“I see.” But Desjani shook her head. “Normally, I’d agree, but in this case, the charges would’ve otherwise been whispered in quarters where you’d have been unaware of them even as they served to undermine your authority. It’s best that Numos’s charges were rebutted so clearly and so publicly.”
“You may be right,” Geary conceded. “But I’m still not happy it happened that way.”
Another message arrived on the heels of his words, but this time the tone was professional. “Captain Geary, this is Captain Tulev on Leviathan. The Syndic force is continuing down a course to intercept the auxiliary ships I am charged with protecting. I believe I can best keep the Syndics from closing within weapons range by pushing my heaviest units out five light-seconds from the auxiliaries. Request permission to do so.”
Interesting idea. Geary checked the display, imagining how the situation would change if he granted Tulev permission for the maneuver. He’ll still be close enough to the auxiliaries, but in a position to engage the Syndics before the enemy can get within range of the auxiliaries. But why is this necessary? Fox Five Five should’ve been able to keep the range open longer than this.
Titan. I should’ve guessed. All that mass she took on has reduced her performance as much as taking out half her propulsion systems would’ve done. Not that Witch and the others are dancing around like space fairies, either. “Captain Tulev, permission granted to extend your escort range to five light-seconds from the auxiliaries. Captain Duellos, be advised that Formation Fox Five Five’s escorts will be closing on the enemy to engage them at a distance of five light-seconds from the main body of Fox Five Five. Request you adjust your intercept of the Syndic formation accordingly.”
Duellos’s reply, sounding very cheerful indeed now, came over a half minute later. “We are adjusting course and will coordinate our next strike with Captain Tulev, sir.”
With Leviathan a good light-minute away, Tulev’s reply took a little while longer. “Thank you, sir.”
It took another few minutes before Geary could see Tulev’s ships arcing up toward the Syndics, as well as Duellos’s formation altering their course and accelerating a little more so that both Alliance forces would be in position to engage the enemy at about the same time.
Geary shook his head, imagining himself on the bridge of the Syndic flagship and trying to think through options, none of which were particularly good at this point. With Tulev’s escorts heading to intercept the Syndics from in front and below, while Duellos’s formation swung ever closer from behind and below, the Syndics faced two options. They could continue their original plan and get caught by both Alliance forces hitting them almost simultaneously from two different angles, or they could turn away from the Alliance auxiliaries and try to make it back to the jump point from which they’d entered Kaliban. “What would you be thinking if you were them?” Geary asked Desjani.
She considered the question for a moment. “Their objective is clear enough.”
“They won’t reach the auxiliaries. We’ve got too much heading to intercept them.”
Desjani shrugged. “If their orders are to get to the auxiliaries, they’ll do it or die trying.”
Senseless. Totally senseless. But I don’t see any sign the Syndics are having second thoughts. Perhaps I can add a little pressure and see if that’ll change their minds. “Formation Fox Five Three, adjust course and speed as needed to strike the upper edge of the Syndic formation. All units in Formation Fox Five Four, break formation and head for the cluster of Syndic wrecks. I want you to ensure they’re all really dead.”
It took time for the formations to converge, but he finally saw the images of Tulev’s escorts engaging the Syndics which had occurred less than a minute before. Using the same tactics as Geary had employed with the main body, Tulev’s heavies had fired grapeshot, then followed up with a barrage of specters. The Syndics were still reeling from the impact of those volleys when Captain Duellos’s formation sailed past, angling upward to slide through the rear of the Syndic formation and pound the ships there. Taken together, Tulev’s and Duellos’s formations outgunned the surviving Syndics almost two to one without even taking into account the damage to many of the Syndic ships.
As Tulev’s escorts slid by beneath the Syndics and Duellos’s warships rolled up through the enemy formation, the lighter Alliance ships in Formation Fox Five Three glided in from above. Against fresh heavy combatants, the Alliance destroyers and cruisers would’ve been outmatched, but by this point the Syndic force had been hurt so badly that it could offer little effective defense. The remnants of the Syndic destroyers and cruisers tried to block Fox Five Three’s firing run but were quickly overwhelmed, their shields swamped and their hulls broken.
