Restlessness eventually drove Geary up to roam the ship, stopping to talk with officers and sailors at their duty stations or catching meals. Everyone seemed nervous and excited, worried about what might happen but also feeling the thrill of hitting a surprised enemy hard. A few wondered about the hypernet gate, and Geary offered vague assurances that the gate would be taken if at all possible.
Six hours from reaching the gas giant, the main body of the fleet finally had something exciting to watch besides the wave of destruction as the kinetic bombardment fell on targets ahead of the Alliance force. Task Force Furious had accelerated up to .2 light on its charge toward the inner planets and was now two light-hours away from the main body, braking back down to .1 light and closing fast on Syndic Force Alpha, the Training Flotilla.
Unable to direct the action from so far away, knowing everything he was seeing had already happened, Geary watched while trying not to reveal his nervousness. If those steady commanders of his gave in to temptation and lit into the Syndics, it would result in a bloody brawl. The thirty ships under Cresida’s command were outnumbered by the thirty-nine in the Syndic Training Flotilla, and were also outgunned by the Syndic ships thanks to the ten battleships on the Syndic side. The odds were good enough to entice the Syndics to battle, just as Geary had hoped. He was certain Cresida wouldn’t be dumb enough to get involved in a ship-to-ship slug out at close range, but mistakes on her part or clever moves by the Syndics could lead to just that.
It all came down to trusting the officer he had placed in command. After the mess Numos had made of his command of a formation at Kaliban, Geary had vowed not to put anyone else he didn’t trust in charge of any part of the fleet. But it was far easier not to trust, to try to micromanage his subordinates, than it was to let them do their jobs. Funny how that never changes. You have to learn that as a junior officer, and you have to stick to it as a senior officer. If you’re going to be any good as a commander, that is.
Two hours ago, but only now visible to the main body of the Alliance fleet, Cresida had played it smart, angling as if intending a direct clash, then altering course for a glancing engagement. With too little time to react, the Syndic ships reacted clumsily, confirming Geary’s assessment that they were crewed by raw personnel. The Syndic formation tried to pivot around its flagship’s axis, turning and changing heading to present a wall of firepower to Task Force Furious. But some of the Syndic ships turned late, shooting past their turning fellows, and others swung through the same space their comrades were trying to use. Ships twisted away from near collisions, further disrupting the Syndic formation and leaving the flank nearest Task Force Furious’s approach hanging unsupported. As the Syndics tried unsuccessfully to concentrate fire on the approach of the Alliance ships, the Alliance force led by Furious tore past the unsupported flank of the Syndic formation and shredded it with overwhelming firepower directed by ship after ship against the Syndic warships making up the side of the flotilla.
Geary breathed a sigh of relief as Dauntless tallied the Syndic losses. One of the battleships raked repeatedly and left drifting and dead. Two battle cruisers severely damaged. All four heavy cruisers on that flank destroyed along with five of the Hunter-Killers. Status updates sent to Dauntless from the Task Force Furious ships and arriving now along with the light from the battle revealed the Alliance ships had taken little or no damage. “Nice job,” Captain Desjani commented.
“Very nice,” Geary agreed. Then he stiffened. On the two-hour-old time-late images, Task Force Furious had started bending around in a very wide turn, arcing up, over, and to the side as if intending another firing run at the flailing Syndics. You’re not supposed to do that, Cresida. Don’t risk it.
At the speeds the warships of Task Force Furious were traveling, the turn took a long time and a lot of space, even with the ships braking their velocity to reduce the turn radius. But eventually it became clear that Cresida had ordered another pass. Damn. She should’ve known better.
The Syndics had taken advantage of the delay to straighten out their formation and face their heaviest firepower toward the Alliance attackers. Apparently anticipating another blow to the flanks, the Syndic formation now clustered the surviving light units in the center, the remaining battleships and battle cruisers ranked in two vertically aligned planes, narrow ends facing the Alliance attack on either side like slices of bread enclosing the weaker ships. It was ironic to see the big ships escorting the smaller ships that were supposed to escort them, but Geary was impressed that the Syndics had so quickly figured out a counter to Cresida’s tactic of hitting a flank.
