Relentless

“Which left the field open for the far-from-best to foment trouble. An attempted silent coup turned into open fighting and the subsequent collapse of central authority.” She faced Desjani. “And, no, you never heard about it. Security. It wouldn’t do to let the people of the Alliance know what could happen even in a place like Geradin.”

“Collapsing authority,” Geary muttered, eyeing his own display. “Are we seeing signs of open fighting among the Syndics?” No one answered, so Geary punched a control. “Lieutenant Iger. We have indications that central authority in this star system is collapsing or being challenged. I need an assessment and reports on what’s happening on each planet as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir! We’re working on it.”

Geary watched the information available to him, gratified to see more of the Alliance escape pods being picked up. Around the Alliance escape pods, much larger swarms of Syndic pods headed for the nearest refuge. He wondered how the survivors of the Syndic flotilla would align themselves within the star system. For a central authority that might be disintegrating? With any of at least two rebel factions? Or fort up on bases and try to ride out the rebellion until Syndic enforcers arrived in warships to bombard the rebels into submission?

“There aren’t many Syndic warships left,” Geary said to himself.

Desjani frowned, then nodded as she grasped his meaning. “Not much left to wield the whip. We’ve gradually turned the Syndic whip hand into fragments of broken warships stretching all the way back to the Syndic home star system.”

“Yeah. And we apparently aren’t the only ones to realize that.” Geary slapped his controls again.

“Lieutenant Iger! Don’t you have anything yet?”

A window popped up with the intelligence officer’s face within it. Iger’s expression revealed perplexity.

“Sir, the situation is chaotic.”

Geary waited for a moment. “Thank you, Lieutenant. I never could have figured that out without intelligence support.”

Iger’s face flushed in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, sir. We can’t give you a clear picture yet because there isn’t one. Everything seems to have fallen apart here, like a garment in which every seam fails at once. There are indications that the fourth planet may have gained population in recent decades because dissidents unhappy with the government were moving there. We have no idea who’s got real power or how much. No one may know that, including the various parties fighting for control of parts of this star system.”

“There is fighting going on?”

“Yes, sir. We’ve identified explosions, vehicle movements, signal traffic, and other indications of ongoing fighting on the third and fourth planets. We can’t tell yet if the fighting is intensifying. Since everything elsewhere is under cover, it’s much harder to tell if there’s any fighting going on inside buried cities or orbital installations.” Iger paused and looked to one side, nodded to someone, then faced Geary again.

“We’ve just detected a substantial blowout affecting one of the Syndic orbiting facilities near the third world, which indicates that they’re fighting up there, too.”

Desjani had been listening and now shrugged. “Not our problem, sir. We aren’t an occupation task force with several hundred thousand ground troops along for the ride.”

“I guess not,” Geary agreed, then saw Iger shaking his head nervously. “Yes, Lieutenant?”

“The prisoner of war camp, sir, the one on the third world.”

He’d actually forgotten that for a moment as the collapse of Syndic central authority grabbed attention.

“It is our problem.”

Iger was clearly reading updates even as he reported them to Geary. “There are indications of fighting outside the POW camp, but no signs of violence within the camp. Our best estimate is that the guards have forted up to protect themselves.”

“Is anyone attacking the camp, Lieutenant?”

“Not that we can tell, sir. But, well, it’s early.”

“What about orbital nuclear bombardment capability?” Rione asked. “We know the Syndics had that in other systems to help keep their people in line.”

“We can’t tell if they’ve got those here, Madam Co-President,” Iger replied. “None have been employed.”

“They may not have them, then.”

“Yes, ma’am, or they may lack a decent target, or they may have temporarily lost control of the nukes due to the command and control net falling apart, or they may be waiting for the various rebel factions to inflict as much harm on each other as possible before the Syndic authorities step in with their big hammer.”

Geary drummed his fingers on the armrest of his seat, thinking. “I assume this is all going to take a while to shake out, and we don’t have time to waste. Lieutenant Iger, I need special emphasis on finding out who controls the area of the third planet near the POW camp, and I need the best assessments you can come up with on the ground threat around there as well as any orbital and ground-based defenses this fleet would need to worry about or take out.”

“Yes, sir.” Iger saluted quickly, and his image vanished.

