“Probably,” she said. “Depends what it is, though.”
“Keep an eye on Ninja for me. All right?”
“Sure,” Mele agreed. “But whether she stays safe will be mostly up to your stopping that destroyer. I can’t stop an orbital bombardment.”
“I’ll stop it,” Rob said, looking out the window of the car, the three words sounding like a vow. “But . . . stopping it might cost a lot. If it does . . . please keep an eye on Ninja for me.”
“Sure,” Mele repeated, trying to put the same sense of a solemn oath into the word. “I keep promises to my battle mates. I’ll make sure she’s looked after. I’m glad you figured it out in time.”
“Figured what out?”
“Figured who out. Ninja. You two make a good pair.”
Rob paused before answering. “I’ve known that for longer than I admitted to it. Isn’t it funny how someone can be right there, and you don’t realize it, and suddenly it hits you like a ten-kilometer-wide asteroid?”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Mele said as the vehicle rolled up to the new security gate around the shuttle pad.
“It’s never happened to you?” Rob Geary asked.
She thought he sounded a little sad at the idea, which was a little annoying, but Mele smiled back anyway. “Nope. Maybe someday. I’m not looking for it.”
“Neither was I,” Rob said as Mele checked them through security. “At least Ninja and I had the last few weeks.”
She walked him the last steps to the shuttle. Council Member Leigh Camagan was waiting beside the entry ramp. “Lieutenant Geary. Have you been told the situation by Major Darcy?”
“Yes,” Rob Geary said.
“You have to stop them,” Leigh Camagan said. “I hate to send you off with orders like that, but that destroyer cannot be allowed to reach orbit around this planet.”
“Is the council aware of what stopping that destroyer might require?” Rob asked, his voice taking on a brittle edge.
“Some of us are all too aware, Lieutenant Geary,” Leigh Camagan said, her voice breaking slightly at the last.
“Take care of yourself,” Mele told Rob, wondering if she would ever see him again. “You’re the first sailor I actually liked working with.”
“And you’re the first Marine I ever worked with who wasn’t a pain in the neck,” Rob replied.
“I’ll have to try harder,” Mele said. She could see his fatalistic mood and shook her head at him. “This isn’t a farewell. Do your job and get your tail back here in one piece, so Ninja can have her happily ever after. Or whatever it is that ninjas have. Hey, I’ve heard that the council wants its own hackers supporting you instead of hiring Ninja again because she’s supposed to be focused on supporting me.” Mele glanced at Leigh Camagan as she kept speaking to Rob. “I know that you’re a by-the-book guy, and would never do anything you’ve been told not to do, but if you need that support from Ninja, this is one of those times when the book has to accidentally get deleted.”
Rob Geary shook his head. “If the council knows that I went around their instructions—”
Leigh Camagan had turned away, but spoke in a clear voice. “I’m not hearing anything.”
“The council is sending you out to face a destroyer with your cutter,” Mele said. “I think you have the right to forget those particular instructions and improvise a little if you think you need Ninja at your back.” She stepped back and saluted. “Do your ancestors proud.”
“Same.” Rob returned the salute and walked onto the shuttle.
Mele stood by Leigh Camagan as the shuttle lifted. The council member sighed. “Major Darcy, I have orders for you as well.”
“I was worried about that,” Mele said, watching the shape of the shuttle dwindle as it rose toward the stars.
“You know the odds that Lieutenant Geary will be facing. No matter how well he does, it may not be good enough to stop that freighter and destroy that warship. Scatha’s base must be captured before new soldiers and equipment can be landed.”
Mele bit her lip and looked at Leigh Camagan. “Does the council know how lucky we were on the first two operations? It won’t be that way if we have to hit that base head-on. We’ll lose people. Maybe a lot of people.”
“The council understands,” Leigh Camagan said in a low voice.