As the third Alliance formation in quick succession engaged the Syndics, the enemy formation suddenly fell apart. Geary saw the surviving Syndic warships scattering, most of them turning frantically back toward the Alliance main body that blocked their way to the jump point and safety. Hardly daring to believe the enemy force had been so decisively broken, Geary evaluated the way the Syndic ships were dispersing. Trying to catch them all using big formations would be difficult at best and very likely impossible. “All units, this is Captain Geary. Break formation. General pursuit. I say again, general pursuit. Make sure we get all of them.”
There were triumphant cheers on the bridge of Dauntless, but Geary barely registered them as he watched his fleet on the display. Even though he’d known how badly those ships wanted to be cut loose, he was still surprised to see just how rapidly his neat formations dissolved, as the individual ships sped away to engage targets of opportunity.
Dauntless surged forward herself under Desjani’s orders. Geary leaned over to see which target had been highlighted by the battle cruiser’s combat system. A Syndic D-Class battle cruiser, looping upward in an attempt to pass over the main body. Why isn’t he going faster? According to what I’ve read, a D-Class should be able to do a lot better than that. Geary highlighted the target on his own display, getting the estimated damage readout. Ah. He’s been hit hard. Looks like he’s lost a lot of propulsion capability.
Zooming in the view of the Syndic battle cruiser from Dauntless’s optical sensors, Geary could see the damage that had blasted holes in the enemy ship. At one time, the enemy ship had been a good-looking ship, displaying clean lines and smooth menace, but now its hull was torn and bent. A D-Class versus Dauntless would be a roughly even match, except that Syndic warship has already been beat to hell.
Then he thought of something else, pulling back the range scale on his display again and checking the movement vectors of nearby Alliance ships. As far as he could tell without asking, the battleship Vanguard and the battle cruiser Fearless were both also aiming for the same Syndic warship. Geary called up remote data from the other ships, confirming that they were also targeting the D-Class battle cruiser and getting their estimated times to intercept as well. “They’re going to get to it first,” he remarked out loud.
Captain Desjani nodded, her frustration clear. “I can’t beat them to it without accelerating to the point that my aim will be lousy. I’d rather get in the third blow than risk missing the bastard completely.”
Geary looked back as his display, where the curving lines through space that marked the projected paths of both Alliance and Syndic warships formed an oddly beautiful pattern against the backdrop of the stars. At this scale, he could easily see how the paths of multiple Alliance ships were converging on the courses of every individual Syndic ship. This isn’t a battle any more. The surviving Syndics are so badly outnumbered and already so damaged that this is just a massacre.
I know we have to destroy the Syndic fighting forces to survive, but why can’t the Syndics have the brains to surrender when the situation is obviously hopeless?
On the other hand, the Alliance fleet’s situation seemed hopeless back in the Syndic home system and surrender was a lousy option then.
The irony finall
y hit him that this one-sided slaughter was what would’ve happened to the Alliance fleet in the Syndic home system if it had fallen apart and tried to run as individual ships.
Vanguard reached the D-Class battle cruiser first, pounding it with a barrage of hell-lances and then sweeping onward with its sights set on another target. Fearless came in next, from a different angle, its shots hitting the Syndic battle cruiser in the stern. Secondary explosions ripped pieces off of the Syndic warship’s stern as it began rolling erratically through space, apparently no longer under control.
“Our turn,” Desjani breathed. “Combat systems watch, is there anything left on that hulk that still needs killing?”
Dauntless swept down on the crippled Syndic battle cruiser, which was tumbling through space while escape pods burst from it in irregular volleys. “Captain,” the combat systems watch reported, “we’re picking up powered systems still active amidships.”
“He’s not dead yet, then,” Desjani observed with a grim smile. “Hell-lances target midships section of the battle cruiser. Fire when the target enters range.”
