“Some destroyers? We’re going to send all of them.” He paused, wondering what he was expecting. Oh. This is where Tanya would jump in and start helping assign specific destroyers to specific refugee ships. Duellos is deferring to me on the matter, waiting for orders, because we don’t have that kind of established working relationship. But there weren’t that many destroyers or that many refugee ships, so it was a simple matter for Geary himself to tap units on his display, rapidly designating one or two destroyers to head for each fleeing refugee ship. “All destroyers in Task Force Adriana, execute attached orders. Intercept and round up your assigned targets, then escort them to join the other refugee ships being guarded in orbit. I don’t want those refugee ships disabled or destroyed. Fire warning shots only. Request permission before firing on the ships if that proves necessary.”
He sat back, watching the destroyers leap away from the formation, their paths forming a spray of graceful curves on the display.
“They would have preferred being sent to destroy those ships,” Duellos commented.
“I know. But I don’t have any stomach for massacring civilian refugees,” Geary replied.
“I doubt they would, either, once they thought about it. You’ve gotten us all out of the habit.” Duellos shook his head, making a face. “From the sound of the messages we’re picking up, no one is in charge here.”
“How is that possible? Why isn’t the aerospace forces colonel paying attention to the orders from the ground forces general?”
Duellos shrugged. “Separate services. In a real crisis, they would hopefully cooperate well enough, but without an imminent Syndic threat to focus their attention, they’re fighting for turf. Even though the aerospace commander here is a colonel, that rank is equal to the ground forces general’s.”
“It is?” Geary asked, eyeing one of the messages from General Sissons, the ground forces commander. The general’s ideas of motivating subordinates and conveying orders appeared to depend heavily on yelling, profanity, and threats. Geary had been subjected to a few superiors like that in the course of his career. To their own superiors, they were unfailingly polite and proper, but the living stars help those unfortunate enough to work for them. “I can see why the aerospace forces aren’t giving any ground when it comes to working with that guy, but why can they get away with it?”
Duellos raised his eyebrows at Geary. “You don’t know?”
“No. And I want to know because I don’t want this General Sissons trying to pull rank on me if I can help it.”
“I’m sorry. Sometimes, I forget that your experience with the way things work these days is still limited, and I assume that things always worked that way. Yes, technically, General Sissons is very likely senior to you. Your promotion to admiral was less than a year ago. If you approach him as Admiral Geary to General Sissons, he can walk all over you. He can try, anyway,” Duellos amended as Geary reacted to those words. “But as commander of fleet forces in this star system, you are his equal. See how the aerospace forces colonel is handling it? She always uses her status as aerospace forces commander when dealing with General Sissons, rather than her status as a colonel.”
“That’s… a little screwy. The Alliance has really allowed military command protocols to deteriorate to the point where no one is in charge of a star system?”
“You saw that at Varandal,” Duellos pointed out. “The ground forces and aerospace forces there don’t answer to Admiral Timbale. But if there is a specific operation, in a combat zone, an overall commander will be appointed. If Admiral Bloch had brought a division or two of ground forces along when we made that ill-advised lunge for the Syndicate home star system at Prime, he would have been in charge of them as well as the fleet units because the assault force would have been organized that way.”
The implications of that finally sank home. “If we’re equals, I don’t have to do what Sissons says, but I can’t make Sissons provide whatever assistance I need to get those refugees back to Batara.”
Duellos spread his hands. “You also can’t make the aerospace forces colonel do whatever you want. You might be able to overawe them. You are Black Jack. But you’ll have to convince them that whatever you are demanding is required to carry out the task specified in your orders and that your orders are consistent with their orders.”
And General Sissons’s orders surely also contained the old phrasing all actions necessary and proper, which offered substantial wiggle room, as well as substantial grounds to declare that anything he was asked to do was unnecessary or improper or both. In order to get this mission done, Geary might have to wheel and deal and convince and implore like some politician. He finally got a good sense of how fleet command processes had sunk to the level they had been at when he took control of the fleet at Prime. “How the hell did we avoid losing the war a long time ago?” Geary muttered.
“The Syndics are worse,” Duellos said.
“Yeah. I guess they are. All right. I’ve already acted by sending my destroyers out after those loose refugee ships, which demonstrates my capabilities and my willingness to use them. I’ll contact General Sissons and Colonel… Galland and see how they respond. It will take a day and a half for us to reach that habitable planet, which gives us all time to work something out.”
In his earlier career, he would have been at a loss to formulate a message designed to convince other commanders to cooperate with him rather than either telling them what to do or submitting to their authority. But he had learned a few things since then. “To General Sissons, commander of Alliance ground forces in Adriana Star System, and Colonel Galland, commander of Alliance aerospace forces in Adriana Star System, this is Admiral Geary, commander of Alliance fleet forces in Adriana Star System.” He marveled at the requirement to take a breath after that lengthy beginning to the message. “I look forward to working with both of you to resolve the refugee situation here. Your assistance and advice will be critical to a successful resolution of the issue. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”
Duellos nodded approvingly. “Not bad. Spoken with authority, but not with enough force to get their backs up, and extending a hand for cooperation. You always say you’re not good at politics, but that wasn’t bad at all.”
“I guess I’ve spent too much time around Victoria Rione. She’s always made a point of explaining things like that to me.”
“Ah. I see. That woman.”
“Don’t you start calling her that, too. It’s bad enough that Tanya refuses to say her name.”
Duellos grinned. “I just want you to feel at home.”
“Thanks.” Geary gestured toward his display. “Can your comm people do some analysis for me?”
“Certainly. What do have in mind?” Duellos asked, intrigued.
“According to what we’re picking up so far, all of the ground and aerospace assets at Adriana are still at full strength and ready for action. But First Fleet’s warships were ordered to send out deceptive status reports about their readiness.”
“And the same might be happening here?” Duellos nodded. “But if it is, analyzing comm patterns will give us an idea of whether or not the external picture we’re getting is a true one. Yes, Admiral, my crew can get you something on that. It will take a while to assemble a good picture, but within a day or so we should be able to tell you whether Adriana’s defenses are still solid or just a hollow shell.”