Dauntless

TEN

Deciding to fight started the adrenaline flowing, though combat was still several hours away even if both sides rushed toward each other at maximum acceleration. Geary ached to immediately order the fleet out of the generic Alpha formation into the actual battle formation he planned on using, but he knew that would be a mistake. His old commanders had drilled that into him. The three things you need to worry about the most during the hours leading up to an engagement are acting too early, acting too early, and acting too early.

And here was Desjani wanting to do just that. “Will we be fighting in this formation?” she asked dubiously.

“No.” Geary caught the look of frustration that flashed across her face and relented. “We won’t move into the battle formation until shortly before contact. I want to leave just enough time, with a small margin of error, for our ships to reach their new stations and then be able to accelerate to battle speed.”

“Why not do it now? You’ve told me you’re concerned about the fleet’s ability to maneuver properly in an actual combat situation. Why wait until we’re almost in contact with the enemy?”

He’d asked the same question a long time ago. “Because we don’t want to give the enemy hours of leisure time to study our formation and figure out our plan of engagement.”

“But we could be in one usable formation and then shift to another, couldn’t we? Then we’d be ready even if the ships didn’t get into the new formation in time. We could shift a lot and keep the enemy guessing as to our intentions.”

Geary laughed softly, drawing a puzzled look from Desjani. “I’m sorry, but I’m just remembering wanting to do the same thing. It took me a while to learn the flaw in that approach.” He waved at the display, where the symbols representing the Alliance and Syndic forces were slowly converging across the huge distances between them. “We decide to fight and then usually have quite a while to prepare. There’s a tremendous temptation during that time to keep messing with things. Keep changing formations, keep making minor adjustments, keep altering plans. And if you do that, you end up wearing out your crews and drawing down your fuel reserves before you even get into contact with the enemy. It’s far better to discipline yourself to wait, to give your ships a chance to rest a bit before battle.”

“I see.” Desjani shifted in her seat. “Yes, I do understand. I want to do something now, but it’d be premature. That’s how we’ve fought, you know. Immediately assume battle formation, almost always something simple, and then charge straight at the enemy.”

“I figured that.” He looked again at the display, where the Syndic force seemed to be following that kind of approach. Two opposing forces just hurling themselves straight at their opponents and beating the hell out of each other. Brute force against brute force. No wonder these people value pride and courage so much. In that kind of battle, the side that keeps fighting the hardest and longest is likely to win. But at a terrible price in casualties and ship losses.

Geary checked the time, then called the fleet again. “All units. Updated estimated remaining time to contact with enemy force is seven hours. Recommend all ships rest their crews for the next few hours.” He grinned at Desjani. “Did you ever get held at maximum alert for half a day?”

She looked away. “That’s actually been common. To ensure everyone was fully ready.”

“You’re joking.” The look on Desjani’s face told him she wasn’t. “That wears everybody out before the battle’s even joined. There are situations where you don’t have any choice, but with something like this, where we know the enemy can’t engage us for close to seven hours, it makes sense for everybody to get what rest they can.” Geary made a show of standing up. “I’m going to take a walk,” he announced to the entire bridge, “and get something to eat.” Aware of all their eyes upon him, Geary sauntered off of the bridge, wondering how well he’d be able to fake an interest in food. He’d have to pretend to be resting for at least the next couple of hours, too, though he knew the chances of actually getting any sleep were nonexistent. “Please keep me informed of any changes in the Syndic force’s formation or movement, Captain Desjani.”

“Of course, sir.” Desjani hesitated, but as Geary was leaving the bridge he heard her standing down a good part of Dauntless’s crew so they could get some food as well.

After spending hours wandering through Dauntless to visit compartments and talk to the sailors in them, after pretending to eat in three different meal areas, and after periodically checking with the bridge to make sure there weren’t any new developments, Geary finally gave in and returned to the bridge. Desjani was still in her seat, having apparently not left the bridge the entire time.

Desjani gave him a sheepish look. “Force of habit.”

“You’re a ship’s captain, Tanya. I know that means you have to be here even when you shouldn’t have to be here.” Geary sat down, then forced himself to lean back and study the display again. The two opposing fleets had gotten much closer, but were still hours from contact. The Syndic formation remained unchanged. “We’re going to fight in Fox Five,” he advised her.

“Fox Five?” Desjani grinned in anticipation. “I can’t wait to see this fleet carry that off.”

Me, too. I hope they can carry it off. He ran calculations, using the latest estimates of the velocity at which the Syndics were traveling and the point at which the two formations would come together if nothing changed between now and then. Two more hours. Too long. I can’t order the fleet into Fox Five yet. Dreading the thought of spending the next hour staring at the display, Geary called up the simulation program and began running it using his fleet and the actual Syndic force. This should keep me busy, and maybe I’ll spot something I need to know.

It still seemed to take forever for the next hour to crawl by. “Okay, Tanya. Let’s get ready to kick some Syndic butt.” She bared her teeth in an eager smile as Geary called the fleet. “All units, this is Captain Geary on the Dauntless. Execute Formation Fox Five at time four zero. I say again, execute Formation Fox Five at time four zero. Dauntless remains the formation guide.”

Fox Five was an old formation, though as far as Geary could tell it hadn’t been used for a long time. It seemed perfectly suited to what the Syndics were doing and to what he wanted to do in the upcoming engagement, and it was one of the formations he’d included in the simulations, so his ship commanders weren’t totally unfamiliar with it.

“Fox Five?” a voice queried. Co-President Rione, on the other hand, wasn’t at all familiar with it. “What does that involve?”

Geary turned to smile at her, unaware until now that she’d come onto the bridge sometime in the last hour. “It’s a way of arranging my forces. A fairly complex way compared to the manner in which battles have been fought recently, but it should be very effective.”

“How so?”