The great tumbling shape of the battle cruiser made for a difficult target, but Dauntless’s hell-lances flashed out and punched into the Syndic ship’s hull as Dauntless rocketed past, nearly every shot slamming into the midships area of the battle cruiser.
“No systems activity registering now,” the watch reported as the wreck of the battle cruiser receded behind them, still fitfully spitting out occasional escape pods.
“He’s not worth another pass,” Desjani decided. “Shifting target to heavy cruiser bearing zero two zero degrees relative, three one degrees up, range point three light-seconds.” Dauntless swung in response to her maneuvering systems, arcing up and slightly to the side in a smooth curve. The Syndic cruiser, which also displayed the marks of damage already inflicted earlier in the battle, tried rolling and diving away, but was too close and didn’t have enough of a relative speed advantage. Desjani adjusted Dauntless’s course and slashed over the fleeing heavy cruiser at close range. Dauntless’s shields easily absorbed the ragged series of shots fired by the damaged cruiser, while the Alliance ship sent a heavy series of barrages at the Syndic ship that first collapsed the cruiser’s remaining shields, then ripped into the ship.
“Damage assessment,” Desjani rapped out as Dauntless and the cruiser rushed away from each other on diverging courses.
“Heavy damage to Syndic cruiser,” the watch hastily reported. “Confirmed hits on all areas of the hull. Ma’am, we just spotted escape pods leaving the cruiser.”
“Do we have a confirmed kill on that cruiser?” Desjani demanded.
The watch hesitated, pouring over the information being collected by Dauntless’s sensors. “Heavy damage, and the cruiser no longer appears to be under control, but I cannot confirm a kill.”
Desjani frowned in thought. “It could be a ruse.” She scanned the area. “And there’re no other Syndic ships nearby that aren’t being brought to battle or haven’t been taken out already. Let’s bring Dauntless back around for another pass at the cruiser.”
Dauntless began laboriously curving around for another run on the Syndic ship, using her propulsion systems to brake and allow for a tighter, though still gigantic, turn. The turn had barely begun, when an Alliance destroyer flashed past the Syndic cruiser and slapped it with several more hits. Then, two-thirds of the way through Dauntless’s turn, the watch called out again. “More escape pods leaving that cruiser. Lots of them.”
Geary gave a lopsided smile to Desjani. “I guess they figured out you were coming back.”
“As if we’d let them get away in any case,” Desjani replied before issuing another order to her crew. “Continue firing-run maneuver but hold further fire until I give orders to shoot.” Geary and Desjani watched the target intently as Dauntless swung farther back, now closing on the battered heavy cruiser again, but almost .2 light-seconds away after the wide turn her velocity had required. “Two more escape pods, I see,” Desjani commented. Moments later, light flared as the cruiser’s power core overloaded. “That might’ve been an accident, but if they’d intended on hurting us with that, they did it way too soon.”
“Hard to tell,” Geary replied. “Maybe they were just scuttling the ship to keep it out of our hands.”
Desjani snorted. “An abandoned heavy cruiser isn’t going to have anything on it that we’re interested in. They’d have destroyed anything of intelligence value. All we’d do with it is set the power core to overload so the Syndics couldn’t use it again. They just saved us the trouble.” She glared at her display in frustration. “There’re no more targets near us.”
Geary checked his own display again. The number of Syndic ships still active had dwindled rapidly, with the destruction of more being registered by Dauntless’s sensors even as Geary watched. A few Syndics were still trying to flee, but Alliance pursuers were closing in on them from multiple angles. The remaining Syndic ships would be wiped out in short order.
It’s over. He stared at the cloud of debris that was all that remained of the heavy cruiser that Dauntless had last targeted. I don’t want to know how many human beings died over the course of the last few hours. The great majority who died were our enemies who were trying to kill us, and the ugly truth is that’s all that matters right now.