Geary tapped another control, and the image of Colonel Carabali appeared. “Colonel, are you familiar with the developing situation in this star system and in particular on the third planet?”

Carabali nodded. “Going to hell in a handbasket at hypervelocity, from what I’ve heard, sir.”

“Right. But we need to get the Alliance prisoners of war out of the camp on that planet. We’re going to try to find somebody to negotiate their release to us, but it’s very likely that your Marines will have a tough job to do.”

“That’s why the fleet has Marines, sir, to handle the tough jobs.” Carabali saluted. “I’ll work up a plan, assuming hostiles outside the camp and resistance from the guards inside the camp.”

“Thank you. The fleet will clear the way even if we have to crater the entire part of the planet around that camp.”

Desjani sighed. “Ground actions. Ugh. I really prefer fleet battles.”

“So do I, but we’re stuck with this ground action.” He frowned at the display. “Let’s get the fleet broken up. Leave enough around here to defend the ships under repair and get the rest headed toward the third planet. Madam Co-President, as soon as intelligence identifies someone to talk to you around that POW camp, I’d appreciate it if you began negotiations. Make sure they know that trying to blackmail us by threatening the welfare of the prisoners would be a very bad idea.”

“I’ll do my best,” Rione replied. “Assuming we find somebody who is actually in charge around there. What if I can’t?”

“Then Colonel Carabali’s Marines are going to come knocking on the door of that camp, and I wouldn’t want to be somebody standing in their way when they do.”

ABOUT twenty-four hours later, as Geary was reviewing the latest status reports from the fleet, Rione came to his stateroom. “We managed to get into direct contact with the POW camp on the third planet. The guards are scared of us and scared of the rebels outside their camp,” Rione reported. “They see the Alliance POWs as their only power-up, and they want to ensure they get all they can from that. They’re also scared of the Syndic authorities.”

“Even with things falling apart and the Syndic fleet almost wiped out?” Geary asked.

“Since people at their level don’t know the Syndic fleet has suffered so many losses, that’s not a factor for them. Captain Geary, for them the equation is simple. If they resist us, they may die. If they don’t resist us and the Syndics reestablish control of this star system, they and their families may die.”

“So they’re going to fight.”

“That’s what they say.”

He glared at the display over his table. “Do you think there’s anything we can do to change their minds?

Threats? Promises?”

“I’ve tried both.” Rione shook her head, looking weary. “Usually I spend a lot of time trying to see beneath whatever Syndics are saying to guess what they really mean or what traps might be hidden in their words. The only good thing about this situation is that I feel confident the guards aren’t playing us. They mean what they say.”

“But how hard will they actually fight?” Geary wondered. “A token resistance or a scorched-earth battle to the death or something in between?”

Rione furrowed her brow in thought. “My own instincts say that any resistance will be more than token. The guards are very worried about how their actions will be viewed by Syndic authorities. But even though they’re putting up a good front, I don’t think they’re eager to die.”

“Something in the middle, then. Thanks. Colonel Carabali is going to brief me on the Marine assault plan in about an hour. I’d appreciate it if you let her know your assessment before then so she can factor it into her plan.”

“Sorry it couldn’t be more pleasant.” She gestured to the display. “Any good news?”

“Some. Commander Lommand called from Titan to say that he’s confident they’ll be able to get Incredible repaired enough to accompany the fleet. On the other hand, engineers inspecting Intagliata found a lot more structural damage had been suffered than we realized, so we’re going to have to scuttle that light cruiser, too.”

“And the fuel situation remains critical?”

“Yup. After we distribute every fuel cell the auxiliaries have and every one we could salvage off wrecked ships, the fleet will average about thirty-seven percent reserves. We’ll burn some of that slowing to orbit the third planet and accelerating away after we get the prisoners, so we’ll probably be down to the low thirties by the time we leave Heradao. Fortunately, fuel-cell use in Padronis should be minimal.”

“Can we get back with that level of fuel cells?” Rione asked quietly. Geary shrugged. “In terms of distance, yes, easily. We shouldn’t have to fight any more battles between here and Varandal.”

“And if we do have to fight more battles?”

“Then it’s going to get ugly.”

She gazed at the display. “I have an obligation once more to point out your options in such a case.”

“I know.” He tried not to get angry. “We can load up some of the ships and abandon others. I won’t do that. We need every ship. The Alliance needs every ship and every sailor.”