“What do you suppose she did?” Captain Desjani asked, her voice intrigued rather than worried. The past tense sounded strange when they were watching events unfold, but it was a reminder that whatever had happened had already taken place, for better or worse.
“We’ll soon see,” Geary replied, trying not to sound furious himself at the actions of Furious. He couldn’t stop it, couldn’t change it, just watch history two hours old un-scroll before his eyes as the light from the battle reached Dauntless.
Task Force Furious was now itself in an flattened pencil-shaped formation, long and thin. Geary stared at it, trying to figure out why Cresida had arranged her ships that way. The two forces closed rapidly, Task Force Furious accelerating at the best rate its handpicked force of agile ships could manage. The Alliance ships were now closing on the Syndic ships at a combined relative speed of just under .2 light. Both sides would have serious trouble getting effective fire control solutions at that speed with relativistic distortions confusing aim, but it was barely within acceptable engagement limits.
The speed and the difficulty that created with seeing the movements of other ships left the Syndics less time to react when Cresida changed her force’s trajectory through space again, the warships of Task Force Furious bending the formation down and below the waiting Syndic defenders, aiming for one exposed corner of the rectangular plane formation on the port side of the Syndic force. The single Syndic battleship anchoring that corner found itself taking fire from the entire Alliance formation as it tore past, ship after ship hurling weapons at the beleaguered Syndic warship while it could only reply with single volleys at each individual Alliance ship. Even though a lot of Alliance shots missed because of the targeting difficulties, there were so many weapons hammering the same Syndic battleship that enough hits were being scored.
The Alliance formation passed completely under the Syndic formation, still diving down to open the range and leaving in its wake the spreading cloud of debris that had been a Syndic battleship.
Desjani was laughing softly. “They’re going to be very angry with Commander Cresida. That was a good move, Captain Geary. She taunted them twice and hurt them both times. Now, look, they’re coming around to chase her, but she’s not heading for the fifth planet.”
“No.” Geary studied the track Task Force Furious was curving onto, Dauntless’s maneuvering systems quickly estimating the destination. “Cresida’s decided to go for the shipyards orbiting near the fourth world.” The huge industrial complexes were perhaps the most valuable targets in the star system. Geary had given Cresida orders not to destroy them because he wanted a chance to loot them first, but Task Force Furious could easily smash in passing the one nearly completed battleship and one battle cruiser being frantically towed out of their construction ways in an attempt to save them from the Alliance kinetic bombardment aimed at the under-construction shipping.
She handled it right. All of it. But if I’d had instant communications with her, I’d have ordered Cresida to do things differently, because I wouldn’t have trusted her judgment. Remember that, Geary. There’s good heads among these ship commanders and they’re paying attention to you. You have to trust them in return. Knowing his message wouldn’t reach her for hours, Geary tapped his communications controls. “To Commander Cresida and all ships in Task Force Furious, this is Captain Geary. Excellent work. Keep it up.”
There’d been no reply to Geary’s surrender demands by the time the Alliance fleet dove past the innermost gas giant, annihilating Syndic industrial targets unstruck by the kinetic bombardment and sweeping any remaining Syndic merchant shipping in the area from space. In-system ore carriers and other merchant ships had only a small fraction of the propulsion capability of warships. Over time they could build up substantial speed, but it took a long time, and these Syndic ships hadn’t been granted that much time.
The kinetic bombardment was still a couple of hours from reaching the fourth planet, so the Syndic command structure was still fully operational in the inner system. Geary wished he knew just what orders were being issued by that command structure. “All units in Alliance fleet main body, execute course change two five degrees to starboard, down zero two degrees at time four seven.”
“They’ll have time to see we’re heading for the gate and issue reaction orders before our bombardment hits,” Desjani remarked regretfully.
