by Ian Miller
"Not damaged?" Lucilla said in a tone of almost awe. As she said later, faked it might be, but no alien would know enough about Terrans to recognize that. "They fired so much weaponry at you, you must have got some damage,"
"They missed."
"My goodness," Lucilla continued. "You must either be extraordinarily lucky, so much so that maybe you've used it all up, or you must have some secret."
"Maybe I've got a secret," Gerenthe sneered.
"Then you must share it immediately," Lucilla continued. "Personal glory must be foregone! Ulse needs every edge it can get."
"I agree!" the Ulsian politician urged. "If you've discovered some advantage, it's imperative all Ulsian ships be made aware of it."
"There's no secret," Gerenthe withdrew. "I simply employed the appropriate Ulsian battle methods." He paused, then when he noted everybody staring at him, he continued, "Timing's the key. It's not only choosing what, but selecting the exact moment to execute it."
While there was much truth in this statement, nobody was convinced that that was his secret. After all, why keep secret highly polished ability to execute standard tactics? The senior Ulsian there had stared for quite some time at Gerenthe, and alien he might have been, but each of the Terrans could see that he was suffering increasing discomfort. It seemed almost as if some form of stalemate had been reached, when Lucilla continued her probing.
"Your report," Lucilla persisted with a look of sympathetic puzzlement, an effort which, as Gaius noted later, was entirely wasted because Gerenthe could not read human expressions, "stated that you approached the enemy lined up in battle formation."
"So?"
"I find it difficult to see how simple timing would suffice," she said. "They were ready for you, and if, as you say, you led your troops into battle, even if you did it brilliantly, being at the front means you must have sustained some fire, surely?"
There was a pause, as Gerenthe showed himself to becoming increasingly agitated. Finally he stood up, and was clearly very annoyed as he said, "You have insulted me, you miserable little barbarian, and I demand . . ."
Gaius was about to get to his feet to defend his sister, but an arm held him back. The Ulsian delegate had leaped to his feet, and turned towards Lucilla and said, "On behalf of the Ulsian Principal Military Committee, I apologise for that outburst. Will you accept my apology?"
"Neither you nor your committee have anything to apologise for," Lucilla replied.
"Be that as it may, will you accept it?"
"Yes."
"Good," the Ulsian delegate said, then he turned towards Gerenthe. "The Ulsian way is to settle differences through the application of logic. The question is valid. If you were at the front of an attack, and you stayed in the fighting for the length of time it would take to overcome such a force, it would be quite incredible for your ship to sustain no damage. Further, if the question is, do we send the ship into further battle, it is also valid to determine the degree of damage already sustained. You will answer the question."
"I am not answerable to her!" Gerenthe spat.
"But you are to my committee," came the implacable reply. "Stop prevaricating!"
Gerenthe looked at Lucilla as if he would kill her, but finally decided he had to answer. "All right. Since you seem to want to embarrass me, I admit it." He paused, and the Terrans looked at each other in puzzlement. "Everybody jumped to the wrong conclusion, and I confess my pride stopped me disillusioning them."
"Then what exactly is the correct conclusion?" the Ulsian delegate asked coldly.
"When I said I led the attack, I meant I led the troops," Gerenthe said. "By that I meant I set the strategy and gave the orders, but I didn't mean to imply my ship was up at the front. Following standard Ulsian protocols, my small force remained at the rear to direct things. But is that so bad? We still won."
"I see," the Ulsian delegate said. There was a pause, then he turned towards Gaius, and asked, "What is your opinion of this?"
"I have no problem with the commander remaining at the rear," Gaius replied, "in fact it is standard Roman tactics. You can't deploy reserves properly if you're tangled in the action."
"But you did not stay in the rear at Ligra, did you?"
"I didn't have any reserves to deploy," Gaius shrugged. "We used everything we had up front. I have no idea how Marshall Gerenthe fought, so I'd rather not comment further on that until I do. However, I do share my sister's concern at the reticence to explain just what did happen. It may be desirable to keep secrets from the enemy, but surely not from your own side? If there really was an advance in tactics, or if there is some flaw in enemy ships, it may be that the enemy are the only ones who really know about it now. I would like to see exactly how Admiral Gerenthe fought, so we can provide extra training for the Ulsians who are about to set out."
"I said the tactics were standard," Gerenthe said, angrily, and with quite some bluster.
"So you have stated," the Ulsian delegate said. Alien they may have been, but each of the Terrans could see that he was not satisfied. "About the only thing I am sure of," he continued sourly, "is that it seems you did tell the truth about the status of the planet. We have received further communications, generally statements about how bad things are and how the M'starn left them with almost nothing, but there is nothing about the battle to confirm or deny your account, which I might add, has disturbed my committee. Still, there is nothing we can do about that."
He paused and looked at each of them, then he said, "Whatever happened, Ulse still has a problem. How do you see this problem?" he directed his question towards Gerenthe.
"There's no problem," Gerenthe snorted. "You should let me take a fleet to Plotk."
"And you?" he said, turning to Gaius.