“I have superior numbers,” Geary assured Rione. “The trick is getting those superior numbers to hit the enemy together so his defenses are overwhelmed.”

She looked skeptical. “If I understand what I’m seeing on the displays, your ships are heading off in different directions.”

“That’s the idea. Too many ships in one formation means you can’t employ them all together. An enemy force engaged on one side of the formation can’t be engaged by ships on the other side of the formation.”

Rione shook her head. “I see you breaking your force into pieces. How does this help them work together?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to watch it in practice.” Geary felt too nervous and excited to want to try to further explain fleet tactics to a civilian. He’d practiced moving fleets around, he’d trained at it under some captains and admirals who awed him with their skill, and he’d done a lot of simulating such maneuvers in the last couple of weeks. But this was the first time he’d be doing it in earnest, the first time large numbers of ships would actually be moving and engaging the enemy on his orders, the first time his decisions would decide the fates of many ships and perhaps the entire fleet.

He concentrated on the display to calm himself. As the ships moved in response to his order, the main body of the fleet was splitting into three sections. The section centered on Dauntless was significantly larger than the other two, a flattened oval facing the oncoming Syndic force. Moving to a position a million kilometers, or a bit over thirty light-seconds, above and forward of Dauntless were ships that were gradually forming a flat circle containing the second section of the main body, while another flat circle consisting of the rest of the main body was forming up thirty light-seconds below and forward. Together, the three formations resembled a huge nutcracker awaiting the Syndics, with the base centered in Dauntless and the two jaws positioned above and below the course the Syndics were taking.

Off to either side, also thirty light-seconds away, two smaller discs aligned at right angles to the main body were rapidly coming into existence as lighter units, mainly light cruisers and destroyers, with a leavening of heavy cruisers, raced into position to form the cheeks of the nutcracker.

Moving back, behind the lines of combatants, were the auxiliaries and the warships designated as their escorts.

And all six pieces of the Alliance fleet were moving at a still-deliberate pace of .03 light speed, following the course and speed set by Dauntless, having abandoned the orbit around Kaliban that they’d occupied for the last two weeks and headed through space toward an intercept with the Syndic force.

Geary gave a quiet sigh of relief as he saw the ships responding to orders. No one seemed to be pushing into an unassigned station, no one was charging off to be first to engage the Syndic force. Geary grimaced as he reviewed the formations, though. There was another command he had to send, to confirm the command arrangements for the coming battle, and he’d had to make a decision in that respect that he feared he’d regret. “All units, this is Captain Geary on the Dauntless, confirming the command structure for the upcoming engagement. In addition to exercising overall command of the fleet, I will exercise direct command of the main body.”

He looked at the display as he continued speaking, focusing on the powerful formation forward and above the main body. “Formation Fox Five One will be commanded by Captain Duellos on the Courageous.” His gaze shifted, looking at the lower jaw of the fleet. “Formation Fox Five Two will be commanded by Captain Numos on the Orion.”

Desjani gave Geary a sympathetic look. “Captain Numos is a senior captain.”

“Yeah. I didn’t have any choice but to give him command of that formation.” No choice since I had no grounds for dishonoring him by bypassing him for that responsibility. But if he screws this up, I’ll have those grounds and damn the consequences.

Geary activated his communications again. “Formation Fox Five Three is under the command of Commander Cresida on the Furious. Formation Fox Five Four is under the command of Commander Landis on the Valiant.” That took care of the light forces in the cheeks of the formation. “Captain Tulev in Leviathan is in command of Formation Fox Five Five.” The auxiliaries had needed someone in command of their escorts that Geary could count on, and he felt sure Tulev was that man. A dashing commander, even one as reliable as Duellos, might be tempted at some point to leave the auxiliaries unguarded in order to hurl the escorts into the battle. Tulev, steady and calm, should stick with the lightly armed auxiliaries to the death.

Geary took another satisfied look at the display, pleased to see the disparate elements of the fleet going exactly where they all should go. Then he noticed some concern on the face of Captain Desjani. “What’s the matter?” Geary asked quietly. She hesitated. “I need to know your thinking, Captain Desjani. Candid and direct.”

“Very well, sir.” Desjani spoke half-apologetically. “I know we’ve done simulations using this formation, but I’m still concerned about the distances between our forces. We seem to be spread out far enough to invite defeat in detail.”

He nodded. “That’s a legitimate concern. Dividing the fleet and remaining passive would allow the enemy to hit each piece in turn and have local superiority when they did so. If we didn’t move, that’d be exactly what would happen. But we’re not going to be sitting still waiting for the Syndics to hit us. Or rather,” Geary corrected, “the other formations won’t be sitting still. The main body is going to offer itself as a target for the Syndic assault.”

Oddly enough, the assurance that her ship would be charging straight into contact with the enemy clearly reassured Desjani. “Dauntless is to hold this course until contact?”

“Right.” Geary smiled again. “We’re going to adjust the course as necessary if the Syndics don’t head right for us, and we’ll modify our speed at the right points. But when the Syndics get to us they’re going to have a lot of other things to worry about, too. Trust me.”

She smiled back. “We do, Captain Geary.”

For some reason, having that said almost rattled Geary again. The trust some of these people had in him was so absolute, it was unnerving. But he focused back on the maneuvers of his ships, seeing the individual discs forming up nicely. On a whim, he pivoted the display in front of him so he could look sideways down the ranks of ships in the main body oval centered on Dauntless. Normally such a formation would have destroyers to the lead, cruisers behind, then the grim, steady mass of battleships and battle cruisers. But since Geary had sent the lighter units off to the other pieces of the Fox Five formation, the main body consisted of just the heavy hitters, battleships and battle cruisers arrayed in an open formation with interlocking fields of fire in front and to the sides. Have the Syndics seen what I’m doing yet? Do they understand?

