He checked Pajari’s service record and found that she had been commissioned just four years ago, having served on three ships, two of which had been destroyed in battle, before gaining command of Spur. Like many officers in the fleet, she might be young for her rank and responsibilities, but she had immensely more combat experience than Geary had had at her age and rank.
“I’m going to trust her with command of the escorts for our convoy of refugee ships,” Geary said. “Pajari will have to fend off threats to the freighters, using the light cruisers and all of the destroyers, while I take the battle cruisers to handle that battleship.”
Duellos raised both eyebrows. “You won’t take any destroyers with us?”
“Given the size of our group of freighters, and with potentially three enemy flotillas coming after them from at least three directions, Pajari is going to need all of our escorts.” Geary zoomed in on the image of the battleship heading toward an intercept, accelerating ponderously but steadily, like a massive, armored animal building up unstoppable speed. Despite the intervening millions of kilometers, the image was crystal clear, the enemy warships appearing to be unmoving against the endless space around them despite their large and increasing velocity. The two heavy cruisers and two HuKs accompanying the battleship were not spread out, acting as escorts in a typical formation, but were instead tucked in extremely close to the battleship. “We won’t be able to peel off the escorts with that battleship easily.”
“No. An unconventional formation, and one that will be hard to counter,” Duellos agreed. “Any firing runs aimed at the escorts will bring us within range of the battleship’s weapons for certain. On the other hand, those four escorts with the battleship must have their maneuvering systems slaved to it. They’re so close, that’s the only way to avoid the tiny bobbles or variations in starts and stops of maneuvers that would otherwise cause a very nasty collision.”
Geary nodded. “How can we use that?”
“I’m working on an answer to that question, Admiral.”
To his own surprise, Geary smiled crookedly. “What about suggestions for dealing with the battleship?”
Duellos waved toward the back of the bridge. “My people are running sims to try to find solutions.”
“What have they found so far?”
“So far?” Duellos shrugged helplessly. “They’ve found a number of plans that won’t work.”
“You and I both know what we have to do,” Geary said. “We have to take the battleship out of the threat column. There are ways we could do that using the battle cruisers’ superior acceleration and maneuverability to slowly whittle down the battleship, but that would take far more time than we have to work with. The only way to neutralize the battleship quickly enough to protect the refugee ships is to damage the battleship’s main propulsion. If we can also take out his maneuvering capability, so much the better.”
Duellos grimaced. “I’ve faced something like this situation before, Admiral. Three battle cruisers is the minimum possible force that could do what we need to do. Assuming the Syndic battleship’s rear shields are at full strength, the only way to achieve a quick takedown of its propulsion is for all three battle cruisers to conduct close passes within a very short interval. Ideally, the first battle cruiser weakens the battleship’s rear shields, the second scores enough hits to knock down the weakened shields or render them ready to collapse, and the third goes in with the shields down and actually gets a shot at hitting the main propulsion units. But the battleship isn’t going to just sit still for that. He’s going to be maneuvering, pivoting the ship, trying to ensure that all three firing runs do not hit the rear shields, and trying to hit our battle cruisers hard as each one comes in to attack.”
Geary nodded, thinking through alternatives. “What if our battle cruisers go in close enough to employ the null-field projectors?”
“Against an undamaged battleship? We lose at least one battle cruiser. Maybe two. And with no guarantee those sacrifices will enable us to score disabling hits on the battleship.”
“We won’t do that, then.” Geary shook his head. “Our advantages are our numbers, three battle cruisers to one battleship, and maneuverability.”
“Whereas his only disadvantage is lack of maneuverability,” Duellos said.
“No. He’s also neutralized his own escorts by keeping them tucked in so close. We can’t get at them, but they can’t interfere with our attacks.”
Geary closed his eyes, mentally running through what he would say next, then touched his comm controls once more. “Commander Pajari, I am placing you in charge of Formation Echo. You will have your light cruisers and all three destroyer squadrons. Your mission is to keep the refugee ships together and protect them from any attempts at attack.”
Surprised, Pajari saluted. “I will not disappoint you, Admiral. Do you wish me to continue on a vector toward the primary inhabited world?”
“Yes. You can alter the vector as necessary to deal with threats, but you and I know that the freighters won’t be able to do much. Colonel Kim’s soldiers will keep the freighter crews from panicking and trying to run, but they can’t do anything about the sluggish maneuverability of the freighters. Be advised that there’s a chance further enemy warships are hiding behind this planet.” Geary indicated the super-Earth farther in-system. “Maybe a couple of more light cruisers and HuKs. If the attacks on us are coordinated, within the next few hours we should see the enemy flotilla near the primary inhabited world coming out to intercept you, while anyone hiding near that other planet will pop out once they think we’ve committed our forces to dealing with the other two flotillas. If we can’t stop all of the enemy ships in the battleship flotilla, you may have to help fend them off as well.”
“Yes, sir,” Pajari said, her eyes narrowed as she concentrated on Geary’s words. “You call them enemy, sir. Are we free to engage any other warships in this star system as necessary?”
“You are. I am making the judgment that all other warships in this star system are part of the same forces as those that were at the gas giant. They have proven hostile intent by their destruction of Fleche.” In that way, Fleche’s sacrifice had accomplished something very important. He would no longer have to wait for those other warships to fire the first shot. They already had. “Engage and destroy any threats to your ships or the refugee ships.”
“Yes, sir!” Pajari’s eyes had blazed at the mention of Fleche.
“Commander,” Geary emphasized, “your mission is to protect those refugee ships. Don’t forget that in pursuit of some of those enemy warships.”
“I will not, Admiral.” Pajari smiled slowly. “They think we will rush off in pursuit, that we’ll forget our mission. We won’t. But if they think we will, we can use that.”
“You can use that,” Geary agreed, smiling back. “Have you conducted convoy escort operations before?”
“Yes, Admiral. Not with an ill-disciplined mess like those refugee ships, but the principles are still the same. I know what tactics the Syndics use to try to pull escorts out of position and reach the convoy. I’ll be ready for them.”
“Good. I’ll be dealing with the battleship. Geary, out.” He ended the transmission, feeling much more confident about Pajari, then nodded to Duellos. “Captain, let’s get your battle cruisers going. We’ve got a battleship to knock out.”