"Strictly speaking, you have several decisions," Gaius replied. "You must decide firstly what to do about the Ranhynn proposal, and secondly, if you decide to send warships, what fraction goes to Plotk, who commands that fleet, what do you do with the remainder, and who commands that."
"You think we should only send part of our fleet there?"
"I think you should send everything you can afford," Gaius replied, "but if you do, it leaves the home world almost defenceless. You cannot guarantee that the Ranhynn fleet won't bypass Plotk and make a pre-emptive attack on Ulse. On the other hand, if they are telling the truth, going to Plotk and losing through having insufficient force is hardly a winning strategy."
"Unfortunately," the Ulsian delegate said, "while there is merit in both arguments, it seems we can only follow one strategy. What would you do?"
"I'd rather leave that decision to your committee," Gaius shrugged. "You see, this is your planet."
"And that's the reason I should lead the force to Plotk," Gerenthe said. "He is not fighting for −"
"Wrong!" Gaius almost roared. He turned to the delegate and said, "If you give me command, I'll fight to win. Remember I'll be fighting for my life, and, if I follow this correctly, also my own planet, even if they don't know there's a war yet."
"Your planet?" Gerenthe frowned.
"Yes," Gaius said simply. "If Ulse loses, the Ranhynn take Earth. That future is not very attractive to me either."
"Then thank you for your time," the delegate said. "I shall take the issue to the committee, and you shall hear from us in due course."
"That'll get the committee system into overtime," Gaius remarked.
"No other committees will be involved," the Ulsian replied. "Standard protocols are put in place for such a situation. The Principal Military Committee has delegated power."
Chapter 37
The announcement was to be made two days later, and probably most of Ulse were watching their screens, which, for once, showed only one option. The program started with an explanation of the situation, followed by an assessment of the size of the Ranhynn fleet, then an assessment of what the M'starn could put on the field. This was based on what was known to have comprised the invasion fleet, what could h
ave been built, less what was known to have been destroyed. The M'starn fleet alone was bigger than anything the Ulsians could deploy, however it was felt most unlikely that the M'starn could deploy every available ship, for to do so would have required a conscious decision centuries ago to leave the distant planetary systems devoid of warships, and if that had happened, Slaben's descendants would be having the field to themselves.
In any case, there was no option. If this were treachery, then the Ranhynn fleet would be automatically against them, therefore they had to deny that fleet a base as quickly as possible. If, on the other hand, the Ranhynn were intending to honour their word, it was imperative to ensure this major fleet remained allied. Ulse would deploy every ship at its disposal to Plotk. The defence of Ulse would rely on the fixed, and recently enhanced, planetary defences, together with all ground forces, as the battle at Plotk would be a fleet battle only. The alternative of leaving a fleet to defend Ulse would almost certainly lead to both fleets being hopelessly outnumbered, in which case overall defeat would follow.
The force deployed to Plotk would be divided into two fleets. Each fleet would be commanded by one of the two Space Marshalls, who would act independently but towards a coordinated objective, agreed by the two commanders. A representative of the Ulsian Military Council would accompany the force with the rank of Prime Delegate. He would have no formal authority in battle, but he would represent the Ulsian government, and could commit Ulse to certain pre-agreed diplomatic actions. He would also ensure coordination between the two commanders, and he would have the power to remove one Space Marshall from command in the event that agreement was impossible to achieve. As regarding deployment, for the purposes of minimizing political outfall from the Plotkynn, Gerenthe would command the fleet deploying closer to the star, or closer to Plotk.
As Gaius remarked, the fact that a force was setting off under those conditions was a bad omen, and likely to be seen that way by the troops. An important morale building exercise was required. In the meantime, there was considerable work to be done. While all designated ships were capable of departing more or less immediately in terms of mechanical status, the problems involved in assembling and supplying fleet groups of this size were immense. There was also the issue of setting in place the drills he would require his fleet to undertake. The maximum value must be extracted from every available moment.
The exercises that Gaius imposed on his commanders were all held in simulators. He had met with the scientists once again, and had arranged for a series of simulations of all sorts of dogfight possibilities based on the records and information he had acquired at Ligra 3. In particular, he remained determined to use the "four-ship" or "six-ship" groups, and he demanded that all his pilots train for this form of fighting. The pilots themselves did not fly; the ships themselves could carry out any manoeuvres far more quickly and accurately than any pilot, but the question was, when the ships computed various options, the pilots had to choose one. The pilots would each train and the scientists had arranged for the opponents to be at various stages of cleverness. The pilots' jobs were to coordinate and choose successful manoeuvres, and if they were successful, they continued to fight until they failed. Then they would start again. One particular order was that the groups would remain as a group as long as they could throughout all battles, but would regroup if ships were lost.
Gaius also demanded that Vipsania and Lucilla take part in as much of this training as they could manage. As he said, they had the least experience, and they needed to improve as much as they could.
* * *
The problems might have been immense for the Ulsians, but apart from time spent in training they were negligible for the Terrans. Their ships were already ready for departure, their food requirements were so special these had been prepared anyway, and there was no competition for them.