He checked the Syndic formation. Still about six light-minutes away, the time-late images showed the Syndic force hadn’t altered formation in response to the movements of the Alliance fleet. The Syndic ships were spread into the flat bar that thinned and extended forward toward the edges. In some ways, it resembled a hammerhead bearing down on the Alliance fleet. Geary recognized the general concept behind it. Simple, and effective against an enemy who didn’t take the right countermeasures, the hammer would concentrate the attacking force’s assault against a relatively small but critical area, allowing closeranked successive waves of warships to sweep through the center of the defending force and batter it repeatedly with no chance for the defenders to recover between waves. Very simple, indeed. The Syndic commander wouldn’t have to give any maneuvering orders to his or her fleet until it had swept completely through the Alliance forces, and then they could simply turn the entire formation to come back and repeat the battering if needed. Or release the formation into individual ships with orders to independently run down and overwhelm the scattered survivors of the first attack.

Unfortunately for you guys, I have no intention of letting you get in that kind of blow.

Geary waited until his ships had all reached their assigned stations. “All units assume full combat readiness. At time zero seven, all units accelerate to point zero five light speed and proceed along formation axis defined by Dauntless.” Two minutes later, the entire Alliance fleet accelerated in unison, pushing its speed upward. “Damn, that looks nice.”

“It does.” Desjani grinned as Geary showed his surprise. “Didn’t you realize you’d said that out loud?”

“No.” But he smiled again as he watched the display, showing the vast formation of the Alliance fleet rushing onward in perfect unison, while the Syndic force continued to charge straight toward the center of the main body, and thereby straight into the jaws of the nutcracker. It never hurts to have an arrogant or foolish opponent, does it?

And now the really hard part had come, making sure he ordered the next maneuvers at the right times and in the right ways. Geary watched the data and the displays as the two opponents hurtled toward each other, trying to let his training and instincts feel the right moments to call the next orders. The images of the closest Syndic warships were still five minutes old by the time the Alliance saw them. Five minutes wasn’t a huge amount of time, especially given the momentum of those massive warships, but it was enough time for the Syndics to make some last minute moves to mess up Geary’s carefully coordinated attack. Especially if he moved his formations just a little too early and gave the Syndics the warning they needed.

Minutes passed. At one point, he thought Desjani might’ve asked him something, but he stayed focused on the feel of the fleets rushing together, and she didn’t speak again.

A few more minutes. Just a few more.

Geary’s hand reached out and touched the communications control, his eyes never leaving the display. “Formation Fox Five One. At time four five accelerate to point one light speed and alter course down six zero degrees. Align your formation axis perpendicular to the Syndic formation. Adjust course as necessary to enter the top of the Syndic formation about one-third of the way behind its leading edge.”

He paused, wanting to get the timing right. “Formation Fox Five Two. At time four five point five accelerate to point one light speed and alter course up five zero degrees. Align your formation axis perpendicular to the Syndic formation. Adjust course as necessary to enter the bottom of the Syndic formation about two thirds of the way behind its leading edge.”

Forty seconds later came Captain Duellos’s cheerful acknowledgment of the orders to Formation Fox Five One. One minute after that, Captain Numos in command of Formation Fox Five Two acknowledged his orders with no apparent emotion.

Geary waited, trying to keep his mind in that place where it could operate with all the distances and time delays in play. “Formations Fox Five Three and Fox Five Four. At time five zero accelerate to point one light speed and alter course to intercept the leading edges of the Syndic formation on your sides. Align formations to maintain right angles to the Syndic formation.”

As the other formations began accelerating toward the enemy, he could almost physically feel the ships of the main body straining to leap forward at maximum acceleration and join in the attack. “Main body, hold your formation. Reverse headings and prepare to execute braking maneuver.”

He might’ve caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of the shock on Desjani’s face or just imagined it. He waited as the Alliance ships swung one hundred and eighty degrees so that their sterns faced the enemy. Come on, come on, he urged the big warships. Get your butts around. Good. “Main body, brake velocity down to point two light, then reverse headings and prepare to engage.” Again he had the sense that the main body’s ships were straining at the leash. “All ships hold formation. You’ll have the entire Syndic attack coming through you in a few minutes and all the combat your hearts can handle.”

Dauntless shuddered as her engines thrust against her motion, slowing her, then she swung up and around another time to face the enemy head-on once again.

By this time, momentum had heavily committed the Syndics to their attack, but they could still react in minor ways if they figured out what Geary was doing. But because of the time-lag in being able to see the movements of the Alliance ships, it would take them a few minutes to spot that the jaws above and below their course had started closing. Minutes later, they’d see the cheeks of the nutcracker closing in from the sides. Even then, they might think they could engage the main body of the Alliance fleet before the jaws could bite down on them, but Geary’s braking maneuver had just altered the time to contact enough that the jaws would actually hit minutes before the van of the Syndic force hit the Alliance main body.

They can try veering up or down to engage one of the jaws separately, but if they do that, I should be able to get the main body on them anyway, and the light units will still be able to hit their flanks. They’re not going to get out of this without getting hurt.

“Blue shift on the Syndic ships,” the tactical watch reported.

“They’re speeding up?” Desjani wondered.

“Trying to counteract the effect of our braking maneuver and come to contact quicker. Maybe they think they’ll be able to blow right through the main body here and out of the trap,” Geary noted. “I don’t think they’ll make it. Duellos and Numos shouldn’t have any trouble compensating for the Syndics’ acceleration by increasing the angle of their intercept.”

“We’ll have a harder time dealing with them at those speeds, though.”

“Not really. We know where they’re going. They’re the one’s who’ll have a harder time, because they’ll have more trouble seeing us through the distortion.”