“I’ve got, what, a week to launch the attack? To make sure we control that base before the ships get here? And while the morale of Scatha’s forces at that base has been pretty low, they’ll have seen those ships arrive. They’ll know that help is on the way. All they have to do is hold out a little while longer.”
“Major, if I could give you another week, if I could give you a thousand more soldiers, I would. I can’t.”
Mele nodded. “At least you feel bad about it.”
“Can you do it?”
“I can try,” Mele said. “And hopefully not lose too many. Can you do me a favor?”
“If I can,” Leigh Camagan said.
“I promised to look after Ninja if Rob Geary didn’t come back. If I don’t make it back from attacking that base, I need someone to honor my promise.”
“I swear to you that I will,” Leigh Camagan said. “I hope with all my heart I won’t have to. It would be a cruel universe indeed if we sacrificed both you and Rob Geary to save Glenlyon.”
Mele gave a short, sharp bark of laughter. “The universe isn’t cruel. People are.”
She headed off toward her headquarters. There was a lot to do.
• • •
Rob Geary felt emotionally numb as the shuttle climbed toward orbit and a rendezvous with Squall. Given the situation he was facing and his orders, there was a more than even chance that this would be his last shuttle trip, and that his farewell to Ninja had been the last time he would be with her. He wished there had been time for a formal marriage commitment. Hasty, perhaps, after only a few weeks, but they had known each other longer than that. If only he hadn’t waited several weeks to listen to his heart rather than his head.
Which reminded him, ironically, of the times he had counseled young sailors to wait on marriage, that their hearts might be totally sincere and totally committed today but that time had a way of changing hearts sometimes, and that warnings from the head should be listened to. The sailors had always earnestly assured him that they understood that, but that this time was different. And, caught in the same sense that Ninja was the one and the only one, Rob couldn’t help also feeling that this time was different.
Certainly if his commitment to Ninja didn’t last, it would first and foremost be because he didn’t survive this mission.
But there were other people affected by his orders, and he had a responsibility to them. Rob shook himself out of his inner focus. He wasn’t alone on the shuttle. Twelve members of Squall’s crew also occupied seats, many of them new volunteers inspired by Rob’s “victory” at Kosatka and Mele Darcy’s strikes against Scatha’s base. And there were a half dozen men and women Rob didn’t recognize. All six carried weapons, either sidearms or short-barreled rifles.
“Sergeant Grant Duncan,” one of the men introduced himself when Rob looked his way.
“Major Darcy told me you were coming,” Rob said. “I’m glad to have all of you. Hopefully, your skills won’t be needed.”
Grant smiled but shrugged. “None of us have that much combat experience, Lieutenant, but we’ll do our best.”
A Sword Class destroyer carried a normal crew of sixty-four. It could carry more. With the half dozen soldiers that Mele Darcy had lent, Rob would have thirty-one aboard the Squall. “Major Darcy said you’re good, and given the success you ground fighters have had, I believe her. I’m afraid that the accommodations aboard Squall will be a little cramped, though, and the food isn’t the best given the limitations of the galley.”
“Is there coffee?�
�
“Yes, Sergeant, there’s coffee. No matter what else we may lack, Squall keeps a decent supply of that on hand. I won’t swear for the quality of it, but we do have quantity.”
“Then we’ll be good,” Grant assured him.
• • •
Once aboard Squall, Rob threw himself into ensuring that the ship was ready to go. The work kept him from thinking about Ninja and the last moments he had spent with her. There was enough food, the water tanks were full, the recyclers were functioning, and life support was just able to keep up with the burden of thirty-one adult humans inside a ship designed to normally carry a crew of twenty-two. Most of the new volunteers were enthusiastic even if they did have to work off various forms of Operating Instructions for Dummies as they learned their tasks.
As always, the weakest point was the power core. Rob had hoped that Corbin Torres would finally rise above his bitterness, but the veteran had remained on the surface. The engineering section would do its best but were painfully aware of their own lack of experience. And fuel cells were low. Without an orbital facility to manufacture new cells and with the problems one of the surface facilities had encountered getting fuel cell production ramped up, the ship had been running on what had been captured from Scatha. Whether Squall won or lost, there were only enough to get the ship through the next few weeks.