“It can’t be helped.” Far off to one side, Task Force Furious was still bearing down on the shipyards orbiting the fourth planet. The battered, and no doubt enraged, ships of Syndic Force Alpha had piled on speed, edging past .2 light on an intercept course curving to meet up with Task Force Furious just short of the orbiting shipyards around the fourth planet. “What do think their odds are of getting hits on Furious at that speed?”
“With inexperienced crews and combat systems still aligning themselves? As close to zero as makes no difference,” Desjani stated. “They’ll need to slow to engagement speed, and if they slow, they won’t make that intercept point.”
Desjani’s assessment matched his own. Geary nodded, then frowned, once again bothered by the thought that he was missing something. But whatever it was stayed hidden in the back of his mind, refusing to come forward, so Geary finally tried thinking of other things in the hope that would help. It didn’t.
* * * *
Five hours out from the hypernet gate, Geary frowned again. Syndic Force Alpha, the Training Flotilla, had kept accelerating to .25 light and adjusted its track slightly to cross the path of Task Force Furious before the Alliance ships reached the fourth planet. “Why do I get the feeling they’re not planning on slowing down to engage Task Force Furious?”
Desjani seemed puzzled as well. “I don’t see how many hits they can hope to achieve at that speed. There’s no point in any intercept that isn’t a threat. If Cresida’s ships do any evasive maneuvers at all, they’ll totally throw off firing solutions on the Syndic ships, and relativistic distortion will keep the Syndics from even seeing exactly what the Alliance ships are doing. Surely even if the commanders in the Syndic ships don’t realize that, the more senior Syndic commanders on the planets do. They’ve had plenty of time to tell Force Alpha to do something different, but that hasn’t happened.”
“Why would they do something that will almost eliminate their chances of hitting our ships?” Geary wondered out loud. “Why would their superiors agree to it?”
He’d forgotten Co-President Rione was once again in the bridge’s observer seat. Now her voice sounded like that of a teacher instructing a dull student. “Perhaps you should stop assuming you know their intentions.”
Geary turned to look at Rione. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you keep talking about what the Syndics must do to hit your ships. What if hitting your ships isn’t the Syndics’ priority?”
Desjani, looking reluctant to agree with Rione, clenched one fist. “If they can’t hit us, that also means the same relativistic factors will keep us from being able to target them well. They’re minimizing their chances of getting hit again.”
Survival was the Syndic priority? But why? “What would be the point of keeping that formation as intact as possible while letting us run amok?”
“They expect something to change the odds,” Desjani stated slowly.
Geary gritted his teeth. He and Desjani had been assuming they knew the Syndic intentions and then trying to make Syndic actions match those assumptions. The enemy’s real intentions were obvious now that Rione had focused them back on what the Syndics were actually doing. “Do they expect more reinforcements?”
“It’s unlikely but possible that a courier might have gated out without being spotted,” Desjani agreed. “But even if they had done that, they couldn’t possibly be expecting a reply already. We’d have to assume the Syndics had accurately guessed we were coming to Sancere.”
“That doesn’t match what we found here,” Rione objected, again surprising Geary. “Everything reflected surprise at our arrival. That could be a very elaborate trick to lull us into overconfidence, but surely the Syndics wouldn’t have avoided placing minefields at the jump exit if they believed we were coming to Sancere.”
“You’re both right,” Geary agreed. “Which would mean the intercept apparently aimed at Task Force Furious is just a feint, trying to throw off Furious’s charge. That matches what the Syndics are doing. Let’s assume no big reinforcements are coming within the next few days. What else could change the odds enough to make force preservation the primary goal of that Syndic flotilla?” Something big. That went without saying. Something big enough to drastically alter the balance of forces in this star system.
Geary looked at the representation of Syndic Force Bravo on his display. “Force Alpha is moving so fast we can’t hit them, but Force Bravo is just sitting there near the hypernet gate, maintaining a fixed station, even though it’s obvious that’s our objective.”