As the last minutes to contact scrolled down, Geary had to imagine events in his mind’s eye, because time lag meant he wasn’t really seeing it as it happened. Dauntless’s sensors and Geary’s eyes told him that the two jaws of the nutcracker were still closing to contact, when at that moment the upper disc of Alliance ships was already cutting down through the Syndic hammer at a high angle even as the second disc should be cutting upward farther back. While the Alliance ships shot through the Syndic formation along its shortest axis, each Alliance ship was in contact with the enemy for only a few minutes, able to flay any ships within range and then racing onward before its own defenses were too heavily stressed. But while the Alliance ships were continuing outward, allowing time for their shields to recover, the Syndic ships were getting hit again and again by new Alliance warships as the narrow disc of the Alliance formation swept through the Syndic formation.

But he couldn’t get lost in that vision. “All units in main body open fire as enemy ships enter your weapon engagement envelopes. Ensure first volley is grapeshot, followed by specters.”

He feared for a long minute that he’d cut the timing too fine, left the final open-fire command too late, in his desire to make sure a concentrated barrage hit the Syndic formation that had just been savaged by two Alliance buzz saws. Then he heard Dauntless’s weapons officer reporting that the projected paths of Syndic ships were entering the engagement envelopes of the flagship’s weapons, and moments later reporting that Dauntless’s weapons systems were firing. Even given the time lag needed for his command to reach every ship in the main body, they should all have opened fire at the optimum time.

Space between the Syndic force and the Alliance main body was suddenly populated by rapid bursts of light as a missile volley fired by the Syndics against the main body ran into and was wiped out by the wave of Alliance grapeshot. Moments later, space in front of the Dauntless lit up in a broad area as the charging Syndic warships ran head-on into the barrage of grapeshot, the ball bearings flashing into gas as collisions with Syndic shields converted their kinetic energy to heat and light. It looked for all the world like someone had painted a sweep of space with light.

The huge flare was still fading when brighter and bigger lights started flaring like flashbulbs. Geary kept his expression dispassionate, knowing he was looking at the deaths of Syndic minor combatants whose shields had been overwhelmed, leaving the ships exposed to more grapeshot slamming them at high relative speeds.

Right behind the grapeshot came the wave of specters, hammering weakened shields and in many cases breaking through to hit the Syndic ships.

within moments, the van of the Syndic force had been wiped out.

Geary swallowed, trying not to think of how many lives had just been ended in those flashes of light. He glanced over at Desjani, who was studying the display intently, her hands clenching and unclenching.

Holding their courses, though momentum left them little choice, follow-on waves of Syndic ships battered their way through the wreckage of the ships that had once made up their van. Instead of hitting an already softened-up Alliance main body with fresh attackers, the follow-on Syndics had themselves been hit by the two Alliance buzz saws even before they’d been further depleted by encountering the debris field. On the Alliance side, Geary’s ships were still almost untouched, their shields still at maximum.

Then the Syndic charge came within range of the hell-lances of the Alliance fleet, and space was filled with blazing shafts of energy converging toward the paths the Syndic ships were taking. Almost immediately thereafter, Geary saw null-fields being hurled out to also meet the onrushing Syndics.

He could never be sure how much he’d actually seen and how much he’d imagined in snapshot fashion as the two fleets swept through each other at a combined speed of well over .1 light, the moments of actual closest approach flashing by too fast for humans to register. But by that time, the damage had been done.

As the Alliance ships absorbed a heavy barrage against their bow shields, the outgunned Syndics had already run into the much heavier fire of Geary’s ships. Previously weakened and without time to rebuild, Syndic shields failed or let through damaging shots. Null-fields carved sudden gaps in ships while hell-lances flayed the oncoming Syndic warships.

Dauntless’s instruments, detecting and calculating damage at superhuman speed, told her crew that most of the Syndic ships racing past Geary had taken damage. Many appeared to be little more than wrecks, still carried along with their living comrades by the force of momentum. As the Alliance main body swept through the space once occupied by the Syndic force, Geary realized many of the impacts registering on Alliance shields were actually pieces of shattered Syndic warships.

Forcing himself to ignore the human cost of what had just happened, Geary scanned his display for summaries of the estimated damage to the Syndic force even as he gave new orders. “Main body, reverse course at time one five, turning up through zero nine zero.” That would bring the ships of his main body bending their courses upward in unison, up and over until they were going back in the other direction, chasing after the Syndic force that had passed through them, but slightly above them because of the turning radius required at the speeds they were traveling. They’d also be upside down relative to their former positions, of course, but in space that didn’t matter in the slightest.

It was tempting, very tempting, to break the formation and let the fastest ships charge ahead, but until he knew the Syndic force had been broken, he couldn’t take that risk. He also had to make sure the rest of his fleet was still acting in coordination. And despite the damage already done to the Syndics, the enemy force was still heading toward the auxiliaries formation. “Formation Fox Five Five. Take evasive course minimum down angle two zero at time one … seven.” That would bring the auxiliaries toward the formation led by Captain Duellos, which had altered course after diving through the Syndic formation and was now swinging back up toward the bottom and rear of the Syndics. “Formation Fox Five One, close on Formation Fox Five Five and lend support.”

Geary turned his attention to the smaller discs of cruisers and destroyers that had made up the cheeks of the nutcracker. As the Syndics had charged forward, the Alliance light units had sliced off the escort units making up the edges of the Syndic formation. “Formations Fox Five Three and Fox Five Four. Maneuver independently and close on the enemy. Ensure any stragglers or detached units are destroyed. Do not, repeat do not, break formation until given orders to do so.”

Geary took a deep breath, glaring at the depiction of the formation commanded by Captain Numos. After carrying out Geary’s orders, Fox Five Two should’ve been well above the path taken by the Syndics. Instead, it had leveled out early and was now proceeding along the same path the Syndic ships had taken, though far behind them and still a few light-seconds from even Geary’s main body formation. Apparently, Numos had tried to pivot his formation even as it crossed through the Syndics, bleeding off much of its speed to achieve a tight turn, and as a result had failed to make as heavy a strike against the enemy as he should have. He fell outside engagement range while trying to single-handedly run up the enemy’s formation from the rear. Idiot. “Formation Fox Five Two, continue pursuit and close with the enemy formation as soon as possible.” That fool’s handling of his formation kept a good chunk of my heavies out of contact during the first encounter and robbed me of some of my numerical advantage. He’ll never command another formation under me unless the living stars themselves order me to let it happen.