“The Alliance needs this ship, Captain Geary. It needs the Syndic hypernet key aboard Dauntless.”

“I never forget that, Madam Co-President. You know, we could save fuel cells by not going after the Alliance prisoners on the third planet.”

She gave him a long, hard look. “I suppose I deserved that. You know that even I wouldn’t suggest abandoning those people. All right, Captain Geary, use your best judgment, and let’s pray the living stars continue to look after us. I will contact the Marine colonel about my impressions of the Syndic guard force at the POW camp and let her know that I am at her service if she wishes me to attempt any other conversations with the Syndic guards.”

“Thank you, Madam Co-President.”

AN hour later, the virtual presence of Colonel Carabali stood in his stateroom, pointing to two images of the POW camp on the third planet, each bearing symbols displaying different plans for liberating the prisoners. Seen from overhead, the Syndic installation was an almost perfect octagon, each corner of its eight sides anchored on a substantial guard tower, with smaller guard posts spaced between them along the sides. A tall, solid wall of reinforced concrete joined the guard posts. Triple barriers of razor wire ran inside and outside the wall, the cleared areas inside the razor wire bearing every sign of being mined and doubtless under extensive remote sensor surveillance. Farther inside the wall, ranks of buildings filled most of the camp, many of them tagged on the images with probable identifications such as prisoner barracks, guard barracks, hospital, administration, and so on. The center of the camp was clear, a large open field that served as both a landing place for Syndic shuttles and a parade ground. Geary imagined being locked in such a place, with no hope of release. Until now.

“We’ve got two basic options,” Carabali began in her no-nonsense briefing voice, “both based on the fact that I’ve only got a little less than twelve hundred combat-capable Marines left in the fleet. That’s far too few to occupy a facility this size and defend its perimeter, even if we don’t end up facing any resistance from the guards inside the camp. I understand from Co-President Rione that our governing assumption has to be that the guards will fight.”

Her hand swept out, and a finger rested on part of the first image of the POW camp. “One option is that we can concentrate the Marines and roll through the camp sector by sector, occupying each portion, evacuating the POWs there, then moving on to the next. That has the advantage of keeping the Marines all within easy supporting distance and limiting their exposure to attack. The downside is that it will take longer on the ground, and once the enemy realizes what we’re doing, it gives them time to try either pulling out our POWs in sections we haven’t occupied yet or digging in among those POWs and using them as hostages. I don’t recommend this option.”

She faced the next map. “The other alternative is to drop the Marines along the perimeter of the camp, along with a force in the center of the camp to secure the main landing field. There aren’t enough Marines to secure the entire perimeter of the camp and the whole interior, but we can block all of the best angles of approach on the perimeter. Then the Marines on the perimeter will proceed inward, sweeping any resistance before them or bypassing strong points, and picking up POWs as they go, concentrating everything toward the center of the camp. We’d be lifting people out of the middle of the camp as fast as possible. This has the advantage of not allowing the enemy time to concentrate or pull out some of our POWs, and as time passes our own forces will concentrate and be able to respond better to attacks. The disadvantages are that our forces, especially initially, will be widely dispersed and unable to support each other. Many of the initial drops will also be more perilous for the shuttles since they’ll be spread out along the perimeter.”

Geary studied the maps and the colonel. He’d had some training on Marine operations a hundred years ago, but his actual experience with ground actions was limited to what he’d seen since assuming command of this fleet. That hadn’t included any operations on this scale, yet as fleet commander he was required to oversee the Marines and make the final decisions on their plans. Fortunately, he’d seen enough of Carabali to have a high degree of trust in her competence. “Despite the higher risks, the second plan is your recommended option?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you consider to be the odds of success using the first option?”

Carabali frowned slightly as she looked at that map. “If success is defined as rescuing all of the POWs, then my assessment is that option one would offer a maximum of fifty percent odds of success and probably substantially less depending on the Syndic reaction. That option leaves us very vulnerable to whatever response the Syndics choose.”

“And the second option?”

Carabali frowned again. “Ninety percent chance of success.”

“But the second option has higher chances of casualties for the Marines and damage to the shuttles.”

“Yes, sir.” Carabali faced him, her expression impassive. “The mission is to rescue the POWs, sir.”