Desjani shook her head. “They must be planning on accelerating away soon. Just sitting there waiting for us is nothing but suicide.”
“Yet they’ve clearly been told to do that. Just like the other formation has been told to avoid losing ships.” Geary fiddled with the display, changing his perspective to view the Syndic formation from different angles. “What’s the latest on estimated damage to the Syndic ships in Force Bravo?”
“They’ve all got some damage, but two of the battleships and three of the battle cruisers are so beat up that they’ve probably got minimum combat capability,” Desjani replied.
Geary highlighted the most heavily damaged Syndic ships. All five were in the center of the Syndic formation, which in turn seemed to be centered on the hypernet gate. “Standard tactics, as I understand them, have been to charge straight for the enemy, right?”
Desjani nodded.
“Why put their weakest units there, then? Why not tell them to run for open space? All they can accomplish in that station is absorbing shots from us.”
Captain Desjani considered the display, her eyes narrowing in thought. “I can think of three possible reasons. One would be simple stupidity if their commander is incompetent. Another would be that the five heavily damaged ships are intended as bait. A third would be that for some reason the most capable ships are needed on the outside of the formation.”
“I don’t want to assume incompetence at this point. That could make us too confident. Besides, why wouldn’t the Syndics have given coordinated orders to the two formations? It isn’t like the Syndics to let commanders operate independently.”
Desjani nodded.
Geary felt a sudden knot in his stomach. “I think your reasons two and three are both right.” He pointed. “We’re expected to charge straight for the center of the formation, like Alliance forces usually do, and the most badly damaged enemies are there waiting for us to finish them off. Bait, as you said.” He remembered watching his fleet fall apart at Corvus, where every ship had been scrambling to get in on a few kills of hopelessly outnumbered light Syndic warships. Syndic commanders who expected that kind of behavior would know what a lure those damaged ships would be to Alliance commanders seeking quick and easy kills. “And when we get close enough, these units,” he indicated those on the outside of the formation, “with the best weapons capability, go after the gate itself. They want to sucker us in close, then destroy t
he gate and hope the resulting energy discharge is big enough to hurt a lot of our ships.”
A moment of silence passed as Desjani considered his idea, then she rapped one fist on the arm of her command seat. “I think you’re right, sir. If the main fleet got hurt badly enough at the hypernet gate, that changes the odds in the system, and Task Force Furious might find itself the only organized Alliance fighting force in Sancere.”
Geary checked some ship statistics. “And even with the damage Task Force Furious did to Syndic Force Alpha, the Syndic flotilla still slightly outguns the task force. That’s why they’re trying to avoid further losses. So that they’ll be in a superior position if their plan at the gate works.”
“If the gate failure energy release is bad enough to hurt us,” Desjani noted, “then it’ll be bad enough to wipe out the Syndic ships there as well.”
“Yeah.” Trade a dozen big warships, about half very badly damaged, for three, four, or five times that many Alliance capital ships and who knew how many lighter combatants. To the bean counting minds of the Syndicate Worlds leadership, that probably looked like a very good business deal, especially since it might force the surviving Alliance ships to flee and leave a lot of the still-surviving installations in the Sancere Star System intact. “I wonder if the crews of those ships know?”
“I doubt it.”
“Me, too.” Geary played with his controls for a moment, then decisively punched one. “Syndicate Worlds warships at the Sancere Star System hypernet gate, this is Captain Geary, commander of the Alliance fleet in Sancere Star System. Be advised that the energy discharge as a result of destroying the hypernet gate is very likely to be so severe as to wipe out every ship nearby.” He paused, wondering if he should mention the danger destruction of the gate might pose to the planets in the system and even the planets in surrounding star systems. But, no, if the Syndic leaders hadn’t already figured that out, there was no way Geary wanted to be the one to tell them. “You face impossible odds. Your ships already bear substantial damage from earlier battles. There is no dishonor in surrender. You have my word that any personnel who surrender will be treated humanely in accordance with the laws of war.”
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