Gaius was extremely busy. In addition to the supply problems, all crews had punishing training schedules imposed on them, and all ships had to be inspected time and again. While supplies were being aggregated, ships were sent out on manoeuvres to ensure all ships were fully functional. Then, in addition to the simulations, he deployed actual manoeuvres in which the groups had to be broken up and the participants regroup. There were then group analyses of the Ligra battles, in which he focused on what worked and what did not in the Ligra system. This had the Ulsian's attention. Things that worked were good; what did not work had to be avoided.
Vipsania became convinced they would not return to Ulse, and some might not survive. She could not explain why, but she was determined to see that all property and records of their activities were lodged on each of the ships. She became, effectively, a quartermaster for the Terran representatives.
Lucilla was also busy. She was determined to discreetly find out what Gerenthe's secret was. How had his ship escaped damage?
Her first move was to have the records on Ulse checked, first for direct information, and when this was not forthcoming, for discrepancies in the logged reports. There were discrepancies, but as Antonia reminded her, memories often give slight variations, and two people viewing the same scene do not always interpret what they see in the same way. Furthermore, messages that had followed Gerenthe from the planet almost totally ignored any reference to the battle or its consequences, other than to provide firm evidence that the M'starn had indeed departed.
"That didn't get me very far," Lucilla muttered.
"It may have got you further than you think," Antonia replied. "Before this, I was supporting you as a companion must, but now I am beginning to agree with you that something is very wrong. What do you notice that is badly wrong?"
"I'm afraid I can't see anything," Lucilla admitted, "and there doesn't seem to be much there to be wrong."
"But that," Antonia said forcefully, "is exactly what is wrong. Usually a victorious general would be expected to be lavish with information, to ensure that his success was properly appreciated. You would also expect the citizens of the planet to say something about the battle, but they don't."
"Perhaps," Lucilla offered, "the victory was less than it might have been. Perhaps all he found were decrepit warships, and transports, and to boost his image, he's recorded destroying a large number of warships. He's recorded the number of ships, but . . ."
"No. That can't be quite right," Antonia said with a puzzled look. "His estimates of the size and composition of the opposition fleet is about the only indisputable fact in the whole account. The same information has been lodged from every ship, including from the logs of ships that were lost, and which were destroyed by heavy enemy fire. These losses due to enemy action are also indisputable, and since Gerenthe's fleet retrieved the logs, we have to assume he won the battle, because only he who prevails can search space and recover what is left from the hulks of destroyed ships."
"Then why aren't his ships showing signs of damage?" Lucilla asked.
"I have no idea," Antonia replied. "It is quite difficult. There is no doubt Gerenthe's fleet met a major fleet, there is no doubt that battle started, and a large number of Gerenthe's ships engaged the enemy and suffered heavy damage. What Gerenthe then states is that he led the rest of his fleet to engage the enemy, and he won in a spectacular way. He claims he surprised the enemy and annihilated most of the enemy in that particular zone, and forced the rest of the enemy elsewhere to flee from the system." Antonia paused, and then said, in a tone laden with doubt, "It is possible."
"How many enemy did he actually destroy in this localized battle?"
"He doesn't say," Antonia said, "nor does he give any further details. I must add that I find this quite disturbing, because amongst other things, it goes against standard protocol. The logs recovered from the destroyed ships accurately report the battle up until ship destruction, at least as seen by that ship, but here's another oddity. The deployment orders have not been entered, which is odd because cowardice cannot be established if the initial orders are not logged, hence only the overall commander can req
uire such orders not to be logged. Finally, Gerenthe's refusal to log his own actions most certainly would adversely affect his place in Ulsian history, so why did he do it if he won?"
"Are you telling me that Ulsians don't like terse battle descriptions?" Lucilla smiled. "Ulsians are a little like the Romans."
"When there is nothing to write about, such as when you make a horrible blunder," Antonia pointed out, "nothing gets written. But you are correct in one way. Ulsian generals are just as keen as Roman generals to promote their own image."
The problem was, while Lucilla was convinced that something was wrong, she had to admit she had no idea what it could be, and she had absolutely no evidence. She decided that she would try to talk to troops from Gerenthe's ships. She tried to find out where these troops would go for shore leave, but all that happened was that she received another surprise. Gerenthe, possibly hearing that she was making inquiries, had cancelled all shore leave for his troops. Nobody knew why he had done this, but when she probed further, she was told that Gerenthe was requiring his troops stay on board for additional training. Just when she was feeling quite frustrated at getting nowhere, Gerenthe sent her a message: stay out of what does not concern you, or else. Consider this an order from a superior.
Lucilla sent back a message that she would follow the order. She meant it. As far as she was concerned, Gerenthe's situation concerned her. However, the order did make her recognize the need for a little more discretion. She also realized that Gerenthe would make further efforts to cover his tracks, so her task would not get any easier.
She informed Gaius of her lack of progress, and demanded that Gaius countermand Gerenthe's orders.
"No," Gaius said simply. "I shall not."
"And I suppose you've got a good reason," Lucilla snorted.
"If this invasion force starts off with two commanders at loggerheads, the Ulsian Government is going to have to replace one of them," Gaius replied. "I fail to see how us getting side-lined and demoted helps our cause in any sensible way."