That laid it out as plainly as possible. Geary looked at the maps again. To be certain of rescuing the POWs, to carry out the mission, he had to increase the risks to the Marines. Carabali knew that, and he suspected every other Marine knew it, too, on one level or another. And all of them accepted that, because that was what being a Marine meant. “All right, Colonel. I accept your recommendation. We will proceed with the second option. The fleet will provide the maximum level of fire support of which it is capable.”

Carabali flicked a tight smile at Geary. “There’s a lot of permanent buildings inside that camp. In an urban environment like that, there’s likely to be very small gaps between enemy and friendly forces.”

“How big a safety zone do you want?”

“One hundred meters, sir, but I don’t want that written in stone. We may have to ask for supporting fire a lot closer than that to friendly forces.”

“Very well, Colonel.” Geary stood up. “You may proceed with detailed planning and execution of the mission. Let me know if anything you need isn’t instantly forthcoming.”

“Yes, sir.” Carabali saluted, then her image disappeared.

The images of the maps lingered for a moment. Geary looked at them, knowing his choice had meant life or death for some of the Marines he was sending down onto that planet, and knowing, like Carabali, that he hadn’t had any other real option.

“THE fighting seems to have spread substantially on the third and fourth planets,” Lieutenant Iger was reporting as the Alliance fleet settled into position above the third planet. An orbital fortress that had tried pumping out shots at the oncoming Alliance fleet had been blown apart by several kinetic-energy projectiles, and since then nothing had attempted engaging the Alliance ships. All of the Syndic heavy cruisers left in the star system had jumped out, and the remaining light cruisers and HuKs were sticking close to the jump points for other stars. None had made any moves toward the region of the engagement where Geary had left his most badly damaged ships being repaired along with the auxiliaries and a strong escort. “There’s still no faction that seems to be gaining control on the ground?”

“No, sir,” Iger replied. “There are plenty of claims being made, but we’re not seeing evidence on the planetary surface to back up those claims.”

“The guard force in the camp has stopped responding to our transmissions,” Rione added. “They either can’t or won’t negotiate any further.”

Geary took a look at the display for the camp, imagery overlaid with symbology. In a few places concentrations of Syndic guards had been identified, but for the most part the guards seemed to have vanished. “We haven’t spotted any guards leaving the camp?” he asked Iger.

“No, sir. They’re all still in there, somewhere.”

“What about the POWs?”

“They all seem to be in their barracks, possibly locked down.”

Rione eyed the display suspiciously. “If they’re going to fight, why haven’t the guards taken our prisoners as hostages?”

“Good question.” As much as he hated bothering subordinates preparing for action, Geary figured this was something Carabali would want to talk about.

The Marine colonel nodded as if unsurprised by the report. “The guards are getting ready to fight. If you compare the estimated number of prisoners to the estimated size of the guard force, sir, you’ll see that the prisoners outnumber the guards. Just as we don’t have the numbers to occupy the entire camp in force, they don’t have the numbers to guard all of their prisoners and fight us. They’re choosing to keep the prisoners locked down. That keeps the prisoners available as future hostages but also ensures the prisoners aren’t running around threatening the guards. Our assault plan should forestall any last-ditch plans they have to make use of the prisoners, though.”

“I don’t understand, Colonel. It sounds like the Syndic guards know they can’t win. If they can’t fight us and guard all the prisoners at the same time, why the hell aren’t they surrendering?” Geary asked.

“Probably because they’ve been ordered to hold on to the prisoners and resist any attempt to liberate them, sir.”

Just as Rione had also guessed. Put up a good fight and maybe die trying to defend the prison camp, or let the Alliance have its personnel and certainly die at the hands of the Syndic authorities. “Looks like we’ll be doing this the hard way, Colonel.”

“Yes, sir. Request that the fleet carry out the preassault bombardment as laid out in the battle plan.”

“Consider it done. Good luck, Colonel.”

“They’re not asking for much in that bombardment,” Desjani observed after Carabali’s image vanished.

“There aren’t many targets identified yet.” Geary indicated the real-time imagery of the camp far below Dauntless as the battle cruiser and the rest of the Alliance fleet orbited Heradao’s third planet. “We can’t just hit the whole camp because it’s full of prisoners, and we don’t know every building that holds them. The preassault bombardment is mostly aimed at eliminating fixed defensive sites, trying to overawe the defenders, and suppressing their response to the assault.” He glanced at the time lines scrolling down one side of the display. Time to launch of Marine shuttles. Time to launch of evacuation shuttles. Time to launch of bombardment.

