Jack Campbell - Invincible

“Thanks for clarifying that.” He was only half-joking in his reply. When he had first encountered Tanya, she had carried many of the ugly legacies of a century of war within her. There were few things she would not have done to the hated Syndicate Worlds enemies, military or civilian. She still carried many scars of war inside her though she rarely let him see external signs of those. “But if they do follow us, we’re going to have to take them out once we have them somewhere they don’t have these fortresses and all of the other resources of this star system backing them up.”

She nodded, smiling crookedly. “I notice you haven’t been talking much about what might be at the star we’ll be jumping to.”

“Whatever is there is there. We’ll deal with it.”

“Admiral?” the comm watch-stander said. “Captain Smythe on Tanuki is trying to get through to you. He says he’s getting a block notification.”

“Captain Smythe?” Geary looked at Desjani. “I know my comm settings don’t block him.”

Her face grim, Desjani hit her internal comm controls. “Systems maintenance, this is the Captain. Something is wrong with the fleet commander’s comm software. Find out what, find it now, and get it fixed five minutes ago. Understood?”

“Yes, Captain!” The systems maintenance personnel sounded worried, as well they should be when Desjani used that tone of voice.

“Forward Captain Smythe’s call,” Geary ordered the comm watch.

Smythe appeared, looking puzzled. “Comm problems, Admiral? I’m guessing, but then I don’t see how else I would have ended up unable to reach you directly.”

“Apparently,” Geary replied. “The systems people here on Dauntless are checking it.”

“It’s probably—Is it an isolated problem? Have you seen others?”

“At least one other recent problem with my comm settings,” Geary said.

“Admiral, I don’t wish to alarm you,” Smythe said, though his expression betrayed a worrisome amount of unease despite his words. “This may not be a software problem. That is, the operating systems may be working fine. But if the comm system processors and memory tacks are developing physical flaws, it will cause erratic behavior in the software.”

Everything else in the fleet was breaking as it reached the end of a short design life, but this particular problem hadn’t occurred to Geary. If he started having comm problems now, as they were heading for an encounter with the alien armada… “Captain Desjani, Captain Smythe informs me that it would be a good idea for your systems people to check the hardware in the comm system. Processors and memory tacks.”

As aware as he of the implications, Desjani stared at Geary for only an instant before reacting. “Systems! Check the hardware! Chief engineer! I want an immediate and full check of all comm and comm-associated processors and other gear.”

Smythe, unaware of Desjani’s words, was speaking to Geary again. “I was actually calling about Orion . Kupua completed her repairs on the damaged main propulsion unit and the fleet’s readiness system will tell you that Orion is at one hundred percent again, but Kupua ’s commanding officer, Commander Miskovic, told me that she is worried.”

“Worried?” She’s worried? Try wondering whether or not your comms will work as you race to an encounter with an alien fleet. “Worried about what?”

“The systems test fine,” Smythe said, groping for words. “But… Miskovic told me they don’t feel fine to her.”

“What does that mean?” Geary demanded.

“It means there’s nothing quantifiably wrong with Orion ’s propulsion right now, Admiral, but a talented and experienced engineer has a bad feeling about it.” Smythe gestured in frustration. “I don’t have to remind you that Orion has taken a lot of damage in the last year and received a lot of repairs, sometimes very hasty ones. That sort of thing can add up in sometimes indefinable ways.”

“I don’t understand.”

Smythe looked startled, then his expression cleared. “Of course. You didn’t spend your career in combat, not until after the fight at Grendel. Your pardon, Admiral, but everyone today tends to assume that any officer they know has been in the fight all their lives. But that means you don’t have extensive experience with combat-damaged systems that have undergone repeated repair. I’ll be the first to admit that hasn’t happened as much as it should have, because too many ships were lost completely or had to be scuttled. But it adds up, just like normal stresses add up over time.”

Another headache was starting. Geary tried to relax himself. Letting stress impact him could lead to errors and misjudgments that he and this fleet could not afford. “What exactly does that mean in this case?”

“It means that while every test shows Orion ’s propulsion systems working fine, the engineer who helped run those tests is of the opinion that Orion could suffer a significant propulsion problem at any time, with little or no warning. I thought you should know.”

“Is there anything I can do about it?” Geary asked.

“Not apart from full rework, replacement, and rebuild of Orion ’s systems,” Smythe said. “Which is scheduled though that schedule keeps slipping.”

Geary nodded, absorbing the information. “Thank you, Captain Smythe. At least if something does happen unexpectedly to Orion ’s propulsion systems I’ll be mentally prepared to deal with it.” Please, ancestors, ask the living stars to make sure that doesn’t happen during a battle. “Was Commander Shen informed of this?”

“Yes, Admiral. He didn’t seem happy with the assessment, but then Commander Shen never looks happy.”

Desjani leaned closer. “It was in the main comm coordination processors. Several of the memory tacks there aren’t retaining updates.”

Smythe heard this time and nodded in satisfaction. “That’s it. They’re losing memory-save capability. That’s causing your comm system to keep falling back into default settings. Nothing anyone would notice at first, but the save problems will keep cascading through your systems.”

“My system engineers are swapping out the tacks,” Desjani said. “Should they be doing anything else?”

“Replacing the rest of the system,” Smythe said with a sigh. “The tack failures are the canary in the coal mine for your comm system. Don’t depend on normal physical equipment diagnostics and self-test schedules. Treat the system as sick until we can get everything replaced.”

“Captain Smythe,” Geary said with what he considered a great deal of restraint, “we’re heading into battle. Are you telling me that I can’t depend upon Dauntless ’s comm system?”

He felt Desjani tense. She had always taken pride in Dauntless ’s status as flagship, as well as her own reputation for keeping everything and everyone on Dauntless in top readiness. If he had to transfer his flag on the eve of a fight because he couldn’t count on critical equipment on Dauntless working, Tanya and her crew would be humiliated.

Smythe simply viewed the question from an engineer’s perspective, though. “I’d need to see a full inspection and test run before I could answer that question, Admiral. Obviously, there are already problems on Dauntless , though.”

Desjani’s face had darkened, and she appeared ready for a hot retort.

Should he let loyalty to Tanya, and his familiarity with and liking of Dauntless and her crew, override his responsibility to have a flagship with reliable communications? The consequences of letting sentiment decide the issue, rather than cold logic, could be extremely serious.