Now, are the Syndics going to continue charging at the auxiliaries before turning, or are they going to run for open space to buy time to recover from their pass through us?

Over the next few minutes, Geary could only watch as time-late images confirmed that the auxiliaries had altered course as commanded, their path curving downward toward Captain Duellos’s oncoming warships. Captain Tulev’s escorts for the auxiliaries had formed a slightly concave disc, his entire formation of warships pivoting slowly to keep its central focus on the badly hurt Syndic force. The two smaller Alliance formations were far behind but coming around, edge-on toward the Syndics. Geary’s own main body was still swinging through its course reversal.

The Syndics, as far as he could tell, had continued heading for the auxiliaries even though the Syndic formation was increasingly ragged, as wrecked and heavily damaged ships wavered off their courses even though their momentum had kept them with the rest of the formation. Judging from the damage assessments still coming in and the raggedness of the Syndic formation, they’d lost a lot of ships. But they’re still sticking to their plan, apparently. Rigid thinking. What would they have been planning on doing after making a firing run through the auxiliaries?

Course reversal and come back through us en masse. They’d turn about … there.

And they still have to do that if they’re going to get out of here. There are no jump points anywhere near their current course. Their only near-term chance to escape us is if they can blow through us again going back toward the jump point they used to enter the system.

The main body finished its course reversal, steadying on a vector leading back toward the Syndics, though of course the main body was still going far slower than the Syndic force. But now that we’re through the turn, I can crank up the engines on this force and go get those bastards. “Main body, accelerate to point one light at time three zero.” He turned to Desjani. “Captain, please adjust Dauntless’s course to keep this formation headed for an intercept with the projected path of the Syndic force.”

Desjani seemed dazed, but nodded. “We’ll never catch them at point one light.”

“Assume they’ll turn here,” Geary advised, pointing out his earlier conclusion. “They’ll come back toward us.”

Her face lit up with bloodlust at the implications. “Yes! And that’ll be the last maneuver any of them will ever manage.”

Geary looked away, then activated his command circuit again. “All units remain in formation,” he ordered again, haunted by the images of the chaos when his fleet fell apart at Corvus. “Formation Fox Five Five, increase down angle by two zero at time three eight.” That should force the Syndics to bend their own course enough to help Geary’s formations reach them in a coordinated assault. “Formation Fox Five One, alter course one zero down at time three eight. Adjust formation axis four zero degrees to starboard at time three eight. Maintain velocity of point one light.” That should bring Duellos’s formation edge on against the Syndics if they kept heading for the auxiliaries. “Formation Fox Five Three, alter course one zero to port and two zero down at time four zero and increase velocity to point one light. Formation Fox Five Four, alter course one five to port and one zero down at time four zero and hold present velocity.” Which should bring the two lighter formations in from where they were sweeping up crippled Syndic strays, so they could rake across the flanks of the remnants of the Syndic formation, and where they could do the most damage to any Syndic ships having trouble staying in formation.

He couldn’t help glaring at Numos’s formation, even though he’d realized he could use its position to his advantage. “Formation Fox Five Two, adjust course starboard three zero, down zero point five and increase velocity to point one light at time four zero. Roll formation axis six zero to port.” If the Syndics tried to run for some of the other jump points on the other side of the system they’d have to veer off toward the inner system of Kaliban. The odds of them making that long a run were slim anyway, but now if they tried that, Numos’s ships should be able to intercept their track and rake them as they ran.

If they didn’t try to run, Geary’s other formations would hit them in quick succession.

He sat back, breathing heavily as if he’d just physically exerted himself, knowing he’d have to just watch for a while and see what happened. It would be perhaps a half hour before the formations swept into contact again.

“Captain Geary?” Geary looked back to see Co-President Rione still on the bridge, apparently calm, but her eyes very alert. “Do you have one moment?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Geary flashed a tense smile. “It’ll be at least a few minutes until I can tell if everyone’s following orders and if the Syndics are doing anything unexpected. It’s a very old military dilemma. Hurry up and wait.”

“Could you explain something for me, then?” She gestured around vaguely. “You gave orders in terms of ‘up’ and ‘down,’ ‘port’ and ‘starboard,’ yet the ships of your fleet are in a wide range of aspects. You are upside down relative to the ships in Captain Tulev’s force, for example. How do they know which way you mean?”

Desjani, unseen by Rione, rolled her eyes at the Co-President’s ignorance, but Geary just pointed at the display. “It’s a standard convention, Madam Co-President, one every sailor learns by heart. It had to be established to provide a common frame of reference in an unbounded three-dimensional environment.” He sketched the shape of Kaliban’s system. “Every star system has a plane in which its planets or other objects orbit. One side of that plane is labeled ‘up,’ and the other side ‘down.’ So up and down within the system doesn’t change regardless of how your ship is oriented. By the same token, the direction toward the star is ‘starboard’ while the direction away from the star is ‘port.’ ” Geary shrugged. “I’ve been told that early on they tried to use ‘starward’ instead of ‘starboard,’ but the older expression stuck.”

“I see. You take your orientation from the outside, not from yourself or from the aspect of the ship.”

“It’s the only way it could work. Otherwise, no two ships could be counted on to figure out what the other one meant by directions.”

“What if you meet outside a star system? Where there is no such reference?”