The aerodynamic chunks of metal formally known as kinetic bombardment projectiles harkened back to the earliest weapons known to humanity. Aside from their streamlined shapes, they worked like rocks, and fleet slang referred to them that way. Unlike rocks hurled with only the force of human muscles, however, these kinetic bombardment rounds were launched from orbit high above the planet, gaining energy every meter of the way as they dropped. When they hit, the results were as devastating as if large bombs had struck. Simple, cheap, and deadly, the rocks were almost impossible to stop once they were fired.

“Marine shuttles launching,” the operations watch reported.

On his display, Geary called up an image of the launches, the shapes of the shuttles enhanced for visibility. “I’ve never seen this many launch at once,” he commented to Desjani.

“Sir, you should have been at Urda. Thousands of shuttles coming down. Absolutely amazing.” Desjani’s eyes shaded for a moment in memory. “Then the Syndics opened fire.”

“Bad losses?”

“Horrible.” She forced a smile at him. “This won’t be like that.”

He managed to force a smile back, wishing that Desjani hadn’t mentioned Urda.

“First wave of evacuation shuttles launching.”

“We have enemy movement on the surface. Armored column heading for the prison camp.”

Geary’s display illuminated the line of armored vehicles crawling along the surface toward the POW camp. He reached and with careful deliberation tagged the column as a target, asked the combat system for an engagement solution, got it an instant later, then tapped approval. Rocks punched out of three Alliance warships, hurtling downward into the planet’s atmosphere. The entire process to firing had taken less than ten seconds.

“Preassault bombardment launching.”

A wave of rocks burst from Alliance warships, each projectile aimed at a specific point within the POW camp. With the shuttles coming down slower than the rocks would drop, the bombardment would clear the airspace over the camp before the shuttles reached it.

“Boom,” Desjani muttered, as the armored column disappeared under a cloud of fragments and dust tossed into the air by the impacts of the bombardment aimed at it.

“Maybe they’ll figure out that resisting us is a bad idea,” Geary observed.

“I wouldn’t count on it, sir.”

“We have surface-based particle-beam batteries opening fire at five locations!” the operations watch called. “Near misses on Splendid and Bartizan.”

Geary faced his display, tagged the batteries, got a firing solution, and launched another bombardment.

“Good thing I already had the fleet doing evasive maneuvers.”

The preassault bombardment slammed into the surface, some of the rocks aimed simply at trying to suppress unseen defenses but many smashing into identified enemy locations and every guard post or tower. Within moments, craters of rubble had replaced the guard installations, and the formerly solid wall between them had collapsed in many places.

“Do you think there were any of them inside those guard posts?” Desjani asked.

“I doubt it. Colonel Carabali figured they were planning on firing the weapons on the guard posts by remote if we left them standing. So we didn’t.”

The operations watch called out another report. “Marine shuttles are two minutes from drops.”

The locations of the five particle-beam batteries went up in clouds of debris.

“Shuttles on final. Marines on the ground.” The operation had a sort of beauty when seen from this high, the shuttles swooping down toward their objectives around the perimeter of the camp and at its center, Marines leaping out as the shuttles hovered, the tracks of fire from enemy troops painting flashing lines as they fired on the Marines or the shuttles. Unlike regular fleet shuttles, the Marine shuttles carried defensive combat systems, which started pumping out grenades and automatic fire at wherever the Syndics were firing from. As the Marines deployed and went to ground, they joined in the barrages, the firepower blowing apart any location holding enemy resistance. The battle sites formed small eruptions of violence at locations all around the perimeter of the camp and at a few places near the landing field in the center.

“We don’t know where all of the POWs are,” Rione protested, “and the Marines are blowing that camp apart!”

Geary shook his head. “Their battle armor has every known POW location painted. Other than that we have to trust that they’ll ID targets before they fire.” He pulled up the feed from the Marines.

“The enemy is dug in,” a Marine officer was reporting. “Strong resistance around landing zone.”

“This isn’t going to be pretty,” Desjani muttered.