvering systems can handle it, and if I can construct the necessary orders before we reach the Syndics.
And if Desjani doesn’t kill me when she finds out what my plan would mean for Dauntless. Thank you, ancestors. I heard you.
Rising, Geary bowed toward the candle, snuffed it out, and hurried toward his stateroom. He had a lot of simulator work to do.
IT took a while. He had to keep trying different approaches, and the maneuvers were far too complicated for any human to have worked out unaided by the fleet combat systems. When he viewed the resulting maneuvering commands, the dizzying mix of vector and speed changes didn’t produce any coherent picture at all. But when he ran the commands for the final product through the simulator, the results looked right even though his professional experience and training cringed at the idea of so many ships weaving through each other at high speed immediately prior to contact with the enemy. Still, everything was within the performance capabilities of his ships, even the lumbering fleet auxiliaries and the damaged warships because he’d minimized their required changes in courses and speeds. He could imagine how his old instructors would have reacted to his plan. The concept is far too simple and the execution far too complicated. His protests that it was the best option left to him would have produced stern lectures to avoid getting into situations where the best option was something like this. Which advice was all very well in theory or peacetime practice, but the real universe, a century of war, and the long retreat from the Syndic home star system had left him this harsh practical reality to deal with. He checked the time and the location of the Syndics, for once grateful for the long delays caused by the huge distances in space. Desjani had called to tell him that once the Syndics had seen the arrival of the Alliance fleet four hours after it exited the jump point, the enemy flotilla had turned onto a vector that would intercept the Alliance warships if they continued toward the jump point for Padronis. A light-hour behind them, the smaller enemy flotilla had eventually turned onto a similar course. Both Syndic formations had held their velocity to point zero eight light speed, the same velocity at which the Alliance fleet was moving, the forces closing on each other the entire time in which Geary thought and ran simulations. At a combined closing rate of point one six light speed, the Alliance fleet and the Syndic flotilla would require about twenty more hours to come into contact.
The downside of the Syndic decision to hold their velocity to point zero eight light was that they were obviously trying to improve their chances of getting good hits in when the fleets clashed. They were willing to wait a little while to ensure maximizing damage on the Alliance fleet. Geary sat down, calling up the commands for the battle and reviewing them again anxiously before calling Dauntless’s bridge. “Please tell Captain Desjani that her presence is requested in my stateroom.”
He waited, watching the enemy, wondering how these Syndics would maneuver to contact and during the battle, until his hatch alert chimed and he allowed Desjani to enter. Her eyes went immediately to the display above the table. “What’s the plan?” Desjani asked. From the look of her, she’d reined in her curiosity as long as she could.
“It’s… complicated.” True enough. Especially once Desjani saw where Dauntless would be when the fleets clashed.
“I can check it.”
“I’d appreciate it if you did.” He grimaced, not happy with knowing how she’d react. “I’m trying something new.” Geary fell silent, gazing at the display.
“All right, sir,” Desjani finally said. “That’s not a problem. But if you want my input, I need to see the maneuvering plan.”
Just as he’d once been told, when Desjani locked on a target she didn’t let go. Besides, he did want her input. Best to get it over with now. “Okay. I just caution you again that this is a new approach.”
She was obviously puzzled. Geary looked down, sighed, then punched the commands to play out the intended maneuvers during the initial encounter with the Syndics. Desjani watched, her eyes widening with disbelief as the Alliance fleet’s formation dissolved into an apparently chaotic swarm as it approached contact with the enemy. As the warships of the Alliance fleet re-formed at the last moment, she watched intently, then her expression froze. “You’re—” She didn’t seem to breathe for a moment before speaking in a tone so flat it sounded almost lifeless. “Sir, I must respectfully inquire as to whether I or my ship have lost your confidence.”
“No. Not at all.”
“Sir, this plan—”
“Will allow the battleships to do what they do best.”
Desjani’s face reddened. “Battle cruisers do not go into combat behind other ships! We lead the way!”
“Not this time.” He could see how tightly her hands were clenching into fists. “Captain Desjani, I need to hit the Syndics in a way they don’t expect without getting my own fleet wiped out in the process. I am not putting the battle cruisers in a secondary position in this engagement. Run the next set of commands.”
She didn’t look at him as she did so, then took in a long breath. “As you say, this is an unusual plan.”
“That’s the idea.”
“I understand why you don’t wish to communicate this to the other battle cruisers in advance. They’ll be extremely unhappy. As am I. But I will follow my orders, Captain Geary.” Desjani seemed slightly mollified but still sullen, and didn’t look at him.
“Thank you, Captain Desjani. I would not wish to be on any ship but Dauntless in any circumstances.”
She didn’t respond, and he wondered if he should say more, but he’d said what he believed. “Do you think the plan is sound?”
He could see her trying to control her emotional reactions, trying to focus on the plan as an abstract. “If our ships can actually carry out these maneuvers in the time and distance allotted, then it will certainly surprise the Syndics… as much as it does some of our own ships.”