Desjani looked startled. Geary also felt a shock of surprise at the question. But, then, how could Rione know better? “It doesn’t happen. How could two ships meet up in interstellar space? Why would they be there, too far from the nearest star to use it for reference? Why would two ships, or fleets, fight where there was no reason to fight? Nothing to defend, nothing to attack, no jump points or hypernet gates. The weaker side could just run away indefinitely.”

Rione stared back, her own surprise visible. “You always choose to fight?”

“You saw what happened at Corvus. We just kept going, and the Syndics couldn’t catch us before we left. Space, even within star systems, is too big, and ships are still far too slow relative to that, for combat to be forced if one side refuses to engage and can’t be blocked from running. If we’d wanted to defend a planet in Corvus or deny use of its jump points, we’d have had to stay and fight, but that wasn’t the case.”

Rione’s stare shifted to the display. “As you chose to fight here.”

“That’s right. If we’d run instead, the Syndics wouldn’t have caught us.” And it increasingly looks like I made the right decision to fight. Don’t get too cocky, Geary. It’s not over yet. But we’ve done a tremendous amount of damage to them. He checked the information on his display. “They’re still headed for our auxiliaries.”

“You don’t seem worried.”

“No. If they’d immediately scattered and run after their pass through us, some of them might’ve gotten away. But now they’ve given me time to bring my ships back at them.” He didn’t add something that he knew to be true. The fate of the Syndic force had been sealed. All of those Syndic ships would be destroyed in the near future.

Desjani pointed at her display, emphasizing something to Geary. Geary’s orders to formation Fox Five Five had forced the Syndic formation to alter course to keep closing on the auxiliaries and their escorts. As it did so, the Syndic wrecks and ships that were too heavily damaged to maneuver kept going along the old course, gradually separating from their less-damaged comrades. The Syndic formation had begun to look as if it were melting, the increasingly disordered hulls of the wrecks and badly damaged ships spreading onward and outward while the remaining warships headed down, still in their rectangular block, which had lost a third of its length when the Syndic van was annihilated, and contained large ragged gaps where lost ships had once been.

He became aware Rione was watching, too, as the two groups of Syndic ships separated, the still-functioning warships continuing on their doomed charge while the wrecks diverged from their original course. “I’ve seen detailed reports of space battles, Captain Geary. Why haven’t I seen one like this?”

“It’s not over yet, Madam Co-President.”

“I’m aware of that. But this formation you used, the way you ordered your ships to move and fight. I haven’t seen that. Why?”

This time Desjani smiled at Geary, and he knew she’d declare him to be the greatest fleet commander of all time unless he answered the question himself. “Fox Five, and formations like it, haven’t been used for a long time. It took me a while to figure out why. It’s because it requires a special kind of training and experience with judging exactly when to transmit orders to forces deployed across light-minutes of space, when to have those orders take effect, how to compensate for the small, but real, relativistic distortions that can creep into coordinated time lines, how to estimate what the enemy must be doing based on time-late visual images that vary depending on which part of the enemy formation you’re looking at.” He remembered a show he’d once attended. “Think of it as a ballet in four dimensions, with the different parts staggered through different layers of time delays in seeing and communicating with them.”

Rione didn’t bother trying to hide her reaction. “Very impressive. How did you learn this skill?”

Geary exhaled slowly before answering. “I learned how to do it from old hands, officers who’d trained at it for decades.”

It took her a moment to connect the dots. “All of whom are dead now.”

“Yes.” He gave her a flat look. “Everyone those officers trained died in battle. The officers that group had started to train also died.”

“I see. Like a trade secret in the world of peace. If those who know it die before passing on their skills, the chain of expert knowledge and experience is broken. The craft is lost and must be reinvented if it is to be seen again.”

Geary simply nodded in reply this time. For decades there’d been no one left who knew the tricks and the methods. So the fleet had been forced to fall back on simple formations using simple tactics. Until I came back, like some ancient general who remembers ways of fighting that the barbarians forgot long ago.

There was nothing to do for a few minutes but watch the Alliance formations converge on the Syndics, with occasional glances at the fleet status information to see how much damage his ships had taken, as well as the latest estimates of Syndic damage and losses. So far, the two sides of the ledger were grossly unbalanced in the Alliance’s favor.

“Captain Geary, this is Captain Numos. I demand that the ships under my command be allowed to engage the enemy!”

Desjani managed to convert a laugh into a cough, then carefully avoided betraying any other emotion.

Geary grabbed for his communications controls, then stopped himself and took a few moments to think before he reached again, then spoke with a bland tone. “Captain Numos, your formation is playing an important role in this battle by blocking any Syndic retreat. Since your formation, along with Fox Five One initiated contact with the enemy in this battle, I fail to understand your implication that your ships have not engaged the enemy.”

There was a pause before the reply came, Numos’s voice this time cold instead of heated. “You have deliberately placed the ships under my command in positions where they had the least chance to engage the enemy.”

“No, Captain Numos.” Geary realized with some surprise that his voice had remained level and calm. “I ordered your formation into an attack that would’ve resulted in substantial engagements for all of the ships in that formation. Unfortunately, my orders were not followed, with the result that the formation you command found itself out of position and out of the action. If you wish to complain about your current position relative to the battle, Captain Numos, I suggest you direct your complaints to the officer in command of Formation Fox Five Two. I believe you will find him on Orion.” He cut the link to Numos, not wanting further distraction.

Captain Desjani made a small pointing gesture, her expression still controlled. “I believe that conversation was somehow accidentally carried out on a fleetwide communications circuit instead of a private command circuit. How unfortunate.”

Geary glanced down to check, then shook his head. “Numos actually called me on a fleetwide circuit? Did he think I’d just let him claim his honor had been besmirched and not point out that he’s the one responsible for where Fox Five Two is right now?”

“Yes, sir, I believe he did think that.”

“Well, damn.” Desjani gave Geary a surprised look. “I know Numos deserved to get chewed out, Tanya, but I was always taught to chew out in private and praise in public.”