ELEVEN
The star that humans had named Kaliban had acquired a great many more objects in orbit. Most of those objects were small, the shattered debris that was all that was left after Syndic warships had either blown themselves apart or Alliance boarding parties had done the same thing to prevent the ships from being salvaged and reused by the enemy. Also among the remnants of battle were a swarm of Syndic escape pods scattered through a wide area of space, carrying the survivors who’d managed to leave their ships before the end. Small, unarmed, and with just enough range to reach safety within the Kaliban System, the pods were no threat to the victorious Alliance fleet.
“Those crews could fight again. They will fight again,” Desjani argued. “I’m not saying we should have target practice on the escape pods, but rounding them up and taking the crews prisoner would be a good idea.”
Geary let her see he was considering the idea before he shook his head. “Where would we put them? They’d fill every brig on every ship and have large numbers left over. And we’d have to feed them.”
Desjani grimaced but nodded. “Security and logistics. Those two things keep getting in the way of a lot of good ideas.”
“You got that right.” Geary grinned. “Though I’ve seen plenty of plans that didn’t take reality into account, and that didn’t seem to bother the people who created the plans.”
“Of course not. Why spoil a great plan by letting reality intrude?” Desjani smiled as well. “This is a wonderful victory, Captain Geary.”
“Thank you. There’s some unfinished business, though. How can we find out which one of those pods contains whoever’s the senior surviving Syndic officer?”
It took a little while, bouncing messages around various escape pods until the one containing the Syndic commander was located and a communications link established. As fate would have it, the overall commander had survived the battle, though Geary wondered whether that officer would be grateful for the fact for very long.
The Syndic CEO’s carefully tailored uniform had suffered the indignities of several rips and burns. His face, as pale as if he were in shock, had the stunned look of someone who hadn’t been able to absorb what had happened. Geary didn’t recognize the CEO, but the CEO stared at Geary with eyes filled with disbelieving recognition. “It’s true,” the Syndic commander whispered.
“What’s true?” Geary asked, knowing the answer already.
Instead of giving that answer, the Syndic CEO appeared to try to steel himself. “My force will not s-surrender,” he stuttered.
Geary couldn’t help raising both eyebrows in a surprised expression. “That’s not really an option any
more. There’s nothing to surrender. Your force has ceased to exist. All of your ships have been destroyed.”
“We can s-still fight.”
“Hand to hand, you mean? But, you see, we’re not interested in fighting you any longer,” Geary explained. “Your former command no longer possesses any military capability, and to be perfectly frank, we have no interest in taking on responsibility for a large number of prisoners.” The CEO somehow paled a little more, but he stayed silent. “There are two things I need to tell you. The first is that I still have some personnel on an asteroid in this system. I’m sending you the orbital data for the asteroid I’m speaking of. If you still have any doubts as to which asteroid it is, make sure you contact us. Try to ensure none of the escape pods from your fleet land there. I’ll be taking off my personnel and have no wish to confront refugees from your fleet, as that could inadvertently lead to further bloodshed.”
The Syndic CEO nodded, still silent.
“The other thing is that we surveyed all of the abandoned Syndicate Worlds facilities within the Kaliban Star System, and I want you to know that the former towns at these locations I’m now sending you remain in good condition. Your people will have no trouble restarting life support. I regret to state we drew down the supplies of foodstuffs that had been left behind when the towns were abandoned, but enough should remain for your personnel until other Syndicate Worlds units arrive in the system to discover the fate of your command. In order to ensure word of your presence here is known, I assure you that when next we contact any Syndicate Worlds planets or other representatives, we will also inform them that you are awaiting rescue.”
Another nod. The Syndic CEO seemed increasingly confused, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“I regret that my fleet cannot linger much longer in this system,” Geary continued, “and that therefore offering medical care to your injured is out of the question. But the mothballed medical facilities we examined in this system, while limited and outdated, all appear fully functional and still contain an adequate supply of expendable materials.”
The Lost Fleet: Dauntless Page 28