Everyone knew that a destroyer and a freighter from Scatha were on their way to the planet, but only Rob and Danielle Martel knew just how bad that made the odds against Squall.
“Let’s take it easy on the way out,” Rob told Danielle as he settled into the command seat on Squall’s bridge. “Aim for an intercept a light hour from the planet.”
“If we head out that slow, with Scatha’s force limited by the speed of that freighter, it’ll take five days,” Danielle Martel reported.
“That’s fine,” Rob said. “We’ve got a lot of new people doing new tasks and we can use the time for training. I also want to conserve fuel cells. We’re going to need them when we close to fight.”
“All departments report ready to get under way,” Danielle said.
Should he give a speech about the vital necessity of their mission and the need to win at all costs? No, Rob decided. Aside from his own awkwardness at such a thing, the need for an inspirational speech would be when they were about to engage in combat. Save it.
The intercept calculations had already been done, and the maneuvering systems awaited his command.
Rob punched the execute command and Squall swung about, accelerating away from the planet.
Late that afternoon ship’s time, Danielle Martel stopped by his stateroom, closing the hatch behind her and eyeing him soberly. “You’re good enough to know how tough our job is. How are we going to do this?”
“Get close enough for detailed information about the destroyer’s status, whether he has any weak shields,” Rob said, “or weapon systems that aren’t up to strength, and try to work around that.”
“Scatha has two destroyers and sent one,” Danielle pointed out. “That implies if either of those destroyers had any weaknesses, they sent the better one. They may even have cannibalized parts from the one that didn’t come to ensure the one that did is fully operational.”
“That had occurred to me,” Rob admitted. “What would Earth Fleet do?”
“We’d be still be working on checklists,” Danielle said. “Scatha’s force does have a vulnerability. That freighter. Unless he forgets his escort job and goes after us, the ability of the destroyer to maneuver will be limited by his need to protect the freighter.”
“That still leaves him a lot of room to play with,” Rob said. “I figure we’ll have to adjust each engagement to take advantage of whichever enemy ship makes the best target and try to wear them both down.”
“That might be our best bet,” Danielle admitted. “We don’t have any real good bets.”
Rob nodded. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“You can ask,” she said, wary.
“You and Drake Porter. He’s obviously interested. He’s stayed up on Squall with you while other crew members rotated down to the planet.”
“Drake is nice,” she said. “Yes, we’re, um, friendly. And since I lack any official status aboard Squall even though you’ve declared me an ensign, there aren’t any rank barriers involved. Are you worried about it?”
“No, not as long as you two stay professional on the bridge.”
Danielle nodded. “If it gets that serious, I’ll talk to Drake about his transferring to a shore job. I see you have a new picture,” she added, nodding toward Rob’s desk.
Rob glanced at the image of Ninja. “Yeah.”
“Does she understand the deal with this mission?”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry.”
“We’ll beat them,” Rob said, not really believing it but trying to will it to happen.
“We’ll do our best,” Danielle agreed.
• • •
“Three days to get everything and everybody assembled,” Mele told Council President Chisholm. “One day to load the whole mess on all three WinGs and transport them to the vicinity of Scatha’s base. I’m planning on landing the assault force late on the fourth day, but these aren’t experienced Marines, and the WinGs aren’t combat assault vehicles with armor and defenses. We won’t be able to run off the vehicles and hit the base immediately. We’ll strike probably early the next day.”
Council Members Leigh Camagan, Kim, and Odom looked uncomfortable. Council President Chisholm simply looked unhappy. “That’s the fastest you can do it?”