“I see.” But Desjani shook her head. “Normally, I’d agree, but in this case, the charges would’ve otherwise been whispered in quarters where you’d have been unaware of them even as they served to undermine your authority. It’s best that Numos’s charges were rebutted so clearly and so publicly.”

“You may be right,” Geary conceded. “But I’m still not happy it happened that way.”

Another message arrived on the heels of his words, but this time the tone was professional. “Captain Geary, this is Captain Tulev on Leviathan. The Syndic force is continuing down a course to intercept the auxiliary ships I am charged with protecting. I believe I can best keep the Syndics from closing within weapons range by pushing my heaviest units out five light-seconds from the auxiliaries. Request permission to do so.”

Interesting idea. Geary checked the display, imagining how the situation would change if he granted Tulev permission for the maneuver. He’ll still be close enough to the auxiliaries, but in a position to engage the Syndics before the enemy can get within range of the auxiliaries. But why is this necessary? Fox Five Five should’ve been able to keep the range open longer than this.

Titan. I should’ve guessed. All that mass she took on has reduced her performance as much as taking out half her propulsion systems would’ve done. Not that Witch and the others are dancing around like space fairies, either. “Captain Tulev, permission granted to extend your escort range to five light-seconds from the auxiliaries. Captain Duellos, be advised that Formation Fox Five Five’s escorts will be closing on the enemy to engage them at a distance of five light-seconds from the main body of Fox Five Five. Request you adjust your intercept of the Syndic formation accordingly.”

Duellos’s reply, sounding very cheerful indeed now, came over a half minute later. “We are adjusting course and will coordinate our next strike with Captain Tulev, sir.”

With Leviathan a good light-minute away, Tulev’s reply took a little while longer. “Thank you, sir.”

It took another few minutes before Geary could see Tulev’s ships arcing up toward the Syndics, as well as Duellos’s formation altering their course and accelerating a little more so that both Alliance forces would be in position to engage the enemy at about the same time.

Geary shook his head, imagining himself on the bridge of the Syndic flagship and trying to think through options, none of which were particularly good at this point. With Tulev’s escorts heading to intercept the Syndics from in front and below, while Duellos’s formation swung ever closer from behind and below, the Syndics faced two options. They could continue their original plan and get caught by both Alliance forces hitting them almost simultaneously from two different angles, or they could turn away from the Alliance auxiliaries and try to make it back to the jump point from which they’d entered Kaliban. “What would you be thinking if you were them?” Geary asked Desjani.

She considered the question for a moment. “Their objective is clear enough.”

“They won’t reach the auxiliaries. We’ve got too much heading to intercept them.”

Desjani shrugged. “If their orders are to get to the auxiliaries, they’ll do it or die trying.”

Senseless. Totally senseless. But I don’t see any sign the Syndics are having second thoughts. Perhaps I can add a little pressure and see if that’ll change their minds. “Formation Fox Five Three, adjust course and speed as needed to strike the upper edge of the Syndic formation. All units in Formation Fox Five Four, break formation and head for the cluster of Syndic wrecks. I want you to ensure they’re all really dead.”

It took time for the formations to converge, but he finally saw the images of Tulev’s escorts engaging the Syndics which had occurred less than a minute before. Using the same tactics as Geary had employed with the main body, Tulev’s heavies had fired grapeshot, then followed up with a barrage of specters. The Syndics were still reeling from the impact of those volleys when Captain Duellos’s formation sailed past, angling upward to slide through the rear of the Syndic formation and pound the ships there. Taken together, Tulev’s and Duellos’s formations outgunned the surviving Syndics almost two to one without even taking into account the damage to many of the Syndic ships.

As Tulev’s escorts slid by beneath the Syndics and Duellos’s warships rolled up through the enemy formation, the lighter Alliance ships in Formation Fox Five Three glided in from above. Against fresh heavy combatants, the Alliance destroyers and cruisers would’ve been outmatched, but by this point the Syndic force had been hurt so badly that it could offer little effective defense. The remnants of the Syndic destroyers and cruisers tried to block Fox Five Three’s firing run but were quickly overwhelmed, their shields swamped and their hulls broken.

As the third Alliance formation in quick succession engaged the Syndics, the enemy formation suddenly fell apart. Geary saw the surviving Syndic warships scattering, most of them turning frantically back toward the Alliance main body that blocked their way to the jump point and safety. Hardly daring to believe the enemy force had been so decisively broken, Geary evaluated the way the Syndic ships were dispersing. Trying to catch them all using big formations would be difficult at best and very likely impossible. “All units, this is Captain Geary. Break formation. General pursuit. I say again, general pursuit. Make sure we get all of them.”

There were triumphant cheers on the bridge of Dauntless, but Geary barely registered them as he watched his fleet on the display. Even though he’d known how badly those ships wanted to be cut loose, he was still surprised to see just how rapidly his neat formations dissolved, as the individual ships sped away to engage targets of opportunity.

Dauntless surged forward herself under Desjani’s orders. Geary leaned over to see which target had been highlighted by the battle cruiser’s combat system. A Syndic D-Class battle cruiser, looping upward in an attempt to pass over the main body. Why isn’t he going faster? According to what I’ve read, a D-Class should be able to do a lot better than that. Geary highlighted the target on his own display, getting the estimated damage readout. Ah. He’s been hit hard. Looks like he’s lost a lot of propulsion capability.

Zooming in the view of the Syndic battle cruiser from Dauntless’s optical sensors, Geary could see the damage that had blasted holes in the enemy ship. At one time, the enemy ship had been a good-looking ship, displaying clean lines and smooth menace, but now its hull was torn and bent. A D-Class versus Dauntless would be a roughly even match, except that Syndic warship has already been beat to hell.

