Jack Campbell - Guardian

Ten seconds later, Captain Tulev called from Leviathan . “I understand. We will destroy the derelicts.”

Desjani nodded approvingly. “Those small groups of Syndic warships won’t want to tangle with Tulev’s division of battle cruisers. Permission to ask a question?”

“Dammit, Tanya—”

“I’ll take that as a yes, Admiral. Why are we destroying those things? Not that I object to destroying them.”

He gave her an annoyed look. “We’re destroying them, Captain Desjani, because I don’t want to have to worry about them anymore, and because I can eliminate what are very likely Syndic booby traps without the Syndics being able to object or complain.”

Rione broke in. “You are certain those derelicts are dangerous?”

“I am, Madam Emissary. You remember what we did at Lakota, rigging badly damaged ships to explode? You told me while we were at Midway that President Iceni said high-level Syndics had seen detailed reports on the tactics I used after I assumed command of the fleet.”

“And you think the Syndics are trying to use your own methods against you?” Rione asked.

“From what we heard at Midway, I think they’re going to do their best.”

The sudden reversal in the track of the Alliance fleet had forced the four groups of Syndic ships to make dramatic changes to their own vectors. Groups Alpha and Bravo found themselves far out of position, required to alter course to dive in pursuit of the Alliance formation. Groups Cable and Delta, coming up toward the Alliance ships, faced the opposite problem as their intercepts with the Alliance fleet abruptly threatened to occur much sooner and at much higher relative velocity than planned.

Geary watched Cable and Delta closely, wanting to see how they reacted. Would they adjust their tracks on the fly to manage a quicker and riskier encounter or pull off to come around again under more controlled conditions?

“Scared them off,” Desjani commented in a neutral voice as Cable and Delta both curved outward, avoiding contact with any Alliance ships. “What do you think of this?”

He looked over the work on the Armadillo she had done to supplement his. The Alliance formation would shrink in, forming a fairly tight ball, the assault transports, Invincible , and the auxiliaries in the center, battleships and battle cruisers spaced around the outer shell to reinforce tight lattices of smaller warships. “It looks good to me. Are you buying into this now?”

“Yes, sir.” She shrugged. “Whatever they’re up to, they won’t expect this. I’ve never seen it used.”

“Neither have I. It’s one hell of a big target. We’ll hold it long enough to figure out what to do next, and not a moment longer.” He watched Tulev’s battle cruisers, Leviathan , Dragon , Steadfast , and Valiant , sweep outward from the current formation, altering their track enough to come within missile range of the derelicts. The old ships must still have some maneuvering capability in order to stay directly in front of and that close to the jump exit, but whatever that capability was it wouldn’t be enough for those half wrecks to avoid missiles.

“Are there any crews aboard them?” Charban asked. Unnoticed, he had also come onto the bridge.

Desjani waved toward Lieutenant Castries, delegating the answer to her.

“It’s doubtful there are any crews on any of them, sir,” Castries said. “Automated systems would have easily handled the maneuvering to keep those old ships on station, and we’ve received no indications of any living crew aboard.”

“Thank you,” Charban said. “What if there are people on board?”

“If there are… Sir, if there is anyone aboard any of those ships, they will see the missiles coming in plenty of time to get into an escape pod.”

“Which would not do them much good if the Admiral’s estimate is right and those ships are rigged as bombs,” Rione pointed out.

Geary turned enough to give her a pointed look. I know she agreed with my decision to take out those derelicts. Sometimes that woman is contrary just for the sake of being contrary. “If the ships are rigged as bombs, anyone on board would know that. We can’t be responsible if they get caught in a trap they intended for us.”

He watched as missiles launched from Tulev’s four battle cruisers, two specters for each derelict. Geary’s hand twitched toward his comm controls. The auxiliaries have been manufacturing replacement weapons for all they’re worth, but we’re still not fully up to strength on missiles. I should have told him to only use one per ship—

“Admiral,” Desjani said, “you can always count on Captain Tulev to do the job right without being told exactly how to do it. By using two missiles per target, he’s overkilling some of the derelicts but ensuring that every target is eliminated just as you ordered.”

This time he looked at her suspiciously. “How do you know…? Never mind. You’re right. We’re even.”

“I’m not keeping count.”

“The hell you aren’t.” Geary let his hand complete the motion to his comm controls this time. “All units in the First Fleet, this is Admiral Geary. At time two zero, all units come up zero eight zero degrees, come starboard three five degrees, assume Formation Armadillo as attached to this transmission. Geary, out.”

The fleet would simultaneously swing back up and slightly to one side, aiming for the next jump point, while also compressing down into the Armadillo. It was the sort of maneuver involving hundreds of ships that humans would have required days to work out, but the fleet’s maneuvering systems could come up with a coordinated solution within seconds.

The questions began coming in less than a minute later. Geary squinted at the list of incoming transmissions. Almost every senior officer in the fleet was calling, and it didn’t take a genius to know what they were calling about.

Desjani glanced toward his comm inbox, gave him an “I told you so” look, then returned to studying her own display.

I thought I was done with this kind of thing, Geary thought crossly. Being open to advice and input is one thing. Having my decisions questioned is another.

His hand hovered over the comm controls, but something made him look over toward Desjani. She was giving him a sidelong look that spoke volumes. Are you sure that you want to do that, Admiral?

Geary lowered his hand, thinking. No one is challenging my right to command. Not anymore. At least, no one is doing that openly. They are expressing concern about my proposed course of action. These are good officers for the most part. They’ve followed me and done their jobs well. I need to respect their concerns instead of telling them to shut up and do what they’re told. Taking a deep breath, he hit the fleet-broadcast command that would send his words to every commanding officer in the First Fleet.

“This is Admiral Geary. I understand that there is some concern regarding our currently ordered movements. Be assured that the purpose of the new formation is to confound any Syndic plans against us here at Simur. After ensuring that the Syndics cannot successfully attack us, we will analyze the situation here and determine just what the Syndic plans are. Then we will change our formation and take any measures required not only to frustrate those plans but also respond as appropriate. Geary, out.”

He paused, thinking again. “Madam Emissary, would you contact the senior Syndic CEO in this star system and register a formal complaint about aggression by those warships against an Alliance fleet?”

Rione raised her eyebrows at him. “You know what the answer will be. The senior Syndic CEO will claim those warships are not Syndic.”