“Yes,” Mele said. “The fastest way to do it halfway right. I could just throw people and equipment on the WinGs and hit Scatha’s base by the end of the second day, but if I do that it would mean taking something on the order of fifty percent casualties in the assault. We might be able to overwhelm Scatha anyway, but you’d have to be prepared for heavy losses.”
“I believe that we should defer to Major Darcy’s judgment,” Leigh Camagan urged.
“But surely we can move it up at least a day quicker,” Kim said.
“Fifty percent,” Odom emphasized. “Is a day quicker worth that? How many of that fifty percent would be dead as opposed to wounded?” he asked Mele.
“Since we only have light body armor that’s been recently manufactured,” Mele said, “and Scatha has some powerful weapons, it would probably be close to an even split. Twenty-five percent dead.”
“Thirty-eight or forty dead out of a total force of a hundred and fifty!” Odom said, glaring at Kim. “If Major Darcy isn’t being optimistic!”
“Major Darcy has proven her judgment with two highly successful actions,” Leigh Camagan said. “If she says she needs that time, she should be given it.”
“You regard four days as the necessary minimum?” Chisholm asked Mele.
Mele shook her head, feeling unhappy but determined to say the truth as she knew it. “The necessary minimum is something like a couple of months. We don’t have that. It’s going to cost us. I need four days to try to keep that cost down.”
“Why can’t we wait to see if Lieutenant Geary succeeds?” Odom asked. “If he does, the ground assault will not be necessary.”
“We cannot assume that Lieutenant Geary will succeed,” Chisholm said. “And if he does not, it very well could not leave enough time to launch the ground assault before Scatha’s reinforcements arrive.”
“Taking their base on our planet wouldn’t prevent Scatha’s warship from bombarding us in the same way Lares was devastated!”
“We’d have the population of their own base as hostages,” Leigh Camagan pointed out. “Perhaps Scatha wouldn’t care. But at that point, it would be the only tool left to us.”
“You have your four days,” Council President Chisholm told Mele. “Are you
getting the necessary IT support?”
“Lyn Meltzer says Scatha has really clamped down on their transmissions,” Mele explained. “She doesn’t think she’ll be able to break in again in the time we have available, but she’s doing her best.”
“Ensure that she knows no other tasks should distract her from that assignment!” Chisholm ordered.
Mele glanced at Leigh Camagan, who gazed back at her with apparent bland ignorance on that topic. “I’ll make sure that Ninja knows what the council expects,” Mele said. “If you’ll excuse me now, I need to get things into motion.”
• • •
Three days remained until intercept, the long, curving tracks of Scatha’s ships and that of Squall still heading for that spot in space where they would meet. Rob took a break from drilling his crew to listen to a message from Ninja. Squall was already far enough from the planet that there were about twenty minutes of time delay, making a conversation very difficult but not impossible.
“I can’t find anything accessible,” Ninja said, looking drawn with fatigue and worry. “Scatha’s ships are locked tight again. Our consolidated sensor picture spotted some visual-spectrum lights blinking on one of the ships, so they’re probably using flashing lights to send simple messages back and forth. They’ll probably start transmitting once a fight starts, but that’ll be too late for me to break in and mess with anything. I’m so sorry. I love you, and I’d do anything to help, but there’s nothing I can do right now.”
He sent a reply, knowing that she wouldn’t see it until forty minutes after she had sent this message. “Ninja, I know you’re doing all you can. You gave Squall the best protection possible against intrusions, so we know we’re safe from Scatha pulling that on us. Do what you can to help Mele Darcy. I love you, too. Please take care of yourself. I can’t wait to see you when this is over.”
Rob went back to the drills, knowing that if there was any chance of him or anyone else on Squall seeing their loved ones again, it would take every trace of skill and luck they could muster.
• • •
Mele missed having Grant around to help with things. Obi had actually volunteered to help any way she could from the hospital bed where she was still confined, and the doctor had approved, saying the task and purpose would help Obi recover. But there was only so much a badly wounded woman could do from a hospital bed.
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