Then he thought of something else, pulling back the range scale on his display again and checking the movement vectors of nearby Alliance ships. As far as he could tell without asking, the battleship Vanguard and the battle cruiser Fearless were both also aiming for the same Syndic warship. Geary called up remote data from the other ships, confirming that they were also targeting the D-Class battle cruiser and getting their estimated times to intercept as well. “They’re going to get to it first,” he remarked out loud.

Captain Desjani nodded, her frustration clear. “I can’t beat them to it without accelerating to the point that my aim will be lousy. I’d rather get in the third blow than risk missing the bastard completely.”

Geary looked back as his display, where the curving lines through space that marked the projected paths of both Alliance and Syndic warships formed an oddly beautiful pattern against the backdrop of the stars. At this scale, he could easily see how the paths of multiple Alliance ships were converging on the courses of every individual Syndic ship. This isn’t a battle any more. The surviving Syndics are so badly outnumbered and already so damaged that this is just a massacre.

I know we have to destroy the Syndic fighting forces to survive, but why can’t the Syndics have the brains to surrender when the situation is obviously hopeless?

On the other hand, the Alliance fleet’s situation seemed hopeless back in the Syndic home system and surrender was a lousy option then.

The irony finally hit him that this one-sided slaughter was what would’ve happened to the Alliance fleet in the Syndic home system if it had fallen apart and tried to run as individual ships.

Vanguard reached the D-Class battle cruiser first, pounding it with a barrage of hell-lances and then sweeping onward with its sights set on another target. Fearless came in next, from a different angle, its shots hitting the Syndic battle cruiser in the stern. Secondary explosions ripped pieces off of the Syndic warship’s stern as it began rolling erratically through space, apparently no longer under control.

“Our turn,” Desjani breathed. “Combat systems watch, is there anything left on that hulk that still needs killing?”

Dauntless swept down on the crippled Syndic battle cruiser, which was tumbling through space while escape pods burst from it in irregular volleys. “Captain,” the combat systems watch reported, “we’re picking up powered systems still active amidships.”

“He’s not dead yet, then,” Desjani observed with a grim smile. “Hell-lances target midships section of the battle cruiser. Fire when the target enters range.”

The great tumbling shape of the battle cruiser made for a difficult target, but Dauntless’s hell-lances flashed out and punched into the Syndic ship’s hull as Dauntless rocketed past, nearly every shot slamming into the midships area of the battle cruiser.

“No systems activity registering now,” the watch reported as the wreck of the battle cruiser receded behind them, still fitfully spitting out occasional escape pods.

“He’s not worth another pass,” Desjani decided. “Shifting target to heavy cruiser bearing zero two zero degrees relative, three one degrees up, range point three light-seconds.” Dauntless swung in response to her maneuvering systems, arcing up and slightly to the side in a smooth curve. The Syndic cruiser, which also displayed the marks of damage already inflicted earlier in the battle, tried rolling and diving away, but was too close and didn’t have enough of a relative speed advantage. Desjani adjusted Dauntless’s course and slashed over the fleeing heavy cruiser at close range. Dauntless’s shields easily absorbed the ragged series of shots fired by the damaged cruiser, while the Alliance ship sent a heavy series of barrages at the Syndic ship that first collapsed the cruiser’s remaining shields, then ripped into the ship.

“Damage assessment,” Desjani rapped out as Dauntless and the cruiser rushed away from each other on diverging courses.

“Heavy damage to Syndic cruiser,” the watch hastily reported. “Confirmed hits on all areas of the hull. Ma’am, we just spotted escape pods leaving the cruiser.”

“Do we have a confirmed kill on that cruiser?” Desjani demanded.

The watch hesitated, pouring over the information being collected by Dauntless’s sensors. “Heavy damage, and the cruiser no longer appears to be under control, but I cannot confirm a kill.”

Desjani frowned in thought. “It could be a ruse.” She scanned the area. “And there’re no other Syndic ships nearby that aren’t being brought to battle or haven’t been taken out already. Let’s bring Dauntless back around for another pass at the cruiser.”

Dauntless began laboriously curving around for another run on the Syndic ship, using her propulsion systems to brake and allow for a tighter, though still gigantic, turn. The turn had barely begun, when an Alliance destroyer flashed past the Syndic cruiser and slapped it with several more hits. Then, two-thirds of the way through Dauntless’s turn, the watch called out again. “More escape pods leaving that cruiser. Lots of them.”

Geary gave a lopsided smile to Desjani. “I guess they figured out you were coming back.”

“As if we’d let them get away in any case,” Desjani replied before issuing another order to her crew. “Continue firing-run maneuver but hold further fire until I give orders to shoot.” Geary and Desjani watched the target intently as Dauntless swung farther back, now closing on the battered heavy cruiser again, but almost .2 light-seconds away after the wide turn her velocity had required. “Two more escape pods, I see,” Desjani commented. Moments later, light flared as the cruiser’s power core overloaded. “That might’ve been an accident, but if they’d intended on hurting us with that, they did it way too soon.”

“Hard to tell,” Geary replied. “Maybe they were just scuttling the ship to keep it out of our hands.”

Desjani snorted. “An abandoned heavy cruiser isn’t going to have anything on it that we’re interested in. They’d have destroyed anything of intelligence value. All we’d do with it is set the power core to overload so the Syndics couldn’t use it again. They just saved us the trouble.” She glared at her display in frustration. “There’re no more targets near us.”

Geary checked his own display again. The number of Syndic ships still active had dwindled rapidly, with the destruction of more being registered by Dauntless’s sensors even as Geary watched. A few Syndics were still trying to flee, but Alliance pursuers were closing in on them from multiple angles. The remaining Syndic ships would be wiped out in short order.

It’s over. He stared at the cloud of debris that was all that remained of the heavy cruiser that Dauntless had last targeted. I don’t want to know how many human beings died over the course of the last few hours. The great majority who died were our enemies who were trying to kill us, and the ugly truth is that’s all that matters right now.