“Bad move.” Desjani bared her teeth. “We look like an easier target, but we’re faster than he is. That’s not a very experienced commander.”
“Neither are some of his captains, apparently,” Geary replied, watching the Syndic warships scramble to get into position and carry out the major changes of their vectors. One of the Syndic battleships blundered into a Syndic heavy cruiser, causing most of the heavy cruiser to disappear in a flash of light while the battleship reeled away with major damage. “One more down.”
The intended compact Syndic square spread and warped out of shape as the Syndic flotilla failed to make the turn.
“Formation Indigo One, come right two zero degrees, up one five degrees at time zero six.” The Alliance battle cruisers raised their bows slightly as they turned, sliding around to aim for an intercept of one side of the flailing Syndic flotilla. “Formation Indigo Two, come left two eight five degrees, up two one zero degrees at time zero eight.” The battleships, now well below the Syndics, began turning upward as the Alliance battle cruisers closed on the enemy again.
This time, with the enemy caught in temporary disarray, the Alliance battle-cruiser formation roared past one corner of the Syndic flotilla at almost perfect range, lashing out at the exposed Syndic warships with a large local superiority in firepower.
Dauntless shuddered heavily in the wake of the firing pass. “One Syndic missile got through, Captain. Damage aft. Hell-lance battery six bravo out of commission. Reduced capability from main propulsion unit alpha.”
“Can we keep up with the formation as it maneuvers?” Desjani demanded.
“Engineering is boosting output from the remaining main propulsion units, Captain. Damage control teams are reinforcing damaged hull sections. Damage control central requests we avoid major maneuvers for the next ten minutes.”
“Tell them to make it five!”
“Yes, Captain. Five minutes.”
Illustrious, still carrying plenty of damage from the fight at Cavalos, took more hits, along with Valiant and Daring. But the outnumbered Syndics in that part of the flotilla had lost three more battle cruisers.
“What the hell are they doing?” Geary burst out with as the Syndics continued to swing up and around in a corkscrew movement.
“Beats the hell out me,” Desjani confessed.
“They’re just continuing the same—We got the CEO. They’re following their last orders because no one else has established themselves in command yet.”
“Nice,” Desjani almost purred, watching the Alliance battleship formation rip through the diminished Syndic flotilla. Only ten Syndic battleships and battle cruisers remained operational after that, though the Alliance formation shed Gallant as it bent back for another firing run.
“Propulsion damage on Gallant, but she can still defend herself. They’re concentrating their fire,”
Desjani noted with grudging approval. “Throwing everything they can at the battleships that have already taken the most damage. Look at how badly Redoubtable got hit, too.”
“At least she can still keep up with the formation.”
Desjani spun to face her engineering watch-stander. “Five minutes are up. Can I maneuver?”
“One more minute, Captain,” the engineer pleaded.
“I don’t have one minute!”
“Ready for maneuvers,” the relieved watch-stander gasped as he received the report.
“Good,” Geary approved. “Let’s go.” On the heels of his words, the Syndic flotilla altered course radically, bearing back around and down. “Where…?”
Geary brought the battle-cruiser formation toward the Syndics in as tight a swing as he could, trying to guess on which vector they’d steady out. The answer became clear after several minutes. “They’re going after Resolution and Incredible.”
“We’ll get at least one more pass at them before then,” Desjani pointed out, “and so will the battleships.”
“Any updates from Gallant?” Geary asked. He could scroll through the display looking for that information himself, but he needed to spend that time and concentration on the big picture.
“Gallant reports about half of her combat systems remain active,” the operations watch reported.
“Shields weak but regenerating, several major breaches in hull armor being sealed. Estimated time to regain some maneuvering control is twenty minutes.”
Deciding that Gallant could look out for herself for the time being, Geary lined up the battle cruisers on another intercept with the Syndic flotilla and adjusted the track of the battleships so they’d hit the Syndics again.
The wait to contact was agonizing this time. Resolution and Incredible drifted helpless, both ships too badly damaged to have any hope of surviving another Syndic attack and neither having enough working weapons to have much chance of inflicting any damage on the enemy. The Syndic box, even smaller now, was curving in from above and the left. Farther to the left and slightly higher, the Alliance battle cruisers were swooping down on the Syndics. Off to the right and roughly even with the Syndics, the Alliance battleships were boring in steadily.
It must have become apparent to the Syndics that they didn’t have a hope of rendering death blows to Resolution and Incredible before being savaged by the rest of the Alliance fleet. As the two Alliance formations drew close, the Syndic flotilla abruptly dove, greatly increasing its down angle and steadying out toward where the smaller Syndic formation was holding off from the battle. Geary rapped quick commands to the battle cruisers and the battleships, correcting for the Syndic moves.
As the Alliance ships steadied onto their new vectors, collision-warning alarms blared. Geary barely had time to jerk his gaze to the alerts before the Alliance battle cruisers raced through the Syndic flotilla from one side and above almost at the exact same instant as the Alliance battleship formation tore through from the other side and slightly above.
For that heart-stopping instant, a lot of warships going on widely different vectors at very high speed threaded past each other, automated maneuvering systems screaming alarms in protest as they tried to avoid collisions in the maelstrom of warships. Meanwhile, the automated combat systems on every combatant saw a suddenly target-rich environment and gleefully hurled out shots in all directions. Then the three formations were diverging again. Geary inhaled heavily as he realized he’d forgotten to breathe for a moment.
Even Desjani looked pale. “Sir, have you considered the possibility that there could be such a thing as being too good at compensating for the movements of the enemy?”
“Not until just now.” He took another breath and checked his display, then checked it again. “We lost some more destroyers, but that was probably to enemy fire. No collisions?”
“All the same, let’s not do that again, sir.”
“Okay.” The Syndic flotilla’s box, subjected to so much firepower at once from different angles, had disintegrated. Two battleships were still slogging along their track, but both had sustained significant damage. No Syndic battle cruisers remained, and the escorts had been slaughtered. Conversely, with so many targets at once, the Syndics hadn’t been able to concentrate their fire. Aside from some unfortunate cruisers and destroyers, the Alliance fleet had avoided more serious damage. Geary breathed a sigh of relief. “Formation Indigo Two,” he ordered the battleships, “break formation and get those two remaining Syndic battleships. Formation Indigo One, general pursuit. Avoid the two surviving Syndic battleships until they’ve been reduced by our battleships.” The last thing he wanted was another loss like Opportune.