“The maneuvering systems say our ships can do it.”
“In theory.” She gave Geary a hard look. “This will have to be done totally on automatic controls. No ship-handler in the fleet could possibly execute this without disastrous results.”
“I understand.”
“Sir, please, Dauntless can be farther forward.”
“She will be when we split the formation. Tanya, it’s one lousy firing run. How many battles have we fought on this ship together? How many times has Dauntless led the way, held the center of the formation while the Syndics aimed right at us?”
Desjani kept her head bowed, glaring at the deck. “I don’t suppose I should have expected you to understand.”
“Dammit, Tanya, in a perfect world I’d bend the heavens to make you happy, but I have responsibilities to this fleet and to the Alliance. This would be one hell of a lot easier if I was on any other ship talking to any other captain, but I can’t let my personal feelings dictate this decision.” Desjani stiffened, and he gritted his teeth. His last statement could refer to professional respect and friendship, but could also be seen as a careless allusion to something neither he nor she could admit to, talk about, or base any actions on. Geary refocused his argument onto impersonal reality. “Dauntless has to make it home, because Dauntless carries the Syndic hypernet key, and that can’t be duplicated until we reach Alliance space. I cannot put Dauntless in a position that would virtually guarantee her destruction. Nor do I have to, since no one could possibly claim that Dauntless and her commander have been anything but honorable and in the forefront of every fight.”
She stayed quiet for a while, then glanced sidelong at him. “You’d bend the heavens?”
Startled, Geary nodded. “If I could.”
“I may hold you to that.” Desjani straightened and saluted. “Dauntless will do her duty, as will her captain. It’s a good plan, sir. It’ll surprise the enemy, and more importantly, it should hurt them.”
“Thanks.” He returned the salute, sighing with relief as Desjani left. Though he did feel a twinge of worry as he wondered just what “hold you to that” might mean.
“I assume you now have a plan?” Rione asked.
Geary, once more seated in the fleet command position on Dauntless’s bridge, turned to nod at her.
“It’s a surprise.”
“Wonderful, but apparently it’s intended as a surprise to your own ships as well as those of the enemy?”
“To some extent.”
“Since we’re less than an hour from contact, I suppose we’ll all find out what you intend before much longer.” Desjani was maintaining a poker face, but it appeared even that gave something away to Rione.
“Those of us who aren’t already in your confidence that is.” Rione settled back, looking outwardly unconcerned.
Desjani waited a few minutes, then leaned close to Geary to speak inside his privacy bubble. “I need to apologize to you.”
“No, you don’t. I expected your reaction to be a lot worse, if you want to know the truth.”
“That’s not what I mean.” She glanced toward Rione. “I wondered if you’d held Dauntless back at her urging, to keep the Syndic key safe. I should have realized you wouldn’t do that. I’m sorry for thinking it.”
“That’s all right. Now keep your head in the game, Tanya. This is going to be a tough one. I need you at your best.”
“You always get my best, sir.” She grinned and settled back into her captain’s seat. Half an hour to contact. Twelve hours ago Geary had deliberately set up the Alliance formation as virtually a mirror image of the Syndics’, with four subformations flanking a central subformation. He’d have to move soon, but not too soon. The Syndics had held their own course and speed, swinging in toward a head-on encounter with the Alliance fleet’s own central formation even though they surely expected Geary to make some last-minute changes to his fleet’s vectors.
“Do you want to address the fleet?” Desjani asked in a way that implied he did whether he realized it or not.
“Good idea.” He paused for a moment to order his thoughts, then hit the fleetwide circuit. “All ships in the Alliance fleet, this Syndic flotilla stands between us and home. What we lack in supplies we make up for in experience and spirit.” He wasn’t following in the footsteps of Captain Falco’s sort, who thought “fighting spirit” magically multiplied the capabilities of a fighting force. But it did matter, it did make a difference, as long as you didn’t assume it provided mystical protection against enemy firepower. Experience, on the other hand, could make a tremendous difference. “These Syndics won’t stop us here because this day we will add another victory to the annals of the Alliance fleet.”
He ended the transmission, feeling uncomfortable at using such high-sounding words, then saw Desjani looking at him approvingly. “You always give good speeches before an engagement, sir. Short, direct, and powerful.”
I do? “Thank you, Captain Desjani. I meant every word of it.” He wondered if the last part sounded defensive.
She seemed startled by it, though. “Of course you do. We all know that. You’ve proven it. In any event, we’ve all had plenty of experience with hearing long speeches. It always seemed to me while listening to them that anyone who really believed what they were saying could get it said in a lot fewer words.”
“You may have a point there.”
Rione unexpectedly chimed in, her tone dry. “She does have a point.”
Not looking back, Desjani frowned, then, with a glance at Geary, gestured everyone on the bridge to silence.
He barely noticed, concentrating on the movements of the opposing forces sweeping closer to each other. The maneuvering systems were counting down a recommended time to initiate the maneuver, but Geary was matching that against his own experience, his own gut feelings for the right moment, factoring in the time required to send the command to begin carrying out the package of commands he’d already forwarded to all of the other ships in the fleet.
Still no change from the Syndics. They’d done that at Cavalos, too. Whether or not the CEO in charge of their flotilla knew that it had given Geary problems at Cavalos, he or she was following the same tactic here, holding off on a course change until the last possible moment to frustrate whatever plan Geary had developed.
One minute to recommended time to initiate maneuver. He frowned at the countdown, feeling a nagging instinct that it was a little too tight. He had to time this right, not perfect-world right but real-world right, all while not knowing how the Syndic CEO would react. But he’d fought the Syndics enough now that he had good grounds for guessing, so Geary waited, letting his instincts speak as his eyes watched the Alliance fleet and the main Syndic flotilla rushing together. Waiting. Waiting. At ten seconds before the recommended time to pass the command his thumb twitched without conscious thought, activating the comm circuit. “Formation Indigo Two, Formation Indigo Three, execute maneuvering orders package one effective immediately.” He paused, then called out again. “Formation Indigo One, execute maneuvering orders package one effective immediately.” Wait. Seconds ticked by as Dauntless’s bow pitched upward. “Formation Indigo Four, Formation Indigo Five, execute maneuvering orders package one effective immediately.”